In this sermon, the preacher explores the book of Esther and its allegorical significance. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the Old Testament as a picture of God's divine intervention, particularly through the person of Jesus Christ. The preacher highlights Jesus' role in bringing God's invisible nature into the open and demonstrating what God had in mind when He created man. He also references biblical stories such as Jonah and Abraham to illustrate the themes of resurrection and God's timeless plan. Additionally, the preacher briefly discusses the concept of conscience and its role in determining what is right.

You needn't have bothered anyway, because as probably most of you know, the incredible story of the Book of Esther is found in what was once titled If I Perish, I Perish, but now is printed under the title of The Wrong Man Out. And you can guess who that is, Hey Man, and The Right Man In. And you can guess who that is, Mordecai. The wrong man out, the flesh, I am crucified with Christ. Eager, nevertheless I live, yet not I. That's The Wrong Man Out. Christ lives in me. That's The Right Man In. And there's only one way of getting the wrong man out and the right man in, and that is to get the right man in to get the wrong man out. And that's what's involved in true salvation. That's when you get off the bottle, having grown to the completeness of your salvation. When you're giving to the Lord Jesus that rightful place in your personality that allows Him to keep the flesh where it belongs, on the cross. And He ascends the throne and exercises all His rightful sovereign will, clothed with your flesh and blood, so that your mum and dad and brothers and sisters and workmates and neighbors and fellow students will recognize who's in residence and who it is that reigns. That's really what salvation is all about. It has very little to do with getting to heaven, though that's gloriously true. And we have the legitimate right to rejoice in the fact that that is our ultimate destination. Not there to receive eternal life, but there to continue to enjoy eternal life that we received on earth on the way to heaven. For this is the record God has already given to us, eternal life, and this life which alone is eternal that He has given to us is in His Son, and He that has the Son has that life. And on earth He can enjoy heaven on the way to heaven, and then forever. That's the glorious, profound simplicity of the good news, the gospel. If there are some who may be joining us tonight for the very first time during this conference, we are exploring the book of Esther, and we are turning again to the third chapter of that book. We've already recognized in the picture language of this Old Testament parable known in the New Testament as an allegory, the picture of one thing in the image of another, God illustrating in the historical records of the Old Testament those spiritual truths that are so clearly enunciated in the New Testament. And each, of course, must be compatible, the one with the other. The record that God has given us by divine inspiration, the Old Testament, doesn't have to be relevant to human reason, but it must be relevant to God's revelation. Because from the beginning of then, Genesis to the last chapter, and the last word, the last verse in the last chapter is a total revelation. The things, said Jesus, that are written of me in the book, that I incarnate, stepping out of eternity into time, have come to implement and bring to their glorious consummation. Great. And he did it in the redemptive act. He did it in the regenerative purpose. When risen from the dead, he came on the day of Pentecost to reinvade the humanity of forgiven sinners. And he'll do it again when he comes, dead on schedule, to receive us to himself forever. Probably far, far sooner than any one of us would dare to believe. We're right on the threshold of that final momentous event where he brings to its full consummation the redemptive and regenerative purpose of God, restored to image in the likeness of his own dear Son, reflecting the glory, fantastic, that to which each forgiven sinner who's exercised their moral option to claim Christ as Redeemer is predestined to be conformed to the image of God's Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. What a day that will be for him when he ultimately seeeth the travail of his soul and be satisfied. And God will never be satisfied with other than that which is his perfect image. Because that was the purpose of God in creating the souls of men. And Jesus came, did what he did then, is who he is now, and comes to be what he eternally will be, the Lamb upon the throne. Well, we've seen that Haman is a picture of the old Adamic nature, the flesh, as the king Ahasuerus represents the human soul, initially at the outset of the story, dominated by that alien agency of satanic origin. As the natural man is born, sold under sin. That principle dominating his behavior that has wrecked havoc and chaos in human history all down the centuries. And in ever-increasing measure as man rushes at an ever-accelerating pace to his own self-destruct. But Mordecai, a picture of God's divine intervention, magnificently executed in the person of God's dear Son conceived of the Holy Ghost, and then encapsulated with the humanity of a creature that he created, man. So that he might, for 33 years, give a fantastic demonstration of what God had in mind when he created man to bring an invisible God out into the open where he could be seen, an advertised deity. That God in man might be seen, known, and heard. And the only one who ever implemented that plan to God's holy satisfaction since Adam fell was Jesus, of whom alone, of all mankind since then, before God could say, Good. Very good. This is my beloved Son. Because he was functional. That means he was man in normality. Not superman. Just man. As he, as God, intended man to be. The Holy Spirit resisted. Acts chapter 7, verses 51 and 52. Opposed to everything that God had in mind, as he is still today, for the flesh opposes the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit at all times opposes the intentions of the flesh. Now we need just for a moment to glance at the plot that we find there in chapter 3. Said Haman to the king, There's a certain people, verse 8, scattered abroad, dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom. Their laws are diverse from all people, neither keep they the king's laws. Therefore it is not for the king's prophet to suffer them. If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed. And the king took his ring from his hand and gave it to Haman. He vested in him all the executive powers of government. And the king said to Haman, verse 11, The silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with them as it seemeth good to you. For till this stage the king, representing the human soul, sees nothing evil, wicked, malicious, or clandestine in this wicked, evil man, Haman. He vests in him his total trust, as man in his natural fallen condition vests in the carnal mind total confidence that man's perfectly capable of paddling his own canoe fashioning his own ends king in his own kingdom the very epitome of humanism where man is his own god. Then were the king's scribes called on the thirteenth day of the first month and it was written according to all that Haman had commanded under the king's lieutenant and to the governors that were over every province and to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writing thereof and to every people after their language in the name of king Ahasuerus but remember a plot that was conceived in the wicked heart of Haman in the name of the king but promulgated by his chief executive officer, Haman sealed with the king's ring the letters were sent by post and to all the king's provinces to destroy, to kill, to cause to perish all Jews both young and old, little children and women in one day even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month which is the month Adar and to take the spoil of them for a prey this was the plot a terrible moment of assassination when every Jew, man, woman and child would be destroyed as those to whom had been entrusted the oracles of God not Haman's law but God's etched with the finger of God upon tables of stone the post went out, verse fifteen, being hastened by the king's commandment and the decree was given in Shushan the palace and the king and Haman sat down to drink celebrate that murderous day but the city Shushan was perplexed well, that's Haman with murder in his heart from the very beginning as the grandson of Esau as Esau purpose to murder Jacob and all down that long history of Esau, Mount Seir Edom the Amalekites represents militant hostility against everything that is represented by those who claimed the birthright and still do that's his pedigree but then we have another picture Morikei as representing the gracious ministry of the God of the Holy Spirit who stands upright, refuses to bow at the behest of the king and Haman hates it, interesting incidentally that King Herod who gave the command that every male child should be murdered in anticipation that according to the wise men the Christ of God had or would appear was the last of the kings of the Idunumians an Amalekite interesting in the relentless consistency of the divine revelation that God warned Joseph to take that child into Egypt to preserve him from an Amalekite who wanted to kill him to thwart God's plan in mercy that his purpose in creating the souls of men might not be frustrated that's the first picture that we have the Holy Spirit resisted Haman the second picture upon which we briefly touched at the conclusion of the morning session the Holy Spirit received how it was Morikei to get into the life and experience of the king in spite of Haman's wicked devices and he wearing the ring upon his finger through Esther the queen wedded to the king as that which distinguishes man's soul from the animal soul is the fact that God gave to man what he didn't give to any form of animal life a human spirit and Esther represents the human spirit and it's through the human spirit that God, the Holy Spirit, first gains access to the human soul the Holy Spirit resisted Haman Acts 7, 51, 52 the Holy Spirit received on the basis, remember from this morning of adoption the spirit of adoption just glance at that, keep the place there, please, in Ephesians in chapter 3 and turn to Galatians in chapter 4 epistle to the Galatians 4th verse when the fullness of the time was come that is, dead on schedule precisely as God in the eternal ages of the past had planned it when the fullness of the time was come when God sent forth his son God incarnate made of a woman conceived by the Holy Spirit and fashioned the borrowed womb of that virgin girl made under the law never ever repudiating the attributes of deity claiming at all times his oneness with the Father in the triune Godhead together with the Holy Spirit and yet he came into this world though never ever less than God to behave on earth for thirty-three years as though he were never ever more than man and as such deliberately forwent the exercise of those attributes of deity that would have been incompatible with his sinless humanity he was born under the law what law? God's law that law which God himself had etched with the finger of God upon tables of stone that hey man hated for he was not subject to the law of God neither indeed could be hostile but the Lord Jesus God's incarnate son was born subject to the law in other words he took it upon himself to submit to every righteous demand of God the Father in playing the role for which he is God the creator made you and me and he was without sin how is sin defied? first epistle of John chapter three verse eight sin is the transgression of the law and the Lord Jesus as man deliberately placed him under