WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.600 Father, please pour the Holy Spirit deep into every one of our hearts, 00:00:06.299 --> 00:00:12.080 and may your Holy Spirit fall upon us as a congregation, as a people as well. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:17.160 And we ask, Father, that you would make the gospel more real to us, 00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:23.400 into not only the depths of our lives, but the very extent and far reaches of our lives, 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:26.580 and that you would bring your word home to us. 00:00:26.579 --> 00:00:33.039 Father, it's hard for us to give you permission to work deeply within us, 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:40.060 so may your Holy Spirit fan into flame within us a deep desire to be receptive 00:00:40.060 --> 00:00:44.459 to all that your word will do in our lives for your glory. 00:00:45.099 --> 00:00:48.539 And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. 00:00:49.259 --> 00:00:50.140 Please be seated. 00:00:52.119 --> 00:00:55.079 That was a great introduction by Daniel, by the way. 00:00:55.079 --> 00:01:01.780 So, it might look like that was a mistake, but he spent hours working on that delivery 00:01:01.780 --> 00:01:03.599 to make you all laugh, actually. 00:01:04.500 --> 00:01:09.420 It's actually, inadvertently, or I guess as Christians we would say by providence, 00:01:09.500 --> 00:01:13.039 it's actually a very, very good introduction to the very next things that I wanted to say. 00:01:13.739 --> 00:01:16.079 I became a Christian when I was in grade 12, 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:22.959 after about a year of sort of plunking around the edges of the Christian faith, 00:01:23.420 --> 00:01:25.400 trying to figure out whether I wanted to be a Christian. 00:01:26.259 --> 00:01:30.480 And, you know, I have to say that, I mean, I could tell you, 00:01:30.579 --> 00:01:34.680 I could tell you a few of the things that we're going through, I think, in my heart and my mind 00:01:34.680 --> 00:01:37.560 when I gave my life to Christ. 00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:41.439 But I'm sure, because it was a long, long, long time ago. 00:01:41.600 --> 00:01:41.760 Great. 00:01:41.900 --> 00:01:43.379 I know I just look like I'm young. 00:01:43.540 --> 00:01:44.579 No, I know I don't. 00:01:44.980 --> 00:01:46.140 It was a long time ago. 00:01:46.299 --> 00:01:48.560 And I bet I know that it was all sorts of things. 00:01:48.659 --> 00:01:51.000 It was mixed with me being lonely. 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:52.820 It was connected. 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:57.060 And, you know, I probably had all sorts of really weird or heretical beliefs about Jesus. 00:01:57.060 --> 00:02:02.100 Like, if you went back to what was going through my mind that day and that night 00:02:02.100 --> 00:02:06.520 when I made my decision, if God was, in a sense, to play it all before you on the screen, 00:02:06.659 --> 00:02:08.300 I would be horrified, probably. 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:11.340 All sorts of weird things going on in my life. 00:02:11.920 --> 00:02:13.300 All sorts of weird belief. 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:17.840 And it's actually sort of helpful to remember that, 00:02:17.939 --> 00:02:20.800 that it's not up to us having everything all straight 00:02:20.800 --> 00:02:24.800 and being able to express the Christian faith as clear as the Apostles' Creed is expressed 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:27.500 or the Niacine Creed or some other state in the faith 00:02:27.500 --> 00:02:31.160 is that God takes us in a very confused type of state 00:02:31.160 --> 00:02:33.280 and a bit of an ambiguous type of state 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:34.719 and we give our lives to Christ. 00:02:34.980 --> 00:02:37.900 And, you know what? 00:02:38.660 --> 00:02:39.939 It's always a miracle. 00:02:42.160 --> 00:02:43.480 It's always a miracle. 00:02:45.640 --> 00:02:49.060 Because it's only the Holy Spirit that actually makes us Christ. 00:02:49.200 --> 00:02:52.340 It's not being able to know the Creed perfectly or the Bible perfectly 00:02:52.340 --> 00:02:55.439 and we're having pure motives. 00:02:55.659 --> 00:02:57.039 It's always a miracle. 00:02:58.379 --> 00:03:00.240 And miracles are always surprising. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:10.240 And we're going to look at a very, very 2018-ish type of miracle that happens today 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:12.740 in the book of Esther that in many ways, 00:03:13.259 --> 00:03:15.980 some of us I know have been Christians all our lives. 00:03:16.280 --> 00:03:17.800 That's my prayer for all my kids. 00:03:18.520 --> 00:03:20.280 It's my prayer for my grandkids. 00:03:20.280 --> 00:03:24.419 Some of us became Christians maybe fairly recently. 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:27.800 Some of us are still trying to figure out whether we're going to be a Christian or not. 00:03:28.379 --> 00:03:32.860 This story speaks very powerfully about how for some of us who become Christians later in life, 00:03:32.939 --> 00:03:38.159 the different confusion and ambiguity, yet the surprising nature of such a decision. 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:42.300 So it would be very helpful if you turn in your Bibles to Esther chapter 2. 00:03:42.939 --> 00:03:46.000 If you don't have your Bible, the text is going to be above me here on the screen. 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:47.539 You can sort of follow in either way. 00:03:47.539 --> 00:03:52.159 You know, the nice thing about having your Bible with you when you come to church and hear a sermon is 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:56.340 there might be something you want to underline because it really speaks to your heart 00:03:56.340 --> 00:03:58.180 or you want to make some little note on the side. 00:03:58.280 --> 00:03:59.939 And that's just one of the nice things about having. 00:04:00.939 --> 00:04:03.979 There's this old-fashioned thing called a book with paper. 00:04:04.340 --> 00:04:05.459 And I know there's video. 00:04:05.639 --> 00:04:07.979 I might do my own devotions, by the way, on a phone. 00:04:08.099 --> 00:04:12.479 But there's something powerful about paper and just being able to make your own notes and follow along. 00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:14.119 So here's how the story goes. 00:04:14.299 --> 00:04:20.459 So just so you know, the Book of Esther is set around 480 BC. 00:04:21.180 --> 00:04:28.000 It happens during the reign of King Xerxes, who is sort of at the pinnacle of the Persian Empire. 00:04:28.699 --> 00:04:31.439 And that king is well-known to historians. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:35.099 He is the king that's present in, if you've seen the movie 300. 00:04:35.100 --> 00:04:41.660 He is the king whose forces fight the Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae, if I pronounce that correctly. 00:04:42.260 --> 00:04:43.220 And that's sort of the setting. 00:04:44.100 --> 00:04:50.439 And we're sort of looking at this 10-chapter book and sort of just think about it as if you're watching a Netflix series. 00:04:51.060 --> 00:04:55.680 And not one that's just going to keep going on and on and on and on forever like network television. 00:04:55.800 --> 00:04:57.500 But it tells an overarching story. 00:04:57.600 --> 00:04:58.879 But each story is a story. 00:04:59.320 --> 00:05:01.400 And all of them together tell an overarching story. 00:05:01.500 --> 00:05:04.340 And this is episode 3, so to speak. 00:05:04.339 --> 00:05:08.899 And what happened in the first episode is we meet one of the main characters. 00:05:09.079 --> 00:05:12.079 We meet the king, who in this book is called King Headache. 00:05:12.299 --> 00:05:14.899 I'll either call him King Headache or I'll call him King Xerxes. 00:05:15.399 --> 00:05:17.739 Because the other name is very hard for me to pronounce. 00:05:19.079 --> 00:05:20.539 Eucerus or something like that. 00:05:21.059 --> 00:05:26.319 And it just shows his power, his splendor, and his great vindictiveness. 00:05:26.459 --> 00:05:29.539 He doesn't get what he wants because he asks his wife to do something. 00:05:29.540 --> 00:05:34.819 And he punishes his wife by banishing her forever, divorcing her, banishing her forever. 00:05:35.060 --> 00:05:38.240 And not only that, but punishing every woman in the entire empire. 00:05:38.760 --> 00:05:39.600 And he does it in a whim. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:43.000 He does it with all of the might of the power of the Persian Empire. 00:05:43.480 --> 00:05:44.780 And that was episode 1. 00:05:45.500 --> 00:05:50.060 Episode 2, we meet two other very important characters in the rest of the series. 00:05:50.060 --> 00:05:52.740 We meet somebody by the name of Mordecai. 00:05:52.839 --> 00:05:54.519 And we meet somebody by the name of Esther. 00:05:55.220 --> 00:05:56.920 And we meet them in a way. 00:05:57.019 --> 00:06:01.420 Last week, if you were here, it was a very, very, very, very dark episode. 00:06:02.280 --> 00:06:07.079 The king decides that he now misses his queen that he's banished, Vashti. 00:06:07.180 --> 00:06:08.240 And he wants to have another one. 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:12.500 And so he and his plan, the guys, they come up with this brilliant plan. 00:06:12.960 --> 00:06:14.960 And I say brilliant in quotation marks. 00:06:15.460 --> 00:06:19.199 That basically what they're going to do is they're going to round up a whole pile of beautiful women 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:21.379 who are virgins from all over the empire. 00:06:21.860 --> 00:06:23.100 They're going to use the police. 00:06:23.180 --> 00:06:24.100 They're going to use the army. 00:06:24.220 --> 00:06:25.340 They're going to use the bureaucracy. 00:06:25.960 --> 00:06:27.240 And they're going to round these women up. 00:06:27.280 --> 00:06:29.860 They're going to take them against their will from their families. 00:06:29.860 --> 00:06:35.460 And they're going to bring them to the capital where they will train for a year. 00:06:35.580 --> 00:06:39.139 They'll be spoiled for a year for one night with the king. 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:43.300 One night of sexual knowing with the king. 00:06:43.780 --> 00:06:46.040 And then after that, they're banished to another harem. 00:06:46.100 --> 00:06:47.540 And they might never see the king again. 00:06:47.639 --> 00:06:52.639 It's a horrific, horrific, horrific abuse of state power. 00:06:53.840 --> 00:06:57.680 And it's in the midst of that that we meet Esther and Mordecai. 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:04.660 And because Esther is one of the women who's captured and taken by the king against her will. 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:06.879 Maybe not against her will. 00:07:06.939 --> 00:07:07.259 Who knows? 00:07:07.319 --> 00:07:11.680 They don't go into whether some women like this or they hated it or whether there was screaming or joy. 00:07:11.980 --> 00:07:13.379 The thing is, it's just horrible. 00:07:13.560 --> 00:07:16.199 It's a horrible, horrible thing that happens. 00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:20.100 And we also discover, we're going to learn a little bit more about this in this episode, 00:07:20.540 --> 00:07:22.960 that Mordecai and Esther are compromised. 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:30.819 They're Jewish people, but they're Jewish by birth, but they hide that they're Jewish. 00:07:31.699 --> 00:07:34.339 In fact, they both go by non-Jewish names. 00:07:35.180 --> 00:07:40.599 Mordecai's name means worshiper of Marduk, an ancient god of the Babylonians. 00:07:41.039 --> 00:07:46.259 And Esther is named after the goddess Ishtar, the goddess of love and war. 00:07:46.740 --> 00:07:48.759 The Greek version of hers is Venus. 00:07:49.339 --> 00:07:50.799 They named her Venus. 00:07:50.800 --> 00:08:00.879 And they're compromised Jews in the sense that they dress like Persians, they eat like Persians, 00:08:01.100 --> 00:08:06.360 they walk like Persians, and they don't do anything at all to draw any attention to the fact that they're Jewish. 00:08:06.460 --> 00:08:10.240 And they obviously don't keep kosher, and they obviously don't go to the synagogue. 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:11.500 They hide their identity. 00:08:11.639 --> 00:08:13.800 They live completely and utterly like Persians. 00:08:13.800 --> 00:08:17.980 And Esther does this on purpose, hides her identity. 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:25.400 But at the end of the process, Esther is the one who sexually pleases the king and visually pleases the king the most. 00:08:25.520 --> 00:08:27.639 And he chooses her to be the new queen. 00:08:29.340 --> 00:08:30.920 And there's a big celebration. 00:08:31.699 --> 00:08:33.159 And now the story continues. 00:08:33.720 --> 00:08:36.879 So if you have your Bibles, it's Esther chapter 2, verse 19. 00:08:36.879 --> 00:08:38.679 The story continues. 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:44.439 Now this, it's a reminder of just the cruelty and the power of the king. 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:47.679 This, listen to it again. 00:08:47.799 --> 00:08:48.919 Verse 19, not listen to it. 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:49.639 Listen for the first time. 00:08:49.740 --> 00:08:56.500 Now when the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:08:58.860 Now when the, 19 again. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:04.860 Now when the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate. 00:09:04.860 --> 00:09:07.060 So what does this mean? 00:09:07.680 --> 00:09:15.860 You might think, and maybe there's some Christians who go through the book of Esther as if now the Esther's become the queen, 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:21.800 the king turns over a new leaf, because he has Esther, they have a good marriage. 00:09:22.180 --> 00:09:22.600 No. 00:09:24.139 --> 00:09:29.300 He marries Esther and he says, you know, that was really fun using my army and my police officers 00:09:29.300 --> 00:09:32.560 and my bureaucracy to round up a whole pile of virgins. 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:37.879 And I'd have each one of them one night after another until I, you know, that was, let's do it again. 00:09:39.099 --> 00:09:40.119 That's what he decides. 00:09:40.359 --> 00:09:41.119 Let's do it again. 00:09:42.059 --> 00:09:48.439 I'm going to use my power as the king, my army and my police officers and my bureaucrats, 00:09:48.439 --> 00:09:50.399 and let's go do this all over again. 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:53.659 And that's how this episode begins. 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:54.399 They do it again. 00:09:55.139 --> 00:09:59.639 All over the empire, Herodotus says that when things like this happened, 00:09:59.779 --> 00:10:02.759 there were 400 young women from all over the empire that brought. 00:10:03.559 --> 00:10:09.100 In the case of the last episode, one ancient scholar guessed that it could be just under 1,500. 00:10:09.100 --> 00:10:15.060 But 400 to 1,500 young women are taken from their home against their will 00:10:15.060 --> 00:10:22.440 and brought a year of preparation and pampering for one night. 00:10:22.899 --> 00:10:26.180 In this case, there's no possibility of them even being a queen. 00:10:26.580 --> 00:10:28.040 It is just for one night. 00:10:28.220 --> 00:10:29.899 And then they go to another harem. 00:10:30.420 --> 00:10:32.019 The king might never know their name. 00:10:32.420 --> 00:10:33.820 They will never have a husband. 00:10:33.820 --> 00:10:37.960 They will never have children unless they get pregnant that one time. 00:10:38.040 --> 00:10:47.500 And even then, the child will not be viewed as the heir of the king, but just a servant. 00:10:48.520 --> 00:10:50.840 Maybe a soldier, maybe a eunuch if it's a guy. 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:53.600 And their lives are ruined. 00:10:55.480 --> 00:10:58.800 And he decides to do it again with Esther as his queen. 00:11:00.260 --> 00:11:02.800 And there's this very, very powerful image here. 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:04.079 Look at verse 19 again. 00:11:04.219 --> 00:11:07.000 When the virgins were gathered together the second time, 00:11:07.079 --> 00:11:08.699 Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate. 00:11:09.359 --> 00:11:11.879 And sitting at the king's gate here has sort of a double meaning. 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:14.240 One of them is he actually is there. 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:20.159 So he's there and he observes when maybe a large number is this ingathering of women 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:24.319 who have been forcibly taken from their homes from all over the empire. 00:11:24.959 --> 00:11:29.939 And he's sitting there right beside where they'll go into the king's private chambers, 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:32.459 never to emerge again probably. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:36.539 And he's sitting there and he sees it happen. 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:42.259 But it also is an idiom for referring to the fact that he's actually an official. 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:43.779 He's a bureaucrat. 00:11:44.299 --> 00:11:45.439 That's what it means by sitting. 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:49.959 It doesn't mean sort of he's just lounging around because he can't find any work or he's begging. 00:11:50.139 --> 00:11:53.899 No, the phrase sitting at the king's gate also happens to mean that he's an official. 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:58.079 At least a mid-level official but probably higher than a mid-level official. 00:11:58.240 --> 00:11:58.639 I don't know. 00:11:58.779 --> 00:12:02.819 Maybe, you know, he's, I don't know, I don't think he wouldn't be as high as a deputy minister. 00:12:02.819 --> 00:12:07.159 I should have asked a couple of civil servants for a good analogy about how high he was. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:11.959 But he's high and, you know, not mid-level because he's at the king's gate right in the capital. 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:17.060 So the king's gate is where people go to deal with the bureaucracy and to get justice done 00:12:17.060 --> 00:12:19.940 and to get important business that has to be legal done. 00:12:20.340 --> 00:12:22.280 And he's sitting there means he has a job there. 00:12:22.340 --> 00:12:23.680 He's one of the king's officials. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:28.660 We don't know whether he became an official because Esther pulled some strings to make him, 00:12:29.019 --> 00:12:30.759 give him that job or if he just already had it. 00:12:30.780 --> 00:12:31.840 But that's what he's doing there. 00:12:31.860 --> 00:12:32.460 He's an official. 00:12:32.460 --> 00:12:38.460 So he's an official in the Persian bureaucracy and he's watching this happen. 00:12:38.980 --> 00:12:40.660 Seeing all the virgins being gathered. 00:12:42.600 --> 00:12:44.300 And then look what happens next. 00:12:44.540 --> 00:12:47.820 Esther, it just reminds us of something. 00:12:47.980 --> 00:12:49.840 And this is going to be important for us to remember. 00:12:49.960 --> 00:12:57.100 Verse 20, Esther had not made known her kindred or her people as Mordecai had commanded her. 00:12:57.100 --> 00:13:00.860 For Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him. 00:13:00.860 --> 00:13:04.539 And Mordecai isn't her biological dad. 00:13:05.139 --> 00:13:06.919 Mordecai is her adopted dad. 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:08.600 She's actually his niece. 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:12.300 Her parents died and he adopted her as his own daughter. 00:13:12.860 --> 00:13:16.120 But here, once again, we see that she doesn't go by her Jewish name, Hadassah. 00:13:16.200 --> 00:13:20.320 She goes by her Persian name after the goddess Ishtar. 00:13:20.940 --> 00:13:23.840 And it just reminds us she's keeping her identity. 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:28.060 She is not, those of you who know the Bible, she is the opposite of Daniel. 00:13:28.059 --> 00:13:39.319 Those of you who maybe don't know the Bible very well, in the story of Daniel, Daniel is a Jewish young man with his three friends and they're captured by the Persians. 00:13:39.779 --> 00:13:46.339 But when they get captured, they refuse to, they publicly identify as Jewish people. 00:13:46.419 --> 00:13:49.139 They refuse to eat food that isn't kosher. 00:13:49.599 --> 00:13:52.119 They insist on being able to live like Jews. 00:13:52.120 --> 00:13:56.340 And that's part of the tension and the drama of the first few chapters of the book of Daniel. 00:13:56.860 --> 00:13:57.840 Esther is the opposite. 00:14:00.220 --> 00:14:01.560 She's not going to synagogue. 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:04.679 She's not going to hear the Bible read. 00:14:04.919 --> 00:14:06.360 She's not keeping kosher. 00:14:06.940 --> 00:14:12.100 She looks like a Persian, lives like a Persian, worships like a Persian, and lives amongst Persians. 00:14:12.700 --> 00:14:13.580 And it's intentional. 00:14:13.580 --> 00:14:18.840 And she's doing it because Mordecai has told her to. 00:14:19.520 --> 00:14:23.000 By not telling about her people means she has no connection with other Jews. 00:14:24.379 --> 00:14:25.960 She's living like a Persian. 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:27.060 That's her plan. 00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:35.139 So, verse 21, we now sort of get into the drama of the rest of the story. 00:14:35.139 --> 00:14:50.799 It reminds us of the king's evil and the nature that the bureaucracy, that the soldiers, that the police, that the whole ministry of the state, in a sense, it would be the priests would be behind this. 00:14:51.539 --> 00:15:00.340 The upper echelons of culture, they're all behind and supportive, in a sense, of this act by the king to take these young women away. 00:15:00.340 --> 00:15:04.060 Mordecai is, in fact, one of those bureaucrats in the bureaucracy. 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:07.920 He's living under the name of a worshiper of Marduk. 00:15:08.860 --> 00:15:13.879 His adopted daughter is, in fact, the queen, and she's living under the name of Ishtar. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:15.820 And then in verse 21, it says, 00:15:15.820 --> 00:15:30.220 In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Xerxes. 00:15:30.940 --> 00:15:35.240 That's just a polite way of saying they planned to assassinate him as part of a coup. 00:15:36.980 --> 00:15:39.720 They planned to assassinate him as part of a coup. 00:15:40.660 --> 00:15:42.220 And Mordecai overhears it. 00:15:44.540 --> 00:15:45.700 Now, just pause here. 00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:46.320 What should he do? 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:50.500 Imagine this is, we go back in time, we're his advisor. 00:15:51.300 --> 00:15:53.720 You're his Bible study home group leader. 00:15:54.519 --> 00:15:56.379 He shares with you, what should he do? 00:15:56.379 --> 00:15:58.539 I'm his pastor. 00:15:58.700 --> 00:16:00.159 He comes to me, or his rabbi. 00:16:00.279 --> 00:16:02.299 I guess back in those days, he asked me, what should I do? 00:16:03.620 --> 00:16:05.240 Well, he decides to report it. 00:16:07.019 --> 00:16:11.500 He decides to act in a way that the king won't be assassinated. 00:16:11.500 --> 00:16:13.559 Look at that, verse 22. 00:16:13.559 --> 00:16:17.340 And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther. 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:26.080 And Esther told the king, in the name of Mordecai, when the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows. 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:31.440 It also actually just means they were suspended on a stake. 00:16:31.800 --> 00:16:32.680 They were impaled. 00:16:35.560 --> 00:16:43.400 Pretty cruel way and public way of killing somebody, a reminder to people not to mess with the king. 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:50.240 And the fact that Mordecai had done this and what had happened, it was recorded in the book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king. 00:16:51.379 --> 00:16:53.860 This is a very, very, very curious thing, isn't it? 00:16:53.860 --> 00:16:56.139 I mean, I don't know, what would we have told him to do? 00:16:57.560 --> 00:16:59.200 Would we have told him to allow? 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:01.240 I mean, this guy's obviously a very cruel king. 00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:05.680 And Mordecai has just watched him use his state power. 00:17:05.819 --> 00:17:09.579 And who knows, maybe Mordecai even was somehow complicit with it in some small way. 00:17:09.640 --> 00:17:10.180 Maybe not. 00:17:10.599 --> 00:17:12.880 He might have had a completely different area of the bureaucracy. 00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:17.680 But he knows the cruelty of the king, and he does nothing. 00:17:17.819 --> 00:17:21.839 And, in fact, doesn't even do nothing to allow events to take their course. 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:26.099 He actually does something very particular to protect the life of the king. 00:17:27.939 --> 00:17:30.199 And it doesn't talk about motives, by the way. 00:17:30.220 --> 00:17:30.899 It just records. 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:31.659 This is what he did. 00:17:31.859 --> 00:17:32.959 This is who Mordecai is. 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:38.619 So, now, what's going to happen next to Mordecai? 00:17:39.899 --> 00:17:40.740 Mordecai and Esther. 00:17:41.439 --> 00:17:44.779 I mean, is Esther going to have a higher place amongst the queens? 00:17:44.920 --> 00:17:46.200 Is Mordecai going to get a reward? 00:17:47.220 --> 00:17:53.639 Well, you know, the next thing that happens is so true to life. 00:17:54.879 --> 00:18:03.680 I bet that if we got talking, not maybe all of us, but most of us could tell a story about how you did really, really good work, 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:07.539 and somebody took the credit and got the promotion. 00:18:08.140 --> 00:18:14.440 Or you did spectacular work, but nobody noticed, but somebody else gets the promotion. 00:18:15.620 --> 00:18:16.080 That happened. 00:18:16.180 --> 00:18:18.220 Probably every single one of us could tell a story. 00:18:18.460 --> 00:18:23.140 Either, maybe not personally about it, but we could tell a story about it happening to our brother or our friend 00:18:23.140 --> 00:18:26.120 or somebody in our home group or a Bible study. 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:27.980 Well, that's what happens to Mordecai here. 00:18:27.980 --> 00:18:37.740 If you look at the next chapter 3, verse 1, after these things, what just happened, King Xerxes promoted Haman. 00:18:38.360 --> 00:18:39.799 Whoa, where'd he come from? 00:18:40.259 --> 00:18:43.299 This is our final important character in the rest of the book. 00:18:45.940 --> 00:18:50.299 Mordecai doesn't get promoted, but somehow or another, it doesn't explain why, 00:18:50.299 --> 00:18:59.440 but after these things, chapter 3, verse 1 again, after these things, King Xerxes promoted Haman, the Agagite, 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:07.980 the son of Hamadatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who are with him. 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:09.919 Isn't that just like real life? 00:19:12.139 --> 00:19:16.859 No explanation given, but Haman is given a promotion. 00:19:16.859 --> 00:19:22.899 Now, in the Old Testament books, those are the books in the Bible that are written before Jesus, 00:19:23.459 --> 00:19:28.539 often names in how people are introduced are very significant to understand what goes on in the story. 00:19:29.019 --> 00:19:33.599 We're going to return to his name in a moment, but how does Mordecai react to this? 00:19:33.819 --> 00:19:40.579 Well, this is where the book and the story gets very, very, very interesting and very puzzling. 00:19:41.319 --> 00:19:43.299 Look at what happens next, verse 2. 00:19:43.299 --> 00:20:04.500 Now, maybe it's because he's mad. I don't know. 00:20:04.500 --> 00:20:09.740 Well, actually, the book is going to tell us a very surprising reason about why it doesn't. 00:20:10.140 --> 00:20:19.039 But the one thing to understand right off the bat is that there's nothing inherently wrong with Mordecai paying homage or bowing. 00:20:19.799 --> 00:20:21.119 It would just be a custom. 00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:25.980 It would just be like sometimes when I go to pass the piece with people and they say, 00:20:26.059 --> 00:20:30.880 you know, you can't shake hands because, you know, I have a cold and I'll do this, you know, or I'll just do this. 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:35.680 I say, let's do sort of more, you know, Japanese way and we'll just bow and we'll bow to each other. 00:20:35.740 --> 00:20:36.440 It doesn't mean anything. 00:20:36.540 --> 00:20:39.060 I'm not worshipping them or they're not worshipping me. 00:20:39.240 --> 00:20:41.760 And paying homage just means way to go. 00:20:41.880 --> 00:20:42.860 You are fantastic. 00:20:43.180 --> 00:20:48.240 I mean, nowadays it's called, you know, bringing all the staff together and the boss pays homage. 00:20:48.420 --> 00:20:49.160 You're fantastic. 00:20:49.360 --> 00:20:49.900 You're great. 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:50.820 We're going to win. 00:20:51.020 --> 00:20:52.040 We're going to beat this. 00:20:52.100 --> 00:20:53.660 And everybody says, you're the best boss. 00:20:53.800 --> 00:20:54.640 That's all it means. 00:20:54.640 --> 00:21:00.780 Nothing inherently in there that a Christian or a Jewish person couldn't do. 00:21:01.880 --> 00:21:04.120 But Mordecai won't do it. 00:21:05.960 --> 00:21:08.259 And everybody's bowing like this. 00:21:08.440 --> 00:21:09.240 Mordecai doesn't. 00:21:10.060 --> 00:21:11.680 And everybody's saying, way to go. 00:21:11.960 --> 00:21:13.500 Haman, Mordecai doesn't. 00:21:13.600 --> 00:21:14.140 He's silent. 00:21:14.860 --> 00:21:21.560 So in verse 3, then the king's servants who are at the king's gate, in other words, this official place. 00:21:21.620 --> 00:21:23.060 So it's the office workers, right? 00:21:23.059 --> 00:21:28.419 It's the people who are, you know, working on Parliament Hill amongst the other, you know, the staff. 00:21:28.500 --> 00:21:30.819 It's the people who are working in the office buildings. 00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:33.079 They're very close to here where government workers. 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:35.700 So it's all around the water fountain. 00:21:35.819 --> 00:21:40.819 It's all around the Tim Hortons lineup and the Starbucks lineup and the lunch lineup and the lunchroom. 00:21:41.179 --> 00:21:42.319 They're all talking about this. 00:21:42.659 --> 00:21:47.859 The king's servants, verse 3, who are at the king's gate, said to Mordecai, why do you transgress the king's command? 00:21:47.859 --> 00:21:54.719 And when they spoke to him day after day after day after day after day and he would not listen to them, 00:21:55.139 --> 00:22:01.059 they told Haman in order to see whether Mordecai's words would stand. 00:22:01.059 --> 00:22:08.220 And now he finally tells them the only reason why he hasn't done it, for he had told them that he was a Jew. 00:22:08.220 --> 00:22:15.380 The man whose name means, I am a worshiper of Marduk. 00:22:16.279 --> 00:22:22.180 The man who made sure that his adopted daughter was named after Ishtar, the goddess of love and war. 00:22:22.839 --> 00:22:27.880 The man who repeatedly tells his daughter, we are not going to look like Jews. 00:22:28.019 --> 00:22:29.420 We are not going to talk like Jews. 00:22:29.500 --> 00:22:31.319 We are not going to hang around with Jews. 00:22:31.500 --> 00:22:33.039 We are not going to read the Torah. 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:34.759 We are not going to keep kosher. 00:22:34.759 --> 00:22:38.200 We are going to be completely and utterly a part of this people. 00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:44.180 All of a sudden, in such a context, says, I am a Jew. 00:22:49.140 --> 00:22:51.220 Nobody should expect that to have come. 00:22:54.859 --> 00:22:58.920 And in fact, it probably is a conversion moment. 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:01.819 Because the fact of the matter is, he's already Jewish. 00:23:01.819 --> 00:23:14.819 And if you go and you read the Old Testament from cover to cover, those 39 books, you'll see that there's a distinction made in the Old Testament between those who are just physically or biologically Jewish, 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:26.319 biologically Jewish, ethnically or culturally Jewish, and those who are Jewish in a different sense, where there is, in a sense, an embracing of the fact that the Jewish people, 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:33.119 it's not like saying, when you say I am a Jew, it's not like saying I'm a Leafs fan or a Sens fan or something like that. 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:45.500 It's remembering that there is a God who does exist who called Abraham, and then he called Isaac, and he called Jacob or Israel, and then he called the patriarchs, and on and on and on and on. 00:23:45.500 --> 00:23:54.619 And that when they were in bondage in the land of Egypt, there were slaves in the land of Egypt, that God redeemed them with his might and power. 00:23:55.059 --> 00:24:04.099 He redeemed them and called them to be his own people, that he would be their God, and he would be their people, and that they were to learn his ways, 00:24:04.420 --> 00:24:10.220 and that they were to learn how to live under his gentle and kind and firm rule and protection, 00:24:10.220 --> 00:24:12.640 and they were to not be like the other nations. 00:24:12.779 --> 00:24:15.200 They were not to leave their babies out for abandonment. 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:21.920 They were not to go into the temple prostitutes to worship by having sex with a priestess. 00:24:21.980 --> 00:24:24.980 They were not to sacrifice their sons and daughters. 00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:30.019 They were not to live in a way that was murderous and adulterous, 00:24:30.019 --> 00:24:36.640 and they were to live in a way that would learn and model the holiness and the purity and the truthfulness 00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:42.820 and the life-giving nature of the Lord, and they were to understand that they were under, 00:24:43.380 --> 00:24:44.880 that he had delivered them. 00:24:45.120 --> 00:24:46.920 He had invited them to live in the covenant. 00:24:47.320 --> 00:24:48.480 He would be their God. 00:24:48.860 --> 00:24:50.500 They would be their people. 00:24:51.180 --> 00:24:52.900 They were to learn to say, I am a Jew. 00:24:54.140 --> 00:24:55.280 I follow Yahweh. 00:24:55.840 --> 00:24:57.080 I do not worship idols. 00:24:57.079 --> 00:25:07.139 And so what we see here is going to change and make the rest of the story the story that it is. 00:25:08.939 --> 00:25:12.359 This comes completely and utterly out of left field. 00:25:13.899 --> 00:25:18.359 In a sense, in a Jewish sense, in an Old Testament sense, 00:25:21.059 --> 00:25:22.579 Mordecai has gotten converted. 00:25:22.579 --> 00:25:30.519 And it makes no sense. 00:25:33.139 --> 00:25:35.500 Just like my conversion didn't make any sense. 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:36.939 Or yours. 00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:38.720 We're going to talk more about this in a moment. 00:25:43.079 --> 00:25:46.159 If you read my blog, not that I expect people to read my blog, 00:25:46.279 --> 00:25:49.740 but if you read my blog, in my blog this week I said, 00:25:49.740 --> 00:25:52.220 does God have a wonderful plan for your life? 00:25:53.439 --> 00:25:56.500 And those of us of a certain age, I don't know, maybe it still goes on. 00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:59.879 And for decades there was an entire evangelistic campaign 00:25:59.879 --> 00:26:02.579 centered around the fact that God has a wonderful plan for your life. 00:26:03.419 --> 00:26:07.000 And this would not be one of the scripture texts that they would point to 00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:08.679 to support that idea. 00:26:09.319 --> 00:26:14.319 Because how do people react now to the fact that Mordecai has become an out Jew, 00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:22.720 that he's embraced the fact that Yahweh is his Lord and that he's going to be part of God's covenant people? 00:26:23.119 --> 00:26:24.859 Do people all give him high fives? 00:26:24.919 --> 00:26:26.299 Do they throw a party for him? 00:26:26.359 --> 00:26:27.799 Do they say, way to go, Mordecai? 00:26:27.859 --> 00:26:29.079 Is there dancing in the streets? 00:26:29.179 --> 00:26:30.059 Does he get the girl? 00:26:30.419 --> 00:26:31.879 Does he live happily ever after? 00:26:31.980 --> 00:26:33.500 Does he become richer and more famous? 00:26:34.539 --> 00:26:34.939 No. 00:26:34.940 --> 00:26:36.120 Look at verse 5. 00:26:37.740 --> 00:26:43.019 And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, 00:26:43.640 --> 00:26:46.820 Haman was filled with fury. 00:26:47.539 --> 00:26:49.660 Haman was filled with rage. 00:26:50.340 --> 00:26:54.220 We're going to stop here because the next week we're going to look at what happens. 00:26:54.300 --> 00:26:56.620 But I just want you to let know it's not just look at verse 6. 00:26:56.779 --> 00:26:59.860 We're not going to talk about verse 6, but it sets the stage for next week. 00:27:00.759 --> 00:27:07.400 He's so filled with anger at Mordecai, so filled with rage, 00:27:08.080 --> 00:27:12.720 that in verse 6 he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. 00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:16.960 So as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, 00:27:17.299 --> 00:27:22.620 Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, 00:27:23.180 --> 00:27:28.519 the people of Mordecai throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes. 00:27:31.120 --> 00:27:36.240 He said they wouldn't use that as a Bible verse to support that God has a wonderful plan for your life. 00:27:39.620 --> 00:27:42.299 What Mordecai did required a lot of courage. 00:27:43.160 --> 00:27:46.120 And it doesn't go through why he makes that decision, but it just happens. 00:27:46.500 --> 00:27:47.259 So here's the thing. 00:27:47.740 --> 00:27:49.480 Why is this like, just draw this to a, 00:27:50.339 --> 00:27:52.779 to try to think a little bit about what's going on in the story. 00:27:53.519 --> 00:27:56.079 You know, one of the things which this story, 00:27:56.160 --> 00:28:00.319 like why does the Bible even have like such horrible stories like this in it? 00:28:00.380 --> 00:28:01.860 I shared with you, I think last week, 00:28:01.900 --> 00:28:05.079 how when I told somebody about what the story was about last week, 00:28:05.079 --> 00:28:06.980 about the forced roundup of young women, 00:28:06.980 --> 00:28:10.500 and, you know, the use of the bureaucracy and the police and, 00:28:10.500 --> 00:28:14.980 and the judiciary and the nobility and all of the elites to do this and, 00:28:14.980 --> 00:28:15.900 and support it. 00:28:15.940 --> 00:28:17.940 And this is like, and this isn't just like, 00:28:18.220 --> 00:28:20.420 this isn't like us talking about North Korea. 00:28:20.420 --> 00:28:23.400 This isn't like us talking about ISIS. 00:28:24.560 --> 00:28:27.140 This is like us talking about, and fill in the blank. 00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:29.300 If you think Sweden or Norway or Switzerland, 00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:30.940 the greatest place in the world, 00:28:31.360 --> 00:28:33.880 this is us talking about Switzerland or Sweden. 00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:37.660 This isn't us talking about North Korea. 00:28:39.040 --> 00:28:41.900 You take whatever it is you think the best country in the world is, 00:28:41.980 --> 00:28:43.340 and you drink coffee, 00:28:43.380 --> 00:28:45.180 you can talk about what the best country in the world is. 00:28:45.240 --> 00:28:47.760 I think I shared last week, us Canadians are humble, 00:28:47.860 --> 00:28:49.900 so we'd say like we're the fourth best country in the world. 00:28:50.060 --> 00:28:54.040 But we're definitely like a thousand times better than North Korea and ISIS 00:28:54.040 --> 00:28:55.600 or ISIL or whatever you call it. 00:28:55.880 --> 00:28:59.440 This isn't them talking about like the garbage of the world cultures. 00:28:59.540 --> 00:29:00.620 This is an elite culture. 00:29:00.760 --> 00:29:01.980 This is a place of poetry. 00:29:01.980 --> 00:29:05.460 This is a place of beauty, of craftsmanship, of prosperity. 00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:10.720 And yet it's a place of unspeakable evil, 00:29:10.980 --> 00:29:15.660 of unspeakable evil individuals and institutionalized evil, 00:29:16.039 --> 00:29:19.900 of the bending of the wills, of the will of the state and of the elites 00:29:19.900 --> 00:29:23.319 to pursue things which are completely and utterly abhorrent. 00:29:23.579 --> 00:29:26.700 And why does the Bible have stories like this in it? 00:29:26.700 --> 00:29:34.380 I think it should try to shock us into thinking about how confused we are. 00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:38.519 Can you put up the first point, Andrew? 00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:45.360 See, the thing, I'll say the point out loud in a moment, 00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:46.319 although you can all read. 00:29:46.319 --> 00:29:52.439 The thing about it is, is there's this persistent thought amongst us human beings. 00:29:52.559 --> 00:29:56.700 Like for many people, we would just say, well, the world is evil and it's just evil. 00:29:56.839 --> 00:29:58.339 And when you die, you just die. 00:29:58.980 --> 00:30:01.500 And there's a lot of people who think that. 00:30:01.939 --> 00:30:05.700 And it's often very good to talk to them about it. 00:30:05.700 --> 00:30:09.299 Although often they really think there's actually a little bit more to about hope. 00:30:09.400 --> 00:30:11.440 But if you think about the history of religion, 00:30:11.559 --> 00:30:13.019 you think about the history of philosophy, 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:14.779 you think about the history of spirituality, 00:30:15.480 --> 00:30:18.680 regularly what it is, is like in fact, actually, 00:30:18.980 --> 00:30:22.380 the religion of King Xerxes was Zoroastrianism. 00:30:23.440 --> 00:30:26.180 This guy Zoroaster had this understanding. 00:30:26.380 --> 00:30:29.640 He came up with these ideas about how God was 00:30:29.640 --> 00:30:32.160 and how the spiritual world was 00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:35.759 and how you got through spiritual levels 00:30:35.759 --> 00:30:39.340 to be in keeping with the divine and with God. 00:30:40.080 --> 00:30:44.840 And people will have ideas about how idols and how stories should work. 00:30:45.360 --> 00:30:49.259 And people come up, and it doesn't matter whether it's somebody like Marx 00:30:49.259 --> 00:30:53.040 who thinks that he's figured out how history is going to move 00:30:53.040 --> 00:30:54.960 to some type of perfect world in the future 00:30:54.960 --> 00:30:58.040 or Freud before that and how he thinks he's thought through 00:30:58.039 --> 00:30:59.639 how consciousness is going to develop 00:30:59.639 --> 00:31:02.139 or Rudolf Steiner and how... 00:31:02.139 --> 00:31:03.899 But here's the thing. 00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:06.079 These are all people who live in this world. 00:31:07.159 --> 00:31:09.039 And why is it that any one of us would think 00:31:09.039 --> 00:31:10.879 that anything could emerge from this world 00:31:10.879 --> 00:31:12.980 that would be different from what this world produces? 00:31:13.859 --> 00:31:15.879 Like, why do we keep falling for it? 00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:19.279 Like, I don't care what you pick. 00:31:19.460 --> 00:31:22.460 If you're all right-wing, look at right-wing news sources. 00:31:22.599 --> 00:31:24.980 If you're all left-wing, look at left-wing news sources. 00:31:24.980 --> 00:31:26.220 If you're all... 00:31:26.220 --> 00:31:28.559 Like, you know, you can look at Muslim news sources. 00:31:28.740 --> 00:31:30.759 You can look at European news sources. 00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:32.460 You can look at Asian news sources. 00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:35.680 And if you look at any news source, you take any sample over the next week, 00:31:35.860 --> 00:31:42.940 it's filled with corruption and murder and death and betrayal and abuse of power. 00:31:43.259 --> 00:31:44.819 And that's the way of the world. 00:31:45.519 --> 00:31:49.220 And yet we still tend to think that even though that's the way of the world, 00:31:49.220 --> 00:31:52.519 that somehow or another the world is going to produce some way 00:31:52.519 --> 00:31:55.039 by which we can have salvation or perfection. 00:31:55.180 --> 00:31:56.720 Like, why do we think that? 00:31:58.860 --> 00:32:00.200 As I put it up above, 00:32:00.779 --> 00:32:03.440 if salvation is real, 00:32:03.860 --> 00:32:05.980 it cannot originate in this world. 00:32:06.259 --> 00:32:06.940 How can it? 00:32:07.539 --> 00:32:08.319 Like, just think about that. 00:32:08.380 --> 00:32:11.700 So this story helps us in an odd way to understand, 00:32:11.799 --> 00:32:13.559 to sort of think, to try to make us think. 00:32:13.559 --> 00:32:17.740 Like, if the Swedens and the Norweys and the Switzerlands 00:32:17.740 --> 00:32:19.539 and the Canadas of the world, 00:32:21.039 --> 00:32:24.200 won't we just produce what Switzerland and Sweden and, like, 00:32:24.659 --> 00:32:25.919 you know, you look in their newspapers, 00:32:26.119 --> 00:32:32.639 it's filled with racial tension and murder and abuse of power. 00:32:32.640 --> 00:32:37.880 So, you know, in an odd way, 00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:42.520 a story like this prepares us to consider this, 00:32:42.540 --> 00:32:44.020 if you could put up the next point, Andrew, 00:32:44.500 --> 00:32:46.460 that for salvation to be real, 00:32:47.140 --> 00:32:50.800 if there is something that really is something like salvation, 00:32:50.880 --> 00:32:52.340 it might be defined in different ways, 00:32:52.420 --> 00:32:54.200 but it really is something that is real, 00:32:54.440 --> 00:32:57.220 it has to come from outside of this world, 00:32:57.700 --> 00:32:59.100 into this world, 00:32:59.759 --> 00:33:00.720 with real power. 00:33:02.640 --> 00:33:04.720 Like, if it's just something outside of this world, 00:33:04.800 --> 00:33:07.240 and somehow or another you get a glimpse of it or an idea of it, 00:33:07.280 --> 00:33:08.500 but it doesn't come into this world, 00:33:08.560 --> 00:33:09.700 then that's no good. 00:33:09.780 --> 00:33:12.700 That's like being stuck in a high-security prison 00:33:12.700 --> 00:33:15.000 and you hear that people are having picnics outside. 00:33:15.140 --> 00:33:18.120 Well, fun for them sucks to be me. 00:33:21.680 --> 00:33:24.040 Like, it starts to prepare us for the fact that 00:33:24.040 --> 00:33:28.880 this world can only produce what this world can produce. 00:33:29.759 --> 00:33:31.880 And it's not just all bad, you know, 00:33:31.880 --> 00:33:34.140 because if you go back and you read the beginning of this, 00:33:34.180 --> 00:33:35.840 that's what's so wonderful about this story. 00:33:35.940 --> 00:33:38.480 It talks about the beauty of the gold 00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:39.920 and the beauty of the artwork 00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:41.180 and the creativity 00:33:41.180 --> 00:33:44.340 and even in the sense of the excellence of the wine 00:33:44.340 --> 00:33:45.420 and the excellence of the food. 00:33:45.500 --> 00:33:46.880 And it's not saying that this is just, 00:33:47.140 --> 00:33:48.520 this isn't like Mordor. 00:33:49.800 --> 00:33:51.780 There's beauty and there's splendor, 00:33:51.880 --> 00:33:52.880 but at the same time, 00:33:52.980 --> 00:33:53.360 there's this, 00:33:53.880 --> 00:33:54.920 and there's nobility, 00:33:54.920 --> 00:33:56.880 but mixed in with all of this, 00:33:57.120 --> 00:34:00.460 are these things can be used for unspeakable evil. 00:34:02.759 --> 00:34:06.340 And so why would we think that anything that emerges from this world 00:34:06.340 --> 00:34:12.340 would not be some mixture of almost inexpressible beauty 00:34:12.340 --> 00:34:14.700 and inexpressible evil? 00:34:14.699 --> 00:34:18.519 Doesn't it reveal the idea 00:34:18.519 --> 00:34:20.239 that if there is to be something like salvation, 00:34:20.359 --> 00:34:23.159 it has to come from a world other than ours 00:34:23.159 --> 00:34:25.460 into our world with real power? 00:34:27.019 --> 00:34:29.639 But the other thing which is so wonderful about this story 00:34:29.639 --> 00:34:31.299 to help prepare us to think about it 00:34:31.299 --> 00:34:32.019 is the next thing, 00:34:32.059 --> 00:34:33.980 because what happens if that power 00:34:33.980 --> 00:34:35.759 that is outside of the world 00:34:35.759 --> 00:34:37.899 is in fact just like King Xerxes? 00:34:37.900 --> 00:34:42.740 Like what happens if the God that does exist 00:34:42.740 --> 00:34:43.619 is like King Xerxes? 00:34:43.740 --> 00:34:44.619 You know what we should do? 00:34:45.340 --> 00:34:46.180 Fight him. 00:34:51.500 --> 00:34:52.139 Shouldn't we? 00:34:55.240 --> 00:34:56.700 It tells us something else, 00:34:56.720 --> 00:34:57.960 if you could put up the next point. 00:34:58.700 --> 00:35:01.539 If we are not saved by love for love, 00:35:01.639 --> 00:35:02.920 by truth for truth, 00:35:03.039 --> 00:35:04.420 by goodness for goodness, 00:35:04.599 --> 00:35:06.019 by justice for justice, 00:35:06.019 --> 00:35:07.660 by mercy for mercy, 00:35:07.659 --> 00:35:08.960 by life for life, 00:35:09.079 --> 00:35:10.639 then it is not salvation. 00:35:17.619 --> 00:35:18.759 If the God, 00:35:18.899 --> 00:35:21.079 the one who would come from outside 00:35:21.079 --> 00:35:22.319 into this earth, 00:35:23.099 --> 00:35:24.579 if he is not good, 00:35:25.739 --> 00:35:26.799 if he is not true, 00:35:27.319 --> 00:35:28.359 if he is not just, 00:35:28.819 --> 00:35:29.879 if he is not merciful, 00:35:30.559 --> 00:35:31.960 if he is not life 00:35:31.960 --> 00:35:34.339 in the midst of death, 00:35:34.339 --> 00:35:35.480 if he is not light 00:35:35.480 --> 00:35:37.299 in the midst of darkness, 00:35:37.659 --> 00:35:42.059 then that is not salvation, 00:35:42.279 --> 00:35:42.920 it is demonic. 00:35:45.480 --> 00:35:46.299 It is evil. 00:35:46.300 --> 00:35:54.580 John begins his introduction to Jesus 00:35:54.580 --> 00:35:55.160 by saying, 00:35:55.260 --> 00:35:56.420 in the beginning was the word, 00:35:57.800 --> 00:35:59.840 and the word was with God, 00:35:59.900 --> 00:36:00.800 and the word was God. 00:36:00.880 --> 00:36:02.080 He was with God in the beginning. 00:36:02.680 --> 00:36:04.700 All things were made through him, 00:36:04.720 --> 00:36:05.480 and without him, 00:36:05.560 --> 00:36:06.980 nothing was made that was made. 00:36:07.400 --> 00:36:09.700 In him was life, 00:36:09.699 --> 00:36:13.679 and the life was the light of men. 00:36:15.460 --> 00:36:17.379 And then describes this life, 00:36:18.079 --> 00:36:18.899 this light, 00:36:19.659 --> 00:36:21.399 entering into our created world. 00:36:23.059 --> 00:36:24.759 There is a God who does exist. 00:36:25.099 --> 00:36:26.000 He's a God of order, 00:36:26.139 --> 00:36:27.039 a God of creation, 00:36:27.199 --> 00:36:27.980 a God of beauty, 00:36:28.319 --> 00:36:29.439 a God who is true, 00:36:29.619 --> 00:36:30.919 a God who is comprehensible, 00:36:31.159 --> 00:36:32.139 a God who is just, 00:36:32.279 --> 00:36:33.839 a God who is merciful and loving, 00:36:33.840 --> 00:36:36.300 a God who is life himself. 00:36:37.700 --> 00:36:39.420 He does not have life, 00:36:39.480 --> 00:36:40.180 he is life. 00:36:40.260 --> 00:36:41.460 He does not sort of love, 00:36:41.539 --> 00:36:42.260 he is love. 00:36:42.340 --> 00:36:43.600 He does not sort of know the truth, 00:36:43.660 --> 00:36:44.420 he is truth. 00:36:44.539 --> 00:36:45.240 He doesn't sort of, 00:36:45.280 --> 00:36:46.260 he doesn't know what is good, 00:36:46.360 --> 00:36:47.160 he is goodness. 00:36:47.820 --> 00:36:49.340 He doesn't know what is merciful 00:36:49.340 --> 00:36:50.740 so much as he is mercy, 00:36:50.820 --> 00:36:51.800 and so he can do nothing 00:36:51.800 --> 00:36:52.800 that is not merciful. 00:36:53.360 --> 00:36:55.260 And it is this very same God 00:36:55.260 --> 00:36:57.519 who comes down to walk amongst us, 00:36:57.519 --> 00:36:59.139 with gentleness, 00:36:59.539 --> 00:37:01.400 with love, 00:37:01.519 --> 00:37:02.360 with patience, 00:37:02.800 --> 00:37:06.840 who comes and takes into himself 00:37:06.840 --> 00:37:07.920 our human nature 00:37:07.920 --> 00:37:09.820 because he stoops down 00:37:09.820 --> 00:37:11.579 and down and down 00:37:11.579 --> 00:37:12.980 and down and down 00:37:12.980 --> 00:37:15.300 till he comes to us 00:37:15.300 --> 00:37:17.460 and taking aside all of his splendor 00:37:17.460 --> 00:37:19.380 and his prerogatives as God, 00:37:19.619 --> 00:37:22.119 but still being fully God, 00:37:22.239 --> 00:37:24.320 he comes down and is so humble 00:37:24.320 --> 00:37:25.940 that he would even experience 00:37:25.940 --> 00:37:27.440 what it means to be a fetus, 00:37:27.519 --> 00:37:29.920 in the womb of a woman, 00:37:30.739 --> 00:37:31.679 and that vulnerable, 00:37:33.000 --> 00:37:34.619 and lives a human life 00:37:34.619 --> 00:37:35.960 only without sin, 00:37:36.759 --> 00:37:38.360 and continues to stoop, 00:37:38.559 --> 00:37:40.619 to experience temptation 00:37:40.619 --> 00:37:41.639 only without sin, 00:37:41.679 --> 00:37:43.219 and then he continues to stoop 00:37:43.219 --> 00:37:44.679 to die the death 00:37:44.679 --> 00:37:45.699 that I cannot die 00:37:45.699 --> 00:37:46.840 without unmaking me 00:37:46.840 --> 00:37:48.280 after he has lived the life 00:37:48.280 --> 00:37:49.539 that I can never live, 00:37:50.179 --> 00:37:52.139 and he offers me his life 00:37:52.139 --> 00:37:54.199 and his death on my behalf, 00:37:54.199 --> 00:37:57.019 my doom for his destiny, 00:37:57.519 --> 00:38:00.679 my crushedness for his life, 00:38:00.960 --> 00:38:03.960 my darkness for his light, 00:38:04.619 --> 00:38:06.500 my death for his life. 00:38:06.699 --> 00:38:07.920 He offers that to me. 00:38:08.019 --> 00:38:09.579 Tastes all there is to taste of death. 00:38:09.579 --> 00:38:12.759 And then in history, 00:38:13.340 --> 00:38:14.380 the grave is empty. 00:38:15.059 --> 00:38:16.219 He's risen from the dead. 00:38:16.579 --> 00:38:17.980 He proves that he's alive. 00:38:18.380 --> 00:38:19.259 He ascends to heaven. 00:38:19.340 --> 00:38:20.059 He will come again. 00:38:20.059 --> 00:38:24.960 If you just turn in your Bibles to, 00:38:25.299 --> 00:38:26.840 those of you who have Bibles out and open, 00:38:26.900 --> 00:38:27.900 it's not up on the screen. 00:38:28.019 --> 00:38:29.259 I should have had it up on the screen. 00:38:29.340 --> 00:38:31.079 Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 00:38:33.440 --> 00:38:35.039 And I'm just going to look at two verses. 00:38:35.340 --> 00:38:36.719 2 Corinthians chapter 4, 00:38:36.779 --> 00:38:37.980 verses 5 and 6. 00:38:38.159 --> 00:38:38.980 And this is a very, 00:38:39.099 --> 00:38:40.320 very powerful text 00:38:40.320 --> 00:38:42.360 in light of this story 00:38:42.360 --> 00:38:44.079 of the darkness of Mordecai 00:38:44.079 --> 00:38:48.179 and the darkness of the Haggagite 00:38:48.179 --> 00:38:50.579 and Haman and what he plans 00:38:50.579 --> 00:38:52.219 and the king and his evil 00:38:52.219 --> 00:38:54.059 and their compromise. 00:38:54.480 --> 00:38:55.860 And look at here, verse 5. 00:38:55.940 --> 00:38:57.299 This is a word to us. 00:38:57.779 --> 00:38:59.719 Chapter 4, verse 5 of 2 Corinthians. 00:39:00.119 --> 00:39:01.259 For what we proclaim, 00:39:02.599 --> 00:39:02.860 okay, 00:39:03.059 --> 00:39:04.159 for those of us who are Christians, 00:39:04.259 --> 00:39:04.980 what do we proclaim? 00:39:05.340 --> 00:39:06.279 Not ourselves. 00:39:07.179 --> 00:39:08.259 I don't proclaim myself. 00:39:08.420 --> 00:39:09.519 I'm not a perfect husband. 00:39:09.679 --> 00:39:10.659 I'm not a perfect dad. 00:39:10.719 --> 00:39:11.799 I'm not a perfect grandfather. 00:39:11.800 --> 00:39:13.160 I'm not a perfect pastor. 00:39:14.900 --> 00:39:16.940 Lord, have mercy if I proclaim myself. 00:39:18.180 --> 00:39:18.840 We proclaim, 00:39:19.140 --> 00:39:20.039 but what do we proclaim? 00:39:20.140 --> 00:39:21.460 But Jesus Christ is Lord 00:39:21.460 --> 00:39:23.780 with ourselves as your servants 00:39:23.780 --> 00:39:24.800 for Jesus' sake. 00:39:24.880 --> 00:39:26.360 And then listen to this wonderful line. 00:39:27.360 --> 00:39:28.420 For God who said, 00:39:28.620 --> 00:39:30.039 let light shine out of darkness 00:39:30.039 --> 00:39:32.240 has shown in our hearts 00:39:32.240 --> 00:39:34.380 to give the light of the knowledge 00:39:34.380 --> 00:39:35.580 of the glory of God 00:39:35.580 --> 00:39:37.480 in the face of Jesus Christ. 00:39:38.360 --> 00:39:40.120 See, that's what conversion is. 00:39:40.119 --> 00:39:42.119 Conversion. 00:39:43.359 --> 00:39:44.619 It's so wonderful text 00:39:44.619 --> 00:39:45.239 because when it says, 00:39:45.420 --> 00:39:46.579 let the light shine out of darkness, 00:39:46.699 --> 00:39:48.239 it's pointing back to the fact 00:39:48.239 --> 00:39:49.259 that God is the one 00:39:49.259 --> 00:39:50.980 who creates all things out of nothing. 00:39:51.440 --> 00:39:52.900 The very first thing he creates 00:39:52.900 --> 00:39:53.859 is you get this image 00:39:53.859 --> 00:39:55.539 of separating light from darkness 00:39:55.539 --> 00:39:57.900 and the light coming into a dark world 00:39:57.900 --> 00:39:59.059 and creating all things. 00:39:59.219 --> 00:40:00.619 And so the same God 00:40:00.619 --> 00:40:02.500 who creates the world that we live in, 00:40:03.019 --> 00:40:04.659 before there was any evil, 00:40:04.880 --> 00:40:06.819 before there was any rebellion against God, 00:40:06.920 --> 00:40:08.079 before there was any death, 00:40:08.079 --> 00:40:09.460 before all of those times, 00:40:09.559 --> 00:40:11.779 that same God who creates all things, 00:40:12.079 --> 00:40:13.559 when any single one of us 00:40:13.559 --> 00:40:14.860 becomes a Christian, 00:40:15.019 --> 00:40:15.980 it is a miracle. 00:40:16.559 --> 00:40:18.880 It is not my doing or your doing. 00:40:19.299 --> 00:40:20.840 But it's somehow or another 00:40:20.840 --> 00:40:22.860 the Holy Spirit moves and works 00:40:22.860 --> 00:40:25.119 in your confused and ambiguous life 00:40:25.119 --> 00:40:26.539 to bring you to the point 00:40:26.539 --> 00:40:27.239 where you say, 00:40:27.420 --> 00:40:29.199 I need to give my life to Jesus. 00:40:29.199 --> 00:40:30.579 And God, 00:40:30.719 --> 00:40:32.059 who created all things 00:40:32.059 --> 00:40:33.639 and is described as light, 00:40:33.980 --> 00:40:35.579 he pierces your darkness 00:40:35.579 --> 00:40:38.379 with the same light 00:40:38.379 --> 00:40:40.819 that created all things good. 00:40:41.219 --> 00:40:43.179 And he pierces your darkness 00:40:43.179 --> 00:40:44.619 and comes in. 00:40:45.199 --> 00:40:47.139 The light comes in 00:40:47.139 --> 00:40:48.500 and will never leave. 00:40:48.619 --> 00:40:50.559 It's the light of creation. 00:40:50.559 --> 00:40:54.480 And it's a miracle. 00:40:56.279 --> 00:40:57.480 And it doesn't say, 00:40:57.679 --> 00:40:57.980 George, 00:40:58.059 --> 00:40:59.179 you became a Christian 00:40:59.179 --> 00:41:00.759 because you could tell me 00:41:00.759 --> 00:41:01.759 all about Calvin 00:41:01.759 --> 00:41:03.179 or all about Aquinas, 00:41:03.519 --> 00:41:05.039 where you'd memorize the Bible, 00:41:05.380 --> 00:41:06.239 where you'd figured out 00:41:06.239 --> 00:41:07.779 the Chalcedonian definition 00:41:07.779 --> 00:41:08.440 of the Trinity. 00:41:08.639 --> 00:41:08.980 No, 00:41:09.159 --> 00:41:10.739 I didn't know any of that stuff. 00:41:12.139 --> 00:41:12.779 And who knows 00:41:12.779 --> 00:41:14.059 what was going through in my mind. 00:41:14.079 --> 00:41:15.039 And it wasn't my type 00:41:15.039 --> 00:41:15.719 of accomplishment, 00:41:15.940 --> 00:41:17.719 but there's this spectacular truth 00:41:17.719 --> 00:41:19.799 that God breaks through, 00:41:19.899 --> 00:41:21.299 that the light shines 00:41:21.299 --> 00:41:22.059 out of the darkness 00:41:22.059 --> 00:41:23.139 into our hearts 00:41:23.139 --> 00:41:24.179 to give light 00:41:24.179 --> 00:41:24.779 of the knowledge 00:41:24.779 --> 00:41:25.879 of the glory of God 00:41:25.879 --> 00:41:27.259 in the face of Jesus Christ. 00:41:29.819 --> 00:41:31.480 Every conversion is a miracle. 00:41:31.699 --> 00:41:31.899 You know, 00:41:32.679 --> 00:41:34.199 it's really on my heart. 00:41:35.459 --> 00:41:37.239 I bear witness to Jesus. 00:41:37.419 --> 00:41:38.000 And on one level, 00:41:38.099 --> 00:41:39.480 I don't see all sorts of people 00:41:39.480 --> 00:41:40.379 becoming Christians. 00:41:40.599 --> 00:41:41.199 But you know what? 00:41:41.739 --> 00:41:42.799 I pray, 00:41:42.939 --> 00:41:44.179 I bear witness to Jesus. 00:41:44.559 --> 00:41:45.359 And the fact of the matter 00:41:45.359 --> 00:41:46.059 is I know 00:41:46.059 --> 00:41:47.460 that this miracle 00:41:47.460 --> 00:41:48.279 still happens 00:41:48.279 --> 00:41:49.559 because it happened in me 00:41:49.559 --> 00:41:50.519 and it happened in you. 00:41:53.239 --> 00:41:54.420 It's always a miracle. 00:41:55.440 --> 00:41:56.259 And here we have 00:41:56.259 --> 00:41:57.360 this weird story 00:41:57.360 --> 00:41:58.139 of Mordecai. 00:41:59.159 --> 00:42:00.099 And you'd think 00:42:00.099 --> 00:42:01.960 there was ever any time 00:42:01.960 --> 00:42:03.679 that he is going 00:42:03.679 --> 00:42:04.880 to come out 00:42:04.880 --> 00:42:05.779 as an out Jew. 00:42:05.900 --> 00:42:07.320 That would not be the time. 00:42:07.820 --> 00:42:08.380 You'd think, 00:42:08.639 --> 00:42:08.759 well, 00:42:08.799 --> 00:42:09.539 maybe when I have 00:42:09.539 --> 00:42:10.519 a higher promotion, 00:42:10.739 --> 00:42:12.519 when I'm very secure, 00:42:12.900 --> 00:42:13.900 when I have 00:42:13.900 --> 00:42:15.440 my life in complete 00:42:15.440 --> 00:42:16.180 and utter order, 00:42:16.360 --> 00:42:17.059 where I have 00:42:17.059 --> 00:42:18.340 all the promotions I want, 00:42:18.440 --> 00:42:19.139 where things are all 00:42:19.139 --> 00:42:19.680 going my way, 00:42:19.740 --> 00:42:20.680 then maybe I'll become... 00:42:20.680 --> 00:42:21.079 No! 00:42:25.500 --> 00:42:27.019 He becomes an out Jew 00:42:27.019 --> 00:42:29.200 in the most outrageous time. 00:42:29.420 --> 00:42:31.000 It is so completely 00:42:31.000 --> 00:42:31.800 unlikely 00:42:31.800 --> 00:42:33.039 that this would happen. 00:42:33.559 --> 00:42:34.559 But it happens 00:42:34.559 --> 00:42:35.380 in his life. 00:42:36.260 --> 00:42:37.099 And part of the reason 00:42:37.099 --> 00:42:38.019 I think that it doesn't 00:42:38.019 --> 00:42:39.119 go through what Mordecai 00:42:39.119 --> 00:42:40.160 was going through his mind 00:42:40.160 --> 00:42:41.119 as to why he decided 00:42:41.119 --> 00:42:41.980 to become an out Jew 00:42:41.980 --> 00:42:43.260 is because it would just 00:42:43.260 --> 00:42:44.400 be like if I recorded 00:42:44.400 --> 00:42:45.440 every single thing 00:42:45.440 --> 00:42:46.460 that went through my mind 00:42:46.460 --> 00:42:47.539 when I became a Christian. 00:42:47.679 --> 00:42:48.079 You'd all, 00:42:48.219 --> 00:42:48.659 like, 00:42:48.740 --> 00:42:49.059 giggle 00:42:49.059 --> 00:42:51.099 or shake your head. 00:42:56.440 --> 00:42:57.659 But it still happens 00:42:57.659 --> 00:42:58.719 and it still works. 00:43:00.179 --> 00:43:01.179 Let's just draw it up 00:43:01.179 --> 00:43:01.719 very quickly. 00:43:01.820 --> 00:43:02.219 If you could put up 00:43:02.219 --> 00:43:02.920 the next point. 00:43:04.619 --> 00:43:05.039 See, 00:43:05.099 --> 00:43:05.500 here's the thing 00:43:05.500 --> 00:43:06.300 which is so powerful 00:43:06.300 --> 00:43:06.760 about this. 00:43:06.820 --> 00:43:07.440 Your salvation 00:43:07.440 --> 00:43:08.340 does not depend 00:43:08.340 --> 00:43:09.059 on the strength 00:43:09.059 --> 00:43:09.619 and purity 00:43:09.619 --> 00:43:10.340 of your mind 00:43:10.340 --> 00:43:10.780 and will. 00:43:11.500 --> 00:43:12.180 It depends on 00:43:12.180 --> 00:43:12.960 the Lord's power 00:43:12.960 --> 00:43:13.740 to save you. 00:43:14.460 --> 00:43:15.140 All of you. 00:43:15.820 --> 00:43:16.220 Body, 00:43:16.440 --> 00:43:16.680 soul, 00:43:16.760 --> 00:43:17.280 and spirit. 00:43:17.900 --> 00:43:18.340 Past, 00:43:18.640 --> 00:43:18.940 present, 00:43:19.220 --> 00:43:19.579 future. 00:43:21.420 --> 00:43:22.700 Your coming to faith 00:43:22.700 --> 00:43:23.260 and your growing 00:43:23.260 --> 00:43:24.140 does not depend 00:43:24.140 --> 00:43:25.240 upon your strength 00:43:25.240 --> 00:43:26.100 or the purity 00:43:26.100 --> 00:43:26.860 of your mind 00:43:26.860 --> 00:43:27.400 or the purity 00:43:27.400 --> 00:43:28.019 of your will. 00:43:29.400 --> 00:43:30.800 It depends completely 00:43:30.800 --> 00:43:31.280 and utterly 00:43:31.280 --> 00:43:32.320 on the Lord's power 00:43:32.320 --> 00:43:32.920 to save you. 00:43:32.960 --> 00:43:33.640 The same light 00:43:33.640 --> 00:43:34.079 that created 00:43:34.079 --> 00:43:35.000 all things 00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:36.800 pierces into 00:43:36.800 --> 00:43:37.420 your darkness 00:43:37.420 --> 00:43:38.460 and makes 00:43:38.460 --> 00:43:39.039 Jesus 00:43:39.039 --> 00:43:40.599 as your Savior 00:43:40.599 --> 00:43:41.139 and your Lord 00:43:41.139 --> 00:43:41.800 real to you. 00:43:42.159 --> 00:43:43.200 It comes to your body. 00:43:43.320 --> 00:43:44.200 It comes to your soul. 00:43:44.340 --> 00:43:45.280 It comes to your spirit. 00:43:45.500 --> 00:43:46.340 It comes to your past. 00:43:46.440 --> 00:43:47.300 It comes to your present. 00:43:47.500 --> 00:43:48.579 It comes to your future. 00:43:48.960 --> 00:43:49.720 And there's more. 00:43:51.380 --> 00:43:51.619 See, 00:43:51.700 --> 00:43:52.700 when Mordecai says, 00:43:52.820 --> 00:43:53.340 I am a Jew, 00:43:53.420 --> 00:43:54.159 it doesn't mean now 00:43:54.159 --> 00:43:55.340 he's like gotten enlightened 00:43:55.340 --> 00:43:56.659 and he's still by himself. 00:43:58.119 --> 00:43:59.200 He has a people 00:43:59.200 --> 00:44:00.700 and he has a Lord 00:44:00.700 --> 00:44:01.400 that he follows. 00:44:02.519 --> 00:44:03.180 Next point, 00:44:03.260 --> 00:44:03.519 Andrew, 00:44:03.579 --> 00:44:04.820 you enter the Jesus way 00:44:04.820 --> 00:44:05.700 by yourself, 00:44:05.699 --> 00:44:07.259 but you walk 00:44:07.259 --> 00:44:08.480 the Jesus way 00:44:08.480 --> 00:44:09.919 with Jesus and others 00:44:09.919 --> 00:44:11.599 in his world 00:44:11.599 --> 00:44:13.639 and into his future. 00:44:14.359 --> 00:44:14.599 See, 00:44:14.639 --> 00:44:15.539 that's the wonderful thing 00:44:15.539 --> 00:44:16.119 for those of us 00:44:16.119 --> 00:44:16.679 who are Christians. 00:44:16.839 --> 00:44:18.059 Jesus is coming back. 00:44:18.819 --> 00:44:19.579 He will return. 00:44:22.559 --> 00:44:24.199 The Lord has the final say. 00:44:29.139 --> 00:44:30.000 If you're here, 00:44:30.299 --> 00:44:31.159 there's no better time. 00:44:31.219 --> 00:44:31.980 You haven't given your life 00:44:31.980 --> 00:44:32.339 to Christ. 00:44:32.419 --> 00:44:33.159 There's no better time 00:44:33.159 --> 00:44:33.699 than to do, 00:44:34.239 --> 00:44:35.099 to call out to him 00:44:35.099 --> 00:44:35.759 to be your Savior. 00:44:35.920 --> 00:44:36.099 And Lord, 00:44:36.139 --> 00:44:36.559 if you could put up 00:44:36.559 --> 00:44:37.199 the next point, 00:44:37.319 --> 00:44:37.619 Andrew, 00:44:38.420 --> 00:44:39.400 and let me tell you, 00:44:39.440 --> 00:44:40.319 it takes courage 00:44:40.319 --> 00:44:41.639 to become a Christian today. 00:44:42.920 --> 00:44:44.000 It really does. 00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:45.980 It takes courage 00:44:45.980 --> 00:44:47.039 to become a Christian today. 00:44:47.139 --> 00:44:48.019 I just urge you, 00:44:48.400 --> 00:44:49.360 choose to be courageous. 00:44:50.239 --> 00:44:51.440 Choose to be courageous. 00:44:53.779 --> 00:44:54.679 And you know what? 00:44:55.599 --> 00:44:57.480 It is very hard nowadays 00:44:57.480 --> 00:44:59.039 to be publicly 00:44:59.039 --> 00:45:00.539 or to be an out Christian. 00:45:00.539 --> 00:45:03.900 we believe all sorts of things 00:45:03.900 --> 00:45:04.659 which go against 00:45:04.659 --> 00:45:05.420 the grain of the world. 00:45:05.539 --> 00:45:05.940 If you could put up 00:45:05.940 --> 00:45:06.659 the final point, 00:45:06.739 --> 00:45:07.000 Andrew, 00:45:07.059 --> 00:45:07.860 and while he puts that up, 00:45:07.900 --> 00:45:08.559 could you all stand, 00:45:08.699 --> 00:45:08.980 please? 00:45:12.199 --> 00:45:13.300 It takes courage 00:45:13.300 --> 00:45:14.719 to be an out Christian. 00:45:15.420 --> 00:45:16.539 Choose to be courageous. 00:45:17.239 --> 00:45:18.259 Choose to be courageous. 00:45:20.599 --> 00:45:21.659 Choose to be courageous. 00:45:24.880 --> 00:45:26.000 Choose to be courageous. 00:45:27.000 --> 00:45:27.679 Let's bow our heads 00:45:27.679 --> 00:45:28.079 in prayer. 00:45:30.139 --> 00:45:30.539 Father, 00:45:32.800 --> 00:45:37.739 I don't know why on earth, 00:45:38.019 --> 00:45:38.420 Father, 00:45:38.559 --> 00:45:39.239 you led me 00:45:39.239 --> 00:45:40.239 to become a Christian, 00:45:40.380 --> 00:45:40.920 but you did. 00:45:41.039 --> 00:45:42.320 I don't know why on earth 00:45:42.320 --> 00:45:43.699 you put me on that path, 00:45:43.780 --> 00:45:44.320 but you did. 00:45:46.239 --> 00:45:47.099 And I don't know 00:45:47.099 --> 00:45:48.139 why on earth it is 00:45:48.139 --> 00:45:49.880 that you just would be so, 00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:50.159 I mean, 00:45:50.239 --> 00:45:50.840 other than the fact 00:45:50.840 --> 00:45:51.480 that you're loving 00:45:51.480 --> 00:45:52.199 and you're good 00:45:52.199 --> 00:45:52.960 and you're powerful 00:45:52.960 --> 00:45:54.980 and you don't take any of the light 00:45:54.980 --> 00:45:55.920 in the death of a sinner, 00:45:56.059 --> 00:45:57.000 but that we would turn 00:45:57.000 --> 00:45:58.240 from our wickedness and live. 00:45:58.360 --> 00:45:58.820 But Father, 00:45:58.920 --> 00:46:00.000 thank you so much 00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:01.519 for the miracle of conversion, 00:46:01.679 --> 00:46:02.840 the miracle of grace, 00:46:03.480 --> 00:46:04.539 the grace of Jesus, 00:46:04.740 --> 00:46:05.860 the power of salvation, 00:46:06.039 --> 00:46:07.340 that you would shine 00:46:07.340 --> 00:46:08.820 that very same light 00:46:08.820 --> 00:46:09.980 that created all things, 00:46:10.039 --> 00:46:10.840 that that would come 00:46:10.840 --> 00:46:13.820 into my confused 00:46:13.820 --> 00:46:14.559 and ambiguous 00:46:14.559 --> 00:46:17.420 and topsy-turvy life, 00:46:17.460 --> 00:46:18.519 and that you would shine 00:46:18.519 --> 00:46:19.719 the light of the glory 00:46:19.719 --> 00:46:20.539 of the gospel 00:46:20.539 --> 00:46:21.860 of the Lord Jesus Christ 00:46:21.860 --> 00:46:22.579 into my life 00:46:22.579 --> 00:46:23.460 to make me yours. 00:46:23.460 --> 00:46:25.000 It is all your power. 00:46:25.179 --> 00:46:26.059 It is not mine. 00:46:26.159 --> 00:46:27.240 It is all your work, 00:46:27.340 --> 00:46:27.900 not mine. 00:46:28.039 --> 00:46:29.240 It is all your doing, 00:46:29.400 --> 00:46:30.340 not mine. 00:46:30.780 --> 00:46:31.159 And Father, 00:46:31.260 --> 00:46:31.960 I thank you. 00:46:32.019 --> 00:46:32.679 We thank you 00:46:32.679 --> 00:46:33.500 for what you have done 00:46:33.500 --> 00:46:34.400 for us in Jesus. 00:46:34.880 --> 00:46:35.619 And we ask, 00:46:35.900 --> 00:46:35.960 Father, 00:46:36.039 --> 00:46:37.139 that the Holy Spirit 00:46:37.139 --> 00:46:37.840 would grip us 00:46:37.840 --> 00:46:38.679 with this gospel, 00:46:38.860 --> 00:46:39.579 that the light 00:46:39.579 --> 00:46:40.300 of the gospel 00:46:40.300 --> 00:46:40.840 would come 00:46:40.840 --> 00:46:41.940 to every corner 00:46:41.940 --> 00:46:42.780 of who we are, 00:46:43.159 --> 00:46:43.980 every aspect 00:46:43.980 --> 00:46:44.960 of who we are, 00:46:45.099 --> 00:46:46.159 and that your light 00:46:46.159 --> 00:46:46.900 would fill us 00:46:46.900 --> 00:46:47.980 so that we are filled 00:46:47.980 --> 00:46:48.780 with light 00:46:48.780 --> 00:46:49.400 to live 00:46:49.400 --> 00:46:50.579 as out Christians 00:46:50.579 --> 00:46:52.239 in this country 00:46:52.239 --> 00:46:54.119 and to the ends 00:46:54.119 --> 00:46:54.619 of the earth. 00:46:54.719 --> 00:46:55.940 And we ask all of this 00:46:55.940 --> 00:46:56.940 in the precious name 00:46:56.940 --> 00:46:57.400 of Jesus 00:46:57.400 --> 00:46:58.699 and all of God's people 00:46:58.699 --> 00:46:59.139 said, 00:46:59.779 --> 00:47:00.279 Amen.