Esther 8 The Day of the Living Dead

But today actually marks a significant anniversary in the history of recast Church I don't know how many of you know that but actually today is three years of this weekend of meeting in this building

So it's been three years since we launched in this facility So praising God for what he's done

As I reflect back on the past three years, I really am in awe I mean God has done some amazing things

I want to I don't know if you're aware of some of these things but Month over month since we started we have always grown.

So I mean that's pretty amazing in itself. No number wise Okay, so number wise we've always had more the next month than we had the previous month

Since day one we have met our financial budget from Every single month we've met the budget from the very first Sunday that we met and I I'm just in awe of what

God has Done through that but most importantly I think that over the course of this three years God has shown us something of himself and what he has done here among us

You see he is a God who loves to take broken things and fix them Do you agree with that?

I've seen that in my life and I think many of you I know have seen that in yours He loves to take cold empty spaces when

I first stepped foot through those front doors. There were no walls This was a cement slab floor He loves to take cold empty places and raise them up for the place of worship for him

And I mean some of us can reflect on our own hearts as cold empty places that he has Begun to flourish for his worship and I am in awe of that We're gonna see in the book of Esther this morning that our

God is a God who loves to take dead things Things committed to death and bring them back to life

How many of you are glad for that this morning? I? Rejoice in what he's done here. I love recast

Church It's been a wild ride, but I give God all the glory for what he has done here in our midst over these three years

So I want you to open your Bibles, please to Esther chapter 8 and that's page 357 357 if you take the

Bible that's in the seat back in front of you You can open that one and it's easy to find 357

Esther chapter 8 and if you don't own a Bible, please take that paperback one That's in the seat back in front of you with you

We desire for everybody to have a copy of God's Word But follow along with me as I read Esther as I read

Esther chapter 8 this morning let's dive in on that day

King a Asurus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman the enemy of the Jews and Mordecai came before the king for Esther had told told what he was to her and the king took off his signet ring which he had taken from Haman and gave it to Mordecai and Esther set

Mordecai over the house of Haman Then Esther spoke again to the king She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman the

Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews when the king held out the golden scepter to Esther Esther rose and stood before the king and she said if it pleased the king and if I have found favor in his sight and if the thing seems right before the king and I am pleasing in his eyes

Let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the Agagite the son of son of Hamedatha Which he wrote to destroy the

Jews who are in all the provinces of the king For how can I bear to see this calamity that is coming to my people or how can

I bear to see the destruction of? my kindred Then King a Asura said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the

Jew Behold I have given Esther the house of Haman and they have hanged him on the gallows because he intended to lay hands on the

Jews but you may write as you please with regard to the Jews in the name of the king and seal it with the king's ring for An edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked

The king's scribes were summoned at that time in the third month Which is the month of Sivan on the 20th on the 23rd day and an edict was written according to all that Mordecai?

Commanded concerning the Jews to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia 127 provinces to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language and also to the

Jews in their script in Their language and he wrote in the name of King a source and sealed it with the king's signet ring

Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king's service bread from the royal stud

Saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather together and defend their lives

To destroy to kill and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them children and women included and to plunder their goods on One day throughout all the provinces of King a source on the 13th day of the 12th month month

Which which is the month of Adar a copy of what was written? What was written was to be issued as a decree in every province being publicly?

Displayed to all people and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take vengeance on their enemies So the couriers mounted on their swift horses that were used in the king's service rode out hurriedly

Urged by the king's command and the decree was issued in Susa the Citadel Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white with a golden a great golden crown

And a robe of fine linen and purple and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced the

Jews had light and Gladness and joy and honor and in every province and in every city wherever the king's command in his edict reached

There was gladness and joy among the Jews a feast and a holiday and many from the peoples of the country declared themselves

Jews For fear of the Jews had fallen on them. Let's pray father as we

We come to this text an ancient text that demonstrates something of your character that demonstrates that you are a

God who loves to preserve your people a God who has gone through lengths to Bring about salvation

Father I rejoice that you are a God who takes dead things and brings them back to life that here in our text we see the

Jews condemned to death by an edict and yet moved to rejoice because salvation is drawing near for them a

Physical salvation, but father we live in a we live in a new covenant. We live in a place where Your grace has extended to us to an eternal kingdom

Not to the preservation of our physical lives But to our souls that we have hoped for eternity

Because of the grace of your son and so I pray that as we sing songs to you this would not be a an act of our voices but an act of our souls in worship and in gratitude and in Rejoicing and gladness because of the great salvation we have through your son

Jesus Christ I pray that our hearts would be lifted up before you in genuine gratitude

For salvation that can be had through Jesus Christ You take dead things and you bring them back to life and I praise you for that in my life

And I praise you for that here in this church, and I ask that you would accept our worship unto you this morning in Jesus Name Amen Well, it's my heart's desire that we continue in worship as we come to God's Word.

