Thank you. Outstanding hymn. Praise. David said praise be
to the Lord. His most praiseworthy attributes
is holiness. There is scripture on him too. 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel chapter 2. 1 Samuel chapter 2. This is commonly referred to as Hannah's
prayer. Many great prayers are recorded
in scripture and I would love to list them for you, some of
them. Prayers of great men, such as Moses. Moses' prayer, Deuteronomy 32,
I think that's one of your papers, 33. Elijah, his prayers. David, his prayers are many throughout
the Psalms. Solomon, Solomon's prayer, the
dedication of the temple. I don't think we've ever looked
at that together. If the Lord doesn't come, we'll do so. Paul's
prayers throughout his epistles, but one of the greatest, one
of the greatest, most God-honoring prayers in all of Scripture is
by a woman. As a matter of fact, David repeats
her. We read it. David repeated You
may not know the story. You may not know the story, but
Hannah was married to a loving man named Elkanah. And she wanted
children, but was unable to have them. It says the Lord had shut
up her womb. The Lord prevented her from having
children, while another woman, who was also married, at least
in name, to this man, had many children. And Hannah was sorrowful about
that. But the Lord had prevented her
from having children, that He might give her, eventually, one
very special child. He is a type of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Well, in chapter 1, we find her
worshipping at Shiloh. Worshipping, calling on the Lord. Verse 13 says, she spake in her
heart, only her lips moved and her voice was not heard. She
was praying to the Lord about her trouble. But she didn't say anything.
She was praying from the heart. Well, the Lord heard that prayer.
The Lord heard her heart's prayer, for the Lord looks on the heart. Do you recall anyone saying that? Samuel said it. God said it to
Samuel when Samuel was looking for a king. Remember? And he
said it about David, a man after his own heart. That sparked a
memory in Samuel, I'm sure. It just occurred to me, Samuel.
The Lord told Samuel that. The Lord looks on the heart.
Mom told me that. Well, from the heart. And we
remember the words of that wise old preacher who said, better
to have a heart without words than words without heart. Words
are cheap. But sometimes, Scripture says,
out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth has to speak. Out of
the abundance of the heart. God answered Hannah's heart's
prayer, gave her a son. And what a son he was, Samuel.
And this boy, Hannah, dedicated to the Lord. Look at verse 28
and chapter 1. Hannah brought him back. You
remember Hannah brought him after he'd been weaned about six or
seven, not simply from nursing, but just weaned from the need
of a mother and a father. And brought him back to the temple
to serve the Lord, to help Eli that was growing up. And this
is what she says in verse 28. I have lent him to the Lord,
returned him, that is. He shall be lent, or that is,
returned to the Lord. And Samuel worshiped the Lord
there. And now, this is the story behind
this prayer. And here's Hannah's prayer after
bringing that boy to this temple. And I assume she prayed it just
as she was ready to leave, and leave that boy. Now think about
it. Her only child. She loved that
boy dearly. She brought him up here. If she
don't leave him married to him, it's no good. Any sorrow in this prayer? No. Nothing but praise and rejoicing.
Look at it. Verse 1, And Hannah prayed and
said, My heart, my heart rejoiceth in the Lord. From the bottom
of it, from the bottom of my heart, I rejoice in the Lord. Not the boy, but the Lord. She's not going to mention that
boy in this prayer. She's rejoicing in the Lord.
Rejoice in the Lord, Paul said. And again I say, rejoice in the
Lord. See, that's how she could turn
him over. Because all of her heart's rejoicing
wasn't in the boy, but in the Lord. She knew. The Lord gave
this boy miraculously. He belongs to the Lord. I'm giving
him back to the Lord. Boy, it was a good thing, wasn't
it? What happened to that boy as a result of that? Mothers,
listen carefully. Listen carefully. You will not
lose what you turn over to the Lord. He gave it anyway. Well, she said, My heart rejoiceth
in the Lord. Mine horn is exalted in the Lord. The horn, now, is used all through
the Scripture. People back in these old days
were familiar with animals. All of
their lives were spent around animals. Deer, rams, bulls, you
know, and so forth. And the strength of a male was
in horn. Right? Horn. Anytime you mention,
it mentions horn in the scripture. That's strength, that's the emblem
of strength. The altar, you know, had horns,
four horns, emblem of our Lord's strength, the ram, the male. Well, she said, my strength,
my strength is in the Lord. He is my strength. That's what
she's saying, that I have none but in Him. He is my strength.
And she said, in my mouth, Do you remember when, uh... Oh, what's her name? Nina? I had to search. Remember when she was boasting
of how she had all those babies, had all those children, and Hannah
had none? Remember that? What do you think
Hannah had to say about that? When this woman was boasting
of her family, and Hannah had no family to boast of, what was
Hannah's reply? She could say nothing. See, her mouth
was stopped. She had nothing to say. And now she says, now look at
it. She said, my mouth is enlarged
over my enemies. Because I rejoiced in thy salvation. Hannah had to wait on the Lord,
wait and see what the Lord would do. No, he didn't. He provided
her with apparently the only one of all these children that
the Lord saved. No mention, Jenny, of Nina's
children ever again, or hers. But oh, how the Lord blessed
Hannah and her son. She said, My horn, my mouth is
exalted. My answer, she said, I couldn't find an answer before,
but the Lord answered for me. See that? I had no way to
answer. The Lord answered for me. And
if we'll wait too, the Lord will answer everything for us. Here
we'll have our answer from Him. We don't need to give one. Now
that's a good thought. She said, I rejoice in thy salvation.
Heaven's heart's joy. You know she loved that boy's
name. I said, what's your name? A miracle child. And he was a
good son. He had to have been. to be willing
to do what he did here, to come. And he was obviously a devoted
and studious and just a model child, a model son. She brought him, and he was willing
to stay there. And it says he worshipped the
Lord there. He didn't know the Lord, but
he worshipped the Lord, did what his mom and daddy taught him
to do. Now, this was a dear, dear son. And she loved that woman, wouldn't
you? We love sons who are revered.
My mother and father loved me, but this Samuel was worthy to
be loved. Well, but she says, my rejoicing
is in the Lord. I rejoice in His salvation. It's of the Lord's mercies if
we're not sure it's the Lord's mercy and grace and goodness
and kindness in providing in his providence and giving me
this, giving me that. Yes, that's the goodness of the
Lord. And I rejoice in the Lord's goodness in giving me this, giving
me that, in giving me this precious son. But now my heart's chief
rejoicing is in his salvation. His mercy, His grace, His loving-kindness,
His redemption. She rejoiced in her Son, but
rejoiced more in God's Son. Do you see? That way, the Lord
took His Son, and she was still rejoicing. Yes, sir. Do you understand? Rejoice in
the Lord again. She said. All right, now notice
this prayer is full of praise for God. She doesn't ask anything. She doesn't ask anything. Most people think a prayer is
just asking God, give me, give me, give me, give me. No, no,
no. When our Lord taught us to pray, He told us to pray And
ask for two things, bread and forgiveness. And the rest of this prayer,
most of this prayer anyway, is praise and exaltation of God's
character. Verse 2, look at it. There's
none holy as the Lord. There's none holy as the Lord. Tell us about your God, Hannah.
Who do you pray to? What's your God like? Holy, holy is the Lord God above. Now there's a woman that tells
the Lord, tell us about your God. Tell us. Tell, hey, tell
us about your Lord. What's he like? Holy. Lady, Mary, tell us about
your Lord. What's he like? Holy. There's none holy. That's the
Lord. And look at this, saying He liked
them. And there's none beside thee, neither is there any rock
like our God. That sounds clear. There's no
rock like our God, she said. Now, this was Moses' prayer in
Deuteronomy 32. This was exactly what Moses said.
There are rocks not like our God. And Hannah is repeating
There's no original prayer, and there's nothing original with
God's people. We're all saying the same thing.
All of God's people talk about a holy God. They're wrong. All of them, on down the line,
from the greatest, most, to the least. That's what they're all
saying. And that rock is Christ. And God teaches them that. God
teaches them who He is, holy and who their place of refuge
is, Christ the Rock. And there's no rock like our
God. And that's the song of the redeemed. You remember over in
Revelation, the song of Moses, and they all sung the song of
Moses. You remember that? He said, all the people in glory
sing the song of Moses. What's that? About the rock. About the rock. All of God's
children. And so Hannah is repeating Moses. And you remember us reading in
Psalm 113, David, you're feeding her. So all of God's people say the same
things concerning the same one. Verse 3, talk no more so exceeding
proudly. Let not arrogancy come out of
your mouth. The Lord is a God of knowledge.
By Him actions are weighed. Who's she talking to? Who's she talking to? Not us. Although, I didn't hear that. She's talking to herself. Huh? She's talking to herself.
That needs to be, we need to be reminded, don't talk proudly.
Never, never let arrogancy come out of your mouth. And whoever's
hearing this prayer. Lord is a God of knowledge. Lord
is a God of knowledge. God knows the thoughts and intents
of the heart. He's not listening to words. We're not heard for our much
speaking, Scripture says. By Him, actions are weighed.
God doesn't listen to the words. He looks at the heart. God's
not watching the actions. He's looking at the mode behind
the action, the purpose behind it. She said, the bows of the
mighty men are broken. That's the weapons of mighty
men. Whatever mighty men, strong men,
women lean upon, whatever they resort to, they're weapons. She says, they're broken. The
Lord's going to break them off. But now, she said, they that
stumble, those that have no weapons, are girded with strength. Maybe that's where Paul got this.
Girt with the truth, the whole armor of the Lord, strong in
the Lord, and the power of his mind. And all he said, his strength
is made perfect in our weakness. So anybody that leans on the
arm of the flesh, whatever it may be, going to have that torn
out from under them. But those that lean on the arm
of the Lord are girded with strength. Underneath are the everlasting
arms. First five, they that were full have hired out themselves
for bread. That is, those that are rich
and increased with goods, they're turned away. But they
that were hungry, they that were hungry ceased
from being hungry. Remember David said, I'm old. I've been young, and I now am
old," he said in his latter days. You see, I've never seen the
righteous forsaken. Never. And we'll see that in
a minute. Nor his seed beg and bring. Never. I've told you many times of people
calling me on the phone asking for assistance from our church
for food or whatever. And first thing I asked them,
do you go to church anywhere? Oh yeah, I remember. I say again, you mean to tell
me that those people where you go that's supposed to love you,
provide for their own, that your life, they're going to turn your
life's out? That you don't have any food? That's just not settled with
God's people. And then I proceeded to say something
about the gospel to every one of them and say, you come here,
you hear the gospel, I guarantee you, your needs will be met.
There's not a person in our congregation that's ever had their electric
bill turned off, their electric bill turned off. And every one
of them was pretty glazed and full. That's just not so with
God's people. No, they're not, they don't not
go hungry. And maybe the principal meaning
is, never hunger for the gospel. In that time when the world is
in famine of the hearing of the word, God's people have a table. A lavish table spread before
them. All they got to do is come hungry,
and they can eat to their fullest. Verse 5 says, she that was barren,
the barren hath borne seven. Seven being a perfect number.
She hadn't borne this many yet, had she? Well, she does have
several, I forget. But the number seven is always
perfection. And what she's saying is, I have
a perfect child. This one is as good as Sabbath
to me," she said, and he was. And she that hath many children
is wax feeble because of them. She's got nothing but trouble.
This woman that was boasted, and remember how we saw that
Hannah represents the church. Remember in chapter 1, Hannah
represents the church, and this other woman is someone who pretends to be a believer, but
it's not. Well, false church may have many,
many members, but they have lots of trouble. God's people. I wish I could
tell people, are you looking for a perfect church? This is
as close as it comes. It really is, people. It really
is. I don't hesitate to say that.
I'm not bragging on this church. I'm bragging on the grace of
God, on the gospel that does it. We haven't had a fuss in
11 years. I ain't going to knock on wood
or cross my fingers. I'm going to praise God for that.
We haven't had a fuss. In spite of me, my meeting, in
spite of your meeting, we haven't had a fuss since I've been here. And I don't anticipate anything,
not as long as the gospel is preached. And, ah, boy, they that are barren are born
seven. She that hath many is at wax
feet. Well, verse 6 said, now she continues to talk about our
Lord. She says, the Lord killeth. and make it alive. She's just, she's just, why does
she say this? Why does she pray this? Because
this is part of His glory of character. This is His person,
and this is our part. Anything or anyone dies, God
killed it. And it needed to be or it would
not be. Remember. Whoever it may be. The Lord killeth. Remember that. The Lord killeth. Cancer doesn't
kill. The Lord killeth. A car wreck
doesn't kill. There's no accident. There's
no such thing as an accident. Now here's our problem. The Lord
killeth. And the Lord make it a lie. The
Lord make it a lie. He sure does. And spiritually
speaking, the Lord is going to have to kill those who are already dead and
sinning. Our family. The Lord's going to have to kill
them. I mean, you understand what I'm saying? Spiritually
speaking. And that's what we want them to do. We want the
Lord to do. We want the Lord to slay them,
kill them, and make them alive. That's what He's got to do first,
is kill them to make them alive. We have to humble them to raise
them up. So, if it dies, God killed it. If they're convicted,
the Lord has to do it. If it lives, if life is given,
the Lord gave it. The Lord gives, the Lord taketh
away. Heard that before? All right. Verse 7, no, verse
6, he bringeth down to the grave and he bringeth up. Whoever are
his own that he brings to the grave, he'll sure bring up to
glory. And verse 7, the Lord maketh poor, the Lord maketh
poor, the Lord maketh rich. Working that meager job for how
many years now? How long has it been since you've
had a raise? Huh? Barely making ends meet? Huh?
Are the ends meeting? That's all you need. The ends
to meet. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
He maketh poor and he maketh rich. Promotions of the Lord,
Scripture said, demotion is too. Let me tell you this, what Scripture
said. There are those that have great
riches, Proverbs says, yet have nothing. And there are those
that make themselves poor, or are made poor, yet have great
riches. Let me tell you this. Better is little with a fear
of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. Better is a dry morsel with a
fear of the Lord than a stalled ox or a freezer full of meat
and a lot of trouble. So the Lord does this. He bringeth
low and lifteth up. The Lord bringeth low and lifteth
up. Low and high. It's of the Lord. Verse 8. I like this. I love
this verse. And this is what David quoted. The Lord raises up the poor out
of dust. Lifteth up the beggar from the
dunghill. Pour out of the dust to set them among princes and
make them inherit the throne of glory. Now who's he speaking
of? Well, I think of many people
throughout the history of God's Word. I think of Joseph. Remember his brethren cast him
into a pit, an old dusty pit? Where did he end up? On the throne
of glory. I think of Gideon. Gideon was
out there threshing wheat. Have you ever threshed wheat?
Being in a field where you're cutting hay or whatever, it's
hot, it's dusty. We're getting in there. Captain
of a great army. Leader of the people. Deliverer of God's people. I
think of David. He's following sheep. That's
what Nathan reminded me. The Lord said to David, I took
you from following sheep, leading and following sheep. Walking
along behind a bunch of sheep. to the throne of Israel, greatest
king ever, huh? I can think of one in particular.
The Lord, He groweth as a root out of dry grain. Where is He? On the throne of glory, right
there. And these beggars, beggars from
the dung heap, beggars from the dung heap, One time I was out
shoveling manure behind Molly, and she can make a lot of it. But Bob Coffey was visiting. He was watching me do that. And
he was shaking his head. I kind of enjoyed it, believe
it or not. But he was shaking his head,
and I said, that's the job. I said, everybody needs to do
this. Everybody needs to take off their
coat and tie, come down off their high horse, and get over here
and shovel this maneuver. Because that's to remind you
what we are, and where we came from. Because you see, we're
all beggars, lifted off the dung heap of this world. This world,
think about it. He started out by saying, she
started out by saying, there's none holy. You know what this
world is to God? You know what this world is like
to the holy, thrice-holy God who can't look on the sun if
it doesn't shine? You know what it's equivalent
of to God Almighty? The old writers used to talk
about it, cesspool of iniquity. That's what they used to call
it, how the Lord came down in a cesspool of iniquity. This,
what do we have, septic tank of iniquity called planet Earth,
and it is. Our little town is restrained
a great deal, but it's still. It's a shrinking block city.
Right? And we're all from it. And we're all full of it. No
pun intended. No yes pun intended. And we all
come from it and we're all beggars. Right? We're all beggars. Beggars
being totally dependent on someone else for a handout or a Hands
out. So dependent on somebody to reach
down. This thing I saw, he reached
down for me. Where'd he reach to? In the muck in the mire in
the dunghill. This beggar. And what'd he do? Huh? Washed us, roped us, the
flies, the balm of Gilead, the sweet-smelling spices of Christ's
righteousness. sets us at his table, sets us
among princes, princes. My boy, isn't the Lord
good? Verse 8, it says, he, pillars
of the Lord, earth of the Lord, that is, the foundations of the
Lord, he set the world upon them. That is, the whole world turns
on the axis that God put it on, everything. You remember on Nebuchadnezzar,
the mightiest man on earth at the time? Remember how he said, look at
what all my hand has done? You remember what the Lord did
to him? Don't talk so arrogantly, so
proudly. Let not arrogancy come out of
your mouth again." He was brought down to look like, to literally
be an animal. His fingernails grew, his hair
and all that, until he found out, the Scripture says in Daniel
4, that the Most High ruleth the kingdom of men, and giveth
it to whomsoever He will. that the earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof. The earth, the world, and David's
will therein, and he giveth it to whomsoever he will. The whole
world turns because God turns it, and everybody and everything
in it is under his sovereign reign and rule, and he giveth
it, or whatever in it, Lord teach me to pray like this.
He will keep, oh verse 9, he will keep. Now he, she's told
us who the Lord is, what he has done and what he is doing and
now she's going to tell us what he will do. He will keep the
feet of his saints. Yes he will. David picked this
up David picked this up in Psalm 121, verse 3, he said, He that
keepeth Israel shall not slumber or sleep. He will not suffer
thy foot to be moved. Now, John, here's a word in Jesus'
name. David said, and you remember
David said this before, he said, My feet will not slip. You ever feel like one foot, what's
the old saying, one foot slips? I'm ready to go. I'm ready to fall. I'm ready to slip. That's what
David was saying. I feel like I'm going to fall
at any time now. He will keep feet, like he said. Not one of those who trusted
in him has fallen for good. But though a righteous man fall,
he'll never give it to them. Always. Seven times seven. Seventy times seven. He will
keep the feet of his saints. Folks, I need to hear that. He'll
keep our feet in paths of righteousness to the end. The Lord, it says,
look at it, verse nine, the wicked shall be silent in darkness.
He'll keep the feet of his people, those that trust Christ, he'll
keep. Those that think they keep themselves,
he'll cast out. They'll be in silence, they'll
be silent in darkness. The wicked shall be silent in
darkness, nothing to say, nothing to say. God's people, Christ will answer
for them. And by strength, verse nine, by strength shall no man
prevail. Not by might, not by power, or anything of the flesh,
but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. The adversaries of the Lord shall
be broken to pieces. We don't have to answer them.
Say the Lord will be Satan, or whoever it may be, because the
Lord wants vengeance in His mind. He said, I will attack. Out of
heaven shall He plunder upon them, and the righteous are going
to see it. The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth. He shall
judge how? Who is this Lord? Who's He talking
about? Our Lord Jesus Christ is who
He's talking about, or She's talking about. And the Lord said,
He hath permitted all judgment unto the Son. That's what Christ
said. The Father hath committed all
judgment unto the Son. So this is Christ. How is he
going to judge the earth? How? Acts 17, verse 31 says,
The Lord hath ordained. The Lord is going to judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. So now this is, here's a good
note, here's a good note. We're coming to the judgment.
We all shall stand before the judgment seat of God. All right? But God's people, those that
know and love and trust Christ, those whom he died for and gave
them his righteousness, he's the judge. So there's therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ. He's going to say enter in. The rest is a question. While
he judges them by himself according to his righteousness, we're judged
by his righteousness. We're found righteous. They'll be judged next to his
righteousness. Well, that man. And so it says,
the Lord shall judge and he shall give strength unto his king.
Who are you talking about, Anna? What king are you talking about?
Israel doesn't have a king yet. Oh, she's going to. His name
is David. Your son, actually. Samuel. She doesn't know it yet, but
Samuel's going to be really the first king. Let me show you something. Show them in. Go back to the
first chapter. Back to the first chapter. You know what the name of this book
is? First Kings. Look up there under the title.
First book of Samuel, otherwise called First Book of Kings. Second Samuel is the Second Kings.
The First Kings is the Third Kings. Why is that? Because Samuel, in 1 Samuel,
the whole book of 1 Samuel is about Samuel, the first king,
the first prophet, prophet, priest, and king. What a type of Christ
Samuel was. He was a prophet, he was a priest,
and he was, in fact, the king of Israel. And he's the one that
anointed David as the king. And all of the second kings,
or rather second saints, is about David. There's a little tidbit
on top of it. Well, what king are you talking
about, Hannah? Well, your son? Yes. Well, David? Yes. Well, how about the king
of kings? Yes, he has all strength, and he is God's anointed. Exalt
the Lord in the strength of thy anointing. And he will, and he
has. And now, she ended her prayer. And I looked at this next verse,
and I thought, what am I going to say about that? This kind
of looks like in passing, it says, and Elkanah went to the
house. Why did it say that? Why did it remind us of that?
Because, well, Hannah did too. She sent her husband, her head,
whatever he did, she did too. She went to the house. Now, remember, she had brought
her only child, her son, her firstborn, her only son whom
she loved to the Lord. All right? And dropped him off. She didn't
know Eli. Hotman Phineas was there too. Eve, I was in a mess. She brought
that boy up to the ledge and dropped him off. I said, honey,
what's going on? What are you trying to say?
What's the Lord saying here? She, see, she had done, she,
she extolled and honored and glorified and praised. After
this prayer, Vicki, of nothing but praise for God, what else
is she going to do? Worry? After a prayer like that, what's she
going to do? I hope my boy's okay. Eli, you better take care
of him now. Let's go to the house. Okay, now? Let's go to the house. Think you'll be all right? I
know he'll be all right. The Lord makes it alive. The Lord raises us up. The Lord
catches us down. The Lord makes us poor. The Lord
makes us rich. None holy is higher than God. The Lord lives in us. And look at what happened, it
says, the child did minister unto the Lord before he lied
to the priest. And on later on, we may look
at it later, but he didn't know the Lord that he was going to die. The Lord's got to honor
a prayer like that. You say you can't trust the Lord,
it doesn't happen. Knowing the Lord. He'll honor
a prayer like that. Yes, he will. See, she wasn't
asking. She was praising. She wasn't
worrying or threatening. She was casting it all before
the Lord. She was resting, trusting the
Lord. Whatever you do is right. And
we know what he did, don't we? That's good news. And if only
the Lord would give us the prayer of a hand. All right, let's stand. I wish somebody else would pray,
but I will. Our Lord, thank You for Your
Word. I would thank You. From the mouth of a weak, weaker
vessel, formerly barren woman, troubled
and tried, yet now, woman by your grace and mercy and kindness
and revelation, woman of faith, strength and resolve. Lord, give
us the faith of a henna. Give us the prayer of a Hannah. We pray. That's our prayer. Lord,
we do commit our young people unto thee. Cast all our cares
upon thee, knowing you care for others. You gave, and they're
yours. It's all yours. So we roll it
back onto thee, knowing that you will do what's right, and
the judge of the earth shall do what's right. And, Lord, we
do ask that you would honor your word in our midst that you did
handle the bowl and the salvation of our sons and daughters for
the glory of that great King in who is all our strength and
hope in heaven, your anointed, the one whose name we pray in
and you always hear. So we ask these things for Christ's
sake. His glory and honor according to your words. Amen.