The self-sufficient will not see the kingdom of God. Genesis chapter 32. I want you to think about these words this morning. Genesis 19, 23 to 24. It says, And Jesus said to his disciples, Truly I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell you, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. So Jesus Christ Himself, this isn't anybody else speaking but Jesus, Jesus Christ Himself says it'll be hard, it'll be immensely difficult for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. And why is this? It's because rich people tend to be self-sufficient. Rich people tend to be self-sufficient. By the way, when I say rich, I mean everybody in the United States of America. Because we are the wealthiest country in all of the earth. So just consider that this isn't talking to people who are in the upper echelons of our society. He's speaking to us, who have jobs. and food and grocery stores lined with 20,000 different types of bread and one aisle just dedicated to juice, juicy juice and apple juice and all juices, right? Whole aisle dedicated to ice cream. And then on the other side, frozen things that you can put in a pie pan and pretend like you baked it, right? They have all types of stuff. He's talking to us. Because we have no idea what we're dependent upon other than Jesus Christ Himself. We have so many blessings that God's given us, so many good gifts. So is Jesus Christ saying, having money is wrong? Is that what He's contending for in this passage? No, he's contending that rich people often don't have to rely upon anyone else. We don't need anyone else to help us yet to enter the kingdom of God. He tells us we must be insufficient. We must be dependent. If we are not insufficient to save ourselves, if we are not insufficient to sanctify ourselves, if we are not solely dependent upon God alone, we will not see the kingdom of God. Watch your self-sufficiency, Jesus says. Live in dependence upon me. Well, in the book of Genesis, we run across the story of Jacob. And as you know, we've been traveling through the book of Genesis for a little over a year now, and we're to chapter 32. And this story of Jacob is a story about his self-sufficiency. See, Jacob has always been self-sufficient, grabbing at every opportunity. Even when he was being born, he grabbed his brother's heel. And that's why they call them Jacob, heel grabber or deceiver. Jacob grabbed the birthright of the firstborn by cheating Esau out of his birthright with a bowl of stew. The next thing that he did was grabbed at the opportunity to deceive his blind father and pretended to be Esau and stole away the blessing. When Esau came to receive the blessing, Isaac had to tell him, your brother came in deceitfully and he has taken away your blessing. When Jacob arrived at Haran, he seized the opportunity to grab at Laban's youngest daughter, Rachel, and he worked for seven years for her. And you remember that line? It only seemed like a couple of days. I mean, they were so in love, walking through wheat fields and shepherding sheep. So good, right? So he sees the opportunity to grab her and then Laban deceives him and Jacob ends up working another seven years for Rachel and he seizes that second opportunity then to grab her. However, now 20 years have passed and Jacob is substantially grown in the grace and the knowledge of God. That should be encouraging to us, by the way. If we are continually sitting under the tutelage of God's Word, He's continually instruct us and guide us, we're living in community with one another, where people are helping us chase after God's holiness, 20 years from now we'll be radically different people than we were right now. Jacob is radically different than he was 20 years ago, leaving the promised land with only a staff in his hands and the clothes on his back. After 20 years, Jacob acknowledges that now that it's God alone who prospered him in the land of Haran under Laban. But now God calls Jacob to leave Haran and return to the promised land, just as he said he would do. And it's his promise to him as he was getting ready to leave the promised land 20 years earlier. So Jacob and his wives, and all their people and possessions flee to the promised land. And remember, this is a dangerous 400 mile journey. As Jacob comes to the border of the promised land, he's met in Genesis chapter 32, verse one, by the angels of God. But Jacob doesn't really seem frightened by the angels of God. What he really seems frightened by is Esau. If you remember, 20 years earlier, Esau threatened to kill him if he ever saw him again. So Jacob now sends messengers out to Esau. And Jacob says in verse four to these messengers, Thus you shall say to my, now check this out, thus you shall say to my lord, my master 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 I have I have sent to tell my Lord in order that I may find favor in your sight. So Jacob humbles himself. He's already deceived Esau for the blessing of the firstborn. And now his tune changes. Can you see how God's beginning to transform him into a new man, a true God follower? He calls himself servant Jacob, and he calls Esau my lord. And he sends word of donkeys and flocks and male servants and female servants. And he's basically assuring Esau that he's not come back to take away the rest of his father's estate. Well, he's stolen the blessing. He's not coming back to say all this land is mine and now you get off. That's not what he's doing. And so he's he's trying to appease the anger of Esau in his humility and in his grace and sending these things ahead. Jacob then takes his family and travels further south, and they reach the Jabbok River. Now, we've been mapping a little bit throughout the story of Genesis, so we get an idea. Haran's way, oops, let me go back. Haran's way up here off the map, okay? They've marched down, and they're coming right down here, right where the Jabbok and the Jordan meet. Here's Jerusalem down here, and it's about 23 miles north is where the river Jabbok connects with the Jordan. This is important because guess where the Israelites are when they're getting ready to enter into the promised land. They're getting ready to cross the Jordan. So this story is going to sound very familiar to them as Moses is reading this to the people of the Exodus poised to enter the promised land for the second time after having been denied the first time and wandering for 40 years. They're now right up on the edge of the wilderness again and getting ready to enter the promised land. This story is resonating with the people as they hear Moses read from the books of the law. This river is in the eastern part of Canaan. It flows through these deep-cut canyons in the Jordan, about 23 miles north of the Dead Sea. And it's here that Jacob's servants returned to Jacob with some disturbing news in verse 6. It says, 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. Jacob's response in verse 6 is, Jacob is greatly afraid and distressed. That does not do it justice, right? You just sent out word, hey, I'm coming back to town. I just want to let you know I'm back in town and I've got some stuff for you, right? And he says, great, I'm coming with 400 of my closest friends, probably soldiers. What is your thought? He's coming to kill me, right? You don't just come with 400 people to say hi. So he thinks he's coming. Jacob's terrified. It's obvious for Jacob that Esau still wants to kill him. Why else would Esau bring 400 men? So Jacob's mind begins racing, as it always did in tense circumstances throughout his life. And he begins to think of ways that he can avoid being slaughtered. And by the way, this is what Jacob's good at, right? He knows how to be self-sufficient. He knows how to come up with ingenious plans, whether that's with flocks, whether that's with Laban's daughters. He knows how to come up with plans, whether that's stealing a birthright. or stealing a blessing. So his mind begins to think about how can he protect his family? How can he protect his children? Verses seven and eight. And 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. And then Jacob does something really surprising. It's surprising if we didn't know the end of the story. It's surprising if this is the first time that we're reading this story. Moses records for us, Jacob prays. Do you realize that in the entire time that we've been studying the life of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, this is the first time in all of recorded Scripture that Jacob prays to God? It's also significant that he prays for deliverance. This is the longest prayer recorded in the book of Genesis. Jacob is in great distress. It's his first prayer that we see him uttering, and it begins in verse 9, where he says, O God of my father Abraham, 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 you have shown to your servant. For with only my staff I crossed the Jordan, and now have become two camps." So Jacob says he's not worthy of God's steadfast love. He's not worthy of his faithfulness. Isn't this exactly how we sound when we've been radically affected by God's grace and mercy? We realize how God has lavished his love, his mercy, and his faithfulness upon us, and we say, I'm not worthy of that. I'm sinful. That's what Jacob is saying here. He realizes That he can't do it on his own. He is not self-sufficient. He needs God to deliver him. He has no idea how he's going to escape these 400 men. And he needs God to deliver his family. This is really the beginning of a new Jacob. He's no longer self-sufficient. He's earnestly seeking after God. He confesses that he's not worthy of steadfast love and faithfulness. And he's not only concerned about himself. He's concerned about his wives, his servants and their children. Jacob, as a matter of fact, quotes God's word back to him in his prayer, which we need to learn to do. In verse 12, he says, 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. So he's saying, remember when you made that covenant with me when I was leaving the promised land and you said you would bless me? Remember when you said you would prosper me and make my descendants numerous? Jacob is learning to trust the promises of God, right? Sort of. Because we see ourselves here. In one moment, Jacob is trusting the promises of God. You said that you would make me numerous. You said that my descendants would be like the dust of the earth, like the sands of the seashore, like the stars of the heavens. I trust you. And so he says, I'm going back to the promised land. And then when he's confronted with Esau, he's like, I don't know if I can trust you. I know you've been faithful to me for 20 years, God. I know you've prospered me in the land of Haran, but can I trust you with Esau?" Doesn't this sound like us? Have you ever experienced praying to God? You get up from your knees and you say, you know what, God, I trust your promises. It's early in the morning, you're praying, you're like, God, I... I am trusting you for this day. I'm trusting you for these events that happen this day. Whatever comes my way, I'm going to trust your promises. And you know sooner than walk out the door and some problem comes crashing down on you and you say, how am I going to fix this? You forgot just moments ago, you were trusting the promise of God and now you're fighting to believe His promises. You're fighting to believe that He's going to protect you and provide for you and do what He said that He would do in His word. This is Jacob. He says, I believe the promises of God, but then he thinks, I know God's been faithful all these years, but what if He doesn't come through this time? Perhaps maybe I can buy off Esau. Perhaps maybe I can send these great and precious gifts out to him, and it will convince him not to be angry with me anymore. In verses 13 to 15 we read, So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him, so remember he sent a bunch of possessions on ahead, And with what he had with him, he took a present, singular, not presents, one present. You got to check out this pet present, though. It's killer, right? He took a present for his brother Esau. Here they are, verse 14. 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 30 milking camels and their calves. Now, remember what camels are in this time? They're Ferraris. They're like Lamborghinis. They're something you sit out in your yard and people stare at, and they're like, because these camels were not domesticated animals. They are expensive. How much has God prospered him in Heron that he can give up 30 camels and their babies? Can you imagine someone just gifting you, like, here's 30 Ferraris, and by the way, they all have little kids, and you'll get the little cars when they come. You can't imagine this type of, this is crazy wealth, right? This is absurd wealth that God has blessed him with. And this is just one present. Can you imagine if he had to give out presents at Christmas time to everybody? Like all his children and grandchildren? Wow! This guy is wealthy. And then Jacob decides, you know what? This is a good singular present. But I don't want to give it all at once. It's kind of like when you get a present at Christmastime, it's all wrapped up, and then there's a present on top of that present that goes with the present inside the box. Right? They go together. It's one present. It's like the batteries to the baby who talks. Right? That little doll that talks and does its stuff. The batteries sit on top. That's what's happening here. He's going to send them one at a time, and he's going to march them out in front so he can see how extravagant this one gift is, how God has prospered him. So, in verses 17 to 18, he first, he instructed the first, when Esau, my brother, meets you and asks to whom you belong, where are you going, and whose are these ahead of you? Then you shall say, they belong to your servant Jacob, and they are a present sent to my lord Esau. Moreover, he's behind us. So, out walk 200 sheep. That walks out of ways, right? And then a couple miles behind that, 200 more. And behind that, 20 rams. And behind that, 30 camels, right? And so it's an all-day processional. These 400 men are walking on the road. That's a lot of men to put on a road, right? So these 400 men, they're walking on the road, and all of a sudden they see these animals coming at them. And there go the sheep. And there's a guy right behind the sheep. And he's like, who's are those? And he goes, my servant Jacob, he's behind us. And they're walking a little bit further and there's 30 camels and their little babies. They're like, well, who's are these? These 400 men may have never even seen camels before. Who's are these? Oh, they're Jacob's. They're your servants. They're behind. He's just behind us. Right. This is happening all day long as they're walking towards the border of the promised land. So wave after wave after wave of gift comes, Esau, all in attempt to appease his anger. Verse 21. It says, so The present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp. So, though Jacob sends Esau's present ahead, Jacob still can't sleep. He's nervous. He's terrified. Esau's coming to kill him and his family. How will they ever escape 400 men? In verses 22 to 24, Jacob's so worried, it says, that night he arose, he took his two wives and his two female servants and his 11 children, and he crossed the ford at Jabbok, Verse 24, and Jacob was left alone. So here it is, they bump down for the night, he's nervous, he can't sleep, he's pacing back and forth, and all of a sudden he goes, okay everybody, we're moving camp. I'm going to get everybody up. He gets all the children up, he gets all the servants