The sermon, delivered by Jason Dohm, focuses on Esther chapter 7 from the Bible, highlighting the downfall of Haman. During a banquet with King Ahasuerus and Haman, Queen Esther reveals her request to save herself and her people, the Jews, who are under threat due to a decree orchestrated by Haman. Esther tactfully exposes Haman as the adversary, leading to his execution on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. The sermon emphasizes the themes of divine justice, God's protection of His people, and the dangers of pride and arrogance. Jason Dohm draws parallels between the biblical narrative and the importance of examining one's own faith and actions, stressing the need for genuine faith and the understanding that the end result of actions matters more than present appearances.

Our sermon text for today is Esther chapter 7. So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther, and on the second day at the banquet of wine, the king again said to Esther, What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted to you, and what is your request? Up to half the kingdom It shall be done. Then Queen Esther answered and said, If I found favor in your side, O King, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition and my people at my request.

For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. Had we been sold as male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king's loss. So King Ahasuerus answered and said to Queen Esther, Who is he, and where is he, who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing? And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. So Haman was terrified before the king and queen.

Then the king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden, but Haman stood before Queen Esther pleading for his life, for he saw that evil was determined against him by the king. When the king returned from the palace garden to the place of the banquet of wine, Haman had fallen across the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, Will he also assault the queen while I am in the house? As the word left the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face. Now Harbonne, one of the eunuchs, said to the king, Look, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke good on the king's behalf, is standing at the house of Haman.

Then the king said, hang him on it. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's wrath subsided. Amen. Please be seated.

The title of the sermon this morning is The End of Haman because this Chapter is about the end of Haman. I don't have that much creativity. I can't afford to waste it on a title. Last week in chapter 6, things began to unravel very quickly and very unexpectedly for Haman. Our author left us with the feeling that things have totally spiraled out of control.

The chapter really picks up pace towards the end. And things go worse and worse and worse and worse and worse for Haman. And at the end, his wives and his counselors are delivering bad news to him that If he's really begun to fall before the Jewish people, he will certainly ultimately and totally fall and they haven't even finished speaking to him these things. The eunuchs come to get him to take him to the second banquet. So things have seemed like they were in Haman's control for the better part of the book of Esther but now it's clear that these things are completely out of His control now.

So as we go to chapter 7, let's pray. Our God, I thank You that Your people are the apple of your eye, the object of your affection. I thank you that anyone who touches your people have touched the apple of your eye. That you are unendingly, unbreakably faithful to come and to save and to rescue. Not one can ever be snatched from your hand, but You hold them.

You hold us. Thank you, O Lord, for the great comfort and confidence that we get from studying these chapters in Esther. I pray that you would bless us today. Give us more confidence in you than we have ever had before. Give us more joy in the thought of being under the shadow of your wing than we have ever had before.

We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Well, I would like to break chapter 7 into pieces. And the first piece will be verses 1-4. So let's read them again. Follow along as I read Esther 7, verses 1-4.

So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther. And on The second day, at the banquet of wine, the king said to Esther, What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted to you. And what is your request? Up to half the kingdom it shall be done.

And Queen Esther answered and said, If I have found favor in your sight, O King, and if it pleases the King, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. Had we been sold as male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king's loss. In these four verses we have simply Esther's request. If you're taking notes on the handout and filling in the blanks, That blank is request.

Esther's request. Finally we get Esther's request. The king keeps asking her what is it that you want and the king keeps promising to give her what she asked for up to half of the kingdom. And now Esther finally presents her request. We're at the second banquet on the second consecutive day.

So in our text when it says on the second day, It just is referring to this. There was a banquet and then on this second day there is a second banquet. And wow, have there been big changes in between these two banquets. At the end of the first banquet, Haman is on top of the world. He's been invited and it's only him and the king.

No one else was invited. He takes this as a great sign of favor, not only of the king's favor, but he's in the queen's favor as well. So when he leaves the first banquet, he's on top of the world. But now the second banquet is beginning and things have completely changed for him. As we studied in the last chapter, He was humiliated by his own suggestion in the last chapter.

