Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / In the End, God Wins │ Msg 1212 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living (64k)

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In the End, God Wins │ Msg 1212 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living (64k) · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Have you found it interesting, as we have studied the
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  Speaker 1: Book of Esther, in the life of this remarkable woman, that,
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  Speaker 1: while highly significant, Esther does not dominate every scene in
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  Speaker 1: her story.
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  Speaker 2: It's this elegant touch of restraint I admire. Esther's strength
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  Speaker 2: is revealed as much in her restraint as in her responses,
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  Speaker 2: and her dignity, as much in her humility as in
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  Speaker 2: her integrity. Esther's quiet confidence in God, her teachable trust
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  Speaker 2: in Mordecai, her gracious respect for her husband, the King,
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  Speaker 2: are qualities that impact the story of Esther's life, and
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  Speaker 2: we cannot help but be impressed. As a matter of fact,
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  Speaker 2: when we get to this very last chapter of the book,
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  Speaker 2: Esther is not even mentioned. However, but joy it must
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  Speaker 2: have brought this woman of God to realize deep within
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  Speaker 2: her soul that the Lord had used her to accomplish
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  Speaker 2: his grand and glorious plan. Let me read the three
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  Speaker 2: verses of Ester ten from the New American Standard in
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  Speaker 2: preparation for today's message, which I've titled In the End,
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  Speaker 2: God Wins. Listen closely to the last chapter of Esther,
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  Speaker 2: just three brief verses. Now, King a hajuwaras laid a
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  Speaker 2: tribute on the land and on the coastlands of the sea,
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  Speaker 2: and all the accomplishments of his authority and strength, and
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  Speaker 2: the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, to which
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  Speaker 2: the king advanced him. Are they not written in the
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  Speaker 2: book of the chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia.
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  Speaker 2: For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King of
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  Speaker 2: hajuwear and great among the Jews, and in favor with
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  Speaker 2: his mindy kinsman, one who sought the good of his people,
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  Speaker 2: and one who spoke for the welfare of his whole nation.
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  Speaker 2: One of the great themes of Christianity is triumphant hope.
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  Speaker 2: Not just hope as in a mere, distant, vague dream,
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  Speaker 2: but triumphant hope, the kind of hope where things end right.
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  Speaker 2: As the old English poet once wrote, all that ends,
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  Speaker 2: all that ends.
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  Speaker 3: Well, All.
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  Speaker 2: All is well, that ends well. Thanks stick around, I
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  Speaker 2: may need you later on. All's well, that ends well.
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  Speaker 2: I love it that in the end Christ wins, don't you.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, if you like stories that end well, you'll
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  Speaker 2: love Christianity. In the midst of the struggles and the storms,
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  Speaker 2: and the battles and the sufferings of life. We always
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  Speaker 2: focus beyond us today and we see a triumph.
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  Speaker 3: We see a victory, we see relief.
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  Speaker 2: We see the cessation of things that have been earthly,
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  Speaker 2: almost daily kind of plagues, and we rejoice because in
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  Speaker 2: the end God does win. Think of it all earthly woes,
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  Speaker 2: all financial pressures, all emotional trauma, all physical disabilities and handicaps,
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  Speaker 2: all domestic conflicts, all international wars and rumors of wars,
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  Speaker 2: all demonic and satanic oppression. All that ends, and we
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  Speaker 2: are with him, and with Him comes nothing but harmony
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  Speaker 2: and unity and victory and joy and praise and delight.
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  Speaker 2: Think of it all. Domestic conflict is over. Not another
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  Speaker 2: argument with your wife. Four men said, amen, not another
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  Speaker 2: argument with your husband. Thousands of women said amen. I
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  Speaker 2: heard this past week about Helen and or Helga and Henry,
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  Speaker 2: a couple who had been.
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  Speaker 3: Married sixty years.
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  Speaker 2: They fought like cats and dogs every day of their
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  Speaker 2: married life. It came to their sixtieth anniversary. They fought
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  Speaker 2: all day long, all day long. Came time to go
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  Speaker 2: to bed. Helga said to Henry tonight, I think that
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  Speaker 2: if MB pray, we better pray for peace. May God
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  Speaker 2: give us peace. Henry so tonight, I think I'll pray
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  Speaker 2: the Lord will take you home, and I'll go live
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  Speaker 2: with my sister Roga. That's the way we solve conflicts here.
