Sermon: God Does Not Forget

Once again, turn with me in your Bibles to the Book of Esther. We are continuing our series through the story of God's faithful providence in the Book of Esther, and we will be reading the entirety of chapter six. As you turn there and before we read it, let's pray together.

Lord, we come again and ask that you would speak to us this evening through the preaching of your word. Lord, we are in awe of you for your mercy, for your kindness, and we are grateful that you have spoken to us in the word. We desire to hear from you tonight. We desire to put your word into practice in our lives. We need you. We need your instruction, your direction, for we do not in ourselves know the way that we should go.

Speak, O Lord, that we might listen and obey, that we might follow where you have prescribed for us to go. Help us to receive with humility. In Jesus' name, amen. Esther chapter 6, verses one through 14.

"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 upon Mordecai for this?' The king's young men who attended him said, 'Nothing has

been done for him.' And the king said, 'Who is 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 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 it shall 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 he led him through the square of the city,

proclaiming before him, thus it shall 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 Zeresh 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, we have reached in this chapter the direct center of this story. It may not be the numerical center of the book, but it is the definite literary hinge. One way to summarize this book might be to say a great threat that comes upon God's people, and then the great reversal of that great threat. That turn of the tide from threat to deliverance begins right here in chapter six. It happens exactly with the simple insomnia of the king.

A quick review of the book to orient us. In chapter two, after Esther is chosen to replace Vashti as queen, her uncle Mordecai thwarted the attempt to assassinate the kingIn chapter 3, evil Haman infuriated by Mordecai's refusal to show him honor convinced the king to send out an edict to all the provinces to exterminate the Jews throughout the Persian Empire. Chapter 4, Mordecai convinces Queen Esther, his niece to appeal to the king and for

her life and for the lives of the rest of the Jews. And in chapter 5, after the queen dared to invite the king and Haman to a feast and asking them to return the following night, Haman is once again infuriated by Mordecai's refusal to honor him. He then plotted out a way to put specifically Mordecai to death in an extravagant way, and that's where we left off last time when Pastor Nate showed us how Haman embodies the warnings of Proverbs 16:18,

"Pride goes before a fall." That brings us to our text this evening. That fall begins right here in chapter 6. On the same night as the feast and as the same night as Haman's final plot against Mordecai, the king cannot sleep. Now, what does a king do when he cannot sleep? Well, he calls in his servant to read to him the events of his reign. "Tell me all the good things that have happened to me so that I can get sleepy."

One of the things that is read out is the story of the assassination attempt from chapter 2, and the king then determines that anyone who was so faithful as to save his life in this way deserves a great reward. Since no reward had been given to Mordecai, the king resolved to remedy this oversight that day. And when Haman arrived, the king decided to put Haman to work on the project to honor the man who saved the king from

being killed. Haman, in his supreme arrogance, was certain that the king planned to reward and honor him. So he thought up the best reward that he could to be shown royal honor in front of everyone by wearing the king's robes, riding the king's horse, and being led around the city, with a proclamation of, the king's honor to show everyone that this guy is so esteemed by the king, so close to the king, that he was granted the king's closet and the king's

stable. Basically, this said to everyone, "No one other than the king is greater than this person." Now, obviously, the supreme irony of these chapters is that it's Mordecai, the very man Haman was plotting to kill that day, who was to actually receive the honor. And it was Haman himself who was to lead the horse around the city and make the declaration, "Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor."

Afterward, Haman returned home in shame and told his wife and his friends, the same wife and friends who just 13 verses ago encouraged him to make up a ridiculously tall gallows and ask the king to kill Mordecai upon them. These same friends and this same wife now saw the writing on the wall. Haman was about to fall before Mordecai, and his plan to kill the Jews was about to unravel. And then finally, in verse 14, the eunuchs arrive to take Haman to that fateful

second dinner banquet that Queen Esther has prepared, and we will hear about that next time. I think that Proverbs Chapter 19 verse 21 encapsulates very well the events of our chapter. "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." Human powers and human hearts act as if they are sovereign, but it is the Lord that works together all things. And human powers may try to stand against or oppress God's people, but it is the

Lord who works all things, even the evil schemes of their enemies, into good for his people. Now, the purposes of our Lord are many, and they will all stand, but I want to expand on simply two that I see illustrated in our text tonight. First, that God will repay the oppression of his people, and second, that God works through very ordinary things, very ordinary means to accomplish great acts of judgment and deliverance. So first,