I think sometimes we can confuse the word worship as a primarily musical term

But worship really is our lives And so as we come to the hearing of God's Word I my prayer is that that also is equally an act of worship for us this morning

As we walk through this text last week If you were here or if you're even familiar with the story of Esther if you've read that before You realize that last week we talked about the demise of Haman Who was the enemy of the

Jews? He had been the prime minister of this vast empire that stretched all the way from India modern -day

India all the way down into Africa to Ethiopia a huge vast Empire and he had been the prime minister and had passed an edict of Extermination towards the

Jews that it was actually at an edict of genocide. I've mentioned before but in the amazing providence of God Haman met his demise on one fateful day and within a 24 -hour period of time

He went from the height the pinnacle of power brought down low and actually executed on a spike that he had intended for his

Jewish enemy Mordecai and we've seen throughout the book of Esther that God is the one working behind the scenes

Although the players the people in the text if you go through the book of Esther, you don't even see God mentioned now

Anybody find that to be kind of strange for a book of the Bible that doesn't mention God I believe that there's power in that and there's intentionality in the authors way of presenting it because how many of you know that the way that we experience

God in real life is Sometimes he feels absent from us Raise your hand if you've experienced times where it's kind of like God God, where are you in this?

Okay, a few of you haven't and that's great I'd encourage you to kind of keep walking in that But um for those of you who have you know exactly what

I'm talking about and the book of Esther is written in a way That helps us to relate to the main characters in a way that they felt real life

Esther did not know the outcome of this story while she was living in it Okay, often she didn't see

God's hand in the decisions in the things but is God in the story All over this story

Working miraculously behind the scenes to preserve and to save his people and that's what we've been looking at as we've gone through the book of Esther If it would if you haven't been caught up with us if you're if you're if you're just kind of coming and joining us

I'd encourage you maybe take that some time out this week to read the book of Esther up to the point where we're at I think it's a it's an amazing book with all the twists and the turns

But when we get to our text this morning the king wasted no time in dispensing the wealth of Haman Haman has been destroyed.

He's been executed and in this era where we find ourselves in history If you were a traitor to the king all of your stuff became the

Kings Okay, are you getting what I'm saying? I mean if you were a traitor He takes all of your stuff and we saw earlier in the text of Esther that Haman was an extremely wealthy man all the way to the point where he was able to give 300 tons of silver to the king in exchange for passing this edict to destroy the

Jews 300 tons of silver. Let me know. That's a lot of bling Okay, is that is that a lot?

Okay, 300 tons of silver this dude had had money to burn and he was an extremely wealthy individual but Because he has he has been executed as a traitor to the king his wife and sons lose all of that Their inheritance goes straight to the king and and and he basically dispenses with it and gives it to Queen Esther and according to the text

Now Esther we see invert at the end of verse 1 And Mordecai came before the king for Esther had told what he was to her

So equally she receives the wealth of Haman and in that process somehow says King Let me explain to you my relationship with Mordecai this guy who saved your life

Now what was that relationship some of you maybe remember they were cousins Mordecai being an older cousin of Esther and both of both of Esther's parents have passed away now

We didn't see in the text why or how or what happened to them? they're just a passing mention that both of her parents have passed away she's an orphan and and Mordecai adopts her and takes her in and cares for her and protects her and is basically her primary

Caregiver and Mordecai is summoned into the king's presence with the king knowing that he has cared for and raised

Esther And we're gonna see here in the text the reversals just keep on rolling. Okay, there's been all kinds of reversals

Esther the impoverished orphan Has become Queen pretty big reversal

Just amazing role shift there Haman the prime minister was slain on the very pole that he intended for Mordecai and Now the office of Haman is given to Mordecai and the signet ring that the king had given to Haman is now given to Mordecai all these reversals that are happening and Esther makes

Mordecai the steward over the wealth of Haman Pretty big shift in just a very short period of time

But not all is yet resolved in the book, right? The edict still stands.

Are you getting what I'm saying by that? There's still this edict that's out there hanging as things currently stand where we're at in the text

The on the 13th day of the 12th month The Jews are to be

Annihilated to be destroyed to be killed according to the king's edict that was passed under Haman So we come to verse 3 and Esther's work is not yet done.

She hasn't finished her role yet So she falls at the king's feet and pleads and weeps and begs

Can you see that kind of groveling before his royalty and she's there and she's groveling and she's begging him to repeal the evil plan the text tells us or the plot that Haman had devised to destroy the

Jews Now she's already asked for a lot from the king hasn't she she already entered his presence

Do you remember a few chapters ago? She entered his presence without being welcomed without being invited and that was

To take on death for herself and the king extended his scepter and said you can live even though you've broken the court protocol right and He's already given her very much.

And so to be quite honest, she's entering dangerous territory again, right? Kings and tyrants and rulers and emperors are not the kind of people that you push to the limit, right?

Do you keep begging them and asking them for things after they've given you a bunch? How many of you think that that's a good position for Esther to be in I just just keep asking just keep poking just keep prodding

He's been through as a ruler one of the primary rulers of the known world at his time

He's been through a whole gamut of emotions in a very short period of time, and I would not recommend pushing a stressed

Emperor But once again We see in the text. He extends the scepter out to her again a sign of acceptance a sign of willingness to interact with her about her request and in verse 5

Esther lays it all on with the thickest charm that she can muster and Look at the ifs in verse 5 look down as I read these

She says if you want to King if you want to if you like me she bats her eyelashes if you think it is right

Appealing to some kind of moral or ethical principle within him if you think it's right if I'm pleasing to you

Then would you please revoke the edict of Haman and the word for revoke here is literally to cause to return

Anybody ever have a product that you owned that was recalled That's the that's the notion behind this word.

It's a recalling a bringing back to yourself Make it King like it never went out from you. Just bring it back

Take it back to yourself and reown it and don't let it have its way She wants to recall it because it was we see in verse 6 she explains very clearly

She cannot bear to see her people destroyed and who could Right how many of us would just delight in that I mean

She's troubled Verse 7 shows a bit of the tension in this situation because the king says in a sense in verse 7

I've already done so much for you And that's the nature of what he's saying in verse 7 and where he says behold in context

I think it would be fair to interpret that come on Esther I've already done these things for you.

I've already given you Haman's wealth. I've done that I've already executed I've even gone to the degree of executing my prime minister on your behalf

Come on Esther In essence, he's pointing out his generosity to her already.

Do you see that in the text in verse 7? It's there So what he grants her is the gravy?

Okay, he's given her some extra here. He's given her some icing for the cake He says you and Mordecai Can craft any written edict that you would like regarding the

Jews and not only that but I give you permission to seal it with My official signet ring

Okay now from the word signet Signet and signature are related words, right?

Okay so how many of you know that your signature is somewhat binding on you when you sign a document you sign a contract the

King Had a signet ring a ring with an impression on it And what they would do in ancient times is they would drip wax onto a document and then he would while it's still

While it still hasn't hardened. He would impress his signet ring on that and that's his signature

Okay That is legally binding that's a law now placed in effect under the authority of the king and that's what's going on here in the

Text and he's given that signet ring to who? to Mordecai Mordecai has that But then he goes on to highlight something to them

That is key in the text that nothing that is sealed with the Kings signet ring can be revoked

It cannot be recalled once it's gone out And I think there's two reasons why he's saying that in the text

One obvious one is to say I can't recall what you I can't do what you're asking me to do I do not even have the authority in myself to repeal this this edict of genocide against the

Jews. I can't I can't undo it Okay, but equally I think it serves as a warning saying you guys are about to go out and craft some legislation and That cannot be revoked either

So what you seal with my ring? Use it wisely Because it cannot do you see how that's kind of a double thing

He's saying you can craft what you want, but it can't be revoked. So be cautious Interesting to note that literally the time frame that we're given

Scholars basically kind of looking at Persian calendars and things the 23rd day of the third month

Coincides with like right now in Michigan like right where we're at in the time of the year. It's late

May Early June that's literally right now like what it's like outside that's when all of this stuff is going down in our text and So on the 23rd day of the third month the scribes are gathered to write

With Mordecai and Esther in attendance and now this is all happening nine months before the planned date of the eradication of the

Jews there's nine months that they have to get this word out and to do something different and If you think about it, the scope of this mailing is huge.

This is not just a You know and a mass email blast out to people, you know

They're not just gonna mass text people. This is this edict is gonna have to spread from Ethiopia to India Okay, a hundred and twenty seven provinces

Dozens of languages covered in that area and Mordecai is going to write with the

Kings Authority Seal it with a signet ring and the famous Persian postal system is going to be utilized

To dispense or to disperse this edict and communicate it out and in this now we're going to see somewhat of Mordecai's Creativity his brilliance his intellect because okay, you've got this edict that can't be revoked, right?

So as of the 13th day of the 12th month The Jews are supposed to be annihilated destroyed killed the exact terms that were used in the first edict

So what are you gonna do if you put yourself in Mordecai's shoes? How are you gonna circumvent that how are you gonna get around that without outright revoking it, right?

You have to do something creative, right? you have to get the wheel spinning and figure out what how can how can we avoid this and So Mordecai does come up with something creative and the edict he writes gives the

Jews Two freedoms that we take for granted in America today He gives the

Jews the freedom of assembly and the freedom to bear arms Now if you're anything like me you've been wondering all along in the book of Esther Like how is this edict really gonna go down and how and what kind of dire circumstances are are the

Jews? Really? Like how bad really is it? Like how many of you if somebody told you

I don't know give or take you know Like next Christmas this coming Christmas. I'm gonna sneak in your house and I'm gonna kill you

Okay. Now that's that's horrible. I mean, you know, but but if somebody said that to you Do you think you'd have some time to prepare for that?

I make some phone calls You know take care of business protect yourself get like get

ADT get like five different security systems in place I mean, how many you think you'd do some preparation for that, right?

Okay a few of you. I think all of us you'd take some action, you know And hopefully you wouldn't forget that they had said they had told you they were gonna do that, you know

Like kind of well, that's just a few months down the road. I got some time to prepare Like you do you take some immediate action and you get ready so is anybody like me kind of going, okay

The Jews are given basically 12 months almost exactly 12 months to figure this out from the time that Haman signed his edict

Like so how many of you are saying I think I could probably get prepared to defend myself in that amount of time, right? But that's because we live in America and we live in a free society that has some freedoms that we would be able to Actually make some provisions plenty of time for us to prepare

So wouldn't the Jews naturally defend themselves, of course They would but quite poorly because of the rules and the laws and the regulations that they lived under in that ancient society you see our first two amendments to our

Constitution are literally if you think about how how important they are to us

They're literally the things that Mordecai writes and gives to the Jews the freedom of assembly

Pretty significant thing and you see it's so fundamental to our lives that we don't we don't even really understand

What kind of value there is in that? We take for granted the freedom of assembly but in some countries even today and certainly in the majority of ancient cultures a

Gathering of this size would be forcibly dispersed this size Out of fear that we were going to rebel against the government out of fear that we were against the police force out of fear

That we were gathering together and basically going to rise up in a coup or something like that And so they were

Mindful of assembly when people gather together in a group you can be sure that the soldiers were close by ready to break things up Are you getting what

I'm saying? Just even just even small gatherings that we take for granted are Something that in that ancient culture were not allowed

So free that freedom to gather together would be very significant in your defense Right in this situation under this edict and they were not allowed to do so Secondly the freedom to bear arms is obviously something that has been an ongoing issue reaching up even to modern -day legislation and boy

I'm not going to get into that But we even have some biblical examples like I mean

Isn't it just quite obvious that if you can keep somebody from arming themselves that you've got the upper hand then

Right, isn't that just logical like there were times in Israel's history During the time of the judges or during the times even of King Saul where the

Philistines had the upper hand and literally Refused to allow the Jews to possess weapons and that's how they maintain supremacy as a matter of fact in one one portion of the

Old Testament during one historical period in the lives of Israel They literally had to go to the Philistines to sharpen their farming tools

To sharpen your plow. You had to go down to the Philistines to have them sharpen your

Farming implements. Are you getting what I'm saying? I mean if you can control somebody's ability to defend themselves and their ability to have access to weapons then there's some

Significant power that can be had in that situation so when you take away the freedom to band together and the freedom to bear arms and then realize that even the

Persian military is going To be taking part in in this edict that's been issued.

