WEBVTT 00:00:00.360 --> 00:00:01.710 I'm going to invite you to Esther chapter nine. 00:00:01.980 --> 00:00:03.360 Esther chapter nine is where we're at today. 00:00:03.800 --> 00:00:08.710 Now, we're only going to do the first half of this chapter, because you recognize this is a little longer chapter. 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:11.060 But Esther chapter nine, an important chapter. 00:00:11.060 --> 00:00:17.360 We're going to be talking about, in this chapter, four significant steps of faith that on your journey with God... 00:00:17.540 --> 00:00:24.900 Through these 19 verses, we're going to look at in chapter nine, we're going to look at some important steps of faith that Esther takes, 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:27.780 that the Jewish people take within the content here. 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:29.580 But also compare this to our lives. 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:36.900 That when you think about any healthy journey in your relationship with God, all four of these components you see taking place in this faith 00:00:36.900 --> 00:00:42.800 journey in this chapter should be something that you should find repeated in your Christian journey. 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:49.020 So four significant faith steps that you will take in your relationship with the Lord. 00:00:49.040 --> 00:00:50.520 And with that, I'm going to jump right into it. 00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:54.760 So point number one, if you grabbed the notes this morning, point number one is this. 00:00:55.680 --> 00:00:58.110 Faith step number one is to be fully surrendered. 00:00:58.140 --> 00:00:59.700 We don't have that on the screen, do we, Shalom? 00:01:00.220 --> 00:01:04.819 It's to fully surrender your life to the Lord. 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:07.220 To fully surrender your life to the Lord. 00:01:08.100 --> 00:01:11.200 I wanted to write this morning and I started to describe it this way. 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:18.620 That when we think about pursuing Christ, I wanted to say, 00:01:19.940 --> 00:01:21.720 prepare your heart for the Lord. 00:01:22.340 --> 00:01:25.780 Rather than talk about being fully surrendered to God, to prepare your heart for the Lord. 00:01:25.820 --> 00:01:32.840 But then I realized, it's not as theologically accurate as it should be in simply saying fully surrender your life to God. 00:01:34.020 --> 00:01:40.920 And the reason for that is, none of us can truly prepare our hearts to meet Christ. 00:01:42.840 --> 00:01:43.540 We all struggle. 00:01:43.800 --> 00:01:44.560 We all have sin. 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:45.180 We all battle. 00:01:45.380 --> 00:01:49.610 And we can't eradicate that from our lives to the state of perfection. 00:01:50.080 --> 00:01:52.940 None of us are really prepared for what lies ahead. 00:01:52.940 --> 00:01:55.910 And it's God who truly prepares the heart. 00:01:57.320 --> 00:02:03.200 What God is interested in, no matter where you are in your life, is that your life be completely surrendered to Him. 00:02:03.240 --> 00:02:09.340 And the truth is, your Christian life will never be a joyful experience until it is. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:18.180 There's nothing healthy about a relationship with Christ that if you just kind of dip your toe in the water and try to keep your foot 00:02:18.180 --> 00:02:21.110 half with the Lord in half in the world, that you're going to find yourself satisfied. 00:02:22.320 --> 00:02:24.690 And the reason for that is because it's a covenant relationship. 00:02:25.420 --> 00:02:33.020 It's like if we compared it to marriage and you come before your spouse on your wedding day and you give your vows and your vows are like, "I'm going to 50% 00:02:33.020 --> 00:02:39.560 of the time be here for you." Like that does not fly with the intimacy of what that relationship is intended to be. 00:02:39.660 --> 00:02:42.260 And you'll never experience healthy covenant marriage that way. 00:02:42.660 --> 00:02:43.960 And the same is true with the Lord. 00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:48.330 That in relationship to God, the relationship is described as covenant relationship. 00:02:48.740 --> 00:02:53.080 And the only way you experience the depth of that joyfully is to fully commit yourself. 00:02:54.160 --> 00:02:57.820 And Jesus says as much to us in Matthew chapter 16, verse 24. 00:02:57.880 --> 00:03:05.400 He says, "Anyone who wishes to come after me must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." It's a complete dedication 00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:09.400 just as Jesus has completely given his life for us. 00:03:09.500 --> 00:03:16.600 And we think about this step of a faith journey, that really the Christian life begins with fully surrendering yourself 00:03:16.600 --> 00:03:18.960 to the Lord and continuing to that. 00:03:18.980 --> 00:03:21.660 And in Psalm chapter 10, verse 17, it says this. 00:03:21.660 --> 00:03:24.300 "Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble. 00:03:24.540 --> 00:03:26.440 You will strengthen their heart. 00:03:26.640 --> 00:03:33.660 You will make your ear attentive." Look in the humility of your life, it is God who strengthens your heart and his 00:03:33.660 --> 00:03:35.900 ear then attentive to you. 00:03:39.380 --> 00:03:43.260 There's all sorts of things that can provoke us to come to Christ. 00:03:44.640 --> 00:03:51.660 And I'm reminded in the story of Esther in chapter nine, verse one, the way it's described is that 00:03:51.660 --> 00:03:55.600 when Esther comes to the Lord, it's not the ideal circumstance. 00:03:55.880 --> 00:04:02.900 It's a moment of tension, a moment of adversity, that draws her to trusting her life completely in 00:04:02.900 --> 00:04:03.240 him. 00:04:03.320 --> 00:04:10.460 It says, "In the 12th month, that is the month of Adar, on the 13th day when the king's command and edict were to be put into effect." And 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:17.660 if you follow along in this story, we've learned that the king's command, this edict, was for the annihilation of the Jews. 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:26.520 And it was in the pressure of that moment that it stirred Esther's heart to really look at the value of life and to find that the only way 00:04:26.520 --> 00:04:28.600 you find life is in the Lord. 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:35.660 And she committed herself to the Lord in pursuit of him and using her position for his 00:04:35.660 --> 00:04:37.540 glory, but to the benefit of others. 00:04:40.280 --> 00:04:47.640 Guys, I don't think it matters how you come to Christ, but rather to simply ask the question, have you come to Christ? 00:04:49.380 --> 00:04:56.320 It doesn't matter if it's a moment of desperation or everything's going perfect in your life and you just simply see the need for Jesus. 00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:06.200 But to simply recognize and order to enjoy this faith journey that God calls us on, that is a full 00:05:06.200 --> 00:05:11.820 surrender, which he asks us to commit as he has fully surrendered his life. 00:05:13.700 --> 00:05:15.440 Have you surrendered your life to the Lord? 00:05:16.520 --> 00:05:23.620 And in surrendering your life to the Lord, it's in that faith step that the Lord begins to prepare heart for what he calls 00:05:23.620 --> 00:05:24.940 you to and what lies ahead. 00:05:27.080 --> 00:05:28.040 Faith step number two. 00:05:30.080 --> 00:05:34.210 Discover where God is working and join him. 00:05:34.520 --> 00:05:36.320 Discover where God is working and join him. 00:05:36.600 --> 00:05:38.380 Esther's moment looked like death. 00:05:39.720 --> 00:05:41.490 And that's what was placed against the Jewish people. 00:05:41.580 --> 00:05:43.620 This moment of extermination. 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:51.060 But in the Lord, she sees this as a great reversal from a moment of death, which is going to play out in chapter nine to now an opportunity of 00:05:51.060 --> 00:05:52.600 life as they trust in him. 00:05:53.520 --> 00:06:00.000 When I think about this kind of statement, discover where God is working and join him, we tend to make this complex, but this doesn't have to be hard. 00:06:01.440 --> 00:06:07.500 Generally speaking, God is working when you begin to feel your heart stirred towards a particular need. 00:06:08.900 --> 00:06:14.840 And as God works on your heart for a need in this world, he's stirring in you to become that answer. 00:06:16.220 --> 00:06:18.130 I love how the Lord does it with his disciples. 00:06:18.320 --> 00:06:25.400 He says in a few of the gospels, "Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send forth laborers." And then the very next chapter he says, "Now go." 00:06:26.500 --> 00:06:33.680 Saying, in your own heart, you recognize this need and you begin to pray for this need, that you also begin to recognize that the place that God is stirring to be the answer to 00:06:33.760 --> 00:06:34.740 this need is in you. 00:06:37.880 --> 00:06:40.980 Discover where God is working and join him. 00:06:42.440 --> 00:06:45.940 Look in the world around you for the opportunity that God is presenting. 00:06:45.940 --> 00:06:52.860 And one of the ways we begin to see that is God presses up on our heart a gospel need in the world around us to step into that. 00:06:53.360 --> 00:07:00.200 And look, another way we tend to make this complicated in our life is that, here in our American and culture, we try to make big to-dos about everything. 00:07:00.880 --> 00:07:02.010 We got to create some kind of program. 00:07:02.620 --> 00:07:03.710 Other people have to participate. 00:07:04.300 --> 00:07:07.780 And that doesn't need to be how every answer has to be solved. 00:07:07.900 --> 00:07:08.730 It could just simply be... 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:14.100 It could be a formal answer where a program is created and lots of people are rallied and we all, you go together. 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:15.180 But it could also be informal. 00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:20.000 That simply God has placed you in that place to become that person who answers that need. 00:07:22.180 --> 00:07:28.180 But however God is stirring discover where God is working and join him. 00:07:30.740 --> 00:07:35.460 Don't be timid to be that answer that the Lord will use. 00:07:37.100 --> 00:07:39.200 You read the story of Esther. 00:07:39.200 --> 00:07:46.320 And we realize, in chapter four, when they saw this need that their immediate response was to begin first to turn to the Lord and pray 00:07:46.320 --> 00:07:47.520 and seek God. 00:07:48.320 --> 00:07:48.440 Right? 00:07:48.440 --> 00:07:49.320 They fasted. 00:07:49.700 --> 00:07:53.100 They joined as a community towards that purpose, chapter four, verse 16. 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:56.400 But at the end of the day, you still have to do something. 00:07:58.020 --> 00:08:02.300 You can pray all day long, but at the end of day, someone's got to stand up and do something, right? 00:08:02.300 --> 00:08:06.140 I mean, Israel could have prayed all day long against Goliath. 00:08:06.180 --> 00:08:08.500 But at the end of the day, David had to pick up a stone. 00:08:09.720 --> 00:08:10.120 Right? 00:08:10.120 --> 00:08:12.820 Moses could have stood before the burning bush all day long. 00:08:12.840 --> 00:08:15.270 But at the end of the day, Moses had to go before Pharaoh. 00:08:15.780 --> 00:08:18.600 Noah, he had to pick up a hammer to start building a boat, right? 00:08:18.870 --> 00:08:23.580 And God calls us to simply just pray for an answer, but to also let that answer work through us. 00:08:23.640 --> 00:08:25.080 In fact, if we're praying, it's to recognize. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:31.540 We see that need and our heart is aligning with the Lord towards that purpose and asking God to give us that strength. 00:08:31.540 --> 00:08:33.840 And then we get to step forward on that journey with him. 00:08:34.600 --> 00:08:37.559 Discover where God is working and join him. 00:08:38.380 --> 00:08:42.760 Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a minister during World War II in Germany. 00:08:42.820 --> 00:08:49.680 He had an opportunity, actually, as a pastor to be hired in America right when World War II was coming to a head. 00:08:49.680 --> 00:08:53.010 And he chose, rather than be a pastor in America, to go back to Germany. 00:08:53.520 --> 00:08:56.440 And people warned him, "If you go back to Germany, we see the writing on the wall. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:03.780 We know what's going to take place." And he said, "I know, but my people need me." And he ended up, towards the end of the war, losing his 00:09:03.780 --> 00:09:04.730 life. 00:09:04.900 --> 00:09:06.120 But he said this. 00:09:06.120 --> 00:09:08.820 "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. 00:09:09.380 --> 00:09:14.150 God will not hold us guiltless." Not to speak is to speak. 00:09:14.160 --> 00:09:16.600 And not to act is to act. 00:09:16.640 --> 00:09:18.680 There is no middle ground. 00:09:21.280 --> 00:09:23.420 That God calls us in this world to be a light. 00:09:25.280 --> 00:09:27.840 And that light advances in the darkness. 00:09:29.380 --> 00:09:36.770 In fact, another way that we could consider taking a step of faith to discover where God is working and join him is twofold. 00:09:37.420 --> 00:09:43.680 You can either be reactive towards problems, or you can be proactive against the darkness. 00:09:45.160 --> 00:09:52.200 And what I mean, reactive is you wait for the darkness to overcome a circumstance and you step in to be a gospel light in that 00:09:52.200 --> 00:09:52.760 moment. 00:09:53.320 --> 00:09:57.410 Or you begin to recognize that God sometimes gives you opportunity to invest in lives. 00:09:57.740 --> 00:09:58.920 To be proactive. 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:01.240 Sometimes they refer to it as preventative counseling. 00:10:02.640 --> 00:10:08.680 That you invest healthy things into a circumstance so it doesn't have to become unhealthy in order to be reactive to a response. 00:10:09.400 --> 00:10:16.680 But we keep building the work of the Lord as God moves in us to make a difference in the lives of people around 00:10:16.680 --> 00:10:17.180 us. 00:10:18.040 --> 00:10:19.310 In chapter one, it went on like. 00:10:19.880 --> 00:10:21.850 Or chapter nine, verse one, it goes on like this. 00:10:21.900 --> 00:10:27.720 "On the day when the enemies of the Jews hope to gain mastery over them, it turned out to the contrary. 00:10:28.920 --> 00:10:32.400 So that the Jews themselves gained mastery over those who hated them. 00:10:32.420 --> 00:10:39.300 The Jews of assembled in their cities throughout the provinces of the king, [Ahashuras 00:10:37] or Xerxes, to attack those who sought to harm them. 00:10:39.560 --> 00:10:46.820 And no one could stand against them because the dread of them had fallen on all the people." 00:10:46.820 --> 00:10:49.320 The Jews began to see where God was working. 00:10:51.700 --> 00:10:52.180 And they moved. 00:10:54.780 --> 00:10:57.480 No doubt that this moment looked difficult to for them. 00:10:57.480 --> 00:10:59.980 They were just a small people in the greater Persian empire. 00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:10.300 But if your purpose is noble, even if it looks as great as Mount Everest, if 00:11:10.300 --> 00:11:14.300 others see the importance of it, they'll join you on that journey. 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:18.000 I think we see that here at ABC. 00:11:19.160 --> 00:11:22.820 It has not been an easy road to hoe to get to where we are. 00:11:24.300 --> 00:11:26.610 But God's doing things here. 00:11:27.080 --> 00:11:28.160 It's incredible to see. 00:11:29.340 --> 00:11:34.000 I think last year, 26 people we had baptized in our ministry last year. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:36.470 And this year, our first baptism's coming in April. 00:11:36.800 --> 00:11:40.680 And even this past month, you guys gave over $30,000 in missions. 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:43.840 Most of it went to Africa. 00:11:44.060 --> 00:11:46.580 But we even gave another $1500 to the pregnancy resource center. 00:11:48.100 --> 00:11:49.400 And God's doing incredible things. 00:11:51.160 --> 00:11:56.340 And here you see in the story with Esther, they have a very difficult task in front of them. 00:11:56.340 --> 00:12:03.440 But in verse one, we see the reminder that the king worked in their favor by allowing them to write a law, to stand up 00:12:03.500 --> 00:12:03.900 for themselves. 00:12:04.640 --> 00:12:11.010 Haman had written a law to exterminate the Jews, and now Mordecai is given the right to write a law that the Jews can defend themselves. 00:12:11.640 --> 00:12:16.070 And in verse two, others begin to see the hand of favor moving to the Jewish people. 00:12:16.280 --> 00:12:20.260 And so, in recognizing that hand, they join in that. 00:12:20.260 --> 00:12:21.270 And then verse three, it goes on. 00:12:21.560 --> 00:12:29.840 "Even all the officials, the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and those who were doing the King's business were supporting the Jews because of the dread of 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:33.530 Mordecai had fallen on them." They see the hand of God moving on Mordecai. 00:12:33.680 --> 00:12:39.380 And so, even leaders now are jumping on board and supporting where God is moving. 00:12:41.800 --> 00:12:42.360 And then in verse four. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:45.900 For Mordecai was great in the king's house. 00:12:46.160 --> 00:12:54.860 And the news about him spread throughout the provinces for the man, Mordecai became greater and greater." Mordecai 00:12:54.860 --> 00:12:56.220 went where God was going. 00:12:57.480 --> 00:13:04.540 And Mordecai's news was a message of impending death that came to thriving life because of the 00:13:04.660 --> 00:13:06.080 hand of God. 00:13:07.340 --> 00:13:10.880 And Mordecai's message was only possible because it was the Lord's message. 00:13:12.380 --> 00:13:12.920 Right? 00:13:13.040 --> 00:13:16.970 From death to life, this message of great reversal. 00:13:18.680 --> 00:13:24.520 And even today, as God's people, in relationship to this, that's the same message we carry. 00:13:24.520 --> 00:13:29.310 It's different circumstance, but it's the same message that there is a God who has pursued us. 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:33.220 Who takes our circumstances from death to life in him. 00:13:33.220 --> 00:13:37.420 He resurrects the soul because of what he's accomplished for us on the cross. 00:13:37.780 --> 00:13:40.960 That's the way that the hand of God is moving. 00:13:42.660 --> 00:13:48.680 That we have opportunity to stand and see the darkness pushed back as the church moves forward. 00:13:48.680 --> 00:13:50.540 And the beauty of that message. 00:13:53.100 --> 00:13:56.440 See where God is working and join him. 00:13:58.220 --> 00:14:02.380 In verse five, though, you get the contrast of these steps. 00:14:03.380 --> 00:14:05.400 So the story of Esther is good for that. 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:10.240 Every time we see something godly in the story of Ester, it also takes a moment to recognize. 00:14:10.380 --> 00:14:17.800 And then there's the alternative that when you don't embrace the hand of God as he moves with life in this world, the alternative for that is death. 00:14:17.860 --> 00:14:18.970 There is no in between. 00:14:20.580 --> 00:14:26.700 That the reason Jesus came was because of the urgency of the need in the midst of darkness that we could find life in him. 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:30.230 There's not a middle ground in this. 00:14:31.220 --> 00:14:34.920 And you see in verse five, the juxtaposing of these two positions. 00:14:34.940 --> 00:14:41.600 And this is incredible to read because it's so obvious to most of the people that God's hand is working this way. 00:14:41.620 --> 00:14:43.440 And that we shouldn't fight against God's hand. 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:44.760 In fact, we should join the Jews. 00:14:44.820 --> 00:14:48.720 And chapter eight, the way it ended was, it was unpopular not to be Jewish. 00:14:48.740 --> 00:14:55.760 And so people are starting to identify with the Jews and even become Jewish because they want to work with how God's 00:14:55.760 --> 00:14:57.240 hand is moving in this culture. 00:14:57.240 --> 00:14:59.100 It is not popular to stand against that. 00:14:59.760 --> 00:15:04.640 But even still, there is a group of people in the hardness of their heart, that reject this. 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:08.760 And in chapter five, it starts to say as much. 00:15:08.760 --> 00:15:11.940 "So the Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying. 00:15:12.300 --> 00:15:15.880 And they did as they pleased to those who hated them at the citadel in Susa. 00:15:15.880 --> 00:15:18.200 The Jews killed and eliminated 500 men. 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:19.540 And they killed," and look at this. 00:15:19.960 --> 00:15:27.740 "Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, Parmashta, 00:15:27.920 --> 00:15:30.820 Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha." And whatever. 00:15:30.820 --> 00:15:31.060 All right. 00:15:31.340 --> 00:15:32.660 I pronounced all those right. 00:15:32.980 --> 00:15:35.560 I went to public school in West Virginia, Alabama. 00:15:35.560 --> 00:15:37.080 Don't question me on this. 00:15:37.080 --> 00:15:37.340 Okay? 00:15:37.760 --> 00:15:39.280 But that's what happened. 00:15:39.280 --> 00:15:46.400 "And the 10 sons of Haman, the sons of Hammedatha, the Jews enemy." So those last 10 names, those are the sons 00:15:46.400 --> 00:15:47.420 of Haman. 00:15:48.760 --> 00:15:52.280 I read a Jewish commentary on this. 00:15:52.300 --> 00:15:59.120 And it said it was Jewish tradition that whenever they read these verses, that they have to utter all 10 names in one breath. 00:15:59.160 --> 00:16:04.180 So you want to challenge later today, you can attempt that yourself, but they had to utter all 10 names in one breath. 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:09.000 And I read that and I thought, "Wow, why do they do this?" And I'm expecting the commentary to tell me the rest of that. 00:16:09.060 --> 00:16:09.740 And that's all it said. 00:16:10.420 --> 00:16:11.900 I don't even understand why. 00:16:11.900 --> 00:16:13.910 If in one wants to Google that later, let me know. 00:16:14.100 --> 00:16:16.320 But they had to utter all 10 names in one breath. 00:16:16.400 --> 00:16:17.360 Challenge accepted. 00:16:18.040 --> 00:16:27.840 But the critical thing to see here is, even as God's hand worked, there 00:16:27.840 --> 00:16:28.680 was still opposition. 00:16:30.900 --> 00:16:33.480 People stood against them. 00:16:35.280 --> 00:16:41.870 And even more sorrowful in this, I just think, Haman with such wickedness and hatred for a people group. 00:16:43.580 --> 00:16:47.600 How his sin affected so many people. 00:16:49.220 --> 00:16:52.880 His sin not only led to his death, but it led to the death of others. 00:16:54.420 --> 00:16:56.060 Even his sons, now. 00:16:56.960 --> 00:16:58.920 That hatred perpetuated in their lives. 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:05.859 And maybe even with this vengeance, they wanted to come against the Jews to justify their father's death. 00:17:07.040 --> 00:17:08.300 Or avenge, I should say. 00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:09.940 Avenge their father's death. 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:13.849 And yet, it leads to their own destruction. 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:19.290 And there is an opportunity to reverse that curse. 00:17:21.319 --> 00:17:25.130 Even for us to see where God's hand is moving. 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:28.890 To be willing to stand up for that and to follow the Lord. 00:17:29.060 --> 00:17:33.300 Just the place it provides in our own relationships in this world. 00:17:33.400 --> 00:17:37.140 To not be a person of toxicity, a person of destruction, a person of death. 00:17:37.620 --> 00:17:44.220 But a person of goodness and mercy and justice and ultimately life because of Christ. 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:48.640 And to be able to speak that life into the lives of others. 00:17:50.840 --> 00:17:56.160 And here, Haman's sons find death. 00:17:56.160 --> 00:18:01.020 And I know in reading these verses, we all come to this sort of question. 00:18:02.040 --> 00:18:03.820 Or at least, I think we should come to this question. 00:18:05.140 --> 00:18:11.280 How do you deal with the killing of people under God? 00:18:14.140 --> 00:18:15.040 How do you handle that? 00:18:16.620 --> 00:18:20.310 And for some, sometimes the challenge of this is a hard one to swallow. 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:23.220 But let me give you point number three, and we'll talk about that point. 00:18:23.220 --> 00:18:24.010 Point number three in your notes. 00:18:25.280 --> 00:18:27.620 Actively watch over the motive of your heart. 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:34.860 Third faith step in following after Lord is continue to watch over the motive of your heart. 00:18:35.060 --> 00:18:36.420 Actively watch over the motive of your heart. 00:18:36.420 --> 00:18:38.040 Jeremiah is 17:9 tells us... 00:18:38.040 --> 00:18:41.820 Reminds us, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. 00:18:41.820 --> 00:18:48.110 Who can know it?" And my hearts even surprise ourselves sometimes and how wicked it can become and how quickly that can happen. 00:18:50.540 --> 00:18:53.200 And it's important for us, as Proverbs says, to guard your heart. 00:18:53.280 --> 00:18:54.690 For in it's the wellspring of life. 00:18:56.460 --> 00:19:03.140 Actively watch over the motive of your heart, because at any moment, the thing that can lead the heart rather than the Lord, it can be anger. 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:04.690 It can be vengeance. 00:19:04.980 --> 00:19:05.540 It can be jealousy. 00:19:05.900 --> 00:19:06.660 It can be hatred. 00:19:07.020 --> 00:19:08.280 It can be your popularity. 00:19:09.020 --> 00:19:10.520 It can be your pride. 00:19:10.800 --> 00:19:14.040 And in all of those things, it leads to destruction. 00:19:14.060 --> 00:19:21.680 And in this next section, in verse 10 down to verse 16, it really gives us two ways of just thinking through, 00:19:21.720 --> 00:19:26.530 how do you deal with the Jews taking life in this section of scripture? 00:19:27.940 --> 00:19:29.940 Verse 10, it begins to show us. 00:19:29.960 --> 00:19:32.880 End of verse 10, it starts to show us the motive behind their heart. 00:19:33.140 --> 00:19:37.360 And we can see their action, but what's important for us to also see is what is the motive here? 00:19:37.400 --> 00:19:40.500 In the end of verse 10, it helps us to begin to recognize this. 00:19:40.540 --> 00:19:48.700 It says, "But they did not lay their hands on the plunder." You 00:19:48.700 --> 00:19:52.560 remember the way the law was written originally by Haman when he wanted to exterminate the Jews? 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:56.030 The Jews wrote a law almost exactly like Haman's. 00:19:56.540 --> 00:19:57.800 But one difference. 00:19:57.900 --> 00:20:01.440 In Haman's laws, if you were willing to kill the Jews, you could plunder what they had. 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:11.340 But here in this story, the Jews want us to recognize that their heart was not about that. 00:20:12.580 --> 00:20:19.360 When they went out in this moment, it wasn't about what they could gain from the destruction of others. 00:20:19.900 --> 00:20:25.680 And so they began to speak towards the motive of what they're about in this moment. 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:26.740 It's not to be an aggressor. 00:20:29.620 --> 00:20:32.980 What their interest in is to defend and find peace. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:39.500 No one following God should be looking to kill anyone, right? 00:20:39.520 --> 00:20:41.400 Human life is sacred. 00:20:41.400 --> 00:20:43.380 Everyone is made in the image of God. 00:20:44.980 --> 00:20:52.060 And to desecrate another human being in that way is to bring an attack against our creator who made an individual 00:20:52.060 --> 00:20:53.540 in the image of God. 00:20:53.540 --> 00:20:57.900 And so, just to simply end human life is not something to be taken lightly. 00:20:58.500 --> 00:21:02.220 It certainly should not be the primary interests of the Jews here. 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:04.740 For the Jews, fighting was the last resort. 00:21:06.060 --> 00:21:13.220 Remember, when Esther came before the king, in Esther chapter seven and verse four, when Esther came before King Xerxes, she 00:21:13.220 --> 00:21:17.690 said to the king, "King, I wouldn't even have bothered you if you were simply selling us into slavery. 00:21:20.620 --> 00:21:21.780 But we're talking about extermination. 00:21:24.540 --> 00:21:31.700 And we need to be able to do something here." And verse 10 not only talks about the 00:21:31.700 --> 00:21:39.080 fact that they didn't lay hands on their plunder, but throughout this passage, this section, it wants to remind us that this perpetually 00:21:39.080 --> 00:21:43.480 was the attitude of the Jews as they continued to move forward into verse 15. 00:21:43.740 --> 00:21:47.240 "But they did not lay their hands on the plunder." Verse 16. 00:21:47.240 --> 00:21:54.880 It reminds us, they were there to defend their lives and they did not lay their hands on the 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:55.260 plunder. 00:21:57.680 --> 00:22:03.630 God calls us as his people to protect the life of the vulnerable. 00:22:04.900 --> 00:22:07.960 In fact, in Isaiah chapter one, verse 17, it says this. 00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:10.600 "Learn to do good. 00:22:11.760 --> 00:22:13.120 Seek justice. 00:22:13.760 --> 00:22:15.400 Rebuke the oppressor. 00:22:16.360 --> 00:22:23.760 Obtain justice for the orphan and plead for the widow's cause." And let me just remind us of the circumstance for a moment. 00:22:23.780 --> 00:22:30.940 If this law written by Haman says, "Look, if you go kill some Jews and they have things that you like, you can take 00:22:30.940 --> 00:22:38.320 them and make yourself rich." And if you're thinking that you're going to live out that law and you're wondering who you're going to take down, 00:22:39.240 --> 00:22:47.420 I can tell you in a circumstance like this, you're going to be thinking, "Who's the wealthiest person that's also the most vulnerable that I feel like I can overcome?" And 00:22:47.420 --> 00:22:51.980 in that moment, they become the easy targets to the circumstance. 00:22:51.980 --> 00:22:55.440 But Micah chapter six, verse eight says this, for God's people. 00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:58.660 It says, "He has told you, mortal one, what is good. 00:22:58.740 --> 00:23:00.640 And what does the Lord require of you? 00:23:02.120 --> 00:23:09.260 But to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." And God 00:23:09.260 --> 00:23:10.180 is saying like this. 00:23:10.180 --> 00:23:12.910 This word for justice is word for the for mishpot. 00:23:13.160 --> 00:23:14.710 It's the word mishpot in Hebrew. 00:23:14.800 --> 00:23:17.160 It's this carrying out of justice. 00:23:17.460 --> 00:23:19.480 So, justice is the action. 00:23:19.600 --> 00:23:21.460 Loving kindness is the attitude. 00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:25.120 With the reminder, everything we do, we're accountable to God. 00:23:26.540 --> 00:23:30.080 Everything that we do is accountable to the Lord. 00:23:31.540 --> 00:23:38.780 And so, with Esther in this moment, for the Jewish people, being an aggressor to defend themselves or taking another life 00:23:38.780 --> 00:23:43.150 in defense themselves, it's not their primary desire. 00:23:45.220 --> 00:23:50.380 But for the sake of the moment, in order to preserve life, it was necessary. 00:23:52.560 --> 00:23:55.220 And in defending life, it is sacred. 00:23:55.540 --> 00:23:59.860 Because God created life in his image. 00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:04.880 Now, just to be clear, I'm not advocating go out and kill people. 00:24:04.900 --> 00:24:05.080 Okay? 00:24:07.580 --> 00:24:12.090 But what I encourage you to do in anything you do for God, to always check the motive of your heart. 00:24:13.800 --> 00:24:16.000 Israel's heart in this moment is not vengeance. 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:24.100 But it's sacred to the preservation of life that God calls sacred. 00:24:26.440 --> 00:24:32.840 Maybe the question for you is, where in your culture are the vulnerable being taken advantage of? 00:24:34.460 --> 00:24:41.760 And how can the Lord use you to encourage people towards him and to defend the sacredness 00:24:41.760 --> 00:24:42.780 of what life is about? 00:24:44.020 --> 00:24:51.100 I mean, that's why we give to the pregnancy resource center every year, there is nothing more innocent than 00:24:51.100 --> 00:24:52.200 unborn children. 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:54.720 They cannot defend themselves. 00:24:56.840 --> 00:25:03.940 But you, as God's people seeing the sacredness of life, have an opportunity to stand and talk about the preciousness 00:25:03.940 --> 00:25:09.900 of what that represents, as God creates every human being in his image. 00:25:12.540 --> 00:25:15.880 Verse 11 of 14, though, it goes on from there and gives us a little more of a challenge. 00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:21.040 It says, "On that day, the number of those who were killed at the Citadel in Susa was reported to the king. 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:25.940 And the king said to queen Ester, 'The Jews have killed and eliminated 500 men. 00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:28.540 And the 10 sons of Haman at the Citadel in Susa. 00:25:29.460 --> 00:25:32.360 What have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? 00:25:32.900 --> 00:25:34.560 Now, what is your request? 00:25:34.560 --> 00:25:36.000 It shall also be granted you. 00:25:36.780 --> 00:25:38.670 And what is your further wish? 00:25:38.940 --> 00:25:46.140 It shall also be done." In verse 13, "Then Esther said, 'If it pleases the king, let tomorrow also be granted to 00:25:46.140 --> 00:25:53.300 the Jews who are in Susa to do according to the edict today and let Haman's 10 sons be hanged on the wooden gallows.' 00:25:53.720 --> 00:25:56.090 So the king commanded that it was to be done so. 00:25:56.520 --> 00:26:03.900 And an edict was issued in Susa and Haman's 10 sons were hanged." Now again, we could ask the question, "Well, 00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:07.140 the Jews are defending themselves." But people debate this. 00:26:07.140 --> 00:26:09.500 They say, "But what about Esther's motive here? 00:26:09.780 --> 00:26:11.130 We see that they're defending themselves. 00:26:11.460 --> 00:26:13.620 They're not just out there to kill just to kill. 00:26:13.620 --> 00:26:15.290 They're about protecting and preserving life. 00:26:15.800 --> 00:26:16.680 But what about Esther here? 00:26:16.680 --> 00:26:21.780 She seems to take another step and now she's putting people on gallows. 00:26:21.780 --> 00:26:24.940 How can you justify that?" Well, let me just say this. 00:26:25.340 --> 00:26:27.300 There is room here for a little bit of debate. 00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:35.060 Whether or not Esther is taking a completely godly step in what she is doing. 00:26:35.160 --> 00:26:42.380 Remember, when you read the Old Testament, especially in narrative stories, narrative stories are not this declaration for 00:26:42.380 --> 00:26:42.820 what to do. 00:26:42.860 --> 00:26:46.260 It's just simply describing to you what happened. 00:26:46.260 --> 00:26:50.460 And so, this is not descriptive of how to live life, live a Christian life. 00:26:50.520 --> 00:26:51.480 Or live a life for the Lord. 00:26:51.820 --> 00:26:54.580 This is just simply narrating, this is what happened. 00:26:54.580 --> 00:26:59.970 And so, we can always look at actions in a narrative and determine, is this godly or isn't this godly. 00:27:00.380 --> 00:27:05.760 And in this request, Esther has asked that the 10 sons of Haman would be hung on a poll. 00:27:06.940 --> 00:27:10.280 Is what Esther wants, is it really godly? 00:27:12.520 --> 00:27:15.780 When you look at the challenge of that question, I would say just a couple things. 00:27:15.920 --> 00:27:23.000 One, remember, verse 10 and verse 15 and 16 is on both sides of this section of verse 11 00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:23.980 into 14. 00:27:23.980 --> 00:27:29.500 And in verse 10 and verse 15 and 16, it reminds us, the motive of the Jewish heart was not about just taking advantage of people. 00:27:29.540 --> 00:27:30.740 That's not what they were interested at all. 00:27:30.740 --> 00:27:32.120 They didn't want to take from the plunder. 00:27:32.280 --> 00:27:33.100 That's not what they were about. 00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:34.800 They were about defending their lives. 00:27:34.800 --> 00:27:36.560 And we find this story of Esther in between. 00:27:36.620 --> 00:27:42.100 So, this story being in between all that may say to us that Esther's motive was just simply try to honor the Lord. 00:27:42.580 --> 00:27:46.790 The other thing to here is Esther is in political position, which means she's seen as an authority. 00:27:47.300 --> 00:27:54.180 And in this day in age, in order to warn people about conduct that was disruptive and illegal, they would take this kind of step. 00:27:54.180 --> 00:27:57.020 Which for our minds today, is way far out there. 00:27:57.300 --> 00:27:57.420 Right? 00:27:57.580 --> 00:27:59.620 But this was common in this era. 00:27:59.760 --> 00:28:06.800 And this was a way of communicating, "Look, the king, didn't just say that he's 00:28:06.800 --> 00:28:07.700 going to carry out the law. 00:28:09.240 --> 00:28:14.780 He's actually showing that he means business in doing it." Right? 00:28:15.250 --> 00:28:22.340 It's one thing to say something, but if people don't see your words as being serious, it's another 00:28:22.340 --> 00:28:23.740 thing to see you act upon it. 00:28:23.760 --> 00:28:23.880 Right? 00:28:24.100 --> 00:28:26.390 There are all kinds of world leaders that say things. 00:28:26.440 --> 00:28:29.660 And then you see that they don't really carry out what they mean by their statements. 00:28:29.920 --> 00:28:29.980 Right? 00:28:30.060 --> 00:28:31.660 It's a lot of talk, but no walk. 00:28:32.820 --> 00:28:38.180 And I think, as a leader in Persia, this is a statement to the people. 00:28:38.260 --> 00:28:39.410 And we mean business. 00:28:41.220 --> 00:28:41.840 Don't harm the Jews. 00:28:43.980 --> 00:28:46.930 Maybe in a stranger way, we could compare this to parenting. 00:28:48.100 --> 00:28:51.080 Sometimes you may call your role, if you have kids, a parent. 00:28:51.400 --> 00:28:55.700 But you learn that a lot of times, your kids might be better at parenting you than you might be parenting them. 00:28:55.760 --> 00:29:02.900 And the way that you find that is you'll say things, but you find, "I have to repeat this 10 times and it's not until I start counting to 10 that 00:29:02.900 --> 00:29:07.960 they then start doing it." Because your kids have learned to train you rather than training them. 00:29:08.180 --> 00:29:10.820 "Mom and dad don't mean business until they start yelling. 00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:14.680 And so, when they just say something, you can ignore it about three or four more times. 00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:15.160 But when they yell." Right? 00:29:15.380 --> 00:29:17.440 It's not until they discovered, that's when you actually execute. 00:29:19.320 --> 00:29:23.500 Wouldn't it be better if delayed obedience was disobedience? 00:29:24.800 --> 00:29:27.940 And you could just say it once and they get done. 00:29:28.100 --> 00:29:28.980 Right? 00:29:29.540 --> 00:29:31.010 That's what Esther's doing. 00:29:31.900 --> 00:29:35.300 "We're not just giving you a law and waiting for you to kill a few Jews before we act. 00:29:36.200 --> 00:29:40.630 We want you to recognize this is business. 00:29:40.760 --> 00:29:45.280 This is what we mean." Point number four. 00:29:45.740 --> 00:29:49.120 Hopefully that helps you deal with some of the interaction here in this Old Testament. 00:29:49.760 --> 00:29:51.720 And the fighting and the killing that's going on. 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:53.080 But number four faith step. 00:29:55.900 --> 00:29:57.960 Celebrate what the Lord accomplishes. 00:30:00.540 --> 00:30:02.680 Celebrate what the Lord accomplishes. 00:30:03.880 --> 00:30:06.780 Let me be clear in saying this, on behalf of the Jews. 00:30:07.400 --> 00:30:08.900 Well, let me read it and I'll clarify this. 00:30:09.640 --> 00:30:10.260 Verse 17. 00:30:10.260 --> 00:30:12.350 "This was done on the 13th day of the month in Adar. 00:30:12.780 --> 00:30:16.540 And on the 14th day, they rested and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing. 00:30:16.900 --> 00:30:24.310 But the Jews were in Susa, assembled on the 13th and the 14th of the same day and rested on the 15th day and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing. 00:30:24.600 --> 00:30:31.680 Therefore, the Jews of the rural areas who live in the rural towns make the 14th day of the month of Adar a holy day, or a holiday, for 00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:38.820 rejoicing and feasting and sending portions of food to one another." They're rejoicing in what the 00:30:38.820 --> 00:30:39.400 Lord has done. 00:30:39.420 --> 00:30:41.000 They're celebrating what God has accomplished. 00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:42.920 They aren't celebrating killing and death. 00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:44.540 They're not celebrating that. 00:30:45.840 --> 00:30:49.920 What they're celebrating is that they have a way to life. 00:30:50.040 --> 00:30:52.760 They found life in a God who delivers them. 00:30:54.260 --> 00:30:59.280 Celebration, or as sometimes we refer to it Biblically, really, is rejoicing. 00:31:01.040 --> 00:31:04.780 Rejoicing is an important part of the Christian life. 00:31:04.780 --> 00:31:10.600 It's recognizing that what we have in the Lord, it really, it never ends. 00:31:11.620 --> 00:31:16.160 Rejoicing is about being reactive and seeing the hand of God and how he's moved. 00:31:17.340 --> 00:31:23.660 But the fact that the joy can re-joy over and over, is to remind ourselves in what we have in him continues forever. 00:31:26.380 --> 00:31:33.660 You think in the things in this world that you may rejoice over, unrelated to God, the things in this world that you can rejoice over or might rejoice over, 00:31:34.060 --> 00:31:35.800 that rejoicing will only ever be temporary. 00:31:37.320 --> 00:31:39.360 That someday, the things this world fade. 00:31:41.580 --> 00:31:46.240 But what you have in the Lord and rejoicing reminds you over and over, you have it for all of eternity. 