Esther, chapter 5. We'll be reading the whole chapter. And up to this point we've seen a king, King Ahasuerus, and we've learned about how he dismissed the previous queen, Vashti, because she failed to appear before him. And then he chose another queen, and that queen was Esther. Esther, this Jewish young woman whose cousin was her guardian. His name was Mordecai. Mordecai saved the king as well. And then Mordecai did not bow to Haman, so that Haman became upset, and Haman decided that all the Jews needed to be killed and he convinced the king unwittingly perhaps to some degree was able to get permission from the king to write this decree for the king to put to death to annihilate all the jews this puts the city into a turmoil the the empire as the word went out and it caused mordecai to mourn and the news came to esther And Mordecai told her to plead for the people, to the king. He exhorted her. He pointed to God's providence. Perhaps you would come to the kingdom for such a time as this. And don't think that you're going to escape. God will raise up deliverance for his people one way or the other. But you need to go to the king and plead for the people, even though there was a law, a custom, a law, that if you came unannounced into the king's inner court to appear before him, that the sentence was death, unless he had mercy upon you and extended his scepter. And so Esther resolves, nonetheless, to risk this, to go to the king, but not until they had fasted, until Mordecai and the Jews in the city and her and her young women fasted, fasted as an accompaniment to prayer, as they called upon God to favor this effort. And then, on the third day, the third day of that fast, she decided to go, well, then she went to the king. And that's what we're going to read about in this chapter. So let's pick it up in chapter five. On the third day, Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, in front of the king's quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne, inside the throne room, opposite the entrance to the palace. And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight. And he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. And the king said to her, What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you, even to the half of my kingdom. And Esther said, If it please the king, let the king and Haman come today to a feast that I have prepared for the king. Then the king said, Bring Haman quickly, so that we may do as Esther has asked. So the king and Haman came to the feast that Esther had prepared. And as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king said to Esther, what is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled. Then Esther answered, my wish and my request is, if I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleased the king to grant my wish and fulfill my request, Let the king and Haman come to the feast that I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said. And Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart, but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home, and he sent and brought his friends and his wife Zeresh. And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honored him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and the servants of the king. Then Haman said, Even Queen Esther, let no one but me come with the king to the feast she prepared. and tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king. Yet all this is worth nothing to me, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate. Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it, then go joyfully with the king to the feast. This idea pleased Haman, And he had the gallows made. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray for God's blessing upon his word. O Lord our God, we thank you for this message to us, this record of your deeds of old. And we thank you for it as coming from you, as your word to instruct us, to correct us, to convince us. We pray that you would make it effectual to stir us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. In this chapter, we find the first part about Esther and the second part about Haman. And with respect to Queen Esther, we find that she has courage and prudence. We'll talk about those things. With respect to Haman, we find that he has pride and discontented bitterness. Wrath, we might say. Pride, though, I think is at the root of it. We have Esther and Haman, and they are very different. First though, let's look at Queen Esther. Queen Esther exercised courage and prudence. She exercised courage by boldly approaching the king. When the time came, she didn't chicken out. She dressed up in her royal robes and came into that inner court where the king could see her on the entrance there to where he was in the throne room. She risked her life by breaking the king's command. She appealed to the king's mercy that he might spare her. But this was a risky thing. In the case of Queen Vashti, she had been dismissed because she had not appeared before the king. Now the problem was that she was appearing before the king, but the stakes were even higher. Was Vashti killed? No, she was disciplined, but she was simply banished. But entering into the king's chambers without an invitation, the penalty, unless he exempted her from it, was death. But she would seek to plead for her people, even if it meant her execution. So despite the risk, she pressed on with what she had to do. And God answered the prayers of His people. They had been fasting. They had been praying. For what? Doubtless that she wouldn't be killed. That she would be able to go on and that she would find favor in the eyes of the king. When you pray for things and then you find that they happen, even if it wasn't a lightning bolt from heaven type of miracle, you can give thanks to God that God gave you what you asked for through his providence. And that's what Esther received here as she found favor with the king. Because when the king saw her, she found