Turn back, if you would, to where
we read there in 1 Samuel, the second chapter. I've called this, this morning,
a mother's prayer and praise. 1 Samuel chapter 2, where we read
those first ten verses. One of the things that grieves
me most and fills me with a kind of righteous
indignation is the way that false religion
deceives exploits and then uses women to promote its errors. Religion says a great deal about
pornography. But I'm afraid that the pornographers
cannot even come close to exploiting womanhood like false religion. And I think that really struck
home to me this week in an email I received from a lady in another
state. I don't have an idea who she
is. But in this email, she asks some
questions. She says, my husband and I are
looking for a good church. That always scares me, because
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is perfect in Him, and
that's the only way. We live in blank, but are more
than willing to move. But I have a few questions. Is your church incorporated? Do you believe in Sunday school? Do you celebrate and believe
in celebrating Christmas and Easter? Do you believe in and
preach on women wearing modest dresses and skirts that go to
the ankles? Do you believe that women should
wear a head covering? This will do for now. Thank you
for your time. The thing that struck me about
that First of all, everything she mentions has to do with externals, just like the Pharisees. But the truth is, when men do
not preach the gospel, they have to have something to talk about. And not only that, and most importantly,
there is the complete absence of the mention of Jesus Christ. She had no question about what
we believe about Christ. Where did she get that from?
From false religion. And she made no mention as to
whether or not we believed or preached the gospel. The most
important thing, the one essential thing that the church of God
is to do in this world is to preach the gospel. She didn't
even mention it. I feel sorry for that lady. Because she has been somewhere
along the way, and probably all along the way of her life, preached
to and taught all these things, externals, that have nothing
to do with the gospel. You know we believe in the modesty
of the dress of women and men. and a lot of other things. But
that's not the issue. The issue is the gospel. And these simply reveal that
they are the questions of a religious woman who is ignorant of the
gospel truth. Who is ignorant of the issues
of life and death, of the issues of heaven and hell, of the issues
of God and His Christ and Satan and his Antichrist. But set in a stark contrast to
that are women who believe, who know the gospel. Our Lord Jesus born of an earthly mother who would not herself, while
she was here, allow herself to be deified. She confessed the truth in one
statement. She said, my soul doth magnify
the Lord. Sounds like Hannah, doesn't it?
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." The child that she gave birth
to and her giving birth to Him in the purpose of God made her
no more special except that He was her Saviour. She said, my heart rejoiced,
my soul rejoiced. I'm a sinner. I'm not the immaculate
one. I'm a sinner, a woman, a mother
who needs a Savior. And in the amazing purpose and
grace of God, He has just come from my womb. He's God. And this is surely true about
believing Hannah. I love to read about Hannah. And in this second chapter, if
you notice, it begins with these words, and Hannah prayed. Hannah prayed. And what struck
me about that this week was she was at the same place with her
rejoicing as she had been with her sorrow. She was worshipping
God. We'll read a little bit more
about her in a minute. In the time of her great sorrow,
where was she at? She was worshipping God. And
now in the time of her great rejoicing, what's she doing and
where is she at? She's in the same place worshipping
God. Because whether in sorrow, or
need, or whether in rejoicing, and gladness, and fullness, God's
people always are found worshiping Him. She's praying. And as she prays,
she's praising God, and she's rejoicing by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Just like every one that the
Apostle Peter speaks about when he says, this Christ, whom having
not seen, you love, in whom though now you see Him not yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory. Wouldn't you like to have that
joy unspeakable? Men and women are always, by
religion, they're always being taught something that will bring
them into this ecstatic state of joy and such. Whenever it
says here, here is joy unspeakable and full of glory. Where does Peter say it's at?
He said it's in Christ. It's in this Christ whom you've
not seen, yet by faith." If God gives us faith, He says, yet
believing. I've never seen the Lord Jesus
Christ. I've never had a vision like so many claim. I've never
had an experience in this flesh of this ecstasy and all these
kinds of experiences, but believing. He says, you rejoice. with joy
unspeakable and full of glory." Who is this woman, Hannah, and
why is it that she is found here on this occasion doing this?
