Biblical Courage - Esther 4:1-17 - Sunday Sermon

Good morning everyone.

>> Good morning.

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or something. Um, also, uh, we have

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just uh really appreciative of the

servant-heartedness of our church. So, I

want to thank you if you're involved in

that. And let's go ahead and pray. We

are in chapter 4 of Esther, which in a

way, at least in my opinion, is a

climactic chapter, maybe the climax in a

way. Spiritually, it seems to be that uh

everything kind of goes downhill of

Esther's conviction here in a good way.

Um, but the decision she makes in this

chapter, in this part of the story is

just so powerful. So, let me pray and

we'll get into it. Heavenly Father,

thank you for your word. Thank you

specifically for having the story of

Esther written down to encourage us, to

convict us, to challenge us, and even to

console us in some ways. I pray that uh

we would listen with eager ears and

willing hearts. I pray that uh whatever

it is your Holy Spirit is saying to us

individually and as a church uh that we

would listen and that we would desire to

obey no matter the cost. And I pray

these things in Jesus name. Amen.

I'm curious

uh whether you've ever had a dream where

you are so scared you try to scream but

no noise will come out of your mouth in

the dream. Who's ever had one of those?

Yeah, you can raise your hand if you

want to. I've had multiple of those. Uh

not too many recently, although not it

wasn't that long ago that I think I had

the last one like that. And I was

researching a little bit what the what

the reason is. Although, you know, dream

science is kind of like a a soft science

from a medical standpoint. They're not

really entirely sure what's going on. Um

but one physiological explanation is

that uh when you're asleep, your vocal

cords are so relaxed that they don't

work. But I thought, well, that's not

really what I'm talking about. I'm not

talking about I can't scream in real

life. I'm talking about I can't even

scream in the dream. In my mind, I'm

muted in my mind. Uh, every single dream

I've had where that's the case, it's

some kind of fear. I'm af I'm so afraid

in the dream that I feel like screaming

and then I cannot. Uh, one explanation

though, just like on the AI readout,

rung a little more true regarding uh,

when there's something that your mind is

trying to work out uh, some input that

you got while you were conscious. So,

I've noticed that if I'm watching movies

that are scary, I'll more likely to have

a dream that's kind of a horror type of

dream. It's one of the reasons I don't

really watch I don't enjoy the feeling

of being scared. So, I don't uh I don't

really watch those kinds of movies that

much, but sometimes I'll watch a

thriller or movie where there's like a

jump scare and even that will sometimes

make it to your subconscious. And it

seems that dreams have something to do

with your subconscious mind. I just mean

by like your mind uh continuing to run

thoughts that you're not fully aware of

or in control of, you know. Um and so

those dreams will sometimes happen to

you. And if you think about it, that

must mean that fear is a very powerful

emotion if it can mute your voice even

while you're entirely in a subconscious

state. You know, I do think there are

sometimes um spiritual aspects to dreams

like that. I've had dreams that I felt

were

I don't know if they were demonic, but

it was definitely a spiritual warfare

type of dream where the thing that was

causing me fear seemed to be genuinely

evil. You know, I pray every single

night that God would protect my children

uh in their dreams. And and some of

them, if I don't, will ask me to uh

because they have noticed they just do

not have nightmares of that kind uh when

I pray that. And they have had it. when

I don't they say so I pray that every

single night but that effect even on

your subconscious mind that you can't

scream again it's not physiological

really you know I've I've woken up

screaming and I thought I was screaming

a word and I asked Christine was like

and she goes you were just mumbling

there was no audible I couldn't

understand what you were saying you know

um that was probably physiological but

the concept that somehow

uh an emotional state in a subconscious

moment would cause you not even be able

to use your voice. Pretty terrifying

thing, a silent scream if you think

about it. So at least we conclude even

with the soft science of dreams uh that

fear is unbelievably powerful if it can

even silence you in a subconscious

moment. Fear is just really powerful.

And I want you to consider in conscious

times whether fear has ever had that

effect on you. Have you ever felt muted?

Like you lost your voice, like you can't

say. You you don't feel like you have

the power to say. You don't feel fully

in control to say something that you

know you should say, but you can't

because you're afraid. I don't know if

you've ever experienced that. Um I've

experienced the effect of fear. you do

when you're preaching. Um, and it can be

all kinds of different fears. Usually in

the dreams that I remember where I just

couldn't say anything, the fear is some

kind of physical fear like something's

coming at me. Um, but fear that keeps

you from saying what you need to say uh

while you're conscious in regular life

doesn't necessarily have to be that kind

of physical fear. It could be all kinds

of different fears, fears of just about

any outcome. And in general, the fear

isn't going to be very powerful if you

don't care about the outcomes, right?

So, if uh you didn't care uh that a

particular outcome might happen as a

result of you saying something, you're

probably not going to experience a whole

lot of fear in saying it, right? Um, but

if you really care about the outcome,

and one of the areas that just about

everyone I know, and I generally think

when people say they don't care about

this area that they're not really being

fully honest or aren't quite self-aware,

is how your words might affect

relationships.

I think it's a very related one

relatable one. And because I one of the

privileges I have as a pastor is getting

to relate to all the different

generations all the way, you know, to

the point where your body is ailing.

There's cognitive declines, you know, in

your mid to late 80s, uh to uh really

young children to parents that are

having young children to parents that

have older children to men that are and

women that are middle-aged to men that

are retiring. every demographic and you

might have access to that too, but

probably not in the way that I do just

because of my vocation. People will come

to me and they will talk to me and I'm

I'm 42,

turning 4. I had to think for a moment

there. I'm starting to lose track of my

age. I don't know if that's something

that happened to you in your in your 40s

as well. I used to always know exactly

what age I was and look forward to my

next birthday and now it's just, you

know, year after year kind of. But um

men and women that are far have far more

experience than I do, have been walking

with the Lord much longer than I do,

will come and ask me my counsel. And uh

there are times where God fills me with

the wisdom to to say something helpful.

There are other times where I'm not sure

what the answer is, but you learn a lot

speaking to a lot of the different

generations. They they deal with

different seasonal issues. You know, if

you're talking about that like close to

retirement age, usually those men and

women are dealing with parents who are

ailing and they're caring for their

parents. And there can be a lot of

suffering associated to watching your

parents um struggle physically and

mentally and emotionally as a result of

age related decline. Um, and so there's

there's all of these different

demographics, and I get a window into

the types of things they fear. For

example,

in general, young mothers and fathers

don't fear saying something offensive to

one of their kids, cuz in general, kids

seem to be less uh they're more

malleable when it comes to being

offended. You can offend them and the

next day they're like right over it,

right? Whereas adults, if you offend

them, and the older someone is, you

offend them, it might have ongoing

effects in the relationship. And I don't

mean offending someone like with abusive

speech or just mean-spirited. I mean,

like a necessary offense, like you're

saying something that they're doing

that's wrong that is right for you to

say. So, that kind of offense. Um, now I

I'm thinking of like uh like the gen the

demographic where the parents have kids

that are old enough where they're

starting to become really independent.

