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STRONG WORD from The LORD The Wicked Will Not Win - Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Good morning, everybody, Good morning, Way to go, way to
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  Speaker 1: be here, Way to be strong, to just keep putting
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: the ore in the water and paddling the boat.
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  Speaker 2: To show up, Way to show up.
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  Speaker 1: May the Lord give you strength and bless you today
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  Speaker 1: with steadfastness, with energy, with resolve, with hope, with hope,
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  Speaker 1: with hope. What crazy seasons we continue to weather through?
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  Speaker 2: Right?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, somebody said this morning that they were sure glad
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  Speaker 1: to have an extra hour, and another person said, no,
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  Speaker 1: I don't want one more hour of twenty twenty. Well
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  Speaker 1: we have it, so here we go, but we're going
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  Speaker 1: to make it. We're going to be okay.
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  Speaker 3: Now.
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  Speaker 1: Selma Reeves told me to tell you thank you for
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  Speaker 1: praying for her husband. Reuben had a heart attack earlier
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  Speaker 1: this week, and Selma, longtime minister of our church, called
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  Speaker 1: on you to pray and through God's grace and the
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  Speaker 1: skill of a wonderful medical team, Ruben is recovering well.
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  Speaker 1: And she wanted me to tell you that, So way
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  Speaker 1: to go. Thanks for your prayers. And speaking of prayers,
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  Speaker 1: this is an important week for us to pray for
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  Speaker 1: our nation as we head into a national election. Did
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  Speaker 1: you know we had an election coming up? Sorry, just kidding.
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  Speaker 1: Of course you did. And it's important that we vote,
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  Speaker 1: and it's even more important that we realized that the
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  Speaker 1: most important vote has already been cast, and that is
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  Speaker 1: God's vote in favor of humanity, and that He's on
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  Speaker 1: the throne.
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  Speaker 2: Regardless of who's.
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  Speaker 1: In the White House, the throne room is occupied, and
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  Speaker 1: we can.
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  Speaker 2: Trust in him. Amen. You know it was about a
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  Speaker 2: year ago. In fact, it was exactly.
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  Speaker 1: A year ago this weekend that during the middle of
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  Speaker 1: a sermon that I was sharing on the theme of revival,
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  Speaker 1: one of our elders stood up in the middle of
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  Speaker 1: one of the services and began to sing the song
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  Speaker 1: Revive Us Again. The whole church stood up, and I
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  Speaker 1: took that as the Lord's desire for us to be
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  Speaker 1: more serious about praying for revival. A group of people
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  Speaker 1: began praying every Sunday afternoon at five pm for revival.
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  Speaker 1: That's going on for a whole year now, initially of
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  Speaker 1: course in person, more recently virtual prayers, but it's also
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  Speaker 1: expanded into a citywide prayer effort. Last summer a couple
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  Speaker 1: of times at the AT and T Center in the
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  Speaker 1: parking lot, and then last weekend and this weekend at
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  Speaker 1: San Pedro Springs Park. Today, we're going to gather with
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  Speaker 1: pastors and people from all over San Antonio and the
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  Speaker 1: Hill Country to pray, to pray for healing, to pray
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  Speaker 1: for help, to pray for protection over our city, and
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  Speaker 1: to pray for.
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  Speaker 2: The Lord's will to be done.
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  Speaker 1: You don't need to register if you'd like to come
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  Speaker 1: in person. In the past we've requested registrations, but we
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  Speaker 1: don't need that today. If you'd like to come to
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  Speaker 1: San Pedro Springs Park and use this beautiful Sunday afternoon
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  Speaker 1: as a time of prayer, we ask only that you
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  Speaker 1: come and don't bring any virus with you. If you
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  Speaker 1: have a virus, please stay home. You need to be
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  Speaker 1: at home and if you're cautious, are concerned as we
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  Speaker 1: all are. If you're concerned, you can participate online online
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  Speaker 1: by going to praysa dot org, praysa dot org, Ormaxlocato
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  Speaker 1: dot com. At three pm, we're looking at probably about
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  Speaker 1: a ninety minute prayer service.
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  Speaker 2: If you'd like to be a part of it.
