If you would, this afternoon,
turn to First Samuel, chapter two. First Samuel, chapter two. One of the men in the church
there, he asked me if it was easy to preach after you ate.
And I said, I don't know. I've never done it before. So we're
going to find out. We have a lot of children in
our church, a lot of them. It seems like about every one
of us has either three or four kids. And a lot of the messages
that I've brought, I try to bring them to the children if I can. And by the grace of God here
this afternoon, I'd like to tell the kids a story, and you're
invited to listen. You are, but that's what this
is. This is a true story. It's the
gospel, but it's a true story. Try to show the kids something
here today. 1 Samuel chapter 2. I want to read the first eight
verses. Now, this is Hannah's song, Thanksgiving. You know, Hannah wanted a child.
And by her strength, she couldn't have one. She couldn't have one.
But by grace, she had a child named Samuel. And this is Hannah's
song of Thanksgiving. It's her prayer of Thanksgiving.
Listen to these words. These are wonderful words. 1
Samuel chapter 2. And Hannah prayed. and said,
My heart rejoiceth in the Lord." If we're going to rejoice, it's
in the Lord, isn't it? Oh, it is. It's in the Lord.
My horn is exalted in the Lord. It's always in the Lord. My mouth
is enlarged over mine enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. In thy salvation. There is none
holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee, neither is
there any rock like our God. Talk no more so exceedingly proudly. Let not arrogancy come out of
your mouth. Why? Why? Well, for the Lord is a God of
knowledge. That's why. The Lord knows what's
in you. That's why. He knows. You can
go off here and be arrogant to people and talk all you want. But don't do it before the Lord.
Don't do it before the Lord. Why? Because He's a God of knowledge.
And by him, actions are weighed. They're weighed. Verse four,
the 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 waxed feeble. The Lord killeth, and he maketh
alive. He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The Lord
maketh poor, and he maketh rich. He bringeth low, and he lifteth
up. And verse 8 is my text. 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. Let's have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord and Heavenly Father, Lord, we come here again today
thanking you for the blessing that it is to be here. Lord,
we just pray that you would lift us up this very hour, that you
would bless this message, Lord. You would take it to the hearts
of those who are needy and in need of your grace, Lord, and
strength and power. Lord, just be with us here this
very minute, Lord, we pray. Leave us not to ourselves. Lord,
please leave us not to ourselves. Dwell among us here today. It
is in your dear and precious son's name we ask these things.
Amen. You know, when I think of a beggar
in biblical times, lots of things come through my mind. I get lots
of pictures in my mind. I picture this scraggly looking
guy. and long, scraggly hair all wrapped
up in a turban, and he's sitting on the side of this dirt road,
or old road that's well-traveled. He wants to be in a place where
people can throw him a penny here, or a dollar here, or whatever.
But yet, he's all skinny. He doesn't have much meat on
his bones, because he doesn't get a whole lot to eat. He's
sitting there in the dirt, in the filth. His very dung is his bed. It's
been sitting there for a long time, long time. He has no one
to help him with the essentials of life. No one can help him
with eating or washing himself or using the restroom. He's a
beggar. All beggars had certain things
that were wrong with them. They were either lame or they
were... They were, they had diseases of some sort, leprosy, or they
were all stoved up, couldn't move, couldn't do anything. And
there they sit, unwanted. I heard Henry Mahan one time
talking about it, but he said they're sitting there unwanted,
unloved, unprofitable, and unable to do anything about it. And
there they sit. And that's the picture I get
of a beggar sitting there. But then, but then we contrast
this with a picture of a prince. And you kids, you've heard of
these stories, you know, Walt Disney and all these stories
of princes. You look at him and he's young and they're in the
prime of life. They got handsome prince and
he's got everything. He's got everything, you know,
as a young man. And they have all the riches.
They have all the riches that are provided to the heir of a
king. That's what a prince has, doesn't he? All of the riches.
