Alright, let's begin our service
opening our Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 2. 1 Samuel chapter 2. I don't keep records of these
things, but I believe I've read this passage to open our service
recently. I could not think of a better
scripture to go with our text this evening than Anna's Song
of Rejoicing, Prayer of Rejoicing. So that's what we'll read. 1
Samuel 2 verse 1. And Hannah prayed and said, my
heart rejoiceth in the Lord. Mine horn is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies because I rejoice in
thy salvation. There is none holy is the Lord,
for there's none beside thee. Neither is there any rock like
our God. Talk no more so exceeding proudly.
Let not arrogancy come out of your mouth. For the Lord is a
God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed. Bows of the mighty
men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.
They that were full have hired out themselves for bread, and
they that were hungry ceased. So that the barren hath born
seven, and she that hath many children is wax feeble. 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 lifteth up.
He raiseth up the poor. of the dust out of the dust and
lifted 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 should
be silent in darkness for by strength should 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 should give strength unto his king and exalt
the horn of his anointed." We'll end our reading there. We're going to turn to page 32.
Page 32. ? All praise to him who reigns
above ? ? In majesty supreme ? ? Who gave his son for man
to die ? ? That he might man redeem ? ? Blessed be the name
? ? Blessed be the name ? ? Blessed be the name ? Blessed be the name, blessed
be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. His name above all names shall
stand, exalted more and more. At the Father's own right hand,
Where angels host adore. Blessed be the name, Blessed
be the name, Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name, blessed
be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Redeemer, Savior, friend of man,
once ruined by the fall, Thou hast defied salvation's plan,
for Thou hast died for all. Blessed be the name, blessed
be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name, blessed
be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord. The Counsellor, the mighty Prince
of Peace, Of all Earth's kingdoms conqueror, Whose rank shall never
cease. Blessed be the name. Blessed be the name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name. Blessed be the name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Let's go toward the back of the
book for 48. 448. I won't sing this song, but that's
often as we should. It has good gospel message. There's a sweet and blessed story
of the Christ who came from glory just to rescue me from sin and
misery. He in loving kindness sought
me and from sin and shame has brought me. Alleluia! Jesus lands on me. Hallelujah, what a Savior who
can take a poor lost sinner, lift him from the miry clay and
set him free. I will ever tell the story, shouting
glory, glory, glory. Hallelujah, Jesus ransomed me. From the depths of sin and sadness
To the heights of joy and gladness Jesus lifted me In mercy full
and free With His precious blood He bought me When I knew Him
not He sought me And in love divine He ransomed me Alleluia,
what a Savior, who can take a poor lost sinner, lift him from the
miry clay, and set him free. I will ever tell the story, shouting
glory, glory, glory, Alleluia, Jesus ransomed me. By and by, with joy increasing,
And with gratitude unceasing, Lifted up to be with Christ eternally. I will join the hosts there singing
In the anthem, The King of Love arrives for
me. Alleluia, what a Savior who can
take a poor lost sinner, lift him from the miry clay and set
him free. I will ever tell the story, shouting
glory, glory, glory. Alleluia, Jesus ransomed me. If you would, open your Bibles
now to Psalm 113. Our text this evening is a sweet,
sweet Psalm, Psalm 113. Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O
ye servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. From the rising of the sun unto
the going down of the same, the Lord's name is to be praised.
The Lord is high above all nations and his glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the Lord our
God, who dwelleth on high, who humbleth himself to behold the
things that are in heaven and in the earth? He raiseth up the
poor out of the dust and lifted the needy out of the dunghill,
that he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his
people. He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be
a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord. Thank God
for his word. Let's bow together in prayer. Our holy, sovereign, merciful,
heavenly father, We bow before you this evening with hearts
that are full of thanksgiving. Oh, how we thank you for your
mercy and your grace to sinners as found in your son, our Lord
Jesus Christ. Father, how we thank you for
such a purpose of salvation that you would purpose salvation in
the obedience and the sacrifice of your son. They would save
the worst sinners. cleanse us from all of our sin,
make salvation sure and certain in him who earned it and who
purchased it with his precious blood. Father, how we thank you. Father, how we beg you that one
more time this evening that you'd bless us as we meet together
to worship. Give us a heart spirit of worship, true worship of God,
our King, our Savior, Father, bless your word as it's open
to us. Enable us to see Christ in your
word. Enable your word to go forth
in the power of your spirit. Father, I pray in this hour that
you would be with me, that you would enable me to rightly divide
the word of truth and preach your gospel in the power of the
spirit. Not in the power of human intellect and oratory, but in
the power of your spirit. That your gospel would bring
glory to your name. that would save your sheep, that
would feed and comfort and edify your sheep. Enable us to leave
here this evening rejoicing in Christ our Savior. Father, we
thank you for how you blessed us all these many, many years,
how faithful you've been to your word, how faithful you've been
to your people. You blessed us beyond measure. We have no way to even calculate
how great your blessing has been to us. But Father, would you
bless us one more time? Don't leave us to ourselves,
but bless us one more time and enable us to hear the gospel
and believe it with a heart of faith, God-given faith. Father,
I thank you for this place. I thank you for this family of
believers that you've raised up and brought together. And
I pray, Father, that you bless each home, that you bless each
person, Father, cause us to show our
love one for another, to be an encouragement and a help to one
another, not be a stumbling block to our brothers and sisters.
