We're going to be reading from
Esther chapter six. I want to take the time to read
the whole of chapter six. It's not a particularly long
chapter, but also chapter seven as well. So we are continuing
in the story of Esther. I know one or two of you haven't
been here since the beginning of this series. I would encourage
you, if you have not already done so, go back and listen to
the recordings that are available from the beginning of Esther.
I think you'll be blessed by Esther. even just the reading
of these chapters and perhaps some of the thoughts that we've
been able to share together in them. It's a lovely story of
Esther and probably a story we all feel as if we're familiar
with until we start reading it again and think of the depth
and the profundity of God's workings in the lives of his people. So we're going to read Esther
chapter six and verse one. On that night could not the king
sleep. And he commanded to bring the
book of the records of the chronicles, and they were read before the
king. And it was found written that
Mordecai had told of Begthana and Teresh, two of the king's
chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand
on the king Ahasuerus, And the king said, what honour and dignity
have been done to Mordecai for this? Then said the king's servants
that ministered unto him, there is nothing done for him. And
the king said, who is in the court? Now Haman was come into
the outward court of the king's house to speak unto the king
to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. And the king's servants said
unto him, Behold, Haman standeth in 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 whom the king
delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart,
to whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself? And Haman answered the king,
for the man whom the king delighteth to honour, let the royal apparel
be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the
king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head. And let this apparel and horse
be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes,
that they may array the man withal, whom the king delighteth to honour,
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 honour. Then the king said to Haman,
Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said,
and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king's
gate. Let nothing fail of all that
thou hast spoken. Then took Haman the apparel on
the horse and arrayed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback
through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus
shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour. And Mordecai came again to the
king's gate. But Haman hasted to his house
mourning, and having his head covered, And Haman told Zeresh
his wife and all his friends everything that had befallen
him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh
his wife unto him, If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before
whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against
him, but shalt surely fall before him. And while they were yet
talking with him, came the king's chamberlains, and hasted to bring
Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared. So the king and
Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen. The king said again
unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What
is thy petition, Queen Esther? And it shall be granted thee.
And what is thy request? And it shall be performed even
to the half of the kingdom. Then Esther the Queen answered
and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, O King, and if
it please the King, let my life be given me at my petition and
my people at my request. For we are sold, I and my people,
to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had
been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although
the enemy could not countervail the king's damage. Then the king
Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he and
where is he that durst presume in his heart to do so? And Esther
said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman
was afraid before the king and the queen. And the king, arising
from the banquet of wine in his wrath, went into the palace garden,
and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen,
for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the
king. Then the king returned out of
the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine, and Haman
was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was. Then said the king,
Will he force the queen also before me in the house? As the
word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face. And
Harbona, 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
thereon. So they hanged Haman on the gallows
that he had prepared for Mordecai. then was the king's wrath pacified. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading also from his word. We must never confuse the Lord's meekness for weakness, or his long-suffering, his patience,
for indecision. I have often marvelled, personally,
that the Lord was not so offended at some particular incident that
occurs, that he did not simply come and lay waste to his enemies
and to his adversaries. That he was not so offended at
some particular incident that he simply came and destroyed
his antagonists there and then. I don't know. caused the ground
to open up or a bolt of lightning to strike them dead, blots them
out, dispatches an angel with a drawn sword and slays them,
sends down fire from heaven as in the day of Elijah. Recently, I was reading about
a young Baptist preacher in Switzerland some time ago. His name was Felix
Manz, and it was in the early 16th century, and he was preaching
believers' baptism, and he was preaching his Anabaptist views. And he was condemned by the city
council in Zurich and by a man called Ulrich Zwingli, whom some
of you may have heard of, a Protestant reformer. He was condemned to
be drowned in the river Limmat at Zurich. The river flows out
of the lake at Zurich. and his arms were tied behind
his knees and a stick was pushed through between his knees and
his arms and he was taken out on a boat into the river and he was pushed over the side. And his last words as he went
into the water was, into thy hands, O God, I commend my spirit. He was attended by a reformed
minister whose job it was to keep him quiet. And from the banks of the river,
his mother shouted to him to be brave because soon he would
receive his crown of glory. Just a young man preaching the
doctrines that we would hold today, preaching for baptism
and separation from church and state, principles that we would
hold valuable today, and Zwingli, of all people, sentencing him
to death in that way. And I wonder, and I wonder, Why
did the Lord allow that execution to take place? Why didn't he
prevent it in some way? And there are many other examples
that we could call upon and cull from church history, from the
history of Scripture. When we read of that cloud or
that crowd of witnesses that were spoken of in Hebrews, we
see that people of faith have suffered down through the ages.
Why did the Lord allow Herod to kill James so soon after the
establishment of the apostolic ministry? This one who had attended
with John and Peter to the very most intimate parts of the Lord's
testimony, taken away so quickly by Herod, a wicked man. Why would
the Lord allow that? Why did he let Stephen, that
good man, that man of powerful preaching, be slain, be stoned
to death by the Jews? Or Paul the apostle? to be killed
at Rome. Why does the Lord allow His church
and His people to face these trials and this hardship? Well, let me give you two good
reasons. For our good and for His glory. For our good and for His glory. Our Lord Jesus Christ, make no
mistake about it, is coming to judge this world. And shall not
the judge of all the earth do right? He will judge this world
in righteousness, and nothing will be left undealt with. In Matthew chapter 10 and verse
28, we read, Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able
to kill the soul. But rather fear him which is
able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows
sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall
on the ground without your father. the very hairs of your head are
all numbered. Your Heavenly Father, brothers
and sisters this morning, your Heavenly Father knows exactly
what you need. He knows all that you need and
you are according to the testimony of Scripture and the very promise
of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who cannot lie and who cannot
speak anything but the truth. You are safe in the palm of his
hand. And God's purpose is perfect. God's ways are perfect. God's means are perfect. and God's timing is perfect. And he is accomplishing his perfect
purpose according to his will in full knowledge of everything
that is happening and everything that his people need in this
world. This is the testimony of Esther. I hope you're enjoying Esther
as much as I am. This is the testimony of God's
working with his people, of God's bringing to pass his people's
deliverance in sometimes the most inconspicuous ways, in ways
that we wouldn't think could possibly work. And yet we see
here in these studies that the Lord Jesus Christ is saving his
sheep day by day, is bringing to pass all those things that
are good for his people, delivering his church, protecting his own,
destroying his enemies. Herod slew James. It's absolutely
right. He took him and he slew him with
the sword. And a short time afterwards,
Herod was dead. The Jews at Jerusalem took Stephen
and they put him in the middle of a group of men and they stoned
him to death. And within a few short years,
Jerusalem was obliterated almost off the face of the earth. destroyed. And Paul did go to Rome and we
assume lost his life there. But where are the Roman legions
today and where is the power of Rome today? Our God is on
his throne and he will hold all men and women accountable for
the things that they have said and done. These are all examples of the
Lord Jesus Christ's great victory over Satan. I did want to mention at this
point also that within four years of Ulrich Zwingli drowning that
young man in the limit, Zwingli himself had been killed on the
battlefield fighting against the Catholic opposition. Luke
chapter 11 verse 21 says, When a strong man armed keepeth his
palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he shall
come upon him and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour
wherein he trusted. and divideth his spoils. That
is a picture of Satan as that strong man armed who keeps the
people of God, the church of God, the elect of God bound in
their sin and in their guilt and in their blindness to the
things of God. But the Lord Jesus Christ is
one who is stronger than he, who is stronger than Satan. And
the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world in order to liberate
his people, to free his people, to redeem his people, to buy
his people back, to save his people from their sins, to release
them from the bondage of Satan and darkness and the fear of
death. So we can be like the children
of Israel who stood with Moses at the Red Sea, with the hosts
of the Egyptians coming down behind them. And Moses says to
his people in Exodus 14, verse 13, fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the
Lord. which he will show to you today. This world can be a confusing
place. There's lots of things happening
in it which we think are dangerous and troublesome, causes to fear, causes to worry,
Whether it is the powers that be, whether it is the weaknesses
that we encounter in our societies, whether it's the challenges and
the fear that is generated by sin in the lives of men and women,
whether it is the weaknesses and frailties of our own body,
there is lots and lots which causes the believer anxiety in
this life. The testimony of Esther and the
testimony of Moses and the testimony of Scripture is that one who
is stronger has come, that the Lord Jesus Christ is here, that
we can stand still and watch the salvation of the Lord this
day. Let's think about Esther for
a moment. My first heading here is insomnia for a king. I was never good at maths at
school. Never, never good at maths. So then somebody said, well,
it's not maths, it's statistics. And I thought, well, that's good.
