The God Who Delivers From Death

Right. Good morning, church. So thankful you’re here this morning. Thank you for spending your Memorial Day weekend with us up here. We really appreciate that we’ve been going through the Book of Esther together, and we are nearing the end of it this week.

And next week we’ll be finishing this book up. And it has been, I believe, very, very helpful, very powerful, very encouraging to us, has certainly been a joy to study. And this week is no different. It’s really providential this morning that we’re going to be talking about what we’re talking about in the Book of Esther as we also, at the same time, celebrate really this Memorial Day. And I want to pause a couple of times in this sermon, certainly, to mention that, because I’m a veteran and I’m very proud of those who went before us to pay the ultimate price so that we could have the freedom to worship in this place.

It costed many lives, and we’re very thankful for those who came before us. And it’s really incredible that on this particular Sunday, we’re going to be dealing with what we’re going to be dealing with here in the Book of Esther. We’ve seen over the last few weeks, we titled this sermon the Hidden Hand of God on purpose. Because in this Book of Esther, God his name is never mentioned, but his attributes and his work is certainly not missing. We’ve seen Queen Esther rise to power and be positioned in the perfect moment to deal with this really wicked plan of a man named Haman, who sought not only to kill Mordecai, but all of the people of God.

And she sought that out last week. And we saw God turn the tables and do something to reverse this terrible thing. But as we come into chapter eight, you might be thinking, isn’t the story over? I mean, last week was kind of the climax. It’s over with.

But there’s a major looming problem that the Book of Esther is still going to cover. A decree has gone out from the king that all of the Jews shall be killed on this particular day in the 12th month, and that decree cannot be revoked. And so that thing still exists. So the enemy, yes, in one sense, has been destroyed, but there is still a death day, a dreaded day on the calendar, and that’s where the Book of Esther is, is going to conclude. And how fortunate it is that at the same moment we’re celebrating our nation, remembering this ultimate price for freedom.

You can pop up this image for us, these kinds of places. This is Normandy cemetery in France. And we’re reminded in these Images of just the idea that death itself is very costly and that it leaves empty seats and grieving hearts. We know that. And we also know that the truth of that picture is true when it comes to this Scripture.

And it’s true, really, as a biblical model, that sacrifice and deliverance often, if not always come together, that there is a pairing, if you will, of sacrifice and deliverance that we see not only in our history, but in the scriptures. And we’re going to see this tension really live here in Esther 8 and 9. We’re going to see that the threat of death is upon God’s people, and yet God is not going to abandon them. Now, I think every person in the room knows what it feels like to have some sort of looming threat, something on the calendar that’s coming. Maybe it’s a troubling diagnosis, maybe it’s a person that you’ve got to try to reconcile with.

There’s an appointment on the calendar to try to have really hard conversation. Maybe it’s something whispering about in your head right now about this fear of financial pressure, some anxiety about your future. What’s next? I don’t know. Maybe it’s a guilt, some guilty thing from your past that just keeps bugging you.

Perhaps it’s death itself. I don’t know. Sometimes it can feel like the enemy, like in this story, Haman’s been defeated, but. But there’s still a looming threat. We kind of feel this.

This is such a beautiful picture, because in Christianity, that’s really true on the cross, the evil one has been defeated, but evil still remains. So we’re living in this kind of looming threat moment, and we all experience that. And when those types of moments come up in your life, it may cause you to question, maybe raise this question, can God still be trusted when there’s a threat on my calendar? And I believe as we read Esther today, that that is a resounding yes, he can be trusted. He better be trusted, because God is faithful to carry us through.

So as we dig in, we’re going to be in Esther 8 and part of 9 today. We’re going to see God deliver his people from death by providentially decreeing a second decree. Instead of revoking the first decree, which would maybe have been easy. That’s not the way that it works here. It’s not the way really God’s economy works.

We’re going to speak to that. But God writes a second decree to overcome their enemies. And God is still. This is a timeless message today. God is still providentially delivering us from death.

And if it’s not an amen now, it’ll be an amen by the time we leave that God is still delivering us from death. So let’s read. I have good news for you. This is a long bite, and I was not sure, so I timed myself earlier in the week to see how well I could read this. It took me seven minutes.