Well, Hannah is the wife of a man. Actually, she is one of two wives
of this man named Elkanah. And the other wife, whose name
is Penina, she bore children, but the Bible says that Hannah
was barren, as a matter of fact. If you look back in chapter 1
here at verse 5, the last part says that even though Elkanah
loved Hannah, maybe more so than he did Penina, it said that the
Lord had shut up her womb." She's going to confess here in
just a little bit that it's the Lord that kills and makes a life. And that goes right down to the
very natural source of life, if you will, the woman's womb.
She says the Lord kills and makes a life, and the Lord had shut
up her womb. And because of this, the other
wife, Peninnah, had mocked her. Mocked her. And so then Elkinah
takes Hannah up with him to the appointed place of worship. You
see, God's people don't worship at the church of your choice.
And it isn't always convenient for them. as it wasn't in the
case of this family. So they were found in the will
of God and by the command of God seeking to worship God in
that place and by that way that God had appointed. They had to travel some. He went down and he took her
with him to worship. And what we find in that experience
begins in verse 9 of chapter 1. Look back in 1 Samuel 1 and
verse 9. So Hannah rose up after they
had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest
sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord. And she
was in bitterness of soul. This is the way Hannah is on
this occasion. And she prayed unto the Lord
and wept sore. And she vowed a vow and said,
O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction
of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid,
but wilt give unto thine handmaid a manchild, Then I'll give him unto the Lord
all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon
his head." She's vowing him the vow of a Nazarite. And it came
to pass, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked
her mouth. Now Hannah, she spake in her
heart, and only her lips moved. But her voice was not heard,
therefore Eli thought that she had been drunken. She prayed in her heart, and
her prayer was to God. And therefore her lips, though
they moved, they made no sound. So the priest thought she was
drunk. And Eli said unto her, How long
wilt thou be drunken? Put away thy wine from thee.
And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of
a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor
strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Count not thine handmaid for
a daughter of Belial, for out of the abundance of my complaint
and grief have I spoken hitherto. And then Eli answered and said,
Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that
thou hast asked of him. And then she conceived, and she
gave birth to a son who was a prophet of God, by the name of Samuel."
Look down at verse 20, "...wherefore it came to pass, when the time
was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bear a son,
and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the
Lord." He belongs to God. Not simply
because I've given him to God, but he belongs to God because
he's God's child and he's God's prophet. And then when he was of age,
she brought him to the temple. And to Eli, as she had promised,
that he might be used of the Lord. Look down at verse 26. And she said, O my Lord, as thy
soul liveth, my Lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here
praying unto the Lord. And for this child I prayed,
and the Lord hath given me my petition, which I asked of him. Therefore also I have lent him
to the Lord, as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord.
and he worshipped the Lord there." This is a believing woman. And while these words are as
surely her own praise for God's blessings concerning the child
and also her deliverance from this barrenness They are a lot
more. She prays. In this second chapter,
and the words that she prays, they are the words that speak
by the Spirit of God of that so great salvation. You see, she is just like so
many in this book, her words, of her personal salvation and
her physical deliverance are also words by the Spirit of God
of a spiritual salvation and deliverance. Words about the grace of God,
about the salvation of the soul from sin, about the salvation
of God that is in Christ Jesus the Savior. You see, Hannah, this mother rejoiced in God's
salvation, and like every believer, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look
there in verse 1 of chapter 2. And Hannah prayed and said, My
heart rejoices in the Lord." Now, we hear a lot of people
talking about the Lord. But Hannah here, and just like
every other true believer, is speaking of one who is distinguished
from every other. He is not just the good Lord.
the Lord Jehovah, who is nothing less than Jehovah
Jesus that was made flesh. My heart rejoices in the Lord. And that is the case of every
believer, no matter what their circumstances, They have reason
to rejoice in Christ who is the same yesterday and today and
forever. You see, Hannah's salvation here,
in this case, pictures God's salvation of His people. She pictures the sinner, he says. She was needy. She was barren. She was unfruitful. She was lifeless. And not only that, her salvation. If you notice here, her salvation
lay in a promise given by God. Not in medical science. Not in
any outward influence. not in the strength of Elkanah.
