Imagine hiking through the Rocky Mountains, and all the beauty that is surrounding you.  The trees, the flowers, the amazing and beautiful variety of wildlife that crosses your path.  And as you are hiking you come across someone that is grasping the side of the mountain, holding on for dear life.  And as you go by and take all this in, you see the situation that this person is in, as they begin to lose control and are ready to fall to their death below, and you just ignore him and the evil that is about to overtake him.  You just close your eyes to the situation and look the other way.  Before we are to quick to judge a person who might do something like this, for this persons lack of action, I think we need to look inward, at our own life, and see what God is trying to show each of us regarding a situation very similar to this.

In our story this morning we are in Esther chapter 8.  If you remember from our study in the book of Esther, queen Esther has exposed the evil man, Haman, who was planning to have every Jew in the 127 provinces of the Persian empire put to death.  And as king Ahasuerus hears of what is being done, and that his own wife, his queen, is also affected by this decree, he has this evil man, Haman, put to death.

The problem now is this.  Even though Haman has been put to death, the law or decree was still in effect.  Thus, on the 13th day of the 12th month the Jews were going to be executed, and that could not be changed, even by the king!  Remember the decree that king Darius signed in Daniel 6:8, his counselors said this, "Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter."

This is where we will pick up our story, in Esther chapter 8, beginning in verse 4, as Esther is once again going to approach the king.

Notice the burden upon Esther's heart.  She is concerned about the evil that is about to come upon her people, their ultimate destruction because of this decree that was signed.  The problem, as I said, was this decree could not be revoked, it could not be altered, it could not be done away with, even if the king no longer liked it or wanted to abide by it, he had to!

As Christians we should feel the same about the lost.  You see, we are all part of the same family, the family of Adam, we are all descendants of that first family, and because of that we all have the sin nature that was in Adam.  We read in Romans 5:1214 "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned; (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.  Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come."

Folks, that is the death sentence, one that can't be altered, one that can't be changed.  Paul said "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  Romans 3:23.  It is that death sentence that has been decreed to all who are in the family of man, and that means everyone of us!  No one can escape that penalty for sin, as Paul said in Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death..."

Now as we see what transpires here in the book of Esther, we can also apply that to our own life.  Let's continue to study in Esther chapter 8, beginning in verse 7, and see if this death sentence upon the Jews could be changed in some way, to make it of no effect, and then see how we can apply that to our own life.

The king could not alter the first decree, but he could put into effect a second decree that would make the first decree basically null and void.  It would, in a sense be impotent, and yet the second decree could in no way remove the first decree, but it could only counteract the first one.

When the day for the Jew's to be exterminated comes, the king has given them permission to fight back against their enemy and not just be lead to the slaughter.  And with the backing of the king, this second decree carried a lot of weight behind it.  You did not want to go against the king.  And this second decree was sent quickly throughout the kingdom for all to read, for within 9 months the judgment day for the Jews would come to pass.

Now to understand this a little more clearly, think of what was done in this manner.  All of us are aware of the law of gravity, we see it every day of our lives in operation.  In fact, it impacts us every morning as we get out of bed and take a look in the mirror, we begin to see parts of our body begin to droop a little more as we get older.  That is what a face lift is all about, lifting that which has begun to sag and droop over time and tighten up your skin on your face.  And this law of gravity can't be changed, it is always with us.

If you were to go to the top of the Sears tower in Chicago, take the elevators to the top floor.  Get to the roof and then step off the Sears tower, you will see the law of gravity working in your life.  You probably won't be to happy about it as you come crashing to the ground, but by now you understand that the law of gravity is real and it is with us, it can't be changed.

Now just because the law of gravity can't be changed, you can make it have no effect upon your life.  You see, you can utilize the law of aerodynamics and that will counteract the law of gravity.  All you need to do is get into an airplane, and as that airplane takes off and fly's through the sky, you have made the law of gravity have no effect upon you, because the law of aerodynamics has taken over.

But understand that the law of gravity is still with you, for to prove that all you would have to do is open the door of the plane and step out, and the law of gravity will once again take over, as you come crashing to the ground.

Now how can that be applied to our life?  Simply speaking, we are sinners, as I have said, separated from God.  God is a holy and righteous God and He can't ignore sin or the penalty for sin.  The penalty must be paid.  In Habakkuk 1:13, in speaking of God, we read "You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness..."

If God just accepted us in our sinful condition, if He did not deal with our unrighteousness, that would make Him unjust.  That would be like a judge, just to use as an illustration, and not a very good one, but a judge who heard the evidence, and all the evidence pointed to the defendant  being guilty, all the evidence was clear, and yet he does not sentence him to pay the penalty for his crimes.  That judge would be unjust in his handling of the case, and if our Lord did that with us, He too would be unjust.

But our God is a holy and righteous God, and because of that He can't ignore sin or take away its penalty.  There has to be paid a penalty for our sins, and we are sinners separated from God.  Isaiah 64:6, 7 says of our lives that "...we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags...For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of our iniquities."

And God very clearly states what happens to those who remain in their sins.  In Ezekiel 18:20 we read "The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself."

Because of this, all of humanity is in a very difficult situation, to say the least.  We are sinners, separated from God, and as Paul tells us in II Thessalonians 1:89 that when Jesus comes back to judge those who have rejected Him "in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power."

You see, we aren't perfect, we are sinners and thus we cannot come before a holy and righteous God and stand before Him in our own righteousness, for it is like filthy rags.  Neither can God lower His standards, "at least you aren't that bad" kind of mentality.  Thus, the decree for the human race is death, eternal separation from God because of our sin.  That is the decree, and it can't be altered!

But God has also made another decree that makes the first decree null and void if it is applied to your life.  Listen to what Isaiah has to say in Isaiah 53:56.  We read, "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

The new decree is this, believe in Christ, that He died for your sins, and receive that free gift of God into your life, that gift of grace that He has extended to each of us.  And by faith you shall be saved.  Peter put it this way in I Peter 3:18 when he said "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit."

A holy and righteous God stepped into the time, space domain when He became flesh and paid the penalty or was the substitutionary payment for our sins.  As Paul said in I Thessalonians 5:9 "For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Now in saying all that, understand that the law of death because of sin is still around, it could not be removed.  For all those that refuse to receive the free gift of God in Christ Jesus, they will stand before God in their own righteousness, and come up far short.  They will be separated from God and spend eternity, by their own choice, in a tormented state.  And once you realize what you gave up, spending eternity with God, that in itself is punishment for those who will live for eternity in darkness, out of God's light!

But for all those who apply the second decree to their life, the blood of Christ covers their sins.  As John tells us in Revelation 1:56 "and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."  Because of the cleansing of Christ upon our life, when we stand before God we will not be standing in our own righteousness, but the righteousness that has been imputed to us through Christ.  And as God looks at us He will see us as perfect, not because of who we are, but what He has done!  As Paul said in Philippians 3:9 "and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith."

As we look out into the world that is lost and drowning in their sins, are we just going to ignore them, or walk through life with blinders on?  Those that are hanging on for dear life, are we going to just pass them by?  I pray that God would give each of us a burden for the lost and have the heart of Esther for her people.  Remember what she said back in Esther 8:6?  She said "For how can I endure to see the evil that will come to my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my countrymen?"

You see, the days we are living in are no different, if you think about it, than the days that Esther was living in.  The situation is very similar.  There is a death sentence for those who reject Christ, just as there was a death sentence for all those who refused to apply the second decree to their life in Esther's day.  And we as Christians need to awaken out of our spiritual slumber and share with people the good news of Jesus Christ.  Not out of the law or constraint, but out of love, knowing that those outside of Christ are sentenced to death!

The story of the Samaritan that Jesus encountered at the well in John chapter 4, most of us are fairly familiar with.  Jesus told her that He was the Messiah and as He finished talking with her, His disciples came, and they were shocked that Jesus was speaking with this woman from Samaria, for the Jews had nothing to do with the Samaritans.  Now as this woman finds out who Jesus is, she is going back to tell the men of the city who she found, the Messiah!  She was telling them the good news, that the Messiah is here!

As she left Jesus and His disciples, they asked Jesus to eat some food and Jesus said to them in John chapter 4, beginning in verse 34 "...'My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.  Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!  And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.'"  John 4:3438.

Understand what is transpiring here, for it is fascinating to me.  Jesus tells His disciples that He feeds off of doing the work that His Father has sent Him to do.  He then tells them that the harvest time is still 4 months away, which is speaking of the barley or wheat harvest that would occur in the middle of March and the middle of April.

And as the disciples look at the grain fields, Jesus tells them that the fields are already white for harvest!  Now I don't know about you, but that strikes me as being strange.  First of all Jesus said the harvest is 4 months away, and now He is saying that NOW is the time for the harvest.  That is very confusing and seems to be a contradictory statement that Jesus made.  Now if it was anyone but Jesus, we may believe that a mistake was made, but it was Jesus who said this and no mistake was made.  So what in the world is going on here?

Very simply, the woman of Samaria went to get the men of the city to come and see Jesus.  Thus, as these men were walking by the grain fields to get to Jesus, Jesus was saying these words to His disciples, "...Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!"

You see, as the disciples turned to look at the grain fields, that were not full height yet, all they could see over these stalks of grain were the heads of the Samaritan men coming towards Jesus.  That was what Jesus was talking about when he was speaking of the harvest, the harvest of souls into the kingdom of God, and not of grain, for there were still 4 months till the grain harvest.

What a beautiful picture of the harvest that God has for us here in Manitowoc.  The harvest of souls into the kingdom of God.  He has prepared us for the work and has prepared the work for us, and I don't believe in one year down the road, or 5 years, or 10 years, but right now is the time for the harvest.  As Paul said in Galatians 6:910 "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.  Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith."

God is calling for us to GO OUT into the fields, where people are living, and gather in the harvest of souls into the kingdom of God.  How can we accomplish this overwhelming task?  Very simply, as Jesus said in Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

The Holy Spirit will empower us to be witnesses of Him, of Jesus, to a world that is dying in their sins.  We have the good news of the Gospel, and as with Esther, who when she had obtained this second decree, got out the swift horses to travel throughout the kingdom to spread the good news and alert everyone to what the king has done for his people.

Thus, we are to bring that good news of our king, Jesus Christ, all over the world, but we must begin within our own families, our communities’ andsoon.  We are not to hide ourselves in our houses, or churches, we are to live our faith on a daily basis.  And as we live our faith in the open, others will be drawn to us, and they will catch what we have, that everlasting life that is only found in Jesus Christ.  As Paul said in II Corinthians 6:2 "For He says: "In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Don't put off what God has placed upon your heart this morning.  If He is calling you, open the door of your heart and allow Him into your life.  Make that first decree of death and separation from God because of our sin nature, have no effect upon your life because of the second decree of salvation by grace through faith in Christ.

For those of you who don't know Christ, listen carefully to this story:

It is said of old Edwin Rushworth, who, having been a skeptic all his life, resolved to read for an hour a day the book that he had so long dreaded.  "Wife," he said, as he looked up from his first perusal, "if this book is right, we are all wrong!"  He continued his readings for another week.  "Wife," he exclaimed at the end of that time, "if this book is right, we are lost!"  He went on reading with more avidity than ever.  "Wife!" he said earnestly a few nights later, "if this book is right, we may be saved!"  And they were!  And in entering the Kingdom of Heaven, they left all their "ifs" behind them.  (The Fiery Crags).

And for those of you who know Christ, let me leave you with these words of encouragement to go and share your faith with those around you, not wasting the opportunities that God has given you.

One Sunday afternoon in Chicago, a group of ballplayers entered a salon.  When they emerged, they saw a group of people playing instruments, singing gospel hymns, and testifying of Christ's power to save from sin.

Memories of a log cabin In Iowa, an old church, and a godly mother raced through the mind of one of the ballplayers.  Tears came to his eyes.  Presently he said, "Boys, I'm through!  Going to turn to Jesus Christ.  We've come t the parting of the ways."  Some of his companions mocked him, but others were silent.  Only one encouraged him.  He turned from the group and entered the Pacific Garden Mission.

Later the ballplayer told what occurred.  "I called upon God's mercy, I staggered out of my sins into the outstretched arms of the Savior.  I became instantly a new creature in Him!  The next morning at practice, my manager, Mike Kelly, greeted me and said, 'Billy, I read in the paper what occurred yesterday.  Religion isn't my long suit, but I won't knock you, and I'll knock the daylights out of anyone who does'"

The converted ballplayer was Billy Sunday, who became the worldrenowned evangelist.

(Gospel Herald).

Don't lose heart; because you don't know what God is going to do through you, through the faith you are living by, to touch the lives of others.  Keep the heart of Esther for her people, as she said, "For how can I endure to see the evil that will come to my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my countrymen?"