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  Speaker 1: And now, Lord, we turn our hearts to you, asking
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  Speaker 1: for your presence, your power, your word, your strength to
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  Speaker 1: speak to us today in a world in which so
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  Speaker 1: many people are pummeled by the pandemic, by political sea sawing,
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  Speaker 1: by personal issues.
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  Speaker 2: We really need a word.
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  Speaker 1: From you today, and we thank you that you promised
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  Speaker 1: to give it through we pray and all the church said.
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  Speaker 1: In the nineteen sixty two episode of The Twilight Zone,
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  Speaker 1: the story tells of a narcissistic harsh Man. He hunkers
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  Speaker 1: and bunkers in the apartment, convinced that the whole world
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  Speaker 1: is one big conspiracy theory. He and only he perceives
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  Speaker 1: the world for what it is, and that is a
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  Speaker 1: planet inhabited by evil people. The episode begins, as each does,
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  Speaker 1: with an introduction to the Twilight Zone by does anybody
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  Speaker 1: remember Rod Serling?
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  Speaker 2: Boy? Some of you just showed your age Rod Serling.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, I.
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  Speaker 1: Saw that The Twilight Zone is one of the hottest
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  Speaker 1: shows on television right now. He introduces a self absorbed
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  Speaker 1: de man this way, that's Oliver Kringle, a dealer and
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  Speaker 1: petulance and poison, and he proceeds to talk about Krangle's
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  Speaker 1: metamorphosis from a twisted fanatic poisoned by the gangering of
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  Speaker 1: hate to the status of avenging angel, upright and omniscient
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  Speaker 1: dedicated in fearsome Kringle is a man of no empathy.
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  Speaker 1: He rages against people he's never met. He demands that
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  Speaker 1: their employees fire them. He calls upon law enforcement to
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  Speaker 1: arrest them. And Kringle's world only he is good. He
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  Speaker 1: sees nothing but good in himself, and he ascends the
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  Speaker 1: judicial brent bench of self righteousness and declares a guilty
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  Speaker 1: verdict on everyone else. He concocts a plan to purge
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  Speaker 1: the world of all unsavory folk, and he informs the
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  Speaker 1: FBI that at four pm that afternoon, the world's despicable
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  Speaker 1: and evil people will be easy to identify because he
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  Speaker 1: is going to shrink them all to the height of
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  Speaker 1: two feet. As the fateful hour draws near, Kringle can
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  Speaker 1: partly contain his excitement. Justice will finally be served, evildoers
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  Speaker 1: will be disclosed, and he will be seen for the
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  Speaker 1: hero that he is. So at four pm he rushes
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  Speaker 1: to the window to look out and to see who
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  Speaker 1: has been reduced to size, But alas he's not able
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  Speaker 1: to look out the glass, he Kringle has been shrunk.
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  Speaker 1: He is two feet tall. You know, a mister Kringle,
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  Speaker 1: have you ever cross trails with a small minded, self centered,
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  Speaker 1: despicable despot who demands that everybody else subject themselves to him.
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  Speaker 1: They have the audacity to think that they and they
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  Speaker 1: alone have the world understood. Consequently, they abuse, they bully,
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  Speaker 1: they scorn, they enslave, they even seek to exterminate. Hayman
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  Speaker 1: was a Kringle, the villain of Esther's story, lived inside
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  Speaker 1: a one person world. Everyone else was called to bow
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  Speaker 1: down to him. When one of them didn't, a man
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  Speaker 1: by the name of Mordecai Haman declared his fate as
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  Speaker 1: well as the fate of his people, and that would
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  Speaker 1: be death.
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  Speaker 2: Yet his swagger was short lived.
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  Speaker 1: His reign of terror came to an end in the
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  Speaker 1: dining hall of King Xerxes. So the King and Hayman
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  Speaker 1: went to dine with Queen Esther, and as they were
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  Speaker 1: drinking wine on that second day, the king again asked
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  Speaker 1: Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given
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  Speaker 1: to you. What is your request? Even up to half
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  Speaker 1: of the kingdom. This is the second banquet, Feast number two,
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  Speaker 1: and so much has happened since Feast number one. We
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  Speaker 1: talked about it last week. Hayman plotted the death of
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  Speaker 1: Mordecai the Jew. The King Xerxes, however, chose to celebrate
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  Speaker 1: and honor the life of Mordecai the Jew. The king
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  Speaker 1: publicly applauded the man whom Hayman had sought to destroy.
