My subject this morning is the
heart of grace. The heart of grace. My text here
is 1 Samuel 2, verses 1-10, and it begins this way, And Hannah
prayed and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord. means grace. And in this passage,
Hannah reveals her heart. That's where I got my title,
The Heart of Grace. But this is not only the heart
of Hannah. This is the heart of all those
who are saved by God's grace. Let's begin here in verse 1.
And Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord. Mine horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine
enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation. My heart rejoiceth
in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. Now, Hannah is speaking from
the heart, about her heart. Everything about a horn speaks
of the heart. It speaks of strength. The horn
meant strength. That's what this phrase, my horn,
means. It means my strength. The believer's
strength is Christ in the heart. Oil is carried in a horn. The
oil of the Holy Spirit is poured out in the heart. That's how
we come to know Christ. The horn is a musical instrument. You take a horn. When I was young,
we used them when we would go hunting. And the hounds would
get out and get out almost where you couldn't hear them with the
ear. And we'd take a bull's horn and blow into it. And it was
really loud. And they would hear that and
come back. They would come to that. But a horn was used often
as a musical instrument. It was an instrument for music.
Knowing the Lord over heaven and earth is doing everything
for my good is music to my heart. It's music to my heart. The word
is Quran. The word is to shine. The light
of Christ shines in our heart. And she says, my mouth is enlarged
over mine enemies. The Lord said, Out of the mouth
of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of
thine enemies, that thou mightest steal the enemy and the avenger. How does God take away the power
of our enemies? How does He take away the power
of His enemies? How does God perfect strength
in those who have no strength in and of themselves? He reveals
that He is our salvation. That's how he does it. Hannah
gives that very reason right here. Look, she says at the end
of verse 1, because I rejoice in thy salvation. Now listen
to Hannah's heart and listen to the heart of grace. This is
the heart made new by the power of God's grace. Now listen, verse
2. There is none holy as the Lord,
for there is none beside thee Neither is there any rock like
our God." Well, the first thing that God does is He reveals to
us that there is none holy as the Lord. It means sacred and
set apart. Non-sacred and set apart as the
Lord. This is the key to understanding
our need of salvation. It's written, be ye holy for
I am holy. How holy? How holy? None as holy as the Lord. Then how am I going to have the
power? How am I going to have the strength
to be holy as the Lord? That's the mystery. That's the
mystery that God has to reveal. I don't have the strength. You
don't have the strength. If I'll be holy as the Lord,
then only holy God can make me thus. Only he can. And here's
the second thing that's revealed. There's none beside thee. There's no equal to our God. There's absolutely no equals
to our God. The whole of man's doctrines,
man's teachings, man's invented teachings are to attempt to make
man God's equal. Or to make God's, his love to
be that like man's love. But his love's not like man's
love. It's to make his favor to be like man's favor. But his
love's not like, his favor's not like man's favor. Our love
is impure. Our love is untrue. Our love
is unrighteous. Our love is not holy. God's is. His holiness governs everything
about Him. His love is holy. His grace is
holy. His mercy is holy. His righteousness
is a holy righteousness. His justice is holy justice.
None of ours is that way. None of it. Here's the third
thing he reveals, neither is there any rock like our God. The word rock means strength,
power. There is no strength, no power
like our God. The fact that the Holy One was
her strength is the rejoicing of Hannah's heart. That's what
lifted her heart up. That's where its strength came
from was knowing that there is no strength and no power but
her God. He is the rock, scripture says,
his work is perfect for all his ways are judgment, a God of truth
and without iniquity, just and right is he. Now look what she
says here in verse three. Talk no more so exceeding proudly. Let not arrogance come out of
your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions
are weighed. Talk no more so exceeding proudly. By nature, we're so proud. We're proud. When you're rebuked
and you get offended, you know why you get offended? Pride. That's why. When we begin to
make excuses for why we did what we did or why we didn't do what
we did, when we begin to bring forth arguments to justify why
we're right in what we did or what we didn't do, you know why
we do that? Pride. It's pride. It's arrogant. Arrogant. You know what God hates?
Pride. He hates it. Hates it. When we
hear of some sinner caught in the act, we say something like
this, why would he do that? You see it on television, somebody
that does something just horrible, and you say, well, I never, I'd
never do that. Don't talk so proud and so arrogant.
You'd do it in a heartbeat. In fact, Christ said, according
to the spirit of the law, you've done it. You have done it. We're proud and we're arrogant,
and that's all we are. We witness to somebody. How many
times do I catch myself seeing it in Scripture, and saying it
from Scripture, and pointing it out from Scripture, and then
making this statement? Why can't they just see that?
How proud and how arrogant a statement. How could you? How could I? I couldn't. I couldn't. That's
a proud, arrogant statement. Well, she said, let not arrogance
come out of your mouth. For the Lord is a God of knowledge
and by Him actions are weighed. God weighs the actions. that
we perform according to our hearts. That's where He weighs them,
in the heart. He says, Thou, even Thou only
knowest the hearts of all the children of men. He knows mine
and He knows yours. Shall not God search this out?
For He knoweth the secrets of the heart. To the hypocrite,
the fact that God weighs the actions by looking upon the heart,
it should strike fear. It should strike fear. But believer,
listen, this is a great, great blessing for a believer. It's
a great, great blessing for a believer. Let me give you something that
my pastor wrote in his bulletin for this morning. I got this
just right, just at the time I was supposed to get it. My
pastor, Chris Cunningham, wrote this. He said, after Peter denied
Christ, denied him with his lips, he denied him when he ran away.
After Peter denied Christ, the question by Christ was, do you
love me? Do you love me? The hypocrite draws nigh with
his lips, but his heart is far from God. Peter denied the Lord
with his lips, but Christ had ravished his heart. And Peter
answered this way, Thou knowest that I love thee. How did he
know it? He gave him the heart. He gave
him the heart. Peter said, Lord, you've weighed
my actions against my heart. They've been weighed and in spite
of the fact that my actions and my words deny you, thou knowest
my heart. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad
of that? I'm glad God knows my heart. The heart He's given. Because
in my flesh, the heart of my flesh, the man of my flesh, is
a hypocrite. The things I do and the things
I say, they don't equal, they don't weigh up to what I believe
in my heart, the heart He's given. But aren't you thankful that
He knows your heart, the heart He's given? That He weighs the
heart there? Now for the man that's approached
Him with his lips but hasn't been given a new heart, that's
totally the opposite. He knows that heart. But for
a believer, that's a blessing, a great blessing. Verse 4. She said, and I'll add this for
verse 3, she's talking about herself. Hannah's talking about
herself. She had prayed some things and said some things.
She's looking back now and going, how arrogant and how full of
pride. How full of pride I am. And she's
saying, oh, don't let your mouth speak those things again. She's
talking to herself. Look here at verse 4. The bows of the mighty
men are broken. And they that stumble are girded
with strength. The bows of the mighty men represent
the strength of men. These are instruments you can
see. You can see them and they're instruments that are used for
intimidation and to persuade a Bible. Bible's used that way
a lot. Making sure others see us pray.
works that we do, make sure somebody knows about it, somebody sees
it, our material things we have. But the heart of grace knows
this, and this is what she's saying. The bowls of the mighty
men are broken. Man is no match for God. Man
is no match for God. As mighty as you may think you
are, and with all your valiant instruments of war that you're
waging against God, You no match for God. You no match for God. Let me ask you this. This is
what God said in Isaiah 10, verse 3. We looked at this some last
week. He said, What will you do in
the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come
from far? To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your glory? When you drop everything
and run from God, when He comes in the day of visitation, where
are you going to find help then? Listen to what God says now.
Listen. Without me, this is one of God's except ye's right here.
Without me, He said, they shall bow down under the prisoners. And they shall fall under the
slain. You know who He's talking about
there? He's talking about those who decree unrighteous decrees. He's talking about their leaders,
their teachers, their preachers, who are vain, hypocritical in
their heart. He said, there's going to be
some that's going to perish who are captive, but you're going
to perish under them. I don't believe for one second
there's a degree of reward in heaven, but I believe there's
a degree of punishment in hell. I believe those that have stood
and used His name in vain, it's going to be much more required
of them. Well, here's the type. Here's
the type. Well, first let me show you this.
Those who appear mighty outwardly are broken, but she says, but
they that stumbled are girded with strength. Those who stumbled
are girded. You know what a girdle is? You
know what a girdle is? It's underpinning. You see some
of these fellas that are in show business that should have given
it up a long time ago and they got a girdle on. You can tell,
boy, if something popped in that girdle, boy, things would get
ugly real fast. Well, that's a girdle. It's on
the inside. It's underneath the clothing
on the outside. It's inward. It can't be seen. And she said, they stumble outwardly,
but they're girded with strength. She's talking about the heart
this whole time. My heart rejoiceth in the Lord,
she said. What is this strength? What is
it? The strength they're girded with. Look back up there at verse
2. Verse 2. What does it say there? There
is none holy as the Lord. There it is. There's none beside
thee. There's the strength. Neither
is there any rock, any strength, any power like our God. There's
the strength. There's that inward strength.
It's God that girdeth me with strength, the psalmist said,
and maketh my way perfect. He does that. He girds me inside
in the heart and He makes my way perfect. He does that. Well,
look here. Here's the title. Now Hannah
was Elkanah's wife, and he had this other wife beside Hannah.
Look at chapter 1, verse 2. He had two wives, and the name
of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Panana. And
Panana had children, but Hannah had no children. Look down at
verse 5. But unto Hannah, Elkanah gave
a worthy portion, for he loved Hannah. But the Lord had shut
up her womb, and her adversary, that is, Peninnah, provoked her
sorely for to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her womb.
And as he did so year by year when Elkanah went up to the house
of the Lord, Peninnah provoked Hannah and therefore she wept
and she did not eat. The arrows that came from Peninnah's
mighty bow were words spoken so exceedingly proud, so arrogantly
against Hannah. Peninnah boasted of all the fruit
she had, of all the fruit she had produced. And Hannah wept. She wept because she knew she
was barren. She couldn't produce any fruit.
And her husband gave her a double portion. He gave her double of
everything. You know what the Scriptures
teach us about Christ? The Scriptures teach us that
in Christ, God has rewarded His people double for all their sins. Yet Hannah was too barren to
rejoice. She had no fruit. She didn't
have the fruit within her to rejoice in this. Her husband
had given her a double portion, but she didn't have what she
needed to rejoice. She didn't even have strength
in herself to rejoice until the Lord formed life within her. Until he formed life within her.
Within Hannah a son was born. And then she rejoiced. Now here's
the application. We know what great things Christ
has done for us. But we're so barren in this flesh
that we must have Christ formed in us. Look at Colossians 1.27. Look at Colossians 1.27. Elkanah had given her a double
portion of riches just as Christ at the cross gave his people
a double portion of riches But we couldn't rejoice in it It
was a mystery to us and there was no rejoicing in Hannah until
that seed was planted Planted in her now look Colossians 127
to whom God would make known What is the riches of the glory
of this mystery among the Gentiles? What is it? What is the riches
of the glory of this mystery is? Christ in you the hope of
glory Christ in you the hope of glory.
Paul knew it. Paul knew it. Paul knew that
the riches of God's glory can only be entered into when Christ
enters into the heart. And he knew that. He knew that
those poor, barren, Galatian brethren were being led astray. They were being shot through
with arrows by those peninas all around them. And he knew
the only way they were going to enter into these riches of
Christ and be settled is if Christ be formed in them. And he said,
I travail in birth until Christ be born again, conceived in you. He used two birth analogies there.
Did you get it? I travail like a woman in childbirth. He knew, I can't make you be
born, I can't plant this seed, I can't do anything to make you
rejoice in this, but I travail to teach this to you that through
my teaching Christ might be born in you, formed in you, that it
may turn you to Him to rejoice from your barrenness. The heart
of grace, the bowels of mighty men are broken and those that
are stumbled are girded with strength. Look with me, verse
5. 1 Samuel 2, 5. They that were
full have hired out themselves for bread. And they that were
hungry have ceased. They're not hungry anymore. Those
that were full, now they're hungry and they've prostituted themselves
for bread. But those that were hungry, their hunger's been satisfied. So that the barren hath born
seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. Some
think that Peninnah fell into a feeble state and her children
died. Literally, that may be. While
Hannah had many children. She had five children. Seven
here stands for a perfect number of children which God gave her.
It stands for completion. She had a complete number that
God ordained for her to have. And this would be the application
of a believer in particular. A believer in particular. He
hath filled the hungry with good things, the scripture says. Christ said, and the rich he
hath sent away empty. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Hannah
hungered to have the child, God was pleased to give. That's what
she hungered for. Do you hunger to have the Son
given? Do you hunger to have the Son
given? If Christ is the one you hunger
and thirst for, you'll be filled. You'll be filled. I got to go
back and just point this out. Scott read this this morning.
Luke chapter 11. in verse 13. I'm just going to
read this 13th verse. You go back and read this whole
passage here, beginning in verse 1. And it talks about if you
come to a house and ask for bread, your neighbor, for your importunity,
he'll give you bread. It goes through these things.
It talks about fish and it talks about some literal temporal things. But then it comes to verse 13
and it says, If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts
unto your children. Now he tells us what to ask for. How much more shall your heavenly
Father give you, give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? That's our meat. That's our power. That's our strength. That's our
blessing. You think, Hannah, I'll tell you what her pride
and her arrogance was. She thought, if I have a child, that child
will deliver me from Panana. The pain that she's causing me,
the travail she's causing me, if I could just have a child,
that child would deliver me from that pain. We get into a situation,
we get into a trial, and we want to be delivered from the pain
of it. And we think, well, if I just had this, it would deliver
me from it. I wouldn't be delivered from
it. There's a vast difference in wanting to be delivered from
the pain of something and wanting to have Christ to deliver. Vastly different. When we just
pray for stuff, that's all Hannah was praying for when she spoke
proud and arrogantly. But when God broke the bow of
the mighty, when he broke her proud heart and brought her down,
he formed Christ in her. And then she said, Now I have
strength. Now I rejoice. That's the picture
here. That's the picture. Did he give
her a son? Yeah, he gave her a son. That's the double blessing.
He gave her the things she wanted, but the picture is we got to
have the Holy Spirit because that's Christ formed in us. It's
the spirit of life we looked at last week that's going to
free us from the captivity of this sin laden flesh that we're
in. It may be that the thing that
we want to deliver us from the pain may end up being further
captive, to bring us further into captivity. What we need
is Christ, our Deliverer. Only He can be given to us through
the Spirit. That's what we want. That's what
we desire. That's what we pray for. That's the good gift God
gives. Now, there's another application
here. It's to that of the religious
nation of Israel. Compared to the Jewish church
which appeared during the days of the nation of Israel it appeared
that it was barren It just there was a elect remnant only but
Christ promised God promised that when Christ had come that
he would just Open it up and open the womb and it would be
fruitful when he brought in all the Gentiles into the church
God has an elect people, seven, a perfect number of children,
and they shall be born, and they shall possess perfection. None
shall be lost. Christ said, none can pluck them
out of my hand. They shall not build on another
inhabit. They shall not plant on another eat. For the days
of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall
long enjoy the work of their hands. They'll enjoy it. Look
at Isaiah 54. Here's what I'm saying. Peninnah
appeared to be fruitful, just like the self-righteous in Israel. They appeared to be very fruitful. And God said all along, they
draw near to Me with their mouth, but their hearts far from Me.
But after we read about what Christ accomplished at Calvary,
in Isaiah chapter 53, how He was led as a sheep to the slaughter,
and as a lamb is done before his shearers, He opened not His
mouth. How the chastisement of our peace was laid upon Him.
How that the transgressions of my people, was He stricken for
those, God said. And God said, and He's redeemed
them. He's bought them. He's purged
them. He's brought them out. Now look what it says in Isaiah
54-1. Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear. Break forth into
singing and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child.
For more are the children of the desolate than the children
of the married wife, saith the Lord. Enlarge the place of thy
tent. You better build a big nursery.
Because you think they have a bunch of children. Let them stretch
forth the curtains of thine habitations. Spare not, lengthen thy cords,
strengthen thy stakes, for thou shalt break forth on the right
hand and on thy left. Thy seed, thy children, shall
inherit the Gentiles and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear not, for thou shalt not
be ashamed. Neither be thou confounded, for thou shalt not be put to
shame. Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, you'll forget
your barrenness, and shalt not remember the approach of thy
widowhood any more, for thy maker is thine husband, and the Lord
of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,
the God of the whole earth shall he be called." You know what
I'm convinced of? I'm absolutely convinced. Abraham
was a Gentile. He wasn't an Israelite. He was a Gentile. The nation
Israel didn't even exist. God made the nation Israel to
typify, foreshadow his salvation of his chosen elect people. And
when he got finished with Israel, he ended that nation, and that
nation don't exist anymore. All that exists now, the only
elect he has now are Gentiles, all of them, whether they whether
they are direct descendants of Abraham and can trace their bloodline
all the way back to him or not. They're all Gentiles now because
he finished with that. He'd done away with it. And what
appeared as a barren, forsaken remnant of people in that nation
Israel, he said, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is the
fruitful one. This is my people, because they're
fruits of me. I'm your husband. I'm the one
that's produced all this, and now all the Gentiles, all God's
elect are being brought in, and when the last of His elect are
brought in, the last Gentiles brought in, who is His elect,
His true Israel, when the last one's brought in, then all Israel
will be saved. All of it. His true Israel. In both cases, one's applying
to the believer in particular, the other to the church as a
whole. But here's the point. Here's the point of the matter.
Look at 1 Samuel 2, verse 6. The Lord killeth and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave
and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh
rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. This is how the Lord saves. This is how he saves. First,
he killeth. He bringeth down to the grave.
He maketh poor. He bringeth low. We must first
be made to see that there's no fruit in us. We're barren. And
we must be made to see that there's none holy as the Lord. Because
in our pride and our arrogancy, we thought we were. Will neither
any strength in us to produce the fruit that God requires. Holiness. He must shut our proud,
arrogant mouths. And He must break our mighty
bones. And the banana of our natural
born self must be made And then he maketh alive, he
bringeth up, he maketh rich, and he lifteth up. They that
he made to stumble have a heart created, a girdle of truth created
within. And those that God makes hungry
for Christ are filled with Christ. So that the barren hath borne
seven completion. She's got Christ now. And she
that hath many children is waxed feeble. You know, the only way
this old flesh is brought down, the only way this old flesh is
brought into subjection, the only way this old dead flesh
is treated as if its influence and its sin or its works have
no regard in our standing with God. You know how it's mortified? When He enters in and the Son
is formed within us, this old flesh has its mouth shut just
like banana had to hush. She couldn't say anything else.
Now look at verse 8. 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. Are you poor in the dust of your
own self? Are you poor? And I get what
that means. Is there anything in the history
of your existence that you have done that you're trusting in? Anything. If it is, you're not
poor. Is there anything whatsoever
that you're holding on to that you are not letting go of because
you think, well, that's my salvation? Then you're not poor. You're
rich. Are you on a hill of dung? Paul said, of all of the heaped
up righteousnesses that he had put his confidence in, everything
he put his confidence in before. He said, I count it, but don't. It's everything you've ever done
to commend yourself to God. Don't. If it's not, you're not
a beggar. You're not a beggar. For God to be merciful to you,
a sinner, you have got to be made a beggar sitting on a hill
of dung. That's what you've got to be.
And the dung is everything you are, everything you've ever thought,
everything you've ever done. That's what you've got to be. That's the only ones that beg.
That's the only ones that beg. If you haven't been brought there,
you won't beg God. And God won't have you unless
you're begging for His mercy. You've got to come to Him as
a dog wanting a crumb from the master's table. Job said when God spoke to him, he'd done a lot of talking. And
it sounded righteous, it sounded religious, it sounded consistent. But God knows the heart. And
when God came to Job, he said, I've uttered that I understood
not. I've been saying it because I
heard somebody else say it. I've been saying the things that
I've learned through my systematic theology. I've been saying things
that I've learned through the history of the church. I've been saying things I was
taught to say. We talk about, in Pride and Arrogancy,
we talk about that horrible, horrible practice of teaching
people what to say. when they come to a preacher
and they want to be saved, and you say, well, repeat after me.
But we do the same thing as we study Scripture, and we study
the history of what men have wrote, and we study what men
have said when we examine. We have a way of examining when
somebody goes through a trial, and we hear what they say, and
we hear other men say, did you hear him, how consistent he is? We have a way of mimicking that.
We're little parrots is what we are. And we have a way of
saying those things. God's got to make us understand
those things in here. It's got to be more than just
something that's gone in here and it's coming out here. It's
got to be in here. And Job said, I've uttered that,
I understood not, things too wonderful for me, which I knew
not. Asaph said, so foolish was I
and ignorant I was as a beast before thee. Is it any wonder God has not
destroyed us? Is it any wonder? Isn't it amazing
grace that God has not totally wiped us away and totally destroyed
us for uttering things that we don't really know and for saying
things we don't really have any understanding of, things far
too wonderful for us, for acting as brute beasts before God and
trying to make other people think we know something about God. We need to pray for God to make
us to know that we're foolish and ignorant, that we're His
beast before Him, that we're uttering things that we don't
understand and things that are too wonderful for us. I believe if you can pray for
that from a heart broken, I can't break it. I can say that and
you can go and pray that. but I can't break your heart. But if you can pray that from
a heart that's broken, it's because God has broken that heart and
He's put that prayer there. And that's exactly what Christ
meant when He said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. He made you poor. He killed you,
made you poor, stripped you, made you poor. and then revealed
it to kingdoms yours. He lifteth up the beggar from
the dunghill to set them among princes and to make them inherit
the throne of glory. That's what he's talking about.
This is how salvation comes. Look at verse 9. Verse 9, For
the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and He hath set the
world upon them. Christ upholds all things by
the word of His power. And this one who upholds all
things by the word of his power, you know where he sits now. When
he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down at the right
hand of the majesty on high. Find that in Hebrews chapter
1. The heart of grace says he is able to save to the uttermost. I'm on a dunghill. I'm in the
dust. I have a proud bow in my hand.
I'm arrogant and foolish and acting as a brute beast. That
is how deep and how full of dong I am. And yet God's able to save
that far down in that pit of corruption. God's able to save.
till you reach there, till you've been broken, till you've been
brought to see that. You don't understand that He
has the power to do that. God's going to make us understand
His power is not in saving some that appear righteous and pretty
good and okay fellows that get along pretty well in the world.
He's going to make us see that the ones He saved are the ones
that we thought, oh, I can't believe He'd save that one. And
you know who it is? It's you if He saves you. And
it's me if He saves me. He's going to first make us say,
there's no way He'd save me. And He's going to make you say,
I've saved you. And I'm saving you. And I'll
continue to deliver you. Well, because He said He's the
powers He is. Now look, verse 9. Verse 9. Is that right? Verse 9. Yes, He will keep the feet of
His saints. That means He directs your path. He sanctifies you. He moves you. He guides you. He teaches you.
And the wicked shall be silent in darkness. They're going to
hush. The wickedness that's right here
in this flesh, He's going to make it to hush. He's going to
make it be silent. That's why Hannah said, don't
let arrogance and pride come out of your mouth anymore. She's
talking to what she was, who she is, and the old man. He's
going to silence that wickedness and all the wickedness around
us. He's going to make it hush. You know why? He's got the power
to do it. He can do it. The power she is. And he says here, for by strength
shall no man prevail. That means you're not going to
keep your feet by your strength and you're not going to silence
the darkness, the wickedness that's within you by your strength.
And neither is the darkness going to prevail against you. Neither
is the enemies of Christ going to prevail against you. Because
by strength, by man's strength, shall none prevail. Because His
is the power. The adversaries of the Lord shall
be broken to pieces. Out of heaven shall he thunder
upon them. Where's he seated? He's seated
in glory. For some reason, for some reason,
me and a boy, they get up and talk so much about Christ. There
I went again. For some reason. Arrogancy and
pride. That's all we are is arrogancy
and pride. I have this thought. Continually
that because I can't see Christ That he can't deliver me. I Think
that I think that in my flesh because Because I can't see him
Because he's seated in glory He can't deliver me he thunders
in power from heaven's glory where he's seated and he accomplishes
whatever he's pleased to accomplish from glory and because He lives. And He says, the Lord shall judge
the ends of the earth. Now I want you to focus in right
here. And He shall give strength unto
His King and exalt the horn of His anointed. Now, we've been
talking about the holiness of the Lord. We've been talking
about the strength of the Lord. We've been talking about the
power of the Lord. The salvation of the Lord. Now
listen to this last phrase, and he shall give strength unto his
king, and exalt the horn of his anointed. Now you've got to think
about the time in which Hannah prayed this. Christ hadn't yet
come. Christ hadn't yet been exalted.
Christ hadn't yet seated on His throne. But He is. But He is. Because He's the same
yesterday, and today, and forever. Hannah sees him and she knows
him and she says here Rejoicing in him. He shall give strength
unto his king and exalt the horn of his anointed Now, let me ask
you a question Who is the Lord's King and who is the Lord's anointed? Christ Jesus the Son of God is
his king and his anointed and Jesus came and spake unto them
saying all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth And it says and he shall exalt
the horn the strength of his anointed Gonna exalt him the
Lord of hosts has raised his anointed the Son of God Christ
Jesus to his heavenly throne in heavenly Jerusalem and he's
given Christ the King a name above every name and no doubt
about it In the end, in the last day, when His name is pronounced,
every knee, even those that never knew anything about Him in this
world, their knees gonna bow and they're gonna confess, agree
with God, He is above every name. His strength's gonna be exalted
in that day, no doubt about it. He's going to be made known that
He's above powers and principalities, that He's over His church, that
each individual elect child in particular, He's governing them. And it's going to be made known
that no strength is going to prevail, not in justifying ourselves,
not in sanctifying ourselves, not in purifying ourselves, not
in keeping ourselves, not in providing for ourselves, not
in harming His elect, not in being an adversary to the Lord.
The strength is God's King. And His anointed Christ Jesus
the Lord shall be exalted in that strength, in that power
that He has. In that last day, He's going
to make that known to all that come to Him outside of Christ.
But He's going to make that known in the hearts of His elect here. Here. God's messengers go forth
to announce the King's arrival. I've been trying to announce
King Jesus and tell you of His power since the day I met you. And for some of you, He's come. He's come and He's abiding there. And for some of you, I pray He
come. I pray He comes in power. But
when He comes in power, He announces this. He reveals His strength. He exalts Himself. Now multitudes
have heard it and multitudes profess to know this. But this
is how His strength is exalted in this earth. And this is where
it's exalted. Look back up at 1 Samuel 2 verse 1. 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 I rejoice in Thy salvation. The power and
the strength of God, of His anointed King Jesus, is exalted when He
creates a new heart in barren dung-hill beggars. We behold,
none is holy as the Lord, none is equal with Him, and none has
the strength that He has. None. But Hannah, the heart of
grace, says, my horn is exalted in the Lord. What does the last
phrase say there? It says, he should give strength
unto his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. And she said,
my horn, my strength is exalted in the Lord. The power and strength
that he works in the sinner's heart makes us behold that in
Christ the anointed, we have been anointed by God. And in Christ, the Prince of
God, we have been set among princes. And in Christ, the King and High
Priest of God, we've been made kings and princes before God,
kings and priests before God. And we're made to behold that
Christ, the strength and power of God unto salvation, the horn
which God shall have exalted, His Son, is our strength and
is the power that shall save us. And we say with Hannah, mine
horn is exalted in the Lord. Let me show you a New Testament
reference on that. 2 Corinthians 12 verse 9. Paul had prayed and prayed and
prayed for the thorn to be removed. You know what he wanted? He wanted
to be delivered from the pain. He wanted to be delivered from
the thing. If I could just have a child, banana will quit, she'll
quit causing me this pain. But what did the Lord answer
him? He didn't take the thorn away. He didn't give him the
thing he needed, that he thought he needed. He said, my grace
is sufficient for thee. For my strength, my strength,
the horn of my strength, my anointing, my king is made perfect, made
to be seen in perfection when you are at your utter weakness. When you are been made to see
you a beggar on a dunghill, that's when my horn will be exalted."
And so Paul, because that was the case, he cried out the same
thing Hannah cried out. And he said, most gladly therefore
will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power, the horn, the
strength, the wisdom of Christ may rest upon me. That's exactly
what Hannah was saying. This is how it's going to happen.
Strengthened with all might according to His glorious power unto all
patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. My sanctification,
my godliness, the patience and the longsuffering and the joyfulness
I have is because I've been strengthened with all might with the Almighty
according to His glorious power. That's right. The power of God
unto salvation, the wisdom of God remains a mystery to you
and me and to this world until He sends forth the Holy Spirit. When He makes us a beggar, we'll
cry, Lord, I don't want the thorn removed anymore. O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Then
we're praying for the Spirit. Then we're praying for His grace.
Then we're praying for His power. Then we're praying for His wisdom.
And until He brings us and presses us down to make us beggars on
a dunghill and to make us barren and to make us see the thorns
not going to be removed, Has He taken you out of this
flesh yet? What did He say? I pray, don't take them out of
the world. Don't remove the thorn from them. Don't take them out
of the flesh. People are wondering, what was Paul's thorn in the
flesh? The flesh. That's what it was. He said,
don't take them out of the flesh, but keep them from it. Keep them
from the evil. And He reveals His power and
strength to do that. He does it. But unto them which
are called, when He sends that Spirit, both Jew and Gentile,
Christ. Christ. That His anointed, the
horn, His strength is exalted. Christ. The power and the wisdom
of God. That's with. You remember when
the Lord walked along and it said, in that hour, Jesus rejoiced
in spirit and He said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and
prudent and has revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in Thy sight. You know what hour that
was? It was the hour that the disciples had come back and were
rejoicing in the power and wisdom of Christ. It was in that hour
that they were rejoicing in that. And he said, don't just rejoice
now in what you're able to do. The power and the wisdom is rejoicing
in the fact that your names are written in the Lamb's book of
life, are written in the record of heaven, and can never be removed.
There's the rejoicing. But when that happened, and they
saw that, in that hour, the Lord rejoiced. The Lord rejoiced. You know why? It's called oneness. It's called communion. It's called
submission. It's called praise. It's Christ,
the horn, the anointed, the strength, beholding that his people behold
him as the horn, the anointed, and their strength. and they're
content, and they rest, and they're satisfied, and they're in agreement.
That's what confession is. That's why it says, from the
heart, confession is made with the mouth. That's what it is.
It's full agreement, Lord. Thank you. And the Lord said,
Father, I thank you. He said, Father, I thank you.
Isn't that something? That's amazing to me. Amazing. Well, I hope that's a blessing
to you. We'll get back to Isaiah, Lord
willing, next week.