Protective Conviction - Esther 2:19-23 - Sunday Sermon

My name is Mati Scaring. I'm the

teaching pastor here. And I want to

welcome you to uh Boon's Ferry. And uh

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we have a gift for you, a little uh

card. So, go ahead and take advantage of

that. Um

I'd also like to draw your attention to

uh Easter. It's coming up faster than

you might think. It's very first Sunday

of April. It's April 5th. It's only

about two weeks away here. And I'd love

to um have you invite friends and family

and people that may be looking for a

church. Uh it's also a fantastic time to

invite friends that uh may not yet

believe. Uh the Easter service is always

a almost purely evangelistic sermon, a

sermon where I share the gospel and give

people an opportunity to commit their

lives to Christ. So um you could be

thinking about that. That service is at

10:30 and an hour before that we have a

coffee time. uh that's more than that

name might uh make you think. We've got

lots of great pastries and a time just

in the forer for fellowship and things

like that. So, a lot of people attend

that. So, really asking everyone to come

at 9:30 if you want to and and then

we'll have our service at uh at 10:30.

Really looking forward to that. I'm

going to go ahead and pray and we can

get right into Esther and we are in

Esther chapter 2 and the last verses 19-

Esther 2 · chapter mention

23. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank

you for the opportunity to get back into

Esther today. We've really been enjoying

this story as a church and learning a

lot from what you teach us through the

character and actions of uh the main

characters in the story, both good and

bad. We're learning so much about how

you want us to be more Christlike. And

we pray that we would learn today as

well and that we would not only hear

what you're teaching us, but uh have the

power and the desire to actually obey it

so that our lives are transformed and so

so that we can experience more of your

blessing as a result of that obedience

which you bring into our lives. And we

pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.

I can't remember if I've ever told you

the story of when my younger brother

almost died when uh we were living in

Germany and how my dad rescued him. Um,

I may have it kind of rings a bell like

I like I did. But we were living in

Germany. It was the second house that I

remember. And uh, I could not have been

older than 10. He couldn't have been

older than eight. We're probably even

younger than that. And um, we were

living in a kind of a new development

in a townhouse, but it's Germans build

their houses out of concrete. And they

make fun of Americans for building their

houses out of wood. Uh but when you have

a concrete townhouse, you can't hear

anything uh from the neighbor and so

it's still uh a somewhat different

situation than you might imagine. Uh but

it was such a new development. There was

constantly new construction going on.

And I don't remember exactly why, but a

bunch of sand got dropped off in a

parking lot right next to our house just

outside of the front of the yard. And uh

they left it there forever and and

seemed like they'd maybe forgotten it.

So, my brother and I love to build sand

castles and we wanted to build a much

bigger sand castle and had some molds to

do that and so we needed water and uh we

were trekking into the house to grab

water in like pales and then bring it to

make the sand a little bit harder and my

mom got tired of us walking through the

house with sandy feet and so she cut us

off and uh I don't remember if the spets

on the outside of house weren't working

or even if we had them but we had no

other water source but we'd heard of a

of a creek. We thought it was a creek uh

not too far from the house and uh in

this case the point where we tried to

access the creek to get water was about

a mile away. So nothing was going to

deter us from getting water to build the

sand castle once we gotten cut off. And

so we took our pales and uh walked uh

about a mile to this creek away from the

house uh because all of the other access

points were far too steep. It was this

creek that had probably over time dug

its way into a ravine. Um I would say

probably at least 50 yards down to the

creek and it was that um the layered

rock. I don't know if they call that

shale or uh but it's just this flat

layered rock and then dirt over it. And

so it's very slippery. And so we kept

walking kept walking thinking that maybe

at some point it' get less steep. And we

found a spot where it seemed less steep,

but it was still pretty pretty steep.

And what you couldn't tell was we saw we

saw trees growing on the slope. And so

we thought, well, we can walk down to

the trees, hold on, and then keep going

down, get the pale, hand it up, and then

and then walk back a mile with a pale of

water just to do a sand castle. Um, but

what had happened, uh, this creek, it it

was still, we're coming right out of the

winter into spring. And so the it wasn't

a creek, it was a rushing river. It

might have only been about 20 ft wide or

so and in the summer it turned more of

into a creek. But these trees would grow

on the dirt above that layered rock, the

shale or whatever it's called. And then

uh once it got close enough to the

river, the river had I'm I'm assuming it

eroded most of the of the dirt. And so

then you could see the exposed layered

rock and there'd be this overhang where

the roots were hanging over but you

couldn't see that there was a drop off.

Right? So imagine the last tree this

kind of like we're holding on to and we

see we're almost there and my brother

steps on one of the roots, slips slips

right over the edge just barely grabs a

root and he's hanging and his feet are

just clamoring slipping off of that

rock. is very slippery on top of it like

you could just kind of pull it out with

your hands. So his feet are not getting

any purchase and it's like I said it's a

rushing river. There's just so much snow

melt that year that um and and at

I don't think he would have survived. It

was at least I'd say like 20 15 to 20

feet fall down into the white water at

this point. Um, so I don't I don't think

he probably would have survived uh

falling in the water. He would probably

drowned, right? So I'm freaking out cuz

I see him hanging there and I'm only 10.

I'm not strong enough to pull him up. On

top of it, on the way down to him, I had

lost a hold of the tree and so I dug my

hand into the dirt. So my hands are all

dirty and slippery. It had rained the

day before, I think. And so I I'm trying

to grab him and my hands are just

slipping off his hands and he's

screaming, "Save me." And and the only

thing I can think I knew my dad was

home. My dad worked from home. He was

working on his doctorate. He was getting

his doctorate in theology. And he was

just always researching and writing his

um dissertation. He ended up writing a

book on the um early Roman house church

and how it was designed according to

scripture and history. And uh so I knew

where he was. He was just downstairs on

his computer. Still remember getting

that computer and the first time we were

like I was think MS DOSs was a big deal

back then. Um but um so I I just raced

home as fast as I could. I cannot I

don't know what kind of mile time I ran

but my lungs were burning and my legs

were hurting and I raced in scream dad.

And I told him is about to drown. That's

what I said. You need to help. And uh he

raced. I didn't know what he was doing,

but he just got up immediately. Uh he

had been praying and he had one of these

um he'd take a trip to Jerusalem, I

think, and he had a prayer shaw and he

was praying and I just raced and he

never interrupt him while he's praying.

Like I just knew it was a meaningful

moment. So he don't interrupt him, but I

burst in saw and I was like, "Dad, you

know, Hunus is harness is hanging from a

root. He's about to drown." And he raced

up uh to the garage. We had all these

jumping ropes. They're made of actual

rope though and he just grabbed all the

ropes and started racing towards where I

told him and I could barely even keep

up. One thing you need to know though

about him running was when he was a farm

boy in Silverton, Oregon, you know,

12-hour days. He used to tell me about

the 12hour days, 6 to6 farmers work so

hard. I'm glad I'm just the son of a

farm boy and not a farm boy myself. Uh

that does not exactly sound like a fun

uh a fun childhood. It did teach him

some lessons though and toughness was

one of them. Well um he had uh he was

one of nine siblings, big farming family

from Silverton, originally from

Switzerland. And uh he had brothers that

would egg each other on to do dangerous

stunts. And one of them was to jump off

one of these pole buildings and he did.

and he just hammered his right leg. And

unbeknownst to him, what he had done is

he'd slammed his femur into his lower

bone and just jacked up the cartilage.

And he didn't want to get in trouble

with his father. Um, and it my my

grandfather was a severe man and so

there was a reason why my dad didn't

want to get uh in trouble with him and

so he never told anybody about it. um it

ended up affecting his football career

as a tight end, an athlete. He's 6'4, so

I think he had a promising career ahead

of him, but um when you do that, and

back then the surgeries, I don't know

how much they would have helped. Uh but

it ended up being uh nearly bone on

bone. People say bone on bone, your leg

would lock up entirely if it was truly

bone on bone, but when the cartilage is

that messed up, uh lubrication need

doesn't work. There's inflammation, it

gets worse and worse. And so because of

that and how severe that injury was, he

ultimately had to get a double hip

replacement because it threw his hips

off. And that wasn't until recently that

he got that double hip replacement. So

kind of a maimed leg. And he would just

drag that leg whenever we're playing on

the uh if he was running after us for

tag or something like that, he wouldn't

really be pushing off that leg. He'd be

dragging it with his hip flexors. And I

I just heard him wincing every time

because he was pushing off that leg. He

was running so fast. It the pain didn't

matter to him. He had this like any

father does uh protective instinct to do

whatever it takes to save his son. And

he had no idea what was going on. And

while he's running, he's tying the ropes

together, one in a loop slung around his

shoulder. And I it was probably uh 30 ft

of rope that he had gathered from all

these different jump ropes that we'd

had. And we're racing down there. And I

watch him just sling. It was a smaller

tree. He'd gotten down about halfway

down the ravine, slipping, sliding,

grabbing on, slings one of the uh jump

ropes around a tree, ties it off. It's

around his arm and gets all the way

down, sliding down cuz it's so fast. And

my brother's just screaming. He's barely

holding on. You know, I don't even know

how he held on for as long as he did.

Maybe he had gotten his elbow hooked or

something like that. And then slings

himself over the edge and grabs my

brother. And I don't know how I don't

know how he grabbed him and pulled

himself up with one arm. Uh

6'4 probably at the time at least 235

lbs. That's not easy to pull yourself up

with one arm. just strength of

protective conviction that he had. And

uh he didn't he didn't even get angry at

us for we explained what we're doing. He

told us how reckless it was that we did

that. But he also just know you know

foolishness is bound up in the heart of

a child. And um my mom felt terrible

that she'd cut us off from the water. I

think she also figured out like uh what

kind of a son she'd already probably

know what kind of a son I was. like I

just will not have my will be thwarted.

We're getting water. It doesn't matter

where we find it. The most ironic and

hilarious thing about it is had we

walked another hundred yards, the ravine

ends and you can walk right up to the

creek.

We used to we end up damning that creek

up and and making like swimming holes

for ourselves when we found that, you

know, but I just got sick of walking.

I'm like, it's so far we just let's go.

Let's do it. you know, I don't know how

I ever thought we were we didn't have

ropes until my dad came. So, um, he

actually helped us get water out of it,

even though that happened. Um, but I

tell you that story not just for fun,

not just because it's an exciting and

interesting story, but because it

illustrates something about fathers.

They have protective conviction for

their sons. They'll put themselves in

harm's way. It doesn't matter what kind

of pain they have to overcome. If it's

that pain or the life of their child,

they'll overcome the pain. I'd never

seen them run like that. And we're

introduced, I guess not introduced, but

we see Morai's protective conviction.

And not just Morai, Esther as well. They

work as a team to end up protecting the

king. What you may not realize until we

get a little more into the details of

the story is that Morortei is also

protecting Esther in this situation in a

very real way. Um, and it wasn't without

risk. It wasn't without relatively

extreme risk to expose the plot of

assassins. What if they kill you?

These men are not good men. Their men

have decided to just murder somebody

else. What if they murder you? Uh so and

and you know when you whistleblow on any

kind of thing whether it's at a you know

a corporate situation where something's

going really wrong or whether it's in a

church or whether it's just uh

exposing something that's really wrong,

you stand to lose all kinds of things.

For one, people will engage in

reputation destruction when you do that.

Uh because if your character can be

destroyed, if you can be diminished in

your trustworthiness, then whatever

you're exposing uh by telling the truth

about something really bad that's

happening or some kind of plot, whatever

it might be, uh if they can destroy your

character, then people won't believe

you. And so, of course, of course,

people will do that. Uh there there are

people out there that have no intent to

overcome the flesh or to follow the Lord

and don't even believe and and some that

do but aren't living a life that's

really surrendered. And so even

Christians will engage in that

sometimes. So you stand to lose uh

potentially your reputation for a time.

Um God ends up long-term protecting the

reputations of the righteous, but you

can lose a lot short term. So you could

lose your job for whistleblowing. Or

let's say it's not within a corporate

structure, but it's just within a

friends group and something has to be

called out. You might lose a friends

group and lose social standing. And

these might be long-standing

relationships. I've lost long-standing

relationships as a result of speaking up

about something that had I not, I would

have been wrong with the Lord. Sometimes

you're between a rock and a hard place.

I think I need to say something about

this. I know the Lord's leading me to

say something about this, but if I say

something about this, I'm probably going

to sacrifice something else that I care

about. So, there's a sacrifice in

speaking the truth in love. There always

is a sacrifice involved in that. And

we're going to talk about why today. But

I I wanted you to consider because it's

not just fathers that have protective

conviction. Mothers do too over their

friends should. You know, it's godly to

have protective conviction towards

others. It's a godly thing. Mori had it.

And in this case, I want to talk about

today in particular, I want you to

remember remember when we were going

through Genesis, or if you weren't here,

if you've been studying Genesis

yourself, how we consider Joseph a

Christ type for entrusting himself so

much to God's sovereignty even in the

face of such wrongdoing. uh Mori is

really a Christ type as well here and I

want to tell you why. Um just purely

from the story and we're about to get

into it again. Uh Mori

was willing to protect the life of a bad

man. He was willing to protect the life

of a bad man which is already one of the

pieces of evidence that he's a Christ

type. that there's a part of his

character that's like Jesus. It's one

thing to protect the reputation of a

friend. It's one thing to save your

son's life. What father wouldn't want to

go and save his son's life and wouldn't

be passionate in his conviction to

protect that life? Something has to go

really wrong in the heart of a father

for him not to want to do that because

it's so natural to a father's desire and

and just inner makeup. I think the same

for mothers, for their children, also

for friends. You're going to want to

protect your friends, right? You're

going to want to protect other people.

But what about a boss who doesn't like

you or isn't nice to you, is not a

righteous man, has maybe mistreated you,

has maybe mistreated someone else you

care about.

Do you have protection, a protective

conviction in this case for that person?

It's probably unlikely that you're going

to discover a plot that someone in

authority over you is about to be

assassinated, but you may very well

overhear people speaking about them in a

way that's slanderous, reputation

destroying, and would severely diminish

uh their ability to lead. And that this

happens all the time. It happens and it

happens among Christians too. just an

example that's coming to mind because

I've recently whatever algorithm on like

reels whatever is showing me gold rush

stuff like uh Australian gold mining and

I guess I find it interesting and opal

mining and things like that and these

these are a a lot of these uh men and

women that are mining are basically

constructionminded

men and women you know and they can get

pretty rough with their speech and it

also makes for quite interesting reality

TV when they get angry with each other

and they almost never follow the

biblical communication plan to take that

frustration directly to their boss or

superior. They talk to everyone else

about it and then that creates drama uh

and eventually gets exposed and now

they're on the chopping block about

maybe getting fired unless they respond

the right way to the boss. Right? And

I've just been watching that lately. And

it's just all too common uh that people

will not consider how dangerous it is to

engage in gossip and slander and things

like that. Once those words come out,

you can't take them back. And they can

destroy reputations. And they can

destroy more than just the reputation of

one individual. They can end up

destroying whole networks of friends.

When it happens in the church, it can

get as bad as a church split. And so

there's something very powerful about

having protective conviction that

reaches to a spiritual level. Um my

dad's protective conviction was

spiritual. He considered himself um as

the person that God had um called to

protect our our lives as his sons, you

know. Uh so there was an actual

spiritual anchor there. But what we're

talking about today is more than just

physical protection. It's the strength

of spiritual con conviction and and in

terms of protection and it's the

teamwork between Esther and Mori that

has really captured my heart especially

as it relates to our ministry as a

church. And so I remember last week I

told you I'd share my main point towards

the end once I proved it and then rim

check the whole sermon by not even uh

sharing my main point. Um but so I'm

going to be sharing my main point today.

It's already part of the introduction.

And if you guys could go ahead and put

that up. Um, the main point today is

that the Lord will honor those who act

on their good protective convictions for

others. The Lord will honor those

who act on their good protective

conviction for others. In a way, 19-23

is foreshadowing for that point. And to

be strict in terms of uh a good

interpretation, you wouldn't be able to

get the idea that God will honor those

just from these verses. But this is a

foreshadowing verse and we might as well

handicap ourselves from knowing exactly

what ends up what God does for Morai as

a result of him protecting this king. It

is a big deal that he protected a bad

man.

Uh I think we can all agree we would not

have liked a hassaweris Xerxes.

It might also be interesting

historically and in this case I trust

the history. It's it's well cooperated.

Uh King Aasaweras, King Xerxes was

assassinated ultimately by one of his

royal guard.

So this assassination plot was thwarted

but the end of his life ended by another

assassination plot. And so he probably

faced more than one. I I know we know he

faced more than one if we trust the the

historical accounts. We know he faced

this one for certain. And there were

people after his life. And this is more

likely to happen uh to kings that are

not good men. They accumulate enemies

for the wrong reasons. But it can happen

to men that are good as well. And the

Lord will honor those who act on their

on their good protective convictions

towards others. And you you could even

add especially when they don't deserve

it. Especially when they don't deserve

it. And you might also consider whether

anyone actually deserves to be protected

in that way. We'll consider all these

thoughts. I'll just read it one more

time. The Lord will honor those who act

on their good protective convictions for

others.

If you desire to be honored in this way,

you have to overcome

fear. You have to overcome

concern about loss and concern about all

kinds of um

what's the word? Backlash as a result of

you standing up for what's right in a

protective way because it means

sometimes you have to stand against

those who are acting in a way that's

hurting other people or potentially

going to hurt them.

So let's get into the story. This is

19-23 and this is right after um Esther

has ascended to the throne as queen and

a big party has been thrown for her. And

we've seen a lot about Esther's

character. I'm going to be focusing

mainly on Morai's character, but there's

some details here about Esther's

character as well. So, let me read 19-23

and we'll get into it. Now, when the

virgins were gathered together the

second time, Morortei was sitting at the

king's gate. Esther had not made known

her kindred or her people as Mordei had

commanded her. For Esther obeyed

Morortei just as when she was brought up

by him.

In those days, as Morai was sitting at

the king's gate, Bigith and Terish, two

of the king's Unix who guarded the

threshold became angry and sought to lay

hands on King Hassaweras. And this came

to the knowledge of Morortei. And he

told it to Queen Esther. And Esther told

the king in the name of Mori, when the

affair was investigated and found to be

so, the men were both hanged on the

gallows and was recorded in the book of

the chronicles in the presence of the

king.

So the same group that uh group that had

all been basically auditioning to become

the queen um is meeting again for a

second time. Reasons unknown. And

Morortei sitting at the king's gate

seems to be his pattern. That's where he

goes. And that seems to also be well, it

doesn't just seem to be a Jewish

tradition. I think Morortei is following

a Jewish tradition here where there

would be judgments made at the gate of a

city. And the king's gate may have been

that place where information was

gathered, where Jewish elders would

gather uh to talk about uh working

things out, uh potentially certain

trades or uh you know, it seems to me, I

was reading from history that um not

everything Xerxes did was evil. He was a

mixed bag. Um, for example, one of the

things that I was relatively surprised

to find out about, and you kind of get

the the gist of this, even in the story

of Esther, where he has his edicts

written in every language. Um, that

wasn't necessarily the case for emperors

that they wouldn't require people to

speak the same language. uh but he even

commanded that that would that the uh

this very proclamation would be read in

the language of the people and that they

would speak that language in their

homes. So he took somewhat of an

eclectic approach of allowing the

cultures that he had conquered to remain

those cultures while even under Persian

rule. Um and so it's reasonable to this

is maybe some speculations but it's

reason reasonable to imagine that he'd

allowed uh Jewish customs to happen at

the gate like that. But we don't know

that much about why he's at the gate.

That is where he is. Maybe that's the

closest he could get to Esther. Anyway,

he's there. And we get another detail

here that's important in verse 20.

Esther had not made known her kindred or

her people as Mordei had commanded her.

For Esther obeyed Morortei just as when

she was brought up by him. And in a way,

the obvious reason for this detail here

is foreshadowing. The whole plot thread

of the book of Esther hinges around the

identity of Esther as Jewish and the

identity of Mori as Jewish and that is

hidden as of right now. So we know

almost for certain that the author added

this detail here as foreshadowing for

future plot threads. Uh at that it's

important to know at that time that that

was not yet known. Right? So if we're

making a movie uh about this story um

and you're trying to show uh in a scene

uh between Esther and Asaweris, Asaweris

has no idea of her Jewish identity. And

that becomes even more important as the

story progresses. And we don't know

exactly why Mori commanded Esther not to

make her identity known. Uh I don't

think it's all that difficult to figure

out though. We just are not told for

certain. Um, but I'll give you an

illustration from modern times that I

just witnessed in my home and it was

kind of it came as a surprise and I in a

way it came as a surprise but it's

something that I've already known and

that's been relatively true throughout

all history. So I think the past owners

of our house had um dogs. They may even

had a cat. I'm more allergic to cats

than I am to dogs. Um, and I've been

sneezing just a bunch and I thought

maybe it's pet dander. And so we

contacted a company that will, you know,

uh, vacuum out your vents. And, uh,

Christina had called them and had them

come. And, um, uh, the foreman

was working really hard and kind of

rushing around. And I recognized Spanish

when I hear it. At one point, he was not

yelling yelling, but loudly speaking

towards one of his workers in Spanish.

The next moment I heard him speak a

language, I'm like, that sounds like

Hebrew. I'm almost positive that's

Hebrew. But then in the middle of a

sentence transitioned to something that

sounded like Romanian and I have quite a

few Romanian friends and I don't speak

any I don't even know a word in Romanian

but I kind of recognize the language and

the cadence and I'm like oh maybe it

wasn't Hebrew, maybe it was Romanian and

some some languages have similar roots

and so maybe and then and then I heard

him say a word that was certainly that

you all recognize as Hebrew which is

shalom. And so I'm like okay that I at

least that word, but I think I had heard

Hebrew before and I don't speak Hebrew

fluently. Uh, however, um, I was talking

to him and we're kind of settling up on

the cost and he had asked whether there

was like some kind of further treatment

that they could do and I said, "How

significant is it reducing pet dander?"

