“FOR SUCH A TIME IS THIS” Esther 4:10-17

Illustration—Away up in the Highland Valley, where beneath a tall black cliff, all weather-worn, and cracked, and seamed, there lies at the foot, resting on a greensward that creeps round its base, a huge rock that has fallen from the face of the cliff. A shepherd was passing beneath it; and suddenly, when the finger of God’s will touched it, and rent it from its ancient bed in the everlasting rock, it came down, leaping and bounding from pinnacle to pinnacle, and it fell, and the man that was beneath it—is there now! Ground to powder! Ah, my brethren, that is not my illustration—that is Christ’s. Therefore, I say to you, since all that stand against him shall become “as the chaff of the summer threshing-floor,” and be swept utterly away, make him the foundation on which you build; and when the rain sweeps away every “Refuge of lies,” you will be safe and serene, builded upon the Rock of Ages. Take My Life and Let it Be.

Characters—

Hatach(God’s messenger)

Haman(The Flesh)

Mordecai(The Holy Ghost)

Esther(The Born Again Christian)

I.PUBLIC CALAMITIES(VS 1-4).

A.    Gen. 39:20-21

B.    Matt. 24:4-8

II.PERIL AND LOSS( VS.3) 

A.    Lamentations 5:9

B.     Romans 8:35

   C.  II Tim. 3:1

III. PERSONAL SACRIFICE( VS. 16)

   A. I Corinthians 10:24

B. Luke 12:22

IV. PROVIDENTIAL CARE(CHAPTER 5:6-8, CH. 7:1-10) 

A.    I Kings 17:6,16

B.    Phillipians 4:19.

V. PREVAILING COURAGE(CHAPTER 8:17) 

A.    Neh. 6:11

B. Daniel 3:16-17

C.    Daniel  6: 10

CONCLUSION- We are living in perilous times, times when the church is being persecuted on every hand by the devil and his imps. One may tend to question, “Why does God allow me to suffer persecution from the world?”  “What is the meaning of it all?” or “I just don’t understand.”  We need to just realize that God has a purpose FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS.