The Victory Begins Series

For Such a Time as This

Part 7: The Victory Begins

Esther 7:1-10

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - July 1, 2012

BACKGROUND:

*Five hundred years before Christ, Esther the orphan and secret Jew was chosen to be queen of the Persian Empire. Esther was put there by the invisible Hand of God to help deliver His people from total annihilation. This destruction was plotted by Prime Minister Haman, because of his pride and his bloodthirsty hatred of the Jews.

*In Chapter 4, the queen was persuaded to risk the death penalty by going before the king to plead for her people. After 3 days of prayer and fasting, Esther approached King Xerxes in Chapter 5, and he spared her life. Then she began to carry out a plan to save her people. The plan involved inviting the king and his prime minister to join the queen at two banquets.

*In Chapter 6, God intervened after the first banquet by keeping the king awake that night. The restless king called for the royal records to be read to him. And King Xerxes realized that his life had been saved when Esther’s cousin Mordecai foiled an assassination plot against the king.

*The king also discovered that Mordecai had never been rewarded for his loyalty. So, the evil Prime Minister, Haman, was forced to honor Mordecai the Jew.

-Mordecai was the man Haman hated with a passion.

-Mordecai was the man Haman planned to hang on a scaffold 75 feet tall.

*By the end of Chapter 6, even Haman’s wife and friends could see that Haman was going to fall. And it was time for the second banquet. With this background in mind, let’s read Esther 7:1-10.

INTRODUCTION:

*This is a wonderful story. It shows us how God so often works behind the scenes in our lives. And it has so much more to teach us:

-Truth about our purpose in this world.

-Truth about faith, family and fasting.

-Truth about our desperate need for Godly leaders.

-And more.

*As we explore Chapter 7, there are important spiritual comparisons we can make; more eternal truth from Esther’s trouble.

1. First, in vs. 1-3, please notice Esther’s vital request.

1. So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther.

2. And on the second day, at the banquet of wine, the king again said to Esther, "What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request, up to half my kingdom? It shall be done!''

3. Then Queen Esther answered and said, "If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let MY LIFE be given me at my petition, and my people at my request.

[1] “What is your request, Esther?” -- “My life!”

*Esther made the most important request: She pleaded with the king for her life.

*By this point, Esther must have been pretty confident that King Xerxes would grant her request. Three times he had already promised to give her half of the whole Persian Empire. But how much more confidence can we have in our King, the King of Kings, who died on the cross to give us life!

*Suffering Job had this confidence in Job 19:25-26. There he proclaimed:

25. For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth;

26. and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God,

*Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will give eternal life to everyone who receives Him as Savior and Lord. This involves hearing the Lord, honoring the Lord, and believing in the Father who loved us enough to send His only begotten son into the world.

*The Lord explained it this way in John 5:21-27:

21. "For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

22. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son,

23. that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

24. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

25. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.

26. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself,

27. and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.