This is a message by Pastor Mark Fox of Antioch Community Church in Elon, North Carolina. For other sermons from Antioch, you can visit the church website at antiochchurch.cc. Now, let's turn our hearts to the Word of God. Then Haman said, even Queen Esther let no one but me come with the king to the feast she prepared, and tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king. Yet all this is worth nothing to me so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate. Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, let a gallows 50 cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with the king to the feast. This idea pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made. On that night, the king could not sleep, and he gave orders to bring the Book of Memorable Deeds, the Chronicles, and they were read before the king. And it was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the threshold and who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. And the king said, What honor or distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this? The king's young men who attended him said, nothing has been done for him. And the king said, who's in the court? Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king's palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for him. And the king's young men told him, Haman is there standing in the court. And the king said, let him come in. So Haman came in and the king said to him, what should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor? And Haman said to himself, whom would the king delight to honor more than me? And Haman said to the king, for the man whom the king delights to honor, let the royal robes be brought, which the king has worn, and the horse that the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown is set. And let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king's most noble officials. Let them dress the man whom the king delights to honor, and let them lead him on the horse through the square of the city, proclaiming before him, thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor. Then the king said to Haman, Hurry, take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew who sits at the king's gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned. So Haman took the robes and the horse, and he dressed Mordecai and led him through the square of the city, proclaiming before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor. Then Mordecai returned to the king's gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered. And Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and his wife Zerah said to him, If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the Jewish people, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him. While they were yet talking with him, the king's eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring Haman to the feast that Esther had prepared. Amen. Well, you know, we were praying, just singing just a few moments ago. Lord, speak what is true. We don't have to ask the Lord to do that, do we? That wasn't really a request, and that's why I think Caleb at the end said, you speak what is true. It's a statement of fact. God always speaks what is true. The question is what? Do we hear Him? So I was praying at the same time we were singing, Lord, Help me to hear you speak what is true. Help me hear you. So that's my prayer this morning. This story just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it? I just love this story. The twists and turns of the plot are wonderful and the combination of drama and humor is some of the best in all the Bible. It really is. It's one of the best stories in the Bible. You laugh out loud at times, right? At some of the things that are going on, you just have to, You have to laugh out loud if you really understand the context and then the next moment your jaw is dropping to the floor. Now as we have been saying all along in this story, the common thread that runs through the story of Esther is what? This is a narrative illustration of God's Sovereignty or his providence either one they both mean the same thing basically this story as well as all of the Bible as well as all of the history of all of the of the world is a testimony to the fact that God is in charge God is in control do you believe that and Okay, three of you do, that's good. We'll pray for the other hundred of you that are struggling with, God's in control, isn't he? And God is in control of all the details. You know, we do God a disservice and we prop Satan up when we say the devil is in the details. I don't know where that expression came from. I understand what it means, but the devil is not in the details. In fact, the devil is just a detail. Isn't he? Whom God is in charge of. God created Satan and uses him for God's own purposes. We also misunderstand God and Satan when we imagine them sitting across from one another and a chessboard is in the middle. So God is playing Satan in chess. Is that an accurate picture of what's going on in the universe as we know it? Absolutely not, because that would make them equals. And we know that in fact, Satan is not an equal to God. In fact, he is not a player, he's a pawn. He's not playing the game, he's