He said, "Well, I'm not confident that

if we don't do this, it will actually

reduce it." Like the brush, basically

pushing the brush all the way down, not

just vacuuming it out. And I said,

'Yeah, go ahead and go ahead and do

that. By the way, I said, um, what

languages were you speaking? And he

said, 'Oh, that was Spanish. I said, '

Wasn't there another language in there?

He goes, oh, it was Romanian.' And I

said, was there one more language in

there? And he goes, yeah, Hebrew. And I

was like, are you Israeli? And he said,

yes, I am. And I said immediately, I

just want you to know I'm a Christian

and I worship a Jew. I believe him to be

the king of the Jews and his name is

Jesus. And so I have a very positive

view of Israelis. In fact, I love the

Jewish people. And it's a love that

comes from God. It comes from outside of

me and I can't get rid of it. I don't

want to get rid of it. And he he starts

fumbling in his I thought he was nervous

maybe playing with his keys or something

like it was too awkward to say that I

love his ethnicity or something. Uh, but

he pulled out a yarmaka and put it on.

>> And I said to I said immediately I was

like it was it was

moving that he'd put it on. Upsetting

that he'd had to take it off. And I

said, "Did you not wear that because of

anti-Israeli sentiment?" He goes,

"Yeah." And I said, "Well, not in this

house." And he took it off and handed it

to me. And I said, "You're giving this

to me." He goes, "Yeah."

Right. So, the Jewish people have known

that they've had enemies in every age

ever since.

And so, it doesn't seem like that big of

a leap uh to believe that Morai knew

there were enemies. We're going to be

introduced to one uh by the name of Hmon

in the very next sermon. Uh and so that

probably is is the reason why he had

commanded that.

So, so they know that there's there's

danger. I I don't even think it's too

speculative. A Jew reading this would

have known immediately why you would

ever hide your Jewish identity, right? I

will stop short of saying this is

absolutely certain because it doesn't

say that. And we need to be dividing the

word of truth rightly and be careful and

not make too uh too certain claims about

things that aren't absolute. However,

if this is true, then as a Jew or as a

modern Israeli, you generally feel like

you're always living in this question

mark of a potentially hostile

environment. Okay?

Most certainly, the Jews knew that uh

things tend to turn against them in

foreign countries. It happened too many

times before and it's still happening

today. It's still happening today and

there's a reason for that and it's the

enemy of God and we know him as Satan or

you know the liar, the serpent, the

accuser of the saints constantly opposes

God's will and God's people.

So Morai is already living in a

relatively hostile environment. In this

case, they're no longer in exile. God

had already returned the Jews from

exile. And so we we need to know that

chronologically that's not what's

happening. These are Jews that have

chosen to stay in the Persian Empire,

but they're still not really home and

they don't have the kind of protection

they would in Israel even at that time

when the walls had been already rebuilt.

So you got to consider that. We also

want to consider another testament to

Esther's character. Um, Morai as a

father had a sense of command. I believe

all fathers should. You shouldn't act

like you haven't. It's It's weird to act

like you don't have authority as the

father. You do. Men know that

intuitively. No matter how much feminism

is trying to contradict it. Uh, it's

just it's just the reality. But it's

also certainly true from God's word. And

God will hold the men to account. So we

ought not to act like we don't have

authority in our families as husbands.

Um now commanding can be done in a

negative way. It can be doing in an

arrogant, forceful, mean-spirited,

harsh, selfish kind of way.

Just intuitively, do you think those

words fit the way Morai parented Esther

based on what you know of his character?

No, they don't. He was very unselfish.

He was concerned for her welfare. He

wasn't her father. He was the cousin.

Imagine just would you be willing to

raise your cousin as your own daughter.

It's a sacrifice. He was a sacrificial

man, a loving man, a caring man. He

raised her well, but he also had a sense

of command. And so he he didn't just

tell her, he didn't just ask her,

"Please don't make your he commanded her

not to." Why?

Protective conviction. And if you're

willing to follow my view of why, right,

it's not safe. And e even if it was

safe, it's not to your benefit in

general to tell people you're Jewish.

Even today, Jews still feel that way.

Even in some random bearded guy's home,

they're not sure whether they're going

to be hated or not. Romanians don't feel

that way.

Right. I I don't even know.

Is there any other people group that

feels like hiding their identity? Maybe

in some countries where there have been

terrible oppression of that exact people

group. But in America, is there another

people group that like like tries to

hide their identity?

May maybe there is, but it seems like

that's that's relatively unique to

Israelis and Jews. And so anyway, she

he's telling her this because he has pro

it's not going to be better for her to

be known as a Jew necessarily.

so shrewd and wise and she's willing to

follow it. Uh she's probably in her

teenage years of marriageable age. She's

a virgin, a young maiden. And I want you

to consider how common is it that

teenage girls and teenage boys will

follow the commands of their mother and

father.

I think it's relatively uncommon. I hope

it's more common in the church, but

that's more often than not when young

lady or young girls are becoming young

ladies and young boys are becoming young

men and they're differentiating

themselves from their father and mother

and they're trying to figure out who

they are and they don't like being

commanded to do things. So, it seems to

me that teenagers these days, at least

in the modern times, are less likely to

respond well to commands. humbly to

commands. But she did. She had that

character. She was brought up in that

way.

She let Mori practice his protective

conviction and his authority. Authority.

And I want to stop there. I don't want

to belabor this point too much, but if

you have a broken relationship to

authority, that word can s it can cause

you to cringe and bristle. authority

because your examples of authority are

bad. My examples of authority from a

young age, my dad and my mom in

particular,

are so overwhelmingly positive

that when I hear that word, I don't

cringe. I don't recoil. The hairs on the

back of my neck don't stand up. In fact,

it's quite the opposite. My dad, even

when he had to discipline me,

exercised his authority in a godly and

loving way. And especially now as an

older man, I continue to recognize and

discover all the ways that that formed

my character.

So, so when I hear love and I when I

hear the word authority,

I wouldn't call them synonyms, but I

have similar feelings about those two

words because I have almost exclusively

in my formative years experienced loving

authority.

That's a huge blessing. One I did not

deserve. I proved many times as a kid

and as a teenager that I didn't deserve

to be treated with loving authority, but

I was. It's just an unmmerited blessing

from the Lord to have that. And some of

you did not have that.

And so

your feelings about authority that you

know if we're talking in terms of like

computer coding were written on your

your base operating program in an early

age you know and it sort of I'll switch

metaphors here but like the concrete was

wet but then it settled with that code

in it you know it's not easy to get that

out. It's not easy. You can be told a

thousand times by a preacher like me,

even from God's word, that God has

designed authority for your blessing,

but you you experience the exact

opposite so many times. And so, you have

this skepticism, maybe a jaded view,

maybe a bitter view towards authority.

It will make it much harder for you to

submit. It'll make it much harder for

you to be willing be to be protected by

authority. Oh, yeah. right protected by

authority.

I'm not saying be naive,

but I generally do not trust political

authorities to be protective. I I trust

them to be selfishly ambitious. Right?

Is that a bitter view? No. I think

that's relatively wise. I am not going

to disobey laws

around speeding or maybe in this case

I've decided I I was pretty close to

bowing to the temptation to just dig my

own pond and say screw it to the

permission, right? It's going to tell me

that oh well there isn't a fish study.

It's like walk here and look at Thimble

Creek. There's no fish. There couldn't

be cuz it dries up in the summer, right?

And there's no spotted owls either. You

know, ODFW is the main problem for

getting any kind of water, right? You

know what actually really protected me

from just deciding to do that? And I had

like good Christian friends that that

were telling me, "Yeah, you're never

going to get it through. You probably

should just dig it yourself, you know."

So, uh, it was it was studying Esther.

God blesses those who submit to

authority.

If I get a water right for a fishing

hole and a swimming hole, it's going to

take two to three years and I'm going to

have to have some creative ways

overcoming all of their uh financial

barriers that they put up.

I thought, well, if God wants to give me

a water right, there's no one that can

stop him, but he's not going to bless it

if I just break the law. Then I looked

into waterright laws with the exception

of ODFW. Maybe I'll tell you a funny

story about fish kill licenses. It It's

ridiculous. But we'll see what time's

left. But the point is,

simply put, I decide I'm not going to be

lawless

just because some of the bureaucracy is

indeed ridiculous.

I don't I don't want to get it that way.

I almost I almost did. And then Esther

is like, "Nope, that's very clear. Needs

to be permitted. Doesn't matter how long

it takes. I'm going to do it the right

way. And if God doesn't want me to have

it, I won't get it. And if he does, I

will. Period. Takes faith. Takes faith

to entrust yourself to authorities when

they're crooked. When what they what

they do doesn't make sense when you

think it's basically bad for you?

So, what's your relationship like to

authority? Is it like Esther? Do you

have an easy time submitting yourself? I

I don't know anyone that I mean in

general the word submit sounds like a

four-letter word to most Americans

doesn't it rugged individualism me

submit? No. To who? You never.

So consider what is your relationship

like to authority? Do you need healing

in that area? Do you need God to go back

to that original forming code that was

formed the wrong way? the concrete

that's settled with something bad in it.

Do you need God to do that surgery so

that you don't have a jaded, bitter,

negative

um skeptical view of authority

constantly that that doesn't allow you

to see it as protective? There's two

sides of the coin. There's protective

conviction that someone in authority can

exercise over you. And even the idea of

over you, it's like I don't want anyone

over me. Well, if you if you want to

experience God's protection from others,

you're going to need to allow them to

sometimes speak some truth you initially

disagree with in a loving way. And

sometimes you got to allow them to say

it. And they're not always perfectly

right in attitude, but still what

they're saying is true. But Esther was

humble enough to allow Morai to protect

her. And Morai was obedient enough to do

so.

This story reads as though Mordeai's

primary conviction was to protect the

king. And I don't want to diminish that

idea at all. It's definitely there. Um,

but I really actually have come to the

belief that it was more about Esther

than it was actually about Hassaweras.

Let's read on. In those days, as Morai

was sitting at the king's gate, Big Than

and Terish, two of the king's Unix who

guarded the threshold, became angry and

sought to lay hands on King Ahasser.

We don't know why and we can speculate.

I guess one of the non uh silly

speculations is look they're Unix. They

were more than likely taken as slaves,

mutilated and so that they would sell

better as Unix and then taken into this

court. And so already, you know, I

assume generally that uh there was a

part of the Unix hearts that didn't feel

very positive towards a king that was

using them in that way. I I think that's

actually a mild way to put it. Um, so

there was probably already some anger

underneath the surface and we have no

idea. We can guess at the fact that, you

know, Xerxes acted like Xerxes and that

makes people angry, you know, probably

something like that. Maybe sort of a

public scolding. Who knows? Who knows?

It doesn't matter. What matters is

they're angry at him. They're angry at

him. All right, I want to stop there and

start looking at

the concept of spiritually protective

authority in your own life. Uh because

Satan will use that anger.

Satan will use that anger. What's God's

plan? God's plan is to save the Jewish

people from Hmon's thought to annihilate

all of them. Remember, this is this is

uh more epic. H I hate to say it that

way. Much more dreadful than the

Holocaust.

I just stop short of calling the the

Holocaust epic. This story is so epic

that the the Persian Empire spans the

known world. The vast majority of the

entire Jewish population is in the

Persian Empire. So by the time all of

the lives of the Jews are threatened to

be destroyed and annihilated and killed,

man, woman, and child, it would have

just destroyed the Jewish population.

So, it's a global annihilation of the

Jewish population.

And and that's ultimately what this

story is about, about how God is going

to use Morai's protective conviction. We

forget that. And how he tells Esther

that she has to do something about it.

That God placed her here potentially for

such a time as this. No matter what,

she's going to die because she's Jewish.

Don't think you can hide that forever,

he says.

So, it starts actually with Morai's

protective conviction, but they work as

a team and and Esther Esther is

definitely the hero of the story. If we

were doing a play or movie about it,

she's the star. There's no question

about it. So impressed by Esther. But

it's it's just the reality that without

Mori, she may have not come to that

conviction to protect the Jews on pain

of death. If I perish, I perish. She

says that that's a heroic words.

But because she was humble enough to

listen to Morortei even when it meant

putting her life on the line,

she's that's why she's the hero, right?

That's why her protective conviction

becomes stronger than her own life. So,

so that's that's really what's happening

here. So, of course, the enemy is

opposing it. God's plan is to save the

Jews through Esther and Morortei and to

use Xerxes Aasseris to help with that

even though initially he gets taken in

by Hmon.

You know, he's a relatively callous

king. Soon as they make the edict, they

sit down to drink. Toasting to actual

genocide is what that is. That takes a

callous heart. But God is still going to

use him to allow the Jews to protect

themselves. A second edict.

So, of course, Satan is opposing God's

will in this story, and one thing he

could do to to thwart God's plan is just

have assassinated

right now.

It's interesting how much George Lucas

understood the concept of anger that

turns you towards sin. And yet I don't

believe uh has ever really surrendered

to the Lord. And so the Holy Spirit is

the force instead of sin. It's the dark

side and you can kind of come back from

it in your own effort. But but remember

what Darth Cidius, that's the emperor

says when I think it's Luke. Oh man, if

you guys are Star Wars fans, I botched

this. It's going to be rough. But um

Luke starts getting angry, you know, and

and that's what Darcius is egging on.

Good. You know, Satan's like that. He

will egg you on in your anger.

Big Than and Terish were some's baby

sons someday.

No mother, no father wants their sons to

become assassins.

It was through the lever of anger that

the enemy

gets them to come up with this

assassination plot.

So, let's go through some verses about

that. This is Ephesians 4 26-27.

And you'll see the enemy's scheme here

because if you're going to have

spiritually protective conviction like

Mori and Esther do, uh, you're going to

have to be aware of the enemy's schemes

in order to be able to resist them. Be

angry, but do not sin. Very clear. You

can be angry without sin. Don't think to

yourself, "All anger is sin." That's not

good. That will cause you to stuff an

emotion that's not even actually wrong.

Don't stuff your emotion. It'll explode

on you later. But do not sin. Do not let

the sun go down on your anger. Okay? One

sin you can commit in your anger is to

let it last more than one day. Any anger

becomes a sin. The moment you disobey,

it's very clear. Sun goes down, that's

another day. What happens when you let

your anger se overnight? You give an

opportunity to the devil a foothold.

You're opening yourself up. It's not too

extreme of words. When you go to sleep

on your anger, you're lowering the

drawbridge to Satan.

So, if you want to grow in your

protective conviction yourself just for

your own protection from the enemy, then

humble obedience when you're angry

is going to be unbelievably key.

