It's good to have Bert and Jennifer
with us today and next Sunday. Also, I wanted to let you all
know that Robert's having a hard time. RG, you all remember him
in your prayers. He has very, very severe arthritis
and is having a very difficult time getting around. And so, if you'd like to look at this
verse with me, let's just read one verse together. Psalm 98. Psalm 98. Verse 1. Oh, sing unto the Lord a new song. Now, the song of redemption has
never changed. It's the same song that there's
always been. So when the scripture speaks
of a new song, it's not talking about something that's new, that
wasn't been before. It means what you experience,
child of God, when you hear the gospel and you feel like you've
just heard it again for the first time. It's fresh, it's alive,
it's new. May God give us that spirit when
we sing. We would not just be repeating
vain repetition of things that we've seen and sung before, but
that he would make it a new song in our hearts. For, here's the reason for it,
he hath done marvelous things. His right hand, you know that's
Christ, and his holy arm, and that too is Christ. Hath, hath,
hath. gotten him the victory. Oh, what a victorious Savior.
That's what the resurrection is all about. The victory that
Christ got for God, to God, for his people. Let's stand together. Tom's going
to come lead us in the hymn on the back of your bulletin. ? As on the cross of Christ I thought
? ? It seemed I heard one cry ? ? Is all this nothing in the
world ? in your eyes, you who this day pass by. Is not such suffering greater
than that which you've seen before? And was there ever any man who
grieved or suffered more? I looked again, and what I saw
I cannot fully tell. It seemed within his very bones
there raged the fire of hell. What caused you grief, I asked
the man. What crimes could you have done? That God Jehovah struck you down
and left you all alone. His answer cut my heart like
steel and left me void of breath. Tis for your sins this pain I
feel. For you I go to death. Your soul before my father's
throne could find no place to hide. This is the way God can
be just and you be justified. Jehovah's mercies never fail,
each morning they are new. Great is His faithfulness and
love, therefore we're not consumed. ? Jehovah God in Christ the Son
? ? Shall all my portion be ? ? My soul shall therefore wait for
him ? ? And live eternally ? Please be seated. Good morning. Let us turn to
Psalm 145 for a call to worship. Psalm 145. I will assault thee,
my God, O King, and I will bless thy name forever and ever. Every day will I bless thee,
and I will praise thy name forever and ever. Great is the Lord,
and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy
works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts I will speak
of the glorious honor of thy majesty and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of thy might,
of thy awesome acts, and will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the
memory of thy great goodness and shall sing of thy righteousness. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord
is good to all and his tender mercies over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee,
O Lord, and thy saints shall bless thee. Thou shalt speak
of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy power to make known
to the sons of men his mighty acts and his glorious majesty
of his kingdom, thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy
dominion endureth throughout all generations. The Lord upholdeth
all that fall, and raiseth up all those who are bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon thee,
and thou givest them meat in due season. thine hand and satisfy the desires
of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all
his ways and holy in all his works. The Lord is nigh to all
of them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth, He will fulfill the desires of
them that fear him. He also will hear their cry and
will save them. The Lord preserveth all of them
that love him, but all of the wicked he will destroy. My mouth
shall speak of the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless
His holy name forever and ever. Father God, we come before you
in the name of Christ by his merits among father and we praise
your name and we thank you for that wondrous works, father. Among them, the most, probably
the most dearest to us is our salvation, which you have accomplished
in Christ. We thank you for that, father. We thank you for thy spirit that
you've given us. We pray that in thy spirit, your
gospel may be established and may be proclaimed this morning
in this place, as well as all the other gospels preaching churches,
Father. May your name be glorified. May
you, Holy Spirit, open our eyes and open our ears. to hear the
gospel anew and fresh, and may Jesus Christ become more glorious
to us every time we hear the gospel, Father. We pray this
in Jesus' name. Amen. Number 103 in your hardback temple. Let's all stand together. Number
103. One day when heaven was filled
with his praises, one day when sin was as black as could be,
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, dwelt among men, my
example is he. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far
away. Seeing, He justified freely forever. One day, He's coming, O glorious
day. One day they led Him up Calvary's
mountain, one day they nailed Him to die on the tree. Suffering anguish, despised and
rejected, bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He. Living, He loved
