Esther chapter 7 tonight. Esther chapter 7. I am more and
more enthralled with this book of Esther. I've been blessed
by it. In fact, I was visiting with
Brother Ed the other day and we were just talking about how
this has made the incidences that happen in our present life
so in tune with the absolute sovereignty of God and that he
is involved in all things. Nothing is left to chance or
to luck, but everything is carried out according to his divine providence
and his will. It was of the Lord's sovereign
pleasure to put Esther in the Persian Empire. for many of the
same lump were left behind. It was the Lord's sovereign pleasure
that Queen Vashti was disposed and Esther, the Jewish, was made
the queen. God's sovereign pleasure took
place in that. Many that interviewed for the
same position are not remembered anymore, whatever happened to
them. We find it's the Lord's sovereign
pleasure that Esther was accepted by her husband when she approached
him without permission. Many of the same lump, no doubt,
were carried out in chains and met a bad end at the pleasure
of King Ahasuerus. But we read with regard to Esther
that the Lord was pleased to have her come in and make a petition
that we're gonna read about. Of the same lump, God said, of
the same lump. Everybody that God has ever saved
has had a time that they were at enmity, were enmity, not at
enmity, but enmity with God. But we never find a time that
God was angry with his people. He loves them with an everlasting
love. Now here in this chapter we find
that Queen Esther has asked the second time to have a banquet,
a banquet of wine is what it's called. Now what they did there
They socialized, and we're going to find out that they probably
all were on cots or beds, like in the time the Lord Jesus was
here. They reclined. It was the custom
of the day. Well, we're going to find here
in just a few minutes that Haman comes to her bed, her cot that
she has there. And we'll see what's going on
there. All right, in verse one of this, so the king and Haman
came to banquet with Esther, the queen. Now, just remember,
in our last lesson, we looked at the Haman. He thought that
the king was asking about some important person like him. And
he made all kinds of notes about how someone of importance should
be treated. And he thought in his heart this
could only be about him. And then we find the punchline. King Ahasuerus said, go do that
to Mordecai. And you lead him around on my
horse, with my crown, with my robe, and it just appears that
Haman had the interest in being the king. for the day at least,
but Mordecai has that all on him and he's to go around and
shout before him, such happens to the people who please the
king, such happens to the people who please the king. Now when
Haman gets home, he informs his wife and friends that are there
of what happened and we noticed that there was a statement made
by Haman's wife, this doesn't look good. now or the next day. And we have Haman and the king
and Esther are there. Now probably we're going to have
servants there, but for our purpose we just see that there are three
people there. We have the inviter, And we have the invitees. We
have Queen Esther inviting her husband, King Asuerus, and we
have Esther inviting Haman to be here at this meeting. It's
a very important meeting for the queen. She has a great deal
of interest in this meeting. So we know that the reason that
Esther has asked for this banquet, but we find out, we've read ahead. We know the end of the story,
but at this time King Ahasuerus doesn't know. King Ahasuerus
is ignorant of the issue. He's ignorant of the problem.
In fact, it appears as we read through there that Haman kind
of put it through on the speedy trial of pushed it through to
get rid of all these Jews and the king really didn't investigate.
He just trusted this man and we find that the law has been
passed. All right, so we have that these
three people are there. One of them knows exactly what
she wants to do and the other people are ignorant of the meeting.
Probably Haman thought he's going to be honored in some way and
probably that King Ahasuerus thought maybe she's going to
give some honor to me. We know that Esther has knowledge
of what she wants to ask. It tells us there in verse 2,
the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet
of wine. Now he's already mentioned this.
in the previous day. Up to half of my kingdom, you
can have. But he uses a couple words in
here. He says, at the banquet of wine, what is thy petition,
Queen Esther? And it shall be granted thee,
and what is thy request? Now, Queen Esther being a jewel,
is going to use those exact same words in response she makes her
request. The exact same words in exactly
the same order. Now, she is being blessed by
the Lord. You know, we find that the disciples
are told when you stand before the court, don't worry so much
about what you're going to say. I'll supply that. Now, what is
that? I want to cause you to remember my word. That's it.
