Esther

Let us turn together, beloved, please, to the book of Esther, chapter four of the book of Esther. We've been hearing very appropriate truth for our dear younger brethren and older brethren alike, each of us, and I want to try and notice with you a few thoughts which I hope will be a very great help to our younger sisters and our older sisters likewise. We need them.

It's a very interesting thing in the New Testament when you see the pattern and see the character of God's assembly, it could never function without sisters. That's amazing. So while sisters are silent, it doesn't mean to say they're inferior.

They're ballast in the boat. They're very definitely needed, and I trust the Lord will encourage our hearts today and cause you, dear younger sisters, to see the absolute importance of your presence and your work in the assemblies of God gathered in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we're going to commence our reading, please, in Esther, chapter 4, at verse 12.

And they told the Mordecai Esther's words. Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place.

But thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed, and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Then answered Esther, bade them return Mordecai this answer, Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. 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. So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.

It is very good for us to notice the different individuals that God raises up for a particular day of testimony, and the tremendous impact that they had. We think of the obvious ones, of course, when you think of Moses. God raises up Moses to change the course of the whole world, and of Moses, when we see him dealing with God, he said, I can't do it.

I'm incapable. I don't even know how to talk right. Well, whether he stuttered or something, I don't know.

But one thing, God became the voice to him, and he and Aaron, God used them to change the course of our whole world, and it's one of the reasons we're here today. That man bowed to the purposes of God, and through the working through Moses came our beloved Redeemer and the gospel of his grace. But I think of a woman.

Her name is Hannah. It's wonderful how Hannah was used of God to change the course of a nation, and the first prophet that you're going to find introduced with divine authority and revelation from God came through the exercise of a woman named Hannah. Very important, very necessary, beautifully used by God to raise up a Samuel for his people.

But then again, we think of younger men. Think of a Joseph. Just a young man, brethren.

What is God going to use him for? To supply corn for a dying world, and we do need young men who can lay their hand upon the gospel of the grace of God for a dying world. It's not the the glamour of a platform, brethren. It's the precious trust of the gospel for a dying world, like we were, and God wants you to take that corn and supply that need.

But I think of another woman, and that is beloved Mary. I love to think of dear Mary. Just a young lady, and God is going to use a Mary to convey Christ to the world.

Oh, brethren, what an honor. Dear sisters here today, can I say to you that is one of the highest honors that you could have in your life, is to convey the Lord Jesus to the world. I want to notice with you concerning Esther, how God is going to use this dear young lady in a very, very interesting time period.

This book falls between chapters 6 and 7 of the book of Ezra. Now in the book of Ezra, we find the people of God are in Jerusalem, and there are two preachers there, Haggai and Zechariah. And it's very interesting how the Lord's people, responding to the preachers, and in two weeks time, things were moving.

The work of God was beginning to spread. Men began to work, so did the ladies. You'll even read it right in that passage.

So-and-so was working with his family, building the wall in Nehemiah. You'll find the same in Esther, Ezra rather, when you find a man, a priest, and his daughters building in the foundation. So the sisters were very, very necessary in that work.

But Esther is not in Jerusalem. Esther is in Babylon. This comes after the time of Daniel, and the people are still there, many of them.

And living in that atmosphere, in a world, we're looking at two different things now. Let me bring them together for you. In Ezra and Nehemiah, we have a picture of assembly activity.

It's activity to build for God, and what they are building. When we read in the book of Esther, we're looking at God's people being a testimony that is under siege. And how are they going to survive? And one of the great blessings is Esther herself.

So dear young sisters, I want to appeal to you today from the Word of your God, and I hope it will become to you a distinct exercise and effort of discipline in your life to get a hold of the picture of this young lady, beautiful young woman, could have gone great ways as far as Israel was concerned, apart from what she did. But God is leading her in an avenue. It was totally contrary to what she expected, and she became in the hand of God a mighty instrument for the blessing of God's people, and the Jewish people to this day celebrate the work of Esther in the festival of Purim once a year.

So I want to notice with you three things. First of all, is Esther's preservation in order to be trusted by God. Preservation in Babylon in order to be trusted by God with this work.

Now, God is not mentioned in the book, but he's certainly behind the scenes. And interestingly, while his name may not be in the forefront, there's a young lady that's going to carry with her his presence and his power. So dear young sister, it is so important that you realize that you're not saved just to grow up and, well, whatever's going to happen.

You know, I know the most of you want to get yourself a partner, and we hope you get a good partner in the fear of God. And I hope it's a boy that's listened to the exercise that he's already been hearing. Someone that's got their feet under them, not some spoiled brat.