me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sin far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day He's coming, O glorious
day. One day they left him alone in
the garden. One day he rested from suffering
free. Angels came down o'er his tomb
to keep vigil. Hope of the hopeless, my Savior
is he. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sin far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day, He's coming, a glorious
day. One day the grave could conceal
him no longer. One day the stone rolled away
from the door. Then he arose, over death he
had conquered. Now is ascended, my Lord evermore. Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sin far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day, He's coming, a glorious
day. ? One day the trumpet will sound
for his coming ? One day the skies with his glory will shine
? Wonderful day his beloved ones bringing ? Glory a savior this
Jesus is mine ? Living he loved me Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sin far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day, He's coming. Oh, glorious day. Please be seated. Dark the stain that soiled man's
nature Long the distance that he fell Far removed from hope
and heaven Into deep despair and hell But there was a fountain
open In the blood of God's own Son Purifies the soul and reaches
Deeper than the stain has gone Praise the Lord for full salvation
God still reigns upon His throne And I know the blood still reaches
Deeper than the stain has gone. Conscious of the deep pollution,
sinners wander in the night. Though they hear the shepherd
calling They still fear to face the light This the blessed consolation
That can melt the heart of stone That sweet balm of Gilead reaches
Deeper than the stain has gone Praise the Lord for full salvation
God still reigns upon His throne And I know the blood still reaches
Deeper than the stain has gone All unworthy we who've wandered
And our eyes are wet with tears As we think of love that sought
us Through the weary, wasted years Yet we walk the holy highway
Walking by God's grace alone Knowing Calvary's fountain reaches
Deeper than the stain has gone Praise the Lord for full salvation
God still reigns upon His throne And I know the blood still reaches
deeper than the stain has gone when with holy choirs we're standing
in the presence of the king and our souls are lost in wonder
while the white rope choir sings Then we'll praise the name of
Jesus With the millions round the throne Praise Him for the
power that reaches Deeper than the stain has gone Praise the Lord for full salvation
God still reigns upon His throne And I know the blood still reaches
deeper than the stain has gone. Adam, I remember the first time
I heard that hymn 25 years ago. And it was a new song today. What a blessing. Where sin abounds, and sin does
abound, abounds in your heart, abounds in my heart, doesn't
it? Grace doth much more abound. And I love the chorus in that
hymn. Praise the Lord. This is our reason for praise,
because with all of our sin, the Lord Jesus Christ is successful
in putting them away, forgiving us, establishing us righteous
before God, satisfying His justice. And that's what Hannah is praying
in our text this morning. If you'd like to turn with me
in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 2. 1 Samuel 2. These, I remind you, are gospel
stories. All of these Old Testament types
are pictures of the believer's hope in Christ. And so, when
Hannah is praying here, she is rejoicing in her salvation. rejoicing in the Lord's salvation
as she accurately declares. Notice in verse one, and Hannah
prayed and said, my heart rejoices in the Lord. Mine horn is exalted
in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over my
enemies. because I rejoice in thy salvation. Now Hannah, scripture tells us,
was in bitterness of soul and wept before the Lord because
she was in need. And that's what sinners do, they
come before the Lord in bitterness of soul and and in hopes that
the Lord will show them mercy and grace. And that's exactly
what the Lord did. A broken heart, he will not despise. And he didn't despise hers. He
had broken it. He had broken it. You know, I
think if you have a broken arm, you can't use that arm. If you
have a broken leg, you can't walk. If you have a broken heart,
you come before the Lord acknowledging the fact that, Lord, my heart
doesn't work. I ought to be so grieved over my sin. The thing
that bothers me most about my sin is how little it bothers
me. And yet a broken heart is exactly
what God creates when he causes us to see our need for Christ. Lord, I cannot bring to you sufficient
sorrow, sufficient repentance, sufficient faith. My heart is
deceitful and desperately wicked. How can I know it? And how can
I possibly bring to God anything that would warrant His mercy
and His grace? The stain of sin has gone too
deep for me to do anything about it. Lord, I'm in need of Your
mercy. I'm in need of Your grace. I'm
in need of a blood that can go as deep and deeper than the stain and
deliver me from this sin problem that I have. So the Lord answers Hannah's
prayer and he gives her a child. And this child is a picture of
the man-child, the Lord Jesus Christ. Samuel name translated
means ask of the Lord. The Lord's going to put our hearts
to asking him to be saved. The thing about it is when a
heart comes before the Lord asking to be saved in faith, that heart
has been saved. We wouldn't come before the Lord
asking had he not already done a work of grace in our heart.