Like the first banquet, as the feast is winding down, that's what the banquet of wine likely means. The feast is winding down and the feast concludes with the bringing out of various wines. You know the king is drinking the best wines. So they bring them out at the end of the meal. And as this feast is winding down, the king asks again, Esther, what do you want?

And he again promises. So this is the third ask and the third promise. This is the third time the king has said, what is it that you want Queen Esther? And the third time he's promised to give her whatever she asks for up to half of the kingdom. And Esther answers the question this time.

And she answers in kind. What I mean by that is the king has a repetition when he asks her, what is your petition and what is your request? And so she answers in the same fashion. She gives him her petition and she gives him her request. Again, she uses these gracious formalities, which probably would have been expected, but she answers accordingly.

Look in verse 3, 3. If I have found favor in your sight, O King, and if it pleases the King." So this is all about the pleasure of the King. This is probably how you were expected to make your requests of the King. But Esther is very gracious even in these formalities. Then she says, my petition is this, my life.

I want my life. My request is this, I want the lives of my people. Of course this is a single request. It isn't two different requests. Her life is bound up with the life of her people.

And she is outing herself as a member of this endangered people. She's not come out and said it. We knew from the end of chapter four that she was going to go to the king, she was going to make a request, and if she perished, she perished. She was willing to risk it all, to lay her life on the line in order to ask for the lives of her people. But she's never passed the point of no return up until this point.

Well, here she does it. She's now passed the point of no return. She has outed herself as a member of this endangered people and identified herself with this people. She has marked herself for death according to the decree of the king. And her description of this people is very exact and it's very purposeful.

Meaning, she can't afford to say this in any old way. She needs to be really careful about how she says this thing. It will become apparent why here in a minute. She says, this people that I'm a part of is a people that have been sold. This is a sold people.

What is that? What does that mean? Well, there has been a financial transaction, has there not? If we flip back to chapter 3 verse 9, here's what we read. And this was Haman's request.

If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they, this trouble making people within the kingdom, be destroyed and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work to bring it into the king's treasury." So they have literally been sold. They are literally part of a financial transaction between Haman and the king. And, Not only are they a people who have been sold, this is a people that have been marked out to be destroyed and killed and annihilated. Doesn't that mean the same thing? It does mean the same thing.

So why does she say it this way? Because she is quoting the decree. This is exactly how Haman structured the decree in chapter 3. If we went back to chapter 3 verse 13, it gives us the decree. And the exact same three Hebrew words are used in the exact same order as Esther says it here.

So it's clear it can't be anything else other than Esther quoting Haman's decree. So she's very exact and very purposeful in what she asks the king. It's clear that the king doesn't understand yet. He doesn't get it. But you can bet Haman is getting it.

Haman wrote the decree. Haman dictated the decree. And he's hearing the three words that he chose to kill and to destroy and to annihilate. He is hearing the same three words in the same order as he put them into the decree. Finally, Esther says that she would have accepted this and held her tongue had she and her people merely been sold into slavery.

After all, she's essentially been sold into slavery. Hasn't she been? Was her being brought in and prepared for a year and given an audition so to speak with the king was this her idea? No, far, far, far, far from it. She was swept up into this, had no choice about this.

There is a sense in which she herself has been sold into slavery. She is part of a people who were taken into captivity and the subjects of the king are the property of the king. Persia has not gotten the memo of inalienable rights given to us by God. They have not gotten that memo. If you're a subject of the king, you're a property of the king.

So she says, I would have bit my tongue had me and my people simply been sold into slavery." And then she ends by saying this, although the enemy could never compensate for the king's loss, I would have bit my tongue if you'd have sold us into slavery even though the enemy could never make up for the loss of me and my people. Now there is significant translational variation on this point which is relatively unusual in the Old Testament. When we think of the Bible in translational variation, it's not uncommon at all in the New Testament. We see it a lot in the New Testament. We see it much more infrequently in the Old Testament.

Well, here's why. In the Hebrew there are four words. Only one of those four words has a narrow range and it's the word that's translated king. It just means king. The other three words have a broad range of meaning.

So the translator is stuck with the job of taking a broad range and saying, in this case it probably means this. So you have three words like that in this construction of four words. Only the king is a gimme, so to speak, from a translational standpoint. And then three words with a broad range. And once you pick what you think it means for one word, that really sends you down a track for what it has to mean in the other words in order to make sense of the phrase.

So you see two predominant senses of translation. The first sense is what we see here. Although the enemy could never compensate for the king's loss. In other words, even being sold into slavery would be a great loss for the king. That's one translational sense.

If you choose other legitimate meanings within the broad range of meanings for these other three words. Here's the second sense that you really get. It wouldn't be worth bothering the king over. It wouldn't even be worth the king's time and attention to bother you over. It could be either.

But my view is, Esther is doing something very specific. The Lord's people, the Jews, the worshippers of the one true God, have been accused of being a threat to the kingdom. I believe that what Esther is saying here is, not only are the Lord's people not a threat to this or any kingdom, the Lord's people would be an asset to any king and kingdom. You could never compensate for the loss of the Lord's people because by definition the Lord's people are the best citizens in any kingdom. Here's what Matthew Henry says.

I think Matthew Henry hits the nail on the head. Matthew Henry says, to persecute good people is as impolitic as it is impious. What's he saying? Something that is impolitic would be bad politics. Bad for the kingdom.

And impious would mean it's a wicked thing to do. So what is he saying here? Matthew Henry is saying, Persecuting good people is not only wicked, it's bad politics. It's bad for a kingdom. So now I'll back up and read the whole statement.

To persecute good people is as impolitic as it is impious, and a manifest wrong to the interests of princes and states. They are weakened and impoverished by it." In other words, when a King persecutes the righteous in his kingdom. He weakens himself in his kingdom by doing it. I think this is exactly what Esther is saying. Had you sold us into slavery, let alone annihilation, had you sold us into slavery, it would have been a great loss to your kingdom.

You would have weakened yourself and your kingdom by doing it. You sold us too cheap. Verses five and six. Back to Esther chapter seven. Follow along as I read verses 5 and 6.

So King Ahasuerus answered and said to Queen Esther, Who is he and where is he who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing? And Esther said, the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. So Haman was terrified before the king and queen. In these two verses we have the enemy identified. If you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in blanks, it's identified.

The enemy identified. What a dramatic moment. This is really, in many ways, the pinnacle of the book of Esther. The favorite wife points her finger at the favorite courtier, and there's a showdown. It's going to have to either be the favorite wife or the favorite friend, the favorite courtier, the favored one of the king.

Consider how Esther has positioned the accusation so far. In order to do this, I'm going to quote Frederick Bush of the World Biblical Commentary. Remember, he is the commentator who really takes up the nuances of the Hebrew language. He's a Hebrew scholar and he's helping us understand the nuances of the language. But here's what he says, and I think this is so important to consider how Esther has positioned the accusation so far.

He says this, Esther's reply to the king's question reveals that she understands full well the delicate and precarious nature of her position. The threat against her and her people has two perpetrators, Haman and the king, and both are present with her. She must somehow fully expose the culpability of Haman while at the same time never appearing in any way to be bringing any charges against the king." Hence her response is extremely well thought out and presented with the utmost tact. You can't read this and then think about it and not get that Esther has completely thought this through. Frederick Bush is right.

There are two criminals in the room. The king went along with this. The decree was given along with the king's signet ring. This was signed, sealed, and delivered by the king with the full approval of the king. And yet, it's important that Esther point the finger only at Haman and not at the king.

And she has positioned her accusation perfectly. The king is not yet understanding. And So he said, who did this and where can I find him? How do I get my hands on the criminal here? So he spits out these two questions.

And Frederick Bush says, it's too bad you don't know Hebrew. If you did, the expression that is chosen is so guttural, it really is the spitting out. If you would hear it in Hebrew, It would sound like words being spit at you because of the word choice here. So we should think of it that way. And here are the two questions in the second part of verse 5.

Who is he and where is he who would dare presume in his heart to threaten the life of the Queen and her people. Now is the moment of truth. Will the king keep his promise to grant his request? We sort of read it like a foregone conclusion, but think of what we know about the king. Do you think it's a foregone conclusion that he will honor his promise, even though he promised three times.

