Esther 9:20-10:3 Licensed to Party

really all that we have left in the in the book of Esther is just kind of the part that wraps things up so if you want to open your Bibles please to Esther chapter 9 we'll be looking at verses 20 all the way through the end of chapter 10 which if you notice chapter 10 is kind of a funny chapter there's only three verses in it so it's a little bit shorter originally

I was thinking we were gonna take two more weeks in Esther and and we're not because it was just it's it's just these wrapping up parts here that are pretty easy to cover in one week but I want to point out again at the start before we come to a worship and song this morning that God has not graced us at all in the book of Esther with his personal appearance his presence has not been there in word in name at all and I and I mentioned this multiple times that just like our lives we often see

God work through our circumstances through the behind -the - scenes things how many of you like I've said many times you can look back on your life and you can see the hand of God working in that thing in the past that maybe in the circumstances when you were actually there walking in it you you didn't know if he was there or not you might have been questioning his presence as have any of you experienced that where you're just kind of like I don't know where you're at and then hindsight's 2020 right you look back and you go oh

I get it now I see you and I think a lot of that is the reason God isn't mentioned in the book of Esther is for that purpose because we actually get to experience the book of Esther like the people who live during that time like Esther felt like Mordecai felt like the king felt they didn't really know how

God was tying into all of these things and yet is it clear when you read the book of Esther that God is present in it that he's working in all of these circumstances these coincidences if you will he is there and he is working and he's not just working but he's working behind the scenes to save his people from a desperate very very desperate situation last week we saw the final deliverance of the

Jews from the edict of Haman that was for their destruction but that deliverance came as what amounted to a really gruesome slaughter of all of those who dared to attack the

Jews we saw 75 ,000 people were slaughtered in the Empire of Persia in our text last week and this week our text explains the holiday celebration that was instituted to remember the deliverance of the

Jews there in Persia a celebration that still goes on today among Jews and the reality is when we think about celebrating things maybe some of you have encountered this but there is a brand of Christianity that is out there that is ultimately elevates and raises us to be somber that says that the ideal of the

Christian life is to kind of have a little bit of a downturn on the edges of your mouth to be serious all the time have any of you encountered that brand of Christianity that is constantly driving you towards seriousness and gravity and weight and that would be fine if that's what

Jesus modeled for us if that's how Jesus acted if that's what he wanted of us but I'm convinced that isn't what he wants you see we serve a

God who has designated times of celebration who has literally encouraged us even in the

Old Testament mandated his people to celebrate he's the one who invented joy did you know this he's the one who invented humor ok so that's ok and for those who come into his kingdom through his son he is leading us to a new earth where there will be no pain there will be no suffering where joy and delight and rest in full peace will be ours forever and ever and ever that's

God that's the God that we serve so hopefully you're already there Esther chapter 9 verse 20 that's page 358 in the

Bible that's in the seat back in front of you so if you take that Bible out it's page 358 easy to find and if you're here with us this morning and you don't own a copy of the

Bible please take that one with you we strongly desire for everybody to have a copy of the Word of God but follow along let's jump in to Esther chapter 9 verses 20 through the end of the book and Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the

Jews who were in the provinces of King Asurus both near and far obliging them to keep the 14th day of the month of Adar and also the 15th day of the same year by year as the day as the days on which the

Jews got relief from their enemies and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday that they should make them days of feasting and gladness days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor so the

Jews accepted what they had started to do and what Mordecai had written to them for Haman the aggregate the son of Hamaditha the enemy of all the

Jews had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast purr that is cast lots to crush and to destroy them but when it came when it came before the king he gave orders in writing that his evil plan that he had devised against the

Jews should return on his own head and that he and his son should be hanged on the gallows therefore they called these days

Purim after the term pur therefore because all of all that is written in this letter and of and of what they had faced in this matter and of what had happened to them the

Jews firmly obligated themselves in their offspring and all who joined them that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation in every clan province and city and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the

Jews nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants then

Queen Esther the daughter of Abihail and Mordecai the Jew gave full written authority confirming this second letter about Purim letters were sent to all the

Jews to all to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Asurus in words of peace and truth that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons as Mordecai the

Jew and Queen Esther obligated them and as they obligated themselves and their offspring with regard to their fasts and their lamenting the command of Queen Esther confirmed these practices of Purim and it was recorded in writing

King Asurus imposed tax on the land and on the coastlands of the sea and all the acts of his power and might and the full account of the high honor of Mordecai to which the king advanced him are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Medea and Persia for Mordecai the

Jew was second in rank to King Asurus and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people let's pray father

I thank you that you are a God who encourages us to celebrate the great things that you have done father you are not a

God who longs for us to have long faces and sour sour demeanor but God you are a

God of joy who has done such amazing and awesome things that there should be a swing in our step this week we have so much to celebrate and even as we think about communion in the various celebrations that you give us and give us and Father's Day and different different days throughout the year to remember different things father

I ask that we would be a people that would constantly be remembering you and that as we sing these songs they would be out of gratitude and remembrance and genuine thought in our mind about the great and awesome gifts that you have given us most importantly salvation through Jesus Christ and it's in his name that we pray amen amen you can be seated thanks a lot to the band for leading us remember that I know we just took a break but you can get it more coffee or doughnuts or juice bathrooms are back here if you need those at any time during the message but our my heart's desire is that we're able to focus on God's Word this week with that open in front of you to Esther chapter 9 the end through chapter 10 there that we read earlier but just keep that open on your lap so that we can kind of reference that as we go through but just to remind you from the get -go

Mordecai who is one of our main characters in our text really it's Mordecai and Esther the book is named after Esther but as I've said scholars kind of bounce back and forth over who is the main character it really is a shared position both

Esther and Mordecai serve greatly in this in this process of the redemption of the

Jews and their salvation from the edict of Haman but Mordecai was a scribe at heart and so we get right right here in verse 20 and Mordecai recorded these things remember he was raised to royalty last week he doesn't have to record anything anymore but he's a scribe at heart so we have him recording stuff and he's recording the events of the deliverance of the

Jews and sending out the details throughout this vast Empire of Persia and talking to them about the results that day now if you think about it if you lived in the outskirts you don't really know what's going on now the people in Susa are getting reports of what's happened all throughout the

Empire in that 75 ,000 were destroyed and that the Jews have basically been delivered and vindicated and all that stuff is going on but Mordecai is actually recording these events and then sending that information out through couriers through the

Persian postal system to get information out to the rest of the Jews that this has happened and he writes a new edict that the

Jews are now obligated to celebrate on the 14th and 15th of Adar every year as the day of deliverance from their enemies an

Independence Day if you will a day of salvation a day where they have been vindicated so to speak and verse 22 is a key to explaining what the nature is of that celebration like what is it that they're celebrating the heart of the holiday is that their sorrow has been turned to gladness and their mourning was turned into celebration or their mourning was turned into a holiday and so they are required to feast and celebrate not too shabby command right like a lot of times our mind gravitate towards God being kind of like the killjoy

I mean or any of you kind of been there at a place in your life where you it's like it just seems like at every turn God has a rule for you

God has a law for you to hedge you in and keep you from having any fun but here we actually have

God mandating a celebration a feast and even a couple of specifics about the celebration are given they are to feast but they are also in the text to give gifts to one another to basically provide meals for each other and in the end to even include make sure and I love it that the edict includes us to make sure that they include the poor in this as well it's a great thing that the poor are included in the celebration so that all might rejoice so that all might celebrate how many of you know that if you're commanded to have a feast and you're having a hard time putting food on the table that could put you under you know some duress right and so you're just a share it's like this big

Jewish celebration where everybody shares with one another and I'm really convinced that every holiday and every celebration has a heart or a core of significance it started with a meaning right it started with a purpose are you are you with me on that there's a core kernel of something to do with our hearts that's engaged in every holiday that we celebrate you know

I just saw some things I didn't put it up here because I saw it on people's Facebook's and it didn't seem to be appropriate to necessarily share somebody's

Facebook on the on the cover here but there were some pictures that were going around around Memorial Day some of you are who are on Facebook maybe saw this but there was one that was really powerful to me it was a picture of a young woman who was laid out on a grave of a soldier and it was obvious that that was her husband and the caption underneath it said lest we think that Memorial Day is a national barbecue did any of you see anything any of those kinds that were kind of going around it was really powerful to me when

I saw that and it reminded me is served a purpose of drawing me back to what's Memorial Day about is about getting together with family and and having a barbecue or is it about remembering those who laid down their lives that we have freedoms you know and how many of our minds turn to those kinds of thoughts about what is this day for versus just kind of doing our thing for the day and so that was powerful to me to think about what's the kernel of Memorial Day of course we can get down to other holidays that we celebrate right

