"O wretched man that I am!"
Daniel Valles

READ Esther 4:13

"...Think not to thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews."  Sometimes we as Christians can get the idea that we are free from the results of some sins.  We incorrectly assume it is our Christian liberty.  Christian liberty is not the right to do whatever we want or act any way we want; it is only the fact that we are free from the death penalty of the law.  In the verse, Mordecai warns Esther not to fall into a false sense of security just because she was the queen.  All throughout the New Testament, Christians are warned about sin.  Christians can sin too, and are subject to the results of sin just as the unbelievers.  What I mean by results of sin for the Christian, is not death, but results of such actions as cheating, lying, adultery, lust, and so forth.

As Christians, not only should we avoid acting with a false sense of immunity, but avoid a belief that sin in our life can be relieved of some of the results of that sin.  Esther 5:2-3 talks about how Esther went before the king and obtained his favor.  We can go before our Heavenly Father and ask help at any time.  (Romans 5:12)  Just like Esther was close to the king, so we also are close to our deliverer, our Heavenly Father.  Whenever we have a spiritual problem in our life which may ruin our life, we can always go to Him for help and deliverance.

Sure, it is humbling, but the key to success over sin is not found in ourselves, but in God.  Romans 8:37-39 says, "Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is Christ Jesus our Lord."  While the obvious tone of the passage is that nothing can separate us from God's love, the key ideal that we want is that through God, not us, we are more than conquerors.  Romans 8:21, says, "Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption in the glorious liberty of the children of God."  When we were first saved, we were not the saviors, but the saved, and it will continue in that way that Christ delivers us, not ourselves.  (Romans 7:19)

Sometimes we think that through careful attention to what we do or say we can free ourselves from a certain sin.  It didn't work then, and it doesn't work now.  Romans 8:3 says, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh."  All the laws and rules and attempts at good cannot save our soul from Hell and they cannot free us from the results of sin.  We, in our own flesh, can do nothing.  But, our hope, our assurance, our deliverer is found in Romans 8:2.  "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."  Christ saved us.  When was the last time you went before a Holy King, who through mercy and grace saved our souls, asking for forgiveness and help in an area of your life, knowing that there was nothing you could do by yourself?

How, as Christians, can we we live lives which are pleasing to God, that will enable us to be victorious Christians?  Romans 8:1 says, "There is therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."  No condemnation!  - to those that walk not after the flesh and the world, but after Christ in Christ likeness.  Romans 7:18 greatly illustrated this point.  "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh), dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me: but how to perform that which is good I find not."  The author here states that when he honestly examines the good and virtue in his life, he knows and confesses that there is no good in him; and when he looks for the ways that he can do good, he finds them not.  He realizes that he is spiritually bankrupt.  "O wretched man that I am!  who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" quotes Romans 7:24.  When we look at ourselves, even if we are saved, do we cry out loud with earnest please to God that we are nothing?!  When Esther came before the king desiring an audience to ask of his help, she didn't parade in there acting as though she was the king herself.  No.  She quietly waited until she was allowed near the king.  With us as Christians, going to God should not be as an occasion to bless God with our presence, but that He might bless us.  Look at your life today, right now.  Are you trying to take care of sin in your own wretched flesh; or are you, as Esther, going to the King who can take care of the sin?