Good morning. It is a privilege to be here to bring the Word to you this morning. And our sermon, as you see there in the bulletin, is going to be from Genesis chapter 32, beginning at verse 22. So if you are not immediately familiar with this passage of Scripture, This is Jacob now returning to the promised land of the land of Canaan. He's been working for his father-in-law Laban for many years. And he is now returning. Remember when he departed from the land of Canaan, he wasn't exactly on good terms with his twin brother Esau. And so as he is now coming back into the land to claim really his right to the land, since he now had the birthright, he finds out that Esau is coming to meet him. And so, of course, he assumes that this is not going to be a good interaction, that this is not going to be a good exchange as his brother meets him. And so there in verse 22, he now separates himself from his two wives, and from his servants, and from his children. And we see what happens here. He's alone and he wrestles with God. So again, picking it up at verse 22. Hear now the word of God. Moses writes, and he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants and his 11 sons and crossed over the fort of Jabuk. He took them, sent them over the brook and sent over what he had. Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. Now when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his hip, and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, let me go, for the day breaks. But he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. So he said to him, what is your name? He said, Jacob. And he said, your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed. Then Jacob asked, saying, tell me your name, I pray. And he said, why is it that you ask me about my name? And he blessed him there. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel. For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. Just as he crossed over Penuel, the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip. Therefore, to this day, the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip in the muscle that shrank. Thus far for the reading of God's holy and inspired word, may he bless it to us. In thinking about our text this morning and in thinking about this whole concept of what it means to be blessed by God, I did a quick research project looking at how the hashtag blessed is used on social media. And it was kind of interesting, I found that on Instagram, for instance, that the hashtag blessed has been used over 148 million times. So that's that's quite a bit. So also on Twitter, or X, as it's apparently now called, it's long been recognized that blessed is one of the most popular and long standing hashtags that people use, you find it all over the place. And if you just do a cursory survey of what some of these posts are all about, whether it's on Instagram or on Twitter or other platforms like Facebook, you'll see that these posts usually have little to nothing to do with God himself and almost everything to do with one's economic status, one's accomplishments. Maybe because one's on vacation or they're talking about their family. I'm so blessed by my family. And of course it's always what's associated with the standard selfie. Turning the phone on themselves as they brag about those things and put that they are hashtag blessed. You see, all of this shows us that even in our so-called secular culture, there is still this persistent belief that there is a outside force or some transcendent person to whom we ought to be grateful. Again, regardless of how shallow we can be in our expression of this belief. You see, we talk about being blessed. We claim to be blessed all the time as a culture. But again, what does this word even really mean? What does it mean to be blessed by God according to scripture? And how can we know that we've truly been blessed by God according to scripture? Well, Moses here, in narrating this story of how Jacob became known as Israel, He shows us what it means to be truly blessed by God. And we find here in this account, in the middle of the book of Genesis, that the blessing of God is not primarily found in all these creature comforts. The blessing of God is found in knowing God as our God. And so, therefore, we as His covenant people, we must find our life and we must find our identity, we must find our hope in Him and not in the things of this life. You see, Moses here is not only reminding the Israelites of what their name truly means and of the origin of their name as a people, but he's also reminding them of the full weight and of the full blessing of what it means to be in covenant with God. For God to be our God and for we, us, to be his people. And so as we examine this text this morning and look closer at it, I'm going to break this narrative down into three different parts. We're going to consider first a divine encounter. Then second, we are going to look at a divine confrontation And then third, we are going to look at a divine grace as Jacob experienced it here. And you see, each of these will remind us of the full weight and of the full blessing of what it means to know God as our God. And so first then, let's examine the divine encounter. But in order to do that, in order to examine this divine encounter, we first need to consider some theological concepts in understanding how it is that man comes to encounter God. Now, in order for finite creatures, limited creatures such as ourselves, to truly encounter God and to thus truly know God, what needs to happen? Of course, God needs to do what? He needs to reveal himself to us. And so this makes us think of the whole doctrine of divine revelation, doesn't it? Or the whole idea that God condescends to human beings to uncover or to disclose himself to them. That's what divine revelation is. It's a divine uncovering. In fact, in both the Hebrew as well as in the Greek, the word that we normally translate as revelation means just that. It means to uncover or to unveil or to draw back the curtain. And you see throughout the Old Testament, we see that God does this in various ways. He does it through things like dreams and visions, even through audible voices at times. Of course, we see that the prophets often heard God directly. These are the diverse manners of speaking which God used in former times that Paul famously speaks of there in Hebrews chapter one and verse one. And here in verses 22 through 24 of our text, we see that God revealed himself to Jacob in this instance in the form of what we call a theophany, or God appearing to man in a human or in a angelic form. That's what a theophany is. Look at verse 22 with me, if you will. Again, looking back at verse 22, It says, and he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his 11 sons, and crossed over the fort of Jabok. He took them, sent them over the brook, and sent them over what he had. He sent them over the brook and sent over what he had. Then Jabok was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his hip. But there you see that he was left alone and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. So that was the theophany. Now the first thing that I want you to notice here in this account is that this theophany occurs in the context of Jacob being alone. There in verses 22 and 23, we see that Jacob sent his family away, along with, again, all of his creature comforts, or along with all of the so-called blessings of this life. He sent those things away from himself. so that he was alone. In other words, he sent away all the things that we normally take comfort in. The things that we normally say that we are hashtag blessed by. All of our possessions and our family and our children. And so Jacob now is all alone. He's all alone with his own thoughts. He's all alone with his own feelings. And he's all alone with his own conscience. Now, we aren't told exactly why he did this in the text, but we can gather from the context that, again, as I mentioned before we read the scripture, that it most likely had to do with his angst about encountering his twin brother Esau once again. And that would certainly make sense, wouldn't it? Again, as I alluded to, Jacob and Esau were not exactly best bros, were they? As we learned from Rebecca, even in the womb, she could feel them struggling against one another. They did not have a good relationship even while they were in the womb. Then, of course, when they were grown. Jacob persuaded Esau to give away his birthright, and then he tricked his own father, Isaac, into giving it to him while he was on his deathbed. This is, again, what led Jacob to flee from the promised land in the first place, because Jacob was out for blood, wasn't he, over all of that? And so Jacob now is entering into the promised land, and he has to go back and encounter his brother once again. And so Jacob now isolates himself in his anxiety as he is preparing for what might be coming, as Esau is meeting with him, or preparing to meet with him. I'm sure that we can all relate to this at some level. I'm sure that most of us do not like confrontation. Most people don't like confrontation. People who like confrontation are usually problematic people, aren't they, right? Most of us don't like confrontation, and so when we are faced with it, what do we do? We often want to kind of have that flight response. We want to go off into the corner and curl up in a ball maybe sometimes if we're especially intimidated by the person that we're being confronted with. So perhaps that is what Jacob was doing here when he isolated himself. by sending his family and his possessions away. And yet, as the text recounts to us, while he was alone and isolated, Jacob, again, had this divine encounter. Now, again, verse 24 that we read describes this theophany or this appearance of God simply as a man. Verse 24 there does say that he Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. However, if you go on to read verses 28 and 30, which we'll get to here in a minute, those texts clearly imply that this is God whom he is encountering here. So Jacob encounters God, and yet God is referred to as a man, which is something that we'll touch on later on in the sermon. But think about that, in the midst of Jacob's angst and anxiety, and in the midst of his isolation, his self-imposed isolation due to his angst and his anxiety, God comes to him and reveals himself to him. And as Moses records here, Jacob then began to wrestle with God as he encountered him in his isolation in this theophany. And dear believer, this is often how it works with you, isn't it? Now, of course, God doesn't come to you in the form of a theophany, but he still does come to you as he condescends to you in his revelation. For example, speaking of general or of natural revelation, Paul writes in Romans chapter 1 and verses 19 and 20 that, quote, what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. You see all men everywhere. through both creation and conscience, they all encounter and know God every moment of every day, whether they admit it or not. Again, Paul goes on to say that apart from faith, apart from regeneration, we suppress that knowledge. Nevertheless, everybody in their heart of hearts knows God. They all encounter God every moment of every day, and this includes all of you as well. As Jay Adams would often say, we dwell in the environment of God's revelation as his creatures. In fact, to be made in God's image means that you are a receiver of God's revelation. That's really what it means. You are fit to receive God's revelation. And so God is an inescapable reality to you as a human being. And so we encounter God every moment of every day through general or through natural revelation. But you see, we especially come to encounter God and know God through the reading and through the preaching of scripture. Again, Hebrews chapter one and verses one and two says, God who at various times and in various ways, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets. Again, that is through dreams and visions and through theophanies like we see here. He has in these last days spoken to us by his son. So the author of Hebrews, who I believe is Paul, he speaks to us, or he tells us that God now speaks to us through the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is how God now reveals himself to us. You see, like with Jacob, the reality of the God-man is the same reality that you are presented with each Sabbath day as the word of God is preached. and in your daily devotions, and in your private devotional life. And so it's the same reality that you all must wrestle with. God condescending to you through our Lord Jesus Christ in the Word of God and in the Gospel. And isn't it true that just like with Jacob here, the reality of God often hits us the most and impacts us the most when we are all alone and free from all other distractions. And again, when I say that, I'm not talking about when we are just physically alone, like maybe when we are alone with our thoughts and emotions before going to bed, maybe as we're laying in bed praying before we go to sleep. What I'm especially referring to here are those moments when we feel spiritually alone, when we feel the internal pangs of conscience, when we are truly experiencing the want of original righteousness, that there's something fundamentally wrong about us as fallen human beings. And especially when we are, again, all alone in our thoughts, wrestling with the reality of God's judgment and his holiness and righteousness. You see, it's in those moments where God becomes the inescapable reality that we must all contend with. And we, again, especially feel the weight of this in our isolation. I think just in my own life, back to my own conversion in relation to this, back when I was all alone driving, listening on a CD, back when those were a thing, to a burnt CD of a sermon by a man named Ray Comfort called Hell's Best Kept Secret. It's all about how the law of God is used to convict people of sin and evangelism. And though that sermon was meant for Christians on how to evangelize, I was wrestling with the things of God, wondering if Christianity is true. And again, when I heard the law of God nailing me, and as substitutionary atonement was presented, I had to pull over my vehicle and get right with God, right? So I wasn't necessarily alone, right, out in the middle of the desert like Jacob was here, but I was alone wrestling with the things of God. And of course, we continue to wrestle with these things as believers. We continue to go through moments of backsliding or moments of wrestling with, am I really being faithful? Am I really believing God's Word, right? It's in those moments when the existential weight of who God is comes to us. When we are wrestling with God's existence, and with our existence in light of His existence, it's then that we learn that He isn't to be taken lightly or casually. And that's such a problem in our day and age, isn't it? People are much too lax. about God, about who He is, even within the church. And again, I think of what fills my mind throughout most of the week, and realize that I'm not living quorum Deo as I should be, or before the face of God. And dear believer, this is why it's actually the trials that we go through that lead us into those places of hopelessness and anxiety. It's the trials that we go through that we are to really see as God's blessing upon our life. Because like with Jacob's trial here, it's when all of our comforts are stripped away. It's then that we learn to wrestle with the only reality that truly matters in the end. The reality of God in light of the problem of our sin. And so that brings us then to consider the divine confrontation that is presented in this text. And we see that in verses 25 through 27. Again, 25 through 27. Moses writes, now when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the socket of his hip. And the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, let me go. for the day breaks. But he said, that is Jacob, I will not let you go unless you bless me. So he said to him, what is your name? He said, Jacob. Now, initially this exchange here might seem a bit odd to us, especially the part where God asks Jacob for his name. sort of like license and registration. What's going on here? Why is he asking him for