[0:02]Well, good morning to you. Hello everyone. It's good to see your faces and some that are new to me. I've I've seen many of you, um, at the Impact conference.
[0:14]And it's a joy to be here in New Zealand. As I mentioned at impact, it's um, was nine years ago, um that I was here and it's good to be back again and wonderful to have the opportunity to preach here and bring you the word of God.
[0:29]Uh it's a joy to do what I do, wherever I do it, especially when I can open God's word and encourage the people of God.
[0:37]I'm thankful for the work that the Lord has done through Phil here, and knowing some of the backdrop of where the church was and where it is now and where it's going.
[0:47]And he told me about even, uh, the number of young people that are here and I heard some of those little feet go off a bit earlier, and some that are still here and some that are beyond that but still young in the Lord and just young in life.
[1:03]That's good to see this great mixture of people that come together under the word of God is beautiful.
[1:10]And that's even a really fits into what I want to share with you from God's word from the book of Esther, and you can turn to Esther now.
[1:20]Look to the book of Esther in Esther chapter four will be our text for this morning in Esther four.
[1:30]And you have been, I think, sufficiently prayed for in this moment. So I'm going to go and read through Esther 4.
[1:42]And when Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes and went out in the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly.
[1:56]He went as far as the king's gate, for no one was to enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth.
[2:03]In each and every province where the command and decree of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews.
[2:12]With fasting, weeping and wailing, and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.
[2:20]Then Esther's maidens and her eunuchs came and told her, and the queen read in great anguish.
[2:30]And she went, or she sent garments to clothe Mordecai that he might remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not accept him.
[2:40]Then Esther summon Hathach from the king's eunuchs, whom the king had appointed to attend her and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was.
[2:55]So Hathach went out to Mordecai to the city square in front of the king's gate.
[3:02]Mordecai told him all that had happened to him and the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay the king's treasury for the destruction of the of the Jews.
[3:14]He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict which had been issued in Susa for their destruction.
[3:24]that he might show Esther and inform her and order for her to go into the king to employ his favor and to plead with him for her people.
[3:34]Hathach came back and related Mordecai's words to Esther.
[3:39]Then Esther spoke to Hathach and ordered him to reply to Mordecai.
[3:44]All the king's servants and the peoples of the king's prophecies know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court, who is not summoned, he has but one law that he be put to death, unless the king holds out the golden scepter that they may live.
[4:06]And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these 30 days.
[4:13]They related Esther's words to Mordecai.
[4:17]Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, do not imagine that you in the king's palace can escape anymore than all the Jews.
[4:28]For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise from the Jews from another place, and you and your father's house will perish.
[4:41]And who knows whether you have attained royalty for such a time as this?
[4:50]Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, go assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa and fast for me.
[4:59]Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens also will fast in the same way.
[5:10]And thus, I will go to the king, which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I perish.
[5:18]So Mordecai went away and did justice Esther had commanded him.
[5:26]This story of God's Providence, and we can simply title it coming from verse 14 for such a time as this.
[5:35]And that's what I want to focus on in this beautiful story of Providence unfolding in the life of Esther and the Jewish people.
[5:44]And the backdrop to this is wicked Haman as the people of God are in remaining in Persia because Cyrus the Great has delivered the people of God from the Babylonians, but some now remain behind.
[6:00]And his people who remain behind have, they've really incorporated into the life of the land.
[6:07]And in God's beautiful Providence, as wicked Haman, um puts forth an edict and he convinces the king that the Jews are enemies and they should be destroyed.
[6:18]He makes a monumental payment, he claim into the Treasury for the destruction of the Jews.
[6:24]And now an edict goes forth and that edict is, let us wipe out all the Jews.
[6:30]This is not a new story. It's been a history of the people of God, um, for centuries and centuries.
[6:38]And we see even now to some degree in certain parts of the world, uh this animosity towards the people of God, that is, when I say people of God, by way of a a lineage, we are the people of God, and they are the people of God in another way, that there is this hatred that even remains today.
[6:57]And we see it here in this real story. Um unfolding right in front of us. And we ask a question, so what's the relevance of this uh biblical narrative in my life today in 2026?
[7:11]And I would propose to you that here is a story, a narrative, a glimpse into the Providence of God, where God is controlling all things in life.
[7:22]Every detail of your life. God has his sovereign hand on.
[7:28]You being here today. Even now to where you're sitting, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of heaven, knows that and there is even a reason for it.
[7:38]Coming here at the time that you did. Being with the person that's next to you, married to the person that you're married to, friends with the people that you're friends with, the makeup of your family.
[7:50]This is all a result of God's Providence unfolding in your life, and I would agree, um with Spurgeon.
[7:58]And when Spurgeon said that Providence is the pillow in which we must rest our heads.
[8:06]So even as we go to bed each night, um, we lay our head on a pillow or wherever one may find themselves, um, sleeping well, and we go to rest.
[8:18]And through our life, we have to rest in the Providence of God.
[8:23]And when I say rest in the Providence of God, you rest in the reality that God controls every detail of life.
[8:31]There is no luck. There is no happenstance. There is no, oh, by the way, I wonder how that happened or why that happened.
[8:39]God is controlling everything, and that's a beautiful place to rest.
[8:43]Because think with me for a moment. If we can't rest in the Providence of God, then we rest in what? We rest in whom?
[8:50]We rest in the living God. We rest in what? The sovereign plan of God unfolding in our life.
[8:58]Even when we don't understand why it's unfolding the way that it is, we can rest there, and it is a sweet pillow.
[9:05]Now, sometimes in the Providence of God, it's been written, there is a frowning Providence. And a frowning Providence is the sense in which sometimes life brings us heartache and difficulty and pain.
[9:17]And you see here even in this episode, that now, um Mordecai's wailing because now he hears that his people are going to be destroyed. That's a frowning Providence.
[9:29]But nonetheless, it's controlled by God, and we rest in that reality.
[9:35]Now, let me just straight away give you the outline of how we're going to approach approach this chapter.
[9:42]And let me give you four statements, four statements that will help us work through this chapter.
[9:48]Number one, Providence is active when others are fearful.
[9:54]See, fear doesn't change the Providence of God, and at times fear is surely a part of Providence.
[10:01]Number two, Providence is active when others are evil, and we often see that in the Providence of God, because God is using the evil of other people to bring about an ultimate objective for his redemptive plan.
[10:20]Then I would say this, number three, Providence is active when others don't see intervention.
[10:27]Or we might even say it this way, Providence is active when others doubt.
[10:33]They may wonder, how is this all going to work out?
[10:36]Now, when people are fearful, that's verses one to four, um when people are evil, that's verses five to nine, and when people are doubtful, or they don't see how this is all going to work out, that's verses ten to 14.
[10:53]And then fourth, Providence is active when others are brave. That's verses 15 to 17.
[11:00]So fear, evil, intervention, and we'll say bravery.
[11:06]We're going to kind of hang our hat on those four words as we walk through this passage. But before we do that, a a question uh you know arises.
[11:14]I've made this statement about Providence. I've mentioned it several times. It's throughout the outline itself, but the question is, what is Providence?
[11:22]Well, I've given you a a definition by saying that God is controlling all things, God's sovereign hand is working everything together for good.
[11:32]But I want to go further in giving you a definition of Providence. So I've there's several that I just want to quote from to help us understand the providential hand of God.
[11:41]And number one is this, Charles Hodge says that Providence is this.
[11:45]God's work of Providence are his most holy, wise and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions.
[11:57]Providence, therefore, includes preservation and government, in quote. So two words, preservation and government.
[12:03]Let's pause for a moment. God is preserving the world in which we live.
[12:12]Second word, government. God is governing everything around this world.
[12:17]Every minute detail is under his control. God preserves it until the end. Peter tells us that in the end, uh this whole world is going to be burned up and God is going to roll out again a new creation.
[12:32]But for now, he's preserving it, and then he's governing it. Uh governments rise and fall. People groups come and go. Those who have power, they have it for a moment, and then it's taken away.
[12:47]Those that have no power, perhaps it remains that way. Or in a moment, God says, now I give you power, I give you influence. That's God's Providence.
[12:58]Miller Erikson said this of God's Providence. The Providence of God means the continuing action of God in preserving his creation and guiding it toward its intended purposes.
[13:10]Preservation means that God maintains the creation that he brought into existence.
[13:15]Government means that God is actively engaged in achieving his purposes in his creation and that sin cannot thwart his purposes.
[13:26]And that last part is so important. Uh we don't need to be convinced that we live in a sinful world.
[13:33]Do we all agree with that? The world is, in fact, sinful, but the sinfulness of mankind cannot thwart the Providence of God, because what God does, he is often using those sinful actions to bring about his means.
[13:47]Even in the our redemption itself, the redemption itself is what God, using the evil actions of men to crucify his son, yet the crucifixion is something fixed in eternity.
[14:02]He was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world, and then in time, men plotted against our dear Savior and would eventually crucify him on the cross, but that was all Providence unfolding.
[14:19]Here's another definition of Providence by John Owen. He says, it's the effectual working of his power and almighty act of his will, whereby he sustains, governs, and disposes all things.
[14:36]Men and their actions to the ends which he has ordained for them. So God has ordained something to happen, it will come about.
