Good morning. Would you please bow with me in prayer as we begin this time in the Word of God this morning. Heavenly Father, we do call upon you this morning that you, Lord, would speak to our hearts through your Word and through the agency of your Holy Spirit. I pray that you would allow this week's messenger, Lord, to uphold your Word and to speak your Word in such a way as to to bring edification to the saints, salvation to the lost. Use it for your purposes and for your glory. We pray your blessing on this time in the name of Christ. Amen. So I believe it was about 12 years ago, and bear with me if you've heard this story before. I know I've shared it before in the past. But it was a spring like this in which we were receiving a lot of rain. And some family friends of ours, many of you know the Benedict family, wanted to come over on a Saturday afternoon. We had been talking to them about how in the back pasture of my parents' place, there was a spring that was flowing, and it was just beautiful. The water was kind of cascading down over the rocks. And it was just a lovely thing. And so they came out on a Sunday afternoon. And we gathered back there. There's a little cabin that I built years ago that sits back there nestled in this sort of valley filled with cedar trees. Actually, it looks more like the Rockies in some ways than Kansas. And we'd gone back there initially. And then I, with Robert, took all of our young children to explore further into the woods. And it was really neat because the water was flowing through what otherwise is normally just a dry creek bed back there. And watching the water, it was very beautiful. We followed the trail. We had to cross over that stream to continue this trail and wound our way back until we came to this place where there was actually water shooting up out of the ground. I had never seen a spring like that before where the water was literally just coming up out of the ground. As we were taking this all in, it happened to sort of start dawning on us that there was a new storm blowing in. The clouds were starting to fill the sky and it began to become darker and more ominous appearing and we hadn't looked at all at the forecast and then all of a sudden It was as if the heavens broke loose and the rain started to fall down, and great torrents of rain. And so, we had the children there, we're like, let's all head back to the cabin, and everyone just sort of dispersed, but it was somewhat chaotic. I mean, everyone was kind of scrambling, and we were scrambling, and we're making our way back to the cabin. By the time, before we even reached the cabin, we had to cross back over that little stream. That little stream was quickly becoming a torrent of water, a very dangerous torrent of water. But we got across it, and we made it to the cabin. And we all kind of hunkered down. When I say cabin, it's like 8 by 13. It's this little tiny, rustic place. And we're all in there. And it's dark. And we're dripping wet. And we're kind of laughing and excited about this funny situation. We just got caught in this downpour. But it was kind of terrifying, because the water outside in that little stream had become, was moving very fast and was very full. And then somewhere in the midst of that, it dawned on us that Josiah was not with us. And Josiah at that time, I believe, was probably four years old. I'm guessing somewhere. I'm being corrected. We're not sure. He was little. Little enough that when we realized that he wasn't there, it was very alarming. Because when you look outside and you saw the stream that we had to cross, it would not have been something that a child his age could have forded on the road. I was terrified. And my immediate response was to bust through the door, and I went running back out into the rain as soon as that recognition that he was there. And I no sooner got down the steps, hit the dirt, and I slid. My feet fell out from underneath me. I landed on my back. And Robert Benedict was saying, stop. Slow down. We need to pray. And he was absolutely right. I was just reacting to the situation. And reflecting back, it was a great lesson for me in a way that my spiritual immaturity came out in the moment of time that this crisis fell upon us. Whereas Robert realized that what we needed to do was we needed to pray. We were going to go look for Him, but first we had to acknowledge the fact that it was out of our hands, but it was in the hands of God, and it was to Him that we needed to set forth our appeal. We needed to look for God and to wait patiently on Him. And that's going to tie in today to the message that we have here in the Book of Esther. So let me back up a little bit. That's sort of an introductory illustration of where we're going to be heading here this morning. As we've been going through the Book of Esther, I've divided it into four sections. Josiah was fine. In the end, he had made his way. He hadn't, instead of crossing that stream, which I feared he had tried and had gotten swept away in the water, he had wandered up through the woods and made his way eventually and ended up at my parents' house. knocking on their door crying and was quite alarmed because he had crossed the pasture in the midst of the lightning and all the chaos. But eventually we found him and he was fine. Yeah, sorry to leave you hanging there. I bring some resolve to that. It all worked out well. God was good. And he would have been good no matter what the situation was, honestly. So as we've gone through Esther, I divided it into four episodes. in sort of each of these episodes, looking at the overall theme. The Book of Esther, as I said, is the story about the providential preservation of a chosen people by the hand of an unseen God. That's sort of the overall premise that we're looking at here as we go through the Book of Esther. And I think that each one of the episodes here in the Book of Esther, as we've divided it up, teaches us something new about God's providential preservation, the way that God is working out through all of these different channels the salvation of His people. In episode one, which was chapters one and two, we saw God's providential preservation is accomplished through selected representation. And so we have the king, King Ahasuerus, rejecting the queen at that time, which was Queen Vashti, and searching out to find a new queen, which ended up becoming Queen Esther. And she's brought in, and she's a Jew. And so she's gonna come into this position according to the sovereign, working of God as a representative of the Jewish people that God is going to ultimately end up using to deliver them as we go through the story. So first of all, we see this selected representation. In episode two, which was chapters three and four, we saw God's providential preservation is accomplished through perilous intervention. And in those chapters, we saw where this enemy of the people of God, this man named Haman, sets himself against the Jews and declares a day and gets the king to declare a decree that there would be a particular day in which they're going to annihilate all of the Jews in the kingdom of Persia. This is a large kingdom. So this would have not only been the people that were there in the capital city, this would have extended throughout all the provinces, including the people. This is the time after many had returned from exile and were back in Jerusalem and Judea, and so it would have included them in this edict of destruction as well. But Mordecai communicates to Esther, and Esther then sets about calling upon a fast. She said, fast for me, for three days we'll fast, and then I will go and I will approach the king. The famous words of Esther, if I perish, I perish. So Esther is going to put her life on the line. And we see the picture, we see how this points us to Christ, this perilous intervention. I mean, Christ is the ultimate expression of a perilous intervention for the people of God. So now we move into chapters five through seven, which is the third episode here. And we see how God's providential preservation is accomplished through triumphant salvation. And today we're just gonna look at the first half of this episode, which I've marked out as being Esther chapter five, verse one through chapter six, verse 11. So that's kind of the context here. Hopefully that brings you up to speed if you haven't been with us. And let's jump into this passage. I'm gonna read through it here to begin with. Chapter five, verse one. Now it came about on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace in front of the king's rooms. And the king was sitting on his royal throne in the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace. When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight. And the king extended to Esther the golden scepter, which was in his hand. So Esther came near and touched the top of the scepter. Then the king said to her, what is troubling you, Queen Esther? And what is your request? Even to half the kingdom, it shall be given to you. Esther said, if it pleases the king, may the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him. Then the king said, bring Haman quickly that we may do as Esther desires. So the king and Haman came to the banquet which Esther had prepared. As they drank their wine at the banquet, the king said to Esther, what is your petition? For it shall be granted to you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom, it shall be done. So Esther replied, my petition and my request is, if I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and do what I request, may the king and Haman come to the banquet which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king says. Then Haman went out that day glad and pleased of heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate and that he did not stand up or tremble before him, Haman was filled with anger against Mordecai. Haman controlled himself, however, went to his house and sent for his friends and his wife, Zeresh. Then Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches and the number of his sons and every instance where the king had magnified him and how he had promoted him above the princes and servants of the king. Haman also said, even Esther the queen let no one but me come with the king to the banquet which he had prepared. And tomorrow also I'm invited by her with the king. Yet all of this does not satisfy me every time I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate. Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, have a gallows 50 cubits high made. And in the morning, ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go joyfully with the king to the banquet. And the advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made. Chapter six, during the night, the king could not sleep. So he gave an order to bring the book of records, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. It was found written that what Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthanah and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who were doorkeepers, that they had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. The king said, what honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this? Then the king's servants who attended him said, nothing's been done for him. So the king said, who's in the court? Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king's palace in order to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows, which he had prepared for him. The king's servants said to him, behold, Haman is standing in the court. And the king said, let him come in. So Haman came in and the king said to him, what is to be done for the man whom the king desires to honor? And Haman said to himself, whom would the king desire to honor more than me? Then Haman said to the king, for the man who the king desires to honor, let him bring a royal robe, which the king has worn, and the horse in which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown has been placed, and let the robe and the horse be handed over to one of the king's most noble princes, and let them array the man whom the king desires to honor and lead him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him, thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor. Then the king said to Haman, take quickly the robes and the horse as you have said, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who is sitting at the king's gates. Do not fall short in anything of all that you have said. So Haman took the robe and the horse and arrayed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the city square and proclaimed before him, thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor. So as I mentioned earlier, we've come to this third division now of Esther, and we see the first half here of this passage sort of reaching the tipping point of the story, and where the events of providential preservation are leading towards this triumphant salvation. And again, as we've talked about this going through the story, we want to view the story of Esther in one sense as another episode of God intervening through Providence to preserve His people. And not just His people, but in particular the Messiah that would come through His people to save all of those who belong to Him. But it's also, in this way, a picture of the grand story of redemption. where God delivers his people from their enemies. It's a reflection of the whole of that grand story itself. And this week I want to make some observations about this story in relationship to what we can learn about God's providential preservation, particularly as we see the path sort of moving towards this triumphant salvation. And as you see in your bulletin, I formulated this into a statement involving three points. And I'll have to tell you, I struggled. There's three particular points I wanted to pull out of this passage and tried to struggle with how I might relate them one to another, but this is the way that I've done that. And so we would say this, the providential preservation of God's people, which ends in the defeat of their enemy through triumphant salvation, entails insignificant means, a golden scepter lowered, and godly patience. So those are the three points I wanna draw out of this passage this week. So first of all, salvation entails a golden scepter extended. I'm gonna go back to that portion of scripture. I want you to listen to this carefully, and this scene that we have of Esther knowing that she has no right to come before the king. without him first bidding her to come. And so she takes her life into her hands, basically, to enter into his court. But because of the favor towards her, he extends his scepter. So, now it came about on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace in front of the king's room. So the king was sitting on his royal throne in the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace. When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight, and the king extended to Esther the golden scepter, which was in his hand. So Esther came near and touched the top of the scepter. Then the king said to her, what is troubling you, Queen Esther? And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom, it shall be given to you. So here in the middle of this story, God supplies this salvation to his people as a wonderful picture of his mercy and his loving kindness that is extended to us through Christ, through a golden, as it were, a golden scepter being extended. So we see that the king is approached by one who represents the chosen people, and one who has found favor in his eyes. And he takes this scepter, which is really an emblem of his majestic rule, of his authority, of his ability to judge and rule over the people, and he extends it out and down, as it were, as a signal of his mercy and the loving kindness that he has expressed to this favored one. And then he bids the favored one three particular things. Come near. be comforted, he said, what's troubling you? In other words, take comfort. And then to entreat of his kingdom riches. And really, in Christ, God's golden scepter has been extended to us. This is a picture for us to consider how, in the same manner, God has extended His golden scepter to us as we are in Christ. And that's true corporately of His church. And it's true individually as believers as well. In Hebrews 4, verse 16, we read this. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. Or again, in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 19, therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil, that is his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. So, in Christ, we have obtained the favored, the status of the favored one before God. In Christ, God has bid us to come near to Him. In Christ, God has bid us comfort, to lay aside our troubles at His throne. In Christ, God has bid us to entreat of His kingdom riches. In Christ, God's golden scepter has been extended to us. This is the first thing that we wanna draw here. Secondly, we see that salvation entails insignificant means. Salvation entails insignificant means. So for example, Haman just happened to summon some friends for this party in which his wife proposed that he should build a gallows. Ahasuerus just happened to have a sleepless night. And he just happened to call for the records where he just happens to come across this unrewarded act of Mordecai, who had revealed the plot against the king's life so many years ago. And then Haman just happens to enter the court to approach the king with a request to hang Mordecai at the exact time in which the king was looking to honor Mordecai. So these are sort of really small things with impeccable timing. In such a way that we see the salvation being worked out is not in the hands of Esther and Mordecai, it's in the hands of God. He's doing it. And he's using all these sort of what otherwise might be insignificant things to work it out. It's his providence, working things towards his own purpose. I like this quote from a fellow by the name of William Morehead. In its marvelous unfolding, providence never neglects what men may be disposed to regard as things of no moment. It takes up the details, the minutia, the shreds and ravelings of life, and it combines and twists them together into a mighty cable by which, irresistibly, the purposes of God are drawn forward and accomplished. All revolutions, changes, achievements whatsoever, greatest and smallest which the world has ever beheld, have often, in the course of their genesis, depended on the merest trifles, on the turning of straws, we might say. So what does that mean to us? Well, first of all, I would say there's many parallels that we see here when we look at the story of Christ and the path to Calvary. Many of the sort of the little things that are happening, God is putting this on this person's heart and this person's mind, and all of these things are getting worked together to play out the crucifixion of Christ, which was the means of our salvation. But I want you to also consider the ways in which God has personally intervened in your own life. I was, this weekend, was able to join some other families in Nebraska and got to hear the testimony of several men and how they were saved. And it was very encouraging. And it was remarkable to me as I was considering that in light of this passage here. You know, one fellow who is a pastor at a restoration church, it's an Acts 29 church that's there in Lincoln, at one time had been a football player at KU. And on his way back to the dorm, he was sharing with me, on the way back to his dorm one day, there was a couple guys outside the dorm and somehow caught his attention. They started asking him some questions, and he knew, as they shared the Gospel with him, that while his life sometimes was good, sometimes was bad, there was something that was just not right with his life. And God used those couple of men there to open his eyes and to open his heart to the message of the Gospel, and he was saved that day. And now, here he is, so many years later, and God has continued to intervene in his life, and is working in his life, and he's been led to plant a church, and is ministering to people, and it all stems from just a couple of guys, you know, approached him outside his dorm. And God used that. In fact, I was thinking about this in terms of God using insignificant means. Isn't it the foolishness of preaching? The foolishness of preaching that God is ordained by where men are saved. And with that thought, it caused me to think about the testimony of even Charles Spurgeon. Some of you are probably familiar with that testimony. And I was interested this morning as I thought, well, I ought to look up and make sure I get the details right about the conversion of Spurgeon. And was really, if you'll indulge me here, I'm going to read his own testimony about his conversion. And you see the way in which God providentially works things out. And then used Spurgeon as a mighty tool through the years. No doubt in the conversion of many other souls. So here's his own account of that story. I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair until now, had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm one Sunday morning while I was going to a certain place of worship. I turned down a side street and came to a little primitive Methodist church. In that chapel, there may have been a dozen or 15 people. I'd heard of the primitive Methodists, how they sang so loudly that made people's heads ache. He's pretty funny here. You'll have to catch some of his humor. But that did not matter to me. I wanted to know how I might be saved. The minister did not come that morning. He was snowed up, I suppose. At last, a very thin-looking man, a shoemaker, a tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach. Now, it is well preachers be instructed, but this man was really stupid. He