up, he gets up everything, all his possessions that he has, and in the night he marches them across the river, sets their camp up miles away, so that if Esau and his 400 men do arrive, the only person that's going to be there is Jacob. That's how terrified he still is. He's still struggling to trust the promises of God, struggling to trust that God wants him back in the promised land, struggling to believe that he will actually receive the inheritance that God has promised to him. So now he's separated from his wives. He's separated from his children. He's separated from his servants. He's separated from his riches and he's all alone. And then all of a sudden, out of the darkness, there is a man that attacks Jacob. Now we have to fix in our minds the scenario of what's taking place here. I know that we have lights, and we have street lights, and it's hard to imagine no moon and pitch blackness, but if you were to go hiking somewhere, backpacking somewhere, and the moon is not out, and you are in the forest, literally in the middle of the night, without a lantern, without a light, with no luminaries around, you can't see the hand in front of your face. That's what's going on here. It's pitch black. He can't see a thing. And out of the darkness, a man jumps on top of him and begins attacking him. We should also remember that he thinks Esau is coming to kill him, right? So who do you think he thinks it is initially? Probably Esau. or abandoned out to rob him. Found out that he had set up camp there and has come to attack him. Jacob doesn't know. But remember, Jacob is big and he is strong. Just 20 years previous, he had walked over to a well that usually took two or three shepherds to pick up a rock to water sheep. Jacob went over, picked that rock up all by himself to allow Rachel's sheep to drink. Jacob is a big, strong, burly guy. Shepherds are not wimps. They're masculine men. He's a fighter. All of a sudden, this man is on top of him and Jacob fights back with all his might. And they wrestle. Have you ever watched a wrestling meet at the University of Northern Iowa or Iowa University or Iowa State? After three minutes, these guys are exhausted, right? They're giving all they have in three minutes. That's not how this lasts. It lasts all night long. struggling, fighting. These men are strong. Verse 25, this might surprise us. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, how strong must Jacob be? How self-sufficient do you think that strength had made Jacob? When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Just a touch, and Jacob's hip is now out of joint. Jacob must have wondered, who in the world is this? Who has this type of strength? Jacob's now crippled. He can't fight any longer, but what he can do is grapple. He can hang on for dear life. He can sink his fingers into the clothing of this man and hold on as tight as he possibly can and not let him go. And he does hang on for dear life and suddenly the man begins to speak in verse 26 and he says, let me go for the day is broken. And Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. So Jacob now has an idea that this might be God in human flesh and he wants God to bless him as he's promised. But the stranger is not ready to bless Jacob or maybe better said, Jacob's not ready for God's blessing. So the stranger asked Jacob, what is your name in verse 27? This is an incredibly embarrassing question for Jacob. We may not get this in the United States. We may not get it in a modern day reading, but names meant something then. It revealed character. I remember being in first grade Sunday school class and our teacher, who's still at my home church, Our first grade teacher went through and she looked up in name books what all our names meant and she put them across the class to remind us of what our names meant. And I just remember that my name means, Kevin means gentleness and kindness. And I remember some of the teachers huddling because we had a band of nine boys that were just out of control all through grade school and high school. I just remember them huddling up and saying, man, they named that kid wrong. Alright? Names don't mean to us, unless we're parents naming our children, names don't mean to us what they meant to these people. This revealed Jacob's character, and so when this stranger asked Jacob his name, it is a great humiliation. What is your name? And his response, probably with head down and eyes down, is Jacob. And in one word, he confessed his sin. In one word, his name, he said, my name is Deceiver. My name is Heel Grabber. And then we arrive at the climax of the story. The pinnacle of the narrative is in chapter 32, verse 28, where it says this, Then he said, Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. And then the man changed Jacob's name from deceiver to Israel. And he gives him the name, the reason why he's changed his name, because he strove or had striven with God and with men and has prevailed. So we know that Jacob has striven with men all of his life. He's been striving with Esau since the womb, and later he would strive with Esau to get his birthright, and then he would strive with his father to get his blessing, and then he would strive with Laban for