Transcript

Good morning, church. How are y' all doing this morning? Good, good, very good. My name is Mike Laramie. If you've not met me, I'm part of the preaching team here at Eastgate Church.

And Pastor Gary is out supporting one of the churches that we mentioned a couple weeks ago, Livingstone Church. He's over there encouraging them and attending there to give them some help and feedback and just encouragement because they are where we were probably about 25 years ago. They're portable and packing up and, you know, meeting in schools and doing that kind of thing. So he's there, help them out this morning. So you are stuck with me today, but I am so psyched to be here because we're in part five of our six part sermon series called the Hidden Hand of God.

It's a story, the story of Esther. So we've been preaching through Esther and I tell you what, the response to this book has been phenomenal. We've got, and just as an aside, in our Rocky Mountain campus, we have had people being saved every single week that we preach through Esther. That's phenomenal. God is doing great things.

This is, again, this is exciting. So in previous chapters though, we've seen in Esther that even though God is not specifically mentioned, the name of God's not in it. He's not missing. His fingerprint is. Throughout the book, God positions Esther as queen for a purpose that she did not really understand.

We see this crisis unfold through last week, especially with Haman's hatred of Mordecai being so great that it turned into this genocide decree against all of the Jewish people in the Persian Empire. Now, faced with fear and uncertainty, Esther chose courage. She called for prayer and for stepping forward in faith. Then God turns the tables on Haman's wicked plans. And Haman himself was destroyed by his own gallows.

So that's the. You know, previously in Esther. Right, that's your. Catching you up to where we are. So now we're in Esther, chapter eight and nine, and the enemy, Haman, is dead.

But the danger's not. The decree that Haman wrote still stands. And across the Persian Empire, the people of God are living with the shadow of this appointed day of death that's coming for them. It's hanging over them now. Providentially, we gather today on a Memorial Day weekend.

This is a time when our nation remembers those who paid the ultimate price so that we could live in freedom. You know, as we look upon this image of Normandy cemetery, we're reminded that death is not an abstract idea. It's costly, it's painful, it leaves empty seats and grieving hearts. Yet we also recognize that sacrifice and deliverance often stand side by side. See, that tension exists here in this passage in Esther 8 and 9.

It forces us to look both at the threat of death against God's people and the judgment that falls on those who sought their ruin. And above it all stands a faithful God who refuses to abandon his covenant people. Now every person in this room, everyone within the sound of my voice, knows what it feels like to live under the shadow of something threatening us. Us. Maybe it's not a royal decree like Haman's, but something hangs over your life and maybe keeps whispering fear into your heart.

Maybe it's an uncertain medical diagnosis, a broken relationship, financial pressure, anxiety about the future. Perhaps. Maybe guilt from the past, even the reality that death itself is coming for us all someday. Sometimes the enemy may be defeated, but the effects of that battle are going to still linger on. Can God still be trusted when the threat is still on the calendar?

See, the text is going to answer that question with a resounding yes. It shows us that our God is not only powerful enough to expose the enemy, but he is faithful enough to carry his people all the way through the danger. In Esther 8 and 9, the author describes how God providentially delivers his people from death by positioning his servants to issue a new decree that enabled the Jews to overcome their enemies and survive Haman's irrevocable edict. We can see how God continues to deliver us from death by issuing a new decree and overcoming our enemies. How does God providentially deliver us from this death?

Well, the text is going to give us three ways that God providentially delivers us from death. Now, there's a lot of reading today. We're going to read straight through it, but the story continuously reads, so bear with me. It's going to take a little bit. We're going to read Esther chapter eight and nine, most of chapter nine that is, starting in 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 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 sat Mordecai over the house of Haman. Now 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 Aggregate. 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. And she said, now listen to all the qualifiers here.

And she said, if it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the king seems right, if this thing seems right before the king, and if I am pleasing to the eyes. Wow, she's really working it right. 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 were in all the provinces of the king. For 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, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he intended to lay hands on the Jews. But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews in the name of the king and seal it with the king's ring. For an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked. The king's scribes were summoned at that time in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the 23rd day. And an edict was written according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces to each province in his own script and to each people in his 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 set the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that are used in the king's service, bred from 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. And 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 decree in every province, being publicly displayed to all peoples. And the Jews were ready on that day to take vengeance on their enemies. So the couriers, mounted on their swift horses that were used in the king's service, rode out hurriedly, urged by the king's command.

And the decree was issued in Susa, the citadel. Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown, and the robe of fine linen and purple. And the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor. And in every province and in every city, wherever the king's command and his edict reached the there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday.

And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for fear of the Jews had fallen on them. 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, 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 the peoples, all the officials of the provinces, and the satraps and the governors and the royal agents who 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 those who hated them. In Susa, the citadel itself, the Jews killed and destroyed 500 men, and also killed Parshendatha and Dalphon and Aspartha and Poratha and Adalia and Aradatha and Parmashta and Arasai and Arodai and and Vyzatha, the ten sons of Haman, the son of Hammedatha. Now, for those of you who are going to read this this week in small group, just read quickly.

They don't know how it's pronounced either. All right. The son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they laid no hand on the plunder. That very day, the number of those killed in Susa, the citadel, was reported to the king. And the king said to Queen Esther, 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 said, if it please the king, let the Jews who are in Susa be allowed tomorrow also to do according to this day's edict, and let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows.

So the king commanded this to 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 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 of feasting and gladness. But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the 13th day and on the 14th and rested on the 15th day, making that a day of fasting 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 for gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another. May God bless the reading of his word.

Amen. So we're looking for three ways that God can providentially deliver his people from death. And here's the first one. God preserves his people from destruction. God preserves his people from destruction.

So we start out here in chapter eight, and we see that there's a reminder that although Haman's dead, as I said, the death decree he wrote is still there. Okay, so that's still in force. And so God positions and empowers Esther and Mordecai to write a new decree, a new life decree. So Haman's decree is one of death, Mordecai. And Esther's decree is going to be one of life.

See, the king had had Haman executed because he had plotted against the queen. Although Haman didn't really realize he was plotting against the queen, he hated Mordecai, and therefore he hated the Jews. He didn't realize that the queen was Jewish. Now all of a sudden, his plot is a plot against the queen herself, very close to the king. And now because of that, the king intercedes and allows Haman to be killed and hung on his own gallows.

And he gives that wealth of Haman to the house of Esther. And Mordecai gets set over that. Now the king takes off the signet ring, right? That signet ring signified power. It is the original ring of power.

Those Lord of the Rings fans, right? This is the ring of power, really, because Haman was the number two guy in all of Persia, and he was able to write this decree that allowed all of these Jews to be murdered. That was immense power. And then the king takes it from the dead Haman and gives it to Mordecai. Now Mordecai is elevated to be that number two man.

He is now in that position of power. Now we look and we see. I made light a little bit of how Esther really qualified. You know, hey, if I've seen favor in your eyes. And she begs the king to revoke the decree, right?

Hey. Because her people are still in danger. She appeals to the king, and what does the king say? Hey, I'm sorry, but this is an insight into Persian law. That's an edict that was signed by my signet ring.

That's gonna happen. Okay? So, but here's what you can do. You guys can write an edict as well, huh? Well, that's an interesting thing.

I can't revoke it. Okay, so you can't repeal the law, but you can write another one on top of it. So now there's an issue. Then. How does Mordecai, how does Esther come up with a plan to counteract Haman's decree that's going to kill everybody?

Well, we see that in verse nine. We're in the third month, if you remember, Haman's decree is going to happen in the 12th month, on the 13th day. We're in the third month. So we're about nine months, eight to nine months or so away from when this is going to happen. Okay, so Mordecai's got some time.

Now, we also remember from previous messages that in Persia, along the royal road, horses were stationed so that the king could send out messages out to his far flung precincts. Okay? And even from Susa to Sardis, which Sardis is in modern day Turkey, in western Turkey, from. From Susa in Persia all the way to western Turkey, about 1500-1700 miles. It would only take a week or two, okay?

Which isn't bad. Now, it's not our time of instantaneous communication. You know, I can text my daughter in London, and she gets it right away. And she can call me, we can talk, you know, I can talk across the world, right? But we can't do that in ancient Persia.

But we've got the modern or the equivalent of the pony express, okay? So they can get that stuff going fairly quickly. So Mordecai is thinking about this, okay, I can get a message out to all the provinces in a couple weeks. So let me write this. Well, and so he writes an edict as well.