a pawn in the game, and God moves him and uses him however he sees fit. And so if you don't learn anything else from this story as we go through it, and I know that you already know this, but God is just reminding us over and over again, as I'm thinking about my computer, still don't have word from whether it's dead or alive, whether I'm gonna have to rewrite all that stuff I lost, or may have lost, I'm reminding myself, God, you're in charge. You're in charge, right God? Yes, He says, I'm in charge even of your computer. I know what's going on and I will take control of that. And that's such a small detail in the great scheme of things. Now when we last saw Haman, and that's why I asked David to go ahead and start back in chapter 5. When we last saw Haman, Haman was in Was was torn right between two positions he was excited and elated by the fact that he was going to be invited to another feast with the king a second feast with the king but he was also deflated by the fact that who wouldn't submit to him one man and One man named Mordecai would not balance great before him. So he came home, and he gathered his friends, and he gathered his wife, and he told them the story. And finally his wife and his friends said, dude, just stop. Stop right there. Build a gallows. 75 feet high. Make it large and stand tall so that everybody in town can see it. And tomorrow morning, hang the guy on it. What is all this whining about one little Jew sitting in the gate? And Sousa, you are the number two man in the kingdom. Do something. Stop your whining. And then you can go joyfully to the feast tomorrow night, and it'll be good. And Haman was excited about that. And he was excited about the next morning. He probably went to bed that morning going, come on, it's kind of like Christmas Eve when you were a kid, right? Come on, make this happen quick. Come on, let's get through this night. Come on, fall asleep, fall asleep, fall asleep, fall asleep, because tomorrow morning I'm going to hang Mordecai on the gallows. It's going to be awesome. He could hardly wait to give Mordecai what he had coming to him. Mmm. Love the irony. Don't you love the irony? Do you get the irony? See the irony? Everybody say yes. Okay. Irony. I'm just going to go through this story basically piece by piece. Let's talk about on that night. Chapter 6 opens with those words. On that night, the king could not sleep. On that night, the king had a bad case of insomnia. It just reminded me, I've told this before, but of the guy that was a dyslexic, and he was an insomniac, and he was also an agnostic. Remember that guy who used to lie awake at night and wonder if there really was a dog? Okay, anyway, here's the king, and he's lying awake, and he can't sleep on that night. Let me ask you a question. What if the king had been able to sleep on that night, but the next night he had not been able to sleep? Mordecai, finish the sentence, would have been hanged on the gallows. Okay, well what if the king had not asked for something from the Chronicles to be read to him so he could fall asleep? That would be like you listening to one of my sermons so that you could fall asleep. What if he had not asked for that? Mordecai would have been hanged on the gallows. Wait a minute, what if the event of Mordecai saving the king's life, which happened five years earlier, had not been recorded in the chronicles of the king's life, then what would have happened? Mordecai would have been hanged on the gallows. Wait a minute, what if the chronicles by the servant had been opened to a different spot and not to the spot where Mordecai saving the life of the king had been recorded, what would have happened? Mordecai would have been hanged on the gallows. What if the king had taken an Ambien? Or the king said, hang sleep, I'm going for a jog. Forget sleeping, I'm gonna get up and run. Bordecai. Hanged right you get the point you see guys listen God directs the affairs of men He directed the affairs of the king he turns the heart of the king He also keeps the king awake when he needs him to be awake He turns the heart of the servant who has the book of the chronicles and he he controls where his thumb falls in the chronicles when he opens up the book and and starts to read to the king God is in And even though we've talked about how the fact that God is not mentioned in this book at all, which is one of the reasons why it almost didn't make the canon, almost didn't become one of the books of the Bible, because God's not mentioned in it, God's fingerprints are all over it. God controls this story, and He is the author of this book. So when the king hears how Big Thana, unfortunate name, and Teresh had plotted to kill him, and how Mordecai had saved his life by revealing the plot, I can just imagine this. He's sat up, just shot up in his bed and said, whoa, whoa, stop right there. I remember that story. I remember those two jokers. I remember we hanged them on the gallows. You're telling me that Mordecai, I've heard of him, Mordecai is the one who revealed this story to us? What did we do for Mordecai? It must have been really something special. What did we do for this man who saved my life? Well, actually, King, nothing. We did nothing for Mordecai. What? We did nothing for this