What do you know about this king? You know that he's impulsive. You know that he's bestowed his favor on a wicked man in Haman. You know he's already given his approval to genocide. Now he didn't know who would be killed, but he has no problem with genocide.

Haman came to him and said, there are troublemakers within your kingdom. Do I have permission to annihilate them all? And he said, sure, here's my ring. It's not a foregone conclusion that he will honor his promise. Don't lose sight of this.

The king is a man with a heart of stone. He's a man with a heart of stone. And he's unstable as water, and he's been proving that through the first six chapters of the book. Esther says this, the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. She doesn't hold anything back.

Now all cards are on the table. She has identified herself and she has identified Haman. She has said that she is part of this people who are in peril and she has called Haman a criminal. And there is no backing out now. And all the blood drains out of Haman's face.

And he is terrified before the king and the queen. He never saw this coming. He didn't know that Esther was a Jew. So as he was plotting his vengeance against Mordecai and against all of the Lord's people, he never factored this into his calculations because he didn't know that she was a Jew. It's worth noting, to this point, Haman has been a raging, insolent, arrogant enemy.

Isn't that what we know of Haman? He's frothing. He can't wait to wipe the Lord's people off the face of the earth. He is filled with pride. Who would have ever thought that he would have gone with a whimper?

You would have thought, You would have predicted based on the chapters up to this point, based on what we know about Haman up to this point, that he would go raging, that you would take him raging to the gallows. But not so. Esther has been softening up the king through her kindnesses and through these banquets. Well, God has been softening up Haman through the events of the last 24 hours. God has taken him from a raging, insolent, arrogant enemy, and he's turned him into a puddle of fear.

This is what we have now. Verses 7-10. Let's continue through the last verses. Esther chapter 7, verses 7-10. Then the king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden.

But Haman stood before Queen Esther, pleading for his life, For he saw that evil was determined against him by the king. When the king returned from the palace garden to the place of the banquet of wine, Haman had fallen across the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, Will he also assault the queen while I am in the house? As the word left the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face. Now Harbono, one of the eunuchs, said to the king, Look, The gallows fifty cubits high which Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke good on the king's behalf, is standing at the house of Haman.

Then the king said, hang him on it. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's wrath subsided. Here in these verses, we have a good use of the gallows. So if you're taking notes and filling in blanks, it's good use.

A good use of the gallows. 24 hours earlier, Haman was the exclusive guest of the king and queen, and he was parading himself like a peacock. He was at the height of his glory, and now he's hanging on the gallows that he had built for another. King Ahasuerus storms out of the banquet into the palace garden. If we don't know how to interpret that, Haman knew how.

He knew that evil was determined against him. The object of the king's fury was him. He was the object of the king's fury. Here's what Matthew Poole says, and I like it because it doesn't force us to choose against the options about what is the king really doing when he storms out of the banquet. Here's what Matthew Poole says, "...partly as disdaining the company and sight of so ungrateful and audacious a person.

Partly to cool and allay his troubled and inflamed spirits. And partly to consider within himself the heinousness of Haman's crime and the mischief which himself had done by his own rashness and what punishment was fit to be inflicted upon so great a delinquent." Meaning, he needs time to think. And so Matthew Poole says, let's not choose between these. Let's say that all these are legitimate reasons why the king would storm out of this banquet, and that it was a little of all of them. We're left to speculate, but I like the speculation which includes these different things.

Heyman seems to be undone, doesn't he? But not quite yet. He's still in the same boat with the king. Isn't he? I mean, I don't mean a physical boat.

They're equally guilty of what Esther is saying. Even though Esther didn't say it, it's true. The king has to know that it's true. The king has to know that he has given his approval to this. But I want to argue that this makes it worse for Haman, not better.

That the king is in the boat with him actually compounds the problem for Haman. How so? We've all had times where we trusted someone, but they let us down. Anybody know nothing about this, having trusted someone but they let you down? That's not what this is.

