s2-360 - Found Wanting - Daniel 5:25-31 - 09-11-2021

good afternoon everyone let's all stand together i've just enjoyed this beautiful afternoon um i hope you guys have too it's just a beautiful reminder of the lord's creation just the god we serve let's all sing out together as we get going here [Music] sing the lord i come and lord i come i confess and without you i fall apart you're the one that guides my heart i need you [Music] just [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] you oh jesus you're my hope instead so teach my songs [Music] oh [Music] i oh [Music] me [Music] is [Music] [Music] so [Music] the passion of our savior [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] that sets us free [Music] so [Music] free [Music] is [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] forgiven [Music] i [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] for jesus [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] you are here working in this place [Music] is [Music] [Music] that is [Music] you are here is [Music] i worship you [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] that is who you are [Music] even when i don't see it [Music] when i don't see [Music] [Applause] [Music] you'll never stop [Music] jesus [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] promise keep light in the darkness my god that is [Music] [Music] lord that's why we gather here this afternoon lord just we want to sing praises to you we want to be in your glory lord and i just thank you that we can gather and do that lord just remember these things in jesus name amen we want to share a new song with you guys and uh this song was kind of written for me out of a time when my family was going through a pretty great trial um it was kind of just one of those moments where you're kind of asking the lord why but then the lord turned me to isaiah 26 which we were going through a ways a while back a couple weeks back um and it says isaiah 26 3 thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee verse 4 trust ye in the lord forever for in the lord jehovah is everlasting strength that verse has really encouraged me and i ended up writing a song about it so we wanted to share that with you guys just if you're going through trials i don't know if any of us have been going through trials lately but um hopefully this song just is a good reminder a good encouragement to you guys [Music] [Applause] [Music] my god is good oh my god [Music] [Music] gives me strength [Music] forever [Music] [Music] give me the strength [Music] oh my god [Music] [Applause] [Music] my god is good oh my god [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] my [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] forever [Music] forever [Music] [Music] lord we're thankful for that perfect peace that you keep us in lord when our mind has stayed upon you lord in difficult days we can always remember that you're in control that you're seated upon the throne and that lord we can look to you to be our strength that song that peter just articulated lord we all sense those times where we we sense things are out of control but you're the one who knows all things and you're able to even work out the things that seem bad you work them together for good so we're thankful to be able to follow a god who's perfect and has a perfect plan but loves us and gives us that peace that's forever in our hand lord we're thankful for that and now lord as we open up our bibles we pray that you'd speak to us as we often pray lord by your holy spirit would you just give us understanding and application of the scriptures we pray in jesus name amen amen why don't you have a seat make yourself comfy thanks you guys well got a few announcements for you before we open up our bibles first tomorrow night sunday night worship prayer communion uh just a time of worshiping the lord uh and so we're gonna be here at six o'clock p.m uh tomorrow night also uh we started ironworks um this uh this morning it was great having all the guys here in the sanctuary a nice full house of of the brothers and we got into the scriptures and we do that once once a month um but the women have their you know version of it called devoted and that's going to be their monthly meeting and that's coming up this saturday uh coming saturday 9 00 a.m with amy mcreynolds and she's going to be just getting in the scriptures and they also have donuts and coffee so the ladies are doing exactly what the guys are doing which is kind of cool um uh but also there's another um women's study that you should know about it's an eight-week study and it's going to be a study in the gospel of john called he is and amy and the team have put together these amazing study books and stuff for the ladies it's really kind of an outstanding deal i'm excited for the gals it's going to be an incredible journey that's beginning tuesday september 28th at seven o'clock p.m both online and also in person but you need to sign up online for that to get kind of set up with all the stuff you need uh to get the books and all the time of all the the uh events and what have you so there they there they are the announcements um wednesday night we're going to take a look at daniel chapter 5 the lord willing we'll get the whole chapter in uh this wednesday night but i'd like to draw your attention to just kind of the story itself and also kind of a single verse in that story so why don't you grab your bible and turn with me to daniel chapter 5. have you ever been driving through an intersection when you see that dreaded flash you know fortunately uh i've never gotten a ticket with one of those um but man i've been you know driving through when the flash went off a bunch of times and it's amazing how your guilty conscience starts screaming at you you know like oh is that for me you know uh and i'm ducking behind my dashboard hoping there's no more cameras you know taking pictures of me flying through the intersection um but uh i remember quite a few years ago when that was first kind of a big thing uh there's a true story i think it was out of chicago where a guy you know uh was getting his mail one afternoon and he got the the you know official document that said you were you know running a red light and we have your photo and there's a picture of him and and a picture of his infraction and all that well um he thought it was strange and weird but you know he was going to get ready to pay he got it was actually only 40 that's different i think now uh a lot but forty dollars um and the guy uh he thought it was funny they just sent him a picture like it was all computer generated and so he thought it'd be funny just to take twenty dollars and take two twenty dollar bills and lay it out and then take a picture of that and send that to the uh to the city hall there um to the police station and uh so he sent it off just a picture of the of the forty dollars um and um and about a week later he received another official notice um and it had the similar lettering and all that but there was another photo in there of handcuffs i thought that was pretty uh funny of the sheriff or the local police to do that um what are you going to do now at that point you have to kind of think about it but um you know the truth is one of the things that we have to remember is you know god sees all things he knows what's going on he knows your heart he knows you know the sins you're doing and somehow you can almost convince yourself you're a pretty good person um until you do stuff like drive through the intersection you see a flash and you're like oh was that for me what was i doing and you know suddenly you got this guilty complex and and you're like oh man i probably deserve whatever i just got um and and there's moments in life where you're kind of struck with honesty and you're like man i'm i'm sort of a sinner and i remember that uh oftentimes we don't remember that we just think we're basically good people and we forget the sins that we've done but there's a time and a place where if a person doesn't really acknowledge that and repent before god then they'll be held accountable for their sins i'm so thankful that there's a way for anyone who wants to to uh offload to empty to dump all their sins off and we'll talk about that at the end uh today but but there's a guy who's just setting it up uh and living contrary to god completely and he's he's he's doing things actually that kind of flies in the face of the true and living god blatant bold sinful behavior kind of like a lot of our culture today um we have all kinds of things we don't even call sin anymore that the bible says no that's still sin uh and our world just acts like it's no big deal but there will be a day of reckoning the bible says one of the themes we've seen in the book of daniel thus far is there's a there's a moment where god says time's up uh the spirit of god will not always strive with man the bible says there's a point where god says time's up there's there's coming a day called the day of the lord we talked about that a few weeks ago we talked about nebuchadnezzar as he was gloating there in the hanging gardens of babylon and saying look it's not this the babylon that i you know the king is set up in my glory and my majesty remember that and the lord said time's up and the lord turned him into a wild beast in the field um like there's a point where god says that's it well we have another one of those stories where the lord says your time is up um and the reason i think this is important for you and for me is there will come a time where god's going to say that for the whole world um it's again it's called the day of the lord when the lord says time's up and that'll be marked by the rapture of the church where the church of jesus christ will be taken up to be with him we won't see death if it happens in our lifetime which it could the rapture of the church but um you know after the rapture of the church that's when the lord it says pours out his wrath upon a christ-rejecting sinful world time's up and that seven year period called the tribulation will will happen um but there's all kinds of analogies of that and stories about the lord saying okay you know i'm gonna be gracious and patient it's been said the wheels of god's judgment turned slowly but they grind thoroughly and it's true well we have a guy who's like that his name belshazzar and bill shasta is this interesting dude who sees what this king is doing um now the events that we've been studying recorded in daniel chapter one through four were largely circled around the king called nebuchadnezzar nebuchadnezzar ii for you history buffs but the bible just calls him nebuchadnezzar and and really that's what daniel 1 through 4 is about but now we move into kind of the next king after nebby but but actually there's a little bit of a series of kings all of which daniel would see coming and going there in babylon so nebuchadnezzar died in 562 bc after ruling for a long 43 years that's a long reign for nebuchadnezzar ii um by the way there's a stone that uh is was found in some archaeological digs of babylon with a long inscription there's a picture of it right here that i kind of thought was kind of cool this uh they call it the nebuchadnezzar stone uh they're in and it's in the british museum or the babel stone as they call it and uh it's got all these inscription basically a long list of the achievements of nebuchadnezzar the second which is kind of interesting um i love how archaeological digs always confirm the bible uh the bible's been right all along and even when the critics say oh yeah that never happened the bible's got that wrong then we find a stone that says here's what happened it's like the rocks are crying out as we've talked about before but um you know as it turns out after nebuchadnezzar died there was uh there was a uh succession from nebuchadnezzar to a guy named evil merridack that's an interesting name evil meridak who ruled for two years 562 to 560 bc um and we read about evil maradona in second kings 25 verse 27-30 and jeremiah 52 tell us about this guy that reigned just for a couple of years evil murdoch there's some 17th century portraits of of uh evil maradek there uh on on the left side uh and then his successor uh niri glissar um uh or niri golosar as what some people call him um and his um uh and his predecessor evil meridak uh and you know there's ancient writings about these guys not a lot in the bible about these guys but basically evil maranac uh the guy on the left uh was murdered uh by the guy on the right uh in 560 nebuchadnezzar's son-in-law and evil meredith his own brother-in-law murdered in fact after nebuchadnezzar there was some there was quite a drama it was a soap opera of murder and uh you know crazy lies and uh deceit and all kinds of craziness if you study the history of babylon and what's interesting is daniel was there in babylon and all this stuff was going down um so then you got this uh niri glissar who ruled for four years and um at his death he was then uh followed by a guy named labishi marduk who ruled for two months that's a fairly short reign may and june of 5 56 before he was assassinated and succeeded by the next guy nebonnetus nibonitas now uh there's they found in uh babylon a relief that was um no nabonidus who reigned for 17 years nobody's uh and and you know they the bible um doesn't really talk as much about nobodies which is sort of interesting because um his son was a guy named belshazzar nabanovus's son was belshazzar now the bible calls belshazzar nebuchadnezzar's grandson but you have to understand this is kind of an interesting thing the bible when calling someone a grand father he could also be like maybe a better word ancestor of or there could be several generations of sons between belshazzar and uh um and nebuchadnezzar but um but basically uh nevadas this guy he tried to bring the glory back after all these other guys kind of messed up babylon after nebuchadnezzar nebuchadnezzar it was they were living large when he was around but then these other guys were murdering each other and stuff they messed up the feel the vibe and uh so nobody did much to try to restore the former glory of babylon when nebuchadnezzar was reigning but um but belshazzar was basically nibbonitus's other son elder son um who was appointed as co-regent in other words um nobodis was kind of the king but but they sort of co-reigned together father and son and the reason they did this is nevada this went and rained in other conquered territories while belshazzar was reigning as king holding down the fort in babylon so he was sort of like the kid that sort of followed his father and his father left town to do a bunch of battles and it would be during belshazzar's reign as king the punk guy the kid of debonaidus he would lose babylon to the medes and the persians it would be a big thing historically um so um so in and there's even places in the bible by the way where nebuchadnezzar is referred to as belshazzar's father but the idea is a predecessor or ancestor but basically this is why he was called king because he was sort of a co-regent co-reigning uh and was acting as king in babylon now what happened in the story well um if you recall in daniel chapter 2 daniel prophesied by the dream of nebuchadnezzar that after the babylon king nebuchadnezzar died and after his reign of power remember the head of gold it would be followed by two arms of silver which would be the medo persian empire and now in chapter five of daniel that part of that prophecy is coming to pass the medes and the persians are on the march um being besieged uh when this when this story of daniel chapter five happens the medo-persian army uh led by a guy named ugga beru governor of gutier and some people believe ookaroo is another name for darius uh the mede it's possible uh history doesn't know for sure if they're the same dude but we know uh from the bible that darius ends up in babylon and becomes uh friends with daniel himself but um so so what's going on inside the city of babylon bill schauzer he's he's there just partying down why but they're being besieged for after months of being besieged why is belshazzar just partying down in babylon the reason because of babylon's mighty fortress city it was it was massive the walls were humongous uh the walls of babylon were so tall the the towers around the walls reached up to 250 feet high like that's really tall and and the walls were so thick they could race chariots on the top of the wall have a chariot race up there um and and not only that outside of the big wall was the euphrates river split and it went around the whole city so you got this map it wasn't just those little like uh you know bugs bunny road runner moat around the castle it was a it was a big old river around the side like the willamette river kind of thing around the the uh the city as a moat but then on the other side of the river after you have the wall the river then you had another wall that you'd have to get to just to get to the river so it was thought to have been perfectly impenetrable and the babylonian defenses were incredible they their towers were positioned so perfectly that they could sort of drop rocks or hot oil on the heads of anybody that would even get close to the wall they would be able to fend off anybody who even tried and uh they it was and not only that the babylon city was so big it was about as big as washington dc which in bible times bible cities were tiny but not so with babylon it was huge and it was about the size of today's washington dc but here's what's interesting babylon could remain happy and healthy for 20 years under siege close up the doors batting up the hatches army surrounding the city 20 years they were good to go and that's why belshazzar is there in the city going yeah bring it on man you me no persian empire you got 20 years because we'll be here just partying down the whole time while you guys are out there you know sleeping in the cold and uh trying to besiege the city and so he had total confidence in his mighty babylon which is always a big danger when you put your trust in your own devices and your own production uh but that's where belshazzar is at so so what happens well darius and cyrus the means and the persians um they they do something that's kind of amazing and and boy it's we'll talk more about this probably on wednesday night but isaiah the prophet a couple hundred years earlier if you recall isaiah said there's coming a time when babylon's gonna be taken and they're they're um divert the river and people are going to go up through the the the bars of the water intake of the city and it's going to be led by cyrus the great that's what before cyrus is even born isaiah the prophet says there's a guy named cyrus coming now the bible skeptics always say well that means that isaiah must have been written long after the babylonians were taken out by the medo-persian empire and they assumed that because how could isaiah have known our answer to that is well we believe god knows the beginning from the end and told isaiah what to write and it's called prophecy and the bible's full of prophecy but so they try to make up the deutero isaiah the tree to isaiah that there's false isaiahs and guys who wrote many years later totally wrong but all that to say this comes to pass while belt shazzar is there partying down as we're going to see here in the city the medes and the persons of several miles upriver from the euphrates they divert the whole river they dry up the river and make it go around afar and away from babylon so the remote around babylon dries up and and so what they do they bring their army in and there's these brass bars where the water goes into the wall and normally it's you know 15 20 feet under water which makes it really hard you can't just swim down there and cut the bars and go in but with the with the water gone they just cut through the bars went through that cut through the next set of bars on the next wall and they came into the city and and what's interesting about this is um the the the the city of babylon the people of babylon did you know they didn't know they didn't even know it took them more than one month to learn that their city had been taken by the media persian empire like they're just sitting around being babylonians and then they're like hey anybody seen our king or any of our government uh no i haven't seen them for about a month that's because tomino persians took over um you know news doesn't get around they didn't have social media and stuff back in those days uh but it traveled very slowly and and uh it was it was fairly peaceable now why was that well as it turns out the bible tells us this part belts of shazza or probably belshazzar he's got this party going on where they're just getting drunk and it's it's sort of a drunken orgy it's it's a horrible worldly godless sinful party and belshazzar is just flying in the face of the true living god and how is he doing that he's worshipping his gods and he's drinking his wine and you know having all these women in there it's kind of a horrible party um but they they're all getting drunk and he says hey let's go get the vessels that we took from the jews there from their temple in jerusalem let's get their vessels and let's let's drink our our alcohol you know from the holy vessels of jerusalem just to fly in the face of the true and living god and so they've got those vessels out and then and then something happens that's a little strange suddenly as they're drinking their alcohol and their tipsy and stumbling around and doing their orgy and all that stuff suddenly a little hand appears and starts writing on the wall writing writing writing and they can't discern what the writing says but it's writing on the wall and they're like okay we got to figure this out what does this say and they got all the wise men and everything they couldn't figure it out and and as it turns out um this this makes uh the king so freaked out that it says his knees were knocking and the king james puts it this way the joints of his loins were loosed what does that mean um it means this past the pampers uh the king messed himself uh he was so afraid um this is embarrassing uh what a geek um and there he is in his you know he needs to be changed in the nursery you know like uh like he's got he's got a problem but there he is standing there freaking out pooping his pants that's what he does um and so they're like what are we gonna do well the hubbub sort of stirs up and there's there's this queen mother that comes into the scene and it could be the former wife of nebuchadnezzar we're not sure for sure but it's possible because she comes in and says hey uh belshazzar there's a guy back in your grandfather's day or your father's day as i said but it's technically grandfather there's a there's a guy back in when he was king who knew how to interpret stuff like this and and we could go get this guy named daniel of the jews so daniel comes into the room and there's belshazzar and they're drinking out of the holy vessels from jerusalem and they're partying down and and they see the handwriting and daniel comes and and the king says listen daniel if you can tell me the meaning of this dream i will make you the third top ruler of babylon now this is this is funny because daniel's already been that if you recall um he's already been he was in he was in more the second position under nebuchadnezzar if you recall um so it's like yeah whatever i'll put you and i'll put a gold chain around your neck it'll give you wealth and and and we'll robe you with the you know the purple robe and all that stuff and and daniel's you know daniel's like yeah whatever you can keep your junk but he says i'll tell you what the writing is um and now everybody's curious everybody's holding their breath what's going on the party the medes and the persians are out sneaking around drying up the river and getting ready to take the city but but they don't know that they're all partying down at ease no big deal but the handwriting on the wall what does it mean what does it say well that brings us to the to the verse that i'd like to uh have us take a look at verse 25. let's take a look daniel chapter 5 verse 25. here's daniel and what he says verse 25 it says and this is the writing that was written no sorry i messed that up uh no it says this is the writing that was written meanie meanie tekkel you farsan or some of your positive peres or perez this is the interpretation of the thing here's daniel mene god hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it tackle thou art weighed in the balances and are found wanting perez thy kingdom is divided and given to the medes and the persians then commanded belshazzar that they clothed daniel with scarlet and put a chain of gold around his neck and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler why the third ruler remember nevadas was number one belshazzar was number two and now daniel would be technically number three but do you get a sense that this guy is not listening like like daniel said i don't want your little treasures your gold you know necklace i don't want your robe and i don't want your position but i'll tell you what it is and this guy you know he's like yeah i'm glad you told me the meaning now let's make you third ruler of the kingdom that i'm about to lose in about 10 minutes like the guy is just whacked it's probably because he's been drinking a little too much he doesn't have all his faculties you know um and um so he says you'll become the third ruler verse 30 and in that night was belshazzar the king of the chaldeans slain and darius the mede took the kingdom being about three score and two years old interesting historic historically we know this actually happened on october 12th um you know 5 39 bc that's when when babylon fell to the medo-persian empire and this was the night how did the medes and the person do it they dried up the river snuck in and and the reason they were able to just take the city without the whole city even really knowing about it all the rulers and leaders were in this party this is where we get the bible to tell us the story uh you know the extra biblical writers like man how did the babylonians do it the bible tells us all the leaders were in one part of the palace partying down and totally drunk with wine and all the medo persons had to do is bring their army in and slay all the drunk people in the room and it took out the whole leadership of babylon they were all thinking they were perfectly safe that there was nothing that could get them in their impenetrable city but they all got it with one fatal blow and so much was it that the the babylonian city didn't even know it went down that's an amazing thing but all that to say this all came to pass um you know it's interesting by the way they found banquet halls uh in the ancient diggings of babylon and and it's got kind of cool stuff like like they found one hall that was sort of half underground but it was like you know 170 feet by like 80 feet it was a big big long hall where they could have easily fit all these people and some believe that's the very place where belshazzar was partying down with his royals they believe they have the the very place but all this to say what do we learn from this little story of belshazzar and the handwriting on the wall um you know and this handwriting that was that was written the finger where did the finger come from i believe this is the finger of god writing against belshazzar who had been found well mini mini taco you perez or you farson what does that mean well let's break it down to three points and then we'll wrap it up number one if you're taking