Morning, brothers and sisters. Let’s have another word of prayer.
Lord, it is just so wonderful to stop and think upon that wonderful name of Jesus. Lord, we thank You that we have been in Your presence, beholding You. Lord, we thank You for Your abundant grace that You have made available for everything pertaining to life and godliness.
And Lord, as we come to Your Word now, we have a simple desire: Lord, to again behold Jesus, to behold the beauty of the Lord. Lord, we pray that, as we look off unto You, that You, being full of grace and truth, would reveal Yourself to us, and that we would be in a place to receive, Lord, the marvelous revelation of Yourself.
Lord, how You desire, how You are jealous for Your life to be made manifest within us. And we want to be found in these days cooperating with You, Lord, because we know the days are short. Lord, use each time we gather. Lord, use this time to further prepare us and equip us in these end days to live unto You and to be a living testimony unto our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Your name we pray. Amen.
My thoughts turn this morning to Ephesians 5. We will read verses 14 through 17.
Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead,
And Christ shall shine upon thee.
Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise;
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Wherefore be ye not foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
As I was looking upon these verses, this little phrase, “Awake, sleeper,” actually caught me off guard in the letter to those in Ephesus. If you think about the setting of this letter to the Ephesians, this is supposed to be the high-water mark of revelation. These are ones that had such a life with the Lord. They had been so faithful in Him and desiring after Him.
We see how they responded when the gospel came in: they burned all their books, and they were wholly given unto Him. Here is Paul just pouring out his heart concerning the great revelation of this mystery, and then, toward the end, he says, “Wake up.” It is like, “You mean you are not awake at this point?”
And it really convicted me, because if I were going to write a letter to someone to wake up, who could you pick on? You could pick on the Corinthians. “Hey, you guys in Corinth, you need to wake up.” But of all people who would need to wake up, if we were thinking about it, it probably would not be those in Ephesus.
But it really touched my heart in a way of how important it is for all of us to wake up in this hour. No matter what has been given to us, no matter what has been entrusted to us, no matter what we have received, no matter what our history is, we need daily to wake up and behold the Lord.
Paul, in one sense, is giving this wake-up call to the Ephesians—maybe not for their present day, but perhaps in a prophetic way. Because we know later on those in Ephesus went to sleep, we could say, and they left their first love. They did not stay awake. They did not stay alive unto Him.
So would we be exhorted by this brief exhortation to those in Ephesus to wake up? And why is this? Because we need to really be walking wisely in these days.
How do we walk wisely? We have heard before how Christ has been made unto us wisdom. He does not just give us a little wisdom, but He is wisdom. We have the life; we have wisdom dwelling in a Person within us. And He desires that the wisdom of Christ would lead us every day, because these days are evil.
You know, we hear this almost so much that we become numb to it. We have heard for so many days that we are living in the last days. We are living in the end days. We are living in days of evil. And we can become numb to it.
We all utter it with our lips, but do our lives really reflect the reality of the last days gripping us? When we make a decision in our lives—deciding to do this or to do that—does the reality of it being the last days even enter into our decision process? It needs to.
The Lord is calling us. He is crying out and pleading with us, “Realize these days are evil.” They are getting shorter and shorter, because we are living in a time of crisis. It is so essential in this time of crisis that we redeem the time, that we make the most of every day and every opportunity that we have.
Why? So that we will understand the will of God, and we will understand what His heart is for us individually and as the people of God in this hour. So many things can be done in the name of Jesus, but are we really being led by that understanding of His heart and His will?
It is interesting: if you look at Paul’s letters, outside of Corinthians, with its love chapter, Paul uses the word love—that agape—more in his letter to the church in Ephesus than in any other letter that he writes.
It is because, in order to really understand what His heart is, it deals with a love relationship with Him. As we come into loving ones, we come into an understanding of that person. That love promotes understanding. That love lets us enter into what their heart and desire is.
This is what Paul, in that hour, was crying out to these dear ones in Ephesus. In the same way, the Lord is crying out to us that we need to wake up, because the days we are living in today are crisis days.
Our individual lives might not be in a crisis. Some of our lives are in crisis. But the days themselves are days of crisis. What is the crisis over? There is a day of battle, and what is the battle over? The battle, the crisis, is over one simple thing: a Person—our Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a battle over Christ being manifest within us. There is a battle over Christ being manifest among His people, and there is a battle over Christ going out through that glorious gospel to draw many unto Him.
In these days, the battle is intensifying over the very Person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we look throughout history, it has been that way. It has been a battle over God’s heart and purpose.
Now, I would like to use a story from the Old Testament. We could say we are borrowing a story from the Old Testament—from one who was living in a time of great crisis. As the Lord spoke to her, she woke up. She redeemed the time. She made the most of the opportunity she had, and we see the salvation of God manifested.
This is the story of Esther. So I would like for us to turn to the book of Esther this morning.
The book of Esther is right before Job—right after Nehemiah. It is a little book there.
Chronologically, the book of Esther is out of order. At the time of Esther, Esther and Mordecai and these different Jewish ones were living in Babylon. Why were they in Babylon? The nation of Israel had been taken into Babylon because of their unfaithfulness.
But we thank the Lord that, as we come to the book of Ezra, the Lord in His mercy turned the heart of King Cyrus and said that anybody with a heart’s desire to return to Jerusalem to build a temple was free to go back.
We thank the Lord that in Ezra there were those under Zerubbabel’s leadership who forsook everything they had in Babylon and returned to build the house of God in Jerusalem. That is what we see in the first six chapters of the book of Ezra.
But between chapter 6 and chapter 7 in Ezra, there is more or less a sixty-year gap. In between chapter 6 and chapter 7 of Ezra is where we see the book of Esther—the times of Esther.
This is a story we hear from childhood growing up. I could ask any child in here, and they could all tell us the story of Esther: how the king was having a great banquet, and he asked Queen Vashti to come out. She said no, and because she refused the order of the king, he said, “You are no longer the queen.”
Then he starts the process of obtaining another queen. All the beautiful maidens of the kingdom are brought there, and Esther is one of those chosen to go into this heathen king’s palace. She goes through all the ceremonies, rituals, and processes of being made to smell real good with all those perfumes.
Then we see how, of all of those, the king picks Esther as his queen. She is there as the queen. Then we see another character named Haman, who is promoted above all the other princes under this king.
Haman is so egotistical—it speaks really plainly of the flesh—that everybody should bow down to him. But there is this one, Mordecai, who refuses to bow down to him. Because of Haman’s hatred for Mordecai, and really for all the Jews, Haman gets the king to agree to annihilate all the Jews.
Mordecai then cries out to Esther. They have to use messengers, and he sends this message to Esther: “You are the queen. Go in and plead with the king.” Esther says, “Oh, no. If I go in there and I am not invited, if he has not put his scepter out toward me, I will be killed.”
Mordecai responds to her with a great challenge, and what I would like this morning is for this challenge to be applied to our lives today. So let us look at Esther 4:13-17.
Then Mordecai bade them return answer unto Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews.
For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then will relief and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father’s house will perish: and who knoweth whether thou art not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Then Esther bade them return answer unto Mordecai,
Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast in like manner; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.
So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.
We know the rest of the story: through Esther’s faithfulness, the plans of Haman were turned upon himself. Where he desired to hang Mordecai, Haman himself ended up being hanged, and the Jews were given power to fight back. It was a great deliverance for the nation of Israel, which was still there in captivity.
One tragic thing, though, is that this is between chapter 6 and chapter 7 in the book of Ezra. You come to chapter 7 in Ezra, and again there are those who return to Jerusalem under Ezra.
Even after the Jews had been endangered, even after they saw the mighty hand of God deliver them, there were still those who chose not to return with Ezra but to stay in Babylon. That is a whole other story. But it is tragic to see how, when those who experience the faithfulness of the Lord have passed through a crisis, they return to their own little comfort zones and their own ways.
We need to wake up and learn from the crises that we have.
You know, one thing: it is actually very tragic that the book of Esther is in the Bible. Really, if the people of God were where they should have been, if they had returned under Zerubbabel when Cyrus said, “Whoever wants to return can return,” there would be no need for the book of Esther.
