Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – The Limitations of Retaliation, Part 1

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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – The Limitations of Retaliation, Part 1 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: There's a moment that many of us have quietly dreamed
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  Speaker 1: about the day the tables finally turn, the day the
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  Speaker 1: person who hurt you, overlooked you, or tried to destroy
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  Speaker 1: you is suddenly at your mercy. What would you do
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  Speaker 1: in that moment?
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  Speaker 2: Today?
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  Speaker 1: On Insight for Living, Chucks Wendall examines the people who
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  Speaker 1: had every legal right to unleash everything they'd stored up
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  Speaker 1: for months. What they chose to do instead will challenge you,
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  Speaker 1: convict you, and ultimately set you free. From his study
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  Speaker 1: of Esther Chuck title today's message, the Limitations of Retaliation.
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  Speaker 2: I want to ask you several questions, and I think,
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  Speaker 2: without exception, all of us will have the same answer.
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  Speaker 2: You'll see what I mean. Have you ever lost your temper?
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  Speaker 2: Ever been so busy that your prayer life got squeezed
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  Speaker 2: out of your daily schedule. Ever worried so much that
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  Speaker 2: you became ill at ease down inside? Ever eaten too
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  Speaker 2: much so that you put on weight? Ever find thoughts
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  Speaker 2: of envy and anger and materialism and lust come back,
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  Speaker 2: even though you tell the Lord this is going to
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  Speaker 2: be the last time you'll have to come to him
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  Speaker 2: with these things. How about this one? Ever? Said too much,
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  Speaker 2: and then had to go back and try to make
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  Speaker 2: it right, even apologize, only to say too much again
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  Speaker 2: a little later on. All of these things could fall
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  Speaker 2: under the category of yielding to the temptation to go
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  Speaker 2: too far. There isn't a person who can honestly answer
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  Speaker 2: those questions any other way. But yes, every one of
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  Speaker 2: us has gotten too angry and allowed our tempers to
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  Speaker 2: take over, only to regret it. Every one of us
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  Speaker 2: has allowed our schedules to get so overloaded that we,
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  Speaker 2: looking back over the week, admit to ourselves if we're
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  Speaker 2: that honest, we've hardly stopped to pray even once. Every
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  Speaker 2: one of us has eaten too much, even when we
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  Speaker 2: sat down to the table and swore we wouldn't do it.
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  Speaker 2: If we drank like we ate, every one of us
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  Speaker 2: would be alcoholics. And while we're on the subject, who
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  Speaker 2: hasn't fought and re fought and fought yet again the
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  Speaker 2: old battle with lust or greed, or materialism or anger
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  Speaker 2: or envy. Everyone has said more than we wish we
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  Speaker 2: would have said, would have liked to have cut our
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  Speaker 2: tongues out. Even though we apologize, we do that yet again,
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  Speaker 2: And we do it yet again, and yet again, I
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  Speaker 2: could go on. It may not fit everyone, But there
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  Speaker 2: are other areas where we go too far. I know
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  Speaker 2: some who go too far in their fitness fad, too far,
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  Speaker 2: too much, too often, too extreme. Some who go too
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  Speaker 2: far spending money out of control, go too far in
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  Speaker 2: getting into debt, too far with perfectionism, too far with work.
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  Speaker 2: We've even coined the word work aholic because of it
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  Speaker 2: is virtually endless. This syndrome is described beautifully in scripture
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  Speaker 2: in one verse Romans seven nineteen. If you happen to
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  Speaker 2: have a copy of the Scriptures, locate the seventh chapter
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  Speaker 2: of Romans Romans seven. Look at verse nineteen, just the
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  Speaker 2: one verse. Listen to this eloquent admission, and every one
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  Speaker 2: of us could cry back to Paul, Amen, that's me.
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  Speaker 2: I've been there. I live there. For the good that
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  Speaker 2: I wish I do not do, but I practice the
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  Speaker 2: very evil that I do not wish. The living Bible
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  Speaker 2: renders it. When I want to do good, I don't,
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  Speaker 2: And when I try not to do wrong, I do
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  Speaker 2: it anyway. And the Phillips paraphrase, I don't accomplish the
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  Speaker 2: good I set out to do, and the evil I
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  Speaker 2: don't really want to do, I find I'm always doing it.
