This message is one of the Times Square
Church Pulpit Series.
It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times
Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
You are welcome to make additional cassettes of
this message for free distribution to friends.
However, for all other forms of reproduction or
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And I trust that this message today is
going to give us some insight and answer
some questions that we may have had in
wanting to love Him with all our heart,
soul, mind, and strength.
And today's message is called At the King's
Gate.
At the King's Gate.
And if you will turn with me to
the book of Esther.
Chapter 2.
And that is, if you go to the
book of Psalms and turn left two books.
At the King's Gate.
Father, I just lift up, oh God, this
service to you and this living word.
And I thank you, oh God, that you
are an awesome God.
Now I pray, oh God, that what you
want to do in this service, what you
want to speak, the work that you want
to do, Lord, I pray you would have
a free reign and a free course.
I praise you, God, for what you're going
to do in the lives of those that
will hear it.
I praise you, Lord, for the people that
you, Lord, are going to set free.
Lord, that you're going to lift the confusion.
Lord, that you are going to speak so
clearly to.
I thank you, Lord, what you're going to
do for your people, oh God.
Because, Lord, we lift up a Savior, Jesus.
It is him that we proclaim.
It is his living word made alive and
on fire by the Holy Ghost.
That we are trusting in today.
To do a work in us that we
cannot do.
And, Lord, you're going to teach us to
give you all the glory and all the
praise.
That your work may go through us in
an unhindered way.
That this generation that we're called, Lord, to
live in and to be a testimony unto.
That, Lord, we may be all that you
long us to be in Christ.
And, Lord, we'll thank you for it.
In Jesus' name, amen and amen.
You have opened to Esther chapter 2.
But, to bring us up, that's where we're
going to start from.
But, to bring us up to speed of
Esther chapter 2.
In Esther chapter 1, the story is told
about the king Ahasuerus.
And, this is a king who ruled from
Ethiopia to India.
And, he ruled in his day almost the
whole known civilized world.
And, under his dominion was found almost every
race, kindred and king.
That he ruled with a cruel and a
vicious hand for the most part.
He was a king under which the jewelry
of that day, God's chosen people, most of
them lived under his control.
And, the Bible tells us that he had
a feast.
And, if you read the commentaries, they will
tell you that when this king had a
feast.
And, he called all the governors from all
the provinces from all his vast lands.
That they feasted for many days.
And, when he was made merry with wine,
he called forth his wife Vashti, whose name
means beautiful.
And, he wanted for her to be admired.
But, the scripture tells us that she too
was feasting in the house of women.
And, I believe that the same amount of
wine was flowing.
And, when the decree came that she was
to present herself, she said no.
And, she shamed him.
And, all the counselors of the king rose
up.
And, they said to him, you must get
rid of her.
For, her no will resound throughout all your
kingdom.
And, not just you will have problems, we'll
all have problems.
So, the king agreed to that.
And, a search was made after a time
for a replacement for the queen.
And, that search for a replacement brings us
to chapter 2.
And, in starting in verse 6.
We'll start at verse 5.
It says, now in Shushan the palace, there
was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai.
Now, in the palace in Shushan, that is
where the king lived.
And, there was a Jew who lived there.
And, it says in verse 6 a little
about this man who had been carried away
from Jerusalem with the captivity.
Which, had been carried away with Jeconiah king
of Judah.
Who, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried
away.
And, we have here a man, a Jew,
who has been carried away captive.
He's a displaced man.
He's disadvantaged in his society.
He does not belong to the privileged class
of his day.
He is a man who is a minority
and he is living under a people and
a dictatorship hostile to him.
He's living among a time of great prejudice
against him.
He knows what it is to be hated,
simply for what he stands for.
And, here is a man who has been
taken away from his roots.
He has now been brought under a king.
And, he's living in the palace.
And, in verse 7 it tells us that
he brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his
uncle's daughter.
For, she had neither father nor mother.
And, the maid was fair and beautiful.
Who Mordecai, when her father and mother were
dead, took for his own daughter.
Now, the Bible doesn't tell us how they
died.
They may have been victims of that captivity.
They may have been victims when that displaced
people was rooted up.
And, the suffering and hardship that that means.
Those few verses compressed down to a few
words that can't tell the agony and the
horror of what these people went through.
She may have been orphaned then.
But, the Bible does tell us that Mordecai
became father to her.
And, it tells us that when the decree
went throughout all the land, that they needed
to find a replacement for the queen.
It said that their virgins should come, selected
virgins, and come before the queen and the
king.
And, the Bible tells us that Mordecai chose
that Esther be part of that group.
And, so she was brought into the king's
house.
And, he told her in verse 10 that
you're not to show your people.
It says, Esther had not showed her people,
nor her kindred.
For, Mordecai had charged her that she should
not show it.
So, Esther lived with her secret, hidden behind
her beauty.
The Bible tells us that Esther was chosen
and declared the next queen.
And, in verse 19 of chapter 2, it
says, And, when the virgins were gathered together
the second time, then Mordecai sat in the
king's gate.
Now, beloved, I want to paint a picture
for you here.
This man who worked in the palace.
