The following sermon is by John MacArthur, pastor, author, and Bible teacher with Grace

to You.

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of perfect justice can show mercy to sinners who deserve only punishment.

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And now unleashing God's truth one verse at a time.

Here's Grace to You, Bible teacher John MacArthur.

It always strikes me that this is such a strange time of year because all of our calendars

and our normal functions in life get thrown into chaos.

I want to make sense not out of the mundane but out of the things that really matter.

And I want to frame that if I may in this way.

In the book of Esther in chapter one you don't need to look at it.

There is a very interesting statement about King Hazeweras, a pagan king, the king of

the Persian Empire who ruled from about 486 BC to 465 BC.

And it says concerning him that he surrounded himself with wise men.

It's first chapter of Esther.

And they are defined this way who understood the times.

That's really what wisdom should do.

Even pagans understand that.

There's more applicable to us is the same basic comment with regard to the sons of Issaqar.

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