What a mystery. What a glorious truth. And yet
when that work of grace is done, the heart is moved to ask. And so she asked and the Lord
gives her a child. And this is a picture. of Christ who was made of a woman,
made under the law to redeem those who are cursed by the law. Unto you, unto you a child is
born. Unto you a son is given. And his name should be called
Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. The governments are gonna be
upon his shoulder. He's going to be able to bear
the burden of sin, and that's what he did on Calvary's cross.
And he put it away by the sacrifice of himself. That's what sinners
need to hear. They need to hear that there's
a successful Savior. The Lord tells us even in the
New Testament that the woman is saved by childbearing. Now don't misunderstand that. There are women who've never,
who's never born a child. The Lord's not talking about
giving physical birth, being your salvation. The woman is
the church. It's the bride of Christ. And
the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world through the womb of
his church. That's why he had to be born
of the tribe of Judah. Israel was kept together by God's
power and by God's grace all those years of their rebellion
until the time of reformation when the Lord Jesus Christ was
birthed into the world and the woman is saved by childbearing. And that's how we're saved. And
that's the picture here. Hannah has brought forth a child. And this child is what she asks
for, and it's the hope of her salvation. Galatians chapter 4 verse 4,
when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son. made of a woman, made under the
law in order to redeem them who were cursed and under God's law. Sinners need a redeemer. They
need a redeemer. They need a lamb that is without
spot and without blemish to do for them what they cannot do
for themselves. They need Christ. So many times she said, did I finish reading
verse one? And Hannah prayed and said, my
heart rejoiceth in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth is enlarged over my enemies because yes, I rejoice
in thy salvation. How many things there are in
this world that would rob us of our joy. heartaches, troubles, disappointments,
uncertainties, temptations, trials, all fueled by sin. The sin of unbelief that robs
us of our hope. And that's what Hannah's rejoicing
in. She's rejoicing in the Lord's salvation. The older we get,
the more we learn Hopefully, if we grow in grace and the knowledge
of Christ, the older we get, the more we learn to moderate
our reactions to these disappointments and trials and troubles. Yet,
yet, at the same time, the heavier these things weigh on our minds
and on our souls. The more we see the seriousness
of the consequences of every aspect of life, the more prayerful
like Hannah we become, the more quiet and dependent we become,
the more dissatisfied we are in the empty promises and false
hopes that this world has to offer. The more vain we see this
world to be and the more sorrowful we become, over the sin of our
own lives, the more burdened we are for the souls of our friends
and family members and sometimes even the Lord burdens believers'
hearts for someone they don't even know. You feel a great heaviness
for them. These things become greater and
greater. Our need for Christ becomes greater and greater as
we grow in grace. The more we see our need for
Christ, the more we see that the only real hope, the only
real hope is in Christ. The only real joy, the only real
joy to be found is in Christ. The only real comfort for the
soul is found in Christ. All of these other things are
empty promises and false hopes. The only true love, the only
true love, love for God, love for his word, love for his people,
is to be found in Christ. So Hannah is expressing every
believer's heart's desire, she says, thy salvation, thy salvation. And when she refers to thy salvation,
she's not just referring to a work of grace that was done for her,
she's referring to a person. She's looking at Samuel and in
faith, she's seeing that God promised a Messiah, a man-child. It was from the very beginning
when the Lord told Adam that the seed of the woman would crush
the head of the serpent, the father of lies and the source
of all of this heartache and pain and sin and sorrow, that
there would be a child born. And so she looks at this son. She spent 12 years now with him.
teaching him and admonishing him and instructing him in the
things of God and in fulfillment to her promise, she's brought
him back to Shiloh and she's given him to the Lord at 12 years
old. She would visit him on an annual
basis when her and her husband would come to make sacrifice
at the tabernacle, but she would never again enjoy the daily pleasures
of being a mother to this boy. She dedicated him to the Lord
and she saw this as a hope of her salvation. It wasn't just a reference to
the work of grace that God had done, it was a reference to a
person. When Simeon was when Joseph and Mary in Luke chapter
2 brings the Lord Jesus at eight days old in fulfillment to the
law to be circumcised, Simeon the priest, an old man, takes
this infant and he says, I can now die in peace for mine eyes
have seen the salvation of Israel. He was looking at the Lord Jesus
Christ. Mine eyes have seen the salvation
of Israel. That's what Hannah's saying.
