Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1736
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, August 26. 1883
“Talk no more so exceedingly proud; let not arrogance come out of your mouth, for the Lord is the God of knowledge and by Him actions are weighed.” 1 Samuel 2:3.
IT is very beautiful to see how the saints of old were accustomed to find comfort in their God. When they came into sore straits; when troubles multiplied; when helpers failed; when earthly comforts were removed, they were accustomed to go to the Lord and to the Lord alone. Thus Hannah thinks of the Lord and comforts herself in His name. By this means they were made strong and glad—they began to sing instead of sighing and to work wonders instead of fainting under their burdens even as here the Inspired poetess sings, “My heart rejoices in the Lord, my horn is exalted in the Lord.” To them God was a reality, a present reality, and they looked to Him as their rock of refuge, their helper and defense, a very present help in time of trouble.
Can we not, at the outset, learn a valuable lesson from their example? Let us do as they did—let us lean upon our God and stay ourselves upon Him when heart and flesh are failing. Does not the Apostle say, “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice”? There is always cause for thankfulness that the Lord lives and that He is what He is, for “there is no rock like our God” and He is still ready to lay bare the arm of His strength on the behalf of them that serve Him. Oh, Believer, the fountain of your joy is never dried up! If, like Jonah, your gourds are withered, yet your God is living! If, like Job, your goods have been plundered, yet the highest good is still your own! Are the rivers dry? Yet is this ocean full! Are the stars hidden? Yet the heavenly sun shines on in his eternal brightness! You have a possession that is unbinding, a promise that is unfailing, a protector who is unchanging!
Though you dwell in a faithless world, you also dwell in a faithful God! Your trials are present and so is your Helper, who has said, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.” As the bird to the woods, and the cony to the rocks, so let your soul flee away unto the Lord, your Refuge. “Straightforward makes the best runner”—do not beat the bush and go about to friends and cry, “Have pity upon me! Have pity upon me!” but, “turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope.” As for the son of man whose breath is in his nostrils, in which is he to be accounted? Men are vanity in the hour of distress! Miserable comforters are they all. “Cursed is the man that trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm.” The heath in the desert which sees neither dew nor rain is the fit image of this spiritual idolater.
“Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is, for he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes.” Oh, learn to live upon the Lord alone! Hannah, who was once a woman of a sorrowful spirit, had so learned to delight herself in God that she could dwell upon the different points of the Divine Character with joyful adoration. Like others of God’s instructed people, she was very happy in the thought of God’s holiness. Notice the second verse—“There is none holy as the Lord.” I have heard many persons praise the Lord for His goodness, but it is a far higher and surer mark of Grace when a man can praise the Lord for His holiness. Is it not noteworthy that in Heaven, the abode of happiness, which happiness springs mainly out of the Presence of their God, the adoration of the blessed chiefly tends to this point—the reverent celebration of His holiness?
We read of the seraphim, “And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.” We read, again, in Revelation, concerning the living creatures, “They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” Are you conscious that you are unholy? Then, O Believer, rejoice that God is holy! Are those around you unholy? Is your soul among lions? Do you dwell among those that are set on the fires of Hell? Yet say, as the Lord Jesus did, “You are holy, O You that inhabits the praises of Israel.” Does it seem as if unholiness covered all things, breaking forth like a flood and deluging the earth with
its black and filthy waters? Yet the Lord sits upon the Throne of His holiness and cuts asunder the cords of the wicked! Let this be our song in the night—“There is none as holy as the Lord.”
Hannah also tuned her heart to celebrate the power of Jehovah, saying, “Neither is there any rock like our God.” One of the leading ideas in the metaphor of a rock is strength, abiding endurance, unmoving stability, unconquerable power. Let us also rejoice in the Lord God Almighty and delight in the mighty God of Jacob, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle! Even His finger brought plagues upon the Egyptians. And as for His hand, it utterly overthrew them! The Lord God Omnipotent is the joy of His people, for the Lord is our strength and song. He also has become our salvation. He shall surely show Himself strong on the behalf of all them that put their trust in Him. Fly, then, O timid Soul, to the cover of Jehovah’s wings! Abide under the shadow of the Almighty and His Divine power shall cause you to lie down in safety.