A man that had really no inheritance and
no possession, no power in his day.
He moved from a perceived place of power
to a place of real power.
In the king's gate.
And, I want to tell you what the
king's gate means.
But, I want to tell you, I believe
that's a type of salvation, what happened to
this man.
He is a type when we move into
the king's gate.
It's when all the virgins, all those who
are espoused of Christ, move into one place.
A place prepared for them because of their
salvation.
A place when we come to trust Jesus
Christ.
When we say, Lord, I recognize you as
my God.
I thank you, Lord, that I come to
you as sinner.
And, your Bible, your word tells me that
when I trust what you've done in Calvary,
that your blood cleanses me.
And, because I'm cleansed, I now have a
new life.
I have a new place to dwell.
I have a new thinking and new thoughts
and a new spirit.
Something so immense and so incredible has happened
to the life of a believer when they
trust Christ.
And, the immensity of this change, sometimes it's
immediately apparent.
Sometimes it evolves over time.
But, beloved, there becomes a witness.
We are no longer part of the damned,
but part of the chosen.
And, we become inheritors of blessing.
And, part of that blessing is we move
out from under the curse of sin.
And, that means that we become aware of
sin and we can confess it.
We can be cleansed and we are forgiven.
We are no longer a condemned people.
And, for the first time, those that have
the Holy Ghost living in them because they've
been cleansed, can lift up their head and
know what it is to have the joy
of being accepted and forgiven with God in
their lives.
We know what it is to live in
a new beginning when we ask for it.
We know what it is to step into
the light and not live in darkness anymore,
shamed by our past and shamed who we
are.
But, when we truly open our heart up
to Christ, we open our life up to
life and light.
And, we know it.
And, this man now is a representative of
all those, a type of those that have
trusted Christ.
They have been invited to live in a
new place.
And, he went.
And, he's living at the King's Gate.
Now, the King's Gate is a picture and
a symbol.
And, the gate in ancient times is a
place where you went to be seen.
It was a place where you were seen.
It was a place where public declarations, assemblies
were held.
But, it was a place where you attracted
the attention of the sovereign.
It was a place of great importance, not
just because the business of the day went
on there.
In many cases, in cities, it did.
But, the King's Gate was the symbol of
strength.
That's where the battles were fought over.
That's where they were fought because the city
was won or lost if the gate held
or was lost.
Many times, those gates were made of iron
and they couldn't be burned.
And, they were carefully guarded because of their
significance.
And, for the believer, we are now invited
to the King's Gate to make a public
declaration.
That by the word of our testimony, we
say, Lord, I am yours.
And, because I'm yours, there has been a
change.
Because the reality is, there has been a
change.
And, those that have not fully trusted Christ,
who are hanging back, that there is a
reluctance.
You're not going to go to that gate.
You're not going to go to a place
to be seen where you are known and
make that declaration without the living Christ in
you.
The spirit of man will cower back from
the spirit of man.
The spirit of this age will try to
shut you down.
And, if you don't have it, you won't
make it.
You will not make that declaration.
But, this man went to make a public
declaration in the word of his testimony.
And, as we heard so eloquently this morning,
that when we trust Christ and we have
the blood of Christ over us, it is
like a safety net.
And, that blood of Christ means that they're
under our life or the everlasting arms.
And, we know that we are loved and
forgiven.
And, that means that the cleansing of the
blood means that in God's eyes, we are
a forgiven people.
It means that the devil, when he comes
to condemn us, if we will remember the
truth, he cannot make headway with us.
But, it is our privilege as believers to
call him a liar.
To say that God sees no sin in
me.
That God declares me righteous because not I
am righteous, but because I trust in Jesus
Christ who is righteous.
And, I put on that as a garment.
And, every time the devil tries to condemn
me, I point him to Jesus Christ, the
sinless one.
Say, your case is with him, not with
me.
He has declared me righteous.
Safety net.
Because, the next step is that the blood
of Christ cleanses.
And, that means that he is going to
change us.
He's not going to leave us as he
finds us.
That means that the blood of Christ is
now going to come.
And, we are going to be changed, beloved,
from glory to glory.
He's going to do a work in us.
It's going to be an ever increasing work
of change in us.
That's another evidence of our salvation.
But, as long as we remember that while
this incredible work is going on in our
heart, we have that safety net of the
blood.
In other words, that as a work deep
in us is going on, we are never
going to be allowed to crash to the
ground, smash beyond repair.
But, oh no.
We have on one side the strong consolation
that God says, I find you righteous before
my eyes.
That's why I can deal with you.
I put a covering of holiness on you
so that you can come into my presence
that I may deal with you.
Because, otherwise, if we had no covering, we
could not come into his presence.
He could not deal with us.
He could not put holy hands on us.
But, because the blood of Christ is a
covering, and because it allows a Holy Spirit
to live in, God can do as he
longs to do in our lives.
Because of our salvation.
And so, here is a picture of this
man coming to the gate, leaving his old
ways, and living in the light.
Now, when you live in the light, you
see.
