Turn back to 1 Samuel chapter
2. I'm only going to deal with verses
6, 7, and 8, mostly verse 8. I titled the message, A Portrait
of Grace. Every sinner whom the Lord saves is a walking,
breathing, living portrait of the grace of God. It says in verse 6, 7 and 8,
the Lord killeth and he makes alive. He bringeth down to the
grave and he bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh
rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up."
We should learn from this to attribute everything to God. He's the first cause. I just
read it here. He kills, he makes alive, he
brings down, he lifts up, he makes rich, he makes poor. He's the one who does it. God
is able to raise the lowest to the highest. Years ago, back in the 1800s,
there was a little scrawny lad No education. Lived in a log cabin. Grew up
to be the President of the United States of America. Abraham Lincoln. Put him in a White House. Go
from a log cabin to a White House. Now who can do that but God? He can take the lowest, the poorest,
and the most uneducated. and lift that person to the highest. God can do that. He can do that. It says here in verse 6, the
Lord killeth. Every day. Every day. This is a fact. This is a truth.
The Lord killeth. Every day the Lord killeth his
enemies. I assure you that all throughout
this world today the Lord killed some of his enemies. That's a
truth. That's a truth. And he makes
a life. He makes a life. There are those
who are brought to the brink of death, to the grave, and the
Lord heals them, gives them their life back. In the spiritual realm, he has
to kill our pride, he must kill our arrogance, he must kill our
self-righteousness in order to raise us up. He has to bring
us down, strip us, put us in the dust in order to raise us. That's the way it is in the spiritual
realm. I forget how many this storm
that went through a few weeks ago, there were some that were
killed. You think was that accidental?
You might go home tonight. You might die in an accident.
But it won't be an accident that you died. The Lord killeth. Now, His children, He takes them
home. With His children, He takes them home. He calls them whole. You know, dying to us is not
death. It's a transfer from this place
to that place. But everyone outside of Christ, the Lord killeth. And He makes it like He brings
down to the grave, and He bringeth up. Life, the issues of life,
are in His hands. They're in his hands, not ours,
not the doctors. You know, I thank God for the
doctors, but doctors and medicine are means. God is the one who
brings down and God is the one who lifts up. And we need to recognize that.
He makes poor. He makes the spiritual, those
whom he saves, poor in spirit, makes them to know it. They're
already poor in spirit, but he makes them to know their poverty
in spirit. But he makes poor and he maketh rich. We always brag on the rich, don't
we? We talk about their wealth and how they got it. And then
they always write a book. They always write a book on their
success. And I've read some of them. Not one time, and I've
read More than I'd like to mention that I've read. But I have read
several of them. Not one time in any of those
that I have read have they ever give God the glory for making
them rich. Not one time. He makes poor. He brings down. He kills. He makes alive. He
lifts up. He makes rich. He makes rich. He bringeth low
and lifteth up. This is the God of heaven and
earth. This is our God. This is our
Savior. Hannah is attributing to Him
His glory, His honor. She's saying this
is the One who does all things. Things are not just happening.
People are not just dying. The Lord's hand is in it. He
told His disciples, not a sparrow falls to the ground without what?
Your Heavenly Father. And I don't think He... He doesn't
mean without your Heavenly Father knowing about it. He's saying
without your Heavenly Father's hand in it. Without His hand
in it. Over in the book of Amos, Let
me read something to you to listen to this. In the book of Amos,
in chapter 3, in verse 6, shall a trumpet be blown in the city,
and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city,
and the Lord hath not done it? Does he not have his hand in
it? Does he not have his purpose? Here it is now. Does he not have
his purpose in it? Does it not say that the wrath
of man shall praise him and the rest he will what? Restrain? Shall not the wrath of man do
and accomplish his eternal purpose? Even though it's a little here,
a little here, a little here, it's accomplishing his eternal purpose.
And the rest of it, he says, he'll restrain. Because if he
did not restrain it, the wrath of man wouldn't stop. If he did
not put an end to wars, as it says over in Psalms, we would
never be without a war. We would not know a time of peace
if he did not make wars to cease until the ends of the earth.
That's what it says. They wouldn't cease. So we see here in verse 6 and
7 that all things are of God, all things, in life and Rich, poor, low, high, all things
are of God. But now Hannah gives here in
verse 8 the character of those whom God saves. And she sees
herself here. She sees herself as a beggar.
