Now, in our continuing story
from the book of Esther, we're looking at Esther chapter four
this evening, Esther chapter four. I don't have a particular
verse I'm going to take the title from, but I'm calling our study
in Esther chapter four this evening, the trial of faith, the trial
of faith. I think all of us who are believers
know something about the trial and heartache and sorrow of faith. The Lord our God had only one
son without sin, the Lord Jesus Christ. But he has no sons without
trials, without sorrow, and without heartache. We all have experienced
that all the time. Isaiah 53, remember the words
of Isaiah describing the Lord Jesus Christ? He's called a man
of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He said, behold and see
if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto
me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Lamentation 1 verse 12. We know
from reading the word of the Lord that trials are sent by
our Lord for the express purpose of God to help us not to harm
us. All things are working together
for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. We read in the beginning, 1 Corinthians
4, 17, our light afflictions work for us, not against us. Our light afflictions, which
are but for a moment, worketh forth in exceeding and eternal
weight, glory, Peter called the trials that we have from the
hand of God, he calls them precious trials. Our Lord said this about
trials in John 16, 33. These things I have spoken unto
you that in me you might have peace. In this world you shall
have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome. Now the apostles and the early
church They had trial and heartache and persecution, even persecuted
unto death. But the Lord never did forsake
them. He never did leave them. The Lord gave grace to help in
time of need. Now while Haman in his wicked,
wicked plot, in his wickedness he plots and plans to destroy
Mordecai. not only is he satisfied with
taking the head of Mordecai or hanging Mordecai, but he wants
the death of all the Jews. He wants to destroy all the Jews. Mordecai While Haman plots and
plans destruction, Mordecai plots and plans and seeks deliverance
from destruction from the king's law. And he seeks deliverance
by the will and purpose of God through the means the Lord has
established. What was the means the Lord has
established? Remember verse 14, Mordecai sends word back to Esther,
for if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then
shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another
place, but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed. For
who knoweth, who knoweth, whether thou art come to this kingdom
for such a time as this." The Lord raised you up for this special
time, this special deliverance. The Lord God established the
means to deliver His people by the intercession of this Queen,
Esther. We can see also that Esther certainly
could be a type and picture of the intercessory work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was raised up and sent in
a certain time to deliver His people from their sin. And we have right now in the
Lord Jesus Christ a forerunner who has entered into glory for
us, whoever lives to intercede for us right now. He's called
our advocate. He said, my little children,
these things I write unto you that you sin not, but when you
do, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous. He is called our mediator. There's
one God and one mediator between God and men, that is the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is called our intercessor. He's able to save them to the
uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to
make intercession for them for his people." And we see in the
Lord Jesus Christ, we're going to study this in Romans chapter
11, that the Lord Jesus Christ is called the Deliverer, capital
D, the Deliverer, when the Lord shall deliver all his people
from their sin. Now, in this story, we also see
the faith demonstrated before the people and before God, both
in Mordecai and in Esther, we see faith that is demonstrated. Faith that is demonstrated, just
not faith in talk, but faith demonstrated by action, by action,
both in Mordecai and in Esther. You remember Hebrews 11, one
says, faith is a substance of things hoped for, The evidence
of things not seen. And we know that faith is a gift
of God. It's a precious gift of God.
Hebrews 11, 6, but without faith it is impossible to please Him.
doesn't say it's difficult, says it's impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of those who
diligently seek him. That's what faith does. That's
the life of faith is seeking to face the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. So let's look this evening at
a few details of this amazing story in the life of 2 believers,
how the Lord dealt with these 2 believers, and see how the
Lord delivered them, strengthened them, gave them grace to help
in time of need, how the Lord arranged all things by His mighty
power and His good providence for the good of His people and
for the glory of His name. Remember, of Him and through
Him and to Him are all things, to Him to whom be glory forever
and ever. Amen. Now, I've got about four
or five different divisions. Here's the first one. In verse
one through three, we see a sorrow, we see sorrow and grief, the
grief of faith. Sorrow and the grief of faith. When Mordecai perceived all that
was done He rent his clothes, he tore off his clothes, he put
on this sackcloth, which is rags of mourning. He covered his head,
his clothes with ashes, went out into the midst of the city
and cried with a loud and bitter cry and came even before the
king's gate. where none might enter into the
king's gate clothed with sackcloth. And in every province, whether
it's whoever the king's commandment and his decree came, remember
the king Hashirus, there was great mourning among the Jews,
and fasting, and weeping, and wailing, and many lay in sackcloth,
many lay in ashes, where there was a great, great cry. And here I believe we see the
grief and sorrow of faith. Mordecai knew. that he was the
