WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR NAME?

WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR NAME?

Revelation 2:17 (KJV)

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

I am reminded also of, 

Acts 11:26 (KJV)

And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

“Were called.”

At first, they did not call themselves Christians. They were given that name.

If revival is going to happen, one of the things that will be essential is that professors in Christ transition from calling themselves Christians, to being called Christians.

That brings me to the text for this morning’s message,

Genesis 32:24-28 (KJV)

And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.

And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

God changed his name from: 

·   Jacob, the Supplanter to

·   Israel, God prevails

·   Israel, that man God passed his promises to

·   Israel, that people the Old Testament focuses upon and

·   Israel, that nation from which our Saviour comes

Got its name from God.

And I want to remind you the Israel had to earn the name.

And afraid that there are too many professing Christians in our world today who have not earned the name.

I want you to notice first of all that,

I. JACOB FEARED FOR HIS LIFE

That struggle that led to him wrestling with God was preceded by what he thought was a very real threat of death.

Genesis 32:3-7 (KJV)

And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now:

And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.

And 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.

Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;

Frankly, the problem he faced was of his own making.

But isn’t that the case of us all?

This world tells us we deserve all the good things. That is a lie of the Devil. 

We deserve hell.

Nine times out of ten the fear that we face is of our own creation.

But that makes it no less fearful.

Honestly, I think the feat that our world is under even right now is of our own making.

·   We have forsaken God

·   We have forsaken God’s house

·   We have forsaken one another

The experts are telling us that the key to whipping this virus is social distancing.

We will see if that’s true.

I have witnessed in my almost four decades of ministry, that people have been distancing themselves more and more with each passing decade.

Scientifically, I think, and I know I am no expert, that our fear of germs has made us more vulnerable to germs.

As we disinfect our world, we become less immune to those same germs.

But more so, I believe that we are witnessing a pestilence, a plague upon our land – even our world.

·   We do not love God enough to worship Him

·   We have come to worship the creation more than the Creator

·   We have forsaken HIS house, creating our own gods, our own altars and our own places and methods of worship.

Our world complains and murmurs against Almighty God and His people.

It seems to me that our God is doing to people today exactly as He did to Israel in the wilderness.

·   Time and again, when they turned their back on Him, He sent a plague upon them.

·   Time and again when they looked back to God He rebuked the devourer and blessed them – sent them revival.

Now today, with this plague upon the people,

The princes of darkness urge us to distance ourselves.

I say we must look to the Lord!

II. JACOB DID WHAT HE COULD FOR HIS FAMILY

Genesis 32:7-8 (KJV)

Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands;

And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.

Genesis 32:13-23 (KJV)

And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;

Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams,

Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals.

And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.

And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee?

Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us.

And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him.

And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me.

So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company.

And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.

And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.

Jacob has been criticized for “sacrificing his family to save his own neck.”

I don’t think that is the case at all.

I think he believed he faced certain death and, in the face of such a death, he did what he could to save his family as best as he could.

He had some difficult decisions to make – decisions not everyone would have agreed with.

I would point out that they did, in fact work!

I think we are there right now.

People have some difficult decisions to make.

None of them, to be honest, look that great.

I am reminded of King David who, faced a judgment also of his own making.

2 Samuel 24:12-14 (KJV)

Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.

So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.

I can’t imagine that David thought any of his choices were good ones.

But that was all that was offered.

I feel like today we have no good options.

·   If we ignore the threat, people we love are likely to get ill and maybe die.

·   If we have no church services, people might decide they never have to come to church again.

I am faced with, 

·   Disobeying what I believe is a Biblical mandate to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together or

·   Disobeying the government guidelines and possibly expose a beloved one to the virus

We are choosing to conduct services online and over the radio as best we can.

But it is only because our own sin has left us with no good choice.

But then things begin to change for the better,

III. JACOB BEGAN TO PRAY

Genesis 32:9-11 (KJV)

And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst 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 shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.

Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.

I want to tell you; nothing turns for the better until we confess our sin.

Genesis 32:24 (KJV)

And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

We need some of this right now!

We need some Christians who will get alone with God

·   All night if necessary

·   All day and all night if necessary

and wrestle with the Lord in prayer.

As you know, I’ve been praying for revival this year. 

Not some milquetoast, half a week, good preaching, good attendance, feel good and report it to all the brethren revival.[1]

I’ve been praying for what God Himself would call revival.

·   I know that means being alone with God.

·   I know that means wrestling with God.

·   I know it means having a reason to pray earnestly, fervently before the Lord.

I am not happy about this virus.

I am not happy with the restrictions that it has forced upon us.

But I do believe it could be the very thing to bring us to a God sent reviving.

IV. JACOB REFUSED TO QUIT

Genesis 32:25-26 (KJV)

And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him.

And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

This is what we need today.

Some of us are forced to be home.

We have more time on our hands than before.

I call on you to learn to pray and not to faint.

This is a great time to reach out to others.

You may not be able to do it in person, but you can do it:

·   By phone

·   By email

·   By text

·   By facetime even

·   By social media

Stop murmuring on the internet and start caring on the internet.

There are two groups you ought to reach out to:

The first is your church family. 

Get in touch and pray for one another. You might find out someone has a need. You can help to meet it.

The other is someone out of church or unsaved

Offer to pray for them.

Offer to meet some personal need they have.

Attempt, for the sake of the Lord, to be a real friend to them

Get hold of a good spiritual book

I am reading The Ministry of Intercession by Andrew Murray.

It’s free online.

Read it yourself 

Read it to your family and

Start to PRAY for others.

V. JACOB PAID A PRICE IN PRAYER

Genesis 32:30-32 (KJV)

And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.

Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.

Jacob got his answer but he was never the same. 

·   Here’s why we don’t see answers to our prayer

·   Here’s why we don’t see genuine revival

The truth is, we don’t want to pay the price.

One night in mid-January, or the beginning of February I woke up in the middle of the night, as I have done almost every night this year, and began to pray for revival.

At some point that night I stopped for a moment and said to the Lord, “Anything you need to break to make me Christlike, I give you permission.”

That has become a regular part of my prayer and also my daily mediations.

Honestly, I don’t want God to break anything.

I like being comfortable, just the same as anyone else.

But I don’t want to finish my life being anything less than everything God wants me to be.

·   Not Christlike the way I define it

·   Not Christlike the way other Christians define it

I want God to make me Christlike.

And I know that’s going to cost.

Conclusion

Staring certain death straight in the face,

Jacob did what he could for his family

·   He got alone with God

·   He refused to leave until God blessed him and

·   He wrestled with God until it cost him

But he left that appointment with a new name.

Where did you get your name?

Did you just assume the name because you prayed to be saved and got baptized and you’ve been pretty faithful to church?

I think every honest person knows there is no cost in that.

I believe God gave us this crisis, probably of our own making, but God gave it to us so we might for the very first time in our lives, have a reason to 

·   Wrestle with God, 

·   Pay the price

·   See reviving and

·   Receive a new name

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[1] I do admit, I enjoy those too.