Holy War?

The Starbucks near where I live, which is where I usually go on Saturday mornings to try to work on my sermon a bit more.

A Christian friend of mine that I hadn't seen in about three or four years, he bumped in.

He happened to be in that Starbucks. He doesn't live there, but he happened to be there for whatever reason.

And he asked me how it's going, and he saw that I had my Bible out. I was working on my sermon.

So he asked me what I was preaching on on Sunday.

And I said to him, I'm preaching on something that if I was to make a list of the things I don't want to ever preach on,

if I can somehow manage to avoid it, this would be really high up on the list.

Because I'm going to talk about holy war.

You know those parts in the Old Testament where God tells people to go and fight people and kill them?

That's not an easy text.

And I've wrestled with it all week.

But that's what we're going to look at.

And if some of you are here and you're wondering, well, why, George, why don't you just sort of change it?

Why don't you talk about something different?

One of the things that we do here, it's a very, very ancient custom,

is that when we do our sermons, we preach through books of the Bible.

That's the way the Bible is written.

The Bible is written as a collection of 66 different books, 39 of them before Jesus.

That's what we call the Old Testament.

And 27 of the books were written about Jesus and about his early disciples.

And that's what we call the New Testament.

And we preach through books of the Bible.

And one of the good things about preaching through the books of the Bible

is it forces us to look at things that we wouldn't normally talk about.

And in fact, actually, this is maybe a very helpful thing for us to look at, holy war.

You might not think so by the time I'm finished.

I don't know.

But if you think about it, one of the great fears in our culture today, I think,

is that religion causes violence.

It's a very, very common belief.

And people might not say to you, if they find out that you're a devout Christian,

those of us here who are devout Christians,

people might not say to you, oh, you're a devout Christian.

You probably are in favor of violence or what you believe causes violence.

But they'd always wonder that a little bit about you.

It's something which has changed in our culture.

Many of you are too young to know when it was anything different than the way it is now.

But it is a common view that Christianity, like all other religions, causes violence,

maybe except certain types of Buddhism, the Zen type in particular,

and certain types of Hinduism.

But all others cause violence.

And so we're going to look at that today.

So it's Esther chapter 7 and chapter 8.

Esther 7 · chapter mention

We're looking at two chapters today.

If you don't have a Bible with you, the text will be up on the screen.

As you can see, the sermon series has been the story of Esther,

the hidden God in a broken world.

We live in a broken world, and God is hidden most of the time.

He works through providence.

And the book of Esther is a very, very powerful book that helps us to understand this whole doctrine and teaching of providence.

And just before we start reading of chapter 7, verse 1,

what's just happened, what the big thing that's been going on in the book just up until now that has to be dealt with

is that a man by the name of Haman, who's the second most important person in the Persian Empire,

because that's where the book is set,

he has managed to orchestrate events in such a way that genocide is planned against the Jewish people,

that on a certain day that's coming up, the machinery of the state,

the organs of the different instruments of the culture are all going to be set for a particular day.

The result of that day, when it's over, is that every single Jewish person, young and old, male and female,

every single Jewish person will die.

And it's just in a sense, like obviously it's a bit different because it's a different time period,

but it's just like what happened in Nazi Germany, like the bureaucracy, the military, the police, the judiciary,

the governors, the politicians, everything is organized towards the annihilation of a people group.

And through a series of, through providence, from the king's point of view, through a series of circumstances,

but from our viewpoint, through providence, a Jewish woman who didn't practice her faith at all,

but lived as a Persian becomes one of the king of Persia's queens, and her name is Esther.

And just shortly before this, she has a conversion experience,

and her conversion experience is connected to the planned genocide of her people.

And she decides that she, even though it's, I mean, it's just one of those really, it's one of those,

do you know that the Christian church often grows during violent persecutions?

That all Christian missionaries were expelled out of communist China, I think it was in 1950, maybe it was 1949,

but it was around then.

And I believe that they estimated that when the Christians, all the missionaries were kicked out of China,

all of them, this is pre-internet, all of them were kicked out of China.

All of them were kicked out of China.

I think they estimated there was a million Chinese Christians.

The estimates today are that there's well over 100 million Chinese Christians,

that inexplicably, despite an atheist state that worked a crackdown on Christianity,

Christianity grew, even though it was persecuted.

And in the threat of the impending destruction of the Jewish people, Esther becomes Jewish.

Jewish.

And she's challenged by her uncle Mordecai to use her role to plead for her people.

And then we talk about that in a couple of, that's what happens is prior to this in the story.

And she finally gets an opportunity to talk to the king and to Haman,

and confront Haman and plead for herself and her people.

