Book of Esther chapter 4, we'd
like to begin reading with verse 15. We're going to see that Esther
is put into a position where she must trust the Lord. She is asked, requested by Mordecai
to go before the king and in those days and in those times
probably like much today you have to have permission and here
we're going to see that and we also are going to notice here
that there is a request for fasting, and prayer. All right,
let's look at this. All of the stuff that's gone
on prior to this, in verse 15, then Esther bade them return
more to Cai this answer. He's made a request in the previous
few verses about her going to the king, and whether she does
or not, God will take care of the situation. God is faithful. And whether he uses Esther or
doesn't, they will be taken care of. Alright, in verse 16, Mordecai,
go gather all the Jews that are present in Shushan. and fast
ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I also and my maidens will fast
likewise, and so will I go unto the king, which is not according
to the law. And if I perish, I perish. Go, it tells us, go gather all
the Jews. And this word fast means to cover
the mouth. Now it appears she is calling
on the people, don't just complain about the situation. The situation
is dire. Their lives have been threatened
by this edict that Haman has got the king to sign. And it
is a dire situation. But we have heard Mordecai say,
God will not permit this to take place. God will override this.
In some way, he's going to take care of the issue. So we're here. Just cover your mouth. mouth,
except when it comes to your appeal to God. Don't complain
about the edict. Take it to the Lord. And we find
that this so fulfills what we read in the book of the Proverbs
chapter 3 and verse 6. If you travel with me there,
keeping your finger there in the book of of Esther, but in
the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter three and verse six,
Proverbs chapter three and verse six, we have this wonderful statement
made by wise Solomon as he's led by the Holy Spirit. It says,
in all thy ways acknowledge him. And what does that mean? It means,
Lord, Lord, you're in charge. Acknowledge him. He is chief
over all. Be thou my vision. Be the one
that's in front of me. Be the one that's in front. And
then it says, and he will direct thy paths. Now, it's wonderful
when we find out that we are in agreement. God brings us to
agreement with his will. Now, He's going to do what He's
going to do, but how blessed it is for the people of God to
understand that what God is doing, God is doing for our betterment
and for the oversight of all things. So, in all thy ways acknowledge
Him, and He shall direct thy paths. He will always have His
will. What we want is not to be caught
sideways in it. We'd like to be facing forward
with it. We'd like to be able to do it with thanksgiving. And
that's what she's saying as she sends out this appeal. Fast,
pray, bring the situation before the Lord, but don't complain
about the situation. Lord will take care of it one
way or the other, but do it with thanksgiving. And over in the
book of Romans chapter eight, one of my favorite passages of
scripture, like so many in Romans chapter eight, verses 26 and
27, we find this wonderful statement about prayer, right there in
the middle of God's directing all things. He's in charge of
all things. He backs up all things. He created
all things. He saves his people according
to his eternal purpose. Here in the book of Romans 8
and verse 26, likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities.
That's what she's saying. We have infirmities. We are in
dire situation, but we have infirmities. And so often we're caught in
the trap of complaining about the situation. For we know not
what we should pray for as we ought, but the spirit itself. This is the Holy Spirit himself. I was talking to someone the
other day, and I just mentioned, and there was complete agreement,
that most people greatly underestimate the power of the Spirit. The
Holy Spirit is God, all-powerful. Nothing is too too hard for God. He is able to do exceedingly,
abundantly above our prayers. So he goes on to tell us here,
for we know not what we should pray for as we are. Now I think
that Esther is caught in there. I think Mordecai is caught there.
I think the people, the Jews that live in Shushan, the palace
are caught there. I don't know how to pray in this church. My
initial thought about it is, I don't like it. to hear what's
going on. But he goes on to tell us here,
because he maketh intercession, oh, verse 26, let me finish that. But the Spirit itself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now
that's not ecstatic speech. It's speech that we can't comprehend.
