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Lessons and Sermons from the Longmire Road church of Christ in Conroe Texas USA
The Bible is filled with some remarkable accounts of daring feats and magnificent acts of
valor.
And these men and women in the Bible, of whom the Bible speaks, included in these feats of
valor, their names are edged in the history of mankind for their courageous service to the
God of heaven.
And we can certainly learn a lot from them, but yet also the Bible records the worst of
mankind.
The Bible is certainly not an unabridged version of human history, but it does record some
atrocious and terrible things done by man to his fellow man.
In the book of Esther, what we find is both of these characteristics presented in vivid
fashion.
The bravest of mankind and also the worst of mankind, both the good and the bad.
On the one hand, you have a man with a murderous intent on the other.
have a young lady.
who needed to find the courage to stand in the face of that very threat.
And prayerfully tonight, as we consider the book of Esther and the main account in it,
prayerfully after we have considered this great account, I hope we like Esther will be
emboldened to stand up for what is right, that we too will utter the words, if I perish, I
perish.
When righteousness is in front of us and the need to do right,
we are faced with the need to do right.
And so if you would turn with me to the book of Esther as we consider this account and the
bravery contained in it for our exhortation and learning tonight.
The first thing we're going to do is we're going to look at the prologue.
We're going to look at the context and the setting of the account.
Number two, what we're going to do is look at the promotion that took place within the
account.
The plot that came with that promotion.
Then also the picture of bravery that is recorded for us and the price that was paid at
the very end.
And so first of all, let's consider the prologue as it is noted in Esther verse one and
verse one.
And so the Bible talks about the reigning government here in Esther chapter one and verse
one.
It says, now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus.
This was Ahasuerus who reigned over 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia.
And so at that time, the account of Esther, oh the children of Israel were under the rule
of the Medo-Persian Empire.
The Medo-Persian Empire were the ones who destroyed Babylon.
And because Babylon were the ones who took in the Jews into captivity, they now, the Jews,
were under Medo-Persian rule.
And you may remember the Medes and the Persians and who they were and the Jews that were
in Babylonian captivity now being under their rule.
The Medo-Persians in 536 under the rule of Cyrus allowed the Jews to return by the command
of God.
Isaiah chapter 44 and verse 28 tells us this, and this was done by King Cyrus as
prophesied 150 years before.
And so not everyone returned, however.
The Medo-Persian government was in full swing, but not all the Jews returned.
when the Lord said that they could return when the Medo-Persian government allowed them to
return.
Some of them stayed.
Some of them stayed within the Medo-Persian empire because that's all they knew, because
they grew up in that system.
And so some Jews remained there.
And this is where we find Esther.
This is where we find Esther living under the rule of King Ahasuerus or Xerxes as he is
known.
And so the Book of Esther is chronologically placed after Ezra and before Nehemiah.
So if you can pitch in your mind, if you will, Ezra is restoring the temple and restoring
the worship.
Nehemiah is going to come and restore those walls.
But in the middle there, we find the Book of Esther.
We find Esther there under the rule of Zertzes or King Zertzes.
And so when we consider the reigning government, what we have in the second place here is
a reveling occasion.
a reveling occasion.
Notice it with me in verses two to five.
And in those days under Xerxes, king of the Middle Persian government, when the king
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 his princes and his servants.
The power of Persia and Media, the nobles and the princes of the provinces, being there
before him.
When he showed them the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent
majesty many days, even a hundred and four score days, when these days were expired, the
king made a feast unto the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto the
great and small seven days in the court of the garden of the king's palace.
So this, the hundred day feast, highlights the immorality that was commonplace in the
Persian society.
There was a lot of morality obviously in the heathen world and in the Persian society it
was no different.
It was not wrong to have a feast or to celebrate anything, but as we will notice this
feast of heathens is laden with sin.
The feast in which they engage are laden with sin.
Hence this is why the Lord even in the New Testament instructs us to remove ourselves from
this world and their feast days because usually their feast involves
more sin in which to engage.
1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 3 clearly instructs the Christian that you spend enough time
over there in their feast days.
You need to remove yourself from it.
But nevertheless, we have this feast that is being presented.
The feast that is going on and I want to sketch for us a picture if you will that there is
rank immorality in this feast day.
There's a lot of drinking going on.
There's a lot of partying going on.
There's all those types of immorality going on during this feast day.
They know not God.
