You know your brain takes just 2% of the average adults weight,
but uses 20% of your oxygen intake and it has more than 1000
billion nerve cells. Signals travel along these
nerves around 360 kilometres an hour, with a message from your
head to your toe arriving in 150th of a second.
Your heart muscle today will contract more than 100,000 times
every minute of your life. Your blood will make a complete,
full circuit of your circulatory system.
The combined length of all your arteries, veins and capillaries
is some 150,000 kilometres. You will breathe an average 18
times every minute. You'll spend doing that some
25,000 times in a day. You will spend a third of your
life asleep and I'm about to do that for you now.
You're a very busy person. You probably aren't aware of all
this happening behind the scenes and every day of your living
life. None of this you have any
control of. The Australian male has an
expected age mortality right now of 84.5 years.
The life expectancy of Australian women an expected age
at death of 87.3 years. So ladies you get 3 years of.
Finally, Hebrews Chapter 9 verse 27 says it is appointed unto men
once to die. There's no reincarnation, no
second time around, but after this judgement, more and more
people are looking for guidance for the future.
That's why the Antichrist is coming soon will be seen as the
light, the Messiah. Finally, someone who's fixing
things, guiding things, fixing things up.
There's only one book that dares to predict the future.
Not once, not twice, but over and over hundreds of times.
That book is the Bible. More than 2/3 of Holy Scripture.
More than 2/3 is prophecy. 1/2 of the Bible's prophecies are
over. 1/2 have already been fulfilled thus far.
That means that 1/2 of the Bible's prophecies have occurred
exactly as God said they would. We're going to celebrate one of
those in 50 odd days called Christmas with that information
in mind, with those facts, I have no reason to doubt that the
remaining ones, prophecies will be fulfilled just as God's word
has predicted they will. So how do we live?
That's the series. And Daniel, how do we live as
Christians, as righteous people, godly people in a fallen,
violent world? How do we live as disciples of
Christ today, 2025? Back in chapter 1, we learned
from Daniel and his three friends that they had no
appetite for the whims and the ways of the world.
They said, no, we don't eat the King's food, drink the King's
wine. We'll eat what we we normally
eat and God will sustain us in chapter 2 when calamity comes.
Death was hungover. Each of their heads as the king
had a dream and in one of the interpretation, what did they
do? They went to prayer and God will
answer us. That's why they went to prayer.
Although either would have said just Oh well, we'll just sit
here and wait till we get to rest and we'll die.
No, they went to prayer because they knew God would answer them.
That's why you pray in chapter 3.
The king built the image, not just the head of gold, but all
of gold, didn't he? At the sound of the Babylonian
Philharmonic Orchestra, everyone bowed down the noise and there
were three standing Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
And I said we will not compromise.
We won't bow down. We won't go the ways of the
world. I won't go the the way of the
rest of my class. I won't go the way the rest of
my my sporting team. I won't go the way the rest of
my family. I won't bow down to the ways of
the world. We'll stand for Christ no matter
what the cost. A fiery furnace waited.
We will place our lives at God's disposal.
We will sacrifice. He's able, but whatever He wants
to do, I I'm happy with that. They did that.
They were living sacrifices, standing, then they're thrown
into the fire and they had Christ join them.
In chapter 4, we witnessed the grace of God as Daniel shared
another dream with Nebuchadnezzar said and said,
basically, King, please, God's given you a warning.
Change what you do, change the way you live.
And so Daniel, who loved the king, served the king, but also
said, I've got to tell you the king, king, I've got to tell you
the truth of the matter. You know, as a brother and
sister in Christ, you need to tell the truth of the matter,
but you need to tell it in love, not say.
And then a lot of people say, well, you know, you know, I love
you. And then they they hit you on
the head with a, a meat cleaver. You know, I do this in the name
of Christ. No, you're not.
You do it because you just like telling me off.
There's a way to do it. There's words, there's care, and
it's got to be backed up by prayer.
When you share the truth, you can't live together anymore.
I know that the two of you are living together.
You're still coming to truth. Listen, you can't do that if
you're serious about one another.
Separate, live apart, plan to get married, seek God.
Is this what God's will is? If God's will is not that you
live together, God's will is that you worship him and serve
Him and follow His Word. So if you do love this person,
separate, live apart and plan to get married, then do the right
thing. We had a witness of God.
Daniel did that in chapter 4. To whom we work with, to whom we
serve and to whom we share our everydays with.
When we see the signs of the times around us showing, for
instance, that the Antichrist could rise to the political
stage at any time, we know the return of Jesus is even closer.
He's coming to call his church called the rapture, take us out
of trouble, and then seven years of judgement to fall upon the
world, the tribulation. I want to ask you a question
this morning. Yes, we'll get into chapter 5.
Don't worry. Where is your life heading?
You know, people come up. Just caught you on the street.
Tell me, where's your life heading today?
What do you make right at this moment?
What do you make of the world events that seem to be just
reeling through our news outlets?
Do our homes World Economic crisis.
It's $1,000,000 to buy a house. Now think about that.
You got to be a millionaire to buy a house in Australia.
It's a crazy massive unemployment.
Islam is growing more and more throughout the western world.
You can go to church today and not hear Jesus mention it all.
Not you don't need a Bible when you go to certain churches don't
need a Bible. We don't use it because there's
lots of more relevant, new, pertinent, up to
That's not church. It's not what church is about.
Church is about you coming to know what Christ has done, what
he wants to do with you, and how your life can change.
And the bonus of that is Jesus says I have come to give you
life that more abundantly. Listen carefully.
Jesus Christ is not an add on. He's not a religious icon.
He's not an accessory, he's not an option.
He is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
He's the alpha and the Omega. He is the beginning and the end.
I like watching the programme This is Your Life.
Anyone seen that programme? This is your life.
Kids are going. I don't know what you're talking
about. Those of you old enough know
this is your life. You know, they get someone out
famous, they sit them down and they open this book and then
they start calling out all these people.
And as we see, we see their life unfolded includes the tragedies
they went through, times of depression and sadness.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have your life
unveiled? Perhaps you come to church
today. We get your name.
We've got all the info, we've delved in it, We've got all the
research. And next minute come up on
stage. This is your life.
Oh no. To let everyone peep into the
essence of who you are, what you are, where you've placed all
your efforts, your passions, your dreams, your desires.
There was a man called Hezekiah. He was the king of Israel.
And in Second Kings chapter 20 verse one, the Lord came to
Hezekiah. He was sick, he was dying, and
the Lord sent the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amos, to him.
And this is what the prophet said, oh, I'm going to heal you.
God says I want to heal you. Can you imagine going to the
hospital being sent by the Lord? Great.
This is what the Lord said. Set your house in order where
you're going to die and not live.
This is from the Lord. Oh, OK.
You know, we this morning, everyone in this room, we're all
terminally ill. We have a disease.
It's passed down from generation to generation.
It come from our great, great, great, great, great Adam and Eve
and the disease that each and every one of us have.
It's called sin and it goes through all of our blood
vessels. It's in our every being and
we're all dying from it. Let's look at chapter 1.
Chapter first one of chapter 5. Belshazzar, the king, Crown
Prince, he's 3rd and rule, made a great feast for 1000 of his
Lords and drank wine in the presence of the 1000.
While he tasted the wine, Belshazzar gave the command to
bring the gold, the silver vessels in which his father,
actually it's his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar, had taken from
the temple in Jerusalem that the king and his Lords, his wives,
his concubines, gives you what sort of an evening it is, might
drink from them. Then they brought the gold
vessels that have been taken from the temple of the House of
God, which had been in Jerusalem.
And the King and his Lords, his wives, his concubines, drank
from them. They drank wine.
Praise the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron and wood
and stone. It was the year 538 BC, 23 years
after the death of his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar.
Nebuchadnezzar's son is in Rule, and Belshazzar is third in Rule.
He's the Crown Prince outside of the walls at that time.
And Belshazzar knows this is the mighty army of the Medes and the
Persians. They're outside at that moment.
They've gone up to the river Euphrates further upstream, and
they are diverting the river Euphrates because the river
Euphrates went straight through the middle of Babylon.
And at each end of whether Euphrates came in and went out
were great brass gates down which stopped people coming in
and going and they could survive with this massive walled city,
the river flowing through. But the Medes and the Persians,
this massive army camped had diverted the Euphrates and the
the soldiers. And everyone's drunk.
All the soldiers are drunk because they think our place
where we staying, Babylon, it's unassailable.
So everyone's drunk and they don't notice that the water
level is dropping because the walls of Babylon were 24
kilometres long. They were at a height of 106
metres. Now this is 9 metres.
So think how big it is. It had 250 towers again on top
of those walls. Going up further the wall it was
26 plus metres thick and around Babylon was a Moat surrounding
the whole city. It's safe.
It's like the guy who said when they launched the Titanic even
God couldn't sink this boat. It was October 12th, 539 BC.
We know precisely the night that Belshazzar is life would end.
Belshazzar decides to throw a party.
Thousands are invited. He knows the needs and persons
out. He throws this party because
they can do what they're like. They weren't going to get in.
We're invincible. Let's have a party.
Showing his pride, his arrogance had learnt from his grandfather.
So the wine is flowing, the women are everywhere, and it's
in honour of the gods of Babylon, of the gods of gold,
silver and brass. The evening Revs up.
Belshazzar asked for the vessels.
Hey, let's, let's bring in all the stuff that my grandfather
took from Jerusalem. You can imagine.
Bring it all in, give it to everybody.
We're going to drink out of this stuff.
They're drinking out of all the implements taken from the temple
in Jerusalem. In verse 4, they continue their
drinking and praising of the gods.
This is the life, isn't it, man? They're outside.
This is what we did in the past. We're drinking out of this.
Yeah. Gods of gold, brass, silver, and
everything is cruising. So he thinks.
Verse 5, notice in the same hour.
Notice that preciseness. In the same hour, the fingers of
a man's hand appeared. God's graffiti and rode opposite
the lampstand on the plaster of the wall, gouging the wall of
the King's palace. And the king saw part of the
hand that wrote. The King's countenance changed
his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were
loosened and his knees knocked against each other.
He was shivering in fear. The king cried aloud To bring in
the astrologers, the Chaldeans, the suicides.
The king spoke. He said to the wise men of
Babylon. Whoever reads this writing and
tells me what it means shall be clothed with purple, purple with
royalty, have a chain of gold around his neck, and he shall be
noticed. The third ruler of the Kingdom,
because he's the second. His dad is the first.
Now all the King's wise men came, but they could not read
the writing or make known to the king.
It's interpretation sounds a similar story, doesn't it?
Then King Belshazzar was greatly troubled.
This is not going good. His countenance was changed and
his Lords were astonished. I'm taken back by the words in
the same hour. You know, God is precise.
It's not like, Oh, roundabout, I believe my life and your life is
directed by God in minutes. In minutes, actually, the
proverb says God's got my life and he guides it in steps.
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.
Actually, Daniel 5 tells me that God directs my life in breaths.
He holds the very breath that I breathe.
We sang about it today. He can stop it at any moment.
Think of how many times in Scripture God uses the phrase of
time, the term, the hour. John chapter 2 verse 4.
Jesus said unto the woman, woman, His mum, what have I to
do with you? My hours not yet come.
Matthew 2450 The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when
he looks not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of it.
John 1223 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come,
The Son of man should be glorified.
Matthew 2442. Watch therefore, for you know
not what hour your Lord does come.
Verse 10, the queen, that is his grandmother, because of the
words of the king and his Lords, came to the banquet hall.
They could hear, she could hear the commotion.
So she comes down. What's going on?
The queen spoke. Oh King, live forever.
Do not let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your countless
change. There is a man in your Kingdom
in whom is the spirit of the Holy God, and in the days of
your father, this is his grandfather lied in
understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods were
found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your
father, your father the king, made him chief of the magicians,
astrologers, Chaldeans and soothsayers.
In as much as an excellent spirit, knowledge and
understanding, interpreting dreams, solving riddles,
explaining enigmas, were found in this Daniel, whom the king
Belshazzar. Named Beltashazza.
Now let Daniel, she calls him Daniel be called and he'll give
the interpretation. I reckon she she knew Daniel
pretty well. Then Daniel he's brought in.
The king spoke, said to Daniel, You that Daniel, which is one of
the captors from Judah, whom my father king brought from Judah.
I've heard of you and notice this.
You need to remember this because this is important to why
what happens at the end. I have heard of you that the
Spirit of God is in you and that light and understanding or
excellent wisdom are found in you.
Now the wise men, the astrologers have been brought in
before me. They should read this writing,
make known to me it's interpretations.
But they couldn't give me the interpretation.
And I have heard of you. He's he's heard of what Daniel
did. He's heard of the things that
happened between Daniel and his grandfather, that you give
interpretation and explain enigmas.
Now, if you can read the writing and make known to me it's
interpretation, you'll be clothed with purple chain of
gold around your neck. You shall be the third ruler in
the Kingdom. So Daniel enters the room.
He's an old guy now. He's about 80.
Between 80 and 90. He refuses any of the King's
offerings. It is said that the mercenary
spirit does not govern the life and labours of God's ministers.
Here, in the middle of this raging party, now brought to an
abrupt halt, stands a man of God.
Talk about party poopers just arrived.
Talk about the discos just turned off.
Here's a guy you know when you turn, you know your friends at
work were telling you a joke and you walk out.
They know you're a Christian. They go, you won't like this.
Everything stops. You've had that.
Tell me quickly, in whose shoes do you wish you could have been
in the king who is living a life guided by his passions,
partying, having the time of his life literally, or before him, a
man who was still a stranger in a foreign land?
Because Paul says, actually, the writer of Hebrew says, you and
I, what, we're strangers, pilgrims.
You ever wondered why you don't fit?
You know, you're the square peg in the round hole.
Since you became a Christian, you don't fit.
I remember when I became a Christian and Helen, we, we
became, you know, and our families, we had their, their
functions, their dude. We were the square pegs in the
round. Not that we did anything, but we
did it. Just it.
Everything changed. Daniel had never dropped his
guard. He was still living as if he was
in Jerusalem. That's the aim of parents, of
you raising your children. So when they go off to serve in
the defence forces or go to work on a mining site or somewhere,
they still live as Christians. They don't have a Doctor Jekyll
and Mr Hyde. That's the aim.
Daniel was still meeting with God three times a day.
Remember he did that. How often he prayed 3 times a
day. That was the time and he's still
living on the the Jerusalem calendar.
His clock went by Jerusalem, hours, hours of prayer.
He was still facing the temple. He would still face Jerusalem,
taking up Solomon's words at the dedication of Solomon's temple,
about facing the temple when you prayed.
He did that even though he's in a foreign land and no one knew
about him, even though as the temple would have been razed to
the ground, it's still stood in Daniel's heart.
Daniel chose to honour God with his life, every day of it, right
into his later years. I want you to examine your heart
this morning. Ask yourself, be realistic.
In whose shoes would your feet have been the most comfortable
at that moment, Belshazzar or Daniel?
It is interesting that as Daniel stood there, his actions and his
words were to be as powerful as they had ever been and as
straight. He hadn't changed.
Let's read them verse 17. Daniel answered and said before
the king, Hey, let your gifts be to yourself.
I don't want any of your stuff. I don't want any of your stuff.
Give your rewards to another interesting you know, I will
read the writing to the King and make known to him the
interpretation. O King, the Most High God gave
Nebuchadnezzar, and he gives him again a lesson in what he
ordering you. He's telling Belshazzar what he
ordering you. O King, the Most High God gave
Nebuchadnezzar, your father, a Kingdom, majesty, glory and
honour. And because of the majesty that
he gave him, all peoples, nations and languages trembled
and feared before him. Whomever he wished, he executed.
Whomever he wished he kept alive, whomever he wished he set
up, and whoever he wished he put down.
But when his heart was lifted up, when he became proud and his
spirit was hardened in pride, he spoke specific.
He was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory
from him. Then he was driven from the sons
of men. His heart was made like the
beasts. His dwelling was with the wild
donkeys, they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wept
with dew of heaven. 7 years remember, till he knew that the
Most high God rules in the Kingdom of men, and appointed
over whomever he chooses. Now notice verse 22.
But you, his son Belshazzar, and here's the problem.
You have not humbled your heart. And here's the real problem.
Although you knew all this, you know all this.
You see, here's the great danger.
In Luke chapter 12, verse 48, Jesus says these words.
Luke, 1248. But he you did not know yet
committed these things deserving of stripes shall be beaten with
few. For everyone to whom much is
given from him much will be required, and to whom much has
been committed of him they'll ask the more.
So the deal is this, You know, someone says, well, is it, You
know, if a Christian sins, is it bad?
It's worse. It's worse than an unbeliever
because we know, we know. In verse 17 to 22, Daniel speaks
powerfully and freely. He could do this because as a
young man he had set the cause in his life.
He chose to honour God with his life.
He knew his life and its very existence rested in God's hand.
Daniel stood in front of Belshazzar.
A living proverb. Proverbs 22.
Six parents, you need to know this one.
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he
will not depart from it. King David didn't train up his
sons, and Absalom and Solomon sadly followed paths, reflecting
their lack of fatherly training by David.
But Timothy had a Gentile father, unbelieving, they
believe. But Timothy had a godly mother
and a godly grandmother and they both trained and trained Timothy
as a child and as he grew, he did not depart from their
blessed example. Teach, this is what you're to do
with your kids. Teach, Dedicate discipline.
And I mean discipline. That means when you say
something, it means what you say.
I often watch kids in shopping centres and mum goes, stop that.
I'm telling you to stop that kid.
Just go stop. I'm telling you to stop that
kid. Just carry on.
I'm telling you, the last time stop it, nothing's happened.
The kid knows nothing's going to happen.
And I'm thinking you don't love that child.
I saw a little girl, hell, and I saw this little girl running,
running down the road, running across the road.
No, actually we're walking to school and this kid ran across
the Rd little girl cross across the roads and then and busy
streets. My mom said stop, stop, don't do
that, stop, stop. And then when they got to
school, put a harm around her and said go on, we're going to
find it. I'm thinking you got to let the
kid get run over. Where's the love for that child?
Oh, I do love my child. No, you don't.
You're abusing that child by not caring for that child.
Here's what you're going to do. Bible says admonish.
Do it with love. But you got to do that.
Teach, dedicate, discipline. Guide your child on the things
of God on the things of God your impact as a father, as a mother
on your child should be about the things of Oh man, dad taught
me how to dig a hole and I'm the best hole digger around.
Awesome. The things of God In Deuteronomy
chapter 6, verse 6, God orders the children of Israel, the
fathers of Israel, to teach, admonish, instruct and minister
to your children as you go about your daily business, as you
walk, as you sit, as you stand, as you walk them to school, as
you drive into the shop, as you tying your shoelaces, as you
walk down the beach, as you're going for a surf, as you you're
mowing the lawn. You should be talking about the
things of God. They're the moments, then the
moments, then the great instructive times that you can
minister the wonders of the grace of God.
I love walking the kids grandkids to school.
Now you always ask this, OK, Pennsylvania, give us a story, a
Bible story. So we get a Bible story on the
way to school. You see, you say, well, I don't
have time. No, you do have time.
You have time for all the other stuff that you think is
important in their lives. God has got to be the most
important thing in their lives and father's your first.
It's your responsibility if your dad, if your father isn't, if
your husband isn't a Christian and mums, you can do it because
Timothy Lois Eunice trained and trained and Timothy became the
great man of God that he did Deuteronomy 66 read it, learn
it, apply it. Daniel reminded Belshazzar of
the pride of his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar and the judgement
that God laid upon him in graphic detail in verse 21.
Why did Belshazzar, why did he tell Belshazzar this?
Why didn't he just tell him what the story?
Why did he go back and say you, you know about what happened to
your grandfather? Why did he give this background?
He knew all about it. Why did he repeat it?
Because he was saying to the King, you knew all about this,
but still you lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven.
Your sin is greater than Nebuchadnezzar's.
You see, there's the difference. Your sin is greater each time
you come to church, each time you sit under the Word of God,
and each time you ignore what God instructs you to do.
It's not good. It's not good each time you hear
it and you don't apply it, it's not good.
I was reading through Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah
through this week through the minor prophets and in those
things, I think Israel, really cops are flogging by God because
they sinned and you know what God says directly and it mean
really, they really got hammered.
And you know what God says, Israel, your sin was worse, your
sin was worse. I've chosen you, you're my
chosen people. Your sins are worse.
Sins are worse than a heathen, than a Pagan.
Read it yourself. So each time I listen to the
word, Word of God, I come to a greater accountability and a
greater responsibility to obey. He told Belshazzar that his sin
was greater because verse 22, you knew all this and your sin
was against ample knowledge. And since the greater knowledge
calls forth a more severe judgement, Matthew 1120, Jesus
did the same. Jesus began to denounce the
towns where He had done so many of his miracles.
Why? Because they hadn't.
Jesus is the greatest preacher ever.
They hadn't repented of their sins and turned to God.
He said this. What sorrow awaits you, Corazan
Bethsaida? For if the miracles I did in you
had been done in wicked Tyre and Sidon, their people would have
repented of their sins long ago, clothing themselves in burlap
and throwing ashes on their heads to show their remorse.
I tell you, Jesus, reentify re emphasises.
I tell you, Tyre and Sidon will be better off on Judgement Day
than you. But there's worse.
He goes on in verse 23. And you people of Capernaum.
Capernaum is one of my favourite spots when we go to Israel,
people of Capernaum, Jesus lived there, moved from Nazareth to
Capernaum. Will you be honoured in heaven?
No, you will go down to the place of the dead.
Why? For if the miracles I did for
you had been done in wicked Sodom, what a comparison it
would still be here today. Wow, I tell you, even Sodom will
be better off on Judgement Day than you.
Isn't that? That's pretty dramatical, isn't
it? Romans chapter one, verse 21,
Paul says. Because although they knew God,
you know they did not glorify him as God, nor we're thankful,
but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish
hearts were darkened. The young foolish king is
stunned, knees still knocking, jaw dropped.
Listen to him every word. This is his life.
It's been revealed Belshazzar knew all about how God humbled
his grandfather, yet he dared to defy the Most High.
But there was more. There's 23.
You have lifted up yourself against the Lord of Heaven.
You have brought the vessels of his house before you.
And your Lords, your wives and your concubines have drunk from
them, and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze,
of iron, wood and stone, which you do not see or hear or know.
And the God who holds your breath in his hand, the reason
you're alive and owns all your ways, you have not glorified.
That's a damning report on a life wasted.
Daniel tells the king, You worship dumb gods, and at the
same time you've insulted the one true living God.
No man or woman holds the lease on their life.
In Isaiah chapter 42, verse 5, the Lord says Thus says the Lord
God, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread
forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath
to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it.
We are each and every one of us, totally and utterly dependent
upon God for our very existence. Belshazzar had utterly denied
this great truth. He'd lived as a fool.
Foolishness is ignoring God. Daniel now reads the words
gouged in the plaster on the wall and interprets them for the
king. The message on the wall was
brief. You know life can be summed up
quite succinctly, can it? In every word carried a note of
unquestioned authority. Verse 24.
Then the fingers of the hand were sent from him, and this
writing was written and this is the inscription that was
written. Many many tickle you fasten.
This is the interpretation of each word.
Many God has numbered your Kingdom and finished it tickle
you have been weighed in the balanced and found wanting.
Perez, your Kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes
and Persians many verse 26 God has numbered your Kingdom and
finished it. To number means to fix or limit
its duration. As to time, the repetition of
the word is emphasising many many that there would be no
extension of time, no second chance.
His number. You heard the term.
His number was up from here. The word many means calculation.
It tells us that God's decisions are not carelessly arrived at,
but are carefully calculated. God knows exactly how long it
will be until Jesus returns for His church.
The repetition of the word was for emphasis.
There's no extension here. Belshazzar, your number is up.
Tackle the scales of God. Why accurately and because God
deals with exactness, He deals in justice.
God weighs every man, every woman's life with perfect
accuracy. One Samuel chapter 2 verse
three, Samuel said talk no more so very proudly.
Let no arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is the God
of knowledge, and by him actions await.
Psalm 62 nine says, surely men of low degree are a vapour, Men
of high degree are a lie. If they are weighed on the
scales, they're all together lighter than vapour vapour.
Job 31 six Job said, Let me be weighed on honour scales, that
God may know my integrity. God, you know who I am.
Proverbs 16 two. All the ways of a man are pure
in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits on the
perfect scales of God. Belshazzar did not weigh enough,
fell short to escape divine judgement.
You fasten, Perez. You asked rightly why the word
you fasten is changed to Perez. That's a good question.
Daniel changed the plural Paris to the singular Peres.
Because Belshazzar's Kingdom was to be broken up, divided, and
given to the Medes and the Persians.
Apparently Daniel intended to play on words for a change in
the vows, and Perez gives the word Persian.
Judgement came quickly that night.
Empires do not stand by human might.
I wish our Prime Minister would learn that man's technology or
weaponry. There is a last night for an
empire, and there is a last night for every individual on
this planet. Thousands of years ago, God
spoke to this rebellious King Belshazzar by writing an
inscription gouging it on the wall of the palace.
The prophet Daniel interpreted the writing on the wall and said
that it read You've been weighed in the balance and found
lacking. Verse 27 preceding the
interpretation Daniel gave the reason for the waste of life,
you've lifted it yourself up against the Lord of heaven.
You have not glorified him. And so the root of the problem
was that he had failed to glorify God in his living.
He'd failed to choose to honour God with his life.
You see, to glorify God means this.
It means that you choose to honour him where whenever you
can has that whenever you succeed in your endeavours, be
they in ministry, business, sports, even family, you don't
take the personal credit. You give the glory to God.
I love it when the basketball is the the football is the NFL.
Especially say I want to give glory to God.
First of all, because they know the only reason they have any
gift or talent, it comes from God.
This morning as we read this text, it's time for a weigh in
Belshazzar's life in the great Way.
And it was light and the scales fell short.
You know everyone is weighed up in the scales of life by God.
You know there is handwriting against every man and woman on
the planet earth. But Jesus made salvation
possible for every man and every woman.
Did you know the finger of God was written against your life
too? If you're an unbeliever, it's
still there, it's still written. So where does that leave us as
believers today? Paul wrote about that in
Colossians chapter 2 verse 13, and he said you being dead in
your sins, we remember communion and the uncircumcision of your
flesh. He has quickened or made a life
together with him having forgiven you all trespasses.
Verse 14 cautions 2 Blotting out handwriting of ordinances.
That was against us. Where we fell short, where was
written down? Keith, you fall short on this,
which was contrary to us. He took it out of the way.
What did he do with it? Nailed it to his cross.
Remember the woman caught in the act of adultery.
The law said she should be bound, placed in a pit 3 feet
deep, stoned until dead. Master, what do you say where
all those who brought her caught in the ACT all got stones in
their hands? They want to catch Jesus out.
So Jesus stooped down and he wrote in the ground.
We don't know what he wrote in the ground, but I hazard a
guess. The same finger that wrote You
shall not commit adultery. The same finger that carved on
that Great Wall and that feast that night in Babylon.
The same finger carved in the ground by everyone who was
looking around with stones ready to throw at that woman.
Jesus wrote their names, 1 by 1, and their sins got to go.
I'm just calling. Left the car got to go.
They took off until what? There was none.
Then Jesus said to her, Go your way and sin no more, freeing you
to sin no more. We get freed to sin no more.
You see, you and I, as we wrap this up, are living in the last
days of this world as we know it.
It's coming to an end. God has revealed the future.
In Isaiah chapter 45, verse one, one of the greatest verses in
the Bible, it says this. Thus says the Lord to his
anointed, to Cyrus his right hand I have held to subdue
nations before him, to loose the armour of kings, to open before
him the double doors, and to break the blast brass gates, 100
years before Cyrus was even born.
He tells of Cyrus in charge of the Medes and the Persians.
The gates. You know what they did with the
gates over the Euphrates? They left them up.
I forgot to close them. I diverted the the river
Euphrates and Cyrus just walked in.
You know why he walked in? Because 100 years before, before
he was even born, God said Cyrus.
He gave him his name. You're going to do this?
It shows that God is in control. There is a day yet to come, but
it's fast approaching. There'll be another time of
lives being weighed in the balance.
Did you know that they'll also be on that day writings?
But these writings won't be on a wall.
They'll be from all the books opened in heaven of every
unbeliever. The Bible says every detail and
everyone who has raised up at that judgement day.
It's called the Great White Throne Judgement Revelation,
chapter 20. The dead, the sea, hell,
everywhere, all the dead will be raised up.
This is the second resurrection. And each one will be stand
before God and the books will be open and you'll be judged
according to everything where you didn't glorify God because
everyone in the second resurrection is found guilty.
But for you and I and for those of you here today who have
received Christ, who have glorified him with your living,
you will not receive a judgement but a great reward.
You will not take part in the great white throne judgement,
you'll take part in the rapture of the Church.
Paul said in one Corinthians 4. Let a man so consider us as
servants of Christ, stewards of the mysteries of God.
Moreover, it is required and stewards that one be found
faithful. So this morning as the worship
team comes forward, you have heard the word of God, you now
have knowledge. So that places you into a place
of accountability, responsibility.
You can't say, well, I didn't know about it.
And so I invite you this morning as we stand to worship, at the
end of the worship time or during the worship time, if you
don't know Christ, to come forward to receive Christ
because God doesn't want you at the great white Throne
judgement. God wants to call you up at the
rapture. He wants you to receive Christ
now. He wants you to be forgiven.
That's why He sent his Son for you.
He wants to remove the things that are written against you
today because the Bible says today is the day of salvation.
Maybe you've walked with God and you're in church today, but
you're wondering you're from a distance, you're a prodigal.
And today I want you to come forward as well.
We will pray for you and pray with you because repentance is
need constantly by all of us. If you're here today and God has
spoken to you and you need to repent.
And today I want you to come forward as we stand and worship
the Lord and repent before God. We'll pray with you.
You've wandered from him. Come now, be forgiven.
The writing is on the wall. What will you do with it?