So, good news. We’re going to be all right. All right. I’ve read longer passages. This will be fun.

It’s one clean story. I pray I know you’re going to enjoy it. Here we go. Chapter eight, verse one. On that day, King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews.

And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had 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, if I 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 Hammedatha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. For how. How can I bear to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?

Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, behold, behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he intended to lay hands on. On the Jews. But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews in the name of the king. 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. So he’s told him here something.

He said, the old decree that went out, I cannot revoke it. It was signed by my name and my seal. But write a new one and perhaps the Lord will save. Verse 9. The king’s scribes were Summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, 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 all the way 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 and their language. And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus 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, bred for the royal stud from the royal stud, saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather 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. Now, that might sound extreme, but it’s almost the exact same language of the first decree, and that’s why it’s written this way. Verse 12.

On one day, throughout all the provinces of King ahasuerus, on the 13th day of the 12th month, which is the month of Adar, a copy of what was written was to be issued as a decree in every province, being publicly displayed to all peoples. And the Jews were to be ready on that day to take vengeance on their enemies. So the couriers mounted on swift horses that were used of the king’s service. They 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 of white, with 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, in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews. A feast and a holiday. And as many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, so people started saying, yeah, I’m a Jew.

Everybody’s just claiming it now, for fear of the Jews had fallen on them. Chapter 9. Now, in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s command and edict were about to be carried out, on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, don’t miss this church, the reverse occurred. The Jews gained mastery over those who hated them. The Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm.

And no one could stand against them, for the fear of them had fallen on all peoples. All the officials of the provinces and the satraps and the governors and the royal agents also helped the Jews, for the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them. For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai grew more and more powerful. The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and did as they pleased to all those who hated them. In Susa, the citadel, the Jews killed and destroyed 500 men and also killed.

These are the sons of Haman. Terrible names. Here you go. Parshendatha, Dolphin, Aspatha and Paratha. Adaliah and Aridatha.

Parmashta, Arasai, Arodai and vaiasatha. The ten sons of Haman. The son of Hammedatha. They like that Atha ending. Don’t use that.

The enemy of the Jews. Some of you are having babies. These aren’t good names. Here, there’s better ones. The enemy of the Jews.

But they laid no hand. Don’t miss this. They laid no hand on the plunder. It’s going to repeat that phrase. Verse 11.

That very day, the number of those killed in Susa the citadel was reported to the king. And the king said to Queen Esther, hey, In Susa the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men and also the 10 sons of Haman.

What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now what is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what further is your request? It shall be fulfilled.

And Esther says something surprising here. If it please the king, let the Jews who are in Susa be allowed tomorrow also to do according to today’s edict, and let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows. So the king commanded that this be done. A decree was issued in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hanged. The Jews who were in Susa gathered also on the 14th day of the month of Adar.

And they killed 300 more men in Susa, but they laid no hands on the plunder. Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also gathered to defend their lives and got relief from their enemies and killed 75,000 of those who hated them, but they laid no hands on the plunder. This was on the 13th day of the month of Adar. And on the 14th day they rested and made that day a day of feasting and gladness. But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the 13th and the 14th and rested on the 15th, making that a day of feasting and gladness.

Therefore, the Jews of the villages who live in the rural towns hold the 14th day of the month of Adar as a day of gladness and feasting, a holiday as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another. We did it. God bless the reading of his word. Amen. There’s a lot here to unpack.

I can’t touch every little detail, but I’m going to cover the bulk of it in a way that I believe will move you and stir you. Because there’s something here not just for the people of this day, there’s something here for us. And it’s powerful because God always providentially delivers his people from death. He did it then, he’s doing it now. Here’s the first way in which God delivers his people from death.

By preserving his people from destruction. God preserves his people from destruction. And the way he does this is surprising. Chapter 8 opens up very carefully, telling us, hey, Haman’s dead. But I have bad news.

This death decree still looms out there, and it can’t be revoked. There’s nothing I can do about it. People are going to band together to try to kill your people. They’re going to band together and do it. So God has positioned and empowered Esther and Mordecai here not to be able to revoke the first decree, but to write a new one, to write a new one.

And the new one’s interesting. Now, what we see in the first few verses is the way King Ahasuerus has been acting the whole time. He just kind of goes with the flow. And so now he’s found out, hey, my wife, whom I love, this guy was trying to kill her and her people. So I took him out, and then I gave all his stuff to her.

Very simple. And that signet ring was apparently still on Haman. He pulled it off his hand, put it on Mordecai, and said, now you be the dude. That Haman was being very simple. And I heard that you saved me one time.

It’s really great. We paraded you around town. So now you be second in charge. Haman was that. We’re done with Haman.

Haman, time is over. So Mordecai, you’re in. And so Esther comes back in and says, hey, but we got a big problem. Big problem. My people are still going to eat it.

You know, Haman’s done. Me and Mordecai might be okay, but my whole people are going to be exterminated. And the king tells her something important. In Persian law, you cannot revoke a kingly decree. Can’t be done.

It’s part of their law. But you can write a new one. You can write a new one. This is something I’m excited to talk about here in a few minutes. But this is the way in which God always works when it comes to your salvation.

Follow me for just a moment here. Instead of God coming up, showing up and stepping in and revoking this law, instead they are forced to write a new decree that says, hey, you can defend yourselves. The war is still coming. The battle is still coming. The day is still on the calendar, but you guys can band together and stand up.

Okay, I want you to hear something today. This is the way in which your salvation still works. There’s a first decree that has gone out to all mankind, and it cannot be revoked. That first decree goes something like this. Man is sinful and separate from God.

God is holy. God is just, and he disdains man’s sin. That’s the first decree. Praise God. We’re in this building, we call ourselves the church because we know a second decree went out.

That second decree went out and said, but God has given a gift of salvation in his son, Jesus. I want you to know something. God has not reversed the first decree. The sinfulness of man still looms on the calendar. But there’s been a free gift in Christ Jesus, and God always preserves his people.

People that God has made promises to will obviously remain in the story that God made several promises to this people, greatest of which is a messiah is going to come through your line. So certainly God’s not going to let them get wiped out here. Those of you who like movies and books and stuff, we call this having plot armor. He can’t be removed from the plot. We know.

We’ve seen the second act. We know that such and such is still in the story. So clearly he’s not going to die here. This is what’s true here in the book of Esther. We know the Messiah is coming.

The people will make it. And so they have this promise kept that God would be for them and be with them. Genesis chapter 12 is where the first of these promises occurs. God says to Abram he says, I will bless you. I will bless those who bless you.

And him who dishonors you, I will curse. And here’s the key. In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. I’m going to keep that promise. Therefore, I’ve got to show up and defend you.

So two decrees have gone out, certainly in Esther, but now to us. I want you to hear this today, Church. This is for believers and non believers alike. We both need to hear it. What we need to hear in the room today as believers is that a second decree has come out.

And it makes no sense that we still act and live as a. If we’re under the first decree, we still roll around like some of the most humdrum and disappointed and disturbed people. I’m always confused at how little joy there is on someone who gets to live under the second decree. I want you to hear this plainly today for some of you in the room. You’ve never received it at all.

And you still sit under this first decree, which the Gospels put plainly and the book of Romans puts clearly. It says in Romans, chapter three, verse, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That’s the first decree. And God hasn’t forgotten that many humans, many of mankind, still sit under that truth. We’ve messed up, we’ve made mistakes, and God is perfectly holy.

And the place where he will spend eternity with us is a holy place for holy people. And we don’t get to claim that place until we come under the second decree. Not because we’ve become perfect, no, not even close. But because the one who is holy has taken our place. This is what it says in Romans 6, verse 23.

The wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. You see it the first decree, the sin wages are death. But the second is a free gift of what? Eternal life.

I hope you can hear that today, Church. I hope you can hear that today. I don’t know, maybe your life is a roller coaster. Some days are good, some days are bad. But there ought to be a through line, a stable through line that says, I live under the free gift of salvation in Christ Jesus.

So that no matter what is happening, there’s a straight line running through my life that says, but all is well. Maybe I got a bad diagnosis. Maybe I lost my job. Maybe something bad happened. Maybe something great happens.

Some of us are on mountains and we forget this too. There’s dangers on both sides. The through line should be, I have a free gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus to the one who does not know the Lord. Today I want you to hear humanity sits under an irreversible decree.

I want you to picture it this way. This is a famous picture. I grew up hearing this, but I still think it’s one of the best images that I can imagine is that God, in fact, sits as judge, like judge in a courtroom. He sits behind his holy bench on a holy throne. And as we come in, you and I, not just you, me too, we come in the accused, and we stand before a holy God.

And he looks at us and looks at our mess and rightly slams the gavel and says, guilty. And he’s right. And you know it in your heart. He’s right. But here’s what’s fascinating about the second decree is that he then steps off the throne and comes beside you and puts his arm around you and looks back at the throne and says, paid in full.

We should live as if that were so, because it is.

Yes, we live under a guilty sentence, but we also, at the same time, live under one who has paid it in full. The very decree, the very cost it required, Christ paid. Friend, you and I have come into this life as sinners, and we remain so. But, dear friend, a new decree has gone out. I wonder this.

Which decree do you sit under? Where do you make your defense? The Jews in this day made their defense under the second. We can band together. We can defend ourselves.

I pray today that all of you in the room would walk that through line. Christ is king. Here’s the second way. This is really, I’ll be honest, kind of my favorite point of this whole sermon because it helps me so much. The second way in which God delivers His people from death is that he encourages his people to see stand.

He encourages his people. He gives them courage. I love that God here shows up in a way that he often shows up in my life. Not with miracles, but with courage. Notice in this story, there are no parting seas.

There are no divine pestilences. There’s no sun. Stand still. Moment. There’s no trumpets that knock walls down.

None of that happens. God’s name’s not even mentioned. The only thing we have is this little tidbit that says, miraculously, the reverse occurred. And the Jews gained mastery over them.

They were emboldened in every single way. The people are falling for them. They are honoring them. There has been a great reversal. So God supplies.

Instead of miracles, he supplies simple courage. That’s good news to me today because I have to Admit something, I haven’t seen a whole lot of oceans part. I haven’t seen a whole lot of trumpets knocking walls down. Not that I don’t believe these stories, I certainly do. But in my life it’s often been, hey, you’re going to face this and I’m going to encourage you to do it.

I’m with you. I’m not going to remove it. So often he doesn’t remove it, the obstacle ahead of me. Instead, he encourages me to go through it. So we’ve got this end of chapter eight where Mordecai now has come out in royal robes.

He’s come out in an adorned kind of way. And it seems that the whole text is now trying to tell us, hey, a transition has happened. Haman is out the door and there’s a great love now for the people of God. The king is showing that, is displaying that from the palace. It says in Susa they show shouted and they rejoiced.

Perhaps in Susa they were already aware that Haman guy is kind of wicked. He’s got bad ideas. Maybe that was true. We don’t know. The text doesn’t say.

What we do know is when Mordecai is uplifted, the people rejoiced. And now all throughout the kingdom, the Jews are having gladness and honor. And it’s amazing. But then the wicked, the dreaded day comes. 12th month, 13th day, chapter nine, verse one.

We see this happen, and what we know, at least historically, is that the Jewish population inside of the Persian Empire might have been somewhere around 20%, which is a good amount, but still vastly a minority. And so it’s surprising to hear these words. The Jews gained mastery over their adversaries, those who hated them. The Bible tells us 75,000 of their enemies fail. It brings about kind of a side question that I do want to pause and answer for just a moment.

I’m not saying this is going to be a perfect answer, but it’s an answer I want you to consider because you’re going to hear in your life, or maybe you’ve even thought in your life. Why does it seem like the Old Testament God is extremely violent and the New Testament God is not? Well, it’s partially because you totally misunderstood God for one. God has one characteristic. Well, he has many, but one that is talked about often, and that is that God is unchangeable.

He is unchanging, he’s immutable. The same God of the old is the same God of the new. You’ve just misplaced his wrath and misunderstood it because yes, he has wrath for sin and evil and wickedness in the old. He still does in the new, but it looks different because he pours it all out on one person. God didn’t change the vehicle of reception did.

