Description

Text: Genesis 32:24-30

Title: Make it count

Theme: Living for the Lord and letting Him use you 

Introduction: 

Jacob inherited Abraham’s blessing and became the father of the 12 tribes of Israel.  He was God’s representative. God made a promise to Abraham that he would be the Father of a nation, repeated it to Isaac, and confirmed it with Jacob. The chosen line that would lead directly to Christ.

Genesis 25:23 23And the LORD said unto her, two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

In these passages, Jacob is wrestling with none other than the Pre-incarnate Christ (confirmed in Hosea 12:3-5)

• • He is given a New name: His name is changed from Jacob (heel-catcher, crooked, deceitful, clever) to Israel (One who has power with God)
  • He is given a new walk: His thigh is out of joint from the result of the wrestling match

 

That’s what the Lord can do for us. He can give us a new name and a new walk. He can take someone that is crooked and deceitful and turn it into one who has power with God. He can take a life full of heartache and defeat and turn it into triumph.

 

1. The Shortness of Days

• Brevity - Brief
• “The greatest surprise of life to me is the Brevity of life.” – Billy Graham
• James 4:14 14Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
• Job 14:1 1Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
• Jacob had about 147 years for God. He had a purpose for being on this earth and then it was over. 
• We need to realize that we only have a short time to serve the Lord

 

2. The Significance of Decisions

• • Not only are our days short, but we should realize the importance in the decisions we make and how precious time is. The decisions we make are critical regarding if our days count for Christ or not.
  • “Don't count the days, make the days count.” (illustration of second shift – more worried about how much time left instead of what you are going to do with the time) Wasting time worried about how much time is left and not doing anything productive.  We are more worried about time itself than what we do with.

 

• • “Make today count, you’ll never get it back” (never get today back, did you spend time with the Lord, did you Worship? You will never get services back). I will never get 19 years of ministry back (relate to people) but let’s let the rest of our days count. 

 

Did you know that there is a difference between being active and being productive? 

• • The Contrast of Mary and Martha: (Luke 10:38-42)
    • Jesus enters the house of Mary and Martha
    • Martha was “cumbered about much serving”(cumbered – distressed, distracted, burdened, troubled) while Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and heard His Word.
    • Martha asked Jesus if He cared that Mary left her to serve all alone and said “bid her therefore that she help me.” (bid-to speak, call, or to invite)
    • Luke 10:41-42 41And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 42But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

 

(Some things we need to consider regarding making our days count for Christ; The Shortness of Days, The Significance of Decisions)

3. The Symbols of Devotion

• Bible Characters who made it count: (not men we are glorifying, but men who glorified Christ!)
• Apostle Paul:
  • Saul of tarsus: named changed to Paul at His conversion. A Chosen Apostle of Jesus Christ. The apostle to the Gentiles!
  • Missionary and Church builder
  • Wrote 14 of the 27 books of the N.T.
  • Three major Missionary journeys
  • 2 Timothy 4:6-7 6For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
• John the Baptist:
  • The Forerunner of Jesus Christ (Forerunner - one who precedes a messenger, sent in advance.)
  • Obedient and submissive to the Lord and His Will
  • O.T. Prophet on the pages of the N.T.
  • Friend of the Bridegroom “rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.”
  • It wasn’t about John, it was about Christ
  • John 3:30 30He must increase, but I must decrease.
  • The very man people confused with Christ because of His Testimony
• Apostle John:
  • “The Disciple whom Jesus loved”
  • It is said that John only had about a 600 word vocabulary, yet God used Him to write 5 books of the Bible
  • Gospel of John reaches back into eternity than any other book, the book of Revelation reaches into eternity more than any other book.
• King David: A man after God’s own heart
• Samuel – the circuit riding preacher
• Peter at Pentecost
• Job and his integrity
• Abraham and His Faith
• Joseph and His Purity
• Ruth and her lineage
• Caleb and Joshua and their Courage

 

 

Question: Why Jacob? Of all these great examples of men and women who made their lives really count for God, why is our main text dealing with Jacob?