So you're gonna have armed soldiers with armor and Weapons going up against people who do not have the freedom to assemble themselves and do not have the freedom to bear arms

How is that going to go for them now? Are you starting to see how desperate the situation really is for the Jews?

Is that making more sense? All of that was a rabbit trail on my mind. Maybe some of you were thinking the same thing.

I don't know But Mordecai's new edict allows the Jews to prepare for battle and the terms gather and defend when brought together

Can be technically used to enlist a formal defense force. They have the right to basically form an army if you will they're allowed to defend themselves on the 13th day of the 12th month and Mordecai's edict closely mimics

Haman's that we saw back in chapter 3 actually even the terminology you can go down verse by verse and many Scholars have light have laid out

Haman's edict and Mordecai's edict and they basically cover the same things just a couple of different things in there

For example, one difference is that the Jews are allowed to destroy kill or annihilate any armed force that comes against them

Do you see that? That's that's significant, right? It's not like they're given free freedom to just wantonly slaughter anybody.

They don't like Okay, it's if you come against them they have the right to defend themselves even up to the point of women and children that would attack them and Mordecai's edict even includes the plundering of goods now how many of you think that seems a little bit harsh like all of this kind of stuff like I mean you kind of Like the

Jews have the right to slaughter somebody and then not only that but then to plunder their stuff But I think that in mimicking what

Haman had written out There's still the general fear that somebody might go out on their own and kill a

Jew so that they can take their stuff, right? But now if that person who would go out and kill a

Jew to take their stuff is threatened with their stuff getting plundered Now it becomes a shame issue because if you don't leave an inheritance to your family in that shame based culture

You are the worst in society and now you are threatened with the chance that you might have all of your stuff

Taken and leave nothing. Are you are you seeing what I'm saying? And that culture to leave an inheritance was

Just high up on the list and now by going out and attacking a Jew You might forfeit the right to leave anything to your sons to your wife to your children to anybody

And so that was that's a big deal And I think it's important that that's in the edict because it actually was a further step of deterrence

Towards the average person in Persia attacking a Jew. Are you getting that? So that's what's going on there in verse 13

The edict is carried out is disseminated to the provinces, which would have been a huge undertaking

It would have it would take a few months just for the edict to reach some of the far reaches of the

Empire But immediately, of course the edict is posted in Susa right where it's crafted right where it's written

So we're going to see the response in Susa first in the capital city of Persia And then we're going to see it kind of kind of ripple out like like a stone throw thrown into the water in Mordecai we're going to see him here as part of that effect that happens in Susa Mordecai has not been just given wealth and authority.

He hasn't just been given the signet ring He hasn't just been given all the wealth of Haman, but he has also granted high status basically on par with royalty and You've probably heard it said that the clothes make the man right and in Persia.

That's the case that was very very true and we mentioned that The fact that one of the rewards given to Mordecai for preserving the king's life a few weeks ago

Was that he was granted to wear a robe that the king had worn and was was taken throughout the city saying the king really?

Thinks this is a cool guy While wearing one of the king's robes that was significant But now it's not that he's given one from the king to wear for a day.

He is given royal robes He's given royal blue purple and white robes and not just that but what else is he given a great golden crown to wear

He is now in very high position And as he walks out of the presence of the king the rags -to -riches story is almost complete

The city of Susa think about living in Susa during this time like you're you're there on the ground you're there on the streets

What do you know about the circumstance? What do you know about all these things that have happened? Well the city has been aware at various levels to this drama, but certainly they saw the public demise of Haman That was intended to be very public 70 feet tall remember that Certainly they were aware of that at least heard of it if they didn't see it themselves

They all knew of the first edict against the Jews that had been posted, right? It says that the city itself of Susa was thrown into confusion over these things

So they knew about that they also probably knew that Mordecai the scribe who was a Jew had dressed in sackcloth and was wailing and weeping at the king's gate a

Very public place, right? they were aware of these kinds of things going on in their culture in their society around them and Now the very people who had been thrown into confusion by the decree of Haman Shout and rejoice the text tells us at this massive turn of events

But here's the place I want us to place our focus today God has been working out the physical salvation of his people the

Jews in the Old Covenant and look at their response The Jews it says had light

They had gladness and joy and honor They have been given light because the darkness of death is passing over them

They have gladness because their cause for mourning is almost gone They have joy because God is proving himself

Mighty to save and it's not very clear whether they just it doesn't say in the text they rejoiced in God But what is the ultimate cause of their rejoicing that God is working to save them?

whether they acknowledge it or not, isn't that really the cause of their joy and They've been given honor

Because God has been working behind the scenes to lift them up from death in a very public way

And this response is not only in the capital city of Susa But when the edict reached a city there was gladness and joy among the

Jews and they fast they feasted and they had Holidays and they took the day off work and they gathered together and they rejoiced greatly over this new edict

Do you see the joy that is happening and spreading throughout Persia because of this new edict that has been passed?

It's spreading And at the end of verse 17, it even says it became popular to be a

Jew Everyone wanted to be a Jew out of probably what do you think's motivating them?

the text says Fear I think fear for the political power that the

Jews were now being granted If you put yourself in this situation to understand what was motivating the average

Persian to become a Jew the Jews were This is what they knew the

Jews were on the verge of destruction and Within hours you find out the

Queen is a Jew Okay, would that be enough to rock your world? Okay.

Whoa, like where did that come from? And the prime minister? who initiated the edict for the destruction of the

Jews has now been publicly executed as a traitor and And not just that But another prominent

Jew has been raised up to take over his position of prime minister Even the degree of being given the power to write law

Pretty massive shift in your worldview like in a moment if you live there in Susa that'd be a radical shift

I think for all of us and so Fear of the Jews. Does that make sense?

So, I'm sure that the average person in Persia said somebody's on their side Somebody is doing something here something amazing that we cannot comprehend

But there are two things I want to highlight from this text for our consideration where we live in 2012

The first is this notion of the living dead You see we see a massive

Empire wide celebration Among the Jews Spontaneous rejoicing spontaneous feasting and celebration honor gladness and light

Why? Why are they rejoicing? Because they were dead and they have been given new life

They were as good as dead right and they've been given a chance They have in essence been taken to the edge of the grave and brought back to a place of hope

And although if you you can scour this text, you know it I read it Jesus Christ isn't mentioned in this text.

Is he do you see him in there? You see his name you don't and Really?

His sacrifice is still going to be centuries down the road from the life of Esther But I think it's wise for us to reflect on our

God who takes dead things and makes them live In reality, all of us were born into a life of sin

Right, we were all broken sinners by our very nature dead to spiritual things

But I could stand up here and tell you this or you can hear it from God's Word yourself And I think it's better to let

Paul in the New Testament speak to this about who we are in reality without Christ This is

Paul speaking of humanity in Romans chapter 3 And I'm quoting

None is righteous No, not one No one understands.

No one seeks for God. All all have turned aside

Together they become worthless. No one does good not even one Their throat is an open grave

They use their tongues to deceive the venom of asps is under their lips Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.

Their feet are swift to shed blood in Their paths are ruin and misery and the way of peace.

They have not known there is no fear of God before their eyes

That's me. That's you and think of your hero.

That's them. That's reality for the human race

Have you taken pause to consider who we are after the

Garden of Eden Who are we after sin? Have you looked in the mirror and thought through these things?

Have you been honest with your own heart and come to the end of yourself and seen the brokenness that's in there

Have you been there? Is there darkness inside there is but listen

So, how does a person who comes to that face in the mirror and sees yourself as you are

Respond when God breaks in and gives grace You see if we know who we are

Then we cannot stop rejoicing If we know who we are and what we've been forgiven of you see knowing the darkness and Understanding the darkness that's in our hearts and in our souls is a great exercise for understanding grace and for rejoicing

Because of what we have been forgiven It's a great exercise for us to consider the darkness because God breaks in and gives us new joy light

Gladness honor Feasting celebration is ours. Has Christ granted you new life?

Then recast let's rejoice Let's live our lives with joy.

And I tell you what this message has spoken to my heart. I And what

I'm not I'm not saying Go out and be happy when bad things happen to you I'm saying there's at a deep and abiding joy that comes from salvation in Christ.

Are you hearing what I'm saying? That carries us through the tough times that carries us through the difficulty

I'm not talking about everything working out fine for you. Everything's gonna be perfect because you're in Christ. That's not the message

As a matter of fact, I know for many of us things got worse when we gave our lives to Christ, right? They got we got attacked more things were tougher for us

We had to say no to things that just came naturally to us before right? I'm talking about a deep abiding joy of rejoicing that Nobody can take my greatest treasure from me

Nobody can take that from me Because it's in Christ. It's new life. That's my number one request for you this week rejoice

Gladness light honor because of what Christ has done for you our God through Jesus Christ has removed the sentence of death that was over us and Has given us new life.

Our sentence was not physical death, right? our sentence was an eternal separation from God and Jesus Christ paid for us on the cross that we can have new life

And in our joy, we ought to go out go out and go about correcting the second thing that strikes me in this text

You see there are a lot of various reasons a person might identify themselves as a Christian or might want to identify themselves as a

Christian As a matter of fact, we see in our text that many wanted to become Jews and what was their motivation?

fear It wasn't love for God. It wasn't delight in who he is or what he has done in essence

They wanted their lives to go well, and they thought becoming a Jew would make their life go better You seeing that?

That's that's what was motivating them And when we think about it that way it begins to sound a lot like a false gospel that if we're not careful we can slide into believing ourselves and then proclaiming to others a

A false gospel that basically says just come to Jesus and everything will improve in your life

And you'll get wealthy and healthy and everything's going to be okay for you Is that the message that we are communicating think about how we live our lives?

And what do we convey with our mouths and with our behavior to others? Just just come to Christ and everything's gonna go fine for you

We're setting some people up for disappointment on that one. I Or another way of kind of thinking through this we have we have it all right, and you need to act like us

Is that sometimes conveyed by the church in America is that sometimes conveyed by Christians?

Absolutely, and it's not healthy or good you see there are a lot of false reasons a person may choose to call themselves

Christian and Some of our ministry in our community and in our neighborhood in our workplace and in our circle of friends

Really ought to look like correcting false assumptions about what it means to be a Christian right

We were dead and we have been raised to new life in Jesus And my question for you is how do our lives and our words convey that to others?

It takes humility doesn't it? To share with others. We're not better than you

It's not what this is about It's not we're better than you because we went to church on Sunday or because we read our Bible or because we pray is that?

The gospel that's no gospel at all. That's bad news Hit people upside the head with that you know

That that's that's abusing them. Okay. The good news is that I'm just like you

I'm cut out of the same cloth and the the things that mess you up mess me up But guess what there is grace and forgiveness and wholeness and completeness and light and joy and gladness available for you, too

And my my hope is that I could just go out and share some of that with others, right? You see

I'm convinced that there's two types of people I like two types of people jokes, but this isn't a joke There are those who really are kind of like zombies

I wanted to work zombies into a sermon somewhere, and I got it right here, so this worked There there are some though really that are like zombies that are walking around acting like they're alive

Acting alive and Then there are those who have been made to live through Jesus Christ made alive

That is our hope there are those who have put their trust in his sacrifice on the cross and he has granted them forgiveness and a new beginning

This week those of you who are in Christ Just simply asking that you turn your mind towards the weight that you've been forgiven and rejoice

Live this week with joy You see we who were dead in our sins have been made alive light gladness joy honor

But if you're here, and you have not asked Jesus Christ to rescue you Why not ask him to make you alive?

today Let's pray Father I am so thankful for your grace

I am so unworthy and undeserving and those things that I read I don't say that flippantly the things that I read out of Romans 3 are true of me and Yet by your grace you have forgiven me you have laid my sins over on Jesus Christ and Exchanged in this mystical mysterious exchange my crud and my mess for his righteousness

I don't deserve that but father I pray that you would move in my heart this week to rejoice and to wake up and let joy be the first thing in my heart and in my mind because of this great salvation that has been brought and then father if there are any here who have

Not given their lives over to you have not recognized the new life that can be had in you I ask that you would be working in their hearts even over these next couple of songs and even over the the next week

To pursue truth about who Jesus Christ is to understand the cross and to understand that great exchange can be theirs as well

Father as we think about that exchange and we come to communion this morning I ask that you would be honored and glorified in this and That we would rejoice even in these next couple of songs that they would lead our hearts to Understand this message and to apply it by rejoicing in you.