THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Esther: Encouragements Of God's Faithfulness

D. Dealing With The Fallout Of Incompetent Leaders

(Esther 8:1-10:3)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

Today, we face the fallout of disturbing actions by perilously incompetent leaders:

(1) We face the fallout of president Biden's troubling mishandling of his troop withdrawal from Afghanistan:

(a) "Some 250 U. S. citizens remain in Afghanistan and still want to leave, according to a senior State Department official." (Libby Cathey, "After 20 years, US ground troops leave Afghanistan, but Americans left behind," abcnews.go.com, August 30, 2021) "Following the Pentagon's announcement" of this news, "GOP lawmakers blasted Biden for withdrawing the troops despite not having all Americans evacuated," Ibid.

(b) Then there's the matter of the military equipment that was left behind. A letter by Craig MacMillan of Watertown in the Republican-American, August 27, 2021, p. 8A reported, "Not only did the Taliban get a couple of billion dollars of weaponry . . . they also got the most sophisticated surveillance system in the world . . . A large percentage of Afghan people are in a biometric data base with names, jobs and addresses that the Taliban now has . . . This will give them the names of all the Afghans who worked with us, and also let them find the technicians and pilots, so they can train the Taliban to use all the high-tech goodies we left them." Also, a Republican-American lead editorial commented, "Time will tell whether . . . China and other adversaries" will "dismantle, analyze, copy and mass-produce" the "U. S. weapons" left in Afghanistan. ("The equipment left behind," Ibid., August 31, 2021, p 8A)

(c) The loss of lives at the Kabul airport is another hot issue: When the president met with families of the slain 13 U. S. soldiers at Dover Air Force Base and their caskets were carried off of the plane, "Roice McCollum," sister of one slain soldier, spoke to a reporter about the president, saying: "'You can't [mess] up as bad as he did and say you're sorry. This didn't need to happen, and every life is in his hands.'" (Matt Viser, "'Don't you ever forget that name': Biden's tough meeting with grieving relatives," August 30, 3021; washingtonpost.com) As the families loaded back up on their bus, "one woman grew emotional and began screaming in Biden's direction across the tarmac," Ibid.

(2) We face fallout from mismanagement by state officials: Chris Powell's column, "Hysteria recedes as storm shifts (Ibid., August 27, 2021, p. 8A) reported: "State government admits it isn't properly maintaining its transportation system. Despite ever-increasing appropriations, Connecticut's schools have been declining as well."

(3) We face fallout from mismanagement by academic officials: A letter by Steve Brook of Kent in the Republican-American, Ibid., told how "Fox News . . . often runs actual clips of enraged parents of all colors and backgrounds, getting very vocal at local school board meetings in many different parts of the United States, protesting the teaching of CRT [Critical Race Theory] to their children."

(4) We face troubling fallout from actions by judges in our courts: "An Illinois judge has banned a divorced mother from seeing her 11-year-old son because she isn't vaccinated against COVID-19." (Associated Press, "Judge strips unvaccinated Illinois mom of rights to see son," August 30, 2021; abcnews.go.com) She can contact her son by way of programs on the Internet, but she cannot interact with him in person, Ibid.

Need: So, we ask, "Besides handling perilously incompetent leaders, how do we handle their troubling fallout?!"

I. Though the king had given the house of Haman to Esther and the king's ring to Mordecai that Haman had worn, and though the king had executed wicked Haman (Esther 7:10-8:2), the TROUBLING FALLOUT of Haman's EDICT that his supporters could kill all Hebrews was STILL IN FORCE!

II. For this reason, Esther AGAIN had to approach the king UNINVITED, boldly falling at his feet and weeping to ask him to address wicked Haman's edict against her Hebrew people, Esther 8:3.

III. King Ahasuerus held out his scepter to Esther, so she arose, stood before him and asked that a new edict be formed for the Jews to be able to protect themselves from Haman's supporters, Esther 8:4-6.

IV. The king granted her request, letting Esther write a new edict and seal it with the king's ring to make it law, and Esther had Mordecai form the edict and send it throughout the realm of Persia, Esther 8:7-17.

V. As a result, the Hebrews slew their enemies, but wisely did not take spoil, leaving it for the king or for the Persians to seize, indicating that the Hebrews' only objective was self protection, Esther 9:1-2, 15-16.

VI. The fear of Mordecai came on all of Persia's officials, so they helped the Hebrews defeat Haman's supporters so that Mordecai gained great respect and power in in the kingdom, Esther 9:3-4; 10:1-3.