God does not forget the oppression of his people. As we read through this book in a reflective way, in a studious way, we are confronted with the question: Why is it that Mordecai does not show Haman the honor that Haman desires?Mordecai's refusal reminds us of Daniel and his friends' refusal to worship the king or the idols that were set before them. But Mordecai here in Esther is not being asked to worship Haman. In fact, it seems likely that Mordecai is in some

ways employed as an official or by the officials in Susa, so it probably would've been natural for Mordecai to show some simple respect to the number two man in the kingdom. There's no prohibition in the law of God against showing this kind of respect to a governing official. In chapter three, the offense of Mordecai against Haman, at least according to Haman, was to not bow down or pay homage to Haman, as the king had commanded

everyone to do. Chapter five, we are told that Mordecai will neither rise nor tremble before Haman. The response of Haman in both of these slights proves that Mordecai was right to not bow down. This is a petty man who craves glory. This is a wicked man who plots genocide because of slights. Haman does not deserve the honor that he demanded. Yet I think that the question still remains, why did Mordecai refuse to bow? The text gives us a few clues, but it

is not explicit about why. It seems to be the case that there's something about who Haman is and also the kind of honor that Haman demands that Mordecai refuses to go along with. Haman isn't just insulted by lack of decorum. It isn't just that you salute your leader and Mordecai refuses to salute, and so Haman plots revenge. Haman desires a kind of glory that belonged to the king. You see in our text this evening, the

kind of reward that he thought one should get, that he wanted for himself. The kind that said, "No one in the kingdom except the king is better than me, and everyone has to acknowledge it." Haman is insulted that Mordecai does not tremble in his presence. Haman is looking for a kind of obsequiousness and groveling that Mordecai was unwilling to offer. Apparently, the other people at the king's gate were willing to grovel, and to Mordecai's credit, he refused

to do so. I think that would've been, indeed, it would've been wrong for him to do so, and what Haman desired was a sinful abasement from others. But it doesn't seem that it's only about the kind of honor that Haman demanded. The reason that the text gives seems to relate to their heritage, and this is going to take a little bit of tracing out. First, Mordecai is a Jew, and the only reason that the Jews are singled out for the genocidal decree is

that Haman convinces the king to issue this decree throughout the kingdom because he knows that Mordecai is a Jew. Mordecai has made this known. He's made it known that he belongs to God's covenant people. This is significant because it tells us that at least part of this grudge relates to God's interaction among the peoples of the land. It is God who has been the cause of Israel's fortunes, for good or for ill, and his name goes out before them.

He has judged the nations and their gods and their arrogant rulers since Egypt. But what else are we told about Mordecai and Haman? Mordecai, we know, is a Benjamite. In fact, we're told in chapter two that he comes from the house of King Saul's father. So Saul would've been a great, great, however many greats, uncle of Mordecai. And we are also told that Haman is an Agagite, which is not a people group, but it refers to his great, great, however many

greats, grandfather Agag, king of the Amalekites. It's fascinating to note that in 1 Samuel 15, King Saul was ordered to kill all the Amalekites and their livestock, but he fails to do so, defeating Amalek soundly, but bringing back King Agag and the best of the livestock. So the original audience of Esther would probably have clocked this connection, but we don't necessarily see it in our reading. We're meant to know that there is an ancient

enmity between these two houses. Mordecai's family faced great shame and dishonor because of Saul's failure to obey God in regard to King Agag. In 1 Samuel 15, Samuel confronts Saul on his disobedience and tells him that the Lord has taken the kingdom from him and given it to someone better, who would turn out to be King David. And this is where the famous verse about obedience being better than sacrifice comes in. Because Saul claims that he brought

all the livestock back in order to sacrifice them to the Lord.Saul does not explain why he did not kill King Agag as he was instructed, and Samuel takes Agag and kills him, saying, "As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women." The text then says that Samuel hacked Agag to pieces. I think a further question to ask, particularly given that last

bit, is why God was so angry with Amalek that he commanded Saul to destroy them. It wasn't just Saul that he commanded to do it. In the midst of a long section of laws about justice in Deuteronomy 25, God says to Israel, "When the Lord has given you rest from your enemies, you shall blot the memory of Amalek from under heaven, and you shall not forget." That passage offers a rationale explaining a bit about what happened in Exodus 17.

