Greetings from Faith Baptist Church in Versailles, Kentucky, where Brother Joe Collins is our pastor, for those of y'all that know him. Yeah, I got nothing. But no, we really do love our pastor to death. If you would, turn with me to the book of Esther this evening. And while you're turning over there, just so thankful for that song service. Folks, it touches my heart to see see young, young children singing praises of the Lord. If you ask your pastor, I'm sure, I know he's traveled around a whole lot more than I have. And the more I've had the opportunity to travel, the more the Lord's allowed us to travel. Folks, don't take that for granted. Don't take that for granted. It's a blessing. It's a blessing to see young people singing praises unto the Lord. Folks, we don't know when the Lord's coming back. That's up to Him. But that is the next generation. As I said, if you would, turn with me to the book of Esther. Go to chapter 4. I'm just going to read a couple verses to start out. Book of Esther, chapter four. And we're gonna start in verse 13, and we're just gonna read verse 13, actually verse 12, through verse 14. It says, and they told Mordecai Esther's words. Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther. 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 and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place. But thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed. Now honing in on the last part of this verse. It says, And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, Lord, as we bow in Thy presence, I come before You, O Lord, repenting of my sins, Lord, begging Your forgiveness. Father, take me out of the equation. Lord, take me out of the equation. Let me only see You. Lord, I'm just a man. But Father, Thou art the living God. So Lord, we ask that you would meet with us tonight, that you would help us. Lord, that you would... Lord, if there is one here that's lost, you'd be pleased to save us all. But Lord, that you might help these people. Lord, we are a needy people, and Father, we desperately need you. Father, we love Thee, and we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, as I started looking at this, this is something that's been on my heart for a little bit. We started looking at it, praying at it, praying about it. That phrase, for such a time as this. For such a time as this. I know growing up, so many times, how many of you have heard, you know, that I was born in the wrong decade? Or I was born in the wrong decade, I was born in the wrong time. I know I heard it a bunch growing up. But I want to talk to you tonight a little bit about the providence of God. I want to preach to you tonight on the providence of God. Folks, the providence of God is such a glorious thing. And we need to remember something, folks, that we are here for such a time as this. Now, we might not always know the answer. We might not always know the reason. We look around at this world, and we see the shape that this world is in. Folks, this world's in bad shape. This world is in bad shape. They've taken that which is evil and they've paraded it around. Celebrated it. Folks, they've taken things that God's called an abomination and have applauded it. They've taken something as precious as an unborn child. slaughtered them by the millions we look around in in in this world is in bad shape but folks something we need to remember is that above everything God is in charge there are no accidents with God So if we're here, we are here for such a time as this. Now, I want to kind of look into this, into the book of Esther. The book of Esther was something I found interesting because the name of God's never mentioned once in the book of Esther. Yet, folks, we see his hand throughout it, all throughout it. And if we can, I want to kind of let it, I want to kind of, by way of introduction, show us a couple people for just a second if we can. And we're going to kind of bounce back to the beginning of the book of Esther. And the first person I want us to see is a man by the name of Ahasuerus. It says, verse one of the first chapter, it says, now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, this is Ahasuerus which reigned from India even unto Ethiopia over 107 and 20 provinces, that in those days when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which is in Shushan the palace, in the third year of his reign he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants. The power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, before him. And for sake of time, we'll stop there for just a moment. Now, this king, and I enjoy looking at history. History is something I have a fondness for studying. When you go back and look at this one, from everything that I've been able to read and everything I've seen on this one, this is the King Xerxes. The same King Xerxes that we see that had tried to conquer Greece. and ended up losing at Salamis Bay. This is the king that we're talking about. Now, I say that for a reason, because this is a time where the Persian Empire's at its height. This is at the highest point that the Persian Empire gets to. And something happens with King Xerxes. After