VII. Thus, the Hebrews celebrated the Feast of Purim, named after "pur" or "lot" to recall how the lots Haman had cast for the day he was to kill the Hebrews was turned to favor the Hebrews, Esther 9:26-27.

Lesson: To deal with the dreadful FALLOUT of Haman's edict to kill the Hebrews that was still law though Haman had been executed, Esther took the legal route open to her in requesting and gaining the king's permission to form a new edict that the Hebrews might successfully defend themselves against Haman's supporters.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16; 1 Cor. 15:1-11. (2) To deal with the troubling FALLOUT of perilously incompetent leaders, may we seek the righteous route that is open to us and take it with God's blessing.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . .)

In applying the sermon lesson to the issues of concern mentioned in our sermon introduction, since none of us is in power in a monarchy as was Queen Esther, we cannot do what she did in using a government position to handle these issues. We thus heed God's Word on other righteous paths we can take with His edifying results (as follows):

(1) If our government ever leaves us behind in a dangerous land, (a) we can apply Christ's teaching in John 11:7-10: when He then told His disciples that they were returning to Judaea, the disciples objected, saying that the religious leaders there had tried to kill Him. Jesus replied that if one orders his life in God's will [walking in the day], he is safe wherever he goes, while functioning outside of God's will [walking in the night] leads to trouble. If we heed the Lord as to where to go and what to do, He will protect us so we can fulfill His assignment. (b) Regarding those left in danger in Afghanistan, we can pray that they trust in Christ to be saved and obey God's Word in living.

(2) Regarding the military and intelligence equipment left behind in Afghanistan where America's enemies might examine and/or use it to their advantage, Psalm 127:1-2 teaches that God is our Protector, that otherwise, human might is futile against one's foes. Psalm 127:3-5 in the same context implies that building strong families in the Lord is used by God to protect people groups, so we best trust the Lord and focus on building godly families.

(3) On the tragic loss of life at the Kabul airport suicide bombing, (a) Romans 12:17-21 claims God will take vengeance on all the wrongdoers, that we must let Him deal with the wrongs and treat others kindly. Also, (b) Christ currently controls who dies and where his soul goes at death (Revelation 1:17-18), so we should rest in His sovereignty if facing the sudden, shocking death of a party. (c) For a believer, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8), so we can rejoice that at death, a believer's soul is in heaven with God.

(4) On the state's mismanagement of our transportation system, Christ told His disciples to keep a boat ready by the Sea of Galilee so He could use it to avoid being crushed by the crowds when many people thronged about Him to touch Him in order to be healed, Mark 3:9-10. We should assume responsibility for our own transportation needs.

(4) On the state's mismanagement of our educational system, Proverbs 1:5 claims that a wise man will increase in learning, meaning that God wants us to be responsible to educate ourselves! We should begin to teach our children to educate themselves in the classroom even at the elementary level, to be responsible to learn.

(5) As for the mismanagement of our nation's academic oversight that allows for the troublesome, unbiblical teaching of the Critical Race Theory to our children, Proverbs 22:6 claims that if we parents "train up," literally, if we rub a tart date poultice on the roof of the mouth of a newborn like a midwife to accentuate the infant's natural sucking ability so as to boost his health (the meaning of hanak, "train up," B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the N. T., p. 335), that if we teach a child the right way to traverse his God-programed direction in life, he will not depart from it. We parents must direct our children in the right way that God wants them go in how God has naturally programed them to go, and that training will stay with them throughout life. False ideologies cannot overturn such training!

(6) As for the court ruling to separate a boy from his mother because she did not get a Covid-19 vaccination, (a) we can heed Mark 10:11-12 and not divorce to avoid becoming vulnerable to godless custody rulings. (b) Yet, if we ever do unrighteously lose custody of our child, we can heed Hannah's example: she had to keep a vow to God to turn her young son Samuel over to God and the high priest Eli's care, and he had a bad track record in raising his own sons, 1 Samuel 1:11, 20-28 with 2:12-17, 22. However, Hannah then made a new priestly ephod for Samuel to wear each year when she returned to the tabernacle with her husband. Wearing the ephod daily influenced Samuel to live for God though Hannah was unable to have much contact with him in his growing years, 1 Samuel 1:18-19. Besides, Hannah had also dedicated Samuel to God, so He revealed Himself to Samuel, discipling him, 1 Samuel 3:1-21.

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life. May we handle the dreadful effects of perilously incompetent leaders by seeking and taking the righteous route of God's blessing that is open to us as it is taught in Scripture.