But when the opportunity comes, she gets cold feet and she can't go through with it.

But just before all is lost, she asks if the king will come the next day for a new feast.

And in between, there's another big adventure where Haman wants to kill Mordecai,

Esther's adopted father.

But now the second day, and that gets foiled by providence,

and now we come to the second day.

And I guess the question is, will Esther have cold feet?

Or will she go through with crying for her people to be delivered in herself?

And here's where we catch up.

Chapter 7, verse 1.

So the king and Haman went into the feast with Queen Esther.

And on the second day, as they were drinking wine after the feast,

the king again said to Esther,

What is your wish, Queen Esther?

It shall be granted to you.

And what is your request?

Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.

Then Queen Esther answered,

If I have found favor in your sight, O king,

and if it please the king,

let my life be granted me for my wish,

and my people for my request.

For we have been sold, I and my people,

to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated.

If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women,

I would have been silent,

for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.

Just sort of pause.

Esther here is very brilliant.

You know, she has to keep her eye on the ball,

and the eye on the ball is that in about ten months,

nine and a half months, every Jew will be killed.

Now, she needs to get the king to do something to stop this.

And what she can't do is say,

King, you ordered us to all be killed,

because that's going to lose the argument right there, won't it?

She has to get him on board,

and she does it in a very brilliant way.

In fact, saying that she doesn't want to hurt the king at all.

But this is what's happened.

Now, here's one of the things which is in the story.

It's a very small detail, but it's very, very telling.

Most of us notice it in other people and rarely see it in ourselves,

but we are like other people.

We do it as well.

We can do something which is quite, quite bad, quite, quite wrong,

but we don't even maybe think about it as being very wrong.

And afterwards, even if we've been involved in doing something that's wrong

or making a decision,

we've been part of a room that's made a very bad decision.

Afterwards, it's as if somebody else made the decision,

and we forget about it altogether.

Because what we're going to see right now

is that the king hasn't the vaguest idea in the world,

what Esther's talking about.

He has no clue.

Like, he's just sitting there.

If it was being filmed, it would be like,

uh?

Like, what's going...

Like, what are you talking about?

Like, I'm the king.

Like, what are you talking about?

How's this going on in my kingdom?

And I don't know about it.

So we see that in verse 5.

Then King Xerxes...

That's not how you pronounce it.

That's who the king is.

The King Xerxes.

He has multiple names,

and the Xerxes is easier to pronounce than that,

so I'm going to say Xerxes.

Then the king said to Queen Esther,

Who is he?

And where is he?

Who has dared to do this?

And probably even Haman doesn't understand,

because, you see,

Haman has been boasting to his friends

that the queen treats him as a friend

and is inviting only the king and him to his meal.

So he probably has absolutely no idea

what her next words are going to be,

because remember,

she's been living like a Persian.

Her conversion is very, very recent.

It's only weeks...

It's only like a week old.

Not even a week old.

So the king says,

What?

Who would dare to kill you?

And Esther said,

Verse 6,

A foe and enemy,

This wicked Haman.

And Haman was terrified

before the king and the queen.

He wouldn't have said,

My God.

I don't know what God he would worship.

But he would have said,

Probably bleepity, bleepity, bleep.

Esther's Jewish.

I didn't know.

And now he's stuck.

And he can tell by the king's angry outburst.

He's offered her half his kingdom,

which is politeness.

But what he really means is,

You can make a big ask of me, Esther.

Make a big ask.

And whatever your big ask is,

I'll do whatever I can.

He's in a great mood.

He's affectionate towards her.

Haman doesn't see this coming.

He's completely and utterly blindsided.

Esther tells him that all she wants

is to be able to not be killed.

The king is outraged.

Anybody would want a king

kill his wife, Esther.

And then she says,

It's all because of Haman.

He is completely and utterly terrified.

Probably a man who had to rise

to be the second in the empire,

only under the king.

He had to be one of the world's smoothest talkers.

But as you could well imagine,

words will fail

in a situation like that,

especially with no preparation.

So what happens?

Well, verse 7,

And the king arose in his wrath.

We just, you know,

we get angry.

We just want to move.

Like you jump up.

You're just furious.

Furious.

And he, he, he,

king arose in his wrath

from the wine drinking

and went into the palace garden

just beside.

But Haman stayed to beg

for his life from Queen Esther.

For he saw that harm

was determined against him

by the king.

And the king returned

from the palace garden,

probably just there for a moment,

to the place where

they were drinking wine

as Haman was falling

on the couch,

probably by accident,

where Esther was.

