And I will start with Esther 4 verse 15. Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer, Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I also and my maidens will fast likewise. And so will I go unto the king which is not according to the law and if I perish, I perish. So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther had commanded him. Now it came to pass on the third day that Esther put on her royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the king's house over against the king's house And the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house over against the gate of the house. And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favor in his sight. And the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand, So Esther drew near and touched the top of the scepter. Then said the king unto her, what wilt thou, Queen Esther? And what is thy request? It shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom. So far as we've been going through the book of Esther, We've taken this story a chapter at a time. The chapter breaks are actually really good in this book. And so we've done it a chapter at a time. And my plan was to take this a chapter at a time and just go through the narrative of chapter 5. And man makes plans, but we trust the Holy Spirit directs his steps. Because the more I read, the more I meditated, the more I thought about this passage, you know, there are just some stories in scripture, that the story that's immediately in front of your eyes is very important. But as you read that story, there's just something tugging at your heart and your mind that says, there's something deeper here. There's something more here. There's a greater story even within the story. Now, many times, and the best way to verify that is to go to the New Testament and find that to be the case, where the New Testament writers will verify that, yes, there was a greater story within that story. Think about Isaiah 7, of the virgin bringing forth a son. Matthew says that's not just Isaiah's son, that is also the Lord Jesus Christ. You think about Christ being the Passover. You think about Christ being the rock that produces the living water. Well, there's no verification for what I'm going to say to you today in the New Testament, but I trust the Lord is, this just seems too close, too real, too sure. And so we're going to look a little bit deeper into these few verses in Esther chapter 5 this morning to see, Lord willing, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. What we have here is we have a condemned woman approaching a king to plead for her life. The Scriptures teach us that we ourselves are under the sentence of death. We, by our very nature, just being born, we come into this world from the moment of conception, we are under the sentence of death, and that justly so. It doesn't just present itself by nature, though. Our nature manifests itself. We are estranged from the womb, speaking lies. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it. Those are not just words. We know those truths by experience, don't we? Sometimes we shock ourselves with how wicked our thoughts can be. Sometimes we, the song says, sometimes we will walk through the way rejoicing and the very next moment we are filled with unimaginable doubts and fears or anger or strife close within our heart. Because of this, we ourselves are under the sentence of death. And so I want to preach to you this morning on the subject of approaching the King for life. There are four things I think we can pull out of this little story within the story here in Esther chapter 5 from Esther's experience of approaching King Xerxes to plead for life. Now, the struggle with this is that Xerxes is nothing like the king with whom we have to do. Everything that we've heard so far about Xerxes finds that he's a capricious man. He's a self-centered man. He's a man who is consumed with his own lusts, his own desires. He is a wicked, wicked man. It was no great thing. In fact, it was no thought in his mind whatsoever to give Haman the right to destroy a whole nation of people. The King of Kings is nothing like that. And yet, we're going to see both through contrast and through comparison the thought of our approaching the King for life. I want to ask the question first, why would you approach the King of Kings for life? Why would you go to God? Esther approaches King Xerxes. Esther approaches him who is a wicked, wicked man. The reason that Esther approached him was because he was the only hope that she had for life. He was the one who had given the sentence of death. And he alone could not reverse that decision, but he alone could bring a sentence of life. But for us, for you, you have sung the songs today of your vileness in Adam, the wickedness of our flesh, and whether those were just words on our tongues that we just sang by rote memory, or whether those are the true convictions of our heart, and we lay under the burden of our own sin. Brothers and sisters, the truth of the matter is, God is our only hope. He is. He is the only hope for sinners. The only hope for those who are under the sentence of death. And so why would we approach God? Well, let me tell you one reason. This is a contrast from Xerxes. You would approach God because He is a righteous king. Isn't that good to know? The Psalms tell us in Psalm 89 that righteousness and judgment is the habitation of His throne. He's a righteous king. That was the hope of Abraham when Abraham was praying for Sodom. He prayed for his nephew Lot to be spared in Sodom, and he realized the great wickedness of Sodom, yet he pleaded for God to spare Sodom for the sake of the righteous. And he had this thought that soothed his mind. He says, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Brothers and sisters, the King of kings, He will do right. He is a righteous king. He is a righteous judge. That's good to know, isn't it? He's a righteous judge. He's a righteous king. Judgment and justice are the habitation of His throne. That just means this. If you need medicine, where do you go? You go to the pharmacy. Wherever you find food, you'll find food in the grocery store. Wherever you find your mail, you'll find your mail at the post office. We begin to recognize places as the possessors of certain things. So we can categorize those in our minds, can't we? Brothers and sisters, if you want to see righteousness, If you want to see where right is done and judgment is done and justice is always accomplished, you better look to the throne of heaven. The throne of God is the place where righteous things are done, where righteousness flows from every act of God. Well, that's good news, isn't it? In other words, God won't use you for ulterior purposes. Esther had no confidence of what Xerxes might do. He had proven repeatedly through his first wife, Vashti, he would use her for whatever purpose suited him at the moment. And then you take Vashti and you multiply it by his whole kingdom. Everything in His kingdom, every person in His kingdom just existed for whatever pleasure that He thought of in the moment. God is not like that. God is righteous. You can know that when you approach the King of Kings, you are approaching a righteous one who will not just use you capriciously, but who will always do right. Praise the Lord for that. That's our hope in life and that's our hope in death. That's our hope for those whom we have hoped for. And that's our hope for those whom we don't even know. We just know that God does right. God does right. God always does right. Thank the Lord for that, Sister Sandra. God is a righteous King. He's not an unjust King or an unjust judge. But you know why else you would approach the King, as we said a minute ago? Because God can grant life. He's the only one who can grant pardon. He's the only one who can grant life. This is the story of the Scriptures. In the very beginning in Genesis it says that He breathed into man the breath of life and man became a living soul. God is the giver of life. The King is the one who grants life. The King is the one who gives life. All of life comes from God. The psalmist also tells us that he holds our souls in life. We are sustained. Our lives, our natural lives, our physical lives, the span of history is sustained and held together by the one who has life in his hands. Aren't you glad to know that? Life is not in the hands of the current President of the United States. Life is not in the hands of even the pandemic. Life is not in the hands of cancer. Life is not in the hands of a car accident. Life is in the hands of the King of Kings. But on a very much more important scale, Jesus would claim this as Jesus claimed to be the Son of God and the King of kings. Jesus would claim this on a much more important level. Jesus would say in John 6.35, I am the bread of life. In John 14, He would say, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. In John 11, He would say, as we even today have wept for those who are mourning, Jesus would say, I am the resurrection and the life. Whether we're talking about the origin of life, or the sustenance of natural life, or the great spiritual need of our souls in our dead state, or of life eternal Life is in the hands of God. Life is in the hands of the King. He is the one who can grant life. Let me give you just one more thought as a contrast to Xerxes. This is good to know for sinners. Listen to John 6, verse 35 through 40. Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that ye also have seen Me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me, and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, listen to this, not to do Mine own will, Jesus came at the will of the King of Kings. Jesus came at the will of the Father. I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me, every single one in the elect family of God, all which He hath given me, I should lose nothing. but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the last day." Here's a good reason today, if you're burdened with your sins, here's a good reason to approach the king, because the king has a disposition, the king has the will to give life. Isn't that wonderful? The King has given us eternal life before the world began, and the King's will is to give that life to all that He has given to the Son, that all who see the Son, all who believe in the Son will have life. Isn't that good to know? The King is gracious, in other words. The King is gracious. He's a righteous King. He's a gracious King. He's the only one who can give life. This is the Father's will. When Jesus came into the world in John 1, I'll just read this one verse. John notes this. Verse 14 of John 1, And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. In other words, as we behold the glory of Jesus, as we behold the man Jesus, we see exactly what the Godhead looks like. Right? He's the express image of His person. We see the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, So what do they look like? Full of grace and truth. We are coming to the Lord's Supper today because God the King is full of grace and truth. Because in the great transaction at Calvary, grace and truth were perfectly intermingled Justice was served and mercy went forth freely in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the Father. That's the Father's will. That of all which He hath given the Son, He should lose nothing. So therefore, Christ, the only begotten, the Father, suffers on Calvary's cross. Because the Father is full of grace and truth. The King is full of grace and truth. Oh, I would bid you approach the King today, right? The next thing we notice though in Esther, this story, is we notice the great peril of approaching. And we should take this seriously too, shouldn't we? Esther begs her fellow Jews to pray with her, to fast with her. She recognizes that she may not last past the first step into the king's presence. She recognizes that she has no native right, no natural right, even no earned right as his own queen to enter into his presence without being bidden. So Esther is under great peril of death, isn't she? as she goes before the king. Well, what is the peril for us? What is the peril for you in approaching the king? Well, it's the exact same thing as a reason to approach. Here's the peril. He's righteous. Hebrews 1 says that the very reason, or the very thing that God the Father loves so much about His Son. is that he loves righteousness, and he hates iniquity. And this is the scepter that he holds. The scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and you've hated iniquity. Therefore, God, even thy God, hath anointed thee." I'm just pouring out my... The anointing is the separating, it is the spotlight, if you will. God said, I'm pouring the whole box of incense, the whole box of perfume, I'm pouring it out fully, reserving nothing, pouring it all out upon my Son, because He loves righteousness. Because he hates iniquity. So this is the scepter that he holds before him. When you come to his presence, know he's holding the scepter of righteousness. We said it at the outset of this message, friends, by nature. You see, Esther was already under condemnation before she approached the king. Esther was condemned The moment the king sealed Haman's decree. You know why? Because she was a Jew. From the very moment she was conceived, she would be under condemnation. Just because of who she was. And I'm looking at a bunch of humans. I look in the mirror and I see a human. made in the image of God. But as the Bible tells us in Romans 5, for as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. So that death has passed upon all men, for all have sinned. then Romans 3 would tell us that we can't just scream at Adam. We can't just try to scrub ourselves of the Adam identity. Because it's not just Adam's sin that condemns us, it's our own sins. There is no fear of God before their eyes. That's the motivation for life, right? The motivation for actions. Tell me. You won't go through the Ten Commandments. Just tell me. Can you think of one day? Can you think of one hour? Can you think of one meal? One conversation where throughout the ruling motive in your heart was the fear of God. You might pick one of those and say, praise the Lord for that. But can you multiply it? Can you say it's been comprehensive throughout all of life? We were born, we were made in the image of God as image bearers to reflect the glory of our Creator, to reflect the praise, to give the praise that He so deserves. We were made with mouths to be able to speak and minds to be able to think and to reason that we might, we were made with bodies to be able to subdue this world and bring it under dominion to the rule and the reign of God. And yet what have we done? And in our own little spheres of influence, we often seek to bring whatever that sphere is under the rule of the dominion of me for my glory, for my praise, for my pleasure, for my honor. So that Romans says because of this, the whole world becomes guilty before God. Romans 6 says that the wages of this sin is death. So we have the sentence of death within ourselves. The Scriptures tell us. This is the way that the songwriter wrote it. Against the God that rules the sky, I fought with hand uplifted high, despised His rich abounding grace, too proud to seek a hiding place. Enwrapped in thick Egyptian night and fond of darkness more than light, madly... It's insanity, isn't it? It's insanity to run against God. Madly I ran the sinful race secure. This is the real madness. The real madness is to run the sinful race and feel secure about it. I'm a pretty good person. I'm better than you. and I'll figure out some kind of way to make that happen for every one of you. Isn't that amazing? I can sit in this room with all of you and go one by one and figure out some sort of a way that my comparative righteousness is greater, and so I can live secure with a comparative righteousness. You understand that? Not a real righteousness, but a righteousness that lives in comparison to you, and to you, and to you, and to you, and to you. That's exhausting. Isn't it? It's exhausting. It puts us in conflict with each other. It puts us at war with one another. It puts us in our corners defending our little turf. If you'll repent, then I will be better. That's exhausting, friend. Secure without a hiding place. But thus the eternal counsel ran. I love this. Almighty love arrests that man. You know what happens when that almighty love arrests that man? Peril comes to the conscience. Secured he before, but now peril. Praise God for the recognition of peril. Praise God for distress. Can we say that this morning? Praise Jehovah for distressed hearts. I felt the arrow of distress and found I had no hiding place. That leads us to the next question. Who is it that approaches the King? You see, there are many people who are living in the world, but not many people approach the King, do they? Who approaches the King? All these words are so piercing in Esther 4 verse 15 as she begs the people to pray and to fast. She says these words, If I perish, I perish. Those are not words of resignation. Those are words of determination. They're words that recognize the reality of the peril that she's in. Those are words that say, I'm going. I'm going. If I perish, that's going to happen. But the prospect of me perishing will not stop me from going. There's a magnetic force drawing her, compelling her, pushing her to go. This is the very same Esther who just several verses before, short sequence of time, Esther saying, you know what? I can't go. She knew that all her countrymen might die. And she's like, yeah, but I can't go because I might die. Isn't that amazing? And then something changes. And Esther says, I have to go. I must go to the king. I must go to the king. I have a death sentence. So I must run to the only place where life can be found. She's bursting inside. She's compelled inside. She's inwardly compelled. She must go to the king. I think of the prodigal son in Luke 15. But I was turning to Luke 15 the other day and just wanted to look at the context, and I love how the chapter starts. You know Luke 15 is a prodigal chapter. But here's how it starts, just with an observation. and then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners to hear him." Isn't that amazing? Who's drawing near to Christ? The publicans and the sinners. Now, who's putting those descriptors? And I would say it doesn't matter. Maybe they were sinners by observation. But friends, they were drawing near because they were sinners and they knew it. They were Republicans and they knew it. In other words, they knew their guilt. They were drawing near to Christ to hear Him. Think of all those who drew near to Christ to question Him. Who drew near to Christ to catch Him. Who drew near to Christ to persecute Him? Who drew near to Christ to wrestle with Him, argue with Him? Friends, I don't know why you're here this morning. Sometimes I wonder why I'm here. Why am I coming to the house of God? Why am I coming to the King? The publicans and sinners draw near. They're pulled. They draw near to hear Him. And so the story goes on to say that when this prodigal finally finds himself at his wit's end with no answers, this was his thought. I will arise. He had run from his father. Now he's in a desperate condition. He was proud, he was full of himself, full of his own potential and ability, and now he's nothing. You would think that now that he's nothing, and it's obvious that he's nothing, that he would stay as far away from his Father as possible. Wouldn't you think so? Who wants to admit that? Friends, when his pride is broken, he says, I will arise and go to my Father, and will say to my Father, I have sinned against heaven and before Thee, and am no more worthy to be called Thy son, Make me as one of thy hired servants." Here's what John 6 tells us. This magnetic pulling, those who come to the King, those who approach the King for life, are only approaching because behind the scenes, behind the scenes, here's what it says, can come to me." You don't have the ability. You don't have the desire. You don't have the wherewithal. Friends, this is the love of the Father. The only place to go is the King, yet you would never approach the King. There's too many reasons not to. Yet the King turns your affections, He turns your attention, He brings the arrows of distress. No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him. So the King is on both ends of the line, the King is sending the Son, the King is pouring out His wrath upon the Son, and the King is drawing, is drawing the distressed to the Son. Isn't that amazing love? That's righteousness, friends. That's the righteousness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's that God is both just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Praise the Lord for that. Well, there's one more thought before we close from Esther and this beautiful scene, this perilous scene. How to approach? How do you approach the king? That's a pretty important question, isn't it? The songwriters talk about that a lot. Let me read a few songs to you. Indignant justice stood in view. To Sinai's fiery mount I flew. That's your option, isn't it? I'll approach on my comparative righteousness, and now we're comparing my righteousness with what God requires. It's an option, I guess, but it's not really, is it? But justice cried with frowning face, this mountain is no hiding place. Here's another one. Tis from thee salvation flows. This the ransom sinner knows. Thou, O Christ, art all His plea when He seizes poverty. None shall glory in Thy sight of their labors e'er so bright. All who are taught by Thee shall know that living faith from Thee must flow. Here's one more. No more, my God, I boast no more of all the duties I have done. I quit. I surrender. I cancel. Here's a cancel culture. Cancel this. I quit the hopes I held before to trust the merits of my son. Esther has to approach the king, doesn't she? Well, if you remember, Esther has approached the king once before, hasn't she? Esther approached the king the first time to impress him. To impress him with her beauty. To impress him with her person. She knows the king has forgotten her as an object of affection. It's been a long time since he's called for her. He's moved on and she has nothing new to entice him with. Listen to what the Scripture says. It came to pass on the third day. I love that. I don't know that it relates, but I think maybe it does. On the third day. The third day in Scripture, you'll see that a lot. That Esther put on her royal apparel. and stood in the inner court of the king's house, over against the king's house, and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house." Well, that's Esther's story. We don't know for sure if that's what made him look to her with affection or not. That's how she went. She didn't go to impress him with her works. But she put on what belonged to her. She was the queen. She had royal clothing. She had the rights of royalty. Well, that's a nice story, but what are you going to do with that? What are you going to do with that? What do you have that's royal? In other words, what do you have to offer to God? What do I have to offer to God? What do I have that's royal? And the truth of the matter is that you and I have nothing in ourselves that's royal, do we? But here's another gift from God, the great gift of faith. The song we just read, I quit the hopes I held before to trust the merits of thy Son. I want you to know that we are granted the right by faith to don the royal garments of Jesus Christ. That's what it says. It says in Revelation 7, there's a scene in heaven, and people are saying, who are these people? And they say, these are people who made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. That's what it says. clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ, clothed with the royal robes of the Son of God. That's the story of the prodigal, right? He gets the ring, he gets the chief clothes, Friends, the gift of God to us through giving us faith in Jesus Christ is that we are bidden to look away from ourselves and look away to the royalty of Jesus Christ and to claim that as we approach the King. Claim Him as we approach the King. Bring Him to the King of Kings. That's what we're doing when we eat this bread and drink this wine. We're saying, God, we come to You. clothed in the blood and the life of Jesus Christ. And because of that, Lord, you receive us. And that's what happens. When Xerxes sees Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight. Listen to this, "...and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther drew near and touched the top of the scepter. Then said the king unto her, What wilt thou, Queen Esther? And what is thy request? It shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom." I don't have to do a lot of commenting on that, do I? Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. I wish I had the mind. I wish I had the vocabulary. I wish I had the oratorical skills. to be able to paint this picture to you for a fraction of the reality that it is. For sinners to be able to approach the King of Kings for life and hear the King say, I will not cast you out. Come! Come, ye blessed of my Father. Come, inherit the kingdom that was given for you before the foundation of the world. Come! What a blessing! Hebrews 10 does not lie when it says, Hebrews 4, let us come boldly. Hebrews 10 says, let us draw near with a full heart, in full assurance. Isn't that amazing? You! Yeah, I'm talking to you! Whatever the weight, whatever the sin, whatever the past, whatever the present, I'm looking at you! Not me, but God! who the shed blood of Jesus Christ says, I'm holding this scepter out to you, you can touch it. In other words, it's not you're the sword that will kill you. It is the connection to my everything. What do you want, Esther? What's your request? I will give you half the kingdom. Well, friends, in Jesus Christ we get it better than that. Ask, and ye shall receive. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and the door shall be opened unto you. If a father will not turn his ear to his son, how much more will the father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask? You are heirs and joint heirs with Christ who owns the cattle of a thousand hills. Friends, it is only our small earthbound eyes that cause us to doubt those things. Because we usually ask for trinkets. We ask for things, and it's not bad for what we ask. It's not bad to ask for life when someone is sick. It's not bad to ask for health. It's not bad to ask for ease. But when that is the sum and substance of our request, It will cause us to wonder where is this great giving God? Has He really held out the scepter to me? Maybe He hasn't. Friends, somebody pray today thanking God for the blessing of affliction. What you have found from the God, the King, you have found sustaining grace. You have found yourself stripped of your own self-reliance and drawn to His full and free grace that is sufficient for us. You have found that this world becomes less and less attractive, and heaven becomes more and more real, and the presence of Christ becomes more and more sweet, and the words of Christ become more and more true. That's what you find. Ask, and ye shall receive. Seek, and ye shall find. I'm holding nothing back from you, Esther." And the King of Kings is holding nothing back. He's given us, Ephesians 1-3, all spiritual blessings in Christ. He's given it all. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow. That's the word persecute. It's pursue. I'm running after you. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord. The scepter is held out to me. I will dwell in the house of the Lord. I get to have God. The Lord is the portion of my inheritance forever. I praise God, let's pray. Father, on this day of rejoicing and weeping, we rejoice that You have burdened souls to approach You. You've drawn us for the cords of kindness. And Father, we pray that if there are those today who are burdened, whose almighty love has arrested them and caused them to see the peril and the distress, Lord, will you show them also the royal robes of Christ's righteousness by which man, and the only way that man can approach unto you. Thank you, Lord, for the gospel of Christ. Thank you, Lord, that you're not like Xerxes. Thank you, Lord, that you're gracious, full of grace and truth. In Christ's name, and amen.