Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / What Goes Around, Comes Around │ Msg 7_12 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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What Goes Around, Comes Around │ Msg 7_12 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: For the Jews living in Persia, it seemed as if
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: all was lost. They had no protector except the queen.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: But how powerful was she in the shadow of the king?
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: The sand in the hourglass was running out, and genocide
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: seemed inevitable. And yet, in spite of the way things seemed,
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  Speaker 1: that's not the way things were. God was at work
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  Speaker 1: behind the scenes, scripting each movement on the stage. The king,
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  Speaker 1: her husband, had given Esther not only an audience, but
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  Speaker 1: also carte blanche to request anything she desired up to
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  Speaker 1: half the kingdom. None of the Jews knew what was
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  Speaker 1: happening behind palace doors. Even Haman was too busy building
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  Speaker 1: the gallows for Mordecai to know anything but his desire
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  Speaker 1: for revenge. And so the account continues right after Esther's
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  Speaker 1: banquet for her husband and Haman. The scene is the
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  Speaker 1: king's bedchamber late at night. I'm reading for you from
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  Speaker 1: Esther chapter 6, beginning at verse 1, as the plot thickens.
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  Speaker 1: Listen carefully. During that night, the king could not sleep.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: So he gave an order to bring the book of records,
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  Speaker 1: the chronicles, and they were read before the king. It
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: was found written what Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: two of the king's eunuchs who were doorkeepers, that they
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. The king said,
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  Speaker 1: what honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Then the king's servants who attended him said, Nothing has
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: been done for him. So the king said, Who is
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: in the court? Now Haman had just entered the outer
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: court of the king's palace in order to speak to
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  Speaker 1: the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows which he
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  Speaker 1: had prepared for him. The king's servants said to him, Behold,
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  Speaker 1: Haman is standing in the court. And the king said,
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  Speaker 1: Let him come in. So Haman came in, and the
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: king said to him, What is to be done for
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  Speaker 1: the man whom the king desires to honor? And Haman
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  Speaker 1: said to himself, Whom would the king desire to honor
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  Speaker 1: more than me? Then Haman said to the king, For
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  Speaker 1: the man whom the king desires to honor, let them
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  Speaker 1: bring a royal robe which the king has worn. and
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  Speaker 1: the horse on which the king has ridden, and on
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: whose head a royal crown has been placed. And let
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  Speaker 1: the robe and the horse be handed over to one
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  Speaker 1: of the king's most noble princes, and let them array
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  Speaker 1: the man whom the king desires to honor, and lead
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  Speaker 1: him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him,
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  Speaker 1: Thus it shall be done to the man whom the
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  Speaker 1: king desires to honor. Then the king said to Haman,
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  Speaker 1: Take quickly the robes and the horse, as you have said,
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  Speaker 1: and do so for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting
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  Speaker 1: in the king's gate. Do not fall short in anything
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  Speaker 1: of all that you have said. So Haman took the
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  Speaker 1: robe and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and led him
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  Speaker 1: on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him,
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  Speaker 1: Thus it shall be done to the man whom the
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  Speaker 1: king desires to honor. Then Mordecai returned to the king's gate.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: But Haman hurried home, mourning with his head covered.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Normally, things are not as they seem. Most parents of
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  Speaker 2: small children will teach you that if you don't know
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  Speaker 2: it already. It's when the kids get very quiet and
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  Speaker 2: are making no noise at all that you have everything
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  Speaker 2: to worry about. Probably there isn't a parent listening right
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  Speaker 2: now who has not done a quick investigation and found
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  Speaker 2: their two-year-old standing waist deep in toilet tissue and Kleenex,
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  Speaker 2: or in our case, ankle deep in bath powder with
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  Speaker 2: all of the file drawers pulled out and all the
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  Speaker 2: files all over the floor and he's dousing each one
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  Speaker 2: carefully with a quarter of an inch of bath powder.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Cynthia and I have longtime friends who, with their daughter,
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: went to a large department store, and the child got
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  Speaker 2: very quiet. She was sitting with her back to them,
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  Speaker 2: so they didn't worry about anything. They knew she wasn't lost.