his name in this context? With the whole situation of wrestling together, and with Jacob demanding a blessing. It's a bit odd for Jacob's name, for God to ask Jacob of his name, for that to have any relevance to this whole exchange here. But again, just remember what Jacob is asking for here. Let's just think about and meditate upon what Jacob is asking for here. Jacob is asking God to bless him with a knowledge and with an experience of God as his God. That's what he's asking for. In other words, Jacob is asking for God to further reveal who he is and who he will be towards him. Jacob is asking God to draw the veil of revelation back even further on himself so that he might be blessed, so that he might find some assurance in this situation in light of what he might face with Esau. In other words, Jacob's saying, Show me who you are and who you will be towards me. That's what he's asking for in saying to God that he wanted his blessing. And you see, in scripture, this always involves the revelation of God's name. For example, think of our scripture reading from Exodus. Think of how Moses at the burning bush, how he wanted the assurance of God's name before he began his mission to deliver the Jews from Egypt. He said there in our scripture reading, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they say to me, what is his name? What shall I say to them? Again, Moses said, tell me who you are and who you will be towards us so that I can recount that information to the people and encourage them as we're about to do something as drastic as try to escape from Egypt alive. And so Jacob here, whether he realized it or not at this point, in asking for God to bless him and to assure him, he was ultimately asking for God to reveal himself to him through his name. But again, as we read here, God first wanted Jacob to draw back the curtain on himself and to unveil his own name. In verse 26 and going into verse 27, he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. And then you see that response. So he said to him, what's your name? God asked Jacob for his name in response to that statement, I will not let you go unless you bless me. Now, we have to be absolutely clear here. God didn't ask this of Jacob out of a lack of information. This isn't the heresy of open theism here where God is limited in his knowledge or where God forgets things. No, of course, God is omniscient. He knows all things from before the foundation of the world. Rather, what this was was yet another act of divine condescension. Similar to how God condescended in the Garden of Eden after our first parents had sinned and asked Adam, where are you? Of course, God knew exactly where they were in that instance, spiritually and physically. God asked that question of Adam, where are you in that instance? to confront him. The question was confrontational in nature, and it was meant to draw out a confession in them. Similar to, again, what we might do with our kids at times. We catch them in the act of doing something that they shouldn't be doing, and so we might say, and what exactly are you doing here? Right? We know what they're doing, We are confronting them and trying to get them to confess to the wrong thing that they're doing. That's what God did with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It's the same thing that God is doing here when he asks Jacob for his name. God was confronting Jacob in this as Jacob was asking for his blessing and seeking a confession from him. So what do I mean by that? How was God confronting Jacob and seeking a confession from him by asking him for his name? Well, remember, in the ancient world, names were not just these things that were given for mere aesthetic, sentimental reasons. No, names were given and they were understood to reveal the essence of someone or something. They were understood to have a concrete meaning, again, beyond just, I like the way that sounds, and so that's what I'm going to name my child. So what then did Jacob's name mean, and what did it reveal about his character? Well, in its most literal translation, Jacob means supplanter, or overreacher. But in the context of it being a name, it can also be rendered as liar or cheater. And that's certainly fitting with Jacob's character, isn't it? After all, we learn in Genesis chapter 25 and 26 that Jacob came out of Rebecca's womb grasping onto Esau's heel as if he was trying to yank him back and cheat and get into first place. Jacob literally went astray from the womb in the sin of lying and cheating, which is why he was given that name. Then again, we have the account of Jacob stealing Esau's birthright as the firstborn by deceiving both Isaac and Esau. And Jacob has also just spent the last 20 years working for his father-in-law, Laban. who tricked him and cheated him many times over, especially in how he tricked him into marrying Leah first. And in many ways, Jacob got his just desserts in the person of Laban. The deceiver was deceived, wasn't he? You see, his whole life, from conception to this very moment, was characterized by the sin of lying and cheating, both as he committed those sins and as they, right, snapped right back in his face. And so having his whole life as the context, God asks him for his name, and so he gives it to him, Jacob, the liar, the cheater. Or another way we could put it is that he was Jacob, the one who wrestles against God and his providence. Because that is precisely what liars and cheaters do, don't they? They try to warp reality and twist reality to their own benefit in an unjust way. And so God calls Jacob here to come clean and to confess who and what he is by his name. You see, Jacob wanted God to unveil himself further to him. But first, God required Jacob to do the same thing. to remove the proverbial fig leaves, and to be transparent about who and what he was. And once again, isn't this precisely how it goes with us? The law of God comes to us and confronts us, calling us to name ourselves as idolaters, as Sabbath breakers, as rebels, as murderers, as adulterers, as liars, and as cheaters. And the law of God also antagonizes our sin in this, riling us up so that we likewise find ourselves wrestling with God and with his law. As Paul writes in Romans chapter 7 in verses 7 through 9, if you want to turn there with me. In Romans chapter 7, again, in verses 7 through 9, Paul is narrating the Christian life. And first he narrates his conversion and conviction of sin. And this is ongoing in the Christian life. He says, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not. On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, you shall not covet. But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law, sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. In other words, when the law of God came to Paul and condemned covetousness, all of a sudden he found that he had all sorts of covetous passions arising within himself. He saw that he was the covetous one. And isn't that how it often goes? God's law says, don't do that. And then it brings that action to mind. It's sort of like that old trick where someone says, don't think of a banana, right? And then what comes in your mind but a banana? So you violate that command as it's spoken. So in the same way, when the commandment comes to us, as Paul says, sin revives. Our flesh goes, I want to do that. Sin revived and I died. In other words, the law taken in itself leaves us in the exact same situation as Jacob, all alone and wrestling with God, which spells certain death to us apart from the grace of God, because we will have to identify ourselves with everything that his holy law condemns as we see these sins rising up within us and being present with us. Yes, I'm the liar. Yes, I'm the cheater. Yes, I'm the adulterer. Yes, I'm the covetor. You see, dear church, we might try to be lighthearted about our sin, but God will allow no such thing. And so like Jacob and Paul, we must not bury our sin nor expose it and then try to justify it or laugh it off. Oh, we're all sinners. No biggie. No, we are rather to confess it and repent of it. If we are to truly know God intimately and be blessed by that knowledge, then we must know and acknowledge our sin, which functions as a barrier between us and God. As the book of Hebrews says, without holiness, no one will see the Lord. And you see, as we do that in faith, As we do that in faith, we will not find the judgment of God, but instead we will find the grace of God and the blessing of God. And so that brings us then to consider the divine grace present in this text. And we see that in verses 28 and 29. It says, and he said, your name shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed. Then Jacob asked, saying, tell me your name, I pray. And he said, why is it that you ask about my name? And he blessed him there. So God has grace upon Jacob here by finally extending his blessing to him. In verse 29, we find that Jacob, after having received his new name Israel, that he then asks for the divine name. Again, as I mentioned before, this is Jacob asking for that deeper knowledge of God as his God, or as the God of the covenant. The covenant idea implies, again, not only that God exists, but that he is your God, and you are one of his people. And so in asking for God's name, again, he's asking for that assurance. And commenting on this verse, John Calvin says, Jacob does acknowledge God, yet not content with an obscure and slight knowledge, he wishes to ascend higher. And this is really the climax of the passage. Jacob wants to know God's name. Tell me who you are and who you will be towards me. And yet God responded here by asking Jacob why he wanted to know his name. And then Moses just records that God blessed him there. And so we were sort of left hanging, aren't we? There's no resolution to this climax. It's a bit vague. Did Jacob receive the name or not? And what was the nature of the blessing that he received? Well, I believe that this climax without full resolution is sort of a literary technique that's meant to propel you through the narrative forward. In other words, this is meant to rope you in by asking these very questions. So you have to read on to find the answer and to resolve the tension. Will anybody get the name of God? What is the name? What is the name? And as I alluded to before a few times, there are parallels here with Exodus chapter three, where Moses likewise asks for the assurance of God's name in a situation that was also fraught with much anxiety and uncertainty and peril. And what was the name that, again, God gave to Moses there? Well, remember, it was that great name, I am that I am, or I am who I am. and then its shortened form, Jehovah. It's a name that carries with it the full weight of doctrines, such as divine simplicity, divine unchangeability, and divine faithfulness. In other words, God revealed to Moses that he was the absolute being