Esther 2: 19-23, Pastor Cody Harlow

We're going to finish up Esther 2 today and this is the last week that we're going to have a shorter passage from here on out it'll be kind of chapter by chapter because it's just the narrative flows that way and I know that so that's just where we're going because it's a historical narrative we'll be there all the way from now until Thanksgiving and so today we're talking about three musts to live with a Gospel Focus now if you guys can remember the guy that were that we've been learning about over the last couple of weeks King Xerxes According to some of your passages King hazarus azurus a hazarus whatever it is he is not a good man he is not a righteous man he's you know just a lost sinner right and he demanded that his wife vashti expose herself to the king's war council and she rightly refused because you know being objectified is

Not a good or righteous thing to do nor is it to objectify other people and that led to her being divorced and dismissed as the queen and through these seemingly ordinary and even you know from our perspective even sinful circumstances we are introduced to the characters of Mordecai and Esther Esther she's this beautiful orphan girl who is raised with parents who adhered to the Jewish ways the Hebrew ways and it gave her that Hebrew name Hadassah which means Myrtle you guys remember that but her parents died and her cousin Mordecai took her as his very own daughter it may have been you know similar in age he may have been in his early to mid 20s at this point in time but Mordecai he was a Jewish man and he was in a place of influence and through a series of events Esther finds herself in the king's harem that's right that's where Esther finds herself and it's impossible to know or would it was impossible for them to have known that through this series of events that she would actually become the queen so it's likely that this would take some of the responsibility off of Mordecai maybe one of the reasons why he got her in there so quickly was because he was responsible for getting her married at some point in time and probably saved him quite a bit for of looking around for the right guy and besides who better for a spouse than you know the king but anyways besides it was it was tough it was a tough situation the worst case scenario is that she would be taken care of as a concubine for the rest of her life however Esther she pleased the king so much over the span of one evening that he chooses to be with her as a wife chooses to make her wife and he places that Royal crown on her head and here's how we finished up last week everyone

Is happy everyone is joyful everything has been going wonderfully because now this Empire now has a beautiful queen they hadn't had a queen for at least about three years maybe four years at this point and there's tax breaks everyone loves tax breaks right less money to the government the better you know and everyone's getting these Royal gifts it's probably likely food people are feasting it's it's Esther's feast is what the Scriptures say and it's a time of Celebration and joy and wonder and it's happily ever after except that we've got another seven chapters to go right and I should say it's a time of joy for most people except for a couple of guys and we're going to talk about them today if you would stand with me in honor of God's word as we read Esther chapter 2 verses 19 through 23. God's word says this now when the virgins were gathered together a second time Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate Esther had not made known her Kindred or her people as Mordecai had commanded her for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as she was brought up by him just as when she was brought up by him in those days as Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate big thin and tarish two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the threshold became angry and sought to lay hands on King hazarus and this came to the knowledge of Mordecai and he told it to Queen Esther and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai when the affair was investigated investigated and found to be so the men were both hanged on The Gallows and it was recorded in the book of The Chronicles in the presence of the king and so God we do thank you so much for this day that you've given to us we thank you for your kindness and your

Mercy and I pray for every heart that's here that even In this passage we would see the glory of the Gospel shine through I pray that you would help our hearts be open and receptive to your word and your spirit and God we just humble ourselves before you asking you to do what only you can do in our lives and changing us in molding us and conforming us into your image God you are the Potter we are the clay and so do with us as you would I pray that today our ears will be open and that we would listen and learn about how to apply this passage to our lives and God put a guard before my mouth let me not say anything ignorant or dumb or incorrect but always accurately dividing the word of Truth we love you in Jesus name amen all right verse 19 starts out with something kind of weird when you read about that it's like why on Earth is he going around for a second helping of virgins at this point in time I mean that's just that's just really weird it's very selfish it's it's something that to us should actually be very off-putting and disgusting all he's doing is he's satisfying his own physical Pleasures like we said this king is not a good man he's not a righteous man he's not a Godly Man and what could have happened what could have transpired is that Esther at the end of the first round perhaps she was close to the end and so the advisor said well you know we're getting to the bottom of the barrel here guys we probably need to go and look again and so they started that whole round again that's very likely what could have happened and instead of putting a stop to it they just continued on with the process because they're the world power they can do what they want to at this point I think it's sad

I think it's sad for the Empire when the king is just continually taking the king is the one who is demanding to be served that's one of the Hallmarks of a declining Empire is when its leaders are consumed with taking and taking and we see the ascent of all the empires every single one of them considered themselves firstly a servant and a leader of the people not for people to serve them now when rulers when they become takers that nation is toast and well what's happening with Mordecai here we see that Mordecai he's sitting at the king's gate this means that Mordecai was likely an official of the king he served in some type of an administrative capacity at the king's gate and it means that he was one of thousands of officials in the Empire and he served in this oh sorry guys he served in this area right here this is the King's gate back in the mid-1800s is when they began Excavating the city of Susa okay that's that's where this story takes place and it wasn't until and you know what happened was secular archaeologists and critics of Biblical history would say see there's no Kingsgate it obviously this is an erroring God's word and therefore we you know take with that what you will but guess what the more that you dig the more that you find that God's truth always prevails always does because all truth is God's truth amen and whatever he has written is accurate and good now it wasn't until the 1970s that they discovered the king's gate and it's actually a massive facility it's got two levels it's got about 23 000 square feet full of administrative offices and areas it's divided up into two major sections where there's an open area where people would Lobby around and then to the left or the right where all

Of the administrative offices that would handle everything that would come in it's a 130 foot by 100 foot complex that had stone walls that are 10 feet thick that's crazy and then in verse 20 we see this very important verse it's a restatement of verse 10. Look at it with me it says that Esther had not made known her Kindred or her people and that would be a little weird right to be a spouse to someone and you're like I don't know what you are that would just be a little different for us right that just goes to show the kind of relationship that this King had with his wife he really didn't care about her as a person oh it wasn't about friendship it wasn't about closeness it wasn't about intimacy but pleasure exploitation position and so it's not surprising that this was not a particularly pressing issue for this King and I think that's also important for us to know as we kind of get down to where the meat of the passage is and where we're going to spend the majority of our time this morning it's important to note that Mordecai doesn't just abandon Esther to live in a secular world of political Intrigue he didn't just leave her in the Harem and not check in on her he was constantly checking in and communicating with her and even more so now that she is in a position of Danger of power of prestige of influence and he doesn't just leave her he advises her he provides direction for her and she follows his instructions just like she did when she was being raised by him and now I want you to remember the context

Okay that this in spite of everything that's been going on in the Kingdom remember the they had just lost a major war with Greece it was hard fought lots of money spent terrible terrible time the Greek Empire is ascending to prominence in the ancient world and the medo-persian Empire is in Decline and it was a bad time for the kingdom but yet now they had a beautiful queen the king seems to be happy you know there's there's tax release there's tax breaks there's all these different things that are happening and there's feasting and there there's a giving away of gifts and things are good for people in the city of Sousa and the Empire but not for everyone because there's two guards that are very upset and they serve the king and they're upset about something and these are the men that are charged with protecting the king protecting his assets protecting his person and yet they are so angry that they want to kill the king that's what that phrase means to lay hands on the king it doesn't just mean to like you know like punch him in the face it literally means to put him to death this is not just being upset with your boss it's not being upset with your president or your political leaders this is where there's a Planned assassination attempt and it was the ancient world poisons are abundant Hitmen are hired political opponents they're shrewd they're calculating they're trying to figure out how to gain more influence in the Empire and in verse 22 we learned that there is knowledge of an assassination attempt that comes to Mordecai did he overhear it did he catch a whisper in it echoing off those 10 foot thick stone walls what would you do

If coming destruction was happening for someone that you owed allegiance to or at least care or some kind of concern what would you do this leads to the first thing that we should do when it comes to living with a Gospel Focus okay is do obtain knowledge Paul he said in First Corinthians chapter 2 verses one and two and I when I came to you brothers did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty's feature wisdom for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified now listen to me before you just kind of go Cody you're kind of going off track here remember that destruction is coming death is coming for the king and unless he is warned of the destruction that is coming this King will die Mordecai is the only one that knows about this and the way that we're going to apply it today is that you have knowledge that has to be shared with people that do not know the Lord Jesus Christ destruction is coming for them it is coming for every single person that does not have faith in Christ and so you know if you think I'm completely off on this all right tune me out or whatever but I plead with you please stay with me okay know Christ know him crucified and that's my question to you right now as we apply this point do you know the Lord Jesus Christ I'm not asking do you know Jesus like you know he's a baseball player right like you know I was Ricky Henderson fan growing up you know and I know you know like he has more stolen bases than anyone else by like a thousand stolen bases there is no one that will ever beat Ricky Henderson's record of stolen bases I'm not talking about facts I'm asking do you know Jesus Christ the person in

Your own heart do you have closeness with him do you have intimacy with him do you have friendship with him remember that people they're not going to be told on that last day depart from me you weren't a member of First Baptist Church he's going to say depart from me for I never knew you do you know the Lord Jesus all the things that you do with your life your job your job is important right you should glorify God with your job your hobbies your skills the nation politics all the happenings and things that are going on those are all secondary for the believer for us the primary goal of all of Christianity is to go and make disciples of all the nations that's right here in Camdenton all the way down to our friends and our brothers that are down in Mexico right now don't don't forget don't get to pray for the duttons and the demitses and Diana I'm glad they all have D's that's a good sermon like alliteration but you know we should we should be praying for them because they're going we have equipped them as the as the Church of God to go we've commissioned them we pray for Logan to go Logan Thompson who's doing awesome by the way out there in Montana but it's not just about foreign missions it's also about what's going on here in our own State and on in our own backyard you've got friends you've got neighbors they're I got a report earlier this week that 25 of the people that are residents here at the lake have moved here within the last four years that is shocking isn't it what a wonderful problem to have that we've got so many people that don't have a church family may not have a relationship with Christ the nations are

At our doors and we have to do everything that we can all the other stuff that we divide and bicker over doesn't matter what is preeminent to us it is the glory of Jesus Christ and sharing it with a world that needs to hear it amen we're called to obtain this knowledge and I ask you do you have the knowledge of Jesus Christ in second Peter chapter 3 verse 18 it says to grow and the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity amen that's what we're called to do to continue growing in his grace to continue growing in his knowledge to know the Lord and make him known that's what we're called to do and Mordecai he came across this knowledge of Destruction and you and I we know that your friends your neighbors those anyone that does not know Jesus has to be warned of the Wrath to come they have to be warned and it is coming or they will be eternally destroyed in the Lake of Fire and that should cause us to really consider what we do it should cause us to really assess our time to assess our Monies to assess what we do we have obtained that knowledge of God's good grace because someone told us about it someone shared with us something about it whether it was a parent or a grandparent or a friend or a neighbor for me it was it was the Berks I've told you guys about that family just a wonderful Godly family that took time and explained to me the Gospel without without a preacher I would not have heard the Gospel no one will ever be saved unless they hear the Gospel and we have to be obedient we have to

Share that with others and this is the kind of the second Point Mordecai he comes across that knowledge and he doesn't keep it to himself he goes he can't go before the king if he does and he's not called that's death for Mordecai and so instead of just you know recklessly going about it he takes the safest route and he goes to Esther and he tells Esther and Esther shares that message in the name of Mordecai with the King and that's the second point is do share that knowledge do share that knowledge Mordecai he must have been in stunned silence what would you do if you heard about like a legitimate assassination plot against someone how would you handle that I mean my mind just kind of goes I don't know what I would that I'd probably call the police that'd be my first thing maybe call them up I mean would he remain silent that might be the safest thing to do it's not like he's a very popular guy your cousin is in this situation because of his selfishness because he keeps obtaining all of these women for himself he's not the most popular guy what do you what do you say well you know he can tell that I'm that I'm Different just by the way that I live my life all right let me qualify that okay because you can't let your life be the only Gospel that people read like they should be able to tell that there's a difference they should be able to see all that fruit of the spirit the love the joy the peace the patience the kindness the goodness the faithfulness the gentleness the self-control non-believers should see that in a

Believer's life but they will not be shared they will not be saved by the fruit of the spirit in your life they need to hear the Gospel quit thinking that your good works are going to save anyone your good works couldn't save you they need to hear the truth of the Gospel wrapped up in a whole bunch of love Mordecai he went to his cousin Esther and he shared that knowledge of the assassination plot against the king and in verse 22. He told it to Queen Esther and Esther told the king this is important because it means that Esther is still spending some time with the King and she was careful to include Mordecai's name this is going to be very important later on in this book The King was now indebted to Mordecai and the custom at this time was to immediately honor anyone and reward anyone who had prevented an assassination on the king you know why because he just saved the Empire and so they would do everything they could to make sure hey if you protect us you will be handsomely rewarded however this was overlooked but Mordecai he did something he shared about that knowledge he shared about that knowledge that he obtained and you should do the same thing as well and you dear Christian although you might be a member of the elect chosen people of God you would have never been saved unless someone had shared the Gospel with you and as a result of God's redeeming love on you calling you out of death and out of Darkness he has given you life he has given you light and so you and I we are indebted to God he saved us he saved us from that wrath this past weekend our Romans Bible study on Wednesday nights if you're not in a Bible study you should come and be a

Part of that Romans chapter 1 verse 14 we just talked about verses 14 and 15 pretty much it says I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians both to the wise and to the foolish why is Paul under obligation well under obligation is not necessarily a negative thing it means that there is such a necessity that's there that if we were to do anything else it would be wrong if there were a starving baby up here all of us would do everything that took to save that baby amen it's such a necessity we are obligated to do that just like that passage that brother John read at the beginning of service they saw the people of Israel were housed in there was such a famine that they had to eat donkey heads and dung it was bad and just before this passage the king he's walking on the ramparts and he's he's wearing he's wearing a robe but underneath the robe he's got sackcloth on and this lady calls out and she says my king help me he's like how can I help you there's nothing that I can help you with she says my son it was a lady she had we I had a son she had a she has a son and yesterday she said come let us boil my son and we will eat him today and then tomorrow we will do the same with my son and now she has hidden her son imagine that desperation that's the situation that the Israelites were in at that point in time how dark how evil how wrong how broken-hearted would we have to be to be brought down to that kind of estate and then these these lepers they see that God had driven out the people the Assyria the Syrian Army and left everything vacant there's tons of food there there's weapons there's there there's there's food there's water there's everything that they would need

And they're hoarding it and then they think how wrong is this what are we doing with ourselves if we do not share this good news there are words not mine if we do not share this good news evil will befall us and listen you have the best news in the world how Wicked is it if we do not share that good news with people that need it how wrong will that be we might miss opportunities to share the Gospel with people but that's not an excuse to never share the Gospel two-thirds of Christians never share the Gospel with anyone in their entire life two-thirds shame on us but you are called by the very command of Christ to share the good news of Deliverance to a world that needs that news and you and I we must consider ourselves because of the tremendous necessity because of the desperate situation that the world finds itself in we must consider ourselves under obligation to share that best news that anyone could ever receive here's what Paul said in First Corinthians chapter 9 verses 15-16 for I would rather die than anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting his ground of boasting is the Gospel for if I preach the Gospel that gives me no ground for boasting not because I've earned the Gospel we cannot earn the Gospel we receive the Gospel for necessity is laid upon me woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel whoa what does woe mean that's we kind of think think it's it's a Hebrew word okay it's it's actually a really funny sounding word it's and it's literally translated as Horrors Horrors be upon me if I do not preach the Gospel distress discomfort troubled

