Learning to Lean

Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth simply stated. Thanks for joining us for this message. Here's Adrian Rogers. Many of us think that self-sufficiency is a Virtue. The truth of the matter is that self-sufficiency is not a virtue.

Spiritually, It is a vice. Look at our scripture here, Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 21. By faith, Jacob when he was a dying. blessed both the sons of Joseph. and worshiped Leaning.

Upon the top of his staff. Worship leaning Upon the top, of his staff. We talked about Jacob and We talked about how he was a man who was a conniver. He was a man who was always trying to rig things, to work things, to make things work together. Our modern-day equivalency of Jacob by his natural nature would have been.

con artist. But God is working on Jacob to make him what he wants him to be. To be. And God is working on me that way. And God is working on you.

God is working on us and will not be finished with us. until our total, complete dependency is not on self. But on him. And we are going to be something in the Lord Jesus Christ, for Philippians chapter 1, verse 6 says, being confident of this very thing, that he who hath begun a good work in us. will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ.

Now, Jacob had uh deceived his Father. And gotten the birthright that God already wanted to give him, but he couldn't trust God for what God had promised. and he had tricked his brother Esau. into giving him the birthright. When it was already Jacob's, and he didn't need to trick Esau, but he got Esau to trade what Esau thought was the birthright for a bowl of pottage.

Stew or chili, or whatever you want to call it. But now Jacob has had to flee. Because Esau has blood in his eye. Esau, Jacob's twin brother. who's actually born first.

wants to kill Jacob. And Jacob He is running. He is fleeing from his brother. And now he's got to get right with Esau. Because he cannot really be right with God until he's right with Esau his brother.

The brother that he has connived against, the brother that he has tricked, the brother that he has cheated. He knows he's got to get right. with Esau. And furthermore, He hears that Esau is coming to meet him. And so that's the situation that we have it right now.

And God is going to use all of this situation. Because Jacob. To grow and to cease to depend upon himself.

Now you say, Pastor, what does that have to do with me? Friend, it has so much to do with you, it is incredible.

So I beg you. Not to tune me out. I want you to listen. As to how you can learn to cease from your self-sufficiency and depend upon God, for the three things that happened to Jacob so long ago are going to have their correspondence in your life today and in my life. And this very message.

that I prepared has challenged my own heart. By the way. I want you to go back and get the Old Testament story. Turn to Genesis chapter 32. Just go all the way back now from Hebrews to Genesis chapter 32.

And we're going to find the story there fleshed out. You know, it's an interesting thing. Why would God say that Jacob worshipped leaning upon his staff.

Now, the Holy Spirit has a great economy of words. He's not wasting any words.

Well, we're going to learn three principles, and I hope that you're ready for them. The principle number one is this: God will protect you. But he will not pamper you.

Now Genesis 32 Beginning in verse 1, And Jacob went on his way. And the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host, that is God's army. And he called the name of that place Mahanaim. Which means two hosts.

Two hosts. Jacob is fleeing. And suddenly he sees some angels. He realizes That for these twenty years out there in the wilderness and various places. He has had an angel escort.

The angels of God had been encamping round about him to protect him.

Now remember, he's not totally right with God. But the angels are watching him. The angels are protecting him.

Now he was immature. He was out of fellowship with God. And yet, God was protecting him. Thank God for the angels that encamp around about you. that protect you.

When you don't Deserve it. I know that I know that God's angel escort has protected me through life. I could tell you time after time when I believe that God literally by his angels. has protected and delivered me. The Bible teaches these angels are ministering spirits.

And so here's a man. Really out of fellowship with God. And yet, God is protecting him and God is guarding him, and finally, God lets him see these angels. And he says, Look there. Why, there are two hosts.

They're the host of people that are with me, and then there's the heavenly host encamping all about me. We all have angels watching over us, but yet, Even though God was protecting him, God did not pamper him. God let him go through great need and want and difficulty.

Now, what has happened is this. that Esau is coming. Esau is coming with blood in his eye. Esau is coming with an army of 400 strong men. Could God have kept Esau from coming against Jacob?

Listen to me. God engineered it. God is bringing trouble to this man. Put in your margin, Genesis 31 verse 24, Now Jacob had a father-in-law whose name was Laban, and Laban wanted to know how do I deal with Jacob? And in this verse, God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night and said unto him, Take heed.

that thou speak not to Jacob, Either good or bad. Don't hurt him. and don't help it. Don't hurt him? Go Nope.

Just let him go. You see, here's the point. God will let you have your way. until you come to the end of yourself. Here is a man out of fellowship with God.

