Well, I'm looking this evening at this chapter, Esther chapter 3, and I'd like to read verse 1 again. After these things did King Ahasuerus promote Haman, the son of Hamadathah, the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes that were with him. My title for tonight is Striking Contrasts in Character. When I began this series I did tell you and I'm sure you've seen for yourself in your own reading of the book they will be given quite an insight into people's characters, good and bad, upright and not so upright, evil in fact, terribly evil. And we see this especially in these verses that we look at, we'll be looking at tonight. We see Mordechai, humble, content, lowly and courageous in the face of much pressure and opposition. And on the other hand, we see, we are introduced to Haman, the son of Hamadatha, the Agagite, and he is peevish, and he comes across as ambitious and proud and vengeful. and what a different kind of character he is altogether. And character is so important for us as believers. It's the thing that we should focus on improving and growing to be a good character. to resemble our Lord Jesus Christ, and to these examples that we have here in scripture, like Mordecai, to learn from them. Today, people are so often taken up with the gifts or abilities, and there's a place for improving these things, but it's too much. made of these things. His emphasis is on personality, improving your personality, becoming more communicative, becoming more humorous a person, becoming more outgoing a person. Again, all these things have their place. but how much better it is to focusing on becoming a good person, good at heart, and knowing how to react in a spiritual way. It's not easy. It's hard to develop a good character. It's easier to develop an ability. It's easier to develop a gift. But to develop character takes hard work and cannot be done overnight and cannot be done on our own, we should say, we need the help of the Spirit of God. So, with that in mind, I'd just like to look at a few points and my first one is contentment. And for this I just want to go back to chapter 2 and verse 18. Chapter two, then the king made a great feast unto all the princes, sorry, I beg your pardon, verse 19. And when the virgins were gathered together the second time, then Mordecai sat in the king's gate. Well, we left it last week. Esther has been making, the door has been opened for her, she has been elevated to that position as queen. And now we read there's a second gathering of virgins. Perhaps these were ladies, young ladies who come from further afield. Remember they were gathered from 127 provinces and some were a lot further than others and perhaps they took their time to get to Shushan the palace. But here it is after Esther has been made queen. There's a second gathering of these virgins. Well the king, he could have put an end to it. He could have said there's no need for a second gathering like this. The process is complete. Perhaps we get an insight into the kind of character he's like in the fact that he doesn't put an end to it. Here in verse 19 it's also said for our benefit, for our help, because it's also a time indicator, so for us to know when the following verses, the incident mentioned in the following verses, the discovery of this plot to kill the king by Mordecai, when it actually happened. And here we read in verse 21, sorry, in verse 19, that Mordecai sat in the king's gate. This is the first time we read of him in the king's gate. The king's gate was the place for the officers of the king, the place for the servants of the king and the porters would be residing and living there and Mordecai is now in this position. We don't know the actual position that he held But it's quite likely that Esther had a hand in raising him to this position, bringing him a little bit nearer, giving him a freer access to herself. But we read here that he is content to stay in this position where he is by the king's gate. And it's of the Lord that he is here. Because while he is here, in verse 21, we read that he makes discovery of a plot against the king, Esther's husband. Bithan and Teresh, these two chamberlains, they stood outside the door of the king. Oh, they became very angry with the king. Furious with him, we read. We don't know why. There must have been a reason why. they were so angry but we're not told the reason but they sought to lay hands on the king and it would have been so easy for them to go in to the king's chamber at some convenient time and carry out their wicked deed and plan. It would have been a success had not the Lord intervened and had not Mordecai come got wind of it and heard about it. Verse 22, the thing was known to Mordecai, and he informed Esther, the queen, and Esther told the king. And after they'd done the investigation, they found, yes, it's true, these two really had plotted against the king to kill him, to take his life, to assassinate him, and they were both hanged on the tree. But nothing was done for Mordecai. Astonishingly. No reward for him. All that's done is, his name is written in the book of the Chronicles before the king. Of course we know, because with a bit of hindsight, that's going to come into play, that's going to be useful. God is going to use that in the future. But for now, at this point, that's all that happens to him. He's not rewarded in any way. And we would expect him to be rewarded a lot. We would expect him to be rewarded maybe with wealth or position or some big house or something or other from the king. After all, he saved the most important person in the province, the king of Persia, the king of these 127 provinces. But he receives nothing. But even more amazing is that he demands nothing. He doesn't ask for anything. He doesn't blow his trumpet and say, this is what I've done. You should reward me. He doesn't ask for these things. In fact, he just quietly gets on with his life. That's the impression that we get from him. He's willing to do good work. He's happy. He's got the reward of a good conscience for the good deed that he has done. And that's his reward for him. And it's the same, isn't it, for us, friends? We should be content to do good. We don't want to be those who do good to get a reward, to get a pat on the back from others. We want to be good, to genuinely try and help other people, to please the Lord, because the Lord wants us to be do-gooders, if I can say it. I know that's sometimes used in a bad way. But to be full of good works, and to be kind to other people, and to do the right thing. And even if we're not rewarded for it, it doesn't matter. It's hard because naturally our flesh wants some recognition, but we don't need We must try and work hard to do it in a hidden way. Let our left hand know what our right hand is doing. And when the Lord sees in secret, He rewards us also with some measure of blessing, internal blessing, if not external blessing. Mordecai was forgotten. But the Lord doesn't forget the good things that we will do. He was content to be unrewarded and knowing that the Lord records all these things. But then secondly, let's look at his courage. Here in chapter 3 and verse 1. After these things, the king Ahasuerus promotes Haman, the son of Hamadetha, the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes that were with him. Haman, the son of Hamadetha, the Agagite, it seems to suggest that some of the commentators think that he may have been a relative, a descendant of King Agag in 1 Samuel 15. We read of him. Remember Saul? He should have killed him. He should have put him to death, but he preserved him alive. And when Samuel came, he said, how come you've left him alive? And Samuel hewed King Agag in pieces. You can read that in 1 Samuel chapter 15. So some people think that he may be a relative and Maybe that's why he was so opposed to the Jews and was an enemy of the Jews because this is in his history animosity towards the Jewish race. Others say that Haman is a Persian name and when you read later about his son's names they are also Persian. So perhaps there isn't a link there but maybe the writer is using this term in a spiritual sense, the Agagai, an enemy of the Jews. But we read here that he was promoted, he was elevated, he already was a prince, but he is elevated to this higher position as the king's right hand man, as the prime minister, a prince above princes. But why? What has he done? What are his achievements? There's nothing recorded. It just seems to be that the king liked him. It seems to be the king preferred him for some reason or other and made him one of his favorites, his pet prince, and lifted him up for no reason. There's no military achievements recorded against him. There's no wonderful building projects that he's done on behalf of the king. nothing that's recorded anyway, but he is just promoted in this way above all the princes that were with him. And alongside the elevation comes adoration. He commands all the king's servants that they, whenever they see Haman, they were to bow before him and they were to reverence him. They were to bow, to bend the knee to him and to reverence, to prostrate themselves before him. My dear friends, this is no ordinary prostration. This is no ordinary bending of the knee. This is not Haman the king saying be civil, pay civil respect to him. It's more than that. As a prince, he would have commanded civil respect and Mordecai would have given him civil respect. He wouldn't have withheld civil respect from him. But this is more than that. The kings of Persia, they like to be treated as gods. They like to be adored as gods. And they like people to bow down and reverence them as divine. And that's what is in mind here. The king confers on Haman a similar status, that they should also treat him in this divine sort of way, bowing down and reverencing him. This was the king's command. But Mordecai, we read, bowed not, nor did him reverence at the end of verse 2. He wouldn't compromise. He wouldn't yield. because it would be to go against the law of God. It would be to go against his own conscience. He knew what was involved. As I said, if it was just civil respect, he would willingly have done it. He was not that kind of a person to withhold honour from whom honour is due. But here it is something a lot, lot more. He wouldn't give to man that which belongs only to the Lord God, even worship and reverence and homage in this case. How could he? He probably remembered very much from his own historical situation that the Jews were in captivity because of idolatry. because they had given in to the idols so God had sent them into captivity. The very reason so many of them were in Babylon and Persia was because of their idolatry. But now he's picked up on that lesson and he refuses to compromise even though he's going to be the only one standing and everybody else is bowing. Under intense pressure He is still willing to stand up and refuses to give in to sin, refuses to compromise and shows tremendous courage in doing so. He had his principles, he had his convictions within him, he was sure what is the right thing to do and he wouldn't let go of those principles. And he wouldn't easily yield those convictions that God had wrought in him. And he held on tightly. Even if it meant that he would lose his life, he