Thank you very much indeed, dear pastor, for this warm welcome here. Throughout my life, we have had many, many friends in our church in America. I'm sitting, I've been sitting beside my best friend, Hunter God. all my life. For all that he's meant to the Lord and to me, and for how rich our fellowship has been, I thank God for it. Let us read this morning from the book of Esther. Esther chapter 4, reading verses 1 to 17. I brought up my own Bible, so maybe reading another version, but we'll see. Esther chapter 4, verses 1 to 17. We read the whole of this chapter. When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry. He went up to the entrance of the king's gate, for no one was allowed to enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth. And in every province, wherever the king's command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews. with fasting and weeping and lamentation, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes. When Esther's young woman and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai so that he might take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was. Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king's gate. And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him. and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and command her to go to the king to beg his favor and plead with him on behalf of her people. And Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say, all the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come into the king these thirty days." And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this.' Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf. And do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.' Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him." May the Lord bless this passage to us as we reflect upon it this morning. The early 21st century is not an easy time to be a Christian. Our culture is collapsing. The church as a whole is in crisis. Lives of believers are very busy and often stressful. A modern commentary on this book says, some of us are living in post-Christendom. where we need to live out our faith in a world where we cannot name God directly. How can we react to this? I think we can learn best from this past crisis, the book of Esther, how one person, and that one person can be you or me, how one person made a key contribution to the kingdom of God. Throughout history, quite a number of Christians don't like the book of Esther. They don't regard it as to be put in the Bible in any way. It doesn't deserve to go into the Bible. Martin Luther never wrote a commentary on the book of Esther. John Calvin never wrote a commentary on the book of Esther. In Esther, there are 167 verses. And in those verses, there are 190 references to the king of Persia. 190 references in 160 verses. There is not one single reference to the king of kings. the King of Israel. Not one. There's no reference to the covenant of God. There's no reference to prayer. There's no reference to the temple. There's no reference to the promised land. There is no direct mention anywhere of the Lord God. Why should it be in the Bible? Well, when we get into it, we find out that it is, from beginning to end, a God-honoring book. You probably remember the history. The Jews were exiled. They lived out in the Persian Empire. Now, they've returned to Palestine. But many of them haven't. They have stayed on in the empire. And they're now under King Ahasuerus, of Persia. And this king has recently divorced his wife and he's married a beautiful Jewish orphan, a young woman called Esther. It's a time also when ethnic cleansing is coming. The prime minister is a man called Haman and he hates the Jews and he wants them killed So he's planning for action that will wipe out the Jewish nation in this Persian Empire. Mordecai is Esther's uncle. Her father and mother, we presume, are dead. And Mordecai comes now and he urges this young Jewish woman whom he loves, who is married to the king, to go to her royal husband and to plead for the nation. And I'd like us this morning for a time to focus on one verse, perhaps the most famous verse in the book of Esther. Chapter 4, verse 14. The uncle is speaking to this young girl. For if you keep silent at this time, Relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Then here's the key part. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this. And that's the part of the verse that I would like to bring before you today. to each of us. Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. And as we look at this, I want us to look at four angles. First of all, the responsibility we must recognize. The responsibility we must recognize. Esther is obviously staggeringly beautiful. She's been chosen from a vast number of young women to be the king's new wife. But we know very little else about Esther. And yet we do know that there has been a dramatic change in her life, in her vulnerable, damaged life, She was an exile. She was a Jewess. She was an orphan. That's who she was. And now she's the queen, the beloved one of the mighty great emperor. As Mordecai says to her, you have come to the kingdom. You have come to the kingdom. And Mordecai is asking her, why has this happened to you? Why have you come to the kingdom? Why are you the king's wife? And surely he says to her, it's not just for your own benefit. It's so that you may deliver your own people, your own nation. And he discerns here the purpose of the unmentioned God. This is why it has happened. Friends, it happened, it happens for us too. The responsibility we must recognize. We, many of us, have come to the kingdom, haven't we? We've come to the kingdom of God. We have been saved from our sin. We have been given a new nature. We're the sons and the daughters of God in a new way. We know the indwelling Spirit. We're blessed with fellowship from others in Christ, in God. God uses the powers of our minds and our bodies God blesses us with our time and our talents. We know the fellowship of the church. We're surrounded by people who truly love us and pray for us and live with us for the cause of Christ. Why has this happened? Why has this happened to you? We need to move from personal enjoyment to personal responsibility. A writer about a hundred