He went to a doctor yesterday,
a specialist down in Knoxville. We've been concerned about him,
praying for him, and he's had some problems. And he got really
good news yesterday and said if anything was different,
they'd call him. He's got some kind of a strange thing about
his red blood cells that's different than most folks. We're very thankful that they
had good news. He almost became charismatic yesterday when the
doctor told him it wasn't near as serious as he thought it was.
I think that's strange how our mind always goes to the worst,
you know. That's just us. That's just human
nature. But ready, willing for whatever
the Lord does. We're very thankful. Very thankful.
The Lord is so gracious to His people. Now here in Esther, the book
of Esther. There's a couple of things about Esther. It talks
about God's providence in a special way in this book. You know, there's
two books in the Bible that God's name is not mentioned in. Esther,
God's name is not mentioned in the Book of Esther. And God's
name is not mentioned in the Song of Solomon. But yet, when
you read either one of those books, it's obvious to see that
the psalm is solid, and Christ is talking to his church, and
his church is answering her back. They're showing their great love
affair between one another. And he has great love for us.
And in Esther, in God's providence, John Flavel wrote a book one
time called The Mystery of Providence. If you ever get an opportunity
to get a hold of that in paperback or something, you'd enjoy reading
it. But God's providence, and when
he starts something, it just means God governing the affairs
of this life, animate or inanimate objects. He controls the affairs
of everything that happens in this world, and the main reason
he does that, the main purpose beyond it, because of it, is
that he preserved the seed the lineage of our Lord Jesus Christ
till he comes on this earth, and then he governs the lives
of his people to bring them to faith in Christ and all of his
people in the Old Testament to that, and to preserve his people. Now, the only reason he preserved
these Jews here in Esther, and this is what I believe, is that
God's going to preserve a remnant according to the election of
grace, again, to preserve the seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. and to keep that seed pure till
Christ himself should come. And Esther here is a beautiful,
oh, what a providence of God in the way he does things in
this world. And what it is is just a historic
narrative of events that took place in the king's house in
Shushan in Persia when Ezra and Nehemiah and Esther and Darius
is this king. And Lazarus is his title. And because God's name is not
mentioned in it, you cannot help but see God's hand in it. I remember
Dale Simpson was here one time, and he brought a message from
this. I don't remember just exactly what it was, but I remember listening
to it, and it was really good. And here I want to deal with
this tonight, and there's four principal characters. I want
to deal with the story, and then the four principal characters
in this story. Ahasuerus, his name means venerable
father. He's Xerxes. He's the son of
Darius. And you know Darius is mentioned,
and you find Darius in the book of Daniel. He was a prominent
figure in Daniel. He was the one that signed the
law that sentenced Daniel to the lion's den. And he couldn't
go back on that law. And that's the way God is. He
can't go back on his own law. And so it means venerable father.
Then Mordecai. He's a prominent character in
this. His name means little man. Esther. Esther. I love the name
Esther. Her names means star. And then
Haman. He's a character in this, and
he's an evil character. His name means magnificent. And
so here we come. I've done read it to you in chapter
one. The king held a great, great party, great feast. And he had
a feast for 180 days. That's six months. He fed every
ball of the princes and all of his servants that came around
for six months. He fed them and had a great big
party. And then they all went home.
They all went back to where they was. He decided he won't have
another. And this time they had it in the king's gardens, and
you described all the hangings they had, and the gold, and all
the cups that they drank out of, and not one cup was exactly
the same. Of all those gold cups, it was
all made different, all looked different. Not one of them was
the same. And he called for Vashti, his wife, to come. Her name means
beautiful. And she didn't want to come.
She didn't want to come. And the king divorced her. He
said, you know, put her away and find somebody more honorable
than her. Don't ever let her be in your
presence ever again. And that's all it took for a
king. King could have just as well had her slain as he could
have anything. But he just said, she ain't coming
in my presence. So in chapter 2, what happens is, as we tell
the story, the king sends a decree out and says, bring all the Pharisee
virgins in the land. Bring them from all the 27...
Bring all the Pharisee virgins around here. And they put a man
in charge of all those virgins, and those virgins, they had to
have a purification time, and they'd go through six months
of this and six months of that, and they'd be there a year before
they could ever even go into the presence of the king. And
so here comes, God put Esther in there. Mordecai, she didn't
have a father, she didn't have a mother, and Mordecai was her
uncle. And so he took her to be his daughter, and he raised
her. And so here she is, and oh, she's just beautiful. And
look down here in chapter 2 and verse 15. Now, when the turn of Esther,
the daughter of Abiel, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her
for his daughter, was come to go in under the king, she required
nothing but what Haggai, the king's chamberlain, the keeper
of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favor in
the sight of all them that looked upon her. So Esther was taken
unto King Ahasuerus, unto his royal house-royal in the tenth
month, which is the tenth month Tebeth, in the seventh year of
his reign." Now, he done put Bastia away four years ago. It was in the third year of his
reign when he put her away. So four years has passed. And
look what it says, "'And the king loved Esther above all the
women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than
all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown upon her head
and made her queen instead of Esther.'" So she became the queen. And then here something else
happened. Now, we've got two characters, Hazarus, the king,
and Esther. Now, here's a third character,
Haman. Everybody remembers about Haman.
And the king in chapter 3, he promoted a man named Haman, it
says in chapter 3 and verse 1. After these things did King Ahasuerus
promote Haman, the son of Hamadath, the Agagite, and advanced him
and set his seat above all the princes that were with him. and
all the king's servants that were in the king's gate bowed
and referenced Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning
him." But now listen to it. Here's a third character, fourth
character, third character. Mordecai bowed not, nor did him
reference. Mordecai said, I ain't going
to bow to him. He's a heathen and I ain't bowing.
He's a heathen, heathen, you don't have to wait. God always
had a people. Daniel would not stop praying. The three Hebrew children wouldn't
bow to the image that the king made. So all these men have some
principle, they have some integrity, they have some grace. God blessed
them so they would not bow and come into conformity to the world. And boy, everybody bowed to him
except Mordecai. And look what it says in verse
5 here of chapter 3. And when Haman saw that Mordecai
bowed not, nor did him reverence, then Haman was full of wrath. Everybody bowed to him but one
man. That's the only one that he was interested in. That one
man. And so Haman, what he did, As
he devised a way to destroy all the Jews, Mordecai included,
he said, I'll figure out a way. I'll make this fellow get rid
of all these Jews. I'll devise a way. And what he
did, is that he went to the king and he says, there's a people
out here that they got their own laws, they got their own
way of doing things, and they don't pay any attention to your
laws. And so he lied to them about a lot of things about it.
And he had the king sign a decree that these people, these Jews,
under one of them, be slain on a certain day in all his 27 provinces. And he signed the decree and
sent it out. Boy, and it's just said here
in verse 14 of chapter 3, excuse me, verse 13, and the letters
were sent by post into all the king's provinces to destroy,
to kill, and to cause to perish all Jews, both young and old,
little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth
day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take
the spoils of them for a prey. Take everything they got for
yourself. And all the posts went out. My goodness, you think about
somebody sending out an enemy to kill everybody. I don't care
how old they are, young, old, babies, mothers, I want them
all dead. Now you're talking about hatred
and enmity in a man's heart. And what did they do to our Savior
if they hated Him without a cause? They despised and rejected him.
He was born to be despised and rejected, and God's people have
always been that way. And beloved, I'll tell you what,
these Jews looked like they were going to be eliminated. It looks
like God's promise is not going to be kept. His purpose is going
to be defeated, that Christ would not come into the world from
the seed of Abraham. And I, beloved, and all God's
elect would forever perish if this takes place. Now it looks
like everything against God's people. Everything going to destroy
His people. Listen. You know what he said? You know
what Peter preached on the day of Pentecost? He said, you, Him
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you took Him. God delivered Him, but you took
Him. And he said, you've done before what God before to be
ordained unto his holy child Jesus. Everything's happened
in this world, but you can watch God's hand in it. And the history,
you know what history is? It's that we look back on history,
that's God's story. And we'll get up tomorrow and
we'll look back on today, and that'll be God's history then.
And God knows the history of this whole world before he ever
put it into existence. As far as he's concerned, everything's
history. It's already been done. And it's
all been written right here, and I believe it, don't you?
He wrote my story, and he wrote it in the blessed blood of his
Son. He wrote my story, and that's why the Scriptures tell us that
the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath
shall thou restrain. And that's why we mean that we
know that all things work together for God's blessed people, for
their good. And that whom He did foreknow
of Him, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son. And moreover, whom He did call,
did He predestinate, He also called whom He called, He justified
whom He justified, He also glorified. There's never been an answer
in the past tense. That's what I'm telling you. It's history.
It's history. And I tell you, God rules this
universe and everything that goes on. God's hand. What's God
doing? Doing His will. Working all things out to the
counsel of His own will. Doing whatsoever pleases Him
in the heavens and the earth and the sea and in all deep places.
And no wonder the apostle said, Oh, the depth of the riches of
both the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are
His judgments and His ways past finding out. Who's ever known
the mind of the Lord? Who has known the mind of the
Lord? Who has ever counseled Him? Who has gave to Him and
God has turned around and said, I owe you this. For of Him, through
Him, to Him are all things to whom be glory, both now and forever. Amen. God's providence is God
secretly and sovereignly working His will. And we see it working
out right here in the book of Esther. And I'll tell you something
that happens. Now, here's this decree went
out, I want all this, just because the more it had, it would knock
down. Just hang him. He said, I want every Jew killed.
I said, you think they won't, you think he won't bow to me?
He said, I'll just destroy all of them. I'll destroy all of
them. But when something happens, God
always has somebody in place. You know, his, Joseph's brethren,
they hated him, they despised him, he prophesied to them, that
you're all going to bow down to me. He says, my own mother
and father's going to bow down to me. And of course, that's typical
of Christ. Everyone's going to bow to Christ. And they sold
him as a slave, and he went down into Egypt, and he was lied on,
he was put in prison, and God took him out of prison and put
him on the throne. And then when those brethren
came down there that hated Him, and when He made Himself known
to them, they said, Oh no! We're going to test this stuff.
He's going to destroy us for sure. And He began to weep and
said, You know, you meant it for evil. Everything you did
to me, you done it out of hatred and evil and wickedness. But
said, You know what God did while you was doing that? God sent
me. You meant it for evil. Men meant
it for evil to crucify the Son of God. Them princes and the
Pharisees and the priests, they said, this man, blasphemous,
says he's God. We've got to get rid of him.
And so they meant it evil to crucify Christ. And they meant
it evil to get rid of Joseph. And yet Joseph says, you know
what God did? He said, He sent me before you.
You meant it evil, but God's in this. He sent me before you. Just to give you life. To save
you. And I'm not going to hold anything
against you. In fact, bring them something to eat. That's what our Lord Jesus said.
I'm that bread that came down from heaven. Here, eat. Here,
eat. And that's what God's always
got somebody in place. And look here in Hebrews. Excuse
me, Hebrews. Esther. Esther heard about this. Mordecai heard about all this
and how awful it was. And you know God's going to watch
out for His people. And this says here in verse,
then more than chapter 4, in verse 12. And they told the Mordecai, Esther's
words, you know, that you cannot come into the presence of the
king unless he bids you come in. And if you come in there
without being asked, he can kill you. Then Mordecai commanded
to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape
in the king's house more than all the Jews." If you're a Jew,
you know living in the king's house is not going to save you.
For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then
thou shalt enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another
place. God's going to save his people, that's what Mordecai
said. He said, if you hold your peace, God's going to save us
from someplace else. But thou and thy father's house
shall be destroyed. And who knoweth, now listen here,
and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such
a time as this? Maybe God, maybe God put you
here. He said, God put you here. Maybe
this is the reason you're there. And so what happens was, she
says, well, I've got to go into it. He said, you go into the
king's presence. And watch what happens now. She goes into the
king's presence. Now, listen to me. You cannot
go into the king's presence. This right here, this teaches
us anything. Men cannot, if an earthly person
cannot go into a king's presence, go into a king's court, without
being invited. And then if you come in there,
and if that king does not hold forth his scepter to you, they're
going to take you out of there, and they're going to destroy
you. Now, that's the law. I mean, you know, if you think
I can get in the Queen of England's When one of those young princes
becomes king here in a few years, you reckon they'll let me walk
up to the court and say, I'd like to see the king? That don't
happen. And that's the way it is with Christ. People think
they can just waltz up into the presence of Christ and just say,
Jesus, in His eyes. And He's ready and willing to
jump to when they say to. But if earthly people can't go
into the presence of earthly kings, How much more shall fleshly
people go into the presence of the King of kings and Lord of
lords? But she's got to go into the
presence of the King and she's got to plead the cause of her
people. And so Mordecai went his way
and did according to that Esther I commanded. You go and gather
everybody and have them start praying. Now it came to pass
in chapter 5, on the third day that Esther put on her 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 the royal house over against the gate of the house."
Now, she's standing over here out of the way. She's the queen. She's got on a robe. She's got
on her crown. And it was so. When the king saw Esther, the
queen, standing in the court, that she had taken favor in his
sight. Oh my! I've got to back up a little
bit. Look back out here at verse 16
of chapter 4. Go, gather together all the Jews
that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither
eat nor drink three days or nights. I also and my maids will fast
likewise, and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according
to the law. If I perish, I perish." Now,
that's the only thing we can do when you go into the king.
I've got the glory of the king. If I perish, I perish. But I'm
going into the presence of the king. I want to go plead my case. I want to go plead my cause.
I want to go ask for mercy. And so she did that, and then
in verse 2, And it was so, when the king saw Esther, the queen
standing, that she obtained favor in his sight, and listened. And
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. You know, the scepter of righteousness. And he holds it out, and oh Lord,
let me touch it. Oh, he gives us that righteousness.
Oh, bless his holy name. And so Esther, she went in there,
and so later, after she told him all that was going to happen,
and Esther said, if this seemed good, in verse 4, unto the king,
let the king and Haman come this day unto a banquet that I have
prepared for them. So they prepared a banquet the
next day. And then all of a sudden, the
king couldn't sleep. He got where he could sleep.
Now what would cause him not to sleep? What would cause him
not to sleep? And on that night, chapter 6,
now watch this. And he commanded to bring the
book of the records of the chronicles that were read before the king.
You know, we read the king's chronicles of David and Solomon
and all the other kings and Hezekiah and Josiah. Well, they had chronicles
then and it was found written. Now listen to this. that Mordecai
had told of Biphanah and Teresh, two of the king's chamberlains,
the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king
of Ahasuerus. And you go back to chapter 2
and you'll find where that happened. He said, word that there's two
men, I heard them talking, they're going to try to kill you. And
the king said, what honor and dignity has been done to Mordecai
for this? See, the king don't know yet
that Esther's a Jew, and he don't know who Mordecai is. He said,
well, what's been done for this honor and dignity been done for
Mordecai for this? Then the king's servants that
ministered unto him said, nothing's done for him. Nothing's done
for him. Well, about that time, Haman
walks in. He despises Mordecai. And the
king says, well, what are we going to do to honor old Mordecai? And well, he walks in, and the
king asked him a question. And verse 4, and the king said,
Who's in the court? Now Haman was come into the outward
court of the king's house to speak unto the king. Now listen
to this, to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared
for him. Oh my, he had prepared a gallows
for him. Made it 50 cubits high. Made
it 50 cubits high. And, O beloved, in the king's
service said unto him, Behold, Haman stands at the court. And
the king said, Let him come in. So Haman came in, and the king
said unto him, What shall be done unto the man unto whom the
king delights to honor?" Old Haman, you know, he thought,
Boy, oh boy, man, I am somebody around here now. I've arrived. Haman thought in his heart, To
whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself?
And Haman answered the king for the man to whom the king's delight
to honor. Let the royal apparel be brought
which the king uses to wear, the horse that the king rides
upon, the crowned wall which he sets upon his head. Let this
apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's
most noble princes, that they may arraign the man with him,
whom the king delighteth to honor, and bring him on horseback through
the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be
done, to the man whom the king delighteth to honor." Now listen
to this, Then the king said to Haman, May Cain take the apparel
and the horse, and hast thou said, and do even so to Mordecai
the Jew? God knows how, you know, we hear
that old story, God knows how to give a man enough rope. Well,
He gave this fellow all the rope he needed, and he hung himself. He thought, boy, I've
got, I'm running this whole outfit. About that time. Can you imagine
how he felt? He took all that king's apparel,
took that king's horse that the king rides on, took his crown,
and had to go out there and put it on board. put him up on that
horse, put that crown on his head and in the hole of the horse
and brought him through town, sent him and prayed to him by
God down before him. Can you imagine how this man
felt? God abases the proud. God resists the proud. He hates
a proud look. Oh my. You know, that's why we
walk by faith, not by sight. God's hand of providence, no
matter what, whether it's in the king's palace or whether
it's in our little houses, God takes care of his people. And
oh, beloved, you know, there's so many things here for us to
show us about Esther, about how she interceded for the Jews there. And beloved, how she said, I'll
go into the king's If I perish, I just perish. Here she is, and
she intercedes for them. And she's willing to lay down
her life for her people. And that's the way our Lord Jesus
Christ is for us. He intercedes for us. And everything
He accomplished for us, saved us. And I'll tell you something,
here's another picture too. When Esther went into that king's
presence. She was there at that king's
mercy. Either he could reject her or
accept her. Give her grace and hold forth
to accept her or not. And that's the way we are. We've
always got access to the throne of grace. We can come to the
throne of grace and obtain mercy. Huh? In our time of need. In our time of need. Do you notice
how that says that? In our time of need. And you
know the only time we'll really go to the throne of grace to
obtain mercy is when we're in need. I mean, if we're not in
need for ourselves, somebody else is in need, so we take their
need. But we go to the throne of grace when there's a need
to obtain mercy in a time of need. And beloved, I tell you,
come boldly to the throne of grace. Come boldly. And I tell
you what, do like Esther did. I'm going to go perish. If I
perish, I perish. And let's bow before the throne
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then I want you to see this
in chapter 8. So she had a feast. She had this
great feast. And Haman was hanged on his own
gallows because he was the one who The king, you know, when
Esther told him what had happened and how he'd done this evil and
all this, he told him, take him and hang him on his own gallows.
And it says down there in chapter 7, verse 9 and 10. You read chapter
7. You know, this is just ten chapters
long. And it is just wonderful reading. Just wonderful reading.
And chapter 9, in Harbonne, one of the chamblers 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. So they hanged Haman on the gallows
that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.
And look down here in chapter 8, verse 8. The king made a decree. And it says in verse 7, Then
the king Ahasuerus said unto 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. Now listen, Write ye also 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 sealed with the king's ring may no man
reverse." And beloved, our Lord Jesus Christ sealed the covenant
with His precious blood, and it cannot never be altered. It's the blood of the everlasting
covenant. The purpose and decree of God
will never be changed, never be changed. And I want to show
you one other thing here, and then I'm through in chapter 10.
And I'll tell you, they ruled over their enemies. They ruled
over their enemies. In chapter 9, let me show you
this real quick before I move into the last thing. Look what
happens. These Jews now, not only were
they going to be destroyed, now they're going to rule. Now in
the twelfth month, that is the month Adar, on the thirteenth
day of the same, When the king's commandment and his decree drew
near to be put in execution in the day that the enemies of the
Jews hoped to have power over them, though it was turned contrary
that the Jews had rule over them, that hated them." Everybody, Christ is going to
make his enemies his footstool. And then look in chapter 10 and
verse 3, and may God make us like Mordecai in this way. Chapter
10, verse 3, For Mordecai the Jew was next unto King Ahasuerus,
and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of
his brethren, now listen to it, seeking the wealth of his people,
and seeking peace to all his seed. May God make us like that. May God make us seek the good
of all of His people. May God give us the grace to
do everything seeking the peace and prosperity of all His dear
people while we're in this world. May God make us that way. And
His providence never fails, never fails. He carries out His will
in this world.