Join me tonight in the Book of
Esther in Chapter 8. Today I had the enjoyable pleasure
of listening to a message that was preached in 1985 by Pastor
Mahan. And it seemed just as alive today
as it did then. And he had some things to say
that I'd like to share tonight because there's much going on
in the world right now. And you know what? There's much
been going on in our world all through the ages. Brother Mann
said, I'm not trying to find out who's the Antichrist. There
are Antichrists and the spirit of Antichrist about. Anything
but Christ is Antichrist. I'm not interested in the place
of Russia, and I added these, China, Iran, or the United States
in the days of the coming of the Lord. We don't measure anything
by a country's status. We measure everything by when
the last elect is saved. So we have great comfort in knowing
that God is working things out. And we may say, I sure would
love him to come back today. But you know, there may be there
is someone yet. And I was talking to Brother
Bill this morning about this. And he says it may be in the
Dalles. It may be down here where I live. It may be right here
among us. But we're waiting for that to
take place. He said, I'm not interested in the study of demons. There are demons, but I'm not
interested in the study of them. I'm not interested in the big
horn or the little horn mentioned in Daniel. I'm not interested
in the study of angels. where they came from and what's
going to happen to them. He says, I am interested in Christ,
and I am trying to find him in every page of the Bible. And I said, Brother Henry, thank
you. That's a good thing to be reminded
of. So many things have drawn people
off. And yet we find that the Lord
is the center of the believer. It's the center of the church.
He is the center of the church, and we're looking for Him. And
that's our goal for tonight. So if you'd look with me in the
book of Esther tonight, chapter 8, I'd like to begin reading
with verse 3. Esther, chapter 8. And we've read some of this,
but I want to go back because I saw something else. In Esther 8, verse 3, And Esther
spake yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet. and
besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman, the
Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews."
Now it is very interesting that she did not mention to King Ahasuerus
his part. She only mentioned Haman's part. Now, in reality, Haman had kind
of hoodwinked the king. And we can say he should have
investigated it more, he should have did this more. We find out
it is working out absolutely perfectly according to God's
good pleasure. So she does not bring up an accusation
against him. You should have done this, Defert.
She only remembers this Haman, the Agagite. Verse 4, Then the
king held out the golden scepter toward Esther. So Esther arose
and stood before the king. and said, If it please the king. Now that's the title of our lesson
tonight. If it please the king. Now when we look at that, it
was a real way for her to approach her husband, but also the king
of the realm. if it please the king. And we
find out how wonderful, how gracious, how delightful from our standpoint
to approach the king of kings and say, if it please the king. I pray my prayer pleases the
king. I pray my witness pleases the
king. All right, let's go on here.
If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight,
and the things seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in
the eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by
Haman, the son of Hamadathah, the Agagite, which he wrote to
destroy the Jews, which are in all the king's provinces. For
how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? Or how can I endure to see the
destruction of my kindred? Then the king Ahasuerus said
to Esther, the queen, and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have
given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon
the gallows, because he laid his hand upon the Jews. write
ye also to the Jews, for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the
king's name, and seal it with the king's ring. For the writing
which is written in the king's name, and seal with the king's
ring, may no man reverse. All right, we'd like to look
at that thought that we found there in that verse of scripture,
if it pleased the king. Now, when we get to the New Testament,
we find that there are some individuals that shared that same sentiment. So if you would turn with me
to the book of Matthew chapter 8. In Matthew chapter 8, we find
out that grace cannot be demanded, it is given. Mercy cannot be
demanded, it is given. Peace cannot be demanded, it
is given. And so it is with all spiritual
things, every spiritual blessing, everything that God has promised
in his word is given. It is not demanded, it is given.
He gives more grace, if you please. So here in the book of Matthew
chapter 8, we find a very interesting circumstance, a very interesting
situation, and we find that this man, in the condition that he
was in, is almost in the same condition that we read with regard
to Esther when she came before the king. Matthew chapter 8,
beginning with verse 1, When he was come down from the
mountain, great multitudes followed him. And behold, there came a
leper. Now, I don't know, has anyone
here ever seen a leper? No. Now, I don't know what it's
like, but I know this, from what we read in the Bible, it was
probably the worst disease you could get. There is a lot said
in the book of Leviticus about leprosy and what was to be done
with it. And we also find out that during
the times of Christ, it was required that if you were, you cried unclean,
unclean, unclean. Now, Whatever they may have done
to try to get rid of the problem. We find out there was no cure
for it at that time So we have a man that comes down here and
he worshipped him saying now There is something about this
situation. We have to understand this man
knew something about the Lord Jesus someone had said something
to him because a stranger How would you know that he has the
ability of taking care of you if you haven't heard about it?