favor in his sight. And God moved the king. He extended the scepter to her. She approached and touched the scepter. She accepted that mercy. And the king then asked, what is your request? Obviously, she had come there for some reason. You don't just risk this and approach the king for no reason. And so it's wide open. She receives what she had hoped for. She approached the king. But all that took courage for her to follow through on her resolve. It would have been easy enough to tell Mordecai, OK, I'll do it. But it was another thing to actually follow through. It's important to follow through on your word, right? Unless you've resolved to sin, that's of course something you shouldn't do, but otherwise you should follow through on your word, even to your own hurt. Let your yes be yes. And in this case, it was not just not a sinful resolve, it was a very good resolve. And she followed through on it. But Esther was not only courageous. Some people are courageous and reckless and might have great courage, but then cause problems because they weren't careful and not as effective as they might've been. But Esther was both courageous and prudent. She prudently prepared the king for her real request, her reason for coming to him. First of all, she dressed as befitted her. She came as the queen in her royal robes. And then she spoke respectfully. Even though she came in there uninvited, she spoke to him with deference, with respect, with courtesy. She honored her king and her husband. And then she did not plead for her people right away. You would think she came to the king, he said, what is your request? Well, why doesn't she just say, don't kill the Jews or something like that, right? Why did she instead invite him for a feast? Now, this was her plan. It's not that she chickened out at the last minute and invited him to the feast. She had already prepared the feast, and they go as fast as they can to this feast. He's like, let's get Haman. Let's go. But this was her plan. She had foresight. She had thought, what is the way to be the most effective in achieving the salvation of my people? She only had one chance to make her plea, and she wanted it to be effective. She had not seen the king for 30 days. She had been out of sight, out of mind. Or if she had been in mind, it might not have been a good mind. She didn't know what the king had been thinking about her, and she wanted to make sure. She also wanted to build up her relationship again with her, with the king, and to be kind to him, to show him hospitality before she makes her plea. Because she had been gone for 30 days, but guess who had been with the king most of those 30 days? Haman had been the trustee advisor with the king during this same time, and he was the one she was going to say was the bad guy. So she would show hospitality to the king, spending time with him before she revealed her request, and she would do it privately. Doing that there in the throne room would probably not be the most effective way to make such a disturbing revelation in front of the court. After all, remember, one reason that Vashti was put away is because she humiliated the king before all the people there. But no, she would speak to the king privately. So she invited the king and Haman to a feast that day, that very day. That third day, she had been fasting. She also probably wanted to eat, but she had this feast ready now that she had prepared and they come to the feast. And there, that same day, the king asks her about her request. He realizes that she didn't just come to invite him to a feast. She says, he says again, what is your request? What is your wish? I'll give it to you. Up to half of my kingdom, which might be a little exaggeration, but you get the idea. He wants to know what her request is. But then she invites them to another feast the next day. And tomorrow I will do as you command. I will tell you my request tomorrow if you come to the feast. And so she puts it off a little bit longer. She also sets it up so that if the king comes, he's reaffirming his willingness to fulfill her request. She says, if you were going to fill my request, then come to me tomorrow. And so it's setting up more pressure or more willingness. She's also making sure that she's on the right track here. And then on that next day, she is going to make her plea for the people. She is patient and prudent. Notice also that Esther must have had nerves of steel to be sitting there across from Haman. She didn't just invite the king, she also invited the enemy of her people, the guy who had just conspired to annihilate her and everyone she loved, or at least all of her people. and yet she would eat and drink with him. Why did she invite Haman? Well, she was throwing Haman off, I think. Haman, in this case, would suspect nothing. You can imagine if maybe the king and queen went off together, Haman would start to feel a little jealous that the queen was getting this influence and Haman wasn't there. Maybe he would start to get suspicious or try to turn the king against the queen. She would need Haman to be suspecting nothing. And so Haman did suspect nothing. He did not feel jealous of the queen's influence with the king. Instead, he felt privileged. He felt that he had been favored above all. The queen likes me. She invited me with the king and just me, just me and the king and the queen. And so he was happy. He was glad. He was not being careful. The queen had been prudent, had seen the dangers, had seen pitfalls and had sought to avoid them. She was being as crafty as a serpent, but innocent as a dove, as Jesus tells us to be. Now, I mentioned last time that Esther was similar in this way to Moses, that she identified with the oppressed people of God and cast in her lot with them and did so to save them as well, as Moses would save the people and she would seek to save her people. This was an expression of faith in Christ, the hope of Israel, as Hebrews puts it. But as Elder Stahl mentioned to me last week, this is also