You may not think, oh, when I'm angry

and I let the sun go down in on my

sleep, uh, that the very next day you're

going to do something terrible in your

anger, right? But you're angry. Maybe

you're angry at your husband, your wife,

children, somebody else. You start

driving to work, someone cuts you off,

and that anger just

right. And so they cut you off, and then

they're driving too slow, and so you

tailgate them, right? and you don't see

that there's an animal

running across the road and they slam on

their brakes, not to like break check

you, but because you didn't see the

animal, and you just slam head first

into the back of that car.

Take that story back, make it

hypothetical. You're driving your kids

to school and one of them doesn't have

their seatelt on and you let the sun go

down on your anger and the same thing

happens and they lose their life or get

paralyzed.

You do not. Just because God is

constantly protecting us beyond what

we're even aware of of what might happen

to us when we get angry does not mean

it's not severely dangerous. Satan wants

to destroy your life, everything you

love, everyone you love, and everything

good God will do for you. He just wants

to destroy it all. His plans are so

evil. It's I don't think it's even

possible to quite fathom how evil his

plans and spirit is.

But you will not grow in protective

conviction if you let the sun go down on

your anger. And that means letting God

rule over a very powerful emotion.

Letting God rule, letting his command be

what you obey rather than your anger.

Letting the sun go down

on your anger is yielding your spirit to

Satan. You see the words

we sang the song not going to let my

spirit yield to anyone but Jesus right

it's not the lyric but that's the

meaning

when men consider you have this

god-given creation order protective

condition in your very makeup as a man

does it not bother you thinking about

the times you've gone let the anger in

your heart go down with the sun that

you're lowering the drawbridge to your

entire family for sake Satan, does that

not bother you? Do you not want to

battle him? You do.

So, and the right time though for

preparation for that is not while you're

angry. You can still surrender that, but

memorize this verse if you have this

problem.

I am afraid to let the sun go down with

my anger. All the worst things that have

happened in my life and all the worst

things I've done to other people were

because I allowed the enemy to control

me through my anger. And it was severe.

Drove me far away from the Lord through

me surrendering to my flesh and to him.

Do not bow the knee to Satan by letting

your anger go down with the son. You do

not know what kind of damage will come

into your life. That's one of the

schemes of the enemy. Let's go back to

Esther and see what happens. But

throughout the sermon, I'm going to be

sprinkling in schemes of the enemy so

that we know how to be protectively uh

convicted and how to act in that

protection towards others, especially

spiritually.

Verse 21 again. In those days, as Morai

was sitting in the king's gate, big thin

and terish, two of the king's unics who

guarded the threshold became angry, say

sought to lay hands on King Asaras, had

they surrendered their anger to God,

they would have avoided being hanged on

the gallows in verse 23. By the way,

hanged on the gallows, it gives you the

wrong impression. It's not hanging like

modern hanging. It's being impaled. It's

certainly being impaled. uh hanging by

the neck uh was not invented till much

later. There's no historical examples of

being hung by the neck until dead uh

during that time period before. And the

primary way of being hung and you'll

even find impaled in other translations

was to be impaled on a stake. So that's

their end as a result of allowing their

anger and their flesh to go unchecked

and being warped by the enemy.

And this came to the knowledge of

Morortei. Verse 22. And he told it to

Queen Esther. And Esther told it to the

king in the name of Mori. What would

have happened to Esther? Going back to

Morai's protective conviction if her

husband, the king, were slain.

Nothing good ever happens to a king's

herm when he's assassinated.

Things we don't even want to ever talk

about

happen to a herm when the king is

assassinated.

I can't imagine Morai wouldn't have

known that from history. Even Jewish

history,

think of Abselum. In this case, David

wasn't assassinated, but Abselum stages

this coup. And then what does he do?

What does he do to the herum? If you

know the story, you know. I'll stop

short of saying it. So I believe that

Morai's protective conviction in his

heart was at least just as much for

Esther or more uh than it was for

Asaware. But it was he was also a king's

man. He was submissive. He was lawful as

a result of his convictions in the

relationship to his lord. And this is

wrong. This assassination plot is wrong.

It's revenge. It's angry. It Biblically,

it has no, you know, the anger of man

does not produce the righteousness of

God. So, it does, it's not coming from a

righteous origin.

Morai knows about it. Notice also how

they're acting as a team. I don't know

exactly what the opposite of protective

conviction of is, but selfish ambition

seems like in the neighborhood of the

opposite. Does Esther have selfish

ambition?

She might have been tempted towards it,

but she doesn't give in. And Esther told

the king in the name of Mori.

This is a huge opportunity for Esther to

take credit for this information for

further advancement.

She does it.

It's Morai.

This is also protective conviction. It's

in the realm again of protective

conviction of Morai's reputation. He's

the one that put his life on the line in

this case to uh blow the whistle on this

assassination plot and save the king's

life. Esther didn't know about it.

Wouldn't have known about it except for

Mordei.

Now it may be easier when you love a

person to give them credit for

something. But is that the way of Christ

to only give credit to someone whom you

love? But if it's your enemy, then you

can go ahead and take credit to gain

advantage over them. Or does Jesus say,

"Love your enemy?" Says, "Love your

enemy." Right? It takes a far greater

character, a far greater surrender to be

willing to give credit to someone you

kind of feel like is an enemy or maybe

at least a frenmy.

Someone that acts like a friend but is

actually an enemy underneath.

You people have more rivals than they

realize. You've got rivals at work.

You've got social rivals. Unfortunately,

sometimes you have rivals in church.

There's a reason why Paul constantly

talks about surrendering selfish

ambition in church for the sake of

unity.

Selfish ambition will destroy unity like

that.

So, also just think that there's a

lowhanging fruit application of here.

Who might you give credit to that you

haven't yet?

It protects you from being selfishly

ambitious and taking credit for

something that's not yours. And by the

way, again, can we put up the main

point? I I believe you guys trust God

that he will honor you when you act in

protective convictions towards others.

To give someone else credit for their

idea, for their thoughts, for something

that they should be honored for is

protective of yourself because God's not

going to honor you lying about taking

credit and being selfishly ambitious.

That doesn't lead to honor. It might

lead to a short-term gain. It leads to

long-term falls and losses because the

Lord's sovereign.

So consider that. Who who might you need

to honor in that way. And do you have

the faith? I think you do have the faith

to trust that God will honor that.

Right? Satan's like, "I'll just take it.

You'll get advanced. You'll get the

promotion if you say this." Right? It

was kind of your idea, too.

You know, so there's there's something

protective about being willing to give

credit to others. And we're we're to

think of others as more important than

ourselves.

What if what if your protective

conviction was so strong that you cared

more about them being advanced than

yourself? You think God would honor that

kind of attitude? He definitely will

because he never changes. By the way, if

you wanted me to prove that God will

honor this in your life, uh God exalts

the humble. It takes humility to be

protective of others. It takes humility

to give other people credit. So it

already attaches to that guaranteed

promise that God will exalt those who

are humble. And your desire should be

more for the humility that gains that

honor and that exaltation than for the

ex exaltation itself. You can feel that.

Um but I don't think it's wrong uh to

actually want rewards from the Lord. He

works that way. He promises those

rewards.

They're good. They're blessings. Why

would you not want them?

