Father, we thank you that you are, we can't see you.
You are invisible to us.
You are hidden to us.
But we thank you, God.
We thank you, Lord, that you are present, that you are powerful, and that you are active.
We thank you, Father, that you caused all Holy Scripture to be written,
that the words are here, that are here, the words that you wanted to have written,
that you were the one responsible for having these words recognized by people as having ultimately come from you.
And you are the one who has had them preserved so that we today can read them.
So we ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would come and move within us gently but deeply at the level of our heart
so that we might receive all that you will give us through your word
and that we will respond with gratitude and praise.
And that we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior.
Amen.
Please be seated.
So a couple of people will know what I'm referring to when I share this.
But about a month or so ago, maybe a little bit more than that,
I and several others started to pray quite seriously that something wouldn't happen.
And many people who know lots of things about how organizations work said that not only was it wrong for us to even ask that it wouldn't happen,
but it didn't matter if we prayed because what we were praying about to not happen was going to happen.
And then a couple of weeks ago, when the time came for this thing to happen,
that people said we shouldn't have been praying about because it was going to happen,
there were powerful people, it had been publicized, etc.
Well, the thing we prayed about didn't happen.
Like our prayers were answered.
It's quite remarkable, isn't it?
And it's not, I mean, I'm sharing that because it's interesting.
How did, like, what is it that happens in prayer?
Sometimes when we pray about things, we're praying for a miracle.
You know, we're praying that maybe the cancer which is there will be gone.
And if it's gone, it's probably a type of a miracle.
If you, when the Dig and Del videos become available from the last one,
I really encourage you to go and listen to the one by Greg Kopchick.
I encourage you to listen to all of them, but go watch the one by Greg Kopchick.
And he tells you about something that happens that the non-Christian doctor had to acknowledge that it maybe was a miracle,
that there's no other explanation for what happened.
And we pray for that.
But for most of our prayers, we pray for things that involve God's providence,
that God will act through the normal, natural course of events,
so that something that we think is needed actually happens.
And that's actually how most prayer works.
Some of you know, in the Battle of Dunkirk, giving a very old example,
in Dunkirk, over 300,000 British troops were trapped along the edge of the sea.
They'd been caught flat-footed by the Nazis.
And the Nazi army was pushing them back, and they had their back to the sea.
And the Nazi generals were all calling for the annihilation of the British forces.
And the King of England at the time, with the permission of the Prime Minister,
while this was all happening, when it looked completely and utterly bleak,
he did something which no politician would do today in the Western world.
He got on the radio and called the nation to prayer.
Believe it or not, 1940, that's what he did.
He called the nation for a day of prayer for deliverance of the third of a million soldiers.
Now, what happened, as you know, you don't actually always know that,
because usually now modern movies, like there was a good movie about Dunkirk made about a year ago,
and it completely omitted this from the entire account.
But for some inexplicable reason, Hitler decided that the Nazi generals and the army would stop.
They just, yeah, I mean, that's what happened.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, from the British point of view and from a world history point of view,
because the Nazis were evil.
But for some inexplicable reason, Hitler ordered the generals to stop,
rather than continuing to press on the battle.
There were other things that happened, and of course there was other actions.
But at the end of the day, after a day of prayer by the British people for deliverance of their troops,
over 300,000 troops, the biggest military evacuation in history was in fact successful.
And, I mean, it's not a miracle on one level, is it?
But isn't it something odd?
Isn't that how all of our prayers work?
That we ask that somebody will arrive safely, or that the promotion will happen,
or some other type of thing,
or that something that a powerful group of people want to have presented,
and we pray that it won't be presented, and it isn't presented.
And it's not a miracle, it's something else.
It's providence.
The story that we're going to look at today,
and in fact the entire book, if you could look at the title up here above me,
you'll notice that I've called the sermon series,
The Story of Esther,
The Hidden God in a Broken World.
And I think it was Amy who picked the image, or maybe it was Jen.
I know that sort of the artwork was done by some combination of the two of them.
It's not Ottawa here, but it's appropriate that it, I think it's Manhattan,
so it's appropriate that they picked as the image,
the center of a major, I mean, the Americans in a center have an empire.
But the book of Esther is all about precisely that.
I don't know how many of you know this, and I haven't talked about it in the sermon,
but the word God never appears once in the book of Esther.
Never appears once.
And many people throughout the years have been bothered by the fact
that there's a book in the Bible that never mentions the word God.
But what the book of Esther is really all about in a very, very powerful way
is just how the world actually works.
That in the world, it actually is.
We live in a broken world.
Not a perfect world, but a broken world.
A world where there is genocide, where there is sexual assault,
where there is robbery, where families break up,
where institutions don't act in a just and merciful way,
but act in a terrible way.
And we live in a broken world.
And in this broken world, there is a hidden God.
The hidden God still operates in this broken world.
And he operates according to his own purposes and his own plans.
And we as Christians know that the hidden God actually exists.
So we're to pray to him that he will act.
And we are to seek his will and his guidance.
But the book of Esther, in a sense, it's not a book of doctrine.
It's a story.
But by telling the story, it helps us to feel and get an image or a sense of how it is that divine providence works.
That even though human beings do what human beings are going to do,
and even though human beings are completely and utterly free,
and because human beings are completely and utterly free,
they are responsible for what they do.
But in the midst, or in the fact, even though every human being is free,
and human beings act according to their own plans and purposes,
sometimes very, very evil, and sometimes very, very virtuous,
that somehow or another, the Lord is still king,
and he is moving all things in human history towards his end.
That's what divine providence is.
That the Lord is sovereign over all things, over everything,
at the same time that human beings are free.
And I can say that,
and for many of you, you start to have intellectual problems,
and that's fine.
We'll maybe talk about a couple of them over the next couple of weeks.
But what the book of Esther does is help us to feel it,
to see what it's like to be in a world that's broken,
where the hidden God is still present, powerful, and active,
and moving things towards his desired end.
So if you have your Bibles, turn to Esther chapter 6,
which is where we are.
Those who don't have your Bibles with you,
you can either pick up a Bible,
or the text will be above us on the stage.
And just to sort of cap up to where we are in the story,
because we're in chapter 6 of the story that began at chapter 1, verse 1,
what's happened so far,
what's sort of immediately important for you to know,
is that genocide has been planned and is organized,
and it's all set to go against the Jewish people.
And it's going to be happening about 9 or 10 months down the road,
but it's all planned, it's all organized,
it's a fait accompli.
Nothing can stop it,
the genocide against every Jewish person in the empire,
in the Persian empire.
And a woman by the name of Esther,
and in a sense her conversion is reported
in chapter 4 of Esther,
of the book of Esther,
she is a woman who's lived like a Persian,
has a name,
she's named after the goddess Ishtar,
she looks like a Persian,
eats like a Persian,
worships like a Persian,
lives like a Persian,
and she's done all of this
under the direct instruction of the man
who was her adopted father by the name of Mordecai.
She becomes one of the queens of Persia,
Mordecai confronts her in chapter 4 of Esther,
and in that confrontation,
it's her conversion moment,
and out of this conversion moment
is that she has to come and try to speak to the king,
risk her life to speak to the king,
to plead for her people.
There's great prayer for this,
she actually does go,
and the king does spare her life.
She asks to have the king and Haman,
who is responsible for the genocide,
have a feast,
and that's what happened last week,
but lo and behold,
after this great act of courage by Esther,
she stumbles.
She doesn't follow through.
When it comes time to say,
King, I ask you here to plead for my life
and for the life of all of the Jewish people,
she's not able to do it.
She stumbles.
And all she can say is,
could you come tomorrow?
And she doesn't realize this, of course,
but by asking to come tomorrow,
she puts her adopted father's life in jeopardy
because Haman, that evening,
plans to have Mordecai,
the next day,
impaled on a stake
so everybody can see.
And Esther doesn't realize
that she's just risked,
potentially,
is going to have her adopted father
killed by her enemy.
And that's where the story continues.
Chapter 6, verse 1.
