We're continuing our series in the book of Genesis.
! Genesis is the very first book in the Bible.
It's the origin story of God's people, Israel.
And this summer we are in the story of Jacob, found in chapters 25 through 36.
Last week we were in chapter 31, and God tells Jacob it is time for him to return home.
But there's a problem.
The reason that Jacob left home is because his brother Esau wants to kill him.
So Esau's threat from 20 years ago is the tension that drives this narrative.
It doesn't just drive the narrative, though.
It also drives Jacob's dependence on God.
And so that's our focus this morning.
We're going to look at Jacob's dependence on his trust in God.
And in that, Jacob is going to provide us with a master class on prayer.
You may remember our overarching question for the book of Genesis is,
what does it look like to follow God in faith?
This week, one specific element of that, how do we rely on God in prayer?
And so with that, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 32, starting at verse 1,
which you'll find on page 6 of your worship guide.
Remember that Proverbs chapter 30 tells us that every word of God proves true.
He's a shield to those who take refuge in him.
And so that's why we read now Genesis 32, starting at verse 1.
Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
And when Jacob saw them, he said, this is God's camp.
So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, instructing them,
Thus you shall say to my lord Esau,
Thus says your servant Jacob,
I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now.
I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants.
I have sent to tell my lord in order that I may find favor in your sight.
And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying,
We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.
Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed.
He divided the people who were with him and the flocks and herds and camels into two camps, thinking,
If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.
Verse 9.
And Jacob said,
O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac,
O Lord who said to me,
Return to your country and to your kindred that I may do you good.
I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant.
For with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.
Please deliver me from the hand of my brother from the hand of Esau.
For I fear him that he may come and attack me, the mothers, with the children.
But you said,
I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea,
which cannot be numbered for multitude.
Verse 13.
So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him, he took a present for his brother Esau.
Two hundred female goats and twenty male goats,
two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
thirty milking camels and their calves,
forty cows and ten bulls,
twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.
These he handed over to his servants,
every drove by itself,
and said to his servants,
Pass on ahead of me,
and put a space between drove and drove.
He instructed the first,
When Esau my brother meets you and asks you,
To whom do you belong?
Where are you going?
And whose are these ahead of you?
Then you shall say,
They belong to your servant Jacob.
They are a present sent to my lord Esau.
And moreover, he is behind us.
He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves.
You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him.
And you shall say,
Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.
For he thought,
I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me,
and afterward I shall see his face.
Perhaps he will accept me.
So the present passed on ahead of him,
and he himself stayed that night in the camp.
I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.
Our Father in heaven, we do praise you and thank you again this morning
for drawing us together as your people to sing to you and to hear from you.
And we ask that you would honor your promise,
your promise in Isaiah 55,
that your word does not return to you void,
but it accomplishes your purposes.
And so do that this morning.
Use your words in Genesis 32 to accomplish great things in our lives.
Most of all, that you would take our eyes and you'd set them on Jesus Christ,
that our love and our affection for him would grow.
We would increase our reverence and our awe for him,
that you'd lead us in obedience to him.
We ask these things knowing that we don't deserve them and we haven't earned them.
And so instead we ask them in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
I want you all to remember where we're at in the story.
All the way back in Genesis chapter 25,
we met two brothers, Jacob and Esau,
who were at odds with each other, even in their mother's womb.
That same chapter 25, we see Jacob steals Esau's birthright.
And then in chapter 27, he goes on to steal Esau's blessing.
And at the end of chapter 27, Esau is so upset
that he threatens to kill Jacob.
So Rebecca, Jacob's mom, tells Jacob, flee to Laban,
my brother, your uncle.
Jacob does that.
And that's where we've been for the last number of weeks.
Jacob spends 20 years with Laban.
While he's there, he gets two wives, both of Laban's daughters, Rachel and Leah.
And we saw he had many sheep that he got from Laban, which caused some tension.
That was part of why he had to leave.
Now he is on the way back.
And as far as we know, Esau's threat is still good.
As far as we know, Esau still wants to kill Jacob.
And so that takes us straight into the story.
Verse one, Jacob went on his way.
That is, he's leaving last week's confrontation with Laban straight into a new problem,
the problem of Esau.