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  Speaker 2: Somebody goes home and we go live with our sister.
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  Speaker 2: Not then won't even be the beginning of a conflict.
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  Speaker 2: You see, we'll be changed down inside.
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  Speaker 3: We'll have new natures, we'll.
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  Speaker 2: Have new minds, we'll have new bodies. We'll have the
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  Speaker 2: joy of living forever and ever in praise and adoration
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  Speaker 2: of our God. You know that helps when fear comes.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus gathered with his faithfull eleven before he was taken
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  Speaker 2: under arrest and finally nailed to a cross.
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  Speaker 3: They were frightened.
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  Speaker 2: They had just heard him say he was leaving by
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  Speaker 2: way of a cross. They expected him to stay and
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  Speaker 2: establish a crown, a throne, a kingdom. You know what
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  Speaker 2: he told them said, let not your hearts be troubled.
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  Speaker 2: You believe in God, believe also in me. And then
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  Speaker 2: he said, in my father's house are many dwelling places.
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  Speaker 2: He calmed their fears by reminding them that in the end,
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  Speaker 2: God wins.
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  Speaker 3: In the end will be at home with the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: In the end, there will be no no fears, no worries,
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  Speaker 2: no anxieties, no waywardness, no battles with greed and lust
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  Speaker 2: and envy. It'll end if you take the time to
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  Speaker 2: look at that great twenty first chapter of the Revelation
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  Speaker 2: over here at the end of the Bible, to see
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  Speaker 2: that not only will there be a new heaven, stars
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  Speaker 2: won't look like they now look.
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  Speaker 3: There won't be such.
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  Speaker 2: The sun and moon will not be in place. There
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  Speaker 2: will not be the stellar spaces, the atmospheric conditions that
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  Speaker 2: surround us. There will be a new Heaven, and there
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  Speaker 2: will be better, a new Earth. The first Earth and
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  Speaker 2: the first Heaven will have passed away. There's no longer any.
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  Speaker 3: Sea Verse four.
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  Speaker 2: He shall wipe away every tear from the eyes. There
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  Speaker 2: will no longer be any death. There will no longer
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  Speaker 2: be any mourning or crying or pain.
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  Speaker 3: The first things have.
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  Speaker 2: Passed away. If you take the time to read through
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  Speaker 2: the rest of the chapter, you'll see there's no more
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  Speaker 2: sun or moon or night, or sin, or insecurity or
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  Speaker 2: curse or deceivers or hunger or thirst or heat. There
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  Speaker 2: will be no condemnation, there will be no separation. There
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  Speaker 2: won't even be any time. It will all pass away
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  Speaker 2: the names. God gives this place paradise, the Father's house, glory, rest, relief, peace, adoration, joy, praise.
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  Speaker 2: Due to the absence of sin, there will be only holiness.
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  Speaker 2: Due to the absence of pain, there will be only
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  Speaker 2: health and perfection. The cripple will dance with glee. The
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  Speaker 2: blind will see. Those who are who have no hearing
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  Speaker 2: will hear, think of it, some for the first time,
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  Speaker 2: and they will hear the antiphonal voice of angelic choirs. Wonderful,
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  Speaker 2: wonderful message. Turn back to First Corinthians fifteen if you will.
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  Speaker 2: That's the greatest chapter in all of scripture on the resurrection.
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  Speaker 2: And if you ever want to see what life will
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  Speaker 2: be like for you beyond the grave, if you know
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  Speaker 2: the Lord Jesus, you'll need to make a study of
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  Speaker 2: First Corinthians fifteen. Talk about a triumphant hope. I'm going
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  Speaker 2: to show you, you know, just a few words. Look
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  Speaker 2: about verse twenty two down to twenty eight fifteen twenty two,
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  Speaker 2: First Corinthians four. As an Adam all die, so also
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  Speaker 2: in Christ all shall be made alive, each in his
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  Speaker 2: own order. Christ the first fruits. After that, those who
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  Speaker 2: are Christ at his coming, you get this. The first
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  Speaker 2: one to be raised was Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 3: Are you ready?
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  Speaker 2: The second ones to be raised are the born again
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  Speaker 2: believers who have been laid to rest, who will be
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  Speaker 2: waiting his arrival. When he comes, the dead in Christ
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  Speaker 2: shall rise, and we who are alive shall be caught
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  Speaker 2: up together with them in the clouds to.
