Uncompromising Worship - Esther 3:1-15 - Sunday Sermon

Good morning.

>> Good morning.

>> Welcome to Boon's Ferry.

If you're new or you're wanting to get

more connected, you could fill out one

of these connection cards and uh hand it

off to the connection table as you walk

out on your right before you go down the

stairs. We've got a gift for you. Um my

name is Mati Scaring and I love to hang

out after church. So, if I haven't

didn't get to shake your hand this

morning, I'd love to get to know you and

get to know your name. Um,

we are coming up on Easter. Today is

Palm Sunday, which is basically about

worshiping Jesus. And we're going to be

talking about the topic of worship today

from Esther chapter 3. Um, but I thought

Esther 3 · chapter mention

I'd let you know about our services. We

have a service on uh Good Friday at

6:30. I can see the sign from here.

Um, and that that Good Friday, you might

not be used to having a Good Friday

service. A lot of churches don't do it

anymore. The reason why we do it is not

necessarily because we follow like a

church historical calendar, but because

we found it to be really powerful to

focus on Christ's sacrifice before we

celebrate his resurrection. So, if you

want to join us on resurrection Sunday

after worshiping with us on Good Friday,

that's on 6 at 6:30 on purpose so that

it's easy for you to get there. uh maybe

even be able to have dinner beforehand.

And uh the service is short. There's no

sermon. Uh it's just worship and uh

reflection on scripture. Uh very

traditional Good Friday service if

you're used to those. And then our um

Easter service um technically starts at

9:30 with a upgraded coffee time and

pastries and hangout time. And then at

uh 10:30 we have our actual Easter

services. So, um, if you're bringing

friends, you could invite them to come

and hang out with us at 9:30 and they

could also just come at 10:30 if they

want to as well. But I would like to

encourage you to and to pray for

inviting friends, especially those that

you've been witnessing to or that you've

been wanting to hear the gospel. The uh

Easter sermon will be um an evangelistic

sermon. And so, a great time to bring

friends of any kind, maybe Christian

friends, too, that are uh looking for um

a church body to join. maybe they're in

transition or just looking for a church

altogether. Great time to invite people.

So, let me pray and we'll get right into

the word. Heavenly Father, thank you for

the opportunity to continue working

through Esther. Thank you for this

springtime and the flowers and the uh

budding trees and just the feeling of

life coming back into the world and the

I'm really looking forward to summer as

well. It's just a beautiful time in

Oregon and it is a amazing and wild time

to be alive and we want to consider what

it looks like to worship you with the

life that you've gifted us with and to

not compromise. And so I pray today,

even before we get into your word, um

that would be open to your spirit's

conviction, encouragement, challenge,

consolation, and anything you want to

teach us today and and have us apply to

our hearts to transform us to make us

more like your son who's perfect in

every way and who we want to emulate and

um and be like in our very core nature.

I pray that you would use your word to

accomplish that today. I pray these

things in Jesus name. Amen.

When you think of the word compromise,

what do you think about? Do you think

positive thoughts? You think negative

thoughts? You know, some compromises are

are really quite good. You know, for

example, um if your wife wanted to get

10 more chickens and you wanted to get

four more chickens, you compromise and

get 10 more chickens.

I switched that around though. It was me

that wanted to get 10 more chickens.

Just thought the joke would be funnier

the other way around. Um, and we did get

10 chickens, so that's fun. Got a bunch

of different kinds of chickens. And I'm

looking right now. I'm searching for

what's called a buff Brahma rooster,

which you can get up to like 13. And I

can't find one uh other than having to

buy one like online, which is a lot more

expensive. Um, so, but you know, things

like raising chickens aside, uh, back to

compromise, there's also a negative

version of compromise, isn't there? uh

when you compromise in your convictions,

especially around compromising your

worship, when you have certain

convictions about biblical convictions

about who to worship and what it means

to worship him and to worship no one

else, um

the world, the enemy and your flesh will

participate all together in a complex of

temptation to get you to compromise in

worship. So for example uh one of the

most recent examples in the last decade

uh of just sort of mass compromise that

we experienced uh in Oregon and other

places as well is you know I had a lot

of friends whose convictions seem to be

just like mine that uh attending church

is mandatory. Coming on Sundays is

mandatory. It's a very simple command in

Hebrews 10. You can look at Hebrews

Hebrews 10:23

10:23 and 24 not to forsake the

gathering. And then all of a sudden

there's a two week to slow the curve

shutdown which we followed and I thought

was entirely reasonable which turns into

a month which turns it to six months

which turned it into even longer. I

don't even remember how long the

shutdown exactly lasted but you had

churches shutting down for years at a

time and never quite returning to the

same uh kind of worship that they did

before. And um I remember thinking about

how important it is to have hospitals

open. That's really important. I

wouldn't want to be um sick uh and then

especially if I had co-orbidities, not

be able to find a hospital bed. So, I

thought that was important. Um but

how much more important is the hospital

of the soul? I forget who called the

church the hospital of the soul, but

it's a famous quote from a famous

person, church history. And uh I thought

about, you know, our our bodies are

important. They are, but they will pass

away. But our souls are eternally

important and eternal life is preached

in the church and the word is preached

in the church and there's just straight

up a command not to forsake the

gathering. And yet I would say 90% of

the friends that I had had no problem

just deciding not to come to worship.

Others did. We did. We felt that it was

not okay to simply stop having church

and we decided to stay open anyway. And

um I don't actually remember if it was a

law. There was some controversy about

whether it was actually mandated by law,

but it's very clear that the governor's

intent at that time was for us not to

come to gatherings like that. And you

could say, well, it was hypocritical

because liquor stores and strip clubs

were allowed to stay open. And that is

ultimately what the Supreme Court um

with Gorsuch writing the prevailing

opinion on that wrote down that there's

there was discriminatory. But whether it

was discriminatory or not, we knew that

it was against the will of the governor

to stay open.

And so do you compromise in that

situation? And is your compromise

actually biblical? Because we are told

uh another command in scripture that we

are to submit to the governing

authorities. So in order to submit to

God, you need to be submitted uh to the

governing authorities. So then you have

this one conviction that says you need

to come to church as a Christian. To

just not come to church is just it's

straight up disobedient. You know,

that's ought not to be a controversial

thing. Uh Christians get all confused

about that as though you can just

worship uh God in nature alone. you

don't need the church, which usually

just means that they've been hurt by the

church and have decided to forsake the

gathering. Um, but regardless of what

your sense of conviction regard coming

to church was, ours was that we um can't

simply uh disobey God on that command.

And uh we didn't force anybody to come

to church either. And we weren't trying

to be all cavalier about it. But the

point is we had a conviction that we

should come to church. So what do you do

when you have a conviction that you

should obey the governor? you should

submit to the governor and that you

should not simply delay your worship in

in-person worship which most certainly

was the command because there was no

Zoom or live stream worship back then.

So the author could not have meant

anything other than public gathering

together in person. What do you do? So

we want to be submitted to God and

worshiping the Lord requires us to be

submitted to him and you can't

compromise in that submission. So you

have to look carefully at which law

supersedes the others. And when it comes

down to it, worship is just about the

highest law there is, isn't there?

What's higher than commands regarding

worship? So the reason we uh did not

obey the command or the law or the

mandate or whatever it actually was of

the governor to cease to just uh join

together and worship come together and

worship altogether uh was not because we

wanted to be unsubmissive to the

governor. was not because we're wanting

to dismiss God's command to do so, but

because we believe that God's command to

not forsake the gathering supersedes a

command to tell us to do the opposite of

what God said. You know, and you could

be totally reasonable about that. You

say, well, we'll do a month of just Zoom

worship. There's may at that time we had

no idea how how serious the danger of CO

was or wasn't, you know. So um but then

you know what we ultimately decided was

like months on end that definitely

constitute a habit of not gathering. So

for us as elders and for many of the

Christians at Boon Ferry it felt as

though uh uh we had formed a con uh

biblical conviction that about

worshiping and doing that continually

and regularly in person and we didn't

want to compromise on that. That was the

decision we made. There was never any

consequence for us as a church. maybe

too small to uh we flew under the radar.

Uh there were consequences for a much

larger church. Athe was was taken to

court and that seemed to just uh flop uh

in terms of a case when the Supreme

Court decided you can't discriminate

against churches like this. Uh but you

had to make a decision. You had to make

a decision. Are you going to compromise?

And there's all kinds of reasons to

compromise. For one, let's say you were

immuno compromised or didn't know how

dangerous the um uh current co variant

was. You might be in fear for your life

and feel like well I I it's too

dangerous. I don't want to come. So fear

might be something that causes you to

compromise. Uh social pressure was

another one. Uh society decided that

human beings are sovereign over viruses

and therefore if you get it and pass it

someone else that's tantamount to

murder. You know, just so you know,

because I like to for people to know

where I stand on things, I don't believe

we're sovereign over viruses. And I

don't believe there's any culpability

chain whatsoever for you passing a virus

onto someone as though uh that is the uh

that that you're now the one that put

them in danger. That doesn't mean that

when I'm sick, I just go coughing around

on people, you know? I just don't think

I'm sovereign over viruses. So, the

social pressure, we were socially

pressured in all kinds of ways. And when

we were living in Talatton um in east

east Fox Hills by neighbors and by other

people, my wife was pressured. Schools

were pressured. There's all kinds of

social pressure. So there all all of

this pressure uh to compromise and just

decide not to come to church. And that

one is a recent example of just how many

people really did compromise and um how

quickly that compromise came. So

thinking in your own life though, taking

it more personally, you might be as the

primary provider of your home, working

in a place of employment where there's

pressure to compromise.

You can think of all kinds of ways

there's pressure to compromise. Uh one

example would be that um it's sort of

against the company culture to talk

about religious things and so therefore

don't procilitize, don't share your

faith, don't be a witness. So now you'd

have to compromise your worship by

deciding you're never going to talk

about Jesus to people. Um and there

there's pressure to compromise there.

There's pressure for young men to

compromise to fit the worldly masculine

mold. And uh that pressure for young men

to compromise in the worship almost

always comes in the form of forsaking

your your purity sexually.

Um, I don't want to be too

overeneneralized, but I think at least

in my experience, what I've seen, young

women are often times and and maybe

women of of every age, but I think

especially young women are compromised

uh or are uh tempted to compromise along

the lines of emotional security. Uh

maybe they feel a little bit insecure

about how they look, about uh what

people think about them. and uh a

situation comes along where they could

if they just compromise a little bit in

their worship just sin here sin there

can gain security emotionally uh by

cutting corners you know so I think

dating relationships often times for

young women are about uh gaining

security whereas for young men it's um

it's often times the temptation to

impurity and both both can be true for

either group of people

just knowing a lot of older men uh

looking at their lives and being honest,

and I love the honesty, feeling somewhat

disappointed about what they've

accomplished in their life. If you're an

older guy and you're looking back at

your career and you're kind of at that

point where you're beyond the peak

season of your vocational work and you

think about, are you disappointed? And I

know some of you have expressed, yes, it

does does feel, I wish I'd accomplished

more. I'm not sure what my legacy will

be, what what lasting impact I'll have

with my life. And there can be

compromises that come in the form of

temptation to cut corners to have more

success, but just requires a little bit

of sin, just a little bit of compromise

in your worship. Um,

all of these work across both genders,

but I think of grandmothers. I think

maybe one of the compromises would be

temptation to make your grandchildren

and family everything in your life. And

so that's more important than God's

word. that's more important than than

your worship and family over everything.

So family becomes the idol. Um but

whatever it is, maybe for for young

younger kids in school, uh it's social

compromise, compromising uh in being

part of a friends group that's really

not particularly uh good in character.

You know, uh Paul says, I think it's in

Corinthians, uh I don't remember if it's

Corinthians 1 or 2, but um do not be

deceived. Bad company corrupts good

morals.

Man, that's one people compromise on all

the time. And they I've heard so many

ridiculous excuses about uh you know,

justifying the desire to be around

certain people that is bad influence in

your life. Well, I'm being an

evangelist, so like have you shared your

do they know you're Christian? No, they

don't know you're Christian after years

of hanging out with them and your goal

was to be evangelistic. No, you just

like hanging out with these people and

don't really care that they're uh you're

deceived and thinking that constantly

being around whatever you marinate in.

That's what you become like garbage in,

garbage out.

So, especially when you desire to be

around a certain group of people and

maybe there's all kinds of benefits, you

can end up compromising in your worship.

All it takes is a little bit

disobedience. We're to worship uh God in

spirit and in truth, Jesus says. So in

spirit, what does that mean? Well, in

the power of the Holy Spirit, but also

in the deepest parts of our being. And

if what you're doing is a compromise in

the deepest parts of your being, no

matter how much you justify it to other

people, God sees that compromise,

that compromise. That's bad news when we

compromise.

But there can be even worse news. um in

in a sense uh I don't know if you knew

this but this is the main point from

Esther chapter 3 today I want to share

Esther 3 · chapter mention

it right from the beginning um and that

is that refusing to compromise your

worship will eventually incur the fury

of the enemy

you might think well that's not a very

encouraging main point

and that that is true uh in a in a way

if you find out that you have cancer

that's not a very encouraging thing to

hear. But man, how much better is that

than not even knowing that there's

something terribly wrong in your body?

So knowing the truth is always better

than not knowing the truth and allows us

to prepare. And there's a warning here.

Refusing to compromise your worship will

eventually incure fur the fury of the

enemy. So, I want to talk to those men

again because this is so specifically

applicable to the idea of being in uh

tempted to compromise in your older age

by trying to have like take a shortcut,

some kind of immoral thing to gain

success because you're disappointed that

your life has not turned out the way

that it has in your vocation. You don't

feel like it's been as as good as it

should be. And maybe you see other other

men in the exact same vocation have a

lot more success. Um, well, what if one

of the reasons you're having less

success than you wish you uh had so far

is that you haven't been compromising in

your worship and you're experiencing the

fury of the enemy and opposing your

success? And what if God is

sovereignly bringing about a situation

where you're being tested by the enemy's

opposition?

What if the very reason you're

experiencing a whole lot of push back, a

whole lot of spiritual battle that's

unseen and that you may not even be

thinking about, what if the reasons why

you're experiencing a situation where

you're not having success and where

things seem to be getting worse is

actually because you've refused to

compromise in your worship.

