In Esther chapter 5, Esther courageously approaches King Xerxes without being summoned, risking her life to save her people. She finds favor with the king, who offers her anything she desires, up to half the kingdom. Esther invites the king and Haman to a banquet, where she plans to make her request known. Meanwhile, Haman's pride and hatred for Mordecai lead him to construct gallows for Mordecai's execution, unaware that he is setting a trap for himself. The sermon emphasizes God's unseen hand orchestrating events for the deliverance of His people, highlighting the faith and courage of Esther and Mordecai. It also explores themes of pride, honor, and the importance of using one's resources for God's kingdom.

Thanks for today is Esther chapter 5. Please follow along as we read. Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace across from the king's house while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house. So it was when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court that she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter.

And the king said to her, What do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you, up to half the kingdom. So Esther answered, If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him." Then the king said, ìBring Haman quickly, that he may do as Esther has said.î So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared. At the banquet of wine, the king said to Esther, ìWhat is your petition?

It shall be granted to you. What is your request? Up to half the kingdom it shall be done.' Then Esther answered and said, My petition and request is this, if I have found favor in the sight of the king and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, then let the king and Haman come to the banquet which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said.' So Haman went out that day, joyful and with a glad heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, and that he did not stand or tremble before him, He was filled with indignation against Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home, and he sent and called for his friends and his wife, Suresh.

Then Haman told them of his great riches, the multitude of his children, everything in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and servants of the king. Moreover, Haman said, Besides, Queen Esther invited no one but me to come in with the king to the banquet that she prepared, and tomorrow I am again invited by her, along with the king. Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate. Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, Let a gallows be made, fifty cubits high, and in the morning suggest to the king that Mordecai be hanged on it, then go merrily with the king to the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made.

The title of the sermon this morning is Setting the Trap. And make no mistake, a trap is being set but no human is setting it. It is God who is setting the trap and in a couple of chapters He will spring the trap. Again, Esther, even though the book doesn't mention God by name, God is the main character of the book of Esther. He is on every page.

He is coordinating every event in the sequence of those events. Through the early chapters, it's felt to me like the walls were closing in on Esther and Mordecai. If you can make yourself, as much as you can, read it like you're reading it for the first time, like you don't know how it's going to end, this is tremendously dramatic. And the circumstances are putting the squeeze on Esther and Mordecai. The walls are closing in.

Esther is swept up, undoubtedly contrary to her will, in this search for a beautiful wife, a trophy wife for the king of the empire. Haman the enemy of the Jews has zeroed in on Mordecai and his dishonor towards him and has actually turned that into a decree with the King's stamp on it to completely annihilate, wipe the Jewish people off the face of the earth. Esther is the queen, but it doesn't seem like there's much value in that. It's clear that the king is not looking to her for anything besides being good-looking. So there's no influence really that we can detect from her becoming queen.

In chapter 4, last week's chapter, Mordecai and Esther both have their pivotal moment where they have this choice before them. They really can't delay. They either have to stand up and be counted for the people of God, or they have to shrink back into the shadows and try to save their own skin. And for both of them, It's the same. They both stand up to be counted, to identify themselves with the Lord's people, and to advocate for the Lord's people.

And they lay everything on the line. It's all or nothing for both Mordecai and Esther now. So up to this point in the book, the wicked have been prospering, but now in chapter 5 we see that God begins to turn the tide. Is that going to pick up steam in the next two chapters? The wicked are going to stop prospering.

And the righteous are going to gain the victory because God is faithful. That's what Esther is about. God is faithful. So as we come to the text, let's pray and ask the Lord to help us. Our God, you are King.

You are the sovereign over heaven and earth. Nothing in all the universe happens without you noticing, without you ordaining that it would happen. So far from you permitting, you establish everything that happens with a view to your own glory and the good of your people. Oh Father, your people are so safe in your hands. How could we be more safe than to be under the shadow of your wing.

And I pray that as we work our way through the book of Esther, that our faith would rise. You would cause us to trust in you. With all of our hearts we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Well, I do this week intend to break the chapter into sections and look at each section. So let's again read verses 1 through 5.

Esther chapter 5 verses 1 through 5. Follow along as I read. Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the King's palace, across from the King's house, while the King sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house. So it was when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, and she found favor in his sight. And the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand.

Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter. And the king said to her, What do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you, up to half the kingdom." So Esther answered, "'If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.'" Then the king said, "'Bring Haman quickly, that he may do as Esther has said. So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

In these five verses, Esther risks it all and is richly rewarded. So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's risks rewarded. Esther risks it all and is richly rewarded. We have a time marker here. It says, on the third day, the third day of what?

If we go to the last few verses of chapter 4, the chapter that we're coming out of, Esther has called for a three day fast, actually an extreme fast. No food, no water, three days, three nights. This would bring you close to death. This is an extreme fast. You can go from four to eight or nine days without water.

So you might not be far from death. This is a very extreme fast, but these are extreme circumstances. And Esther has called for this fast and Mordecai has obeyed Esther's command and has gathered the Jews in Shushan. And they are all fasting. Even the Queen and her maids are fasting.

So this is the third day of this fast. So Esther is coming before the king during the fast. She is probably still fasting, but definitely the Jews are together with her in heart and soul fasting and crying out to the Lord for her help. Esther dresses in her royal attire and she enters the inner court. She is not in the immediate presence of the king, but she is where the king can see her as he is seated on his throne.

He is essentially holding court. He is sitting on his throne and she comes not into his immediate presence, but where he can see her. She is dressed in a royal attire, so he recognizes immediately that this is the Queen. And this is the moment of truth. Because she's not been summoned, and as we learned in the last chapter, the law is this.

If you've not been summoned, you die. And the only exceptions to that, the king has to grant an exception to that law by extending his golden scepter to you. If he doesn't extend the scepter, you die for coming when you were not summoned. The text says that she finds favor in his sight. The Hebrew word here has an active sense, not a passive sense.

It would be maybe even better to say She wins his favor. This is less about the king's disposition and more about what she has laid hold of by her actions. This is just like chapter 2 verse 9 with Hegai, the custodian of the women. It says that she obtained his favor. It's the exact same Hebrew word.

She won his favor by being like what she was like. And consider Vashti. In the same way that Esther actively wins the king's favor, Vashti actively won, so to speak, the king's disfavor. She continues to really be sort of the anti-Vashti. And He holds out his scepter and she approaches and she touches the tip.

This would be a thankful acknowledgement for the good graces of the king. This exception that has been granted to her that allows her to keep her life. She's thankfully acknowledging that by touching the tip of the scepter. And then verse 3 is completely astonishing. Look at verse 3 again.

And the king said to her, what do you wish, clean Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you up to half the kingdom, an empire 3, 000 miles wide. You can have your 1, 500 miles. Here's what Matthew Henry says.

God in His providence often prevents the fears and out does the hopes of His people, especially when they venture in His cause. Matthew Henry is saying, when the people of God venture in God's cause, he often takes their fears and the things that they were afraid of. Esther was afraid, if I go to the king without being summoned, I'll be killed. He won't extend his scepter and I'll lose my life. She was afraid of that.

And God, when he sees Esther, his daughter, venture in his cause, he prevents what she feared from happening. And out does the hopes. You would think she'll be lucky just to live. And here's the king saying, up to half the kingdom, whatever you want, I'll give it to you. Such a favorable disposition towards her.

Now this offer is not a literal offer. She can't really have half the kingdom. I wonder what would happen if she asked for half the kingdom, but it would have been understood that this is not a literal offer. Herod in Mark chapter 6 verse 23, Mark 6 23, Herod, His stepdaughter, Herodias, the daughter of Herodias, dances in his presence and he is so pleased he offers her whatever she wants up to half the kingdom. I think wicked kings like to make this offer.

It's not a literal offer, but what it means is, I will favorably consider even the most significant request. So it's a clear and unequivocal commitment to favorably look upon even an enormous ask, an enormous request. That's obviously what's meant here. Esther responds very graciously, if it pleases the King, if you would be pleased by this, then I request for you and Haman, to you and Haman, to come today without delay to the banquet that is prepared. It has been prepared.

And so she's gone through the pains. She's been fasting and praying. Her maids have been fasting and praying. All the Jews in Shushan have been fasting and praying. And she's acting like God is going to say yes to their prayers.

The banquet is ready. Come today. If you agree, I'll make a banquet. The banquet is ready. Come to the Banquet is what Esther says.

The king understands that that request is not the request. It is a request that leads to the request. Come to the banquet for the request. Here is what Frederick Bush of the World Biblical Commentary says. He says, banquets were socially appropriate window dressing and protocol for serious petitions and negotiations.

In other words, if you had a big ask, a significant request, this would be a normal acceptable way to go about it. Come to the banquet and I'll make the request at the banquet. It's a business dinner. This has not gone away through the millennia. This is still a very socially acceptable way to present a big ask.

The king agrees and he immediately sends for Haman and they go to the banquet. Before we move on, I'd like to make an observation. What we see in Esther is how the Lord's people are to relate to authorities. It is a respectful acknowledgement that the authority exists and it expresses honor all the way. Everything that Esther has done in our text today expresses honor for the authorities that God has set up.

Now, The history books say that Xerxes was a wicked man even by pagan standards. This is a wicked man, this is not a righteous authority, this is an unrighteous authority, an unbelieving authority. And so she's not honoring him because he's earned the position of honor. She's honoring him because he's the authority. And Romans 13 says that if you're an authority it's because God has made you an authority.

He is wise and sees the big picture and sometimes he sets up ungodly, unrighteous authorities. What are Christians to do? Dishonor them because they are ungodly and unrighteous? No, they are to honor them. This is what Esther is doing in our text.

Here's a question for you. Do you insist that the authorities that God has put in your life be godly according to your judgment, be righteous according to your judgment, And then you will honor them as a reward for them proving themselves to you. That is not God's way. Parents. First of all, I'll say parents.

Your children are watching how you relate to the authorities that God has put in your life. Expect to get the same. It doesn't let children off the hook. Children should honor the authorities that God has put in their life. You're the most immediate one.

Children should honor you, period. There's no more that needs to be said in that sentence. But you should not think that you can relate in a dishonoring way with the authorities that God has put in your life and not see that trickle into your children. That is an unreasonable expectation. The first observation to parents is, how do you relate to the authorities that God has put in your life?

It matters for your children. Secondly, parents, have you taught the righteous appeal to your children? This is textbook righteous appeal here. Coming graciously, honorably, honoring, and presenting the request in a framework of acknowledgement of the authority and honor. One of the most valuable child training tips we ever got was, don't ever let your children ask you why.

Teach them to say, may we discuss that. May we discuss that is just an example, one example of many, many, many of a righteous appeal. Why says, If I'm satisfied with what you say next, I'll go along with you mom and dad. That is dishonor. That is dishonor.

So, children, When you appeal to your parents, when you want to know why, there is an honorable, righteous appeal to be made that is positioned differently. Positioned within a framework of honor and respect. It is the way that the Lord's people should relate with the authorities that God puts in their life. Your most immediate authority is your parents. May we discuss that?

That leaves the parents in the position of authority. And they say, yes, we can discuss that. Or they say, not now. You've acknowledged that they are the authority and you're perfectly willing to submit. Verses 6-8.

Moving on to the next section. Esther chapter 5 verses 6 through 8. Follow along. At the banquet of wine, the king said to Esther, What is your petition? It shall be granted.

