"YOUR ONLY BATTLE IS
WITH YOUR OWN FLESH"
MF Blume
October 14, 2001 pm
Gene 27:24-30 And he said, Art
thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am. And he said, Bring it near to
me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And
he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and
he drank. And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me,
my son. And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his
raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the
smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed: Therefore God give thee of
the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and
wine: Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over
thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every
one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee. And it came
to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob
was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau
his brother came in from his hunting.
Genesis 27:35-38 And he said, Thy brother
came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing. And he said, Is not
he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took
away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And
he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? And Isaac answered and
said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren
have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained
him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son? And Esau said unto his
father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also,
O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
Genesis 27:41 And Esau hated Jacob because
of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his
heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay
my brother Jacob.
Genesis 27:43-44 Now therefore, my son,
obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran; And tarry
with him a few days, until thy brother's fury turn away;
Jacob was a messed-up liar when he begins his story seeking God.
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Like all of us when we were first saved, his life was in disarray.
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His priorities were wrong.
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But we needed God.
Think of it.
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God accepts us with all our messed-up situations.
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But when He's finished with us, we'll be princes with God!
After all the hassle over the birthright, Jacob had to flee home, and his
father Isaac told him to get a wife from his own people.
Esau was so infuriated over the episode of his father's mistake in blessing
whom he thought was Esau, that he not only hated Esau, but he hated his
father as well.
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He actually went to Isaac's arch-nemesis, Ishmael, to seek a wife in his
daughter.
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This spite, driving Esau's heart, drove him to liken his life to that of
Ishmael, who also felt jilted by the younger brother, Isaac.
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Esau effectually said he would become an enemy to Jacob, Isaac and God!
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"I'm joining Ishmael!"
At this beginning of Jacob's harrowing experience with Esau, he left for
Laban's home to seek a wife.
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On the way, he had a dream.
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With his head asleep on the rocks, Jacob saw a ladder stretching up to
heaven.
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Angels ascended and descended upon it.
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And God spoke to Jacob.
This reminds us of words spoken by Jesus.
John 1:51 And he saith unto him,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and
the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
God gave a promise to Jacob during this vision.
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In John 1, Nathanael came to Jesus.
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He accepted the truth of Jesus being Messiah and
King of Kings.
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And in verse 51, Jesus declared that He is the Rock
Jacob slept upon.
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He is the way!
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He is the means by which Heaven opens and blesses
mankind.
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He is the door to heaven.
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If you want to get from earth to Heaven, Jesus is
the way!
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Messages from God come through way of Jesus!
God promised the land to Jacob that night, as He
promised to Abraham and Isaac.
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He promised Jacob to keep him safe.
Genesis 28:15 And,
behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest,
and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until
I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
God gave Jacob His Word!
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So there was no need for Jacob to fear Esau!
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God took Esau into consideration when He told Jacob
He would protect Jacob and bring him back safely.
But Jacob continued to fear and worry!
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Just like us!
Genesis 28:20-21 And
Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in
this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD
be my God:
He said he'd test God's word.
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He would prove God.
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Then after proving God true, he would make God his
God, as Abraham and Isaac had done.
He reaches Laban's home, sees Rachel and desires
her for wife.
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Laban and Jacob agree upon seven years' labour in
order for Jacob to marry Rachel.
Genesis 29:18 And
Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel
thy younger daughter.
Genesis 29:20 And
Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him [but] a few
days, for the love he had to her.
But Laban instead deceived Jacob and gave Leah, the
older daughter, to him for wife.
Genesis 29:23 And
it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought
her to him; and he went in unto her.
Laban explained he must take Leah since it was not
customary to allow the younger daughter to marry before the elder.
Genesis 29:27 Fulfil
her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt
serve with me yet seven other years.
Many believe Jacob worked ANOTHER 7 years and THEN
took rachel for wife, but this is not true.
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All he had to do in order to have Rachel for wife
was remain with Leah for seven days, and then Rachel would be given to
him for wife.
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After taking Rachel to wife, Jacob would then work
the seven extra years.
Get the picture.
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He worked for 7 years to get Rachel and got Leah
instead.
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He gets Rachel for wife, and then works the seven
years for her afterwards.
The messes Jacob got himself into!
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He only reaped what he'd sown in deceiving Isaac.
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But we receive promises from God, too, and due to
our doubts we strive and struggle and try to "get" in our own power.
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What a picture of us!
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We work and work and work to get what we need.
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And all we end up with is LEAH!
LEAH means in English "WEARY".
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All that our work will do in order to get blessings
is leave us WEARY!
Rachel was obtained, and the work for her
came AFTER she was his!
