They Who Honor Me - Esther Part 4

Well, you know, today we're going to finish our four-part study in the book of Esther. In part one, we talked about how God knows what He's doing, how He knew what He was doing in Esther's life, and He knows what He's doing in your life and my life. In part two, we talked about the centrality of obeying God. In part three, we talked about how God loves to turn the schemes of the schemers back onto their own heads and if you missed any of these messages, I urge you to pick up the CD in our bookstore after the service or to go online to our website and download the messages. But today in part four, we want to talk about how God honors those who honor Him first. So we're going to go back 2,500 years in history and see what happened in the book of Esther and then we're going to wind all that forward and we're going to talk about, well, what difference does that make for you and me today?

So that's the plan. But before we dig in, I think a little bit of review is in order. We've seen some things so far, six as a matter of fact, and I'm going to give them to you very quickly. Number one, we saw that the book of Esther occurs during the reign of King Xerxes of Persia roughly 480 B.C. and at this time, the Persian Empire was the largest empire on the face of the earth and virtually every Jewish person alive lived in the Persian Empire. Number two, we saw that God in His mighty sovereignty knew what was coming against His people and so ahead of time, He put a plan of deliverance in place by causing King Xerxes to fall in love with a young Jewish girl named Esther and marry her and make her his queen even though at the time, he had no idea that she was Jewish. Number three, we saw that when Mordecai, Esther's foster father refused to bow down to the new prime minister, a fellow named Haman, that Haman set out not only to kill Mordecai but to kill every Jew in the Persian Empire. We saw number four, that King Xerxes agreed to Haman's plan, unaware of course that his own queen was Jewish.

Number five, we saw that when Haman's plot became public, Esther risked her life to go to the king and plead for the life of her people and finally, we saw how God turned Haman's scheme back on his own head and how they hung Haman on the very gallows that he had built for Mordecai. So that's as far as we've gone. This is what we've seen so far and it sounds like from just listening to this that the story should be over, doesn't it?

Doesn't it? Yes, but it's not over yet. It's not over yet because remember prior to his death, Haman had gotten King Xerxes to authorize his plan and what was his plan? Well Esther 3 13, that all the Jews are to be destroyed, killed and annihilated in one day and that their possessions are to be seized as plunder. Now the king had sealed this edict with his own signet ring and then Haman had sent this edict out to all the governors in the Persian Empire. The point is that even though Haman was dead, this edict remained a problem and so that's where we pick up the story, Esther chapter 8. Here we go, verse 3, then Esther went to the king again and fell at his feet weeping and begged him to lift the evil scheme of Haman and Esther said, oh king, let it please be written to revoke the edict devised by Haman. Now there was a problem with this though and the problem is that the Persian Empire had a very curious practice.

It had a very unusual custom, a very unusual protocol. Esther chapter 8 verse 8 tells us about it. It says that a decree which is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's signet ring cannot be revoked. We also saw this in Esther chapter 1 verse 19 where the Bible says according to the laws of the Medes and the Persians, a royal edict cannot be repealed.

When we look in the book of Daniel which also occurred during the Persian Empire, we find the very same thing in place. Daniel chapter 6 verse 14, then the king, this was Darius, this is King Xerxes' father, the king Darius set his mind on trying to rescue Daniel, that is from having to be thrown in the lion's den, but Daniel's enemies said to the king, recognize oh king that it is the law of the Medes and the Persians that no edict which the king establishes may be changed or altered. So we must understand that here in the book of Esther Xerxes cannot simply write a new edict revoking or rescinding the first one. However, Esther had a plan, a plan that would allow the king to preserve the laws of the Medes and the Persians and at the same time to rescue the Jewish people. Chapter 8 verse 8, then Xerxes said to Esther, well write another decree as you see fit regarding the Jews and seal it with the king's signet ring for no document written in the king's name and sealed with his ring can be revoked. You say what does that mean? Well it means that Xerxes is giving Esther a blank check to save her Jewish people any way she can figure out.

He said do whatever you can do to figure it out and seal it with my ring and it's good. So immediately Mordecai summoned the king's scribes and had them write out his, Mordecai's orders to the Jews of every province and to their governors. And Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, seal the dispatches with the king's signet ring and sent them by mounted couriers. And what exactly was this new edict that Mordecai sent out? Verse 11, this edict granted the Jews in every province the right to assemble and defend themselves to destroy, kill, and annihilate any armed group that might attack them. Mordecai sent this edict to each province so that the Jews there would be ready to avenge themselves on their enemies. Now let's stop for a moment and say that there are some people who have a real problem with what Mordecai did here. I mean essentially he authorized the Jews to go out and kill people.

