Providence from the Shadows: Mordecai

All right, so those of you who don't know me, my name is Brian and lead pastor here. We've been here for eight years and for 10 weeks now, we've been in this summer sermon series that we've been calling cloud of Witnesses. And we have been really basing it off of Hebrews chapter 12:1:3 that says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter. We're going to talk a little bit about that today of our faith, the beginner and the ender of our faith. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. For school right now I'm doing a lot of reading and listening to podcasts. There's a podcast that one of my professors does. And anyways, this woman, Amy Peeler, brought up this phrase. She just says, I think Hebrews teaches us that we are not totally separated from those Christians who have gone before, who have passed away. They witnessed us in our race of faith, and we look back to their testimony. I've heard friends say that because of Christ's resurrection, the veil of death which separates the living from the dead, Christ has made that thin. And so there is a communion of the saints. She's talking about that Hebrews passage, that we're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. So today's sermon is called Providence in the Shadows. We're looking at a guy named Mordecai from the Book of Esther. And that's why I asked the question about are you afraid of the dark? Did you get it now, the connection there, Providence and shadows, that was the best I could come up with. And so let's jump into this. So first point here is that God will provide. There's a difference, theologically speaking, between the words sovereignty and providence. That hasn't recently been the case since the reformation, since the 1500s, they very clearly delineated from the two. They showed a difference between the two of sovereignty and providence. But recently they started to be used interchangeably, and that's just not the case. Now, let me just state this sermon is not a sermon about election or God's choosing in salvation. You might hear a little bit about that, but that's not the point of the sermon. Okay, so maybe a memorable phrase that I want you to hear and maybe just kind of learn the difference as we go through the sermon. You'll hear that God's sovereignty is his right to rule, and his providence is his way of getting us home. Okay, let me illustrate it this way by an illustration about an author. Okay? The author has complete rights over the story, over the characters and ending, and nothing exists out of his control or her control. Whoever is writing the story as an author, they can do whatever they want. That's sovereignty. Okay? Providence is how the author weaves every chapter subplot, an unexpected turn in the story until it reaches its intended conclusion. That's the providence. So you can see, like. Well, you can see why it would be confusing and why people might use it interchangeably or sovereignly. You could say he's the author or perfecter of our faith. Author, sovereign, perfecter. Providence or sovereignty is the who God is. Providence is how he does it. So today is mainly about Providence. We're talking about Providence. We're not talking about sovereignty. We're talking about Providence. Anyone get that reference? A little AI joke. Not artificial. Allen Iverson, the original AI that was supposed to be a joke about that. Okay. You're like, go sports. All right. Providence, literally, if you break down the word pro means before, video means to see, right? You go to Blockbuster Video, you go to watch something, to view something that's the sea. But it's not a very good definition of the word providence. It's literally what that means. But there's other words for that in the Greek and Hebrew. But providence is not simply foreknowledge of knowing something before. It's more than foresight. It's that there is nothing that takes place that does not take place before God that's different from sovereignty. We see that very clearly in Job 38, 41. God shows up talking to Job and was like, who do you think you are, Job? Where were you when I formed the world? It's strong sovereignty. It's powerful. There's no choice in the matter. Providence, though, is sovereignty in the service of wise purposes. Wise and purposeful sovereignty. So a better way to define Providence over to see before is to see to it. It is the see to it ness of God's sovereignty. Let's read about that. I want to go to Genesis, chapter 22, verses 6 through 8. This is going all the way back to Father. Abraham says Abraham took the wood, the burnt offering, and placed it on his son Isaac. God promises a son, Isaac, a descendant. Many nations are going to be born through Abraham and that he will be blessed and he will bless all nations. But then God puts Abraham to the test and says, I want you to sacrifice your only son. So Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac. And he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, father. Yes, my son. Abraham replied, the fire and the wood are here. Isaac said, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham answered, God himself will provide. He will see to it that. A lamb for the burnt offering, my son. And the two of them went on together. And so Abraham's about to sacrifice his son, and God shows up and