Be Exalted by the King
Scripture Reading: Esther 6:2-12
2 And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two
of the king’s eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King
Ahasuerus. 3 Then the king said, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on
Mordecai for this?”
And the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for
him.”
4 So the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the
outer court of the king’s palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the
gallows that he had prepared for him.
5 The king’s servants said to him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.”
And the king said, “Let him come in.”
6 So Haman came in, and the king asked him, “What shall be done for the man
whom the king delights to honor?”
Now Haman thought in his heart, “Whom would the king delight to honor more
than me?” 7 And Haman answered the king, “For the man whom the king
delights to honor, 8 let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and a
horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal crest placed on its head.
9 Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most
noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor.
Then parade him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before
him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’”
10 Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you
have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king’s gate!
Leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken.”
11 So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai and led him on
horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, “Thus shall it
be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!”
12 Afterward Mordecai went back to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried to his
house, mourning and with his head covered.
Haman sought to be exalted by the king, while Mordecai did not. Haman must have
been very full of himself because the first thing he thought when the king spoke of
someone the king delighted to honor was that no one deserved honor more than
him. He was extremely proud. So, when he was describing all the things he wanted to
happen to him, he was actually describing all the things that would happen to the man
he had made his enemy, Mordecai. Imagine how much egg was on his face when he,
who he thought was so elevated, had to parade Mordecai, who he thought was so
lowly, around town. God’s word warns us not to exalt ourselves.
Proverbs 25:6-7
6 Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king,
And do not stand in the place of the great;
7 For it is better that he say to you,
“ Come up here,”
Than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince,
Whom your eyes have seen.
Yeshua pretty much said the same thing when teaching His disciples.
Luke 14:10-11
10 But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when
he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you
will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. 11 For
whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be
exalted.”
It’s really easy for us to get caught up in ourselves and to seek that place of honor
like Haman did. There are many men in the scriptures who have arrogantly tried to
exalt themselves, but it never works out for them, and that’s a lesson we need to
learn. There’s an old adage that says that a fool learns from his own mistakes, but a
wise man learns from the mistakes of others. I’ll be the first to tell you that no matter
how ‘intelligent’ I may have been, I was a fool for a very long time, but I have made a
conscious effort to change that. Through the gift of the Bible, God gives us the
opportunity to be instructed in wisdom by analyzing the lives and life choices of men
and women who were both wise and foolish to help us choose more wisely. But the
only way we can take advantage of that wisdom is to read the book. Absolam is one
that tried to exalt himself. He sought to raise himself above his father King David and
although his father loved him to the end, his pride and arrogance brought him nothing
but death. The devil attempted to exalt himself.
Isaiah 14:12-15
12 “ How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘ I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit.
That was his downfall. The Father had given him a place of honor and evidently he
was well equipped and very good at what he did. But that was not enough. He
aspired to be more; more than God! He thought more highly of himself than he ought
to have and that brought him lower than he likely could have imagined; to the lowest
depths of the pit. Have you picked up on the pattern here? Haman and Absalom and
Lucifer all wanted to bring glory to themselves but it didn’t work out well for any of
them. Why? Because that is not how the kingdom works.
Psalm 75:4-7 & 10
4 “I said to the boastful, ‘Do not deal boastfully,’
And to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up the horn.
5 Do not lift up your horn on high;
Do not speak with a stiff neck.’”
6 For exaltation comes neither from the east
Nor from the west nor from the south.
7 But God is the Judge:
He puts down one,
And exalts another.
10 “All the horns of the wicked I will also cut off,
But the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.”
The kingdom is not about us defending ourselves in our pride and exalting ourselves
in our arrogance. It is our God; our King who will lift us up to our place of honor in His
kingdom. Just like King Ahasuerus exalted humble Mordecai, so will we be exalted in
our humility. But if we seek our own glory as Haman did, He will be the One to give us
a reality check by bringing us low, as happened to Haman who imagined himself being
honored by the king but who eventually brought but disgrace to himself and his entire
household.
When you are very good at something, whether it be sports or academics or your own
beauty, it is very natural to begin thinking highly of yourself. It is so much better
when we don’t speak highly of ourselves and we let others do that. It just sounds so
much better coming from the mouth of another than from your own mouth. Cassius
Clay who later became Muhammad Ali always spoke very highly of himself. That was
pretty much his trademark. He was extremely good at what he did and he never
missed an opportunity to tell you how great he was. The ‘greatest’ is what he called
himself. Have seen Mr. Ali lately? He’s not floating like a butterfly or stinging like a
bee anymore. In fact, the man who spoke so much about himself, can hardly speak
anymore about anything. In his prideful state he was seduced by the deception of
Islam and was set upon a path to destruction. I do pray that he will reject the lie and
come to Messiah before it’s too late.
You contrast him with George Foreman who was humbled quite a bit by the
circumstances of his boxing career and eventually came to Christ and became a
minister of the Gospel. He has been exalted. He ended up becoming the oldest man
to be the heavyweight-boxing champion at age 45. Now, I’m not attempting to say Ali
got whatever disease he has because he exalted himself or that Foreman stays
healthy because he was humbled. Don’t read more into the analogy than what’s
there. I’m just using the two men as examples of what it looks like to be brought low
when you are arrogant and to be exalted when you are lowly. The latter is much more
desirable than the former.
Matthew 23:11-12
11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whoever
exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Yeshua shows us clearly that there is honor in humility and none in self-exaltation. In
Ezekiel 21:26 there is a ‘thus says the Lord that says “Exalt the humble, humble the
exalted”. And that right there says a whole lot. Even with all the knowledge God has
put before the face of mankind so that we can learn and not make the mistakes of our
fathers, still there will be another who will attempt to exalt himself.
Daniel 11:36-37
36 “Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify
himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and
shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been
determined shall be done. 37 He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor
the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them
all.
Just as Haman, and Absolam, and Lucifer exalted themselves only to be made low, so
will this antichrist do the same with the same outcome. God will not be defeated. The
principles of the Kingdom do not change.
Psalm 89:15-17
15 Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!
They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance.
16 In Your name they rejoice all day long,
And in Your righteousness they are exalted.
17 For You are the glory of their strength,
And in Your favor our horn is exalted.
He is our strength and it is in Him and ONLY in Him that we are exalted.
1 Peter 5:5-7
5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you
be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for
“ God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt
you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: June 8, 2008
Scripture Reading: Esther 6:2-12
2 And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two
of the king’s eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King
Ahasuerus. 3 Then the king said, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on
Mordecai for this?”
And the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for
him.”
4 So the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the
outer court of the king’s palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the
gallows that he had prepared for him.
5 The king’s servants said to him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.”
And the king said, “Let him come in.”
6 So Haman came in, and the king asked him, “What shall be done for the man
whom the king delights to honor?”
Now Haman thought in his heart, “Whom would the king delight to honor more
than me?” 7 And Haman answered the king, “For the man whom the king
delights to honor, 8 let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and a
horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal crest placed on its head.
9 Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most
noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor.
Then parade him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before
him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’”
10 Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you
have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king’s gate!
Leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken.”
11 So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai and led him on
horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, “Thus shall it
be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!”
12 Afterward Mordecai went back to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried to his
house, mourning and with his head covered.
Haman sought to be exalted by the king, while Mordecai did not. Haman must have
been very full of himself because the first thing he thought when the king spoke of
someone the king delighted to honor was that no one deserved honor more than
him. He was extremely proud. So, when he was describing all the things he wanted to
happen to him, he was actually describing all the things that would happen to the man
he had made his enemy, Mordecai. Imagine how much egg was on his face when he,
who he thought was so elevated, had to parade Mordecai, who he thought was so
lowly, around town. God’s word warns us not to exalt ourselves.
Proverbs 25:6-7
6 Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king,
And do not stand in the place of the great;
7 For it is better that he say to you,
“ Come up here,”
Than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince,
Whom your eyes have seen.
Yeshua pretty much said the same thing when teaching His disciples.
Luke 14:10-11
10 But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when
he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you
will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. 11 For
whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be
exalted.”