Here's a man in danger. And God is protecting him with angels, but God is not pampering him. God is not removing him from difficulty. Jacob is learning that Esau is coming. Esau is coming with 400 armed men, and Jacob is out there in the wilderness.

And now, listen. Jacob's mind begins to work. Jacob begins to plan. He begins to scheme. You can see his self-sufficiency.

Now in Genesis chapter 32, beginning verse 3, and Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau, his brother. into the land of Seir. the country of Edom. And he commanded them, saying, thus shall ye speak unto my Lord. Esau.

Can you imagine him calling Esau his Lord? My Lord, Esau. Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban and have stayed there until now, and I have oxen and asses and flocks and menservants and womenservants, and I have sent to tell my Lord. that I may find grace. in thy sight.

Can you hear his flattering tongue? Can you imagine him calling this brother that he had scorned and cheated and connived against? My Lord. Would you please show me some grace? No wonder he says that he's coming with 400 armed men.

And then I want you to notice what else he does. Watch his mind now as it begins to work. Watch his self-sufficiency. Look, if you will, in verses 6 through 8. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and he cometh to meet thee.

and 400 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.

Can you see this? He's trying to cut his losses right now. He's dividing things up. He says, if Esau gets this group, Then this group will be spared. If Esau gets this group, then this group will be spared.

Now he's working. First of all, flattery.

Now strategy.

Now after all of this, he begins to pray. Notice what he does first. He rigs things, he arranges things, and after he does that, he begins to pray. Look now in chapter 32, verse 9. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac.

The Lord which said 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 of the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant. For with my staff I have passed over Jordan. And now I am become two bands. That is, part of my company is on one side and part's on the other.

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. And thou saidest, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered from multitude.

Now he's quoting the promises of God. God said he was going to bless him and protect him. But now he's saying, oh God. Take care of me. I'm in trouble.

It's not wrong. For Jacob to pray, he should have prayed. But prayer was not his first thought. Prayer was his last resort. First of all, he begins to flatter Esau.

Secondly, he begins to divide his flocks and herds and his people. And now he turns to the Lord. And then he goes back to public relations. Look, if you will, now. In verse 13 and read through 16.

And he lodged that same night and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother. 200 she-goats. and 20 he-goats, 200 ewes, and 20 rams. 30 milk camels with their colts, 40 kine, that's cows, and 10 bulls, 20 she-asses and 10 foals. And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves, and said to his servants, pass over before me, and put a space betwixt, or between drove and drove.

Now what he does. In shorthand, he takes 580 valuable animals and he divides them up into lots of five. And he says, now watch this. Go out there, and when Esau comes with these 400 men, now remember he's got some over here, he's got some over here, he's been using flattery, he's been saying, my Lord Esau, show me grace, da-da-da-da. And now he starts sending these gifts.

Here's a bundle of five. And then said, put a space as he comes further, give him another bundle of five gifts. As he comes further, send him some more. As he comes further, give him some more. Do you see the mind of this guy?

I mean, he's smart. He knows how to rig things. He knows how to make things happen. What he's trying to do now is to appease. His brother, because he is in Hot water.

Now what he is saying is this. Lord, I trust you. But Have you ever done that? Lord, I trust you, but Lord, I don't trust you completely. And now, Lord, you help me out.

But Father, you know, I've got to rig this thing.

So Genesis chapter 32, beginning verse 20, and ye say, moreover, behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us, for he saith, I will appease him. with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face. Peradventure he will accept me. Appeasement. Strategy?

Flattery? Appeasement. All of these things, his mind is working.

Now God lets him stew in his own juice. The angels are there. Did you get the first point? God wants you to grow. God wants to deliver you from self-sufficiency, so here it is.

God will protect you. but he will not pamper you. He will not.

Now God loves you too much to let you go. Thank God he protects me. But he will not pamper you.

Now here's the second thing I want you to learn. if you're going to learn to lean on the Lord. God will hurt you. But he will not harm you. You say, God will hurt me, you better believe he'll hurt you.

God will hurt you, but he will not harm you.

Now, in this passage of scripture, he's done all of this stuff. Everybody's here and there, and finally. Old Jake is alone. Look, if you will, in verse 24, in chapter 32, and Jacob was left alone. and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

Now God engineered that Jacob was left alone. The flesh doesn't want to be left alone. We have a generation of people who cannot stand solitude to be alone with God. We don't want to be alone with God because we cannot look God in the face. and we cannot look ourselves in the face.