So on that night,
that's the night of the feast
and the night before the next day
when the second feast,
when hopefully Esther will have the courage
to talk to the king.
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.
Now just sort of pause here for a second
because this is actually,
this is something that you wouldn't know.
I didn't know this
when I was just reading through the book.
I mean,
I've read through the book
quite a few times.
First of all,
literally in the original language,
the Hebrew,
good not sleep,
that's a perfect translation,
but literally it said,
it says,
sleep fled from the king.
Sleep fled from the king.
And for some scholars,
when they look at the whole literary structure
of the book,
and we can see it in a moment,
actually,
if we think about it,
this is a turning point
in the entire book.
On one hand,
the interpretive key to the book
is what's said around the time
of Esther's conversion.
Mordecai,
who has become now converted himself,
he says that,
I know that the Lord
will deliver his covenant people,
whether it's through you or not,
he will deliver his people.
But,
Esther,
are you here for such a time as this?
In other words,
has God in his providence
made you a queen of Persia
so you can be the one
that the Lord uses,
humanly speaking,
to deliver his people.
And Esther says,
I'm going to pray,
I will do it,
and if I perish,
I perish.
On one hand,
that little interaction
is the interpretive key
to the whole story,
but at a literary level,
this is the turning point
in the whole story.
At this point in time,
from the story on,
it is going to become clear
that that which could not change,
the genocide of the Jewish people,
because once the Persian,
once the king of Persia
has made a decree,
it cannot be changed.
That which is humanly impossible
to change will change,
and the Jewish people
will not die by genocide.
I know I'm speaking
a little bit ahead,
but this is the turning point
in the story,
a sleepless night,
a sleepless night
by the king.
And as part of that
sleepless night,
him asking to have
a book read to him,
hoping that maybe
these pleasant things
in the past
and the droning
of the person's voice
will help him
to fall asleep.
And one of the things
which is so interesting
about this
at a literary level
is that it's emphasizing
God's providence
to help to make it clear
that this is no human action
and help you to understand
that everything
that's been going on
in this book
is helping us
to understand
the Lord's providence.
It was by providence
that Queen Vashti
was banished.
It was by providence
that Esther became
the queen.
It was by providence
that Mordecai
gives instructions
that prevent the king
from being assassinated.
It is by providence
that Mordecai
wasn't rewarded.
It was by providence
that Esther was able
to go
and the king
showed her favor
so that she did not die.
And that even now,
even though now
Mordecai is in danger
of being killed
by Haman,
the Lord is acting
providentially
throughout this
and he does this
by having the man
have what many of us
have on a regular basis,
a sleepless night.
He has a sleepless night.
So what happens
with this sleepless night?
We'll look at verses
two and three.
So he asked for the book.
He asked for a book
to be read
of memorable deeds.
And so verse two,
and it was found written
in that book
how Mordecai
and the king
doesn't know
that Mordecai
is the man
who raised Esther.
And he doesn't know
that Mordecai
is Jewish
because Mordecai
means
worshipper of Marduk,
worshipper of Marduk.
And so
it was found
how Mordecai
had told
about Bithana
and Teresh,
two of the king's eunuchs
who guarded
the threshold
and who had sought
to lay hands
on king
Assyrus,
Xerxes.
In other words,
they'd planned
to assassinate him.
And the king said,
what honor
or distinction
has been bestowed
on Mordecai
for this?
And the king's
young men
who attended him
said,
nothing has been
done for him.
Now just sort of pause.
If you've been following
along every week
and can remember
every word
that I said,
by the way,
I can't remember
every word
that I said
so I don't expect
anybody here
to remember
every word
that I've said.
There's five years gap.
So by providence,
Mordecai wasn't
rewarded immediately
five years ago.
By providence,
it slipped
the king's mind.
This is a huge faux pas
in the ancient world
and a huge faux pas
for a king like this
who desires
who has to reward
loyalty in such a way
that people will see
that he's rewarding
loyalty
and rewarding heroism.
And by providence,
five years earlier,
when Mordecai reports
the plot
to assassinate the king,
the king forgets.