But there were those who chose to stay in Babylon and enjoy their security and riches there.
Now, we need to clarify why Mordecai and Esther were there. Mordecai and Esther were probably cousins. Mordecai was a little older, and after Esther lost her parents, he raised her.
Because of the timing and everything, it appears that it was their parents who made the choice to stay in Babylon when that time to return under Zerubbabel was there. Mordecai and Esther were probably too young to decide for themselves. They were under their parents’ control.
But their parents made a choice, and because of the choice their parents made, these two young ones suffered greatly under the influence of the world. Is that not a word to us?
So often, if you think of those in Babylon, they had the opportunity to return to Jerusalem. They may have had young children and said, “Well, gee, if we stay here in Babylon, my child is going to get a lot better education. There are no schools there in Jerusalem; it is in total ruin.”
“If we stay here, there are a lot better sports programs. The soccer teams are great here. There are a lot better extracurricular activities. My child is going to have so many more opportunities to grow up here in Babylon. Then maybe later on they can return to Jerusalem.”
Brothers and sisters, we see how, left to the influence of the world, these two suffered tremendously. But in the midst of that, we see the great faithfulness of God. That is what we see in the book of Esther.
In spite of many ones’ unfaithfulness, we see the providence and the great mercy of God watching over ones who were where they should not have been.
Each one of us can sit here today, even as we have been worshiping and focusing on the grace of God. Most of us have been in places where we should not have been. But the grace of God reached down and touched us. His mercy drew us unto Himself.
We sit here as testimonies to that great mercy, and how thankful we are that it never lets us go.
I would like for us to look this morning at these three challenges that Mordecai gave unto Esther.
The first one was, “Do not imagine that you are safe in the king’s palace.” She was the queen. Surely she thought, “I am safe.” Where is our security, brothers and sisters?
The second challenge is, “If you remain silent, deliverance will come by another.” Brethren, if we do not function, if we do not manifest the life of Christ to hasten His return, the Lord will use another.
It is that way through Scripture. It is that way through history. We need to face the reality that if we are not available, the Lord will raise up ones who will be. He will accomplish His purpose. He will build His church.
Finally, he says, “You have attained royalty for such a time as this.” Brothers and sisters, each one of us is here today not by happenstance, not just by chance, but for such a time as this.
God in His sovereignty had Esther there for such a time as that. We thank the Lord that Esther, in her marvelous way, responds with that great testimony—those famous words that everyone knows: “If I perish, I perish.”
Could we have that same spirit within us? Brothers and sisters, we are here today. These words were spoken to Esther in a time of crisis, and the Lord is speaking these words to us today in a time of crisis—individual crises and corporate crises for His testimony.
We have to come to the reality of why we are here today. Do we know why we are here? Do we know what God’s heart is? Do we know what His purpose is? Do we know of His desire for the life of Christ to be manifest within us?
The battle is over the manifestation of the life of Christ upon this earth, individually and together.
The world hated the Jews in the days of Mordecai, and today, as many of us have experienced, the world hates Christians. We have not done anything to them, but we are a hated lot. We need to face that reality. They hated Him; because of Him, they hate us.
But we see God, in His great mercy, all throughout Scripture. God desired to have a family, and He raised up Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Out of nowhere, Abraham was raised up, and the glory of God appeared to Abraham there in Ur of the Chaldees.
We see how God desired to have a nation, and He raised up Moses to take these twelve families and make them one nation. Later, the Lord desired to have a kingdom upon this earth where His lordship, His kingship, would be expressed, and He took one young man from the sheepfold and raised him up.
David was there for such a time as this. Praise God, David served the purpose of God in his generation. All throughout Scripture we see the simple ones whom the Lord raised up.
At the beginning of the New Testament, the Lord had ones like Zacharias and Elizabeth, Anna and Simeon, Mary and Joseph, for such a time as this. All throughout history, the Lord has had a Luther. The Lord has had a Calvin. The Lord has had a Wesley. The Lord has had a Nee. On and on, the Lord has had ones to raise up for such a time as this.
Brothers and sisters, again, we need to enter into this reality that we are here for such a time as this.