That's what I want to have you do. Well, here we find that the
Lord no doubt prompted her, just like we find with regard to Cyrus
King. He pushed, he prompted, he caused
Cyrus to say, go back to Israel, go back to Jerusalem, go back
to Judah. And here we find that Queen Esther is being prompted
to make sure that her requests follow right in line with what
King Ahasuerus has said. He's mentioned exactly these
same words in the day before. We have them repeated here. The
king said at the banquet of wine, what is your request? What is
your petition? All right. As we travel down
here, we find that I asked myself, what would I request? You know, I would like to think,
but I know the difference. I am like you. I'm like all Christians. I'm a recovering Pharisee. I
go back to that passage of scripture where Solomon was made king.
We read this in a previous study, but when Solomon was made king,
he was asked, what will you have? What do you want? What do you
need? And let's just go over there. 2 Chronicles 1. 2 Chronicles
1. What a statement that this man,
this king, this person in a high position mentions in 2 Chronicles
1 and there in verse 7. 2 Chronicles 1 and verse 7. In
that night, 2 Chronicles 1 verse 7, we have God coming to Solomon. Now, I'm convinced that the Lord
has already visited with Esther, just as he does with us in the
night seasons. She has been quite concerned
about what's going on, and we're going to find out as the Lord
instructed her, don't go to Mordecai anymore. Don't go to your chambermans
anymore. you have a request to make to
the only person that can change the thing, and that's to King
Ahasuerus. And she would risk her life for
that. Now, we also remember that Mordecai
said, if it's not you, it will be somebody that will set the
people of God free. But go here, 2 Chronicles 1,
verse 7. In that night did God appear
unto Solomon. Solomon didn't have what we have
in our hands tonight. He didn't have the Word of God
like we handle. Now God appears to us out of
His Word. God comes to us out of His Word. God visits us out of his word. That's why we are told in the
scriptures the Lord Jesus said with regard to the Old Testament
that Moses and all the prophets spoke of me. Well, as here we
have Solomon is visited by God. And we have the same thing here
for us tonight. We have the record of it. It's
just as true tonight about what happened to Solomon as it was
when it happened to Solomon. God's people completely trust
what is happening here, that God would come and visit this
new king. And Solomon said unto God, thou
hast showed great mercy unto David my father." You know what
the greatest mercy God ever showed David? That he did not have his
sin imputed to him. All right. Thou hast showed great
mercy unto David, my father, and hast made me to reign in
his stead. You know, if we go back at the
history of the thing, there were two or three other boys that
were had that that crown in kind of like Haman. They had it in
mind. They were also in line for the
crown. And God had already chosen Solomon. Now, why was Solomon chosen over
the others? He's in direct line to the Messiah. He must be put. There would be
a king until Shiloh come. There would be a scepter. All
right, Solomon said unto God, thou shalt great mercy unto David,
my father, and hast made me to reign in his stead. Where did
he acquaint or credit the reign from God? Now, O Lord God, let
thy promise unto David, my father, be established. For thou hast
made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude.
Give me now wisdom and knowledge that I may go out and come in
before this people. You know, when we get over to
1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, where is our wisdom? Our wisdom's Christ. That's essentially what he's
saying, let me be led by the Messiah, Christ. Then I go out
and come in before this people, for who can judge the eye people
that is so great? And God said to Solomon, because
this was in thine heart, that thou hast not asked riches, wealth,
or honor, nor the life of thy enemies, Neither yet hast long
life, but hast wisdom and knowledge for thyself that thou mayest
judge my people over whom I have made thee king. Wisdom and knowledge
is granted unto thee, and I will give thee riches and wealth and
honor such as none of the kings have had that have been before
thee. Neither shall there any after
thee have the like. So God gave to him wisdom and
knowledge plus all the rest. Well, we have here that Esther
has demonstrated great wisdom, and she has demonstrated great
knowledge, and the Lord appears to her, I'm convinced, in much
the same way. We don't have that, but we don't
have the name of God in this book, but we have his fingerprints
all over it. We know that God is here. I remember
an account of a man speaking of a herd of cows, and the herd
of cows came to a river, and you couldn't see the tracks any
longer, but once you crossed the river, the tracks came out.
So he says, I'm pretty sure that the cows that went down to the
river came out of the river because there's tracks on both sides.