Maybe on the cusp of leaving the house,

maybe they've already left the house.

And so already you miss them. You don't

have the same kind of interactions with

them. Um they might be living in a

different state or just not that close.

Um, but even if they're just living

somewhere not too far away, but close

enough to see them, you just don't have

them under your roof anymore. But you

notice that, let's say it's a father and

daughter relationship. Um, that the

daughter is living in a way, acting in a

way, has an attitude, or just

something's really wrong in her life

biblically, like she's living in a way

that is just wrong. and you know you

need to say something, but you also know

that she may be very offended at what

you say and so you fear the consequence

on the relationship.

She may very well just decide to stop

talking to you altogether.

It seems like every other day on the

news I hear some article about some

Hollywood actor, actress who is

disassociated entirely from their

parents as a result of their parents'

world view about something. What does

that mean? That means that their parents

worldview is clashing with theirs to the

degree that they don't even want to be

in relationship anymore. So you know

that possibility exists. And the reason

why the fear is so strong is because you

care so much about the relationship and

you ought to care that much about the

relationship. Um, but what do you do

when you're experiencing this fear? It

is in a way the story of Eli. Remember

the story of Eli and how he was he he

refused to rebuke his sons for doing

very evil things.

And it's a cautionary tale.

His sons all die. He gets the news of

it. falls over backwards and because

he's so heavy set breaks his neck. And

these are real stories. They actually

happen. They're not just like cautionary

cautionary legends with like a moral of

the story. God saying something. It's

deadly not to speak the truth in love uh

to people that you love. You've heard me

say many times, you need to love the

person more than the relationship. You

can make the relationship into an idol

because you're not willing to serve the

Lord by saying that. But it's not just

fathers, it's mothers, too. It's husband

and wife. you know, uh, you might I want

you to be thinking about these things,

but I'm not reading your mail. I don't

know what's in your diary, even if you

don't write one. I don't know what you

need to say that you haven't said. Um, I

think sometimes, I'm not trying to pick

on men here necessarily, although I do

husbands do lead the relationship. And

so, they set the tone for speaking the

truth in love in their family. Um, and

by the way, I'm not so much talking

today about how to speak the truth in a

loving way. I'm talking about overcoming

the fear that just mutes the truth

altogether. Those are not necessarily

two different sermons. But when we get

into the material today, the text from

Esther, you'll see it's about her

overcoming fear of even just speaking

the truth. Okay, that's that's what

we're really talking about. But it's

always assumed, at least in my mind,

that we're not talking about speaking

the truth in a noisy gong kind of way

without love or speaking lovingly

without truth. In this case though, how

do you overcome that fear

that threatens to silence you when you

know you need to say something out of

love for the person, out of faithfulness

to God? And you may have something that

you're thinking about right now as a

wife about your husband. I need to talk

to him about it. And again, we're not

talking about when the conflict's real

hot and you're so angry that you say it

in a way you ought not to. We're talking

about you mustering up the courage to

sit down with your husband and say,

"Here's something we need to talk about

that's really bothering me. This is not

right, and I want you to pray about

making a change." The same thing with a

husband towards a wife. And it it could

be an action that they're not taking. We

call that like a sin of omission. It

could be a sin of commission, so

something they're doing they ought not

to be doing. Or it could just be

something like an attitude that's off.

Okay. An attit an attitude I think that

we can all relate to would be like

especially looking at it in someone

else. We think it's there and um you

know when you're afraid your mind will

tend to populate

excuses for not doing. So you might say

in this case since an attitude's kind of

squishy it's not an action you witness.

You just see something wrong in the

attitude and it's reoccurring and you

can tell yourself since you don't want

to say it cuz you don't want to rock the

boat relationally. Uh, well, I'm not

100% sure that the attitude's bad. What

does that allow you to do? Would not say

the thing. It's actually though the fear

that's driving that decision. You know

something's wrong, but you're sort of

muddying the waters, tilling up the silt

so that you can act like you didn't see

it. And fear will do that. If fear can

mute you in a dream, it can go

subconscious, can't it? Can we say that

with relative certainty? Some fear is

insidious and it hides and we're not

even fully aware that it is actually the

motivating factor in whether we'll say

something or not. Esther today in our

story uh in those ancient times, but our

story today is is faced with a decision

of whether she's going to keep silent or

not.

And I'd say it's about the scariest kind

of fear you could face. the the very

real threat of losing your own life. But

regardless of what the fear is, remember

Jesus said that he wants us to be

faithful in small things and then unless

you're faithful in small things first,

you will not be given more

responsibility. Why would God do that?

He's not being mean. Like, well, you

failed here, so I can't give you more

responsibility in my kingdom. If you

fail in the small test, you're not ready

for the bigger ones. You know, if he put

you in a position uh to fail big, that's

not a very loving God, is it? That means

that you he set you up. He knows you're

not ready for it. So, out of love for

you, but also because it's the right

thing to do, he will give you smaller

assignments, which means overcoming

smaller fears to speak the truth. But

just because it's not as epic as the

fear that Esther is facing, doesn't mean

that it's not uh unbelievably important

for us to learn how to speak the truth

in love, especially when there's sin

involved, when something wrong is

happening, when something unjust is

happening, when something that is

harming others or the individual that's

doing it is happening.

And in this case, it was for the

salvation of just about all the Jews

that lived at that time. And that is

also another area that we tend to feel

muted out of fear when it comes to

speaking to people about salvation. And

the reason is, and we all know this, is

that the gospel is offensive because it

says that people are sinful and deserve

condemnation and that God will condemn

them if they do not repent.

I think one of the fears involved is the

same one we just mentioned. The reason

why

so often people do not actually say what

they need to say in witness of the

resurrection

is fear of harming the relationship.

So if you learn anything today, if

you're more like, well, what's this key?

How do I overcome? How do I have the

courage to say what I need to say? We're

going to learn that directly from Esther

today. It's almost like chapter 4 is

God's explanation of exactly how you

ought to do that. So our main point

today is that the courage to speak out

against sin or against something wrong

or against something unjust. The courage

to speak out against sin comes from

surrendering your life in dependence on

the Lord. You're going to watch Esther

do exactly that. She gains, you may not

have seen it, but Esther by the end of

chapter 4 be becomes far more confident

than she was before. There's quite a bit

of evidence for it, and I'll show you.

The courage or the confidence to speak

out against sin comes from surrendering

your life in dependence on the Lord.

So if there's one thing I want you to

focus on, it's that if you have not been

able to say what you need to say to

somebody and you know you need to is

that because you're a surrender away

from doing it. All right. So let's get

into Esther chapter 4. Again, everything

Esther 4 · chapter mention

that I intend to say today is about the

fact that the courage to speak against

sin comes from surrendering your life

and dependence on the Lord. Chapter 1

verse or chapter 4 verse one. When

Morortei learned all that had been done,

Mordei tore his clothes and put on

sackcloth and ashes and went into the

midst of the city and he cried out with

a loud and bitter cry. Uh you probably

already remember, but just in case you

don't or maybe just because it's good to

refresh our minds, what had he learned

about that caused him to have this

response?

uh the king's proclamation

um through the work of Hmon to kill and

annihilate and destroy all the Jews in

all the provinces of Persia, which I

don't think we have the map today, but

when I originally introduced Esther, I

showed you a map and it's like the known

world at the time. The the the

population of all the Jews was the

majority of them, almost all of them

were in Persian provinces. So, it's a

global threat, which I hadn't realized.

I already knew the conflict answer was

was epic, but I didn't think of it as

like a let's annihilate all the Jews in

existence kind of epic threat. So, it's

not some kind of overly emotional

response to find out uh that the most

powerful nation uh that existed at that

time that most certainly has the means

to carry out this proclamation and

decree uh has decreed the death of all

your people across the entire nation in

all the provinces. Um, I thought we'd do

a short study uh in relationship to

sackcloth and ashes and not just

sackcloth and ashes, but something that

goes hand in hand with sackcloth and

ashes is fasting. You can find sacloth

cloth and ashes fasting and prayer and

repentance. They like come like like

they're in one basket each time. And by

the way, they're not just a a Jewish

thing. I found that interesting as I was

studying uh this in preparation for the

sermon.

So what is this sacklo and a sackcloth

and ashes about and what is the fasting

uh about later in the story? So I want

to set that up and uh we're going to go

to Daniel 9:3

Daniel 9:3

and Daniel 9:3 says this

Daniel 9:3

and this is Daniel speaking. Then I

turned my face to the Lord God seeking

him by prayer and pleas of mer of mercy

with fasting and sackloth and ashes.

Just wanted to show you this that how

how directly linked fasting and prayer

is in this case. And and the fasting is

towards the Lord, right? It's towards

the Lord. In fact, I don't know if we're

going to go there. Yeah, I don't even

have the passage written down, but I

think it's Isaiah 58 where God calls

into question the motivation for the

fasting of the Israelites. Is this the

fast I have chosen?

God says, and he says their hearts are

far from him. Uh it was a fast just in

the flesh. And so if the fasting isn't

towards the Lord in a humble and

repentant way, God doesn't count it as a

real fast. He's not more likely to

listen. You can check that out in Isaiah

58. I'm positive it's Isaiah 58. I don't

know exactly what verse it is, but let's

also go to Job 42:6.

Job 42:6

This is Job repenting,

which is wild. If you We're in Job right

now in Word Like Fire, Job and Romans,

which I think is a pretty cool pairing.

We're not that far in. If you kind of

fallen off on reading, you might just

start again in Job and Romans. Great

place to start. I mean, you're going

into the deep end of the Bible

immediately. I kind of feel like you

guys are deep-end Christians though, so

I don't think it's a problem. So, uh,

Job 42, and this is him repenting after

all of the horrible things that have

happened to him. Uh, but he allows his

heart to start getting kind of bitter

towards the Lord and God shows up and he

sees him. And this is what he says in

42:5. I had heard of you by the hearing

of the ear, but now my eye sees you.

Therefore, I despise myself and repent

in dust and ashes. And if you've been

doing the reading with us, you know that

he was in dust and ashes before, but had

not yet repented this deeply. Okay. So,

uh we'll go to one more passage. This is

Matthew. Jesus talking about fasting and

uh prayer and sacloth and ashes. This is

and he talked about it more than once.

This is Matthew 11 21. This is what

Jesus says. Woe to you Corazin. Woe to

you Besida. Those are cities uh in which

he had ministered to and and done mighty

acts and proclaimed the gospel. Uh for

if the mighty works done in you had been

done in Ty and Sedon, they would have

repented long ago in sackcloth and

ashes.

I'm going to read on. But I tell you, it

will be more bearable on the day of

judgment for Tyrant Sedon than for you.

And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted

to heaven? You will be brought down to

Hades. For if the mighty works done in

you had been done in Sodom, it would

have remained until this day.

So great were Christ's miracles and his

preaching that if he had done it in

Tyrus Sedon or in Sodom and presumably

Gomorrah as well, they would have

repented in sackcloth and ashes. So you

can see fasting towards the Lord with a

repentant heart and a prayerful

practice. Those are those are linked.

When I hear fasting, even if it doesn't

mention prayer, um, unless the fast is

declared as a false fast by the Lord,

like he does in uh Isaiah 58, I'm always

thinking they're praying and they're

repenting over and over again. That is

what fasting is about. Um, that's

obviously not what like medicalbased

fasting is about. And I'm not saying

that medical based fasting or like

dietary fasting is wrong. I'm just

talking about biblical fasting. Um, I

don't have the verse for you, but

Jonah's a very short book. Fasting isn't

even in sackcloth and ashes. Repenting

in sackcloth and ashes is and and like

uh like publicly isn't even exclusively

a Jewish practice. Remember when Jonah

goes to Nineveh and preaches a oneliner

of repentance to them, they repent in

sackcloth and ashes. And that's the

Ninevites. They're not Jewish. So, um,

it seems to me like it was a well-known

practice. and that it's not going too

far to assume that even the Persians

knew what sackloth and ashes actually

represented. Uh they represent the

Jewish people in this case crying out to

the Lord. Uh by the way, fasting or uh

sacloths can also be a lamentation. Uh

it's almost always accompanied with

repentance and and and prayer, but it

can also be a lamentation. And I think

this um uh it shows up in the book of

lament uh lamentations the sackloth

masters as well. And I think that's what

Job was doing initially in the beginning

of the book. And so there's all of those

things are happening. The the mourning,

the lamentation, the repentance, the

prayer, uh the fasting, and the so all

of this mourning is directed towards the

Lord.

They they recognize that they're in

trouble. It's a global threat to the

Jews and they're not just lamenting like

on a horizontal plane, but it's

happening on a vertical plane. I wanted

to see wanted you to see that

biblically. Verse two, he went up to the

entrance of the king's gate for no one

was allowed to enter the king's gate

closed in clothed in sackcloth. More

evidence that the Persians knew about

sacloth. I don't want to go too far in

reading into this, but it seems to me

that the Persian culture didn't like the

idea of being sackloth and ashes. And I

don't know if this is a true I wasn't

able to find any evidence historically

of exactly why uh they didn't allow it.

But if you think back to the beginning

of Esther, what's the Persian Empire

about under the reign of Aasaware?

Xerxes, it's about pomp and splendor.

What sacloth natural is about the exact

opposite. And so if I were to guess, and

I think this is an educated guess, but

it's also a guess based on sort of

knowing the world and how it responds.

Sackloth and ashes when your desires

pomp and splendor is a display of

embarrassment.

It's shameful,

right?

It's it's not too different in America.

You will get mocked for lamenting

evil in our nation. You can get mocked

by other Christians for actually

lamenting evil in our Christian. And

they do it online. But like that's where

you can't be in sackcloth and ashes.

