Invite to a Banquet | Esther 5

So I was going to preach all the way through

chapters 5, 6, and 7 this morning. And the reason

for that is these three chapters fit together

really well as one pericope, as we say in theology,

one single cohesive story within the larger narrative

of the book. And I mentioned last week that we've

gotten to a place in this study where we've done

the hard work of of laying out the historical

and cultural context of the book such that we

can now bite off larger chunks as we go along.

And so I wanted to do that this week, but then

I dug in. And first of all, I thought, if I do

three chapters on a Sunday, you guys would all

die of a heart attack. I mean, that would be

the first time in the history of Oak Hill. But

more importantly, there would just be too many

application points for one sermon. So here's

what we're going to do. Chapters 6 and 7 in Esther

really are the pinnacle of the story. And I am

dying to get to them, but I'm going to be patient.

Today will be about setting that up, setting

it up well by getting through carefully chapter

five. Now, as I say that, here's the thing. If

you don't know, Tanya and I are about to get

on an airplane and go out of the country for

two weeks in Scotland. And yep, celebrating 35

years of marriage, she deserves a trip to Europe.

So over the next three Sundays, you're going

to have the privilege of hearing Adam continue

in his series in Ecclesiastes, which has been

amazing. And then I'll be back in the pulpit,

and I will be coming straight from a Reformation

tour in Scotland, Lord willing, standing in John

Knox's pulpit, and come here, and as we do every

year, spend a couple of weeks. celebrating the

Reformation and our historical roots. And this

year talking about the Reformation in Scotland

and England. So excited about all that. But the

point of me saying all this is after today, we're

not going to be back in Esther for a while. Not

until November. Right? It's scary, right? And

that means this morning we have to set up chapter

6 and 7 really well. We'll come back in November

right before we get into Advent and Christmas,

right? I mean... The calendar just flies by,

doesn't it? Or is it just me getting old? I don't

know, but it's coming up quickly. Okay, let's

look at chapter five. Where did we leave off

last Sunday? In chapter four, remember we looked

at this frantic back and forth communication

between Esther and Mordecai. Esther's inside

the king's palace, not able to leave. Mordecai

is out in the city of Susa wailing in sackcloth

and ash, and they're sending messages back and

forth by the king's servants. And of course,

the issue was Mordecai had become aware of Haman's

edict, this edict that had now gone out to every

province in the kingdom, promising a total and

complete annihilation of the Jewish people. And

in his grief and despair, Mordecai says to Esther

that you have to go into the king. This is our

only hope. You've got to go into the king. Remember,

she hesitates. She's like, yeah, but it's against

the king's law, and he hasn't called on me for

30 days, and she hesitates. And so you see Mordecai

get a little bit more aggressive, and he challenges

her to consider whether or not God has placed

her in this position as queen for such a time

as this. And so after ordering three days of

fasting and prayer, Esther comes out of that

and she counts the cost and she commits her life

to it. She says, I will go into the king and

if I perish, I perish. That's a dramatic moment.

So we pick up the story now in chapter five.

Now it came about on the third day that Esther

put on her royal robes and stood in the inner

court of the king's palace in front of the king's

rooms. And the king was sitting on his royal

throne. Can you picture it? Sitting on his royal

throne in the throne room opposite the entrance

to the palace. Now, how many times have we tried

to do this so far? As hard as it is, put yourself

in Esther's sandals here. Try to imagine the

fear and the anxiety that she must have felt

as she steps into this giant grand throne room

and makes eye contact with the most powerful

man in the world. And she's got to be thinking,

okay, is this a good time? Right? Have you ever

known I've got to have a hard conversation? Is

this a good time? Is he in a good mood? Am I

wearing something that is pleasing to him? All

these thoughts are going through her head. How

do I start this conversation? What do I say?

So there's a lot going on in this moment. And

my guess is, this is just my guess, that she

is shaking, both inside and out. She's shaking.

This is a big moment. Her life is literally hanging

by a thread. Remember, that's what she told us

back in the last chapter. She said, any man or

woman who comes to the king in his inner court

who is not summoned, the king has one law for

such a person, death. Oh, that's all, just death.

Unless, unless the king holds out to him the

golden scepter indicating that he's willing to

spare that life. So now here is Esther stepping

into this grand throne room uninvited. And she

knows she's breaking the king's law, but that's

just one small piece to this. Remember, the king

doesn't know that she's Jewish at this point.

