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Wednesday
The First
Lesson
Esther 7
1 So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen.
2 And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the
banquet of wine, What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall
be granted thee: and what is thy request? and it shall be performed,
even to the half of the kingdom.
3 Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favour
in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life
be given me at my petition, and my people at my request:
4 For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain,
and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen,
I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail
the king's damage.
5 Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen,
Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to
do so?
6 And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman.
Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.
7 And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath
went into the palace garden: and Haman stood up to make request
for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil
determined against him by the king.
8 Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place
of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon
Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also
before me in the house? As the word went out of the king's mouth,
they covered Haman's face.
9 And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king,
Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made
for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, standeth in the
house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him thereon.
10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for
Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.
1st Lesson Questions -
Prepare another's gallows and you may hang on them yourself. Translate that truth into Christian parlance. RESOLVE.
The Second
Lesson
Romans 2:17-29
17 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and
makest thy boast of God,
18 And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more
excellent, being instructed out of the law;
19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind,
a light of them which are in darkness,
20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast
the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.
21 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?
thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou
commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit
sacrilege?
23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the
law dishonourest thou God?
24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through
you, as it is written.
25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but
if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
26 Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of
the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil
the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost
transgress the law?
28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that
circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is
that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose
praise is not of men, but of God.
2nd Lesson Questions -
A bad Christian breeds blasphemy. How so? Am I contributing to other's sanctification, or am I giving them a vehicle to say "No" to the Gospel? RESOLVE.