Okay, now this evening we're
going to try to take a look at chapter 5 in the book of Esther.
Esther chapter 5. I'm entitling the message from
the words found in verse 2 of Esther chapter 5. And it was
so when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court. She has on her royal apparel. And she is standing there, and
the king has an eye on her, the queen
standing, and Esther obtained favor in his sight. And that's the title, Esther
obtained favor in his sight. And the king held out to Esther
that golden scepter. that golden scepter that was
in his hand. So Esther drew near and touched
the top of the scepter and the king said, what do you need? What do you want? I'll give you
anything you want to the half of my kingdom. Remember from our last message
in chapter 4 that Mordecai had charged Esther that she go before
the king and make a request for her people, that she cry out
unto her people. And Esther was reminded by Mordecai
that the Lord had put her in that position for that purpose. to make a request for her people.
Esther sent back word to Mordecai that no one could approach the
king, no one could approach the king uninvited and live except
that the king would hold out that golden scepter. If he didn't
hold that golden scepter back, the law of the Medes and Persians
was that that person who would come before the king without
his scepter of mercy would be killed. Mordecai also told Esther
that the Lord had raised her up for that purpose, for such
a time to put her in a place where she could plead for her
people as it says there in verse 14 of chapter 4. Esther is determined
to plead for her people, to intercede for her people before this king.
Now remember this king here is the absolute monarch. His word,
what he says, goes. What he says, it is done. But
she asked all the Jews to pray for her, and she says, I will
pray also, and we will fast, and I will go unto the king,
and if I perish, I will perish. Now, why such motivation? What motivated her to go? before that king, knowing that
he could have her executed. What motivated her to intercede
for her people, to stand between the king and that decree that
all the Jews must die? What motivated her to do that?
Was it popularity? Was it fame? Was it self-glory?
It was love for her people. That was her motive. She's saying,
if it costs me everything, even my life, I will willingly lay
down my life. Isn't that a type and picture
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? What motivated him to
lay down his life for his friends? It was his love. He laid down
his life for us because he loved us. Now, when we come to chapter
five of Esther, Esther chapter 5 and find out, now we find out
what happens when she approaches the king. Will she perish or
will she live? Will she find favor in the king's
presence? Well, we know the rest of the
story, don't we? But let us look at a few details. Last week we left Esther in tears
and sorrow and fasting and praying. Now we see her rejoicing before
the king. There is a time to weep, there
is a time to mourn, and there is a time to rejoice. Now, let's
read verse 1 and verse 2 again. Now it came to pass on the third
day that Esther put on her royal apparel, stood in the inner court
of the king's house, over against the king's house, and the king
said upon his royal thrown in the royal house over against
the gate of the house, and it was so." Notice these two things,
and it came to pass, and it was so, and it was so. God brought
it to pass. And it was so, when the king
saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained
favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden
scepter that was in his hand, she drew near and touched the
top of it. I mean, she laid hold of that
scepter. She touched it. Now on the third day, Esther
wasted no time. She put on her royal apparel.
She put on that apparel that was, where did she get that royal
apparel? I mean, she was a poor Jewish
girl. It was a royal apparel that came from the royal king. And she puts on her royal apparel,
went before the king on his royal throne in his royal house, maybe
expecting the best but fearing the worst, somewhere between
Hope and somewhere between fear. She was fearful and she was hopeful. And it came to pass and it was
so. When the king saw her, she obtained his favor. He extended
the golden scepter. She drew near and touched this
scepter and the king protected her from the law by holding out
that golden scepter. Even that is a picture of the
gospel, is it not? Now, I find in this a beautiful
picture of the gospel of Christ. In the center, coming before
the King of kings and Lord of lords and seeking mercy before
his throne and it is his royal throne, isn't it? I love how
it says that over and over again, his royal throne, his royalty. And we see in this the way Esther
approached the king We see in this, I believe, a picture of
how a sinner comes to God. How do we come to Him? How do
we approach the Lord? Like Esther did, with reverence
and holy fear, with weeping and praying unto the Lord for mercy. Like Esther did with reverence
and holy fear. We read in Psalm 111, He sent
redemption unto His people. He commanded His covenant forever.
Holy and Reverend is his name. That's why we do not call anybody
Reverend Jones, Reverend Smith. Don't ever call me Reverend Tom,
because I'll probably correct you. My name's just Tom. If you want to call me Preacher
Tom, that's fine, but don't call me Reverend. Men love to take
those names to themselves. If you look on sermon audio of
those 23 thousand preachers on Sermon Audio, many of them call
themselves doctor, but many of them call themselves reverend. That's sad. That's a sad thing. But when we come to the Lord,
we come with a reverent heart. We come with a broken heart.
He denied them of a broken heart, save as such as be of a contrite
spirit. Notice two, Esther did not come
before the king dressed in her garment of sackcloth and ashes. She put rather, she rather, she
put on her royal apparel. This too is a picture of the
gospel of Christ, is it not? We dare not come before the king
dressed in our filthy garments of self-righteousness, do we?
Isaiah puts it this way, but we're all as an unclean thing,
and all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all
do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. But rather, we are blessed to
come before our king, before him, dressed in the royal pair
that he provided for us. Think of it. Isaiah 61 10, I will greatly
rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
covered me with a robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself
with ornaments as a bride adorns herself with jewels. We come
before the king dressed in the beauty and righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Thirdly, the king extends a golden
scepter of mercy to Esther and she lives. Another beautiful picture of
the gospel. Unspeakable mercies are given unto us as we are blessed
to approach the throne of God in Christ. Matter of fact, The
Lord said, seeing we have such a great high priest as passed
into the heaven, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was tempted
and tried and tested in all points like as we are, yet without sin,
He said, come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy, find grace to help in time of need. That's Hebrews
4, verse 14 through 16. We come because the Lord of glory
has extended saving mercy unto us. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
suffered once for our sin, the just for the unjust, that he
may bring us unto God. Bring us unto God. Christ himself
He is that golden scepter of mercy. He is the golden scepter
of mercy held forth that every sinner is called unto, and every
sinner is called unto Christ, and we do lay hold of Him. We reach out and touch Him, not
with a physical hand, but with the hand of faith. We lay hold
upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and we know that our sins are forgiven,
because of Christ's sake. John said, I write unto you,
little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's
sake. And we're to love one another,
and to forgive one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven us. He extends that golden scepter
of mercy, and we, with a hand of faith, lay hold upon the mercy
of God revealed in Christ. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed. Now, the second thing I want
us to look at, verse 3, the king asked Esther, since she has found
favor in his sight, what is the request that you want? And I'll
give you up to the half of my kingdom. Now, if you remember,
his kingdom How many provinces he had? Was it 127 provinces? I mean, why are we? What's half
of that? I don't know, but it's a lot.
It's a lot. The half of the kingdom. Then
said the king unto her, wilt thou, Queen Esther, what is thy
request? It shall be given thee to the
half of my kingdom. He said, not only once, but twice. A couple of things here. We see
how the Lord does rule over the hearts of men to His own advantage
and purpose, and to His own glory. We read in Proverbs 21, the King's
heart is in the hand of the Lord, and He turns it like the rivers
of water, He turns it whether so ever He will. The King's heart is in His hand,
and that's true of every sinner's heart. The Lord's not in your
hand, you're in His hand. Now secondly, let us learn from
this too, let us be encouraged to pray always to God and to
make our requests made known unto Him. We're going to study
in Luke 18, men ought always to pray and not to faint. Shall
not the God of all the earth, shall not God hear and answer
the prayers of God's elect which cry unto Him day and night? Does He hear our cry? Does He
answer our prayers? Always He hears us and always
He answers our prayers, every one. just exactly as he sees
fit. If we pray according to his will,
he hears us and answers our prayers. But I want to think for a moment
here in a way of a contrast, by way of contrast. Esther came to a proud earthly
king. A proud earthly king. We come to the one who is a God
of heaven and earth who delights to show mercy. She came to an
earthly king. We come to a heavenly king and
to a spiritual kingdom. And our God we know delights
to show mercy. Who is a God like unto thee that
pardoneth iniquity that passeth by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage, he retaineth not his anger forever, because
he delights in mercy." Now watch this. The king offered the half
of the kingdom, I will give it thee. Well, that seems pretty
generous, doesn't it? Wait a minute. In the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord doesn't give us anything
in halves. He gives us everything. He gives
us all the kingdom. Matter of fact, He makes us children
of God. He makes us heirs of God and
joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. So we can see a contrast
here, can't we? Heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ. She came, that is Esther came,
being not called. We come being called of God.
We call that the irresistible effectual call of grace. Come,
the Lord said, all things are ready. Haven't we heard that
recently? from our Sunday message. Come,
all things are prepared. Come, all things are ready. The
bride and the spirits say, come. And the Lord says, come, whosoever
will, let him take of the water of life freely. The Lord says
in Matthew 11, come unto me, all ye that labor heavy laden.
I'll give you rest. Ho, everyone that is thirsty,
come ye to the waters. She came being not called. He calls us to himself with the
irresistible effectual call of the gospel in the powerful hands
of God the Holy Spirit. She came having the law against
her. That law of the Medes and Persians
said if anybody come before the king without being called and
without that scepter being extended, it meant certain death. She came
having the law against her. We come to Christ having the
law of God honored for us. by the Lord Jesus Christ and
by His perfect obedience. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. The Lord Jesus Christ
received the wrath of the law, the rod of the law, that He may
extend to us the scepter of mercy. God made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. She came having no one to introduce
her. I mean, Haman sure wouldn't. Haman was the enemy. She came
before the king with no one to introduce her. Matter of fact,
the king's favorite one, Haman, was her enemy. Not so for the
believer. We have one in the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is a friend of publicans and sinners. We have in the Lord
Jesus Christ, the one that the Father delights in. The Lord said, this is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. We have one God and one mediator
between God and man. that is the God-man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and he is our advocate. We have an advocate with the
Father, he Jesus Christ the righteous. What an encouragement to seek
mercy where mercy is found in Christ Jesus. We have all these
encouragements to come. Now, here's the third thing I
want us to look at. In verse four, all the way down
through verse eight, I won't go back and read these verses
again. Esther makes her request before the king to have Haman
come to the banquet of wine that she would prepare that day and
then again the next day. Notice in verse 4, Esther answered,
if it seemed good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this
day. and to the banquet that I prepared
for him. Then the king said, cause Haman
to make haste that he may do as Esther had said. So the king
and Haman came to the banquet of Esther that day that she had
prepared." Now, Esther here is being very cautious, very careful
not to ask in haste." Did you notice here? She kind of prepares
everything and the Lord seems to give her wisdom in this. Someone
said this, one old preacher said this, what is asked in haste
is often times denied in haste. So she asked very carefully,
very cautiously. I believe the Lord gives her
much wisdom. The king again at the first feast
asked Esther what her request was and again the king willingly
to give most anything, says her, up to the half of the kingdom.
As it says down there in verse 6, he asked again what's your
request? I'll give it to the half of the
kingdom and her request was, well, I'm going to have another
banquet tomorrow. And you invite Haman, and you
and Haman come again to the banquet of wine that I'm going to prepare
for the both of you." Now, while this delay, this too was in the
purpose of God, was it not? He overruled her heart to wait
upon the Lord for that night to ask the king to spare her
people. She knew not why, but the Lord
did. Now some of the Jews, I've thought
about this, some of the Jews maybe even complained. He went
before the king once and he held at that scepter. Why didn't you
go ahead and ask the request for mercy for all the Lord's
people? But her request was, well, Let's come to the banquet,
I'm gonna prepare another banquet and you come again. Maybe some
of the Jews said, ah, she's backed out. She's not gonna ask for
mercy for us. And maybe she didn't know why,
but the Lord did. We see why in the next chapter,
why this delay. The night before the second banquet
in chapter six, the king could not, the king on that night could
not sleep. And he said, I'm just going to,
just bring me the book of the Chronicles of the Kingdom and
I'm just going to read a few pages and maybe I'll fall asleep.
You know, it had to be a large book. And he flips over there
and he starts reading about Mordecai, how Mordecai told of these two
men, Bigthar and Turesh. You remember they sought to lay
hands and to kill the king, and Mordecai let it be known that
Esther and the king's life was spared. And the king said, well
what honor has been done to Mordecai? You see why all this delay? It's
all on the purpose of God. The king couldn't sleep that
night. The king asked for the book and he turned this big book,
I mean he could have read thousands of other pages, but he turned
to that one particular page and he read, Mordecai saved my life. What have we done to honor old
Mordecai? And they said nothing. The king
said, we're going to honor that man. We're going to honor that
man. We learn from this too to wait
upon the Lord and not be in a big hurry. The Lord gave her some
wisdom and even restrained her. The Lord's blessings many times
are enhanced when we are forced to wait upon the Lord. His blessings are worth waiting
upon, are they not? We get too, I'm the world's worst
for this. I get too anxious. Instead of
waiting upon the Lord, David said this, wait on the Lord and
be of good courage. He'll strengthen my heart. Wait,
I say, upon the Lord. Wait upon the Lord. Now, this
doesn't imply laziness. This doesn't imply unbelief.
We wait upon the Lord, seeking His will, crying unto Him, praying
unto Him, seeking His favor. Now, here's the last thing I
want us to see. In verse 9 down through the end
of the chapter, verse 14, we see the proud, depraved, sinful,
arrogant heart of a man by the name of Haman. I mean, he's so
eaten up with self, with self-pride, with self-love, he's just dripping
with it. He's just dripping with it. And
when Esther invited Haman and the king to the banquet the first
day, and then made requests to come to a banquet again the second
day, Haman went forth that day joyful, and with a glad heart,
but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he stood
not up nor moved for him. He wouldn't bow down. He was
full of indignation against Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman refrained
himself, and when he came home, he sent and called for his friends
He's going to brag about being, oh, I was with the queen, you
know. I was with the king. Oh, she
served the best wine. Oh, by the way, tomorrow I'm
going to come again. And Haman told them the glory
of his riches, the multitude of his children, all things wherein
the king hath promoted him, and how he advanced him above the
princes and the servants. And Haman said, moreover, yea,
he said, boy, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the
king unto the banquet that she had prepared but myself. It's
me. Oh, I'm just so good. And tomorrow I'm invited again
in her audience with the king. Now, yet all this availed me
nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting in the king's
gate. Oh, the remedy, his wife said,
I have the remedy. His friends agree. Here we have
the remedy. Let gallows be made 50 cubits
high, 75 feet high tomorrow that thou and speak thou unto the
king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon. then go in merrily with
the king unto the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman,
and he caused the gallows to be made." He said, ah, you've
got the remedy. We're going to hang old Mordecai. Now we see here, what do we see
here in this man Haman? Proverbs 21 said, a proud and
haughty scorner is his name who dealeth in proud wrath." Proud
wrath. We see in Haman, what a reminder,
we see in Haman, what a reminder Haman is of our total depravity
before God. But we need not despair because
the Lord does save sinners just like Haman. Now you're thinking,
Haman, he's a rascal. He's a wicked man. He's in no
good. He's in no good for nothing. The Lord saves folks just like
Haman. Ungodly rebels just like Saul
of Tarsus who went about to kill every Christian he could find
to stamp out the name of God in the gospel. If the Lord would save me by His grace, He can save any. I'm as bad or
worse than Haman. You see, the Lord's hand is not
shortened that He cannot save. Isaiah 59-1, Isaiah 63-1 says,
Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from
Basra? This that is glorious in his
apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength, I that speak
in righteousness, mighty to save. I've told you this story before,
but I'm going to repeat it. Remember the story of the conversation
between two preachers? This is back in the 1700s. We
know the one preacher, we know about him, his name was John
Newton. John Newton, the writer of that song Amazing Grace, how
sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. John Newton, the old
slave trader, whom God in great mercy, no wonder he said Amazing
Grace, it took Amazing Grace to save. a wretch like me. But we don't know this other
man too well, but he was a well-known grace preacher as well. His name
was William Jay. One day, Brother Newton was sitting
in his study, and William Jay came in to see him. And he said,
Brother Newton, have you heard about the old notorious sinner
down in Bath County? how the Lord in great mercy saved
him and made him a new creature in Christ Jesus. And William
Jay said, I'll never despair of God's mercy saving any sinner
again. Well, that sounds pretty good. But John Newton replied to him,
Brother Jay, I've never despaired of God saving any sinner since
He saved me. Isn't that your story? If God
can save a wretched man like me, He can save anybody. And that's what it takes. It
takes the saving power of God. Now, Haman's problem is not Mordecai,
is it? It's his own wicked, proud heart. He is in love with himself. He sees himself worthy of worship
and honor, and when Mordecai would not bow down, Haman was
full of wrath. He bribes about how rich he is,
the glory of his riches. Remember our Lord said how hard
it is for them to enter into glory who trust in riches. Mordecai remained steadfast in
his resolve and would not bow down to old wicked Haman. He would not bow down and worship
him. Mordecai was resolved in his
heart to worship the only Lord God. He would not compromise,
but rather trusted in the Lord his God to deliver the Jews from
Haman's wrath, and he did, didn't he? Haman goes home and brags
to his family and friends how great a man he was, how rich
he was, how the queen had invited him to the banquet with the king.
Those were the things that he delighted in. Those were the
things that made him glad. It says there, Haman went forth
that day joyful with a glad heart. Someone said, self-admirers and
self-flatterers are really and truly self-deceivers. It's a pride of heart. that deceives
our own self. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked who can know it. Most men would
have been very content to have the things that Haman had. He
had riches, he had family, he had king's favor, yet he had
no rest and complains as if he was stripped to poverty and he
blames that old Jew, Mordecai. You see the hatred in his heart,
can't you, for that man. And you can see the self-glory in himself, in Haman. He seeks
vengeance against Mordecai. We know the Scriptures, though,
says the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God.
His wife and his friend give Haman The exact advice he wanted
to hear. You know, when people come to
you and ask for advice, they want you to agree with them when
you give the advice. His wife and his friends gave
Haman bad advice. to satisfy his anger. Why don't
you just build gallows seventy-five feet high, and ask the king permission
to hang Mordecai? Verse fourteen, Then said Zerath
his wife and all his friends unto him, Let gallows be made
fifty cubits high, and tomorrow speak thou unto the king, that
Mordecai may be hanged thereon. Then go and to the... merrily
with the king under the banquet. Just string him up high. Hang
him high. And it'll give you Mary in your
heart. You'll be Mary. Then go to the banquet. And the
thing pleased Haman, and he caused the gallows to be made. He seeks
vengeance. His wife and his friends agree
with him, and they tell him exactly what he wants to hear. And the
thing pleased What pleased Haman? Murder, vengeance, get even. We're to love our enemies and pray for them that despitefully
use us. Little does Haman know that the
gallows he builds for Mordecai, that he will hang upon those
gallows the very next day. You read chapter 6 and chapter
7. When He comes to the banquet
the second day, we'll look at that next week. This should always
teach us not to seek vengeance against any, to satisfy our anger,
but rather leave these things to the will and purpose of the
Lord. He knows what's best for us. Sometimes He forces us to
wait upon Him, wait upon His will until it's known, And then
later we say, boy, I'm sure glad I waited. I'm sure glad I waited. Now, I close with this, Philippians
4, 6, and 7. Be careful for nothing, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request
be made known unto God, and the peace of God which passeth all
understanding shall keep your heart and mind through Jesus
Christ our Lord.