cause of Haman's wrath and vengeance against him and his family, but
Mordecai would not recant. He would not compromise. He would
not seek peace with wicked Haman. You remember when all the other
princes were bowing down before Haman, Mordecai stood straight. He would not bow in reverence
Haman. Mordecai knew that he was the
object of Haman's wrath, not only against him, but all his
people, but yet he would not compromise. He would not court
the favor of man and slight his confidence in the Lord. He knew
the Lord would send deliverance, but until that time, He grieved
and sorrowed and sought the Lord's will in this matter, and he did
so not only privately, but he did so in a most public way,
displaying his sorrow, his anguish. Not only did Mordecai weep and
mourn, but all those that understood what the law of the king, the
king of Babylon, demanded that the Jews all be killed, They
were all grieved in heart and manifested that outwardly as
it says in verse 3. Great mourning among the Jews,
fasting and weeping and wailing and many lay in sackcloth and
ashes. Now, these are the Lord's people. I thought believers didn't have
any heartache, sorrow. I thought they were just happy
all the time. No, the Lord sent this affliction and this trial
to help them, not to harm them, not to hurt them. Now, certainly
it is a good thing when we're convicted before God with a godly
sorrow over our sin. That's a good thing. That's a
good thing. When we are caused to weep before
God seeking His remedy and seeking His relief through the blood
and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. That's the
only thing that will comfort a grieving heart over sin is
the Lord Jesus Christ putting away our sin. We read in 2 Corinthians
7, for a godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation never
to be not to be repented of. It's a continual working. And
a godly sorrow that worketh repentance to salvation always is looking
to Christ for redemption from all our sin. We can also see
here a picture of the holy law of God that has gone out against
every sinner. The king's decree said death
to every Jew. And the law of God has declared
that every guilty sinner must die. The soul that sinneth, it
must die. And we have to confess we have
all sinned. Right? We are all sinners, right? And we have come short of the
glory of God. Therefore, we must rightly be
put to death because we're guilty. But apart from the redemption
that is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must all perish without
hope and without salvation. Thank God we have a deliverer
who paid the ransom. He said, deliver them from going
down to the pit. because I have found the ransom,
and we know the Lord Jesus Christ is that ransom, He is that deliverer,
He redeemed us with His precious blood. Now the law of God that
was one time against us and contrary to us, now that very law of God,
because it's been satisfied by the Lord Jesus Christ, that very
law of God now says, set them free. I've got no claim on them. They're not guilty. There is
therefore now no condemnation to those who are in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now the second heading I've got
here is verse four down through verse nine. When Esther heard
of the sorrow and grief of Mordecai and of her people. Now evidently
she was shielded from this decree and didn't know anything about
this decree. And when she saw her cousin,
Mordecai, weeping and covered with the rags of sackcloth and
ashes upon his body and upon his head, walking about in the
street terribly sorrowful and grieving in heart, she wanted
to know what was wrong. When she heard of the sorrow
and grief of Mordecai, who had been a father to her, remember
when her parent died, he took her in and raised her up. And she was like a daughter to
Mordecai. When she heard that her dear
cousin was weeping and brokenhearted, she did weep. Also, his grief
became hers. We are told in scripture to weep
with those that weep, and mourn with those that mourn. We're going to see in Romans
12 in our study in a few months, rejoice with them that do rejoice,
and we do. We rejoice with those who do
rejoice. But we are also instructed to
weep with those that weep. And we do. And you know why believers
do that? When one part of our body hurts,
the whole body hurts. Does it not? Some of you men
I know have done this when you've taken a hammer and tried to hit
a nail and missed and got your finger. Ouch! But that pain radiates throughout
the whole body. The whole body feels that hurt,
feels that pain. And that is true in the body
of Christ because we're all members one of another. When any of us
hurt or when one of us hurt, the whole body hurts. Esther
sent help to Mordecai to relieve his sorrow. She sent out a change
of raiment. But it says there that he, verse
four, but he would not receive it. And oftentimes we try to
offer help, or oftentimes we try to bring help to relieve
sorrow, don't we? And there's nothing wrong with
that. Render aid to those who are in need, but we cannot take
away a genuine sorrow over sin. The only relief is Christ. Really, we do great harm when
someone is convicted of their sin to try to comfort them other
than telling them to look to Christ for all salvation. You see, only the Lord Jesus
Christ can take away our filthy garments and give us a spot and
clean robe of righteousness and clothe us with the garments of
salvation and give us faith. in him. Esther seeks to know,
as it says there in verse 5, and I love this statement, she
sent out Hathak the servant to Mordecai to know what it was
and why it was. You see that in verse 5? What
it was and why it was that Mordecai was so grieved. It's good to
know the reason of someone's sorrow and why They are stricken
with grief. Mordecai sends back the word
to Esther, to Hathak, about the king's decree to destroy all
the Jews, and he begs Esther to go before the king and request
for mercy for her people and to intercede for them, and he
charges her. Look at verse 8. Esther chapter 4 verse 8. Also
He gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given
in Shushan to destroy them, all the Jews, to show it unto Esther
and declare it unto her and to charge her that she should go
in unto the king to make supplication unto him and to make request
before him for somebody. for her people." And again, we
see a good type and picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He makes
intercession for His people. But we are told in Scripture,
in the book of Philippians, to make our request to be made known
unto God. It says, be careful for nothing,
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known unto God. And that's what, that's
what Mordecai is reminding Esther of, that you go before the king
and make requests, make requests. Now, this is exactly what the
Lord Jesus Christ had done for us. with effectual and eternal
results. As the Queen Esther went before
the King, she was interceding for her people. And the Lord Jesus Christ, our
King, who is King of kings and Lord of lords, He intercedes
only for His covenant people. Everything Christ Jesus, our
Lord, I thought about this, everything our Lord Jesus Christ asks the
Father for us on our behalf, He gets everything He asks for. Every request He makes before
the Father on behalf of His blood and righteousness and the salvation
He has accomplished, everything He asks the Father is according
to the perfect purpose and will of God, and everything He asks
of the Father for us, He gives it fully and eternally unto us. Listen to this scripture. You
remember the Lord prayed in John 17? Father, I will that they
also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they
may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest
me before the foundation of the world. Everything the Lord Jesus,
our Mediator, asked of the Father for us, for His sake, is granted. All salvation is given because
of Christ. He was manifested to take away
our sin, and in Him is no sin. We have righteousness in Christ. God made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made to righteousness of God
in Him. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessing in the heavenly, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what
a mediator we have. What a successful mediator we
have. Everything He asked of the Father. Based upon the blood and righteousness
of Christ and salvation accomplished, he freely gives. Think of this
scripture. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely, freely give us all things? That's good news. Thank God for
a mediator that we have that makes requests for His covenant
people. He called the surety, the guarantee
of our salvation. Now here's the third thing. Here's
the third thing I want us to see. Down in verse 10, down through
verse 12. Again, Esther spake unto Hathak,
and gave him commandment unto Mordecai, and all the king's
servants and all the people of the king's province do know,
that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king
into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law
of his, that man to be put to death. That is, if you barge
in before the king, unannounced, uninvited, death, death. There was one law of his. to
be put to death. I remember back during the campaign
election when one of those presidential candidates was on a platform
speaking and someone, remember that he tried to rush the stage
to come before the man's presence uninvited? That didn't go over
too good, did it? He was immediately wrestled to
the ground by those who were protecting that particular politician. There is one law of his to put
him to death, except, except, except such to whom the king
shall hold out the golden scepter that he may live, But I've not
been called to come in unto the king these 30 days. Now, Esther, by the messenger
Hathak, tells Mordecai she just can't approach the king just
any old time. That she is pleased to do so.
Matter of fact, she said, I've not been in his presence for
the last 30 days. He's not invited me for the last 30 days. The
king must hold out that golden rule, that golden scepter of
the kingdom. Esther says, if I barge in, I'm
going to die. Even though I'm the queen, if
I come uninvited, I'm going to die. Now we see here another
picture of the gospel, don't we? The Lord our God Almighty
dwells in the absolute light of holiness that no man can approach
unto. Now if you want to turn with
me, you can. But if you will find 1 Timothy,
1 Timothy chapter 6, 1 Timothy chapter 6, where it says verse 15, 1 Timothy
6 verse 15, everlasting, Amen. Amen. Now, God dwells in such
a bright, holy light, no man can approach unto Him apart from
the golden scepter of Christ's mercy, redeeming grace, and His
love. To approach unto God in and of
ourselves God is holy, we are sinners. We would not last one
millisecond not in front of Him because of His holiness. Now
remember the words from Psalm 24. Who shall ascend into the
hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy
place? Psalm 24. He that hath clean
hands and a pure heart who hath not lifted up his soul into vanity,
nor hath sworn deceitfully." Now, that shut every one of us
out. That slammed the door right in our face. We can't approach
them to the Lord because we don't have clean hands, we don't have
a pure heart. We've lifted our soul to vanity
all the time and we are deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked, as Jeremiah said, the heart of man is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. You see, that shuts us
out because God is holy and we're sinners. But now who can ascend
into the hill of the Lord? That man who is holy is God.
And that man who was holy as God who did ascend unto the Lord
and did sit down on the right hand of the throne of God is
none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, he sat down
when he had by himself purged our sin. He sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God. And the good news of the gospel
is that he didn't ascend. It says in that same Psalm 24
that he's the Lord of hosts. When He ascended, we ascended
in Him. When He sat down, we sat down
in Him. You see, in Christ, we do have
clean hands. In Christ, we do have a pure
heart. In Christ, we've never lifted up our souls to vanity.
And in Christ, we're no longer deceitful. Not in Him. We are
holy, spotless, unblameable, unreprovable in God's sight in
Christ. Now because of Christ, because
of the golden scepter of His grace, because of the reign of
His grace, because of the love of His mercy, now He says, seeing
that He is a great high priest that ever lives to intercede
for us, now we come boldly to the throne of grace, to find
grace to help in time of need, seeing that we have a great high
priest that has passed into the heavens, who has attempted and
tried and tested in all points like as we are, yet without sin."
He said, now, come boldly to the throne of grace that you
may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. You
see, his hands are full of gifts. His heart is full of love. His
words are full of grace. Of His fullness have we all received
grace for grace. In Him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily, and in Christ we stand complete. Psalm 45 describes
the Lord Jesus Christ, Thou art fairer than the children of men,
Grace is poured into thy lips, therefore God hath blessed thee
forever." We have grace because of grace that's revealed in Christ. Now, here's the last thing I
want us to see, or the second to the last thing. In verse 13
and 14, Mordecai's firm resolve of faith, Mordecai reminds Esther
of the Lord's good providence who raised her up and established
her upon the throne for the good of her people and for the Lord's
purpose. Verse 13, and Mordecai commanded
to answer Esther, think not of thyself that thou shall escape
the king's house or than all the Jews. For if thou altogether
holdest thy peace at this time, there shall enlargement and deliverance
arise to the Jews from another place. If you hold your peace,
God's going to use somebody else. That's what he's saying. He firmly
believes by faith given to him that God's going to deliver these
people. But thou and thy father's house
shall be destroyed. Who knoweth whether thou art
come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Now, who knows? He does. He knows that Esther
was raised up by purpose. How could this little Jewish
maid win that beauty contest and become the favor of the king
apart from the good and sovereign providence of God? God put her
in that situation. God put her on the throne with
the king, and Mordecai reminds her that the Lord for such a
time as this has raised you up for the good of the people. Now what an encouragement in
the time of trial, the trial of our faith, that our Lord has
promised never to leave us, never to forsake us, that he will give
us grace to help in our time of need, and he said his grace
is sufficient. 2 Corinthians 12, he said, my
grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect
in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmity that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Such a time as this, the Lord
will send help. The Lord will send grace for
this time. Now, here's the last thing I
want us to see. In verse 15, 16 and 17, we see
the boldness of the faith of Esther. Now, she knows what's
involved here. Boy, there was a lot of things
at stake. But notice, she takes her case before the Lord with
fasting and prayer, and she asks for all the believers to pray
with her. Verse 15, then Esther bade Atach
return Mordecai this answer, Go gather together all the Jews
that are present at Shushan and fast ye for me. neither eat nor
drink three days, night or day. I also, my maidens, will fast
likewise, seeking to know the will of the Lord, seeking to
know the purpose of the Lord. And so will I go unto the king,
which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I perish."
So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther
had commanded him. Here we see the boldness and
the confidence of the faith of Esther. She takes her case before
the Lord. She asks all the people in the
palace and among the country to pray for her, to pray for
one another, and she said, if I do perish before the king,
I will die trusting the Lord at all times. The wise man Solomon
put it this way, Proverbs 3, trust in the Lord with all thy
heart, lean not unto thine own understanding, in all thy ways
acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. Now, what a vast difference between
the court of Persia and the court of heaven. In the blessed covenant of grace,
none can perish who trust the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. As the old preacher used to say,
sink or swim, I go to him. The Lord Jesus Christ will never
cast us out. We can go to him with confidence. There's a big difference between
the court of Persia and the court of God's grace. If we go to God
in Christ, we shall never perish. Never perish. Listen to this
scripture. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and those that come to me, they'll
never perish. I'll never cast them out. He
has never cast away a mercy beggar from his presence. Every mercy
beggar that came to him didn't perish, they received mercy.
And then we read in John 10, he said, I'll give them eternal
life. He said, my sheep hear my voice,
I know them, I've given them eternal life and they shall never
perish. That's the good news of the gospel.
We go to God in Christ, we cannot perish. We cannot perish. Listen to this scripture, 1 Peter
1, 6. Wherefore also it's contained
in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect and precious. He that believeth on him shall
never perish. perish, shall never be confounded,
shall never be ashamed, whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed of him." We're going to sing in just a minute that
hymn number 400, Ashamed of Jesus, can it be? A mortal man ashamed
of thee? We cannot be ashamed of him.
So by his grace We go before the King's presence and He does
hold out the golden scepter of mercy because of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And He is, He is that golden
scepter of mercy. And we cannot perish, we cannot
perish in Christ and because of Him. All that He has done
for us.