The Son of God comes and receives all the wrath so that you and I could be free. God’s justice did not change. So he may seem at times in the Old Testament like he’s violent. I love what one writer this is a guy from the Gospel coalition. I think he paints a pretty good picture.

He says this reading the Old Testament through the lens of the cross reveals a God who is anti violent rather than non violent. There’s a big difference. It is not in his nature to destroy, but to redeem. He is not bloodthirsty like the Canaanite gods, but nor will he sit by passively while evil takes over the world. God does not delight in the death of the wicked, but he is not above getting his hands dirty to win back his world.

When he uses force, it is as a last resort, a measured response to restrain wickedness. He destroys only ever with tears in his eyes and with a view to future salvation again and again. What we noticed when we were in the story that sermon series a few weeks ago, we noticed something that kept being said that God said, hey, for 400 years I’m going to allow them to run their course for 400 years. He talks of the, I think the Amalekites. When he gives a promise to Abram, he says, hey, I’m not going to deal with them yet.

I’m going to give them 400 years. Now, just so you know, our Nation is only 250 years old. That is a long patience from God that when God shows up in a way of judgment, he shows up in a very just, timely manner. He has been very patient. He does not let wickedness reign.

So I hope that is something for you to consider. I love this terminology. He’s anti violent, but he’s not non violent.

Notice this scripture kept saying over and over it kept saying they did not lay their hands on the plunder. This is showing us something here that the Jews did exactly as they were led, as God was perhaps commanding them to defend themselves and to survive, but not to be greedy. The goal of this whole endeavor was not for them to be greedy, but to preserve. In fact, it’s a justice. I think we spoke some weeks ago about this terrible failing.

If you go back to the book of First Samuel where King Saul of Israel was supposed to wipe out the people of Agog because God was punishing them. He had restrained that for a long time. We can go back and read that. But now he’s punishing their wickedness. And yet Saul did not do it.

And he kept. He kept the plunder. So he failed there. His kingship, in fact, is taken from him after that season. Now we see the people of God.

It’s like God didn’t forget. God didn’t forget his justice. Took him just a few extra years, a couple hundred, to finally get around to dealing with this. So the people did what they were supposed to do years prior and avoided taking the spoils. So what do we do with this?

Okay, God is just when he’s supposed to be, but in the way in which he cares for us and causes us to stand. It’s not always with miracles. Sometimes it’s merely with his presence. We see in Philippians 4 something that is said often in the Scriptures. It says, therefore, my brothers, whom I love and I long for my joy and my crown, stand.

Stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. That is a constant phrase in the New Testament. Stand firm, hold fast, stand firm in your faith. Though there may be miracles or there may not, you’re called to stand firm. In fact, Paul at one point prays, apparently for some season.

He prays that God would remove some weakness he was experiencing in his life. And God basically says, no, I’m going to leave it. Some of you aren’t ready for that word today. The word where you’re like, there’s no way. God doesn’t want me to have.

He’s got to want me to get rid of this thing. And yet to Paul, he says, no, I’m leaving it. And we don’t know. Scholars think either a it could be a sin area. Some others think it could be an area of physical ailment.

Both could be true. Whatever it is, God responds this way. I pray this feeds you today. 2nd Corinthians 12. My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Paul then says, therefore most gladly, I rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Hey, if it takes me being weak for you to be strong, I’ll be weak all day if that’s what it takes for your glory, for your power to rest on me. And I’m just going to walk in you and not my own strength. That’s the word. So God encourages you to stand firm.

I want to share a war story today, since it’s Memorial Day. I thought this was a good moment right here to share something that God does. I think in our lives, and certainly every hero of our past has done things like this. I want you to picture with me for just a moment. It’s Christmas time, 1944, right in the thick of World War II.

Some of you are like, Ah, World War II story. I just want you to know something. I’m entering that phase of life where it’s either smoking meats or World War II history or. I mean, that’s what men of my age start doing. I think it gets worse, too, from what I’m seeing.

And so I do all of that. Like, I’m finding more hobbies. All. I’m not getting enough laughs right now. And that concerns.

Because some of y’ all are lying right now in your head. You know, you spend. Men. I’m looking at you. You spend strange amounts of time thinking about things that no one else cares about, all right?

And I do the same thing. For me, it’s some kind of random history. So here we are, World War II. One of my favorite things to study. I don’t know why.

I just really like it. Christmas time, 1944, World War II. We’re here dealing with the 96 Infantry Division that we know as the Buffalo Soldiers. They’re in this little town, little Italian town called Samma Colonia, and they’re being overrun by German forces. Christmas, I mean, literally Christmas Day is when this event is taking place.

And there was a man you could pop up this image. His name was First Lieutenant John Robert Fox. And he spent all day directing artillery fire inside this one building with a small cap contingent of the Buffalo Soldiers. Towards the end, they were getting in so close to him that he started calling, fire in so close that the artillery commander questioned him and said, are you sure? I feel like we’re about to drop one on you.

He says, fire it. There’s more of them than there are of us, which is a bold thing. In fact, he did drop one on himself. He dropped one on the building and all those around. And it’s one of these incredible moments where he saved a whole lot of Allied forces by this great sacrifice.

He was later awarded the Medal of Honor, which is the highest award you could receive in American military. In the American military. So it’s an amazing moment of courage, and he’s known for that throughout the rest of his, you know, his history, if you will. And that’s powerful, right? It’s a powerful moment.

I’ll share that moment with you because these moments, and there’s thousands of these, there’s tons of these, these moments of great courage. The reason we love them, the reason we love these stories and books, these real historical stories, the reason we love them is because this is something we enjoy as great favor, that great courage, that sacrificial. I mean, I could go deeper on this, but I think there’s a through line in humanity that we all love the gospel, we just don’t know it. Some of us do, but not all of us do. And there’s a gospel truth that we’re all amazed by and that ordinary people would endure much for the sake of others.

And it always blows our minds. I want you to hear this story because sometimes God does not spare you from entering the day of conflict. In fact, he tells you, charge in to the Jews of this day. He does not say, hey, run, disappear. No, he says, defend yourselves to you today he might be saying, hey, everyone else has abandoned your co workers.

I’ve called you to go in. Everyone else has given up on your older brother. I call you to go in. Everyone else has given up on dear dad, that crazy uncle. You’ve all got a crazy uncle.

Everybody’s given up. It’s in that day that God shows up and says, hey, I want you to enter that day of conflict. The battle may still come, but God strengthens his people to stand in those moments. So today I want to ask you, where do you need that kind of courage? Be in prayer for that.

Get your prayers in alignment with him, because sometimes he doesn’t remove the battle but keeps it. So pray different pray. Okay, God, I see it. Help me to go in. Help me to endure.

Help me to defend. Help me to stand firm. Help me to hold fast for the gospel. If it’s something dangerous in my life, then Lord, help me to suffer. Well, if I’m supposed to be the main voice, the one who stands firm for the gospel in a place where no one else will, some of you work in very, very far from God, places very, I would say evil, but that might be too far.

But people that simply do not serve God, and that’s most of your co workers, some of you are in that kind of field of work.

I would beg you to consider that maybe that’s not an accident, that you’re there for a reason and that God isn’t going to remove the obstacle but is going to help you stand through it. Where’s God calling you to Step out in faith, Stand firm for the gospel. That next birthday party that Next big holiday where your whole family’s gathered together and everybody starts doing the same old, same old goofiness. Are you going to be the guy, the gal that stamps up and says, there’s a better way?

That’s the second. God encourages his people to stand. Here’s the third and final way. And I want to say this to you in a way that I pray will encourage and help you today. That God transforms his people’s sorrow into joy.

And this is experiential. This comes in season. Some of you know very well that God does not always cure the disease. He doesn’t always save the life. He doesn’t always.

But he always transforms sorrow into joy. Sometimes it just takes more time. The 13th day of the 12th month still happens, but God turns it to joy. A few chapters ago, if you were with us in Esther, we were talking about a people that were heading back home in more mourning and in sackcloth, because a day was coming when they would be destroyed and there was nothing they could do about it. Now, as we come to the conclusion of Esther, they have created a new holiday because it’s so good.

Yeah. They had to fight a battle. Yes. They had to defend themselves. It was dangerous.

It was scary. But now there is a holiday on the calendar that they still celebrate today. It’s called the Feast of Purim. They still celebrate this. It’s a lot of eating, I think.

I’ve never celebrated it before. But part of what they do is what they started doing right here. In verse 19, it says they send gifts of food to one another. They still do stuff like that. This happened earlier in March.

We missed it. If we’d have timed this right, boy, we could have hit Purim right at the right time. I wasn’t thinking about it. But next March, feel free to send food to your friends and say, hey, there was that time that God saved his people. Here’s the thing.

We celebrate every single Sunday. We come together because we have a greater Purim to celebrate, and that is that God sacrificed and died for us. So every Sunday we come to celebrate. We ought to eat together every once in a while. That’s what they do here.

He’s turned their sorrow into joy. Sackcloth and ashes have now become tears of joy. And there’s this second day. It says that the Jews were allowed to go again on the 14th and that the sons of Haman were hanged. This seems like massive overkill.

This makes us question what we spoke about earlier. What in the world is going on here? It seems to me that Esther and the people of God are here putting an exclamation point on the truth of this whole story, that God did not abandon his people. And all of those who cursed and were against God have now been dealt with. And Haman and all of his sons have been publicly humiliated.

So now the whole kingdom knows very clearly. The palace, the king, the capitol, they’re for God’s people and not opposed.

I want you to hear something today that God is our comfort, that he turns our tears to joy. Sometimes it’s immediate, sometimes it takes time. I want to read a few passages for you to consider. Jeremiah 31, the prophet writes as they’re heading into exile. By the way, he says, then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry.

I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow. Joel tells us the why, fear not, O Lamb, be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things.

Jesus reminds us of this truth, that some of us are experiencing ups and downs in this life. Sometimes grief, sometimes sorrow. But there will one day be a perfect rejoicing. He tells his disciples that there will be a present rejoicing and then a future one. Here’s what he says.

John 16 this is before the crucifixion. He says to his disciples, so also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you. That was true both then in just a few days, they witnessed the cross. Some of them, many of them ran. They were so terrified they weren’t even there for the the day.

But the news got out that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified. And they’re in mourning, they’re in sorrow. They spent years with him and thought he was the Messiah. And now he’s dead. Three days later, he’s up.

Surprised everybody, and he shows up. And in fact there was much rejoicing. Incredible rejoicing. You’re back. And no one will take that joy from you.

But guess what? Jesus ascends. So this is true both then 2000 years ago, but it’s true again. Here’s why I hope you’ll hear this today. In this life there will be some sorrow, there’ll be some grief.

There’ll be some joy too, but there’ll be a mixture. But I want you to hear the words of Jesus today I will see you again.

Your hearts will rejoice, and this is the part that will be new. No One will take your joy from you. We’re experiencing that in part now, and one day we’ll experience it in full. This is a gloomy way to end, but I feel it’s correct to end this way. This past week, me and my wife went to a funeral of someone that was very dear to her.

I knew him somewhat, but was very dear to her and a person that was very instrumental in her faith walk. I’m thankful for him because she wound up with a pastor, and I’m glad that that worked out. But we went to his funeral. It was one of the biggest funerals I’ve ever seen in my life. He died suddenly, and he had affected so many people.

We think we filled. There was a room at a college in Lewisburg that seated like 1600 people, and it was full. It was incredible. Also one of the longest funerals I’ve ever been to. But that’s okay.

They had a lot of great things to say about him. But I’ve noticed something at Christian funerals. There’s a different air in the room. I’ve pastored. I’ve actually officiated both.

And I can’t tell you how hard it is to officiate a funeral where you’re not sure.

It’s scary, really. How do I comfort? How do I. So the way in which I comfort is I just share the gospel. Because funerals are for the living, not the dead.

They’re for the living. So at this one, we heard all these powerful stories, but the greatest of which is this, that there was a certain kind of air in the room. Everybody could feel it. And if I could call it one thing, I’d call it one word. What do you think the different thing is?

This one word that separates Christian funerals from the rest?

Hope. Hope. Hope is a partial allowance, right? There’s still sorrow, there’s mourning, there’s grief. Someone’s gone, someone you’re going to miss.