And then I realised that statistics was for people who were clever
at maths. But see, statistics always baffled
me. What are the chances? I don't
know. But when we come to read about
King Ahasuerus, you've got to say, what are the chances? What are the chances that all
of these things that happened to King Ahasuerus would end in
the way that they did? The man couldn't sleep. Okay,
there's a lot of people who don't sleep. But he had just spent
the day at a banquet of wine. If anything was likely to cause
him to want to sleep, it would be his drunken state. What were the chances that he
couldn't sleep after having had all this wine? So he calls for
some entertainment. He might have called for someone
soft. Or he might have called for some
singers to give him a lullaby. Or a musician to play the harp
while he tried to get to sleep. But he didn't. He called for
the history books of the nation that they might be read before
him. The record of the chronicles.
What were the chances of that? And where to begin in these great
tomes of the records of the Chronicles? Well, begin where you left off
the last time. I don't remember where that was. Well, just open it somewhere
and start reading. Pick a page. What were the chances
that he would rest upon the story of Mordecai and the deliverance
of the king from his enemies? What are the chances? So the
statisticians amongst us can start to perhaps conceive of
what the likelihood of this might be. And then as he sits there,
an idea pops into his head, and he says, did Mordecai ever get
any reward? No, the answer comes, he never
did. You see, all things, work together for good to those who
love the Lord. But that's more than simply saying
that it will turn out all right in the end. That's saying that
every single little part and piece of the whole, all things
are for our good. Now Mordecai believed that it
would be. We saw that last week. He believed that there would
be deliverance come to the Jews. If not from Esther, then from
somewhere else. Such was his faith. Such was
that confidence that he had on the messianic promises. that
he had learned as a Jew. The Messiah was coming. He would
come of the Jews. He would come of the seed of
Abraham. And therefore he knew that Haman's
scheme to completely exterminate, to destroy all of the Jews couldn't
possibly come to pass. But how does that faith, that
hope, That confidence in the purpose
and the way and the promises of God translate from the circumstances
where he's looking at a piece of paper which says that in a
few months time every single Jew is going to be destroyed.
And it's written in the laws of the Medes and the Persians,
the unalterable law of the empire. But here we see it, bit by bit,
piece by piece, God working these things into being. From the sleep
problem of Ahasuerus to the hero of the empire in four easy steps. It's amazing. The providence
of God. And in all of this, think about
this for a moment, in all of this that was transpiring in
the king's bedchamber, Mordecai knew nothing about it at all.
It was all happening completely oblivious to him. So Mordecai,
like the Samaritans in Israel at the time of the Syrian siege,
he was completely oblivious to the fact that God was working
these things. Now take that and personalise it, apply that to
yourself. Are you worried about something?
Then isn't it just that the solution to that problem is being worked
out right now and you just don't know about it? Fear you not. Stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you this
day. I want to think about the shaming
of Haman for a moment. How are the mighty fallen and
the weapons of war perished? It was said, spoken in a different
context, but perhaps there is a contrast and comparison there
to be made. Haman had come into the court
of Ahasuerus with the express purpose of seeking permission
to hang Mordecai on a gallows 50 cubits high that he had placed
in his garden. That very moment Haman walks
into the court of the king. The very moment at which Ahasuerus
decides that he is going to honour the man who saved him all that
time ago. Haman has no time to ask the
king for permission to hang Mordecai because the king speaks first.
And he invites ideas from Haman about how the man whom he delights
to honour should be treated, should be dealt with. And we
see that Haman's pride soars. He thinks that he must be talking
about me. I think what we take from this
downfall of Haman is this. that the judgment of God will
not be done in secret. When God brings his retribution
against the wicked, it will be open and it will be evident and
it will be observable. And we will see the mighty fallen.
And certainly one young man that is drowned in a European river
didn't live to see his enemies slain. but we can have confidence
that God will hold all men accountable for the things that have been
done against his church and against his people. When the Lord defeats
his enemies, he does so emphatically. Pharaoh's army was washed up
on the beach, every last man of them. washed up on the beach
for the children of Israel to stand and look at. The first
one gets washed up in the waves and then there's another one
and then there's another one and then the whole host of Egypt
starts to fill the water and they saw the judgment of God
falling upon their enemies. Goliath fell on his face in the
dirt before David, the shepherd boy. You know what David did
then? Do you know what he did to him?
I know what you're going to say. He went up and he cut his head
off. No, he didn't. Not first. The first thing that David did
was he went up and stood on him. He stood on him. He put him under
his feet. And then he took his sword out
and cut his head off. And Israel saw it, and the Philistines
saw it, because this man had come out to defy the Lord God
of hosts. God will bring his retribution,
and he will bring it emphatically. When the world messes with Christ's
church, it does so at its peril. Now I'm not talking about religion
there, because very often it is religion that is the tool
of Satan to oppress Christ's church. But when Christ defeats
Satan, When Christ came to the cross, when Christ went to the
grave, when Christ broke the bands of hell, when he laid low
Satan, when he rose from the grave, when he defeated death. We're told in Colossians 2, verse
15, having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. And that's what happened
to Haman. He was made a show in his defeat,
and he was caused to bring Mordecai, whom he sought to destroy, through
the streets of Shushan as the one who was honoured by the king.
Here's another point to note. Mordecai, we're told in verse
12 of chapter 6, After he had been led through the streets
in the king's clothes and the king's horse, he came again to
the king's gate. After that honour had been given
to him, Mordecai returned to the place where he was always
to be found. That's where he spent his time.
He seems to have been an official in the palace at some lower level. And he goes back. So he's taken
through Shushan, given all these accolades, all this praise. Everybody
stands and wonders that of all the people to honour him, so
it's Haman that leads him through the streets. And then he goes
back. He went back to his old job,
though he was obviously a changed man. An alteration had taken
place in Mordecai. He had been honoured so by the
king, but he went back to his old job. He had a peculiar blessing bestowed
upon him, and then he went back to work. And I think that's a
word of encouragement to us who do the dishes or who have to
cut the lawn or who have to go about the ordinary affairs of
our daily life and make a living in this world and work with our
hands and work at school and work with our studies and get
on and do things. These are the ordinary things
of life that we are called to do. And maybe you think to yourself
in your readings in the morning that the Lord gives you a little
blessing and you treasure that blessing and then you go to work
and you have to negotiate the traffic along 10th. Or maybe
you have a wonderful Lord's Day in the company and the fellowship
of the saints and you feel as if the Lord has blessed you and
then on Monday morning you have to get up and you go and stand
at the workbench in the shop with the guys that are cursing
and swearing and telling their dirty stories. And you think,
why is this? Why do I have to be here? Why
is there such a contrast between the blessings, the honour that
the Lord gives me and having to be here? Do you ever wonder why the Lord
places you where you are? Of all the places that you could
be, of all the times of this world, He used to think that I would
like to have lived a couple of hundred years ago and seen all
that was happening. Wouldn't it have been great to
have been here at the frontier when it was still the native
world without anybody having touched it and changed it and
to see all that wildness? Wouldn't that have been great?
Why now? Why now? Why 2019? Why here? Why these people? Why this
time for me? Because this is the time that
the Lord has placed you in, because this is the time where you are
useful in the accomplishment of his purpose. Where? At the dishes, cutting the lawn,
in the workplace, doing your studies. This is where the Lord
puts you. You know why Mordecai had to
sit at the gate? Because that's where he heard.
the two conspirators scheming about where and when they were
going to kill the king. If he hadn't been there, the
people of Israel would not have been delivered and the Lord Jesus
Christ would never have come into the world. It all hangs
together. It's all of one piece. And here
we can see the purposes of God. The Lord knew all along where
his people had to be, exactly when and for what purpose. And you and I are included in
that just as much as Mordecai was. Let's think about Esther's
petition. She went before the king. Her
petition was considered. She thought about it, how she
was going to present it. It was respectful. She gave the
king his due place. It was earnest and it was direct. And I think that there's something
lovely, even about the words that Esther spoke in verses three,
verse three and verse four, the way in which she presented her
petition to the king. There was a dignity. in her defence,
I was going to say of her people, but it was actually of the gospel.
It was about the coming of the Messiah. There was a dignity
in her defence of the gospel. And there's a lesson in that
for us. We don't bargain with the gospel. We don't compromise
the gospel. We speak the truth as it is revealed
in scripture with dignity and with faithfulness to these things
that we have learned. We speak the truth in Christ. We speak the truth in love. Paul
could see that he spoke forth the words of truth and soberness. There are many who wish to make
a spectacle out of religion, a display or a show, a big event,
have few famous people coming along, some singing and some
dancing, maybe some athletes to talk about what it's like
to be a celebrity Christian. We don't make a show of our religion. We don't have any purpose for
that nonsense. We've got something much more
serious, much more important, much more earnest to be engaged
upon. We are going before men and women
for the well-being of their souls. And we do it with dignity. And
we do it with earnestness. Esther was simple and clear and
honest in her approach to the king. And she said, give me my
life and give me the lives of my people. And I want to point out something
else here, if I may. You see, today's religion, today's
religious people often seem to be demanding their rights. And they try to be a political
force. And I can see it perhaps here
in the United States more than I've ever seen it anywhere else
before. But Christians want to be a political
motivated organization involved in lobbying, putting their man
to the fore. They want to be a political force. to influence and to direct and
to bring certain things to pass that they feel are important
and useful in the society. You see what Esther said there?
I think this is so telling. In verse four, she said, we are
sold, I and my people to be destroyed, but to be slain and to perish. And then she puts a but in there.
She says, but if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen,
if we had been made slaves, I had held my tongue. I wouldn't
have said anything. Even if we were going to be made
slaves, I wouldn't have said anything. Why? Why was there
an importance there about the difference between being killed
and being taken into slavery? Some people would say I would
rather die than be a slave. But why is there a difference
and why is it important? I'll tell you why. Because the
reason for this approach was that the destruction of the Jews
would bring an end to the messianic line. Servitude would not have
brought an end to the messianic line. The Messiah could still
have come, even although his great-grandparents were slaves.
They had been in Egypt. but she spoke because there was
going to be death. Basically, she said, the only
reason I have spoken is for the sake of the gospel. Everything
else doesn't matter. Everything else is unimportant.
You can take away our freedom. You can take away our houses.
You can take away our children. You can take away all our liberties. but we will hold fast the gospel
of Jesus Christ because that's what's important to us. And that's
exactly what Esther says in this position. We have only with her
one purpose and one message, and that is to preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ. Not to make our lives easier,
not to make this world a better place, Not to engage in some
sort of moral renewal in our society, but to gather in the
elect of Jesus Christ through the preaching of the Word. 1
Corinthians 2, verse 2, I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The deliverance of the people
and the destruction of the foes of the Lord. We rightly marvel
at the amazingly ordinary way in which the Lord accomplished
his purpose here. No angel came down from heaven. No fire was sent down to destroy
the enemies of God. Our Saviour rules upon earth. The Lord Jesus Christ rules in
the affairs of men and women just as much as he rules in the
armies of heaven. Nothing is done in this world
that the Lord Jesus Christ is not in control of. We have no
grounds for fear, we have no grounds for anxiety, we have
no grounds for the outworking of conspiracies that are going
to be harmful to us. At the resurrection, the Lord
Jesus Christ declared, listen to these words, all power is
given unto me in heaven and in earth. All power, all power is Christ's,
it's given to him in heaven and in earth. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord which he will show to you this day. I just have
one more thought that I want to leave with you and then we're
done. Why was all power given to the
Lord Jesus Christ? Yes, he was that strong man who
came and defeated the strong man armed and pillaged his goods
and took his people. Yes, he defeated our enemy Satan. He led Satan captive. He deserves
honour for that. But that was not why all power
was given to the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, he set at liberty those
that had been long time bound in darkness, the chains of death. Yes, he did that, and he deserved
honour for doing it, but that was not why he was given all
power in heaven and earth. He redeemed his people from their
sins. Yes, he did, but that was not
the reason why he was given all power in heaven and earth. He
shed his blood, a ransom for many, All true and all good and
all deserving of honour. But that's not the reason why
the Lord Jesus Christ was given all power in heaven and earth.
For one simple reason, one simple reason. I take the words from chapter
six, verse 11. Thus shall be done unto the man
whom the King delighteth to honour. Thus shall be done to the man
whom the King delighteth to honour. Our triune God, our great God
and King delights to honour his Son, Jesus Christ. It pleases
him to give him all power in heaven and on earth. In 2 Peter
1, verse 17, we read, For he received from God the Father
honour and glory. When there came such a voice
to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. Our Lord Jesus Christ has been
given all power and glory because the Father delights to do it
to the one whom he loves. And brothers and sisters, here's
an amazing thing. That what is Christ's is ours. We are heirs and joint heirs
with the Lord Jesus Christ. We are the men. We are the women. whom the King delights to honour. We shall ride on white horses,
we shall be clothed in royal apparel, we shall have crowns
upon our heads, and we shall reign in the city of the New
Jerusalem with the Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity, because
we are the people whom the King delights to honour. A people who are righteous and
holy and perfect in their Redeemer, Jesus Christ. A people to whom
is given, in their Saviour, all power in heaven and in earth. So thank you for your faithfulness,
Mordecai, old friend. Thank you for your bravery, dear
Esther. Thank you both for opening up
to us beautiful pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
Amen.