The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 3: The Lord Restores

Episode Date: May 8, 2022

2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. – Psalm 14:2-3 God’s relentless pursuit of our rebellious race is through Jesus.

Amen and amen. How many doing church? You good? Hey, we are one week away from Beach Baptism. Who's excited about that? I hope you will join me and Pam and hold about, I don't know, three, four thousand other people and be there for that. And if you have never been baptized as a believer, then you need to sign up today to get baptized next week. Since last year's Beach Baptism, we've had 1,936 people surrender their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. So there's a whole bunch of you that are ready to get dumped. So do that. Also, you've heard it about two or three times, but happy Mother's Day. One more time to all the mamas. Praise God. Love you. We wouldn't be here without you, literally.

And I have a gift for you, all the mamas. If you will text the word Psalms to 44, 1122, I will give you a Psalm a day for the next 20-something weeks of your life. Or this gift is also available if you have a mama or had a mama. If you've ever had a mama, you can text Psalms to 44 1122. We are studying the book of Psalms for 22 weeks. We have over 7,000 people participating in the Psalm a day text-in deal. That's pretty cool, right? So be one of the cool kids and get that. Hey, grab your Bibles and get ready. We're going to be in three different places. Psalm 14, Romans chapter 3 and Genesis 32. Psalm 14, because we're studying the book of Psalms for 22 weeks, that's going to be our main text. And then our commentary to Psalm 14 is Romans chapter 3.

you should always use the Bible as commentary to itself. And then at the end of Psalm 14, he gives this illustration, and the illustration is going to be Genesis 32. So put on your theological big girl pants, and here we go. It says this, for the director of music, of David. So David wrote this, and here's how he starts. You, the fool. That's how he starts.

The fool. So happy's Mother's Day. David is calling you a fool. And when the Bible says fool, it ain't nice. It ain't like, what's a fool? It's not like that kind of fool. fool, all right? And in fact, in the Bible, there are three different words that often get translated as the word fool, and they're different. The worst one sometimes is translated as a scoffer or a

mocker. That's the person that is anti-God. That is Satan in the Garden of Eden when he shows up and says, I know God says this, but I don't care about what he says. What I say is better than what he says. That is the scoffer. That's one version of the fool. There's another version of the fool that often gets translated in Psalms and Proverbs this way, the simple. And it's not that you don't know what you're doing. It's just you didn't know any better. That's what it means. It doesn't mean like simple mind. It means like you're young and you don't have the experience and so you just don't know any better. Okay. This would be in southern dialect. This is, this would be if somebody says, well, bless your heart. Okay. If your heart gets blessed, it means you're a fool, but you just didn't know any better.

Then there's, the version that he's talking about here is this. This version knows better, but does it anyway. This fool is somebody that knows better. Literally, it means morally deficient. This is Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They have heard directly from God. You can eat of any tree of the garden, but whatever you do, don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Because if you do it, you will die. And then the enemy comes along and says, did God really say? And they're going, you know what? Maybe he didn't. They know that he did. They know that he's good. They were in a face-to-face relationship with God.

God had blessed them. God had said, be fruitful and multiply. God said, eat from all of the trees of the garden, except that one. God said, subdue and cultivate. And they were naked and unashamed. You want to talk about a miracle, 40 and up crowd. Think about that. Imagine being naked and unashamed.

Glory, you understand what I'm saying. But then they foolishly believe the lie of the enemy, even though they knew better and they decided, forget you, God, I'm going to do what I want. That's what a fool is. Now, you may be looking at me saying, are you calling me a fool? Yes, I am. You know why? Because you're a fool.

Just like me. You're a fool. Let me tell you what the modern-day fool is, okay? Don't get mad at me. You can email me at Jimmy Kraskorn at I don't care.com. Here's the modern-day fool. Ready? All right.

If you smoke cigarettes in 2022, you're a fool. You're a fool, man. And here's why, okay? I ain't mad at you. not saying you're not welcome here for sure okay I'm just saying you're a fool here's why you're a fool because on the box it says you know you're going to die if you do this right and you're like whatever fool and you just do it anyway that's what a fool is it's not like war war two and they handed them out like tick tax and you just didn't know you just like you know you didn't know it's going to

kill you it says it's good your face is going rot off and your lungs are going to die if you do this you're like I don't care I'm doing it anyway that's what a fool is okay you're a fool and I'm telling you not just that way okay you're a fool because everybody can smell it I know you rode here with it out your car, but we can smell it, man. You cannot keep it off of you. I can smell it in my car, three cars away with the air conditioner on. Your fingernails are yellow, your teeth are yellow, got a little burn marks all over you, okay? You're a fool.

Now, sometimes when I bring it up, somebody's like, but pastor, we heard that occasionally you'll have a cigar. But that's different because that's cool, okay? So that don't even count, all right? That don't. All right, so the fool, this is somebody that knows better and does it in any way, the morally deficient. The fool says in his heart, there is no God. The fool says in his heart, there is no God. So the person that says there is no God, we call that person an atheist, all right?