And the king said,

Will he even assault the queen

in my presence

in my own house?

As the word left

the mouth of the king,

they covered Haman's face.

Now just pause.

That's an idiom.

Remember, like,

what, what,

an idiom is something

like if I said,

you know,

you do this,

do this,

and Bob's your uncle.

Okay?

In other words,

it's an idiom for saying

you do this,

you do this,

it's guaranteed

that it's going to work.

Okay?

And so,

and the words

cover your faith

is literal,

it's an idiom.

But what it means is,

you know how often

in countries

that practice

capital punishment

and in Canada

when capital punishment

was practiced,

the condemned man

or woman

before they're hanged

or shot

or whatever it is

that they're going to do,

it was often

very customary

that a hood,

like either a blindfold

if it was,

you know,

you're going to be shot,

but if it's some other type,

often a hood

was put over them,

the sentence

in the past,

you're about to die

and the hood

goes over you

just before they

fire the guns,

press the button,

like whatever it is.

And that's what

the idiom is.

It's,

the idiom is

that as the words

leave the king,

it's as if the onlookers

can just see

that the hood

that you put on

just before you die

has now been covering

his face.

That's what it means.

And things can now

can get worse.

You know,

because what can often

happen for powerful people

is that

for those of us

who've had any type of power,

but I've had

virtually no power

in my life.

But for powerful people,

powerful people

can live under the myth,

the illusion,

that lots of other people

like the fact

that they have power.

But no,

that's not actually

how it works.

Those under them

often gripe

and complain

and are looking forward

to their downfall.

So now,

this idiom about

it's obvious

that Haman's about to die,

then Harbona,

verse 9,

one of the eunuchs

in attendance

on the king said,

moreover,

moreover,

the gallows

that Haman,

this guy,

had prepared

for Mordecai,

you know,

the hero

that you just rewarded

earlier today,

that guy?

Well,

Haman,

you know,

Mordecai,

whose word saved the king,

is standing at Haman,

I'll say that again,

moreover,

the gallows

that Haman

has prepared for Mordecai,

whose word saved the king,

that's Mordecai,

yet that gallows

is standing at Haman's house,

75 feet high.

And the king said,

in a sense,

oh,

perfect,

hang him on that.

So they hanged Haman

on the gallows

that he had prepared

for Mordecai,

then the wrath

of the king abated.

Now,

as I've said before,

if you're a guest here,

they hanged

is a good word,

but it's not really,

I don't know why

they don't use

the right perfect word,

they impale him,

that's how they kill him.

I don't know how

they would have done it,

but the stake

would have had

a big point at the end

and they drop him on

and I guess they push him

down enough

to make sure he won't fall

and that's how he would

either slowly

or quickly die.

But notice here,

then the wrath

of the king abated.

Now,

this is a big problem

and this is one

of the other things

in this story

which is so psychologically real

because isn't it often

the case,

you bring to politicians

or you bring to somebody

important

or somebody who's powerful

this big problem

and they get the problem

and they do something

and they do something

which is good.

It's not that they do something,

they do something that's good

and then they go,

oh, okay,

well that's finished

and they go to walk away.

But one moment,

Haman's dead,

but what about the genocide?

The king's wrath

has quenched

and as we see

in a moment,

it's as if he goes on,

okay,

well that's dealt with,

let's talk about

some other things now

and you can well imagine,

it's hard to sort of frustrate

but that's why,

you know,

reading stories like this often,

you need to read them slowly

and notice the words

because the words

are very carefully chosen

and you can well imagine

that Esther is,

what?

like,

don't stop now,

like,

what about the genocide?

And it's as if it's gone

from the king's mind.

So,

later on that day,

verse,

chapter 8,

verse 1,

king,

the king,

gave to queen Esther

the house of Haman,

the enemy of the Jews

and Mordecai came before

the king for Esther,

had told the king

what he was to her

and the king took off

his signet ring

which he had taken

from Haman

and gave it to Mordecai

and Esther sent Mordecai

over the house of Haman.

Very briefly,

as you well know,

most of the world

doesn't have property rights

and most of the world

throughout history

hasn't had property rights

and they definitely

didn't have property rights

here.

So,

Haman's widow

can't just say,

well,

you know,

I'm secure

with all my property.

In that day,

if you were considered

a traitor to the king,

all of your properties

forfeit.

All of it.

So,

the king

just says,

all of Haman's property

is now mine

and I'm going to give it

to the queen,

my queen Esther.

and Esther gets Mordecai

to be her manager.

It's still Esther's property,

not Mordecai's.