He has many servants to wait on him. He has no want for food. He's got all the food he wants.
No want for clothing. He's got the best of every raiment
he's got. Everything he needs. His inheritance
is all that the king has. He has power, he has fortune,
he has fame, he has prestige. That's the picture we get of
a prince, isn't it? You know, when people walk by the beggar,
they spit on the beggar. That's what they do. They spit
on him. Oh, he's nothing. He's dirt. Nothing. Those same people that walk by
the prince, they bow to the prince. They bow to him. He's something. People laugh at the beggar. They
scoff at the beggar. They make fun of the beggar.
That's what they do. But the prince, oh my, they walk
by him and they sing praises to the prince. Because he's due
the praises that they give. You know, the beggar, he wears
that old turban wrapped up in his head, and he's sitting down
there in his dirt and his filth, and that's his crown, that old
muddy turban wrapped up in his head. The prince, he's got a
crown of gold and jewels and diamonds. That's the prince's
crown, isn't it? Oh, what a difference. The beggar,
he sits on the ground and cries and wails and he begs. That's what he does. The prince,
he's up in his castle. He eats and drinks and is merry,
isn't he? He's got everything he wants.
The beggar, he has no father. He doesn't. His parents turned
their back on him a long time ago. He's an orphan. He's sitting
there with nothing. He doesn't have anything. No
parents, nothing. That prince, his father's the king. His father's
the king. He has everything. The prince,
oh my, you say, You know, let me show you this
verse again. Verse 8. Look at this verse again.
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 a throne of glory. Can you imagine that? Can you
imagine that beggar down there and his dirt and his muck get
picked up and set among princes? Can you imagine that? Oh, you
say, that's too far fetched. That's too far. You wouldn't
even see that in a movie. You wouldn't even see that. How could something
like that happen? I tell you, it did happen. And
it does happen. Oh, it does. And I'll tell you
something else about this story I'm going to tell you. This great
prince I'm going to tell you about, that not only does the
beggar become a prince, but this prince I'm going to tell you
about, he becomes a beggar. He does. You say, that makes
no sense whatsoever. Why would a prince become a beggar?
Why would he do that? In order for that to happen,
the father, his father, would have had to turn his back upon
him. Wouldn't he have? He'd have had to have forsaken
him. That's what he'd have to do before that prince would become
a beggar. I'll tell you this morning, I'll
tell you what happens. becomes a beggar, that the beggar
might become a prince. That's the story. I'm going to
tell you. Look over at John, chapter 1. Turn over to John,
chapter 1. It's interesting, the pastor
read this. That's right where I was going.
John, chapter 1. I'm going to read you this story
right out of the Bible. Well, he said, where did this
great prince come from? Where did he come from? Look here.
Chapter one of John. First, John says in the beginning
was the word. And the word was with God and
the word was in the beginning was the word. All right. This
word here is capitalized, isn't it? That's because this word
here is in reference to this prince I'm talking about. It's
in reference to our great prince. In verse 14, we look over here
and it says, "...and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us." This is this great Prince. I'm telling you, this Word here
is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Lord Jesus, the Prince
of Life. The Prince of Life. The Prince
of Peace. In Revelation 1-5, it calls Him the Prince of the
Kings of the Earth. Prince. Oh my. And this Prince
has been since the beginning. That's how long this Prince has
been around. Since the beginning. Now this word beginning here
is used because in our finite minds we have no idea how to
explain an eternal beginning. We couldn't come up with a word
for that for anything. We just can't think of a word.
But just because we can't comprehend it, doesn't mean it's not so.
And this prince has been since the beginning. He has been since
the beginning, and he's going to be forever. Future, eternity,
past. He's always going to be. Always. This great prince. And
it says in the Word, was with God. This prince was with God. With Him. And it says, you know,
I've been with my boys 14, 11 years. And I love them more every
day. But this prince has been with
his son. The king has been with the son for all of eternity.
All of eternity. Oh, he must have loved him with
a love that was far greater than what we could ever imagine. He
had to love him that much. But not only was the prince with
the king, but watch what it says. It says, and the word was with
God and the word was God. The word was God. Not only was
this prince with the king, this prince is the king. He is the
King. Now we can understand the Trinity
about as good as we can understand eternal matters. Can't we? We
just can't comprehend it. But it doesn't make it not so.
It doesn't. And we understand that the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, three separate identities in
one being. One being, the Godhead. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. This prince told us in John 10,
remember what he said? He said, I and my Father are
one. One. He said in Philippians 2, 6,
Paul wrote, he said, he thought it not robbery to call himself
equal with God. Not robbery or taking something
from someone that doesn't belong to you to call himself equal
with God. Why? Because he was one with
the Father. I and my Father are one. We believe
in no debatable terms, kids, that Jesus Christ is God. He is God. That's not debatable.
No, it isn't. And then verse 2 says the same
was in the beginning with God. Verse 3, it speaks of the prince's
great power. This prince had great power.
Great power. For he has all power. He is omnipotent. All powerful. All things were
made by him. It says in verse 3, it says all
things were made by him and without him was not anything made that
was made. Everything was made by him. All
that we see he made. The mountains, the trees, the
rivers, all these things were made by Him. And the things we
don't see. We went over to the Creation
Museum, it's probably been six months ago, and one thing you
need to see when you go there, if you ever go there, is that
planetarium. We went in that, oh my, it's
amazing. Amazing to sit back and look at God's creation, what
He created. Oh, but He made all that. Even
if we don't see it, He made it. He made it. From the tiniest
particles of atoms to the largest planets, He made them. And without
Him was not anything made that was made. This Prince is the
creator of all things. But look here in verse 4. It
says, in Him was life. This Prince didn't just create
all things that we see, but He created life. Life. Whoa, what a powerful Prince.
Creator of life. He's the giver of life. Not only
physical life, but spiritual life. The giver of life. Verse 4 says, and the life was
the light of men. And the life was the light of
men. Our great prince told Nicodemus, remember what he said? He said,
ye must be born again. Ye have to be born again. That's
what Nicodemus' problem was, you know. He didn't understand
he was dead. He said, why am I supposed to
go into my mother's womb and be born again? No, Nicodemus, you're
dead already. You're dead already. You've got
to be born again. You do. I asked you this morning, can
a dead man see? Can a dead man see? No, he can't.
A person who is blind to spiritual things, they have to be given
eyes to see. They have to be given ears to
hear. They have to be given a heart
that discerns truth, that understands truth. They have to be. In other
words, they have to be given life, right? They have to be
given life. And this prince is the giver
of life. The giver of life. And in him
was life and is life. And what is the first thing we
see when we're given life? We see light, right? We see light.
We're given an understanding of God's holiness. That's what
we're given. We see for the first time, it's
like Isaiah said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. And His holiness,
His train filled the temple. Oh, get a glimpse of His holiness. And then, in light of that holiness,
we see our depravity. We see our sin and our wickedness
and our violence, our wretchedness. And then what do we see? Oh,
we're looking for something then. We're looking for something.
Oh, and then the Holy Spirit shows us Christ. He shows us
Christ. This great Prince, He shows us.
And we're indwelled. This comes in us and indwells
us. This reverence for God. This
reverence and fear of God. And this fear is based on knowledge.
It is, and true knowledge is light, isn't it? It is, and light
is truth, and truth is Christ. For it says in the Bible, He
is the truth, the life, and the way. Oh, He is. Verse 5 says, And the light shineth
in darkness. The light shineth in darkness.
The message of our great Prince has been since the beginning,
hasn't it? It shined in creation, didn't it? It did. Oh, it was
right there. In the beginning was the Word.
It was right there. It shined at the fall, didn't
it? Yeah, it did. What did the Lord tell Satan?