Continue to give us, we pray, a unity of the faith and unity
of the spirit that we might continue to enjoy worshiping our God together
in peace and in unity. Father, we Dare not forget to
pray for those that you brought into the time of trouble and
trial, those that need your aid of healing and comfort and direction. Father, be with your people.
You know the need of each one. We pray that you'd meet them
richly according to your wisdom, your goodness, and your riches
of mercy and grace you have reserved for your people. Father, all
these things we ask and we give thanks in that name which is
above every name, the name of Christ our Savior. It's for His
sake and for His glory and in His name we pray and give thanks. All my life long I had panted
Or a draft from some clear spring That I hope would quench the
burning Of the thirst I felt within. Leaning on the husk around me,
till my strength was almost gone. Longed my soul for something
better, only still to I have found Him whom I so, so
long had craved. Jesus satisfies my longings,
through His blood I now am saved. For I was and sought for riches,
Something that would satisfy. But the dust I gathered round
me Only mocked my soul-set cry. I have found Him whom I'd so,
so long has craved. Jesus satisfies my longings,
through His blood I now am found. Well of water ever springing,
Bread of life so rich and free, Untold wealth that never failing,
My Redeemer is to me. Sing it with me. Alleluia! I have found Him whom my soul
so long has craved. Jesus satisfies my longing. All right, let's open our Bibles
again now to Psalm 113. titled the message this evening,
the barren woman's hallelujah. This is another one of the Psalms
called a hallelujah Psalm. It begins and ends with praise
ye the Lord. And that translated is hallelujah. In this Psalm, the barren woman
praises the Lord because the Lord has given her children.
Verse nine says he make it the barren woman to keep house and
to be a joyful mother of children. Hallelujah. Praise ye the Lord. Now the barren woman here represents
the church, who God enables to, for lack of a better term, bear
his children. God doesn't want to give them
life, but through the preaching of the word. The church is a
barren woman by nature, because by nature we cannot produce spiritual
life. Physically speaking, a barren
woman cannot produce life in her womb Well, that's us by nature,
isn't it? We cannot produce spiritual life. We need the Lord to give life
to his children. And when he does, we rejoice,
don't we? Several of our mothers here in
this congregation, you've seen the Lord save your children.
You've seen them confess Christ, you see them walk with Christ.
You enjoy worshiping with them. You enjoy talking about the Lord
with them. You sing hallelujah too, don't
you? You sing hallelujah. This is both the church and you
mothers both. And I'll give you an example
of that. In 1997, I preached from this text, Psalm 113, one
morning in Cottageville, West Virginia. And as I was preaching,
Almost all of the ladies in the congregation were crying, almost
every one of them. And I thought, wow, the Lord's
really blessing this message. I'm really preaching. After the service, this is what
I found out. Earlier that same week, just days before, one of
the ladies, her husband had been having infertility problems for
years. They'd pretty much given up hope of ever having a child.
And just a few days before I preached from this psalm, she found out
she was pregnant. She was an overjoyed expectant
mother, and that congregation was too. A few months later,
she gave birth to a bouncing baby girl, and she has been a
joyful mother of that child ever since. 1997, 15 years later, I was back in Cottageville, West
Virginia on a Sunday morning, preaching from this same text
again. I was there because that baby
girl now wanted to confess Christ and believers baptism. And they
did not have a pastor at that time. And she asked me if I would
come and baptize her. And that's what we did. Her mama
was a joyful mother of children that day. So was that congregation. That's what I'm talking about.