notes mene let's talk about this um here our text tells us meaning god hath numbered your kingdom and finished it um god has numbered your kingdom and finished it that's number one um you know your days are over but you know time's up this is another time like when god said to bel to nebuchadnezzar time's up same and there will be a time where time will be up and especially you that are unsaved those of you that have rejected god and the cross of jesus do you understand there is a time coming where the bible says god will say time's up and the question is are you ready for that time if you are you know that you're you're not going to have to be judged for your sins otherwise when the time is up you've got to be ready to take whatever you know punishment for your sins and the bible says the wages of sin is death that's what happened to belshazzar he was killed that night slain by the medo-persian empire god has numbered your kingdom and finished it you're over you're done um your number is up you know it's interesting moses taught us in the book of psalms moses wrote one of the psalms psalm chapter 90. and moses said this he said so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom you know number our days the idea is to be wise that you know we don't know when we're going to die but to be cognizant of there is an end to all this everybody is going to die at some point or another and we never really know when that's going to be especially with all the kovid and all the stuff around you never know when your number is up but the question is have you lived numbering your days that's the way of wisdom moses said and the clock is ticking for each one of us and and have we really prepared that's something belshazzar was not prepared to meet his death and he goes down as a guy who was weighed in the balances and found one and he he was lacking he is a guy we're not going to see in heaven someday that's a that's just the real reality uh it's a radical truth nebuchadnezzar we're going to see him in heaven we studied that last week but not so with belshazzar because he was flying in the face of god in total rebellion and so we need to like moses says number our days and realize there's a time coming um where you know you know it's amazing how time goes by and how much time we waste wasted time you know how would you like to spend two years of your life making phone calls to people that aren't home you say brad that's ridiculous i would never do that well as it turns out did you know that the average person spends two years of their lives on returning unanswered phone calls two years of your life if you live the average you know what is it 76 point something years you're gonna spend two of those years of your life returning phone calls to people that aren't home six months of your life you're gonna spend sitting at stop stoplights eight months you're going to be opening junk mail uh two let's see four years of your life you're going to spend doing housework some of you less than others this is a funny one five years of your life you spend waiting in line that's amazing five years of your life but six years of your life eating i think that's inaccurate um i was kind of doing the math uh i don't think that's accurate for some of us but six years of your life you spend eating what how much time do you spend you know um seeking the lord and and being ready for when this life is over we need to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom that's something belshazzar never did he thought everything was great he was gonna live forever he was a glorious king of mighty power and he gets killed that night it's over um be careful this indictment meaning your number is up time time's up that's the first thing of the message of the handwriting on the wall by the way this finger of god writing against belshazzar we see that finger writing several times in the bible we see the finger of god writing the ten commandments you know thou shalt have no other god before me thou shalt not make into the any graven image and on the finger of god writes in the table of stone it's it's a writing that's it's the law another time you see the finger of god writing is jesus there when he's riding in the sand the woman who was caught in adultery and they throw her down and said jesus tell her tell us should we let this woman go or should we do what moses's law says and shall we stone her to death but they were just doing this to try to trap jesus but jesus bends down starts riding in the sand the word right there in the greek is kind of this interesting phrase qatar graphene which means to write against so we don't know what jesus was writing but he was writing something against i have a theory that he was writing dates and times where each one of those guys with the rock said yeah what are you saying we're going to stone her to death what do you say he starts writing motel 6 tualatin november 3rd the euro year 12 a.d or whatever and the guy's like uh i think i heard my wife calling drops the rock pure he leaves and the bible says from the oldest to the youngest in order one by one they dropped their rocks and went away and eventually they're all gone because jesus wrote against that's the finger of god and i hope you understand god is capable of writing against whether it's the ten commandments writing against you and me saying man we're sinners we've blown it or if we're judging others and being brutal and jesus could say those of you that are without sin see that's what jesus he was writing in the same but then he looked up said those of you without sin cast the first stone go ahead and then he just keeps writing and that's a funny thing because you and i we we can be so quick to throw stones but we also have to say um wait a minute i'm a sinner too and you need to make sure your sins have been dealt with um but all that to say um you know you've been found uh time is up for you uh the second term here tekkel uh tekkel it's an interesting word um and by the way people say what language is this and how did daniel know what it was um it's it's it's most agree it's aramaic which is the the language of the chaldean but uh and the babylonians but maybe it was the handwriting that they couldn't decipher or maybe these words didn't have the the meaning that was enough for them to understand um there's debate about that but but ultimately daniel i have no problem with this that daniel just supernaturally was given the interpretation by god that's that's the way daniel rolled in other stories so that's not a hard thing for us but this this word tekkel it actually is a term used talking about um weights and balances like a scale and the techel was sort of it sounds like sheckle it's a similar word it's a unit of weight that was used to weigh in the balance to see if um something was you know heavier or light and you'd sort of measure with the other counterweights to see how heavy something was that's this word techel and it means you've been weighed in the balances and the idea of him being weighed is is you've been found a lightweight you've been weighed you should have been a heavyweight you had much given to you you were given much you were entrusted with much you were you had every chance for success but look what you've done you've squandered it away and here you are with poopy diapers drunk ins a drunken stupor doing all kinds of grotesque sinful stuff when you should have been leading you've been weighed and you've been found lacking you've been found wanting um he he was even given the knowledge of god you know uh you you can almost argue that you know nebuchadnezzar's you know wife or his grandmother comes and tells him about daniel we also know that he's he's drinking out of the vessels of the true and living god from jerusalem and he knows enough about that to sort of mock the god of the jews so he's been given knowledge of god he's just chosen to rebel against god and i wonder you know if your life was weighed in the balances how would you do would the lord say you've been weighed in the balances and you're you've got some heft good for you or what do you say like bill schauzer you're a lightweight when you should have been a heavyweight um i brought a picture of an airport that i went to years ago it's out in the south pacific on a little island called pentecost um and there's no you know pavement there's no uh you know paved runways and when you land you land on this little grassy field that's sort of rough and these big these uh sort of bush planes you know uh air vanuatu uh and uh you kind of landed these big struts kind of bounce around and you bounce on the runway and then you you know there's chickens in the i mean it's like a totally like being a movie but you land and you come to the lona roar airport uh let me show you i brought a picture of the airport loaner airport is right here um when i was there it wasn't painted they put a nice paint job on it it was it was just actually the concrete part below when i was there last time but the reason i brought this picture is it's kind of funny the way that they charge you at these airports in the south pacific islands there is they there's just this big scale and they have you step up on the scale um and however much you weigh they charge you per pound so i come rolling up to this airport you know and always niven and watching people are looking and all of a sudden they see me and then they all start looking at each other look at that guy they're like dollar signs in their eyeballs you know when they saw me coming they're like step on up to the scale i was like let's see that let's see what we have here uh they were all excited about that um but uh you know you've been weighed in the balances and you've been found wanting that was never my problem it was belshazzar's problem all you people that are all skinny and stuff that's your problem but no in a spiritual sense in a spiritual sense god wants us to be heavy uh to be you know people of substance you know don't forget what luke chapter 12 verse 48 says it says for unto whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required you know belshazzar was given enough to know about the holy vessels of jerusalem he knew about daniel and all that but he he didn't use what he had to do the right thing jesus said for unto whomsoever much is give and much shall be required of him or her and you and i we've been given so much oh i think we make belshazzar look like a guy who was deprived of information you and i have bibles and study books for the bible and online resources to know about the scriptures and you know we should know more than paul the apostle for crying out loud because we've been given so much we should know but you know there's a lot of people that just don't even take the time to learn about the holy book that god has given to us and i'm probably preaching to the choir here at 8th grade because you guys are all here and we're studying the bible but you know sadly a lot of people don't even bother to see if what the bible says is true i'm always amazed how many people say oh yeah i've read the bible and i always like to kind of pursue that when someone says that oh you've read the bible you know the bible really well and it's amazing how people say that but when you really start talking to them they don't have the foggiest idea what the bible is about i always love it when the politicians start quoting the bible you know what i mean like every time even the good ones and the bad ones and the ugly ones they start quoting the bible and they always get it wrong and they they just sort of sort of you know show their hand that they have no idea what the bible is about but that you know some speech writer in some little you know oval office uh wrote something let's let's throw some scripture in there for them evangelicals you know so that we can sort of win them over and it's hilarious because they always put the wrong scriptures and they they call it by the wrong thing and mispronounce the name of the book and and uh you know and sometimes they even take a stab at being theologians [Music] um when like kamala harris talks about what jesus would do when it comes to vaccinations i'm not sure she's a theologian that we should follow i remember when barack obama said you know what are we going to do follow the bible and and you know keep the law of the old testament i mean you know take our children out and stone them to death when they're disobedient and he was saying stuff that actually the bible does say but we would never do that because that's not what the bible requires if you read the bible as a total tourist and you don't get what it's actually saying you think the bible's telling us to go kill our children but that's not what it's saying it's that that's the old testament law that was never actually happened actually enacted because the law was impossible for anyone to keep and that was the whole point but this is stuff that our politicians don't know and i'm always kind of wondering you know we've been given so much we have no excuse we should know what the bible says and there's going to be a weighing in the balances someday for what you've been given and to whom much is given of him much shall be required that was bill schauzer's problem his time was up and now he's been found a lightweight when he should have been a heavyweight meanie meanie tekkel and then the last part of that in your bible is perez number three uh or eufauson as the king king james version says which is just sort of a plurality of this word perez but basically daniel says here's what perez means your kingdom is divided between the means of the persians and given to the means of the persians october 12th 539 that's when this came to pass so exactly you know predicted like isaiah said it would um daniel told nebuchadnezzars that someday this would happen the arms of silver in the statue in daniel chapter two now this has actually come to pass um you know it's interesting because um this idea of the kingdom being divided and then given to the medes and the persians little did belshazzar know that all of his possessions that night would be in somebody else's hands including the whole city like a whole other people group would be having your stuff and i hope we also remember that when you die all your stuff is going to be in somebody else's hands if it's not the means of the persons who's it going to be maybe your children or maybe your neighbors or whoever have you ever thought about where your stuff's going all going to be when you die it's i know that's kind of morbid but uh belshazzar never really thought about that and it ends up being in the in the medes and the persians um and and so um interesting you know you can almost think you're gonna have your stuff forever jesus warned about this by the way would you keep your finger here in daniel and turn with me to luke chapter 12. i want to show you just one more thing before we start to wrap this up luke chapter 12. and there in luke 12 15. jesus sort of warned about this belshazzar kind of mindset in a new testament sort of way luke chapter 12 verse 15 it says and and jesus said unto them take heed and beware of covetousness for a man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses and he spake a parable to them saying the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully and he thought within himself saying what shall i do because i have no room where to bestow my fruits and he said this will i do i will pull down my barns and build greater and there will i bestow all my fruits and my goods and i will say to my soul soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thy knees eat drink and be merry but god says to him thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee then who shall those things be which thou has provided so is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward god this is what belshazzar's problem was he had all kinds he was the king over babylon he had it all in his possession but he loses it that night and now he's dead and all that stuff means nothing babylon means nothing jesus tries to warn us of the same thing you know you're you know you're not a person that consists your life does not consist by the stuff that you possess um that's what jesus said but um you got to take heed and beware of covetousness be careful christians as we covet our houses to look better in our cars to be fancier and you know our possessions that stuff is going to do nothing for you in eternity belshazzar was sort of putting all of his gambling on his stuff but that night when the meets and the persons took his life he didn't take the u-haul with him that's the problem and so we're told here you know in in luke 12 be careful jesus said make sure that you're rich toward god that's the problem he was a lightweight and he was in poverty toward godly things this guy bell shadow i hope none of you are in that place maybe you have a successful life and career and job and house and all that stuff but are you rich toward god psalm 39 verse 6 says this it says surely every man walketh in a vain show surely they are disquieted in vain he heapeth upon he he heapeth up riches and knows not who shall gather them now you say brett this is kind of brutal this guy bill shastard he goes down with all these things but it's a brutal story that should be sort of a wake-up call for for those who have not really thought about what's going to happen when when the lord says okay time's up see if you're a christian when god says time's up that's the best thing you'll ever hear time's up no more being on this earth no more suffering no more pain no more sorrow but all your tears will be wiped away if you're a believer when god says time's up it's it's like the bible says precious in the sight of the lord is the death of his saints the day you die as a christian is the best day of your life but if you're belshazzar and you're a person who's stocked up wealth in this earth but not rich toward god and you've been given all the opportunities to accept christ and to follow and believe and you've found been found light the day you die that's gonna be the worst thing you hear time's up because like belshazzar he goes down where the bible says he ends up in a place called hell weeping wailing gnashing of teeth torment for all in eternity it's a it's kind of the most horrible thing you can actually think of and my challenge on this you know saturday afternoon is first of all if you're a christian let's let's be people of weightiness spiritual heft let's let's make sure that we're rich toward god and not be all focused on our material possessions because when all is said and done that's going to be nothing we need to have a spiritual weightiness and we need to make sure that our treasure is in heaven and that we're rich toward god and then and understand that someday somebody's going to divide all of our stuff um and have a right perspective set your affection on things above the bible says not on things of this earth that's a good reminder from old belshazzar the king who blew it but if you're not a believer and if you haven't accepted christ you see you're still in your sins you know i i love it what a glorious thing that god puts on my on my my scale you know the balances you know belshazzar was weighed in the balances so you picture the scale right um but you know what you know what the lord does here's what happens my good and my bad and suddenly um as the lord measures up old pastor brett oh he did a good thing here oh good thing there chi chi opening a bunch of bad things there and suddenly it's like really heavy all my bad the bible says even my best works are like filthy rags so my bad far outweighs my good in the scale of the balance is the same scale that old belshazzar had to be put up against you've been found light when you should have been heavy you're light but what i love about the lord jesus christ is the lord says if you accept me and the work of the cross i will put my righteousness on you so suddenly your scale with all your bad kink um the lord says let's put a little bit of my righteous my whole righteousness on there kink and the scale goes back to a whole another position because of his righteousness the lord puts that on your scale his righteousness is put on you it's called imputed righteousness that totally outweighs all the sin that you've ever done you know all the stuff that you did that made the scale off off kilter the lord says i will fix that and that's what he did when jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world he took that scale and he fixed the problem so that anybody that says okay i'm going to confess with my mouth and believe that jesus christ died on the cross and rose from the grave when i when i do that i believe that the lord is going to forgive me for my sins and and superimpose his righteousness on that scale of justice that's what happens when you become a christian it doesn't mean you're perfect doesn't mean you always go to church it doesn't mean you give your money or that you're part of a weird group or anything like that it just means you're acknowledging your sin before god saying lord i acknowledge my sin outweighs my good that i'm headed for hell i understand that i deserve punishment but i accept the free gift of salvation through your son and so it's a statement with your mouth and it's a belief in your heart that sort of uh accepts and receives the gift of salvation such a great thing i love how easy god made it for us the lord made it easy for you and me it wasn't easy he did all the work he died on the cross a horrible death when he became a man god became a man emmanuel jesus dying on the cross for the sins of the whole world man i'm so thankful that he did that to my scale and the question of the night is this has he done it to yours have you been saved and if you have rejoice and know that the day you die you'll be found not light like like belshazzar you'll be found spiritually hefty because the lord has done a great work a good lesson from daniel chapter five we'll look at the whole chapter on wednesday but let's pray and let's just take some time to just consider our own scale right now lord how thankful i am that you and i uh the lord that we we have an agreement you told us that come now let us reason together there in isaiah though your sins be like scarlet they'll become white as snow lord i'm thankful that we have this agreement that if we confess our sins that you're faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness lord how thankful i am for the beautiful gift of salvation that you've given and lord i pray that if there's anyone even here or watching online tonight that has yet to have that righteousness dropped on their scale lord i pray that they'd humble themselves and acknowledge their sin before you and repent and accept the free gift of salvation with your heads bowed and with every christian in prayer would you would you be interested in accepting christ tonight you can do this by accepting with your believing in your heart speaking it out with your mouth and if you believe it in faith just knowing that god says i'll do the work of salvation for you um your sins can be forgiven that's that's what the bible says and it's it's through the free gift of salvation but you got to receive it i'd like to give anybody a chance to do that before we i won't embarrass you or make you you know get up in front of anybody but right where you're sitting if that's on your heart right now would you acknowledge that between you me and the lord and just by by looking up at me and giving me a quick wave i'll acknowledge it and just before we pack it up for the night um if that's you would you do that right now let me just look around for a second i don't want to miss anybody if you want to accept christ awesome good good anybody else let me look around just a minute more but i see you good cool awesome good nice good [Music] way in the back i see you good i'm going to pray this prayer of confession right now and we're gonna have the whole church pray this out loud with you because what a glorious moment this is when a person just says oh i need forgiveness of sin and i i know that i'm a sinner man the lord is quick to forgive that's the only time in the bible you see god ever in a hurry is when he's forgiving sin i love that anybody who wants it can have it and if you just pray this prayer of faith from your heart through your mouth the lord says you will be saved it says that in romans chapter 10 verse 9 and 10. so let's do this right now let's pray out loud dear father in heaven i believe in your son jesus christ that he came and died on the cross for my sins and that he rose up from the grave and that i'm forgiven help me to walk with you and thank you for saving me in the name of jesus christ lord for those who've just confessed this this great faith lord you tell us even if we have faith the size of a tiny grain of mustard seed that that's enough faith to move a mountain and we have a mountain of sin lord that we all needed to move and how thankful we are that you're able to take our sins and put them as far as the east is from the west your bible says and that you have this amazing ability lord that says you remember our sins no more that you truly are able to forgive and forget lord how great that is and so lord unlike belshazzar i pray for these people who've just confessed their faith that they would know that they're saved by your grace through faith not of their own works not of their own good deeds but because of the ultimate good deed that you died on the cross for their sins so may they know that give them that sense lord of forgiveness the weight of sin off their shoulders lord may they know that you love them and i pray that they would grow in their faith lord as they move closer and closer to you we pray your blessing now help us to walk with you lord i pray your blessing on these your people in jesus name we pray amen amen let's stand together as we wrap the service up you know we have a chance just to to give on to the lord you know i'm always so blessed at the end of service you know when we've heard the word people have accepted christ and we know that our sins are forgiven you know it just makes me that much more uh knowing how much we need to give glory to god so i like to end these services with just one more worship song and let's belt it out man let's sing out and praise the lord as as you know we sing this song sing it from your heart and give honor to the lord in jesus name [Music] breathing new life in me spirit i need your wisdom guide my heart into your ways [Music] and i will not thirst again [Music] and all of my days i [Music] my was i will bring praise to you i will run and i will [Music] is [Music] your love oh treasure of my heart [Music] jesus i need your power break all the chains oh and all of my days i will bring praise to you [Music] and all of my [Music] and i will [Music] run and i will run [Music] and only love don't treasure my heart [Music] [Music] and i will go lead me to the rock that is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh treasure of my heart hold treasure [Music] dear lord just prayed as we go just help us remember these things that we learned today lord just to seek your kingdom first lord seek your treasure that is not here on earth lord just thank you that we can meet today and i just pray that as we go we just have a blessed evening in jesus name amen be blessed as you go you're dismissed [Music] you

Channel: Lean-into-God

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Length: 80min 53sec (4853 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 11 2021