One, two, three. God is at work in such a time as this. And my prayer is that all of us would recognize that God has a specific task for each of us in such a time as this. You're not here by accident. God knew all about it and God has you here in this time for such a time as what we're facing here in 2024. Now the devil will do everything he can to try to hinder you from doing the work of God. The devil has done everything he can to try to hinder the work of God. He's been doing what he can to destroy God's plan and guides people for many, many, many years. In our study on the book of Esther, Haman's proclamation, his proclamation for the destruction of the Jews was the 12th month Adar, which is our March, and our March or February, the 13th day of the month there. It's interesting, you don't have to go far in listening to the news or watching what's going on to recognize that the devil in this day, Esther's day, was trying to do what he could not to hinder God's people and specifically the Jews, and the devil's still doing what he can. to try to hinder and hurt God's people, Israel, over there in the Middle East. And they, I've said this a number of times, interesting how much the harassment or whatever is increasing, and we're right here in the book of Esther, and we're seeing what happened years ago, and God won then, and God will win now. And it's awesome to be on the winning team, isn't it? I'm so thankful I'm a Christian. I'm thankful I'm on my way to heaven. And yet I feel for the Jews and the way they're being treated today. The American Jewish Committee published a study, this was in 2021, that concluded many Jewish Americans are changing their behavior, American Jews are changing their behavior, limiting their activities and concealing their Jewishness due to concerns about anti-Semitism. Four out of ten American Jews, which is 39%, say they have changed their behavior out of fear. 25% have avoided posting content online that would reveal their Jewishness or their views on Jewish issues. 22% refrained from publicly wearing, carrying, or displaying items that might enable others to identify them as Jewish. 17% avoided certain places, events, or situations out of concern for their safety or comfort as Jews. Younger Jews were significantly more likely to have changed their behavior due to concerns about antisemitism, with more than half, 52% of those between the ages of 18 and 29, saying they had taken steps to conceal their Jewishness or limit their activities. Orthodox Jews were also significantly more likely to have taken one of the steps detailed above, with over half, 57%, saying they have done so, including 43%, who say they have avoided certain places, events, or situations due to concerns about their comfort or safety as Jews. It's sad for people to feel this way, isn't it? It's sad for individuals who don't know the Bible to recognize that they're cooperating, if you would, with the devil to try to hurt the Jewish people. And as we said already, the Jewish folks are going to win, just like they won here in Esther chapter number 9. A few weeks ago, we saw that God used Esther and Mordecai to protect the Jews from the decree of Haman. God gave Esther favor in the eyes of the king, and as she revealed her identity and Haman's plot, the king allowed Mordecai to put a new decree in order, declaring that the Jews were allowed to defend themselves against those of Persia that would try to destroy them. Let me call your attention to verse number 11 of Esther chapter number 8. Verse number 11, the Bible says, Wherein the king granted the Jews, which were in every city, to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them. They're given permission to defend themselves, but little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey." Notice that phrase, we'll come back to that in a minute, to take the spoil of them for a prey. If you go to Esther chapter 9 and look at verse number 3, the Bible tells us that the world around saw God at work in providing deliverance. By the way, when God delivers, when God does something, He doesn't do it just for us. There are people around that see the delivering power of God. And the world at large saw it. We see in verse number 3, the Bible says, and all the rulers, of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and the officers of the king, helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them. For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame went out through all the provinces. For this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater." They saw the hand of God on Mordecai. They saw the delivering power of God on God's people. Have you ever had a situation where you needed God to deliver? Maybe it was a health situation, you found yourself saying, this is an insurmountable obstacle, this thing is huge, I need God to deliver. Maybe it was a financial situation. Maybe it was a situation with somebody at work or a family situation. You know, life is bigger than we are. And you don't have to live long to recognize that life is way bigger than we are, but life is not bigger than God is. As Steve shared with us a great verse in our table this morning, my help, Psalm 121, cometh from the Lord. And we find ourselves facing difficult situations, and the Jews, a few chapters earlier, found themselves facing an impossible situation, and God came through, and God delivered. And I want to take a few minutes this morning, and I want to talk about God's deliverance, and how How did God's deliverance affect the people of God? So the message title this morning is a simple title, When God Delivers. When God delivers you, how do you respond? Let's have a word of prayer. Let's ask the Lord to meet with us. Lord, thank You for the privilege to look at Your Word. Thank You for this story in the Word of God. Lord, I pray that you would speak to our hearts. You brought us here together for such a time as this. Lord, all I want to do is please you and just communicate the truth that you've put on my heart for your people. Lord, I pray that you would do what only you can do, draw all of us closer to yourself from having spent time in your word. Lord, I can't do nothing without you. I cast my dependence upon you and pray that you would use me now in Jesus' name. Amen. When God delivers, number one, it is important to respond in the right way. When God delivers, it is important to respond in the right way. Sometimes when God does something, we can have a tendency, especially when it's regard to people that were against us, we can have a tendency to rub that in. We can have a tendency to flaunt, if we would, the goodness of God in the face of our enemies. You know, we talk about being a good loser. Sometimes we need to learn how to be a good winner. And when we look at Esther chapter number 9, I want you to look at verse number 10. Verse number 11 of chapter 8 says that they had the right to the spoil. Look at verse number 10 now of Esther chapter number 9. The Bible says, then the 10 sons of Haman, the sons of Hamadathah, the enemy of the Jews, slew they. But on the spoil laid they not their hand. Verse number 15, for the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day of the month Adar and slew three hundred men at Shushan, but on the prey they laid not their hand. Verse number 16, But the other Jews that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey. Why does God tell us this three times? God wants us to know that they defended themselves against the fierce enemies, but they didn't go beyond what the decree was, although they had the right to take the spoil. The presentation was that they would defend themselves. One commentator said this, they gave a strong testimony to their purpose in fighting. They were not in it for money or possessions. They stood to defend themselves and their families. They wanted to preserve their people. They didn't, can I say it this way, rub it in their faces. They didn't say, hey, they were just to defend themselves. But they didn't go beyond that and say, hey, we're going to go beyond that. We're going to take you all out, and we're going to take all your stuff as well. They were humble and not about building themselves. Someone might ask concerning verse number 12, where the sons, verse 10, Esther 9 and verse 10, about the sons of Hamath, and they slew them. Was Esther just trying to get back? Was Esther trying to rub it in their face by saying, hey, to the king, would you give us the sons of Haman? Not at all. Since the Jews were not the aggressors, one commensator said this, the 10 sons of Haman had taken up arms and attacked the Jews. And that's why all 10 of them were slain. And then the bodies, obviously it makes sense. If the dad was killed, the sons are going to take up the cause of the dad. And they were a lot of the impetus, if you would. behind the fighting. The bodies of the ten sons were hanged on Haman's gallows as a warning to the enemy. The sight of ten corpses on Haman's gallows would certainly deter the Persians from attacking the Jews and would result in the saving of lives." We need to remember this. Sometimes people do us wrong. Sometimes people will do what they can to try to get at us, and sometimes God turns it around, and then we have a position now. God, we say, vindicates or validates us. The Bible says this, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. We'll look at this tonight when we look at 2 Thessalonians 1. There's a difference between revenge, which is me getting back at somebody, and vengeance, which is about God's law. And sometimes we can make an attitude, you hurt me, I'm going to hurt you. You talk bad about me, I'm going to talk bad about you. You say something that's wrong, I'm going to say something that's wrong. Do you know the Bible says that we are to overcome evil with good? It's kind of counter how we normally would think. You do evil, I do evil. If you really want to get back at somebody that's doing you wrong, do them right. Do good unto those that despise, that persecute you. Hey, that's the idea that God wants us to have. We heap coals of fire, if we would, on their head. And when God delivers the Jews, the Jews defend themselves, and they do just what they needed to do. They don't go overboard, and they don't rub it in. It is important for us to recognize that when God delivers us, that we need to respond in the right way. I read a story about Samuel Morris. He was born into a preacher's home in New England just two years after George Washington was elected the first president of the United States. After finishing his education at Yale, he went to England to hone his painting skill. Upon his return to America, he was recognized as a gifted artist and was soon in much demand. Morris's first wife died. She died while he was away from home painting in Washington. He didn't receive the news until it was too late. In his heartbreak, he turned away from painting and began trying to develop a means of rapid communication over great distances. This eventually led to the discovery of the telegraph. Despite his fame and the many honors that came his way, Morris wasn't proud or boastful. In a letter to his second wife, he wrote, the more I contemplate this great undertaking, the more I feel my own littleness, and the more I perceive the hand of God in it, and how he has assigned to various persons their duties. He being the great controller, all others his honored instruments. Here are dependence, first of all, on God, then on each other. What a response, a response of humility. But sometimes when God delivers us, specifically when it comes to situations with other people where we find ourselves maybe being mistreated or being done wrong, and God delivers us. We've got to stay humble in that deliverance. We've got to stay dependent upon God. And we've got to leave their, can I say it this way, their spanking to God, instead of trying to take it into our own hands and hurt people in a way that we shouldn't. Let God be God. And the Jews responded in the right way. Number two, God delivered them. Again, their lives were at stake and God allowed them to defend themselves. And God delivered them. And I want to see a second response that they had to God's deliverance. And that is, not only respond in the right way, but rejoice in the right one. Esther chapter 9 and verse number 17, the Bible says this, On the thirteenth day of the month Adar, and on the fourteenth day of the same rested day, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. Verse 22, as the days were in that Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from joy, from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day, that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. Do you know sometimes when God delivers us, we can have a tendency to want to take credit for it? The Jews didn't do that. The Jews had days of feasting to praise God, to rejoice in God, to rejoice in what God did. Sometimes God might bless a business. Sometimes God might give somebody some talent and ability. And some people would say, hey, wow, that's awesome. Your business is awesome. We can have a tendency sometimes to take credit for something that God did. You see, it's about Him, and it's about His blessing. Do you know, just as quick as God can bless, God can take and turn the tables. You see this, I'm reading through the Book of Old Testament, reading through the Kings, I've been reading through the Kings, and sometimes the Scripture says God raised up an enemy against God's people, because God's people got their eyes off of God, and they got their eyes on themselves. And God is able to turn things around. And when God blesses, hey, they went from trouble and fear to rest and feasting and peace and rejoicing. Mordecai was able to use his influence to call for a celebration as they praised God. I want you to hold your place in Esther 9. I want you to take just a minute and turn to Psalm 107. Psalm 107. There are four times God says something in this psalm. When God repeats something, obviously it's in there for a purpose. Four times God repeats something in this psalm that I want us to see. The Bible says, in verse number one of 107, O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Then he presents a challenge. They wandered in the wilderness, verse four. They cried unto the Lord, verse six. God delivered, verse seven. And look at verse number eight. O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. He satisfies the longing soul. He fills the hungry soul with goodness. Then they face another challenge. Verse 13, they cry unto the Lord. Verse 14, He brought them up out of darkness. Verse 15, all that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. You see, we have a tendency to focus on the negative. We have a tendency to be complainers and whiners. The Bible says, let no corrupt communication proceed out of my mouth. Do all things without murmurings and disputings. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. You say, yeah, but I have challenges. We all have challenges. Everybody has challenges. The difference between somebody that praises the Lord and someone that doesn't is a choice that the person makes to praise the Lord for His goodness to the children of men. We see this again. Another challenge comes. Verse 21, we'll get right to the verse. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Verse number 31, another challenge comes around. And we read in verse number 31, oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Can I say this this morning if you know for sure you're on your way to heaven? If there's been a time in your life where you've placed your faith and trust in Jesus and His finished work on the cross, someday you're going to be with Him in heaven for all eternity. What a day that will be! Let me say this before I talk a little more about heaven. If you're here this morning, you've never trusted Christ as your personal Savior. Heaven's perfect and you're not. And God sent Jesus, His perfect sinless Son, to live here on earth and to die and bear in His body the sins of the whole world. And today you can know for sure you're on your way to heaven if you'll simply place your faith in the finished work of Jesus and what He did for you on the cross. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You don't have to hope, you don't have to wonder, you don't have to guess. You shall be saved. And someday the trumpet's gonna sound and the dead in Christ are gonna rise. And we'll meet the Lord in the air. And I love the phrase, so shall we ever be with the Lord in the air. We'll talk about this again tonight too. We'll talk about it morning and at night. Listen, the day is coming. This world is not our home. We're just passing through. Our treasures ought to be laid up somewhere beyond the blue. And the reality is, if I recognize that Heaven's my home and Jesus is my Savior, no matter what happens here on Earth, I have reason to praise the Lord. I have reason to celebrate His goodness in my life. By the way, the Bible says, you'll have to figure these out in your own life, the Lord daily loadeth us with benefits. You say, does that mean me? Yes, it means you. You say, well, how has the Lord daily loaded me with benefits? I don't know all of them. I know a couple of them because you can breathe, right? You can see, you can hear. Hey, there's a whole bunch of benefits that God daily loadeth on us. And we'll just take the time and think about it and think about His goodness to us. And what do they do? The Jews get together and they say, to God be the glory, great things He hath done. So many of us are like, The 10 lepers get healed, and only one comes and says thank you. In 1860, the Lady Elgin, a boat, was rammed by another boat, the Augusta, and sank in Lake Michigan near Evanston, Illinois. A ministerial student named Edward Spencer waded again and again into the frigid waters to rescue passengers. In the process, his health was permanently damaged. Some years later, at his funeral, it was noted that not one of the people he rescued ever thanked him. It's easy for us to say, we ought to look inside and say, how thankful am I? Rejoice evermore. And then he said, and again I say, rejoice. God's good. God's always good. God's good every day. God's good when we get good news. God's good when we get bad news. God's good when we get neutral news. God's good. We have to choose to rejoice, especially in times of deliverance. I really should rejoice all the time. I'm gonna give you a third response here that we see in this story. Go back to Esther chapter number nine. When God delivers, respond in the right way. Rejoice in the right one. Don't take credit for what God has done. And number three, remember the right thing. Esther chapter number nine, in verse number 20, they set in place a celebration. And they set in place a celebration, not just this one time, but a celebration that wouldn't end on one night. Verse 20. And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king of Hazareth, both nigh and far, to establish this among them, that they should keep the 14th day of the month Adar and the 15th day of the same yearly. go down to 27, the Jews ordained and took upon them and upon their seed and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail that they would keep these two days according to their writing and according to their appointed time every year. that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, every city, and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed. Haman had cast a lot, Pur, which is one lot, to determine when to destroy the Jews. The Jews celebrated the defeat of their enemies and had a holiday named Purim. Purim is a widely celebrated holiday in Jewish culture. On the day of Purim, celebrated the 14th day of the Jewish month, Adar, usually it's February or March, the Jews begin their celebration at the synagogue. They listen to the entire book of Esther read out loud twice. Every time Haman's name is mentioned, they will rattle noisemakers or stamp their feet to dishonor his evil name. Purim is also a time for giving to the needy, sending food gifts to friends, and feasting with friends and family. On this day of remembering a time the Jews needed to band together, the Jews celebrate by thinking of others and enjoying the company of close friends. I know many Jews, you see, that celebrate wouldn't be believers. I get that, but the idea was what? God did such a great work. that we need never forget it. Remember the right things. The day of mourning turned into a day of celebration. We have a tendency to forget. We read in our scripture reading from Psalm 106 on purpose, they forgot. What they forget? The good works of the Lord. You know, the children of Israel is really a typical of one believer. You think about that. The ups and downs that we have, the tendencies that God does stuff, and our tendencies to forget God and His goodness. Why did the Lord set up, before He left, why did He set up the Lord's Supper? this do ye in remembrance of me." Why? Because we have a tendency to forget that when Jesus died on the cross, He paid our sin penalty, and the blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing us from sin. We partake of the cup. We remember that, hey, gone, gone, gone, gone. Yes, my sins are gone, right? What can wash me whiter than snow? The blood of Jesus. And we think about the bread, and we think about His body that was broken for us. We think about the sacrifice that He made on Calvary's cross. They didn't even recognize Him. He was so beaten. We need reminded. That's why God instituted the Lord's Supper, so that we would remember what we have in Christ. Do you know this world has nothing to offer you? Nothing. But every day you're bombarded with news and individuals saying, the world will meet your need, do this, and this is all you need, and go here, and this and that. He opens his hand and he satisfies the desire of every living thing. Mordecai and those in authority there said, hey, we got to set aside a day so that we can keep on remembering. I pulled something this morning from the wall. I don't know how many of you, you know, we have a tendency to just walk past things and don't see the obvious. The guy with the, put in the security camera said, everyone will notice them for the first week and then they'll forget about them. They won't even forget about them. How many of you remember this? This is a little plaque that sits outside right as you walk out the door. When you leave there today, you're just going to see the screw there, right? And any bad stuff that this is hiding. You know how pictures hide holes on the walls? You have them at your house too, you know? If you hit it in the wrong place, you just got to move it up and hide the hole. You know what I'm saying? I love it. Why do they have so many? This is just to chase the rabbit. Why do they have so many? Why can't they just make it easy to hang pictures? They put the ropes on them, and they're at different lengths. And then you get the ones that have the little hook things on the two sides of this picture, and you're supposed to match up the hooks. And oh, wow. Just don't take the pictures off the walls in my house. Say, pastor, you missed this one three times. Yeah, quit it. Anyway, this guy here, look at this guy here. Do you know how this guy goes on? I couldn't get the thing off, and then I realized that it slides. So this here is a little bigger circle, and the rest is a groove. So you put it on and go, whoosh, and that's how you hold it. It's not the normal pull off. And if I had had Steven do it, he would have pulled it off. It would be a big hole in the wall. No, I'm just kidding. Things we have learned. I made this on purpose. Why? Because a number of years ago, we had a fire, and we had one of the biggest trials our church has ever gone through. We had to figure out where we're gonna meet, how we're gonna do this, and how, and God put up this building for us. And God paid for this building for us. I put this up, Things We Have Learned. I'm gonna read them just real quick. God's church is important. God cares about His church. God wants to use all of us. Remember it took all of us to give and work and pray. God uses the little that we have. We didn't have a million bucks. So that's probably what it all costs. I know where Brian is, close to a million bucks. God answers prayer. Boy, we saw God answer prayer. God is more than able. That was our theme through the whole progress, the whole time, that God's more than able. God has great plans. He does. He has great plans for Victory Baptist Church. Do you know what God wants us to do now? And I think it's harder than this. God wants us to see that building filled. which means God, just the little that we gave, hey, you may have given $5 or $10 or $20, and now what God wants you to do is give 5 minutes or 10 minutes or 20 minutes to inviting people to church, to inviting people to trust Christ as Savior. You see, God still wants to work. God didn't put that building up there for us to just be at ease in Zion. God wants to still use us. He has great plans. And number eight, God. deserves all the glory. I put this on that wall first and foremost for me. Because as I walk through this building on a regular basis every week, I see a reminder of the goodness of God. When we walk into that building, and we have Sunday school, and we play volleyball, and we have family fun nights, and we try to play dominoes, and chess, and volleyball all in the same room. Boy, that was kind of crazy. Just tell me in advance if you want to play volleyball, all right? We'll kick the dominoes people out, and the chess people, and I think I even set up cornhole. When we go in there, what do we see? God's goodness to us. And God's people said, hey, it's important for us to keep our minds on the right thing. What sort of things are true and honest and just and pure? And you know the rest of the verse. Think on these things. God delivered them in a great way. Miraculous way. Their response, in a right way. Hey, we're not gonna rub this in. Hey, we're gonna rejoice in God. We're not gonna take credit for it. We're gonna do everything we can to remember the goodness of the Lord. May God help us as God delivers, and He does. He delivers us on a regular basis. May we respond in the right way. May we rejoice in Him and what He's doing. And may we set up in our own life reminders of the goodness of God. I think it's important to have a praise list. I think it's important sometimes to write down some of the things that God does for you. You go back to it a few years later and you look at it and you'll say, wow, it motivates us to do what? To keep believing God because He's able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that we could ask. or we could think. To God be the glory. Lord, we praise you today and we glorify