his daughters and for fair wages. Jacob has striven with humans, and he has prevailed. God has blessed him. He has walked out of Haran a prosperous man, and now God is bringing him back to the promised land, just as he had guaranteed in his faithfulness to his covenant. Jacob has prevailed over men. But here at the River Jabbok, Jacob had striven with God in human form, and he had prevailed with God. Even with his hip out of joint, he held on to receive God's blessing, and so God gives him a new name, Israel, for he had striven with God. Now, we need to understand something. Jacob did indeed struggle with a pre-incarnate Christ. In other words, before Jesus Christ, comes to the earth in flesh as a baby. He shows up in a theophany here in the flesh of man, just like he had at Abraham's tent with two other angels in human form. And he wrestles with Jacob all night. Remember, God now has taken on human form. It isn't just God inside of a covering, and so we should be expected that God can just whip Jacob as he chooses. But it's God in flesh as a man. And so Jacob fights with the man. The sense that Jacob overcomes God is the sense in which he recognizes dependence upon God, and now he's able to receive the promises and the blessings of God. Let me say that again, because if we don't understand what's going on here, we'll miss the thrust of the rest of the text. Jacob did overcome God. But this is what is meant by that. He recognized his dependence upon God, and now he's able to receive the promises and the blessings of God. In other words, he strove with God and he clung to God until he received God's promises. He overcame in the sense that he clung so tightly to God, he wasn't letting go until he received his blessing. And now, because he held on for God's blessings, he's able to receive God's promises. Jacob's new name orients his character from being a deceiver to now being, excuse me, he was a deceiver in his own strength to now being a man who strives with God for his blessing and can only strive in the strength that God himself provides. Jacob is turned from his deceptive ways as a deceiver. Jacob isn't allowed to enter into the promised land. As a deceiver, he's coming from Heron and God won't let him into the promised land. But now, as Israel, as a changed man who strove with God and received his blessing and went through a radical change that says, I'm no longer independent, but now I am totally dependent. I was self-sufficient, but now I'm depending upon God's sufficiency. Now he can receive the promised land as a gift from the hand of God. Clearly, Jacob now knows the stranger is God because the stranger has told him so. Jacob wants to know his name, but God refuses to tell him. Maybe it's because Jacob already knew. Had not already built altars to Yahweh? And now, Jacob has the blessing for which he begged God earlier. To memorialize this transformative event in his life, Jacob then calls the place to Neal. It's in verse 30, saying, For I have seen the face of God, and yet my life has been delivered. Now remember, it was pitch black. Jacob didn't actually see the face of God. But isn't this how we often talk about our personal encounters with God? Jesus Christ drew me to Himself. He lavished His grace on me. It was as if I had seen Jesus Christ face to face. I saw Him in all His glory. I repented of my sin and believed in Jesus. Isn't this how we often talk about our experiences when we personally encounter God? It's not that he actually saw the face of God, but rather, he wrestled in the dark with Him, and his life was forever changed. and it was spared. That personal encounter with God, combined with God's blessings and covenant promises, meant that Jacob's life would be preserved. And now he can face Esau without fear. Remember, before he's splitting himself into two camps, he's been taking his family across the river, those who are left, and he's camping them a couple miles away. After having met with God and being reassured of his promises, Jacob now trusts in the promises of God again. He gathers up his family and they begin their journey towards Esau. But the upcoming meeting with Esau will put Jacob's trust to the test. Will he trust the promises of God or will he be self-sufficient? Will he depend upon God's enabling power or will he try to do it in his own strength? So Jacob takes his family and he marches towards Esau and his 400 men. Chapter 33, verse 4 says this, But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him, and they wept. This is not Jacob's doing. Do you notice that? I should tell you this, but even sending camels ahead doesn't stop you from having obtained a birthright that wasn't yours, and a blessing that wasn't yours. His gifts did not change the heart of Esau. Rather, it was God himself who changed the heart of Esau. God himself had swept away Esau's anger. God had been the one who reconciled these two people who were once at enmity with each other and now are falling on one another and kissing one another and weeping together. This was all God's doing because God changes the hearts of men. We can't change the hearts of men. If you come in to my office and you say, I really need help and I really need you to change my heart. I'm going to say, I can't do that, but I can lead you to a God who can change you. I can't make you serve Jesus. I can't save you. I can only lead you to Jesus who saves. I can only lead you to God who is the great counselor, but I can't change you. And nor could Jacob change Esau, but Jacob himself indeed is a changed man. As he gets ready to enter the promised land, what does he do? He immediately builds an altar to the Lord, just like Abraham had done before. Now it is not only the God of Abraham and not only the God of Isaac, but now it is the God of Jacob. Before Peniel, before meeting with God face to face, before wrestling with him and receiving his blessing, Jacob's entire life had been characterized by his own determination to seize the promises and the blessings of God for himself in his own strength and his own power. But now Jacob sees the fulfillment of God's promises are the work of God rather than the work of himself. God struggled with Jacob, and in the process, Jacob prevailed in the sense that he recognized his own dependence solely upon God and was able to receive his promises because he wasn't counting on himself. He was counting on the faithfulness of God. Then the narrator concludes the story for us. Moses writes, verse 32, Therefore, to this day, the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of his thigh. Can you imagine every time that the nascent Israel goes to butcher an animal, every time they go to butcher a lamb, every time they go to butcher a sheep or a ram or a bull, they're reminded of this story, the story where their God crippled their father Jacob before he could enter the promised land. God turned the self-sufficient Jacob into Israel before he ever could enter into God's promises. And as Moses writes to the people of Israel who are poised on the edge of the Jordan, getting ready to enter into the promised land for the second time, he's telling them, you can't take the promised land by your own self-sufficiency. Do you see that in the story? Over and over and over, God is driving home to them. Every time you read this story, Israel, he's saying to them, as you enter the promised land, you can't do it on your own. I love when people say, God will never give you anything too hard that you can't handle. I love that because it isn't true. God only gives you what you can't handle. You can breathe on your own. Really? Knock yourself out. You can't breathe unless God allows you to breathe. What do we call not breathing? Death, right? You owe your life and your breath to God. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. You can do nothing on your own. We think we're so self-sufficient, but we can't even breathe if it weren't for God sustaining all things that he's created. We think we're so self-sufficient, and yet he's talking to the people of the promised land and he's saying, you can't take the land by your own self-sufficiency. Remember when you went in and you saw all those giants and you saw those walled cities and you ran away like scared little girls? Oh, sorry, girls. We used to say that when we were boys, so I guess I still am a boy, it still works. You remember when you ran away and you said you couldn't do it and Caleb and Josh were there and they were telling you, go after the Lord, be bold, be strong, be courageous, take the land, God has promised it and you wouldn't do it? That's because you were looking at it from your own self-sufficiency and you look at how small you were as a nation. You're only 2 million people and you look at the millions of people inside the promised land. You thought we're the smallest of all the nations and we'll never be able to defeat any of them. And you're right in your own self-sufficiency. You can't take the land. He tells them. But this is why Joshua, in Joshua chapter 1, is going to say, be bold and be strong. God has promised us the land. You can't do it on your own, but God will provide. And how many times in the book of Joshua and in the book of Judges and 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Chronicles and 1 and 2 Kings do we read, and God won the battle that day. And God won it. And God did this. And God wiped out these people for Israel. How many times do we read that? It's because they couldn't do it on their own. They can't rely upon their own self-sufficiency. He's driving Moses, as the author is driving this home to the people of Israel, poised to enter the promised land. If you want to obtain the promised land, if you want to live in the land where God dwells with his people, then you have to rely upon God alone and receive the land as a gift of God. The same thing is true for us today. We will receive the kingdom of God, not by our own hard work. but rather only by God's grace, by His enabling power. It's a gift. This is why Jesus warns us in Matthew chapter 19, verses 23 and 24. Truly I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Or, some of you have, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Self-made, self-sufficient people cannot inherit the kingdom of God. It can't happen. You must rely solely upon God, or you cannot have the Kingdom of God. I love the 1800s hymn. It's entitled, It Is Finished. I won't read all the verses to you, but I just want to read a couple. It's called, It Is Finished. When he from lofty throne stooped to do and die. Talking about Jesus. Everything was fully done, hearken to his cry. Weary, working, burdened one, wherefore toil you so? Cease your doing. All was done a long, long time ago. Till to Jesus' work you cling. Like Jacob, right? Clinging for the blessing of God. Till to Jesus' work you cling by a simple faith. Doing is a deadly thing. Doing ends in death. Cast your deadly doing down, down at Jesus' feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone, glorious and complete. Now, I know that some of you, you're thinking incredibly hard right now. And you're thinking, what else did Jesus say about doing? And some of you have already thought about Luke chapter 13, verse 24. And you're thinking, but didn't Jesus also say Yes, a self-sufficient man, a rich man can't enter the kingdom of heaven. But didn't he also say, strive, work to enter through the narrow door for many, I tell you, will seek and enter and not be able. And you're thinking, well, which is it? Am I supposed to work or not work? What does Jesus want from me? Do I strive or not strive? And the answer is yes. That's exactly right. Yes. Now think about this. Jesus is the narrow door. He's saying, cling to me. Right? Now, I know it's a crude analogy, and this is probably not what the biblical author Luke meant by this, but imagine this. If he's the door, if he's the swinging gate, Then hold on to the gate. When we were kids, we used to strap ourselves onto these chain link fences. We'd let people swing the gates back and forth. Our parents hated that. We were breaking their gate. But we would hold on to this gate. Now imagine this. Jesus Christ swings the door open. You're clinging on to Jesus and you enter in, right? Because you're clinging on to the gate. You're seeking to enter through Jesus. So by God's enabling power, by God's grace, we cling to Jesus. We strive to hold on to Him alone. We, like Jacob, fight to hold on for the blessings of God that Peniel get. We do not strive in our own strength. We strive in the strength that God provides. So when the Philippian jailer in Philippians chapter 16, verse 30 and 31 says, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. It seems so simple. And yet it's much more difficult than we first think. Because while it is simple in the sense that believe in Jesus and you'll be saved, repent of your sin, believe in Jesus and you will be saved. While that's simple, if you realize what you have to do in order to repent of your sin and believe in Jesus, you have to stop being self-sufficient. You don't get to come on your own terms. You get to come on God's terms. And his terms are enabling grace. God enables you. We must drop our self-sufficiency, rely upon Christ alone. If we wish to enter the kingdom of God, we must cling to Jesus alone. And the model for entering the kingdom is not by self-sufficiency. Rather, the model for entering the kingdom is depending solely upon Jesus alone. We must receive the kingdom as a precious gift. from the Father through Jesus Christ, and then we must live the rest of our Christian lives in total dependence upon God. So why is it that we have such a hard time with this? We realize that salvation comes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and therefore we will see the kingdom of God. But when it comes to sanctification, apparently it's all up to us. We're saying things to people like, just try harder. They're like, man, I'm struggling through sin. Well, just try harder. As if we still don't need God's grace, but God's grace undergirds even our sanctification. So if we're going to do one work for the kingdom, if we're going to be about God's kingdom works, if we're going to feed the poor, if we're going to minister to our neighbor, if we are going to counsel someone with the word of God, if we are going to go to the nations with the gospel, if we are going to be about international justice mission, if we are going to be about putting wells in Africa and giving them both food, water, and the gospel. If all these things are going to happen, if we're going to be about adoption and taking God's gospel to the world by showing how God has adopted us, if we're going to do all these things that are kingdom works, how is it that we keep thinking we're going to do it in our own strength and not in the strength that God provides? This is Paul's critique of the Galatian church in chapter 3. He says, who so easily bewitched you? Were you not saved by grace? What makes you think that you can continue without grace? We are in desperate need of grace. So maybe you're here this morning, you already know the gospel, and you're thinking, how does not being self-reliant and self-dependent about entering the kingdom have to do with me? It's because people who are in the kingdom also continue to not be self-reliant. They continue to trust upon Jesus. They continue to trust His promises, believe His word, and bank on them. We need to trust God's faithfulness. And Jacob, through the author Moses, is screaming out to us today to trust the grace and the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. Let's pray.