And now,
after a sleepless night,
he is reminded.
And so he says,
well,
let's see what happens.
What's going to happen?
He has to deal
with this faux pas.
Verse four,
and the king said,
who is in the court?
Now,
Haman,
that's the man
who's planned
the genocide,
who's an anti-Semite.
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.
Another way to interpret
that would be
impaled on a stake
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.
Now,
just,
now remember this.
Haman
had gotten mad
at Mordecai
the night before.
He'd gone to talk
to his wife
and his advisors.
His wife
and his advisors
said,
what we need to do
is you need to get
a place
that's really public
and put a stake on it
and the next day
you need to go
and get Mordecai
and impale him
on the stake
so everybody can see.
And that's what happened
just before this
and Haman loved the idea.
That's exactly
what he wanted to do.
He did high fives
all around the room
for a great idea,
a great plan.
Had the thing built.
He's rushing in early
to get the king's permission
to have Mordecai
impaled on the stake.
And what's probably
happening here
is that when Haman comes
and he comes in
really early
so he makes sure
he gets on the appointment
list in time
to be able to speak
to the king.
And probably what goes
through Haman's mind
when the king
summons him in right away
is,
wow,
everything is going
my way.
but little does he know
that the king
is calling him here
to reward Mordecai.
Those of you
who are here
in time
to confess your sins
at the start
of the service,
many people
dislike the phrase
miserable offenders.
How many of you
were here early enough
and you remember
that phrase
in the confession?
Miserable offenders.
And the old word
for miserable offenders
isn't,
it isn't saying that,
you know,
we all feel miserable.
It might be that
when you were saying
that not a single person
in the room
felt miserable.
That miserable offenders
is an old English
and miserable,
miserable here means
worthy of pity.
Worthy of pity
or an object of pity.
So what the phrase
is actually saying
is to God
in the prayer
is that we are
objects of pity
because of our offenses.
And what that means
in the old prayer book
is that if you could
look at things
from God's point of view,
you could see
that if we live
our lives
and die
without giving
our lives to Jesus,
we are objects
of pity.
We don't realize
that what we are doing
is charting a course
for eternal separation
from God.
And you can see here
right now
that in a sense,
Haman,
right this moment,
filled with vim and vigor,
feeling happy,
feeling pumped,
feeling affirmed,
feeling that everything
is going his way,
feeling that the future
is just going to be
better and better
and better.
Tomorrow,
today is going to be
better than yesterday
and the day before this
is going to be
even better than today.
But the fact of the matter
is that each of us
reading this story
at this moment
know that he is
an object of pity.
He is coming
to get Mordecai
killed.
The king has summoned him
to reward Mordecai.
He is a miserable offender.
He is an object of pity.
So,
verse 6,
Haman comes in
to see the king.
So,
Haman come in,
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?
Whom would the king
delight to honor
more
than me?
See,
his pride
blinds him,
doesn't it?
He doesn't say,
I don't know,
king,
like,
who is he
who you want to honor?
Sort of depends.
You know,
like,
are they poor?
They might like money
if they're,
you know,
if they,
you know,
they're widowed,
they might like
a new wife,
like,
maybe they want
a promotion,
like,
you know,
he could have said
that,
but his pride
blinds him.
See,
this is one of the
things,
one of the reasons
why humility
is such an important
virtue for Christians
is that humility
helps you to enter
the real world.
Pride keeps you
from the real world.
and,
um,
so he's going to,
he doesn't even do this,
he's so filled with pride,
he's just so filled
with thinking
everything's going his way,
he doesn't even ask
any type of context,
he immediately starts
thinking of himself
and what he'd like
and so his request
reflects that.
You have to remember
he can't get promoted
any higher
and he's already
very,
very wealthy.
So what he suggests
to the king
is this,
verse 7,
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,
that's the crown
is on the horse
by the way,
that was the thing
they did sometimes,
put crowns on the,
the royal,
the royal horse
had its own crown
and let the robes
and the horse
be handed over
to one of the king's
most noble officials.
