Pas Ralph Douglas West - When God's People Face Unwanted Outcomes | Esther 1-5

0:06 This is the day the Lord has made. We rejoice. And we are glad in it. Amen. Thank you, men, for blessing us this morning with such appropriate music for worship and the prayers and the scriptures that have been read. I look forward. Not because I'm a pastor. I know a lot of pastors who don't get happy about Sunday morning, but as a Christian to get up on Sunday morning with other brothers and sisters where we can worship the living Christ together.

0:51 While you're standing, open God's word to the book of Esther. I'm taking a detour What you call pastoral privilege In the great chapters of the Bible But you could put this one in there Esther Chapters 1 2 3 4 5 While you're standing let me read all of them to you I'm looking on the face of a couple of people that look like they've been dragged to church this morning and they're saying, look, one verse is enough for me.

1:41 Let me give one response to Esther, and I want to tag this text. when God's people face unwanted outcomes. Hear God's word for God's people on this day. When asked this word, chapter 4, verse 12. When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer.

2:30 Do not think that because you're in the king's house, you alone and all the Jews will escape. for if you remain silent at this time relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place but you and your father's family will perish and who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai. Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa.

3:16 Fast for me. Don't eat, don't drink for three days, three nights, or a day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.

3:42 So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther's instructions. This is the word of God. You may be seated. If somebody was putting on a trivia with you about likes and dislikes of your pastor, and they ask you about what are some of his favorite readings, I don't think that any of you would have to guess. You would say he likes a good story. in literature, and I'm pretty good at literature because in college I flunked the same class three times. And that's one way of reinforcing thesis

4:34 is to fail at a subject on multiple occasions. Evelyn Robertson would sit us in a room and she would talk about tragedy and comedy. I can almost see her in the sermon this morning making the distinction between the two. And she would look and she would say tragedy often begins with the possibility and ends with an impossibility. And then she would turn and say comedy so often begins with an impossibility and ends with a possibility. and then she would say comedy doesn't mean that it's laughable it has a good outcome we come to the story of Esther and you would ask me what category I would put this story I would say it's a good comedy it has some humor in it also this little tiny fragile nation that has been accosted and exiled by Nebuchadnezzar and taken into exile to Persia.

5:58 Persia is today Iran. So the Iran of the day is the Persian of yesterday. And Xerxes is the king. And he's a pretty big show-off, likes to demonstrate all of his goods and likes to talk about what he has. And so Xerxes is one of the central figures of the story this morning. In this story that I want to tell you, it's dramatic. It's filled with a lot of excitement. There's a queen named Vashti, married to Xerxes, after a state dinner and all of the people who have been invited, all of the somebodies and the nobodies.

6:56 There's an equal banquet that is being thrown by Vashti the Queen for the women. By the time Xerxes has had his field with drink, he's iniborated and feeling good about himself he calls in Vashti or he requests that she would show up and she makes the decision that she's not going to do it. There's a kind of sexual exploitation attached to this, where Xerxes wants to control the body of Vashti. And she makes the decision that she won't be objectivized. And so she's dismissed as the queen. And so I read an article of women who have been dismissed.

7:58 They said they're going to become the four B's. Brothers, you need to be careful of this one. In light of things that have happened in recent days. This is not made up. This is a legitimate article that you can look up and put it in. Put in your research button, Google. that women have decided in light of what happened Tuesday that they're going to follow Vashti.

8:31 No marriage, no children, no dating, no sex. You might be able to get past the first three. It's that last one that's going to cost you a lot of trouble. And so this is a highly sexual story of identity, of Vashti who makes the decision that I won't be sexually objectivized, even if it means that I lose my crown. We've got to find a replacement, chapter 2, that has a beauty pageant put on. That might be a delicate way of saying that it could be human trafficking, where these women have been paraded in front of the king and there's one young lady who catches the eye of Xerxes and her name is Esther, the cousin to a guy named Mordecai.

9:31 In chapter three, there's another event that takes play that after Esther goes through a series of cosmetics and perfumes. There are some people that are plotting for the death of Xerxes. She overhears it. She gets it to Mordecai. Mordecai is a kind of counsel and tells her exactly what to do. She does it. The assassination attempt is foiled. And at that moment, she's promoted even more in status in the king's palace. Mordecai, who is the genius behind this, has been forgotten. Chapter four.

