There's no way I could have planned this, but
it's not lost on me this morning that we'll be
studying the most well -known phrase in the entire
book of Esther. For such a time is this. And
it comes one week after I stood up here in this
pulpit and while addressing the recent violence
in our nation, I said that we as a people have
come to a pivotal moment in our history. That
it's time for the people of God to recognize
the encroaching evil in our world. and to stop
backing down, that it's time for the church to
take a stronger stance for what is true and to
speak up against the rot that has come upon our
civilization. Friends, as I said last week, evil
is at our doorstep, and the enemy is never going
to stop trying to advance, so we can't afford
to push it off and just say, well, it's out there
somewhere, and that it doesn't affect us. It
is time for every one of us in this community
to develop stronger convictions and to draw firmer
boundaries and to say, no more. I won't be intimidated
into silence or passivity. And I have to tell
you, I was a little afraid about preaching that
message last Sunday with that tone. But afterwards,
I was incredibly encouraged by the response from
this congregation. I think we're all a little
bit fed up with what we see happening around
us. And then it made me think and pray as I was
preparing for today's message. Okay, Lord, perhaps
you have brought this church family together
for such a time as the moment that we're living
in. And I don't just mean, Lord, maybe you brought
our church leadership together or our ministry
directors together. I mean every single member
of this church that you brought us together for
this moment. And my prayer is that last Sunday's
message wasn't just a bunch of talk. And now
that we got that off our chest, we feel better
and we can move on to the next thing. The church
tends to do that. We just move on to the next
thing, but we can't. That's not good enough.
My prayer is that each of you were convinced
to go home and to renew your thinking about the
times that we live in. That each of you were
convinced to go and establish new convictions
about your role in the spiritual battle for the
gospel and for the kingdom in this part of the
world. For every one of us to ask the question,
what is God calling me to do in my home? In my
family, at my school, in my private life, in
my public witness, in my local church, what steps
can I take that will put me in a posture to be
used by God as a vessel for his service to push
back against the wickedness of this age? Friends,
this is a battle that only gets won when a whole
army of Christ followers stops being lazy. stops
being passive or apathetic, and actually picks
up the spiritual weapons that we have been given
in Scripture to win that battle. So I will keep
praying that God will move us out of our comfortable
lives and start using us in powerful ways that
right now we can't even imagine. But with God,
all things are possible. We just have to be faithful.
So speaking of big moments in history, let's
turn our attention back to the book of Esther.
Let's grab our Bibles. And let's open up to Esther
chapter 4. Esther 4, we have come to a place
in this story where the table has been set in
terms of the historical context. The table has
been set in terms of describing this impending
crisis that the Jewish people are facing within
the Persian Empire. And so, good news, from this
point forward, we can bite off some larger chunks
of the story, move a little bit quicker. We're
going to do that even today. We're going to cover
all of chapter 4, and Lord willing, my plan for
next Sunday is to look at all of chapter 5. So
here's what we're going to do this morning. We're
going to just walk our way through the narrative
in chapter 4, try to understand what's really
going on here, and rather than just save all
the application to the end of the message, as
we go along, I'm going to make three important
observations that we learn in this part of the
story. So first, let's remember where we left
off at the end of chapter 3 since we took a Sunday
off last week. Everybody's favorite villain,
Haman. Man, you guys, you're on it. He has become
aware that Mordecai, a Jewish official who serves
at the king's gate there in the palace of Susa,
that this Mordecai will not bow down to him,
will not honor him as the chief vizier under
the Persian king Xerxes. And Haman is furious
about this disrespect, but he's been able to
conceal his anger because he sees an opportunity
here, not just to get rid of Mordecai, but to
have the entire Jewish population in the kingdom
of Persia exterminated. So just at the right
time, Haman approaches the king with this indictment
and a proposal. He tells the king that there
is a certain people within the kingdom, he doesn't
mention the Jews by name, just that there is
a certain people within the empire who refuse
to submit to the king's law and that they can't
be trusted. And he says, it's not in the best
interest of the king to let them remain. And
so Haman proposes a plan. He's smart. Not only
does he bring a problem, he brings a solution.
He says to the king, I will give you a large
sum of money if you will simply proclaim a certain
day in the future, get this now, when any...
Persian citizen can kill any Jew that they encounter
and confiscate their property. It's like the
movie The Purge. You get a whole day to do whatever
you want to murder and to confiscate property.
And to Xerxes, who has absolutely no problem
with this type of morality, it sounds like a
win -win. His Persian subjects can earn a financial
reward. A huge cut of all those confiscations
is going to come back into the imperial treasury.
And most importantly, they'll be rid of this
rebellious tribe of people who are an obvious
problem. And so Xerxes gives Haman his signet
ring and a blank check to do as he pleases with
the authority and blessing of the king. And Haman's
edict goes out to every province in the kingdom,
and word goes out, here it is, in less than a
year, on the 13th of Adar, the entire Jewish
population are open targets to be murdered and
robbed. I asked a couple weeks ago, because we
tend to read the Bible and we just go, oh, okay,
well, we kind of know this story. We read right
past it. Stop for a second. Can you imagine if
a law like this passed in America? That on a
single day in the future, all of our neighbors
who live around us, all of our fellow citizens
would have the authority and the blessing of
our government to murder professing Christians
and then to take our homes and possessions. Don't
gloss over the utter wickedness of this story,
the terrifying nature of this edict. This is
a dystopian nightmare. And at the end of chapter
three, we're told that the king is so pleased
by Haman's plan. Then he invites him to the palace
to sit down and have a drink with him. While,
of course, the entire city of Susa is in a state
of chaos and confusion over this news that they
are now hearing. So let's look at chapter 4 now
and see what happens next. Verse 1, when Mordecai
learned all that had been done, meaning all the
details of this plot, he tore his clothes, put
on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the
midst of the city. and wailed loudly and bitterly.
He went as far as the king's gate, for no one
was to enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth.
Now you can tell by the language here that this
is not just, you know, I'm just sad. I'm not
just, it's not simple mourning. This is what
we would call bitter anguish. This is the kind
of agony that tears at your soul. And so Mordecai
does something that sounds a little bit strange
to our modern ears, but it has a long and important
history in Jewish culture. He puts on sackcloth
and ash. This is an ancient practice that you'll
find in every era of Israel's history. Go back
to the time of the patriarchs in Genesis 37.
Remember when Jacob thought his son Joseph, his
favorite son Joseph, was dead? It says he tore
his clothes and he put on sackcloth. He was in
this deep state of anguish. In the time of the
kings, you see Hezekiah faced with the news that
Sennacherib of Assyria is threatening to lay
siege to his city, Jerusalem. And he goes and
he appeals to Yahweh for help and it says he
tore his clothes, he covered himself with sackcloth
and he entered the house of the Lord. So Hezekiah
comes in in this humble state into the great
temple and he lays out this threat against Jerusalem
and he prays with great desperation that God
would rescue them. Prior to the exile, Jeremiah
tells the unrepentant people of Judah that the
Babylonian army is coming. And he says to them,
put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn as
for an only son, a lamentation most bitter, for
suddenly the destroyer will come upon us. And
then one last example from the exile period.
When Daniel had finished studying Jeremiah's
prophecy of the 70 years of exile, he realizes
that the time of Judah's redemption is near.
And he says, so I gave my attention to the Lord
God to seek him by prayer and supplications with
fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. So we see a whole
number of motivations in scripture for this sackcloth
and ash. It's to express grief. It's to mourn
over a heavy loss. It's to seek God's face. in
a time of great need. It's to express humility
and sorrow and repentance and sometimes to prepare
for God to move in a new way. And so the whole
point is to make yourself uncomfortable when
you put on sackcloth, right? The roughness of
the material is literally meant to scratch your
skin, to intensify the physical pain. Why? So
that you remember to pray. You remember to seek
his face, to remember to repent. And then the
ashes, you would take them and sprinkle them
on your head, and it was meant to symbolize your
mortality, the fleeting nature of life. After
all, that's how we all return, right? Ash is
to ashes, dust to dust. So for Mordecai here
in verse 1, we're not told exactly the motivation
for what he's doing, but one thing is obvious,
he is in great emotional pain. And why wouldn't
he be? The news that he and his people are facing
annihilation. Now, whether he's repentant or
not, it doesn't say, Clearly that's possible.
Whether he's appealing to Yahweh for rescue,
we're also not told, but that seems like a reasonable
thing to assume. And the interesting factor here
is that Mordecai must have known, at least in
part, that it was his conduct which has brought
about this edict, the fact that he wouldn't bow
down to Haman. Can you imagine how heavy that
would be on your heart to think, I'm partially
responsible for this? It's put him in uttermost
distress. He is wailing, picture this, wailing
in the sackcloth and ash in the middle of the
city for everybody to see. And then in verse
three, we're told that as Mordecai was mourning,
news of the decree was spreading. Verse three,
in each and every province where the command
and decree of the king came, there was great
mourning among the Jews with fasting, weeping,
and wailing, and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.
Guys, this is a national tragedy. For the Jewish
population in Persia. What are they going to
do? Okay, so time for observation number one.
Let's talk about this idea of facing what appears
to us with our human eyes to be impossible situations.
Because this is one of them, right? And how many
times in scripture do we see God's people coming
up against this? What looks like impossible situations.
What do we do? Think about Abraham for a second.
You were going to have an heir with Sarah, but
you're 99 years old. Ah, okay. Moses and the
Israelites were escaping Pharaoh until, boop,
we run into what? The Red Sea. Now what? David
steps forward with a sling. Oh, what do I have
to do? I just have to kill a giant. No problem.
Daniel gets thrown into a den of hungry lions,
and he's going to survive how? These are impossible
situations. Elijah faces off against 450 prophets
of Baal. Talk about being outnumbered. How do
you prevail? The disciples look at a crowd of
5 ,000 people and Jesus says, go ahead, feed
them. Think about that. And now we hear in the
book of Esther, we have an edict of death that
is issued by an all -powerful king. He can do
anything he wants. How do you respond to that?
As we survey human history, we certainly can't
deny that there are many times when God's people
find themselves in peril. And if not in peril,
they find themselves suffering under trials.
They find themselves in very bleak situations.
And it's in those times that we are all tempted
to doubt God, to doubt his presence, to doubt
his care, or to doubt that he's good. And when
that happens, you guys, because it's going to
happen to all of us. It hasn't happened to you
yet. It's coming. Trust me. When it happens,
that is precisely when we fall back on what we
know to be true about God. not what we're feeling,
because feelings are going to lead us all over
the place, but what he has declared about himself
in his word and what he's told us about his love
and care for us. We know that he has said, I
will never leave you, my child. I will never
forsake you. But then we think, well, okay, all
right, that's great, Lord, but then why are you
putting me through this? Why am I exposed to
trouble? Why am I facing this impossible situation?
And the answer is, oh, the Lord's doing so many
things. We can't see it, but he's doing so many
things. And because he's doing those things,
they're always good for us. That's something
we don't often think about. If he's doing something
in our lives through difficulty, it's going to
be good for us because they come from his hand.
Again, we just have to renew our thinking in
those moments and go back to his word. Now, he
may want to produce in you greater dependence
in the midst of an impossible situation. Sometimes
he puts us in situations where we have absolutely
no choice but to come to him for the strength
and the wisdom we need to overcome. He'll put
us in those desperate situations so that we'll
depend on him more. Augustine wrote about this.
He said, God orders what we cannot do so that
we'll know exactly what to ask of him. Think
about that. Or secondly, he may want to stretch
your faith and perseverance. Sometimes God wants
you to die to something that's not good for you.
And only trial and suffering is gonna get you
to that place. And in the midst of that trial
and suffering, he says, will you trust me with
this? He'll often put us in difficult situations
to move us into a place he needs us to be so
that we can fulfill his purposes in us. Even
though in that moment, it might not make any
sense to us or to our human minds, but he says,
look, walk with me through this. I haven't left
you and you'll see in the end. Or he may want
us to learn that, you know what? His grace is
sufficient, and that's enough. Remember, we're
not given guarantees in Scripture that life is
going to go smoothly. There's no guarantee that
we get to live like a hallmark life, right, where
everything just ends up peachy keen. It doesn't
work that way. In fact, I know some of the best
brothers and sisters who right now are suffering,
going through amazing trials, trials that I can't
even imagine in my own life. And yes, God does
have an eternal purpose in those things. He says
that in his word. We have to trust him in that.
He always does, even if we can't see it with
our human eyes. But no matter the severity of
the storm, scripture tells us over and over again
that God's grace will carry you through whatever
it is you need to face. And what Mordecai is
facing here is pretty severe. So let's go back
to our story. Look at verse four. Now it's interesting.
Verse four tells us, even though the Jews throughout
Persia are in great mourning because they're
seeing and hearing about this edict, The queen
is isolated in the palace and she has no idea
what's happening. Verse four, then Esther's maidens
and her eunuchs came and told her and the queen
writhed in great anguish. Now, what is it that
they told her that made her so upset? We're going
to find out they actually didn't tell her about
the decree. They only told her that Mordecai
was in distress in the city. He's wailing in
sackcloth. So at this point, she has no idea
why that's happening. why her older cousin is
in this desperate state. But she's clearly upset
by it. And then what comes next is a bit surprising
to us, but it's also logical based on the lack
of information that the queen has. It says, she
sent garments to clothe Mordecai that he might
remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not
accept them. So as queen, she's like, let's just
fix the problem. My cousin, whom I love, is making
a spectacle of himself. Let's fix it, right?
So here's some clothes, Mordecai. Just put these
on. Stop what you're doing and come back to the
king's gate. But Mordecai, who knows the full
situation, says no. He refuses the clothing.
And that had to come as a great shock to Esther,
and now her concern rises. Now she knows something
really terrible is going on, but she cannot just
leave the palace. So in verse five, she takes
action. Verse five says, then Esther summoned
Hathok 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. In other words, go out there and
figure out why he's doing this, because I don't
have a clue. Verse 6, so Hathak went out to Mordecai
to the city square in front of the king's gate
and Mordecai told him all that had happened to
him and the exact amount of money that Haman
had promised to pay the king's treasuries for
the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him
a copy of the text of the edict which had been
issued in Susa for their destruction. And what
comes next now is Mordecai's instructions to
this eunuch, what he wants him to do. That he
might show Esther and inform her of what? Of
all the details about what Haman was plotting
to do. And get this, with the approval of her
husband, which must have come as a shock to her.
And here comes the command from Mordecai to order
her to go into the king. to implore his favor
and to plead with him for her people. So Mordecai's
issuing this order to Esther through this servant.
But look at those last two words, her people.
Uh -oh, uh -oh, her people. Remember, up to this
point, Mordecai had told Esther, don't tell anybody
you're Jewish. We're gonna keep that a secret.
But guess what? This can't continue. The end
of that has come. Esther is going to have to
now go into Xerxes and reveal the truth about
her identity as a Jew, which is likely to be
a massive surprise to him. And if you know anything
about ancient Near East history, kings don't
like to be surprised. But there's even more.
After she tells her husband that she's Jewish,
She's then going to have to intercede for three
quarters of a million people by trying to sway
the king's favor away from his most trusted advisor
to herself. Yikes. Put yourself in her shoes.
How overwhelming. How scary would this situation
be? This is all coming down on our head at one
time. First, my cousin is publicly in distress.
Then I learned that my people are being threatened
with annihilation. Now I'm told that this secret
that I've had, that I've been told to keep, I've
got to let that out. I've got to drop that on
my husband, who's also my king, and he has the
power of life and death over me. And I have to
hope that he loves me enough to hear me out and
to choose me over Haman. Pretty simple, right?
Verse 9, Hathor came back and related Mordecai's
words to Esther. Now let's pause there for a
second observation. Guys, God is in the business
of raising up the most unlikely people to accomplish
his will. If you think about it, Esther has some
things in common with both Joseph and David.
Think about this. All three of those biblical
characters come out of obscurity and get raised
up into positions of great power where God uses
them to bring about his purposes. But in all
three of those cases, who would have seen it
coming? Joseph. finds himself sold into slavery
by his own brothers. He's a slave, ends up in
Egypt. He's falsely accused of a crime. He is
thrown in prison. And guys, based on ancient
history, odds were that's where he would die,
right? Alone and forgotten in that dungeon. But
instead, God raises him up to become the second
most powerful man in Egypt under Pharaoh. Only
God does something like that. David. the least
likely son of a farmer and a sheep herder from
a know -nothing town called Bethlehem. And then
he becomes a man who shepherds animals in the
wilderness until God says, I anoint you king
of Israel. Who would have seen that coming? And
now we have Esther. She's not from a noble family
of Persia. She doesn't come from wealth or power.
She's an orphan. She's an orphan and a Jew living
in a foreign land. She is destined to become
a nobody in history until God moves the king's
heart to select her from among thousands of women
in the Persian kingdom to become queen. That's
only a God thing. That's it. And this is why
I wanted to begin our service this morning, Ken
read from 1 Corinthians 1, where we're told what
kind of people God chooses to carry out his will.
And guess what? It's people like you and me.
And you may not like what... the language that's
used here, but this is what God says. He says,
consider your calling, brothers and sisters.
Not many of you were wise according to worldly
standards. Not many of you were powerful. Not
many of you were of noble birth. But God chose
what is foolish in this world to shame the wise.
He chose what's weak in the world to shame the
strong. He chose what is low and despised in
the world, even things that are not, to bring
to nothing things that are. Why? He says, so
that no human being might boast in the presence
of God. And because of him, you are in Christ
Jesus. Now, again, some people get offended by
that language. I don't want to be called foolish
and weak and despised. But Paul would disagree
with that. I will boast about my weaknesses,
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12. I will boast about
them. Why? So that the power of Christ may dwell
in me. I am content with weaknesses, he says,
with insults, with distresses, with persecutions,
with difficulties for the sake of Christ. For
when I'm weak, then I'm strong. God raises up
whomever he chooses, the weak and foolish things
of this world. Do you think you're too obscure
to be used by God? Has that thought ever run
through your head? I'm a nobody. I can't be used.
I'm just a regular Joe or Jane. I'm too weak.
Be careful, God might surprise you. Let's go
back to the story. Look at verse 10. So Esther
receives this shocking news from Mordecai. Then
Esther spoke to Hathak and ordered him to reply
to Mordecai. So this is what she's gonna send
back. All the king's servants and the people
of the king's provinces know. Okay, so catch
this. Everybody knows what's about to be said.
This is common knowledge. That any man or woman
who comes to the king into the inner court who
is not summoned, he, the king, has but one law,
that he be put to death. So it's a capital crime
to approach the king uninvited. Unless, unless
what? Unless the king holds out to him the golden
scepter. so that he may live, so that his life
might be spared. Now, that's really bad news,
but then it gets worse. Esther reports to Mordecai,
and I have not been summoned. I've not been invited
to come into the king for these last 30 days.
So this is subtle, but notice what's happening
here. Esther gets the news from Mordecai, but
she hesitates to immediately obey his instructions.
Maybe for the first time in her life, we've seen
how obedient she is to Mordecai, but for the
first time, she hesitates about obedience. And
can you blame her? I mean, Mordecai's asking
a lot here. And we have to remember, Esther is
still a young woman with not a lot of life experience,
and she's being asked to carry this huge burden
to put her very life at risk. And one of the
many things I find interesting about this part
of the story is that comment about the 30 days.
Apparently, the life of a queen in Persia was
not one of great intimacy with the king. 30 days.
Wives, can you imagine? My husband doesn't want
to see me. He doesn't want to see me in a month.
Historically, we know that Xerxes had many wives
and concubines. So already, Esther is learning
what Queen Vashti must have found out, that being
queen is not that great of a gig. It was largely
a ceremonial role that she had to endure while
her husband ran around summoning all kinds of
women and sleeping with them. And she's out here
a month later going, yep, I don't even know how
he feels about me. You want me to go see him?
I'm not even sure he cares about me. I haven't
seen him in a month. The truth is, in that culture,
the king can do as he pleases. Nobody questions
him. And that fact is what makes the prospect
of going in to see him. So unpredictable and
so dangerous for Esther. Now verse 13 is interesting.
See if you can discern Mordecai's tone. So he
gets news back from Esther. She's hesitating.
I'm not sure I can do this. And then Mordecai
told them to reply to Esther, do not imagine
that you and the king's palace can escape any
more than all the Jews. Is he upset? Do you think
he's upset at Esther? Put yourself in Mordecai's
sandals now. He's watched over this girl since
she was a child. He was with her as she grew
up. He gave her counsel and instruction. He protected
her along the way. She's obeyed him all the way
along this path. But now there's this physical
distance between him and her. She's deep in the
women's quarters in the palace. He can't talk
to her, and she can't talk to him. And as a dad
myself, I can feel this in my bones, the idea
that you've lost connection with your daughter.
Your ability to speak counsel into her life is
now limited. It's a terrifying thought. So when
Mordecai gives her what in verse eight is called
an order to go into the king and beg for his
mercy and the answer comes back, well, there's
a law says that I can't do that. And you know,
the king hasn't called me in 30 days. You can
sort of understand Mordecai's tone here. So he
writes back and I'm just going to paraphrase
him. He writes back, look, Hadassah, don't think
for a moment that by avoiding doing this difficult
thing that you'll be safe. Just because you're
inside that palace, Haman is targeting all of
us for death and he will come for you too. Mordecai
wants her to think carefully about this. The
most dangerous thing she can do in this moment
is just, you know, close your eyes, do nothing
and hope it all goes away because it's not going
away. Sometimes we do that, right? We're like,
if I don't look at it, if I don't deal with it,
it'll go away. This one's not going away. Now
here comes the famous phrase at the end of verse
14. But first, look at the first half of the
verse. This is a difficult statement to interpret
and there's all kinds of scholarly opinions out
there as to what it means. Verse 14 says, again,
this is part of Mordecai's response to Esther.
For if you remain silent at this time, relief
and deliverance will arise for the Jews from
another place and you and your father's house
or you and your family will perish. And that,
Statement looks a little odd there, doesn't it?
I think the best way to understand what Mordecai
is saying is this. Hadassah, if you refuse my
order to go into the king and you choose instead
to stay silent, here's what I know. That God
will find another way to protect and save his
people who are scattered all over the nations.
But here in Persia, we will all perish. And you
and your family, everything that's left of your
bloodline, which is me and you, we will be gone.
That's pretty heavy, huh? So there's a measure
of faith in Mordecai's words here. I think he
trusts that Yahweh is gonna fulfill his promise
that God will always sustain a remnant of his
people Israel, always. And if he and Esther fail
in Persia, God will still sovereignly work in
the world to preserve his people in other parts
of the ancient Near East. He will preserve the
line of Messiah. But right now, Hadassah, You
may very well be the vessel that God has raised
up and put you in this position to save all the
Jews in Persia. That's basically what Mordecai
says in this very famous second half of verse
14. And who knows whether you've not attained
royalty for such a time as this. Could it be,
Esther, that God has put you in that palace precisely
because of the clear and present danger that
our people are facing? What would you do if you're
a young girl overwhelmed by all of this? What
would you do? How would you respond? You can
picture Mordecai saying, Hadassah, think about
the odds of this. Do you think this is chance
that you're sitting in the palace in Susa? This
isn't chance or fate or luck. God has put you
there for this reason. Now, will you have the
courage and the wisdom to accept that truth?
from God's hand, that providence in your life,
and go and do his will. What a challenge, right?
Verse 15, then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai,
go assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa
and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three
days, night or day. I and my maidens also will
fast in the same way. So as many of you have
told me in recent weeks, Up to chapter 3, I've
been really hard on Esther. I've been trying
to break down some of the legends and myths we
think about her. I've been kind of tough on her.
But now I'm going to commend her. This is a good
and godly response to Mordecai's challenge. She
seems to have acknowledged Mordecai's point about
God's providence and the position that she is
in to be a vessel of service for God. And she
begins where she should begin. We all got to
start fasting. We've got to start fasting, all
of us. You, cousin, gather all the Jews in Susa,
all do the same here in the palace, and let's
seek the Lord's face. That is the right response.
Now, let's talk about fasting for a moment. First
of all, I realize that the word prayer isn't
explicitly mentioned here in verse 16, but I
think we should consider implied. And the reason
I say that is throughout the Old Testament, those
two things are always linked together. You don't
see, well, we prayed one day, we fasted another,
but we didn't do them together. They're always
linked together. It's a given. Because just abstaining
from food as a purely physical act has no spiritual
impact whatsoever. It can help your body, physical
body in a lot of ways, but not your soul. But
if you combine fasting or any form of self -denial
with repentance and prayer, a number of things
will happen according to Scripture. When those
hunger pangs hit, it's going to cause you to
remember to pray. And you're going to find yourself
in deeper communion with the Lord. Fasting humbles
a man or a woman. It causes you to lean into
the Lord, to depend on him more. And that means
that the fasting should be employed whenever
there's a great sense of need, or in this case,
really a sense of helplessness. Only the Lord
can rescue us. We should go and seek his face.
That seems logical, right? Now, as a caution,
fasting is not a guarantee that you're gonna
get an answer to your prayer more if you don't
fast. Guys, we don't have the power to manipulate
God or his will, but fasting along with prayer
when it's done from a place of honesty is indicating
to God your sincerity and the critical nature
of the situation you're in. And the more critical
the situation is, the more appropriate it is
for you not just to pray, but to pray and fast.
At least that's what Jesus tells us in Matthew
17. Remember that funny little story where the
disciples try to drive out a demon and they can't
do it? And Jesus says what? This kind doesn't
go out except by prayer and fasting. So when
you're up against a uniquely big challenge, it
has to be met with an equally committed step
of faith. And so we pray and we fast. So Esther
does what she should do. She turns to prayer
and fasting, and then she doesn't stop there.
She takes action. Look at the rest of the verse.
And thus I will go into the king, which is not
according to the law. In other words, even though
it violates the king's law, look what she says.
And if I perish, I perish. So she's counted the
cost of obedience, hasn't she? She's now willing
to cross Xerxes' law in order to put God first
and lay down her life if necessary. Understand
the weight of this, you guys. She is committing
to this incredibly difficult thing without a
prophetic vision, without a word from the Lord.
You know, sometimes in scripture, well, the Lord
told me to go do this. Man, you can go with 100
% confidence, right? Because you got a word from
the Lord. She doesn't have anything miraculous
here. No prophetic vision, no word from the Lord.
She has no real biblical promise to look to that
guarantees her safety. So she doesn't know how
this is gonna end, only that it seems Mordecai's
point has gotten through. She could potentially
die if she goes in to see the king, but if she
doesn't, she's certainly gonna die as well as
the rest of the people. And she counts the cost
of that obedience. Man, this is a young woman
who's being forced to grow up really fast and
to make some really weighty decisions. These
are decisions that make any of us, even experienced
believers, tremble with fear. Okay, final observation,
and we'll close with this. Number three. God
has raised up Esther precisely for this time
and for this moment and for this need. And what
a story, right? Who could have predicted it?
If you'd known Esther when she was a child, who
could have predicted that she'd be in this position?
None of us. I once read a great quote, and I've
looked for it. I wish I could find the citation
on it. But it goes something like this. The most
impactful service in the kingdom of God almost
always comes by assignment, not by choice. Think
about that. The most impactful service in the
kingdom of God almost always comes by assignment,
not by choice. And the reason I've always remembered
that quote is because it's true in my life. God
has shown me that that's true in my life. If
you knew me. The first 35 years of my life, never
did I think I would ever be in ministry, let
alone be a preacher of God's word. Never on my
radar until God started doing unimaginable things
in my life to move me to the place he wanted
me to be. And even when God moves in that kind
of way, I found that for most people, they think
they know what service in the kingdom looks like.
They think they know what they would choose,
but then God moves, it ends up looking very different.
than what they planned. Certainly not how they
would have scripted it. And again, that's true
in my life and in Tanya's life. At our age now,
looking back, this is not what we expected. But
it's not about us. And we're convinced that we're
absolutely where God wants us to be. He brought
us here. And I can't explain that other than
his providential hand. I guarantee you when Athanasius
was a 30 -year -old deacon at the Council of
Nicaea in the fourth century, He never would
have thought that God would call him to battle
the Arian heresy for the sake of the church for
40 years and to spend 18 of those years in exile
outside the kingdom in the deserts of Egypt.
But that's what he had to do to stand for the
truth. There's no way Augustine ever thought
that he would turn his back on a life of philosophy
and study at the age of 32 and take upon himself
monasticism. In a life of religious controversy,
suffering, in the midst of brilliant writing
and teaching, and then die as an old man in the
midst of a barbarian invasion of his hometown.
How could Martin Luther have envisioned the whirlwind
that he would cause by simply nailing 25 hard
questions on a door, questioning the Roman church?
There's no way he could have imagined that he
would someday have to stand alone against the
full force of the Roman church and the papacy.
And then be taken away and hidden away for his
own protection because they wanted to kill him
so that he could translate the Bible into German.
None of those three men asked to bear the weight
of those responsibilities. It was assigned to
them by God. It was given to them by God. And
because of God's calling, none of them had the
privilege of living comfortable lives. We count
the cost. If any of those guys had been given
a choice, I doubt any of them would say, yeah,
Lord, put me through all these difficulties,
please. All that suffering and sacrifice, give
me more of that. I want to take more risks that
put my life in danger. Nobody ever says that.
They all lived hard lives, but man, did God use
them to advance his kingdom. So what about your
gifts and calling? That's the big idea of the
great statement in verse 14. In Esther 4, what
about your gifts and calling? What are they?
What about your talents? What about your influence?
What about your career, your finances, your personality,
your position in your workplace, your passions,
anything that you do well? They're not yours
by accident. Everything that you have has come
from the hand of God, not by accident. They come
from the gifting and the shaping that God has
done in your life and is still doing in your
life. Ephesians 2 .10 has this beautiful truth.
It says that each one of you is God's workmanship.
Each one of you is a product of God's sovereign
hands, created in Christ Jesus for a purpose,
to walk in the good works that he's prepared
for you in advance. Every one of us. Are you
being faithful? to pay attention to that truth
and to respond. All you have to do is follow
the example of Esther and the other saints that
I've already mentioned this morning. Hear the
call, weigh the cost, step into it by faith.
Hear the call, weigh the cost, step into it by
faith. And then take, I like this phrase, take
the rollercoaster ride for Jesus. You know, you
get in a rollercoaster, it takes you wherever
it wants to go. You just grip on and go. And
that's sometimes what it feels like to be a vessel
of service for the king. You hold on and you
go. It's not always easy. It's not always comfortable.
It's never boring. And the rewards at the end
are glorious beyond your imagination. So friends,
never doubt that you can be a vessel of service
for God. Did he not raise up Joseph and David
and Esther from out of nowhere to great heights?
There are no nobodies in the kingdom of God.
I want everybody to hear that clearly. There
are no nobodies in the kingdom of God. And who
knows, perhaps you are here at Oak Hill for such
a time as this. Let's pray. Father, when we look
at a story like this, it's so tempting to just
say, oh, that's so long ago. And that is such
a unique situation that doesn't really apply
to my life. And I know, God, you would want to
say to every person here this morning that, yes,
you can do those works in the lives of simple
people like us, foolish, weak, all of these things,
Lord, if we would just be faithful to respond.
And so I pray, Lord, that for anybody here this
morning who in the past has thought, I'm a nobody,
I don't matter, I don't have gifts. Lord, would
you help them renew their thinking? And would
you help them get in the battle? Every single
hand is needed. Every soldier in the fight is
needed. And so, Lord, don't let us be passive.
Don't let us be apathetic or lazy. But call us
higher, Lord, and do a work in our hearts that
we might see that more clearly and then give
us the faith that we need from you to step into
it. Lord, I have no doubt that you have great
things to do in the life of our church. You have
great things to do in this community we live
in. Would you use us as vessels for your service,
God? And when you do, Lord, we'll give you all
the glory for it. Thank you for our time in your
word this morning. We love you. We praise you
in Christ's name.