WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.720 There's no way I could have planned this, but 00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:04.620 it's not lost on me this morning that we'll be 00:00:04.620 --> 00:00:07.679 studying the most well -known phrase in the entire 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:12.300 book of Esther. For such a time is this. And 00:00:12.300 --> 00:00:14.480 it comes one week after I stood up here in this 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:16.859 pulpit and while addressing the recent violence 00:00:16.859 --> 00:00:19.739 in our nation, I said that we as a people have 00:00:19.739 --> 00:00:24.019 come to a pivotal moment in our history. That 00:00:24.019 --> 00:00:26.079 it's time for the people of God to recognize 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:29.469 the encroaching evil in our world. and to stop 00:00:29.469 --> 00:00:32.850 backing down, that it's time for the church to 00:00:32.850 --> 00:00:35.289 take a stronger stance for what is true and to 00:00:35.289 --> 00:00:38.609 speak up against the rot that has come upon our 00:00:38.609 --> 00:00:42.750 civilization. Friends, as I said last week, evil 00:00:42.750 --> 00:00:46.070 is at our doorstep, and the enemy is never going 00:00:46.070 --> 00:00:48.810 to stop trying to advance, so we can't afford 00:00:48.810 --> 00:00:50.829 to push it off and just say, well, it's out there 00:00:50.829 --> 00:00:54.710 somewhere, and that it doesn't affect us. It 00:00:54.710 --> 00:00:56.990 is time for every one of us in this community 00:00:57.549 --> 00:01:01.030 to develop stronger convictions and to draw firmer 00:01:01.030 --> 00:01:04.090 boundaries and to say, no more. I won't be intimidated 00:01:04.090 --> 00:01:08.989 into silence or passivity. And I have to tell 00:01:08.989 --> 00:01:11.310 you, I was a little afraid about preaching that 00:01:11.310 --> 00:01:14.489 message last Sunday with that tone. But afterwards, 00:01:14.629 --> 00:01:16.849 I was incredibly encouraged by the response from 00:01:16.849 --> 00:01:19.129 this congregation. I think we're all a little 00:01:19.129 --> 00:01:21.769 bit fed up with what we see happening around 00:01:21.769 --> 00:01:24.590 us. And then it made me think and pray as I was 00:01:24.590 --> 00:01:27.439 preparing for today's message. Okay, Lord, perhaps 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:29.579 you have brought this church family together 00:01:29.579 --> 00:01:32.819 for such a time as the moment that we're living 00:01:32.819 --> 00:01:36.560 in. And I don't just mean, Lord, maybe you brought 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:38.939 our church leadership together or our ministry 00:01:38.939 --> 00:01:41.359 directors together. I mean every single member 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:44.219 of this church that you brought us together for 00:01:44.219 --> 00:01:46.959 this moment. And my prayer is that last Sunday's 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:49.920 message wasn't just a bunch of talk. And now 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:51.640 that we got that off our chest, we feel better 00:01:51.640 --> 00:01:54.230 and we can move on to the next thing. The church 00:01:54.230 --> 00:01:56.129 tends to do that. We just move on to the next 00:01:56.129 --> 00:01:58.689 thing, but we can't. That's not good enough. 00:01:59.530 --> 00:02:01.430 My prayer is that each of you were convinced 00:02:01.430 --> 00:02:04.230 to go home and to renew your thinking about the 00:02:04.230 --> 00:02:06.769 times that we live in. That each of you were 00:02:06.769 --> 00:02:09.449 convinced to go and establish new convictions 00:02:09.449 --> 00:02:11.969 about your role in the spiritual battle for the 00:02:11.969 --> 00:02:14.509 gospel and for the kingdom in this part of the 00:02:14.509 --> 00:02:17.430 world. For every one of us to ask the question, 00:02:17.530 --> 00:02:21.840 what is God calling me to do in my home? In my 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:25.400 family, at my school, in my private life, in 00:02:25.400 --> 00:02:28.259 my public witness, in my local church, what steps 00:02:28.259 --> 00:02:31.599 can I take that will put me in a posture to be 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:36.300 used by God as a vessel for his service to push 00:02:36.300 --> 00:02:39.680 back against the wickedness of this age? Friends, 00:02:39.740 --> 00:02:41.680 this is a battle that only gets won when a whole 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:46.490 army of Christ followers stops being lazy. stops 00:02:46.490 --> 00:02:49.650 being passive or apathetic, and actually picks 00:02:49.650 --> 00:02:51.710 up the spiritual weapons that we have been given 00:02:51.710 --> 00:02:55.629 in Scripture to win that battle. So I will keep 00:02:55.629 --> 00:02:57.469 praying that God will move us out of our comfortable 00:02:57.469 --> 00:03:00.789 lives and start using us in powerful ways that 00:03:00.789 --> 00:03:04.270 right now we can't even imagine. But with God, 00:03:04.289 --> 00:03:07.110 all things are possible. We just have to be faithful. 00:03:07.310 --> 00:03:09.509 So speaking of big moments in history, let's 00:03:09.509 --> 00:03:11.689 turn our attention back to the book of Esther. 00:03:11.750 --> 00:03:14.729 Let's grab our Bibles. And let's open up to Esther 00:03:14.729 --> 00:03:20.210 chapter 4. Esther 4, we have come to a place 00:03:20.210 --> 00:03:23.310 in this story where the table has been set in 00:03:23.310 --> 00:03:25.750 terms of the historical context. The table has 00:03:25.750 --> 00:03:29.330 been set in terms of describing this impending 00:03:29.330 --> 00:03:32.349 crisis that the Jewish people are facing within 00:03:32.349 --> 00:03:35.469 the Persian Empire. And so, good news, from this 00:03:35.469 --> 00:03:37.409 point forward, we can bite off some larger chunks 00:03:37.409 --> 00:03:41.009 of the story, move a little bit quicker. We're 00:03:41.009 --> 00:03:42.389 going to do that even today. We're going to cover 00:03:42.389 --> 00:03:45.090 all of chapter 4, and Lord willing, my plan for 00:03:45.090 --> 00:03:48.750 next Sunday is to look at all of chapter 5. So 00:03:48.750 --> 00:03:50.150 here's what we're going to do this morning. We're 00:03:50.150 --> 00:03:51.930 going to just walk our way through the narrative 00:03:51.930 --> 00:03:55.150 in chapter 4, try to understand what's really 00:03:55.150 --> 00:03:57.650 going on here, and rather than just save all 00:03:57.650 --> 00:04:00.090 the application to the end of the message, as 00:04:00.090 --> 00:04:01.750 we go along, I'm going to make three important 00:04:01.750 --> 00:04:03.930 observations that we learn in this part of the 00:04:03.930 --> 00:04:06.610 story. So first, let's remember where we left 00:04:06.610 --> 00:04:08.849 off at the end of chapter 3 since we took a Sunday 00:04:08.849 --> 00:04:11.400 off last week. Everybody's favorite villain, 00:04:11.620 --> 00:04:18.000 Haman. Man, you guys, you're on it. He has become 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:21.139 aware that Mordecai, a Jewish official who serves 00:04:21.139 --> 00:04:23.600 at the king's gate there in the palace of Susa, 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:26.100 that this Mordecai will not bow down to him, 00:04:26.139 --> 00:04:29.779 will not honor him as the chief vizier under 00:04:29.779 --> 00:04:33.110 the Persian king Xerxes. And Haman is furious 00:04:33.110 --> 00:04:35.769 about this disrespect, but he's been able to 00:04:35.769 --> 00:04:38.230 conceal his anger because he sees an opportunity 00:04:38.230 --> 00:04:41.170 here, not just to get rid of Mordecai, but to 00:04:41.170 --> 00:04:44.550 have the entire Jewish population in the kingdom 00:04:44.550 --> 00:04:48.269 of Persia exterminated. So just at the right 00:04:48.269 --> 00:04:50.629 time, Haman approaches the king with this indictment 00:04:50.629 --> 00:04:53.009 and a proposal. He tells the king that there 00:04:53.009 --> 00:04:55.810 is a certain people within the kingdom, he doesn't 00:04:55.810 --> 00:04:58.040 mention the Jews by name, just that there is 00:04:58.040 --> 00:05:00.720 a certain people within the empire who refuse 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:03.939 to submit to the king's law and that they can't 00:05:03.939 --> 00:05:07.139 be trusted. And he says, it's not in the best 00:05:07.139 --> 00:05:10.560 interest of the king to let them remain. And 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:13.160 so Haman proposes a plan. He's smart. Not only 00:05:13.160 --> 00:05:14.860 does he bring a problem, he brings a solution. 00:05:15.180 --> 00:05:18.360 He says to the king, I will give you a large 00:05:18.360 --> 00:05:21.660 sum of money if you will simply proclaim a certain 00:05:21.660 --> 00:05:24.740 day in the future, get this now, when any... 00:05:25.149 --> 00:05:29.129 Persian citizen can kill any Jew that they encounter 00:05:29.129 --> 00:05:32.910 and confiscate their property. It's like the 00:05:32.910 --> 00:05:36.189 movie The Purge. You get a whole day to do whatever 00:05:36.189 --> 00:05:40.350 you want to murder and to confiscate property. 00:05:40.870 --> 00:05:44.589 And to Xerxes, who has absolutely no problem 00:05:44.589 --> 00:05:48.029 with this type of morality, it sounds like a 00:05:48.029 --> 00:05:51.350 win -win. His Persian subjects can earn a financial 00:05:51.350 --> 00:05:54.589 reward. A huge cut of all those confiscations 00:05:54.589 --> 00:05:56.810 is going to come back into the imperial treasury. 00:05:57.230 --> 00:05:59.430 And most importantly, they'll be rid of this 00:05:59.430 --> 00:06:01.889 rebellious tribe of people who are an obvious 00:06:01.889 --> 00:06:05.870 problem. And so Xerxes gives Haman his signet 00:06:05.870 --> 00:06:08.930 ring and a blank check to do as he pleases with 00:06:08.930 --> 00:06:12.089 the authority and blessing of the king. And Haman's 00:06:12.089 --> 00:06:14.230 edict goes out to every province in the kingdom, 00:06:14.269 --> 00:06:16.829 and word goes out, here it is, in less than a 00:06:16.829 --> 00:06:20.110 year, on the 13th of Adar, the entire Jewish 00:06:20.110 --> 00:06:23.910 population are open targets to be murdered and 00:06:23.910 --> 00:06:27.810 robbed. I asked a couple weeks ago, because we 00:06:27.810 --> 00:06:30.449 tend to read the Bible and we just go, oh, okay, 00:06:30.509 --> 00:06:32.290 well, we kind of know this story. We read right 00:06:32.290 --> 00:06:35.269 past it. Stop for a second. Can you imagine if 00:06:35.269 --> 00:06:38.740 a law like this passed in America? That on a 00:06:38.740 --> 00:06:40.620 single day in the future, all of our neighbors 00:06:40.620 --> 00:06:43.699 who live around us, all of our fellow citizens 00:06:43.699 --> 00:06:46.720 would have the authority and the blessing of 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:50.160 our government to murder professing Christians 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:54.360 and then to take our homes and possessions. Don't 00:06:54.360 --> 00:06:56.779 gloss over the utter wickedness of this story, 00:06:56.860 --> 00:06:59.839 the terrifying nature of this edict. This is 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:02.980 a dystopian nightmare. And at the end of chapter 00:07:02.980 --> 00:07:05.300 three, we're told that the king is so pleased 00:07:05.300 --> 00:07:08.410 by Haman's plan. Then he invites him to the palace 00:07:08.410 --> 00:07:11.329 to sit down and have a drink with him. While, 00:07:11.389 --> 00:07:13.529 of course, the entire city of Susa is in a state 00:07:13.529 --> 00:07:16.350 of chaos and confusion over this news that they 00:07:16.350 --> 00:07:20.350 are now hearing. So let's look at chapter 4 now 00:07:20.350 --> 00:07:23.449 and see what happens next. Verse 1, when Mordecai 00:07:23.449 --> 00:07:26.269 learned all that had been done, meaning all the 00:07:26.269 --> 00:07:30.550 details of this plot, he tore his clothes, put 00:07:30.550 --> 00:07:33.750 on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the 00:07:33.750 --> 00:07:37.269 midst of the city. and wailed loudly and bitterly. 00:07:37.910 --> 00:07:40.209 He went as far as the king's gate, for no one 00:07:40.209 --> 00:07:43.029 was to enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth. 00:07:43.649 --> 00:07:45.490 Now you can tell by the language here that this 00:07:45.490 --> 00:07:48.589 is not just, you know, I'm just sad. I'm not 00:07:48.589 --> 00:07:51.050 just, it's not simple mourning. This is what 00:07:51.050 --> 00:07:53.350 we would call bitter anguish. This is the kind 00:07:53.350 --> 00:07:57.439 of agony that tears at your soul. And so Mordecai 00:07:57.439 --> 00:07:58.959 does something that sounds a little bit strange 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:01.720 to our modern ears, but it has a long and important 00:08:01.720 --> 00:08:04.980 history in Jewish culture. He puts on sackcloth 00:08:04.980 --> 00:08:08.199 and ash. This is an ancient practice that you'll 00:08:08.199 --> 00:08:11.120 find in every era of Israel's history. Go back 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:13.279 to the time of the patriarchs in Genesis 37. 00:08:13.699 --> 00:08:16.000 Remember when Jacob thought his son Joseph, his 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:18.819 favorite son Joseph, was dead? It says he tore 00:08:18.819 --> 00:08:21.939 his clothes and he put on sackcloth. He was in 00:08:21.939 --> 00:08:25.500 this deep state of anguish. In the time of the 00:08:25.500 --> 00:08:28.639 kings, you see Hezekiah faced with the news that 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:31.300 Sennacherib of Assyria is threatening to lay 00:08:31.300 --> 00:08:34.500 siege to his city, Jerusalem. And he goes and 00:08:34.500 --> 00:08:36.820 he appeals to Yahweh for help and it says he 00:08:36.820 --> 00:08:39.919 tore his clothes, he covered himself with sackcloth 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:43.240 and he entered the house of the Lord. So Hezekiah 00:08:43.240 --> 00:08:46.039 comes in in this humble state into the great 00:08:46.039 --> 00:08:50.519 temple and he lays out this threat against Jerusalem 00:08:50.519 --> 00:08:52.799 and he prays with great desperation that God 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:56.019 would rescue them. Prior to the exile, Jeremiah 00:08:56.019 --> 00:08:58.799 tells the unrepentant people of Judah that the 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:01.679 Babylonian army is coming. And he says to them, 00:09:01.700 --> 00:09:06.019 put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn as 00:09:06.019 --> 00:09:09.539 for an only son, a lamentation most bitter, for 00:09:09.539 --> 00:09:13.970 suddenly the destroyer will come upon us. And 00:09:13.970 --> 00:09:15.830 then one last example from the exile period. 00:09:15.950 --> 00:09:18.309 When Daniel had finished studying Jeremiah's 00:09:18.309 --> 00:09:21.149 prophecy of the 70 years of exile, he realizes 00:09:21.149 --> 00:09:23.210 that the time of Judah's redemption is near. 00:09:23.409 --> 00:09:25.970 And he says, so I gave my attention to the Lord 00:09:25.970 --> 00:09:29.549 God to seek him by prayer and supplications with 00:09:29.549 --> 00:09:34.190 fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. So we see a whole 00:09:34.190 --> 00:09:36.730 number of motivations in scripture for this sackcloth 00:09:36.730 --> 00:09:40.110 and ash. It's to express grief. It's to mourn 00:09:40.110 --> 00:09:43.440 over a heavy loss. It's to seek God's face. in 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:46.240 a time of great need. It's to express humility 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:50.120 and sorrow and repentance and sometimes to prepare 00:09:50.120 --> 00:09:54.460 for God to move in a new way. And so the whole 00:09:54.460 --> 00:09:56.899 point is to make yourself uncomfortable when 00:09:56.899 --> 00:09:59.320 you put on sackcloth, right? The roughness of 00:09:59.320 --> 00:10:01.919 the material is literally meant to scratch your 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:05.519 skin, to intensify the physical pain. Why? So 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:09.299 that you remember to pray. You remember to seek 00:10:09.299 --> 00:10:12.629 his face, to remember to repent. And then the 00:10:12.629 --> 00:10:14.169 ashes, you would take them and sprinkle them 00:10:14.169 --> 00:10:16.590 on your head, and it was meant to symbolize your 00:10:16.590 --> 00:10:19.669 mortality, the fleeting nature of life. After 00:10:19.669 --> 00:10:22.669 all, that's how we all return, right? Ash is 00:10:22.669 --> 00:10:26.870 to ashes, dust to dust. So for Mordecai here 00:10:26.870 --> 00:10:28.710 in verse 1, we're not told exactly the motivation 00:10:28.710 --> 00:10:31.190 for what he's doing, but one thing is obvious, 00:10:31.309 --> 00:10:34.769 he is in great emotional pain. And why wouldn't 00:10:34.769 --> 00:10:36.990 he be? The news that he and his people are facing 00:10:36.990 --> 00:10:39.529 annihilation. Now, whether he's repentant or 00:10:39.529 --> 00:10:42.289 not, it doesn't say, Clearly that's possible. 00:10:42.950 --> 00:10:45.169 Whether he's appealing to Yahweh for rescue, 00:10:45.269 --> 00:10:47.990 we're also not told, but that seems like a reasonable 00:10:47.990 --> 00:10:51.090 thing to assume. And the interesting factor here 00:10:51.090 --> 00:10:53.210 is that Mordecai must have known, at least in 00:10:53.210 --> 00:10:55.649 part, that it was his conduct which has brought 00:10:55.649 --> 00:10:57.509 about this edict, the fact that he wouldn't bow 00:10:57.509 --> 00:11:00.409 down to Haman. Can you imagine how heavy that 00:11:00.409 --> 00:11:02.509 would be on your heart to think, I'm partially 00:11:02.509 --> 00:11:06.139 responsible for this? It's put him in uttermost 00:11:06.139 --> 00:11:08.980 distress. He is wailing, picture this, wailing 00:11:08.980 --> 00:11:11.179 in the sackcloth and ash in the middle of the 00:11:11.179 --> 00:11:14.120 city for everybody to see. And then in verse 00:11:14.120 --> 00:11:15.779 three, we're told that as Mordecai was mourning, 00:11:15.960 --> 00:11:18.259 news of the decree was spreading. Verse three, 00:11:18.360 --> 00:11:20.799 in each and every province where the command 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:23.259 and decree of the king came, there was great 00:11:23.259 --> 00:11:26.299 mourning among the Jews with fasting, weeping, 00:11:26.299 --> 00:11:30.659 and wailing, and many lay on sackcloth and ashes. 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:34.440 Guys, this is a national tragedy. For the Jewish 00:11:34.440 --> 00:11:36.039 population in Persia. What are they going to 00:11:36.039 --> 00:11:38.940 do? Okay, so time for observation number one. 00:11:38.980 --> 00:11:42.340 Let's talk about this idea of facing what appears 00:11:42.340 --> 00:11:45.860 to us with our human eyes to be impossible situations. 00:11:45.960 --> 00:11:48.360 Because this is one of them, right? And how many 00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:50.500 times in scripture do we see God's people coming 00:11:50.500 --> 00:11:53.779 up against this? What looks like impossible situations. 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:57.139 What do we do? Think about Abraham for a second. 00:11:57.179 --> 00:12:00.460 You were going to have an heir with Sarah, but 00:12:00.460 --> 00:12:05.179 you're 99 years old. Ah, okay. Moses and the 00:12:05.179 --> 00:12:07.879 Israelites were escaping Pharaoh until, boop, 00:12:07.879 --> 00:12:13.159 we run into what? The Red Sea. Now what? David 00:12:13.159 --> 00:12:16.000 steps forward with a sling. Oh, what do I have 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:18.700 to do? I just have to kill a giant. No problem. 00:12:18.840 --> 00:12:21.360 Daniel gets thrown into a den of hungry lions, 00:12:21.460 --> 00:12:24.519 and he's going to survive how? These are impossible 00:12:24.519 --> 00:12:28.679 situations. Elijah faces off against 450 prophets 00:12:28.679 --> 00:12:31.850 of Baal. Talk about being outnumbered. How do 00:12:31.850 --> 00:12:35.370 you prevail? The disciples look at a crowd of 00:12:35.370 --> 00:12:37.850 5 ,000 people and Jesus says, go ahead, feed 00:12:37.850 --> 00:12:41.230 them. Think about that. And now we hear in the 00:12:41.230 --> 00:12:43.429 book of Esther, we have an edict of death that 00:12:43.429 --> 00:12:45.450 is issued by an all -powerful king. He can do 00:12:45.450 --> 00:12:48.429 anything he wants. How do you respond to that? 00:12:49.669 --> 00:12:52.409 As we survey human history, we certainly can't 00:12:52.409 --> 00:12:55.070 deny that there are many times when God's people 00:12:55.070 --> 00:12:58.649 find themselves in peril. And if not in peril, 00:12:58.769 --> 00:13:00.590 they find themselves suffering under trials. 00:13:00.769 --> 00:13:02.809 They find themselves in very bleak situations. 00:13:03.850 --> 00:13:06.049 And it's in those times that we are all tempted 00:13:06.049 --> 00:13:10.330 to doubt God, to doubt his presence, to doubt 00:13:10.330 --> 00:13:14.110 his care, or to doubt that he's good. And when 00:13:14.110 --> 00:13:15.730 that happens, you guys, because it's going to 00:13:15.730 --> 00:13:17.049 happen to all of us. It hasn't happened to you 00:13:17.049 --> 00:13:19.649 yet. It's coming. Trust me. When it happens, 00:13:19.649 --> 00:13:22.649 that is precisely when we fall back on what we 00:13:22.649 --> 00:13:25.779 know to be true about God. not what we're feeling, 00:13:25.899 --> 00:13:27.600 because feelings are going to lead us all over 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:30.340 the place, but what he has declared about himself 00:13:30.340 --> 00:13:33.559 in his word and what he's told us about his love 00:13:33.559 --> 00:13:36.480 and care for us. We know that he has said, I 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:39.200 will never leave you, my child. I will never 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:42.259 forsake you. But then we think, well, okay, all 00:13:42.259 --> 00:13:43.779 right, that's great, Lord, but then why are you 00:13:43.779 --> 00:13:46.379 putting me through this? Why am I exposed to 00:13:46.379 --> 00:13:48.860 trouble? Why am I facing this impossible situation? 00:13:49.159 --> 00:13:51.519 And the answer is, oh, the Lord's doing so many 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:55.940 things. We can't see it, but he's doing so many 00:13:55.940 --> 00:13:58.919 things. And because he's doing those things, 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:00.779 they're always good for us. That's something 00:14:00.779 --> 00:14:04.179 we don't often think about. If he's doing something 00:14:04.179 --> 00:14:06.320 in our lives through difficulty, it's going to 00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:08.899 be good for us because they come from his hand. 00:14:09.340 --> 00:14:11.399 Again, we just have to renew our thinking in 00:14:11.399 --> 00:14:14.940 those moments and go back to his word. Now, he 00:14:14.940 --> 00:14:16.519 may want to produce in you greater dependence 00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:20.179 in the midst of an impossible situation. Sometimes 00:14:20.179 --> 00:14:22.779 he puts us in situations where we have absolutely 00:14:22.779 --> 00:14:25.620 no choice but to come to him for the strength 00:14:25.620 --> 00:14:28.759 and the wisdom we need to overcome. He'll put 00:14:28.759 --> 00:14:31.379 us in those desperate situations so that we'll 00:14:31.379 --> 00:14:33.980 depend on him more. Augustine wrote about this. 00:14:34.019 --> 00:14:37.840 He said, God orders what we cannot do so that 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:41.759 we'll know exactly what to ask of him. Think 00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:44.519 about that. Or secondly, he may want to stretch 00:14:44.519 --> 00:14:47.120 your faith and perseverance. Sometimes God wants 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:49.179 you to die to something that's not good for you. 00:14:50.230 --> 00:14:52.509 And only trial and suffering is gonna get you 00:14:52.509 --> 00:14:54.690 to that place. And in the midst of that trial 00:14:54.690 --> 00:14:56.629 and suffering, he says, will you trust me with 00:14:56.629 --> 00:15:00.129 this? He'll often put us in difficult situations 00:15:00.129 --> 00:15:03.490 to move us into a place he needs us to be so 00:15:03.490 --> 00:15:06.350 that we can fulfill his purposes in us. Even 00:15:06.350 --> 00:15:07.809 though in that moment, it might not make any 00:15:07.809 --> 00:15:10.850 sense to us or to our human minds, but he says, 00:15:10.889 --> 00:15:13.289 look, walk with me through this. I haven't left 00:15:13.289 --> 00:15:17.090 you and you'll see in the end. Or he may want 00:15:17.090 --> 00:15:19.740 us to learn that, you know what? His grace is 00:15:19.740 --> 00:15:23.220 sufficient, and that's enough. Remember, we're 00:15:23.220 --> 00:15:25.740 not given guarantees in Scripture that life is 00:15:25.740 --> 00:15:28.240 going to go smoothly. There's no guarantee that 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:30.740 we get to live like a hallmark life, right, where 00:15:30.740 --> 00:15:33.960 everything just ends up peachy keen. It doesn't 00:15:33.960 --> 00:15:36.679 work that way. In fact, I know some of the best 00:15:36.679 --> 00:15:39.620 brothers and sisters who right now are suffering, 00:15:39.740 --> 00:15:42.120 going through amazing trials, trials that I can't 00:15:42.120 --> 00:15:45.440 even imagine in my own life. And yes, God does 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:48.460 have an eternal purpose in those things. He says 00:15:48.460 --> 00:15:50.399 that in his word. We have to trust him in that. 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:52.700 He always does, even if we can't see it with 00:15:52.700 --> 00:15:55.159 our human eyes. But no matter the severity of 00:15:55.159 --> 00:15:58.019 the storm, scripture tells us over and over again 00:15:58.019 --> 00:16:01.259 that God's grace will carry you through whatever 00:16:01.259 --> 00:16:05.340 it is you need to face. And what Mordecai is 00:16:05.340 --> 00:16:07.559 facing here is pretty severe. So let's go back 00:16:07.559 --> 00:16:11.240 to our story. Look at verse four. Now it's interesting. 00:16:11.299 --> 00:16:13.539 Verse four tells us, even though the Jews throughout 00:16:13.539 --> 00:16:15.639 Persia are in great mourning because they're 00:16:15.639 --> 00:16:18.279 seeing and hearing about this edict, The queen 00:16:18.279 --> 00:16:21.019 is isolated in the palace and she has no idea 00:16:21.019 --> 00:16:24.139 what's happening. Verse four, then Esther's maidens 00:16:24.139 --> 00:16:27.379 and her eunuchs came and told her and the queen 00:16:27.379 --> 00:16:31.000 writhed in great anguish. Now, what is it that 00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:33.120 they told her that made her so upset? We're going 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:35.179 to find out they actually didn't tell her about 00:16:35.179 --> 00:16:38.279 the decree. They only told her that Mordecai 00:16:38.279 --> 00:16:41.019 was in distress in the city. He's wailing in 00:16:41.019 --> 00:16:43.659 sackcloth. So at this point, she has no idea 00:16:43.659 --> 00:16:47.200 why that's happening. why her older cousin is 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:49.419 in this desperate state. But she's clearly upset 00:16:49.419 --> 00:16:52.279 by it. And then what comes next is a bit surprising 00:16:52.279 --> 00:16:55.139 to us, but it's also logical based on the lack 00:16:55.139 --> 00:16:57.980 of information that the queen has. It says, she 00:16:57.980 --> 00:17:00.639 sent garments to clothe Mordecai that he might 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:04.619 remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not 00:17:04.619 --> 00:17:08.180 accept them. So as queen, she's like, let's just 00:17:08.180 --> 00:17:13.009 fix the problem. My cousin, whom I love, is making 00:17:13.009 --> 00:17:15.410 a spectacle of himself. Let's fix it, right? 00:17:15.569 --> 00:17:18.250 So here's some clothes, Mordecai. Just put these 00:17:18.250 --> 00:17:20.430 on. Stop what you're doing and come back to the 00:17:20.430 --> 00:17:23.910 king's gate. But Mordecai, who knows the full 00:17:23.910 --> 00:17:27.029 situation, says no. He refuses the clothing. 00:17:27.690 --> 00:17:29.950 And that had to come as a great shock to Esther, 00:17:30.069 --> 00:17:33.630 and now her concern rises. Now she knows something 00:17:33.630 --> 00:17:36.509 really terrible is going on, but she cannot just 00:17:36.509 --> 00:17:39.250 leave the palace. So in verse five, she takes 00:17:39.250 --> 00:17:41.789 action. Verse five says, then Esther summoned 00:17:41.789 --> 00:17:44.869 Hathok from the king's eunuchs, whom the king 00:17:44.869 --> 00:17:47.470 had appointed to attend her, and ordered him 00:17:47.470 --> 00:17:50.670 to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and 00:17:50.670 --> 00:17:53.069 why it was. In other words, go out there and 00:17:53.069 --> 00:17:55.369 figure out why he's doing this, because I don't 00:17:55.369 --> 00:17:59.630 have a clue. Verse 6, so Hathak went out to Mordecai 00:17:59.630 --> 00:18:02.049 to the city square in front of the king's gate 00:18:02.049 --> 00:18:05.029 and Mordecai told him all that had happened to 00:18:05.029 --> 00:18:07.849 him and the exact amount of money that Haman 00:18:07.849 --> 00:18:10.730 had promised to pay the king's treasuries for 00:18:10.730 --> 00:18:13.549 the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him 00:18:13.549 --> 00:18:15.849 a copy of the text of the edict which had been 00:18:15.849 --> 00:18:20.049 issued in Susa for their destruction. And what 00:18:20.049 --> 00:18:23.029 comes next now is Mordecai's instructions to 00:18:23.029 --> 00:18:25.630 this eunuch, what he wants him to do. That he 00:18:25.630 --> 00:18:30.670 might show Esther and inform her of what? Of 00:18:30.670 --> 00:18:32.650 all the details about what Haman was plotting 00:18:32.650 --> 00:18:35.410 to do. And get this, with the approval of her 00:18:35.410 --> 00:18:39.109 husband, which must have come as a shock to her. 00:18:40.509 --> 00:18:43.470 And here comes the command from Mordecai to order 00:18:43.470 --> 00:18:47.039 her to go into the king. to implore his favor 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:52.480 and to plead with him for her people. So Mordecai's 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:56.400 issuing this order to Esther through this servant. 00:18:57.640 --> 00:19:00.740 But look at those last two words, her people. 00:19:00.859 --> 00:19:04.059 Uh -oh, uh -oh, her people. Remember, up to this 00:19:04.059 --> 00:19:06.619 point, Mordecai had told Esther, don't tell anybody 00:19:06.619 --> 00:19:09.440 you're Jewish. We're gonna keep that a secret. 00:19:09.619 --> 00:19:12.660 But guess what? This can't continue. The end 00:19:12.660 --> 00:19:14.640 of that has come. Esther is going to have to 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:18.460 now go into Xerxes and reveal the truth about 00:19:18.460 --> 00:19:21.180 her identity as a Jew, which is likely to be 00:19:21.180 --> 00:19:24.579 a massive surprise to him. And if you know anything 00:19:24.579 --> 00:19:26.980 about ancient Near East history, kings don't 00:19:26.980 --> 00:19:30.319 like to be surprised. But there's even more. 00:19:31.099 --> 00:19:33.500 After she tells her husband that she's Jewish, 00:19:34.269 --> 00:19:36.549 She's then going to have to intercede for three 00:19:36.549 --> 00:19:39.410 quarters of a million people by trying to sway 00:19:39.410 --> 00:19:42.609 the king's favor away from his most trusted advisor 00:19:42.609 --> 00:19:49.089 to herself. Yikes. Put yourself in her shoes. 00:19:49.230 --> 00:19:53.829 How overwhelming. How scary would this situation 00:19:53.829 --> 00:19:57.369 be? This is all coming down on our head at one 00:19:57.369 --> 00:20:00.029 time. First, my cousin is publicly in distress. 00:20:00.630 --> 00:20:02.769 Then I learned that my people are being threatened 00:20:02.769 --> 00:20:05.799 with annihilation. Now I'm told that this secret 00:20:05.799 --> 00:20:08.140 that I've had, that I've been told to keep, I've 00:20:08.140 --> 00:20:10.279 got to let that out. I've got to drop that on 00:20:10.279 --> 00:20:12.960 my husband, who's also my king, and he has the 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:16.339 power of life and death over me. And I have to 00:20:16.339 --> 00:20:18.900 hope that he loves me enough to hear me out and 00:20:18.900 --> 00:20:23.019 to choose me over Haman. Pretty simple, right? 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:28.160 Verse 9, Hathor came back and related Mordecai's 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:30.960 words to Esther. Now let's pause there for a 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:34.720 second observation. Guys, God is in the business 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:38.599 of raising up the most unlikely people to accomplish 00:20:38.599 --> 00:20:42.000 his will. If you think about it, Esther has some 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:43.940 things in common with both Joseph and David. 00:20:44.900 --> 00:20:47.140 Think about this. All three of those biblical 00:20:47.140 --> 00:20:51.099 characters come out of obscurity and get raised 00:20:51.099 --> 00:20:53.920 up into positions of great power where God uses 00:20:53.920 --> 00:20:56.960 them to bring about his purposes. But in all 00:20:56.960 --> 00:20:58.920 three of those cases, who would have seen it 00:20:58.920 --> 00:21:03.500 coming? Joseph. finds himself sold into slavery 00:21:03.500 --> 00:21:06.539 by his own brothers. He's a slave, ends up in 00:21:06.539 --> 00:21:09.480 Egypt. He's falsely accused of a crime. He is 00:21:09.480 --> 00:21:12.240 thrown in prison. And guys, based on ancient 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:14.819 history, odds were that's where he would die, 00:21:15.460 --> 00:21:19.539 right? Alone and forgotten in that dungeon. But 00:21:19.539 --> 00:21:22.099 instead, God raises him up to become the second 00:21:22.099 --> 00:21:26.000 most powerful man in Egypt under Pharaoh. Only 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:29.470 God does something like that. David. the least 00:21:29.470 --> 00:21:32.309 likely son of a farmer and a sheep herder from 00:21:32.309 --> 00:21:35.769 a know -nothing town called Bethlehem. And then 00:21:35.769 --> 00:21:37.930 he becomes a man who shepherds animals in the 00:21:37.930 --> 00:21:41.549 wilderness until God says, I anoint you king 00:21:41.549 --> 00:21:45.670 of Israel. Who would have seen that coming? And 00:21:45.670 --> 00:21:48.829 now we have Esther. She's not from a noble family 00:21:48.829 --> 00:21:50.990 of Persia. She doesn't come from wealth or power. 00:21:51.369 --> 00:21:54.750 She's an orphan. She's an orphan and a Jew living 00:21:54.750 --> 00:21:57.670 in a foreign land. She is destined to become 00:21:57.670 --> 00:22:01.650 a nobody in history until God moves the king's 00:22:01.650 --> 00:22:05.109 heart to select her from among thousands of women 00:22:05.109 --> 00:22:08.170 in the Persian kingdom to become queen. That's 00:22:08.170 --> 00:22:11.450 only a God thing. That's it. And this is why 00:22:11.450 --> 00:22:13.569 I wanted to begin our service this morning, Ken 00:22:13.569 --> 00:22:16.609 read from 1 Corinthians 1, where we're told what 00:22:16.609 --> 00:22:19.529 kind of people God chooses to carry out his will. 00:22:19.630 --> 00:22:21.109 And guess what? It's people like you and me. 00:22:23.130 --> 00:22:26.369 And you may not like what... the language that's 00:22:26.369 --> 00:22:29.029 used here, but this is what God says. He says, 00:22:29.130 --> 00:22:31.410 consider your calling, brothers and sisters. 00:22:31.809 --> 00:22:34.809 Not many of you were wise according to worldly 00:22:34.809 --> 00:22:38.009 standards. Not many of you were powerful. Not 00:22:38.009 --> 00:22:41.190 many of you were of noble birth. But God chose 00:22:41.190 --> 00:22:43.789 what is foolish in this world to shame the wise. 00:22:43.950 --> 00:22:46.769 He chose what's weak in the world to shame the 00:22:46.769 --> 00:22:48.970 strong. He chose what is low and despised in 00:22:48.970 --> 00:22:51.849 the world, even things that are not, to bring 00:22:51.849 --> 00:22:56.680 to nothing things that are. Why? He says, so 00:22:56.680 --> 00:22:59.319 that no human being might boast in the presence 00:22:59.319 --> 00:23:03.519 of God. And because of him, you are in Christ 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:07.420 Jesus. Now, again, some people get offended by 00:23:07.420 --> 00:23:10.019 that language. I don't want to be called foolish 00:23:10.019 --> 00:23:12.700 and weak and despised. But Paul would disagree 00:23:12.700 --> 00:23:16.079 with that. I will boast about my weaknesses, 00:23:16.200 --> 00:23:19.539 Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12. I will boast about 00:23:19.539 --> 00:23:22.200 them. Why? So that the power of Christ may dwell 00:23:22.200 --> 00:23:25.700 in me. I am content with weaknesses, he says, 00:23:25.859 --> 00:23:29.160 with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, 00:23:29.160 --> 00:23:33.019 with difficulties for the sake of Christ. For 00:23:33.019 --> 00:23:38.099 when I'm weak, then I'm strong. God raises up 00:23:38.099 --> 00:23:40.480 whomever he chooses, the weak and foolish things 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:43.240 of this world. Do you think you're too obscure 00:23:43.240 --> 00:23:47.099 to be used by God? Has that thought ever run 00:23:47.099 --> 00:23:50.519 through your head? I'm a nobody. I can't be used. 00:23:51.259 --> 00:23:56.319 I'm just a regular Joe or Jane. I'm too weak. 00:23:57.559 --> 00:24:01.440 Be careful, God might surprise you. Let's go 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:06.480 back to the story. Look at verse 10. So Esther 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:09.859 receives this shocking news from Mordecai. Then 00:24:09.859 --> 00:24:12.819 Esther spoke to Hathak and ordered him to reply 00:24:12.819 --> 00:24:15.339 to Mordecai. So this is what she's gonna send 00:24:15.339 --> 00:24:18.299 back. All the king's servants and the people 00:24:18.299 --> 00:24:20.859 of the king's provinces know. Okay, so catch 00:24:20.859 --> 00:24:23.359 this. Everybody knows what's about to be said. 00:24:23.460 --> 00:24:26.440 This is common knowledge. That any man or woman 00:24:26.440 --> 00:24:29.359 who comes to the king into the inner court who 00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:33.180 is not summoned, he, the king, has but one law, 00:24:33.299 --> 00:24:37.200 that he be put to death. So it's a capital crime 00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:42.740 to approach the king uninvited. Unless, unless 00:24:42.740 --> 00:24:45.640 what? Unless the king holds out to him the golden 00:24:45.640 --> 00:24:49.220 scepter. so that he may live, so that his life 00:24:49.220 --> 00:24:52.180 might be spared. Now, that's really bad news, 00:24:52.279 --> 00:24:55.960 but then it gets worse. Esther reports to Mordecai, 00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:58.119 and I have not been summoned. I've not been invited 00:24:58.119 --> 00:25:01.180 to come into the king for these last 30 days. 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:06.539 So this is subtle, but notice what's happening 00:25:06.539 --> 00:25:09.680 here. Esther gets the news from Mordecai, but 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:13.460 she hesitates to immediately obey his instructions. 00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:16.240 Maybe for the first time in her life, we've seen 00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:19.799 how obedient she is to Mordecai, but for the 00:25:19.799 --> 00:25:23.460 first time, she hesitates about obedience. And 00:25:23.460 --> 00:25:26.579 can you blame her? I mean, Mordecai's asking 00:25:26.579 --> 00:25:29.180 a lot here. And we have to remember, Esther is 00:25:29.180 --> 00:25:32.519 still a young woman with not a lot of life experience, 00:25:32.579 --> 00:25:35.839 and she's being asked to carry this huge burden 00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:39.380 to put her very life at risk. And one of the 00:25:39.380 --> 00:25:41.119 many things I find interesting about this part 00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:43.059 of the story is that comment about the 30 days. 00:25:44.109 --> 00:25:46.750 Apparently, the life of a queen in Persia was 00:25:46.750 --> 00:25:49.789 not one of great intimacy with the king. 30 days. 00:25:50.769 --> 00:25:54.069 Wives, can you imagine? My husband doesn't want 00:25:54.069 --> 00:25:55.930 to see me. He doesn't want to see me in a month. 00:25:59.049 --> 00:26:00.950 Historically, we know that Xerxes had many wives 00:26:00.950 --> 00:26:04.049 and concubines. So already, Esther is learning 00:26:04.049 --> 00:26:06.930 what Queen Vashti must have found out, that being 00:26:06.930 --> 00:26:10.950 queen is not that great of a gig. It was largely 00:26:10.950 --> 00:26:13.809 a ceremonial role that she had to endure while 00:26:13.809 --> 00:26:16.109 her husband ran around summoning all kinds of 00:26:16.109 --> 00:26:18.849 women and sleeping with them. And she's out here 00:26:18.849 --> 00:26:21.390 a month later going, yep, I don't even know how 00:26:21.390 --> 00:26:24.130 he feels about me. You want me to go see him? 00:26:24.190 --> 00:26:26.390 I'm not even sure he cares about me. I haven't 00:26:26.390 --> 00:26:31.670 seen him in a month. The truth is, in that culture, 00:26:31.769 --> 00:26:33.910 the king can do as he pleases. Nobody questions 00:26:33.910 --> 00:26:36.730 him. And that fact is what makes the prospect 00:26:36.730 --> 00:26:40.829 of going in to see him. So unpredictable and 00:26:40.829 --> 00:26:46.490 so dangerous for Esther. Now verse 13 is interesting. 00:26:47.650 --> 00:26:51.970 See if you can discern Mordecai's tone. So he 00:26:51.970 --> 00:26:54.789 gets news back from Esther. She's hesitating. 00:26:54.789 --> 00:26:57.809 I'm not sure I can do this. And then Mordecai 00:26:57.809 --> 00:27:00.329 told them to reply to Esther, do not imagine 00:27:00.329 --> 00:27:02.670 that you and the king's palace can escape any 00:27:02.670 --> 00:27:09.849 more than all the Jews. Is he upset? Do you think 00:27:09.849 --> 00:27:12.309 he's upset at Esther? Put yourself in Mordecai's 00:27:12.309 --> 00:27:15.630 sandals now. He's watched over this girl since 00:27:15.630 --> 00:27:19.250 she was a child. He was with her as she grew 00:27:19.250 --> 00:27:22.289 up. He gave her counsel and instruction. He protected 00:27:22.289 --> 00:27:25.589 her along the way. She's obeyed him all the way 00:27:25.589 --> 00:27:29.569 along this path. But now there's this physical 00:27:29.569 --> 00:27:32.130 distance between him and her. She's deep in the 00:27:32.130 --> 00:27:34.789 women's quarters in the palace. He can't talk 00:27:34.789 --> 00:27:37.750 to her, and she can't talk to him. And as a dad 00:27:37.750 --> 00:27:40.049 myself, I can feel this in my bones, the idea 00:27:40.049 --> 00:27:42.109 that you've lost connection with your daughter. 00:27:42.670 --> 00:27:45.630 Your ability to speak counsel into her life is 00:27:45.630 --> 00:27:50.319 now limited. It's a terrifying thought. So when 00:27:50.319 --> 00:27:52.299 Mordecai gives her what in verse eight is called 00:27:52.299 --> 00:27:54.660 an order to go into the king and beg for his 00:27:54.660 --> 00:27:57.359 mercy and the answer comes back, well, there's 00:27:57.359 --> 00:27:59.900 a law says that I can't do that. And you know, 00:27:59.920 --> 00:28:03.500 the king hasn't called me in 30 days. You can 00:28:03.500 --> 00:28:06.720 sort of understand Mordecai's tone here. So he 00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:08.460 writes back and I'm just going to paraphrase 00:28:08.460 --> 00:28:11.980 him. He writes back, look, Hadassah, don't think 00:28:11.980 --> 00:28:14.680 for a moment that by avoiding doing this difficult 00:28:14.680 --> 00:28:18.059 thing that you'll be safe. Just because you're 00:28:18.059 --> 00:28:20.779 inside that palace, Haman is targeting all of 00:28:20.779 --> 00:28:25.900 us for death and he will come for you too. Mordecai 00:28:25.900 --> 00:28:28.299 wants her to think carefully about this. The 00:28:28.299 --> 00:28:30.220 most dangerous thing she can do in this moment 00:28:30.220 --> 00:28:32.640 is just, you know, close your eyes, do nothing 00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:34.400 and hope it all goes away because it's not going 00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:37.359 away. Sometimes we do that, right? We're like, 00:28:37.359 --> 00:28:39.180 if I don't look at it, if I don't deal with it, 00:28:39.180 --> 00:28:43.380 it'll go away. This one's not going away. Now 00:28:43.380 --> 00:28:45.160 here comes the famous phrase at the end of verse 00:28:45.160 --> 00:28:47.559 14. But first, look at the first half of the 00:28:47.559 --> 00:28:49.900 verse. This is a difficult statement to interpret 00:28:49.900 --> 00:28:51.880 and there's all kinds of scholarly opinions out 00:28:51.880 --> 00:28:55.180 there as to what it means. Verse 14 says, again, 00:28:55.240 --> 00:28:57.660 this is part of Mordecai's response to Esther. 00:28:57.839 --> 00:29:00.819 For if you remain silent at this time, relief 00:29:00.819 --> 00:29:03.440 and deliverance will arise for the Jews from 00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:06.559 another place and you and your father's house 00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:10.519 or you and your family will perish. And that, 00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:12.619 Statement looks a little odd there, doesn't it? 00:29:13.220 --> 00:29:15.400 I think the best way to understand what Mordecai 00:29:15.400 --> 00:29:19.799 is saying is this. Hadassah, if you refuse my 00:29:19.799 --> 00:29:22.400 order to go into the king and you choose instead 00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:25.619 to stay silent, here's what I know. That God 00:29:25.619 --> 00:29:27.799 will find another way to protect and save his 00:29:27.799 --> 00:29:30.359 people who are scattered all over the nations. 00:29:30.900 --> 00:29:35.619 But here in Persia, we will all perish. And you 00:29:35.619 --> 00:29:37.960 and your family, everything that's left of your 00:29:37.960 --> 00:29:41.420 bloodline, which is me and you, we will be gone. 00:29:43.079 --> 00:29:46.539 That's pretty heavy, huh? So there's a measure 00:29:46.539 --> 00:29:49.380 of faith in Mordecai's words here. I think he 00:29:49.380 --> 00:29:51.519 trusts that Yahweh is gonna fulfill his promise 00:29:51.519 --> 00:29:54.759 that God will always sustain a remnant of his 00:29:54.759 --> 00:29:58.000 people Israel, always. And if he and Esther fail 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:00.779 in Persia, God will still sovereignly work in 00:30:00.779 --> 00:30:03.140 the world to preserve his people in other parts 00:30:03.140 --> 00:30:05.640 of the ancient Near East. He will preserve the 00:30:05.640 --> 00:30:09.269 line of Messiah. But right now, Hadassah, You 00:30:09.269 --> 00:30:11.529 may very well be the vessel that God has raised 00:30:11.529 --> 00:30:14.390 up and put you in this position to save all the 00:30:14.390 --> 00:30:19.250 Jews in Persia. That's basically what Mordecai 00:30:19.250 --> 00:30:21.950 says in this very famous second half of verse 00:30:21.950 --> 00:30:24.569 14. And who knows whether you've not attained 00:30:24.569 --> 00:30:29.769 royalty for such a time as this. Could it be, 00:30:29.849 --> 00:30:32.910 Esther, that God has put you in that palace precisely 00:30:32.910 --> 00:30:35.490 because of the clear and present danger that 00:30:35.490 --> 00:30:40.559 our people are facing? What would you do if you're 00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:43.880 a young girl overwhelmed by all of this? What 00:30:43.880 --> 00:30:48.440 would you do? How would you respond? You can 00:30:48.440 --> 00:30:51.559 picture Mordecai saying, Hadassah, think about 00:30:51.559 --> 00:30:54.960 the odds of this. Do you think this is chance 00:30:54.960 --> 00:30:58.819 that you're sitting in the palace in Susa? This 00:30:58.819 --> 00:31:02.500 isn't chance or fate or luck. God has put you 00:31:02.500 --> 00:31:04.960 there for this reason. Now, will you have the 00:31:04.960 --> 00:31:07.299 courage and the wisdom to accept that truth? 00:31:08.359 --> 00:31:11.359 from God's hand, that providence in your life, 00:31:11.519 --> 00:31:15.279 and go and do his will. What a challenge, right? 00:31:16.819 --> 00:31:20.059 Verse 15, then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, 00:31:20.200 --> 00:31:23.799 go assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa 00:31:23.799 --> 00:31:27.500 and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three 00:31:27.500 --> 00:31:30.680 days, night or day. I and my maidens also will 00:31:30.680 --> 00:31:34.500 fast in the same way. So as many of you have 00:31:34.500 --> 00:31:37.789 told me in recent weeks, Up to chapter 3, I've 00:31:37.789 --> 00:31:42.529 been really hard on Esther. I've been trying 00:31:42.529 --> 00:31:45.150 to break down some of the legends and myths we 00:31:45.150 --> 00:31:46.690 think about her. I've been kind of tough on her. 00:31:47.109 --> 00:31:50.289 But now I'm going to commend her. This is a good 00:31:50.289 --> 00:31:53.769 and godly response to Mordecai's challenge. She 00:31:53.769 --> 00:31:55.630 seems to have acknowledged Mordecai's point about 00:31:55.630 --> 00:31:58.049 God's providence and the position that she is 00:31:58.049 --> 00:32:01.130 in to be a vessel of service for God. And she 00:32:01.130 --> 00:32:03.829 begins where she should begin. We all got to 00:32:03.829 --> 00:32:07.230 start fasting. We've got to start fasting, all 00:32:07.230 --> 00:32:09.509 of us. You, cousin, gather all the Jews in Susa, 00:32:09.529 --> 00:32:11.990 all do the same here in the palace, and let's 00:32:11.990 --> 00:32:14.849 seek the Lord's face. That is the right response. 