I've been wrestling for the last three and a half hours with this
message. God gave me the message Friday,
and I intended to preach it this evening, though to save my life
I can't find out why. It's a little troublesome. It's
a little frightening. But in studying on Friday for
today, I read the fifth chapter of Daniel. I was impressed with
it. I read the handwriting on the
wall, and I said to myself, that'd make a good message, and I went
on somewhere else. And I came back to that message.
And I said, I'm going to have to preach on that sometime. And
I turned away and went somewhere else. And I came back to that
passage. And so I believe the Spirit of
God gave me the message. I wrote it down on paper and
got the rough outline and put a gym clip on it, put it in my
Bible and went to work on another message. And last night I went home from
the service after Charlie preach for us. And about 9.30 or 10
o'clock I said to Doris, I can't remember what I'm supposed to
preach on in the morning, what I'm supposed to preach on tomorrow
night. She said, I can't believe it. I said, I got two messages
here in my Bible, but I don't know which one I'm supposed to
bring which time. And I called over here to see
if Bruce was still at the church so he could look on my book in
there and tell me which subject I was supposed to preach this
morning, which tonight he was gone. So I sat down and began
to study and I found the message for this morning and knew why
I was supposed to preach it, knowing God. I felt like there
was a message to me and a message to Jay and Cecil and Paul and
Ed and all the rest of you. And then this afternoon, after
taking a brief nap, resting a little while, I got up and I said, well,
this is the message for tonight. I looked at it and I thought,
why? Why in the world? Who's this for? Who is this message
for? And I've been struggling since
four o'clock trying to decide in my mind and heart why God
gave me this message to bring to you tonight. I still don't
know. But I'm supposed to bring it.
I do know that. And it's a little bit troublesome because it is
a message which is, it's not delightful at all. It's a very
sad message. It's a very tragic message. It's
a very final message. But we're going to look at it
and see. Maybe the person for whom it's designed will hear
it. Maybe the Spirit of God will
let us know at some time in this life or in His presence why this
message was preached on this night at this particular hour. I know his word will not return
void. It shall accomplish that whereunto
he has sent it. Maybe it's my message. But in
the fifth chapter of Daniel, there was a king, the grandson
of Nebuchadnezzar, called Belshazzar. And he was a sensual, fleshly,
profane, blasphemous type fella. He had a great kingdom. He had
much power and honor. He had many riches. He had everything
that the body or the mind or the heart or the flesh could
desire. And he gave a great feast for
a thousand of his lords. He invited all of his princes
and his wives and his concubines and his friends, and he honored
a thousand. Think about that, a thousand
of his lords. They were having a high old time.
They had drunk much wine, and I'm sure they were well drunken.
And so in the middle of drinking the wine and in their drunken
stupor and in their profanity and blasphemy, they had to bring
God in on it. And so Belshazzar sent someone
down to get the golden and silver vessels which his grandfather
Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the Lord's temple in Jerusalem
and brought them up there and let all the folks there drink
wine out of the golden and silver vessels that were taken from
the temple. And while they drank the wine out of the vessels that
were taken from the temple of the Lord, they praised the gods
of gold and silver and wood and stone and brass and iron and
all these things. It occurred to me as I read that,
that men are so set on bringing God into their profanity and into their fleshly
conversation and into their foolishness. I don't know why this is. Doris
and I went down to another city to visit someone who was sick
the other night, and on the way back we were listening to the
radio. And there was a young man who plays third base for
the Cincinnati Reds who was being interviewed on a talk show over
WLW in Cincinnati. His name is Ray Knight. Bob Trumpy
was interviewing him about the strike that they were talking
about calling the other day, and they were taking calls from
listeners. And I was interested. I'm a baseball
fan, and I was interested in what was going on. And they were
talking about the strike, and a minute, Mr. Knight began to
bring God into it. And I turned to Doris, and I
said, why? Why do they do that? He had to make some amusing,
funny remark about eternity or about God and about the Lord
Jesus Christ and about heaven. I don't remember what the remark
was. It upset me so I don't even remember what it was. But I said,
why do men do that? Why do they feel that they have
to on their television shows and on their talk shows and on
all these things? Somehow, some way, in some place,
they've got to bring God in. something to do with his word,
or something to do with his kingdom, or something to do with the cross,
or something to do with heaven or hell. And some of us are guilty
of that very thing. Why we can't leave entertainment
where entertainment is supposed to be, and laughter where laughter
is supposed to be, and amusing remarks where it's supposed to
be. It's not to have anything to do with this book. It's not
to have anything to do with a God of glory. It's not to have anything
to do with heaven and hell. It's not to have anything to
do with the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's certainly
not to have anything to do with a message which a minister of
God has been called to preach. Let's have laughter and joy,
but let's don't drink out of the silver and gold vessels of
God's temple. Let's don't drink our foolish
wine. and our frivolity and our entertainment out of the silver
and gold vessels that belong in the temple and are set apart
for the worship of the Lord God. I don't know why men have to
do it. I do know why they do it. They're profane by nature.