And in verse 21 of chapter 2, this
man comes to the gate and it says,
While Mordecai sat in the king's gate, two
of the king's chamberlains, Bignoth and Teresh, of
those which kept the door, were wroth and
sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
And it tells us in this scripture that
these men were chamberlains.
In verse 21.
And that means, as chamberlains, that definition is
people renowned for their faithfulness to their master.
And they kept the door.
That means a position of great trust.
Much depended on them.
These were people chosen and they were called
to model faith.
They were called to model that my sovereign,
I am faithful to him.
That my life is tied in with his.
And that they were to have a testimony.
And they were keepers of the door because
they were counted at one point faithful men.
But the Bible tells us that they were
wroth with the king.
And that word wroth means to fret and
to provoke into anger.
To break out into anger and to fly
into a rage.
Simply saying that these men, when they became
oppressed themselves from defending the door, they fretted.
And they began to provoke others.
And they thought they were justified in how
they felt and what they saw.
And they talked and they agitated.
But one day it ignited and broke out
into anger.
And the Bible says that these men, it
became known, their anger.
And their murderous hate.
In verse 22.
This thing was known.
It was found out.
Beloved, you cannot hide flesh.
You cannot hide anger when you're dealing in
the king's gate.
The king is there.
And these men had an unjust cause.
And it says they broke out.
And the scripture says in verse 23, when
inquisition was made of the matter.
When you look up those words, inquisition, it
means to search out, especially by worship or
prayer.
When inquisition was made at the gate, there
went out.
That means they were found out in worship
and in prayer.
Beloved, when God sets in order His church.
And He appoints and you have and I
have godly leadership over us.
The Holy Ghost speaks to them.
And in worship and in prayer, many times,
a word will be spoken for our benefit.
The word will come to those in leadership.
And they will have an insight into you
and I.
And what would happen in the case of
these men is that they had a murderous
hate in their heart.
They thought they were justified.
And it broke out.
It ignited.
And the scripture says in verse 23, they
were hanged on a tree.
Cursed.
The Bible says cursed is anyone who hangs
on the tree.
When flesh, that's where flesh always ends up
in God's kingdom.
Cursed.
And these men became a picture for Mordecai.
These men became a lesson for him sitting
at the gate.
But there was another test at the gate.
Everyone who declares himself will be tested.
And in Esther chapter 3, verses 1 to
4, here is what happened.
After these things did King Ahasuerus promote Haman,
the son of Hamathetah the Agite, and advanced
him and set his seat above all the
princes that were with him.
And all the king's servants that were in
the king's gate bowed and reverenced Haman.
For the king had so commanded concerning him.
But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence.
Then the king's servants which were in the
king's gate said unto Mordecai, Why transgressest thou
the king's commandment?
Now it came to pass when they spake
daily unto him, and he hearkened not unto
him, that they told Haman to see whether
Mordecai's matters would stand.
For he had told them he was a
Jew.
Now this man is now declaring himself and
fully who he is.
And he is a type like you and
I.
That if Christ dwells in us, he is
calling us to a full declaration.
That I have a testimony that God has
given me.
This is what he has done in my
life.
And beloved, we shrink back from doing that
because there is a Haman out there.
But this man declared himself.
And the Bible says that Mordecai alone stood
in his resistance to Haman.
Because you see, Mordecai was at the king's
gate in light.
And he saw what those who began to
move in their own flesh, in an unrighteous
anger in their own cause did.
And now he began to see a righteous
cause coming before his eyes.
He could discern.
This man knew evil from good.
And now this man is at a gate
and he sees something in this man, Haman.
The incredible thing is that the other king's
servants could not see.
And Haman utterly wicked and the total enemy
is like a picture, a type of Satan
in our lives.
And these other men are bowing down at
the king's gate.
And this bowing down means to sink, to
cower, to writhe in pain, to afflict, to
grieve.
They may not like Haman.
They may not have agreed with him.
But there was something in this man that
had that power over man.
And they would bow down to it.
And they may be in grief doing it.
And their soul may have been writhing in
pain while they did it, but bow they
did.
And it's such a picture of a compromised,
chosen people.
And the scripture also says that they did
reverence to Haman.
That he craved it.
And when you look up that word reverence,
it's a showing of submission.
It means to wallow and descend.
It means an act of respect before a
superior being.
Especially the worship of deity.
And this man Haman and all he represented
is craving from those who belong to God.
He is craving your worship.
And to get it he may come as
an angel of light.
He may come to intimidate you.
Whatever he has to do, there is something
that so satisfies him when the children of
God bow down before him.
When those who are called by his name
begin in fear, in rebellion, in their anger,
or whatever drives them and they realize at
not half the time how low they bow.
But the scripture says that this man Mordecai,
in the gate, in the light, could see
something and he refused to bow.
Resisting the spirit of his age, he did
not bow.
Now Mordecai becomes surrounded by whisperers and jealous
people and betrayers.
And they told Haman.
They told, the scripture tells us, to see
whether Mordecai's matters would stand.
They told him he was a Jew.
They told him he was a chosen one.
They told all about this man.
They wanted to see if what Mordecai stood
for, if his matters would stand.
They couldn't stand.
Would his matters stand?
Beloved, many times we don't realize how much
we are watched.
