Sermon – “For Such A Time As This”

1 Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus[a] (this was the Ahasuerus who reigned over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia), 2 in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan[b] the citadel, 3 that in the third year of his reign he made a feast for all his officials and servants—the powers of Persia and Media, the nobles, and the princes of the provinces being before him— 4 when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent majesty for many days, one hundred and eighty days in all. 5 And when these days were completed, the king made a feast lasting seven days for all the people who were present in Shushan the citadel, from great to small, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace. 6 There were white and blue linen curtains fastened with cords of fine linen and purple on silver rods and marble pillars; and the couches were of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of alabaster, turquoise, and white and black marble. 7 And they served drinks in golden vessels, each vessel being different from the other, with royal wine in abundance, according to the generosity of the king. 8 In accordance with the law, the drinking was not compulsory; for so the king had ordered all the officers of his household, that they should do according to each man’s pleasure. 9 Queen Vashti also made a feast for the women in the royal palace which belonged to King Ahasuerus. 10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, 11 to bring Queen Vashti before the king, wearing her royal crown, in order to show her beauty to the people and the officials, for she was beautiful to behold. 12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command brought by his eunuchs; therefore the king was furious, and his anger burned within him.

15 Now when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go in to the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her. 16 So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 17 The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 Then the king made a great feast, the Feast of Esther, for all his officials and servants; and he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces and gave gifts according to the generosity of a king.

15 Samuel also said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’” 4 So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley. 6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

13 And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

5 Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, across from the king’s house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house.[a] 2 So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter.

37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You know my message the title for such a time is this you know I’ve heard people say you know I probably should have been born way back when back before computers maybe even back for cars and you know for all that now you see me operating a keyboard you know he should have been. Because I wonder who will put in the song there but for such a time as this you know God doesn’t make any accidents here you are not an accident this time in which we live in which you live is no accident God has placed us here for this purpose God knew us before we was in our mother’s womb Zz and he has put us here for his purpose we may not always know exactly what that is but we are here for such a time as this there are often circumstances and situations in our lives that you know we may not like some people have been placed in a place it may not be their liking they might have been forced to live there by someone else’s doing it’s they may have to associate with people that they would rather not have to associate with in today’s passage we’re going to learn some people found themselves in a foreign land many of their family had returned home returned home to Jerusalem but for some reason many of them stayed in Suzanne they stayed in that foreign land some had jobs we don’t know why all stayed but they stayed for some reason wildly that reason because God had a plan for them so if you haven’t figured it out I know Gary probably has will be looking at the Book of Esther today. And you know asteroid kind of an amazing book and almost I’m going to have to have a nerve or view of the entire book to you can’t just kind of pick one little passage out of Esther and preach from it because you got in compas the whole story really to get the whole understanding of it but I find it so mazing that if you read the entire Book of Esther ten chapters all it is you will not find the name of God mentioned in that book you will not find those three letters God you only in fun Lord you will not find prayer the word prayer or pray mentioned in the Book of Esther. But now we do know that they pray because they were called the fast and we know that whenever they fasted they fasted and prayed so you may not see the name God or you might not see the word prayer mentioned in the Book of Esther but you can see God’s hand throughout the book you can see his sovern plan coming to fruition you can see God in every passage of Esther there are four main characters there’s others before main characters in the Book of Esther you have King Oz You Wallace which is Hebrew name he’s a stork Lee known as Xerxes then you have his second in command which is a wicked man name Haman then you also have then Mordecai and Esther who are of Jewish descent the Word of God tells us that in the third year of his reign that King Ahaziah wars gave a banquet for all of his princes his attendants his army officials