The conversation of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit. They have a covenant of grace. They're going to carry
it out. It's sometimes a mystery to us
how God would do all of that, but he has. And then he goes
on to say in verse 28, verse 27, and he that searches the
hearts knoweth what is in the mind of the spirit, because he
maketh intercession for the saints according Now, the church, when
we realize that, say hallelujah. He maketh intercession. Romans
8, verse 27. He maketh intercession for the
saints according to the will of God. You know, when we stop
and think about that, that's exactly what we want. That's
what we pray for. God, your will be done. And may
I not be caught sideways with it, but caught with it. It's
a terrible thing to be caught and surfed sideways in a boat.
But it's so much easier to go through the surf straight ahead
or come in straight forward. So, oh Lord, help me not be caught
sideways. And by that, I mean complaining
about your eternal purpose and will in this matter. So here
we have Esther and she's encouraged Mordecai and all the Jews that
are in Shushan to palace to come together and pray about this
matter, to fast about this matter, keep your mouth closed. That's
what that word means. Now we may interpret it not eating,
But I many times find it just simply keep your mouth shut.
Keep your mouth closed. Fast about this. Let God do his
work. So the infirmities, we are caught
by infirmities. It's feebleness and frailty,
but we are thankful for someone to intercede for us, to intercede
on our behalf. Someone other than us interceding
for us on the behalf of God, so that it says there, according
to His purpose, and also it says, for the saints according to the
will of God. Now, I don't believe I've ever
met a believer that doesn't want to do or know, know or do, the
will of God. That's really the heart of the
matter, to do the will of God. Well, our flesh is contrary to
it, but thank God for His Spirit directing our spirits so that
we can meet that. All right. Because He maketh
intercession for us, according to the will of God. So we're
going to find that God's will is going to be performed over
there, and we're going to find out that this is going to be
a lot more pleasant than anybody thought it was going to be. It
was really trying. You know, there's an incident
in the book of Acts chapter 12. It's such a tremendous statement
of the Holy Spirit, and that's in Acts chapter 12. We find in
Acts chapter 12 that James has been killed by Herod. James has
been killed. Now sometimes we read through
things and our brother in the Lord has been killed by the sword
by Herod according to Herod's determined purpose. Here in Acts
chapter 12 beginning with verse 1 it says, Now about that time
Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the
church. He knows who he's after, certain
of the church, some of this way. They were called Christians first
at Antioch. And at that time, it was not
a compliment to be called a Christian. It was a word of derision. Nobody
went around bragging that were lost that were bragging they
were Christians, because that was going to bring the outside
upon them. So it was a name of derision
given by outsiders to these people who appeared to be agreed with
the gospel, agreed with Christ in this matter. It was not works,
but it was grace. He killed James the brother of
John with a sword. And because he saw it pleased
the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. Then were
the days of unleavened bread. And when he had apprehended him,
he put him in prison and delivered him to four of soldiers to keep
him, intending by Passover, Easter is recorded here, to bring him
forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison,
but prayer was made without ceasing of the church of God for him. Now that's going to be an interesting
play as God works this out as his purpose was to do. And when Herod would have brought
him forth the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers
bound with chains. Now Herod has been quite clear
that he wants to have this guy brought before him very soon
and probably executed too. It pleased the Jews that James
was killed. And he's going to do anything
he can to please the Jews. It says here, bound with chains,
and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And behold,
the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the
prison, and he smote Peter on the side, raised him up, saying,
Arise up quickly, and his chains fell off from his hands. And
the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. So he did, and he saith unto
him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. And he went out,
and followed him, and wist not that it was true which was done
by the angel, but thought he saw a vision. He thought he was
walking in his sleep, dreaming. When he were past the first and
second ward, they came to the iron gate that leadeth into the
city, which opened to them of his own accord. And they went
out and passed through one street, and forthwith the angel departed
from him. And when Peter was come to himself,
he said, now I know of a surety that the Lord has sent his angel,
and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all
the expectation of the people of the Jews. And when he had
considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary, the mother
of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together.
What are they doing? They're praying for him. The
church is praying for him. What does Esther ask to be done? The church pray about this matter. The church pray about this matter.
Now, we know not how to pray as we ought, but we are so dependent
upon the almighty power of the Holy Spirit to make intercession
for us according to the will of God. That's what we find Esther
is asking them to do. Pray for the purpose and will
of God now when she knew Peter's voice. She opened not the gate
for gladness Oh, there's Peter knocked at the door of the gate
verse 13 a damsel came to hearken name wrote it and when she knew
Peter's voice she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran
and told how Peter stood before the gate and they said unto her
thou art mad and But she constantly affirmed that it was even so.
Then said they, it is an angel. But Peter continued knocking.
And when they had opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Now, sometimes we are just like
this and are astonished at how God does his business. It is
so good and so wonderful that we are like them and say, how
can this be? It's an angel. It's something
else. Well, they declared unto them how the
Lord had brought him out of prison. And he said, go show these things
unto James and to the brethren. Now, this is another James. This
is James, the son of Alphaeus. We have, it's like Mike. Now as soon as it was day, there
was no small stir among the soldiers what was become of Peter, and
when Herod had sought for them and found him not, he examined
the keepers and commanded that they should be put to death.
And he went down to Caesarea, Judea to Caesarea and their abode. He commanded those keepers to
be put to death. Now it was a death sentence if
they lost a prisoner. But we find out who released
the prisoner, who opened the gates, who moved. We find that
God Almighty did that and released Peter and had those who held
him in tow executed. All right, so we're gonna find
out that God does these things. He's not quit doing these things. He's continuing to do these things.
We're here tonight by the wonderful grace of God. We're here meeting
together and worshiping the Lord by the grace of God, by His eternal
purpose, by His everlasting covenant. And so, as we think about Esther,
it says Esther, and going back to Esther chapter 4 and verse
16, would you? Esther chapter 4 and verse 16. She says here, I'm going before
the king. Esther chapter 4 verse 16. And
so will I go in unto the king which is not according to the
law. And if I perish, I perish. You
know this reminds me of four lepers. Jerusalem is all shut up because
of the lack of food, and the enemy has been there for a long
time. And they're eating stuff that
they shouldn't have to have eaten, but they did. And then those
four lepers said, if we go in, we die. If we stay here, we die.
Why don't we just go over there where those guys are? And if
they kill us, that's OK. Well, they got over them. The
Lord had taken care of every one of them. They had thought
there was an enemy coming, an army coming, and all it was was
in their ears. And they left, and left every
bit of the food, all the wine, all the drinks, all the clothing,
all the gold, all the silver. There. And they said to themselves,
you know, this is really wrong. If we just stay here and enjoy
it ourself, we better go tell someone else about it. Well,
that's the mission that we have. Go tell somebody else where we
found bread. That's our mission. All right.
We find in Esther, I think it's 13 times in Esther alone, this
word perish is mentioned. And sometimes it's translated
destroyed. Sometimes it's perish or perished. We find that it's a common word
in this passage of scripture, in this book of Esther, because
the threat that is put out against the Jews, against the people
of God. And so she confesses, if I perish, I perish. So in
verse 17 of this book, chapter four, it says, Mordecai went
his way, did according to all that Esther had commanded. What
was that? Folks, let's pray. Folks, don't complain about it. Let's fast. Let's pray. Let's
pray God's will. We want God's will done in this
matter. Now, Mordecai had already exercised a great deal of faith
in recognizing the fact that these Jews were not going to
be killed. It may not be under Esther, but somehow God is going
to preserve these Jews. So he had been given that faith.
It's the faith of God's elect. Mike brought up to me, he was
talking about this, I think, Sunday. It's a faithfulness of
God, faithfulness of the Lord that does that for us. So Mordecai
went his way and did according to all that Esther had commanded.
Now in the next chapter, we find that it came to pass in the third
day. She had asked for it. I don't know how many times in
scripture this reference to the third day is mentioned, but we
know of the most valuable and most important to the church,
and that is the resurrection day of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But here, three days of prayer and fasting have taken place.
It's been requested by the king. Now not only, excuse me, by the
queen. Not only is she queen, but she
is the wife of the king. And yet, she is in the same circumstance
as anybody else that comes into his presence. It doesn't matter
that she is the wife. It doesn't matter that she's
the queen. He has the right, if he so sees
fit, to have her executed for entering into his presence without
permission. Well, it tells us now, it came
to pass on the third day that Esther put on her royal apparel. Now, this is such an interesting
picture that we have. You know, we find in the scriptures
about a man that was at a wedding feast and he was identified as
not having on a wedding garment. Now, who provided her with this
garment that she's wearing? says she put on her royal apparel. Who provided the garment? The
king. It's not of her making. It's not of what she did that
she has. It has been a gift to her. Well,
my friends, our robe is a gift to us without our working. that robe of righteousness that
has been imputed to us. What a glorious robe that we
have, this robe of righteousness. It's a wedding garment, yes.
It's a robe of righteousness, yes. It's the imputed righteousness
of Christ, yes. It's not a literal robe. It is
acceptance with God because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. that He, our righteousness, His
work and ministry is imputed to us. So we find Esther's preparation
for going into the king, her husband, what a statement. Here, she dressed herself in
royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house,
over against the king's house, and the king sat upon his royal
throne in a royal house over against the gate of the house.
Now, we back up just a little bit in the previous chapter,
and we find out that this man has been influenced by Haman
to do something really, really stupid in his kingdom, and that
is execute all the Jews. We found out that when Nebuchadnezzar
brought those Jews out of Judah and out of Jerusalem, these were
the higher class. These were the the doctors, the
lawyers, the mathematicians, all of those people. And it's
really a dumb thing to get rid of those people in your kingdom.
But Haman persuaded him without even thinking about it. Ahasuerus
signed the order and it goes on. So she's in her royal apparel
at the royal throne and she is coming into the presence of the
king. You know, do you know the scriptures
tell us that we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. We all turn with me to the book
of Second Corinthians chapter five. You know, the preacher
used to use this scare me to death. This is not scary, this
is wonderful. Now, she said, if I perish, I
perish, but God had other things in mind, and we're gonna find
out in the very next verse, he drops that scepter, she comes
and touches the end of it, hallelujah. All right, over in the book of
2 Corinthians 5. In 2 Corinthians 5, verse one. 2 Corinthians 5, verse one. Now, in our translation, we have
in verse 10, I'm going to go back up in just a moment, but
I want you to read verse 10, the judgment seat of Christ. Now, we have all kinds of things
made out of that. One of the neat things that I
got to see, Nancy and I got to see, was the ruins of Corinth. And in the ruins of Corinth was
a pile of rock that once had been a place where a man in authority
judged over his people. And right in front of it was
the Greek word B-E-M-A. Now it's a different script in
Greek, but bima, that's what this word is. It's not a great
white throne judgment. It is God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and every one of his people will appear before him and say, what
you want to hear? Blessed art thou. Welcome to the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Everybody's gonna
stand before the Lord, but the people on the right hand. So
let's read this just a moment. In 1 Corinthians 4, we know that
if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we
have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in
the heavens. And we say, hallelujah. That's the end. We got that.
For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with
our house, which is from heaven. All right. God has given us peace
in this matter. The new birth has given us peace
in this matter. It goes on, and so be that being clothed we shall
not be found naked. Hallelujah, we got a covering.
She had a covering. She was accepted in the presence
of the King because she had a covering. For we that are in this tabernacle
do groan. What does that mean? In the flesh,
do groan, be in burden, not for that we would be unclothed, but
clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
Now he that hath wrought us for the self, same thing is God. What is that? God has worked
a work. who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
Therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at
home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk not
by faith, but by sight." Here, we walk by faith, not by sight.
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from
the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour
that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For
we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, the
behemoth seat, the place of authority, that every one may receive the
things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether
it be good or bad. Now what has he done in our body? He has given us the Spirit of
God in the new birth. He's not waiting for us to decide
at that point, have we done enough good to outweigh our bad? There's
no way we can have that. But we do have that the Lord
himself has made us accepted in the beloved. We are to receive
there the things done in the body, whether by the things of
regeneration, brought on the Lord's people in bringing them
into the justified state before God, everybody that's on the
right-hand side appears before Him in a justified state. We
have a robe of righteousness. We're not there trying to figure
out whether we're gonna make it or not. We're there saying,
hallelujah, we made it. We're in the presence of our
King. And He's the one who says, welcome. You know what? He's
gonna let us touch that scepter. His authority. He's going to
let us touch His authority. By His authority, we've been
raised from the spiritual dead. By His authority, He's given
us the new birth. By His authority, we've walked
in newness of life. And so he goes on to say, wrought
in the Lord's people in bringing them into a justified state before
God are those found in guilt. in Adam's nature. But this is
not the time when it's going to be decided. This is the time
when it is yes, no, welcome, depart. It's not going to have
any changes there. There is no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus, for they are passed from death into
life and are freely justified in the grace which is in Christ
Jesus. So over in the book of Isaiah
chapter 53, we have a wonderful verse of scripture. That whole
chapter, well, the whole book, in fact, But this chapter 53
of the book of Isaiah, verse 11, look at this with me. This is the whole crux of the
matter. He shall see the travail of his
soul. God the Father shall see the
travail of his son's soul and shall be satisfied. The Godhead
shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Now he got a coat he did not
deserve, but he gives us a coat we didn't deserve. The robe of
righteousness, the righteousness of Christ. And also over in the
book of Acts chapter 13, Acts chapter 13, Acts 13, verse 36. Excuse me, 39. Be it known unto
you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. Acts 13 and then verse 39, And
by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye
could not be justified by the law of Moses. By Him all that
believe are justified from all things. Now we didn't get that
by the works of the law, we got that by grace. Free and sovereign
grace. He that believeth shall be saved,
he that believeth not shall be damned. So, Esther in her suit,
her royal apparel, steps into the presence of the king, and
notice, going back to the book of Esther again, if you would
with me, the book of Esther, chapter five, we find these words
that she's been hoping for, praying for, came to fruition. She is his wife. She is the queen
and she is dressed to the nines in royal apparel. Esther chapter five, verse two. And it was so when the king saw
Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained
favor. What a blessing to have obtained
favor. It wasn't by what she did. It's
the move that God put on the king. The king held out to Esther
the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther drew near
and touched the top of the scepter. She obtained favor. What else
can we say but thank you, God. Thank you. Oh, to have the favor
of God. The favor of God was demonstrated
by having a lamb before the foundation of the world, having names written
in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world,
having it all worked out, doing all that he purposed before he
ever created Adam and ever created Eve and ever there was a fall,
he had everything prepared ahead of time. He had his son. He had their names. He had the
purpose of the Son. The Lamb was going to give His
life, a ransom. So, as we go through here, we
find the King held out to Esther the golden scepter, official
recognition and acceptance. And I like that verse over in
Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 6, to the praise of the glory
of His grace wherein He hath made us. accepted in the Beloved. He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. And the only way he can do that
is by the new birth. And the only way he can provide
that is have put all our sins away. All sins will be put away. So, we're going to find out here
in the book of Esther chapter five. As we go just a little
bit further there, Esther chapter five and verse three. And then said the king unto her,
what wilt thou? Queen Esther. What is thy request? It shall be given thee to half
of the kingdom. What a statement King Ahasuerus
makes to his wife, to the queen, to a Jewess, to a child of God. How that rings out with regard
to the church's stand in Christ, what wilt thou? What is your request? It shall
be given thee to half the kingdom. And we find out over there in
the Book of Acts, or excuse me, the Book of Romans, as we read
earlier, it's the Holy Spirit that makes us, that intercedes
for us the will of God. How glorious that is for the
church to have the Holy Spirit with all power and all authority
purpose us in the will of God. What a glorious position the
church is in to have that robe of righteousness and to have
all the care, all the care, and all the care that the triune
God will give. We're going to stop there tonight.
And Lord willing, we'll pick this up next time as we go into
the book of Esther chapter five, and we find out what Esther's
request is.