What is your request? Up to half the kingdom it shall be done. Then Esther answered and said, My petition and request is this, if I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, Then let the king and Haman come to the banquet, which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said." In the second section we have the first banquet leads to a second banquet. So we're told about the happenings of the first banquet and then it leads to the invitation to a second banquet. If you're filling in blanks, there's one blank and it's banquet.

The first banquet leads to a second one. Now they are at the banquet of wine. This was undoubtedly a multi-course meal. It's a banquet. And this is probably at the end of the meal.

And So where multiple wines would be served to enjoy. This would be the wine course, so to speak. So think of a multi-course meal, and as the meal winds down, then you have the wine course at the end of the meal. What is really happening here? I believe that Esther is softening the ground and preparing the ground to plant the seed.

Meaning the request is going to be the planting of a seed in the heart and mind of the king. You can go out with the seed and throw it on hard ground and hope for the best. That's not how wise people go about it. That's not how Esther is. I think she's plowing up the ground.

She's watering the ground. She's softening it up, preparing it to receive seed and produce the harvest that she's looking for. There's a wonderful meal. And then there's wine to enjoy. She's brought in the king's favorite company.

If Haman is not the king's favorite company, what is he doing as second in command in the kingdom? This is the king's preferred company, and there is a wonderful meal, and there is wine to enjoy. She has been watering and plowing up the ground and making it ready to receive the seed and produce this harvest that she's looking for. Consider what Esther is really asking. Here's what Ian Dougwood of the Reformed Expository commentary says.

She was asking for the reversal of an irreversible law, which had been sponsored by the most powerful man in the empire and signed with the king's own signet ring. And granting her request would cost the king 10, 000 talents of silver that Haman had promised to put in his treasury. That sounds like a tall mountain to climb to me. Does it sound like a tall mountain to climb to you? Oh King, please reverse the irreversible law and go against the council that you've already accepted from the second most powerful man in the empire, and forfeit the 10, 000 pounds, 10, 000 talents of silver.

Let me think about that one. That's a tall mountain to climb. Esther might as well be asking for half the kingdom. She might as well be asking for her 1500 miles of expanse. Remember the last time a decision regarding a queen was made.

It was Vashti, right? And he calls for Vashti, she says, no I'm not coming. He didn't anticipate that. What does he do? He gathers his seven counselors and they decide, where is Vashti?

She's nowhere, she's nowhere participating in the decision. The discussion is had and the decisions are made and it is simply imposed upon her. That was the last decision about a queen. What has Esther done? She has softened up the ground and by inviting Haman and only Haman she has set it up where it will be a confrontation where she is there and the counselors are not there.

It's her and the king and Haman. She has set the stage as favorably for her request as she possibly can. Imagine the other sequence. She goes to the king in private. She says, King, here is my request in private.

And he says, I'll consider that. And he goes away and he talks to Haman and his other seven counselors. How do you like your chances now? That's a very different scenario than what she has set up through the way she has gone about this. The king asked her again for her request.

Again, committing a favorable response. A clear, unequivocal commitment to favorably consider even the most significant request. Look again at verse 7. Look again at verse 7. Then Esther answered and said, My petition and request is this, Frederick Bush, again of the World Biblical Commentary, that commentary, the World Biblical Commentary, is focused on helping people like me, who don't know the original languages, understand the nuances of the original language.

Here's what he says we can gain by understanding the nuances of a thorough knowledge of Hebrew. He says, a better rendering would be, then Esther answered and said, my petition and request...trailing off...if you'll come to a banquet tomorrow, I'll make my request to you. In other words, it's starting, but tailing off, and never really going where she started, and then restarting in a different direction. My request, my petition and my request, not now, dot dot dot. If you'll come to a banquet tomorrow, I'll reveal it.

And That is completely consistent, whether you accept that translationally or not, that sense is completely consistent with our context. In fact, if you've got some translations, italicize words that have been added by the translator. Meaning there is not a one to one back to the original language, but the translators have thought to give the accurate sense of this we need to add a couple of words. So my Bible is like that. Verse 7 reads, Then Esther answered and said, My petition and request is this, but is this, or italicized?