I want to show you today biblically from

chapter 3, but also from lots of other

places in the Bible, how refusing to

compromise your worship will eventually

incur in incur the fury of the enemy.

And it's good to be prepared for that.

It's good to count the cost.

This is a situation where you ought to

count the cost and then say it's worth

it, not say it's not worth it. But just

because you count the cost and say that

it's worth it does not mean that you

shouldn't actually count the cost. There

is a severe cost to refusing to

compromise your worship.

Just consider a modern-day example. I

want to make sure I get the details of

this right,

but I I read on the news and these were

along uh several trustworthy news sites.

There was a woman named Chelsea Nelson

in Louisville, Kentucky that just won a

legal fight

um against a local non-discrimination

ordinance uh with the city agreeing to

pay $800,000

legal her $800,000 legal fees. I'll tell

you what the case was about in a moment.

You may already know, but $800,000

that would bankrupt me. I don't know

about you.

I would lose everything if I had to pay

$800,000 legal fees and the judgment had

been different than this. What was her

crime? Uh, refusing to be a photographer

for a same-sex wedding.

Think about what that means in terms of

what the world is ultimately doing about

compromise. It will find you out. And

there's a reason for that. And we'll be

going through scriptures to understand

how there's a

intensely intense is the wrong word

hyper intelligent being named the devil

Satan who has been around since the very

beginning and even before the beginning

of of this creation. Uh he was around

before that even he's also a created

being and he opposes God's will at every

turn and his ultimate endgame is to be

worshiped. Do you know his ultimate

endgame is to be worshiped by God

himself? That's what he tempted Jesus to

do. We'll go to Matthew 4 today. Uh but

he is the mastermind of the world's

temptation. And and we'll see how the

entire world is under his control

still to this day. Scripture says that

in Hebrews chapter 2, we'll go there as

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

well. And he turns the world against

God's people.

Back then it was the Jews. Now it's the

Christians. It still is the Jews as well

in a way too.

So what happened there in that case was,

you know, there's there's probably

hundreds of photographers, if not

thousands of photographers in Kentucky

that um have no convictions around

Christian worship and will do a

wedding photography set for uh any

couple. But no, this particular person

needed to be forced by law to take those

pictures.

And it's only because of our freedom of

speech. That's the amendment that was

used to defend this woman. And and by

the way, justice has not been

accomplished. You might think, well,

what a great ruling. Who pays the

$800,000? The taxpayer pays that. No one

really gets in trouble for these

blatantly unconstitutional lawsuits

brought against American citizens like

this and Christians. But that's what's

called legal persecution. Legal

persecution.

I think I have another um if I don't

have a screenshot of this one, I'm just

going to uh I think it was in in

Finland, another case um where the

Supreme Court decided exactly the

opposite for a pamphlet of a woman. I

think she was a lawmaker as well. Since

I'm not cooperating this one with actual

evidence, I forgot to take pictures. I'm

pretty sure she's a lawmaker in Finland.

and uh the Supreme Court ruled against

her for a pamphlet she had uh talking

about the um

uh her Christian uh commitment to uh God

having created only one me woman and one

man and that's his plan for marriage. So

that a pamphlet 10 years ago and she I

think it it was a fine u but it was

ruled hate speech you know so already

people in the world in different

countries who do not have constitutional

rights freedom of speech that are

Christians are being persecuted legally

and some of these battles are being

lost. So you will eventually incure

incur the fury of the enemy and and

there's there's nothing you can do to

hide from it. Um there's nothing you can

do to actually hide from even no matter

how much you compromise in your worship.

Small compromise after small compromise

after small compromise, you will

ultimately have to decide whether you're

going to worship the enemy or one of his

servants, which is basically worship by

proxy of the enemy or worship the Lord.

So you there's no point in actually

hiding from it.

So, let's look at how Mori refused to

ultimately worship Hmon. And I want to

show you why that's really what's at

stake here because he also had to decide

to disobey a king's direct order. And he

did. He did disobey that. We don't need

to mince words around. He did.

So chapter 3:1

of Esther. After these things, King

Ahazwares promoted Hmon the Agite the

son of Hamadatha and advanced him and

set his throne above all the officials

who were with him. By the way, I just

want to mention God is the one who puts

people in charge. He put King Xerxes or

Hasaweris in charge and he's the one who

put Hmon in charge here as well. Right?

Hmon's kind of like the second command

here. Verse two. And all of the king's

servants who were at the king's gate

bowed down and paid homage to Hmon. For

the king had so commanded concerning

him, but Mordei did not bow down and pay

homage.

So, what do we know about Morai? First

of all, we know that he was for the

king. He didn't necessarily support all

the king's um crooked character

attributes, but he saved the king's

life. just the very chapter, last couple

verses we went through last sermon, you

saw that he's a law-abiding citizen. He

he he does he's not just breaking every

command. And so you think, well, why did

he not just bend the knee to Hmon? Was

it just cuz he didn't like him? And so

bow down is a simple word that we all

know in uh not necessarily the Hebrew

word, but we all know what bow down

means. You know, it's either get on one

knee or two knees and bow down to

somebody, right? And so I thought, well,

maybe it'd be good uh to look at another

verse where a godly character actually

did bow down to another human being

because we need to decide when it's okay

to bow down and when it's not. If it's a

command to bend the knee to somebody,

let's say you're pro probably would not

happen.

Maybe the closest thing in America would

be like uh saluting a superior officer

or something like that. But but if

you're in a monarchy, especially a

monarchy where um the the king is

actually in power, uh you may actually

be required to bend down on one knee.

And can you do that as a Christian? Uh

the answer is yes, you can. You can do

that as a um a person who worships God

alone. And David does it. And it's it's

the exact same word. I'll I'll I'll read

it to you and then I'll show you the

word in I'll read the word to you in

Hebrew. This is uh 1st Samuel chapter

24:8.

By the way, this is not a very difficult

word study to do. Uh if you are using

blue letter Bible like I did, um I've

done tutorials before on how to do it,

but y'all can just look up uh word

studies on blue letter Bible on YouTube

and they have tutorials how to do that.

And it doesn't take long to look up

another place cuz uh this word in Hebrew

for bow down and for pay homage. Um

they'll give you instances of biblical

examples of it. You scroll down after

you click on innerlinear and find the

word and then you scroll down and it'll

show you all the places it's used.

That's how I found 1 Samuel. I was

looking until I found one. Okay. I

thought David may have bent the knee uh

to another king and even Saul. And in

this case, Saul's seeking his life.

David being hunted like a fugitive. And

here's what uh the Bible says, what

God's word says. Afterward, David also

arose and went out of the cave and

called after Saul, my lord, the king.

And when Saul looked behind him, David

bowed with his face to the earth. This

isn't just like knight of King Arthur

getting on one knee. There is bowing

with his face to the earth and paid

homage. Okay, so that word homage,

that's the one I was looking for. Uh

because the Hebrew word for bow down

does not necessarily have any

connotations of worship, but the Hebrew

word for homage does and it is shaka.

And the outline of biblical usage is to

bow down

um to depress

uh to bow down or prostrate oneself

before a superior in homage before God

in worship before false gods before an

angel. Okay. So, it it has it is a word

that has worship connotations. However,

context is everything. So, David here is

clearly not bowing down to Saul in

worship.

He's bowing down in deference, in

reverence to Saul's position. It's the

right thing to do. It's a humble thing

to do. Okay. So technically the word

study kind of failed here because you're

like well

uh when you go back to Esther that same

word shaka well it could mean

prostrating oneself in reverence or it

could have worship connotations and so

you still can't really make a decision

whether or not

it required Morai to worship Hmon right

because no matter how bad Hmon's

character is and no matter how much of

it Morai had known if it's just simply a

command to show deference he can do it

even as as one who has the conviction to

worship God alone he can do it just a

physical expression of being in

submission to a superior politically

governmentally right so then we have

this awkward decision to make so far

without any more evidence because one

side we don't want to accuse Mori of

being unlawful here.

And on the other side, he's definitely

directly disobeying

the command of the king.

Remember, that's the real issue here.

It's not just the command of Hmon. It's

the command of the king. Let me read

again. And all the king's servants who

were at the king's gate bowed down and

paid homage to Hmon. For the king had so

commanded concerning him. But Morortei

did not bow down or pay homage. And so

even after looking at that word in a

different context, we know that

sometimes based on the context, it's

okay to bend the knee. And in this

situation, why didn't he? Well, let's

read on. Verse three. Then the king's

servants who were at the king's gate

said to Mori, "Why do you transgress the

king's command?"

And and I agree with them that it was a

transgression of the king's command. And

I know

that scripture says that to obey the

king except if it requires you to sin.

So,

and then there's something still in me

before even reading the next couple

verses. I think he's like, "Yeah, but I

don't really think Morai is uh someone

who can't humble himself even before

someone with a bad character." The king

had a bad character too and actually be

submissive in that way. Who taught

Esther to be so submissive? Morai. Now

all of a sudden he's just way out of

character. Something didn't sit right

with me. Well, let's go on. There's more

evidence here. Verse four. And when they

spoke to him day after day, and he would

not listen to them, they just keep

pressing him day after day after day.

They told Hmon in order to see whether

Morai's words would stand, for he had

told them that he was a Jew. Remember,

Morai and Esther have been keeping that

secret. Esther has still not revealed at

this point in the plot that she's

Jewish.

So, something pressed Morai

to actually reveal his identity as a

Jew.

So, why does the author, whoever the

author is, and ultimately God as the the

ultimate author of these words, give us

the detail that he's a Jew. What's

happening here is that they keep

pressing him for why he won't bow down

and he tells them that he's Jewish as

the reason.

And so now we can see that it's as a

result of his identity as a Jew.

Now Hmon will use that as an example.

See all these Jews are unwilling to be

lawful because they're Jewish. That's

his flimsy evidence and false testimony.

But what's really happening here is

worship conviction.

And I want you to think about this.

If the king, and we don't know, so this

is just pure speculation, but it allows

for us to think about what we would do

in this situation. If the king commanded

you to bow down to somebody and that

person did not see it as worship, so so

Hmon in this case, could you bow down to

him if if Hmon's not requiring you to

worship him? Yes, you could.

What if Hmon

was and you knew this

looking at what you're doing as worship

of him? Remember the story of

Nebuchadnezzar and the golden idol this

uh statue of him that he erected, right?

It was it was very clearly stated in in

the story in God's word by

Nebuchadnezzar and his servants that

whenever any kind of this musical

instrument would play uh that everyone

was to bow down and worship that that

golden statue and on pain of death

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused

to do so and they actually get thrown in

the fiery furnace and in this instance

God saved them. But they said even if he

doesn't we're not going to worship you.

We'll worship God alone.

So what we can say with certainty here,

we don't know exactly what Hmon's

attitude was, although we know that he

is evil and we find out that he's an

enemy of the Jews and that he has an

evil character. Um, but what we know for

certain is that Morortei would not bow

down to Hmon because he was a Jew. So I

don't think it's even reading between

the lines or significantly speculative

to say Morortei decided that it crosses

a convictional boundary for him

spiritually

that that he would not bow down to him.

And the way that I look at this is that

Mori

did not bow down to him because Hmon saw

that as worship. And I wouldn't either

even if it was a command even if it was

a command uh that um the capital

punishment was required. So death

penalty was required for not doing it.

Uh and I say I wouldn't by the grace of

God. I wouldn't

I would I would beg God to help me not

to that I'd be willing to give up my

life. I would not bow down to somebody

who saw me worshiping them, who saw my

obedience them as worship of them. I

would say that's true. Even if the king

in this situation didn't see the

requirement legally to be worshiped, but

just honor, if the person that's

standing in front of you sees what

you're doing as worship, it's a worship

conviction not to do it. That kind of

worship belongs to God alone. And so

hopefully you're convinced along with me

that the reason why Morortei did not bow

down to Hmon is because he refused to

worship him. That that was the real

issue behind it. So let's continue. And

when Hmon saw that Morortei did not bow

down or pay homage to him, Hmon was

filled with fury.

We see in verse 10 that this very Hmon

by God is called the enemy of the Jews.

And we'll get there. He's filled with

fury.

And he could have come up with a scheme

just to have Morortei executed. But that

wasn't enough.

Verse 5. But he disdained to lay hands

on Mori alone. So they made known to him

uh so as they made known to him the

people of Mori. Hmon sought to destroy

all the Jews and the people of Morortei

throughout the whole kingdom of

Hasaweris. Uh in Yeah. So, so and

remember the whole kingdom is like the

whole known world. So, this is a global

threat to the existence of Jews.

And I was thinking about

I don't is there any other people group

that faces like Hollywood movie like

global annihilation?

I was thinking, you know, I'm not I'm

not a historian and I'm so I'm not

saying there there isn't, but how about

twice because that's what Hitler wanted

to do, too.

Why why do the Jews face global

annihilation

uh schemes more than once?

Some people groups have never faced that

kind of annihilation. Why do they why

did they back then? Well, we can say

with certainty back then because they

had certain convictions that the world

stands against. Why does the world stand

against that? What I want to make the

point of here is that it's not just Hmon

behind this fury, but it's the enemy

himself. And I want to show you that

biblically. And so, we're going to go to

a couple verses here. Um, let's start

with Matthew 2 9-11. And this is the

enemy's endgame. This is what he

ultimately wants. And he is so bold that

he wants God himself to worship him. And

this is Matthew 4:9-11.

Matthew 4:9–11

Okay. Matthew 4:9-11. And he said to

Matthew 4:9–11

him, "All these I have given I give will

give to you." Satan saying this to

Jesus, "If you will fall down and

worship me."

I don't know if you guys enjoy when I

bring up worship uh uh word studies or

not, but I know that some of you do and

you might be interested in this word uh

worship here. It is the Greek word

prouneo. Okay. Uh quite famous word in

terms of uh scholarly work on on uh on

the Greek. But let me read to you uh

some of the ranges of meaning of pros

kuneo. First one outline of biblical

usage to kiss the hand uh of one in

token of reverence among the orientals

especially Persians to fall upon the

knees and touch the ground with the

forehead as an expression of profound

reverence

very similar to shaka isn't it in range

but it also can mean the new testament

by kneeling or prostration to do homage

or make obesence whether in order to

express respect or make supplication

used an homage shown to men of beings

and beings of superior rank to kiss the

hand. Oh, excuse me. I I I my eye

skipped up here. But also

in worship of God, Christ, heavenly

beings or demons.

So, prosecune and shaka are synonyms

across two different languages.

And obviously in this situation, Satan

is tempting Jesus to worship him. And he

said to him, "All these I will give to

you like all the kingdoms and their

glory if you will fall down and worship

me." Remember this is

a created being

asking Jesus,

an uncreated person who is both fully

human and fully God to worship him.

And then then Jesus said to him, "Be

gone, Satan, for it is written, you

shall worship the Lord your God, and him

only shall you serve." And then the

devil left him, and behold, the angels

came and were ministering to him.

So you can see very clearly that Satan's

endgame is for even God himself to

worship him. And so anyone that is

serving the enemy uh will be serving

that ultimate end. Let's go to John 8:44

John 8:44

as well.

John 8:44.

John 8:44

This is what Jesus says about the

Pharisees who are seeking to murder him.

You are of your father, the devil. That

establishes that there are some people

who are serving Satan. In this case,

they say they're serving God. So like

their father, they're both liars and

murderers. And your will is to do your

father's desires. He was a murderer from

the beginning and does not stand in the

truth because there is no truth in him.

When he lies, he speaks his out of his

own character. For he is a liar and the

father of lies.

So we've established that Satan wants

even God to worship him. And we've

established that he has servants that

are just like him. Okay, let's go to

Hebrews chapter 2:14. Just how many

people are serving him. Hebrews chapter

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

2, uh, verse 14. Since therefore the

children share in flesh and blood, he

himself likewise partook of the same

things. Speaking of Jesus, that through

death he might destroy the one who has

the power of death, that is the devil.

Let's also go to 1 John 5:19.

1 John 5:19

We know that we are from God and the

whole world lies in the power of the

evil one.

Now, I believe that some people are more

involved in serving the enemy than

others.

I think some people are knowingly

involved in serving the enemy and

actually intentionally worship him. I

think some people are unknowingly

involved. But when we're commanded not

to be conformed to the world, but rather

be transformed by the renewal of our

minds, the world is being conformed. And

unless you have the Holy Spirit living

in you, you cannot but be conformed. But

the world is not being conformed to the

world's standards. It's being conformed

to the enemy's power over the world's

standards. And the it's very simple to

understand the enemy in terms of his

endgame. He will simply oppose anything

that's about worshiping anyone other

than him. Let me say that again. He will

simply oppose anything that's about

worshiping anyone other than him. But

he's brilliant and crafty. So for a time

if he can get you peel you away from

worshiping God into worshiping something

created, he can use that and pipelinely

towards worshiping him because he's in

control of the idols. that gives him

power over you when you allow an idol to

grow in your life. So

even though I would not say biblically

that everyone is serving the enemy and

everyone of the world is serving the

enemy to the same degree of subservience

to him like for example the the

Pharisees um the world is under his

control and power according to the

author of Hebrews and I don't believe

anything has changed along those lines.

So, let's go to Revelation 12:12 as

Revelation 12:12

well. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and

you who dwell in them. But woe to you, O

earth and sea, for the devil has come

down to you in great wrath because he

knows his time is short.

Do you know that Satan has wrath? We

talk about the wrath of God. We don't

very often talk about the wrath of

Satan, do we?

But so you have

you have multiple things that you've

just been shown from scripture. For one,

the enemy wants God, even God, to

worship him. So his endgame is obviously

everyone to worship him. That's how

prideful he is.

He knows his time is short, but he's in

control and he has servants. Hmon is

clearly one of them.

And the enemy will always turn

uh his servants against those who have

actual convictions in worship,

especially if those convictions are

worshiping Jesus Christ.

You can't worship God without worshiping

Jesus Christ. It's what he says. And the

enemy has great wrath

against anyone that won't worship him.

So he's evil, he's brilliant, he's very

powerful, and he is furious.

And if even Christians can sometimes do

very crooked, sinful things when they're

really angry and you let your anger get

out of control, imagine what someone in

whom there is no truth truth, who is a

murderer from the beginning, who is just

all the way evil, will do in his fury

and wrath.

He's bent on destroying anyone he can't

tempt to worship him effectively.

So the enemy, you can see him seething

at Mori through Hmon.

And that is why over and over again the

people of God, the church, but also

currently still the Jews because God has

a remnant within them that he is going

to convert uh or I should say complete

in their own Judaism uh who he will

bring to repentance and faith in Jesus

Christ. That's required for everyone,

Jews and Gentiles alike, if they want to

be worshiping the Lord.

And so the enemy is just in furious

violent

just enraged opposition to that.

And when Hmon saw that Morortei did not

bow down or pay homage to him, Hmon was

filled with fury. So, are you going to

be able to hide from that long term? I'm

not accusing Morai of hiding. I think he

was shrewd in not just announcing that

he's Jewish. Um, because he knows this

pattern. the people, the Jews knew that

the world tends towards hostility

towards them. Uh over time, worse and

worse hostility and uh he was wise in

telling Esther not to make that known.

But in this situation, as Christians,

we're commanded specifically not to hide

our light. And so the the closer you are

to Jesus and the more that you actually

worship him openly, the more the enemy

will oppose you. And he will oppose you

not just by his servants but also

tempting you personally to compromise in

your worship. He will oppose you at

work. And what by the way, it doesn't

have to be him personally. It can be one

of his uh servant demons, a fallen angel

that's under his control or it could be

him tempting you uh through his uh human

servant, right?

to compromise in your worship, to move

the goalposts of your conviction, to do

so in relationship to how you parent

your children, to do so in relationship

to your place of employment, and it'll

always have some kind of shiny object or

worm on the hook that makes you want to

bite. Oh, I can uh just have uh peace

with my boss by being willing to submit

in this area that I actually think would

be sinful for me to sit in. Oh, I can

fib on these reports. Oh, I can change

this number. Oh, I can backdate this for

the company's benefit. Oh, my boss is

asking me to do this. Or you can just

say no. Well, when you say no, you may

fear that your boss will have a negative

view of you and then you don't get that

next promotion.

I don't think there's anything wrong

with desiring a promotion.

I don't think there's anything wrong

desiring to work towards being paid more

for your work. But if you have to

compromise your worship for it, right?

It's never just like, "Oh, let me just

compromise my worship today for no

perceived benefit."

Why do people hide their Christianity

from their friends? It's like, well,

they're perfectly fine with with total

progressive liberal Christianity that

has no worship convictions because it's

not out of line with being conformed to

the world. It it doesn't contradict the

enemy's desires behind the world's

desire.

But if you're a bibleelving Christian

and actually believe things that

contradict the world and even convict

the world,

just like Jesus said, the the world will

hate you because it hated him first.

So where are you being tempted to

compromise in your worship? It's not

just young men that f uh that um face

temptation in uh the purity realm,

right?

I don't know if this is a tactic of the

enemy, but it seems to me like uh

especially for young men, gyms and

screens, gyms and screens is where

you'll face the most temptation. Uh at

gyms, you'll find a whole lot of women

dressed in a way that is um very

tempting to look at. And on your screen,

you have free access to just about any

kind of pornography.

Send me tempt you then. Seems to me like

the temptations uh to that don't come as

often during the day as they come at

night before you go to sleep. And what

does Jesus say? If your eye causes you

to sin, pluck it out. And does he

actually mean mutilate yourself? No. He

means take a ruthless approach to

getting rid of such worship compromises.

Doing that is bowing the knee to the

enemy and paying homage to him. and it

robs you of spiritual power.

So, you got to be ruthless against that

kind of sin, whatever that temptation

is. If it's to gain social standing by

gossiping with friends about somebody

else, oh man, how many times we

compromise on that because gossip tastes

good to our ears. If that makes any

sense. It feels good to listen to. Oo,

I'm on the inside. They're telling me

the special secret about it. What did

Martin Luther say? Let your ears be

tombs for gossip.

Let it die right there. And by the way,

you don't just keep facing the same

temptations over and over and over

again. When you resist the enemy, he

flees from you. And there are certain

people people won't gossip to because

the way that you respond is hostile to

the gossip. Why are you telling me this?

I don't want to hear that. Might only

have to be one time that you say that.

Stop gossiping to me. I don't want to

hear that. Oh, I wasn't. No one's ever

gossiping.

No one's ever gossiping, right? That's

why the Bible has so many times where it

talks about that as a fruit of the or

work of the flesh because nobody ever

does it,

right? And and maybe you don't do it

when you're feeling fine, but man, we

were talking about anger and there's

fury and anger here too, although not as

an example for us, but as an example

standing the negative. uh consider the

reality of that sometimes you're so

emotionally compromised that there's low

no control. You stepped out of the

spirit, you're in the flesh, you're so

angry and you say these words in anger.

So again, the enemy doesn't come to you

when you're like most prepared to resist

the temptation to say things you ought

not to. He comes to you when you're

already emotionally compromised. So

what's the answer? Uh well, for me, the

answer about more disciplined speech is

the fruit of self-control.

the fruit of self-control which means

being obedient when you don't feel like

it obedient with your with your words

and who can tame the tongue

right and and James to paraphrase says

out of it flow you know uh like a

life-giving river and also a poisonous

bitter

kind of stream so

the tongue of remember we'll be held

accountable for every careless word we

speak according to Jesus

So it is of great value to gain the

self-control and it's when we say

self-control we mean it's a control the

Holy Spirit gives us. It's not a fleshly

so white knuckle I can do I can control

my speech that counts for nothing.

So there's all different kinds of ways

that the enemy will tempt you to

compromise.

I think one of the ways on screens

that's uh not necessarily related to

purity that he calls us that the end

attempts us to compromise is just

spending way more time on the screen

than we even should

right and then oh we don't have enough

time for prayer or enough we're just so

busy too busy to read about a king who

died for us

right so so busyness is idolatry too

when it's so so busy you can't even

spend time in prayer you can't even

spend time worship worshiping the Lord.

He can't even spend time reading about

him.

Verse 6 again, but he disdained to lay

hands on Morai alone. So as so as they

made known to him the people of Mori,

Hmon sought to destroy all the Jews and

the people of Morortei throughout the

whole kingdom of Asaweras. In the first

month, which is the month of Nissan in

the 12th year of the king of Hassaweras,

they cast purr that is cast lots before

Hmon day after day and they cast it

month after month. and the 12th month uh

excuse me the cassette month after month

till the 12th month which is the month

of Adar. I thought I'd show you a little

graphic so that you can understand how

the months of the Jewish calendar the

lunar calendar uh compare to the months

of the um Gregorian calendar. And um you

can see here that the the month of

Nissan is is right where we're at right

now between March and April of the month

of Adar is the month before also

considered the last month. So I don't

know if it's helpful to think of the

month of Ador kind of Adar kind of like

their December but it's it's the end of

the year whereas Nissan is the beginning

of the year. Another more important

month is the month because that's the

month in which Esther asks uh King

Aasaweris to um give a decree to protect

the Jews uh from this global threat

basically. Um so what's happening here

too is the way the ESV reads when I

first read this made it sound like that

um that they were casting lots before

him and day after day and month after

month till the 12th month. So like every

day and every month all the way up to

the month of Ador that's not actually

what's happening. Uh but if you're just

reading the ESV alone, you could get

that idea. What's really happening is

that the most the rest of the book of

Esther takes place in the 12th year of

uh uh of King Asaweras's reign. Um it's

not that they spent most of the year

casting lots. I don't know exactly how

long they took to sp to cast these lots.

Maybe it took them more than one day.

But this is a great example as biblical

students when you're studying God's word

closely of the value of reading other

translations uh because you just don't

know like this didn't seem like a

controversial verse to me. So I didn't

initially check to see what other

translation options there were. Um but

just the way it reads in my mind it's

like oh they were casting lots day after

day. Uh but that didn't really sit well.

Uh Greg and I and Rebecca study to write

questions for the the Bible studies on

Wednesday nights. uh people gather on

Wednesday nights at 6:00 to eat and

study the God's word and to pray

together and um it seemed like what was

happening was happening in throughout

this rest of the year and we're not

talking about another year but if they

had been casting lots all the way to the

month of Nissan all the way to Adar

that's a full year um then there would

have had to be another year and be the

13th year of the reign of King Aseris

and there is no mention of the 13th year

uh so I thought I'd just I took some

screenshots of different translation

options. And if when you're studying the

Bible closely, might not be able to do

this in like a faster read through. But

if you're reading other translations,

you say, "Oh, that's different. Let me

look into that. Why is this translation

so much different than the other one?"

Um, and if you're only going to read

one, what I would suggest, since the S,

since ESV is a formal equivalent, like a

word for word translation, I would

choose something more paraphrastic. Um,

and I I did that for you guys. Here is

the CSB uh which is not as paraphrastic

as the NLT. It's called a dynamic

equivalent. And here's what it says of

verse 7. In the first month, in the

month of Nissan in King House's 12th

year, the poor, that is the lot, was

cast before Hmon each day in each month

and fell in the 12th month, the month of

Adar. That reads more like they kind of

did it all at once, didn't it? Well,

let's do one more. This is the New

Living Translation of the exact same

verse. He had uh the second verse uh 7.

So in the month of April, so this is

more paraphrastic. They're already

telling you that uh uh this month Nissan

is April. During the 12th year of King

Xerxes reign, lots were cast in Hmon's

presence. The lots were called Purim to

determine the best day and month to take

action. And the day selected was March

7th, nearly a year later.

So the majority of the translations read

as in this happening in a short period

of time and not like throughout months,

days all the way up to Adar, but that

they decided that and that makes a lot

more sense. Um considering that by the

time um Esther asks for protection, it's

only uh Shivan, which is like it's the

end of Siobhan. So I guess we could say

uh uh two two months later. So getting

into June and we're still like 9 months

or so away from Adar. So when the

writers are sent out to say that Jews

are allowed to defend themselves against

this attack if it even comes um they are

sent out 9 months in advance. Okay. So

that's that's what we're actually

looking at there. Let's just continue

from that. But it is an example of how

reading other translations can be

helpful. And I I would only consult

translations that you uh feel are

trustworthy. An example of that would be

the CSV and the NLT after the the ESV.

