Hello and welcome to our third message entitled, Jacob Went On His Way. Have your Bible ready if you can. Well, we read in chapter 32 and verse number 1 that Jacob went on his way. Three times we read in the Bible here that Jacob went. Genesis 27, verse 22, it says Jacob went in and he deceived his father, Isaac, into believing that he was Esau. And then in Genesis 29 and verse 1, we read that Jacob went on his journey. And that's an interesting word, that word journey. It has been translated feet 216 times. He went on his feet. In other words, when it's talking here about Jacob going on his journey, it's talking about where he's walking, where he's going. It has something to do with physical movement. He's heading toward a certain place. But here in Genesis chapter 32, Verse number one, it says that Jacob went on his way. Now this word has been translated manner eight times, and so it's not just talking about where he's walking with his feet, but his way here, it's talking about his manner of life. Jacob went on his way. And his whole manner of life is going to change in the next chapter or so. as we see what the Lord is doing in Jacob's life. Now we read verse 1 and 2 here in chapter 32. It says, And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host, and he called the name of that place Mahaniam. Now, it's interesting to note here, first of all, that he met with the angels of God here in chapter 32 and verse number 1. Well, we have that same phrase back in chapter 28 and verse number 12, where we read that Jacob came and he lighted upon a certain place. You'll notice in our verse number two in chapter 32, he is in that place. Here back in chapter 28, he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night because the sun was set. And he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillow and laid down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, and here's this phrase, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac. Now, we notice here, first of all, that this is the first night in chapter 28 when Jacob has left home. His brother has threatened to kill him. He is running for his life. He's gone about 40 miles, which is twice the distance you would usually go on one day trip. But he's in a hurry to get out of there because his brother is after him. Well, we read here in verse 11 that he comes to a certain place, and again we read, Behold the angel of God. Well, here in our verse that we're reading in 32, once again, We see the angels and he beholds the angel it says in verse 28 in chapter 28 and verse 13 The angel of the lord god now you notice there if you have your bible open That the word lord is printed in all capital letters followed by the word god when you see that in the old testament It is always referring to christ in the old testament. We sometimes think he just showed up as a baby in the manger in the New Testament and lived here for 33 and a half years and then went back to heaven. No, he was very, very active in the Old Testament. starting in the Garden of Eden and all the way through. So we see here that this particular night was the night that Jacob met the Lord. And he said in chapter 28 and verse number 16, surely the Lord is in this place. Well, when we get to chapter number 32, And verse number one, it is 20 years later after that first time when he met Christ, and I personally believe that was when he got saved. It's 20 years later, and he has a 20-year training program that he has been going through with his uncle Laban. Now as we get to chapter 32, God has some great plans ahead. Tremendous plans for Jacob. And so he named this place Mahanaim. Now what that word means is two camps. Now what is a camp? Well it's a place where soldiers would stop in their battle, and they'd have a temporary resting place, a temporary place of refuge, a place where they could get restrengthened and then get on with the battle. And that is exactly what is happening in Jacob's life here. Now, in verse number two, we see that he has a real problem. First of all, he comes to the place where he's going to deal with the situation, And we see the problem in verse number two that he's facing right now, and that is that Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, unto the land of Shear, the country of Edom, and he has a situation here. In fact, he's got two situations. He's kind of caught in the middle. On one side, he's got Laban, who is really upset with him, And on the other side, he's got Esau. And the last he's heard about him was he wanted to kill him. And so he's got a problem. He really does. Now, Laban's supposed to have solved the problem here in the last chapter when they said, okay, I'm going my way and you're going yours. And we see that back in chapter 31. However, you can't trust Laban. You can't trust him at all. So here's Jacob. He's looking back and he's saying, well, I got Laban back there and I got Esau over here and he's talking about killing me. Um, and so I, he has a problem. Let's not pretend there's no problem here. Jacob is in a certain place where he can deal with things, but he has to deal with this problem. Well, the next thing we see is Jacob's plan and it starts here in verse number three in We read that Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother, into the land of Seir, the country of Edom, and he commanded them, saying, thus shall you speak unto my lord Esau, thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed there until now, and I have oxen, and asses, and flocks, and menservants, and women servants, and I have sent to tell my Lord that I may find grace in thy sight. And so we see his attitude has really changed here. He's calling him my Lord Esau. He didn't think that way 20 years ago. He says, I'm your servant, so tell my Lord that I may find grace in his sight. And so he sends these messengers to do that situation. Now, what happens here is in verse number six, we read that The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him." Four hundred men. Wow. Well, how did Esau know that Jacob was coming? They didn't have Newscast there. They couldn't watch the CNN and find out what Jacob was up to. How did he saw? No, he was coming Well, we don't know maybe maybe although Laban said he wouldn't cross passed over that other side when they put that Monument up there back in the last chapter said you stay on your side and I'll stay on mine Well, maybe he went around and went down and told he saw I don't know somehow he saw knew he was coming and Don't know we can only guess well we get into chapter 7 and we see here or verse number 7 I should say we see here that Jacob was greatly afraid and Distressed greatly afraid and distressed well to be afraid and greatly afraid afraid is to be anxious over something that is undesirable and And certainly he's coming with 400 men. What in the world is going to happen here? To be distressed is to be having some extreme anxiety. So we have a problem. He has a plan, and this plan here, he starts out in verse seven and says, he divided the people that was with him and the flocks and the herds and the camels into two bands and said, if Esau come to the one company and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. So he came up with this plan. It's a good military plan. But the next thing we did is much more important. We find that in verse number nine, he begins to pray. Maybe he should have prayed before he put his plan together. Anyway, he does begin to pray. And we read here in verse number nine, where he says, Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, The Lord would saith unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shown unto thy servant. For with my staff I have passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children. And thou sayest, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude." Now here's his prayer. He comes there in verse number nine. He says, Lord, it's me. It's me, Jacob. And I want to remind you that I am Isaac's son, and Isaac was your friend, and I am Abraham's grandson, and Abraham was your friend. And I want to remind you, Lord, that I am just following your orders. You said for me to return, and I'm on my way, and I'm here cashing in on your promise. You said that you would deal well with me." Well, I believe God appreciates it when we come to Him and cash in on the promises that He has made us if our attitude is right. And we can see here that His attitude is right because He says in verse number 10, I am not worthy. Not worthy of what? Of all the mercies What is mercy? It is undeserved favor that God shows us. Then I'm not worthy of all the truth, the truth that he has shown to him, he says here in verse 10, that thou hast shown, past tense, you've shown me a lot of truth, and I am not worthy of your mercies, I'm not worthy of your favor. I'm not worthy of you showing me any truth whatsoever, and you've done all that for me." He says, I've come here with my staff, and I have no weapons, I just got a shepherd's staff. And he says, I've crossed over the Jordan. Jordan is a picture of death to self. And so he says here, and he's on good grounds to say it. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children. He's concerned about his family. And so we have the problem. We have his plan. We have his prayer. And both back in chapter 28 and here, again, he refers to the specific place that he is in. And it says here in verse 13, he lodged there that same night and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau, his brother. So we find himself, he lodged there, in verse number 21 it tells us again so when the president over before him and himself lodged that night in the company he is he is in the place that god wants him to be and that is very very important Well, we not only have the problem, the plan, the prayer, the place, but now the present. He comes down here in verse number 13 and 14 and it says he took 200 she goats and 20 he goats 200 ewes and 20 rams, 30 milk camels and their colts, 40 clime, 10 bulls and 20 asses and their foals, and delivered them into the hand of the servant and said, take these to Esau." Well, he's given to him over 550 animals, maybe 600 with the colts. And we see here when, you know, he was the one wanting to get everything. He wanted to get the blessing. He wanted to get the birthright. He wanted to get everything. 20 years ago. Now we see his whole attitude has turned into a giver. Well, we're out of time again. We'll have to pick it up here in our next broadcast as we consider the life of Jacob. Be sure and tune in. We'll try to make it plain. We'll try to make it simple.