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?
The same was made the head and the
corner.
This was from the Lord, and it is
marvellous in our eyes.
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.
He that falleth on this stone shall be
broken to pieces.
But on whomsoever it shall fall, it will
scatter him as dust.
The first letter of Peter, second chapter, verse
7.
For you, therefore, which believe, is the preciousness.
But for such as disbelieve, the stone which
the builders rejected, the same was made the
head and the corner, and a stone of
stumbling, and a rock of offence.
For they stumbled at the word, being disobedient.
Whereunto also 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 marvellous light, which in time
past were no people, but now are the
people of God, which had not obtained mercy,
but now have obtained.
These passages belong, as you see, to that
very solemn, in some respects, or on one
side, tragic thing.
The truth that
all that could and should have been the
inheritance and the vocation of Israel was lost
by them and to them because of their
unbelief and was transferred to the church, the
holy nation.
As the church is here designated by Peter.
It is Peter who has taken those Old
Testament words and the words which the Lord
Jesus himself took from the Old Testament and
transferred to himself.
It is Peter who has done that.
Peter has a peculiar place in this transition,
an interesting place, a very instructive place.
The Lord has said to Peter, Thou art
Peter, piece of rock.
Upon this rock of Peter's testimony, undoubtedly, I
will build my church.
There is no doubt about it that in
Peter's mind, the stone which was rejected of
the builders and became the head of the
corner was identical with the rock upon which
the church would be built.
Peter was the one who heard that statement
from the Lord and it is Peter who,
so many years afterward, has taken up the
thought here in his letter.
The stone, the rock, the building of the
church, there upon, 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 thereof.
Peter, he had said, and I will give
you the keys of the kingdom.
And here is Peter, using this very phrase,
a holy nation, answering to 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 speaking of a holy
nation to show forth the excellences, corresponding to
bringing forth the fruit thereof.
Now Peter opens this letter, as you see,
by indicating that he is addressing the scattered
of the dispassion over the world, the saints
of the dispassion, in all these many nations,
in all these many nations, and places or
parts of the earth.
And he says, Ye, ye saints scattered in
the nations, dispassed over the earth, ye are
a holy nation.
Not you are going to be, but now.
As scattered everywhere, you are just a nation
in the nations.
But you are different from the nations.
Now our present emphasis, this morning, is upon
this one word.
Ye are a holy nation.
A holy nation.
Upon that word, holy, the tragedy of Israel
took place.
The transference of all the divine intention was
effected.
Upon that one word, the church inherits all
that.
See, the whole changeover, the terrible tragedy and
loss of Israel, and the glorious inheritance of
the church, it just hangs upon one word,
holy.
Holy.
Everything rests upon that.
If Israel's loss of the divine intentions for
that people as a nation is all due
to this one thing, failure in what God
means by holiness.
Yes.
And if the church comes in only on
that ground, 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 beyond its holiness.
Yes.
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 by holiness.
No one can contemplate the awfulness of Israel's
tragedy over these two thousand years without feeling
that here in 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, separated, set
apart for God.
Many ways of expressing it.
But that's what it is.
This is something which belongs to God, solely
and wholly.
And belonging to God, it is sacred.
It is holy.
It is sanctified.
It is separated from all that is contrary
to God.
That is holiness.
Now for light on this matter, we of
course do have to go back to the
Old Testament.
And we begin with the realization 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, to use
the phrase of an apostle, fell into the
arms of the wicked one.
The whole world lieth in the wicked one.
That is the revelation of the early chapters
of the Bible, isn't it?
We need not stay to emphasize, or to
illustrate, or to cite.
There it is.
God beheld, God looked down, but all men
gone astray.
The whole world lieth in the wicked one.
Then God moved to extricate 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, to separate 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 from out of the
colonies.
In a typical sense, he went out from
this world in the wicked one.
And then God promised him a son.
Made promise of Isaac and went away and
left him, as he so often seems to
do after he's made a promise.
Leaves for a long time.
But do you notice, with one object, why
did God promise and then not fulfill his
promise for so long?
And leave Abraham so tested and tried by
his promise, by his word.
Why?
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's act.
And so God saw to it that although
he promised, the natural way was impossible.
Simply closed down.
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 confirm that principle.
The day came when the lad had grown
to youth.
The Lord said to Abraham, Take now thy
son, thine only, only son, whom thou lovest
and offer him.
And so, today, Isaac must go.
In which all the natural ties were severed
and broken.
And Isaac being brought back as in figure
by resurrection from the dead was simply put
on supernatural ground again.
The heavenly divine supernatural ground of things was
confirmed by God in that event.
See what God is doing?
Putting everything on holy ground.
You know, 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.
Take hold.
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.
Not always holy.
God put everything on that ground.
Outside of this corrupt devil ridden, devil governed
world.
And who will not say that that is
the state of the world.
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 and covenant with Abraham had
reached the stage of a nation being in
existence.
Israel is in Egypt in the world.
No doubt about it in the lap of
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 plague.
Right up to the tent in death itself.
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 this evil people.
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 the evil earth
the evil kingdom.
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.
So the very instrument Moses himself has to
come on to holy ground consecrated ground separated
ground with what?
Fire fire between this world and that between
God and the evil one.
There's a fire which never dies fire which
draws the line of distinction between what is
holy and what is not holy.
To Egypt he goes with his commission and
we know the story.
Yes there in a kingdom in a world
that is repudiated and has got to be
brought out 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 ye were not
redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold
but with precious blood as of a lamb
without spot and blemish and then you would
think that that had effected it forty years
there in the wilderness and what is the
one thing that comes up 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 Egypt they're 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 their hearts in Egypt and at
last their hearts out of Egypt you see
the principle is working all the time 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've come
back and the house was 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 now you read again
what Ezra did over that matter 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 well 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 what does it mean?
it means all that Isaac's birth and resurrection
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 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 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 reality of the
awful reality of this that you cannot you
cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven while you
cling to this kingdom inevitable 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 as broad as
the cross of the Lord Jesus new birth
it's a life of holiness that we have
taken up or entered into 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 to say about
this a walk 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 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 aren't
you disaster for us as truly as ever
is felt disaster for Israel going to lose
the kingdom 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 or are we
mixed in compromising, keeping on good 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 sort of a 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 is there something quite distinctive about
our lives that says that man, that woman,
that young man that young woman is utter
forgot no doubt about it you see it
all the time they are utter forgot they
are not playing at things no compromise 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
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 gain, it's no gain it's a terrible
loss Israel had the ordinances and the oracles
and the tradition and all that a mighty
lot that they had, but at last they
lost the kingdom they lost the kingdom there
was no gain 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 to us and
I'm concerned about 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 all that depends upon this
utter separation unto God gathered into this word
holiness ye are a holy nation may we
answer to the description and to us will
be the preciousness