This week I have just thoroughly
enjoyed going over this book of Esther. Such a comfort and
encouragement to me. After reading through it, it's
just driven home to me what we already know. We know and we
do believe that God works all things together for good. to them that love him, to them
who are called according to his purpose. We know that. We know
our God is a covenant God. God's made a promise to his people.
And no matter what man does, no matter what God allows man
to do, God's going to keep his promise. And the book of Esther
is one shining example of God doing just that, working all
things according to the counsel of his own will. And as we look
through it this morning, there's a few points I want us to see. And I'm not going to make these
points one at a time like we normally do. We'll just see them
intermingled throughout the whole book. But first is this, no matter
what's going on, everything is always right on schedule. Everything
is always on God's schedule. God's purpose is never derailed. God's purpose is never even delayed,
even for a moment, never. Everything always happens at
the exact moment that God has determined for it to happen before
the world began. Everything's right on schedule.
We hear that every time we meet, don't we? Bob preaches that message.
Everything's on schedule. Second is this. God always puts
the right person in the right place at exactly the right time. to accomplish his purpose. That's
true of the king, and that's true of the shoeshine boy, and
every position in between. All of us are in exactly the
right place at exactly the right time to accomplish God's purpose.
Third, every event that happens is the direct will of God. Now
things happen and we don't understand why they happen. We don't have
any clue. How does this fit into God's
purpose? How can this event possibly accomplish
any good? We don't understand it, but it's
so nevertheless. Every event that happens, happens
according to the direct will of God. And fourthly, God's will
is seen in the small things. And I think that's why we miss
seeing God's will so often. We're looking for the big things.
God's will is seen in the small, minute details. Our God, the
God we worship, is so great that He works in the most minute details
of everything happening in His creation. That's where God's
will is seen. And when a believer is given
an understanding of these four truths, nothing that ever happens
is an accident, that everything is always happening according
to God's will, that there can never be an event that could
possibly hurt the soul of one of God's children. When God gives
us an understanding of that and a belief of that, our hearts
are comforted, aren't they? even in the midst of the chaotic
world that we live in, our hearts are comforted with the knowledge
of this. Our God's in control. Now, that's not just some doctrinal
stance that we take. That's our comfort. God's in
control. Now, if you read the book of
Esther, we'll go through it this morning. We're not going to read,
for time's sake, all the verses. We'll read some selected passages. I'll tell you the story. You
can go back home and read it this afternoon. But when you
read through it, you'll see God's name. is nowhere to be found
in this book. The name of God's not in it.
But his fingerprints are all through it. God's name is hidden
in this book, but now God's work throughout this book is obvious.
And there are four main characters in the book of Esther. First
is King Ahasuerus. His name means venerable father. He's a picture of God the father
in this book. Then there's Mordecai. His name
means little man. He's a picture of Christ, who
was considered by men to be nothing. He was despised and rejected
of men and considered to be a little man. That's Mordecai. Then there's
Esther. Her name means star. Esther is
a picture of Christ, who is the star of God's creation. And the
fourth character is Haman. His name means magnificent. And
he's a picture of man. All of us think we're magnificent. We really think we're something.
That's who Haman's a picture of. And he's also a picture of
Satan. He thinks he's magnificent, the accuser of the brethren.
So in chapter one, King Asuserus throws this big party. I mean,
a party lasted for 180 days. There's plenty of food. There
was so many fancy decorations. And while this party was going
on, look at verse 10, what happened. On the seventh day, When the
heart of the king was married with wine, he commanded Mahuman,
Bisla, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven
chamberlains that served in the presence of Ashuserus, the king,
to bring Vashti, the queen, before the king with the crown royal
to show the people and the princes her beauty, for she was fair
to look on. But Queen Vashti refused to come
at the king's commandment by his chamberlains. Therefore was
the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him. Now apparently,
Vashti was the first women's libber. This movement of the
women's lib didn't start in the 70s. It at least started with
Vashti. The king gave commandment for
her to come, and she refused. She was not going to come and
parade in front of him and his buddies just so they could see
how beautiful she was. She wasn't going to come and
just have her beauty gawked at. Vashti knew, I'm more than a
pretty face. And she refused to come. Now, she may have had
a point, but that was unwise in her day and in her times.
If you would disobey any order of the king, you could be put
to death, and that includes the queen. Now, she knew that. What do you reckon came over
her? Had she lost her mind? No. God was in control here. He directed
her mind for his purpose. God put Vashti, she must have
had some backbone. Well, he put exactly the right
person in just the right place at exactly the right time to
accomplish his purpose. This may have seemed like some
small things that led up. I don't know what happened before
this, but Vashti must have finally got fed up. She said, no more.
All those little small things that nobody even noticed all
happened God's will was working in those things. Everything was
right. All the king was mad, but everything
was right on schedule. Now at this point, nobody had
ever even heard of Mordecai and Esther, but you know, God was
already working things together for their good and for the good
of all the Jews in the world. And the king's upset. Vashti
wouldn't come in to him and you know, do his little beauty pageant
thing. So he got his wise men together. He said, wise men, what should
we do? Because Vashti won't come. Now
these wise men, they understood the ramifications of women's
lib and they didn't like it. They knew all women, their wives,
might follow Queen Vashti's example. And they said, We might have
to treat our wives like equals if you let this go on. We might
have to actually listen to our wives' opinions. That's going
to mess up the good thing we've got going. So they said, King,
you've got to send our wives a threatening message. By doing
something, you've got to punish Vashti. You've got to teach her
lessons so our wives get taught a lesson. And they told her,
now you divorce the queen. Don't let her come into your
presence anymore. Don't let her be queen anymore. And you know
the king did it because he was so upset at Vashti. He just said,
all right, she's not queen anymore. She's divorced. She can't come
into my presence. But now you know that level of anger didn't
last too long, did it? Pretty soon, the king got over
being mad at Queen Vashti. He missed his wife, but he couldn't
bring her back. The law of the Medes and Persians
altereth not. The law of the Medes and Persians
can't be changed. But he missed having a wife.
So in chapter 2, they said, well, let's have a beauty pageant.
We're going to have a Miss Persia pageant, and the winner is going
to be the new queen. The king said, that sounds like
a good idea. Now, years before this, long
before any of this happened, nobody had ever heard of Mordecai
and Esther. The Jews. were carried away captive
to Persia. And during that time, while the
Jews were being carried away captive to Persia, there was
a baby girl. Her name was Esther. She lost
both of her father and mother. Maybe in the war something happened
and she lost both her father and her mother. She was an orphan.
And her uncle Mordecai adopted her. He raised her for his own.
And then as he was raising this baby, Mordecai and Esther were
carried away captive to Persia. And here they live. They're living
during the time of this party. They weren't invited to the party.
This party's going on. They don't know anything about
the party. They don't know anything about fashion, not being queen anymore.
But somehow, somebody working for the king saw Esther out on
the street, and they said, oh, she's beautiful. Let's take her
and put her in this beauty pageant. That's what they did. They took
her away from her family, and there she was. part of this beauty
pageant. And for an entire year, each
one of these contestants, they spent an entire year, 365 days,
getting ready to go into the king to see if he liked her or
not. Whole year, all this work going
together for just one pass before the king. And when Esther's turn
came, she went into the king, and they let them have anything
they wanted to doll themselves up, make themselves more beautiful,
whatever they wanted. She said, I won't take anything. She just
brushed her hair and wore normal clothes, went into the king.
And she won the beauty pageant, hands down. Look at verse, in
chapter two, verse 16. So Esther was taken unto King
Asuserus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is
the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. And the king
loved Esther above all the women. And she obtained grace and favor
in his sight more than all the virgins. so that he set the royal
crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
Then the king made a great feast unto all his princes and his
servants, even Esther's feast, and he made a release to the
provinces and gave gifts according to the state of the king. Oh,
the king, he loved Esther. But what a happy day for Esther.
She's queen. She won the beauty pageant. She's
queen. But you know a lot of painful
things happened to Esther before this day, didn't they? Esther lost both of her father,
both her father and her mother. That was a sad day, the day she
became an orphan. She and her family and all of
her nation were carried away captive. They were taken from
their land and their homes and they were taken captive in Persia.
Those were sad days. Esther, she loves Mordecai. Mordecai
loves her. You know, she was taken from
him. She couldn't see him for a whole year. To be part of this
pageant, she was taken from her family? Well, that was a sad
day. She missed him all that time.
But in all those difficult things, those painful things, those scary,
frightening things, you know everything was right on schedule.
All this is God's purpose culminating together for one purpose. God,
indeed, put just the right person in just the right place at just
the right time. The eunuch who was in charge
of the virgins, you know, Esther came in and he just immediately
took a shine to her. The right person was in the right
place at the right time. All those other virgins and then
here comes Esther. She's just the right person to
be queen, to accomplish God's purpose. And we need to remember
that in our lives. You know, every event, those
events we call happy events, And those events we call sad
events, every one of them happen according to the direct will
of our God. Now, all these events, many,
many sad ones, did they all work together in Esther's life for
good? Of course they did. Absolutely they did. And you
know, these things were for more than just Esther's good. God's
blessings are never just for us. They're always for others,
too. Esther was blessed for the good
of others. We'll see that by the end of this chapter. Now,
Esther was made queen, and that's a significant event. You know
what we'd say? We'd say, well, that's providential.
Well, you know, everything is. I mean, that's kind of a silly
thing to say because everything is. Esther was made queen. It was a significant day. But
there's another event in chapter 2. And it seems insignificant,
but now God's will is seen in the small things. Mordecai decided
to pass the time one day sitting out by the king's gate, and at
the exact moment that Mordecai was sitting there, look at verse
21, chapter 2. In those days while Mordecai
sat in the king's gate, two of the king's chamberlains, Big
Than and Tiresh, of those which kept the door were wroth. And
they sought to lay hand on King Asuserus. And the thing was known
to Mordecai. He heard them talking about it.
Who told it unto Esther the queen, and Esther certified the king
thereof in Mordecai's name. And when inquisition was made
of the matter, it was found out. Therefore, they were both hanged
on a tree, and it was written in the book of the chronicles
before the king. And all this happened in just
the right order. First, Esther was made queen.
Then Mordecai heard of this plot. He heard these men were going
to try to assassinate the king, and he told Esther. Esther told
the right people, and the king's life was saved. And oh, the king,
he appreciated Esther. He loved her even more, you know.
And this event was quickly forgotten. It may have seemed like an insignificant
thing, but you remember that event. We'll come back to it
and see God's will working in these little things. Now, chapter
3. Here's where we first meet Haman.
And Haman is a picture of the flesh. He thinks he's magnificent. He's a picture of Satan, who's
the accuser of the brethren. And the king must have liked
Haman. He promoted Haman to second in command of all the whole empire. Now, Haman is an evil, self-serving
man. He's in this to rule for his
own benefit. He's in it to see whatever he
can get out of it. And he's just so full of pride,
and he's puffed up, and he just wants to get game for himself.
And everybody had to bow to Haman when he came by. That was the
king's commandment. You've got to bow to Haman. Mordecai
wouldn't do it. Everybody else in the kingdom
did. Mordecai wouldn't. He said, I'm not going to do
it. I'm not going to bow to that puffed up, proud, arrogant man. I'm not going to do it. Well,
you know Haman's reaction to that, right? Haman hated that.
He wanted everybody bowing to him. And somebody told him, you
know, Mordecai's a Jew. Well, Haman is so wicked. Not
only did he want to kill Mordecai, he wanted to kill every Jew.
In the whole wide world, he wanted to kill every Jew. Adolf Hitler's
got nothing on Haman. What Hitler tried to do, Haman
had permission to do. He got permission from the king
to in one day, kill every Jew in the whole world. He got the
okay to do it. Look here at verse 8 of chapter
3. This is how Haman got permission to do this. And Haman said unto
King Ashesurus, There's a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed
among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom, and their laws
are diverse from all people. They're different. Neither keep
they the king's laws. Therefore, it's not for the king's
prophet to suffer them. If it please the king, let it
be written that they may be destroyed, and I'll pay 10,000 talents of
silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business
to bring it into the king's treasuries. And the king took his ring from
his hand, and he gave it unto Haman, the son of Hamedetha,
the Agathite, and the Jew's enemy. And the king said unto Haman,
The silver is given thee, the people also, to do with them
as it seemeth good to thee. What the Haman told the king
is, you kill all these Jews. You pay these fellows to kill
all the Jews, and then you take all their money. You take all
their possessions and put it in your treasury. Oh, you'll
be rich, because these are wealthy people. And the king said, well,
that's pretty good. I'd like to be rich. Go ahead
and do it. But you know what he didn't know? Esther was a
Jew. He didn't know that. Mordecai
told Esther, now you keep this secret. Don't you tell anybody
you're a Jew. So she did what Mordecai told her. And nobody
knew that Esther was a Jew. Now, Haman's got permission to
kill all the Jews. You know what he did? He chose
a day to execute all the Jews. One year out in the future. Now,
why'd he do that? Why wouldn't he do it immediately?
I mean, he hates Mordecai. Why wouldn't he just immediately
kill all those Jews? Let me tell you. because God
was in control. God put it in Haman's mind to
wait a year. Haman was a wicked man. There's
no question about it. But God put just the right person
in just the right place at exactly the right time. Somebody else
would have acted immediately, wouldn't they? But not Haman. He chose his day a year out in
advance. Now, chapter 4. Everybody knew
about Haman. They knew the king had given
him permission. They knew he had set a day to
kill all the Jews. And they were mourning. And someone
said word to Esther. And she heard. She mourned. And
Mordecai told Esther, he said, Esther, now I want you to do
something. You go intercede for the people with the king. Now
that sounds like a good idea, doesn't it? You want a man to
do something? His wife holds him sway. Maybe
she could talk to him, you know. But there's a problem. No one,
not even the queen, could come into the presence of the king
uninvited. You couldn't come into the king
unless he gave you permission. And the way he would give you
permission, he'd extend the royal scepter. And if he did that,
you could come. If he didn't, you couldn't come.
And if you came and he hadn't extended that royal scepter to
you, You'd be killed. That was the law, the king's
law, the law of the Medes and Persians. And the royal scepter
had not been extended to Esther. If she went into the king and
tried to talk to him and tried to get him to change his mind
and spare her people and spare her life, she'd be killed because
she broke the law by coming into his presence before the royal
scepter had been extended. She had seen what happened to
Vashti. She didn't want something worse to happen to her. Now look
at verse 11 of chapter 4. And all the king's servants and
the people of the king's province, and this is Mordecai talking
to Esther, do know, or no, I'm sorry, this is Esther talking,
that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come under the king
into the inner court, who's not called, there's one law of his,
to put him to death. except such to whom the king
shall hold out the golden scepter that he may live. But I've not
been called to come into the king these 30 days. He has not
extended that to me. I can't come." And they told
to Mordecai Esther's words. Then Mordecai commanded to answer
Esther, think not within thyself that thou shalt escape in the
king's house more than all the Jews, all the rest of the Jews.
For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, Then
shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another
place. But thou and thy father's house
shall be destroyed. And who knoweth whether thou
art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? This is what
Mordecai is telling Esther. Esther, God's going to save his
people. Now, I know this day looks dark, but I'm telling you,
God's going to save his people. And he could use you to do it.
If you go to the king, God could use you to do it. But if you
don't go to the king, God's going to use somebody else. He's going
to use somebody that could be you, but if you refuse, he's
going to use someone else. And you'd better not hold your
peace. Where you are, you better not hold your peace. He says,
who knows? It could be that you're the right
person in the right place at just the right time to make intercession
for Israel and to spare the Jews. Esther, God could have put you
in that palace to accomplish his purpose to save his people
from this. Now you go and you make intercession. Now, why was Mordecai so sure?
I mean, this looked pretty certain the day of execution set. How
is Mordecai so sure that God's going to spare his people? Because
Mordecai knew God's a covenant. Remember when God told Abraham,
Abraham, you're going to have a son. Your seed will be the
stars of heaven. And through you, all nations
of the earth will be blessed. Mordecai knew that promise of
God to Abraham. God had promised that the Savior,
the Messiah, is coming through Abraham's seed. Well, if all
Abraham's seed are killed in one day, the Savior's not coming
as a Jew, is he? He's not coming through the seed
of Abraham. And Mordecai knew God's going to keep his promise.
If all the Jews are killed, if Haman just has his way, he's
thwarted God's purpose. God was not able to keep his
promise. And Mordecai knew that's not
going to happen. He knew the day was set according
to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. But he knew
there's a greater power at play here. God's going to keep his
promise. His promise doesn't alter. Man's
will can never interfere with God's will, ever. So Mordecai
knew they're going to be delivered somehow. Now let's apply this
to you and me. Every one of us in this room,
we're in the right place at the exact right time. We're there
wherever it is God's put you. You're there to accomplish God's
purpose. Now we tend to say, because we're not looking at
the small things, we're looking at the big things, we tend to
say, I'm not in the palace, I don't have any Sphere of influence,
I can't do anything like Esther did. Well, I tell you, yes, you
can, too. Yes, you can. You parents, you're
a father and a mother in a home. You rule that home. You better
not hold your peace. You better not. You rule that
home well. You make your home a home where
Christ is worshipped, where the children are taught to the Lord.