And at first it sounds like what I would have written, okay, in verses 10 and 11, I'm going to allow the Jews to defend themselves. Okay, well, that makes sense. Okay, that makes sense. But then one of the first troubling passages comes up in verse 11. It says that we're going to allow the Jews to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate the people that were going to be against them.

Wow, that sounds a bit violent, doesn't it? Sounds. Why not just write, hey, Jews, you guys can defend yourselves? Well, if we think back to the original decree of Haman, that's what Haman said. He said to the people, against the Jews, you are to kill, to destroy, and to annihilate.

And so when Mordecai writes it, he uses the exact same language that Haman uses to have the same weight and the same power as an edict. Now, at this time, about 500 years before Jesus, there's about 20 million Jews in the Persian Empire. They're almost 20% of the population. This is a big deal. Okay, now let's think about this.

Put yourself in the position of, you're one of those governors, you're one of those satraps of one of those 127 provinces, is whatever we're in the province of Wilson or whatever it is, okay? And we've got, you know, Maybe we got 4 million people that live here. Maybe 500,000 are Jews. You get this. You get this proclamation from Haman, and it says, okay, you have to kill all the Jews.

Now you've got nine months to figure it out, or 10 months, or whatever, however long it took for that message to get there. Now you got. You got some work to do. I got to figure out who they are. I got to figure out how I'm going to do this.

I'm going to start organizing all this stuff. And now a couple weeks later, maybe a month, here comes another edict, okay? And this other edict shows up and it says, oh, wait, wait, wait, those Jews, you all can defend yourself. And matter of fact, you can do exactly the same as what the first edict says. Hmm.

Is the king allowing this big red on blue civil war to happen within his empire? Is that what's really going on? Well, see, think about this as well. Those couriers that are bringing the message, they. They're not just bringing a letter in the language of that province.

They're also talking. They're also telling, hey, this is the news of what's happened in Susa. You know what just happened? Haman was killed. Haman was hung up by order of the king on his own gallows.

So what do you think the governor is thinking about these two edicts? He's got one that's written by Haman, who's now discredited and killed. And now the second one is written by Mordecai, who's now in the second in command of the whole Persian Empire. Basically the king saying, hey, I'm for the Jews, I'm for Mordecai and his people. Yeah, this first, I can't revoke this one.

But which one? If you're a governor, are you probably going to put a little more effort into. Yeah, okay, so it makes a little bit more sense now. Okay, so, yeah, now, okay, I was organizing all these forces to kill all these people. Now, you know what?

I'm not going to do that anymore. I'm going to let them defend themselves. And I'm not going to enforce that first edict because I'm going to let the second one happen. Now let's think about this too. Remember, throughout the Bible, this is late in the Old Testament period, this is about 500 years before Jesus.

So most, if not all of the prophets of the Old Testament have already spoken, okay? Especially the early prophecies for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And remember that most of those promises were promises to, to be a blessing to the world through the Jewish people. There are promises to the Jews that they could be a blessing to the rest of the world. And if the Jews all die in the Persian empire, if 20 million of them are wiped out, those promises are gonna die with them.

But God preserves his people because God always keeps his promises. God keeps his promises. Look at Genesis 12:3. It says, I will bless those who bless you. And him who dishonors you, I will curse.

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. That's a promise to Abraham. We can't do that if Abraham's family is wiped out. So God is going to providentially keep his people. More importantly, this passage also points to a larger point.

See, God has made a just decree about us. He's made a just decree about man's sin that cannot be undone, but he writes a new one on top of it to save mankind. Think of Romans 3:23, which says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That's you, that's me, that's all of us. We have all sinned.

We continue to sin. We are sinners by nature and choice. That's who we are. And the beginning of Romans 6:23 says, the wages of that sin is death. That's that first decree.

That's like a Haman decree. We are all under that first decree, okay? We're under that decree of death because of the sin that we. That we commit and we continue to commit. But God writes a second decree in the second part of that verse.

In Romans 6:23, it says, for the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So God writes two decrees that are both enforced, but the second one overpowers the first, just like Haman and Mordecai's decree. See, humanity stands under this irreversible sentence of sin. God doesn't simply pretend that justice never existed. Instead, through Jesus, he issues a greater word of salvation.

He satisfies that justice while delivering his people. Picture this. God is sitting up there as a judge. He sits behind his great and his holy bench. And when you and I approach him, we're the accused, and we stand before him, and the gavel comes down guilty.

And he's right. He's right. But then he steps down and he says, paid in full. He does it. Both.

Both decrees are valid. Paid in full. Friend, you and I have come into this life as sinners, and we remain that way. The death decree, like that of Haman, is upon us and on our case. And that's just.

That's right. But, friend, a new decree has also gone out. That son of God has died the death that was prescribed for me, for you, by that first decree. And whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Which decree do you sit under?

You sit under the decree of death, or do you sit under that decree of eternal life? Have you made your defense under that second one? Here's a second way that God providentially delivers his people from death. The second way is this. God encourages his people to stand.

God encourages his people to stand. So here in chapter 8, verse 15, we see kind of a weird scene, okay? As soon as Mordecai writes out his decree, and it starts to go out. He appears in the capital city of Susa wearing blue and purple and a crown, and he's out there exposing himself to all the people. And what are the people's response?

They cheer him. Hey, there's Mordecai, you know, and he's out there basically taking a victory lap. Weird. Okay. Because the deliverance hasn't happened yet.

The day is still almost nine months away, but Mordecai's out there going, we won. This is it. We are the champions. He's doing the queen thing. We are the champions.

Yeah, he's out there taking a victory lap. Right. Weird. Why is he doing that? Well, the citizens celebrate, and we kind of have to put our noodles to that and go.

Well, why is that? Well, the citizens know that Haman was evil and was all after his own thing. He was after the money of the Jews. He was after his own power. It was very obvious from the earlier parts of scripture, and certainly those people in the capital city would have known that.

And now Haman is dead, and Mordecai, a righteous man, is now in his place. So perhaps that's why part of the idea why these people are celebrating. It's not just because Mordecai is Jewish. They know he's a righteous man. There's a gospel foreshadowing right here, okay?

There's an evil plan that's thwarted. Mordecai is destined for death, and he's supposed to pay for his life, but he's given a new destiny by the king, and he's given new royal robes to wear, new garments to wear. We too were destined for death, for all of sin, and death deserve death. And our punishment was given to someone else, and we're given garments of righteousness as well. Again, this weird victory lap is kind of odd.

Wouldn't you normally do your victory lap after the thing is done? Well, this, I think, is also done for another reason. I think Mordecai is encouraging the people of Persia. Okay? Mordecai goes out into the middle of Susa after the declaration, after the new decree is out, and he's basically saying, we're going to win, we're going to win.

And the Jews get encouragement from that. And perhaps some of the enemies of the Jews are seeing this and thinking, ooh, the tide's blowing against me. This I may not want to do what I thought I was going to do a couple weeks ago. Maybe I ought to get on Team Mordecai. Because you see that the Jews had light and gladness and honor in every province, a feast and a holiday.

The people celebrated with Mordecai before this even happened. Okay. And the Jews were held in honor. Matter of fact, it even says that many people declared themselves to be Jews. They weren't born Jews.

Hey, we're on Team Mordecai now. Okay, so they're identifying, kind of like the bandwagon thing. How many Hurricanes fans out there, right? A lot of late season Hurricanes fans. Like, oh, they're winning, Cool.

I'm on their team too. Yeah, certainly that's in play. But you know what, there's another thing that Mordecai is doing here. And you know, as I was praying over y' all yesterday, and I was out walking, I was listening to a sermon, and the preacher there said something that I found really applicable. He said, you know what?

Fear is when you trust that Satan is gonna show up. Faith is when you trust that God is gonna show up. And that's what Mordecai's doing. He's showing his faith. He knows that God's gonna show up in nine months.

And so he's showing the flag. He's showing the flag. Faith is when God is going to show up.

Now in the 12th month and the 13th day, that day finally shows up. And the Jews have had months to prepare. Hopefully they prepared militarily. Like, they're sharpening their swords and they're getting their armor and they're organizing themselves and they're getting ready to defend themselves. But they're probably also preparing politically.

Right? They're probably saying, hey, you know, Mordecai is the number two guy. He's, we got the spot of the king. You know, we got all these people that are aligning with us and maybe he can get, maybe they can get people to not rise up against him. I would hope that they're actually preparing spiritually as well.