I was so thankful for how Rich opened this morning concerning the grace of God, because it is because of the grace of God that we are here for such a time as this.
Often we will say, “Well, but Mac, not me. I am nobody. I am such a weakling.” If our testimony stops there, that is almost a blasphemous statement, denying the grace of God and the work that He has done, because we are looking at the wrong person.
Now, yes, our testimony includes, “I am nothing. I am a sinner. I am a nobody.” But Christ—Christ has made us and equipped us and given us everything pertaining to life and godliness, so that we can be the people of God that He desires us to be in this hour.
May we not just have our eyes upon ourselves and actually blaspheme the grace of God and take it in vain. Would we be those who apprehend and receive the grace that has been poured out? Like Rich said, there is no more to get. We have it. We have Christ, and the fullness is dwelling in us.
Would we say no to self and allow the grace of God to make us the testimony of Jesus that He desires us to be? As we look back through history, that is what these simple ones did.
Luther was nobody—though we could say, in all respect, a drunken monk—but the grace of God touched him. Wesley was even preaching when he was not saved, but the grace of God touched him. Who was Moses? Who was David?
What did Moses have to do with his calling from his very birth? He was chosen, and each one of us has been chosen. Together also, we are chosen to be here for such a time as this.
Would the Lord wake us up to that, that we would not take the grace of God in vain? As Peter encourages us, would we be good stewards of the manifold grace of God?
A steward is entrusted with something. We have been entrusted with this grace of God. We have been equipped with everything. Would we use it to His glory and honor, that His life would be made manifest within us?
As we look at these three challenges, the first one is, “Do not imagine that, just because you are in the king’s palace, you are safe.” This is easily applied to us with a simple question: Where is our security today?
Where is our security today? What are we putting it in? Is our security that we are in the United States? Even though the economy is kind of going through a blip that will recover, we think, “We are great. We have been through many toils and trials. We are great.” Is the United States our security?
We can see throughout history that ones who have placed their security in countries have found that a country can change overnight. This world and everything out there appears to offer security, but it ends up betraying us.
Is our security in our jobs? Is our security in our education? These are good things. We should work. We should have the education that we need. But is our security even in meeting here?
Now, praise God, in the gathering of brothers and sisters there is a security. But even in the security of a gathering, it is not in the thing called a gathering. It is in the Person and life of the Lord Jesus Christ in our midst. That is where our security is.
Would that we know where our true security is in this hour. Because in those days of crisis, what can be shaken will be shaken.
That shaking is simply the love of God being manifested in our lives. He loves us so much. He sees something within us that is not of Him, and He says, “I desire that you come closer, to know Me more and more, and that you manifest My life more and more.”
“I am going to shake this thing that is not of Me so that you will let it go.” Maybe we have been holding on to things for so long, thinking they are providing security.
Many of you know that I just received a phone call yesterday from Sonny Bradley. Many of us know our dear brothers and sisters in Memphis. One of the blessings in Memphis is that they all live together within a few blocks, right next to the University of Memphis.
Almost all of the saints bought houses together. They live in this two- or three-block area. It is really a nice area, because one of the streets where most of them live is called Graham Street. You can see how spiritual these brothers are in Memphis.
But within this few-block area, almost all of them live. Well, guess what? There was an article in the paper announcing that the university desires to build a new football stadium.
Through eminent domain, they desire to take all the saints’ property. This is just starting; it is in the planning stage and all of that. Who knows what will happen? But you think that is a shaking.
These ones who thought they were following the Lord—and I feel they are—all of a sudden may have all their homes bought up by the city. They may have to move and be scattered.
Sonny said, “It is a great test, and it is a wonderful opportunity for each brother and sister to find out where their security is.”
I thank the Lord for Sonny’s spirit of encouraging brethren to find the Lord as their security. We can be praying for them that, if this is not of the Lord, He can prevent it. But above all, that they would know that the Lord is their security, because that is a shaking.
Thank the Lord, we can stand with them. Just like Esther, what did she do? She did not say, “Okay, I am going to go back to my room and pray.” No, she gathered ones together. She said, “I am going to pray.”
