All right. Scripture reading today is from Esther chapter 2, verses 19 through 23. Follow along as I read God's word. Since it's not on the screen, I'll give you a couple of seconds to find it. Say it one more time, Esther. Esther chapter 2 verses 19 through 23. Now when the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate. Esther had not made known her kindred or her people as Mordecai had commanded her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she had brought up by him. In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Bicton and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Hazerus. And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther. And Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai, when the affair was investigated and found out to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows. And it was recorded in the book of the Chronicles. in the presence of the King. This is the word of the Lord. This is the word of the Lord, indeed. Amen. You may be seated. This time, our missionary, Doug, is going to come and share God's word with us. I've been with him for a long time. He's a great friend. He's a good sounding board as well. There's been times when I've been hurting, and he's been the guy that kind of lifted me up, so I appreciate it a lot. So brother, God bless you. And I would just want to say that Pastor Bob, you have been a sounding board for me and a friend for me when I've been hurting as well. So thank you for that. It's a great joy for me to be here today to be with friends. I'm excited to see many of you that I've known from the past and to meet some new folks. Always great to meet new people in the church. May God continue to bring folks here that love the word of God and the people of God and the mission of Christ to take the gospel to all the world. Thank you for your long-term support to us in our ministry of having the privilege to train pastors to teach the word of God with the heart of God. That's primarily what we're all about. We desire to see the word of God flowing powerfully through churches into nations. I want you to hear that we are about the local church when I say that. Not a missions organization that's about their own organization, but about strengthening the local church. And so I've had the privilege to serve a part-time to full-time with what used to be leadership resources. Some of you remember I used to wear that badge, and now I have, my wife is actually, I have it on her sweater this morning, and it's very nice, dear, Word Partners. And that's where you come in, that you are partnering with us to take the word of God to the nations. And from the first day until now, your dear, dear long-term supporting church of ours. Thank you, thank you, thank you. From the first day until now, I greet you with the fondest of memories and great appreciation. But it's also a great privilege to open the Word of God with you this morning. I'm thankful for the time you give for preaching in your church, and I trust that means that you are eager to hear from God this morning. Thank you, Pastor, for reading Esther. I wonder how long it's been since you've had a study or a read of the Book of Esther. Let me encourage you to just go and read from beginning to end the Book of Esther. As I preach this morning, I'm going to dive into a portion But I think you'll really benefit from hearing the rest of the story as a good friend of ours from many, many years ago when I was a child, Paul Harvey would once say. This is the rest of the story. In saying that, I want you to also turn to Esther Chapter 4, Pastor Red Chapter 2, and I want to look at Chapter 4, and that'll be the bookends of what we're trying to discuss this morning, Chapter 2 to Chapter 4. And they told Mordecai what Esther had said, and Mordecai told them to reply to Esther. Do you think, you yourself, that in the king's palace you will escape any more than any other Jew? For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place. But you and your father's house will perish. Listen to these words this morning. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this. Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai. Go gather all the Jews to be found in Susa and hold a fast on my behalf and do not eat or drink for three days and nights. I had my young women and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king. Though it is against the law and if I perish, I perish. Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him. Father, we thank you for what we read in a portion of passage like this this morning. We thank you that your word is alive and quick and sharper than any two-edged sword. We're thankful that the word of God is so alive today that it is relevant to us this morning. This is not an old historical story that has no relevance to us today. I pray, Lord Jesus, that you will be seen in this passage this morning and that we will learn and that we will love what it is you teach us today. Guide me, use me, Spirit of Christ, work. In your name we pray, amen. We look at an Old Testament passage like this and we ask the question that I prayed, what is the relevance of a passage like this? Well, you can't help but think of 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 11 that says, now these things happen to them. Who are them? Paul's referring to those in the Old Testament. These things have happened to them as an example. What they were written down for, listen, are instruction on whom the end of the age has come. There's great benefit as an example and for instruction. And I know enough about this passage as I prepared that this most likely means something to everyone that's in this room this morning. This means something to everyone. Luke 24, verse 24 says that all the scriptures are written from Moses and the prophets and all the scriptures concerning Christ. And