Esther 3
Esther • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro
Intro
We are continuing our series on Esther!
Two weeks ago you got to meet King Xerxes and ultimately learn how we are blessed to have Jesus as the better King
Last week we looked at the fact that choosing God is ultimately choosing death
Well today we are going to continue in our series
Sackcloth?
Sackcloth?
1 When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry.
2 He went up to the entrance of the king’s gate, for no one was allowed to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth.
3 And in every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.
We see Mordecai’s reaction to the King’s decree (decree to slaughter all the Jews)
He rips his clothes off and puts on sackcloth and ashes
This is a common reaction in the OT
Sackcloth and ashes were used in Old Testament times as a symbol of debasement, mourning, and/or repentance.
It was a symbol of repentance of something done wrong, or in this instance, a symbol mourning for what is about to happen
They would put on the sackcloth with the expectation that God would take care of them and cloth them
It was used all over
31 Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner.” And King David followed the bier.
This was when David was mourning the death of a commander in the Saul’s army
34 Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.
This was when Jacob though this son, Joseph, was dead
5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water,
The people of Nineveh heard of their destruction and repented to God by putting on sackcloth and ashes
This leads to the first takeaway today
REPENT WITH SACKCLOTH
Are you putting on sackcloth and ashes?
We all sin, the Bible is clear, we all need to repent, so the question is, are you putting on Sackcloth?
Are you truly repenting, and weeping?
Or do you just throw up hail marry prayer and keep going?
True repentance should be done with sackcloth and ashes - true disgust for our sins and seeking Jesus to cleanse us
Repentance is not just admitting that what you did was wrong, but is also seeking to change and follow God
Sackcloth has the idea of disgust and change
To truly repent we must have disgust for our sin and seek to change
The first thing I want you to see from Esther 4 is we need to start putting on sackcloth and relying on God
Lots of Dialogue
Lots of Dialogue
Continuing in Esther
Esther then hears about Mordecai wearing sackcloth and ashes by the gate and sends someone to go and see what is going on
To find out why he is doing this
7 and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.
8 Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and command her to go to the king to beg his favor and plead with him on behalf of her people.
9 And Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said.
10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say,
11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”
Mordecai tells the Eunuch about all that has happened
About the decree to kill all the Jews
He tells the Eunuch to beg Esther to go to the King and ask him to change the decree
Esther told the Eunuch to go back to Mordecai explaining why she can’t do that
She was afraid that she would be killed
That only people invited by the King could go
And she didn’t want to die
Such a time as this
Such a time as this
12 And they told Mordecai what Esther had said.
13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.
14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
They told Mordecai what she said and he responded with some of the most powerful wisdom and most well known verse in the book of Esther
He challenged her to wake up and realize that she had a job and role
That her being there was not a mistake
That clearly there was a plan for her life
This leads to the second thing
GOD CAN USE YOU, HE DOESN’T NEED YOU
The lesson that Mordecai is teaching Esther here is the same message that we need to learn
If we are silent, God’s Will will still be done
What He has ordained to happen will happen!
You can’t change it! It will happen
You not doing it doesn’t stop Him from moving
The question is, are you going to be a part of it?
Are you going to serve God or sit back and do nothing
God’s will is going to happen, the beauty is we have a chance to be involved
The book of Jonah shows us this perfectly
Jonah was told to go to Nineveh to call out those people
After finally going he gave for all intensive purposes the worst message ever
The worst gospel presentation
AND YET
The people still accepted the message
Jonah tells us how all the people in Nineveh repented and sought after God
God wanted to use Jonah to redeem the people of Nineveh, and though Jonah didn’t want to he finally did
He gave the worst effort imaginable, and yet God still used it
God still saved the city of Nineveh
God wants to use us in His plan for redemption
But He doesn’t need us
He doesn’t need us to go and tell people, He doesn’t need us to do anything
He wants to use us, but he doesn’t need us
The third takeaway is this:
YOU ARE WHERE YOU ARE FOR A REASON
You are where you are for a reason
There is no mistake in the place that God put you
You may feel tired, left out, annoyed
You may feel powerless, useless whatever
It doesn’t matter - God placed you here for a reason
Mordecai is telling Esther - who knows, maybe you were placed here for a reason
He says maybe you were placed as Queen to help save the Jewish people
The same is true for us
We are here for a reason
The school you go to, the job you have, the friends you made
All of it is for a reason and purpose
God placed you here for “such a time as this”
It’s time we step up and start following God
It’s time we start realizing that God placed us here for a reason
To reach the people we are around
Conclusion
Conclusion
Esther 4 shows us three things
Repentance takes sackcloth
If you aren’t disgusted with your sin and seeking to change, that’s not true repentance
God wants to use you, but He doesn’t need you
God’s will is going to be done no matter what, isn’t it better to be a part of it?
You are where you are for a reason
Don’t discount the place God has placed you at