They make poor mates. You believe it. Get a hold of somebody that will be stable in the things of God and for your life.

But you also must be stable. It's interesting even in the New Testament how you will find different ladies, different women. I think of the older sisters.

May I encourage them? Let me take you to a temple in Jerusalem. There's a dear old sister. Her name is Anna.

You know what it says about Anna? Beautiful language, brethren. Touches my heart when I think of that dear old lady. I'd like to be like her.

This is what it says about her. She talked with others of the redemption that was coming. Now, she was looking for the redemption that was coming.

You know what that word looking means? She was talking to them about being ready to welcome His coming. I'd like to be ready to welcome His coming. He is coming, beloved, our glorious Redeemer, to step to the air.

Godly sisters, communicating with others and helping them to be encouraged and teaching them. Let's be ready to welcome His coming. Think of a couple in the book of the Acts, young couples.

Aquila and Priscilla, godly woman. The assembly of God met in their house on two different occasions. We read about it in Romans chapter 16.

Very interesting to think that that dear woman was likewise a student of the Bible along with her husband. And they were able to help a man by the name of Apollos who became a real teacher amongst God's people. He started out learning in the home of a man and a woman.

She was a good teacher of Scripture even as her husband. So it is so necessary, younger sisters, that God in times of conference like this, when you have come to be with your friends, that you may hear the voice of your Lord and respond to it as we have with dear Esther. The second thing I'm going to notice with you is her preparation for intercession with the king.

That is a very important part and indeed the major part of her work was her power and influence in intercession and finally her progress in the purposes of God for her life. First of all, let me notice with you Esther's preservation in order to be trusted by God. It began in chapter 2. I'm going to have to just take these passages and mention them to you because there are numerous to read, but I would counsel you to read the book and read it thoughtfully, read it carefully, read it in view of what its goal is and you will see the great goal is in the last chapter of the book and it is the great time of the Festival of Pyrrh.

But in chapter 2, we find her at home with Mordecai. It is interesting to notice that the fellowship between Esther and Mordecai is really what helped form dear Esther in her convictions as to what she is going to have to stand up for and what she will be able to accomplish and it began by listening to her uncle. Her mother and father were gone and her uncle raised her and this is a very important principle, dear younger sister, may I say to you.

You need to listen to your parents at home. They're going to teach you from experience. That's something you don't have yet and you're going to get experience, but don't jump the traces thinking they're old-fashioned.

They don't know anything. Let me tell you, if she hadn't listened to Mordecai, Haman would have got the best of her. She had to listen because Mordecai knew Haman.

You know what he knew about him? He knew he was an Amalekite and an Amalekite, God tells us in the Old Testament in the book of Exodus and again in Numbers and even in Deuteronomy, we find the Amalekites were a threat continually to Israel and you know what one portion says about them? They go after the slackers. Those that are just slacking off, Amalekite would take them, kill them. So dear sister, you listen to your parents.

Your parents who are in God's assembly have experience with both the things of the flesh, that is the purposes and the goals and the aims and the energies of the flesh. They've been through that and their desire is to preserve you from mistakes and from the wiles of the wicked one so that you will be able to fit into the purposes of God as Mordecai foresaw for his daughter and your parents pray day by day that the Lord will graciously preserve my daughter. Give her wisdom Lord that she will not fall into the hands of a Haman, that is to fall into some fleshly thing in the world as we were hearing this morning and her usefulness for God will be spoiled.

So listen to your parents, listen to the wisdom and it's a very very important thing to realize the principle of the book of Proverbs. I'm paraphrasing when I mention this to you. Independence of sound counsel produces sound without character, and that's where the usefulness is lost when it's just a noise and there's no experience behind it.

So the listen to sound counsel is going to help you get a hold of the features that make sound character and therefore you will be able to enjoy the blessings of fellowshipping with God and being useful for his name. In chapter 4 she's away from home. She's not at home now and in chapter 4 away from home where we began our reading today she's confronted with this old man called Haman.

While she's in a very particular situation we realize in being brought into the palace of the king and being brought into that situation that's not really what we're going to be looking at so much as it is through that she is preserved. She is preserved by God and by the principles her father or her uncle taught her and now when she's away alone at university, at college, away on your own, you're living in your own little rented place. You maybe have another student with you.

What's she going to do now? That's where we began our reading. Haman kept in touch with her and he advised her concerning the enemies and that is the habits of the old man. Now the old man in scripture in the New Testament is who I was in my practice and my condition in Adam before I was saved.

All his habits, all his desires, all his lusts as we call them and lust doesn't just mean moral things. It does mean that and the world has no no standard for those morals and this dear gal is going to have to stand in a immoral Babylon and so will you dear younger sister in chastity and modesty. That's what he is going to teach her and that's the way she's going to appear when she comes before the king.

Let me note with you in receiving the instruction from dear Mordecai concerning Haman she asks two questions. She says what will he do and why? It's good for you to ask your your parents questions. What about the flesh and why? Why is it wrong to be there? Why is it wrong for me? You know, I'm I don't mean any evil by it, but Haman Haman had a trap laid for Mordecai.

Haman had a trap laid as well for the the wickedness of for the people of God in his wickedness to destroy them and that's exactly what our flesh brother and I have it as much as you have. None of us are exempt today. The old man's closet needs to be fumigated.

It needs to be emptied. The things that I used to be seen as, how I appeared, and what I said, and what were the goals. Haman was determined to bring those things into the palace and Mordecai warned dear Esther and she asked two good questions.

What is he up to? Why is he doing it? Two good questions for you to ask your younger sister because that is her preservation as she gets the answer for it. You'll notice her response to the answer. Pray for me.

Pray for me. Get the Christians to pray for me. I don't want to fall.

I don't want to get snared. Be sure that you fast. Oh, do so.

Get down before God. I don't want Haman to destroy me or destroy our people. And younger sister God desires through this education to put into the hand of this woman a trust that no one else in the kingdom had.

You are a very singular and useful unique person and God intends and desires to trust you with this great work that we have in this passage. So let's look at her preparation here for intercession before the king. The first thing that we notice in chapter 2 is a very interesting thing because there is an individual who has an his eye upon Esther.

He's called the king's servant, but when he's related to Esther, this is what he's called, her keeper and her provider. Now that's a picture of the divine person of the Holy Spirit who inhabits you. He possesses you because you're a divine property and so am I. And so his purpose in keeping her is that he was going to educate her.

He was going to give her understanding of the claims of the king. And furthermore, as we find in that passage, he provided for her what she would require to even appear before the king. And it took her 12 months.

Six months with an item called myrrh, which was intended to make her skin flawless. Both her face and her hands and her person, flawless. And brothers and sisters, younger sisters, you likewise need to be submissive to that divine person, the Holy Spirit, because one of his great purposes in his love for you is to make you clean from those scabs that you used to have in your sins.

Worldly thoughts, as we've been hearing, and worldly ways, worldly language doesn't belong to a sister who's going to be in the presence of the king. The second thing that I want you to notice in her preservation was the next six months, it says sweet perfumes. I love that.

That takes me again to the teaching of the Holy Spirit in the fifth chapter of the book of Galatians. And this is what we read, the fruit of the Spirit is. And you have nine ingredients.

Three of them are between myself and God in my attitude. And three of them are between myself and others in my manners. And the last three are for me, myself, and my attitude.

And each of those fruits, as it is spoken of, they are the development of the Spirit of God in preparation for this mighty work that is going to be heard of being effective in intercession. We need praying sisters. We need them in God's assembly.

We need them in our gospel work. We need them as our wives. Overseers need them as their wives.

Praying sisters. Sisters that know what it means to be, as we're going to notice in the next chapter that we have before us here, in chapter chapter 5, we're looking at. This is the progress of dear Esther in the purposes of God.

She has been spent one whole year under the guidance of this man, the person of the Holy Spirit. Developing you, dear younger sisters, is not going to happen overnight. Some of the things he will take away from you, what you brought from the baggage of your past life.

And he's going to make you beautiful in a different way than you were beautiful in the world. Well, you know how the world thinks it's beautiful. They have more tinsel toy and paint all over you, all over you.

They think that's beautiful, but there's no beauty in that. Because even when you cry, it runs brown down your cheek, you know, that kind of stuff. But that's not beauty.

But let me tell you, when this servant had accomplished his work for this year with this dear young lady, she was so beautiful, the king said, you're mine. Beloved, there's a king upon the throne of heaven and the great delight of his heart is to see how you have been submissive to the Spirit of God and putting away the uncleanness, exercising through the different experiences of your life the development of these beautiful perfumes, the fruit of the Spirit. It pleases God.

Oh, I find those words so provoking. I wish with all my being I could have the great pleasure of bringing pleasure to God. I can hardly fathom it, brethren.

The eternal, infinite God, dear younger sister, his pleasure to see you up on your knees, having been submissive to the servant, seeking to do his will, it pleased the king. And that is a mighty, marvelous day when she entered into the presence of the king. The first thing I want you to notice about her in her intercession was her apparel.

