This is the latest development and take up your bed and walk. This is take up your pulpit and walk. I was asking earlier if there was something I could put my Bible and my notes on. And so the pastor said, well, we'll have to move the pulpit. So that was the reason for this rearrangement of furniture. Thank you for your indulgence. Let's pray together. Father, here we stand on holy ground. We honor you in our presence. We honor the Lord Jesus who made entry into your presence possible. We honor the Holy Spirit who has come to endure us and made us one in Christ. We honor your Word and we pray that as it is opened to us, so the Holy Spirit would speak to us through it. You promise that when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide us into all truth and that he will reveal to us the deep things of God. And we ask you to forgive us for our superficiality that we so frequently skate through the Scriptures. We ask you this morning that in Jesus' name you would lead us into the deep things that we may hear your voice in this place that you would shut us in with yourself, that this might be a quiet time, that all else may become meaningless to us as we ask you that all important questions, Lord, what would you have me to do? In grant that as we leave this place, we may know the answer to that question and have some direction and some sense of purpose and your guidance in our lives. We thank you for all your mercy to us and thank you for your provision for all of our needs. We commit this out to you in Jesus' name, oh man. Coming to Candle Presbyterian Church is a little bit like homecoming for Nancy and I. We were here quite frequently, many years ago, when the crisis pregnancy center then becoming the care pregnancy center used to have its meetings here. We used one of the rooms at the back and then we had our annual banquets here and some of you who were older may remember those days and some of you will have heard of them in the Church's history book. We came here, I think it was four or five years ago and you have very graciously asked us back. And so homecoming for us and being long friends and remembering the years that we enjoyed living in Miami is always a pleasure for us and it's never long enough. The best opportunity and experience of all is to come here to minister the Word of God. I know nothing that delights me more, nothing that gives me a greater sense of purpose and nothing in which I sense the pleasure of the Lord more greatly than in the ministry of the Word because we're not just dealing with stories. We're not just dealing with books, but we're dealing with the inspired and inerrant Word of God. I was delighted this morning that we recited the portion of the affirmation that we did for the simple reason that it started out by stating categorically the things that we affirm to be true and so we do. And among those things that we affirm to be true is the fact that I am a six day creationist, not ashamed, amen brother, not ashamed and not hesitant to listen to what others have to say but not drawn in to what they have to say. I think one of the things that we have suffered in the evangelical community in recent years is somehow a need to satisfy what some call the other side. To listen to alternate opinion and therefore to denude our own or to adjust our own so that we fit what they have to say. And then we don't seem to be quite as obscure and just as we were or so separate nor as some say fundamental, though I'm rather proud to be a fundamentalist. But somehow we feel that sense of having to please people, having to yield to the pressures that we receive from those people. And so to stand and affirm those truths that we have this morning is just a grand thing for the body of Christ to do and I hope as you do it that you think very carefully about the things that you're saying. One of my concerns in the church where we worship in Hanando Beach area, it's actually in Brooksville and we're in a congregation of about 500 people and we affirm our faith by means of the Apostles Creed. And one of the things that concerns me is that it's printed in the hymn book so people turn to the hymn book and they get up and they read the Apostles Creed and I wonder if while reading it they're really understanding what it says most Presbyterians ought to have by this time memorized the Apostles Creed. So I'll get you to stand so that you can recite it for me, just kidding. I chose a portion of Scripture this morning that both illustrates something that I hold dear and at the same time contains a rather specific challenge. The book of Esther is as is all Scripture given by inspiration of God, we understand that. And we're not here this morning to discuss whether or not the book of Esther is relevant or true. What we're here this morning to do is to find out what God has to say to us through the book of Esther. It's not everybody's cup of tea. It's not everybody's favorite book and you don't often hear a message from it. It's also been questioned because it has no mention whatsoever of the name of God in it. You say, how can you have so many chapters in the Bible and God's name is not even mentioned. There is within that sense some doubt on the part of some that the book of Esther is really inspired. But the fact remains that God is on every page and he's implicit in every text and thematically flows through the entire book. When I was discussing with your pastor the message for this morning I did say that I wanted to speak about the book of Esther and he said, you want to read the whole thing? It would not be waste of time but we're not going to. But let me tell you what I am going to do. I do believe that the Lord would have me draw your attention not so much to the verse by verse. This is not an exegetical study in the book of Esther. Such would have value, such would take some time and such would be worth doing. And I am much more concerned this morning to discover what principles there are within the book of Esther that arise to the surface. They're the cream as it were that comes to the top but has immediate application to us the members of the body of Christ so that we may find within it not only what is God saying to us in principle through the book of Esther but also what instructions does God have for us by His Spirit. When we look at a thematic or principal interpretation of Scripture we look at the overview rather than the particular. I'll give you an example. In the book of Genesis look at the first chapter and see there how God brings order out of chaos. And you say oh yes I see that that's very interesting and then see how God brings darkness to an end and introduces light and you say yes I think I grasp that. And then you begin to see the other details of creation and because you're a six day creation ist you say I agree with that I believe it I hold it to be truth but then step back and take another look and have a look at the principles. And then remember that wherever chaos occurs God is the God of order and where you see chaos whether you see it in your private life or whether you see it in your church or whether you see it in some other organization to which you belong remember this that God is the God of order. And therefore your chaos cannot be a representation of His involvement or when you see darkness beginning to invade the thought life of the believers when it begins to filter in and you find yourself distracted by the darkness that surrounds you and that is not a difficult thing to do in the city of Miami because this is still a dark place. Nancy and I lived here for 13 years we understand some of it but remember this that when you see darkness that is the antithesis of the nature of God so if it is darkness it is not light. As you step back and look at that opening chapter of Genesis look again at the instructions that the Lord gives and he seems there to be saying that there is such a thing as fruitfulness and there is such a thing as bitterness and bitterness is the antithesis of who God is because he is a very fruitful God. He is a God that is the God of multiplication, advancement, expansion and with that excitement and activity and when you see bitterness and emptiness when there should be sounds of rejoicing and all you hear is silence you know that that is not of God. In that same sense then in stepping back from the scripture and in looking at the principles implicit within it we come to some larger conclusions than just the particulars of the text and thus we come to the story of Esther very briefly. Let me remind you of what it's about. It's about a timing history approximately twice the age of the United States of America so think of how old the United States of America is and then double it and place that before the birth of Christ and you are roughly in the ballpark of the book of Esther so that sort of pegs it for you. And what happens there is the Jews are in Babylon, their in captivity, Persia, a king holding a banquet for 127 satraps, 127 leaders, 127 national men of honor, it was the United Nations of its day and here they are in Shushan or Susa the capital and there they are to celebrate the fact that King called him from the King James version A. Hasueras called him from later versions Xerxes or Arter Xerxes and not everybody is agreeing what is his name but we'll call him Xerxes because it's shorter and easier. That's a little like Xerox only it's Xerxes all right. We're having their party and the king decides that the best thing that he could do would be to parade his queen because the queen was just a very lovely lady and so he sends for her and she is supposed to come and appear it doesn't ask her to dance or anything he just asks her to appear so that everybody could see his pride and joy and she as you know refused to come. She was the forerunner of the women's liberation movement and she decided that she ain't come. Well that's rather embarrassing for a king when the king says come and she said no and he says to his officers, his advisers what am I to do about this? Well in a short word they said fire her but the reason was and there's an interesting logic here if you don't all the other women in the 127 provinces will hear about this and they will say well we can disobey our husbands also so you male chauvinists will know that that's not acceptable so the rule went out to the decree went out from the king to say that all husbands should be heads of their homes now there's a whole another sermon there but I won't go into it. The upshot of this event was the vastly certainly was set aside and the king conducted a search through his units who were his agents and ultimately Esther was crowned queen she had to go through beauty treatments and all sorts of stuff which you've probably read about and she was appointed queen so now there's a new queen in the palace. The decree that the king had sent out has already reached the extremities of the nation and so now things are settled and it looks like that's the end of the story for now but during this time there's a gentleman by the name of Mordechei and Mordechei is the stepfather or foster father I should have said foster father of Esther and his job is to sit at the entrance of the king's palace he becomes privy to a plot a subversive plot to destroy the king and he makes a mental note of that and then he reports it and it's written into the records of the court no big deal but it's there and so time passes Esther is now queen and Mordechei Mordechei is there all the time while Esther is in the palace this is the relationship one night the king can't sleep and so he says bring in the book of chronicles bring in the book of the records and let me listen to some stories of recent events and it was like read the newspaper to me and they did and he discovered that Mordechei had never been honored for saving his life and so in that setting the king realizes that he hasn't honored Mordechei in another meantime however hey man who is equal to the prime minister has stepped into the picture he's come on the stage and he has begun to plot against Mordechei who is a Jew and will not bow down to him so this is like a novel and the various cross-currence of relationships begin to intertwine and in the end what happens is that Mordechei says to Esther do you know that what has happened is that the king has decreed that all the Jews shall be put to death in the month of Ada well the king didn't understand this he didn't realize what it was he said he understood that there was a people that was opposed to him but he didn't understand that they were the Jews be that as it may the story goes on and it becomes discovered that Heyman is the fly in the ointment and so what happens is that Esther says to the king will you come to a banquet with me and bring Heyman with you and they do and then at the banquet he says now my dear half of my kingdom is