Given A New Name | Adam Weber

Well, if you run to God, if you wrestle with Him, He'll change you. He'll give you a new name. And when this happens, you are no longer defined by your past. You're no longer the things that we just said. You're no longer even defined by who you say you are because God says, I've changed you. And in God, in Christ, in Jesus, He declares, you, my friend, are forgiven. ♪ Today, though, we are continuing on in our series called Wrestling With God. And just to let you know, we have today and next week left in this series. And next weekend, we have Dan Watson back here with us from Passion City Church. We had Dan with us back in July, and the response was so powerful. Honestly, the morning hadn't even ended, and I said, is there any way you'd be willing to come back? And so we're excited to have him wrap up this series. In this series, though, we've been looking at the messy story of a messy man named Jacob found in Genesis chapters 25 through 35. And just to bring us up to speed in this story and also in our series, Jacob and his brother Esau are twin brothers. And from the very beginning, literally since the womb, these two brothers have a broken, bitter relationship.

Well, to make matters worse, Jacob ends up stealing both Esau's blessing and his birthright. And just to be direct, Jacob is a terrible person. I mean, he's deceptive, he's a liar. The PG way of saying it, Jacob is a sucky human being. I mean, he's just one of those people where you're just like, you are the worst. And as a result, Esau hates his brother so much that he vows to kill Jacob. And so Jacob flees for his life. He moves away just to save his life. And just to highlight this, even Jacob's name, Jacob's name means grabs the heel or trickster. It can also mean, though, someone or something that takes the place of another by force or by trickery. And unfortunately, Jacob, he fully lives up to his name. And so picking up our story for today, at this point, Jacob and Esau, they haven't seen each other for 20 years. It's been 20 years, and in this 20 years, a lot has changed for both brothers. But with Jacob, he now has a family and he's made a living for himself. And God is slowly changing the man that Jacob is. And now Jacob is on his way back home and he's got his family with him. His sons are all with him. All of his cattle and his livestock are with him. And they're headed back home where his brother Esau is. And again, they haven't seen each other in 20 years, 20 years. And I truly can't imagine

how stressful this would be for Jacob. Like, just think about this. This is like going to a family reunion where you just know that you're gonna see a family member that you have a broken relationship with. It'd be like you going to an event and you just know that there's a high chance that you might run into your ex, your ex that you cannot stand. It's that feeling that you know you might be and you might see your former best friend that you haven't talked with in a long time. And you and your former best friend, you just got a lot of hard, ugly feelings towards each other. Literally, the last time Jacob saw his brother was when Jacob screwed him over 20 years ago and Esau vowed to kill him. And so again, Jacob is on his way back home and he's stressed and he's anxious and he can't sleep. And at this time, if you have a Bible, I wanna invite you to open it up to the book of Genesis chapter 32. Use the Bible on your phone. A physical Bible would really encourage you to open up your Bibles to Genesis chapter 32. We're gonna start at verse 22. If you have one of the copies of Genesis that we gave out at the very beginning, you can turn to page 46 in that. But again, Genesis chapter 32,

starting in verse 22, we're told this. That night, Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his 11 sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all of his possessions. So Jacob was left alone. Again, so Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. Okay, so again, Jacob is on his journey back home and he's insanely stressed and anxious and the night before they arrived, Jacob sends his entire family across this stream. And after his family, he sends over all of his possessions as well and we're told specifically that Jacob was left alone. He's left alone. At this place, he can't hide behind his family. He can't hide behind his possessions. He is on the side of this stream and he is 100% totally alone. For all of us, I just wanna ask the question, have you ever been at this place before, a time where you were just completely alone? Maybe for you, it's when you lost your job or you lost your reputation and you just felt totally exposed and all alone. Maybe it was a time that your friends left you. Maybe for you, it was during your divorce. You found yourself in some random apartment all alone,

a time that you were all alone in a hospital, all alone in a new city, all alone after a breakup, all alone after you lost a loved one, a time that you couldn't hide behind your family, you couldn't hide behind your possessions, your connections, you couldn't hide behind your money. You maybe even couldn't hide behind your health. Instead, you felt totally exposed and all alone. Friends, this right here is where Jacob is. And to be clear, if you've never been to this place before, it sucks. It's filled with anxiety and stress. And you can't sleep at times, you can't even think straight. Once again, we're told that Jacob was left all alone. And then it goes on to say though, and a man wrestled with him. And a man wrestled with him. First off, just to acknowledge it, this is bizarre. Secondly, in case you don't know, this man that Jacob wrestles with, it's God. It's God himself. Just to say it again, Jacob is all alone and he's stressed and he's anxious and he has no family with him. He has none of his possessions. He's all alone and it's there that he wrestles with God. Today, the first thing I wanna highlight for all of us is this, when you feel most alone, that's often when God shows up most clearly. Friends, when you feel most alone,

when you feel totally exposed, when there's nothing to hide behind, when you're at the most lonely, lowest place, that's often when God shows up most clearly. I think so often we believe that God shows up most clearly during the best times in life, right? When we have a huge win, when we have a mountaintop experience, we think that God shows up the most clearly when we get the promotion, when we hit our sales goal, when our kids are doing great and they're making awesome decisions during an awesome worship service, when our health is good to some degree, friends. This is true. God, he does love to bless us with good things. And yet so often I've found in my own life, and I've seen this in the lives of so many others as well, and I wish it wasn't the truth, but when you feel most alone, that's often when you experience God and he shows up the most clearly. In the hardest moments, in the lowest places, when you feel most alone, that's often when God shows up the most clearly. Continuing on again in verse 24, so Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip

so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, let me go for it is daybreak. But Jacob replied, I will not let you go unless you bless me. I think this is so powerful. This entire night, Jacob wrestles with God. Like not just an hour or two, but instead we're told specifically till daybreak. And isn't that just so true? Like seriously, I just wonder how many of us have literally laid awake an entire night just wrestling back and forth with God. Ever had this an entire night? You're just wrestling with him? Today. Here's the second truth. You can either wrestle with God or walk away from Him. Let me say that again. You can either wrestle with God or walk away from Him. Honestly, I think a huge common misunderstanding about God is that He just wants us to shut our mouths and do what He says. A huge misunderstanding. God just wants you to shut up and listen. He doesn't want you to ask hard questions. He doesn't want you to ask why. He doesn't want you to ask Him why. Why did something take place? Again, a huge misunderstanding about God is that He just wants us to be quiet,

to shut our mouths and do what He says. What He says. All the while, nothing can be further from the truth. You look at the Psalms. All the Psalms found in Scripture, they're a bunch of wrestling matches. It's wrestling match after wrestling match after wrestling match. God, why did you allow this to happen? And God, I can't hear you. God, why did you abandon me? God, how much longer do I need to wait? God, God, where are you? Wrestling match after wrestling match after wrestling match. Let me say it again. You can either wrestle with God or you can walk away from Him. You can either bring God your hard questions or you can get bitter at Him and walk away from Him. You can either ask Him the hard things or you can stop following Jesus. You can either challenge God and even yell at Him or you can bury your feelings and pretend like they're not there. And yes, sure, you might keep going to church. If you bury your feelings, you might even keep calling yourself a Jesus follower. But the truth is over time, your heart will just get harder and harder and further and further away from God.

For all of us right now, if you're going through something hard, something brutal, something sucky in life, my advice, keep wrestling with God. Keep engaging Him. Keep showing up to church. Keep talking with Him. Keep opening up His word. Keep struggling with God. Do whatever you need to do, but just don't walk away from Him. You see, if you're wrestling with God, that means your relationship with Him is still alive. And friends, wrestling with God is such a good thing. It's a good thing to wrestle. Continuing on, starting in verse 24. Let me read this again. So Jacob was left alone and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, let me go for it is daybreak. But Jacob replied, I will not let me go unless you bless me. It goes on to say the man, God, asked him, what is your name? What is your name? Jacob, he answered. Okay, so this is so good.

The man, who again is God, asked Jacob, what's your name? And to be clear, friends, God knows Jacob's name. What God is asking Jacob is who are you? Who are you? And God wants Jacob to hear what he says. He wants him to know like, who are you? And who does Jacob say in response? He says, I'm Jacob. Who are you? My name is Jacob. Friends, remember what the name Jacob means? Basically, when God asked him this question, Jacob says, who am I? I grabbed the heel. Who am I? I'm a trickster. Who am I? I'm a deceiver. God, who am I? I'm a liar. Who am I? You know who I am. I'm a piece of crap, God. Who am I? I'm a sucky human being. Who am I? I'm the one who deceived my brother. I'm the one who deceived my old man. I'm the one whose brother wants to kill me and rightfully so.

