Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning we move the the climactic point of the Book of Esther, if you haven’t already, turn the Esther 5 in your Bibles, I believe it is page 522 in the pew Bibles.

Let me briefly set the scene for you, Esther, Mordecai and all of the Jews in Susa, had just spent 3 days of fasting and praying, fasting that included both giving up food and also water.

It was during that time, and for Mordecai the days leading up to those 3 days, that God transformed their hearts into hearts that were ready to be used by Him.

Please keep in mind as we look at the first few verses of chapter 5, that it was against the law for Esther to approach the thrown of the king unsummoned, to do so meant death, unless the king had compassion and held out the golden scepter.

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Esther 5:1-8

Now let me ask you a question, what do the first 4 words of verse 1 say about Esther’s state physically?

Esther came to the king when she was physically at her weakest state.

This brings us to a very important lesson:Next Slides

It is at our weakest points when we are most Dependent on the Power of God to Sustain us.

Do you know what one of the most common lies told by the believer is?

In fact chances are everyone in this room, including me, has told this lie at least once.

Do you know what it is?

A common lie believers tell.

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God Never Gives Us More Than We Can Handle.

Don’t think for one second that Esther wasn’t in over her head when she approached an irrational king when she was physically at her weakest.

God had most definitely given her more than she could handle.

Which was exactly where he wanted her.

Esther was in a position where she was completely dependent on the Sovereign God.

If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, you will experience times you are in over your head, because God wants you to depend on Him.

When we are at are weakest, God is at His best, then when great things happen, He gets the glory.

These are some of the greatest stories in Scripture.

Stories like:

Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers, only to end up in the 2nd highest position in the most powerful nation in the world.

The Parting of the Red Sea

The Walls of Jericho falling down.

Gideon and his weaponless army of 300 against an army of over 137,000 soldiers fully armed.

Do I need to go on?

How about:

David and Goliath

Elijah on Mount Carmel against the 400 prophets of Baal.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace.

Daniel in the lions Den.

As I think back over my life, the greatest victories I have been a part of are the times I was given more than I could handle and had to completely rely on God.

Now that doesn’t mean I loved those moments when I was in the midst of them, but looking back I cherish those times.

By the way, I believe this lie comes from a misunderstanding of 1 Corinthians 10:13.

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1 Corinthians 10:13

The promise isn’t that God won’t give us more than we can handle.

The promise is that with every temptation we face, God also gives us the ability to say No, He promises a way of escape.

Esther was in over her head.

Let’s see what happens next.

2 And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand.

Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.

Here we see once again: Next Slides

Esther Obtains Favor from the King.

As we have learned while moving through the books of Ezra and Esther, God is in control even of pagan rulers of this world.

Here He moves the heart of King Xerxes to have compassion on Esther.

Let me take a moment to give you a brief behind the scenes look at what is taking place here.

King Xerxes understands that Esther would have never put her life on the line and approach the king, if it hadn’t been incredibly important to her.

Moved with compassion he held out his golden scepter.

Now I don’t want you to miss what happens next, because it is very significant.

Look at verse 4. Next Slide

Esther 5:4

Any English teachers here this morning?

What is the verb tense Esther uses when she talks about the preparation of the meal?

I have prepared for the king.

She uses past tense, in other words the feast had already been prepared.

I don’t know about you, but I get the impression that she knew before she approached the King that he would hold out the golden scepter to her.

She already had the feast prepared.

I believe that the reason she obtained favor from the king is because at some point in time over the past 3 days of humble fasting and praying, of seeking the face and favor of God, that Esther had also: Next Slides

Esther Obtained Favor from the Sovereign God.

Do you remember last week when we determined that:

Repentant Hearts Always Move the Heart of God.

And that:

Whenever the Heart of God Moves, the Hand of God Follows.

I believe that is exactly what took place here in chapter 5.

As we read on we find out that the king excitedly agreed to the feast.

At some point in time after the feast, the king once again seeks to find out what was on the heart of the queen.

Now I am not sure what exactly happened here, but somewhere between inviting the king and Haman to the feast and the time of the feast, Esther determined that now was not the perfect time to tell the king what was on her heart.

Here is what I believe took place.

Now please note, this is Canadiology, I am reading between the lines here, but I believe it is very likely what took place.

I believe that as soon as the king said Yes to the feast, that Esther went right back into prayer mode.

She wanted to speak the words of God in the perfect timing of God and at some point in time God impressed on her heart that today was not the day to reveal her heart to the king.

As a result, she asked to king and Haman to come back the next day to a second feast.

You see God still had some behind the scenes work to do.

So here we see Esther requesting a second feast also, and I believe Esther expected, the king said Yes to the second feast as well.

Now Haman leaves the first feast bouncing off the wall excited.

As we have already seen, Haman was pretty full of himself and as he leaves the palace he sees Mordecai sitting in the king’s gate and once again Mordecai does not bow before him.

He is filled with rage.

He runs home, calls his wife and best friends and brags to them about the feast, his riches, his kids, his status in the kingdom and how he was so important that even the queen had prepared a private feast for just he, the king and her, and to top everything else off, she was doing it a second time tomorrow.

But despite all that, he couldn’t get past the fact that Mordecai didn’t bow before him.

Well his wife and friends had a brilliant idea.

He had already gotten the kings approval to kill all the Jews, well why couldn’t he just take care of Mordecai the next day.

They suggested he build gallows 75 feet high, high enough to be seen from just about everywhere in Susa, and that he have Mordecai hanged on those gallows the next day.

We learn in verse 14 that the idea pleased him so he had the gallows built.

That brings us to chapter 6.

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Esther 6:1

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that the Persians were meticulous when it came to keeping records.

They had been keeping records since, at least, the reign of King Cyrus.

That means they had at least 86 years of records to choose from, yet with all of those records to choose from, what records does verse 2 tell us he just happened to have read to him?

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Esther 6:2-3

So with 86 years of records to choose from, these were the records that we read to him.

By the way, it is important to note that the event mentioned in these verses took place 5 years earlier.

It wasn’t like this event was picked because it was fresh on the king’s mind.

Do you recall what I have said multiple times about God’s timing as we have gone through the Book of Esther?

We may not always like or appreciate God’s timing, but God’s timing is always perfect.