This would be if you've trusted someone and they knowingly, actively betrayed that trust in a way that then put you in a terrible position. This goes so far beyond, hey, I trusted somebody and they let me down. This is miles beyond that. This is, You gave your trust to someone, you gave them a long leash to do as they thought was best, and they knowingly and actively betrayed that trust in a way that put you in a terrible position. If you've ever had that happen to you, you know how furious the king is.

This is the circumstance that the king finds himself in. He finds himself in this very awkward position of having blessed a decree that would annihilate his queen. Because Haman exploited the king's carelessness. I think this is exactly what the king is feeling now. He knows that Haman exploited his carelessness in order to do this, and now it galls him.

Meanwhile, Haman is still at the banquet begging for his life. He starts standing, but soon he's thrown himself across the couch that Esther is reclining on. So it talks about a couch. Well, this isn't like your living room couch. They would be reclining at the table at the banquet.

And now Haman has thrown himself across this couch just in time for the king to reenter. Understand there are very, very, very, very, very strict laws governing how any man could interact with the kings, wives, and concubines. We don't have a frame of reference for this. But just think, there are eunuchs. Normally the only man around the king's wives and concubines have been physically altered to have interactions that the king can believe are trustworthy.

And now he comes back in and Haman, who has exploited his weaknesses and put him in a terrible position, has thrown himself across the couch on which the queen is reclined. Certainly a violation of the strict laws governing how any man could interact with the queen's wives and concubines. That said, I think it's highly unlikely that the king really believes that Haman is assaulting the queen. Matthew Henry says this, It was but lately that everything Haman said and did, even that which was most criminal, was taken well and construed to his advantage. Isn't that true?

It was just yesterday that the king would pretty much do anything for Haman. He had been elevated above every other man in the kingdom. It's a man's world. He's number two in an empire that stretches 3, 000 miles across. Everything he said and did, even the most criminal thing was taken well and construed to his advantage.

Matthew Henry continues, Now, On the contrary, what Haman did that was not only innocent, but a sign of repentance, is ill taken, and without color of reason construed to his disadvantage. This is what happens when you exploit other people's weaknesses, when you betray their trust. The benefit of the doubt is gone for Haman. And even something that is innocently done is taken ill. Haman has done what?

He's actually handed the king a way to condemn him in something in which the king is not also complicit. He just handed the king a way out. Because the king was as guilty as Haman in the decree. But now his improper interactions with the queen have given him something in which he's not guilty in a way to condemn him. Whatever the case, as soon as the king speaks, the servants act immediately to cover his face.

All the commentators agree that this is a sign of condemnation. When they cover his face it would be like putting the hood over the head of a condemned man. It seems like, it reads like to me that there's no love lost between the rest of the king's servants and Haman. What we find throughout the course of the book of Esther is that she wins favor everywhere. Isn't that true?

They're looking for a potential wife for the king. She's beautiful and so she's caught up in this. She immediately gains favor among the head of the eunuchs. And then of all the women paraded before the king night after night, she wins favor in the eyes of the king. Haman, not so much.

Have you ever been around a man or a woman like Haman, just full of themselves to the brim? That might fly when they're in favor, but as soon as they are out of favor, the piling on starts. This reads to me like there is a piling on that is happening here. Now Harbonah the eunuch speaks. We met him first in chapter 1 verse 10.

If you remember chapter 1, when the king wants to show off Queen Vashti, he sends seven eunuchs to get her. Harbono was one of them. It's possible He was one of the eunuchs sent to go and bring Haman to this feast. We're not given the names, but at least we've met him early. He speaks and this is what he says in the second part of verse 9.

Look at the gallows, 50 cubits high. The implication is, a cubit would be a foot and a half. So we're talking 75 foot high gallows. And apparently the palace is in the shadow of it. So he can say, look, the gallows that Haman has constructed, which Haman made for Mordecai who spoke good on the king's behalf.

Remember, we're the same day that the King has discovered that Mordecai saved his life by uncovering an assassination plot and he is honored on this same day. But Haman had intended to hang Mordecai on this gallows standing at his house. And this seals Haman's condemnation. If there was any doubt about how this was going to end, this being revealed at this time seals Haman's fate. And Haman is hung on the gallows he built for Mordecai on his own doorstep, his body's hanging over his own house.