10:24 So now another guy named Haman is being elevated to a status that he cannot believe. He wears the signet ring of the king. He has a lot of pull in the kingdom. But there's one person that he doesn't like, chapter 3, and that is Mordecai. Well, it all boils down to this.

10:58 Mordecai is defiant against the religiosity inside of Xerxes' kingdom. He won't bow down. He won't give in. He won't surrender. He stands his ground. He won't be silent. And so Haman sees this as a threat and wants to get rid of him, get rid of Mordecai. And so he plots to do so. His wife comes up with a concoction. Why don't you raise a 50 foot gallow and hang him on it? He says, sounds good to me. Well, now at the end of chapter four, the king can't sleep. And he's having nightmares, literally, about assassination attempts. and then how the attempt had been foiled by a guy named Mordecai, who gets the credit for saving his life.

12:00 And he said, what have we done to honor this man? Not a thing. So he's reading through the chronicles. He doesn't find anything. He says to Haman the next day, he said, how would you honor a person who has done a galleon gesture. He said, oh, I know what I'll do. Put a robe on his back that the king has worn. Ride him around town in a Cadillac horse. that the king has been driven in. He says, and then proclaim before all the people up and down Queenston and tell them, says, this is how the king honors those who honors him. Now, you don't have to be a Rhodes Scholar, but for those who have never read this story, Haman believes that Xerxes is talking about Haman.

13:07 And he says, okay, but when Haman finds out who the king really is referring to is Mordecai, he can't stand himself. And he doesn't know what to do. Well, by this time, Esther knows what's getting ready to happen. These are the big cliff notes now. You have to read the story yourself. Get in the fill in the blanks. But this is the cliff note version. She says, I know what Haman is up to. So she decides to put on a banquet, invite the king. And the king agrees to come to the banquet. She says, but don't come along. bring Haman with you. And he says, I'll come, you know, because she's found favor in his eyes.

14:04 And whatever you want up to half my kingdom, you can have, say, just show up at the dinner and bring Haman with you. And when she gets there, she discloses that Haman has been plotting to exterminate all of these people who he say don't belong in Susa. He says this is made up of a particular people and there are certain groups of people that don't belong in this country. And so And so So when And so These are hard working people These are people who have worked and built You know And so when the king hears this He's infuriated Now I told you this fits kind of in a comedy He gets up because Haman is smart enough to know That the king has already decided what his fate is going to be.

15:17 So he gets up, he goes out into the garden, goes out to the garden and relieves himself and comes back in. And when he comes in while he's gone, Haman is falling all over the diamond. falling all over Esther. And it looks like he's trying to sexually assault Esther on the dive van, grabbing her, you know, trying to build a case. And when the king come back, he says, would you even insult me in my own palace that you would put your hands on the queen? And so they said, what are we going to do with it? And say, well, what he built for Haman, Haman built for Malachi, then let's use that as a judgment against the very one that he was judging against. Now, you notice that in this story that God seems to be absent in it.

16:33 And so, I want to give you a principle. When God seems to be absent, he's very present. That's the first thing I want you to remember, that when God seems to be absent, he's very present. For those of you that are not familiar with this story, this book almost didn't make it in the canon. The canon speaks of what the standard rule is, what books get put in and not put in the Bible. So for those of you that laugh at the Bible and doesn't think that it makes a lot of sense in this old time and you people just come to church and y'all listen to this ancient text, it's only because many of the people that criticize it doesn't understand the work that went into to get this book the way that we have. So when you say canon, you're talking about a standard rule that goes through a process of what books are included and not included. Some of you, you want to know why, you know, certain books were included, wasn't in. So you got friends and you got a friend who went to the bookstore and they bought a book and they had what's called apocryphal literature in it.

17:47 And then people want to read apocrypha. You sit down and say, well, how about you read the 66 books first before you start reading something else? How about we get that straight first? But that's another argument. But I wanted to throw it out because I know the congregation that I preach to. I know the generation I live in. But also I know the people who tune in to me that's always looking for a way on how they can discredit the legitimacy of biblical authority. And so here, this story almost missed getting put in the 66 books because God's name is not mentioned on any of the pages in the story of Esther. But remember this, just because God seems to be absent, He's always very present.

18:40 He's always working in the corners, darting in and out of the shadows. There have been times in your own life that you have accredited your success to a lot of people. And you never said God. But I'm here to tell you that there is nothing in your life where God has not been involved in the shadows of your life. These little people in exile are learning this, that whether God's name is mentioned or not, that God is very present in all of the workings of their life. God moves, the hymn says, in mysterious ways. His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps on the sea. He rides above the storm. We have seen that in our life on more occasions than we can mention of how God has been actively involved in our life in some way or another.

