(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Good morning everyone, welcome to our services today here at Faith Word Baptist Church. It's a joy to see you all here on this Sunday morning, let's all take our seats please as you find your song books. And we'll begin this morning with hymn number 143. Hymn number 143, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, hymn number 143, let's lift our voices together on this first verse together, hymn number 143, let's sing it out. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, oh what a foretaste of glory divine, Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Lord of his Spirit, blushed with his blood. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, perfect delight, visions of rapture now burst on my sight, angels be sending strength from above, echoes of mercy whispers above. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, always at rest, light my Savior happy and blessed, watching and waiting, looking above, filled with his goodness, lost in his love. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. Let's go back and sing that chorus, really watch as we sing out, this is my story. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. And Greg starts to sing this morning, I've asked for the Kevin, if you want to put yourself in prayer. All right, Kevin, thank you for the opportunity for all of us to be here today. I pray that you'll bless us all, fill us all with the spirit, bless the singing and the preaching to follow. It's in Christ's name I pray, amen. Amen. Number 145 is next. It is well with my soul, hymn number 145. Peace like the river has ended by the way, number 145 on this first verse together. When peace like the river attended my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. Those saints in Shabbat, those trials should come, let this blessed assurance control that Christ has regarded my helplessness state, and has shed his own blood for my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. I just want to look over the words with you on that third verse before we sing them. It says, my sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, and that thought is this, my sin not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. That doesn't stir your soul. I don't know what will, just our sin we don't bear anymore. So let's sing that third verse. It says, my sin, oh the bliss, sing it out now. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. And Lord, praise the day when my faith shall be signed, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, the clouds shall resound, and the Lord shall descend. It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. All right, this time we'll go through our announcements together. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 10 30 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week will be in Ezekiel chapter 5. We've got the soul-winning times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms. And then across the page is a couple of the pictures from the Ladies Retreat down there in Oracle. And so thank you to everybody who pitched in and helped out with that, and everybody who participated. They look like they had a great time, and I've heard from a lot of people that they had a wonderful time. And so you can share more of your favorite pictures on the church Facebook group. And then on the back, we've got the monthly music emphasis night coming up this Thursday, September the 2nd at 7 p.m. Please sign up if you're planning on attending, and then join us next Sunday, September 5th at 10 a.m. for donuts and coffee before the service, in honor of all the September birthdays, and then other upcoming events are listed down there below. Also, for the film that Brother Jenkins is working on, the last day to do interviews for that is going to be today. So Brother Jenkins, would you stand up real quick in case people don't know you? So Brother Gary Jenkins is working on a video project for our church, and so today's the last day. So if you wanted to do one of those interviews, get with him today because that stuff's all going to be taken down by the end of today or sometime this week or something. So basically we want to get it done today. And then also I want to just briefly talk about another issue because of the fact that obviously a lot of people are asking me about this. Which is the thing of vaccine exemption, like a religious exemption for vaccines, because a lot of people have been hitting me up for this. I do have a letter that I've written explaining why we're opposed to it. And so if you want to get a letter like that, if you need that for your job or something, because I know a lot of people have needed this, or a lot of jobs are now forcing people to get vaccinated and stupid things like that. So we have a sign up sheet over there just to make it easy so that we don't have to communicate with a million people. Just go over there and write your email address on that sheet there and then I'll email you over a signed letter from yours truly explaining our church's position on that. So that you could show that to your employer or whatever to get the religious exemption type thing. But I want to just take a moment right now and just explain philosophically where I'm coming from on this. First of all, the reason that I am against vaccines, there's a few different reasons. The main reason that I'm against vaccines is because I don't think it's good to be injecting that crap into your body. That's basically just to put it on the back of a postage stamp for you. Just to make it clear. But what I've put in the letter is that number one, these vaccines are developed, cultured, researched, et cetera with the aid of aborted fetuses. And so right away that's something that we have a problem with. Using aborted fetuses to develop these vaccines is something that we are totally against. We don't want to participate in that. We don't want to have any fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. We'd rather reprove them. So that's one issue. We believe that life begins at conception. There's plenty of scripture to teach that babies in their mother's wombs are alive. They're human. You know, God cares about them. And so we're against abortion and we don't believe in science using aborted fetuses even if it's going to help people or whatever. We would still be against it, number one. Number two, you know, we would go by the biblical concept of clean and unclean. And the Bible does not teach that we should knowingly put unclean substances into our body in order to provoke some kind of an immune response or health benefit. We should be clean is what we believe. Now, here's the thing. And I'm going to just go off on this a little bit because people care about this. It's something that's kind of happening right now. There is, I believe, a benefit in us as human beings coming into contact with germs. You know, our immune systems are designed to fight off germs and so we're supposed to come into contact with germs. And so our bodies are designed to deal with that. And the difference though is that when we come into contact with germs naturally, they're coming in through like our nose or our mouth or our skin and so they go through a lot of gates to get in. That's different than injecting something directly into your bloodstream. You're bypassing all of your body's natural defenses through your ears, your nose, you've got all kinds of mucus and membranes and things going on to filter that stuff. You know, just injecting that stuff straight into your bloodstream is pretty extreme, okay? I do believe that there's a financial motivation behind these vaccines. People are making billions of dollars off these things. The love of money is the root of all evil. And frankly, this vaccine campaign is bizarre. It seems like something that you would read out of like a dystopian novel or something. It's super weird, like, hey, get a free vaccine and we'll even give you a $50 gift card if you'll take this vaccine. It's like, what? If this vaccine is so great, why do they have to offer you $50 to take it? And then how about this? How about when I had COVID, positive test result, was severely ill with COVID for a couple weeks and then I recovered and then the county calls me because, you know, because they're checking up on me because I had the positive test result. The county calls to check up on me and I told them, yeah, I'm totally recovered. I'm good to go. They're like, okay, we want you to go get a vaccine now. And I told them, I said, excuse me, I just had the illness. Right. How do these vaccines work again? Oh, they simulate you having the illness so that you can build antibodies. So why would I need to simulate that if I just did the real thing a week ago? But you read all these mainstream news articles. Oh, even if you've had COVID, get the vaccine anyway. But then when you actually read the article, anytime they quote a scientist, anytime they actually quote a scientist, he always says, well, actually, from what we know, the vast majority of the time, actually getting the illness provides more immunity for longer than a vaccine. 99% of cases. 99% of cases. You know, that's what all the data has showed over the last many decades. But then you have basically these journalists who are not scientists. They're not doctors. These libtard journalists are just like, oh, well, you know, it might be better to get vaccinated. It might protect you, protect you from more strains. It's weird. There's something weird going on. Okay. Well, you know, I'm like David where I would say, I cannot use these for I have not proved them. You know, these vaccines are sketchy. Okay. I've known people personally who died from it. But you never hear about that. But forget about that. And that's a conspiracy theory, even though I know somebody who died right after they took the vaccine. Well, they were old and they would have died anyway. Well, so are a lot of these people from COVID old and would have died anyway. Okay. So it is what it is. So, you know, the bottom line is people are making billions of dollars off these vaccines. Yeah, they're free when you get them, but somebody paid for them. Okay. Nothing's free. Somebody is making billions of dollars off these vaccines. They're sketchy. They're pushing them so hard. It's weird. It's almost like a religion or something where like you have to just virtue signal that you got the vaccine. And it's not enough to be sick with COVID. I mean, my wife and I both got COVID. She went down and got the antibody test. Her antibodies were like what? Three times what they say you're immune or something. She was like off the charts. She's a superhuman. Didn't you tell me your antibodies were off the charts? She was at the highest level that they measure of antibodies from having the illness. But I guess she needs to go get vaccinated too to please whoever. It makes no sense, my friend. Okay. So, you know, it's an abuse of power if the government or these corporations or whoever else are forcing you to inject something into your body. And then they claim like, oh, it's for the common good so that you don't spread this thing to everybody else, right? But here's the thing about that is that when you actually look at the data, you'll see that people who are vaccinated still spread it. But then they're like, yeah, but they don't get as sick though. They don't die as much. They don't get as sick, but they still spread it. So here's my question then. If getting vaccinated still allows me to spread it, which is why the CDC now says vaccinated or unvaccinated, you still wear a mask, both. If being vaccinated doesn't stop me from spreading it, it just stops me from getting less sick, then it sounds like the only person I'm hurting by not getting vaccinated is myself. And in fact, if vaccinated people get less sick with it, they would probably spread it more because they have no symptoms and then they're going to go around and just not even quarantine. Does everybody see what I'm saying? So there's just a lot of things about this that just don't add up. And you say, well, pastor, that's just your opinion. You're right. That's why this isn't part of the sermon. This is the announcements. This is my little opinion hour. I'm just giving my opinion. Now, the part about aborted fetuses, that's the word of God. But, you know, I am just giving my opinion. I'm just telling you where the way I see it, it things don't add up. It's weird. And so excuse me for not wanting to just inject this stuff into my body that's so sketchy and that the media is being so weird about when the science is not the data is not in yet because it's too new. It's too soon. It's too recent. So anyway, that's how I feel about that personally. OK. Now, as far as and I'm spending time on this because I know a lot of people care about this and I keep getting asked the same questions by a lot of people. So I figure if one person asked me, there's probably 10 people wondering the same thing. OK. And they say, what if my job forces me to be vaccinated? Right. You know, what do I do? And here's what I've been telling people. I tell people, I say, look, it depends on how important your job is to you. Because I don't believe that it would be a sin for you if your job forces you to take the vaccine and you take the vaccine to keep your job. I don't think you've committed sin there. OK. Now, because people are asking, like, is taking the vaccine a sin? And we have to be careful with this question because this is not a simple answer. And here's why. Because of the fact that sin is a transgression of the law. And we don't want to teach for doctrines the commandments of men. Now, the only thing that I can really get up and dogmatically say is a sin are things that the Bible says are a sin. You know. So if the Bible tells me that killing is a sin, adultery is a sin, stealing is a sin, there's no doubt about that. I can dogmatically get up here and say it's a sin. Period. It's always wrong. Don't do it. You know. And I would die on that hill. OK. Whereas, other things that we would get up and say that they're wrong or sinful is because we've extrapolated out principles from the Bible. OK. Like, let me give you an example. Is there a verse in the Bible that says that smoking is wrong? Is there a verse that says thou shalt not smoke? Now, you might think that smoking wasn't around back then, but guess what? Smoking's always been around. There's no new thing under the sun, and historically, smoking off and on throughout history has been a thing. Yet there's no verse in the Bible that says thou shalt not smoke. So I can't really get up with the same force of, say, murder or adultery and just get up and say, thou shalt not smoke, because of the fact that it is not a clear command in the Bible. But do I believe smoking is a sin? Absolutely. I do. Here's why I would say it's a sin. Because the Bible says that your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost, and obviously we should glorify God in our body and in our spirit, which are God's. We should take care of our body. There's a biblical principle of taking care of our health, taking care of our body, being clean, etc. And also, you know, the Bible says the thought of foolishness is sin. The Bible lists foolishness itself as a sin, so being stupid is a sin, and if you smoke, you're being stupid. Because you're just destroying your body, wasting money, that's stupid. Who here thinks smoking is stupid? It's a stupid decision. Even smokers would tell you, like, this is stupid. Right? Even smokers will tell you it's stupid. I remember, you know, a friend of mine one time told me, they went to this job, and everybody at this job would take smoke breaks. And so they felt kind of left out. So basically, you know, one day they brought a pack of cigarettes to work, you know, went out on the little porch, lit up a cigarette, and started smoking. And everybody out there said, what are you doing? And they're like, well, you know, I'm smoking. You don't smoke. Well, I'm just starting. You idiot. We're doing this because we have to. We don't want to be here. Save yourself. And it's like, oh, okay, you know. And this person did not take up smoking. But that's what I'm saying. Even smokers will tell you it's stupid. But I can't really get up with the same force, do you understand, of saying, like, smoking is a sin. You know, because really it's sin because of biblical principles. So it's like a one-step-removed commandment versus, like, a direct commandment. Does everybody see the difference there? One of them is like, the Bible's telling me this. Another one's like extrapolating it out. Like, here's the thing. If the Bible says that, you know, gluttony is wrong, okay, well then, you know, could I really get up and dogmatically say that it's a sin for you to eat a Taco Bell today? You know what I mean? But here's the thing. If you're just constantly indulging in Taco Bell, it's probably damaging you like smoking would damage you. Right? I mean, it's not good for you. Eating junk, drinking junk is not good for you. But I can't just declare that a sin with the same force that I could, something that the Bible actually mentions. So I'm going to preach a lot harder about alcohol than smoking because alcohol is something that the Bible specifically talks a lot about. And then I can take that alcohol principle and I can extrapolate that out to marijuana and cocaine and whatever else. So look, I'm not up here saying that these things aren't bad. I'm not saying that it's okay to smoke. Let me just repeat myself again. I believe that smoking is a sin. I believe it's wrong. Don't do it. Quit. But you see how that is something that I've derived from scripture versus something that is directly from scripture. Now, here's the thing. If I were in a life or death situation, it was like, hey, smoke this cigarette and you'll live, I'd be like, let's do it. I mean, would anybody here really be willing to sacrifice your life not to smoke a cigarette or would you just say, hey, pass me a cigarette, let's do it. Because are you really going to die on that hill when it's not even something God mentioned? I wouldn't. If I had to smoke a cigarette, I can't imagine a situation where I would have to smoke a cigarette to save my life. But let's just say it existed, I would do it. If somebody put a gun, and I know that what I'm saying right now is not going to be popular with a lot of people, but you know what? It's not my job to get up and tell people what they want to hear and what's popular. You know, I'm getting up and telling what's right. Okay. And look, I'm just, this is what I believe is right. And you don't have to agree with me, but I'm here telling you what I believe is right based on scripture. I'm not trying to win a popularity contest right now. If somebody held a gun up to my head and said, take this COVID vaccine, I would just take it. Oh, you compromised Jesuit NASA spy there. Because guess what, idiot? It's not the mark of the beast because it's not going in your forehead. You know, I want to say these idiots are saying it's the mark of the beast. You vaccinate your forehead or your right hand? You go and get a vaccine in your right hand? Why don't you actually go by what the Bible actually said? Okay. It's not the mark of the beast. It's a vaccine. Okay. Now look, am I, look, I haven't taken the COVID vaccine. I'm not going to. My wife's not going to. My kids aren't going to. I think the whole thing's a scam and I'm not into it. But at the same time, I'm not willing to die for that. And I'm not going to impose that onto other people. If you're here this morning and you think that the COVID vaccine is wonderful. You know what? I'm not going to judge you for getting it or condemn you for getting it because that's your opinion. If that's what you believe, then go get vaccinated. If that's what you believe, I don't believe is good. If you believe it's good, then go do it because the Bible doesn't specifically say one way or the other. You don't have to agree with my opinion. Okay. But like I said, that is not a hill that I would be willing to die on. Now if somebody put a gun to my head and said blaspheme Christ, I'd say pull the trigger. If somebody put a gun to my head and said take back what you preached about the sodomites, I'd say pull the trigger. That's clear in scripture. That's, that's black and white and I will die on that hill. These other issues of opinion or extrapolation from scripture, you know, obviously you've got to choose where you draw the line. You know, if your ox or your ass falls in the ditch on the Sabbath day, you pull it out. So what, what was the, what was the whole point why we said that smoking a cigarette is wrong or that, you know, uh, injecting junk into you is wrong is that, is that it's, you know, we're supposed to take care of our health. Was it a bullet into my head isn't going to be good for my health either. And like I had a guy contact me and he said that these were his two choices. He was either going to get a dishonorable discharge from the military or take the COVID vaccine. And I told him, I said, look, I said, you got to do what you got to do. It's up to you. But I said, if I were in your situation, I would just take the COVID vaccine because, you know, as, as much as I don't want to take it. A dishonorable discharge is probably gonna be worse for your health because a dishonorable discharge is like being a convicted felon. And you have to write that on every job application for the rest of your life. And that is going to haunt you 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 30 years. It's like being a convicted felon. You can never own a gun again. You, you, you, you lose your civil rights. And so, yeah, I mean, in that kind of a situation, you know, I would say it's not worth it, but that's just me. I told the guy, do what you want. It's up to you. And, and people have been asking me, what if my job forces me to get the COVID vaccine? And I told them, I said, you know what? It really just depends on how important your job is to you, that trade off. If you just have to have this job, then you might have to just bite the bullet and do it. I don't think at that point you're in sin, especially if God's, I mean, especially if they're forcing you to do it. You know, I mean, I mean, what if my job said you have to eat at McDonald's every day to work at this company? You know, it'd have to be a really good job, but I might just develop a taste for it. You know, but I'm not going to go willingly. Just go eat that junk. Some of you are like, that's a dream job. But, but, but the thing is, you know, it's really, I believe a matter of personal choice and individual personal liberty. So as your pastor, I'm not getting up here and telling you, hey, get this vaccine. Don't get this vaccine. I'm up here telling you, you know what? You do what you think is right because the Bible doesn't clearly state this one way or another. You got to do what you believe is right. You know your situation. But I will say this, you know, here's what I think about it. I don't trust it. You know, it's like those memes, like things I trust more than this COVID vaccine. It's like gas station sushi, lobster from the Dollar Tree, you know, punch served at Bill Cosby's house or something. You know, like, like all the different, you know, all the things that I would trust more than the vaccine. So, you know, the point is that it's a matter of personal individual liberty and all that being said, I have written a letter stating why we believe that vaccines are wrong and why we don't do vaccines. And if you are looking for a religious exemption, look no further. I got your back. I've already written the letter and signed my name to it, put all the Bible verses about not putting unclean things into your body and your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost and about life beginning at conception and, you know, the aborted fetuses. I've written that up. I've signed it. It's on a church letterhead. And if they call me, I'll obviously back up all those things because that's what I believe. So I'm, you know, it's up to you what you do though. You know, I'm not trying to run your life. You know, the government may try to run your life. Corporations may want to run your life. But Faithful Word Baptist Church is never going to try to run your life. You know, we believe in freedom and liberty. We don't tell people what to do in their personal lives. And so that's where we're at on this. And I just want to say one more thing while we're on the subject. You know, our friend Pastor Kevin Sepulveda over in Australia, you know, he posted something online stating what's going on over there in Australia right now. And he pastors two churches in Australia. One of them is in Sydney and one of them, I believe, is up on the Sunshine Coast of Australia. And he told me that they are on like a total lockdown. And about in the Sydney area and a lot of the Sydney area, it's no jab, no job. Like you can't work at any job unless you get this vaccine. And he said about 80 percent of his church is affected by that. He's not allowed to travel back and forth between the two churches because you can't cross any state lines. And if you do, you have to quarantine yourself in a hotel for two weeks. Okay. There's a 9 p.m. curfew every night. And that's probably a good idea anyway. I mean, it's a bad idea. It's wicked that the government would mandate that. But at least people are, you know, going to bed early. I think that's always good. But it shouldn't be the government making them do it though. At least it's keeping people out of trouble. But and then, hey, how about that? And he said, like, you can't go more than three miles from your house. So they're on this extreme, crazy lockdown, forced vaccinations, can't go more than three miles, 9 o'clock curfew, can't cross state lines, all this stuff. So I'm thinking to myself, well, there must be some huge outbreak of COVID in Australia. Right? What does it sound like? They must be getting hit hard to have these draconian measures. I go on a website where I can see all the COVID statistics. Australia right now is like 121st most affected of countries in the world. They're not even in the top 10. They're not even in the top 100. They have, like, barely any cases. They have, like, less cases than the state of Arizona in the whole country of Australia. They have, like, two people dying a day on average or something, which is, like, okay. I mean, there's in a country with tens of millions of people, people die. You know, a couple people. It's, like, not a big. So, I mean, that's crazy. That's crazy. I mean, we're having, like, 10 times as many cases or 20 times as many cases, 30 times as many cases, and we have so much more freedom here. But in Australia, man, that's insane. Nothing's even going on, you know. It kind of reminded me of this corny commercial from the 80s. I have a little more latitude during the announcements. It's not really a sermon. But, like, during the 80s, there was this corny commercial for head and shoulders shampoo. And the guy's like, but you don't have dandruff. He's like, exactly. Who knows what I'm talking about? A couple old people. So, anyway, the announcements don't normally go this long if you're visiting. Usually the announcements are, like, 90 seconds. But anyway, you know, it's like, oh, that's why they don't have COVID is because they're doing it. It's like, give me a break. That's insane. Now, I have one more thing to say, too. I just want to get this all off my chest, okay. And, you know, again, I'm not claiming to be a medical expert or a scientist. I'm just using some common sense here. I do not believe it is healthy for you to spend two years of your life wearing a mask, socially distancing, and rubbing hand sanitizer on your hands compulsively. I don't think that that's how our bodies are designed to operate. You know, and all of these left-wing evolutionists, right, because we, you know, we believe that we're created in the image of God. But all these left-wing evolutionists, here's my question for them that think that we evolved from animals, is why didn't we just, like, evolve a mask if that was so healthy? Like, why didn't we evolve, like, a flap? You know what I'm saying? Over all those millions of years, why didn't we just evolve, like, a flap that would come over our nose and mouth and have a built-in mask? Or some kind of a membrane just like a mask, just filtering everything out? Well, because here's why. Because you know what? Our bodies are designed to actually take in germs and process them and actually have an immune response. It's like a treadmill for your immune system. You know, your immune system needs a workout. And I'm looking at people who are saying now, I'm just going to wear this mask. Somebody told me this week, I'm going to wear this mask for the rest of my life. Because here's what they said. They said in the last year and a half, I didn't get a cold. I didn't get COVID. I didn't get the flu. I usually get sick. I didn't get any sickness. And so from now on for the rest of my life, I'm just going to wear this thing. But here's the problem with that. It might sound good, like, hey, no colds. But you know what? You're supposed to get colds, okay? Yes, you are. Yes, you are. Because your body has to work. Your immune system's got to work a little bit. Because otherwise, if you're just like Howard Hughes locking yourself up in a penthouse and never leaving, if you're just living in a plastic bubble not exposed to any germs, your immune system, just like any other part of your body that you don't use, is going to fall into decay. And then the smallest little infection is going to just kick your backside. Does everybody see what I'm saying? So look, I can understand putting on a mask if there were like an acute outbreak, like something's happening and it's like, okay, we're dealing with a serious disease in the short term. Let's wear this thing to protect ourselves from these germs or protect other people from these germs or whatever. But let me tell you something. Here we are. It's been well over a year. It's been almost a year and a half now. This can't just become a way of life. This can't just become a permanent way of life. We always wear a mask and we always just nuke everything on our hands. Because what you have to understand is that our bodies are filled with microorganisms with which we have a symbiotic relationship. Literally right now, my body has trillions of living things in it. Did you know that? I am just colonized. I mean, my body is like a universe. It's like a whole world of ecosystems of just bacteria and all kinds of creatures. And I'm not exaggerating when I say trillions. I mean, think about when you go down and buy a probiotic, what does it tell you? Oh, you're getting 10 billion of them. Here's 100 billion of them. Why? Because we literally have trillions of microorganisms living in our body. So you don't want to necessarily just take napalm to your body and just kill, because you're killing the good germs too. You're killing the good bacteria. And what happens is if you kill the good bacteria, then the bad bacteria takes over. Somebody's going to rule the roost in your body. The good bacteria keeps the bad bacteria away. Think about if I left my house vacant, if I just locked the door and just left for years and then came back, what am I going to find living in my house when I get back? Animals, bugs. They're going to move in because they're going to fill that vacuum. Does everybody see what I'm saying? And so, you know, we don't want to just nuke all the good stuff on our hands every day and just constantly putting that stuff on our skin and just killing everything and just masked up and whatever. And some people like to wear the mask too because I think that they're just self-conscious about their face or something. Like they like to hide behind it. You know what, just be who you are, okay? Not everybody is going to look like some super handsome or beautiful, you know, just be content with how God made you and show us that beautiful face, all right? All right, that went way too long. So, it'll never happen again. Let's just sing one song since I just ate up like half the service or more. All right, and your hymnals, please, sir. Hymn number 52. Zion's Hill, hymn number 52. Against our waits for me, a glad tomorrow, hymn number 52. On this first verse together. There waits for me a glad tomorrow Where gates of worlds we open wide And when I pass this veil of sorrow I'll dwell upon the other side Someday beyond the reach of mortal land Someday I only know to swear And when the wheels of mortal life shall all stand still And I shall go to hell on Zion's hill Someday I'll hear the angels singing Beyond the shadows of the tomb And all the bells of heaven ringing While saints are singing once more Someday beyond the reach of mortal land Someday I only know to swear And when the wheels of mortal life shall all stand still And I shall go to hell on Zion's hill Someday my labors will be ended And all my wonders will be o'er And all the earth will climb against And I shall fly in wings of o'er Someday beyond the reach of mortal land Someday God only knows to swear And when the wheels of mortal life shall all stand still And I shall go to hell on Zion's hill Someday the dark clouds will be lifted And all the night of truth be cast And all life's burdens will be lifted The day of prayer shall not at last Someday beyond the reach of mortal land Someday God only knows to swear And when the wheels of mortal life shall all stand still And I shall go to hell on Zion's hill Hey, thank you for singing this morning. All right, this time we'll quickly pass our offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Esther chapter 1, the book of Esther chapter number 1. As we always do, read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1. Follow along silently with Brother Raymond as he reads. Esther chapter number 1. Esther chapter 1 and verse 1 the Bible reads, Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, this is Ahasuerus which reigned from India even unto Ethiopia, over a hundred and seven and twenty provinces, that in those days when the king Ahasuerus set on the throne of his kingdom which was in Shushan, the palace, in the third year of his reign he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants, the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him, when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty many days, even a hundred and four score days. And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan, the palace, both unto great and small seven days in the court of the garden of the king's palace, wherewith white, green, and blue hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble, the beds were of gold and silver upon a pavement of red and blue and white and black marble. And they gave them drink and vessels of gold, the vessels being diverse one from another, and royal wine and abundance according to the state of the king. And the drinking was according to the law, none did compel, for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house that they should do according to every man's pleasure. Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus. On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Bizthah, Harbonah, Bigthah, and Abatha, Zithar, and Carcass, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, 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. But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his chamberlains. Therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him. Then the king said to the wise men, which knew the times, for so was the king's manner toward all that knew law and judgment. And the next unto him was Karshina, Shethar, Admutha, Tarshish, Meres, Marcina, and Mehmukhan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king's face and which sat the first in the kingdom. What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains? And Mehmukhan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen had not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus. For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes. When it shall be reported the king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not. Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all the king's princes, which have heard of the deed of the queen, thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath. If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes that it be not altered that Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she. And when the king's decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire, for it is great, all the wives shall give to their husbands honor, both to great and small. And the saying pleased the king and the princes, and the king did according to the word of Mamuken. For he sent letters into all the king's provinces, and to every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that it should be published according to the language of every people. Brother Fidel, will you pray for us? Father in heaven, thank you for today's blessings of these announcements we got this morning. Please bless Pastor Anderson and bless this sermon as it travels around the world. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. This morning we're in the book of Esther, chapter number one. And the book of Esther is a very unique book in scripture because it's one of the only books that actually never mentions God. God is never mentioned in any of these ten chapters, and Song of Solomon is also like that. But this takes place after the captivity of the children of Israel, and we've been talking about this on Wednesday nights with the Babylonian captivity, and how the children of Israel who lived in the southern kingdom of Judah had been carried off into all nations, but especially into Babylon. Well, eventually the Babylonian empire gives way to the Medes and the Persians, and the capital of the Persian empire is a place called Shushan, or today sometimes people refer to it as Susa, but this palace where Ahasuerus is the king is in Shushan, and he's ruling over 127 provinces all the way from India to Ethiopia. So he has this gigantic kingdom, and he's at that point in the kingdom where things are kind of on the decline because when they get in their heyday and they have just so much wealth and power, then they start to do strange things like have a party that lasts for 180 days straight. Okay, that's a little bit excessive, right? The Bible says in verse number three, in the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants, the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces being before him. So this is just for the ruling class, nobles, princes, et cetera, and it says in verse four, he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty many days, even a hundred and four score days, 180 days, almost six months. And when these days were expired, he's going to have another party. The king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan, the palace, both under great and small, seven days in the court of the garden of the king's palace. So now he does a shorter seven-day party for the people who live in the capital city of Shushan. Everybody, small and great, not just the ruling classes, but everybody's invited for seven days, and it begins to describe the decorations, the white, green, blue, the marble, the gold, the silver, and how they're all drinking out of vessels of gold, and nobody's forced to drink anything, but, you know, everybody gets to drink and do whatever. But look what the Bible says in verse number nine. It says, also, Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house, and I want to just point out this last phrase here, which belonged to King Ahasuerus. That phrase is there for a reason. You know, everything in the Bible has significance. And especially in the book of Esther, everything has significance because there's a lot of symbolism because it's a very subtle book. It's not even mentioning God by name, and so you really have to see the symbolism and read the story and pay attention to every detail. But Vashti the queen is having her own party, her own feast, in the house that belonged to King Ahasuerus. Okay. Now obviously, as the queen, Vashti derives all of her power, all of her royalty, all of her possessions, all of her own riches, she derives it from Ahasuerus because she's his wife, because she's his queen. She gets to take advantage of that, so she's able to throw this party for her and all her friends, and for seven days straight, she's having a female version of this party over at her house. Verse 10. On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mahuman, Bizthah, Harbonah, Bigthah, and Abagthah, Zethur, and Carcass, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, 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. But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his chamberlains, therefore the king was very wroth and his anger burned in him. Now, if you look at this story, it's very simple what's going on here. You've got the most powerful man in the world, King Ahasuerus. He's king over 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia, and he's commanding his wife to do something, and he's not even really asking her to do anything hard. He's telling her, look, here's what I want you to do. I want you to show up and just meet everybody, and he just wants to, because remember, part of this party is about Ahasuerus' ego, right? He wants to show the greatness of his kingdom and the glorious majesty, so he also wants to show off his trophy wife, right? And so he wants his wife to show up so that they can see her beauty, because she's extremely beautiful, and he wants people to see his beautiful wife, so he commands the seven servants to bring her, and she just refuses to come. She says, no. Now, what do we make of this as Christians reading this? Well, you know, the Bible's crystal clear that wives are commanded to obey their husbands, and whether that's popular in 2021, whether that is something that is part of our American culture, it's Bible. You know, the Bible says, therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. You know, the Bible says the wives should be good and obedient to their own husbands at the word of God, And so whether this guy is a great husband or a great person or not, that's not the issue. The issue is he's her husband, he's telling her, you need to come down here, and isn't it interesting how she's willing to basically use his resources to throw this gigantic party for a bunch of women, but then when he asks for something from her, all of a sudden it's like, no, I'm not going to, I'm not going to come. She refuses to obey, she does not come when the king calls her. Now, the king is flabbergasted at this, because this isn't what he expects. I mean, he's used to people obeying him, even if they're not his wife, but especially his wife, you would think, is going to obey him, such a simple command, so he's flabbergasted and perplexed. Now, I've heard some preachers try to twist this story and say, well, no, you know, Vashti actually did the right thing. I think to myself, like, how could you get that out of this story? Why would it be right to disobey your husband? Is that what the Bible teaches? You know, the Bible teaches that wives are supposed to obey their husband. But then I heard a preacher say, well, it's because he was asking her to come in the nude. Is that in the Bible? So, you know, we don't want to add things to the story that aren't there. Let's not add to Scripture. That's absurd. You can't just add something that isn't in the text and just turn the whole story on its head. No, this is a simple, reasonable request, and she's refusing to do it, and he's very angry, and he really has every right to be angry. And so, he doesn't know what to do. So it says in verse 13, Then the king said to the wise men, which knew the times, for so was the king's manner toward all that knew law and judgment. And the next unto him was Karshina, Shether, Admaitha, Tarshish, Meres, Marcina, and Mamukan, the seven princes of Media and Persia, which saw the king's face and which sat the first in the kingdom. What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she had not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains? So here, let's ask a lawyer. What do we do? And Mamukan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen had not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus. For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported the king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not. Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all the king's princes which have heard of the deed of the queen. Thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath. So here's what he's saying. He's saying, look, if this is allowed to stand, where the king of Persia's wife refuses to obey him, and if she gets away with this, then basically it's not just him that's suffering. All the princes are going to suffer because now their wives are going to start getting ideas. You know, they're over at that party with her having some kind of a girl power thing going on over there, thinking, yeah, we don't have to obey our husbands either, you know. And we can do what we want. We're liberated and whatever. And they're saying, you can't let this happen. You're hurting everybody. You're not just hurting yourself. It's the princes. It's the whole kingdom. It's 127 provinces. The whole world is going to get wind of this. And wives are going to despise their husband. Now what does the word despise mean? The word despise specifically means to look down on with contempt. It's that, you know, we might just use it as a synonym for hate. Like, oh, I despise that. We might just say in our monovinacular, despise instead of hate. But it specifically is a kind of hate where you're just looking down on something with contempt, like, oh, you're pathetic. Basically, wives are going to look down on their husbands and just not give them proper respect. And the Bible is very clear. It says in the New Testament, it says that the husband should love their wives, and the wife see that she reverence her husband. So the wife, according to the Bible, is to hold her husband in reverence. The opposite of holding someone in reverence would be to despise them, to look down on them with contempt instead of looking up to them with respect as a leader, as the head of the house. The Bible says that the head of the woman is the man. The head of the man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God. That's what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11. That's the New Testament. So they're saying, look, this is going to affect other people because everything rises and falls on leadership. Now imagine if I, as the pastor, had a wife who rebels against my commands and publicly disrespects me and publicly refuses to obey. What would that do for the church? You know, that would be destructive to the church, which is why the Bible says, if a man know not how to rule his own house, how should he take care of the church of God? He must have his children in subjection with all gravity. He must rule his children and his own house well. You know, if I've got my wife and my children living in my house, it's my job as the husband to make sure that they are doing what they're supposed to do. I'm not saying I'm going to micromanage everything about their lives, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. So anybody who's living in my home, they need to be going to church, obeying the Lord, serving God. You know, I'm not going to allow people living in my home to drink alcohol and take drugs and go out partying and fornicating and doing these things. That's not acceptable in my house, and so it's my job to rule my house. And in order to be a pastor, one of the qualifications when you're looking for a guy to be a pastor is one that ruleth well his own house. And the deacon, it says, ruling their children in their own house as well. So we want to make sure that as leaders, we set the example of ruling our homes. Now, this is why, let's say my wife were to leave me. I must step down as pastor, because that is the most fundamental failure of leadership if my marriage falls apart or ends, okay? Then I have not led my home, okay? So what we see here is a very applicable scenario in 2021, because we live in a day where women are being taught by society to rebel against their parents and to rebel against their husbands. And let me tell you something, it's wickedness. And it's not only wickedness in your own home, it also sets a bad example to anyone who's looking to you for any kind of leadership or as a role model or anything like that. So it's especially important for leaders to make sure that they rule their houses. And it's important for the wives of pastors or deacons to understand the responsibility of being a submissive wife and that other people are looking to them. And if they see them being rebellious, it could cause them to be rebellious as well and follow that example. So let's keep going with the story here. They explain to him, you know, this isn't going to work, you have to deal with this. And it says in verse number 19, if it pleased the king, let there go a royal commandment from him and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes that it be not altered, that Vashti come no more before King Ahasuerus and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she. And when the king's decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire, for it is great, all the wives shall give to their husbands honor both to great and small. You know, when this decree goes forth. And the saying pleased the king and the princes and the king did according to the word of Mimucan, for he sent letters into all the king's provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house and that it should be published according to the language of every people. Now, here's what we have to understand. When we're reading a book like Esther that makes no mention of God or even books that do mention God, they don't always necessarily tell us whether what people are doing is right or wrong. Okay? So there are certain places in the Bible where God is talking or where Jesus is talking or where the apostles are writing an epistle and they're talking and the narrator of the Bible is talking. That stuff is all 100% absolute truth. Now, the entire Bible is true in the sense that everything in the Bible happened that way, but doesn't the Bible often record people sinning? I mean, think about it. The Bible records people committing murder. It records people stealing. It records people lying. That doesn't mean that those things are right. And sometimes people will try to justify sin by saying, well, this guy in the Bible did it. Okay, but just because somebody did it doesn't make it right. For example, polygamy. And in this chapter, we're dealing with a king who is practicing polygamy. Is polygamy right? No. Has polygamy ever been right? No. At the beginning, God made them male and female all the way back to the Garden of Eden and said a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife and they too shall be one flesh. Not three, not four, not five. Two shall be one flesh. That's how it started at the beginning. And God specifically commanded kings that they shall not multiply wives. Specifically said, no multiple wives. But yet what do we see the kings of Israel and Judah constantly doing? Having multiple wives because they can. Because they're in a position and they're in a culture where they consider it okay. Now in our culture, it's not considered okay to have multiple wives. But in their culture, it was. But our culture considers a bunch of other things to be okay that the Bible condemns. The takeaway is we've got to go with what God says, not what the culture says. Okay, now here's the thing. We can't just say, well, David had multiple wives and he's a man after God's own heart. Ergo, I'm going to have multiple wives. No. Because that was a sin in David's life. That was something David did that was wrong. And so when we look at stories in the Bible, we have to use the statements in the Bible to interpret the story. Never base what you believe on a story. Base what you believe on a statement and then use the story to confirm what you believe. To further illuminate what you believe. To add more detail to what you believe. But a story should never be the foundation. The statement should be the foundation. So what's the statement? A man leaves his father and mother and cleaves into his wife and they too shall be one flesh. That's the statement. The story is, oh, David married a third wife. Here he is marrying a fourth wife. What am I going to trust? I'm going to go with the clear statement from God and I'm going to use the statement to interpret the story. So if I'm reading the book of Esther chapter one, how do I interpret the story? Well, I know that the New Testament is telling me that wives are to be obedient unto their own husbands in everything. So if I take that clear statement into the story, is Vashti doing right or wrong here? Wrong. Wrong. Okay. If I'm taking into the story that same statement about the father and mother and cleaving to your wife, then I know that Ahasuerus is also wrong to have multiple wives. And that Ahasuerus is also wrong to put away his wife because of this. Okay. Now here's the thing. When we read a story like this, we need to understand that it's not just a clear cut. This guy's good and this guy's bad. Okay. Because in the Bible, good people do bad things and bad people do good things in the Bible because you know what? That's how real life works. Good people don't just only do good all the time and bad people don't just do only bad all the time. That is absurd. You have a mixed bag with every human being, myself included and you, yourself included, because you know what? Here we are on Sunday morning and we're in church and we're worshipping the Lord, but I guarantee you every single one of us has sin in our life. There's none righteous, no, not one. There's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sineth not. No, I'm not saying that everybody's living in some major sin. Obviously, there are people who are in major sin and there are people who have very minor sins, but at the end of the day, though, we all have sin, though, don't we? Even if it's minor, it's there. And so when we look at a story like this and we see that Ahasuerus is a bad guy because he parties too much and he parties for six months straight and he's getting all merry with wine and here's how he deals with