He said, Satan, this woman is going to bruise your head. She's
going to crush your head. That's what it said. It did. It shined
right there. It shined in the wilderness.
We talked about it this morning. A snake lifted up on the pole.
It was right there. Right there. It shined right
there in that wilderness. Oh, it shined in Job's day. It
did. Job said, I know that my Redeemer
liveth. I know He liveth. And on this earth shall stand,
and though the worms destroy this body and my flesh, I shall
see my Redeemer. It shined in his day. It shined
in David's day. David said, let the words of
my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable. And I
said, oh Lord, my strength, my Redeemer. My Redeemer is right
there in David's day. Oh, he's been around, been around.
He's there in the prophet's day. Isaiah, Ezekiel, they all prophesied
of him, of his coming. But natural, man, at the fall,
he fell into a state of spiritual death, didn't he? A state of
spiritual death, utter darkness. He did. And unless the Lord awakens
the sinner, he's got to awaken him. He's got to do a work of
sovereign grace in his heart. He has to. He has to open his
eyes. He has to open his ears. He has
to open his heart. And then he'll understand. But
if he doesn't, he can't discern truth. Not if it's right there
in front of his face. He couldn't see light. You're going to have
a morgue and you pull out one of those bodies and you put your
hand over his head, he ain't going to know you're there. Nothing.
Dead. And that's what we are. We're
dead to God before Christ comes, before the Holy Spirit comes
and opens our eyes to see Him. We are. And verse 6 says, It
says there was a man sent from God. His name was John. John
was a preacher of the gospel, wasn't he? He was. He had one
message. That's all he had. That's all
he had. He bore witness of the light.
Is that all we've got, isn't it? That's all we've got. That's
all we need is one message. I told the people there at Providence,
I mean, if you get tired of hearing me say this, then I'm done. That's
all I've got to preach is that one message. Christ and Him crucified.
That's it. He bore witness of the Prince.
It's like Paul said, I'm determined to know nothing among you, save
Jesus Christ and him crucified. And we talked about this morning.
Why that's important, because in him all fullness dwells, right?
All fullness is in him. Oh, you can hear all sorts of
stuff in churches today. You can. You can. You can hear
all sorts of stuff, but the message is Christ. That's the message
of the gospel. And that's the message that John
was sent with. And it's through the preaching of that message,
the gospel of Christ, that all men might believe. It says here
in verse 7, the same came for a witness to bear witness of
the light that all men through him might believe. It's through
that message. Oh, there's enough light in nature.
There's enough light in creation. There's enough light in providence
to leave men with no excuse. They don't have an excuse. There's
enough light there for men to see Christ. They don't have an
excuse. They don't. And men are sent
by God to take that message. They are. Take this message of
the Prince. Take him all over the world.
Preach the Gospel. And even though all men are lighted
by that light, our knowledge unto salvation is only obtained
through a revelation of the living Word of God in the soul. That's
the only way you're going to have it. It is. And it pleased
the Lord. How did it please Him to do this?
It pleased Him to do it through the foolishness of preaching.
What I'm doing up here. Oh, if it was just me standing
up here, and I was just... What foolishness. What foolishness. But we're talking about the God
of all creation. We're talking about the Maker
of the heavens and the earth. We're talking about His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. There's power there. There's
power there. Not in me. Not in the words that
I speak. No, but there's power. There is power in the blood of
Christ. There's power in the Gospel message.
Well, verse 10 and 11. It says, He was in the world,
and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He
came unto His own, and His own received Him not. He was in the
world. Okay, now we're getting into
something here, kids. He was in the world. This great
Prince, who was the Creator of all things, who formed the heavens
and the earth with a Word. He formed it. Okay? He came to
this world. He came here and dwelt among
us. He did. Bone of my bone, flesh of my
flesh. He came here to this world. Why
would the prince, and let me ask you this, why would the prince
who had a crown of gold and a crown of jewels and a crown of rubies,
why would he lay it aside for a crown of thorns? Why would
he do that? Why? That's what he did. Why
would this prince who sits on the right hand of the father,
the king, He stood on His right hand for all of eternity. And
He said, and He heard the angels sing to Him. All eternity. Holy,
holy, holy. Never ceased to ring in His ears.
