You would turn back with me again
to 1 Samuel chapter two, 1 Samuel chapter two. In the last study,
I mentioned that Hannah's prayer is not only a declaration of
God's sovereignty, but it's also a clear proclamations of God's
sovereignty and salvation. Now, God's word's very clear
on the matter, salvations of the Lord. And God has mercy on
whom he will. And sinners don't choose God.
The Lord Jesus said, you've not chosen me, I've chosen you. Sinners
didn't choose God. God chose certain particular
sinners and he drew them by his effectual call. And they'll come,
every single one of them, not a single one of them will be
lost. The Lord said, all that the Father giveth me shall come
to me, and those that come to me all in no wise cast out. That
means salvations of the Lord. He doesn't try to save, he doesn't
want to save, he saves. He saves his people from their
sin. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sin. If anyone loves God, if anyone
loves Christ, it's because God and Christ first loved them.
You love me because I first loved you. God made man out of the
dust of the ground. God formed man. Man didn't form
God. Now, men today form a god of
their imagination, but that's not God. God formed man out of
the dust of the ground. What did he do then? He breathed
into him the breath of life. And man became a living soul. Man was just dust until God breathed
into him life. But when God breathed life into
him, he became a living soul. Sounds to me like God's sovereign. Sound to me like life comes from
God. Doesn't it to you? That's what
this book teaches. Man disobeyed God and he died
spiritually. God told Adam, he said, in the
day you eat of this fruit, thou shalt surely die. You can eat
of all the other trees, but not this one. And Adam ate, and Adam
died. He lived 900 plus years, but
he died spiritually. And every man and woman after
him died spiritually, just as God said he would. And the man
and the woman, they tried to cover their nakedness. They tried
to do so by the work of their own hands. And man's been trying
to do that ever since. He's tried, what must I do to
be saved? I don't know what gives anybody
any idea that they can do anything to save themselves when this
book is so clear from cover to cover. And there had to be payment
made for sin, and Adam and Eve couldn't pay it. And so God shed
the blood of an innocent lamb. I know that was a lamb because
Christ was a lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
And later when Abel came, Cain and Abel, Abel brought a lamb.
No doubt in my mind that was a lamb. Pictures Christ, the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. and the blood of
that lamb was shed, and those skins of that lamb covered Adam
and Eve. And God did all that. He did
all of it. Man didn't do anything but sin.
And men think they can keep the 10 commandments, and Adam, who
was far superior to you and I, who are already fallen in sin,
couldn't keep one. Couldn't keep one commandment.
And God gave him one commandment and he couldn't keep that one.
And so man can't redeem himself. We can't do anything. We can't
keep any commandments. So God redeemed him and the woman. Salvations of the Lord. It's
God who paid the price of redemption. Man couldn't. Adam was spiritually
dead. So was all that came after him,
as I said. And we're dead in trespasses
and sin. Now, Hannah's prayer declares
God's sovereignty in all things, especially His sovereignty in
salvation. And men say ridiculous things. Like I heard a man, a doctor
preacher, you know, say that he believed God was sovereign
over all things except salvation. Well, he doesn't believe God
is sovereign at all. If God isn't sovereign over salvation,
He's not sovereign at all. And the Word of God is just so
thorough. We must not look over the truth
of Hannah's dilemma here, and that was her need. I hope you
see that. I hope you've seen that in our
first study. Her barrenness. was absolutely
necessary to her deliverance. How so? Because not a single
sinner has ever cried unto the Lord, has ever prayed for deliverance
apart from a great need that God created within them. Now,
you follow me so far? It was God who caused that need
within. He caused it within Hannah, and
He caused it within you and I. There was a time I didn't need
God. I was doing okay on my own. At least I thought. And then
God interrupted. God intervened. And He troubled
me. And I saw what I was. And I saw
where I was headed. And I saw what I deserved. And
God had mercy on me. And God taught me. And God revealed
to me my need of Christ. Hannah's womb to bring her to
the place where she cried to Him for deliverance. This was
a real trial for her. The one thing she desired, fruitfulness
of the womb, life within, she could not produce. Neither can
we. We can't produce life within. God's gotta give us life. God's
gotta breathe the breath of life in us. We're just lumps of dust
until God breathes the breath of life in us. We're barren. We're dead within. We're dead
spiritually. Now, we move around. We do our little thing in this
world, but we're dead in trespasses and sin until God intervenes
and gives us life. Now, one thing that we've talked
about many times over the years is that all the diseases and
all the sicknesses and impairments and infirmities that the Lord
Jesus Christ healed in this natural and physical realm, and there
was a bunch of them. You know, the scripture's very
clear when it says that the books couldn't contain, the world couldn't
contain all the books if all the things that Christ did were
written. A lot, a lot of things He did. And all of the things,
the infirmities and diseases that our Lord healed are but
a picture, an illustration of what He must do for dead sinners
spiritually and supernaturally. Let's just mention a few. Blindness. Deafness. Dumbness. And that's the dumbness of not
being able to speak, not just being dumb like I am. lameness,
leprosy, deadness. The Lord healed. The Lord brought
to life dead men. My, my. Now listen to these definitions. Blind. What does that mean? Unable
to see. Because of injury, disease, or
birth defect. And all three reasons are true
of us being blind spiritually. We're injured, we're ruined by
the fall. And we inherited the disease
of sin, which pictures leprosy. And we were born defective with
spiritual infirmities. Deaf. Lacking the power or ability
to hear. Boy, that's every single one
of us. We can't hear a word from the Lord. We can't discern one
thing out of the Scriptures unless God gives us ears to hear. Our
Lord said time and time again, let those that have ears to hear,
let them hear. And God's got to let us hear
before we hear. Unable and unwilling to hear
or pay attention, we're deaf to godly advice. dumb, unable
to speak, resulting in speechlessness because of our sin, because of
our guilt. We're silenced. How are we going
to defend ourselves before God? We're sinful, we're guilty, speechless
to defend or excuse ourselves. That's why God gave us the law. We know that whatsoever things,
that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law, that every mouth may be what? Stopped. Silenced. And all the world may become
what? Guilty before God. We're deaf. We're dumb. We're blind. Lame. Unable to
walk as a result of injury or illness. We're unable to come
to Christ for life. No man can come to me. No man
is able to come to me, the Lord Jesus said. Lame also means inspired
and dull. Lame means to be feeble, halting,
and defective. That describes us to a T. That's
what we are outside of Christ. Leprosy. It was a physical, contagious
disease that most assuredly pictured sin and resulted in death. If
you had leprosy, it was a death sentence. There was no cure for
it. Just as our sin is to us. If we remain in our sin, we're
going to die. The wages of sin is death. Leprosy,
like sin, was first unnoticeable. It begins inwardly before it's
revealed outwardly. So it is with sin. It's an outward
corruption that rapidly spreads to the outside. Paul said, I
know in me, in me there dwelleth no good thing, Romans 7, 18.
Leprosy was a source of misery, pain. So is sin. Leprosy was
a disease of defilement. Is that not what sin is? Leprosy
began with little or no pain. So does sin. Leprosy was subtle,
and so was sin. The book of Hebrews calls it
the deceitfulness of sin. It sneaks up on you. Leprosy
spread rapidly. Oh, so does sin. Leprosy was
a loathsome and detestable disease. So is sin. Trust me. Leprosy
brought forth banishment. That's what sin does. Sin causes
us alienation from God. Our understandings darken, being
alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that's
in us because of the blindness of our hearts. That's another
thing. We've all got heart issues. We've
all got heart problems. I'm going to the cardiologist
tomorrow for my annual or semi-annual checkup. But I'm going to tell
you, the problem that man has with his heart, that cardiologist
can't heal. He can't take care of it. But
God can. God can. And God does to His
people. Our understanding is darkened,
alienated from the life of God. Leprosy is incurable, so is sin,
unless Christ cures it and puts it away. It takes a supernatural,
a divine supernatural intervention to remove sin from us. We're
dead, spiritually dead, no longer alive. The Lord Jesus told Lazarus,
He said, Lazarus come forth, and the scripture says, he that
was dead came forth. He was dead, but he wasn't dead
anymore. God gave him life, and he came forth. And God gave us
life, and we came forth. We're able to come because God
gave us life. Sin is all our fault. When the Lord's healing of all
these diseases in the physical, natural realm, picture accurately
the spiritual infirmities that all of us have by nature. Now, to certain chosen particular
sinners, Christ delivers, heals, and makes them perfect. Oh, that's
why I'm interested in the Lord Jesus Christ. What think ye of
Christ? Most important question ever
asked man. And that's what I hope that we
can see tonight. Each of the acts of the Lord
Jesus Christ spoken of in these three verses. represent Christ's
accomplishment as Savior and Redeemer of His people. And men
and women can believe that God is sovereign. Now listen to me
on this. You can believe that God is sovereign, but until you
see that it is Christ alone who sovereignly accomplishes the
things that Hannah describes, it'll profit you nothing. You
can go to hell believing God is sovereign. Just like the man
who said God's sovereign over all things except salvation.
Until God shows him, or if God ever does, he's headed to hell
believing in his sovereign God, who's not sovereign at all. but
to those who see it, to those whom God reveals it, to them
is given eternal life. These things that we're considering
tonight represent what Christ did for us when he assumed responsibility
as our representative. Verse six, the Lord killeth and
maketh alive. Now that is a very, good declaration of Christ's
power over life and death. And in order to satisfy the penalty
of the law and justice, Christ gave his own life. The penalty
for sin is death. And our sin debt could not be
canceled unless the issue of our death or the death was dealt
with. We say it all the time. You can't
just sweep our sin under a rug. God cannot just, without justice,
ignore it. His justice won't allow it. And
I mean to be redundant here. I mean to be repetitive. Sin
is not simply forgiven and forgotten. It's gotta be dealt with according
to divine justice. The wages of sin is what? Debt. The soul that sins, it shall
what? Die. That's what the holy justice
of God requires. Death to the offender. When Christ
died, he killed death on the behalf of his people.
Hold your place here in 1 Samuel. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
two. Hold your place, we're coming
right back to it. But I want you to read this with me and
pay close attention to these words. Hebrews 2, verse 14. It's the only other place I'll
turn you, I believe. Hebrews 2, verse 14. Now when you read the scripture,
slow down, don't get in a hurry. Verse 14, Hebrews 2, for as much
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he, that's
speaking of Christ, also himself likewise took part of the same. What, took part of what? Flesh
and blood. He became a man. He was made under the law. that
through death, he might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is the devil. Now, you and I are flesh and
blood. Christ assumed our human nature
yet without sin. There's a big difference between
him and us. We're both flesh and blood, but we're full of
sin and he was without sin. He took flesh and blood upon
himself. He became subject to temptation. You know, when Satan tempted
him in the wilderness, he really was tempted. He really was. You say, well, he was God. Yes,
he was, but he was man and he was tempted. He's tempted in
all points as we are, the scripture said. yet without sin. And you and I were under the
sentence of death because of sin. And in order to take this
judgment and this sentence upon himself to redeem us, Christ
had to become a man." There's a lot of folks that don't know
that, don't understand that. Look at verse 21, for since by
man, speaking of Adam, came death, By man, Christ, came also the
resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all, and that's all for whom Christ came to save,
be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15, 21, and 22. Christ, who was God, became a
man who could die under the wrath and judgment of sin. God cannot
die. but God in the flesh can experience
death. Satan cannot kill and destroy
except by permission. But he said, as we just read,
to have the power of death because he introduced sin, which brought
death. And sin is the sting of death. And the strength of sin is the
law of God. That's what That's what makes
our sin so appalling. The law was given, not for us
to keep to be saved, but to show us our inability to keep it.
Christ destroys the power and force of death, which is over
all believers, but since he was perfect, since he was free of
sin, death and the grave couldn't hold him. and being perfect,
the law of God had no claim on the Lord Jesus Christ, and he
paid in full our wages of sin. Now, I'm excited about that. I love the thought of that, because
that's the only thing that gives me any hope of being saved. And in doing so, the Lord Jesus
Christ, in verse 15 here, is said to have delivered them,
look at it, who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage. I suppose the thing that natural
man fears most in this life is death. Unknown, the unknown. But it's not unknown to us. We
know what happens after this physical body is put in the ground. We go to be with Christ. It's
a promotion for us. It's a departure. It's an improvement. Anyway, in doing so, our Lord
Jesus here says, having delivered them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage, the bondage of sin. For verily, he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Christ became flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, that he
might die the just for the unjust to bring us to God. Are you interested
in that? The only way you're gonna get
to God is to be brought to God by the Lord Jesus Christ. You're
not gonna find your way there on your own. You're gonna have
to be brought there by Christ. That's the only way that we can
be brought is by Him. Verse 17, wherefore in all things
it behooved Him. That's a strong word. It means
bound Him to be guilty for. caused him to be made like unto
us his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God, to make what? Reconciliation for the sins of
the people. For in that he himself hath suffered
being tempted, he is able to suffer," that's another good
word, aid and relieve them that are tempted. Do you see what
Christ did for sinners when He became their substitute? It was
the only way that we could be reconciled to God. No other way. The Lord killeth and maketh alive. By His own power, He rose from
the dead. Life and death are His to give. As the holy God and a perfect
man, life is His to give to His sheep. There was no reason for
him to die except in the room instead of his people as their
substitute. The law had no claim on him.
Holy justice didn't have any claim on him, but that he came
to die in our place, his people's place. He died that we might
live. He killeth refers to his death. He maketh alive refers to what
we receive by his death. And that's life. Yes, it's true
that the natural and physical realm of things, Christ has power
to kill and make alive. This, as I said, is a wonderful
declaration of God's sovereignty. It is the Lord that killeth and
maketh alive. If a man dies, it was the Lord
that brought it about. If a man lives, it's because
the Lord determined him to live. But this is talking about much
more than just the physical realm. This is talking about the spiritual
application of things. Yes, yes, he killeth and maketh
alive. It goes so much further than
the physical and the natural. It carries to the spiritual and
supernatural. Now back in 1 Samuel 2, the second
part of verse six says, he bringeth down to the grave and bringeth
up. We know that's true in everyday life. When a man dies, It's His
time to die. His days are numbered. His months
are numbered, according to God. God determines when we're born
in this life. God determines when we leave.
But when Christ died and was buried, His people were in Him,
and His resurrection was our quickening unto life. We rose
over death in the grave with Him. See, this is what it means
to be in Christ. We were with Him in His death.
We were with Him in His burial. And glory to God, we're with
Him in His resurrection. Christ went down to the grave
and He bringeth up. That's what Hannah's saying.
Who did He bring up from the grave? Us, who believe, not the
whole world, but God, who is rich in mercy for His great love,
wherein He loved us. Who's He writing to there? Believers,
those for whom He died for. Even when we were dead in sins,
had quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you saved. You're one of the us. If you're
saved, you are. And hath raised who? Us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Ephesians
2, 4 through 6. We're made aware of this by and
through the preaching of the gospel. That's why this is so
important. That's why we give it the preeminence. We're not here to entertain. We're not here to to sing and dance and raise our
hands and all that garbage. We're here to hear Christ proclaimed. That's the only way sinners can
be saved. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I
also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to
the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again
the third day according to the Scriptures, according to this
book, according to God's Word. Verse seven, the Lord maketh
poor and maketh rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. And again, It's true. If a man
is naturally worldly poor, it was the Lord who made him so.
It's just a fact. And if a man is rich, if a man
is prosperous and successful in the world, it was the Lord
that did it. But friends, this is referring
to what Christ, the King of kings, willingly gave up to bring His
people to their rich spiritual estate. He maketh rich. Who does? Christ does. No one
else can. Ephesians chapter two, verse
seven. The free favor of God is described as the riches of
his grace. Our Lord made himself poor and
made himself low that we might be rich and lifted up. It's substitution. That's what it is. Our Lord said
the foxes have holes. and the birds of the air had
nest, but the Son of Man had no place to lay His head. For
you know the grace of our Lord Jesus, that though He was rich,
how rich was He? Everything was His. He's God. He was rich, yet for your sake,
he became poor, that you through his poverty might be what? Rich. That's not talking about
having a bunch of money in the bank and a big house and being
out of debt and a big retirement account. No, that's talking about
grace, rich in grace. Someone once wrote, I just read
this recently, grace, G-R-A-C-E means God's riches at Christ's
expense. That's good. I wish I'd thought
of it. I'd take a little glory in that.
But that's what grace is, God's riches at Christ's expense. And
that's certainly what Hannah is telling us in this prayer.
Then in verse eight of our text, we see what Christ had freely
done for his people. He raiseth up the poor. This refers to our spiritual
poverty. We don't have any spiritual life.
We're bankrupt of spiritual life. We have nothing of value to offer
spiritually. What do we have to offer God?
Nothing. Nothing but sin. We are blessed in Christ because
of that, because blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. You know how you, what you have
to pay to get into the kingdom of heaven? Nothing. You're poor. You don't have anything to give.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. We who have nothing in and of
ourselves now have and possess the very kingdom of God in Christ. We're raised from the dust. Dust
in the scripture equates with death. You remember what Ezekiel
says about us. Our birth is in the land of Canaan.
Our father was an Amorite. Our mother was a Hittite. Our
navel was not cut. We didn't have proper care at
birth. We were not washed and salted
or swaddled at all. None pitied us. None had compassion
on us. We were cast out into an open
field. We were polluted in our own blood.
We were loathed by all that saw us. And our Lord looked at us
in our blood, and what did He say? Live! Live. While lying in our own
blood, God, the Lord God of heaven and earth, looked at us and He
said, live. That's the only reason we're
alive. He caused us to multiply. This is all seen. Ezekiel 16,
I believe. He caused us to increase in life's
great, and it's only in Him that we do. He looked upon us in love,
it says. He spread His skirt, His righteousness
over us. Isn't that something? My, we're
naked, no covering. He spread His skirt of righteousness
over us. He covered our nakedness. He
entered into a covenant with us. He made us promises. And oh my, we make each other
promises and we hope we can keep them. But when our Lord makes
a covenant and a promise with us, He's for sure to keep them.
He's able to keep them. And He washed us clean and He
clothed us with broader work. And He gardened us with fine
linen. And I love this part, it says, and we became His. I'm
His. I'm my beloved's and my beloved's
mine. I'm His and He's mine. We find flour and honey and oil. We're exceedingly beautiful.
And we prosper in His kingdom. Do you know what that means?
Just what Hannah said. He raiseth up the poor out of
the dust. He raises up out of death. That's eternal death. He lifteth
up the beggar. from the dunghill. What are we?
We're beggars. We're mercy beggars. We beg for
mercy. A beggar is one who is in great
need. And where are we raised from? A dunghill. You know what a dunghill
is. It's a heap of dung. It's not
hard. It's manure. And did you notice
that we're lifted? We didn't lift ourselves. Christ
raised and lifted us. We're removed from the stench
of the dunghill by someone strong and mighty. Someone who reached
down from heaven and laid hold on us and lifted us out of that
cesspool of iniquity. The dunghill represents the foulness
of sin. It's a stench in the nostrils
of God. Don't ever think it's not. And
there's an unknown vileness of the flesh that we have. You know,
think about this often. The thoughts of our hearts are
not only evil. Evil they are. And you yourself,
I know, like me, are amazed at some of the things that come
into your mind sometimes. In your heart. And we're not,
there's an unknown boundness in this flesh that we have. Our
thoughts of our hearts are not only evil, they're nothing but
evil, and nothing but evil continually. You can't convince someone of
that. Only God can. They'll tell you, men will tell
you, I've had them tell me, that there's a little good in everybody.
He'll tell you straight up, I'm not perfect, but I ain't that
bad. Yes, you are. Yes, you are. And our flesh becomes even more
vile when we seek to establish a personal righteousness that
we try to offer God in order to be accepted. Isn't that right?
Oh, don't you know that stinks? That's taken our cultists been
wallowing in the dunghill to God. And it stinks in his nostrils. You better believe it does. This world would never consider
a moral life, what we call a moral life, to be described as manure. They'd be offended by that. But
that's what it is. It's dung. It's manure. Our works of righteousness, nothing
but dung. The Lord calls them works of
iniquity, remember? Depart from me ye that work iniquity. Well, we've preached in your
name and we've laid hands on the sick and we've cast out devil.
Iniquity. It's nothing but iniquity. And
you're nothing but a worker of iniquity. It's dung. It's manure. God won't have it. It's a stench
in his nostrils. And isn't it amazing what natural
man can, the smells that we can get used to? Verse eight, he
raised up the poor out of the dust and he lifted 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 has set the world upon them. And what
mercy it is for the Lord to show us the true character and result
of our works. It's not until we're made alive
now that we can smell the stench of our own so-called righteousness. We smell pretty good to ourselves
until God makes us alive. And then we go, what is that
smell? It's us. It's us. Oh, my. Oh, the heights of mercy. They're
just so wondrous. He takes us, the beggars that
we are. And he lifts us up to a royal
palace. And he sets us among princes.
And we who are nothing but sinners, wretched, no good, depraved sinners,
are made kings and priests unto God. We've been translated, the
scripture said. Translated means transferred.
We've been transferred from darkness to where? The kingdom of God's
dear Son. Isn't that something? What a
height of mercy and grace that is. We've
been made to inherit the throne of glory. He made us to. He provided for us everything
that we needed to inherit the throne of glory. A spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ, if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may
be also glorified together. All that belongs to God belongs
to Christ. And all that belongs to Christ
belongs to us. We're the richest men and women
on earth. We know in our hearts our spirits
by the Holy Spirit. His Spirit, the Holy Spirit,
bears witness with our spirits that we're the sons and daughters
of God. How do I know I'm saved? I just
know I am. Because I know what Christ did
for me. And God's Spirit bears witness
with my heart that I am. Well, I didn't do anything to
save myself, and I can't do anything to lose my salvation. Because
it all depends on His finished work. And that's such a comfort
to someone that can't do anything right. To Him that overcometh will I
grant to sit with me on my throne. even as I also overcome and am
set down with my Father in His throne." Isn't that something?
The pillars of the earth are the Lord's, it says, and He set
the world upon them. Now, I know that there's a double
meaning there. No doubt the pillars of the earth
are the Lord's refers to the power, providence of God almighty. That's what this world hangs
on. on His power and His purpose
and His providence. But there's no doubt that this
also speaks of those whom God has made alive, to those whom
God brought up from the grave and made rich and lifted up from
the dunghill and made to inherit the throne of glory. They make
up Christ's body and bride. They make up the church of the
living God. They are the pillars of the world. When God saves the last one of
them, those pillars gonna be translated and transferred and
this earth shall be no more. Paul said this in Galatians chapter
two, verse nine. He said, and when James and Cephas
and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was
given to me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands
of fellowship, that we should go into the heathen, the Gentiles,
and they into the circumcision, the Jews. But the word of God
calls those men, the pillars, Pillars. Paul told Timothy that
the church of the living God was the pillar and the ground
of the truth. John wrote in Revelation chapter
3 verse 12, him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple
of my God and he shall go no more out and I'll write upon
him the name of my God. In the name of the city of my
God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven
from my God, and I'll write upon him my new name." That's speaking
of Christ. But that's also speaking of us
in Christ. The pillar, the pillars of the
earth are the Lord's. We belong to Him. Speaking of the new heaven and
new earth, Peter, wrote, nevertheless, we according to his promise look
for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. How do we overcome? Well, on
that great day that John foresaw, he said, and I heard a loud voice
saying in heaven, now has come salvation and strength and the
kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the accuser
of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our
God day and night, and they overcame. How did they overcome? By the
blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. what
we're doing right now, preaching the gospel. And they loved not
their lives unto death. Dear friends, we overcome only
because Christ overcame for us. He kills, He makes alive. He brings down to the grave.
And He alone bringeth up unto life. The Lord makes poor. And we who are poor in spirit
inherit the kingdom of God. The Lord does all this. He makes
us rich for all things belong to Christ are also ours. He brings us low so that we see
our need and he lifts us up so that we see him alone. You see,
this is about how the Lord saves sinners. Not just the Lord sovereign,
but that He's sovereign in the salvation of His people. He raises
us up who are poor out of the dust. He raises us and delivers
us from death. That's what the dust is referring
to. And He makes us see that we're
beggars. Beggars in and on the dunghill.
He raises us up out of the dunghill to set us among princes. the
Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Himself. He makes us inherit
the throne of glory. You're going to inherit that
throne of glory, I'm going to make you willing in the day of
my power. The pillars of the earth, His people are His. We
belong to Him. I love the thought of being His.
He sets the world upon us. In a figurative sense, we're
the salt of the earth. the pillar and ground of the
truth. And we are called by our God to minister to the dead,
this dead and this dying world through the preaching of the
gospel. That was our Lord's great commission to us. Go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel, preach the good news.
Tell sinners how God saves them. Not anything they did. Hannah
was telling us in this prayer that it is God alone who saves
sinners by His sovereign grace alone. And I'm thankful for Hannah's
prayer. I'm thankful for the revelation
of it. It shows me exactly how God saved a wretch like me. May God be pleased to make it
so for His glory, our good, and for Christ's sake.