Let's be turning to 1st Samuel,
chapter 1. Our text is verses 10 through 28
here. So this second half of the chapter,
1st Samuel 1, it speaks to Hannah's prayer, her fervent prayer to
the Lord. And she asked the Lord for a
son, whom she said, if you give him to me, I'll give him to you. I'll lend him to the Lord all
the days of his life. And while she's praying this
prayer, Eli, who's the high priest at this time, he notices her. He takes notice of her. And she's
silent. He sees her lips moving, but
he hears no sound. And he misinterprets her actions. He accuses her of being drunk. It's a picture, to a degree,
of someone who doesn't come in the right form of religion. And
it's misunderstood, misinterpreted, because they didn't come in the
proper form of prayer. Some people think that to pray,
you have to be on your knees. And we should. It is good to
humble ourselves and to to get on our knees before the Lord
or to lay prostrate on our face before the Lord. But that shouldn't
mean that if you're laying on your bed at night that you can't
pray to the Lord as the Lord brings thoughts and your brethren
and other things to your mind or when you've gotten up from
your knees and you're heading off to work and you remember
something else, pray. Pray as you're driving in your
car, pray. But she doesn't respond in kind. She doesn't get upset
for being accused falsely. She gives a gentle answer, a
gentle answer. And a gentle answer turneth away
wrath. And that moves Eli to speak gently
to her also. And then as we go through, we
see that the Lord remembers Hannah. He remembers her prayer, and
he gives her a son. And she faithfully keeps her
son. training him and preparing him and weaning him and her to
leave her son with Eli in Shiloh to serve the Lord. And she won't
return until that boy is ready. And when she goes there she reminds
Eli of who she is and that prayer that day when she prayed. And she gives glory to God for
remembering her and for giving her a son. And then she leaves
him there with Eli, just as she promised. And Samuel worshiped
the Lord all the days of his life. Now there's a number of
things profitable in this passage, but none are as profitable as
seeing the Gospel. And that's going to be our focus
this morning, is to see these truths in the light of the Gospel.
The summary, the point of this message is to speak to you that
are needy sinners. You that need Christ. You that need a complete Savior. He is the answer to your prayer. Christ is the answer. He is the
one whom the Father has sent to save his people from their
sins. Now let's begin here with this
prayer, Hannah's prayer in verse 10 and 11. It says, She was in
bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore.
And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt
indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember
me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid
a man-child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days
of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. Now I know I've said some of
these things about this before, but it's good. It's good for
us to be reminded. And I'm not ashamed to repeat
myself to some degree to you, to tell you again that these
are words of grace. She's not debating with the Lord. She's not bartering with the
Lord here. She prays the prayer that only
a sinner can pray who's been taught by grace, by the grace
of God. You see, these words are the
words of a needy sinner, and these words are ordered by grace. These words are true words. What
she says, and in the order she says them, are all true. They're true, and that's because
they're of God. They're of God. God has taught
her this prayer. He's given this prayer to her.
She's asking, Lord, be gracious to me. Lord, I need your grace. I'm insufficient. I cannot do
this of myself. This is a trial that made it
plain and obvious to her that there's nothing she could do.
She cannot bring forth a child, though she wants to. She wants
to desperately bring forth a child, but she can't, and so she asks,
Lord, look on me. Lord, remember me. Lord, give to me. Because if you do this, Lord,
if you're gracious to me, then I shall. I shall do this for
you. I shall bring forth this son
to the praise and glory of your name. And so these words don't
originate from the flesh. You that beg God for grace and
mercy and help in time of need, it's because God has given that
prayer to you. We know that God is the one who
gave her this trial. Just like Sarah said, the Lord
hath restrained me. And the Lord restrained Hannah
from conceiving and bearing a child to this time. That's because
God appoints the time. He appoints the place and the
manner of our trials. He gives these things as it pleases
Him for our good and the good of the church. Samuel was made
useful to the whole church. The whole church. all these things
and it's according to the grace of God. And so she prays this
prayer of grace because God had first moved upon her. He was
purposing, he purposed to be gracious to Hannah. And so he
gave her the trial, and he made it burdensome to her, such she
felt it, and she felt the persecution from her persecutor and her accuser,
and she was moved to pray and pour out her heart to the Lord,
because God would be gracious to her. And that's what all our
trials do. They're for our good. And they're
for not only your good, but they're good for your brethren. They're
good for your brethren. When the Lord brings you to Christ
by these trials, you know it's of the Lord. And so she's saying,
this is what we all say, Lord, if you will be gracious to me.
Then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life,
and there shall no razor come upon his head." This is the confession
of saints here. This is the prayer of you that
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. What do I mean? We're praying,
Lord, if you bless me in your Son, If you give me Christ, if
you send Christ to me, then I will give him to you. I'll come to
you, not in my own works of righteousness, but by your grace and power and
glory. I'll come to you in the glory
and power of your son. And I won't add my works to him.
I won't come in my own righteousness and glorying in what I have done. I'll come in the blood and righteousness
of Jesus Christ alone whom you sent, resting in him, trusting
in him. There won't a razor come upon
his head. I won't add any of my works to what he's done. I'll
come resting in the one whom you sent to deliver me from my
sins. And so the Lord's showing us
that if He wills, you shall. If God wills, you shall. Because
God is a God of grace, and He does this for us. And this is
the effect of grace in the heart of His children. Now when God
works in a sinner, there will be a display of His power and
of His grace. It'll be witnessed in His people,
in the child of grace. They're sinners saved. We hear
the Lord, we follow the Lord. Christ said, if any man come
after me, he'll not walk in darkness. He'll be delivered from darkness.
He'll walk in the light, in my light, and he'll glorify God
in me. He'll walk in me, praising and
thanking God for me and what I've done. And so this witness
is worked in His people, but not everybody sees it. The world
isn't going to understand it. The world isn't going to praise
you and slap you on the back and say, wow, you really know
what you're talking about. They'll say that, but in a very
cynical, facetious manner, perhaps. But they don't understand what
the Lord does and works in His people. Now, let's see this truth
revealed in the text first. In 1 Samuel 1, verse 12 through
14. And it came to pass, as she continued
praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth. Now Hannah,
she spake in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her
voice was not heard. She wasn't displaying the proper
form, the way the high priest was used to seeing and the way
people did it. She wasn't coming in that manner. But Eli thought
she had been drunken. And Eli said unto her, How long
wilt thou be drunken? Put away thy wine from thee.
Now Hannah, we know, was affected by the Lord. She was moved greatly
by the Lord and her affection, and she was pouring out her heart
to the Lord, and God purposed this. God purposed this affliction
for her. The timing of it, the place of
it, He's done everything according to His sovereign, glorious, all-powerful
purpose. His purpose. And so, that which
is in her heart is of the Lord. But here she is being misunderstood.
Actually, the Lord's moving in her mightily, and she's being
misunderstood. Even the high priest doesn't
see what she's doing. He thinks that she's drunk on
another spirit. She's foolish and she's just
drunk. Well, does that happen? Does
that happen? Have you ever been misunderstood?
And someone misjudging you and judging your works, even though
you meant good, or at least you thought, you didn't mean to offend
anybody. Well, it does happen. Our Lord
tells us, He shows us, these things do happen even to believers
who are under the grace and power of the Lord. The Lord's keeping
them. The Lord's doing it. Well, where is this? Where do
we see believers being accused of sin? Where do we see believers
being accused of being drunk? Well, it's in Acts 2. Why don't
you go to Acts chapter 2, verse 1. Acts 2 verse 1, let's just read
this passage here some. And when the day of Pentecost
was fully come, they, that is the church, were all with one
accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound
from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house
where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them
cloven tongues like as of a fire. Think of a cow's hoof. It's cloven. It's split. It's
split. And so it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with
the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit
gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem
Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. It was Pentecost,
and so people were coming from all different nations to worship
the Lord there. Now when this was noised abroad,
someone said, something's going on down there. There's people.
There's a loud noise over there, and there's a ruckus going on.
And they came. They gathered together and were
confounded, confused. They didn't understand because
that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they
were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, behold,
are not all these which speak Galileans? These are fishermen. These are poor fishermen. These
are not world travelers. Surely they don't know my native
tongue. They've never been there. How
are these people saying these things? How here we every man
in our own language wherein we were born? And verse 11, dropped
down there, says, the men who heard said, we do hear them speak
in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And so God had
come upon these Galileans in a great, gracious display of
his power and his glory in them. And there was men chosen of God
that the Lord assembled in that place. He brought them together
at that time to hear the wonderful works of God. But look at verse
13. Others, mocking, said, These
men are full of new wine. Why did they say that? Because
they didn't understand. God hadn't revealed it to them.
They were there. They heard those same words.
Some of them might have even heard in their own language.
But they didn't understand the things of the Lord. They didn't
understand what the Lord was doing in His people. And so, What the Lord is showing
us is that we speak the mystery of God revealed. We're making
it plain. We're declaring to you how that
God saves sinners by His Son, by the righteousness of His Son
who came in the flesh. What's so big deal about the
Son of God coming in the flesh? It's because He came to suffer
and die. the place of his people to put
away their sins that we might know and come to God in the righteousness
of God the Lord Jesus Christ that we might know and be delivered
from dead works that cannot save and come in Christ who alone
saves his people by himself according to his life giving them life
and himself and so we make this mystery known declaring what
these scriptures are saying here because it to the natural man
this is just a form of religion this is just an outline of how
to save myself I do this step and that step and if a happens
I do that and if B happens I do this and this is how people think
they come to the Lord I come in Judaism, or I come in Catholicism,
or I come in Christianity, or I come as a Muslim, or I come
as some crazy religion, whatever it is, men think that this is
just a form that suits me, and that one suits you, and that's
fine, just let me do my thing, and you do your thing, and I'll
leave you alone. But that's not what the Lord
is telling his people in his word. He makes it manifest and
known to us that it is Christ that saves. All these words testify
of Jesus Christ and they declare to us that He is coming to save
His people from their sins by the death of Himself. and that
He accomplishes it. He's the successful Savior. It's
according to purpose. It's according to sovereign God,
who chooses whom He will, and He delivers them miraculously,
powerfully, spiritually through the Son, by His Son, Jesus Christ. And so we make that known in
the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Turn over
to 1 Corinthians, chapter 2. 1 Corinthians, chapter 2, and
we'll pick up with what Paul said, testifying to what I just
said to you, that we preach Christ crucified. That's how God makes
known to you His salvation. This is how He feeds His sheep.
1 Corinthians 2 verse 2 Paul said, I determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Why Paul? Why did you declare
Christ to these Corinthians? You think about that. In Corinth
they were Greek. They were Greeks. They didn't
grow up under the law of Moses. And what did the Spirit teach
Paul to say? He spoke of Christ crucified,
not the Law of Moses. He didn't make them disciples
of Moses. He was making disciples of Christ. So he preached Christ
crucified because he is the one thing needful for the sinner. He's the one needful for you
that cannot save yourselves, for you that are sinners, you
that are filthy, you that are guilty and condemned before holy
God, Christ is the savior. Freely, graciously, by himself,
he saves his people. And so this is the message which
God gives to us to declare not only to you, but to myself. Christ
Jesus gave his life to save sinners and I need that same gracious
message by the Lord. And so by this word he calls
his people out of darkness into the light of Christ. And he declares
what he has accomplished. And God does this using foolish,
weak, base, simple, incompetent persons to declare the sufficiency
of the Lord Jesus Christ. for the good of his people, so
that you don't look to me, because there's nothing to look at. You
look to Christ. That's where our eyes are supposed
to be. I'm looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. And he makes us
to understand the salvation, the work, the glory is all of
the Lord. And I've got nothing to boast
in, and neither do you. And that's good. The sinner saved
is content with that. That's good news to you that
are sinners, that Christ did it all. And he said, I was with
you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. I wasn't myself. I was way off the mark, Paul
said. I was having trouble. And my
speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's
wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God. And so to whom God will be gracious,
to you that God chose before the foundation of the world and
gave to the care of his darling son Jesus Christ. He reveals
this to you, that he will be gracious to you, and he makes
you, you that are just as simple, just as base, just as foolish,
just as much, if not more, almost as much of a sinner as I am,
He reveals Christ to you. He makes you content and thankful
for the Lord Jesus Christ. And the rest, you hear and the
rest, they're blinded. They're blinded. And they think,
yeah, I got that. I understand that. Tell me something
new. Tell me something new. And so
it remains a mystery to the rest. Now, verse 6 of 1 Corinthians
2, 6, how be it we speak wisdom among them that are perfect,
yet not the wisdom of this world nor of the princes of this world
that come to naught or come to nothing. They disappear. They
come and they go. The great men of the earth come
and they're gone. And no one remembers them. They're
forgotten. But we speak the wisdom of God
in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before
the world unto our glory. Do you that hear? It's because
God ordained it to you for your glory, for your understanding,
for your peace, for your comfort, and for your joy. And there's
gonna be plenty that don't hear it, and don't believe it, and
don't receive it, and walk away, and reject it, and despise it,
and think lightly of Christ, but he's made you to see that
Christ is everything. He's everything. It remains a
mystery to them, but to you, you know it, which none of the
princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory. And that Christ's death
is absolutely essential to our salvation, we that believe. Without
that so, God did it for your sakes, for your sakes. He overthrew
whole nations for the good of his people. And he leaves them
in darkness because they work. It all brings forth the glory
of God in the face of Christ for the salvation of his people.
And so he brings this earnest prayer of Hannah. who is broken,
full of pain and suffering. Verse 10 says her prayer was
in bitterness of soul and she wept sore. And so the question
for us as we see this in scripture is, am I a sinner? Are you a sinner like me? Are
you a sinner who cannot save yourselves, who can't get it
right, and sees I need Christ, Lord save me, help Me, Lord,
do you have a need which only Christ can meet? It seems that
many in religion, and I'm talking in Christians, those who profess
to be Christians, they get annoyed with Christ, and they push him
out of the way. And the Lord says, careful, as
you're fleeing from Christ, watch your step, because you're stumbling
over the stumbling stone that all of religion stumbles over.
Christ is salvation. He is the very salvation of God. So in your haste to get back
to your religion and you pushing Christ out of the way, watch
your step because you're going to stumble over him just like
the Pharisees stumbled over Christ just so they could get back to
their dead letter religion. And the Lord If you're Christ,
he's not gonna let you do that. He's gonna keep you. He's gonna
keep you and cause you to hear Christ and cause you to rejoice
in the sinner's hope so that you're gonna rejoice in Christ
as well. He does that graciously for his people. Our Lord tells
us that from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom
of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force. And Luke gives a parallel passage
to that Luke 16 16 he said the kingdom of God is preached and
every man presseth into it. There's a lot of needy sinners
that need this word and they're gonna hear it. The Lord is gonna
stir them up and he's gonna gather them together and they're gonna
assemble to hear this word because they're needy. They're hungry.
They're thirsting for righteousness. This is what they need. And when
they heard Christ, they flocked to Him. They came to Him to hear
this Word. And the Pharisees and the religionists
couldn't understand it. Why would they want to gather
around this poor man? Why would they want to gather
around this fellow? But the Lord does it in demonstration
of His glory and power. And what He's saying is the gospel
is going to be preached. The gospel is going to be preached.
And when that gospel is preached, it comes with such force that
it's going to do a work in men. Some to their glory and some
to confirming their condemnation. But it changes men. It changes
men. I've seen others just get hardened
in their sin in declaring the glory of God. You could see it
just like a solution setting up in hardness on something that
you just poured. It just hardens people up in
their sin when they hear this message. But for others, it's
good. It's good. It comes to some as
a saver of death unto death, and to others a saver of life
unto life. Because God is glorying. He's glorying in Christ. He's
glorifying himself in Christ. It changes men. A man either
rejects Christ, hates this message, despises the truth and the salvation
of God. What do you mean I gotta wait
on the Lord, and trust the Lord, and seek the Lord, and rest in
Christ? What do you mean? And to others,
they bow to Christ, and they confess Christ is all, and He's
who I need. He's nourishing me, and comforting
me, and caring for me, and keeping me always. And so when it pleases
God, the dead sinner is quickened, made alive unto God, and the
sinner confesses Christ, that Christ is my all. that Christ
is my wisdom, that Christ is my righteousness and my sanctification,
that Christ is my redemption. And he makes the sinner to glory
in Christ and not what the sinner's done for God, but what God in
Christ has done for me, the sinner. And so our Lord teaches us. He gives us that confession.
Christ Jesus, the Son of God, came in the flesh, made like
unto me, yet without sin, that he should suffer and die in my
place as my substitute, and the debt I racked up in my foolishness
and in my rebellion Christ paid the whole debt and put it away. And he gives life in the heart
so that we're turned from, I don't want to do those things. I don't
want to know that my sin's heaping more and more on Christ, which
he paid for. But he turns us from that so
that we are given love for him and love for our brethren and
that faith in Christ and the hope in Christ. And we want to
serve with one another in this fellowship with God, who gives
us who reveals this mystery makes us to know who God is what he's
accomplished showing us all the beauties and glory of our Savior
Jesus Christ and all these scriptures testifying of him and he warms
the heart and he keeps us and he holds us in the arms of Christ
And so we confess him and we continue in that confession of
Christ, my righteousness. And he keeps us in that confession
all the days of our life because we know I was blind, but now
I see. I was deaf, but now I hear. I
was lame, but now I can walk. I was a prisoner, but he opened
the door and he called me forth into the light of his glory.
And now I see. that God has ordained all these
things. And it testifies of his work
and what he's done in and for me. I was an enemy of God, but
now by Christ, I'm a friend of God and reconciled to him by
the death of his son. And I love him and walk with
him in fellowship with my God. And that's what he does. He makes
us to see that. And he continues to grow us in
the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Rejoicing in him rejoicing in
him and so he works the salvation in his people And he fills our
lips with words of grace look at Hannah's response to Eli back
in first Samuel 1 verse 15 through 17 Hannah being accused falsely
and answered and said no my lord. I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit
I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured
out my soul before the Lord Count not thine handmaid for a daughter
of Belial, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have
I spoken hitherto. Isn't that a beautiful thing? She didn't come back at Eli with
harsh words. She didn't chide him for judging
her. You know, so often, I think it's good for, well, young and
old to hear this. Sometimes we get into a slew
of all kinds of evil works. And then one time, we're not
doing evil works. And we get accused of doing evil
works. And then that provokes our pride. And we say, see, you
always think the worst of me. Instead of being humbled and
brought low and saying, you know, mom, dad, employer, whoever,
you're right. Normally, I am doing that. In
this case, I'm not. But I understand why you accuse
me of it, because I'm always doing that. always doing so it's
good a gentle answer definitely turneth away wrath but here it's
it it speaks of the grace of God that fills our hearts so
that when we speak to others we speak out of that grace which
has taught us and blessed us and kept us and so Eli having
heard that gentle response Eli answered and said go in peace
and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou has asked
of him and you see that a gentle answer provokes a gentle response
in return it's good be gentle with with others Now, the Lord,
she goes, she returns now from Shiloh, she was blessed, she
ate, she partook, she was rejoicing. That's how we should be when
we lay our hearts before the Lord. Trust the Lord. Trust Him that He's given you
that and leave it with Him. And you can pray, you can continue
to pray about it, but trust Him. Rise up in faith that God has
heard your prayer and He'll do what is right. Trust Him, believe
Him. Go in faith confident that your
God will always do what is right. Even if it's answered in a way
different from what you were expecting it, God is, he hears. He's the God who hears prayers
and he answers the prayers which is laid in the heart of his people.
And so she goes home and the Lord remembered Hannah and she
immediately began to prepare her son Samuel to be given to
the Lord. And the next time Hannah returns
to Shiloh, she's coming with her weaned son to leave him there
in service to the Lord. That doesn't mean she never saw
him again. They would go up there as they went up and she would
see him again as he was growing up, but he wasn't there in that
house there. But they knew each other. Now
read in chapter one, verse 24 through 28. And when she had
weaned him, she took him up with her with three bullocks, and
one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto
the house of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was young. And
they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli. And she said,
O my Lord, as thy soul liveth, my Lord, I am the woman that
stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord. And for this child
I prayed. And the Lord hath given me my
petition, which I asked of him. And so to you that are sinners,
to you that are broken, to you who have nothing to give to the
Lord and cry out to the Lord, your God, for mercy, Christ is
the child you see. He is the prayer of the sinner.
He is the one in whom we come to the Father. trusting, resting. He's the one that we come to
the Father in. He's the answer to your prayer. You that are struggling, you
that are sinners, you that need salvation, Christ is the child
you seek. He's the child you're praying
for. He's the answer of the prayer that God gives to his saints.
you that would know God and be saved from your sins and have
eternal life, Christ, he's the answer that you're looking for.
He's the one that the Father gives to his people to cry out
to God. When we cry out, Lord, Make me
righteous. Help me, Lord, to stand before
you all the days of my life. It's going to be in and by the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the righteousness. He's
the salvation of his people. And she says, therefore also
I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he liveth, he shall
be lent to the Lord. And he worshiped the Lord there. This speaks of the gift that
the Father has given to His people in giving His Son. This is a
type of her giving Samuel, dedicated to the Lord. You're God. God
the Father hath given His Son, Jesus Christ, who came and laid
down His life for His people, and He gives life to His people
by His life. He's the salvation. He's the
surety of His people. He's the Savior, the one who
paid all our debts, who put away all our sin, our guilt, and our
condemnation before Holy God, that we may stand before Him
faultless, before the very throne of God, faultless. Because that's
how sufficient, how precious the blood of Jesus Christ is. By the death of Christ, His redeemed
people come to the Father, confidently, boldly trusting in Him. For God
so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He is the very salvation of God. And so Christ Jesus, that's the
Son you seek. He's sent of the Father. He's
the answer to all your prayers. You that are sinners, you that
have nothing to give to God, He is the very response and answer
of the Father to your prayers. Christ is salvation. He is life. He gave the Son, the Lamb of
God, to justify His people. All who believe Him, will never
be ashamed. You that come in the blood of
Christ, you won't stand before the throne of God on that day
and hang your head. You'll never be ashamed. He'll
say, well done, thou good and faithful servant, entering to
thy rest, prepared for thee from before the foundation of the
world. because it's all in Christ. And you'll give all the glory
and cast your crown before Christ, thanking him for your eternal
life and salvation. He's everything. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Thanks be unto God
for his unspeakable gift. Amen.