The things of God are not to be joked about. And this is what
Belshazzar did. And maybe this is why this is
a particular point that we need to hear tonight. But he wasn't
satisfied to drink his wine. I suppose wine in its proper
place is suitable, satisfactory, and acceptable. He wasn't satisfied
to have his laughter and jokes. That's fine. I suppose laughter
and jokes acceptable in their given position and place. But
no, he had to bring God into it. He had to go down and get
the silver and gold vessels that were set apart that had to do
with God, had to do with his worship, had to do with his glory,
had to do with his praise, had to do, I suppose, with the Passover. And he had to put his flesh into
it, and he had to drink out of it. And at that very hour, while
they were doing that, that's enough, God said, that's enough.
The cup of wrath is full. The judgment of God waiting at
the door must come in. And at that very moment when
this fleshly, sensual, profane man had to bring God into his
frivolity and his revelry, God began to write a message on the
wall. And the king was frightened.
Naturally he was frightened. It says in verse 6, his countenance
changed. His countenance changed. And he sent for all of his soothsayers,
and his astrologers, and his wise men from Babylon, and they
came in. They looked at the writing. There
it was on the wall. Mene, mene, tikal, ufasi. And they said, we don't know
what it means. And the queen, she came to him and said, there's
a fellow in your kingdom by the name of Daniel who fears the
Lord God. And I think he might be able
to help you. He interpreted a dream for your
grandfather Nebuchadnezzar. So they sent for Daniel and they
brought Daniel in. And the king said, so you're
Daniel, verse 13. And he went on down, he said
in verse 16, I've heard about you that you can make interpretations,
you can dissolve doubts. Now, if you can read the writing
and make known to me the interpretation thereof, I'll give you, I'll
clothe you with scarlet, I'll put a chain of gold around your
neck, and I'll make you the third ruler in the kingdom." Well, the first thing that Daniel
said, and this was Daniel's message, the first thing he said to the
king was this, you can keep your gifts and rewards. The minister of Christ, the minister
of God, the true minister of the Lord Jesus Christ puts no
price on his message. And he covets not the praise
nor the possessions of men. We covet not you, your possessions,
we covet you for Christ. We covet not your possessions
for ourselves, we covet you for our master. And that's the first
thing Daniel wanted him to understand. that the true minister of God
and the man who speaks for God is not a covetous man. He's neither
covetous of men's praise nor men's possessions. And he said,
I want you to know this first. He said, I'll interpret your
dream. I'll deliver the message of God to you. But I want you
to understand, first of all, that you can keep your fee, and
you can keep your reward, and you can keep your possessions.
