The minister in the parish church was appealing
for funds to support a certain foreign mission.
And he made a very effective appeal.
On going home, he told the old aunt,
she was over 80 years of age, she's
in fact lying on her deathbed, he told
of the appeal that the minister had made
that morning.
She's listening, and then she spoke and said,
Willie, shortly before my husband died, he put
some money in the post office savings bank,
just to give me a decent burial, just
to give me a decent burial.
Now, Willie, I want you to go to
the post office tomorrow, and lift every penny
of it, and hand it over to the
minister, and you can give me a proper
burial.
Now, I never think of that, dear old
woman, and her sacrifice.
Lift it all, and bury me as a
pauper.
That is the spirit of self-sacrifice.
You will find our reading this evening in
the book of Genesis, and we shall read
part of chapter 32, and reading from verse
24.
And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled
a man with him until the breaking of
the day.
And when he 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 as he wrestled with him.
And he said, Let me alone, let me
go, for the day breaketh.
And he said, I will not let thee
go, except thou bless me.
And he said unto him, 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 hast thou power with God and with
men, and hast prevailed.
And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me,
I pray thee, thy name.
And he said, Wherefore is it that thou
doest ask after my name?
And he blessed him there.
And Jacob called the name of the place
Penuel, for I have seen God face to
face, and my life is preserved.
In our Gaelic Bible it says, My life
is saved.
And as he passed over Penuel, the sun
rose upon him, and he halted upon his
thigh.
Therefore the children of Israel ate not of
the sinew which shrank, which is upon the
hollow of the thigh, unto this day, because
he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in
the sinew that shrank.
Amen.
And God will add his blessing.
Will you turn with me now to the
book of Psalms, and to Psalm 51.
Psalm 51, and we shall read three verses
from verse 15.
O Lord, open thou my lips, and my
mouth shall show forth thy praise.
For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I
give it.
Thou delightest not in bound offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
a broken and a contrite heart.
O God, thou wilt not despise.
You will find the words of my text
in verse 17.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
a broken and a contrite heart.
O God, thou wilt not despise.
Might I say that the burden that God
has placed upon my heart for this meeting
is a message on the sacrifice that is
pleasing to God.
The sacrifice that is pleasing to God.
I know that we frequently sing, break me
and make me and mold me.
Oh, we can sing that lustily.
But I sometimes wonder how many of us
who sing that chorus are prepared to be
broken bread and poured out wine.
It might be helpful if we just ask
ourselves now, getting down and into reality and
forever away from mere sentiment, am I prepared,
am I willing to be broken bread this
evening and poured out wine?
I believe that the Lord has led me
today to direct your attention to an Old
Testament character in the process of breaking.
I refer, of course, to Jacob in the
process of breaking.
But in a breaking that made him the
man that he became.
What he became.
A prince that prevailed.
Because there came a moment in his life
when God broke him.
When God broke him.
Now you remember the story.
Those of you who remember it well will
remember that the one absorbing thought in the
mind of Jacob at this time was his
meeting with Esau.
I don't think it occurred to him at
all that there was a far greater need.
A meeting with God.
But still did he believe that there could
be any connection between the two meetings.
That his meeting with God would be the
best preparation for his meeting with the problem
that confronted him.
His meeting with his brother, with his 400
men.
Now I believe that we are gathered here
this evening.
And I would like to believe that we
are here to meet with God.
I'm sure some of you have met with
him already in this evening service.
I believe that the presence of God, the
sense of his nearness is very, very marked
in this meeting.
And there are those here who are desirous
above everything else to meet with God.
Brother do you believe in a God that
can be met?
I've asked that question already.
And I ask it again at the risk
of repetition.
One of the Puritans by the name of
John Owen had a saying that he frequently
brought before his congregation.
A question.
Is your saviour an imaginary saviour?
Is he just an imaginary saviour?
If he is, you'll be quite satisfied with
an imaginary experience of him.
But I do not believe, in fact I
cannot believe that we are here this evening
to worship an imaginary God.
My dear people, God is here.
And God is here to speak with us.
I now see Jacob there.
And I read that he was left alone.
He had sent his family and all his
possessions over the brook Jabbok.
But for some reason he himself remains on
the other side.
And oh, my dear people, he is alone.
It would be helpful this evening if men
and women in this meeting were so caught
up and alone with God that they wouldn't
hear a single word from this platform.
My, I tell you, that would mean something.
I've always said that something definitely happens when
a man gets alone with God.