We have no idea when we have a
Holy Ghost compulsion in our heart to stand
for Jesus Christ.
We are being watched in ways you would
never understand some days.
And I'll tell you something.
Haman is now going to raise his head
against Mordecai because he's the only one who
defies him.
And the scripture tells us in Psalm 11
too, that the wicked secretly shoot at the
upright in heart.
And all these friends and all these king's
ministers that stand shoulder to shoulder with Mordecai
saying, I am as you are.
I'm just like you.
I'm a believer like you.
They are shooting secretly and they're going for
his heart.
Because when you read in Psalm 11, it
says the next verse, If the foundation be
destroyed, what can the righteous do?
It means that the foundation is our heart.
And when our heart is fully given to
Christ, we're invincible.
But when that heart begins to accept lies
and doubts and an unrighteous anger and rage
can find a place.
When sin of any kind, fornication can find
a place.
Then we will be oppressed in that place.
And that foundation, if it falls, what can
the righteous do?
It's a picture you'll fall before your Haman,
just like these other men did.
Because he's going for the heart.
Because your heart, if you're upright, that means
you don't sin, but you have a heart
for God.
And all that's within you say, God lead
on, I want to learn what it is
to love you with all my heart.
I want to live for you.
I want to know what it is to
live for your glory.
You're being shot at, at the heart, continually
and secretly.
There are days you don't know why you're
having the day you're having.
I'll tell you something, it's because some of
those days you're being shot at, at the
heart, by your enemy.
But in verse 5 it says, the Lord
tries the righteous, but the wicked and him
that loveth violence, his soul hates.
The Lord tries the righteous, but the wicked
and him that loveth violence.
Did these friends not love violence?
Did they not love to see a fight
that was shaping up?
They and their cowardly heart.
They that they were never able to say
no to, Haman.
That man that they bowed to, they may
hate it, but they bowed.
They want to see, Mordecai, will his matter
stand?
And the scripture tells us that the Lord
tries the righteous.
Now I'll tell you something, God tries the
righteous for two reasons.
He tries them that they may learn to
boldly resist the enemy.
And that they may be purged from any
place that the enemy can oppress them and
have ground.
Beloved, it's God's delight for when you and
I are made free by truth.
We're not set free, we're made free.
When we believe the truth and we embrace
it in our inner parts, we are made
free.
That's why we don't go back.
If you've been made free, you're free.
Because you didn't make yourself free, you didn't
buy it, you didn't psychoanalyze yourself.
You've been made free by the Son.
And he who the Son sets free is
free indeed.
And if we have been made free by
the blood of Christ, then we have that
covering.
We have this safety net.
We have the assurance that God sees us
as righteous.
That God says, I'll never cast you out
because I see you as holy because the
Holy Christ lives in you.
And I will not impute sin to you.
So when that enemy comes, it is your
privilege to run him through with truth.
It is our privilege to withstand him.
It is our privilege to declare him a
liar.
God loves it when the weakest of saints
believe the truth and stand up.
Not in their own strength.
Beloved, I have a picture every time I
sit over there before I'm to speak.
And it's so clear.
And I see an arena.
And I see myself in this armor.
And I'm covered from head to toe in
armor.
And I'm small in stature.
And I've got this huge spear and I'm
dragging it behind me.
You know one of those medieval spears and
it's a medieval suit.
And I have no flexibility.
And I'm little.
And I come out.
Clang.
Into the middle of the arena dragging this
huge spear that I can't even lift.
And I hear the whole hush of the
arena go.
Because riding out against me is the biggest,
the most powerful, the most incredible warrior with
an undefeated reputation or so he thinks.
Riding on this massive horse.
And he comes galloping up to me and
the dirt and the dust is flying everywhere
in my face.
And I'm so little and small and weak
he's contemptuous.
And beloved, we meet.
But when I raise my head in prayer
and I raise that visor, he doesn't look
into my eyes.
He looks in to an undefeated, risen, unconquered
Lord.
And he trembles.
Do you feel it or not?
It's not about how we feel.
It's about the truth.
It's about what God declares to be true
in our lives if we've given our lives
to Him.
And God loves it when we take down
a Haman by the word of our testimony.
When we say, God give me the guts
to stand up.
Not in my strength, but in yours.
And open our mouths.
It is amazing what God will do.
Mordecai bowed not and the full wrath of
Haman fell.
The Bible says in verse 5 that he
was full of wrath in verse 3.
And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not,
nor did him reverence, then was Haman full
of wrath.
And that word wrath means heat and anger
and rage and poison.
Probably the poison that was flowing in the
other two fallen men.
And that poison in verse 6 is so
vile, is so venomous, that it tells us
now that Mordecai is not just after Mordecai,
but he's after all the Mordecai-like people.
The Bible says in verse 6, And he
thought scorned to lay hands on Mordecai alone,
for they had showed him the people of
Mordecai.
Wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews
that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus,
even the people of Mordecai.
Beloved, this Haman is now giving the most
vilest of threats because he is opposed.
That side of him rises up when he
is opposed, that only those that oppose him
know about.
