"Then [Esther] sent garments to clothe Mordecai and take his sack-
cloth away from him, but he would not accept them."
Mordecai had legitimate reason for temporarily remaining in sack-
cloth. But sinners outside of Jesus *never* have any excuse for not receiving from God, in the gospel, the clean, bright, and white gar-
ments of Christ's redemption. The human heart, in its fallen state, is so hard that even the prospects of heaven's royal robes cannot tempt it to abandon sin, and all its resultant misery and death.
But, thanks be to God that the power of sovereign grace can and does always break through, to all those the Lord intends to save.
[Puritan quote of the day: "Christ is all, to fill every condition with comfort. The best of conditions is not good without Him, nor is the worst bad with Him." --William Whitaker, in his sermon delivered at Cripplegate]
