A Holy Nation — T. Austin-Sparks

In the gospel by Matthew, chapter 21, verse 42, Jesus said unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected was made the head into the corner? This was from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

The Rejected Stone and the Holy Nation

Therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. Falleth on this stone shall be broken to pieces, and on whomsoever it shall fall, it will scatter him as dust.

The first letter of Peter, second chapter, verse 7. For you, for such as this which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner, tumbling, and a rock of offense. For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto they were appointed.

But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellences of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Which in time past were no people, but now are the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained.

Passages belong to that which were on one side tragic, and should have been the inheritance and the vocation of Israel unto them because of their unbelief, and was transferred to the church, nation, as the church is here designated.

It is Peter, those oaths and the words which the Lord Jesus himself, the Old Testament, transferred to himself has done that. Peter has a peculiar place in this transition, an interesting place, a very instructive place.

Peter, the Church, and the Rejected Stone

The Lord had said to Peter, Peter, piece of rock, upon this of Peter's testimony undoubtedly, I will build my church. No doubt about it that in Peter's mind what was rejected of the builders and became the head of the corner was identical with upon which the church would be built.

Peter was the one who heard that statement, and it is Peter who so many years afterward has taken up the thought here in his letter, the stone, the building of the church there around, I will build. The Lord had in that very connection of the rejected stone becoming the head of the corner, said the kingdom shall be taken from you and given to a nation.

Bringing forth the fruit, Peter, he had said, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom. And here is Peter using this very phrase, that which was in the declaration of the Lord Jesus, taken from Israel, as they were set aside.

I, the kingdom, heaven, shall be taken from you and given to a nation. Now Peter is here, a holy nation, to show forth the excellences, corresponding to bringing forth the fruit. Now Peter opens this letter, as you will see, by indicating that he is addressing scattered are the dispassion, the saints are the dispassion, in all these many nations and places or parts of the earth.

And he says, ye, ye saints scattered in the nations, dispersed over the earth, ye are, not you are going to be, but now, scattered everywhere, you are just a nation in the nations, but you are different from the nations.

Holiness as the Basis of Israel’s Calling and the Church’s Inheritance

Now our present emphasis is upon this, ye are holy, a holy. On that word holy, the tragedy of Israel took place. The transference of all the divine intention was effected. On that one word, the church inherits all that.

The whole changeover, the terrible tragedy and loss of Israel and the glorious inheritance, it just hangs upon one word, holy. Everything was lost, the divine intentions, that people as a nation is all due to this one thing, failure in what God means by holiness.

And if the church comes in only on that, then it's a very governing thing, isn't it? This matter of what the Lord means by holiness. And we could go as far as to say there is no guarantee of the church retaining its inheritance and vocation and its holiness.

It could very well be said of people, even in this dispensation, the Christian dispensation, it shall be taken from you and given to those bringing forth the fruits thereof. That's the only grant. You, no more than Israel, can claim to stand and abide on mere tradition, on mere history, on mere externals, our practice and teaching, the basis with God is holiness.

What he means, no one can contemplate the awfulness of Israel's tragedy over these two thousand years without hearing the presence of something very, very great, important, and in a sense something very terrible.

This matter of holiness, and you know that there are other words into which this one word is translated, simply means, we often say sanctified, not for God, many ways of, but that's what it is. This is something which belongs to, and belonging to God, it is sacred, it is holy, it is separated from all, that is contrary to God, that is holiness.

Abraham’s Separation from the World

Now for light matter, we of course do have to go back to the Old Testament, and we begin that after man's disobedience at the beginning, and that's the heart of the trouble of all unholiness as is here stated, the whole world, the arms of the wicked one, the whole world lieth in the wicked one, the whole world lieth in the wicked one.

That is the revelation of the early chapters of the Bible, but stay to emphasize, or to illustrate, or to cite, there it is, God beheld, God looked down, lieth in, then God moved from that world in the lap of the wicked one, a people of a different kind.

We have his move with Abraham, and here dear friends, with all your interest in the life of Abraham, and the incidence in his life, and all your study and reading of that life, remember that the heart of everything where Abraham was concerned, was this one thing, from this world.

So the word came to Abraham, get thee out of thy country, from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, get thee out. Now this is a literal geographical movement, but contains a spiritual principle, a getting out of that realm, lying in the wicked one.

So Abraham went out of the colonies, in a typical sense, he went out from this world in the wicked one. And then God promised him, made promise of Isaac, and went away and left him, as he so often seems to do after he's made a promise, a long time.

But do you notice, with one object, did God promise and then not fulfill his promise for so long? And leave Abraham, protested and tried by his promise, for this one thing only, that that son had got to be different from all other sons.

That son could not come the natural way, that son could not be like all other sons of this world. He must be God. And so God saw to it, that although he promised, no hope along that line, and when at length, Isaac was born, he was God's miracle.

Something not of this world, but of God. But even so, God is going to ratify that and confound that principle. The day came when the land had grown to you. The Lord said to Abraham, take now thy son, thine only, and thou lovest and offer him.

And so to death Isaac must go, in which the natural ties were severed and broken. Back as in figure, by resurrection from the dead, was simply put on supernatural ground again. Divine supernatural ground of things was confirmed by God in that.

See what God is doing? Putting everything on holy ground. God can give us things that are undoubtedly given us by God, and we know it at the time, and then we lay hold and impinge upon them, hold them to ourselves, and so our natural life comes right in on this matter.

The Lord takes us through drastic experiences to sever our natural selves from divine things, to keep them holy. Because even our affections are not always pure. Put everything on that ground, outside of this corrupt, devil-ridden, devil-governed world.

And who will not say that that is the state? Did it with Abraham, that's where he made his start toward a holy nation. A holy nation. He laid the foundation in holiness. When his promise had reached the stage of a nation being in existence, Israel is in Egypt, in the world, no doubt about it, in the devil, the evil one.

Pharaoh is a type of the prince of this world. You see, the Lord takes pains to show what a tyrant he is, takes pains to show how evil he is. I venture to say there's no one in this place this morning, and there are a few people in this world who would put up with half what Pharaoh put up with without letting those people go.

So God went through plague after, right up to that. For one purpose, on the one side, he is showing the nature of the evil one. How evil he is. On the other, well, he met Moses, as you know, out there in the desert, at the bush, alive with fire, but never consumed.

And this is the man who is going to bring that people out of the power of darkness. Out of the bondage of the prince of this world. Out of evil kingdom. And God meets him there. And what does God say?

Put off thy shoes, and off thy feet, for the ground, the place whereon thou standest, is holy. Is holy. The instrument must, in figure, in type, be separated from the evil ground. No one can lead another soul out of bondage who is still in bondage himself.

No one can help other people into a life with God who is not separated from this world. The very instrument has to come onto holy ground. Consecrated ground. Separated ground. With what? Between. And that?

Between God and the evil one, there is a fire which never dies. Between what is holy and what is not holy. He goes with his commission. Yes, there in a kingdom, in a world, that is repudiated and has got to be brought out.

Redemption by the Precious Blood

But it is by virtue of precious blood. The blood of the lamb. The blood of the Passover. By the mighty efficacious blood of a lamb without spot. Separated by precious holy blood. This is Peter speaking again.

He were not redeemed with incorruptible things of silver and gold but with precious blood. And then you would think that that had effected it. Forty years there in the wilderness and what is the one thing that comes out so clearly during those forty years that although they are out of Egypt, Egypt is not out of them.

Although they are geographically separated spiritually, their hearts are still back in They are talking about Egypt, hankering for Egypt after all. And so we come to Jordan, the mighty overflowing Jordan.

Lying between them and that life as a nation which is to satisfy God. Fulfill a holy vocation and that Jordan flows deep and strong between. And at last their hearts out of Egypt. You see the principle is working all the time.

Israel’s Mixture and the Crisis under Ezra

God is carrying this thing very deep. And you pass on to later history in that nation when they go into captivity and exile and a remnant comes back. You remember that crisis in the book of Israel when they come back and the house is being restored, beautified.

A crisis arose. It was over one thing. The people had married foreign wives and the whole thing was spoiled. Came under arrest. It was as though God said we are not going on with this. You read again what Ezra did over that.

Brought everything up short on this question of mixed marriages. All again a figure of this spiritual mixture which God will not have. Unholiness. The mark and line of distinctiveness between what is of God and what is not of God drawn fast and hard.

New Birth as Separation from the Kingdom of Darkness

What are we going to say to all this? That's a very brief and perfect survey. But dear friends do you see that the very beginning of the Christian life, the very beginning of the Christian life rests upon this one historic law of God right through the ages which he cannot overlook.

The beginning of the Christian life is called being born anew or more correctly born from above. Does it mean? Meant in figure means this that by our very new birth we are translated out of the authority of darkness into the kingdom of the son of God's love.

By our very new birth our conversion call it what you will. The very beginning of the Christian life is an absolute separation of two kingdoms. A transference from one into another. One is an unholy realm into which we are born and to which we belong by nature.

The other is a holy realm. You are a holy nation. A nation separated from this world unto God. New birth means that all that that was made clear to all. Right there beginning how utter this thing is. The Lord Jesus left people in no doubt about this.

A cleavage utter and absolute. He would take risks with people. You would say probably oh why put them off? Why run the risk of offending them? Why discourage them saying accept, accept, accept all the time?

He was taking all the risks necessary about this because of the the reality of the awful reality of this. You cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven to God in any way. Two things cannot go together. One is unholy.

The other is holy. By new birth we cross a line which is a very broad line as broad as the Red Sea and as the Jordan of the Lord Jesus. New birth it's all. It's a life of holiness that we have taken up or entered into.

Walking in Holiness and Separation from the World

A life of holiness. Separation unto God. Complete separation unto God. It's to be a walk in holiness. How much the New Testament has walked in holiness that is separate unto God in heart, in spirit, in life from this world.

And if we knew it a very large degree of our education, our spiritual education and our discipline in the Christian life under the hand of the Holy Spirit has to do with those things in us which are mixed up.

Are mixed up. We are trying to make the best of two worlds. We are trying to keep together in compromise things which before God do not belong and are going to spell disaster for us. Disaster for us as truly as ever is felt disaster for Israel.

We're going to lose the tremendous thing the Lord calls for distinctiveness of life and testimony. Real distinctiveness of life and testimony. Is our life dear friends, is your life and my life in this world in our connections, associations and so on quite distinct?

No mistaking to what realm we belong, to whom we belong. No mistaking, compromising, keeping terms with this world and its people under the devil's hand. If so we stand to lose terribly. We do. What sort of a testimony have you got where you work in your business and its associations?

What other testimony have we got in the church? Are we really registering and making our mark in the church? Do we count in the church? Are we passengers? There's something quite distinctive about our lives that says that man, that woman, that young man, that young woman is utter for God.

No doubt about it. You see it all the time. They are utter for God. They are not playing with them. Now this sounds hard but it's necessary. Do you see what's involved dear friends? The secret of power is holiness.

It is. The secret of power is holiness. If our lives are powerless it may be due to this or lack somewhere, somehow of this utterness for God, this separation unto God. Of some kind of compromise, somehow, somewhere with the prince of this world who is robbing us of our spiritual power and vitality on his own ground.

The secret of power is holiness. Whatever you forget, remember that. The secret of a testimony that counts is a holy life. It's not our teaching, our truth, our practice, religious ordinances and so on, our forms.

It's nothing of that in the first place. Our real testimony is the testimony of a holy life. It counts far more than all our words. It really does. And remember, this being true, this is the secret of divine support.

The Lord will commit himself to his own ground holiness. The Lord will stand by those who stand for him in his nature. The Lord will look after such. And whatever we may have in this life, in this world, we may have a lot.

But mark you, if we haven't got the Lord with us at last, it's no game. It's no game. It's a terrible loss. Israel had the ordinances and the oracles and the tradition and all the mighty lot that they had, but at last they lost the kingdom.

They lost the kingdom. It was no game, was it? Well now, what are we concerned about? What are you concerned about? What am I concerned about? I can focus it all down to this one thing. I'm concerned about the Lord being with us.

And the Lord committing himself. And I'm concerned, a testimony in power, a life that counts for God, leaving a mark for God, being remembered for what was of God. This is the only justification of our having come this way at all.

And as I see it, it depends upon this utter separation unto God, gathered into this word holiness. Ye are holy, may we answer to the description, will be the preciousness.