Commencing chapter seven.
Dead men cannot die, nor can they be
frightened, and responsibility does not rest too heavily
upon their shoulders.
In fact, there is nothing quite so relaxing
as being dead.
Dead, I mean to your own ability to
hand henna.
Dead, in point of fact, to your own
ability to accomplish anything, hey man or no
hey man, apart from Jesus Christ.
Of course, you can afford to die once
you have become utterly convinced that death to
yourself is to trade what you are for
what Christ is.
But it is right at this point that
unbelief rears its ugly head.
If you are not wholly convinced that Jesus
Christ is willing and able to take over,
then you will hang on to what you
are like grim death.
You may be absolutely certain that you will
never know that deep-seated peace that comes
from allowing the Lord Jesus Christ to assume
responsibility and to get into business.
There is a pragmatic state of mind, in
some, to which this total repudiation of self
-effort is a part, resulting sometimes in a
hostility born of self-justification.
It is necessary to be patient with such
people, because they are often very dedicated in
their desire to serve God.
But the whole concept of a Christian life
which is nothing more nor less than Jesus
Christ himself in action, baffles them as thoroughly
as the confidence and peace it gives illusion.
This in itself would be surprising were it
not for the fact that no spiritual truth
can dawn saved by revelation.
The principle involved was perfectly enunciated by the
Lord Jesus Christ himself, who for 33 years
allowed the Father to be in him then
through the Holy Spirit what he himself wants
to be in us now through the Holy
Spirit.
He never answered back when insulted.
When he suffered, he did not threaten to
get even.
He left his case in the hands of
God, who always judges him.
The first is Peter the Thistle, chapter 2
and verse 23 in the Living Letter.
The Lord Jesus reckoned with the Father, and
acted at all times on the assumption that
his Father was handling the situation, only always
taking care to obey instruction.
He learned obedience under death, and now, as
God, he does not ask you or me
to be any weaker or any more foolish
than he was prepared to be himself.
For the cross was both the weakness of
God and the foolishness of God.
For though he was crucified through weakness, yet
he liveth by the power of God, because
the foolishness of God is wiser than me,
and the weakness of God is stronger than
me.
The second epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 13
and verse 4, and the first epistles of
the Corinthians, chapter 1 and verse 25.
This is what baffled the disciples.
They thought that the Lord Jesus Christ was
hopelessly packed, and that he was failing to
come to grips with the reality.
He seemed bent on drifting to disaster.
Why did he not get organized?
Why did he not cash in on his
popularity with the crowd, or pull some political
strings?
After all, money speaks, and surely the rich
young ruler could have exercised a positive influence
in getting the movement off the ground.
Whenever the Lord Jesus Christ performed some notable
miracle, and someone was healed, why did he
avoid those very obvious opportunities for wide publicity,
and tell everyone to keep their mouths shut?
Why did he not throw his weight around,
project his personality, exercise his authority, and confound
his foes once and for all by an
overwhelming, crushing vindication of his deity?
Why did he not let folk know just
who he was, and where he had come
from?
Why did he not justify his claims to
equality with the Father, and wipe the floor
with his enemies?
Why this pitiable show weakness, and this apparent
foolishness?
Did he not have what it took to
be smart?
These are some of the questions which must
have crowded in upon the minds of his
disciples.
They did not want the cross, but then,
of course, they did not believe in the
resurrection.
The Lord Jesus Christ could afford to be
revived.
He could afford to despatch on.
He could afford to be weak, and he
could afford to be foolish in the eyes
of silly, sinful men, because he knew the
one by whom he had been sent, and
the one into whose hands he had committed
his sins, not only in death, but in
33 years of life.
He could afford to do as he was
told, and he could afford to die because
he knew that someone else was taking care
of the consequence.
If you are not prepared to do as
you are told, no matter how weak it
may make you look, or foolish it may
seem to other people, then whatever you may
believe about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ, it is still purely academic.
You have not yet entered into the goodness.
The life of Jesus Christ within you makes
human circumstances irrelevant when it comes to the
point of obedience to his clear instructions, for
to share his life now as he shared
his father's life on earth then, is to
know as he did that someone else is
taking care of the consequence.
I do not mean by this that God's
purposes are always irrational in the light of
human circumstance, nor that there is peculiar virtue
in being eccentric or foolhardy.