She has hid that from him, but now it has to

come out. And she's going to have to confess

to the king, at least by omission, that she's

deceived him in not disclosing the full truth

about who she is, about her ethnic identity and

religious identity. And with a king like Xerxes,

How he responds to that, how he reacts to that

kind of deception is completely unpredictable.

And he can do as he pleases. He is the king.

Also, if she doesn't just die by coming into

the room, she's then going to have to go on and

convince the king that Haman, his chief vizier,

the man that he seems to trust more than anybody

else in the kingdom, is actually not trustworthy.

And he needs to trust her over Haman. So bottom

line, it's going to take something very dramatic

here and miraculous for this to succeed, for

the Jews to be saved. And so what a tense moment

for this young woman, right? We sometimes forget

these are three -dimensional characters. She's

a young woman. She's got to be absolutely out

of her mind with fear, having to work up the

courage to walk into that room, just hoping that

the first sign from the king will be a good one,

that he's going to receive her well. By the way,

before we move on to verse two, look at the very

precise language here in verse one about the

layout of the palace. I know this is a small

thing, but I'm a historical nerd on you for a

second. It says the inner court in front of the

king's rooms. Why add that? Why does that matter?

In the throne room opposite the entrance to the

palace. Well, it tells us that the author is

somebody who has been there, who has seen it

with his own eyes. He knows exactly how the rooms

of the palace were situated. By the way, it lines

up with all the archaeological work that was

done in the city of Susa in the 19th and 20th

century. I showed this picture a long time ago.

time ago to you guys and we've seen the this

is the artist's rendering of what the archaeological

dig has has shown us in susa on that spot and

we've looked at these various parts of the of

the the artist's recreation we've looked at the

king's gate multiple times we've looked at the

court of the garden the banquet hall where these

banquets have been taking place and now we're

talking about the inner court the very heart

of the palace That's where this scene takes place.

And I show that to you just so that you understand

that when we read a book like this, it lines

up with history. It lines up with archaeology.

And it gives us a greater sense of the veracity

of Scripture. It's very important. Okay, verse

2. When the king saw Esther, the queen, standing

in the court, that's the big moment, it says

what? She obtained favor in his sight. Right?

That's the moment. And the king extended to Esther

the golden scepter, which was in his hand. So

Esther came near and touched the top of the scepter.

How many times, you guys, have we seen already

in this story, Esther finding favor with people?

Over and over again, right? Everywhere she goes,

she finds favor in her relationships. In fact,

back in chapter two, it said, quote, Esther found

favor in the eyes of all who saw her. She's got

something about her. I don't know, call it the

it factor, whatever it is. Obviously, she's beautiful

on the outside. That's why the king chose her,

but beautiful inside as well. And it seems that

the Lord has gifted her in this way. And it was

found in the way that she carried herself, how

she related to people. Perhaps she had that sense

of humility, as Peter says, and a gentle and

quiet spirit. And once again, it's another evidence

of the unseen hand of God working behind the

scenes, gifting Esther to be this way, working

out his plans and purposes. So the key here is

that as she appears in the throne room, she makes

a connection with the king. She touches his heart

and he extends that scepter to her and spares

her life. Now the golden scepter is interesting.

This is, guys, this is not a made up, this is

not like King Arthur's sword. This is not some

made up legend. In fact, the scepter of the Persian

kings is depicted many, many, many times in their

own wall carvings and paintings. In fact, I'll

give you an example of this because we're going

to nerd out again. This carving is from the archaeological

dig at Apadana Palace in Persepolis in Iran.

What you see there is Xerxes' father, Darius

the Great, who we looked at before, seated on

his throne, and he's receiving a foreign... The

kings of Persia, even Assyria and Babylon, they

would depict these great events on their walls

of their palaces. And in his right hand, see

the arrow, is his scepter. And you see this all

the time in their pictures. They carry this scepter

in their right hand. And by the way, the gentleman

behind him is the crown prince, that's Xerxes,

in Darius' palace. So this is a very consistent

thing. Notice, by the way, how they make themselves

larger. than the foreign delegation they're receiving.

There's some propaganda here as well, right?

But that Xerxes behind him. So again, lots of

historical veracity to this particular text.

Let's look at verse three. Then the king said

to her, what is troubling you, Queen Esther?