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  Speaker 1: Hayman was I'm so angry and upset that he nearly
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  Speaker 1: missed the party. Just like Banquet number one. The wine
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  Speaker 1: was abundant, food of plenty, and the festivity helped Haymon
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  Speaker 1: forget his miserable day. He was just about to pour
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  Speaker 1: himself another goblet of wine when the king asked the
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  Speaker 1: queen what she desired. You might recall he's asked this
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  Speaker 1: question twice, and both times she has deferred. But now
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  Speaker 1: the time was right. I'm thinking that her heart rate
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  Speaker 1: was at triple digits when she said, if I have
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  Speaker 1: found favor with you, your majesty, and if it pleases you,
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  Speaker 1: grant me my life. This is my petition, and spare
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  Speaker 1: my people. This is my request for I and my
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  Speaker 1: people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated.
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  Speaker 1: If we had merely been as old as male and
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  Speaker 1: female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such
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  Speaker 1: distress would justify disturbing the king Now the important words
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  Speaker 1: are the small words in this text. The queen said,
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  Speaker 1: we have been sold I and my people to be destroyed,
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  Speaker 1: to be killed.
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  Speaker 2: If we only had been sold as slaves.
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  Speaker 1: We I my we Esther links her fate to the
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  Speaker 1: fate of her people. Remember, up until this point, Xerxes
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  Speaker 1: did not know that she was of Jewish heritage, and
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  Speaker 1: now she discloses that she is not just Esther the queen,
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  Speaker 1: but she is Esther the jew. Silence certainly fell on
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  Speaker 1: the room like a curtain. The King's head was surely spinning,
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  Speaker 1: struggling to connect the dots.
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  Speaker 2: You're a Jew.
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  Speaker 1: Somebody's plotting to kill you, somebody's plot to kill the Jews.
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  Speaker 2: He asks, who is he?
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  Speaker 1: Where is this man who is dared to do such
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  Speaker 1: a thing? Here it comes, folks, Esther said, our enemy
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  Speaker 1: and foe is this wicked Haman. Then Hayman was filled
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  Speaker 1: with terror before the king and the queen, Haman, all
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  Speaker 1: two feet of him, began to tremble. He had no recourse.
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  Speaker 1: Both his jaw and his goblet dropped. Xerxe stormed out
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  Speaker 1: of the room, livid, fuming, seething with rage. He was
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  Speaker 1: angry at Hayman, for playing him the fool, angry at
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  Speaker 1: himself for being one. The blood drained from Hayman's face,
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  Speaker 1: and unless he acted quickly, it would soon drain from
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  Speaker 1: his body. He threw himself upon the mercy of Esther.
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  Speaker 1: Literally he fell onto her couch, begging her to help him.
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  Speaker 1: Xerxes re entered the room and saw Haymon groping in
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  Speaker 1: the direction of his queen, and that did it. Hayman,
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  Speaker 1: who wanted to kill a Jew for not falling down
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  Speaker 1: in his presence, was caught falling down before a Jew. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: the ironies continued. The guards took Haymen in custody. One
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  Speaker 1: of the officials looked out the window at the seventy
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  Speaker 1: five foot gallows that Hayman had constructed for Mordecai, and
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  Speaker 1: he said, well, if I may make a suggestion, your majesty,
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  Speaker 1: and he pointed toward the execution instrument. Xerxes gave the nod,
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  Speaker 1: and Hayman got the point. There's much more to be
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  Speaker 1: resolved in the story of Esther, namely a decree to
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  Speaker 1: exterminate all the Jewish people in Persia. But we're going
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  Speaker 1: to press the pause button right now and pick that
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  Speaker 1: part up next week, because we need to make sure
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  Speaker 1: we make a very important point that appears throughout scripture,
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  Speaker 1: but clearly here in the Book of Esther, and that
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  Speaker 1: is our God is a good God, and the wicked
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  Speaker 1: will not win. The wicked will not win. We live
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  Speaker 1: in a day that even says there are no wicked people.