[14:45]We go through our lives and I'm not saying that anything is wrong with it. We may plan out a certain way that we perhaps think we would like life to to be lived, if you will.
[14:56]What we would hope for life. And in one sense, we set things in order.
[15:03]And we plot it out and we say, well, I'll educate in this way, I'll go here, I'd like to live here, I'd like to do this, I'd like for this to be my career.
[15:11]Perhaps I'd like to be married at this age, I'd like to have so many children, and I'd like to have a home that's here and it would have a nice little fence around it, and all sorts of things that we do for our life.
[15:22]And then all of a sudden, life doesn't unfold that way.
[15:27]But with God, he has ordained all things, and it will, in fact, unfold exactly as he has planned.
[15:35]And so we can rest in that reality. We can. Another defines Providence in this way.
[15:43]He simply said, namely, it's the execution by God of his eternal decree in time by means of the second causes he has originated in creation.
[15:55]So pause there for a moment, because that's a bit of a a mouthful, although it's just one sentence.
[16:01]What is he saying? So, his eternal decree. Here in Esther, there is a decree that went out, and that decree could not be reversed.
[16:11]Uh the law of the Medes and Persians, it is fixed, nothing can change that law. And that's why eventually, the king allowed the people of God to defend themselves, because he said, nothing can change the edict, it has been set forth, but now you can counter it, because I'm saying you can protect yourself and the people of God were protected.
[16:34]But God's decree is set in eternity. Is what is being stated by A.A. Hodge.
[16:40]And the secondary causes, secondary causes are now in our lives. We meet someone.
[16:47]I I met someone earlier and interesting enough, this brother was telling me even here, how his dad fought in Guadalcanal, and then he would take his R and R in New Zealand, and guess what he met? He eventually got married, and guess who the woman is? She's a Kiwi woman that he met.
[17:05]And then they went back to California and lived in California, and now he's here in New Zealand. And guess what he did? I said, well, you're kind of like father like son.
[17:11]Then he decided he's going to marry him a Kiwi woman as well. And I think here is Providence, secondary causes. So his dad is in the Marines and he's fighting in Guadalcanal.
[17:23]And then a part of them getting R and R from the fight, he comes to New Zealand, and what does he do in New Zealand? He meets a woman, and then they meet and they're married, and they go back to California, and then they have a son.
[17:35]The son comes then the son now marries a woman from New Zealand, and now he's here. This is all decreed by God.
[17:43]You say, wait a minute, is it that way? Yes, it is. That R and R would be here, that there would be a battle in Guadalcanal.
[17:52]And even then you can go back and see, why was there a battle in Guadalcanal? Well, you can look at even the history of that. Why is it even a war and what's the reason behind the war?
[18:04]And it's all connected, you can say in God's beautiful Providence, his sovereign hand, all of those many details.
[18:11]And God also knows, there's a Marine that's going to take R and R, and he's going to marry this woman, and they're going to go back to California, and they're going to live there.
[18:21]And then he's going to come back, and he's going to marry this other woman, and guess what? Then Carl Hargrove, um in uh what is it? May 31st, now I forget, I'm losing track of time, May 31st, you're going to be here preaching, um in Napi and you're going to meet him, and that's all God's plan unfolding in life.
[19:14]We see other Providences of God. Now, the book of Esther, and I'm going to get into the text straight away, but I have to set it up to understand this sense of Providence.
[19:24]Um the book of Esther is been questionable whether or not it should be in the Canon and I won't go into all the issues of that, but it is. Uh God's Providence is in the book of Esther.
[19:35]We do not see the name of God in Esther. We don't see prayer properly in Esther, there are other things we don't see in Esther, but God's fingerprint is all over it.
[19:47]I mean, think about Providence. Even starting with Queen Vesty. Um she doesn't want to come and dance before, um the king and all the men that are there.
[19:59]And what happens as a result of that? She embarrasses him, and then everyone is saying, you can't let her get away with that.
[20:04]So what does he do? He puts her away, and that starts a chain of events. And then who's a part of that chain? Well, Esther is.
[20:11]And even Esther, she wins the beauty pageant because God created her a certain way. That's Providence unfolding.
[20:20]And think about this for a moment. When in chapter two, verses nine and then verse 11, Mordecai overhears this plot for people that want to kill the king, Ahasuerus.
[20:33]And why was he there at that time? Providence. He overhears this plot to kill the king, and eventually that he reports that plot.
[20:44]Here's another example. Even when they cast lots, uh they cast lots before Haman, and it fell on the fifth month.
[20:51]And it could have felt on the 12th month, but it fell in the fifth month. And so when it did, that allowed the Jews 11 months to prepare to do battle with their enemies.