Now, did you realize that there's less than 4% of the American population that declares themselves an atheist or an agnostic? So the atheist crowd is even smaller because the agnostic say, we're not sure if there's a God or not. That it's a very, very, very small crowd. It's a loud crowd, and they're on TV a bunch. but there's not very many of them. Did you realize that? And if you do this worldwide and you pull out the population of China

because they don't get to, they don't poll well, you know, they're not allowed to say what they believe in. And so that less than 2% of the people that live on the planet would self-describe themselves as an atheist. The average atheist in America is an over-educated white male with a whole bunch of privilege.

Do you know who the average Christian in the world is? a woman of color in a developing country. So when you hear people talk down about Christians, the average person that they're talking about is a woman of color in a developing country. There's a very famous atheist about 140 years ago named Nietzsche. And he wrote a book. He said this.

He said, God is dead. Did that in the 19th century. He was an atheist. Guess what? 140 years later, Nietzsche is dead. God's doing pretty good. Okay? I'm just telling you, man.

These are just facts. C.S. Lewis says it this way in mere Christianity. A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship him than a lunatic can by putting out the sun by scribbling the word darkness on the walls of his cell. You can believe whatever you want to believe, but your belief does not change the fact. And he says, he says, all right, the fool says in his heart, there is no God. Notice it says in his heart. There's a bunch of people that say in their head, there is no God. Now, I don't know if there's a bunch of atheists here at church today.

Maybe because your mama made you come. I hope and pray you surrender your life to Christ, or maybe you're just trying to date that girl and you knew you had to come to church with her, and so you're trying to work that out. Good luck, bro. She's going to break up with you because she's going to listen to the Song of Solomon series, but whatever. I'm glad you're here.

So I don't think there's a whole bunch of atheists maybe. I don't know. But here's what I do know, man. He says, the fool is the person that says in his heart, there is no God. In the Hebrew, the word there is not there. the English translators put it there so the English sentence makes sense. So literally it just says,

the fool says in his heart, no God. Here's what I'm saying. There's a bunch of people that believe in God or say you believe in God and go to church, but practically speaking, you're an atheist. You say in your head, of course there's a God,

but the way you live, you go, no God, I got this. In a whole bunch of areas in your life. I mean, you want to see if you really believe in God. I'm not talking about do you go to church. I'm not talking about you, You're saying a hymn, you're like, finally a hymn, all right, and you sang it. I'm not saying you don't go to a disciple group, you ain't getting the Psalm a day.

That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying you could be a theological genius and a practical fool because you live as if there's no God. Then when it comes to our money, you ain't seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and trusting all these things will be added under you. You're seeking first the kingdom of self and the things that you want, and then you're going to give God the leftovers. Or when it comes to the bedroom, you're like, all right, Jesus is Lord of my God. life and of course you're gonna trust Jesus for salvation because hell is hot and forever's a long time and who wants to go there but when it comes to the bedroom

you can say you can back on off I got this okay or when it comes to when it comes to our comfort how many of us say that we are a Jesus follower and yet put our comfort as of greatest importance and instead of the great commission which he commissioned us to take the gospel to the very ends of the earth or it could be a thing like worried Jesus himself in the sermon on the Mount says if you were a believer, if you're a Christian, what are you worried about? Well, you don't worry about what you eat, what you drink, and what you wear. He goes, even the atheists worry because they don't understand they have a father in

heaven who takes care of them. Do you not believe you have a father in heaven that wants to take care of you? See, there's a whole bunch of people sitting in a whole bunch of churches today, and you say you believe in God, but your lifestyle looks like you're a practical atheist. Do you realize that when the Crusaders back in the Dark Ages would go out and do some pretty awful things in the name of Christianity with a cross on their shield and a cross on their chest, they would get baptized before they would go, and they would dunk them under the water, but they would hold their sword out of the water and say, all right, God, this is all yours,

but this is for me. In the 21st century, what it would look like, there's a whole bunch of people that want to claim Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, but you've got two hands out of the water, self and sexuality, stuff, those kind of things. You're like, nope, this is mine. And if he ain't Lord of all, he ain't Lord at all. The fool says in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They do abominable deeds. There is none who does good.

Now you read this, you're like, come on, Pastor, what do you mean none? There's none who does good? I know some people that do pretty good. I do pretty good. I'm a good guy, are you? Well, the Lord heard your plea, and so look, he's going to check it out himself. Verse two, the Lord looks down. So the moment, the person

you sat there and thought, I'd do some good stuff. Okay, cool. Let's see what the Lord thinks about you. The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand who seek after God. Okay, so he looked at you and here's his assessment of us. They have all turned aside

together. They have become corrupt. There is none who does good, not even one. If you're a theology student, a guy named John Calvin, would call this total depravity. I know your kindergarten teacher said you're a snowflake and you're a skittling just full of potential.

Well, she's a liar. That's what she is, okay? Because the reality is, man, you and I are crooked and depraved, worthless little sinners. Exhibit A, it's Mother's Day. With all the mothers, please raise your hand high, okay? Would you like to please confess

the depravity of the little humans that you raised in your house? Can I get a witness? Can I get an amen? Did you have a? Did you have to train your child to be a sinner? Uh-uh. Did you have to teach them to be selfish?

Did you not? Okay, honey, here's how you lie. No. That was like from the inside out. Did daddy teach them to bite? Maybe, but they learned it on their own too. It's just true. Every little human being, all these precious little,

fearfully and wonderfully more made sinners are born like the sigals out of Nemo just screaming, mine, mine, mine, mine. Just selfish little idol worshippers that the, none of them came to you. Did they, Mama, and say, Mama, I tell you what? you've had enough, why don't you take a break? Why don't you have a nap? I'll get my own snack.

No way, man. No one does good, not even one. It's just a condition that we all find ourselves in, by nature and nurture. Flip over to Romans chapter 3, I want to show you this as commentary unto this passage. Paul is going to quote this passage. In Romans chapter 2, Paul is writing to a group of religious people,

and they think they get to cut in line because of their religious upbringing. That's what they think. Now these are Jewish folks talking about synagogue and temple and that kind of stuff. But in our context, it would be, do I get to cut in line because I grew up in Sunday school and I memorized the Bible verse and I took First Communion or whatever?

Here's the way he says it in Romans chapter 3 verse 9. What then? Are we Jews or religious people any better off? And he answers, nope, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin. As it is written. And then look, he's going to quote from the Psalm that we're studying.

This is why we're using it as commentary. None is righteous. Nope, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. Sorry if anybody's triggered.

It's just the Bible. No one does good, not even one. Now, just so you think that he's not just grabbing one little verse from, you know, maybe David was having a bad day when he jot this down. He's going to kind of do a mix tape and he's going to jump all over the Psalms and Isaiah. Then he's going to quote Psalm 5-9. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongue to deceive.

The venom of asps is under their lips. Then he's going to go Psalm 10-7. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood, and their paths are ruin and misery. Now he's going to quote Isaiah 59-7, and the way of peace they have not known, and then he's going to close it with Psalm 36-1. There is no fear of God before their eyes. And then he's going to give commentary to this. Now, we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

So when God says that you and I are foolish evildoers, then what God is saying is that it's not your opinion of yourself based on whatever you think about you, but based on who God is, God is holy, God is perfect, and God is righteous. So compared to your crappy roommate and the nightly news, congratulations, Scooter, you're crushing it. But compared to the almighty God, he looks about and he says, no one does good, not even one. That's what the psalmist is saying in the first few verses. Go back to Psalm 14, verse 4. He says, have they no knowledge,

all the evil doers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the Lord, there they are in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous. Now we've got a new group of people. So this can be kind of confusing here. So you've got two groups of people that the psalmist is talking about. You've got the foolish evildoers and you've got a generation of the righteous. Well, if you're paying any attention at all, you want to be like, okay, well, how do I get in the generation of the righteous because I want the Lord to be my refuge?

Like I want to be in this group, not in this other group. Well, it cannot, by definition, be based on the things that you do because we've already found out that nobody does good. So how then do you get over to this generation of the righteous? Well, he gives us a little clue in verse 6, and he's going to answer it in verse 7. He says, you would shame the plans of the Lord, but the Lord is his refuge. You would shame the plans of the poor, but the Lord is his refuge. A couple thousand years from now, Jesus is going to show up on the scene.

This lawyer is going to come to Jesus because he thinks, by his own good works, he's going to get into heaven. That's what he thinks. And he says, all right, what's the greatest commandment? And Jesus said, this is easy. Love the Lord of your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. And the second commandment, in other words, if you love God with all, then you will live

out this second part, and you should love your neighbor as yourself. And by the time you get to the end of the gospel of Matthew, almost to the end, in Matthew chapter 25, Jesus says, in Matthew chapter 24, the disciples are like, all right, what's the end of the world going to be like? and he says all this crazy stuff. Then he tells three stories. And the third story he tells. It's called the parable of the sheep and goats.

And Jesus says this. There's going to come a day where I return and there's going to be a judgment day. I know this isn't very popular. It's just true. There's going to be a judgment day. And Jesus is going to separate everybody from those that go to heaven and those that go to hell.

Sorry, you said over here, just where you're sitting, okay? And he says, I'm going to separate him like the sheep and the goats. I'm going to put the sheep over here and the goats over there. and I'm going to go to goats and say, hey, goat, y'all going to hell. And they were like, what? He's like, yep. Ultimately, the final answer of the reason the goats are going to hell is he's going to say, because I don't know you and you don't know me.

And the reason I know you don't know me is because when I was the poorest and the least of these, you did nothing to take care of me. And they're going to answer with their right activities of the good things that they do. And he says, depart from me, I never knew you. It's judgment day. And then to the sheep, congratulations. Good job sitting over here. He says, and I, I know.

know that you knew me because you love the least of these because my love flew, I don't know how to say that in past days, my love would flow through you. That's it. The judgment day is coming. This is what the psalmist is talking about. There's a group of foolish evildoers and there's a group of a generation of righteous. In fact, I was listening this week to a 21st century theologian named Zach Brown. Have you heard of him? I'm just chilling in my backyard cooking a ham, I like country because I'm a Christian. And I like it when he's country do is do like island music, you know what I'm talking about, right? And so he's got this song, No Hurry.

And I've listened to it 100 million times, but somehow I missed that on this line. In the song No Hurry, he says this, better get right with the Lord or there'll be hell to pay. And then he said, but I ain't in no hurry today. Well, he better get in a hurry, okay? Because you don't know when he's coming back. But this is what Zach Brown is agreeing with Romans chapter 3 and Psalm 14 and Matthew 25. You better get right with the Lord. That word, get right, doesn't mean you better get all your activities right because you can't.