It's not the King's Gate. It's on X or

on some kind of public forum online. If

you actually lament what's happening, uh

your emotion will not be taken

seriously. uh it's an embarrassment to

the culture. I think underneath what's

also happening is that when someone

genuinely laments

evil and injustice and like real

injustice,

uh then

people are convicted by that. And one

way to sidestep or anesthetize or just

cover over conviction is to mock the

person that's saying it. It It's like

cutting their legs out from underneath

you. I think that's part of what's why

this law was made that you're not

allowed to be anywhere near the king

while being really humble, repentant,

and depending on the Lord. Can't be

lamenting like that. Verse three. And in

every providence province, wherever the

king's command and his decree reached,

there was great mourning among the Jews

with fasting and weeping and lamenting,

and many of them lay in sackcloth and

ashes.

So the Jews are lamenting fasting in

sackcloth and ashes and dependence on

the Lord. It's a vertical thing they're

doing. It's not just horizontal.

They recognize this attack

as only being able they can only be

saved by God, you know. So they're all

depending Morai and all of the Jews. I

guess I don't know if every single one

there's those that could be doing it for

public display. We know that. But a

general, the Jewish nation scattered

abroad in the provinces

is

sees this strategy and they see it as a

time to humble themselves in fasting,

repentance, and prayer to the Lord. We

might just stop there for a moment

because some of the things that you need

to be willing to not keep silent about

are things that we ought to lament about

and and we have the biblical permission

to do so. and it's good for our souls.

So, I want you to think about something.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Holy

Spirit ministered to you in such a way

that he keeps your thoughts focused on

one thing today. One person you need to

talk to, one person that you haven't

spoken to yet. And uh maybe finding

yourself stuck and unwilling to and

afraid to actually speak up and speak

out in a way. Um, but whether or not

it's all focused on that, I want you to

consider something in your life related

to another person uh that causes

mourning, something that's not right. It

can be someone that you love that's not

saved. It can be someone that you love

that is saved but living pretty

apathetic in their lives and not

attending church, no interest in

studying the word. You bring up

spiritual things, they're not

interested, and you watch you watch them

drifting, the slow fade away from God.

That is something that is worth

lamenting. Um, and and is that something

that you have

prayed like in deep humility about? And

I'm assuming that for many of you, yes.

Have you have you fasted about that

thing? Have you come to the point where

you're desperately depending on God to

change this thing that's happening that

you care so much about? It could it

could be a broken relationship. It could

be someone that hasn't forgiven you.

Someone that you haven't forgiven. Could

be a pattern in your marriage. It could

be a pattern in your family while you

raise young children. And you know it's

not right. You know it's not good. And

you you know that it needs to change.

you're concerned that you're going to

get through the formative years of

raising those kids and the pattern

hasn't changed and you know it'll have

consequences. It could be something like

that and you know that as parents you

need to come to a conclusion together in

unity uh to change that pattern. It

could be a pattern in your own life.

It could be you that hasn't been

listening to someone who spoke the truth

in love to you about some actions you've

left undone, some actions that you

shouldn't be doing, or some attitudes

you ought not to be having. So, it

doesn't always have to be you speaking

the truth in love. It can also be you

receiving the truth that sometimes hurts

that was spoken to you in love. That

happens to Esther here today, too.

First, she has to hear the truth spoken

to her in love. then she's willing to

speak up and not stay silent. And so

it's it's both ways. But what if the

first thing you need to do in

relationship to this thing that's not

right that you know you need to speak up

about is actually just fast and pray,

you know, and I think it's okay to

choose your fast. The fast that Esther

and uh that Esther chooses for herself

and for the people like her prayer

support team is what's called a black

fast. No water and no food for three

days.

That may be medically unadvisable for

you. I think two days maybe longer. Uh 3

days maybe a little bit longer is about

as long as the human body can go before

there's serious danger without water.

You go a lot longer without food. But

some of you ought not to necessarily

fast for long periods of time. I

wouldn't do that with especially if you

have medical issues without some medical

supervision in that way. Uh but maybe

just actually fasting, going without

food. It's a very powerful thing.

Remember, it's a vertical thing though.

It's not really about your body. It's

about depending on the Lord. And when

when we recognize what Jesus said that

man does not live on food alone

and they become more dependent on the

word of God, it's very powerful. Also,

it's not like you're twisting God's arm.

Um but God takes true repentant

dependent fasts seriously.

And so it seems to me like just what we

know from God that there is a power uh

that God accepts that comes from really

God God is a father who wants to answer

your very deep in a deeply dependent

prayers with a yes. It doesn't mean he

will. It doesn't mean he always will say

yes, but he's a God that is leaning

towards saying yes to you more than you

lean to say yes to a child that just

wants an egg. Jesus says.

So I want you to consider if that's

where you need to start. Humble,

dependent prayer. Humble, dependent

prayer. And then in that humble,

dependent prayer, you might start

realizing that you need to surrender

something because you've been depending

too much on yourself. Well, that's where

the entire Jewish nation is at. However,

Esther has no idea. She's kind of

cloistered in the palace. Um, she hasn't

met with the king for a month. She has

no idea that this proclamation goes out.

So we have to remember that in

understanding her response.

Verse four, when Esther Esther's young

women, her her servant women that

attended her, her entourage and her Unix

came and told her, and they're not

telling her about the proclamation just

yet. They're telling her about what

Morortei is doing and what's happening.

The queen was deeply distressed. I want

to talk about that. Esther's a human

being. She gets distressed. She

experiences emotion. She's not some

stoic sort of unattainable,

non-relatable woman that's just capable

of stuff that most women are not.

She's still young at this point and

she's she distressed is an emotion. Like

she's emotionally distressed by what's

happening. You know, I think about this

too. Like he's like here's the line. You

can't be in sackcloth and is here and

Morai is right here.

flirting with the lion, doesn't care cuz

he's himself is just in such deep

lamenting.

So what does Esther do when Esther's

young woman and her Unix came and told

her the told the queen told her the

queen was deeply distressed. She sent

garments to clothe Morai so that he

might take off his sackcloth but he

would not accept him. She wants to try

to clothe him. Okay. I'm walking a razor

razor's edge here in what I'm trying to

convey with my next words. None of what

I'm trying to convey is that Esther had

some kind of wrong attitude in what she

did. She doesn't know what he's mourning

about, but she So, I'm even thinking of

phrases like she's not trying to cover

over the problem. She didn't know what

the problem was, but she is trying to

cover s Morai, but it won't

he's not going to be covered. And

there's so much application in us. You

can't just cover over a spiritual

problem. You can't just cover over

certain sins. Love will cover a

multitude of sins. How does that work?

Well, I don't know. Your husband comes

home, he's stressed out from work, uh if

he works at home, he maybe comes

upstairs and he doesn't have the uh you

know, sweetest attitude. He's a little

salty about something. And you say

something, you're not feeling that great

either. And boom, he says something to

you that really hurts your feelings. You

can decide in that moment to pour oil in

the fire and fight back. This happens

vice versa, too. Um or friend or

co-orker or whoever it is. Uh and or you

can just Okay, he's stressed. He's

probably a little hangry. He's hungry.

Uh I know this wasn't right. I you know,

he shouldn't have said it. But you can

cover over it, not get offended, and

say, "Hey, why he's so upset? Is there

anything I can do?" Uh that's the kind

of love that covers over a multitude of

sins. And oftentimes when that happens,

you will get a very different result

than you would have if you poured more

oil in the fire, you know. Um I wasn't

going to tell this story, but speaking

of uh combustible things and fires, um

we've got this uh terrace

front yard. Beautiful. Um, and it has uh

large gravel pathways through it. And uh

I knew I need to take care of the mole

problem

and

and uh one giant molehill is just now

right in the middle of the gravel. So

all this dirt from underneath under all

over all my gravel. And so I was like,

I'm going to take care of this problem

now. And strewed across the entire um

property are these half full gas cans.

So I bought a bunch of gasoline down one

of the holes cuz I'd seen online that

that takes care of the problem for

obvious reasons and lit it on fire like

with a long stick. I know it's pretty

combustible. And I don't know exactly

what the science is behind it, but it

reminds me of one of those pulse jets.

You guys know what those pulse jets are?

you know, kind of a windy thing. It's

like

it starts doing that and then four other

mole hills just blow up in the distance.

I'm not going to lie, I was happy about

it. I have no idea whether it killed the

mole, but those are deeply frustrating

when they're just tearing up the yard

and everything. But anyway, that has

nothing to do with Esther. Just uh

wanted to tell you.

Um so,

back to the story though. uh you can say

combustible things and and you know just

thinking of the mole hills like it can

have ramifications you didn't even

realize and yeah you can cover over that

but there are certain things that people

do that you can't just let go uh

shouldn't let go need to tell them and

need to warn them about what will happen

what the Bible says about that attitude

that behavior or that apathy or whatever

it is that you see that's wrong uh and

You can't just cover over it. Mold grows

in the dark. Uh you it it will blow up

later. You can't just stuff it. It

doesn't work that way. You have to wash

it out. You have to work it out. You

have to deal with it with the spiritual

tools that God has given us. And one of

those tools is speaking the truth in

love. And so, um again, stopping short

of saying that Esther did anything wrong

because I don't think that's what the

author is saying. Uh but at least we can

look at this like it's not it's not

going to cover the problem. You have to

deal with the real issue. You're not

just going to cover the problem. Verse

six, Halfhatch or uh no verse 5. Then

Esther called Hathatch,

one of the king's Unix, who had been

appointed to attend her and ordered him

to go to Mori to learn what this was and

why it was. So, she doesn't understand

why won't he be clothed? Why? What's

going on? What's the real issue here?

She has no idea. and she sends a

mediator to go and talk to him, an

envoy, someone that So, we know they're

not talking in person here, right? It's

from the palace to wherever Morai is at

the king's gate. She can't go out there

like that. She's cloistered away and she

sends a messenger to talk to him. So,

that's what's really happening here back

and forth. And it seems at one point

that there's like a group of messengers.

We'll see that it says they, but anyway,

half that is that messenger. And

Morortei told him all that had happened

to him and the exact sum of money that

Hmon had promised to pay into the king's

treasuries. Hmon paid this bribe. Um and

actually the king says to Hmon, "The

money is given to you." Like, "I don't

need your money. Go and do what seems

right to you." Yeah, let's go kill all

the Jews. And then they sat down to

toast to genocide later. The king and

Hmon sat down to drink. But the city of

Souza was thrown into confusion. That's

verse end of verse 15. Um so that's what

Mori is talking about. um that he paid

this money into the king's treasuries

for the destruction of the Jews or at

least offered to. And Morortei also gave

him a copy of the written decree issued

in Susa for their destruction that he

might show it to Esther and explain it

to her and command her to go to the king

to beg his favor and plead with him on

behalf of her people.

Right? So that's what's happening now.

Moria sent a letter back to tell her

what's going on. And we get to look at

what her response is. Verse 9. And hath

went hath went and told Esther what

Mordei had said. Then Esther spoke to

Hathachch and commanded him to go to

Mori and say. Now I want to bring in

some details. I don't think this is

reading in between the lines of what

exactly how what exactly was the

relationship of Morai um and Esther. And

I want to highlight Morai's

protectiveness. Remember he had told her

not to tell them anyone that she was

Jewish. And up until the point where he

was refusing to bow to Hmon, he had not

revealed his ethnicity either. I I

believe it's relatively clear that that

was a protective measure um for uh for

Esther. And so the whole time Mori has

this protective presence and desire and

um protective efforts and attitude

towards Esther. And yet what he just

commanded her to do is very dangerous,

right? And and then it gets it gets even

stranger because in just a moment uh I

don't know if you realize this but

Esther actually has to out herself and

her ethnicity at least to the Unix and

whoever else is listening maybe her

seven the the attending women right so

all of a sudden you can imagine being

Esther and being like Morai has been

nothing but protective does he realize

how dangerous to my life what he's told

me to do uh that's what I think is going

on Here verse 11, this is what she says.

Back to Mori through Hath. All the

king's servants and all the people of

the king's provinces know that if any

man or woman goes to the king inside the

inner court without being called, there

is but one law to be put to death.

Except the one to whom the king holds

out the golden scepter so that he may

live. But as for me, I have not been

called to come in to the king these 30

days.

Right? So, so she's not only saying,

"Look, it's against the law and there

are exceptions, but you don't get them

advance. You're putting what you're

asking me to do, what you're commanding

me to do is puts my life in grave risk.

I might as well be forfeiting my life."

She says she wants him to know that.

I don't read this as Esther making

excuses because the author doesn't seem

to say that.

I also don't read this as Esther having

already taken personal responsibility

for what she has to do.

So I think we can simultaneously say

here I mean maybe as a Bible student of

the Bible you think oh no this was an

excuse but you just have to put yourself

in Esther's shoes. Everything that Morai

has said so far has been protective. She

wants to be sure he knows

the danger that this command puts her

in, you know, but this also we have to

stop short of saying that Esther's

already taken personal responsibility to

say what she needs to say to not keep

silent,

right? And I I want to stop there for a

moment. I want to speak speak es

especially to wives in this case because

we are putting ourselves in Esther's

shoes although this will definitely have

applications to husbands as well.

If your husband had been neglecting you

for 30 days

let's say that's happening in your life

right now. You feel like your husband's

not pursuing you romantically and not

just physically but like pursuing you

because like showing how much he

cherishes you and loves you. I think

every woman wants to be cherished by her

husband and pursued in that way.

uh rare exceptions are just deeply

broken marriages, but even then that's

usually part of what went wrong. So

maybe you feel

as um

as a woman whether single or married

actually that you just would love to be

cherished and pursued in that way and

you're not being does is your experience

that you're more likely to be faithful

to God while being loved and cherished

or less likely in your experience

because Esther is being faced with

sacrificing ing her life in the sake of

obedience while her husband has been

neglecting her probably for months on

end, but at least 30 days.

