Jacob's crisis experience in Genesis 32 reveals that challenges do not define a believer but rather expose their character and reliance on God. After fleeing his brother Esau years prior, Jacob is forced to confront his past when Esau approaches with four hundred men. Despite meeting angels and praying, Jacob initially resorts to his own schemes and attempts to appease Esau with gifts, demonstrating a flawed character that even wealth cannot fix. The sermon emphasizes that true security comes not from human plans or possessions, but from God's power and presence, urging listeners to learn from Jacob's struggle to fully trust in divine provision.
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Let us turn to the book of Genesis chapter thirty-two. Genesis chapter thirty-two. It seems strange on the Lord's Day morning to read from another book other than the great epistle to the Romans. But this morning we want to read a portion from Genesis chapter thirty-two. Verse one. And Jacob went on his way. And the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host. And he called the name of that place Mahanaim. 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 ye 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's servants, and women's servants. And I have sent to tell my Lord that I may find grace in thy sight. And when the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also we cometh to meet thee and four hundred men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed, and he divided the people that was with him. and the flocks and herds and the camels into two bands, and said, If Esau comes to the one company and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.
And Jacob said, O 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. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth which thou hast shown 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 will come and smite me and the mother with the children. And thou saidest I will surely do thee good. And make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitudes.
And now we want to drop down to verse twenty-one, twenty-two. And he rose up that night and took his two wives and his two women servants and his eleven sons and passed over the floor, Jabak. And he took them and sent them over the brook and sent over that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And there wrestled a man with him up to 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 as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go for the day breaketh.
And he said, I will not let me 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 has prevailed. And Jacob asked him and said, Tell me, I pray thee thy name. And he said, Wherefore, is it that God does ask after my name? And he blessed him there. Now let us pray. Our Father, in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come into thy holy presence.
We acknowledge that Jacob is experiencing a genuine crisis. And we are living in times when many of thy people experience crises in their life. And we pray that we may learn something of thy ways and the purpose for which you have saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to thine own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world was. We thank you that you have predestinated us to be conformed to the image of thy dear Son. We thank you for the ultimate of that predestination, for thy word declares that we are now the sons of God, and that it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
We pray for those of our number who are going through a time of trial we pray for the Montgomery's at this time as they have the anticipation of saying goodbye to Dolan Laughlin we thank you our father for thy mercy in this case where he's been laid aside for years not able to speak how great is thy mercy but oh how wondrous is thy truth then our father We not only pray for them, but we think of Mrs. Boland from the Thursday class whose daughter died and their three little granddaughters.
Oh, we ask, oh God, that I will undertake in a special way for her. We pray for our brother Harry Barnett as he ministers the word of God tomorrow to that grieving family. Grant our God that he may know and have the power of the Spirit, and the ability to speak words of comfort that may indeed be blessed unto them. We thank you for Mrs. Scott being with us today, after being laid aside a long time. How gracious are your ways. Then, Father, it's good to see so many others. And now as we wait upon thee, we ask in a special way for our missionary family.
We think of each one of them. laboring under difficult circumstances we ask you to graciously minister to their hearts that they may minister to others above all else we pray oh god give us a fresh glimpse of our lord jesus christ and what it means to be in him and to this end we'll give you praise for we ask all these things in the name of him who is worthy even our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you.
Turn over please to hymn number forty-four. Hymn number forty-four. Everlasting glory unto Jesus be. Everlasting glory unto Jesus be. Sing about the glory of his victory Now he left the splendor of his home on high.
Came in love so tender on the cross to die. Neverlasting glory unto his own. Think about the story of his victory. Yes, he came from heaven, suffered in our sin. Pray to him together, first born from the dead.
Jesus, meek and lowly, came to walk to save. He the victor's glory, triumphed over the grave, everlasting glory unto Jesus, Being about the story of his victory, We in death were lying, God did so fast to Jesus sang his hymn, praise Christ in the tomb.
Let this harvest for now, show the way the stone. Shows in life immortal, to the Father's love. Everlasting glory unto Jesus be. Think about the story of his victory. Christ is Lord of glory, sing me now today, tell a proud of glory, from his rightful way.