[21:04]Um it's cast, God controls it. Providence unfolds. Well, here's another example of Providence in the book of Esther.
[21:12]Um sleep is so important in the book of Esther, and right in the middle of the book of Esther, some event takes place, and that event if you were to look at Esther, and it comes to this point, and there it is in chapter six.
[21:25]And what happens? The king cannot sleep well. The king can't sleep well. It's if he's going he's going through jet lag, if you will.
[21:33]Just like sometimes people do when they now, it's 19 hours different, um then when I am in the States.
[21:40]And what? He can't sleep. This is Providence. So what does he do? Read for me the history of our people.
[21:47]And then he, wait a minute. Has anything ever been done for, um Mordecai? As a matter of fact, no, it hasn't. Providence.
[21:56]Why didn't he sleep well that night? Because God's hand was unfolded.
[22:03]And then what happens? Um even as the story unfolds with Esther and she goes to the king, and then Haman realizes that, wow, I'm really in bad trouble right now.
[22:15]And he falls at the feet of Esther to beg for his life. Now, the king has gone out, and the king comes in at the exact moment that he's now at the feet of Esther.
[22:27]And he interprets it as, are you going to now accost my queen?
[22:33]And then he asked, what can we do to this man? And actually, there are some gallows.
[22:38]And those gallows that Haman had prepared for whom? For Mordecai. And there it is, it's hanging on them. Providence unfolds.
[22:47]All the details. So people overhear conversation, Providence. They cast, um the lots and it falls on a certain month and not the other.
[23:00]Providence. Uh Vesty says, no, I'm not going to do this. And then the pride of the king and the pride of the other men, um have him make a choice that really was a bad choice morally.
[23:11]But yet God uses even at times immoral decisions for his plans. Providence is a beautiful thing.
[23:20]So, our first truth that we want to consider, Providence is active when people are fearful.
[23:27]Verses one to four. Mordecai learned what had been done and he tore his clothes. He wailed loudly and bitterly.
[23:36]So he's fearing the fact that we are about to be destroyed. And notice what it says of Esther.
[23:46]Of Esther. And I'm reading the um, nasby 95. Interesting. It's a word that we don't use often.
[23:54]It says in verse four, the queen reaved in great anguish. Um the ESV says, she was deeply distressed.
[24:04]The Net Bible says, she was overcome with anguish. The King James says, she was exceedingly grieved.
[24:12]One translation says, she was exceedingly pained. So this idea she reaved in great anguish. And the word to to reeve means that you you sort of bent over, you're feeling so much pain, uh your head is not up, you're crouched over. I cannot believe what may be happening to the people of God.
[24:34]But that doesn't stop Providence. That's all a part of Providence. Providence doesn't remove difficulty and heartache and pain.
[24:45]She is feeling grief in this moment. And as we go through life, there are moments in life when God's Providence is frowning, and as it frowns, God is going to use that Providence even in our life to grow us into the people that he wants us to be.
[25:00]Yes. Um sometimes we say to ourselves, well, I wish I were born at a different time.
[25:10]Someone said to me, even at the conference, we were chatting about God's sovereignty and saying, you know, I've mentioned that I have five adult kids and two grandkids, and and one may say, oh, you say to yourself, poor, what sort of world will my grandkids grow up in?
[25:27]And me being a Californian, California is one of the it's California. Anyway, you probably already know what I said what I said.
[25:35]And you say to yourself, but why here? Why at this place? Why at this time? That's God's Providence. We can't dial back time and say, let's dial back time, let's dial back to when things were more moral.
[25:51]Let's dial back a time when it was more sensible. Let's dial back a time when Christianity was more received.
[25:57]No, God is saying, my sovereign plan is unfolding, and you're born for such a time as this. And sometimes in his Providence, it will frown upon you.
[26:08]It will. But that frowning makes us the people that we are. It makes us those people.
[26:15]We realize this, look with me to Psalm 121, Psalm 121.
[26:26]And what is it say? This reality that our God is in control at all times.
[26:30]Psalm 121, the psalmist says what? I will lift up my eyes to the mountains, from whence shall my help come?
[26:38]My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip.
[26:44]He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
[26:58]He is watching over us. I remember, uh when I was here nine years ago, um we went up to Ta Mata, and that was the the view there is just gorgeous.
[27:10]I was going to do it this morning. Uh I tend to go out on a morning walk and I I just didn't have a chance to do it to get up early enough to go over there.
[27:19]I think I'll probably make it there, maybe Monday morning, Tuesday morning. I take off Wednesday.
[27:24]A couple days. We'll have lay over a long lay over in Sydney two days there before we head back home. But I want to make it and have pictures of it.
[27:31]It's just a gorgeous view. And someone brought it to my attention even recently, I I recently, um did a devotional on the Psalms and and one of the pictures was from, uh that location that was there.
[27:44]Beautiful view. I can even see it now. Um I have a certain degree of anticipation to go and hike up again and catch that 360° view from there. Wonderful.
[27:58]Why do I bring up something like that? When I'm in places like that, I realize that the God who created something like that is also the God that watches over every aspect of my life.
[28:13]He does. He neither slumbers nor sleeps. We trust in him. Go back with me to Esther.
[28:26]What else is important for us to note? This fear, she had a fear to go before the throne.
[28:32]She has a fear because the people of God are now under this edict that they would be wiped out.
[28:40]But what's interesting, is if you were to look at Nehemiah chapter two, verse two, 30 years earlier, Nehemiah would go before our Xerxes.
[28:50]There's that sense in which he was praying, even before he was going before the king. It says, literally, as he was approaching him, he was praying, what will be his response to me? 30 years earlier.
[29:02]And what's interesting, if you were to know second Kings 19, um 250 years earlier, Hezekiah, he would have this sense of fear, when the Assyrians were assaulting even Jerusalem.
[29:15]But what happened on every occasion, God intervened according to his sovereign plan. He did for Nehemiah, favor was given. He did for Hezekiah, favor was given.
[29:26]And then we're going to note here, even for Esther and the people of God, favor was given. So fear doesn't stop Providence, fear is a part of Providence at times.
[29:38]Number two, the second truth, Providence is active when others are evil.
[29:41]Verses five through nine, Esther summon, as we saw her, one of her eunuchs and wanted to know what was happening in the city. Why was there this wailing?
[29:57]He tells her about the destruction of the Jews. This edict that has gone forth. And he says in verse eight, um in order, and to order her to go into the king to implore her to plead with him for her people.
[30:17]So he relates these words. Evil has taken place. Why has this evil taken place? Because of Haman.
[30:23]Haman is jealous. He's jealous of Mordecai. He's jealous of the people of God. And what does he want to do? Exact punishment.
[30:31]And it was put forth that they would plunder the Jews.
[30:35]This sort of conjures some memories of even the evil of our own society. There is a book that was written, um by Martin Dean, it's called Robbing the Jews, printed by Cambridge University Press.
[31:43]And he goes through sort of a history of the Holocaust and what happened when obviously, the Nazis came into power, and Hitler in his final resolution, would eventually start to plunder what we see in Esther 3:13, was enacted against Jews in Germany and other European countries.
[32:09]And any number of things that happened, even uh just a few notes for you in eastern occupied Europe. Property was collected at the killing sites.
[32:17]The most valuable objects were sent to Berlin. And a part of the reason that this took place and as they were plundering the Jews, they could feed the collaborators.
[32:27]So, um this is not as valuable. So those that were essentially, um calling out Jews or letting the administration know that Jews were living here, or were being hidden by person, they were given some of the plunder.
[32:41]He goes on to give many accounts. He talks about, well, ordinary citizens were more than willing to participate in looting Jewish property.
[32:50]When the Nazis wiped out the Jewish inhabitants of a village in Eastern Poland, one of the first things they would do is distribute all their property to the locals.
[33:01]Business owners benefited from it, because when Jewish businesses were going under, then they could simply buy it at really a wholesale price, and they profited from it.
[33:11]So this is not new and it's not, oh, it's a repeated evil, but God is in absolute control.
[33:21]And we all know how this story ends, at least with the Jews in modern society. I mean, six million people dead. And one may ask, well, why didn't God intervene then?
[33:34]Why didn't he stop the plan then? There is that frowning Providence that we don't know. I don't have an answer for that. I don't.
[34:04]But Providence was unfolding. And as a result of that, people would go to other countries and they would rebuild businesses. And some would come to the States, and some would go to other parts of the world, and their lives would expand, and they would enhance communities, and they would be better because of that.
[35:21]So sometimes, Providence is frowning. Why didn't God intervene then?
[35:28]I don't have an answer for that. That's in the sovereign mind of God.
[35:35]Thirdly, Providence is active when others don't see intervention. 10 to 14, they don't see it, but God is at work.
[35:43]Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and in essentially the reply is this, I can't just go into the king and say, king, intervene, I'm your queen.
[35:56]Remember, she is a part of a harem. And this is what some people don't understand.
[36:00]Um Esther is a part of a harem. And when she makes note that she hasn't been called for 30 days, because he is having his pleasure with one of the other Queens.
[36:10]He hasn't called me for 30 days. I just can't walk in. We have to understand this culturally. It's not what we might think about a king and a queen, that the queen can simply walk in and say, hey, Henry, let me tell you something.
