I've enjoyed our worship so far. I enjoyed our Bible study, and
I enjoyed the playing and the singing and the reading and the
prayer. And I believe the Spirit has
been with us, and I pray he won't leave us now. I pray that the
Spirit of our Lord will be with us and really let us enter into
worship today. Turn with me, if you would, to
Daniel, chapter 5. Daniel chapter 5. We have been going through the
book of Daniel. And I would love to recap everything
that has happened so far, everything that's happened up to this point,
but we don't have time to do that. If you'll give me just a minute
here, I want to read this account to you, and Daniel chapter 5
is the story of the handwriting on the wall. I'm sure you've
heard the story of a finger that wrote on the wall, and people
use that phrase very commonly in conversation. You know, you
could read the writing on the wall, you could see the handwriting
on the wall. So you know this, and you've
heard something of this before. But I want to read this account
to you and I want to get to the heart of the matter. I want to
preach the gospel today. I want to preach the gospel. The whole point of this message
is I want to tell you, I want to show you. I pray God would
reveal to us the great thing that the Lord Jesus Christ did
for his people. I pray we will see how great
things the Lord did for his people. And I want to begin by pointing
out that chapter four ends with King Nebuchadnezzar, this king
seeing God. and bowing to his sovereignty. If you look at verse 37, Daniel
4, 37, he said, now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the
king of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment. And those that walk in pride,
he is able to abase, and he will. He learned, he will. Oh, the grace and the mercy of
God in revealing that to him, in revealing that to anybody.
Now, chapter five is about 24 years later, and there's a new king reigning
in Nebuchadnezzar's stead. His name is Belshazzar. In verse
1 says, Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of
his lords and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, whilst
he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver
vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar. I have a center margin in my
Bible and it tells us that Jeremiah 27 verse 7 says Nebuchadnezzar
was his grandfather. All through this, it's going
to say his father, but he was actually his grandfather. Verse
2, Belshazzar, whilst he tasted the wine, commanded to bring
the golden and silver vessels, which his father Nebuchadnezzar
had taken out of the temple, which was in Jerusalem. that
the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines might
drink therein. You can envision this scene,
all right? King Belshazzar decides to throw
a party and everybody starts drinking wine. And they're far
enough in to where he thinks it's a good idea to go get all
the drinking vessels that were in the temple of God that were
taken out of Jerusalem that his grandfather took and besieged. He said, go get all that. We're
going to drink wine out of those. Verse three. Then they brought the golden
vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God,
which was at Jerusalem, and the king and his princes, his wives,
and his concubines drank in them. They drank wine and praised the
gods of gold. All right, now, our Lord didn't say that we couldn't
drink wine. He did say don't drink to excess.
But here's the problem. Verse 4 says, they drank wine
and praised the gods of gold and of silver, of brass, of iron,
of wood, and of stone. They made a mockery of the things
of God. That's what they did. They took
the things of God that were reserved for holy worship. And they praised and honored
the gods of their idolatry with them. And that's the very thing
that man is still doing today in his false religion. False
religion holds the same Bible you hold. They take the Word
of God. And they take the name of Christ. They take the name of Jesus Christ. And man worships and serves the
creation with those things more than the creator who only is
worthy to be served, who only is blessed and honored forever.
And because of that, God is not happy with man. God is not happy with man. God is not happy with mankind. Men stand up in pulpits and a
lot of people telling them God loves you and is happy with you
and has a wonderful plan for your life. That is not so. That's not so. Let me leave my
notes and just go ahead and say God is only happy in Christ. God is only happy with Christ. God only loves sinners in Christ
who are made to be righteous in Christ. God only has a wonderful purpose
for those who are in Christ, outside of Christ. God has a
purpose all right, but it's not wonderful. God is not happy with sinful
mankind. God is not happy with this sinful,
God mocking world. This world is sinful. This world is God mocking, whether
they know it or not, in the in the sincerity of their heart,
using the name, that blessed name. They're mocking God, mocking
God with it. So verse five says, in the same
hour came forth fingers of a man's hand. I wonder whose hand that
was. That was a hand of God almighty. I'm sure it was the right hand
of God almighty. Who is the right hand of God
almighty? Whose finger was that? That was
the finger of Jesus Christ. The same finger that wrote on
the tables of stone for Moses. Thank God the same finger that
stooped down and wrote in the dirt for that woman caught in
the act of adultery. Verse 5, in the same hour came
forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick
upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace. And the
king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance
was changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the joints
of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another. He was so scared he was shaken
uncontrollably. Boy, everything changed for this
man. He was having a party just a
second before this. And all of a sudden, God literally
shook him. Verse 7, the king cried aloud
to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers.
And the king spake and said to the wise men of Babylon, whosoever
shall read this writing and show me the interpretation thereof
shall be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about
his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then came
in all the king's wise men, but they could not read the writing
nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof. False
religion does not know. I feel like I say that in every
chapter we are in. It is so true. False religion
does not know what God's word to man is. It is of no help to sinners before
God. Verse 9, then was King Belshazzar
greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords
were astonished. Now the queen, by reason of the
words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house,
and the queen spake and said, O king, live forever. Let not
thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed. There is a man in thy kingdom,
in whom is the Spirit of the holy gods. And in the days of
thy father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of
the gods, was found in him. whom the king Nebuchadnezzar
thy father the king I say thy father made master of the magicians
astrologers chaldeans and soothsayers For as much as an excellent spirit
and knowledge and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing
of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the
same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel
be called, and he will show the interpretation. Then was Daniel
brought in before the king, and the king spake and said unto
Daniel, Art thou that Daniel which art of the children of
the captivity of Judah, whom the king, my father, brought
out of Jewry? I have even heard of thee, that
the Spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding
and excellent wisdom is found in thee. And now the wise men,
the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should
read this writing and make known unto me the interpretation thereof,
but they could not show the interpretation of the thing. And I have heard
of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve
doubts. Now if thou canst read the writing,
and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed
with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shall
be the third ruler in the kingdom.' Then Daniel answered and said
before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards
to another." He said, you have nothing to offer that is acceptable. It won't do you any good, you
just keep it. Whatever you think you have, you just keep it. Verse
17, then Daniel answered and said before the king, let thy
gifts be to thyself and give thy rewards to another, yet I
will read the writing unto the king and make known to him the
interpretation. O thou king, The Most High, God,
gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom and majesty and glory
and honor. And for the majesty that he gave
him, all people, nations, and languages trembled and feared
before him. Whom he would, he slew, and whom
he would, he kept alive. And whom he would, he set up,
and whom he would, he put down. What he's saying is, by looking
at your own grandfather, you ought to know something of what
sovereignty is. Just by looking at your own grandfather.
Verse 20, but when his heart was lifted up and his mind hardened
in pride, he was deposed, that means brought down, made to come
down, from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from
him, and he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was
made like the beast, and his dwelling was with the wild asses,
and they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with
the dew of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God ruled
in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever
he will. And thou his son, O Belshazzar,
hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all these
things. He said, By looking at your own
grandfather, You should have known something of the judgment
that God brings to those who walk in the pride of their flesh
before him. Oh, the pride of the flesh of
man. Oh, the pride of the flesh of
man. Verse 22. And thou, his son, O Belshazzar,
hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this,
but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven, and they
have brought the vessels of his house before thee. And thou,
thy lords, thy wives, thy concubines have drunk wine in them, and
thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron,
wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know, And the God
in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast
thou not glorified. And that's the very thing that
man is still doing to this very day. Man will worship everything
under the sun except the God in whose hand his breath is.
Whether man takes another breath or not, everybody in this room
right now, You're doing it. All right? Whether you take another
breath or not right now is in the hands of God Almighty. Either
you will take another breath or you will die in that pew.
And that's God's business. Verse 24. Then was the part of
the hand sent from him. And this writing was written,
and this is the writing that was written. Mene, mene, tekel,
yufarsin. This is the interpretation of
the thing. Mene means God hath numbered
thy kingdom and finished it. God hath numbered thy kingdom
and finished it. Your time is done. Your time
is up. Verse 27, tekel means Thou art weighed in the balances
and art found wanting. You lack what you need to satisfy
God. You don't satisfy God. You do not stack up. You do not
meet the mark. Verse 28, perez, or you farsen,
same thing. Thy kingdom is divided and given
to the Medes and Persians. The judgment that is about to
come upon you is about to leave you desolate. Now listen to this.
Your time is up. You don't meet the mark and you're
about to be condemned. You're about to be emptied. You're
about to be destroyed. What a horrible sentence to be
given to any man or woman. But do you have any idea how
many men and women are going to have that said to them? Do
you have any idea? I'm telling you, my heart breaks
for this planet. My heart breaks for souls. Souls
don't end. They don't end. Once God makes
a soul, it does not end. Any soul, it doesn't end. Heaven
or hell, it doesn't end. It's eternal. And oh, it just kills me. I feel
so weighted by it. I was telling a brother and a
sister not long ago that a lot of times I feel like a crazy
doomsday, you know, I need to grow my beard down and hang a
sign and stand on a street corner in New York City crying, judgment's
coming. It is. And I'm telling you, These
people that we know and love so much, these people that we
have acquaintances with, wonderful acquaintances with, I'm telling
you, they're going to hear this. They're having a party in life.
They're making money. People are rich, you know, buying,
selling, marrying, giving in marriage, all that kind of stuff.
Everything's great. And all of a sudden they're going
to hear, your time is up. You don't satisfy God. Prepare
to be condemned. And it just, it grieves me. That's
what was said to this man. Verse 29, then commanded Belshazzar
and they clothed Daniel with scarlet and put a chain of gold
about his neck and made a proclamation concerning him that he should
be the third ruler in the kingdom. That amazes me. Even after the
declaration that Daniel gave to him, Even after what Daniel
said to him, even so, he honored Daniel for it. And I'll tell
you this, in the end, every knee is going to bow to Jesus Christ. Even in their judgment. Even that rich man went to hell. I don't even like that word.
That word scares me. But he had to call on, he was
asking for something that it was too late for. Even those who received the sentence
of death on them, even they will say amen. Even so, amen. Every knee will bow. Every tongue
will confess. He is Lord. If that's what he
says, amen. That will be the ending response
of every soul. Every soul on this earth. Every
knee will bow. Every knee will bow. Verse 30. In that night was Belshazzar
the king of the Chaldeans slain. Remember that. Okay. In that night, he was slain.
And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about three score
and two years old. What a story of a man's life.
We had all those chapters of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar,
and then this man comes up, Belshazzar. What a, what a vapor account
of a man's life. Now, let me tell you what the
problem for this world is. I was going to title this message,
a message for the entire world. And I can't decide. I wrote on
my little sticky note, it's either going to be a message for this
entire world or the truth and the gospel. And I told those
guys to decide and whatever they decide, that's what they'll put
on sermon audio. I can't decide because this is the truth. But
I need the gospel. I need the gospel. But this is
a message for the whole world. Let me tell you what the problem
for this entire world is. The entire world looks at that
story and says, man, I would hate to be Belshazzar. That's bad news for him. Wow. Boy, I'm glad I'm nothing like
him. I'm glad I haven't done what he did. I'm glad I don't
have to worry about that being my end. I'm glad I'm not weighed in the
balances and found lacking. The entire world says that and
believes that. Not realizing that this entire
world is Belshazzar. Belshazzar is this entire world. What do you mean Belshazzar is
this entire world? Nebuchadnezzar didn't have the
same end and he was Belshazzar's own grandfather. He didn't have
the same end as him. What made the difference between
Belshazzar and Nebuchadnezzar? The mercy and grace of God. That's
the only thing that made the difference. Nebuchadnezzar should
have had the same end Belshazzar had. Every soul that has ever entered
this earth has been weighed in the balances of God's judgment. Not will be, has been. You are weighed in the balances. Look with me at Psalm 14. Psalm 14 verse 1, the fool hath
said in his heart. And my Bible has italicized words.
I know not every Bible does, but I do. And then two words
there is there in italics. And that means they were added
by the translators into English to make this more readable. There
is no God. It is true that if a man wants
to be an atheist, he's a fool. That's true. But oh, the foolishness
of the disobedience of all men and women who have stuck their
fingers in God's face and said, no, God, no. The fool hath said in his heart,
no. What do they say no to? His word. People think, what do you mean?
Nobody's saying no, God. What are they saying no to? His
word. He says He elected a people and
chose a people, and they say, no. He says Christ shed His blood
for His elect. He did not waste His blood in
a general payment and just let it spill into the ground for
no good reason. He died for all that the Father
gave to Him. And man says, no, uh-uh. If He
calls, you're coming. No. He finished all the work and
left nothing for you. Nope. Nope. No, God. No. Man, that's a fool. That's man by nature. Verse one,
the fool has said in his heart, no, God, there is no God. They
are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that do with good. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand
and seek God. Men stand up in pulpits telling
people the lie that God looked down through time on all men
and women, all the generations of men and women to see who would
choose Him and who would love Him and who would obey Him. And
that's who He chose to save. That's not so. God looked down
through time. All right. He looked down on
all the generations of men and women throughout all of time.
And this is what he saw. Verse three, they are all gone
aside. They are all together become
filthy. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. Every soul on this earth, after
being weighed in the balance of his judgment, was found to
be corrupt, abominable. That means a thing worthy to
be hated. They were found to be evil, filthy,
and disobedient. Now, that's why Christ came. Why did He come into this world?
Why was He born of a virgin? Why was He made flesh? Why did
He dwell among us? We could have a Christmas message
right now, okay? Why did Christ come into this
world? Why did Christ come into this world? It's because every
single soul on earth was corrupt, abominable, Evil, filthy, and
disobedient. Merry Christmas. That's why Christ
came. That's why Christ came. Another way of saying that is
every soul on earth was wanting. Every soul on earth was lacking.
Lacking anything worthy of the goodness and the mercy and the
grace and the kindness and the favor of God. Not a soul on earth
was worthy of God's favor. In their condition, God could
not show favor. He could not show love to one
soul on this earth. Why? They were sinners. All souls were weighed in the
balance. But by the grace of God, some
souls were chosen to be weighed in Christ. All were sentenced to stand before
the judgment throne. Some were blessed to stand in
Christ alone. Now, here's the gospel announcement
that I want us to get a hold of today. I'll try to be fairly
quick, but I knew this was going to be a little longer than normal,
but just hang in here with me because I want us to know this. Here's the gospel announcement
that I want us to get a hold of. Because God loved a particular
people on this earth, who according to His justice,
they were weighed in the balance and found lacking unto condemnation. Because God loved them, Christ
came into this world to be weighed in the balances for them. Weighed in the balances as them. Why did Christ come into this
world? He came to be weighed in the balances of God's judgment
as His people for His people. I love Hebrews 7. It says, concerning
God's people, He became us. That's one of my favorite lines.
He became us. Now, understand this. This is
so critical to our happiness. In His own worthiness, the worthiness
of who He is, standing on the balance as Himself, He was found to have all fullness
in Him. He was found to have nothing
lacking. All completeness was found to
be in Him. Not only did He meet the mark,
He was found to be the mark. Every soul on this earth is judged
next to Him, according to Him, by Him. Every soul on this earth
is lacking because they do not meet the standard of Him. But in His love for His people,
He emptied Himself. He took all of His fullness and all of His completeness And
he emptied himself of it by giving all of it to his people. He laid
it all on his people. And after he gave all of it to
his people, after he emptied himself of everything, all of
his worthiness, after he did that, he stepped on the scale. And because of his love and compassion
and mercy for his people, this was his result. Turn over to
Psalm 22. Psalm 22, verse one, he said,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? It's because for his people,
he was weighed in the balance as his people. And as his people,
that's critical, as his people, for his people, he was found
to be lacking. I say that, I'm scared to say
that. I say that fearfully. As his
people, For his people, he was found to be lacking. And in that
very night, he was slain. In that very night, he was slain
and he endured the wine press of God's judgment and wrath alone. And because he came into this
world and did that for you and me, we are now left standing
here holding all of his fullness. He did that, and now here we
are. We're just standing here now, holding all of his fullness,
and we hold all of his completeness. And with every bit of the weight
of the glory of Jesus Christ, God the Father now looks at us
and says, step on the scale. And heaven cries, hallelujah. And glory cries, well done. And
the father cries, welcome in. And the child of God cries, thank
you. Thank you, Lord and Savior, thank
you. Oh, thank you. In closing, go to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 verse 4, Surely he
hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded
for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The
chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken." That was Christ being weighed
in the balances for his people. Found wanting for his people. Enduring the judgment of condemnation
for his people. And because of that, verse 11
says, he, that means the father, shall see the travail of Christ's
soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoiled with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death. And he was numbered with the
transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession
for the transgressors. It all comes down to this, he
that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God is gonna be weighed in the balances and bound like him.
And certain eternal death will follow. How can I know if I have
him? He that has the Son has life.
How can I know if I have him? How can I know if I have life?
If we have him, he will be all to us. We will love the declaration
of him. We will love the work of him.
We will love the glory of him. We will not kick against the
pricks of his word. We will bow. We will say amen. He will be everything to us.
The soul that has to add something to him. Now, hearing that work,
would you want to change anything about that? The soul that feels
a need to add something to that does not have him. The soul that
does not see himself or herself as lacking everything and needing
Christ to be everything, that soul doesn't have Him. Let's all empty ourselves of
everything that we think is worthy to step on the scale with. So
many people in this world think they're worthy to step on the
scale. If we have anything in us or
anything about us that we think is worthy to step on the scale
with, We're going to be found lacking. Let's empty ourselves
of everything we think we have that's worthy to step on the
scale with and let's cling to the Lord Jesus Christ. Cling
to his judgment. Cling to the weight of his worthiness. That's the only hope we have.
That's the only hope we have. The whole world needs to realize
that's the only hope we have. To Him be all the glory for all
of it. Amen.