This week Martha Stewart was sentenced to prison for five months because of lying. It’s amazing to think of all the pain she has faced that has come out of trying to save $51,000 by selling some of her stock early.

Last week we left Jacob rather suddenly after his six big lies. He had gone into his father’s presence and impersonated his brother Esau, in order to take the blessing that his father wanted to give to Esau. He had done it at his mother’s direction, he had done it because he didn’t want to see the holy blessing of God going to a pornographer, but in order to achieve his goal, he had to LIE – and LIE – and LIE; at least six big ones. What was his sentence for lying? What he lied about what worth much more than $51,000. Did he receive prison time? No. Was he judged by God for his sin? It doesn’t look like it. Did he get off "scott free" for his theft? No, he didn’t. And today we will notice how Jacob’s sin came back around. He may not have been specifically "judged" for his sin of lying, but he was judged.

Jacob achieved his goal of rescuing God’s blessing from a godless man, but the fallout was expensive. His brother turned against him, he will forever be known as the "deceiver," even to the place where translators are afraid to translate that word, "upright" by "upright," and instead say that Jacob was a "mild" man or "plain" man. And, as we will learn today, you can’t sow those kind of poison ivy seeds without scratching the rest of your life with skin problems.

We are looking at a 20 year period in Jacob’s life where he gets away from the area so his brother can cool down.

A. Jacob runs from Esau. Genesis 27:41 says, "so Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, ‘The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.’" Esau has suddenly changed from an indifferent, easy-going, carefree sportsman into an angry, bitter, vindictive man. He had happily waved goodbye to his birthright years ago, but now all of a sudden its loss infuriates him. Even though his father had "blessed" him, that didn’t satisfy his desires. Jacob was his real problem, and he committed himself to erase his brother’s presence from the earth. But he will wait until his dad’s soon coming death.

Rebekah hears of his intention, and directs Jacob to get away for a few days until his brother’s anger cools. Little does she know that the few days will stretch out to 20 years and that she will never see her son again, as far as we know.

In 28:5 Jacob sets out to go to his uncle’s house. The trip was not a simple afternoon of jumping into his sports car and cruising up the Interstate at 70 mph. He was running from someone who knew how to handle himself out in the open, the wild, and he did not. He was traveling light without a caravan, without a servant, without even a tent. He probably had a camel or donkey to ride on, but there was nothing to protect him from beasts or bandits except for his ability to run or dodge. He no doubt had food, and probably money, but whatever else he had he carried on his back. So I judge that he was nervous, perhaps scared because he was alone. And it probably took him several weeks to ride the 500 miles.

B. Jacob overnights at Bethel. The second or third evening he looks for a place to stay the night, and it says, 28:11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep 12 Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: "I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. 14 "Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 15 "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you." 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." 17 And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!" 18 Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. 19 And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously.

Little did Jacob know when he laid down on the ground that night that God would choose to reveal Himself as he had never done in Jacob’s 75 years. On that night, God spoke to Jacob as He had spoken to Abraham, and to Isaac his father. On that night, God made a promise to Jacob that was absolutely incredible.

His dream was of a large ladder that reached to heaven with angels moving up and down the ladder, coming to earth to perform specific jobs and then going back up to report. There was much work to do on earth. At the top of the ladder stood the LORD, which is the name for Jehovah, Yahweh. And Yahweh says to him, "I am the God of your father and grandfather and I am going to give you this land which I promised to them. Also I am going to make your descendants innumerable. And I am going to use your descendants to bless all the families of the earth. In addition, I am going to personally be with you and protect you wherever you go and I will stay with you until I bring you back here and finish the job I have planned for you. Four major promises God gives here: (1) the land; (2) a great nation; (3) a blessing to all people on earth; and (4) God’s personal presence with Jacob.

Don’t forget that this is the man who only a couple of days earlier has "stolen" the blessing of God from Esau. Why didn’t God say, "I might bless you, but you are a little weasel." "And before I bless you I will penalize you for your lies?" Why did God Jacob’s deception of his father? Why did God not say, "repent of your sins?" Don’t you find God’s action a little strange? Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit in Acts 5 and died within a few minutes. Is God saying to Jacob, "I’ll overlook your sin?" "The soul that sinneth, it shall die," except in this case. Or was Jacob one of God’s favorites, and God did not treat him the way He treated others?

Why would God seemingly overlook this monstrous sin? Let me make three suggestions to help answer this question: 1. God often meets our sin with His Mercy. Romans 2:4 "Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." Have you ever lied and nothing happened? No bolts of lightning to strike you, no punishment from God? Why not instant judgment for sin? Because God is merciful. And He extends mercy with the intention that we come to repentance. God is so great that He can give us what we need instead of what we deserve.

2. God looks at our hearts as well as our actions. We react differently to a child lying to us with a good heart as against one lying with a rebellious heart. We discipline our children according to what we think to be in their hearts. Sin committed in ignorance is still sin, even though it may be judged a little differently than premeditated sin committed in rebellion.

3. God can see the future. God can see the end from the beginning, and knows what events are going to come to Jacob in the future that will discipline him for his lying. Thus He didn’t have to judge him at the moment as much as prepare him for the difficulties he would reap because of the seed he had sown. He sowed deception and he was going to be much deceived, not only by his uncle Laban, but later on by his own children. Judgment was coming, but not at the moment.

Don’t think it does not matter when you do something wrong. Don’t be deceived into thinking that you can sin when no one is around and get away from it. We will reap what we sow Galatians 6:7-8 says. If we sow to the flesh, we will reap corruption; if we sow to the Spirit, we will reap life everlasting. It’s a law as established as the law of gravity.

Ignace Jan Paderewski was a famous concert pianist from Warsaw Poland. In 1890 he started touring the USA, giving more than 100 concert appearances. Two boys were working their way through Leland Stanford University. When they ran out of funds, they came upon the brilliant idea of staging a concert and hiring Paderewski to play the piano. So they guaranteed him $2000 for the appearance (100 years ago)(1894). They rented a hall, worked hard, sold tickets, and the end result was that they grossed $1600 total. They sought out the pianist, told him what had happened, handed him the entire $1600, told him they were sorry for misleading him, and gave him a promissory note of $400.

Paderewski said, "no boys, that won’t do." He tore up the note, returned the $1600 and said, "take out of this your expenses, give yourselves each 10% of the balance for your work, and let me have the rest." Why did he do that? They had misled him; they were teenagers.

Years rolled by, World War I came and went, and Paderewski was now Premier of Poland. This is 1919 and he is the first Premier and foreign minister of the Republic of Poland. But his country went into an awful famine after the war, as many of those eastern European countries did. Thousands of people were starving. It seemed like there was very little help to be had. Suddenly thousands of tons of food began to come into Poland for distribution by Paderewski. After the starving were fed, Paderewski journeyed to Paris to thank the man responsible, Herbert Hoover, who would later become the president of the USA. Hoover was director of relief and rehabilitation for relieving Europe’s postwar food shortage. Hoover was responsible for feeding and clothing over 200 million people in less than 3 years. The man was a genius in relief work.

"That’s all right, Mr. Paderewski," was Hoover’s reply. "I knew the need was great. Besides, you don’t remember it, but you helped me once when I was a student at college, and I was in a hole." (Lupton, They Tell a Story, 188-189).

Paderewski was gracious – and reaped what he sowed. Just because God didn’t judge Jacob at the moment didn’t mean that he was free and clear. Actually there is a huge judgment to come, as we will see in a couple of minutes, that Jacob hasn’t even considered.

A. God’s presence didn’t rescue him from difficulty. We so easily misunderstand the point, thinking that if God is present everything will be GREAT. Jacob enjoyed the direct, stated, promise of the presence of God. Did this mean that he would have all wisdom so he could face everything with a Spider-man type of insight and power? No, the interesting thing is that the opposite seems to happen. He has 20 years ahead of him that are filled with difficulty, intrigue and disappointment. Jacob met his match when he met his uncle Laban (29:15-20). After having obeyed his mother in deceiving his father, he now gets "taken" by his mother’s brother!

1. He worked. He worked for Laban for twenty years, and, as he says to his wives shortly before they leave Laban’s house, "And you know that with all my might I have served your father. Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me" (31:6-7). God didn’t rescue him from heavy labor.

2. He was deceived and taken advantage of. Ten times Laban changed his wages. Here’s Jacob’s description of it to Laban, his boss: 31:38 "These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock. ⁹ "That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it. You required it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁰ "There I was! In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes. ¹ "Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times."

It sounds like Laban took every advantage of Jacob’s good will that he could. Jacob was his nephew and he could get him to do almost anything he wanted. Through Laban Jacob was reaping the duplicity he had sown.

3. A "blessing" was taken from him. Jacob’s agreement was to work 7 years in order to marry Rachel the beautiful (29:17). The time sped by because of his love for her. But when the time came for the wedding feast, Laban substituted Leah, Rachel’s older sister – a "masterpiece of shameless treachery – unloved Leah given to a man in love with Rachel" (BKC 75). What a clever imitation of Jacob’s conniving. Isaac gave the blessing to Jacob, thinking he was Esau. Now Jacob takes as his wife Leah, thinking it was Rachel. He probably said, as he woke up the morning after his wedding, "so that’s how Esau felt." Laban excuse was that local custom would not allow the younger to be married before the older. Younger – older. Think of how these words struck Jacob, the younger who had achieved his blessing by pretending to be the older.

The fact that God was WITH Jacob in no way protected him from trouble. The fact that God was WITH him in no way protected him from reaping what he had sown. Laban deceived him; Jacob’s wives deceive him; later on his own sons deceive him. We think that Christians ought to have smoother lives because of the presence of God. We think that everything in our life ought to get "fixed" more quickly because of the presence of God. Maybe we don’t understand the presence of God. What does it mean for God to be WITH me? What’s so good about it? If God doesn’t protect us from difficulty and the results of what we have sown, why should we seek His presence?

B. God’s presence changed JACOB in the difficulty. God wasn’t worried about the difficulties; He was worried about Jacob himself. Let me suggest two ways that God’s presence changed Jacob:

1. God was with him to ENABLE him. "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me." The Psalmist doesn’t say, "because you are with me I will not face the valley of the shadow of death." "Because you are with me, life will be sun and roses." As a Christian, you will not be exempted from any of the difficult circumstances of life. What God will help you do is deal with your FEARS. In the middle of the valley of the shadow of death, because God is with you, He will enable you to quiet your fears.

Think of the life of Christ, God’s only begotten Son. How did He fare when living on planet earth? Was He given red carpet treatment? From which painful experience was He exempted? It seems that He went through them all. And He said to His disciples, "if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first ‘ . . . "if they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also" (John 15:18, 20).

2. God was with him to PROTECT him. God’s presence protected him from getting HURT. In spite of all the deception, in spite of the fact that he was reaping what he had sown, in spite of the fact that he has been economically disfavored, he was not hurt.

He speaks to his wives when he is getting ready to leave and says the following:

31:5 and said to them, "I see your father's countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me. 6 "And you know that with all my might I have served your father. 7 "Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me."

He gets cheated, his wages are changed over and over, he gets mishandled, but HE DOESN’T GET HURT. THAT is the blessing of the presence of God! That’s what is so encouraging. We can go through all the pain and difficulties as everyone else, but we can go through it in confidence that "underneath are the everlasting arms," because "thou art with me."

You say "it’s more than I can bear." The good news is that you don’t have to bear it; your responsibility is to roll those weights on to Jesus Christ, because He is with you. We have the promise of His presence just like Jacob had. "Lo, I am with you always," He said. And we need to respond the way Jacob did, realizing that Laban and life cannot hurt us, no matter how oppressive the burden is, because of the presence of the Lord.

