The Book of Esther, Chapter 2,
and I'd like to read verses 10 and 11. And it's well to read
this entire chapter, but for time's sake tonight, we're going
to read these two verses of Scripture, and we're going to spend our
time on the 11th verse of this passage of Scripture, where it
shares much about Mordecai as a type of our God, about a type
of our Savior. It tells us that Mordecai walked
every day before the court of the woman's house. For what reason? To know how Esther did and what
should become of her. every day. Now, when we read
these verses of scripture, we find that he was quite concerned
about her. Number one, they were relatives.
They were cousins. Number two, we find that they
were of the same beliefs. They had the same God. They were
Jews. And they had the same position
in life in many ways. They were both captives. They
had been captive of Nebuchadnezzar, taking them into captivity. And here we have Esther, a young
lady whose father and mother have both passed away. And we're
going to find out a little later in this chapter the father's
name at least, but we have very little about the mother. We have
here that this one Esther is put into a position to become
a wife of the king. Now, I've read several commentaries
that said that this is just a totally bad thing to do, that she was
put into this position. But we find out in their culture,
and we cannot rewrite history, and we cannot rewrite their culture,
but in their culture, every one of these ladies that came in
unto the king They were married. They came out as wives of the
king. Now, they may be called concubines
or second wives or whatever they were. And in this culture, it
was a great promotion from the lives that they were living.
They were going to be taken care of for life. They were going
to be fed for life. They were going to be clothed
for life. They had a housing for life. So it was in some ways
much better than the position that they held to begin with.
And Esther she is going to be put into this, and when she goes
in unto King Ahasuerus, she is going to be his wife. That's,
we want to just keep that in mind. Now, we find that this,
this idea that Mordecai was paying particular attention to Esther,
and he wanted to know how she was doing, and And the outcome
of this and what would become of her is a principle that we
find in the scriptures, even among God's people. If you'll
turn with me over to the book of Genesis for a moment. In the
book of Genesis, we read these words that Genesis chapter 37. Now here too, it was in God's
providence that this young man go check on his brothers. In Genesis chapter 37, and there
in verse 14, We have these words, Israel tells
us in verse 13, Israel says to Joseph. Now we know the rest
of the story about what happened, but listen to this as it is commonplace
among God's people to have this kind of activity, just as Mordecai. Now Mordecai could not help her
position, Mordecai could not see her position. Mordecai could
be concerned, but it was only a human concern that he could
express. But when we follow Mordecai as
a type of God, as a type of our Savior, we find that God has
much more interest than Mordecai did, because he can do something.
In fact, he has done something, and he's carrying it out. Just
as we find here in Genesis chapter 37, verse 13, and Israel said
unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? Come,
and I will send thee unto them. And he said unto him, Here am
I. And he said unto him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be
well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks, and bring me
word again. So he sent him out of the vale
of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. Now we know what happened. He
sold into Eventually sold down to Egypt and how God took care
of that. And he had him purposed to do
that and went down there for the deliverance of his people.
You meant it for evil, God meant it for good. But we find that
Israel was quite concerned about how his family was doing, how
his sons were doing, how the flocks were doing. And he sent
his son to do that. Another wonderful type of our
savior. Here is what a human can do. And the Lord does it so much
better because he knows all things. He's got it all planned out.
He's purposed it. Let's follow this again in 1
Samuel if you would. In the book of 1 Samuel chapter
17. We again find that this is being
carried out and once again we have someone who is a type of
the Lord. We have David. David has been anointed king
and he's been asked by his father. In 1 Samuel chapter 17 and there
in verse 17, The scriptures share this, And just he said unto David
his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn,
and ten loaves, and run to thy brethren, and carry these ten
cheeses unto the captain of their thousand. And look how thy brethren
fare, and take their pledge. Find out how they're doing, bring
word back to me. Once again, we find that even
Jesse, David, is showing us some great inside story about our
Savior, about the Lord, about God Almighty, on His interest
of His people. Now, He doesn't have to send
anybody to investigate. He knows. But you know we do
find that God sent in the book of Acts. Book of Acts chapter
15. The book of Acts chapter 15 we
find the Apostle Paul and he's been called to grace, he's been
called to salvation, and he's also been called to the ministry.
And he is a preacher of righteousness. And those doctrines he once loved,
now he despised. He said, I count them as dumb.
