The book of Esther is a beautiful story of a Jewish maiden who is elevated to the throne in Persia.  That is what is taking place out in the open, but behind the scene is the hand of God, placing people into various positions to work out His plan.  It shows us the providence of God as He orchestrates these events to save the Jewish people from being exterminated by the wicked Haman.

Let me set the stage for what we will be studying this morning.  The book of Esther chronologically fits in between chapters 6 and 7 of the book of Ezra, which covered a time span of some 57 years and was the time between the first and second return of the Jews from captivity.

King Ahasuerus was king of Persia from 485 to 465 BC, when he was assassinated.  And Ahasuerus was the son of Darius I, the friend of Daniel, and his grandfather was Cyrus the Great, the one who defeated Belshazzar and the Babylonians.  Now Ahasuerus was his Hebrew name, Khshayarshan was his Persian name, and his most familiar name, historically speaking, was his Greek name, Xerxes I.

King Ahasuerus, has been planing to avenge the defeat of his father at the hands of the Greeks, who were the up and coming power.  He wants to launch a retaliatory raid against Greece to pay them back for the humiliation that his father had suffered.  His father, Darius I died in 486 BC.  And so Ahasuerus throws this huge party for all the leaders, the heads of state, of the 127 provinces that he was over.  This party lasted some 6 months, and then he threw a 7 day party for all the workers.

Now this was not just a party, but it was also a strategy session, gathering support for his invasion of Greece.  So he was buttering up these leaders, seeking their support in this battle.  The Greek historian Herodotus supports this idea of avenging this defeat of his father and he wanted to invade all of Europe and "reduce the whole earth into one empire."  According to Herodotus, this is what king Ahasuerus said, "My intent is to throw a bridge over the Hellespont and march an army through Europe against Greece, that thereby I may obtain vengeance from the Athenians for the wrongs committed by them against the Persians and against my father."

Now it was during these parties that the king got drunk and he requested his queen, Vashti, to come before him and all these men that were with him, either unveiled, which was a disgrace in that culture, or to come just wearing a crown, and nothing else!  Either way, the king let the drinking cloud his judgment and he was wrong in what he requested.  Now queen Vashti must have been pretty tough, for she refuses to come before the king in that manner.

Now this rebellion by the queen sent the kings counselors in an uproar, they were beside themselves.  They told the king that queen Vashti must be removed from her position for if she is not, and the other women catch wind of her actions, no one will be able to control their wives.  They wanted this women's liberation movement stopped immediately before it could do anymore damage.  Before it could get out of hand.  And so queen Vashti is removed from her position and never has contact with the king again.

After this the king and his men mount an attack against Greece and are soundly defeated, and besides being defeated, much of the wealth of the kingdom was depleted in this losing battle.  As the king returns home, he has no queen, and his men recognize his loneliness, even though he had a harem of women, he had no wife.  So they put together a beauty contest to find a beautiful virgin to become the next queen.

Now understand this, these women had no choice in the matter.  They were taken by the kings men, spent a year of beautification in preparation to meet the king.  And then after all of that, it was a one nights stand, and if the king liked you, he may call you back again, and if he did not like you, then you became part of his harem, never able to leave.  So it was a beauty contest for the king, but not for these women, for they did not have a choice in the matter.

Esther, the cousin of Mordecai, was taken and after 1 year of preparation, she presented herself before the king, and he fell in love with her.  And king Ahasuers made Esther his queen.  It is after all of this that Mordecai overhears an assassination plot against the king, and he tells Esther, who tells the king, and the plan is put to and end and the men involved were impaled on stakes.

That brings us to the portion of Scripture that we are going to be studying this morning in Esther chapter 3, as we look at this man Haman and what he is all about.  So lets look at verse 1 of Esther chapter 3.

Here we see Haman become second in command in the kingdom of  Persia, not that he deserved it, but I think he bought his way into that position and stepped on enough people to make his way to the top.  It says that Haman was a Agagite, a descendent of king Agag.  And to understand what this is all about, we need to look at who his family is and what they represented.

Agag, as well as his descendant Haman, were Amalekites and when Israel was on the way to the Promised Land, they were the first to attack Israel.  Listen to how these people attacked Israel in Deuteronomy 25:1718.  We read "Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God."

The Amalekites ambushed the back of the line where the elderly, the sick, the lame were, and this was distasteful to the Lord.  The Amalekites were descendants of Esau, (Genesis 36:12, 16), who we are told in Genesis 25:27 that he was "a man of the field", which in the Scripture, the field speaks of the world.  Thus, Esau and his descendants, the Amalekites, are a type of the flesh.  And as you have that in mind, listen to what God says must be done to the Amalekites, or the flesh.

To see what God wants us to do with the flesh, the Amalekites, we must jump to I Samuel chapter 15, where king Saul is told to completely wipe out the Amalekites, not leaving any to live, not even their animals.  It seems like a harsh judgment, but the Amalekites were a wicked people and God said they must be completely wiped out, destroyed!  But king Saul must have thought he knew better than God, and did not completely wipe out the Amalekites, and in the end, it was an Amalekite that killed Saul.

God is telling each of us that the flesh must be dealt with on a daily basis.  Notice what Paul had to say regarding the flesh, regarding our nature before we came to Christ in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 13.  He said "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others."

Paul is saying that the unsaved person is spiritually dead, and because a dead person can't hear, neither can a spiritually dead person communicate with God.  And these spiritually dead people walked on meandering through this life, not knowing where they are going and not living for God.  They were following the world, even though they would not admit it, and the worlds leader is Satan, "the prince of the power of the air."  And as they continued down this "course" they were blown by the wind, following the desires of the flesh, seeking to satisfy it, and never being completely satisfied.  Thus, when the wind blew again, they set sail in that new direction, seeking to be satisfied by these new fleshly desires.

The flesh speaks to the fallen nature that wants to control the body and the mind that is against God.  Why do people behave like this?  Simply speaking, they are born that way a sinner!  In Psalm 58:3 we read "The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies."  And in Psalm 51:5 we read "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me."  David is saying that he was born with a sin nature, that is why he sins.  You see, we aren't sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners!  Just as stealing a car doesn't make you a car jacker, but you steal a car because you are a car jacker!

Now the "Good News" is that God has forgiven us our sins and cleansed us from all unrighteousness.  He has changed our nature, and no longer should we be controlled by our fleshly desires, but we should be spirit controlled.  As Paul said in II Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

The Greek word that Paul uses for "new" is not the word that speaks of a renovation or repair.  God is not repairing our faulty nature.  He is not putting up new siding to cover the old, decayed wood.  Paul uses the Greek word KAINOS, which speaks of being brand new.  You see, God does not take the old man, our old nature, and try to renovate or repair it, but transforms us into a NEW creation, He gives to us a new heart, a new nature, that which is controlled by the Spirit of God.

The problem is that the flesh, that old nature, is still there and it keeps trying to resurrect itself and to control our life.  And that old man speaks of that which is controlling him.  Lets continue our story of Haman in the book of Esther, chapter 3.  At this point Haman is second in command in Persia.  Lets pick up our story in verse 2.

Now I don't believe Haman was a well-liked man and so as he is promoted, the king has to pass a command for all to bow in respect of this man.  You see, if he was well liked, well respected, the people would give him the honor he deserved.  But I think he was a selfcentered man only interested in his well being and not concerned at all for others, and they were not at all concerned for him.  As I said before, he was a very wealthy man, and most likely stepped on a lot of toes to get to the position he was now at.  And all that concerned Haman was the honor, the prestige that was placed upon him.

Now all in the kingdom bowed down in respect, in honor of this man Haman, all except for one man.  Only Mordecai refused to bow before this man and the reason for his refusal was simple.  He was not going to give honor to anything that God had cursed, and the Amalekites were a cursed people, for which Haman was a descendant.  God said to Moses in Exodus 17:14 "...'Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.'"

We are also not to honor the flesh, to feed into its appetite so that it will grow, just as Mordecai refused to give honor to Haman.  Jesus said in John 6:63 that "...the flesh profits nothing..."  And in Isaiah 40:67 we read "...All flesh is grass, And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.  The grass withers, the flower fades, Because the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass."

A good principle to learn from Mordecai's example, but in saying that, understand that the flesh was not going to give up, it will still come against the spirit to try and weaken it, to try and destroy it, just as Haman is going to come against Mordecai.

Think about what is taking place here.  As Haman passes by all these people, they all bow before him, which must have done wonders for his ego.  But the 99.99999% obedience to the command to bow before Haman was not enough.  The only thing that Haman saw was this one rebellious man, Mordecai, who refused to bow before him.  And that just ate at Haman.  It made him furious that this one man refused to pay him the honor he thought he deserved.  And Mordecai was going to pay for his actions or his lack of actions.