Applications. The most obvious applications for this would be, be like Esther. Be courageous, be shrewd in your dealings. She has been both courageous and shrewd. And don't be like Haman.

Don't be bloodthirsty and arrogant. Those are good applications and the obvious ones, but I'm actually headed in a different direction today. I have three applications. The first is this. Don't draw the wrong conclusion from what you see today.

Don't draw the wrong conclusion from what you see today. It is the end that matters. Today only has data points. If you say, I know exactly how everything is going to end because of today's data point, more often than not you will get it wrong. Turn in your Bibles to Psalm 78.

We are actually going to read all of Psalm 78. Excuse me, 73. Wrong number. Psalm 73. As I read these 28 verses, I know that's a lot, and it's sort of against the rules to introduce new texts in the applications, but I'm going to risk it.

Psalm 73. As we read Psalm 73, think about Haman. A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the boastful when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride serves as their necklace. Violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance.

They have more than their heart could wish. They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression. They speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walks through the earth. Therefore, His people return here and waters of a full cup are drained by them.

They say, How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the ungodly who are always at ease, they increase in riches. Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued and chastened every morning.

If I had said, I will speak thus, behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of your children. When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their end. Surely you set them in slippery places. You cast them down to destruction.

Oh, how they are brought to desolation as in a moment. They are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, so, Lord, when you awake, you shall despise their image. Thus my heart was grieved and I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant I was like a beast before you.

Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with your counsel and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you, and there is none upon earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

For indeed, those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who desert you for harlotry. But it is good for me to draw near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord God that I may declare all your works." What is Asaph, the psalmist, saying here? He's saying, I almost fell into the trap of drawing the wrong conclusions from today's data point.

Here are the wicked, they're flourishing. I've cleansed my heart in vain. I'm trying to live righteously in vain. I have nothing but trouble to show for it. Meanwhile, the wicked is increasing in abundance every day.

What is the good of serving God? He says, then I went into the house of the Lord. He was set straight. He was set right in his thinking about these things. He saw the end of the wicked, that though they prosper Like a flower of the field, it's so fleeting and they're destroyed in a minute.

If we drew our conclusions after Esther 5, we would get it all wrong, wouldn't we? Haman wins. The righteous win. Excuse me, the wicked win. But no, it's not right to draw our conclusions from what we see today.

It is the end that matters. Proverbs 26 verse 27 is still true. Listen to Proverbs 26 verse 27. Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him. Friends, brethren, be careful about what you're planning.

Be careful about what you're planning. If you dig a pit, you'll fall into it. If you roll a stone, it will roll back on you. We are going to encounter situations like this throughout the course of our lives when it seems like the wicked are prospering. But the more faithful we are, the more it's true that we can't buy or break.

Has that ever happened to you? You've observed the ease and the abundance of the wicked And you think, what is the use? That almost happened to Asaph. You're in good company. We don't draw our conclusions from the circumstances of today.

We know that it is the end that matters and that God has a thousand ways to set things right in the end. We are going to encounter situations like this. Keep calm and carry on. Number two. Unbelievers get what they deserve in the end.

And it's not until you start to get a handle on the book, God's book, and what God has revealed Himself to be, and what God has revealed mankind to be that you begin to be terrified by that statement. Unbelievers get what they deserve because until you begin to wrap your arms around who God has revealed Himself to be and who God has revealed man to be, you think that unbelievers don't deserve very much that's bad. But when you begin to see God as He is in His complete unmixed holiness, and you begin to see man as he is where everything that he does is mixed. Even his best things are like filthy rags before this holy God. The thought of getting what you deserve becomes very terrifying.

Unbelievers get what they deserve in the end. And truthfully, often, even before the end, Unbelievers begin to get what they deserve. Those who seem to be prospering and enjoying their abundance in their wickedness, that often turns even in this life. Believers get what Christ deserves in the end. So unbelievers get what they deserve, and that's terrifying when we consider the holiness of God and the unholiness of every man, woman, child who ever lived.

Believers, those who trust in Christ, get what Christ deserves in the end. Think of His complete, cheerful, Thankful obedience. And what God has promised to those who cheerfully, thankfully, completely obey Him. This is Christ and what He deserves. The favor of God that Christ deserves, you get it by faith.

Unbelievers get what they deserve in the end. Believers get what Christ deserves in the end. Consider this and be wise. No one will ever beat this system. No one living will ever beat this system of those outside of Christ who have not trusted completely in Christ's work to be saved.

No one who is outside of Christ will ever beat this and get something other than what they deserve. God will render it perfectly. No one in Christ will ever get anything other than what Christ deserves. Consider and be wise. Number three, finally, check yourself because we are all easily self-deceived.

Check yourself. Yes, there is refuge in Christ. But this refuge is for those who are actually in Christ, not for those who profess to be in Christ. Listen to this. I'm going to read a section that we preach almost every time we're out at the abortion clinic.

We're preaching this. And we preach it because we are in the South where we are all saved. We are the buckle of the Bible belt, aren't we? And everyone has grown up assuming that they are Christian. Here is what Jesus says that will help us to face our own inclination to deceive ourselves.

Matthew 7, 21-23, this is Jesus. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness." This is stunning. What Jesus says here is stunning.

First, the magnitude of it. Many will say to me in that day, this is not just a few who will be surprised on the day in which we stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, the Judge of the living and the dead, to give an account, and many will be in this condition, many. Not a few, but many. And they will have a profession. They will say, Jesus, you're Lord!

Lord! Lord! They will lay claim by profession to Christ. And they will have a list of reasons, a list of works. And listen to the list of works.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, done many wonders in your name? Which of those have you done? Have you prophesied in Christ's name? Have you cast out demons in Christ's name? Have you done many wonders in Christ's name?

I think the list is meant to humble us and let us know that there are people whose lists are better than our lists who will stand before Christ, professing His name. That's better than my list. Is that better than your list? And he will say to them terrifying words, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. In other words, they had a pattern of life that told the real tale that They were liars.

They had a profession that Jesus was Lord, but He was never Lord. They had a profession that they knew Jesus, but He never knew them. We are almost exclusively professing believers here today. Isn't that true? The number of people in the room who don't say, I'm in Christ, you could probably count those people on one hand.

We must ask ourselves, am I bearing fruit or am I practicing lawlessness? If you are not bearing fruit and you are practicing lawlessness, It doesn't matter what you say about yourself. You are not in Christ. Keep the order right. We're not doing things to say, I did the things, I must be in Christ.

No, no, no. It's exactly the opposite. The question is, has your heart of stone been removed and is there proof that you've been given a heart of flesh? If God has really removed the heart of stone and really given you a warm, alive heart, a heart of flesh, then you cannot persist in a life that is characterized by lawlessness. The truth is, you and I are Haman in the story.

We're proud. And some of us have done our raging against God in a more sophisticated way than Haman. But the human heart, every human heart, is bent against God until we repent. Bent against God until we repent. And no amount of sophistication and pretending And doing outward things without the inward heart changes the truth of the matter.

Am I bearing fruit or am I practicing lawlessness? You know what? You can practice lawlessness and be acceptable to everyone around you. You can practice lawlessness in your heart completely undetected by your Christian friends. That's true.

This is a call to see ourselves not as the hero in the text, but as the villain in need of rescue. In need of rescue. Let's pray. God, Your Word really is like a mirror. We come to it liking to think well of ourselves, but your Word reveals things that we have not wanted to admit about ourselves.

Our pride. How we really want to be God and to govern ourselves. God, I pray that you would send your Spirit into our hearts to help us to discern these things, to test ourselves, examine ourselves, to see whether we are in the faith. Oh God, don't let us arrive at the day when we will give an account and be surprised. Having our list of things, having a profession of faith, but never having been known by you, always having practiced a life of lawlessness, maybe even undetected by everyone else.

But you know No one can hide from you. God, I thank you for the book of Esther and the truths that we're learning here. Press these truths on our heart. Thank you for your care for your people, which is on display in this book. I thank you