Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Limitations of Retaliation Msg 1012

Transcript

The Limitations of Retaliation Msg 1012 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Up to this point in our account. From the life
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: of Esther, we have seen God change the heart of
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: a king. Now we see God pulling the strings to
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: intervene in the fate of the Jews. Through the edict
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: that mordec Hi penned and stamped with the king's signet ring,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: God gave the Jews the legal right to defend themselves.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: He allowed them to retaliate and plunder anyone who would
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: attack them. Yet they demonstrated remarkable restraint regarding their enemies, families,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and possessions. Let's read about the limitations of retaliation in
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: verses one through sixteen of Esther Chapter nine, Verse one.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Now in the twelfth month, that is the month of Aar,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: on the thirteenth day, when the king's command and edict
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: were about to be executed. On the day when the
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: it was turned to the contrary, so that the Jews
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: themselves gained the mastery over those who hated them. The
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the provinces of
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: King a Hazuaris to lay hands on those who sought
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: their harm, and no one could stand before them, for
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: the dread of them had fallen on all the people.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Even all the princes of the provinces, the satraps, the governors,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: and those who were doing the King's business assisted the
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Jews because the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them. Indeed,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Mordechai was great in the King's house, and his fame
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: spread throughout all the provinces. For the man Mordecai became
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: greater and greater. Now drop down with me. To verse twelve.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: The King said to Queen Esther, the Jews have killed
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: Haman at the citadel in Susa. What then have they
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: done in the rest of the King's provinces. Now, what
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: is your petition? It shall even be granted you. And
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: what is your further request? It shall also be done, then,
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: said Esther. If it pleases the King, let tomorrow also
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: be granted to the Jews who are in Susa to
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: do according to the edict of today, and let Haman's
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: ten sons be hanged on the gallows. So the king
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: commanded that it should be done so, and an edict
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: was issued in Susa and Hayman's ten sons were hanged.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: The Jews who were in Susa assembled also on the
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: fourteenth day of the month of our and killed three
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: hundred men in Susa, but they did not lay their
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: hands on the plunder.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: I want to ask you several questions, and I think,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: without exception, all of us will have the same answer.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: You'll see what I mean. Have you ever lost your temper?
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Ever been so busy that your prayer life got squeezed
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: out of your daily schedule. Ever worried so much that
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: you became ill at ease down inside? Ever eaten too
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: much so that you put on weight. Ever find thoughts
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: of envy and anger, and materialism and lust come back,
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: even though you tell the Lord this is going to
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: be the last time you'll have to come to him
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: with these things. How about this one ever said too
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: much and then had to go back and try to
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: make it right, even apologize, only to say.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: Too much again a little later on.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: All of these things could fall under the category of
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: yielding to the temptation to go too far. There isn't
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: a person who can honestly answer those questions any other way.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: But yes, every one of us has gotten too angry
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: and allowed our tempers to take over, only to regret it.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Every one of us has allowed our schedules to get
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: so overloaded that we, looking back over the week, admit
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: to ourselves if we're that honest, we've hardly stopped to
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: pray even once. Every one of us has eaten too much,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: even when we sat down to the table and swore
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: we wouldn't do it. If we drank like we ate,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: every one of us would be alcoholics. And while we're
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: on the subject, who hasn't fought and re fought and
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: fought yet again the old battle with lust or greed,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: or materialism, or anger or envy. Everyone has said more
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: than we wish, we would have said, would have.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: Liked to have cut our tongues out.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Even though we apologize, we do that yet again, And
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: we do it yet again, and yet again.
