 With that said we're going to be looking as mentioned at Book of Esther. Let's begin reading here in chapter 5 read verses 1 through 5 and We'll get into our study Esther chapter 5 beginning at verse 1 reading to verse 5 Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace Across from the king's house While the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house Facing the entrance of the house. So it was when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court That she found favoring aside the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand And Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter The king said to her What do you wish Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you up to half the kingdom So Esther answered if it pleases the king Let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him The king said bring Haman quickly that he may do as Esther has said so the king and Haman went to the banquet and banquet that Esther had prepared and So let's kind of cap catch up to where we've been Mordecai had just notified Esther that there was a plot a Plot to kill all the Jews that had been initiated by this man Haman He had instigated their annihilation due to an act of petty pride and a hatred When told of the plot at first Esther resisted involvement and When she did Mordecai had to exhort her to become involved. He'd made it clear She is also a Jew and under the orders that have been issued you too Will be killed You see it seems even as we looked at this passage last time that at first Esther had wanted someone else to do this Perhaps has been Pointed out by some commentators. Perhaps she had under the comfort of the palace forgotten who she was Someone once said our being so much like the world our trading as the world trades are Talking as the world talks are insisting that we must do as other people do This is doing more harm to the world than all our preachers can afford or actually can hope to affect good I cannot imagine a man professing to be a Christian and then acting as the world acts and yet Still believing that he's honoring Christ it would seem in a way at least in first appearance the possibility that Esther had forgotten who she was and She had forgotten she was a Jewish and it took her it took her cousin to reminder of that Now she had said I haven't been with the king for a month. That's someone else to it. Your request may very well cost me my life So when she saw the need of the hour she determined to do what she what she could she intermades at fasted that the Jews And Shushan had also fasted for her and as Esther and the people fasted They knew that God protects his people like it says in Psalm 141 verse 8 My eyes are fixed on you sovereign Lord in you. I take refuge do not give me over to death So Matt Esther had not been with the king for a month. So before she went before him She put on her royal robes and as she stood before him She would have been incredibly beautiful So he hasn't seen her for a while. She's the most beautiful woman in his kingdom. She dolls herself up puts on her false eyelashes and Her ruby red lips She stands there saying hey big boy and as he's looking out there He says mama So She's dressed up in a beautiful way And he sees her there and it must have been just one of those perfect moments and as he sees her I mean he remembers why he married her and so he sees her verse 2 Standing there in the court and she found favor in his sight God had answered their need. It says in Romans 8 31 What shall we say to these things if God before us who can be against us? And so Esther was welcomed into his presence. You see God was already moving He was already preparing the heart of the king like it says in Proverbs 211 the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord like the rivers of water. He turns it wherever he wishes So Esther had said that to be welcomed to his presence. He needs to extend that scepter and he did What he was doing is he was pardoning her presumption to appear without request and she touches the top of the scepter and that Reveals gratitude for being accepted and welcomed. So in verses 3 and 4 the king says what do you want? What do you wish Queen Esther your wish? He's saying is is my command and The way he answers reveals something it reveals deep affection And so he says I'm gonna give you half of my kingdom. What is it that you want anything you ask? I'm gonna give it to you. So all she says is I want to have a meal with you and Haman and So as she does so verse 5 the king said we'll bring Haman quickly That he may do as Esther has said so the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared You could imagine how Haman is thinking at this time how he's been selected for a special privilege And so at verse 6 at the banquet of wine the king said to Esther What's your petition it shall be granted? What is your request up to half the kingdom? It shall be done and so He has this meal of fruit and wine. It's not simply meat and all of that and It reveals that he knew she wanted more than a meal with him And so he's asking what is your request in verse 7? Esther answered and said my petition and request is this If I found favor in the side of the king and if it pleases the king To grant my petition and fulfill my request Well, then let the king and Haman come to the banquet which I will prepare for them and tomorrow I'll do as the king says. So she's kind of like She's not playing him But she certainly is preparing him She's allowing his curiosity to grow as he's waiting. So here's my request If you'll once again dine with me, I'll let you know what it is. Well verse 9 Haman went out that day joyful with a glad heart But when Haman saw Mordecai and the king's gate and that he didn't stand nor tremble before him He was filled with indignation against Mordecai Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself went home and he sent him called for his friends and his wife Zoresh Then Haman told them of his great riches The multitude of his children everything in which the king had promoted him and how he had advanced him above the officials and servants of the king Moreover Haman said besides Queen Esther invited no one but me to come in with the king to the banquet that she prepared tomorrow I am again invited by her along with the king yet This all he said all this avails me nothing So long as I see Mordecai the Jew Sitting at the king's gate all of these privileges in all of this favor He said it really should cause me to rejoice and yet it doesn't because that Jewish man has not given me the honor that I deserve I've been given great honor Ordinarily the king would dine alone with guests in a dining hall But Haman has said I've been honored to sit with both the king and the queen And so he rushes home and he's boasting of his honor and his importance there in verse 13 But again Mordecai has has failed to tremble and honor me and the fact that this Jewish man doesn't honor me is ruining everything and so God gives us special gifts when he gives us wives like Zoresh verse 14 His wife Zoresh and all his friends said to him let a gallows be made fifty cubits high and In the morning suggest to the king that Mordecai should be hanged on it Then go merrily with the king to the banquet Thank you, honey. You're so wise and and the thing pleased Haman's so he had the gallows made This isn't good advice It reminds me of the time that that Job's wife had given to him Some some advice, you know curse God and die So this isn't really good advice to be honest with you And so as this is taking place here it appeals to him and and that's something that mattered to him It appeals and he says, you know, that's not a bad. I died at bad advice So she says this is what you need to do They call it the gallows, but have a 75-foot high stake I mentioned to you that they don't hang them by the neck, but they would impale them and So have this prepared the 75 feet You know it's going to be enough for everybody around to see this this impudent Jewish man And how things are going to be for them if they treat you in the same way that he has and So he likes the idea, but the scripture tells us in Proverbs 26 27 This is a beautiful scripture Whoever digs a pit will fall into it. If someone rolls a stone, it will roll back on them This advice is going to bite you this idea for you to to do such a thing It's going to roll back on you It's going to show it'll show itself and you're going to see this in a moment Well, he thought that was a good idea. He got happy about it went to bed Because in the morning he's going to request the death of Mordecai. Well in chapter 6 verse 1 That night the king couldn't sleep so one was commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles the histories and They read before the king and it was found written That Mordecai had told of Bikthana and Teresh two of the king's eunuchs the doorkeepers Who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus the king said what honor or dignity dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this The king's servants who attended him said nothing nothing's been done for him And so he hears this you see while he's plotting well Mordecai is plotting rather. Heyman's plotting God is making sure that that which was intended for evil is going to turn to good This is important at least to make this observation it reveals that the Lord Works through what appears sometimes to be simply petty details It's been said the king had divine insomnia He couldn't get to sleep. So a good thing to put him to sleep Was to have a history lesson given to him So as the records are being read to him He hears of Bikthana and Teresh and and these were the ones who had plotted to assassinate him And so he asked did did Mordecai receive recognition? When he did this and they said Well, no no nothing nothing was ever done. So verse 4 so the king said who's in the court now? Heyman had just entered the outer court of the king's palace And he had come to suggest that the king hang Mordecai and the gallows that he had prepared for him And so the king's servant said to him Heyman is there standing in the court and the king said well, let him come in Well, he came in to ask the king to kill Mordecai and the gallows were already prepared They're just waiting for the body and so the servants said well, it's Heyman. Heyman's waiting to see you And so in verse 6 Heyman came in and the king asked him What shall be done For the man whom the king delights to honor now Heyman thought in his heart Well, who who would the king delight to honor more than me and Heyman answered the king? Oh Well for the man whom the king delights to honor let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn a horse on which the king has written which has a royal crest placed on its head and Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes That he may array the man whom the king delights to honor then parade him on horseback Through the city square and proclaim before him Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor so he that's his great wish Oh boy, everybody's gonna see me when this happens And so he comes in all self-important and everything surely the king is speaking about me Everything is going his way. And so what he's saying really is create a grand spectacle with me as the center of attention Give the man the appearance of royalty treat him with pomp and attention Now here's something one of my commentators pointed out that I wanted to say quickly and it's this obviously Heyman was not in need of money or Women What he craved was attention There are some things that are more important to people Than just money or physical pleasure for him. It was attention. It was importance This is what I want. I want people to think That I'm very very special and so he gives him the suggestion Expecting that he's going to be the one that's paraded in such a way. Well first 10. This is so funny The king said to Heyman hurry Take the robe and the horse as you have suggested and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king's gate Leave nothing undone of all that you've spoken Look at his face in your mind for just a moment And Heyman took the robe and the horse he arrayed Mordecai and led him on horseback through this city square Proclaiming before him that shall it be done to the man from the king delights to honor Can you imagine the irony of that? And you've got you've got Mordecai just on this course. Yeah, this is cool And you've got Heyman going in front of oh this I love that. It's just amazing to me He was you Miliated and proverb 16 18 pride goes before destruction a hotty spirit before a fall So after he does it now you have to put yourself in his place for a moment. We're ready to have that kind of petty spirit I know none in this room would ever want to be like that But imagine how you would feel how I would feel Well, what happened verse 12 afterward Mordecai went back to the king's gate But Heyman hurried to his house mourning with his head covered and when Heyman told his wife Zerish and all his friends Everything that had happened to him his wife's been and his wife Zerish said to him If Mordecai before whom you have begun to fall listen is of Jewish descent You will not prevail against him, but will surely fall before him Mordecai didn't get his attention. He went back to his job He didn't need this attention, but Heyman did notice how he had rushed home. You can almost see his face I can't I can't describe how he must have looked, but he must have been just So upset and he goes home. He's humiliated. He's distraught at what's taking place He's just been humiliated in front of everybody, but I wanted to see verse 13 for a moment Because when it says Heyman told his wife Zerish and all his friends everything that had happened to him His wise men and his wife Zerish said to him if Mordecai before whom you have begun to fall is of Jewish descent You will not prevail against him, but will surely fall before him If Mordecai is of Jewish descent remember all the way back in Genesis 12 Verses 1 through 3 The Lord said unto Abram get out of your country from your kindred from your father's house until a land that I will show you I will make you a great nation. I will bless you make your name great You shall be a blessing. I will bless them that bless you and curse him that curses you and In you shall all families of the earth be blessed Do you think that still applies to this day? I believe that it does I believe that it does the Lord has not gone to sleep on his love for the nation of Israel Sometimes we think that he has but he hasn't he has a plan for them still we always saw that in the book of Romans You know, he has not ceased working with Israel. He's working right now with the Gentile nations the church and all But he still has plans that he's going to fulfill in the nation of Israel That's why when we see what's taking place right now We can see this kind of plot to destroy annihilate to kill that is not something new It didn't start with a mosque. It started long ago this desire to destroy and Haman had that kind of desire He wanted to put to death not only this Jewish man Mordecai, but he wanted to annihilate every Jew that was within the kingdom and the oversight of King Ahasuerus which meant that that would have gone all the way back to Israel and every Jewish person there would have died That was his plot and that was his desire and so as this is taking place It turns out she says well, wait a minute, you know, I told you to build that that Gallo But he's Jewish and if he's a Jewish man this plot will not prevail. Well, here's the conversation because you can almost picture Haman at that time as his wife and all they're speaking in verse 14 whether we're still talking with him The king's eunuchs came and hastened to bring Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared well In verse 1 continuing so the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther and On the second day at the banquet of wine the king again said Esther What's your petition Queen Esther? It shall be granted you and what is your request up to half the kingdom? It shall be done and Queen Esther answered and said if I have found favor in your side, old king and if it pleases the king Let my life be given me at my petition and my people at my request For we have been sold my people and I to be destroyed to be killed to be annihilated Had we been sold as male and female slaves? I would have held my tongue Although the enemy enemy could never compensate for the king's loss now. I imagine this for a moment How the king a house where is this here in this and It must have just caused him, you know a great deal of shock and dismay to hear something like this Again, the king is there at this banquet But in verse 3 you need to imagine his surprise at the request the request is a simple one spare my life and spare the life of my people We have been sold to die verse 4 And when she said we have been sold to die by Haman it speaks of the bribe that Haman had offered the king all the way back in Chapter 3 in verse 19 where it says if it pleases the king let a degree be issued to destroy them I'll give 10,000 talents of silver to the king's administrators for the royal treasury. We have been sold to die We have been sentenced notice verse 4. We have been sentenced to be destroyed killed and annihilated To be destroyed speaks of complete extermination To be killed speaks of being murdered To be annihilated speaks of being blotted out to cause to vanish He wants to blot us from the face of the earth this person When she says in verse 4 the enemy could never compensate for the king's loss The 10,000 talents could not equal the loss of tribute and taxes that will be lost when this takes place Not to mention losing his queen while verse 5 King Ahasuerus answered and said to Queen Esther Who is he and where is he who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing and Esther said the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman and Haman was terrified For the king and the queen who would dare to do such a thing now remember Haman had not named the people that were to be exterminated Remember hey how he had said he didn't call him Jews and Esther 3 verse 8 He said this he said there is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in the provinces of your kingdom Their laws are different from all other peoples and they do not keep the king's laws Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. He didn't say that they were Jews and So as this is taking place Esther makes it very clear verse 6 That the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman now Haman knew that Mordecai was Jewish But it's obvious that he did not know that Esther was Well imagine this guy here. You've been humiliated here. Let's go a little bit further. Shall we? verse 6 he was terrified before the king and the queen He'd been humiliated. Yeah, he'd been depressed But now he's in terror Well, what's the king do verse 7 the king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and he went into the palace garden Haman stood before queen Esther pleading for his life for he saw that evil was determined against him by the king So you can picture him he's standing there in front of her and he's saying Please don't let this happen to me and all of that the king is so angry that he is he left And he went out and just was trying to cool down. He couldn't stay in the same room as Haman and Haman knows I'm dead So he's falling at her feet. He's begging for mercy everything I own. I'll give to you spare me I don't want to die. Please. Well verse 8 The king returned from the palace garden to the place of the banquet of wine Haman had fallen across the couch where Esther was and the king said will he also assault the queen while I'm in The house as the word left the king's mouth. They covered Haman's face Yeah, that's an interesting way that it's put here Haman was so upset that he actually falls across the couch that she's reclining on So when the king comes in He's sprawling on top of the queen It wasn't by his intent. He had tripped and fallen, but it just so happens how the Lord can coincide events That he's walking in and he sees this guy there with his wife And when he says about assault that word assault is speaking of a sexual molestation Are you going so far as to actually molest my wife in my house? I don't know. I don't know if I would like to see this played out in real time. I Don't know. I would feel I would feel bad for him I would think can you imagine anything worse than that? You see he's terrified. He knows that he's going to die and He's begging for his life Again, he'd been humiliated. That was bad enough But now he knows he's about to die He's begging for mercy. Help me when it says in verse 8 they covered his mouth They just put something over his face to muffle him from speaking Again, can you imagine the terror that you might feel when they come and cover your mouth? That means you've got nothing else to say. It's all over You're a dead man Now as this is taking place verse 9 Now Harbin out one of the eunuchs said to the king look the gallows 50 cubits eye Which Haman made for Mordecai who spoke good on the Kingsby He's rubbing it in who spoke good on the Kings behalf is standing in the house of Haman and the king said String him up. No, the king said Hang him on it. Let him be crucified Let him be crucified on the stake that he had prepared for Mordecai Let him die let him be impaled verse 10 makes it very clear They hanged him on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai The man who expected to be shown so much respect and honor The one who was going to be paraded for all to see Was going to be treated as royalty wearing the king's emblems and all of that Is now forever humiliated In Psalm 9 verse 16 it says the Lord is known by his acts of justice The wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands The wicked are ensnared by the work of their own hands Hanging the hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai and the king's wrath subsided There are things that we can learn from this and I'll take a few minutes as I'm about to close This is actually amazing to me that I close that quickly. I Should have made up some things What can we learn from this? one That it's possible to survive under this kind of rule or this kind of leadership. I think that sometimes We Americans because we have a short view of history Don't really have the longer view So when things occur to us now We don't have a long history a little over 200 plus years All you need to do is to get a broader view or a greater understanding Is to travel and many of us had have had the privilege to do that and I have to tell you that when I began to travel at the age of 25 that's when I actually began to travel to other countries I'd you know grown up in in Norwalk the furthest I'd ever gone would be basically we'll say to Nevada or Arizona I'd never had a plane been on a plane until I was in the military and the first plane trip I ever took was from LA to San Jose You know so that to me was I'm a world traveler now I've been on a plane and Then I you know started traveling across the United States because being in the military We had the opportunity and I was stationed on the east coast in North Carolina. So I started to experience that but when I was 25 is when I began to do little world travel and so I went to To Europe and I backpacked for three months and I took it the year rail and Traveled through like 14 different countries. I was gone for over three months And I began to see some things I began to see other countries You know, I even in Mexico if you said have you ever been in Mexico? I'd say yeah, I've been in Mexico What did I mean by that? I went to TJ, you know, yeah, I'm a world traveler now I I crossed the San Diego border, you know But when you get on a plane and you fly across your nation then you fly into this Europe Europe and you start seeing countries you you go into into German you go into Austria you go into into England You go into Belgium you use you see Spain and and so many I saw 14 countries You know and traveled and I was living on between 10 and 15 dollars a day and so I walked nine nine hours a day and I got down to a hundred and forty five pounds because we couldn't eat we had no money and But I had a great time, you know, we were going all through different places and seeing different things And so my horizons began to broaden and all I began to experience some things and all and So in doing that I came to realize what a young country I come from You know because you're in a Coliseum in Rome and you're looking at over 2,000 years of history Or or you just go to other places I get you know I speak about a lot of different places and I'm just in Greece you're in the Acropolis, you know And I'm seeing things that I had heard about or read about but never seen it And there you are next to these ancient monuments and all of that and as a result of that I began to have a larger view of history and I came to realize that that the nation that I love that I serve that I That I'm blessed to be part of this really when you look at other nations China I've been on the Great Wall of China, you know, I've had opportunities to go to Japan I've been around the world been in India. I've seen the Taj Mahal all those things that people say they want to see and When you begin to see those things to go to Thailand, you know, you just you know, we've been so many places you begin to realize we're a very young country and So for us we're spoiled and I'm not knocking America. I love America, and I'm not knocking Americans either I'm saying that it took a lot for me to realize that That I didn't have a broader view of what God has done throughout this world until I was able to see these things and Then I realized that and and some may not agree with this But I think we live in the greatest nation that the history of the world's ever seen I think the United States is the greatest nation. I really do it's built on the principles of God through his word and all of that and And I began to appreciate those things and I realized how how spoiled I've been as an American and And all of that and so when I see things that aren't going the way I want them to go I immediately say this is the worst time in history for any country that ever existed and That's because I'm an American and that's how many of us think and So one of the lessons I can learn about this is that even under tyrants it's possible to survive and It's possible to even thrive that God is not Under the authority of a tyrant because he's the God of the universe and because I worship the God of the universe I don't have to worry about not to mean I shouldn't be involved not to mean I shouldn't pray all those things I should do for this nation But at the end of the day, it's the Lord who raises up one and he puts the other one down and as long as I understand that I'll be okay. So that's one thing. It's possible to survive Even under the leadership of a man like King a husk where us Who with just a snap of his finger? So put that guy on that stake and that guy knew there was nothing he could do about it. That's one thing You see a husk where us was acting out of a response to what was in his own interest As a king he was attempting to preserve the strength of his kingdom So Haman's desire to kill the people was something that he had approved and It was the revelation that Esther was Jewish that disturbed him remember Mordecai had said to her Don't let him know you're Jewish It was a revelation to him You know, it was known that Mordecai was Jewish But they didn't know that Esther was Do you think Haman would have demanded the death of all the Jews if he knew that the Queen herself Was a Jew? Of course not No, and so that was part of why when Mordecai said don't reveal this It was part of the way the Lord is going to be dealing with this oppressor of Israel Well He killed us he killed Haman rather because Esther revealed That Haman was an enemy. What was the thing in a Haman that would have been something That led to his death his ambition his ambition He wanted to be a powerful powerful man and a husk where us was not about To give away that position to this man And so when he saw Haman falling on Esther He saw that as an attack on his property It wasn't necessarily that he was so, you know head over heels in love with us Although it's obvious that there was something very deep in his heart towards her But it had another kind of feeling to it and that is this is mine. What are you doing? violating that which is mine You are violating something that belongs to me. You're attacking my property. You are attacking my wife and Then he also saw Haman attacking a benefactor Mordecai and So you're attacking my wife and you're attacking someone who saved my life What makes you think that I should let you survive for what you've done and Then another thing we can learn I'm filled with things I want to learn so let me give you one more and This is very practical Never I am never to put my trust in a government to preserve me. I can have Somebody raised up who is a believer in Christ and I will live more comfortably under that obviously But the next person that's raised up may be the exact opposite So if I put my hope in government, I'm making a mistake. I Have to put my hope in the one who establishes the governments It's God who raises one up as mentioned earlier, and it's God who puts the other one down He's the one who brings in to office the ones who rule So I keep my eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ Because temporal authority isn't enough I Need to completely Trust in the Lord in Psalm 115 verse 11. It says you who fear the Lord Trust in the Lord. He is their help and shield Psalm 118 verses 8 and 9 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in Princes in human leaders So where is your confidence? In this particular case here We have a very clear picture That God preserves his people the God who preserved Israel is the God who preserves us The God who cares for them cares for me and cares for you and I'm telling you especially as we're looking today at some of the things going on not just with the nation of Israel But even some of the things that we see taking place in our own nation It's very easy for us to lose hope to think that we have no help Well, where does my help come from my help comes from the Lord who makes heaven and earth and as Christians I Believe very strongly in a sovereign God who is very capable of taking care of us Because he loves us and though I don't like the way things go Quite often I don't I Know one thing I know that God is in control I know that I have a part in all that he would have me to do living in a nation like mine I have a right to vote and to and people can run for office and we have the right to make those choices But in the end, I don't put my trust in man. I put my trust in the Lord I put my trust in the one who made heaven and earth not just the United States But the entire world that we dwell in and it's very important I think especially right now because we're seeing things unfold in front of us and it can cause us to lose hope But I'm telling you know God is still on the throne God is still active. God is still moving and I fully expect to see him continue doing so Why is that because he loves us and because he's a plan we need to be aware of those things