It’s really easy for us to get caught up in ourselves and to seek that place of honor
like Haman did. There are many men in the scriptures who have arrogantly tried to
exalt themselves, but it never works out for them, and that’s a lesson we need to
learn. There’s an old adage that says that a fool learns from his own mistakes, but a
wise man learns from the mistakes of others. I’ll be the first to tell you that no matter
how ‘intelligent’ I may have been, I was a fool for a very long time, but I have made a
conscious effort to change that. Through the gift of the Bible, God gives us the
opportunity to be instructed in wisdom by analyzing the lives and life choices of men
and women who were both wise and foolish to help us choose more wisely. But the
only way we can take advantage of that wisdom is to read the book. Absolam is one
that tried to exalt himself. He sought to raise himself above his father King David and
although his father loved him to the end, his pride and arrogance brought him nothing
but death. The devil attempted to exalt himself.
Isaiah 14:12-15
12 “ How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘ I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit.
That was his downfall. The Father had given him a place of honor and evidently he
was well equipped and very good at what he did. But that was not enough. He
aspired to be more; more than God! He thought more highly of himself than he ought
to have and that brought him lower than he likely could have imagined; to the lowest
depths of the pit. Have you picked up on the pattern here? Haman and Absalom and
Lucifer all wanted to bring glory to themselves but it didn’t work out well for any of
them. Why? Because that is not how the kingdom works.
Psalm 75:4-7 & 10
4 “I said to the boastful, ‘Do not deal boastfully,’
And to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up the horn.
5 Do not lift up your horn on high;
Do not speak with a stiff neck.’”
6 For exaltation comes neither from the east
Nor from the west nor from the south.
7 But God is the Judge:
He puts down one,
And exalts another.
10 “All the horns of the wicked I will also cut off,
But the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.”
The kingdom is not about us defending ourselves in our pride and exalting ourselves
in our arrogance. It is our God; our King who will lift us up to our place of honor in His
kingdom. Just like King Ahasuerus exalted humble Mordecai, so will we be exalted in
our humility. But if we seek our own glory as Haman did, He will be the One to give us
a reality check by bringing us low, as happened to Haman who imagined himself being
honored by the king but who eventually brought but disgrace to himself and his entire
household.
When you are very good at something, whether it be sports or academics or your own
beauty, it is very natural to begin thinking highly of yourself. It is so much better
when we don’t speak highly of ourselves and we let others do that. It just sounds so
much better coming from the mouth of another than from your own mouth. Cassius
Clay who later became Muhammad Ali always spoke very highly of himself. That was
pretty much his trademark. He was extremely good at what he did and he never
missed an opportunity to tell you how great he was. The ‘greatest’ is what he called
himself. Have seen Mr. Ali lately? He’s not floating like a butterfly or stinging like a
bee anymore. In fact, the man who spoke so much about himself, can hardly speak
anymore about anything. In his prideful state he was seduced by the deception of
Islam and was set upon a path to destruction. I do pray that he will reject the lie and
come to Messiah before it’s too late.
You contrast him with George Foreman who was humbled quite a bit by the
circumstances of his boxing career and eventually came to Christ and became a
minister of the Gospel. He has been exalted. He ended up becoming the oldest man
to be the heavyweight-boxing champion at age 45. Now, I’m not attempting to say Ali
got whatever disease he has because he exalted himself or that Foreman stays
healthy because he was humbled. Don’t read more into the analogy than what’s
there. I’m just using the two men as examples of what it looks like to be brought low
when you are arrogant and to be exalted when you are lowly. The latter is much more
desirable than the former.
Matthew 23:11-12
11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whoever
exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Yeshua shows us clearly that there is honor in humility and none in self-exaltation. In
Ezekiel 21:26 there is a ‘thus says the Lord that says “Exalt the humble, humble the
exalted”. And that right there says a whole lot. Even with all the knowledge God has
put before the face of mankind so that we can learn and not make the mistakes of our
fathers, still there will be another who will attempt to exalt himself.
Daniel 11:36-37
36 “Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify
himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and
shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been
determined shall be done. 37 He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor
the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them
all.
Just as Haman, and Absolam, and Lucifer exalted themselves only to be made low, so
will this antichrist do the same with the same outcome. God will not be defeated. The
principles of the Kingdom do not change.
Psalm 89:15-17
15 Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!
They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance.
16 In Your name they rejoice all day long,
And in Your righteousness they are exalted.
17 For You are the glory of their strength,
And in Your favor our horn is exalted.
He is our strength and it is in Him and ONLY in Him that we are exalted.
1 Peter 5:5-7
5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you
be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for
“ God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt
you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: June 8, 2008