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: I could go on.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: It may not fit everyone, But there are other areas
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: where we go too far. I know some who go
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: too far in their fitness fad too far, too much,
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: too often, too extreme. Some who go too far spending
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: money out of control, go too far in getting into debt,
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: too far with perfectionism, too far with work. We've even
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: coined the word work aholic. Because of it, the list
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: is virtually endless. This syndrome is discribed beautifully in scripture
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: in one verse Romans seven nineteen. If you happen to
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: have a copy of the Scriptures, locate the seventh chapter
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: of Romans Romans seven. Look at verse nineteen, just the
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: one verse. Listen to this eloquent admission, and every one
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: of us could cry back to Paul, Amen, that's me.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: I've been there. I live there for the good that
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: I wish.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: I do not do, but I practice the very evil.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: That I do not wish. The living Bible renders it.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: When I want to do good, I don't, And when
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: And the Phillips paraphrase, I don't accomplished the good I
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: set out to do, and the evil I don't really
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: want to do I find I'm always doing it. We
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: are an out of controlled people living in an out
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: of control society. I've just begun to read The one
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: hundred Yard Lie, which the story of corruption of college
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: football and what we can do to stop it by
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Rick Tilander. Rick played good ball for a Northwestern university
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: made all Big ten was a draft choice for the
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Kansas City Chief and the lead sports writer for college
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: ball for Sports Illustrated. The book caught my eye before
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: I was more than seventeen pages into it. I came
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: across this. I had material all over my office in Chicago,
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: piles of information books, clippings, quotes, jotted insights of varying
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: perceptiveness and naivete statistics, brochures, studies, charts, letters and notes
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: that I've been collecting for years, poems, photos, aphorisms, headlines.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Even my own college helmet with its cracking leather cheek
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: pads and a couple of footballs. I sometimes just held
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: that combined to tell me what I felt. Big time
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: college football is out of control, rotten from the foundation
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: up a game, a sport designed to bring cheer and
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: enthusiasm and healthy competition to a university, out of control, corrupt.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: It's back to our lives. It's like our bodies don't
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: cooperate with our minds. Our minds make great promises that
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: our bodies don't fulfill. It's like the pianists that shouted
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: to the soloist, I'm playing on white keys, and I'm
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: playing on black keys, So why must you sing in
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: the cracks. My mind says, I play on white keys,
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: I play on black keys. My body answers back, I
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: play in the cracks. I live there. This thing we
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: are agreeing on and laughing about to keep from crying
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: about is simple to identify. It's called losing control. We
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: haven't much patience with one who loses control with drugs
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: or alcohol. We have great patience with one who has
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: lost control of eating.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: Or talking. I never could figure that one out, though
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: I have been guilty of both.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: There was an answer. There is a key to holding back,
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: and it's found also in scripture, in a wonderful list
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: over in Galatians chapter five. If you will turn further
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: ahead the fifth of Galatians, verses twenty two and twenty three.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: What is the answer to this daily dilemma that is
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: so easy to identify, so hard to get our arms around.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: It is a lifetime project described in one hyphenated word
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: at the end of the list of the fruit of
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: the spirit. May I read for you Galatians five twenty
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: two and twenty three. But the fruit of the spirit
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: is love, joy, peace. Normally, at this point we say,
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: and so forth, let's don't do that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: fruit of faithfulness, gentleness.
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: Now the answer.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: Self control self control Against such things, there is no law.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: One authority has described self control as follows. Self control
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: is managing our attitudes, feelings, and actions so they serve
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: our long term best interests and those of others. Self
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: control comes to people who learn discipline and social skills.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: It increases in those who accept God's grace in their
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: lives and who seek to know and apply divine truth
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: in a disciplined manner. The best synonym is discipline. If
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: I interpret this correctly, I find the spirit of God.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: If I might use the words rolling up his sleeves,
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: willing to go to the wall with us to assist
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: us in self discipline. Interesting Greek word comes from a
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: combination of two words put together strength in power, in
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: inner strength, inner strength. One who has power and gains
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: mastery over his or her desires, her appetites, particularly sensual
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: appetites passionate appetites. Remember that one self control frees us
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: from slavery. Self control stops habits, It checks us, It
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: halts us. A car, no matter how beautiful, attractive, or expensive,
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: if it lacks breaks is a dangerous thing on the highway.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: A car without breaks is a life without control. It
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: goes too far, and it brings damage and terribly tragic hurts.
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: To other people.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: The fruit of the spirit is.
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: Control.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: I have deliberately stayed away from one area until this
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: moment because it ties in so well with our study
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: in the ancient scroll of Ester, and it has to
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: do with this matter of retaliation. Before you turn back
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: to the book of esther Webster helps us understand retaliation.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: It's defined to repay in kind, to return like for
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: like to get revenge. Let me repeat that, to repay
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: in kind, to return like for like to get revenge.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: We have the colloquialism to get even to get back.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: I was just a boy when the Second World War
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: ground to a halt, just a preteen. But I remember
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: learning a lesson in character from Douglas MacArthur. Now did
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: I remember that he requested from the President the privilege
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: of staying in the land of Japan to help bring
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: back their dignity and assist him in putting their country
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: back on its feet. We had virtually leveled the main
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: cities of Japan. I was in Tokyo thirteen years after
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: the war had ended, expecting to find still some of
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: the remains, I found nothing.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: Of damage. It was phenomenal.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: There was something in the heart of Douglas MacArthur that
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: was so grand, so great hearted. When the surrender was signed,
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: he stepped back into the place of devastation and help
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: them roll up their sleeves, keep their dignity and get
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: back on their feet, did he ever, They're about to
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: own us, aren't they. I mean, he said, they need
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: a government that works, They need their dignity, they need hope,
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: they need to go on. That's the opposite of retaliation.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: One without that spirit would say, grind their face into
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: the mud, keep them from ever becoming a nation again.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: They will pay for Pearl Harbor illustrated so beautifully again
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: in the life of Corey ten Boom, who lost her
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: beloved sister Betsy in a death camp and could never
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: forget the f of that godless guard that made life
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: so miserable for her and for her family. And she
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: stood to speak one day of the love and grace
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: of Christ. And she looked to her side and saw
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: now free the Guard, And as only that beloved woman
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: could do, she described the enormity of feelings that floated
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: up into her heart and into her mind, and she
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: found herself preoccupied wrestling as she spoke with rage, and finally,
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: by the time she had finished, she had come to
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: terms with that tendency to retaliate, and she spoke to
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: the guard of the Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps the greatest
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: story would be Joseph, and he takes chapters of Genesis
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: to tell us his brothers sold him into slavery. They
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: hated him, they made life miserable for him. They wouldn't
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: have cared if he had died, and fully expected him
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: to have done so. He wound up prime minister of
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: the land that had food when famine struck every other place,
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: and he looked down on his brothers when they arrived,
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: not knowing that it was indeed the brother who was
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: the prime minister. These men came with their shopping carts
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: hoping to get food, and when they discovered it was Joseph,
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: they fully expected death. But Joseph said, you meant it
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: unto me for evil. God meant it unto me for good.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: He not only filled their lives with food, he invited
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: his dad, his brothers, their families to come and to
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: live in the land of Egypt and to be neighbors,
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: and gave them the choice land of Goshen, which they
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: occupied for over four hundred years.
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: Self control.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: In the Book of Esther, chapter eight, we will read
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: of a people who had been freed. These Jews, as
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: we have discovered, who lived in the ancient land of Persia,
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: had been living under the sword of Damocles for months.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: The death knell was ever closer with the turning of
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: every page of the calendar every day, no doubt, as
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: time reached toward the end, they began to get the
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: sneers and the cynicism, and the remarks, and the mistreatment
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: and the antisemitism that came from Hayman, their leader. As
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: these gentiles licked their chops looking forward to putting an
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: end to the Jews. It was an extermination plot of
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: the worst kind, even written into the law of the
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: Meds and the Persians. They lived under the threat and
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: the horror of the day they would die. I am
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: sure family spoke of how they would go through it,
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: who would die first, how they would live beyond it
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: by the grace of their Jehovah God. One day the
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: tables turned, the power shifted from the king to the queen.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: Haman was killed the antisemitic ruler, and Mortic I was
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: given the place a prime minister. The edict that had
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: been written against them was now written for them. Listen
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: to the words verse eleven, chapter eight. In them, the
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: King granted the Jews, who were in each and every city,
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: the right. Get this, it's like giving concentration camp prisoners' rights.
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: It's cutting the barbed wires. It's feeding them rather than
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: the guards.
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: Look at it.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: He gave them the right to assemble, to defend their lives,
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: to destroy, to kill, to annihilate the entire army of
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: any people or province which might attack them, including children
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: and women, and to plunder their spoil.
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: I call that an unlimited edict.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: You have the rights.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: You are free of the years.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: Remember now there has been the build up, the build up,
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: the determination, the strengthening of inner character, will stand and
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: will die if necessary, And then of course the emotions
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: and the frustrations of not being able to get back
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: to defend themselves. The entire land was turned against them
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: until this edict, and now they're free to retaliate. Did
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: you hear it to annihilate, including children and women, and
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: to plunder the spoil, leave them devastated. Verse thirteen. A
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: copy of the Edict to be issued as law in
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: each and every province was published to all the peoples,
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: so that the Jews should be ready for this day
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: to event range themselves. Note the word, I've underlined it
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: in my Bible. To avenge themselves on their enemies. They
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: had watched the heart of the king changed. They had
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: watched the power in the palace changed, they had watched
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: the personnel change.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: They had read of the edict changing. This was their moment.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: Someone has said, the most dangerous human being on earth
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: is a prisoner.
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: Who gets a hold of a weapon.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: This is my chance.
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: And we have seen and read.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: Of accounts where that kind of retaliation when the frustration
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: is vented, the brutality that.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: Comes from the human heart.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: I'm intriggued by the words avenge themselves.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: With me for a moment.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: The English words avenge and vengeance come to us through
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: the French, and both of us got it from the
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Latin vindiclari, which interestingly is the same root as vindicate.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: It is actually a Latin word. Isn't that curious? Vengeance,
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: which is passion out of control based on hatred, and vindicate,
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: which is what God claims to do when defending his people,
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: are from the same root vindiclary to carry contrary messages.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: In order for there to be some kind of stoppage
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: of vengeance, self control must be applied. I'm prepared to
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: say today that that is exactly what we read in
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: Esther chapter nine, in spite of what you may have
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: read or heard from other books or teachers. As a
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: matter of fact, I frequently read the word blood bath,
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: and I hear the word blood bath as people speak
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: of the last part of Esther. It sounds like rage
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: out of control. It sounds like revenge gone to seed.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: All these thousands of people killed, and it is almost
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: as if the Jews at will picked them off from
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: the windows of their homes with delight. No, I want
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: you to remember they were free to kill everyone, women
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: and children, as well as take the spoils of the
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: the a vengeance to themselves. One of my uh volumes
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: that have helped me in the study of Esther writes this,
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: though in the book of Esther, the tables had been
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: turned on those who would have.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: Killed the Jews.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: The Jews had behind them all the theological conditioning provided
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: by their scriptures, and their understanding of permission to avenge
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: themselves would have been adjusted accordingly. Instead of having to
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: endure slaughter without any means of self defense, the new
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: legislation permitted them to fight for one day against those
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: who attacked them, and to kill them. The fact that
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: this surprising change in the circumstances had taken place was
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: awe inspiring. It pointed to a providential ordering of their affairs,
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: not to be taken lightly. To be sure, it was
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: wonderful and a cause of rejoicing. But arrogance and presumption
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: were ruled out, together with all bullying self assertive superiority,
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: which in turn would call for God's condemnation and punishment.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: What He's saying in those words, what she is saying
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: in those words, is in fact a representation of self
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: control built into the heart of those ancient Jews. Though
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: in Persia all those years was a long term restraint
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: coming from the Torah, coming from holy scripture, that held
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: them in check. Let me show you Chapter nine in
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: the twelfth month is the month Adar, On the thirteenth day,
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: when the King's command and edict were.
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: About to be executed.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: On the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: to gain the mastery over them. When the Gentiles hoped
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: to gain mastery over the Jews, it was turned to
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: the contrary, so that the Jews themselves gained the mastery
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: over those who hated them. Get the picture, obviously, by
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: using it twice, he is referring to a switch in
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: the gaining of mastery. To begin with, the Gentiles gained
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: the mastery over the Jews and waited for the day
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: they could attack. Tables turned, and we have rejoiced to
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: see it happen in earlier chapters of Esther. Now the
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: Jews have gained the mastery over were those who would
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: have hurt them, and perhaps had already begun.
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: To do so.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: And they are told, without limits, take advantage of this opportunity,
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: get even get back. Did they well, they certainly defended themselves,
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: They certainly inflicted just punishment, and there is nothing in
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: scripture that stands against that. But I don't believe they
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: did it out of control. I'll show you why.
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: Verse two.
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: The Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the provinces,
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: of King of hajuaras to lay hands on those who
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: sought their harm. Notice, not all of them, but only
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: those who sought their harm, and no one could stand
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: before them, for the dread of them had fallen on
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: all the peoples. Don't think for a moment that when
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: the barr wire is cut and the Allied troops come,
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: and the prisoners in the death camps are freed, that
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: dread doesn't fall on the guards. And for just reason,
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: even all the princes of the provinces, the sattraps, the governors,
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: and those who were doing the king's business assisted the
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: Jews because the dread of Mordechai had fallen on them. Indeed,
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: Mordechai was great in the king's house, and his fame
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: spread throughout all the provinces. For the man Mordechai became
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: greater and greater Verse six. And in Susa, the capital,
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. And then
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: it names for us a number ten in fact verse ten,
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: the ten sons of Haman, the son of Hamidatha.
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: The Jews enemy.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: But they did not lay their hands on the plunder
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: underline that they had the freedom to kill women and children.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: But they didn't, or if they did, it's not recorded
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: once in this account. They had the freedom to take
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: the spoil from the annihilation of these, they did not
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: touch it. It says they never laid their hands on it.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: On that day, the number of those who were killed
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: in SEUs of the Capitol was reported to the king.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: Look at his response. The King said to Queen Esther,
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: the ten sons of Haymen and SEUs of the Capital.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: What then have they done in the rest of the
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: King's provinces. You would have expected him to say that's enough,
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: touch no one else. But he trusts, sir, he trusts them.
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: Look at what he says. Now, what is your petition?
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: More can I do for you? It shall even be
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: granted you. And what is your further request?
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: It shall also be done, She says, If it please
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: the King, let tomorrow also be granted to the Jews
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: who are in Susa to do according to the edict
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: of today. Don't limit it to one day, please, there
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: are others that we must be defended against. Let Hayman's
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: ten sons be hanged on the gallows in addition to
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: my request for yet another day. So the king commanded
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: that this should be done, and edict was issued. In Susa,
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: Hayman's ten sons were hanged. It was a public demonstration
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: saying no more of this will be allowed. That which
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: these men stood for. The Jews who were in Susa
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: assembled also on the fourteenth day of the month Adar
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: and kill three hundred men in Susa. But they didn't
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: lay their hands on the plunder. And I read nothing
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: of killing women and children. Now, the rest of the
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: Jews who were in the king's province's assembled to defend
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: their lives. Notice it's for the purpose of defense as
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: well as to rid themselves of enemies. Yes there is
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: a place for that. Yes there is a place for
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: dealing with enemies. Yes there is a reason for national defense.
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: And kill seventy five thousand of those who hated them.
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: But again it says now for the third time, they
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: did not lay their hands on the plunder. The temptation
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: to go too far to take material advantage of their
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: enemy was resistant. What's the point. They were free to
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: strike back without reservation, certainly free to go the full
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: distance in retaliation. But the Jews deliberately applied self control.
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: They refused to treat their enemies as they had the
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: freedom to do. They held back. Instead of just gaining
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: the mastery over the enemy, they gained the mastery over themselves.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: Before going any further, let me explain to you, as
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: best I can, how the syndrome works. Find a blank
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: piece of paper somewhere, maybe the opposite side of the
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: of the outline you perhaps are using, or a sheet
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: of paper you have brought with you. Draw, or at
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: least write two columns. On the left, put the title
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: the offender. On the right, put the title or the
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: heading the offendad. One is the original initiator, the other
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: is the recipient. The offender on the left, the OFFENDAD
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: on the right. Let's complete the list on the left. First,
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: I would put disapproval begins. Next, I would write under
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: that same heading the offender disapproval intensifies and grows into hatred. Next,
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: I would put hatred begins to be expressed, and this
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: leads to extreme punishment becoming a way of life. Notice
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: already the erosion what begins as mild disapproval leads to hatred,
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: which leads to a way of life. Some kind of
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: extreme punishment. It may come as words said against another.
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: It may be limited to letters that are ugly and
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: character assassinating. It might be physical, It could be threatening.
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: It could lead to physical violence, as certainly it does
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: in cases around our society. Now right in the middle
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: of this list you have listed all these other things
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: put one day the tables are turned.
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: For the offender where.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: Disagreement has led to hatred, which has led to extreme punishment,
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: which has led to a way of life for extreme punishment.
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: Then one day, or perhaps in a brief period of time,
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: the tables are turned. Stay on that same list on
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: the left. There, the very first thing that occurs is
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: fear of revenge from the offend dead. Next, an expectation
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: of vengeance. And then last, if it runs its normal
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: course and nothing stops it, full scale acts of hatred
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: and violence experienced. The person who was hurt gets back
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: in full measure. As Webster says, there is revenge, which
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: is another word for retaliation. Now let's go to the
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: offendad It's almost as though you were to take these
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: columns and reverse them. The offend dead on the right.
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: First of all, an awareness of disapproval, an awareness of disapproval. Next,
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: an inability to change the thinking of the angry person.
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: This leads to the beginning of mistreatment, which leads in
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: turn to the inability to defend oneself. There's a sense
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: of helplessness as the person comes down on us. By
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: the way put in parenthesis, if you will, thoughts of
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: retaliation intensify because you can't change it, because you can't defend,
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: because you can't seem to hold it back. You then think,
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: how can I someday get back?
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: Now?
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: As in the first list, this list now includes one
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: day the tables are turned, one day the enormous cat
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: becomes the mouse in your paws, one day the prisoner
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: gets the gun, one day the victim has his or
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: her moment. All right, we're still going on this list.
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: Opportunity provided to get even, and then finally, if not
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: held in check, there is the acting out of full
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: scale vengeance.
• 41:19
  Speaker 3: Now look at the lists. Compare the two.
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: You have this alike in both of them, a growth
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: of intensity, the other side feeling of helplessness and defenselessness.
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: That's exactly what happened to the Jews.
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: In both cases. This changes in a day and a
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: moment in a period of time, the tables are turned,
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: and this is your moment. What is it that stops
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: the syndrome self control? Under the spirit of God? And
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: it is there we experience again what we battle with
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: with lust and anger, and temper and gluttony and habits
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: with drugs and alcohol. We yield to the temptation to
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: go too far. Turn finally to Romans chapter twelve. If
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: you will please, you have been so kind to listen
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: carefully to these words. We haven't finished until we look
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: through the lens of scripture at God's attitude toward retaliation.
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: Let me make a disclaimer. I am not referring to
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: criminal acts. I am not referring to necessary national defense.
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: I am not making a case for the removal of
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: all attorneys from the face of the earth.
• 43:06
  Speaker 3: I am not.
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: I see their place. I appreciate those who make their
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: living in that realm. Most of them, I appreciate. Somebody
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: asked me recently if I knew what looked good on
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: an attorney that's black and brown. I said no, I didn't,
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: said a Doberman. I said, I don't know. That's not
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: true of most of them. I know, boy, I get
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: mailed on this one want to Okay, back to Romans
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: chapter twelve, the Christian who is free today can be
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: the most dangerous creature on earth. If you really get
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: a hold of the grace of God and it goes
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: to seed.
• 43:50
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: You must have self control or you will bring havoc
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: to the body of Christ. First, I want to suggest
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: three things to remember on the basis of Romans twelve,
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: and I am addressing believers in Jesus Christ. Number one,
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: remember you are to be different from the world Romans twelve,
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: one and two. Remember you are to be different from
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: the world Verses one and two. I urge you, therefore, brethren,
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: this world. Put in parentheses, don't be conformed to the world.
• 44:52
  Speaker 3: Don't take your cues from what they would do.
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: The world invariably will retaliate, except.
• 45:00
  Speaker 3: For a few rare exceptions.
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: Thanks to Douglas MacArthur types, the world will get its
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: pound of flesh. I learned that years ago drove a
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: little white Volkswagon. We had two children. Back then, I
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: was trying to get out of the car in a
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: close parking space.
• 45:18
  Speaker 3: Scouts honor.
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: I opened the door, had one child in my arm
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: and was trying to drag, well not drag, but helped
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: the other child out of the car, and my door
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: bumped the car next to me. I did not chip
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: the paint. There was a slight little ding. I frowned.
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: I looked around, hoping to say I'm sorry. I apologize,
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: didn't see anybody closed the door, locked my car, took
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: my children, walked inside this discount store and encountered the
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: owner of that vehicle who had been on his way
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: out the door and stood watching.
• 45:57
  Speaker 3: What I had done.
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: Well, you would have thought I wrecked his car. And
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: I stood inside the store, knowing my turn was coming,
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: and he got into his car, but before he sat down,
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: he took his door and.
• 46:10
  Speaker 3: Went bank bank Bank.
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: Now you know, here's my little Volkswagen sitting there with
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: three major dings. Why because the world retaliates doesn't forgive,
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: It doesn't say I understand, I've done what you've done
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: a dozen times myself.
• 46:35
  Speaker 3: It gets back.
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: In like measure, and preferably in greater mesure. Remember you're different,
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: don't be conformed Verses three, four, and five. Remember you
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: are a member of the same family. Verse three, through
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: the grace given to me, I say to every man
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: among you not to think more highly of himself than
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: he ought to think. You're not in charge. As my
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: daughter said the other day, who died dead and put
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: you in charge of the world was a great question.
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: No one has died and put you in charge. This
• 47:21
  Speaker 2: isn't the family of Jones, This isn't the family of Smith,
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: This isn't the family of Johnson, This isn't the family
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: of Swindall. This is the family of God. Don't think
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: of yourself as ruler and Lord. Remember you're a member
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: of the same family. And just as we have many
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: members in one body, all members do not have the
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: same function. So we who are many are one body
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: in Christ. That's the family owner, and individually we're members
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: one of another. Remember you're members of the same family parenthesis.
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: Don't try to take charge. You can't handle it. You'll
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: get out of control. There are some exceptions when a
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: church leadership must take charge and bring discipline discipline measures
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: on members. It's the most tragic part of the pastor's experience,
• 48:24
  Speaker 2: but it must occur on occasion, but that's not what
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: I have in mind here. I have in mind personal vendettas,
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: personal retaliation, personal revenge. Don't try to take charge. And finally,
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: Verses thirteen are seventeen to twenty one. Remember the Lord
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: is your defender. The Lord is your defender. Listen to
• 48:56
  Speaker 2: these words. Never pay back e for evil to anyone.
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: Respect what is right in the sight of all men,
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: If possible, so far as it depends on you. I
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: love this verse. There's reasonableness in it. If possible, so
• 49:15
  Speaker 2: far as it depends on you, be at peace with
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: all men. Verse twenty one. Do not overcome evil by evil,
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: but overcome evil with good.
• 49:29
  Speaker 3: Parentheses. Don't carry out your own revenge.
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: If I could get on my knees to make it
• 49:35
  Speaker 2: more effective, I would please lay down your arms, take
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: all of the bullets out of the weapon. I've never
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: met a human being who was an adult who didn't
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: have somebody they could blame for something. We're all in
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: that sense victims of abuse. We're all in that sense
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: victim of victims of mistreatment, victims of wrong words, victims
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: of misunderstanding. Don't carry out your own revenge. Remember the
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: Lord is your defender. Remember we are all members of
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: the same family, and remember we are different from the world.
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: I have no idea for whom this message was meant.
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: I don't plan the chapters in the Bible. I just
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: preached them. But it seemed to stand out in my
• 50:33
  Speaker 2: mind that there was something to say to all of
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: us about the importance of resting our case, letting God
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: be God, letting him deal beautifully and masterfully with those
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: who would gain the mastery over us. I'd like to
• 50:56
  Speaker 2: ask you to bow with me for a moment of prayer. Father,
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: thank you for reproof that comes from divine scripture. Thank
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: you for relevance in the declaration of the Word of God.
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: May these words fall on receptive ears, and Lord, may
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: we do something about them. May we obey them. May
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: we be models of self control. In the name of
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: Jesus Christ.
• 51:41
  Speaker 3: Amen.
• 51:44
  Speaker 4: The preceding message, The Limitations of Retaliation, was copyrighted in
• 51:48
  Speaker 4: nineteen eighty nine, nineteen ninety, nineteen ninety seven, two thousand
• 51:52
  Speaker 4: and five, twenty eighteen, and twenty twenty six, and the
• 51:56
  Speaker 4: sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty six by Charles
• 52:00
  Speaker 4: Swindall Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. The duplication of
• 52:04
  Speaker 4: copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.