It means you better get your right standing before the Lord right. Better get right with the Lord, or they'll be hell to pay. So when you read that, if you got to get right with the Lord in order to be in the generation of righteousness, and no one does what's right, then you go, uh-oh, then what do I do? Are you saying we're just all going to hell? And the answer in and of yourself is, that's exactly what I'm saying. Happy Mother's Day.

That's it, man. That is it. And I know somebody was like, you should come to church with me. He's funny. This ain't funny at all, is it? Which leads to verse 7. If verse 7 was texted, it would be in all caps.

Do you see the exclamation point at the end? This means that there's some energy behind this. That as the psalmist surveys what God, opinion of humankind is based on our own activity you go uh-oh there's a problem man because i can't do this on my own which leads to this desperate cry oh that salvation for israel would come out of zion now just in case you're new to bible study there's a savior that came out of zion what is his name jesus good job wasn't even a trick question okay that's right that's right so the psalmist thousand years before Jesus is ever born, that is what he's talking about. What he is saying is this.

He's saying, I need somebody to help me. I need a savior. I need somebody to do for me what I cannot do for myself because I know in it of my own self, I don't do good. I mean, occasionally I stumble into some, like I got my mama some flowers today and that's pretty good, but I know that the real core of it is so that she doesn't think I'm a terrible son and she keeps me in the inheritance. You know what I mean? I want to get the will. Whatever it is. we know that we've got a problem at our heart. And so when we realize no one does good, not even one, our only hope is to cry out to God and say, oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion.

That the only thing that we have done to contribute to our salvation is we brought in the sin that required it. That's all we have done. So it is by grace that we are saved through faith that we cry out to God and say, God, I need a Savior. Go back to Romans 3. Back to the commentary on Psalm 14. And I think that Paul must have Psalm 14 in mind because he's already quoted it.

And so he says there's a problem. None of us do good. None of us are righteous. None of us, not even one seek after God. So what do we do then? What do we do? Do we just try harder? And if you grew up and, I mean, a bunch of us that hung around church a little bit as a kid,

this is what I heard. I thought the gospel was for good Christian people. That God is good. You were bad. Try harder. See you next week. That's what I thought, man. But if that's the case, let me just ask you, if good people go to heaven, if God just grades on a curve, and as compared to the people on the bad side of you, that you're pretty good and pretty good people go to heaven, then why on earth did God send Jesus to down a cross?

If you could do it on your own, crazy, right? Well, Paul addresses this very clearly. And I know I keep coming, I'm going to try not to really preach it, just kind of go over it real quick. I know I keep coming back to Romans chapter 3, seems like every week. Here's why you need Romans 3. every week in your life. Martin Luther said it's the most important paragraph in the whole Bible. He said Romans chapter 8 is the greatest chapter ever written, and Romans chapter 3 verses 20 in following is the greatest paragraph ever written on the planet. So Paul says this, for by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight.

No matter how, let me put it in Jobie speak, no matter how good you try to be, you will never be justified in the sight of God. since through the law comes knowledge of sin. So then what do we do, Paul? He's like, I'm glad you ask. But now, the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. This right standing with God has been made available and it is separate from how good you are.

That's what he's saying. This righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and prophets bear witness to it. And then he's going to explain what this means. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all who believe. That's what it means to be right with God. You want to be in the generation of the righteous?

The righteousness of God you receive through faith in Jesus Christ for all who, and there's this, in my opinion, this unfortunate English word, believe. I mean, it means what it means. It just doesn't mean everything that the word Pestuo, the Greek word is Pestuo. It means to believe in, it means to trust in,

it means to commit your whole life into. Our problem is that many people believe, that. There's a God, and Jesus came and died on the cross, and you believe that, but you say in your heart, no, God, I got this. Don't be a fool. In fact, one of the greatest criticisms of Christianity throughout the centuries has been this. Christianity is just a crutch. It's just a crutch for the weak. Are you fool? Dead people don't need crutches? It ain't a crutch. You know what a crutch is? A crutch is, a lot of me and a little bit of help. I don't need, I don't need, like, me and the gospel

to hobble my way into heaven. Nah, man. The gospel's not a crutch. The gospel is a stretcher. I'm a dead man. I need the God to pick my dead self up, tote me on the scratcher, and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

tote me all the way in, man. To all who believe, trust, surrender. That's what it means. For there is no distinction, for all have sin and fall short of the glory of God. Here's what this means. The word falls short. It literally is an archery term.

It means missed the mark. But I know we got a bunch of golfers here, so I'm going to use a golf illustration. And so when you miss a putt this week, I want you to think about what a sinner you are. That's what I want you to think about. Which is going to happen a bum. Or when you take that gimmee, and then it gimmee, man, that's too far.

You know what I'm saying? When you scoot it over, all those sins, I just want you to think about what a sinner we are, all right? Okay. For all of sin and falling short of the glory of God have missed the mark of the glory of God. So just imagine, all you golfers, just imagine for a second, in golf you were actually good.