who had bound himself to his people absolutely, so that they could be assured of his favor going forward, and so that they could call upon him in their distress. The name revealed that God was their God, which is again why it's often been called the covenant name of God. Now, the text doesn't indicate that Jacob received this particular name at this time. Many assume that he didn't. But it certainly seems to indicate that he came to know and experience the substance of that name, Jehovah, or the substance of that name, I am who I am. So where do I gather that from? We'll look at verse 30. It says, so Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved. Now, normally we would expect that a sinner, such as Jacob, in coming face-to-face with God himself, we normally would expect him to be utterly destroyed, right? For God's wrath to break out against him. In fact, God's holiness and justice demands it, doesn't it? And yet Jacob has not only seen God face-to-face, but he's also wrestled with him. and then been given his blessing. So again, the question is, how can this be? How can this be? Think about it. The liar has looked Truth with a capital T in the face and entered into combat with him, wrestling with him, and yet he's still standing. Well, this can only be considered an act of divine grace. And Jacob recognized that here by saying, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. You see, Jacob now knew that God was his God. He knew that God was the God of the covenant, which is, again, the substance of the name Jehovah, or I am that I am. And so Jacob now could face the future with confidence. because God had, in this intimate and immediate way, chosen to deal graciously with him in light of his sin. So again, he names the place Peniel, saying, I've seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. This reminds me of another passage that is also significant to the Israelites, to all of Jacob's descendants, namely the priestly blessing of Numbers chapter six that we often give at the end of our church services. It says, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. And then it concludes saying, so or thus, They shall put my name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them. You see, God's grace is manifested towards his covenant people in his face shining upon them and in his name being placed upon them. Those two things are normally joined together, which is why I do think that Jacob here was given the divine name, though, by divine inspiration. Moses did not record that here. But again, how is that possible for sinners? If God is truly unchanging in his holiness, goodness, justice, and truth, how can he be gracious to wicked creatures like us? Well, as we read in the account of Jacob here, it was possible because of this new identity that was given to him, Israel. or the one who struggles with God and with man and has yet prevailed. Now the sense of the name Israel here is God strives or God rules. Whereas previously it was Jacob who was striving and Jacob who was ruling with his lies and manipulation as he was seeking to be the captain of his own fate. But now it would be God who would take care of him. For God had identified with him in the covenant. And so Jacob could let go of his striving. God tore down Jacob, the liar and the cheater. And he gave him a new identity, Israel, he who wrestles with God and man and has prevailed. And again, this was purely a manifestation of divine grace because Jacob did nothing to earn this status, did he? It was merely given to him or conferred upon him. He himself had to admit before God that he had fallen short of his glory. And even in this wrestling match, It's not at all clear that he prevailed. In fact, his hip was knocked out of socket, which if any of you men wrestled in high school, you know that might be a problem if you're in a wrestling match. But you see, the only thing that Jacob did here is he refused to let go. He refused to let go. And so God graciously rendered him as the victor here and promised to be with him and to make him the victor going forward. This was to be his new identity, and it was an identity marked by grace. You see, God revealed his covenant faithfulness to Jacob, so that just as he transformed his grandfather Abram into Abraham, so he now transformed Jacob into Israel. And he would do the same thing for his descendants as well, which is why they were the Israelites. This account here was to show them the kind of God who was their God in the covenant. that though Jacob was scandalous in many ways, just as his descendants would be, nevertheless, God had stripped away that old identity and graciously clothed him in a new identity. By grace, Jacob found his identity in the covenant-keeping God, and so he came to truly know the blessing of God as his God. And brothers and sisters, Isn't this the same thing that has happened to us in Jesus Christ? God has stripped away our old identity. He stripped away the guilt and the pollution of Adam, along with the sin that we ourselves have keeped on top of that mess. And he's given us a new identity, as justified, as adopted, and as sanctified. And it isn't anything that's been given to us because of our works, it's been given to us in spite of our works. For before God we are crippled morally and spiritually just like Jacob was when he wrestled with God. Rather, Christ Jesus is so identified with us in our condition that rather than wrestle