00:31:48.080 --> 00:31:53.840 And when we rejoice, it becomes a place that continues to shape our identity in God. 00:31:53.940 --> 00:32:00.960 When you think about how the Lord has rescued you in salvation in him, if you've put your faith in him, going back to that moment 00:32:00.960 --> 00:32:02.210 over and over and rejoicing. 00:32:02.620 --> 00:32:04.380 Doesn't it just remind you of how Jesus saved you? 00:32:04.620 --> 00:32:06.880 But it also reminds us that Jesus is currently with you. 00:32:07.180 --> 00:32:09.740 And Jesus will always be with you for all of eternity. 00:32:09.760 --> 00:32:14.850 It's a place of re-joying over and over what the Lord has done. 00:32:15.180 --> 00:32:19.620 It helps us find an identity and continue to have that identity in the Lord. 00:32:19.620 --> 00:32:20.820 And it helps us to teach others. 00:32:21.120 --> 00:32:25.340 Especially in your home and your children, as you model rejoicing before them. 00:32:25.340 --> 00:32:32.680 They get to see these moments in your life that become pillars that represent who you have become in your identity in the 00:32:32.680 --> 00:32:32.780 Lord. 00:32:35.340 --> 00:32:35.980 It's a way of teaching. 00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:37.720 It's a way of being thankful. 00:32:38.280 --> 00:32:40.140 It's important to the Christian life. 00:32:40.380 --> 00:32:44.760 The Jews were certainly rejoicing because they got to keep their life, for sure. 00:32:46.580 --> 00:32:49.080 But they're also rejoicing in something much deeper. 00:32:49.640 --> 00:32:54.770 That in keeping their physical life, they're also seeing a God who is with them. 00:32:55.440 --> 00:32:58.350 And a God who gives them incredible hope into their future. 00:32:59.300 --> 00:33:06.500 They're rejoicing is at a much deeper level than simply, "We survived the moment." But there is a God who loves 00:33:06.500 --> 00:33:06.900 them. 00:33:08.040 --> 00:33:09.300 A God who is near to them. 00:33:09.360 --> 00:33:11.300 A God who looks after them. 00:33:11.360 --> 00:33:12.840 He did it for Mordecai, right? 00:33:12.900 --> 00:33:17.280 You see this place of death that Mordecai and all the Jews are walking into. 00:33:17.400 --> 00:33:23.510 And with this great reverse of the curse, they now step into a place of life because of a God who loved them. 00:33:23.840 --> 00:33:26.120 And the Lord does the same for you and for me. 00:33:26.440 --> 00:33:33.580 When I think about the reverse of the curse of sin and death in our lives because of Jesus, Jesus's first 00:33:33.580 --> 00:33:38.200 message on the Sermon of the Mount was a reversing of the curse message. 00:33:38.260 --> 00:33:38.680 Listen to this. 00:33:39.100 --> 00:33:42.280 In Matthew chapter five, when Jesus preached his first message, he says this. 00:33:43.020 --> 00:33:46.120 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:33:46.620 --> 00:33:54.220 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted, blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth." It's a declaration 00:33:54.600 --> 00:34:00.120 of the reversing of the curse of this world, realizing the life that we ultimately have in Jesus. 00:34:00.680 --> 00:34:04.540 And the relationship that we can experience in him to today. 00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:12.900 The preservation of life in this story is a tangible reminder of a God who cares for his people. 00:34:14.480 --> 00:34:16.880 So let me end with this one. 00:34:17.699 --> 00:34:20.600 There is a statue in Hungary. 00:34:21.980 --> 00:34:29.300 And it's dedicated to men and women who have served in World War I and World War II who did not return. 00:34:29.540 --> 00:34:32.139 The statue is referred to as the Empty Silhouette. 00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:41.580 But looking at a statue like this is a reminder of the brokenness of life. 00:34:42.770 --> 00:34:50.139 To think about all the sacrifice of human life that went into World War I and World War II and fathers not 00:34:50.139 --> 00:34:52.920 returning home to their families. 00:34:54.040 --> 00:35:01.620 Do you know, traditionally in Christianity, youth ministry is a 00:35:01.720 --> 00:35:03.940 fairly new thing in Christianity? 00:35:03.940 --> 00:35:06.460 Youth ministry really didn't start in churches until about the 1950s. 00:35:08.620 --> 00:35:11.400 And the reason youth ministry started, it started out of a need. 00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:16.460 Churches, when they would gather, they would all stay together in one age typically. 00:35:16.460 --> 00:35:18.360 Or all together as one big family. 00:35:18.920 --> 00:35:24.740 But they began to recognize in the 1950s, as men went off to war, that they weren't returning home to their families. 00:35:24.860 --> 00:35:30.100 And in the church, there was this big gap of men being able to stand for children. 00:35:31.080 --> 00:35:32.160 And point them to the Lord. 00:35:33.280 --> 00:35:39.360 And so, youth ministry started to become a way that they collected kids together in the midst of that darkness to point people to Jesus. 00:35:40.680 --> 00:35:47.540 But as this statue even stands as a greater reminder to us and the world around us, there is darkness. 00:35:50.080 --> 00:35:50.880 There is a curse. 00:35:53.180 --> 00:35:55.220 But in Jesus, there is this great reversal. 00:35:57.060 --> 00:36:02.380 That God's people have the opportunity to pierce the darkness and be a wonderful light for him. 00:36:02.980 --> 00:36:09.800 That just as we see God acting in the life of Mordecai and Esther and the Jews, he is still active and moving today. 00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:17.600 If we, as his people, would fully surrender to him, see where God is working and join him 00:36:17.600 --> 00:36:23.670 in that cause, to continue to check the motive of our heart on that journey. 00:36:23.920 --> 00:36:27.020 And as God does glorious things, celebrate it. 00:36:27.360 --> 00:36:27.980 Celebrate it. 00:36:28.120 --> 00:36:31.550 Because it becomes an identity for us, a pillar moment. 00:36:32.060 --> 00:36:37.540 And being able to look back because in hard days, we need to remind our lives that God has been there. 00:36:38.440 --> 00:36:42.340 And God will continue to be there for us as we walk with him together,