0:11

Oh.

0:29

Well, good morning, Valley View.

0:31

Great to be with you today. I love seeing all these high school

0:34

seniors graduating up on stage.

0:36

And I just want to encourage you

0:39

pick one of them and pray for them for this coming year.

0:43

Pray for them at least once a week for the coming year.

0:45

I'll put their names. I'll list them out in the midweek update.

0:48

If you don't get that, that's an email we send out every Wednesday

0:51

and you can fill out one of those connection cards.

0:53

Just add your email address, you'll get that.

0:56

But choose one of those graduating seniors

0:58

to pray for this year because I don't know about you, but

1:02

many have found that first year after high school to be a struggle,

1:07

and it's an important year.

1:09

So much of the direction of life is not determined,

1:13

but there are a lot of big decisions

1:15

being made. So would you just pick one of those

1:18

young folks who were up here and pray for them

1:21

every day or every week for the coming year,

1:23

maybe even write them a note occasionally and let them know you're

1:26

praying for them. I think it'll mean a lot to them,

1:29

and ultimately it'll mean a lot to the health of our church.

1:32

Because these these folks are the

1:34

the new families in the church in the coming years.

1:36

Who knows, maybe we can pair up a few of them today

1:38

even. We can take care of that right now.

1:41

Get them into pre-marriage counseling. They didn't sign up for that. I know,

1:45

but listen. Today we are continuing our series

1:48

in the study of Esther, and last week

1:50

Colby set us up with chapter three of Esther,

1:53

and we're moving into chapter four this week. So if you want to go ahead

1:55

and turn in your Bibles on page 384,

1:58

if you have a church Bible, one of the things

2:00

we're going to see in this chapter

2:03

today is we're going to see a defining moment for Esther.

2:07

You know, a lot of people are remembered for their defining moments, this moment

2:12

in time where they're called to step up in the midst of great challenges.

2:16

I think in our generation or era,

2:19

someone that comes to mind is Winston Churchill.

2:22

He was prime minister of World War Two,

2:25

and he was known for really calling the whole nation

2:28

to stand firm against the Germans,

2:31

against the onslaught. And he probably is best known

2:36

in his defining moment for a defining speech

2:39

that was given in June of 1940.

2:41

This was right after the French had fallen to the Germans.

2:45

And so probably coming

2:47

next, the British assume the Germans are coming for them.

2:51

And what he said was in that speech,

2:53

he spent about 20 minutes laying out all the ways

2:56

that they had prepared for that.

2:58

Here's all the ways that we are ready

3:00

as a nation to face this.

3:03

But then he ends that speech with this iconic defining line.

3:08

He says, let us therefore now brace ourselves for our duties,

3:13

for if the British Empire

3:15

and its Commonwealth are to last another thousand years,

3:19

may it be that men will still say

3:22

this was their finest hour.

3:27

He recognized this was a defining moment for us as a people.

3:31

Even in the midst of a great onslaught of evil

3:34

and challenge, we're going to stand firm.

3:38

We're we're going to see in Esther today for her

3:40

is this defining moment, but it's a defining moment

3:43

that comes in the midst of great grief

3:46

in fact, I think sometimes the way you respond to griefs,

3:49

grief or challenges shows a lot about where we put our hope.

3:54

And we're going to see some of that in Esther today, in fact,

3:57

we're going to see three responses to Grief or Three

4:01

Displays of grief in this chapter in Esther chapter four,

4:04

and how that leads to and builds towards

4:07

Esther's defining moment. So if you would turn

4:10

to Esther chapter four,

4:12

I'm going to read the first few verses there

4:15

to set our context. Esther four, verse one.

4:20

When Mordecai learned all that had been done,

4:23

Mordecai tore his clothes

4:26

and put on sackcloth and ashes,

4:28

and went out into the midst of the city.

4:32

And he cried out with a loud

4:34

and bitter cry.