Let them dress
the man,
the official that is,
whom the king
delights to honor
and let,
that is,
the noble
lead the man
on the horse
through the square
of the city,
that is where everybody
is and where all
the talking
and the gossip,
that's where the internet
is,
that's where Google
is,
it's where the newspapers
are,
where everybody knows
what's going on,
proclaiming before him,
thus shall it be done
to the man
whom the king
delights to honor.
And,
and that's where he stops.
Now,
you know,
it's interesting
if you think about it,
like the way
the modern world works,
the modern world
extols three things.
it tells us
that we have
to be autonomous,
it tells us
that we have
to be authentic,
in other words,
we have to be
true to ourselves,
and it tells us
that what has
to happen
is that the world
has to affirm us.
It's very,
very powerful
in,
in all sorts
of different ways.
And it's,
it's funny
because you see,
Haman is living
the Canadian dream.
Haman is living
the Canadian dream
as articulated
by Hollywood
and by educational
institutions.
He's autonomous,
he has his power,
he's being completely
and utterly
true to himself.
He's true to himself,
hates Jews,
loves himself,
loves money,
loves prestige,
and he imagines
a world
where not only
is he powerful
and autonomous,
and where he's
being true to himself,
but what really
he needs
to have it
be completely
and utterly perfect,
is lots of
affirmation
and applause.
Because it's very,
very interesting.
In the modern world,
it's not about
learning how to,
to,
to reciprocate
affirmation,
but in,
in,
for the,
the social,
so much of the
social justice stuff,
so much of educational
stuff,
so much of Hollywood,
is it's this.
I need to be
affirmed.
And that's,
Mordecai is living,
I mean,
not Mordecai,
Haman is living
the Canadian dream.
But he is a
miserable offender.
I mean,
that's what the story
is revealing.
So he says
all of this,
and then he's
probably,
after he said it,
you know,
nowadays,
it's almost probably
as if he drops
the mic after
saying all of this,
and just sort of
takes a step back,
waiting for the king
to say,
yeah,
that's it,
let's do this for Haman.
But instead,
after he's dropped
the mic,
after he stands
back like this,
ready for the applause,
the king drops
the bombshell on him.
Verse 10.
Then the king
said to Haman,
hurry,
take the robes
and the horse
as you have said
and do so
to Mordecai,
the Jew,
who sits at the king's gate.
Leave out nothing
that you have mentioned.
So Haman
took the robes
and the horse
and he dressed Mordecai
and led him
through the square
of the city
proclaiming before him,
thus shall it be done
to the man
whom the king
delights to honor.
Then Mordecai
returned
to the king's gate
but Haman
hurried
to his house
mourning
with his head
covered.
You know,
one of the things
about God's providence
is
by God's providence
some of you
know the rest
of the story,
you know that Haman
is going to come
to a bad end.
I should have said
a spoiler alert
but I'm sure
some of you
have read ahead
to know that
that's going
to happen.
But this is actually
by God's providence
an opportunity
for Haman
to repent,
isn't it?
If you think about it.
Like one of the things
which is very interesting
in the Bible,
especially in the book
of Romans,
the book of Romans
says that in the last day
when the Lord judges
the living and the dead,
every human being
that exists,
no one will have
an excuse
about the Lord's
judgment against them.
Nobody will be able
to say,
oh but you didn't
take into account
this or you didn't
give me enough
opportunities,
whatever.
And I mean
it's just sort of said
but a story like this
helps us to feel it.
He could have mourned
and said to himself,
maybe I'm on the wrong path.
Maybe I have a problem
with pride.
Maybe I shouldn't
hate Jewish people.
But he doesn't
mourn any of those things.
What he mourns
is that
I didn't win.
I failed.
I was humiliated.
I did not get
what I wanted.
See, there's a difference
between mourning
a type of sorrow
over our life
that actually
leads to death
and a type of sorrow
that leads to life.
And Haman
chooses a sorrow
that will contribute
but will continue
on towards death.
You see something else
very true to life
as well.
Verse 13,
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.
And it's very interesting.
None of them said,
maybe we shouldn't
help you come up
with this plan
for genocide.
Like, isn't it so true?
It's like they all
back off and say,
whoa, like you're toxic.
You shouldn't have made
such stupid decisions.
I didn't have anything
to do with that.
Like, I never gave you
any type of advice.
I never just last night
said maybe you shouldn't
have a gallo made.
Like, none of them
take responsibility.
It's very, very true to life.
Like, none of them
take responsibility for it.
But instead,
they pile on the guy
who's already down.
Verse 14,
And while they were
yet talking with him,
the king,
king's eunuchs
arrived and hurried
to bring Haman
to the feast.
That's the second feast
that Esther had prepared.
And we'll look at that
next week.
So how does this
sort of all tie together
with some of the things
that we've been looking at?
You know,
some of us
have problems
with the idea
of providence,
that the Lord
is present,
powerful,
and active,
that he's hidden,
and that he's moving
all things
towards his desired end,
and we have problems
with that.
We do.
But, you know,
it's interesting
that
at the same time
that we have problems
with that,
the fact of the matter
is,
is that at the serious
intellectual level,
when people become serious
in a worldview
without God,
what you end up seeing
is a world
where there's not providence,
but fate,
a fate
that you cannot avoid.
Stephen Hawkins,
who just died
a little while ago,
he was a very important physicist,
and one of the things
that he was seeking
to try to figure out,
there's different names for it,
but he was trying
to figure out
a unified theory
of everything.
some people call it
the theory of everything,
some people call it
the final theory,
some people call it
the ultimate theory,
some people call it
the mastery theory,
sometimes it's mentioned
and called
the unified theory
of everything,
and it's the idea
that there's going to be
some way to come up
with a scientific equation
and a scientific theory
that will ultimately
explain everything.
And why would they think that?
Because they would say
that if you look at life
without God,
then what you have
is science,
and science measures
cause and effect.
It means that
I push this
and it moves.
Everything is,
something causes
something else to happen,
and that something
causes something else
to happen,
and in theory,
if you could get enough
of the right variables
and have the right type
of equation,
in theory,
according to this world,
where everything has,
every effect has a cause,
and that effect
becomes a cause
of something else,
in theory,
you can come up
with a unified theory
of everything,
and you can predict
everything that's going
to happen.
But in such a world,
there is no human freedom.
There is nothing
called human responsibility.
There is nothing
like love.
It's an entire world
of fate,
of inexorable,
unstoppable,
scientific,
of processes
of cause and effect
that just move us around,
and that human beings
are no different,
ultimately,
than little corks
in the ocean
that just move around
and get banged around
and move by the tide
and the wind
and the waves
and just move
wherever they are
as we are completely
and utterly pushed
by these physical forces
that we have
no control over.
And at a serious level,
that's really
the only option
there is
outside of the
Christian worldview.
If you could put up
the first point,
Andrew,
because the Lord
is Lord,
fate
does not exist.
It's not just
through science
that people worry
about fate.
It's interesting
how many movies
talk about
the whole idea
of fate.
I'm watching
a series
with my wife
right now
called
The Man in the High Castle,
and one of the
premises of that
is that there isn't
fate,
that people can
choose their own fate.
I mean,
it's just affirmed.
There's no particular
reason for believing it,
but it's just
completely and utterly
affirmed,
and it expresses
this fundamental
human desire
that fate
can't be true.
In the ancient religions,
fate was true.
The gods would have
you fated
to do a particular thing,
and you couldn't
avoid it happening.
In Hindu worldview,
through the whole
cycle of karma,
you are fated
to a certain spot,
a certain location,
in a certain life,
and there's nothing
you can do about it.
That there is this
overwhelming problem
of fate,
yet at the same time,
human beings
react to this
and say there has
to be something
that's not true,
that that can't be true.
Our understanding
of creation,
our understanding
of reality,
which seems to push
us to think
that there has
to be a fate,
that can't be true.
There has to be
some other option.
There has to be
some place
for human freedom.
There has to be
some place
for me to have
some control.