so in some way, Esther's going to reveal the Lord Jesus. And that should be a great encouragement to us as well this morning. But I want to highlight What is the main title and emphasis of this message this morning? Who knows what God is going to do? You see how relevant it is all of a sudden? Who is sitting in here this morning not asking that question about some facet of your life? Who knows what God's going to do? I trust that you are working those things out with God, that you're crying out, Lord, where are you? Lord, what is it that you're doing? What is the next step? How long? I love that little phrase, who knows? I've come across that in a couple of different passages. In 2 Samuel chapter 12, verse 22. Remember, David is fasting and going before the Lord and begging God to spare the life of the sick child that he had with Bathsheba. And after the child dies, he washes, cleanses himself, he goes in and he worships. And everyone around him is like blown away like he was begging God and then the child dies and now he goes about his life. And this is what he said, he said, Who knows whether the Lord would be gracious to me and that the child would live. The child didn't live. David did not shake his fist at God. He said, God's sovereignty, providential will has been revealed. He submitted to it, but he was hanging on there because he did not know what God was doing. What a great example when you don't know what to do. And when God does what God's going to do, you worship God. Great example. Jonah chapter 3. The king of Nineveh. The king of Nineveh. A heathen nation. Sorry. A heathen nation. He says this. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from the fierce anger so that we may not perish. He said, who knows? Who knows the providential mind of God? Who knows what God's going to do? You know what chapter 4 would happen? Well, chapter 3 verse 10. God relented and spared the king and the people of Nineveh. And they worshiped. There's a consistent pattern there, right? Worshiping when you see the answers to God's providential will in your life. Who knows what God's going to do? Just a few weeks ago, we are in Fort Myers, Florida. That's where we live. And we were praying for our dear friends in the Panhandle, Destin, Florida, Pensacola. The Hurricane Ian is coming their way. Two days later, oh, we're praying for our friends in Tampa. May God be kind to them. Who knows what God's going to do there? Oh, Tuesday, Fort Myers, ground zero. Oh, who knows what God's going to do? How do we respond? Respond in worship. We've had two beautiful worship services, singing and praising and giving testimonies in our church in Fort Myers post-hurricane. When God reveals his will, where are you this morning? Is there something that you're crying out, salvation of a loved one, care for issues of life and finance? Who knows what God's going to do? I believe I'm here, and you're here today, to hear from God's word, who knows what the sovereign hand of God has for you in the coming days. I wonder if you think about that as you live life. Are you just about your business, or are you looking at the sovereign work of God in your midst? This is what we're having the privilege to talk about in the story of Esther this morning. September 21st, 2021, I preached this message. I preached it in Arpin. I don't know if you've heard of Arpin. Arpin is a town just outside of Kyiv that has been pummeled and hammered and bombed and bombed and bombed. by the Russians, I preached this message there. And we were talking about the threat of war. And we are rallying around tables, praying that we would respond in worship if Putin invaded. We had people from Kazakhstan there, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Ukraine, and Poland in that room. None of us wanted to believe that Putin would bomb Ukraine. But then February 23rd, 2020 came. And the answer to God's sovereign plan was revealed. as the bombs came upon that sweet, sweet country. It's almost impossible for me to imagine. It's a first world city. It's a first world country. There are high rises, there are cars and vehicles. It is not one of those terrible places in a jungle where war takes place. You've seen the pictures. Some of you might have been there. To believe that there is this type of devastation. What is God doing? What is God doing? Where are you, God? What's happening? I think it's great to be in a book like Esther this morning because of these reasons. The book of Esther never mentions God. You know this, right? Never mentions God. Martin Luther, I love what he said, I wish the book of Esther was not written at all. Martin Luther, he had issues with books like Esther and James. He really struggled with some passages of scripture that didn't quite line up with his framework of life and ministry. But a dear friend of mine said this when it comes to the absence of God's clear presence The presence of absence does not mean there is an absence of presence. Did you hear what I said? Or what he said? It's not mine, but I love it. The presence of absence does not mean there's an absence of presence. God's providence is going to fulfill his promises. In the book of Esther, God is at work everywhere, but very often we don't see him at work. Very often his hand is hidden. We may see it someday, but often the reality is we will not until that day when we're with him. The author's giving us a beautiful picture of what it actually feels like to not see the presence of God. What it actually feels like. Seeing with, seeing the unseen with the eyes of faith. that will help you through it, seeing some of the unique coincidences, perhaps, you will see in the book of Esther. As you read, look for those, oh, just so happened phrases. Really? Is God not present in the just so happened phrases? Through the ironic reversals where it looks like this is going to happen and there's