They're not concerned about the righteousness of God.
They're not concerned about doing the things of God.
All they're concerned about is the satisfying of the flesh.
And under this scene, there is going to come a request by the king that is going to bring
to the fore this account, the rebellious queen.
Consider verses 10 through 12.
On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, in plain speak, he was
drunk.
You know, and so he was married with wine.
He commanded Mahunam, Behasa and Harbonah, Bigtha, Agbatha, Zethar and Carcas, seven
eunuchs who served in the presence of the king, Ahasuerus, to bring Queen Vashti before
the king.
Now just the point of interest here, the eunuchs, they were individuals who were given
charge over the king's women.
Usually in the kingdom, the eunuchs were given that charge.
So wearing her royal apparel, so...
to bring Queen Vashti before the king wearing her royal crown in order to show her beauty
to the people and the officials for she was beautiful to behold but Queen Vashti refused
to come at the king's command brought by his eunuchs therefore the king was furious and
his anger burned within him and so he wants to make a show of Queen Vashti he wants to put
her in front of all of his friends in front of all of her his nobles in front of the
powerful that were there
And as most commentators have it, he wants her to come and parade herself with jester
crown.
It's not the case that he wants her to come before him fully robed.
He's drunk out of his mind and he's going to parade this beautiful woman in front of
everyone so that everyone can see, look at what I have in my possession, if you will.
And he wants to make a show of her.
And what happened after this is that the king asks his advisors, what should he do?
since she has refused to come and make a spectacle of herself as I have commanded.
And so they say, and we're not going to take the time to read it, but noted in verses 16
through 17, they say she's going to start a revolution.
You don't understand that if she says no, the people are going to look at this situation.
Well, if she tells the king no, then why should we then tell the king yes?
And so she's going to start a revolution.
Now, the mindset is certainly true.
If this continues, then yes, it may very well start a revolution.
And so I'm not discounting the mindset, but we understand that their action behind it to
be immoral.
And so what they say is you need to replace her.
You need to get rid of her.
And so notice what it says in verse 19 of Esther, Chapter one.
If it pleases the king, let a royal decree go out from him and let it be recorded in the
laws of the Persians and the Medes.
Notice this.
so that it will not be altered.
We're going to come back to that closer to the end of this lesson.
That Vashti shall come no more before King Ahasuerus and let the king give her a royal
position to another who is better than she.
Right?
Let her position be given to someone else who is better than her.
Now we know this is nothing but spite because it was already said that she was very
beautiful.
It was already said that she was a great person to behold.
That's why he brought her out.
And so what is being done in this instance is nothing but spite.
Let's find somebody better than her and we'll show her that she's not needed here.
And so the king, he does exactly that.
He does what these advisors tell him to do.
I want you to keep in mind still that he is still under the influence, if you will.
This is a long party going on and he's making some terrible decisions.
And so after this rebellious queen,
comes about, we have a replacement that is considered.
In chapter 2, if you turn there with me, if you will, chapter 2, verses 1 through 4,
notice what the scripture says.
After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered Vashti.
And so he was, not only was he drunk, he was upset in his drunken stupor, but that now has
subsided.
You know, he's thinking about this situation.
You know, maybe I acted a little too harshly, you think?
Right?
And so he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.
So the impetus of the the phraseology here and how it is phrased, seems like the king is
having some regrets about what happened.
Then the king's servants who attended him said, let beautiful young virgins be sought for
the king.
So as he's remembering Vashti,
As he's remembering what is done to her, as he comes into his right mind, immediately some
counselors came in and said, forget her, let's look at someone else.
Let beautiful young virgins be brought for the king and let the king appoint officers in
all the provinces of his kingdom that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to
Shushan the citadel unto the woman's quarters under the custody of Haggai and the king's
eunuch, custodian of the woman.
And let beauty preparations be given them.
Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.
And this thing pleased the king and he did so.
And so during the search for a replacement queen, Queen Vashti has to be replaced.
are introduced during this search, we are introduced to Esther's cousin, Mordecai.
Now Mordecai was a compassionate caretaker of Esther.
The Bible tells us in chapter two, verses five through seven,
In Shushan the Citadel there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jer,
the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite.
Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been captured with
Jeconiah, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried away.
And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had
neither father nor mother.
The young woman was lovely and beautiful.
When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.
And so Mordecai here shows his compassion.
She grew up in captivity and he took care of his uncle's daughter.
Hadassah is her name, known as Esther.
That's her Middle Persian name or a Babylonian name, but Hadassah is her Jewish name.
And so Mordecai, he is a compassionate individual.
He's a compassionate caretaker.
But we are also introduced to Mordecai
as a concerned citizen of the Medo-Persian Empire.
In chapter 2 verses 19 through 23, Mordecai discovers a plot against the king.
And what Mordecai does is he informs the king about this plot.
He's a man of integrity and he seems to care about the Medo-Persian Empire.
Now we might think, why in the world is he caring about the Medo-Persian Empire?
Once again, this is where he grew up.
This is where he came up, if you will, even if he wasn't born there, this is where he
spent most of his time in captivity under Medo-Persian rule.
And even though the Jews were free to leave and go back to Jerusalem, he stayed there.
His uncle's daughter is there.
He's caring for her.
He's concerned about what's happening around him.
And after all, why would you not be concerned?
If there's a plot to kill the king, what's going to happen afterwards?
The government's going to be unstable.
There's probably a war going to break out.
None of us would want those things.
And so he says, that's not what we want.
And so he discovers the plot to kill the king and he intercedes and then stops that entire
thing.
And so Esther, in Esther chapter two and verse eight, it says, so it was when the king's
command and decree were heard and when many young women were gathered at Shushan the
Citadel under the custody of Hec-Eye.
that Esther also was taken to the king's palace into the care of Haggai, the custodian of
woman.
This is a true rags to riches story, if you will, if there ever was one, where Esther is a
Jewish girl and she's going to be taken from captivity, if you will, from the ranks of the
captives and she is going to be put in the palace.
And she is not just going to be put in the palace, she's going to be put as someone that
is right next to the king.
And in Esther chapter two, verses 17 through 18, it says, king loved Esther more than all
the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins.
So he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Ashtai.
Then the king made a great feast and a feast for Esther for all his officials and
servants.
And he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces and gave gifts according to the generosity of
the king.
And so he loved her so much.
He said, she's going to be my queen.
Now, if we ended this account right here, it would be a beautiful story, if you will, of
something atrocious that happened, but something good that came out of it.
If we ended it right here, it would have been a great rags to riches story.
But Esther was about to find herself in a world of hurt.
She was about to find herself in a rock and a hard place, or between a rock and a hard
place, and it started with a promotion.
Esther chapter three, verses one through five reads as follows.
After these things, Esther has now been crowned as the queen.
After these things, King Xerxes promoted Haman, the son of Hamadatha, the Agate, and
advanced him to set his seat above all the princes who were with him.
And all the king's servants who were within the king's gate bowed and paid homage to
Haman.
For so the king had commanded concerning him.
But Mordecai would not bow or pay homage.
Then the king's servants who were within the gates said to Mordecai, why do you transgress
the king's command?
Now it happened when they spoke to him daily and that he would not listen to them, that
they told it to Haman to see whether Mordecai's words would stand.
For Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew.
When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay homage, Haman was filled with wrath.
And so what we have here is Haman rises to power.
We have a promotion that comes with power.
When you read the book of Esther, you'll notice that Haman had certain authority to
command and control.
He was put over all of the princes.
And so this is a very high position, right?
One might say this is right underneath the king.
It was a very authoritative position.
And this position is going to assist him to carry out evil.
That's why we're always cautious about those whom we put in power when we go to the booth.
Why?
Because we understand if an individual is evil, if you put an evil individual in an
authoritative position, guess what they're going to do?
They're going to carry out their evil agenda.
And so these are the things we think about, and this is played out for us right here with
Haman.
His promotion came with power, and his position also came with a problem.
Mordecai does not want to pay homage to him.
It would seem here from what Mordecai is saying that he's a Jew.
He cannot pay homage or worship Haman in that fashion.
It was not uncommon for them to put people who were in high positions, even the king, to
put them in positions where they could be worshiped as a god.
And so Mordecai says, I'm not going to do that.
I'm not going to bow down to you.
I'm not going to pay homage to you.
And so Mordecai did not bow down to Haman.
But I want you to understand
that he didn't know this.
At first, uh Haman didn't know that Mordecai did not bow down to him.
And slowly but surely we are introduced to the character here of Haman.
Verse five says that Haman heard of it and he was angry.
He heard that Mordecai did not bow down.
Now take yourself in, put yourself in Haman's shoes.