Now, we got a few pros that attend here. I'm not talking about you, you're good. But I'm talking about if you were actually good. All that time, effort, energy that you have put in in this finally paid off and you were actually good. And you got to play in the players championship. And the cut was even. And it's Friday afternoon, and you're even going into 18,

and you missed the par put and your score is plus one. Do you get to move on and play on the weekend? No, you do not. Why? Because you have missed the mark. But what if? What if? What if somehow all of your lessons came together that next weekend

and for the rest of your life, you birdied every hole from that day forward? Would they let you back into TPC that previous weekend? No, they would not. Why? Because you have missed the mark of the glory of the TPC, which was even. This is what he's saying.

Even if you could get your life perfect from this day forward, you would have still missed the mark because of the previous sins of your past. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift that's so important.

Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation, that means a payment that satisfies, by his blood to be received by faith. This was the show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. This is to show his righteousness

at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. This is the gospel. That your right standing with God is not based on your activity and on how many good things you can do.

But it is received as a gift by faith. This is what the psalmist is saying in Psalm 14. This is what Paul is saying in Romans 3, that we are sinners, that we need a Savior, that Jesus came, that he lived a perfect life, he was the manifestation of righteousness, and that when he went to the cross, he was the propitiation for our sin. In other words, God poured out the punishment that we deserve because we are sinners, but he poured that punishment out on his son, Jesus Christ, because Jesus not only died for us, he died instead of us. And anyone who would put their faith him. Anyone who would believe or trust that when Jesus died on the cross, somehow that counted for me, then all of our sin is heaped upon the shoulders of Jesus. He actually becomes our sin, and all of his righteousness, his right standing before God, is credited to our account. Theologians would call that the Great Exchange. That's what he talked about for anyone who would believe.

So the psalmist says, it's the fool that says in his heart. There's no God. in which we all do that from time to time, that nobody does what's right. Every single one of us have gone astray, gone our own way, that we would get to the place where we realize, I'm a sinner,

I need a Savior. Oh, that salvation would come out of Zion, then he keeps going, when the Lord restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad. So Psalm 14 is our primary text. Romans 3 is the commentary to help us understand it.

And now I think there's a clue here because David mentions two names. He mentions both Jacob and Israel. It's the same dude. If you're new to Bible study, we're going to see it in just a second. There's this guy named Jacob, and he's going to get his name changed to Israel.

And I think the reason that David mentions this here is because all the good Jewish boys and girls, when they read this, they would know the events of Jacob's life and realize that he, in and of himself, is the personification of what it means, to realize I need a Savior, and then the Savior show up in your life. So head over to Genesis chapter 32.

Genesis chapter 32. This guy named Jacob. 122 times in the Bible, the name Israel and Jacob are used in the same verse or the same sentence. So 12 times in the book of Psalms, 1 time in the New Testament in Romans chapter 11. And almost every single time those two names are used together is it's talking about the dude name Jacob in the nation called Israel. But here it does not make that distinction. I think what the, I think what the writer is doing here is I think the writer wants us to think about the one dude with two different names, that Jacob became Israel. Now, in order to understand what's happening in Genesis

32, I've got to catch you up on a little bit of context, okay? So there's Abraham, the Father of Our Faith. He has a kid named Isaac, and then Isaac and his wife get pregnant, mostly his wife, but he was there. know what I'm saying. And while she's pregnant, she's pregnant with twins. And this prophet prophes over her and says, the younger will rule over the older. And they're like, yeah, whatever. And then on the day that they are born, the first one is born. And he comes out and he's all hairy. And so, you know what they name me? Harry. Because in the Bible, you would just like, call it what it was. The name would either be like a description of who you are or sometimes it was like prophetic of who you would become. So like when my kids were born, I would have named the

one, Hulk Hogan, because he had like a skullet, you know what a skull it is? Like balled on top, and bullet in the back. That's when I knew we were from Dillon. I was like, you can take the boy out of Dylan. I'm like, look at him. You know what I mean? And I'd have named the second one with cutie pie. So that would be their names, all right? My name's Joby. You know what it means? So, how about read a baby book parents? But anyway. So the first one comes out, and he's all hairy, covered in hair, and they don't have Chabaca yet, so they go with Esau. That's how you say hairy in Hebrew. So Esau comes out. And then the second one, the second one comes out, and the Bible says that he's literally grabbing on to the heel of the firstborn.

And the reason that he's grabbing onto the heel is because in Old Testament culture, the firstborn got this double portion of blessing. They got double the inheritance. When the dad died, they were in charge of everything. They made all the decisions. It was a really, really big deal to be the firstborn. And so this second twin, even from the womb on the way out of the birth canal, he's trying to like go around him,

Ricky Bobby style in Talladega Nights, and so he can come out first and get the prize. So he comes out, grabbing on to his older brother's heel. So you got Harry, and then the second one comes out, and they name him, heel grabber. That's what they named him. Yaakov or Jacob. It also means trickster or deceitful one or striver.

