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, 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.
Maybe 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 will.
And so we would have it now. May we only give, at this time, what Thou dost 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, 1 Samuel 8, at verse 4:
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. And 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 up out of Egypt even unto this day, in that they have forsaken Me, and served other gods, 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.
At 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; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.
And 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. And Samuel said unto all the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.
In the prophecies of Hosea, Hosea 13, verse 10:
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 Acts, Acts 13, at verse 21:
And afterward they asked for a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by 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 we come, as in this case, to the point upon which that history can very often end in tragedy.
What lies here at the heart of this incident, or episode, is man’s alternative to God’s best. And in stating that, you will immediately recognize that it 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 man’s alternative to God’s 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 forcibly. You asked for a king, and you have got what you insisted upon having. Where is he today? What is 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, to go right on to the end, and there has not come a time in which it could be said, “The Lord is no longer amongst us.”
That is a big issue, is it not? 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 carefully examined and analysed 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 principle governing this whole question.
The Lord’s verdict is written clear: “They have not rejected thee,” He said to Samuel, “they have rejected Me.”
That is 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, “But 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.”
Wherever the people of God fall out of the immediate and direct government of the Holy Spirit, invariably they proceed to imitate, to reproduce something that they have seen objectively—not by revelation, not spiritually, but something they have seen. “We will have it like that. We will make it like that. We will reproduce that. We will duplicate that.”
Very often it comes down to this: “We will have a New Testament order”—something studied, something objectively apprehended. But it is an imitation. It is trying to reproduce something that already exists in some form, some settled, established form and order.
Let it be said at once, dear friends, that as in this case in Samuel—which is, for a time, a continuation of the book of Judges—so in every other case when this happens, it is always the mark of spiritual decline. It is not a mark of spiritual maturity to do this, a spiritual progress. It is a time of spiritual declension when you have got to imitate something.
There is a very big principle involved in this: imitation, duplication, reproduction by making—“Make us”—by making. Oh, this is the incorrigible habit of the 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, or the principles of this world. And Paul said, “Are ye not carnal?” The wisdom of this world—no, not that—but building 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 setup, which the Judaizers had 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.
Paul says, “Having begun in the Spirit”—coming away from that direct government of the Spirit to something imitated, the whole system of Judaism.
And so we could follow this thing through history, but it is coming up again and again. 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, our warnings, and our instructions.
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 was absolute separation from the nations.
They began with Abraham, did they not? Look at God’s dealings with Abraham. He lifted him clean out, separated him, kept him separated, and 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 that is completely separated from the nations, from the world. And his seed, Israel, are an elect nation taken out from 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 cannot provide you with very much for the life of nature. Separated unto God. We shall 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? It is as well that we get this thing settled. There are lots of ideas about holiness and sanctification.
Do remember, dear friends, that this whole world lies in the wicked one. That is the Word of God. It lies under a curse.
And if it were the occasion, and I had the time—and I am being beaten right up now over this matter before I have started—I could show you, 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.
Everything that man thinks to be progress and development brings him into more trouble. And all his efforts after strength only bring in 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 man’s work? Well, that is only a hint. It is only a hint, but it is like that. Every fresh discovery and invention creates a new problem, some new problem. 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 did not intend to say that, only to emphasize that there is 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 you touch something evil, something unholy.
And even unspiritual and unconverted men discern something like this. The great Churchill, you know—not a saved man, a man who had a life with God, but very shrewd in his perception and judgment—spoke of Hitler as “that evil man,” getting to the heart of it.
There is evil in this whole world system. But God takes His people right out of it, for all spiritual associations and connections. You have got to live in it, but not to be of it—not to be in any way spiritually related to it.
Holiness and sanctification—the same thing—is just separation unto God from that evil regime that governs this world. Ah, wrestling, as Paul says, with the world-rulers of this darkness, hosts of wickedness.
So they had been brought out, and their right position with God was that. 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 could take more time with that, but the Bible speaks of that kind of thing as spiritual fornication—spiritual intercourse with an evil state of things which is in this world. Touch it, and you will lose God. Is that bad?
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, that is the doom of the people of God.
Let us talk about worldliness, worldly Christians, a worldly church, and worldliness in the church. There is far deeper than just how you dress, how you get yourself up, what you do, and where you go. It is far deeper than that. It is touching spiritual iniquity, and it is 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? Let us 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. We belong to that people if we are 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 far as the vocation of Israel—and your vocation and mine, dear friends—is a very great one, an ultimate one. There is 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. You have only got to recall your Old Testament. You see, that is the issue: “I am the Lord; and beside Me there is no other.”
