to rejoice in our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, our God, so great salvation. This ring of the king
here in chapter 8, the day that the king gave the house of Haman,
the Jews' enemy, to Esther, the queen, Mordecai came before the
king. He was granted permission because
he could come boldly into the king's presence because Esther
was there. Esther, didn't you love that
line? Esther told the king what Mordecai
was. John 17, our Lord said, mine
are thine and thine are mine. He said, Father, I will that
they be with me where I am. So Mordecai was right there beside
her. The king took off the ring. He'd given a ring to Haman back
in chapter 3, put it back on his hand, and then when he had
Haman hung and gave that house of Haman to Esther, who gave
it to Mordecai, this is all significant. that the king took off the ring
and gave it to Mordecai. Alright? This ring, I said before,
rings are a symbol of love, you get married, symbol of unity
and a bond, you know. This ring of the king here is
also a symbol of his sovereign signing and sealing of covenants
and decree, a signet. You've heard of a signet ring?
Or the king or whoever. You've seen those stamps of wax,
you know, people would... a letter and seal it and put
wax and put a seal on it. That's the way you used to seal
everything, wasn't it? A signet by the authority of
the one that sent it. Well, that's this ring, all right?
He gave this ring to Haman back in chapter 3. to go out and kill
all the Jews. And he signed it and sealed it. Now, Haman is the adversary,
he's the enemy. And his accusations were, these
Jews are not good people, they're against the laws of the king,
and on and on it was. Spiritually speaking, it's true,
isn't it? Spiritually speaking, there's
none righteous, no not one. None good, no not one. All gone
astray. Haters have got Romans 3, Romans
1. Right? It's all of it. And because in Adam, all died. Adam's sin. And we don't, we
don't, we're not guilty for Adam's sin. We're guilty for our own
sin. Okay? So God, the law, God said,
Day you eat, you'll die, and the soul that sinneth must surely
die. So that's the king's decree, and he sealed it. Well, what
about giving this ring to this evil man? Well, and this is a
mystery. But in Hebrews 2, let me just
read it to you, and I'll try to turn... I wish I'd have marked
all these scriptures. I usually do. But let me just
read this for you, so you won't have to turn so many. I'm going
to read you a lot of scripture. It says, Christ was made partaker
of flesh and blood, and he took part of the same, that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, even
the devil. You see that? Well, God kills
and God makes a lot, but God turns people over to the God
of this world. Right? And he does, he can only
do, Satan can only do what God's purpose and decree allows him
to do. I keep quoting, known unto God are all his works from
the beginning of the world. Satan, listen, men, angels, devils
do God's will. It's all written in a book. Signed
and sealed. Okay? That explains that. All
right? Everything. Everyone is... Everything
is God's messenger. Either of mercy or judgment.
Everything. Now, this law of the Medes and
the Persians. You've heard of that. Law of
the Medes and the Persians. It was just irreversible. This king was powerful. And whatever
he said, He is not going to change it. It's just written in the
sign. It's not going to be changed. It's not going to be destroyed.
It's got to be fulfilled. Are you with me? What about God's
law? Oh, yeah. It's perfect. The law
is perfect. It's holy. It's just and good.
There's nothing wrong with the law, is it? What's the problem?
Us. We've broken it up. Okay. Now
look at verses 3 and following. Esther spake again before the
king. She was always speaking to the
king on behalf of her people, beseeching him. It says she fell
down before him. She feared him. She cried with
tears. That sound familiar? Hebrews
5. Our Lord was heard in that he
feared and with strong crying and tears pleaded to God for
what? His people. He went in the garden,
he fell on his face, and he cried, Father. And that prayer of his,
high priestly prayer, he's praying for his people. And he himself
is going to do something about this destruction of his people. Because he couldn't, like she
said, I can't bear it. I can't bear to see my people
destroyed. I've got to do something. That's
what Christ did. For the joy that set before,
for the love for His people, Christ came. Love to His Father,
love to His law, love to His glory, love to His people's salvation,
He came. And He endured the cross, willingly,
with joy. Remember she said, if I perish,
I perish. Our Lord knew He was going to
die. Well, look at verse 5. I love
this. I can't get enough of this. Verse
4. The king held out the golden
scepter to her. He heard her. Why? She feared. She cried. That's our Lord. Hebrews 5. Verse 5. Here's what she pleaded. She
pleaded herself to Him. If it pleases the king, because
the king doesn't whatsoever, he pleases it. And if I have
found favor in your sight, and the things seem right, because
you're going to do what's right, and if I be pleasing in the king's
eyes, oh, let it be written to reverse
this destruction. Oh man, let it be written. All right, brothers and sisters,
I'm going to ask you a question. How? This is the gospel question.
How can this king honor his law and kill the Jews and let them
go free? How can God be just? You think this is a doctrinal
question? It is, but it's much more than that. This is the heart
and soul of the gospel. Turn to Romans 3 with me. If
you don't know these verses, you need to cut, you need to
remember them. Write them on the tables of your
heart. May the Lord do so. This is the gospel. No gospel
preacher preaches unless he preaches this. This is the oldest question
in the Bible, the book of Job. How can man be just with God? How can he be clean as born of
a woman? How can a holy God honor His
law, the soul that sinneth will surely die, and yet let forgive
them? He will by no means clear the
guilty. But how can God be merciful and clear the guilty? You know the answer to that,
don't you? Somebody give me one word. Same word as Christ. Christ,
the substitute. Satisfaction. What did Esther
plead? If I've found favor in your sight, if you're pleased
with me, If you accept me on behalf of
my people, do something about this destruction. And this is
where the type stops. Because Esther didn't die. Esther
didn't lay down her life. Esther didn't pay any payment
for the redemption of her people. Jesus Christ did. He laid down His life. He paid
for our redemption with His precious blood. The soul that sins must
surely die. And God made His soul an offering
for sin. Here it is, here's the gospel,
that God hath made him to be sin for us who do no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. You understand
that, don't you, Catherine? Jeanette, you understand that?
Every person in here ought to understand that by now. You know
how blessed we are to understand that? This is the gospel, Romans
3, and oh, I have so many. I don't want to read all of it,
but I can. Verse 19 says, "...the law saith
we're guilty." Verse 20 says, "...by the deeds of the law will
not be justified." Down in verse 23, "...all have sinned." but
were justified freely by His grace through the redemption,
through the price paid by Jesus Christ. Look, read on. God set
him forth to be a bloody sacrifice, a covering atonement like that
blood poured over the mercy seat. Christ was the mercy seat covered
in His own blood. through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness, verse 25, for the remission of sins
that are passed through the forbearance of God, the mercy, the grace,
the longsuffering, to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness,
that God might be just and justifier of him that does
what? Worketh? No. Believe it. Do you believe that? Oh, how blessed we are. The Jews
all knew by this time, their salvation is because there's
someone at the right hand of the King. You'd ask them all,
how are you going to be saved? There's someone pleading for
us. And every one of God's people have the same answer. Their hope,
their salvation is in a person at the right hand of God. His
name is Jesus Christ. Doctrine? It ain't a doctrine.
It's a person. Righteousness is a person. He's
made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification. Sanctification
is not something you do. It's something Jesus Christ did.
Justification is not something you do. It's what Jesus Christ
did. It's what God did. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Why? On the basis of Jesus Christ's
sacrifice. Well, if I never preach another
message, this is it. Just and justifier. All right? Where am I? Back to Esther 8. All right? So the king said,
verse 7, we're going to write a new book. The king said to Esther and Mordecai,
write a new book. Write a book that will keep your
people from being destroyed. A book for their salvation. Brothers and sisters, the law
says die. The gospel says live. The law, Mordecai now from here
on is going to represent the apostles. He represented the
prophets now, okay, saying, somebody's coming, somebody's coming, we're
waiting on him, like Mordecai's waiting on Esther. Until John, the final one, says,
he's here! Then all the apostles, given authority by God himself
and Jesus Christ, said, write a book. Write it down. Write four Gospels and write
twenty how many epistles all about Jesus Christ who put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. That's what it's all about. Esther's Christ, Mordecai's apostles,
okay? Esther gave Mordecai Haman's
house. In Matthew 10, it says, Christ
gave them power over all devils. How? What? What's the power of
God? The gospel. It's a sword. They all went out
with this sword. And what Mordecai wrote, the
king said, that's my writing. And he took his key and he said,
that's my writing. And don't you question it. What
Mordecai said, I said. Esther said to him, what Mordecai
said, I said. Paul one time thanked the Thessalonians,
1 Thessalonians 2.13, he said, I thank God that you receive
the words, not as the words of men, but as they are in truth
the word of God. For holy men spake as they were
moved by the Spirit of God. No man, this is not of any private
interpretation. Mordecai didn't say, I'm going
to write a book. He didn't take that on himself. The king said,
Mordecai, write a book. The king said, Esther, write
a book. And nothing's changed. The book
hasn't changed. The truth as it is in our Lord
Jesus Christ is witnessed by the law and the apostles. It's
the foundation of the prophets and the apostles in it. Jesus
Christ, the cornerstone. This whole story is about Esther. The salvation of Jews depends
on Esther. It's all about her. Saving her
people. Well, that's what this book is
about. Old book, new book, old covenant, new covenant, same.
It's about Jesus Christ. The covenant hand. Redeemer. I just told you the old story.
Pretty good. 15 minutes. But I'm not quitting
yet. Alright, the writing to reverse
the law. Now, he didn't reverse it, did
he? He didn't change it. Somebody
died, but it wasn't the Jews. Not one Jew died. Not one. Not one. Did you hear that? And then Christ
said, all that the Father giveth me, all that the house giveth
me I've kept. None is lost but the Son of perdition. Okay, he sent these letters out
and, where am I? I'm not following my own outline.
The writings, these letters went out all over. Did you notice? They went from every provident.
They went everywhere, in every language. Every people, especially
the Jews, heard this glorious pronouncement. There's a new
book. There's a new covenant. There's
a new decree. The king has decreed the Jews
to live. They're not going to die. And
this went out everywhere, in every language. Have they not
all heard? Yes, verily, the sound has gone throughout the world.
The glorious good news. But this is only good news to
those who think they're going to die. Can you imagine the joy
and gladness? And we're going to get to that
in a minute. Unspeakable joy. They thought they were going
to die. The day was coming up. We're going to die. This day.
But now, they came with this glorious good news. You're not
going to die! Here's the good news, the people's
joy and rejoicing. Look at verse 15. The posts went
out on camels, horses, donkeys. God has all sorts of preachers,
doesn't He? Fast speaking, slow speaking,
but they've got the same message. Redemption. Lift up your head
and your redemption draws nigh. Redemption is in Jesus Christ.
In verse 15, Mordecai, look at that. The king honored him so
before the people, dressed him in his own royal apparel, blue
and white, great crown of gold, garment of fine linen, went before
the people and the people were so glad. And God has made all of his people
kings and priests. That's what I'm going to read
from Revelation in the end of it. He's made us all kings and
priests unto God. We're all dressed in that royal
apparel. But one time, the apostles came and preached this glorious
gospel. And the people fell down to worship
them. It was such good news. And they
said, don't do that. We're just people like you are.
Oh, who is Mordecai? Who is he? Just an old Jew. Just a common ordinary fellow. He's just like us. Oh, but God
honored him, didn't he? The king honored him. He's not
to be worshipped. Oh, but the people were glad
that the king had given this man such authority and such rule.
Aren't you glad the Lord has given...somebody wrote to Isaiah
52, how beautiful on the mountain are the feet of them that publish
good tidings. When Mordecai came walking into
town, there's Mordecai. He loved this man. Like the prophets,
he was a true man, wasn't he? He was a just man. He was an
honorable man. He had the people's welfare and salvation in his
heart and his mind. That's what he wanted for the
people. He was a true man. He wasn't in it for money. He
wasn't in it for fame. He was in it for their salvation,
wasn't he? That's God's prophets. That's God's apostles. That's
all of God's pastors and teachers. That's all of them. That's how
you know them. And God honors those that honor
Him. Remember, Mordecai defended his
honor and uncovered the conspiracy against him, and exposed those
that were his enemies. And that's the prophet, that's
the apostles, and that's the preachers of God now. They're
not wolves in sheep's clothing, they're spotting the wolves in
sheep's clothing. And they're telling you faithfully, there's
a wolf! And the king honored him. Alright? Then the Jews, verse
16, had light. Oh, they were under a cloud of
darkness, weren't they? Death and darkness was coming,
anguish of spirit, and the gospel came. Light. The light of the
knowledge of the glory of God. Where? Somebody who loves us
is by the King. And gladness and joy. and honor. The king was sparing
these no good people. All of them. Every single one
of them. All Israel was saved. This gospel came out, and here's
why they had good news, because they had gladness and joy, because
the law says guilty. The gospel says justified. The
law says, bind him. The gospel says, loose him. The
law says, unacceptable. The gospel says, accept it in
the blood. The law says, do. The gospel
says, done. The law says, die. The gospel
says, kill him. It's like I've never heard it
before. Listen to this. Brother John texted me this verse
today. Bless his glorious name. You, being dead in your sins
and uncircumcised in your flesh, have to be quickened together
with Christ, having forgiven you all trespasses. blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to it,
took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross, spoiling principalities
and power, made a show of them openly, tripping over them in
Himself. I was telling Mindy on the way
over here, I said, do you know why this book doesn't mention
the name of God in it? Not in there. Blood's not in
there. Righteousness, not in there. Justification, not in
there. Forgiveness of sins, not in there.
Not in there. Why? Isn't it clear? Is there a clearer gospel message
anywhere? Why? Because it's given to you. It's hidden from the world. Hidden. They just think it's
a story about the Jews. It ain't about the Jews. It's
about Jesus Christ. You must be a Jew. You must be
His true people. He's revealed these things in
us. How blessed we are. My, my. Hidden it. Hidden it. Alright, go back.
Go back to the text. Here's the fight. Here's the
fight. The king granted, in verse 11,
the king granted the Jews, every one of them, gather yourselves
together. You're going to have to take a stand. Stand for your life. I told Martin Luther, don't you
love that? Here I stand. We stand for the
truth. This gospel is our life. Christ
is our life. If he doesn't... He's like Joshua. Remember the... Aaron and Hur
were holding up Moses' hands, and as long as Moses held up
the rod, Israel prevailed. It was Joshua out there fighting
them. As long as the Word of God is
held forth, if Christ be lifted up, if Christ fights for us,
we win. We win. Now listen, they were
told to fight for their life. their life. The king had already
decreed that they live. Their life is not in doubt. Oh
no, this is the most powerful king on earth. He's not going
to let them down. And yet they were told to stand
for their life. To fight. To battle their adversary. Okay? Alright, now the scripture
says this. The scripture says The kingdom
of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
So let us lay hold of eternal life. Let us strive to enter
into straight gain. Doesn't it say that? Striving
together for the faith of the gospel. We sang that song about, Go to glory on flowery beds of
ease while others fought to win the prize and sailed through
bloody seas. And you've read in Hebrews 11
what all the people went through. Hebrews 12 says, we haven't yet
resisted unto blood, striving against sin. Here's the fact,
here's the matter. We're not fighting, we're not
trying to save ourselves. Christ did that. You understand? I heard a man one time say, fight,
do all you can as if salvation depended on you. No! No! Don't ever think that anything
depends on you. Don't ever do that. Because nothing depends on us.
Aren't you glad? We're totally dependent people. Our salvation was totally dependent
on what Jesus Christ did for us. Did He do it? Yes, He did. He accomplished salvation by
His death. He brought in an everlasting
righteousness. He put away our sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. He was sanctified once for all
by His blood. Justified. God said justified.
Accepted in blood. He's all these things. He's all
our salvation. We're not fighting to save, to be saved. We're fighting
for the truth. We're fighting for God's honor.
Okay? We are struggling. There's a
struggle going on against sin. There's a struggle going on within
us. There's a struggle going on without
us. We've got enemies everywhere. We've got adversaries, lively,
stronger than us. They won't let up. You know how
many people were against them? They were everywhere. And our
adversaries are the same, many. Though this world with devils
filled should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, because
God hath willed what? His truth to triumph through
us. I can do all things. How? Through
Christ. Faith in Him. Without Him, we
can do nothing. We stand. And these Jews, they
got strength from the decree of the King. He said, we're going
to fight. We're going to fight. Not going to sit around. Not
going to lay around. We'll fight. And we fight against sin and
the world, but our strength is not our own. Power is not in
us. We have no power at all. The
gospel is the power of God. Christ is the power of God. We
call on Him. It says, fight the good fight. This is a good fight.
Scripture says, 28 minutes. Scripture said we're
not to strive, but to be peaceable. But this is a strife. This is
a battle against sin, a warfare. Yes, it is. It's easy to give
in to temptation, whatever. It's easy. The struggle is what's
difficult. And we can't resist one. He said,
"...resist the devil, the roaring lion, seeketh whom he may devour,
whom resist hath." In the faith, that is calling on Christ, help
me Lord, help me. I'm going down here, I'm going
down. "...and he upholdeth all them that follow." Paul said this, this one thing
I do. Remember the king said, send
these out, this is pressing. Remember that? This is pressing.