He instantly sees that she is upset. Again, I

think she's probably shaking, and he sees it.

And what is your request, the king asks. Even

to half of the kingdom, it should be given to

you. Now, read that as a proverbial expression.

Don't take it literally. This is the king's way

of assuring Esther, I'm interested in fixing

whatever is bothering you, and how can I make

you happy again? He literally doesn't mean I'll

give you half the kingdom, but how can I make

you happy again? Verse four, Esther says, if

it pleases the king, may the king and Haman come

this day to the banquet that I've prepared for

him. So clearly Esther has thought this out.

After three days of fasting and prayer, she's

formulated a plan in her mind. And I think it

shows great discernment that she doesn't just

rush into the situation and blurt out her request.

And this is what fasting and prayer and asking

for guidance and asking for patience and all

that, that's the fruit of this. She shows discernment.

She just doesn't rush in there and go, I got

a problem. Remember, she told Mordecai in chapter

four, I haven't seen the king in a month. So

she can't even be sure she walks into the room

how he feels about her. So my guess is before

bringing up such a gigantic issue, she first

wants to see the king with her own eyes, engage

his heart and win his heart over again. And we'll

find out later that she definitely wants Haman

to be at this banquet so that she can ultimately

expose. His wickedness. So she's thought this

out. I think she's, again, Adam mentioned it

earlier. We were hard on Esther in the first

couple chapters because of some compromise we

see in her life. But now we're seeing her make

good and godly decisions. This is good. Verse

five. Then the king said, bring Haman quickly

that we may do as Esther desires. So the king

and Haman came to the banquet which Esther had

prepared. So picture the scene now. No doubt

Esther has put together an amazing spread. She

knows what the king likes. And she lays it out

for him. She knows how fond Xerxes is of banquets.

We've already looked at four banquets in the

first two chapters of this book. They like banquets

and they like wine, right? We've seen this multiple

times. So Esther's smart, right? Again. This

is discernment. This is wisdom. The king likes

these things, and I want to make sure that he

is being blessed by me, by his queen, by his

wife. And so she's just showing smarts, right?

And that's okay. The way God operates, that's

good. We can actually use the brain that God

has given us and be wise and be clever in the

way that we do things. Verse 6, as they drank

their wine at the banquet, a lot of wine. As

they drank their wine, the king said to Esther,

what is your petition? For it shall be granted

to you. And what is your request? Even to half

of the kingdom, it shall be done. So again, she

gets every assurance that he's ready to give

her anything. And this is where it gets interesting,

right? This is where all the scholars start scratching

their heads and going, what is happening here?

The wine is flowing. I'm sure things are getting

a bit looser. And this is the moment. you'd expect

Esther to say, Haman's trying to kill me. But

she doesn't. Verse seven. So Esther replied,

my petition and my request is if I have found

favor in the sight of the king and if it pleases

the king to grant my petition and do what I request,

may the king and Haman come to the banquet which

I will prepare for them and tomorrow, tomorrow

I will do as the king says. So for a second time.

Esther doesn't bring up the issue, even though

the king has assured her twice that she's on

a good footing. And so it raises the question,

what's going on here? Why the delay? Why the

dramatics, right? The intrigue. Now, it'd be

nice if the author took us into the mind of Esther,

but he doesn't. So we have to sort of speculate

on what's going on. And four different ideas

have been suggested about this. Number one, in

that moment, she just got cold feet. Right? She

got cold feet. The fear of the moment sort of

overwhelmed her. And maybe that's happened to

you. You go somewhere and you're like, I need

to have a hard conversation with somebody. And

then you get there and you chicken out. You're

like, oh, I got too scared and I didn't say it.

That's one possibility. Number two, Esther is

intentionally drawing this out to pique the king's

interest. Maybe she knows he likes the chase.

And the more she sort of teases him with it,

the more interested he is in giving her what

she wants, right? That he's more willing to grant

the request. That's number two. The third thing

is, in that moment, something just didn't feel

right to her, right? She just got that spidey

sense thing, right? She discerns that something

in the king's disposition or Haman's disposition

that caused her to think in that moment, you

know what, this is not the right time. I shouldn't

do this right now. And number four, and this

is my opinion, this was the work of God's spirit

guiding her. Because the Lord has a plan here

that's going to require this exact delay. And

we find this out later. It's during the period

between the first banquet and the second banquet

that the Lord is going to move in ways that nobody

could have expected. So I think this is just

the spirit guiding her in this. Remember. Recall

what Proverbs 21 says. This is a great verse.

