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The Story of Esther

Dwayne Gandy
02/23/25 - Praise and Preaching Service

Summary of Sermon – “God Always Comes Through for His People” (Esther)

The central praise of this message is simple yet powerful: Praise God for always coming through for His people. The sermon walks us through the dramatic, inspiring, and divinely orchestrated story of Esther, showing how God's providence and faithfulness shine even in the darkest circumstances.

Setting the Scene: Xerxes and the Persian Empire

The sermon begins by introducing King Xerxes (also known as Ahasuerus), ruler of the Persian Empire about 500 years before Christ. A proud and wealthy monarch, Xerxes hosted an extravagant six-month feast to showcase his riches and power, followed by a seven-day public feast for all people in the capital, regardless of status. The lavish event featured gold tableware, unique golden cups, and flowing wine.

At the climax of his pride, Xerxes summoned Queen Vashti to appear before the crowd to display her beauty. She refused. This unprecedented act of defiance led to her removal as queen. The advisors feared this act would empower other women to disobey their husbands, so they urged the king to set an example.

Enter Esther: God’s Hidden Instrument

After some time, Xerxes realized he needed a new queen. His advisors proposed a kingdom-wide search for the most beautiful unmarried women to be brought to the palace. There, each woman would undergo a year-long beautification process before meeting the king. Esther, a Jewish orphan raised by her cousin Mordecai, was among the women chosen.

Esther quickly gained favor with Hegai, the man overseeing the women. He gave her special treatment, including extra beauty preparations and attendants. When her time came to meet the king, she took only what Hegai advised. The king was smitten and crowned her queen.

Though now queen, Esther kept her Jewish identity secret, obeying Mordecai's earlier instruction. This obedience highlights a key theme: Esther’s beauty was not just outward—it reflected a heart that was humble, wise, and obedient.

Mordecai’s Loyalty and a Brewing Threat

Mordecai, who served in the king’s gate (indicating some level of royal appointment), overheard a plot by two guards to assassinate the king. He informed Esther, who told the king, and the men were executed. This event was recorded in the royal chronicles but went unrewarded—yet another moment of divine timing preparing for later.

Meanwhile, Haman, a proud and powerful official, rose to become second in command. The king commanded all to bow before Haman, but Mordecai refused. Haman, furious, not only wanted Mordecai dead but sought to annihilate the entire Jewish population. He convinced the king to issue a decree authorizing the slaughter of all Jews on the 13th day of the 12th month, offering the king 10,000 talents of silver to fund it.

Mordecai’s Plea and Esther’s Dilemma

When Mordecai learned of the decree, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and mourned publicly. Esther, learning of this, sent clothes to him, but he refused them. Through a messenger, Mordecai urged Esther to plead with the king, warning her that she would not escape the fate of her people and that perhaps she had come to the throne “for such a time as this.”

Esther agreed to help—but only after calling for a three-day fast. She and her attendants, along with Mordecai and the Jews in the capital, would eat or drink nothing for three days. Esther’s boldness begins here. She resolved: “If I perish, I perish.”

A Risky Approach and a Strategic Plan

After the fast, Esther donned her royal garments—possibly the very ones she might die in—and entered the king’s presence uninvited, risking her life. By law, approaching the king without summons could mean death unless he extended his golden scepter. Mercifully, the king welcomed her warmly.

Rather than immediately state her request, Esther invited the king and Haman to a banquet. At the end of the feast, the king again asked what she desired. She requested their presence at another banquet the next day. Esther wisely built suspense, earning more favor while preparing for her bold revelation.

That night, Haman boasted to his family and friends about his status, wealth, sons, and exclusive invitation from the queen. Yet he admitted he couldn’t enjoy any of it because of Mordecai’s refusal to bow. His family suggested building a 75-foot pole to impale Mordecai. Haman eagerly prepared to request the king’s approval the next day.

Divine Timing and an Unexpected Twist

Meanwhile, the king couldn’t sleep. He had the royal chronicles read aloud and was reminded that Mordecai had saved his life—but had received no reward. Just then, Haman entered to ask for Mordecai’s death.

Before Haman could speak, the king asked, “What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?” Thinking the king meant him, Haman proposed elaborate honors: dressing the man in royal robes, placing him on the king’s horse, and parading him through the city.

The king then ordered Haman to do exactly that—for Mordecai. The irony is striking: the very man Haman sought to kill was now being honored, and Haman himself had to announce Mordecai’s greatness.

Utterly humiliated, Haman returned home in despair. His family ominously warned: “If Mordecai is Jewish, you are doomed.” Before he could respond, officials arrived to escort him to Esther’s second banquet.

The Banquet and the Great Reveal

At the second banquet, the king again asked Esther what she wanted. She revealed her identity and begged for her life and the lives of her people. She explained that her people had been sold for destruction. Shocked, the king asked who would do such a thing. Esther pointed directly at Haman.

The king, enraged, left the room. Haman, terrified, pleaded with Esther for his life. When the king returned and saw Haman close to Esther, he accused him of assaulting the queen. One of the king’s attendants mentioned the execution pole at Haman’s house. The king ordered Haman to be impaled on it—on the very pole he had built for Mordecai.

Victory for God’s People

The king gave Haman’s estate to Esther and elevated Mordecai, giving him the signet ring once worn by Haman. Esther then pleaded for her people, as the original decree to destroy the Jews was still active. The king allowed Mordecai and Esther to write a counter-decree: on the 13th day of the 12th month, the Jews were permitted to defend themselves and destroy their enemies.

When that day arrived, the Jews fought back and prevailed. In the capital alone, 500 enemies were killed, including Haman’s ten sons. Esther requested another day to continue the fight, and the king granted it. The ten sons of Haman were publicly impaled as a warning.

The result was overwhelming victory. Not only were the Jews preserved, but many Gentiles converted to Judaism in response to God’s evident favor.

Lessons from the Story of Esther

1. God Always Comes Through – Even when He is not mentioned by name in the book of Esther, His hand is evident in every detail. From Esther’s rise to queen, to the king’s sleepless night, to the timing of every event—God is at work.

2. Inner Beauty Matters Most – Esther’s kindness, humility, and wisdom made her truly beautiful. Her inner character won favor with Hegai, the king, and ultimately God. The sermon emphasized the importance of cultivating spiritual beauty.

3. Obedience and Respect Bring Favor – Esther continued to respect and obey Mordecai even as queen, demonstrating the virtue of honoring parental guidance.

4. God Prepares Deliverance Before We Even Know We’re in Trouble – Long before the threat emerged, God had Esther positioned in the palace. God is always one step ahead.

5. We Must Cooperate with God’s Plans – Esther could have stayed silent, but she chose to act. God’s deliverance often involves our courage and participation.

6. God Exalts the Humble and Brings Down the Proud – Haman’s downfall and Mordecai’s elevation illustrate this timeless truth. Pride leads to destruction; humility leads to honor.

7. Moral Courage Sometimes Requires Disobeying Human Law – Mordecai refused to bow to Haman. Esther approached the king without permission. Both broke royal law for godly reasons—honoring God and saving lives.

8. Celebrate God’s Victories – The Jews established the feast of Purim to commemorate their deliverance. God’s blessings should be remembered, celebrated, and shared.

Final Reflection

The story of Esther ends not with a political victory, but with a call to trust in the God who sits on the throne of heaven. Through Christ, we have access to that throne. His scepter is always extended to His people. We are invited to come boldly—not in fear, but in confidence—because of Jesus’ sacrifice. The invitation stands for all to come, be washed in His blood, and become sons and daughters of the King.

Complete Transcript

02-23-25-AM

I only have one praise statement for you this morning as we start out and it's simply this, praise God for always coming through for his people. God always comes through for his people and today we're going to talk about one of those times where God came through for his people. So we're going to take you 500 years or so before Christ was born and there was a man named Xerxes the Great and he was reigning over the Persian Empire and he decided to invite all the people from his kingdom, all the nobles, all the powerful people from all over his kingdom to come to the capital city where he lived so they could see just how wealthy he was.

As they came to the capital city he let them see how much gold he had, how much silver he had, and he had these incredible feasts every day so the people could understand just how awesome and rich this particular king was. And let's pause there just for a second because I got to tell you something. None of this is going to be in your outline for the very beginning.

I want you to do is just listen to me tell the story, then we're going to bring the outline out and come up with some lessons that we can learn from this incredible story that God has delivered to us. After all these noble people have come in and they've been so amazed by how wealthy he was and how much wonderful things he had, he decided to have a seven-day feast after this six-month feast. And the seventh day feast was designed for everybody who lived in the capital city.

It didn't matter if you were rich or if you were poor, you could come to this particular feast. It wasn't in the palace, it was outside. Everybody who lived in the capital city and was there at that particular time could come and they could eat the king's food for at least those seven days.

And they could drink the wine that the king had provided for them. And one of the most amazing things was they could drink it out of gold cups because all the dishes that the king had at this particular time were made of gold. And the cup that you drank out of was different from the cup that I drank out of because the king didn't have all this stuff made just in sort of an assembly line where everybody had the same.

Every single cup was different. They were drinking out of these gold cups and at the end of the seventh day feast, the king himself had partaken of some wine and he decided to brag a little bit. You think that my riches are amazing.

You think that I have a lot of gold and a lot of silver and I have a lot of jewels and all these clothing that I have in my kingdom. It's all fantastic and spectacular. But wait till you see my queen.

Because the queen was having her own feast with the ladies. And so I'm going to bring my king out here for all of you guys to look at because she is beautiful. And so he sends some people to go get the queen.

They go to the queen and they say, Queen, the king wants you. He wants to show you off to everybody else. And the queen refused to go.

I'm not going. The king didn't know what to do. He called all of his rulers together, all the lawyers that knew what the law stated about what you do if the king refuses, the queen refuses to obey the king.

It's never been done before. All they're thinking about this, all right, what are we going to do about this? And they tell the king, you know, this is more serious than just the queen refusing to do what you say. Because if the queen refuses to do what the king says, then all of our wives will refuse to do what we ask them to do.

This is a huge problem, king. You have to come down strong. You have to kick her out of being the queen.

She can no longer be the queen because the queen has to do what the king says. And so he decides to take the queen and take her away so she can no longer be the queen. At this particular moment, there is no queen.

And he's upset about this for a while, but eventually he realizes, you know what? I need a queen. I can't live without a queen. I have to have a queen.

And he calls all these same guys back together again and says, all right, I don't know how to go about becoming, you know, do I ask a girl out? What do I do? I don't know what to do. How does this go? It's been a long time since I've gone through this and said we got it covered, king. What we're going to do is we are going to go through your entire kingdom and we are going to find the prettiest girls out there who have never been married.

And we're going to bring them to the capital. You don't have to go to them. You don't have to ask them.

They're going to all come to you. They're all going to want to be the queen. And we're going to have them all living in the same house.

And we're going to prepare them for one year before you'll even see them. What we'll do for this year is we will give them all, they're all beautiful anyway, but we're going to give them extreme makeovers. We're going to allow them to have six months where we're going to make them look prettier and six months where we're just going to make them smell prettier.

They're going to have all these ointments applied to them. They're going to have all these fancy baths. They're going to have these massage oils that have different scents in them all over their entire bodies so that their smell is going to be all the way down through several layers of skin.

When they come to you, they're not only going to look good, they're going to be soft, and they are going to smell good. The king thought, man that sounds like a really good idea. It's a lot easier than going out and having to ask them out.

So you go ahead and do that. They get all these girls together in one house, and Esther, who was a Jewish girl who lived in the capital city, was chosen. She's one of many that have been chosen.

Now I think it's fair for us to at least notice this. This was reality television before there was television. Because all these ladies are living in the same house, and they're not competing for a rose to have a date with some guy that's a good-looking guy.

They're competing for a crown to be the queen of basically the entire world. I imagine there was probably a little thing, jealousy behind the scenes, and maybe some knives came out on occasion. And I'm sure the people that were in charge of this saw this.

Well one thing about Esther that stood out from the very beginning to the men in charge is that she was different. She was so well liked that the man in charge, Haggai was his name, he gave her six special attendants from the king's palace. He went to the king's palace and says, I want six women who can come and just take care of Esther.

And not only did Esther get her regular daily appointment of beauty treatments, she got extra. When the time came for these women to go to the king, they could take whatever they wanted to from the house, and they would go to try to impress the king so they could get that crown. They would be sitting on that throne one day, and they could have all this as their life.

Well when it came time for Esther to go, the man in charge just said, Esther, this is what you need to take with you. And she listened, and she took only what he told her to take. She went before the king, and the king was immediately smitten by her.

And see, if you weren't chosen, you go to the second house, and you could never be with another man, and you could only come back to the king if he calls you. So if you're not chosen, not only are you not the queen, but you're in the harem. You're just going to be part of his women that he can go to when he wants to, but doesn't have to go to him at all.

You can't go get married, go have your family, all that good stuff. Your life is sort of stuck in the second house. He chooses Esther to be his new queen, so now the king has a queen to sit on the throne and enjoy all the benefits of being the queen.