And those doctrines he once fought against, the Lord gave them to
him, and now he's preaching them. He began at the same place and
preached unto him Jesus. He didn't do that to the Philippians,
but he did as soon as he had sight. He began to preach Christ.
And those people that were his friends made every effort they
could possibly do to kill him. And he was let down out of the
wall in a basket, and we know the rest of the story. But notice
here in Acts 15, beginning with verse 36. and how this is. And some days after Paul said
it to Barnabas, let us go again and visit our brethren in every
city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how
they do. The Lord impressed him. The Lord
moved upon him. And he moved upon his friend
Barnabas. Now, we go down through here, we find that Paul did not
take Barnabas. Barnabas took John Mark. There
was a strong disagreement over John Mark. So at this point,
we find that Paul and Silas leave on and what is their mission,
what are they planning on doing. Now the Lord already knows how
things are going, but we find that he sent them to every city
where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they
do. What a wonderful thing that the
Lord did for these people that Paul and Barnabas had preached
to. Churches had been brought up,
people have been saved, and we have an interest to go back and
find out how they're doing. Well, when we look at Mordecai,
he could do nothing but inquire. We also find that Mordecai was
greatly interested in Esther's welfare, and it was a daily avocation
that he had to go find how she is. Now, no doubt there was some
interest by others on the inside to share with him information.
He is somewhere in King Ahasuerus' line of authority, it appears. So we have here that Mordecai
has an interest, and he could do nothing to help. He could do nothing to provide.
He's on the outside, but he has an interest. We find that he
certainly is a type and a shadow of a picture of someone who has
interest but can do something about it. Someone who has thoughts
for and can do something about it. And that is our great God
and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. His thoughts were on
his sheep from old eternity. I kind of like that. phrase,
old eternity. His thoughts were on his people
from old eternity. Now, we find that from time to
time he has sent people down to find out how we're doing,
preachers of righteousness, how we're doing. But he knows all
the while how we're doing. In fact, turn with me if you
would to the Psalms as we look at this great God, our great
Mordecai, the one who knows all things and purposes all things
and carries out all things for his glory and for the glory of
the church. Nothing takes place in this world
except for that which would bring him glory and would bring glory
to the church. Saved would be added daily. Such as should be saved would
be added daily. So in Psalm 33, we read these
words about this great Mordecai, the one who has compassion and
care and also the power to take care of that care. Psalm 33 verse
8, Let all the earth fear the Lord.
Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. Now it's not going to be very
long we're going to have people in Shushan the palace stand in
awe of Mordecai. He is going to be given great
deal of authority. He's going to be given a great
deal of power, and people are going to stand in awe of Him.
But when it comes to the Lord, let the whole world, let all
the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. Now some
stand in awe in grace, and some stand in awe in hatred, but they
still stand in awe. For He spake and it was. Now we have the word d-o-n-e
in italics. But if we just looked at he spake
and it was. We're going to add the word done. He commanded and it stood fast. The Lord bringeth the counsel
of the heathen to nought, he maketh the devices of the people
of none effect. And verse eleven, the counsel
of the Lord standeth forever. Now notice here, the thoughts
of his heart to all generations. So as Mordecai, how is she doing? The thoughts were daily upon
his cousin who had been turned over to these eunuchs and she's
being prepared to go into the king. And he's concerned how
she does. And every day he makes his pass
by to find out. Well, we find out the Lord night
and day, yesterday, today, and forever, has always had the thoughts
of his people in his heart, and he always has all that he wants
for them meted out, and he's taken care of the church in such
a glorious way. Mordecai no doubt wished he could
do more, but he was a human like us. But the one that we see him
representing is Almighty God and his thoughts and his counsel
standeth forever and his thoughts to the heart of all generations. In Psalm 92, would you turn there
with me? Psalm 92, as we continue to think
about this position that God has on the behalf of his people,
and as a result of this, we're gonna have eternal blessings
in God Almighty. They're not beginning blessings
when He saves us. They are eternal blessings. That's
what we find out. When we're saved, we are we're
pretty much ignorant of all the blessings we have. But as soon
as the Lord saves us, he reveals all of those things. And we find
out so much that we have. And then our life is spent discovering
so much that we have. So here in the Psalm, Psalm 92
in verse five, the scriptures give us this message. Oh Lord,
how great are thy works and thy thoughts. are very deep. He goes to the deepest place. He goes to the most out of the
edge of the world place. He is everywhere dealing with
all of his elect. And he is, his thoughts and his
works are on their behalf and he is interested in them. We
find that he prays for them, he takes care of them, he guards
them, he puts his hedge about them, on and on the blessings
of the Lord go. In Isaiah 55, a passage of scripture
that we have read several times, even during this subject of the
book of Esther, but in Isaiah 55 verses 8 and 9, we read this,
when people question What Mordecai is doing? Question what Esther
is doing. Question what is going on. Why
did this queen get put aside and seeking for another one?
Then I just have to go right over here and God said, my thoughts
are not your thoughts. We cannot qualify it by our thinking. Now I will say again and again
and again, don't do evil that grace may abound. That's not
profitable. That's not what we want to do.
We do not want to do evil that grace may abound. The Apostle
Paul had that and he headed it off just instantly. If I believe
like you do, then I would. Well, since you don't believe
like I do, God has a purpose in keeping
his people. His love restrains us. We're
thankful for that. We know that without the restraining
love of God Almighty, we'd be a wreck. We'd just be a total
wreck. But his love restrains us, constrains
us, the word constrains us, and we're thankful for that that
comes in. So he says, my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither
are my ways your ways, saith the Lord. When we think we've
got Esther figured out, let's just go back over here and say,
the Lord said this about the situation. Now he is about delivering
his people from captivity and certain death. He is going to
intercede for them. What did he do for us? left to
ourself, it would be certain death. But God interceded for
us. He and his thoughts were not
just in time. His thoughts are everlasting
thoughts on our behalf. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts. And the church has said hallelujah
ever since that words were put into the print. Even Abel, there we go. Even Abel
could rejoice in that. My thoughts are not your thoughts.
I'm sure as he is being clubbed to death. What, what? Thank you, Lord. I have this
knowledge about you. This isn't the way I'd go out
of this world, but this is the way you're taking me out of this
world. All right, so the Lord is so gracious. And then over
in Jeremiah, in the book of Jeremiah, would you turn there with me?
chapter 29. In Jeremiah chapter 29, we have
these words, and there's so much of the Bible that agrees with
so much of the Bible. It's like this. In fact, there
is no disagreement, and if we find a verse that seems to disagree
with the rest, it is in our mind and not with God's Word. We have such a finite mind of discovery
and he has an infinite mind of wisdom and he has put it together
in such a way that there is absolutely no conflict because all the authors
secretaries, I should say, all the secretaries that were used
to give us the Bible as we have it, they were all given the message
by the Holy Spirit and they all had the same subject matter,
Christ and Him crucified. That's the subject matter from
beginning to end. Jeremiah chapter 29 and there
in verse 10, the scriptures share, for thus saith the Lord that
after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you
and perform my good word towards you. in causing you to return
to this place. How God prescribed this is known
unto God. We know why they went into captivity. It was God's purpose, but he'd
also told them, you have not had your Sabbaths of land. And that's why he said they went
in. Well, they went in and he gave them exactly again, the
exact time. When did we go into captivity?
in the fall of Adam. When did we come out of captivity?
At the right time. As Paul said, when it pleased
God. we were taken out of captivity
and given all the riches and blessings of grace. Seven years,
verse 11, for I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith
the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected
end. Now, the Lord has already promised
the end from the beginning. that's the promise and he'll
carry it out perfectly in every way. What he does with his people
is his business and every one of his people will be presented
spotless. How we make it to this life I
told Dwayne after he prayed that prayer, I said, that's a prayer
that every one of us should have. May it be a soft ending, may
it be a soft passing. Well, sometimes we find out it's
not as soft as others, but the end result is always the same,
the presence of God, the presence of Christ. So we'll just do that. Okay, over in the book of Acts
one more time, in Acts chapter 15, We find in this, again, in
this book of Acts, chapter 15, beginning with verse 10. Excuse me, verse 17, I'm sorry,
verse 17. that the residue of men might
seek after the Lord, the residue, the remnant, they're the ones
that are gonna be drawn to seek after the Lord, might seek after
the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called,
all the Gentiles whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who
doeth all these things, Known unto God are all his works from
the beginning of the world. So we find our great Mordecai
is like that man. He was concerned about his family,
he was concerned about Esther, he was concerned of her welfare,
he was concerned of how things were going, but there was not
one thing he could do to change or alter the course there. Concern
was wonderful, but when we look at our Savior, we look at God,
we find out not only is the concern there, but the way of dealing
with that concern is there. What do we find about God? We find that God, I am convinced
that Mordecai loved Esther. They were family. And he's loved
her probably all her life. It's kind of like someone mentioning something
about a granddaughter tonight. He loved her all her life. He's
older than her. He's known about her. When the
time came and her parents were gone, he adopted her. They went
into captivity together. They were probably close together
in a house somewhere or whatever they were living in. But we find
that God has an everlasting love for his people. Those in captivity
and those set free from captivity. It's an everlasting love for
his lost sheep and his saved sheep. It's never up and down. It is always 100%. There is no change. I've loved
you. Let's turn over to the book of
Jeremiah again. We've read this many times, comes out in many
lessons, messages, but here we find the Lord speaking through
the prophet Jeremiah concerning the church. In Jeremiah chapter
31 verse 3, chapter 31 and verse 3, it says here, the Lord hath
appeared of old unto me saying, yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. Now that's the kind of love.