What a blessing it is in days of crisis to pray together and fast together. Thank the Lord, we have been brought into this body of Christ. In Christ, there is this corporate security also. In Him, we know, and praise God, we can pray for one another.
Esther knew she was related. She knew her relationship. She was part of this nation of the Jews. We have been brought into this body of Christ. Praise God, we can pray for one another. We can pray for our brethren in Memphis.
We thank the Lord that they pray for us, and we pray for many. But, brothers and sisters, do not think that whatever we have cannot be shaken. We need to wake up.
As we come to the second challenge, we are called to wake up. We need to face the reality that sometimes we can think too much of ourselves. We can think, “God cannot do this without me. He called me here. He has to use me.”
Well, we need to wake up. Like Mordecai challenged Esther, he said, “If you remain silent, if you do not do anything, deliverance will come by the hand of another.”
Now, that is a great testimony from Mordecai. Talk about a man of faith. That is a tremendous testimony of the faith of God. Mordecai knew within his heart that even if Esther the queen did not respond, God had a purpose for His people, and He was going to provide a way of salvation for them.
Praise God for that faith. But we need to wake up to the reality that if we do not act, if we do not respond to this grace of God, if we do not allow the life of Christ to be manifested within us, and if we are not those standing for the testimony of Jesus in this hour, He will simply go on and use others.
We see it throughout Scripture. We see it throughout history. Praise God, we had the Reformation under Luther and Zwingli and Calvin, but they only went so far. It did not stop the Lord. He raised up others. He raised up Zinzendorf. He raised up Wesley. They went so far, and He raised up others.
Brothers and sisters, we have a call upon our lives in this hour. We have been entrusted with much of the revelation of Jesus Christ. What are we doing with it?
Are we allowing it to be manifested within our lives as a testimony to the world and to other believers, or are we just squelching it? If we do not allow the full expression of Christ within our lives, He will move on and use another.
Even if we bring it down to the assembly here, brothers and sisters, there is a tremendous challenge in front of us concerning the life of Christ being manifested within our assembly life.
There is a challenge over that. If we look around at the groups, the issue is the level of life. We sense that it is not where it should be. We desire that His life, the life of Christ, would be made manifest. In that, there is a strengthening. In that, there is a testimony that is brighter.
We have a choice to make. We can continue to allow the Lord’s life to be manifested within us, or, quite frankly, brothers and sisters, we can just become a Sunday-go-to-meeting place.
We can simply become a place where a few hundred people gather on Sunday, hear a good message, and go about their lives. Maybe some who have extra time can come on Wednesday nights. Some who have a little extra time can fit it in at other times.
Is that what we want to be? Is that what God is after? God is after a life, brothers and sisters, to be made manifest. Praise God for the opportunity we have to return unto Him.
He is calling to us to return to Him, allow His life to come forth, and rise up. Are we going to respond?
Now, if we are honest with each other, we have been through some tough times these last years. There are hurts. There are offenses. There are misunderstandings. There has actually been downright sinning against each other.
But praise God, are we going to look back at that, or are we going to take the manifold grace of God that He has made available and go on in Christ?
It is not that we do not need to settle things that need to be settled. Yes, we do. But we do not need continually to look at our little wounds. Sometimes we get wounded, and all of a sudden our wound becomes this great thing. We get so sidetracked that we miss the whole purpose of God.
Praise God, who was the most wounded? Who was the most offended? Who was the most betrayed? It was the One who loved us most and gave His life for us.
We are surprised when we get offended. We are surprised when we get hurt. We are surprised when someone betrays us. But He came to this earth with His eyes wide open. He knew He was going to be betrayed. He knew He was going to be hurt. He knew ones were going to forsake Him.
Yet, out of a love for His Father’s heart and purpose, out of a love for us and for His church, He gave Himself freely.
Paul made this testimony also: “Not I, but Christ.” Esther made this testimony: “If I perish, I perish.” Brothers and sisters, the “I” needs to perish.
The problem is that we are not allowing the “I” of our self-life to perish. We are preserving it too much. If anybody desires to be My disciple, deny himself. Let that self, let “I,” die.