I put no price on my message. All right, in the next verse,
in verse 18, Daniel said, O thou King, the most high God, gave
your grandfather a kingdom. He gave your grandfather majesty
and glory and honor. He said he gave your grandfather
great power over men, but your grandfather's heart was lifted
up in pride and arrogancy. And God humbled him. God humbled
him. God didn't destroy him. God humbled
him. God didn't deal with him in justice
at the time his heart was lifted up. But God dealt with Nebuchadnezzar
in grace. He dealt with him harshly. He
sent him out there for seven, whatever the times were, somebody
said it was seven years, I don't know, maybe seven months or whatever
it was, but Nebuchadnezzar went out in the field like a beast,
like a wild ass. And he ate grass, and he ate
leaves, and barked off trees, and his fingernails grew like
bird claws, and his hair grew like feathers. This was to teach
him the glory of God. Nebuchadnezzar boasted in the
great Babylon which he had built. And God let him learn that the
Lord God, the Most High God, rules and reigns. God is sovereign. God rules not only over the kingdoms
of heaven, but over the kingdoms of earth. And another thing,
God gives it to whomsoever He will. God's mercy is to whomsoever
He'll give His mercy. God's grace is to whomsoever
He'll give His grace. God lifteth up and God bringeth
down. God killeth and God maketh the
last. God create lights and God create darkness. God is sovereign,
king, lord, ruler over all things. That's what God taught your grandfather
and your grandfather learned the lesson well. He said in verse
21, the last line, he knew, he learned, he found out, he was
persuaded that the Most High God ruled in the kingdom of men and he
appointeth over it whomsoever he will. Here are those two passages
I said are most important. And you're his son, Belshazzar.
You're his son. And I thought about this. There's
some fathers here tonight. God has taught you his sovereignty,
his grace, his glory. God did it in a traumatic fashion.
Your heart was lifted up, and God cut your legs from under
you. You were dressed in your self-righteousness and God stripped
you. You were high and mighty and haughty and lifted up and
God brought you low and humbled you and taught you his power
and his grace and his glory. You've got children here tonight
who haven't learned that. We've got children in our homes
that haven't learned that. Maybe that's the people to whom
God's speaking this evening. Your father learned something.
God taught your father this, calls him your father, his grandfather.
God taught your father this. And he said, you knew it. You
knew this. You heard it from your father
and you saw it take place. You knew this. Evidently, Belshazzar
Jay was living when this took place. He said, you knew this.
And yet it hasn't impressed you, it hasn't broken you, it hasn't
affected you, it hasn't brought you to your knees, though you
knew it. Your sin is a sin of the will. Your darkness is a
darkness of the will. It's not ignorance. You can't
claim ignorance. You saw God work in the life
of your father or your mother or your brother or sister. You
saw God work in the life of your friend or neighbor, and you knew
it was the hand of God, and yet you haven't humbled yourself.
Turn to Acts 26. Let me show you where this was
said again. Very much like this in Acts 26. The Apostle Paul
was brought before a man called Agrippa, one of the rulers of
that day. Paul was brought before him and
was on trial. And Paul was stating his case
and preaching the gospel. And he says in verse 22 of Acts
26, you have it there? Paul said, I obtained help of
God. Having therefore obtained help
of God, I continue this day witnessing to the small and great. to the
poor and the rich, to the black and white, to the old and young,
to all men, to small and great, saying none of the things in
that which the prophets and Moses did say should come." This is
what the Bible teaches, Paul said, that Christ should suffer
and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead
and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. I'm
preaching the gospel, Paul said, the gospel of Jesus Christ, who
died on the cross, was buried, and rose again. That's our gospel.
We're not grinding any axe in any other direction. Paul said,
this is the message by God's help, which I'm preaching all
over this country to the small and to the great, the same message
of Moses and all the prophets, that Christ died for sinners,
that he was buried rose again for our justification, that he's
seated at the right hand of God and that he's coming again. That's
the message. And as he spoke, This fella Festus,
he'd already witnessed to Festus. Festus had already heard him.
But Festus couldn't keep his mouth shut. He was sitting over
there to the side. He was next in command to Agrippa, and he
had to say something. He said, Paul, you're crazy!
He just interrupted Paul. Paul was standing there before
King Agrippa, and he said, King Agrippa, I'm preaching the gospel
that Moses and the prophets wrote. I'm preaching the gospel that
saves sinners. I'm preaching the gospel of Christ
Jesus the Lord and His sufferings and His work and His mercy to
the lost. And he died on the cross for
sinners. He was buried in Rose again.
Festus said, you're crazy! Man, you're crazy! You've been
studying so much you lost your mind. Much learning has made
you mad. And Paul directed his attention then to Festus. He
said, Most Noble Festus, I'm not crazy. I'm not mad. I'm speaking forth the words
of truth and soberness. For the King, and then he directed
his attention back to Agrippa, for the King before whom I speak
freely, I'm persuaded that none of these things are hidden from
him, for this thing was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do
you believe the prophets? Do you believe what Moses wrote
of Christ? Do you believe what Isaiah wrote of Christ? Do you
believe what Jeremiah wrote of Christ? Do you believe what these
men, David, wrote of Christ? It wasn't done in a corner. I
know you believe. Your sin is not a sin of ignorance,
it's a sin of the will. And I'm saying this is what Paul
is saying, or what Daniel is saying to Belshazzar. Belshazzar? Almighty God in your day taught you a lesson that you
hadn't learned. Your father was a proud man like
you are. Your father was an arrogant man
just like you are. Your father Nebuchadnezzar was
a haughty rebel just like you are. Lifted up, proud, and God
brought him down. God brought him down. And God
humbled him. God broke his heart. God whittled
him down, God unhorsed him, and God Almighty taught him that
the Lord God is on the throne. He's sovereign, almighty, and
rules in the kingdoms of heaven, and rules over the armies of
the earth, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. Now this wasn't done
in a corner. You knew all this. And yet you're
not humble. And he goes on, verse 23, but
you knew all this. You knew all this, and this is
what I'm saying to some of you. You know what I'm talking about.
When somebody mentions Jesus Christ, He's no stranger to you.
Now to some people in this world, He may be a stranger, but you
know who we're talking about. When I mention Jesus of Nazareth
who died on the cross, some of you sitting right here, because
of the experience of your parents and the experience of your friends,
you know what we're talking about. God is sovereign. And if not
in your heart, at least in your head, you know that. And Jesus
Christ died for sinners, and salvation is not in the law,
you know that. It's not in good works, you know
that. It's not in this pool, you know that. It's not in the
sacraments, you know that. It's not in these, it's in Christ,
and you know that. It wasn't done in a corner, you
know this. God help you, but you know it.
That's what he's saying in Belshazzar, you know this. You knew this,
and yet, he says in verse 23, but you've lifted yourself up. You have not been broken. You're
a smart aleck. You're proud. You're arrogant. You've lifted yourself up against
the God of heaven. You brought the vessels of His
house before you and your lords and your wives and your concubines,
and you've drunk wine in them, and you're praising the gods
of gold and silver, the gods of brass and iron and wood and
stone, which don't see. You've given your lives to your
jobs and your education and your human wisdom and your possessions
and your houses and cars and clothes and food and entertainment. These are the gods of gold and
silver and wood and stone and brass. You've given yourself
to ambition. You've given yourself to everything
but God. Everything. You have to make
a name for yourself. These gods don't see and they
don't hear, they don't speak. Oh, at night you think about
the God of heaven a little bit, but during the day it's the praise
of the flesh, it's the favor of other young people. They brag
on you, you know, you're pretty, you're talented, you're smart,
you're this, that and the other. but the God in whose hands your
breath is. I know your salary may be in
the hands of the fellows present in the country, your breath's
in the hands of God. And your fame and recognition
and your earthly glory may be in the hands of those young people
that vote for the president of the class or the vice president
of the captain of the football team or something else, but your
breath's in God's hands. Your comfort, your comfort of
your body and the ease of your flesh may be in the hands of
someone whose favor you wish to win, but your breath's in
the hands of God Almighty. And also, not only your breath,
but all your ways are in the hands of God Almighty. And here's
the tragic thing, Brother Jay. He said you hadn't glorified
Him. You hadn't glorified Him. Isn't that sad? Isn't that sad? You're not ignorant, he said,
Daniel said, what I'm talking about. You know what I'm talking
about. It wasn't done in a corner. You've got some knowledge. God's
been pleased to at least, at least in common grace, to teach
you some things. When this Word of God's opened,
you know whose Word it is. When they talk about heaven and
hell, you know at least the existence of it. When they talk about grace,
you know what grace is. When they talk about Christ Jesus
the Lord, He's no stranger. It's not Jesus who, you know
who He is. You know who He is. You know
why He came. You know what He did. You know
where He is now. But you haven't humbled yourself.
Though you know all this and you haven't glorified Him, you
haven't glorified Him in your heart, you haven't glorified
Him in your conduct, you haven't glorified Him in your attitude
and spirit, you haven't glorified Him with your mouth, you haven't
glorified Him with your your gifts, you haven't glorified
Him with your praise, you haven't glorified Him with your thanksgiving,
you haven't glorified Him with your faith, you haven't glorified
Him with a personal confession of Him, you haven't glorified
Him in baptism, you haven't glorified Him in coming around His table
and remembering His death and shed blood, you haven't glorified
Him in your home, in your household, you haven't glorified Him by
letting the people with whom you work know He's your Lord,
you haven't glorified Him. And so he said, I've got a message
for you. And here's the message. God's
got a message for you. He says judgment day is here.
It's already come. The day of reckoning is here.
It's even at the door. He says in verse 26, Belshazzar,
God's numbered your kingdom. And the Amplified Version says
something like this, He's numbered the days of your kingdom and
He's finished them. God's wound it up. He's wound
it up. And He says in verse 27, you
are weighed, not you're going to be, you are weighed in the
balances. Whose balances? God's balances. And you've been found wanting.
And verse 28, judgment's at the door. Your kingdom's already
divided. There's no mercy awaiting. It's
already been given to somebody else. Your place has already
been given to somebody else. It's too late for you. Let's
look at these three things just briefly. First of all, it says
in verse 30, in that very night, Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans,
died. In other words, when Daniel was
standing in his presence delivering this message, The enemy was already
at the gate, J, waiting to come in. The instrument of death,
the man who was holding the spear that pierced the heart of Belshazzar,
was standing out there holding in his hand, waiting to come
in, while Daniel was delivering the message. God has already numbered your
days. This man was in life, full life,
full health, full strength, in complete command. He was going
His way. He might have had good intentions.
He might have had plans for the future. He might have had some
intentions of doing certain things next week, but God had already
set His bounds and numbered His days, and the instrument of death
was already at the door when the preacher talked to Him. Now turn to Job 14. This is true,
and this is what makes the message I'm trying to preach tonight
so frightening. I don't know whether we always
deliver ultimatums, I don't know whether we always speak a message decidedly and
definitely which is intended for one or two or three or four
or somebody, but Daniel did that hour. And this I know, man's
days on earth are numbered by God. I know that, and the end
is determined. Look at Job 14 verse 4, verse
4. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? Not one. Seeing his days are
determined. The number of his months, he
doesn't call them years, he calls them months, he doesn't call
them decades, he calls them months, are with God. God has appointed
man's bounds and he cannot pass. The day of my death is already
marked clearly and distinctly on God's calendar. Nobody sets
it but God. I don't set it. Nobody else does. God marked that day. My bounds
are set. The number of my months are with
the Lord. My days are in His hand. God has numbered my days. He said that here to Belshazzar,
but bless your heart, I can say it to you tonight. I can look out over this congregation
and I can pick out just anybody here and I can say, the day of
your death is already determined. The number of your months are
in the hands of God. It doesn't matter who it is,
believer or unbeliever, it doesn't matter saved or lost. Your days
are set. This man, Belshazzar, whom Daniel
was preaching, his hours were set. The enemy was outside the
door waiting to come in, maybe tonight. Maybe tonight. That young man
who said, you know, my barns are filled with plenty and I've
got, boy, I'll tell you, we've got a big crop coming in this
year and I don't know what I'm going to do with all that. Some
of you may be sitting here tonight thinking about your business
and about your house and you've got children, you've got to have
a larger house, add another bedroom, and you've got to do this, that,
and the other. And the Lord came to him and said, thou fool, this
night thy soul shall be required of thee. You're a fool. It's
all right to take care of earthly things after you've settled heavenly
things. It's all right to take care of
earthly cares after you've sought first the Kingdom of God, after
you've taken care of your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. If
your relationship with Christ and with God is not right, if
you've not been brought down to honor Him and glorify Him
and have not been humbled in His presence, you're a fool to
give attention to anything. You're just laying up something
for somebody else to spend, that's all. Because your time is going
to be spent in God's judgment and wrath. How many days do I
have left? How many days do you have left?
You know, James says, what is your life but a vapor? Boy, Belshazzar's life was a
vapor, wasn't it? It was gone like that. Job says,
my days pass like a weaver's shuttle. You ever watch a weaver,
somebody weaves something, that shuttle goes like this? That's
what Job's talking about. My days go by like that. And
some of us, boy, some of us as we're getting a little older
now, they go by a little faster. I tell you, I look up and it's
Friday, isn't it, Jay? It's Friday one more time. And
this passage here in Daniel 5, and he says here in verse 23,
the last line, and you're giving your attention to the gods of
gold and silver and brass and wood and iron. And the God in whose hand your
breath is. My breath right now. Breath. Breathe. Breathe. Isn't that
sweet? Let somebody put their hand over
your mouth and stop that breath and you'll find out how sweet
it is. God gave me that breath. And all God has to do is just,
He doesn't even have to move His hand. He doesn't have to
move, He doesn't have to move anything. All God has to do is
just say, that's all for Jay. And that breath stops. It just
stops. And in whose hand are all your
ways, we talked about this yesterday. We're such fretful people, you
know. We're so fretful. Who's going to meet my need,
my emotional need, my physical need, my this need and that need? God will meet your need. He's
very near unto you and me. He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never comfort you. Don't fear them that kill your
body. Fear Him who has power to kill your body and soul in
hell. While your ways are in His hands,
in whose hands not only is your breath, but all your ways. Commit
thy ways unto Him. Lean up to your own understanding.
Commit thy way to God. Turn loose. That's glorifies
God, to turn loose. I like that old song, Take Your
Burden to the Lord. But the best part about it is,
Leave it there. Leave it there. All right, watch
this. I'll hurry and close. But he
said, he said, God's numbered your kingdom. The days are numbered.
I wondered, let's just think for a moment. You know, James
says, take no thought for tomorrow. Take no thought for tomorrow.
What is your life? It's a vapor. I wonder if I had just another
year to live. Just another year. I wonder how that year would
be spent. I wonder what would be my attitude, what would be
my main concern. Well, who knows what a year is
going to bring forth. There may be somebody in this
congregation that has less time to live than that. Belshazzar
had less time than that. God's numbered your days. God's
numbered your days. And notice the next thing, he
said, Belshazzar, he didn't say you're going to be weighed. I
hear people talk about that God's going to weigh our good deeds
and bad deeds. God's not going to weigh anything. We've already
been weighed. He said you are weighed. The
weighing doesn't take place out there under the judgment. You're
already weighed. Already weighed and found one.
Already measured. Already weighed and come short. Men are weighed and examined.
God's been weighing you all your life. For example, we're weighed
in the balances of God's law. Mr. Spurgeon said, oh, there
stands the law of God. There stands the holy law of
God. The holy law of God is a balance
that will turn even to a grain of sand. Some scales you have
to put a pretty good weight on to make them move, but God's
law is so sensitive, so accurate, so holy, It'll turn even to a
grain of sand, to a fin in one point, to come short in one point,
one jot, one tittle. It upsets the whole balance.
And Mr. Spurgeon went on and says, I'll
put one weight on the balance of God's love. Just one. I should love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength. Get on the balance. Huh? Boy, I tell you, if the
law condemns me on one point, what about the rest of it? What
about the rest of it? I've got no case, have I? I've
been weighed, already been weighed. I'm not going, I've already been
weighed. All right, the second balance
is a balance of conscience. We're weighed every day in the
court of conscience. And you can battle against other
people's charges, you can battle against other people's accusations,
but there's one witness you can't keep quiet. And he just stays
in here hollering all the time, Daddy Charlie, right in here.
He won't hush. God put him there. God put him
there. And you may try to silence him
and you may try to suppress him, but that conscience still cries
out Sunday morning, comes and, Church time, you know. And all
these other voices, you know, tell you a lot of things, and
that in here, you sure ought to hear the Word. You ought to
hear the Word. Other things come, you know,
and this little fellow God put in here, you ought to obey Christ. You ought to bow to the Savior.
You ought to honor Christ. You ought to glorify the Lord
Jesus. You ought to walk with Him, you ought to receive His
Word, you ought to confess Him publicly. He won't keep quiet,
will He? There's a light that lighteth
every man. What do you right now see and feel in your hearts
who've never publicly owned Christ and never glorified Christ? What
do you feel? What's He saying in here? And
then we're weighed in the balances of God's Word. Like He said here
to Belshazzar, He said, you knew these things, you knew these
things. Yet you are not humble. And then we're weighed in the
balance of providence. God's been good to you. God's
been good to us. God's been good to me. I've never
known what it is to be hungry, have you? I've never known what
it is, Brother Jay, to be cold, not to have clothing. I've never
known what it is to sleep in the alley. I've never known what
it is to be deprived of my freedom. I've never known those things.
God's been good to me, and all these things, every good and
perfect gift comes from the Lord. And yet, yet, you've not glorified
Him. Is it any wonder that He says
here to this man, God's set your date, God's determined this for
me. And you have not, you've been
weighed in the balances of God's law and God's word and God's
providence and God's, the conscience God gave you. You haven't glorified
Him, you haven't honored Him. All right, the last verse. Judgment's
at the door. It's too late. That night the
enemy came in the gates of the city and destroyed Him. God's judgment and wrath fell.
Your kingdom is already already divided. It may be so, but it
may be that it's not so yet. Maybe that's why I'm bringing
the message. Maybe this is why God is speaking to us in this
fashion tonight. Maybe it's a warning that this
day come not for us, that we resolve right now, that we're
not, the preacher's not going to deliver that, he's not going
to deliver that message to me. By God's grace, I'm going to
walk with Christ. By God's grace, my proud heart
is going to be humbled. By God's grace, I'm going to
receive the Lord Jesus Christ. By God's grace, I'm going to
confess Him. By God's grace, I'm going to give Him the glory
from this day forth. I like what John Newton wrote
in that hymn. He said, Lord, if I haven't loved
you before, let me begin today. If I have one day left, I'm going
to glorify Christ. If I have one year left, I'm
going to glorify Christ. If I have 25 years left, I'm
going to glorify Christ from this day forth, from this day
forth. You know, he says today is the
day of salvation, now is the accepted time. Pardon not your
hearts as they did in the days of the provocation, but submit
to Christ. I know God gives us the desire
and God gives us the will and God enables us and God gives
us the faith, but faith is an exercise of your will and of
your heart. That's exactly right. If thou
shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe
in thine heart God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. Our God is not commanding you to present a righteousness,
but receive one. He's not commanding you to save
yourself, but to bow to Christ who can, who will, who's able.
Receive the Son of God. There is, I don't care too much
for for the emphasis on decisionism, but there is, Brother Jay, a
decision to be made. And it's made here first. That
decision has to be made. It's like the prophet of old
who stood before the people and said, choose you this day whom
you'll serve. Will you bow to Christ? By God's
grace, I speak for myself, for my household. We're going to
serve the Lord God. The Lord God. We're going to
glorify the Lord God. our lives and time and whatever
we have. Lord, here's my children, take
them. Here's my job, take it. Here's
my health, take it. Here's my wife or husband, take
them. Here's everything I have. You're
my Lord in whose hand my breath is. I'm yours. I'm yours from
here this day forth. That's a commitment. Our Father,
receive In whatever way you're pleased, the message tonight,
and use it by the power of thy spirit to accomplish your purpose
and your glory and the good of these who've heard. Lord, thou
knowest every heart. Thou knowest the heart of this
preacher, every person in this congregation. and the arrogance
and pride and haughtiness and self-righteousness and self-will,
whatever it is, you know whether it's there or not. You know whether
or not we've been broken. You know whether or not we've
been brought to the feet of Christ. We can profess before men. We
can lay claim to what we don't have and profess to know what
we've never been taught. Lord, you know. It's said many
believed on your son in that day, but he didn't reveal himself
to them. He knew what was in them. Lord, we've preached what
we feel led to preach tonight, what we feel that your Holy Spirit
would have us preach. Now, accomplish your purpose. Let men be warned and receive
the warning and walk in the way of God. Enable us to bow, to
submit. Nebuchadnezzar did, Belshazzar
didn't. Thomas did, Judas didn't. Lord,
may my heart bow before Christ. in a true and genuine submission. In His name I pray. Amen.