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  Speaker 2: We are an out of controlled people living in an
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  Speaker 2: out of control society. I've just begun to read The
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  Speaker 2: one hundred Yard Lie, which the story of corruption of
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  Speaker 2: college football and what we can do to stop it,
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  Speaker 2: by Rick Tilander. Rick played good ball for a Northwestern
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  Speaker 2: university made all big ten, was a draft choice for
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  Speaker 2: the Kansas City Chief and the lead sports writer for
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  Speaker 2: college ball for Sports Illustrated. The book caught my eye
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  Speaker 2: before I was more than seventeen pages into it. I
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  Speaker 2: came across this. I had material all over my office
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  Speaker 2: in Chicago, piles of information books, clippings, quotes, scrawlings, jotted
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  Speaker 2: insights of varying perceptiveness and naivete statistics, brochures, studies, charts,
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  Speaker 2: letters and notes that I've been collecting for years, poems, photos, aphorisms, headlines.
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  Speaker 2: Even my own college helmet with its cracking leather cheek
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  Speaker 2: pads and a couple of footballs. I sometimes just held
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  Speaker 2: that combine to tell me what I felt. Big time
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  Speaker 2: college football is out of control, rotten from the foundation
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  Speaker 2: up A game, a sport designed to bring cheer and
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  Speaker 2: enthusiasm and healthy competition to a university out of control, corrupt,
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  Speaker 2: back to our lives. It's like our bodies don't cooperate
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  Speaker 2: with our minds. Our minds make great promises that our
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  Speaker 2: bodies don't fulfill. It's like the pianists that shouted to
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  Speaker 2: the soloist, I'm playing on white keys, and I'm playing
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  Speaker 2: on black keys. So why must you sing in the cracks?
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  Speaker 2: My mind says, I play on white keys, I play
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  Speaker 2: on black keys. My body answers back, I play in
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  Speaker 2: the cracks. I live there. This thing we are agreeing
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  Speaker 2: on and laughing about to keep from crying about is
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  Speaker 2: simple to identify. It's called losing control. We haven't much
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  Speaker 2: patience with one who loses control with drugs or alcohol.
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  Speaker 2: We have great patience with one who has lost control
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  Speaker 2: of eating or talking. I never could figure that one out,
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  Speaker 2: though I have been guilty of both. There is an answer.
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  Speaker 2: There is a key to holding back, and it's found
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  Speaker 2: also in scripture, in a wonderful list over in Galatians
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  Speaker 2: chapter five. If you will turn further ahead the fifth
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  Speaker 2: of Galatians, Verses twenty two and twenty three. What is
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  Speaker 2: the answer to this daily del that is so easy
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  Speaker 2: to identify? So hard to get our arms around. It
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  Speaker 2: is a lifetime project described in one hyphenated word at
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  Speaker 2: the end of the list of the fruit of the spirit,
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  Speaker 2: may I read for you Galatians five, twenty two and
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  Speaker 2: twenty three. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace.
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  Speaker 2: Normally at this point we say, and so forth, let's
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  Speaker 2: don't do that. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fruit
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  Speaker 2: of faithfulness, gentleness. Now the answer self control self control
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  Speaker 2: Against such things, there is no law. One authority has
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  Speaker 2: described self control as follows. Self control is managing our attitudes, feelings,
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  Speaker 2: and actions so they serve our long term best interests
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  Speaker 2: and those of others. Self control comes to people who
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  Speaker 2: learn discipline and social skills. It increases in those who
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  Speaker 2: accept God's grace in their lives and who seek to
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  Speaker 2: know and apply divine truth in a disciplined manner. The
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  Speaker 2: best synonym is discipline. If I interpret this correctly, I
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  Speaker 2: find the spirit of God. If I might use the
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  Speaker 2: words rolling up his sleeves, willing to go to the
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  Speaker 2: wall with us to assist us in self discipline. Interesting
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  Speaker 2: Greek word comes from a combination of two words put
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  Speaker 2: together strength in power, in inner strength, inner strength, one
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  Speaker 2: who has power and gains mastery over his or her desires,
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  Speaker 2: her appetites, particular the sensual appetites passionate appetites. Remember that
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  Speaker 2: one self control frees us from slavery. Self control stops habits,
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  Speaker 2: it checks us, it halts us. A car, no matter
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  Speaker 2: how beautiful, attractive, or expensive, if it lacks breaks, is
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  Speaker 2: a dangerous thing on the highway. A car without breaks
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  Speaker 2: is a life without control. It goes too far, and
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  Speaker 2: it brings damage and terribly tragic hurts to other people.
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  Speaker 2: The fruit of the spirit is control. I have deliberately
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  Speaker 2: stayed away from one area until this moment because it
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  Speaker 2: ties in so well with our study in the ancient
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  Speaker 2: scroll of Esther, and it has to do with this
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  Speaker 2: matter of retaliation. Before you turn back to the Book
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  Speaker 2: of Esther, Webster helps us understand retaliation. It's defined to
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  Speaker 2: repay in kind to return like for like to get revenge.
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  Speaker 2: Let me repeat that, to repay in kind, to return
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  Speaker 2: like for like to get revenge. We have the colloquialism
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  Speaker 2: to get even to get back. I was just a
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  Speaker 2: boy when the Second World War ground to a halt,
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  Speaker 2: just a preteen, but I remember learning a lesson in
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  Speaker 2: character from Douglas MacArthur. Now, did I remember that he
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  Speaker 2: requested from the President the privilege of staying in the
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  Speaker 2: land of Japan to help bring back their dignity and
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  Speaker 2: assist him in putting their country back on its feet.
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  Speaker 2: We had virtually leveled the main cities of Japan. I
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  Speaker 2: was in Tokyo thirteen years after the war had ended,
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  Speaker 2: expecting to find still some of the remains. I found
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  Speaker 2: nothing of damage. It was phenomenal. There was something in
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  Speaker 2: the heart of Douglas MacArthur that was so grand, so
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  Speaker 2: great hearted. When the surrender was signed, he stepped back
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  Speaker 2: into the place of devastation and helped them roll up
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  Speaker 2: their sleeves, keep their dignity and get back on their feet.
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  Speaker 2: Did he ever, They're about to own us, aren't they?
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  Speaker 2: I mean? He said, they need a government that worked,
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  Speaker 2: They need their dignity, they need hope, they need to
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  Speaker 2: go on. That's the opposite of retaliation. One without that
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  Speaker 2: spirit would say, grind their face into the mud, keep
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  Speaker 2: them from ever becoming a nation again. They will pay
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  Speaker 2: for Pearl Harbor illustrated so beautifully again in the life
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  Speaker 2: of Corey ten Boom, who lost her beloved sister Betsy
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  Speaker 2: in a death camp, and could never forget the face
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  Speaker 2: of that godless guard that made life so miserable for
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  Speaker 2: her and for her family. She stood to speak one
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  Speaker 2: day of the love and grace of Christ, and she
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  Speaker 2: looked to her side and saw now free the guard.
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  Speaker 2: And as only that beloved woman could do, she described
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  Speaker 2: the enormity of feelings that floated up into her heart
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  Speaker 2: and into her mind, and she found herself preoccupied wrestling
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  Speaker 2: as she spoke with rage. And finally, by the time
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  Speaker 2: she had finished, she had come to terms with that
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  Speaker 2: tendency to retaliate, and she spoke to the guard of
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  Speaker 2: the Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps the greatest story would be Joseph,
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  Speaker 2: and it takes chapters of Genesis to tell us his
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  Speaker 2: brothers sold him into slavery. They hated him, they made
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  Speaker 2: life miserable for him. They wouldn't have cared if he
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  Speaker 2: had died, and fully expected him to have done so.
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  Speaker 2: He wound up prime minister of the land that had
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  Speaker 2: food when famine struck every other place, and he looked
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  Speaker 2: down on his brothers when they arrived, not knowing that
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  Speaker 2: it was indeed the brother who was the prime minister.
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  Speaker 2: These men came with their shopping carts hoping to get food,
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  Speaker 2: and when they discovered it was Joseph, they fully expected death.
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  Speaker 2: But Joseph said, you meant it unto me for evil.
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  Speaker 2: God meant it unto me for good. He not only
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  Speaker 2: filled their lives with food, he invited his dad, his brothers,
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  Speaker 2: their families to come and live in the land of
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  Speaker 2: Egypt and to be neighbors, and gave them the choice
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  Speaker 2: land of Goshen, which they occupied for over four hundred
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  Speaker 2: years self control. In the Book of Esther, chapter eight,
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  Speaker 2: we will read of a people who had been freed.
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  Speaker 2: These Jews, as we have discovered, who lived in the
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  Speaker 2: ancient land of Persia, had been living under the sword
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  Speaker 2: of Damocles for months. The death knell was ever closer
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  Speaker 2: with the turning of every page of the calendar every day,
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  Speaker 2: no doubt, as time reached towards the end, they began
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  Speaker 2: to get the sneers and the cynicism, and the remarks
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  Speaker 2: and the mistreatment and the anti Semitism that came from Haymin,
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  Speaker 2: their leader. As these gentiles licked their chops looking forward
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  Speaker 2: to putting an end to the Jews, it was an
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  Speaker 2: extermination plot of the worst kind, even written into the
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  Speaker 2: law of the Meds and the Persians. They lived under
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  Speaker 2: the threat and the horror of the day they would die.
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  Speaker 2: I am sure families spoke of how they would go
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  Speaker 2: through it, who would die first, how they would live
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  Speaker 2: beyond it by the grace of their Jehovah God. One
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  Speaker 2: day the tables turned, the power shifted from the king
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  Speaker 2: to the queen. Hayman was killed the antisemitic ruler, and
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  Speaker 2: Mordecai was given the place a prime minister. The edict
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  Speaker 2: that had been written against them was now written for them.
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  Speaker 2: Listen to the words verse eleven, chapter eight. In them,
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  Speaker 2: the King granted the Jews, who were in each and
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  Speaker 2: every city, the right. Get this, it's like giving concentration
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  Speaker 2: camp prisoners' rights. It's cutting the barbed wires, it's feeding
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  Speaker 2: them rather than the guards. Look at it. He gave
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  Speaker 2: them the right to assemble, to defend their lives, to destroy,
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  Speaker 2: to kill, to annihilate the entire army of any people
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  Speaker 2: or province which might attack them, including children and women,
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  Speaker 2: and to plunder their spoil. I call that an unlimited edict.
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  Speaker 2: You have the rights. You are free. Over the years
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  Speaker 2: Remember now there has been the build up, the build up,
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  Speaker 2: the determination, the strengthening of inner character, will stand and
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  Speaker 2: will die if necessary. And then of course the emotions
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  Speaker 2: and the frustrations of not being able to get back
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  Speaker 2: to defend themselves. The entire land was turned against them
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  Speaker 2: until this edict. And now they're free to retaliate, did
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  Speaker 2: you hear it? To annihilate, including children and women, and
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  Speaker 2: to plunder the spoil, leave them devastated. Verse thirteen. A
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  Speaker 2: copy of the edict, to be issued as law in
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  Speaker 2: each and every province, was published to all the peoples,
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  Speaker 2: so that the Jews should be ready for this day
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  Speaker 2: to avenge themselves. Note the word, I've underlined it in
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  Speaker 2: my Bible, to avenge themselves on their enemies. They had
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  Speaker 2: watched the heart of the king changed. They had watched
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  Speaker 2: the power in the palace changed. They had watched the
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  Speaker 2: personnel change. They had read of the edict changing. This
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  Speaker 2: was their moment. Someone has said, the most dangerous human
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  Speaker 2: being on earth is a prisoner who gets a hold
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  Speaker 2: of a weapon. This is my chance. And we have
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  Speaker 2: seen and read of accounts where that kind of retaliation,
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  Speaker 2: when the frustration is vented, the brutality that comes from
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  Speaker 2: the human heart. I'm intrigued by the words avenge themselves.
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  Speaker 2: Track with me for a moment. The English words avenge
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  Speaker 2: and vengeance come to us through the French, and both
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  Speaker 2: of us got it from the Latin vindiclari, which interestingly
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  Speaker 2: is the same root as vindicate. It is actually a
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  Speaker 2: Latin word, isn't that curious? Vengeance, which is passion out
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  Speaker 2: of control based on hatred, and vindicate, which is what
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  Speaker 2: God claims to do when defending his people, are from
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  Speaker 2: the same root vindiclari. The carry contrary messages. In order
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  Speaker 2: for there to be some kind of stoppage of vengeance,
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  Speaker 2: self control must be applied. I'm prepared to say today
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  Speaker 2: that that is exactly what we read in Esther chapter nine,
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  Speaker 2: in spite of what you may have read or heard
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  Speaker 2: from other books or teachers. As a matter of fact,
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  Speaker 2: I frequently read the word blood bath, and I hear
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  Speaker 2: the word blood bath as people speak of the last
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  Speaker 2: part of Esther. It sounds like rage out of control.
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  Speaker 2: It sounds like revenge gone to seed. All these thousands
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  Speaker 2: of people killed, and it is almost as if the
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  Speaker 2: Jews at will picked them off from their windows. Of
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  Speaker 2: their homes with delight. No, I want you to remember
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  Speaker 2: they were free to kill everyone, women and children, as
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  Speaker 2: well as take the spoils of the the a vengeance
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  Speaker 2: to themselves. One of my volumes that have helped me
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  Speaker 2: in the study of Esther writes this, Though in the
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  Speaker 2: Book of Esther the tables had been turned on those
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  Speaker 2: who would have killed the Jews, the Jews had behind
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  Speaker 2: them all the theological conditioning provided by their scriptures, our
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  Speaker 2: understanding of permission to avenge themselves would have been adjusted accordingly.
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  Speaker 2: Instead of having to endure slaughter without any means of
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  Speaker 2: self defense, the new legislation permitted them to fight for
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  Speaker 2: one day against those who attack them, and to kill them.
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  Speaker 1: Chuckxundall has given us a vivid illustration today. The Jews
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  Speaker 1: of Ester's day held in their hands an unlimited edict
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  Speaker 1: legal permission to annihilate, to plunder, to take full revenge
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  Speaker 1: on every enemy who had made their lives a living nightmare.
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  Speaker 1: But they didn't take it because the scriptures had shaped
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  Speaker 1: their conscience. So when the time came, restraint won the day.
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  Speaker 1: The same word of God that shaped them generations ago
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  Speaker 1: shapes us today and insight for Living as prepared as
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  Speaker 1: special bundle of Bible study tools that will help you
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  Speaker 1: explore this extraordinary story. This bundle includes the Searching the
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  Speaker 1: Scripture's Bible Study Workbook, the full length biography of Esther
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  Speaker 1: written by Chuck, and the complete collection of twelve sermons
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  Speaker 1: on CD. To access these resources right now, go to
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  Speaker 1: insight dot org slash offer. You can also call eight
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: hundred seven seven to two eighty eight eighty eight and
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  Speaker 1: now Here's Chuck.
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  Speaker 3: I came across a quote not long ago that I
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  Speaker 3: haven't been able to shake. It was from a man
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  Speaker 3: named John Allen, a Salvation Army saint who was near
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  Speaker 3: the end of his life. John made this shocking statement,
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  Speaker 3: I deserve to be damned. I deserve to be in hell.
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  Speaker 3: But God interfered. That last part is worth repeating. God interfered.
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  Speaker 2: Wow.
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  Speaker 3: I love that more than I can say, because that's
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  Speaker 3: the story of the Cross. We were running hard in
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  Speaker 3: the wrong direction and God stepped in. He didn't send
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  Speaker 3: a memo, he didn't offer a suggestion. He hung on
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  Speaker 3: a cross and bled and died and rose again. That's
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  Speaker 3: not a metaphor, that's history, and that interference has changed
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  Speaker 3: every life that's ever truly reckoned with it. Here's what
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  Speaker 3: keeps me up at night. Millions of people are still
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  Speaker 3: running the wrong direction and they don't know it. They're busy,
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  Speaker 3: they're sincere. Some of them are sitting in church every Sunday,
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  Speaker 3: but they've never had a real personal life altering encounter
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  Speaker 3: with the Cross. We proclaim that's the whole reason Insight
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  Speaker 3: for Living exists. And here's what I want you to
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: understand as we approach June thirtieth. When you send a
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  Speaker 3: in a quiet studio. It goes through radio, through the Internet,
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for responding to Chuck Swindall today. Your gifts truly
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: make an impact. Recently, we heard from one of your
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: fellow listeners who said, Dear Insight for Living, Yours is
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  Speaker 1: the voice I run to when life in this world
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  Speaker 1: becomes too much. Thank you for grounding me and pointing
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  Speaker 1: me back to the Cross. These moments are made possible
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  Speaker 1: through the generous gifts from friends just like you. Today,
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  Speaker 1: we'd like to say thanks for your contribution by providing
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  Speaker 1: a brand new booklet from Chuck. It's called The Cross.
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  Speaker 1: We proclaim you know there are probably mornings when you
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  Speaker 1: wonder if you have anything left to give. In The Cross,
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  Speaker 1: we proclaim you'll be reminded that you were never meant
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  Speaker 1: to do it in your own strength. When you give
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: a gift to Insight for Living, we'd be pleased to
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: send you a copy. Here's our mailing address, Insight for Living,
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  Speaker 1: post Office box five thousand, Frisco, Texas, seven five oh
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  Speaker 1: three four. That's post office box five thousand, Frisco, Texas, seven,
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  Speaker 1: five oh three four. You can also call eight hundred
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  Speaker 1: seven seven to two eighty eight to eighty eight, or
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: give online at Insight dot org slash donate. Are you
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: looking to even the score with someone who's hurt you.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Bill Meyer. Don't miss Jucksvindall's Message on the Limitations
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  Speaker 1: of Retaliation tomorrow on Insight for Living. The preceding message,
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  Speaker 1: The Limitations of Retaliation was copyrighted in nineteen eighty nine,
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  Speaker 1: nineteen ninety, nineteen ninety seven, two thousand and five, twenty eighteen,
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  Speaker 1: and twenty twenty six, and the sound recording was copyrighted
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  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six by Charles R. Swindall Incorporated. All
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  Speaker 1: rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial
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  Speaker 1: use is strictly prohibited.