19:43 Keeping us, watching over us, protecting us, shielding us, covering us, even when we didn't ask God to do it. Some of us this morning, and I'll move on, are the recipients of a grace of a great-grandmother, a great-grandfather on down. That they didn't even know who we would be, but they were praying for our future. Lord, that you would watch over my children's children and children's children. This story moves on. to remind us when God's people are overmatched and outnumbered. One plus God is enough. This story hinges on the defiance of somebody named Vashti, the cooperation of someone named Esther, someone who posits himself in a position named Mordecai.

20:56 And the story reminds us is that all God needs is one somebody. Just one. The power of one. There's some of you this morning that you're always looking for somebody else to partner with you to do something great. Greatness is not given out in plenty. often is just given one at a time one for the one of a nail a shoe was lost the poem says for one of the shoe the horse was lost for one of the horse the rider was lost for one of the rider the battle was lost for one of the battle the war was lost one one brick and a wall can make the difference between his strength and his weakness one and sometimes God just need one somebody that would be bolder than anybody else not to join in with a crowd mob but somebody that's bold enough to stand for him and say I believe God that you can do exceedingly abundant.

22:20 What kind of child were you? I know in hindsight, you're going to paint a perfect picture of yourself. I never liked crowd mentality. You can trace my history, I'm pretty easy to find out. I never wanted to run with what the masses said. God gave me a mind to think with God gave me ideas and vision and more of us would be happier people if we would learn to love who God has created us to be I don't think I have to say no more than that It was so that Vashti made the decision to say, I won't be exploited.

23:33 And then for Esther to say these words, I'll do it. If I perish, I perish. Let me move on. when you seem to be out schemed God has another plan when all of the forces seemed out scheme you God has another plan we've just come through an unbelievable sweep of our country our country has proven that many of us who clap in one direction vote in another.

24:36 We are a red country. That's who we are. When I vote, I say to my children, I say I only look at two things at the end of the night. I want to know how did my city vote, but more than that, how did black folk vote? And then I want to know how my nation voted, but I want to know how black folk in the nation voted. That's what I want to know. That's mine. not yours, that's mine.

25:10 And when I looked up and I saw all of the big parties we had and all of the championing, we had a big gathering in Houston. 40% of the people that registered to vote didn't vote in our own city. They didn't vote in Harris County. They didn't vote in Dallas proper. and I said look at that all of that celebrating all of that clapping and yet and yet God has a way of showing us when you've been out maneuvered and out schemed God has another plan because God can take a crooked line to write straight on oh it's going to be interesting is going to be interesting.

26:09 And so when you look to be out scheme, not just politically, but personally, religiously, theologically, God always has a better plan. Israel could not have thought that when they were taken into captivity, when they were oppressed and exiled, when they were marginalized as a tiny fragile group of people. There's no way that they could have thought that God was playing chess and not checkers. That God was moving the pieces in the right direction and that he would use a young girl, a young woman by the name of Esther without no deep history and family background that God would position her at the right place at the right time to call attention to God's judgment and God's grace. And though she said, if I perish, I perish, she was willing to say, I'm willing to lay it all out there for God, for God to get what God wants to get done.

27:23 I'm not talking about now somebody else. I'm talking about Esther right now. You can put your name in how you want God to use you in the tight straits of life. But at this moment, God is using just one somebody who says, all I need is anybody that will be used by me. And hear this girl. When everything seemed to be out-schemed. outmaneuvered. God uses unlikely people to get his work done. God had to have a Haman to go in opposition to his people in order for God to work out his plan to out scheme the schemas. But let me close. When evil overreaches itself God overcomes I've been telling people for a long time, and I mean this, if evil knew where to stop, evil could win.

28:42 The problem with evil, it always overreaches. evil has a way maybe that's too abstract so let me put a name to it the devil Satan Diablos evil oppositions many times if you would be honest had you if they just would have stopped they got you guilty but evil doesn't know where to stop it just keeps on going until it awakes God's grace and say you're not going that far with my children now In the transatlantic trade, slave trade, 12 million black bodies was transported up and down the Iberian coast from Africa, and up and down the Iberian coast.