All of us. Mead solitude, to be left alone to reflect, to really think. I have an idea that if Little David had a battery-powered transistor radio, we wouldn't have had the 23rd Psalm. We need to be alone.

Now when he's alone He has a confrontation with God himself. Look again in verse 24. And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. He's done all of his figuring.

Now he's by himself. He's alone in the dark and someone counseling.

Somebody jumps on him. And he finds himself in a wrestling match. A man out there. Jumps in. Who was this?

It was the pre-incarnate Christ. Jesus Christ came. to wrestle with Jacob. This was before Jesus was born of a virgin. What we call a theophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of our Lord.

So many of us think that Jacob. was wrestling with the angel. But that's not the point. The angels started the fight. The angel He is wrestling with Jacob.

You see, God is trying to do something with Jacob. God wants to deliver Jacob from his self-sufficiency. And so the Lord gets him in a wrestling match. And they wrestle. All night long, they're wrestling.

Wrestling back and forth, back and forth, a mortal man. with Almighty God in a wrestling match.

Now when the day is about to break, The angel now does something. That's very significant. Genesis chapter 32 beginning in verse 25. And when he, the angel, 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. And he wrestled with him.

And he said, let me go, for the day breaketh. The angel, that is, saying to Jacob, let me go. It's morning time. Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go.

Except thou bless me. They're wrestling. Jacob. And the angel, Jacob and the angel, back and forth, one throwing one, one throwing the other, one getting up, down, back and forth. Folks.

Don't you think that the angel could have thrown Jacob anytime. He wanted to. Had it just been an ordinary angel. There'd have been no wrestling match. But he's wrestling with the pre-incarnate Christ.

All night long, he's wrestling. And finally, it's as if the Lord says, I hate to do this to you, Jake. But he reaches under the hollow of his thigh. and shrivels it up. And Jacob.

Can't wrestle anymore. Have you ever watched wrestlers? Do you know what muscle is most important to a wrestler? His thighs. His legs That's where strength is.

If you take away his leg, he can't begin to wrestle. And so the angel of the Lord reaches under here and cripples it. And now How's he going to wrestle anymore? And the angel says, Let me go! Jacob says, I'm not letting you go.

Not until you bless me. I'll not let you go.

Now if this was the Lord, why did the Lord say, let me go? Because the Lord didn't want him to let go. You say, that doesn't make sense. Oh, yes, it does. You study the Bible.

And you'll find out that many times God will act as if He wants to get away from us. when He wants us to pursue Him with all of our heart. Do you remember on the road to Emmaus when two disciples were going there after the resurrection and Jesus appeared in his resurrection body and he's walking with them and their hearts are burning within them and the Bible says that Jesus made as if he would go further and they said, oh no, no, don't. Spend the night with us here. And he did.

Do you remember the Syro-Phoenician woman? who had a demon-possessed daughter. And she came to Jesus and she said, Jesus, if you can do something, heal my daughter. Jesus said to this, Gentile, Syro-Phoenician. I'm not going to take the children's bread and give it to dogs.

Can you imagine Jesus saying something like that? She says, Lord, Even the dogs get the crumbs that fall from under the table. He says, woman, great is your faith. And he did exactly what she asked him to do. But he acted like he wanted to get away from her, that he's not going to do this thing for her.

If you read in the Bible, you'll find out that all through the Bible, God sometimes acts like he wants you to let him alone, but he wants you to pursue him with all of your heart. And so the angel says, let me go. The day is breaking. Jacob says Now listen folks, he's come to the end of himself. I mean, he's even lost his secret weapon.

What was his secret weapon?

Well, if my flattery doesn't help old Esau, I have divided my people up and if he kills all my people on either side, and I've sent him these gifts and they don't soften him up. And if he finally comes, at least I can run. I can pick them up and put them down. I can't even run now. I don't have any hope.

Except you. Oh God. And I will not let you. You go. God has brought this man to the place where he realizes.

That is only hope. is God. Not his scheming, but his surrendering. Not his bargaining. But his begging.

God hurt him. But God didn't harm him. Do you like that idea? Maybe you don't like that idea. See, I don't like the idea of God hurting me.

God loves you too much to leave you self-sufficient. God will protect you, but He will not pamper you. God will hurt you. But he will not harm you. My dad hurt me.

Your dad ever hurt you? My dad knew how to apply the Board of Education to the seat of knowledge. But he didn't harm me. I had a doctor one time. That man took a knife and cut me.

Can you imagine that? I mean, he sliced me. He hurt me, but he didn't harm me. He helped me. Because I had a rock collection down there called a gallstone.

What I'm trying to say is this: that God will protect you. He never takes his eye off of you. But he will not pamper you.

He's not going to coddle you. And God will hurt you. Whom the Lord loves, he chastens. But God will not harm you. You can trust Him, friend.

No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. But afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that exercise thereby. And now, here's the third and final thing I want you to see. God will break you. But he desires to bless you.

What was this wrestling match all about?

Well, look now in verse 27. And he said unto him, that is the angel says to Jacob, what is thy name? And he said, Jacob.

Now, the word Jacob itself means Sir Planter. Conniver. The very name means in modern English con artist.

Sometimes I preach this and I've heard people say, Oh, Pastor, you ought not to say that. Our son's name is Jacob. We have a lot of boys in this church whose name is Jacob. The name Jacob has been transformed. If your name is Jacob now, it's an honorable name because we're going to see what God has done.

And he said unto them, 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 Thou hast power with God and with men, and hast prevail. The word Israel means prince. And so he says, you used to be named con artist. But now your name is Prince because you have power with God and with men because you prevailed.

And Jacob asked him, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. That is, you ought to know who I am. And he blessed them there.

And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face.

Now you know who it was that was wrestling with Jacob, for I've seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Penual, the sun rose upon him. And he halted. upon his thigh.

Now he's had this encounter with God. That's the sunrise. But now He still has. This lip. He's halting.

upon his thigh.

What is it? God has broken him. Because he wants to bless him?

Now no longer is he Jacob.

Now he is Israel.

Now he is a prince.

Now the Lord asked him, What is your name? Do you think God didn't know what his name was? No, God wanted him to admit it. What is your name? Con artist.

Conniver. Skamer.

Well Jacob, I'm glad to hear you admit it. Did you know that God's going to ask you the same thing today? God is going to say to you, What is your name? And you're gonna have to say my name is lazy. Are my name is lustful?

Or my name is Doubter. Or my name is Liar? Or my name is Selfishness. Whatever it is. You see, get the whole point now.

Here's the point. Jacob is crippled that he might be crowned. He is broken. that he might be blessed. And so now he goes.

From a name of shame. To the Hall of Fame. The rest of his life He has to walk with a staff. The rest of his life. He is leaning.

Upon a staff. And when it comes to die. Go back to our scripture now over there in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 21. And he worshiped. Leaning.

Upon his staff. Learning to lean. Learning to lean. Learning to trust. In Jesus.

You see, He was broken. That it might be blessed. God desires to break you. that it might bless you. Did you know that God likes broken things.

Men throw broken things away. But God never really ever uses anything until he first breaks it.

Now you say Pastor Rogers I don't want to be broken.

Well There's a sense in which you don't have to be. If you break yourself. The Bible says if we will judge ourselves, we would not be judged. judged. That is, if we will come to our Lord in absolute humility and brokenness.

and cease our self-sufficiency. and cease our conniving in our planning. and stop trying and start trusting and stand on the word of God. Then God can move in and God can use us in a way that it never could before.

Now go back to our text. Hebrews 11 and verse 24.

Now, see if it doesn't make a lot more sense to you. By faith, Jacob, when he was a dying, Blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshiped Leaning upon his staff. Listen to me. For some of you I've been preaching long enough to know this. This message went right past you.

You have no interest, none whatsoever. Because you've been taught All of your life. to be sufficient. Self-sufficient. God loves you too much to let you stay that way.

I mean, if you really know God.

Now, if you don't know God. This won't apply to you. But Jacob loved God. And he had to be delivered from his self-sufficiency. Learning to lean.

Learning to lean. Learning. to lean. On Jesus. And old Jacob died.

leaning upon his staff. Leaning. On the Lord. Friend, if you're not absolutely certain that you're saved, Let's get it settled. Let me tell you that you're a sinner by birth.

by nature, by choice. Your sin deserves judgment and will receive judgment. and eternal hell. if you do not get saved. There's only one way to be saved.

And that is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who paid your sin debt with His blood on the cross. Shed his blood. as an atonement for your sin. That does not become real to you until you repent of sin and turn to Him by faith. And you can do that right now.

And I want to guide you in this prayer. Would you pray this prayer, dear God? Right this moment, I open my heart. I receive you as my Lord and Savior. Save me.

Lord Jesus. I don't ask for feeling. I don't look for a sign. I stand on your word. I trust you to save me.

And Lord Jesus, I will glorify you. by making it public. I will not be ashamed of you. Give me the strength now. to make it public.

In your name I pray. Amen. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website, lwf.org. For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you.