Active Faith: Esther

0:59What is often needed in each one of these scenarios to prevent the loss of friendship, the loss of a marriage, or the loss of human life is mediation. A mediator is a person who stands between two parties who are at odds with each other to help them reconcile their differences and make peace. Well, as we saw last week in the book of Esther, mediation was necessary between the Persian government and the Jewish people. King Ahasuerus had allowed Haman to plot the destruction of the Jewish people.

1:37But before we get there, I want to back up and consider how Esther exercised active faith in a society that didn't share her worldview, her faith, or her values. If you remember the backstory, the king had demanded that Queen Vashti come to him and parade her beauty in front of him and all of his dinner guests. She refused to come, and so the king effectively divorced her. He said, you are not allowed to ever come before me ever again. So as a result, he meets with his counselors and they set up this ancient version of the bachelor to find a new queen for him. Well, at the beginning of chapter two, we learn that many young women were gathered together by the king's assistant, and Esther was taken among them. The word taken is used very intentionally because Esther had no choice in the matter. Neither did any of these other young women.

2:46See, often what we imagine is better than reality. Isn't that right? Our dreams very rarely live up to our expectations, and that was certainly the case for Esther and all these other beautiful. Beautiful young women. According to Persian law, as we just heard, these women were taken from their homes and brought to the palace, and then they underwent a thorough beautifying process: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with spices and ointments. An entire year of beautifying process. It's fun to go to the spa, it's probably not fun to live there for a year.

3:27And after this, each young woman would make herself ready, and she was able to bring with her whatever she wanted into the presence of the king. So I assume that could mean clothing or accessories or even a gift for the king, whatever she desired. And then she had one opportunity, exactly one opportunity to impress the king. This was her shot. And if she wasn't chosen, you see, if you're a contestant on the bachelor and you're not chosen, you just go back to living your life.

4:10You get a fresh start. Maybe even now, because you're somewhat famous, other guys have seen you on television, maybe it's easier to get a date. Maybe you find love and marry one day. But for these women who were taken to the palace, it wasn't that. Way at all. If the king was sufficiently pleased with you, you were the new queen. But if he wasn't, you don't get to go back to your family. You didn't get to start over and build a new life.

4:48You are now a deflowered concubine, and you were sent to live in a separate house with all of the other concubines. You may hear from the king again, or you may not. But either way, you were living the rest of your life in that separate house with all of the rest of the concubines until you died. This is what I mean when I say that our expectations don't always match up with reality. How many poor little Persian girls are watching this whole experience unfold, and they're thinking that this is their version of the Cinderella story? How awesome it would be to be chosen by the king and to become queen one day, but reality was almost nothing like that. See, Esther lived in a kingdom ruled by an autocratic pagan ruler who made laws simply by speaking them into existence. She didn't choose to become a part of the king's harem. She was taken. But friends, Esther did not live in a world. Where God did not exist. And we don't live in a world where God does not exist. Although, sometimes when we read the scripture, sometimes in our own lives, it feels that way, doesn't it? It certainly seems that way at times. Did you know that God is not mentioned a single time in the book of Esther?

6:20Not once. He's not even directly referenced. It's the only book in the entire Bible where God is not mentioned even a single time. And that seems to be the point. That seems to be the point. Esther lives in a society where God is not acknowledged or worshipped. He's not even mentioned. Many believers in societies all across the world live like that today. They live in societies where God is not acknowledged. He's not even mentioned. Our society here in America is becoming more and more like that every single year. God is not acknowledged. He's not even mentioned. However, just like in Esther's day, God is always present, always involved in our lives, always at work in our world, even when we can't see it.

7:15As we talked a lot about in Ezra and Nehemiah, this theological principle is known as providence. Providence is God working through people and circumstances to bring about his purposes. Working through people and circumstances to bring about his purposes. So, even if it isn't immediately clear and obvious to us, God is always working through people and circumstances to achieve his purposes. And so, building on the three characteristics of active faith that we talked about last week when we looked at the person of Mordecai, we come now to the fourth characteristic of active faith. Active faith is confident.

7:59Active faith is confident. See, by the providence of God, Esther was taken into the king's harem. By the providence of God, she won favor with the king's eunuch, Haggai. By the providence of God, she was chosen to be queen. All of this happened so that, in the providence of God, Esther would be in exactly the right place at exactly the right time when God's people needed her most. This is God's providence at work. Look at this quote from David Firth.

8:44We only recognize the working of providence by looking back, but we have to commit ourselves to God's providence and live our lives going forward. We cannot know in advance what our commitment will cost us. Esther did not know what her future held. She didn't know what her future held when she was taken into the harem. But God did know the future. God was in control, and Esther knew God, so she was able to place her full confidence in him and his providential work.

9:23Friends, in the same way, we do not know the future. We don't know what it holds. But like Esther, every believer knows God, the one who holds the future in his hands, the one who is in control of all things. And so we can place our confidence in God as well. You see, in life, we will experience setbacks. There will be disappointments. There will be trials and troubles of various kinds. Jesus promised these things. But when those things happen to us, we can learn to see them as opportunities to grow in faith, grow in trust in the Lord and His perfect plans.

10:10Active faith is confident. So we move into chapter 4. If you turn there, Haman has now been promoted by the king. He is now second in command to the king himself. And if you recall, last week, Mordecai. Esther's cousin refuses to bow down to the king, or to Haman, rather. And Haman is provoked by this. The king has commanded that everyone should bow down to him. Mordecai won't do it. And so Haman is so upset that he decides he's going to kill Mordecai, and not just him, but every single Jew in the entire empire.

10:56So Haman goes to the king and he persuades the ignorant king to allow him to write a decree saying that on one day all of the Jews in the empire are going to be destroyed. Well, as soon as Mordecai learns of this, he puts on sackcloth and ashes, he weeps, and he goes as he did daily to check on Esther to sit outside the king's gate. That's all I want to pick up in verse 10 of chapter 4. Look there.

11:27Mordecai at this point has asked Esther to do something about the situation. Then Esther spoke to Haphak and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say, All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come into the king these thirty days.

12:03So, as we talked about last week, Esther's response to Mordecai's initial challenge to go to the king and do something on behalf of the Jewish people is to say essentially, that's terrible, but what can I do? The king hasn't called me, and it's illegal for me to just show up in front of the king. I can't go to him. Well, friends, who can fault Esther for her response? She knows very well how the kingdom operates. She knows very well that the only reason that she's the queen is because Queen Vashti disobeyed the king's order, she broke the law of the land.

12:41And in Esther's mind, maybe she just thought that acting in faith meant waiting, meant not acting, not doing anything. And sometimes, as we all know from Scripture and our own lives, that is the right course of action. The right course of action is to wait on the Lord. And so maybe she thought to herself, that's what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to wait because God is in control. But I would remind us that there were many times in history where Christians concluded that very thing and they were wrong.

13:14In the 1800s in England and America, many professing Christians said, Listen, slavery is evil. It's wrong. I don't agree with it. But what can we do? It's the law of the land. In the 1960s, In America, many Christians said, Look, Jim Crow laws are immoral. It's wrong, but what can we do? It's the law of the land. And during both of those periods of time in history, it took committed, bold Christians to step up and to call their brothers and sisters to fight against, to be active against those immoral things, those evil institutions.

14:00And centuries earlier, that's exactly what Mordecai did for Esther. Let's look again at verse 12. And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place. But you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

14:40Mordecai said very clearly to Esther, listen, God is going to deliver his people. You can choose to be a part of that. You can choose to be an instrument in his hands, or you could opt out of that. But if you opt out, you just have to know God is going to deliver the Jews by another way. He's going to discipline you for refusing to be a part of it. He says, the time to act is now.

15:10It's not coming later. It is now. Don't miss it. So let's look at how Esther responds in verse 15. Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish. Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

15:50That brings us to the next characteristic of active faith. Active faith is courageous. Like Providence, courage is a recurring theme in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah and Esther. It comes up again and again. It takes courage to live in a world that does not share our faith. And that's what all of these people had to do. Remember, courage is not the absence of fear. It doesn't mean that you're not afraid. Rather, courage is doing what is required, even though you are afraid. Esther was very. Scared. That's why she called on every Jew in the province to fast for three days and nights. She knew she could be executed, which is why she said, if I perish, I perish.

16:43But, church, it's important to know: faith is not fatalism. Faith is not fatalism. That is not what Esther meant when she said, if I perish, I perish. She was not saying, whatever happens, happens. You see, if Esther believed that fate simply determined the course of events in the world, why would she ever ask her people to fast and pray? It wouldn't make any difference if the people fasted and prayed, if fatalism were true. You just have to abandon yourself to whatever happens. No, she called a fast because she believed that God would actually hear and answer their prayers. She believed that prayer, through prayer, the course of human history could be altered.

17:36See, faith requires courage. Fatalism doesn't. But I want you to also note that Esther didn't say, fast for three days and nights, so I am guaranteed success before the king. No, she said, fast for three days and nights. And if I perish, I perish. She didn't hold some ancient version of the prosperity gospel that believes that we can manipulate God by our religious acts. She didn't think anything like that. She understood that even if they fasted and prayed for three days, she may still be executed. Her theology required courage because it didn't make God into a deity that could be manipulated.

18:30And friends, that's the same thing with our theology. Our theology requires courage because it takes courage to say, I trust you, God. I trust you with the most important things in life. I trust you with my health. I trust you with my money, my resources. I trust you even with my hopes and dreams for my life. Active faith requires courage because faith requires us to put it into action, to not just talk, but to act, and then to trust God with the results.

19:17Active faith is courageous. Turn with me now to Esther chapter 5, verse 1. And I want to read the first eight verses. On the third day, Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, in front of the king's quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the throne room, opposite the entrance to the palace. 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. And the king said to her, What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even up to half of my kingdom. And Esther said, If it please the king, let the king and Haman come today to a feast that I have prepared for the king.

20:18Then the king said, Bring Haman quickly so that we may do as Esther has asked. So the king and Haman came to the feast that Esther had prepared. And as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king said to Esther, What is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom it shall be fulfilled. Then Esther answered, My wish and my request is, if I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my wish and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come to the feast that I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said.

20:58If you're reading Esther for the first time, First time. The tension at the outset of this chapter is palpable. Here is our heroine, Queen Esther, dressed to the nines in her royal robes, illegally standing in the king's court. What's going to happen to her? Is she going to be executed? Is the king going to extend grace to her? We don't know. But in God's providence, the king extends the golden scepter. Esther wins favor in his eyes, and he asks for her request. He says, I'd be willing to give up to half the kingdom. I don't think he actually meant that.

21:39But that's what he said. What do you want? I'll give you anything. And what I want you to see is that by the grace and power of God, Esther exercises supernatural wisdom. She doesn't blurt out her request in the middle of the court, potentially putting the king in an awkward position and significantly diminishing the chances of her success. Instead, she requests a private audience with the king and with Haman the next day in the form of a feast that she has prepared. The king asks for her request two more times after that meal that afternoon. And then Esther defers again and she says, Why don't you come back tomorrow and I'll tell you exactly what I want. So now let's Let's turn ahead to chapter 7. We're going to pick up in verse 1.

22:41So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. And on the second day as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king again said to Esther, What is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled. Then Queen Esther answered, If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish and my people for my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king. Then King Ahasuera said to Queen Esther, Who is he, and where is he who has dared to do this? And Esther said, A foe and enemy, this wicked Haman. Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.

23:47Esther waited wisely and patiently for just the right moment to make her request known. She didn't blurt it out in the middle of the court. And you notice her wisdom. She didn't even ask her request the first time she invited the king and Haman to a feast. She simply dined with him. She simply demonstrated love and devotion and concern for him, not as though she's only inviting him to this thing to get something out of him. She just sat with him and ate. She just enjoyed that time with him.

24:25But then at the second feast, she displays great patience and wisdom again, carefully and respectfully asking for her life to be spared along with the lives of all of her people. She says, Look, if we were just being sold as slaves, I wouldn't have even bothered you. Imagine that. I wouldn't have even bothered you if we were just being sold as slaves because it's not worth bothering you, because then at least you can profit from us. But we have been sold to be killed, which means we will lose our lives and you will lose our labor.

25:02She carefully and respectfully frames all of this and then she just sits back and waits for the king to decide whether to act on what she said. And act he does. He demands to know who has done this. And Esther, mustering all of her courage, acts out in faith, points across the table, and says, This wicked Haman. She calls out his right-hand man. There at dinner. And friends, that brings us to our final characteristic of active faith. Active faith is wise.

25:44Active faith is wise. You see, after reading this book, it would be easy to see how we could get whipped up into a zealous frenzy to take big risks for God. We read of Mordecai's challenge to Esther, where he tells her to risk everything, even her life, to spare God's people. And then we read Esther's response. It sounds so brazen, so bold. If I perish, I perish. And then she goes to the king. She acts courageously and calls out the king's right-hand man.

26:25See, I think we can read this book and come away pretty amped up, feeling like we've got to go out and do something bold and courageous for God. And then we can be tempted to look around at other Christians who don't seem to be doing bold things for God and actually look down on them. In Romans 10, Paul thinks about his countrymen, the Jews. The Jews, particularly, who have rejected Christ as Lord and Savior. Savior. And he says that they have a zeal for God, but it is without knowledge.

27:11Especially in the context of a university town, we see lots of zeal without knowledge. Now, listen, zeal is good. We are exhorted over and over in the New Testament to be zealous for God. Jesus was zealous. In fact, it was said of him in the Old Testament, which is then quoted in the New, that zeal for his father's house consumed him. It's good to be zealous. But I want you to know that Jesus always paired zeal with wisdom. He did not overzealously reveal the truth about who he was, the Messiah, so that he would not be betrayed and crucified until exactly the right time.

28:06He always coupled zeal with wisdom. And friends, our zeal has to be paired. It has to be coupled with wisdom. There are so many Christians whose zeal is uncoupled from wisdom. So let's ask ourselves a question. Are we trying to win people to Christ? Or are we trying to win arguments? Are we trying to win people to biblical theology? Or are we trying to win arguments? When we post a rant on social media, and rants come in many forms, not just all caps.

29:03When we post a rant on social media, here's what happens. Everybody who already agrees with you says that they agree with you and that you are the greatest person in the world. And everyone who already disagrees with you still disagrees with you, whether or not they say so in the comments. Social media crusading has to stop. It has to stop because it is a form of zeal uncoupled from wisdom. It's not that what many of us and many of our brothers are saying is wrong. It's that we're saying the right thing through an unhelpful medium.

29:54Zeal with wisdom may look like putting our phones away. Closing our laptops and inviting someone who disagrees with us to lunch. It may be far wiser to build a relationship rather than to build an argument. If we do that, we may actually win people to Christ or win people to biblical theology rather than just scoring points with people who already agree with us. Active faith is wise. And sometimes that means, just like Queen Esther, we have to exercise great patience over the long run so that we win people's hearts.

30:49Friends, because of Esther's faith, her confident, courageous, wise faith, God's people were delivered from certain destruction. Esther stood in the gap between the king who had made this edict, whether he knew it or not, demanding her destruction and the destruction of every Jew in the empire, and the Jewish people. Esther stood in the middle. She mediated. She put her own life on the line. She was willing to die so that her people. Could live. But friends, Esther was only able to deliver her people temporarily because their biggest problem was not the false accusations of Haman.

31:50Their biggest problem was the true accusations of Satan. Satan's name means adversary or opponent or accuser. And we get a picture of him acting in these very ways in Zachariah chapter 3. In Zachariah chapter 3, Joshua the high priest is standing before God and Satan is standing at his right hand to accuse him. We're told that Zachariah the high priest is clothed in these filthy garments, which is representative, of course, of his sin before God. And Satan stands there to accuse him, and he says to God, This sinner has no right to stand before you. He is a rebel just like me.

32:42And friends, in this particular instance, Satan is exactly right. Neither Joshua the high priest nor any one of us has the right to stand before God. Every one of us has sinned against God. We have all rebuked. Rebelled against him and his lordship in our lives. We deserve judgment and not mercy. But thankfully, we have a better mediator than Esther. Our mediator is Jesus of Nazareth. See, the whole reason that Jesus came was to be our mediator, to stand in the gap between God, whom we had offended by our rebellion and sin, and us, who deserved judgment and not mercy.

33:36Jesus, through his sinless life, his death, and resurrection, didn't win a temporary deliverance for us to secure a place in purgatory where for a number of years we could work out the rest and earn the rest of our salvation. No, Jesus secured a permanent deliverance for us. His life, death, and resurrection means for all who trust in him by faith that we are permanently delivered from sin's consequences and that we are being delivered from sin's power in our lives.

34:14And so I want to invite you today to put your hope and trust in Jesus, the perfect mediator that you need. There is no one else that can stand in the gap between you and God, only Jesus. Hope in Him today. Friends, we can thank God for Esther and for her active faith, a faith that was characterized by confidence and courage and wisdom. In a world that does not share our worldview, our faith, or our values, we need all three of those characteristics. And so we should thank God for Esther's amazing example.

35:01But even more, we can thank God that we have a better mediator than Esther, Jesus of Nazareth, the perfect God-man who stood in the gap for justly accused rebels like you and me. Let's pray. Father, what a picture that you have given us in the person of Esther. What a picture of active faith, an act of faith that challenges us because we know so often, God, we are not confident that you are working all things in our life together for good.

35:52We're challenged by her courage and by the way that she put everything On the line, trusting in you. And we're challenged by her wisdom, that supernatural wisdom that she displayed, doing exactly the right thing at exactly the right time. God, we pray this morning that you would give us those same characteristics because we so need them in our society today. A society that needs to see professing Christians walking in confidence in God's providence, walking in courage, and walking in wisdom.

36:44And so we pray this morning, God. Fill our hearts and our minds with your word and fill us with your Holy Spirit so that we can live those kinds of lives and bring glory and honor to you. In Christ's name, we pray all these things. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.