Book: Esther Print ( PC Only ) ESTHER 4:14 "FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS" I. GOD'S PURPOSES ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH HUMAN INSTRUMENTS. A. Threatened annihilation of Abraham's seed, before God's promise was fulfilled. 1. "Through thy seed shall all nations of world be blessed." 2. "There shall arise a branch out of the stem of Judah." 3. God must preserve this tribe to fulfill His Word. B. God's advance preparations. 1. Vashti's disobedience and de-thronement. a. What sparked the mind of the drunken King to issue the order that she disobeyed? 2. Esther chosen over all other to be new queen. a. You say her beauty - who gave her such beauty - God working in womb of mother. b. God's purposes begin even before birth. Paul - "Separated unto the Gospel from mother's womb." C. Esther's whole life was being led to this psychic moment "such a time as this." 1. Why was Esther born? a. To save Judah from destruction? b. To please God through obedience. 2. Why were you born? 3. Note years of preparation for a two-day task. a. Despise not the days of preparation. 4. The time of revelation. D. How can we become instruments for God's use? 1. Submission. a. "I will go." b. "Present your bodies as living sacrifices." c. When the call of God comes we must go and trust the circumstances to Him. 2. Dedication. a. "If I perish I perish." b. Many ventures for God forsaken for lack of courage, which comes from total dedication. 1. What have you got to lose? My neck! What's so precious about your neck? - "Fear not him who can kill the body . . ." E. What if we fail God. 1. "If you hold your peace there enlargement and deliverance shall come." 2. What faith in the purposes of God. a. "But you and your fathers house shall be destroyed." 3. We have been placed here on earth for one chief purpose. All others spring from Him. a. To glorify God by our submission and obedience to Christ. b. God gives us many opportunities throughout life. c. Longsuffering and patient. d. He doesn't let us go. e. He pursues after us. |