[36:26]No, it's, I've not been called for, and if I go in without it, and if he is displeasing me, and if he doesn't raise up his scepter, then I will be put to death, even as the queen.
[36:40]So there's this sense of fear even with her now, and she may not see the intervention. She's wondering what is going to happen.
[36:47]It can't be me. I just can't go in and talk to the king. This is the edict.
[36:56]There's but one thing, death. But beautiful thing about it, the King's command, if you notice verse seven, verse, I'm sorry, verse 11, man or woman who comes to the king and the inner court, who is not summoned, he has but one law that they be put to death, unless the king holds out the scepter.
[37:21]And we know the rest of the story, don't we? So the the here is the matter. What did the king do? He held out the scepter.
[37:28]Why did he hold out the scepter? God's providential hand was at work. God would stir his heart.
[37:37]Because what does the word of God tell us in the book of Proverbs? Uh the king's heart is in the hand of whom? The Lord's hand. And what may the Lord do with the king's heart? He will turn it any direction that he wills.
[37:50]And that's why sometimes we think about the governments in which we live under as believers. Um being from California. And at times, admittedly, I do um make a comment or two about uh our governor.
[38:03]He's a wicked and worthless individual. He really is. He's a wicked man. But God has placed him there.
[38:10]I grew up in, I'm in California, I grew up in Florida. And Florida is doing really, really well.
[38:18]Sensible governor, um great uh leadership that's there. And at times, I say, boy, if we could just trade administrations and bring that administration to California, it would be paradise all over again.
[38:30]But providentially, guess what? That's where I live. And God is saying, okay, are you just going to leave because it's difficult, it's hard.
[38:41]And you learn this lesson that says at times, the Lord says, what happens if all the light leaves the darkness?
[38:50]If all of you go to the place where all the light is gathering. It seems like all the light is gathering in this state, and that state, and that state. So let's all go there.
[39:00]And the Lord is, no, I need you your light to remain in the midst of the darkness. And we all know full well, um, when a light is placed in a dark environment, it is what more noticeable, is it not?
[39:14]Right now, if I were to turn on my little iPhone, and put the light that's on the back of the iPhone, you would see it, but it wouldn't be terribly noticeable.
[39:26]But if it were 1:00 AM in the morning, and I turn it on, you would be able to see it from a great distance. Would you not?
[39:34]And that's what we have to think about, even when we don't see, how is this all going to unfold? Let me live my life, the best way I can live my life in the present, where I am for the glory of God. For the glory of God.
[39:52]So yes, he has a law, but it's going to be overturned, because God is going to turn his heart and give Esther favor.
[40:04]Notice something else. God's plan is superior to others because in verse 13 and 14, notice Mordecai says, do not imagine that you in the king's palace can escape anymore than all the Jews.
[40:17]You will be killed as well, Esther. When it comes forth that you are Jewish. For if you remain silent, relief and deliverance will arise from another place.
[40:30]Now, some scholars have debated, okay, when he says another place, is that sort of an allusion to God? That saying, if you don't act, God will act without you.
[40:40]I think that's a conclusion you have to draw because he's ultimately saying, if you don't in one sense intervene for your people, God will use someone else.
[40:54]He will use other means. But God did use Esther. Even when she had her initial fear, God intervened.
[41:01]Um for a moment, if you were to consider second Kings, verses six, sort of eight and following, you remember the the Arameans are coming upon the people of God.
[41:14]But Elisha keeps telling, um, the people, the warriors what the the King's plans are. And so the King of Aramaea, he is he is saying, who's against me?
[41:27]Who keeps telling, um the plans? And they said, well, no, there's a man of God. And what he does, he lets them know your plans. And so what does he do?
[41:39]He sends for Elisha. And he sends for Elisha that he's going to take Elisha captive. And what happens when the Aramaic soldiers come against him?
[41:51]His servant is fearful. And his servant is like, what are we to do? As a matter of fact, let's turn to second Kings six.
[41:59]I want you to see it. Plus, I love hearing Bible pages turn.
[42:07]Um, anyone can that knows me, knows that. I love hearing people turn in their Bibles and look, and even if you're looking on your smart device, that's okay as well.
[42:18]Um, I have told people a few times that I think someone should develop an app for like iPads and iPhones and things like that, that when you swipe, it makes the sound of a Bible.
[42:28]But someone should work on that. I'm really, I'm serious, someone should work on it. I just love the sound of it.
[42:36]In second Kings, uh six, um the King of Aram, he's worn against Israel.
[42:43]And he says, in such and such a place shall be there camp. Then it says, verse nine, the man of God sent word to the King of Israel saying, beware that you do not pass it for the Arameans are coming down there.
