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Now, in Esther chapter number 5, the Bible reads in verse number 1, Now it came to pass on the third day that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house over against the king's house. And the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house over against the gate of the house. So, just to give you where we're at in the story, if you remember in chapter 4, Esther found out about the fact that all the Jews throughout all the realm of King Ahasuerus are going to be killed. And this is pretty much the civilized world at that time, 127 provinces spanning from India all the way to Ethiopia. And all the Jews are going to be killed, so she has a mission given to her by her cousin, Mordecai, who has raised her as a child, since her parents were dead, to go in unto the king and to speak unto him and to try to stop this horrible genocide from taking place. And so, she didn't want to do it because there was a law that says that if she goes in to see the king without being invited, that there's a death penalty on that, you know, unless he holds out to her the golden scepter. And he had not called for her in 30 days. She hasn't seen him in a month, and she doesn't want to just barge in there because that's punishable by death. But of course, Mordecai explains to her that, you know, she was probably put in that position for such a time as this, and she needs to just take her life into her hands and do it. So she had agreed with Mordecai that she would fast for three days and three nights. And she, not only just to fast from food, which is most fasting in the Bible is just an abstinence from food, but actually she's going to have no food or water for three days and three nights, which is very extreme. Because going three days without food is one thing. But going without water is much more extreme. And then if you remember, all the other Jews in Shoshan, the palace, are supposed to do the same thing as well. And to go without food and water and to be fasting and to be praying for her. And she said, I'm going to go in and talk to him, contrary to the law, and if I perish, I perish. Now what's interesting about that first line there is in chapter 5 verse 1 it says, Now it came to pass on the third day. Now, when we see the term on the third day, we think about this differently than the way the Bible puts it. And it's hard for us to sometimes think outside of the mindset that we grew up with and the way that we measure things. But honestly, there's more than one right way to state things. For example, if we had a building that we would look at and say is a two story building, right? It has the ground floor and then an upstairs level, we in America would call that the first floor and the second floor, right? Makes perfect sense. And if a building had three floors, we'd call it the first floor, the second floor, and the third floor. However, if you go to Europe, it's different. Like for example, in Germany, you have the ground floor, and then you have the first floor. And we look at that saying the first floor, you know, you're upstairs, that's the second floor. But see, different people in different cultures sometimes look at things differently. Well, if you study the Bible, the term on the third day means after three days. I mean, that's what they mean every time. For example, here, they fasted for three days and three nights, then it says on the third day. Okay, and you say, well, how does that work? That doesn't make any sense. It's kind of like sometimes people say, we're going to do this next Saturday. Now, if you told me next Saturday, I'm thinking the 23rd is what I'm thinking. But some people say next Saturday, and they say, well, I'm talking about, you know, three days from now, that's the next Saturday. You know, so different people have different ways of phrasing things, but here is more proof that on the third day means after three days, means three days later. Now, the reason that this is significant is that the Bible says that Jesus Christ rose again, what? On the third day, right? It talks about how he died and he was buried, and he rose again on the third day. So the Roman Catholics, for example, they teach that Jesus was crucified on a Friday, and their Protestant little children celebrate it the same way, Good Friday, as being the day Jesus was crucified. Well, the problem with that is that Jesus Christ said that the Son of Man would be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. Now, if Jesus Christ was crucified on Friday, do the math. You got Friday night, you got Saturday, and you got Saturday night. So basically what you have there is one day and two nights. That's not three days and three nights. You say, well, it's just part of a day and part of a night. That's not even part of three days. There's no way to make that add up to three days. It's impossible. So then there's what they say, well, okay, it doesn't add up to three days, but he rose on the third day, they'll say. You know, he's crucified on Friday, Saturday, then he rose again on the third day, Sunday. But that's not what on the third day means, my friend. On the third day means after three days, okay, when the Bible uses it. And it's very consistent. For example, when Elijah, okay, prayed earnestly that it might not rain. The Bible says it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. That's three and a half years, right? But then the Bible also calls that when Elijah confronted him in the third year. So in the third year means three and a half years into it. What we would call the fourth year. It's just a different way of looking at it. Starting counting after a year instead of starting the counting right now. Same day with on the third day. In the third year, on the third day. You know, we're talking after three days, after three years, in our American mindset. That's how it would be. So when it says it came to pass on the third day, keep in mind three full days and full nights have gone by of no eating and drinking. And it says Esther put on her royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the king's house over against the king's house and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house over against the gate of the house. And it was so when the king saw the queen standing in the court that she obtained favor in his sight. And the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther drew near and touched the top of the scepter. Then said the king unto her, what wilt thou queen Esther and what is thy request? It shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom. And Esther answered, if it seemed good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him. Then the king said, cause Haman to make haste that he may do as Esther hath said. So here, when we look at what we've seen in the past four chapters of this book, you know, we've understood a little bit about the character of King Ahasuerus. Is he a guy who really likes to put others first all the time? No, I mean he's a very selfish man. He's got a lot of power and he uses that power to pretty much indulge his own flesh. I mean he pretty much is a self-centered, self-absorbed kind of a guy. We saw that. He isn't exactly real kind to his wife in the sense that he hasn't even called her in 30 days and she just doesn't know what's going on. And so he's not exactly an ideal husband, is he? He's not exactly a guy who lives for other people and tries to help others and do things that would be beneficial to other people and put his wife first and put his friends and family first or put anybody first. He's a person who's in power and he's using that power to glorify and to gratify himself. And that's what we've seen about him up to this point. But yet here we see Esther showing up into the courtyard of the king's house and basically getting what she wants from the king. And for the whole rest of the book, chapter 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, you know, she always gets what she wants from King Ahasuerus every single time. So when we look at this and we see, okay, she shows up and she gets what she wants. Why does she show up and get what she wants? Well first of all, number one, through prayer. You know, she prayed, she'd spent time praying and fasting, other people would pray, and so she got what she wanted from her husband. She got him to listen to her petition, to intercede for her, to help her out with what she needed through praying first and foremost because she prayed that God would step in and help. Look, if you have some person in your life that's an authority figure over you and you're just saying, you know, this person is selfish or this person is impossible to please or this person, you know, you can take that to God in prayer and God can often change the situation and change the circumstances. For example, the Bible talks, I don't have it memorized, but in Proverbs, I'll paraphrase it, he talks about how the king's heart is in the hand of the king. As the river of waters, he turneth it whithersoever he will. You know, God is able to change the hearts of people and help us get something that we need. He can answer our prayer in that way. And so you can look at this and say, well, first of all, you know, she prayed and so therefore the king hearkened unto her. But if you look at this, it says that, you know, she put on her royal apparel, okay? Now sometimes just read over stuff like that and say, okay, well, she got dressed. Wow, I really needed that detail. But everything in the Bible is there for a reason. Nothing in the Bible is incidental, coincidental, or accidental because if you remember, jump back to chapter one if you would. In chapter one with Vashti, if you remember what the king commanded, it says in verse 11 that he commanded to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal to show the people and the princes her beauty for she was fair to look on. So look, is this a guy who likes to see his wife dressed up in the royal apparel? With the crown on, the royal apparel, the whole thing? You know, this is something that she knows is going to please him, that she puts on a particular outfit that's the royal apparel, that's the ceremonious clothing, probably not something that she necessarily wears every day all day, but she puts this on because it's going to be something that he likes, it's going to be something that is going to get his attention. And you know, when she walks in, the Bible says that, look at verse 2, because every word of the Bible matters here. It says, and it was so when the king saw Esther, the queen, standing in the court that she obtained favor in his sight. So he looks at her, he sees her in the royal apparel, and she obtains favor in his sight. And not only does he, you know, basically put aside the law, hold out the golden scepter to pardon her for breaking the law, he could have just pardoned her, held out the golden scepter and said, you know, okay, what's the emergency? You know, what's the big deal? Why have you come in here? Why have you interrupted me, unannounced? But not only that, he holds out the golden scepter to her, but then he says, ask me whatever you want and I will give you anything you want, up to the half of my kingdom. Basically he's going to give her everything that's in his power to give, he'll do anything. And look, is that really the type of guy that Ahasuerus has historically been in the last few chapters? No. So what we see here is that, number one, you know, prayer can have an effect, but number two, you catch more flies with honey, okay? And what we see oftentimes is that wives who aren't getting what they want from their husband, they might turn to just nagging. You know, and sometimes, you know, a wife could even say something like that. Let's say they want something, right? Let's say they want a new dress or something. You know, they might try nagging or a guilt trip or, you know, and it's just like, well I'm sure you wouldn't buy me anything. You know, like just right out of the gate, just that's how, can you imagine that? Just starting the conversation as, well I know you'd never buy me this, but I guess I'll just ask anyway, just, you know, it's like what? You know, what I'm saying is, or you know, for example, and this doesn't just go for, you know, husbands and wives. I mean this could go for children with their parents. This could go for employees and their employer. I mean, you know, when you want something, if you'll be nice, you'll be much more likely to get what you want if you're being nice than if you're not being nice, than if you're being adversarial. She didn't come to him in an adversarial way. She came to him, you know, humbly. She came to him basically doing something that he liked, basically trying to get him to, to want to do what she wanted and to want to listen to her and to want to help her out. Instead of just going in there and throwing her weight around, which wouldn't have worked, especially not on a guy like this. It's definitely not going to work. This is a powerful man. He doesn't, he doesn't, you know, have to be pushed around by anyone, okay? Now if you would go to Proverbs. There's some scriptures that are similar to this in the book of Proverbs. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 25, turn to Proverbs 25 and I'll read for you from Proverbs 15 one, the famous verse that says, a soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger. Showing that, you know, when you use grievous words you're going to make someone angry, but a soft answer turns away wrath. Okay? And here's, you know, Esther not wanting to face the wrath of the king here. Look if you would at Proverbs 25 verse 15, this is a great verse. The Bible reads, by long forbearing is a prince persuaded and a soft tongue breaketh the bone. Now, you wouldn't necessarily think of a soft tongue breaking the bone, would you? You know, it doesn't, it seems counterintuitive. But it says here that by long forbearing is a prince persuaded and a soft tongue breaking the bone. So here, getting the prince to hearken unto you is better done with soft words than with harsh words. Being humble, being nice is going to get you much further than being, you know, snotty or haughty or naughty. You know, I'm just trying to rhyme right now. But anyway, you know, being disrespectful, rude, angry, blustering instead of just being nice. You know, and oftentimes you can get way more than you thought you would just by being nice, just by being friendly. And that's what we see here. You know, she came to him humbly, she basically yielded unto him, and she got what she wanted. Another scripture that came to mind was Ecclesiastes 10.4, you don't have to turn it, but it says, If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place, for yielding pacifieth great offenses. So back to the book of Esther and we see that, you know, here's a guy who is not a believer, he's not a Christian, he's a selfish man, he's an ungodly man, he's an unrighteous man. But yet, she gets what she wants from him by number one, praying about it and God did a work in his heart, and number two, by being humble and compliant and showing up in the outfit that he wants her to wear and being nice and being humble and being friendly about it. And she gets exactly what she wants in the end. Let's keep reading in the chapter here. It says, Then said the king unto her, verse 3, What wilt thou, Queen Esther, and what is thy request? It shall be even given to thee, to the half of the kingdom. And Esther answered, If it seem good unto the king, again, do you see the humility? Do you see the supplication being made? If it seem good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him. Then the king said, Cause Haman to make haste, that he may do as Esther hath said. So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared. Now look, I'm sure that Haman's a really busy guy because he's the second ruler in the kingdom. And I'm sure that Ahasuerus is a very busy guy and had other plans and other things going on. But notice how he just drops everything and he makes Haman drop everything and he says, We're going to go to the banquet that Esther has prepared. Okay, so again, you know, you could apply this unto a marriage because this is a marriage. I mean, this is the king and his wife. You say, Well, my husband's not spending enough time with me. Okay, well, here's a way to get your husband to drop everything and spend time with you, right? What's he doing? What did she do? She was polite, she was respectful, she was friendly, she wore the outfit that he wanted him to wear. You see what I mean? And so there are other ways to get things from your parents or from your husband or from your boss at work than to just fight for it all the time. Think about that. You know, you kids who want something from your parents, you know that there's a way to butter your parents up, right? There's a way to butter them up. There's a way to, you know, to do something that they want. I mean, you know, do some extra chores around the house or give them a gift or, you know, the way that my kids get what they want from my wife is they write these really cute little notes and they, you know, they even put it in the mailbox sometimes, so it's literally in the mailbox. There was one yesterday that had like a coupon or something or it was actually in the mailbox. I think John had put it there and he made it out to our address and it was all in an envelope and it said like, this is a coupon for like a free whatever he wanted, you know, and then that coupon shows up in the mail and then he presents that to his mother. Do you think she said no? Obviously, she thought it was so funny and she thought it was so cute that she, you know, he wanted to get something out of the shed that he wasn't, you know, some toy that's off limits in the shed and it's like, this coupon entitles the bearer to one toy out of the shed, you know, whatever, and that showed up in our mailbox. Obviously, she gave him what he wants, right? Or he can lay on the ground and start beating his fists on the ground, I want to go to the shed! Right? I mean, which one makes more sense? Do you think we would have given it to him if he threw a fit, a tantrum? No. He would have got us spanking. And so many times, you know, kids, they throw a fit, they whine, they fuss, and we try to teach our kids, you don't get what you want by whining. And sometimes even if we were going to give them something anyway, when they start whining, when they start fussing about it and crying, then it just becomes a thing, well just out of principle we're not going to give it to you. Now that you've cried, now that you've whined. But yet the kids, if they're smart, can get what they want by being nice to mom and dad. By being friendly to mom and dad. By being cute. You know, use the cuteness, okay? Push the cuteness button. And here's the thing, wives are cute too, right? So, you know, that's a lot better than, you know, ladies, and I'm not saying that you ladies are throwing yourself on the ground and beating your fit, at least I hope not, you know, you're not, I hope you're not throwing yourself down, you know, take me out to dinner! And just throwing a fit. But I'm saying obviously that's not the way to get what you want. You get what you want by being nice. You get what you want by being friendly and cute, but you know what, it takes humility to think that way. It takes humility to think, okay, this person's the boss, so if I get what I want from them, I'm going to have to butter them up, or I'm going to have to be nice, or I'm going to have to ask nicely, or be humble, right? But see, pride says, let's just throw a fit and make them miserable until we get what we want. You know, whether that's a child, and you know what? Parents don't do that, and sometimes their parents harken unto it. Parents will just be like, shut up, whatever you want, you know, just get away from me. You know, and you know what, your boss at work's probably just going to fire you, because there are plenty of fish in the sea today, there's probably other people lined up for your job, you know? And so, you know, you need to learn how to get what you need, you know, to get time off. You don't just walk in and start demanding it, you know, you can be nice, and you can be friendly, and you can do something extra to get what you want. And so this is a great example of that, because he drops everything. And he makes Haman drop everything, and he says, no, you hurry up and get down here, we're going to this banquet that she prepared. And it says, and the king said unto Esther at the banquet of wine, what is thy petition, and it shall be granted thee? What is thy request, even to the half of the kingdom? It shall be performed. Now, a lot of people will look at verse 6 and say, well, you know, this proves that drinking alcohol is good, you know, because there you have it right there, the banquet of wine. Well, a couple things about that. First of all, number one, just because we see someone in the Bible going to a banquet of wine, doesn't mean that God's telling us to go to a banquet of wine, does it? Because first of all, is Ahasuerus a godly man? No. How many wives does he have again? We don't even know, a lot. Okay, he has a lot of wives. He's probably not opposed to drinking either, if he has that many wives, okay? And the thing is, not only that, and you say, well, Esther did it, Esther can do no wrong. Yes, she can, number one. But number two, first of all, you could say, well, just because people did it doesn't make it right, and second of all, the word wine in the Bible does not always refer to an alcoholic beverage. In fact, the majority of the time, it is not referring to an alcoholic beverage, and the proof of that is simply in Isaiah 65, verse 8. You don't have to turn there, but in Isaiah 65, verse 8, it talks about wine being in a cluster, on the vine, okay? That's inside a grape. There's no wine that's alcoholic inside a grape, that's just juice. So the Bible uses the word wine instead of using the word juice. The word wine just means, and it's not even always referring to grape juice, it's just any juice. When the Bible used the word wine, it's any juice, and it can be either fermented or unfermented, depending upon the context. Now you say, well, Pastor Anderson, in this context, was this a fermented beverage that they're drinking, or is this an unfermented beverage that they're drinking? Well, the Bible doesn't tell us. And personally, I don't feel that it's relevant to the story whatsoever. I don't see any relevance, there's nothing, you don't really see any drunkenness here, you don't really see anything that it's good or bad, it's just, they went to the banquet, there's wine there, that's what they drank, that could be a fruity drink, that could be something that's alcoholic, doesn't matter, it's not really pertinent to the story, that's why God doesn't make it clear to us in the story. But it says, but let me tell you something, I'm against drinking alcohol, in case you weren't here Sunday morning, okay? And I believe that alcohol is a sin, okay? Bible says, look not on the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright, the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder. And let me tell you something, if he says, don't look at it when it's red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright, what is he saying there? What does he even mean when he says red? Moving around, giving its color in the cup, moving itself aright. Obviously, he's talking about wine or juice that has become fermented, okay? And again, I'm not an expert on wine production, okay? I don't have a microbrewery in my house, so I don't really know everything there is to know about brewing wine, and if I say something that's a little inaccurate here, forgive me. But my understanding is that fermentation is caused by living organisms. Now I know that there's fermentation that takes place with bacteria, and there's fermentation that takes place with yeast. And my understanding is that bacteria fermentation produces more like vinegar, and that yeast fermentation produces alcohol from sugars. That's my understanding, okay? And both yeast and bacteria are both living things, living organisms, right? Well, just as we as human beings and much of the animal kingdom take in oxygen and put out as a byproduct carbon dioxide, many of these tiny microscopic organisms also produce CO2 or carbon dioxide as a byproduct, and therefore bottling beverages that become fermented will cause them to become naturally carbonated, okay? Now we today, when we drink a carbonated drink, it's because they took carbon dioxide and just pumped it into the drink. It's not naturally there as a byproduct of animal organisms, whatever you want to call it, you know, the fauna that's inside that beverage, you know? We have this thing at our house, I bought this for my wife for Christmas a couple years back, and it's called a soda stream. Who's ever seen one of those? Who knows what I'm talking about? It's called a soda stream, and what it is is you take a bottle of just regular water and you hook it up to the soda stream and you push this button and it just shoots carbon dioxide into it. And you just see it just go pssshhh, and then it's carbonated, just by putting in carbon dioxide. But then there are other drinks that you can make, now the only naturally carbonated drink that we've ever made at our house is kombucha, who knows what kombucha is? And kombucha is basically black tea, it's black tea that's fermented. And what it is, the kombucha has both bacteria and yeast in it, so basically they counteract one another to stop it from becoming alcoholic. So therefore it makes a soft drink even though there's fermentation. So you get the health benefits of fermentation without getting the intoxicating effects of the alcohol. So basically these two, the bacteria and the yeast, counteract one another, but if you take the kombucha and you bottle it, and then open the bottle a few days later, it's carbonated without even using the soda stream. I mean it's just a naturally carbonated beverage. Now if you were to make the kombucha and then add sugar to it, and then re-bottle it, then you could make it into an alcoholic beverage. If you were to do it for a long period and add sugar after it's already fermented, add sugar, ferment it more, you could eventually, I mean anything with sugar in it, you can eventually turn it into an alcoholic beverage. With yeast and sugar you can make anything turn alcoholic. But what I'm saying is that when it talks about moving itself aright, that's talking about the process of fermentation. And when you talk about grapes, grapes have sugar inside them, and the outside of the grape has yeast on it, and so when you crush the grapes, you know, and you basically ferment it, put it in, or I'm sorry, bottle it, put it in a warm atmosphere where the bacteria can thrive and so forth, you know, you can make it fermented and it's going to do what? It's going to move itself aright. It's going to turn red, it's going to give its color in the cup. It's clear that he's saying, look, don't look on the wine when. So he's not just saying don't look on wine in general because wine can also just mean any juice. But he's saying don't look on the wine when it does x, y, and z, and he's using language that describes fermentation. You know, do I know exactly how they fermented things back then? No. But it's clear that he's saying don't look on fermented wine. The one that moves itself aright, he said it's going to bite like a serpent, it's going to sting like an adder, your eyes will behold strange women, your mouth will utter perverse things. That shows you that there's two kinds of wine. There's the one that you can look at and there's the one that you're never supposed to look at, okay? And I'm not going to re-preach my Sunday morning sermon, but I, you know, just wanted to touch on that because, you know, I don't think that I went into that as much on Sunday morning. I was too busy just railing on drunkards and wine bibbers, but it needed to be explained, so I'll explain it right now in reference to the banquet of wine. So he says he's going to give her her petition, whatever she wants. Verse 7, then answered Esther and said, my petition and my request is, if I have found favor in the sight of the king and if it please the king to grant my petition and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them and I will do tomorrow, as the king has said. She basically says, well I'm not going to tell you what my request is today. I want you to come to another banquet tomorrow, then I'll tell you what my petition is. Now look, right here, you could see maybe the king getting a little tired of this and saying, well you know what, I actually have a kingdom to rule, Haman is all booked up tomorrow, but even at this point, he is still compliant. He says, okay, whatever you want, we'll come back tomorrow. Same time, same place. Look, do you see how you can get what you want by being nice sometimes and by praying? See how God can do things instead of by doing it the wrong way. And so it says here that they're going to come back tomorrow. Now say, well why did she do that? Why did she push it back till tomorrow? You know, I don't really know what was going on in her mind, why she pushed it back to tomorrow. But God was working because as we see the events of the next few chapters, you're going to see that it's extremely significant that it was pushed back one day. And you know, we, sometimes we do things without even thinking about them, but often times God's leading us and God knew that it was going to be much better if it happened the next day. And God's going to intercede in many other ways, like for example, this night the king's not going to be able to sleep at all. Because that's God doing that, because God has a plan here and this was not the right timing for her to hit him with what she was going to hit him with. He has no idea what's going to take place in the next 24 hours, but yet God knows and somehow God leads her and directs her to push it back one more day. You know, we don't know why she did it, maybe she was just nervous or just maybe she just planned two banquets from the beginning, just for whatever reason, but it's very significant. Let's keep, we'll get that in subsequent weeks. But it says here in verse 9, Then went Haman forth that day, joyful and with a glad heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he stood not up nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai. So Haman's really happy and the reason why is because he was invited to such an exclusive party. I mean, Esther said, I want the king to be there and Haman and no one else. So he feels like, wow, I am important. I mean, even when it's just the king and his queen, I'm there. I mean, that's how important I am. You know, he's the third wheel there. But it says in verse 10, Nevertheless Haman refrained himself and when he came home he sent and called for his friends and Zireh his wife. And Haman told them of the glory of his riches and the multitude of his children and all the things wherein the king had promoted him and how he had advanced him above the princes in service of the king. Haman said, Moreover, yea, as to the queen did let no man come in with the king under the banquet that she had prepared, but myself and tomorrow am I invited under her also with the king. Do you ever love friends like this who just invite you over and just tell you how great they are? I mean, what a braggart. I mean, do you see how this guy's just a total braggart? He calls all his friends over and he says, First of all, let me tell you about the glory of my riches. Next, next I'm going to tell you about the multitude of my children. Then I'm going to tell you about all the power that I have in government. And then I'm going to tell you about the party that only I was allowed to come to. But look what it says in verse 13. That all this availeth me nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate. Now just let that statement sing in. All his riches, multitude of children, all his power, his elite dining schedule, none of it's worth anything as long as I see Mordecai the Jew. I