Hasten, hurry, send this out. Today is the day of salvation.
It's a pressing matter. Didn't Paul say, this one thing
I do? I forget things that are past and I press, strive, press
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ. He said, I'm not there yet. And we don't win this battle
ourselves at all. No, no. But it's just proof that
we're in it. It's proof that we're in the
kingdom. If you have this struggle, if you have this battle, if you
have this warfare going on, it means you're in the kingdom.
It means that Satan's your adversary, not your friend. You see that? There was a time I didn't have
any warfare. The world wasn't my enemy. It was my friend. I
loved it. Sin wasn't my enemy. I loved
it. But God broke down this enmity. But He put this enmity between
Satan's seed and His seed. And it's going to be there from
now on. There's going to be a battle going on. Don't marvel, brethren,
if the world hates you. They hated Christ. And they hate
His seed. and they're out to get you. Fight.
This is a good fight. This is a good violence. This
is a good kind of violence. I tell Mindy all the time, and
you men, if you're like me, if you're a real man, you watch
these shows where, you know, these guys like Clint Eastwood,
they get bad guys and they just kill them. Just kill them. And I told Mindy, I like good,
clean violence. I like to see a bad guy just
get it. Get what's coming to him. Just
kill him. Don't you? Don't you? Come on, wait a minute.
Now, God taketh no pleasure in the wicked, death of the wicked,
but we're sure thankful he does. We're sure thankful he does it,
aren't we? Oh, Lord. Slay my enemies. David played this, played this
over and over and over and over through the psalm. Lord, I've
got enemies. Take care of them. I can't handle them. And he said,
I will. Vengeance is mine. I will repay.
And when I take care of them, they're gone. They're gone forever. And there's going to be a day
we're going to lay this battle down. This body of death. The warfare
over. But until then, he said, comfort
my people. Comfort my people. Tell them
the warfare is accomplished. Lay hold of eternal life. Stand
for the truth. Stand. And what we're doing, brethren,
what we're doing, this is the reason we keep gathering. He
said, gather together now, gather together, gather together, gather
together, get them all together, get them all together. Why are
we gathering together? We're fighting for our life. The gospel
is our life. Christ is our life. Brethren,
is this your life? Is this your family? Is the kingdom
of God your life? It either is or it isn't. And I don't want the world to
take this from us. God help us to fight for our
life. Christ said, gather them together
now. Gather them together. And they did. In chapter 9, oh
my, this was my last message. The half hadn't been told. I'm
going to quit. But not one Jew died. Not one
Jew died. And there's one verse I did want
you to see. Oh, verse 1 of chapter 9. It
said, the day that Jews were to die, it turned to the contrary. They all live. Do you know how
many times the scriptures talk about the day of the Lord, the
day of the Lord, the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord? Look
it up. Do your little Google search. The day of the Lord,
the day of the Lord, hundreds if not thousands of times. The
day of the Lord, the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord. There's
coming a day. Judgment day. Judgment day. Judgment day. And
all shall stand before the judgment seat of God to be judged for
the things done in their bodies. All of them. All of them but
Christ's people. Because there is therefore now
no condemnation to them that are crying. Why? Because Christ
was judged on Calvary's tree. We're not going to stand before
Him, we're going to be seated. He's going to say, come, sit
with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. You've got to see this. Here's
the king's tribute. Hacerus laid a tribute upon the
land, on the isles, the sea, and all the acts of his power,
his might, declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, whereunto
the king advanced him. Are they not written in the book
of the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? Mordecai,
the Jew, was next under the king, Hacerus. Didn't God say, didn't
Christ say the apostles were going to sit with him? Great
among the Jews and accepted in the multitude of his brethren,
seeking the wealth of his people and speaking peace to all his
seed." The king's tribute. Well, here's the tribute. Here's
what the tribute from the king says that we're all to do. Let everything have bread. Praise
the Lord. And I beheld a number 10,000
times, 10,000, and 1,000, and 1,000 of every kindred, tongue,
and people, and nation saying with a loud voice, worthy is
the Lamb that was slain to receive this tribute. All power, riches,
wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing, and every creature
in heaven, the earth, under the earth, such as in the sea, and
all of them said, blessing, honor, glory, give tribute now, give
honor, give praise where it is due, and power be unto him, his
glorious greatness that sitteth upon the throne and unto the
land forever and ever. Amen. Okay.