Esther 2026

So Esther chapter 5.

Page 5 0 4 in the church bibles. On the 3rd day, Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner courts of the palace in front of the king's hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall facing the entrance. When he saw Queenesta standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.

Then the king asked, what is it at Queenesta? What is your request, even up to 0.5 the kingdom it will be given you? If it pleases a king replied Esther, let the king together with Hayman come today to a banquet I have prepared for him. Bring Hayman at once, the king said so that we may do what Esther asks. So the king and Hammond went to the banquet Esther had prepared.

As they were drinking wine, the king again asked Esther. Now what is your petition? It will be given you, and what is your request even up to 0.5 the kingdom it will be granted? Ester replied, my petition and my request is this. If the king regards me with favor and if it pleases the king to grant my permission, petition, and fulfill my request, let the king and Hammond come tomorrow to the banquet, I will prepare for them.

Then I will answer the king's question. Hammond went out that day happy and in high spirits. But when he saw Mordekai at the king's gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordekai why. Nevertheless, Hammond restrained himself and went home. Calling together his friends and Zerash his wife, Hammond boasted them about his vast wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored him.

And how he had elevated him above the other nobles and officials. And that's not all, Hammond added. I'm the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the bank which he gave, and she has invited me along with the king tomorrow. But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordicae sitting at the king's gate. His wife, Zresh, and all his friends said to him, have a pole set up reaching to a height of 50 cubits.

And ask the king in the morning to have Mordai impaled on it, then go with the king to the banquet and enjoy yourself. This suggestion delighted Hayman, and he had the poll set up. Thanks, Naomi. Good evening, everybody. Let's pray as we as we begin.

Father, we thank you so much for your words. We thank you for just how exciting it is. We thank you that every time that we open it, You do speak, and you will speak tonight. And so father give us ears to listen, help us to want to know what you have to say to us, and we pray that as we consider this next installment of Esther, that we will understand something about who we are and something about how incredible the lord Jesus Christ is, and we pray these things in his name, amen. Well, I hope you've been enjoying the book of Esther if you've been coming along, week week in and week out.

I was, remarking with my dad. It's it's not like it's quite nice having to wait a week, isn't it? It's not like, binging on your favorite Netflix TV series where you can watch it all in 1. We actually have to do it like the old school way of TV that some of the youngsters don't know about. You had to wait a whole week, for the next episodes.

And so it's, you know, hopefully you've been enjoying the suspense and the tension. And so previously on Ester, we're gonna go straight into it here. Here's the, what's happened before. We've had a Esther become queen after Vashti was dismissed by King Xerxes. And then we we saw this character Hammond, who Pete said the other week, actually they have these rattles, which they try and drown out the name.

They boo and hiss. Every time that, that we say the name, we don't have to do that within the service, because it will mean that this sermon, will go on for a long time, and maybe some of you wanna watch something later on on TV. I don't know. But Hammond, comes onto the scene as this sort of wicked man who, is promoted to the highest position in all of the, all of the Persian Kingdom. And he wants everybody, to love and to honor, and to respect, and to tremble at him.

And and that's basically what most people do. Most people bar 1 man, and that 1 man was our friend Mordekai, Ester's uncle or cousin, who had adopted her and and looked after her own. But when he sees Hayman, he says, I'm not bound the knee to you. I bow the knee to 1, and that is god. That's, is not something that's gonna that Hayman's gonna take lightly.

And so Hammond says, doesn't just wanna get rid of Mortecai? He scorns the idea of just getting rid of Mortecai. He says, we've gotta do the lot of them. And so all the Jews and the Persian Empire face a threat of death as Hayman convinces xerxes to he pays him some money so that he can have the honor of killing, a lot of people. What a guy.

That's when we came into last week's chapter in chapter 4. And Mordecai has to, appeal to SE. He has to get a message to Esther and say, look, Ester, you're you're in a position to do something here. And, we left last week, with this 3 day fast, Ester, and all of the Jews and Susan, are gonna fast for 3 days. They are praying that Esther can have the courage and that she will have the security and safety of going into the king's presence.

Now why does why they need to pray that for her? Well, if you remember, and if you look back down at chapter 4 in verse 11, Esther had said this, all the King's officials, and the people of the Royal provinces know that for any man or woman, who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned, the king has but 1 law that they be put to death, unless the king extends the gold septon to them, and spares their lives, but 30 days have passed since I was called to go to the king. It's been 30 days. Esa's not sure if she's in favor with King Xerxes. And as you can see from that verse, if she was to go into that courtroom, that it would be a treasonable, a treasonable act that could result in her being killed for going in.

She has no right to go into the king without him inviting her in. And so what we see here is actually what ultimate power looks like. What a king who has ultimate power and ultimate authority. And so he must be secure, and he must have people coming for his pleasure. And his position, it is in a court.

And you'll see it in verse 1 to 2 of our passage tonight is 1 that suggests that I am the ultimate ruler. I am the 1 who holds the judicial seats. I am the 1 who can judge you, and I am the 1 who can extend mercy to you. And the sector in his hand is like the the the picture of that rule. If the sector doesn't get extended, then destruction.

It's a bit like the thumb down in the Gladiator film. If you've seen Gladiator, if you haven't, then it's lost on you. If it gets extended towards you, the thumb up, and you will live. Good. And so this is not just a walk in to any place.

There is consequences to walking in here, and it could be very grave. And so we had these 2 incredible lines in chapter 4. If you remember them, Mordecai says to her, I love I love this verse. In the end of verse 14, who knows, but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this? Has god put you in your position for you to act on our behalf?

And then just and I thought Josh did a great job of drawing this out. Esther's faith says, I'm gonna go in. And if I perish, I perish. So go and fast for me. 3 days, they fast.

And so we come to our chapter today, and it's the 3rd day. The time has come. On the calendar, it says you're going into xerxes today. Now there's some things that we look forward to in the calendar. There are some things that we might look in the calendar with with, dread and anxiety.

And I think for us that this is gonna be 1 of those cases. But it's here now that Esther really takes center stage We've kinda had the spotlight on different characters here. You know, Ester said very little until chapter 4, but here now, she takes center stage. And so The fasting garments are discarded, and the royal robes are donned. In fact, the word there where it says she put on her royal robes, it means it actually is she put on royalty She's gonna doll herself up here.

She's gonna make herself as as attractive as possible because remember, Xerxes likes attractive looking women. That's why he had a whole mispeersion con whatever's what contest got there in the end. That's why he had that. And you could imagine, may maybe she even approaches head guy, if you remember in chapter 2 who took such a shining to Eston says, what can I do to, to to please the king? Let let me think through what smell I should put on, you know?

What what makeup shall I put on? Which oil shall I, you know, drip over my face? I I obviously don't do that stuff as you can tell. And so once she's done that, you you can imagine I hope that you can imagine this picture. She leaves and she walks down that corridor, maybe feeling slightly dizzy, slightly sick.

And she makes the journey all the way down to this courtroom. And at and Zerksy sits in this in this room, and right down at the entrance. Ester positions herself and stands and waits and waits. I think you cut this cut this with 10. What's gonna happen?

It's like those scenes where it's just this long room and there's the king and his face is inscrutable. And Ester's there at the end just waiting. Will you know, heart is feels like it's gonna explode out of a chest. He thinks Kanzirks is here. The beating of my heart.

It's absolutely pounding in my chest here. Will he will he extend? Will he not? Am I gonna meet my end or will I be allowed in? And then you can imagine the scepter gets brought to oh, I was gonna show you a picture of the scepter.

There you go. That's a, actually, a relief of, Xerxes, founder years ago, and you can see the septa here in his hand. That's a septa that needs to be extended. And so the the tension is broken as that tension that that sector is extended to Esther Acceptance. You can imagine the sigh of relief.

And slowly, she might wanna run, but she knows she has to maintain her her regal queen ship, is that word, and approach this throne. And reaches out and touches the scepter, a sign of not just humility, but a sign that she has the royal approval of King's Erxes. She's in. He's very pleased with it. Did you see that he was pleased with her in verse 2?

And so he asks her in verse 3, what is it, Queenesta? What is your request? Even up to 0.5 the kingdom, it will be given to you. Now I don't think I don't think he's actually offering 0.5 his kingdom here. It's more of, what do you call it?

An expression. Gosh. Thank you. It's an expression that would have been used there. But he's obviously very pleased to have my kingdom.

And obviously, the answer that we expect is not the answer that we get, is it? Did you notice the answer that we get? Verse 4. If it pleases the king, let the king together with Hammond come today to a banquet I have prepared for him. What?

A banquet? And with Hammond, the man who's trying to kill you all, you've thought that's what we're gonna that's the plan. Why not say we're in danger? I'm gonna be killed. My people are gonna be killed.

I think Esther knows. Esther understands court politics. Esther understands that she's just won his favor again. She can't just go in and start making demands of the king. She has to sweeten them up.

And she knows xerxes because we all know xerxes. The way to xerxes' heart is his stomach. That's who Xerxes is. You know, actually lots of men, the weight of their heart is their stomach. And there's a there's a few people in this church who have been won by their stomach.

I think mostly of Chris Tilly, who better get 1 with a cheesecake of all things. So here is here is Esther appealing to Zurich's stomach to get him in, to win his favor. And so they're the and, look, he's very pleased with this. Look verse 5. Bring Hayman at once.

I want the feast. I wanna be with my my queen. And there you are. Verse 6, he's very happy because more, Zurich is just gonna do what ERC loves to do, have a little tipple, isn't he? And there he is having his drink, and I'm as he's high in spirits, he requests again.

He asked her again. Sorry. Verse 6. Now, what is your petition? It will be giving you.

And what is your request? Even up to hard the kingdom, it will be granted. Now if this wasn't just a saying, Escalom had the whole kingdom. So what does she say verse 7? Esra replied, my tit my petition on my request is this.

Yes? What is it this time? Surely. This time, she's gonna say, save me and my people. Save us.

We'll look at verse 8. If the king regards me with favor, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, save me save us no. Let the king and haman come tomorrow. To the banquet I will prepare for. Another banquet.

That's that's that's what we do. Another banquet with the same 2 people, but at the end, she promises to answer that question. Now I think I don't know what you think about Ester. There's lots of commentary about her. I think Ester's playing an absolute blinder here.

She she knows I think people don't give Ester enough credit. She is so wise and so winsome because she is showing xerxes and reminding xerxes of her worth to him. And she's She knows urksy so well that he'll like this sort of excitement and he'll like the fact that he's, you know, she's he's getting fed by his queen. He's able she's able to try and butter him up so that in a he's gonna be in a position to give what she what she requests. And not only that, but she's bringing Hayman in.

And Hammond, as as we've seen, and we're gonna see in this story, has an ego. And so she's massaging Hammond's ego. He's loving this, isn't he? In fact, we know that he's loving this because we go into verse 9. You can imagine they depart.

And we're because we're watching a TV series or a drama, whatever you wanna call it, the the camera goes from the the banquet and it follows Hayman outside. And Hammond is overjoyed. Isn't he? Look at the words it says. He went out that day happy and in high spirit.

I mean, he is dancing out of that banquet. He's doing those heel clicks out of the, you know, the double heel click, if you can do him. He's so happy. He's he's he's so happy. And there he is bouncing away, up and down the street.

Smile from ear to ear until. He comes across Mordecai. Mordecai. And as he looks at Mordecai, he sees a man neither sitting No. He's sitting down.

He's neither standing up or bowing down, and there is no trace of fear in this man's eyes towards Amen. And the smile clears off his face. The joy evaporates and it is replaced with fury. The end of verse 9, he was filled with rage against Mortacar. He is so angry.

Despite all everybody else bowing down to him, despite being into this beautiful banquet with the queen and zerks. He's even though he's a just a glorified 3rd wheeler. He doesn't understand that. Despite all of that, this 1 man will not show him fear, and it drives him crazy. His ego is so fragile.

Isn't his ego so far? We've been talking about this. It's just like, you know, these leaders, as soon as somebody slightly says something against them, they take to the socials, and they're write it out, all this rhetoric, this this vitriol against, against the person. That's what Hayman's like. And so Vesta, I think if he would he would dearly love to take out his sword and run Mordecay right through.

But in verse 10, nevertheless, him and restrain himself and went home. It's like, you know, if you ever seen, like, it's usually blokes, they they go to hit and then they stop and they sort of bite the fist because they can't lead. Yeah. That's what Mordekai's like. Mordekai.

And so he composes himself. He restrains himself and he goes home, and he says I'll bide my time. And so in the meantime, what should I do? Well, I'll get my family in, and I'll do what egotistical maniacs do best. I'll brag about myself.

Do you see that in verse 2nd part of verse 10 to, to the, to to verse 11? He's all about himself. Look at his boasting. Can you see how How many times from the 2nd part of 10, it says he, him or his look, look with me. Calling together, his friends, and Zaresh, his wife.

Haven boasted to them about his vast wealth. His many sons. But that that's multitude of sons by the ways. He's he's bragging to his wife, Zarez, about the sons that he has presumably by her. Anyway, there you go.

His many sons. And all the ways the kings had king had honored him and how he had elevated him above all the other nobles and officials. It reminds me of, you know, the story that Jesus tells about the rich fool, and he's just all about himself. Look at the stores I've built, and I'm rich, and I'll get more money, and I'll build bigger bonds. This is what he's like.

And to top it all off, verse 12, that's not all. I'm the only 1, the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the bank which she gave. And she's invited me along with the king tomorrow. Look how happy he is. It's all about me, says Hayman.

But verse 13, all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew mordecai sitting at the king's gate. He can't he can't help it. This is what his pride is like, it. It blows him from emotion to emotion. You've seen him.

He's gone from happy to filled with rage, to happy again with her greater, to filled with rage. That's his life, isn't it Hammond? Mordecai for Hammond is like, he's like an it like you can't get rid of or he's like a he's like a splinter in your your finger that it just bugs you all the time. Like, you're you're generally quite happy, but every time you slightly touch that splinter, it's aah. That's what Mordecai is to Hammond.

He's got no I can have no satisfaction of mordecai's alive. And so verse 14, his wife and all his friends come up with this Brilliant plan, apparently, have a pole set up reaching to a height of 50 cubits. That's about 75. I think it's actually 75 meters. It says 23, but anyway, it's a humongous pole this thing.

It's it's ridiculously it doesn't need to be this big. Have this huge pole, which is a and the other word is for tree. And ask the king in the morning. It's just genius. To have mordecai impaled on it, then go with the king to the banquet and enjoy yourself.

That's his solution. Get a massive poll, and that will teach anybody that if you mess with Hayman, if you cross Hayman, you'll be made a spectacle of. And so we will impale now impaling. Do you wanna know about impaling? Isaac said no.

There's a lot of people said no. Sorry. I well, I'm gonna tell you anyway. There's a whole Wikipedia page on impalement. You can either have the transversal impaling or the longitudinal impaling.

Okay? The longitudinal is sort of it goes straight up. Does that make sense? Everyone get the picture? Yes.

Sorry, those who hate gore, but, you know, I love telling young people this, or it can go through the transverse or the, yeah, through the belly. Yeah. Or it could just go through here through the throat. There you go. That's what he wants to do to Mordecai.

What a wicked man. And see how that changes Mordecai. Emotion again. This suggestion delighted Hayman, and he had the poll set up. The poll will haunt the whole of this book.

We've already seen it actually. The the 2 men that are plotted against King Zerkes's life have been impaled. And now we have this poll impaling going again, and it's gonna go throughout the book, but it's ominous. That's the that's the story of chapter 5. You ready for my 1st point?

You laughing at? Point number 1. Haiman, a picture of pride. Hayman, a picture of pride. Hayman is just a picture of our world, isn't he?

He's a boastful man. You know, you you we've talked about the world leaders recently. Aren't they just the most boastful people? You know, they have to have huge sort of military parades that show off how big their missiles are. Look how big my missile is.

It's pathetic, isn't it? Yeah? Or how, you know, we did such a good job at this. You know, all the politicians are like this. They boast about themselves.

And we live in a world that is all about boasting. But but also we look at their their emotions. That's just so volatile their emotions, aren't they? Yeah. That that as soon as someone says something, my my bruised ego can't take it, you know, Pete's been telling me that Hammond's like Putin.

I think he's right. Put if anybody says anything against Putin, he's furious that that that there was, I looked up the story. Somebody, wrote about him and said Putler, as in say, he's a bit like Hitler. It's fine and and in danger of prison man. You know, we we read from Alexa, Navalny, he he opposed him.

He couldn't take the opposition. I think the other week, we talked about how Xi Xi Jinping, has banned winnie the pooh. There's a whole page about how China's banned winnie the pooh on Wikipedia. I've been on Wikipedia this week. They're so fragile.

They're egos, aren't they? They they can't have anybody say anything against me. I I must crush that and people must worship me. You know, Kim Jong Un, he is the only person in the country apparently to be allowed the haircut that he's got. No.

I don't know who does what is a haircut fair enough. So so that he could be seen as very different and so unique compared to everybody else. How fragile is your ego? But when our egos are bruised, and when their egos are bruised, they delight in the idea of destroying and canceling other people. I mean, look at these verses from proverbs This is what we're seeing here, isn't it?

Horty eyes and a proud hearts. The unplowed field of the wicked producing. The proud and arrogant person, mocker, is his name, behaves with insulin fury. Is that not Hayman? Is that not our leaders in this world?

A fool's mouth lashes out with pride, but the lips of the wise protect them. The problem with just looking at our world leaders though, is it doesn't allow us to look at ourselves, does it? Because the issue is this is the human heart. Who do you find it easiest to talk about? I could tell you who I find it easiest to talk about.

Me. So easy to brag about me and what I've done, whether I've done a lot or my achievements or my accolades. That's a human heart. And my ego is so easily bruised, you know, if a loved 1 puts me down, or if I'm criticized by somebody else, How do I feel? When I've been cut up on the road, somebody overtakes me unlawfully.

Oh, I am furious. Yeah. This means it's time to be me to get my road rage out. If I'm beaten by somebody else, and when that happens, it's so easy to plot and invent ways to destroy, isn't it? Now we might not actually do it because we're too scared, but gosh, our minds are so imaginative in the ways that we can think about winning that argument that we lost or how I can maybe just destroy that person, maybe physically, maybe verbally.

I don't know what what your stick is, or we might rejoice at the demise of other people. Maybe not out loud, but within the heart. Pride is at the center of us all, really, isn't it? That's us. A proud heart is the unplowed field of the wicked it produces sin.

But if that is us, and it is, we must hear the warning of the Bible as well. Here's some more proverbs. This is how god views proverbs, proud people. He mocks proud mockers, but shows favor to the humble and oppressed. The lord detests all the proud of heart, be sure of this.

They will not go and punish. You gotta understand that if you're gonna be set up as a proud person and want all the glory to you and you're gonna have this bruised ego and you invent ways of destroying you, then god is not happy with that. That is something that god opposes. But not only that, but he will also judge that Pride goes before destruction. A haughty spirit before a fall.