• Not only is Jacob right up there with people who’s life counted for God, Jacob is a type of the Believers two natures “The man of two natures” 
• In the Bible, (a lot in Genesis) you have different “types”
  • Type – “A divinely appointed illustration of some scriptural truth.”
  • “A type must never be used to teach a doctrine, but only to illustrate a doctrine elsewhere explicitly taught.” – Dr. J. Edwin Hartill
  • John 3:14 14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
  • Serpent = the sin of the people. They needed to look to it for healing. 
  • Christ was made sin for us on the cross of Calvary. HE bore our sins.
  • As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” – A divinely appointed illustration
• Jacob is a type of the Believer and our two natures. 
• “Jacob is an outstanding illustration of the presence and conflict of the natures within a believer. Similar to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of Robert Louis Stevenson’s story, Jacob is good and bad; he rises and falls, yet in spite of his failures was a chosen instrument.” Dr. Herbert Lockyer
• In order for Jacob to make his life count, he had to totally yield to God.

 

 

What about you, are you making your life count for Christ?

Discussion: “Make it Count” Genesis 32:22-30

Three things we will need if we want to make our life count:

1. A Place of Salvation: Gen 28:10-22

• Bethel – House of God
• Jacob flee’s his home in fear of his life because of his brother, Esau. He leaves Beersheba to go to Haran and on the way he stops for some rest (roughly 40 miles in one day) He lays down to go to sleep (stone for a pillow) and dreams a dream:
  • Genesis 28:12-15 12And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. 13And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15And, 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.”
  • The Lord Jesus is the ladder. The angels are ascending and descending upon Him, they were ministers to Him who are subject to His command. He confirms the Abrahamic covenant to Jacob and tells Him, “I will not leave thee.” 
  • Genesis 28:18-19 18And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. 19And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.
  • This is the place of Jacob’s Salvation.  (OT Prophet, looking to the Cross)
• Before we can do anything to make our lives count, there has to be a place of Salvation.
• We must come to God’s terms of Salvation (Jesus Christ)
• The sin problem must be taken care of! (Adams failure, mankinds total depravity)

2. A Period of Seclusion v.24

Seclusion: the state of being private and away from other people:

If we want our lives to count for God, there has to be a period of seclusion with Him. 

Proverbs 18:1 - Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh [and] intermeddleth with all wisdom.

“There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God.” 

– C.H. Spurgeon

 

“Friend, have you ever tried being alone? That is where God will meet with you. Take the Word of God and go off alone with Him. It will do you a lot of good.”  

-Dr. J. Vernon McGee

 

People are afraid of silence - Recent studies “show that the constant accessibility and exposure to background media has created a mass of people who fear silence.” (background noise, music, tv on, always distracted and busy with a lot of noise – cannot even sleep in silence) 

Jacob had enemies and distractions all around him (example of how there is enough going on to keep us distracted/busy until the day we die!)

1 Kings 19:12  “And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.”

 

3. A Position of Surrender v.26

If we are going to live a life that counts for Jesus Christ, we have to surrender to Him!

• We need to surrender to God on a daily basis (Paul – I die daily)
• Jacob has;

1. The World behind him – Laban
2. The Flesh ahead of him – Esau
3. God right in front of Him (give me what I need!)

Jacob would not let go until God blessed Him. We should hold on to God as tight as we can and on a daily basis surrender to Him. “Lord, I will not let you go, I need you to give me what I need for today!” 
Jacob had a lot of un-necessary trouble that was a result from him not surrendering to God (go down list and give exampls of how it is critical in a Christians life to submit)
His place of surrender was not to be let go, but to hold on! (Jacob made a mess)

• • • Took his brother’s birthright 
    • Took his brother’s blessing 
    • Flee’s to Laban his uncle (Bethel experience)
      • Deceived into marrying Leah (worked 7 for Rachel, got Leah and then additional 7 for Rachel)
      • Wages were changed 10 times
      • Increased his livestock, becomes wealthy
      • Sneaks off with his wives, children, livestock. His wife Rachel steals one of her father’s false gods.
      • He is fearing for his life because he believes Esau to still be after him.

In order for Jacob to make his life count, he needed to Surrender to the Lord.

Conclusion: 

Want to make your life count? There needs to be:

1. A Place of Salvation
2. A Period of Seclusion 
3. A Position of Surrender 

Solomon was away from God in Ecclesiastes he tried just about everything under the sun to satisfy himself and he came to the conclusion

Eccl 12:13 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

 

A special thank you to my Friend Michael Barnette for the song "All things new" and to my friend Dave Compton for the opening remarks.