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He did not work and THEN get Rachel.
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He got Rachel first, and then worked for her afterwards.
RACHEL means in English "EWE".
Jesus is the LAMB of God.
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If you work in your good deeds and self effort to
to get the lamb, you'll only get "weary."
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But if you get the lamb without working for Him,
all the work comes AFTERWARDS!
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In other words, you cannot work to win Jesus.
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All the work you're asked to do will never get you
saved.
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It will never get Jesus.
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It's only going to get you tired.
The work God asks us to do comes after we already
have Jesus.
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Its never done to obtain Him.
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None of us are saved by works.
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But we work because we already have Him and we love
Him!
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We work because we're already saved.
I don't have to come to church.
I do not have to do anything.
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I love to do it!
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Because I love God and its for Him and appreciation
to Him that I do it.
Get the lamb first, and then work!
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Never work to get the lamb!
We get all messed up like Jacob, so often!
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We're hard nuts to crack sometimes!
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We'll get straightened out sooner or later, though!
Time came for Jacob to return home.
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He was married for 14 years, and had to work 6 more
years to get things straightened out over the cattle.
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But after 20 years he was on his way home again.
Genesis 31:41 Thus
have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for
thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed
my wages ten times.
Recall that God promised to keep him safe on his
way home.
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So it was no wonder we read this:
Genesis 32:1 And
Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
With a promise from God, no wonder angels met him!
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They were keeping him safe.
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But this old doubter, Jacob, still worried.
Genesis 32:4 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:
Then...
Genesis 32:6-8 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; And said, If Esau come to the one company,
and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.
So he prays:
Genesis 32:9-11
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.
Church, when you doubt God's word and are fearful
even though God promised you He'd keep you safe, you need to pray.
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Pray until you get faith in what God told you.
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Don't quit praying until you know God's word is true!
Genesis 32:24 And
Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking
of the day.
He saw the angel and refused to let go until the
assurance was his.
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God already promised it.
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But Jacob doubted.
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And if the truth be known, he was actually wrestling
with himself!
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Oh, it was definitely an angel, but the fact was
that Jacob's doubt was a problem with his flesh.
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And he had no need to wrestle with anything except
his doubting flesh.
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He just took it out on the angel!
He got to a place where he knew he had to face Esau,
and not run away, literally!
Genesis 32:25 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.
Jacob put himself in danger.
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He could have let go and ran when he felt his flesh
breaking.
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But he was so serious that he knew he had to get
hold of God, even if it broke his flesh to do it.
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His thigh moved out of joint and he could not run
away from Esau if he wanted to now.
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It didn't matter though.
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He had to have faith.
Genesis 32:26-28 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.
He got the blessing!
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But it was after his flesh was broken.
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We need to pray even when we feel to give up because
our flesh gets tired.
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When we have a greater desire to break through into
faith than our desire to give up due to our fleshly weakness, we will get
our answers everytime!
Look what happened after that!
Genesis 33:3-4 And
he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times,
until he came near to his brother. And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced
him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.
Esau hugged him!!
We always want to prove God's word to be true.
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Instead, why don't we just trust Him?
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It will save us a lot of grief and worry if we only
take Him at His word.
One day you'll throw out all care and worry, and
get hold of God when times go rough.
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Make up your mind you are going to believe God if
you never believed Him before!
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And you will get the blessing!
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Until then, we battle and struggle.
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All the while the Word said from the very start that
God would keep us safe.
Break through that veil!
Even the nation of Israel had to cross a veil in
the form of the Jordan River.
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They were at the edge of the promised land.
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And they had to stand by faith in the river Jordan
as it swelled its banks, representing the flesh rearing up its ugly head
in fear!
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But stand still.
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Don't run.
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Face your fears in Jesus' name!
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And CANAAN WAS TURNED INTO ISRAEL!
In Jacob's time of death, he was so noble!
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He began to prophesy to his sons.
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His last act was prophesying to his sons.
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And look what it says he had in his hand.
Hebrews 11:21 By
faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and
worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.
A staff!
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Why?
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He was broken and halted upon his thigh, requiring
a staff!
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It was a mark of his brokenness before God!
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A mark he was a changed man.
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He started out a rascal!
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But he wound up dying as a man changed and made noble!
Israel left Egypt as a rabble!
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A mixed multitude.
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But as time went by, forty years later saw them regimented,
and marching in particular order behind the ark of the covenant.
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WHAT A CHANGE!
Church, we're all like Jacob when first saved.
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We're rascals.
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We're rough.
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Rough edges.
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But God will refine us and render us to become NOBILITY
in the end!
Praise God!