I like that. That third verse, there's
a scene where spirits blimp, though sundered by far or by
faith they leap. around one common mercy savior.
He talks about saints on earth and in heaven, all doing the
same thing, doing the same thing, worshipping around the Lord Jesus
Christ. All right, back to 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel chapter 1. I know the scripture reading
itself was a blessing to you. This is an Old Testament story
that illustrates how God's church
on earth, though few in number, relatively
few in number, compared to all the world. Yet, God's church has His love. They
have His favor. They have His blessings. There
are three persons, three principal characters in this story. Well,
four, but at the beginning there's this man named Elkanah. He represents
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then there's Hannah. Hannah
represents God's church, true church. And then there's this
woman named Anina who represents false church, those who seem
to be but are not, who have a name but are not. And then the fourth
character is Samuel, the offspring. All right, let's read now the
first two verses again here in the first section. Now, there
was a certain man, I'll not read these names. Elkanah was his
name. Verse two, he had two wives,
and the name of the one was Hannah. Hannah means favor, favor. He had two wives. The name of
the one was Hannah. The name of the other was Penina. As I said, these two women represent
God's true bride, Christ's true church, and those who are not. Our Lord said, there must be
heresies among you. It has always been so that there
have been sheep and goats mixed together. Paul's brethren, our
Lord said, crept in to the church. Wheat among tarry. One of these
women was a true wife. One of them was Elpaino's beloved
true wife. The other one was a wife in name
only. Our Lord said in Matthew's Gospel,
Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the
kingdom of heaven. But the Lord knows his own. The
foundation of God stands sure, the scripture says. The Lord
knows them that are in us. He knows them and he loves them. Look at verses 4 and 5. Now when the time was that Elkanah
offered, he gave to Peninnah, his wife, all her sons and her
daughters portion. But under Hannah, he gave a worthy,
or a double portion, for he loved Hannah. He loved Hannah. But the Lord said, I don't want
her. It says that he gave, Elkanah gave things to Pneuma, this one
woman. Gave things to her, fortune,
goods, things like that to this woman and all of her offspring.
But now to Hannah, gave her a double portion. And it says of her that
he loved her. It doesn't say that he loved
the other woman, does it? Hmm? It says he loved Hannah. It doesn't say that about the
other woman. And so it is. Our Lord Jesus Christ, He loves
His own. He has His own church. And He
loves His church. He doesn't love everyone. Scripture don't teach that. But
He does love His own. And while He gives the world
many things, He gives the world many things, that he gives unto his well-beloved,
his church, his love, and himself, and a double portion. Anybody
heard that before? Isaiah 40, it says, Comfort ye,
comfort ye, comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith the Lord. Speak ye unto them, cry unto
them, that their warfare is accomplished. For sins are pardoned. She hath
received of the Lord the devil for all her sins." Now, devil
worship. We have not only the mercy of
God, but we have the love of God. We have not only the grace
of God, but the truth of God. We have not only the righteousness
provided, but all things necessary. Justified, sanctified. Peace
with God. Not only does He forgive us and
spare us, but adopts us into His family. And on and on it
goes. A double point. The Lord loved
Hannah, or obtained to love Hannah, and the Lord loves His church.
Hannah means favored, and we are favored, highly favored of
God. And while this woman had many
things in all of her children, and the religious world, the
religious world is healthy, wealthy, yet not loved by the Lord. And
that will be manifest soon. Well, it says that she had many
children, this Penea, verse 2. She had many children, had children,
first of all, sons and daughters, evidently quite a few, large
households. And so it is in the world. Our
Lord said, many false prophets have gone out and we received
many, many. There are many out there. False religion has many, many,
many, many followers. I was telling these folks down
right here heard this last night. I guarantee you some of you didn't
hear it or didn't retain it. But I was telling them that everywhere I go I notice so-called
churches. That's, you know, it's like,
I don't know, you men that work various locations or build houses
or whatever, you notice houses that are being built or whatever. Your car, man, you notice. Well,
I look at these religious places. I see them all. I read their
bulletin boards. I just, I notice them all. We
were driving down the road, and I said, You see that sign, you
know? I didn't see it. I read them all. I want to see
what's being said and what's going on and all that. In this
world, the religious world, I'm telling you, it's growing at leaps and bounds. You can go anywhere. And see
a little country place, they're just adding on, adding on, adding
on. Big, big buildings that cost hundreds and hundreds of thousands
of dollars. Didn't help them, wealth them,
wise in its own conceits. And they have many, many people.
They have to have a lot of people. See, people don't, out there
in the world, don't give a lot of money. No, they don't. So-called church members out
there, they don't give anything. Believe me. They don't give anything. So you have to have a lot of
people to pay for those things. A lot of people that attend those
places. Many, many, many, many followers.
And they do, you know, many things to bring them in. And so that's
What this woman is a picture of. She had many, many children.
And boy, she was proud of them. We're going to see them in a
minute. She was really proud of all those children. Who gives
children? She was proud of them nonetheless.
But the Lord shut up Hannah. Hannah didn't have any. The Lord shut her up. Let me
say it. Verse 5. The Lord had shut up her woman. And God's church, there's a passage
in, I believe it's, yeah, Acts 2, that says, The Lord added
daily to the church such as should be saved. There's another passage
in Acts that says, As many as were ordained to eternal life,
believe me. But they're not coming in by
drones. God's people are not many at
any one given time. They're few. They're few. The Lord determines who and when
and how many. The Lord showed up her womb.
And the true bride, the true church of Christ seems barren.
It does. Preach this down at Victor Chapel. That name, they gave that name
back when they were jumping the pews. But I bet you when it got down
to about six people after Lord revealed the gospel to Old Mother
Fred, and it got down to him and his wife and his mother-in-law
and daughters, that's it. Everybody else split over the
gospel. I bet they're wondering, what
kind of victory is this? Victory, chaplain. But the church of Christ seemed
barren because it is so few, but the Lord purchased, the Lord
determined how many and when, and when. Well, it says, look,
in verse six and seven, that Hannah was persecuted by this
other woman. Her adversary also provoked her sword, to make her
fret, because the Lord had shut up Hannah's woman. And as he
did so year by year, that is, as the obtainer went up year
by year, they all went up to the house of the Lord. But this
Peninnah, she provoked Hannah, kept provoking Hannah. And Hannah
wept. Can't you hear this woman bragging
about her children in the face of Hannah? Bragging,
boasting about her children, what good children they are,
how handsome they are, how they resemble their father, you know.
Just bragging and boasting of what the Lord did for Hannah.
Not boasting in the Lord. She's boasting in herself. This
is what I predict. What have you predicted? Look at my children. Isn't that what the so-called
church today is doing? Boasting in itself? Well, I want
you to notice something here. Hannah is called by name
right here in verse 5. And after verse four, we're not
going to hear the name of Lenina again. Her name is not mentioned again.
But when she's referred to, she's referred to as the adversary. You notice that? We're not going
to hear from that woman again, except to say that she's the
adversary. But Hannah, oh, she's called
by name here and hereafter, mentioned time and time again while there's
two chapters written about this woman in God's Word. And her offspring, oh, the Lord
is going to bless this woman. The Lord hears her prayer, blesses
her greatly, remembers her, and the other woman is not even mentioned
again. Not even mentioned again. But Hannah's provoked by this
one. As we are, when we hear people
bragging and boasting of their religion and their church. We hear them bragging and boasting.
Why do people ask, what is the first question that people ask
you? When they hear, they ask you where you go to church, what
is the first question out of that? Every time. Everybody here,
let's say it all together. Everybody hears it. How many? Why do people ask that? They're not interested in how
many you have. They just want to tell you in
a matter of how many they have. How many? And we were talking last night
about how sometimes now, sometimes I've got a bit. Sometimes when people ask me
that, I kind of, should I pump it up? You don't do that, do you? Surely
not. Surely not. You wouldn't raise a number.
Preachers do. But there are times when I have
to say, well, 40 adults. I don't include children. And
there are times when I almost act embarrassed. But then the Lord convinced me about it. I ought to be so thankful that
twenty, twenty adults in this ungodly, godless, perverse generation,
twenty, twenty adults believe the truth. I ought to be amazed. I ought to thank God in the high
heaven if he revealed himself to one. I shouldn't be embarrassed
or ashamed, I ought to be thanking God. Hey, we had five in Bible
class the other day. Five! Can you believe that? That's what me and boasting.
Numbers, they're not boasting in the Lord, they're not glorying
in the Lord. They're going in their organization
and what all they've done to bring me their service for the
Lord. That's what this woman was doing.
She was boasting of her children. And Hannah was sad about this.
She was sad about this. And I admit, there were times
not too long ago, recently, that I went up in the bathroom stream
and had to clean a cobweb which I'd had. And I thought, am I ever going to
feel this thing again? But Hannah was sad, you know,
and there are times that we get that way and think, is this it?
Is this it? Do we not have a hearing? Is
the Lord with us? Are we really His church? Well, Hannah was
sad about not having children, and that's a trial, a terrible
trial. My wife and I went through that
for a while. It's tough. I didn't think we
could have children. It's tough. And she was very
sad about it and wept and cried and prayed about it. Well, her
husband, Versailles, El Cain, her husband, was a dear, sweet,
tender, kind, compassionate, caring man. Oh, he was a loving
man. He cared dearly, provided for
Hannah. He loved Hannah. He showed her.
And he spoke these to her. Hannah's husband spoke these
to her, huh? And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at it, verse
8. Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Hannah, favored him. My favorite, dear,
lovely, favorite wife, apple of my eye, why won't you stop? What are you crying about? Huh? I just know he had his arms
around her, caressing her cheeks, drying
her tears from her eyes. Why are you crying? Read on. Why eatest thou not? Why is thy heart grieved? Look
at this. Am not I better to thee than
ten sons? Hannah, why are you crying? You have me. And Nina has all those children,
and she has trouble. Doesn't she? Look at her. There
and there. But Hannah, you have me. Have
not I bettered for thee than ten sons? Do you see what that's
saying? Do you see what our Lord is saying
there? Am not I better to thee to the
church? Christ says weep not, grieve not, fear not. I've given
the world to the world. I've given you to me. Do you remember the story of
Abram and his nephew Lot? They came to that fork in the road, you know? And
Abraham said, block him, take whatever it is you want. He went
and lifted his flip and sodomized him. Sodom and Gomorrah, oh boy. Abraham was stuck for the
mountains. Stuck for the mountains. I heard some woman the other
day say, don't head for the mountains. Abraham did. He did, didn't he? That's where
he is. Moses went to the mountains. Huh? All God's people head to
the mountains. Abraham went to the mountains. God was with him there. Lot about
had his soul down, down there in that blessed, well-watered
valley. Huh? The Lord says to his church,
I've given the world the world. I've given you myself. I've made
the world rich in increases good. I've given you the unsearchable
riches of Christ. I've put the world in their heart.
I've put you in mine, and me in yours. Is not Christ the mess you, church? That's all our name? Hannah? Samuel, your name's Hannah. Is not Christ better than 1,000
members in a large, vast temple? What would you rather have? A 25-piece band and a 100-member
choir? Or the presence of the Lord Jesus
Christ? Huh? What would you rather have?
The world's greatest orator? The best looking preacher on
earth? Or the gospel? The truth that sets you free. Huh? I asked this question last night.
Here's a brown tent out in the middle of the wilderness. Badger skin covered tent. Nothing at all special about
it. An ugly old brown tent in the
wilderness. And there's a few people going
in. And up here's a huge edifice of glass and wood and hay and
stuff. And all the masses are going
in here. Which would you, where would you rather be? The Brown's
Inn and the Wilderness are the big temple here. Let me tell
you about it first. In that Brown's Inn is where
God Almighty dwells. The Shekinah glory of God is
there. It doesn't look like much on the outside, but when you
go inside, there's gold, there's silver, there's precious stone.
Up here, that's where all the masses are going, but there's
a name written on the door. He's alive. The glory has to come. Got a lot of numbers, a
lot of people, a lot of goings-on. Christ's not there. It's just a few, but the glory
of God shines forth in that man. Huh? Which would you rather have?
Which would you rather have? Is not the gospel, is not Christ
better than all that this world has to offer? All the religious
entertainment, huh? Well, but Hannah was persecuted. And are not, are we not persecuted
by the religious world? Nobody more than me, people.
Nobody more than me. I have to face all these successful
preachers. What are you doing? Hannah was persecuted for her barrenness. Who shot the woman? Who did this? The Lord did this. Well, Hannah
prays, though. Hannah prays unto the Lord. Verse
9, Hannah rose up. Now, you're going to see her
from here on out in the same place. You're going to hear mention
of Hannah in this place. Why don't you? It says, Hannah
rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh. Shiloh. Verse 3 says they went up year
by year to worship in Shiloh. Turn with me to Genesis 49 real
quick. Genesis 49. Alright? Hannah is found worshiping at
Shiloh here and hereafter. So many times you hear her name
in this story, she's at Shiloh. That's where she's found. Shiloh. Shiloh was where the tabernacle
was. Patrick, that's where the temple
wasn't built yet. The temple wasn't built in Jerusalem
yet. You know, Solomon's the one that built the temple. He's
not born yet. Well, Shiloh was where the tent,
where Joshua set up the tabernacle as a semi-permanent place. Shiloh. But this Shiloh, this
name Shiloh, is his strength. Shiloh is the name given to the
Christ. It has a double meaning. It's
the place where the tabernacle is, and it's also a name for
the Christ. Look at Jacob's prophecy here. You know this by heart. Chapter
49, verse 8, Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise.
Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemy. Thy father's
children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whip
from the prey. My son, thou art gone up. He
stooped down. He couched as a lion, as an old
lion. Who shall rouse him up? The scepter
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his
feet, until Shadda. And unto him, that Shadda, unto
him shall the gathering of the people be. So that place was
a person. All of God's people were found
worshiping a person in a certain place. Shadda. And that's the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's our place of worship. He's
the person we worship. He's where, that's where you'll
find God's people. Now, Hannah, back to the text.
Hannah's troubled and she pours out her heart to the Lord. We
read that. She was in bitterness of soul,
prayed unto the Lord. She bowed and bowed to the Lord.
And what she said in verse 11, It's not good to vow a vow. The
Lord doesn't condone that. She did this, but the Lord doesn't
condone that. But here's what she did say that
was good. Verse 11, she said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt. She prayed, Lord, first thing
I'm going to do, if thou wilt. If you're willing. Not my will,
but thy will. If you wills, indeed, look on
the affliction of thy hand, man, and remember me. Forget me not. Well, give me a man child, a
seed, and I'll give him back to you. He'll be yours, if thou
wills. So she says, if you'll do this,
if you're willing to give me a child, then I'll
give him back for your glory. So this is what she's praying
for, and the Lord answers this prayer. If thou wilt, it can
be according to your will to do this for me, then I'll give
you all the glory. You'll get all the glory. This
child be yours, not mine, yours. If thou wilt, if you will, nevertheless,
not my will, but thy will be done. Well, verses 12 and 13, it says
that she continued to pray, and fortunately, it says she kept
asking and asking like that with him. Kept asking. Eli, it says, marked her mouth.
That is, he observed her mouth moving. Oh, but God was listening to
her heart. Hannah spake in her heart, it says, verse 13. Her
lips moved. Her voice was not heard. Now sometimes, most of the time,
we pray without words because we can't come up with words.
Am I right? Roy, do you feel that way? I
do. Most of the time, I really can't
privately call on and pray publicly. We've got to speak. But privately,
I confess, most of the time, I have a hard time with just
more groaning more than anything. That's what Romans 8 says. The
Spirit makes intercessions for us with groanings that cannot
be uttered. The Lord heard her heart. She
met her heart without words. Words without heart. We're going
to hear her pray in a minute, though, out loud. Oh, well, later
on, not today. But God hears the heart. Man
marks the mouth. That's the reason I don't like
praying in public, in restrooms and things like that. We're not
trying to be seen by men. They mark the mouth. He had mentioned his sons, Hoppy
and Phineas, on purpose at the very beginning, because they
were devils. And Eli himself was in a bad
shape, as even God's true preachers can get. Well, he thought he
was drunk. She said, No, I'm not drunk.
I'm sorrowful. I'm sorrowful. I'm grieving.
I'm pouring out my complaint unto the Lord. spoke peace to her also. See, by the sheet, her husband
had to speak peace to her first. You understand? That's where
she needed to seek and find her peace first. She should have
listened to her husband. But she didn't. You
understand what I'm saying? The Lord Jesus Christ is where
we find our peace, not from me. And He speaks peace in the heart
of His people. He always does. Peace. The first thing He said,
when He rose from the grave and those three times He appeared,
the first thing He said to them, He spoke. He said, that's where we seek our
peace. If we're trying to seek it somewhere
else, we're not going to find it. From someone or some thing,
we're not going to find it. Go to your husband. It's time
late, Christians. And He'll speak peace to you.
And if you listen... Well, she didn't, but then she
heard from this man. And thank God, God does send
men with the message of the gospel. With peace. And he spoke peace
to her. Didn't he? He said, verse 17,
Go in peace. The God of Israel grant thee
thy petition. Verse 17. Go in peace. What's the message of peace that
the preacher of the gospel preaches? Christ hath peace. He's made peace for us. He that
spared not his own son, shall he not with him freely give us
altar? Huh? Why are you crying? Weep
not. Behold, the lives of tribal Judah
hath prevailed. Go in peace. I'm going to grant
you. You're going to get all your
blessings. Yeah, y'all. Just wait. Just wait. She heard a message
of peace. Well, so look at what happened.