with us in our sin and guilt, he has instead taken upon our sin and our guilt and our infirmities as we see in Isaiah 53, and He has nailed it to the cross. And then He has clothed us with His identity, with His righteousness, as we grab a hold of Him by faith, and like Jacob, as we refuse to let go. And so, dear believer, you are now free in Christ. You are now free in Christ. just as Jacob was freed and given a new identity. And so you need to stop acting like a slave. You need to stop acting like a slave to guilt. And you need to stop acting like a slave to sin. The God of Israel is your God, just as he was towards Jacob. And he promises to be with you and to carry you through going forward, as you wrestle with Esau, as you wrestle with sin, the world, and the devil, and your warfare as a Christian, think about it. God has placed his very name upon you in your baptisms, the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. You've received the answer to Jacob's question here. You've received the divine name, and he's placed it upon you. That's how much He identifies with you. The triune God has revealed Himself to you as your God, and He has bound Himself to you as your God. And again, all of this is assured to you as you grab a hold of the God-man with the hand of faith, and as, like Jacob, you refuse to let go. This is why the Word and the sacraments are given to you each week to build you up in that new identity so that you might live out of it and out of the peace and the assurance and out of the encouragement that it gives you. And this is also why God will put you through trials. and why he calls you to continue in the difficult work of mortifying your old nature. It's a reminder, just like Jacob's limp, that you have been transformed by grace, and that you are now therefore dependent upon grace. As we see here, Jacob walked away from this encounter permanently altered. He walked away with a limp, and his limp was meant to keep him from depending on his own strength. And God will do the same thing with you. He will give you limps in your life that will remind you that you are dependent upon Him, that you are just a sinner who's dependent upon His grace. The trials of your faith are there to fuel your experiential knowledge of His grace by forcing you out of yourself so that you might depend on Him by faith more and more. And so this is what it looks like to be blessed by God. It's not about money and cars and property and all the things of this life, even the good things of this life, like family. That's not primarily what it's about. Being blessed by God looks like being in a place of moral and spiritual and even physical weakness at times, and yet knowing that God is your loving God who cares for you in Christ. He wants us to abide in his fatherly care and to not lose sight of it. Don't forget that. Yes, God wants us to be effective Christians in this world. We see so much when we see all these things going on in the culture. Christians need to do something. We need to stand up. We need to evangelize. We need to confront the sins of our culture. Yes, we need to do all of those things. He wants us to be in his strength. He wants us to be effective witnesses and testimonies. But you see, knowing his love, And knowing His grace, that is what's going to make us strong and effective in this world as Christians. It's how we know that we have the blessing of Israel upon us. When we look upon the face of the God-man by faith in all of our weaknesses and in all of our struggles, and when we refuse to let go regardless of our circumstances and what we are going through. Let's now pray for God's help in this. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, what a privilege it is to call you our Father and our God. And we know that we can call you our Father and our God because we have been united to Christ. We have been united to Him as He has taken upon our nature, as He has been filled with the Spirit that He has breathed out with you eternally, as that Spirit was placed on His human nature, and as that Spirit enters us to give us faith, we know that we are united to You and dwell in You, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, just as You have signed and sealed to us in our baptisms. so that no matter what we are going through, we know that your blessing is upon us. Lord, help us to believe this since we struggle so much with unbelief. Help us, Lord, to know your love and your grace as it's been revealed in Christ and as it's been set before us in the word and as it's been impressed upon us by your spirit. Help us to know and to see and to experience your love, that Lord, our faith might be strengthened, that our love might grow reflexively back to you and back to our neighbor, so that no matter what we go through in our trials and our temptations and our struggles and our suffering, even in our blessings, as you bless us in this life, would we remember that The blessing that we have in Christ by the Spirit is your blessing, and that you, Lord, are to captivate our hearts, not the things of this world, though you, Lord, do give us good things to enjoy. Lord, strengthen our faith, strengthen us in our obedience to you, that we might be children of our Father in heaven, and reflect him into the world with our words and works and be effective Christians and evangelists day in and day out as we live our life before your face. We ask all of these things in Jesus name. Amen.