was obliged to stick to his text for the simple reason that he had little else to say. The text was, look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, Isaiah 45, 22. He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter. There was, I thought, a glimmer of hope for me in that text. The preacher began thus, this is a very simple text indeed. It says, look. Now look and don't take a deal of pain. It ain't lifting your foot or your finger, it's just look. Well a man needn't go to college to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool and yet you can look. A man needn't be worth a thousand a year to look. Anyone can look, even a child can look. But then the text says, look unto me. Hey, he said, and brought Essex, many of ye are looking to yourselves, but it's no use looking there. You'll never find any comfort in yourselves. Some say, look to God the Father. No, look to Him by and by. Jesus Christ says, look unto Me. Some on ye say, we must wait for the Spirit's working. You have no business with that just now. Look unto Christ. The text says, look unto Me. Then the good man followed up his text in this way. Look unto Me, I'm sweating a great drops of blood. Look unto Me, I'm hanging on the cross. Look unto Me, I'm dead and buried. Look unto Me, I rise again. Look unto Me, I ascend to heaven. Look unto Me, I'm sitting at the Father's right hand. O poor sinner, look unto Me. Look unto Me." When he had managed to spin out about ten minutes or so, He was at the end of his tether. Then he looked at me under the gallery, and I dare say with so few present, he knew me to be a stranger. Just fixing his eyes on me as if he knew all my heart, he said, young man, you look very miserable. Well, I did. But I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow. Struck right home. He continued, and you will always be miserable, miserable in life, miserable in death, if you don't obey my text. But if you obey now this moment, you will be saved. Then lifting up his hands, he shouted as only primitive Methodists could do, young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look, look, look. You have nothing to do but to look and live. I saw at once the way of salvation. I know not what else He said. I did not take much notice of it. I was so possessed with that one thought. I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard that word, look, what a charming word it seemed to me. Oh, I looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away. There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun. I could have risen that instant and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, O the precious blood of Christ and the simple faith which looks alone to Him. O that somebody had told me this before, trust in Christ and you shall be saved. Yet it was, no doubt, all wisely ordered. And now I can say, ere since by faith I saw the stream thy flowing wounds supply, redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die. God has ordained that in our salvation He uses insignificant means. As the Word tells us, through the foolishness even of preaching. The final point I want to look at this morning is that salvation entails godly patience. One of the remarkable things in this story, as I went through it and studied the text here, is the manner in which Esther intervenes. So after speaking to Mordecai, she doesn't just run right into the king's presence, but she begins by calling for a three-day fast. And then when she approaches the king and he extends the scepter, she asks for the king, along with Haman, to join her for a feast later that day. She didn't even put a request before then. She said, why don't you come and we'll have a feast together? And then at that feast, it wasn't enough. She asked that the king and Haman would join her again the following day for another feast. And it was finally at that subsequent feast, which we're gonna get to next week, that she finally brings her petition for the preservation of the Jews. There's something here of the wisdom of godly patience that we see woven into the story. What exactly do I mean by godly patience? Last week, Matt talked to us, actually, about patience. as part of the sanctification that we see in the book of Colossians. And particularly in the way in which that gets worked out relationally one to another, how patience is manifested in our lives that way. But there's another way in which patience ought to be manifested. Maybe what we can call it is a circumstantial patience. To be patient through challenging circumstances that God has ordained for our lives. You know, when I say the word patience, no doubt something comes to your mind. You know, that word has meaning to you. But I wonder if you've ever thought about it. What is patience? What exactly is patience? Well, I looked at some definitions, and I thought all of these were good. One definition here, the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. Bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint. Manifesting forbearance under propagation or strain. Not hasty or impetuous, so those would be the opposites. Steadfast despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity. As I was thinking about it, I thought, you know, there are some things that look a lot like patience that really aren't patience. And we probably ought, at this point, clarify a little bit about what true godly patience is not. First of all, patience isn't apathy. You know, sometimes apathy might look like patience, or patience might look like apathy. But the two are actually very different. Patience isn't just simply doing nothing. Or not caring. You know, in fact, in this story, we see how Esther immediately took action. Immediately. By calling for a fast. So she was doing something. She was looking to God. We also see that patience isn't being cowardly. Esther's already relinquished her life. She said, if I perish, I perish. She's not dragging her feet because she's afraid. Consider the story of the Israelites who spied out the Promised Land, and they come back, and you have all of the ten of the spies saying, no way, we can't do this, there's giants living in the land. And Joshua and Caleb are, yeah, we can take them, God's on our side. They were ready to go forward with a courageous faith. And it wasn't as though they were gonna just run right into the battle. They would have sought the Lord's guidance, and they would have sought Him. It wasn't that they had confidence in themselves, they had confidence in God. But it's not being cowardly. That's not what patience is about. Well, I'm afraid to do it, so I'm not gonna do anything. Patience isn't stalling to be compulsive. You know, there are some who won't move forward until they've dotted every I and crossed every T and have a three ring binder full of contingency plans. And that's not what's happening here either. You know, while there may be certain situations in which obviously there's wisdom in thinking things through and planning things out, there's a way in which that kind of being compulsive can also be an indication that you're really just trying to take it into your own hands. that you don't trust God, and you're gonna do everything that you possibly can out of self-reliance to make sure that you have a good outcome. And maybe this sort of brings us then into an understanding of what true godly patience really is. And first of all, it involves faith. The patience that God wants us to have is an issue of faith. Faith that He is the one who is in control. It's entrusting ourselves to Him rather than just reacting and taking things into our own hands. It's also a fruit of the Spirit. Not one of the many fruits, but a fruit of the same sort of godly temperament. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, and so on. And in this way, it's very closely related to peace and self-control, because we might describe impatience as flying off the handle, being anxious, and having an uncontrolled reaction. But patience is being calm and collected and able to wait, even though trials are difficult and situations are difficult. And I think that last phrase is important, able to wait. Patience is being able to wait. Particularly as we consider this in the context of God's providence. A circumstantial patience is the ability to wait on the Lord and on his timing. And it looks like Jesus. Scott made an excellent point last week after the sermon in drawing our attention to the fact that whenever we look at some type of virtue, we don't want to just you know, imagine what that virtue looks like. What's always good is to look at Christ and say, well, surely, if that's a virtue, that virtue is found in Christ. If it's a fruit of the Spirit, it's found in Christ. And so if we want to understand what it looks like, then we look at Christ as the expression, the full expression of these things, as God's character is expressed to us in Him. While the redemption of mankind rested upon Jesus, He didn't go to the cross as soon as He could first walk. In fact, as best as we can understand the situation, He probably was a carpenter for the first 30 years of His life, working alongside His fathers, waiting until God's timing for Him to move forward. And even when He did begin His public ministry, what was the first thing He did after He got baptized? He went out in the wilderness. He spent 40 days fasting and praying in the wilderness. He never ran ahead of God in a frenzy. He wasn't like me, running out the door and slipping in the mud. He always did what God wanted him to do, and he never did delay, but he didn't do it in a frenzy either. He was never apathetic, cowardly, or compulsive. He just trusted God and moved forward with what God wanted him to do at that moment in time. So I want to make some application of this. First of all, I'd say this, we need to apply godly patience to the small and numerous situations that we encounter every day. Life is full of trying circumstances. Flat tires, road construction, poopy diapers, et cetera. No, I'm not suggesting that you hold a three-day fast every time you encounter a poopy diaper, okay? That'd be bad. But we do need to have our hearts, I think, prepared every day in such a way as to bear patiently, having that godly patience in the circumstances that God's called us to walk through that day. and see them, even in these mundane trials. Sometimes we, at least this is true for me, it's probably true for you too, but I think about executing some of these great virtues in the big things of life, but then you hit the little things, and it's those mundane things that really trip me up. It's that flat tire that I wasn't expecting. I'm all prepared to someday have my house burned to the ground, but I might fly off the handle and have to say, no, no. I may not be prepared for the flat tire that I'm going to encounter on my way somewhere. Sometimes we think about it in these larger situations, but not the mundane things of life. But we ought to see every one of those little trials even as opportunities of training, and making sure, and testing our hearts, sanctifying us. that we would be people that exhibit a godly patience. So first of all, we need to apply godly patience in the small and numerous situations we encounter every day, but secondly, we need to apply godly patience to the larger circumstances of life that God leads us through. There are seasons of life that we might find ourselves in particularly challenging situations. Situations that call on us to wait patiently for God. Maybe it's a bad employment situation. Maybe it's a loss of employment situation. Maybe it's a health crisis. I mean, I have no doubt that here in this congregation today, there are those of you who are going through a difficult situation in your lives. We don't want to confuse, again, patients in these larger circumstances with apathy, cowardice, or being compulsive, it's important that we ought to seek to live out patiently and we probably ought to search our own hearts, try to discern what's at work and not commend ourselves for being patient when really we're just being apathetic or something along those lines. But on the other hand, we ought not be impetuous and hasty and miss the way. Even when the desired end isn't immediate, we need to look to God and entrust ourselves to the outcome. Be patient. Wait on God and His timing. And then move forward with a faith like Joshua's when he calls you to move forward. But thirdly, and I think this is most significant of all, we need to apply godly patience to life itself, to the whole of our lives. The whole of our time here on this earth is going to be fraught with trials and difficulties because we live in a fallen world. And waiting on God, even in a situation, say you have a health crisis, but some of those end in death. Yeah, that's the reality. And will God have failed you if that's the case? By no means. By no means, because we want to look at the whole picture, not just the small incidences. We need to step back and look at the whole of the situation. And as we consider the story of Esther, and we see the ways in which we're pointed towards our final salvation in Christ, then we need to live out our lives as those who are patiently waiting upon God to preserve and deliver them. We read Romans chapter 8 this morning, and I think that's just filled with that kind of encouragement, the argument that Paul is making there. He talks about the fact that we live in a fallen world that's groaning, and we ourselves groan. But he says this, for in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he already sees. But if we hope for what we do not see with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it. We wait eagerly for it. And he goes on to talk about the fact that in Christ, there's nothing that can separate us from the love of God that we have in him. It was funny this weekend, in the context of some of the conversations I had, one of the men is there planning out a particular event. One of the men was talking about getting such and such a speaker, and he said, and he has a very optimistic eschatology. For some of you that aren't familiar with that theological term, eschatology is end time events. And I thought about that a little bit. I think I understood what he was saying. I think I understood what he meant, perhaps particularly referring to this man as having a post-millennial eschatology and his view of how things are going to work out and that understanding that's within orthodox Christianity. Every biblical eschatology is optimistic. I think he was mistaken. Every biblical eschatology is optimistic. Because in the end, Christ returns, and we are resurrected from the dead, and we dwell with him in paradise. That's an optimistic eschatology, and that's what scripture teaches. Whether you are pre-mill, post-mill, all-mill, or pan-mill, It doesn't matter, we all share in an optimistic eschatology. The whole of our lives on earth ought to reflect a sort of godly patience as those who've entrusted themselves to God and who are waiting patiently for the consummation of our triumphant salvation in Christ. Let's close in order there. Father, we do just thank You for Your Word and the truths that we can find there, Lord. Father, I pray that You would make us a people with that sort of godly patience, to bear patiently, Lord, through all of the challenges and difficulties of this life, as those whose hope is not in this life, but whose hope is in the life to come, the life that we have in Christ, the triumphant salvation whereby our enemy has been forever defeated. I pray then, Lord, that that sort of godly patience, that hope that we have, that we wait for in eagerness, Lord, would affect then even the little situations in our lives as well. We pray these things in the name of Christ. Amen. I want to take a moment now to open up for any questions, or comments, or corrections, or other words to edify this morning in response to the sermon. When you have one of those situations where you have patients waiting on trial, And God is responding. And you look back at that new situation and say, wow, I did a good job. I'm an educationist really well. And that's just a trap I see every once in a while with myself, that much like myself is not an educationist without God. In the end, whether we wait patiently or no, it's God who intervenes, and it's going to ultimately be His salvation. Thoughts? Alright, I'll hand it over to Matt.