this, he kinda... He throws a feast for his main princes. for the heads of his provinces, 127 provinces. And we see something happen there, and I might as well be honest. We see the king get drunk, and then cross a line with his wife. And when his wife refuses, then we see something happen here, back here in chapter 1. Look at verse 19. It says, I want you to think on something here for a second, just a moment here, on the law of the Medes and the Persians. See, the thing about the law of the Medes and the Persians is once something was written down in it, it could never be overturned. You see, we see in our country, in our state, in our governments, and in our laws, outside of a constitutional amendment, they can overturn just about any law whenever they want to. It's not something that's written in stone. When you get to the law of the Medes and the Persians, that when that was written down, that is written in stone. With them, there is no changing it. They cannot go back and undo a law. So when it's written, it's done. And the only way something could be done, and we'll look at that later on in just a little bit, is that another law had to be written to counteract that law. They could never actually just go back and erase one. Now, where does that apply to us today? Folks, there is a law that is more solid and that is more everlasting. than the law of the Medes and the Persians. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. That's a given. That's a guarantee. Folks, you see, the thing about the law of the Medes and the Persians, the Medes and the Persians are no longer an empire. They are what we look at as ancient history. But folks, God stands forever. And as long as God stands, His law stands true. Folks, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Now, here's the thing. That includes us all. That includes us all. Folks, and God cannot go back on His Word. He does not go back on His Word. So I said, there was another law that had to be made. Folks, and that's our Lord Jesus Christ. And for whosoever will that we come to Him and repent of their sins, and believe the Gospel that Christ died according to the Scriptures, that He was buried according to the Scriptures, that He rose again the third day, Scriptures promises that you will be saved Folks what a glorious thing But we see the king here now. I want you to see one more. I want you to see a couple more I want us to look at a man by the name of Mordecai And we're going to kind of be bouncing a little bit here at the beginning Let's go to chapter 2 if you will Chapter 2 now this is after what we see that it happened with King has to wear us and with the Vashti and Now we'll go to verse 5, it says, Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. I want to end here on verse 7, we're going to find another character I want us to look at. It says, And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter. For she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful, whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter. So we find Mordecai, a Benjamite. And we see Esther, or Hadassah, who later becomes king, who becomes queen, as we will see. And now I want us to see one more character, if we can. Now, Chapter 3, in verse 1, if you will. Chapter 3 in verse 1, it says, after these things did King Ahasuerus promote Haman, the son of Hamadathah, the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes that were with him. I'm gonna stop right there. Now, that's an interesting thing. It says, Haman, the son of Hamadathah, the Agagite. That actually is pretty significant. You see, you get into, when most people in scripture, when they're showing themselves, you look at what you saw with Mordecai. He was a Benjamite. They labeled him by tribe, or by their actual, their nationality, if you will. This was something I found very interesting. Because when you get to Haman, that is not a nationality. That's a family line. says Haman the son of Hamadathah the Agagite what that does is that directly links Haman as a direct family member of Agag the Amalekite king think back to 1st Samuel chapter 15 if you will I won't have us turn over there for sake of time what you had happen in 1st Samuel 15 is the Lord gives Saul a commandment He says, I want you to go and destroy the Amalekites. To a man. He says, I want you to destroy every man, every woman, every child, every animal that they had. Because of what they had done to my children when they were wandering in the wilderness. And Saul gets out there. He comes back and says, I've done what the Lord required. And then the Lord tells Samuel at night, he says, it repented me. that I made Saul king. And then the Lord tells Saul something, or tells Samuel something, if you will. Saul hadn't exactly followed everything the Lord had told him to, right? So Samuel goes to meet Saul. Saul tells him again, he says, I've done everything that the Lord's required of me. Samuel says, oh, really? What's the bleeding of sheep I hear? You see, what he had done, he had left Agag the king. still alive and carried him back as a prisoner, along with the best of the flock, the best of the animals. Folks, I say that to say this, this is the same Agag that we find here. And we start to see a little bit of the far-reaching consequences of sin. Folks, sin affects more than just you. Look at David. My sin affects more than just me. our sin affects far more than just us. You look at the death that was caused in the life of David, and I won't have us turn over there, but when David looked upon Bathsheba and lusted after her, and then tried to cover it up, he covered it up with murder. So you see a relationship between David and the Lord died for a while. There was a death there. Not only was there a death there, there was a death in Uriah the Hittite. There was a death of that child. And then there was a promise that the Lord had given David. He said that the sword will never depart from your house. And violence followed him all the rest of his house. Folks, our sin goes far deeper. Our sin goes far deeper than we can understand. now if I've set that up right or well enough I should say we see that old enemy that is once again after God's people because you see when Haman got promoted Haman initially just wanted to kill Mordecai Because after Haman's promotion, it was commanded that everyone would bow before him. And everyone did, with the exception of Mordecai. Because Mordecai would bow to no one but the Lord. And here's what we see happen. Because initially, Haman just wanted to kill Mordecai. Until he found out that Mordecai was a Jew. Then he wanted to kill all the Jews. We find that old enemy. back to the same thing that he's always done now I say that to say this say where does Providence come into this folks there is no such thing as an accident let's remember that you see what this it blows my mind the way that the world thinks sometimes it thinks that everything happens by some kind of crazy accident And I'm not even going to dive into the evolution thing. We'll be here all night. But folks, nothing happens by accident. Which means that everywhere through there, there is an unseen hand that is guiding everything that we do. That is guiding all the circumstances that we see. Now, I understand the textbook definition for providence, that the day-to-day interaction of God in the lives of his people. But a dear friend of mine had a different definition, and I really like this one. He had said this, he had said that providence is a hand of God in the glove of history. And that glove will never move until he moves it. Providence is the hand of God and the glove of history. And that glove will never move until he moves it. And you can thank Brother Fayard for that one. Dear, dear friend of mine, Brother Cecil Fayard, love him to death. But I want us to think on something here. And I want us to really think on Providence And the first thought I want us to look at, folks, is that sometimes providence can be perplexing at times. It doesn't always make sense to us, does it? And one of the ones that I found when I'd study this and my mind had drifted back, if you want a life of someone that didn't make sense on the surface, I love studying the life of Joseph. Joseph was such a wonderful, wonderful study. But I want you to think about something there in the life of Joseph. Because you see, Joseph had a vision. The Lord had given Joseph a vision and a dream. That he told his family that one day all of his brothers would bow before him and his father. And then Joseph's thrown down a well by his brothers. sold into slavery into Egypt. Bought by Potiphar and taken to the house of Potiphar. Accused of a gross impropriety with his wife and thrown into prison. By this point, from everything I can understand, he's still a young man, barely 20. Spends a good deal of time in Pharaoh's jail. before being promoted to the second highest office in the entire land of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself. You look at the life of Joseph and when you stop at the well, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Then you stop in jail. Being sent in jail and accused for a crime that you never committed, I can get in the flesh a little bit and I can understand, but that might not make a whole lot of sense. But isn't it interesting, you jump near the end of Joseph's life, and when Joseph's reunited with his brothers, he tells them something. He said, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. Because here's the thing about that one, Joseph, with that way that didn't make a whole lot of sense. The Lord set Joseph up as the second highest person in the land of Egypt to prepare for a drought to then save his own family and to save a people that God had called unto himself. When I think about that, I think also on the life of Moses. I'm just going to give us a couple of examples right here. About the time of the birth of Moses, The Pharaoh of Egypt had given a commandment that all the males of the children of Israel were to be killed. Moses' mother put him in a basket and set him loose in the Nile. To be found by the daughter of Pharaoh, and of all places, raised in the house of Pharaoh, to kill an Egyptian, to run and spend 40 years wandering in the wilderness, to then go back to that same court, different Pharaoh, same court, but to go back