God’s Protection - Esther 8:1-17 - Sunday Sermon

Good morning everyone.

>> Am I loud? I I feel loud.

>> I'm loud without a mic.

Welcome to Boon Ferry. My name is Mati

Scaring. I see quite a few new people

here and uh I'd love for you to fill out

a welcome card if you're comfortable

with that. Give us whatever information

you want. If you turn it into the

connection table on your right as you're

walking down the stairs or right before

the stairs, uh we've got a gift card for

you. Usually some card like to Dutch

Bros or something like that. Not sure

exactly what it is right now, but um

it's just a way for us to connect and

you connect with us if you want to know

more more about the church. Um we're at

a size as a church where I think people

sort of assume pastors are really busy

and pastors of large churches sometimes

have more staff than we have people

attending our church. And so they even

like Ay Creek for example I think has

more staff than there are days in the

year. So even if Brett wanted to meet

with uh with every single one, he'd be

having to meet with a staff member every

single year. So it's it becomes

impossible at some point for a pastor to

have a close relationship to everyone in

the church. But we're not at that point

yet. We love having people over to our

house. Uh we love hanging out. We love

going to lunch after church, things like

that. So um don't think I'm too busy to

meet with you. I'm I'm just really not.

I've got time and uh I get paid for it.

So,

all right. Well, um Oh, we also use our

welcome cards as prayer requests and the

prayer team really enjoys praying for

your um requests and we also love

hearing a report of when God has

answered those prayers. So, if you have

anything that you'd like to pray for,

nothing too big, nothing too small, let

us know. turn that in also at the

connection table and you will get prayed

for. All right, I'm going to go ahead

and pray and we can get right into

Esther chapter 8. We're doing all of

Esther 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8 1-1 17 today and there's only

10 chapters, so we're marching right

through. We'll be finished in June and

then we're going to the Psalms for the

summer and we'll be doing the Psalms for

about eight weeks every summer in June

and July or excuse me, July and August

for the foreseeable future. I'm guessing

it's probably going to be almost a

decade of the Psalms. So, I'm looking

forward to that. Um,

yeah, let me pray. Father, thank you for

the opportunity on a beautiful day like

this, a day that you've made and we can

rejoice in it to look into your word.

Thank you for the hunger in our

congregation. It's a huge blessing to me

to preach to a congregation that's

excited and interested and passionate

about your word and what it has to say

for our lives. I pray that we'd hear

what you're saying to our church through

your spirit through your word today in

Esther chapter 8 very clearly that we

Esther 8 · chapter mention

would know how it applies to our

individual lives and that we'd have the

power to actually live according to what

we're learning and not just be hearers

of the word but doers. I pray these

things in Jesus name. Amen. I want to

start off with a story about an elder

meeting the elders just had this last

week uh because it connects to something

in Esther 8 and it's also just a awesome

God moment. A moment where God really

showed up in a way that just couldn't be

coincidental and all the elders

recognized it. Um and I'm going to tell

you more about what the elders were

praying about at another time. I want to

focus on chapter 8 today. So I'm going

to curtail the details, but one thing

that we were praying for was just Boon's

fair protection for Boon Fairy. Uh

protection over our finances, protection

over our relationships, protection over

the teaching, protection in every way.

Uh the elders and I are passionate about

protecting the congregation and

protecting what God is building here.

And that passion comes from him and it

comes from his word. It's not a passion

I had while while I was making football

an idol at all. I couldn't have cared

less about serving the Lord in uh

building up his church and protecting uh

the church through whatever means he's

given me to do that. But now I'm

passionate about it. And so we actually

went and prayed through every single

room in the church, including the broom

closets and the stairs closet. And

prayers for those different areas come

to mind. You might think, oh, why are

you praying for the closet underneath

the uh stairs? But it has a bunch of

construction materials in it. And so one

thing we were praying for was that we

would have the means to be able to take

care of some of our capital um

improvements that we need to do. We

we've found leaks. I don't know if you

can tell because our team did a great

job. Now now it might bother you, but

there's a streak down. This is um lime,

like sandy lime paint. That's what gives

it kind of almost the concrete look. And

there's a leak there. And this is

drywall up here, too. So a leak destroys

things. It's one thing if it's leaking

from cuz those boards go directly and

that I don't even know that there's

underllayment. It's just roofing tile.

There might be underllayment, but we're

having some leaking issues on our roof.

Um, as our church grows, uh, we need to

take care of the parking lot and

potentially put in a couple uh, more

parking spots. And so, we just have

certain things that we're looking to do.

And just looking at the construction

materials prompted that. Uh, one of we

started in the prayer room. One of the

first rooms we actually went to was um

Becky Grandon's office and she's our um

operations manager, but within the scope

of her work, she also does the budgeting

for the church. And so we prayed for the

finances. So we're in the office praying

for the finances. I'll be giving you an

update. There's some um making up we

need to do this year in terms of our

giving oblig obligations, the things

that we have built into the budget that

are um we can't just get rid of like

fixed overhead costs kind of things. And

um so we prayed that we'd be able to

make up that budget because a lot of the

financial work happens in the office.

And uh then we walked downstairs and by

the time we'd made it into like kind of

the second um uh furnace room uh and

janitorial room, I had gotten a little

ding on my um on my email like I'd

gotten an email and I clicked on it and

I looked and I don't I don't see who

gives what, but I do get updates when

giving comes in electronically and there

was a $10,000 gift

have it got just got deposit. So, it was

like minutes after we prayed that ding,

$10,000. And I talked to Becky about

that. Becky's the only person that sees

who gives what. She has to issue tax

returns. So, there's no way. The elders

are protected from that cuz we don't

want the kind. It's just like we're

recusing ourselves in finding that out.

Um uh we do think it's it's a faithful

thing to give sacrificially. Uh but we

don't want to know who gives what. And I

think that's good. Um however, in this

case, uh Becky, I think, didn't even

recognize who the person is. they don't

attend our church.

Um, and so that just seemed like all the

more of a God thing. So I showed the

elders and they were just like really

and rejoicing and just the immediate

answer to prayer. We felt helped by him.

Yeah, you can clap for God.

Absolutely.

So, as we were doing, I think the most

powerful thing anyone can ever do in the

pursuit of serving the Lord with the

intent to protect others from evil. Um,

the schemes of the enemy, uh, the kinds

of works of the flesh that destroy

relationships, dissension and

disunityity and things like that. As we

were doing that, which is a heart God

has given us, didn't come from us, it

came from him to love the church in that

way. Uh we also experienced his powerful

help with immediacy and the same thing

happens for Esther um today and and she

she is has such a passion to serve uh

her people as the queen and to represent

them to the king and to save them from

this terrible evil plan that Hmon had

come up with. And she finds help from

God with favor with the king. And that

then leads to people rejoicing. Uh, and

not just Jews. People in Susa that

weren't Jews were rejoicing too. And

I'll show you that. And so, if you

remember nothing else today, I always

like to give you my main point up front

and repeat it multiple times. It's that

when leaders are passionate about

protecting others from evil, God helps

them and the people rejoice.

When leaders are passionate about

protecting others from evil, God helps

them and the people rejoice. And you

might think, well, what does this have

to do with me? I'm not a leader. um

that's that's probably not true. You may

not be a leader with significant

responsibility. Uh you may be in a in a

institution as an employee where you're

not really in a leadership role, but for

one, you always have influence with

others. Mothers, especially young

mothers, you're definitely leading your

children. Husbands are leading their

family. If if you're in a job where um I

was just talking to someone in the

congregation and since I didn't ask for

I'll just keep it uh anonymous but this

is a positive thing. Um uh this guy was

having a a review uh with management and

they were saying look everybody looks up

to you as a leader.

And uh they said in fact people have

made comments about how when they know

you're uh going to be working when

you're scheduled to work they're excited

to come to work. Um that first of all

that was such a awesome encouragement to

this person but uh they also said one

thing we've noticed that you sometimes

come a little bit late and since you're

such a leader and have so much influence

and I don't think he's in a management

position since you're such a leader and

have so much influence uh we're asking

for you to be a better model of that

because people say well if so and so

does it since they looked up to you I

can do it too. So in any situation

people are looking at how you live and

you have an example to them and and if

you're passionate about protecting

others from evil that is a leadership

example even just to peers and what it

leads to is gaining God's help and then

people rejoice people around you will

rejoice when uh when they see that

protection coming to fruition.

So you can think in any kind of context

whether it's a work or your marriage. Um

you know and wives can protect their

husbands as well. There's there's a lot

of ways in which uh Esther was

protecting the king as well that we

could talk about. And so um kids can

protect their parents. Uh we have a

responsibility to one another to be like

a brother or sister's keeper. And you

might see someone that's overwhelmed and

maybe being tempted. And one kind word

or one redirective word or one

encouraging word is the very thing that

protects them from falling to that

temptation. That is also a type of

protection uh from evil. You might even

think forgiving someone or apologizing

to someone being a way that we can be

passionate serving others and protecting

them from evil because when you don't

forgive someone, a bitter roots springs

up and it defiles relationship

relationships uh it it it breaks them uh

at a at an attitude at an emotional

level. There's lots of different ways to

protect people. Um so whether that

protection is literally physical like it

is for some of you in your jobs um

protecting other people as a law

enforcement officer or whether it's a

spiritual protective thing all of us

have a role to play in that. Let me

state it one more time. When leaders are

passionate about protecting others from

evil, God helps them and the people

rejoice. So let's get right into it. You

can see right from the get-go just how

passionate Esther is. Just in terms of

review, um, Hmon's plot has been

exposed. We watched God do that through

Esther in chapter 7, and he's been

executed. And so, that's where we are in

the story. And remember, his plot was

not just to kill a population of like a

a small region of Jews. Uh, if you

looked at the map, I showed you guys

guys that in the first sermon in the

introductory sermon. If you looked at

the map, the uh Persian Empire, empire

of the Persians and the Mes spans

basically the whole known and populated

world. So it's basically a global threat

to the Jews to have them be killed. And

this edict was made uh in a way. King

Xerxes or Hassaweris as he's named here

um was was tricked. He did not know that

it was the Jewish people that Hmon was

talking about. Hmon made it sound like

they were just not law-abiding and that

they were rebellious against Xerxes rule

and so it was best for them to just be

annihilated. Uh but I want to mention a

detail because it said that it's men,

women, and children that were to be

annihilated. So imagine finding out,

let's just say it was in America that a

law was passed that on a certain date in

the future, maybe a year from now.

That's kind of what it was with with

Esther. At this point in the story,

we're about nine months out and before

this the the month of Adar and the day

that Hmon had chosen. Um, imagine that a

law was passed and the Supreme Court

didn't overturn it that anyone can just

go out and kill conservative Christians,

kill Christians in general, um, and kill

your children and kill kill all the

women as well. Imagine living under that

fear. And in this case, you can't go

anywhere. they couldn't go anywhere

else. There was nowhere to really flee

because Persia was in charge of

everything. So, let's say you can't get

out of a can't get out of America as

well. Um, but you knew about a

politician

and he or she was not in the highest

rank, but you knew they're Christian and

working for you and that they cared

about your life just as much as they

cared about their own. That'd be pretty

rare thing. I'm not personally

convinced.

I don't I ought not to be too jaded. I

am sure there are politicians that care

about the lives of Americans just as

much as they do their own. However, it

seems to be very rare these days and

America seems to be getting pretty jaded

about that. Like no politician can be

trusted whatsoever and that's kind of

been a similar sent sentiment but it

seems like now especially kind of postco

era uh politicians are more distrusted

than ever in terms of having the best

interest of the people in mind. Um, so

Esther again shows up as a rare diamond

of a woman because she's now a political

leader and so is Morai that actually

care about the lives of these Jews as

much as they care about their own.

Esther's already proven that by putting

her life at peril for walking into the

king unannounced, which there was a law

against that that you'd be put to death

with the only exception being if the

king says no, you don't have to put this

person to death. So, she already

sacrificed our li her life. And that's

one of the things I want you to notice

even before we get into chapter 8 verse

one.

She's not just coming to this moment

where she has an opportunity to ask the

king and beg him for the lives of her

people um with an all of a sudden

transformed character. She's been

surrendering all the way along since the

very beginning of the story. She

surrendered her very life. And anything

I say beyond this is locked away from

you if you don't start with this. If you

want to have passion to serve others in

the service of God, if you want to have

passion to protect them from evil, you

have to start with self-sacrifice,

you have and and it's not extreme to say

this, but you have to give up everything

for Jesus Christ. Everything. If you're

not giving up everything, you're really

just saying he's not actually God.

because it's reasonable for God to tell

us to give up everything for him. It's

reasonable for him to say that. That's

not extreme. He's God. He's God. On top

of it, he died for our sin even though

he wasn't guilty of it. So, he's proven

that he cares about our protection. Uh

we learned, I think it was about a week

ago, that that protection is actually

also from God's wrath because he's a

just God and he will not leave evil

unpunished. And so Jesus protects us

from God's wrath by taking on the wrath

of God. Uh substituting his

righteousness for our sin and vice

versa, our sin uh for his righteousness

and his righteousness for us. So

we have a king who's worthy of our very

lives, worthy of putting our lives at

risk, worthy of laying our lives down

altogether. You start there,

there is a huge opportunity to continue

growing in passion. You could lay your

life down at one time, but then just

stop getting into his word, which is

like our daily food, our our daily bread

in a way. Um, and and that passion will

again. So, however, you could be in

God's word regularly and not be very

passionate about God because you're not

surrendering your whole life. So, if

you've been with us through Esther, you

know Esther surrendered her whole life

and you know she was mentored by Mori

and you can tell based on what she knows

about what's right and wrong that she's

she understands God's law and his word

and she's a godly woman. Um, and so just

let's just read here in chapter 1 maybe

1 through 4 or chapter 8 1-4 and look at

just how passionate she is. Verse one of

chapter 8. On that day, King Ahazawaris

gave the queen Esther

uh gave to Queen Esther the house of

Hmon, the enemy of the Jews. And

Morortei came before the king for Estra

told what he was to her. And the king

took off his signate ring which he had

taken from Hmon and gave it to Mordei.

And Esther set Morortei over the house

of Hmon. And we know by the end of

chapter 10 that Morai is basically

second in command. And it seems like

that happens right here because it

seemed earlier that there were no

officials higher than Hmon other than

the king. And so Morai has just been

catapulted just like Joseph. He's like

the viceroy of Egypt, viceroy of Persia.

Just an amazing thing God has done. We

already see God's help there uh to

Esther and Mori. And Esther spoke again

to the king. She fell at his feet and

wept and pleaded with him to avert the

evil plan of Hmon the Agite and the plot

that he had devised against the Jews.

Esther and Morai are already safe.

They're in a fortress. They're in a

citadel. They're high officials, queen

and viceroy.

So their lives are saved, right? There's

no way the king was going to allow them

to be to be killed. And yet look how

much Esther actually cares about the

lives of Jews she doesn't know and has

never met.

Jews hundreds maybe even thousands of

miles away.

And she cares so much that she falls at

the feet of Xerxes and weeps and pleads

with him to avert the evil plan that

Hmon the Agite uh had had devised

against the Jews.

I I can say right now that I'm not that

passionate about protecting others from

evil. I'm passionate about it, but I I

just have all throughout Esther been so

impressed with her faithfulness, her

humility, and in this case, her passion.

And so, I want to ask you a question.

Think about what you're passionate

about. Our family's going on a camping

trip. We're going to be near a lake. A

friend of mine is an avid fisherman.

Takes me fishing and we're going to be

going fishing and I've I don't know why,

but I've always kind of wanted to catch

a cookie and so does he and they have

cocon there and we've got a bunch of

rods. The kids are going to be able to

fish and the more I go fishing, the more

I enjoy it. I think it'd probably be

overblown to say I'm passionate about

fishing. I'm passionate about hunting.

Big game hunting in Oregon has become a

passion of mine, but I'm starting to

grow somewhat of a passion for fishing.

I really enjoy it. In particular, I

enjoy hanging out with friends. You get

a lot of time talking. Sometimes you

don't catch anything, you know. Um, so I

really enjoy those relationships and

having something to do while we're

talking to with another with one

another. And I just the feeling of

having a fish hit your rod or I guess

the bait and and then reeling it in and

the excitement of finding out the size

of the fish. I really do enjoy that. Uh

so those are kind of hobbies. What are

you actually passionate about? Are you

passionate about sports? I'm mentioning

things that are not wrong to be

passionate about, but like what does

your heart actually get excited about?

Really good meals, going out. I get

excited about that, too.

um

sports, hobbies of any kind, time with

your kids, time with friends. What are

you passionate about? And now think

about that in relationship to a specific

kind of serving of the Lord and that's

protecting others. Do you find yourself

comparatively like in this case I

mentioned hunting. Am I at least as

passionate about serving the Lord in

relation to to protecting others as I am

hunting?

you know, and and and if not,

something's wrong, even though that's

not it's not bad to be hunting, to be uh

uh passionate about hobbies. You know,

it's it's great to be emotionally

engaged in the things that you do that

you enjoy. Um

how passionate are you about serving the

Lord and protecting others, whether

that's your children, your wife, your

husband, your friends, your church,

your co-workers, your boss, whoever it

is that you might have influence in

protecting in that way. And and it seems

to me like there's somewhat of a

correlation between how passionate

people are that and how much they

recognize that God's helping them in

that. When you're really passionate

about serving the Lord, you quickly see

just how much he's benefited you and how

much he's helping you and answering your

prayer. But when you're not particularly

passionate, especially if you just have

sort of apathy going on in that area in

relationship to protecting others and

serving them in that way, um you start,

it's a strange thing. the flesh starts

asserting itself and you start thinking

that you're entitled to God's help with

things and then you're upset with him

when you're not getting it even though

you're not even serving him in the way

that he's made very clear he wants to be

served uh according to his will

according to his word and so it's kind

of this vicious cycle where you're not

because you're not that passionate about

serving the Lord uh you don't recognize

just how much he's helping you so you

don't pray as much and so you don't

spend as much time in his word because

the power isn't active in your life

because you're not really surrendered

all that way. So when I say that it's

really that passion, how do you get that

passion? How do you care that much about

other people? How do you actually

consider others as more important than

yourself in terms of service? And the

answer is surrendered engagement with

God's word. If you read God's word and

really surrender to it, you're going to

learn all kinds of things about God's

character, all kinds of things about

your own sin, any situation in your

life. It says that we've been given

everything we need for life and

godliness through his great and precious

promises. Everything we need for life

and godliness. You got an issue that's a

problem, the word has the solution.

Sometimes it's actually the word will

show you it's not about let's say you're

in a time of like financial crisis you

don't have enough call that famine uh

the word says that we can do all things

through him who strengthens us and that

is be content in this case in context

even with being brought low. So

sometimes the solution God's word is

not, hey, do this and then you'll have

more. You know, if if you're if if

you're your own worst enemy financially,

then the word has lots to say in the

Proverbs about how to manage your money,

how to work hard and be diligent and not

get over your skis in terms of desire

for things. Um, but if it's just kind of

come upon you,

if you are entrusting yourself to the

Lord, did you know you can feel entirely

content even though you don't even have

enough food to eat? Paul said that's the

secret that he can do all things through

him who strengthens him. And Paul would

be in chains and uh Romans were not uh

known for treating the prisoners well.

So, he I'm sure was hungry when he was

in prison and he learned how to be

content in that anyway. and and that's a

victory if you think of contentment in

the Lord as victory as actually drawing

on the strength of Jesus Christ in your

life to be content in any and all

circumstances. Um, and if you see being

discontented and especially having a

pattern where I think we call that like

malcontent when you're just constantly

not content as a loss. Um and and a loss

that harms your relationship to God and

to others to God because he's always

given you everything you need uh to deal

with any and every situation with a

right heart attitude but also harms

others because your witness to others

ought to be that God is over abundantly

enough for you. No matter you know whom

have I in heaven but you and on earth

there is nothing I desire beside you.

That that the reality of that as how

deep it's anchored in your heart gets

really exposed in times of famine. Was

it really true that you love him more

than anything else on earth? And

compared to him, you have nothing of

value? Well, when we're content, even in

difficult circumstances, it shows others

how good God is. Did you know that

contentment

um is just a being a model of

contentment by drawing on the strength

of Christ is a way to protect others

from discontentedness.

You know, in marriage, discontentment

with your partner, I think, is often

what's cited, at least in my experience

in in uh marriage counseling as as

things that make for a road leading to

divorce.

Cuz who feels love when you're

discontented with them? Nobody.

And maybe you're discontented because

you don't feel loved by that person. So,

like, are you content with your husband?

Are you content with your wife? They're

not perfect. They do not meet all of

your needs. They do frustrating things.

They're selfish sometimes.

And sometimes they say mean things. And

yet we already know that contentment

that comes from the spirit is not

subject to circumstance

or changes in details in your life. It's

a spiritual thing. So take any fruit of

the spirit and you can apply it in terms

of being a protective model towards

others. And this happens to me. I'll get

grumbly in my heart and and somebody is

just so joyful even though their

situation is worse than mine and it's so

convicting and then all of a sudden I

repent and ask God for forgiveness for

grumbling in that way and being

complainy and I'm filled again with the

spirit and I the day brightens up like

the clouds parted. I know you've

experienced things like this probably in

every type of different spiritual fruit.

So passion and all good things in

relationship to being fully in on

serving the Lord no matter how hard it

gets that comes from God's word. So if

you're not in his word um the way to

become more passionate about his word is

to be in his word. And you might think

well that's kind of circular reasoning

and it definitely is. God is the one who

gives you passion for God. That is how

that works. Nobody else can fill you

with passion to serve the Lord other

than the Lord. And he does that through

his word. Um, and by the way, right now,

if you're not passionate about his word

and you're feeling apathetic and you're

kind of in a dry season, um, I'm not

feeling that way myself, but I've felt

that way before. You almost can't

imagine being excited about being in his

word. And so, it feels like a slog to

commit to reading in the morning or

whenever you have time and to pray. But

as you do, it becomes more exciting to

me. I was excited to share with you how

God brought in $10,000 from an unknown

source right as we were still praying

and only minutes after we'd asked for

it. Like God is so good. I was looking

forward to coming and worshiping this

morning. And I didn't have to like drum

up the interest not to go through the

emotions. It's real. It's genuine. It's

from the spirit. And you can have it

too, but it comes through God's word. So

everything else in my sermon will

already be worthless if you're lacking

the passion to serve the Lord by

protecting others from evil. But you've

been given the solution now. And so make

a plan. How about today? You guys love

practical uh applications. Uh I never

get more encouraging remarks after the

sermon than when I make a PLA practical

application like really practical down

to earth rubber meets the road. So, how

about today after lunch, you decide that

before you do anything else, you're

going to spend 15 minutes in the word.

Maybe just go to the Gospel of John.

Especially if it's kind of a hard

startup, just start reading the Gospel

of John. Maybe go where we do a Bible

read through called Word Like Fire. You

can join it at any time. The goal is

just to embed more Bible reading in our

daily lives. find out. You can go to the

website, go to Word Like Fire under the

resources tab and find out what the

passage is for today and read that. It's

usually less than three chapters. Will

take you less than 15 minutes. And then

pray this prayer. God, fill me with

passion to serve you. God, fill me with

passion to serve you. That's it. Just do

that and watch what God does. And I I if

I remember, I may ask again next week.

Did you want to read the Bible more on

Monday after doing that today? I think

you will. There's one practical

application. But back to the story.

Esther already has that passion. And you

know, it reminds me of Nehemiah who's

totally dis uh uh not discontent, but um

his countenance is down. He's he's

totally distraught and sad and grieved

by the news that the wall of Jerusalem

is still not been rebuilt. And

so

sometimes passion to serve others won't

look exactly like won't look exactly

like how Esther was serving. It's it's

whatever protection people need. Um and

so you're also an individual with a

personality given by God and and if

you're a Christian with spiritual gifts

and you will have a heart for thing for

things that others don't necessarily. So

maybe when you walk by a person who is

begging for change on the side of the

road, your heart is just supernaturally

filled with mercy for them. That might

be because you have the gift of mercy

and just the way that someone made you.

Or maybe you find someone drifting off

in the area of doctrine and because you

have gifts in the area of knowledge and

the way that God's made your

personality, you really hone in on

doctrine and you can talk to them and

guide them away from the dangerous

doctrine and you're passionate about

that. Different body parts in the

church, different people with different

gifts, different personalities and

different callings will get passionate

in different ways about serving the Lord

in a protective way. So you don't have

to like, well, I'm not ever going to be

used to like save someone's life. First

of all, you don't know that. You don't

know that. You ever talk to an alcoholic

about how they just need to get free of

it and you want to help them in any way,

right? Well, you may be saving their

life by talking to them about that. So,

and and talking to them about the Lord

and how he can spiritually help them

break the chains of addiction, right?

So, all kinds of different ways to be

passionate about that. And uh you're

going to get God's help because he never

changes and he's always faithful and so

did Esther. So I want us to think

emotionally here. I'm not looking to

like manipulate into tears, but think

about having the kind of passion. It

might be easiest to think about someone

you really really love and their life is

under deep threat and you're talking to

somebody that can just wipe the thread

out and take it away. And so you're just

filled with emotion and begging this

person to help. That's where she was

when the king held out the go when the

king held out the golden scepter to

Esther. Verse four, Esther rose and

stood before the king and she said, "If

it pleased the king and and here if if I

was a movie director, I would give the

actor notes unless they already knew.

Uh, I still want you recovering in this

scene from weeping. Right? So, she's

talking now, but she's probably short of

breath. And you can still see the

emotion on her eyes. If it pleased the

king, and if I have found favor in his

sight, and if the thing seems right

before the king, and if I'm pleasing in

his eyes, let an order be written to

revoke the letters devised by Hmon the

Agagite, the son of Hamadatha, which he

wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all

the provinces of the king.

So now she's gotten her request out.

There's just one huge problem and this

is even directly from Daniel and and

maybe a couple other places in

scripture. So it's not just a historical

detail. Even the scripture says that the

law says that the laws of the Persians

and the Mes cannot be revoked.

I don't know who decided that. It seems

like a terrible idea. I'm guessing it

was decided to just give even greater

weight to like an emperor god king. like

if he says it, that's that.

It obviously creates all kinds of legal

problems and contradictions when you

find out that that law wasn't actually

having a good effect and you need to

somehow do something, but you can't

change the law. But their laws cannot be

revoked and yet she's begging him to

revoke this law. And here's the king's

answer. Um, actually she's still talking

to verse six. For how can I bear to see

the calamity that is coming on my

people? or how can I bear to see the

destruction of my kindred?

Before we even go on to what King

Asserus responds, I just so much passion

to protect her people. She's already

protected. She's literally in a palace

fortress and has basically bodyguards

with her at almost all times, these

Unix. So, she and Morai, her her closest

kin, are protected. She's weeping for

people she's never met whose children

she does not know and she's never had

any contact with. That's how much she

cares. Even Queen Esther didn't get this

passion just from herself that comes

from God. It comes from God. I won't

take credit for this application which

another really practical application

here. Um I don't I can see the face but

I don't know the name. It's not a famous

Christian, but I was watching this on

YouTube. And um he said that so many of

the Bible's commands are

fulfilled

when you have the intent and actually

give good action and words to the intent

to make others pe other people feel

important. He said, I'm not talking

about flattery. The Bible doesn't allow

for flattery. It's a form of deception.

But when you make people like when you

decide in the morning, hey, everyone I

come into contact today, I'm going to

speak to them in a way that's going to

make them feel important. It's going to

show them that I care about them.

It's not a quote, but I'll paraphrase

something that somebody said about Billy

Graham. It was around the time that he

had passed and they had kind of like a

memorial video of both celebrities and

people that just your average people who

had met Billy Graham and they took

little recordings of them saying

something about Billy Graham. And almost

every one of them said this, but there

was a particular woman that you could

tell not a whole lot of people ever made

feel important. But she got a

conversation with Billy Graham and she

said, "I'll never forget it. He made me

feel like I was valuable to him. He

looked me right in the eyes. He listened

to what I had said. He asked me about my

life and he prayed for me. I'll never

forget it. I'll never forget it. I

thought I c I can do that. I can make

people feel important. And you know the

best way I think I can do that

personally, but it's probably true for

everyone is listen to them and show

interest in their lives.

Listen to them and show interest in

their lives.

You could be protecting someone from

terrible, deep, pit level discouragement

just by having a conversation with them,

showing interest in their lives and the

things they're interested in with real

eye contact. You know what? One of the

things I think is the greatest enemy of

that modern day busyness.

Just always being so busy.

I this woman was shocked that Billy

Graham of all people, one of the most

famous preachers of all time, so much

responsibility, so many important things

to be about, was focusing exclusively on

her and showing interest in her life.

I'm so impressed by that. I want to be

more like that. I want that said about

me when I die. He made me feel so

valuable. You know why I really am so

impressed by that? because it just

reminds me so much of Jesus.

You read through the gospels, one thing

that's common in all of them is Jesus

loving care for he's God. These are his

creatures, every single one. And he

cares for them. He's moved to compassion

for them because he says they're like

sheep without a shepherd and they're

harassed by the shepherds they have

because those are all legalists.

So, he's moved to compassion for them.

He cares about them. He spent time with

the woman at the well. He cares about

their physical needs. He cares even more

about the needs of their soul, their

eternal destiny. And so at times he has

to tell them, look, you're just

following me for bread. That's it. But

he also says, I am the bread of life

and I'm the water of life. I'm I'm the

the well from which you drink that leads

to eternal life and you'll never be

thirsty again. He says to the the woman

at the well. He cared about individuals.

He cared deeply. He made them feel

important. And he's the most important

person who's ever lived on earth. So

maybe if God in the flesh makes people

feel important, we should make that an

effort, too. And it is a protective

thing to do. There's so many people that

are discouraged. I forget who said it

but men uh

many men I I I think it's many men is

the quote live a life of quiet

desperation

feeling like they're not contributing

anything of value like their life is not

really worth living and because they're

grinders they keep working they keep

working and they put on a happy face but

that's how they feel deep down and maybe

maybe just you paying real interest

listening listening to them and focusing

on them and showing interest in their

lives. Maybe that's the thing that

actually helps them see, no, people do

care and God cares because this person

is a servant of the Lord. And you

protect them from the kinds of

devastating consequences that come from

long-term depression.

Man,

let's add that. I won't keep adding to

the list, but make somebody feel

important today. Not by flattery, but by

paying attention, listening to them, and

showing interest in their lives and the

things that they're interested in.

That was the kind of person Esther was.

That's the kind of person I want to be

because that's who our Lord is. So,

going on verse six again, 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? Then King

Ahasser said to Queen Esther and to Mori

the Jew, "Behold, I have given Esther

the house of Hmon, and they have hanged

him on the gallows because he intended

to lay hands on the Jews. 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

sealed with the king's ring cannot be

revoked." There it is. He can't just

say, "Be gone with the first edict." It

has to stay in effect. Okay. But he

gives Esther the power to write a new

edict. Okay. And ends up being Morai

that writes it. So I kind of think that

other than God, the person that used was

used most in uh Esther's life to fill it

with a kind of passion, sacrificial

passion to serve other people is Morai.

That's where she got it from on a human

level. Morai is right here working for

the very same thing in a way like a

wingman, you know, cuz even though he's

second in command, so there's ways he

has more authority than Esther, there

are also ways that Esther has more

authority than him. Like she's the

king's beloved, so she's got his ear in

a way that no other man does. Uh

husbands, you know what that's like.

It's uh uh we ought to listen to our

wives more than any other woman. Uh

that's who's God given us as our as our

helping partner and as our on mission

co-pilot so to speak uh wing wingwoman

wingman. And I see Morai in a lot of

ways as just a absolute perfect example.

Well not perfect great example of being

a good wingman.

So here's uh what Esther I it's Morai

that comes up with it but I'm sure they

talked about it and they come up with a

plan. Uh verse 8, but you uh verse 9.

And the king's scribes were summoned at

that time in the third month with the

months of Sivon uh on the 23rd day and

an edict was written according to all

that Mori commanded concerning the Jews

to the satraps and the governors and

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 script and their language.

Remember Mori has some boundaries. He

can't revoke the edict. He can't write a

law that says that edict is revoked. So

it takes great wisdom to how to know to

how to protect the Jews from an edict

says anybody on this day can kill all

Jews they want, man, woman, and

children. So uh he's got to be wise. He

would have needed God's help to know how

what do I write that's the most powerful

way to protect the Jews. Verse 10. And

he wrote in the name of King Ahaweras

and sealed it with the king's signate

ring. Then he sent the letters by

mounted couriers riding on swift horses

and were used in the king's service bred

from the royal stud. There's no expense

spared. Right? This is another little

calling card of God's when he just helps

you in every single way. The very best

horses. Now this is 9 months before that

day you know where where anybody can

harm the Jews they wants. And so just

but there's still this sense of urgency

to get the news out. And the reason

there's a reason for that verse 11

saying that the king allowed the Jews

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. So that's the law

that Mori comes up with under the

authority of the king to protect the

Jews. It doesn't revoke the first one.

It doesn't even fully negate it, but it

allows for the Jews to actually protect

themselves and not just be destroyed

without any um hope of of survival. And

it's a pretty powerful thing to consider

self-defense like this. And so I'm going

to read on because I I have a question

for you. We asked it in our Bible

studies on Wednesday evenings. They're

called Disciplehip Communities. And the

question was whether or not this edict

provided legal uh protection for not

only defensive actions but also

offensive actions. And you might say,

"Well, obviously only defensive." Well,

let's go on. And there's there's a word

here that made some students of the

Bible in our church and others that I

know as well think, "Oh, maybe it was

even for offensive action." So, we got

to take the law very carefully. Um, and

that includes Oregon laws about

self-defense, which I'm going to get

into shortly. On one day throughout all

the provinces of King Hasseris, on the

13th day of the 12th month, which is the

month of Adar, nine months away from

this month of Sivon, a copy of what was

written was to be issued as a decree in

every province being publicly displayed

to all peoples and the Jews were to be

ready on that day to take vengeance on

their enemies. Uh, vengeance seems like

it's kind of an offensive thing, you

know, when you just intuitively like,

wait a minute, can they just go out and

like start killing people they think are

enemies? What's what's the deal here?

Um, let me give you my sense. I'm I'm

pretty confident about this. I think you

will be as well of what the boundaries

of this were. The edict is all important

here. What it says is that the king

allowed the Jews who are 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, including if

it's children and women that are

attacking them and to plunder their

goods. Now, we'll get to chapter nine

next week. The Esers do not the Esther

the Jews do not take advantage of the

allowance to plunder the people. They

don't do it. Okay? So, you can kind of

just strike that from the record as

irrelevant to this conversation because

they never take advantage of it anyway.

What it says though is that what they're

allowed to do according to the king is

to use lethal force against any armed

force that might attack them.

So, I believe that this word take

vengeance on their enemies has to be

bounded by that edict. It doesn't say

anywhere for so so you might ask well

were they allowed to go into homes and

like kill a husband his wife and the

children just on suspicion of them being

enemies. I don't think that was

allowable according to this edict at

all. Um I think that they were bound by

the uh fact that it was self-defense and

that this needed to be an armed force

and they needed to be attacking. Now,

I could imagine that there may have been

a scenario that still fit the spirit of

the law if there was an armed militia

gathering and they and the Jews attacked

them first knowing that their plan was

to come attack surprise attack the king.

So, they or surprise attack the Jews.

So, they like reverse surprise attack

them. Uh but they still had to be armed.

So, I don't this was not a law saying,

"Hey, you just go and kill children and

women and and men even though they're

not attacking you and aren't armed." I

don't believe that that's meant uh by

the vengeance.

So, I I've got another question for you.

Do you know your own doctrine biblically

in terms of self-defense? If I ask you

the questions, are are there situations

in which Christians are allowed to use

lethal force to defend themselves and be

right with God in doing so? That's a

different question than being right with

the state. We'll talk about that in a

moment. But can you use lethal force to

defend yourself in some situations as a

Christian today against other human

beings and still be right with the Lord?

I believe yes, absolutely. Uh with a

caveat in Oregon, which we'll talk about

in a moment, but I want to show you how

Jesus supports this himself because

Jesus often gets painted as though he

was a pacifist. And you just have to

read Revelation and that dispels that

Jesus character is exactly the same as

God the Father's. And in the Old

Testament, he's called a man of war. And

Jesus is a man of war in Revelation. So,

I don't believe that's true. Um, so

let's go to Luke 22:36-38.

Luke 22:36–38

And I've been accused not by people in

the church, but like online and comments

and stuff of like um taking this passage

out of context. I don't I don't believe

I'm taking this passage out of context.

The context is that Jesus originally

sent the disciples out on mission on

like an evangelistic mission to, you

know, preach the gospel and heal the

sick and um uh cast out demons. And he

told them to take nothing along with

them, but to just trust the Lord for

provision along the way. But here he

says something else. So they didn't need

a nap. They didn't need like a money

purse. They didn't need an extra cloak.

They didn't need to take food along with

them. It was an exercise in showing them

that God was going to provide all their

needs on mission as they put the kingdom

and God's righteousness first. Here's

what he says next though uh in chapter

22:36.

He said to them, "But now let the one

well I'll read 35 first even though I

don't throw it up." And he said to them,

"When I sent you out with no money bag

or knapsack or sandals, did you lack

anything?" They said, "Nothing." So they

they're learning their lesson that God

provides for people who are on mission.

He said to them, "But now let the one

who has a moneybag take it, and likewise

a knapsack, and let the one who has nor

a sword sell his cloak and buy one. For

I tell you that this scripture must be

fulfilled in me." He was numbered with

the transgressors, for it is written

about me. Uh for it is written about me

has its fulfillment. And they said,

"Look, Lord, here are two swords." And

he said to them, "It is enough." And

what are swords used for? you know, um,

unlike the unfortunate two goody two

shoes Christian movies that, uh, refuse

to show any violence, even though the

Bible has a lot of violence in it, it's

not like having a sword stuck on between

your arm, right? Swords kill. Not that

much different than guns. The the the

you can use a sword to defend. So, there

is a defensive mechanism with a sword,

but it's really an offensive weapon. The

shield is the defensive weapon. And so,

you're using that sword sword to slash.

If you used a sword today against just

some random person who didn't attack

you, uh it would be like at least um I

don't know the exact law, but it's like

the intent to murder uh and with a

deadly weapon. So serious crime,

serious crime. So it is a lethal weapon.

And he says two is enough. You know, you

might be able to draw conclusions from

that. It's like don't just keep buying

AR-15s. It's a waste of money. Some of

you might disagree with that regarding,

you know, constitutional thoughts about

militia, but that's not really what I'm

saying. What I'm saying is he gave them

provision to have a protective weapon.

Uh that I would say that in general,

Christians should, unless they're

soldiers, and I believe that Christians

can be called to be soldiers, you can go

to uh I think it's in the beginning of

John where soldiers come to the um not

the writer of John, but John the Baptist

and ask him what to do. And he doesn't

tell them to repent of being soldiers.

He tells them to repent of taking more

than is necessary in the taxes. Okay?

That's what we need to tell the IRS,

too.

So, I wouldn't tell them to repent of

being the IRS. I think taxes are

necessary. They're important. Uh I'm not

anti- taxes altogether. Neither was

Jesus. I don't like how much we're

taxed. I have serious thoughts about

that. But the point is that I believe

self-defense by this passage even alone

is justified by Jesus himself. However,

and this might have been a burning

question for some of you in your minds,

what vengeance? Thought we weren't

allowed to take vengeance. Here's uh

Romans 12:9 says this, "Beloved, never

Romans 12:9

avenge yourselves, but leave it to the

wrath of God. For it is written,

vengeance, vengeance is mine. I will

repay, says the Lord."

God the the we can all agree vengeance

belongs to the Lord and he will avenge.

He will not leave any guilt unpunished.

However, there was a unique situation

where uh God was the God over Israel and

even though they're kind of dispersed

through the nation of uh Media and

Persia, um they're still his one nation

and he will use his nation Israel to

enact his vengeance. At times he would

call them to go uh fulfill his judgment

in destroying a particular people group.

And here's the interesting thing. He's

already commanded them to wipe the

Amalachites off the face of the earth.

Right? Ag's a descendant of he's an

Amalachite and Agite. And so therefore,

uh, Hmon is called an Agitite. And so

the people, the Agites were so wicked

and so evil that God said, "Wipe them

off the face of the earth." So he's

already commanded that they do it.

That's the kind of vengeance they're

engaging in. It's not vigilante

vengeance. However, the church is not

it's it's considered a new nation by

God, but it's not an earthly nation the

way it will be when Jesus establishes

his kingdom on earth fully. And finally,

it is a church really, a gathering of

Christians. And so we don't have the

same kind of governmental authority or

power um that a nation that's a

theocracy would have. And there's

nowhere in the New Testament that says

that Christians should go and enact

God's vengeance in this way. That's just

war is a different concept. Not a topic

for today because I'll just get too far

a field doing that. But my point is that

I don't see a provision in the New

Testament where Christians can

individually take vengeance and still be

in service of the Lord. Okay. I also

believe that what the Jews were doing

were just in fulfillment. was already in

a fulfillment that they knew about of a

command that God given had given a long

time ago.

And so, yeah, I believe we're able to

self-defend. I'll just take a very short

time on this. I've already asked John

Egg, our resident sheriff here, um, uh,

if it'd be okay to tell you guys this.

If you have questions about

self-defense, he's a great guy to talk

about. I just want to tell you

something, and I I ran this by him, too,

to make sure I was really understanding

it correctly. Um, Oregon's self-defense

laws are not terrible. They're not great

either. Texas and Florida self-defense

laws are far greater. And there's just

one thing I want to tell you um that may

may like uh increase your interest to

know your laws around this because if

you agree with me that we are allowed as

Christians in certain circumstances

legally to defend ourselves with lethal

force and that even God's okay with that

and even makes provision for it through

Jesus Christ. Again, sword is analogous

to guns in my mind. It's a lethal

weapon. It's just a technology

difference. So there, however, we're

also to obey the laws of the land. And

so unless the laws of the land are

inherently sinful, uh, which someone

might say, well, the lack of

self-defense um, laws that are codified

in language in the Oregon legislature is

sinful in my mind. Um, I'm not sure that

it is, but they're they're relatively

weak in Oregon, but they're still there.

So, I don't know if you've heard of the

castle doctrine. I'm assuming multiple

of you know better what it is, but it's

basically a stand your ground law where

you do not have to retreat. You can

defend your land. You can defend

wherever you're standing. As long as

where you're standing, you're legally

allowed to be standing. You can defend

that with lethal force. And in Texas,

and I'm not saying you have to agree

with these things. I'm just letting you

know the difference here. Because if you

didn't know what I'm about to tell you

about organ self-defense laws, you could

get yourself in terrible legal trouble

doing something you thought was okay and

right. In Texas, if somebody breaks and

enters your home and steals something,

you can use not only lethal force to

stop them, you can run them down and

kill them to get it back. It's a law in

Texas. That's not true in Oregon. Um,

somebody has to be breaking and entering

with the intent to commit a crime. In

Texas, the breaking and entering is the

intent to commit a crime. So, they have

to be breaking and entering with the

intent to commit a crime. and you need

to feel in eminent danger for your life.

Okay? And you can say that all you want,

but if you've got no evidence, you're

not as protected by Oregon self-defense

laws. So, and I've gotten this from

multiple what I think are authoritative

uh uh site um excuse me, authoritative

um

what's the word I'm looking for?

>> Citations. Yeah, sources. There we go.

Um citations and sources both in writing

and in people interpreting them. You

can't just shoot someone in organ in the

back as they're fleeing. Even if they at

one point made you feel or your family

feel in in danger for your life, if you

shoot them in the back, you may not have

a case and you might be the one that

goes to prison. Um, so that's not the

case in in Oregon. I I know you guys

usually want to know my opinions on

these things and I don't like to leave

anything uh hidden on purpose. So, I

personally don't think it's good that if

someone breaks and enters and all they

have to do is turn their back to you and

now you can't defend yourself. How do

you know they're not just running to get

an angle on you and running away and and

how do you know that they're actually

that your family is actually safe? So,

to me, if you have broken into my house

at night, uh you forfeited your life

because I'm going to protect my family.

And I'll stand before Jesus saying,

"Look, you said we can have a sword. I

took that as very simply having lethal

weapons and defending ourselves.

However, in Oregon, I'm not going to

shoot someone in the back. I'm not going

to do that because I don't want to lose

my freedom and then not even be able to

uh parent my kids and and be a husband

to my wife. So, I think you need to know

your laws and I think you need to obey

those laws or suffer the consequences of

uh the legal protections that you lack

in that way. Okay. Sermon is not really

about self-defense. I just thought that

would be valuable to know. Uh I think

it's worldview building out to

understand what scripture really says

about these things. And again, if your

convictions are different than mine,

that's okay. I just wanted to show you

what uh the elders at Boon Fairy teach.

Back to the story. Um because I'll

remind you of the main point. When

leaders are passionate about protecting

others from evil, God helps them. And

we're seeing just how much God helps

them in this case. Um but he doesn't

help them the way he sometimes helps

others. when the famous story of the

Egyptians coming after they had uh

finally relented and let the people go

after the plague of the firstborn where

the firstborn of Pharaoh and all the

other firstborns of uh Egypt died, you

know, the uh destroyer. It seems like

either an angel or some kind of spirit

that God sent to kill these children and

as a punishment on Egypt for their

unbelievably oppressive enslavement of

Israel in Egypt and for no good reason

too. like like gen infanticide kind of

oppress oppression. Um they're leaving

and the God leads them directly to the

shore of the Red Sea. He told them not

to go around it. And then uh the

Egyptians, the world power at the time

was barreling down on them with their

chariots. And uh God puts a barrier in

between them and then opens the Red Sea

and has them walk on dry ground and

swallows up the chariots after they come

chasing behind. That's a supernatural

way to protect the people. Unre

repeatable unless God wanted to. But it

it breaks all the laws of physics and

science. God is doing a miracle and we

believe that that actually was a miracle

not explainable by science. Something

that only God can do. Suspends the laws

of gravity and of physics and just does

whatever he wants. In this case, he's

working through human institution and

law.

I don't see anything happening here

that's like explicitly supernatural. an

edict was given that's not revocable.

Another edict given is not revocable

that allows for the the Jews to protect

themselves and is maybe it wasn't a full

nine months because it takes a while

even for these fast horses to get there.

But they had months to come up with a

defensive plan, you know. So sometimes

God works in a supernatural way to help

us in serving others by protecting them

from evil. Sometimes he works through

human institution and there isn't any

absolutely explicitly supernatural

evidence of him doing it. He just has

his purposes and he does it in different

ways. Both are him helping

providentially though. So they neither

of those would come without God. The

supernatural or even the human favor

they had with the king. What I mean what

are the odds? I I didn't do my research

on this one, but I wouldn't be surprised

if Esther was one of the first kings or

first queens and and Morai was the maybe

the only Jew ever to write an

irrevocable law in Persia. You know,

maybe Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

and Daniel did. I don't know. But it's a

rare thing for a queen to have the

amount of authority that she has and for

a Jewish person in a foreign land to be

the second in command. That's all God's

favor. But none of it's necessarily

supernatural. It's providential. God

just moving the chest pieces around the

way he wants to. And so I say that

because um we already know that God

sometimes will do supernatural things to

help us. And other times he will work in

non-supnatural ways, but he's still

helping us. So just because God doesn't

change the laws of physics for you

doesn't mean he's not helping you.

That's my only point there. He's

definitely still helping. Like it wasn't

necessarily supernatural that we got

$10,000. All those things can be

explained. Um, but it's still God doing

it. I know it's him. Especially just as

a little calling card of the exact right

timing, you know. So, let's continue

here. Um, because we still have one more

point or part of the sermon main point

to prove, and that is that when leaders

are passionate about protecting others

from evil, God helps them and the people

rejoice. Let's listen to what happens

here and then we'll be done. Um, I've

lost my spot.

Yeah. Did we already read verse nine?

>> Yeah. Okay, I'll go to 10. And he wrote

in the name of King Aasso and sealed it

with the king's signate ring and sent

the letters by mounted couriers riding

on swift horses that were used in the

king's service bred uh bred from the

royal stud saying that the king allowed

Jews who were in every city to gather

and defend their lives to destroy to

kill and annihilate any armed force of

any people or province that might attack

them, children and women included, and

to plunder their goods. one uh on one

day throughout all the provinces of King

Asaweras 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 peoples,

and the Jews were to be ready on that

day to take vengeance on their enemies.

Again, self-protective, defensive

against people attacking them with

weapons. That's what the law says.

That's what was allowed. Um still

considered vengeance. 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

citadel. Then Mori went out from the

presence of the king in the royal robes

of blue and white and with a great

golden crown and a robe of fine linen

and purple and the city of Susa shouted

and rejoiced.

shouted and rejoiced.

The city, it doesn't say just Jews, it

says the city. Later on in all the

provinces, it mentions specifically how

Jews were rejoicing. But here it says

the city. He went from mourning in

sackcloth and ashes to wearing clothes

just like the king. That's God. You got

to see it. That's so God. And the decree

was issued in Susa, the citadel, excuse

me. Um, and the city of Susa shouted and

rejoiced. Let's go to Proverbs 29:2.

Proverbs 29:2

And just for time sake, I'll have it on

the screen only.

When the righteous increase, the people

rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the

people groan. You're seeing that in our

nation right now.

I'm going to use an example that can be

controversial in the world. It ought not

to be controversial in um in Christian

circles, just like 1 plus 1 equals two.

And so, someone's like freaking out

about you saying that. I don't agree

that it's controversial to say there's

only two genders. That's that was

normative in America. It's exactly what

God created. Um, what we've lost in

great part is not only um clarity around

biology, but also clarity around

spirituality. We're made in the image of

God, male and female, he made us. So,

it's not just a physical thing. Cuz can

you see the image of God in somebody? I

can't see it. Can you test? I know it's

there, but I see it by faith. Can you

test with scientific instruments where

the image of God is? No. It's not

something that can be seen or handled or

measured in that way. So it's a

spiritual thing that God made in us. And

if you die as a woman, you'll be

resurrect. If you believe in Jesus

Christ, you'll be resurrected as a

woman. And that without even a body

until the resurrection. So you are

spiritually female and spiritually male.

And there is nothing medicine can do to

change that. This is also unbelievably

important in terms of relationship to

God. And there is so much confusion.

It's the exact same thing in Esther 3:15

Esther 3:15

when the first edict, the evil immoral

edict went out, the couriers went outly

by the order of the king and the decree

was issued in Susa the citadel to

annihilate all the Jews, men, women, and

children. And the king and Hmon sat down

to drink, but the city of Susa was

thrown into confusion.

If I had told you 20 years ago, let's

say there was already a pastor here,

that around 2000 uh teens, middle teens,

uh a decent amount of people, I don't

know what the percentages, but a large

enough uh percentage of people that even

some of your neighbors will end up

believing that a man can get pregnant

and have a baby. You'd be like, "No way.

No way. You wouldn't believe it." And

now it's happening. That is confusion.

Unbelievable confusion. And since we

know that it's controversial and people

over unfriend you for saying the right

thing, it takes some significant passion

to be protective in serving others in

this and telling them that's not the

way. It's not the way. It'll destroy

your relationship to the Lord. It's

going to destroy your body. You're going

to regret deeply someday. And we're

already seeing that. We're already

seeing that. On top of it, the people in

America that support this, which I

consider like genuinely evil, wicked,

just like Hmon, uh, destructive and

enemies of the Lord and enemies of his

people, uh, those people make it sound

like this is just a global norm. It's

not even true in Europe. People in

Europe don't even agree with some of the

wacko things Americans say about having

children before puberty, right? So all

of a sudden, America is like

significantly less godly than Europe,

right? I lived in Germany. I knew how

ungodly Europe was. So man, now think of

are you willing to put your reputation

and relationships at risk for lovingly

speaking the truth around these things?

No. This is not uh going to solve

anything for you, right? And you do have

to be protective. We have people in this

church that have gone to doctor's

offices with their teenage daughters and

they tried to separate their teenage

daughter from the mother. Why? Cuz

Satan. That's why. To tell them to get

procedures done. And what's your

identity? The same thing's happening

sometimes in public schools. And then

they're intentionally hiding it from

parents. So there's all kinds of dangers

that we do need to protect our children

from around any corner. And is that

something you want to be apathetic

about? No, I don't think so. Why do I

say this? Well, because uh there's

terrible confusion. And when uh you

know, people say, "Well, we can't

legislate morality." That's the opposite

of that is true. It's impossible not to

legislate morality. Did you know that

there's not a single law that doesn't

come from some moral code somewhere down

the line? What we can't do is cause

transformation with laws. Not even God's

law was intended to create

transformation. rather his grace. I hope

that was hammered into you through uh

the study of Galatians. If if you want

to learn more about that, we have the

whole study of Galatians online. But

it's grace that transforms us. Um the

law points us to our sin, but the law

does have a chaperoning effect, right?

What's going to eventually happen if

we're able to uh overcome the confusion

and the righteous increase is that even

America on mass will look back and can

you believe the 2020s

and that they had men competing with

women for state championships and track.

Can you believe that happened? How is

that even possible? Children would be

like, "How what?" Right? We'll have

missionaries or reporters go to African

nations talking to the men in a tribe,

you know, we're in like loin claws, rel

relatively primitive culture still and

and tell them, "Hey, um, did you know

that Americans believe that uh there are

more than two genders and that men get

pregnant and they just bust out laughing

like it's the craziest thing ever,

right? And I'm not saying that, you

know, subsaharan Africa doesn't have his

moral issues. It does. I'm just saying

um America is in terrible confusion

because wicked laws, wicked ideas and

wicked ideologies have been winning for

a time and hopefully that's on decline

and the opposite is becoming true. But

are you willing to be protective about

things even like that? You know you'll

be hated for it. So you have to put your

line, your reputation and the love of

man and the people pleaser in you to

death before you're willing to do it.

And I believe if you don't, you're not

really serving the Lord in protecting

people from these kinds of demonic

doctrines.

Uh, you know,

verbalized by his by his earthly

servants.

But did you see the people rejoice?

That's one of the rewards for the person

who's passionate about serving God and

protecting others is that they get to

see the people rejoice when God helps

them actually protect somebody. Right?

You'll have people that come to you.

You're the only one that told me, "Don't

go in that direction." Don't do that.

Don't stop coming to church. Don't stop

studying your word. God is good. Work it

out. Don't let a wedge be between you

and him. So, I want to just say this in

conclusion. Um, so, and this is not my

idea. Someone said this in our uh DC. um

they they were looking at this as a

student of the Bible with great interest

and and powerful perception and they

said you know it's kind of interesting

there's a parallel there was the first

edict it was irrevocable and it's kind

of parallel to God's law it's the edict

that if you sin you have to die and it's

irrevocable and then there was the

second edict that says we can be

defended against that law as Jews well

there's also kind of a second edict in

the in the uh New Testament where faith

in Jesus Christ protects us from the

first one. You know, there are

definitely also differences like they're

not the two the the the the covenant of

of the law. You were always only made

righteous by faith, too. Um but it the

the law was in concert with the New

Testament. They were not uh opposed to

one another the way these two edicts

were. You know, someone would have to

decide which edict they would follow and

those that wanted to hurt the Jews

wouldn't go with the spirit of the law.

Obviously the king in in in rubber

stamping one of these types of edicts uh

they can recognize yeah he doesn't want

them to be killed because he's saying

they can be defended now and Esther his

queen is Jewish so of course he's not

wanting to kill them but the law can't

be revoked so people could still stand

on the law and say no we have to do this

and it's like that in our lives as well

sometimes we want to stand on the law

and say we're good enough and we can do

this and then we make God to be an enemy

um and we're hostile and alienated from

him and so What the new covenant is

about is not about contradicting the

law, but it's about saying, look, the

law proves that you're sinful and that

you can never make atonement for

yourself. And the New Testament proves

that only Jesus Christ can make

atonement for your sin. And once you

understand that, you realize the whole

Old Testament was about that as well.

So, as you come to communion today, and

we'll be doing corporate communion, that

means gather your items or your

elements, uh, the bread and the wine or

juice, and then bring them back to your,

uh, seat, and then I'll be back up to

lead us, uh, communally. But think about

what part of that main point does God

want you to apply? When leaders are

passionate about protecting others from

evil, God helps them and the people

rejoice. Are you at a place where you've

been helped and protected, but you're

not rejoicing? If you need the power to

rejoice, um, here's what Psalm 118 says.

Remember how we said that everything we

need for life and godliness is God's

word. So, I'm not rejoicing the way I

should be. What's the solution? God's

word every time. Right? Verse uh Psalm

Psalms 118:21–24

118:21-24

says this. I thank you that you have

answered me and have become my

salvation. The stone that the builders

rejected had become the cornerstone. You

know that's about Jesus. This is the

Lord's doing and is marvelous in our

eyes. This is the day that the Lord has

made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

You know what would encourage me so much

is if when our worship team comes up

again, and I'm inviting them even now as

I'm about to pray to come up. If we

would worship with that kind of a

rejoicing heart.

Many of us aren't even aware of how much

God has protected us. Because when the

bad thing doesn't happen, you didn't

really know you're being protected of

it.

But we're protected by God all the time.

We're given victories all the time. You

going to communion today and repenting

of a sin of maybe being apathetic about

serving the Lord. That is a victory and

you can rejoice in that. That is how

good God is. Let me pray. Heavenly

Father, thank you for filling us with

passion to serve you in a desire to

protect others. Thank you that you help

us in that and thank you uh that you

lead people's hearts to rejoice in that

service to you and that result. We pray

that we would now rejoice in worshiping

you in spirit and truth in Jesus name.

Amen.