Well, whether God's name is in here or not, God's fingerprints
are all over everything that's taking place. You know, we find
in the book of James that sometimes we don't have our prayers answered.
Why? Because we ask amiss. We ask him this. Let's just read
that over in the book of James chapter 4 and verse 3. James
chapter 4 and verse 3. As King Ahasuerus asked his wife,
his queen, the queen of the realm, what do you want? He uses two
words there. We're going over to the book
of James chapter 4 and verse 3. James chapter 4 and verse
3. And we have these recorded, James
4 and verse 3. And it says here, ye ask and
receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon
your lusts. Now, God help us from doing that. God prevent us from doing that.
But sometimes It's what we want what we want. All right. But we also find out that God,
when he takes us out of the pit and places us on the solid rock,
John chapter 14 and verse 13. Turn there with me. John chapter
14 and verse 13. As we think about the prayer
that we have, the request that we make, oh, thank God that the
Holy Spirit is on our side when it comes to prayer. God is on
our side. God has ever loved His church.
God has ever protected His church. God is on our side. He didn't
put a mark in the sand and say, I dare you to cross it. He's
on our side. He's defending us. He's standing
up for us. He's making intercession for
us. He has us as the apple of His eye. He's taking care of
His people to the fullest. He has never done anything wicked
or ornery to His people. Now, He may test us, but it's
not because He's punishing us. He's testing us. All right, here
in the book of John 14, verse 13, it says, for whatsoever ye
shall ask in my name, That will I do, that the Father may be
glorified in the Son." Now, as you keep that in mind, let's
go over to the book of Romans, Romans chapter 8. It's so important
that we compare Scripture with Scripture. Well, if we look at
that one verse of scripture, we're going to say, well, I can
just ask anything and say Jesus after it, and he's going to take
care of it. Well, let's go over here to the book of Romans chapter
8, verse 26 and 27. Romans chapter 8. We've been
here several times as we've gone through the book of Esther, and
it's been such a good visit. It tells us here that the Spirit
helpeth our infirmities. Thank God. The Spirit helpeth
our infirmities. It is God's interest to take
care of us. It is God's interest to say,
I will never leave you nor forsake you. It is God's interest that
all the Father giveth me shall come unto me, and he that cometh
unto me I will in no wise cast out. I will not give you a bad
day. I will watch over you. All right,
here it says, likewise, the spirit also helpeth our infirmities,
for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the
spirit also maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. Now, I've stopped there too many
times. Read the next verse with me. And he that searcheth the
hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh
intercession for the saints according to the will of God. He maketh intercession
for the saints. according to God's eternal purpose. I'm so thankful that he intervenes. He helps us with our prayers.
We know not how to pray as we ought. I think that probably
Esther was caught up in that for a season. I just don't know
what to do. In fact, we find that Mordecai
came to her and says, don't think for a moment that you're gonna
be exempt from this. Every Jew has been sentenced
by this. Don't think for a moment that
just because you're the wife of the king, you will be exempt
from this. All Haman has to do is come and say, she's a Jew
and you're dead. All right. So we see here that the prayers
of God's people are so important, but they're the prayers that
God gives us that are important. What God does for us according
to the will of God, The king's question, what is thy petition
and request? Back there in the book of Esther,
chapter 7 and verse 2. What is thy petition? What is
thy request? And we've mentioned that the
queen uses the same exact words. You know, I find nothing better
sometimes in my prayer than to go to the word of God because
God loves his word. And God loves to hear his word.
And when we were going to the Psalms, I said, this is the prayers
I wish I could pray. So why not use it? I can pray
these prayers. All right, going back to the
book of Esther, chapter seven, and there in verse two, the King
said, what is thy petition, Queen Esther, and what is thy request? Verse three, then Esther the
queen answered and said, if I have found favor in thy sight, if
I found grace, in thy sight, if I have found grace in thy
sight, if I have found unmerited favor in thy sight." Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. You know, when I was growing
up, he was just a special kind of guy. He didn't do bad things
like everybody else. It wasn't like the rest of the
world. You know, if we interviewed Noah, if we could interview him,
he says, I was a blasphemer. I hated God. He tracked me down. I didn't like it. We're talking
tonight on that zoom meeting that if God gathered everybody
in the world and said, okay, all of you that want to come
to me and trust me and have me, you know what people would say?
I hate you for calling me to this meeting because that's our
real attitude towards God. So we depend on him drawing us. And that drawing is sovereign
drawing from almighty God to God. So he gets involved seriously. All right, as we go down through
here, we find, oh, king, if it pleases the king, let my life
be given me at my petition. Same word he used. And the next
one, and my people at my request. Same word he used. What is your
petition and what is your request? And she said, grant my life and
my people's life. All right? Now she says something
in verse four that's very interesting. She says, for we are sold, and
I and my people to be destroyed, to be slain and to perish. But
if we had been sold for bomb men and bond women, what does
she say she would do? I wouldn't be bringing this up.
I would not be troubling you if we were just going to be sold
into slavery. Now, in some ways, all the folks
that were brought to the Persian Empire They were slaves. They were servants. Now they
may have reached a very high position as the Queen Esther
did, but they still were servants in the Persian Empire. I had
held my tongue. I would have not brought it up.
I would not be bothering you. I would not be here at this banquet
of wine. I would not be making a request.
I would not be making a petition if we were just going to be sold. Although the enemy could not
countervail the king's damage. Then the king Ahasuerus answered
and said unto Esther the queen. Now this is the first time he
recognizes he's been informed that there is a real issue going
on in his kingdom. The word has been sent out. He
commanded it to be sent out, but he does not realize the fullness
of that request. King Ahasuerus said to Esther
the queen, who is he? Who is he? And where is he? that durst presume in his heart
to do this. Who is he and where is he? Now,
as we look at this verse of scripture, we find there in Psalm 41 verse
9, my own familiar friend in whom I trusted. Now, who would even bring an
accusation against Haman and the relationship that he had
with the king. They were two peas in a pod.
They were in agreement. He had been promoted. But do
you know what? He'd been promoted to that position
on purpose by Almighty God just like Queen Esther had been promoted
to her position by Almighty God. And one is to glory and the other
is to destruction. He raised him up for one reason
and one reason alone that he might show his power. in him. Now, we could say the
same thing about Esther. She was raised to her position
that God might show His power in her. What's His power of grace? Power of mercy, power of love,
power of eternal purpose of God. And on the other side of the
same lump, we have Haman that is going to be demonstrated as
those of dishonor. Well, let's go through here and
notice this. Who is he? Verse 5, and where
is he that Durst presumed it is hard to do so? I can only imagine the king,
as he's thinking about that, who would be my enemy like this? Now, we know that he's had two.
Mordecai identified him. King Ahasuerus had him disposed
of. And how much later do we have
King read from the Chronicles that Mordecai did him a great
favor and pointed those folks out. Well here, Esther said,
the adversary and the enemy is this wicked Haman. I imagine you could hear a pin
drop. at least on Haman's part, when
he is identified as a wicked man. You know, the Lord spoke
about the same folks as this man is, only at one time they're
on the left-hand side. They are in the judgment, and
they can plead as Haman could. I am second in command. What
do you mean? I honor the king. What do you
mean? I've raised people from the dead. What are you talking
about? I've been gracious. I've taken care of my family.
I've done all those things, and I've honored the king. But here
we find that he has been identified as wicked. The enemy is this
wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before
king and queen. You know, I think of Judas when
he turned over the Lord Jesus for 30 pieces of silver and saw
what happened. As we mentioned in the past,
it says he repented, but that word repented is not the same
word that God works in the hearts of his people. He did not grant
the repentance he grants to the elect, to Judas. Judas was sorry
he got caught and Haman is sorry he's caught. The king arising
from the banquet of wine and his wrath went into his palace
garden. You know, I wrote in my notes,
he went to count to 10. He is upset. He is angry. He is really angry that this
has happened there and he has fallen for it. He went into the
garden, and Haman stood up and made requests for his life to
Esther the queen. For he saw that there was evil
determined against him by the king. And then the king returned
out of the palace garden into the palace place of the banquet
of wine, and Haman had fallen upon the bed whereupon Esther
was." She was reclined, the king was reclined, Haman was reclined,
and Haman is over there begging for his life. Now it doesn't
go well, that doesn't bode well, when the king comes back in and
sees what's going on, and he makes this statement, as the
word went out, will he force the queen? Will he rape the queen? Also, before me, in the house? As the word went out of the king's
mouth, they covered Haman's face. Now, that gives us some information
that there were some servants there. And it was the custom
and has been a custom in many countries that when someone was
arrested, their face was not to be seen by royalty or anybody
else. They were to be covered up. So
they instantly went over there. This man's in serious trouble
and he is going to be arrested. In fact, we're going to find
out he's going to be hanged that very night, but his face is covered
up. Oh, what a statement is made
about those that God said, does not the potter have power over
the clay of the same lump to make those to honor and those
to dishonor? they shall not even see." Well,
we know that without Christ we see nothing. Haman saw nothing. Turn with me, if you will, to
the book of the Psalms. The book of the Psalms. Psalm
16. In Psalm 16 we find what purpose
was Haman? What purpose? Well, You know,
we can say this about a lot of infamous people that are in history.