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  Speaker 2: But she was unusually quiet while they went through the
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  Speaker 2: entire transaction at this large Sears and Roebuck store, and
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  Speaker 2: when they finished, they reached down to pick her up
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  Speaker 2: and they found that all the while she had been
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  Speaker 2: chewing on a cigar butt she found on the floor
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  Speaker 2: there at that Sears store. When children are quiet, it
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  Speaker 2: may seem like things are fine and dandy, but chances
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  Speaker 2: are good they are not. Now here's another one to
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  Speaker 2: illustrate things are not as they seem. When things have
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  Speaker 2: gone wrong, It may seem like they cannot possibly get
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  Speaker 2: any worse, but you know and I know that they can.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: I heard a.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: Crazy story this past week, I have to tell you.
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  Speaker 2: It's about a poor guy named Johnson who all of
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  Speaker 2: his adult life made wrong decisions. Every choice he made
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  Speaker 2: was a wrong choice. If he bet on a horse,
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  Speaker 2: it would lose every time. If he chose one elevator
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  Speaker 2: over another, that would be the elevator that got stuck.
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  Speaker 2: If he selected a particular line in the bank before
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  Speaker 2: the teller's cage, his line would never be the one
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  Speaker 2: that moves fastest. If he picked a day for a picnic,
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  Speaker 2: that would be the day of the cloudburst before they
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: ever got to the site, invariably. Well, it became necessary
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: for this fellow to travel about 1,000 miles away in
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  Speaker 2: a hurry for an overnight trip The only way to
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  Speaker 2: get there was an airplane. Frightened him. But to his delight,
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  Speaker 2: he discovered that there was only one airline that serviced
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  Speaker 2: that particular city. So he breathed a sigh of relief
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: and he got on the plane and it took off,
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  Speaker 2: no problems. Can you imagine the horror of this man
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  Speaker 2: when he looked out the window, having been flying about 30,
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  Speaker 2: 40 minutes, and he saw the engine on fire? Being
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  Speaker 2: a Catholic, he... selected his favorite saint, Saint Francis, and
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  Speaker 2: he said, I have never in my life made the
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  Speaker 2: right choice. Why, I don't know, but I have borne
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  Speaker 2: my cross without complaint. On this occasion, I made no choice.
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  Speaker 2: Only the plane I could have taken or have taken
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  Speaker 2: is going down. I had to take this plane. Why
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  Speaker 2: am I being punished? Right about then, a great hand
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  Speaker 2: reached out of the clouds and swept into the plane
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  Speaker 2: and pulled him out. The plane went on down and
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  Speaker 2: held him about two miles above the earth. And a
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  Speaker 2: great voice came. My son, I can save you if
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  Speaker 2: in truth you have called upon me. He says, yes,
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  Speaker 2: I have. I've truly called upon you, St. Francis. Ah,
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  Speaker 2: said the voice. St. Francis Xavier or St. Francis of Assisi? No, no, no.
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  Speaker 2: About the time you think it's as bad as it's
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  Speaker 2: going to get, it gets worse. Now I've got a
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  Speaker 2: true story that really did happen. It really did. You're
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  Speaker 2: not going to believe it now that I told you
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  Speaker 2: that one. There were a couple of attorneys who worked
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  Speaker 2: together regularly up in the San Francisco area. They happened
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  Speaker 2: to be in offices far above the ground floor, and
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  Speaker 2: they were there when the earthquake struck, the 7.1 quake.
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  Speaker 2: And they gloriously made their way down to the main floor.
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  Speaker 2: And they, of course, were unable to get to their
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  Speaker 2: cars for their transportation home. After hours of waiting and waiting,
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  Speaker 2: they finally took commercial transportation. They found a bus that
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  Speaker 2: wasn't packed with people, and they made their way onto
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  Speaker 2: the bus and on their way home. Would you believe it?
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  Speaker 2: After the earthquake, they were both robbed on the bus.
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  Speaker 2: Never fails, does it? Things are not as they seem.
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  Speaker 2: About the time you think they're never going to get worse,
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  Speaker 2: they get. And I am convinced if you and I
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  Speaker 2: had lived in the days of Esther, and if we
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  Speaker 2: had come to this particular time in our lives as
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  Speaker 2: a group of Jewish people living in the capital city
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  Speaker 2: of Susa, we would have been convinced that this was
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  Speaker 2: about our last night, certainly if our name had been Mordecai.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: There was a pivotal chapter in this book where everything
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  Speaker 2: seems to change. I find in this section of the
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  Speaker 2: book of Esther actually not one but four separate principles
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  Speaker 2: that seem to illustrate turnabout is fair play. For example,
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  Speaker 2: before we even get into the chapter, the first one is,
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  Speaker 2: when all seems lost, it isn't. It really isn't. Had
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  Speaker 2: we lived then, we would have thought our protection was lost.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, we have no advocate on the throne. The
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  Speaker 2: king is a Gentile. He has no interest in the Jews. Furthermore,
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  Speaker 2: we have no future because his close confidant is Haman,
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  Speaker 2: who hates the Jews, anti-Semitic to the sole of his sandals.
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  Speaker 2: He despises us. We have no hope. After all, in
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  Speaker 2: the middle of the night, we could still hear the
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  Speaker 2: hammering on the gallows. Can you imagine the night Mordecai
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  Speaker 2: must have spent as he listened to that grim reminder
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  Speaker 2: that the very next day the smell of death would
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  Speaker 2: spread across the city from his body as it is
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  Speaker 2: impaled on that vast pole that is being erected for
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  Speaker 2: his extermination? And yet the marvelous fact is Mordecai apparently
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  Speaker 2: spends a full night in sleep. Even though the last
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  Speaker 2: verse of chapter 5 of this ancient book of Esther
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  Speaker 2: states that gallows 50 cubits high were being made and
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  Speaker 2: on the very next morning Haman would go before the
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  Speaker 2: king and ask for the life of Mordecai. Mordecai apparently
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  Speaker 2: spends the night with no problem. Because when all seems lost,
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  Speaker 2: it really isn't. Mordecai is not licking his wounds, holding
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  Speaker 2: a pity party, thinking, poor me, I'll never make it
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  Speaker 2: to sea tomorrow night. There is somehow a sense of
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  Speaker 2: trust in his God. As we step into the first
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  Speaker 2: part of chapter 6, there is yet a second principle.
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  Speaker 2: When no one seems to notice, they do. Remember Mordecai's
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  Speaker 2: courageous decision back a number of days earlier? He heard
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  Speaker 2: of a conspiracy between two of the doorkeepers of the palace,
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  Speaker 2: where these two men were going to kill the king,
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  Speaker 2: lay hands on him and kill him. When he heard
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  Speaker 2: of that conspiracy, he told his adopted daughter Esther about it,
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  Speaker 2: and she told the king, she being the queen, and
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  Speaker 2: the king believed her and brought the men before him
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  Speaker 2: and killed them before they had the chance to kill him.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, no one ever rewarded Mordecai for that
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  Speaker 2: great act. The king knew of it, of course, because
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  Speaker 2: he is the one who said the two men should
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  Speaker 2: be killed. But I'm sure he thought Esther got word
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  Speaker 2: from someone in the palace who would bother to tell
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  Speaker 2: him that it came from the man who lived at
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  Speaker 2: the king's gate, Mordecai himself. And so Mordecai is living
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  Speaker 2: his life not noticed, not rewarded, and could easily have
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  Speaker 2: felt unappreciated until this night. Listen as I read the
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  Speaker 2: first three verses. During that night, and what a night
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  Speaker 2: it was, during that night, the king could not sleep.
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  Speaker 2: So he gave an order to bring the book of records,
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  Speaker 2: the chronicles, and they were read before the king. And
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: it was found that Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana, and Teresh,
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: two of the king's eunuchs who were doorkeepers, that they
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  Speaker 2: had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. He listened
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  Speaker 2: to the reading of the Chronicles, to the record of Persia,
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  Speaker 2: and he heard the name Mordecai, a new name to
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  Speaker 2: him and unknown until now. And he stops them at
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  Speaker 2: this point and he says, wait. Verse 3. What honor
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  Speaker 2: or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this? Then
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  Speaker 2: the king's servants who attended him said, Nothing has been done.
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  Speaker 2: Have you lived long enough as an adult to discover
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  Speaker 2: that often momentous events hang upon the tiniest trivialities? Have
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: you discovered that? Here is a wonderful case in point.
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  Speaker 2: While all of Susa slept, the king is restless. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: of all nights to suffer from insomnia, what a night.
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  Speaker 2: The king knew nothing of the plan to kill Mordecai.
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  Speaker 2: That was Haman's plan the next morning to face him
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  Speaker 2: with it and to get the okay. He really knew
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  Speaker 2: little of the result of his decisions. He's living in
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  Speaker 2: a palace away from the real world. While Mordecai sleeps,
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  Speaker 2: while all of Susa and all of Persia sleeps, the
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  Speaker 2: king can't sleep. I love the first three words of
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  Speaker 2: verse 1, during that night. That's the way it is
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  Speaker 2: with God. On the 11th hour, it seems, he steps in.
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  Speaker 2: He does things that you would never have expected. When
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  Speaker 2: no one seemed to notice and no one seemed to care,
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  Speaker 2: there was someone. He was very much aware. Suddenly it
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  Speaker 2: dawned on the king that he owed his very life
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  Speaker 2: and throne to this obscure Jew named Mordecai. Do I
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  Speaker 2: speak today to some modern-day Mordecai? Has it been your
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  Speaker 2: decision or discovery that has caused someone else to be
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  Speaker 2: promoted to a place of significance and now they are
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  Speaker 2: in virtually a celebrity status and you've never been noticed,
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  Speaker 2: never been thanked, never been rewarded? How about this? Have
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  Speaker 2: you done the hard, the courageous thing and someone else
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  Speaker 2: got the credit? Has it been your experience that though
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  Speaker 2: you have done what is right, you have never been rewarded?
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  Speaker 2: You have never been honored. In fact, someone else has
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  Speaker 2: taken the glory that rightfully is yours. But it looks
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  Speaker 2: as though it will never come. Learn a lesson from
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  Speaker 2: Mordecai today, will you? The thing you will love about
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  Speaker 2: the man throughout the chapter and even the following is
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  Speaker 2: that he doesn't seem to be a man of vengeance.
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  Speaker 2: He doesn't take an opportunity to get back at Haman
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: when he has Haman in a very vulnerable spot a
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  Speaker 2: little later on in this story, as we will hear today.
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  Speaker 2: He doesn't kick him in the face when it's a
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  Speaker 2: chance to do so. He doesn't even speak against him.
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  Speaker 2: Let me challenge you to guard your heart as he did.
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  Speaker 2: Let me have you be encouraged from the writing of
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  Speaker 2: a verse of scripture in the margin of your Bible here,
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  Speaker 2: Hebrews 6.10. Listen to the words. For God is not
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  Speaker 2: unjust to forget your work and labor which you have
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  Speaker 2: showed toward his name, in that you have ministered to
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  Speaker 2: the saints and are ministering. I love the words, God
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  Speaker 2: is not unjust to forget. When no one else seems
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  Speaker 2: to notice, God notices. When no one else remembers, God records.
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  Speaker 2: We're told in the Psalms he keeps our tears in
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  Speaker 2: a bottle. He will reward us for acts that are
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  Speaker 2: done in his name. So be encouraged today. There will
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  Speaker 2: come a day when rewards will come your way, as
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  Speaker 2: they should. Perhaps not on this earth, as happens to Mordecai,
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  Speaker 2: but someday God is not unjust to forget your work,
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  Speaker 2: your labor. This brings up a third principle from the
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  Speaker 2: basic axiom that things are not really as they seem,
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  Speaker 2: and that is when everything seems great, it's not. Sounds
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  Speaker 2: like one of Murphy's laws, doesn't it? Anytime things appear
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  Speaker 2: to be going better, you have overlooked something, is that
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  Speaker 2: basic law. And I think of Haman when I hear
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  Speaker 2: that humorous principle. As soon as the king heard, nothing
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  Speaker 2: had been done for Mordecai, his wheels started turning. He
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: began to imagine what might be done. And then he
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  Speaker 2: had to figure out who would help him carry it out.
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  Speaker 2: And so in verse 4, he asks the logical question.
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  Speaker 2: Who is in the court? Now, Haman had just entered
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  Speaker 2: the outer court of the king's palace. Watch this. In
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  Speaker 2: order to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on
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  Speaker 2: the gallows, which he had prepared for him. Is this
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: a great moment or what? The sun begins to come up.
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  Speaker 2: Haman comes early, has an appointment with the king, has
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: plans to finish off his long hated enemy. And out
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  Speaker 2: of the inner court comes the word of the king.
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  Speaker 2: Call him in. Call Haman in. Haman comes in. I'm
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: getting ahead of myself. Verse 5. King's servant said, behold,
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: Haman is standing in the court. And the king said,
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: let him come in. Now, if you were Haman, right?
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  Speaker 2: Wouldn't this make a great movie? You would think, now
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  Speaker 2: is my chance. Just a minute gallows, somebody will be
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  Speaker 2: on you. And you walk into the court of the
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: king thinking, this is my moment. Before you can get
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: a line out of your mouth, however, the king fills
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  Speaker 2: your ears with verse six. So Haman came in and
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  Speaker 2: the king said to him, what is to be done
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  Speaker 2: for the man whom the king desires to honor? Well, now,
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  Speaker 2: if you were Haman, You would think of yourself. Who
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: else carries around four cartridges of slides and shows them
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  Speaker 2: every chance he gets about his own promotion? Who else
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: talks about how much money he makes, how many kids
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  Speaker 2: he's got, how well fixed he is? Haman. So you think, oh, well,
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  Speaker 2: I better put on hold the idea I was going
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: to bring up and answer. This is my chance. I
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: love stories like this. I love them. What is to
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: And Haman said to himself, Whom would the king desire
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  Speaker 2: to honor more than me? Of course. This is my moment.
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  Speaker 2: Let's see. What could be done for me? Let's begin
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  Speaker 2: with the king's robe. Verse 7. Haman said, For the
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: man whom the king desires to honor, let them bring
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: a royal robe which the king has worn. Write that down.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: Royal robe king has worn. And choose the horse on
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: which the king has ridden. Write that down. Horse on
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: which the king has ridden. Preferably white. And the crown
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: on whose head the royal crown has been placed. Royal
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: crown once placed on the head. And let the robe
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: and the horse, can you see Haman? Let the robe
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: and the horse and the crown be placed on this individual.
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  Speaker 2: And let them array the man whom the king desires
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  Speaker 2: to honor and lead him on horseback through the city
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  Speaker 2: square and proclaim before him that it shall be done
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: to the man whom the king desires to honor. That'll
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: do it. Great idea, says the king. Couldn't have thought
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: of something as imaginative. That's great. Now, verse 10, one
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: of my all-time favorite verses. Take quickly the robes, the crown,
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  Speaker 2: the horse, and all you have said, and do that
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  Speaker 2: for Mordecai the Jew. Oh, no. This has got to
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: be a mistake.
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  Speaker 3: Who?