says, no, no, no, no. Stop, stop. And then what happens? Abraham looked up and there in the thicket, he saw a ram caught by its horns. And he went over and took the ram and sacrificed as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place, the Lord will provide. The Lord will see to it. Providence. And to this day, it is said on that mountain, the Lord of the Lord it will be provided. So let's get into our history and context. Now, from our Book of Esther, we start off by an introduction by this guy named King Xerxes I. If you're looking in your Bible, you might have his title ahasuerus. Same guy, 518 to 465 BC. Commonly known as Xerxes the Great. Pretty popular. Big deal. There's reliefs. You can go to Iran and go to museums and see all these reliefs from the king of Persia there. This is the king of Babylon, right? Babylon's hanging gardens. In its peak, massive kingdom went from Egypt and Morocco all the way. Not Morocco. What's the country right on top of Northern Africa? No, Libya. Libya. All right, we'll call it Libya. Oh, yeah, Morocco's right. I was thinking. I thought I was saying Monaco. Morocco's correct. All right. Over. All the way over to India and China and then up to Greece. And if you know anything about King Xerxes, that was kind of his downfall was. Was trying to take over the Greeks. But huge kingdom. He's the king of everything. And the story of Esther starts off with King Xerxes throwing this huge party. And King Xerxes demands that his wife, who, according to the record, is just beautiful, and he says, I want my wife. You come to this party, and I want to put you on display for everyone to see how beautiful you are. And she has her servants come back to the king and say, not on your life, okay? Just not a chance. Am I doing that? Well, all the king's horses and all the king's men hear him, hear this response. They go, well, we can't have that. We can't have a woman, a wife, saying that to her husband. If our wives hear about this, there's going to be disobedience from all of our wives and all the kingdom. We can't have this. And so, to quote Esther 1:18, they say to the king, there will be no end of disrespect and discord. So the king, in all of his wisdom, decides he needs a new wife. So that's the story of Esther. He's looking for a new wife. And so let's introduce Mordecai because he's the next on the scene. And in Esther, chapter two, we read this. Now, there was in the citadel of Susa, a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin named Mordecai, son of Jair, the son of Shimel, the son of Kish, who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, king of so they are taken captive into Babylon, but now under Xerxes rule. And among those taken captive with Jehoiachin, king of Judah, Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as her own daughter when her father and mother died. So Mordecai is Esther's uncle and he adopts her. Esther is Jewish, Mordecai is Jewish. But Mordecai tells Esther, you keep that a secret because there was anti Semitism and mass extermination of the Jews thousands and thousands of years ago, and not much has changed over the years. So again, the story we're going to be looking at Mordecai, but long story short, Esther is chosen to be queen. She is now Queen Esther, married to Xerxes the Great. I want to read a little bit more about Mordecai and then you don't. I don't have a point for this right now, but you're going to want to remember this for later. So in Esther, chapter two, it says during this time Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, and Bigthana and Thresh, two of the king's officers were guarding the doorway, became angry and conspired to assassinate Xerxes But Mordecai found out about the plot, told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai. So that's Mordecai, good guy, seems to be, cares for his niece, and is saying, hey, there's this plot, let me talk about it. But then we're introduced to a character whose name is Haman. Haman's the villain of the story. Haman has this plot, right? He's just a bad guy, but he is appointed for whatever reason. We're not told why, but he is appointed to be the right hand man of King Xerxes. And he has a lot of power. Basically, Xerxes says, anything you want to do, you go do it. So he says, all right, I want to make a rule that anytime I walk around in the community, you got to bow down to me. Mordecai then sees that Haman makes this law. It says, you got to bow when I walk by. And he says, no. It could be that Mordecai just doesn't like Haman. That's a possibility. Or it could be because he's Jewish and there are rules and laws not to bow to anyone other than Yahweh, other than God. So that could be why. So Haman comes walking by, Mordecai doesn't bow down. So let's pick up in chapter three, it says, therefore they told Haman. These people noticed that Mordecai didn't bow down. They told Haman about it to see whether Mordecai's behavior would be tolerated, for he had told him that he was a Jew. When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay honor, he was enraged. Yet having learned who Mordecai's people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead, Haman looked for a way to destroy all of Mordecai's people, all of the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes. Like total annihilation. So then we're going to