the requirements of that law and never transgressed that's how it was that God could make him to be sin for us who himself knew no sin for sin is not only the transgression of God's law but inevitably by virtue of that fact sin is falling short of the glory all have sinned and come short of the glory and the glory is described by God's law to satisfy his law is to reveal the glory Jesus neither transgressed the law nor fell short of the glory Paul the apostle could say of that blinding moment of revelation on the road to Damascus I saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ God's son in whom he was well pleased made of a woman made under the law to what end should God incarnate step out of eternity into time come into this wicked evil world well it tells you in verse five to redeem to redeem them that were under the law and having transgressed the law condemned by the law for by the law is the knowledge of sin that's why it's exposing our sin and stopping our mouths and proving us guilty there's no justification for you and for me in our vain attempt to satisfy its holy ultimate absolute demands by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's presence Jesus came who totally satisfied that law in the sinlessness of his perfection as man to assume on your behalf and mine that condemnation that we deserve he was made sin for us who knew no sin he came to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption the adoption of sons that on the grounds of that redemptive act in the moment of our obedience to the gospel God might accept us in the beloved remembering our sins no more putting them far away as the east is from the west and putting them behind his back and burying them in the depths of the sea though crimson whiter than the snow and sealing that redemptive transaction instantly by the gift to us of God the Holy Spirit whom you receive in the moment of acceptance by God for the sake of his dear son who died in your place and mine that's the first thing that happens the Holy Spirit received look at Ephesians in chapter 1 Ephesians chapter 1 the grounds of our acceptance spelled out loud and clear verse 6 Ephesians chapter 1 verse 6 to the praise of the glory of God's grace g-r-a-c-e God's riches at Christ's expense something that you and I could never deserve, earn, merit, or buy God's riches at Christ's expense to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he, God, hath made us, guilty sinners accepted now in the beloved in whom, the beloved, Jesus, we have redemption because that's what he came first to do redeem how does he redeem? through his blood not animal blood, not the blood of human beings only but the blood of God for the life is in the blood and that life that is animal blood or human blood is animal blood an animal life, but that life that was in our incarnate savior, Jesus, was the life of God and that was the life that he laid down to redeem us because he was the only man ever born since Adam fell who was still inhabited by the life of God we thus judge that if one died for all, Jesus then we're all for whom the one died, dead and dead men can't die that tells us that Jesus of all mankind already dead was the only one who was alive who possessed that life that all had lost in Adam that was the redemptive act not a noble martyr suffering the consequences of being too progressive amongst his age not drifting to disaster not just misunderstood by his peers but the word who was made flesh, the logos walking this earth, clothed with your humanity and mine and in his person incurring the consequence of man's sin that took place in Adam my God, why hast thou forsaken me? because he was made sin for your sake and mine in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of God's grace the shedding of his precious blood that is the grounds upon which we are first accepted in the beloved and secondly, we become the recipients of the seal of our acceptance in whom, verse 13 of the same first chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians in whom you also trusted when you heard the word of truth in other words, you obeyed the gospel acted on the assumption that God said it meant what he said and had the right to say it and would do it if we had let him that's how you become a child of God that's how you are redeemed that's how you're accepted in whom you also trusted when you heard the word of truth the good news, the gospel of your salvation in whom the beloved Jesus also when you believed in that moment of time you were sealed how? with that Holy Spirit of promise the only evidence that you've been redeemed is that the Holy Spirit has come to live within you if you haven't received the Holy Spirit if Mordecai hasn't come into the life of Esther in the picture language of the book of Esther then you're not a Christian if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, Romans 8 he's none of his that's why the very moment of true belief in other words, acting intelligently on the basis of God's redemptive act and his timeless pledge you're accepted in the beloved and that transaction is sealed instantly that you might bear the earnest of your inheritance the down payment that you are the blood-bought property of Jesus Christ look at Acts in chapter 10 and verse 47 this is what happened to Cornelius that Gentile Roman officer that Roman major Cornelius, the centurion and all majors are tremendously fine people so was Cornelius who to the uttermost of his ability but unenlightened as to God's terms of reference tried to find peace with God God didn't leave him in the lurch he was told by the angel to go and send for Peter who'd tell him what he ought to do and Peter in the discharge of his responsibility as a Jew to the home of a Gentile was told what to do, did as he was told and God behaved that's righteousness and Peter told him what he ought to do together with all those whom Cornelius had gathered to hear what God had to say