Well, it says there, and behold, and worshiped him saying, Lord,
if thou wilt, if you will, if it is in your mind to, if you
have this thought, if you wilt, he said, thou canst make me clean. Now, when Queen Esther came before
her king and her husband, she said, if it please the Lord.
Well, really, that's the prayer of a saint to God, if it please
the Lord, if it please the Lord, not me, but thine will be done.
And so it goes on, and Jesus put forth his hand and touched
him, saying, I will be thou clean. Now, he's the only one that could
do that. And this man was led to the right place at the right
time, because the Lord was moving in him to be there at that appointed
time. Now, he didn't realize it, I'm
sure, but we find out the Lord was there at the right time,
and this man has in his thoughts, if he will, he can make me clean. Now, it's not up to me. I cannot
make a demand, because I'm not whole. I cannot make a demand. You know, this is much the way
we're saved. If thou wilt, we get to the point,
Lord, have mercy. All right, keeping that in mind,
would you turn with me to Matthew chapter 25. In Matthew chapter
25, we have another interesting event here that the Lord shares
with us. It's purposeful that we have
this scripture. You know, Brother Henry, in his
message, he just said, you know, in one verse over there in the
book of, or two verses in the book of Genesis, Adam knew his wife, and she bore
a son, and then very quickly had another son, and then they
are 25, 30 years old? In two verses, 40 years pass,
30 years pass, And then we find here in times like this, there
may be an entire chapter on an incident, how special these incidents
are when there's more than one or two verses about it. So here
in the book of Matthew, we have a Syrophoenician woman, verse
22 of this book, chapter 15. And it says there in verse 22,
and behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and
cried unto him saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with a devil. Matthew chapter 15, verse 22. Did I say that wrong? Okay, Matthew
chapter 15, excuse me. Matthew chapter 15 and verse
22. Now verse 23, but he answered her not a word. Now that's interesting. There was not one word came out
of the mouth of the Lord Jesus in that whole comment. And his
disciples came and besought him saying, send her away for she
crieth after us. But he answered and said, I'm
not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now,
that just undoes most modern religion. I'm sent to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel and nobody else. Well, then came
she and worshiped him saying, Lord, help me. And he answered
and said, it is not me to take the children's bread and cast
it to dogs. Now, what does she assume by
that very word? He is talking to her. Because
she says in the next verse, and she said, truth, Lord, yet the
dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. Now
she is, I just hear Esther in her words to that king, if it
please the Lord. And I hear those words by this
leper, if it please the Lord. And I hear those words from this
Syrophoenician woman who has a daughter grievously ill, near
unto death. If it pleased the Lord. I cannot
get involved in this. I cannot let my emotions overrule.
If it pleased the Lord. So that's what we find throughout
the scriptures. If it pleased the Lord. That's
our cry and prayer. Now, turn with me back to a similar
incident as Esther in the book of Nehemiah. In the book of Nehemiah. In the book of Nehemiah, which
is very close to the book of Esther, We read these words that
Nehemiah says. He uses this term twice in two
verses here, if it pleased the king, if it pleased the king.
He knew that he was held in the hands of the king, and the king
had the right to do what he pleased to do. Now, when God moves on
a king to bless a people, there's nothing can happen but a people
are blessed. If God moves on a false prophet to bless a people,
He can do nothing but bless a people. We've witnessed that with Balaam.
And here in the book of Nehemiah chapter 2 beginning with verse
1, Nehemiah chapter 2 and verse 1, And it came to pass in the
month Nisan in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes king, That
wine was before him, and I took him the wine and gave it unto
the king. Now I had not been before times
sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto
me, Why is thy countenance sad? See, and thou art not sick. This
is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid. and said unto the king, let the
king live forever. Why should not my countenance
be sad when the city, the place of my father's sepulchers, lieth
waste and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? Then the
king said unto me, for what dost thou make request? So I prayed
to the God of heaven. I know not how to pray as I ought. But we're gonna read that passage
again over there in the book of Romans in a moment. But the
Holy Spirit maketh intercession for us according to the will
of God. I couldn't discern the will of
God if it wasn't for the Holy Spirit doing that for me. My prayers can't reach God unless
they're taken care of by the Holy Spirit. They are words until
the Holy Spirit, so I don't know. And this man, Nehemiah, it appears
that he's the king's cupbearer, and you know what, that man in
his day, you sampled the wine first. If you didn't die, you gave it to the king, all
right? So here we find in verse five, and I said unto the king,
if it please the king, He just prayed and made her, so I prayed
to the God of heaven, verse four, and I said unto the king, if
it pleased the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy
sight, is that almost what we read from Esther in Esther chapter
eight, when she is before the king, even though she is his
wife? If I have found favor, you know
what that means? Grace. We have no favor of our
own. It has to be given to us. God
has to grant favor to us. We have no favor of our own.
We can't get it. All right? And I said unto the
king, if it pleased the king, and if thy servant had found
favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah,
unto the house of my father's sepulchers, that I may build
it. And the king said unto me, the
queen also sitting by him, for how long shall thy journey be
and when wilt thou return so it pleased the king to send me
and set and I set him a time. If it pleased the king, and it
pleased the king. I like that kind of conversation. If, oh God, if it pleased thee,
and then to find out it did, because our prayer was made by
the Holy Spirit. And then it goes on, moreover
I said unto the king, if it pleased the king, Let letters be given
me to the governors beyond the river that they may convey me
over until I come unto Judah, and a letter unto Asaph, the
keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to
make beams for the gates of the palace which appertaineth to
the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that
I shall enter into. And the king granted me according
to the good hand of my God unto me. We just sit back and say,
hallelujah, thank you, Lord. Look what happened. He prayed
unto the Lord, thy will be done, and God had already determined
beforehand what should be done, and it is being carried out. It should be our highest ambition
to please the King in everything. That should be our highest ambition.
I remember one preacher saying we should wake up every morning
and say, Lord, keep me from sinning. Now, knowing full well that we
did it the next second. We have an advocate with the
Father. Join me, if you would, in the book of Romans, chapter
1. Romans, chapter 1. As we think about the will of
God, if it pleased the king, if it pleased God, I prayed unto
God and he dealt with it according to his will. And here in the
book of Romans, chapter 1, in verse 10, we read this, making
request by any means Romans chapter 1 verse 10 making request if
by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by
the will of God to come unto you the Apostle Paul is praying
as he writes this letter as he writes this letter to the Romans
he is praying that the Lord would be willing to have him go now
I don't know of any time that Paul actually got to Rome. A
lot of people think he may have, but if he did, it was because
of the will of God. All right? In Romans chapter
8, Romans chapter 8 and verse 27, Romans chapter 8 and verse
27. Would you join me there? This
is that verse that has been such a blessing to me, and I trust
to you as we find out that It should be the easiest thing for
us to do, pray. And yet we find out we know not
how to pray as we ought. I just think of people trying
to wish themselves into the kingdom of heaven, and we find out by
the grace of God and through the new birth, we can't even
pray as we ought. So we're not going to wish ourselves
into the kingdom of heaven. It is God granting us blessings
to be there. It is God working out his grace
on our behalf. So here we read in the book of
Romans chapter 8 and verse 27. And he that searches the hearts
knoweth what is in the mind of the spirit because he maketh
intercession for the saints. He makes intercession for the
church. He is not limited by the number
of people that are praying at the same time. I cannot, I'm just nearly at the
point I cannot handle phone trees. They are obnoxious 99% of the
time. I spent 45 minutes trying to
talk to one person phone tree, and a lady comes
on and says, oh, I'll send you over there, and she put me right
back to the same phone tree. So the next lady that came on,
I says, please don't put me back to the phone tree, whatever you
do. Well, here we have the Holy Spirit doesn't have a phone tree. We don't go, if you need help,
hit one. If you don't need help, hit two.