Others at the gate have fallen because they
fought the wrong enemy.
Haman goes to the king in verse 8
and he lies, and he says, there's a
people and they're different from us.
They're lawbreakers and they're not fit to live.
And the king says, go ahead Haman.
Do what's in your heart.
Do what you want to do to these
people.
And the scripture tells us that when Mordecai
defies Haman, when Mordecai says that I will
not bow, and there's that kind of threat
and that kind of panic in Haman, it
leads me to say, what was it about
that man Mordecai that he was such a
threat?
I could see Mordecai in his own flesh,
hearing the threats of Naaman.
What are you to withstand me?
You are only one.
To arms, defend yourself, get mad.
Organize, strategize, do something.
But I'll tell you what Haman's strategy was,
to get him to do anything but stay
at the gate.
What he was trying to do was intimidate
Mordecai.
And when he couldn't intimidate him, a murderous,
vile thought came, and him and everyone like
him must go.
But the scripture says that Mordecai stayed at
the gate.
He stayed at the gate.
And in verse 15 of chapter 3, it
says that the king's command prompted by Haman,
that all the Jews were to be massacred,
that command was published throughout the whole kingdom.
And the Bible says in verse 15, the
posts went out being hastened by the king's
command, and a decree was given in Shushan
the palace.
And the king and Haman sat down to
drink.
But the city Shushan was perplexed.
Now we see that all of a sudden,
a compromising people, a half-hearted people, are
under the same threat as Mordecai.
That there's no safety for them either.
They thought by their alliance and their compromise
that they would be saved.
The wrath and the anger, the murderous anger
of their enemy.
And yet they find out the same decree
is made for all.
And the Bible tells us that the king
and Haman sat down to drink.
This is a light thing, their annihilation.
But the Bible tells us that the Jews
in Shushan were perplexed.
Beloved, that word perplexed means entangled.
They were entangled.
They sat down now and they can't believe
what they're hearing.
But there's nothing in them to go to
the gate.
There's nothing in them to be where Mordecai
is because they've been entangled.
And now when the worst news of their
life comes upon them and their families, they're
entangled and they sit.
But the scripture says that Mordecai knew what
to do and he went to the gate.
Verse 4, And when Mordecai perceived all that
was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, put on
sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the
midst of the city and cried with a
loud and a bitter cry.
And came even before the king's gate, for
none might enter into the king's gate clothed
with sackcloth.
And in every province whithersoever the king's commandment
and his decree came, there was a great
mourning among the Jews, and fasting and weeping
and wailing.
And many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
So Esther's maids and her chamberlains came and
told her.
Then was the queen exceedingly grieved and she
sent Raymond to clothe Mordecai and to take
away his sackcloth from him.
But he received it not.
Now beloved, we have seen where Mordecai, the
type of a saved man that has given
his heart fully to Christ and stands and
declares his testimony, has come up against Haman.
And by his very presence that he will
not bow or he will not run is
an incredible threat to him.
But now we see something else going on.
Because now Mordecai goes where he always was,
at the king's gate.
And all of a sudden he's a great
offense.
His presence is a great offense there.
And the Scripture tells us that when he
cried in verse 2, that word means to
shriek from anguish.
To shriek from a sense of danger.
The bitter cry that went out of him
means a fierce, violent, wild cry.
Now hear me, beloved.
If this man was about venting, he would
have done it and gone home.
But Mordecai went to the king's gate in
sackcloth.
And this sackcloth that he put on himself
and went to the king's gate, that's an
offense to go there.
People don't understand why he's got sackcloth at
the king's gate.
But now this man's life is beginning to
show us a dual thing that goes on
in the life of the believer.
For while it is our privilege to run
through the enemy with his own lies and
defeat him with truth, at the same time,
Jesus Christ is committed to us by His
presence of doing something deep and glorious that
flesh can't do.
To do something in the Spirit where we
truly become what He has destined us to
be.
And we can't do that by our own
hand.
And it's typified now by the putting on
of sackcloth.
The sackcloth is a type of humility and
repentance and mourning.
In verse 4, Esther is grieved and sent
clothes to take away his sackcloth.
But Mordecai would not.
She didn't realize it.
But by her not understanding what God now
is doing in this man's life, she's sent
to turn him from the lessons that he
must learn in this incredible time of his
life and his nation's life.
That lesson of humility and repentance and mourning.
This is why this man was such an
awesome threat.
Beloved, he did not put off what God
had put on him.
And he turned his heart to what God
was showing him.
Beloved, I'm sure initially Mordecai went to the
gate, no doubt riding high.
Believing a life of influence and blessing awaited
him.
And so it did.
He is right.
But also on this path, which is the
path to influence and blessing and power, we
have to walk it God's way.
And there is no escaping or learning the
path of humility in the life of every
true believer.
Beloved, God is going to put us in
a place where our utter dependence on Him
and forsaking a trust in our flesh is
the greatest strategy against fear and oppression.
When we're to a place where we have
to utterly depend on Him and there's no
way flesh will get us out of this,
that is the greatest strategy against fear and
oppression of the enemy.
By faith, we can say, God set me
aside that you may be great in this
situation.