I want you to look. Verse 18, and I'm going to hurry. She said, oh, and she called
this man Lord. Not Lord in the sense of Our
Lord, we worship Him, sir. Oh, sir." She greatly respected
and esteemed highly this man of God. And she said, Oh, let Thine handmaid
find grace in Thy sight. She sought, she wanted God's
grace and she wanted to please Him through it. Nothing wrong
with that. Sure isn't. So the woman went
her way. Look at it. She heard this word
from the man of God, so she went her way and got her a bite to
eat and her accountants was no more sad. No more. No more sad. Is she pregnant yet? No. She believed God through
the mouth of this man. Go in peace. God's going to grant
you, God's going to... It shall be well, my son. All
things work together for good and in the love of God and the
call of the Lord and His purpose. We know. We know this. Go in peace. Okay. One more second. Huh? One more second. What's
the first thing she did? Verse 19. What's the first thing
they did? She rose up in the morning early. She got to the
church house early. And worshipped. Worshipped. The book of the Lord. And then her and her husband
went home, and they had intimate relations, and she got pregnant. She conceived. This is special
medicine. She conceived, the Lord remembered
her. When the fullness of time was coming, verse 20, Hannah
had conceived, she bare a son, an old boy. He called his name Samuel, the pastor of God. Now, she has this baby,
and he's growing up in her house, and he's a special son. I mean, he's a special son. We may go on a little further
with this in days to come. This is wonderful. This Samuel
is wonderful. And as this child began to grow,
Scripture says, in favor with God and men. Does that sound
familiar to you? I bet you if you asked Hannah, is he worth waiting on? What would your brother have? Ten average boys? trouble might be of one Samuel. Samuel himself is a picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't he? Well, Anna had a boy. And where'd they go? Well, it
says that she waited a while until he was old enough that
she was going to take him to Charlotte. Going to take him
to Charlotte. That's where she was. That's
where she liked to go. That's where her husband was
at that time. That's where they worshipped.
That's where she liked to go. She will thank the Lord for that. Verse 24, When she had winged
him, she took him up with her with three bullocks, and one
ether of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him to the
house of the Lord, and he shined up. And he was a young boy, five,
six, seven, eight. He didn't know the Lord yet.
He didn't know the Lord. She took it. She presented it
to the Lord. She told Eli that I'm the woman
that was up here praying several years ago. The Lord granted my
request. And now, verse 27, this child
I prayed, the Lord given me my petition. I asked him, therefore,
I've lent him to the Lord. He's yours. He's the Lord's.
The Lord gave him. And I'm giving it back. I'm presenting
him to the Lord as long as he lives. As long as this boy lives,
I'm going to tell him, Lord, he's yours. Are you listening,
ladies? As long as that boy lives, as
long as he's under my roof, I'm going to bring him where he's
worshiped. I'm going to say, Lord, he's yours. And he doesn't
know it yet, or she. But you gave him to me, you gave
her to me, and now he's yours, Lord, it's up to you to give
yourself to him." He did the Lord. But look at verse 28, and
this is where I quit. It says in the last line that
he worshipped the Lord there. Who did? Who worshipped the Lord? Samuel did. But he didn't know
the Lord, Samuel. He worshipped the Lord. But he didn't know the Lord.
How could he have worshipped the Lord if he didn't? He did. Young people, you see
why I say, have your children sing His songs? You better do
it. These children better be singing
His songs. Better be worshipping the Lord. You remember old Job? Remember old Job? One time he
offered up sacrifices. He said, My children, I'm not
doing this. I'm going to do it for them. And nevertheless, we bring our
children here and we teach them the worship of the Lord. They
don't know the Lord, but they... And they sing these songs we
sing. Oh, how I love Him, you know. I once was lost, and now I'm
found." Well, they don't know what they're talking about. They
needn't sing it anyway. They need to worship the Lord. They need
to thank the Lord, even though they don't know Him. They need
to thank the Lord, young people. They need to thank the Lord.
They need to call on Him. Worship Him. He's worthy to be
worshiped. And in time, in the fullness
of time, God revealed himself to old young Samuel. Oh, what
a prophet he was. So, the world has the world,
but is not Christ worth more than many members? All right, let's
stand. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for your Word, your Word which comforts us, your Word
which reveals truth which comforts us. This is truly what comforts
you, thy Word which is truth. Sets us free from sorrow over
much grief. Sets us free from fretting. Sets
us free from unbelief. Sets us free from following after
the world. Sets us free from vain thoughts. Sets us free by word which is
truth. We see, like David, when we enter
the sanctuary, we see the end. We see their end, the world's
end. We see our glory's end because
we believe in our gracious Lord and Master and faithful husband
who cannot lie, who promised us many things and left us until
we be weaned, until he bring us back to himself. Reveal your truth to us and our
children, we pray, for your glory, if thou wilt. We present these children to
you, these, our husbands and wives and mothers and fathers. If thou wilt, reveal them, set
them to you, we give them to you. Dedicate them to you. May yours to do with as you please.
May it be pleasing to you. Reveal yourself to them as you
did young Satan. For your glory and for your service.
It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you.