Now, if your name's Jacob, don't worry about it, he got redeemed. He ends up being like the father of all of Israel. So it's cool. You got a cool name. So you got Harry, and you got the deceit. for one, the heel grabber. And then they grow up. Well, Esau's a stud. I mean, he's real hairy, and he plays like free safety for his high school football team, and he hunts animals with a bow,

and he watches UFC, and he practices mixed martial arts, and he's his dad's favorite. And then Jacob, Jacob's kind of a mama's boy. There's nothing wrong with that, but he likes to cook, and his hobby include, like watching real housewives of pedomerom or wherever they live, you know. That's what he's into. Now, listen, if you've got a favorite kid, good Lord, don't tell you. them, just keep that between you and Jesus, okay? The counseling bill you're going to get is going to kill you one day, all right? But it was obvious to the kids and to the parents that the dad, Isaac, liked Esau, because he hunted with a bow and his wife, Rebecca, loved Jacob.

And they would cook and stuff. And so one day, all right, one day his son, the oldest, Esau, is out hunting with a bow because he loves the Lord. And when he gets back from hunting, he says, I'm famished. I'm starving like I'm going to die. You ever met a teenager who gets a little dramatic sometimes? It's been going on for like 3,000 years. Okay, he's like, I'm going to die.

And so his brother, trickster, Jacob, comes up with his plan to trick him. And he makes this little bit of red lentil stew. Doesn't even sound good to me. And he says, I tell you what, I'll give you some of this stew if you give me your birthright. And now when you read that on face value, you think, who in the world would do that? Who in the world would trade in their entire future for just this. temporary, temporary relief. I can tell you who would, every single one of us.

We just got different flavors of stew. And so he tricks him, takes his birthright. So now Esau can't stand it. Then a few years later, their dad, Isaac, is on his deathbed. He's about to die. And he's so old, he can't really see it anymore. And so he tells his son, he says, Issaul, I love you, I want to give you the blessing before I die.

I want you to go out in the woods and shoot a big old buck and then cook it and bring me back some backstrap and we're going to have dinner. Okay, it's all in the Bible. You should read it. And so Esau goes out and. hunts because he's a godly man, and then Jacob sees this as an opportunity to trick his dad. And so he dresses himself up like his big brother, Esau, the linebacker, the tough one. He puts goat hair on his arms, remember, because he's like Chabaca, he's hairy.

And he sprays some of his, like, Axe body spray or whatever he wore. And he comes in there trying to smell like his brother. And he's like, all right, dad, it's Esau here, and I've got your dinner. And then the dad is like, yeah, but you kind of sound like, you kind of sound like your little brother Jacob. He's like, no, don't worry about it. Give me your blessing. and he steals his brother's blessing.

He steals his birthright, tricks his father, and steals his brother's blessing. By the way, dads, this is just for free on Mother's Day. When Esau gets back, when Esau gets back, Isaac can't take back what he said.

Do you know why? Because you can't put the words back in after they come out of your mouth. Your children will either live up to the blessing that you bless them with or they will live down to the curses that you curse them with. And so he blesses,

the wrong kid. Now Esau's ticked, man. And Jacob can't stay in fight. I mean, he's been working on lentil stew recipes his whole life while Esau's been in the weight room, football practice, and MMA. You understand what I'm saying? And so Jacob, the trickster has to leave. And so he leaves, runs for his life. And while he's on the run, he takes a rock and he lays it down in this place, it's called predominom. And he lays his head down. And the reason is because they believed that gods were territorial. So like when you left your little region, he was trying to figure out who's God's territory he was in. And when he laid his head down that night,

he has this dream, this crazy dream. And he sees this ladder from heaven to earth, Jacob's ladder. Or Zeppelin called it the stairway to heaven, okay? Same place, kind of. And so he makes this rock there, and he says, surely God is with me. Calls it Bethel, the house of God.

Then he goes, and he moves in with some of his relatives. And the rest of his life, he lives up to his name. He's a trickster, and he's a deceiver. So he sees this girl. he wants to marry and he goes to her dad he's like I want to marry her he's like yep you got for me for seven years so he does and this is kind of tricky they didn't get married the way we got married okay they would be betrothed and then they would consummate the relationship and that's how you got married and so he rolls over in the bed and it's not the one that he wanted to marry it's her

it's her older sister and she wasn't as pretty and he goes uh-oh so then he goes back to the dad and he's like you trick me because if you live by the sword he died by the sword and he's like well I still want to marry the young one he's like all right seven more years so he works for her then he ends up with two wives which, by the way, let me just point out, if you have a favorite wife, you're not doing it right, okay? And nowhere in the scripture does it condone polygamy.

Just, okay, please understand this. Just because the Bible describes something that happened does not mean it is prescribing that it ought to happen. If you read the Old Testament and come away thinking that God is okay with polygamy, then you should stick to coloring books. Oh, you understand what I'm saying? Everywhere it happened,

went wrong, okay? Marriage according to God and the Bible from the beginning to the end is one husband, one man, one woman, one lifetime, that's all it is. Okay, so, so then he works for, he gets the second wife, and then he starts getting rich, and the way that he starts getting rich is he's kind of, he's kind of tricking his distant relatives here to take a bunch of his cattle, and so this relative gets ticked at him, and so he's on the run again. And so his whole life, his whole life he's made it about him. His whole life he's manipulated, whoever he, he had to manipulate for his own benefit and at their expense. And he's terrified because now he figures out that his brother Esau has finally tracked him down

and he thinks he's going to kill him and he doesn't know what to do. That's what happens by the time you get to Genesis 32 and it says in that same night, Jacob arose and he took his two wives and his two female servants and his 11 children and crossed the ford of Jabok. And he took them and he sent them across the stream and everything else he had and Jacob was left alone. Check this out. Even though he had a big family, he had cash and prizes, he had everything this world had to offer. God does not mind stripping you of everything in this world, letting you land flat on your back so your only option is to look at him because he is the only

one that will ever satisfy. Sometimes God works through our circumstances to get us alone so he can do some work in us, and that's what he does. Then it says, and a man, wrestled with Jacob until the breaking of day. And a man. That word in Hebrew man is ish. It just means man. Now, spoiler alert, okay, in case you're new to Bible study. This man turns out to be God.