Jacob here is proactive.
So we see in verse three, he sends these messengers ahead of him to announce his coming
to his brother beforehand.
And the message that he sends mentions his great wealth.
This is verse five.
I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants.
I have sent to tell my Lord in order that I may find favor in your sight.
Which might seem odd at first.
Hey, brother, I haven't seen you in 20 years.
By the way, just so you know, I'm really rich now.
Indirectly, he's communicating this.
Hey, maybe we could solve this problem with money.
My net worth, you know, my net worth is a lot higher.
It's greater than it was 20 years ago when I left.
So I'm thinking maybe you and I, we can work out a solution where you don't kill me.
Maybe that could be kind of what we work towards.
We could come to a compromise where I'm not murdered.
That's exactly what he does, by the way, at the end of this passage, verses 13 through 21.
He sends these droves of animals onto Esau as gifts.
So that's his first overture.
Okay, I'm coming back to Esau.
Let me be proactive.
Let me figure out how we can thread this needle.
Jacob hears back from the messengers and the news is not good.
In fact, that's an understatement.
It is discouraging.
It is frightening.
This is verse 6.
And the messengers returned to Jacob saying,
We came to your brother Esau and he is coming to meet you.
And there are 400 men with him.
Esau doesn't need 400 men to welcome his brother back.
Okay, this is ominous.
It is threatening.
Commentators point out that this is the size of a militia.
He doesn't receive a response back.
Esau has no word for him.
The messengers just come back and say,
Yeah, Esau and his militia, they're on the march.
So Jacob, his worst fears seem to be coming true.
He does two things.
First, this is verses 7 and 8.
He makes himself a harder target.
He makes himself a harder target by dividing his people, his camps, into two groups.
So if you're a tactics nerd, we might say he has dispersed command posts.
Jacob decides he's going to set up a distributed operation.
And he tells us that explicitly in verse 8.
If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it,
then the camp that is left.
Jacob will escape.
Jacob's always got a plan.
And if we were dealing with Jacob 20 years ago,
if we were dealing with the Jacob of chapters 25, 26, 27,
that would be it.
Jacob would rely on his skill, on his strategy, on his tactics,
and nothing else.
But you may have noticed something is different this time.
We met Jacob all the way back in chapter 25.
And now, in chapter 32, we have his very first recorded prayer.
Jacob has finally decided it's time to pray to God.
And this, by the way, is the longest prayer in the entire book of Genesis.
Yes, Jacob has a plan.
Jacob always has a plan.
And we talked about this at length last week.
Jacob has really changed.
He's changed all the way down to his bones.
Yes, Jacob has always been crafty.
Yes, he always has a good tactic.
And this time, this time, Jacob finally prays.
And if you've been taking the story seriously,
if you've been engaged in it and involved with it,
there's this sense in which we should feel a chill here.
That our hair should stand up a little bit
because we know what a big deal this is.
We know how long it's taken, Jacob, to get to this place.
We know the pain and the hardship and the agony
and the sweat and the blood and the tears
for him to finally say,
God, I need your help.
The lesson that God's been teaching Jacob
has finally made it from his head down to his heart.
So verse 7, when he hears about these 400 men,
it tells us he's greatly afraid and distressed,
which makes sense.
And for the first time,
Jacob takes his fear and his distress to God.
Now the request itself,
the request in his prayer is quite simple.
You'll find it in verse 11.
He says,
His request,
his ask for God's help,
that is not what makes this a master class on prayer.
It's actually the three other elements that surround it.
If you look on page 8 of your worship guide,
these are the three elements,
which also happen to be the title of the sermon,
God's command,
God's love,
and God's promise.
First, let's take a look at God's command,
which is where Jacob appeals in verse 9.
And Jacob said,
O God of my father Abraham,
and God of my father Isaac,
O Lord who said to me,
return to your country and to your kindred,
that I may do you good.
So Jacob here is referring to the very beginning of chapter 31
from last week,
where God did not suggest,
but he told,
he commanded Jacob,
return to the land of your fathers
and to your kindred.
And so the idea that he's getting at is this,
hey, Esau,
Esau's coming against me,
and he's coming against me with this militia.
