Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to the first book of Samuel,
and chapter 2, reading from our text, verse 6. Verse 6, the Lord killeth and
maketh alive, he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up. 1 Samuel chapter 2 and verse 6. We've read of the experience
of Hannah, that which was the trouble in
her life, that which was aggravated by the other wife, Penina, The
fact that Hannah had no children and year by year as they went
up to worship at Shiloh, it was again aggravated by her husband
giving portions and of course with the sacrifices that was
what happened, but the portions of course were more for each
of the children of Anaina. And he gave her a worthy portion,
but it still didn't make up for the fact that she didn't have
children. And it is a sad thing in a way,
and yet very real for God's exercised children, how it can be that
even coming up to the house of God aggravates their condition
and their trouble and their trial. And we might think, well, surely
in coming to the Lord's house, that's where we shall get some
help and some relief. And yet here with Hannah, it
was on this yearly occasion that her want was even more felt. And those that are feeling their
sinnership and their need of a saviour, feeling their They
have that lack and that emptiness when they come into the house
of God and they see those that have blessings that they want
and they haven't got them. They might see, as we have later,
the Lord's Supper, others sitting. I remember when I was exercised
in my soul at Melbourne and sitting at the back of the chapel I would
always encourage if you wish to remain and see the ordinance
because I found it so profitable when I was younger to actually
see, though I felt a great gulf between me and the front of the
chapel and the Lord's people meeting there. It was a constant
exercise. It brought it before me. It was
something that some could walk in, and I felt I couldn't at
that time. And it was that which heightened
the need. And this is the same with Hannah,
and brought her at last to come to prayer. You might think, why
did she leave it perhaps so many years before she came to prayer? And yet when we read Psalm 107,
not once, but again and again, we read, they fell down, there
was none to help. And then they cried unto the
Lord in their trouble. And you think, why did they wait
until they'd fallen down, there was none to help, before they
cried? They're trying other means and
trying other ways first. And we prove how backward we
are in prayer. But with Hannah, as soon as she
then brought it a matter of prayer, And again we find her trouble
even aggravated because she was mistaken by the Lord's servant
Eli. He thought her to be drunken. It's a very sad thing that his
own sons were wicked and evil sons and he obviously thought
that this woman was walking in a similar path to what they were. But how graciously, as soon as
she realized his mistake, He spoke to her and he didn't ask
her what her petition was. He didn't know what it was. All
he said, the Lord grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked
of him. It's not until Hannah comes again
with the child, with Samuel, that she is able to say she was
a woman. And this is the child, this is
the petition. Must have been a shock for Eli,
suddenly to have this woman come up with a child and say here,
he's going to stay with you, he's going to be in the temple
with you, and not have any full knowledge of him. But when we
come to Anna here bringing her vow, and we
read about Elkanah, her husband, when Hannah
wanted to remain at home first until she'd weaned the child,
which you could well understand, the child would have been probably
three, four years old before he was brought up to the temple. But Elkanah was very concerned that
she did perform her vow. And so he's happy for her to
stay, but gave this caution to her, only the Lord establish
his word. He must have been concerned that
she grows so fond of him that she wouldn't want to let him
go. But she did, and the Lord gave, as we would have read later
on if we continued reading, other seed instead of Samuel. But this
is how the Lord brought a prophet in Israel, and Samuel established
to be before the Lord. In the first part of chapter
two, we read Hannah praying again, and this time is not asking for
anything, it is giving thanks. And yet she doesn't mention Samuel. And all really she mentions and
speaks of is to the glory of God and her own experience, and
especially summed up in the words of our text. The Lord killeth
and maketh alive, he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth
up. And what follows, the Lord maketh
poor and maketh rich, he bringeth low and lifteth up. And this is the path that she
had walked. She'd been brought down very
low by her childless state. And then the Lord had raised
her up, given her her petition, along with not having a child,
she was burdened spiritually, burdened in her soul, and that
comes out very much in the thanksgiving. Those blessings that the Lord
gives for his people are secondary to the wonder that the Lord has
heard their prayers, answered them, rolled away their reproach,
appeared for them. Their concern more is for the
blessing of the Lord in their soul, even in the thing that
they really seek. the Lord to appear for them in. And this is seen here in what
emphasis Hannah makes in thanksgiving. It is not so much for Samuel
but for what the Lord has done for her. It's another reminder
to us as well that Prayer is also a place for thanksgiving. In everything, by prayer and
supplication, make known your requests unto God, and it is
with thanksgiving. And so Hannah returns to that
same attitude of prayer, and this time it's Thanksgiving.
And may we always remember that. This is to the honor and glory
of God. This shows the reality of what
this has meant for us, that the Lord has heard us. Remember when
there was the ten lepers that sought for the Lord, that he
would heal them, Only one returned to give thanks unto God. Only
one really turned to the hand that gave. The others just took
of the gift and ignored the hand, ignored the Lord. It's like when
the Lord fed the 5,000, and then they followed Him over the sea.
And He said, you seek me not because you saw the miracle,
but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. Labour
not for the bread that perisheth, but that which endureth to eternal
life. And there is a difference. Receiving gifts from the Lord
like that bread, miraculously given, no doubt they're very
thankful for it. And there's a difference between
thinking, here is a man that miraculously can multiply loaves
and fishes, What a miracle! This must be the Son of God. This is the promised Christ.
This is He who has power to give, not just literal bread, but the
bread from heaven. He is the bread from heaven.
He is the Savior, the Redeemer. And there are many that will
follow the Lord for loaves and fishes, but not follow the Lord
for spiritual blessings, eternal life, for a hope beyond the grave. So may we be like those that
seek unto the Lord for who he is and for our soul rather than
just for our bodies. And yet this account shows how
that God uses things in our lives to bring us to prayer and to
be real concerned. Don't let Satan say to you, well,
the thing that you keep praying to the Lord over is just a providential
thing, or is just a material thing. If it is something, like
with Hannah, that causes continual sorrow and grief, and the devil
gets in and tempts through it, and discourages through it, then
it is the right thing to seek unto the Lord for him. Apostle
Paul, he sought to the Lord for the thorn in the flesh to be
removed. The Lord saw fit not to remove
it, but to give grace, grace to bear that affliction instead. There are others in the word
of God that approve the same as what Hannah did. In the words
of our text, the Lord killeth and maketh alive, he bringeth
down to the grave and bringeth up. Abraham had proved that. God had given him a promise that
the seed of the woman, the promise Christ, should come through his
line, and that in him and in his seed all nations should be
blessed. But then his wife was barren,
Sarah was barren, and he had to go some 20 years with that
promise, but no prospect of it being fulfilled. And we read
in Hebrews it was an act of faith that Abraham counted the Lord
able to do what he had promised, Even though he was old and Sarah's
womb was in effect dead, she was old as well. And yet the
Lord did bring Isaac to be born and from him, then Jacob, Esau,
the children of Israel, and the blessing through to Christ. So that same experience of giving
a promise and then almost killed and no hope left and no prospect,
naturally speaking of it coming to pass, and then it brought
to pass. And as the Lord said, that which
was impossible with man is not impossible with God. Then we have the case with Joseph,
and Joseph had that expectation that the Lord would exalt him,
his brothers, his family would bow down to him. But at first,
before that came to pass, in effect he was killed. And as
far as his father, Jacob, was concerned, he was killed. His
sons, they brought the coat of many colors covered in blood
and said, it's not this, thy son's coat. And he saw it, he
said, he's no doubt torn in pieces. And they caused him to believe
a lie. And for those 20 years, he wouldn't
have prayed for his son. He was as good as dead. So in
Jacob's experience, His son was brought down to death and then
raised up again to life. And in Joseph's experience, his
expectation of the Lord using him and blessing him was greatly
tried. We read of that in Psalm 105,
until his time came. The word of the Lord tried him
because he's brought down and down before then he is suddenly
exalted from the prison next unto Pharaoh. And this same experience,
the Lord killeth and maketh alive, he bringeth down to the grave
and bringeth up. In a sense, you might say Moses
had the same path. Moses, by faith, he was seen
as a goodly child, hid in the bulrushes, so he wasn't killed
at birth by Pharaoh. and yet was brought into Pharaoh's
house. But then at 40, he thought that
his own people would understand that God would deliver Israel
out of Egyptian bondage through him, but it wasn't the Lord's
time. And so he had to go out into
the desert for 40 years. It must have seemed to to those
in Egypt that he had died and then suddenly brought back again. And in his own feelings, that
expectation of the Lord's time of being used and of blessing,
it all is brought to nothing before it's raised up again. And while we could think of others,
we could think of Jonah. Jonah, which the Lord said was
a sign unto this generation, he was assigned unto the Ninevites. Because there, before he went
to Nineveh, as far as the mariners were concerned, he was cast into
the sea and perished, he died. And the Lord says, as Jonah was
three days and Three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the
Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth. And in the Old Testament then
we had constantly this example or this experience brought down,
killed first. and hope's all lost, and no possibility,
naturally speaking, of the blessing or promise coming to pass, and
then it comes to pass, and God brings it to pass. So I want
to look at this thought just briefly in four different ways. Firstly, in our Lord's sacrificial
death. The Lord killeth and maketh alive,
he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up. This was the
path appointed for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our Lord said, I have power to
lay down my life, I have power to take it again. This commandment
have I received of my father. And this was the way that God
was to bring about the salvation of his people. That our Lord
should lay down his life for his sheep, for his people. Something that he'd forewarned
and told his disciples of, but even then, After the Lord had
suffered on Calvary, yielded up his soul to his father, and
then his body laid in the grave. And on that third day, The two
that were on the way to Emmaus, the Lord drew near to them as
they spoke and they were sad one to another. And he asked
them why they were sad. And they asked him whether he
was a stranger and didn't know what had happened in those days. And he reproved them. He said, O fools and slow of
heart to believe all that The prophets have written, ought
not Christ to have suffered these things and enter into his kingdom? They had told him about the crucifixion. They had told him how that he
had died. They had said, we trusted. It should have been he that should
have redeemed Israel. And the Lord then took them right
back through the Old Testament scriptures in all the things
concerning himself, all the sacrifices, and no doubt also some of these
things we've already spoken of this evening, how that there
should be a killing and rising again, and death first and life
after. This was the path appointed. Christ must suffer. He must die. He must be raised again. He must
endure the punishment due to his people. The shedding of blood
must take place. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. In all the sacrifices, right
from Abel's day, or before that, when our Lord himself clothed
Adam with the coat of skins, blood was shed. That was the
sacrifice that was needed. And our Lord supplied that. But
then he rose again from the dead. And in that, there is the assurance
given to all men that that sacrifice was accepted. How vital it is. If these accounts were mentioned
with Abraham, with Hannah, with Joseph, with Jonah, what if it
had only been done half? If there hadn't have been the
end part of it? If it was only a killing, only
taking down and never rising up, there'd be no gospel, nothing
to tell, no joy, no gladness there. We remember the Lord's
death, remember his sufferings, remember what he hath endured
to put away sin, but how vital it is that that tomb is empty,
that death could not hold him, that he is risen again. and how
vital it is in the experience of the people of God as well. Our Lord's death was the only
sacrifice ever made to truly put away sin. The blood of bulls
and of goats that were offered so much could never put away
sin. If your sins and mine are put
away, they're put away at Calvary. Abel's Adam sin, they were put
away at Calvary. They look forward to when the
Lord's promise would be performed. We look back to when it has been
performed. So our text is seen in our Lord's
sacrificial death and then rising again. The Lord killeth and maketh
alive. He bringeth down to the grave.