Right. But let's let's just look at the

story, this foreshadowing. You know, I

find it so interesting. We're going to

go to chapter six here that God um

intentionally leaves himself out of his

own word in this way. I think it's a

fantastic opportunity for us to consider

his providence behind the scenes and

just intuitively read chapter 6 verse

one with me. On that night the king

could not sleep and he gave orders to

bring the book of memorable deeds the

chronicles and they were read before the

king and it was found written that how

Mordei had told about Big Than Big Thana

and Teres uh two of the king's unix who

guarded the threshold and who had sought

to lay hands on King Hasseris. And the

king said what honor or distinction has

been bestowed on Morai for this? The

king's young men who attended him said,

"Nothing has been done for him." And the

king said, "Who is in the court?" And

I'll just paraphrase they Hmon's in the

court. So he asked Hmon, "How should he

be honored?" Hmon's thinking of himself.

Selfish ambition. Honor him this way.

You know, have him parade around on a

horse and and uh proclaim have this

proclaimed ahead of him about his honor

from the king. Well, Hassaweras not

knowing that Hmon was so selfishly

ambitious in that way. He has not

particularly discerning, I don't think.

Uh sometimes kind of foolish. Uh that

happens when you're full of yourself. Uh

but in this case, he's doing the right

thing. Well, why couldn't he sleep? Why

couldn't he sleep? What do you think? I

think he couldn't sleep because of God.

Right. So, and this is at a year or long

a year later. A year or longer later,

uh, Hmon was a real schemer. He schemed

for like a whole year on like when to

set the date to go and have the Jews

destroyed and manipulate for that. But,

but God's more sovereign than schemers.

Always.

Schemers are part of his plan. It turns

out he's that sovereign, right? He just

turns it right back on their heads. And

honestly though, did you have you read

chapter 10 of Esther? It's so short.

I'll just read the last two verses. and

all the acts of his power and might and

full account of the high honor of Mori.

Maybe we thought we had heard about the

full honor of Morortei. No. To which the

king advanced him. Are they not written

in the book of Chronicles the kings of

Media and Persia? For Morai the Jew was

second in rank to King of Hassaweris. By

the end of the story, second in rank

like Joseph, second in rank in the

Persian Empire.

I don't know if we can even imagine the

amount of authority he had. So yeah, and

it started with him having protective

conviction for the king and for his

queen. Even the guy even though the guy

was not a good dude. Verse 23. When the

affair was investigated and found to be

so, the men were both hanged on the

gallows, almost certainly impaled. I was

going to say look it up and do your own

research, but the images are so

gruesome. Maybe don't. It depends on how

much violence bothers you. like uh

violence like in movies like Gladator

doesn't uh cause bad dreams or negative

side effects spiritually for me but

horror does. I do not watch horror. I I

do not like the way it affects my spirit

and it was recorded in the book of the

chronicles in the presence of the king

and that's that's the end. So back to

this idea of protective conviction. It's

going to be a sacrifice. It will be

fearful. Let's let's do a short survey

um and then end with why I said Mori is

such a Christ type example. Let's do

just a short survey. I'll be moving

pretty quickly here of some of the

schemes of the enemy. Let's turn and I'm

I'm not even going to turn there. I'm

going to go faster than that. 1 Timothy

1 Timothy 4:1

4:1, let me read this to you. One of his

schemes is to teach doctrines of demons.

When now the spirit expressly says that

in latter times or later times some will

depart from the faith by devoting

themselves to deceitful spirits and

teaching of teachings of demons.

I take verses like that.

I was

I was evaluating whether I should say

something controversial or not, but I

don't really think in this group it's

controversial at this point. I just

don't like constantly bringing up

controversial things. But my plan to

protect my children from public schools

comes from verses like this. When it

gets as evil as telling them that they

when their boys can be girls and girls

can be boys, especially when they're

intentionally hiding it from parents,

which is definitely happening in Oregon

public schools

when it's that wicked, when it's that

evil, right? You know, one way to really

divide a child from the Lord is to get

them to think that God made them wrong.

Also, it will help you nothing to change

your body because we're made in the

image of God, male and female, and it's

a spiritual image. Science can't touch.

No hormones can change. Doesn't matter

if you die a as as scientifically male.

Even if we could somehow do that when

you were born female, you will be

resurrected in the gender that you were

born. You're going to stop being a woman

in heaven. You're not going to stop

being a man in heaven. And to be

reconciled to the Lord, you need to

accept that your creator was right for

how you made for how he made you.

So, it's definitely Satan's scheme. And

so, I don't I I will never ever let my

children anywhere near public schools.

That's my protective conviction.

And and if you don't Oh, man. Look into

what they have to teach by law. Look

into it. It's not conspiracy theory.

I've shown it in a video from their own

curriculum.

So that's that homeschooling or private

schooling. I think that's a protective

way to go. Let's look at another uh

verse regarding the enemy scheme. 2

2 Corinthians 2:10–11

Corinthians 2:10-11.

Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive.

Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have

been forgiven anything, has been for

your sake in the presence of Christ, so

that we would not be outwitted by Satan.

For we are not ignorant of his designs.

What designs are we talking about here?

The designs for us not to forgive each

other. When you refuse to forgive

somebody, you're being outwitted by

Satan. There's no reason to sugarcoat

that.

So, if you're going to have spiritually

protective conviction, don't act like

you're growing in that while you're

actively not forgiving someone. And

forgiving people for their sin is

painful because it requires you to come

to the foot of the cross. Admitting that

you sinned against someone is painful as

well, and it's part of the

reconciliation process. Both versions

are acting like they're ignorant of his

designs.

Protective conviction among men and

women requires us to have the a deep

conviction to forgive one another and to

practice that and keep short accounts on

a regular basis. We've already gone over

Ephesians 4. How about 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 7:5

7:5?

Do not deprive, this is about married

couples and intimacy. Do not deprive one

another except perhaps by agreement for

a limited time that you may devote

yourselves to prayer but then come

together again so that Satan may not

tempt you because of your lack of

self-control.

Obviously sex outside of marriage is sin

and you're already bowing to the enemy

if you're doing that. But this is

talking about uh that inside of marriage

that intimate and we are not to deprive

one another of that.

That can be a very painful submission.

And you might think to yourself, "Oh,

well, he's been so mean or she's been so

mean to me." And and there's these

wounds, real wounds, wounds that hurt.

And then you're like, you're telling me

I have to submit? Well, not to me or or

even to your husband, but to the Lord.

And the Lord is so good. He can heal

your heart and he can give you the

desire for intimacy again for your

partner. But if you don't, what it says

is so that Satan may not tempt you

because of your lack of self-control.

Your marriage is not protected. If that

part of your relationship is totally

broken, it's not.

It's just the way it is.

If you want your marriage to be

protected from Satan, you need to not

allow him to divide what God brought

together. He designed that for marriage,

and it's good and wonderful, and it has

a spiritual element to it.

That's why we ought not to do it outside

of marriage because it bonds you

together spiritually with a person in a

way you ought not to be bonded unless

you've made that covenant commitment.

Let's let's go just one more here. 1

1 Corinthians 16:13–14

Corinthians 16:13-14

and then let's finish. Do not uh

No, that was 1 Corinthians 7:5. Yeah. Be

1 Corinthians 7:5

watchful. Stand firm in the faith. Act

like men. Be strong. Let all that you do

be done in love. Act like men. Paul says

to the whole church.

To the whole church. He's telling women

and children and men and older men and

younger men to act like men. And what

does it mean? What does it mean?

Is this is this primarily a physical

thing like be strong physically? Be

watchful. Watchful about what? I mean,

physical dangers are real. We have a

security plan at our church. But

clearly, we're talking about spiritual

danger. Be watchful. Stand firm in the

faith. Stand firm on the right doctrine.

Don't give into false teaching. That

kind of act like men. Be strong. It's

strength of conviction. Strength of

spiritual conviction. Okay. Uh creation.

Spiritual conviction is a creation order

male attribute

that God has placed in men. And it's not

that women don't have it. In fact, women

are told to have it. Act like that. Man

up. Who doesn't know what man up means?

Are women sometimes stronger spiritually

than men? Yeah, of course. I'm not

meaning to overgeneralize. You're only

as strong as your obedience to the Lord.

You're only strong when you stay at the

foot of the cross in humility. The enemy

gets nothing on you while you're

repentant because what can he accuse you

of when you're at the foot of the cross?

Nothing.

So whether it comes to church unity and

standing against, you know, I I will

give you a appeal from me personally.

One of the enemy schemes and we were

going to go to Ephesians 4, but we're

out of time. Ephesians 4 talks about the

unity that the church has and how he's

given the apostles, the evangelists, the

shepherd teachers

um to equip the saints for the ministry.

You're the ones that are supposed to be

equipped for the ministry, right? And

once you're equipped and then you speak

the truth in love, the body builds

itself up in that way, right? So, Satan

doesn't want the body to be built up. He

wants to be torn down. He doesn't want

us glorifying God in one voice. He does

not want spiritual unity. So he'll

attack those in leadership. He'll

especially attack the face of the

organization, whoever that is. Uh

because it's simple. If you if he can

cause you to distrust

the teacher of the church and the other

elders are teachers of the church too.

So I consider myself equal with the

elders and also under their authority

reality. Uh in the reality I don't want

to not be. It's dangerous for a man like

me not to be under the authority of men

that are godly in that way. I feel

protected by that. Like I told you from

the beginning, I feel loved. But

all the enemy has to do is diminish or

destroy the trust in the elders in

particular the the the primary teaching

elder. And and it's dead in the water

because why would you want to continue

listening to my ugly face when you don't

trust me, right? Why would you want to

do that? it. You break the ministry of

the word of God in relationship by doing

that. And so I've I've told the men this

I I wasn't going to talk about it, but

I've been accused of so many things. No

less than three times in my career have

been a have I been accused of being a

cult leader as a result of relatively

straightforward and reasonable

correction kind of thing. So like

someone is being corrected by me or by

the elders and now I'm a cult leader.

And I'll tell you this, like none of

these people thought I was a cult leader

before there was a conflict. They didn't

have that thought even once. And a lot

many of them were close friends. And by

the way, a simple definition of a cult

leader is someone whose ultimate design

is to get people to worship him.

You know, I can say it till I'm blue in

the face. I don't want you to worship

me. I'm not worthy of your worship. It's

But that doesn't matter what I say. What

matters if is what you believe,

you know? And can the enemy get you to

believe that uh that I'm actually after

people worshiping me? He's done it

enough times to close enough friends.

And in part because they let the their

anger and their offense go down with the

sun.

So at that time though, he'll diminish

your faculties and your sense of love. I

will be made out to be the bad guy. Ben

or Vern or some other leader will be

made out to the bad guy. And it won't

seem like that big of a deal to just say

what you really feel behind the scenes

because also the enemy will never tell

you, hey, actually do it the biblical

way. Go just talk to this person. Maybe

it can work out. I've also had people be

that angry with me or with an elder or

with each other and then work it out and

then they trust and love each other even

more and have forgiven each other and

they've set a precedent that they can

work through things. But this side of

it, it just by faith, you don't really,

oh, nothing's going to work out. Matis

isn't going to listen to me. And I

sometimes don't.

Sometimes I do and disagree.

But what happens when a church ends up

getting split? And you've, if you've

been here long enough, you've seen how

many times the enemy has attacked our

unity and peeled people away with crazy

accusations. One of the most recent one

is that I was a heretic for my view in

God's sovereignty.

And you might say, "Oh, ridiculous."

Well, not ridiculous to me because I

lost friends as a result of that.

So right now you may say, "No, I'll

stand up for that. I'll stand up for

church unity. I'll put my voice on the

side of protective conviction even for

the elders and for the body. We'll work

this out together." Right? Sometimes I

will need to be corrected and your

protective conviction will have to be to

overcome your fear to actually say, "No,

you're wrong, Matis. You're wrong, Vern.

You're wrong, Ben.

You need to change that attitude."

But but the end of Satan's plan to

disunify the church is the entire

destruction of the fellowship, which by

the way always ends up hurting the

children most because they lose all

their friends. And their example of a

church is not obedience and love and

peace and unity and eagerness to

maintain the unity of the spirit and the

bond of peace. But their example is that

when the going gets tough, the adults

just hate each other and leave. And that

gets then embedded in their little

spirits at a very young age. I've seen

it happen.

So, how protective is the conviction of

our Lord and Savior? And can we actually

follow that? Well, let's go to Romans 5

6-10. Mori was willing to protect the

life of a bad man. He was.

But he wasn't required to die for this

man. For while we were still weak, at

the right time, Christ died for the

ungodly.

For one will scarcely die for a

righteous person. In other words, even a

really good person, most people aren't

willing to sacrifice their life for

them. Though perhaps for such a person,

for a good person, one would even dare

to die. What did Jesus dare to do? But

God shows his love for us in that while

we were still sinners, Christ died for

us. What was Jesus protecting us from?

You might say, our sin. Listen to what

he says. Since therefore we have now

been justified by his blood, much more

shall we be saved by him from the wrath

of God. That's what you're being

protected from.

When the blood of Christ

sacrificed for you

covers you in his authority by faith in

him alone, the wrath of God.

I've overcome my fear of many things.

Not entirely of all things, but I have

never overcome my fear of the wrath of

the Lord. It scares me half to death. It

takes faith for me to think, "Wow, I'm

still such a sinner." But I believe that

the blood of the son covers me and that

I will not have to face the wrath of an

all powerful God. I know that. Oh, it

takes faith in my heart considering what

I know about myself.

No one has the protective conviction of

Jesus Christ. He faced the wrath of God

for you willingly and took it and it

killed him.

So whatever things you may be doing to

undermine your growth in protective

conviction, letting the anger go down

with your son, listening to teachings

you ought not to listen to, allowing

yourself to distrust the leaders of a

church or other people who love you,

getting overly offended at someone

telling you the truth in love,

having a bad attitude towards your boss

and talking about it behind his back.

having a bad attitude towards your

husband, refusing

intimacy.

All of these things give Satan an

opportunity, and if you've been doing

them, the foot of the cross is your

protection. But it's also the place

where God will reestablish you to be the

warrior you meant to be. It's a

spiritual battle, and you can win it

with God on your side.

Again, the Lord will honor those who act

on their good, protective conviction for

others. Let me pray. Father, thank you

for the opportunity to express these

things.

Thank you for your neverending

forgiveness for all the ways that we

fail. Thank you that even though we do

and sometimes far too often lower the

drawbridge to the enemy, I believe that

the men and women in this church do not

want to bow the knee to him and do in

their heart of hearts want to bow the

knee to you even if it requires

recognizing just how much wrong we've

done. And so I pray for every individual

that your spirit may move such a

powerful way to help them

in their hearts or literally physically

bow before your cross at your Lord's

supper

and

to take that communion by faith and

receive the forgiveness and the grace

and the strengthening they need

to be warriors for the protection of

others and the protection of your

reputation too, Lord, because you're the

one true king. And we pray these things

in Jesus name. Amen.