Sing aloud and never, please do spread his way. Triumph now and ever is the Savior's name. Everlasting glory unto Jesus. Sing about the glory of his victory. Thank you. Tim number three hundred twenty one. Him, three hundred twenty-one. I'd like to ask you to stand once again as we sing verses one and three of Him, three hundred twenty-one. Shall we stand, please?
Wonderful of that rest you see, so deep in sin, guilty and vile as I could be, come up with him, when every ray of light has led a glorious day. raising my soul from out the dead, thou found a way, thou found a way to redeem my son. Thou found a way that could make me whole.
Thou sent my Lord to the cross of days. Thou found a way to break this holy day. Law someone wide against the plight, soon as domain, Where in eternal power and might Jesus shall reign. Come and repeat, from death the flow, come who in the day. There was no help in earth below. Thou found a way, thou found a way to redeem my soul. Thou found a way that could make me whole.
Let us pray. Our Father, we ask you now to calm our hearts in thy presence. Give us, we pray, thee the ability to look at the crisis in Jacob's life and to learn from it. O speak to each of our hearts, rivet our attention upon the word of God, deliver us from any frivolity, and enable us, our Father, to permit the word of God to enter into our souls for Jesus' sake. Amen. This morning I'm going to give you a half a sermon.
I want to speak on the four meetings of Jacob, and I will not be able to get through the four meetings of Jacob this morning. I hope to get through two of them. And I'll give the other two tonight. Now I'm aware that many come Sunday mornings who don't come Sunday night. That isn't my fault. You're invited to come. And I hope that I wet your appetite enough this morning that you will come back. Because we're dealing with something that you're going to face sooner or later. I want to deal with a crisis experience in Jacob's life.
When we come to study the characters in the Word of God, we many times put them on a pedestal, and we fail to realize that they were people just like you and just like me. Especially when we look at a man like Elijah, James tells us in James chapter five that he was a man of like passions with us. He was just like us. So we want to look at this great experience in the life of Jacob, for its many, is greatly important. Now, a crisis experience. I know that many say that a believer should never have a crisis experience. There are those who teach that if you're in line with the Lord, you're going to always be having a mountain top experience.
There won't be a crisis. But I have news for you. I disagree with a person who says that for, you see, you wouldn't have a mountaintop if you didn't have a valley. You can't have mountaintops without valleys. And every believer that I've ever met has had crisis experiences. Now I know there are those who say, oh, if you're dedicated to the Lord and if you tithe. Well, no, that's important. And then there are those who say, if you use a right translation, you know that's important too. And if you do all these things that you're supposed to do, you'll be continuously climbing on an upward way.
Well, when God brought Israel into the land of Canaan, he said to them, the land into which I'm bringing you is a land of hills and valleys. And God has so ordained the universe when he created it. that there are periods of light and there are periods of darkness. Darkness follows light. Night follows day. And the hymn writer wrote, Days of darkness still come on me. Sorrows pass. I often tread. You see, pleasure and pain are built into the universe by God.
And all of us come through crisis experiences. Now, conversion is a crisis experience. The day that I got saved, I tell you what, I didn't know much Bible doctrine. I didn't know a lot of Bible doctrine that we expect people to believe. You know, I tell you, there are two things I knew. I knew one thing. I knew I was lost. And I knew I couldn't save myself. And I knew that the scripture says that Christ saves guilty sinners to his work on Calvary's cross. And I trusted Christ.
I learned a lot of doctrine after that. And I thank God for that crisis experience when I learned I was lost. And that God saves guilty sinners. But you see, there are other crisis experiences in the life. It's a crisis experience, my friend, when you have to go to a brother and make things right. When you've offended a brother and you have to go get things straightened out. That's a crisis experience in a life. You see, a crisis doesn't make a person. Many think it does.
But the crisis reveals what kind of stuff you're made of. It's a crisis that reveals what you're made of. When the winds blow, the winds of adversity, it determines what the root system of a tree is like. And when the storms blow, it determines what kind of a foundation the building has. And beloved, you and I are told that the blessed man in Psalm one is like a tree planted by the rivers of waters. Has a root system? The rivers of waters nourish us. And of course in the Sermon on the Mount our Lord said the wise man builds his house on a good foundation and therefore it stands at a time of crisis.
Now you may forget about your decisions but they will never forget you. We are building either character or no character, a building block at a time. And when the crisis comes, it reveals how we have been built. Now the crisis must be dealt with, and it reveals our entire system. What kind of a root system do you have as a child of God? You see, in Genesis chapters thirty-two and chapter thirty-three, Jacob is about to meet with his past.
Over twenty-two years before, Jacob had run away from home. Now the reason he had run, his brother Esau was going to kill him. And in all probability he would have had Jacob stayed there. You see, now over twenty years, Jacob has been running away from his problem. Isn't it nice? to be able to run away from your problems. Isn't it nice? You see, Jacob woke up to the fact or one day that Esau was coming to meet him. And he had four hundred men with him.
Now, Jacob had escaped to leave and his father-in-law. And you see, friends, your past eventually catches up with you. Jacob ran away from his past, but his past never ran away from Jacob. Oh, this is important. Never ran away. Emerson said, and he said something very good, he said, a change in geography will never remedy a flaw in character. I ought to repeat that. A change in geography will never remedy a flaw in character.
For Jacob, when he was in the household of Laban, was the same guy that was in the household of Isaac. And Jacob, in the crisis experience of Genesis chapter thirty-two, was the same fellow that was in the house of Isaac and in the house of Laban. A change in geography did not... change a flaw in character. You see, you see, friends, a lot of people have the idea that time will solve problems. Time will solve problems. Time is a great healer, really. No, time doesn't heal anything. Time will cooperate.
But time is neutral. If I fall off a horse and break a leg, Time will not heal the leg. If I go to a doctor and have the leg set, then time will cooperate. But time will not heal. And my friend, if you're facing a path that you're running away from, and you think, oh, get up. Get all the time between us we can. It's going to catch up with you. Sooner or later, it must be dealt with. You see, Time didn't solve Jacob's problem. Jacob committed his sin and iniquity twenty years before.
And by the way, Jacob was now a wealthy man. He's a wealthy man. You see, there are a lot of people today who think that the checkbook is the answer to all our problems. It sure wasn't the answer to Jacob's problem. Oh, no. It wasn't the answer to his problem. See, Jacob had a... had a son, he had a daughter, he had wives, and he had flocks and her. He was a wealthy man. And no matter what Jacob could possess, all of it together could not solve his problem. Jacob has to face Esau.
Jacob's past is catching up with him. Now in Genesis chapter thirty-two and thirty-three, we have four meetings of Jacob. Four meetings. Now if we can understand these four meetings, if we can understand these four meetings, it will solve our problem. It will enable us to solve our problem. These are four important meetings. Meeting number one. Genesis, verse one, where we read. And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
And when Jacob saw them, he said, this is God's host. And he called the name of that place, Mahaneum. The angels of God met Jacob, and he named the place. And Mahaneum means two hosts, or two camps, two armies. That's what the name means. Now, we don't know quite what Jacob meant by Mahaneum. The commentators are divided on it. But let's say that Jacob saw the host of angels, and he had a host of his own. And he says, there's a host of angels that are surrounding me.
I am protected by God. This is what transformed the army of Jacob into the army of God. My, what a meeting it was. Now, Jacob had met the angels of God before. This wasn't something new for Jacob, for he had met them before. You see, he met them at a place called Bethel. You read about it in Genesis chapter twenty-eight. It was a place of the vision. It was a place of the voice. It was a place of the voice. For the first night that Jacob was away from home, the scripture says he came to a certain place, and he took a stone for a pillow, and he laid down there, and he went to sleep.
And as he was sleeping, he saw the vision of the ladder, a ladder that reached from heaven to earth, a place of the vision, and on the top of the ladder was God, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. You see, Jacob had met the angels before when he had run away from home. Now, Jacob, after a vision in Genesis twenty-eight, he turned his pillow, the rock, into a pillar, and he poured oil upon it. And he made a vow unto God who appeared unto him there.
He made a vow. Now, when he made that vow, he said, this is none other than Bethel, the gate of heaven. This is the house of God. Well, that's what the word Bethel means. It means the house of God. Now, he said, God is here, and I didn't know it. Jacob realized that night that he was in the hands of God. God was here. And when he made the statement, this is none other than the gate of heaven. That was a big statement. For the gate to a Jew meant more than a means of access, but it was a place of authority.