4:36

He went up to the entrance of the king's gate, for

4:39

no one was allowed to enter the gate, clothed in sackcloth,

4:44

and in every province, wherever the king's command

4:47

and his decree reached,

4:49

there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting,

4:54

and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.

4:59

So this section starts out with when Mordecai learned,

5:03

which points back to what Colby unpacked for us

5:06

last week. You remember that last week Haman was furious with Mordecai

5:10

because Mordecai would not bow down to him,

5:13

and because one man wouldn't worship him.

5:17

Haman decided that every person related to him

5:20

needed to die. Quite a strong reaction.

5:23

But this word goes out,

5:25

and I love the way that the end of chapter

5:28

three ends. The last verse it says, and the city of Susa

5:31

was thrown into confusion.

5:33

This didn't just affect one small group of people.

5:37

This affected everyone.

5:39

What is going on here? There is confusion everywhere.

5:42

How are we going to get through this? What is this going to mean for everyone?

5:45

Confusion everywhere

5:50

now. Mordecai, his response to this is very public grieving.

5:54

In fact, sackcloth and ashes

5:57

would have been known at this time

5:59

as kind of the attire of those

6:01

who are grieving. Ashes would have represented

6:05

my connection to death. I am grieving

6:07

so deeply that I might as well be dead

6:11

from dust. We come to dust

6:13

will return the symbolism. There is a deep connection to this.

6:16

Such deep grieving sackcloth would have been a rough, plain

6:20

fabric that would have represented

6:23

a poverty of spirit. But also,

6:25

if you saw someone wearing this, you would know what's happening.

6:29

Something difficult is going on in their lives.

6:31

They are grieving deeply.

6:34

And so Mordecai puts this on

6:37

and becomes very public

6:39

about his grieving. In fact,

6:41

the phrase that's used here is really interesting.

6:43

It has a connection to another part of the Old Testament.

6:46

It says that not only he, but all the Jews were fasting

6:49

and weeping and lamenting.

6:52

Now those three words are also used

6:54

in connection in the book of Joel. And so I want to turn there real quick

6:57

and show you this passage. Turn to Joel chapter two.

7:01

Joel is one of the minor prophecies prophets that are near

7:04

the end of your Old Testament.

7:06

It's on page 713 in the Church Bible,

7:09

and Joel is probably most well known

7:12

because of the section that's quoted in the book of Acts

7:15

where the Holy Spirit will come upon you. It's quoted in acts chapter two,

7:19

and it shows up here in Joel chapter two. But this

7:26

the connection between this passage in Joel two

7:30

and what happens in Esther is really important.

7:33

Look at Joel two verse 1213 and 14.

7:38

Yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me

7:40

with all your heart. And here's that phrase

7:42

with fasting, with weeping,

7:44

with mourning, that word mourning, the same word as lamenting,

7:49

and rend your hearts and not your garments.

7:52

Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful,

7:56

slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love,

7:59

and he relents over disaster.

8:01

Who knows whether

8:04

he will not turn and relent

8:07

and leave a blessing behind him?

8:10

Here's the key idea here. And it's summed up in fasting,

8:15

weeping, mourning. Verse 13, rend your hearts,

8:18

not just your garments. Meaning look, put on a great show of

8:22

fasting and sorrow and grief.

8:25

But I'm not as worried about how things appear as

8:28

what's going on in your heart. And what

8:31

this passage does is it makes a strong connection

8:34

between asking God to rescue

8:37

and repentance.

8:40

And so when we are crying out to God

8:43

to rescue us,

8:45

he's also calling us to search our own hearts.

8:49

Where are areas that I need to repent

8:53

and pursue him and walk with him?

8:55

And yes, please come rescue me. But maybe I've caused

8:58

some of the situation as well

9:01

that ever happened.

9:04

I remember reading the story Emerson Edgar,

9:06

who wrote Love and Respect, he wrote a book of Four Wheels of God,

9:09

and he was also a counselor full time.

9:11

Is this full time job? A couple came in to see him.

9:13

They were engaged to be married,

9:16

and they were going through premarital counseling. And they asked him

9:18

one week in particular, listen, we really want to know

9:21

God's will for our life. What's his plan for us?

9:25

What will he have us do in life? Where will we work?

9:28

What kind of jobs we have? Where will we live?

9:30

How will we build our family? We were really desperate to know his will for our life.

9:35

I mean, our sin pauses and he says, listen,

9:39

it's really hard to expect God to speak to you

9:42

specifically about his will for life when you are ignored,

9:44

his very clear will for your life, because he knew

9:49

that they were ignoring some clear commands of Scripture

9:52

around sexual intimacy before marriage, in particular.

9:56

And he said this. It's hard to say,

9:59

but if God makes his commands and will clear

10:02

and you ignore that, it's going to be real hard to expect to hear from him

10:05

real clearly in other areas of life. You see what I mean?

10:07

You know what I'm saying? Lord rescue us, rescue us.

10:13

Rend your hearts, repent

10:16

when we're crying for him to rescue. Repent. Search your own heart.

10:21

And I'm not saying at the same time I say that.

10:23

I'm not saying that if you're going through something hard in your life,

10:25

that's because you sinned.

10:28

Maybe, but maybe not.

10:30

But the call is the same.

10:32

Rend your hearts. Turn to me in the midst of crying

10:37

for rescue.

10:40

Now, I love hear what happened back in Esther, back to chapter four.

10:44

I love what happened because

10:47

when he weeps,

10:49

so do Jews. Everywhere. They follow his example.

10:53

They begin to fast. Their spontaneous reaction

10:55

is to cry out to God.

10:58

And I also love that he didn't shy away from grieving publicly.

11:02

I mean, it says he went to the King's Gate.

11:06

That's his public. Because you can get

11:08

let me go to the most public place in the city, the city

11:11

where all the important people will be

11:13

and want to grieve openly there.

11:17

And let me just make a side note about grieving. I think in some churches

11:20

and some Christian culture, there is this myth around grieving

11:23

that says you have to pretend

11:26

to have it all together all the time.

11:29

Even when something's hard, you have to. You still have to smile through it.

11:33

You still have to act like everything's great.

11:38

And there are times to do that. I get that it's okay to grieve.

11:43

It's okay to grieve publicly.

11:46

It's okay to admit that something's hard.

11:49

I went through a season

11:51

where I faced a really challenging situation,

11:54

and what made it harder is I didn't want to admit that it was hard

11:57

because then I would look weak, and what happened was

12:00

not admitting that it was hard actually made me weak,

12:04

stressed out, anxious

12:07

body shutting down.

12:09

The first step to healing was to admit now this really was very hard.

12:14

And you know, at the same time you try to explain it away.

12:17

Well, other people have it harder. We of course they do.

12:20

Someone always has it worse. Pick any situation.

12:24

That didn't mean it's not still hard for you.

12:27

And it's okay to go there and admit that and enter into the grief. It's okay.

12:31

In fact, that's going to be the first step toward really beginning to heal.

12:36

Now, we don't want to stay stuck in our grief. In fact,

12:38

the three dynamics of grief, the first one we see here

12:42

is just grief observed. I mean, this is

12:46

a public display of grief.

12:49

Mordecai doesn't shy away from it.

12:52

I'm going to make sure others know I'm grieving.

12:55

I've got a purpose with this.

12:58

Now, how does Esther respond to that?

13:00

And this is why he's gone to the King's Gate to get her attention.

13:03

Probably. In particular, how does she respond to that?

13:05

Look at verse four,

13:07

when Esther's young women and her eunuchs came

13:10

and told her about the grief,

13:13

the Queen was deeply distressed.

13:16

She sent garments to clothe Mordecai

13:18

so that he might take off sackcloth, but he would not accept them.