Mordecai had a great family love. He had a love from the very beginning
of Esther's life. He loved her. He loved her as
a daughter. He took care of her. He provided
for her. He even helped her as she got
in line to become a wife of the king. He mentioned to her, it
probably would be a good idea if you did not mention your nationality
at this time. And then when she goes behind
the walls of that great palace, he inquires every day about her. His thoughts were toward her.
How is she doing? Well, we find out that our great
Mordecai had his thoughts towards the church from everlasting to
everlasting. He did not begin to love us. He has always loved us and he
has always loved all the Jacobs. wherever they are. Now that's
one reason we read in the book of Malachi and also in the book
of Romans, Jacob have I loved with an everlasting love. I added
that, but that's just the way it is. But he could not and would
not love Esau for this one reason, his sins would not be paid for. He has no love towards the wicked. Those whose sins are paid for
before the foundation of the world, their sins are paid for
in a lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. Well,
we'll get on in that in just a moment. Yeah, I've loved you
with an everlasting love. Now this, and it's all at the
same time. But I can't do it all at the
same time. So I'm going to have to make an outline here. God's
everlasting love was just as long as his everlasting covenant. But we talk about the two being
separate, but there's no separation. We cannot break down time on
the behalf of the everlasting covenant. and say that God loved
everybody and then he has an everlasting covenant for them
because it is all simultaneously and eternal. There's not any
time that God did not have a covenant on the behalf of his people.
We are so fixed in time that it's really hard for me to comprehend
eternity. So I'll just have to say in old
eternity, The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit loved the
people with an everlasting love. And also at the very same, quote
unquote, sorry about this time, He gave a covenant. I have made
an agreement. The three in the Godhead, the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have agreed to have an
everlasting covenant on their behalf. We agree to save them. Alright, turn with me if you
would. David mentions this in 2 Samuel chapter 23. Isn't it interesting towards
the end of his life he begins to talk more and more about that
everlasting covenant? That this is all of the security. It wasn't some experience he
had down in time. It wasn't something that happened
to him. wasn't stars from heaven, lightning. It was the knowledge
that God gave him that he had made with him an everlasting
covenant. Here in the book of 2 Samuel,
2 Samuel. These be the last words of David. 2 Samuel 23. 2 Samuel chapter 23, and there
in verse five, now, although my house be not so with God,
he understood like everybody that knows anything about grace. There are people in my family
that don't know what I'm talking about. They can't understand
it. I can make it this plain as possible. I can define all the words, but
they still can't understand it. Now, the only way that anybody
ever understands anything about eternal everlasting love and
the everlasting covenant is by revelation. God reveals it to
us, and then we are astonished. at what we have in Christ. He
says, although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made
with me an everlasting covenant. Now he's not talking about him
as king of Israel. He's talking about him as an
individual. Many people have election, eternal covenants for
national. It's not that way. It is for
individuals, the church. ordered in all things ensure
for this is all my salvation and all my desire although he
make it not to grow so he is confessing here the holy spirit
gave to him this message to share with us that the only security
that he had was not his works of righteousness But his security
was an everlasting covenant made on his behalf. And this is all
my salvation. I can go nowhere else. I cannot
go to myself. I cannot go just because I'm
in the kingly line. I cannot go even though the son
of God is going to come through me. I cannot have that as my
security. My security is the everlasting
covenant. Both sure, ordered in all things
ensure for this is all my salvation. In the book of Jeremiah chapter
32. Once again, in the book of Jeremiah,
we have these words recorded for us to read tonight and rejoice
in. And anytime we read them, we
rejoice in where it tells us in Jeremiah chapter 32 and verse
40. Jeremiah chapter 32 and verse 40. and I will make an everlasting
covenant with them. Now this is in old eternity. You know, the very idea that
God looked down through time and saw those who would trust
him gives us a very skewed idea about God that he had to be able
to change. that this God that changes, he's
going to add people to his everlasting covenant. He's going to add people
to the names written down in the Lamb's Book of Life. And
it's such a farce. It is so unscriptural. It puts God behind the people. When we read, it was God that
chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. So,
Jeremiah here, I've made with them an everlasting covenant.