Her salvation lay in a promise given by God, given by grace,
and she is favored of God. I imagine that there were many
more in her day that had barren wombs. And then also, her salvation,
if you notice, it lies in a son who is simply a picture of the
Son of God. And so it says here that she
prays. She prays. And what she prays
has a lot to say about God's salvation. The first thing is this. God's
salvation reveals His perfections. You see, God saves His people
for His namesake. He saves them for His glory and
to manifest and to magnify all His attributes. I don't think I could ever write
a person even a one-paragraph email talking about the church
without talking about God and His glory, His grace, and His
mercy. He says in Ezekiel 36, to this
nation of Israel, who is a picture and type of his elect people,
therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord
God, I do not do this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but
for mine holy name's sake, which you profaned among the heathen
wherever you went." I don't know how many times in this book,
which is a God-centered book in contrast to these man-centered
religions, how many times does it say that God did what He did
for His people for His namesake, for His glory? And so in that second verse,
This woman, as she prays, speaks of Him, and she says this, she
begins with that which is central to God, central to His person
and His attributes, central to all He does. What does she say? She says, there is none holy
as the Lord. There is none holy. as the Lord. People talk about holiness. And
when they talk about holiness, they're talking about all these
dresses and drink and eat and this and that and the other.
God doesn't do any of them. He's holy. In other words, if
we're really going to find out something about holiness, we're
going to have to find out something about God. And that is He is
the only one that is holy. He is separate and apart and
bears that title and that description alone. And there is none holy
like Him. And not only that, you and I
will never find out anything about the holiness of God by
emotional feelings and such. You couldn't talk to God and
find out how holy He is. You can't read anything in this
book that will tell you in its essence how holy it is except
to find out how holy he is by what he does. That's the only way you're going
to find out. And we may walk around, we may have funny expressions
and look real pious and dress a certain way, but the only way
we're going to find out about what holiness is And how holy
God is, is to see what He does in this book. How holy is God? And that simply means, how far
separate is God from sin? How far separate and different
is God from you and I who are nothing but sin? Well, I'll tell you how. He reveals many, many more times
in this book the fact that he's holy more than he does that he's
love. You can read two places. It says
God is love. And that's the only two places.
You won't find anything spoken such as God loves you in the
entire preaching of the book of Acts. But I'll tell you what
you'll find from cover to cover. He's holy. And God's salvation has got something
to do with His holiness. And if we are talking about salvation,
if we're talking about God, if we're talking about going to
heaven or anything else, and we try to bypass this issue,
we show ourselves to be false. He said there's none holy as
the Lord. That means he is essentially,
perfectly, unchangeably, originally holy. As a matter of fact, in
Exodus it says he's glorious in holiness. How holy is God? The only way we'll know is by
looking at what he did in such times as the flood. Here is a world that turns their
back on God. Here is a world that He created,
but has now fallen under the influence and the deception of
Satan there in the garden, in the beginning. Here is a whole
world, and God as holy must judge this world. What does He do? He destroys everything in this
world except eight people, eight souls. Why? Just one reason, because He's
holy. He cannot look upon sin. He's of purer eyes than to behold
iniquity. He's holy. He's so holy. that He rained fire and brimstone
out of heaven and destroyed every person in all the cities of the
plain except Lot and his two daughters. That's why it's so foolish, so
irreverent. so contrary to Scripture, so
contrasting to God as He is, to hear what preachers in our
day and religionists in our day have to say about God and His
salvation. It is a denial of His holiness. He is so holy that when He said
He would dwell between those cherubims on the Ark of the Covenant,
when they sat the Ark of the Covenant on that cart that was
drawn by oxen, and a man, when those oxen stumbled, reached
out his hand to steady the Ark of the Covenant so it didn't
fall. When he touched the Ark of the Covenant, God killed him because he's holy. She said there's
none holy as the Lord. but the greatest time and the
clearest time. And if you ever really learn
what the holiness of God is all about, and you'll have to if
you ever know the Gospel and God's salvation in Christ, is
to look at the cross. Because here is the perfect,
sinless, holy Himself, Son of God. But when that sin that belonged
to His people is laid on him as their surety, that sin that
God imputed to him, that they might be made the righteousness
of God, when that sin is found on him in that hour of judgment
and justice, and he says, Awake, O sword. And do what? Well, he's my son. We'll just
let it get by with that. I'm holy, but he's my son. No,
when he's made sin. God kills His own Son because He's holy. He's not going
to let sin get by. If He were to receive anything
unto Himself that was not perfectly holy and righteous, He Himself
would cease to be such. We know nothing about the grace
of God until we are brought to see the glorious holiness of
God in Jesus Christ, and how He in that holiness acts to save
us in such a Savior as Christ, and therefore we can find ourselves
rejoicing in His holiness. This woman is rejoicing in the
fact that God is holy, and there is none holy as Him. And then
she says this in verse 2, she says, "...there is none beside
thee." That is, he is God alone. And he says in Isaiah 45, "...tell
ye, and bring them near, yea, let them take counsel together,
who hath declared this from ancient times, who hath told it from
that time, have not I the Lord, and there is no God else beside
me." Well, we're going to honor all
the faith where you're going to honor something that doesn't
exist. There is one Lord. There is one faith. There is
one baptism. There is one God. And he says,
there is none else beside me. And not only that, he said, I'm
God and there is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior. He didn't say a just God but
a Savior. He said a just God and a Savior. And he's only that in Christ. And he's only that in Christ
crucified. He says, "...and there is none
else beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else." That isn't just the way it was
in the Old Testament. That's the same God that Paul
preaches, writes to Timothy and he says, There is one God and
there is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. There is one God who is a just
God and a Savior. That means, as Peter says, that
there is salvation. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
above men whereby we must be saved. And then she says this in her
prayer. She said, neither is there any
rock like our God. What is a rock? In Scripture,
that's what I'm talking about. What is a rock in Scripture?
We could say, you know, we could go to Dr. So-and-so or Professor
So-and-so and we could get all these definitions as to what
the word rock is. But what is a rock in the Bible? It's a shelter, spoken of as
a shelter, spoken of as a foundation and as a refuge. The man that
built his house upon the rock didn't wash away. The man that
hid himself under the rock was in a place of safety, out of
the storm, out of the wind, out of the sun. And the Scripture
says, for who is God saved the Lord, and who is a rock Save
our God. It's just one foundation. Paul said, nobody else can lay
any foundation. You either build on this foundation,
rest on this foundation, or you'll perish. In this same book, in
the second book, the Lord liveth and blessed be my rock, and exalted
be God, the rock of my salvation. There are a lot of people who
are building them a bridge. They are building them a mansion.
They think in heaven. But God's people are resting
on this rock. They are hiding not in one thing
or another. They are hiding in that one of
whom it said that a man shall be a hiding place from the wind
and a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place,
as the shadow of a great rock. in a weary land." We sing that hymn. Jesus is a
rock in a weary land. I see everybody doing everything
they can to live one more day longer in this world. They surely
must have seen something here I haven't seen. The Lord is my
rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom
I'll trust, my buckler and the horn of my salvation, and my
high tower." Who's that? That's a believer. He's everything. The Lord Jesus questioned Peter
and those disciples. He said, Who do men say that I am? Well,
they said, you're Jeremiah. Some say you're John the Baptist
and all that. But he said, who do you say that I am? This letter, this email, what
think ye of Christ? Who do you say He is? He said, ìYouíre the Christ,
the Son of the living God.î And our Lord said, ìPeter, youíre
a blessed man, because flesh and blood didnít reveal that
to you, but my Father thatís in heaven. Youíre that one rock,î
He said. Verse 3, she says this, ìTalk
no more exceeding proudly. Believers have got nothing to
boast in except the Lord God Himself. The Scripture says,
fools make a mawkish sin. The fool has said in his heart,
no God. The Bible says that God resists
the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. We're not humble by nature. We're
proud by nature. But it says, he's near to those
who are of a broken and a contrite heart and spirit. He brings us down. Paul, writing in Romans 3, says of that justification, which
is simply to be declared righteous by God. Now, I could say you are righteous
and you might not be. You wouldn't be. You could say
I was righteous and we wouldn't be. But if God says I'm righteous, He cannot lie. And that means
that he's made me the righteousness of God in his Son. He's declared me righteous. Paul says, being justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That's
the only way it can be, freely, by the work, the person, the
sacrifice, the cross death of the Lord Jesus Christ. There
are a lot of discussions of when justification takes place, but
I can tell you this. God Almighty, who is the one
who declares, it is described as an act, an imminent act of
God. But He can and did declare His
people righteous whenever He wanted to as long as He did it
freely through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Because there's no way that he
could fail, and there's no way that Christ could fail. And to
do it that way is to do it a just way. All right? Whom God has set forth a propitiation
through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God, to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness,
that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus." What he's saying here is it's always been, it is right
now, and it'll always be that the only way God's people are
made righteous is in Christ crucified. All right? Look at the next line.
Listen. Where is boasting then? That's what Hannah said. Talk
no more exceeding proudly. Where is boasting then? It is
excluded. By what law? of works? Nay, but by the law
of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by or through faith without the deeds of the
law." That's just the way it is, and
that's the way it's always been, and I don't care who says what.
I don't care what Dr. So-and-so wrote. I don't care. It says, without the deeds of
the law, either to justify us or to sanctify us. Paul said, not of works, lest
any man should boast. Nebuchadnezzar confessed, he
that walks in pride, this God is able to abase. You can't save yourself nor anyone
else, but this God has. He saved some people. He's safe. He's not done something waiting
for them to accept it or reject it to find out whether or not
his work was a success or not. But so he says, we're not to
talk about what you do or what we're doing or about who we are
or what we haven't done. He, she says, let not arrogancy
come out of your mouth. God's people don't talk about
what they do. They talk about what He's done.
What He's done. Why? Verse 3, she says, For the
Lord is a God of knowledge. All these people trying to give
information to God. He knows all. He knows what's
in our heart. He knows our thoughts afar off,
it says. He knows them that are His. He
knows His sheep. And by Him, actions are weighed. Now, when I read that, I'll tell
you the mental picture that comes to my mind. Here is a set of those scales
of justice. Scales of justice. You know,
and somebody always thinks in their mind, well, God's going
to take the good that I've done on one side of this scale and
the bad that I've done on the other side of the scale, and
He's going to weigh it out, and if the good I've done outweighs
the bad, then I'm going to make it into heaven. No. Not going
to happen. And they say, well, maybe it's
this way then, that God will take me on one side of the scales
and He'll put Christ on the other side of the scales to make up
for what I'm not. How foolish. He means here just
what He says. By Him, actions are weighed. He knows the motive of your action.