And the reason I'm in this situation,
the reason he's coming at me
and he has his 400 men
is because I'm doing what you told me to do.
I'm following your command.
I'm following you in obedience.
What I'm doing is in line with your will.
You've told me what to do.
You told me to go home.
Now I need your help to do it.
I need you to help me do what you have told me to do.
You've told me to return.
Now I'm asking you to show your power.
And not just to show your power in general,
to show your power specifically
as I'm doing exactly what you told me to do.
It's a way of praying
that is called arguing in prayer.
You'll see this on the very back of your worship guide,
this quote,
speaking of the Puritans.
So the Puritans used to speak rather grandly
about using argument in prayer.
But this they did not mean
pressing God to fall in line
with their own desires.
My will be done.
What they meant was telling God
why what we have asked for
seems to be for the best
in light of what we know
God's own goals to be.
In other words,
God, this is what you said you wanted.
This is what you say is good
and beautiful and true
and I'm pursuing after that.
So hear, hear and answer my prayer.
I'm praying for you to do what has to be done
for your command to be obeyed.
A number of years ago,
when I was in my early 30s,
I had a season of prayer that went like this.
Lord, I know that you have called me
to lead this church.
You've made it clear.
You've made it clear that that's your will
and you've made that clear in a variety of ways.
But there's a problem here, God.
And the problem is that I'm actually
not experienced enough to do that.
I'm not wise enough or old enough.
And I actually don't know what I'm doing.
But you decided this was a good idea.
I need your help.
You're going to have to show up.
You're going to have to show up
in a supernatural way
by your spirit
to give me the wisdom that I need
through mentors and resources
by your work in me.
You've said that you empower
and enable what you command.
Please do it.
You've told me what to do.
Now I need your help
to actually follow through.
I'm not in my early 30s anymore.
I actually still need God's power
and help and wisdom.
We never outgrow our helplessness
before God.
Now I will say this just as an aside.
You know, here we see Jacob grow
in his dependence as he ages.
We also need to be cautious, though,
about the opposite.
There's times when we're young
and inexperienced.
We can be so dependent on God
in prayer, right?
And as we get experience
and accomplishments behind us,
we think, oh, I got this.
I know what to do.
And yet our need for God's help
is just as great as it was before.
Right?
So this can move in both directions.
Now, God has not necessarily
called you to lead a church.
For you, arguing in prayer
could look like this.
Lord, you've told us,
you've told me in Psalm 133,
you've told us in 1 Timothy 2
that the Christian community,
it's supposed to be a place of unity.
And man, we're really having
a hard time getting along.
Help us.
You've said what you want is unity,
so help us do it.
You've said in Colossians 3,
if we're at work with our employer,
that whatever we do,
we work heartily for the Lord
and not for men.
Lord, I can't do that on my own.
I need you to give me
the perseverance and patience
and joy to be an employee like that.
This is your will.
This is what you've said you want.
Come and help us do it.
Lord, you've said in Ephesians 5
that our marriage should be
this picture of the gospel,
of the relationship
between Christ and his church,
and we want our marriage
to be like that.
But outside of your work,
outside of your spirit,
it is so far less.
Help us.
Make it a display
of your gospel for the world.
Arguing with God
could look like this.
Lord, in Malachi 2,
you told us you want
Christian marriages
to lead to godly children.
We don't actually have
the wisdom we need to do that.
We don't have the wisdom
that we need to raise our kids
to know and love God.
And you know what?
Even if we did have the wisdom,
we actually don't have the power.
We're not powerful enough
to change and shape and form
our children's hearts.
We need you to do it.
We need you to show up.
We need your help.
Use us as your instruments.
Christian,
you can pray to God like that.
In fact, I'll put it more strongly.
You should pray to God like that.
Lord, I am praying
for what you have said you want.
Please show up.
By the way, this shapes our prayers
because we have to ask ourselves,
are we actually praying
in line with the Lord's prayer?
Can we say that we're praying
Matthew 6, verse 10?
Your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
So Jacob has appealed
to God's commands.
Look, you told me to return.
I need you to show up.
Next, Jacob appeals to God's love.
This is verse 10.