was prepared to go that far. Well, dear friends, a lesson isn't it for us? We, just like here, Mordecai was suddenly, without any notification, faced with this situation. Would he give in? Would he compromise? What would he do? No, he stood firm. We don't know what's going to happen, where we're going to be put in a situation where we may have to make us a stand as well. So we have to be sure, we have to use the time we have now to firm up our convictions, our principles, our biblical principles, to know what our biblical principles are and to hold tightly onto that, so that when we hear the opposite, We say, no, sorry, I cannot go along with you. I cannot kowtow to that. We have to take a stand. So many people today are not taking a stand. So many Christians, sadly, we see with this LGBTQ plus issue again. We see sadly so many Christian schools and churches giving in, yielding to adopting their agenda and punishing teachers who stand up. I read on you this week of an American teacher and a PE teacher and he refused to say a boy can be a girl. He said a boy is a boy and a girl is a girl. and that's the biological way God has made us and basically he said to say anything otherwise would be sin he told those when he was before the council and he was very forthright in a very nice way but he stood and unwilling to compromise he lost his job And this is just one of many examples that we know. Churches adopting these things. How can it be friends? It's happening on such a scale. So we have to be aware of these things. Or we can go back in history, isn't it, to the time when also the reformers here in Britain were nailed to the stake and lost their lives. Why? Because they wouldn't say that the wafer of the Roman Catholic Church was the actual body of Christ. They wouldn't say that the wine was the actual blood of Christ. Oh, just say, it's okay, you'll be free. No, they refused to do that. They held on to their conviction and because of that, that many were burnt at the stake and lost their lives. Oh, dear friends, we should, you know, there's this, I don't know what to call it, craze or everybody seems to be doing it, bowing the knee for this Black Lives Matter. I have to say this because I read about bowing the knee here. And we have to ask ourselves again, should a Christian take the knee? Should a Christian bow the knee. Well, we are all against racism and prejudice. That's of course anti-Christian. None of us would be in favour of prejudice against another person because of the colour of their skin. But Black Lives Matter is not just one policy. It's not just one idea. It's not just one thing that they are trying to promote, the fight against racism. There are a lot more behind the organization. It's a movement, friends. It's a movement to change society. It's a movement to topple society, to topple the things that we hold even very dear. It's a movement for inclusiveness and again to promote very militantly the LGBTQ plus agenda. They make no doubts about that. You can read that on their own website. And its own co-founder, one of its co-founders who recently resigned just about seven days ago, is a self-confessed Marxist. So they are promoting a leftist agenda and they are very much anti-authority as well. So a Christian, how can a Christian bow the knee knowing all these things that they stand for but we cannot join even though it may cost us friendships or may bring criticism our way well we have to as believers stand for the Lord but then thirdly and I must move on quickly thirdly we see here Roth and indignation, the poison of wrath and indignation. In verse 3, the king's servants, well, they put even more intense pressure on Mordecai to yield. Why are you transgressing the king's commandment? Daily they speak to him, but he stands strong. He hearken not unto them. Then they told Haman to see whether Mordecai's matters would stand. What does that actually mean? The idea is they told him to see whether Mordecai's excuse would hold good with Haman. Would he allow it? Would he bypass it? Would his religious scruples be tolerated or not? And that's the reason why they are saying it to him. He had told them, Mordecai told those king's servants, he is a Jew. That's why he cannot bow. It's for religious reasons that he cannot do it. Verse 5, when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath, full of anger, full of rage, full of indignation, a poison with wrath. And he thought, or to lay hands on Mordecai. That's not enough. That's not going to be sufficient. I want to wreak revenge on all the people that he represents. for they surely will follow his example and do the same thing. And so we read here that he sought, in verse 6, to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai. The offense to him, this offense was so great, that he decided he deserves a greater punishment than just the destruction of one man. All the Jews must be put to death. Only that will pacify his anger. What a better response, what a terrible response. Surely a better response would have been to let it go. Maybe even to admire the man. Oh here is a man who stands for what he believes. I must get to know him. I must have him work for me. I must have him get to know him better and employ him in my service. It's good to have such a man. It's just a yes man, a cow in cow's house. But in their heart they're not really serving. But instead he is full of wrath and anger and he determines to destroy all the Jews. Well I couldn't help when reading this and studying this to think of that modern day man Hitler and what he determined to do. And he got away with so much, isn't it? He determined also that