The Breaking Of Jacob

Well this morning friends we will be in the book of Genesis in chapter 32. You can turn your bibles there now friends. The title of my message is The Breaking of Jacob.

We are quite familiar with the background of this passage. The background concerning Jacob, Jacob the supplanter, Jacob the cheat, Jacob who stole his brother Esau's birthright by posing as him by lying to his aged and blind father Isaac to receive the blessing. Jacob then leaves his family home as a fugitive in constant fear of discovery.

Jacob whose very name means supplanter. In short, Jacob was so crooked he could hide behind a corkscrew. Well let's begin by taking a look at Jacob as he is found in Genesis chapter 32 and we will begin in verse 24.

And Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. Now friends I want us to consider this remarkable passage of scripture where God meets a man and from that encounter we see where God affects change in that man. This message is about brokenness.

Alan Redpath used to say before God can use a man he must first crush him. With that in mind let's reread verse 24 and rephrase it to better understand it if I may do so. The sentence and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

Let's remove the last two words the day and let's insert Jacob in their place to read. And there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of Jacob. For that is what this passage is about.

It's about brokenness and how God uses a person he breaks. Jacob may have been converted at Bethel but he was conquered and broken at Peniel. God gets serious with those who get serious with him.

This is not a passage about surrender. That's the man-centered perspective where man has to have a hand in his sanctification in his progress with God. No friends I used to preach this message as the place of surrender where every man must come in wrestling in other surrender to God.

But the problem with that teaching is the fact that indwelling sin puts man on a roller coaster where he falls again and has to keep coming back time and time again to his own place of surrender his own Jabbok which is like the insincere repentance of Israel in Hosea where their brand of repentance is short-lived. It's compared to the dew of the morning which dissipates after a little while. It's compared to a half-baked cake, an uncooked loaf.

There's a lot of half-baked Christians out there looking for a new place of surrender. No this isn't about a man in his dealings with God but God in his dealings with men. This passage is clearly about the sovereign purpose of God in his dealings with man to where God receives the glory.

God does the breaking. God affects the transformation and brings change. Jacob is no longer Jacob the supplanter but now Israel a prince with God in power with God and men and with every step he takes after that incident he winces in pain from his thigh being out of joint and for the rest of his days he has to lean upon a staff to walk and he learns to lean upon his God to live.

Listen friends I said I believe God gets serious with those who get serious with him and there has to be a willingness and a desire on our part for change and there is always a price for what counts costs and what cost counts. Well let's take a look now friends at Jacob once more and let us read the background of the text from Genesis 32 beginning in verses 3 through 7. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir the country of Edom and he commanded them saying thus shall you speak unto my lord Esau thy servant Jacob saith thus I have sojourned with Laban and stayed there until now and I have oxen and asses flocks and men servants and women servants and I have sent to tell my lord that I might find grace in thy sight. Well I will pause here friends to say here is the old Jacob trying to wiggle and wrangle his way out of trouble through efforts of the flesh it's like the church nowadays it found out it can get by better on money and manpower to get the job done but in former times the church operated on prayer and holy ghost power so here's Jacob the cheat trying once more to connive his way out of a jam but we read in the following verse and the messengers returned to Jacob saying we came to thy brother Esau and also he cometh to meet thee and 400 men with him so Jacob's little plan didn't work or solve his problem we see the blood drain out of Jacob's face as he receives that terrible news and we see his reaction in verse 7 then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed and he divided the people that was with him and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two bands I will pause here again friends to say he's still trying to mitigate his trouble through the flesh but that won't do so Jacob sends his large family and servants away from him to try to protect them for we read and said if Esau come to the one company and smite it then the other company which is left shall escape now Jacob is at the end of all his resources and he finally goes to praying for we see in verse 9 and Jacob said oh god of my father Abraham and god of my father Isaac the lord which said unto me return unto thy country and to thy kindred and I will deal well with thee now here's where the prayer starts getting good friends he goes on to say I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant for with my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I am become two bands deliver me I pray thee from the hand of my brother from the hand of Esau for I fear him lest he come and smite me and the mother with the children and thou said I will surely do thee good and make thy seed as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude and he lodged there that same night well I will stop here friends to say in Jacob's prayer to God he first humbles himself before God he tells God about his trouble then he reminds God about his promises to him that God is a God who keeps his promises to his children now that's a pretty good pattern for prayer isn't it let's read the striking passage of scripture about Jacob wrestling with God beginning in verse 24 and following and we read and Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day and when he saw that he prevailed not against him he touched the hollow of his thigh and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint and he wrestled with him and he said let me go for the day breaketh and he said I will not let thee go except thou bless me and he said unto him what is thy name and he said Jacob and he said thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel for as a prince hast thou power with God and with man and hast prevailed I will stop here friends for this brings us to our text this morning about brokenness meaning to break in pieces we read in Isaiah 57 15 to get a better sense of this from God's perspective in Isaiah 57 15 it declares for thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones well contrite is a way to describe brokenness friends contrite literally means to ground to powder to crush glass to powder to be crushed to smithereens so to speak to crush the bits if you want to go deeper with God like I said you must have a willingness and a desire for God to effect change in your life permanent change but God does the work the inward change he does the transformation of a cheat to a prince a revival comes out of brokenness one of the best illustrations of brokenness friends I can find is found in a story about the great southern evangelist Sam Jones Sam Jones from Cartersville, Georgia whom God used in mighty revivals all across America in the late 19th century in 1885 God used Sam Jones to bring a powerful revival to Nashville, Tennessee where 10,000 people were converted among whom was the infamous riverboat captain Tom Ryman who came to a Sam Jones meeting to beat up the evangelist because he was hurting his liquor business on his fleet of steamboats that plied the Cumberland River Tom Ryman showed up that night at the meeting with two of his rough riverboat captains to break up the meeting and then to break Sam Jones head but instead that night through the gospel message God touched the heart of Tom Ryman and made it from a heart of stone and gave him a heart of flesh to where the big man came down to the platform crying like a little girl for God to have mercy on him for his wicked life as he surrendered his life to God but then Tom Ryman the Christian built an auditorium in Nashville for Sam Jones to preach in called the Ryman auditorium and is still in operation today as a country music hall but the story friends I want to share with you about brokenness and Sam Jones is as follows and I promise if you stay with me and listen to it you'd be glad you did and then I'll close this message on brokenness well here now is that fantastic story Sam Jones was at his home in Cartersville Georgia when he received a telegram from Texas inviting him to go to Southwest Texas to preach to the Cowboys after praying about it he boarded a train and traveled to Texas for two weeks he preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Cowboys in Texas and when the meetings ended the Cowboys wanted to give Sam Jones a love offering they felt the laborer was worthy of his hire and they had been wonderfully blessed by his ministry to them but there was a problem they had no money not a single dollar in any of their pockets they didn't know what to do Sam returned to Cartersville with no love offering or compensation of any kind well a number of weeks had passed when suddenly one day Sam received a telegram it was from the Cowboys in Texas and it read like this we are sending you a love offering and we are shipping you a carload of Broncos Sam Jones scratched his head as he looked in amazement at the telegram oh what am I gonna do he said with a carload of wild horses in the small town of Cartersville his friend standing behind him beside him said why it's very easy hold an auction sale sell the horses and you'll get your money you can get your love offering and then put it in your pocket well Sam Jones thought it was a good suggestion so when the horses arrived he held a horse auction he sold the Broncos all except one he kept the finest of the Broncos for his son but the son had never in his life been on the back of an unbroken Bronco and Sam Jones wondered what he could do he called the Cowboy who had brought the carload of Broncos to Cartersville and said to him will you take this Bronco and break him so that my son can ride him yes sir said the Cowboy I'd be glad to how much will you charge fifteen dollars said the Cowboy all right said Sam take him away the Cowboy disappeared with the Bronco two weeks later he came back is he broken asked Sam yes sir he's broken can my son ride him in perfect safety yes sir your son can ride him in perfect safety the father thought that before allowing his son to ride the Bronco he'd better mount himself and make sure the Cowboy had broken it and as he started toward the horse the Cowboy came running and waving his arms in alarm oh what's the matter asked Sam what's gone wrong oh said the Cowboy he's only broken on one side and you're mounting on the wrong side uh that will never do my son might make a mistake and he might mount from the wrong side how much will you charge to break him on the other side fifteen dollars replied the Cowboy all right said Sam take him away and break him on the other side another two weeks passed and again the Cowboy came back leading the Bronco is he broken asked Sam yes sir he's broken both sides yes sir both sides your son can ride him in perfect safety from either side well I love that story friends as it offers an excellent illustration you see the average Christian is like that Bronco only broken on one side he'll do this but he won't do that he'll go here but he won't go there well how about you friend you should walk with God up and down and here and there do you long for consistency do you long for power from on high do you desire to go deeper with God well what cost counts and what counts costs only one life will soon be passed only what's done for Christ will last I repeat God gets serious with those who get serious with him well let's take this time now to go to a time of personal prayer great God let us pray