I rejoice in thy salvation. This child is my hope of knowing
that that she, the church, shall be born and shall be saved in
childbearing. When. Isaiah, Chapter 52. The Lord. The scripture says, hath made
bare his holy arm, at the ends of the earth shall see the salvation
of the Lord. The Lord has made bare his holy
arm. This thing was not done in a
corner. This thing was done publicly for all the world to see what
God had done in saving His people from their sins. He bore, He
made bare His holy arm, His right arm. Christ Jesus the Lord is God's
salvation for His people. And so Hannah says, My heart
rejoiceth in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over my
enemies. Here is the work of grace in
the heart when God enables us to rejoice in Christ, to rejoice
in his accomplished work of redemption. to rejoice in his glorious person
as the one who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from
the sinner and higher than the heavens. The one who sees by
God's grace and through faith the Lord Jesus Christ seated
at the right hand of God making intercession for them. They are
able to rejoice in the Lord. She says, my heart rejoices. A new heart I will give thee,
and a new spirit will I create within thee. And I will take
out thine heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh. You
and I are born into this world with one nature, one heart, and
God calls it stony. You say, well, I've always had
a tender heart towards people and towards things and towards
God. I would just say this is what
God says. This is what God says. God says you've got a heart of
stone. Cold, lifeless heart. A heart that cannot be moved
toward the things of God. That's what we are by nature.
That's how we come into this world. And only in the new birth
does God give a heart of flesh, a beating heart, a live heart,
a warm heart, a heart that courses blood through the whole body
and enables a person to be alive. That's what God gives in the
new birth and that's what Hannah has. And Hannah saying, my heart
rejoices. It's only this new heart that
can rejoice and the new heart only rejoices. The old man is
still fighting the flesh and flighting his disappointments
and and his fears and his unbelief. But the new heart, the new heart
always rejoices. That's why the Lord reminds us,
he says, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. It is the new heart. it's nature the nature of the
old man is to be dissatisfied and complain and unbelief to hate God that's the nature
of the old man but the nature of the new man is to rejoice
so we have this we have this contradiction in ourselves don't
we we have these two natures You didn't know you had an old
nature until you got a new nature. You didn't know how dead and
stony that old heart was until the Lord gave you a new heart.
It takes a new heart to recognize the old one. But now that you
have a new heart, part of you is rejoicing always and another
part of you can't rejoice in anything pertaining to God. The good news is that one day
we'll shed this old man. One day we'll only have one nature,
and it'll be the new nature. And in that day, there will be
nothing but rejoicing. Nothing but rejoicing. No more
tears, no more sorrow, no more death. The old man will be put
back where he came from, in the ground. And God will take that
which was corruptible and give us an incorruptible body. And
he'll take that which was mortal and give us an immortal body.
And all things will be made new and we'll have one nature that
will do what Hannah's doing, rejoicing in the Lord always,
always. Revelation chapter 19, verse
7 says, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him. for the
marriage of the lamb has come. The woman has been brought to
the fruition of her salvation. She's been brought into the very
presence of God. Her old nature has been left
behind. She has an eternity now of rejoicing in the Lord for
the marriage of the lamb has come. That's the believers hope. This word rejoice means to triumph. It means to triumph. You know, I was thinking, I don't
guess any of us are old enough to remember 1945 and 1946 when The World War II came to an end
and this entire nation broke out in the exuberance of victory
over those who would rob the world of its freedom. You've
seen pictures and you've read things about it. You know, our life, all we know
is Korea and Vietnam and Afghanistan, which at best were draws. I mean,
there's no victory of warfare that we can relate to in our
lives. Not like that. Not where everybody
just broke out in glorious triumph over the defeat of the enemy.