yours just tell me what you want and she said come again tomorrow and bring Heyman with you so Heyman comes again the next day with the king and at the second banquet it is made clear that Heyman is the reason why the Jews are to be put to death Heyman has built a gallows he's ready to hang Mordechei and Heyman gets hung on the gallows now we must shorten the story it goes on from here a new edict is required the first edict was to tell husbands to be the head of the home the second edict that went out was to tell the Jews that they were to die on the 13th of Adar and the third edict that went out was to tell the Jews that they were not to die the details of the story are interesting even fascinating their kaleidoscopic their full of color there isn't another book in the Bible that is more colorful in the book of Esther but in principle there are some important truths that arise from the text there are some important messages in there and I want to take the time to pass them along to you the first is this the guard is sovereign in the affairs of his people
the guard is omnipotent omnipresent and omniscient and that he is absolutely in control now you and I need to be reminded of that especially in these difficult days the risk will always be that you and I will question what God is doing what's happening around us does it have merit does it have meaning is there sense in it and what we find here in the book of Esther is that God is in control that he's our sovereign lord the if you see how Esther comes out of obscurity into prominence that God is ordering the affairs of the nation see her negotiating for the salvation of her people and see Esther rejoicing in the deliverance of those people see how God is engineering the work of his people you and I are likely to look at circumstance to address circumstance and describe circumstance in a very subjective way if we use the principle that we earlier referred to and that is step back from scripture and look at what the Bible is saying you will discover I am sure that God is larger than circumstance he sees a bigger picture than we do he sees the whole canvas the whole tapestry and weaves into that tapestry every minute incident of life every event every tiny nuance of experience that you and I have because he's our sovereign lord and he's for us so maybe you hit it out day maybe you hit a difficult day maybe you hit a despairing day and then you remember God is my refuge and my strength a very present help in time of trouble
you step back and you see that he is sketching out the picture I was saying to someone just a few days ago that when you're close to the picture all you can see is the little hatch marks and the little squiggles here and there and if you're an artist you're interested in brushwork and things like that but when you step back and you take in the whole scenario you see a different kind of picture because you're beyond brushstroke you're beyond the separate incident but you're into the big picture and you're asking the right questions what is God doing and how may I align myself with him in his work
so the first principle is that God is sovereign and that he has a concern for every one of us the second principle is that when the enemy comes in like a flood the spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against him when the story of Esther looks like it's turning black when darkness is beginning to invade and when Heyman has done his worst and a decree has gone out to tell the Jews that you're going to die and there was not a Jewish person including Esther by the way who would not be included when that happens and when gloom and doom descend then the word of God begins to reveal to us that right at that moment in time is when God steps in and this is what is meant in the text when Morich says to Esther and might it not be that you've come to the kingdom for such a time as this then he makes an interesting statement he says then enlargement and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place if you fail that doesn't mean that I fail so what this says in effect is that when things are difficult if we yield to them God will still perfect his work God will still continue to gather in the last God will save his chosen people he will do it in his time he will do it in his way he will do it and oppositional forces may make it look as if perhaps he won't but he says he will and the Lord Jesus said it best when he says I'll build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it so even when the times are difficult and when the days are dark and when it looks like things are hopeless there is light at the end of the tunnel there is revelation God is breaking forth he's breaking forth in a new way either through us or in spite of us and dear ones let me say this with respect if the church does not do it and somebody else will
I don't know how to go beyond that point I can't think of the whole that the principle here is very plain that God is working his purposes out as year succeeds the year with us or without us but never failing to invite our participation and who knows that you or I might have come to the kingdom for such a time as this so the first principle is that God is sovereign the second principle is that even in the context of wickedness by which we are surrounded the darkness that invades us he's still in control the third principle is that the word of God is in violet his king's ear sees issuing edict he's not a Christian but he's giving us an example of what it means to decrease something God has decreed that his elect shall be saved see what happens in the story using horses or camels or whatever means that their disposal the word goes out from shushan the palace throughout 127 provinces that something is to happen and when the king signs the document it has to go in their language in their script to every man and woman and young person throughout the kingdom and it has to happen right now it has to happen in the quickest possible way how important therefore is it that you or I within the circle in which God has planted us have this same sense of urgency any old time will not do any old occasion will not satisfy any relaxed waiting period will not suffice because the word that has already gone out listen the word that has already gone out is that you are dead in trespasses and sins