For Paul and by extension ourselves we must consider ourselves in this same boat you and I we are commissioned by Christ this is the Great Commission guys half of all Church members at just across the SBC do you not know what the Great Commission is this is Great Commission we talk about it pretty regularly Matthew 28 18-20 all authority in heaven and on Earth has been given to Jesus to me go therefore and Make Disciples of all Nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold I Am With You Always to the end of the age that is not a pastor's commission that is not a missionaries commission that is a Christian's commission and if you're ever wondering what God's plan is for your life start there doesn't matter what your what you do to make money it's what you do as a believer but maybe you're here and you don't have a relationship with the Lord the first thing that you have to do is know the Gospel the Gospel is this is that the Bible that the God of the Bible he created everyone and everything he's the God of all things he made you he made me he made everything seen and unseen and he made everything good everything was good and right and perfect in our universe but our first parents Adam and Eve they rebelled sin entered the world and as a result of that act of Disobedience everything that is wrong in our world came into existence at that point sickness War death famine hate everything that is wrong came into existence and the worst part isn't the war the sickness the famine the death

That's not the worst part the worst part is that the peace and the love and the happiness and the unity that we had with God was gone it was broken you see God he is Holy he is pure and since God is Holy and pure we cannot be around he cannot be around things that are Unholy or impure and that goes for me that goes for you before Christ we might find ourselves giving over to sin and Temptation and that is Who We Are every part of us is consumed with that we lie we cheat we steal we lust we hate we blaspheme we murder and we do all those things that God hates and we do them not just once guarantee you that my that myself those that I love around me they haven't just sinned one time we do it over and over and over and over again and what is the judgment what happens to the sin that soul that soul that sins it dies Eternal death Eternal punishment and what will you say to God when you stand before him and he says why should I let you into heaven what will you say to persuade him what will you say I don't want to go to the fiery pits of hell I want to be with you forever we tell about all the nice things that you did imagine Jeffrey Epstein making that defense yeah I explore exploited minors but you know I gave a lot to charity you think a righteous judge is going to say okay you're off no the good does not negate the evil We compare yourself with someone else oh it may have been a liar but I never cheated on my spouse I may have cheated on my spouse but I never murdered may have murdered but I

Never raped that's called moral relativism and God does not play those games the Bible says that the wages of sin is death and so what does the payment of all sin death and what do we deserve death we deserve hell I mean what will you say that was a fine and upstanding member of First Baptist Church of Camdenton does membership save no not at all baptism doesn't save communion does not save going to church does not save being good does not save praying a prayer does not save none of those things will save you from the Wrath to come it's only by coming to Christ it's only by repenting of your sins and trusting in what Jesus did on the cross there is only one way and thank God that he made one way and do you know about Jesus do you know about God himself coming down to be born of a virgin in a little village do you know about his perfect life and his perfect obedience to the law that he himself profess to be God and yet people hated him in spite of all of his teachings in spite of all of his good works they hated the son of God and they couldn't stand him and so they decided to kill him when Christ surrendered his life it wasn't because Satan had won it's not because man had killed their creator the Bible says that Jesus he laid down his life willingly and that he endured being mocked and beaten and cursed and scorned and he was beaten with a rod with a whip he was crowned with thorns and he was honored as the king of the Jews we believe that this is our Messiah and he fulfilled all prophecy and he was crucified his hands were pierced his feet were pierced with nails and all the while he took on the full Wrath of the Judgment of God for sinners