There has to be
some place for love.
And it's only
in the Christian faith
that that is made clear.
The Bible reveals
that because the Lord
is the Lord,
fate does not exist.
There is no fate.
Instead,
if you could put up
the next point,
the Lord is the good
king moving all
things to his desired
end,
and he is the just
judge who will
judge every human
being.
The Lord is the good
king moving all
things to his desired
end,
and he is the just
judge who will
judge every human
being.
See,
what the book of
Esther reveals
and what the Bible
reveals is that
the Lord is a just
judge.
He really is.
Human beings are
free.
We make our own
decisions.
You look through the
book of Esther.
It's the king who
decides to get
drunk.
It's King Xerxes
who decides to get
drunk.
It's King Xerxes
who, while he's
drunk, demands
his wife, one of
his wives, one of
his queens, Vashti,
come and do
something indecent.
It's her decision
to say no to that.
It's his decision
to punish her and
punish all of the
women.
It's his decision
to do a horrible
thing that ends up
leading to Esther
being the queen.
It's Haman's
decision to be
anti-Semitic and
to plan genocide.
It's Haman's
decision that he
wants to have
Mordecai killed.
These are all
their decisions.
It's not that the
Lord forced them
to do that.
These are all
their decisions.
And so the Lord
is a just judge.
He judges us
according to what
we do.
There is real
human freedom.
But at the same
time, the Bible
teaches a second
truth at the same
time, that not
only is he the
just judge who
judges human
beings on the
basis of their
free acts, what
they've done and
what they've not
done, but at the
same time, he is
the king.
And he is not a
God who, like
open theists, try
to say that he
doesn't actually
know what's going
to happen.
He's just trying
to muddle through,
and as he's
trying to muddle
through, eventually
he'll have some
type of a plan.
No, that's not
the way the Bible
describes the
Lord.
And he's not
just sort of
acting on a
whim.
I like Daniel.
You know, I
don't like Bob.
I like Sue.
You know, I
don't like, you
know, Mary.
He's not a God
who's just filled
with whims.
He's not capricious.
He's not trying to
muddle through.
He's not sort of
having to struggle
with human beings.
He's not saying,
I have to struggle
with George.
He's not doing
what I want him
to do.
I've got to
struggle with him
because, you
know, dang it,
Church of the
Messiah is just
not doing what
I want.
How do I win?
No, he doesn't
do that.
And he's not
just up in
heaven waiting
for human beings
to act and
they say, okay,
that's what
they're going to
do?
Well, then this
is what I'm
going to do.
That's what
they're going to
do?
Well, this is
what I'm going
to do.
He's not doing
that either.
But all the way
through the Bible,
right from
Genesis chapter
three when human
beings fell,
right from
Genesis chapter
three when
human beings
fell, he
has an end.
He has
something that's
going to happen
in the future.
And he is
king.
And even
though human
beings act
with their
freedom,
sometimes
virtuously,
sometimes with
evil, he
is moving,
while respecting
human freedom,
he is moving
all things
towards his
desired end,
which we
know will be
when the
Lord returns.
And there
is a
judging of
the living
and the dead,
and there's
a new
heaven and
the new
earth.
So in
some ways,
the end
is also
the beginning.
He is
sovereign.
It's
Spurgeon said,
I think it was
Spurgeon who
said, he never
wants to
separate the
truth that the
Lord is king
from the
truth that the
Lord is judge,
judge, because
they're friends,
which is a
wonderful phrase,
they're friends.
And one of the
things we have to
fight against is
that some
Christians talk
as if freedom
is so important
that you have to
deny that the
Lord is sovereign,
and other
Christians talk so
much about the
Lord being sovereign
that you have to
forget that human
beings are
responsible, and we
have to hold the
two truths
together, because
that's what the
Bible teaches.
He's king, and
he's judge.
He's a good
king, and he's a
just judge.
And one of the
reasons that we
can say that these
things are both
true is because of
Jesus.
If you could put up
the third point, and
by the way, I
adapted this, just so
you don't think I'm
really clever.
