Continual Dependence - Esther 5:1-8 - Sunday Sermon

Now is the time. Uh the only other

announcement is we have our uh men's

gathering on the 25th. That's this

coming Saturday at 9:00 a.m. here at

church. And uh really looking forward to

that. We'll be having a continental

breakfast just like the last one and

just show up at 9:00 or a little bit

early. And um last time we had an event

related one too where there was a

teaching and then we went out and uh did

some firearm practice. We won't be

having an activity this time, just the

teaching and and fellowship. So, um,

that's, uh, that's it, I think. All

right, we are in Esther 5. Let me, uh,

pray and we'll get right into it.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the book

of Esther. Thank you for your word and

how you wrote it for our encouragement,

for our conviction, to challenge us, to

console our hearts to just strengthen us

and build us up. Uh, we love your word.

It is supernaturally powerful and unlike

any other uh book or words in the world.

And so, we want to surrender our hearts

to what you have to say. We pray that

you would use your word to convince us

by your spirit of the ways in which you

want to um develop our character and our

dependence on you especially today. I

pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.

Uh I want to tell you a short story

about a renovation that I just started.

Uh most of you probably know we bought a

new house. I say it's mostly my dream to

live in the country on five acres.

Although uh it wasn't something that it

was something that I think Christine

liked as well when you have six kids now

sending them out onto 5 acres and the

weather's starting to be nice. It's a

wonderful thing. Um and Christine liked

most the house, but I said, "Well, do

you like it enough to actually go

ahead?" I like it enough to go ahead,

but it for me the land is more important

than the actual house. And I know for

you the house is more important than the

actual land. and she said, "Well, it'd

be nice to have um a master bedroom

closet and the bathroom's really kind of

small and outdated, so if we did a

master bedroom renovation, I'd be Yeah,

I think I'd really like the house." And

I said, "Well, I'll promise you if it

works out financially, I promise you

we'll be able to I I will we'll work on

a renovation and I'll try to do the vast

majority of the work that I can, which

I'm not very skilled at. Not I'm not a a

competent handyman type of person, uh

but I can work hard and I'm a grunt

worker, so I can do that. So anyway, I

just started in on that and already

hitting some snags that are starting to

feel beyond my competence. I don't mind

doing hard, grueling work, and there's

already been some of that. But I really

do not enjoy trying to get things done

that are beyond my competence. And I

know some of you are the type of people

that are not only competent, but you're

also really competent to teach

yourselves how to be competent in

something that you're not in. And I'm

that way in some subject, languages. I'm

quite competent at learning languages

and and overcoming problems of, you

know, difficulty in grammar and there's

lots in Hebrew and Greek. Uh, but I'm

not very good at learning, retaining,

and applying things when it comes to all

things handyman. So, I don't really

enjoy that aspect. Anyway, here's the

first problem that happened. I uh uh did

a lot of the demol demolition and

started um uh stripping the floor. And

one of my hopes was that we broke out

into the garage cuz in the garage we're

going to build the the space for a

little bit larger bathroom and then the

the walk-in closet. And uh I'd really

hope that there I don't even know what

you call it. That's another thing I'm

not good at me remembering construction

terms to even talk about what I'm trying

to describe that the problem is. But

it's like when you have like a little

retaining wall from the the floor into

the garage that's concrete. And I

thought, well, if that's there, we'll

probably have to concrete saw that.

Well, it wasn't there. And I was like,

"Sweet. I won't have to do any concrete

sawing." Until I found out that the

garage floor is at least 2 in higher

than the bathroom floor. And the

bathroom floor is uh level with our

master bedroom hardwood floor. And so I

already was like, "Oh no, I don't think

we're going to be able to float that

distance. Uh I don't I don't think we

can just bring up the floor cuz then

there will be a step out of the master

bedroom into the master bathroom. So,

there's going to have to be a bunch of

concrete sawing, like a 20x 5- ft pad of

concrete that has to be saw. If it has

rebar in it, I don't even think a

jackhammer will work. And so, that was

the first thing that I was like, "Oh,

man." Um, and then the second thing is

after I got the tile off, which was

harder than it should have been, like I

jammed my wrist a couple times using one

of those scrapers, you know, hits the

tile wrong and rebounds on you. Finally

got all the tile off and then you have

the quick set. I think that's what it's

called. And so I thought, okay, maybe

I'll be able to scrape that quick set

off. Hopefully they put it on plywood

and not OSB. You guys know what OSB is?

Um OSB is like little flake board, not

particle board, but little flakes that

they've glued and stamped together. And

so I'm hammering into it. And first of

all, I find this like green netting and

it reminds me almost like of rebar in

terms of its effect on the quick set.

Nothing's breaking apart like it should

cuz the netting is holding everything

together. And then one time I'm like

trying to just rip through. I'm just

trying to get below the quick set to see

if I can get some purchase and scrape it

off. And all of a sudden, I pull and out

comes this like cord or something. So,

it was it's a heated floor and there's

all this stuff in it, right? And and as

I get down, I'm ripping out little

pieces of wood and I'm like, "No, they

put quick set on OSB." And I think you

do that cuz it's cheaper, not cuz it's

smart. But, uh cuz now like, "Oh, I'm

going to have to cut the subfloor out."

And sure enough, I talked to Ben who

knows a lot about these kinds of

construction things and is involved in

his own renovation right now and so

everything's fresh and talked to the

contractor that I'm working with and

he's like, "Yeah, I just got to cut the

subfloor out." And when that happens,

you might think, "Well, it's not that

hard to cut the subfloor out." That's on

the edge of my competence. I don't, you

know, and then on top of it, I'm

supposed to cut the subfloor out and

then hire a plumber while the floor is

open cuz it's open from the basement,

too, to do the plumbing. Right. So now

the floor is going to be without a

subfloor.

You call what do you what do you call

Ben just told me what you call what the

subfloor is uh fastened to joist

rafters. I what joist

>> joist floor joist. Yeah. Okay. So those

floor joist and they're like 12 by twos

at least. Um so that's all that would be

on the floor, right? And I've got kids

and it's open and and and then I'm like

well I don't know how long the plumber

come up. So, I'm bing at the next thing.

And I was going dayto day, getting a

little bit done each day. And now I'm

like, I don't want to cut the floor out.

Uh, I don't want to do that. And then I

have to put it back. Um, I don't like

measuring things. And that would mean I

have to measure things. Um, on top of I

was like, if I do it wrong, I'm going to

cut into these joists. That's terrible

thing to do. So, anyway, after 3 days, I

was like, I got to get back in there and

start working on it. And if I got to cut

it out, I cut it out. And because I was

at that place of like my competence

limit and you might think, come on,

that's not that. Well, don't

underestimate how much you uh how

competent you are. Not everyone has an

easy time getting competent things that

as some of you guys do and I'm just not

that guy. But I also don't like becoming

responsible for construction. So I try

not to learn more. But that's a whole

different philosophy. But anyway,

I just prayed. And it's not like I

hadn't been depending on the Lord for

the whole thing. I said, "God, this is

sort of out of my comfort zone to do all

this work, but it's a way to save money.

Please help me with this." But regarding

this sticking point of I don't want to

cut the floor out. So now for 3 days,

I've been avoiding doing anything. It

was the first time I thought, "God, can

you just help me? Is there a way to do

this without having to cut the subfloor

out? Can you provide it?" And I walk

into the bathroom and I'm wearing one of

those CO masks. I don't have a

respirator cuz it's all so dusty. And

that's all I'm doing. And I walk in and

I look and I thought, I haven't taken

the shower pan out yet. I wonder if they

just put the shower pack or a pan, like

the fiberglass pan on Hardy board. Cuz

if they put it on the Hardy board, maybe

I can get under the Hardy board and get

right under the OSB. Maybe they put the

OSB on old plywood cuz I don't this

house was built, I don't think, when

they were using. So anyway, I was like,

I had an idea. I prayed. Had an idea. I

take the shower pan off and sure enough

it's Hardy backer and I'm going to I'm

going to be able to get the Hardy backer

off. It's like these screws that they

put it in. I'll put that off. And

underneath the Hardy Backer is indeed

plywood which has a flat surface and is

easier to scrape under. Right. I'm

telling you all of this. It's fun to

keep you sort of apprised of things I'm

doing in my life and uh I actually kind

of am enjoying the step by pro step

by-step process. But I'm telling you

this specifically because even though in

general I was asking the Lord to help

me. I had waited for 3 days thinking

this is beyond what I'm really all that

comfortable doing. I don't want to go in

there, cut it out, have no floor, have a

problem, blah blah blah blah blah. And

then so I went in because my lack of

competence made me think about relying

on God and praying for and I prayed and

within a moment of walking in I had new

thought, let's take the shower pan out.

Maybe I can get underneath there. And I

really think I'm going to be able to. So

my point is this. Sometimes you're not

even intending not to depend on the

Lord, but you get to a point where

you're out of your depth and then you're

like, you're prompted to depend on him.

And I bet I see you guys nodding. Have

you ever prayed and within just seconds

or minutes the solution you needed for

the thing? Have you ever been searching

for hours for something and then you're

so fed up? I was like, "God has helped

me find it." And within a second, he

drops a thought about where it might be,

and it's exactly there. That happens to

me routinely. And what's the problem

with that happening routinely? Why are

you searching for hours without just

asking him for it? Well, because

searching for things doesn't really

generally seem outside of your

competence, does it? I'll ask you a

question though. Should we have to be

reminded

of like a lack of compet competence in

an area before we are prompted to depend

on him? There are lots of reasons why we

don't depend on him. The one I'm

sharing, I'd call that like out of

sight, out of mind. So the thought that

you need him for this particular thing

is out of sight, out of mind until it's

not. So that's like out of sight, out of

mind, non-dependence. Um, another type

of non-dependence

uh would would be more serious, I think.

I'm not saying this one's good, but it's

like you actually don't want to depend

on the Lord because you know that

depending on him requires you to

surrender to his will to obey and you

know a thing that you're not obeying.

And you kind of know just from knowing

who God is that if you're going to ask

him for help, he's going to give you the

same answer he did before, which is

obey, right? Um, so let me ask you this,

and you don't need to do a show of

hands, but just consider yourself. How

many of you pray before every single

time you drive somewhere?

Driving is routine. We drive our kids to

school four times a week. And I do not

pray every single time I get in the car

to drive to school because it's routine.

Because it doesn't seem like something I

need help with. It's out of sight, out

of mind, right? Would it be over

spiritual like hypers spiritual to just

actually pray every time you get in a

car? I wouldn't say driving is unsafe,

but it's there. There can be dangers,

right? It's interesting. I will pray

before every single family trip probably

because that's what my dad modeled to

me. And we were going on a long trip. My

dad would always pray before he started

the car and then we'd drive. But would

it really be that hard to just pray

before every time we get in the car and

drive somewhere? I don't I don't really

think it would. So, let's go to before

we even get into Esther, let me show you

something about what our dependence

should actually look like. This is from

John 15. Most of you have either read

this multiple times or maybe even

memorized this word. This is John 15:5.

John 15:5

And in many of your Bibles, it's red

letter, which means Jesus himself was

saying it.

He says, "I am the vi vine. You are the

branches. Whoever abides in me and I in

him, he it is that bears much fruit.

Apart from me, you can do nothing. Apart

from me, you can do nothing."

Right? It was not just that I

couldn't really figure out how to deal

with the subfloor. It was that I can't

even swing a hammer to punch out drywall

apart from Jesus. It's either apart from

you can do nothing or apart from me you

can do some things. But it says apart

from me you can do nothing. However, I

have the sneaking suspicion that the way

we often live and that the way that I

sometimes live is that apart from me,

you can do some things,

right? But apart from you, me you can do

nothing. It says, and I've got some

vines. I think Jesus is most likely

talking about grape vines here. Uh, and

I have grape vines now. They're growing

on kind of a trellis, and they're

overgrown and need to be cut down. And

this is true of trees as well. And this

is an obvious point, nothing new. If

you're like, "Whoa, I think you might

have skipped some subjects in school."

But when you cut off a branch on a vine,

it withers and dies. Right? So, what

he's saying is that us as human beings,

when we don't abide in his will, when

we're not obeying, we're we're cut off

uh not necessarily cut off from

salvation. That's not the point here.

But we're cut off from the help that we

need for everything,

right? So that means you need to depend

on God for every single thing. And

nobody's saying, "Hey, you need to pray

for an hour every time you drive

somewhere." No. In fact, it might just

be like, "Lord, help me with this drive.

Lord, help me with this drive." Let me

give you an example of how David put

this. Let's go to 1st Chronicles 16:11.

1 Chronicles 11 says this, "Seek the

Lord and his strength." Strength, seek

his presence continually.

Maybe that's the way we ought to think

about things like driving is inviting

the Lord's presence along on the drive.

His favor, his strength, his help, his

presence.

Why not take the Lord along with you?

He's coming anyway. It's about your

attitude and dependence. Uh so so I

think sometimes when Jesus says things

that are so obvious

um we sort of take them for granted and

we don't apply them to the level they

need to be applied. Uh there's nothing

some of you are this just came to mind

some of I know we have a lot of computer

programmers and I'm somewhat surprised

when I see how fast their word their

count is how fast they can type right I

can't type that fast. Um that's a that's

a strong competence and you do that

every single day. Do you know you can't

type without Jesus? Why? Why is it?

Well, because he sustains everything in

the universe by the power of his word.

He sustains your fingers. He sustains

your breath. He sustains your eyes. He

sustains everything that you would

possibly need to be able to type. And

yet, here's the interesting thing. Does

your word count go down just because you

have an unsurrendered attitude? Maybe

you wake up salty and you're acting up.

You're speaking to your kids and your

wife in a way that you shouldn't and or

vice versa. and you all of a sudden like

lose your ability to type. That's not

the way that it actually works. Um,

what's true is that God is benevolent

and is patient with our disobedience and

doesn't just turn off the rules of the

universe every time we sin. He continues

to sustain you.

But if you didn't, you would just poof

out of existence. So, it's still true

that you actually need to depend on the

Lord for everyone a for everything. It's

true that you are actually dependent on

him for everything, but it's the

attitude that we're getting after. Okay?

So, I want you to think about that. The

last thing I'll say about my experience

on depending on him is that when I got

the help I needed, the problem was

solved so quickly. And this is a minor

thing. It's not that big of a deal. I

could just pay someone to fix the

There's parts of it that I'm going to

ask someone to do. I could just pay

someone. We do have the money to pay

someone to fix the floor. Uh, so there

were all kinds of solutions. Wasn't some

huge conflict. Um, but Esther is walking

into what could be an absolutely huge

conflict. And I listed two different

types of non-dependence. One, like just

straight up prideful disobedience where

you're like, I don't want to depend. I

can do it myself. Another one is the out

of sight, out of mind kind of

non-dependence. It's like you didn't

think you really needed that. It's it's

just way the idea of dependence is the

back of your mind, but not front of

mind. Another one is this. You are so

afraid of a negative outcome that the

reason why you can't get to the point of

really depending on the Lord is that

you're too afraid to let control of the

situation. I know that is such a human

thing to experience. Fear is a a

powerful hurdle to overcome uh when we

want to depend on the Lord because when

you're really afraid of a negative

outcome uh you everything inside of you

except for your new nature and the Holy

Spirit your flesh will want to depend on

yourself. And there's a reason for that.

Um you cannot see God. You cannot

control his help. you cannot determine

his choice for the outcome of whatever

situation you're facing.

I couldn't determine I you know I

actually prayed that there wouldn't be

OSB. I thought I saw OSB. I prayed that

the quick set would be right on top of

the uh uh uh the plywood. It happens to

be right on top of the

Hardy Backer, but that's not more of a

problem. I can just take the Hardy

backer out and then the subfloor is

right there. Um, but I at the time kind

of thought that it was silly to pray for

OSB not being there when I looked and

thought that looks like OSB, you know,

but turns out it wasn't, you know, so it

was just but again, nothing changed. It

already was what it was. God wasn't

transmorphing the material. It was just

an attitude change in me that started

being dependent and then I experienced

God's help and that made me want to

praise him. It was a powerful moment.

And if he cares for us and helps us in

those small ways, is he not going to

help you in areas where you're afraid of

the outcome? And I want to presuppose,

although this is not always the case,

that your fear is three things. One,

it's rational.

It isn't always. I'm saying in this

situation, you're facing a fear that's

rational. Esther was uh she's also

facing a fear that's justified. So

sometimes your fears are rational,

sometimes they're not. But let's think

about ones that are actually rational,

right? It's not crazy for you to think

the outcome of a situation might be

really bad for you or for someone you

love. Um, secondly, it's justified.

Meaning that the fear is not only

rational, but it's a justified fear. An

example of that would be if someone you

love gets sick with a disease that could

be terminal. It's rational for you to be

afraid of their loss. It's also

justified because the disease is really

dangerous. And then it's it's warranted,

right? You put those all together. I

think you understand what I'm saying.

When I say that your fear sometimes is

rational, justified, and warranted,

meaning that the right answer to that is

not just get over it or your fear is

fake and phantom or your fear is totally

unjustified and wrong. That can be true

as well. Um, but Esther's fear is

rational. It's justified and it's

warranted. What is her fear? Well, her

fear is rational because the law says

you can't come into King Xerxes or

Asaware.

It's against the law to do so or you

will be executed with one tiny little

exemption if he decides not so and

extends his scepter to you. She mentions

it rationally to Mori. Everyone knows

this is what happens, right? So, it's

it's rational. It's justified and it's

warranted. Her fear is legitimate.

There's no no human being that wouldn't

be concerned about that. It's not wrong

to be concerned about putting your life

in harm's way. So Esther in order to be

able to do what's right in dependence on

the Lord has to overcome fear. You might

be overcoming just sort of being in

ignorance of your need for dependence

and it's outside of outside of your

mind. So it's outside of mind kind of

thing. Or or you might actually be in a

place where you're like, I know what I'm

going to have to give up. If I'm

actually going to faithfully ask the

Lord uh to help me, so if I'm going to

depend on him, I'm going to have to give

up this. I don't want to give up this,

so I'm not going to depend on him.

That's the kind of obstinence obstinate

non-dependence.

Or you might be so afraid you're having

a really hard time relinquishing your

own control and giving it to the Lord.

And that's not even exhaustive of the

reasons why we why we don't depend. In

this case, Esther offers us another

master class of how to overcome

fear-based non-dependence.

And so, that one might be the most

applicable one to you. But whatever it

is, Esther is going to show us and God

uses Esther through his word to show us

exactly how he wants us to depend on

him. And that when we do so, we can find

his help for his righteous outcome. If

you learn nothing else today, if you'd

like a summary of the sermon, here's the

main point. When we depend on God for a

wise plan in a time of conflict, we can

serve his righteous outcome.

When we depend on God for a wise plan in

a time of conflict, we can serve his

righteous outcome. This is always true.

You can be certain about this. It will

not always be the outcome you hoped for.

It will not always be the outcome you

could predict or expect. But when we

depend on God for a wise plan in a time

of conflict, we can always serve his

righteous outcome. And we'll see that

here in the life of Esther. To set this

up again, I kind of I kind of told you

about how uh what she was afraid of and

what she had overcome. I would like to

read um verse 15 through 17 just to

refresh us before we go into chapter 5

verse one. Thank you very much. Um and

so starting in Esther

uh 4:15

um then Esther told them to reply Morai

and Mori just told her don't think

you're going to get out of this and and

even if you don't do what's right here

I'm paraphrasing like God can find

someone else to use here deliverance

will arise from another place and when

Esther heard this that's all she had to

hear Esther told them to reply to Mori

go gather all the Jews to be found in

Susa and hold a fast on my behalf and do

not eat or drink for 3 days, night or

day. I and my young women will also fast

as you do. Then I will go to the king,

though it is against the law, and if I

perish, I perish." Morai then went away

and did everything as Esther had ordered

him.

So she does surrender the fear. She

overcomes the fear which is necessary in

depending on the Lord. Otherwise, if you

just leave fear unsurrendered, it will

force you to control things yourself.

anything you care about, anytime you're

trying to avoid an outcome, if you're

afraid and don't relinquish that a fear,

you will try to control the outcome. And

by the way, you probably already were

thinking this, but you trying to control

the outcome is exactly the opposite of

depending on the Lord. And so, you can't

expect that you're going to receive the

help that you need when you're depending

on yourself rather than him. And so we

see the first thing is that she

relinquishes her fear. A fear that was

justified, warranted, and rational. A

reasonable fear, a fear that anyone

would have, not a fear that I would ever

want to correct. People come to me all

the time with fears I think are

legitimate, and still the answer is to

relinquish them and give God control

over the outcome. Right? So she

definitely does that. In this case, I

think it's it's

arguably the worst fear you could be

faced with. the genuine legitimate fear

of your life being lost, of you dying.

You know,

I don't know if you've ever faced that

kind of fear. Maybe you have in like a

traffic accident or a disease or

something like that, but that that

really is a kind of fear that exposes

all the others. So, she relinquishes

that.

I kind of think one of the reasons why

God gives us these stories that are just

like the maximal surreners, the maximal

relinquishments, the maximal faithless

faithfulness um is that that shows that

look, everything under that is still

something you should relinquish. If

God's going to have you to serve his

will, relinquish even your very life. If

he requires that of some faithful

servants, um, then anything less

valuable than that is also reasonable

for him to have you relinquish. And I

wanted you to notice the second thing. I

mentioned it last week as well. Um, you

will not find a place where Esther

before this ever commands or orders

Morai to do anything. She's all she will

command some of her Unix but she's being

commanded and ordered by Morai always

protectively always wisely and she

always submits but in this situation as

soon as she says if I perish I perish

well as soon as she is relinquished that

she gains this noble confidence where it

says Morortei went out and did

everything as Esther had ordered him and

remember what she's ordering him to do

not any little thing don't eat and don't

drink for 3 days and also gather all the

Jews for them to do the same thing. All

right? So, she's relinquished her fear

and she's sowing in incredible

dependence on the Lord and she's leading

other people to dependence on the Lord

on her behalf. She's leading her own

servant ladies. She's leading her uncle.

She's leading all the Jews in Susa to

depend on the Lord. I showed you last

week about how fasting really is about

dependence on the Lord. I'm not going to

go over those verses again, but that's

really what fasting is about. We'll go

to Isaiah 51 today to talk about that a

little bit. So you can see where I'm

getting the idea of dependence on the

Lord from. In this case, she had to

overcome fear based non-dependence and

she needed to relinquish that. And when

she did, she gained the confidence she

needed and then she depended on the

Lord. And she's still depending on the

Lord in verse one of chapter 5. And

verse one of chapter 5 says this, on the

third day, Esther put on her royal robes

and stood in the inner court of the

king's palace. Uh that's where that

standing there is taking your life into

your own hands. If he decides he didn't

want you to come there, he doesn't like

that you came without being asked, off

to execution.

I think I'll say this now. I was going

to talk about it at another sermon, but

remember when it talks about being

hanged on the gallows, the image that

comes to the American mind of being hung

on the gallows is a gallows with a

noose. That's not the method of Persian

um uh execution. It's impalement. It's

hung it's being hung on a sharp stick.

Okay, you can look this up in historical

narratives, but actually you can

actually even just look it up in the

Bible. Some of your Bibles, the

translations will say impaled rather

than hung on the gallows, right? So,

it's not just fear of execution. It's

fear of a torturous type of execution.

That's what she would have been facing.

So, she most certainly relinquished her

life. But it's the third day. She's

still fasting. Uh sometimes people will

call the type of fast that Esther was

doing a black fast because there's no

water and no food for three days. You

can look this up. Personally, my

intuition is that you probably could go

longer than 3 days without water before

dying. But in general, the consensus is

it's very dangerous to do so. So your

body is at its limit of needing

sustenance when you have fasted from

water for 3 days. You can fast from food

much longer than that. I don't know if

you ever done a three-day fast. It's

painful to do that to truly not eat.

I've never done a black fast uh for

three days, but I've fasted for extended

periods of time. And

it it really requires you to depend on

the Lord. One of the reasons if if

dependence on the Lord was out out of

sight, out of mind, fasting will quickly

put it in your sight and in your mind,

right? Because you need food and you

definitely need water. And every time

you're experiencing thirst or hunger

pangs, when you're fasting to the Lord,

I'm not talking about intermittent diet

fasting. That's a different thing. When

you're fasting to seek the Lord's will,

when you're fasting to humble yourself,

when you're fasting to gain help, grace,

and help in a time of need, when you're

fasting in dependence on him, then every

time you look at food that you cannot

eat, it reminds you of just how much you

need him. It reminds you of verses like

where Jesus said, "Man does not live on

bread alone, but on every word that

comes from the mouth of God." So, we

depend actually more and at like a found

foundational level on God's word than we

do on food. Even though you definitely

still need food and water. And so, she's

still the third day. It doesn't say

she's broken her fast. is the third day

of her black fast and she is most

certainly depending on the Lord and she

has relinquished her fear.

So that's it. I mean, you look at that

and if we're following her example, it's

like, okay, first you got to relinquish

whatever makes you afraid or whatever is

causing you to keep custody of the

control over the situation.

The more you care about the outcome, the

more tempted you will be to take control

into your own hands. Taking control in

your own hands is

opposite of giving God that control. And

he knows he knows if you're holding on

to the control versus if you've

relinquished it. Okay? So what Esther

does is she makes a plan to depend on

the Lord and she leads other people into

it on her behalf. Uh so you could say

she's she's not only depending on God,

she's also depending some on his

faithful servants who are then depending

on God for her, praying for her. Okay?

There all kinds of applications. Think

of a conflict that you wish was

resolved. Are you depending on God for

the resolution of that conflict? Maybe

the conflict's not that big of a deal.

Kind of like trying to remove a

subfloor. Uh or there's a a conflict

where maybe you're facing a situation

where you don't have enough money to pay

for the bills and you know that it's

quite simple the solution cuz it's just

math. You have to spend less and you're

confident enough to figure out where to

spend less. And so you decide to go into

budgeting and you're not even thinking

about God helping you with budgeting,

right? Except that our stewardship over

our finances is most certainly something

that should be dependent on him. And so

that's out of sight, out of mind.

However, I think not having enough money

makes people afraid. So maybe you're

really afraid of not having enough money

and now that's the kind of fear-based

non-dependence. Or maybe you're just

like, you know what, I can I can do my

own finances. I don't need God's help

and I don't want to stop spending the

way I want to anyway. I don't want to be

told how I have to steward this money. I

should be able to buy things with my

hard-earned money the way I want. And

now it's pride-based non-dependence

because you're not really willing to do

it the way he wants you to. And you

know, you can have a time of fasting

where you're not depending on the Lord

at all. That's why I want to take you to

Isaiah 58. It's not the fast that God

has chosen. Let's go to Isaiah 58

because his people tried to do the same

thing. And by the way, from the outside

looking in, you can't tell. It's only

from the inside that that God se Well,

God from the outside sees our our inside

motivation or whether this is a fast

that he will accept or not. So listen to

Isaiah 58. This is God speaking. Cry

loud. Do not hold back. Lift up your

voice like a trumpet. Declare to my

people their transgression, to the house

of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me

daily and delight to know my ways as if

they were a nation that did

righteousness and did not forsake the

judgment of their God. They ask for me

right ask of me righteous judgments.

They delight to draw near to God. Why

have we fasted and you see it not? Why

have we humbled ourselves and you take

no knowledge of it? Behold, in the day

of your fast you seek your own pleasure

and oppress all your workers. Behold,

you fast only to quarrel and to fight

and to hit with wicked fist. Fasting

like yours this day will not make your

voice be heard on high. So there is a

way to fast that from the outside looks

righteous. That is actually an

unrighteous way to fast. Okay, we're

coming back to Isaiah 58. So you could

just put a marker there or hold your

finger there. I want to go to James

15-9. It is a New Testament way of

saying the exact same thing. James 1

James 1:5–8

verse 5-8 says this. If any of you lacks

wisdom, let him ask God who gives

generously to all without reproach and

it will be given to him. But let him ask

in faith with no doubting. For the one

who doubts is like a wave of the sea

that is driven and tossed by the wind.

For that person must not suppose that he

will receive anything from the Lord.

Um, to give you an human example of

this, I don't know if you've ever

experienced this. Maybe you're the kind

of person that people come to for

advice. I I think a lot of people at

Boon are the type of people that come,

you guys got biblical wisdom and you

listen to the Holy Spirit and so you

give good counsel. So, someone comes to

you for advice and you tell them the

advice. Um, however, the advice does

require surrender and you're not sure

whether they're going to listen to the

advice. And then uh you find out that

they're going to other people for advice

too and then they find the advice that

takes the least amount of surrender and

do that thing. That would be an example.

And and and then you feel like it's

like, well, why did you even ask me for

advice if you're just going to totally

disregard what I said and find whoever

tells you the thing that costs you

nothing to apply, right? And and so then

you start thinking, well, this person

isn't really seeking wisdom. They're

seeking for someone to double stamp what

they already want to do. And if that's

I'll just use the word annoying as a

counselor. Imagine what it's like to God

who knows in advance what spirit you're

asking in. And he's saying here he's

actually saying that if you ask with a

double-minded attitude, you ought not to

expect to get the help you need. He's

still benevolent. He doesn't just turn

off all common grace just because you're

double-minded for a season. But when

you're acting in a double-minded way,

you ought not to expect to gain the

wisdom you need to help you in your time

of need. And it's very similar to when

you're fasting just in an outward way

rather than in a deep way. It says,

"Fasting like yours, verse 4 of 58 of

Isaiah, this day will not make your

voice be heard on high." Conversely, it

stands to reason, and I know this is

true, that a righteous fast will make

your voice be heard on high.

So you can fast in such a way that

benefits your prayer life. None doesn't

help you to understand how dependent you

are or depend on him more. Verse 5 of

chapter 58 is such the fast that I

choose a day for a person to humble

himself. Is it not to bow down his head

like a reed and to spread sackcloth and

ashes under him? Will you call this a

fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is

not this the fast that I choose to loose

the bonds of wickedness, to undo the

straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed

go free, to break every yoke? Is it not

to share your bread with the hungry? And

bring the homeless poor into your house

when you see the naked to cover him, and

not to hide yourself from your own

flesh. Then shall your light break forth

like the dawn, and your healing shall

spring up speedily. Your righteousness

shall go before you, and the glory of

the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Now, as students of the Bible, who I

think have a very good and developed

interpretive sense, and even if you're

brand new to this, what's your sense

from this chapter in Esther of what kind

of fast she was having? One that was

acceptable to the Lord, one that brings

him in as her rear guard, one where he

sees all the way through that she's

depending on him, or one like Isaiah 58

that's just for show.

I think it's quite obvious that she was

depending on him in a way that pleased

him. And what's the result? Let's look.

On the third day, still fasting, Esther

put on her royal robes, stood in the

inner court on the of the king's palace

in front of the king's quarters while

the king was sitting on his royal throne

inside the room opposite the entrance to

the palace. Now, I don't want to read

too much between the lines. I do not

know exactly what was going on in

Esther's heart. We do get a look into

her emotional life in verse four of

chapter 4 and Esther's and when Esther's

young women and her Unix came and told

her the queen was deeply distressed. She

was distressed because Mordei was

lamenting in sackcloth and ashes. She

was distressed at what was going on with

Morai. So, we know she she's a human

being. She experiences emotion. She may

have been shaking. She may have been

terrified. She may have been like noble,

stoic, galvanized. If I die, I die. We

don't know exactly what's going on. But

it's perfectly fine for you to put

yourself in her shoes in your own story.

Do you know what I mean by that? Maybe

you're standing at the precipice of

wanting to relinquish control to God

about an outcome that you're afraid of

not controlling.

Oh man, this happens all the time in

young parents relationships with their

children. You want to control the

outcome for them because you love them

and you don't want them to have a

negative outcome. And sometimes we don't

even think about, wait a minute, am I is

my control in my children's lives

actually dependent on the Lord? Am I

depending on the Lord

for change in their lives?

I'll give you another example where I

became fed up with not depending on the

Lord for change in my children's lives.

And this is so universal to children. If

you're not yet a young parent, if you

hadn't yet young kids, if you do, you're

going to experience for yourself that is

true. Children generally think the world

revolves around them. That's their

factory default settings. Okay? And you

really do have to disabuse them of that

notion. And if you don't, you're raising

a little entitled monster. That's just

the way that goes. Please don't be

offended. It's just a fact. Uh so here's

here's the reality though. They come

with those factory settings. They're not

born into this world entirely innocent.

They're born with a sin nature. And so

they think about what is good for me.

And they and other than in really

special cases where they learn to

surrender to the Lord and their little

hearts to the Lord really early on when

something good happens to a brother or

sister, their first thought is, "Oh,

that's so amazing for them." Their first

thought is, "I wish that was happening

to me." And sometimes it's even like, "I

don't even want it to be happening to

them. I want it just to happen to me."

You see this when uh a kid will get a

toy and then the other kid wants the toy

and the parents decide, you know what,

I'll buy two toys.

We have enough video game consoles

for every single kid cuz I'm planning

for the future. We have one for the next

kid. I'm just kidding. Um

she's saying no and I'm accepting it.

Um,

so does that do you think that that

means they never fight over who gets to

use what video game console?

I had one Game Boy and for at least a

year I had one game and it was Tetris

and I played the heck out of that game.

Uh, my children have access to at least

200 video games and every single one of

them could have their own console to be

playing on. I'm talking about consoles

with screens. They don't need to play on

one TV and yet they'll still fight about

that. Um, and then they'll sometimes get

mean towards each other. And I'm only

telling you one of the negative sides of

my children's behaviors. There's lots to

praise them for, too. But I thought

about, you know, what's really going to

be powerful enough to change the factory

settings on a child's heart to the point

where they're excited about when

something good happens to another

person. To the point where they're

looking out not for their own interests

only, but also for the interest of

others. uh to the point where they repay

evil with good. To the point where

instead of saying something mean back to

a sibling that said something mean, they

say something kind back. Everyone can

say mean things to people who say mean

things, but it takes the Holy Spirit to

say something kind to someone who said

something mean. And that's the standard

for children and adults. And so I

thought, you know, there's nothing more

powerful than God's word. Here's what

we'll do. We'll have them memorize

verses. I like to put my my the verses

that I have them memorized to little

songs. It doesn't matter. It could be

already like I'll just take a song from

somewhere and then fit it to the verses

and then sing it. And I've done that for

like 15 verses in the past. Kind of fell

out of the rhythm of doing that. I

thought, no, I'll choose verses that are

targeted exactly at this problem. Be

kind to one another, tender-hearted,

forgiving one another as God in Christ

forgave you. No, I'm not singing it in

front of you guys. But it really works.

They remember almost all 15 verses word

for word because they remember the

songs. And we're doing that again. And

on top of it, I'm saying, why don't you

guys write songs about verses that help

you with issues that you're trying to

overcome? Why' I do this? Cuz it's an

active plan to depend on the Lord and

his power for change in my children's

lives. And by the way, it's not just

them. I like to think that whatever is

wrong with my family is what's wrong

with my leadership because that's what a

mentor taught me. So, I thought to

myself, "Yeah, I probably uh don't put

other people as uh more important than

me often enough. Uh I'm often too

selfish and not servant-hearted enough.

And I wouldn't be surprised that some of

this negative behavior has been directly

modeled to them by me. So, I will also

memorize those verses and look to apply

them in my life." So, that's a plan that

I came up with or that the Lord helped

me to come up with to depend on him and

the power of his word for a parenting

change. Or we can just limp along

screaming at our kids to change. Uh

getting annoyed at them all the time for

how, you know, their factory settings

are not good. And no change ever

happens,

you know, but it does require depending.

And and by the way, which one which type

of attitude you think the Lord is more

likely to listen to that will actually

reach his ears and he'll respond in a

way that gives you the help you need?

The kind of attitude where I quote a

verse to my kids that I'm not currently

applying. I have a non-tender-hearted,

mean-spirited attitude while quoting

that verse to them. Is God going to help

them change as a result? Maybe because

he's not going to block my children's

sanctification just because I'm being a

hypocrite. But the way that I think

about it is that if I want the support I

need as a husband and father, then I

need to be obeying too, right? It's that

way with every type of dependence, and

there's a reason I'm spending this much

time on dependence. Because if you get

that right, the rest of it will flow. If

you get that wrong, the rest of it will

not. You cannot expect God to help you

with whatever conflict or problem or

thing that's ahead of you that you're

trying to control. You can't expect him

to help you with that if you're not

obeying yourself. You even need him. We

depend on him for obedience. It's the

Holy Spirit that empowers us to obey.

So like everything really apart from you

can do nothing means exactly that. It's

not a hyperbole.

So let's continue to see what happens

because Esther indeed gets God's

support. Again, his support is applied.

God has not written himself into the

story explicitly in Esther, which I find

very interesting, especially because it

gives us the opportunity to think about

that out of sight, out of mind kind of

thing. In a way, God seems kind of

outside of out outside of mind, out

outside of sight, outside of mind in

Esther, right? He doesn't bring himself

up. He doesn't write his name into the

story. It doesn't even say that they

fasted and prayed to God. That is what a

fast is for in Jewish minds, but it's so

interesting. It seems like he goes to

lengths in many other places. It would

just be so natural to say uh that they

fasted and prayed to the Lord for help.

So, it's obviously uh intentional on

God's part to not have written himself

into the story explicitly. And life

feels that way all the time, doesn't it?

Like, where's God? He doesn't seem to be

explicitly here. I can't sense his

presence. What is he trying to do with

the situation? Or he's just out of

sight, out of mind because you haven't

been thinking about him and you didn't

think you needed him for the thing that

you're facing. But you do cuz again, you

can't do anything apart from him. That

means you need him for everything.

So Esther really surrendered her fear.

She really was depending on him and she

was even influencing others to depend on

him for her sake.

and she's there on. We don't know

exactly how she was feeling, but most

human beings would be afraid. And just

because you're afraid doesn't mean that

you're not being faithful. The point at

which you allowing your fear to

interrupt your faithfulness is when you

don't take action in obedience. She took

action, but she may still have been

experiencing fear. And when the king saw

Queen Esther standing in the court, she

won favor in his sight. And he held out

to Esther the golden scepter that was in

his that was in his hand. As Esther

approached and touched the tip of the

scepter. And the king said to her, "What

is it, Queen Esther? What is your

request? It shall be given you even to

the half of my kingdom."

What I'm not going to say is that all of

her fear just because there was this

answer was now

unjustified, irrational, and

unwarranted. Why? because she could not

predict that was going to be his

response.

At the same time,

and I'll separate this from Esther cuz I

think this is just an example of how

she's a heroin of faith. But in our

lives, how many times has God been

faithful to you in a conflict you

thought might was irresolvable or lead

to a terrible outcome? How many times

has he been faithful to you even when

you had to experience a terrible

outcome?

Can you really honestly say in your

heart before him that he's ever been

unfaithful to you?

Can you really ever say that? I cannot

say that. I have no I can't I can say

that I thought that at times, but I was

always wrong. And I knew I was wrong

while I was thinking it and I thought it

anyway.

That's what our flesh is like. So you

ask yourself like with stories of

Exodus, how many acts of miraculous

power would God have to do before it

becomes unreasonable for the Israelites

not to trust him?

It does seem a little strange that right

after walking through the Red Sea, which

doesn't close up on them, but then

closes up on the world's power, uh,

Egypt,

and they all drowned. So they didn't

they didn't fight at all. God just

fought for them to three days later be

grumbling about food.

Here Esther is fasting, not eating for

three days. They were grumb. It's pretty

stark difference, right? It seems

strange. Although then you think about

how many times has God blessed me and

how many times have I complained the

next day? We're not different than the

Israelites. I don't think I'm different.

So, how must God look at that like look

at the acts of power that I showed you.

None of you were harmed. I even

differentiated between Israel and and

Egypt. I put you in Gan. You didn't even

have darkness. You didn't get the

plagues. You didn't have the death of

the firstborn because you were protected

by the blood on the doorpost. So So now

you think I'm going to let you die in

the desert. It's ridiculous. Yet we

share in the ridiculousness. It is the

human nature that no matter how many

times God saves us and deliver us from

things to still think he won't first.

And here's the reality.

Sometimes he doesn't deliver you from

things.

We know that loved ones will die.

I don't know what the cause was and I

haven't been able to check on the

family, but a a friend that was close

with me in college. I just found out on

Facebook uh that she had uh passed away.

Same birthday was one of the reasons why

we kind of kept connecting. And um she

had my wife and I out to uh to the coast

to go clam digging. And so so I've had

some experiences. I I don't even know

how she passed away, but it happens and

it's sad. I don't know what the

circumstances were. So God does not

always save people from death. That's a

fact.

Does not always. So again, it's you

don't overcome your fear by predicting

the future outcome because you do not

have control over predicting the future

outcome. Also, if you were to look at

your life in terms of patterns, are you

more likely to predict a negative future

outcome or a positive one? I'm way more

likely to predict a negative outcome.

Okay. So then and maybe Esther was too.

I don't know. But in this case, most

people would be thinking, "Yeah, I'm

going to die unless for some special

reason he hands out a scepter." And

instead, she's hearing that I'll give

you whatever you want up to half my

kingdom. Half her kingdom is like most

of the world. Half his kingdom is like

most of the world known world.

Not sure anyone in in Persia had ever

been offered that up until that time.

And so you even I want to say this like

on a razor's edge. Even though your fear

can be uh rational, justified, and

warranted.

Is it really though compared to how many

times you've experienced God's

deliverance?

Like especially if you've like really

been sinking into that fear. Is that

Yes. I will not say that it wasn't. We

shouldn't say that it okay, it's

rational. Yeah, it is. It's justified.

It's warranted. But

the way that I look at it is that God's

faithfulness just simply should override

that in your life. If I die, I die. He's

that faithful. How many times does he

have to move heaven and earth for us

before we depend on him quickly?

That's a convicting question to me as

well because I don't mean to say that

out of sight, out of mind dependence is

somehow okay. I don't think God's

pleased with the fact that there's

something in me that is like, eh, today

I'm just going to forget that I depend

on God for everything, including

removing tile.

So, let's continue here. And the king

said to her, "What is it, Queen Esther?

What is your request? It shall be given

to you even to the half of the kingdom.

And you would expect this is the moment

she'd lay the hammer down. Kill Hmon.

He's trying to kill me and all my people

including the guy that saved you. Now

what she does, really interesting.

Esther said, "If it pleased the king,

let the king and Hmon come today to a

feast that I have prepared for the

king." Want to give Rebecca Egg, the

women's director, credit for this. I

hope I'm quoting her right because it

was a really pity quote. Um, Esther

knows that the way to men's heart is

through their stomach.

You've got a wise uh women's director.

She can help explain very strange ways

of men to you. I think

I'm vetoing at least three other jokes

aimed at the other gender right now. The

only other gender, by the way.

I guess I wasn't vetoing ever. That one

slipped through.

Oh my gosh. I'll I'll tell you another

funny story, completely unrelated, but

related to construction metaphors. I

worked for a year and a half for a

contractor. And I am the kind of guy

that likes to think of smarter ways of

doing for doing things. And I think

contractors in general are the kind of

people that like to resist doing things

any way that's different than theirs.

And in this case, however, I forget what

it was, but I made some ridiculous. Oh,

I now I remember we were in the West

Hills gigantic house. They were bringing

in a uh uh aquarium that's as was as

long as like the beginning of the rose

to the back of the rose and about as

wide. Massive MTV cribs kind of house. I

just dated myself. I don't even know if

they do. I don't even know if MTV still

exists. But anyway, uh we're carrying it

in with those suction cup holder things.

I don't even know what they're called,

but you suction them on the handles, you

know. Um and so we're carrying it in.

Back then I was even stronger than I am

now, so I was helpful in doing that. We

carried it in, put it there, and then I

was asked to get up on like a 40ft

ladder and take a like one of those

knives, you know, the razor blade

knives, and cut out about an inch worth

of caulking on the side of windows that

had degraded. And it was against stucco.

So, I'm holding on to the ladder and

ripping through and I'm like, and by the

way, that like the stucco wrecks your

blade immediately and you don't have

time. So, I'm mostly just forcing it,

ripping it through, and then it would

slip and the ladder would wobble. And

I'm looking down. It's one of these

houses in the West Hills where it's like

built on a built on a hill already. So,

it's like 60 ft down and you're dead,

you know. Um, and so I had a brilliant

idea, uh, which I still to this day

wasn't allowed to do. It's like, I'll

take those suction cups and stick it on

the window, which is a way more stable

thing than pulling on the ladder, and do

that. And when I suggested it to, he had

all these pathy sayings. Um, and I'd

said that he goes, "Have you ever seen

Aladdin?" I said, "Yeah." He said, "I

wish I had a genie's lamp so that all

three wishes could be that you didn't

say that."

And I laughed and got back up in the

ladder and did it his way. Um, but

anyway, that has nothing to do with the

story. Just a funny thought that came to

mind related to to this. So, um, you can

tell I like dry humor at my expense. So,

that's just what I'm like. Um, so back

to the story here, though. Uh, she asks

for

a feast. Remember, she hasn't seen a

hassaurus for like 30 days. Um, and so I

think there's wisdom in that. I think

there's wisdom that and also it shows it

shows patience. Uh then the king said,

"Bring Hmon quickly so that we may do as

Esther has asked." So the king and Hmon

came to the feast that Esther had

prepared. I think that's a really

important word. Okay. Can we go back to

the main point? Cuz I want to prove to

you when I have main points that they're

really derived directly from the passage

when when we depend on God for a wise

plan. How do we know she had a wise

plan? Well, for one, it's wise to fast.

um might not always be wise for you to

fast because you might have mitigating

circumstances where like a food fast or

food and water fast is like not actually

good for you. So, I think talking to a

physician about that might be a wise

thing. But remember, fasting is

dependence on the Lord. And and what he

needs to see is that you're actually

dependent on him, right? And there's

other ways of fasting of things, too.

I I was at a guy's night. One more

story. I was at a guy's night and uh we

were talking about fasting and all the

guys were talking like, "Yeah, fasting

is just so hard for me." And uh then one

guy, I love fasting. And before he even

got the words out, another guy put his

drink down and said, "Well, maybe you

should fast from that then."

I thought that was, you guys didn't

think that was hilarious, but I thought

fasting from fasting was uh Yeah.

Anyway, um we'll edit that one out.

So, they're sitting down. She's prepared

this. So, she had come in with a plan.

That's obvious. She'd already planned.

It wasn't just a gut instinct like she's

like, "He's telling me I can have what I

want." Ah, dear in a headlight, let's

eat. That's not it. She had planned to

have them have a feast. Um, and it seems

like she seems to have planned to have

the second feast, too, which makes a lot

of people ask, why did she listen to

this? So, and as they were drinking wine

after the feast, the king said to

Esther, "What is your wish? It shall be

granted to you, and what is your

request? Even to the half of my kingdom,

it shall be fulfilled." And then my

answer and then Esther answered my wish

and my quest is this. If I have found

favor in your sight of the king and if

it pleases the king to grant my wish and

to fulfill my request, let the king and

Hmon come to a feast that I will prepare

for them and tomorrow I would do as the

king has said. You know how sometimes uh

when you read your mind like kicks out

of gear and you're not listening to

things you're reading? That happened to

me while I was reading this one time and

I was like, "Wait a minute."

And then I had to read it twice and I

was like, "Oh yeah, she asked twice for

a feast." And why? And I don't know the

answer to that. The Bible doesn't tell

us exactly why she asked it. I mean,

there's multiple answers that are sort

of satisfying to me. One would be

because God had plans to expose Morai

even more deeply before Esther said it

out loud. Another one would be that

again, the stomach is the way to the

heart of a man. And so she's wanting to

uh make sure they're in the best

possible mood. Period. Uh but when when

we don't know and the Bible doesn't say

exactly the answer, sometimes it's just

best not to even speculate. One thing I

think that is clear is that she's being

patient with the plan. Uh she's in the

presence of Hmon who wants to have her

killed. He doesn't even know it cuz he

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

Uh to wants her to have her killed and

wants her uncle, her father figure

killed and wants all of the Jews killed

and is is like going to come through on

that promise. He's already had it be uh

proclaimed throughout the entire Persian

Empire. So very very evil dude. You

know, imagine being in that situation

and you know like you got to poker face

it. You can't give any tells about

what's going on. Uh not an easy thing to

do and again doesn't matter whether it's

easy or hard. You can't do anything

without God anyway. Well, she's clearly

dependent on him and definitely has a

plan. And we're going to stop there

today. Um, and we'll find out actually

not until chapter 7 exactly how the

plan, you already know, but how the plan

concludes. There's these kind of sheen

changes and shifts of focus before that.

Um, but I want to put the main point

back up and then I want to go to Hebrews

4 and conclude here. When we depend on

God for a wise plan in a time of

conflict, we can serve his righteous

outcome. God could have written the

story in such a way that um Hmon got the

better of Esther and then Esther would

have been a martyr. Sometimes martyrdom

is God's righteous outcome. And so I'm

not saying that you will always get the

exact sess or that there's some kind of

like uh formula for getting your way.

That's not the point. That's not how

it's meant. But you can be certain when

you depend on God for a wise plan in a

time of conflict, we can serve his

righteous outcome. Now, Esther had to be

terrified to go to King Xerxes because

he was obviously the type of man that

would execute people just for coming

into his presence. And I'd like to

compare that to what King Jesus is like.

So, we'll go to our last passage and

conclude because that's where you need

to go for dependence. That's where I

need to go for dependence. Here's Hebrew

4. Hebrews 4. Therefore, while the

promise of entering is rest still

stands. Um, actually, did I just a

second?

I'm in the wrong place. Yeah. No.

Hebrews 4:14.

Hebrews 4:14

Since then, we have a great high priest

who passed through the heavens, Jesus

the son of God, let us hold fast to our

confession. For we do not have a high

priest who is unable to sympathize with

our weaknesses, but one who in every

every respect has been tempted as we

are, yet without sin.

Every respect. Did Jesus have to

surrender fear? Did he have to surrender

his own will before going to the cross?

Yes, he did.

Sweat like blood dropped from his head.

He's overwhelmed. He's a human being,

too. He's God, but he's a human being.

And he experienced temptation just like

we did. In fact, before his ministry

really even began in the way that we

know it in the Gospels, he was tempted

by the enemy to avoid the cross as well.

He was tempted by his own close friend

Peter through Satan to avoid the cross

and he had to surrender his own will to

go there.

So consider the difference between

Xerxes. Xerxes you have to be afraid to

go into his presence or he might kill

you. Jesus died for you to make a way

into his presence.

Exactly the opposite character of a

king. And that's why it says, "Let us

then with confidence draw near to the

throne of grace that we may have

received mercy and find grace to help in

time of need

where just evaluate in your own heart

and ask for the Holy Spirit to help you

evaluate now and even before you go to

the Lord's table today. Do you have

confidence in going to the Lord's table?

Do you have confidence in drawing near

to him to find the mercy and grace you

need for help to resolve a conflict?

Some situation that's not going the way

it ought to be, some difficulty, some

reconciliation with a friend. Well,

let's just take reconciliation for a

second. Someone sinned against you and

you know you need to go to them and and

say, "This really hurt me. I felt like

that was a sin." Um, and I wish you

would say you're sorry. You might say to

yourself, "Well, they're the ones that

did it. They have to come to me first."

But you already know what God's told you

to do. Do your part in reconciliation.

Sometimes you have to be the bigger

person, the more Christlike person, and

go to them, even though the one you're

the one hurt. But now, let's say you're

drawing near to the Lord for

you're wanting to draw near to the Lord

for help with that, for help with the

reconciliation. You're tending to

depend. But what's he going to tell you

about what you need to do first? Even if

they haven't admitted that they did

anything wrong.

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted,

forgiving one another as God forgave you

in Christ. How did God forgive you in

Christ? Completely. When did God forgive

you in Christ? Long before you repented.

It was his kindness that went before

repentance. And so in this case, God

actually calls us to copy that character

attribute of his merciful forgiveness.

So then would it be depending on God if

you're wanting to go towards reconciling

in a relationship to someone to have an

unforgiving heart in advance? God knows

whether you're willing to forgive the

person. No matter how deep the

forgiveness is, if you want to depend on

him, you need to draw on his power to

forgive first. Even if the other person

was the one that sinned against you

first. That's what it looks like to

forgive others as God has forgiven you.

And that's just one example. Well,

there's so many other type of conflicts

we face. So that would interrupt your

confidence then, wouldn't it? You could

with false bar bravado go to the king,

but there isn't really this fear of the

Lord in your heart. This reverence that

says, "I will obey no matter how much it

costs. Please give me help with this."

Right? Maybe the reason for your lack of

confidence is is different. I don't

know. But according to the Bible, we've

been given everything we need for life

and godliness. That includes the

confidence we need to approach Jesus on

his high priestly throne. He's the high

priest, the one true prophet. He's the

king. He's he's everything to us. And

so, and he's the only way to the father,

too. And he's the only forgiveness, the

only atonement for sin. And he's the

only one who can help us to resolve a

conflict, to give us a wise plan, to

give us the follow-through, strength,

and conviction to do it. And so I I

obviously do not know all of the kinds

of conflicts that you have, the issues

that you're wanting to resolve, the ways

that you need to depend on the Lord. But

I think even right now as the musicians

come up and lead us in worship again,

and as you prepare your heart, as you

examine yourself to go to the table,

when you're willing to relinquish

everything, like Esther, if I die, I

die. When you're willing to take up your

own cross, when you're willing to

relinquish your everything in your life,

the whole thing, everything that God's

made clear to you that you need to let

go and then abide in the vine again, you

can be absolutely certain that that kind

of dependence will gain the help of the

Lord. When we depend on God for a wise

plan in a time of conflict, we can serve

his righteous outcome. Heavenly Father,

thank you for this message. Thank you

for your word. Thank you for your power.

And as always, more than anything, thank

you for being the king who died for our

sin so that we can come into your

presence and find the mercy and grace we

need for help in our lives, especially

when we're walking into something uh

like a conflict that we already know we

have to depend on you for. I pray that

you would make our hearts dependent,

that you would help us to relinquish

what we need to, and that we would be

able to serve your righteous outcomes in

Jesus name. Amen.