Turn this morning with me to
the little book of Esther. Now that's to try to help you.
That's right before Job and right after Nehemiah, the little book
of Esther. And you young people and old
alike, I suppose, need to realize as we read this, and I would
counsel you to go home. There's just not time to read
the whole thing this morning. I wish we could. But go home
today or tonight sometime and read the thing from beginning
to end. It'll bless you. But you young people especially
understand this is not some made up story. This is not like a
novel or a fiction or something. This is a recorded account of
what actually happened thousands of years ago in a place called
Persia. Now on today's map, that would
sort of be where Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, all the
way to India. That's where this took place.
And it's been recorded and preserved by God to teach God's people
God's way of salvation. Who God saves? That's going to
be answered in this. How God saves? be answered here
and why God saves, who he saves, the way he saves. Each person
in this account is going to be a lot of characters we'll mention
and every one of them is a picture or a type of someone involved
in God's salvation. There will be those that we can
identify if God enables us. We'll see a character and you'll
go, oh, that sounds like That's a good thing. And then there
will be those with whom we'll identify if God enables us. Let's ask God to be shown this
morning. God, the father, God, the son,
and God, the Holy spirit. They're all here. And then let's ask God to show
us ourselves in this little book of Esther. We're in here. We're in here. Everyone in this
room is in this book. Now let's begin. In Esther, chapter
one, and read some verses. Esther one, verse one begins. It came to pass in the days of
Ahazuerus, and this is Ahazuerus, which reigned from India even
unto Ethiopia, from India to Africa. over 127 provinces, that
in those days when the King of Ahasuerus sat on the throne of
his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace, in the third year
of his reign, he made a feast unto all of his princes and his
servants, the power of Persia and Media, all the nobles and
princes of the provinces being before him. when he showed the
riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent
majesty for many days, 104 score days. This feast he threw was
six months long. Anybody ever been invited to
a dinner that lasted a week? A month? This went on for six
months. Boy, what a shindig this was,
huh? Can you imagine what it must have cost? The provisions
that were required to feed 1,000 people? 2,000? How many nobles
and princes were there in 127 provinces all the way from India
to Africa? This guy threw a feast for them
that went six months. This man had fabulous wealth,
untold wealth, majesty and glory. Now who do you suppose he's a
picture of? God our Father. God, our father
has everything. If he wanted to throw a feast
for us for six months, that'd be less than a cattle on a thousand
hills, wouldn't it? All right, pick it up here. Now
we left off in verse five. And when these days were expired,
the six months, the king made another feast. Not this time
to just the nobles, but to all the people that were present
in Susanna Palace, both unto great and small, seven days in
the court of the garden of the king's palace. Now listen to
the description of his palace. This is a royal holy place where
we're white, green and blue hangings. These are big curtains fastened
with cords of fine linen and purple, and they hung on silver,
solid silver rings where the curtain rods here. and pillars
of marble. And they slept on beds that were
made of gold and silver. Wow. And upon a pavement of red
and blue and white and black marble. And they gave them drink
in vessels of gold. The vessels being so diverse,
one from another, nobody had the same vessel. Everyone was
unique. This sounds a little like glory,
doesn't it to me? Where they just, gold's so common
there, the Lord paves the streets with it. This guy made beds out
of it. And it says there was royal wine
in abundance according to the state of the king, the hand of
the king. And drinking was according to the law. None did compel,
for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house
that they should do according to every man's pleasure. And
then listen to this. Also Vashti, the queen, made
a feast for the women in the royal house that belonged to
the king Ahasuerus. And on the seventh day, when
the heart of the king was married with wine, he commanded Mehumen,
Biztha, Arbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zether, and Carcas, the seven
chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king,
he said, bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown
royal to show the people and the princess her beauty, for
she was fair to look on. But Queen Vashti refused to come
at the king's command. By his chamberlains, therefore,
was the king very wroth. He was upset and angry. Anger
burned in him. Now, this king is a mighty man
who's a picture of God, our father. And these Jews that were there
were captive in this land. Having been brought, you remember
last couple of weeks ago, Nebuchadnezzar came down and captured them and
took them all back up to Persia. And his queen Vashti was summoned
by the king. She wouldn't come. She disobeyed.
You see, she's a picture of all of us by nature. Adam was just
like this queen. He had it made. All the queen
had to do was come in and bow. She said, I'm not doing it. All
Adam had to do was obey God and not eat of the fruit. What's
the first thing he did? He went and ate the fruit. And he was
thrown out of the garden. That's what happened to Vashti.
Everything she had was taken from her to be given to another.
And Ahasuerus is a type of the father Look at chapter two, we'll begin
there. And we'll see that Esther enters
the scene and she is a picture of God's people. Verse two, chapter
two, verse one, after these things, when the wrath of King Ahab's,
Erebus was appeased. He remembered Vashti and what
she had done and what was decreed against her. Then said the king's
servants that ministered unto him, let there be fair young
virgins sought for the queen, for the king, fair young girls,
and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of the kingdom
that they may gather together all the fair young women unto
the palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege,
the King's chamber and keeper of the women and let these things
for purification be given them. Now, what was, so we understand
this, what they weren't going to do is they didn't bring anybody
into the King's presence who was sick. Okay. The King was not going to be
infected by something somebody else brought in there. So they
were purified in that sense. They were put aside and held
so that they wouldn't come in with a cold and give it to the
king, or they wouldn't come in with a deadly disease and give
it to the king. And all these beautiful young maidens, verse
four, it says, and let the maiden which pleased the king be the
queen instead of Ashti. And this pleased the king, and
he did so. Now in Shushan the palace, there
was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai. He was the son
of Jair, the son of Shimei, and the son of Kish of Benjamite.
One of those had been brought up out of Israel, who had been
carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity, which had been
carried away from Jeconiah, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar,
the king of Babylon, had carried away. And this Mordecai brought
up Hadassah, that is Esther. Her Jewish name was Hadassah.
Her Persian name is Esther, his uncle's daughter. For she had
neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful,
whom Mordecai, when his father and mother were dead, took for
his own daughter. Mordecai adopted this orphan
named Esther. So it came to pass in verse eight,
when the king's commandment and his decree was heard, and when
many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan, the palace to the
custody of Hege, that Esther was brought unto the king's house
to the custody of Hege, keeper of the women, and the maiden
pleased this servant he gave, and she obtained kindness of
him, and he speedily gave her things for purifications with
such things as belonged to her. He gave her seven maidens, which
were meat to be given her, out of the king's house, and he preferred
her and her maids unto the best place of the house of the women.
Are you beginning to see who Esther is? She's one of God's
children. And we're so blessed to be God's
children. He gives us everything we need. And sometimes we don't think
so, but you know, he prefers us to all others. We're pleasing
in his sight, despite what we are by nature. And we'll get
to the reason for that. Verse 10, Esther had not showed
who she was, that is a Jew, and who her people were. For Mordecai
had charged her that she should not show it. And Mordecai walked
every day before the court of the women's house to know how
Esther did and what should become of her. Let me give you the picture
here. Mordecai is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he had an adopted daughter
who was taken to go before the king. And you know what he did?
He left whatever it was he was doing, wherever he lived, house,
whatever, he spent all day, every day in the gate to the king's
palace, just looking after her, inquiring about her. Do you know
our Lord Jesus Christ? He lived in glory, but he came
down here for a reason, to see to his children. to see to God's
children. And that's what Mordecai is doing
here. Now, let me give you, in this chapter two, the portion
I've read. Let's pick it up again here in
verse 12. Now, when every maid's turn was come to go to King Ahasuerus,
after that she'd been 12 months according to the manner of the
women, or so the days of their purification accomplished with
six months with oil of myrrh and six months with sweet odors
and with other things for the purification of the women. When
thus came every maid to the king, whatsoever she desired was given
her to go with her out of the house of the women's under the
king's house. So you understand this, when one of the women said,
okay, the king wants to see you now, she could go, okay, I want
a string of pearls to wear. I want a golden bowl to take
to the king. I want to, uh, I want to be dressed in this or dressed
in that or whatever, anything she asked for, she got. Okay. Everybody got that picture? Verse
14. And in the evening she went and
on the morrow, she returned under the second house of the women
to the custody of she as gas, the King's Chamberlain, which
kept the concubine. She came in unto the King no
more, except the King delighted in her and that she were called
by name. Now, When Esther's turn came to go to the king, the daughter
of Abahail, the uncle of Mordecai, you know she's not called Mordecai's
daughter here. And I'll get to that later. Who
had taken her for his daughter, she was adopted, was come to
go in unto the king. You know what she asked to go
with her? Nothing. You know why? She knew it wouldn't
do her any good. This king chose who he chose,
how he chose, and why he chose. Folks, there's nothing you and
I can take into the presence of God that he's going to go,
Oh, aren't you beautiful? Oh, you, you were good. You did
good turns. You, uh, you didn't steal or
cheat or no, no, it's not going to work. When we come before
God, the father, we better have something better than that. You
know, we better be, we better be pure and perfect and holy
in God's sight. And we don't have it, and she
didn't have it, and she knew it. She said, I'm going just
like I am. Now, pick it up here. So the
keeper of the women realized she didn't want anything, and
Esther obtained favor in the sight of all whom that looked upon
her. So Esther was taken unto King Ahasuerus into the house
royal in the tenth month, in the month of Tebeth, the seventh
year of his reign. And look at this. The king loved Esther above
all women. If God loves us, you know why?
It's not because of anything we bring. This is because of
anything we are and in and of ourselves. You know why he loves
us? Because we're in Christ. It's because she went as Mordecai
instructed her. And she obtained grace and favor
in his sight more than all the other women. so that he set the
royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Ashti. Then the king made a great feast
unto all his princes and his servants, even Esther's feast.
And he made a release to the provinces and gave gifts according
to the state of the king. And when the virgins were gathered
together the second time, then Mordecai sat in the king's gate.
Esther had not yet showed who she was, a Jew, nor her people,
as Mordecai had told her not to. For Esther did the commandment
of Mordecai like as when she was brought up with him. Let
me tell you some things about Esther to help you see how she's
a child of God. First of all, she's a captive. She'd been brought up from Israel
and she had no standing in this place. She was a captive, a foreigner.
We're captives of sin. We have no standing before God
in and of ourselves. She needed purification and so
do we. Our sin, God won't have us. No,
he won't. But she was brought before the
king and so will we be one day, either in judgment or in mercy
and grace. But you know what? The king loved
her. He adored her. He saw something in her that
made him love her. You know what it was? It wasn't
this outward beauty she had. No, no, no. God loves us. It's not for any beauty we have.
It's because we're in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, this
purification process, can you imagine for six months there
was this myrrh, which if you realize that that's what it was,
that was, uh, the, that the kings were coming to get the three
kings that came to the birth of Christ, frankincense and myrrh. You remember that pictures goes
through all the scriptures. It's an example of purification.
These sweet odors. It's the prayers of Christ that
come before God that makes him go, Oh, I love this one. I love
this one. God's not having anybody in his
presence who's not absolutely pure, holy, undefiled. And the only place to get that
is in Christ. Otherwise, we don't have it. And I don't want to
go before God one day and say, I'm beautiful. I'm good looking
enough. No, it won't work. It won't work. He's not having it. And who was watching over the
whole time? Mordecai was. Just like Christ came down here
to do for us what we couldn't do for ourselves, he's watching
over us. He's now sitting in glory, watching
over us. Notice her purification was accomplished.
It was done. And it was long before going
to the king. Our purification in Christ. His
righteousness is from the foundation of the world. It's accomplished. And then notice, whatsoever she
wanted to go with her, she said, I'm taking nothing. Folks, we
better show up with nothing but the righteousness of Christ.
Nothing else. And the king loved Esther. And
God loves us. Now, I'm sorry. I don't know
how many young women were brought But the king didn't love them
all, did he? No, some he sent away. But Esther, he said, I
love this one. I love this one. We want to be
chosen in Christ. She obtained grace and favor,
and so do we. She became the bride of the king,
and we're the bride of Christ. And she was crowned, and so will
be one day. Right now, we don't much look
like kings and queens, do we? Not very much. But one day we
will in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see the picture here. All
right, go back to chapter two and look at verse 21 with me
here. An interesting thing happens
here. It says in verse 21, in those days, while Mordecai sat
in the king's gate, two of the king's Chamberlains, this guy,
Big Than and Teresh, of those which kept the door to the palace
were wroth. They were mad. They were mad
at the king and they sought to lay a hand on the king Ahasuerus.
They're going to kill him. And the king was known to Mordecai
who, uh, and the thing was known to Mordecai who told it under
Esther, the queen and Esther certified the king, therefore
of Mordecai's name. And when inquiry was made of
the matter, when it was investigated, it was found out. Therefore,
they were both hanged on a tree and it was written down in the
book of the Chronicles before the king. Mordecai, you know,
he kept the king from being assassinated. And they wrote these things in
books, records to be kept. And that's important as you'll
see, look in verse chapter three, it says, now after these things,
and we must often wait on the providence of God to reveal his
ultimate purpose. Something ever happened to you
and you go now, why did that happen? Why me? Ever say that? Why is this going on? I don't
mind telling you, I get confused. I don't always understand what's
happening. I tell you what, I doubt if... Often that happens. We've got to wait on the providence
of God. So look what happens here. Nothing was done for Mordecai,
by the way. Nobody even said, thank you.
They just hung these two guys and said, well, the king's safe.
But look, after these things, did King Ahasuerus promote a
man named Haman? the son of Amadatha, the Agagite,
and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes that
were with him. It does not say here why. And do y'all ever wonder
why some people get to where they are? Somebody you work with,
they get promoted and you don't. And you go, what's that about?
Or somebody becomes, don't you wonder why there's some of these
dictators and kings and presidents and stuff, and you go, what are
they doing? I can do better than he can do it. Well, it's the
providence of God, and we just need to wait and see what the
Lord is doing. So Haman gets promoted, and all
the king's servants that were in the king's gate, they bowed
in reverence to Haman. Every time he walked by, they'd
go, hmm, hmm. They bowed down to him. For the
king had so commanded concerning him. If there's somebody in power
or authority over us, it's because God put them there. If a police
officer or a teacher, somebody tells you young people, do this,
do it. God gave him the authority and
obeyed them. Now when the king's servants,
which were in the king's gate, said unto Mordecai, Why won't
you bow? Why won't you bow and do him
reverence? And why do you transgress the
king's commandment? Now it came to pass that they
spake daily unto him and hearkened not unto them. So they told Haman. He wouldn't bow. They said, Haman,
there's this guy who won't bow to you. Mordecai, in these matters,
they waited to see, is this going to hold up? We've rattled him
now. The authorities know. What's he going to do now? Will
he continue to not bow? For he told them that he was
a Jew. And when Haman saw that Mordecai wouldn't bow, nor did
him reverence, Haman was full of wrath. He was mad. He was
angry. And he thought scorn to lay hands
on Mordecai alone. Let me tell you what this means.
He didn't just want to kill Mordecai. That was not enough for him.
You know what he wanted? Look what he wanted. For they'd
showed him that the people of Mordecai, who they were, wherefore
Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the
whole kingdom of Ahaz or Ebers, even the people of Mordecai.
It wasn't enough he's going to kill Mordecai. He said, no, it
wasn't enough he's going to kill all the Jews in the Shushan.
No, no. All 127 prophets said, I'm going
to kill them all. You say, what's that about? Two
things. Folks, don't ever underestimate
our own pride. Somebody ever do something to
you, and you don't say it out loud, but you go, man, I'd like
to smack him. Boy, if I could, I'd just take my gun out and
bang. Maybe I'm unique, that I'm the only one that thinks
that way. I doubt it. You know, we got a problem with
authority. We, with pride, we want everybody
to bow to us. We want everybody. Don't want
anybody to disagree with us. Don't want anybody to do it,
shunt, snug us, snub us, whatever. We don't like that. No, we don't
like that at all. Let me tell you what this was
even more about. I know I won't take the time to read this, but
do you know how he got permission to kill them all? He went to
the king and said, king, there's some people here who don't obey
your laws. They don't do what you tell them.
And that was true. I mean, who obeys the law perfectly? Certainly not us, right? And
they didn't hear either. But he said, you know what? He
said, we need to kill them all. And he said, if you let me do
it, I'll give you 10,000 talents of silver. King said, have at
it. Go at it. You say, well, why would he pay
the king money to go kill these people? Ah, you know what one
of the old writers said? He was going to profit from this.
You know, Mordecai didn't appear to have much. I don't know, he
may have had more than we thought, but the whole realm was full of Jews
who were industrious, worked hard, had goods. He was saying,
I'm going to kill them all and take their stuff. He was going
to profit from this. We know what the root of all
evil is, don't we? It's the love of money. And this
is a warning to us. Let's not get so carried away
with seeking after stuff and money and all this that we get
given over to this sort of foolishness. It's the root of all evil. All
right, pick it up here again in chapter 3. He says, I'm going to kill them
all. And we're in verse five. Then Haman saw that Mordecai
bowed not, nor did him reverence. Then was Haman full of wrath.
And he thought scorn to lay hold on Mordecai alone. He's going
to kill them all. And Ahazor Erez, even the people
of Mordecai. I want us to notice one thing.
Do we realize that Mordecai did deserve to die? Because he did
break the law, didn't he? The law was bow down to Haman
and he wouldn't do it. You say, well, he shouldn't have.
Well, the law is the law. Let me tell you what that picture
is. Christ who kept the law perfectly for 33 years. You say, why was
he crucified? Why did he have to die? You know
why? He became a lawbreaker. So you and I wouldn't be punished
for breaking God's law. That's the picture here. Christ
did it in the place of his people. So Haman sets in motion a plan
to kill Mordecai and all the Jews. And Mordecai learns of
this plan and tells Esther what she must do. So what she does
is she invites, she goes into the king and she says, king,
I want to throw a feast for just you and Haman. Well, let me tell
you, Haman was standing there when that invitation was extended
and he was happy. He went home to his wife saying,
hey, you know what happened to me at work today? He said, the
king, the queen is throwing a feast. And she invited the king and
me. I'm going. He was a happy man,
headed home, really excited. Look with me at chapter five. He's headed home, he's so happy,
and on the way home, you know what happens? He walks by the
gate, and who's standing there but Mordecai, and who won't bow?
He is so mad and so upset. Look at chapter five, verse 14. Then said Zeresh, who's Haman's
wife, and the friends that were there with him, let a gallows
be made of 50 cubits high, and tomorrow you speak to the king
that Mordecai may be hanged on it. Then go thou in merrily with
the king into the banquet, and the thing pleased Haman. And
he had him build a gallows that was seventy feet high. How many
times are you going to hang him? Is that overkill? Seventy foot
high he's going to hang him from this gallows. That shows his
wrath, doesn't it? He's upset. He gets all ready. Look at chapter
six. And on that very night, the night after he's come home
with his invitation, he's all upset and has a gallows made
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 to the King. And it was found written that
Mordecai had told a big Thana and T. Resh, two of the King's
Chamberlain, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand
on the King. And the king said, what honor and dignity hath been
done to Mordecai for this? Then said the king's servants
that ministered unto him, well, nothing's been done for him.
And the king said, well, who's out there in the court? Now Haman
was come into the outward court of the king's house to speak
to the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he prepared
for him. And the king's servants said to him, well, behold, Haman's
standing out there. And the king said, well, let
him come in. And Haman came in, and the king said to Haman, now
follow this. He asked him this question, what
shall be done unto the man whom the king delights in to honor
him? Now Haman thought in his heart,
to whom would the king delight to do honor more than me? Do
we see this man's vanity? Sounds like us, doesn't it? By
nature. I mean, if somebody comes to
you and says, you know, I've got a really good friend who's
just the finest fella. I want to give him a million
dollars and he's just handsome and good looking. Which guy in
here doesn't think I'm talking about you? That's Haman here. He's like, the king's got, he's
talking about me. And so Haman listened to what
he asked for, and that reveals who he is. Look here in verse
seven, is it? Verse seven, he said, and Haman
answered, the king. For the man whom the king delights
to honor, let the royal apparel be brought, which the king used
to wear, and the horse that the king rides, and the crown that
the king wears on 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 with all whom the king delights 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 delights to honor. You see what Mordecai, I mean,
what Haman wanted? He wanted to be king. That's our problem. That was Satan's problem. It's
Adam's problem. It's our problem. We want to
be God. Uh-oh, verse 10. Then the king
said to Haman, OK, we'll do that. Make haste. You take all this
apparel and the horse, as you said, and you do that for Mordecai
the Jew, which sitteth at the king's gate. Let nothing fail
of all that thou has spoken. Then took Haman the apparel and
the horse. He put it on Mordecai and brought him on horseback
through the street of the city. and proclaim before him, thus
shall it be done unto the man whom the king delights in honor.
We understand he came in the evening to the king, and you
know what Haman did all night long? He led the horse around
through the city, back and forth through the streets, going, look
what'll be done to the man whom the king loves. And that's a
good picture, isn't it? One day we're gonna be kings
and princes in the presence of God. And poor old Haman, who
wants to be the king, is so humiliated. This is killing him. So, when
the night's over, verse 12, Mordecai came again to the king's gate.
But Haman hasted to his house in mourning and having his head
covered. And Haman told Zeresh's wife
and all his friends everything that had befallen him. Then said
his wise men of Zeresh his wife unto him, If Mordecai be 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 then look what happened. And while they were yet talking,
came the king's chamberlains, and hasted to bring Haman unto
the banquet of Esther. that she'd prepared. He'd done
this all night long, and when he was done, he came home commiserating,
and what happened? The knock on the door, and the
king's men are there saying, okay, let's go to the banquet.
All right, look at chapter 7. So the king and Haman came to
banquet with Esther the queen, and the king said again unto
Esther on the second day at the Banquet of wine. What is your
petition? What is it you want to ask for,
Esther? What is thy petition? And it shall be granted to thee.
And what is thy request? It shall be performed even to
the half of all your kingdom. Do we understand? If we come
before the Lord Jesus Christ, we come before God, the Father,
and if we were asked, what do you want? Do we want to put on
the royal apparel and be paraded through the streets and made
to look good before other men? Is that what we want? It's what
most folks want in this day. Or would what we wanted be the
Lord Jesus Christ? He's worth more than half the
kingdom. That's what we can have in salvation, in God's salvation,
is have the Lord Jesus Christ. Do we see here, Esther the queen
answered and said, if I found favor in your sight, O king,
and if it pleased the king, let my life be given me at my petition
and my people at my request. Let me tell you what God's people
asked for. Before God, there's only two things I want. I want
to be saved. I want to know Christ. I want
to be delivered from my sin. That's one thing. And I want
you to. That's the only two things God's
people care about. It's, Lord, save me from my sin
and save those whom we love. That's all we care about. And
that's all she asked for. For we're sold, he said, I and my
people to be destroyed. Adam sold us into sin. We need
to be rescued. And he said to be slain and to
perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I
had held my tongue. She said if the king had said,
I'm through with you. I'm going to just be done with
you. I'd say that's what I deserve. He said, but I want mercy. I
want deliverance from me and my people. Although the enemy
could not countervail the king's damage, verse 5, then the king
Ahasuerus answered and said unto her, Esther, who is he and where
is he that would dare to presume in his heart to do this to you?
And Esther said, the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Uh-oh. Then Haman was afraid
before the king and the queen. And the king arose from the banquet
of wine and his wrath, and he walked out into the palace garden.
And Haman stood up to make requests for his life to Esther the queen,
for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the
king. Here's the picture. The king is told of this vicious
plot to kill her and Mordecai and all the Jews. He says, who's
doing this? He said, it's this guy. And man,
he's angry. He turns and he walks out. Listen,
God has been angry since Adam ate of the fruit. But he's waited. He's waited. Why did the king wait? I don't
know. But I know why God didn't execute judgment immediately.
He had a people in Christ who he was going to save. And in
time, it took some time. He sent his son who was perfect
and righteous and who died on the cross. He bled to purify
us, to put our sin away. And he gives us his righteousness
so we're perfect in his sight. Do we see that? The king waited. And while he waited, Amon, he
said, man, it's over. And he started to approach the
queen and notice what happened. the last part of verse 7, for
he saw that there was evil determined against him. Then the king returned
out of the palace, in verse 8, garden, into the place of the
banquet of wine. And Haman, who had started to
go over to beg for mercy, to say, you know, help me here,
I'm in trouble, to the queen. You know what he did? He fell
upon the bed where Esther was. Then said the king, will you
force the queen while I'm even in the house? As the word went
out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's head. Back then,
they didn't sit in chairs at a table to eat. They had big
mats and pillows and things at a low table and they would recline
to eat. And Esther was there. And when
Haman, I mean, when the king went out, Haman was going to
come over and he slipped and fell onto the bed where she was. When the king came back, that's
what he saw. I tell you what, we don't want to be guilty of
doing what Haman appeared to be doing to the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Don't pervert it. Don't change
it. Don't attack it. Don't do anything but believe
it. Believe what this word teaches.
The only hope Haman had, and notice it's not what he did,
had he turned to the king and said, have mercy on me. Forgive
me. I'm guilty. The king might have
had mercy. We're guilty, folks. When you
read this story, and you know, you read the rest of this, and
you know what they did? The guy who put the bag over Haman's
head said, you know, Haman built a gallows in his backyard, 70
feet high to hang Mordecai on, and the king said, go hang him
on it. Now listen, if y'all could see the children here, the children
are just going, you know, this guy got what he deserved, didn't
he, hmm? Isn't that what we're thinking?
Now listen to me. If God doesn't do something,
you and I are going to get what we deserve. The only hope we have is to bow
before the King and say, have mercy on me. I did it. I did
it. I know I did it. I'm guilty. Beg for mercy. I'll tell you what might happen. Look at chapter 8. On that day
did King Ahasuerus give the house of Haman, the Jews' enemy, unto
Esther the queen. And Mordecai came before the
king for Esther. and told what he was to her.
He said, he's my daddy. And the king took off his ring,
which he'd taken from Haman and gave it unto Mordecai. And Esther
set Mordecai over the house of Haman. Turn to Psalm 146, a few
pages over. Psalm 146, and let me show you
an amazing verse here. Verse 9 says, The Lord preserves
the strangers. He relieved the followers and
the widow. Now, the Lord preserves some people and He relieves them.
You know who they are? Well, first of all, they're orphans.
They're people without... I mean, if you want the inheritance
of Adam, you're welcome to it. I'd rather be the child of God
and have His inheritance. I'd rather be adopted by Him. We're strangers and aliens to
the grace of God. That's me. If we identify with
that, you know what will happen? God will relieve us and He'll
save us. But if not, here's what happens. But in the way of the
wicked, He turneth upside down. Does anybody see what happened
here? Haman's on top. Man, he's got it made. Oh, when
the story ends, where is he? He's upside down. Mordecai, who's
sitting in the gate, nobody from nowhere, nothing. Where is he
when it's over? Oh, all of a sudden now, he's
got the ring. He is the most important man
in the kingdom besides the king. Do we see that? Esther, who was
set to be killed, all of a sudden now, she's on top. Do we see
this, the way the wicked, the eternity upside down? Now, if
we want to be wicked, I guess go ahead. But this is how it's
going to end. And those, don't be jealous of
those who have stuff and money and all this in this world. They're
up here now, aren't they? If something doesn't change,
you know what? It's going to be like this. It's all right
if we're meek and lowly. It's okay if we're nobody. One
day it's going to be this way. We're going to be up there with
Christ. No more trouble, no more heartache, no more tears. Haman
was hanged on Mordecai's gallows. You know why you and I won't
be hanged if we're not? Because Jesus Christ was hanged on Calvary's
tree. Christ took what we had coming
that we might be free. God who made, hath made Christ
to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. Now find Esther 8 and I want
to read you a verse there. The result of Mordecai's elevation
was quite remarkable. The whole people of Israel were
saved. The king sent out a command, don't anybody kill a Jew? In
fact, they're now special. As God's people, we're by the
elevation and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we're made whole. Who here is a Jew by nationality?
I don't know, don't raise your hand, but I don't know if there's
anybody here who's actually a Jew. I was on my way back from New England
this week and pulled into this place to get a little mall thing,
to get something to eat, and the place was full of Hasidic
Jews. They have these little curly
things down their side. The men have all these black
hats. Their children wear little skull caps. They're all dressed
the same. You can recognize them. And I
remember thinking, I'm not one of you. I'm not a Jew by nature. I'm not. On the outside, I'm
not. But who here is a Jew on the inside? Do you know you can
be a Jew? Did you know that? They're God's
chosen people. Look at Esther 8 verse 15. Mordecai
went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel, blue
and white, and with a great crown of gold, and a garment of fine
linen and purple. And the city of Shushan rejoiced
and was glad. And the Jews, look what they got with this upside
down turnaround. They had light, gladness, joy,
honor. Y'all want some of those things?
And in every province and in every city, wheresoever the king's
commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy on some of that,
gladness, a feast, and a good day. Now look at this. And many of the people of the
land became Jews, for reverence of the Jews fell upon them. Folks,
we better be a Jew. Turn over with me to Romans 2.
We're just about done. Turn over to Romans chapter 2.
This transformation of these people in that day and of our
in this day is not physical. I don't want to start having
curly sideburns and wearing a black hat, a skull cap and all this
stuff. I'm not interested in that. But look at Romans 2 verse
28. It says, for he's not a Jew,
which is one outwardly that dresses like that. Neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh. But he's a Jew, which is one
inwardly that had been converted. And the circumcision is that
of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose
praise is not of men, but of God. The question is asked in
chapter 3, what advantage then hath the Jew, or what profit
is there in this circumcision? Why would you want to become
a Jew? You know why? Same reason you want to be in
Christ. That's where everything is. Absolutely. See the next
three words? What advantage is there? Verse
two, much in every way. So much so nothing else is going
to matter. The day is coming when nothing's going to matter
except it was I and Christ. Do I know Him? And turn back
quickly to Esther chapter 10 and I'll close here. Those who converted to being
Jews and those who were already Jews And I'm, I assume y'all
know, I'm not saying don't anybody go be converted to Judaism. That's
not the message. No, that's a picture of us converting
to Christ of being born again. But notice here in chapter 10,
verse three, is this hands what they got. Verse three, for Mordecai,
the Jew was next unto King Ahasuerus and great among the Jews and
accepted of the multitude of his brethren. He's a picture
of Christ. And I hate this accept Christ. I hate that terminology. But
here what it means is that we're accepted of Christ. And look
what his people got. Wealth of his people and speaking
peace to all his seed. There's two things we get if
we're converted. We get wealth, and what that
word means is good in the best possible sense. It means beauty. It means bountiful. It means
cheerful, favored, fine, glad, good, gracious, joyful, kindly,
loving, merry, precious, prospered, wealthy. You say, that one word
means all that. That's what it meant if you were
a Jew. When you read that word in that
language, that's what it meant. Anybody want that? Anybody not
got that? I'm telling you, if we don't
have that even in this life to some degree, there's a problem.
It means we don't know Christ. Back then, if you didn't have
that, you weren't a Jew. But the second thing they got
was peace. They got rest and safety and
happiness. Well, what was the likelihood
that the Jews could have saved themselves without Mordecai intervening
on their behalf? Folks, they were done for. And
what's the likelihood that any of us, man or woman, can save
ourselves without the Lord Jesus Christ intervening on our behalf?
Without Christ, we're done for. We have no hope. Without man,
it's impossible. If you don't hear anything else,
hear this. Salvation from start to finish is of Christ. It's through Christ. It's by
Christ. And it's because of Christ. Just
as in that day, deliverance was of Mordecai, through Mordecai,
by Mordecai, and because of Mordecai. Do we see that? All right. It's a great story, isn't it?
Go home and read it tonight. I think it'll bless you. I hope
it will. Let's bow together.