If your brother needs help, hit three, whatever. We have instant,
direct, access to the throne of grace because of being children
of the Most High God. We are invited to Him, and then
it tells us here, to because He maketh intercession for the
saints according to the will of God. Now, those words, the
will of, are in italics, but you go to almost every other
translation and they had to put the same thing there. that said,
according to the will of God. I'm thankful that we have things
worked out according to the will of God because we would make
a serious blunder. We would not know how to pray
as we ought. Alright, because he maketh intercession
for us. Now, the Apostle Paul uses this
phrase a number of times in the very beginning of the books that
he wrote, the letters he wrote. And the first one I'd like to
go to is 1 Corinthians 1. In 1 Corinthians 1, we find out
about God's will, as it's mentioned here in 1 Corinthians 1. Paul
is the subject of God's will in this verse of Scripture. Paul
called, being called is a subject of God's will. Being called as
an apostle is the subject of God's will. Paul called to be
an apostle and not just an apostle, but an apostle of Jesus Christ. Big difference than being someone
just sent somewhere, some board sending somebody. Here we find,
as it should be, an apostle Jesus Christ through now who was involved
in every step of this who was involved in every every direction
of Saul of Tarsus to the Apostle Paul according through the will
of God and also we're having Sostenes our brother as part
of this introduction so it's the will of God how prevalent,
how prominent, how wonderful it was to hear Esther say, if
it pleased the king. How good it is to have Nehemiah
say, if it pleased the king. And how good it is for a leper.
Now that leper represents every one of us. None of us are in
this world without spiritual leprosy, sin that overrules us
and reigns in our heart before the Lord saves us. This leprosy
is serious, and the only thing that we can do about it in our
own flesh is to attempt to cover it up. And when we attempt to
cover it up, we're making nothing better with God. Attempting to
cover up our very nature, all right? As it says there, Paul
called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God. God's will was declared in calling
Saul of Tarsus. God's will was in Saul of Tarsus
when it came to the salvation of him, the training of him.
He did not go and get counseling from humanity. He went into the
backside of the desert, and God spoke to him. How blessed it
is. And so, when we have someone
come to us and say, you know, I don't think I'm saved, get
along with God. That's how the Lord was alone
with a leper. There might've been 10,000 people
around him, but there was only one person he was paying any
attention to. And the same is true with a Syrophoenician
woman. There might've been hundreds
of people around, but he was only paying attention to one
person. And when we get to Lazarus, he's
paying attention to one person. You know, I've had people say,
he had to say Lazarus or he'd erased everybody. God is not
like that. God is not like that. He knows
who he is working with at the time. He's not driven by some
semantics. All right? Follow me, if you
would, to the book of Galatians, as the Apostle Paul was led by
the Holy Spirit to write. And we have this recorded for
us in Galatians chapter 1, verses 4 and 5. In Galatians chapter
1 and verses 4 and 5, we have this, according to the will of
God. In verse 4, who gave himself
for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world. Isn't that wonderful? He says the truth about this
world. But the part that really delights the church is to what?
He might deliver us from this present evil world according
to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. What does it say? He has taken care of our sin
debt. He has delivered us from this
present evil world, and it is all according. Now, he doesn't
leave anybody in the condition that they were when he found
them. When he saves his people, they
are in a different condition. They are born again. All right? Ephesians chapter
1. Ephesians chapter 1. Oh, Esther, thank you for sharing
your heart to us and saying, if it pleased the king, if it
pleased the king. Now, she really had an interest
in her people, but the whole thing was up to the king. We
have many interests, but the whole issue is up to the king.
All right, in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 1, we read these words. It says, Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ by the will of God. My goodness. Paul found out he
had nothing to do with it. The only thing that he gave in
the transaction was his sin. He had no merit. He was as bad
as that leper when it came to trying to cover up his inability
to approach God. He was circumcised the eighth
day of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee of the Pharisee. Just
look at the fine clothes he had on trying to hide his very heart. here we have Paul an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Now if we're going to be
a real apostle it must be an apostle of Jesus Christ. God doesn't deal with any other
apostles except he uses them for his glory and his honor and
his praise as he did Balaam. to the saints which are at Ephesus
and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. He has not only sent this
letter to Ephesus, which is no longer there, but he sent it
to us, to the faithful. Now, oh my, I liked that article
that was in the bulletin. You don't have faith? I don't
have any faith. Of course you don't. It's God's faith. That
song said, if I have little faith, If we have no faith, it's God's
faith. And that faith is always directed to Almighty God. It's not our faith that's significant. It is God that is significant. And His will is significant. That is it. It's not us. It's
Him. That is significant. So God,
thank you for a little faith. But I know where that little
faith came from, and that little faith is in the Lord God Almighty. All right, Colossians chapter
1. Would you turn with me to Colossians chapter 1? In Colossians
chapter 1, again, we have this introduction that Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, He's not a false prophet. He is apostle of Jesus
Christ. He wanted those people to know
that he had authority from God to write what he was writing.
And this is inspired. Now, Mike and I were talking
on Sunday that Paul wrote some letters that were not inspired.