But I don't have a problem with that at all. Because remember the Jews weren't going to harm anybody except those people who rallied and came out to harm them. And really the way I see this is that what was happening here is that God was using this situation to fulfill a promise that he made to Abraham centuries before. Genesis 12 verse 3, God said to Abraham, I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you. And since the common people of Persia only knew about the first edict of the king, the one that Haman had come up with, the one that gave him a right to go out and slaughter Jews, this meant that when those people who wanted to curse the Jews wanted to do this, when they suddenly got ready to come out and kill Jews, they became immediately obvious so God could curse them back and purge the Persian empire of their presence.

So I don't have a problem with this at all. Okay, so what happened? Chapter 9 verse 1, Now on the appointed day when the king's first edict was to be carried out, when the enemies of the Jews planned to gain mastery over them, the tables were turned.

I love that. The tables were turned and the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them. For the Jews assembled in their cities throughout the Persian empire and the Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword. Then Mordecai sent letters to the Jews in all the provinces of King Xerxes commanding them to celebrate this day annually, that it should be a day of rejoicing and gladness because on that day the Jews got relief from their enemies. Chapter 9 verse 26, And they called this holiday Purim and made it a custom that they and their children would celebrate annually in every generation. And many of you know of course that to this very day in the spring of every year, Jews around the world get together and celebrate Purim in honor and in memory of this great deliverance that God gave them in the days of Esther. Now that's as far as we're going to go in our passage because we're going to stop now and we're going to ask our most important question. And you know what it is.

But remember this is the last time you're going to get to do this in the book of Esther. So this is a memorable moment. Yes. OK.

So all of you at Loudoun and all of you in Bethesda and down in the edge and at Prince William and on the Internet here at Tysons. We ready? We ready? All right. Here we go. Come on now.

One, two, three. Oh isn't that sweet. You say Lon so what. Say this is a great story I appreciate the story but Purim Shmorim I mean who cares about this. I mean when I go out of my house tomorrow what difference does any of this make to me.

Well let's talk about it. You know there is an exciting spiritual principle in these final events in the book of Esther that I want us to see. It's found smack dab in the life of Mordecai and it's a principle that holds true for us today as much as it did for Mordecai twenty five hundred years ago. And what is that principle.

Well here it is. The principle is that God honors those who honor him first. Now let's talk about this and let's agree as we begin that Mordecai's life started off as kind of just a very ordinary life.

Would you agree with that. I mean he knew he was a foreigner in a foreign land. He wasn't married. He kind of like just as a common man just hung out minding his own business but he was Jewish and he didn't know that Jehovah God was real.

He was a follower Jehovah God and he did read the Old Testament and he didn't know the Ten Commandments and he didn't know how God wanted him to live to please God and he was committed to that. And then his uncle and his aunt passed away and he inherited a little girl named Esther that he adopted and raised as unto the Lord. But all in all I think we have to say fairly that the Mordecai's life started off as nothing particularly special. However I want you to see how Mordecai's life ended. Esther chapter 8 verse 15 then Mordecai went out of the king's presence wearing royal garments of blue and white with a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen. Esther 9 verse 4 indeed Mordecai was great in the king's house and his fame spread throughout the provinces for the man Mordecai became more and more powerful. And finally Esther 10 verse 3 for Mordecai the Jew was second in rank only to King Xerxes.

We understand what this is saying here. I mean he's like the prime minister. He's like the grand vizier of the entire Persian Empire for goodness sake second in command only to the king himself preeminent among the Jews and held in high esteem by all. Wow. Wow. Look at the way. Look at the way his life ended. And I think we'd all agree that Mordecai's rise to prominence was humanly improbable wouldn't we. I mean he wasn't even a Persian for goodness sake. He wasn't a noble. He wasn't a prince. He wasn't a soldier or a warrior he didn't have any money to buy his way up the ladder as a matter of fact being a Jew. He was part of a religious group that was out of step with all of the protocols and all of the fashions of the Persian court. And yet he ended up as prime minister of the entire Persian Empire and all of this raises two questions that we want to answer and then we're done for the day.

Question number one is how did this happen. I mean how did Mordecai get to where he got. Well here's the answer it's in the Bible Psalm 75 verse 6. Listen the Bible says not from the east nor from the west nor from the south comes exaltation. God is the one who puts down one person and sets up another. Hey how did Mordecai get to where he got in the Persian Empire.

The answer is very simple my friends. Mordecai's promotion was a supernatural promotion. Almighty God laid his supernatural sovereign hand on Mordecai. God brushed aside every obstacle he brushed aside every hindrance he brushed aside every human improbability.

And when the dust cleared here was Mordecai on top of the pile right where God had sovereignly chosen and elected to put him. Now this is the truth that we as followers of Jesus today really need to learn namely that wherever we go in life and wherever we get to in life we're going to get there only because Almighty God himself decides to put us there ordains to put us there sovereignly chooses to put us there. What this means is that if God decides to promote us to some position in life all the forces in this world and hell itself aren't going to keep us from ending up there and conversely if God decides not to promote us to some position in life friends all of our scheming and all of our manipulating and all of our human maneuvering is not going to get us there and the reason I bring all this up is because one of the greatest problems I see in the lives of Christians today is what I call unsanctified ambition. I mean by this ambition that sees life in strictly human terms ambition that leaves God out of the picture. Now listen carefully there is nothing wrong with ambition there is nothing wrong with wanting to better yourself in life or to improve your lot in life or to be a success in life not a thing in the world wrong with that so long as it is sanctified ambition so long as it is ambition that understands God is the one who makes the final call on all of this. But friends unsanctified ambition is dangerous because it causes millions of Christians every year to compromise their convictions to sully their morals and their ethics to prostitute their Christian testimonies and to sacrifice their families all because they believe if they don't do these things they'll never be able to advance in life. But folks the Bible says this isn't true and the example of Mordecai says this isn't true.

The Bible says God gets people where they go not human maneuvering and that we can maintain our convictions and we can maintain our testimony and that we can stand for Christ and we can be true to Christ and wherever God has decided from the foundation of the world that we are going friends we are going there. It's just that simple. Amen. Amen. Yes.

All right. So to recap why did Mordecai get the exaltation he got. Well friends he got it because Almighty God decided to give it to him and for no other reason which raises a second question and our final question for the day and that is well on what basis does God decide who he's going to exalt and who he's not who he's going to promote and who he's not.

Well let's say and admit that on the eternal level we have to say that God's decisions to exalt people are completely and utterly at the discretion of the sovereign will of God and you and I don't have a thing to do with it but on the human level in the Bible God has revealed to us a little bit of the formula that he uses to decide who he's going to exalt who he's not going to exalt and let me tell you what that formula is it's found in First Samuel chapter 2 verse 30 and here's the formula. It says those who honor me I will honor says the Lord you say that that's it. That's the whole formula. That's it. That's it. You mean that's the whole formula. Yep. That's it.

That's the whole thing. God has committed himself in the eternal word of God that he will honor those people here on earth who honor him first who put Jesus Christ first in their life and who keep him first in their life. He will honor people here on earth who are even willing don't miss this to go down in their career to go down in their prestige to go down in their power and position if they have to rather than deny Christ or disobey his word.

That's the formula. And you know when we look through the Bible and all the great men and women of God that God has ever honored they are as different as night and day with the single exception that every one of them were alike in this regard. Every one of them decided they were going to honor God first in their life even if it took them down in their life and then God stepped in and said oh okay now watch what I do and God honored them much farther up than they ever went down.

Let me give you a few examples. How about Joseph. You remember Joseph.

He said no. He said I won't sin with Potiphar's wife even though I know she's going to frame me and throw me into jail. And yet when it was over what had God done. God had brought Joseph out of jail and made him the prime minister of all of Egypt.

Why. Well because those who honor me I will honor says the Lord. And then how about Abraham. Abraham said no I won't go down and live in Sodom and Gomorrah even though all the riches of Canaan are down there. And yet by the end of his life God had made Abraham one of the richest men on the face of the earth. How will we explain this because those who honor me I will honor says the Lord. And then how about our friend Daniel who said no I won't stop praying to God three times a day even though I know that means they're going to throw me in the lion's den. But friends what did God do. God brought him safely out of the lion's den and promoted him to third in command in the entire Persian Empire in his day. Why did God do this.

Well you know the answer because those who honor me I will honor says the Lord. And how about David. David said no I won't kill King Saul even though all my men are telling me to do it and that's how I can become king. David said no I won't do that.

That's wrong. And yet God took care of King Saul and made David king over the mightiest empire Israel's ever known. Why. Because those who honor me I will honor says the Lord and even Mordecai. Our friend Mordecai said no I won't bow down to Haman and deny God like that even though Haman's going to try to kill me and build a big old gallows to hang me on.

Hey but by the time it was done they hung Haman on the gallows he built for Mordecai and Mordecai ends up in Haman's spot as prime minister of the Persian Empire. Why say it with me because those who honor me I will honor says the Lord. You know in modern day times I think when I think of this principle I think of a man named W.A. Criswell.