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  Speaker 1: Everything's relative, and tolerance is the virtue, and nobody's really wicked.
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  Speaker 2: Scripture is clear, no, there are wicked people. There are
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  Speaker 2: wicked people.
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  Speaker 1: There are wicked people to tell God to leave them
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  Speaker 1: alone and disregard his teachings completely. And the teaching of
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  Speaker 1: scripture is the wicked will not win. Nothing escapes God.
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  Speaker 1: I wonder if you have time for another example, go
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  Speaker 1: back on your timeline one hundred and fifty years into
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  Speaker 1: the nation that preceded the Persians, the Babylonian Empire, and
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  Speaker 1: look at the story of Belshazar. He became king of
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  Speaker 1: Babylon in five thirty nine BC, again one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty years before Xerxes. In a faithful feast, he invited
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  Speaker 1: about a thousand of his gentry to join him in
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  Speaker 1: his banquet hall that was reportedly one thousand and six
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  Speaker 1: one thousand, six hundred and fifty feet.
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  Speaker 2: Wide and a mile long.
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  Speaker 1: Along the walls of this banquet room were pillars carved
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  Speaker 1: to look like elephants, some four hundred and fifty of them.
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  Speaker 1: There was music, there was dancing, and you guessed it,
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  Speaker 1: there was much wine. While bel Shazar was drinking wine,
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  Speaker 1: he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver
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  Speaker 1: goblets that Nebuknezer his father, had taken from the temple
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  Speaker 1: in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives,
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  Speaker 1: and his concubines might drink from them. So they brought
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  Speaker 1: in the gold goblets that had been taken from the
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  Speaker 1: Temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles,
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  Speaker 1: his wives, and his concubines drank from them. As they
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  Speaker 1: drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver,
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  Speaker 1: of bronze, iron, wood and stone. So when Nebukanezra overthrew
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  Speaker 1: the city of Jerusalem and he destroyed the temple, he
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  Speaker 1: took all the artifacts and brought them home with him.
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  Speaker 1: All those artifacts from the temple, every utensil, the menora,
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  Speaker 1: the table of the showbread, every spoon, every fork.
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  Speaker 2: And yes, every cup, every cup.
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  Speaker 1: And these utensils stayed in storage for fifty years, are
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  Speaker 1: going untouched until this party of bel Shazar. And he
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  Speaker 1: called for those cups that had been used in the
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  Speaker 1: temple holy utensils to be used in a pagan celebration,
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  Speaker 1: a drunk wine fest. Why would he do this? Were
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  Speaker 1: they out of cups? Were they out of glasses? Did
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  Speaker 1: their dishwasher break? Did their kitchen staff go on strike? No,
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  Speaker 1: this is a targeted move on the part of bel Shazar.
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  Speaker 1: He wanted to blaspheme, the god of Israel. He wanted
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  Speaker 1: to make a mockery of Jehovah. So he used these
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  Speaker 1: holy utensils in a drunken pagan celebration.
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  Speaker 2: Friends, his irreverence did not go unnoticed.
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  Speaker 1: Out of the sleeve of the night a mysterious hand
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  Speaker 1: that came into view. Suddenly, the fingers of a human
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  Speaker 1: hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall
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  Speaker 1: near the lamp stand in the Royal Palace. The king
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  Speaker 1: watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale.
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  Speaker 1: He was so frightened that his legs became weak and
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  Speaker 1: his knees were knocking.
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  Speaker 2: Can you envision this moment?
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  Speaker 1: A hand disattached from a body appeared out of thin air.
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  Speaker 1: It hovered in the glow of a lampstand, and a finger,
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  Speaker 1: the finger of the hand began to carve a message
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  Speaker 1: into the plaster of the wall. Silence fell over the
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  Speaker 1: entire room, all thousand people, deathly silent. King Belshazzar shook
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  Speaker 1: so much that he fell down, and his proud sneer
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  Speaker 1: became a troubled frown. His boast became a whimper. In
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  Speaker 1: his heart pounded like a kettle drum. The people could
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  Speaker 1: not decipher the writing. Bel Shazar called for the astrologists
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  Speaker 1: and the diviners to come in interpret the message. He said,
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  Speaker 1: and I'll make you rich and powerful.