I am not worthy of the least
of all the deeds of steadfast love
and all the faithfulness
that you have shown to your servant.
For with only my staff,
I crossed this Jordan
and now I have become two camps.
This word steadfast love
from verse 10 shows up
in the Old Testament
over and over again
to communicate God's commitment
to his people.
And the best definition I know of
comes from the Children's Storybook Bible,
which describes God's steadfast love
in this way,
his never stopping,
never giving up,
unbreaking,
always and forever love.
God's steadfast love
is his never stopping,
never giving up,
unbreaking,
always and forever love.
Jacob doesn't base his request
on his own worthiness
or merit or skill.
He doesn't say,
God, look how great I've been.
No, in fact, the opposite.
Again, this is verse 10.
He says, I am not worthy.
Remember Jacob
when he shows up to the well
and he meets Rachel
and he moves that stone
single-handedly
that it took a bunch of people
to move,
but he does it by himself
because he's so jacked.
Jacob thought he was
really hot stuff.
And that's probably why
he didn't pray.
He didn't pray.
It has taken Jacob years,
years,
to learn his helplessness
and God's power.
It's taken Jacob years
to finally say,
I am not worthy.
God has had to push him
to the end of himself
where his skills
and his ability
and his tactics
and his strategies
are not enough.
Calling on God's mercy,
that's prayer.
That's why we pray
in Jesus' name.
That's why you'll often
hear me say,
hey, we haven't earned
these things
and we don't deserve them.
But we ask for them
in Jesus' name.
Remember Jesus' words
in Mark chapter 2.
Jesus said to them,
those who are well
have no need of a physician,
but those who are sick.
I came not to call
the righteous,
but sinners.
sinners do.
Those who think
that they are righteous
have no need for prayer.
Sinners do.
Those who think
their own tactics
and strategies
and intelligence
are enough
will not turn
to God in prayer.
those who have realized
they are not hot stuff
will.
The Apostle Paul
learned that as well.
He tells us
in 2 Corinthians chapter 12,
12,
but he said to me,
that is God said to him,
my grace is sufficient
for you.
My power is made
perfect in weakness.
Therefore,
I will boast
all the more gladly
of my weaknesses
so that the power
of Christ
may rest
upon you.
Do you want
the power
of Christ
to rest
upon you?
Comes in weakness.
Comes in
admitting
your helplessness
and your need.
near the end
of his life,
there was an interview
with the famous
pastor,
Timothy Keller,
about his decades
of ministry,
and the interviewer
asked him this,
looking back
over your nearly
50 years
in Christian ministry,
what's something
you regret?
What's something
you wish
you had done
differently?
And he said,
oh,
that's easy.
I wish
I'd prayed
more.
He's one of the
most successful
pastors in his
generation.
It can take
a lifetime
to learn
how helpless
we are.
It can take
a lifetime
to learn
that everything
comes from
God's
mercy.
God's
love.
It can take
to learn
everything.
It can take
a lifetime
that everything
easier.
Jacob appeals
to God's
command.
He appeals
to God's
love.
And then
finally,
he appeals
to God's
promise.
It is not
only that God
has commanded
Jacob to return,
he's also
promised to
do him
good.
We see this
first in
verse 9.
He says,
you told me
return to
your country
and to
your kindred
that I
may do
you good.
And then
it comes
in a
fuller form
in verse 12.
But you
said,
I will
surely do
you good
and make
your offspring
as the
sand of
the sea
which cannot
be numbered
for multitude.
Okay,
so Lord,
you promised
to do me
good,
and how
are you
going to
do me
good if
these 400
men wipe
me and
my family
out?
I mean,
it doesn't
seem like
that's
very good.
And even
more than
that,
you said
you've
promised
offspring
as the
sand of
the sea.
Now,
how am I
supposed to
have offspring
as the
sand of
the sea
if we're
all killed?
Those two
things don't
really seem
to go
together,
right?
How does
that happen
if Esau
slaughters
us?
So protect
us because
of your
promise.
Your promise
for good,
your promise
for
offspring.
Christian,
you can
plead God's
promises as
well.
Lord, you
told us in
James 1
verse 5
that those
who ask
for wisdom
will receive
it.