When my wife used to sing, she had,
and still has, a lovely voice.
She loved to sing at my meetings that
lovely solo that we frequently hear in Scotland.
Alone with God.
Oh, blessed retreat.
Alone with God and in Him hidden to
find in Him communion sweet.
You dear soloists, do you know that hymn?
If not, try and get it.
It's a lovely solo with a wonderful message.
Well, Jacob is left alone.
And you will remember that something wonderful happened.
Oh, something happened that touched him as he
was never touched before.
But I want you to note what he
said.
There wrestled a man with him.
Now, I know that it is sometimes read
as though Jacob wrestled with a man.
And from it we derive the lesson on
prevailing prayer.
But I want to say this evening, this
is to mistake the whole point of the
story.
It's to miss the vital message that is
central in this story.
There wrestled a man with him.
The wrestling did not begin with Jacob.
The wrestling began with the man who came
into grips with him.
And I believe that the wrestling by the
man was an endeavor on the part of
God to break down Jacob's opposition and bring
him to an end of himself.
You see, what is happening here is God
conquering the self-life of Jacob.
Do you believe that?
God touched the hollow of his thigh.
And now, no longer able to wrestle, Jacob
begins to cling.
And this is where the lesson on prevailing
prayer comes in.
You see, from cunning to clinging, from resisting
to resting, Jacob is in the right place.
But oh, at what a cost!
Oh, let me say again, that judgment begins
in the house of God.
Judgment begins in the midst of God's people.
You remember, it was at that moment that
Jacob is made to face himself.
And I say, face himself with honesty and
with sincerity.
A voice speaks.
What is your name?
And I believe at that moment his past
came before him.
And he saw himself a deceiver and a
twister and a liar.
I tell you, dear people, when God comes,
He makes revelations.
There is a verse in the book of
Jeremiah, See thy way in the valley, know
what thou hast done.
And I believe that in this meeting, men
and women are called upon by God to
just have a look at the way in
the valley.
Perhaps I could suggest that at your last
camp meeting here, looking back over the way,
conscious of your failure, realizing that you fail
God, you responded to the appeal.
And perhaps you came out to the altar,
or to some altar.
And you perhaps gave, like Hezekiah of old,
you gave to your life the propulsion of
a sacred vow.
And perhaps you said with Hezekiah, I found
it in my heart to make a covenant
with the Lord God of Israel.
But brother, as you look back over that
dusty road in the valley, on the higher
heights I trust of clearer vision, what is
it that you see?
Oh, let us face it.
Jacob is there.
Oh, I say, he is looking back and
he is made conscious of what he did
to his brother.
You are looking back now.
And what is it that you are seeing?
I believe you are seeing moments that give
birth to great resolutions.
And perhaps you sang, I surrender all, all
to Jesus I surrender, I surrender all.
But what is God seeing?
Yes, along that road you see places where
you failed Him, where you allowed yourself to
be lured by the lesser loyalty.
And you left in the lumber of forgotten
things the vows that you made.
Is that true?
Oh, is that true?
Listen, my brother, the God to whom you
vowed will meet you.
He will meet you.
Oh, may it not happen that you meet
Him with your broken vow.
See thy way in the valley.
Know what thou hast done.
Jacob knows.
Oh, Jacob knows what he did.
And you know tonight where you failed God,
where you failed to take a stand for
Jesus, when your stand would have saved a
soul from hell.
Oh, my dear people, let's think of it.
Let's think of it.
Oh, the many today, the many today who
yielded and are yielding to the lure of
the lesser.
There was a time when they believed in
holiness, in separation, refusing to conform to the
world.
Where are they today?
They have lost the kin edge of their
spirituality.
Oh, they have lost it.
And they are not greatly concerned about those
around them that are perishing.
Oh, we heard that tonight already.
My dear people, we need vision.
And I believe that vision comes when we
find ourselves in the process of breaking.
Evan Roberts prayed again and again.
I quoted this already.
Oh, God, bend us.
He just meant, Oh, God, break us.
Coming back to the story, might I direct
your attention to several thoughts suggested.
First of all, the place of brokenness is
the place of transformation.
This is where we see, oh, to me,
this is where we see the greatness of
God's mercy.
God meeting with them again.
This, to me, is the gospel of a
second chance.
Do you believe in it?
The word of the Lord came to Jonah
the second time.
I believe in God's second chance here, not
over the river.
Not after death.
There is no second chance there.