of Persian media the nobles in the princes of the provinces being in his presence and he displayed all of his riches and all of his glory and all the splendor of His Majesty displayed all that for one hundred eighty days so that’s where we’ll begin our reading this morning and Esther chapter one verse is one through twelve here the word of the Lord now came to pass in the days of us as are wars who reigned over one hundred and twenty seven provinces from India to Ethiopia in those days when King or Wars sat on the throne of His Kingdom which is into San the citadel that in the third year of his reign he made a feast for all his officials and servants the powers of Persian Mita the nobles and the prudes princes over the provinces being before him. When he showed the riches of His glorious kingdom in the splendor of his excellent Majesty for many days one hundred eighty days in all and when those days were completed the king made a feast lasting seven days for all the people who were present in Susannah Citadel from great to small and in the court of the garden the king’s palace there were white and blue linen curtains fastened with cords of fine linen and purple and silver rods and marbles of marble pillars and the couches were of gold and silver Animas a pavement of alabaster Tork turquoise white and black marble and they serve drinks in rule vessels each vessel being different from the other with rural wine in abundance according to the generosity of the king in accordance with the law the drinking was not compulsory for so the king had ordered all the offers of his officers of his household that they should do according to each man’s pleasure they had a good grand time didn’t a queen Vashti I also made a feast for the women in the royal palace which belong to King as your wars on the seventh day when the king when the heart of the king was merry with wine he commanded made him business the hard Bona bugga because the Zaatari and carcass seven eunuchs who served in the King in the presence of the king as are wars to bring Queen vast God before the king wearing her royal crown in order to show her beauty to the people and the officials for she was beautiful to behold but Queen vast I refused to come at the king’s command by his eunuchs therefore the king was furious and his anger burned within him he got out his blessings that here in the reading of His Holy Word let us pray Heavenly Father we do thank you for your words while we know that your work gives us wisdom and knowledge and understanding and father I just pray that your word would penetrate our hearts today father that we might through your word grow closer to you that we might serve you father that we might be faithful we might surrender something that we may have not fully surrendered to you but Father help us to surrender to you up us to trust in you and would help us to know that you’ve placed us here for such a purpose as your plan that you have for us to work in Jesus’ name amen you know this was undoubtedly. A marvelous banquet I mean there was. Wine in abundance and all this glory all the splendor all the gold and all the vessels and undoubtedly many of these vessels probably came from the temple in Jerusalem because we know that the invaded Jerusalem but this was more than just a huge party it was part of his strategy for the upcoming invasion of Greece because that was his plan after this great banquet they were going to invade Greece and this was probably his way of encouraging the troops whether to say he reigned over one hundred and twenty seven provinces so he had all the plunder that they had taken from all these provinces and he had it on display so he’s showing all of his noble of all of his soldiers look at all that we have done we have conquered all these lands he’s building them up he’s build them up for the next invasion you know if you’ve got a I thought athletic team and you want to pump them up and you want to couple championships get those trophies out problem lots of Man Look what we’ve done look what we’ve done in the past we can do it again so he’s getting them ready for this invasion and this invasion happened not long after this banquet because it’s record that happened for eighty one B.C. so it’s his way of getting the troops ready for that next invasion so there was an altar motive it’s not just a party it’s getting people ready for this upcoming invasion but the heart of the king was Mary that’s just kind of a polite way of saying he was drunk he was drunk he had too much to drink and you know as is often the case when one has too much to drink they make bad choices they make bad decisions and he made a bad decision here in his drunkenness to call the queen to be put on display he’s going to have to put on a runway Yeah let everybody see how beautiful you are she was beautiful to behold and he did later regret that decision people today often make bad decisions where they’ve had too much to drink cavity they might get in a car and decide to drive and have to live with to live with that decision the rest of their lives that’s why we’re just not to be in drunkenness he thought in his drunken state that everybody should see how beautiful his queen was but she refused. She was a woman of stature she was a woman of warranty she wasn’t going to come out there and be on display before him and all these drunken friends but even in his drunkenness her disobedience he had to do something about it he had to do something he couldn’t allow it to go unpunished because if the King would have allowed this to go on to punish every woman in all of the kingdom would have said well OK if the queen doesn’t have to obey the king wash it I have to obey this old bloke right that’s what would happen so he had to do something he had to do something so. They had to dispose of the Queen that doesn’t mean e how to knocked off he just took her throne took her crown away from took her crown she was no longer a virgin or no longer the Queen so the advisor said King here’s what you need to do you need to have a beauty contest in a sense bring all the young virgins from all the provinces and let them receive beauty treatments for a year and the one that pleases the king let her take the place the vast tide the Queen so the king had all the beautiful want young virgin brought in placed in the custody of high guy the king’s custody you know the women would know how do you get a job like that. And I say that it jokingly but in all honesty who would want to job like that because Could you imagine all these you got all these beauty queens in there and they’re all vying for this job prove that would be a nasty job I mean that would be but be horrible Yeah I mean you’ve got all the you got the cheerleaders and the beauty queens and all the most beautiful women and they all think that they should be the one so I really don’t think that was a pleasant job but it was is nonetheless in among all these young virgins that were gathered there was that young Jewish girl name Esther. Esther was raised by her cousin Mordecai it is a believe that he must have been much older than she her parents had died but he took her in and raised her as these own daughter cared for her guided her so she was taken among the other young women but Mordecai encouraged her not to reveal her people not to reveal that she was of Jewish descent so she went but her beauty was more than just outward her beauty was inward she was a humble girl in high guy like her she found favor in his eyes so he gave her beauty treatments above all the others more than her allowance I should say she was well prepared then Chapter two verses fifteen through eighteen and Esther this is now when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abigail the uncle of Mordecai who was taken who had taken her as his daughter to go into the king she requested nothing but what Haggai the King’s unique the custody of the women advised and Esther obtained favor in his sight in the sight of all who saw her so Wester was taken to King Astor wars into his royal palace in the tenth month which is the month of to Beth and the seventh year of his reign the king love Esther more than all the other women and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of that time the king then made a great feast a feast of Esther for all his officials and servants and proclaimed a holiday and a problem says and gave gifts according to the generosity of the King my friends only by God’s sovereignty could something have turned out this way only by God’s sovereignty coulda young Jewish girl been made queen Queen of with a heathen King only by God’s sovereignty could this have happened by his plans and purposes that she became queen over the greatest empire in the world at that time God knew that there would be a plan devised against his chosen people. He knew and as he had done so many times in the past placed the right person in the right place to thwart the plans of the wicked it’s not to say that God will always prevent evil things from happening we know that times that there are bad things evil things that happen to good people that happen even to believers we’re not to think though that when those things happen that God doesn’t care for us that God doesn’t love us it’s oftentimes whenever these things happen that God has a greater plan and purpose to plan and purpose in mind often times as sort of the terrible acts of wicked people that the hardest hearts are broken and that’s kind of going to be next week’s message would be talking about some martyrs God can often times use the most horrible situation to break some of the hardest people but it would happen that King or wars would promote that we could man name Haman he was the son of him out of that how much death the aggregate the king said to him above all the princes who were with him and all the king’s servants were to bow before him and he was the second in command the Mordecai being the godly man that he was refused to bow before Human Kind of reminds us of the three Hebrew children that would not bow down to the golden image remember that story you either about of the golden image have never been as or you’re going to go into that fiery furnace and they said Well King so be it our God can protect us and if not we’ll die but we will not bow to the image Well Mordecai would not bow to him and he would only bother the knee to the One True God and this infuriated Haman So he devised the wicked plan this Haman was a vicious anti sematic the Molokai there is evidence that he was actually a descendant of a gag king of the amount of kites that name might ring a bell to some a god was the king whom King Saul. Spared whenever he invaded and destroyed the amount of cuts so we can turn to first Samuel Chapter fifteen verses one through three and seven through nine Samuel Samuel also said to Saul the Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people over Israel now therefore heed the voice of the words of the Lord thus says the Lord of host I will punish him elect for what he did to Israel how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt now go and attack a Malacca and utterly destroy all that they have and do not spare them but kill both man and woman Enfin and nursing child oxen donkey camel and donkey and saw attack the amount of cuts from Hill of Laya all the way to sure which is east of Egypt he also took Agag king of the markets alive and other destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword but saw and the people spared a gag and the best of the sheep and the oxen in the fat lanes in the Lambs and all that was good and were under willing to utterly destroy them but everything despised and worthless that they utterly destroyed You probably be remember that story if you’ve ever read First Samuel so they go in there and he’s told to utterly destroy every living thing there but solve this now we’re going to spare the King we’re going to spare the best and whenever Samuel came to him afterwards and says What have you done he says why I’ve done what the Lord I did what the Lord commanded I destroyed everything course Samal says was that bleeding of the sheep that I hear oh well we saved the best we want to offer a sacrifice to the Lord and there is a gag Well we spared the king but what that Samuel telling God does not desire sacrifice as much as he desires obedience he desires obedience he wanted you to be obedient. To him not to go your own way and do your own thing as a matter of fact if you read that entire story so even set up a Morial to himself because of his great victory he thought the victory was his but the victory was of the Lord God desires obedience more than sacrifice he desires obedience of us as we say we’ve spoke recently if you love me obey my commandments that’s what he desires not sacrifice he wants us to buy him out of a loving heart that’s what he does art of Saul that he would have obeyed him but because of his disobedience his throne was taken from him if he would only obey the Lord so this Haman was a descendant of a gag that evil wicked king wicked nation that sinned against God’s people attack God’s people I am was so wicked that he vowed not only to destroy Mordecai but he was out to destroy the entire Jewish nation all the Jews and live within the Persian Empire so that would have included all those it went back to Israel that would have included every Jew in every province including Esther he got a trick the King into this plan he didn’t tell him who the nation was he just said there is a people up there that will not obey the king’s command let them be put to death and he set a date that this will happen while more to Col learned of this plan that Hayman had devised he Tori’s clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes because he wanted the morning mourning for his people he cared about his people Esther knew nothing about this plan but she heard what Mordecai had done so she inquired of why why did you carry your clothes why you put on sackcloth and ashes so Mordecai sent word to her and after a few communications back and forth reveal to her what human had done and he asked her if she would go before the king on behalf of her people. Now there was a little law that no one could go before the king unless they were invited and that even included the queen Now you remember what happened asked she wouldn’t come she lost her crown but anybody that would go before the king without being invited even the Queen could be put to death unless he held out his golden scepter for them to touch so she said Now wait a minute I just can’t go in there and you know I’ve got to be invited Mordecai says How do you know that you weren’t put in this place for such a time as this she said OK I will go but have the people fast for three days had the people fast for three days and then I will go in more to cut you Mordecai chapter four it reads and Mordecai told them to answer as to her Do not think in your heart that you will scape the king’s palace Palace escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews can read this morning for if you remain completely silent at this time relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place but you in your father’s house will Perry’s yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this has again called and asked if they would fast and then she said if I perish I perish God remind you again of the three Hebrew children if I perish I perish so be it but I will do as you have asked I will be faithful I will trust that God will be with me in Esther five verses wanted too. Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace across from the king’s house while the king sat on his royal throne in a royal house facing the entrance of the house so it was when the King Saul Queen Esther standing in a court that she found favor in his sight and the king it held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand then as Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter Then the king asked What do you request as being a very wise young woman she said if you will would you come to my house tonight for dinner and bring Haman your second in command So you’ve read the story they go and she he says OK what is it what do you what do you want to up to half my kingdom you know your dear my beautiful new queen if you will come again tomorrow night for another bank with that I’ll prepare so again tomorrow night the next night they go and who are same and he’s all excited he’s a lated all the Queen held a banquet and I’m the only one I am the only one that she asked to be present beside the king boy he goes home and he’s all excited telling his family thinking he’s going to be honored in some great way and all the while he still is Aggers burning against Mordecai So the same time period that during this bank with the first night and second night he’s having a gallows built for Mordecai in which to hang him from but when they go to the bank with the second and second night all she had to do is say Here’s my request that my life be spared he says What do you mean I’m a Jew So it’s at this time that she reveals who she is I am a Jew and there’s a person that has devised a wicked plan to have all the Jews exterminated Well who is this who’s this wicked man she points to him and none other than Haman so it would turn out that Hammond would be hung on the very gallows they have built for Mordecai this is quite a miraculous event it would happen but it shows God’s sovereign control over any and every situation don’t ever believe that God is not in control because he is. It reveals that he can take the worst of situations and turn them around for good Romans eight twenty eight says and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God to those who are called according to his purpose I believe that Mordecai understood this he understood that God can take the worst situation and turn it around for his good I believe believe he understood that’s probably why God had him remain in Sioux Shan God had a purpose for their lives and I believe that God has a purpose for you for your life right now right where you are no matter who you are no matter where you live no matter what you’ve experienced in the past no matter what you be facing might be facing now no matter what you might be facing in the future God has a plan and a purpose for you for such a time as this it could be that he’s allowed you to come to this place in your life for His purpose for such a time as this he might have something specific for which he wants to accomplish and he’ll be with you he will give you the strength he is sovereign he is in control he wants you to look for opportunities where you can bring Him glory he wants you to trust in him where you are today for such a time as this see believers are part of God’s great program on the earth we should be living with confidence as people of destiny God does not want us to be moaning over our plight in the way things have turned out in our life he wants us to honor Him He wants us to proclaim his grace he wants us to be faithful willing vessels to accomplish His up his purpose he may have other opportunities in the future but allow him to use you today for his purpose today in your life that’s a responsibility to be faithful to him to trust in him to say if I perish up errors but I’m going to do God’s will God’s plan Romans eight again verses thirty seven thirty nine yet in all these things we are more than Cockers through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers or things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Amen nothing on this earth can separate us from God Death can’t separate us from God because Christ gave His life we can have life nobody can take that away they cannot take that away God may not always rescue us from harm but he will be with us I want to share a story Collin Chapman in the case for Christianity quotes Uganda Bishop best of Kevin gree and this is account of a one nine hundred seventy three actually by firing squad of three men from his diocese February tenth one thousand nine hundred eighty three began as a sad day for us and Kabyle people were commanded to come to the stadium and witness the execution death permeated the atmosphere a silent crowd of about three thousand were there to watch I had permission from the authorities to speak to the men before they died and two of my fellow ministers were with me they brought the men and a truck and unloaded them they were handcuffed and their feet were chained the foreign squad stood at attention and as we walked into the center of the stadium I was wondering what to say how do you give the gospel to do men who are probably see them with anger. We approached them from behind as they turned to look at us and what a sight he says their faces were alight with an unmistakable glow in radiance before we could say anything one of them burst out Bishop thank you for coming I wanted to tell you the day I was arrested in my prison cell I asked the Lord Jesus to come into my heart he came in and forgave me all my sins heaven is now open and there is nothing between me and my God Please tell my wife and children that I am going to be with Jesus asked them to accept Him into their lives as I did the other two men told similar stories excitedly raising their hands which rattled their handcuffs I felt that what I needed to do was to talk to the soldiers not to the condemned so I translated what the men had said into a language the soldiers understood the military men were standing there with their guns cocked and B. will remain on their faces they were so dumbfounded that they forgot to put the hoods over the men’s faces the three faces have faced the firing squad standing close together they looked toward the people and began to wave handcuffs and all the people waved back the shots were fired and the three With Jesus we stood in front of them our own hearts Robin with joy mingled with tears it was a day never to be forgotten the dead the men spoke loudly to all of district and beyond so that there was an upsurge of life in Christ which challenges death and defeats it the next Sunday he says I was preaching to a huge crowd in the home of one of the executed men and again the feel of death was over the congregation but when I gave them the testimony of their man and how he died there ruptured a great song of praise to Jesus and many turned to the Lord God can take a horrible situation and make something good come out of it he can take three men condemned men they were put to death and cause a revival to happen God place has placed us at this time period in history for such a time as this we must always remember that and be open to God’s plans for our lives Amen in the.