If you go back and read chapter 1, she's begging. She's begging
God for a child. She's begging. And she sees herself as a beggar. And that's us. Now, it takes God, it takes the
work of God for us to see that. It takes the work of God the
Holy Spirit for us to see, to truly see that we are nothing
but absolute beggars. We naturally don't like to look
at ourselves as a beggar. If you were going to have a portrait
made of yourselves, you know, we've got a family portrait at
the house. We've got pictures of us. In none of those pictures
do we look like beggars. We don't look like it. But when
I pick up the Word of God and I read about myself, I see a
portrait of a beggar. A mercy, as Cecil Roach called
it, a mercy beggar. A mercy beggar. You take a beggar,
and any which way you want to turn him, he's broke. You can
take him by the ankles and shake him, and he's penniless. Not
a penny will fall out of his pocket. He has nothing. He is nothing. He is a beggar. And spiritually, that is exactly
how we are. We are spiritual beggars. We
are spiritually bankrupt before God. We have nothing. There is
not one good thing. There's not one good thing that
I can bring before Almighty God and offer unto Him for exchange
for something good. I don't have anything. Now, the natural man finds this
offensive. But the child of God finds it
to be so. They find it to be so. A beggar is one who is broke,
he's bankrupt, he's painless, he's homeless. When I read this, now I think
I've mentioned this before, but when I read this, there's a man
that comes to my mind. As far as people I've seen, you
know, beggars out here. We call him Rat Man. When I was in high school, I
worked at a grocery store. This man lived in a trailer.
I mean, it was just probably, I don't know, but he didn't get
10 foot. It was just like a little camping
trailer. He lived in behind the store. And we called him that
because everybody called him that. There's rats running around
down there, around his place down there. And when he came
into that store, he wore the same old coat And I mean the
stench, the stench of his presence would just permeate that store
and it would gag you. I'm not trying to be overly exaggerating
here, but I'm telling you it would gag you. He was dirty,
filthy. His fingernails were that long. It was just a beggar. A broken down beggar that nobody
had anything to do with. Nobody. If we could see that before God,
that's what we look like. I'm not exaggerating. If anything,
I'm not describing it enough. That's what we look like. Absolute
beggar. A beggar has no skill to make
a living. He's a useless person to society. He contributes nothing, but he
takes everything. What do we contribute to God?
The psalmist said, my righteousness extends not to thee. I add nothing
to God. I had nothing. God gains nothing
by me. Nothing. You don't gain by a
beggar, do you? No, a beggar is nothing but a
total liability. A beggar is a total liability
on society. That's what he is. And that's
you and I. We are a total liability. Our
Lord had to take our place and die in our stead, produce for
us a righteousness, give us everything, because we produce nothing. Absolutely
nothing. This is the portrait of those
whom God saves. Beggars. Beggars. If you had to draw a picture
of yourself right now, what would you draw? Would it be that of a beggar? Let's notice something else here
now. Let's notice where the beggar lives. Where he lives. It says here on a downhill. That's worse. That's worse. You
see, the word of God is descriptive. And it tells us the truth. The
beggar is not living in an abandoned apartment. He's in a dunghill. Dunghill. He lives on a dunghill. He says
he lives in dust. A very low place of contempt.
Look over 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 26, "'For ye see your calling,
brethren,' here's your calling, does this fit? How that not many
wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble
are called, but God has chosen The foolish things of the world.
Now this either, you either say that's so or it's offensive.
It's either so, you say amen. When God chose me, he chose a
foolish thing. Not a wise, but a foolish. But God has chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise. And God has chosen
the weak things. Does that describe me? Does that
describe you? You want to know if you're one
of God's elect? Does this describe you? And God has chosen the weak things
of the world to confound things which are mighty and base things.
See why the gospel is offensive to the natural man? It exposes
him for who and what he is. And the natural man says, that's
not me. That's not me. But those whom God says, that's
exactly me. It's like looking in a mirror.
Base things of the world are things which are despised, hath
God chosen ye, and things which are not. To bring to nothing, to bring
to naught things that are. A dunghill, it's a place of contempt,
it's a worthless place, it's a disgusting place. Why does he use dunghill? Why
does she use dunghill? Well, here's some things I thought
of as I wrote these out today. The stench of it best represents
me, naturally, naturally. Secondly, it most fits where
we live, naturally. Oh, you say, but I live in a
nice home. That's not what he's talking about. He's not talking
about brick and mortar here. He's talking about flesh. He's
talking about us, naturally. Thirdly, what we have is worth
no more than a Dunhill. Look over in Philippians chapter
3. Philippians chapter 3. Paul says in verse 8, Yea, doubtless,
and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but done. He said that's all
I have achieved, all I have gathered together. is nothing but dung. That's this life. That's this
life. It describes this life and all
that we can gather in it. Dung. That I may win Christ and
be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is after
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. What we have is worth no more
than dung here. And it best represents the things
we find pleasure in. The things that this flesh finds
pleasure in is worth no more than a dunghill. And then it best represents the
end of sin and the end of this life. Where does the Lord find us?
Where does the Lord find his sheep? Where does he find his
people? On a dunghill. He said that. God said that. It's not something I made up.
You can read it. He raises up the poor out of
the dust and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill. Oh, such a disgusting place.
