The Battle Belongs to the Lord

The Battle Belongs to the Lord | Christian Sermon by Nathan Lino
Esther 8

Introduction: Christ’s Victory Authorizes and Empowers Us to Conquer Sin

In chapter 7, Esther arrived at the dinner looking nothing like the savior of the Jews, but rather like a dead woman walking. Nothing about her gave any indication that she was God’s provision to save God’s people and preserve God’s intentions toward mankind.

Haman arrived at the dinner looking like the one in control, the unbeatable enemy of God’s people. But when the dinner ended and the smoke cleared, Esther left the dinner the empowered, conquering heroine, and savior of God’s people; Haman left the dinner literally a dead man walking. What a picture of the gospel.

The scene at the cross was similar. Nothing about Christ gave any indication that He was God’s provision to save God’s people and bring to fruition God’s intentions toward mankind. Christ arrived at the cross by all appearances as a dead man walking.

Satan arrived at the cross looking like the one in control, the unbeatable enemy of God’s people. But when those three days ended and the smoke cleared, Christ left the scene as the empowered, conquering hero, and Savior of the world; Satan left the scene literally a dead man walking.

Esther 8:1–17
Yet just because Haman was defeated did not mean the Jews were out of the woods. The ship of Haman’s genocide agenda had already sailed; the Jews were still slated for death on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month.

However, Esther’s defeat of Haman enabled her to offer a counter-edict of life as an alternative to Haman’s edict of death.

Thanks to Esther’s work in the palace on their behalf, the Jews were given an offer, which if trusted and obeyed empowered them to arm themselves and defend themselves against certain death from their enemies.

It must be noted that the Jews had done nothing to change their standing before their enemies; the work of Esther in the palace on their behalf changed their standing before their enemies.

Application
Just as Esther’s defeat of Haman at the dinner did not mean the Jews were out of the woods, so Christ’s defeat of Satan at the cross does not mean humanity is out of the woods. The ship of Satan’s genocide agenda has already sailed; “the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10 ESV).

However, Christ’s defeat of Satan enabled Him to offer a counter-edict of life as an alternative to Satan’s edict of death.

Thanks to Christ’s work on the cross on mankind’s behalf, humanity is given an offer, which if trusted and obeyed, empowers us to overcome the certain consequences of sin in our lives—spiritual death before God during this life and eternity in hell in the afterlife (Eph. 2:1).

It must be noted that there is nothing we can do to change our standing before God; the work of Christ on the cross on our behalf changed our standing before God and empowers us against sin.

Conclusion
Call unbelievers to embrace Christ’s counter-edict of life in the face of certain death.
Remind believers they are empowered by Christ against sin.

They do not have to live with addictions, enslaved to emotions like fear, worry, and jealousy, or live in relationships ruined by sin. The power of Christ overcomes, redeems, heals, and restores lives damaged by sin.