THE SELF-DESTRUCTIVE THIRST FOR POWER ESTHER 3:1-6

 

·         Power and prestige has caused many a good man to fall.  The thirst for power causes deception in the human mind. Obadiah 3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? 4 Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.

 

·         Many think that power can be bought with money.  Acts 8:18-21

 

COVER THE HISTORY OF HAMAN AND MORDECAI

 

·         Mordecai refused to reverence Haman. The religion of a Jew forbade him to give honours to any mortal man which savoured of idolatry, especially to so wicked a man as Haman.

 

·          By nature all are idolaters; self is our favourite idol, we are pleased to be treated as if every thing were at our disposal. Though religion by no means destroys good manners, but teaches us to render honour to whom honour is due, yet by a citizen of Zion, not only in his heart, but in his eyes, such a vile person as Haman was, is contemned, Ps 15:4|.

 

·         The true believer cannot obey edicts, or conform to fashions, which break the law of God. He must obey God rather than man, and leave the consequences to him. Haman was full of wrath. His device was inspired by that wicked spirit, who has been a murderer from the beginning; whose enmity to Christ and his church, governs all his children.

 

VS 1-WE SEE THE WICKED EXALTED

 

I.                   THE ARTS BY WHICH THE WICKED RISE—The basest SELFISHNESS takes the guise and garb of loyalty. FLATTERY is the surest road to a monarch’s favour. Proverbs 29:5,6A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet. 6 In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare: but the righteous doth sing and rejoice.

II.                THE TEMPORARY PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED—Once in favour and in power, the world seems at their feet. They exercise power, even arbitrary and unjust, over others; and they are lifted up with pride Daniel 5: 18-19-O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: 19 And for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down.

 

III.             THE CERTAINTY OF THE FALL OF THE WICKED—The greater the height, the more calamatious and awful the headlong plunge.  Sin rages and beats upon the shore. Proverbs 16:18-Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Daniel 5:20- But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:

 

PRACTICAL LESSONS FROM THIS SCRIPTURE

 

·         Be not  envious at the prosperity of the wicked  Asaph said in Psalms 73:3 For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

 

·         Be not dismayed at the spectacle of power in wicked hands Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

 

·         Be aware of the consequences of  entrapment Psalms 9:15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.

 

ESTHER 7:10

 

·         THE TERRIBLE CONSUMMATION OF A WICKED CAREER

  1. Boundless ambition 
  2. Boundless pride 
  3. Boundless Cruelty

 

·         THE SIGNAL OF DEFEAT OF A HEARTLESS PURPOSE

1.      Haman was degraded just when he thought of reaching the goal of his ambition.

  1. Haman perished on the very gallows that he had erected for

another.

  1. Haman’s favour with the King ended when the King realized

The intent of Haman to kill the Jews.