Alright, back to our text now
in 1 Samuel 1. God gave Hannah the son. She called his name Samuel. And then in verse 21 of 1 Samuel
1, the man Elkanah and his house, the men. Now, the men of the
household were required to go to these feasts. The women were
not. The women often went, the whole
household went most of the time, but the men were required to
appear before the Lord at these three festivals every year. And it says, he went up to offer
unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow, but Hannah went
not up. For she said to her husband,
I will not go up until the child be weaned. And then I will bring
him that he may appear before the Lord and there abide forever."
I'll leave him. Now, I'm not going anymore to
Shiloh with you. Every year I'm not going anymore.
When I do go, I'm taking my son and leaving him because I gave
him to the Lord. I'll fulfill this vow. I'm not
going up and bring him home and go up and bring him home and
go back and forth. I'm going one time and leave him. Now,
according to the best authority that I can find, we want to know
the age of this child, what she's talking about. There was a threefold
weaning of a child. First, when he was weaned from
his mother's milk. That was the first weaning. Now
she's not going to take a two-year-old or 18-months-old baby up there
and give him to the high priest to be bothered with. So that's
not the weaning. The second weaning of a child
in a Jewish household back then, I'm told, was when he was weaned
from the dry nurse, they call her. The nurse. at seven years of age. He stayed
under a nurse in these large households until he was seven
years old. And then there was a third time
that it was called a weaning from something. Weaning from
his mother's breast and from his nurse, dry nurse, and someone
who was controlling him and teaching him. When he was twelve years
of age, He was weaned from childish manners. And so that's when she's talking
about taking him up to Shiloh, to Eli, giving him to serve the
Lord with the high priest when he's 7 or 12 years of age. Now watch Elkanah. I like what
he says here. I especially appreciate this
man. He's such a kind. and loving
husband, and such a attentive husband. And he said to her,
you do what seemeth thee good. You tarry until you have weaned
him. Only you do what you think best. You tarry until he is twelve
years of age, but only the Lord establish his word. Now, in other
words, he is saying, only let all things be according to the
word spoken. The word God spoke and the word
you spoke. He knows all about this. He knows
her distress when she was childless. And He knows her crown to God
for this child. And He knows her promise. And
He knows her comfort. She ate and dined with Him after
she got the word from Eli that she was going to have a son.
She was happy. She came home and conceived. and was with child
and bore a child. He knew all this, so he's saying
to her, all right, you stay right here. But you're going to do
what you said. That's what he said. You're not
going to stay here forever. You're going to stay here until
you wean that child. And you do. The Lord established
His Word. He does. You see, God promises
and God provides. I jotted down a scripture here
over in 2 Samuel, chapter 7. You might want to turn over there.
In 2 Samuel 7, verse 25, the Lord established His Word. In chapter 7 of 2 Samuel, verse
25, And now, O Lord God, Thy Word that Thou hast spoken concerning
Thy servant, concerning his house, establish it forever, and do
as Thou hast said. and do as thou hast said." And
I believe that's what Elkanah is saying to Hannah here. All right, you tarry, but you