That's what I'm talking about. And I want to give you four specific
reasons that the church, the barren woman praises our God. Number one is this. We praise
the Lord. We praise. So we sing hallelujah
for the name of the Lord. Verse one, David says, praise
ye the Lord. Praise are you servants of the
Lord. Praise the name of the Lord. Now we praise the name
of the Lord because there's salvation in His name. I mean, His name
means something. The Apostle Peter says, neither
is there salvation in any other for there's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. If you know
this name, you know the name of the Lord, you must be saved. That's how precious and powerful
His name is. Now the church is the barren
woman. We want to see God's people saved. We want to see God give
his people life. So the church praises the name
of the Lord because there can't be any spiritual life without
his name. That's why we preach his name.
That's the only way people will be saved. And the only people
who know the name of the Lord are the people who God has saved.
You know, the name of the Lord describes the character of the
Lord. Well, the only people that know the character of the Lord
are people who know him. And his name describes who he
is. His name is the Lord. That's the word David uses here.
Lord, capital L-O-R-D, Lord, is Jehovah. Praise the name of
the Lord Jehovah. He's God, my Savior. We sure
should praise God if he'd save the likes of us, shouldn't we?
Only he could do it. The name of the Lord is holy. Holy and reverent is his name.
Salvation in Christ reveals the character of God. God is holy. Everything God does must be holy. So when God saves a sinner, it's
got to be done in holiness. And nobody could find a way to
do it but God. Nobody but God. God saves sinners
without destroying the reputation of his name. He's both just and
justified. God is holy, yet he still shows
mercy to sinners by punishing their sin in the person of their
substitute. Only God can do that. Oh, what
a name. How we praise that name. The
name of the Lord is blessed. We just sang, blessed be the
name of the Lord. His name is blessed because all
spiritual blessings are found in the Lord. And he freely blesses
his people freely with every blessing he has for sinners.
for Christ's sake. He doesn't bless his people because
of who we are or what we've done. No, God blesses his people for
who Christ is and what Christ has done. God blesses his people
for his name's sake. Oh, blessed be the name of the
Lord. In Psalm 148 verse 13, David says, praise the name of
the Lord for his name alone is excellent. Excellent. There's
none like it. God's loving kindness for his
people is excellent. There's no love like it. Nobody
else would or could love sinners like God does. And God showed
his love for his sinners, for his people, for his sinful people,
by sacrificing his son in order to redeem them. If that isn't
love, the ocean's dry. God's greatness is excellent.
Nobody can do the great things that God has done to save his
people. Nobody else could do something as great as putting
the sin of a sinner away, making it to not exist. Nobody else
could do something so great that they make a sinner to be righteous.
God's excellent in his greatness. The writer to the Hebrew says
that the Lord Jesus Christ has obtained a more excellent ministry. His ministry is salvation by
grace. It's not by law, it's by grace.
Oh, grace is always much more excellent. God's grace, God's
mercy, God's love to his people. Oh, this is an excellent ministry.
God's given us an excellent ministry to preach. The ministry of grace
in Christ Jesus. His name is Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
He's everything we need. His name is Emmanuel, God with
us. He's everything we need, and
He's with us to be sure we have it. Oh, what a name. And more
than anything, the church wants sinners to know the name of the
Lord. I want you to know the name of
the Lord. Because like I said earlier,
if you know it, if you know His name, you know who He is, you
must be saved. See, we preach the name of the
Lord because whosoever shall call on that name, They shall
be saved. They shall be given life. But
how shall they call on him in whom they not believe? Now shall
they believe in him of whom they not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? So that's what the church does.
We preach the gospel. We preach the name of Christ
because we want the Lord to give his people life. And this is
how he makes his name known through the preaching of the gospel.
