Would you join me tonight in
the book of Esther? The book of Esther, chapter 2.
I'd like to start reading with verse 5 and read down through
verse 10. The book of Esther, chapter 2,
verses 5 through 10. I was in conversation with Brother
Gary over the book of Esther and he said, you know, it's interesting
that there are two books in the Bible named after women. One's
Ruth, one's Esther. And it's also interesting that
they're not the main characters. Boaz is the main character and
Mordecai is the main character. And they are pictures of the
church, but we have nothing unless we have our Boaz or we have our
Mordecai. And it can be said the main character
in all of the scriptures is the Lord. That's what he pointed
out to his disciples after his resurrection. Don't look to Moses,
look to Christ. Don't look to the law, don't
look to all of that stuff, look to Christ. All right, as we enter
again in our study of the book of Esther, chapter two, beginning
with verse five, we're going over some field that we've already
plowed before in the sense of what was going on here in Shushan
the palace. Persian kingdom, quite large. 127 provinces, one king, many
ambassadors, many people that filled in the spots down through
the political realm to administrate this great kingdom. Now, in Shushan
the palace, there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai,
the son of Jair, the son of Shimea, the son of Kish of Benjamin,
who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity. Now, we're gonna find out that
he, as well as Esther, as well as every Jewish inhabitant of
the Persian empire had been carried away in this. What does it call
it? Captivity. Let's remember that. It is a captivity. They are placed
in captivity. And you know, after the fall,
everyone born in Adam's race is in captivity. We're in a place
that we cannot leave on our own. And we're going to find out that
that's exactly where Mordecai, and where Esther find themselves
in exactly the right place at the right time to demonstrate
that even they, as powerful as they are, were only moved by
the great power of Almighty God. So they're in captivity, which
had been carried away with Jehoiakim, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar,
the king of Babylon, had carried away. And he brought up Hadassah,
that is Esther, Hadasha is her Hebrew name and Esther is her
Persian name. His uncle's daughter, so there's
a cousin. We have cousin Esther, we have
cousin Mordecai. For she had neither father nor
mother. And the maid was fair and beautiful, whom Mordecai,
when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter. So it came to pass, when the
king's commandment and his decree was heard, when many maidens
were gathered together unto Shushan the palace to the custody of
Hegei, that Esther was brought also unto the king's house to
the custody of Hegei, keeper of the women. And the maiden
pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him, And he speedily
gave her her things for purification, with such things as belonged
to her and seven maidens, which were to be given her out of the
king's house. And he preferred her and her
maids unto the best place of the house of the women. And Esther had not showed her
people, nor her kindred, for Mordecai had charged her that
she should not show it. She told nobody that she was
a Jew. She had told nobody that she
was a Hebrew. She had told nobody that she
was part of the captivity. All right, let's look at this.
And you know, this passage of scripture reminded me of a passage
over in the book of Deuteronomy. So would you turn over there
with me to the book of Deuteronomy? We find in this pastor, not pastor,
this passage, in the book of Esther, it reminds us as we read
through here that there is a almighty God behind everything that is
taking place. that there is that God that we
read about in the Song of Solomon that sees through the lattice.
He is directing everything through the lattice. He is behind every
scene. He is the one, the main character
is God. He's behind every scene. He's
behind every choice. He's behind every command. He's
behind everything that is taking place here. We may say behind
every good and evil thing. He is behind it. Now, he's the
one that brings it to fruition. He's the one that brings it up.
He's the one that brings the challenge. He is behind everything. And we're either going to believe
it or not. We're either going to find comfort in it or not.
I trust we find comfort in knowing that God does all these things. So if you turn back with me to
the book of Deuteronomy, we find that the Jews that were brought
out of Egypt before they go into a second captivity for 70 years. They'd been in captivity for
400 years, and they've been brought out. And here in the book of
Deuteronomy, in chapter seven, chapter seven of the book of
Deuteronomy, and beginning with verse seven, the Lord shares
with them, don't get haughty about being chosen. Don't get
haughty about it because the Lord did not set his love upon
you. Now we could just transfer this
right over into the book of Esther and share with Esther. Esther,
the Lord did not love you nor choose you because you're beautiful. The Lord did not choose you or
love you because you were the greatest. The Lord did this as
it goes on to say here in this passage of scripture and we could
just apply this everywhere through the scriptures where the Lord
has the choice. He did not do it because of foreseen
faith. He did not do it because he knew
we would do good if he gave it to us. He just does it because
he is God and beside him there is none else. The Lord did not
set his love upon you nor choose you because you were more in
number than any people, for you were the fewest of all people.
But because the Lord loved you and because he would keep the
oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought
you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house
of the bondman from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Now
we could certainly apply that very same verse to our lives,
that it is the Lord, he is the one that said, I have loved you
because I'm going to keep the everlasting covenant. I loved
you because I chose you before the foundation of the world and
I saw no merit in you. I saw nothing positive, nothing
good. You're just a fallen creature
of Adam. but his elective love, his elective
purpose. And we're gonna find out that
grace has a serious meaning in the scriptures. It's not a work
of grace, it is the grace of God. It is the absolute unmerited
favor that he would choose out Esther or Mordecai or any of
the other Jews that are gonna be down there. As we follow this
through, we're gonna find that not one Jew is taken even in
the plan that could have been carried out instantly, but God
moved Haman to set it off a while. And God put it there for a purpose. He's going to direct the action
that's going to take place, and he's going to deliver all the
church, picture of the church, down there in that Captivity. All right. Goes on to tell us
that here in this, redeemed you out of the house of the bondman
from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Now at that time, he
was the most powerful king. He's the one that could have
done anything he wanted to with these people. And he did within
the realms of God. within the confines of God's
purpose. He had great liberty. He had
a will to do as he pleased within the confines of God's will. And that's where we are. People
talk about free will. You know, once you're saved,
you find out you didn't want that. That's the absolute worst
thing I could have had, is if I could have chosen and refused
God's purpose, that would have been the worst possible thing
we could do. So we're thankful that God overcomes
all of that. Now, notice here in verse nine
of Deuteronomy chapter seven, know therefore that the Lord
thy God, he is God. Now, what does he bring this
up for? He said, I've sworn an oath to your fathers. I have
a covenant that I'm going to keep. And that covenant will
be kept. He will keep his covenant. He
will lose none. He will always satisfy the covenant
of grace. Now, know therefore that the
Lord thy God, he is God and the faithful God. Now he's comparing
himself with all the gods that Egypt had. They're pretty unfaithful
gods. If a stick held to them can change
them into blood, frogs multiplied by the millions, which keepeth
covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments
to thousand generations. Now, how is it that we are able
to keep his covenant? by his power and nothing else,
by his sustaining grace and nothing else. We have nothing to contribute. I like what the old preacher
said, the only thing we bring to the table is our sin. Now
that's not much. We don't have nothing to go on.
All right, now let's look again as we think about Esther, a prisoner,
if you please, a servant taken into captivity, that she should
be promoted to the position that she is in. Let's just take this
a little step further as the scriptures open up to us over
the book of Romans chapter nine. We find in the book of Romans
chapter nine, beginning with verse 11 and passages of scripture
like this, that we read all the time and we rejoice in them because
we find in them the only reason that God would save Jacob, not
because he'd done any good or evil. but that the purpose, what's
it say here? All right, for the children,
Romans 9, verse 11, for the children being not yet born. His children have not yet been
born. In the covenant of grace before
the foundation of the world, Neither have he done any good
or evil. There's no way to judge them because of goodness or evil."
I really enjoyed what that young man told me about Esau. He must
have really been a bad guy if God hated him. And my response
was, no, he was the good guy. He's the guy you want for a neighbor.
You don't have to worry about him stealing something from you.
The other guy was a really bad guy. And it's grace and grace
alone that God would love that guy, would love the church. It's
only grace. So before they've done any good
or evil, we read this, we go back to the book of Esther and
we say, she is in the same boat. It's not because she's outstandingly
beautiful, but she's been chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. The purpose of God according
to election might stand, not of works, but the glory goes
to him that calls. That's who gets the glory, the
one who calls by name. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger. Now, who said that? Almighty
God. She had different designs. Her
husband had different designs. She loved Jacob, he loved Esau,
and she helped. God moved in her to say, go out
Get you a goat, I'll cover your skin. All right. As it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now, as we follow
this out, we find out for no other reason in this world was
Esther ever put into the position that she's put in, even to be
a wife of Ahasuerus. The only reason. that she has
ever put into that position was because of grace. It was not
something that she had done, not something that she'd advertised,
not something that she promoted. It was something that God moved
in her and in Mordecai. We have to have someone moving
us, don't we? It goes on to tell us here, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness for God? And that should have been translated,
because the word theos is not even in the Greek language. It should have, no way. Is there
unrighteousness with God? No way. All right, now in verse
18 of that same chapter, read with me there. The Lord shared
this to Moses. in the Old Testament. It has
been brought forward by the Holy Spirit and deposited here in
the book of Romans chapter nine. It's an Old Testament principle. What is the gospel? It's Old
Testament principle. It was not foundation upon legalism
or animal sacrifices is foundation upon the blood and righteousness
of Jesus Christ. Those were only typical of the
one we need. We need the innocent to give
himself a ransom for the guilty. That's all the picture was. Someone
else took care of you. Well, we need someone else to
take care of us. All right, therefore, hath he, hath God, mercy on whom
he will have mercy. Let's just keep this in mind
as we watch the scene here in the book of Esther, that God
is going to have mercy on whom he'll have mercy upon. Now, you
know, at first it looks like Haman's not that bad a guy. I
vote for him. But then we have God involved.
He's always been involved. He's raised that he might be
taken down. All right, we'll have mercy on
whom he hath mercy and whom he will. He hardened us. He made a man so mad at a Jew. He hardened him just like he
hardened Pharaoh. And you know what? He still does
that. Whom he will, he'll have mercy.
Whom he will, he hardens. And that's God. And I love that
God. All right, and if we will look
in the book of Romans chapter 11, we see this whole reflection
upon going on in the book of Esther. There's nothing new in
the book of Esther. Though God's name is not mentioned
there, we certainly can see God between the lattice. We see him
in the background, just like he is today. We don't see him.
We see his actions. We don't see the wind. We can't
tell where it's come from or where it's going. That's the
actions of God. He's the one that brings the
wind, but he's also the one, as it tells us there in the book
of John chapter three, so is everyone that's born of the spirit. This is God's action. He's the
motivator. He's the mover. He's the producer. He's the all and in all. So here
in the book of Romans chapter 11, verse six, notice this with
me. And if by grace, now in studying the Bible, we're going to find
out that this word is an absolute serious word. It's not a flippant
word. It's just not something we use
to cover everything. Grace has a great significance
in the scriptures. He brought it out over there.
I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have grace on
whom I will have grace. He's the one that decreed who
he would have grace on. And this grace is God having
favor towards someone that is very unfavorable. God having
love for someone that is very unlovable. In fact, the scriptures
are quite plain and then they bring it to a head here in the
book of Romans and says we're enmity. against God, not at enmity,
but our very being is enmity. We're at warfare with Him by
nature. We're at warfare with Him. No
wonder people tell us when we read the scripture, I don't believe
that. We're at warfare with God. You know, some people talk to
us and we just absolutely say, I don't believe that. I don't
believe a word of it. Well, people say that to God. I don't believe
that. I don't believe a word of it.
Well, it's right here. I don't care. I don't believe it. That's
enmity. That's warfare with God. God has much more authority when
he speaks. He created the heavens and the
earth when he spoke. And he gives us life by the very word of his
mouth, by the gospel. So it's much more different when
we say that about God and God's word. I don't believe it and
I don't believe a word of it. Well, that's serious business.
You don't have to believe me. And your argument isn't with
me. Your argument is with God. And that's a serious argument. So it says here, if by grace,
then it is no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. If there's any works included
in this, even our faith. Boy, when we start using it's
our faith, we have a problem because we have eroded grace. We have removed grace. We've
taken away grace when we start adding even our faith. We don't,
there's no grace in it. So otherwise, grace is no more
grace. So we follow Esther through this book of Esther, we find
out how gracious God is. We see how gracious he is to
Mordecai, how gracious he is to Esther, how he moves her through
the line, how he brings attention to her. This is the gracious
acts of God. How he has his perfect outright
will performed there, even from the shadows. He's in charge of
this business. They've been hauled off from
their homeland and put in servitude. by a king that had the right
to do it, given to him by God, and they're taken into captivity. It's no mistake that God brings
that out right there when he's talking about Esther and her
being prepared to be looked at for a queen. She is in captivity. If God moves as he did, she'll
be elevated. If he didn't move, she will not
be elevated. And that's the same with us in
grace. If he doesn't move, we won't
know it. If he does move, we'll thank
him for it. All right, let's look over here
in the book of 1 John chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4. I'm convinced
that Esther and Mordecai had an affection for God that was
just I was reminded of one of the
men that used to attend here, and we asked him to pray once
in a while, and his prayer was about 13 words long, and the
last word was, and Lord, we just love you. He said a lot. We just love you. I can hear
Esther and Mordecai saying that. Lord, we just love you. Well,
why? Well, look here in 1 John 4. 1 John 4. We don't love God without
first being prompted to do that. The pump's dry, the weld's dry.
There's nothing to produce. So in 1 John 4, verse 10, the
scriptures share this. He says, herein is love. Don't
think that love is us loving God. Now that's a response to
him loving us. But our loving Him is not out
of free will. It's exactly the opposite. I
will not have this King rule over me. That's free will. And you do not find anybody granted
a will that ever came and did something positive with God or
for God. Judas had a free will and he
didn't practice it. You just go through the old Ahab.
What's his wife's name? Jezebel. You have free will. Okay, I'm gonna kill that guy
that's over there and owns that vineyard. That's what we find
free will does. Now grace does exactly the opposite.
What's it say here? Here it is love, not that we
love God. I'm thankful that we can, but
the reason is not because we started it, but that he loved
us. I can hear Mordecai and Esther
saying, oh, I just love you, Lord. You brought us through
this being carried off from captivity and we're still alive. You brought
us into the land and we still have food. You brought us into
the land and we still know your presence. You brought us where
we are and we still, how gracious you've been to us. We just love
you. but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Now there's another verse here
in the book of John that talks about being propitiation for
our sins and not only for our sins, but for the sins of the
whole world. You know, I am never again, will ever argue with anybody
over the meaning of the world in that pastoral scripture, just
like I won't over the book of John chapter three and verse
16. I will not argue that. I will discuss propitiation. Now that's the crux of the matter.
He's the propitiation for our sin. And that means he has absolutely
paid everything, paid the full price. Today I visited with a
man and I brought up again. How can you say that Jesus Christ
died for the sins of everybody and have them go to hell? How
can you say that? Well, he's not their propitiation. He's the propitiation for our
sins and not for our sins only, but for everybody he's going
to save out of every kindred, nation, people, and town. That's
the only way. So he is the propitiation for
our sins. He's the payment price. He's
the ransom and the ransomer. I love a gospel that does not
make me savable. I love a gospel that saves me
from my sins. Not leaving it up to me, but
it's in the hands of the Lord to bring me out of captivity
to sit at the King's table. All right. Join me, if you would,
over in the book of Second Kings. Second Kings. There is a passage
here. We've used it a couple of times
in our time at the VA home. I brought a message down in North
Carolina, and Nancy got home, she says, that sounded a little
bit familiar. Well, at the VA home, I brought
a 20 minute on one part of the message, and another 20 minute
on the other part of the message, and another 20 minute on the
next part of the message that I have, but there I combined
them all. And that's who Jesus Christ dealt with. He dealt with
the leper, he dealt with a, He dealt with a woman of an issue
of blood, and he dealt with a blind man. Now, why did they come to
Christ? Why did they come to him? Well,
they'd been told, first of all. But secondly, they'd come because
they were a leper, they were blind, and there was a woman
with an issue of blood. They came with a disease. They
came with a problem. And the Lord tells people, he
says, you will not come to me that you might have life. Why?
They don't need him. The whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. So over here in the book of second
Kings chapter five, we find that there is another situation, much
like what we find with Esther. Over here, we don't know a name.
Over in the book of Esther, we know a name. Here we have a similar
situation. A young maiden is carried off
into captivity during a war in 2 Kings 5. 2 Kings 5, and there beginning
with verse one. Now here we're introduced to
Naaman. Now we have some knowledge of Naaman now. We find him in
the New Testament. The Lord talked about Naaman.
And they were ready to kill him over the issue. But he was a
leper, that's it. Naaman, captain of the host of
the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and honorable
because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria. He was
also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper. And the Syrians
had gone out by companies and had brought away captive out
of the land of Israel, a little maid, and she waited on Naaman's
wife. Now, if you look these words
up in the original, you'll find out that she's not three years
old and she's not seven years old. She's probably 15 to 18
years old. But she's been carried off into
captivity. What do we read about Esther? She's been carried into
captivity. What do we read about her parents?
They're dead. I wouldn't be a bit surprised.
They were not killed during taking them in captivity. I don't know,
but it doesn't say, but that's a possibility. Here's a young
maid that is taken away from her family by the Syrians out
of Israel. And she waited on Naaman's wife. Now, why is she where she is?
Why is Esther where she is? We have a great director. we
have Almighty God directing from eternity all things that shall
take place. Not one thing is out of place. Not one thing is ahead of itself.
And so we have here, and she's Naaman's wife. She could have
been captured by 10,000 people. She could have been taken off
by hundreds of different families would have been glad to have
a servant girl like her. And yet she is in Naaman's household,
and Naaman is a great man, but he's a leper. And she said unto
her mistress, now here's how Naaman knew where to go. She said to her mistress, would
God, my Lord, little El, he's my master, he's my earthly
master. Would God, my Lord, were with
the prophet that is in Samaria. Now, Samaria? Of all the places for a prophet
of God to be is in Samaria. For he would recover him of his
leprosy. What caused Naaman to believe
that? That's interesting to me. Why
would this Syrian, who is a very powerful, believe someone that
they've just captured in a war? And she's a servant girl. She
said to her mistress, would God, my Lord, were with the prophet
that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy. And
one went in and told his Lord saying, thus and thus saith the
maid that is of the land of Israel. And the king of Syria said, go
to, go, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. Well,
most people get it wrong. He's supposed to go to a prophet.
But everybody says go to somebody else. That's just religion. go
to the King of Israel, and he is, well, we know the story.
He has, he's just, I am not a giver of life or death. I don't have
that power. Well, we know the rest of the
story, but the part I wanted us to see tonight is how God
got Naaman to someone who could take care of his leprosy. We're
gonna see that with Esther. Somehow, some way, God is gonna
move here in such a, overpowering way to deliver the church. Mordecai is such a picture of
Christ, and this Esther is such a picture of the church in delivering
the church. All right, turn with me, if you
would, over to the book of 1 Corinthians 3. In 1 Corinthians 3, as we
think of Esther over there in The Persian Empire. Here in the
book of 1 Corinthians chapter 3, we have this passage of scripture
that's left to us by the Holy Spirit. Paul, the apostle, is
assumed to be the secretary. I've said a number of times,
when some people get into an argument over who wrote one of
the books, they've missed the point. I don't care who, I'm
just gonna assume that this is, Paul was the secretary, but we
know who wrote the book. We know the Holy Spirit gave
him this book, just as much as he gave it to Moses, or to David
to write the Psalms, or anybody else. We don't have to worry
to have, how did they know what to write because they're so far
apart? Well, we've got the same author, who knows the end from
the beginning. He's the one that purposed it
all. And so we have the Holy Spirit leading in the direction
of all of these rites. Well, in 1 Corinthians 3, verse
3, it says here, for ye are yet carnal, for whereas there is
among you envying and strife and divisions, are you not carnal
and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of
Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? Fleshly? Who then is Paul? And who is
Apollos? But ministers, by whom ye believe. I've been reminded two or three
times recently of someone who came to me when we had the old
building and said, Norm, how can I help you? How can I help
you? I said, I'd love you to mow the lawn. Oh, no, no, no,
no, in the pulpit. The weak and beggarly things
nobody wants to do. I want show. All right. Who then is Paul and who is Apollos
but ministers, by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every
man? I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. There's no increase without God.
There's not going to be anybody delivered in the Persian Empire,
Shushan, the palace without God. These guys can't do it alone.
They wouldn't even try. They wouldn't even thought about
being lined up to become the queen if God had not moved on
them. Why should they? They are just,
what? Captives? They're just captives. They have no rights. They have
no rights. They're captives. And yet now
we find that Esther is in the line to become a wife of the
king. Now, whether she's ever promoted
to be queen or not, she's still going to be a wife of the king. All right. Turn with me to Psalms, the Psalms,
if you would. Psalms 115. We find behind it
all is almighty God. And we're going to see that so
clearly, so plainly through this book of Esther. Well, in all
the books of the Bible, we see this so clearly, so plainly that
God is behind everything, that he's the one that has promoted
himself. He's the only one that can promote
himself. He's the only one that can declare
himself. He's the only one that can say
something and have it accomplished. Psalm 115. In the Psalm, Psalm
115, we read this. Psalm 115 and verse one. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name give glory. I can hear Esther say that. What
am I doing here? How did I get here? How am I
in this line? How is this guy having such,
what we read about, he had favor on her. He chose seven women to help
her. He got her started on her preparation for going into the
king. He didn't have to have, you know, most of this probably
happened in Persia, like most of the countries of the world.
If you had enough money to put in their palms, they'd help you then.
He's just moved on by almighty God to do all of this. And she
found favor in his eyes. What a... but unto thy name give
glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. How glorious is
this? And then turn with me, if you
would, to the book of John, John chapter 15. John chapter 15,
what a statement we find here concerning ourselves, concerning
Esther. here in this tremendous position
that she's in, promoted by God, raised by God, lifted by God.
In the book of John chapter 15, there in verse five, I am the
vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, you
can do nothing. All the activity is just in error. Without me, ye can do nothing.
The providence of God, a captive Jewish maiden, watched over by
her cousin, her kinsman, is going to be brought before the king.
What a statement. Now, let's go over to the book
of Esther in closing to that second chapter, and I wanna look
at just a couple of words there in that second chapter of the
book of Esther, chapter two and verse 10. Chapter two and verse
10. Or excuse me, I wanna back up
to verse nine, verse nine. And the maiden, Esther, pleased
him, and she obtained kindness of him. And he speedily gave
her her things for her purification, with such things as belonged
to her, and seven maidens, which were meet to give her, out of
the king's house, and he preferred her and her maids unto the best
place of the house of the women. a pagan. I think of him and that eunuch
that came up from Candace the Queen. Do you understand what you're
reading? This guy had no idea what was going on, but he is
used of God to put the woman God has chosen in the place that
God has chosen her for, for God's glory and for the deliverance
of the church. Esther had not showed her people
nor her kindred for the Mordecai had charged her that she should
not show it. I just have to say, one time
I was in Safeway, and a man came up to me, who pastors here in
town, and said, Norm, you don't even look like a preacher. And
I said, thank you. He said, more than I appreciate.
You don't even look like one. I remember a barber finding out
that I pastored a church. He says, why didn't you tell
me? Why didn't you tell me you were a pastor? Because you're
going to treat me differently now. Oh, no, I won't. Oh yes, you will. And it wasn't three minutes and
she was telling me all the good things she's done in her community
for her neighbors. Why I hadn't asked her to do
that? She's been instructed by Mordecai. There would probably
be a problem if they knew who you were. All right, we'll stop
there. We'll pick this up Lord willing
next week.