She can't even go see him unless she's

summoned,

you know? So, you might find yourself in

a place right now, well, like, well,

it'd be a lot easier to become who I'm

supposed to become if my marriage was

better. Esther's marriage wasn't better

than yours.

Could almost guarantee that. I think you

probably feel that way about when you

look at what her marriage was like,

right? So,

it just I think what I'm trying to do is

is simultaneously show

uh how difficult things were for Esther,

how much was being required of her. Um,

and then how great her sacrifice was.

But also, I'm saying this to show like

God seems to be just turning everything

up to the maximum so that we can see

what he actually requires of us. It's

not unreasonable for God to require your

life in speaking out about evil and

speaking out to save people. Laying down

your life for the sake of others will

require

speaking up and not staying silent at

times. And and God is worthy of that

sacrifice and he does require it and he

shows us that he does. And also to think

about I think it's important to think

about why is God telling us this actual

story this historical

story. Why does he put it in the Bible?

I think you know intuitively he wants us

to be like Esther.

He wants us to be like Mordei. I think

Morai gets overlooked too much. Uh we're

about to hear what he has to say. Uh we

don't know whether Esther would have

been willing to be obedient without

Morai, but I think it's an important

thing to remember that in this case

Esther was not alone.

And it seems to me pretty clear that the

reason why she did decide to take

personal responsibility was Morai's

mentorship and the truth that he spoke

in love.

More often than not, what gets

highlighted, as it should in this

passage, is that Esther's willing to die

to speak the truth. She's willing to lay

down her life for the sake of her

people.

But it would have never happened if Mori

hadn't spoken the truth to her in the

first place.

So,

it reminds me of the church where we are

a body and we need each other. We need

older, wiser, more experienced, more

faithful, more mature Christians

sometimes to speak the truth in love to

us just so that we can be faithful in

the ways we need to be.

And I don't just mean the preacher. I

mean, there's something really powerful

about someone that really knows your

life. And I don't really know your life.

Even in a church that's relatively

small, I do not know the personal lives

of every single person.

I know some. I want to know more. But

there are people in your life that

really know you and they really know

where you're at spiritually and and

those people can be like Mordei to you.

And if you're one of those people, then

then Morai is an example to us. I'm

about to read what he has to say. So

after hearing what Esther says and they

told Mori what Esther had said, they

Hath and whoever else went to him went

to her um went to him, excuse me, and

then came back to Esther. Then Mori told

them to reply to Esther, "Do not think

to yourself that in the king's palace

you escape any more than all the other

Jews. For if you keep silent at this

time, relief and deliverance will rise

for the Jews from another place. But if

you but you and your father's house will

perish, and who knows whether you have

not come to the kingdom for such a time

as this?"

That is the truth. And we know Morai

loved Esther. And I find nothing in

these words to assume that it was

mean-spirited, harsh, or anything but

loving. So that is Morai speaking the

truth in love.

And it could most certainly be

offensive. How do you know what I'm

thinking, Morortei?

You don't know my motivate. You don't

know my heart. You're not Jesus.

You might have heard people say these

things when you speak the truth and

loved them. You may have heard yourself

saying them to somebody.

Do not think to yourself that in the

king's palace you escape any more than

all the other Jews. Uh what? I'm not

afraid. You're afraid. Right. You You

can get immediately offended

by assumption. Now, Morortei knew her

pretty well. So, it's my sense that

Morai knew uh her well enough to know

what she was most likely experiencing.

And so, she may have been saying this to

herself. She may have not say it said it

to herself. Morai is just saying don't

say to yourself

that somehow you can avoid this and

there won't be any consequences. And I

want to stop right there again. It's

going to be the same with things that

you can't just cover over by like

letting the offense go or things that

and I'm not just talking about you

speaking the truth and love to somebody

who's offended you. I'm talking about uh

where correction is needed too. Where

you need to help someone see the error

of their ways even if their error hasn't

really been affecting you.

And

the problem isn't going to be solved by

avoiding it. Mori didn't avoid his

responsibility and he's telling Esther,

you can't just avoid this one. It's so

easy to convince ourselves that we can

just avoid having to say it and somehow

it'll work its way out. Well, yeah,

sometimes it does, but God has to use

somebody else.

One of the worst things that could

happen uh in in any athletic career, but

especially in football, is getting

benched. If you're not willing to run

the play,

you're going to get benched.

So, if God says, "Don't keep silent. You

need to say something." And you don't,

you get sidelined, God will use somebody

else.

Again, I'm not assuming that you feel

this way, but you might be. Why isn't

God using me more powerfully in my life?

And I don't know all the reasons. I

especially don't know necessarily the

reason. But what if the reason is that

you're not willing to speak up when you

need to? So he can't use you like that

because you fear the consequences of

saying the truth out loud in love more

than you fear him.

He's not going to give you He's already

given you the small things to say the

truth about. You avoid them and then you

think he's going to give you bigger

responsibilities. He won't. Same thing

is true if if you're like an axe that

breaks in his hand. So, you're willing

to swing, but you're not willing to say

it in love. So, like it's God's content

and God's way. I've had to learn that

the hard way over and over and over

again. But it's all God's way. So, you

got to say the truth from his word and

you got to say it with his heart. So,

even if you can be the noisy gong, that

doesn't mean you've learned this lesson.

Uh but the point is maybe the reason God

has not used you and it uses other

people to minister more than you is that

you just have not gained the courage to

speak up when you need to.

Morai has deep convictions about God's

protective nature. He's not relying only

on Esther. You can see Morai's theology

here. He doesn't actually need Esther.

He doesn't actually need you. He doesn't

need you to speak the truth in love.

That's not why he commands you to do it.

It's it's for the sake of your own

development. It's for the sake of the

development of the body. It's because

he's decided that we would participate

in his kingdom and the building up of

the body. So, I want to go quickly to

Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

I'll actually go to chapter 5 first.

This is just a command that we would and

I think it sometimes gets missed. Did

you know that there's a command to

actually speak up um about what's wrong?

This is Ephesians 5:11. Take no part in

Ephesians 5:11

the unfruitful works of darkness, but

instead expose them. It's exactly what

Esther is doing. Hmon had hatched an

evil scheme of destruction of the Jews,

unfruitful, unfruitful work of darkness,

but instead instead expose them. So if

you if you're not willing if you if you

are stuck at staying silent, that's not

obeying the idea that you would expose

the unfruitful words of darkness. Or

Psalm 94.

Psalm 94 says this, uh, which I thought

was really interesting.

Um, I'm going to read it off here. Who

rises up for me? This is David speaking.

Who rises up for me against the wicked?

Who stands up for me against evildoers?

Um, maybe

you say say to yourself, well, my

gifting isn't really being the

spokesperson, but what if and and I

think that can sometimes be an excuse,

but I also think God makes different

body parts um for the body, different

giftings, different personalities, and

and those ought to work um in tandem

with with one another in the ministry of

speaking the truth and love. And that

then builds up the body when each joint

is working together um rightly. Uh, but

even if you don't feel like it's you

that God is calling to speak the truth

in love, would you be willing to support

someone that does?

