So we're looking tonight at Esther chapter 4 and I read chapter 4 and verse 1 again. 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. Well, my topic this evening is, for such a time as this, taken from that phrase in verse 14, where Mordecai said to Esther, who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? But before we get to that point, we left it last week with this Shushan in perplexity the whole city of Shushan was in perplexity in confusion at the commandment that had come from the king and it was a terrible commandment and it alarmed so many of the people even the non-Jewish people were alarmed They probably never heard such a command being given before. The King and Haman of course were oblivious to their perplexity. They were separated from it. They were drinking. They were relaxed about this commandment. That this decree that had been put in place. But the whole city was in perplexity. And what a terrible command it was. We go back to there in verse 13. The commandment was that in all the king's provinces the Jews were to be destroyed, to kill and to cause to perish all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women in one day. Here was a command to those in the provinces to kill others. It's bad enough that Haman is a murderer and that King Ahasuerus has given his backing to this decree and he also is culpable in it but they are making murderers out of the ordinary citizens up and down the land and forcing them, commanding them to take the lives of young people, old people, children and women. More than one murderer murderers making the citizens of their country, turning them into murderers, turning them into covetous people in the sense that they can take a hold of their goods, their property after having perished, after killing them, they could take the spoil from them, encouraging them to do that for this reason, take their homes, take their property, take their furniture, take their lands, take their cattle, What a terrible command to encourage sin in the land. But such was the case with this command, such a terrible command. Well we read in chapter 4 in verse 1, when Mordecai perceived all that was done and he realized that this commandment had been put in place and when he realized also that the Haman had promised money a lot of money into the king's coffers and he perceived all these things we read there that he went out into the street of Shushan rent his clothes with his clothes rent and putting on sackcloth with ashes he went into the midst of the city and cried with a loud and a bitter cry and he was he was of course overwhelmed by what had happened. So Mordecai, in verse 1 we read that he rent his clothes when he heard that this decree had come into place. And of course, it would be a very terrible thing for him, not only because all the Jews' lives were now in danger, but because he was the cause of this law, this decree coming into place. If only he had bowed, then this law would never have happened. But because he refused to compromise, because he refused to give to Haman that kind of divine worship which he expected, So now, not only his life is in trouble, but even the lives of all his people are in great danger throughout the provinces of the King Hasierus. So no wonder he feels it very deeply. and he cries with a loud cry, a cry similar to that of Esau when he realized that he had lost his father's blessing in Genesis 27 and verse 34 and in a similar kind of bitter way that Hannah was praying silently in her own heart in 1 Samuel 1 verse 10 She prayed in bitterness of soul. She cried to the Lord for a child. You remember that? The same kind of bitterness is expressed and felt by Mordecai. You can imagine the weight of pressure that was on him. He would have willingly let go of his own life. He would willingly have sacrificed his own life. But now, now everybody, all the Jews, the whole nation of Israel, was in danger at this point of being wiped out. But notice, friends, he doesn't regret what he has done, though it weighs heavily upon him. He doesn't go to Haman and say, I'm so sorry for what I did. Pardon and forgive me. From now on, I will kowtow to you. There's nothing of that. There's no regret from that side. He's still not going to compromise. and he is willing to take the consequences even of his stand for the Lord. Well, in verse 2 we read that he couldn't even come before the king's gate. For none might enter into the king's gate clothed with a sackcloth." There he was. This sackcloth in Asher's, by the way, it's not only the Jews who mourned and grieved at bad news or when somebody maybe passed away. when they wore these things or something terrible had happened. But even the Persians were familiar with this kind of response to grief and sorrow. When Xerxes was defeated at Salamis, they also, the people at Shushan, rent their garments and lamented very loudly and the Jewish historian Herodotus mentions that. So it's not an unusual sight, but here we see in verse 2 that he couldn't even come, Mordecai, he couldn't even come before the king's gate. Why not? Because sadness was not allowed to enter near to the palace. mourning people, grieving people, unhappy people, those who are bereaved and they're weeping and crying. No, no such thing was allowed to come near the king. It's a bad omen. Something like that may happen to the king. If death, or the smell of death as it were, comes near the king, well, he may lose something. Something bad may happen to him. Something may grieve him and trouble him. And so the mourning citizens must keep their distance and nowhere near. Only happiness, only good news is allowed to enter into the king's presence. How terrible for the citizens. that they couldn't bring their woes and their griefs to their king and ask and petition him for help. How privileged we are as God's people that we can take all our griefs. There's no such rule for us at the throne of grace. There's no restriction for us. In fact, If we are more bitter, if we are more sad, if we are more unhappy, if we are overwhelmed by life circumstances or some trouble that we've gotten even for taking a stand for the Lord, The throne of grace is open for us. The Lord Jesus welcomes us. He feels for us. He cares for us as His dear people and He loves to hear our woes and He can help us and He can comfort us and He can strengthen us and He desires that when we are sad as well as when we are happy even more so than to go to the throne of grace, that we may find grace to help in our time of need. He was one who identified with the people. He was one who identified with the infirmities of the people. He was tempted, tested in all points, like as we are, yet without any sin. He felt many of the woes that we feel. And he can even now in heaven, he feels for his people. He identifies so closely with what we are going through, so we have one who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Oh, he's not a cold Lord, he's not a cold God who is unapproachable, but one who welcomes his people to come unto him. Just as we sang, what a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear, what a privilege to carry. everything to God in prayer. Well, in verse 3, we go on, we see that when the news comes to every province, the Jews respond in a very similar way with fasting, weeping, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. They made this their bed. They put aside the comfort of their own bed for this kind of sackcloth and ashes bed. And then in verse 4, Esther's maids and her chamberlains, they came and told it her. It seems like though the news is going out to all the provinces, it hasn't reached Esther's place. It hasn't reached Esther herself. She is oblivious to what is happening and to the command that has come. She only hears that Mordecai is dressed in sackcloth and ashes and is crying and weeping bitterly in the streets and we read that she was exceedingly grieved, she was greatly shaken, she was like a woman having contractions and her first response is to send him clothes to re-clothe him in normal attire to take away his sackcloth from him but he didn't receive it if he had received it, she had thought that everything was OK everything was then fine, everything was resolved if he had received it but he is trying to get her attention and he doesn't receive it for that reason because he wants her, of course, to do something well, his thought works, his rejection works and then Esther calls the chamberlain, Etag and tells him gives him a commandment to go to Mordecai and to find out what exactly was happening and why it was happening and so Haytack is dispatched to find out the cause of Mordecai's distress the maids it seems and those who are close to Esther seem to know that there is a family connection between Mordecai and Esther, even though the king himself did not. And there's this back and forth now, communication via Haytack between Esther and Mordecai. Verse 7, Mordecai's response He told Haytag everything that had happened to him. How he had refused to bow to Haman and the consequences of that. How the law had been put in place and now the lives of all the Jews was in peril. And on top of that, he made sure that he told Esther of Haman's promise to send money, to give money into the king's treasuries to destroy them. He made sure he told them because Esther may have thought, well, the Jews maybe had done something wrong. Maybe they brought this upon themselves and that's why this law has been put in place. She didn't know. He didn't say why. The reason wasn't given in the law why they should be put to death. And she may have thought wrongly, so he makes it very clear to her that the Jews were not guilty of any real crimes. and he made a copy of the letter itself, the decree so that Esther could see it for herself and read it for herself and then in verse 8 he charged her that she should go in unto the king to make supplication unto him and to make a request before him for her people. He charges her to go in and plead for the Jews. Now is the time to make known that you are a Jew. Now is the time to supplicate for the Jews. Before he told her to remain quiet, but now he is commanding her, he's putting pressure on her. This is what you've got to do. You've got to go in and make a request for your people before the king. Mordecai, it seems, has begun to discern the divine promise, the divine reason, rather, for Esther's elevation. He's begun to see that this must be of God's doing that she is in this place. Haytag relates the news back to Esther and back come the words from Esther in verse 9 in verse 10 sorry verse 11 all the king's servants and the people know of the king's provinces do know that whosoever whether man or woman shall come in unto the king in 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 scepter that he may live. But I've not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days." She's a little bit afraid. Afraid to go in to the king. Afraid to see her husband. Afraid because maybe she thought I've lost the affection of my husband. He hasn't called me for 30 days. Maybe he's set his affection on somebody else. Maybe he's forgotten about me. He hasn't called me for 30 days. And besides that, there's this law which if somebody went in to see the king without being appointed, without having an appointment, and he comes in unexpectedly, Well, he would be sure to face certain death unless the king held out the golden scepter to him. Only then would his life be spared. It was very difficult to approach the king, as we've mentioned before. That's why Haman was in a very privileged position. He could go in and out before the king. But if you wanted to see the king in those days, the king of Persia, well, you had to get permission beforehand. And no one could approach unless you were called. Why? Why such a law in place? Well, the king's securing his safety, no doubt. Anybody coming in could be a threat. His life could be in danger if people come in unexpectedly. but also because he wanted to leave his people with the impression that he is a king, that he is a great king. He wants to leave them with the impression, you know, stay away from the people, don't become familiar with the people. Familiarity breeds contempt, they say. stay away, keep your distance, let them fear you to a certain measure and this was probably partly in the thinking behind this law he's got to maintain a sense of his majesty and so Esther felt it she felt the difficulty even of going to see her own husband as it were knowing that this law was in place and also his love for her may have cooled. The chances of success, humanly speaking, are also very low. So all these things played on her mind and put a doubt into her mind whether she should be doing this. But Mordecai, the words, verse 12, they told to Mordecai Esther's words and then Mordecai commanded Esther these words, think not with thyself, that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall their enlargement deliverance, relief, arise to the Jews from another