He didn't make a covenant with the idea that he looked down
through time. He made a covenant because he
chose his people in the covenant of grace before the foundation
of the world. And we read over the book of
Hebrews chapter 13 about who is the surety of this everlasting
covenant. Who was responsible to carry
it out? Who is responsible for us? Who's
responsible? Who's going to stand up and say,
I will pay their price. I will take their place. Well,
turn with me over to the book of Hebrews and we find out it's
the Lord Jesus Christ, Hebrews chapter 13 and there in verse
20 we have an everlasting covenant brought up here and it's the
blood of the everlasting covenant. How long was the blood of Christ
promised? in the everlasting covenant.
When was he slain? In the everlasting covenant.
You know, as we follow this out, we find that we have everything
in Christ. We have every spiritual blessing.
We have the everlasting covenant and everlasting lamb slain. It was taken care of and paid
for. We have names written down in
an everlasting book. We have an everlasting salvation. We have everlasting wisdom. We
have everlasting righteousness. We have everlasting sanctification. And we have everlasting justification. Any characteristic or attribute
of God is going to be eternal. He doesn't start something up
in time. He doesn't justify people in
time. They must be justified in the
eternity of the everlasting covenant. Everlasting attributes of God.
We can go down, Arthur W. Pink did a masterful job, but
he know he missed some. Anybody that writes about the
attributes of God are gonna miss some. We can't put it in a book.
We have. a book, the Bible, and every
page declares attributes of God, and they're eternal. He is eternally
sovereign. He is eternally powerful. He
is eternally, eternally, and eternally. And when it comes
to our redemption, it's everlasting. Everlasting characteristics and
attributes of God give us this great hope that He has cared
for us in time, let me back up, in eternity and in time. He cared
for us in eternity and He's carrying it out in time. Now, by his grace,
he checks on us every day. By his grace, he finds out how
we're doing every day. And you know why we're doing
what we're doing? Because he's purposed to do.
That's what he's done. It's an everlasting covenant,
an agreement. And he has purposed when the
last sheep is saved, that this will be wrapped up as a tent.
And there will be a line on the right hand and a line on the
left hand and judgment will be made. Now he's not gonna make
up his mind there. Mind has already been made up
in eternity. Gonna carry it out there. Welcome to the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. So this, turn with
me if you would over to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one, verse 14. Now, I don't understand all I
read here, but I'm thankful for it. Just like Mordecai was a ministering
spirit in some ways. He cared for his cousin. He cared
where she was. He cared what she was doing.
I don't know all I know about this verse of scripture, but
it says, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister
for them? who shall be heirs of salvation. Now, the heirship is eternal.
The salvation is eternal. And his promise to be with them
in time is eternal. They're ministering spirits.
Now, what they do is his purpose. How they do it is his will. But
they do what they do, and you know what? Some way, in God's
great purpose of grace and providence, he gets everybody that he ever
purposed to save in the right place at the right time so that
they can hear something and the Holy Spirit can take that seed
sown and produce life. That's God's eternal purpose. Now inside of that great palace,
there are many young ladies, but one is named. Many are hoping for the position,
but one it's promised to, Esther. She is there by divine appointment,
an old English preacher, Back up here. Speaking of Esther and her preferment,
she is preferred. Who would have thought that a
Jewess, a captive, an orphan, was born to be a queen, an empress,
Yet providence raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and also
out of the dunghill. And she would agree with that.
I'm not here by right, I'm here by grace, and grace alone. I'd never be here on my own,
I'd have never chosen this, but thanks be unto God for one that
cared. Lord willing, next time we'll
go on and we'll watch as Esther is chosen the queen. All right. We'll stop there tonight.