Jacob - From Worm To Worshipper Series

Text: Hebrews 11:21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff - NKJV

Title: Jacob - from Worm to Worshipper!

Intro: The bible in both Old and New Testament depicts “Living by Faith” as the only life that is acceptable and pleasing to God!

Hebrews 10:37 For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.” 38 And, “But my righteous one will live by faith.[NOT FEAR, WORKS, OR ANYTING ELSE] And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” [i.e. WHO IS FAITHLESS] 39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. [UNTO THE SAVING OF THE SOUL!]

Proposition: Yet we have a misconception of faith. We often see it as a means by which we escape the test, trails, challenges, and set-backs in life! Or to say it another way, if we just have enough faith – no hardship will find us!

Yet God’s great goal for our lives is not to make us comfortable but rather to conform us in character into the image of His Son, Jesus!

Romans 8: 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.- NIV

Or to put it another way to transform us from being a:

Jacob – ??????? - Ya`aqob - "heel holder" or "supplanter" or “deceiver.”

To a:

Israel – ?????????? -Yisra'el - "One who prevail with God " or “Prince of God.”

And this is really the history of our person of interest in our scripture passage God turns him from being a worm to worshipper!

Why would I call him a worm? Because God did!

Isaiah 41: 14 “Fear not, you worm Jacob, You men of Israel! I will help you,” says the Lord

And your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

15 “Behold, I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth;

You shall thresh the mountains and beat them small,

And make the hills like chaff.

16 You shall winnow them, the wind shall carry them away,

And the whirlwind shall scatter them;

Transitional sentence: How does God do it? Let’s look 3 portraits of Jacob, that show how this “metamorphosis “takes place! The first one being…

I. Jacob – The Worm! I know what your thinking. It is not very kind to call anyone a worm!

A) Definition = Worm

1. Any of a number of creeping or burrowing invertebrate animals with long, slender soft bodies and no limbs.

2. An informal or definition is:

a) A weak or despicable person.

b) A groveling, abject, contemptible person

Q: Why would he be defined this way?

A: He was a supplanter right from the womb!

B) At Birth

1. When he comes out of his mother’s womb – his parents named him– DECIEVER!

Genesis 25: 25 And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. 26a Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob...

a) Jacob - ???? Yaccob, from ??? akab, to defraud, deceive, to supplant, i.e., to overthrow a person by tripping up his heels.

Adam Clarke-Hence this name was given to Jacob, because it was found he had laid hold on his brother's heel, which was emblematical of his supplanting Esau, and defrauding him of his birthright.

b) And as you read the story of his life this is what it looked like!

He was a determined man; some would consider him to be ruthless. He was a con artist, a liar, and a manipulator, In fact, the name Jacob, not only means deceiver, but more literally it means grabber.

c) Someone who by hook or by crook would take what he wanted or needed to get thru in life!

B) Birthright (How he got it)

1. Was through deception, even though God said it was ultimately his.

2. He still used trickery to lay hold of it!

Genesis 25: 21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”