Now, whenever we say that this
whole Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, is a book of Christ,
that Christ is in every page, every book of the Bible, I'm
not saying that we go to the scriptures and read a passage
and just jam the truth of Christ into that scripture. What I'm
saying and what we mean by that is that the main message of every
book of the Bible, whether it's a history book, a law book, a
letter, whatever it is, poetry, prophecy, finds its ultimate
fulfillment in the glorious person and the finished work of Christ.
Even the genealogies, if you're reading the Bible and you don't
get to a genealogy, you read through it kind of quickly. But
even the genealogies of the scripture, what the Lord is doing in those
genealogies mainly is to show how he kept the nation Israel
intact to the point of bringing Messiah, the Christ, through
the tribe of Judah. And so it's important that Christ's
human lineage be acknowledged. Who is this Jesus of Nazareth? Well, he's the son of Mary. He's the descendant of King David
and Abraham in his human nature without sin. And so that's what
it's all about. So again, we're not trying to
just jam something in there that's not there because that's the
whole point. of the Old Testament. And what
we're talking about is Christ as God's anointed. And that's
the title of the lesson this morning. Christ is God's anointed. Now the word anointed is what
we, a lot of times we'll see translated in the Old Testament
as Messiah. We talk about the Messiah. God's
anointed Messiah. Now, you know, if we're sinners
saved by grace, we're anointed. Anointed with the power of Christ
through the Spirit who gives us light and life and brings
us to faith in Christ and repentance but all of our anointing comes
from him who is God's anointed and That's what that means His
name is Jesus which means he shall save his people from their
sins and The word Christ is the New Testament equivalent of Messiah
or anointed. And ever since the first promise
of the Messiah, which is Genesis 3.15, that theme and motif runs
through the whole Old Testament and obviously goes into the New
Testament because that's what it's all about. He's what it's
all about. And so we preach Christ. And if you'll turn over to 1
Samuel 2, we're gonna read about Christ as God's anointed in a
prayer of a woman named Hannah called Hannah's Prayer. It's
a beautiful prayer. I love to read the prayers of
the Bible. We think about the Psalms and
the prayers that are there, but there are other prayers, and
this is one of the most beautiful, and it comes out of the blessing
of the Lord to give this woman who, in her physical state, could
not have children. But God, and she prayed to God,
give me a child. She said, if you give me a child,
I'll give this child to you. And she did. And it starts out
in chapter one, talks about there's a man named Elkanah. And Elkanah
had two wives. Now, let me say this about that.
Polygamy was not condoned by the Lord in the Old Testament,
but it was a fact of life. A lot of times it was forced
on people because if a husband died, the wife was either left
destitute or his brother or someone close to him had to take her
under his wife. And it was just a situation because
we live in this sinful world. So it doesn't make it right.
So the Mormons are wrong. Polygamy is not biblical in the
sense that it's not right, or they say it's right. But this
man, Elkanah, had two wives. One was named Hannah. The others
was named Peninnah. And Peninnah had a lot of children,
and Hannah was barren. And this story, when I read it,
I said, I put in your lesson, it's similar to the story of
Jacob and Rachel and Leah. You remember how Jacob, he loved
Rachel, and he wanted to marry Rachel. And his father-in-law
Laban tricked him, and he got Leah and married her first. And Leah had a lot of children,
but Rachel was barren. But Jacob's love was set on Rachel. And in the process of time, God
miraculously opened Rachel's womb and gave her children. And
that's a story here. Peninnah had many children and
Hannah didn't have any. And so Peninnah treated Hannah
terribly because she knew that Hannah was Elkanah's favorite,
just like Leah and Rachel, you know. Leah treated Rachel terribly
because she was jealous. And so it's a very similar story.
But Hannah wanted a child so bad, she wept, as I put here
in your letter, she wept and prayed before the Lord that he
would give her a son. And she promised this son to
the Lord, and that son was Samuel. And you can read all about that
in chapter one. And when the Lord gave her Samuel,
this is the result. She praised the Lord in this
prayer that begins in chapter two. So it's Hannah's prayer
of praise, Hannah's prayer of thanksgiving unto the Lord. And
I want you to notice how each line of this prayer sets forth
the glory of the Lord, which finds its ultimate revelation
and fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ, the coming anointed Messiah. And look at verse one, it says,
and Hannah prayed and said, my heart rejoiceth in the Lord. So she, that's just another word
for happiness. She's so happy and joyful. And she acknowledged that it
was in the Lord. She wasn't pleased with herself.
She was talking about her happiness, her joy in the Lord. And I think
about that, how God is the source of all life. God is the source
of physical life. That's what Hannah got when she
had a child and named it Samuel, named that child Samuel. Well,
God is the source of physical life. God is the one who creates
life, but also God is the source of spiritual life. There's no
spiritual life without God. By nature, we're born spiritually
dead into this world, and if we get spiritual life, it's a
miracle from God. That's why Christ said you must
be born again. So Jesus Christ, you remember
he told Martha, he said, I am the resurrection and the life.
There's no life, spiritually, eternally, without Christ. He
is the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the
Father but by him. And so Hannah says, my horn is
exalted in the Lord. Well, what's she talking about
a horn? The horn here is a symbol of power. That's what it was. And strength. And the change
that went through Hannah, here she was barren without the possibility
of having children to where she had children. And we think, most
scholars think she had more than one after this. Peninnah, who
had several, she didn't have any more, but then Hannah had
more than one. But the main one here that we're
talking about is Samuel. But that change that enabled
her to have the power to conceive, my horn is exalted in the Lord. She knew this was God's work.
She knew this wasn't her strength. And so again, we see a good picture
of our new birth, our salvation. If you're saved by the grace
of God, if you're given life from the dead, you know that
this is not, then it didn't come from you. People talk about free
will and exercising your natural faith. That's not biblical. Just
as Hannah's womb was physically dead, we're spiritually dead
and have no life until God in his power gives us life. And so we can say our horn is
exalted in the Lord. And so those who speak of, well,
I made the difference in saved and lost. I made the decision.
It was conditioned on me. They're exalting in themselves. They're not giving glory to God.
And so Hannah goes on. She says, my mouth is enlarged
over mine enemies, speaking boldly what she's doing here. And she
says, because I rejoice in thy salvation. The reason that I
can talk so confidently, that's what the mouth enlarged means.
The reason I can boast even is not anything in myself, it's
in the Lord. It's I rejoice in thy salvation. And I thought about Philippians
three, we are the circumcision which worship God in spirit.
and rejoice in Christ Jesus. That word rejoice means have
confidence in, boast in, and no confidence in the flesh. Galatians
6.14, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. First Corinthians one, that he
that glorieth glory in the Lord. That not the wise man glory in
his wisdom, the mighty man in his might, all of that. That's
quoting from Jeremiah. So her confidence was in the
Lord. There was no doubt in her mind that this is a work of God. And that's the way salvation
is, every aspect of salvation. That's the way righteousness
comes. It doesn't come by our works or our power or our efforts. comes by Christ on the cross,
his obedience unto death. He is our righteousness. And
from that righteousness, we have life. And so there's no doubt
in our mind, this is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Well,
look at verse two. It says, there is none holy as
the Lord. What's happened here is that
God in doing this great work, In God performing this miracle,
he's established himself as the one and only true God. And the
holiness of God is his, I'll put it down in your lesson, it's
his uniqueness. When we think of the word holy,
a lot of times we think of moral purity. But holiness is more
than that. Certainly God is morally pure.
He has no sin. He doesn't sin. Christ never sinned, even as
God may have. But what holiness really means
is that God is separated, special, singularly, apart from everything
else. There's no one like God. That's
what that means. There's no one to be compared
to God. Look at, she says, for there
is none beside thee. There's nobody who can stand
beside God. When we think of the Trinity,
God in three persons, the Son, God the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. They are equal in every attribute
of deity. but they're one God in three
persons. And that's an amazing truth that
we cannot explain. But what Hannah is saying here,
that there's none like God. There's none to compare with
God. And she says in verse two, neither is there any rock like
our God. What do you mean rock? Well,
you know, Christ is often called the rock of salvation. Remember
he told the disciples, he said, upon this rock, I will build
my church. Christ is the rock that covers
us. He's the rock on which we stand.
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
Christ the solid rock. Hannah's saying, I've got a solid
foundation and safety here. Christ is the rock from which
the water of life flows. Remember the rock in the wilderness.
So she says, is there any rock like our God? And the answer's
no. None like our God, so unique. And the way that God reveals
himself in his fullest, and I've got this in the lesson, but you
might just jot this down or keep it in your mind. The way that
God reveals his uniqueness, his separateness, his holiness, more
than in any other place, is in the salvation of a sinner based
upon the obedience unto death, the blood, the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because in Christ, we see how
God can be both a just God and a savior. And that's every attribute
of God working consistently together to glorify himself in the salvation
of sinners. And that's what this is a picture
of. Here's Hannah having a baby. She couldn't do it before, but
now here's life given. And so God exalts himself, God
glorifies himself in the face of Jesus Christ. And that's an
amazing, if we see that, remember he says, look unto me and be
ye saved, all the ends of the earth, I'm God, there is none
else, a just God and a savior. And that's the whole point of
his glory. Well, look at verse three, she says, talk no more
exceeding proudly. Self-righteousness and pride
has no place in our dealings with God. You know, one of the
things that we try to instill upon our children and our grandchildren,
raising them, is what we would say is self-confidence. And that's
not a bad thing unless it turns into sinful pride. and boasting
and all of that. But we want our children to grow
up and our grandchildren to grow up having self-confidence. A
lot of times that's the difference between getting a good job or
a bad job or something like that. But when it comes to the relationship
that we have with God, pride and self-confidence and self-righteousness
has no place. And so she says, talk no more
so exceeding proudly. What, you know, God brings us
down, humbles us. And that's, you know, I think
about that. I was studying for next week's
lesson. And, you know, that's where Israel
cries out for a king. And God says, well, I'm gonna
give you a king. He told Samuel, I'm gonna give
you a king. And if you read the scriptures that we're gonna study
next week, God says, now this is what your king, your choice
for a king, not God's choice. Now, it was all within the sovereign
will and purpose of God. God's given them what they want
to teach them a lesson, to judge them. And several times throughout
the past, he said, now this king that you want, he's gonna take
this from me, he's gonna take that from me, he's gonna take
this, he's gonna take, he's gonna take, he's gonna take. And I
thought about that. Well, Christ, our King, let me
tell you what he does. He doesn't take, he gives. He
gives and he gives and he gives. And the only thing we give him
was our sin. Our sin was imputed to him. So
we don't have any reason to boast. If salvation has come to us,
we don't have any reason to boast except in the cross, except in
the person and work of Christ. He says in verse three, let not
arrogancy come out of your mouth. Don't be arrogant. God be merciful
to me, the sinner. That's what the old publican
said. He says, for the Lord is a God of knowledge. God knows
us. Think about that. How can we
boast before God if we know him? If he reveals himself to us and
he knows us, he knows my heart, he knows my thoughts, And it
says, and by him actions are weighed. How could I boast in
anything I do when it's by God that actions are weighed? God
has the scales. And you remember in the judgment
is he's gonna judge everyone in righteousness by that man
whom he hath ordained, Jesus Christ. So if I talk, you know,
Whatever God has enabled us to do is a miracle of grace as far
as loving Him, loving His truth, loving one another, to be able
to worship Him acceptably, to do good works, which is God working
in us. So whatever He's enabled us to
do, it still falls short in this life of the perfect standard
of righteousness. So how in the world could we
boast? How in the world could we come to Him ignorantly? Oh,
that I may know Him and be found in Him, Paul said, not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law. Well, look at verse
four. Now here's how he brings them
down. And she uses symbolic language here. The bows of the mighty
men are broken. You know, some may boast in their
possessions, in their weapons. Well, he brings down the mighty
men, breaks them. And they that stumbled are girded
with strength. Those that he brings down, he
gives them strength. You see, those who come before
him proudly, he'll break them. But those who come to him humbly
by his grace, he's gonna gird them with strength. And then
she says in verse five, they that were full have hired out
themselves for bread. In other words, they're earning
their way. And they that are hungry ceased, so that the barren,
that's referring to herself, hath born seven. Now this is
one reason why many people think that Hannah had more than one
child after this, and she may have. It doesn't matter though,
even having one, that's the perfection of God's work, which seven represents. And it says, and she that hath
many children, like Peninnah, is waxed feeble. God's turned
the tides here. Now, we can say that in our salvation
because no matter what our situation here on earth, we may be as rich
as Abraham, we may be as poor as Lazarus sitting out the side
of the gate with the dogs licking our sores, but God has turned
the tides. He's given us an everlasting
inheritance, the riches of Christ that cannot be taken away. And
that's an amazing thing. Look at verse six. Look here.
Somebody says that, you know, when somebody dies, well, the
devil got a hold of him. Better look again. Look at verse
six. The Lord killeth. The Lord maketh alive. God, only God has the power of
life and death. There's a verse over in Hebrews
10 that talks about the power of death that's given to the
devil. That's not the devil's power to kill people. It's the
devil's power to accuse which leads to condemnation if the
accusation sticks. And Christ has removed that because
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? We have
a righteousness that answers the demands of God's law and
justice and no accusation that can be thrown at us in God's
court will stick. It's God that justifies. So she
says, the Lord killeth, the Lord maketh alive. You remember Job
said that, the Lord killeth, the Lord maketh alive, blessed
be the name of the Lord. He bringeth down to the grave
and he bringeth up. He puts us in the grave and if
we're in him, he'll bring us up. Now he'll bring up the heathen
too. He'll bring up the non-elect too, but unto damnation. But
it's the Lord who has this power, not us, not man, not the devil.
And she says in verse seven, the Lord maketh poor and maketh
rich. You think about that. If we really
believed that, we wouldn't complain, would we? The Lord maketh poor
and the Lord maketh rich. He bringeth low and he lifteth
up. What is she talking about in these verses? You know what
she's talking about? Something that most people hate today,
the sovereignty of God. That's what she's talking about.
She's recognizing God is sovereign. God said, I'll have mercy on
whom I will, I'll be gracious to whom I will. So then it's
not of him that runneth, nor of him that willeth, but of God
that showeth mercy. He's the potter, we're the clay.
Now that doesn't make us fatalist. You know Hannah, she didn't know
before God blessed her with a child, she didn't know what was gonna
happen. She fell on her knees, you know, she went with Elkanah
to Shiloh to worship and she went on her knees and she was
praying and she was moving her lips. And the high priest Eli
saw her and he thought, well, she's gone crazy. And then she
got up and she went over and told him, she, no, no, I'm praying
to the Lord. And God gave Eli a word and said, well, you're
gonna have a child. You and Elkanah go home, you're
gonna have a child. The Lord revealed that to her.
So God's sovereignty doesn't make us to be fatalists, no. You're to seek the Lord, I'm
to seek the Lord. We tell sinners, seek the Lord.
Now we know that unless God moves, unless God in power moves, they're
not gonna seek him. Isn't that right? But that's
not their business, really, as far as what God's gonna do. The
secret things belong unto the Lord, the revealed things belong
to us. Well, look at verse eight. Now here's a description of our
state in sin. We fell in Adam into sin and
death. And look, he says in verse eight, he says, he raiseth
up the poor out of the dust. Our life outside of Christ is
not a fertile field, it's a dusty, dry desert. He lifteth up the
beggar from the dunghill. Whenever I read that, I think
about the Apostle Paul. When God brought him to faith
in Christ and repentance of dead works, he said, in the light
of Christ and his glory and the righteousness that I have in
him, all that I used to hold in high esteem and have confidence
in, I count it but dung that I may win Christ. I think it
was Brother Tim James, he said, before God saved me, my address
was Dung Hill Drive. And that's what he did. He lifts
the beggar up from the dunghill. And what does he do? He sets
them among princes and make him inherit the throne of glory.
Think about that. Think about where we come from
and where we are in Christ. Think about the pit from which
we were digged, as Isaiah said, and where we are in Christ according
to God's word. That's amazing grace, isn't it?
From utter sin and depravity and dung to a perfect righteousness
that God has given us, imputed to us in Christ that cannot be,
that's what cannot be contaminated and cannot be taken away right
there, the imputed righteousness of Christ. And she says here,
for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and he hath set
the world upon them. This world's existence, this
world's continuance, is for the glory of God, and it's by the
power of God. In Christ, it says, by him all
things were created, by him all things consist, in Colossians
chapter one. Well, I'll tell you what, this
is a message of God's free and sovereign grace. Look at verse
nine and 10. This is the close of her prayer.
He will keep the feet of his saints. Why is it that we believe
in the security of the saved? Why is it that we believe in
once saved, always saved, as they say? It's because of this. He will keep the feet of his
saints. Now that does not mean that sometimes
his saints use their feet for bad purposes. and go the wrong
direction in this world, but they can never be lost. They can never leave Christ totally,
because he will keep the feet of his saints. And she says,
and the wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by strength
shall no man prevail, by his own strength. What is our salvation? It's the power of God. It's the
strength of God. And then verse 10, the adversaries
of the Lord shall be broken to pieces. Out of heaven shall he
thunder upon them. In his coming, in his first coming,
he did this, but in his second coming, he's going to do that
completely. The Lord shall judge the ends
of the earth. I believe this has in mind his
second coming here. To come to judge the world. His
people, we've already been judged in him. And he shall give strength
unto his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. That's Christ. Christ is the anointed one. Christ
is the Messiah. Christ is the King of kings and
the Lord of lords. And as he is appointed to rule
over all things by virtue of the glory that he accomplished
on that cross in his death, burial, and resurrection, he's seated
at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession
for us, And that's Hannah's prayer. That leads us to Christ, the
anointed God. Okay.