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  Speaker 2: None could.
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  Speaker 1: The wife of bel Shazar overheard the commotion and stepped
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  Speaker 1: into the banquet hall. When she saw the king, she said,
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  Speaker 1: don't be alarmed, don't look so pale. There is a
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  Speaker 1: man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the
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  Speaker 1: holy Gods in him. Called for Daniel, and he will
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  Speaker 1: tell you what this writing means. Daniel's an older man now,
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  Speaker 1: his hair of silver, his back is stooped. He spent
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  Speaker 1: his life in Babylon, but his mind and his faith
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  Speaker 1: are as keen as honed steel. Bel Shazar offered him
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  Speaker 1: money and power. He dismissed them both. He reminded bel
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  Speaker 1: Shazar how God had humbled and disciplined his father, Nebuke
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  Speaker 1: Neezar with the season of insanity. Bel Shazar, he says,
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  Speaker 1: should have been paying attention, but he wasn't. But you,
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  Speaker 1: bell sh As are his son, have not humbled yourself,
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  Speaker 1: though you knew all this. Instead, you have set yourself
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  Speaker 1: up against the Lord of heaven. That's the definition of wickedness,
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  Speaker 1: someone who sets themself up against the Lord of heaven.
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  Speaker 1: You had the goblets from his temple brought to you,
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  Speaker 1: and you and your nobles, and your wives and your
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  Speaker 1: concubines drank from them. You praised the gods of silver
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  Speaker 1: and gold, of bronze, ironwood, and sown, which cannot see
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  Speaker 1: or hear or understand. But you did not honor the
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  Speaker 1: God who holds you in his hand, who holds in
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  Speaker 1: his hand your life and all your ways. Therefore he
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  Speaker 1: sent the hand that wrote the inscription. This is the
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  Speaker 1: inscription that was written many Many Teckel, parson, this is
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  Speaker 1: what these words mean.
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  Speaker 2: Many.
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  Speaker 1: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought
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  Speaker 1: it to an end. Tekel, you have been weighed on
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  Speaker 1: the scales and found wanting p Your kingdom is divided
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  Speaker 1: and given to.
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  Speaker 2: The Meads and the Persians.
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  Speaker 1: That very night, bel Shansar, king of the Babylonians, was slain,
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  Speaker 1: and Darius the Mead, took over the kingdom at the age.
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  Speaker 2: Of sixty two.
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  Speaker 1: At the precise at the precise moment that Daniel was speaking,
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  Speaker 1: the Meads and the Persians were creeping through the underground aqueducts,
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  Speaker 1: ready to take the city. Bel Shazar never saw it coming.
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  Speaker 1: The takeover was swift total. The mighty nation of Babylon collapse.
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  Speaker 1: Bel Shanzar was killed, and we are left with yet
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  Speaker 1: another sobering reminder, and that is our God is a
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  Speaker 1: just God.
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  Speaker 2: Our God is a just God. Now what are we
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  Speaker 2: to do with stories like these? What are we to
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  Speaker 2: do with stories.
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  Speaker 1: In which an evil anti Semitic crangle of a man
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  Speaker 1: comes to an end, in which Belshads are irreverent, disrespectful,
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  Speaker 1: who had a regard for nothing as being holy comes
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  Speaker 1: to an end.
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  Speaker 2: Where do we go with these stories?
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  Speaker 1: I think of two directions. Number one, for some of you,
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  Speaker 1: this is a word of caution. It's a word of caution,
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  Speaker 1: a reminder that God will render to each one according
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  Speaker 1: to his deeds. Do not think, my friend, do not
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  Speaker 1: think for a second that God will turn a blind
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  Speaker 1: eye to a life or acts of rebellion and deeds
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  Speaker 1: of malice. The scripture says, therefore, consider the goodness and
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  Speaker 1: severity of God, goodness and verity. We love to consider
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  Speaker 1: the goodness of God, Do we not? How many songs
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  Speaker 1: have been written about the goodness of God? How many
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  Speaker 1: sermons have been preached about the mercy of God? How
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  Speaker 1: many books have been written about the grace and wonderful
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  Speaker 1: grace of God. And yet how many songs have been written.
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  Speaker 1: How many songs do we sing that acknowledge the day
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  Speaker 1: of reckoning that awaits all evil people? Not so many.
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  Speaker 1: Out of curiosity, I pulled the concordance down off my shelf,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: looked up the word wrath of God, looked up the
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: word mercy of God, and just tallied up the number
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: of references of each, Just to compare the number of
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: references in the Bible to wrath of God one hundred
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: and eight the number of references in the Bible to
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: the mercy of God. It's good to talk about the
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: goodness of God, and nobody wants to talk about the
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: goodness of God more than your preacher today, But to
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: discount the severity of God, the just nature of God.
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: To present God as a teddy bear who is blind
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: or ignorant or indulgent toward the wicked and the evil
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: doer is simply not a fair presentation of the characteristic
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: of our Holy God. Somebody needs to hear this today.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Somebody is in a cycle of sin, and somebody has
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: been led to believe that they can continue to do
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: what they're doing and God doesn't see, and God doesn't care,
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: and that there will be no punishment, and that there
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: will be no consequence. That's the culture we live in.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: I do what you want, and as long as nobody
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: gets hurt, friend, somebody's going to get hurt. There are
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: consequences to our actions. God is gracious to those who
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: trust him, but he's dead serious about correcting those who
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: rebel against him. Today's adultery is tomorrow's divorce. Today's indulgence
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: is tomorrow's addiction. Today's laziness is tomorrow's poverty. Most supremely,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: dismiss God in this life, and he'll dismiss you in
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: the next. Spend a life, telling God to leave you alone,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: and on the day of judgment he will do just that.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: Actions have consequences.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Has this pandemic had a negative effect on your life?
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Has it caused you to engage in some behavior that
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: you know is irreverent or rebellious against God? If so,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: the reason God has you listening to this story is
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: to tell you he sees and you will not escape. Return,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: return to your heavenly Father. For some of you, this
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: is a word of caution. For some of you, oddly,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: a bit strangely, this is a word of comfort because
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: you have a Hayman in your life. You have a
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Hayman in your life. He was the boss who demanded servitude.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: She was the teacher who played favorites. He was the
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: uncle who abused his niece, the husband who womanized his
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: way through marriages, including yours, the pastor who was more
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: arrogant than reverend, who use the pulpit as a way
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: to be seen, not as a way to serve. Haymans
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: snake their way into our worlds, and when they do,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: victims feel their calendars flip to January and they are
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: left in the chill of the consequence, searching for springtime,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: wondering does God know what this hayman is doing? Does
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: God care about my suffering? Will Hayman ever meet justice?
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: Or to borrow the words of the Psalmist? Oh Lord,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: how long will you look on or Jeremiah who asked,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: why does the way of the wicked prosper? Evil doers
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: get a free pass, do a pressor's walk free to haman's,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: and hitlers and lynch mobs and porn peddlers get away
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: with murder. The resounding answer from scripture is no, No.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: The day is coming when God will forever balance the
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: scale of injustice.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: God has set a day. It is set.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: He has determined a day in which he will judge
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: the world. The laus who took advantage of you. God
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: knows the seductress who divided your home and wrecked your marriage.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: God knows the racist who raged, the misogynist who raped,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: the bully who bullied. God knows about them all. God
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: is a just God, and God is angry with the
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: wicked every day. To be clear, friends, the door of
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: repentance is wide open right now for anybody, regardless of
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: how wicked they are. It is not his will that
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: anyone perish, but the fact that some will is simply
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: a marker of his justice. Satan knows this. I didn't
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: tell Satan anything new as he listened in to this sermon.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: The demons are not saying, oh, I never knew that.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: They've known it from the beginning, because they realize that
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: the real battle is against the Devil in his forces.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: The scripture says, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: in the heavenly places. The devil placed the anti Semitic
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: hatred in Hayman, the irreverence in Belshatzar. He is the
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: hitler behind the hitler, the pimp behind all pimps, and
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: the pillager behind all pillagers. But his days are numbered,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: and he knows it. He's angry because his days are short.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: He's angry because he knows that the tables have been turned.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: Just as Hayman died on gallows that he made for Mordecai,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Satan was defeated on a cross that he designed for Christ.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: God raised Christ from the dead and seated him at
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: the right hand and the heavenly places, far above all rule, authority,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: and power and dominion. And after he did, he made
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: it clear. God's plan was made known to the rulers
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: and authorities in the heavenly places. Everybody in the heavenly
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: places saw it. The devil saw it. And that is
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: the very cross that the devil had hoped would be
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: the end of Christ became the beginning of life for
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: billions of people.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: Don't you know? Every time Satan hears us celebrate.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Our Christ who died on the cross, he kicks himself.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Had he known that an instrument of death would become
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: life for us, he never would have.
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: Been a part of the cross.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Had Haman known that the gallows would serve to bring
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: his own life to an end, he never would have
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: created those gallows for Morncai. But Satan, Hayman, Belshazzar, Krangle,
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: they don't see it coming. It's hard to see anything
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: when you're two feet tall. Gracious Father, these stories that
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: you gave us today, they're sobering, they are, but they're
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: a reminder. They rightly adjust the lens of our eyes
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: so that we see what's happening.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: Father. We pray for mercy for those who.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: Have turned from you, who have fallen into a state
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: of wickedness, those who worshiped Satan, those who worship alcohol,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: those who those who indulge in every type of evil behavior.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: We beg o, Heavenly Father, that you would please awaken them,
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: even as we pray.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: Names come to our minds of people that we know
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: have mercy, Please.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: And have mercy upon us, that we might rightly divide
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: the word of truth and understand where you are taking civilization.
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: Thank you in Jesus' name, amen.
• 32:24
  Speaker 4: Ne ne.
• 32:41
  Speaker 5: Net about after say.
• 33:28
  Speaker 4: In the.
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: St you don't have the steak cloves. As long as
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: you're somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
• 36:15
  Speaker 6: I don't need to hold you near me, don't need
• 36:19
  Speaker 6: promises to keep.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: Just the thought that.
• 36:22
  Speaker 7: You are breathing somewhere in this world I see, even
• 36:29
  Speaker 7: if I'm not beside you, even if you never know,
• 36:35
  Speaker 7: there's a quiet kind of comfort just in knowing you
• 36:39
  Speaker 7: still glow. I don't need forever, I just need you
• 36:50
  Speaker 7: to exist.
• 36:53
  Speaker 8: You don't have to stay with me, You don't have
• 36:57
  Speaker 8: to feel the same. Just as long as your still
• 37:02
  Speaker 8: out there, calling softly through mondays.
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: You don't have to look my way.
• 37:10
  Speaker 8: You don't have to be my home.
• 37:14
  Speaker 7: It's enough to know where you're living in the world.
• 37:18
  Speaker 4: I'm not alone.
• 37:23
  Speaker 6: I won't chase it through the distance, won't disturb your
• 37:28
  Speaker 6: chosen life. I'll just keep you in my silence, Like
• 37:33
  Speaker 6: a star that shines at night.
• 37:37
  Speaker 4: Through the darkened, through the blue.
• 37:44
  Speaker 8: I still think of you.
• 37:49
  Speaker 4: You don't have to stay with me.
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: You don't have to feel the same.
• 37:56
  Speaker 8: Just as long as your still out there, calling softly
• 38:00
  Speaker 8: through my days.
• 38:02
  Speaker 9: You don't have to look my way.
• 38:06
  Speaker 8: You don't have to be in my home. It's enough
• 38:10
  Speaker 8: to know you're living in a world.
• 38:14
  Speaker 5: I'm not alone.
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: I don't need to be your late.
• 38:34
  Speaker 7: I don't need to cross your mind. All I need
• 38:37
  Speaker 7: is just.
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: The truth that you're somewhere.
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: Still alive.
• 38:46
  Speaker 9: You don't have to stay with me, you don't have
• 38:50
  Speaker 9: to feel the same. Just as long as you're still after,
• 38:57
  Speaker 9: calling softly through my day.
• 39:00
  Speaker 4: If you don't have to look my way, you.
• 39:04
  Speaker 8: Don't have to be my home. It's enough to know
• 39:08
  Speaker 8: you're living.
• 39:12
  Speaker 7: In the world.
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: I'm not alone.