Faith – In a Time Such as This
Introduction: I want to take you back to the Time of Esther. It's interesting that God's name is not mentioned one time in this book, but you would never realize it unless someone told you, because his presence is felt all the way through it. Like seeing a picture of George Washington, you don't need to see his name beneath his portrait, to know who it is.
It was a time when the leaders of the nation particularly the king were selfish, wicked and immoral. The nation was indecent, immodest, and debauched, the culture determined life was cheap and was inclined to drunkenness. As one commentator put it about this age “Sin was in the saddle” And there is no doubt about it.
Not only were they wicked & immoral but they were dangerous. They were rash, especially King Xerxes – He was arrogant. He and other kings before him, were seen and believed to be a god themselves. The former queen was banished for not coming to him when He called for her to dance in front of him and his friends. After queen Vashti was deposed, the virgins were brought before Xerxes and he chose Esther to be his next queen. Mordecai, Esther's cousin who raised her as his daughter, has drawn the ire of a pompous man named Haman for not bowing down to him, and Haman convinces the king to kill all the Jews, on the 13th day of the 12th month. Mordecai can't be in the palace with Esther but secretly receives message from her attendant, Hatach. Mordecai tells Esther to plead with the king to spare the Jews. Only one problem, if anyone goes to the inner court without being summoned there they must die – unless He extends the golden scepter, then mercy is granted. But considering the state of depravity that is next to impossible.
Transition: And that is where we begin our message this morning. Mordecai sends a message back to Esther...
I. A Time of Purpose
“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” - Esther 4:14
At first Mordecai warns Esther that her position as the queen will not save her. If the king didn't kill her because she was a Jewess, then God might do to her what she fears from the king for not fulfilling her purpose. That is, not interceding for her people, more importantly God's people.
Mordecai is essentially saying 'maybe it isn't a coincidence that you, a Jewess, has become the queen. Perhaps it is because you ARE a Jewess, that you have become queen.
God not only knew Esther had the beauty to be chosen to be queen, and the charm to remain in the king's favor, but also the faith to carry out his plan of salvation for the Jews.
Why did God put you where you are today? There is a divine reason that you were born in this generation and not your parents; a divine reason for you to live in America and not over seas; a divine reason for you to be in this church, in this town, and in this state! And there is some divine purpose to be fulfilled – so when an opportunity presents itself don't let it pass by. God made you for such a time as this!
Esther had become queen of Persia for such a ruthless time. While the Jews were living under Haman's death warrant. They were to be executed throughout Susa. And there is but one woman that could change their fate, the queen.
If you're going through a difficult time today, I ask you to consider that it may be that you are the only one who could go through it. “Why me?” You may be the only one in your family that has the strength to carry that burden. You may be the only one at work that has the temperament to calm the angry tensions from co-workers. You may be the only person who can reason with a stubborn rebel.
Susa was in what is called today, Iran, where ISIS and other Islamic terrorists are blowing up churches and beheading Christians. Christians are marked for death in the same region today that the Jews were 480 years before Jesus
And what about us Christians in America? We may not be getting slaughtered by our persecutors like our brethren in Iran, Iraq, Kenya, or elsewhere but we are being alienated and demonized. If you don't put your stamp of approval on the Homosexual agenda – You're labeled a bigot, hater, homophobe, or worse. And we are bombarded with one tidal wave of perversion after another. We are continually pounded with filth and blasphemy. Can I stand it? Can I take it? Is it possible to fulfill my purpose in such a generation as this? YES!
Paul said “ And he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.”
You were made for such a place and such a time as this!
Transition: What can we do when it seems the devil has us surrounded? Let's see what Esther does. We now see Esther returning a message back to Mordecai with a call to fast and pray.
II. A Call for Prayer
“Go gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for 3 days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do...” Esther 4:16a
Esther started a prayer chain but to let them know she was serious, as serious as the situation was itself, she asked them to fast as she would.
So here is her dilemma: “Do I go to the king and risk the probability of being killed or do I do nothing and let Haman's bloody edict kill us all?”
If ever there was a time to pray it was then. Desperate times calls for desperate prayers. And we are living in desperate times today church! Our moral fabric is disintegrating. Our spiritual fervor is waning. Our compassion is cooling. Our integrity is being replaced with compromise. Holiness is threatened by Hatefulness. Everywhere I look I see Christians in retreat! I see them surrendering, not to the will of God, but to the will of our enemy. Esther wasn't just chosen but born for such a time as to deal with the proud, power hungry Haman. Well, today there are thousands of Hamans and no praying Christians to confront them! They have more faith in the devils lies than in their own God and in their own Bibles! They sit back and say nothing for fear of offending God-haters. They deceive themselves by listening only to what their deceitful hearts and itching ears want to hear.
Are there not any more prayer warriors!? Are there not any more bible believing Holy-Ghost filled spiritual soldiers that are willing to make one last prayer charge against the enemy before he rules the land and has us gasping in submission? Is there one saint of God that will stand in the gap and sacrifice time, food, & worldly leisure to get serious with God? To actually get on their knees and pray longer than 20 seconds? Surely there are some Christians left that will pray for their country, pray for their family, pray for their friends! And by all means pray for their church!
How do we get results in perilous times? Two things we must do to get results from prayer, we must be righteous and we must add fasting to our prayer.
A. Be righteous
“...the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” -James 5:16
John Gill points out that not every person's prayer avails much; not the prayer of a profane sinner, for God does not hear the prayer of sinners.” But we all have sinned, haven't we? Yes. But not all of us have repented. That is to leave sin behind, and live in the grace of Jesus Christ. I heard once that the only prayer from a sinner God hears is the one of confession and forgiveness. The prayer of hypocrites doesn't avail much. The prayer of just formal professors of Christianity doesn't avail much (Nominal Christians -CINO's Christian in name only)
And it isn't just any kind of prayer, it is an effectual and fervent prayer. It has power and energy and life in it! It is continual and in the Spirit! It isn't one and done instead it is ongoing, long lasting, continual, and day after day. And then there is . . .
B. Fasting
“But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” - Matthew 17:21
There are some demons in our lives that will cling to the last bit of darkness in the deepest part of the forgotten side of our closets and the are determined to stay there! And that is when our determination must exceed theirs!
When faced with the overwhelming power of the devil, we must not let it discourage our faith, but force us to seek the overwhelming power of God. Desperate times call for desperate prayers. But very devastating times call for prayer and fasting.
Esther was faced with a very difficult situation. She not only decided to fast and pray but also told Mordecai to get others to do the same. One righteous man praying will get God's answer, But a large group of people fasting and praying is like assaulting the gates of heaven with a mass of arrows flying over the castle walls.
Fasting is forsaking the physical to operate in the spiritual. It says “God! I really want your attention!” It's easy to say I want my prayer taken seriously, but fasting it seems, proves it.
But what are we to pray for? Again two things: Wisdom and determination.
I think we would all agree that wisdom is needed in perilous times. As Dr. David Jeremiah pointed out, ministers today need prayer because the church is dealing with issues it never has dealt with before. Discernment is needed to identify the devil's schemes and wisdom is needed to know how best to counter them.
The devil is crafty. The devil has tried to frame Christians for hate by playing the victim. I would submit to you that Satan's disciples favorite church is Westboro Baptist. They are the exact caricature of what Satan wants non-believers to think the church is. Self-righteous, Pharisaical, Judgmental, Not that you didn't know this, but these people are not Christians. The book of John tells us that Love is the way you will know if they are Christians. And holding up signs that say “God hates fags” is NOT IT!
I wonder if these people aren't just atheist activists who just go about to mock Christians hoping to get on camera to show how “hateful” we are. They are Satan's best weapon. They are a parody of themselves. Honesty and biblical integrity is not their goal, it seems their goal is to embarrass the church and portray Christians in a negative light. Sadly, with the media's help, it works.
Side Note: They were actually invited to the atheist “Reason” convention in 2012. (hmmmm.) Do you think the devil isn't clever?
I read that Boko Haram disguised themselves as Christian preachers last (Easter) Sunday in northern Nigeria and gathered many of the villagers into the local mosque and once many were there, the terrorists disguised as suit and tie preachers, then bombed the mosque and shot anyone they could find. All an attempt to frame Christians for “bombing a mosque and murdering innocent Muslims”
It seems that disguising one self as a Christian is in vogue. Not just in Nigeria but here in the states as well. I believe the sickle is being sharpened and God is coming down the rows!
We need to pray for wisdom in these times but we need to pray for determination as well. The devil has used our complacency and laziness to our detriment. He is as cruel as he is clever. The devil has a subtle way of rocking you to sleep with one arm, while shooting you in the back of the head with the other. Let's be determined to flood God's throne room with prayer until He counters the flood of dissipation in our culture.
Transition: We must be determined to pray and pray and if that difficult decision to speak up or speak out or defend Christ or confess his name comes up we must have the courage to do so at all cost, even the cost of our lives.
III. The Courage to Perish
“...when this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” -Esther 4:16
Esther decides that when everything has been done in prayer, once all of their prayers and fasting has petitioned the throne of God, she will then risk her own life to save her people.
There are some men who don't have the courage that this one Queen Esther, had!
“If I perish, I perish.”
What a reckless thing to say. But she had to make a bold choice. Difficult situations call for difficult decisions to be made. And she had made hers: “If its my time to die, then its my time to die. At least I died praying, and at least I died trying, and at least I died petitioning the king on behalf of someone other than myself.” - “If I perish, I perish as a faithful servant of God and not as some coward trying to save themselves.”
Dr. King inspires us with these words: “Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it BECAUSE IT IS RIGHT!”
If and when we are faced with the difficult decision to do what is right or do what is safe, WE MUST DO WHAT IS RIGHT! If we don't, no one else will. But we read that is what queen Esther did. And she was willing to put her life on the line.
When every good thing that can be done before God, has been done, then there is but one thing left to do – TRUST GOD
And IF WE PERISH, WE PERISH
Transition: Queen Esther could have grown complacent sitting in the prestigious palace, feasting on nice dainties and enjoying the comforts and the privileges of being the queen. She could have lied to herself that she cared but then did nothing. But instead she fasts and prays and faces the law that says she must die if she enters the court, and yet that is exactly what she does. And what happened after prayer and fasting?
IV. The Reply of Pardon
“When he saw queen Esther standing in the court, … (pause) . . . HE WAS PLEASED with her and held out to her the gold scepter, that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the tip of he scepter.” -Esther 5:2
The king who would have surely said “Kill her!” or at the very least “Banish her!” which still would've ended in killing all the Jews, and here he now says:
“...What is it Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given to you.” -Esther 5:3
WOW! Up to helf the kingdom! When God answers prayer, he really answers prayer!! God can turn the hearts of men! All men, even those that are the most opposed to him! God makes the impossible, possible. For nothing is impossible with God.
“In the LORD's hand the king's heart is a stream of water that he channels toward all who please him.” - Proverbs 21:11
God can change mens minds, great men, stubborn men, even wicked men. This proverb shows us that He doesn't change the water, he lets men have their will. And he doesn't change the flow or force of their desires but channels it like a canal or a ditch. He can divert it here and direct it there to benefit us, and fulfill his purpose.
I remember a story a pastor told me about a person in their church who had a serious illness, there was a prayer meeting for the woman and a few days later. They received news that she was healed. The pastor rushed to tell one of the faithful deacons and he without surprise, humbly replied “Well, we prayed for it didn't we?”
God answers prayer.
Conclusion: I have prayed for many things especially in the past year: I have seen them all answered! I admit that it wasn't life or death like Esther. But it was no less, remarkable and amazing! Looking back at it now, all I can say is “WOW!” “God is good!” And it taught me that sacrifice and faith go a long way with God. Not just any faith – but a proven faith. It's one thing to claim faith, its another to prove it. It's one thing to say “I will sacrifice my son for God.” its another to take a knife and go up the mountain with the boy and lay him on the altar and swing to do it. Its one thing to say “I will kill the giant!” Its another to take up the sling and some stones and go out to meet him. Its easy to say “If I perish, I perish” but its quite another to risk your life before the king, to prove it.
Faith without works is dead. Or it might as well be dead.
Faith & works is where the rubber meets the road, through the furnace it either burns like stubble or shines like gold!
Ill. The citizens of Feldkirch, Austria, didn't know what to do. Napoleon's massive army was preparing to attack. Soldiers had been spotted on the heights above the little town, which was situated on the Austrian border. A council of citizens was hastily summoned to decide whether they should try to defend themselves or display the white flag of surrender. It happened to be Easter Sunday, and the people had gathered in the local church.
The pastor rose and said, “friends, we have been counting on our own strength, and apparently that has failed. As this is the day of our Lord's resurrection, let us just ring the church bells, have our services as usual, and leave the matter in His hands. We know only our weakness, and not the power of God to defend us.” The council accepted his plan and the church bells rang. The enemy, hearing the sudden peal, concluded that the Austrian army had arrived during the night to defend the town. Before the service ended, the enemy broke camp & left. (sermonillustrations.com)
We must recognize that we have a purpose and we are all here for such a time as this. We are operating in God's will and plan. Pray and seek God's face for wisdom and determination to fulfill what ministry he has called you to do.