It's not there in the Hebrew. The translators thought that we needed it for meaning. So she starts and stops and then restarts and invites them to a banquet the next day. She invites King and Haman only, again, to a second banquet the next day. And she promises to reveal her petition at that time.

In other words, she's not stringing them along endlessly. She says, come to the banquet tomorrow. Tomorrow I will reveal my request. Now, why the delay? Why?

A cycle and banquet. Isn't the ground soft enough? Well, It could be that she loses her nerve. It could be. She's just not ready.

And maybe she wants that whole second day and night, excuse me, third day and night of fasting and appealing to the Lord to be completed, or maybe she wants to soften the ground more, the text doesn't say. But we know looking back how important the delay is. Whatever the reason for Esther not making the appeal now at the first banquet, God is at work. God is precisely and perfectly sequencing exactly the right activities, actions, circumstances, to work all this out for the deliverance of his people with such precision. You just have to love that when you read this book.

Such precision. Nothing is wasted in the book of Esther. God is working perfectly. All I can say is that this all seems masterfully done by Esther to me. Masterfully done by Esther.

Could the king be more engaged? Can you imagine a circumstance in which your curiosity would be peaked more than his has to be now? He has offered her half the kingdom twice. And she is being so gracious. Orchestrating everything around his tastes and likes.

Could Haman be more curious about what she is going to ask? Now let's try to apply this. What out of this section should we pull into our own lives so that we are different and better? More godly. In Luke chapter 16 is the parable of the unjust steward.

It's called the parable of the unjust steward because the steward really acts like a rogue in the parable. He's not acting in his master's interests at all. But at the end of the parable, the Master actually commends him for his shrewdness. It doesn't mean that the actions of the unjust steward, we should imitate the unjust steward, but as Jesus is explaining this parable, He ends it this way in verse 8, For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. He is saying that the unbelievers are shrewder than the people of God.

The unbelievers will mobilize everything in their power for their own interests. Now go do that for the kingdom. That's the whole point. That is the whole point of that parable. Not that the unjust steward should be imitated in his unjustness, but that like the people of this world mobilize everything for influence in their own interest, the people of God should do the same thing for God's Kingdom.

Every resource, all your brains, all your money, all the material, all the relationships that we have should be mobilized in order to influence things to advance God's Kingdom. That's the whole point. Esther is doing this. Esther has resources and she has mobilized them all to advocate for the people of God to advance God's Kingdom. What about us?

What resources has God put in your hands? Husbands. Has He given you a wife? Wife. Has He given you a husband?

I guess by definition. If you're a husband he has given you a wife. If you're a wife, he has given you a husband. These are resources. God has put something in your life that we are to mobilize to influence the world to advance Christ's kingdom.

The unjust steward would put it all to work for his own interest. We should put it all to work to advance the kingdom of our God. Esther is doing this in Esther chapter 5. Remarkably, masterfully doing this in Esther chapter 5. Friends, brothers and sisters, think of the resources that God has given you.

Use them. Mobilize them all to advance Christ's Kingdom. Dream of ways you can use the resources that God has given you. Husbands and wives dream together about how God might use the things that he's given to you. We should be wondering, why'd God give us this?

We should be wondering, why's God given me the resources he's giving me? How can I creatively mobilize this so that Christ looms large near where I live? Final section, verses 9 through 14. Follow along as I read. Esther 5, 9.

So Haman went out that day joyful and with a glad heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, and that he did not stand or tremble before him, he was filled with indignation against Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home, and he sent and called for his friends and his wife Zeresh. Then Haman told them of his great riches, the multitude of his children, everything in which the king had promoted him and how he had advanced him above the officials and servants of the king. Moreover, Haman said, Besides, Queen Esther invited no one but me to come in with the king to the banquet that she prepared, and tomorrow I am again invited by her along with the king.

Yet all this avails me nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting in the king's gate. Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and in the morning suggest to the king that Mordecai be hanged on it. Then go merrily with the king to the banquet." And the thing pleased Haman, So he had the gallows made. You see God setting the trap. Up go the gallows.

In this section, we have Haman's encounter with Mordecai and its results. So if you're taking notes and filling in blanks on the handout. Encounter Results. Haman's encounter with Mordecai and its results. Now consider two chapters back.

Chapter 3, verses 5 and 6. Esther 3, verses 5 and 6. But he disdained, excuse me, verse 5. When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay him homage, Haman was filled with wrath. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai.

Instead, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, the people of Mordecai. This is how all this started, right? Mordecai won't bow, you're supposed to bow, and the servants say, hey why won't you bow? They speak to him daily. He says, I'm a Jew.

I can't. Probably has to do with a 1000 year old rivalry between Amelikites and the people of God. Almost certainly it has to do with that. And so the fellow servants of Mordecai come and they tell Haman and Haman sure enough finds that to be true. He will not bow.

He is filled with wrath. But he won't lay hand. He won't deal with Mordecai. This is a replay of that in our chapter. He won't deal with Mordecai, he goes for the Jews.

And same here, he goes home. Now many of the commentators that I read this past week said He could have killed him on the spot trusting in a pardon. He could have killed Mordecai on the spot for this slight. And trusting that the king of course would pardon him. The king has said you can annihilate an entire people group for this behavior.

For not honoring when I say honor. The problem with chapter 3 verses 5 and 6 where he disdained to deal with Mordecai and he went for the whole thing. He went for all the Jews. The problem with that for Haman is it leaves Mordecai still serving the king. That's what it means that he's in the king's gate.

This is part of his position. He is still serving the king. So it galls Haman that this man Mordecai who will not bow to him is still in the service of the king. And he comes out of the banquet, he is on top of the world until he sees Mordecai. And Mordecai won't even rise in his presence and he won't tremble.

The whole race is going to be wiped off the earth in a few months and he won't tremble. Why won't he tremble? To walk by sight would be to tremble. To know the decree would be to tremble. But Mordecai is the Lord's and he's gathered the Lord's people to fast and to call out on the Lord.

And you know what? He believes God is going to come and deliver. Isn't that what he said to Esther in the last chapter? If deliverance doesn't come through you, it will come through someone else. But God will deliver because there are promises that he has made that he hasn't kept yet.

So while we would think Mordecai would be having a change of heart about his disposition towards Haman, to try to reverse what is going on, he trusts God. I think this is just a demonstration of his faith in God. That he is walking by faith and not by sight. Like before, Haman restrains himself. He is filled with indignation, but he gains control of himself and he goes home.

Now what is to be done? Whining. Whining is to be done. If all else fails, whine. This is the real banquet of whine.

Different kind of whine. Remember this is the second most powerful man in the empire. His friends may very well be beholden to him. This is the man with Bill Gates money. Unfathomable amounts of resources at his fingertips.

Those kinds of people are never lacking for friends. The favors that can be done for you, The support that you can count on. And so he summons his wife Zeresh and his friends. And he counts his blessings so to speak. But I don't think we would say that he's doing that in a Christian way.

He is actually boasting. He is boasting. I am fabulously wealthy. I have a multitude of sons. Our translation says children, but it isn't the best translation.

Overwhelmingly, when this Hebrew word is used, it's used in a gender specific sense, sons. And this would fit the Persians to a T. The Nelson study bible says that the man with the most sons would receive gifts from the king of Persia. As congratulations for all your sons. So this is Haman.

This is a pagan society that doesn't think Christian thoughts about women and how they should be honored. And so it's sons, sons, and more sons. I'm fabulously wealthy. I have so many sons. And the king has preferred me to the very top of the empire's power structure.

And the queen invited only me, no one but me. A banquet for two. The king and me. Today and tomorrow more of the same. It's clear from reading the text that him being invited, the only one invited, is such a source of pride for Haman.

