Transcribed from a message given
by T. Austin-Sparks in Los Angeles, March 1962.
The spoken form has been retained verbatim.
When I left New York to
come here, I had a very strong sense that sometime while
I was here, the Lord would have me speak on a certain
matter. So far and up till now, He has not underlined
that but in waiting upon Him it seems that He has brought
it up again. And so, I just commit myself to Him for what
it is that He wants us to understand at this
time. May we have just a word of prayer.
Lord, Thou art the
Master, we are the servants and it is for us to receive
our orders from Thee and to obey them and not to do our
own will or speak our own words, and so we would have it
now, that we may only give at this time what Thou doest
give to us, so that it may be receiving from the Lord and
not from man. By the Holy Spirit make it like that we
pray, in the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.
In the first book of
Samuel, chapter eight, at verse four: Then all the
elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to
Samuel unto Ramah and they said unto him, Behold, thou
art old and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a
king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing
displeased Samuel, when they said give us a king to judge
us. Samuel prayed unto the Lord and the Lord said unto
Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that
they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee but
they have rejected me that I should not be king over
them. According to all the works which they have done
since the day that I brought them out of Egypt even unto
this day, in that they have forsaken me and served other
gods and so do they also unto thee. Now therefore,
hearken unto their voice howbeit thou shalt protest
solemnly unto them and shalt show them the manner of the
king that shall reign over them.
Verse 19: But the
people refused to hearken unto the voice of Samuel and
they said, Nay, but we will have a king over us that we
also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge
us and go out before us and fight our battles. Samuel
heard all the words of the people and he rehearsed them
in the ears of the Lord and the Lord said to Samuel,
Hearken unto their voice and make them a king. Samuel
said unto all the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his
city.
In the prophecies of
Hosea, chapter thirteen, verse ten: Where now is
thy king that he may save thee in all thy cities and thy
judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?
I have given thee a king in mine anger and have taken him
away in my wrath.
In the book of the Acts
chapter thirteen, at verse twenty one: Afterward
they asked for a king and God gave unto them Saul, the
son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin for the space
of forty years and when He had removed him, he raised up
David
This episode in the
history of Israel, the episode of Saul the king, while it
has some elements which may perplex and be difficult to
understand, contains some very instructive things for the
people of God at all times. For it is not just a bit of
Old Testament history. What is here in principle has
arisen again and again in the history of the people of
God and become, as in this case, the point upon which there
is a return very often to tragedy.
What lies here at the
heart of this incident or episode, is mans
alternative to Gods best. And in stating that you
will immediately recognize that that is an issue which is
constantly arising. It arises in our lives, as it has
arisen in the history of the church all through these
centuries. The issue of mans alternative to Gods
best.
The thing which is
all-governing in this matter is that of the continued
presence of the Lord in life and power right on to the
end. You notice that that is the matter which Hosea
brings out so forcefully: You asked for a king and
you got what you insisted upon having; where is he today?
Whats the good of him today? In so insisting, you
lost the Lord! You chose an alternative to the immediate
presence and government of the Lord and your alternative
has let you down. Where are you today? Without both your
alternative and the Lord.
So we repeat: the
all-governing question is that of the continued presence
of the Lord in power with His people, not for a time, but
right on to the end. The Lord has been able to abide, to
remain, to stay and go right on to the end; there has not
come a time in which it could be said the Lord is no
longer amongst us. That is a big issue isnt it? A
very big one indeed. And I have said that this episode is
not just a bit of Old Testament history, it is set in a
very large context in Christian history and it must be
therefore carefully examined and analyzed to discover the
causes on the one side of the disaster, the tragedy of
losing the Lord; and on the other side the ground on
which the Lord is going to abide with His people to the
end. We must therefore look into this to lift out the
principles governing this whole question.
The Lords verdict
is written clear: They have not rejected you,
He said to Samuel, they have rejected Me.
Thats what the Lord thought about it. They would
not have accepted that. If it had been put to them quite
boldly in that way, You are this day casting out
the Lord, repudiating the Lord! they would have
been very angry indeed. But nevertheless the Lord said
that was what they were doing whether they would accept
it or not. It can be done, you see, while we even protest
that that is not what we mean or intend; we can just be
doing it.
Now right at the heart of
this story, one fragment of two words only, is the clue
to the whole great mistake. The whole phrase is: Make
us a king like unto the nations. And the fragment
is: like unto, like unto. Whenever the
people of God fall out of the immediate and direct
government of the Holy Spirit, invariably they proceed to
imitate, reproduce something that they have seen
objectively - not by revelation, not spiritually, but
something that they have seen - and well have it
like that, well make it like that, well
reproduce that, we will duplicate that. Very often it
comes down to this: Well have a New Testament
order; something studied, something objectively
apprehended, but its an imitation. Its a
seeking to reproduce something that already exists in
some form; some settled established form and order. And
let it be said at once dear friends, that as in this case
in Samuel, which is a continuation for a time of the book
of Judges, so in every other case when this happens, its
always the mark of spiritual decline when you do that, it
is not a mark of spiritual maturity to do that, of
spiritual progress, it's a time of spiritual declension
when youve got to imitate something.
There is a very big
principle involved in this. Imitation, duplication,
reproduction, by making: make us, by
making. All this is the incorrigible habit of the natural
man. The incorrigible habit of natural man: to make something like something
That was
the terrible tendency and the tragic tendency of the
church at Corinth, to make the Church according to the
wisdom of this world, on the principles of this world.
And Paul said Youre carnal; are you not
carnal? Wisdom... the wisdom of this world, no not
that, but to form the Church on the principles of this
world as they had seen the world - bringing it into the
Church. It was a disastrous thing for Corinth, it was the
great peril which was threatening the churches in Galatia
which drew the apostle Paul out in such vehement anger as
you find nowhere else in all his writings, repeatedly he
uses the word: anathema. Anathema! And what was the
tendency? Oh, this whole Judaistic set up which the
Judaizers have brought down to impose as a fixed,
settled, historical, traditional system upon something
spiritual, creating this terrible crisis that the
believers in Galatia were being influenced to the point
of turning away from that which had come in by the
Spirit, as Paul says, having begun in the Spirit, turning
away from that direct government of the Spirit to some
thing and imitate it; the whole system of Judaism.
And so we could follow
this thing through history but its coming up again
and again, and here it is in this story as a great
example of the tragedy of that. Let us look at the real
implications of this story. What was it that they were
doing? What was it that was happening? And in noting
these things we have our lesson, we have our warning and
we have our instruction. Note, it was a break with their
right position; the position which was their right position before God. What was
their right position, the right position of the people of
God? It was absolute separation
from the nations. It began with Abraham did they
not? Look at Gods dealings with Abraham; lifted him
clean out, separated him, kept him separated, let him
know that if he interfered with that separation, as he
did on one or two occasions, it came back, it reacted
upon him in such a state of lost fellowship with God that
he had to get his altar up again and recover. But on the
whole his is a life where hes completely separated
from the nations, from the world and his seed Israel are
an elect nation taken out of the nations. Their
forty years in the wilderness had primarily this object:
to show them how utterly, utterly, they were an unworldly people. Or on the other side, so
utterly a heavenly people; to have everything from
heaven: their government, their provision and
sustenance, their guidance, their strength, their
continuance, right out from heaven because a wilderness
cant provide you with very much for the life here
of nature. Separated, unto God. We see why in a moment,
but this was their right position. All through their
history it was just a battle over this, the maintaining
of this position.
They were called a holy
people, sanctified. What is holiness; what is
sanctification? Itd be as well if you get this
thing settled, [theres] lots of ideas about
holiness and sanctification. Do remember dear friends,
that this whole world, this whole world lieth in the
wicked one. Thats the word of God. It lies under a
curse. And if it were the occasion and I had the time,
and Im being beaten right up now over this matter
before I started, I could show you and you would see very
clearly how we are living in the part of the dispensation
which is showing beyond any doubt or question that this
creation lies under a curse, that every thing that man
thinks to be progress and development brings him into
more trouble. And all his efforts after power, after
strength, only bring him more fear and fear is becoming
the universal thing in this whole realm. Fear, fear,
fear! The greatest achievement of man is the
splitting of the atom or the making of the atomic bomb.
And what has it done? Brought more fear into the very
creators of it than ever was in this world, and into the
whole world. Is there a curse on all mens works?
That is only a hint, it's only a hint, but its like
that!
Every fresh discovery and
invention creates a new problem; some new problem, and we
go from problem to problem and they get bigger and bigger
until men today are just completely bewildered as to how
to contend with the forces of this universe. Well, I didnt
intend to say that, only to emphasize that theres
no doubt about it, what the Bible taught at the beginning
and all the way through is that this world lies under a
curse. And its ruler is the accursed ruler! Touch it,
touch it spiritually, become linked with it in any
spiritual way, and you touch death because youve
touched something evil, something unholy. Even
unspiritual and unconverted men discern something like
this. The great Churchill you know (not a saved man, a
man who has a life with God, but, but very shrewd in his
perception and judgment) spoke of Hitler that evil
man, that evil man - getting to
the heart of it.
Theres evil in this
whole world system and God takes his people right out of
that. For all spiritual associations and connections, youve
got to live in it but not to be of it, not to be in any
way spiritually related to it. Holiness, sanctification
(the same thing) is just separation unto God from that evil regime that governs
this world. Ah, wrestling, says Paul, is with the world
rulers of this darkness, hosts of wicked spirits. For
they had been brought out and their right position with
God was that! And when they maintained that position,
heaven was on their side, heaven was on their side,
whatever they were in themselves. But here: like
unto the nations
What a drop. What a
collapse. What a break with their right position. I cant
take more time with that, but the Bible speaks of that
kind of thing as spiritual fornication. Spiritual
fornication: intercourse with an evil state of things which is
in this world. Touch it and you lose God, He stands back.
Well leave that for a moment; do notice that the battle
has always been on that for the people of God, always on
that issue, if only the forces of evil can in some way
bring about some kind of link between the people of God
and themselves and their system, thats the doom of
the people of God. This talk about worldliness, worldly
Christians, and worldly church, and worldliness in the
church goes far deeper than just how you dress and how
you get yourself up and what you do and where you go; its
far deeper than that. Its touching spiritual
iniquity and it spells spiritual death. It was a break
then, with their right position, it was a breach of
vocation, a breach of vocation.
Why were they chosen out
from the nations? Why is the Church chosen out from the
nations? Lets bring it right here: why have you and
I been called out from the nations? For God looked to
take out of the nations a people for His name. And we
belong to that people if we're in Christ but
why? Why? Just to be saved and go to heaven? Thank
God for all that, but this people and we, were chosen,
separated in Christ for a purpose, for a vocation. And
the vocation of the Church, as was the vocation of
Israel, and your vocation and mine dear friends, is a
very great one, it is an ultimate one, theres
nothing beyond it. It is threefold: we should be
here amongst the nations though separated from them, for
a testimony to the absolute supremacy of the Lord. The absolute supremacy of the Lord! Now youve only got
to recall your Old Testament to say thats the
issue: "I am the Lord, beside me there is no
other." Their whole existence rested upon that,
that they should fulfil this vocation of being here, to
let it be known to powers seen and unseen, men and
demons, earth and hell that the Lord is the Lord supreme.
And thats a very practical thing, it comes down to
a lot of matters you know. I prefer to live forty years
in the wilderness, well here we are, where are you going
to have bread in a wilderness? Where are you going to
have water in a wilderness? How are you going to live in
a desert for forty years? Only as heaven comes to your
rescue. Only if God Almighty intervenes on your behalf.
Its a great illustration of this but go through
your whole Old Testament and youll find that this
is the thing: these people are either doing this or
they're failing to do this - maintaining a testimony in
their very life and being, history and experience to the
absolute supremacy of the Lord without any pluses,
without the Lord needing any help from the world; without
your having to turn in any other direction to see you
through for your support, for your maintenance, for your
progress. The Lord alone and the Lord sufficient. Thats
why they were chosen. It was a breach with their vocation
when they said: Like unto the nations
;
not only the supremacy of the Lord but to keep before the
world the nature of the Lord, the nature of the Lord. What kind
of a Lord is this? What kind of God is God? The Lord, the
Lord merciful and gracious, plenteous in loving kindness,
slow to anger. That was their song in testament. A holy
God, a holy God. Without enlarging
upon that, their vocation was to keep alive on this earth
amongst the nations a testimony to what kind of a Lord the Lord is. Stating
that, we leave it.
And then their vocation
was to demonstrate to all around the complete sufficiency
of the Lord. The Lord did not choose you because you were
greater than any other people, because you were more able
and efficient and you were better. Better? not a bit, we
know today that that people is no better than the other
people of the world, indeed Moses did say, "If you
depart from the Lord youll stink in the nostrils of
all peoples." How true that has become. Not because
they were better, no they needed the grace of God perhaps
more than any of the other nations. They needed,
because of their weakness, the power of God more than the
nations round about. Oh, they just needed the
Lord! Thats all there was to it, and the Lord
chose them, chose them. Paul said to the Corinthians,
You see your calling brethren, not many wise, not
many mighty, not many noble, God has chosen the foolish
and the weak and the things which are not
That is very comforting to us, but mark you that can be
just negative comfort. What for? To bring to nought the
wise, the mighty, the things that are, that no flesh
should glory before God but he that glorieth should glory
in the Lord, the absolute sufficiency of the Lord! And
that was their vocation, thats your vocation, thats
my vocation and that has got to be preserved intact in
weakness, oh yes, weakness
if the Holy Spirit does
one thing with those who He gets really hold of, He
brings them to weakness. He just undercuts all their
self-sufficiency, their self-importance, their
self-resourcefulness; you meet a truly Holy Spirit
possessed man or woman and you meet one who has no
strength in themselves, no confidence in themselves,
foolish. Foolish! Why, youre destined, youre
destined under the hand of the Holy Spirit to come to the
place of utter bewilderment over everything if God doesnt
resolve your problems and see you through, youre
beaten absolutely for want of explanation and
understanding. Its alright, its just the way
of the Lord! Emptiness, emptiness, yes, thats the
way of the Spirit, the way of the Spirit.
You know, the way of a
river, the way of a river is always the lowest channel;
always seeks out the lowest place, a river does, the
Spirit which is the River of God always seeks out the
lowest place: emptiness. And this is the way of the
divine glory, but this was a break, a break with
vocation: "make us a king like unto the nations
" Now as I close, it was a
repudiation of the principle of their very existence.
What was it? You see dear friends there are depths of
divine wisdom which we have not fathomed or grasped. By
His people and in His people, God is undercutting the
whole of the work that the devil did in mankind at the
beginning. And the principle of the man of God, the woman
of God, the people of God, is utter
and absolute dependence upon the Lord. Dependence upon the
Lord! Look at Moses, look at Abraham, look at all of
them: Moses, a man learned in all the wisdom of the
Egyptians, evidently a very wise, intellectual,
well-trained and tremendously efficient man when he was
in Egypt, comes out and after forty years under the hand
of God when God calls him to go he says, I cannot
speak; I cannot speak; I cannot. Oh if You will send,
send by anyone whom You will but not by me, Im not
Your man. Hes only one example isnt he,
Jeremiah: I cant speak, I am but a child, I
am but a child. Here is utter dependence upon God.
Saul of Tarsus, a big man
in his own realm, yes, everything, everything but if
there is one man in history who knew his dependence upon
the Lord it was Paul the apostle. Utter dependence upon
the Lord,
we have this sentence of death that
we might not trust in ourselves but in God who raiseth
the dead. Thats where I am, a dead man
needing to be raised. A dead man cant do very much
can he? Not much good a dead man, needing to be raised.
The principle of absolute dependence upon the Lord which
was the principle of Christs own life: The
Son can do nothing out from Himself but whatsoever He
seeth the Father doing
, the words that
I speak I speak not of Myself
, the
works that I do I do not of Myself
dependence, dependence and here: Make us a king
like unto the nations
repudiation of this
very principle; a change from the spiritual to the
natural. Saul, Saul
their choice, Saul, the man who
God gave them, was everything that pleased the natural.
Look at him, hes taller than any other man in
Israel. Hes finer looking, a finer specimen of
humanity than any other there. A magnificent fellow
judged naturally. Yes, alright, you asked for it,
youve got it; what you asked for. The natural? God
will give you the natural.
But we close, what did
the Lord do about it? What did the Lord do? Well He did
two things, He helped them to their own conclusions. This
is a very terrible thought. He gave them their request
but sent leanness into their souls. You know dear
friends, apparent prosperity and blessing is not always a
good sign, you think that we are having great blessing
and things are going just as we want them to go, but
there may be a snare in it. It depends on the motive
lying behind it all: your natural gratification and
pleasure
something to glory in
your wonderful
Saul whatever he may be: your system, your organization, your thing
wonderful Saul,
bigger than any other, something to take note of and to
point out and look, look! Theres a
terrible snare in that. The Lord may not be in it.
The Lord helped them to
their own conclusions, He gave them a king, told Samuel
to anoint him, go on, go right along their line, they are
determined, give them what they are determined to have,
well help them to their own conclusion. And so He
did and you know what the conclusion was. By divine aid
they came to tragedy. But the Lord was doing other things
and this is better; while all this was going on, He was
secretly preparing something that was after His own heart.
Unrecognized for the time being, taken no note of, no
account of for the time being, while these people are
getting on with their Saul, the Lord was working outside.
That little David, secretly chosen and anointed,
separated unto God, going through a deep history with
God, deep history, for a long time, during the whole of
these forty years of Sauls reign, what a terrible
time David was having out there in his cave of Adullam,
but God is doing something in him. Secretly doing a deep
work in David preparing him for the day of crisis. And
there is seeping out to him those who are being
disillusioned saying, This is not it, this is not
it, weve made a mistake, weve got on a wrong
line, this is not meeting our real need, this is all
disappointing and a few like that growing company
and their disillusionment and their heart emptiness -
disappointment with this whole thing - were moving out to
David and God was forming something secretly and hiddenly
that was really after his own heart.
Oh, theres a lot of
history in that. I dont like being critical at all,
but I do point this out dear friends, that theres a
great deal of the Saul idea about in Christianity: the big thing, the wonderful thing, the natural
fleshly thing that appeals to men and the world,
something like unto the nations... like that, theres
a lot of it. But is it not true that even in such a day
there are many hungry, empty hearts that are not finding
that to be the answer? Theyre on stretch for
something more and God is doing a secret work in our day,
make no mistake about it, you can go over this world and
here and there, one, two, a few whose hearts are
disappointed and whose hearts are reaching out for the
true thing of God and God is doing it secretly; going to do no Saul kind of
thing over this, no great public bigness, but no, quietly
and secretly Hes doing His deep work and these will be the instrument when that
day arrives when this whole other thing will be blown to
bits. It will be the people who know the Lord, with whom
the Lord will go through to the end.
Ive had to skimp a
lot and leave out quite a lot this morning, Ive
gone far beyond my allotted time but I got a comforting
note to take all the time I needed, I havent done
that. But dear friends I trust you see the point, this is
the issue: whether youre with a thing like unto the
nations or whether you are being after the thing after
the heart of God, I have chosen for Me a man after
My own heart who shall do all My pleasure. My
pleasure
The Lord give us understanding
Do give us this insight, perception, understanding,
discernment in the things that differ even in Christian
things, the things that differ, and lead us in the way
where Thou Thyself canst commit Thyself without reserve
where Thou canst abide forever for Thy names sake,
amen.