on the lips of one of God's servants and as Peter recounted God's redemptive purpose in sending his incarnate son who was crucified but said he God raised him from the dead they believed in their hearts and instantly and Peter hadn't finished his address he hadn't got to the third point or even the little poem at the end there was no invitation I mean the whole thing was hardly respectable but God saw faith as is recorded for us in the 15th chapter of the book of the Acts when God saw their faith in other words obedience in their hearts to the word of God who said thank you for sending this man to tell us about your dear son who died in our place instantly God bore witness giving them the Holy Spirit the only evidence that a person is redeemed if anybody tells you that you've got to receive the Holy Spirit after you've been redeemed tell them to go back and read their Bibles as Peter was still speaking still speaking the 44th verse of the 10th chapter of the book of the Acts the Holy Spirit fell on all them which heard the word and the six Jews that accompanied Peter on their expedition to this man Cornelius they were amazed because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of somebody somebody coming to re-inhabit somebody the Holy Spirit restored to their human spirit Esther receiving Mordecai into her life on the basis of adoption can any man said Peter forbid water that these should not be baptized who have what's the word received the Holy Spirit as well as we when well Peter later in the 11th chapter says at the beginning what was the beginning then for Peter when he was born again when was that Pentecost born again by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead reconciled to God redeemed not with corruptible things like silver and gold but with the precious precious blood of God's dear Son as of a lamb without blemish verily foreordained Peter discovers before ever the world was in the timeless purpose of God in the redemptive and regenerative purpose in his incarnate Son born again in the third verse of the first chapter of his first epistle by his resurrection from the dead Peter says at last I understand Jesus died to take away my sins so that he risen from the dead might come and take up residence and clothe himself on earth with my humanity and I thereby be added by the baptism of the Holy Ghost as a member of the new body corporate in whom Jesus would live and clothe his divine activity and continue through me and others equally redeemed regenerate what he began to do and what he began to teach when he first came into this earth clothed with the little baby boy who was born at Bethlehem and conceived of God the Holy Spirit what a plan so clear so logical so obvious unless you let somebody come and confuse you and there are plenty around but blame yourself if you're confused because it's all spelled out loud and clear the Holy Spirit by Haman resisted Esther the Holy Spirit received as by adoption Mordecai comes into her life aren't you glad that you've been adopted and that the Holy Spirit now bears witness to your spirit that you're the child of God who tells you I wouldn't be here I wouldn't be reoccupying your human spirit if you hadn't entered by obedience of faith into the good of the redemptive act if your sins had not been forgiven had you not been accepted in the beloved and your sins blotted out like a thick cloud I would never have been able to reenter your human spirit and by my presence in life abolish that state of death in which you were born you have been regenerated restored to life raised from the dead magnificent so here we have the picture Esther into whose life Mordecai has come on the basis of adoption the Holy Spirit received but what next well look at chapter four after the unfolding of the plot and the city of Shushan the capital perplexed Mordecai verse one of chapter four perceived all that was done Mordecai rent his clothes he put on sackcloth with ashes and went out into the midst of the city and cried with a loud and bitter cry came even before the king's gate for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth the Holy Spirit grieved resisted, amen received, Esther now the Holy Spirit grieved Ephesians chapter four verse thirty grieve not the Holy Spirit a promise whereby you have been sealed until the day of Jesus Christ in other words until he comes to take to himself his blood bought possession grieve not the Holy Spirit in other words it's possible having received the Holy Spirit to inhabit your human spirit that you continue to grieve him say why was the Holy Spirit grieved who is still wearing the ring amen in spite of that bloodthirsty plot to assassinate, murder, kill every man, woman and child of God's chosen people to whom had been entrusted the Oracle's guard his holy law it was to that man, amen the king gave the ring and all the material resources that he needed to carry out his murderous designs to that man little wonder Mordecai was still grieved the obvious question to ask at this point is in your life as one who claims to be redeemed and sealed by the gift to you of God's Holy Spirit through whose presence you've been regenerate, born again, a child of God with your name written in the Lamb's book of life and heaven bound who wears the ring on whose finger still in your life is the ring that vests authority to call the shots and govern your behavior who wears the ring is the Holy Spirit grieved Esther's maids, verse 4 of chapter 4 and her chamberlains came and they told it to her that Mordecai was grieved he was sitting in sackcloth and ashes then was the queen, Esther, exceedingly grieved herself for when the Holy Spirit is grieved your human spirit will be grieved and she sent Raymond to clothe Mordecai and to take away his sackcloth from him but he received it not he refused to be comforted and the Holy Spirit refuses to be comforted in your life or mine while the ring is still on Haman's finger governing your behavior as the carnal mind, the flesh still governed as we have reminded ourselves several times now those who claimed in Corinth and boasted most of their charismatic gifts the only church to which the subject was addressed but of whom said the apostle Paul, I could not speak unto you as unto spirit but as unto carnal because although the Holy Spirit has come individually and collectively to live within you the ring is still on Haman's finger and you give an ugly expression already still of his evil ways grieved Esther, unenlightened as yet in the full implications of the situation tried to remedy the state of Mordecai with a change of Raymond and this is a popular thing of course for people to do who are still on the bottle haven't grown up or understood the true implications of the mystery a change of Raymond Mordecai said no that won't heal the hurt so long as the ring is still on Haman's finger some people of course will try to appease a grieved spirit thinking that if they change their job or change their ministry or change their position change their church go to this church family instead of there their pastoring on the mission field if only I were given another field to operate in every kind of external change that never finds the final solution to the problem which lies on the inside if only I could change my activity or just change my friends well you can try it all but it's only a band-aid on the outside it doesn't remedy the situation on the inside until you've got the wrong man out and the right man in until the ring has been taken off Haman's finger and placed upon that of Mordecai that's the story of the book of Esther in other words here is Esther indwelt by the Holy Spirit in the picture language of the book having received Mordecai into her life but she's still on the bottle she's still a baby she's still in the picture language of the book a carnal Christian because she's still wedded to the king who has full confidence in that wicked, evil, malicious Haman and she's living shoulder to shoulder with him in the same palace and as yet is not fully aware of just how wicked he is then called Esther for Hatak one of the king's chamberlains whom he had appointed to attend upon her and she gave him a commandment to Mordecai to know what it was and why it was so Hatak went forth to Mordecai under the street to the city which was before the king's gate and Mordecai told Hatak one of the king's chamberlains who was designated to wait upon Esther Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him of the sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasurers for the Jews to destroy them in other words to Hatak he unfolded the evil, wicked, malicious bloodthirsty plot that had been hatched in the heart of Haman he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them, to show it unto Esther and to declare it unto her and to charge her that she should go in unto the king to make supplication unto him and to make request before him for her people her people for you see until this time verse 20 of chapter 2 Esther had not yet showed her kindred nor her people as Mordecai had charged her for Esther did the commandment of Mordecai like as when she was brought up with him adopted and in his custody but now the moment has come to identify herself with her people God's purpose and God's power the moment of truth when she was to go into the presence of the king and expose the wickedness of Haman fascinating it may well be that the human spirit is the seat of moral conscience the first thing the Holy Spirit does when he comes restored to your human spirit on the grounds of redemption as that seal that God gives to you that you've been accepted in the beloved the first thing he does is to reestablish the divine law it's the first thing he does before ever it's rationalized within the human soul that's why when a person accepts Christ genuinely and is regenerate and the Holy Spirit comes to be restored to the human spirit they stop doing things they quit drinking, smoking, gambling taking drugs and nobody says a word to them about it they can't rationalize their friends say why didn't you come with us tonight and that person will say well I don't want to what do you mean you don't want to well he said I don't feel comfortable what's happening? well the Holy Spirit restored to the human spirit is reestablishing a divine standard that that person itself can't quite understand but increasingly it becomes evident to the people around as finally the Holy Spirit from the human spirit gains access to the human soul and begins to throw out the filth from the temple cleanse it and restore pure worship just notice there's a very simple illustration of this fact keep the place open there but turn to the second of Paul's two epistles to the Corinthians in the third chapter says the apostle are we starting to commend ourselves again do we need as false teachers who've got a hollow, empty, substanceless gospel do we need written credentials or letters of recommendation to you or from you do we have to keep in business in our evangelistic career by getting people to promote us uh uh no said he you yourselves are our letter of recommendation you are our credentials written in your hearts to be perceived, recognized, known and read by everybody you show and you make obvious that you are now a letter from Christ delivered by us, we are simply the postman not written with ink but written with the spirit of the living God not on tables of stone once that can only condemn you but now on the tablets of a human heart the spirit of God rewriting God's law that he once etched with his own finger upon tables of stone that finally were left fragmented in shattered remnants at the feet of Moses as God's people danced half naked round a golden calf Paul says I don't need letters of recommendation he said you're that letter delivered by me as the postman from God himself because he has written his law now within you you were liars, now you tell the truth you were drunkards, now you're sober you were dirty, but now you're clean and chaste you were thieves, but now you're honest I don't need letters of recommendation you're the only tangible evidence of the validity of my ministry because the only tangible evidence of the ministry of any man who purports to be proclaiming the gospel is the transformed lives of those who have been reconciled to God on God's terms to whose human spirits the Holy Spirit has restored God's standard of morality touching every area of their being what they do and what they say and what they are so that it becomes demonstrably obvious who is in residence and who it is that reigns that's evangelism not just preaching from a tub not standing in a church pulpit evangelism is expressing the life of Christ in the totality of your being as your humanity your flesh and blood is made over to the one who on the moment of redemption comes to reinvade your personality and make you a new creation God's new man new woman in Christ so maybe you see the human spirit is the seat of moral conscience I thought it would be valuable just to spend a moment or two talking about conscience and what is right the difference that'll depend upon your breeding it'll depend upon your upbringing it'll depend upon your environment amongst the orca Indians years ago before Christ transformed their lives an orca Indian boy was told that to kill a neighbor of another tribe was good it's the only way son you'll become a man but never touch an orca that's bad so an orca Indian boy was taught from the year dark that to kill the neighbors was good and to kill an orca was bad and so his conscience said never kill an orca but his conscience says kill every other kind of person you can find who isn't an orca was he obeying his conscience? well of course and he never grew into manhood until he killed a neighbor and the more he killed the greater his stature within the tribe that's a seared conscience and of course within society, a permissive society men's animal consciences are constantly being seared and of course alas within the community of those who profess to be believers the conscience is being seared unless it has been enlightened by a new revelation of God's morality which is the peculiar and immediate office of God the Holy Spirit within those who have obeyed the gospel and become the recipients of his gracious presence first thing he wants to do is quicken your conscience within your human spirit not simply to do what is right and avoid doing what is wrong but to know from within what is right and what is wrong and if there's some Christian boy, girl, man or woman whose behavior evidences that they don't yet know the difference between what is right and what is wrong it means they're not yet off the bottle they're a baby who's never grown up in whom the old Adamic nature still prevails like the church in Corinth you see the animal natural conscience is the conscience of convenience and by nature it is comparative it's the very heart of existentialism in other words so long as your behavior conforms to the behavior of your peers you're okay it's a conscience of convenience purely comparative and that's the reason why of course you can always prove yourself good so long as you're prepared to compare yourself with somebody who's worse than you are and that's an old trick but God isn't impressed because you see there's only one standard with which God will compare you in the final day when he disappointed unto men once to die and after that the judgment his own matchless, perfect, absolute standard of righteousness what is called in Romans chapter 10 the righteousness of God and Paul said I'm sorry for my own kith and kin I long that they might be saved for they have a zeal of God they practice religion with no little enthusiasm considerable dedication and loyalty to their denominational group but not according to knowledge if you do something not according to knowledge you do it in ignorance and in the second verse of that tenth chapter of his epistle to the Romans he describes the ignorance in which they are practicing religion with no little fanatical zeal they being ignorant of God's righteousness go about to establish their own righteousness see God's righteousness which is absolute is the only standard by which God is going to evaluate your behavior for a very good and obvious reason he created man to be the human vehicle of his divine activity not to establish or achieve a righteousness established on a basis other than that of God's perfection man was to be inhabited from the outset as he created Adam by God himself who by God's design would be in man the origin of his own image, the source of his own activity the dynamic of his own demands and at all times exclusively the cause of his own effect that's why any shabby imitation of the real thing is immediately exposed for what it is so the first thing the Holy Spirit does within the human spirit is to establish God's law it's absoluteness, imperfection, not comparative on the basis you see of that kind of conscience we normally evaluate what is consequentially right or consequentially wrong has nothing to do with its nature that's how you house train a dog you have a little puppy dog and it steals your lunch while you're out in the yard that lovely piece of steak on the kitchen table what do you do when you come in? well you say, bad dog, bad dog the dog looks at you with dreamy eyes and says, what's wrong about eating steak? that's what dogs are for but you reinforce your reprimand by giving it a smack and the dog is in the process of developing a dog conscience based upon what is smack wrong and if it does something in the house that it should have done outside you rub its nose in it and then pour pepper on, just for good measure and the dog again looks amazed, bewildered, confused there was one family, had a little puppy, they called him carpenter because he was always doing little jobs around the house but they had to teach him that there was something that is smack wrong because it's done better outside than inside and the dog learns what is smack wrong doesn't eat your steak, nor do inside what it should do outside has it got a moral conscience? does it know what's right and what's wrong? no, only smack wrong and when you teach the poor little thing to stand on its hind legs and dangle the front two legs in front of it and beg it looks at you as though you were half insane I've got four legs and just because you've only got two you want me to use two and dangle the other two and if it could tell you what it thought about you you'd probably send it to the vet and have it put away but what do you teach it? well you see that if it only does that stupid thing or all the other things you try to teach it play dead and then suddenly come alive if only dogs could talk what would they say? glad they can't every time it does what you are trying to teach it to do you give it a candy so the dog learns there are certain things that are smack wrong and other things that are candy right that's the animal natural conscience doesn't introduce any moral values and by and large you see mankind is reared on that basis what is smack wrong and what is candy right and tragically enough that spirit of the age has invaded the church and so you learn at church what is smack wrong and what is candy right and it doesn't introduce any moral value whatever that is of any true or lasting worth that's the conscience of convenience there's no moral value in the wrong that you avoid because you're trying to avoid the smack any more than there's any moral value in the good you do because you want to get the candy a dog does that but you see there's another conscience that is born of the Holy Ghost it's the conscience not of consequence and convenience but the conscience of conviction that derives from the reestablishment of God's law written by the spirit of the living God from within not tables of stone on the outside then you learn that the conscience of conviction is as absolute as God himself you can't twist it you can't manipulate it any more than you can twist or manipulate God you learn what is morally right and what is morally wrong not just what is socially right or socially wrong ecclesiastically right or ecclesiastically wrong financially right or financially wrong evangelically right or evangelically wrong you learn what is morally right and morally wrong from the only one who can administer the ultimate and absolute standard of righteousness the Holy Spirit interesting well Haytack verse 9 came verse 9 of the fourth chapter there of the book of Esther came and told Esther the words of Mordecai faithfully communicated what the spirit had to say to the human spirit Esther spake unto Haytack gave him commandment this reply to Mordecai all the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces do know that whosoever whether man or woman shall come unto the king into the inner court who is not called there's one law of his to put him to death no trial it's a foregone conclusion anybody who dares to enter into the presence of the king unsummoned is from that moment as good as dead so Esther reminds Mordecai of that fact they told to Mordecai Esther's words a little discussion goes on between the one and the other the spirit of God and the human spirit because you see natural conscience will constantly rationalize unenlightened by the Holy Ghost so Mordecai commanded to answer Esther think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the Jews if you haven't got the guts to identify yourself with your people, God's purpose and God's power then you will be as much a victim as they are to the evil desires of that wicked Hayman if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time then shall the enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place don't please imagine, said he to her that you are indispensable to God you reneg on this your hour of opportunity and God will find a substitute we've reminded ourselves of that fact already who knoweth whether thou had come to the kingdom for such a time as this this said Mordecai to Esther is your moment of truth when you can enter into the full vocation of one who has become the recipient of the Holy Spirit Esther baddom returned Mordecai this answer verse 15 go gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan fast ye for me neither eat nor drink three days night or day three days and three nights that should alert you to something immediately I also and my maidens will fast likewise and so will I go in unto the king which is not according to the law and if I perish I perish she cast the die Mordecai she didn't resign her throne she didn't dismiss her servants she didn't put aside all the beautiful apparel that was hers as a queen but something had happened to Mordecai on the inside she died to it all and with a heart thumping like a sledgehammer that one slip of a girl entered unsummoned into the presence of the king and in those three days and nights she was as good as dead in her heart knowing that the moment that she crossed the threshold into the presence of the king she was already subject and sentenced to death unless the king was pleased to hold out to her the golden scepter and he did on the third morning and Esther already dead in the heart was raised from the dead to live on and discharge her office what a beautiful picture Esther the third morning as Jonah was three days three nights in the belly of the whale so shall the body of the incarnate son of God lie three days and three nights in the grave and then something wonderful is going to happen resurrection God commanded Abraham to go up the mountain take a knife in one hand and fire in the other and Isaac bearing the wood upon his shoulders that would become his bed as he lay upon the altar