But it's really the source of his downfall. Esther has orchestrated this. With the wisdom of God, Esther has orchestrated this to isolate her and the king and Haman for his downfall. But he is totally blind to it. And he is rejoicing and boasting in the position that this gives him, that he craves.

He is being set up and he can't even see it. Look at verse 13. Yet all this avails me nothing. I'm fabulously rich, I have a multitude of sons, the king has put me at the top of the power structure, the queen invites only me, a banquet for two, all this avails me nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate. Not just Mordecai, Mordecai the Jew.

You can tell what's galling Haman. This Jew. His wife, Zeris, speaks for team Haman. She speaks for all his friends and herself. And proposes a solution.

A giant sized revenge. A 75 foot gallows. A cubit would be roughly a foot and a half. So 50 cubits would be 75 feet. A gallows, 75 foot tall.

In the Persian Empire in this time, it's not a gallows like we would think of gallows where you would hang by the neck until dead. This would be a sharp pole that you would impale a body on and the impaled body would hang from the tip of the sharp pole. Seventy-five foot tall. And from that height, a good portion of Shushan would be able to see the giant billboards. Don't mess with Haman.

Who's that on the gallows? You can see from all over the city, because it's 75 foot high. So it's half revenge and half statement that no one messes with Haman. Build the gallows, go to the king in the morning, and then go merrily to the banquet. If the king will hear you out about the annihilation of a people group, surely he'll let you hang one man who won't honor you with the same justification.

Who could think it would be otherwise? As a side note, I would say, Haman needed the counsel of a godly wife, doesn't he? He needs someone not who will feed into the weaknesses of his fleshly response, but will withhold him from the foolishness that awaits him. His flesh is driving him to ungodliness. He needs a godly wife.

He clearly doesn't have one but he needs a godly wife who will say no, no. No, who will be a godly, a source of godly counsel to him. If I had a dime for every time my wife has pulled me back from the inclinations of my flesh, I would take us all to lunch. Heyman says, Deale. Heyman says, great idea, have my construction team start making it now.

The gallows, a 75 foot gallows, is erected by the next morning. We're going to find that out. Haman goes to bed that night sleeping soundly, convinced that all is well. Everything is in place for Haman to get his way, but he doesn't know that everything is actually in place for his overthrow. Let's try to apply these verses.

How does this section help me live a more godly life this week? Here's a question for you. When do you let the little few things overwhelm your gratitude for the multitude of your blessings. When do the little nagging things overthrow in your mind and heart all the good things that God has brought into your life? Listen to Ian Dugwood of the Reformed Expository Commentary.

I think he hits the nail absolutely on the head. Haman's elevation by the king and the honors that continued to be poured out upon him should have insulated his heart from the impact of minor difficulties. Instead, his thoughts were rapidly transformed from joy to despair by the perceived slight to his honor and the status that Mordecai represented. What a ridiculous overreaction. Yet are we not equally fickle?

Shouldn't our joy and our salvation be far more impregnable than Haman's? When I think of impregnable, I think of a fortress, walls that cannot be breached because they're so high and they're so wide, and on top of those walls are a multitude of the best trained, best armed, ready for battle men. You're not getting in there. It's impregnable. Shouldn't our joy and our salvation be far more impregnable than Haman's, because it is based on the unparalleled glory of God's incredible goodness to us.

In reality though, how often have we said to ourselves, Yes, I know that God has made me His child, and a co-heir of Christ's glorious inheritance, yet all this is worth nothing to me as long as I do not have." No one would ever say that out loud. It's simply too embarrassing to really say, to give voice to it. But isn't that what we in effect have said when we allow the little nagging things to overflow the multitude of blessings that God has brought into our life. Yes, I know I'm a co-heir with Christ, but it avails me nothing. We're more like Haman than we want to Admit.

Christ has come. Christ has laid down His life. Christ has bled and died so that sinners, people who were stained, could be white as snow. Could be free, could walk free. You are under the penalty of death, but the door is open and you can go free.

Now the nagging things are going to loom so large in our minds it's not right. Brothers and sisters the joy of our salvation is important. It's more than a pleasure that we have a right to. It is a pleasure that we have a right to. The joy of our salvation is a pleasure.

And we have a right to it. Christ bought the right to it for us. But it is more than that. It is important because the joy of your salvation wages war against the little irritating things that should be seen in the proper perspective. The joy of your salvation helps you wage war against flipping it so that the little things dominate you when you're a co-heir with Christ.

Human nature pulls in exactly the other direction so that the little things do overwhelm the fact that you are a co-heir with Christ. You can't even remember it. You can't even remember it because of the little irritants. So we should cultivate a pattern of life that keeps the joy of our salvation fresh. Whatever you have to do to keep the joy of your salvation fresh, go read about Christ.

Reading the Gospels might be the best way. Just read about Christ. In the New Testament, or the Oldies, everywhere. Cultivate a life where the joy of your salvation is fresh in your mind so you don't get overtaken, ambushed, bushwhacked by the little irritants of life that will have you focusing on those things when God has made you a co-heir with the Son. Let me conclude with four Proverbs.

I'm just going to give you Four verses from Proverbs that I think brings depth and truth out of Esther chapter 5. Proverbs 16 verse 18. Here's the first one of four. Proverbs 16 verse 18. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Haman, if he wasn't so self-centered, so full of himself, so filled with pride, might suspect something's up. He's completely blind for it. His pride is going before destruction in the most literal way imaginable. His haughty spirit is going before a great fall. Pride blinds us.

So that we are ready to trip over any old thing and fall. Fall. Proverbs 26 verse 27. Whoever digs a pit will fall in it. He who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.

This is so true so often in life. Children, zone back in. It's been a long sermon. It's time to come back and listen to the preacher. Proverbs 26 Verse 27 says, whoever digs a pit will fall into it.

Be very careful about digging pits for other people. So often in this life you dig the pit only to find yourself in it. You thought to entrap someone else, but what you were doing was really ungodly and God flips it on you. So that you're in the pit. You thought you would roll a stone on someone and it rolls right back on you.

You're crushed by the stone you put in motion. This is exactly what is happening in the book of Esther. The third proverb, Proverbs 21 verse 1. We keep coming back to Proverbs 21 verse 1. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord like the rivers of water.

He turns it wherever he wishes. Esther is going to live or die depending on the disposition of this king. If he doesn't extend the scepter, she dies. His heart is in the Lord's hand. Esther could have never been safer.

Esther could have never been safer. He had the King's heart. He has Haman's heart. He has Mordecai's heart. He has Esther's heart.

He's working all things according to the counsels of his own will to work the good and salvation of his people. Proverbs 27 verse 2. Proverbs 27 verse 2. Let another man praise you and not your own mouth a stranger and not your own lips. Haman is miffed.

He's been dishonored. Let's gather the people who will praise me. Or who will listen to me praise myself. It's even worse than gathering the people who will praise him. Let's gather the people who will listen to me praise myself.

Here is what Matthew Henry says, self admirers and self flatterers are really self deceivers. Don't take the bait and do what is in all of our hearts to do, which is to praise ourselves. Live a life that honors God and other people actually will praise you. That shouldn't be our motive to it, but that is the reality. The godlier we get, the greater the esteem that we'll enjoy from others.

The more Christ-like we become, the more esteem we'll have from those around us whose opinion means anything to us. God, There are so many things that we see in the Proverbs in your book of wisdom, that we see with flesh and bones in the book of Esther on display in vibrant technicolor. Thank you God for giving this history that shows us things that we need to be so mindful of every day of our lives. Thank you for your word. Thank you for bringing us to the book of Esther.

Like all the other books you brought us to, we're finding it to be a treasure. God, make us good students. Students who learn well and use these things to conform us into the precious image of your Son who died to buy a people. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.