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  Speaker 2: Mordecai, the Jew, who is sitting at the king's gate,
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  Speaker 2: do not fall short in anything of all that you
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: have said. Now, I want to get the finest in
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: the kingdom to make the announcement, so Haman, you be
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: the one who leads the horse through the city and
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: make the announcement how great this man is that sits
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: on this horse. That's like saying to the UCLA Bruins,
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: announce to the world, SC will go to the Rose Bowl.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: It's like saying to Michael Dukakis, you deliver the final speech.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: George Bush beat my socks off. He will be the president.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, this is an in-your-face kind of announcement. Some
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: of you look at me rather piously. How could you
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: think such a thing? Oh, it's easy. Just like you
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: could do it. I mean, this is my chance to
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: get back. No, all of a sudden, I can't. I've
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: got to go through. And to make it worse, I
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: thought of it. I thought of this idea. So Haman, oh,
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: this is great. So Haman took the robe and the
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: horse and arrayed Mordecai and led him on horseback through
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: the city square and proclaimed before him, thus it shall
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: be done to the man whom the king desires to honor.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: One wise commentator said the words Haman had to proclaim
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: must have been as gravel in his mouth. We have
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: a saying in our day, it's called, what goes around
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: comes around. It has come around for Mordecai. Sitting on
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: that horse in regal attire is the most surprised man
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: in the kingdom. That's the beauty of the story. Not
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: a proud man. Not a man whispering, say it a
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: little louder. Eat your heart out, Haman. Not a word.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: You read nothing, listen to me, nothing of vengeance in
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: Mordecai's life. You know what I appreciate most? The silence
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: of Mordecai. How rare are the people who can be
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: promoted to a place of significant stature, and not live
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: for their own clippings, and not crave the lights, not
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: demand to be in the center stage, to be treated
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: with kid gloves. You know a beautiful scene, it's a
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: small phrase you would probably in your reading overlook. Verse 12.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: Then Mordecai returned to the king's gate. Isn't that great?
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: Rather than Mordecai decided it was time for a promotion.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: Know why it's significant? Because that's where he's been all
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: the time. And his role has not gone to his head.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: I thought I was the first to discover that, and
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: then I found in an old book published in 1880
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: from a man named Alexander Raleigh this insightful paragraph, better
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: than I could have ever thought, and I quote, a proud,
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: ambitious man would have said to himself, no more of
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: the king's gates for me. I shall direct my steps
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: now to the king's palace and hold myself ready for honor,
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: which surely must now be at hand. Mordecai seems to
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: have said with himself, If these things are designed for
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: me in God's good providence, they will find me. But
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: they must seek me. I will not seek them. Those
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: who confer them know my address, Mordecai, at the king's gate.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: that will still find me. Let the crowd wonder and disperse.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: I've had enough of their incense. Let Haman go whither
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: he will. He is in the hands of the Lord.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: Let my friends at home wait. They will all hear
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: all in time. I can wait best at the old
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: place and in the accustomed way. I'll be at the
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: king's gate. Have you been promoted in recent days? Has
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: God's providence smiled on you so that you are now
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: being quoted in places where you were once not even known?
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: Have you come to the place of nobility in the
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: eyes of the people? The real question is, are you
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: still comfortable at the king's gate? Or must you now
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: live in the palace where you are protected from the
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: real world? Must you now be treated with special care
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: and be given a special touch and not bothered with
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: everyday problems? Mordecai said, just drop me off at the
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: king's gate. Let me give you a little piece of advice.
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: No matter what happens to you, the best place on
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: earth is the king's gate. One more principle comes from
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: this story in this chapter, and that is when nothing
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: seems just, it is. If you're like me, you have
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: been waiting for a long time for the other shoe
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: to fall. You have been wanting somehow, not for Mordecai
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: to take vengeance, that's not his right, but you have
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: been wanting Haman to get what he deserves. There's something
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: in all of us that wants justice. That's why we
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: will go to the trouble of finding an attorney and,
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: if necessary, going to law in this case. Because we
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: have to bring about a sense of justice when we
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: have been wronged. And this man Haman has strutted his
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: stuff long enough. When all seems lost, when nothing seems just,
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: it is. Listen to 12. Mordecai returned to the king's gate,
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: but Haman hurried home, mourning with his head covered. Remember
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: the last time he was there, he was going through
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: the litany of how great he is. Now he slides
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: under the door. as he gets there that afternoon, and
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: he recounts to Zeresh, his wife, and his friends everything
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: that had happened to him. Haman types are the type
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: that always blame other people for their misfortune. Have you
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: noticed that? It's never, God has taught me a valuable lesson,
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: or I have been humbled through this, and in the
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: loss I have gained. or God has crushed my spirit
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: and I have learned to rely on him. It is invariably,
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: if it hadn't been for him, if she hadn't said,
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: if that person hadn't done, if the company hadn't, and
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: on and on and on. Haman's like that. He rehearses
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: all that has happened to him, not all that he
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: brought on himself. Then his wise men and Zeresh, his wife,
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: said to him, Hold on. If Mordecai before whom you
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: have begun to fall is of Jewish origin, you will
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: not overcome him. Your days are numbered. You will surely
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: fall before him. You know what? You've got to admire
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: their theology. They are right on target. That couldn't have
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: been sourced better if I had read for you Genesis 12, 2,
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: and 3. I will make you, the Jews, a great nation.