Christmas and Easter where to be quite honest in our culture the heart or the purpose are almost ripped out of those in our in our common culture would you agree with that like the point the meaning of Christmas the point the meaning of Easter now on the on the flip side of that we might celebrate the fact that the heart the core the essence of Halloween has been ripped out right the main purpose of that we do we really celebrate what

Halloween was intended to actually mean in the first place if you do do some research on that on your own if you want to get down to how did that how did that thing start it can be kind of rough but so that's one that's one holiday

I'm kind of glad we don't celebrate the heart of it we we get caught up in the candy and the the trick -or -treating and all that stuff and that's that's a totally different thing but my point in all this is not to tell you what to celebrate or not to celebrate this would be a great time to launch into don't do

Halloween or dude Halloween or whatever that's not the point I'll leave that up to you okay the point is to say that we recognize this concept of having holy days that's where we get the word holiday from a holy day holy is a word that's often misunderstood because it often in our minds we confuse holiness and righteousness so we think holy means righteous or perfect well holy means technically in in Hebrew it means set apart distinct different one of my theology professors said that his mom growing up had a holy pair of scissors and if he was caught cutting something other than cloth with those scissors he was gonna be disciplined okay so he knew that there was a holy set of scissors in his family and he used that isn't as a great illustration that stuck with me of what it means for something to be holy it means set apart and we have days that are set apart like like today a day to honor fathers we have a day set aside to honor mothers some cool stuff in our culture but we know what it means and I would dare say that the majority of our holidays if you think about this the majority of them are set for the purpose of remembering something isn't that really the point the point it and what it really points to is a common flaw in humanity right that we need things to remind us because what is one of our biggest problems forgetfulness so that's why we have holy days that's why we have holidays days set aside to bring our attention to where it needs to be to things that are maybe a little bit more important than other days maybe maybe to set so just to raise them up not that we shouldn't be thinking about the cross of Christ or don't only think about that on Good Friday or on Easter should we be thinking about that throughout the year absolutely should we be honoring fathers throughout the year should we be honoring mother should be remembering those who laid down their lives that we might have freedom throughout the year absolutely but we take and set aside these days with intention and that's what the

Jews were doing here and so it is the purpose of Purim this holiday that they're going to name

Purim that the Jews are to remember the deliverance of the

Jewish race and the Jews accepted it says in the text Mordecai's command to carry out what they had already begun it's possible that he writes this a couple years down the road and they've already started institute this and he's just basically saying let's let's make this official let's get this done there's nothing like ruining a good celebration by making it required not really because I mean if we really think about how many of you how many of you reject and kind of bulk at the notion of having some time off around Christmas we actually like that don't we

I mean that there's kind of some good things there so we don't really we don't really resist some rules are good right we like them like if somebody tells you you have to celebrate okay cool verses 24 through 26 explain the reasons why the new really for the name of the celebration is

Purim and what we get in verses 24 through 25 is a very brief summary of the entire book and it's very brief it's only two verses and it is so simplified that if you read it it may sound inaccurate because we know a lot more detail than what's given in these two verses and not only that but if you look down at verses 24 and 25 it's gonna give the king particular verse 25 gives the king a lot more credit than he deserves like this is what it says about King Xerxes but when it came time before when it came before the edict came before the king he gave orders orders in writing that this evil plan that he had devised

Haman had devised against the Jews should return on his own head and that he and his son should be hanged on the gallows is that how it went down those of you who have been here through the book of Esther was the king really that involved was he that direct and wasn't he kind of implicated in this didn't he sign

Haman's edict into law basically gave him the signet ring and let him have free reign so does anybody kind of struggle with this this kind of like what's going what's going on here why so much credit so it basically goes through and Haman it says

Haman plotted to destroy the Jews and he cast a lot to determine the day on which they were to be crushed and destroyed but the king here if you think about this it was very common in ancient documents to boost the king's involvement in writing but think about this if you live under a king a tyrant if you will you're gonna make him look as good as you can as a scribe right does that that kind of preserves your life and keeps you going a little bit so it was very common for ancient documents to do that and it's likely that what we're seeing in verses 24 to 25 are taken as quotations from the actual document that went throughout

Persia and so it's wise that Mordecai gives the king credit for those things he that the king actually had a much more passive role in are you getting that does that make sense so why is the king elevated to such a level in these two verses because in reality and by the way if you if you read it just directly nothing that Mordecai says in there is false he had he had been given the signet ring with the power of the king and what he said the king said right and so when he issued these edicts when when