Um I I didn't mean after the ESV like

they're less trustworthy, but if you're

reading from the ESV. So verse 8, then

Hmon said to King Awares, "There is a

certain people scattered abroad and

dispersed among the peoples in all the

provinces of the kingdom. Their laws are

different from those of every other

people and they do not keep the laws so

that it is not to the king's profit to

tolerate them. All right? It was someone

else that said this, but the the thought

had occurred to me as well. Uh someone

in the Bible study said, and I want to

give them credit, but I forget who it

was. Uh that this reminds them of the

kangaroo trial that the Pharisees put

Jesus through. You may have thought that

as well. um because they bring false

witnesses against him as well who twist

his words um to mean something they

never meant.

So you can see the enemy's tactics here

as well. Accuse the Jews of lawlessness.

And interestingly, remember how just

earlier in chapter 2, I didn't give the

team this verse, but um it says that uh

verse 23 of chapter 2 about the assassin

assassination plot of the two Unix

against King Aquarius that Mori thwarted

um when the affair was investigated

and found to be so, the men were both

hanged on the gallows. So, it was

investigated. There's no investigation

here. Let's read on. So evidently

there's just this whole group of lawless

people that never submit to the king.

If it pleases the king, verse 9, let it

be decreed that they be destroyed, and I

will pay 10,000 talents of silver into

the hands of those who have charge of

the king's business that they may put it

into the king's treasuries. So the king

took his signate ring from his hand and

gave it to Hmon, the Agite, and the son

of Hammedtha. Hamtha, the enemy of the

Jews. God calls him the enemy of the

Jews. So I'll come back to that in a

moment. And the king said to Hmon, "The

money is given to you, the people also,

to do with them as seems good to you,

right? It's it's obviously a bribe. It's

all that is. Greece payment to do this

evil thing." And there's no

investigation.

Not even a question to ask like, "Well,

who are they and what exactly are doing

and what are their laws and how much in

conflict are they?" Nope. I don't even

need your money. Go ahead and do it. Do

what seems good to you.

Why? Why would at one point the king

investigate an assassination plot

against his life? Obviously a very

serious threat to him. And another

situation, yeah, go ahead. I don't want

people like that in my kingdom.

And I don't have an absolute answer to

you, but I I do know that that is being

deceived like that uh is easier for the

enemy to do if you have an idol in your

life, especially if that idol is your

own vain glory.

What King Asaware cares more about than

anything else is self arrandisement,

glorifying himself. That's how the whole

book starts. I'm just throwing 180 days

of self glor glorifying parties. Um, and

so all the enemy has to do through Hmon

is, "Hey, hey, there's this group that

won't ever glorify you. They won't ever

tell you how great you are. They won't

they don't obey your laws. They don't

care about your kingdom. They're not to

in your best interest to keep around."

and oh well since that's the only thing

this king seems to care about. Yeah, go

ahead and do it. Right. And that's the

way every idol works. I think we should

be careful here. Hmon is the real enemy

of God's people. Doesn't even seem to

know who these people are. And he

certainly doesn't know that Esther is or

the guy that saved his life is. He

doesn't know. And so it's not out of

like pure self- originating

anti-semitism on Asorus's part that he

agrees to this. It's just foolish uh

callousness

and and a a result of his pride that he

gives into this plot. But wherefore, as

for Hmon, it's genuine hatred of the

Jews, not just of Morortei. And the

hatred stems from a place of they won't

bow down to me. He couldn't care less

about whether they bow down to the to

the king. It's about that they won't

worship him at the end.

And so he's enraged them. Notice also

interesting to me um he it's not a crime

of passion. It's premeditated.

He actually has a detailed plot that he

comes up with and he spends time having

lots cast to find out the best most

opportune time. And that's another piece

of evidence here that the enemy is

involved as well if you think about it

because who's he casting lots to the one

true God? No. Jews would do that kind of

thing to determine God's will. Uh

because they knew that he was in charge

of every random decision. And so if they

randomize it, they cancel human decision

and bias in that and make it only and

and for a time that was actually a way

that God had designed for them to find

his will. The lap the lot's cast into

the uh the lot is capp cast into the l

excuse me, the lot is cast into the lap,

but it's every decision is from the

Lord, right? There's no such thing as as

random events. God's in charge of all of

it. And they knew that. Well, this is

the way pagans thought as well. And so,

they're casting lots, but not to God.

Remember, uh the idea of paying homage

and prostrating yourself doesn't

necessarily mean to prostrate yourself

before the Lord. It could be before an

angel. And when you're doing that, in

this some cases, the angel will tell

you, "Don't do it. I'm just a fellow

servant." But if the angel is accepting

that worship, this is either a servant

of the enemy or the enemy himself, a

false god, a demon.

So, you know, he's actually worshiping

false gods here, which are all at least

under the power of Satan or actually

Satan himself. So, I don't think you're

reading between the lines too much to

see the enemy's work behind the scenes

here. He's involved in turning events

against the Jews on a global threat

level.

Verse 12. Then the king's scribes were

summoned on the 13th day of the first

month, and an edict according to all

that Hmon commanded was written to the

king satraps and the governors over all

the provinces and all the officials of

all the peoples to every province in its

own script and every people in its own

language as was written in the name of

King Hasseris and sealed with the king's

signate ring. Letters were sent by

couriers to all the king's provinces

with instructions to destroy, to kill,

to annihilate all Jews, young and old,

women and children in one day, the 13th

day of the 12th month, which was the

month of Adar, and to plunder their

goods. A copy of the document was to be

issued as a decree in every province by

proclamation to all the peoples to be

ready for that day. And the couriers

were went out hurriedly by order of the

king. And the decree was issued in Susa

the citadel. And the king and Hmon sat

down to drink. But in the city of Susa

was thrown into confusion.

So

the enemy is using one of his servants

who because he's a servant of the enemy

is an enemy of the Jews. He just hates

God's people. That's the way that works.

and they're so and even though

Hassawarees was not intentionally uh

well I guess it was intentional but he

did not know it was unbeknownst to him

who was being threatened like this he

just believed the falsehood uh that Hmon

told him about the Jews but he's also

very callous he doesn't get off at all

he doesn't even investigate it and part

of the callousness is just them sitting

down they're toasting to genocide that's

what they're doing

I want you to consider in this situation

uation, Hmon's negative example. Um, and

we don't know that much about his life.

This is basically all we know with

certainty about Hmon's life. Uh, but

he's filled with fury and then that fury

goes cold. And another word for that is

it becomes bitter and

it lasts. It doesn't just go away

overnight.

There's no cooling down of the anger per

se.

It just turns into a plot to destroy

everyone.

And it's not as though the Holy Spirit

is not convicting

uh Aasaweres and Hmon. We know that

there's a form of the law written on the

hearts of every person and it convicts

them. The en the the Holy Spirit uses

that to convict even enemies of God.

So you have to consider like what what

do you do when you're compromising like

this to enastitize that sense of guilt

and conviction because you will be

convicted. The Holy Spirit loves you and

he is guarding your faith and he knows

what compromise is and he knows if

you're doing it and he knows how to

communicate to you through conviction

that you are doing it and that

conviction is uncomfortable when you

don't want to change the compromise.

Well, I've done this much already. I

might as well continue, right? So, what

do you do? Well, you got to anes what

does anesthetize mean? You got to

somehow find a way to suppress the

feelings of guilt. You do.

Alcohol may be one of the more powerful

and effective ways to do that.

The only problem is that it just brings

even more guilt. I have a good friend. I

have perpetual permission to share this.