So now we know a couple of the characters in our story. We know the king, Xerxes the Great, and we know Esther, who is now the queen. But you have to know a couple other things about the people in this story.

First is Mordecai. Mordecai raised Esther, because Esther's mom and dad both died when she was young. Mordecai was a close relative and raised her as his own daughter.

And Mordecai, and maybe this sort of skipped us a little bit as we've heard this story in the past, Mordecai actually was probably an official in the king's court, because it says he goes into the inner gate of the king. And so he had influence and probably a minor role, an official title, as far as in the kingdom goes. And we'll see this come up a little bit later.

Because when they're assembling all the women together for a second time, he overhears something. There's two gatekeepers, and they're talking, you know what, this king, he's out of control, we don't like him, we want him dead. And so Mordecai overhears this, and he gets word to Esther.

Esther somehow gets word to the king, and they find out, is this true? Was there a plot to try to kill the king? And they find out it is true. And so those two gatekeepers are executed. Mordecai saves the king's life on that particular occasion.

Well, now we have to know who the villain is. The villain is a man named Haman. And after Esther has become queen, Haman has worked his way up the ranks of this kingdom to be the second most powerful person in the entire kingdom.

What Haman said went. He had a special ring that he could sort of, in the name of the king, say certain things, and those things had to happen. The king made a proclamation.

When Haman comes out, everybody's to bow down to him. So Haman, man, this is cocky, arrogant guy, everywhere he walks around, people are bowing down to him. Could you imagine how you would feel as you walk into this building, everybody just stopped what they were doing and got on their knees and bowed down to you? That's what happened to Haman.

So you can see, this was sort of going to his head, but there was one guy, Mordecai, that just refused to bow down to Haman. So that made Haman so mad. He would see this one man not bowing down to him, and really couldn't enjoy everybody else was showing them the proper respect.

He wanted Mordecai dead, and not only did he want Mordecai dead, he wanted more than that. He wanted all of his nation to be killed, all Jews to be killed. So he gets together with some people, and they cast lots.

What are we going to do? What are we going to have one day where all the Jews can be executed? Because I don't like Mordecai. I'm going to kill them all. And so they cast lots, and it turns out it's the 13th day of the 12th month.

And when this decree goes out to all the people, it is the 14th day of the first month. So it's the 14th day of the first month where this decree goes out on the 13th day of the 12th month. If you don't like Jews, you can just go kill them.

You can take all their stuff. It's okay. Now you imagine when this starts getting passed around, this decree starts going out, people are reading this, and Mordecai is one of the first to read it, because he's in the capital city.

And when he reads it, he tears his clothes, he puts on sackcloth, and he puts ashes on his head, and he can't go where he normally goes within the king's gate, because he has sackcloth on. So he has to stay outside the king's gate. Well word gets to Esther.

Hey, something's going on with Mordecai. He's mourning. He's in sackcloth, and he's not coming within the gate.

So Esther says, take him some clothes. Give him these fancier clothes. Tell him to get rid of his sackcloth.

And he refuses. And so Esther sends somebody down. Go find out why he's mourning.

Why is he doing this? This seems extreme to me. And so this official comes down to Mordecai, and Mordecai, this is another reason why he has to be some kind of a low-level official, he has a copy of the decree. And he knows exactly how much Haman has offered the king 10,000 talents of silver if he goes through with this.

And so he gives it to this man to take back to Esther. Tell her we need her to help us, because if she doesn't do something, we're all going to die on the 13th day of the last month of Adar. So the 13th day for us of December, we're all dead if she doesn't do something.

And so Esther hears about this, and she knows it is against the law to go before the king unless he asked you to go there. Now she knows what happened to the last queen that didn't do what the king wanted, and she'd probably be okay with that fate, but it could be that she would be executed for going there. And so she sends word back to Mordecai and says, I can't do this.

You know the law. It's against the law. Well, Mordecai sends word back to her saying, who knows whether or not if God has put you in this royal position for just an occasion as this.

And don't be confused, Esther. If you don't help the Lord, you're going to die too. Don't think just because no one knows you're a Jew right now that you're going to be able to survive this.

You will die. Your whole family will die, but God will make sure that he protects his people, because Mordecai knows God always comes through for his people. And so Esther gets all this information.

He's right. I gotta do something. And so she says, we're going to fast for three days.

No eating for three days, me and my attendants, and no drinking for three days. So we're not going to have water, juice, nothing for three days before I go before the king. And Mordecai, I want you to get your guys together, and I want you to do the same thing.

So for three days, she has to try to come up with some plan that will work to get the king's attention so the king doesn't have her executed. Because the law is this. If you go before the king without permission, and if he doesn't reach out his golden scepter to you, dead.

If he reaches out his scepter to you, and you come and touch it, you can live. So she's got to come up with this plan. So she's devising in her hand.

And because Esther's so likable, I'm sure she goes through with all these people who are helping her on a regular basis, now that she's queen especially. She has all these people helping her, and she comes up with a plan. So the morning of the third day, she's putting on her royal garments.

And I'm sure that these garments are just the most luxurious garments a woman could ever wear at the time. But these garments that she's putting on to go see the king are not only her royal garments, they could be the garments she's killed in. Think about that for a second.

So she goes before the king, and she's still in the outer court, but she's reached the point of no return, and he sees her. And when he sees her, a smile comes on his face, he takes that golden scepter, and he reaches it out to her. And she's got to be so relieved.

God is with me. God is going to come through first, people. This is step one.

She goes up to the golden scepter, she touches the golden scepter, and he goes, Esther, what do you want? Anything you want, up to half my kingdom, I'll give it to you. And she goes, what I want, king, is I want you and Haman to come to a special feast I've prepared for you. And the king's like, absolutely, we'll be there.

Where's Haman? Somebody go find Haman, because the two of us are going to this feast that my queen has prepared for us. And so they go get Haman, they bring Haman in, and there's this incredible feast that is there. And at the end of the feast, he asked again, Esther, I mean, this is unusual.

I mean, you took a lot of chances to have me this feast. I gave you the scepter, that's all great, but I just got to know, what is it that you want from me? And I promise you, I will give it up to half my kingdom. And she says, all I want right now, king, I've really found favor in your eyes.

What I want is I want you to come to a second feast, you and Haman, tomorrow. Okay, building the suspense here, dragging it out a little bit, getting him curious, what in the world is this that she wants? And so that night, Haman goes and meets with his family. Oh, my life is so good.

He calls all of his friends together, and he even does sort of what the king does. He starts telling his friends how much money he has. Oh, look at my retirement.

Oh, it's huge. I mean, I'll never spend this much money. I have gold, I have silver, I have ten sons.

Everything is going great for me. Couldn't go any better. As a matter of fact, I'll tell you how special I am, and how much, how great things are going for me.

Today, Esther had a feast, and I'll tell you the invitation list. The invitation list is Xerxes the Great, and the only other person on that list is Haman. Maybe I should say the great.

And that's not only all there is to it, not only did I get to go to this feast, but I was invited back to a feast tomorrow. Tomorrow I get to go back to the feast, and it's the same guest list, just the king and me, Haman. I am, I am just, everything's going great for me, except one thing.

The thing that drives me crazy is Mordecai the Jew. He will not bow down to me, and so I can't even enjoy all this stuff because of that man. And so all of his friends and his wives say, I know what you could do.

Make a pole 75 feet high, and impale him on it. So this is what you should do tomorrow. Get up in the morning, go to the king, when you get to the king, say, hey, I want Mordecai killed.

The king's going to say, go kill him. You go back, you kill Mordecai, and then you go to the feast, the second day of the feast. Great, perfect plan, let's make it happen.

And so they make the 75 foot pole, some of our translations say gallows, but they didn't hang people like that, they impaled them back then, so it's probably a pole to impale them. Some of the newer translations will say a pole and to impale them. So Haman gets up, thinking, all right, here's what's going to happen.

One, kill Mordecai. Two, go to the feast. It's going to be a good day.

Get rid of my worst enemy. And so he goes, he's out in the courtyard, and the king says, who's out there? I say, Haman, bring him in here. And so he comes in to where the king is, and before he could open his mouth and say, I want Mordecai dead, the king says, hey Mordecai, see what has happened the night before while Haman is making that pole to impale Mordecai on? The king can't sleep.

And so they're reading his chronicles. The chronicles are just, you know, chronicling what has happened. And so as they're reading that chronicles, the night of the first feast, before the second feast, he reads about Mordecai.

And he says, what has happened to this Mordecai who saved my life? And they say, nothing has happened to him. And so when Haman comes to the door, he's going to say, I want Mordecai dead. What the king says is, hey Haman, I have a question for you.