years ago, James Stoker, says, We all begin like Esther, the center of all things to ourselves, proud of our own abilities and eager to shine But a transfiguring moment comes when the thought first penetrates us that perhaps this is not the purpose for which we have received these gifts from God. It's not just that we may live happy, jolly lives. God has another purpose. God is another reason. You know, we sing in Psalm 116, what shall I render to the Lord for all the gracious benefits he has bestowed on me? The responsibility we must recognize. He's loved us. He's cleansed us. He's renewed us. He has enriched us. Why are we in the kingdom? Why are you here today? We must recognize that responsibility. Perhaps if I could say something, just a sentence, I don't know the congregation here, but there may well be some here and you're not yet unconverted. You've not yet come to Christ. but your friends have brought you, and you've enjoyed the fellowship of the place. Why? What's God's purpose in this? Why has he brought you here? Think about it. Recognize your responsibility. God has given us these things. What for? What for? Not just living a jolly personal life. But then secondly, there's a burden we must refuse. There's a burden we must refuse. It's good to be responsible, but it's crushing to be too responsible. To be too responsible. To build too big loads on ourselves. In God's work we see a beautiful balance. Mordecai so easily could have said to his niece, if you don't help us, you're the queen, you're the only one in the palace. We don't have anybody else there. You're the only one we can depend on and if you don't help us, we're lost. He could have said that thinking he was pressurising her. Do you remember the courageous statement he makes, if you don't help us, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place. It's not that we depend on you for our lives. It's not, Esther, that we lean on you for our salvation, for our being kept, for our children. No. We might have told Esther that everything depended on her. But Mordecai has a strong faith, and that leads him to tell the truth. The Jewish people were in a terrible situation here. In the dark night which surrounds them, there's only one bright star shining, and it's Esther. Everywhere else there was darkness, But her uncle has courage. Her uncle has faith. Yes, Esther, you've a great work to do, but if you turn away from this work, somehow, even if you fail, God will never abandon his people. Salvation will come. God's cause is safe As he makes clear to Esther, relief and deliverance will rise. And friends, that's a vital principle. When we look at people of God and we want them to serve God fully, more fully than they do, it's easy for us to lay on them a big burden. We need you. God needs you. There's a little hymn that the Victorians sang in the 19th century. Christ has no hands but our hands to do his work today. That was to convince the people. But no, no, that's never true. That's never true. Christ has hands. Christ has people. He wants something from you that's important. But if you refuse and you turn away, his cause will not be lost. You remember how God says to his people in Psalm 50, verse 12, If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. As we read Paul in Acts 17, 25, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything. God's cause is safe. God's elect is safe. His purposes will be filled. Our Lord Jesus said with power, I will build my church. I cause you To help me, I call you to help me. I call you to obey me. I call you to stand into the place I've given you. But if you refuse, if you refuse, I will build my church. And in the past, that has been why some of God's servants have broken down. They take on a burden that God hasn't given them. They feel that everything is laid on you and me and we have to do it and if we don't do it, it won't be done. Martin Luther had a young friend called Philip Melanchthon. And Philip was very urgent and very earnest and giving himself to all the work all the time. And once Luther said, let Philip stop running the world. Let Philip stop running the world. He's enthusiastic. But don't step with that into doing away from God's will. We remember that. We remember that about the work of the church. We do our best. We give all, but it's in God's hands. We remember that about one or two of our children. who have shown no trust in God, no likeness of Christ, no awareness at all. And we've prayed for years and years, and we've taught them, and we've done everything, and they still do nothing. Leave it in God's hands. It's in God's hands. You and I don't have to succeed. I will commit, sorry, the psalmist says, commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust Him. He'll do it all. The burden we must refuse. The burden of absolute, total responsibility. That's not ours. And then thirdly, the tragedy we must avoid. The tragedy we must avoid. And again, there's a balance The sovereignty of God for many Christians is a usable excuse. I'm not going to do anything, but I believe my Lord is sovereign and he'll look after it and he'll do anything that needs to be done, so I don't worry. We can smile at John Ryland, who said something to the young man, William Carey, at a meeting of Baptist leaders in the late 1700s. William Carey wanted foreign mission. He was always pleading and speaking for foreign mission with his colleagues. And the old man stood up and said, young man, sit down. You are an enthusiast. When God pleases to convert the heathen, he will do it. without consulting you or me. When God wants us to do something, he'll do it without consulting you or me, and that leaves us in a remarkably easy and comfortable position. But such unconscious paralysis sometimes invades any of us, and it's a real danger. The Lord will do it. And Mordecai points here to the tragedy which is to be avoided. For if you keep silent at this time, you and your father's house will perish. If you keep silent at this time, if you refuse this responsibility, you turn away and say you're not going to do anything with it, your house will perish. It's an obvious temptation. What Mordecai was urging was a very, very high risk to go and speak to the king. We read it in verse 11, where Esther says, if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law to be put to death, except for one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter. But as for me, I have not been called to come into the king for 30 days. You're saying to me, Mordecai, go into the king. I have not been called to go into the king. And those who go in without being called, they die. They die. That's what you're asking of me as a believer in God. But Mordecai is remorseless. If you keep silent, you will perish. She can't opt out. She can't deny her responsibility without loss and damage to herself. She will suffer somehow if she plays a card and avoids her duty. And friends, we can be tempted to opt out in the same way as too many believers do. I've met people who call themselves reformed, but what they call themselves is very mistaken and mixed up. What they mean is, God will do everything. I need to do nothing, and that shows me being reformed and believing in a powerful God. It's nonsense. The cost of involvement seems high. And so there's a solemn warning from Jesus to the disciples about taking up the cross. You've read it, I'm sure. Whoever wants to save his life will lose it. Whoever wants to save his life will lose it. There's much we don't understand about ourselves. Our salvation may be assured. We may be going definitely to heaven. But there can also be with us the tragedy of talents which have never been used. I don't expect many of you saw a film made in 1954 on the waterfront. Marlon Brando, he's acting a boxer, and he says in the film as he's going along, I could have been somebody. I could have been a contender. I could have been somebody. Friends, we don't want to come towards the end of our Christian lives. Yes, I'm going to heaven. I'll be with God. But then there's a sense in which I could have been someone else. Tragedy. Avoid it. And then lastly, there's here an opportunity we must grasp. An opportunity we must grasp. Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this. Such a time as this. A dark, frightening time. Ahasuerus was a madman. I used to study him when I was studying Greek history at school. We called him Xerxes. He was trying to invade Greece. It failed. He beheaded all his engineers. He committed, he whipped the sea. because it wouldn't accept a bridge over it. A madman, a foolish madman, and Esther's married to him, and she's calling out a favor. I've not been called to come to the king. And the favor man, Haman, is the implacable enemy of the Jews. And Esther may have said to herself, I wish my life had been different. I wish it had been another time. No, Mordecai says, this is your perfect time. All has been overruled. The king's brutality, Vashti's beauty, Esther's bravery, and now she's a unique opportunity to serve God and her people. So I'm saying to you on behalf of God, this today, and the coming week, and the coming year, this is your time. This is your time. This is the time which God has given you. You might wish another time. You might wish a different personality. You might wish that God had given you a different history in your family life. You might wish different present circumstances in your life. But all that's wrong. A Scotsman, Alexander White, was writing 130 years ago, and he says, we are what God has made us to be and to do. We are in that circle, And amid those opportunities, which are the very best, all the power and all the wisdom and all the love of God can provide for this. You have come for such a time as this. And God calls us to grasp our opportunities, to say that we want to serve God as much as we can. We have a mediator. We will be with the Lord forever and ever. We can use this and all the other privileges he has given us to grasp opportunities. I was struck by a speech made by Winston Churchill on the 29th of October 1941. He was speaking in Harrow Public School to a group of students who were going to come out with their education completed. A deep, deep crisis. The Second World War at a bad time. And he says to these men, young men, these are not dark days. These are great days. And we must all thank God that we have been allowed, each of us according to our stations, to play a part in making these days great in the history of our world. Esther grasped her time. She could have been a forgotten Oriental plaything. There are tens of thousands of little princesses like Esther. We know nothing of them. We've never heard of them. We never will. But we know Esther. And all the world knows her. And we'll know her to all eternity. And we'll meet her in heaven. So may we live our lives as examples to many people. It's something I meant to bring, but I forgot to bring it because we were rushing with our luggage. It was something that was given to me nearly 52 years ago in one of these two churches, because in 1967 and 68, I worshipped in your churches when I was at seminary. And one day, a very, very gracious lady came and asked me to do something. She asked me to teach four weeks in your Sabbath school. I don't know why she asked me. But she gave me, as a reward, a book by John Murray, full of theology. Gene Hemphill. Jean Hemphill. How kind you are. How very, very encouraging you are. A young man who'd never been asked to do anything. And suddenly, for some reason, she asks me to teach a church, teach a class. And all my life, I've remembered it. And friends, you and I are living every day with opportunities that we can use for God. And may God enable us to do that. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Let us bow our heads in prayer. O Lord our God, We thank you for your word. We thank you that we can come even to the edge of it and here and there understand some things that had not meant much to us before. We thank you for Esther. We thank you for all those centuries ago where she was living such a very lonely life, where her future was dark and uncertain. and for her beloved uncle who cared for her. We thank you, O God, that he called her to act in courage for the sake of the Lord God and his people. And she did it, Lord. And we pray, Lord, that you will be with us in the coming week. And in all the things that we're asked to do, we will show something of Christ, and use it so that other people, through what we've done, may be brought to blessing. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.