modern day Haman to destroy all the Jews and we know that six million were killed. But here God intervenes to prevent such a destruction and God protects His people, the Jews. But see friends, an insight into the heart of man, how far men can go, how sinful the sinful heart is. If we have any doubts as to how sinful it can be, every one of us could be a Hitler, but for the grace of God. but for the intervention of God. If the Lord takes his hand off a person, they could go to such extremes as this, but it's only because of his common grace, it's only because of his spirit in this world restraining sin, overturning the plans of evil, overturning the devices of men and women's heart that we have preserved amongst us some measure of civility and governments are in place And we have other things in place to prevent people. People are ashamed to do evil. All these things are of God to help people to restrict sin. But ultimately, it's the Spirit of God who is working. But oh, how wicked the heart could be. But verse 7, we read that he resorts, Haman resorts to using the lots there in the first month. That is the end of March, early April. to find out the exact day and the exact month when they should carry out this. They cast purr, that is lots, and the lot fell on the month Eidar, which is the last day, the last month of the year. And God again, intervention, wonderful. It's I'm sure that Haman would be wanting a day sooner than later, but he has to wait 12 months. This lucky day that they were looking for ended up being 12 months, giving time. The lot is in the Lord's hands. We read in Proverbs 16 and verse 33, and the Lord buys time for the Jews. Thankfully, friends, we're not in the hands of men. For if we were in the hands of men, it would soon be rid of us, but for the Lord. And then in verses 8 to 11, we see how Haman, who had this access to the king, and it was a privileged access, not everyone had this access, he uses it. in a cunning way and in a divisive way, he uses it to bring about this destruction, to make this destruction of the Jews a law. He is devious and he speaks in such a way as to almost fool the king into thinking that these people are against you, they're not for you, it's of no benefit to keep them alive. Verse 8, their laws are diverse from all people. in a certain degree, their religious laws are different, but when he said, neither keep they the king's laws, well that was an untruth, because they were law-abiding citizens. They were those who are fairly obedient, we believe, to the king's laws. They weren't rising up and rebelling against him. And so he mixes truth with lies to try and poison the mind of the king against the Jews and then in verse 9 he promises him 10,000 talents of silver to bring into the king's treasuries 2 to 3 million pounds it equates to today that's a lot of money that would have appealed to the king because he'd lost a lot of money fighting against the Grecian states and his coffers were running low and so He would put his eyes lighted up at the thought of 10,000 talents of silver coming into his treasury. This Haman, he's devious. He knows how to get his way. He knows how to manipulate this king. This king seems easily manipulated. He doesn't take any advice. He doesn't ask anyone else's opinion. And in verse 10, he just gives his king, his ring to Haman. to authorise what he has suggested without any thought, without any enquiry, rather too easily we say. But in verse 11 we read, And the king said to Haman, the silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to thee. Now he's not actually giving the silver to Haman. The idea rather here is, when you get the silver, when you get the people and you sell all their property and all that money comes in, then dispose of it or leave it to your charge to dispose of it as it seems good to thee rather than I don't think he would have given up that money having been delighted that it was coming to him to Haman. So in verse 11 then, in verses 13-15 we read that the king's scribes were called and the letters were written and they were sent out by the king's lieutenants, the governors, and to every province in their own language and their own script and sealed with the king's ring. Verse 13 again, that confirmation, the day that when all this would take place would be the 13th day of the 12th month, the month Eidar. And they were commanded to cause to perish all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, and to take their spoil for a prey. And so the word went out. And verse 15, at the end, the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city Shushan was perplexed. They were feasting as they were, but the city was puzzled, alarmed. What's happening? It seems so unjust and just an act. And they were confused at this law that had been given by the king. The king and Haman were of a completely different mind. Well, here we see them, dear friends, a real contrast in characters between Mordecai and Haman. One going one way, one developing his character the other way. So let us think about these things, courage, contentment and avoid those things which anger, resentment, evil thoughts, easily being offended by what other people say or do to us. Let us try with God's grace and help to overcome these. One final thing with our communion service coming up and that's just word from verse 13, that day, the 13th day of the 12th month, which is the month Eidah, March or April, March day, well Bishop Wordsworth, my godly Bishop said, Thursday the 13th day was the eve of Passover and so 500 years later the Jews also planned to kill the Savior and that's an interesting observation that I bring