This man is fully man and fully God. Pop quiz to the front row. Who is fully man and fully God? Jesus has been the answer twice now in one service. Okay, good job. Now, this is what's called a Christophany. The second person of the Trinity, God, the son, shows up on the scene in human history before the very first Christmas.

And here's why I think this is so important, is that God has a list of reasons that he could give up on Jacob for. That God could have given up on him when he stole his brother's birthright, when he tricked his dad, when he stole his brother's blessing. God could have given up with him when he married two women. God could have given up on him with all these different things, but I need you to know that God relentlessly pursues his rebellious kids. no matter who you are and what you've done

and how far you are gone, you are never too far gone from the long arms of God. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now here's what's going on in some of your lives right now. The moment I started talking about sin and salvation, there began to be a wrestling match on the inside of you. And just like God pursued Jacob's heart by sending his son to grab onto him,

I'm just going to tell you, The moment I got saved was because God would love me so much that he sent his son to come after me and to grab on to my heart and start wrestling that thing down to the ground. He says, and 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 it. Now, again, we're going to find out that this is the second person of the Trinity. This is unbelievably amazing to me that God would even allow Jacob to stay in the fight. because God does not have to.

God's the sovereign king of the universe. If he just wants to kick down the door of your life and just say, get down, and you just do what he says. This is like dads, this is like when you wrestle with your son. You know, early on your son's like, come on, dad, let's wrestle. You don't go, 10 and O! That's not what you do. Don't do that, okay?

You kind of let him stay in there. Oh, come on, Scooter, and then he get a little old, and they're like, cool, what are you doing, you know? Got to turn it up. But he allows him to stay in the fight, wrestle with him, struggle with him. Why? God doesn't just want to rule over you.

He wants a relationship with you. John 15, Jesus is going to say, hey man, we're friends. Think about Revelation 320. The Bible says, Jesus says, behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if anyone would hear my voice and let me in, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.

That God allows us to participate in our very own salvation, although we do nothing in and of ourselves to be saved. It is a free gift from him that we are to receive. Or Jesus is going to say it this way, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that anyone whosoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. This is that wrestling match until God decides it's over.

And when he says it's over, it's over. I'm telling you, man, when I was a teenager and put my faith in Christ, I fought it, I fought it, I fought it, I fought it, until he touched my hip and then my whole life blew up and everything changed. For some of you that's happening in this moment right now. He says, and Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out a joint as he wrestled with him.

And he said to him, let me go for the day it has broken. And Jacob said, I will not let you go until you bless me. And he said to him, what is your name? And he said, Jacob. As I look through the text, I can't find a place where Jacob calls himself Jacob for about 20 years. And on this night, when he's all by himself,

when he's on the run, where his plan for his life has not worked, because all he has ever done is tried to manipulate everybody else for his own benefit. He gets to the place where he realizes he has lived up to his name. And the God of the universe chases him down in that moment and grabs him by the shoulder, and looks at him face to face and says, who are you?

I mean, really, who are you? And he finally gets to the point where he can't manipulate the situation anymore. And he says, I'm a heel grabber. I'm deceitful. I'm a liar. I'm a trickster. The reason that I'm here alone is because this is where my life

has led. And he gets to the place where he admits it. Hey, I'm not just a bad person that needs to try to do better, I am a sinner and I need a Savior. I think he gets to this place right here in what David says in Psalm 14, a place of desperation where he realizes that he is not good and he needs a Savior. I need someone to do for me what I cannot do for myself because up to this point in his life, he is defined by his past, he is defined by his sin, he is defined by all the choices that he has made.

He says, I am Jacob. It is his confession. And then look at how the Lord responds. He does not bring down the hammer on him. In fact, he runs him over with a freight train of grace. Then he says, your name shall no longer be called Jacob, deceitful one, deceiver. Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have wrestled or striven with God and with men and have prevailed. Let me ask you this church.

Who here needs a name change? I mean, some of you walked in here, man, and you just be living for you. and you may have a lot of the things that the world has to offer, and you're still not satisfied. And God has been wrestling with you right here in your heart, and he grabs on to you and says, who are to you? And the moment you say, I'm a sinner in need of a Savior,

then guess what? You are perfectly positioned to surrender your life to the Lordship of Christ, and the moment you admit it, I'm a sinner in need of a Savior, and I believe when Christ died on the cross somehow, that counted for me. The moment you confess him as Lord, you are adopted into the family of God. And now your past doesn't define you and your sins don't define you and your hurts don't define you and your marital status don't define you and all the broken promises don't define you.