The king's heart is like channels of water in

the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he

wishes. And we're going to find out that is exactly

what's going on. More than we even know, God

is going to turn the heart of the king. Okay,

now the scene changes as we come to verse 9.

The banquet is over. Haman is heading home. It

says, then Haman went out that day glad and pleased

of heart. So the effect of being invited to this

private banquet with the king and the queen has

made him so happy, so proud and arrogant. He

actually thinks at this point he's in good graces

with Esther, which is so interesting, right?

But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate

and he did not stand up or tremble before him,

Haman was filled with anger against Mordecai.

So this shows us, you guys, what a miserable

man this is. Here's a guy who's just been honored

by the king and the queen of Persia, yet he allows

the disapproval of this one man to fill him with

rage. What a perfect description of how empty,

at the end of the day, how empty the applause

of the world is, right? Haman's deep -seated

insecurity, his need to be honored by absolutely

everybody, especially this one Jew, means that

he will never be happy. He will never be satisfied.

Like all of humanity apart from Christ, he's

got a corrupted soul. He's got a void in his

heart that needs to be redeemed. He needs new

life, or he's never gonna be satisfied. Verse

10, it says, Haman controlled himself, however.

Now, why would he do that? Because he gleefully

knows the day is coming. My Egypt has gone out.

It's not going to be taken back. The Jews are

going to be wiped out. Mordecai with them. So

he can control himself for now. And honestly,

this is, again, another evidence of God's handiwork,

right? He's not going to allow Haman's fury to

get out of control in that moment because God

is putting pieces on the chessboard to handle

this the way God purposes. Haman controlled himself,

however, verse 10. He went to his house and sent

for his friends and his wife Zeresh. Then Haman

recounted to them the glory of his riches and

the number of his sons and every instance where

the king had magnified him and how he had promoted

him above the princes and the servants of the

king. Haman also said even Esther the queen.

Let no one but me come with the king to the banquet

which she had prepared. And tomorrow also I'm

invited with her to the king. I mean, have you

ever known somebody like this? You get together

with them and they just want to recount their

glory. And you just sort of eye roll like, okay,

here we go again. That's what's going on. See,

Haman, he's gotten home to his own little palace,

right? And he's basking in the glory of the moment.

And his wife and his friends are willing to put

up with it again. My guess is he's done this

before. They're like, oh, okay. Yeah, you're

great. You're awesome. You're the man. So he

has to tell the story again of how honored he

is. I'm sure it was more detailed than this.

He boasts of his possessions, his sons, all this.

This is his moment, you guys. This is the pinnacle

of Haman's life. It's the moment of all who reject

the living God. This is the best it's ever gonna

get for Haman. It's never going to get better

for all eternity because what awaits him when

he passes from this life is judgment. So he needs

to enjoy it now. Finally, he boasts of yet another

banquet that he gets to attend. It's one glory

after another payment until what? Again, he remembers

Mordecai and you can see his countenance change.

Verse 13, yet all of this, look at, underline

it, does not satisfy me. Every time I see Mordecai

the Jew sitting at the king's gate, I'm dissatisfied.

So the day hasn't been a total success. Like

he said, there's still this issue of Mordecai

and the bitterness, the bitterness of this one

man refusing to honor him is eating him alive.

And the truth is, Haman is the archetype of every

man who lives from moment to moment based on

his emotions and his feelings. If things are

going his way, he's all smiles. I want to be

around a guy like that. He's so happy. But when

things don't go his way, he's a bear to be around

because he is going to whine and complain over

and over again. So there's a restlessness to

him, an instability to him. He's the type of

guy that when you approach him, and maybe you

know people like this, you first want to check

which version of this man am I going to get today?