If I want to honor a man, what should I do? Well, Haman's like, man, my life can't get any better, because who in the world would the king want to honor more than me? So now I get to pick out the way that I'm honored. And so he says, this is what I think you should do. I think you should take some of your royal garments that you have worn, dress them in these royal garments, take a horse that you have ridden on, put your crest right on that horse, so everybody knows this is the king's horse.

These are the king's garments. And then I want you to get your best advisor. Now, I don't know, just think about this for a second.

Haman's looking around at all these other guys in the room. Yeah, yeah, yeah. These guys are all going to know their place.

One of these guys is going to be walking me around on this horse. Pick your best advisor, and have him put this guy on the horse, and walk him around the city saying, this is the one the king chooses to honor, this is the one the king chooses to honor, and everybody will know that this man has done something wonderful, and he deserves your honor and your respect. And so the king says, do that for Mordecai.

Mordecai. And see, this is the way it is. He can't react that way.

He can't react the way that we all want to react, say, no way, this Mordecai's terrible. I just came in to ask you to kill Mordecai. He can't do any of that.

He has to say, yes, sir, right away, sir. And as he's leaving, the king yells out, don't leave anything out, do exactly like you said. And so he has to go out there, get this horse ready, put Mordecai up on this horse, and I know how I would want to do this.

I'd want to lead him around and say, this is what happens to the one the king decides to honor, you know, but he can't do that, right, because he's representing the king. He has to stand tall, and he has to say, this is what happens to the one the king chooses to honor. And if you see the irony of this situation, who is bowing down to whom at this point? He, in essence, is lower than Mordecai.

He's in an inferior position, showing respect to his terrible enemy. And so when this is all over, he can't wait for this to be over. He goes home, and he's basically crying, and his wife and his friends see this.

They say, when you left, everything was great, you were rich, you had ten sons, you know, you were invited to this feast, two feasts in a row, one of the rules happened. And he tells him exactly what happened with Mordecai, and this is the response, uh-oh, if Mordecai's a Jew, you're in serious trouble. He's going to rule over you, you're going to be suffering because of this.

And no one knew the nationality of Mordecai more than Haman, because the decree was all Jews were to be killed. As they're still speaking to him, the king's officials run in, and they say, the king's waiting for you, Esther has this feast ready. Now there's something you need to know about this, he has no idea Esther is a Jew, because Mordecai told her from the very beginning, don't tell anybody anything about your family or where you're from, don't tell him you're a Jew.

This is before she even becomes queen, so Haman has no idea she's a Jew. And so he's probably brushes himself up, makes himself look good, so all right, this is good to have good food, this is going to be good. He goes in, and they had this great feast, and the king asked Esther again, Esther, I just gotta know, all this, two feasts in a row, you took your life in your own hands, coming in without permission, without me calling, what is it that you want up to half my kingdom, I'll give it to you.

My people have been sold to die, so what I'm asking you for, king, I'm asking you for my life, I'm asking you for the life of my entire nation, and king, I know that you're powerful, and I know you're an important man, and if it was just the idea that we had been sold to become slaves, I wouldn't even bother, I would have let my entire nation become slaves, myself, I would have been included in that, but this is serious, somebody has sold us so that we're all going to die, and the king says, who in the world would do such a thing, this evil rotten scoundrel Haman, could you imagine Haman, I mean from two days ago, my life is the greatest it's ever been, I'm the most important person in the entire kingdom, I'm rich, I have kids, I have everything, and now the Queen points and says it's him, and the king is outraged, he's so frustrated and mad, this is his second guy in charge, and this shows another moment of courage for Esther, because when she does this, she knows Haman is his guy, who's he going to choose, and another detail that maybe we've overlooked in the years, when this comes up, it's been 30 days since she's seen the king, it's not like she sits on that throne every day next to him, he has not called for her in 30 days, if somebody doesn't talk to you in 30 days, what do you start playing in your mind, is that are they mad at me, and why isn't he calling me back, and so when she does all of this, she's taking a huge risk in all of this situation, so the king goes out of the room, comes back into the room, and he's laying, he's like has himself on her couch that she's reclining on, begging her for his life, please, please don't let the king kill me, and so as the king comes in, is he going to assault the queen in my presence as well, now one of those guys that was standing by, maybe the guy that Haman wanted to walk him around on the horse, says, you know king, there happens to be a 75-foot pole right outside Haman's house that he made last night to kill the very man that saved your life on, maybe we could make good use of that pole and kill Haman on it, and the king says, absolutely, let's do that, so Haman is impaled on the very pole that he made that stands 75 feet up in the air for everybody to see, and Mordecai is allowed to live, so Esther, what else can I do, well king, we still have this law that you passed, and you gave him the official document, the ring, he signed it, it is an official law, what are we going to do about this, he goes, he takes his ring off, gives it to Mordecai, you figure it out, they make another law saying on the 13th day of the 12th month when Haman made the law that all the Jews could be killed, well what we're going to say is the Jews can defend themselves and kill their enemies and take all their stuff, so when the 13th day of the 12th month came, the enemies of the Jews rose up against the Jews to kill them, and the Jews fought back, and the Jews won. As a matter of fact, in the capital city alone 500 people who hated the Jews were killed, included in that 500 people were the ten sons of Haman that he was bragging about. So it goes back to Esther, all right, Esther, 500 dead in the city, this city alone, the Jews have had complete victory, I've heard from all over the city, this great victory, Haman's ten sons have been killed, what next? And she goes, let's do it another day, let the Jews fight another day and wipe out all their enemies from your entire kingdom so there are no Jewish enemies left.