And at the same time,

Mordecai gets a promotion,

whether it's actually

to the same level of Haman

or just,

but he goes from being

whatever level,

mid-level bureaucrat he was

to like,

at least one of the seven advisors

of the king

and he gets this huge promotion.

but once again,

at the end of chapter,

verse two,

what about the genocide?

I mean,

that's still going to go ahead.

You haven't stopped it,

king.

So,

Esther,

the text is a little bit messy.

What we do know

is that Esther now

does something

that once again

she risks her life

by violating protocol

in a way

that,

well,

literally,

could have the king

could kill her.

And maybe what it is

is that it's a formal function,

function,

but she comes up

and even though

she's the queen,

she can be the queen

with the king

in an intimate way

when they're

in an intimate situation,

but right now

it's a formal situation,

it's like a legal situation

and there's advisors

and there's others

all around

and what she does

is something

that if anybody does it,

they're worthy of death.

She leaves wherever it is

she's standing,

probably off to the side,

and she falls down

in front of the king

and she grabs him

and she starts crying out

and by doing this

she risks her life.

Look what happens

in verse 3 and 4.

Then Esther spoke again

to the king.

She fell at his feet

and wept

and pleaded with him

to avert the evil plan

of Haman the Agagite

and the plot

that he had devised

against the Jews.

When the king held out

the royal scepter

to Esther,

Esther rose

and just pause there

as those of you

who were here earlier

or you know

something about it,

when somebody does something

that's just a huge,

this is a cruel culture.

The sentence to do something

that's inappropriate

like this is death

and if the king

who has his scepter,

so it's a very royal,

this isn't just them

talking about in the chambers,

this is a very,

very formal thing.

I don't know,

it'd be like as if

somebody burst,

left the side,

one of the,

you know,

in parliament

and dashes

and clings to Trudeau

during a formal presentation

or something like that,

only you,

you know,

you can't,

you can't get killed

for that.

I don't know,

maybe you died at Twitter

by a hundred and thousand

angry Twitter tweets

or something,

but that's just not

real death,

that's just honor death,

shame or something.

But anyway,

nobody still answered me

why anybody would care

that 75,000 people

say nasty things

on Twitter about you,

people you don't know,

don't care about

and probably have thought

about it for exactly

one millisecond

and can tweet the opposite

thing a week later

or even a day later.

Nobody,

anyway,

never mind,

that's a side.

We'll get back to the text.

So anyway,

she does something

and the only way that,

the only way that the,

the person's life

will be spared,

if the king does nothing,

you die.

So the only thing

that will spare your life

is if the king

takes his scepter up

and sort of holds it out

to touch you

and that's what saves

your life

and that's what

the king does.

So Esther risks

her life again.

She's passionate

about this,

very courageous.

Her faith

in God's provision

to deliver

makes her bold.

That's what's going on.

Her faith

that the Lord

will deliver his people

makes her bold.

She knows she might die

but she knows

the Lord will deliver

his people

and maybe he's going

to use her

and even if,

even if he's not

going to use her,

even if she dies,

she knows

he's going to deliver

and maybe he will

use her.

It makes her bold.

So she does this

and the king

lifts up his scepter

and touches her

and in verse 5,

Esther rose

and stood before the king

and she said,

if it please the king

and if I have found

favor in his sight

and if the thing

seems right

before the king

and I am pleasing

in his eyes,

let an order

be written

to revoke

the letters

devised by

Haman the Agagite

the son of Hamadatha

which he wrote

to destroy the Jews

who were in all

the provinces

of the king

for how can I bear

to see the calamity

that is coming

to my people

or how can I bear

to see the destruction

of my kindred?

In other words,

king,

you gotta deal

with the genocide.

You gotta deal

with the genocide.

Then king Xerxes

said to queen Esther

and to Mordecai the Jew,

behold,

I have given Esther

the house of Haman

and they have

hanged him on the gallows

because he intended

to lay hands

on the Jews.

But,

this is so classic,

right?

But you may write

as you please

with regard to the Jews

in the name of the king

and seal it

with the king's ring

for an edict

written in the name

of the king

and seal it

with the king's ring

cannot be revoked.

So,

this is part of the problem

that he can't revoke

the order

and he hasn't been able

to figure out

or he had not thought

about it

but he says,

okay,

I'm gonna give you

permission

under my authority

to come up with

a solution to the problem

and this is gonna get us

to the nub of the text

which is very difficult.

So,

what's the solution

going to be?

I don't know,

bring in some mediators,

have people stand

in front

and link arms

to protect the Jews.

Like,

before we get

to the nub

of the problem,

the problem

is we're gonna see

in a moment

is

they're gonna ask,

they're gonna give

the Jewish people

permission

to arm themselves

and attack

those who are gonna

attack them

and kill them.

Bump.

help.

But just as we're

starting to think that

which is a very

horrible thing,

you have to ask

yourself for a second,

this is actually

a real historical event,

like what are the options?

To shame them

on Twitter?

I don't know.

To have like

a peace ceremony?

Like,

I don't know.

Like,

is that gonna work?

People have been given

the official power

and the military,

the police,

the judiciary,

the nobles,

the powerful people,

the local people,

have all been given

permission

to attack and kill

every Jew,

man,

woman,

and child,

old and young,

on the same day.

So,

here's the solution.

Verse 9.

The king's scribes

were summoned

at that time

in the third month,

which is the month

of Sivan,

on the 23rd day.

And an edict

was written

according to all

that Mordecai commanded

concerning the Jews,

to the satraps

and the governors

and the officials

of the provinces

from India

to Ethiopia,

127 provinces,

to each province

in its own script

and to each people

in its own language,

and also to the Jews

in their own script

and language.

Just pause.

All of this language,

if you go back

in chapter 3

and you check it,

you'll see that

it's almost word for word

what happens

when the edict

is being made

to cause genocide.

But an interesting thing

is you realize now

that the original edict

to kill all the Jews

wasn't written in Hebrew.

It's another one of the,

you see,

one of the things

which is so powerful

about this whole story

is it helps you

to understand genocide,

which is a profound evil.

But even at the level

of the edict

to kill all the Jews,

in the very edict itself,

there's a disempowering,

there's a turning

the Jewish people

into nothings,

people who don't exist

because they don't even

send the edict

in their own language

because it's as if

they already

do not exist

as human beings.

And now this edict

which is going to go out

that's going to try

to solve this

in its very language

reinstates them

as human beings.

Their language

is recognized

and they're named

as a people.

And in verse 10,

and he wrote the name

of King Xerxes

and sealed it,

sorry,

he wrote in the name

of King Xerxes

and sealed it

with the king's signet ring.

Then he sent the letters

by mounted couriers

riding on swift horses

that were used

in the king's service,

bred from the royal stud,

saying that the king

allowed the Jews,

here's the awkward passage

which we need to spend

a few minutes

thinking about.

The king allowed

the Jews,

verse 11,

who were in every city

to gather

and defend their lives

to destroy,

to kill,

and to annihilate

any armed force

of any people

or province

that might attack them,

children

and women

included,

and to plunder

their goods.

On one day

throughout all the provinces

of King Xerxes

on the 13th day

of the 12th month

which is the month

of Adar,

a copy of what was written

was to be issued

as a decree

in every province

being publicly displayed

to all people

and the Jews

were to be ready

in that day

to take vengeance

on their enemies.

So the couriers

mounted on their swift horses

that were used

in the king's service,

rode out hurriedly,

urged by the king's command,

and the decree

was issued in Susa,

the cat's citadel.

And we'll just stop

reading there.

So,

most of us

have probably,

you know,

what we learn about Esther

is sanitized versions

that lead out,

leave this out.

So, you know,

here's the thing.

We can't say,

well,

you know,

there's lots of things

that are bad

in the Old Testament

that go on

and one of the ways

that we deal with it

is we just say,

well,

it's just recording

what's happened.

It's not saying

that it was good.

It's just recording

what happened.

We can't say that here

because,

in fact,

the whole book

of Esther

is to,

at the end of it,

is to become

a holiday

which is to be kept

by Jewish people

forever

where they remember

God's delivering them

from the hands

of their enemies

who wanted to kill them.

So it actually

has a very special status,

this holy war

which comes at the end.

It's to be remembered.

So we can't just say,

well,

you know,

that's not that

the Lord was wanting

this to happen.

And this is where

Canadians expect me

to say,

well,

we know better now.

We know better now.

Now,

by the way,

those of you

who weren't watching,

I did that on purpose

because that's what happens

when Christians do that.

When they say,

well,

we know better now,

what we're doing is this.

Well,

we know better now.

In fact,

I want to talk about me.

You know,

I understand why

under pressure

we do things like that.

I won't tell about it now,

but I shared with my wife yesterday.

I had a bit of a witnessing

opportunity yesterday.

Caught me completely

and utterly flat-footed.

I probably said nothing right

and I wish I could get a do-over.

So I understand

when under pressure

we say things like that

and it's a hard topic,

but it's not really

an out that Christians can take.

So I can imagine

my friends

my non-Christian friends

would now

probably want to look at me

and wonder

and maybe say,

George,

do you believe in holy war?

You're a Christian

and you believe the Bible.

So do you believe

that holy war is good

and just

and Christians should do it?

And I,

you can just imagine

that if somebody

actually was to ask me

that question after this,

I know a couple of people

that if they were here

after the service,

if I hadn't outed it,

they would ask me that question

now that I've brought them

to the point

that they see the problem.

And,

and my answer will be,

which I'm going to try

to explain

over the next few minutes,

is,

no,

I don't believe

that holy war

is practiced anymore

and is just,

would never be just today

and it's not something

that Christians

should ever do.

but I understand

what holy war

is pointing to

in the Old Testament

and that it's actually

pointing to something

really important.

Something,

and by the way,

we're going to talk about

this a bit more next week

because this is just

the plan next week

we see what happens

and how it's to be remembered.

And I,

I'd say it's an important

part of salvation history

but now,

with Jesus,

everything changes.

It's not just that

I'm going to say

we know better now,

it's that really,

literally,

everything in the Bible,

all these 39 books

in the Bible

written before

the time of Jesus,

we read them now

to understand

how they help us

to understand

who Jesus is

and why he's important

and what he does for us

and how everything

has changed.

And so,

I understand

why God

had this as part

of the Old Testament

and because of Jesus

it's not something

that Christians

should ever do now

and that's not,

well,

in fact,

that probably would

surprise people,

might have surprised you

that that's what I'm going to say.

But that's,

I think,

what the message

of the text is.

And so,

the question might be,

George,

that,

you know what,

George,

you think that

Holy War

was all right,

I sort of like it,

obviously I like it

that you don't think

it's right now,

but you think,

George,

that just sounds

so arrogant,

it just sounds

so wrong,

it just sounds

so bad,

it just sounds

so inconsistent

to think that

there can be

any excuse

for killing

that's going to involve

women and children

and all these people,

George,

that just seems wrong.

Let me tell you a story,

true story,

a couple of weeks ago,

one of the baristas

that I've talked to

quite a few times

about the Christian faith,

and they can get

very down on themselves,

and I,

there happened to be

a bit of a,

just by coincidence,

a bit of a break,

nobody else up,

I went up to get a refill,

and I said,

oh,

how you doing?

And they said,

well,

how are you doing?

And I said,

well,

I'm doing fine.

They said,

well,

that must be nice.

I don't know,

I'm like,

my life just,

sucks,

and nothing's working

well for me,

and I don't know,

just things seem

like there's no much,

not much value.

And I said to the fellow,

I said,

you know,

you are a person

of vast worth

and are precious,

but you possess

vast worth

and significance.

And he looked at me,

and he said,

well,

that's your opinion.

And I was about

to do the Canadian

thing and said,

well,

that is my opinion.

But somebody must have

been praying for me

at that instant

because just as I was

about to say,

well,

that is my opinion,

I changed what I said

and I said,

no,

it's not my opinion.

I believe it's true.

I believe what I just

said to you about

is like objectively

true.

I said,

it's central

to what I believe

is true.

Like,

I believe

that you're made

in the image of God

and therefore

have this vast

significance and worth

and Jesus loved you

so much

that he came

to die for you.

And they just

looked at me

and another customer

came up

to get a coffee

and they nodded

at me

in a way

that I knew

that the conversation

was over.

I didn't want

to push Bob on it.

He just nodded

and I moved on.

I put my sucra

or whatever it is,

artificial sweetener

in my herbal tea.

It was a refill.

So,

but here's the point

about this story.

You see,

for most Canadians,

when they hear

that you're a Christian

or they hear

you're Muslim,

they hear you're a Buddhist,

what they think

is this,

that religion

is just a matter

of opinion.

It's not talking

about anything true.

It's personal.

It's private.

It's spiritual.

And you know what?

If Buddhism

gets you through

the day,

good for you.

If Islam

gets you through

the day,

good for you.

If reading

the Bible

helps you get

through the day,

good for you.

Like if having

a shot of

Johnny Walkers

as soon as you

get home

gets you through

the day,

good for you.

Like it's just

a matter of taste.

It's just a matter

of preference.

It's just a matter

of what helps you,

gives you some,

helps you get

through the day.

So,

if religion

is just something

about helping you

get through the day,

but it's going

to lead you

to kill people,

then that's

terrible.

Like that's

horrendous.

But you see,

and in a sense

that's why Bob,

when I said to him

that he was of value

and of this

vast significance

and worth

because he was made

in the image of God

and he said my opinion,

he's just saying,

well that's just

a religious way

of speaking.

And I was going

to respond like a Canadian,

but I said no,

I'm saying what I think

is true.

And you see,

that's the big difference.

And to begin

to get your handle on,

and we as Canadians,

Christians,

those of us here,

probably almost all of us

are Christians,

when we hear this text,

part of this Canadian

mindset seeps in

that religion

is just something personal.

It's just something private.

It's just something

about helping you

get through the day.

But you see,

to me,

this is not the,

this,

God is just as real

as an iceberg.

For me to say

that the Lord exists

is the same as for me

to say that Ottawa exists.

I believe

I am saying something

which is completely

and utterly true.

And I am very simple-minded.

When I stand here

in front of you

and I close my eyes

or I open my eyes

and I pray,

I believe

I am talking

literally

to a God

who exists

who can hear me.

And you can act

in response

to my prayers.

When I pray

that ask the Father

and ask the Son

to pour the Holy Spirit

out upon us,

I literally believe

there is a God

who exists

who hears me.

And I believe

that any time

I ask for the Holy Spirit,

for the Father

to send the Holy Spirit,

that he always answers

that prayer with yes.

And I believe

the Holy Spirit

does fall in some way

upon us.

Like,

really does.

When I pray that prayer,

I am very simple-minded.

But if you believe

that the Lord

really exists,

like,

really exists,

then that's going

to have to start

to change

the way you read

the Bible.

It's going to have

to be read

in a different way

and we have to think

about holy war

in a different way

because religion

isn't just about,

Christianity

isn't just one

other religion

about how to get

some comfort

to get through our day

and the nice thing

about reading the Bible

is it's cheaper

than buying

expensive scotch

every day.

And,

you know,

which might be

how some people

look at it.

I wish I could

get into religion

because scotch

is so expensive.

But I just,

I really believe

there is a God

who does exist.

So,

how does that,

how does that

help us to understand

this particular text?

Well,

one more story.

Oh,

I'm running out of time.

I'm going to keep going.

In the book of Acts,

there's a very interesting story

that helps us to understand

this and all the holy war things.

I'm not going to try

to deal with this.

I'm going to cut some things out,

but I'm going to,

I want to stay to it

because it's,

I think the Lord

needs us to gather

around this text

to help us to,

to lose our fear

of reading the Old Testament,

to trust God's word

and to trust Jesus

and recognize

how precious

and important he is.

In the book of Acts,

Saul is a guy,

he's not converted,

he persecutes Christians

and there's this

spectacular story

in Acts 9

about how the Lord

appears to,

to,

to,

to Saul,

like,

appears to Saul

and all everybody sees

is this bright light

and Saul hears a voice

that speaks to him

and he hears the voice

of Jesus speak to him

and the first words

that Jesus says

to Saul

isn't,

why are you persecuting Christians?

He says,

why are you persecuting

me?

Why are you persecuting me?

If you could put

the first point up,

this is,

helps us to understand

a lot about

what goes on

with holy war

in the Old Testament.

Is that when you

seek to destroy,

I'm borrowing the language

that Mordecai had,

you see,

amongst other things,

whatever,

sort of,

whatever Mordecai says

for the Jewish people

to do,

all he does

is duplicate

the language

of those

who are going

to commit genocide.

And so,

when you seek

to destroy,

to kill,

and to annihilate

the Lord's covenant people,

you are really

seeking to destroy,

to kill,

and to annihilate

the Lord himself.

See,

Acts 9 helps us

to understand

the Old Testament.

Jesus' words,

why are you

persecuting me?

Haman

thought

the gods

had given him,

by casting the Purim,

the lots,

had given him

the permission

and the blessing

to kill.

but the gods

that he was

consulting

were idols,

they don't exist,

they're ashes

in your mouth,

and the god

who really

does exist,

it is his

covenant people.

And when Haman

set out

to attack,

to destroy,

to kill,

and to annihilate

the Lord's covenant people,

he was actually

seeking to annihilate,

to destroy,

and to kill

the Lord.

And there's another thing

about the New Testament

that helps us

to understand this as well.

The Old Testament

is all about grace,

believe it or not.

If you go back,

I tell Christians

and non-Christians

this all the time.

I said,

you go back

and look at Exodus,

you look at Deuteronomy,

you look at the Ten Commandments,

and how does it begin?

It begins,

I am the Lord,

your God,

who redeemed you

out of slavery

into Egypt.

I redeemed you.

I redeemed you.

And given that

I have redeemed you,

that I am now

your God

and you are my people,

how shall you

then live

in light of redemption,

which is all by grace

and God's power.

And in the New Testament,

we understand

that when we put our faith

and trust in Jesus,

that he saves us,

he saves me.

And we understand

that even though

we use this one word,

Jesus has saved me.

When I put my faith

and trust in him,

he saves me.

There's in fact,

implicit in that,

three different tenses

of the word saves.

On one hand,

I can say

that when I put my faith

and trust in Jesus,

he saved me.

I am made right with his.

I am adopted.

I am given new life

from above.

I am his by adoption

and grace.

He will never let me go.

I am saved.

I am justified.

I am made right with God.

But at the same time,

I am,

I can say

that he is saving me

right now.

That I am becoming,

as redemption grips me,

that I am to become,

as the gospel grips me,

as it shapes me,

as it nudges me

into new ways of living,

as it draws me

into new ways of living,

as it shapes me

into new ways of living,

as I become more like Jesus,

as I become more fit for heaven,

I am being saved right now.

Because it's not that

he just saved me

a long time ago

and then he leaves me alone.

No, I am being saved right now.

The Holy Spirit indwells me.

I am being saved right now.

And at the same time,

I know there are so many times

my salvation is,

I screw up.

I have to confess my sins.

I have to come to,

I need to call out

for more grace and mercy.

Not that I need more.

It's all been given to me

in Jesus when I've been redeemed.

I'm being saved.

But I also know

that in the future,

I will be saved.

I will be glorified.

I will live in a new heaven

and a new earth

with a resurrection body.

I have been saved.

I am being saved.

I will be saved.

And that helps us to see

in a picture way

what's going on

in the Old Testament

where before Jesus,

part of the preparation

for Jesus coming

is that the Lord

redeems one people,

not the smartest people,

not the brightest people,

not the holiest people,

He saves out of love.

And if you could put up

the next point,

then we see that

in the Old Testament,

it's true that

the Lord has delivered,

is delivering,

and will deliver

His covenant people.

The Lord has delivered,

is delivering,

and will deliver

His covenant people.

And that means that

not only did He redeem

the Jewish people

out of slavery

and bondage

in Egypt,

in Egypt,

but He will continue

to deliver His people

because He is their God

and He will deliver them.

And so in the face

of a new Amalekite

who desires to annihilate

the covenant people

without them realizing

that they are actually

trying to annihilate

the true God

that does exist,

He says,

I will deliver

My people.

I will deliver

My people.

And it's only

in those cases

in the Old Testament

that holy war

is to be understood.

It's a consequence

of the fact

that the Lord

will deliver His people.

If you could put up

the next point,

how is it that Jesus

changes everything?

We've already seen it

in some very small ways.

But the thing

which is so remarkable,

we're going to talk

about this more next week,

that's so remarkable,

is that when Jesus

comes amongst us

as a fulfillment

of an Old Testament prophecy,

He is called,

in the book of Isaiah,

they say that there will be

one born one day

whose name is Emmanuel,

which means

the Lord with us.

It means He's with us.

It means He's among us.

It means He's for us.

It means He comes amongst us

as one of us.

And so when we are

to understand

as Christians,

is that when Jesus comes,

well, He comes not just

to be with us,

but to save us.

And He saves us

by standing

in our place.

What do Christians

recognize

that in my place

condemned,

Emmanuel,

the Lord with us,

stood?

that you see,

in a sense,

every holy war story

in the Old Testament,

on one hand,

we can look at it

and say,

that's a picture

of the fact

that the Lord

will continue

to deliver me

and that one day

He will deliver me

into His eternal kingdom.

But Christians

can't only look

at the Old Testament

and look at the Jewish people.

They also have to look

at those who aren't Jewish.

and they have to understand

that on one hand,

that enemy of the Lord

who wants to kill the Lord

is me.

In a sense,

every Christian

is to say,

I am Haman.

And what we understand

in this profound text

is the Lord

seeing our deep need

comes amongst us

and bears the death,

the penalty,

the justice

that we could not withstand.

And He does it

to save us.

If you put up

the final point, please.

And this doesn't mean

to,

this isn't sounding arrogant

or anything like that.

It's not that

there's nothing special

about me.

And there's nothing special

about Canadians.

I just made a,

if you could,

see,

here,

no one can enter

the Lord's new covenant

by their birth,

by their accomplishments,

by their say-so,

or by their connections.

Nobody can.

But if you receive

the gospel,

and that you

is any you,

there is no person

in the world

so rich and successful

and holy

that they do not need

the gospel.

And there is nobody

that we will ever meet

who is so broken,

so forgotten,

so worthless,

so passed over,

so defeated

that this offer

is not made to them.

But if you receive

the gospel

with repentance