his problems. When his wife won't obey him, he just gets rid of her and gets another one. Those aren't right. But you know what? None of those things excuse Vashti's behavior, do they? Because does the Bible say, be obedient unto your godly husband? Be obedient unto your kind husband? Be obedient unto your romantic husband? Be obedient unto your debonair husband? What does it say? It says you obey your husband. And last time I checked in the United States of America in 2021, I don't think anybody here was forced to marry the husband that you have. I really doubt anybody here is a product of an arranged marriage. If you are, you know, okay, fine. Be that way. But I'm just saying, 99.9%, but probably 100% of us, we chose who we married, didn't we? Men and women, we picked someone, you picked this guy. So if you say, well, you don't understand what my husband's like, it's like, well, you married him? Maybe you should have thought about that before swearing an oath before God and your church and everybody that you're going to be with him till death do you part. And we need to get back to taking marriage seriously and understanding that marriage is till death and that God hates divorce. We don't have this option of just, oh, I'll just go to one of my other wives then. No more Vashti, I'll just switch somebody else. No, no, it's one man and one woman and we need to stay with it and we need to make it work. And wives need to obey their husbands, period. And you say, well, my husband's a little bit of a loser. Well, what does that make you? Right? What does that make you? Why did you marry such a loser? You know, it is what it is at this point. And, you know, if anybody tells me that their husband's a loser, I will rebuke them to their face. Because I don't care if your husband's the biggest loser in the world. If you came and told me that, you're sinning by telling me that because you're not referencing your husband. You're not honoring your husband. You know, you're talking bad about him to a third party. You're telling another man that you don't like. That's wickedness. You know what I mean? We need to get back to some biblical morality here and get back to what the Bible teaches, that wives are to obey their husbands. Husbands are to obey their, or to love their wives, not obey their wives now. I caught myself there. Wives are to obey their husbands. Husbands are to love their wives. And that marriage is for life. Okay? That's what we need to be practicing as Christians in America in 2021. I don't care what the world says about it. Nuts to them. This is the Bible. This is the Word of God. It doesn't matter that Ahasuerus isn't necessarily a great guy. You know, Abraham wasn't necessarily the best husband either. Telling people that she's his sister, getting her in all these weird situations. Embarrassing her. Humiliating her. But yet, what did Sarah do? She called him Lord. And you know why she did? Because the Bible says she trusted in God. You know, she might not have necessarily always trusted his judgment because of the squirrely things that he did, but Sarah obeyed Abraham because it says she trusted in the Lord in 1 Peter 3. That's why she obeyed him. And look, if you trust in the Lord, you'll obey your husband because you know that God's going to bless obedience. So you don't have to feel like, well, I've got to take things into my own hands. If I obey my husband, everything's going to fall apart. No, no. If you obey your husband, God's going to bless you. God's going to honor that. God is going to reward that. And you should obey your husband because you love God. You see, when we do it unto him or unto her, you know, whatever we do to our brother and sister in Christ, we've done it unto Jesus. Whatsoever you do unto one of the least of these, my brother, and you've done it unto me, Jesus said. So why not obey your husband for Christ's sake? Why not love your wife for the sake of Jesus Christ? Right? We should love our wives, and wives should obey their husbands for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the Lord's sake, if nothing else. We need to do what's right and not fall into this attitude that says that wives are just, you know, these free agents and they're independent and there's no authority structure. And you know what? That is such garbage that these people who aren't even Christians, they're not even following the Old Testament, let alone the New Testament. These are pagans. The Medes and the Persians are just pagans worshiping false gods, but even they're smart enough to know, don't buy into this feminist garbage. You know, even Mnemucan is taking him aside saying, look buddy, this can't happen. This is going to screw up everybody's family from India to Ethiopia. You know, don't let this happen. I mean, how much more should we as Christians who have the New Testament in our hand know that this is not going to work to just have this free-for-all where women don't obey their husbands? It's nonsense! But then again, of course, we're living in a day where, you know, they put a urinal in the ladies' room these days just to include everybody. So what do you expect? We're living in a backward, crazy world, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Amen. Don't buy into the world's brainwashing, my friend. Let the Bible be your guide. Let the Word of God guide your decision-making. You don't have to agree with how I make decisions or what I say, but you know what? Whatever decisions you make and whatever you believe, it better be based on the Bible. It better be based on the Word of God. You're never going to walk away from the Bible saying, hey, it's okay for me to disobey my husband because of X, Y, and Z. That's garbage, otherwise show me chapter and verse on that. It's a false doctrine. Now, I'm out of time, obviously, because of my rant earlier, but let me talk a little bit about the symbolism in this passage, too. So the book of Esther is also very symbolic. You know, we always want to deal with the surface meaning first, the primary application of wives obeying their husbands because that's what the chapter is primarily dealing with. But there's some symbolism going on here as well. If you think about it, Vashti represents the Jews, okay? Because of the fact that the Jews, all of their glory, all of their greatness, everything about them that is to be praised comes from the Lord. I'm talking about back then, right? Because they're God's chosen people back then. And so they're the nation of Israel. You know, and it's not because of any greatness about themselves, it's their God that makes them great, right? It's the fact that the Lord is their God. Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord. So that's all their greatness, all of their blessings and prosperity, it's all just from God. It's not anything about them. And it's the same thing with Vashti, yeah, she's having a party and wining and dining in the house that belongs to Ahasuerus. The Bible tells us that little detail. Well guess what? The Jews are the same way. I mean, everything's from the Lord. And by the way, you say, well that land belongs to the Jews. Really because where does it say that in the Bible? If you actually study the Bible a little more carefully than just your little quick reading of Genesis 12 and totally misinterpreting it and turning it on its head, if you actually go a little deeper, you'll find out that the Bible clearly teaches in the book of Leviticus that the land belongs to the Lord. And this is what God says, and I'm paraphrasing, but he basically says, this land belongs unto me and you are basically my tenants. You are my tenants on my property. And so you're going to follow my rules because this is my land and you are just sojourning on my land, you are like a tenant and I'm the landlord. That's what he teaches in the book of Leviticus. It seems like a lot of times people forget about that part. And they want to just say, oh it's just the Jews. Well guess what? Just as Vashti has all this royalty and she's a queen and she has wealth and she has a crown on her head and she gets to party, when she disobeys, the king parties over. And she loses those things. She loses the crown, she loses her status, she loses her glory, she loses her magnificence, she loses the ability to throw these parties, and her position is taken from her and given to someone else. Now does that sound familiar? Jesus Christ told a parable. We just did this a few weeks ago when we were going over the parables of Jesus. Jesus Christ told a parable about how he threw a great feast. He threw a great party and he invited the Jews to that party. He basically invited those to come to the banquet, to the marriage for his son, and they refused to come and he was angry because they refused to come when he invited them. Does that sound familiar with Esther chapter 1? I mean in Esther chapter 1, he's angry because he's inviting Vashti not to do something bad or painful or difficult, he's inviting her to a feast. And she refuses to come. Jesus tells the parable about the Lord inviting the Jews to come and they refuse to come and he gets angry and he ends up just saying, go invite everybody. You know, go out in the highways and hedges and get the poor, the maim, the blind, the halt, and bring them to the feast. The Jews didn't want to come so we're going to invite everybody else. And then of course we also have the parable about the vineyards and we went through all that a few weeks ago, but the bottom line is when Jesus is telling these parables in Matthew 20, 21, and 22, he makes this statement, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. He prophesies that the kingdom of God is going to be taken from the Israelites and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And think about this, her royalty, her position of queen is taken from her and given to someone else because she refused his invitation. Notice also the number seven keeps coming up, especially how this is taking place on the seventh day. What is the seventh day in the Old Testament represent? The Sabbath, the rest. And the Bible calls Jesus our rest. And the Bible says, let us enter into rest by believing in Jesus. And the Bible says, he that has entered into his rest, he also had ceased from his own works as God did from his. God worked six days and rested on the seventh day and the Bible calls being saved or believing in Jesus or salvation, he calls it entering into God's rest, ceasing from our own works and entering into his rest. Why? Because how do we get saved? By trusting in what Jesus already did. We don't get saved by works. We get saved by resting on the finished work of Jesus Christ. That's Hebrews chapter four. So the seventh day is picturing rest. She is invited to enter into rest. She refuses to enter into rest and so the kingdom of God is taken from her and given to someone else, given to a nation and bringing forth the fruit syrup. Here's what's interesting. Go to chapter two and in chapter two, when he's looking for a new queen, don't miss this detail when he's looking for a new queen. It says in verse three, let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of this kingdom that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege, the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women and let their things for purification be given them. But don't miss this first sentence, which is not usual. Let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom. Now this is not what a king or an emperor would typically do. Typically they need to take the queen from their own nation because otherwise it could make people mad. You know what I mean? Let's say Vashti is the local girl and she's put out of this position, you think he'd replace her with another woman from Shushan, from the Persians or from the Medes. But he says, no, bring in the Ethiopians, bring in the Indians. Think about this. He says, appoint officers in all the provinces to find a new queen, meaning he's opening this thing up worldwide to find the new queen. Now obviously he's just doing that because he's just, he just parties way too much and just wants to bring in way too many women. But that's not the point. The point is, we're looking at the symbolism. In the symbolism, Ahasuerus represents the Lord because the Lord is an all-powerful King, a King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and so forth. So Ahasuerus represents the king, Vashti represents the Jews, they rejected his invitation to come to Christ, they rejected his invitation for rest, the Kingdom of God's taken from them and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. And the new queen is not from any specific nationality. She could be from any of the 127 provinces, and what this pictures is the fact that in the New Testament, we are all God's chosen people, red, yellow, black, and white, as long as we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. When God says the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits of, he's not talking about a specific physical nation. He's not saying we're going to go from Israel to Greece. Now it's Greece, they're the chosen people, and, you know, they're the new Israel. That's not true. There's nothing special about Greece, and in fact, you know, by the time we get to 2021, yeah, there were a lot of great churches in Greece back in Bible days. Nowadays Greece is spiritually bankrupt, and the East Orthodox Church is worse than the Roman Catholic Church as far as false doctrine. It's not even close to being biblical Christianity. But that new nation was never Greece. It's not the Philippines, it's not the United States of America, it is a spiritual nation made up of all believers. That's why he said in time past they were not a people. But now you're the people of God. You know, in time past, me and a black person and an Indian, you know, we wouldn't necessarily have all been thought of as the same nation or ethnicity or whatever, but here's the thing, church brings us together because God's house is a house of prayer for all nations. And so because God's house is a house of prayer for all nations, you know, all of us, red, yellow, black, and white, we're all God's chosen people in the New Testament. And that's what's represented by this extraordinary command of hey, let's do this in all 127 provinces, which most kings would either take a local woman as their queen, or if they're not going to take a local one, maybe make a strategic alliance with a certain country and, you know, marry this guy's daughter or whatever. Which is opening it up to Ethiopia and India and even the most extremes of the province shows the fact that salvation is available to all, being the elect is available to all, God's chosen people, he's chosen those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ of all ethnicities to be his people, not a specific nation. So here's what we need to understand. Even though Ahasuerus, you might say, well how could Ahasuerus be representing God because, you know, how could God be represented by this bad guy or something? But here's what you have to understand. Any human of the Old Testament who pictures God is never going to be a great representation of God because they're a person. How can King David represent Jesus when he's committing adultery with Bathsheba? So any human who pictures God or pictures Jesus is always going to come up short, aren't they? The symbolism is still there. Hey, Jesus is pictured by an animal. He's the Lamb of God. He's the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He's pictured by cows and goats and rams and sheep every time they're sacrificed. And so we have to understand that the symbolism is there. There's two things. There's the literal meaning and the symbolism. So what do we take from this chapter this morning is that the literal meaning is wives need to obey their husbands or else everything falls apart, not just your marriage but society falls apart. And that's what we're experiencing right now in America, the breakdown of our society. We need Memucan to step up and give us some good advice. That's the primary application. And then the secondary application, looking at it spiritually, is that Vashti represents a disobedient nation, the nation of Israel being rejected by the Lord and the Lord turning unto the Gentiles and opening it up to all 127 provinces, to every nation in this world. Whoever wants to come to Christ may come and not be second class. But in the church, we're all on a level playing field of Christ. It doesn't matter, you know, what our ethnicity is, what our background is, finances. You know, hey, you could be here as an illegal alien and you know what? You're on the same footing as me when we're in the church house. You know, I won't tell immigration if you won't, you know what I mean? I'm just saying like, hey, I don't care who you are, red, yellow, black, and white, we're all one in Christ Jesus here. So you know, there's no place for racism in the house of God because it's a house of prayer for all nations. Amen? Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this great chapter, Lord, and Lord God, thank you for giving us advice on how our homes need to be run. But also, Lord, thank you so much that as New Testament believers, we're not second class. We don't have to play second fiddle to the Jews, Lord, but that all of us are your children if we've believed in Christ, Lord. We're thankful for the adoption of sons, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Amen, let's turn our hymnals please to hymn number 154. 154, bless be the tie that binds, hymn number 154. 154 on this first verse all together now. Bless be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred minds is like to man above. Before our Father's throne, we hold our own in prayers. Our fears, our hopes, our aims are won. Our comfort's in the grave. Let's go back and sing that second verse again. Before our Father's throne, we hold our own in prayers. Our fears, our hopes, our aims are won. Our comfort's in the grave. We share our usual goals, our mutual burdens fair, and often for each other fold. The sympathizing tear with me asunder part, it gives us inward pain, but we shall still be joined in heart, and hope to be again. Amen, great singing this morning, yours is this. Amen. Amen.