But there’s hope. And hope is something way powerful. It’s a partial allowance, I think, for your comfort, that even in that God is turning sorrow into joy, there’s peace and comfort in knowing that person whom I love, that they are hugging Jesus today. This is what allows us to say something that y’ all might think is petty. Y’ all might think it’s unhelpful, but it’s a true statement to say to someone he or she is in a better place today.

And it’s not great comfort at first, but the more you ponder that fact, the more you go, man, not only Can I not wait to see you? I can’t wait to be there with you. Because there’s a better land, a better glory. He is eventually going to transform all people’s sorrow into joy. He’s doing it now, partially.

As we close right now. I want you to consider these facts, that he’s preserved you from destruction not by wiping out the first decree, but by writing a second one. Come under the eternal life, the free gift of Christ Jesus. He has encouraged you and will empower you to stand firm, sometimes with miracles, but many times by simple courage. And then lastly, he is turning sorrow to joy, but it’s compounding.

You’ve got to first come under the defense of the second decree. Otherwise it’s just sorrow upon sorrow. And I don’t mean that as bad news, because we got the good news right here. Believe and walk in him as we honor the sacrifice of fallen soldiers today. I want you to think about this as we leave today.

That every heroic story that we might say today, that you might see on the news today and tomorrow, every single heroic story whispers of a greater story in Christ Jesus. There’s a heart song for all of us that long for the sacrifice of the gospel and that Jesus did not avoid the battlefield of the cross. I’m so thankful that we have a Savior who did not walk out on us when we desperately needed it. That when he faced the cross, yes, he cried tears of blood, yes, he asked the Lord if there’s any other way. But not my will, but yours be done.

And he faced the cross. He did not avoid disaster because he knew what it meant for us. In fact, the Bible says for the joy set before him, he endured the cross. He knew what was on the other side. So let’s be thankful today, believers, you can stand firm because he didn’t walk out, but took the cross.

Let’s pray now together. Heavenly Father, we ask that you would make us courageous where we need to be courageous, with our families, with our workplace, perhaps to face some suffering that’s coming, help us to face it in a way that would lead others to truth, that people would see the way in which we deal with the mountaintops and the valleys and go, wow, there’s something different about you. I want to know what it is. God, you would use our testimony as a powerful vehicle for others. God, we thank you so much that you did not walk away from the cross, but walked right in.

That the battlefield, your main battlefield, the battlefield of life and death, you took it on so that we could forever be free and have eternal life in Christ Jesus. Believers in the room, Lord, we’re so thankful. We could never sing enough or praise enough for what you’ve done. But for you in the room, who’s come in here and you’ve not yet said yes to Jesus, you’ve not professed faith yourself. Today is the day.

Today is the day to say, you know what, Lord, thank you. I want to live for you. Now, if that’s you, my friend, you’ve come today and you’re hearing this great news. Yes, the first decree is true and it’s irrevocable. But God has done something more.

He’s written a second decree in the blood of Jesus Christ. If that’s you, my friend, today, would you pray simply with me? Jesus, I believe today that you died on the cross for my sin. God, I believe you raised Christ Jesus from the dead. I’m thankful today, Lord, that you took on the penalty of my sin.

That first decree you paid in full. I’m thankful. Lord, would you guide me now? Would you lead me according to your purposes and not mine? Help me to know where you would have me go.

Help me to stand firm where you would have me stand. Help me to be a witness to my friends now. Help me to walk in such a way that gives yous glory. God, protect me when youn desire, but in other ways. Help me to defend with courage.

Help me to walk through things that you’ve called me to walk through with grace and with mercy.

Dear friend, welcome to the family of God. We all pray with you. God, guide us, lead us. Help us to stand firm for the gospel. Help that person in here right now that God is clearly calling you to speak up.

Give them courage this week to do so, whether it’s in their families, whether it’s in their workplace. Help them have courage to speak up to that person who’s got a terrible diagnosis or gotten some bad news. Lord. Lord, give them confidence that you are with them. Encourage them to face it with grace and mercy.

God be with us. This week we pray in Jesus name. Amen.