13:23

So her response to this is to be deeply distressed,

13:25

because at this point she doesn't know why he's grieving.

13:28

We're going to see that in just a second. She doesn't know what's going on,

13:31

and so she's concerned.

13:33

And her immediate response I love this. Her immediate response

13:36

is to end his grief. Take off your sackcloth.

13:40

This is uncomfortable. Put on these clothes.

13:43

Now part of that was to so that you can come in

13:45

and we can talk about it, but don't stay there in that grief.

13:50

I think sometimes we try to rush past. We try to rush others

13:53

past their grief because of how uncomfortable it makes us.

13:57

Sometimes grief takes a while to process.

14:01

It takes a while to get through.

14:03

We got to be patient with that process. Yes, we can get stuck there.

14:06

We need to be prodded, but sometimes we want to move past it

14:08

too fast.

14:11

She sends out clothes and he says no.

14:15

And one of the themes in Esther

14:18

really stands out here. It's separation.

14:21

There was a separation between the king and Vashti.

14:25

Not only were they separated in the moment, but he said,

14:28

I don't want to have anything to do with you. There is a separation

14:31

now between there's been separation

14:33

between Mordecai and Esther, and now there's another distance.

14:35

Grieve has created. Grief has created

14:37

separation between them.

14:41

Now what happens? How does Mordecai respond to this? How does this move forward?

14:44

In the midst of this, there has been grief observed.

14:48

What's going to happen next? Let's look at verse five.

14:54

Since Mordecai won't come in, Esther called for half

14:57

one of the king's eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her,

15:01

and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was,

15:04

what was his source of grief, and why. It was

15:07

half went out to Mordecai in the open

15:09

square of the city in front of the king's gate, and Mordecai told him

15:13

all that had happened to him,

15:15

and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay

15:19

into the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.

15:23

Mordecai also gave him a copy

15:26

of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction,

15:30

that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her,

15:34

and command her to go to the king,

15:37

to beg his favor and plead with him

15:39

on behalf of her people.

15:43

So Esther sends out an attendant to find from Mordecai,

15:46

what is the problem? Why are you weeping?

15:49

And again we see this hint,

15:52

this theme of separation.

15:56

How come Esther doesn't know about this?

15:59

This has gone out to all the provinces of the world.

16:03

And yet she in the king's palace, doesn't know about it.

16:07

There's this insolation.

16:10

She's trapped in this world where she's not even aware

16:12

of all the madness. As it said, the whole city

16:14

thrown into confusion, isolated from all that.

16:20

Now Mordecai makes it clear to her.

16:23

And I love what Mordecai does here,

16:25

because even though Mordecai is

16:27

in his obvious grief, his public

16:30

display of grief, there's something about grief here

16:32

that's really important, and that we see grief controlled.

16:37

That's a second aspect, the second display of grief

16:41

we're going to see in this passage grief control.

16:44

Even though he's grieving and overwhelmed with grief, he's not out of control.

16:49

I love for first Thessalonians 413

16:51

it says, we do not weep as those without hope.

16:56

That context in first Thessalonians four is in particular

16:59

referring to will I see my loved one again after I die?

17:03

No. If I am in Christ, if they are in Christ,

17:05

I don't weep. As those without hope,

17:07

I know I'll see them again. Yes, it's hard now,

17:09

but I know I see them again. That's not the same

17:13

as someone who has no hope of seeing their loved one again.

17:17

There is a control of grief here.

17:20

Yes, I'm grieving,

17:22

but I'm also engaged.

17:24

He's so engaged that when he comes to see him,

17:27

he's ready. He's ready with the facts.

17:30

He has the reports of what has happened, the exact amount

17:33

he even has, the written degree has it all ready. He is ready to set Esther up to succeed.

17:40

I think an important lesson here for us in seeing

17:42

that is in the midst of your grief,

17:44

especially if you need to engage

17:47

in a hard conversation with a loved one.

17:49

Maybe it's a spouse

17:52

and be ready with facts,

17:55

ideas.

17:57

Be ready with possible options.

18:01

Be ready to engage on the issue

18:03

instead of attacking the person.

18:07

You know what I'm talking about right?

18:09

You've probably seen this. Maybe you've done it, not you.

18:12

Maybe people in other churches have done this

18:14

where when someone offends you in order

18:17

to get a reaction for them, you got to make it sound

18:19

way worse than it even was, and let me

18:22

attack the person and everything about him.

18:24

So maybe they'll respond to this little thing.

18:28

Now, what often happens is you do the opposite,

18:30

it pushes them away, and they don't want to have anything to do with you.

18:35

And I've told the story before of when,

18:37

in anger backed out of the driveway, hastily not paying attention

18:40

back into Julie's car.

18:42

And it was the car that her dad bought her for her

18:45

16th birthday. It was a had been prior to that, a nice car.

18:51

And in that moment, she didn't come out and go,

18:53

why do you hate me and my dad and all cars in general and

18:57

just lambast me? And you've got an anger problem.

18:59

No one can trust you. You're going to corrupt our family

19:02

and bankrupt us. And no, no, no, she didn't go to that extreme.

19:06

Instead we said, and this is a real helpful

19:08

phrase, attack the issue, not the person.

19:11

This is the issue on the table here.

19:15

Anger wrecked car.

19:17

This is the issue. Now let's talk about the issue.

19:21

I'm not going to attack you as a person.

19:23

Of course there's parts of my character

19:25

that need to be dealt with in that moment,

19:28

but let's talk about these issues.

19:30

How am I going to wrestle with this issue of uncontrolled anger?

19:33

Who am I going to go talk to for mentoring? What scriptures

19:35

am I going to memorize and dwell on? How are we going to put

19:38

a plan together now to deal with the car?

19:41

Yes, it's going to cost us money. Yes, but it's just a car.

19:43

Yes, it's going to take time, but how are we going to approach it

19:46

together? Now? Here's the beauty of doing this.

19:50

If you can take that approach in the heat of the moment.

19:54

Something that could tear you apart can actually make you stronger.

20:00

Instead of it separating and dividing us now

20:04

focus together on an issue and solving it together and trusting

20:07

Christ through it together ends up making you stronger.

20:13

Of course, it doesn't always go that way, but that's our hope.

20:19

Let's attack the issue, not the person.

20:21

Mordecai, in the midst of his grief, was controlled.

20:24

He was ready. He was prepared. Let's address this issue.

20:28

How can we solve it together

20:31

now? How does Esther respond to that?

20:34

Look at verse nine here and see how she responds.

20:37

Verse ten Esther spoke to have that king commanded him to go to Mordecai and say,

20:42

all the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces?

20:46

No, that if any man or woman goes

20:49

to the king inside the inner court without being called,

20:53

there is but one law

20:56

to be put to death, except the one

21:00

to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, so that he may live.

21:05

But as for me, I have not been called

21:08

to come into the king these 30 days.

21:12

Great idea! Mordecai, you want me to go into the King?

21:16

Here are the challenges with that plan,

21:19

and I appreciate. Here I'm reading between the lines.

21:22

We can't always know tone. I don't see a rebelliousness in this.

21:25

Like, no way. I'm never doing that. But it's more of just.

21:27

Hey, look, great idea. But there are some challenges.

21:30

There's no guarantees that he'll let me in.

21:32

I'll probably be killed. And by the way, he hadn't called on me in 30 days.

21:35

There's already some separation. Here's that theme of separation again.

21:38

Maybe he's mad at me already. Should I enter in in

21:41

that kind of situation? I appreciate her presenting

21:47

the facts of the situation and responding in a way that says

21:50

we've got a few challenges.

21:55

Now what Mordecai is going to do here, though,

21:58

and we all need this at times.

22:01

He's going to call her

22:03

to take a step of faith with some hard truth

22:06

in a challenging moment.

22:08

There are times where we get stuck in our way of thinking.

22:11

We can't see outside of that. We've all had that happen.

22:13

I can only see this narrow view. I need someone else to step in

22:16

and say, here's a bigger picture.

22:19

I remember we were doing beach evangelism once in college.

22:23

We would go at spring break

22:25

down to the beach in Florida,

22:27

and we would spend that week during college spring break

22:30

evangelizing college students who were there. Not they didn't come there

22:32

to hear that, by the way. They weren't there

22:35

for a nice gospel conversation. They were there to party hard

22:38

all week long. But what was interesting,

22:43

I was shocked by how open people were

22:45

to talking about the gospel, especially later in the week.

22:49

We thought this would be the greatest party week ever,

22:53

but we see the emptiness.

22:56

We're kind of getting bored now.

22:59

Maybe some relationships have been strained and broken.

23:04

Sure, I'll talk to you.

23:06

And I was talking to this guy one time. He was standing right outside his hotel,

23:10

and I could tell he had some faith backgrounds

23:12

just based on our conversation. Yeah, I know that.

23:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but he's engaged in conversation.

23:17

He said, look, man, we're just here. You're having fun. The Bible doesn't say you can't drink.

23:22

And I said, you're right, it doesn't. But however, it does say not to be drunk.

23:26

No, it doesn't say that.

23:28

Oh yes it does. No it doesn't.

23:31

Oh yes it does. Show me.

23:35

Okay. I had a New Testament in my back pocket.

23:37

Pulled it out. Ephesians 518.

23:40

Do not be drunk with wine.

23:44

And he said, no big deal. I've been drinking whiskey. I'm good to go.

23:47

All right.

23:49

no, he didn't say that. Actually, no. He didn't. Here's what he did.

23:53

He had that Bible in his hand. He had his finger on Ephesians 518,

23:58

and all he could say was,

24:01

it says that

24:03

it really says that.

24:07

It says that.

24:10

He was confronted with the truth of God's word.

24:15

And it changed everything for him in an instant.

24:18

Now I've got to deal with that truth.

24:20

I thought I was living one way and it was good to go.

24:23

And now I'm seeing truth.

24:29

How do we adjust to truth

24:31

in the midst of whatever challenge lays before us?

24:36

Mordecai is going to respond to Esther

24:38

and her proclamations. Her challenges.

24:41

Hey, here's some things to consider. Here's what Mordecai says,

24:44

and he's going to give her three important things to consider

24:47

three push facts three challenges.

24:50

Look at this next set of verses. Look at verse 12.

24:53

And they told Mordecai what Esther had said.

24:57

Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther,

25:01

do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape

25:06

any more than all the other Jews.

25:09

For if you keep silent at this time,

25:11

relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place.

25:15

But you and your father's house

25:18

will perish. And who

25:21

knows whether you have not come to the kingdom

25:25

for such a time as this?

25:29

Mordecai is going to do three things here.

25:31

First, he's going to give Esther a hard truth.

25:35

He's going to start by giving her a hard truth.

25:38

Okay, Esther, the reality is,

25:40

you think you may escape through this, but you won't.

25:47

And we need to pause here and just recognize the reality of that

25:50

for us. Who are Christians, who know Christ, who follow him,

25:53

who proclaim him. And we already talked in chapter one

25:56

about how there are times to be quiet about your faith,

25:59

and there are times to be speak up, but don't be deceived

26:04

if you know him,

26:07

that will be found out.

26:09

If you're somewhere where you're worried that

26:12

if someone finds out that I'm a Christian, it's all going to fall apart.

26:14

But if you know Christ, there will be times where

26:16

you are called to stand firm. That's just

26:20

one truth, one reality of our faith.

26:23

It may look like what Esther faced.

26:27

It may be in your workplace. It may be with a family member.

26:29

It may be with a fellow student.

26:33

I don't know, but we've got to be ready for that.

26:39

There's a famous quote from a German pastor who faced this.

26:43

His last name was near Mueller. You may have encountered it.

26:46

I'm going to read from it here. It's going to be on screen.

26:48

It says in Germany they came first for the communists.

26:52

And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist.

26:56

Then they came for the Jews and

26:59

I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

27:02

Then they came for the trade unionist,

27:04

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

27:06

Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up

27:09

because I was Protestant. Then they came for me,

27:14

and by that time

27:16

no one was left to speak up.

27:22

For such a time as this

27:25

we are called at times to stand up.

27:27

We don't know exactly when that will be. We don't know exactly

27:30

what that will look like. And honestly, there's a lot of times

27:32

I pray, Lord, I hope I am able to stand up under persecution.

27:36

I hope you give me the strength to do that

27:38

because I know my character at times I can be weak and I'm praying for me

27:43

and the church that whatever you face,

27:46

you'd be able to stand up, bear up in a Christ centered,

27:49

God honoring, loving way.

27:52

So that's the first thing he sister. He gives her the hard truth,

27:56

gives her a real hard truth. But then notice what else he said to her.

28:00

He said, don't think you will escape. But also he affirms God's sovereignty.

28:06

Deliverance will rise. He shows

28:09

steadfast faith in God's providence.

28:12

Look, even if you don't step up,

28:15

God will provide.

28:17

And I love that he highlights that dynamic. By the way, God is sovereign.

28:22

He is in control. He's providence.

28:24

And yet we are called to act.

28:27

He calls us to respond to a great challenge,

28:29

and yet he's in control. And yet we're called to act,

28:32

and yet he can still work it all out. And yet he calls us to be a part of that.

28:37

Both are true.

28:39

And I love how Mordecai, in the midst of challenging

28:42

her, affirms that God can still work

28:45

this out, but.

28:48

Here's what he says last hour to her. Lastly to her.

28:50

Who knows whether you have not

28:52

come to the kingdom for this time.

28:55

This is your hour, Esther. This is the very reason you are here.

29:00

And so he gives her three challenges. In fact, one commentator

29:03

I read said it this way. He calls her to an unavoidable duty.

29:09

This is unavoidable, Esther. You need to be ready to step into this.

29:12

This is the moment God has prepared you for.

29:15

In fact, that phrase. Who knows?

29:17

Also, we read it in Ephesians and Joel two,

29:22

who knows? Who knows?

29:26

Be ready to stand firm in the moment he calls her in this moment.

29:30

Now, how is Esther going to respond to that?

29:33

He's given her the challenge. How is she going to respond?

29:35

Is she going to step up to it? Let's read. Look at verse 15.

29:40

Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, go gather

29:45

all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold fast on my behalf.

29:49

Do not eat or drink for three days,

29:52

night or day. I and my young women will also fast

29:56

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

29:59

though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.

30:04

Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

30:09

Okay, one thing I've not pointed out about the Book of Esther yet,

30:12

that we're going to dive into quickly here,

30:14

and you've seen it on the screen every week, is the

30:17

theme of Esther is a great reversal.

30:20

The whole story is about one great reversal.

30:23

You think everything's going one direction and then it gets up ended,

30:26

which for us ties into the gospel.

30:30

This is this is where the disciples encountered.

30:33

It's all over when Jesus dies. It's all done.

30:35

We thought he was going to be Messiah

30:37

and set up a new kingdom,

30:39

but in an instant, it's all reversed

30:41

and he does rise again.

30:44

And there is victory. When we thought it was all over.

30:48

There actually are four many reversals

30:51

in this story. You see the theme of reversal

30:53

over and over again in the book of Esther,

30:56

and there are four hints of that we already saw one where earlier

31:01

in verse eight, Mordecai had commanded her

31:04

to go in up to this point he said, hide your faith.

31:07

Now he is saying, go in.

31:10

That's the first reversal you get. If you're Esther, you got to be thinking,

31:13

what is going on here? This is going against everything you've said.

31:17

But secondly, notice the second one here.

31:20

She prepares differently.

31:23

In fact, the comparison to Vashti is very interesting.

31:26

Vashti is called by the king to go in

31:30

and she says, no, Esther is not called by the king,

31:33

and she's going to go in

31:35

as a complete contrast. Vashti,

31:38

who she was, Esther is the opposite of that.

31:40

But then the third reversal we see here

31:43

is in verse 16, where she calls others

31:46

to hold fast on her behalf.

31:49

She is preparing. And the third reversal is

31:52

how she prepares to go into the King. She's preparing to go into the King

31:55

in the exact opposite manner that she did before.

31:59

How did she prepare to go into the king? The first time?

32:02

She spent a year of beauty

32:05

treatments, a year preparing

32:07

to be at the pinnacle of beauty,

32:13

a year of oils

32:16

and treatments and conditioning.

32:19

And now

32:21

fast lament, weep before she prepared

32:26

her skin. Now she prepares her soul

32:29

before she came to be at the pinnacle of beauty.

32:32

Now she's coming in at the pinnacle of weakness.

32:35

Have you ever gone three days without drinking anything?

32:39

I mean, what's the longest you've gone without drinking something?

32:41

I remember I was sick once, couldn't take anything in,

32:44

and it was about a day and a half before I drank any water.

32:48

And when I took that first sip of water,

32:50

I mean, it tasted like a sugar cube.

32:52

And it was so good. It was so sweet.

32:54

It like, sent electricity shooting through my body.

32:58

I was so weak.

33:01

You would think you'd want to go into the king in your strength.

33:04

That's how she went before. Now she goes in weakness.

33:08

But then the fourth reversal.

33:10

Look at verse 17. Mordecai went away

33:12

and did everything Esther had commanded him.

33:15

Mordecai had been commanding Esther

33:17

and now she commands him

33:21

another reversal. The story is upended over and over again.

33:26

Grief observed, grief controlled.

33:30

How does all of this lead to Esther's defining moment?

33:35

What we see here is grief steps up.

33:39

In this moment. Grief steps up.

33:42

I'm overwhelmed by grief. But I know this is the moment

33:45

God has called me to step up.

33:51

And when I think about this story of Esther stepping up

33:55

and the challenges she faced in her defining moment, in fact,

33:58

her defining line if I perish, not perish,

34:02

I'm laying it all on the line. I no longer care what happens.

34:06

I don't care who knows if I'm Jewish or not. I don't care who knows about my faith.

34:10

I'm willing to do what it takes. Her response is almost immediate.

34:14

Okay, here we go.

34:17

When I think about what that means for us,

34:20

when you think about the story of Esther, Mordecai needed to appeal to the king

34:24

and he couldn't go into the king on his own. He needed someone else to go to the king,

34:30

and Esther is willing to lay down her life

34:34

on behalf of her people.

34:37

Now for us, we too are in the situation

34:39

where we need to appeal to the King,

34:42

to the Heavenly Father, and we can't go there on our own.

34:45

There is separation. We need someone to go for us.

34:50

And Jesus did that.

34:53

Jesus did that. The big contrast, though,

34:55

is that Esther didn't know. Will I perish or not? Jesus knew.

34:59

I am laying down my life.

35:03

I am going to sacrifice. I'm going to my death

35:07

on their behalf, on our behalf,

35:11

on your behalf.

35:14

And the beautiful part of that story is that he didn't stay dead, man.

35:18

He rose again, and he opened the way

35:21

for us to have direct access to the father

35:24

because of him laying down his life.

35:27

I think when we read the book of Esther, we see that pattern

35:31

of sacrifice on our behalf.

35:34

Let's pray.