Their whole existence rested upon their fulfilling this vocation—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 that is a very practical thing. It comes down to a lot of matters, you know. I referred to their 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 if heaven comes to your rescue; only if God Almighty intervenes on your behalf. It is a great illustration of this.
But go through your whole Old Testament. You see, this is the thing: these people are either doing this or they are 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 prospect, 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, your maintenance, your progress—the Lord alone, and the Lord sufficient.
That is 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 lovingkindness, slow to anger.” That was His song in testimony. Holy God, holy God.
Without enlarging upon that, their vocation was to keep alive this explanation and testimony of 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 sufficient, and you were better—better? Not a bit.
We know today that that people is no better than the other peoples of the world. Indeed, Moses did say, “If you depart from the Lord, you stink in the nostrils of all people.” 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.
That is all there was to it, and the Lord chose them. Chosen! Oh, said Paul to the Corinthians, “Ye see your calling, brethren: not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble. God hath chosen the foolish and the weak, and the things which are not.”
That is very comforting to us. But, my dear, that can be just negative comfort. What for? To bring to nought the mighty, the things that are, that no flesh should glory before God; that he that glorieth could glory in the Lord.
The absolute sufficiency of the Lord—that was their vocation. That is your vocation; that is my vocation. And that has got to be preserved intact.
In weakness? Oh yes, weakness. If the Holy Spirit does one thing with those of whom He gets really hold, 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. By your destiny, you are destined under the hand of the Holy Spirit to come to a place of utter bewilderment over everything.
If God does not resolve your problems or see you through, you are in absolute want of explanation and understanding. It is all right. It is just the way of the Lord: emptiness, emptiness. Yes, that is the way of the Spirit.
You know the way of the river? The river always seeks out the lowest channel, always seeks out the lowest place. Remember that. The Spirit, which is the river of God, always seeks out the lowest place. 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.”
It was a repudiation of the principles 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.
There is a man learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, evidently a very wise, intellectual, well-trained, and tremendously efficient man. When he was eighty years old, he comes out, and after forty years under the hand of God, God calls him to go.
He says, “I cannot speak. I cannot, I cannot. Oh, if Thou wilt send, send by anyone whom Thou wilt, but not by me. I am not Thy man.”
He is only one example, is he not? Jeremiah: “I cannot 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 had the sentence of death, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.” That is where I am: a dead man needing to be raised. A dead man cannot 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 Christ’s own life: “The Son can do nothing out from Himself, 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.” Dependent.
Yes: “Make us a king like unto the nations.” Repudiation of this very principle—a change from the spiritual to the natural.
So their choice, so the man whom God gave them, was everything that pleased the natural. Look at him: he is taller than any other man; he is finer looking, the finest specimen of humanity, magnificent fellow, just naturally.
Yes, all right. You asked for it; you have got it—what you asked for. The natural: God will give you the natural. But with a curse.
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 soul.” No, dear friends, apparent prosperity and blessing is not always a good sign.
You think that we are having great blessings, things are going just as we want them to go. Because of that, there may be a snare in it. It depends on the motive lying behind it.
Your natural gratification and pleasure; something to glory in; your wonderful Saul, whatever he may be; your system, your organised best, your thing—wonderful Saul, bigger than any other—something to take note of and to point out: “Look, look!” Some 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, “Anoint him. Go on, go right along their lines. They are determined. Give them what they are determined to have.”
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. 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 account of, for the time being—all these people 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 those forty years of Saul’s reign, the terrible time David was having there out in the cave of Adullam—but God was doing something in him, secretly doing it, deeply working David, preparing him for the day of the crisis.
And there were stealing out to him those who were being disillusioned, saying, “This is not it. This is not it. We have made a mistake. We have got on a wrong line. This is not meeting our real needs. This is all disappointing.”
And, if you like, that growing company—their disillusionment, their heart emptiness, their disappointment with this whole thing—were moving out to David. And God was forming something secretly, hiddenly, that was really after His own heart.
Oh, there is a lot of history in that. I do not like being critical at all, but I do point this out, dear friends: there is a great deal of the whole 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. There is 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? They are on the stretch for something more, and God is doing His secret work in our days. Make no mistake about it.
Go over this world, and here, there, 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.
He is going to do no Saul-kind of thing over this, no great public business; but quietly and secretly He is 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.
I have had to scamp a lot and leave out a lot this morning, go on far beyond the allotted time; but I have got a comforting note: take all the time I need. I have not done that.
But, dear friends, I trust you see the point. This is the issue: either you are with a thing like unto the nations, yes, or whether you are with the thing that is after the heart of God.
“I have chosen Me a man after Mine 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, but things that differ.
And lead us in the way where Thou Thyself canst commit Thyself without reserve, where Thou canst abide forever, for Thy name’s sake.