man? Now listen, five years have passed. You wonder if Mordecai ever asked himself the same question? You know, I saved the king's life. I revealed a plot, assassination plot against the king. I told the queen, my cousin and my daughter about this. She told the king, the king's life was spared and I didn't even get a t-shirt. I got not even a thank you note from the king or one of his eunuchs. I don't think Mordecai ever cared because he did it because he wanted to do the right thing as we've talked about. all over. But here's the point. Here's something we can learn from this story. I know you're all waiting for Charlie to scream and to write something down. So here it is. On that night, even if no one sees what you do, God does. Even if no one ever sees what you do in private or in public, God does. That can be scary, can't it? There are a lot of people who are hoping that their names will not be revealed in the Ashley Madison scandal. But God sees and God knows. But here's the good news, that when you do something good, when you do something honorable and noble, if no one else ever, if you don't get that promotion, you don't get that raise, you don't get your name in the paper, nobody ever notices Somebody does notice. So even that sentence is not true. Nobody knew that I did X. No, no, no. Don't believe that lie because it's a lie from the pit. God did. God saw it. I love what Paul writes in Ephesians 6. He says, whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or he's free. He's encouraging the bondservants to obey their earthly masters with fear and trembling. He says, one of the reasons you want to obey your earthly master is because whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord. That's an incredible promise, isn't it? Everybody said? It's an incredible promise that nothing goes unnoticed with the Lord. And I was thinking about Hebrews, that chapter that talks about faith. In Hebrews 11, six, a lot of you know this verse. It says that anyone who believes that God exists, or has faith in God, believes that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Now think about that. Part of the definition of faith is that you believe that he is, And you believe that he is good. Let me ask you something. Which part of that does Satan believe? Satan believes that God is, doesn't he? That's what Jesus said. Even Satan believes in trembles. Satan believes that God is. Does he believe that God is good? Does he believe that God will reward those who diligently seek him? Well, we don't know, but the fact is that your faith is dependent on you believing both of those. God, you are, and God, you are a God of grace and mercy. You're a giving God, you're a loving God, and you demonstrated that by allowing your son to take my sins on the cross. That's part of what it means to follow Jesus. We follow Jesus not because we think he's a better option than Islam, Allah. We follow Jesus because he is God and he is good and he rewards those who seek him and he's the only one who can. No one else in the universe can reward those who seek God but the one who is truly God. Everybody get that? It's important that we understand that. Therefore, it changes the way we look at difficulties and sickness and even dying and death. And I love what he wrote in the same book in Hebrews 6, verse 10. He says, for God is not unjust. so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name serving the saints as you still do. That's important to realize that God is not unjust and God would be unjust if he overlooked even one tiny thing that you did in his name. But God is not unjust. Right, we believe that God is, we believe that God is good, and we believe that God is just, and because of that, we know that everything that is coming to us in way of reward from God will come, nothing can steal it from us. And when we stand before Him one day, it will be at the bama seat of reward, not at the throne of judgment. Because God sees, God knows, God loves, and God rewards. Did you do something good for someone this week and no one knew that you did it? That's good if you did. Maybe even the person you did it for, even while you were doing it, didn't acknowledge that you did it, as if they did not know that you were doing something good for them. Doesn't matter. God sees, God knows, God rewards. And that's really all that matters. So on that night, the king couldn't sleep, and so in the morning, The second question of the king, after he asks the question, what did we do for this man who saved my life? Chapter 4, the second question of the king is, who is in the court? Now you get the feeling that it's morning now. We know that because who's in the court? Haman is. Why? Because it's morning. Right? So the king was up all night listening to the chronicles and then figuring out, okay, what are we going to do to honor this man? So you get the idea that he wanted someone to help him carry out his plan to honor this man or maybe even to come up with a plan to honor this man who had saved his life. And so that's why he asked who was in the court. And it just so happened by God's design. It didn't just so happen. God brought Haman to the court at the very moment that the king said, and God told him to say in his heart, moved his tongue and his lips so he would say, who is in the court? And at that moment, there is Haman. He just arrived from a fitful night's sleep, so excited that finally Mordecai is gonna get what Mordecai deserves. Mmm. Love the irony. So he was told to come into the inner court. The eunuchs come out and say, the king wants to see you right now. Well, the Haman was so excited because he was going to have to wait for an opportunity to see the king sometime that morning. The king had a busy schedule. His calendar was full with people who needed to come and tell him how great he was. But now Haman is going to get an immediate entrance, presence with the king. And so he walks in there thinking, this is great. I'm not gonna have to wait five minutes. I'm gonna have Mordecai hanged. He's gonna be on those galleys within a half an hour. And he rushes in to execute his plan and the king says what? What should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor? Notice the king did not say, What should we do to honor Mordecai? That would have been different, right? The whole scenario would have been different if he said, what should we do for Mordecai? Because he saved my life five years ago. Haman would have had a different response altogether. But he doesn't say that. What should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor? As we saw two weeks ago when we talked about Haman, he has a huge ego. And anyone who is consumed with pride is also going to be presumptuous. Pride leads to presumptuous. The proud person is always presumptuous. And so whom would others delight to honor, he's thinking, be with, work for, give to, learn from, hang out with more than me. Do you ever think those thoughts? Proud people think those thoughts. I mean, everybody wants to be with me. Everybody wants to work for me. Everybody wants to give to me. Everybody wants to learn from me. Everybody wants to hang out with me. And that's what Haman thought. I mean, who's more honorable in the whole kingdom than me? Whom would the king delight to honor more than me? And then it says, he said to himself, whom would the king delight to honor more than me? This is when it gets laugh out loud funny. God has a sense of humor, doesn't He? I mean, if you read this story and deny that God has a sense of humor, you really don't get this story. God is funny. When God wants to be funny, He can be hilarious. cannot read the story and see it any other way. This is hilarious because Haman is trying to look like he doesn't know who the king is talking about honoring, while absolutely certain that the king is talking about honoring him, and his head is about to explode with pride, and it's just reeling with the possibilities of, okay, the king has asked me the question of how I should be honored, so how am I gonna answer? I'm gonna lay it on thick. This is gonna be great. This is going to be amazing. This made me think of something I heard Eric Metaxas say. Not to get political, he said, but you know the Trump Bible says, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was terrific. Anyway, So he says, King, here's what we need. We need royal robes that you have worn that have touched your body, King, because you are the king. And these royal robes need to have come right from you, still warm from you. And we need a royal horse that Only you have ridden on, King. Oh yeah, nobody else's backside is such. This horse, only your royal backside has been on this horse. And oh, and not only that, King, but we need a royal crown. You got an extra crown hanging around somewhere? We could put that on the man whom you delight to honor, and then this man will be led through the town by one of your noble officials. And this man, this noble official will cry out Thus will the king honor the man whom he delights in." Or something like that. And so, he lays it on thick, he puts the scene out there, and the king says in verse 10, while Haman leans forward and tries to keep his head from exploding with pride, the king says, Good, good, that's good. Go get the horse and the robe. Yes, my king. Yes, and get this... Let's see, what does he say next? And do all of that. Go get the horse and the robe. Yes, and do all of that. Yes, my king. Do all of that right now. Don't delay. Yes, my liege. Do it for Mordecai. Can you just imagine that scene? I would love to see. I'm hoping we'll see that video in heaven, right? God, show us the video from Esther. I know it was a long time ago, Lord, but you keep all these things. Just show us that reel, if you would, of that scene where Haman is just drooling all over himself, and then he learns that the man whom he is going to honor is Mordecai the Jew, the man he hates more than anybody in the world. I can imagine at that moment, Haman's in shock. What do you think? You think he's like catatonic, basically? His eyes glaze over, he can't move. Maybe his mouth is stuck open, his jaw's on the floor, and the king slaps him around. Haman, Haman, what's wrong with you, boy? Did you hear what I said? Go do everything you just said to Mordecai. You know who Mordecai the Jew is, don't you, Haman? Yes, sire, I know. I know who He is. Now this illustrates an important point here. For the righteous, even when things look like they're out of control, they're not. I mean, think about this. Mordecai has just come off a three-day fast, right? Why was he fasting? Because word had been given from the king that all the Jews would be exterminated, eliminated, genocide would take place in 11 months. And so Mordecai was fasting. In fact, just a few days earlier, he was in the center of the city, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. And he was wailing, and he was crying out to God for deliverance. Things looked out of control. Things looked like they could not get any worse for this man. You ever been there? Maybe not the threat of imminent death for you and your family, but maybe you have felt at times like because of things going on in your life, it can't get any worse. My life's a train wreck, it cannot get any worse. And the truth is, God is in control and what it may feel like for you and me sometimes, it can't get any worse. God has promised that our best days are always ahead. Do you believe that? Our best days are always ahead. If you get hit by a bus tomorrow and you belong to Jesus Christ, you get hit by a bus tomorrow and you're ushered into the kingdom of God, your best days just got better, didn't they? No matter what happens in our life, our best days are always ahead as believers. And for the wicked, those who reject the gospel of Jesus Christ, even when things look great, they're not. Isaiah 48, 22 says, there is no peace for the wicked. Solomon said in Proverbs 10, 28, the hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish. Look at Proverbs 16, 4 for just a second. I want you to see this yourself in scripture. Instead of putting it on the screen, I just want you to look at it. Proverbs 16, 4 and 5. Because this could be the subtext or the subtitle of the book of Esther. 16 four and five says the Lord has made everything for its purpose even the wicked for the day of trouble Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord Be assured assured he will not go unpunished And then at verse 7 when a man's ways please the Lord he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him this reading in Restoring All Things is a great quote, chapter seven about justice by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. You know, Solzhenitsyn was a Russian who spent time in the gulag in prison. And he wrote this, bless you prison, bless you for being in my life. For there, lying upon the rotting prison straw, I came to realize that the object of life is not prosperity as we are made to believe, but in the maturity of the human soul." That'll preach, won't it? Let me read that again. We need to hear that. I need to hear that. Bless you prison. You could say, bless you sickness, bless you whatever, bless you prison, bless you for being in my life, for there, lying upon the rotting prison straw, I came to realize that the object of life is not prosperity, as we're made to believe, but the maturity of the human soul. God is committed to your purity, your maturity, and to mine. And He will do whatever it takes to bring us to that place. And that's why for the believer, every day is better than the one before because God has a plan and God is working that out in each one of our lives. He's in the details. All right, then we go to the street. So on that day, in the morning, finally in the street, there's Haman. If he could have been dressed like that, he would have been. I would love to see this scene again. Everybody in Susa knew who Haman was, right? Everybody knew Haman. He was this nasty critter that you had to bow and scrape to. Everybody knew Haman because he was so arrogant and so proud and he loved to brag about himself and his possessions and even how many sons he had. And every time he started talking he was bragging. He couldn't talk without bragging. Boastful and proud. Everybody knew him. But also everybody knew who Mordecai was. If you said Mordecai, they'd say, oh he's that little Jewish guy that sits in the king's gate. Yeah, that's the one. Last week he was fasting and he was in sackcloth and ashes. Yeah, that's Mordecai. Oh yeah, I know who he is. And now, what is this? Here he is again. Mordecai's in the city square, but he's not fasting this time. In fact, he's not sitting on the ground. He's riding on one of the king's horses, all bedecked in all of his royal stuff, right? Deborah Cobb couldn't have done any better. And here's Mordecai sitting on the horse of the king and wearing a robe of the king and wearing a crown of the king, and Haman is leading him. And and shouting now, you know, I just wonder about this dude. We'll find out in heaven Do you think Mordecai kind of rubbed this in at all? Do you think Mordecai? I mean when when Haman was dressing him he had to dress Mordecai and put the robe in the do you think Mordecai said, you know anything at all and Do you think when, you know, as the crowds are gathering and the noise, the buzz is all through town, this is quicker than Twitter, I mean everybody knows, and hundreds of people are coming out, leaving their businesses, leaving their homes, running out to see this spectacle of this proud, arrogant man having to give homage to this Poor, pitiful Jewish man. Do you think Mordecai said, oh, here comes some more Haman. Say that part again about whom the king delights to honor. I like that part. Oh, and Haman, can we go past your house? You know what, I don't think Mordecai did that. Do you think Mordecai did that? Because he was not impressed with this. He was not changed by this. In fact, how do we know that this did not move the needle in his life one little bit? What does he do as soon as this is over? It says in verse 12, he went back to the king's gate. He went back to where he was before. He went back to doing what he had done before. He didn't let his 15 minutes of fame change him. He went back to the king's gate because his hope was not in prosperity. His hope was not in the plaudits, the applause of men. His hope was in God and God alone. It didn't matter to him two wits that Haman was honoring him in this way. It didn't matter that the king was honoring him. All he sought was to be pleasing to God. He was a faithful man. You know, I was running last Saturday with Patrick. I don't know if any of you saw Patrick when he was here, but he's a German fellow, 22 years old, and we met him in Columbia, South America when we were down there a couple of years ago, and he was one of the German interns for a year that helped with the mission. And our kids loved Patrick. They taught him all kinds of American slang and taught him all kinds of stuff that they didn't need to teach him. But anyway, just a really nice guy that loves the Lord. His father's not a believer, his mother is, and so we're running and he's asking me questions about, I want to be faithful as a father, and my father has not been a spiritual leader in my life. How can I learn to be a spiritual leader for my children one day? You know, it touched my heart. But one of the things he said to me, he said, have you ever heard God speak? And I said, you mean like in an audible voice? He said, yeah. I said, I don't know. I don't think so. I think I've heard impressions. I felt like God was saying to me in my spirit things several times, but never, I've never heard his voice. I said, have you heard his voice, Patrick? He said, I'm not sure. I know one time, and it was several years ago, he said, I felt like God was saying to me, and it might have been an audible voice, but I know he said in my heart, he said, and he's German, his first language is German, and he learned Spanish in Columbia. His third language is English. He says, I felt like God was saying, you are integrate, integre, integre. I said, you mean a man, integrity? He said, yes, yes, that's it, integrity. He said, Patrick, you are a man of integrity. And I thought, yes, that's, what better word to hear from God? I said, Patrick, you know what that means? He said, yeah, I think it means that I'm not a hypocrite. I said, right, you're the same on the outside as you are on the inside. You don't have stuff hidden in your life. You don't have this secret life over here that you're pursuing, you know, Ashley Madison or any of this other junk. You're the real deal, that what people see when they hear you talk about the Lord, they know that you really know him, you really love him. And that's what Mordecai was. He was a faithful man of God. He was a man of integrity, and he was being led around the city by a man who was the opposite, who was a fake, and a phony, and a hypocrite. So Haman hurries home, his head covered in shame, picture of the bag, his worst nightmare had just come true. It could not possibly get worse for Haman, could it? There's no way it can get worse. I mean, just what has he just had to do? It can't be worse than that. So he told his family about it, and his wise men and his wife prophesied that, oh yes, it could get worse. It says in verse 13, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall. before him. And I can imagine Haman saying, I just did. I fell before him. I had to lead the man. I had to say this stuff that I don't believe at all. I had to say it several times. What do you mean I'm going to fall before him? It's already happened. But no, they're prophesying his doom. And no sooner had they gotten those words out of their mouths that there was a knock on the door. And there were the king's eunuchs to take Haman to the palace for a feast. And we'll come back to that story in a couple of weeks. Let's pray. Fathers, as we stand right here this morning, sitting this morning, I'm standing, but everybody else is sitting, as we wait to come to your table, Lord, we pray that we might have the heart like Mordecai, that is pure and committed to you. And we thank you for the promise that you who have begun a good work within us will bring it to completion on that day. And so Lord, take us a step further today in our own humility, our own holiness, our own desire to know you and to be known by you. And Lord God, we pray that you prepare our hearts to receive the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus. That was given for us for the remission of sins in Jesus name Amen Thank you for listening to this message by Pastor Mark Fox of Antioch Community Church in Elon, North Carolina. Antioch meets every Sunday for worship at 10 o'clock a.m. at 1600 Powerline Road in Elon. You can download other messages by Pastor Fox at antiochchurch.cc. You can also learn how to order his books or subscribe to his blog at jmarkfox.com.