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[0:00] Last week, we recalled that some interesting things took place and started taking shape.

[0:23] He goes and complains to his family. They come up with the idea, well, all you've got to do is go out in the backyard, build a gallows, and hang Haman between the two banquets.

[0:45] The first banquet already having taken place, but he was invited to a banquet the next day. So just go and make sure that can happen before the second banquet. It's then a done deal.

[0:58] Well, so the king that night, remember, could not sleep, tossed and turned and did whatever, and finally decided, of all things, to call for the chronicles of the record and read those just for interest's sake.

[1:17] And so as he reads, he reads the part of the chronicles that spoke of the event of Mordecai coming across information about these two people that were going to put him to death, put the king to death.

[1:35] And so all of a sudden, the memory of Ahasuerus thinks of that as he reads that, and he asks the question, what honor has been done to Mordecai for him intervening on my behalf?

[1:49] And the answer, of course, was nothing. Nothing's been done for him in all this time. So the king, remember, said, all right, we've got to change that. We've got to do something right away to honor Mordecai.

[2:03] So he's going to find somebody that he has confidence in to come up with an idea how to honor Mordecai. Now, as that's going on, Haman goes in to the court of the king to get an audience with the king in order to get permission from the king to put Mordecai to death on the gallows that he's built in his backyard, in his garden.

[2:32] And so remember, King Ahasuerus asks his aides here, who's in the court looking for somebody to come up with the idea of how to honor Mordecai? Who's in the court?

[2:43] And, of course, they said, well, Haman's in the court. And said, go bring him here. And so Haman comes into the king, pleased that he's got audience with the king now. He can ask for permission to put Mordecai to death.

[2:57] Well, first thing the king does, I need you to tell me an answer here. Because Haman's the one that the king has great faith in and trust in.

[3:10] Couldn't be anybody any better to come up with the ideas, how to honor Mordecai. And so he tells Haman, what should be done? What should I do to the man that I want to honor above everybody else?

[3:27] And you realize and remember what Haman's thoughts were. All right, he's going to honor me. It's about time. I'm his favorite guy. He's now feeling like he needs to honor me.

[3:38] So he comes up with all this scenario. You take the king's robe and best clothes, put it on him and his crown as well. Put him on the king's horse and ride him through the streets of the city and be saying to the people, so shall the man whom the king desires to honor, so shall this be done.

[4:02] And so that's great. Now, there's a problem though. Haman comes to find out it's not Haman that the king wants to honor.

[4:15] He gets all the clothes that's supposed to be. He said, bring the clothes in and Haman, take this stuff and place that upon Mordecai.

[4:25] Put him on the horse and take him through the streets as you have said. Now, again, what a change in mind and heart and thought and everything with Haman.

[4:40] Something's gone wrong here. Something disastrous, if you will, has happened to the king in the palace. Doesn't know what it is yet, but something has happened here.

[4:53] And so he goes home and cries to all of his people, you know. And I like what the passage says. Remember, it says that Haman went to his wife and family and friends that had encouraged him before and told him what a problem he's got here now.

[5:13] And remember what they said? They said, man, you've had it. You know, you're toast. You know, if he's going to honor Mordecai this way, your arch enemy, you've got a problem.

[5:27] And I just noticed a minute ago, I was looking back over that. It said that Haman covered his head. Now, keep that in mind a minute because there's something else we're going to see tonight that I think really relates to that.

[5:40] I think it reflects the idea of what he feels about himself and what's going to happen here if he's not careful. All right. And so Haman's in trouble and he doesn't know why yet.

[5:53] But as he's pouring all this out to his family, two of the chamberlains from the king knock on his door, come in and say, come on, it's time to go to the second banquet.

[6:09] Now, the problem is he has not yet had time to talk to the king about putting Mordecai to death. And he surely can't do it now. Not at this juncture anyway.

[6:20] So the moment of truth has arrived. And there are new notes for this, if you haven't gotten any. And some others of the previous ones over on the table, if you need those.

[6:33] Now, realize something. Again, Haman, remember, representing the flesh, the sin nature within us. The flesh will threaten, shout, strut, domineer, sulk, plot, creep, beg, plead, or sob, whatever the situation may demand in the interest of its own survival.

[6:55] So realize here, this is what's happening with Haman now. He's got to figure out a way to survive. In the heart of Haman now, realize, there were some terrible feelings about something having happened.

[7:12] Again, he doesn't know what it was that's happened. But as he goes with the king to the banquet, he knew something's up and he knew he's got a problem.

[7:24] He knows that he, no doubt, is beaten. He doesn't realize what it is yet, but the king has come to the knowledge of Mordecai and his intercession on his behalf, on the king's behalf, to keep him from being killed, put to death.

[7:45] All right? Now, it's now not going to be long before the king comes to know the truth about Haman. And I don't know, I don't know and recognize whether or not Haman thinks that or not.

[8:00] But if he's going to, if the king's going to honor Mordecai the way that he did, and that's the queen's stepdad, if you would, or adopted father, then surely the truth about who Haman really is, is going to come to pass.

[8:19] I surmise possibly Haman might have that idea. The flesh, Haman, hates to be exposed for what it is, and it's going to fight desperately to avoid that awful moment of truth when the Holy Spirit rips off the mask and reveals who and what it is.

[8:42] The natural man does not like that. He likes to appear to be like Haman to the king, pleasant and one to trust.

[8:54] Now, when the Holy Spirit brings conviction to us, it bears witness with our human spirit that, first of all, the Lord Jesus is being denied his rightful place in our life.

[9:08] Now, that's where conviction begins. It's not really the idea of being convicted of sin of something we've done. All right? I'm not going to say that's not an issue, but it's not the issue.

[9:22] The issue is when we allow sin into our life, it quenches the spirit of God, but it also denies the rightful place of the Lord Jesus in our life.

[9:34] And that's the picture that we find here. That old Adamic nature within us becomes irritable and edgy. Anybody here ever get irritable and edgy? We all do that, right?

[9:47] Calvita even gets grumpy. Nobody will believe that. But Calvita even gets grumpy. Yeah. Oh, I can't believe that. Yeah.

[10:00] Yeah. But we've got to realize here, a lot of times, if not all the time, that's a picture of the sin nature creeping in and letting Haman do its thing.

[10:13] But at one and the same time, it's going to seek to produce the most plausible arguments and justification of what is being done, all those illegitimate activities.

[10:25] It's going to find a reason to make those justified. Now, something told Haman that he could probably expect no mercy at the hands of Mordecai once he has gained the ear and confidence of the king.

[10:42] All right. Now, the flesh knows it cannot bluff its way out of a direct encounter with the Holy Spirit. What a picture that is.

[10:53] In reality, even when we, as God's people, yielded to the Spirit of God, empowered by him, confront unsaved people with the truth, even the nature of sin within them cannot fight against that.

[11:15] Truth is truth. They can try to deny it. They can try to make it illegitimate, whatever, but they can't fight it. Truth is truth. And the Spirit of God will always win the encounter.

[11:30] Now, it can only, that sin nature can only echo the words of Ahab to Elijah in 1 Kings 21 20. And the Holy Spirit replies, as did through Elijah, I have found thee, because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord.

[11:56] That's, again, also in verse 20 of 1 Kings. And Esther chapter 7 verse 2 now, the king said again unto Esther. Now, remember, when Esther at the first banquet, when the king asked her what a request is, she said, please bear with me here.

[12:15] My request would be that you both come to the second banquet that I'm going to prepare. And then at that second banquet, I will reveal to you, king, what it is I really desire.

[12:27] And so that's what it's saying here. The king said again unto Esther at the second banquet, What is thy petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted thee, and what is thy request?

[12:40] And it shall be performed even to the half of the king. He's being so gracious in all of this. This half of the kingdom business is just kind of a phrase to give the idea that whatever it's going to be, I'm going to fulfill it, even if it goes to half the kingdom.

[12:56] But, of course, it'll entail the entire kingdom. Now, it has to have been a tremendous moment for Esther here. All right? She's now going to be able to pour out her heart to the king about what needs to be done, what she needs for him to do.

[13:14] But notice the idea here. It's a great time for her until now, because something's got to happen here.

[13:25] Though she's acting in obedience to Mordecai, who represents the Holy Spirit, her total commitment had not ever brought her into direct conflict with Haman.

[13:36] She's never faced that before. But she had shared the palace with him, living within the same four walls, under the same roof, exchanging courtesies whenever they passed by each other.

[13:54] But from now on, there was to be no more compromise, and she recognizes that. All right? Now, what's going to take place?

[14:07] What's going to have to happen here? The request is going to have to be told. Haman is going to have to be exposed to the king, to the same degree that he was exposed to Queen Esther.

[14:26] Now, she's going to have to tell the king what's going on here, but she's going to have to do that in front of Haman as well. She doesn't know how he's going to respond here.

[14:39] All right? Because up until recently, she's never seen all of this in Haman until Mordecai has told her what's going to happen.

[14:51] But she's come to the point of no return, no turning back now. Now, she's got to tell the king what her request is. Now, no doubt, Haman held his breath.

[15:05] His forehead probably broke out in sweat as Esther answers the question. Can you imagine the thought of Haman here? Man, I wonder what in the world she's going to say to the king.

[15:19] How's she going to say this? I know what she's begging for here, but what's it going to mean for me? I mean, he's got to be worried.

[15:32] In chapter 7, verses 3 through 4 of Esther, I wrote this in the Amplified. 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.

[15:50] Now, can't you imagine Ahasuerus here, the king? What in the world is she talking about? Let my life be given me and my people. All right? For we, ah, there's the word we.

[16:05] She's identifying herself with the Jews. For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, slain, and wiped out of existence.

[16:19] But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I would have held my tongue. For our affliction is not to be compared with the damage this will do to the king.

[16:31] Now, not only had the king now been kindly disposed to Mordecai, Haman had now discovered that the queen herself was wholly identified with his archenemy.

[16:49] All right? He didn't know. Haman had no idea she was a Jew. He despised them. He wrote the decree to put them to death, every single one of them in the kingdom.

[17:02] But he had no clue. But boy, now he knows. Now he knows. That's a big gulp moment, right? Mm-hmm. All right?

[17:12] Now, identified with his archenemy and with the people whose God-given laws were in such conflict with those that had their origin in Haman himself.

[17:24] That's one of the things Haman could not stand, is the idea that the law of God could very possibly overtake the kingdom and could be the rule of the kingdom.

[17:34] So within a matter of minutes, now the king would come to realize that the assassin's knife was pointed at the heart of the palace and that Esther, whom he loved, would fall prey to this commandment published at Haman's behest.

[17:50] Realize, at Haman's behest, but in the name of the king. You guys remember that Haman's got the king's ring. Any decree, that ring is set in wax in that decree.

[18:02] That is in verse 13 of chapter 3. Remember that commandment to destroy, to kill, and to cause all the Jews, both young and old, little children, and women in one day.

[18:19] Now, Haman had to persuade the king back yonder that such a commandment would be in his best interest. And in particular, the guys he used here was the law of the people of Israel, the Jews, that it would usurp the law of the kingdom one day, and that would not be good for the king.

[18:42] Now, chapter 7, verse 5 through 7, And again, the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he?

[18:59] Hmm. Who is he that durst presume in his heart to do so? That word durst, that's kingly talk. Okay.

[19:12] Kingly King James talk. All right. I love it. Who is he that durst presume in his heart to do so? Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman.

[19:26] That doesn't say so, but I would almost imagine she points her finger right at him. Yeah. It's Claudius Hamanus. Yeah.

[19:41] Yeah. It's this man, Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen. Boy, I would guess so, especially what happens next.

[19:52] The king arose from the banquet of wine in his wrath and went into the palace garden. Wow. I mean, it's one thing to make the king angry, but it's another thing to make him angry enough that he gets up from the table and walks out to think this thing over.

[20:17] Now, what a picture we've got here. All right. Remember, Esther represents the human spirit, while the king Ahasuerus represents the human soul, the mind, will, and the emotion.

[20:29] Now, what we have here is a picture of the soul, the mind, will, and the emotion discovering what the human soul had already discovered, and that is the wickedness of the sin nature, Haman.

[20:50] All right. So the king walks out to think about all of this, and that's, in reality, when we think about it, that's what we do, isn't it? When the spirit of God begins to show us some things, show us some things in our life, whatever it may be, activities, whatever, desires, anything like that, when he begins to show us that, it's got to affect the human spirit, yeah, but the mind, will, and emotion, the soul as well.

[21:19] And so we process that, do we not? We process that in our minds, and it hits our emotions to dictate our will, what we do, our activity.

[21:36] All right. Now, that's what happens here. Now, Haman stood up to make requests for his life to Esther the queen.

[21:48] He arises from the banquet and begs for his life before Esther. For he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.

[22:00] Now, the enemy has been unmasked for the king, for the king now, the issues were now clear. He had to make a choice here between Haman and between Esther.

[22:14] I mean, the closest here is like Andy, Sheriff Taylor and Bonnie Fife. That close. I mean, I mean, I mean, after all, he gave him his reign, gave him all that authority.

[22:28] But now, the king has to make a request. Now, keep in mind here that the king had already disposed of one queen, right?

[22:44] But that was because she disobeyed him. Even though his purpose in what he told her to do was not in the best interest of either him or the queen.

[22:57] She left. I mean, she was banished. Now, so here's Esther. What's he going to do with Esther? She hasn't broken any law except for going into the king's chamber unannounced, but he held out the gold scepter to it.

[23:16] She held the top of it and said, King, I've got something I've got to share with you. Tell me what it is. I'll answer it to the half of the kingdom.

[23:28] So she starts the banquets. So, what's the king going to do here? What is the mind, the will, and the emotion that now has been, has seen the wickedness of the flesh?

[23:44] What's it going to do? Now, it was a moment of truth as it is for every human soul to whom has come the revelation of the Holy Spirit.

[23:55] In other words, the Spirit of God instructing us, it's showing us, sometimes for the first time, the wickedness of the natural man within us. He does that through the human spirit.

[24:09] All right? And shows us the wickedness of sin and of of the sin nature.

[24:21] So it's so easy. Listen, think about this. It's so easy for you and I to become familiar with Bible language. Amen? Doesn't take long, even for a new believer.

[24:34] Listen closely to preaching and teaching. It doesn't take long to get settled into that biblical Christianity language, if you will. We could do that without really getting anything as far as a revelation of it all by the Spirit of God to us.

[24:53] Now, he wants to teach us that, but we can hear that. We can go through the motions. We can even spout those things ourself until we've allowed the Spirit of God to do his work and speaking to us about what all of that means.

[25:10] So, by the Spirit of God, as time goes along, God brings us to that place of self-discovery so we can begin to see what all this is about.

[25:22] Let me just, here's a good question for us. And you don't have to speak unless you really want to. Be glad for you to tell me about it and us. But you can raise your hand if you want to.

[25:34] Well, let me ask you this first. How many of you here have been, have been saved over 30 years?

[25:49] Yeah. Yeah. Okay. How many of you have been saved over 20 years? I mean, if you've already raised your hand, I'm talking about how many have been saved less than 20 years?

[26:04] I'll put it that way. Okay. Less than 10 years. Okay. We'll stop right there. Now, those of you that have been saved 50 years plus, yeah, you don't have to raise your hand.

[26:21] I'm sorry. I see your hand. I see that hand. Repent. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. have you found yourself from time to time, not hopefully very often, but from time to time, by studying the Word of God, listening to preaching, whatever the media is here, the medium, you've discovered something that's in your life is really sin that you didn't realize was.

[26:51] Yeah. Yeah. And all of us, no matter how long we've been saved, come to the idea, boy, I didn't think that was anything wrong with that. But God then brings conviction to our lives about the reality that that is indeed sin and that sin displeases the Lord and so forth.

[27:13] Now, so it may dawn on our soul the startling reality as Romans 7, 14 says, we know that the law is spiritual, but I'm a creature of the flesh, carnal, unspiritual, having been sold into slavery under the control of sin.

[27:36] Now, that's what the book of Romans is all about here. Romans chapter 7, verse 15 and 17 and 18 and then verses 20 through 25, this is what it says.

[27:48] For I do not understand my own actions. And you realize this is the Apostle Paul talking about here. I do not understand my own actions. I'm baffled, bewildered. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe, which my moral instinct condemns.

[28:10] However, it is no longer I who do the deed, but sin. That is a sin as a principle, which is at home in me and has possession of me. Now, we've got to be careful with that because a lot of times people can use that as a license to sin.

[28:27] It's not really me. It's the sin nature. It's a Flip Wilson thing. Amen? The devil made me do it. Yeah. Yeah. We can't use that as an excuse.

[28:37] Now, for I know that nothing good dwells within me that is in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it.

[28:50] I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out. And there's the thing. No power to carry it out. Now, if I do what I do not desire to do, it's no longer I doing it.

[29:06] It's not myself that acts, but the sin principle which dwells within me, fixed and operating in my soul. So I found it to be a law that is a rule of action of my being that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me, and I am subject to its insistent demands.

[29:31] Now, notice the picture. I am subject to that. It doesn't mean you have to give in to it, but it's there and we're subject to that. For I endorse and delight in the law of God in my inmost self that is with my new nature, but I discern in my bodily members those sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh.

[29:57] I discern a different law or a rule of action. That is, it's at war against the law of my mind, which is my reason, and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs, those sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh.

[30:13] Oh, unhappy and pitiful, pitiful, that's a word, pitiful. that sounds strange, but that's what's up there.

[30:27] Is it pitiable? Okay. Yeah, you're right. Pitiable. That's better than pitiful. It's like a pit bull. Pitiable.

[30:39] It's kind of like a pit bull in this, isn't it? Yeah. Pitiable and wretched man that I am. Now, catch what grief Paul is feeling here when he discovered that reality.

[30:54] He knows he's saved. He's had quite an encounter with God. God saved him, but he's still finding himself in that predicament that all of us find ourselves in from time to time.

[31:08] So he says, I'm pitiful, wretched. That's what I am. Who will release and deliver me from the shackles of this body of death?

[31:20] Okay? The wages of sin is death. He knows that. It's a body of death with sin. But he said, Oh, thank God he will. Now, catch that.

[31:32] Aren't you glad he put that in there? Didn't leave it just at that. He went on. He said, God will do it through Jesus Christ, the anointed one who is our Lord.

[31:43] So then indeed I of myself and the mind and heart serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. That's why he goes on in chapter 8 and says, There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk by the Spirit, not after the flesh.

[32:02] And so the whole picture here is, and this is the thing that Paul has found. He saw the truth of that sin principle still within him, even though he knows Christ and is in a relationship with him.

[32:18] And that is that sin principle that can lead to sin if we let it. But Paul goes on and recognizes something else.

[32:29] Not only is that sin principle there, but God has the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, within him that gives him the victory over that sin and that nature of sin.

[32:42] So we've got to be sure we put all of that together in this. So, here clearly defined is the dilemma of Christian living. That's what we titled this study.

[32:55] That is the picture of that defined there. How in the world do we do this? How do we do that? There is the inner witness of the Holy Spirit to your human spirit, to all that is good and right and noble, and every act and attitude of sin is an offense to your moral conscience that's been enlightened.

[33:20] Again, Romans 7, 16 and verse 22 as well. This part of you says, I acknowledge and agree that the law is good, that it is morally excellent, and that I take sides with it, for I endorse and delight in the law of God in my inmost self.

[33:37] That's my new nature. So, it is this part of us that is represented by Esther. All right? the human spirit.

[33:49] Now, there's the other part of it though. Represented by Haman, described by Paul as the sin principle that dwells within me, that's fixed and operating in my soul.

[34:11] I'm pondering something here. that statement that they've translated it, it is fixed and operating in my soul. Got to be careful with that as well.

[34:27] I'll see if I can find it next week. The moment of truth will come for you when together with Esther you quit exchanging courtesies with the flesh and repudiate it to its face, naming it for the treacherous, wicked, worthless thing that it is without any salvageable content and fit only for the Galdos.

[34:49] Okay? Now again, notice that. It's when we come to that point where we decide we're going to stop exchanging courtesy with Haman. All right?

[35:01] Repudiate it to its face. Haman, you're nothing but a wicked, ungodly, self-centered being. Now, at this climactic stage of our Christian life, oops, excuse me, we realize there could be no compromise with the flesh.

[35:24] Now realize that. Ever stop to think about how much we do that? the old adage, how it was only a little white lie.

[35:36] Yeah? Or, you know, it didn't hurt anybody. This is just all about myself. It didn't hurt anybody. We try to cover it up. We try to justify what we've done.

[35:47] We've compromised with the flesh. And that peaceful coexistence with a principle satanically hostile to the law of God and to the reestablishment of His sovereignty within our soul is now beyond the bounds of possibility.

[36:04] That's where we've got to come to. And we come to that when we recognize the work of the Holy Spirit within us. Everything that God has determined the Spirit of God would do within the life of the yielded believer.

[36:18] Again, the operative word there is yielded. All right? You realize it was never God's purpose to improve the flesh, to reeducate or tame it, let alone Christianize it.

[36:33] It has always been God's purpose that the flesh condemned, sentenced, and crucified with Jesus Christ might be left buried in the tomb and replaced by the resurrection life of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

[36:51] I just, that just dawned on me. That struck me there. God's purpose has always been that the flesh, the natural man that's condemned, sentenced, and crucified with Jesus.

[37:04] When Jesus died on the cross, He took everything we were in the old Adam, sin nature as well, nailed it to His cross to die.

[37:18] All right? Now, Jesus, the sinless one who died as the sin sacrifice for the world, didn't stay dead.

[37:30] He rose from the grave. But God's intent is for that natural man within us to stay entombed. and we resurrected with the Lord Jesus to be, to live a life of, a resurrected life in Christ Jesus.

[37:51] All right? Jesus must wear the ring upon His finger and once more exercise control in the area of your mind, your will, and your emotions, expressing Himself through your personality.

[38:08] that's what His intent is here. Paul described this clearly in his desire for the Ephesian Christians. Ephesians 3, verses 14 through 17, For this cause, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.

[38:45] Now, always remember that the word dwell in these passages always has the definition of to be made to feel at home. All right?

[38:57] And the idea there is that we allow the Spirit of God to have unfettered access to our lives, to our heart, our mind, and our will.

[39:14] All right? Because He's the one then will be influencing our spirit to influence our soul, which will then influence our outward activity.

[39:28] All right? Now, again, here again, the inner man represented by Esther as the human spirit, strengthened and encouraged by Mordecai as the Holy Spirit, and your hearts are represented by King Ahasuerus in his palace as the human soul.

[39:48] All right, let's pray together. Father, again, thank you for your loving kindness and your goodness and grace tonight and for the privilege that we've had together again. You're so good to us.

[39:58] Lord, in every part of our lives every day, but to bring us back each week to study your word together, to look into it, and just to be able to let you bring conviction to our heart and just to speak to us, but also to give us joy in what we see through the work of the Spirit of God in our life.

[40:18] So, Father, thank you for that. And so, pray for these precious folks, love them, and pray that you will just bring tremendous blessings and strength to them and your strength as we continue on the rest of this week and bring us back again safely next week to see what else you have in store for us.

[40:34] And we'll thank you for it, praise you for it in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you.