Right? David's asking for someone to

stand up and support him against the

evildoers. And the the way this sounds

like is he can't find anybody. Who rises

up for me against the wicked? Who stands

up for me against the evildoers? Can't

find anybody. So, it seems to be sort of

a common experience that leaders um feel

lonely in speaking the truth in love.

And so, maybe God is calling you to be a

wingman or a wingwoman in some ways. At

the same time, I would not say that I

mean, God can use anybody. God can use

anybody to speak the truth in love. And

a gentle word can break bones. It's not

about power, muscles, or even boldness.

It's just about being willing to be

faithful as a servant with your words.

So, let's go to Ephesians 4 quickly

here. Uh, Ephesians 4 says something in

verse 15 um about how the body builds

itself up and and the body doesn't build

itself up unless this is happening. And

I'd already kind of mentioned it in

paraphrase Ephesians uh 4 15. Rather

speak the truth in love. um speaking the

truth in love. We are to grow up in

every way into him who is the head into

Christ from whom the whole body joined

and held together by every joint with

which it is equipped. When each part is

working properly makes the body grow so

that it builds itself up in love. It

doesn't happen if we're not speaking the

truth in love to one another. And until

you personally feel responsible, that's

what conviction is, I think, when it

comes to speaking the truth in love. You

feel personally responsible something.

It's not, oh, let the pastor say it or

let the elders. There are times where

maybe that's the wisest thing to do. But

you personally feel responsible to say

something to speak up and then you

don't. Then you did not participate in

building up the body of Christ the way

that you needed to in that moment. And

and I I'm the same as Morai in this

case. God will use somebody else. God

will use somebody else. Um I wrote down

some some thoughts about like if you say

this instead of being willing to speak

up then then God will find someone else.

Fear will keep you silent and then God

will use someone who depends on him to

uh gain courage to serve him. Apathy

will keep you silent and then God uh

will use someone who depends on him to

have the passion to serve him. Hiding

behind your personality will keep you

silent and then God will use someone who

allows him to transform their

personality to serve him. Um, saying

you're just too busy will keep you

silent. And then God will use someone

who depends on him to have the time to

serve him. Repetitive sin will keep you

silent. And then God will use someone

who truly repents and depends on him for

victory to serve him. Making excuses

will keep you silent. And God will use

someone who depends on him to surrender

their excuses to serve him. Refusing to

take personal responsibility will keep

you silent. And then God will use

someone who depends on him for

conviction to serve him. So if you and I

think you do, if you long to serve him

in more meaningful and more purposeful

ways, then you need the courage to speak

up. It's part of faithfulness and

obedience. And I don't know if any of

those things I just read kind of hit the

spot for you. Uh listen to the Holy

Spirit on what that is. Um, but I wanted

to read to you something that Jesus

said. Uh, this is Matthew 23:15. And,

Matthew 23:15

and I want to set this up first because,

um, we live in an age. Let me read you a

quote. I don't read quotes that often,

but this is, as quotes go, pretty

awesome one. And this was uh, Richard

Neibore. You probably heard it before.

And he's talking about the state of the

church and what gospel they're

preaching. And he said it's a God

without wrath brought by men without sin

into a kingdom without judgment through

the administrations of a Christ without

a cross. Let me read it one more time.

This is the gospel that he believed the

church was preaching on mass. A god

without wrath brought men without sin

into a kingdom without judgment through

the ministrations of Christ without a

cross. He died in 1962.

In my evaluation, I'm a cheerleader of

the church, but it seems worse now. And

it seems far more intentional. In fact,

we have a name for it. We It's called

seeker sensitive evangelism. It's where

we intentionally, and they don't say it

this way, but this is what's happening.

Hide the holiness of God because it

offends people. They're sensitive to it.

And what is the holiness of God? That he

indeed will condemn unrepentant sinners.

That's why. Well, you say that, you

offend people. Well, if you don't, which

God are they coming to faith in? And is

it even a saving faith? If God, if the

highest value of God is always only

kindness, that's one of my evaluations

of the church. And I am not a church

critic. I think of speaking about the

church the way we ought to speak about

our wife at home. That doesn't mean that

there aren't things that need to be

pointed out that are wrong. And that's

true for me, too. I'm not Jesus. But

the church seems to have elevated in

this generation kindness over any other

value. Definitely kindness over truth.

Okay? So much so that when I read to you

what Jesus says, he sounds to many

modern Christians like a street corner

hate preacher.

Listen to this. This is uh

Matthew 23:15.

Matthew 23:15

I'll just read after. Woe to you scribes

and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you

travel across sea and land to make a

single procelite. And when he becomes a

proelite, you make him twice as much a

child of hell as yourselves.

Isn't that exactly happen? What happens

when we hide God's wrath? When we hide

God's condemnation, when we hide God's

holiness from people and then they

believe that there really is no such

thing as sin. Oh, you know, it doesn't

matter.

One man and one wife. That's Oh, sure.

God uh is fine with everything, right?

And the destruction ensues.

This isn't even uncommon for your

average Christian in America to believe.

And it's all because we've been hiding

God's holiness. And and what does Paul

say? For I am not ashamed of the gospel,

for is the power of God for salvation.

I think

the justification for not preaching the

entire Bible actually comes from shame

over the gospel.

You're more concerned about people's

reaction to it than God's reaction to

you hiding part of his truth.

God will expose that eventually, but

that's the age we live in. And so you

already know that you're going to get

accused even by Christians for not being

very kind if you actually speak the

truth in love. There's all kinds of

reasons to be afraid.

The question is, will you gain the

courage? And if you don't, God will use

somebody else. I don't mean to say that

in a mean-spirited way, but that's just

what he'll do because you're not willing

to do what he told you to do. And so we

have this amazing example in Esther's

response.

For if you keep silent at this time,

relief and deliverance will rise for the

Jews from another place. But if you and

your father's and you and your father's

house will perish, and who knows whether

you have come not come to the kingdom

for such a time as this, do you know

that God doesn't want you to say what

you've probably already been thinking

about you need to say to that one person

or maybe more than one person at such a

time as this? Why tomorrow? Why not

today?

Now, maybe that needs to be modified for

wisdom's sake. And I'm going to give be

giving you a challenge to consider just

following Esther's example and being

patient with the time to actually speak

the truth in love. But all she has to

hear is this. This is one verse. She

hears this and this is what she says.

Then Esther told them to reply to Mori,

"Go gather all the Jews to be found in

Susa and hold a fast on my behalf.

gather all the Jews found like it's

pretty significant command to tell him

to do

and hold a fast on my behalf and do not

eat or drink for three days.

She's she's she's not asking, she's

telling

this is what you need to do. That seems

like a very very much more confident

Esther all of a sudden. Let's keep

listening. And do not eat or drink for 3

days. Have you ever commanded someone to

stop eating or drinking for 3 days? She

did. Night or day. And 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.