do what you said. And Solomon dealt with that in
Ecclesiastes. I want you to turn to Ecclesiastes
5. This is a very solemn scripture.
Ecclesiastes 5, verse 1. Let's look at this. Ecclesiastes
5, verse 1. The seriousness of worship, the
seriousness of these services and our commitments and our promises,
our vows, our word to God. Keep your foot. Ecclesiastes
5, verse 1. When you go to the house of God, Be more ready to hear than to
give the sacrifice of fools. They consider not that they do
evil. Be not rash with your mouth, and let not your heart be hasty
to utter anything before God. For God's in heaven, and thou
upon earth. Therefore let your words be few,
be carefully selected and chosen. For a dream cometh through the
multitude of business, and a fool's voice is known by a multitude
of words. And when you vow a vow unto God,
defer not to pay it. This is what Elkanah is saying
to his wife. He said, now you tarry, but you
do what you said. For he hath no pleasure in fools,
pay what you vow. Better is it that thou shouldest
not vow, and thou shouldest vow not pay. So this, I love his
counsel here, don't you? I love it. Let's read it again,
verse 23. Elkanah, her husband, said unto her, You do what seems
you good. You tarry until you have weaned
him. Only the Lord establish his word. Do what you say. God does what
He says. So the woman of bold gave her
son suck until she weaned him. When she had weaned him from
all of these things, like I said to you, she took him with her
to Shiloh with three bullocks. and one ephah, a flower, and
a bottle of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord
in Shiloh. And the child was young, young
man now, twelve or teenager. And they slew a bullock and brought
the child to Eli. And she said, O my Lord, as thou
so liveth, my Lord, I'm the woman that stood by thee here thirteen
years ago. 14 years ago. Praying unto the Lord, for this
child I prayed, and the Lord had given me my petition, which
I ask of Him. Therefore also I have, our word
here is lent, if you would jot in your Bible there, I've returned
him, I've returned him to the Lord. As long as he liveth, He
shall be returned to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there.
Now you know, over in, don't turn to this scripture, but over
in Psalm 107, David continually repeats this
statement, this plea. He repeats it four times in one
psalm. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for His goodness and His wonderful works to the children
of men. He repeats that four times. Oh,
that men would praise the Lord for His goodness or His wonderful
works to the children of men. Well, Hannah does just that. A psalm of praise. And I want
us to look at it. It starts in chapter 2, verse
1. After she had brought this son, And giving him to Eli, said,
I'm returning him to the Lord. The Lord gave him to me, I promise. And Samuel, oh, what a giant
Samuel was. Samuel is the one that anointed
David. Samuel was a prophet of God. One of the greatest men of the
Old Testament, Samuel. Son of Hannah. How blessed she
was and favored of God to have a son Samuel. So she prayed. And I want you
to think about this. This is a woman, as far as I
know, one son. They tell me she had five children
after this, or six. I don't know. I just don't know
about tradition. It sounds good, but who can check
on it, you know? Who can prove it? But anyway,
she prayed and she said, this is what she said, My heart rejoiceth
in the Lord, not in my husband, what a blessing her husband was.
How blessed a woman is to have a husband like Elkanah and like
some of you women have. Oh, my heart rejoices, not in
my husband, though he's a great blessing, and I do thank God
for him, not in my son, though he was her dearest earthly possession,
I am sure. Having gone so long without one,
having been so grief-stricken, Because her womb was shut up,
but my heart rejoices My heart rejoices not in my present happiness
She was about to leave her son and go back home without him
My heart rejoices in the lord That's who that's the one in
whom I rejoice That's where I find my joy and my pleasure my peace
in the lord Paul said something like that in Philippians 3. He
said, we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus. And ten times in that little
book of Philippians, he tells us to rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice
in the Lord. That's what she says, my heart
rejoices in the Lord. Rejoices in the Lord. He's the
fountain of all goodness and all grace. I want you to turn
with me James Hold the scripture there where we are and turn to
James chapter 1 He's the fountain of all grace He's the fountain
of all goodness. He's the giver of every good
and perfect gift and listen to James 1 verse 17 It says in James
1 17 every good gift and every perfect gift is from above All that you and I have, if you
have a good husband, he's the gift of God. If you have a good
wife, it's a gift of God. You young people, if you have
a wonderful father and mother, it's a gift of God. If you have
a knowledge of the gospel, it's a gift of God. If you have children
that give you such joy, it's a gift of God. He's the fountain
of And she says, my soul rejoices in the Lord. Every good gift
and every perfect gift from above and cometh down from the Father
of lights. What's that talking about, the
Father of lights? The light of life, the light of truth, the
light of holiness. Any light in which we walk is
the Father's light. The light of His glory in the
face of Christ. And with whom there's no variableness."
What does that word mean? It comes from the word vary,
or change. With Him there's no change, there's
no variableness. He's fixed. His Word, His promise
is fixed. Listen, not a shadow of turning,
not a hint of turning, not a shade of turning, not an appearance
of change. What God promises, God does. What God gives, it's forever.
The gifts and calling of God are without change. That's what
James is saying here. Oh, and that's the reason she
said, I rejoice in the Lord. I rejoice in the Lord. Listen
to the next line. And my horn is exalted in the
Lord. When you see that word horn,
you put out in the margin there power, strength. Power, strength. Nearly always it's talking about
power or strength. or ability. Talks about the horn
of the Lord a lot, His strength and power. But she says, my strength,
my ability to conceive is of the Lord. My strength is exalted
in the Lord. The change in my state. Thirteen
years ago she said to Samuel, you remember me? I was the woman
you thought was drunk. I was in such heaviness Penina
was persecuting me, and my heart was broken. I had no children.
I wanted to bring a man-child to my husband, and I had no children. My heart was broken. Now I come
here with this son, this son, such a wonderful son. That's
me. But the change is by His grace. I rejoice in Him because my ability
to conceive and the change in my state is by His power and
His grace. And my spiritual life is by His
grace and His power. And look at the next line, and
my mouth is enlarged over my enemy. She's talking now. All
she did 13 years ago was cry. She moved her mouth and no words
came out. Her heart was like a lump of lead in her breast. Now she's talking happy. Happy. And I want you to watch this
now. My mouth is no longer silent, but my mouth is open wide, enlarged
over all my enemies. Now then, being human, I've just imagined she thought
briefly of Penina. Don't you think so now, aren't
you girl? Now come on, don't you think? Just briefly, I know
she's spiritual, I know she loves God, I know she's rejoicing in
the Lord and His gift. But don't you know she's thinking,
see Miss Marty, I did have a son. You have to, that's just us.
And her mouth is enlarged over her enemies. I think so, but
I believe She had a deeper word here. Yes, I do. She's too great
a lady to dwell on that. I know it flies through like
a swallow through a barn, you know. Those thoughts fly through
your head. But I believe Hannah's thoughts
were higher than that. Her thoughts were on the Lord's
mercies and His power and His grace. She was about to give
her son to God. And she was dwelling on great
things and she was rejoicing. Listen, I rejoice in thy salvation. See that my mouth is enlarged
over my enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. I rejoice in
your grace. I believe you might couple this
with verse 10. Look over at verse 10 of first
Samuel two. The adversaries of the Lord shall
be broken to pieces. Those are our enemies. His enemies
are our enemies. Out of heaven shall he thunder
upon them. The Lord shall judge the ends
of the earth and give strength to his king and to his anointed. Now, who in the world is that?
That's Christ, isn't it? There's Hannah talking about
Christ. And so here, when she says, my heart rejoices in the
Lord, And my horn, my power and strength is exalted in the Lord. And my mouth is not silent any
longer. It's open wide. Open wide over
mine enemies and adversaries. Because I rejoice in thy salvation. Now, I want you to notice this.
I want you to notice verse 2. There is none holy as the Lord. Now here is a woman, a well-taught
believer, who understands how to approach God, who understands
that his chief attribute is his holiness. And you would think
now, here she is, here she is, a woman who's been heard of God
when she prayed, and God gave her a son, blessed her to have
a son like Samuel. And she's been preparing him
these 12 years, teaching him and preparing him and preparing
her own heart to bring him and give him to God and to leave
him here to serve the Lord in the temple and to go back home
without him. You would think under this kind
of situation she would be overly emotional and perhaps quite sentimental. And in her praise and in her
rejoicing, she would talk about God's love. God's love for her
and her love for God. And her willingness to give up
her son. But no, Hannah talks about His
holiness. His holiness. That's what she
said. There's none as holy as the Lord.