So after the people of God had escaped from Pharaoh and his armies through the Red Sea and came out the other end, three things happened. First, God sent quail for them to eat. Second, God provided water from the stone. And third, Amalek attacked the people of God as they traveled through the land to Mount Sinai. But it wasn't merely that they attacked the people of God. The Amalekites waited for most of the throng to pass,

and then when the end of the group was passing, that is, the weakest, the slowest, the most vulnerable, the pregnant women, the children, the elderly, or the infirm, it was them that Amalek attacks. Amalek did not just fight with Israel. Amalek targeted the weakest and most vulnerable of God's people and preyed upon them. Joshua then brings soldiers to fight them off, and this is when Aaron and Hur hold up Moses' arms, you'll remember that

story, during the battle, and Israel drives the Amalekites off. This, I think, gives some clarity to Samuel's words as he killed King Agag 500 years or so later. "As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women." This was judgment not just upon Agag, but upon Amalek. And what is more, the judgment falls upon Haman's house another 500 years later or so after Samuel. And if you're following the math, that means that roughly 1,000 years

after Amalek preyed upon the weakest of God's people, God's anger continued to burn hot against the king of Amalek's house. We will see God exact his justice upon the house of King Agag in Esther, even down to every one of Haman's sons. So what does all that teach us about the purposes of God? One thing seems very clear from that whole story, which is that those who prey upon the vulnerable among God's covenant people

provoke him to a unique and terrifying wrath. This anger lasted from before the covenant was made with Israel until long after the exile from the promised land. You might wonder, well, God brought terrible judgment upon Israel, sending them into exile and out of the land. Surely, he would not still be angry with those who oppressed Israel so long ago. But in fact, his anger is still so hot, even as Haman repeats the sins of his

forefathers, seeking the destruction of all Israel, including all the vulnerable.

Now, this should serve as a warning to every generation. Those who would target or exploit the vulnerable among God's people should be very, very afraid. The destruction the Lord will bring is total and terrifying. He is, of course, a God of mercy who forgives those who turn to him in true repentance, and he is a God of great and unrelenting wrath toward those who reject and hate him. And he does not forget the pain of his

people. He sees it, and he will avenge it. And for those who harm those he loves, it will be a terrible thing to fall into his hands. Now, this has some practical applications for us. We, of course, must, as a church, do everything that we can to protect the vulnerable among us. We must guard them to honor our Lord and his love for his peopleAnd we must take this warning, this sober and frightful warning, that God is not to be trifled with, and God's

people will be protected and avenged by God. Second observation or second purpose of the Lord I think that we see in this text. God, our God, works through ordinary means to accomplish great acts of judgment and deliverance. What is the great miracle of the Book of Esther? It is the miraculous intervention upon which the fate of God's people hinges. The great and awesome deliverance that is accomplished here is through the ordinary faithfulness of a single man

and through the king's insomnia. Consider that Mordecai had nothing to gain from saving the king's life. This is not a stable or just king. Mordecai did not save his life in order to curry favor or in order to receive the reward that he receives in chapter 6. We're not told why Mordecai does so, but the plainest reading seems to be simply that he did what any moral person should do in the case of overhearing a plot of murder.

He does not seem to have done so for any other reason than that murder is wrong. Reporting the plot would inherently have been a risk. These are men he knows are capable of murder, and if something goes wrong in the passing along of the report or if the king does not believe Esther, again, the king is not a predictable man, then Mordecai himself would have potentially come under threat. The safest thing for Mordecai to have done would have been to be quiet, but

he does not do so. Some other examples of Mordecai's ordinary faithfulness. He adopts his niece, and he raises her as his own daughter. He continued to care for her and seek her good when she entered the king's house. As we saw above, it's not fully clear why, but Mordecai seems to have taken a principled stand against Haman in particular. Haman knew, everyone knew, that Mordecai belonged to God's people. This has a very specific and practical application for us.

In your workplace, in your class, people know that you belong to Christ. God is using your simple faithfulness in simple things to call out to sinners. I'm not saying here, preach Christ at all times, if necessary, use words. I'm not saying that. That is not true. I'm saying that the simple testimony of a life of faith matters in the fallen world around you. It matters to those in your life who will perish apart from knowing Christ.

For the perishing, your ordinary faithfulness, the ordinary faithfulness of a Christian, is a pebble in their soul's shoe. Simple things that are obvious to you as someone who belongs to God and are just things that everyone should do, like guarding what comes out of your mouth, like kindness, like reliability, like honesty, these are the things that God is going to use. God uses these simple acts of faithfulness.

Look, Mordecai simply did what is right, what anyone should do. It was not a mighty feat of courage. It was simple. Mordecai the Jew saved the king's life. That's the headline that is written in the book, and God used that simple reality as an instrument of a great and mighty deliverance for all of Israel dispersed throughout the Persian Empire. We should ask ourselves, what is God doing around us? Who is God looking for? Who

is God working in? Who is God drawing to Himself? And what might He do around you if you are explicit about who you belong to and live faithfully as a Christian should live? We should expect that He will act, that He will work. Furthermore, I want us to observe that the intervention of God here in chapter 6 does not come with loud trumpets of angels or with fire from heaven. He simply does not grant the king sleep. One simple and tiny event which leads to another, which

leads to the remembrance of Mordecai the Jew's simple faithfulness, which leads to another thing, which ends in Haman's destruction and the salvation of God's people in Persia. A simple chain of events. Surely, God made sure that the story of Mordecai was read that night, and surely He convicted the king's heart that nothing had been done to honor Mordecai. And surely He kept Mordecai's name out of the king's mouth until

after Haman had concocted the plan to glorify him. All of these simple providences culminate into a great deliverance.I wonder if we understand clearly enough the intent of God, the purpose of God, to work through very ordinary things to bring about great purposes. It's certainly not the case that God can't use extraordinary means to accomplish his purposes. He does so all over the Bible. We see clearly here that generally, both in the Bible

and in our own experience, it is his practice to act sovereignly through very ordinary matters, through very simple things in our lives. It is the ordinary, faithful life of a parent that testifies to the great truths of the faith in the heart of their children. It is the ordinary obedience of a church that blesses and strengthens a family or a community over time. It's the ordinary work of lovingly calling a brother or sister away from sin,

in which we fight spiritual battles on one another's behalf. And it is through the ordinary work of prayer that God brings glory to his name and helps his people. It is through the ordinary bread and cup of communion that

spiritual power is conveyed to us because of the great thing that they signify. It is the ordinary work of preaching that brings about the conversion of the soul by the power of the Spirit.

It is in these ways, simple, not flashy, as the truth is followed, as the Word is obeyed, as Christ's name is lifted up, as our prayers go up, that the Lord has ordained to work in great power. I think we have too little confidence in the power of the Word, in the power of our prayers, in the power of the sacraments, the power of God to work among us. Some might say that a Calvinist does not believe in the present work of the

Spirit. On the contrary, no creed has a greater confidence in the power of God's Spirit to work in the hearts of men by the power of his Word and in response to the prayers of his people. It is precisely the power of the Holy Spirit that brings every one of God's elect to life and equips them for the Christian life. Brother and sister in Christ, you were brought to saving faith by this very power. Not because you were smarter than the rest or because of the

family into which you were born, but because of the Spirit of God. Through the ordinary means of preaching and prayer, you were given a heart of flesh, and your heart of stone was taken. The Spirit of God gives you strength and power to work out your salvation in fear and trembling. That is, to fight the good fight of faith and to cooperate with the Spirit as he conforms your character day by day more and more into the image of Christ.

You are a miracle of the Spirit. Great power has been worked in you and is given to you each day to sustain and sanctify you. Not because of anything in you, but because of the great love with which he has loved us. It's the same Spirit of God that works in answer to our prayers for those who are dear to us, who are lost in their sin. It is the same Spirit of God that will give you power to overcome your abiding sin. It is the same

Spirit who fed us by faith this morning of Christ's body and blood, and it is the same Spirit that will preserve us and strengthen us in our current trials. It's the same Spirit that through whom Christ dwells with us here in this room tonight. We must not underestimate the power of God to work among us through these ordinary and simple means. Simple obedience, simple faithfulness, simple, ordinary means of grace. We must pursue them diligently

and wait expectantly for God to act in power. He will not fail to act on behalf of his people for their good and for his glory. Let's pray together.

Father, we praise you, for you are the living and sovereign God who works all things for the good of your people, who chooses to work through the ordinary faithfulness of your people and the ordinary means of grace that you have established for them, for us. You are a God who brooks no competitors from any man or so-called god, nor any idol that men establish for themselves. You are a jealous God. We praise you for it, because in your jealousy for our

worship, there is great hope for us. We praise you that you have not left us to ourselves, but you have acted sovereignly to rescue us from our sins, from our own self-worship. We praise you that you are not only able but eager to accomplish great acts of grace and power through our ordinary care, through our preaching, through our prayer, through our sharing of the gospel, through our counsel. We pray that you would help us to pursue these things with all that we

have, with all that we are, and for you are worthy of all our worship, and you have called us to these things. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.