But you are who Jesus tells you who you are. And he says, I'm changing your name because now you are Israel. You have a relationship with God. That's what happens to Jacob. That his name has changed. And then Jacob asking, please tell me your name. And he said, why is it you ask my name? And there he blessed him.

Now don't miss this. The blessing came through the broken hip. You mean saying Bible words, Romans 828? For God is at work in all things for the good of those that love Him and are called according to his purpose. Sometimes what you think is your greatest tragedy is actually a setup for God's greatest triumph to be Lord of your life. And there he blessed him. And so Jacob called the name of the place, Pinniel, saying, for I have seen God face to face and yet my life has been delivered. Penny L means the face of God.

Jacob's testimony is, I came face to face with God, and I was delivered. That's what every single one of us were created for. It's why the things of this world just won't satisfy. Every single one of us were created to be face to face with Almighty God, our creator. If you go all the way back to the beginning, I know I talk about it all the time, but it matters like crazy. You go all the way back to the beginning, and God forms together the dust of the earth into the form of a man named Adam. But the Bible says it's not until he breathes the breath of life into this man that he becomes a living creature.

And so Adam opens his eyes and he is face to face with God. And that moment has been imprinted on every single one of us. That's what you were created for. That's why the stuff of this earth just can't satisfy. And then sin fractures that relationship

because God is perfect and holy and just. And then Jesus Christ, the Word, became flesh. God dwelt among us. He lived a perfect life and he had the audacity to say things this to his disciples, I am the way and the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me. And His disciples said, if we could just see the Father, and Jesus says, you want to see the Father? When you see my face, you see the face of the Father.

That Jesus came and lived the perfect life and then died in our place at the cross so that whosoever would believe that we would have the experience of Jacob, that we forever and ever and ever would have our sins forgiven, have the righteousness of Christ counted unto us, would have our names change, we would be adopted into the family of God, and forever and ever we would live in a face-to-face relationship with God. That's what Psalm 14 is all about. Don't be the fool that says there is no God. But be in the generation of the righteous that say, I believe that God came, that died on the cross in my place. And when Jesus pushed up on his nail-piers feet and says, it is finished somehow, that counted for me. Church, I want to give you the opportunity right now to put your faith in him,

to have your crooked, wretched heart ripped out and replaced with his perfect pure heart that you might be in a right relationship with God. If you're ready to admit it, I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. I believe in Christ died on the cross. Somehow that counted for me. And if that's you today, that you would confess them as Lord and Savior. Would you bow your heads? Would you close your eyes? And if that's you, and for the very first time in your life, you were ready to put your faith in Christ and join literally hundreds of people over the last several weeks. And say, that's it, I need to name change. That I have been living unto me and I am ready to surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I admit it, I'm a sinner and I need a Savior.

If that's you, cry out to him right now. Oh, Lord, that there would be salvation in my life. and if that's you, if you're ready to cry out to Jesus as your Lord and Savior, would you lift your hand high where it is? Would you just pick it up high and say, Father, here I am, save me. Praise God, praise God, praise God. Hands all over the place.

Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because you loved us first. And Jesus, I thank you that you did not come merely to just live an exemplary life that we would follow, but you came to seek and save us who are lost. God, I thank you for the men and women right now, who were spiritually orphaned or now are sons and daughters of you.

who were spiritually dead and now have been made alive. God, I thank you for the names that are being changed in your book of life this very moment. And God, we praise you. We join with the angels in celebrating that folks were once lost and now they're found. We prayed in Jesus' name, amen. Now before you, I got one more verse.

Don't go. It won't take long. Verse 31, this is how the whole thing ends. And the sun rose upon him as he passed Penniel, limping because of his hip. So after Jacob has this encounter with the second person of the Trinity and surrenders his life to the Lordship of Christ,

from that day on he had this limp. He had this outward and visible symbol for the whole world to see of this brand new relationship that he had with Christ. You know what we call that in the New Testament? That's called baptism. Next weekend, next Sunday.

If you've never been baptized as a believer, that's what baptism is. You don't have to walk with a limp, it's even better than this. You get to walk in the newness of life. You get to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That you walk out into that water and we say, who are you? Who is Jesus to you? And ultimately, your confession is, he has wrestled my heart down and I have surrendered my life to the Lordship of Christ.

And then we dunk you because you're dead to yourself and you are raised up out of that watery grave. and then you have an outward and visible symbol so that when the whole world sees it, they know that's one of his. So if you haven't been baptized yet as a believer, as soon as we get done here, you go to the baptism class and join hundreds of other people

as thousands of us gather next week to watch you make that proclamation of faith. Now, would you please stand as we respond? We respond to the gospel by bringing him our first and our best. So Jesus, I'm seeking you first, even in my finances, trust in you. and so you can do that online or through the app.

We respond by lifting up our voices. We're going to sing the gospel that Jesus paid it all. It's not about how good we are, it's that Jesus paid it all. And then lastly, we respond in prayer, and I want you to pay attention to one thing. Jacob held on to Jesus and said, I ain't letting you go until you bless me.

I dare you to pray like that. Some of you are some tough spots in your life, and Jesus has invited you to come down here, kneel before the sovereign king of the universe who just happens to be your heavenly father and you just hang on to him in prayer so let's sing let's bring let's pray let's respond