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And the Walls Came Tumbling Down │ Msg 912 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: There is no scene in life so dark that God
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  Speaker 1: cannot brighten it. There's no writing so permanent that he
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  Speaker 1: cannot change it and even erase it. In fact, there
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  Speaker 1: is no heart so hard that he cannot soften it,
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  Speaker 1: even if that heart resides in the most powerful person
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  Speaker 1: on the planet. King Ahasuerus had a vast empire. His
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  Speaker 1: word was final law. which gave him absolute power over
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  Speaker 1: all his people. This same influential man had in fact
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  Speaker 1: promoted the Jew-hater Haman, who then devised a plan to
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  Speaker 1: exterminate all the Jews in the empire, a plan that
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  Speaker 1: King Ahasuerus had ratified. And yet, in Esther chapter 8,
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  Speaker 1: we will witness an absolutely amazing thing. To set the
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  Speaker 1: stage for all of this, I want to read for
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  Speaker 1: you the chapter out of the New American Standard Bible.
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  Speaker 1: I'm referring to Esther chapter 8. Listen carefully to these
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  Speaker 1: magnificent words. On that day, King Ahasuerus gave the house
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  Speaker 1: of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Queen Esther.
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  Speaker 1: And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had disclosed
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  Speaker 1: what he was to her. the king took off his
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  Speaker 1: signet ring, which he had taken away from Haman, and
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  Speaker 1: gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the
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  Speaker 1: house of Haman. Then Esther spoke again to the king,
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  Speaker 1: fell at his feet, wept and implored him to avert
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  Speaker 1: the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite and his plot,
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  Speaker 1: which he had devised against the Jews. The king extended
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  Speaker 1: the golden scepter to Esther. So Esther arose and stood
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  Speaker 1: before the king. Then she said, If it pleases the king,
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  Speaker 1: and if I have found favor before him, and the
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  Speaker 1: matter seems proper to the king, and I am pleasing
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  Speaker 1: in his sight, let it be written to revoke the
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  Speaker 1: letters devised by Haman. the son of Hamadathah, the Agagite,
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  Speaker 1: which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in
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  Speaker 1: all the king's provinces. For how can I endure to
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  Speaker 1: see the calamity which will befall my people? And how
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  Speaker 1: can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?
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  Speaker 1: So King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai
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  Speaker 1: the Jew, Behold, I have given the house of Haman
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  Speaker 1: to Esther, and him they have hanged on the gallows,
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  Speaker 1: because he had stretched out his hands against the Jews.
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  Speaker 1: Now you write to the Jews as you see fit
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  Speaker 1: in the king's name, and seal it with the king's
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  Speaker 1: signet ring, for a decree which is written in the
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  Speaker 1: name of the king and sealed with the king's signet
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  Speaker 1: ring may not be revoked. Now, verse 10, he, that's Mordecai,
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  Speaker 1: wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it
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  Speaker 1: with the king's signet ring and sent letters by couriers
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  Speaker 1: on horses, riding on steeds sired.
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  Speaker 2: By the royal stud.
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  Speaker 1: In them, the king granted the Jews who were in
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  Speaker 1: each and every city the right to assemble and to
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  Speaker 1: defend their lives to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate
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  Speaker 1: the entire army of any people or province which might
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  Speaker 1: attack them, including children and women, and to plunder their spoil.
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  Speaker 1: On one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus,
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  Speaker 1: the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, that is, the
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  Speaker 1: month of Adar. Verse 15. Then Mordecai went out from
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  Speaker 1: the presence of the king and in royal robes of
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  Speaker 1: blue and white, with a large crown of gold and
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  Speaker 1: a garment of fine linen and purple. And the city
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  Speaker 1: of Susa shouted and rejoiced. For the Jews, there was
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  Speaker 1: light and gladness and joy and honor. In each and
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  Speaker 1: every province and in each and every city, wherever the
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  Speaker 1: king's commandment and his decree arrived, There was gladness and
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  Speaker 1: joy for the Jews, a feast.
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  Speaker 2: And a holiday.
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  Speaker 1: And many among the peoples of the land became Jews,
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  Speaker 1: for the dread of the Jews had fallen on them.
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  Speaker 1: There is no wall that will not ultimately fall.
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  Speaker 2: Even though it may be imposing and longstanding, it will fall.
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  Speaker 2: Even though it may be as intimidating as an angry
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  Speaker 2: giant or as silent as thin air and just as invisible,
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  Speaker 2: like the stubborn will of a person or the bitter
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  Speaker 2: spirit of an individual, it will fall. All walls finally fall.
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  Speaker 2: Anyone who knows a little bit of history knows how
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  Speaker 2: true that is. Everywhere you go, it seems, especially on
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  Speaker 2: the continent and into Europe, you find walls that once
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  Speaker 2: were so formidable and strong and intimidating and high, people
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  Speaker 2: in their day thought they would never fall. And yet
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  Speaker 2: to this day, right into Middle East and into Egypt,
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  Speaker 2: this archaeologist's spade continues to unearth walls that have fallen.
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  Speaker 2: Great empires that looked like they would go on forever
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  Speaker 2: have fallen. Egyptian walls, Grecian walls, Roman walls, French walls,
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  Speaker 2: German walls. Ah, speaking of German walls. The cry can
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  Speaker 2: be heard all through the streets of Berlin. Freiheit! Freiheit!
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  Speaker 2: At last! Freedom at last! Songs that are usually reserved
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  Speaker 2: for soccer matches and birthday parties are now being sung
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  Speaker 2: in the streets near the historic Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie.
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  Speaker 2: In rough translation, such a beautiful day should last forever,
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  Speaker 2: they sing day and night. One man shouts, remember the
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  Speaker 2: 9th of November. Reminds me of when I was a
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  Speaker 2: little boy. Remember the Alamo? Not that I was living
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  Speaker 2: at the time, but I was in Texas at the time.
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  Speaker 2: Remember the 9th of November? While another man is hammering away,
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  Speaker 2: beating on the wall and handing out fragments of it
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  Speaker 2: to the crowd. And they are saying all over the city,
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  Speaker 2: the wall is gone, the wall is gone. One rather
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  Speaker 2: hardened man retired Air Force colonel who flew bombing missions
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  Speaker 2: over Berlin in the mid-40s, watched it all and said,
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  Speaker 2: I'm a hard old retired colonel, but I had tears
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  Speaker 2: in my eyes. To see people standing on a wall
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  Speaker 2: where once they would have shot, would have been shot,
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  Speaker 2: I could hardly take it all in. One radio station
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  Speaker 2: in West Germany, in West Berlin, said, this is Christmas,
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  Speaker 2: New Year's, and Easter all rolled into one. The remarkable
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  Speaker 2: thing is that the wall fell without a shot. 28
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  Speaker 2: Cold War years it has stood and been a bloodbath,
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  Speaker 2: not only dividing a city, dividing a country, but dividing
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  Speaker 2: a world, and the wall Has come tumbling down. I know.
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  Speaker 2: I know. Some of you skeptics are saying another shoe
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  Speaker 2: will fall. You just wait. I know. But first a
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  Speaker 2: wall has fallen. It has fallen. I look into the
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  Speaker 2: scriptures and I see similar situations. And I find myself
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  Speaker 2: asking why did we even have a wall in the
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  Speaker 2: first place? Why are there walls? Why are there walls?
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  Speaker 2: I love the moving words of the late Robert Frost,
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  Speaker 2: who writes in one of his pieces, Before I built
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  Speaker 2: a wall, I'd ask to know what I was walling
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  Speaker 2: in or walling out. And so should we. Egypt should
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  Speaker 2: have asked what it was walling in and what it
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  Speaker 2: was walling out, and it didn't for 430 years while
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  Speaker 2: the people of the Hebrews lived in abject slavery. until
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  Speaker 2: Moses came, and by the power of the living God,
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  Speaker 2: that wall came tumbling down. A few years later, Moses
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  Speaker 2: was gone. Joshua was there. They were invading the promised land.
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  Speaker 2: And they came to Jericho. There they were again. I've
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  Speaker 2: been singing all week long. Joshua fit the battle of Jericho.
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  Speaker 2: I've been watching this thing on television, sort of. Kids
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  Speaker 2: think I'm a little weird, but that's okay. They've been
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  Speaker 2: thinking that for years. And I think the walls came
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  Speaker 2: tumbling down. Jericho wasn't held by walls. The walls were
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  Speaker 2: as nothing in the presence of the living God. And
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  Speaker 2: Jerusalem's walls look so formidable, so strong. They flew their
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  Speaker 2: own flag under numerous kings. But Nebuchadnezzar the Great dropped
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  Speaker 2: those walls so that the text reads, Not one stone
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  Speaker 2: stood on top of another. It fell down flat, a
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  Speaker 2: la Joshua 620. The wall fell down flat. All walls
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  Speaker 2: finally fall. Nebuchadnezzar said it would never happen to him.
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  Speaker 2: His son Belshazzar was watching at a banquet, finger writing
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  Speaker 2: on the wall, and it said, your days are over, bud.
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  Speaker 2: Sort of a loose translation. You're finished. And that night,
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  Speaker 2: Darius the Great built another wall. 62-year-old Darius. The Medo-Persian Empire.
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  Speaker 2: It will never fall until Alexander the Great came, who
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  Speaker 2: finally was overthrown in his kingdom by Julius the Great,
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  Speaker 2: the Caesars. What wall would ever stand like Roman walls?
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  Speaker 2: And they have all fallen. All walls finally fall. Even
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  Speaker 2: our own. Even those built up against us, they fall.
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  Speaker 2: Remember the words of Corrie ten Boom. She said, there
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  Speaker 2: is no pit so deep, but that he is not
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  Speaker 2: deeper still. I thought this past week of a paraphrase,
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  Speaker 2: there is no wall so strong, but that he is
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  Speaker 2: not stronger still. All these things bring us to the
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  Speaker 2: little slice of history connected to the eighth chapter of
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  Speaker 2: the book of Esther, of all things. What would all
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  Speaker 2: of this have to do with Esther? Everything, really, everything.
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  Speaker 2: This is a chapter where a heart is so hard
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  Speaker 2: it seemed as though it would never change, and it changes.
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  Speaker 2: The wall of a heart comes tumbling down. Where an
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  Speaker 2: edict that was set in concrete by the law of
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  Speaker 2: the Medes and the Persians, and it looked like because
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  Speaker 2: it had been imprinted with the signet, ring of the king,
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  Speaker 2: would never fall. That wall is tumbling down. And the scene,
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  Speaker 2: the Jews as they lived, Like people in concentration camps
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  Speaker 2: awaiting the final death knell promised by Haman. The scene
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  Speaker 2: is so dark, but God brightens it. I think this
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  Speaker 2: passage is saying this. There is no heart so hard
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  Speaker 2: he cannot change. There is no writing so permanent he
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  Speaker 2: cannot erase. There is no scene so dark he cannot brighten. First,
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  Speaker 2: the heart. The heart. On that day, King Ahasuerus gave
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  Speaker 2: the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to
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  Speaker 2: Queen Esther. Now wait just a minute. Can this really be?
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  Speaker 2: Remember Ahasuerus, the story begins Go back. Esther chapter 1.
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  Speaker 2: He is the first main character when the curtain goes up.
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  Speaker 2: Act 1, scene 1. Xerxes, otherwise known as Ahasuerus, front
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  Speaker 2: and center. It took place in the days of Ahasuerus.
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  Speaker 2: This was the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia.
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  Speaker 2: How vast. Over 127 provinces, how powerful, in those days
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  Speaker 2: as King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne, which was
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  Speaker 2: in Susa the capital. That tells you a lot right there.
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  Speaker 2: This man is powerful. This is the man who just
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  Speaker 2: the movement of his hands caused people to live or die.
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  Speaker 2: This is the man who decided in chapter three to
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  Speaker 2: promote Haman, who hated the Jews, to the position of
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  Speaker 2: prime minister. This is the man who said to him, here,
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  Speaker 2: here is my ring. Another way of saying, take my
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  Speaker 2: credit card. You sign for me. You pass the edicts.
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  Speaker 2: Haman says to him in a period of time, I
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  Speaker 2: have a plan where we will rid this kingdom of
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  Speaker 2: people who despise you and stand against you And the
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  Speaker 2: king gives him his ring and says, sign the document.
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  Speaker 2: And the document is written, and it is nothing more
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  Speaker 2: than an extermination plan on hold. Within one year, the
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  Speaker 2: Jews will die. And dread swept over the city and
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  Speaker 2: across all 127 provinces because the king said, it shall
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  Speaker 2: be done. Chapter 8. This is the king who changes
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  Speaker 2: his mind. I mean, this is a man whose stubbornness
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  Speaker 2: can be compared to no other. And yet he is
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  Speaker 2: the one of all things who has listened to Esther's plea.
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  Speaker 2: who has seen to it that Haman, the recently appointed
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  Speaker 2: prime minister, is impaled on the gallows, this pole that
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  Speaker 2: is built 75 feet high near the home of Haman,
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  Speaker 2: upon which he had hoped to hang Mordecai. This is
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  Speaker 2: the king who touches Esther with the golden scepter and
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  Speaker 2: says to her, I care, I'm listening, I want to
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  Speaker 2: know what I can do. It is the one who
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  Speaker 2: gave the house of Haman to Queen Esther. There was
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  Speaker 2: evidence in extra-biblical literature, and I'm thinking here of Herodotus,
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  Speaker 2: that the property of condemned criminals reverted back to the crown.
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  Speaker 2: And so in this case, the property of Haman, a
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  Speaker 2: condemned criminal, now became Ahasuerus. But he doesn't keep it.
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  Speaker 2: He even gives Haman's estate to Esther who in turn
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  Speaker 2: gives it to Mordecai for Esther had disclosed what he
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  Speaker 2: meant to her. The verse concludes, the king took off
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  Speaker 2: his signet ring which he had taken away from Haman
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  Speaker 2: and he gave it to Mordecai of all things and
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  Speaker 2: Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. These are
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  Speaker 2: revolutionary events. And Esther spoke again to the king, fell
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  Speaker 2: at his feet, and wept. What is my point here?
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  Speaker 2: I think it's clear. There is no heart so stubborn
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  Speaker 2: that God cannot penetrate it and break through it. I
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  Speaker 2: think what it is saying is that there is no
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  Speaker 2: match for the living God. Hold your place and look
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  Speaker 2: at Proverbs 21, the first two verses. Will you do that?
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  Speaker 2: Living out in the lives of the people of Esther
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  Speaker 2: chapter 8 is the principle of Proverbs 21, 1 and 2.
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  Speaker 2: The king's heart is like channels of water in the
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  Speaker 2: hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wishes.
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  Speaker 2: Every man's way is right in his own eyes, but
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  Speaker 2: the Lord weighs the hearts. Look at the verses. The
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  Speaker 2: king's heart, we would say in everyday language, is like mush.
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  Speaker 2: It's like soft clay in the hands of the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: Would it be acceptable for you and your theology to
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  Speaker 2: imagine another name there besides the king? Be my guest.
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  Speaker 2: Someone that's giving you grief. Someone who represents a formidable presence.
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  Speaker 2: Someone whose face is on your dartboard. Somebody who haunts you.
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  Speaker 2: and maybe even hunts you down. that heart of that
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  Speaker 2: person that to you is so hard and so granite
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  Speaker 2: like is like mush and soft putty in the hands
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  Speaker 2: of the Lord The point is clear, there is no
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  Speaker 2: heart so stubborn that it becomes unbreakable in the hands
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  Speaker 2: of the Lord. Let me tell you a story. In
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  Speaker 2: another place and at another time in my life, I
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  Speaker 2: went through a dreadful experience with a person who decided
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  Speaker 2: to make me his enemy. I'm honest, as I am
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  Speaker 2: removed from it two decades, I still do not know why.
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  Speaker 2: It is a mystery. Nevertheless, it occurred. This individual decided to,
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  Speaker 2: whether he knew it or not, at least the beginning days,
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  Speaker 2: decided to make my life rather miserable. My every move
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  Speaker 2: was watched. Virtually every decision was questioned. My ministry was doubted.
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  Speaker 2: This person continued to apply pressure, sometimes to the point
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  Speaker 2: where I thought I would scream. I don't know how
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  Speaker 2: much he said to others, I never asked, but I
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  Speaker 2: know he said enough to me to know that what
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  Speaker 2: was once a close friendship degenerated. He was determined that
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  Speaker 2: I needed what? His presence? His bullying? His intimidation. I
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  Speaker 2: became a little more than frightened when I realized he
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  Speaker 2: carried a gun. And on an occasion I recall being
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  Speaker 2: threatened by it. Usually people like that don't display their weapons.
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  Speaker 2: He liked to. I remember going home one Sunday and
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  Speaker 2: falling across our bed, not even taking off my overcoat
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  Speaker 2: that winter day, and crying till I could not cry
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  Speaker 2: another tear. He had a heart like King Ahasuerus. I
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  Speaker 2: know whereof I speak. I'll share with you later how
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  Speaker 2: things changed, but the point I am making here is
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  Speaker 2: that you may have some such individual who is making
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  Speaker 2: it his or her delight to make your life miserable.
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  Speaker 2: You may work alongside them or you may have. You
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  Speaker 2: may have schooled with them or roomed with them. but
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  Speaker 2: they are dogging your steps. You may have once been
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  Speaker 2: married to them. There is no wall so strong that
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  Speaker 2: he is not stronger still. If God can change the
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  Speaker 2: heart of an Ahasuerus, why didn't God give him a
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  Speaker 2: name like Johnson or Smith? If God can change the
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  Speaker 2: heart of a Xerxes, he can change any heart, any heart.
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  Speaker 2: Listen to this. You who live your days intimidated and threatened,
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  Speaker 2: anxious over the falling of the next shoe, listen to this.
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  Speaker 2: God is able to take the heart of whoever and
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  Speaker 2: change it Just like he could take the heart of
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  Speaker 2: this king. Esther, verse 3, fell at his feet, wept,
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  Speaker 2: and implored him to do something. What's wrong? Well, Haman
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  Speaker 2: may be gone, but the edict has still been written.
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  Speaker 2: And you know how it is with those edicts from Medo-Persia.
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  Speaker 2: Listen to Daniel 6. Three times we read these words.
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  Speaker 2: Sign the document so that it may not be changed
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  Speaker 2: according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which
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  Speaker 2: may not be revoked. Daniel 6, 8. The statement is
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  Speaker 2: true according to the law of the Medes and the Persians,
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  Speaker 2: which may not be revoked. Daniel 6, 12. Recognize, O king.
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  Speaker 2: That it is a law of the Medes and Persians
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  Speaker 2: that no injunction or statute which the king establishes may
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  Speaker 2: be changed. Daniel 6, 15. It is written, it will
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  Speaker 2: be done. Haman may be gone, the edict is still intact.
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  Speaker 2: It has been written, it will be done. The Jews
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  Speaker 2: will die in December. So Esther weeps. It is a
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  Speaker 2: document that looks absolutely permanent. It is irrevocable. He extends
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  Speaker 2: the golden scepter, which is his way of saying, speak.
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  Speaker 2: I'm listening. Verse five. She said, if it pleases the
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  Speaker 2: king and if I have found favor before him and
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  Speaker 2: the matter seems proper to the king and I am
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  Speaker 2: pleasing in his sight. What a wonderful way for a
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  Speaker 2: wife to speak to a husband. No extra charge for that.
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  Speaker 2: Let it be written. Let it be written to revoke
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  Speaker 2: the letters devised by Haman. Let it be written. It's
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  Speaker 2: already written. But I'm pleading for revoking what has been written.
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  Speaker 2: Let it be revoked is what she's saying. Unheard of
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  Speaker 2: in the land of the Persians. She says in verse 6,
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  Speaker 2: how can I endure to see the calamity which shall
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  Speaker 2: befall my people? How can I endure to see the
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  Speaker 2: destruction of my kindred? Look, you wonder if there is
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  Speaker 2: a wall so thick that God cannot penetrate. You wonder
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  Speaker 2: if documents written in that day, just as documents written
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  Speaker 2: in our day, are permanent ink. So the king said
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  Speaker 2: to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, behold, I
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  Speaker 2: have given the house of Haman to Esther. And him
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  Speaker 2: they have hanged on the gallows because he had stretched
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  Speaker 2: out his hands against the Jews. Now, here. Here's the pen.
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  Speaker 2: Here's the stylus. You write to the Jews as you
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: see fit. Is that incredible? You write another law. You
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: write another one. By the way, you think it isn't
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: worth it to stand against wrong laws? You talk about
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: a reason to stand in favor of life and against abortion.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: You talk about a reason to fight and to affirm
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: truth Even though it looks like it will never change.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Here's an example. He says to her, you write it
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: as you see fit. Furthermore, he says, seal it with
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: the king's signet ring for a decree which is written
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: in the name of the king and sealed with the
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: king's signet ring may not be revoked. This one is
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: going to stand. This is it. Count on it. They
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: get together the machinery, they put it together. I love
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: the way this reads. Verse 10, he wrote in the
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: name of King Ahasuerus, sealed it with the king's signet ring,
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: sent letters by couriers on horses riding on steeds sired
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: by the royal stud. Isn't that good? That's great writing.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: These are the best horses with the finest couriers, the
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: most responsible record. Let them take the message to 127
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: provinces and spread the word. The Jews will live. I
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: love it. Absolutely amazing.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: 13.
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: A copy of the edict to be issued as law
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: in each and every province was published to all the
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: peoples so that the Jews should be ready for this
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: day to avenge themselves on their enemies. The Jews are
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: now protected. They now have their own defense provided by
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: the Persian law. No one can touch them. The couriers
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: hastened and impelled by the king's command went out riding
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: on the royal steeds and the decree was given out
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: in Susa the capital.
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: Hmm.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: You may not have some person after you. You may
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: have some document, something that's been written, some magazine article,
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: some newspaper article, some transcript, some occupational report, some lawsuit,
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: something written. that looks so intimidating, so unerasable. And you're
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: sitting here listening to these words thinking, yeah, but if
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: you only knew who's behind that. I don't care who's
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: behind that. I happen to serve a sovereign God. who
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: has yet to go when he finds anything on this earth.
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: Nothing we read frightens him. We live under the hand
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: of the Almighty. All the inhabitants of the earth are
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: as nothing, Daniel 4.35. He doeth according to his will
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: the earth. And none can stay his hand or say
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: unto him, what doest thou? None. What's the God you serve?
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: Child of God, that's the Lord you worship. My friend,
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: we live in a day when documents intimidate. I know.
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: But I'll tell you, it has an amazing result when
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: God steps in, who will rewrite all records. Not only
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: will every knee bow before him ultimately.
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: But.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: Every lie will be exposed, every falsehood forever forgotten. Be
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: encouraged if you happen to be living under the dread
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: of what has been written. It is not permanent. I
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: love the way the chapter ends. I like stories that,
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: you know, where everybody lives happily ever after. I even
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: like some fairy tales for that reason. Isn't that romantic
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: or what? I heard of a child whose mother was
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: telling her of Snow White and Seven Dwarfs. And finally,
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: the story ends where Prince comes and he finds her
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: and kisses her back to life. And the little girl's
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: telling her mother about this story. She's heard it at school,
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: and the mother's listening to her, and she doesn't finish.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: The mother says, and let me guess, they live happily
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: ever after. Well, the girl said, no, mother, they got married. Ah,
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: that's reality. But here, there is a gloom that has
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: set on the city of Susa and 126 of the
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: other provinces, and it cannot be penetrated. It would be
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: like a scene at Auschwitz or Dachau or Birkenau. No
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: one laughs there. I mean, every day is another movement
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: of the clock toward doom. But look, look. Then Mordecai
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: went out from the presence of the king in royal
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: robes of blue and white, with a large crown of
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: gold and a garment of fine linen and purple, and
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: the city of Susa shouted, isn't that great, and rejoiced.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: And the Jews, for the Jews, there was light and
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: gladness and joy and honor in each and every province,
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: in each and every city. Wherever the king's commandment and
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: his decree arrived, there was gladness and joy for the Jews.
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: A feast and a holiday. It was like Christmas and
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: New Year's and Easter all rolled into one. It was
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: like Berlin on the 9th of November. It was like
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: Nothing they'd ever seen before. They would sing all night
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: because the gloom was lifted. Look at the last line.
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: I love it. Many of the peoples of the land
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: became Jews for the dread of the Jews had fallen
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: on them. Isn't that great? Oh, what goes around comes around.
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: Do I speak to you who live in places of
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: gloom and darkness, where laughter is not in the walls,
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: where your life has become grim and borderline tragic? It
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: will not be that way forever. While others go home
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: from church on a Sunday and enter into the love
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: and warmth of a family You go home alone, and
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: you don't find warmth. You find the awful memory of
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: broken relationships, remorse, and guilt. You look with longing at
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: a scene like this one. You watch with tears as
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: the story unfolds on your television. And you think, I
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: would love to be there singing again. This is no
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: irrelevant slice of ancient history tucked away in the folds
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: of Esther's scroll. This is life. This is today. This
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: is written to people who face intimidating, stubborn souls and
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: maybe live with them, maybe married to them, may have
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: children like that. This is written to people whose lives
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: have been scarred by documents and lawsuits, bad reports. rumors
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: maybe that seems so permanent. This is written to people
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: whose lives are lived within the thick, tall walls of
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: depression and doom. And this chapter says there is hope.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: May I go back? There are walls that fall on
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: any day. The good news, maybe sometime good, sometime bad,
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: is that we never know when they're going to. You
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: cannot predict the falling of a wall. I'm thinking right
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: now of a college in the Midwest where there was
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: once a lovely tree that was part of the landscape.
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: It was one of the places students met, talked, I'm
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: told by those who were there on the campus on
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: that day, they heard a large crack that echoed across
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: the campus as this massive oak fell to the ground.
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: When someone examined it, they noticed that within this massive tree,
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: there had been the growing of weakness and even disease,
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: to the point that all that was left was what
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: appeared to be a strong trunk, but it was nothing
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: more than an empty shell of a tree. And with
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: the blowing of a harsh wind, one day the tree fell.
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: So it is in our lives. You don't know, but
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: God is in the process of breaking a will. You know,
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: I mentioned the man in my own life. There could
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: have been others I could have talked about, but this
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: one stands out. And I want to mention first the
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: walls of stubborn wills. And I want to tell you
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: what seems unchangeable is not. Man had a change of heart.
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: I don't know what brought that about. I do know
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: that he moved. Took up residence in another town, another city.
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: Wanted to find a church. In fact, wanted to start
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: a church. They couldn't find someone to preach and so
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: decided to start with a set of tapes. Guess whose?
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: I would have never thought that had I lived a
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: thousand years. He's changed. The stubborn will may be your own.
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: You may be one of those individuals that has determined,
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: this is the way I will go, and I will
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: get there regardless. No one will stand in my way.
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: I pace my closing words more slowly because I respect
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: what I'm dealing with here. Stubborn people tend not to
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: listen to this kind of talk. I want you to
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: hear it. When I was a student at seminary, I
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: remember hearing a speaker conclude his message with a statement
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: that stayed with me all these years. That was back
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: in the fall of 1959. He said, when God wants
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: to do an impossible task, he takes an impossible person
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: and crushes him. Tozer says much the same thing in
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: one of his works. It's doubtful God can use anyone
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: greatly until he has hurt him deeply. Until he has
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: hurt him deeply. I've quoted that and received mail from
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: people who have said, you make God appear awfully cruel.
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: It's not cruelty. It's sovereignty. It's sovereignty. Your stubborn will
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: does not intimidate him. He will bring you to your knees.
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: I say this to people I love today. Some of
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: you are children of God. But the way you live
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: your life, very few can tell it. Because you are
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: so damnably stubborn. You will not give in. And I
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: say to you, you are no match for God. He
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: will break you. He will bend you. He may even
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: have to crush you because he wants your heart. Another
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: wall is the wall of damaging documents. They fall every day.
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: It's amazing how the truth emerges. That which appeared so
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: permanent back at a given time, with the passing of
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: a few years, sometimes even months, the truth emerges. And
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: you hold your head in your hands thinking, how could
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: I have thought this in light of the truth I
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: have seen since? Now I know the truth. The problem
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: is in the waiting period, it is hell on earth.
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: for the person hanging in the balance. Take hope. Take heart.
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: Some document that looks as though it will ruin you
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: will pass away. The truth will become known. Third, every
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: day Walls of depression and doom and gloom are penetrated
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: by the wonderful presence of the living God. Weeping may
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: endure for the night, Psalm 30, verse 6, but joy
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: comes in the morning. In a season of the year
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: normally given for family and happiness and laughter of children,
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: You may not find much laughter and you may find
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: no happiness and no children. Weeping endures for the night,
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: but joy comes in the morning. I have discovered that
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: hurting people get perspective that those who have not yet
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: hurt like that lack. Take, for example, David who writes,
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: keep thy word. Psalm 119, 67. It is good for
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: me that I was afflicted, that I may learn thy statutes.
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: Psalm 119, 71. It is good for me. Psalm 119, 75.
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are righteous and
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted You say, how can
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: I put it to work? How can I make this happen?
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: I want this. I have counsel for all of you
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: to remember and that is what is needed is the
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: is the presence of the Savior and the perspective of
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: the cross. It casts its shadow across all of our
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: lives and it makes life bearable. You need the Lord
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: God living in your life. You need him residing there
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: in masterful control You need him there to prompt perspective
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: or you will fade in anxiety and your enemy will
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: win the day. The document will destroy you. The gloom
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: will depress you. You'll turn to a bottle or some
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: drug You'll opt for a lifestyle that you will later
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: regret to fill up the loneliness. All of these things
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: are so available and they speak loud, strong words of
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: appeal to us. I invite you today to a place
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: of abject affliction. It has blood on it. It once
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: had a man on it who knew affliction like you
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: and I will never know it, who died misunderstood and maligned,
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: but it had to be that people like us could
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: have hope. I would like for you to bow your
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: head and close your eyes. And for a few moments,
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: I'd like for you to set aside the stubborn will,
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: whether it's yours or another's, the document that has been
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: haunting your days, the atmosphere that you live in, And
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: I'd like for you to answer, where is Christ in
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: all of this? Where is he? If you're a child
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: of his, how wonderful. All that's needed is to call
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: upon him this day, this very moment. I've noticed in
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: my life that he gives strength in brief bursts over
• 49:29
  Speaker 2: the long haul he strengthens us but it doesn't come
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: a month at a time it comes a moment at
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: a time Ask for that. If it's a stubborn will
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: you're living with, pray for God to soften it. If necessary,
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: to crush it. Even if it's in you. If it's
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: stubborn enough, it is ruining relationships. Give it to Him.
• 50:15
  Speaker 2: If your visit to the cross today is the first
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: time ever for you, then I invite you to give
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: the Lord your life. He sent His one and only Son,
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for those sins that
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: you and I regularly commit. so that he might erase
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: the sin question and offer you an answer to your unbelief. Forgiveness, security,
• 50:53
  Speaker 2: and hope. You're surrounded by people all around the community,
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: all around the globe, who have surrendered their hearts to
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. given Him their wills, their lives, the right
• 51:14
  Speaker 2: to rule. It's your turn. Our Father, find in us
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: an openness that is rare. Give to us a willingness
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: that is not normally found in our lives. And hear
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: our prayer. as we call upon you today. Thank you
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: for the relevant message from an ancient book. Remind us
• 51:49
  Speaker 2: once again that all walls ultimately fall, just as all
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: knees ultimately bow. In the strong name of Jesus Christ,
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: we pray. Amen.
• 52:10
  Speaker 3: The preceding message, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, was
• 52:13
  Speaker 3: copyrighted in 1989, 1990, 1997, 2005, 2018, and 2026, and
• 52:20
  Speaker 3: the sound recording was copyrighted in 2026 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
• 52:27
  Speaker 3: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 52:31
  Speaker 3: commercial use is strictly prohibited.