Mordei then went away and did everything

as Esther had ordered him.

First time Esther orders Morai to do

anything. What happened? She laid down

her life. She surrendered it. And now

she's acting like a queen.

And and not just that, she's not just

ordering people to do some weird things.

She's ordering them to fast and

presumably pray because again all fasts

are towards God to humble themselves on

her behalf before the Lord and pray for

her. Pray for her life. Pray for her

courage. Pray for her willingness.

It's it's a command to depend on the

Lord on her behalf. But the confidence,

the confidence, that's where I got the

idea from, that the courage to speak out

against sin comes from surrendering your

life in dependence to the Lord.

The courage to speak out against sin.

And you really do have to be dependent

on the Lord. There's all kinds of ways

in which we can

act like we're all tough and not

actually be dependent on the Lord. Just

a short story. I remember we were

playing Montana. We were Portland State

and oh we hated Montana. They were the

they were the best team. So they were

the the Grizz. Uh they were the ones to

hate. And I had this uh Samoan football

coach who makes me look small.

Saga to Italy. And uh he was usually

relatively composed. Not this time. He

said, "I want you to destroy the

quarterback. I want you to hit him so

hard he has to go off the field. And

we're like, it never never had a coach

before. You might think this happens a

lot. Never had a coach before told me to

intentionally injure another player. And

he looks at us and he goes, "If he dies,

he dies."

And I would have always kind of been the

class clown in social settings. It just

I had just watched I I think it might be

Rocky too, Evan Drago. That's what he

says. If he dies, he dies.

except he's being serious. And it hit my

funny bone and I started laughing and

everybody knew what I was laughing about

cuz they had watched the movie with me.

You know, they were over at the house

and he's he's looking at me like now I'm

the guy that needs to die and they

called me tease and like tease a bunch

of cuss words and and I'm like did you

just quote Rocky? I' never seen it. And

I was like, "So you meant it?" Like he

meant hit him so hard if he dies he

dies.

Like he was 100% serious. And I said,

"Listen, I'm willing to kill the

quarterback metaphorically."

And now everyone's laughing so hard and

even he starts laughing too cuz he

realized like, "No, we're not actually

supposed to put this man to death on the

football field, right?" Uh so yeah,

there's a bunch of bravado like but he

really meant it. Like that's not it.

That's not it. Sacrificing your life in

the flesh. Many men have done it. That's

not it. It's sacrificing your life,

surrendering your life in dependence to

the Lord. Then you'll get the courage.

And it makes a lot of sense cuz what

else can someone take from you after

that? What else do you have to be afraid

of once you've actually surrendered your

life to the Lord? And so that's what it

takes. It's not a small surrender. It's

not a couple surreners here. It's not

incremental surreners. If you want to

become the kind of person that can

actually speak the truth in love, can be

used by God, if you want to gain that

courage, you need to surrender your life

in dependence on the Lord.

And you know, in this case, Esther's

being the Christ type, isn't she?

You can read in the Gospels over and

over and over again, and Jesus knew what

their response was going to be. He knew

that was murder in their hearts and he

still rebuked the Pharisees over and

over again publicly and then they

plotted over and over again to go and

kill him and he knew they were going to

get their way. So Jesus knew that

speaking the truth by the way some of

those Pharisees come to faith in Acts.

So he knew that some of them needed to

hear the the truth of the gospel, the

truth of their hypocrisy, the truth of

the fact that their converts were just

sons of hell. They needed to hear it and

he was willing to say it and he knew it

was going to cost him his life. I don't

want to take anything away from Esther

because man what a heroine of faith she

is. But she did not know that it was

going to cost her her life and it ends

up not. She still truly surrendered.

So here's here's the challenge and then

we'll conclude.

And you don't have to do it just like

this, but I think it's a decent way of

thinking about it. Just choose one

person, first person that comes to mind

that you know you need to speak the

truth and love to. And don't just go run

to them after the service. Pray. If it's

serious, if what you need to talk about

is deep, maybe fast and pray. If it's

something that like a lot depends on, so

really really deep, maybe ask some other

people to pray with you. Maybe even fast

and pray. And by the way, you can ask

all kinds of people to pray for you to

go talk to someone without telling them

any details. And the Holy Spirit will

know exactly what they're asking him

for.

So start with start with the with the

fasting. Start with dependence.

If you find yourself unwilling like

you're recoiling from this challenge,

I'm not going to do it. Then I have no

other response to you other than

surrender or stay on the sideline.

That's what's going to happen. That's

what God will do. He will use somebody

else. And he's not kicking you off the

team. He's just kicking you out of the

game.

I don't think any of you want to be

benched,

but surrender is the way. And I can't

think of ever a time. So, so then after

you fast and pray, set a time. I think

it's great to have other people being

praying for you, too. Not just the

person, but you for the courage to

follow through. It's great to set a

plan. It's another thing to fulfill it.

And then set a date.

My challenge to you is do it before the

end of April. I that's two weeks. I

think that's plenty of time. And by the

way, no great opportunity will present

itself. The person that you're going to

talk to will probably know exactly what

you're about to talk to about and not

want to hear it.

We have a way of intuiting that.

My kids do. Christine will have told me

privately, "Hey, you need to talk to so

and so uh about soand so." And somehow

they know what I'm about to come talk to

them about. Like, "Dad, listen to me

first. hear what I have to say first.

You know, so adults all the more have a

an intuitive developed sense of how to

avoid hearing what they don't really

want to hear. So it's not just going to

present itself. You can pray that it

would. You could pray that it would.

Maybe it will. But that's the plan.

Decide to surrender. Gain the courage

and say what you need to say to whomever

you need to say it. Could be your boss,

could be a son, could be a daughter,

could be a wife, could be your husband,

could be a friend, could be a co-orker.

I don't know. Uh but God will bless and

he will most certainly be faithful to

you. That does not mean it will be

successful in the sense that they will

be changed but it means that he will

give you the courage to be successful in

just being a faithful witness.

Again, one last time,

the courage to speak out against sin

comes surrendering your life in

dependence on the Lord. No greater

example than the cross and therefore no

better time to surrender that than when

we come to the table. And so you can go

to your left, to your right, behind you

as the worship leaders come back up

today and as we

worship, let the Holy Spirit minister to

you.

Today may be the day that you decide,

I'm going to surrender and be willing to

be used. And you surrender your mouth

and your vocal cords. I'm willing to be

used to speak the truth in love no

matter what the consequence is.

The result will be powerful. Heavenly

Father, thank you

for your scriptures and thank you not

only that it's uh you've preserved it

for us and that you have it here in ink

and paper and in bound books, but that

it is living and active and sharper than

a two-edged sword. that it can convict

us, that it can empower us, that it can

encourage us and challenge us, and that

you have put your Holy Spirit in our

hearts that we could actually fulfill

what you've commanded us to do. It's by

your power and our dependence on you. I

pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.