I adapted this from
something I read in
J.I. Packer like
a hundred million
years ago.
I'm pretty sure it
came from Packer,
and I've just
adapted it slightly, so
the shout-out goes
to him, not
to me.
The cradle and
the cross reveal
the crown, and
the cradle and
the cross reveal
the judge.
And that's the
thing which is so
wonderful about the
Christian faith.
In John chapter
118, it says that
Jesus is the one
who makes God
known.
And the word
that it, and what
it's basically saying
is when we look at
Jesus, that we
understand more fully
and completely who
God is, who the
Lord is as the
king.
of all things.
We don't have a
king who's
distant, who's
locked out of his
creation, who's
cold and
heartless.
He's not like a
divine watchmaker who
made creation, wound
up the watch, and
then he's off on a
holiday doing
something else while
natural laws just
work.
No, we see the
Lord reveals that he
is active and present
in his creation when
we see the cradle,
we see Jesus being
born, we see his
humility, we see his
lowliness, we see his
desire to be the
Lord among us, to
bring a people to
himself.
And in the cross, we
see him dying to
redeem us.
And when we see the
cradle and we see
the cross, we
understand why it is
that we can trust that
he wears the crown,
that he is the king of
all things, the Lord of
all creation, that he is
moving all things to
their proper end.
Who is he who is
moving all things to
their proper end?
Not a God who is
evil, not a God who
is unjust, not a God
who does not care about
his creation, not a
God who is powerless,
but a God, the Lord,
who was born amongst
us, God amongst us,
and who died on a
cross for us, and that
is the one that we
trust is the God of
providence, who is
moving all things to
their proper end.
That is the God who
wears the crown, the
one who came in a
cradle and died on a
cross.
And why can we trust
that he is a just
judge?
Because he is not
some guy manipulating
us and pushing us
here and there, who
doesn't understand
human weakness, who
doesn't understand the
profound need that we
human beings have for
a savior.
What reveals the
justness of the judge
and how we will
judge?
What reveals that is
the cradle and the
cross.
The cradle and the
cross reveal the
crown.
The cradle and the
cross reveal the
judge.
If you could put up
the final point.
You know, as I've been
going through the book
of Esther and before
that, Ruth, because
both Ruth and Esther are
all about helping us at
a literary level to feel
the doctrine of
providence, to see how
it works.
Rather than giving us a
series of propositions, it
helps us to enter into a
world where God is
hidden, but he's present,
powerful, and active.
That's what Ruth and Esther
do.
And it really has helped my
prayers.
It really has.
I hope it helps yours.
That's why, as our final
point is, Lord, please grow
in me a lively, living,
trusting, knowing that you
are sovereign and your
providence is real.
That you are sovereign and
your providence is real.
Could you all stand, please?
One of the things I hope you
get from that is that the
whole point of the cradle
and the crown is that you
have an opportunity to
repent now.
If you've never given your
life to Jesus, call out to
him.
Don't have a mourning or a
sorrow or an unhappiness
about your life that's just
focused on yourself and is
a type of death, but to
use that unhappiness and
sorrow to realize your
profound need for the one
who is revealed through the
cradle and the cross.
And to begin to know the
Lord's providence in your
life.
And so you figure out that
prayer for yourself, but I
urge you to call
call upon him.
I'm going to ask those of
you, if you put up the
fourth point, that would be
great again, Andrew.
I'm going to ask people if
you would pray that.
Those whom the Lord has
moved, if you would pray
this with me and then I'll
just close.
And then Daniel's going to
come up and finish this off
with intercessions.
But let's just pray that
together.
Lord, please grow in me a
lively, living, trusting,
knowing that you are
sovereign and your providence
is real.
Father, bring this home to
us in a very powerful and
deep way.
Bring this home to me, that
you really are present,
powerful and active even
when you are hidden.
And that you do answer
prayer.
Even prayers, Father, which
other people say are
impossible, that you answer
them.
And in all things, Father,
help us just to desire to
know you and to be known
by you and to grow in these
great virtues.
And we ask this in the name
of Jesus.
Amen.