We'll take your Bibles and turn
back with me to Esther. Esther, the 6th chapter, and
our text will be found in verse 6. Esther chapter 6 and verse
6. When the king says, What shall
be done to the man in whom the king delighteth to honor? What shall be done to the man
in whom the king delighteth to honor? And that's the title of
my text this morning, is The Delight of the King. The Delight
of the King. Now at this text, at this portion
of Scripture in the book of Esther, the nation of Israel is in grave
danger. This man Haman has purpose to
destroy the nation of Israel, to destroy the Jews. And at this
time he had received the insignia of the king and had been given
the approval to destroy the nation of Israel. But God in His providence
had set up two people. Two people, Mordecai and Esther. And it was by the means of these
two people that God saved the nation of Israel. It was by these
two people that God used to save the nation of Israel. Now in
this chapter, beginning of this chapter, we read that the king,
according to the providence of God, lost sleep. He could not
sleep. His sleep fled from him. And
in order to go to sleep, he had the most boring thing he could
possibly think of to be read to him, and that was the Chronicles
of the Kingdom. Basically, it was just a journal
of the things that were happening in the kingdom. And it just so
happened that he opened the Chronicles to this place where it spoke
of a man named Mordecai, who was a Jew. And Mordecai had previously
thwarted a plan to kill the king. And so the king asked his servants,
he says, well, what was done for this man? This man saved
my life. What was done for this man? And
the servants looked in the Chronicles and they said, nothing. Nothing
had been done. And the king says, well, something
has to be done. Something has to be done. And so he purposes
to honor this man Mordecai who saved him, who saved him from
the plot to kill him. So the king determined that something
was to be done and so he said, who's in the court right now?
And the servants looked out in the court and they said, Haman.
Now Haman was the man who determined to destroy the Jews. And he had
that morning determined to come and ask the king for permission
to kill Mordecai. You see, Mordecai wouldn't bow
to him, and it upset his pride. And so he went in that morning
to the king's presence, the king's court, so that he can ask to
hang Haman on a gallows that he had prepared for him. And
so the king says, send in Haman. Tell him to come in here. I've got to ask him a question.
And so the king brought in Haman and posed this question to him.
What shall be done to the man in whom the king delighteth to
honor? Now, this wicked man Haman, his
mind starts to turn. He starts to think within himself,
well, who else would the king like to honor but me? I'm the
greatest. I'm the best. And surely he's
called me out of the court into his presence so he can honor
me. He had no idea that he was retribution
of honor, Mordecai. Had no idea. And so when the
king asked him that question, you see, Haman put it to his
thoughts. What could I ask of the king? What's the greatest thing that
I could possibly ask for and not be killed? You see, he wanted
to ask for the greatest thing he could without upsetting the
king. You see, he couldn't be king,
could he? No. But Haman asked for the things
that made it appear to the people that he was like the king. That
he was equal with the king. And so he said, well king, if
you desire to honor this man so much, what you should do is
take the crown from off of your head and put it on his. And you
should take the very robe from your back and give it to this
man to wear. And that's not all. You take
your horse, your most triumphant horse, and you set that man on
top of the horse with the robe and the crown. And then you take
the most honorable man in the kingdom and you have him lead
that man around saying, this is what should be done to the
man in whom the king delighteth to honor. Oh, Haman had it all
figured out. He wanted to be like the king.
He wanted to be equal with the king in the eyes of the people. And so in verse 10, you can imagine
the surprise of Haman when it was not him that God liked to
honor, that the king liked to honor. He said, Take the stuff
that you have said, let everything that you've said be done, and
give it to Mordecai." Oh, I imagine you could have heard a pin drop
when he heard that. He'd just come that morning to
hang Mordecai. And now then, all of a sudden,
everything turned around, and Mordecai is honored, and there's
Haman. Not only does Haman have to deliver
the stuff, Haman has to be the one to lead him around the city.
And he does. And so here's the picture. See
the picture now. Here's Mordecai who was abased,
and now Mordecai is exalted. He's given the crown, he's given
the robe, he's given the horse, and here it is, this wicked man
Haman who desired to kill him is leading him around saying,
this is the man in whom the king delighteth. Oh, you know that
God had Him. You know that God had Him. Well,
my friends, I want us to see something greater than just this
story. It's a good story. It's a good story. You read the
book of Esther, it's a good history. And you see a lot of great things
concerning the providence of God in this. But what I want
us to see this morning is none other than what is intended by
this book, and that is for us to see Christ. Christ, I want you to see this
morning the man in whom the King delights to honor. His name is
Jesus Christ. His name is Jesus Christ. We
know that all Scriptures given by inspiration of God is profitable. It's profitable for doctrine,
teaching, And my friends, I want to teach you this morning, I
want to show you Christ in the fullness of His glory. And by
God's grace, may God give me this ability and may God, the
Holy Spirit, apply it in your hearts and minds this morning. If He doesn't, my friends, you'll
only get a good lesson and you'll walk out of this building the
same way you came in. I pray that's not so. I pray it's not
so. I'm going to do this this morning
by asking two questions. First of all, who is it that
God delights in? Who is it that God delights in? And the second question is, what
shall be done to the man in whom God delights? What shall be done
to the man in whom God delights? First of all, does God delight
in men? by nature. Does God delight in
religious natural man? You see in this story, Haman
is a picture of us all by nature. Your nature and my nature are
the same nature as Haman, this wicked man. Does God delight
in natural man? See, the natural man says like
Haman in his heart when this question is asked, whom does
God delight? The natural man says, whom shall
God delight in more than me? That's what we all say by nature.
God surely will delight in me. And just as Haman desired the
crown, the robe, and the horse and the herald, even so does
natural man strive to rob God of His glory." Every man by nature
strives to rob God of His glory. Malachi 3.8 says, will a man
rob God? He said, is that possible? How
can a man rob God? And yet what does God say? God
says, yet you have robbed me. The natural man has robbed God. And the natural man says, how
did we rob God? And God says, you have robbed
me in tithes and offerings. in tithes and offerings. This
has reference to the law of God. How has natural man robbed God?
They have not honored God as God. That's how natural man robs
God. That's how natural man, by nature,
robs God of His glory, because he does not love God with all
of his heart, with all of his soul, with all of his strength,
with all of his might, and his neighbor as himself. None of
us here in this building has ever done that in ourselves.
None of us. None of us. Man in his rebellion by nature is not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. The carnal mind is enmity against
God and it will not submit to Christ or His worship. You see,
the natural man will worship God as long as he can worship
God in his own way. Natural man will worship God
as long as he can have it his way. God says to worship me in
this way, by the preaching of the gospel. And man says, no,
I want to worship God in my own way. This is man by nature striving
to be sovereign. Man longs to be worthy of God's
acceptance and praise in himself. My friends, are you longing for
God's acceptance based on you? On what you've done? My friend, this is robbing God
of His glory. This is striving to be the Sovereign
One. And I'll tell you what, this
is best seen in the blasphemous doctrine of universal atonement
and free will. Religion. The free will works
religion of our day says, surely God has not determined all things.
Surely He's left something for me to determine. If you think
that, you've robbed God of His glory. You're robbing God of
His glory. Natural man says, surely He will
give me a chance to choose Him or reject Him. Surely He's given
me that. Surely I can exercise my will
to honor God if I want to. And surely if I exercise my will,
God will accept me. My friends, this is nothing more
than Haman saying, surely God would love to honor me, myself
and I. Friends, man's will is not free. Your will and my will is not
free. There is no such thing as the
free will of man. Why? Because we are all enslaved
by nature. Every one of us are bent towards
sin and depravity. We're bent to take the throne
from God and give it to ourselves. That's what we are by nature. Free will is a myth that man
has come up with. Jesus Christ, who is God incarnate,
says this, no man can come unto me. That word can has to do with
ability, doesn't it? No man is able. No man can come
to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him. A man is born dead in sins. You that have not been saved
by the gospel of Jesus Christ, you are dead in your sins. And
let me ask you, what can a dead man do but be dead? Every one of us has been to a
funeral. That man or woman lying in that casket in front of us,
what do we expect of them? Do we expect them to entertain
us? Do we expect them to get up and talk to us? No. The only thing they can do is
be dead. They can't have life. And what
can a lost sinner do but sin? What can a lost man do but sin? He can do nothing but sin. If any man thinks that he will
be accepted of God because he decides to be accepted with God,
let it be known he is trying to rob God of His glory. You are trying to rob God. You
said, give me the crown, it's mine, I deserve it. You should
accept me because I'm me. If a man thinks that God delights
in him and seeks to honor him, then as Haman found out in the
end and was hanged on the gallows that he prepared for Mordecai,
so shall a man who thinks that he can earn his favor with God. Is there any here who think that?
Do you think that you can earn your way to heaven by what you've
done in any sense? I hope not. Because all that
come in this way, they'll be just as disappointed as Haman
was. Haman was disappointed. And Haman,
he was disappointed when he heard the words of the king when he
said, Execute him! And so shall many on that day
when they stand before God. They'll stand there expecting
to be honored of God. And God will say to them, Depart
from Me, you cursed! I never knew you! And they shall
be cast out into outer darkness. And don't think they won't be
surprised. They'll be surprised, my friends.
Many religious folks will be surprised on that day. Why? Because they thought they could
be accepted with God. They thought that God would delight
to honor them. Those that believe salvation
is made effectual by their free will, by their decision, if that's
you this morning, then you are going to be very surprised on
the day of judgment when God casts you out. God will not accept one of our
works. Not one. None of our works will
be accepted before God because our best deeds are as filthy
rags in His sight. God does not delight in us by
nature. I was speaking with a person this
week, and she was talking about this woman who believes in the
free will works religion of this day. And she was a very moral
person, a very upright person. She was very faithful in doing
things for the hungry, and she was faithful in attending church,
and she was faithful in everything she was doing. And I told that
person, I said, you must understand that a person who believes in
the Jesus that died for everyone and saved no one is not worshiping
Jesus at all, no matter how religious they seem. My friends, we must
understand that though they name the name of Jesus, my friend,
they're lost. They're lost. They don't know
Christ because they demand of God to be accepted by their will. And God in that day will cast
them out. He is not pleased with them.
He does not delight in them. God cannot delight in anyone
that has sin. He cannot and He will not. Anybody
have sin in this room this morning? If you're honest with yourself,
everybody in this room falls under that category. then who
does the King delight in? If He doesn't delight in us,
who then is the one in whom the King delights? Shouldn't that
be the next logical question? Who is it that the King delights?
Well, pastor, if we've all sinned and we all by nature seek to
rob God of His glory, who then does God delight? My friends, this morning I want
to point you. I want to show you. This is my total duty as
your pastor, is to point you and show you the one in whom
the King delights. And His name is Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. He alone, I cannot emphasize
that word enough, He alone is the one in whom God delights. There is nobody else in whom
God delights but Him. But Him. I point you to Christ. First of all, he delights in
Jesus Christ's person. His person! God delights in the
person of Jesus Christ. What is the person of Christ?
This is speaking of His deity and His humanity. God delights
in the God-man mediator. That's who God delights in. He
delights in Jesus Christ and His person. Remember at the baptism
of John. Matthew 3.17, that Jesus was
baptized of John, and as He come up out of the water, the Spirit
of God descended on Him like a dove. And what happened next? The voice came from God Himself,
and God said, God said, this One who was baptized, not
the baptizer, this One who was baptized, this One in whom the
Spirit of God descended, this is My beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased. God delighteth in His Son, Jesus
Christ, and no one else. Isn't that something? God delights
solely in His person. He is the God-man, mediator. He is God who came in human flesh
and dwelt among us. Yes, Jesus, who was from all
eternity God. and was eternally resting in
the bosom of the Father, was loved by the Father from all
eternity. And God the Father infinitely
delighted in His Son alone, who alone Himself is God. Anybody
in here God? Anybody in here God? You see,
God delights alone in Himself. Where is perfection found? Is
it not found in God alone? God delights in Christ, who is
the perfect God-man, mediator. He is beloved because of His
holy perfections. And yet He had come in the likeness
of sinful flesh and pleased God in His obedience to be the Redeemer
of His people. You see, that's what the baptism
symbolized. It symbolized His work. Didn't
it? And that's what we see next in
Jesus Christ. God delights in Him because of
His work. His work. What was His work,
my friends? His work was to obey God in everything. He obeyed God in everything as
a man. You see, that's something really
far beyond we can comprehend since every thought of ours is
tainted with sin, isn't it? Every righteous thought we have
is tainted with sin. But His righteous thoughts were
only for God. He thought about God in everything. Remember, even eating. Even eating. When he went out and fasted.
And Satan tempted him and said, hey, if you're the Son of God,
just change that into bread. You can do that. That's easy.
And he could have. But what did he say? He said,
no. He said, man liveth not by bread only, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. He lived by the commands
of God in every way. He pleased God. He pleased God. And he pleased God in his death.
God delighted in his death. Scripture says that he shall
see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. Isn't that
something? Isn't that something? God delights
in Christ. God delights in Christ as his
work and his office. Isaiah 42 verse 1 says, Behold,
my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth."
God delights in Christ as His servant. And as His servant,
He honored God's law. As His servant, He loved God
with all of His heart and strength. As His servant, He loved His
neighbor as Himself. And as His servant, He gave Himself
to die for His people. That's what he did. And what
did God say? This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. God delights to honor Christ
and Him alone who is the brightness of His glory, the express image
of His person. He alone is approved of God.
And He alone is well pleasing unto God. And by His righteous
blood satisfied God's justice for all those that the Father
gave Him." Is it not reasonable that God delights in him? Can
you find one thing that is not delightful about him? I can find
ten million things about myself that is not delightful. I can't
find one thing, one thing about him that's not delightful. He
is delightful. He is delightful, and God delights
in Him above everything else. I tell you this morning, as the
messenger of God, I tell you, behold, God delighteth in Christ
His Son, Christ His Servant, for He has bore the iniquity
of all God's people. And behold, He who is dead is
now risen from the dead. This morning we saw in Acts that
God has made Him both a Prince and a Savior. God exalted Him. Jesus said in John 8, The Father
delighteth to honor Me. He delighted to honor Me. I declare that Jesus Christ,
my friends, this morning, is a successful Savior. He did exactly
what God said He should do. And God showed it by raising
Him from the dead. And He is on the throne of God
this morning. In whom, then, does God delight?
In you? Does God delight in you? By nature? No. There's nothing to delight in.
But I'll tell you one that God does delight in, and his name
is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Now, the second question is,
what shall be done to him in whom God delighteth to honor?
What shall be done to Christ whom God delights to honor? Well, these things that Haman
mentioned here, he mentioned them for himself. But my friend, these things belong
to only one, and His name is Jesus Christ. First of all, a
crown. What shall be done to honor Him?
Christ, whom God delights, He shall be given a crown. Now a crown, we're not familiar
with a crown nowadays. It don't mean very much. It's
usually just a jewelry or something we think about. But a crown in
this day was very important. A crown was the glory of the
king. That's why all of these kings,
they would add to their crown over the years, jewels. Every
time they would conquer something, they'd add to it. And pretty
soon, whoever had the biggest crown, they were the ones who
had the most glory. And they would put on this crown,
and that would distinguish them from everybody else. Alexander
the Great, I'll tell you, this illustrates how important a crown
was. Alexander the Great was on the river Euphrates, and he
was traveling, and his crown fell off into the river. And
all of a sudden, his servants jumped in after the crown to
try to save it. And one of the seamen that was
there, he'd come up out of the water, and he had the crown on
top of his head as he came up out of the water. Did you know that Alexander the
Great put him to death? He put him to death. No man deserves
to wear the crown but the King. The King deserves to wear the
crown. And God declares unto us in Isaiah 42 verse 8 that
He is the Lord and He will not give His glory to another. God
does not and cannot share His glory with anybody that is not
Himself. He said, I won't give my glory
to anybody else. But I will give it to my servant.
I will give it to my servant in whom I delight, which is Jesus
Christ. Friends, God has set the crown
of glory on Jesus Christ's head. And right now, As I speak to
you this morning, He is ruling all things by the Word of His
power. Everything is under the glory
of Christ this morning. Everything is working for His
glory and honor. Jesus said in John 17, verse
1 and 2, Father, glorify the Son. Can any of you all say that
about yourself? Can I say that about myself?
Father, just glorify me because I deserve it. Who could say that
but Christ? Christ said, Glorify Me, that I may glorify Thee, as Thou hast given Me power over
all flesh. Every one of you this morning,
whether you admit it or not, are under the rule of Jesus Christ
this morning. You are. You are His subject. And He will do with us as He
pleases. He will. And there's nothing
any of us could ever do to stop Him. I don't want to, but I want
Him to rule over me. But He does. He rules over all
flesh. And He is reigning and ruling
all things for His glory. My friends, does anybody here
need mercy? Are you okay? Does anybody need forgiveness
this morning? Then again, my friends, I point
you to only one who can give it. The King Jesus Christ who has
the crown of God on His head this morning. This morning there
is a man in glory and He is seated on the throne of God. Go to Him. He is the only one that can grant
you mercy for your sins against Him. He alone can give life and
faith. He alone can save. He is the
King of glory. Number two, he shall be given
a robe. And this robe, my friends, is the righteousness of God.