I was talking to Linda Morehouse, up the street, who said last Tuesday, "my one lung, which came by way of transplant, is in rejection." She has to carry oxygen around with her. The prognosis is not good. She is dying. Apart from a miracle, she doesn’t have long on earth. How do you minister to someone who is going through the last few breaths of their life? You emphasize the presence of God. "He is with you." "He will protect you." "You will not be hurt."

By chapter 32, Jacob is on his way back to meet Esau, 20 years after leaving. He sends messengers out as he gets closer and they return with the message in verse six that Esau is approaching with 400 men. That news petrifies Jacob. Four hundred men joining with Esau to go meet his "brother!" What did 400 men mean in that day? One word: "RAID." Esau was out for blood; he was going to take Jacob "on" and he was prepared! Jacob knew that, and in fear, he makes rather extensive preparations for the battle with the hope that at least some of his children might escape with their lives. His reasoning was, "If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the other company which is left will escape" (32:8).

And then came the night. Jacob is mulling over the possibilities of the next day, and 32:22 says, "he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok. 23 He took them, sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had. 24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. 26 And He said, ‘Let Me go, for the day breaks.’ But he said, ‘I will not let You go unless You bless me!’ 27 So He said to him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Jacob.’ 28 And He said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.’ 29 Then Jacob asked, saying, ‘Tell me Your name, I pray.’ And He said, ‘Why is it that you ask about My name?’ And He blessed him there. 30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: ‘For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.’ 31 Just as he crossed over Penuel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip.

Meeting Esau was perhaps the most fearful moment in Jacob’s life. It was the ultimate payment for his sin of lying. Although he couldn’t see the result 20 years earlier as he went into his father impersonating Esau, he now realized that Esau could take everything away from him. His wives, all his children, his flocks, everything God had given him could be annihilated by his angry brother and 400 friends, an appropriate result of his conniving ways. Perhaps this is why God didn’t have to "judge" him for his lying; He knew that Esau would.

And yet, at the moment when he is reaping what he has sown, he has one of the greatest experiences in his life – he meets God in His POWER.

A. Jacob struggled with a man. He has just finished sending his two wives, his two servants, his 11 sons and his one daughter over a stream that was probably not much wider than this church building and maybe waist deep. He was alone, he thought, but suddenly there was a man standing in front of him. The man was like an enemy, preventing him from going over the stream to the land he had been blessed with, the land his father had given him.

Remember Jacob’s attitude, Jacob’s life style. He was the "heel-grabber" the "go getter," the man who could get what he wanted. And I am sure that his initial attitude was "get out of my way; I got a lot on my plate; you are interrupting me. I have to meet my brother, and I’m hoping my family makes it through alive." "I’ve got to catch up with my family, and I don’t have all night to waste." The man won’t budge; Jacob can’t get him out of the way. They struggle all night long. At daybreak the man touches the socket of Jacob’s hip, dislocating it, and weakening him greatly. As a result, the wrestling match is no longer a match. Now it becomes Jacob hanging on to the man and not letting him go. As Jacob is being overpowered, he recognizes who his opponent is and grabs hold of him, knowing that He was the giver, and asks Him for a blessing. Asking Him, not taking, as he had done all his life. Can you see the picture? All he can do is grab the heel; and the "man" asks, "what is your name?" Jacob says, "heel grabber." The man says, "that won’t work. Grabbing of the heel is never going to give you the blessing you seek." "You need a new name, and I’ll give you one. It’s the name ‘Israel.’"

Hosea says that the battle became more than a physical battle with sweat and muscles. He describes the conflict in 12:4, "yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed; he wept and made supplication unto Him." Notice the strange combination of "had power," and "prevailed" with "wept" and "made supplication" to Him. How do you "prevail" when you are "weeping and pleading?" Physical strength was not the issue here. And Jacob’s "prevailing" was accomplished with the weapons of prayer; and passionate desire, and tears and weeping. Jacob knew that he was dead the next day unless God did something. We see his prayer in 32:11: – "Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children." Born with his hand gripping his brother’s heel, he gripped all through life until he came to the place where his grip was going to be loosened – permanently by his brother and 400 raiders from Lost Ark country.