They loved not their life. They loved not that self-life. They loved not “I” unto death. I love that testimony of Esther: “If I perish, I perish.” Oh, I need to perish.
Is it easy? Is it painless? No. It is impossible, and it hurts like the dickens sometimes. It is not very pleasant—unless we see why we are here.
Unless we see why we are here for such a time as this, we will not go through it.
I remember when I was playing sports many years ago. I have a picture of me when I was in high school playing football, and our helmets did not even have face masks. That shows you how old I am. All right, Herb, I will get you.
But why would you go through the pain and the suffering? Because there was a district championship there. Petersburg, in those days, was good, and we could win.
Why do we go through it? There is a crown. There is a reward. There is a joy before us. If we shrink back because all we see is the pain, would we go to the Lord and say, “Lord, show me more of Your glory. Show me Your love. Show me Yourself.”
“Because there is something of You I am not seeing. There is something of You that is holding me back, that I am not willing to go through this. There is something of You I am missing.”
Praise God, that pain and resistance we find is actually the love of Christ within us being manifested, that we would wake up and see there is something beyond—something within His heart for us. Would we be those who are willing to press on?
Remember, He will accomplish His purpose with or without us. He will build His church, and nothing is going to prevail against it. May we be found as those cooperating with Him in this hour.
The third challenge that Mordecai gave to Esther was, “You have attained royalty for such a time as this.” Now, royalty is a place of power and a place of influence.
Praise God, brothers and sisters, through our so-great salvation, we have been brought into a place of power. We have been brought into a place of influence. We have been brought in and equipped as royal priests, as kings unto God, living by a royal law of love that He desires for us to use to His glory and honor.
Do we just allow things upon this earth to go on? No. Why do we have a prayer meeting together? It is for the very power of God to be made manifest upon this earth as it is in heaven.
Why do we offer prayers at times for a situation in Iraq that is beyond any of our imagination, where no man has a solution? But God. But God.
Why do we pray about situations in these cities? Why do we pray for our brethren in Memphis now? But God. But God. We stand for His interest and His heart.
We do not see fully all that He sees, obviously, but we know His heart and desire. What is the answer, brothers and sisters, for every crisis in every situation? It comes back to a simple answer: a greater revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is why the book of Revelation was penned. At that time of crisis, at the end of the first century, what was the call to those in the seven churches, and to us throughout the centuries? The answer in the midst of the crisis is a greater revelation of Jesus Christ.
The answer to any crisis within our lives is a greater revelation of Himself within our life together. It is that greater revelation. As we see Him, then He might even show us some practical things to do.
But how we need to wake up in this hour. How do we respond? We respond like Esther responded: “If I perish, I perish.”
We offer ourselves to the Lord every day. I love the picture in the Old Testament of that continual burnt offering. Every day there was a new lamb put upon that altar.
It was burned because it was a continual burnt offering. The only way we make it through is by maintaining a continual attitude of giving ourselves to Him, of yielding unto Him, and allowing His life to be made manifest within us.
Oh, brother and sister, think about that lamb. It is daily given unto Him each morning and each evening. Sometimes we can be so impatient, but I love how it takes all day.
The morning lamb burns all day. The evening lamb is put on, and it burns all night. We want something to happen right away, but no, the Lord is so patient.
He is patient with us. He is patient with our brethren. We are always patient with ourselves, but generally never patient with others. We have worked through something—maybe it took us years to work through—and once we get it, we expect our brothers and sisters, our wife, our children, or anybody else to get it overnight.
Oh, the Lord is so longsuffering with us. Would that spirit of longsuffering be within all of us.
The burnt offering is described as a sweet aroma because it is the fragrance of Christ—the fragrance, the sweet aroma, of His will being made manifest.
May we really be those who recognize that we are here for such a time as this. Whether we are at work, whether we are in the assembly, whether we are in our family, whatever we are doing, we are here for such a time as this.
How does the Lord desire for us to live out that life of Christ? We need to be those who are awakened—awakened to hear His voice and to know His will.
That is so precious. If we think of this continual burnt offering, we see it mentioned again in Romans 12:1-2, as we present ourselves as a living sacrifice.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.
And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
You should go on to verse 2. What is it? So that we will understand the will of God, which is so good, so perfect, so peaceful, so precious.
Sometimes we say, “Oh, I want to know the will of God.” We want Romans 12:2, but we have not looked at the first part of the chapter, offering ourselves to Him. As we yield to Him, He shows us more and more of His heart and His way.
Praise God, Esther and Mordecai understood the heart of God. Because they understood the heart of God, they were willing to say, in New Testament terms, “Not I, but Christ.”
“If I perish, I perish,” for us today is saying, “Not I, but Christ.” Not this old man. Not even the good intentions, our so-called good flesh—none of that. But that Christ would be made manifest.
This is what the Lord is after in this hour, and it is what He is really after for eternity. We talk about God’s purpose. God’s purpose is His Son. God’s purpose is a Person. God’s purpose is His desire that the life of Christ be made manifest among the people of God.
Would the Lord wake us up, that we could see how short the days are getting and that we are here for such a time as this.
Brothers and sisters, if we truly are captured, if we truly see that we are in these end days and find ourselves characterized by this burden for His desire, knowing that He has us here with purpose, there is one thing that will characterize our life: the Lord Jesus Christ.
It will be the manifestation of His life in our lives individually and together. But there are two aspects of His life being manifested in these end days.
If we really see that we are here with purpose, there will be a greater, more intense, fuller desire for His glorious gospel to go out to the lost.
In these end days, brothers and sisters, if we really see God’s heart and purpose, there will be a tremendous burden for the glorious gospel to go out to those who are lost.
But it does not stop there. If we really see God’s heart and purpose, not only will there be a desire for His glorious gospel to go out, but then, as they come into the house of God, they would know the good news and the gospel of Jesus Christ. They could grow and become functioning members within the house of God.
They would grow up into sonship. They would grow up and not just stay as babes. It is tragic in this day how we have separated the gospel from the building of the house.
But brothers and sisters, if we see the true glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, we will see that it does not end on the day of salvation. That is the day we start experiencing all the goodness of the gospel.
If we have that desire, those who are touched by the gospel of salvation will grow and become mature sons and functioning members within the house of God.
If we truly have a burden for the house of God to be built, we will also have a greater burden for more material to come in. If we have a burden for the house of God to be built but no desire for building material to come in, there is something askew.
This matter of the gospel and this matter of building is really one issue. It is the gospel, yes, that brings us in. It is the gospel, the glorious work of our Lord Jesus Christ, that goes on throughout eternity.
They are not two things. We can distinguish them, but we can never separate them.
To really see a healthy body of Christ, a healthy assembly of believers in the hour we are living in, the gospel should be going out and being made manifest, and there should be the building work. They are interrelated and interdependent.
How we need the Lord in this hour to bring us into this, because we have a tendency to go one way or the other.
If we are honest with each other, brothers and sisters, the groups that meet like us have a tendency to focus more upon the building. Praise God for that. It is not that we should focus less upon the building. No, we want the house of God built.
But there should be a corresponding focus and burden for the gospel to go out to the lost, that material may come in, that none would perish but all would have eternal life.
Oh, would the Lord burden all of us in this hour with that. This was Esther’s burden. She did not desire merely to save her own life, but she laid down her life and said, “If I perish, I perish,” so that many others could be brought in and saved.
Would we, brothers and sisters, come into the fullness of what God’s heart and purpose is in this hour? Would there be a testimony of Jesus Christ being manifested to the lost?
Would there be a testimony of Jesus Christ and His life being manifested to those who are saved, that they would allow and yield themselves to be built up and enter into what God is after in this hour?
May the Lord help us.
Would the Lord awaken us to really see that time does not tarry. Time is going on. Whatever we do, we have no impact on it. Time does not tarry.
But may the Lord awaken us that we could redeem the time and the opportunities we have for His glorious work to be done in the hour and the days in which we are living.
May we respond in that spirit of Esther: “If I perish, I perish.”
Would the Lord fulfill and have His desire among us, individually and together, for His glory and for His honor. Amen.