She dressed in the royal garments, all the garments that were given to her as queen. And dear brethren and dear sisters, we have been given beautiful garments, and you also, dear younger sister, you have been given beautiful garments to stand before your Lord. He wants you to see the beauty of righteousness.

He wants you to see the beauty of true salvation. Oh, the beauty of meekness. See, these things, beloved, are what is developed.

They're given to you, and yours is to put them on. Dear younger sister, that's the type of a sister that bears weight in God's assembly, brings the presence of the Spirit of God consciously amongst us, and we need it, and we love it, and we appreciate them. And I trust that those of you who are young today will be like dear Esther and cry out, pray for me.

I want to know that nearness that I might be able to touch the scepter of the king. What a moment it was when she arrived in that beautiful apparel, and she was approached unto the king and touched the scepter. Sometimes when you are praying, I'm sure that you have found through experience, you who are younger, I remember looking back now in my memory to times when I came home from a meeting, and I went straight to my bedroom, and I can remember getting down upon my knees, and I opened my Bible, and a few tears fell on these old cheeks, not enough of them.

But God had touched my heart. Younger sister, when God touches your heart, you know what's happening? He's filling your cup. And as your little cup gets filled with his glories, filled with the wonders of his love, filled with the fact that he's trusting you, you'll be like this sister.

You'll be able to realize I'm speaking into the face of God. She touched the scepter of the king. He held it out to her, said to her, Whatever you ask, it will be my pleasure to give it.

We need sisters, younger sisters that are dedicated to giving themselves to prayer, that the work of God might prosper. We need it, brethren. And dear younger sisters, we need you in God's assembly, that you will bring into the assembly, not a chit-chat all over the place after a meeting.

After a gospel meeting is a time to quietly go out and go home and pray. Now that's not being rigid. That's being real.

If your heart is touched and your heart is bowed and you've been sitting in the meeting praying for those dear souls, carry it with you. Because that very characteristic will be recognized by the unsaved. That's what's needed and that's what we find in beloved Esther as she entered into the palace and then touched the scepter of the king.

Let me notice quickly with you in chapter 8. She included herself with the Lord's people and this is what she said. Lord, I perish, I perish. But this is the way really it is being said.

I put my life on the line for them, Lord. I'm going to give my life for the preservation and the blessing of my people and God's name. Ah, what a young woman.

God, give us Esther's. I thank God for every one of you dear younger sisters who are at this conference because God has his eye upon you for the very usefulness that he had for beloved Esther. And she says, I will give my life for the preservation and blessing of the people of God and for the glory of the name of the Lord.

One more thing, let me notice with you. She's involved in this festival in chapter 9, very beautiful. And to this day, they credit Esther for the festival of Purim.

Won't that be nice dear younger sister? Because here's a young lady that invested her life for eternity. That's what it is. Who can tell if thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Yes, sister.

That's why God saved you. That's why you are here today. My blessed Lord and your blessed Lord, he wants you and I need you.

The intercessor on behalf of our work, on behalf of the gospel, on behalf of the assembly. And you know what happened? The intercession of this dear sister, it made the people so happy. They were sending gifts to one another and they said, let's have a festival.

And Esther and Mordecai, they signed the letter, they put their name on the line. That this would be the joy of God's people from that moment onward. May I say dear sister, look at her behavior.

Look at her behavior at home. Look at her behavior way out in Babylon, amongst all those godless people. Look at her behavior in regard to the servant.

And look at her behavior when she came into the presence of the king. Esther, an intercessor who introduced the wondrous festival of Purim. For the glory of the Lord Jesus and as well for the blessing of his people.

And I want you to take another look at her beauty. Her beauty was spiritual. I see dear Peter, he takes up his pen.

He says, I'd like you to show you the beauty of a sister. He says, these things are of great value, great pleasure to God. A meek and a quiet spirit.

Now that doesn't mean inferiority. That's the sign of maturity. And when you've gotten a hold of the fact that you need time alone with God, fasting and praying.

And get others to pray for you. Keep in touch with your brethren. And be sure to keep in touch with your parents.

And be sure to be subject to that servant. The person of the Holy Spirit of God. And you will be the most beautiful girl around.

In fact, you are right now anyway. Yeah, sure, you can laugh if you like. But there are a lot more beautiful than some of the girls out there, let me tell you.

Why? Because upon your face is written the peace of God. Upon your heart there is the touch of the Holy Spirit. And God says, give me more esters.

May that be our portion. And be your delight, because it just may be that you are brought to the kingdom for such a time as this.