It is simply that you become delightfully detached
from the pressure of circumstance, and it ceases
to be the criterion in the decisions which
you make.
You do as you are told whether God's
instructions appear to be compatible with the immediate
situation or not, and you leave God to
vindicate himself, and to justify the course of
action upon which, at his command, you have
embarked.
Upon this basis, Abraham could afford to say
the lot.
Let there be no strife, I pray thee,
between me and thee, between my herdmen and
thy herdmen, for we be brethren.
Is not the whole land before thee?
Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me.
If thou wilt take the left hand, then
I will go to the right, for if
thou depart to the right hand, then I
will go to the left.
Genesis, chapter 13, verses 8 and 9.
Here was restful indifference to what others might
reasonably have argued was legitimate self-interest.
Lot could take the left, or lot could
take the right, or, for that matter, lot
could take a lot.
But God's covenant was still with Abraham, and
he knew it.
That was all that Abraham really needed to
know.
Moses could afford to defy Pharaoh, and put
his feet in the Red Sea, as Joshua
could defy Jericho, and put his feet in
Jordan, as long as they knew that God
would take the consequence, and give the Egyptians
a ducky, and the Canaanites a thrashy.
With the jawbone of an ass, or Gideon's
300, with Aaron's rod, or David's sling, with
a pinch of salt, or a little pot
of oil, God insists on doing the impossible,
and vindicates the faith of those who will
obey him.
Perhaps you understand what Paul meant when he
wrote in so many words, I was in
fact crushed, overwhelmed, and desperate.
I feared I would never live through it.
I thought I was doomed to die, and
saw how powerless I was to help myself.
In the first epistles of the Corinthians, chapter
2, verse 8, in the living lesson.
But I wonder whether you have gone on,
as Paul did, to know God as the
one who is overwhelmingly adequate, no matter how
hopeless the situation may seem to be.
So, he continues that that was good, for
then I put everything into the hands of
God, who alone could save me, for he
can even raise the dead, and he did.
Only pass the sentence of death upon yourself,
and you can afford to do as you
are told, even as Esther did, though no
doubt she was somewhat mystified at the instructions
which she received.
She knew then that she did not have
to ask questions.
Have you come to the place in your
relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ where you've
stopped interrogating him about his intentions?
Esther throws a party.
Then said the king unto her, What wilt
thou, Queen Esther, and what is thy request?
It shall be given thee to the heart
of the king.
And Esther answered, 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.
Chapter 5, verses 3 to 5.
No doubt, upon Mordecai's advice, the tables were
spread.
A sumptuous meal was prepared, and Esther invited
the king, and Haman did in.
If Haman was to hang, this was certainly
a most unusual way to lead a man
to the gala.
But Esther did not question Mordecai's wisdom.
She did as she was told, and indeed,
when again the king gave her the opportunity
to lay before him her petition, the queen
replied, 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
hath said.
Chapter 5, verses 7 and 8.
As though to feed the man once were
not enough, Haman is invited with the king
to a further banquet the following day.
If it is possible to kill a man
with kindness, no doubt it must be possible
to hang a man with hospitality.
Of one thing we may be sure, no
matter how curious Esther may have been to
the ultimate course of events, Haman was already
on his way out.
A fly in the ointment!
Needless to say, Haman was proud fit to
burst at this double invitation to dine with
the queen, and went forth that day joyful
and with a glad heart.
Chapter 5, verse 9.
When Haman got home, he called for his
friends and Zeresh, his wife, and gave them
a typical exhibition of the flesh in boastful,
loud mouth, self-approved.
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 and servants of the king.
Haman said moreover, Yea, Esther the queen did
let no man come in with the king
unto the banquet that she had prepared but
myself, and tomorrow am I invited unto her
also with the king.
Chapter 5, verses 11 and 12.
With a show of nauseating conceit, Haman indicates
that he is not only now the king's
favorite, but the queen's favorite too, and to
the exclusion of all others.
It is characteristic of the flesh to seek
its own aggrandizement at the expense of everyone
else.
Reading between the lines, and in so many
words, what Haman had to say to his
friends was this.
Apart from the king, the queen would not
let anyone else come to the banquet but
myself, and confidentially between you, me, and the
gatepost.
I do not think she was really enthusiastic
about the king being there either.
The flesh has an unlimited capacity for self
-perception when it comes to enhancing its own
reputation.
Basking as he was, however, in his own
limelight, there was just one thing that spoiled
it all.
It was the one big fly in the
ointment, for when Haman saw Mordecai in the
king's gate, that he stood not up nor
move for him.
He was full of indignation against Mordecai.
Chapter 5, verse 9.
There was one person who still remained unbowed
in his presence, and who was patently unimpressed,
and in a sudden fit of fury, Haman
protested to his wife and friends.
Yet all this availeth me nothing so long
as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at
the king's gate.
Chapter 5, verse 13.
The Holy Spirit always exposes the flesh for
what it is, and there is nothing more
infuriating to the carnally minded Christian than when
the spiritually discerning remain wholly unimpressed in spite
of so much self-advertisement.
You have probably heard of the man who
boasted to his friend, I'm a self-made
man, and his friend replied dryly, and not
a little unkindly.
That just demonstrates the horrors of unskilled labor.
Then said Zeresh's wife and all his friends
unto him, Let a gallows be made of
fifty cubits high, and tomorrow speak thou unto
the king that Mordecai may be hanged thou
art.
Then go thou in merrily with the king
unto the banquet.
And the thing pleased Haman, and he caused
the gallows to be made.
Chapter 5, verse 14.
If you are as popular with the king
and with the queen as you say you
are, suggested Haman's friend, then build a gallows
in your garden and speak to the king
tomorrow before the second banquet takes place that
Mordecai may be hanged thereon.
Then you will have nothing further to disturb
your peace of mind or thwart your ambitions.
Haman was highly delighted at the suggestion, and
it was not long before the rope was
swinging in the breeze.
All this was to take place between the
two banquets before ever Esther would have a
further audience with the king, and on the
face of it things were not looking too
rosy for Mordecai.
Had Esther known what was going on behind
the scenes, she might well have been tempted
to wonder whether all was really going according
to plan.
In the little time that still remained, the
all-important issue would have to be decided,
for there was a gallows in the garden.
Who was going to hang?
Haman or Mordecai?
Ultimately, this is the all-important issue that
must be decided in your heart, as it
must be decided within the heart of every
true believer.
If Christ is on the cross, then self
is on the throne.
But if self is on the cross, then
Christ is on the throne.
There is a gallows in the garden.
Who is going to swing?
Chapter 8.
Lobster.
Mind you, it does not exactly say lobster.
It could have been gorgonzola cheese, something rich
too late at night, perhaps.
But whatever it may have been, on that
night could not the king sleep.
Chapter 6 and verse 1.
That night, of all nights, the night between
the two banquets, just when Mordecai seemed to
have been in such mortal danger and on
the eve of his intended execution, precisely that
night the king could not sleep.
He tossed and he turned, he threw the
blanket off and he pulled the blanket on.
He lay on his back, he lay on
his side.
He counted sheep and recited the alphabet, but
still he could not sleep.
At last, in desperation, he called for the
book of records and they were read before
the king.
Flood's timings are always perfect, not till all
seemed lost and the knife was flashing in
the sun did God tell Abraham to throw
the knife away.
Though due to die at dawn, Peter was
delivered from his chains and from the prison
by the angel of the Lord, who thus
cheated Herod of his prayers.
Not by chance did Philip meet the eunuch
in the desert, nor Paul encounter Livia by
the riverside.
These were those divine providences by which God
accomplishes his divine end.
I being in the way, said Abraham's servant,
the Lord led me and he brought Rebecca
home to Isaac.
As the pages of the book were read
upon this restless night, it was found written
that Mordecai had told of Bigfan and Tiresh,
two of the king's chamberlains, the keepers of
the door who sought to lay hand on
the king Ahasuerus.
Chapter 6, verse 2.
The king suddenly became aware that Mordecai had
been the means of his deliverance from those
who had plotted his destruction.
The story is tucked away in the last
three verses of the second chapter.
In those days, while Mordecai sat in the
king's chamberlains, Bigfan and Tiresh, of those which
kept the door, were wroth and sought to
lay hand on the king Ahasuerus.
And the thing was known to Mordecai, who
told it unto Esther the queen, and Esther
certified the king thereof in Mordecai's name.
And when inquisition was made of the matter,
it was found out.
Therefore they were both hanged on a tree,
and it was written in the book of
the chronicles before the king.
It was not that the king was unfamiliar
with the facts, for he had been instructed
long since in the story of his deliverance,
but never before had it come to him
with such startling significance as upon this troubled,
sleepless night.
Somehow he had never paused to think that,
but for Mordecai's intervention, he would have fallen
prey to the assassin's knife, dead and buried.
In a cold sweat, and startled at the
thought of it, the king cried, What honour
and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for
this?
Then said the king's servants that ministered unto
him, There is nothing done for him.
His servants might well have added, You never
seemed to care, and it did not appear
to be of any real concern to you.
You were preoccupied with other things, and this
man has gone completely unrewarded.
It is possible for a man to live
for many years strangely unmoved by the amazing
love of God in Christ, and though professing
saving faith, so to be preoccupied with other
things that the momentous fact of redemption through
the precious blood of Jesus remains a matter
of secondary importance.
The facts are known, but unrelated, until that
moment of fuller revelation, when almost inexplicably the
significance of the cross stands out vividly in
bold release, and a troubled, restless soul is
suddenly confronted with the claim of a neglected
Saviour.
At the sight of the wounds in his
hands and in his feet, the heart cries
out to God, What honour and dignity hath
been done to him for this?
The answer to this question today may be
as crushing to us as that given then
to the king was to him.
There is nothing done for him.
Filled with remorse, and a quickened sense of
urgency in the matter, the king says, Who
is in the court?
Something had to be done, and done at
once to right this wrong, and the king
sought someone to whom he might entrust this
solemn responsibility.
Who do you think was there?
The picture is magnificent.
Who do you think came into the court
just at that psychological moment?
Now, a hayman was come into the outward
court of the king's house to speak unto
the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows
that he had prepared for him, and the
king's servant said unto him, Behold, hayman standeth
in the court, and the king said, Let
him come in.
Chapter 6, verse 5.
Just as the king was preparing to honour
Mordecai, hayman came in for permission to hang
him.
Remember, however, what we have already learned in
the previous chapter.
Though the Holy Spirit may bring conviction within
the human spirit, it does not necessarily become
articulate at once, nor discernible within the soul.
The king, as a picture of the human
soul, had not yet become aware of the
wickedness of hayman, as it had already been
revealed so convincingly by Mordecai to Esther.
Indeed, the king was still fully persuaded of
this man's integrity, and to whom could he
more confidently entrust the responsibility of honouring Mordecai
than to hayman himself.
So hayman came in, and the king said
unto him, What shall be done unto the
man whom the king delighteth to honour?
Now hayman thought in his heart, To whom
would the king delight to do honour more
than to myself?
Chapter 6, verse 6.
Utterly egocentric, and completely obsessed with his own
self-importance, it seemed inconceivable to hayman that
the king would wish to honour anyone but
himself.
And, unable to think, save in terms of
self-aggrandizement, all the measures he suggested were
designed for his own advantage.
And hayman answered the king, For the man
whom the king delighteth to honour, let the
royal apparel be brought which the king uses
to wear, and the horse that the king
rides upon, and the crown royal which is
set upon his head.
And let this apparel and horse be delivered
to the hand of one of the king's
most noble princes, that they may array the
man withal whom the king delighteth to honour,
and bring him on horseback through the street
of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus
shall it be done to the man whom
the king delighteth to honour.
Chapter 6, verse 7 to 9.
Hayman could just fancy himself being led through
the streets of the city, proudly acknowledging the
thunderous applause of the excited crowd, gorgeously arrayed
in the king's apparel, and with the crown
royal set upon his head.
After all, what could be more logical than
this?
He was the king's favourite, wasn't he?
And the queen's blue-eyed boy?
Enjoying, as he did, such overwhelming approval, the
little matter of putting Mordecai and the gallows
in the garden was quite obvious, a foregone
conclusion.
Hayman could think of nothing more delicious than
to see his arch-enemy swinging by the
neck as the glorious grand finale to a
day of royal acclamation.
Then the king said to Hayman, Make haste,
and take the apparel and the horse as
thou hast said, and do even so to
Mordecai the Jew that sitteth at the king's
gate.
Let nothing fail of all that thou hast
spoken."
Chapter 6, verse 10.
I would love to have seen Hayman's face,
wouldn't you?
Livid with rage and white as a sheet,
with the last drop of blood drained from
his features, Hayman was careful to control his
feelings.
He did not explode.
He was far too clever for that.
Something quite obviously had happened to the king,
and although he did not know that the
king had rediscovered Mordecai through the reading of
the book, he somehow knew that to defy
him in his present state of mind would
be more than his life was worth.
It is dangerous for the flesh when you
rediscover Christ through the reading of the book.
It was now for Hayman a question of
self-preservation, and he was prepared even to
go through the motions of honoring Mordecai if
this was the price of survival.
The king was not insincere in enlisting the
services of Hayman in his desire to honor
Mordecai.
He was simply ignorant of the character of
the man, for the same reason you too
may well have harnessed the energy of the
flesh in an otherwise quite genuine desire to
honor the Lord Jesus in your life.
What you will discover now is what the
king discovered then, that the flesh which has
its origin in Satan will go along with
you.
It is quite prepared to engage in every
form of Christian activity, even though this may
seem to honor Christ if that be the
only chance of survival.
The flesh will sing in the church choir,
superintend the Sunday school, preside at a meeting
of the deacons, preach from the pulpit, organize
an evangelistic crusade, go to Bible school, and
volunteer for the mission field, and a thousand
and one things more, all of which may
themselves be otherwise legitimate.
If only it can keep its neck out
of the noose, it is characteristic of the
spiritually immature that they are unable to discern
between good and evil.
In Hebrews chapter 5 verses 13 and 14,
and the baby Christian, like the foolish Galatian,
having begun in the spirit, still tries to
be made perfect by the flesh Galatians.
Chapter 3 verse 3.
Then took Haman the apparel and the horse,
and arrayed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback
through the street of the city, and proclaimed
before him, Thus shall it be done unto
the man whom the king delighteth to honor.
Chapter 6 and verse 11.
So Haman did what was commanded, and seemingly
to the king's entire satisfaction, for he was
so enthusiastic in his desire to honor Mordecai
that he was altogether unsuspecting of Haman's duplicity.
We must be particularly patient with those whose
lack of understanding allows a genuine love for
the Lord Jesus to be satisfied with, and
sometimes to be quite enthusiastic about Christian activities
involving means and methods which, to the more
discerning, are heavily contaminated by the flesh.
These are more deserving of instruction than rebuke,
for they are still in their spiritual babyhood.
Mordecai returned again to the king's gate, but
Haman hasted to his house, mourning and having
his head recovered.
Chapter 6 and verse 12.
To Zeresh, his wife, and to all his
friends, Haman lodged his complaint, and poured out
the sorry story of his bitter humiliation, and
their response to his lament could hardly be
described as particularly comforting.
You are thrashed, they say, you're beaten.
The flesh has few friends in its adversity,
and little to comfort it in the day
of its calamity.
If Mordecai be of the seed of the
Jews before whom thou hast begun to fall,
thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt
surely fall before him.
And while they were yet talking with him,
came the king's chamberlains and hasted to bring
Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared.
Chapter 6, verses 13 and 14.
With their discomforting prophecies of impending disaster still
upon the lips of Haman's friend, the king's
chamberlains burst in upon this gloomy scene, and
hasted to bring him to the banquet that
Esther had prepared.
Time had run out on Haman.
The table was laid, and the stage was
set.
From the gallows in his garden, fifty cubits
high, a rope swung gently in the breeze,
and in the heart of Haman there was
a sense of doom, the doom of duplicity.
The end of chapter 8, commencing now chapter
9.
Now, the flesh will threaten, shout, strut, domineer,
spout, plot, creep, beg, plead, or sock whatever
the situation may demand in the interest of
its own survival.
In the wicked heart of Haman there were
terrible forebodings as he went with the king
to the banquet, for he knew that he
was beaten.
If the king had come to know the
truth about Morikea, it would not be long
before he came to know the truth about
Haman himself.
The flesh hates to be exposed for what
it is, and will fight desperately to avoid
that awful moment of truth, that moment when
the Holy Spirit rips the mask from its
sickly face.
No doubt Haman planned to be on his
best behavior at the second banquet, and he
would try to be unusually convincing, though maybe
few of the servants fail to notice his
unusual nervousness.
When the Holy Spirit begins to convict you,
bearing witness to your human spirit that the
Lord Jesus Christ is being denied his rightful
place in your life, the old Adam nature
within you becomes irritable and edgy, yet at
one and the same time it will seek
to produce the most plausible arguments in justification
of its own illegitimate activity.
Something told Haman that he could expect no
mercy at the hands of Morikei, once Morikei
had gained the ear and confidence of the
king, and the flesh knows that it cannot
blast its way out of a direct encounter
with the Holy Spirit.
It can only echo the words of Ahab
to Elijah, hast thou found thee, O mine
enemy?
And the Holy Spirit replies, as he did
through Elijah then, I have found thee, because
thou hast sold thyself to work evil in
the sight of the Lord.
First Book of Kings, chapter 21, verse 20.
And the king said again unto Esther on
the second day at the banquet of wine,
What is thy petition, Queen Esther?
And it shall be granted thee.
And what is thy request?
And it shall be performed even to the
heart of the kingdom.
Chapter 7, verse 2.
This must have been a tremendous moment for
Esther, for until now, though acting in obedience
to Morikei, her total commitment had not brought
her into direct conflict with Haman.
She had shared the palace with him, living
within the same four walls and beneath the
same roof, and exchanging courtesies, but from now
on there was to be no more compromise.
Haman had to be named, exposed to the
king as he had already been exposed to
her.
Judgment pronounced by Morikei had to be echoed
now in the presence of the king, and
in the very face of the enemy.
From this moment there could be no going
back, for this was the point of no
return.
Haman held his breath, and his brow broke
out in beads of icy perspiration as Esther
answered the king, If I have found favor
in your sight, O king, and if it
pleased the king, let my life be given
me at my petition, and to my people
at my request, for we are sold, I
and my people, to be destroyed, slain, and
wiped out of existence.
But if we had been sold for bondmen
or bondwomen, I would have held my tongue,
for our affliction is not to be compared
with the damage this will do to the
king.
Chapter 7, verses 3 and 4 in the
Amplified Bible, not only had the king become
kindly disposed toward Morikei, but Haman now discovered
that the queen herself was wholly identified with
his arch enemy, and with that people whose
God-given laws were in such direct conflict
with those that had had their origin in
himself.
Within a matter of minutes now, the king
would come to realize that the assassin's knife
was pointed at the heart of a palace,
and that Esther, whom he loved, would fall
prey to this commandment published at Haman's behest,
to destroy, to kill, and to cause to
perish all Jews, both young and old, little
children and women, in one day.
Chapter 3, verse 13.
Haman had persuaded the king that such commandments
would be his own best interest, whereas it
was designed only to satisfy Haman's wicked pride.
He would then be able to silence the
voice of Morikei, and remove any threat to
his own ability to usurp and abuse the
authority of the king.
He could exploit the kingdom to his own
wicked ends.
Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto
Esther the queen, Who is he, and where
is he that durst presume in his heart
to do so?
And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is
this wicked Haman.
Then Haman was afraid before the king and
the queen, and the king, arising from the
banquet of wine in his wrath, went into
the palace garden, and Haman stood up to
make request for his life to Esther the
queen, for he saw that there was evil
determined against him by the king.
Chapter 7, verses 5 to 7.
The enemy had been unmasked, and for the
king the issues were now clear.
He had to choose between Haman and Esther.
This was the moment of truth, as it
is for every human soul to whom has
come the revelation of the Holy Spirit, who
the human spirit of the wickedness of sin.
It is so easy to become familiar with
Bible language without receiving any real revelation of
truth.
God wants to bring you, no matter how
bitter may be the experience, to the place
of self-discovery.
Thus it may dawn upon your soul in
startling reality, in the words of Paul the
apostle, We know that the law is spiritual,
but I am a creature of the flesh,
carnal, unspiritual, having been sold into slavery under
the control of sin.
Romans chapter 7, verse 14 in the Amplified
Bible.
This is what Romans 7 is all about.
It describes the exploitation of the soul of
man by the subtle principle of sin within,
and there is no more lucid illustration of
this than that which is to be found
in the book of Esther, in the parts
played by Haman in the life of the
king.
For I do not understand my own actions.
I am baffled, bewildered.
I do not practice or accomplish what I
wish, but I do the very thing that
I loathe which my moral instincts condemn.
However, it is no longer I who do
the deed, but the sin principle which is
at home in me, and has possession of
me.
For I know that nothing good dwells within
me, that is, in my flesh.
Now if I do what I do not
desire to do, it is no longer I
doing it.
It is not myself that acts, but the
sin principle dwells within me, fixed and operating
in my soul.
So I find it to be a law
of my being, that when I want to
do what is right and good, evil is
ever present with me, and I am subject
to its insistent demands.
For I endorse and delight in the law
of God in my inmost self, with my
new nature, but I discern in my bodily
members a different law, rule of action, at
war against the law of my mind, my
reason, making me a prisoner to the law
of sin.
Oh unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that
I am!
Who will release and deliver me from the
shackles of this body of death?
Oh thank God!
He will, through Jesus Christ.
Romans chapter 7, verses 15, 17, 18, and
20 to 25 in the Amplified Bible.
Here, clearly defined, is the contrary.
There is the inner witness of the Holy
Spirit to your human spirit, to all that
is good and right and noble, and every
act and attitude of sin is an offense
to your moral conscience, thus enlightened.
This part of you says, I acknowledge and
agree that the law is good, morally excellent,
and that I take sides with it.
For I endorse and delight in the law
of God in my inmost self, with my
new nature.
Romans chapter 7, verses 16, 22 in the
Amplified Bible.
It is this part of you which is
represented by Esther.
There is then that other part of you,
represented by Haman, described by Paul of the
sin principle, which dwells within me, fixed and
operating in my soul in Romans chapter 7,
verse 20.
The moment of truth will come for you
when, together with Esther, you quit exchanging courtesies
with the flesh, and repudiated to its face,
naming it for the treacherous, wicked, worthless thing
it is, without any salvageable content, and fit
only for the gatherer.
At this climactic stage in your Christian life,
you realize that there can be no compromise
with the flesh, and that peaceful coexistence with
a principle satanically hostile to the law of
God, and to the re-establishment of his
sovereignty within your soul, is now beyond the
bounds of possibility.
You realize that it was never God's purpose
to improve the flesh, to re-educate it
or tame it, let alone Christianize it.
It has always been God's purpose that the
flesh, condemned, sentenced, and crucified with Jesus Christ,
might be left, buried in the tomb, and
replaced by the resurrection life of the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself.
He must wear the ring upon His fingers,
and once more exercise control in the area
of your mind, your emotion, and your will,
expressing Himself through your personality.
Paul described this clearly in his concern for
the Ephesian Christians when he wrote, For this
cause I bow my knees unto the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He would
grant you, according to the riches of His
glory, to be strengthened with might by His
Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may
dwell in your hearts by faith.
Ephesians chapter 3 verses 14 to 17.
Here again, the inner man is represented by
Esther as the human spirit, strengthened and encouraged
by Mordecai as the Holy Spirit, and your
hearts are represented by King Ahasuerus in his
palace as the human soul.
And the king, arising from the banquet of
wine in his wrath, went into the palace
garden, and Haman stood up to make request
for his life to Esther the queen, for
he saw that there was evil determined against
him by the king.
Then the king returned out of the gardens
of a place of the banquet of wine,
and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon
Esther was.
Then said the king when he forced the
queen also before me in the house, as
the word went out of the king's mouth,
they covered Haman's face.
Chapter 7 verses 7 and 8.
Haman recognized now how deeply the influence of
Mordecai had penetrated the palace, and the arrogance
of this would-be murderer was turned into
the sulky, sentimental pleadings of a frightened coward.
Haman the Agagite was proving truly his breed,
as the flesh itself to the spiritually discerning
must always bear the stamp of its satanic
pedigree.
History was simply repeating itself, for you will
remember that after King Saul had fallen prey
to the suede persuasion and the deceptive charm
of Agag king of the Amalekites, and God
had rejected him because he had rejected the
word of the Lord, but Samuel moved into
the situation.
He announced against Agag the sentence of death
which God had passed upon him, and from
which Saul had spared him.
Bring ye hither to me Agag the king
of the Amalekites Samuel cried, and Agag came
unto him delicately, and Agag said surely the
bitterness of death is past.
The first book of Samuel chapter 15 verse
32.
In his own persuasively deceptive way, Agag the
Amalekite tried to bluff his way through as
though it would be quite unfair of God
to be as merciless to him as he
had been to others.