and bringeth up. But then secondly, there's that
which flows forth from our Lord's death and resurrection. He says, because I live, you
shall live also. And now that he has suffered
for his people, he has power to give them eternal life. I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish. No man shall pluck them out of
mine hand. But how does he give that eternal
life? How is that actually experienced
in these gospel days? For you and I, if we are to be
partakers of the blessings of Christ's death, what must happen
in our lives. And so our text again, it points
out the way that our Lord works these things. The Apostle Paul
in Romans, in Romans chapter 7, he speaks of his own experience. He was, he says, alive without
the law once. He thought that he was a good
person, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, that his deeds and works were
acceptable before God. In fact, even as he hailed men
and women to prison because they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ,
he thought that he was doing God's service. And as regards
the law of God as given by Moses at Mount Sinai, given by God
to Moses written on the tables of stone, that he fulfilled that
law. But the Lord was pleased to slay
that idea, that thought, to convince him that he was a sinner. He says in Romans chapter 7 verse
9, I was alive without the Lord once, but when the commandment
came, sin revived and I died. And he is telling what he experienced,
the Lord killeth, the Lord bringeth down to the grave. His hope of
acceptance with God on his own works was dashed. That was killed,
that was brought down to the grave, dead and buried. And how was it done? Through
one commandment, being impressed upon him that he had broken that
commandment, and that commandment was, thou shalt not covet. The Lord does that, it is vital
for us to be convinced of sin. We think by nature, and there's
countless millions, we all do by nature, think that we're really
quite good people, that God must accept us. The amount of times
I've tried to speak the gospel to people and they're not receptive
to it because they're so forward in saying, this is what I have
done. I'm a good person. I'm not a
bad person, I'm a good person. Those very words, a word said.
And so they're not interested in a saviour, a redeemer. Because in their own eyes, they
are good and they're already going to heaven. And they're
not under the sentence of death, so they don't need a pardon.
And they don't need mercy, and they don't need forgiveness.
because they don't feel that they have done anything too bad.
But in the experience of God's true children, they prove what
the Word of God says, that all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Our goodness may extend to men
as we are, but it does not extend unto God. All our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. We've all gone our own way. We
have all sinned, all broken the law of God. He that offends in
one point is guilty of all. And then there is original sin
because we are under Adam. Adam broke the law. Adam is the
representative head of the human race. He died. He was under that sentence. And
before we have done good or evil in this world, we are already
under that sentence of death. And so for us then to think that
we can do some good deeds when all our righteousness is all
our good works in God's sight are as filthy rags, we can't
redeem a sentence that already has been enacted and was already
filled graveyard after graveyard and taken away generation after
generation, that we have proved that that sentence is being carried
out and we have the sentence of death naturally in ourselves. But spiritually, we need that
first. The hymn writer says, sinners
can say none but they, how precious is the saviour. This is the way
God works. He brings down first. He kills first. He slays first. He takes away our hope in ourselves
first. And then he reveals himself. Then he lifts up. Then he shows
that hope in the gospel, the good news of the gospel, that
the Lord has paid the debt for our sin and that he has given
eternal life. The first sign of that life is
to feel we're sinners, is to be brought down. And the experience
of Hannah, the experience of the Apostle Paul is replicated
in varying degrees with the people of God. Some they might go in
deep conviction of sin for many months or many years until the
Lord opens to them the gospel. Others it is very gentle. Some
it may be that they see the gospel very early and then later on
they're shown more and more of their own sinful heart. But the
experience of the blessing is that through the law, the law
kills. The law brings down the law of
schoolmaster unto Christ. The law of God does not have
power to save. It only has power to condemn. But it is through the Lord Jesus
Christ that we have life. And it is the faith that he gives
to embrace that, to trust in that, to trust in what he has
done, to believe in him, and as he gives out believing, to
have joy and peace in believing. Hannah says, the Lord killeth
and maketh alive, he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth
up. The third way I want to speak
to you on it is the ordinances of the Lord's house. Those two
ordinances are baptism and the Lord's Supper. The Apostle Paul
describes this. He says it before us in Romans
6 and verse 4. He says, knowing not that so
many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into
his death. Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism into death. that like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life. And then when he writes to the
Colossians He speaks in a similar way, describing the ordinance
of baptism. He says in Colossians 2 and verse
12 that we are buried, buried with him in baptism, wherein
also ye are risen with him. through the faith of the operation
of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead
in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
or made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. The ordinance
of believers' baptism, buried with him, it is not sprinkling. It is put below the water momentarily
and lifted up again, symbolizing that experience, Hannah and all
the people of God have been buried and are dying following the Lord. Buried with him by baptism into
death and risen again in newness of life. And those that have
walked that way are to walk in newness of life. Seek to walk
after the law of the Lord and in the constraining love of the
Lord and baptism itself is one of the ways in which they desire
to do that. Baptism then leads to the Lord's
Supper and in the Lord's Supper we show forth the Lord's death
till he come. You might say, well where is
the raising up again in that? Are we not just showing his death? We are showing his death. But
it is looking back to his death, and what it is said is, until
he does come. So the Lord is alive, he's risen,
and there is the remembrance that he shall come again. And the Lord instituted the ordinance
of the Lord's Supper after the last Passover. He is the Passover
Lamb. the promise of the children of
Israel in Egypt, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. They sheltered in the houses
with the blood on the doorposts and door, until they sheltered
beneath that blood. And we, the Church of God, is
to always remember this. Constantly it is set before them. They are dead. Their life is
hid with Christ. It is not their life, it is Christ's
life. The Apostle Paul says, I die
daily. He says, for me to live is Christ,
to die is gain. And so the ordinances of God's
house remind the church of God, of Hannah's experience of the
dying and living. I die daily, says the Apostle,
and may we be the same in a spiritual way, that we have no confidence
in the flesh, no confidence in our own works, but our whole
trust and hope is in Christ alone. The last one I want to set before
you is that of the resurrection of the dead. This is the last
thing that is reserved, as it were, Church of God, that there
is to be a resurrection of the dead. The body is laid in the
tomb, the spirit returns to him that gave him. And then at the
last day, then the Lord shall come at the end of this world.
He shall come with all of his saints that have died before. and their bodies shall be raised,
they shall be raised an incorruptible body and those of us that are
alive and remain shall not die in a natural way but be caught
up like Enoch, like Elijah was caught up with them in the air,
so shall we be forever with the Lord. Paul teaches this in Thessalonians,
his letter to the Thessalonians. But we have that picture of brought
down to the grave and bringing up is the way that God's people
shall be forever with the Lord. It's a blessed thing to view
the grave as being falling on sleep, as being the way that
God has appointed to bring us to the inheritance prepared in
heaven, and that which is beyond the grave is what we look for.
As strangers and pilgrims, we declare plainly we seek a country,
we seek a city that is above. And the full victory and realization
of that, Paul tells in the 15th chapter and 1st Corinthians of
the resurrection, the glorious victory over sin and death and
hell and the world and over the grave. He says, O grave, where
is thy victory? Where the Lord had the victory
over the grave as he rose from the dead. and every one of his
people also shall be raised in that way. It is vital for us
that we have the resurrection first in believing the experience
of, like the apostle brought down, dead to self and alive
to God, quickened into spiritual life here. Then we shall know
that when we have no power at all, when this body lies in the
grave, the Lord will raise it. He will bring it to life again. You will unite body and soul
forever and ever with Him. The Lord is seen fit right through
the Word of God. to show us in different ways
and illustrations how he saves. And he's summed up very well
in the words that Hanny uses in her prayer of thanksgiving.
The words of our text, the Lord killeth and maketh alive, he
bringeth down to the grave and bringeth on. May this be an encouragement
Any of you that are walking in that killing part, the bringing
down part, that painful part, as it were, may be able to say
with the hemorrhoid, and no help in self I find, and yet I've
sought it well, the native treasure of my mind is sin and death and
hell, but then add the next part to Christ, for hell I fly. And may he truly prove that help,
be able to say with the psalmist, my help cometh from the Lord
which made heaven and earth. May the Lord add his blessing
on these remarks. Amen.