W.A. Criswell if you're from Texas you know this man. He pastored First Baptist Church of Dallas for over 50 years. Any of you guys here from Texas?

Four okay. Well anyway you know this man. This man First Baptist Church of Dallas for a half a century was one of the most strategic churches in America. This man was the president of the Southern Baptist Convention twice and was one of those people responsible for turning that convention back from liberalism to conservatism. So when he came to candidate at the First Baptist Church in 1944. You know what you do when you candidate. You know we haven't had anybody do it here in a while but what happens is the prospective preacher comes in and he preaches like a practice sermon or like a like a like a preview sermon.

So everybody can sit out there and critique him and decide I like him I don't like him you know blah blah. You understand what I'm saying right. So Criswell when he did his his candidating sermon he preached with so much conviction and with so much purity calling sin sin and truth truth from the Bible that one of the deacons came up to him afterwards and said you can't possibly plan to preach the Bible like that here. You will empty the church. I love what Criswell said and I quote he said the word we preach from the pulpit ought to be like the word of God itself like a fire and a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. Criswell said to this deacon if you call me here to preach the word of God I'm going to preach it just the way it is end of quote praise the Lord. Now let me just tell you he didn't empty the church.

As a matter of fact that church grew to twenty six thousand people come in every single Sunday. Why because say it with me those who honor me I will honor says the Lord. In closing I want to go from preaching to meddling because I want to I want to leave us with a question. And here's the question. The question is where is God asking you and where is God asking me to honor him in our lives to put him first in our lives to take a stand for him in our lives maybe with our neighbors or our friends or people at work or our relatives or or at school you know and by doing so by taking a stand for him by putting him first to fly in the face of all human odds of advancement and success and promotion and you know what your friends are going to tell you your friends are going to tell you don't do that if you do that you're finished at this company if you do that you're finished with your friends if you do that you're written out of the inheritance if you don't do that folks don't you listen to your friends don't you worry about the human odds don't you let them take you in with the wisdom of the world that you'll never get anywhere in this world unless you do it their way they are leaving out of the equation something very important they're leaving out of the equation almighty God they're leaving out of the equation a sovereign omnipotent supreme immutable God who says I'm the one that exalts people and puts them where they are you don't get there by doing what the world wants you to do you get there because I decide I'm going to put you there and because they leave him out they are oh so wrong and they are oh so deceived listen God promises those who honor me I will honor and God has never let down his end of the bargain in the history of the world and folks he's not going to start by letting down the bargain with you or with me so as a follower of Christ hey you want to see God honor your life you want to see God bless your life you want to see God exalt your life that's great then remember what he says first Samuel 2 30 those who honor me I will honor says the Lord Psalm 37 verse 34 wait on the Lord and keep his way and he will exalt you and finally 2nd chronicle 16 9 for the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole earth looking for those people whose hearts are completely his watch I love this so that he might show himself mighty on their behalf hey you want God to show himself mighty on your behalf that's good you want God to exalt you that's good you want God to honor your life that's good well if you do and I do then let's do what Mordecai did what did Mordecai do hey he put God first in his life hey he had he gave his heart completely to Christ hey he honored Christ and all that he did and obeyed him even though for a time it took him down he knew ultimately God was going to take him up why because that's what God promised so friends you go out there this week and honor God don't worry about the worry about what your friends tell you don't worry about what the world system tells you forget about all that nonsense you got there and honor God and you and I both have the promise of the living Christ you honor me and you watch what I do with your life let's pray together now Lord Jesus you know that many of us this week are going to face situations where we're going to have to decide if we're going to honor God or not some of us are going to face a situation where if we tell the truth it's going to be to our own hurt this week some of us face situations this week where we might have to stand against unethical behavior at work or against some injustice that's being done to some other person some of us this week are going to have the chance to share Christ with somebody who's not going to be really excited at first to hear about it and some of this week or of us this week are going to have the chance to say no to pornography to say no to cheating in school to say no to selfishly manipulating other people for our own advantage to say no to returning evil for evil or slandering other people or being sexually active if we're single there are going to be hundreds of things this week where we're going to have to choose whether we're going to honor God or whether we're not and so father my prayer is that you would give us the courage to say yes we're going to honor God even if it takes us down at first we're going to honor God and not just the courage but I pray that you would give us so much confidence in your promise that those who honor you you will honor that it never even occurs to us that anything but honor and exaltation is going to eventually come from this because you promised so Lord deliver us from unsanctified ambition give a sanctified ambition that is centered in the promises of Christ and the power of Christ and not in the manipulations and the schemes of this world change our lives because we were here today God and because we sat under the teaching of the eternal word of God and we pray these things in Jesus name and what did God's people say? Amen.