What a disgusting place. But how can a beggar go from
dunghill to the throne? How in the world? How could that
man I knew go from that to the throne? How can that happen? How can a sinner How can a beggar
like you and I go from the Dunhill to the throne of God and live
there? Not just visit. I'm not talking
about visiting. I'm talking about staying there. Well, we're finally
here. He lifts us. See that? And lifts us up. He lifts us. God must come to
where I am and lift me off that dunghill. He must do it. If I'm going to leave that dunghill,
He's got to do it. He's got to do it. He's got to lift me off from
it. We cannot do it ourselves. First of all, we're dead. And
here's the most disgusting part of it, we like it. We like the
dunghill we're living on. Man, it says, drinks iniquity
like water. Have you ever noticed, and this
has always just puzzled me, but have you ever noticed people
who live in poverty, the next generation, the next
generation, they just live there in poverty. You think, why doesn't
somebody just get up and leave? Do something. But they're born
in it, they're raised in it, and they are so used to it, they
stay in it. Rarely do you find someone who
breaks out of it. People say, I hate hot weather.
Why do you live there? I say, why do you keep living
there? Then move. But I can't. I've got family, I've got this,
I've got that. We live on the dunghill. If the
Lord doesn't lift us off from it, we're not going to leave
it. Because we were raised on it.
It's home. Dunghill home. That's what it
is. It's home. No matter how poor you are, no
matter how bad things are, it's home. You're just not going to
leave it. And the Lord must lift us off
from it, if we ever leave it. Just like a dog keeps returning
to his vomit. That's us, by nature. But how do we get off of it? He lifted. He lifted. You might have seen that song when
he reached down his hand for me. He reached down and he He
came down. God came in the person of His
Son and lifted us off the dunghill and what we are about to experience. We will then say, yes, that was
a dunghill. That was a dunghill. By His grace, by His power, He
must lift me in Christ off the dunghill." He lifted. I couldn't get away
from that word. He lifted. Salvation is of the
Lord. He lifted. He must give the desire. Now get this. He must give me,
you, the desire to leave the dunghill. And that happens in
a new birth. That's why the Lord said you
must be born again. You've got to hate what you once
loved and love what you once hated. He's got to create in
me. He's got to do this. I can't
do this. He's got to do this. He has to create in me a desire
after real righteousness and holiness. He's got to create
in me a real desire after Christ. Have you seen Him whom my soul
loveth? Well, how did that happen? He created it. He created it. Now listen. Sin must lose its sweet taste
and become bitter. We've got the Lord must make
us sick of sin. And in doing that, he makes us
sick of ourselves. Because that's what I am, sin.
Sin must lose its taste. It must become bitter to my taste
for me to spit it out. I quit just chewing it around
like an old cow. That's a work of God now. That's
a work of God. He must give me a taste for the
gospel. He must give me a taste for His
righteousness. He must give me a taste for His
grace and His mercy, His forgiveness and pardon. He must give me a
taste for that and make me sick of myself and my sins. or I'll never leave it. I'll
stay and wallow on the dome hill. My righteousness, my righteousness
must become filthy rags in my sight. It is in God's sight.
It tells us that. In the Word of God, it says that
our righteousness are filthy rags in his sight. What are they
in your sight? He must make my righteousness become like filthy rags. He must
make my righteousness to become done to me. That's what Paul said. I count
all things as done. He's talking about that self-righteousness
that he held on to. That's what he's talking about.
He's talking about that self-righteousness and all that he thought he had
accumulated by all the good things he did by keeping the law and
all. He said that's nothing but done. That's all it is. And then
he must make me, I wrote down here, to hear of Christ, to see
Christ. But he must make me to hear Christ. My sheep hear my voice. You know, there's a lot of people
who hear of him, and a few of them hear him. And when they hear him, they're
ready to leave the dunghill. They're ready to leave it. And
then last of all, where does he lift them and set them? Huh? It says here to the throne. He lifts up the beggar from the
dunghill to set them among princes, the most honorable. He gives them honor. and glory. That's what we have
in Him. We have honor and glory in Him.
And to inherit the throne of glory. Like I said, we're not
going to visit. We inherit this. We inherit the
throne of glory. So where does He lift them and
set them? The throne where our Lord sits. Right now at his right hand.
Among princes, complete righteous, completely
righteous, not filthy, not dirty, but holy, spotless,
unblameable, unapprovable in his sight. Where does he lift them and set
them? He lifts them to glory, and they are a part of the family
of God. Now, right now, are ye the sons
of God. Now, it does not yet appear what
you shall be. This is not it. This is not it. The best, as
someone said, is yet to come. But right now, you are the sons
of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know this. When He shall appear, we're going
to be just like Him. We are going to be just like
Him. Where does He lift them? Among
friends. A beggar, if he has any friends,
it might be one, if he has any. Most people go around a beggar. You see somebody begging, most
people go around them. They won't have to deal with
it. No beggarcy allowed. But my soul, when He lifts the
beggar from the dunghill and sets him among princes and he
inherits glory, He's there with friends who came from the same place
and can all identify with each other. All of them. Every one of them. And this is all of God. He does it. He does it.