see Mordecai's situation. So Mordecai mourns, All the nation mourns, all the Jews mourn, right? It's posted all throughout the land that, hey, on this day, it's very specific, all the Jews are going to be executed. So all of them mourn in sackcloth and ashes. They physically mourn. And Mordecai sends word to Esther and says, queen Esther, you got to do something. You got to talk to the king. She sends word back and says, I can't. I can't just go into the king's presence. I'll be killed, most likely. I can't just do that. So this is what Mordecai replies back with to Esther. When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer. Do not think that because you are the king's house that you are in the king's house, you alone, of all the Jews, will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this. You have been made queen. You have access to the king. You can defend and talk on behalf of the Jews for such a time as this. God will provide. God will see to it even when we don't see it, even maybe from the shadows. I believe someone might need to hear this this morning, that God will see to it in your situation, but it might not be the way that you want it to be worked out, but it's the best way. It's a good way, and it's better than anything you could have ever dreamed of or imagined. Every time I teach on providence and systematic theology, I always have someone who says, yeah, but my suffering, the thing I'm going through, you're saying it's God and his sovereignty and his providence. And you use examples like Esther and use examples like Joseph, where his brothers sell him into slavery. And Joseph says, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. I'm not Joseph. I'm not Job, I'm not Esther, I'm not Jesus. I'm nobody. I'm not saving people like Joseph and Esther and Jesus, no one cares or even sees my suffering. Well, just like Hagar, who was cast out into the wilderness, who calls out to God and names him for the first time, that you are a God who sees. Or Mephibosheth, who is the son of Saul, who should have been executed as being a descendant from a different regime, is called to sit at the king's table. God sees you. God hears you. God knows you. Jesus taught us to lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth or rust corrupts. It says, make a sacrifice for Jesus now to be rewarded eternally. Maybe the people that I just talked about, Joseph and Esther, Job and Jesus, maybe a lot of people in The Bible had 10 talents or five talents, if you remember that parable of Jesus said people were given all these talents, and then they invested them. And when the king came back, he said, look at all that we've done. And Jesus says, well, to much has been given, much more will be required. But the person who had won, they buried it. And they didn't work with that one talent they had. Maybe you and I have one talent, but we are called to be faithful with the little that we have. In our context of Esther, we are more often Mordecai crying out to the Savior, crying out to Esther, the Jesus figure. More often than not, we are the ones behind the scenes crying out for help. And God will do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we could ask or think, even when it's not what we want, it's right and it's good. We read in chapter six. That night the king could not sleep. So he ordered the Book of the Chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. It was found recorded that Mordecai had been exposed to Bigtho and Teresh, two of the king's officers who guarded the doorway who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this? The king asked. Nothing has been done for him, his attendants answered. The king said, who is in the court now? Haman had just entered the court, the palace, to speak to the king about impaling Mordecai at a pole he had set up before him. Haman wanted to kill Mordecai as a Jew, as an insurrectionist. But as you read the story, we see that Mordecai, that instead of Mordecai being executed, it's Haman. Haman is the one who is impaled on a pole to save an entire exiled people group from certain death. Sounds a little familiar. Reminds me of somebody. I can't think of who right now, but maybe I'll think of it later. Sovereignty. In this passage, God is sovereign king over history. Before Mordecai was born, God ruled over kings and kingdoms and every event in Persia. His authority is absolute. He could have delivered his people in countless ways. And Mordecai recognized that. He even says, deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place. Providence is that on a particular night, King Xerxes of Persia can't sleep. He happens to call for a book to be read of his rule. A scribe by fate reads the part about Mordecai uncovering assassination plot. And this coincidence sets off a chain that flips this entire story upside down. It simply shows how God can Use even insomnia to see to it that his purposes are accomplished. Let's look now at this fullness of time. In Galatians, chapter 4, 4, 7 says that when the set time had fully come for such a time as this, God sent his son born of a woman born under the law, to redeem those under the law that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons. God sent his spirit of His Son into our hearts. The Spirit who calls out abba, father, you are no longer a slave, but God's child. And since you are his child, God made you also an heir. But unlike not to like Mordecai, to preserve a people temporarily, but to redeem a people eternally. We see this on display in the New Testament in Acts, chapter 2, verse 23. The apostle Peter's preaching says this. Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. That's his sovereignty, God's rule and predetermined purpose. We also see then providence on display. In Acts 4. It says, you crucified and killed the hands killed by the hands of lawless men. That God works out. He sees to his plan by human choices and actions, even evil ones, even sinful ones. We don't have time to get into that aspect this morning, but let me just maybe ask you a question. And that is, how many of you have made horrible, sinful, maybe even evil choices or decisions at one point in your life, only to have that decision shape you into being who you are today as a follower of Jesus Christ? God's in control in John, chapter 19, 9, 11. Let's hear this sovereignty and providence on display from Jesus himself. Pilate, Roman governor getting ready to execute Jesus says, where do you come from? Pilate asked Jesus. But Jesus gave him no answer. Do you refuse to speak to me? Pilate said, do you realize I have the power either to free you or to crucify you? Jesus answered, you would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Sovereignty authority belongs to God. Providence, the authority of God is being exercised even through Pilate's death sentence upon Jesus to bring about the redemption of all people. Last point here is about Purim. Purim is a Jewish holiday that's celebrated in March, and it's to commemorate the Book of Esther. So during that celebration, they read the Book of Esther, they have a meal together, and they read about how Jewish people were saved from a plot to be annihilated in ancient Persia. Communion that we have every week here is in some ways a new type of Purim. We remember a crucified king, innocent though unlike Haman, who saves his people. And we viscerally taste. We see, we remember the eternal finished work of Christ. And that is how Mordecai points us to Jesus. And so now we get to remember. So in gospel application, in what ways have you seen God direct your life to worship him even when you didn't notice it at the time? Or give him credit. He's in the shadows, working in mysterious ways, but in control. I don't know if you picked up on it a little bit that I read or if you know this about Esther, but God is never mentioned in the entire book. You know that we have a book of the Bible that never mentions God. Matter of fact, Martin Luther back in the 1500s wanted to delete the book of Esther from the Bible. There's no mention of God. How can this be the word of God if it doesn't even mention God? But we can clearly see his hand, his providence moving the shadows. We, like the story of Esther, are saved from death and sin eternally. But we are still in exile. We aren't in the promised land yet. Someday we'll get there, but we're not there yet. Keyword. But we can believe in the providence of God. And he will see to it that His Son is worshiped for all eternity. He will see to it that a remnant of believers will be saved. So that none of this, and by none of this I mean all of human history, none of that happens in vain. The worship team is going to come back up. They're going to sing two songs and we're going to have communion. We're going to have our own little Purim. You don't need to be a member of this church or a member of any church. But if you are here and you're like man, I. I love that Jesus. I love that Jesus who died for me. I love that Jesus who sees to it in my life. Even when. When he does things or things happen in my life that seem wrong or I didn't want it to work out that way. I wanted something else. Jesus knows what that's like in the Garden of Gethsemane where he cries out God, if there's any other way. But if not, your will be done. So just like Purim, we remember God saving his people. And we celebrate that with a meal. And we take the bread and we break it. And we remember the broken body of Christ for our sins that he celebrated on Passover. Another Jewish holiday thousands of years ago and instituted a new thing the Christians have been doing for thousands of years. We take the juice and we drink it, and we remember his shed blood. Not the blood of a lamb that temporarily passes over our sin, but the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world once for all. So we remember that. And so we take this meal, this celebration meal, the bread and the juice, and we fix our eyes on Jesus. Let me pray. And the worship team is going to come back up and they're going to sing those two songs. So feel free to grab those elements as you see fit, repent, pray, worship, praise God and sing. And then we'll close. Let me pray. Father, thank you for our time together. Thank you for your word. Thank you for your church. Thank you that you're in control even when we don't see it. Thank you for being in control even when we don't want you to be. We love you. Pray that your hand would just continue to move and that we would see that in every way and that as we take these elements, that we would just be celebratory in the finished work of your son, Jesus Christ. And it's in his name that we pray. Amen.