Look at this verse here in 15 25. The lord tears down the house of the proud. Pride brings a person low, but the lowly spirits gain honor. This is what Hayman needs to know. If only Hayman knew if only Hayman knew that he was set up against the god of the universe who detests his awful pride.

If only he knew, that because of that pride, god will bring him to his end, and spoilers, maybe It's not gonna end well for Old Hammond. And he can feel that. Can't you? He's there thinking he's so comfortable in in his pride, and he thinks he's untouchable in his pride, and he thinks he can boast about himself but around the corner. There's no point boasting about tomorrow because the next day is gonna bring a downfall for Hammond.

If only Hammond knew the history, if only he knew the the king before the Persian Empire, nebuchadnezzar, who who would set set himself up as the great king and exalted himself. And when he exalted himself, god said, you can be like the cattle of the field and eat grass until he acknowledged that god is the only 1 worth our worship. And so do you know? Do you know if you're proud that god opposes you, but not only does he oppose you? He will judge you.

All those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who are humble will be exalted. And so that leads us to my 2nd point, Esther, a picture of patients. Isn't Esther so different? The contrast is just like so stark. Here, Esther is.

She's vulnerable. She understands that she is weak. She understands actually that her position is not 1 of of great superiority to all the people. She knows that actually to go into the king's presence is a very dangerous thing indeed. She understands that she does no right to go in there and is undeserving yet.

She's her emotions are just so steady. Now where his are flying off the handle, Esther is just so calm. And so assured and so steady. Ester is not boastful, but she acts wisely and subtly. She acts with humility and patience.

I think Ester understands Jesus' sermon on the mount where it says, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of god. She knows humility is required here. And really importantly, as to trust god. She trusts that the real sovereign, not the earthly pretend sovereign, but the real sovereign is gonna do his will. And so with that in her mind, she has prayed for 3 days.

She's fasted for 3 days, and she goes and is committed to speaking on behalf of her people, of being part of god's work of salvation, of deliverance. I think S is a really great example for all of us. We are Christ people. And like Esther, we've been put in positions that god has put us in. By his providence.

He's put you in your job. The job that you're in. You're in it for a reason. He's put you in the family that you're in for a reason. He's put you in the friendship group that you're in for a reason.

He's put you in the school or the college or the university that you're in for a reason. He's given you the ministry that you might have at Cornerstone for a reason. He's put you in these positions so that you can humbly, and you can patiently, and as you trust god, you can go and serve and offer salvation. Like Essi, you can present requests on behalf. Of people.

Like Esther, you can love your people. Like Esther, you can take risk. Isn't that amazing? You know, she has it all to lose, but she can lose it all because she can't lose it all if that makes any sense. She can't lose her salvation with god.

She knows that god has a secure, and so fine. If I perish, I perish. God's got me. Can we not have those? Can we not act like that, brothers and sisters?

We have more reason to take risks. We live on this side of the cross. Jesus has died. Jesus has risen again. Jesus has filled those pro those promises and promises to return.

So let us, Jesus' people go, and the positions that we're in, and serve him and take risk. But Why is she able to do this? Why is she able to serve like this? Why is she able to speak on behalf of her people? Well, this is my 3rd point.

Xerxes. A picture of Pardon. A picture of Pardon. This is it's quite difficult to to work out Zurich's in in in Estra thing because he's such a wicked man. So do bear with me on this point.

And you you can disagree with me if you want. But I think Xerxes is a picture, and he's a picture of ultimate power. You know, That that word septa in in this book of Esther. It's only used in the book of Esther 4 times. She used twice in this chapter.

She used once in chapter 4 11, and it's used once in chapter 8 verse 4. But as I said at the start of the sermon, the scepter is the the physical embodiment, the picture of what xerxes is as a king, that he is the 1 who has ultimate sovereign power that whatever he says really goes, that no 1 can disagree with whatever law xerxes gives. Not only is a sovereign power, but it's also symbolic of judicial mercy. That's what we've seen, isn't it? That the that the sector symbolizes destruction or deliverance.

And every time that that that is talked about in this in this book, it's to say whether someone will be destroyed or someone will be delivered. Zerxes is a picture of an ultimate king with ultimate power, who has justice and mercy at his fingertips. And so when we come to the Bible, when we come to the Old Testament and the New Testament, we see that there is a promise king not 1 of these pagan kings I know, but I promise king who will have a scepter. There's a lot of verses actually that talk about this, but the 1 I wanna talk to you about is Psalm 45, verse 67. Look at these verses.

Your throne o god will last forever and ever. A scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness. Therefore god, your god has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. That's the king with the scepter.

That's the king though, not like xerxes who who actually loves true justice and true man and whose kingdom, unlike the Persian kingdom that didn't last forever, this kingdom will last forever, and ever and ever. And so he come to the new testament and to the writer of Hebrews, and he quotes this Psalm to say that this king is the risen lord Jesus Christ. The 1 who's scepter is in his hands for eternity. But more than that, the extending of the scepter, I think it's a symbol of what's to come, not only an Esther, with the deliverance of the people of god. But it's a symbol of what happens in redemptive history.

The scepter is a picture I think of the cross. The scepter symbolizes, as I said, destruction or deliverance of justice and mercy. If it is extended, deliverance and mercy. If it is withheld, destruction, and judgment. And so on the cross, Christ goes to die for the pride of humans.

Takes the pride of humans upon himself, takes all my boastful words, takes all my volatile fury, takes all my willingness for people to be destroyed and to be canceled. And he takes the scepter of judgment upon himself so that the scepter can be extended to you and I. So that we can have deliverance. So that we can enter where we have no right to enter beforehand, where we can enter where we shouldn't deserve to enter. And so we've been looking in the mornings, haven't we at Hebrews?

And Rosie prayed it this morning Hebrews chapter 10. What amazing words these are. Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way open for us through the curtain. That is his body. And since we have a great high priest over the house of god, let us draw near to god with sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience, and having our bodies washed with pure water, let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for he who promised is faithful.

By the blood of Christ. We can have deliverance. We can have mercy. We can go through the curtain to the place where we had no right to go, to the place where we did not deserve to be. And we can be with the god of the universe with King Jesus himself.

We're gonna sing at the end of this sermon, and can it be. What words these are? Last verse, no condemnation now I dread. Jesus, and all in him is mine. Alive in him, my living head, and clothed in righteousness divine.

Bold. I approach the eternal throne and claim the crown through Christ. My own. That is the marvelous news of Christ for us. And so where are you in this account.

Maybe you you're like Hammond. Maybe tonight, you've seen, and maybe you've seen it before, your pride And you've seen the ugliness of your pride, and you've seen the opposition of god to your pride and the judgment of your pride. There may be tonight you can come to the foot of the cross and know the pardoning grace of the lord Jesus Christ, and walk into the service of the king. And for us who are Christians, we still get pride. We still get proud, don't we?

The great news is is that the pardoning grace of Christ is what we 1st come to and it's what we come to time and time again. But with the knowledge that that is the case, let us take off pride, let us put on humility and patience, and let us serve the lord Jesus Christ in the positions that we find ourselves in and love Christ and love people. Should we pray. Father, we thank you and praise you for this wonderful account. And we wanna ask for your forgiveness for the times where we have been guilty of pride.

We recognize our own boastful hearts. We recognize our own wicked scheming at times, but we praise you for our wonderful savior, the lord Jesus Christ. We praise you that because the scepter of judgment and destruction fell upon him, upon that hill, we can have an extended scepter of mercy and of grace and of acceptance. And so we pray father that you will help us to live in the light of this. May we follow the example of Esther who humbly served you?

Who wisely served you, who spoke on the behalf of her people. Maybe it'd be those who present our petitions and requests for 1 another, and maybe be those who hold out deliverance and mercy for a lost world. And so he prayed these things in Jesus' name, amen.