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  Speaker 3: Meet the Lord of the air. So shall we ever
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  Speaker 3: be with the Lord.
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  Speaker 2: It's enough to give your rapture fever, always thrilling to
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  Speaker 2: think about that Christ, the first fruits. Then those who
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  Speaker 2: are Christ at his coming. Then comes the end. Now
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  Speaker 2: watch closely when he delivers up the kingdom to God
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  Speaker 2: the Father, when he has abolished all rule, all authority,
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  Speaker 2: and all power. For he that's Christ, must reign until
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  Speaker 2: he has put all enemies under his feet. And the
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  Speaker 2: last enemy that will be destroyed abolished is death. Thank God,
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  Speaker 2: no death. No one will age any longer. No one
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  Speaker 2: will say I'm approaching the days of my twilight years.
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  Speaker 2: We will be timeless and ageless and deathless Verse twenty eight.
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  Speaker 2: When all things are subjected to the Lord Jesus, then
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  Speaker 2: the Sun himself also will be subjected to the one
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  Speaker 2: who subjected all things to him.
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  Speaker 3: That's God, the Father.
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  Speaker 2: That God may be all in all. That God may
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  Speaker 2: be all in all, he will ultimately win. Skeptics call
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  Speaker 2: this pie in the sky. By and by let him
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  Speaker 2: say what they will. I've dread to give a name
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  Speaker 2: to what they face in the final scenes of existence.
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  Speaker 2: I find. I find glory and the best word Heaven
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  Speaker 2: gives us. I find peace. You realize how many times
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  Speaker 2: we sing of this in our hymnity, the old songs,
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  Speaker 2: the sweet Bye and Bye Handel chose one write from scripture,
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  Speaker 2: and he shall reign forever and ever. In the Hallelujah
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  Speaker 2: chorus of the Messiah, there's a gospel song it will
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  Speaker 2: be worth it all when we see Jesus the old
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  Speaker 2: sands of time and glory, glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land.
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  Speaker 2: Wesley's words write from Romans A, no condemnation. Now I
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  Speaker 2: dread Jesus and all in him. I find no one
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  Speaker 2: ever said it better than Martin Luther. Back in the
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  Speaker 2: days of.
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  Speaker 3: Volatile struggles for the faith.
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  Speaker 2: He wrote, did we, in our own strength confide our
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  Speaker 2: striving would be losing? We're not the right men on
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  Speaker 2: our side. The man of God's own choosing do just
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  Speaker 2: ask who this may be Christ Jesus. It is he
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  Speaker 2: Lord Savioth, his name from age to age the same,
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  Speaker 2: and he must win the battle. In the end, God wins.
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  Speaker 2: In the end, there is ultimate victory. If you like
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  Speaker 2: stories and end well, you'll love the story of Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: And that's what makes me love the Book of Esther.
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  Speaker 2: Not only does it have a great plot that sort
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  Speaker 2: of keeps you on the edge of your seat, but
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  Speaker 2: when it comes to the final scene, things are right,
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  Speaker 2: things end well.
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  Speaker 3: Doesn't it drive you nuts to go to a movie
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  Speaker 3: that just stops.
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  Speaker 2: You walk out thinking, well, I guess it's the intermission.
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  Speaker 2: We'll come back a little later and see the end.
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  Speaker 2: And it's the end or the end of a book,
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  Speaker 2: and you keep turning, thinking maybe after a few blank
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  Speaker 2: pages there'll be a better ending. It's never there. You
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  Speaker 2: like things that have a wrap around them. They have
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  Speaker 2: a final ending, And if you're like me, you'll like
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  Speaker 2: it when truth wins out, when right wins over wrong,
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  Speaker 2: when evil is subjected and good reigns. That's what you
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  Speaker 2: like about Esther. Now, King of as you wear Us
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  Speaker 2: laid a tribute on the land and on the coastlands
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  Speaker 2: of the Sea. Chapter ten begins all the accomplishments of
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  Speaker 2: his authority and strength, as well as the full account
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  Speaker 2: of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him.
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  Speaker 2: Are they not written in the book of the Chronicles
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  Speaker 2: the Kings of Media and Persia. For Mordecai the jew
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  Speaker 2: was second only to King a Hasuaris, and great among
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  Speaker 2: the Jews, and in favor with the multitude of his kinsmen,
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  Speaker 2: one who sought the good of his people, and one
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  Speaker 2: who spoke.
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  Speaker 3: For the welfare of his whole nation.
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  Speaker 2: Into the book, and it's right, it ends like it
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  Speaker 2: ought to end. What do we have here? Well, to
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  Speaker 2: begin with, we have the same king that we started with.
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  Speaker 2: If you will remember over in chapter one, verse one,
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  Speaker 2: all of it took place in the days of the
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  Speaker 2: same king, King a Hazuaras. We have the same kingdom,
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  Speaker 2: for he reigns from India to Ethiopia, over one hundred
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  Speaker 2: and twenty seven provinces. That doesn't change. We have the
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  Speaker 2: same country Persia, the same city Susa. We've looked at
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  Speaker 2: it a long time now. We have the same realm
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  Speaker 2: of authority, we have the same manner of ruling, but
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  Speaker 2: Unlike at the beginning of the story, we have evil
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  Speaker 2: fully dealt with. Hayman is gone forever. Mordecai is alive
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  Speaker 2: and well. The presence of evil and corruption and wicked plans,
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  Speaker 2: all those things are out, and the embodiment of a
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  Speaker 2: wholesome kind of peaceful reign is in. As the prime
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  Speaker 2: ministership has been passed from Haman to Mordecai, we're told
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  Speaker 2: of the economy of the kingdom in verse one. I
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  Speaker 2: take it that the tribute has reference to taxes. So
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  Speaker 2: with us there was a fresh set of taxes that
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  Speaker 2: continues to be true to this present day, doesn't it.
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  Speaker 2: Two we're informed of the leadership, and Mordecai has been
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  Speaker 2: promoted by the king. He is second in command.
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  Speaker 3: But it is verse three that yields.
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  Speaker 2: Such helpful information. It explains why Mordecai is described as great.
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  Speaker 2: In verse two, we're told four things about this man
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  Speaker 2: here in the last.
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  Speaker 3: Verse of the Book of esther.
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  Speaker 2: First, we're told he was great among the Jews. Second,
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  Speaker 2: we are told he was in favor with the multitude
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  Speaker 2: of his kinsmen. Third, we are told that he sought
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  Speaker 2: the good of his people. And fourth we read that
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  Speaker 2: he spoke for the welfare.
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  Speaker 3: Of his whole nation.
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  Speaker 2: If all is well, that ends well, this is well.
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  Speaker 2: You got to remember, this is Gentile country. This is
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  Speaker 2: where gentiles rule and where gentiles live. And there's a
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  Speaker 2: small remnant of Jews who were there only by the
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  Speaker 2: permission of the government. They could have all been killed,
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  Speaker 2: but they were allowed to come in as captives. And
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  Speaker 2: now they live in this land of Persia. And to
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  Speaker 2: our amazement, and certainly to the people who live, then
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  Speaker 2: we now have a Jew who is second in command
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  Speaker 2: according to verse three, second only to King of Hazuaras.
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  Speaker 2: That brings me to the first of three observations, which
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  Speaker 2: yield three principles that I want to focus most of
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  Speaker 2: our attention on today. The first observation is this, the
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  Speaker 2: one who is exalted to the place of authority in
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  Speaker 2: Persia is surprising.
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  Speaker 3: He's surprising. Who would have ever guessed.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, after all, these are Jews away from homeland.
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  Speaker 3: Who would have ever expected a Jew would be.
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  Speaker 2: A prime minister in a Gentile land. I mean it
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  Speaker 2: would have made the headlines of the SUSA Daily Sun,
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  Speaker 2: which would probably read Gentile king chooses new prime minister
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  Speaker 2: a Jew.
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  Speaker 3: That's the surprising part.
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  Speaker 2: You see, it doesn't say in verse one, King of
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  Speaker 2: as you wears, a gentile promoted Mordecai the Jew verse three. Well,
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  Speaker 2: of course not because being a gentile.
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  Speaker 3: Didn't make news.
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  Speaker 2: Being a Jew did.
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  Speaker 3: That's surprising.
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  Speaker 2: Who would have ever guessed that a one time Jewish
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  Speaker 2: anonymous gatekeeper would now be.
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  Speaker 3: Nobility. That leads a to the first principle.
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  Speaker 2: When God wins, the people he uses are often unexpected.
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  Speaker 2: They're often unexpected. Reminds me of one of my all
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  Speaker 2: time favorite psalms, Psalm seventy eight, which concludes with this
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  Speaker 2: comment about David. Listen. God chose David his servant and
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  Speaker 2: took him from the sheep.
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  Speaker 3: With suckling lambs.
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  Speaker 2: He brought David to feed Jacob his people and Israel
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  Speaker 2: his inheritance. So David fed them according to the integrity
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  Speaker 2: of his heart, and he guided them with skillful hands.
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  Speaker 3: What a surprise.
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  Speaker 2: For forty years almost they had enjoyed the reign of
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  Speaker 2: a king who was tall, dark and handsome, King Saul,
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  Speaker 2: who at least looked like regal authority. He failed in
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  Speaker 2: his character, and God slipped his hand into the ranks
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  Speaker 2: of the Jews and he picked a teenage Jewish shepherd
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  Speaker 2: who kept his father's sheep, and after killing a giant,
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  Speaker 2: the people began to realize this boy is worth watching,
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  Speaker 2: and God chose him to lead the people in character.
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  Speaker 3: Surprising choice. Let's go even further.
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  Speaker 2: If you were to lead an exodus out of Egypt,
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  Speaker 2: and you were to lead two million people in this process.
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  Speaker 3: Would you have picked a Jew.
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  Speaker 2: To face Pharaoh an Egyptian? Here's another Would that Jew
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  Speaker 2: that you would have chosen been a man with a
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  Speaker 2: criminal record who killed an Egyptian forty years ago and
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  Speaker 2: never went to trial.
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  Speaker 3: How about this?
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  Speaker 2: Would he have been.
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  Speaker 3: Eighty years old?
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  Speaker 2: See it gets even more surprising the further you look.
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  Speaker 2: The resume in moses life was remarkable work for father
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  Speaker 2: in law as shepherd for past forty years. He isn't strong,
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  Speaker 2: he isn't eloquent, he doesn't have a lot of creativity
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  Speaker 2: and charisma. He's a Bedouin, viewed by Egyptians as over
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  Speaker 2: the hill and ignorant. Would you have chosen a harlot
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  Speaker 2: to hide the spies? Would you have chosen a defecting,
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  Speaker 2: rebellious prophet to lead the ninev a evangelistic crusade. Would
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  Speaker 2: you have chosen a once Christian, hating former Pharisee to
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  Speaker 2: write most of the New Testament? Would you have chosen
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  Speaker 2: the man who the night Jesus was arrested announced to
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  Speaker 2: the people around him.
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  Speaker 3: I don't even know him.
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  Speaker 2: Would you have let him be the major spokesman for
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  Speaker 2: your early church that you just began, namely the apostle Peter.
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  Speaker 4: No.
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  Speaker 2: But you see, God does surprising things. Just as he,
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  Speaker 2: at the end of a book that ends well, has
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  Speaker 2: lifted a no name from the gate of the king
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  Speaker 2: and made him a prime minister.
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  Speaker 3: So God still lifts.
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  Speaker 2: No names and uses them as significant folks. You question that?
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  Speaker 2: Look around, as Paul writes to the Corinthians, Not many mighty,
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  Speaker 2: not many noble, not many.
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  Speaker 3: Blue bloods are chosen.
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  Speaker 2: He has chosen the off scouring, and in the world's eyes,
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  Speaker 2: I suppose we could say losers.
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  Speaker 3: To carry the torch of the cross.
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  Speaker 2: Let's go to a second observation from this same verse.
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  Speaker 2: The one who is promoted bears the marks of true humility.
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  Speaker 2: He doesn't seem to have a kingly style about him.
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  Speaker 2: He doesn't fit well on a throne, he doesn't look
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  Speaker 2: good in royal robes. What do you read about Mordecai.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: You read that he was great among the Jews. He
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: was in favor with the multitude of his kinsman, and
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: he sought the good of his people. You see, here's
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: the principle. When God wins, the qualities he upholds are
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: usually unpretentious. The people he uses are humble people. Hold
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: your place here and go back into the New Testament
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: and find Philippians chapter two, first and second Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: There it is BIG's life Philippians chapter two. Listen to
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: what is said of our Lord Jesus when he came
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: from heaven to earth as a little baby in a manger.
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: This is the.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: Theological side of Christmas. Philippians two.
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: Five.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: Now we're going to go to his first.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: Place of existence, the one who was born in a manger.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: Earlier existed in the form of God, but did not
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: regard equality with God, a thing to be grasped, a
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: thing to be held onto. But when God said to
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: his son it's time to go, he emptied himself, taking
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: the form of a bond servant, being made in the
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: likeness of men's the that's the incarnation. That's when God
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: became man, and being found in appearance as a man.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: There it is he humbled himself by becoming obedient to
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: the point of death, even death on a cross, the
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: worst kind of death. It does say that God also
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: has exalted him, and that ultimately at the name.
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: Of Jesus, every knaevil bow.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: But what I want you to notice is that in
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: order for him to come in obedience, it required humility.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: When God wins, the qualities that he opposed are usually unpretentious.
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: Here is a humble.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: Man.
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: By the way.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: Before you turn back, remember, humility is not how you dress.
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: It is not the money you make. It is not
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: what you drive, It is not even how you look.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: We're never once told to look humble. I get weary
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: of people trying to look humble, don't you. Humility is
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: an attitude. It is an attitude of the heart, an
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: attitude of the mind. It is knowing your proper place,
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: never talking down or looking down because someone may be
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: of a financial stratum beneath you. It is knowing your
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: role and fulfilling it for God's glory and praise. It's
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: an attitude. See that's what he says in verse five.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: Have this attitude in yourselves. You say, well, I'd like
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: to know how it works out. Look two verses earlier,
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: Look at verse three. You want to know how it
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: works its way out. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit,
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: but with humility of mind. Let each of you regard
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: one another as more important than himself.
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: Do not merely look out.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: For your own personal interests, but also for the interests
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: of others.
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: Have the attitude Christ had.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: That's what leads into that canotic passage of Jesus emptying
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: himself of the voluntary use of his devis attributes. There
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: is no quality more godlike than humility. Remember that when
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: the next promotion comes, Remember that when God selects you
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: as one of his unique spokespersons and places you in
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: a position where the public listens and looks. Remember the
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: importance of humility of heart and mind. Nothing is more admirable,
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: more god like than being willing to live out in
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: one's mind true humility. I smiled when I read a
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: story recently of a young man named Walter who went
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: to work for the largest corporation in the world the
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: personnel director told Walter he must start at the bottom
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: and work his way up, so he began working the
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: mail room. Walter liked his job, but often daydreamed about
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: what it would be like to be an executive, the president,
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: maybe even chairman of the board. One day, as Walter
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: was dividing the mail he saw a cockroach in the
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: corner of the room. He walked over to step on it.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: Walter heard a tiny voice crying out, don't kill me.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: I'm Milton the cockroach, and if you spare me, I'll
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: grant you all your wishes. Walter agreed that was a
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: good arrangement, and he spared Milton's life. Walter's first wish
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: was to leave the mail room and become a vice president,
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: so Milton granted him the wish. In fact, Milton granted
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: wish after wish, until finally Walter was the chairman of
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: the board of the largest corporation in the whole world,
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: with an office on the top floor of the tallest
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: building in the whole world. Everyone looked up to Walter,
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: and he was very happy. Walter often said to himself,
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: I'm Walter, and I'm at the top. No one is
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: bigger or more important than me. Then one day Walter
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: heard footsteps on the roof and went out to find
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: a small boy on his knees praying. Are you praying
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: to Walter? He asked, after all, he was the chairman
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: of the board of the largest corporation in the world.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: The boy replied, Oh, no, no, I'm praying to God.
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: Walter was quite disturbed by this turn of events, so
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: he returned to his office and sent for Milton the Cockroach.
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: I have another wish, he told Milton. I want to
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: be like God. And so Milton granted Walter's wish. The
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: next day Walter was back in the mailroom. Now you
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: got it. The way up is down. I can't explain
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: how it works. I just know it does. The place
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: of highest exaltation, as we see in the Lord Jesus Christ,
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: is a place of self emptying humility. It isn't phony,
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: blooney kind of fake piosity that stinks. It's true humility
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: of mind. It's putting the other person first. It's sharing
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: and sharing alike. It is giving up. It is enjoying
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: the pleasures of another's promotion. It is applauding God's hand
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: in other lives and forgetting one's own clippings. It is
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: as Mordecai, who lived in favor with the multitude his
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: kinsmen and.
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: Sought the good of his people. I love that.
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: What a politician. Huh where are they? Uh? It's being
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: like Christ. There's one other thing I noticed in Esther
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: chapter ten, verse three. I noticed that the one who
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: is highly esteemed by others represents vast vision. Vast vision.
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: Look at how the verse ends. Mordecai was one who
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: spoke for the welfare of his whole nation. Literally, the
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: sentence reads, he spoke shalom. He spoke shalom. You know
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: that to be the ancient word for peace. He spoke peace.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: His world was vast, not limited to his immediate neighborhood
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: or his own immediate family. It wasn't limited to Susa
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: where he lived, where the throne room was located. It
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: wasn't limited to fifteen or twenty provinces. He preferred it
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: spread over all one hundred twenty seven, and he spoke
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: peace to the entire country. Shalom is a word for
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: health and security and material plenty. It is a word
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: of greatest delight among the Jews. He spoke shalom he
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: spread peace. Third principle. When God wins, the message he
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: honors is a universal message. It's universal why because God
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: has the whole world on his heart, every tongue and
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: tribe and nation. You know, we don't live in a
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: world that thinks like this the way I've been describing
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: here from this passage, all of this creates sort of
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: a feudal struggle with the plan that God employs. At
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: least it does every now and then. For example, go
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: back over the three. When the world selects its major players,
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: the criteria are much different.
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: We look for the sharp, the capable.
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: The competent. We look for the strong. We look for
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: those who sound sharp and look good, and have an
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: excellent education and.
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: Fit the mold of a leader.
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: We look for what's commonly called the key person on
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: the campus. But God's choices are often the unexpected ones.
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: Here again is another struggle. When the world looks for
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: qualities that will get a big job done, the externals
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: get the nod. We like people with charisma, people who
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: have pizazz, who can put up a good front. If
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: I may say so, From what I learned from the
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: last couple of presidential nominations, people who look good on television,
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: people who can debate, who can battle back and forth
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: and never miss a trick, who are diplomatic enough to
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: remember the whole group you know, On and on and
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: on it goes. We like the externals, character will do
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: without if we have to, but not those externals. God
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: passes up the externals and looks for the humble of
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: heart every time. There isn't an exception. The ones God
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: truly uses, never forget it, are people who weren't stuck
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: on themselves.
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: There's a third struggle.
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: We're in a world that we where we take care
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: of our own. We look out for number one. But
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: God has a plan that touches people whose vision is vast.
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: It occurred to me just in the past number of days,
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: several days out of a phrase that appears in the
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: Book of Galatians. When the fullness of time was come,
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: God sent forth his son.
• 37:48
  Speaker 3: I thought, what a beautiful illustration.
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: Of all three principles we see in Bethlehem's manger. First
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: of all, think of the surprising players. I mean, if
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: you lived in Nazareth and Mary, who lived three doors
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: away from you, turned up pregnant not married, would you
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: have ever guessed in a millennium that she was carrying Messiah. No,
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: you wouldn't. I mean marrying a carpenter from a background
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: that lacked significance. How surprising an unwed mother. Aren't you
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: grateful she carried the baby to term?
• 38:54
  Speaker 3: How surprising that.
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: God would move on the heart of an unbelieving emperor
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: and an unbelieving governor.
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: That required the.
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: Participating in a census down at the county seat Bethlehem.
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: The prophet wrote that that would happen, but they lived
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: in Nazareth. How surprising that that census got them right
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: a term for her down to Bethlehem. And let me
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: ask you if you had if you had the birth
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: of the Messiah, detail, wouldn't you have included some gold
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: and some and some silk, and some fine linen and satin.
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: Wouldn't you have made it beautiful? You wouldn't have had
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: it in an inn.
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: You wouldn't have put him.
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: At a feeding trough on straw, never in a thousand years.
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: But you see, God, not only does the unexpected, God
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: upholse the unpretentious. No one in Jerusalem even cared, not
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: even in the little hamlet of Bethlehem, babies are born
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: all the time.
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: Who cared that.
• 40:43
  Speaker 5: A little Jewis had a baby out there in the end,
• 40:58
  Speaker 5: and that little one who came.
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: He didn't just deliver the neighborhood of Nazareth, where he
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: was raised. He wasn't prejudiced toward them. He didn't take
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: his message just to the authorities of Jerusalem. He didn't
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: limit it to the land of Palestine.
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: God soul loved the world that he.
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: Gave his only son. You know what that allows us
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: to do. It allows us to take a universal message
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: wherever we go, and it fits. You can step into
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: the streets in an urban ghetto, or you could walk
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: before the Palace of Kings and it fits. You can
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: take a message to English speaking people, or halfway around
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: the globe, you can speak to those in the land
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: of India or the vast regions of Europe and Asia,
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: and it fits. Yes, Because God so loved the world
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: that he gave his son to the world, it fits
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: the message he uses as a universal message, genius plan.
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: And in the end he wins. May I say it,
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: whether you believe.
• 42:28
  Speaker 3: It or not, God wins, whether you accept it or not.
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: God wins whether you bowed before him as Savior and
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: Lord God still wins. Paul wrote, I have fought a
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: the faith. Henceforth there is laid before me the crown
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give.
• 43:06
  Speaker 3: Me, and not to me only, but until all them.
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: Also who love his appearing right at the end of
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: his life, the Great Apostles said, and the best is
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: yet to come of all things. He not only blessed.
• 43:22
  Speaker 3: Me with his glorious gospel.
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: In life, he waits to crown faithful service after death.
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: You cannot beat this message of Christianity. If there were
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: a better one, believe me, I'd be proclaiming it. But
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: there is none better. But what throws the world a
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: curve is that this Savior we present has never run
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: for some major office. Therefore, try to look impressing. He's
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: like Isaiah called him, like a reed shaken in the wind.
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: But in the end he wins. Now, wouldn't you like
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: to come along? Can you imagine breathing your last breath
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: and not waking up an eternity with God? Can you
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: imagine the horror of that? One man has written? It
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: is strange, how when we imagine heaven. We think of
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: it as somehow shadowy. We color it with the tents
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: of moonlight, sleep and the faces of the dead. But
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: there are no shades there. There is the substance of
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: joy and the vitality of action. Let's about together, the
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: substance of joy and the vitality of action. That's our
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: future home, men and women, those of you who know Christ.
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: That's where we will know shalom in its fullest significance.
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: That's where all arguments, suffering, disabilities, handicaps, brokenness will cease.
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: That's where God will reign all in all, in the
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: place of glory and majesty. It isn't automatic that by
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: being born you will spend eternity with God. It requires
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: a decision somewhere between birth and death. And that decision
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: has to be has to do with what will you
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: do with Christ who came? I just sing a few
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: carols at Christmas time, not just celebrate his resurrection at
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: Easter time, but deep within the recesses of your heart
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: and life, giving him the right to rule first place,
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: taking his gift and in return giving him your sin.
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: It's a transaction called conversion. It brings tears to some
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: people's eyes. Others are able to experience conversion without shedding
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: a tear. But it's changing one's mind concerning the Lord
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. It's believing he died for you personally, and
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: he rose from the dead for you. If it's your
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: decision today to come to know the Lord Jesus, don't delay,
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: don't put that off. God has the greatest gift you'll
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: ever receive. Come to day. There are people trained and
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: qualified who will talk with you about Christ, Lord our God,
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: during a time when there is such a maddening pursuit
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: of one's own wishes and desires. Bring us back to
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: the to the ancient message that Jesus Christ not only
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: declared but modeled. Bring us back to the one who
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: is indeed our victor. Show us the importance of a
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: humble spirit, true character. Give us a sense of satisfaction
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: in being in Your plan, regardless of what that may
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: be on this earth. And fill us with hope as
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: we anticipate the end that is sure to come. In
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: the meantime, Our Father, make us responsible people who carry
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: a message to a whole world. Give us courage and strength,
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: and in that process, Lord, keep us from relying on
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: our own strength, But may our strength come from You,
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: from your Son Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray Amen.
• 48:57
  Speaker 4: The preceding message in the End God Wins was copyrighted
• 49:01
  Speaker 4: in nineteen eighty nine, nineteen ninety, nineteen ninety seven, two
• 49:04
  Speaker 4: thousand and five, twenty eighteen, and twenty twenty six, and
• 49:08
  Speaker 4: the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty six by
• 49:12
  Speaker 4: Charles R. Swindall Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. The
• 49:16
  Speaker 4: duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.