power of Prussia, and Media, the nobles and princes of the palace who came before him, when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty, many days, even a hundred and four-score days, up to around six months. When these days were expired, the King made a feast unto all the people at the peasant in Teuton, the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the course of the Garden of the King Palace. There were white, green, blue, hangings, chastened with cords, and fine linen and purples, with silver rings and pillars of marble. beds were of gold and silver upon a pavement of red and blue and white and black marble. They gave them drink in vessels of gold, vessels being diverse one from another, and boiled wine in abundance, according to the state of the king. And the drinking was, according to the law, none but compelled, or so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man's pleasure. And Vashti the queen made a peace for the women in the royal house which belonged to King Assyria. So to first well. But the queen Vashti refused to come of the king's commandment. By Chamberlain, therefore, was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him. And verse nineteen, if it pleased the king, let there go a royal commandment from him that, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Meads, that if it be not be altered, and be not altered, that dashed I come no more before King Ahasueru. and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she. This is a very interesting subject last week. I mentioned the fact that I would speak on the quest for a queen. But when the hostages were freed, I began picking, well, I think we have a remarkable parallel in this very book. So that's why we put it in the paper. that freedom is more than a word, it's an extreme. I'm going to point that out as we go along. This little book of Esther has five characters, I would say that are outstanding, and very prophetic. First of all, you have the king. Now, certainly, we look at a man like this in his official capacity as a type of God, his position. not his moral condition, but this king was a powerful king, who ruled over a hundred and twenty-seven thousand provinces. And so he was a mighty monarch in those days. But think of the more mighty God himself. Then you have Vashti, the queen, and she is set aside because of disobedience. And Vashti, the picture of the nation of Israel, that were set aside because they did not obey the gospel, they did not obey the message of Christ, their Messiah. Then you have a queen, a young queen, Esther introduced. Here you have a type of the church. When Israel was set aside nineteen hundred years ago because of the rejection of their Messiah and the destruction of Jerusalem, Eighty-seventy under Titus, the Jews were set aside and the nation or new gospel was preached unto all the Gentiles, and the church is brought in. And as Esther was a lovely young lady, so the church is the bride of Jesus Christ. Who was responsible for this remarkable situation? Mordecai. a lovely type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And who is Haman sick? A very good type of sick, the one who was opposed to Mordecai and tried to put him to death. So you have these five remarkable characters in this book, and if you look at it in the light, I've mentioned it, it gives you a lovely outline. But this morning I want to speak right on the subject of the feast. This feast was proclaimed by the king. And what a feast it was. It lacked, as I've already said, something like six months. And there was royal wine in abundance. And the banquet was for all. It was for all, royal wine and abundance, the very best. One can't help thinking of what the New Testament said. Christ says, I have come that they might have life, that they might have it more abundantly. Here on this occasion, there was wine and abundance, and wine in Scripture speaks of joy, of peace, of pardon, of rest, and life. Now that peace ended long ago. But Christ has meditated. He has a feast to which he's inviting whosoever will. And this wine will never cease. The joy, the peace, the pardon, the rest, the life that you receive when you come to Christ is forever. This is from heaven's winery. This will never cease. And it says, none did come back, hell. No force was made. In other words, no one was dragged through that peace. No one was given to that peace. The proclamation was made. It was up to the individual to accept the invitation and attend the peace. And that's true of the gospel. The gospel we preach today is to whosoever will. God is offering you salvation, fast and full and free, to the precious blood of the Son of God who was slain on Calvary. God's not going to twist your eye. He's not going to force you. You've got to make the decision. God will do the dragging and the forcing in the day of judgment when He'll pull you out of your grave, and He'll drag you before the throne of judgment. There's when God will use forth. Not in grave. It's to whosoever willed. It's entirely up to you. It says none did compel. The king couldn't compel. He had the power to believe in him. None did compel. And friends, God could if he wanted. make you believe. If he did that to you, he'd have to do it to all. But Jesus Christ wants those in heaven who are there by their own voluntary will. The thrill that Jesus Christ is going to get out of those who will be in heaven because they chose him in preference for all the world had to offer. They chose him in preference for all the devil had to offer. They chose him in preference to what their own lustful heart wants. They chose Christ. And that's what's going to fill his heart. That's the point. None did compare. You know the invitation on this occasion was despised by Bastard. And that was a serious situation. She despised it. And you know that our son today despising the invitation of Jesus Christ. And little did she realize what that little act, it wasn't little in one sense, but what that little act, that simple refuse, little did she realize, was sad consequences that would mean. She thought, well, I'm not going to grin with this big beast. I'm going to get some of the ladies off at the same time, and we're going to have them do our thing. She little realized that that cost her the throat of being great. Just the slight recuse, just the disobedience. a man and a king. Little do men and women realize how serious it is for you to say no to the gospel. For you to say no, just don't believe. Just refuse to accept Christ. The solemn consequences will be the lake of fire for death. have asked thy never had the slightest idea that early Jews would go to that feast with a cost for so much. I think that what Jonathan said to David, thou shalt be missed, for thy seat shall be empty. Thou shalt thy seat as Queen was taken by another. And friend, God is in this world by His Holy Spirit, and He's going to complete the church. The church is going to be composed of so many bricks. The body of Christ is going to be composed of so many members. And when that complement is completed, Christ is going to come and fetch His church to heaven. And it's going to be completed. And if you are not in that, someone else will take your place. Yes, Esther, you can decline the invitation of the king, but someone else is going to replace you. I see her lovely young friend, I don't know, but if you reject Jesus Christ this morning and he's knocked at some of your heart many times, God may decide this morning that you have had enough. You have many opportunities. That spirit of God may leave your heart and go somewhere in Africa, someplace in America, and then a poor sinner that Christ has heard the gospel for the first time. To the young lady here, Christmas time, who repeats on John First time she was here at the chapel. She got saved when she went back home. In Psalm three, sixteen. When I heard about that, I thought, well, people have been listening to me at that chapel for years and years and years. And someone comes in and hears the gospel for the first time in a sense. The trouble is, you've heard it so often, your heart is getting so hard. God may be fed up one of these days and pass you by and give an invitation to someone else. You may hear it for the first time. God says, My spirit shall not always cry at night, and thou shalt be missed in that day. When the wedding feast is in session, thou shalt be missed, and thy seat shall be entered. someone else. But the place that you could have had you only believed. You know, when you think to Esther, how she replaced that guy, Esther was just a poor girl in a sense of lowly birth. And by the way, when I'm telling you this morning, happened in the very place where the hostages were released by then. just worship the same part of the world as where I landed. And so Esther, she was a little Jewish girl. And in captivity, she was an orphan, her parents had died. She was under the sentence of death, as were all the Jews, chapter three. Yes, but here is Esther. She saw the situation, not only the situation relative to herself, but all the nations. What did she do? She humbled herself. She repented. She mourned she breathed. When she saw her condition, a lovely dream. When it dawned on her... judgment that was hanging over her and the nation. Then she began to flee and pray, mourn, then she rest. She was loved by the king. You find that over in chapter two and seventy-eight. But she made a venture that could accost her life. In those days no one was allowed to go into the presence of the king unless invited. or on a rare occasion, if they were seen in the court, just going into the royal sanctuary, if they were seen by the king, and the king had delight in them, he would extend his golden scepter favors. And that's what happened. Esther realized that not only her life but the life of the whole Jewish nation, but it stayed. And she said to Mordecai, I will dwindle for the king. And if I perish, I perish. If the king does not delight in thee, I'm gone. He'll give a command for me to be taken and put to death. I ventured in, where no one dare venture, a venture unless this is the pleasure of the king. So she was at the point where she ventured. And through it enough, when the king looked and saw, he muster, she had bathed in his sight, and he extended the golden scepter as she touched him. And then he says, what good thou have, he muster? It shall be gravity. Half of my king. Ah, yes, here's the venture of faith. And friend, That's how you get saved. If you humble yourself, you come before the King of Kings, and if you exercise faith, and after now he's favoring you, he could banish you, but he's not going to do it now. He's giving you the opportunity to be saved. He's extending the golden path. Will you by faith touch it? and might Esther be accepted by the king. Who was responsible for all this, Mr. Eurasia? Mordecai. He's the one who has brought up Esther after her parents had died. And there was a kinship here. He's the one that was responsible for the Jewish nation being saved. And that'll be... from the edict of death that hung old man. Mordecai is a lovely type of the Lord Jesus. He was despised. Mordecai was despised. A little Jew, he must have been an old man. There he was each day, seen at the gate, and he was despised. Think of the Lord Jesus Christ, is he not despised? He tells us in the Bible, He was despised and rejected a man of sorrow and of fate of deceit. And not only that, this Mordecai, he wouldn't bow to Haman. For when Haman passed the capital, everyone else bowed to Haman, not Mordecai. He stood erect, and that was brought to the attention of Haman. You know, that little Jew, he didn't bow when he went by. And Haman checked and had it verified. And when he found out that Mordecai wouldn't bow to him, he got his mind made up, I'm going into the king, and I'm getting permission. It's still not only Mordecai, but all the Jews. Amen. Mordecai would not bow. Jesus Christ would not bow to Satan. In the Fourth of Matthew, the devil created all the world. He said, all this will I give thee or fall down and worship me. Jesus Christ wouldn't bow. He wouldn't bow to Satan. Then again, Mordecai went over the city. Jesus Christ left over the city, the city of Jerusalem. And Mordecai, he suffered in soul. How Jesus Christ suffered. He suffered in soul, a calamity. You know, there's an interesting situation that developed right here. Well, no Mordecai walked at all. But something happened, and I love to meet at this interview. Then Mordecai went to the king. He had one thing in mind. I'll get permission from the king. I've already erected gallows in my yard. And I'll get the permission to hang Mordecai on those gallows. I'll get rid of that king, that Mordecai of that little Jew, and all the people of the Jews. And so that night the king couldn't sleep. Strange. Couldn't sleep. So he called one of the Chamberlains. He said, read the chronicle. Read the direct one of the past years and married a sheep. What's been going on around here? And of all things, they read about how two men plotted against the king to put him to death. And Mordecai heard about the plot. And so Mordecai reported the matter unto the king. And while the king was reading there, unable to sleep, he was reading about the condition of his kingdom, and he came upon this. He had forgotten it completely. He said, what's been done to Mordecai for this? And those standing by said nothing. Well, he said, we've got to do something. He said, who's in the court? He said, Hayward's in the court. Haman had come in to get permission to hang Mordecai and to kill the Jews. King says, tell Haman to come in. The king said, Haman, what shall be done unto the man, the king, the lightest, the honor? Oh, more of this Haman. That's just a feeling. You can see his chest swelling and his head going up. Who would the king delight to honor more than me? I didn't promote it. Who would the king delight to honor and promote more than me? And the king said to him, Go and get my horse, and get one of my royal robes, and get the crown loyal, and put it on Mordecai, and lead them through the city of the capital on my horse, and announce this as you go. This is being done to the man whom the king delighteth the honor. Ah, what a shame. Poor king. He left so depressed he had to do what the king said. And he got the king's horse. He had Mordecai at hand, and the royal wool, and the crown. And he led it to the capital. And he had to announce it, and that shall be done unto the man whom the king did like it wanted. That was the beginning of the end of Salem. For in the chapter two later, when King Hester came in before the king, to make it known to the king the end that was crammed against her and the people of the Jews. She said, Haman did not. And the king said, and look, we're going to hate it. But he spoke, and so many spoke up and said, there are gallows in Haman's yard. He built them to hang what it did on. And the king said, Hang him on! Yes, the old tables were heard. And instead of him, what it did. He's the prominent one now. And that's the title of Jesus Christ. And see, time coming when the tables are going to be heard. And I mentioned last week. The word God is not mentioned in this little book. Yet God's hand in food operating is not more evident in any other book in the Bible in the book of Acts. How God manoeuvred and worked all this of us. And so we have Monikea and this wonderful place we occupy in this wonderful little book of Esther. Let us go back to what we mentioned, how Mordecai replaced Satan. Christ replaced Jesus Christ. Christ took from Satan what Satan took from Adam. In the beginning it was Satan who robbed Adam of all the blessings God gave him. And the Lord Jesus has said concerning him, I restored that which I took not away. I had nothing to do with sin's entrance, and what man lost through the entrance of sin, but I am going to restore it back. He destroyed him that had the power of death that is the devil, and delivered us who through fear of death will all our lifetime subject upon me. what man lost through sin by Adam, he can regain and much more through Jesus Christ. That's the story of the lovely little book of Esther. A remarkable event. There was the announcement of doom and death. I'm going to read it to you. and thirteen, the message of death, and the letters were sent by Pope, Abram was behind all this, in all the king's provinces, the destroy, to kill, and cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day. What a day of youth. What a day of Sabbath. But you know that day changed just because of what Mordecai did and what Esther did. And the king says they must deliver. Then the message of life went up. What a wonderful message of life. I didn't read it to you. I'm going to read to you and not read it now. It says over in chapter nine, 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 talk, to perish, all the power of the people and provinces that would have assaulted them, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for the prey, upon one day, in all the provinces of the King Ahasuerus. namely upon the thirteenth day of the twelve months, which is the month of Adon. And verse sixteen, the Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor. Here in every province and in every city whithersoever the King's commandment, and his decree came that Jews had joy and gladness or peace, and a good day, and many of the people of the land became Jews. for fear of the Jews of the Lord. What a reversal of this situation. That's through the gospel. The message of doom in us when Adam and Eve sinned. All of sinned becomes short of the glory of God. As in Adam all die. All under sin. But at the cross, Jesus Christ brought a message in life. And it's very significant of the first verse of chapter six. It says, On that night, what a dark night it was for the Jews. Chapter eight, verse one, on that day. What a new thing. The message of death on that night. The message of day. Light and evil. And that's where our hearts are similar. What an illustration we've had in the past week, the thrill of freedom. And in the very same area, five hundred and ten years before Christ, freedom is more than a word. is an experience. For those four hundred and forty-four days every one of those hostage thought of freedom. They longed for freedom. Millions in the world were praying for their freedom. But they didn't have it until January the twenty. Their plane passed out the Iranian airspace have now been freed. How wonderful, dear Peter. Let me tell you, friend, you are a hostage. You're a hostage of sin. You're a hostage of faith. But you're not free yet. You can, you can. Just think of these hostages. How helpless they were. They couldn't do anything over there in that prison. One untriedly escaped, I just read more funny things. If those hostages are going to be released, power must come from without. And if you're going to be saved, power must come from above. You can't save yourself. You're just as helpless to save yourself as those fifty-three hostages were to save themselves. They couldn't do it. I'm neither of them. Salvation is of the Lord. How wonderful. If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free in you. That's the way. If Christ the Son shall make you free, he shall be free in you. The message of death has gone forth, and you're still under the sentence. If you're not a Christian, you're under the sentence of death. You're still a hostage, and you're helpless. But there's a message you're right, and that's in that verse I've just quoted. If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free in you. Who to think of the thrill of freedom? What a must have meant to those fellows. None of us. I saw it on TV. No way would they have. Tears could flow. Hugs and kisses and all this. Congratulations. But only those men and heart knew the thrill of youth. And it takes a born-again Christian. to tell you what the thrill is of being saved, free, free from sin, free from the bondage of Satan, free. Now those fifty-two hostages are going to die. They didn't die in the prison, but time, perhaps we've all been going to die. We'll have to yield to death. But then when you are saved and you come to know Jesus Christ and the freedom that is meant, you'll never die free. I shall give unto my sheep eternal life. They shall never die. Yes, you can have freedom this morning. Freedom from what? The other verse read that the worship me is. You can be free from the curse of the law. Christ, that redeemer, from the curse of the law, and that curse is a trivial one. Freedom from the guilt of sin. Yes, you find that in Roman big one. Freedom from the dominion of sin, you find that in Roman six. Freedom from darkness, the power of darkness. And during the power of darkness, some of those fellows knew what it was, they're being isolation. What's that? you're in a doctor and men love that doctor it's rather delightful hence you a man loving that kind of doctor but do you love a doctor it's worse than that a doctor says come and have faith ah yes freedom from doctrine freedom from the fear of man if i'm not in that except before how the earth the disciples so full of the love of god And so thrilled over being saved, they went forth, they didn't fear a man. They didn't fear a God, but they didn't fear a man. And the reason some of you are not saved this morning is you are afraid of what men say. Fear