You wanna know who I am, God? I'm the grown man who screwed off my entire life and now I'm terrified about going back home. That's who I am. You know who I am. My name is Jacob. I'm a trickster. I hate myself. Verse 27. But the man asked him again, what is your name? Jacob, he answered. Here's the good news, friends. Then the man, God said, your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel. Because you've struggled, you've wrestled with me and with humans, and you've overcome. God's telling Jacob, I've changed you, I've changed you. I've changed you. Instead of being Jacob, I'm giving you a new name. You will no longer be Jacob. From this day forward, you will be Israel, which means the one who wrestles with God. God's like, you're no longer a liar. You're no longer a cheater. You're no longer a cheater. You're no longer a sorry excuse of a human being. Instead, because of me and the fact that you wrestle with me and I've changed you, and from this day forward, you have a new name, and even more than that,

you are a new person. You're a new man. You're not the same person that you used to be. My friends, don't miss this. If you forget everything else today, hear this. If you wrestle with God, he'll change you, and he will give you a new name. Let me say that again. If you wrestle with God, if you engage him, if you struggle with him, he'll change you. He'll give you a new name. So in light of this today, just across all camps, anybody hearing my voice, I just wanna ask the question, what's your name? Who are you? If you were brutally honest with yourself, who do you say that you are? Like, what are the negative things that you would say about yourself? I mean, maybe for you, like Jacob, you'd say I'm a liar, I'm a cheater, I'm a liar, I'm greasy, I'm two-faced, who am I? I say one thing and I do another my entire life. That's what I've done. Maybe you'd say I feel used. I just feel dirty. I've just felt gross my entire life because of the things that I've done or the things that others have done against me. Maybe you'd say I'm an addict.

Who am I? I'm divorced. Who am I? I'll sleep with anyone who loves me. Who am I? I'm too much for people. Who am I? I scare people out. Who am I? I'm anxious. I'm a worrier. I'm depressed. Maybe you'd say I'm a criminal. That's who I am. I've tried to run from it my entire life, but I went to prison or I'm in prison right now. And so that's who I am. I'm a criminal. Maybe you'd say I'm all alone. I'm unwanted. I'm fake. I'm a huge disappointment to me and not just to me, but my entire family. Once again, what's your name? And who are you? You see, friends, because here's the deal. If you run to God, if you wrestle with him, he'll change you.

He'll give you a new name. And when this happens, you are no longer defined by your past. You're no longer the things that we just said. You're no longer even defined by who you say you are because God says I've changed you. And in God, in Christ, in Jesus, he declares you, my friend, are forgiven. In Christ, you are a friend of God. Anybody ever told you that before? You're a friend of God? He declares you're his masterpiece. Ever just felt so broken? He's like, you're my masterpiece. Ever feel unwanted? He says, you're chosen. He says, you're mine. He says, even now I got a plan and I got a purpose for your life. And you're no longer a jerk because you got God inside you and which means you have his kindness inside of you. And you're no longer defined by your addiction because he has set you free. Even if you don't feel free, he gives you his self-control. And you're no longer a worrier. That's just who I've always been. I'm a worrier. You're no longer a worrier

because now you are trusting in Jesus. You're no longer running away from God. Like you've been doing your entire life because you, my friend, you are a wrestler. You're the one who wrestles with God. And because you have. Because you do, he has given you a new name, friend. The name that you've been carrying around, it doesn't need to be the name that you keep. The name that you've given yourself, the name that others have given you, it's not the same name that God gives you. He says, you are my son, you are my daughter, and I've given you a new name. Going back to our story one more time, in verse 28, it says, then the man said, your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you've struggled, you've wrestled with God and with humans and have overcome. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying it is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared. So today, this is where we're gonna push pause on our story, and next week, Dan, to wrap up our series, he's gonna look at what happens when Jacob and Esau are finally reunited with each other. But I just wanna highlight one last thing, though. I think we can all agree that Jacob was a terrible human being, and yet again, Jacob becomes Israel, and Israel becomes a mighty nation,

a nation that still exists even today. But you see, Jacob, he has a son named Judah, right? We talked about that last week. And then from Judah, generations later, from this same family of Jacob, there's another son named David. And then there's another son named Solomon. And then generations later, from this same family line of Jacob, there's another son named Joseph, who, oddly enough, gets engaged to this young gal named Mary. And you see, they, from the same family line of Jacob, they end up having a son named Jesus. Jesus. If you've ever wondered if you're too messed up, too broken to be changed by God, to be used by him, remember Jacob. Because from this broken, sinful human being, from this deceiver named Jacob, comes this one perfect savior of the world, named Jesus. And he makes us a brand new person. Like, he makes us new from the inside out, and if we ask him to, he hits the reset button on our lives, and he doesn't just give us a new life, and even more so, he offers us eternal life. And in case you don't know, friends, this Jesus, he wants to change you, too. He's willing and he's able to give you a new name, a new life, an eternal life, as well.

This is Jesus, from the line, from the family of Jacob. Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen.