YP Sing Address—T. Allan
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The story of Jacob came to mind and I wanted to speak about when Jacob wrestled with the Lord. And I'm just going to read the passage. This will be brief here tonight.
Because I know everybody's waiting to get over to the rec center, so I'm just going to read briefly that account from Genesis 32.
It says and Jacob was left alone and their wrestle demand 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. In the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as 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 men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said.
Crazy thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou hast asked after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel. For I have seen God face to face in my life is preserved.
I know that this passage can be considered really in two different aspects, one with respect to a believer and one with respect to an unbeliever. And primarily my thought is to speak to those of you who are Christians here tonight. But I also do want to touch briefly on the fact that there may be one who is.
Wrestling with God, who is not yet a believer. I know Bernie touched on that in this talk. If there's one thing I can be assured of young people, it is that I cannot take it for granted, certainly that everybody here is a believer. I see more and more people struggling with issues of faith, and I could probably rattle off 5-6 people right now.
In my own life, who I've seen walk away from Christianity entirely and with respect to just start there, just very briefly.
The story of Paul comes to mind in the book of Acts when on the road to Damascus, he was struck by that light.
And the Lord said to him, Why kick us, you know?
Kicks against the ******. I'm not. I'm not quoting it exactly right. It's in Acts 26. Let me just briefly read it just verbatim. Make sure I get it right.
Said Saw, Saw, why persecute us, Thou me, it is hard for thee.
To kick against the ******. And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecute us.
I can't imagine what it felt like for Saul when he saw Stephen Stone to death and they came and took those clothes and laid them at his feet. But I'm sure there was tart of Saul that had pricked his conscience to see the faith of that man that day. And yet he chose at that point still not to believe. And so there may be somebody sitting in their chair tonight that they feel that God is speaking to them and they know they're not a believer, but they're still resisting.
Those are the ****** that come to your conscience that I think is really spoken about there in Saul's life.
But again, my thought is to speak to you as believers predominantly, because I do believe that most of you are, I hope all.
And I have no doubt that there are some sitting in your chair right now who are struggling with God in your own life.
And this struggle is perhaps a different type of a struggle in that there's your will that can oppose God's will, and there's part of you that is not yet willing to say just simply, yes, Lord.
In this particular story, Jacob was found himself all by himself.
And the person with which he wrestled with that day, we believe, was the very Lord himself.
And he wrestled with him all night.
And you know, it was basically, you can say it this way, it was a stalemate and the one didn't prevail against the other.
And the Lord had to touch Jacob in the hollow of his thigh. It was really the place of his strength. It's considered one of the strongest parts of, you know, one's body. And I think about it this way, that the Lord had to humble Jacob and basically make him realize he could not do it on his own strength.
And so we did that.
And then the Lord's dealings in our own lives. I would say that sometimes He has to deal with that one thing in our life.
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That we tend to take pride in or we think we're good at and there's part of us that makes ourselves lift ourselves up with that particular thing. And really before blessing can come in like the Lord was going to do with Jacob here, he had to address that one part of him. And so he touched that part to hollow of his thigh and it says that, you know, his thigh went out of joint.
And.
You know, at that point, Jacob, I believe, knew that he was not wrestling with an ordinary man.
And from my understanding, from what I have read further about this account, it says in verse 26. And he said, let me go for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. I think what was a physical wrestling match out of strength quickly became.
Jacob knew that he was not wrestling with an ordinary man, and he clung to the one who he was wrestling with.
And the Lord, or the one he was wrestling with said, let me go for the day breaks. But Jacob, that said, I will not let thee go unless thou bless me. If you go back in Jacob's history, it's the one thing he desired from his father was his blessing. And we know he did it by deception, in that he through fraud, pretended he was his brother Esau.
And then the next verse he said, you know what is thy name? And he said Jacob.
Jacob's name means supplanter. It really means to take the place of another by force, by deception, by trickery, basically by whatever means necessary. And that's the way that he lived his life.
But I believe there was significance I've heard one person say and I think it's good.
There was one thing there, right in his past when he lied to his father, what did he lie about?
His name?
I believe the Lord had to go back and address that with Jacob and he needed to hear it from his own lips.
As to what his name was, and so he said, Jacob, this really speaks of confession.
And young people, you know, we all want the Lord's blessing in our life. But before that can happen.
Perhaps there is something in your life that you know needs to be confessed.
And dealt with.
You need to get that out before the Lord and confess.
And so he said, what is your name Jacob? And he said, you know that we know it, but his name was number longer going to be called Jacob. He gave him a new name, the name Israel that really speaks of Prince of God. And you know, out of that I would say this was a pivotal turning point in Jacob's life.
And out of that it caused him to ask, well, what is your name? And it caused him to want to know.
Who he was.
Well, we know the Lord did not give His name at this time, but He did bless him and.
Jacob knew that he was in fact wrestling with the Lord and says he called the Nazis, Peniel said. For I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved.
You know, there's a song I think many of us know sung by Carrie Underwood, and the lines of that are song Go Jesus, Take the Wheel.
And I remember young people, when I was about the age of some of you sitting in your chair, probably 18 or 19, I didn't say those words, but I knew in my heart, in my own life, there was my will that was really trumping God's will for my life, and I needed to let that go.
You need to have the courage to just say yes Lord, to whatever he has for you for your life and just to will just you put yourself in that place to say yes Lord. But again, like Jacob, there may be something that has to be addressed in your life first before He can bless you. And with Jacob, it was the fact that he had lived his most of his life by deception.
And living life herself. And that had to be addressed first.
But you know, when he was able to do that and he recognized that the one he wrestled with was not an ordinary man but was in fact God himself, all of a sudden he had interest and he wanted to know. And he said, what is your name?
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And that will produce within, within you young people, if you're just willing to say, yes, Lord, the desire within you to get to know him more, a deeper personal relationship with him. And I just trust that you will have the courage to do that. You know, there's another just verse and then I'll basically close in Job 33. I came across it today. It just resonated with me.
I'm just going to read a couple verses that are Job 33.
And verse 13 it says, Why dost thou strive against him?
Or I'll read the previous verse, Behold, in this thou art not just. I will answer thee, that God is greater than man, why dost thou strive against him? And then it says, verse 14. For God speaks once, yet twice. Yet man perceiveth it not in a dream and a vision of the night, when deep sleep followeth upon men in slumberings upon the bed. Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction.
I found in my own life that sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night.
And the Lord specifically put something on my mind that I know He wants me to deal with.
And when he does that, whatever that is, be willing to say yes, Lord, and don't resist it. Don't resist it. Don't be that one who resists God. And we can resist him with our will much of our life. But just be willing to have the courage to say yes, Lord, I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'll go wherever you want me to go.
This was a turning point in his life where his name is chained to Israel. And I can guarantee you, young people, if you have the courage to just say yes, Lord, I'm willing to go. Maybe you want me to be a missionary. Maybe you want me to go to Africa. Maybe you want me to be single and serve you for the rest of my life with all of my being. Whatever that path leads, just be willing to say yes, Lord.
It'll be a It'll be a path that is filled with happiness, a path that's not live for self.
But the one who loved you and gave himself for you.