place, for you and your father's house shall be destroyed. For who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Here we see how Mordecai puts even more pressure on Esther. First in a negative way and then in a little bit more of a positive way. He says firstly, don't think that just because you are queen everything is fine and you will be safe and you will escape. It will be discovered that you are a Jew. It will be discovered that you belong to this race and you also will lose your life. Don't think that you are safe. And then if you hold your peace, if you keep quiet, if you are silent, if you are mute, because you are fearful, you're afraid, God is able, he didn't say the word God, but he said there shall enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place. Here was faith. Mordecai had faith. If Esther wouldn't do her part, God would raise up deliverance from somewhere else, from another person or in another way. He would. He knew it. He was persuaded of it because he knew that the Jews wouldn't perish. They couldn't. because the promised Messiah whom he believed in hadn't yet come. And he was due to come. He would come descend from the seed of David. And so he had that in mind. Surely he knew the prophecies. He knew about Daniel. He knew about Isaiah's prophecies. He knew about Moses and the writings of Moses and the promised Messiah. All these things were in his mind. He knew the Jews couldn't be eliminated and obliterated from the face of the earth it wouldn't happen God wouldn't allow it to happen because he had promised to send the Messiah through them and so he mentions these things see his faith even in the face of such difficulty and such human opposition he believes in the Lord to intervene and change things and there's a little bit of a threat here if you don't do anything you and your father's house will be destroyed but then a little bit of a gentler persuasion who knoweth whether you are come to the kingdom for such a time as this oh Esther is saying Perhaps God has in his providence made you Queen for such a time as this and for this very purpose. God has raised you to this purpose so that you could intercede for the people, so that you could stand in the gap for the people, for your people, so that you could be their deliverer, their mediator, so that through you deliverance may come to all the Jews. It may be Esther for this very purpose. that God has placed you in this position and raised you up. A very gentle way and a very persuasive way to encourage her to act and to go in to the King. Well, it's a lesson for us as well, isn't it? Whatever position in life we are put in, we may not be as high up as Esther. We are not. We may be doing something, a lowly job. We may be working, but whichever employer we are working for, whichever job we are doing, whether working in the office or in a hospital or a school, whichever neighborhood the Lord has placed us in, think of it in this way, perhaps the Lord has put you there for a purpose. that you may be the means through which others hear the gospel. You may be the means through which others are saved. Humanly speaking, of course, the Lord saves people, but He uses us. And maybe the Lord has placed you in that office, in that hospital, in that neighborhood for the very purpose of delivering others from perishing, rescuing the perishing. It may not be many. Maybe one, two, or three. Maybe it will be more. But there's a reason why he has placed us where we are, even in life. Think like that, friends. Think in this way. Don't just go to our jobs and do our work, thinking that's just what I've got to do. Yes, we have to be true to our jobs, but perhaps there's another reason for you to shine and bring others to the Lord. And then think of ourselves. We could apply this also for ourselves as a church. Who knows? But for such a time as this, the Lord has brought us together to shine for Him in this place, to serve our generation now, to be the means of delivering people around in this neighborhood here at Woolwich and further afield from serving the devil, for bringing them out of darkness and into God's marvelous light. Well, we are given this task and who knows what the Lord will do through us. It may well be that he intends to save many through our prayers and through our efforts for him. We dare not, friends, neglect this duty out of fear out of being afraid to serve the Lord, to witness for Him, to speak for Him. We dare not become slack, we dare not refrain from doing it, but we're encouraged, let us encourage ourselves to be diligent in this activity. Well, Paul also felt this burden, didn't he? Paul felt the burden to preach the gospel. He knew the Lord had called him. He knew the Lord had called him for such a time as he was living in. And he said in 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 16, necessity is laid upon me. Woe is me if I preach not the gospel. He felt it and he served his generation well as we know. Well, just in closing, verses 15 to 17 Esther's positive response okay she says in essence go and gather together all the Jews and fast and pray and I will do the same for three days night or day we won't eat we won't drink I and my maidens will do likewise, and if I perish, I perish." She requests the prayerful support. She doesn't just go straight into the king without any prayer. Again, prayer is not even mentioned, but we can, I think, quite safely assume that they did pray. during that time of fasting and she waits she gets the help of the Lord and then on the third day in chapter 5 and verse 1 we'll see how she goes into the king and is granted a favorable response but Esther had many things to be afraid of in a sense approaching the king as you said was uncalled for, sorry, approaching the King, uncalled for, was one of her fears, but she also had to speak against the King's decree. Well, that could have landed her in a lot of trouble, as it were. She would have to reveal her Jewish identity, and the Jews were hated. And then also she would have to oppose Haman, the king's right-hand man, his prime minister. All these things would have weighed on her mind. But yet, in spite of them all, she said, I will do it. And if it costs me my life, if I perish, then I will perish. But thank God, we see that she didn't perish and we'll see this next week, but how the Lord worked marvelously to grant her her request and subsequently to deliver the Jews and all God's people from this terrible decree. May the Lord bless these few words to us this evening.