He did not know about it and he was fine.
But as soon as he heard that one person, just one person did not bow down to him,
He said, no, I can't have that.
I can't have Mordecai not bow down to me.
Some may have walked away and said he is the only one, he's only one man who has done
this.
I'm not even concerned about him.
He's a Jew who cares about what they think.
They're in captivity anyway.
I'm not worried about it, but not so with Haman.
And here we are introduced to his personality of pride.
You see, Haman in his mind is I'm somebody.
I'm somebody.
You know, and you you need to bow down to me You need to make sure that you pay the
appropriate reverence and respect to me because i've been put in this position It is this
pride that he has that we get a glimpse into as he deals with mordecai It is this pride
that is going to lead this man in devising a genocidal plot The fact that one man does not
want to bow down to him is going to lead to this man wanting to murder an entire
ethnicity of people, an entire race of people, the Jews, all of them.
I'm going to destroy them because this man does not want to bow down.
And so Esther's problem started with a promotion of a proud individual that rose to power.
And in this promotion, after he heard about it, we have the plot that took place.
Notice what it says in Esther chapter three, verses six through nine.
Notice it says,
but he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone.
He didn't want to take him alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai.
Instead, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of
Ahasuerus, the people of Mordecai.
In the first month, which is in the month of Nisan, in the 12th year of King Ahasuerus,
they cast Pur, that is the Lot, before Haman to determine the day and the month, until it
fell on the 12th month.
which is the month of Adar.
Then Haman said to the king of Hashirah, there is a certain people scattered and dispersed
among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom.
Their laws are different from other people's, they do not keep the king's laws.
Therefore, it is not fitting for the king to let them remain.
If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay
10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work.
to bring it into the king's treasuries.
See, Haman was not content to leave this thing alone.
So he devises in plot to enact vengeance as we talked about last week in our sermon, we
talked about vengeance, this is just that.
I hate him so much, but he's going to see what I'm going to do.
He's not being physically attacked, Haman that is.
His family has not been harmed.
His possessions has not been stolen.
So what's the big problem?
His ego was bruised.
His ego was bruised.
If you don't think pride will cause people to do some heinous things, here's an
illustration for us left for us by God to show that pride knows no little offense and its
vengeance is no little thing.
When someone is proud, when they're proud and they think so much of themselves, the
smallest thing that you do against them will incur their wrath.
Once again, because in Haman's mind, he is somebody, right?
And so what we see here is that his plot was cruel.
Verse six says that he was going to lay hands on Mordecai alone, but that was not enough
for him.
He said, I could kill Mordecai, but you know what?
He's not bowing down to me.
I'm going to destroy the entire Jewish nation.
Women, children, elderly, all because one man did not bow down to him.
He was willing to hurt everyone because he did not like one person.
Once again, a little more of this man's character is revealed.
His proud is vindictive, his cruel, barring standing up for the truth, which inevitably
will offend some.
We ought never to harm the work of the church and the cause of Christ to promote our own
interest.
We ought never to do this.
You know, some folks would rather split the church than admit wrong.
Some folks would rather go, they'd be in the congregation.
They don't want to admit wrong.
They don't want to admit that they've done wrong.
They would see the Lord's church split because of pride.
Some folks would rather stop the work because they can't be in charge of it.
Hello I've seen that so many times in the Lord's church if they can't be in charge of it
if they can't do it Well, then it can't be done right because of pride some would rather
see the doors close if they don't get their way I've seen that too.
I've been personally involved in that where an individual did not get their way She
couldn't have her way.
She couldn't have what she wanted and she said well, then i'm leaving
I'm gonna go." And the doors had to close, eventually did.
And I had to go somewhere else.
Why?
Because one person did not go their way.
That's pride, brethren.
Don't think that's indicative to Haman.
No, that manifests itself in the local congregation.
That's why these lessons have been recorded for us, to make personal application.
So his plot, we understand, was cruel, and we see that same cruelty displayed in the lives
of even people today.
Consider not only was his plot cruel, his plot was cunning.
He did not go off on a tirade.
He did not demand the capture of Mordecai and capturing him and making a public example of
him.
No, he had a plan.
He had a plan.
Verses eight and nine says he involved others in his scheme.
know, sin rarely walks alone.
It usually desires the company of others.
Haman knows that if his plan is to succeed, he needs the king on his side.
So what he does is he conspires to involve the king.
And so he needs to influence the king to get his way.
But notice how he approaches the king.
And this is the type of cowardice of many.
They can't stand alone.
Those who are proud usually are cowardice.
We think of diatrophies.
Remember, diatrophies, very proud, love to have the preeminence of them.
And he didn't want to allow the letters of John to be read in the congregation.
And he is trading against John with malicious words.
What did John say?
I'll sort them out when I get there.
The false teachers in Corinth, they were saying a lot of things against the Apostle Paul.
They were saying a lot of things contrary to Paul.
And what did Paul say?
We're going to test those words when we get there.
Because most of the time, those who are engaged in sin and false doctrines and standing
against God, they can't stand by themselves.
They always have to have others stand by them or have to scheme and plot.
And so this is what he does.
He has to get the king involved and he approaches the king and he says, listen, these
people, they're different than us.
They've got different laws than us.
They don't believe the same things we believe.
I wonder if there's a people in the world today who's different from the world.
A people in the world today who operate by a different code than the rest of the world.
A people today who will not stand for that which is, maybe, practice in the world.
Is there people like that?
Yes.
Now imagine if someone comes along and says, you know, we need to do something about these
people.
You don't think persecution is possible?
This is what it looks like.
This is the blueprint where someone who does not like what you've said and what you've
done and what the church stands for comes in and tries to persuade those in authority to
do something about these people.
He says their laws are different.
What they teach and what we believe are different.
Therefore we have to get rid of them.
It's a nuclear option.
And so they do not follow the king's laws.
This is a false claim by the way.
They do follow the king's laws.
They do follow the laws of the king as long as it doesn't contradict with the laws that
God has given them.
And so those who want to advance their sinful causes will resort to lying and this is what
he does.
Haman approached the king as if he had the king's best interest at heart.
King I'm just trying to protect your kingdom.
I'm just trying to make sure that your kingdom is good and that it is well.
I remember someone who did the same thing in the very beginning who said, you know, God's
just trying to hold you back and I'm just trying to elevate you.
He's trying to get you not to eat of the fruit of the tree which grows in the midst of the
garden.
And I'm just trying to help you.
They don't operate any other way.
This is how false teachers operate in the church according to Paul and Peter in for Roman
chapter 16, verses 17 and 18.
The Lord says, now I urge you, brethren,
know those who cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which you've learned
and avoid them.
Why?
For those are such who do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly
self-interest and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.
He says the reason you mark and avoid false teachers is because they're going to come in
and they're going to deceive people.
They're going to lead people away.
And this is exactly what Haman is doing.
He's trying to deceive the king.
He doesn't care about the king.
He's trying to deceive the king.
We have already ascertained that the king is easily influenced because he listened to his
advisors to get rid of, to get rid of Vashti.
And when it seemed he had a change of mind, he listened to them again to find someone new.
And he is the simple ones of which Paul speaks here in this text.
He's the one who's easily persuaded.
Don't be that person.
who is easily persuaded with doctrines that are contrary to God.
Haman is only concerned about Haman and Haman will do whatever it takes to get what Haman
wants.
But not only was his plot cruel and cunning, it was also costly.
In verse 9 it says that he was willing to pay 10 talents of silver, 10 talents of silver
to have the king have this done.
The amount of money historians say was a third of the Persian budget.
A third of the Persian budget, this guy was willing to fork out.
Balak paid Balaam to get his way.
Jonah paid a boat to get away.
And the chief priest paid Judas to betray the way.
Sin and sinful people are always willing to pay.
They're always willing to pay to get their way.
Please do not misunderstand.
When people want their way and they want to do ungodly things, they're willing to stick
their hands in their pocket and pay to do so.
And we see this here in Haman, was costly.
For those who want their sins accomplished, no price seems too high.
I remember years ago when an individual, same congregation where I had to leave, an
individual came in and he had a lot of money, but they wanted to enact some things and do
some things that were contrary to the Lord.
And he offered to pay to have a new door put in in the building.
And this door was going to be really, really expensive.
And he said, don't worry about it.
We're going to pay for it.
He was willing to pay for it.
He was willing to pay thousands of dollars.
There were other things in the building that he said, you know what, I could do this and I
could do that.
And already the red flags have gone up.
I've done this long enough.
I know when folks start offering money, there's some things to miss.
When folks start offering money and it wasn't soon before he wanted to introduce some
things and try to introduce some things that were contrary to the law of the Lord.
And what did we do?
We had him exit through the same doors for which he paid.
That's what we did.
We said, we're not gonna stand for it.
We're not gonna stand for you taking the law of the Lord and twisting it and making us
into a denomination, irregardless of what you paid.
But that's what people do.
They desire to pay their way.
And then we see not only was the plot costly, we see the plot became canon.
It became rule.
In verses 10 through 15, we'll read verses 10.
through 13 or rather 10 through 11 and then also verse 13 it says, the king took the
signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the son of Hamadathah and the Agite, the
Agite and the enemy of the Jews.
And the king said to Haman, the money and the people are given to you, do with them as it
seems good to you.
And the letters were sent in verse 13 by posting to all the king's provinces to destroy,
to kill and to cause to perish all the Jews, both young and old, little concern for the
children and women.
And one day, even upon the 13th day of the 12th month, which was in the month of Adar, to
take the spoil of them.
Remember when it says that the Persian law could not be altered?
Once the king made this law, sealed it with a signet ring.
Brethren, that was it.
The Jews are about to be exterminated permanently.
The Jews are about to be killed.
The law would not be overturned.
The Jews face a certain destruction if nothing is done.
Esther's problems as queen started with a promotion of a proud man who had a problem with
one Jew and devised a devious plot to kill all Jews.
And sin will take you further than you're willing to go.
It will keep you longer than you're willing to stay and it will cost you more than you're
willing to pay.
And in Haman we see the worst of humanity.
But in Esther, we see a picture of bravery.
In Esther, we find that it is said,
Heroes are people who do extraordinary things at extraordinary times.
In the book of Esther, we have a situation that is extraordinary.
All the Jews in every province are about to be killed.
From what lineage would the Christ happen to be?
He is from the tribe of Judah.
The tribe of Judah is from what group of people?
It's from the Jews.
Now brethren, if all the Jews are going to be exterminated,
Does this interfere with God's scheme of redemption?
Yes.
There are critics out there who say the book of Esther has nothing to say about Jesus.
Really?
They say the book of Esther does not belong in the canon of scripture because it does not
have any reference to Jesus.
Really?
The Jews are about to be killed.
This is part of God's scheme of redemption and Haman is messing with God's plan.
He's messing with God's plan but in Esther there was hope for the Jewish nation.
She received word from her uncle Mordecai about the situation and he wants her to go to
the king.
This is in chapter four, verses one through nine.
He wants her to go to the king, but Esther has some reluctance because of the risks and
rightly so.
Verse 11 says, all the king's servants and people of the king's provinces know that any
man or woman who goes into the inner court of the king, who has not been called, he has
but one law, put all to death.
Except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter that he may live yet I myself
have not been called to go to the king these 30 days He says you don't understand
Mordecai.
I can't just walk up to the king Just like you can't just walk up to the White House.
They will shoot you you try to jump over that fence They'll probably try to catch you
first, but you can't just do that the same with the king He has to call you and if you
come without being called You're going to be put to death There is a great risk
Involve of what Mordecai is asking her to do and naturally she took she thought about
those risks She thought about what was going to happen.
There's always going to be risks when you try to do the right thing There's always going
to be a little bit of hardship when you try to do the right thing as the saying goes No
one has a rotten egg thrown at them until they stand up and so there's always going to be
risk you try teaching the gospel to people and and sometimes you might think well, what
are they going to say?
Matthew chapter 10 and verse 16, the Lord said, He didn't sugarcoat it.
He says, I'm sending you forth as sheep amidst wolves.
I need you to be prepared.
There's risks involved in doing the right thing.
It's not always going to be a walk in the park.
And so she is considering the risk and she's reluctant about it.
She doesn't want to go through with it.
But then Mordecai, he had to warn her and he gave her an admonition about her association.
Notice verse 12 and 13.
m
They told Mordecai Esther's words and Mordecai told them to answer Esther.
Do not think that in your heart that you will escape the king's palace any more than all
the other Jews.
Esther, you're a Jew.
The law has decreed that all Jews will be killed.
You cannot sit on the sidelines and say nothing and do nothing.
If you go to the king, you might die.
If you don't go to the king, you will die.
Either way, Esther.
This doesn't look good for you because this is coming down the pipeline.
have come to know and experience that bad things happen when good people do nothing.
Bad things happen when good people sit on the seat of do less and lean on the elbows of do
little.
Keeping quiet when you should speak up is cowardice.
Sitting down when you should stand up is fearfulness.
Doing nothing when you should do something is ungodliness.
That's why Revelation 21, 8 says that the first thing, the first group of people that ends
up in the burning fires of hell are what?
The cowardly.
Those who do not have the moral fortitude to stand when they're supposed to stand.
Those who would rather sit on the sidelines and not do anything.
who would rather keep quiet and not say anything.
I don't want to get involved.
I don't want to say anything because people are going to get upset.
People are going to get upset, period.
That's what people do.
Will you sit on the fence?
You have to remind yourself that the fence is on Satan's property.
You cannot sit on the fence when it comes to righteousness and expect to go to the
righteous one.
You cannot sit on the fence and say, well, I'm not going to do anything.
because you need to remember your association.
And so here, when Christianity is being maligned, when the truth is being attacked, what
will you do as a Christian?
You need to remember your association.
You are a Christian.
And whatever happens is also against you.
Consider this.
Mordecai then not only tells her about her association, he talks about the possibility of
God's provision.
In verse 14 he says, for if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and
deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house
will perish.
Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this.
Esther, God will deliver his people, period.
Whether through you or through someone else, God's going to deliver his people, period.
God is not going to let His purpose that has been planned from the eternity from before
the world begins, uh Ephesians chapter 3 verses 10 and 11, before eternity, He's not going
to let that plan be derailed by a man on an ego drip.
He's not gonna let that happen.
And so Esther is told by Mordecai, this could very well be God's providence.
And he's not sure, he says, who knows?
Right?
He doesn't have any revelation and when you don't have revelation what do you have?
You have speculation.
So he says, who knows Esther, this might very well be God's plan.
And looking in high sight we could certainly say that yes, this is God's plan.
And so this could very well be God's plan.
Interesting, Mordecai did not say, well God will take care of it, you just pray about it.
He didn't say that.
We're going to be killed.
You have the opportunity and you have the ability to do something.
You need to do something.
You need to do something because yes, this might very well be God's plan, but it's not
separate and apart from you acting or doing something.
Why?
Because faith without works is dead.
need you to advance those slides.
I'm not stopping to pick that thing up.
One thing we need to realize is that God's will will be accomplished with or without us.
Just like Mordecai told Esther, God's will will be done.
We need to remind ourselves constantly about that.
If we don't stand up for the truth, God will raise up Christians who will.
If we don't evangelize the world, God will raise up Christians who will go.
If we don't shine our lights, God will raise up Christians who will shine their lights in
the world.
Brethren, you need to understand that we are replaceable.
What I mean by that, I don't mean we're worthless in the sight of God.
I don't mean that God doesn't think anything of us, but God has a cause and a purpose that
He has given us.
And that cause and purpose will be accomplished with or without us.
Now you have a choice.
We can either be a part of God's plan to save man or we can watch it from the fence, but
one thing is certain, His will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
And what we need to remind ourselves, just like Esther was reminded, you may have come to
the kingdom for such a time as this.
There's work to be done.
Well, maybe you're here for that work.
There are things that need to be done in the Lord.
Maybe you're the one who could do that better than anyone else.
You may have come to the kingdom for such a time as this." And so Mordecai was instructing
her and asking, telling her that this is the possibility of God's provision.
But then also, his determination, we see her determination in the face of death, verses 15
and 16.
Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, go gather all the Jews who are present in
Shushan and fast for me, neither eat or drink for three days, night and day.
My maid's and I will fast likewise and so I will go to the king which is against the law
and if I perish I perish.
The first thing she does is what?
She goes to God.
Prayer and fasting was an appeal to God for deliverance and strength.
Her first appeal is to reach out to the God of heaven.
When you are faced with difficult situations where do you go first?
Who do you reach out to first?
It should be God.
He should be the one that is our first call, if you will.
So many times God is not even considered or consulted on the matter.
His word is not considered, not so with Esther.
She utters the words of a true hero, if I die, I die.
But I'm going to do the right thing.
I know I might die.
I know this might not end well, but the cause is greater than myself.
I'm willing to give my life for it.
Do you perhaps know of someone else who did the same thing?
who said that the cause in front of me is greater than my own life and I'm going to give
myself to that cause.
I'm going to allow them to beat me.
I'm going to allow them to mock me.
I'm going to allow them to put me on a cruel cross.
Why?
Because the cause of saving all of humanity is greater than I.
Not my will, but thy will be done.
Brethren, what are you willing to do for the cause of Christ?
What are you willing to do?
Esther was willing to die to save the Jews from extermination.
What are you willing to do for the Lord and His cause?
We have to ask ourselves that question daily.
In Esther we see a picture of the best of humanity, not only brave, but brave in
righteousness.
But then, last and in no wise the least, we see the price
We see the price of pride.
Esther devises a plan to talk to the king and Haman at a banquet, and the king did not
send her out, but received her and listened to her, chapter five, verses one through
eight.
Haman is so full of pride in this time that he actually thought that the banquet was for
him.
He's so full of pride, he can't even see past his own pride.
In verses nine through 14 of chapter five.
But before the banquet, Haman had already devised a plan to hang Mordecai publicly, uh
Esther chapter 5 and verse 14.
And there's a saying that I heard, says, pride goes before a hanging.
And this is exactly what happened to him.
Proverbs chapter 16 and 18 and Proverbs 29 and verse 23 tells us that pride will bring you
low, it will bring you to destruction.
And Haman would see that firsthand.
His ego was devastated.
As the king calls him in and he thinks he's getting an award and the king says I'm looking
at Mordecai about giving him something.
I remembered what he did.
Could you imagine his face?
He probably couldn't contain himself.
that's great.
Right?
Give old fake smile.
That's great.
So the king remembered Mordecai.
He calls Haman in and Haman you know he's brought low.
He was humiliated.
But not only was he humiliated, he also was put to death, chapter 7, in the same gallows
that he prepared for Mordecai.
That's where he was put to death.
And his plan was dismantled because of the irreversible law of the Medes and Persians.
The law that the king allowed Haman to make could not be reversed.
However, he could make another decree that before the Jews are killed, they are allowed to
kill everybody else.
So guess what?
We're just going to go along with this for as long as we can.
And so,
Esther chapter 8 verses 11 and 12 tells us about this.
The Jews were then able to defend themselves against their enemies within the law, by the
way.
Pride doesn't pay.
Pride doesn't pay anything righteous or anything good.
What it does bring is destruction.
When we think about this account, when we think about this glorious account of
righteousness in the face of evil,
We have to understand that we live, if you can change that slide, we live in a world that
is becoming increasingly hostile towards that which is righteous.
And this question, even though it may not mean anything to us in this very hour, maybe,
this question will become all the more pertinent to us as the years go on.
Are you going to stand?
When the world is trying to do that which is contrary to God, will you have the courage to
stand up and say, if I perish?
I perish, but I'm gonna do what is right.
Brethren, we don't even have to wait for that.
We can do that in our own lives amongst our friends.
If I lose friends over this, I'm gonna lose friends, but I'm gonna stand for what is
right.
We can do it in our own homes.
Listen, my kids, my wife may be upset with me, but we're going to do the will and work of
the Lord.
If I perish, I perish.
I'm gonna do this in the Lord's church.
Whatever happens in the Lord's Church, whatever happens in the congregation, we're going
to stand for what is right.
Well, you don't understand, brother.
If you preach that, we're going to lose people.
If I perish, I perish.
That's the mindset that we need to have.
In every sphere of life, we're going to do what is right because God deems it right.
And so when you are called upon, I hope that you have the fortitude to stand.
And so maybe it is the case that you need the prayers of the congregation tonight because
you do not have that courage.
Maybe at your workplace, maybe at school you failed in that courage.
Well, we can pray for you and pray with you, encourage you and strengthen you so that you
can go through this week with a better courage, having Esther as a role model in your
life.
But then also, let me ask this question.
As we advance to the last slide, to those who are not members of the body of Christ, are
you brave enough for a life change?
Becoming a Christian is the best decision you can ever make.
There is no better decision, but we would be lying if we would say that you can continue
just as it were before.
No, requires a life change.
Are you brave enough to say, listen, I know this requires me to change some things, to do
some things, and I'm willing to make that decision?
If you are, if you are, then certainly hear the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.
His death is burial and His resurrection.
Believe it.
Be willing to repent of sins and confess the good name of Jesus and be immersed in water
for the remission of sins.
If you're brave enough to enter into this life that Christ has promised because just like
with Esther there is great reward but it's going to require courage.
Do you have that courage tonight while we stand and as we sing?