Now the church praises the Lord right now. You know, we don't
run around shouting hallelujah. It's not so much now, but I remember
back in the 80s. But praise the Lord. That was
such a religious catchphrase. You just, man, you couldn't go
through your work day, you couldn't go anywhere without it. Praise
the Lord, praise the Lord. We don't use those catchphrases
like that. But God's church sure does praise
the Lord, don't we? We praise the Lord. And you know
what? That's exactly what we'll be
doing in glory too. Verse 2, blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore. Throughout glory, we're going
to be doing what we're doing right now, except there we'll
do it perfectly, praising the Lord. Someone wrote this, praise
is the work of heaven that's begun on earth. And it's the
work of earth continued in heaven. But praise his name forevermore. What a name. It's the name by
which we're saved. All right, number two, we praise
the Lord that he has a people to save. Verse three says, from
the rising of the sun until the going down of the same, the Lord's
name is to be praised. Now we should praise the Lord
all day long. So when the sun comes up, we
should be praising the Lord. When the sun goes down, we should
be praising the Lord and everywhere in between. Janet tells me that
all the time our girls were little. Boy, first thing in the morning,
you got to get them up and get to school, or one of them was sick
in the middle of the night. She said almost every time her feet
hit the floor, she'd be quoting this verse. He makes the barren
woman to keep them housed and to be a joyful mother and children.
Praise ye the Lord. I'm going to praise the Lord.
Oh, I feel rough getting up and going after them kids, but praise
the Lord. We should be praising the Lord all the time. There's not a time. There's not
a second. He's not blessing you if you're
his child. Not one second. We should be praising the Lord. But the psalmist means more than
that. Look at Revelations chapter five. He means this is what I'm
sure he's more referring to. God has a people from every corner,
every nation, every nook and cranny of this earth. God has
a people from the east, where the sun rises. God has a people
from the west, where the sun goes down. And he has his people
everywhere in between. Revelations 5, here they are
all brought together, verse 9. And they sung a new song, saying,
thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof.
See, they're praising his name, aren't they? For thou was slain
and has redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred
and tongue and people and nation. And has made us unto our God
kings and and we shall reign on the earth. Where do these
people come from? From every kindred, tongue, and
people and nation. God has saved a people from every
part of the earth. And the church says, hallelujah. Now this is not simply saying
God has a people, you know, like he made sure he mathematically
got a people from every tribe and kindred. This is what the
church sings hallelujah for. There's no sinner so great, I
don't care where you find them, that God can't save them. There's no one who has been on
the run from God so long and lived so far away from God that
God can't reach down and save them. A person that's still a
candidate for mercy, even if he is a rebellious heathen who
comes from a long line of rebellious, idolatrous heathen, God can still
save him. You know, a mother, just like
any parent, but I fully believe there's something
different about a mother's heart now. A mother, when her heart
could worry about her child, that has gone so far from the
Lord, she's worried, now there's no hope. Well, you have hope. Just like a criminal cannot escape
the long arm of the law, God's children cannot escape the long
arm of God's saving grace. Our Lord told us, my hand's not
short that it cannot save. God has a people and he is going
to save every last one of them. I don't care where they're found.
He's going to go get them and he's going to save them. And
they're not, the remotest chance one of them can perish. They're
all going to have life. You may be, just remember I told
you my friends about giving up hope of ever having a child. Just about the time you think
you've given up hope, God reaches down and saves his children.
And the church says, Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You know, does it
ever amaze you? It does me. Does it ever amaze
you that the Lord keeps causing his son to rise and set on this
wicked, wicked, wicked world? Well, you know why he does? For
the elect's sake. When the sun comes up in the
morning, You mark this down. That son came up because there's
still got to be more God sheep that he's going to save. And
the church says, hallelujah, hallelujah. All right. Thirdly, we praise the Lord because
he's high above us and yet he's with us. Verse four says the
Lord is high above all nations and his glory above the heavens.
Who is like unto the Lord our God who dwelleth on high? Now the Lord is King of Kings
and He is Lord of Lords. He's so high above us, we're
reputed as nothing before Him. I mean, we really think we're
something and the Lord's so high above us, He just looks down
on us like a bunch of grasshoppers. He's so high above us. God's
so high above us, His ways are past finding out. The best human
minds cannot learn who God is by education. but the simplest,
youngest child can learn who God is by revelation. He's so
high above us, that's the only way we can know Him, is He reveals
Himself to us. God is so high above us, He filleth
all things, yet put all things together and they can't fill
Him. God is so high above us, He does
not give us an explanation as to why He does what He does.
He gives not account of any of His matters, because we couldn't
understand Him if He did, because He's too high above us. Everything
God does, this is all we need to know, this suffices. Everything
God does is right just because God does it. Now that's the only
God who's worthy to be praised. The only way you can truly praise
God is if He's that high above us, and He is. God is high above
us, and He rules over all. David says the Lord dwelleth.
on high. He's calmly ruling. The Lord's
not running around like a chicken with his head cut off, wondering,
oh, what are these people going to do next? You know, I got to
react to what they're doing. He's not doing that. The Lord's
not wringing his hands, worrying, oh, you know, is this one going
to accept me? Will this one let me save me? He's not doing that.
The Lord ruleth on high, calmly working all things after the
counsel of his own will. And what's the counsel of his
own will? Redemption of his people. Him giving life to his children. And he rules on high to ensure
his will is done. And the church says, hallelujah.
Anybody else you want in control? You want anybody else in charge?
I don't. God's people praise God simply
for who he is. He's so high above us, he's worthy
of our praise. but the church, the barren woman. She also praises the Lord for
what he's done for his people. See, there's nobody like our
God. Look at verse six. Who humbleth himself to behold
the things that are in heaven and in the earth. God is so high
above all of his creation. He's got to humble himself to
behold the things in heaven. Now the apostle Paul was taken
to the third heaven And he said, I can't tell you what I saw.
Human language can't express to you the glory of what I saw.
Heaven, where God dwells. God's so high, he's got to humble
himself to behold heaven. You think of that. God is so
high, he's got to humble himself to even look upon the angels
who serve him and worship him. And those angels have never seen
him. Yet God's got to humble himself to look on them. Well then how much more does
God have to humble himself to behold this earth that's full
of sin? Indescribable, isn't it? Yet
God is so great. That's what he does. He humbles
himself to behold sinful men in the earth. And the church
says, hallelujah. I mean, it's amazing that the
Lord would behold men on earth, just anybody on earth. That's
amazing. But the church says this, the
most amazing thing I ever heard tell of is that the Lord would
humble himself to behold me. David couldn't get over it. David
said in Psalm 40, I am poor and needy. Yet the Lord thinketh
on me. He humbles himself to behold
me. And God doesn't just think on
men on earth. I see things in the news. I see
these wildfires in Australia. And I think about those people.
It doesn't do them any good, but I think about it. God doesn't
just think on men on earth. God doesn't even just look upon
men on earth. The word behold, David uses here,
who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven
and earth. That word behold, it means to
see. God humbles himself to see these things. But it also means
this, it means to appear and to be seen. God has been pleased
to humble himself and to reveal himself to sinful man. And God
is so great, he came all the way down where his people were
so they could see him and so he could save them. Verse seven
says, he raises up the poor out of the dust and lifted the needy
out of the dunghill. that he may set him with princes,
even with the princes of his people." Now, God has to humble
himself to behold the things in heaven. How much did he humble
himself to think on the likes of you and me? How much more
did he humble himself to be made in the likeness of our sinful
flesh and to appear to me? How much did he have to humble
himself to accomplish to come as a man and to accomplish the
salvation of his people, because they couldn't do it. So he had
to come and obey his own law for them. Now they hated him,
they wouldn't have him, but he came and obeyed the law for them.
How much did he have to humble himself to do that? And then, after he
earned a perfect righteousness for them, something had to be
done with their sin. And the Holy Son of God humbled
himself to be made sin for his people. The human mind can't comprehend
it. We just can't comprehend it. How much did he have to humble
himself? The prince of life itself. How much did he have to humble
himself to die for his people? To give up the ghost, to satisfy
the law's last demand, there's got to be death for sin. But
he did it. He humbled himself more than
we can possibly imagine. See, in order to save His people,
God couldn't just behold us in our sin. He had to come where
we were. Pull us out. Pull us out of our
sin and our iniquity. In order to pull us out, He had
to take our place. He had to be made what we are.