to the court of Pharaoh with a different commandment, to let my people go. That same Moses, would then lead the nation of Israel and the children of Israel up out of Egypt. Now God was the one that prepared the way. Let's not make any mistake on that. God was the one that prepared the way. But when you look at the life of Moses, on the surface it doesn't make sense. spend all this time, to grow up in the court, to grow up in the house of Pharaoh, and the house of the one that ordered the slaughter of every male of the children of Israel, every male child, to grow up in his house, and then 40 years later come back to his court. Folks, what I'm trying to tell us and what I'm trying to get us to see is that there are times, not everything makes sense in our lives. Not everything makes sense in our circumstances. And this is the thing that it's, when we think that that's difficult to see, I want us to think on this. And sometimes this is a tough pill to swallow. But folks, there are times where God uses wicked men to accomplish His will. There are times where God uses wicked men to accomplish His will. You look at the life of Joseph. That same Pharaoh I find no account in the Word of God of a repentance on his behalf. Which means that was a pagan king that exited this life wholly unprepared to meet the God of the universe. Yet why was he there? He was there to promote Joseph. and to save a people. That same Pharaoh, not the same person, that same office, I should say, a couple hundred years later, in the book of Exodus, he gets told the exact reason that he's there. Shortly before the last plague goes, the Lord sends Moses before Pharaoh one more time, and he tells him something. He says, for this cause, for this purpose I raised you up why that I may show my power in you he raised him up to destroy him you think about that the Lord raised up that Pharaoh to show his power on him and to lead out the children of Israel by a mighty hand And you go on a little bit later into the book of Exodus and you find the remembrance in there on what Passover was and what they're reminded of. Is what? Is it for this reason that Passover is there? It says that we were slaves and we are now free. But what? That God brought us out with a mighty hand. Why? So that the whole world may know the hand of God. Folks, there are times that God uses wicked men to accomplish His purpose. Now, here's the thing, and this is the second thought I want us to think on when we think on providence, and this is the thing, is that providence does have a purpose. There is a purpose for it. Providence is there to accomplish the will of God God's will be done Now I want us to see something here And this was the thing when we see providence and deliverance and we see that all throughout those stories But when Abraham was still on this earth the Lord showed him a vision of the children of Israel going down into Egypt and then coming back out a mighty army and but I want you to see something here when you get to Mordecai and you get to Esther you look into this and I want us to see something here I want us to see two things I want to see the humility of Esther but I want us to see your submission and there's a reason for this go back to our main text it says then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther 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 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? Jump on, and we'll keep reading in verse 15. It says, Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer, 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. I want us to see something here. Because folks, the circumstances that got, that put Esther where she was at this time might not make sense on the surface when we look at it. We've already looked at that. We saw what got over there. But folks, make no mistake, it is not by accident. And here's the thing. We look at Esther, and we see a humility here. This is a queen, by the way, who is now listening, granted it was a family member. But he was not, Mordecai was not one of the princes. Yet she's listening to him. Folks, it would help us to learn to take advice. It would help us to learn to take advice from about anyone that'll give it to us. We can learn a whole lot. Now sometimes, now I don't want you to misunderstand me on that one. Some of the advice that the world has to give us isn't exactly the best in the world. But folks, I guess what I'm saying is I think we need a good dose of humility. I think we could use a good dose of humility. It's good for us. But here's the thing. We also see a submission here. Because this is what we find Mordecai telling Esther, because Esther originally hadn't heard about what was going on. When Haman made a commandment and actually had it written in the law of the Medes and the Persians, to have the Jews killed. This is when Mordecai tells Esther what's happening, and then treats her to go to the king. And as anyone else, she essentially writes back, and you can look at it a little bit earlier in this chapter, and says, you know the law of the Medes and the Persians, if I haven't been summoned, I'm dead. If I go into that court, if I go into the presence of the king, having not been summoned, I am dead. Unless he holds out the scepter. So Mordecai answers back and tells her, your people are dying. Your people are going to die. And if you think that you're going to escape it, you're kidding yourself. It says, because the Lord will deliver His people, but because you did nothing, you will die. The Lord will deliver His people, but because you did nothing, you will die. Says and who knows this may be the whole reason that you're here But we see a submission here because that's when she writes back to him She says fast for three days And I'll go before the king And if I die I die Now the third thing I want us to see and I promise I'm wrapping it up the power that Providence has I want us to see the power of Providence because here's the thing and I've said it before and I'm going to keep saying it folks God's will will always be accomplished despite what this world may think despite the best efforts of that old enemy God's will will be accomplished. See, here's the thing, no matter what this world may think, no matter what this world may want, it is still God that is in charge. And He always will be. Folks, when we look at what the world wants, you ever think about that? Why you see so many things go in, why you see things turn the way they are. While you see history being unwritten or rewritten, while you have people thinking, you know, search whatever within yourself and find your own truth or whatever it is they want to say nowadays. When you have everything that's going on, you have people that are so confused. I understand that it's depravity. And we understand that it's depravity. Folks, there's something else in there too. Because here's the thing. what this world wants is to serve their own God. They want to serve themselves. They want to be the ones in charge. And folks, no matter what this world may think, it is always God who is in charge, and He always will be. Now, When we think back over things, and we think back on the providence of God, God uses many different tools to accomplish His will. Look throughout Scripture. God's used many different tools to accomplish His will. These were some stuff I found interesting. When you just take back, when you take a little bit of time and look at that, and it brought me back to Jonah. I love studying the prophet Jonah. You see, here's the thing about Jonah. And this is when I say when God is in charge. Folks, God is in charge in such a way that this world can't fathom. They can't fathom it. See, Jonah tried to run from God. This was something I always found interesting. When Jonah tried to run from Nineveh, when he was given a command to go to Nineveh, and he tried to run. He ran down to Joppa and then went to try to go to Tarshish. He went about as far as he could. Nineveh sits on the Tigris River, right outside of modern-day Mosul, Iraq. Tarshish, where he was trying to go to, was a city in the southernmost province of Spain, almost to the country of Gibraltar, clear across the Mediterranean Sea. He tried to run clear to the other side of the world. Well, folks, when God wants to get your attention, He gets your attention. As I've said before, I think God's the only one that when He wanted to get the attention of a prophet, He threw a hurricane at him. Could you look at what happens here with Jonah? Jonah tries to run, and the Lord sends a hurricane after him. And when you look into that there, the idea there was that it was hurled at him. God is the only one that when He wants to get a hold of someone, throws a hurricane at them. There is no one else that can do that. No one else. We see a basket and a river in the love of a mother. I'm reminded in the Gospels when the Lord got into a ship with his disciples He said, and let us go over to the other side. And there were also with him other little ships. And as they go over, a hurricane comes, or a tempest comes, a storm comes, which on the Sea of Galilee, they actually had full-blown hurricanes on the Sea of Galilee, from the way the wind comes down off of Mount Hermon. But it got to such a point that it got the disciples' attention, because they thought they were going to die. They were about to find something else about our Lord and Savior. And here was the thing. Because in that, Jesus was asleep in the ship. He was still with them in that storm. Folks, sometimes circumstances in our lives don't always make sense. The Lord has a whole bunch of different ways of getting our attention. But child of God, throughout it all, we are never alone. It's the thing we need to remember. We are never alone. Because he's still with us in the ship. But we find the Lord called in a storm with just his voice. And the disciples wondered one to another and marveled one to another. And they said, what manner of man is this that even the winds and the seas obey his voice? And I've looked at that. And we look at these different things and these different tools that the Lord used. But folks, the Lord uses people too. Something we need to remember. And it's important for us to remember. I'd heard it said, and they've got a point, and I can't remember who it was that said it, so I can't credit him. But he said on this earth, the Lord doesn't have physical hands on this earth anymore. We are His hands. Folks, we are His feet. Have you ever thought about something? For some people, and the figure that I've seen is a few years old, but it was some 75% of people that never actually heard the gospel. Now, that's not worldwide. That's here. That's in America. I say that to say this, folks. Sometimes you may be the only Jesus that someone sees. You may be the only representative of Christ that someone sees. We may be the only representative that someone sees. What are we showing them? Something to think about. 1 Corinthians 1.18, I've got it written here, and I promise I'm wrapping up. It says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe and I want us to think of two things here for just a moment and I promise I'm wrapping up when we look into Esther and we look at the life of Esther we look at Esther and we look at Haman When we look at things that have gone on there, when we see the providence of God, you have two things, and I want you to consider two things. We have objects or tools, and we have obstacles to providence. There are objects or tools of providence, and there are obstacles to it. What was Haman trying to do? He was trying to destroy people that God had called unto himself. He stood in the face of God and wanted to do his own thing. Folks, we see a submissive heart in Esther. And we see an object of providence here. We see a tool. Because as the story continues on in Esther, what you find is that not only did the Lord use Esther to get to the king, But after the second banquet that she threw for the king and for Haman, it came out that Haman was the one that was trying to destroy her people. And when the king heard it, he left in anger. And when Haman was trying to save his own skin, he grabbed a hold of the queen on her bed right as the king came in. And after the king threw a fit, Haman was hung on his own gallows. Folks, the thing about obstacles, to the providence of God's will, obstacles are something to be removed. And God's will will always be accomplished. Obstacles are removed. Objects or tools are used. And I want to leave us with that thought for the children of God. Which are we? What are we? Folks, God has called a people unto Himself. But He didn't tell us who they are. So we preach to whosoever will. Folks, are we an object of God's providence? A tool that He's used. As I said, we are where we are. There are no accidents with God. Which means we are where we are exactly where and when we are supposed to be. Are we submissive to His will? Or we can be used by Him? Folks, we don't know who it is that we come across. As the children of God, are we objects or are we acting as obstacles? I can't answer that for you. So I encourage you to look at yourself. Folks, it's good for us to do a self-checkup sometimes. Think about it. Are we being an object? Are we submissive to His will? Or are we an obstacle? Folks, the thing about people, we hate sin. But folks, we must love the people. We have to have a love for people. Folks, God loves people. You ever think about that? Because if God didn't love people, he wouldn't have saved any of us. And another thing I want us to think on is that every single one of us here who is a child of God, we are a byproduct of someone else's labor. Every single one of us, we are a byproduct of someone else's labor. Because someone was submissive to the will of God with a heart for people and came to you with the most precious and most important thing that is in this world. That person was an object, a tool. A tool of providence. Are we tools? Or are we obstacles? Something to consider and to think about. I've got a poem, I've got some, a poem here. It says, I'm only one. but still I am one says I cannot do everything but I can do something and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do folks we don't know who we're gonna meet We cannot do everything. Everything is not up to us. And I'm very thankful for that. But folks, we've been given a command. Go you therefore into all the world and preach the gospel. Folks, that's on us. And that is something that we can do. Center friend. I don't know the heart of anyone here tonight. I wouldn't pretend to Center friend. If you're you're not here tonight by accident, you're not here tonight by accident. Your friend tomorrow was never guaranteed. We're not guaranteed tomorrow. Something I've always said, tomorrow is a fake thing that we chase after. Tomorrow doesn't exist. Because you see, by the time we get to tomorrow, it's today. And we're once again chasing tomorrow. And we chase tomorrow getting to today over and over again until today finally runs out. And then what next? And then we face eternity. Center friend, tomorrow is not guaranteed. So friend, I would plead with you to flee from the wrath to come. And flee to Christ. But for the redeemed child of God. Folks, providence is a glorious thing. The providence of God is a glorious thing. And I love the providence of God. God's will will always be accomplished. Are we objects or are we obstacles? Brother, I'll turn the service back over to you.