[42:57]Then what happens? Verse 15. Now, when the attendant of the man of God had risen and came out early and saw it, alas, my master, what shall we do?
[43:42]This evil Providence is falling upon us. We are absolutely outnumbered. What shall we do?
[43:51]Remember, they don't, sometimes you don't see God's Providence unfolding.
[43:57]Then it says in verse 17, Elijah prayed and said, oh Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.
[44:03]And the Lord opened the servant's eyes and he saw, and behold, what is it say? The mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
[44:18]Protection was there, but the servant didn't see it. And I think sometimes we can take this narrative, if you will, and it can be that way in life.
[44:29]God's Providence is unfolding all around us, but we just don't see it. It's right there. We have to trust it.
[44:40]And just like we put our head on that pillow, we rest in that pillow of God's Providence. It's like we don't, how is this all going to unfold?
[44:50]I I don't see the end. And we love to see the end. But at times, the Lord doesn't allow us to see the end.
[44:58]As a matter of fact, I could say very many times he doesn't allow us to see the end. But we can see him and know him. And if I know him, then the end is in his sovereign hands.
[45:12]He is. It's like me, that I love going for, when my grandkids visit, let's go for a little hike, and my grandson loves to go look for lizards.
[45:21]He's just a lizard guy, and we have, we've have little boxes for him to have the lizards in, and then we'll go and buy crickets so the lizards can eat crickets, and that sort of thing. And he loves to go for lizards, and we love to go exploring.
[45:34]And sometimes you'll go with his dad, he'll go with me, and at times he'll go with grandma. Um but it's like, let's go, it's an adventure.
[45:44]And at times in my mind, I know where I want to go. But for him, we're just going for lizards. I trust where you're going to take me.
[45:51]And I grabbed that little hand, he's he's five now. And I grabbed his hand and we start right adventure. I have my net, he has his net, and let's go look for lizards.
[46:00]He doesn't know where I'm going. I have it plotted out. I know where I'm going to go. And why does he trust me? Why does he not worry about where we're going? Because he's with me.
[46:12]If I'm with Granddad, what do I have to worry? He's plotted it out. And so in our lives, if the Lord is with us, and we believe that, we must, we are Christians.
[46:27]We don't always have to know what's the exact destination. We don't have to know, will I be healed?
[46:37]Will my loved one recover? When will I get married? What's going to happen to my job?
[46:44]What's going to happen in the future here? What will things be like politically? What will things be like socially?
[46:56]Sometimes we don't have those answers. But we don't need all of those answers, because here's the problem. Let me say this. If you knew the end, would you still travel that road?
[47:11]Hmm. If you knew that was the destination, would you still travel that road?
[47:17]And what the Lord must do with us sometimes, we, he takes us by the hand and slowly but surely he reveals more of where we're going. We trust him.
[47:30]That's what we do. You think about people in life and how the prophets are right place at the right time. Saul becomes Paul, the right place at the right time.
[47:41]A Martin Luther raised up, the right place at the right time. A John Calvin, the right place at the right time.
[47:48]Why was Knox raised up at that time? Why was William Wilberforce at that time? Why was friends that I know right now that I know a a missionary who's in the Dominican Republic.
[48:04]Why at the right time right there that he hear that message, and something was placed on his heart that he would sell all and he would go to the the mission field? Providence unfolding.
[48:17]And some of you are praying for us at Grace Community Church is uh the pastor there, John MacArthur for 56 years, um last July, wants to be to with his savior.
[48:28]And why was he at that little 30 year old came to that little church on Rosco Boulevard? And why at that time was there a movement of people wanting to know the Bible more, and he was an expositor?
[48:44]And what is expositor of scripture anyway? Why? Why did that pastor prior to him, um die when he did? He had many years of life. You would think left, but the Lord says, no, you're going home.
[49:00]And I'm bringing in this young fellow here who's actually going to be here for 56 years, and he's just going to teach the Bible. And as a result of that, there's going to be a Seminary, and a university that's revived. A Seminary that's created. There's going to be training all around the world.
[49:19]Um there's going to be commentaries and books. There's going to be people in New Zealand who went to that Seminary who now have a Trinity theological Institute.
[49:28]And now they can train people here. That's Providence. Providence. So there's no, oh, it just happened that way.
[49:42]But sometimes you don't see it, but it's there. And sometimes in the difficulties in life, here's the reality. God takes us through heartache and pain and difficulty, and that makes us the people we are today.
[50:00]And if we accept Providence, rest in it, God will make us into the people he wants us to be.
[50:09]And that's providential too. Makes us into the people he wants us to be.
[50:16]And I can say in my own life, I'll look back, and I would not have chosen certain roads. I wouldn't have chosen that hurt. I wouldn't have chosen that betrayal. I wasn't, I wouldn't have chosen that disappointment.