You know, for a long time, Adolf Hitler's name was used to come
up with the formula for the man of sin. Richard Nixon's name
was too. You can do anything that you
want to with numbers and letters to prove anything you want to
prove. You know who the real man of sin is? Thank God for grace. Thank God
for grace. All right, let's look at this.
Psalm 16. Psalm 16. Why did this all happen? I wanted the one that says, ìYea,
even the wicked for the day of evil. God hath made all things
for himself. Yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil.î And Iíve written down the wrong one here. You
have it right there, Mike? Heís working on it. Thank the Lord for electronics. Proverbs, ooh, you know, I was
only a book off. Proverbs 16.4, there we go. We're gonna correct this. Proverbs 16.4, and this is the
capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, Jehovah. Jehovah
hath made all things for himself. Yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil. Nothing has been made that was
not made by God, and nothing has been made that God did not
have a purpose in. And here we have Haman. The Lord
hath made Haman for himself. Yea, even Haman for the day of
evil. The wicked, this wicked one,
how it comes out. And of the same lump to make
one vessel unto honor and another to dishonor. In 1 Peter 2, we
read these words. You know, I used to skip over
these verses. I don't know about you, but I'd
skip over them because they were just too harsh. just too harsh. You know God, He's gracious,
but He has a people that He has ordained. What is a stumbling?
A stone of stumbling. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 8,
a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them would
stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. Haman was appointed to that. On the converse of that, Esther
was appointed to that. She was appointed. Mordecai was
appointed. Haman was appointed. Ahasuerus
was appointed. All those people were appointed.
And in Jude, following this theme just a little further in the
book of Jude chapter 1. Jude chapter 1, well there's
only one chapter in Jude. Jude chapter 1 verse 4, it says,
for there are certain men crept in unawares. Jude chapter 1 verse
4, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly
men. turning the grace of our God
into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord
Jesus Christ, ordained to this condemnation. Who made a difference
between Haman and the Apostle Paul? One was chosen as a vessel of
honor. One was chosen as a vessel of dishonor. In conclusion, go
with me back to the book of Esther for just, I think it's two verses,
the book of Esther. God's eternal purpose being carried
out in all the activities that are taking place in this book. He has left his fingerprints
all over this book. He has shown us that he is the
sovereign ruler. He's the king. He has kings. He takes kings. He has His way
with all kings. As rivers of water are turned,
so He does that with kings. And it tells us there in chapter
7 and verse 9, And Harbonah, one of the Chamberlains, said
before the king, Behold also the gallows fifty cubits high,
which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king,
standeth in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him
there on. Now it's interesting that news
has already got to these servants. What Haman has planned to do
with Mordecai. And in verse 10, So they hanged
Haman on the gallows, that he had prepared for Mordecai, then
was the king's wrath pacified. Now, you know, I find almost
the same wordage over in the book of Numbers two or three
times when God sent out a plague and then was he pacified. this Sunday, not this Sunday,
because Lance is going to be here, but the next time we speak,
there was a man that got involved and God granted him a covenant
of peace. You know, that's what he did
for Esther. That's what he did for Mordecai.
He granted a covenant of peace. God's going to take care of this
now. God's going to take care of this. And who's going to fill
Haman's spot Read chapter 8, 9, and 10. We'll stop there tonight.