Good morning. Let's open this
morning's service with hymn number 21 in our Spiral Gospel Hymns
hymn book. I kind of do this the first of
every month, so it's my favorite hymn in this hymn book. Let's
all stand together. Number 21. ? God the Father and the Son ?
? And the Spirit three in one ? ? Made eternal ages past ?
? Made a covenant sure and fast ? ? God my Father chose his own
? in the person of His Son, and ordained that I should be one
with Him eternally. God the Son agreed to come in
the flesh to bring me home. He would keep God's holy law. ? And retrieve me from the fall
? Christ in love so willingly ? Stood as my great surety ?
For my price he offered blood ? To appease the wrath of God
God the spirit heavenly dove promised to come down in love,
bringing life and peace and grace to the chosen purchased race. He seeks the lost, heals the
lame, and He brings us to the Lamb. By His mighty sovereign
call, God's elect are gathered all. This poor sinner is God's
covenant will endure. It is sealed by God's own word,
by his spirit and his blood. Blessed Holy Covenant God, I
am yours by ties of blood, ties of grace and ties of love. Hold me to my God above. Please be seated. Good morning. I was just thinking
as we were singing how thankful I am to be able to sing those
words with some understanding. That's the gospel, what we just
sang. And I'm very grateful for the Lord's
grace and mercy in revealing who Christ is and what he has
accomplished on behalf of his people as our surety. to secure
our salvation. What a blessing. We're going
to be looking at Hannah's words to Eli as she returned Samuel
to the Lord in 1 Samuel 1. If you'd like to open your Bibles
there, 1 Samuel 1. Let's ask the Lord's blessings. Our Heavenly Father. We are thankful. For the surety of that covenant. That was established. In eternity
past. By your will and purpose. made sure and steadfast in the
sacrifice that Christ would make to redeem us. We thank you for that shed blood
that covers all our sins. Lord, we come into thy holy presence, dependent upon you to to not look upon us outside of
Christ, but to see his blood and that we would find our acceptance
completely in him. Lord, send your spirit, enable
us to speak, enable us to hear. Pray that Christ will be lifted
up, Lord, that you would draw us into thy presence. but we
ask it in his name. Amen. All right, you have your
Bibles open to 1 Samuel 1. We've looked at this chapter
a couple of times already and seen how that Hannah was barren. The Lord had left her without a child. Her
adversary, her adversary, Penina, who was Elkanah's less favored
wife, was jealous of the relationship that Hannah had with Elkanah,
her husband, and treated her with such contempt and really persecuted her. And the scripture says that Hannah
was in bitterness of soul. She, you see that in verse 10 of chapter 1, and
she was in bitterness of soul and prayed to the Lord and wept
sore. And of course, this is that story
where Eli thought that she was intoxicated. She had been drinking
and he rebuked her. And she said, oh no, my lord.
She said, I'm pouring my heart out to God. And so he made her
a promise. And the scripture says that she
left with her countenance no more
sad. She had a word from God. And that's really all you and
I have. We have a promise from God. And there's no reason for
our countenance to be sad. the assurance of faithfulness
of God to fulfill his promises which are all yea and amen in
Christ and so she goes home convinced that the Lord is going to be
faithful to keep his word and he did and she is found with
child and gives birth to Samuel, whose name translated means ask
of the Lord. And so the scripture says, we'll
pick up our story in verse 24 of chapter 1, and when she had
weaned him, and We're going to find out that Samuel worshipped
the Lord. This is not a two-year-old that's
been weaned from the breast. This is probably about a 12-year-old
that had been weaned from his dependence upon his mother. She
had raised him in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and
prepared him for a lifetime of service. And so probably at the
age of around 12, she takes him back to Shiloh and she took him
up with her with three bullocks and one ephah flower and a bottle
of wine and brought him unto the house of the Lord in Shiloh
and the child was young. And they slew a bullock and brought
the child to Eli. And she said, O my Lord, as thy
soul liveth, my Lord, I am the woman that stood by thee, praying
unto the Lord. So she's reminding Eli of that
experience that she had several years before. And this child,
for this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition,
which I ask of him. Verse 28, therefore also I have
lent him to the Lord as long as he liveth. He shall be lent
to the Lord. And he, which is a reference
to Samuel, worshiped the Lord there. I've titled this message
Lent to the Lord. And it would be a mistake for
us to interpret this word lent in the sense in which we use
it. When we lend something out, we intend to come back and get
it. That is not the meaning of this word that's found here on
the lips of Hannah. It comes from the word which
means to ask or to beg or to borrow. And so she's not making
reference to her lending Samuel to Eli or lending Samuel back
to the Lord with intention to coming back, but she's saying,
this is the child that the Lord lent to me. And parents, that's
what our children are, aren't they? We just have them for a
brief period of time. They are lent to us from the
Lord and may God be pleased to give us the grace to do as Hannah
did, raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and
always in our hearts returning them back to the one that we
got them from. The meaning of this word Lent
is I am returning to God that which he gave me by petition. That's the literal definition
of this word Lent. I am returning back to God that
which he gave me by petition. I asked the Lord for this gift,
he gave it to me, and I am returning back to him. Here's the point
of the message, brethren. The only offerings that we have
that are acceptable to God is that which we return to him that
he first gave to us. The only thing that you and I
have to offer God is to give back to him what he has first
given to us. Now that's true in faith, that's
true in worship, that's true in prayer, that's true in love,
that's true in service. Every single thing that the child
of God gives to the father is only a returning to him is only
a returning to him what we first received from him. Example, a
parent wants a young child to enjoy the benefits and the joy
of presenting to that parent a gift on their birthday. In order for that child to be
able to purchase a gift, the parent must first give that child
the money to buy the gift. A parent wants to make sure that
a child understands what they've instructed them and so you ask
that child to repeat back to you. that which you just told
them. They're not inventing something
or coming up with something that you did not give to them. You
gave it to them and they're repeating it back to you. A child expresses love and respect
toward their parent. Where did they learn that? Where
did they learn that? Where'd they get that from? They
didn't come up with that on their own. You want a child to be unloving
and selfish and disrespectful, just leave them to themselves.
A child has to be trained, don't they? And so that child is giving back
to the parent that which they received from the parent. I have lent to the Lord. I am simply returning back to
God that which I received from him." Now, that first and foremost
is true in faith. In faith. Faith is not a decision,
faith is not a commitment, faith is not a choice. Faith is the natural response
of the new birth. And so We have to receive faith
before we can give faith, before we can have faith. For by grace
are you saved through faith. And that faith is not of yourself.
It's a gift of God. So that no man can boast. God puts it in the hearts of
his children to believe on him, to love him, to serve him. But we're not coming up with
that. That no flesh should glory in
his presence. No man can boast. I'm just giving
back to God what he already gave to me. That's our life. The religious person is always
wanting the approval of other men by letting everybody know
what they're doing for God. And the child of God is thinking,
I'm but an unprofitable servant. The right hand's not to be telling
the left hand what it's doing. We're just giving back to God
a very, very small percentage, portion. of what he gave to us. Faith to believe God, to trust
Christ, to rest in and rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ, without
which no man can please God. Where does that faith come from?
Where does it come from? It comes from God. It's the breath that's breathed
in the new birth. I've used this illustration many
times, it's so simple. A child breathes when it's born
because it's alive. It doesn't become alive as a
result of breathing. And here we have the new birth. We exhale the poisonous gases
of our sin and we inhale the refreshment of the breath of
God. And it goes all the way back
to the garden when the Lord made Adam out of the dust of the earth
and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And so if
we do any breathing at all, It's because God's already made us
alive. He breathed into us the breath
of life. So we have nothing to boast in
because we believe God. We didn't have a choice but to
believe God. He made us believers. Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter
2, he said, I was with you in weakness and in fear and much
trembling. And my speech was not with enticing
words of man's wisdom, but in the demonstration of the spirit
and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom
of man, but in the power of God." Our faith is not determined by
our ability to give long, elaborate definitions of theological truths. Our faith is a simple breathing
of a child who's just doing what comes natural after life has
been given, after life has been given. is a work of grace in the heart. I have lent to the Lord. I am
returning back to God that which I received from him. The Lord makes that clear in
John chapter six when he says, no man, no man can come to me
except The Father which sent me, draw him." And that word
draw does not mean to entice or to plead with as the free
will religion would make God to be out to be someone who's
pleading and begging with men to let Jesus come into their
hearts. No. If you remember over there
in the book of James where the Lord is rebuking the church for
treating the rich man better than the poor man, and he says
to them, he says, do you not know that it's the wealthy and
the powerful that are dragging you into court? So when you're
accused of something and dragged into court and taken advantage
of, it's not that you're being enticed or wooed to come, it's
that you're being drugged. So what the Lord is saying in
John chapter six is no man can come to me except the father
which sent me drag him. And aren't you thankful? Aren't
you thankful that the new birth, that the Lord doesn't wait for
us to will to be saved before he saves us. He saves us and
makes us willing in the day of his power. The Lord goes on in that verse
in John chapter six to say, and I will raise him up at the last
day, for as it is written in the prophets, and this is a quote
from Isaiah, they shall be all taught of God. They shall be
all taught of God. And then he concludes this passage
by saying, every man therefore, Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and the hearing ear and the seeing eye are from the Lord. And the Lord is concluding this
by saying, therefore, every man that hath heard and hath learned
of the Father cometh unto me. And any man that cometh unto
me, I will in no wise cast him out. So there's our promise. We come because God gave us ears
to hear the gospel. We believe because we've learned
of the Father. He has taught us. We didn't come
to these conclusions on our own. We didn't make a decision to
believe God. We are in our faith, in our faith,
and it is our faith. In our faith, we are returning
to God what he has given unto us. And that's what Hannah is
saying. I am bringing back to God what
I received from God. When she said in our text, I
have lent him to the Lord. The Lord lent him to me. I've
tried to be faithful in instructing him and raising him and now giving
him back. This is true in prayer. How many
times have you had someone ask you to pray for them and you
said you would and you didn't? Happens all the time, doesn't
it? The Lord's the one that has to
set the heart to prayer. And so when we commit to pray
for someone, let's go before the Lord, let's ask the Lord
first. Make me able to pray for that
person. Put prayer in my heart that I
might be able to intercede for them. And perhaps our best response
should be, as the Lord enables me, I will. As the Lord enables
me. And when we ask someone to pray
for us, Let us condition that request by saying, as the Lord
enables you, would you pray for me? Any other prayers that we offer
to God are just words. It's the spirit of God. But prayer
that's of God is a work of grace that he gave us before we could
ever give it back to him. Let me show you that, turn with
me to Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8. Look at verse 26. Likewise, the
Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth
the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he
maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. It's the Spirit of God. Lord,
when we go to before the Lord in prayer, let us begin by asking
the Lord to enable us to pray. Not thinking that we're going
to give God something that's going to somehow obligate him
or persuade him. Lord, if I'm going to be able
to pray, you're going to have to enable me by your Spirit.
You're going to have to bring to mind and give me words. And when the words aren't there,
Lord, just enable me just to just to groan before you and
to trust the spirit of God to make those prayers acceptable
in thy sight. And Lord, this is. The Lord must
set the heart to prayer. He must create the need. He must
reveal himself in such a way as to make us want to come to
him. It is the forgiveness of sin
that moves the heart to prayer. It is the forgiveness of sin
that causes us to come before the throne of grace. The hope
of forgiveness that causes us to come before the throne of
grace with boldness It's the goodness of God. He's the one
who draws us into his presence, not just in the initial act of
faith in our new birth, but in every act of faith after that.
I am lending to the Lord. I am giving back to God that
which he gave to me by petition. How can we glory? in anything
that we do. Isaiah chapter 1 verse 18 says,
come now, God speaking to you and me, and God says come now,
let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like
crimson, they shall be made like wool. Here's the enticement that the
Lord speaks to our hearts. It is the hope of forgiveness
of sin that God puts in our hearts that causes us to reason with
him, to come into his presence, to pour out our hearts in prayer.
The Lord's saying, come unto me,
all ye that labor heavy burdens. The Lord doesn't say, if you're
heavy burdened, come to me and I'll give you something more
to do. No, Lord, I'm already heavy burdened. I'm already overwhelmed. Don't
give me anything else. Let me find a place of rest.
That's why the Lord said, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
come unto me. I'll give you rest. My burden
is light. I've already bore the burden
of sin. I put it away. My yoke is easy. Learn of me. Learn of me. Oh, what hope. This is what this is. This is
the word that God speaks that causes sinners to want to come
into his presence. Hannah said, I am returning to
the Lord. that which I received from him. And that's all we ever do. That's
all we ever do. We've returned to God that which
we received from him. When the prodigal came to himself
while feeding those swines and eating the husk that the swine
did eat, What did he say? Oh, the servants in my father's
house have it better than this. I'll go and ask my father. I can just be his servant. So
it was the hope of forgiveness that caused that prodigal to
come home. He had no idea how great that
forgiveness would be. His hope was that maybe he'd
be able to stay in the barn and just be a servant. It'd be better
than where he was. He had no idea that the father
was out at the end of the driveway watching and waiting, looking
down the road. He knew his son was coming home.
He had enticed him to come home. And when he saw his son, he lavished
him with kisses. And he said to the servant, go
get the robe and the ring and put shoes upon his feet. Kill
the fatted calf. My son, which was lost, is now
found. It's the love of God that constraineth
us. It's the hope of forgiveness
that causes us to come. It's the promises of God. Hannah
had a promise from God. You and I have promises from
God. There's nothing that we have or that we do that we can
glory in. we are returning to the Lord
that which He has given to us. Only as He reveals His glory
are we moved to praise Him. Oh, if He doesn't reveal His
glory, we would never offer to Him prayers of adoration and
praise. Only as He reveals His grace
Are we moved to trust him? You see, we're, we're dependent
upon him to do a work of grace for us. Oh, child of God, we
have, we have nothing in and of ourselves to offer God. And
yet we do offer to him that which he has first given unto us. Only when he shows us glimpses
of our sin, which is rooted in our unbelief, are we moved to
seek Christ as a Savior. Only as the Lord reveals that
the wages of sin is death, that we are sinful through and through,
only then Do we find ourselves coming before the throne of grace
to find help in our time of need? Only then do we call and cry
out to the Lord Jesus Christ to be our savior. I am returning
to the Lord that which he gave unto me. Only when the Lord reveals
to us his goodness and puts a spirit of thanksgiving in our hearts, You know you can't be thankful
and unhappy at the same time. You show me an unhappy person
and I will show you someone that's not thankful. You can't be unhappy and thankful
at the same time. Isn't that true? Don't you find
that to be true in your own experience? God gives you the grace of thanksgiving. To rejoice in what he's done
in saving you, giving you hope, putting away your sin, giving
you a righteousness outside of yourself. Then, you know. Happiness, how fickle it is as
we normally use it, don't we? But the joy of the Lord. That's
what we're talking about here, I'm talking about being joyful.
When I said to be happy, you know, happiness is determined
by happenings oftentimes, isn't it? Our circumstances are. But
when God puts a spirit of thanksgiving in your heart, the happenings
in your circumstances don't really matter. Not to your joy. That's why Paul said, the Lord
said, rejoice in the Lord, always and again I say rejoice. Oh,
child of God, we have such to be thankful for, don't we? We have so much to be thankful
for. Turn with me to Daniel chapter
10, Daniel chapter 10. Daniel has had a spirit of prayer,
petition, put into his heart by God. And he's been praying
for three weeks and he hasn't seen anything yet, hadn't heard
anything from God. And in verse 12 of Daniel chapter
10, then said he unto me, after three weeks, fear not Daniel,
Oh, there's a word from God. In that really the source of
most of our unhappiness and consternation that we just. Are afraid because
we don't trust God. And the Lord says, fear not Daniel.
For from the first day that thou did set thine heart to understand
and to chase in thyself before thy God, thy words were heard
and I am come for thy words. Daniel, I've been listening to
you all this time. And you didn't have to pray for
three weeks in order to twist my arm. That's not what the point
is. Daniel, you needed this prayer. Prayer doesn't change God, prayer
changes us. It changes us. Daniel needed
some work of grace to be done in his heart and God was going
to do that through this spirit of prayer that he had given him.
Now look at verse 2 of chapter 9 of Daniel, what is it that that set Daniel's heart to prayer.
It was the hope of redemption. Now Daniel is in Babylon. The children of Israel have been
there for almost 70 years. God had sent them there and they
were in bondage to the Babylonians and to the Medes and the Persians. And Daniel now is looking at
the prophecies that God had given to the children of Israel. And
in the first year of his reign, that was Darius, I, Daniel, understood
by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord
came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish 70 years
and the destruction of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord
to seek my prayer. So the Lord had used the promises
that he had given through Jeremiah who was taking captive into Babylonian
captivity that this captivity would only last for 70 years
and now the 70 years is up and Daniel's reading these prophecies
and now his heart is moved in hope. There's hope of redemption. We're going to be delivered.
God's promised it. I'm sure of it. And it was the
belief in the promises of God that set his heart to pray. Isn't
that the way it is for us? If we didn't have the promises
of God for redemption, what reason would we have to pray? You see,
we are returning to the Lord. That which He's already given
to us, aren't we? That's all we're doing. We have a promise from God, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And that
the hope of our God being faithful to his promises, what sets the
heart to believe and to pray. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. And so we're hopeful. Lord, I'm a sinner. And I feel as if I'm the chief
of all sinners, Lord, would you be pleased to save me? It's the revelation that God's
given in his word. That's why we spend so much time
In God's word is the revelation that he's given of himself and
of salvation that sets the heart to pray, to believe, to worship
God. He reveals his glory and we praise
him. It is God's word that causes
us to to look out into creation and to know that in the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. It is the revelation that
God has given us in his word to say that without him was not
anything made that was made. It is the revelation that God's
given us in his word to know that in every circumstance of
our life, the hand of God in providence is working all things
together for good. It is the word of God that assures
us that salvation is of the Lord, that election and redemption
and regeneration and sanctification and all the works of grace in
the heart, those are the works of God. And we return to him just like
Hannah returned Samuel. Lord, we're doing nothing but
returning unto you what you have given to us. What we hope to do every time
we come here is worship God. And the Lord said in John chapter
four, God is spirit. and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth, for such
the father seeketh after. Don't misunderstand that. The
Lord's not saying, you know, God's running to and fro looking
for someone that would worship him in spirit and in truth. And
then, you know, now he's content that he's found someone. No,
it's the father that seeketh us, that gives us the grace to
worship him in the power of his spirit, from our spirit and according
to the truth of his revealed word. Lord, I am returning unto
you that which you've given to me. I'm not inventing anything. I'm not obligating you in any
way. I'm not offering you something
that I didn't get from you. God's people do love him, but
we love him because he first loved us. And the love that we
return to him is so, oh, aren't you ashamed of how much you love
God? hearing His love, not that we love God, but that He loved
us and gave His Son as a propitiation for our sins. Oh, the love that
He has shown toward us and the love that He has. It's an eternal
love. It's an everlasting love. It's
an infinite love. It's a particular love. And when
we love Him, we're just returning back to Him what He's already
given to us. So there's nothing to glory in. The only hope that we have is
that we could love him more, that we could believe him more,
that we could pray more, that we could worship him more. And
we're ashamed of the degree to which we are able to do those
things because they fall short of what he's done for us. Service. Oh, we don't glory in our service,
and yet, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that you present yourself a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service. It's reasonable that
you would serve God and that you would worship God. Why? Because
of all that he's done. Present yourself a living sacrifice. What about giving? You know,
we've been talking about giving ourselves in worship and in prayer
and in faith. These are things that God's given.
Second Corinthians chapter 8 and 9, the Lord gives two whole chapters
to this matter of giving. the resources that he's given
to us. And he tells us very clearly
that the desire to give is from the Lord. God loves a cheerful
giver. God doesn't want you to give
against your, if you don't want to give, don't give. Don't give,
I would say that to anybody. Don't give a dime if you don't
want to give. If God hadn't put it into your
heart to give, then whatever you give is going to be obligatory
anyway. But when God puts it in the heart
to give, we give joyfully. Why? We're just giving back to
Him the ability to give. The scripture says give not according
to what you don't have, but what you do have. So the desire to
give, the ability to give, the motive to give is always for His glory. You know the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, for your sakes he became
poor, that you through his poverty might become rich. Oh, and the ministry to which
we give, that's of God. If this ministry is blessed of
God, it's of God. The Lord said you've received
from God the ministry of reconciliation, so the end to which we give is
of God. It's all of God. It's all of
God. We don't give anything to God,
do we? Not in our money, not in our
time, not in our gifts, not in our prayer, not in our faith, giving. Hannah said, I am returning to the Lord that
which I have received from Him. God lent Him to me. That's all we ever do, isn't
it? Our Heavenly Father, thank you.
For the blessing. Of receiving. And remind us. That it is more blessed to give. Then to receive. And yet Lord,
in order for us to give you anything we must receive from you. So
Lord. Forgive us for our unbelief and
cause us to know how abundant you have been in
giving to us all things pertaining to life and salvation. For it's in Christ's name we
pray, amen.