One of the interesting things was that because of what happened, there were more people who actually became Jews, they actually converted to Judaism because of what it was taking place. And then, and I don't know what the king thought about this, she goes, I want Haman's ten sons impaled, their dead bodies put on poles. Maybe she's not as sweet as I thought she was, it's a little vicious, okay my love, let it be done according to what you want.

So his sons, ten sons, are impaled on poles, have another day of fighting, Mordecai is given not only Haman's house, is elevated, now he's second in charge of the entire kingdom, he has the signet ring, he has all these great clothes that he wears, and he passes the law that on the 13th and 14th day of the last month, all of Israel is to send gifts to each other and celebrate the fact that God takes care of his people. God always takes care of his people. That's an amazing story, and I want to talk to you just for a few moments.

As you'll see in the outline, I have a few blanks to fill in, and then I have a whole bunch of stuff for you to think of at home, because I knew I wasn't going to be able to get to the story and all the points I want to make. So there's homework for you, just in the homework is just talk about the story, think about the story, think about all the wonderful things that happened as a result of this story. But a couple things I want you to understand about, we had a workshop on storytelling, and one of the things that we learned in that workshop is when we hear an engaging story, it causes our brain to produce three important chemicals, and they are dopamine, oxytocin, and cortisol.

They've done studies about this, and so when you hear one of these stories about God, it should produce these chemicals in your head as you're listening, and one of those chemicals is oxytocin. Oxytocin is a chemical that causes people to bond. Now what these stories are intended to do is to get us to bond with the character of the story, so we can look at Esther and say, you know what, Esther was an incredible person.

I feel a bond to Esther. I feel a bond to Mordecai. But most importantly, it's designed to help us bond to the God of the story, because God is the hero of all these stories, and when we hear these stories, we should say, that's an amazing story, and the reason it's an amazing story is because God is amazing, and we should really be focusing on how amazing God is.

If he was able to do that then, he's able to do that for us today. So the first thing I want to point out in Esther chapter 2 and verse 9, it says this, now the young woman pleased him. This is talking about Haggai, the guy in charge of all these young women, and she obtained his favor, so he readily gave beauty preparations to her besides her allowance.

Then seven choice maidservants were provided for her from the king's palace, and he moved her and her maidservants to the best place in the house of the women. And the point that I want you to understand, Esther's inner beauty far surpassed her outside beauty, her outward beauty, and that's an important part of the story. Was she beautiful on the outside? Absolutely she was, and after a year of beauty treatments, special beauty treatments, and living in the best place in the house with no stress at all.

Can you imagine if they just took rid of all your stress, how much better you'll look 12 months from now? No stress. I don't need the beauty, I don't need the massages every day, I don't need the fancy baths every day, I don't need the ointments every day, just no stress. She had no stress, and she had all this stuff going for her.

That's an important thing. So Shelly and I are going to provide the ladies only something special, all right? So this is a packet that has hand lotion, lip balm, and a face mask you can put on your face and all that good stuff. I threatened to do it last night, but I decided not to.

But in each card group here, there's cards from Proverbs 31. I want you to understand, it's okay to look and smoke. No guy I've ever met my entire life thought, you know what, I'm looking for a girl who smells bad.

That's what I'm looking for. I'm looking for a girl who's rough, bad skin, smells bad, not looking for that, okay? So when it snows, she has no fear for her household, for all of them are clothed in scarlet. There's like 15 of these, you'll each get two of these in this packet.

