Right Here Right Now!
Esther 4:1-17
Preached Wednesday April 30, 2003
Introduction:
Our awesome God has placed you exactly where you need to be according to His divine wisdom and providence! Ever since the foundation of the world, God has moved the elements of the cosmos in order to have you in the situation that you find yourself at this very moment. The very fact that you are hearing this message is God’s design. The people that you "happened" to bump into today were all ordained of God for a specific purpose. Were you a good steward of all of those opportunities you had to share the gospel, or a bit of God’s grace and love with someone else. They came your way on purpose.
Often we determine to live for God sometime in the future. I will do better next week. I will become a soul winner after the summer vacation. I will start to have meaningful devotions as soon as school lets out.
Our passage this evening is a great study on God’s specific sovereign design and timing. All too often we are unaware and sometimes even apathetic regarding our purpose and design as born again believers. We are called to be witnesses. We are placed into the lives of people in crisis so that we can proclaim the message of deliverance. We endure trials today in order to have the hope to share with someone else tomorrow. As we study our passage this evening, meditate upon the fact that you were specifically designed and prepared for such a time as this.
I. You may be unaware of the suffering that surrounds you.
Esther 4:1-3
When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; 2 And came even before the king’s gate: for none might enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth. 3 And in every province, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
A. People respond to coming doom.
1. Crying our loud to God.
2. Mourning publicly.
3. Fasting
4. This was done through out the land.
B. This cannot be remedied by treating the symptom.
Esther 4:4
4 So Esther’s maids and her chamberlains came and told it her. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him: but he received it not.
C. Look at the details of the reasons for the anguish.
Esther 4:5-9
5 Then called Esther for Hatach, one of the king’s chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and gave him a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it was, and why it was. 6 So Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city, which was before the king’s gate. 7 And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him, and of the sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them. 8 Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them, to shew it unto Esther, and to declare it unto her, and to charge her that she should go in unto the king, to make supplication unto him, and to make request before him for her people. 9 And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai.
1. Money was promised to Haman
2. Esther saw the copy of the decree
3. Esther was called to action.
II. You are here for a reason.
A. This fact will help you keep the dangers in perspective.
Esther 4:10-11
10 Again Esther spake unto Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai; 11 All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.
B. God will deliver His own with or without you.
Esther 4:13-14
13 Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews. 14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Proverbs 21:1
The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.
1. God will judge you for your silence.
Proverbs 24:10-12
10 If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
11 If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; 12 If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?
2. You have been prepared for this moment of deliverance; do not selfishly recoil from your responsibility.
Matthew 16:24-25
24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
John 12:25
25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
III. Approach your task in prayer.
Esther 4:15-17
15 Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer, 16 Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish. 17 So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.
A. Prepare your heart for sacrifice.
B. Personal prayer and fasting
C. Public prayer and fasting.
Matthew 17:19-21
19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? 20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
Conclusion:
Esther was at first unaware of the danger that her people faced at the hand of wicked Haman. She was sheltered from the harsh world that existed beyond her palace walls. All to often we as Christians can exist safely within the walls of our church community, and remain unaware and unaffected by the desperate cries of the lost.
Esther was placed specifically by God into the king’s harem in order to be there to intervene for her people. This was not a random act of chance. She needed to understand that she was responsible to be a good steward of the opportunity that God had given her. If she would have given into her fear, she would have no doubt been judged for her silence. If you are saved, you have been placed into the lives of several people that so one else could reach as effectively as you can. You must also be a good steward of the situation that God has placed you in.
Esther realized that this was a life and death situation. She did not go into this with her own strength. She fasted and prayed and asked those around her to do so as well. We must also approach our chances to stand up for Jesus with the same sense of urgency and dependence upon God. Who, knows… perhaps all of the events of the cosmos have placed you where you are for such a time as this.