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: I will bless those who bless you, and the one
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: who curses you I will curse. The marginal reference states,
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: I will bind under a curse. Genesis 12, 2, and 3,
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: the Abrahamic covenant, my people will be protected. You curse them,
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: you will pay a terrible price. Thank God America has
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: not forgotten that. It's wise to remain allies to the Jews.
• 34:08
  Speaker 2: When nothing seems just, it is. And they say to him,
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: Don't get your hopes up for many more mornings. It
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: looks like you're about done for. Not while I was
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: graduating from seminary, but a couple of years before my
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: class made it, I was sitting in the audience listening
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: to the long-standing president of Dallas Seminary at the time, Dr.
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: John Walvoord. I forget much of what he said, but
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: I will never forget a statement he made as he
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: was challenging the graduates to a life of purity, holiness, humility, godliness.
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: I remember his warning all of those graduates in cap
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: and gown that day to be careful with how they
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: handled the glory of God and God's use of their
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: lives in the days ahead. He made a statement not
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: original to him, but at the time, I had never
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: read it anywhere else before. He said, remember God's wheels
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine. Never forget that.
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: Here in the case of Haman, God's wheels grind exceedingly fine.
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: Never once in all of his peacocks strutting about the
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: kingdom had God overlooked Haman. Never once. In none of
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: his plan for the murder of the Jews to say
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: nothing of the murder of Mordecai that day had God
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: missed the statements, the feelings of the hearts, the motives
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: behind the decisions. His wheels grind slowly but exceedingly fine.
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: I don't care how important you may think you are
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: or how valuable you feel you are to the company
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: or the community or the home or the church, its
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: wheels grind exceedingly fine. Be very, very careful about walking
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: in pride. It will come back to curse you. Having
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: heard these words, in fact, while, verse 14, while they
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: were still talking with him, a knock came at the door.
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: And before he could even get his thoughts together, according
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: to the verse, the king's eunuch had arrived and hastily
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: brought Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared. I mean,
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: he didn't even have time to compute what was said
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: before he was swept out of the house and moved
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: right on to the palace of the king for this
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: ominous banquet. that would spell his doom. Would you allow
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: a preacher a little imagination for a moment? I can't
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: help but wonder if on the way to the king's palace,
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: Haman didn't glance at the gallows. And truly think, could
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: it be that The one I planned to put there
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: will never go, and I will be hung there in
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: its place. It's the kind of thought that Judas thought
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: of too late. There's an old English couplet that says,
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: still as of old, man by himself is priced. For
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: 30 pieces, Judas sold himself, not Christ. There he stood.
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: In a moment of hesitation before going into the banquet,
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: what goes around comes around. We've seen the principle, things
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: are not as they seem, carried out in four different manners,
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: haven't we? When all seems lost, it isn't. When no
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: one seems to notice, they do. When everything seems great,
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: it isn't. And when nothing seems just, it is. Which
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: is another way of saying, when God seems absent, he's present.
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: Even When you think you have lost it all, in
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: the losing of all, God uses it as an opportunity
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: to bring you to your knees. That's the strange way
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: he works. you know. I saw in a Billy Graham
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: decision magazine a story that was entitled Disaster. Maybe you
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: remember reading it. It was a story of a man
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: who was shipwrecked and thrown on an island with nothing
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: but a few things he was able to salvage from
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: the ship. And he hurriedly built a little hut in
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: which he would be protected from the elements and where
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: he could keep the few last possessions he had salvaged
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: from the wreck. And he lived through the hot sun
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: and the cold nights and the stormy days and nights
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: on the island. And returning one evening after a search
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: for food, and he had every day watched for a
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: passing ship. and saw nothing. When he came back that evening,
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: he was terrified to find that the little hut he
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: had built was consumed in flames. And he stood there
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: without any ability to stop the fire in a crushing
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: disaster of realizing that the last bid he had was
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: now gone. Yet by divine mercy, his affliction was going
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: to work toward mighty advantage. He went to sleep that
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: night near the ashes, listening to the surf as it
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: pounded on the sand, awoke early the next morning, and
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: to his surprise, as he sat up, he saw a ship.
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: And before he could awaken himself fully, he heard the
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: footsteps of a crew of men next to him. And
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: one of them said, we saw your smoke signal and
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: we came to rescue you. Everything the maroon man owned
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: had to be destroyed before he could be rescued. Where
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: are you in this story? I speak mainly to the
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: Hamans who have been kind enough to listen very carefully.
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: You've been engaged in building your kingdom and erecting your fortune,
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: establishing your name, making it prominent so that other people
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: would ooh and ah. You've got your fortune in hand.
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: You can see it in your sights. You've walked over
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: and through people to get there. Listen to this piece.
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: I had walked life's way with an easy tread. I
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: had traveled where pleasures and comfort led until one day
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: in a quiet place I met the master face to face.
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: With station and rank and wealth for my goal, much
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: thought for my body but none for my soul, I
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: had entered to win this life's mad race when I
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: met the master face to face. I built my towers
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: and reared them high. till they had pierced the blue
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: of the sky. I'd sworn to rule with an iron
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: mace when I met my master face to face. I
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: met him and knew him and blushed to see that
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: his eyes full of sorrow were fixed upon me. I
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: faltered and fell at his feet that day while my
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: castles melted and vanished away. Melted and vanished and in
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: their place nothing else could I see but the master's face.
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: My thoughts are now for the souls of men. I
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: have lost my life to find it again. Since that
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: day in a quiet place when I met the Master
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: face to face. I'd like you to bow your heads
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: for a few moments. I'd like to address you who
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: feel that God has been absent or on hold. Distant
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: in some way, I would like to reassure you of this.
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: He has been present all the time. Furthermore, he knows
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: your heart. He knows the true condition of your soul.
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: He knows the impurities of your motive. He knows the
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: depravity of your sin, but he has come to your
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: rescue today. The good news is that he has come
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: to you. He's heard your signal and he will not
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: turn you away. You're surrounded this day in all corners
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: of this world with people who have given their hearts
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: to Jesus Christ. Maybe they've not announced it to you,
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: but I can assure you in churches that preach his truth,
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: they're there in great numbers. They understand the battle you're
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: going through. I today invite you to make a decision
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: they have made And that is to give your life
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: to Jesus Christ. Seems only wise, doesn't it? Why should
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: you wait for a disaster? Or you see, God will win.
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: He will have his way. He's not impressed with earthly
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: kingdoms and personal towers and pride and prestige and wealth.
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: He's impressed with a humble heart that comes to the cross.
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: Come now. In your own words and in your own way,
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: tell Jesus Christ that you've come to an end of yourself.
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: You're ready for him to take over. You'll give him
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: your life. Don't wait. Father, we come just as we
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: are today. We come as Hamans and Mordecais. We come
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: in our need. We come in the dread of our
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: own foolish decisions. We come in the misery of a memory.
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: And yet we come. Thank you for truth that emerges
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: from an ancient book whose scrolls are hardly known by
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: the public at large. Thank you for speaking to us
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: through the lives and lips of men and women that
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: we can identify with who lived in a culture we'll
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: never know at a time where we could never be.
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: Thank you for the glory of heaven that awaits all
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: who know Jesus Christ. for the pleasures of sins forgiven,
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: tears removed, blessings eternally ours to enjoy, rewards never made
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: real on earth coming to pass there. Thank you for
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: Christ who has made it all possible. And we come
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: to him today in his great name.
• 47:33
  Speaker 3: Amen. The preceding message, What Goes Around, Comes Around, was
• 47:39
  Speaker 3: copyrighted in 1989, 1990, 1997, 2005, 2018, and 2026, and
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: the sound recording was copyrighted in.
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: 2026 by Charles R.
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: Swindoll, Inc.
• 47:44
  Speaker 3: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
• 47:48
  Speaker 3: commercial use is strictly prohibited.