Never did. Why would He lay that aside and
come down here to dwell among us? Why would He do that? Why
did He who knew no sin, why did He come here? Why did He do that? Why did He become sin? Why did
He come like a beggar, like us? Why did He do that? For truly,
when He hung on the cross, was He not a beggar? Wasn't He? Did
He not the Maker of the heavens and the earth? Did He not hang
there, despised, rejected of men? Didn't He hang there like
that beggar down there on the ground? Didn't He? Oh, my. Rejected, just like the beggar.
People spit upon Him. They mocked Him. They made fun
of Him. Oh, did he not hang there forsaken
by his father? Oh, he did. That beggar, his
father and mother turned their back on him. You know what happened
to Christ? His father turned his back upon
him. He cried from the cross. He said,
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why? The king forsook his son because
he hung on the cross, polluted with imputed sin. He hung on
the cross with the sins of his people. That's why. Oh my. The king could not even bear
to look at his son. Couldn't even bear to look at
him. The prince had become a beggar. He had become a beggar. The prince,
the maker of the seas, the maker of the storms and the oceans
and the waterfalls and all the water we see. He hung on that
cross and he begged the Roman soldiers for a cup of for a supper
of water. Didn't he? On the cross, the
great I Am. He said, I thirst. I thirst. Why? How did he do that? Well,
look at verse 12. Look at verse 12. I'll give you a hint. It's got
something to do with that beggar becoming a prince. That's why
he did it. Watch this. Verse 12. But as
many as received him. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's this great prince we're
talking about. To them gave he power to become the sons of God. The power, the right, the privilege
to become the sons of God. Even to them that believe on
his name. Oh my. Look at verse 13. Which were
born, not of flesh, or not of the blood, not of blood. Remember
what they said, we'd be Abraham, see? Do you remember that? No. No, that's not going to be
good enough. It's not. We're born not of blood,
nor of the will of flesh. Oh, that beggar's not just going
to get up off the ground. No, he's not. He's got something
wrong with him. He can't move. He can't do it
himself. It's not of the will of the flesh.
No, it's not. Not of the will of man. The preacher's not going to do
it. He's not going to change the beggar into a prince. Your mommy and daddy ain't going
to do it. They don't have nothing to do with it. They can't change
you from a beggar to a prince. No, they can't. But look where
the power is. Watch this. Which were born not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God. But of God. There's the power. That's where the power is. But
of God. All the powers in those three words. That's the message.
That's the message, kids, but of God. Well, you say, is that
it? Is that all you got? Oh, is it
not enough? Isn't it? Is it not enough? Oh,
I can just hear some legalist now. He said, OK, now, wait a
minute. You're going to make a beggar into a prince and then you're
just going to leave. You're not going to give him
something to do. You're not going to. You're not going to. give
him a list of the Ten Commandments to hang up in his front foyer
or something, so when he passes it, he'll know what to do? You're
not going to do that? That guy's going to walk out,
he's going to walk out the door praying to be a beggar before
he gets to his car. He will. I wish if people could just understand
the power in those three words, but of God. But of God. If we've actually being a beggar
in our hearts, if we've been shown that we're beggars, and
we are turned into princes by His power, and we are given the
throne of glory to inherit the throne of glory, and we are changed
by the power of God. Oh, there's power there. Let
me show you something. Turn over here to Acts chapter 3. I'll
read where this really happened. Watch this. Acts chapter 3. Acts 3, verse 1. I'll show you
one lifted off the dunghill. This is what I'm talking about.
Now, Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of
prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man laying from
his mother's womb was carried. Laying from his mother's womb.
Doesn't that sound like us? Doesn't it? We've been sinners
since we were born. We have. Laying from our mother's
womb. who may lay daily at the gate
of the temple, which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them
that entered into the temple, set him down on the ground to
beg." So they just sent him to the same spot, they sent him
every day, just sent him right down there in the ground to beg.
That's all he was good for, just a beggar. And verse 3 says, he's
seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked an
alms. He asked them for something.
He said, you got something for me? That's what he said to Peter
and John. Verse 4 said, And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with
John, said, Look on us. You ever got your kids and, you
know, when you want to get their attention, you get a hold of
them and say, Look at me. Look at me when I'm talking to you.
Huh? That's what that's what he says. Look on me. Look, look
at us. Look at us. All right. He's got
something for me. He gave heed unto him. Oh, you
thought he was going to get something, didn't he? He didn't have any
idea what he was going to get. Not any idea whatsoever. expecting
to receive something of them. Verse 6 says, Then Peter said,
Silver and gold have I none. Oh, we don't. We got the message.
That's what we got. We can't hand out money. That's
why these people and TV evangelists up there preaching health, wealth
and prosperity. That's foolishness. It's foolishness. Silver and gold have I none.
I don't have any of that stuff. But such as I have, give I thee.
Watch this. In the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, rise up and walk. Rise up and walk. In His name. But of God. But of God. Watch
what happened. Verse 7. And He took him by the
right hand. Remember that beggar? Remember
that beggar in 1 Samuel? He took him by the right hand
and lifted him off the dunghill. Watch this. He took him by the
right hand and lifted him up. He lifted him up. And immediately,
Ain't like us, getting up in the morning. Oh, we're stiff
and can't hardly get up and go. No, he said immediately his feet
and ankle bones, they were, they were, there was fullness in him,
right? There was fullness in him. He was, he was ready to
go. He received strength. Received strength. And he, leaping
up, watch what he did. He, leaping up, stood and walked
and entered with him in the temple. And I don't see Peter and John
here giving him some big lecture on how he's supposed to act when
he becomes a Christian. He's not. I didn't see any part of
that. How in the world does this man know how to be? I tell you
this morning, if you're ever a beggar and you see in your
heart that the Lord has made you a prince, a prince, you came
from a beggar to a prince. I guarantee it's what you're
going to act like. It's what you're going to watch this. He
said, and he leaped up, stood and walked with him in the temple,
walking and leaping and praising God. Isn't that something? Didn't have to tell him. Didn't
have to go through a bunch of do's and don'ts with him. No,
he didn't. That's what he did. But of God. But of God. That's
where the power is. Power is not in the preacher.
It's in the power of God working in the heart of the sinner. Showing
him what he is. Showing him he's a beggar. Showing
him he's a sinner. Showing him he has to have something.
Oh, he's dead. He's got to be made alive. And
when the Lord takes a person and He makes them into a prince,
that they could inherit a throne of glory. Oh, I tell you, you're
going to act like that. You are. You are. There's going
to be joy in your heart. Unspeakable joy. Unspeakable. But I tell you what, if you weren't
a sinner, If you weren't a beggar when Christ came to you, I wouldn't
suspect you would act like this man. I wouldn't suspect you would.
Why would you? Does it mean anything? No, it
doesn't mean nothing. That's what salvation means to
so many out here today. It doesn't mean nothing because
they didn't come from nothing. They came from somebody that
was pretty decent. That's where they came from and
he made a prince out of them. They deserved to be princes anyway.
They did. Oh my, the Lord would just grip
our hearts. He'd grip us and show us that
there we sit. That's where we'd be right there,
but by His grace. Oh that heart, that should just
fill our hearts with joy. That should fill our hearts with
love for Him. That without Him we're nothing.
We're nothing. Oh, I hope that I'm going to
get something out of this today. I try not to preach too long.
I know that it's hot. I'm fine. Lord bless you.