Understand this, the flesh is never satisfied, but will keep going for more and more control of your life.  It will sink you deeper and deeper into its immoral actions, and farther and farther away from God.  Paul warns us of this in Galatians 6:8 when he says "For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption..."  That is where the flesh is taking you, and thus we should place "...no confidence in the flesh."  Philippians 3:3.

Paul lays out this struggle that we have between the flesh and the spirit in Galatians chapter 5. Starting in verse 17 Paul says "For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish."  Galatians 5:17.

Paul is telling us that there is a battle that continues, a battle between the flesh and the spirit for control of your life.  As Christians the Spirit of God controls us.  But what happens many times is we feed the flesh, allow it to grow, and we cut off our supply of the Spirit in our lives.  And as we do we allow that old nature, the flesh, to resurrect itself and to control our lives.

The word that Paul uses for "lusts" is the Greek word EPITHUMEO, and when it speaks of the flesh it speaks of a coveting or controlling in a bad way.  The flesh's desire is to control our lives.  To take over our lives and to do those things that are contrary to God.  As Paul said in Romans 7:1524 "For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.  If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.  But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.  For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.  Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.  For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.  O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

A sad state that Paul is in.  His flesh is causing him to do those things that he doesn't want to do.  The law shows him his sin, it shows him what he should and should not be doing.  And yet he can't do it.  He goes on to say in verse 25 and Romans 8:1, "I thank God; through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.  There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."  Paul is saying that we can not do it on our own, but by the Spirit of God filling our lives, it can be done.  Yes the flesh desires to control our lives but also the Spirit desires to control our lives, and to move us away from evil and towards holiness or goodness.  And thus we see the conflict between the two.

Again we see this with Haman.  He had everyone bowing before him except one man, and yet that made him furious, his ego was hurt and his pride insulted.  So as he continued to feed his flesh, what came flowing from his life is the ugliness of its fruit.

Now Haman does not come up with a plan just to kill Mordecai, that was not enough for him.  His plan was even more evil.  He wanted to kill, wipe out, every Jew, and not just Mordecai.  He wanted all the Jews, throughout the 127 provinces of  Persia, to be killed for this mans actions.  That would teach them all a lesson.  He wanted every Jew destroyed.

Again we all know too clearly what the works of the flesh are.  Those things that come flowing from the selfcentered life.  Paul says in Galatians 5:1921 "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

The list goes on and on and all of it is evil, all of it is ugly, and all of it is selfserving and comes flowing from a heart that is governed by the flesh.  You see, a life that is governed by the Spirit of God is not selfcentered or selfserving, but is God centered and others serving.  And because of that we have the beautiful fruit of the spirit that comes flowing from our lives which are all a manifestation of love, that Agape love or sacrificial love that comes from God.

Also, if you look at all the people that were encouraging Mordecai to bow before Haman, they wanted him to give in and just do what he has been told to do.  It is not that bad.  But Mordecai refused to give in and he realized that the more you feed this monster the more it will continue to grow and the more it will try and destroy you.  It will never be satisfied until it has you in its grasps.

Moses makes a very interesting point in Exodus 17:16 when he said "...'Because the LORD has sworn: the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.'"  That tells me that we will battle our flesh our entire life and the only way we will truly have victory over it is when we walk according to the Spirit of God. As we allow the Holy Spirit to control our lives and to dwell within us and give us the strength to overcome the flesh.  You see, as you fill yourself with the things of God, the works of the flesh will have no room to grow and manifest its ugliness in your life.  The only thing that will flow from your life, as the Spirit guides you, is the fruit of the Spirit, which again is LOVE!  (Galatians 2:20).

Yes it is a constant battle, a continuous walk that will only end when we go to be with the Lord.  But keep this in mind "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."  I John 4:4.  If God is in control of your life, then His fruit will be born in your life.

Let me close this morning with this story.  Paul tells us to live victoriously and to avoid excesses of the flesh.  Moody once illustrated this truth as follows: "Tell me," he said to his audience, "How can I get the air out of this glass?"  One man said, "suck it out with a pump."  Moody replied, "That would create a vacuum and shatter the glass."  After many impossible suggestions, Moody smiled, picked up a pitcher of water, and filled the glass.  "There," he said, "all the air is now removed."  He then went on to show that victory in the Christian life is not by "sucking out a sin here and there," But rather by being filled with the Spirit.  As Paul said in Ephesians 5:18 "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit."