If you wanna follow along, please
turn to 1 Samuel chapter two. 1 Samuel chapter two. This is one of those I really
hope is a well-known portion of scripture. If it ain't, I
hope you really get to know it here. I just wanna begin reading in
verse six of 1 Samuel chapter two. The Lord killeth and maketh
alive. He bringeth down unto the grave
and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh
rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of
the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill to set them
among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth
are the Lord's, and he has set the world upon them. He will
keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent
in darkness. For by strength shall no man
prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall
be broken to pieces. Out of heaven shall he thunder
upon them. The Lord shall judge the ends
of the earth and he shall give strength unto his king and exalt
the horn of his anointed. Man, that's a scripture. I love
that, I do. This is Hannah's, Hannah, this
is her second prayer. in 1 Samuel chapter two. That's
the title, Paul. Hannah's second prayer. Her first
prayer's in chapter one, where she asked God for a son. And she vowed that if the Lord
gave her that son, she would give that son unto the Lord. The Lord heard her prayer and
gave her a son, and she named him Samuel, who grew up to be
the prophet Samuel. This is the prayer she prayed
when she brought Samuel to Eli the priest. She came and she
fulfilled her vow. And to be perfectly honest, this
second prayer of Hannah here, outside of the prayers of our
Lord Jesus Christ, I think this is just about the best prayer
recorded in scripture. I mean, because this is just
flat out. This is why Henry Mahan said he likes the Old Testament.
Because you understand in Hannah's prayer here, we have the praise
of a completely sovereign God. Now, the world hates a sovereign
God now. But they're okay with it in the
Old Testament. You gotta love the dichotomy
here. But see, this is the problem. The world thinks the New Testament
God is mellower than the Old Testament God. He's nicer. Jesus, sweet little Jesus, meek
and mild, look upon the little child. And I told you, the easiest
way to get people to disbelieve the Bible or to reject the Bible
is to read it to them. But we're in the Old Testament.
And see, sovereignty's allowed here. Which is good, because
I like sovereignty. I like a sovereign God. A sovereign
God's the only one who can save me. You understand, I have been around
long enough and been revealed enough by God to realize I don't
want my will. Because my will is still corrupt,
even now. But here, this is Hannah's second
prayer. Oh, and I'll point this out, too. It's the prayer of
a woman. You understand? It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter. It's the truth of God. And this
is one of the strongest statements of the sovereignty of God in
all things. But I'll point this out later,
hopefully, most especially in the salvation of his people. Verse six starts this way. The
Lord killeth and maketh alive. You understand, after this whole
prayer, especially after this statement here, what I wanna
say is this. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Now, I realize the first question
that comes to mind for most people is this. Well, is that physical
or is that spiritual? Well, you know my answer to that.
Yes. Yes, it is. Now, yes, I know. Some people will
get all tore up about saying that the Lord kills physically. But I understand this, and I've
read it from our Lord Jesus Christ. Not a sparrow falls without God. My father, it doesn't say knowing
it, of course he does know it. He says, without my father. There is no death in this world
without the father. And that's New Testament. So
y'all people are just mean. No, it's the truth of God. You understand, with sovereignty,
our Lord is the power. And our Lord kills and he makes
alive. But the ones who get all tore
up about God causing physical death are the ones who don't
understand that God does this spiritually also. Because it's
the spiritual aspect that's intriguing me right now, that interests
me in this scripture. But the people who do not know
God don't want God to be able to kill them. They don't want to put their
hands, or their self, They don't want to put themselves in the
hand of God. They will not have this man to
reign over them. Now that was in a parable by
Lord Jesus Christ, but here's the truth of the matter. This
man reigns over you whether you know it or not. He kills and
he makes alive. Whether you know it or not, he
kills and he makes alive. They're missing this whole point,
that God is completely and totally sovereign, and that's physically
and spiritually. Because it says this, God kills
and he makes alive. God, the Holy Spirit, must, I'm saying this, must show
you a little of what you are without God. That's the part the world's missing
also. I'll get into that in a little bit. Because what you are without
Jesus Christ is this, you're dead. You're dead. And the problem there is you
don't know it. You don't know it. Without Christ,
unless he killeth and maketh alive, man will never know him. Because look at the next statement.
He brings down to the grave and brings up. And I've heard people
talk about this. Oh yes, God will humble you.
Well yes, he brings down, that's true. That's not always here.
What did Hannah pray? He brings down to the grave. To the grave. This is more than
just being humbled. This is being made to know that
without God, without the Messiah, you are dead. Dead. because Jesus Christ, the Messiah,
is life. He's the anointed one, and without
Christ is nothing but death. He was preaching and he told
his disciples, there's coming a day when the
dead are gonna hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that
hear shall live. Shall live. But man is so dead he doesn't
know he's dead. He brings down to the grave and
brings up. And yes, that can be physical
and spiritual. What's the next verse say? The
Lord makes poor and makes rich. Makes rich, physically or spiritually. Yes, the answer again. He brings
low and lifts up. Guess what, that's physical and
spiritual. Yes. Now, after those two verses,
he raises up the poor out of the, I'm sorry, the Lord killeth
and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave
and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh
rich. He bringeth low and he lifteth
up. This is one of the striking things that I saw in this prayer
of Hannah. Okay? This is the first thing
I wanna say. And it's kinda weird, I know,
but there are no buts in Hannah's prayer. There's a lot of ands,
but there are no buts. Both of those are conjunctions.
But is the conjunction that you use to show contrast. the difference
between one thing and another. But now and, that word and, that
word and is a connector that shows like things. Like things. You understand? The Lord killeth and maketh alive
are connected together. And you can't separate those
two. You understand? You gotta have
both. You gotta have both. He bringeth
down to the grave and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and
maketh rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. You can't separate his lifting
up from being brought low. It's not possible. It's not possible. God says in Hannah's prayer here, that you have to be brought low
before he will lift you up. You have to be killed before
he makes you alive. You have to be brought down to
the grave before he will bring you up. And you gotta be poor before
he makes you rich. That's the truth of God. You
gotta have both. We have what Paul wrote, we have
not received again the spirit of bondage unto fear, but the
spirit of adoption. There's a bringing low and then
there's a lifting up. There's a being killed and made
alive. And yes, it happens by the voice
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the thing, both parts.
Both parts are the work of God. Please, please understand, when
God puts you down, you are down. It's not pleasant. It's not comfortable. Matter
of fact, it may be the most uncomfortable thing you've ever been through
in your life. I'd be surprised if it wasn't. because you are
brought down and you can't get up. You can't get yourself up. You understand? This is the thing.
Remember the pit from which you are digged? You gotta find out
you was in a pit. And you understand, you've been
living your whole life in that pit and didn't know it. And then you find out you're
in a pit and you also find out you can't get yourself out of
that pit. So what do you do? You call upon
the name of the Lord. Look at it in Jeremiah. Out of the pit. There's only
one way out of the pit. And that's from the same, the
power of the same one that made you realize you were in that
pit to start with. Oh, did I tell you? I know I've
said it before here, but did I tell you what Hannah's name
means? Hannah's name means grace. Understand this is grace's second
prayer. God kills and God makes alive. God brings down to the
grave and he brings up. He maketh poor and maketh rich,
he bringeth low and he lifteth up. You know what that is? That's
grace, brothers and sisters. That is grace. This is the prayer of grace,
the second prayer of grace. The second prayer, which is a
prayer of praise and honor to God who gave the Son. This is
the praise of his holy work. And what's the result of his
holy work? Verse eight. He raises up the poor out of
the dust and lifteth up the beggar from
the dunghill to set them among princes and to make them inherit
the throne of glory. for the pillars of the earth
are the Lord's and he has set the world upon them. He raises up the poor out of
the dust. What'd he say? The Lord maketh poor and maketh
rich. He raises up the poor out of
the dust. The question is, are you poor? Are you poor? He lifted up the
beggar from the dunghill. Are you a beggar? You understand,
from man's viewpoint, the Old Testament's plumb full of insults.
We're called beggars, we're called poor, we're called lepers, we're
called maggots, we're called worms, and you know why? Because we are. But here's the
thing. Do you know you are a poor beggar? Do you know you have been in
a pit? Do you know, because I'm gonna
tell you this right now, to know you are a poor, useless, worthless,
maggoty beggar is the gift of God. It's the gift of grace. Understand, the world doesn't
understand this. And here we are right now, and
I'm gonna tell you the truth, I'm that same man. Yes, there's a new creature.
Yes, there is a new man. Yes, there is an old man. And
that old man is still with me. And you understand the knowledge
of this prayer of Hannah, the prayer of grace, the second prayer
of grace, the knowledge of this prayer of grace does not go away
from the believer. The believer knows he's been
dug out of the pit. You're told to remember the pit
from which you're digged. Don't go back in it. Don't go
check it out for old time's sake. Don't glory in it. But remember,
remember the pit from which you are digged. Remember the pit
you're no longer in and to whom you give the glory for getting
you out of that pit. He raises up the poor out of
the dust and he lifted up the beggar from the dunghill. And
if you don't know you were poor and don't know that you were
a beggar, you got no claim to be thinking you've been set up
to sit with princes. And I just quoted it wrong again. You know why he said poor and
then he said beggar? Because we have some among us
who are working poor, that's what they call us. We have the
working poor. But a beggar don't work. A beggar
sits there and begs. You understand? Now you got poor
that don't work, that's okay. I'm not saying anything about
anybody because I'm talking about the spiritual aspects of this. But you understand, you poor,
you know you ain't got nothing, okay? But here's this, you're
a beggar, you're holding out your hand for somebody else to
give you something. You don't even work. Because
you can't work. And this is the thing that the
world doesn't know. The reason we can say honestly
that we are poor and that we are a beggar is because we are
poor. And we have to beg. Because we
can't work to get ourselves out of a pit. You can't dig steps into the
side of the wall to climb out. You can't lift yourself out of
this pit by your own bootstraps. It takes the power of God to
what? To raise up the poor out of the dust and lift up the beggar,
what? From the dunghill. Do you know where you were? This
poor here was in the dust. This beggar here was on the dung
heap, on the dung hill. Remember the pit from which you
are digged. Because if you don't know what
you are and you don't know where you are, you've not been raised
up. And that's just the God's honest truth. But if you know you're poor,
You know you're in the dust. If you know you're a beggar and
you know you're on a dung hill, there's good news for you. Because
he will raise you up. He, and I'm sorry, he will lift
you up. You can be the richest man in
town and still be a beggar. Because the question is, are
you a beggar before God? You understand? Like I said,
we're not talking about, I'm not talking about physical things,
but it is a physical illustration that's given here in this prayer.
Are you a beggar before God? Are you poor before God? You understand, I've been in
places years ago, let's go way back, where there were people
who had Sunday school badges that were this long. about a
foot long for every year that they never miss the day of Sunday
school. And I'm gonna tell you something, I talked to some of
these people, they don't know God from the man in the moon.
Matter of fact, some of them may think God is the man in the
moon, I don't know. Are you poor before God, are
you a becker before God? Have you been made to see that
you are a poor, worthless, no working beggar before God? Because if the answer to that
question is yes, I got good news for you. Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Let me just go to that right
now. Romans chapter five, verse six. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely a righteous man
will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commandeth his love toward
us. In that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. And I know we're surrounded on
every side by people who say Christ died for everyone. The
Bible doesn't say that. The scriptures don't teach that.
No, that's what men say. That's what men say. And men
are wrong. Men are wrong. The scripture's
right. The truth of God is right. And
see, that's one of them things, you wanna read it to somebody,
oh, you know, then ask them. They wanna rejoice, they wanna
say, oh, happy day. Jesus Christ died for sinners.
Well, do you know you're a sinner? Now, wait a minute, let's stop
for a second. Do you know you're an ungodly sinner? You understand, a lot of people,
oh, I'm a sinner, brother, we're all sinners. No, no, you're ungodly. Whether you know it or not, you're
ungodly. But don't worry, Christ died
for the ungodly. And he's gonna make you see that
you are ungodly or you're not gonna see him at all. Because
he bringeth down to the grave. To the grave. You understand,
if you think you can do anything for your salvation, your thinking
is wrong. If you think you had anything
to do with your salvation, you're way wrong. And if you're preaching it, you're
preaching heresy. Because it ain't so. He raises up the poor out of
the dust. He lifts up the beggar from the dunghill. And I love
this next part, to. T-O, little word, to. You understand? There's a reason he lifts up
the poor. Raises up the poor. There's a reason he lifts up
the beggar, and it's to set them among princes. And I had just
realized, I told Walter yesterday, I've been quoting this wrong. Because what I would say, and
he said, and I'd make, what is it? He lifteth up the beggar
from the dunghill to set them with princes. No, it's not with. This is a better word than that.
I like this word better. It's the same sort of thing,
but I like this word better. To set them among princes. Among princes. Remember the rich
man and Lazarus? Lazarus is comforted in Abraham's
bosom. You understand? Abraham was among
the same group with Lazarus the beggar. You understand that? I just think that's glorious.
We are going to be among the princes. You know why? Because we're all one family. the family of God. And we're gonna be among them.
They're our brothers, they're our sisters. We're gonna meet
Hannah one day. We're gonna be among these people
whom the Lord used to write this book and do these things and
did these things for these people. I just, you know, And I used
to say also that to set them among princes and kings, that
ain't right. There's only one king in this
group. There's a lot of princes, but
there's only one king in this group, and that's him, Jesus
Christ. So, you know, I liked the thought of being
among them. Matthew 8 and 11, our Lord Jesus
Christ said this, and I say unto you, that many shall come from
the east and the west and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Ah, I like that. Now he was using
this as an illustration to say, guess what, Gentiles are coming
too. East and the west. and we're gonna sit down with
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. You understand, I don't believe
in a separate heaven for Jews and a separate heaven for Gentiles. And as far as I can tell from
the scripture, neither did Jesus Christ. He's only got, you understand,
this is another one of those ones, okay? You know, there's
one flock, there's one shepherd, there's one faith, there's one
baptism. There's one green olive tree.
I like that one. And there's only one family,
the family of God. There's one body, the body of
Jesus Christ. He's our head. And I don't care
whether you're Jew, Gentile, barbarian, or Scythian, whatever
those are. I know what barbarians are. Those are people from down
the county road, but from me, but I'm not gonna talk about
that. I don't know what a Scythian is and I don't care. because
it doesn't matter if they're my brother and sister in Christ.
There's only one family of God, and he is going to set us among
princes. Beggars and the poor are going
to sit with princes, among princes. Hannah knew this, and Hannah
praised the work of God. What? To get you there. This
is what it takes. to be set among the princes. God has to kill you and make
you alive. God has to bring you down to
the grave and bring you up. God has to make you poor and
he's gonna make you rich beyond your wildest dreams. Oh. He bringeth low and he lifteth
up to set you among princes. What? We are the family of God. Believers are the family of God. And then he says this, and to
make them inherit the throne of glory. Now how's that possible? Don't worry about it, it's his
throne. He can do whatever he wants with it. But our inheritance
is in Christ, and he's the one with the throne. And yes, it
is a throne of glory. We have an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled that will never fade away. Reserved. You understand? Reserved in heaven
for you and for you and for you. This is what our Lord Jesus Christ
has done for us. This is what God has done for
us. in the sun. The throne of glory
is his, the poor is his, the beggar is his, and the princes
are his. He gives gifts by grace as it
seems good to him. Why? For his glory. For his glory. God is glorified in his salvation
of a sinner. Any son. Any son. Has to be any son. Well you can't
have the second prayer of Hannah without the first prayer of Hannah.
The first prayer of Hannah was for the son. The second prayer
of Hannah is what the son's doing. He is saving his people from
their sins. And then I love this next part.
is not only are we given an inheritance, it says this, he will keep the
feet of his saints. You understand? If you're one
of his saints, he's gonna keep your feet. Now what in the world
does that mean? Well guess what? You're gonna
walk. You're gonna walk. You may walk
haltingly, you may walk, but that's your fault, not his. But
you understand, the only way you're gonna stay on the path,
the only time you can be in the way is if he keeps your feet. Because if it was up to us, we'd
wander all over the stupid place. We'd go the wrong way on a one-way
road. He will keep their feet. You
know what that means, the word keep? It says he will attend
to your feet. You understand, man proposes,
but God disposes. David prayed it, I think it was
Psalm, one of the Psalms, I think it was David, says, make me,
make me to walk in thy path. You know why? Because David knew
he had to be made to walk in his path, to walk in God's path. The saints will walk. because
the Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, will
attend to it. And we walk. His saints walk
in life, they walk in light, because his saints walk in Christ. And here's the next statement,
and. Not but, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness.
For by strength shall no man prevail. Just after all that, by strength
no man's gonna prevail. The Lord kills and the Lord makes
alive. What is the strength of man to
that? Absolutely nothing. By strength, it's a good thing
we were without strength when Christ died for the ungodly. No, it's not a good thing, that's
just the way we were. That's the way we are. And right
now, the only way we have any strength is because he is our
strength. By strength, no man shall prevail.
In verse 10, the adversaries of
the Lord shall be broken in pieces. Don't worry about people around
you. We have adversaries. Not just
singular. You understand? Almost every
television preacher has wrestled with Satan at one time or another.
You can just listen to him, okay? I'm gonna tell you a secret,
folks. And none of those fools ever seen Satan. Because I'm
gonna tell you something, if Satan got after these fellas,
you know what he'd do, don't you? He would sift them as wheat. Because Satan's been doing this
for thousands of years. What? Deceiving men. hiding the
gospel from the laws, blinding the minds. But I'm gonna tell
you this, the adversaries of God don't have a chance because
he is going to break them. You understand? It's not up to me or you to break
anything. God's gonna break them. And he's not only gonna break
them, he's gonna break them in pieces. And you know what they
said about Humpty Dumpty? When God breaks something, you
ain't putting it back together. Not gonna happen. Like I said,
the first prayer of grace, Hannah, was for the gift of the son.
And the second prayer of grace is the praise and honor to the
Lord who gave the son. The Lord kills and the Lord makes
alive. What do you do? Praise his holy
name. The Lord brings down to the grave
and brings up. Praise his holy name. He makes
poor and makes rich. He brings low and lifts up. Praise
his holy name. Because here's the thing. If
you've never been killed, you've never been made alive. If you've
never been brought down to the grave, you've never been brought
up from the grave. If you've never been made poor,
you have never been made rich. And if you have never known you
are nothing but a poor beggar, you are not set among princes.
That's what this book says. And every one of those is connected
by that little conjunction and, and you can't separate them anywhere. The religious world is full to
the overflowing with professing believers who have never known
their sin. Understand, you know, I've seen them on television.
Now they try to be real careful about it. When people come down
the aisle, those Billy Graham crusades and stuff, but some
of them's chewing bubble gum. I mean, that's a preacher joke.
But no, it happens. They're popping their gum and
they're just walking up here, just, I'm so happy, you know? If he's
never brought you down, you've never been brought up. They think salvation is just
so easy. So they say that salvation is
easy. The Bible says God's gotta bring
you down first. They say, just pray this prayer.
And that's all it takes. The scriptures say, it takes
the sovereign power and the sovereign work of the Lord to bring you
up. I just read it. It states that
Jesus Christ died for the ungodly and he died while we were yet
sinners. So that's it. Do you fit that
description? Do you know you are an ungodly
sinner? Do you know you are a poor beggar?
I know the one that can lift you
up. Because I know the one who has lifted me up, even though
I'm still an ungodly sinner, and still a poor beggar. Our
Lord Jesus Christ, call upon his name. And I mean that, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Not some poor, weak savior. You
call upon the name of the Lord. And that is Jesus Christ. Our heavenly father. Thank you,
Lord, for this time, this place, most of all, thank you for our
Lord and our savior, your son, who did die for us while we were
ungodly while we were yet centers and completely without strength.
Be with Walter today, as he comes to preach your word, bless him. with the words we need to hear
and give us ears to hear and to understand. In Christ's name
we pray, amen.