actually a huge turnabout. and a shock. These are the types of things that take place in our life. God's providence to fulfill his promise. What's it look like in our lives through sickness, through difficult relationships, through financial struggles, through social conflicts? What does it look like in our lives today? It looks like what Paul's trying to communicate that how God works all things together for good to those who are of the called and according to his purpose. Let's get into our text this morning. The background, just a little bit of Esther takes place about 1,000 years after the exile into Babylon. Jerusalem was exiled into Babylon in 587 BC. But some of the people had returned to Jerusalem through Ezra and Nehemiah. You remember some of these stories as you study Ezra and Nehemiah. And Susa is the capital of this Persian city now. There are five main characters we heard already of King Ahasuerus, the king of Persia from 586 to 466, Mordecai, a Jewish individual, Esther, who's Jewish, Naaman, Haman, I mean, Haman is also a key factor here, and I want you to understand the key character is also God. Chapter 1, we won't take the time this morning to dive deeply into it, but it starts out with this huge feast. Feasts are a key interpretation key to the book of Esther. Every time there's a feast, look what happens. Something's going to happen. And there are two feasts in Chapter 1 that last for 187 days. A lot of money, a lot of everything taking place. When it got late in the feast, this is where the king said, hey, I want to bring my queen out. So he brings Vashti out, or calls for Vashti to come and present herself to everybody at the banquet. Well, they were probably long in drink and food and merry. And Vashti said, I'm not going out there in front of those people and parade. And she refused. How do you think the king responded to that? I know how I feel on those days when I ask Elena to do something and she refuses. I'm no king. He was angry. He was angry and he removed her as queen and now he wants to have a beauty pageant. And there in that beauty pageant, Mordecai puts forward his cousin Esther. And Esther in chapter 2, verses 18 and 19, becomes queen. And Mordecai tells her, don't tell anyone you're a Jew. This is where we find the story this morning. She has gone from, listen, she has gone from being a foreigner, a Jewish foreigner, an orphan, and now she's been exalted to the highest position in the kingdom. Is that coincidental? It's not coincidental in the story. God in his providential work brings her from this orphan foreign Jewish state into this highest position. He also equipped her for the position. I think it's quite interesting. She was a looker. She was beautiful. There was something about her that was extremely attractive. And Mordecai coached her, his cousin, really coached her in how to behave in these situations. But he knew if everyone knew she was a Jew, that would be a problem. So he kept that Jewishness quiet at this particular time. We must learn to understand the feasts, as I said earlier in the book of Esther, are the key for us as we make progress in this book. One of the transformational points that I would like us to leave here today with is understanding by faith one walks through the unknown with eyes of faith into the providential presence of God. By faith we do this. By faith. There are three scenes that we'll look at quickly this morning. The first scene is this scene that we read in Chapter 2. This scene where there's this plot to kill the king. And this plot is revealed. And this plot's revealed by who? by Mordecai himself. Just so happens, at this particular time, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate. Why was he there? Many people ask that as a point of curiosity. Why would Mordecai be at the king's gate? Well, maybe Queen Esther gave him that position. Many times, if you're at the gate, you are one of those individuals that has a position of esteem. So for whatever reason, he is there at the particular time that something's taking place. In those days, Mordecai was sitting there, and these two guys, Big Than and Teresh, they're the king's eunuchs. They were impotent, but yet important, if you understand what I'm saying. They were there to serve the king, and there were some frustrations about their position of service. And these two eunuchs who guarded the threshold became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. They wanted to kill him. They wanted to take the king out. And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told Queen Esther, and Esther told the king And these guys were hung on gallows. And it was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king. Wow. You know why they reported names in the Chronicles? Because these were usually individuals that showed loyalty to the sovereign. And we wanted to mark that down because that usually means you're going to reward them for what they do. But you won't notice there's no reward here for Mordecai. He's not rewarded yet. He's not rewarded. This is an interesting scene that we get to see what God is doing here in this story as it's unfolding. The queen is established. Mordecai is here. These are both Jewish individuals in a foreign state. And somehow God is raising them up to positions of significance. These characters are angry and Mordecai brings this message forward and they are hung in the gallows. I want you to just take a moment and give you a little bit of history on what that means by the gallows. If you were to look at Isaiah or Ezra chapter 6 verse 11, it actually uses the same Hebrew word and says they were impaled. And impaling would have been, the historian said, they would be laid on their back on a high pole and dropped, speared from their back through, and put on display. The poles would have been at least 30 feet high. Why? Why would they be so high? Why would they be impaled and die a slow death like that? If you're going to do something against the king, you might want to think about that visual. If you don't pull it off, you're going to be hung on a gallow. Really, literally, it's not hung like a neck from the gallow, it's hanging from it. And there they were, hanging on the gallows. Interestingly, this is regarded in the Quranic, in the, Chronicles, the book of the Chronicles for a purpose. And we'll see Chapter 6, or you'll see Chapter 6 and Chapter 10, why it was so important to be in the Chronicles. This is a small reversal right here. Somebody wanting to kill the king, and yet they got killed themselves. Interesting for the book of Esther as well. These little reversals. This is God at work, but God's not mentioned. God's working, but yet his name is not mentioned. I think it's important for us to see that this morning. There could be a moral to the story. Perhaps you're thinking, will you doing the right thing even if it's overlooked? Will you do the right thing even though you're not recognized for it? Mordecai does that by way of a moral observation this morning. I'm going to pull back a curtain in my life and heart a little bit this morning and show you, share with you some transparency. There's sometimes things that look like apparent injustices. Over the past week, I had become aware of an offense I had against a brother two years ago. For various reasons, I was not able to approach him and I was finally able to meet with him last week. I didn't know what the offenses have been for all that time. Can you imagine? Day and night, as I've been living my life and doing my ministry, I know that there's someone who has an accusation against me in some way I have offended. No need to get into the reasons why and what those offenses were. But I was invited into a blind meeting with this brother Tuesday. What do I mean blind meeting? I went into a meeting not knowing what the accusations were going to be. Like, what's going to happen? What's going to be said? I was frustrated, nervous, and I was really receiving counsel from my other friends, perhaps Job's friends, that I shouldn't go to this meeting. It's a setup. It's a trap. But by grace and faith, I went into this meeting. But I want you to know here today, I went into that meeting blind, yes. But this is something God showed me. I went to a blind, but I did not go alone." And I want to leave that with you this morning. When we don't see what God's doing, we might be blind to what He's doing, but that doesn't mean we're alone. End of the story. I want a brother. We left those meetings after two days. Hugging, praying for one another, looking forward of working together in the future. Worshipping the Lord Jesus. But I think God is up to something much greater in this story as we move on to the second scene here. The second scene in chapter three, after these things, these things, King Ashuwares promoted Haman the Agagite. This is about two to four years later. What's the interlude? What was going on? Why the parenthesis here in time? Well, Ahasuerus was at war. He was trying to defeat Greece or the Greeks. You know how that ended up for him, right? If you understand your biblical history, he didn't win. But he was trying and he was fighting and warring against them. And he promoted Haman, this Agagite, and he advanced him to the top position in the kingdom. And this king's servants who were with the king bowed down and he He came up with this edict that everybody, everywhere, should bow down to Haman. Well, how does that work out for everyone? But, look at that word. You see that word there? But Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage, verse 2. Then the king's servants, who were there in the king's gate, said to Mordecai, why are you transgressing the king's command? And when they spoke to him day after day, he would not listen to them. He told Haman in order to see whether Mordecai's words would stand. For he had told them that he was a Jew. This is the first time this comes out. Now Mordecai says, hey, I'm a Jew. And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury, but he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, and Haman sought to destroy Haman, or Mordecai, I mean. Haman decided, not just Mordecai, Look, a genocide, all the Jews. The people of Mordecai throughout the whole kingdom of Hashereus. This, for some reason, is something that Mordecai is unwilling to do. He is unwilling to bend and bow before him. You ever heard that before? Examples. Examples that have gone before us. For our instruction, you know their names. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I wonder if Mordecai was familiar with those individuals. With Daniel. Faithful. Faithful to God in a culture that was against God. How about Jesus? Jesus? very, very much would not bend and bow and kneel. Jesus did say, render unto Caesar what is unto Caesar. but not to bow and worship others. Haman is furious. He says that he's an Agagite. And just a little quick history here. Agagites, in 1 Samuel 15, Saul did not kill Agag. Agag, remember him? And this is a battle that was between the Benjamites, the people of Saul, and Haman, an Agagite. You remember what happened when Samuel came in and found out that Saul didn't kill the Agites? What did Samuel do to King Agite, Agite? Chopped him up into pieces and distributed them all over the country. Oh, that's a tough ending for King Agite. So, when he found out, those Jews are still giving me an issue. Legacy issues. Cultural, significant legacy issues. How do you respond? How do you respond? Well. He's angry. He's going to come up with a way to wipe out all the people. But he comes up with a plan, and he starts putting this plan together. He rolls these dice, the pum and these dice, and he looks for when will be the right day, and he comes up with a day all on his own that is the day before Passover. How did it happen that the dice happened to roll just right that 11 months from now, just before Passover, Jewish Passover, is going to be the day that these people are slaughtered. Coincidental? Or is God at work? What would it mean to the Jewish people if this execution, this genocide, was going to take place in Passover's era? They'd say, huh, God saved us once. Will He save us again? For our example, for instruction and encouragement. It's interesting, Haman just didn't get this privilege to execute this decree without some incentive. You'll see that he gave, he said in verse 9, he said, I will pay you 10,000 talents of silver into your hands so that, so who has charge of the king's business? And I may put into the king's treasury. He said, listen, if you let me kill these Jews, I'll give you all this silver. Well, this actually would have amounted to 750 pounds of silver at $300 a pound, today's rate. I did the math, so you don't have to, $225 million. Now, what would, how would King Hasbara, would he think hard about that? Let's see. What about the Jews or fill my treasury so I can go back to war with, against the Greeks? Yeah, I'm running out of cash for war. I'll take the 225 million and you can go ahead and have your day with the Jewish people. There is an issue taking place. It caused, all the way down, look at the last verse in chapter 3. And the king and Haman sat down and drank on it. He gave them a signet ring and they sat down and they drank on it. Can you see them lounging in their lounges and drinking and yeah, no problem. On the 11th day of Adar, go ahead and wipe out all the Jews. But the city of Yeshua was thrown into confusion, to say the least, thrown into confusion. This is a satanic act that they are ready to implement. They were willing to wipe out all the people of Israel in their country. Just quickly, let me review once again three hints of God's involvement. Mordecai's act to save the king, the casting of the lots, and the day of Adar being the day just before Passover. None of that is coincidental. These are all acts of God. This is where I want to encourage us today. The story of providence, are we quick to interpret what's taking place in our life and world as coincidence? Or do we interpret it biblically, the sovereign hand of God at work? You know, my issue I told you I worked through this week, it was hard for me to not say, those are false accusations. But the most peace that I could get in that whole situation is saying, God has me here. And might I say, for such a time as this. What is God doing? And I can only worship him now because of how he worked in this whole situation. Stories of providence. that we've seen throughout the scriptures, Moses. Moses was put in a basket in the river and oh, Pharaoh's daughter just so happened found him. And she needed a nursemaid and guess who they found? I don't know. Just so happened Moses' mom was available. How do we want to excuse these providences of God? What I mean, God is at work. God is saving his people. God is not only saving his people. He's saving the nation and he's fulfilling his promises. And he brings Jesus. Into this world. To fulfill all the script. Well, the third scene this morning is Esther's response to this catastrophic crisis. Ooh, that didn't look that hard to say. Catastrophic crisis of faith. This section we see the great pain that fell onto Mordecai. We find him at the gate once again, and there at the gate you see in verse two that he's clothed in sackcloth. There he's pouring sackcloth and ashes on us and making a public scene. In every providence wherever the king's decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and lamenting, and many of them laid in sackcloth and ashes. He was leading a movement. of mourning and weeping and sackcloth and ashes. This is not good for the public image of the leader. Not only would there be sackcloth and ashes, there would be mourning, there would be praying, there would be crying out to God. And this is just bothersome to Esther when Esther's young woman came and her eunuchs came and told her the queen deeply was distressed. And she sent garments and the clothes to Mordecai saying that he might take off the sackcloth and not cause a scene. But look down at verse 8, Mordecai also gave the guy in response to the Queen a written decree issued to Susa for the destruction, and might show to Esther and explain to her why he was doing these things. It's as though Esther did not know what the decree was. And so she's like, stop it. Stop it, cuz. Cuz, you're causing a conflict. I gave you that position not to call some kind of revolt. But he said, here's the decree. You might not know what's going on in the kingdom, but here it is. Here it is. Look at it. And then she goes back and forth to him and say, well, what am I supposed to do about this? I can't do anything. I don't even go to the king anymore. It's been 30 days since I've seen the king. How am I supposed to help out in this situation? All the king's servants and the people and the king and the providence and all women, they go to the king inside the inner cart without a call. There is but one law. They will be put to death, is what she's saying. You see that there in verse 10 and 11? If I go there without any entrance and any invitation, this is what happens. You get put to death. You do not go in front of the king. Look in verse 12 now. They told Mordecai what Esther had said. Mordecai told them to reply to Esther. Do not think to yourself that the king's palace, that in the king's palace you will escape any more than any other Jew. Listen, you're not getting it out of this, sweetheart. I don't want you to think there's a way out for you if you don't say anything. You can make some application there sometimes, right? I don't want to rock the boat. I'm a Christian, but