to be slain it was read it for yourself the third morning when Abraham raised the knife and it flashed in the sun and within a few seconds it would have been plunged into the heart of Isaac but God said ah ah Abraham that's all I needed to know that the blessing that I have given you is my timeless plan but now I know that I as the blesser am greater than the blessing that as the giver I'm greater than the gift and because you've done this thing in blessing I will bless you and we're told in the eleventh chapter the epistle to the Hebrews that in obedience to God's command on the third morning he was prepared to die to that which then was the most precious thing in life he had that bright eyed true voiced little boy God said thanks Abraham for we're told in the epistle to the Hebrews he said if slay him I must and slay him I will even if God has to raise him from the dead and it continues in the same eleventh chapter the epistle to the Hebrews which in a figure as a shadow as a picture in the old testament God did because in the heart of Abraham when he got to the top with a knife in his hand that flashed in the sun Isaac was as good as dead but God gave him back that's what God did for Jonah when finally thrown into the sea dying to himself and all his objections to God's plan for his life he was swallowed by a whale that God had prepared from the great fish and what day was it that he was brought up again on dry land to continue his assignment the third morning it's the power of the third morning resurrection and as the king held out the golden scepter said the king to her what wilt thou queen Esther verse three of chapter five what is your request it shall be given you even to the half of the kingdom and Esther answered if it seemed good unto the king let the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for them and the king said cause Haman to make haste that he may do as Esther hath said so the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared and at that first banquet the king asked Esther what her request should be and said she to him my petition and my request is verse seven if I have found favour in the sight of the king and if it please the king to grant my petition and to perform my request let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them and I'll do tomorrow as the king has said said she thanks for coming to my banquet today but I'm preparing another one tomorrow please come and bring Haman with you what do we see next typical Haman typical self typical flesh Haman verse eleven of that fifth chapter told them his friends Zeresh his wife and everybody else boastful in his hopeless incorrigible conceit and pride that's the flesh ego self Haman told them of the glory of his riches the multitudes of his children all the kings all the things wherein the king had promoted him how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king that's the flesh swaggering swanking then added he moreover hey Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet that she had prepared but myself I'm her blue eyed boy and tomorrow said he what's more tomorrow am I invited unto her also with the king and between you me and the gate post I don't think she really needs the king she's got her eye on me the flesh Haman yet said he all this availeth me nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate refusing to bow in my presence standing upright in the crowd while everybody else is groveling in the dirt this avails me nothing until he's been destroyed then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends don't let that dismay you let a gallows be made fifty cubits high seventy five feet high tomorrow speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon then you can go in merrily with the king Mordecai will be dead hanging from the gallows and the thing pleased Haman he thought that was a great idea and he caused the gallows to be made so before ever Esther could prepare the second banquet and the king with Haman could attend the gallows already built by Haman in his own backyard Mordecai was going to hang looks as though things might have gone wrong you see tomorrow although it's Thanksgiving there's going to be a hanging aren't you excited there's only one question still to be answered who's going to hang Mordecai or Haman so I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at the hanging great way to celebrate Thanksgiving laughter but I trust that we shall discover tomorrow that there's something to be thankful for so long as the right man ends up on the gallows now let's pray thank you dear lord for your book thank you for that gracious ministry of god the holy spirit who reestablishes within our human spirit that he might then invade our souls and write your law not on tables of stone or even in our notebooks but in our hearts that will clean us from the inside out remove the filth from god's temple cleanse it and make it fit for the one who has the right to reach the throne and reign in every area of our being as those who walk in the spirit by faith as once we received you lord Jesus so now walking in the power of your divine indwelling advertising to the world who you are by what we do and say and letting them know that you're not only welcome but we give you the right to reign thank you for making all this possible grant that we may have minds enlightened by the holy spirit who wants to lead us into all truth and to take truly the things concerning you lord Jesus and reveal them to us grant that we may be prepared as Esther was for the hanging by her obedience recognizing at last that she had to die to her own ability to hang Haman and leave it to the only one who could and did give us this marvelous sense of liberty as those who abide in your word and know the truth the truth that sets men free for you said that if the sun shall set us free we will be free free indeed thank you so much in your own dear peerless and precious name amen