Mordecai was urged to cover himself.
Cover yourself.
Cover this cry, Mordecai.
It's an embarrassing cry.
It's a shriek.
It's a wail.
It shows...
Mordecai, for heaven's sake, get some dignity about
you.
You made the queen.
You have some influence in this place.
You're a man to be respected.
You sit at the gate.
You've done much good.
But cover yourself.
Don't go through along this path of humility.
You're embarrassing us.
And we don't understand it.
Cover yourself.
That gut cry.
I don't like it.
It sounds to me like you're not in
control, Mordecai.
And the queen wants him to cover herself.
But beloved, you start to cover what you
know and you start to run.
And you start to run before your enemies.
And beloved, if you're standing at the gate
and there's a great desire in you to
run because Haman is real in your life
and he's made good on the threats.
Others that have opposed him, he has crushed.
And you're standing there and it's the battle
of your life and everything wants you to
run from this place.
To silence the cry.
To cover yourself.
But beloved, I want to say to you
today, don't run, but remember.
Don't run, but remember.
Remember we stand by grace and we stand
in Christ.
The cry needs to be, give me the
grace to obey you because where grace flows,
humility will rise.
Humility is an aptness for grace.
Humility is where we can readily receive the
grace of Christ.
Humility is when we have a distrustful sense
of our self-understanding and our self-passions.
We're distrustful of that.
And humility is a pure receptivity where we
have an unassuming readiness to accept the favor
of God.
Where we say, I can't do this God,
I'm undeserving.
I can't receive this grace.
Where we say, I have an injured pride
God, I haven't done that much for you
to merit all this that you need to
do in my life.
Beloved, we need a cry like Mordecai.
We need an absolute clear thinking and right
picture of who we are.
And who we are when Christ found us.
But there's a place in God He wants
to take us.
But I'll tell you it goes right through
humility.
It needs a clear self-picture.
And if we think I've got to do
something to earn or merit this incredible deliverance
He's going to bring or wants to do
in our life, that is pride.
We need to be as little children.
They just open up their arms and receive.
And many times, that's what we need to
do is humble ourselves like Mordecai.
Let a shriek come out, I will not
cover myself even though I have a reputation.
Even though by many I'm counted a leader.
Even though by many they would say, this
is embarrassing.
But Mordecai knew the times his eyes he
could see.
And Haman was real to him.
His threat was real to him.
And that man was going to be real
before God.
And so it went through a path of
humility.
And so will ours.
Our humility exposes the enemy.
A Christian, a true Christian knows he only
possesses in the spirit life what he has
received.
All that you have and all that I
have in terms of goodness, faith, peace, long
suffering, any graces of the spirit, an understanding
of Christ has been given to us.
Our salvation has been given to us.
A love has been given to us.
Everything we have.
We cannot shape a kingdom we can't see.
We can't fight a foe that is far
superior to us.
Anything we have and anything we do has
been given us.
And when we begin to realize that, that's
the basis of true humility.
It starts when we seek the glory of
God and not our own.
Beloved, so many times, like Mordecai, we will
ride high to the gate going to do
something for God.
But we will soon learn there is mixture
in that declaration.
There is often that motive.
And in order for God to get the
glory, to break the bondage, to smash the
Haman's, hear me, what is of us and
what of our idea of ministry and who
we are and what we do have to
be brought low.
Beloved, this age is an age of a
want where people want to say, God, teach
me to live my life for the glory
of God.
And mean it?
The Scripture tells us in John 7, 18,
it says that, He that seeks the glory
of Him who sent Him.
It was referring to Jesus, but it refers
to us today.
He that seeks the glory of Him who
sent Him.
That same is true and no unrighteousness is
in Him.
There is the power of a life that
seeks the glory of God.
That there is no unrighteousness found in Him.
There is no place where the devil can
come and he has a freewheeling way in
us.
But our motives are constantly being purified because
we are learning in humility, God, anything I
have You gave and God, what You want
to do through my life is all grace.
Yet, God, I know that You want to
run through Your enemies' haymen that oppress Your
people and You have chosen to use people
to do it.
Beloved, God uses people.
But where is He going to get a
people that He can use greatly and they
don't take the glory?
Where is He going to find a people
that He can move through a generation like
He longs to do and they will never
touch the glory?
Humility is God 101.
We will never be used by God and
we will never touch our generation the way
that He sees we can be till we
go through that path of humility.
And Mordecai did.
The sackcloth is also a picture of repentance
and he would not put it off.
And when he began to see that pride
was the motive in going to the gate,
he was able to get a clear-eyed
look at self.
He could see that God cannot pour blessing
out on proud flesh.
Pride recoils at the undone cry of Mordecai.
I'll handle it, God.
But Mordecai didn't cry that.
Mordecai found a cleansing fire in his heart
at the gate.
Mordecai knew what true repentance was because it
brings a true clearing.
When you truly repent before God about something,
I'll tell you something, it tells us in
the Word what zeal, what clearing.
It begins to show us the steps, what
true repentance brings.
Not a worldly sorrow, which means you have
to repent and repent and repent again.
Why?
Because you're not going to the heart of
the matter.