Well, we
really need
some wisdom
right now.
So we're
asking you
for it.
Honor your
promise.
Lord, you
told us in
1 Corinthians
chapter 10
verse 13
that there's
no temptation
that will
come to us
for which you
don't provide
a way out.
Well, I'm
overwhelmed by
temptation right
now and I
need a way
out.
Honor your
promise.
Help.
Show me
the way
to escape.
Lord, you
promised us in
Psalm 34
verse 18
that you
are near to
the broken
hearted and
you save
the crushed
in spirit.
And we're in
the hospital
right now
and we feel
alone and
abandoned.
Honor the
promise.
Be near to
us.
Give us a
sense of your
presence.
Do what you
talk about in
Romans chapter 5
that the love
of God will
be poured out
into our
hearts by
the Holy
Spirit.
Lord, you
promised us in
Philippians chapter
4 verses 6
and 7 that if
we bring our
anxieties to
you in prayer,
you will give
us the peace
that passes
understanding that
will guard our
hearts and our
minds in Christ
Jesus.
Lord, we're
drowning in
fear and
we're bringing
that to you.
Honor the
promise.
Give us the
peace that
passes
understanding.
Lord, you've
promised us in
Psalm 23
verse 6 that
goodness and
mercy will
follow us all
the days of
our lives.
And it sure
seems like the
darkness is
winning.
Feels like the
lights are
dimming.
Honor your
promise.
Show us your
goodness and
your mercy.
Lord, you've
told us in
James chapter
4 verse 7
that if we
resist the
devil, he
will flee from
us and we
are resisting.
Honor your
promise.
Do what you
said you would
do.
Restrain the
evil one.
Protect your
people.
Lord, you've
told us in
Isaiah 55 that
your word will
not return to
you empty, but
it will accomplish
your purposes.
promises.
We're begging
you.
Use your word in
a powerful way in
our lives.
Honor the
promise.
Do great
things in us
by your word.
Do you want to
really pray?
Plead the
promises of
God.
And why
should God
answer your
prayer?
Paul tells
us in 2
Corinthians
chapter 1, he
says, all the
promises of
God find
their yes and
amen in
Jesus Christ.
That is, you're
not pleading on
behalf of your
merit.
You're not
pleading that
you deserve
anything.
No, you're
pleading because
Jesus represents
you before God
the Father and
that you've been
adopted as one
of his sons or
his daughter, as
we talked about in
our confession of
faith, which means
you don't just have
forgiveness of
sins, but you
have access to
the throne room
of God.
And you plead
God's promises
based on what
Jesus has done
for you.
This is in
page 7 of your
worship guide.
Jesus'
sinless life and
sin-bearing
death provide
the meritorious
basis upon
which any
promise is
made good
to us.
Apart from
Christ, we
have no right
to any of
God's promises,
but through
our union
with Christ,
we have access
to all
of them.
Christian,
there is a
difference.
in fact,
there is a
world of
difference
between simply
listing our
requests to
God and
wrestling with
God in
prayer,
naming God's
will, his
commands,
acknowledging our
need, our
helplessness,
claiming God's
mercy through
Jesus Christ,
claiming God's
promises that
are ours because
of Jesus.
It's Jesus who
tells us this in
Matthew chapter
7,
ask and it
will be given
to you.
Seek and
you will find.
Knock and
it will be
opened to
you.
For
everyone who
asks,
receives,
and the
one who
seeks,
finds,
and to
the one
who knocks,
it will
be opened.
Or which
one of you,
if his son
asks him for
bread,
will give him
a stone?
Or if he
asks for a
fish,
will give him
a serpent?
If you then,
who are evil,
know how to
give good
gifts to your
children,
how much
more will
your Father
who is in
heaven give
good things
to those
who ask
him?
Let's
pray.
Our
Father in
heaven,
we do
praise you
and thank you
for the
embarrassment
of riches
that are
ours in
Jesus Christ.
We ask
that you
would teach
us to
pray,
that we
pray in
line with
your will,
we come
admitting our
helplessness
and our
need before
you,
and that we
would set
our lives
on your
promises.
We ask
all of
these
things in
Jesus'
name,
amen.