His name is Cole Smith. I'm going to be

archery hunting with him. So, God's

brought him back into my life in in a

more regular way. And um uh after I had

really repented in college uh just

walking into rebellion, I had become

very callous and was very angry but had

repented and I shared my faith with him

multiple times before that. But this

time I I gave him CS Lewis's book and

was reading uh uh Bible chapters with

him and then because he'd seen such

dramatic change in my life, I think God

used that. And one of the things that

we'd always do was binge drink together.

Not always, but we we were hardcore

parters. Um that is a compromise I

started making not until after high

school, by the way. Uh I didn't drink in

high school at all. I'm not saying that

has to be a biblical conviction, but um

definitely my conviction was not to get

drunk, but I hadn't even drank at all in

high school. And then in college, I just

gave in and I was so angry at God. And

that's what the enemy used to help cause

me to compromise there and and tempt me

to compromise. Well, anyway, he would

drink too, except his dad's an

alcoholic. He basically lost his dad,

ultimately lost him to death as a result

of alcoholism as well, but had lost him

even earlier in childhood. And when he

drank and got drunk, he would experience

piercing guilt in the morning. And he

would tell me about it. And I said, "Do

you ever experience that kind of

piercing guilt when you're not

drinking?" He goes, "No." So he knew in

his heart he had to stop. Right. Um, but

I think alcohol was being used both for

pleasure, but also to anesthetize other

feelings of guilt. the Holy Spirit was

coming after him. And so I really think

that's what the king and and Hmon are

doing. They sit down to drink because

alcohol will make you feel better about

having made a decision that is

unbelievably evil and everyone knows so,

including their own hearts. So when

you're compromising, you're going to

have to find ways to try to suppress the

sense of guilt and the sense of

conviction.

And those will keep you all the more

hostage. they'll keep you all the more

hostage.

Now, you may think this is kind of

already a bad news sermon because wow,

look at this. Uh Mori refuses to worship

God and it doesn't go well for him

instead of just like being in legal

threat or something like that. No, all

of a sudden death to all the Jews. Death

to all the Jews. The same spirit exists

today to anni complete annihilation of

Israel continues to be alive and well

because the enemy is alive.

But let's talk about

something else. The wrath of God. You

have the wrath of the enemy. You have

the wrath of God. As Christians, you're

kind of stuck between a heart rock and a

hard place. You'll incur the wrath of

the enemy if you worship God

and you incur the wrath of God if you

don't.

It might be the worst rock in a hard

place I can imagine. Right.

But which one would you rather be

protected from in this situation? The

wrath of God or the wrath of Let me put

that question differently. That one

didn't make sense.

Which one's worse? The wrath of the

enemy or the wrath of God?

Just think of Esther as a cautionary

tale because it is. Who ends up

experiencing the wrath of God in this

story? Hmon.

Ammon's the one that gets impaled.

That was the, you know, we say the

gallows. It's actually

I I was going to say look it up but it's

really actually impalement. Some of your

translations even say that. So I want to

go to another verse. Uh and this has

become very unpopular to talk about and

lots of false teachers have started to

contradict the idea that God even has

any wrath or that wrath is compatible

with love. It's always good to be

reminded of what scripture actually

says. God does have wrath. His wrath is

righteous and justified and it is what

the cross protects us from. Let's look

at that being said in Romans 5 and this

is five chapter chapter 5 verse 9-11.

Since therefore we have now been

justified by his blood. Okay.

Bloodshed's required much more shall we

be saved by him from the wrath of God.

What is it that saves you from the wrath

of God? Faith in the bloodshed

of Jesus Christ. Justified by his blood.

Another way of putting that, faith in

his death by crucifixion. For if while

we were enemies, wait a minute, what who

did who did Hmon say are the enemies of

the king? The Jews. Who's Paul saying we

were enemies of the king God. For while

we were still enemies, for while we were

enemies, we were reconciled to God by

the death of his son. Much more now that

we are reconciled shall we be saved by

his life. More than that, we also

rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus

Christ, through whom we have now

received reconciliation.

So, King Awares, careless and callous,

even if he wasn't

anti-Semitic like Hmon was gives into

the plot of Hmon, the enemy of the Jews,

who's clearly being controlled by Satan,

has Satan's, you know, handiwork all

over it.

He require well anyone that's my enemy

they have to die. And what does God say?

How's God different than Xerxes?

He sacrifices his own son so that those

who are enemies of his

could repent and have faith and believe

and not have to die.

So when you're being tempted to worship

anything or anyone else or compromise,

remember who God is.

God is a God who will sacrifice his only

son who is God. So God is a God of

sacrifice and that is why he's worthy

worthy of our worship. And on top of it,

we actually are it's not false testimony

against us. My whole life has been just

one big pile of evidence that I don't

deserve to be forgiven and that I

deserve the wrath of God. And by the

way, so is yours according to the word.

All your best works, filthy rags. mine,

too.

So, we're enemies, hostile, alienated.

And God, before we stopped being

enemies, sacrifices his own son, pours

his wrath out on his own son. So, who's

worthy of uncompromising worship? Jesus

Christ is, and nobody else. And you know

that in your heart. And you may feel

burning conviction right now.

That's coming from the Holy Spirit.

and is to draw you to repentance and

confession of that compromise.

So again, refusing to compromise your

worship will eventually incure the fury

of the enemy.

But God has overcome the world. In the

world, you will have trouble. You will

have persecution. The closer you get to

Jesus, the more. But take heart because

he says, "Greater is the one in you than

the one who is in the world." Amen.

>> So we have victory over the enemy and

you can resist him and he will flee from

you. But you ought not to think like

maybe the very reason why you're

experiencing

the opposition you're experiencing is

because you have not compromised. And to

those of you when you come to the table

come to the table uh with a desire to be

strengthened to continue not

compromising.

Today we'll be doing corporate

communion, which I think is a beautiful

picture of how we're forgiven. Even

though we're forgiven individually,

we're partaking in this together as a

communion of brothers and sisters. And

so I will be coming back up after the

next two songs and leading us in

communion. You can go get your elements.

But during these next couple songs,

allow the Holy Spirit to minister to

you. And if he's telling you, get rid of

this thing, cut it out and be ruthless

on this compromise. Nothing but good

things. I was thinking about spring.

What if it turned into springtime in

your faith, new life, beauty, strength,

hope as a result of just discontinuing

the compromise? That can be yours, but

you got to confess the sin first.

Refusing to compromise your worship will

eventually incure the fury of the enemy.

But take heart. Jesus has defeated Satan

through his death. Heavenly Father,

thank you for this message. Thank you

for your word. Thank you for your

continual call to purity and worship.

And I pray that we'd experience it now

together. Um even for those who have

just sacrificed it in their hearts right

now. So just potentially, Lord, I I I

believe you accept their worship and

delight in it. And I pray that you'd

protect them from any further temptation

to compromise. Again, I pray that you'd

highlight very clearly, very

specifically what it is that is the

compromise and that we get rid of that

only and that we'd be protected from the

spiritual battle where the enemy just

keeps uh tempting us. I pray that we

would resist him, that he would flee

from us, and that we would experience a

season of peace and of power and a

forward movement in our faith. I pray

these things in Jesus name. Amen.