a man, bring up a snare. It's fear of man, what other boys and people might say to you that keeps you from accepting Christ and coming up and telling you. Your hearing men will warn your hearing God. And then there's freedom from the state of death. Six freedom offered you in the Bible. Wonderful, please. What are you going to do this morning? You're a Christian. You're a Christian. You try and break and see what struggling. try to come to train and realize that battle was war on the Indians. And the general said, you put it off. You're a hostage. You're not free. You're a slave to habits. You're a slave to various things. In Europe, you're not free. If you can, you may be free. You may not be free from physical suffering if you get saved. those hostages won't be free once this is what's happening. They'll likely have fun either then or they're free from a hostage situation they live in. And I think when a person comes to Christ, they're free, they're saved, they're on the way to heaven, they may have this or this is something, but they've got that freedom. And these soldiers, or these hostages rather, may not be free from temptations. They're just kind of temptations. A Christian has temptations. But that doesn't nullify the fact he, in Christ, he's got the freedom of freedom. And these hostages may be disciplined if they commit crimes in the United States. They're not going to get off because they were hostages. Because the law is going to be turned up. A Christian has to be this one in my thought, but if this one doesn't, the Lord move the fact he's born again, he's going to heaven. Ah yes, free from the presence of sin. They are free from that prison. And the presence around there of all those Iranian hollowing and climbing for their blood. Friends, God's offering will speak of me. A wonderful freedom. It's all found in Jesus Christ. It's yours for the kids. This was a costly freedom from Iran. I don't know whether it'll ever be computer or tabulated. The cost in money involving around getting these hostile devices is worth it. A priest, the kingdom I'm talking about this morning is cost, more costly than that. It's cost that Jesus Christ is done. That's a costly thing. That the sun shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Is he going to be free this morning? I continue on in ponderance and slavery. That's up to Jesus Christ. Could you conceive of one of those hostages? And no, I'm not going to be free. I'm going to stay here. You mean you let the other fifty-one college go back to their loved one? In fact, it doesn't hurt you to stay here? Yeah, I'm going to stay here. What would you take of that? What does God take of you? when he provided freedom from you, you won't take it. Others have taken it. Half it. Time will rejoice when it's gone on today and go on through this. I don't know whether heaven shouted at all or rejoiced for a second when the hostages got free. I know one thing is you've got saved this morning, heaven will rejoice. Joy in the presence of the angel of God over one sin and that repentance. All heaven will rejoice that you get this freedom that God has offered you. Free from the law of happy conditions. Jesus has died and there is remission. You want freedom. Freedom from sin. Freedom from taking. feel you from the curse of the law. If you want this freedom, a happy man in the house. Go talk to your child. You'll talk to your child. What you're going to do is, are you going to stay back during that evening? Or are you going to walk those through? Are you taking in this chapel this morning a hospital? Tear in your sins, sit on the way to parents, filled in the pockets of faith, still in the ungrateful of the world. Are you going to watch me? Please. I'm saved. I couldn't forgive. I'm born again. I'm on the way to heaven. I'm free. No one can rejoice. Let's go sit and see there. Father, there's love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love. that those men in their heart know the truth of what it is that we believe in them. And we've talked about others, and others can talk about being free, but then until you set Jesus aside, you don't know what the living is. When you set him, how on earth, if the sun shall make you free, ye shall be, not only just free, but free indeed, the doors of the things Will you accept Jesus Christ? He loves you, guides you on the cross, he said he loves you for all your sins away. Will you accept him? Will you accept him now? He came up after the meeting. Tell me, do you have faith? You have faith, no one will. So I'm happy to do that. Thank you. Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we commit to thy presence. We ask thy blessing on thy day. May precious soul be saved today. We thank thee for the release of the haughty days. We thank thee more for the someone here this morning were released from the bondage of sin and faith. May this be the happy experience of permanent morality. We ask thee in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Shall we sing and close in? Two hundred and fifty-one. Two hundred and fifty-one. Would you be free from the burden of sin? There's power in the blood. Power in the blood. Would you or evil a victory win? There's wonderful power in the blood. Two hundred and fifty-one. Have you made your choice? Will you make it, if you stand, and bring this hymn two hundred and fifty-one.