She sees Him as Isaiah saw Him. Holy, holy, holy. She sees Him
as David saw Him, holy and reverent is Thy name. She sees Him as
all of the prophets of old saw Him, the holiness of God. She
understood that God is love, but His love is a holy love.
Read on, and she said, There's none beside Thee. There's no
God but Thee. There's no being but from Thee.
There's no holiness but of Thee. Angels are holy, but in God's
holiness. The children of God are holiness,
but it's by His holiness. There's no God beside Thee. And listen, neither is there
any rock like our God. Oh, she is a taught believer.
You know the word rock? The word rock is often used for
deity, sometimes it's used for false deity. This is an interesting
scripture over in Deuteronomy 32. I don't know that I've ever
seen this before. But over here in Deuteronomy
32, it says in verse, Deuteronomy 32, verse 30, now listen to this,
what we're saying here, there's no God like our God, And there's
neither is any rock like our God. And it says here in Deuteronomy
32, verse 30, How should one chase a thousand? This is God's blessings on Israel. Israel, just a handful of people
put to flight a multitude of people. How should one chase
a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight? Except their rock,
that is the rock of the The deity had sold them, and the Lord had
shut them up. For their rock is not like our
rock. Even our enemies themselves being
judges. Capital R-O-C-K. That's talking
about the Lord God. Their rock had sold them. The
Lord shut them up. For their rock, small rock, small
R, is not as our rock, capital R. Even our enemies themselves
being judges. There's no rock like our God.
A rock to hide us, a rock to support us, a rock to shelter
us, a rock to provide for us. Turn with me to Isaiah 28. Here's another scripture referring
to our Lord Jesus Christ as the rock. And you know, of course,
1 Corinthians 10, that rock was Christ. But look at this. Isaiah 28 verse 14, Wherefore,
hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men that rule this people
which is in Jerusalem, because you have said, We have made a
covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement. When
the overflowing scourge shall pass through it shall not come
unto us. lies our refuge, under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for
a foundation, a rock, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste." That's our Lord. That's what Hannah's talking
about here. There's no rock like our God. Rock of ages cleft for
me. Let me hide myself in Thee. Our Lord said, I'll stand upon
the rock. You smite it, water will come out. No rock like our
God. And then verse 3. Let's look
at verse 3. Hannah's psalm of praise. She
says, Talk no more so exceeding proudly. Let not arrogance come out of
your mouth. Why would any of us entertain
proud thoughts? We have no room to boast whatever
we have, whatever we know. We have no room to boast and
we have no room to complain whatever we don't have. Paul said, who maketh thee to
differ? What do you have you didn't receive? So don't let
proud words come out of your mouth. And then And let not arrogance
come out of your mouth. For the Lord is a God of knowledge. God knows the heart. Actions,
listen, by Him actions are weighed. Actions are weighed before God
by the motive, by that which motivates action. God looks on
the heart, not on the outward countenance. I want to show you
something here. If you'll turn to the book of
Joshua for a moment. Book of Joshua. Now here's something
that took place. Here's this woman Rahab down
in Jericho. And what Hannah's saying here
is that God looks on the heart. God knows what motivates us,
why we do what we do, why we say what we say. And that's where
he judges. By him, actions are weighed by
what motivates them. Why we do what we do. And here
in Joshua 2, there was a woman called Rahab who lied. She just
flat told a lie. In Joshua 2, verse 3, And the
king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that
are come to you. which are entered into your house,
for they be come to search out all the country. And the woman
took the two men and hid them, and said thus, There came men
unto me, but I don't know where they were, whence they were,
I don't know where they came from." That's a lie. And it came
to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark,
they went out. No, they didn't. They were hidden right up there
in her place. And where they went, I do not know. Now, if
you go after them, you'll overtake them, because they went over
the wall. But she had brought them up to
the roof of her house, and hid them with the stalks of flax,
which she had laid in order upon the..." Why did she do that?
The motive. She did it because she loved
God, because she knew God, because she wanted to save the lives
of these men, because she knew that Israel was going to take
over Jericho, and these men were searching. It was a heart, but
it was still a lie, wasn't it? Well, over in, don't turn to
the book of Acts, you know this scripture so well, there's a,
there was a man and his wife who sold some property. And they
brought the money to the apostle Peter, Ananias and Sapphira.
Ananias came in and told Peter, he said, we sold this property
and we're bringing all of it to give to the Lord. That was
a lie. They sold the property, but they didn't bring all of
it. They brought some of it. And he wanted the praise of the
church because he was giving all that he had. He was holding
some of it back. And Peter said to him, Ananias,
what entered your heart to lie like this? You haven't lied to
me, you've lied to God. And he fell dead. Right there,
they took him out. And his wife came in, told the
same story, and she fell dead and they took her out. And fear
came on the church. Reb told a lie, and God blessed
and saved her. These people told a lie, and
God killed them both. This is what she's saying here.
Now, verse 3, "...talk no more, exceeding proudly." Don't let
arrogance come out of your mouth. The Lord is a God of knowledge. He knows the heart. He knows
the motive. He knows why, why, why. And by him, on that basis of
motive, actions are weighed, and the results are forthcoming. All right, let me read this.
I'll try to move along more quickly. She says, the bows of the mighty
men are broken, and they that stumble are girded with strength.
Now read this carefully. The bows of mighty men are broken. But they that stumble, they that
were weak, not mighty, are girded with strength. She says, they
that were full and rich and had need of nothing are now poor. And they've hired themselves,
hired out themselves, they've become servants and slaves just
to get something to eat. But they that were hungry and
they that had nothing, They that were hungry are not
hungry anymore. They have plenty. And then the
barren, the woman who had no children, has born seven. That's
where a lot of people get that Hannah had more than one child.
She had seven. And she that hath many children
is waxed. That word is forlorn. The woman
who had no children now has seven. A proud woman who boasted and gave Hannah such a difficult
time can bear no more and she's lost what she had because she's
forlorn. What is Hannah saying there?
Well, she's saying what the Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5. Turn there and let me read it.
1 Peter 5. She's saying that grace is for
the guilty. Mercies for the miserable salvation
for the sinners strength is for the weak Salvations for the lowly
in first Peter 5 verse 5 and 6 listen here it is Likewise
you younger submit yourselves to the elder Hey, all of you
be subject one to another be clothed with humility. God resisted
the proud You see that goes back to Talk no more exceeding proudly,
let not arrogancy come out of your mouth. The Lord weighs,
knows the heart, weighs the action, and this is the result. The bows
of the mighty are broken, but those that stumble and are weaker
strengthen and so forth. Read on. God resisteth the proud,
gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God, and he'll exalt you in due time. You see, our Lord turned from
a Nicodemus to a Samaritan woman. Our Lord turned from a whole
town down in the Gadarenes to a naked demoniac. Our Lord passed
by the Jewish hierarchy and called Zacchaeus. Our Lord rebuked the
Pharisee in whose home he had the meal and told the harlot
her sins were forgiven her. And you see your calling, brethren,
how not many mighty, not many noble. God has chosen the foolish
things. All right, back to the text.
Verse 6. Now this is the same thing. She's saying the same thing here.
The Lord killeth, and the Lord maketh alive. The Lord bringeth
down to the grave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and
the Lord maketh rich. The Lord bringeth low, and the
Lord lifteth up." Now, what she's saying here,
and we believe this, and this has a bifocal meaning. She's
saying, of course, the Lord does take life and give life. That
men live and die by His will. They succeed or fail by His will. They're rich or poor by His will.
They rule or serve by His will. But I believe she's on the same
subject here. The same subject. Bringing a sinner to himself. All of these things are present.
Now watch this. Let me see if I can make good
on this. In bringing a sinner to himself. In stripping a sinner
and bringing him to Christ. He says, the Lord killeth. Saul
of Tarsus said, when the law came, I died. I died. The Lord killeth, and the Lord
maketh alive. I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. The Lord bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. Isn't that true? We're buried
with him in baptism. Isn't that what we did here just
a week or so ago? A young man and others came into
the pool and said, I died with Christ, I'm buried. God brings
them down to the grave and brings them up risen to walk in newness
of life. The Lord maketh poor and maketh
rich. I want you to read this. Turn
to Luke 18. I want you to read this. The
Lord maketh poor, but He makes rich. Most of the Lord's people aren't
very prosperous materially, but they are rich spiritually. In Luke 18, look at verse 28. Then Peter said, Lord, lo, we
have left everything and followed You. And He said unto them, Verily
I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house or parents
or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake,
who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and
in the world to come, life everlasting." Right now in this present time,
brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, houses and land, That's what she's saying here.
The Lord maketh poor, yeah. He brings us to that place, but
He maketh rich. Look at this. The Lord bringeth
low, and the Lord lifteth up. Who in the world was brought
lower than Saul of Tarsus when he was lying there on the ground,
blind? The Lord unhorsed him, brought
him down into the dust. And he rose to be led by these
men, down to Damascus. And yet that same man, the Lord
took him to the third heaven, exalted him in due season. And look at this now, verse 8.
And he raiseth the poor out of the dust. Think about Ruth, the
Moabitess, picking up barley out there in the field, following
the reapers. Poor, poor, poor. He lifteth
the beggar from the dunghill, think about Bartimaeus sitting
by the roadside begging, and sets them among princes, sets
them among princes, 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. And none of His saints shall
perish, for He shall keep the feet of His saints. Wicked shall
be silent in darkness for by strength shall no man prevail
salvations of the Lord and That brings me this last verse and
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 here's a point of the day in which you judge
the world by that man Christ Jesus whom he raised from the
dead and he'll give strength to his king. The Lord has set
his king upon the holy hill of Mount Zion and exalt the horn,
the power, the strength of his anointed." My, what a psalm of
praise. You know, all of us here, the
men and women both, rejoice in that psalm of praise from knowing
the background, knowing from whom it came, what she has to
say, but especially, I would think that the dear ladies of
this congregation might especially cherish those two chapters, identify
with it. We're living in a day when I
watch my television, I listen, and I see women taking a most
active, energetic part in religion. I see them taking the greater
part. I see them preaching and teaching
and carrying on a lot of foolishness
and singing and wildfire and talking about things they don't
know anything about and sentimental, emotional, charismatic, you know
what I'm talking about. But you, dear ladies, find your
lesson here. Find your example here. Don't watch that stuff. These
psychics and the lead captive silly women laden with lust.
That's what the Scripture says. But you, dear ladies, there is
in the Kingdom of God great women of the Bible, great
women of faith, great women. taught their children, taught
other women, praised God, I could name so many of them, servants
of our Lord. And you take this woman as your
example, and you take her form of worship, and the reason I
read this and brought this is, and this was under extreme pressure. This was at a traumatic time
in her life. This was at a time, I guess,
the greatest the greatest mountain and valley of her entire life
when she brought this son whom God had given her, give him back
to God and go home without him. And yet here is the sweetest,
most precious, most wonderful psalm of praise. And all of it
around the holiness of God and the grace of God and the grace
of Christ. And how that all that we have
is by His grace and He goes down to where the dung hill, she said,
the dust, down in the grave and finds us and cleanses us and
watches us, gives us power and strength and exalts us. God put
her where she was. She wasn't exalting herself or
praising herself, she was exalting and praising her Lord. Isn't
that a great example for our dear ladies? Don't be swept up. Like I talked about this morning,
let's not be swept up in this emotionalism and form and ceremony. And don't you ladies be swept
up in this charismatic foolishness. But stay here with... There's
your example right there. That's it. That's it. Because God looks on the heart.
He weighs the actions by the motive.