Turn with me back to Esther chapter
7. Esther chapter 7. In Esther 6, Esther chapter 6,
Haman, who represents the adversary, He went from being very glad
to very sad. He thought that he was being
honored by being called to this banquet
of wine. And when I see the word wine
in the scripture, I think of blood. That's what I think of,
the blood of the grape that comes from the winepress. Our Lord
chose to use wine in his table to represent his blood. The scripture says wine makes
the heart glad. And I'm going to tell you this,
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ sure does make the heart of his
people glad. It does, doesn't it? It makes
us so glad. You talk about the blood of Jesus
Christ that covers our sin and all of God's people cry, thank
God. That makes me so glad. It's all
I want to hear about is the blood of Jesus Christ. So glad. This banquet of wine is the cross
of Calvary. And as a result of the cross
of Calvary, this right here, what we're about to look at,
this represents the final judgment when everything will be separated
by whether it's under the blood or not under the blood. This
is the cross, we're looking at the cross. And we can see the great final
judgment as well. Haman thought this was the moment
that he would rise to victory. But it ended up being the moment
that he realized his defeat. King Ahasuerus, who represents
God the Father, in chapter six, we looked at it Sunday night,
he declared that all the glory would go to Christ. He asked
Haman, if I wanted to honor somebody, how should I do it? He said,
you put your robe on him. your crown on him, set him on
your horse and ride him through town for everybody's sake. He
said, go get Haman and do that to Haman. Go get Mordecai, keep
mixing them up. You know what I mean if I say
it wrong. Go get Mordecai and do it to Mordecai. All the glory
goes to Christ. We saw Mordecai, who this whole
time has been the spirit, all right, the Holy Spirit of Christ
himself. We saw him representing Christ. And the adversary had to bow
the knee to Christ and had to glorify Christ. And that's the
moment he realized that if God was for his people, he could
never prevail against them. Look at chapter 6 verse 13. And Haman told Zeresh his wife,
and all his friends, everything that had befallen him, how he
had to glorify Mordecai. Then said his wise men and Zeresh
his wife unto him, if Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews before
whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against
him, but shalt surely fall before him. And while they were yet
talking with him, came the king's chamberlains and hasted to bring
Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared. Hasted to do it.
You know, seeing this as the final judgment, the scripture
says it's going to come like a thief in the night, just across
the sky. Blink of an eye. Fast. It's going to be fast. So chapter seven, verse one says,
The king and Haman came to banquet with Esther, the queen. In our
spiritual picture here, the father brought the adversary to Christ. You know, the scripture says
all judgment has been placed in the hands of the son. All
judgment. Everything and everyone is going
to have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. This is Christ's
banquet. Christ's banquet of wine, ordained
and declared by God the Father. Verse one says, so the king and
Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen, and the king said
again unto Esther, On the second day at the banquet of wine, this
is the second day in chapter six, was the first day. And he
came and said, you know, what would you like? And I'll give
it to you to have the kingdom. He said, I want you to come back
tomorrow to a second banquet. And that makes me think of how
the scripture talks about the second death. There was the first
banquet of wine, this is the second. banquet of wine. There was a judgment on the cross
of Calvary that condemned the adversary. He was condemned. And all that are his and all
that are with him. But there is coming a judgment
that will put him and them away forever. It's all been settled. It's all been dealt with. But
there's coming a final judgment that will put all of that away
forever. Verse two says, and the king said again unto Esther,
on the second day at the banquet of wine, what is thy petition,
Queen Esther? And it shall be granted thee,
and what is thy request? And it shall be performed even
to the half of the kingdom. Then Esther the queen answered
and said, if I have found favor in thy sight, O king, and if
it pleased the king, let my life be given me at my petition and
my people at my request. She identifies herself with her
people. She made it known, she identified
her union with her people. She was not ashamed to call them
brethren. And this right here is so beautiful.
This, when I read this, and this may take you a minute to see
this, but when I read this and when I saw this, I thought that
is the most beautiful thing I think I've ever seen. I believe this
is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Verse three, then Esther the
queen answered and said, if I have found favor in thy sight, O king,
and if it pleased the king, let my life be given me at my petition
and my people at my request, for we are sold, I and my people. to be destroyed,
to be slain, and to perish. I think that's the most beautiful
thing I've ever read. All right, let me show it to you. Let me
explain what I mean by that. Turn over to Isaiah 41. Isaiah 41 now this is the Lord
God speaking verse 13 for I the Lord thy God will hold
thy right hand saying unto thee fear not I will help thee fear
not thou worm Jacob you're a worm Jacob Make sure you know that, Jacob. You're a worm and all your children
are worms. The children of Israel, verse
14 says, fear not thou worm, Jacob, and you men of Israel.
All of you are worms. You're all worms. Now turn over to Psalm 22. This is the Lord God speaking,
the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. Verse one, he said, my God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? This is him speaking from the
cross. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? Oh my God, I cry in the daytime,
but thou hearest not. and in the night season, and
am not silent. But thou art holy, O thou that
inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee,
they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto
thee, and were delivered. They trusted in thee, and were
not confounded. But, and again, this is the Lord
Jesus Christ speaking. He said, but I am a worm. I'm a worm and no man, a reproach
of men and despised of the people. He said, Jacob is a worm. All
my people are worms. And at his banquet of wine on
the cross of Calvary, declaring his union with his people, he
said, I'm a worm. My people are worms, therefore
I'm a worm. The God of Jacob said that. The
God of Jacob said that. To save Jacob from his sin, Christ
made himself to be what Jacob was, a worm. He's a worm, so am I. Turn over to Romans 7. Verse 14 says, and this is the Apostle Paul
speaking, he said, For we know that the law is spiritual, but
I am carnal, sold under sin. Paul said, I am sold to sin. and the effects of sin, death,
destruction, condemnation. Paul is speaking on behalf of
all of God's people. That's all that I can say about
myself in the flesh. I am sold to sin. I'm sold to it. All right, we'll go back to Esther
chapter seven. Now listen to the words of Christ
right here. All right, this is the Declaration of Union. Verse
four, representing Christ, Esther said, for we are sold, I and my people, we are sold. What do you mean, Esther, you're
the queen? You're the queen. You have the
audience of the king. You have the favor of the king. What do you mean you're sold?
I'm a Jew. My people are Jews. And if they're
sold, I'm sold. I am what they are, they are
what I am. We see the beauty of Christ identifying
with his people in that. Declaring his union, declaring
his oneness with his people in that. Verse four says, for we
are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and
to perish. Envision Christ saying that to
his father. This is Christ speaking to the
father. Father, we are sold, I and my
people, sold to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen
and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could
not countervail the king's damage. Esther here said, if we had been
sold as bond slaves, then I wouldn't have said anything to you about
this. Because we would have had hope for a day of jubilee. There's a law that says bond
slaves get a day of jubilee, a day of freedom, a day of freedoms
coming. But there's no hope in this.
There's no jubilee in this, not outside of a conquering victory. Verse five, then the king Ahasuerus
answered and said unto Esther the queen, who is he and where
is he that durst presume in his heart to do so? Who is it that
brought this bondage on you? Who's the cause of this? Who
originated this? Who tried to put himself in the
position of authority to do this? Verse six, and Esther said, the
adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid
before the king and the queen. Haman was afraid, my margin says,
at the presence of the king and the queen. The announcement went
out. His end was made known. And that's
exactly the case for our adversary. A sovereign announcement has
gone out. His end has been sovereignly
made known. Every intention and purpose and
accomplishment of the cross has been openly declared by Christ. What is going to happen has been
openly declared by Christ. Look at John chapter 12. John 12, verse 27. Now is my soul troubled, and
what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour,
but for this cause came I unto this hour. This hour of the cross,
this hour of saving my people. Verse 28, Father, glorify thy
name. Then came there a voice from
heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. The people therefore that stood
by and heard it said that it thundered. Others said an angel
spake to him. Jesus answered and said, this
voice came not because of me, but for your sakes. Now is the
judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. He said that's what's gonna happen
here. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all,
the word men is in italics, added by the translators. I will draw
all, who are the all? All that the father has given
to me. all that were chosen in me before the foundation of the
world. If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all unto
me. This he said, signifying what
death he should die. Verse 31, he said, now is the
judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. Our Lord said that's the end
result of this. The prince of this world is going
to be cast out. Look at John 16. Verse seven. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth. It is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not
away, the comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart,
I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will
reprove." That means convince the world of sin. of righteousness
and of judgment. When God's Spirit comes to God's
people, He convinces them, first of all, of sin. When the Lord
is dealing with somebody, that's the first thing that happens.
Sin. It's the first thing people get
a hold of. Sin. He will absolutely convince. You know, you go around and ask
people, are you a sinner? You ought to do that sometime.
Are you a sinner? No. Well, maybe a little bit, but
not much, you know. I mean, when the Spirit of God
comes, he will convince of sin, sin, sin. Oh, wretched man that
I am. And righteousness, that means
what God demands to stand in his presence. Righteousness,
goodness, perfection, which I'm not because I'm sin. And he'll
convince of judgment. This is a holy God who must punish
sin. And the gospel is in the fact
that he punished it in Christ at the banquet of wine on the
cross of Calvary for his people. Verse eight, when he comes, he
will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment
of sin, because they believe not on me. Of righteousness,
because I go to my father and you see me no more of judgment
because the Prince of this world is judged. He's judged, his sin
is judged. This is his end. Go back to Esther
7. Verse 5, then the king Ahasuerus
answered and said unto Esther the queen, who is he and where
is he that durst presume in his heart to do so? And Esther said,
the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was
afraid before the king and the queen. And the king, arising
from the banquet of wine, in his wrath, went into the palace
garden, and Haman stood up to make request for his life to
Esther the queen. For he saw that there was evil
determined against him by the king. Then the king returned
out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine,
and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was. Then said the king, will he force
the queen also before me in the house? The margin says with me
in the house. As the word went out of the king's
mouth, they covered Haman's face. In Harbonah, one of the chamberlains
said before the king, behold also the gallows. And in my margin it says the
tree. Behold the tree. 50 cubits high, which Haman had
made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, That gallows
standeth in the house of Haman. Then the king said, hang him
thereon. So they hanged Haman on the gallows
that he had prepared for Mordecai, destroyed by the very tree of
his assault. The very tree of his assault. What was the assault? Kill him,
kill Christ. Destroyed by the very tree of
his assault. What he meant for evil, the very
thing that he devised for evil, God used it for good. God used
it for deliverance. The tree of the adversary's wickedness,
it became the tree of God's glory. The tree of God's glory. Verse
10 says, they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared
for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified. Christ defeated our adversary
on the cross of Calvary. He defeated our sin. He defeated
our sin. It was our sin in him and he
defeated it. And in that moment, God's wrath
was pacified. God is pacified. In Christ, outside
of Christ, God is angry. But in Christ, God is pacified. The adversary's end was forever
settled in that moment, even though there is coming a day
when the adversary, his devils, every soul outside of Christ,
they're all going to be put away forever. The scripture says,
cast into an eternal lake of fire, the second death. But even so, the moment that
Christ cried from the cross, it is finished. Heaven cried, Babylon is fallen. It's fallen. The victory is won. It is over. It's over. It's all over. And this will be, you know, we
had a little, teaser before we'll do another
one. Here's the title of the next
message, okay? And this is gonna tell you kinda
how the story's gonna go from here on out. The title of the
next message is gonna be Victory, Gladness, and Joy. That's a good
title. All because of what was accomplished,
right there. All because of what was put away. All because of
what was conquered. That's what it's going to be.
That's what's coming. That's what's coming. Christ has finished
and accomplished everything on the cross of Calvary. We're waiting
it out until that final moment in the second death, when all
that stuff is put away forever. It's all gone forever. And it's
all going to be victory, gladness, and joy. Amen.