something similar to what Christ did. Christ gave himself to death for his people. He identified with them to save them. He took on our flesh and blood, in fact, to deliver us not just from a enemy who could kill with the sword, but from judgment eternal. He took on our flesh and blood to secure the redemption that all the saints, including Moses and Esther, had hoped in. And Jesus did this with courage and with wisdom. Jesus went forward, despising the shame, went to the cross, despite the fact that his flesh recoiled at death, that he experienced this worry, this fear, this anguish in his heart, and yet he pressed on. fully in accord with the will of His Father, bravely to the end bearing our sins." He did die, and He knew He would die. He laid down His life. although he rose again. But he was also wise, not wise with the wisdom of this world, but wise in the wisdom of God, overthrowing the devil, even though the devil thought he had won, that Jesus Christ, on that very cross and that instrument of shame, triumphed over the devil and all his forces and achieved our salvation. So as we think of Esther's courage and prudence, and of course also of our Lord and Savior's salvation, give thanks for God's saving hand through his providence in protecting his people, as well as his work of salvation, bringing us out of death, out of the evil one, the devil, who is even worse than Haman. Also, imitate Esther's courage, exercise courage, When you are called to do something that is right, and yet there is risk, there might be people who laugh at you, who criticize you, that you press on forward. You commit your cause to the Lord, that He will take care of the outcome, that you will follow His word, whatever the cost, that you will confess Christ before men, that you will follow the calling to which He has called you, that you will fulfill your path, your duty, and remain steady. Exercise prudence as well, prudence in the course of righteousness, not just prudence to save your skin, but to save your skin so you can do what is right, not at the expense of compromise, not to simply put your own preservation as the highest value, but in seeking to do good, to do it effectively. prudence in the course of righteousness, to show understanding, to understand how people work, what's the person most likely to do, to exercise forethought about the dangers that you might encounter, to plan, to have patience, not to rush in recklessly, but to show patience and wisdom rather than folly so that you might do good to your people, to the church, to your neighbor, exercise prudence. We can also learn from Esther to show honor to those who are authority over you, to show courtesy to everyone. Do this in the way, especially that you ask requests of others. If you're asking your parents for something, or if you're an adult and you're asking your employer for something, whatever the case be, that you ask humbly and respectfully. Even though Esther had to violate the king's command in order to approach him, yet she approached him with a gentle and humble manner as her attitude, her way of speaking to him. She didn't rush in and berate him. What were you thinking? You just signed this warrant. That wasn't going to be very effective. It's interesting both in 1 Peter 3, it talks about wives to have a gentle and quiet spirit, especially in the sensitive situation where the husband was an unbeliever. What's the best and effective way to win him, right? She should show prudence. And also later on in that same chapter, when he's telling you how to witness to unbelievers, to give a reason for the hope that is within you with gentleness and respect. to do so in a way that shows respect and to do so in a way that is effective in that way, not harshly or proudly. So we find Esther. Courage and prudence. Secondly, there's another man here, right? Another person, a man, Haman. Haman at first is super glad. He is joyful, he's happy. Look at me, I just had wonderful food, maybe a little bit of wine too, and now he's going home, but it doesn't last very long. Sometimes the wicked are high and mighty and enjoy great things, but it can be a very fragile thing. Because Haman sees Mordecai. Mordecai doesn't bow down to him. He doesn't even stand for him. He doesn't tremble for him. Mordecai doesn't think much of Haman. Haman gets very angry. He gets wrathful. He is troubled. All his joy disappears because Mordecai is still there and a thorn in his side. We'll Will Haman wait until the 11th month before he kills Mordecai? He's not so sure now. He doesn't outburst at the moment. He waits till he gets home. But he went from joy to wrath. And now he gathers his wife and his friends. Now contrast this gathering to the gathering from the previous chapter. Do you remember who gathered in the previous chapter? Esther and your young women, Mordecai and the Jews, where they fasted and prayed. Well, now Haman is gathering his people in a very different kind of gathering, as now he is afflicted. He's sad, but in a very different way. He is upset because of this stubborn Mordecai. and he tells them all about his riches, all about how many sons he has, all the promotions from the kings, and how the queen invited him to a feast, and yet all of this is nothing because Mordecai the Jew is still there at the king's gate. Woe to me. And then His wife and his friends give him very bad advice, not like Mordecai who gave very good directions, but instead they basically say, go kill your enemy and be happy. This is not a good example. Wives should give good advice to their husbands, but what is her name? Tiresh does not give very good advice here. And so he's so upset, he takes his wife advice to move up Mordecai's execution. He can't wait. He's not patient like Esther. He needs to have it happen now. In fact, he's going to ask the king first thing the next morning. And he's going to get the gallows built that night. All right, he's been feasting. He sees Mordecai. He gets home, he's going to build the gallows, or