The only thing I'm asking is grown-ups only, please. You can get them for your girls, but I don't want to have the responsibility if your girls are allergic to something and they put this stuff on their face and their face something bad happens. It's your responsibility.

Taking one of these says, I am NOT holding you or Shelly personally responsible. If I put any of this stuff on my face, if I put this on my lips and my lips fall off, it's not your fault, okay? Read the labels, do it accordingly, but I want you to know that she was beautiful on the inside as well as the outside, and that is what is most important. And the Bible talks about that all the way through.

Esther chapter 2 and verse 20, it says this, now Esther had not revealed her family and her people just as Mordecai had charged her, for Esther obeyed the command of Mordecai as when she was brought up by him. Here's something else that's very important. Young people who want to be beautiful and handsome on the inside should listen to and obey the instructions of their parents.

That was one thing that made her beautiful. She wasn't rebellious. Mordecai says, do this, and she did it.

When she was older, she didn't lose respect for Mordecai. She still did what he asked her to do, just like she did when he was bringing her up. If you want to be beautiful on the inside, you must do what your parents tell you to do.

In Esther 4 chapters 13 through 14, we learn a couple another amazing things. This is the key passage, and Mordecai told them to answer Esther, do you think in your heart that, do you think you will escape in the king's palace any more than any of the Jews? For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom at such a time as this.

God might have made Esther beautiful just for this one reason. God works behind the scenes preparing to deliver us before we even know we're in trouble. Isn't that amazing? There might be something waiting for you in two months, trouble, two years, trouble.

God knows about that, and God's already preparing the way for you to overcome that. I think that's helpful for me. I hope it's helpful for you as well.

God expects us, however, to cooperate with his plans. If Esther wasn't beautiful on the inside too, this wouldn't have happened. So I'm making you beautiful on the outside, the king's going to look at you, he's going to choose you, but only if you're beautiful on the inside, and so she was beautiful on the inside as well.

If you read chapter 6 and verse 11 and chapter 8 and verse 1, you're going to find this out. I appreciate the first song that Mike led for us. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

Be humble. Mordecai was humble, Haman was not. Haman is the one that had to walk Mordecai on the horse, and all of this stuff was given to Mordecai.

And then Esther chapter 3 and verse 2, and Esther chapter 4 and verse 16, this is something I found very interesting. Both of these people disobeyed the law. Mordecai refused to bow, it was the king's command.

Esther went to the king even though it was against the law. It was against the law, she says that as she goes there, I think it's the ESV version, that she says, when she says, if I die, die, she goes, I'll go in even though I know it's against the law. Now there's a provision that the king could offer his scepter, but even if he does offer it, she broke the law to get into where she was, and this is what I want you to know from that.

It is important to obey the law of the land, however, it is more important to obey God's laws and to protect people's lives, and that's what's expected there. The other thing that I want you to notice from this, and all the other stuff I want you to do at home, contemplate, talk about it with your kids, talk about it with your family, talk about this story all week long, and the wonderful lessons we can learn from this story. But you know what, when this decree went out, it went out on the 14th day of the first month.

That should put alarm bells off in your head. What is the 14th day of the first month? It's when the Passover was to be celebrated, is when they were to kill the Passover lamb, the 14th day of the first month. If the Jews were celebrating the Passover appropriately, like they should have been, and this decree comes, it may not have the devastating effect that it had.

See, if I'm killing my Passover lamb, and this decree comes, I said, well God saved us in Egypt, He's going to save us here too. But if I'm not killing the Passover lamb on the 14th day, now when I get this, I'm like, oh no, we're doomed, and that was Mordecai's response and other people's response. So think about these incredible lessons.

Now I want to bring us back to thrones, not thrones on this earth, but thrones in heaven. God reigns on His throne in heaven today, and His Son reigns on the throne next to Him, at His right-hand side. And so the question becomes, do you want the God of heaven who is reigning on His throne and His Son, do you want to be on their side, or do you want to be on someone else's side? God has made provisions for you to be on His side.

He offered up His Son as a sacrifice for us, so that when we are washed in the blood of Jesus, when we're immersed in water, all of our sins are forgiven, and we're now adopted into His family, and we're His son, we're His daughter. And every single day, we can go to His throne with boldness, because He has offered us an open invitation. Come.

And that's the invitation to you today. Come to the one who sits on the throne in heaven, and His Son, and come in contact with His blood, and we can help you. We ask you to come as we stand and sing.