So that anyone who would come to the Lord Jesus Christ and say God can you save me I am so sorry he says yes and he and he does that miraculously by his own good grace that's what Christ did and his side was pierced and he was placed in a tomb and Friday he was there and he was dead and Saturday he was there and he was dead and on Sunday morning he came forth in power and in Victory and he defeated sin and death and hell and he invites you to believe this message of the Gospel and he calls you to follow him and so the question is would you do it and you might say yes and I celebrate that today and you should you should tell someone about that you believe that especially if it's your first time believing that message or maybe you're just like I don't know Cody I just I need some time to really think about it and really just check it out a bit more well guess what that's the third Point do investigate to see if it's true you see we believe that God is the author of all truth and since all truth is God's truth we should never be scared or ashamed of the truth and God's word it stands up to the toughest scrutiny many people that just seek to prove the Scriptures false wind up being becoming Christians so glory to God but maybe you need to do some investigating and I say let's do it together don't don't try to do it by yourself I mean you can but you don't know what's out there on Google man it's scary up there but let's talk about let's reason together and you dear Christian you keep investigating God's word you keep mining in it and growing in it I mean it's plot that Mordecai discovered would wind up being proven true and guess what so will the Gospel

So don't wait you know these men that sought to assassinate the king they suffered a terrible fate and this is going to play out again later on in Esther as well they were taken to the Gallows and for us you know we think of like old Wild West Gallows right with a rope and a noose and stuff like that this was just a pike that they would take a wooden beam they would shave it down into a basically a giant Spear and then they would just drop them on the spear and impale them that was The Gallows there's not really a word for that object that makes sense in our language and so it's it's just translated as Gallows but what a terrible fate remember that sin always leads to destruction it always does and so I want to encourage you to turn away and Trust in Christ and our passage concludes with and it was recorded in the book of The Chronicles in the presence of the king so what so why is this important well it's important for you and I because we have a message that is far more important and Far More reaching than an assassination attempt all of your family all your friends all your co-workers all your neighbors need to be warned and they need to hear the Gospel that's why this passage is important head heart hand head I want you to know that souls are truly in danger hell awaits every single person who doesn't repent and believe the Gospel so don't wait make an opportunity for that friend or that neighbor heart I want you to believe that unless people trust in the Gospel message they will spend an eternity separated from God in hell this includes the kind people the moral

People even the worst liars and murderers we can only be saved by trusting in Christ and that's anyone including the best and most moral person or even the worst murderer anyone can be Redeemed by Christ at hand I want you to identify one person this week that you will share the Gospel with one person that you have been praying for or maybe you need to start praying for them start praying for them and dive in both feet let me tell you remember that you're not responsible for saving that person but you are responsible for sharing the Gospel message it could be terrifying you know at all the entrances of our church we have Gospel tracks that are available to you if that's a resource that could be a blessing praise the Lord take it use it give it out but don't just sit on this message don't just think ow I'll do better no take time change your mind repent and share the Gospel with someone that needs it so God we do thank you so much for this great day that you've given to us we thank you for this example of Mordecai having this message to share and not sitting on it and I just pray that you would help us God not to sit on this great message of good news that you have given to us through your son Jesus Christ help us to share it with someone this week God always Redeeming the time because the days are evil Lord we just pray that you would Find Us Faithful doing that until you return we love you Lord as we stand and worship you may you be blessed in Jesus name and thank you without him I could do not do nothing without him I truly Fair field him I would be drifting like a ship

Out us [Music] Jesus oh Jesus do you do you know him today you can turn him oh Jesus [Music] without him I'd be insane like without him I would bless like Jesus thank God I'm safe [Music] today you can turn him up oh Jesus [Music] I would be let's pray together dear Lord thank you for this day you've given us to worship you together God I pray that as we go from here you would remind us of Who You Are God remind us of the mission that you've given us to reach the lost with your Gospel Lord not because you can't do it but Lord because you have gifted us with the opportunity to be a part of your Redemptive plan what a great grace that is in Jesus name we pray amen thank you