1st April 2007 PM

WEIGHED ON THE SCALES AND FOUND WANTING Pastor Linton Smith

Did you catch anyone out this morning with an April fool joke?

Tonight we are looking at a man who acted foolishly. His name was Belshazzar.

In the Bible we find both good and bad examples. We can learn from both. Belshazzar was a bad example.

We learn from him that..

IT IS WISE TO BELIEVE THAT GOD EXISTS.

Belshazzar was the son of the last king of Babylon. His father had been fighting battles in Arabia and had stayed there for the last ten years. He left his son, Belshazzar, in charge in Babylon. For those years he was effectively the king.

We pick up the story in 539 BC. The Persian army had been steadily advancing on Babylon. Now they were at the very doors. The end was near. But the Babylonians were not afraid. Babylon had magnificent fortifications. The city had not been stormed in over 1,000 years.

Was Belshazzar worried? No. He threw a drunken party!

In Daniel 5:1,4 we read.. King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them.. As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

Belshazzar praised the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone. The One true God who created the Universe had no place in his thinking.

Later that night Daniel.. now in his eighties.. compared him with his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar. [He was very likely the son of a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar].

Daniel 5:18-23.. “O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor.. But when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. He was driven away from people and given the mind of an animal; he lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like cattle; and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he acknowledged that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and sets over them anyone he wishes.

“But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this.Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven. You had the goblets from his temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways.”

God gave your grandfather.. power.. and greatness.. and glory and splendor.. and he became arrogant. So he was deposed and driven away.. until he came to his senses and acknowledged the Most High God..

You know all about this, O Belshazzar.. and should have learned from this.. but you have not humbled yourself.. instead you have set yourself up against the Most High God.. the LORD of heaven.. you have sent for the goblets taken from His temple in Jerusalem.. and have been drinking from them!

Belshazzar simply refused to acknowledge the Most High God.. the LORD. The Bible writers would call him a fool.

In Psalm 14:1 we read.. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

What about us? Do we believe that God exists?

An 11 yr old girl.. brought up in a Christian family.. taught in Sunday School.. was challenged by her friends at a camp.. Why do you believe there is a God.. she came home to her mother.. and asked.. Mum, how do you know God exists?

How would you answer that?

We could answer it by pointing to the wonders of the universe.

Athanasius Kircher was a 17^th Century German Jesuit.. and a noted scientist. Among other things, he made an early study of Egyptian Hieroglyps and invented the magic lantern – a precursor to the slide machine and the cinema. On one occasion a young man who prided himself on being an atheist came into his study. He was intrigued by a very fine working model of the solar system. Turn the handle.. and the planets would revolve around the sun. Very ingenious, the young man said, Who made it? Oh, no one made it, Kircher replied. Tell me, I want to know who made it. Nobody. It just happened. The young man began to see what Kircher was getting at and said, I see you are trying to be funny. Kircher responded, Isn’t it you who is funny. You cannot believe that this little model just happened, but you can believe that the planets.. and sun.. and stars.. just happened.. came into existence without a maker.

We could answer it like that.. and not only refer to the solar system.. but to the wonders of the whole of creation.. including the wonders of DNA and the human brain.. and more beside..

Better still.. we could answer it by pointing to Jesus.

2,000 years ago the most amazing thing happened. A man lived in Israel.. who claimed to be the Son of God.. claimed that anyone who had seen Him had seen God.. They crucified Him.. but He rose from the dead.. and after that.. people believed Him. One of His followers said this about Him..

John 1:18, No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.

Jesus has made it clear that God does exist.. and gone further.. He has made Him known.. shown us what He is like. Be wise and believe!

IT IS WISE TO BELIEVE THAT GOD WILL JUDGE US.

Belshazzar believed he was a free man.. that he could do what he liked and get away with it.. that he could take the gold and silver goblets that had been in the temple of the One True God.. and use them at a drunken feast.. then we read in..

Daniel 5:5,6.. Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way.

Belshazzar was terrified.. called for someone in his kingdom to interpret these strange words. No one could do it.. then his mother.. the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar.. reminded him of Daniel.. Daniel was called.. and he explained the words..

Daniel 5:25-28.. “This is the inscription that was written:

MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN.”

“This is what these words mean:

Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

Belshazzar.. the God in heaven you have ignored and insulted.. has been watching.. and weighing you.. and has found you wanting..

What about us? Do we believe we are free agents.. that we can do whatever we like.. that we will never be held accountable by God. Let’s learn from this man.. and believe.. God is weighing up our thoughts, words and actions! One day we will be judged.. by God.

In Romans 2:5,6 we read.. Because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God “will give to each person according to what he has done.”

And Paul tells us that God has given us proof of this. He says in..

Acts 17:31.. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”

That day will most certainly come.. for each one of us.. We will be called to account.. judged.. by God.

And the result will be disastrous. We will.. all of us.. be found wanting.. weighed on the scales and found wanting.

IT IS WISE TO MAKE OUR PEACE WITH GOD.

Belshazzar was found wanting.. and that very night he died.

He rewarded Daniel for reading the writing and explaining it.. clothed him in purple.. put a gold chain around his neck.. and made him number three in Babylon.. but did he makes his peace with God before he died?

In Daniel 5:30 we read simply.. That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain..

What about us? Have we made our peace with God?

The Bible says.. Hebrews 9:27.. Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.

If we were to die tonight and face judgment.. the judgment of God.. how would we fare?

The Bible also says.. Romans 3:22-25.. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.

The verdict is that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. There are no exceptions. We are all in trouble.

But God has done something amazing. He sent Jesus.. and Jesus died on a cross.. as a sacrifice of atonement.. a sacrifice that takes away sin.. takes away guilt.. and gives us peace..

But we have to do something.. we have to receive what He has done.. to believe he did this for us.. for me.. for and receive Him into our lives. Then.. we have peace…

In Romans 5:1 we read.. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ..

When we have that peace.. we can face life and death with confidence!

It totally takes away the fear of death.. the fear of judgment..

The Apostle Paul experienced this. He received Jesus and all He had done.. and discovered this peace.. then he lived his life in obedience to Jesus.. and traveled all around the Mediterranean Sea.. speaking about Jesus.. urging people to believe in Him. In his 60s.. he was in prison in Rome.. and he knew his execution was not far away. He faced death like this..

2 Timothy 4:6-8.. I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Would you like to be able to say that one day?

Do something about it tonight.

Perhaps you need to make a fresh start..

Perhaps you need to make a start..

Jesus is here. He says to you.. You are a sinner.. headed for judgment.. by God.. but you can make your peace with God tonight. I died for you.. in your place.. believe that.. believe in Me.. receive Me into your life.. and you will have peace!

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