He wrote a letter to Laodicea, not inspired. He did say, pass
it around though. It was a letter of love. It was
a letter of gospel truth. It was a letter from his heart,
but it was not inspired. Now this letter was, that's why
we have it. And it says, Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus, our brother,
by the will of God. Thank you, Lord. Oh, may it please
the Lord. May it please the Lord. Now,
in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, we
read this. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4,
verse 3, for this is the will of God. For this is the will
of God. Lord, Keep Me in your will. And you know what? The promise
is He will. It says, For this is the will of God for even of
God, even your sanctification. Now that is a spiritual blessing.
We find that our sanctification is Christ and it is not something
that we can work up. It is not something that we contribute
to. We find out that the only reason
we were able to walk today without ending up in jail was that God
kept his hand on us. He is the one that wrapped his
love around us. and that's why we're not where
we could have been. Well, he goes on to say here
that there is another thing that he brings out. Verse three, it says, for this
is the will of God, even your sanctification. And then he says
that she abstained from fornication. Now, if you look up this word
fornication, the original meaning, the first meaning is what you
know it is. That's what you know it is. Avoid
that. Avoid that. But the second meaning
of that in Thayer's dictionary is that it is used metaphorically. It is used of worship, and it
is used of worship of idols. Now, many times throughout the
Old Testament, we find that the children of Israel were not committing
physical fornication, but God said, you're committing whoredom.
fornication against me. So what we find, the Apostle
Paul is led by the Holy Spirit here, is if you have his sanctification,
which means if he has saved you and he has given you the new
birth, then that is going to prevent you from going after
idols. It is guaranteed. We cannot,
we cannot give up. Now the people that give up are
the ones who never had salvation to begin with. But those that
God has really saved, they cannot commit this kind of dealing. We find that God has taken that
away. He has removed idolatry from
us. It is why we cannot I cannot, I cannot listen to
a message about all salvation is up to man and it's up to him
to do it. Now I sent Micah, I got this,
it's a bookmark, but it's salvation as a simple as ABC. A. Admit you're a sinner. B. Believe on the Lord. And C. I can't even remember it now. There is no God in it at all.
Now that is idolatry. That is idolatry to the core. And you know what? God prevents
us from going there. prevents us from going there.
Metaphorically, the worship of idols, the defilement of idolatry. And God said he had prevent that.
Now over there in the book of First Thessalonians chapter one,
that glorious chapter has the E word in it. Elect according
God's election. He said, and he has turned us
from worshiping dumb idols. The dumbest idol we find out
is ourself and our own attitude towards free will. I told a young
preacher the other day, he said, I asked him, do you believe in
free will? And he says, I do. And he says, I told him, you are
in company with 99% of the world. You go check every religion of
the world, and you'll find out they all believe it. I listened
to Cassius Clay, Muhammad Ali, towards the end of his life,
and he hoped that his works would outweigh his bad things, and
that his free will, it got him where he is. That's a Muslim. Sounded just like a landmark
Baptist. That's idolatry. All right. If
you could not go to a true gospel church, where would you go? Would it matter where you go? Only if you'd been born again
it would. A lot of people, it doesn't matter where they go.
I can go here, I can go there, I can go everywhere. I have Jesus. Well, if God has ever saved you,
it does matter. You cannot go listen to swill. A born again person will not
settle for religious idolatry. It is impossible. I hear people
say, I cannot go back. And that was the words of the
Apostle Paul, I cannot go back. He never complimented circumcision. He never complimented keeping
the law. He never complimented being a Pharisee. He never complimented
being a member of the tribe of Benjamin. He never said this
was all a good thing. In fact, he said, it is dung
that I might win Christ. So A born-again person will not
settle for religious idolatry. David sinned. He did the other
thing. But he did not go adopt the religion
of the Philistines. He couldn't. So Esther said, may it please the
king. Lord, may it please You. Free human will is held strongly
by Every religion in the world, and only one place, Ken, you
truly hear that God's will is done even in the salvation of
His people, and that's in the gospel church. And you know what? How small it gets, how big it
gets, how whatever, one, two, it still is where I must be. Now, when I'm in a place that
doesn't have a church, I have a few words to myself and read
a scripture and go fishing, rather than go get sick. All right, going back to that
book of Esther again, if you'd join me there. Esther chapter eight. Verse 5, and Esther said, If
it please the king. We'll stop there for tonight.