00:32:16.349 --> 00:32:18.390 Now, let's talk about fasting for a moment. First 00:32:18.390 --> 00:32:20.329 of all, I realize that the word prayer isn't 00:32:20.329 --> 00:32:24.170 explicitly mentioned here in verse 16, but I 00:32:24.170 --> 00:32:27.410 think we should consider implied. And the reason 00:32:27.410 --> 00:32:29.509 I say that is throughout the Old Testament, those 00:32:29.509 --> 00:32:31.430 two things are always linked together. You don't 00:32:31.430 --> 00:32:33.630 see, well, we prayed one day, we fasted another, 00:32:33.769 --> 00:32:35.430 but we didn't do them together. They're always 00:32:35.430 --> 00:32:39.170 linked together. It's a given. Because just abstaining 00:32:39.170 --> 00:32:43.009 from food as a purely physical act has no spiritual 00:32:43.009 --> 00:32:45.750 impact whatsoever. It can help your body, physical 00:32:45.750 --> 00:32:47.890 body in a lot of ways, but not your soul. But 00:32:47.890 --> 00:32:50.950 if you combine fasting or any form of self -denial 00:32:50.950 --> 00:32:54.069 with repentance and prayer, a number of things 00:32:54.069 --> 00:32:56.799 will happen according to Scripture. When those 00:32:56.799 --> 00:32:59.480 hunger pangs hit, it's going to cause you to 00:32:59.480 --> 00:33:02.140 remember to pray. And you're going to find yourself 00:33:02.140 --> 00:33:06.180 in deeper communion with the Lord. Fasting humbles 00:33:06.180 --> 00:33:09.440 a man or a woman. It causes you to lean into 00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:12.839 the Lord, to depend on him more. And that means 00:33:12.839 --> 00:33:14.440 that the fasting should be employed whenever 00:33:14.440 --> 00:33:16.539 there's a great sense of need, or in this case, 00:33:16.539 --> 00:33:19.380 really a sense of helplessness. Only the Lord 00:33:19.380 --> 00:33:21.740 can rescue us. We should go and seek his face. 00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:26.279 That seems logical, right? Now, as a caution, 00:33:26.380 --> 00:33:29.220 fasting is not a guarantee that you're gonna 00:33:29.220 --> 00:33:31.680 get an answer to your prayer more if you don't 00:33:31.680 --> 00:33:34.039 fast. Guys, we don't have the power to manipulate 00:33:34.039 --> 00:33:37.599 God or his will, but fasting along with prayer 00:33:37.599 --> 00:33:40.819 when it's done from a place of honesty is indicating 00:33:40.819 --> 00:33:43.599 to God your sincerity and the critical nature 00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:47.079 of the situation you're in. And the more critical 00:33:47.079 --> 00:33:49.200 the situation is, the more appropriate it is 00:33:49.200 --> 00:33:51.680 for you not just to pray, but to pray and fast. 00:33:52.839 --> 00:33:54.880 At least that's what Jesus tells us in Matthew 00:33:54.880 --> 00:33:57.380 17. Remember that funny little story where the 00:33:57.380 --> 00:33:59.960 disciples try to drive out a demon and they can't 00:33:59.960 --> 00:34:03.259 do it? And Jesus says what? This kind doesn't 00:34:03.259 --> 00:34:06.019 go out except by prayer and fasting. So when 00:34:06.019 --> 00:34:08.360 you're up against a uniquely big challenge, it 00:34:08.360 --> 00:34:10.840 has to be met with an equally committed step 00:34:10.840 --> 00:34:15.739 of faith. And so we pray and we fast. So Esther 00:34:15.739 --> 00:34:18.039 does what she should do. She turns to prayer 00:34:18.039 --> 00:34:20.260 and fasting, and then she doesn't stop there. 00:34:20.320 --> 00:34:22.550 She takes action. Look at the rest of the verse. 00:34:22.869 --> 00:34:27.030 And thus I will go into the king, which is not 00:34:27.030 --> 00:34:29.070 according to the law. In other words, even though 00:34:29.070 --> 00:34:31.530 it violates the king's law, look what she says. 00:34:31.590 --> 00:34:36.949 And if I perish, I perish. So she's counted the 00:34:36.949 --> 00:34:40.590 cost of obedience, hasn't she? She's now willing 00:34:40.590 --> 00:34:44.050 to cross Xerxes' law in order to put God first 00:34:44.050 --> 00:34:49.719 and lay down her life if necessary. Understand 00:34:49.719 --> 00:34:51.440 the weight of this, you guys. She is committing 00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:55.099 to this incredibly difficult thing without a 00:34:55.099 --> 00:34:57.380 prophetic vision, without a word from the Lord. 00:34:57.480 --> 00:34:59.079 You know, sometimes in scripture, well, the Lord 00:34:59.079 --> 00:35:01.199 told me to go do this. Man, you can go with 100 00:35:01.199 --> 00:35:03.219 % confidence, right? Because you got a word from 00:35:03.219 --> 00:35:05.219 the Lord. She doesn't have anything miraculous 00:35:05.219 --> 00:35:09.019 here. No prophetic vision, no word from the Lord. 00:35:09.079 --> 00:35:11.639 She has no real biblical promise to look to that 00:35:11.639 --> 00:35:16.000 guarantees her safety. So she doesn't know how 00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:18.739 this is gonna end, only that it seems Mordecai's 00:35:18.739 --> 00:35:20.980 point has gotten through. She could potentially 00:35:20.980 --> 00:35:23.780 die if she goes in to see the king, but if she 00:35:23.780 --> 00:35:26.460 doesn't, she's certainly gonna die as well as 00:35:26.460 --> 00:35:29.699 the rest of the people. And she counts the cost 00:35:29.699 --> 00:35:32.340 of that obedience. Man, this is a young woman 00:35:32.340 --> 00:35:35.300 who's being forced to grow up really fast and 00:35:35.300 --> 00:35:37.079 to make some really weighty decisions. These 00:35:37.079 --> 00:35:39.860 are decisions that make any of us, even experienced 00:35:39.860 --> 00:35:44.710 believers, tremble with fear. Okay, final observation, 00:35:44.949 --> 00:35:49.210 and we'll close with this. Number three. God 00:35:49.210 --> 00:35:52.170 has raised up Esther precisely for this time 00:35:52.170 --> 00:35:55.369 and for this moment and for this need. And what 00:35:55.369 --> 00:35:57.969 a story, right? Who could have predicted it? 00:35:57.969 --> 00:36:00.449 If you'd known Esther when she was a child, who 00:36:00.449 --> 00:36:02.590 could have predicted that she'd be in this position? 00:36:02.909 --> 00:36:07.710 None of us. I once read a great quote, and I've 00:36:07.710 --> 00:36:10.809 looked for it. I wish I could find the citation 00:36:10.809 --> 00:36:15.150 on it. But it goes something like this. The most 00:36:15.150 --> 00:36:18.369 impactful service in the kingdom of God almost 00:36:18.369 --> 00:36:23.909 always comes by assignment, not by choice. Think 00:36:23.909 --> 00:36:26.489 about that. The most impactful service in the 00:36:26.489 --> 00:36:29.329 kingdom of God almost always comes by assignment, 00:36:29.449 --> 00:36:31.730 not by choice. And the reason I've always remembered 00:36:31.730 --> 00:36:35.650 that quote is because it's true in my life. God 00:36:35.650 --> 00:36:37.269 has shown me that that's true in my life. If 00:36:37.269 --> 00:36:40.980 you knew me. The first 35 years of my life, never 00:36:40.980 --> 00:36:44.380 did I think I would ever be in ministry, let 00:36:44.380 --> 00:36:47.059 alone be a preacher of God's word. Never on my 00:36:47.059 --> 00:36:50.820 radar until God started doing unimaginable things 00:36:50.820 --> 00:36:53.400 in my life to move me to the place he wanted 00:36:53.400 --> 00:36:57.519 me to be. And even when God moves in that kind 00:36:57.519 --> 00:36:59.880 of way, I found that for most people, they think 00:36:59.880 --> 00:37:01.780 they know what service in the kingdom looks like. 00:37:01.880 --> 00:37:04.000 They think they know what they would choose, 00:37:04.119 --> 00:37:07.320 but then God moves, it ends up looking very different. 00:37:07.840 --> 00:37:10.139 than what they planned. Certainly not how they 00:37:10.139 --> 00:37:12.739 would have scripted it. And again, that's true 00:37:12.739 --> 00:37:15.460 in my life and in Tanya's life. At our age now, 00:37:15.519 --> 00:37:20.000 looking back, this is not what we expected. But 00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:23.039 it's not about us. And we're convinced that we're 00:37:23.039 --> 00:37:25.179 absolutely where God wants us to be. He brought 00:37:25.179 --> 00:37:28.199 us here. And I can't explain that other than 00:37:28.199 --> 00:37:32.960 his providential hand. I guarantee you when Athanasius 00:37:32.960 --> 00:37:35.780 was a 30 -year -old deacon at the Council of 00:37:35.780 --> 00:37:38.889 Nicaea in the fourth century, He never would 00:37:38.889 --> 00:37:40.670 have thought that God would call him to battle 00:37:40.670 --> 00:37:43.530 the Arian heresy for the sake of the church for 00:37:43.530 --> 00:37:47.789 40 years and to spend 18 of those years in exile 00:37:47.789 --> 00:37:50.630 outside the kingdom in the deserts of Egypt. 00:37:52.230 --> 00:37:55.070 But that's what he had to do to stand for the 00:37:55.070 --> 00:37:57.789 truth. There's no way Augustine ever thought 00:37:57.789 --> 00:38:00.789 that he would turn his back on a life of philosophy 00:38:00.789 --> 00:38:03.989 and study at the age of 32 and take upon himself 00:38:03.989 --> 00:38:07.079 monasticism. In a life of religious controversy, 00:38:07.340 --> 00:38:11.179 suffering, in the midst of brilliant writing 00:38:11.179 --> 00:38:14.480 and teaching, and then die as an old man in the 00:38:14.480 --> 00:38:16.400 midst of a barbarian invasion of his hometown. 00:38:18.679 --> 00:38:21.199 How could Martin Luther have envisioned the whirlwind 00:38:21.199 --> 00:38:24.400 that he would cause by simply nailing 25 hard 00:38:24.400 --> 00:38:27.019 questions on a door, questioning the Roman church? 00:38:28.380 --> 00:38:30.239 There's no way he could have imagined that he 00:38:30.239 --> 00:38:32.199 would someday have to stand alone against the 00:38:32.199 --> 00:38:34.840 full force of the Roman church and the papacy. 00:38:35.690 --> 00:38:38.070 And then be taken away and hidden away for his 00:38:38.070 --> 00:38:39.789 own protection because they wanted to kill him 00:38:39.789 --> 00:38:42.130 so that he could translate the Bible into German. 00:38:43.150 --> 00:38:46.610 None of those three men asked to bear the weight 00:38:46.610 --> 00:38:49.369 of those responsibilities. It was assigned to 00:38:49.369 --> 00:38:54.829 them by God. It was given to them by God. And 00:38:54.829 --> 00:38:56.510 because of God's calling, none of them had the 00:38:56.510 --> 00:39:00.210 privilege of living comfortable lives. We count 00:39:00.210 --> 00:39:03.289 the cost. If any of those guys had been given 00:39:03.289 --> 00:39:05.889 a choice, I doubt any of them would say, yeah, 00:39:05.929 --> 00:39:07.530 Lord, put me through all these difficulties, 00:39:07.829 --> 00:39:11.690 please. All that suffering and sacrifice, give 00:39:11.690 --> 00:39:15.289 me more of that. I want to take more risks that 00:39:15.289 --> 00:39:17.409 put my life in danger. Nobody ever says that. 00:39:18.829 --> 00:39:21.449 They all lived hard lives, but man, did God use 00:39:21.449 --> 00:39:26.750 them to advance his kingdom. So what about your 00:39:26.750 --> 00:39:29.829 gifts and calling? That's the big idea of the 00:39:29.829 --> 00:39:33.090 great statement in verse 14. In Esther 4, what 00:39:33.090 --> 00:39:35.550 about your gifts and calling? What are they? 00:39:36.730 --> 00:39:40.309 What about your talents? What about your influence? 00:39:40.530 --> 00:39:44.269 What about your career, your finances, your personality, 00:39:44.429 --> 00:39:46.429 your position in your workplace, your passions, 00:39:46.550 --> 00:39:50.769 anything that you do well? They're not yours 00:39:50.769 --> 00:39:54.710 by accident. Everything that you have has come 00:39:54.710 --> 00:39:57.880 from the hand of God, not by accident. They come 00:39:57.880 --> 00:39:59.579 from the gifting and the shaping that God has 00:39:59.579 --> 00:40:01.340 done in your life and is still doing in your 00:40:01.340 --> 00:40:05.059 life. Ephesians 2 .10 has this beautiful truth. 00:40:05.460 --> 00:40:09.019 It says that each one of you is God's workmanship. 00:40:10.320 --> 00:40:13.519 Each one of you is a product of God's sovereign 00:40:13.519 --> 00:40:18.280 hands, created in Christ Jesus for a purpose, 00:40:18.460 --> 00:40:21.219 to walk in the good works that he's prepared 00:40:21.219 --> 00:40:25.260 for you in advance. Every one of us. Are you 00:40:25.260 --> 00:40:27.849 being faithful? to pay attention to that truth 00:40:27.849 --> 00:40:31.190 and to respond. All you have to do is follow 00:40:31.190 --> 00:40:33.309 the example of Esther and the other saints that 00:40:33.309 --> 00:40:35.030 I've already mentioned this morning. Hear the 00:40:35.030 --> 00:40:38.530 call, weigh the cost, step into it by faith. 00:40:39.889 --> 00:40:42.750 Hear the call, weigh the cost, step into it by 00:40:42.750 --> 00:40:46.690 faith. And then take, I like this phrase, take 00:40:46.690 --> 00:40:50.050 the rollercoaster ride for Jesus. You know, you 00:40:50.050 --> 00:40:51.849 get in a rollercoaster, it takes you wherever 00:40:51.849 --> 00:40:56.320 it wants to go. You just grip on and go. And 00:40:56.320 --> 00:40:58.559 that's sometimes what it feels like to be a vessel 00:40:58.559 --> 00:41:00.940 of service for the king. You hold on and you 00:41:00.940 --> 00:41:03.199 go. It's not always easy. It's not always comfortable. 00:41:03.539 --> 00:41:07.519 It's never boring. And the rewards at the end 00:41:07.519 --> 00:41:12.000 are glorious beyond your imagination. So friends, 00:41:12.039 --> 00:41:14.019 never doubt that you can be a vessel of service 00:41:14.019 --> 00:41:18.119 for God. Did he not raise up Joseph and David 00:41:18.119 --> 00:41:22.099 and Esther from out of nowhere to great heights? 00:41:23.280 --> 00:41:25.820 There are no nobodies in the kingdom of God. 00:41:26.840 --> 00:41:29.139 I want everybody to hear that clearly. There 00:41:29.139 --> 00:41:32.099 are no nobodies in the kingdom of God. And who 00:41:32.099 --> 00:41:37.139 knows, perhaps you are here at Oak Hill for such 00:41:37.139 --> 00:41:53.860 a time as this. Let's pray. Father, when we look 00:41:53.860 --> 00:41:57.619 at a story like this, it's so tempting to just 00:41:57.619 --> 00:42:00.460 say, oh, that's so long ago. And that is such 00:42:00.460 --> 00:42:03.739 a unique situation that doesn't really apply 00:42:03.739 --> 00:42:06.000 to my life. And I know, God, you would want to 00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:09.619 say to every person here this morning that, yes, 00:42:09.619 --> 00:42:12.159 you can do those works in the lives of simple 00:42:12.159 --> 00:42:14.980 people like us, foolish, weak, all of these things, 00:42:15.039 --> 00:42:17.820 Lord, if we would just be faithful to respond. 00:42:19.150 --> 00:42:22.090 And so I pray, Lord, that for anybody here this 00:42:22.090 --> 00:42:23.889 morning who in the past has thought, I'm a nobody, 00:42:24.090 --> 00:42:26.590 I don't matter, I don't have gifts. Lord, would 00:42:26.590 --> 00:42:30.610 you help them renew their thinking? And would 00:42:30.610 --> 00:42:34.110 you help them get in the battle? Every single 00:42:34.110 --> 00:42:37.190 hand is needed. Every soldier in the fight is 00:42:37.190 --> 00:42:39.829 needed. And so, Lord, don't let us be passive. 00:42:39.889 --> 00:42:43.719 Don't let us be apathetic or lazy. But call us 00:42:43.719 --> 00:42:45.519 higher, Lord, and do a work in our hearts that 00:42:45.519 --> 00:42:47.659 we might see that more clearly and then give 00:42:47.659 --> 00:42:50.900 us the faith that we need from you to step into 00:42:50.900 --> 00:42:54.159 it. Lord, I have no doubt that you have great 00:42:54.159 --> 00:42:56.519 things to do in the life of our church. You have 00:42:56.519 --> 00:42:58.460 great things to do in this community we live 00:42:58.460 --> 00:43:01.119 in. Would you use us as vessels for your service, 00:43:01.179 --> 00:43:04.739 God? And when you do, Lord, we'll give you all 00:43:04.739 --> 00:43:06.460 the glory for it. Thank you for our time in your 00:43:06.460 --> 00:43:08.559 word this morning. We love you. We praise you 00:43:08.559 --> 00:43:09.199 in Christ's name.