1st Samuel chapter 2. Let's look
at it together. 1st Samuel chapter 2. Let's read the first three verses
just sort of in review and remember where we are. We'll begin in
verse 4 tonight, but Hannah prayed, and it says, and Hannah prayed. after the Lord had honored her request. What an
honor it is when the Lord answers any... Even when we just pray
for our daily bread, if the Lord gives it to us, what an honor
that He would condescend so low as to even think upon such creatures
as us. But Hannah prayed. She prayed
before, didn't she? It says that she poured out her
soul unto the Lord, made her request known unto Him as we're
instructed to do. And then when the Lord said yes,
the Lord always answers, it's just not always yes. But He said yes to Hannah. And then she prayed again. And
what a prayer. What a god-honoring prayer she
said my heart rejoiceth in the lord She stopped being sad before
the lord gave her what she wanted Do you remember that from verse
chapter one? Because her heart rejoiced in the lord not just
in what he does for us But in him my horn is exalted in the
lord My power my strength is exalted in him My mouth is enlarged
over my enemies. So how spiritually, especially
that's so good to be able to say, because we have enemies. Satan particularly is the great
accuser of the brethren. And what are we going to say
when somebody calls us a horrible race that deserves to go to hell?
Well, I've got something to say now, don't I? My Savior died
for me. My mouth is enlarged over my
enemies. Who shall lay anything to the charge? God's elect it
is God that justified who is he that condemneth it is Christ
that died you talk about Our mouths are bold now against our
enemies Because we rejoice in his salvation If it was if it
was about us, we'd have to just say you're right You're right. I am I'm everything you say and
a whole lot more a lot worse. I But we rejoice in His salvation,
so we got something to say to our enemies now. There is none
holy as the Lord, for there is none beside Thee. That's what
holy means, apart, other, separate, nobody like Him. Is there any rock like our
God? A rock, immovable, steadfast,
faithful, a foundation, steadfast and sure, a hiding
place. He hides us in the cleft of the
rock, a refuge from the storm. Talk no more exceeding proudly.
We know that this is Hannah rejoicing in that the Lord did take up her cause in spite
of her adversary, Aninna, But this has that spiritual teaching
also that like Peninnah bragged about having children when Hannah
didn't. That's not something Peninnah
had any control over. That's not something that she
accomplished. That was the blessing of the Lord. That was the temporal
blessing of the Lord. Now when it comes to salvation,
when it comes to the production of life in a spiritual sense,
are we going to brag like we did something? Are we going to
talk exceeding proudly? and take the credit for what
God did. That's what people say. I got
saved. Did you know? Shut it. Let not arrogance come
out of your mouth. That's all that is. Just pride
and arrogance. I made my decision. You didn't
do anything. And you ain't ever going to.
And I'm not either. For the Lord is a God of knowledge.
You might fool people in religion. Not that hard to do. But the
Lord's sheep now, that's another matter. You can't fool them.
Can you? Because the Lord is gracious. He's a God of knowledge and He's
opened our understanding. He's given us an understanding.
We know Him that is true. Paul said we know all things. And by Him actions are weighed.
Now verse 4 is where we are. Tonight the bows of the mighty
men are broken and they that stumbled are girded with strength.
Now Hannah takes this beyond her own experience. You notice
in the first three verses the language thus far has been largely
dealing with her experience, her adversary, her personal trial
in the Lord. Now she begins to acknowledge
how that the Lord deals this same way in all of his earth
with everybody Like in her case, the ones that you might think
are winners aren't necessarily the winners. The ones to whom
this world, it appears, are successful, that may not be success. And
the one that you might think is the loser, you may not want
to count them out just yet. The Lord just may be on their
side. You see what she's saying? In these several different circumstances
that she mentions, God is calling the shots and he loves the weak
and the base and the nothings. He loves them and he turns things
to their favor in spite of circumstances. He uses, not in spite of, he
uses the circumstances whether we call them good or bad in favor
of his elect. God chose David when David's
whole family rejected him as a candidate for the Lord's anointing. Those who loved David the most
on this earth didn't take anything of him in that regard, but the
Lord did. God whittled Gideon's army down
to so few that it seemed impossible for them to win. It was impossible
for them to win. That was the point. With men,
it is impossible. But with God, I want to be with
God, don't you? With God, all things. possible
God saves the worst of the worst sinners of all there's a song
that we haven't sung in a long time that says his blood can
wash the foulest sinner clean and I love that song he demonstrates
that in his sovereign purpose of electing love and grace he
cleanses the foulest with his precious blood he hated Esau
and loved Jacob the worm the supplanter The weaselly one,
the one that we wouldn't have picked, God picked him. God sides with the losers and
makes them winners so that the excellency may be of God and
not of men, so that no flesh should glory in his presence. And think about this, this is
not just the mighty men being the reprobate and the stumblers,
those that stumble being God's chosen. You might think that
from the verse in the spiritual sense. That's true in one sense,
but also that mighty man that God breaks in this verse, that
was me. That was me by nature. God has
to break all of us when he saves us. God broke Saul of Tarsus. He goaded him like a mule. Brought him down to the you talk
about a proud man. He had authority what he said
went Until God spoke and then what God said we what God said
went all along Saul just didn't know it yet But that was all of us by nature
and then when we stumble when we are the one that stumbles
in the verse when we realize that we can't walk like we thought
we could I When the law comes and sin revives and we die, He
girds us with strength, His strength. When we were yet without strength
in due time, what did He do? How does He give us strength?
By dying for us and telling us about it. What strengthens you? What encourages you? Christ crucified I can do all
things through Christ which strengtheneth me The principle is simply this
in earthly temporal things and much more importantly Much more
preeminently in spiritual things in matters of salvation and eternity
the flesh profiteth nothing The one that you might think would
be you know a good candidate for grace, you know, look at
that. What a spiritual person reprobate Self-righteous proud
reprobate and the one that you might think oh boy. There's no
hope for him That's the one the Lord chooses More often than not He calls always he calls the
shots in favor of his sheep in spite of them Contrary to the
natural order of things which he also has established But we
get to thinking you know that things are going to be a certain
way because they just kind of are No, they are because God
made them that way and he can unmake them that way real quick
He teaches us that doesn't he? God gives freely what is needed
to his elect They don't have what's needed So we look at them
and may despair but he gives what's needed If you were his
and you need to be broken He knows just when and how to do
it If you're his and you need to be strengthened He knows when
that's true, too And he knows how to do it He's gracious to
do it Verse 5 They that were full have hired out themselves
for bread, and they that were hungry ceased, so that the barren
hath born seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.
Same exact principle applied in other circumstances. In matters
of who wins and who loses, God is sovereign. In providence,
that is, in the providing of necessary things, Talking about
their bread. The hungry and the full. Bread
and no bread. God is the sole provider of all
the necessities of life. He taught us to pray, give us
this day our daily bread. How often do you pray that prayer?
Kind of sounds like every day, doesn't it? Give us this day
our daily bread. today today You can't just pray
Lord. Give me bread for the rest of
my life. And then you know, I'm covered now I'm not gonna pray
we depend on him every moment And we need to acknowledge that
all the time all the time often and He is that bread that came
down from heaven in the spiritual sense Christ is our daily bread
and That spiritual bread he is our bread in that his person
and work His gospel he himself ministered unto us through his
word is our meat and drink indeed We partake of him by faith We
partake of him by faith We partake Him my faith you see you can
emphasize every word in that statement catch we partake of
him we partake of him By faith and the way that happens is by
the Gospel whether it's being preached or read or just contemplating
In your daily life And then she brings her own experience back
to mind again, as God brings it back to her mind, and she
reminds us again that what we consider the natural order of
things, again, she says the barren will have children if God wants
her to. What we consider to be the natural
order of things, that's also in His hands. You see, battles
are won and lost by His will. Bread necessities of life are
provided by him These natural these things that just women
there are women that can have children. There are women that
can't have children Well, that's God's doing though in it when
he's pleased. He'll reverse the order He'll overrule that he'll
undo it What is more natural and predictable
in this world than the way that the sun moves from our perspective. I realize scientifically it doesn't,
but from our perspective the sun moves, doesn't it? And it
moves in a certain course in the sky every day. And what could
be more natural or predictable than that? But one time the Lord
made the sun stand still for one whole day. And you know why he did it? For
the good of his elect, so that his people would be victorious. That's why he does everything.
For his glory and for the good of his sheep. In answer to the
prayer of his servant Joshua, you see, things just are the
way they are. Well, they are the way they are
because of God. And they won't be the way they
are whenever he's pleased that they not be. That's what's being
taught here. Has God ever made the sun stand
still for you? You know what I mean by that?
Things just were what things were. And you had no reason to
believe they would ever be anything else. But then God intervened
for you. He still is moving the sun in
its course. And He's moving. The earth revolves. The sun does what it does. All of the planets all of his
universe is upheld by the word of his power and by him all things
consist He's still doing that every second every moment And
just because he's been pleased For the sun to rise in the east
and set in the west for the last couple of millennia Doesn't mean
that won't change tomorrow It may have risen in the east for
the last time we don't know that It's according to him, isn't
it? It's according to his pleasure. He may, he can, if he wants to
do something a little different with it tomorrow. If he wants to. It's his sun,
it's his sky, it's his universe. It's his you and me. And life is his to give. That's
what she's saying here too. The bearing. And the natural order of things
is his design, and he executes it every moment. And we say the
strong win and the weak lose, but God turns that upside down
whenever he wants to. Sometimes the weak win. Sometimes
David defeats Goliath. If David is God's sheep, if David
is like he said, These are a bunch of pagans. We're coming out in
the name of the Lord. Who are they to fight against
us? We say, you know, well it just
isn't in the cards for us again. There are no cards. There's just
God on His throne. There's nothing between you and
every imaginable outcome except the will of God. That's why we go to him. That's
why Hannah went to him and said, Lord, looks like I can't have children.
But you're the God that made it that way. And you're the God
that can change it. God on his throne, that he loves
his sheep. He said, you know how to give
good gifts to your children. Not like I do, you don't. Sometimes what we call bad things
happen to his elect, and sometimes what we call good things happen
to the godless. But we don't know bad from good,
do we? A certain thing happened in your
life and you say, boy, that's good. Well, maybe. We'll see,
won't we? We'll see. It'll work for you
good, if you're his. We see something happen to somebody,
you know, somebody else that look like they don't know the
Lord. So many good things are happening to them. Really? Is
it good or is it bad? And his people, we say, boy,
bad things are just happening to me. Really? Bad things happened
to Job. Or he thought so. Until he saw
the Lord face to face. Not only do we not know bad from
good, but we don't know wheat from chaff. We don't know if
it's a bad thing or a good thing happening. We don't know if it's
happening to one of his sheep or one of the reprobate. So how are we going to know what's
going on then? I'll tell you how. Trust Him. Trust Him. Trust Him. He doeth all things
well. Rejoice in Him as Hannah did. and not circumstances and things. Hannah didn't say, I rejoice
in my son, or I rejoice in the outcome. She said, my heart rejoiceth
in the Lord. May that be true of us. And she
stopped being sad, as I said, before the Lord ever gave her
what she wanted, because she had peace, knowing that it was
in his hands, knowing that it was up to him and that he doeth
all things well. Verse 6 the Lord killeth and
the Lord maketh alive He bringeth down to the grave and bringeth
up Now this is where sinners really
rebel Think about this now in the mind
of the natural sinner the Lord can make a universe and He can
make stars and moon and planets. He can make an earth. He can
make an ocean. He can make a mountain. God can
send the rain. We pray to him if it hadn't rained
for a while and our garden's not looking too good, Lord, send
us some rain. But if he sends enough rain to
kill a bunch of people, we say, oh no, the Lord didn't do that. That couldn't have been God.
Wait a minute, He can water your tomatoes, but He can't send a
hurricane? Who did then? Who did? Why do we rebel here? God can
give me a baby, but He can't kill that baby. Oh no, that's
not, my God. Sinners can't tolerate, they
don't want anything to do with a God that kills babies. But the problem is our God kills
and he makes a life. Babies or anybody else for that
matter. And by his grace I want something
to do with him. I want to know the one that kills
and can give life when he's pleased. By his grace I do. And I want
to be able to rejoice when he kills and when he makes a life. One day I'll be able to. In whose
hand would you rather the power of life and death be? Mother nature? Blind fate? Satan? Know a lot of people now in religion. They'll say well, you know when
a hurricane comes through and a bunch of people kill That's
the devil. I Can't think of anything More horrible right now Than
that thought can you think about that Satan can just kill a bunch
of people whenever he wants to And just take them on to hell
if they don't know the Lord yet Satan has that power That's not
good. That's not good. That's a horrible
thought, and thank God it's a very unscriptural thought. So who
do people think kills and makes a living? If they refuse to,
you know, think that God could do that. Imagine it being preferable
to people to think that Satan can just indiscriminately just
kill a bunch of people. then for that power to be alone
in the hands of the sovereign, gracious, all-wise, perfectly
good, all-knowing, merciful God. What a horrible thing that people
rebel against that. The God who made you. Who do
you want to have the power to kill you? The God who made us in his infinite
wisdom and goodness and grace he gives life and he takes it
at his sovereign pleasure. And I'm so comfortable with that.
Aren't you glad of that? Think of the alternatives. We
just thought about it. I don't want to think about it
anymore. Let's stop thinking about the alternatives. Let's
just thank God that we're in his hand. My next breath is his to give
or withhold. And that's true of my children
and everybody that I know and everybody in this world. Thank
God that that's true. And the Lord kills and makes
alive spiritually. And him killing spiritually is
not always a bad thing in this sense. Think about this. In fact,
turn to Romans chapter seven with me and let's read this together. The Lord kills and makes alive
spiritually. And you talk about rebelling
now. Oh, it's not fair, you know, for God to give life to some
and not others. What would be fair is if God
didn't give life to anybody. And we all perish right where
we are and go straight to hell. I don't want what's fair. I want
mercy. I want what's fair in Christ.
It's fair, but it's fair because of Christ. Everybody he undertook
for, everybody he prayed for, he said, I didn't pray for, I'm
not praying for this world. I'm praying for those you gave
me. Those ones, it's fair for them to have life. And it's fair
for everybody else not to. But look at Romans 7, 7. What
shall we say then? Is the law sin? And he's asking
that question because the law is not our friend by nature.
The law is a bad thing for us by nature. And that's what he
said, because the law, it convicts, it kills, it destroys. The law
can't help you. All it can do is show how much
help you need. How bad you are, how horrible
you are before God. Is the law sin then? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but
by the law. Knowing how filthy you are is
not a bad thing. You being filthy is one thing. Knowing it is not a bad thing.
You need to know it. I had not known sin. I had not
known lust except the law had said thou shalt not covet. God,
how do we know the difference between right and wrong? Well,
just follow your heart. No, don't do that. The word of
God, the law of God. But sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. In other
words, my sin was illuminated by the law. And so I saw myself
to be all manner of wicked and vile and wretched. For without
the law, sin was dead. Until God impresses his law upon
us, we think we're pretty good folks. I know a lot of people
that think they're pretty good folks. Sin is dead to them. They
say, oh, well, we do some bad things. That's not what sin is.
You're not gonna know what sin is. You're not gonna know what
you are until the law comes in grace and power and light and
you really understand God's law and how you measure up in light
of it. See what did I was alive without the law once I was doing
just fine Paul said a Hebrew of the Hebrews Circumcised the
eighth day of the stock of Israel according to the law blameless.
Everybody said so even me Everybody said God Everybody except the
one who's the only one whose word counts on the matter Everybody
thought Paul Saul was a pretty good fella except God When the
commandment came When God showed me what I was, now sin's not
dead anymore. Sin revived. Now I'm the dead
one. I died. God used his law to kill
me. And I've been thanking him ever
since. What does that mean then? Does that mean that the flesh
is dead? Well, no, we know better than that, don't we? Who died
then? I'll tell you who died. The me
that thought that I could ever please God by what I do. The
me that thought that if I would just do something or quit doing
this and start doing that, that God would be happy with me. He's
a goner. That one's a goner. And that's a good death. And God makes alive spiritually.
Just like God gave Hannah that baby, he caused a birth the day
that he saved me. He caused a birth where there
was nothing but barrenness, nothing but death. The Apostle Peter said in one
three of his first epistle, blessed be the God and father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. which according to his abundant
mercy hath begotten us again. That word begotten there means
born anew unto a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for
you who are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last
time. That last part is in our text
tonight, too, if we get to it. He birthed us, he gave us life,
and he keeps us. Colossians 2.12, buried with
him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through
the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from
the dead, and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him having forgiven
you all trespasses. You see, it's the wages of sin
that's death. And so if all trespasses are
forgiven, then death is vanquished. Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us
and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. What a picture. What a beautiful picture. You cannot get bored Birth Life is God's business
Physically and spiritually you can't decide to live God must
give life. I Want you to turn to John chapter
5 in regard to this this is so So instructive and clear and
comforting to the believer. John 5.21 John 5.21 For as the father raiseth
up the dad and quickeneth them, that just means gives them life.
Even so the son gives life to whom he will. For the father
judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that
all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father.
He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which
hath sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth
my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life. That's how the judgment is brought
down right there. The judgment is who lives and
who doesn't. He gives life to whom he will
and this is the way he gives it through faith in his word
through faith in the gospel Through believing on him hath everlasting
life and you shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from
death Unto life, that's how it happens by the preaching of the
gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit in the preaching of the
gospel verse 25 barely barely I say unto you the hour is coming
and now is When the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God And they that hear shall live. Is that you? The day the Lord redeemed my
soul, the day he showed me that he redeemed my soul, the day
that he regenerated me, gave me life, birthed me again, he
raised somebody from the dead. And they that hear shall live,
for as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to
the Son to have life in himself, life to give, life to withhold,
and hath given him authority to execute judgment also." The power to give life not only
is he the fullness of the godhead in the body so that he life is
his to give or withhold But the father hath committed all judgment
in that matter to him also to decide who gets it and who don't
Because he is the son of man Verse 7 back in our text in first
samuel chapter 2 verse 7 The lord maketh poor we'll read 7
and 8 together The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, he bringeth
low and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of
the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, 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 hath set the world upon them. There are many circumstances and meanings
involved in the affairs of men that might seem to be the reason
that fortunes are made and lost or never made, but don't ever
confuse means with causes. You can say, you know, we got
some good rain and some good sunshine and that made my tomatoes
grow real good, but remember whose sun and rain that is and
who sends them. And understand that God made
the tomatoes, he made the sun, he made the rain, and he made
them grow. The tomatoes grow. And he may
cause them to wither and die. It's all in his sovereignty.
So you see, we need some sun, don't we, for our garden to grow. But God makes our garden grow.
Need some rain, don't we? Depend on the rain. Well, we
depend on God. He just uses the rain. He used
his son and his rain and he made it happen. And if you know God,
if you've heard the gospel, if you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, there are means involved. We see that we read about them
in Romans chapter 10. God's got to teach somebody else the gospel.
If he's going to teach it to you, he has to call that man
to preach it. He has to send that man to you.
You have to hear him and you have to believe on the name of
the Lord. And you have to call on the name of the Lord. And
you'll be saved. If all of that happens, you'll
be saved. But understand that the means
are all God's. And they're all useless unless
He uses them to save you. They're useless to you unless
He uses them to save you. Salvation is of the Lord, not
the preacher, not your decision, not your will, not your calling. The preacher didn't save you.
Your calling on God didn't save you. God saved you. The gospel
is the power of God unto salvation. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourself. That's the gift of God, not of
what works, lest any man should vote. So our text here that we
just read, it just ignores all of the means. And that's a good
reminder, isn't it? That's good. We're not to ignore
the means. They're not talked about here
because God reminds us that this is just God simply doing these
things. He makes rich and he makes poor. Well, there's a whole
lot of things that happen for me to get the wealth that I have,
to come to the place that I am at. Yeah, but it's just simply
God doing it. God just does it. Whatever means
he uses is up to him. You may be poor by many mistakes
and shortcomings of your own, but God made you poor. You may
be rich by a lot of hard work and ingenuity, but God made you
rich. He maketh spiritually poor. And then he says, blessed are
the poor. What a wonderful thing. God causes you to be the person
that he blesses. Blessed are the poor. Well, how
do we get poor? The Lord maketh poor. That's
our test. And then he says, blessed are
the poor. Blessed are the poor in spirit. You weren't born in
such a state that would make you blessed of God. He made you
poor in spirit. Not connected in any way whatsoever
to physical poverty. There are folks who are physically
poor that are not poor in spirit But he makes you poor in spirit
in other words When you hear that call ho everyone that thirsts
hath come ye to the waters and back without money and without
price you say amen hallelujah I can get in on it even though
I have nothing Am nothing can do nothing That's spiritually
poor. Nothing to contribute. Nothing
to recommend myself to God. Not a single good work that would
cause God to have favor upon me. There is in my flesh, Paul
said, no good thing. Spiritually bankrupt. Hanging
upon the mercy of Christ. Blessed is that man. You weren't born that way. He maketh rich spiritually, the
same ones that he makes poor. He makes rich in Christ. All
spiritual blessings in heavenly places are ours in Christ Jesus,
Ephesians 1, 3. Rich, rich beyond measure. He bringeth low He brought proud, arrogant, self-righteous
Saul of Tarsus into the dust at his feet. As I said, he goaded
him. He said, is it harder for you to kick against the pricks?
And that word is goads. He humiliated him, goaded him
like an animal with the afflictions, the providence that he brought
upon him and put him in the dust. But then he raised him up. That's
what our text says. He bringeth into the dust and
he raises up the beggar from the dunghill. He'll make you
a beggar and then he'll set you among princes. That's what he
did for Saul and that's what he did for me. We are kings and
priests under our God. I'm sitting in a room full of
princes tonight. Beggars made princes by the grace
of God in Christ. Raised him up off of the dunghill
and used him to preach the unsearchable riches of the Lord Jesus Christ
Gave him the greatest honor that a sinner can have in this world
To preach the glories of his son And then and this phrase here
in this verse You know, I hate to even say this but I I have
to be honest with you I dread Speaking on things like this
when I see it in the text. I'm thinking oh no The most wonderful
thing in the text and I'm such a fool that I dread to even talk
about it You know what because how in the world can I even talk
about that makes them inherit the throne of glory? You want
to get up here and say something about that You see why I dread
that I can't even convey that to you what that is Where would
I start? Where would I end? The rich young ruler came to
the Lord and asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Now our text says that he makes
them, the beggar, the poor, the bankrupt sinner, makes them inherit
the throne of glory. That word inherit is key. That
rich young ruler came to the Lord Jesus Christ and said, what
must I do to inherit eternal life? And the end result of that
question, when all of that had played out, the lesson was this.
With men, it's impossible. You can't do anything. You know
what it was? That was the lesson of the whole
thing. And yet God makes a beggar to inherit the throne of glory. It is an inheritance, not an
achievement. What must I do implies achievement,
not inheritance. How are you going to do something
to inherit? That's where the rich young ruler
was sadly and vitally mistaken. You don't do something to inherit.
You inherit because the one that died wants you to have it. And the Lord Jesus Christ died
with your name on his lips. He died saying, Father, forgive
them. He went to the cross saying,
Lord, Father, this is my will. All those that you gave me, I
want them to be with me where I am. That's how you inherit
the throne of glory. The one who died wanted you to
and gave it to you. You see why I dread talking about
that. I say that and it don't even come close, does it? May
God give us a glimpse in spite of me of what it is to inherit the throne of glory. Christ has
died and made us join him with himself. We are vitally united to him. Everything he receives because
he deserves it. We receive because He deserves
it. We suffer, we are, our wagon
is hitched to Him. We suffer with Him, we reign
with Him. He suffers, we suffer. He reigns,
we reign. As He is, so are we in this world. We are buried with Him in baptism.
We are raised with Him in newness of life. Hebrews 2 11 says for
both he that sanctified and they who are sanctified are all of
one For which cause he's not ashamed to call us his brethren This is why we inherit the throne
of glory because he does And we in him What does it mean to
inherit the throne of glory? and Well, what does that look
like? What does that feel like? I don't
know yet. I don't know yet. But I know that here's what I
do know about it. It is to be in Christ, in Him as our representative,
in Him as our sin offering, in Him as the resurrected Son of
God, buried with Him, in Him, Risen in Him, justified in Him,
redeemed in Him. It's to be with Him. We inherit
the throne of glory. We're going to be with Him in
a whole other sense than we are tonight. It's to be in His very
presence, face to face with Christ my Savior. And it's to be just like Him. David said, I'll be satisfied
when I awake with His likeness. Christ is our heaven. He is our
glory. He is our everlasting inheritance.
Verse 9, we'll close with 9 and 10 together. He will keep the
feet of his saints and the wicked shall be silent in darkness for
by strength shall no man prevail. All of these things that she
gave, the battle, The bread or no bread hungry or full. The barren or fruitful. All of these things. They teach
this. By strength shall no man prevail. Not by strength. She said, my horn is exalted
in the Lord. I have strength and power because of Him. Because He is my strength. First
in 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 Just two brief
thoughts here. He will keep our feet. He will
keep the feet of his saints You remember all in psalm 73 psalm
73 2 says this but as for me I My feet were almost gone. My
steps had well nigh slipped. And you remember why? Because
he was envious of the prosperity of the wicked. He couldn't see
what Hannah was praying here. That God is sovereign in all
things and he works everything. That what looks bad to us is
good. And what looks good to us may be bad. At his pleasure,
in his providence. And he said my steps had well
nigh slipped. But they didn't. His feet didn't
slip. He didn't fall away. Why not? They almost did because of his
own foolishness. Verse 22, he said, why didn't
he fall? He would have if it had been,
he said, nevertheless. He said in verse 22, I was a
fool. I was as a beast before then. If it had been up to me and my
reasoning and my thinking on things, All would be lost. But why didn't
he slip? Why didn't he fall? The next
verse, nevertheless, I am continually with thee. I haven't fallen. I haven't suffered the consequences
of my own foolishness. Why not? Thou has holding me
by my right hand. That's why you hadn't fallen
too. And then just the last thought on this, the last line of this
prayer refers to Christ. He will give strength unto his
king and exalt the horn of his anointed. You know the word anointed?
The word Christ in the New Testament, you know what it means? Anointed.
This is Christ he's talking about here. She's talking about in
her prayer here. And so Christ, he exalts the horn of his Christ,
but look back at verse one again. The prayer begins, my horn is
exalted. And it ends with Christ's strength and power
being exalted. That's why ours is, because he
is. My horn is exalted, she said,
in the Lord, in that he is exalted. If he reigns, we reign with him.
Because He is our power, our strength, our horn, our salvation,
being one with Christ, eternally divinely united to Christ, we're
seated on the right hand of God already in Him. And we're going to experience
that before long. We're going to be exalted to the very throne
of glory. because He is exalted for us
and we in Him. You know, when I thought about
that, I thought about this for some reason. The words of this
verse of this song that we sing came to my mind. So come to Christ. O come today. The Father, Son, and Spirit say. And the bride repeats the call. For He can cleanse your guilty
stains. His love will soothe your weary
pains. For Christ is all in all. Exalted to the throne of glory, Christ is all. Because He is
exalted, we're going to be We're already
in Him, aren't we? And before long, we're going
to be with Him, and we're going to be just like Him. That's heaven. Let's pray.