Esther 3: 1-15, Pastor Cody Harlow

Because Israel they were they were fleeing from the powers of Egypt they had crossed the Red Sea they were on their way to Mount Sinai when all of a sudden they are set upon by these people that are called the amalekites the amalekites actually attack the rear guard the place where the women the children in the Aged were at they were moseying along and we read this in Deuteronomy chapter 25 verses 17 19. Remember what amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary and cut off your tail those who were lagging behind you and he did not fear God so he had a Slaughter of children you had a Slaughter of the senior adults the week the defenseless therefore when the Lord Our God has given you rest from all your enemies around you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess the land of Canaan land of Israel you shall blot out the memory of amalek from under Heaven you shall not forget

That's the decree the law of the Lord so why is this important well God he did bring Israel into the promised land just as he said they would and you know what they had for many years was war in that land as they conquered as they drove out the enemies of God from that land that was promised to them and yes they do take the land but yet they also disobey and we read in the Book of Judges you know that there was oppression and then repentance and God raised up a judge and there was Deliverance and God brought brought that about and there was a time of Peace under that judge the judge died went back into that terrible cycle over and over and over again and all of that occurs until the prophet Samuel who was also the last judge establishes the Kingdom of Israel with King Saul Now King Saul does anybody remember what tribe he was from is from The Tribe of Benjamin the tribe of the Warriors and this is also the same tribe that Mordecai is from as you remember he is Mordecai from The Tribe of Benjamin and first Samuel chapter 15 we read that Samuel he reminds Saul of what God's word says back in Deuteronomy 25 and he reminds them that it is time to strike down the amalekites in first Samuel we oh here I got it buddy in first Samuel chapter 15 verses 7 through 9 it says this and Saul defeated the amalekites from havilah as far as sure which is east of Egypt and he took agag the king of the amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword but Saul and the people spared agag and the best of the sheep and of The Oxen and of the fatted calfs and the Lambs and all that was good and would not utterly destroy them all that was despised and worth worthless they devoted to destruction this was the end for Saul because

He didn't destroy the nation that hated God he didn't destroy the amalekites who were okay with slaughtering innocence they even spared King agag that should probably sound familiar with you because Haman is an eggite who was a descendant of the amalekites the first characteristic to note as we're talking about these three characteristics to avoid in our lives is this Disobedience to God because Disobedience to God always leads to disarray in the future Saul he was removed from being King as a result of disobeying God's word and we might think that was a sufficient judgment but it wasn't just Saul that disobeyed the word of the Lord it was also the people of Israel they send by not carrying out God's word in the book of first Samuel back in that same chapter in chapter 15 it says has the Lord as great delight and burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of Rams for Rebellion is as the sin of divination and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry because you have rejected the word of the Lord he has also rejected you from being King so this is why Mordecai refused to bow down his relative from literally the same tribe was removed from being King because of parlaying with the King agag why would Mordecai risk God's judgment again why would he honor this man who is likely raised to hate the Jewish people this would be like us welcoming Communists into America and allowing them to teach in universities wait that's yeah well Mordecai doesn't bow and Mordecai's colleagues are concerned because it's not like him to be disobedient and this could be a major issue not only is he disrespecting his superior but he's also defying the clear command

Of the king and so Mordecai refuses day after day after day and he finally explains the situation guys listen there is a lot of bad blood between my people and his people and he finally review reveals that he is Jewish he's broken his own rule that he told Esther do not break and then they go and they tell Haman about the issue and this makes Haman Furious and it's interesting isn't it's interesting that this is the issue that causes Mordecai to take a stand of all of the compromises and all of the laws that Mordecai had probably broken over the years to become a Persian official he was able to hide his Heritage for a long time he probably didn't observe any of Israel's civil laws that we know of like Daniel and his friends they wouldn't even eat from the king's table that defiles the Jewish people for breaking God's law in that way but his issue of honoring a superior because of their Heritage was too much for Mordecai remember that Mordecai he didn't seem too concerned with his little cousin being taken into a gentile King's harem and all the issues entailed with that and you know we do the same thing don't I mean like the Pharisees they'll swallow a camel and strain an act folks assume the worst about others while demanding people assume the best about them folks will complain about the way that a song is sung simultaneously while hating their neighbor the fact is that Haman he was so offended so upset that Haman he is described as being filled with Fury and this is the Hebrew word is Hamas which is translated as Venom or poison the fact is that Haman isn't going to be satisfied with just getting Vengeance on Mordecai but on all of God's chosen people in a lot of ways this is the spirit of the Antichrist at work in the Old Testament so Haman he seeks to

Destroy all the Jews throughout the entire Persian Empire and this leads us to the second characteristic to avoid for us which is hatred remember that hatred leads to Horrors in the present Haman he was attempting yet another Holocaust of God's people and I want you to think about that what would have happened if Haman had succeeded consider what was at risk firstly God's complete revelation of his will in the Old Testament would have been lost to history it is through the Old Testament that we see Christ concealed it is through the New Testament that we see Christ revealed and so we see that was at risk but secondly we also see God's plan for the Messiah coming through God's chosen people that would have been thwarted had Haman been successful it is to The Offspring of Abraham or Through The Offspring of Abraham that God chose to bring about reconciliation to the world and yet was threatened by this man named Haman and as precarious as this may look on paper as uncertain the situation probably seemed to Mordecai we know that God will not allow for us tiny humans to successfully prevent his will from being accomplished in this world who Among Us can stand against the will of God sure we might Rebel for a season but God will have his way God he uses humans he uses their desires even their choices to accomplish his Good Will and this is what gives Believers confidence that no matter what our leaders may think or say or do no matter who they are we can rest in the total peace that God gives that he loves us he is leading us he is protecting us and he won't ever let his people be put to open shame and so we can stand in full

Assurance and quote with what Paul said that we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose but this got me thinking about even our own nation's history you know present and past from laws enslaving African Americans to crushing Native Americans dehumanizing Irish Americans and we see hatred play out over and over and over again we see the Nazis famously attempting to destroy the Jewish people in their Holocaust and the horrors that were committed they still make us feel sick 90 years later when hatred is the fuel for Revenge what happens is we lose the human Essence we lose the value of others and Haman he is totally dedicated to destroying these Jews and so you know what he does is he turns to his own false gods that's what's happening here when we look at I'm sorry I'm looking at Esther six verse 7 it says in the first first month this is what's happening and they're casting casting per casting wants right and does in the month of Nissan what is the biggest Jewish Festival that's being celebrated in that month does anybody know Passover that's right it's it's Passover it's it's the Jewish Festival of all Jewish festivals right and so while the people of God are celebrating this there is a plot to destroy the Jews and they're casting lots Haman is when should I try to figure out my plan to bring this all to fruition when should I seek to destroy and annihilate the Jewish people remember that what seems to us to either be chance or even demonic God is in control even of that look at Proverbs chapter 16 verse 33 it says the lot is cast into the lap but it's every decision is from the Lord and so even though they're casting lots

And trying to figure out well what month does this going to take in and what day is this going to happen on you know what God is doing he's like don't worry about this I've got it this destruction will not come to pass even though it looks very definite God is and some people they think of Lots as either rolling dice or even drawing straws or whatever and it seems so Random to us as humans but it's not well the month that lands on is the month of Adar that's the very last month of the year and so this gives lots of time for everything to be handled administratively and so Haman he develops a plan and it begins with a lie and it's empowered with a bribe and the King he relies on that typical line do what seems good to you see the LIE begins with pointing out how different the Jewish people are from the world around them never mind the social differences right the dietary laws the Civil laws and things like that no one could ever make an argument that the Jewish people are evil or disobedient because of their laws their their laws are different okay but they don't keep breaking the king's laws this would be a big issue if it were true but it's not true the only evidence of that we have of anyone that's defying the king's direct order is of Mordecai not bowing down to Haman it's hardly a high a widespread issue in the empire in fact God had told his people in Jeremiah 29 verses 5 through 7. Build houses and live in them plant Gardens and eat their produce take wives and have sons and daughters take wives for your sons and give your daughters a marriage that they may bear Sons and Daughters multiply there and do not decrease but seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into Exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf for in its welfare you will find your

Welfare that just sounds really law breaking right it sounds like a peaceful life it sounds like what people want it doesn't sound vicious or insubordinate and so the logic is these people are different they won't listen to you let them be destroyed and I think that it's important to note that Haman never States who the people are the king never asks apparently they're just these people that are coming in across the borders so much so that it's it's not to the king's Prophet to tolerate them and that's really manipulative language there and I don't know if you've caught that but the king he's exhausted a lot of his resources from a disastrous campaign in Greece he gave a remission for taxes so that really impacted his ability to build up his reserves and using that phraseology of its to your it's not to your profit to keep these people around was really a masterful way of manipulating the king but Heyman he gets to the point he said he requests to destroy these people he says and I will give you ten thousand talents of silver that was the main currency in the Kingdom of Persia that's roughly a quarter of a billion dollars it's a lot of money the king according to custom what happens is he refuses that was the custom back then Haman insists the king accepts and the deal is done and he gave Haman full permission to do whatever needed to be done so much so that he even gave him his Signet ring this is not the king's Signet ring it's from the same time period it very well could have been but we don't have any evidence that it is but that's what the Signet ring was it's a recessed gold band where you would put it in that seal of wax and there it is it's done it's

Done in the Name of the King and what how sad is that for the people of God the process could not be undone I mean imagine how it would be for you as a as a Jewish person in Jerusalem you're you're in the midst of rebuilding your lives after being in exile for 70 years you got enemies that are around you and you're just trying to rebuild your life and how sad for the people that are still living as Exiles and Susa the king he doesn't know really what's going on he's just sitting down with Haman and they're drinking Wine's wine while the whole city around them is thrown into chaos and confusion it literally means that it's perplexed what did the Jewish people do to deserve this what is this about Jews being rounded up and killed in our nation the third and the final characteristic is that dishonesty and decisions leads to confusion in the culture dishonesty and decisions leads to confusion in the culture I mean what happened for the king to take such a drastic course of action they don't know that's not the King's actual decision it's Haman the Jews they were friends they were Neighbors and for all intents and purposes good Upright Citizens and I want you to think put yourself in a Jewish person's shoes for a bit God he made promises to the nation of Israel keep God's covenant and it will go well with you however they had sinned against the Lord their ancestors had and they had broken that Covenant would God continue to protect his people was he going to be faithful to his promises when they weren't faithful to theirs and this is a great tension that we may be tempted maybe to not trust the Lord or maybe you

Know just continue on down our own path but we must remember that we have received a new and a better Covenant you know you and I we break God's law often times whether it's through lies or deception or mistrust of God's promises or anger or hate or dishonesty and we might think you know is God still going to be faithful to me remember that God he still loves you he still watches over you as his chosen child remember that Christ himself died for you he's not going to forsake his promises and you know we might go period through periods of Exile we might go through periods of suffering and we might even have haman's in our lives or people that are out for us at times you know it's in those Seasons that we can really trust the Lord that no matter what happens you know as long as I'm just faithful to the Lord and I just keep honoring him he's going to take care of the rest of this and despite the hostilities that Christians May face in this world whether it's you know people hating God or our governments seeking to re-educate Believers violent extremists we can have full confidence that God he will never leave us and he will never forsake us because we are in Christ head heart hand I had I want you to know that these are all characteristics of ungodliness everything we just went over and so if you see a growing inclination towards those those different things that we've talked about remember that those are unchrist-like and those are indicative of a heart issue or a sin issue that you may have and so for you might really need to consider that and sit down with a friend and go you know I see these areas in my life they're just growing can you help me with that can you hold me accountable

Heart I want you to believe that these are characteristics of people that don't know Christ as Lord a Christian cannot abide in these areas for very long like sure you might stumble into sin you might wrestle against sin but you will repent you will get out of there and if you have no desire to then it might be because you're lost and you need Jesus you can a living person may stumble into a grave but they won't make their bed in it and I want you to repent of these characteristics when you see them in your own life remember that we're talking about Haman and Haman he was just he was not a good dude and for us our goal is to be more like Christ amen the solution isn't doing better though man we can't ever be good enough that's not our goal our goal is not to be better our goal is Jesus and so trust in him repeat the Gospel to yourself because we need it every day let's pray and so God we do thank you so much for this wonderful day that you've given to us we thank you for your word today and as we talk about these different issues in our lives I pray that they wouldn't be habits or characteristics or anything like that but that they would constantly be warnings of maybe an area that we're blind to in our hearts guided there's disobedience God if there's dishonesty God if there's just areas that maybe we just need help overcoming God I just pray that we would grab a friend and talk to him about it Lord send it seems like we go more willingly to sin than we do to the cross

For forgiveness and I just pray that we would constantly be going to your throne of grace asking for deliverance from sin and Lord we do look forward to that day when you return where we won't have these these struggles anymore but we'll be made noon and we just look forward to that we ask that you would come quickly God and help us Lord in Jesus name amen [Music] I wanted to we're gonna stand together we're going to worship and then I'm going to dismiss Us by class or by group together so let's all stand and let's worship [Music] my songs [Music] twenties [Music] they're in the ground [Music] again [Music] thank you what great confidence we have in him [Music] Lord called me home [Music] no power of hell no scheme of man can't ever block me from his hand till he returns or calls me home [Music] all right so we've got y'all can go ahead and be seated we've got our salt and light projects a couple of things if you are going to be going to the school for the campus prayer walk