You're not really dealing with it.
You're not getting somewhere in God.
There's a truth God needs to speak.
There's a work that needs to be done
that is left undone with worldly sorrow.
But the Bible tells us that a godly
sorrow brings a clearing of the matter.
That means for a time, He opens our
eyes and we see who we are and
it's painful.
It's like standing in a fire and we'd
rather not be there.
It makes every second seem an hour.
But I'll tell you, by the grace of
God, if we'll let Him nail our foot
to the floor till He has shown us
something, till we can truly see who we
are, and then we can repent, God says,
enough.
I've cleared it.
I've forgiven you.
I've cleansed you.
And I don't even remember it.
Beloved, Mordecai knew what it was to have
a godly sorrow because there was a done
deal.
He was done with it.
And beloved, we need to know that freedom.
We need to let God lead us through
into godly sorrow for things He's trying to
get our attention about.
Otherwise, we'll go round and around and around
and around.
And we'll end up saying, God, where are
you?
I want to repent, but I don't seem
to be getting anywhere.
God says, I need your attention.
Listen to me.
You've known you've gone my way because there's
a clearing.
You've stood in the fire.
You've seen.
But you've been cleansed.
And that's what Mordecai did.
And finally, Mordecai refuses to put off mourning,
which is also what sackcloth typifies.
And Mordecai was granted to see a real
enemy.
And he will not be found fighting the
wrong enemy.
He's not going to get sidetracked.
The threat is real.
And a cry that cannot be covered, that
pride cannot extinguish is coming from the heart
of this man who sees.
He does not shut up his soul from
the destruction and the violence that is coming
upon compromising people.
He stands alone.
They turned against him, but he reviled not.
He stands alone.
He is misunderstood, but he will not be
moved from the gate.
And he will not shut his eyes.
He's not driven away there by his enemy.
He's not driven away there because of his
failings.
He's not driven away because in him is
the power of God and God is keeping
him there.
God has a work for him to do.
He has bent his knee to the will
of God in his life and God is
keeping him there at the gate.
And there's a power coming into this man.
And because he stays, he sees.
And beloved, because he stays and because he
sees, he receives a revelation.
He tells Esther, go speak to the king.
And she replies, she cannot.
But Mordecai's hope does not rest in Esther.
And in his sackcloth, Mordecai speaks prophetically to
her.
Esther 4.
Esther chapter 4, starting at verse 13.
This man that can't be driven away from
the gate.
This man that stayed long enough to let
God do his work in him.
And then God gave him an incredible revelation.
And then God began to bless him and
pour a glory into him that no one
in his generation has matched.
Then Mordecai, verse 13, commanded to answer Esther,
think not with thyself that thou shall escape
in the king's house more than all the
Jews.
For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at
this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance
arise to the Jews from another place.
Beloved, who told him that not only would
there be no destruction, not only would there
be a stoppage of Haman, but the whole
thing was going to be reversed, and that
enlargement would come to them.
Not just deliverance, enlargement.
Who told Mordecai that?
Where was that revealed to him?
At the gate.
Where a man would not be driven in
his God ordained place to be.
Beloved, some of us are called to be
at the gate in our marriages.
Not to emotionally withdraw.
Some of us are called to be at
the gate in our families.
And that we are to stand there and
to be who we're supposed to be for
our children.
Some of you are called to be at
the gate at work.
That you're called to have integrity.
To have that testimony.
It is not an easy thing we speak
about here.
But I'll tell you something.
If you will not be driven from your
place, you will be given a revelation and
you will see a total rout of the
enemy.
That enemy that says, you are mine, you
will bow to me, and if you won't,
I'll destroy not you, but everybody you love
in your generation.
That man stayed at the gate and that
man let God do what he wanted to
do in his heart so finally he could
turn around and he could say to Esther
with full spiritual authority, I was not driven
away, don't you be driven away.
I stand here with spiritual authority because God
gave me the grace to stay.
You stay.
God will give you the grace in your
place at your gate, Esther.
And beloved, he wasn't just a spiritual authority
figure in her life, but he was also
her kin and her flesh and blood.
And he became a shining example to her
that I've stayed in my place by the
grace of God.
That doesn't mean you never fail, that means
you stay.
And I've stayed in my place and God
has given me a shining word and through
me I tell you, not destruction but enlargement.
Hallelujah.
Beloved, you're called to be in your family
and I tell you the word God has
given you, household salvation.
Household salvation.
If you will stay in your place, not
destruction, but a rout of the enemy and
everything he longed to do in the lives
of the compromising people and the steadfast people
he was not allowed to do because there
was a Mordecai in that generation.
The end of the story is the gallows
that were built for Mordecai by Haman, Haman
hung on them.
The end of the story was the law
that was decreed for the Jews, destruction was
changed.
A despised people, a rejected people became a
feared people and a joyous people and the
scripture says many converted to Judaism because of
the light and favor among them.
And Mordecai attained to the highest rank in
the land.
Beloved, I want to close with this thought.
Pride and faith cannot coexist.
They repel each other.
They are true enemies of each other surely
as Mordecai and Haman were.