The boastful happy one or the despairing angry

one? These are people that are difficult to be

around. Now Haman's wife and friends have an

easy solution. Verse 14, then Zeresh, his wife,

and all his friends said to him, have a gallows,

50 cubits high made, and in the morning ask the

king to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go joyfully

with the king to the banquet. How dark is that,

by the way? How dark is that? Have this guy put

on this high stake, have him. Killed and then

go joyfully. As if nothing has happened, go to

the banquet and have a ball. The wickedness in

the heart. But for somebody with that mindset,

with that heart, this is not unreasonable. This

is a logical solution. Why wait for the appointed

day way down the road when the Jews are going

to get wiped out? Just handle it now. Get rid

of them tomorrow. Order your men to have the

platform built. Make it really, really tall and

really visible so that you can humiliate Mordecai

and his death so that everybody can see it. And

the advice pleased Haman, it says. So he had

the gallows made. Okay, so that's the setup for

six and seven. The great reversal, we call it,

right? You probably know something about what's

coming. But let's make some observations of what

we've seen in this chapter here. First of all,

we can talk about the obvious. This is the theme

that we have been pointing to throughout this

entire preaching series, right? The sovereignty

of God. The sovereignty of God in our world.

In every aspect of life, he is the monarch of

this universe. And he does as he pleases. Which

always brings us back to the verse you see on

the screen, Romans 8, 28. And we know, catch

that, Believers, we have to know this and believe

it and trust in it day to day, coming back to

it over and over again. We know that God causes

some things in life to work together for good.

Not all things. We know this, that God causes

all things to work together for good. To whom?

To everybody? No. to those who love God, and

to those who are called according to his purpose.

That's the people God is working for, all things.

And those who are called by the Lord are what

Scripture calls the elect, chosen before the

foundation of the world, was even laid and set

apart to glorify God in their lives. And then

within time and space, The elect are drawn into

relationship with the living God. He breathes

life into our dead hearts. He causes us to be

born again. And then, beauty of beauties, he

changes our affections from within such that

we turn to him and are saved. What a gracious

God. And we give our lives to him and we die

to ourselves over time in this process of sanctification

that will last in our lives until the very day

he calls us home and we get to be with him forever.

And for these, the scripture says, the Lord is

constantly and progressively working out his

plan in human history for our good. He was doing

it in the fifth century, B .C., in Esther's day.

He's doing it today. And sometimes, guys, how

often do we look at the Bible and go, well, we

see God working in the Bible, but is he really

doing this today? Yes. in our lives, in the lives

of those who he calls according to his purpose.

And what amazes me the most is how he uses unbelievers

like Haman, whose motives and actions are purely

selfish and wicked and totally contrary to everything

God stands for, but somehow God takes the sin

and the wickedness and the rebellion of men like

that, and he shapes it into his will for our

good. Don't ask me how he does it. The hard drive

God has to have. Right, to process billions of

people and to be shaping all things. Our God

is beyond what you can fathom. But aren't you

glad? He's shaping it all into his will and nothing

hinders his plan and nothing interrupts it. God

is in control from beginning to end. Even when

men who don't love him are doing their best to

try to defeat his promises. It won't work. Xerxes

is a great example of this. This guy's the most

powerful man in the world in that day. He is

as sovereign as human beings get. Yet again,

going back to Proverbs 21, his heart is in God's

hand. God turns the heart of the most powerful

man on earth in any way he chooses. It's amazing.

So sovereignty is number one. The second one

is providence. And we talked about this at the

beginning of the series. There is a slight difference

between those two terms. Providence refers to

the practical way in which God is working. It's

his invisible hand skillfully working behind

the scenes to order everything in every thought,

in every plan, in every action and reaction,

in every conversation, and at the end of the

day, in every single outcome. That's his providence.

And it's a wonder to behold. But guys, we have

to see it through the eyes of faith. This is

a great challenge for us. When we read Esther,

even though God's name isn't mentioned in this

book, we see his hand all over the place, right?

Why? Because of our faith. Because we trust God's

word. But the unbeliever would read this book

and not see God at all. Only see human beings

doing what they feel like they should do. They

would not see God at all. And sadly, this is

a warning for us. That condition can come upon

a professing believer if we're walking in the

flesh and not by the Spirit. When he or she isn't

seeing life through the eyes of faith, isn't

trusting the promise of Romans 8, 28, but instead

is agonizing and worrying and falling into despair

and trying to scheme their way out of their problem

rather than turning to the Lord who promises

that he will be our shelter and our guide through

the storm. But we've got to have eyes of faith.

We've got to walk in the spirit in order to see

God's hand in these things. Friends, God's word

will not let you down. So trust it. His purposes

will not fail. His promises to his chosen children

will always be fulfilled. Trust him. And let

the book of Esther be an example of these principles

that you can come back to over and over again

that show you that they're true. So God's sovereignty

and his provinces. Providence, that's the word.