mean, does he sound like he's satisfied with what he has? It's not enough for him that 99% of people bow down to him. No, that's not enough. I mean, the guy is just never satisfied. And what is a word for a person who's not satisfied? Starts with a C. Covetous. Because contentment is the opposite of covetousness. The Bible says, Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have, for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. See, contentment and covetousness are opposites. So what I see from this and what I gather from this is that the most covetous people are also the biggest braggarts about what they have. Stop and think about that. Those who are braggarts about what they have are also covetous people. People who talk a lot about their wealth and they talk a lot about the money they have, they're not satisfied with what they have. Because here's the thing, if they were really satisfied with what they had, they wouldn't have to brag about it all the time. But it's like they're trying to get more enjoyment out of their stuff. It's like the stuff that they have isn't enjoyable enough until they can tell you about it and tell everybody about it and show off. Because you know why? It's all vanity, that's why. Vanity of vanity saith the preacher, vanity of vanity is all is vanity. And you know what the Bible talks about in Ecclesiastes, what good are all these treasures that you have except the beholding of them with your eyes? I mean your fancy car, your fancy house, it gets to the point where it's just okay, you look at it and you look at it, you get sick of it, now you've got to find something else and you've got to go show it off to everybody and try to get everybody else to be impressed with your stuff. You know people that are covetous are people that are braggards. They brag about their stuff. They brag about their car, they brag about their house, they brag about their clothes, they wear their clothing labels on the outside. You know I saw these pants where the label of the pants had a way where you could put the belt under the label. Who's ever seen that before, knows what I'm talking about. You know just to make sure that you can read the label of my pants, I'm going to put the belt behind the label. I want you to know that these are guest jeans or Levi's or structure or whatever, you know. And by the way, just for the record, if you ever see me wearing a piece of fancy clothing, it came from the thrift store secondhand. You think I'm going to structure? Because I'm not. You think I'm buying Stacey Adams and structure and you know all that stuff and I do have some name brand stuff like that, five bucks from the thrift store. I have a suit that says it was made in Italy, you know, five bucks, savers, okay. I'm not going around, and guess what, I wear the label on the inside. I don't put, you know, made in Italy on the back of it, you know. But people that are braggards, they're covetous, you know, beware of covetousness. Jesus said, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth. That's not what life's about. He's just bragging about everything he has and then he says, but it's all worthless as long as I see Mordecai the Jew not bowing down to me. It just shows that people who are worldly, sinful people who get everything that they want are still not satisfied. That's why the Bible says in Proverbs, he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver. And we see people who live for self and live for money and live for possessions, they're never satisfied with what they have. But not only that, we see the wicked mentality that basically overlooks all the good things in your life and focuses on the one bad thing, and a lot of Christians can have this mentality, where they have one thing about their life that's bad. And let me explain something to you. One thing is always going to be bad about your life. I mean, do you think your life is ever going to be perfect? There's always going to be one thing. Maybe it's the finances, right? Everything's great in my life except my finances are shot. Let me just give you a really hard truth. As soon as your finances are right, something else is going to go wrong. Like you'll have perfect health, perfect relationships, you know, and your finances are shot, right? And then as soon as you turn the corner financially, somebody's going to get sick, some relationship's going to go bad, problems at church, I mean problems at work, it's always going to be something. And so if your problem is a financial problem, just be thankful that that's all it is. Because there's a lot of problems that could be worse than that. The Bible says, skin for skin, you know, all that a man hath, well actually that was what Satan said, but he was right though, you know, remember the book of Job? He said, skin for skin, you know, all that a man hath will he give for his life. You know, put forth now the hand and touch his body, he'll curse thee to thy face. But you know, honestly, okay there's no truth in him, I shouldn't have been quoting that. Anyway, honestly, you and I would both probably agree that we would rather have a financial problem than a health problem. I mean would you rather be just very sick and nauseated or would you rather, you know, have lean times financially? You know, would you rather be vomiting every day or would you rather, you know, be short on cash? Okay, would you rather have your child in the hospital or your wife in the hospital or would you rather not be able to pay your bills? I mean think about it, you know, so sometimes we just focus in on that one thing that's not perfect, finances. When our health is great, our family is great, our church is great, you know, or it could be something else, you know, you focus in, maybe your finances are great, maybe your family is great, maybe you have a great church, but you know, your health is bad. And you just focus on that one thing. You know what, there's always a lot for us to be thankful for. So don't have this Haman mentality that just lets that one thing ruin your day and that one thing make you unhappy. You know, perhaps the whole house is clean, right? One room could use some work and it's just, ah, this room is filthy. You know, it's just, why don't you just get over it, you know what I mean, it's just everything's never going to be perfect in your life. You know, just try to focus on the thing. You know, Haman here, Haman here could have just gone home and just focused on all the good things about his life. He could have just focused on his riches. He could have focused on his glory. He could have focused on the multitude of his children and you know what, he would have lived to be an old man and he would have lived a happy life. But because he fixated on that one thing of Mordecai, that ends up destroying his whole life. And at the end of this chapter, he decides to build a gallows. Look at verse 14, this is what his wife suggests when he says, you know, Mordecai is getting under my skin, Zireh, his wife, and all his friends said unto him, let a gallows be made of fifty cubits high. Now that's like 75 feet high. That's a little extreme. He's building it as high as like a six or seven story building. I mean look, if you want the guy dead, fine, but he builds a gallow 75 feet high. I mean this is insane. And it says, and tomorrow speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon. Then go thou in merrily with the king unto the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman and he caused the gallows to be made. And guess who's going to end up hanging on that gallows? Mordecai. Guess who else is going to hang on it? All ten of his kids. Why? Because he just could not get over that one thing about his life that just wasn't perfect. And you know, we'd be wise to take heed and to say, you know, let's be content with such things as we have. And Paul said that he had a thorn in his flesh and that he besought the Lord thrice that he might be taken away from him. And the Lord told him not to bring it up again. He said, my grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in weakness. And Paul said, not that I speak in respect of what, for I've learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. He'd been in prison, he'd been beaten, he'd been out shipwrecked. He just said, I've learned to be content. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. And Paul learned how to be happy when things are good and to be happy when things are bad and to thank God for it. Naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. But Haman had an attitude that said, you know what? Everything about my life is going to be perfect or I'm going to start killing people. I'm going to just hang them on a gallows that's 75 feet high. Instead of just being happy. And you know what? Even if Mordecai wouldn't have started bowing down to him, it would have been something else with him. He would have found something else to complain about. Because people who complain are always going to find something to complain about. They're just complaining people. They're just covetous people. And they brag. People who complain a lot brag a lot too sometimes. Sometimes it's the same people. These covetous people that are like that. And so we see here that Haman brags to his friends, he brags to his wife, and the Bible teaches us that pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before the fall. Haman's about to experience a serious downfall from being the second in command to being hung on a gallows 75 feet high. And right before that, he's at his most prideful. He's at the haughtiest. He's at the most arrogant. And you know, when we start getting a proud attitude, a proud spirit, we start getting haughty and too big for our britches. You know what that means? We're about to fall. We're about to crash. We're about to be brought down. And God will take us down a notch. Whenever we start getting too puffed up and too biggity, he will bring us down. And so we need to beware of pride, beware of the haughty spirit. It goes before destruction. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for this chapter we could learn so much from. Father, please just help us to apply these things to our life. Help us to apply the lessons of Esther, how she was able to get the king to grant her her request and grant her her petition, and we could also learn from Haman's bad example not to brag, not to be covetous, not to fixate on the one thing that's not perfect about our lives, and not to plot the destruction of other innocent people because, you know what, it's going to come back around and bite us because whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. Help us to apply these lessons to our life, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.