For the business was transacted in the gate. Whenever they had any business to transact, it was done in the gate of the city. That's a place of authority. But the gate of heaven, it also speaks of access. You see, Bethel is not only a place of a stone and hard ground, but it's a place where God was present, and God met with Jacob. Now, this vision of the angels in Genesis thirty-three is different. You see, Bethel was at night. This is in daylight. At Bethel, Jacob was all alone.
But now Jacob has a great entourage with him. Jacob isn't alone now. Furthermore, at Bethel, Jacob is running away frightened. But now he's a wealthy man. At Bethel, he was scared. But now God had told him to return to the land. He was going according to God told him, get up and go. What is our problem? Our problem is we try to reclaim old blessings. You see, Jacob recognized the angels of God.
He had dealt with them before. Oh, how we try to reclaim old blessings. You know, I meet a lot of people who say, oh, if I could only again have the blessing I had at a certain Bible conference, at a certain time. and all how people talk. If I could only sit under the ministry of that preacher I had twenty-five years ago or something like this, you see, you can't reclaim old blessings. God doesn't do it that way. Now God used the same angels, but it was a different experience for Jacob. Jacob met the angels of God, and now he doesn't need to be afraid.
Beloved, when we are in the will of God, when we are determined to do the will of God, all God's power is behind us. All of it. We don't have to be afraid. But someone may say, but I'm not going to meet any angels. I'm not going to meet any angels. Well, don't be too sure. remember second Samuel seventeen when David had a run away from his son Absalom who had usurped the kingdom and who was going to kill him he had run from him and he came to a place called Mahanaim same place and you know what happened to David at Mahanaim well there's a man by the name of Barzilia oh he brought to David the things that he needed he brought said and basin and water and towel and food in abundance, the very things that David needed.
Oh, the angels that come may not be the heavenly type, they may be messengers sent by God. It could be a next-door neighbor. Have you ever been an angel? Have you ever been used as a messenger of God to be a blessing? to someone else David experienced that now you and I you and I can have the same blessing Jacob had in John one the last verse in the first chapter of John when God the Lord Jesus was speaking to Nathaniel he said hereafter ye shall see the heavens open And the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.
Hereafter, you'll see heaven open. The angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Who is God's link between heaven and earth? That's Jesus. He's the link. Who is the one that brings God's providential care into your life? Who is he who protects you? None other than Jesus. And you see, you and I may have this. We have our man named. And we can admit we got the two hosts. We got the two hosts. We got the army of God helping us.
The last verse in Hebrews chapter one, speaking of angels, it says, Are they not all ministering spirits? sent forth to minister unto them who are heirs of salvation. The angels of God, first meeting. He met the angels of God. God's protecting care, his providential care of these people. Second meeting. The second meeting that Jacob had, he met the Lord. He met the Lord. But friends, he didn't meet him immediately. He didn't meet him immediately after he met the angel. You see, no sooner had Jacob met the angels of God and he began to move forward that he's all Jacob all over again.
He begins the scheme and the plot. You see, Jacob is a strange person. Maybe not too strange. For Jacob was a man who had never met a problem he couldn't solve. Ever meet anybody like that? He had never met a problem that he couldn't solve. You see, Jacob was a kind of a person when he met a problem immediately. He had plan A, plan B, plan C, plan D. If plan A doesn't work, we'll go to B. If B doesn't work, we'll go to C. If C doesn't work, we'll go to D. That's Jacob. Jacob is a schemer. You see, in verse three we read, and Jacob had sent, I believe that's the tense of the verb there.
Jacob had sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom, and he commanded them saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my Lord Esau, thy servant Jacob, saith us. It makes me sick when I read it. Hadn't God told me? Rebecca and Isaac before those two boys were born, that the elder shall serve the younger. Those words of a man who has seen the angels, my Lord Esau, thy servant Jacob. What's wrong with this man? I'll tell you what's wrong.
He's on plan A. He's on plan A. He's going to deal with Jacob and with Esau his way. Plan A. This is a crisis experience. You see, God said the elders shall serve the younger. Esau was the elder and Jacob was the younger. And when he says to him, in verse five, I have oxen and asses, oxen men servants, and women's servants. He's just telling him, I'm not coming freeload. I have what I need. I'm a wealthy man is what he was telling him.
I'm not a freeloader. You know, this is strange speech for a man who has met the angels of God. Now the messengers return to Jacob. In verse six, And we read, we hear them saying, We come to thy brother Esau, and also we cometh to meet thee and four hundred men with him. Jacob is scared. Jacob is scared. Jacob is sore distressed is what we read in verse seven. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.
Now that word is stressed in the Hebrew is very interesting. It means to be confined. It means to be made narrow. You see, no matter how wealthy you are, no matter how experienced you are for Jacob by this time had gained a lot of experience in the household of Laban in Pathan Aram. But no matter how wealthy, no matter how experienced, there comes a time in your life. When God begins to move in and to crush in on you. That time comes. Dr.
Raleigh Maxwell had a word for it. He used to say it's being crowded to Christ. I like that expression. You see, when I was saved, I was crowded to Christ. There was no other way I could turn. And in a crisis experience, God brings it about in order that he might crowd us to Christ. But what does Jacob do? Well, first of all, he begins the plot. He divides all his content into two groups. Jacob, you've already got the angels of God behind you. You've got the angels of God before you. Why do you need to do this?
Why do you need to do this? And then Jacob does something else, he prays. Isn't that the way we are? We plot and then we pray. We say, oh God, bless all my arrangements. Bless all my arrangements. He had met the angels of God. He knew that God was with him. But you see, he plotted, then he prayed. But notice his prayer. This is a great prayer, by the way. He says, Oh God and my Father Abraham, and God and my Father Isaac. You know I love that expression. I'm here today because of a godly grandmother and a godly father and mother.
My friend, let me ask you, do you enjoy the faith of your dad and mother? But you see, you can't live on the faith of your ancestors. The investment of your ancestors. You can't live on it when it comes to spiritual things. And then he says in verse ten, Oh, notice what he says. I am not worthy of the least of thy mercies and of all the truth which thou shod unto thy servant. You see, God reveals his mercies that he might teach us his truth. You know, I know a lot of Christians who appreciate the mercies of God, but they don't appropriate His truth.
We take the mercies of God, but we don't appropriate His truth. And we only get half the blessing. We don't spend time enough in the Word of God. God reveals His mercies that we might learn His truth. Oh, my friends. You don't get enough on a Sunday morning from ten forty-five to eleven forty-five to make it through the week. You can kid yourself all you want. You don't. My friend, he reveals his mercies that we might possess his truth.
But then... He gets down and he says to the Lord in verse ten, For with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become too bad. What he's saying, he says, With my staff, when I left home, I had no American express car. That's what he's saying. I had no American express car. Only a staff, only a staff, I'm a pilgrim. When Jacob left home, he left home with a staff, and when Jacob died, he died leaning on his staff. Hebrews chapter eleven. Hebrews chapter eleven. Oh, what a man Jacob was. He was a pilgrim. And he was a pilgrim to the end.
And then he gets down to the real meaning. He says in verse eleven, deliver me, I pray thee from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children. deliver me now what evidence did Jacob have that Esau was going to harm him he had none whatsoever but you see my friend when you are walking with a bad conscience when you're walking with a bad conscience you and you need to be reconciled to your brother everything is dark the Bible says a wicked sleep when no man pursues and whoa how true that is Solomon was so right.
Jacob is in darkness because he had sinned against his brother. Now he's going back to see his father. But the word Jesus said, before you can see your father, when you bring your gift to the altar and you remember that your brother hath not against thee, leave thy gift and first be reconciled unto thy brother. Make it right. Make it right with your brother. Why was he afraid? Jacob knew that things weren't right. That's why he was afraid. Now Jacob prayed, and after he's finished praying, what does he do? He goes back to plan B and C. He plots some more. And you see, friends, I didn't read the list this morning of the animals, the stockyard list that he presented that he made up as a gift, and he had them pass just one at a time.
But if my count is correct, and I got the calculator on last night, and I went through them, I added them up. Five hundred eighty animals he prepared as a gift to his brother Esau to appease him. You see, oh you say, oh, isn't that Jacob a character? Yes, he's just like you and just like me. Jeremiah seventeen verse nine says, the heart is deceitful above all things else and desperately wicked. And that word deceitful is the heart of Jacob.