Here's the third thing. God is sovereign. He

will providentially accomplish all that he's

decreed, but that doesn't mean that we can be

passive about the role that we play in living

out that plan. So many Christians fall into this.

It's the whole let go and let God thing, right?

No. No, we have a role to play in this. We don't

have the luxury of just sitting on the couch

and saying, I don't have to be concerned about

that. God will make it happen. We can get so

locked into sovereignty that we don't do anything.

We're like, oh, God will make that happen. Hey,

he wants to use you. So get off the couch. Don't

be passive in this. He works through secondary

causes. God is the great cause of all things.

He works through secondary causes within time

and space. That's us, his servants, those who

he loves, those who are called according to his

purpose. Paul tells us in Philippians 2 that

we are to work as God works in us. That's that

cooperative role that we play. So we strive to

obey his commands with the power that he gives

us. And so we pray and we preach and we witness

and we serve and we give and we proclaim, et

cetera, et cetera. We do all of those things

knowing that at the end of the day, it's not

our flawless works that are gonna bring about

God's purposes. We trust that he's gonna go way

beyond our efforts, even use them supernaturally

to direct all things for our good and his glory.

We work as he works in us. We can't be passive.

And you see this in the story of Esther. Mordecai

and Esther don't just grieve and then sit on

their hands. Mordecai says, you've got to take

action. Esther prays and goes, I've got to take

action. And she goes and does something. But

is the result in their hands? No. The result

is in God's hand. He determines them. But he

will use their striving by the power he gives

them. to bring about that result, amen? Good,

that's number three. Number four is this, God's

timing is always perfect. Oh, do we believe that?

This will come out more next time we're in Esther,

but every detail of this great reversal that's

coming is walking down a path in God's timeline.

The timing of Esther's entrance into the king's

presence, God orchestrated that. The timing of

the two banquets that she's gonna host, For the

king and Haman, he's put that together. The timing

of Haman's order to build the gallows, yes. That's

on God's timeline as well. See, one of the problems

we face as Christ followers is impatience. I

mean, I'm with you. Impatience. We want things

always to happen either more quickly than they

do or just in our own time frame. We say, God,

make it happen. And then we add, according to

your will. But what do we really mean? Yeah.

Come on, we all do this, right? So we want results

now. We don't want results over seasons of time.

That's not fast enough. We want things to get

better quickly, not learn the slow lessons that

God has for us sometimes. We like to hastily

check things off our lists. Not slow down and

pray over them and see how God might move. Sitting

quietly before him and watching. So let the book

of Esther be a comfort that God is always at

work, behind the scenes, his invisible hand.

His timing is good and perfect, such that Psalm

27, 14, one of my favorite verses, wait for the

Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage.

So notice that, wait for the Lord. Don't be passive.

Don't be scared or in fear. No, be strong. Let

your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord,

knowing he's always at work, right? And then

Adam read the call to worship from Psalm 37 earlier.

Look at the language. Be still before the Lord.

Wait patiently for him. While you're doing that,

refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not

yourself because it tends towards evil. And evildoers

will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord

shall inherit the land. God's timing is perfect.

Okay, last thing. I want to point to the character

of Haman for a moment and let it be a warning

for us. Let's talk about this idea of bitterness

because Christians can be susceptible to this

as well. Where is this bitterness leading Haman?

Well, bitterness has been defined as an emotional

state characterized by feelings of anger, resentment,

and a sense of being either let down or just

plain wronged by somebody. It's often distinguished

from anger alone because with anger, anger comes

up quickly, but sometimes it subsides quickly.

But bitterness tends not to go away unless it's

dealt with. It's a long -term thing that can

get stuck deep within the heart, and it causes

us to not be able to move past something. Have

you ever had this before? It's just, I can't

move past this thing. Instead, it does the opposite.

Not only won't help you get past it, it feeds

and nurses whatever is stuck in the heart, makes

it worse. And it manifests in all kinds of ungodly

ways, in flashes of anger, in despair, in paranoia,

in antagonism or hostility towards other, in

the holding of grudges. Does that not sound like

Haman? As an adjective, the word bitter means

sharp like an arrow or pungent to the taste.

It can mean venomous. Because if it's not dealt

with, it's something that over time, it corrodes

the heart from within. It eats away at a person's

soul. One author I read this week described bitterness

as a poison concoction that stays in the bloodstream.

A poisonous concoction that stays in the bloodstream.

You get the point, right? Haman's bitterness

towards Mordecai and the Jewish people was stronger

than all of the wealth and power that the king

had given to him. He just cannot enjoy everything

unless all the Jews are destroyed. That is what

a root of bitterness will do to a human heart.

And it's going to be his undoing. So be warned,

it's going to be his undoing. The biggest danger

you and I face in succumbing to bitterness and

letting it rule our hearts is that it ends up

in a spirit that refuses to forgive and refuses

to reconcile. And there is a... If you talk to

somebody in biblical counseling, they'll tell

you there's a recognizable pattern to this. It

starts as an infection that enters into the body

through a wound. And oftentimes, it doesn't have

to be a big wound, but something that gets in

there. Maybe it's a critical word from somebody

or it's a heated argument. It's a simple misunderstanding.

It's an injustice or a betrayal, but it's a wound.

And wounds that don't get dealt with fester,

don't they? One important thing to note about

wounds, they can also be real or they can be

perceived. Even imagine. Sometimes we get wounded

by something very obvious. Somebody says something,

boom, it just hurts us, right? At other times,

we get wounded about what we think someone did

or what we think motivated them, but we really

don't know the motive, but we perceive it, and

so that wound hits us, and then we don't deal

with it. When the wound isn't treated, it festers

and it gets worse. And it leads to disappointment

and anger and resentment and sometimes silent

hostility. Gossip and slander towards the person

who's hurt you. And like Haman, every time you

see that person or think of that person, you're

irked by it. It's that guy. And something rises

up within you that's so ugly. It's that person.

And then pretty soon you're plotting their downfall.

Or if you can't do anything about it, you're

wishing for it. Maybe someday they will feel

the pain that they've made me feel. It's ugly,

isn't it? It's a spirit of hatred and a spirit

of unforgiveness. And guys, it's something that

the devil loves to exploit in believers to try

to just cut off our sanctification, to make us

angry. Hatred and unforgiveness are two things

that mark the life of an unredeemed man or woman,

not a Christ follower. So my closing exhortation,

guys, is be on alert. Guard your heart diligently,

the scripture says, for from it flows the heart,

right? Guard your heart diligently. That means

not allowing any root of bitterness to get planted

in the heart or grow. Cut that off before it

does, right? Ephesians 4 .31 says that you and

I must get rid of all bitterness, all rage and

anger, brawling and slander, along with every

form of malice. And then you see on the screen

in the next verse, we get the complimentary truth.

Instead do this, be kind to one another, tenderhearted,

forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave

you. Man, is that not the key? How dare we withhold

forgiveness? Do we expect to be forgiven at the

judgment seat? How dare we withhold our forgiveness

this side of heaven? Be tenderhearted, forgiving

one another as God and Christ forgave you. We

extend lavish amounts of grace and forgiveness

towards others because that's what we've received.

And how much is God's forgiveness? Seven times

70? Ours should be the same towards everyone

else, right? So learn a lesson about Haman. Learn

a lesson about Esther. Fasting and praying, discernment,

wisdom, right? Trusting the Lord. She's taken

a really good and godly step, has she not? But

Haman's going the other direction, isn't he?

He's getting angrier and more bitter, and it's

gonna be his undoing. We're gonna learn a lot

from these two, amen? Let's pray. Father, you

are our master teacher. In a narrative like this

where we look at this story and we say, what

do you have for us here, Lord? There is so many

layers of application for us as we look at the

character of Esther and we look at the character

of Haman. You have so much for us here, Lord.

May we be on guard in our hearts, in our minds,

not to fall into this pit that we see described

here. May we do the opposite, Lord. May we be

like Esther with a gentle and quiet spirit, one

who is sensitive to your spirit's leading. May

we seek your face through fasting and prayer

when we get into a tough spot. Father, I pray

for myself, pray for my brothers and sisters

that we would constantly be on guard against

bitterness and against anger. And all these things,

Lord, that are not a fruit of your spirit, protect

us. Give us the strength to guard our own hearts,

Lord. Do a work in us for your glory. Thank you

for this time this morning. We pray in Christ's

name.