29:55 dropping people off in Brazil and all through the Caribbean and dropping off 500,000 enslaved people in America on the colonies. Evil just won't stop, will it? No, it won't. It just keeps on going until God has to wake up or Harriet Tubman or Frederick Douglass. It won't stop with it. No, it won't. That God has to wake up a Martin Luther King or Fannie Lou Hamer or Ida B. Wells. It just won't stop with it. That God has to wake up somebody like you to say evil will not keep on going because God is the overcomer of all of our lives.

30:58 Preach, Pastor West. Evil just doesn't know where to stop. I'm done now. You say, Pastor West, I think that you're just trying to make up things. Well, you don't have to, again, be a historian. You don't have to know that much. You've read it. You've read Napoleon. If Napoleon would have just stopped, the Bonaparte would have stopped. He could have won. But the arrogance of his military fleet takes him into the winter lands of Russia. And what destroyed him was a snowflake. A snowflake stopped him. He knew he couldn't fight against nature. And he kept on chasing until snow destroyed him. Let me tell you something.

31:53 Evil just doesn't know where to start. Evil in your house, in your neighborhood, in your heart. Evil doesn't know how to stop. That's why we need somebody who can conquer evil. Hitler. Hitler. Hitler turned Germany, the most intelligent country in the world. where our great universities are, where all of you here, any one of you who've gone to any school have been trained by Germanic thought. You don't have to go to Germany to do it. All of us, from elementary to middle to high school, have been affected in one way or another. Every teacher who has been trained by high rationalism.

32:50 That's who you are. That's why when I'm preaching, you start thinking on ways not to believe what I'm saying. Yeah, because that's how we've been trained not to believe, to question anything of the divine or supernatural. It has been put in us, question its legitimacy. Believe only scientific rationale. And so that's why you respond that way. From here to here. That's how we're taught. And God. God. Says you're going too far. Gone too far. And when you go that far. God says I am the one. That really. I'm really in control. I'm done now.

33:42 My time is up. that's why we get happy when we read Romans 8. When we get to Romans 8, we say, nothing shall separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's why people who have never read the Bible, they say, I've never read that, but I like the way that sounds, that nothing shall separate me from the love of God. What he says, life or death, height or depth, light or darkness, angels or demons, powers or principalities. Nothing shall separate me from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus. Somebody need to hear that today. Those of us in Christ need to hear, but there's somebody that's listening, that's trying to make sense and purpose out of their life.

34:41 They see no religious dimension, nothing spiritual about their life. They think that life is no more than brain and hand and what you eat. And yet underneath their skin today, they sense that there has to be more to life than what I've been living. And here, I'm here to tell you that Christ in your life can make the difference in your life. Christ overcomes. And what is the greatest act of overcoming?

35:28 One young man said these words and I'm done. He said that I'll be glad when this election is over. so I can get back to preaching Jesus Christ and him crucified. I said, well, that wasn't wrong. You'll never put nothing in the place of Jesus Christ and him crucified because Calvary is the greatest act of justice that has ever taken place in the world. All the evil of the world showed up on a hill called Calvary on a Friday morning. And Jesus nailed every evil and sin and injustice on a hill called Calvary. And then he buried every last one of them. And then on Sunday morning, he got up to say, I got power over every injustice that's in the world.

36:29 yeah yeah that's why I preach Christ and him crucified I need to stop right there. on that one word is Christ Christ alone Christ and Christ alone Christ Jesus and him alone. Yeah. My hope is built on nothing left than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

37:26 I dare not trust the sweetest frame but holy lean on Jesus name. Church on Christ the solid rock I stand. All of the ground Is sinking sand All of the ground Sinking sand Our Father thank you For today and thank you for worship Thank you for the gospel of Jesus Christ Thank you for your people Help us now. to remember that in Christ we live move and have our beings Like the story of Esther, help us to remember that even when your name is not invoked, you are ever present.

38:35 May we remember that when we're outmaneuvered, that one plus God is enough. when it seems that we've been out-schemed, remind us you got another plan. And when evil thinks that it's got the best of us, may we remember that you're the overcomer, that in you we conquer. Thank you for Jesus Christ. and now we pray even for those who say I don't know much about Jesus but I need somebody in my life who really makes the difference don't make them grieve the spirit or let them quench the Holy Spirit open their hearts today that at the invitation they get up come down the aisle and say I want to know this Savior who can make the difference in our lives in the strong name of Jesus Christ, our rock and redeemer, we pray, and all God's people say together, amen.

39:47 Give God praise today.