Do you see what is happening? Jacob is learning the location of the real battle. It’s not with his father in getting the blessing, it’s not his uncle Laban to get what he wants from him; it’s not his brother Esau who may be coming to kill him. He has actually all the time been fighting God. And whether or not he ever gets the blessing, the thing that has been part of his system for his whole life, depends not on what he can get his father or brother or uncle to do, but what he can get himself to do in relationship with GOD – submit. The ultimate battle you and I fight is with God. God Himself is standing against Jacob as if to say, "if you are determined to get your inheritance for yourself from your brother, you need to do battle with the rightful owner, not just your brother who has never possessed the land."

B. God changed his name. HOW God blessed Jacob is very important. He blessed him by giving him a new name. Jacob meant the "heel catcher," the "supplanter." The blessing took the form of a new name – Israel, which is a combination of two words, "God" and "Sarah," which means "to fight," or "to win," or "to rule" (even today our name, "Sarah" means "little princess").

What’s so significant about God’s move to change Jacob’s name? He is stating His intention to change Jacob’s CHARACTER. From birth he has been the "heel grabber." That can be good; it can make a person industrious. But, as Jacob has shown, that can also be bad. His new name indicates that Someone else is now in the equation, GOD. And the explanation given is that Jacob had fought with God and men (32:28). So what does the name Israel, mean?

To me the key to the meaning came from a comment by Donald Barnhouse, who said that any time a name is compounded with God (El or Jah) of which there are more than 40 in the Bible, the emphasis is not on the person who wears the name, but on God Himself, Who gives the name. So the name "Daniel" is a combination of "Dan" and El and means God judges rather than he judges God. The name Samuel means God heard rather than he heard God. So Jacob’s name change to Israel has to mean God rules, or God commands, or God fights, rather than Jacob fights or Jacob prevails. The name is an announcement that God had wrestled with Jacob, had overcome him, and that Jacob was or was to be a different man. All through life, Jacob had tried to rule, command, and order. He had now been reduced to being ruled, to receiving commands and obeying orders. "Henceforth, he bore the name that marked his position" (Genesis, a devotional exposition, 125). He likewise bore the physical sign that marked his new condition – he limped, because he was physically weaker.

Thus I believe that the name Israel means "God rules," "God commands." Isn’t this a most appropriate name for the nation which more than any other nation on the face of the earth is a picture of the rule of God on earth? ISRAEL means God rules. Every time you read the nation’s name in the paper you read, "God rules." Here is a nation raised up in the world to make a public statement that "GOD RULES."

Now put this in its context. Jacob is worried about his brother, Esau, who is going to meet him in a couple of hours with 400 men. And what is ringing in Jacob’s ears? "God fights," "God rules." "God commands." "God wins." He is the one who makes us successful. He is the one who calls the shots and we obey.

What is your name? The more I think of it, the more I conclude that my name is not far off from Jacob. There has always been in me some form of taking, grabbing, getting for myself in my strength and creativity. Have you noticed that in yourself? That maybe your middle name, or fourth name might be a cognate of Jacob?

God is out to change your name. Do you know what He wants to change it to? ISRAEL. God often doesn’t do His mighty work until we come to the end of ourselves and are helpless – until we can only hold on to Him and ask Him to bless us. It’s not, "look God at what I’ve done." It’s not, "I’ve done more than he has." It’s not, "I’ve done more good than bad." None of those kinds of thoughts carry any weight with God. It’s when you come to Him as a helpless sinner, with nothing on your resume but disobedience and grabbing. It’s when you say with the publican, "God be merciful to me THE sinner" that God works in your heart and life.

There is a nation that has been on earth for 3500 years now, and every time we call out its name we call out, "God rules." That’s what He wants our lives to say also, "Israel," "God conquers." "I know He conquers because He has conquered me." Has He conquered you? Or are you still doing your own thing, running your life your way?

7/18/04, BBC am

GenesisSur8.MEF, 7/20/04