[50:33]But in God's Providence, he used it to make me the person that I am. And I can also look back and say, I wish I had accepted that Providence more because maybe I would be more than the person I am today, had I done it.
[50:50]We want to at times edit out things in our life. We want to edit out cancer and hunger and unemployment, criticisms. We want to edit that out.
[51:01]But God is a masterful editor of life. Is he not? And he gives us exactly what we need, at the exact time we need it, to make us the people he wants us to be.
[51:12]I mean, in scripture, Joseph and his brothers, sold into slavery. But what does he say? You meant it for evil, but God meant it for what does he say? For good.
[51:25]Moses, why is Moses at that right time, Providence. He is born. He is he escapes death.
[51:33]They put him in that basket, and he's going down the water, and he's pulled away at that right time. And he's brought into the court. Jacob and Isaac and many other names.
[51:48]Why is it Paul at that right moment? Jesus Christ, the right time. The right moment.
[51:56]The last consideration is this, the last truth. Providence is active when others are brave.
[52:03]Others are brave. Verses 15 to 17. Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, go assemble, fast for me.
[52:16]Essentially, what she's saying, I'm going to do it. I I'm going to go forth. Do not eat or drink. And it's interesting here, don't eat or drink in contrast to the eating and drinking that was taking place in chapter three in the city of Susa.
[52:30]Because it was in confusion. He says, don't eat or drink. If I perish, I perish. She's resolved. And at times, we must be resolved, even when we're facing a Providence that we don't understand to trust the Lord.
[52:47]So Mordecai went away and did as Esther commanded. Her bravery. Now, I'm here today, a story I've shared a few times, but it it I had another ending, and I I thought, no, I I think this may be better.
[53:07]We hope. Um, I'm the youngest of eight children, and um, my, my oldest, my sister, and next to her, are both in their reward in heaven.
[53:23]My sister, the second one, just died recently. I went back to Florida for her memorial. The oldest, my sister, has been with the Lord now, about 11 years.
[53:34]It is, maybe it's 11 or 12 years. Um, but my dad fought, um, he was fighting in Korea and, um, he would do his R and R in Japan.
[53:49]Comes home, settles, more kids, kids, kids, one, and two, and three, then four, then five, then six, then seven. And I think at that point, they thought seven is a wonderful number.
[54:00]It's God's number. Let's stop. Um, but guess what? Eight years later, guess what happened? Whoops. No, it's not any whoops. You know what you were doing.
[54:11]Whoops, there's Carl. There's Carl. And you say to yourself, initially you say, oh, what is the Lord doing?
[54:23]Why at this point? And also because of this, my mom, um died when I was seven years old. Seven. And the story was told me by my mom's younger sister, that, um, when my mom knew that she was pregnant with me,
[54:43]And then, hey, it already given birth. And then now she realized she has cancer. And because it was misdiagnosed, by the time they realized that it was a certain cancer, there was just nothing you can do.
[54:55]And imagine that, we're talking many years ago, perhaps a day that could have intervened. As she wondered, she prayed to the Lord and said, Lord, why, why, why are you taking me away?
[55:10]Who's going to be there for Thaddius, my dad's name? Who who's going to be there for Carl? Because now he's he's a young fellow.
[55:21]Who's going to be there for Carl? And um, there was a moment that happened. My dad, because he was, when he was in the war, he eventually became paralyzed, and so was in a wheelchair.
[55:31]And I was pushing my dad in the wheelchair. Imagine, I'm like seven at that point. And my mom looked out the window, and she says, okay, I understand. Carl is going to be there for Thadius.
[55:53]Because my the next sister to me was married at 16, and she was in the Philippines with her husband. The others were away. And I essentially was there with my dad.
[56:05]Providence unfolded. So the eighth baby, Providence. Me having to build that I built from my dad, my brother is different.
[56:19]My brother, he's about that big, my older brother. Because I could pick my dad up. I could lift my dad when it was needed. Providence that unfolded.
[56:30]The cancer that came, the frowning Providence. Why, at seven, do you lose your mom? Providence. It's made me the person I am today.
[56:43]And I can stand here today saying, I have seen the Providence of God time and time and time in my life. And I trust it, and I rest in it.
[56:52]And I say to you, the Providence of God is around you. And at times, you must pray, sort of like Elisha, the servant, I don't see, and you pray, and God will help you to see.
[57:03]And if you don't see the end, at least you can see a greater picture of God. And if you have a greater picture of God, then you can say, I don't have to see the end because I understand God.
[57:14]And if I understand God, my future is certain. Whatever it may be. Father, we thank you for these words you give us, your grace, goodness and mercy in Christ's name. Amen.