men and women and young people are behaving as if everything is copacetic and they are dead in trespasses and sins the end is coming and they are condemned according to the word of God the decree from the king therefore says they are to live the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes do they know that have we told them have they heard us do they understand not just here but also understand have they come to terms with the gospel so by the quickest possible means the word has gone out now I want you to notice of all of the people that came and stood here this morning our missionaries only one man identified himself as being a member of a mission that existed when I lived in Miami that was well-team out all these new organizations all these new names all these new people are people who have responded to the call of God to go and do and be what he would have them go and do and be the multiplicity of organizations is not the issue nor are new techniques the issue know our strategies the issue availability is the issue who's available because whomever is available there is a timeline and we have to meet that timeline and we have to be at it now so the principle that arises is one of urgency not perhaps tomorrow not perhaps next week but now the Church of Jesus Christ of which I am glad to be a minister and a member has done an awful lot of waiting what are you waiting for what event is going to take place that will galvanize you and me into action is there going to be some sort of cataclysmic boom that will suddenly transform us into busy Christians gossiping the gospel getting out the word of God the word of God is quick and powerful and chopper than any so to age sort and you and I have been granted the privilege of using it sharing it translating it proclaiming it making it known whatever phrase you get to use and in the book of Esther what we find is that it is terribly important that before the deadline the Jews get to know that they are no longer under sentence of death the final principle is a principle that relates to this and that is the principle of obedience the principle of the sovereignty of God the principle of his triumph even in the place of wickedness the principle of the veracity of his word and the power of his word and the principle of our obedience to that word I want you to notice something very important right at the end of the book of Esther if we don't turn to it now because of our interest in time let's do that today sometime but here's what happens the scripture says the Jews got the word these horses went as fast as they could these camels went as fast as they could these people ran ran as fast as they could whatever means they had their disposal it was all as fast as they could and then the word was proclaimed to the Jews and the scripture says two things the first it was a great day for the Jew it was a day of rejoicing I went into a village in Nigeria one day and I had never been there before and I was with the Nigerian brother and we had walked a long way to get there and when we came into the village we were accosted by an individual who stopped us and asked us where we were going and what did we want and we said we have come to tell you about Jesus the son of God and he said is he a jarrow a man and we explained who Jesus is and then he said this we've always known who he was but we never knew his name when the Jews heard that they were free there was rejoicing and the scripture says and a good day that's the first thing the second thing in response to obedience was this as to have done her work the word had gone out the Jews had a good day and then it says and many who were not Jews desired to become so because they saw the impact of what we will call gospel among the Jews and they wanted to share in that joy and so dear ones here is the crux of the issue that when our lives are lived in obedience what happens is that not only is there joy among those who are redeemed but there is joy also for those who are yet to be redeemed through the ministry of those who are being redeemed and so these redemptive ripples like a stone tossed into a pool are reaching out and reaching out and one of the things that we tend to be waiting for is the ripple that is not coming because it's our responsibility to create it so why you have a handful of people who are engaged day by day thinking and praying about ministry we have a majority in this congregation and in many others who will come back next Sunday and we'll come back the Sunday afterwards and things will be rather normal
so what are we waiting for what have you been able to identify as the reason why you and I are not actively getting that message out to the Jews not just to the Jews but to the Gentiles to Miami's Gentiles to the work that remains to be done in the city as we have sung this morning greater things are yet to be done that is pray. Father you are our sovereign Lord as we have declared and even in our darker days when the vicissitudes of life wrap themselves around our ankles and we find ourselves almost immobilized you are still the Lord of glory you are still the victor when we doubt the truth of your word we come again to understand that your word is quick and powerful and that it is truth and it is to be made known we also understand that when we are obedient people when we respond to you and when we ask you Lord what would you have me to do and you answer very clearly and point me to my neighbor and to my friends to those with whom I work and those for whom I have a concern those whom I would wish to see come to Christ then forgive us that we do not respond with the alacrity that we should we hear of a waiting world we hear of men and women and young people who do not know you and who are numbered among your elect their names are already written in the Lamb's book of life but the connection has never been made grant to us this day the privilege of being the connectors those who bring truth to those who are lost set us on fire with a zeal and with an enthusiasm that surprises those who are around us and cause them to say these people must know something that we need to know let me give you our things for your word and we thank you for yourself our Lord and our Savior we pray in Jesus' name Amen. Amen I want to thank Will for that excellent word I thank you for being here today and receiving how the Lord has been addiction going down the love of God the Father the grace and mercy of God the Son fellowship and companionship of God the Holy Spirit and live the life I'm in