have it built, probably command some servants or something to do it, so that by the next morning it's built already. This gallows, 75 feet high, so that all the people would be able to see Mordecai hung there. See, this is what happens to those who get on the bad side of Haman. He is not patient. He planned to tell the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows the next morning. And that's gonna be a little tension here in the story, right? Esther won't have spoken to the king yet. He has the gallows made. And so this chapter ends in suspense. Will Mordecai be killed before Esther has a chance to plead with the king? That's what the chapter is gonna end with. We're gonna learn what's gonna happen next. In the end, this premature move will prove Haman's undoing. His targeting of Mordecai by building this gallows will put him even in a worse light with the king. When Esther makes her plea to the king, they're going to be able to say, see, he's trying to hang Mordecai the Jew, the one who saved you. And there's the gallows and guess who gets hung on the gallows in the end? Is it Mordecai? No, it's Haman. Haman, strung up by his own gallows. Well, as Haman constructed a gallows for his enemy, literally a tree, you know, we don't know if it was a spike that they would be impaled on or a gallows where they would be hung, something like that. As he constructed this gallows for his enemy that would turn out to be the means of his own defeat, So the devil would raise up a cross for his enemy that would prove the means of his own defeat. The devil moved Judas to betray Jesus so that he would be executed and killed. And yet that tree, that cross on which Jesus died would be the devil's mortal wound. That would be where he would lose his power over sinners as Christ died for their sins. As Psalm 9 says, the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Their weapons turn against them in the providence of God. So, seek deliverance from the Lord. He is able to turn the plots of the wicked upon their own head. Do not fret over the evildoers and what they do. Don't envy them. Oh, I wish I was like Haman. Are you sure? You don't wish that you were gonna be like Haman in a few chapters from now. Take refuge in Jesus Christ who has triumphed over the forces of evil. The enemies of Christ and the church may grind their teeth in wrath and rage and plot, but their plans will eventually come to nothing. So wait upon the Lord and press on with the work that the Lord has given you, wherever that is. Press on with the work. Do not trust in mere power and position. Do not think that you'll all be happy if only you just have money and promotions and lots of children. Haman had lots of good earthly goods. Those things were good in themselves. I mean, Daniel was put in a high position. It was a good thing for him. But Haman was not like Daniel. He was not able to enjoy it. And he was powerful, but it would come to no avail. He would lose it all. Forsake pride. The proud are easily upset. If you're proud and you have a very high opinion of yourself, it's gonna be easy for you to be provoked by people not giving you what you want. It's gonna be easy for you to start fighting people, to be angry at people, to be bitter with people. The proud are not content. Was Haman content? He had all this stuff, but it was nothing, because he didn't get this one last thing that he wanted. The proud and greedy man is unable to be happy with his blessings. All of Haman's many privileges were nothing to him. And then pride went before destruction. It all came down in the end. So do not envy Haman. Put on humility, not pride, humility. The humble are able to press on and to trust the Lord, to humble themselves before the Lord, to be steady then and patient as they trust in the Lord to bless their efforts. The humble is able to be content, to be grateful even. Look at all this stuff that I have been given and I didn't deserve it. God has been good to me. The humble person is more able to forsake anger and to have a thick skin when it comes to people getting on your nerves like Mordecai did to Haman, the humble are more able to be grateful and happy and to enjoy the gifts God has given you, that you might eat and drink and be merry and in a good way, in moderation, but in fact in a way that you enjoy and it doesn't become a vexation and a trouble and a disappointment, but as gifts of God, that he's given us many good things in this world, children, and possessions or promotions or whatever God has given to your hands, that we do not deserve it. We receive it as a gift. And so ought not to be discontent and complaining about the one other thing we didn't get, but rather to give thanks to God and enjoy what he has given to us. And so sleep well, not all troubled like Haman. So imitate Esther's courage. Remember her courage, her trust in the Lord despite danger, and her prudence, her forethought, her wisdom, and imitate that as well. Avoid Haman's pride. Avoid Haman's discontented bitterness. that would lead him into a snare and destruction. And give thanks to the Lord, who has triumphed over evil, and Jesus Christ, who is courageous, who is wise, who came to deliver us from our doom, from our danger, and who triumphed over the evil one. Commit yourself and your cause to Christ, and press onward with the task he has given you. Join with me in prayer. O Lord God, we give thanks to you for your mercy toward us, and having mercy, and sending your only begotten Son, that we might live with you, that we might be delivered from annihilation, from devastation, from the condemnation that comes to us for our sin. We thank you for removing it from us, as far as the east is from the west, And we ask that you would therefore give us courage and steadfastness. We ask that you would give us wisdom and prudence, that we might serve your calling, that we might serve your cause in this earth, that we might be used of you for your purposes. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.