As a tree falleth, so shall it lie.
As death finds you, so will judgment.
No second chance.
But, bless God, there is a second chance
here.
Indeed, I can say that I wouldn't be
here this evening if God didn't give me
a second chance.
God is good to all, and His tender
mercies are over all His works.
How suggestive are the words of verse 1,
And Jacob went on his way, and the
angel of the Lord met him.
Isn't that wonderful?
God is after him.
God is tracking him down.
And that is precisely what God is doing
with some of you here this evening.
Oh, He is tracking you down.
He is getting you right in the place
that He was anxious and is anxious to
get you.
Now, I would say that this meeting with
Jacob speaks to me of that communication of
power for the transformation of life which is
at the very heart of the gospel.
In effect, what is the angel saying to
Jacob?
Jacob, get right with God.
Get right with God, and the peril you
fear will be averted.
But, Jacob, Jacob, this will mean the entire
reconstruction of your life.
And that, brother or sister, is what you've
got to face if God is going to
meet you tonight.
You will leave this campground never to be
the same again.
It will mean the entire reconstruction of your
life.
And it will be noticed in the church.
It will be noticed in the community, and
the children will notice it in the home.
Oh, I repeat that.
There will be a difference.
There ought to be a difference.
And if there isn't a difference, please don't
talk about the blessing at the camp.
My dear people, let me say again, we
need to get out from mere sentiment into
the grips of reality.
And that is reality.
Far too much of mere sentiment and emotional
talking.
We are living in serious and in desperate
days.
And God expects His people to stand by
Him with honesty and with sincerity and a
God-imparted determination.
Do you know that?
I fully agree with Oswald Chambers in a
statement that he made that very often concentration
is greater than consecration.
And I think I understand what he meant.
Oh, for men with spiritual backbone, determination,
all we will sing in will not turn
back.
My, that was a wonderful chorus during the
revival.
It was the only English chorus that they
knew and they sang.
It was brought to them from Glasgow by
a member of the tent hall in that
city.
A fully possessed heart and mind to do
the will of God.
Now, my dear friend, again may I ask,
are you there alone with God?
Oh, blessed retreat!
Alone with God and in Him hidden, to
find in Him communion sweet.
Tell me, as you think of Jesus just
now, as the thought of God is coursing
through your mind, can you speak of communion
sweet?
Jesus is real to me.
And oh, I love Him.
That is the language of the soul, alone
with God.
But you will notice further that the place
of brokenness is also the place of identification.
Notice the new man has a new mark
of identification upon him.
He halts.
Something visible now that was never there before.
A mark of identification.
Was it not Dr. MacIntyre, the late Dr.
MacIntyre of the BTI in Glasgow, who in
his book On the Cross makes this statement,
If we are saved and sanctified through the
atoning death of Jesus on the cross, there
must be in our life something to answer
to that great fact.
A mark of identification.
In the case of Jacob, the fact was
in his inability to wrestle because of what
had happened.
And now he could only cling.
Brother, sister, is that mark of identification on
you?
Oh, let us face it.
Yes, I profess to be saved.
Is there a mark indicating that?
You profess to have had an experience of
sanctification?
Tell me.
What is it in your life that indicates
that?
Is it obvious in your dress, sister?
Is it?
Oh, my dear people, I was telling someone
today about remarks made by an English evangelist
last winter.
He was in the midst of the movings
of God.
It was not revival, but it could be
termed a successful mission.
And one night he is counseling a young
woman.
And through his counseling, she professed faith in
Jesus Christ.
And then she turned to the evangelist and
said, Now that I have accepted Jesus as
my Savior, I do not suppose you will
have any objections to me wearing my miniskirt.
The dear man looked at her and said,
Sister, I have no objections whatsoever if you
have decided to be just a mini-Christian.
Have you got that?
Has it sunk down?
My dear people, there are far too many
mini-Christians in the country today whose standard
is worldly.
But let me say this, they are not
God's Christians.
Not God's Christians.
They are not New Testament Christians if they
are just mini-Christians.
I say that, dear people, that there ought
to be and there must be.
Tell me, you men in business, what is
the evidence, what is the mark of identification
in your transactions?
Oh, let's face it, when you are called
upon, as they are in Britain at any
rate, to fill certain forms relative to tax,
farmers relative to subsidy for cattle and for
ground, what, brother, is the mark of identification
when you sit down to fill in that
form?
Is it honesty?
Is it honesty and sincerity, though it may
lose you a fair amount of money?
Men and women, we may hide much from
others, but, brother, you cannot hide that from
God.
You cannot hide it from God.
The mark of identification.
I was in Ireland three years ago addressing
a convention of the Christian Workers' Union, and
I happened to make a statement that I
made, I think, here already, that Calvary will
not cover what you've got to uncover.
Do you believe that?
He that hideth his sin, he that covereth
his sin, shall not prosper.
Oh, write it clearly and largely across the
records.
A farmer was listening to me, and when
I made that statement, he rose and walked
out of the meeting.
And I said to myself, well, you've done
it again.
You've said something that has offended that man.
I didn't know then that he was a
farmer.
But it kept coming back to me that
he did not agree with me.
He wasn't in the meeting the following day,
nor the day following.
But on the third day, he came back.
And after the service, he came to me
and said, you would be surprised at me
leaving the service in the middle of your
address.
I said, yes, I was a bit surprised.
Well, he said, I'll tell you why.
When you made that statement that Calvary will
not cover what you've got to uncover, a
little dog began to bark.
A little dog began to bark.
Well, I said, I didn't hear a dog
barking, and I don't think anybody else in
the church heard a dog barking.
Oh, he says, but I heard a puppy
barking at the ear of my guilty soul.
And then he told a story.
He says, when I was a boy, I
stole a valuable puppy.
I got five pounds for it, but no
one in the community knew what had happened
to this valuable puppy.
But I knew.
I sold it to a farmer across the
border and got five pounds for it.
Some years passed, and a Fletcher, a Nevanses
by the name of Fletcher, came to the
district.
And through his preaching, I was led to
profess faith in Jesus Christ.
No thought of the puppy.
Years passed, and I became an elder in
the Presbyterian church.
That is forty years ago.
Forty-one years, to be correct.
And I was never troubled until that meeting,
when the puppy began to bark at the
ear of my soul.
And I was so disturbed that I left
the meeting, took my car, and made for
the farm from which I stole the puppy.
The farmer was dead, but his son was
operating the farm.
I told my story, how I stole the
puppy.
And then I paid for it with the
interest of forty-one years.
I then went across the border to the
farm to whom I sold the puppy.
The farmer was dead, and the farm was
not being worked, but a daughter was a
teacher in a local school, and I went
to her and told her the story that
I who sold the puppy in heaven's sight
was a thief.
And that man told his story, told it
again and again in the church and in
the parish.
And men and women discovered a mark that
cried aloud, this is a man that fears
God.
Here is a man that believes in reality.
The mark of identification.
And I want to ask again, is that
mark in evidence in your life?
Perhaps you are professing holiness.
Oh, my dear people, it is easy to
make a profession.
Easy to make a profession.
But oh, give me the mark.
Give me the evidence.
And the evidence is New Testament holiness.
That cries aloud separation.
And that speaks of passion and burden in
a cry for revival.
Oh, brother, have you got this mark?
The mark of identification.
Jacob, oh, his broken.
And I believe that the recurring consciousness of
that hour would be the realization that there
came a moment when God conquered him.
When God conquered him.
Here again may I quote from a hymn
by an Edinburgh poet.
My heart is weak and poor until it
master finds.
It has no spring of action sure.
It varies with the wind.
It cannot freely move till thou hast brought
its chains.
Enslave it with thy matchless love.
And deathless it remains.
A hymn, a poem by George Matheson.
Written in Edinburgh.
Suggesting the experience through which Jacob had passed.
By me, God, with cords of love to
the altar.
Oh, brother, is that your cry?
And surely this suggests something else.
As he passed over Peniel, we read that
the sun rose upon him.
The sun rose upon him.
Is that not what we ought to expect?
Might that not suggest a new light upon
his way?
Jacob, the supplanter, preferred to walk in the
twilight because there was something in his life
that would not stand the light of day.
Oh, brother, is there something in your life
that will not stand the light of the
searching beam of God's presence?
Something that you know will not stand the
light that searches every avenue of my personality.
But oh, see Jacob now.
Now he walks in the full blaze of
the noonday sun with nothing to hide.
Nothing to hide.
Oh, brother, I believe that there will be
men and women leaving this camp meeting with
nothing to hide.
Oh, you came to the camp somewhat afraid.
Afraid to walk in the full blaze because
of something in your life that would not
stand before the blaze of God's searching presence.
But would I say today you met with
him.
Yesterday you met with him.
And God has dealt with that something.
And tonight you feel that you can walk
in the noonday sun.
Well, I believe that Jacob is there now
a prince with God.
Surely this speaks to me, it certainly speaks
of the recovering power of the precious blood
of Jesus from which there streams the light
of atonement made, the light of purity assured,
and the light of sins forever dealt with
and forgiven.
My dear people, that to me is the
supreme lesson that we have here.
We had a very remarkable minister in the
highlands, a great Gaelic scholar and Gaelic preacher.
That dear minister, while in this parish, before
he became chaplain to Queen Victoria and resident
in Glasgow as minister of that great church,
the barony, he wrote a hymn that you
will find in many hymn books today.
Courage, brother, do not stumble.
Though thy path be darkest night, there's a
star to guide the humble.
Trust in God and do the right.
Perish policy and cunning, perish all that fears
the light.
Whither losing, whither winning, trust in God and
do the right.
I believe that he is there giving expression
to the truth that I am anxious to
get across to you this evening.
In the light, the mark of identification gloriously
visible.
Oh, perish policy and cunning.
Here you have it in Jacob.
Perish all that fears the light.
Doth you leave this campground?
Oh, may this be your prayer.
Perish all that will not stand the light
of God's searching presence.
It comes to my mind just now, words
spoken by the great apostle.
I could not see, he said, for the
glory of that light.
He is giving his testimony.
I could not see for the glory of
that light.
What did he mean?
Oh, there were things in his life.
There were habits.
There were many things.
But he cannot see them now for the
glory of this light.
Things that were dear to him before his
conversion.
Oh, he could not see them now for
the glory of this light.
Oh, I wonder how many will be able
to see that this evening.
As you linger in the presence of God,
as you gaze back over the way in
the valley, and as you see places and
incidents that grieve your spirit this evening.
Oh, will you be able to see?
I cannot see them for the glory of
this light.
I believe, dear people, that that could happen.
And I make bold to say that it
is happening.
And happening in this meeting.
I believe, dear people, that God has been
speaking.
I believe that you have ears to listen.
And hearts to desire honesty and sincerity.
Oh, God, meet me as you met with
Jacob.
Speak to me as you spoke to Jacob.
And help me from now onward to walk
in the full blaze of your searching beam
with nothing between.
With nothing between.
My dear people, you can get there tonight.
You can get there tonight.
And if you fail to get there, you
are fighting against God.
And assisting the devil to hinder his purposes
in the realm of revival.
I mentioned, I think, more than once, the
blessing that my own dear young daughter was
to me and is to me today.
I owe more to her than to any
person living.
I am going to quote to you verses
of a poem that was used by God
to send her to Nepal as a missionary
with the Regions Beyond Missionary Union.
She is now a sister in her final
year in the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh, training as
a nurse.
And now taking an extra year for a
certain medal that is given by the Royal
in Edinburgh to those who complete the full
and extra year.
While there, she sent me this poem telling
me how God had called her to the
mission field.
And this is what I read.
I want you to listen.
Upon the sandy shore, an empty shell.
Beyond the shell, infinity of sea.
O Saviour, I am like that empty shell.
Thou art the sea to me.
A sweeping wave rides up the shore.
And lo, each dim recess the coiled shell
within is searched, is filled, is filled to
overflow by water's crystalline.
Not to the shell is any glory then.
All glory give we to the glorious sea.
And not to me be any glory when
thou overflow'st me.
Sweep over me, thy shell, as low I
lie.
I yield me to the purpose of thy
will.
Sweep up, O conquering wave.
And purify, and with thy fullness fill.
I wonder if that is your prayer this
evening.
May I repeat the last verse again.
And I would say this.
I am not asking a demonstration.
A whole congregation standing.
You know that that disturbs me, dear people.
It disturbs me.
But is there is a person here.
Young, middle age, or old.
Who from the heart can say this.
Now listen.
Sweep over me.
Thy shell, as low I lie.
As low I lie.
I yield me to the purpose of thy
will.
Sweep up, O conquering wave.
And purify, and with thy fullness fill.
If you are saying tonight, God I want
you to sweep over me.
As I now yield to the purpose of
thy will.
Sweep up, O God, sweep up and purify.
And let thy fullness fill.
If you can say that from the depth
of your heart.
And only the man that can say it,
only the woman can say it.
Will you stand to your feet now.
I face the question now.
Can it be true God.
That those who are standing in this meeting.
Really and honestly.
Believe and acknowledge.
What I said.