And humility and trust form an inseparable bond,
a strong draw.
They are magnetized together.
For a Christian, life is not unfair.
Life is not unfair.
When we have Christ, grace abounds in our
situation.
Beloved, there is a cry from the heart
of God.
There are Mordecais in this place.
There are potential Mordecais in this place.
There are compromisers that God is calling to
be Mordecais.
Would you stand with me?
For the first time since I prepared a
message, God gave me a word for those
who come to the altar.
That's not a bait.
It's just the truth.
My altar call is some of you need
to go to the gate.
You need to stand up.
You need to declare yourself.
And all that it means if Christ is
saved.
For some of you, you don't know Jesus
as your Savior.
And He wants to bring you into the
light.
He wants to forgive your sin.
If that's you today, you can come down
to the front as the musicians come and
receive Christ.
But for some of you, you've received Christ
and you've never declared yourself.
You have been cowering before a Haman.
And you've been compromised and you've been justified.
You have your reasons.
Nobody knows your boss or your workplace like
you do.
Except the Holy Ghost.
And God is calling for some of you
to go to the gate.
That you will not be ashamed.
That your public testimony, you will make it.
And that way you put yourself out on
a limb and God will have to change
you and be strong for you.
And that's exactly what He wants to do.
And for some of you, you want to
go from the gate.
You want to run.
You're in a place where flesh has to
die in order for you to stay.
For those that the Holy Spirit is speaking
to, He's going to be faithful.
You know, you can come as I'm speaking.
The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 3,
5 and 6, that's the verse that He
gave to those that are coming to the
altar.
And 2 Corinthians 3, 5 and 6 is
going to be our verse.
Alas, timid Mordecais.
It says, Not that we are sufficient of
ourselves to think of anything as being from
ourselves.
But our sufficiency is from God who also
made us sufficient as ministers of the new
covenant.
You know, that means that we don't for
one minute think because we've been God taught
that we are sufficient of ourselves.
That means there's a work of humility begun
in you.
We don't think there's anything sufficient in ourselves.
We don't even think that there could be
anything from ourselves to do what we're being
asked to do in this Mordecai walk.
Haman will see to that.
But beloved, He tells us our sufficiency is
of God.
And if you trust that, if you believe
that by faith, He says He's already made
us sufficient.
He's already made us sufficient.
If you come today in humility with a
cry in your heart like Mordecai has, God
is telling you, I've made you already sufficient
for what I'm calling you to do.
You access it by faith.
You need wisdom?
You've got it.
You access it by faith.
You need strength?
You've got it.
You want to come against the shame in
your life and being ashamed of Him?
You've got it.
You access it by faith.
He says, I have made you.
I have made you ministers of the new
covenant.
I have made you because my blood is
upon you.
And on one hand, you're being counted righteous
that the enemy cannot condemn you.
That when you stand out into the arena,
beloved, and you feel like you're standing all
alone, you're not alone.
Because God says, I've cleansed you.
I don't see that sin.
Go on.
I've cleansed you.
I see no sin.
Go on.
It is your privilege in His strength to
pick up the spear you can't pick up
and run Him through it in Jesus' name.
Oh, what a delight to the heart of
God that finally some Haman's are getting His
own.
Beloved, if you've come down here with a
heart for Mordecai, you're going to be a
Haman killer in Christ.
He has made us.
We've already been made ministers of the new
covenant.
That means you're going to have such a
revelation of what the blood of Christ is
in your life.
You're going to be able to speak it
simply.
You're going to be able to speak it
clearly because you've applied it.
It's happened to you.
We're just going to have a word of
prayer.
Those that want that Mordecai walk, would you
just lift your hands.
Father, you see, and I thank you Lord,
that you are here.
Lord, you make your ministers a flame of
fire.
Lord, you made us sufficient because Jesus came.
Because Jesus, the sinless one, died.
That was your will that He be died,
that He died, that He be bruised, He
be crushed for us.
That God died for us.
And Lord, today we raise our hands in
gratitude.
Saying Lord, we thank you from the depths
of our being.
We thank you there is a God that
has saved us and cleansed us.
And now Lord, we hear what you're asking
us to do.
And Lord, we confess to you today that
it is not in our strength.
But Lord, we ask you now to make
these words so real that they find a
lodging place in the depths of us.
That Lord, when we're oppressed, when we try
to move out in the flesh, when we
are doing something, Lord, that will bring us
to defeat, remind us, O God, of the
walk of Mordecai.
Strengthen us.
Give us courage.
Put in our heart, O God, the heart
of the Lion of Judah.
And then Lord, deal with us as you
want to because we know that you are
a safety net.
Your love is a safety net.
Do what you want to do, O God.
Speak, lead where you have to.
But Lord, we will come out triumphant in
Christ.
Lord, we believe it.
And Lord, the word of our testimony says
we believe you, we trust you, we obey
you.
And Lord, we'll give you all the praise
and all the glory for this work that
you're doing in our midst, this work you're
doing in our home, this work you're doing
in our generation.
And Lord, you're going to teach us to
give you all the glory because all the
glory belongs to you alone.
Amen and amen.
This is the conclusion.