He had to suffer everything that our sin deserves so that He could
make us what He is. righteous and holy. He had to
come and humble himself and come right down to the dunghill where
we are and give us everything that he earned by his perfect
obedience as a man. God is so great. He's so high
above us. He's the only one able to stoop
as low as we are. And God is so good, He's the
only one willing to stoop as low as we are. Did you get that? I like that. I got, I did not
make that, I got that from somewhere, I'm sure. God is so great, he's
the only one able to stoop as low as we are. And he's so good,
he's the only one willing. Now that's true, isn't it? God
saved you, you say hallelujah to that. That's the way God saved
me. See, where were we when God found us? We were in the dust. You know how we got there? That's
where we landed when Adam fell, rock bottom in the dust, in the
ashes. And there we'll stay, unless
our Redeemer comes and lifts us out and gives us beauty for
ashes. We're in the dust and living
in the dunghill. That's where we were when God
found us. Every one of God's children says that. That's exactly,
I was in the dunghill. And a dunghill is a good description
of the filthiness and the vileness that we are by nature. A dunghill
is full of animal and human waste. It's just a manure pile. It's
disgusting. It looks offensive. It smells
offensive. And the only other thing they throw in that heap
of manure is just worthless things. I mean, they're so worthless
they can't even be sold for scrap. They have no value, no redeeming
value whatsoever. The only thing you can be done
with them is throw them on the dunghill. That's us. By nature, that's
what we are, worthless. In order to redeem his people,
the Lord Jesus Christ had to come into the very filth of that
dunghill. He had to live where we are in
the midst of the sin and corruption that we've made this whole creation
by our sin. And he came to that dunghill
and he took the place of his people. He lifted them out of
it and he cleansed them from all their filth by washing and
the blood of his sacrifice, they're cleansed. They're lifted out
of that. They're cleansed. You see, when God lifts somebody
up, he lifts them all the way up. He doesn't lift us up and
then say, now, you know, be good and don't fall back into the
dunghill. Something's got to be changed.
There's got to be, you know, you can take a pig and you can
clean it all up and tell it, don't go back to the, to the
mire. And guess what it's going to do? It's going to go back
to the mire. Because it's a pig. It's the
nature of a pig. God's got to do something about
our nature. He's got to give us a new nature.
When God lifts his people up, he lifts them all the way from
the dunghill into his very presence. He lifts his people all the way
from our sin into justification. Being made without sin. Being
given a nature that cannot sin. God lifts his people from hatred
for God. to love and faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. God lifts his people from the
dunghill into the very family of God. Mephibosheth comes to
mind. Does he come to your mind? There's
Mephibosheth. He lay him on both his feet.
His nurse was trying to carry him. When tidings came, his father
and grandfather's death and the new king is coming to town. Well,
the new king always kills all the descendants of the old king.
And she took up Mephibosheth and started running. She fell.
He became lame on both his feet. Somehow he made it down there
to Lodabar, the land of no bread. And there he sat, dirty, unkempt,
his beard all grown and matted. There he just sits in his lame
legs. And a servant from King David
came to him and fetched him. Fetched him to David. And Mephibosheth
came and bowed before David and said, why are you even looking
on such a dead dog as me? Why are you even stooping so
low to look on such a dead dog as me? And David said, oh, Mephibosheth,
because I've loved you. I've loved you from before you
were born. I loved your father. I loved Jonathan. And for Jonathan's
sake, you're not going to be put to death. And he said, boys,
take him and wash him up. Trim his beard up. Comb his hair.
I've got a seat at my table. And Mephibosheth spent the rest
of his days sitting at David's table as one of the king's sons,
eating all the riches of David's table. Songwriter said, the one who
taught me how to beg at his feet, at the table of grace, he gave
me a seat. Brought in the family of God. He lifts his people from
our sin and our rebellion. into the very body of Christ,
making his people one with Christ so that they can never be separated
from the head. Oh, he's lifted us up in him. I believe we can praise the Lord
for that. The church says hallelujah. That's
what God's done for me. And then fourthly, we praise
the Lord because he's the one who gives his people life. Verse
nine, he maketh a barren woman to keep house and to be a joyful
mother of children. Praise ye the Lord. Like I said,
the barren woman here is a picture of God's church. And barren would
be a good word to describe us, wouldn't it? By nature, we're
dead. We got no sign of life, no hope
of life, because we're dead. There's no life there. And these
days, when David was writing this in these eastern countries,
the barren woman was considered to be cursed by God. If she could
not bear children, she was considered to be cursed by God. Well, that's
what we are by nature. We're cursed. We're under the
curse of the law that we cannot keep. We're cursed. And a barren
woman who wants children, she's desperate. She's desperate. And
this is what she knows. You know, you think of Hannah's
day, they knew nothing about infertility like we do today.