But that's exactly what the Lord's saying here. When she speaks
of rejoicing, she's talking about the triumph that she has in the
victory that the Lord Jesus Christ has gotten over the grave and
over death and over sin for his people. She's looking at this child that
she had pled for and she's saying, I rejoice in thy salvation. Turn with me to 1 Samuel over
just a few pages from where we are to chapter 22. Chapter 22, David has been identified as
the replacement for Saul, as king of Israel. David, whose
name translated means beloved, beloved, Oh, and the Lord Jesus Christ
being the son of David for whom God Almighty spoke audibly and
said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. He's going to be
the salvation of Israel. He's going to get the victory.
So David is being pursued by Saul. And he goes to a cave by
the name of Adullam. Now, Adullam translated means
justice for the people. Justice for the people. It's a picture, you see the picture.
Picture of Christ going into the tomb in order to get justice
for the people of God. And notice, I want you to notice,
who comes to David. Who is it that's attracted to
follow him? Saul's still on the throne. He's
got an army. He's in pursuit of David. He
could very easily crush the rebellion. David therefore departed thence,
verse 1 of chapter 22, and escaped to the cave of Adullam, And when
his brethren and all his family's house heard it, they went down
thither to him. So that's who came to him. And
the brethren of the Lord Jesus Christ still come to him. All
that are of his house still come to him. And if you don't come
to him, it just means you're not of his house. If you leave
this world without having come to Christ, it means you're not
of his house. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me." The Lord Jesus Christ got the victory for all his house,
all his house. What were these members of his
household? What kind of position, what kind of condition were they
in? Well, and everyone that was in distress. Now that word means
stuck between a rock and a hard place. It means you've got no
place else to go. That's what it means to be in
distress. I've got no place else to turn. I'm stuck. I've only got one person to go
to, and that's King David. I'm in distress. The only way
you're going to come to Christ is if you've got no place else
to go. God has to shut us up to Christ. And he continues to do that.
Believer, every time you look back over your shoulder, every
time you try to find hope of your salvation somewhere outside
of Christ, he takes away any hope that you might try to derive
from that. And he leaves you again and again
and again shut up to Christ. Everyone that was in distress
and everyone that was in debt These were men who owed the banker. They had creditors hot on their
tail. They were being pursued by the
law. I used to be a bill collector.
When I got out of the Navy in 1975, 74, went to work for a
finance company as a bill collector. Horrible job. Knocking on people's
doors, trying to collect bad debts. I mean, I was the last
guy you wanted to see come to your house if you owed money. But it wasn't long before I was
a bill collector. There were laws in place back
then that controlled what we could do. It wasn't long before
that that there were no laws. You could actually arrest someone
and imprison them for being in debt. They called it debtor's
prison, and I'm sure that's the way it was here. So these men
were in debt. They had a bill to pay that they
couldn't pay. You have a debt to God. I have
a debt to God. Because of our sin, we owe God
a payment for that sin that we cannot pay. And God has a debtor's
prison. It's called hell. And if that debt's not paid,
then all that are in debt will end up separated from God for
all eternity. How's the debt going to be paid?
Well, that's why I'm going to David. That's why I'm fleeing
to the beloved. He's going to get the victory
for me. He's going to satisfy this avenger of blood that is
coming after me, this law that requires that I satisfy its demands. He's the only one that can do
it. So I'm distressed. I've got no place else to go.
I'm in debt. I've got no one else that's going
to pay my debt. And notice the third thing, discontented. This word means bitterness of
soul. That's where Hannah was. She
had bitterness of soul when she went before the Lord. Now she's
rejoicing because he's taken that bitterness away. Why? Because
he saved her. Through childbirth he has saved
her. Now she has no more bitterness
of soul. She's found a deliverer. We have a burden. That's why
the Lord Jesus Christ said, come unto me, all ye that labor and
are heavy burdened. You have bitterness of soul,
you're discontented. You have no real hope. Come to
me. My burden is light. My yoke is
easy. I've already bore the full weight
of your sin. I've already put it away. I've
already satisfied the demands of God's justice. Come to me. Learn of me. Oh, I got the victory. That's what it means to rejoice.
Rejoicing doesn't mean that you're tiptoeing through the tulips
and walking around acting foolish and acting like a religious fanatic
all the time. People act that way. They're
trying to convince you. They're whistling through the
graveyard. They're trying to convince you they've got something
they don't have. This rejoicing is a matter of the soul. It's
a matter of the heart. I've got a victor. I've got one
who has conquered everything for me. I have reason to rejoice. The battle's been won. The war's
over. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Speak ye comfortably unto Jerusalem. Tell them their warfare is accomplished. This wasn't a draw. This wasn't
Korea or Vietnam or Afghanistan, where somebody gets one piece
of land and someone else gets another piece of land. That's
what the world would have us to believe about what Christ
did on Calvary's cross, that it was a draw and determined
by you as to what part of the land, whether you get on the
South Korea side or the North Korea side, determined by you.
You can choose where you want your citizenship to be because
the war was a draw. No, he got the victory. He won the war. All the land
is his. Every bit of it. Rejoice. We have a victor. Death is conquered. Sin's been
put away. The grave is open. Satan's been
defeated. The Lord Jesus Christ has gotten
the victory. So, child of God, whatever might
disappoint your old man, whatever might cause you to be afraid,
whatever might cause you to complain, murmur, oh, let your new man rejoice
in the Lord, in his salvation. How will it be? Well notice the
second thing that Hannah says, my horn is exalted in the Lord. Now the horn in the Bible is
a picture of strength. You're dealing with a bull, you
probably want to stay away from the horns of that bull. It's God's way of referring to
that which is strong and that which is dangerous and that which
has the power. And she says, my horn, my strength
is made perfect in His strength. I have no strength. Look at verse 10. Verse 10, the adversaries of
the Lord shall be broken to pieces. Out of heaven shall he thunder
upon them. The Lord shall judge the ends
of the earth and he shall give strength unto his king and exalt
the horn of his anointed. Now who is his king? Christ is his king. Who is his
anointed? Christ is his anointed. He's
going to exalt the horn of His King and gives strength to His
Anointed. And in the Old Testament, the
scripture speaks about the altar in the temple having horns on
it and that the sacrifice was bound to the horns of the altar. And there we have a picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ being bound to the cross, the strength of
God, the Anointed of God, the King being put to death that
through his weakness and through his poverty we might be made
rich. So Paul said, when I'm weak,
then I'm strong. For his strength is made perfect
in my weakness. That's what Hannah's saying.
Hannah's saying I have no ability to save myself. I have no strength
before God. Here's the good news, brethren,
in that when we were yet without strength, without strength, not
when we have a little strength, well, I've got, you know, I've
got one little thing I can do. And the religious hucksters and
the false prophets will tell you, well, you know, just pray
this prayer. You can make your contribution to your salvation
and you can obligate God to save you if you'll do this or do the
other, and the list goes on. The only difference between one
religion and another in the world is what are the requirements
of that particular religion. God's requirement is Christ.
That's it. Period. End of story. And those that are distressed,
And those that are in debt and those that are discontented go
to the cave of Adullam where justice has been satisfied. They
flee to their beloved David who becomes their king. Why? Because God has anointed him
with power and with strength. You know, throughout all the
history of the children of Israel, From Abraham to I guess we could
say 1948 or whenever that was, they established their own state
in the Middle East. The children of Israel always
under a conquered rule. Always. They read it under the
Greeks or the Babylonians or the Romans or the or the Egyptians,
they were always under someone's rule, except during the reign
of King David. And Solomon carried some of that
over, but David got the victory. David got the victory. David
defeated all the enemies of Israel. You see what that's a picture
of, don't you? We rejoice because he's gotten
the victory. We don't. We don't celebrate
one day of the resurrection. We look at that resurrection
and we know that that's our reason for celebrating the Lord's salvation
all the time because it is the proof that every child of God's
faith needs in knowing that God Almighty is satisfied with what
he did and raised him from the dead. He was offered up for our
offenses. The Lord Jesus Christ was offered
up for our offenses. Romans chapter 4 verse 25 and
raised again. Because of our justification. All that Christ died for were
justified because of his death. And God raised him because justification. has been established. What is
it to be justified? It's to stand before the presence
of a holy God with no sin. No sin. Their sins and iniquities
I remember no more. I separate them from them as
far as the East is from the West. They were buried in the depths
of the sea. Oh, this sinful nature that is
always pursuing us on our heels. The hope of the gospel, the hope
that Hannah had was that my horn shall be exalted in the Lord
who got the victory for me. Only when we are brought to believe
that we can do nothing to save ourselves will we find ourselves
looking to Christ for all our salvation? We have no strength. He has all strength. Michael,
you quoted this last Sunday during the call to worship. All power
has been given unto me in heaven and in earth. If He possesses
all power, then we don't have any. My strength, my horn is
exalted in the war. Thirdly, and finally, look at
what Hannah says, my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies. The Lord Jesus Christ's mouth
was not enlarged when he went to the cross. He went as a lamb before his
slaughter, He opened not his mouth. Why not? Why not? Because he had no defense. He
went willingly to the cross. No man took his life from him. But knowing that God would make
him sin, he stood guilty before God. bearing the sins of His
people with all of its shame and all of its guilt. He had
no defense. He could not open up His mouth. What is Hannah saying? Because
the Lord Jesus Christ, the child born of this woman, who is my
salvation, could not open His mouth? Therefore, my mouth is
enlarged against mine enemy. I can speak with confidence. I can speak boldly. I can speak
unapologetically to all those who would accuse me. And I have hope that the words that I speak have
been given to me of God and that they are true. Who are our enemies? Well, Satan
is called the father of lies. He's also called the accuser
of the brethren. He is a spiritual power that
is always trying to get us to look over our shoulder and see
how straight our lines are. He's always trying to get us
to look to something other than Christ for the hope of our salvation. And we can resist him in the
Lord. As the Lord resisted him perfectly, you and I, we fall
to his disguises so often. We become victim to him, but
here's the truth. When Satan approached the Lord
Jesus Christ, who had been fasting for 40 days and said, there are
stones, turn these stones into bread, the Lord Jesus responded
with his mouth open. against his enemies. How did
he open his mouth with the word of God? Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God. When Satan took him up on the pentacle of the temple
and said, cast yourself down. And Satan quotes scripture at
this point. Satan says, the Lord will usher
forth his angels and you will not so much as dash your heel
against a foot, against a rock. And the Lord again responded
with scripture, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Satan
took him up on a high mountain and said, if you'll bow to me,
I'll give you to all these nations. The Lord thy God thou shalt worship
and him only shalt thou serve. The Lord opened his mouth against
his enemies and defeated Satan and consequently Satan as the
prince of this world has been defeated by Christ. And in Christ,
in Christ, child of God, you have the Word of God so that
when temptations come, though even in the temptation we have
sinned, even in the temptation we have sinned, we have the Word
of God. And we can say no. No, what you're
accusing me of is not true. You've been judged. Prince of
this world has been judged. You're suggesting that maybe
I could earn favor with God by something that I do. No. No,
I can't. It's not true. My mouth is enlarged
against my enemy. I have the truth of God so that
I can speak boldly against my enemy. Who's another enemy that you
and I have to deal with every day? It's the person sitting
exactly where you're sitting. It's the person standing exactly
where I'm standing. It's that old man, isn't it?
That's the enemy. My old man would cause me to
think, well, you know, I could live if, you know, reckon yourselves
to be dead. Reckon yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. Reckon it to be so because
it is. You were crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless, you live. Not yourself. It's Christ that
lives in you. It's the new man. It's the new
heart. Yes. You're right, Satan. The accuser of the brethren.
The accusations is not that we violated the law of God. That's
true. The lie is that you can fix it.
That's the lie. The lie is that you can fix it.
You can make it better. And you've got the word of God
to show you that you can't fix it. You can't fix your sin problem.
You've got to have Christ. For in me that is in my flesh
dwelleth no good thing. To will is present with me, but
how to perform that which is good I find not. I need Christ. He's the only one that can perform
this for me. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he has saved us. Tell me. you that desire to be
under the law. Do you not hear what the law
says? The law requires perfect obedience. If we could somehow fix our sin
problem by our law keeping, we would need Christ. But we can't. So, Hannah's rejoicing. in the birth of a son who is
going to save her as the whole Church of God rejoices
in the birth of the Son of God who got the victory, who did
save us. And we can say with Hannah, my heart rejoiceth in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over all
my enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for the accomplished work of thy dear son. Thank you for the
victory that has been won, the warfare that has been accomplished.
Thank you, Lord, that you didn't leave it up to us to decide what side we would
be on. Thank you, Lord, that you got
all the victory. and that you get victory over
your people when you make them willing in the day of your power.
Lord, pray that you would make us willing, make us willing,
willing to come to Christ, willing to bow, willing to believe, willing
to trust. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. 127 in the hardback 10. Let's
stand 127.