does this really involve me? Listen, you're not going to escape it. He said, you won't escape this, that this destruction is still going to come to you. He says this in verse 14, for if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place. Wow. You talk about a statement of faith. What is he alluding to? Like the Jews are going to get an army and and attack the king and and stop them? No, that would be very possible. Here's a man of faith saying this, there's going to be relief. It's either going to come through you or another way. He believed in the promises of God. He could not believe that God would not keep his promises to keep the Jewish people alive in this world. It's going to come a different way if it's not through you. But you and your father's house will perish. And then here's our statement this morning. And who knows whether you have not come to this kingdom for such a time as this. Who knows? Maybe this is why you were queen. But it didn't make much sense out of all the hundreds of ladies that came through the beauty pageant that why would King Hashuares look at you? Did God do something special with you in His heart to put you in this position? Seems like it might be the case. And we didn't know what God's plan was going to be, but we believe in His providence, but not knowing His plan. And here it looks like, perhaps for such a time as this, you are here. And it's just a beautiful thing. Trusting that God will provide does not mean we know how he will work. Take that one home this afternoon. Believing you believe that God will provide doesn't mean you know how he will work. I need this. I need this for my soul. for such a time as this? Who is she, an orphan Jewish girl who had been providentially put into a position in the midst of a sadistic, satanic plot for such a time as this? Believing God has a plan does not mean we know what the plan is. How does she process this? Esther was told them and replied, she said, go gather the Jews to be found in Susa and hold a fast on my behalf. Pray for me. It doesn't say praying, but fasting would assume prayer. And pray for me, and do not eat or drink, not even drink, for three days and nights. And I and my women will also fast as you do. Listen to what she says now. Here's the statement of faith. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, She was willing to stand in that place, trusting God. And if she perished, she's perished. At least she believed she would be standing for her people. If I perish, I perish. I hear Jesus saying, remove this cup from me, yet not my will, but your will be done. True faith is when you have the courage to do the right thing, even if it means you perish. I pray that we would put off cowardice, that we would put off embarrassment for who we are as people. Would we be willing to stand, no matter the consequences? Don't stand in a foolish way because of your personality, but may you stand in the presence for Christ because of your convictions in who he is. John Huss, the Czech theologian, a Reformed preacher, against selling indulgence, he said this, I would not leave the chapel of God, retreated from the truth. He said he could be heard singing psalms even as he was burning. He wasn't going to give up on holding the faith and preaching the gospel. He wasn't gonna sell out the gospel for money. But they burned him at the stake. Singing song, let me say this morning, good singing. Don, thanks for the audible. You guys did a great job, musicians. Praise God for the singing this morning. The hymnals were clapping their hands. They were in use today. You know, what brings joy to your heart? When's the last time you stood for the gospel in a difficult situation and you were singing praises, no matter the consequences? Who knows for such a time as this? I believe you're here for such a time as this this morning. I believe in God's providence. There are people not here this morning, but you are here. You are here to hear from God's word this message of who knows what God will do in your life, in your situations. Believing God has a plan doesn't mean you know what the plan is. This should give us hope this morning. that should keep us humble and not assuming we have to have a plan and we have to make sure we're in a safe place before we are faithful. When I was a young boy, I was afraid of the dark. Still don't like it that much. But if my mom or dad were out of the house when I was young, I could not rest. I was, the house would make noises. I don't know whether rats and mice in the house. I don't know what was the noise, noises were, the windows creaking. But when I came home and I knew they were present, it really gave me a lot of confidence and encouragement that I could go to sleep. He is present, my friends. He is present. The absence of seeing him at work does not mean he is absent. May this word from this old book be a great encouragement to you. May it spur you on to active faith. May it encourage you to not just relax, but press on, pay the cost, and be faithful to the end. Who knows? Who knows whether you are here for such a time as this? Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the book of Esther. Some of us know the rest of the story. How this reversal of Haman wanting to kill all the Jews had a reversal onto him. How the king is reading the Chronicles and how he remembers Mordecai. I never rewarded him. How he, Loves Esther. Says, whatever you ask. How she puts this banquet on and how she serves and how she gives him his wish of how to honor someone. All the reversals. Well, Jesus, the greatest reversal I can think of this morning is you who knew no sin became sin for us. We deserve to be impaled on that cross. And yet you, my sin was poured out on you and you saved me by your blood. I pray that's true for everyone in this room today. Thank you, Jesus, for saving our souls. In your name we pray. Amen.