You better not hold your peace. You teach your children who Christ
is. You teach your children the worship
of God. What more important job can you
have? You mothers, you've got a job
far more important than being a queen. You've got the responsibility
to teach your children about God. Now, I know If our children
are God's elect, somebody's going to teach them. If I don't, somebody
else will. I understand. They're not going
to be lost because I made a mistake. Wouldn't you rather be used of
God to point your children to Christ? I would. You better not
hold your peace. Our Sunday school teachers, our
Bible school teachers, You know, those of us who don't do that
don't realize this. They make a great sacrifice to
teach our children. They make a great sacrifice.
And I understand. I know it's hard work. But I'm
telling you, Eric, do it anyway. Tara, do it anyway. Terry, do
it anyway. I'm telling you, do it anyway. Don't hold your peace. God's given you a gift. Well,
He didn't give it just for you. He gave it for the good of others. Don't hold your peace. I know
if all of our children here are God's elect, He's going to save
them. I know that. If we don't teach them, somebody
else will. But I'd a whole lot rather it
be us teaching them Christ than somebody else. Wouldn't you?
Those of you out on the job or out in the world, wherever it
is you may be out in the world, how'd you get that job? I mean,
jobs are hard to come by. How'd you get that? How did you
get to be in the place where you're at? And your co-workers,
how did they get to be where they're at? As the opportunity
arises, don't hold your peace. Go to work every day as God's
servant. Let them see you working as unto
the Lord, an honest person, a person of integrity and kindness and
compassion. That's not holding your peace.
Living your life following the Lord the way you ought to. And
when the opportunity arises, don't hold your peace. Tell them
about Christ. Invite them to the service. Give
them a CD or something, you know. And I know if your co-workers
are God's elect, I know they're going to hear from somebody.
I know. If it's not you, somebody else. But wouldn't you a whole
lot rather it be you pointing centers to Christ than somebody
else? I would. You see, we believe in the sovereignty
of God. That's not just words on paper.
We believe that. We believe that God's working
all things after the counsel of His own will. I know that
as sure as I'm standing here. But that doesn't mean we do nothing
and sit on our hands and say, well, God's going to accomplish
His will, so I'll just sit here. No. The church is proactive. And the way, the first way we're
proactive is in prayer. When God's getting ready to do
something, you know what He does? He puts it in the heart of his
people to pray for it. That's what happened here in
chapter 4, look at verse 15. Then Esther bade them return
to Mordecai this answer. Go, gather together all the Jews
that are present in Shushan, that's the province in which
they live, and fast ye for me, neither eat nor drink three days,
night nor day, I also and my maidens will fast likewise. So
will I go unto the king, which is not according to the law.
And if I perish, I perish. So Mordecai went his way and
he did according to all that Esther had commanded him. Esther
said, you all get together and you fast and you pray. You pray. I know that I'll be
a lawbreaker if I go into the king, but I'm going to go. And
if I die, I die, but I will go make the effort. to intercede
for my people." Now, she gets ready to go in chapter 5. She
knows she's going to break the law, and she gets all ready to
go to the king. And look at verse 1 of chapter
5. Now, it came to pass on the third day that Esther put on
her royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the king's
house, over against the king's house. And the king sat upon
his royal throne in the royal house over against the gate of
the house. And it was so when the king saw Esther the queen
standing in the court that she obtained favor in his sight.
And the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in
his hand. So Esther drew near and touched the top of the scepter."
Now, here Esther, she was going to go in and talk to the king.
And it was against the law. But as she was going, maybe she
stopped to pray or stopped to gather herself and kind of get
her nerve together. And as she's standing there,
the king's sitting on his throne. And he just happened to look
out the window and saw his beautiful new bride standing there. And
he extended that golden scepter to her. Now how on earth did
Esther just so happen to be standing in the exact spot at just the
right time that when the king looked out the window he saw
her? Because God's in control. God is in control of all those
little things. He was in control of the exact
spot that Esther was standing, so that the king could get a
view of her out the window. If she'd been moved over two
feet, he wouldn't have seen her. She was in that spot, so the
king would see her. And the king turned his head
at just the moment Esther was standing there. Well, how did
that happen? God's in control. God is in control of everything.
And he extended that scepter to his beautiful bride. And she
comes into him. And oh! The king was just so
taken with her. She's so beautiful. She's so
charming. He just loved her so much. He
said, Esther, I'll give you anything you want. The half of my kingdom. Just ask. It's yours. Now Esther
was a wise woman. She didn't just jump right in
and say, Did you save all the Jews alive and reverse your law
to Mordecai or to Haman? Because that would be asking
the king to change his law. The law of Medes and Persians
altered. If not, he probably wouldn't have done it. But Esther
had some wisdom. She waited. Maybe she knew the
truth that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
Because he said, you can have anything you want. And you know
what she said? She said, husband, Here's my wish, that you and
Haman would come to a meal that I'll cook for you. I'm going
to cook it and I'm going to serve it. Would you come to a meal?"
He said, well, my darling, anything. Of course I will. He sent out
the invitation to Haman. Haman was thrilled. Oh, what
an honor. I'm going to have dinner with
the king and queen alone. Look at verse 9 of chapter 5. Then went Haman forth that day,
joyful, with a glad heart. He'd received this invitation.
But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate that he stood
not up nor move for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman refrained
himself, and when he came home, he sat and called for his friends
and Zeresh, his wife. And Haman told them of the glory
of his riches and the multitude of his children and all the things
wherein the king had promoted him and how he advanced him above
the princes and servants of the king. And Haman said, moreover,
yea, Esther, the queen, did let no man come in with the king
unto the banquet that she had prepared but myself, and tomorrow
I am invited unto her also with the king. Yet all this availeth
me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting in the
king's gate. Then said Zeresh his wife and
all his friends unto him, let a gallows be made a fifty cubits
high, and tomorrow speak unto the king that Mordecai may be
hanged thereon. Then go thou in merrily with
the king under the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman,
and he caused the gallows to be made." Now, the start of chapter
6. Haman's got his plan in place
for Mordecai, doesn't he? Well, chapter 6. One night, the
night before this banquet, it just so happened that the king
couldn't sleep. Normally he sleeps like a baby,
but this night he couldn't sleep. Look at chapter 6. On that night
could not the king sleep. And he commanded to bring the
book of records of the chronicles, and they were read before the
king. He just couldn't sleep that night, could he? And so
what he wanted them to do is bring the chronicles in. These
are all the laws and the legal records and things that are happening
in the provinces. Now, there's 126 provinces in
his kingdom. Each province has a scroll. So
whoever it is is going to read these things, got a bag or a
box or whatever, 126 scrolls. And he reaches in and picks one
out. And he picks out the scroll for the province Shushan, where
Mordecai lived. How'd that happen? Oh, God's
in control. That little thing of which scroll
he picked up, he thought it made absolutely no difference. Because
the king's going to be asleep in about five minutes after this
is up. Boring. He thought it doesn't matter
in the least which one I pick. But God's in control. Now read
on here, chapter 6, verse 2. And it was found written that
Mordecai had told of Bigtha and Tiresh and two of the king's
chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hands
on the king, Asuserus. And the king said, what honor
and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? Then said
the king's servants that ministered unto him, there's nothing done
for him. And the king said, who's in the court? Now Haman was coming
to the outward court of the king's house to speak unto the king,
to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
And the king's servant said unto him, Behold, Haman standeth in
the court. Now how do you reckon Haman just
happened to be standing in the court at this exact moment? God
put just the right person in the right place at the right
time. And the king said, Let him come in. So Haman came in,
and the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom
the king delighteth to honor? Now Haman thought in his heart,
To whom would the king delight to honor more than myself? This
is a flash, isn't it? I ought to be honored more than
anybody. There couldn't be anybody the king would want to honor
more than me. And Haman answered the king, for the man whom the
king delighteth to honor, let the royal apparel be brought,
which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth
upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head. And let
his apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's
most noble princes, that they may array the man withal, whom
the king delighteth to honor. Bring him on horseback through
the street of the city, and proclaim before him, thus shall it be
done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor. And the
king said to Haman, oh, that's a good idea. Make haste and take
the apparel and the horse as thou hast said, and do so even
to Mordecai the Jew that sitteth at the king's gate. Let nothing
fail of all that thou hast spoken. Oh, can you imagine what's going
through Haman's mind? Then took Haman the apparel and
the horse, and he arrayed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback
through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus
shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honor.
And Mordecai came again to the king's gate, but Haman hasted
to his house, mourning and having his head covered. And Haman told
Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had befallen
him. Then said his wise men in Zeresh his wife unto him, If
Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun
to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but thou shalt surely
fall before him. And while they were yet talking
with him, came the king's chamberlains, and hasted to bring Haman unto
the banquet that Esther had prepared." Well, all Haman's plans are getting
turned upside down now, and they're realizing it. You can't stop
it. This is God's will. God's hand
determining this. And I know it's not so today.
But one day, this world's getting turned upside down. Right now,
the wicked rule. You can't rule in this world
without being the wicked. We get all bent out of shape
about who's going to be president, but I'm telling you, by the time
you get to the point that you are electable, you're too far
gone. The wicked are going to rule,
and the believers oppressed. But one day, This thing is going
to get turned upside down. The believer is going to rule
with Christ, and the wicked are going to be put in their place. Now chapter 7, this is the banquet
that Esther had prepared for the king. So the king and Haman
came to the banquet with Esther the queen. And the king said
unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What
is thy petition, Queen Esther? And it shall be granted thee.
What is thy request? It shall be performed, even to
the half of the kingdom. Then Esher the queen answered,
and she said, if I found favor in thy sight, O king, if it pleased
the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people
at my request. For if we were sold, I have my
people to be destroyed, and to be slain, and to perish. But
if we'd been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I'd held my tongue,
although the enemy could not countervail the king's damage.
Then King Asuserus answered and said unto Esher the queen, Who
is he? Where is he that dares presume
in his heart to do so? And Esther said, the adversary
and the enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid
before the king and queen. And the king, rising from the
banquet of wine and his wrath, went into the palace garden.
He went in there to the garden to cool off for a little bit.
And Haman stood up to make requests for his life to Esther the queen.
And he saw that there was evil determined against him by the
king. Then the king returned out of the palace garden into
the palace 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? And as the word went out
of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face. And Harbona, one
of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold also the gallows,
fifty feet high, which Haman hath made for Mordecai, who hath
spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. Then the
king said, hanging thereon. So they hanged Haman on the gallows
that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.
Everything is completely upside down now because this was the
providence of God. The gallows Haman had prepared
for Mordecai, Haman was hanged on them. Haman fell into his
own snare, didn't he? Earlier, everything looks so
dark, didn't it? It seemed like the enemy of God
had the upper hand. But God's will prevailed, didn't
it? Because man's will never interferes with God's will. And
the rest of this story we read, you know what happened? The law
of the Medes and Persians was reversed. Well, I thought that
couldn't be. I thought you couldn't reverse
the law of the Medes and Persians. You might be surprised what a
king will do for his beautiful, wise wife. He reversed that law. Now, the Jews still had enemies,
but you know, they defended themselves. And the Persians helped them,
helped them kill all their enemies. You know why? The fear and respect
of Mordecai fell on everyone. No one wanted any of Mordecai's
family or nation to be killed. And the king gave Mordecai Haman's
spot. Now, Mordecai is second in command,
and he ruled for the good of the kingdom. Not just his people,
but the good of the whole kingdom. Now, I know I've gone too long,
but we're going to eat here. We don't have to worry about
going to dinner. It's all going to be here. Here's my four points. I want us to think about these
as we get ready for the second service. Everything's right on
schedule. Almost nothing happens according
to my timetable. Almost nothing. But it always
happens according to the wise decree of our God. Second, God
always puts the right person in just the right place at just
the right time. That doesn't just apply to Esther
or Mordecai. That applies to you and me. Now, where is it
God puts you? Serve God right there. It's right
there. Don't hold your peace. Serve
God right there. You're the right person for that spot, I promise
you. Third, every event that happens, happens according to
the direct will of our God. This week, we've suffered the
loss of a loved one, haven't we? Oh, how I'm going to miss
my buddy, HB. I'm going to miss him. But you
know that's right on God's schedule. That happened right when God
determined for it to happen. Things happening that are frightening
to us and painful to us. But can any of those things hurt
our soul? No, they cannot. Be at rest in God's providence.
And last, God's will is seen in the small things. Don't despise
the day of small things. Look after those small things.
Look after the people you may think are insignificant. Look
for small ways to help one another. because God's will is seen in
those small things. He takes those small things and
accomplishes his will by them. All right, I hope the Lord bless
you.