He knows your inaction. He knows your actions of sin. He knows of all the things that
you have done in order to gain His salvation and favor, which
He says are nothing more than dead works. They're nothing. What does that mean? That means
they don't help you, they just hurt you the more. There are
works that lead to death, because there is only one work that leads
to life, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is why
all of His people are looked at and viewed in Christ. And
he deals with them based on strict justice, just like he ever does
everything else. The exception is what God requires
is here, and they are all in Christ on this other side. He is equal to everything God
requires. You remember Belshazzar? Sat there as a king. And the
Bible says they wrote a finger on the wall. And that finger
is not to just that one sinner. It's to everyone outside of Christ. And when that was interpreted,
it meant you are weighed in the balances and found wanting, lacking. And that's the way every one
of us are in ourselves. Before God and before His inflexible
justice, we are weighed into balance and found wanting. And
only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Only in His work and in His person. He's a God of knowledge. And
then she goes on to show how God's salvation reveals His power. Look here in verse 4. The bows
of the mighty men are broken. Does that sound like free will
so-called means much? The bows of the mighty men are
broken. And sinners such as ourselves,
we all act as enemies and are alienated in our hearts, haters
of God from the womb, at war with God in our minds. And that means that all whom
he saves, he'll have to bring them and does bring them to surrender. And all he doesn't, he destroys. They're like the wild ass's coat
in the Old Testament. The wild ass's coat. This ass
had to be redeemed by the blood of a clean animal or something had to happen to
it. Under that law, God said, you
redeem that unclean animal. If you're going to keep it, use
it. Keep it for yourself. You redeem that unclean animal
with the blood of a clean animal. And if you don't, break his neck. Break his neck. And every one God saves, He breaks,
He bows, and He triumphs over them in their heart and mind
and will, and they are made willing in the day of His power, or they'll
perish. They that stumble are girded
with strength. They're all brought to confess
their weaknesses and their helplessness and their inability. And when
you have no strength before God, what does He do? He gives strength. He gives strength. Paul said,
when I have no strength, that's when I'm strong. Why? Because
I have His strength. As a matter of fact, it says,
when we were yet without strength, Christ died for us. Verse 5, "...they that were full
have hired out themselves for bread." Full of self-righteousness, full
of self-worth, full of self-will. And what does He do? He saves
them. He brings them to be hungry. You know, the hardest thing you
can do is to try to eat if you're not hungry. My poor mother lays
there every day, and she cannot hardly bear the sight of the
trays that they bring in to her. Smells oftentimes real good to
me, because I'm hungry. But can't hardly get her to eat,
because she's not hungry. And if the Lord doesn't do something
for us, Oh, but Hannah's prayer shows us that in His salvation,
He takes these that are full, and He empties them so that they'll
take of the bread of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. They'll drink
in a spiritual sense of His blood. They'll take and receive of Him
that He might be all their life. They're not good. They're not
righteous. And they don't understand, not
one, Paul says. But he empties them and brings
them to hunger and thirst after righteousness, and he fills them
with Christ. She that hath many children is
weak, wax feeble, that is, all who trust in the works and worth
of their own production are brought to barrenness and feebleness.
But the barren hath borne seven." Seven is that number of perfection.
Here is this empty center. Thought that they were full.
Thought they had a lot to offer God. Made feeble. And here is this
one without strength, barren, empty, having nothing. That's just a picture of Christ.
He's everything. He is everything. Fruit unto
God. Righteousness. Good works. All
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And they have much by a covenant. They have much by God's imputation
of all that He is to them. They have much by grace. And
they enjoy it by the faith He gives. She says in verse 6, to the acknowledgment
of God's sovereignty and faithfulness and power, she says, the Lord
killeth. Ah, He had to kill what we were
in Adam. That's what it says, that we
died in Adam, that we are brought Those old things in Adam are
now said to be passed away, and he makes alive. When Christ was
raised up from the dead, all his people and him were made
alive. He has to make us alive in the
new birth. He has to give us life and faith,
and he does. He brings down to the grave,
and he lifts That's what he does not only
in a spiritual resurrection in Christ, but that's what he'll
do to all his people. When they are brought down to
the grave, that hour will come that he'll raise them back to
life in that hour of resurrection. Verse 8, And he raises up the
poor out of the dust, and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill.
We see that everywhere in this world. But that's the picture
of His people and what they are in themselves and what He does. To set them among princes and
to make them inherit the throne of glory for the pillars of the
earth are the Lord's and He has set the world upon them. He rules and He reigns. And He does so that He might
save His people from their sins with the salvation in Christ
that honors Him as a just God and Savior and glorifies Him
in all His attributes. God strips us. and saves us from all self-righteousness
and self-sufficiency and personal merit. And He'll bring us low
before He exalts, and He'll strip us before He clothes us, and
He'll show us our poverty before He reveals our inheritance in
Christ. But He brings us from rags to
riches. from paupers to princes, from
aliens to heirs, from the pit to the throne, because only He can. And God's
faithfulness, God's salvation, He said, for the pillars of the
earth are the Lord's, and He set the world on it. He upholds
all things by the word of His power, and His word will not
fail, because all His promises are in Christ, yea and amen. And look at verse 9. I wouldn't
want to miss this hurriedly. He'll keep the feet of His saints. Any salvation that people are
falling into one day and they may fall out of it the next day,
that's not His salvation. He will keep the feet of His
saints. And perseverance. All His people will persevere
in Him. Perseverance is for one reason,
because He preserves them. That's where perseverance is.
It's in preservation in Christ. He preserves them. They're secure
in Him and secured by Him, kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation. But the wicked shall be silent
in darkness." He'll judge. He'll cast out everyone outside
of Christ. Because by strength shall no
man prevail, not the lost or the saved. And the adversaries of the Lord
shall be broken to pieces. He'll rule and reign, and in
doing so, He'll make all His enemies His footstools, and out
of heaven shall He thunder upon them from His sovereign throne,
and the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth." The Lord
shall judge. You see, the Lord's people will
one day look as their Savior is the judge of the wicked. Their Savior. And every knee shall bow, and
every tongue, whether heaven, earth, or hell, will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord. to the glory of God the Father. Now, you look with me, if you
would. I'll compare two verses right in the close, and I won't
take up any more time. In verse 1, Hannah prays, and
Hannah says this, My horn is exalted in the Lord. Now, the horn, as it's spoken
of so very often in Scripture has to do with one's power or
one's honor or dignity or glory, strength. So here is this weak, pitiful,
shamed woman who has no child, no strength
to bear or conceive one. And yet she says, my horn is
exalted. How? In the Lord. In the Lord. But then look down also in verse
10. The Lord shall judge the ends
of the earth, and he shall give strength unto his king. and exalt the horn of His anointed."
Who's that? That's His King, Christ. And that's the way it is with
every one of the Lord's people. Their horn is exalted because the Lord's King is exalted. He's exalted because He is their
Savior, their surety, their substitute, and their absolute success and
salvation. And they have true joy, true
peace, true hope, true assurance, in the Son, and in all that glorifies and
exalts God as He is. Oh, if we could pray in verse
1 as Hannah. My heart rejoices in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the lawn. My mouth is enlarged over mine
enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation." Now, religion
often talks about my salvation. Let me tell you about my salvation.
Well, I really don't want to hear it. But I sure do love hearing about
God's salvation. God's salvation. That's a real
mother's prayer and praise. Our Father, this day we give
you honor and glory. We pray, Lord, first of all,
that you might be pleased to deliver This lady and her family that
we've spoken of calls us to know the right things
to say to her and, Lord, to all around us, for there are scarcely
any that have not been given further blindness by these religions without you.
But we pray that you take and bless this Word as it goes out.
Exalt and honor yourself. And use it, Lord, we pray, to
call out some of your people who are yet dead in trespasses
and sins, to give them life and faith,
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust, Lord, all that
He is and all that He's done. as your salvation. We give you thanks. We pray again
for those mentioned and for every situation, Lord, that is upon
the hearts of your people. And we thank you in Christ's
name. Amen.