And today they're It's big business in these infertility clinics,
you know, helping women have children. With all of our advances
in science and all of our understanding of the biology that goes into
the birth of a child, we still cannot produce life. We still
cannot produce a baby and a woman. We cannot do it. Only God can
do it. And that barren woman, she comes
to this realization sooner or later, completely and utterly
dependent upon God to give life. Because no matter what she does,
she cannot produce life in her womb. That's us spiritually. We're dead spiritually and we
have no way of producing life in ourselves. Go through all
the religious motions and exercises you want. I mean, do everything
you want. Get sprinkled with all the water
you want. Do all the stand up and sit down and kneel and do
it all. You cannot produce life. And
we're going to stay dead until God moves in power and mercy
and gives life to his people. And when he does, what's the
church saying? Hallelujah. You can imagine the joy a barren
woman feels. She feels that baby in her womb.
That baby is born. She goes through the valley,
the shadow of death for that child and that child's born.
And they put that baby in her arms. Oh my. The joy, the thrill that she
feels. God has given life. Given her
a child. A child to love and to take care
of. And she's a joyful mother of
children, isn't she? Oh, then if someday God would
move in power again. Give that child a second birth.
Give them life. Now you've got a joyful mother
of children, don't you? Oh, so joyful. Your every prayer
for that child has been answered with one act of God. The barren woman who's received
a child from the Lord is a picture of the church on earth. Other
than the Lord showing mercy to us, other than the Lord revealing
himself to us and saving us, nothing gives the church more
joy than to see God give life to one of His children. Nothing
gives us more joy than that. And every time it happens, we
praise the Lord. Because God did it. He's the
only one that could have done it. The power that it took to
create that baby in that womb is the same power it took to
create spiritual life. And only God can do it. And then
the church, who's barren by nature, becomes a joyful mother of children.
I thought about this today. The work of a mother is never
done. I mean, it's never ending. It's never done. When they're
little, never done. When they're grown, still yet
never done. You just never know when you
get a phone call. Mama, I don't know how to do this. Mama, I
don't know how. How do you do this, Mama? It's never done.
But what a joyful work, isn't it? That's this church. God's church
on earth. Our work is not done. The work
of preaching the gospel. A mother, you think of everything
a mother does for her children. She feeds those babies. She protects
them. She watches out for them. She
teaches them. And oh, she loves them. She just makes those children
feel secure in her love. That's what God's church is to
do. For God's children, we're to feed them. Feed them by preaching
the gospel to them. Feed them in the green pastures
of God's Word. That's what the Lord told Peter.
Peter, do you love me? Feed my lambs, feed my babies, feed my
children. We're to protect God's children.
We're to protect the message that they hear, the doctrine
that they hear. We're to protect them. Teach them. We're to teach
them who they are, who the Lord is. Teach them to go to Christ
for mercy. We're to teach them. And we're
to love them. We're to love them. The more
excellent way the Apostle Paul said. We're to love them. That's
what we're to do for God's children. And that makes God's church say,
Hallelujah. Hallelujah. He maketh a barren
woman to keep house and to be a joyful mother of children.
God, let's put our feet in the ground. Go help them. Go help them. Oh, what an unspeakable blessing.
God gives life to his children. We're thankful. Let's bow together. Our Father, how can we begin to thank you
for your mercy and your grace, your power, and giving life to
your children. Moving in power to give spiritual
life where there was none. Father, how we thank you. Father,
I pray that you would take your word as it's been preached tonight.
Use it as the seed to plant in the hearts of your people. That
you plan it to give life and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That you take your words as it's
been preached and cause us to In more awe, more wonder, more
thanksgiving, worship Christ our Savior. All of our salvation
is found in Him. How we thank you. Father, cause
us to be faithful. Cause this church body to be
faithful to your cause, to preach your gospel, to love and to care
for your children. What a great blessing that you've
given us. Cause us to be faithful to do it. Bless us, Father, we
pray. It's in Christ's name and for
His sake we pray and give thanks. Alright, after that, I've asked
Mike, I thought a good thing for us to do is sing the chorus
Hallelujah. The Barren Woman's Hallelujah. Mike, you come lead
us. Let's stand and sing Hallelujah. course that Henry taught us. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Jesus loves me, Alleluia. Jesus loves me, Alleluia. Jesus loves me, Alleluia. Jesus loves me, Alleluia. I will praise Him. Hallelujah. I will praise Him. Alleluia I
will praise Him Alleluia I will praise Him Alleluia He is coming
Alleluia He is coming He is coming, Alleluia He is
coming, Alleluia Alleluia, Alleluia Alleluia, Alleluia Alleluia,
Alleluia Alleluia, Alleluia