Mordecai issued the counter edict to Haman's was the king involved in that technically yes he used his signet ring the king signed that document if you will and so it was pretty clear but the name of the celebration

Purim is given in verse 26 and it's a Persian word for lots now the singular is per and the the the plural is

Purim and it's really kind of like the word for dice now the way that lots were cast are maybe a little bit different and some of you have heard me explain this before but bear with me a clay jar with some some some rocks or some stones with engraved words in them like if you were trying to figure out what month of the year and you were trying to seek the gods direction for what month of the year they wanted you to do something you would put in a 12 little clay stones flat little tablets with the name of each month in the jar you would swirl the jar around until the first one flew out the first one to fly out is the one that the gods have chosen that's what it meant to cast lots now

I'll use the word dice just because that's what we use that's what we would use kind of in our culture like as a chance cube or something like that but when it really comes down to it that's the way that lots worked so I was the first one to swirl out a jar was the one that was selected so you'll hear phrases like in the

Proverbs where I'll talk about the lot being cast in the lap well it's the first one to come out and land on your lap that's the one that is going to be used does that make sense you guys are kind of getting that that's what it meant to cast lots and so I think the

Jews had a pretty good sense of humor in the way that they named this this holiday with all its twists and turns really the book itself clearly highlights that God is in control of even the mundane things of life to get his will done even things like the casting of lots he's in charge of somebody once said a coincidence is a miracle in which

God wishes to remain anonymous you're taking notes and you want to write that down that's not original to me but a coincidence is a miracle in which

God wishes to remain anonymous and the name Purim highlights that God is in control even of the role of the dice they could have named the celebration

Providence a little bit more of a religious sounding word but they and it would have really meant the same thing but instead they humorously named it dice because this was the instrument that decided their day of deliverance ironically the day that Haman thought was going to be the day of their destruction became and with the tables were turned and it became the day of their deliverance and I cannot help but include a quote from Proverbs 1633 you taking notes you can jot that reference down you don't need to turn over there it's short but Proverbs 1633 says the lot is cast into the lap but it's every decision is from the

Lord I think that probably the Jews had that kind of in mind when they're when they're calling the celebration

Purim they're kind of thinking God's in charge of this thing God's the one who is doing this now verses 27 to 28 poured on thick it just kind of gets repetitive that the

Jews are to never neglect this celebration they are to constantly keep it year after year so listen to some of these terms some of the phrases that you hear in these two verses they firmly obligated themselves they firmly obligated their offspring they are to keep it without fail they are to keep it every year there to keep it in every generation in every clan in every province they are to never cease are you getting the point

I mean this is just really really poured on thick that they are to just make sure that they keep this and sustain this and why pour it on so thick because forgetfulness is our greatest problem it's one of my greatest failures and I'm sure in all honesty if you're if you're honest with me it's one of your greatest failures too that you can leave this place and go out from this

Sunday and forget God throughout the rest of the week and then oh wait it's Sunday I got to get back to church and get my

God fix and then for like an hour you're here and you're engaged and then we go off and kind of tank for the rest of anybody relate to that I'm telling you honestly that's that's something

I can easily do as a matter of fact I've said this kind of jokingly tongue -in -cheek but I genuinely mean it in one sense

I think that God calls some people to be pastors because you know as we would tank worse throughout the week so he wants to make sure we have to stay in the word throughout the rest of the week so that we're actually engaging it and and wrestling with it isn't that right

Kyle no no isn't that right Kyle yeah see okay thanks thank you for that we'll talk later so I'm convinced that they pour it on thick because not only do we forget but we also have a tendency to slide away from traditions but I mean it depends on your personality right like how many of you would say you're a you tend towards being a traditional individual you like traditions you like routine you like kind of a handful of you how many would say no way

I am NOT a traditional person I just kind of like to just go with the flow and I'm not those things are so rigid and I would kind of lean towards that second one and I noticed my wife raised her hand during the first she's a lot more traditional and I'm not so it's kind of kind of we balance each other out with that and I'm sure you can see that in some of your relationships as well but that tendency to forget these things you see when

God blesses me I'm excited and I'm enthusiastic and some of you can think back to when you first came to faith in Christ and everything was new and fresh and enthusiastic and exciting and wow this is amazing and then what happens over time is that fire kind of tends to get a little bit colder and it starts to kind of flicker a little bit and over time we can become less and less enthusiastic and less and less excited about these things and the wears off and we tend to forget

God throughout our day and until we need him for something right until something comes up and we need some help but forgetfulness

I believe is the biggest hindrance to my relationship with God how many of you sitting out here can think of something amazing and joyful that God has done for you raise your hand if you can think of something amazing that God has done how many of you would admit that you struggle to remember that thing that caused you to just raise your hand when your alarm goes off on Monday morning or when your car won't start or worse yet when your boss calls you into the office and says you're just not needed around here anymore when the medical test comes back better when some of these serious grave things happen do we remember the blessings that God has given us in those times think it's hard we so quickly forget the past goodness of God I stub my toe and every good thing that God has ever done for me is gone for five minutes you know what

I'm saying so to wrap up our tour through the text Esther confirms this new edict with a follow -up letter to the

Jews giving her royal stamp of approval on the celebration we're basically seeing two letters that are going to go out one from Mordecai and then one from Esther and so Mordecai bound them to the celebration obligated them to it

Esther confirmed it and then in turn again the people are said to have obligated themselves to it and it was put down in writing for them and now we're gonna find that these things by the way

I didn't put this in my notes but as I was reading it I was like I didn't even hit on this at the end of verse 31 and I just want to comment on it real quick it says with regard to their fast and their lamenting what commentaries see there is this this notion like at first I was like well is part of Purim part of the celebration to fast and to lament like did you read that and kind of get a little confused with that when you see that in there these days of Purim verse 31 go ahead and follow along as I read it that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons as Mordecai the

Jew and Queen Esther obligated them and as they obligated themselves in their offspring with regard to their fasts and lamenting that phrase with regard is along the same lines as or like so in other words the

Jews had fasts and lamenting that were part of their holidays that was they did that throughout the year there were times when they fasted there were times when they naturally lamented there were so they are supposed to celebrate with the same type of enthusiasm that they would celebrate a fast or a morning in other words

God God is ultimately saying in this that there are sometimes for there are sometimes for sobriety for seriousness for just taking things grave right is there time for that in our lives but there are equally times to just rejoice and celebrate with our whole hearts and be fully engaged in it and that's what he's getting at there at the end of verse 31 so that was a little side note but I noticed that I didn't address that in my in my message and I think that some people could be questioning that or thinking through that but as we're wrapping this up there's this role

Esther basically gives her royal stamp of approval and it's all put down in writing which was very very important in Persian culture if it's in writing it's it's it's done and now things go back to normal and how do we know that things go back to normal look down at verse 1 the king imposes new taxes and nothing says business back to normal quite like taxation okay so we know

I mean that's like in one phrase there we know that things are getting back to normal in Persia because he's taxing people the book began with the king of Persia and it ends with him but it ends with a little bit more ends with his relationship to Mordecai the

Jew now we have not uncovered this book that's mentioned here by title there's a book mentioned here the book of the

Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia we have not uncovered that but I would anticipate that if and when we find it we'll find

Mordecai's name in it a lot but I actually find it possible and I didn't hear this is kind of with me but I find it possible that it would have it may have been a source that was used in the writing of Esther it's possible that that book was available to the person who actually sat down and penned this book that we're reading and I think that would in in part account for its secular approach to the fact that it doesn't mention

God but it's taking significant significant quotes from this other book that would have recorded a lot of these similar and same events that's that's all speculation that's neither here nor there though verse 3 wraps up the entire book by highlighting the great power of Mordecai as second to only the king in Persia he was very powerful among the

Jews very popular it says in the text he sought the what sought their welfare and spoke words of peace to his people

Mordecai and Esther had both been used in their generation to do amazing and awesome things but if ever there is a book that highlights that you do not need to be extraordinary to be used by God it is this book

Esther was an orphan raised by her cousin

Mordecai was a scribe in the Kingsgate middle class in that culture where there wasn't much middle class but most concerned for the care of his adopted daughter

Esther but God brought about the salvation of his people through the amazing twists and turns of everyday mundane life in Persia in the life of Esther and Mordecai pretty common people in that culture and raised up for amazing things by God's choosing we're

Esther and Mordecai faithful yeah but if we end there we've really settled for less than the deepest point in the book of Esther God is capable of working in human history to preserve his people the wicked plans of evil people cannot thwart the promises of our great and faithful God and that is the point

God is getting things done and really that is worth celebrating but God's preservation of his promise is not limited to the

Old Testament about 5 ,000 years after the events of the book of Esther God would make good on his promise this promise that's being preserved through Mordecai and Esther that promise that one would be raised up who would save people from their sins and be a blessing to all people not just the

Jews but the new covenant spreads out across this world to people from all races to people from all ethnicities to people from all countries and languages and it's an awesome thing that this gospel there's good news that a

Messiah has come and has paid the price for us and so God made true made true on that promise 500 years after the events of Esther he promised to bring him a sign to the world and he promised that that Messiah would be born of a virgin in a small town in Bethlehem and he came and another man like Haman at that time of the birth of Jesus Christ would seek to thwart the promises of God would seek to snuff out that promise once again

Herod the Great would issue an edict an edict that all of the children in Bethlehem under two years of age were to be killed a horrible horrible thing but God preserved his son through an angel telling his father to move to Egypt later

Satan himself would seek to sideline Jesus by tempting him to take shortcuts but Jesus did the power of the

Spirit resisted with the Word of God keeping the plan on track and in the end the

Jews themselves themselves who were disillusioned by the meekness of the Messiah they thought

Jesus would come and be a great and grand military leader and when he proved himself to be meek and not only meek but actually when he was most when it when he spoke with the most anger it was against their religiosity that put them off and so they had him put to death by the

Romans but the father was bringing about redemption through what others meant to be defeat

God once again turning the tables just like he did in the book of Esther once again preserving his plans once again preserving his promise and our redemption was brought about by the promise of God and he did not just promise it but he carried it forward he is the one who has done it faithfully working through human history if the

Jews were called to celebrate their deliverance from Haman's plans how much more should we celebrate the deliverance we have experienced through Jesus Christ not experienced just merely a deliverance from physical death and we need to be a people who learn to celebrate of course the challenge will always be to celebrate the right things right not something we struggle with is we have a nasty tendency to slide off into opposite ends of the table when it comes to celebration either we forget the reason we celebrate this thing over and over again and it just becomes a ritual routine with very little meaning and sometimes we even forsake it altogether or the opposite we still forget the original meaning which is our tendency to begin with but we infuse it with new meaning it was never intended to have so we celebrate giving gifts to each other at Christmas forgetting the main point is that we received a gift at Christmastime the world received the greatest gift that has ever been given

Jesus Christ in flesh but there's one celebration that Jesus himself instituted for the purpose of remembering his sacrifice and it seemed like a nice segue as we end the book of Esther talking about celebrations of deliverance that I would take next week to go into a sermon on what communion is so I don't want to steal my own thunder here this morning you see we've been told that as often as we get together we are to participate in a ritual that runs the risk of just being some actions without our heart engaged in it so this morning we're gonna pass out a little cracker and a cute little cup of juice and it's not because we are thinking you might be thirsty or that boy at this point it might be nice and probably some of you are thinking about lunch and it might be nice to just get a little cracker in you that is not the point the heart of this is that we were on the verge of eternal condemnation we were standing on the brink and just a loose pebble was gonna push us over into eternal punishment and Jesus has come to save us to rescue us from what was for sure going to happen to us we were dedicated for destruction like the

Jews the edict was against us and it was written against us that all who are sinners all who have sinned and broken

God's laws are condemned to eternal separation from God that's all of us raise your hand if that's true of you you were you were bound at one point in your life for hell

I'll say the word there are many pastors who won't but we were bound for hell for eternal separation from God the horrible thought but then

Jesus came to the cross and paid the penalty for our sins so that anyone anyone regardless of what you have done regardless of who you have acted like regardless of who you have hurt that anyone who places their trust in him for salvation may have eternal life on a new earth with him forever and ever and ever in peace and we think that's worth remembering as often as we gather together that is our common ground when we gather together that is what draws us together so if you're here and you've asked

Jesus Christ to save you from your sins I encourage you to please join together in remembering the great victory of Jesus that he brought for us on the cross when you take the cup remember his blood that was shed for you when you take and eat that cracker it is a remembrance that his body was offered up in your place where our body deserved to suffer his took that for us you see in our text throughout the book of Esther the

Jews have celebrated the deliverance from physical death how much more than should we now celebrate the amazing victory of Jesus Christ over sin and the eternal punishment that we all deserve let's pray father

I am in awe I've had an opportunity to speak about things this morning that that are amazing

I don't deserve your salvation I don't deserve to be redeemed and yet you have bought me back by the blood of Jesus Christ father

I see this story of Esther unfolding and I see just a glimpse a picture of what you have done in your new covenant of making the twist and turns in such a way that everything has been moved on its head in it that the son your son takes the punishment that we deserve what an amazing twist your awesome grace and your mercy is unfathomable and so father as we come to this communion