In our text, Haman said, take the robe that the king useth
to wear. In other words, give the robe
from your back to the man whom you delight to honor. My friends,
God has given the robe of His righteousness to Jesus Christ
alone. And you know what? He merited
it. He merited it. God gave it to
him because he deserved it. He deserved it. Could any other
man say to God, give me your righteousness, for I am worthy
of it. Only Christ could say that. And
Christ has said that. And Christ has been robed. He's
been covered in the majesty of the righteousness of God. He
alone is clothed in it. He alone has the robe of righteousness. Scripture says, even the righteousness
of God, which is by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. He alone has
what you need, my friends, You need righteousness. Who has it? Christ alone has the righteousness
of God. You need righteousness this morning.
It is only imputed unto us by Him, by Jesus Christ. Third, He has a horse and a herald.
And what does that horse represent? The horse is the gospel. The
horse is the gospel. The horse is a swift animal. And so is the gospel as Jesus
Christ rides the gospel through the four winds of the four corners
of the earth. His gospel is being spread to
all people and nations and tongues. So to save his people, he alone
is the subject of the gospel and he alone is the sum and substance
of the gospel. Jesus Christ is the man in whom
God delights to honor, and to Him alone was given the keys
of the kingdom of God. To Him alone God delights. To
Him alone God honors. By how? How does God honor Him? By the preaching of the gospel.
What we're doing this morning, this is how God has determined
to declare to you and to me that He is the One in whom He delights. This is how it is by the preaching
of the gospel. And all the rebellion and hatred
of sinful men, Christ will have them, even them, leading Him
about, leading the gospel out. Isn't that something that God
had Haman as the man that led the horse? Can you not see that God uses
all men for this one purpose of the gospel? Even wicked men. God says that the wrath of man
shall praise Him, and the remainder of wrath He shall restrain. And
every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess. Well then, the last question
is this. If God delights in Christ alone,
and God has honored Christ alone, and none of us by nature are
honored of God, how is it that any one of us could ever approach
unto God? How is it that God could delight
in us who are sinners by nature, sinners by choice? I tell you
that there's only one way that God could ever delight in us,
and that's if you're in Him. Notice this, when he said, this
is my beloved Son, he didn't say with whom I am well pleased,
but he said in whom I am well pleased. And the only way God
will ever accept you or accept me is if you're in Christ. How is it that people come to
be accepted of God? My friends, it is only through
faith in Christ alone. And get this, all of you who believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ as your only hope, have you seen that
He is the only one that God delights in? And my friends, all who bow
to the King as Lord and Savior, guess what He gives us? A crown. As Scripture says, them He called,
He also sanctified. Them He sanctified, He also what? Glorified. How? In Christ. When God honored Christ, He honored
you and me in Christ. Second of all, we are given a
robe of righteousness imputed to us by God Himself. Jesus Christ
merited the righteousness and He gives it to whomsoever He
wills. And He has given it to us who
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And my friends, He has given
us the horse of His gospel which we will ride into eternity. You know what? This gospel message
never never dulls in my ears." I'll tell you, anybody that doesn't
love the gospel, they won't love heaven. Heaven to them, if they
could ever get in, would be hell. Because why? This is the new
song we sing for eternity. Thou art worthy to open the book
and to loose the seals, for Thou was slain and has redeemed us
to God out of every nation, kindred, tongue, tribe and people. And
we sing this over and over and over and over, riding the horse
of the Gospel through eternity. And my friends, just as Haman
had to bow down to Mordecai, even so will every sinner bow
to Christ, and every sinner that is not saved by God's grace will
see us as the trophies of God's amazing grace in Christ. My friend, if you are in Christ
this morning, I want you to take this assurance away from you
this morning. God delights in Christ. and Christ
alone. Don't look for any delight inside
of your natural flesh, you won't find it. But my friends, we are
to take comfort and to stand fast in this, that if we are
in Christ, God also delights in us as much as He delights
in His own Son. Is that not a blessing? Is that
not a glorious thing that God has done for such unworthy wretches
as we are? My friend, behold. Behold the man in whom the King
delighteth to honor. His name is Jesus Christ. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed
in prayer.