Praying and fasting. The text doesn't say. All we know is that there's a fair amount of time that goes on and any prudent person would do some preparation. And we can see from the results that they did do some preparation. Now remember, the Jews are about 20%, so they're a minority.

They're a sizeable minority, but they're almost everybody else is against them. Right. Or at least they're not Jewish. Okay, and so what happens? Well, the text says in chapter nine, verse one, that the Jews gained mastery over their adversaries.

They dominated. They completely mastered and lorded over their adversaries. They completely dominated this fight. The text doesn't tell us if or how many Jews died in their own defense. But it does tell us later on in verse 16 that 75,000 of their enemies fell throughout Persia.

They dominated. Now, this is going to bring up a troubling question. Okay? And maybe you struggled with this before. Maybe, you know, perhaps at one point you were an atheist or maybe as a new Christian you thought about this and this is a difficult question.

And that is this. Does God condone violence in the Old Testament? Is our God a genocidal God? Does he wipe out people just because he feels like it? Is he capricious and arbitrary?

Does he condone this violence? This is a difficult question and we have to own up to that as believers. We have to own up to the fact that that's a difficult question. And we could spend a long time discussing this. But let me offer to you a fairly thoughtful response that I found from Andy Judd of the Gospel Coalition.

He says this for me. Reading the Old Testament through the lens of the cross reveals a God who is anti violent rather than non violent. It is not in his nature to destroy, but to redeem. He is not bloodthirsty like the Canaanite gods, nor will he sit by passively while evil takes over his 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, Andy Judd said that, and I think I could not say it any better. Another point in this passage that we should look at. God's people are delivered from their present trouble, the physical threat that's in their time.

See, God does not, though always respond with a direct deliverance. In our lifetime. You may be facing something right now and God may not necessarily deliver you fully from your current situation. Consider too the Jews of Jesus time, right? The Jews of Jesus time were looking for a political messiah, a military leader that would deliver them from Rome.

Is that what they got? No. See, Jesus came to deliver them from their greater enemy. That is their own sin. See, the timeless principle is this, that God has an eternal view, right?

He's looking through eternity. Now, our circumstances, the things that we're going through right now are of great importance to us. But God is more concerned with our eternal destiny than our present circumstances. God is more concerned with our eternal destiny than our present circumstances. Now look at as well a point that should be made is that in verse 10, 15, and 16, it says that they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

Now, anytime something's repeated three times in Scripture, pay attention. There's something there, okay? There's something there. Now, the king expressly allowed the Jews to plunder their enemies in chapter 8, verse 11, much like Haman's edict. But Haman's edict was, hey, kill all the Jews and take all their stuff and give us some.

Some, right. Give some to the king. Give me some. I'm going to get rich by killing 20 million people. Okay?

But here the Jews do not lay their hands on the plunder. This is done primarily, I think, to prove that their fight was for self preservation and not for greed. They're primarily there to save themselves and not get rich off the thing. But there's also something else. If you know your history, this may be correcting a mistake stake from hundreds of years before with King Saul.

King Saul, remember, had to deal with the Amalekites. And if you paid attention, Haman was an Agagite, which is a descendant of the Amalekites. Now, King Saul was commanded to completely destroy the Amalekites. And King Saul didn't do that. He didn't completely destroy the Amalekites and he took their plunder, right?

He greedily took their plunder and he paid for it. Now, the Jews in Esther's time intentionally avoided doing this, perhaps to successfully finish what Saul started. Now, we're to be encouraged. This is an encouraging message. We're to be encouraged because we're a community of believers and our strength comes from him.

Philippians 4:1 says, Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved. See, God's power is not only seen in removing battles, but strengthening weak people to stand in them. 2nd Corinthians 12:9 says, and he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, most gladly, I would rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. See, God strengthens us who are weak to do great things.

Now, you all know I'm a student of history, and so here's your. Here's your history for the time. IMAGINE It's Christmas, 1944. We're in the depths of World War II. We're in a village in northern Italy and the 92nd infantry, which traces its lineage all the way back to the Buffalo soldiers on the American West.

They're fighting and they're being overrun by German forces in a small town in Italy called Sommo Colonia. As the Wehrmacht forces are closing in, First Lieutenant John Robert Fox is an artillery observer in the forward edges of Somma Colonia. And he's in a small building in the village center. And the enemy gets so close that the coordinates that he's calling in back to the artillery causes the commander to question him. That sounds like it's right on top of you.

And Lieutenant Fox says, yep.

He says, fire it. There's more of them than there are of us. Give him hell. The artillery barrage that came kills Fox, but it also stopped that German advance long enough for Allied forces to regroup and retake the village. Years later, and even now, today, the people of Somma Colonia still honor his sacrifice.

He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Now, throughout history, some of the greatest moments of courage were not moments where the battle disappears, but moments where ordinary people or strengthened to endure for the sake of others. God may not spare you from this coming day of conflict, whatever it is that you're facing. That battle may still come, but God strengthens his people to stand in the face of danger rather than collapsing in fear. Where do you need courage?

Are you facing a trial? Maybe you got bad news from a doctor? You got some financial setback? Maybe you've got a white or child? Where do you need courage to stand firm for the Gospel?

In your workplace, among your family? Where is God calling you to step out in faith? Maybe to share your faith or go on mission? See, God can and does intervene in human life, but more importantly, he empowers his people to live for him. Take courage that the God who so encouraged and intervened on the behalf of the Jews in Persia also cares for you.

He cares deeply for you. Let's look at quickly at the third way that God transforms. God brings us through and faces this death. He transforms his sorrow into joy. He transforms his people's sorrow into joy.

God transforms his people's sorrow into joy. So look, we're at the end of chapter nine, 11 through 19, the 13th day of the 12th month. This goes from being a dreaded day of a death sentence to becoming a celebration that is celebrated even to this day, millennia past the time God turns tears into joy. This is a clear theme in scripture. Now look in verse 11 real quick.

The king says to Queen Esther, now what's your wish? Right? This is the fourth time the king is asked. Now, if you remember the first two times he asked and says up to half the kingdom, right? So hey, I'll give you anything up to half the kingdom.

Then the third time, which we saw earlier in this reading, he's kind of like, all right, what else do you want? And now I think the king's patience is wearing kind of thin. All right, you've just had your day. You know, all this death and mayhem has happened. What more do you want?

You know, what else do you want? You know, like, are we done with this now? That's kind of what I read into that. She has one more request. He says, hey, let the Jews who are in Susa, the ones in the capital city, let them do it one more day just in the capital city, right?

She could not send out word to the whole empire for that to happen. So here in the capital city, let's do this again. Now, Again. This is another one of those troubling passages, right? We've already got all this death and mayhem and destruction.

We've got all this. All these people who've died, you know, and now we want to have another day of it. This is difficult. It's a little surprising. Why another day?

Well, why does Esther ask for the 10 sons of Haman to be hanged? They're already dead, right? They've already killed him on the 13th. Why do they have to hang him? Well, I think it's an exclamation point, right?

We're in the capital city of Susa. We're in the city of the Persian Empire. The. This is where all the strong feelings probably originated. And Esther's pretty smart.

She knows, you know, what if the king orders this one more day and we're going to have the sons of Haman hanged out there. It's a very public proclamation. And everybody in the capital city will know that the king is for the Jews. And this is what the king wanted, and this is the will that will go forward. So it is an exclamation point.

We're done. This is not going to happen anymore. And we see in verse 16, there's a large contingent of enemies that went against the Jews because 75,000 of them died. But God defended his people to that very day. But what was the response?

In verse 17 through 19, we see that this becomes a day of feasting and gladness. And the Jews send gifts of food to one another. This is the feast of Purim. We're going to study this more next week. To this very day, Jews send each other goody bags and baskets containing sweet and savory food items.

See, God turns our tears into joy. God's Our comfort. That is who he is. Look at Jeremiah 31:13. I can't say it any better than this, but there shall.

Then shall the young woman rejoice in the dance, and the young man and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy. I. I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow. And then Joel 2:21 says, Fear not, O land, Be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things. We're to celebrate what God has done.

You know, one thing that the Christian community sometimes doesn't do very well is party.

We should redeem that word. Party has become something nasty. It shouldn't. You know what? We should get together.

We should throw the best parties ever. Okay? We should know how to party better than anyone, because we've got the best reason to party. We've got the best reason to party. We should be the ones that are throwing the best parties.

See, Jesus, even when he was here, he reminds his disciples that he would return in resurrection. But it has more of a second meaning to us. When Jesus is speaking to the disciples here, he's talking about his imminent crucifixion and resurrection. And he says here in John 16:22, 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. When we see Jesus again, no one will take our joy away from us.

He's going to turn tears into joy now. You know, I've seen a lot of funerals and memorial services, especially during my time in active duty. I've lost a lot of friends. I've been to memorial services for them, you know, where we all stand up smartly and, you know, say, man, what a great person that was, or whatever, you know, so I've seen this a lot. But, you know, there's a difference with Christian funerals.

Christian funerals, there's still grief, there's still mourning, but the air is different. The air is different. See, it's a simple thing, and it's summarized up with one word. Hope. Hope.

Right. There's a turning point of sorrow. Even in that though it hurts, there's a present gift of hope. And with it follow peace and comfort. Now, for those of you who've been around this church for a while, and you've been around as long as I have or more, many of you know Percy and Amanda, Manuel, and In April of 2015, many of you who've not been here that long probably don't know this, okay?

But Percy and Amanda had a little girl, Julia. She was 11 years old, 6th grade. She was the life of the party. She was a wonderful little girl. She was always dancing and smiling and joking, right?

Until one day, tragically, in April 2015, a horrific accident took her from us. Now, parents go there for a minute and just imagine the horrible tragedy it would be to lose one of your children, right? And it causes a pain that can't even be expressed. But let me tell you that we had a funeral here for Julia. Right here, Right here.

And the whole church showed up. It was amazing, right? And this is the amazing part about it for those of you who were there. I remember very distinctly Percy and Amanda were encouraging us. We were there to encourage them and to mourn with them.

And they were cheering us up. Why? Because they had hope. They knew that Julia knew Jesus and that Julia at that very moment, was dancing with him. She was in the presence of the Lord right then, and they had hope.

Now, that doesn't mean that it didn't hurt and that there wasn't grief and there wasn't sorrow, but there was hope. And that's the difference. See, some of you in this room might be experiencing sorrow. Maybe someone very dear to you has passed. Some are mourning a divorce.

Some, you know, perhaps you've experienced some other form of loss. You've lost a job. You know, you've seen some kind of change in your life that you're really mourning. God promises that he'll turn our sorrow into joy. It may be only partial in this life, but it will be complete in eternity.

We will have our tears turned to joy. See, God delivers his people from death. He does so in ways that can be really mysterious to the saints of old. And sometimes we can't figure it out, right? But he preserves us from destruction not by overlooking our sin, but by putting another edict on top of it, the edict of eternal life in Christ Jesus.

He saves by empowering us to stand by faith. And he turns our sorrows to joy, in part in this life and fully in the next. Now we honor the sacrifice of our fallen soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who allow us today to worship in the place with freedom and without fear. Ultimately, every heroic Memorial Day story that you can share whispers towards that greater story of Jesus Christ. See, Jesus did not avoid the battlefield of the cross.

The Father strengthened him to endure it for our salvation. And because Jesus stood for us, believers today can stand firm in whatever battle God has called them to face. Do you know him? Have you come under that second decree, Salvation in Christ's name. Let's pray, Father, as I prayed earlier this week, as I prayed for your people, Father, I lift them up to you right now.

And I also, most importantly, want to lift up those people that are still under that first decree. If you are one of those people and you do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, you can pray with me right now and you can pray and say, lord Jesus, I am under that first decree. I am a sinner. Just as Mike is up front and these other people are. I'm a sinner and I need your help.

I need you to come into my life. I need you to be the Lord of my life. I pray that you would forgive my sins and give me eternal life. Now, friend, if you prayed that with me, you are under the second decree. You've been given eternal life.

Praise God. Now, there may be others in this room that are facing some of those big battles, and I may not know what all of them are, but you do. Father, I pray for my friends and I pray for those who are dealing with difficult things coming up, all the things that we talked about and more. There are people right now in this room that are struggling with various battles that are in front of them. And.

And so, Father, I pray that you would strengthen them, you would give them encourage to go through it so that you would turn their tears into joy. And I pray this in Jesus name, amen.