“CHECKING YOUR BALANCE”
Daniel 5:1-6 , 25-28
* There is a device in many …maybe even most homes ……that is feared and despised.
Is it the microwave oven? No! Is it the vacuum cleaner? No! It’ is…..the bathroom scale!
It is an impartial judge. It deals in exactfacts not feelings! I’ve tried all sorts of ways to trick it---but it tells the truth!
* A wife came into the bathroom to see her husband standing on the scales with his stomach sucked in. “That wont help!” “Yes it will!” “How will it help?” “It helps me see the numbers!!”
Proverbs 11:1 “A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.”
Mama’s scales
* There was a butcher in a meat shop who was down to his last chicken for sale.
A woman came in and asked if he had chicken. He said, “Yes” and put the chicken on the scales to be weighed for cost.
The woman said, “No that doesn’t weigh enough, do you have another?” The butcher put the chicken back into the container and acted like he pulled out a different chicken. He weighed it with his thumb on the scale. “This one weighs a ½ pound more.” The woman replied, “Good, I’ll take both of them.”
Proverbs 20:23 “Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false balance is not good.”
Proverbs 16:11 “A just weight and balance are the LORD'S “
* [Middle English balaunce, from Latin *bilancia, having two scale pans.] *
How many LIBRA’s do we have here today???
Usually after I am weighed, I am wanting alright!…… wanting to weigh LESS
> Many are those that are such have been weighed in the balances ….and found wobbling!
*Doctors say there are over 40 million who are overweight. These, of course, are only round figures.
*Since we “are what we eat”…… I only eat rich food!
*I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes!
*The worst thing you can say when a woman asks you 'Does this dress make me look fat?” is not'Yes'
……it’s actually '”Wait a minute let me stand back and get it all in!'
Here we have one who was weighed …and it wasn’t enough! And that was avery, very BAD thing!
Bel’s number was UP -----because his number was DOWN!
Psalm 62:9 “Surely men of low degree are vanity, andmen of high degreeare a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity”.
God Is A Weight Watcher! ……He is watching OUR weight!
Proverbs 16:2 “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.”
There is a scale in WashingtonDC that is so accurate that it can weigh smoke!
- It can tell the difference when a fly lands on it!
-You actually have to stand 10 feet away from it when using it because the heat from your body can affect it!
God’s scales…….areeven better!
(1Sam 2:3) “the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.”
*** Saint & sinner alike! ***
2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”
Job 31:6 “Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.”
Job 6:2 “Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together!”
As is the case with our Bank balance…less is not best!
They even have FAKE ATM balance sheets to use for dating!!!!!
I.THESETTINGOF THESTORY……………Vs 1-4
70 years have passed since Daniel and the other Jewish teenagers arrived from Jerusalem.
King Nebuchadnezzar died 24 years prior. His grandson Belshazzara light weightsits on the throne.
Great WALLED city—impenetrable!
Hanging gardens surrounded it- one of the 7 wonders of the world.
Archaeologists have unearthed the banquet room that was 1650 feet wide and a mile long.
It had 4,500 pillars shaped like elephants which made up the walls-40 ft high!
He had trained peacocks with gold harnesses which pulled miniature chariots loaded with wines and meats.
The orchestra had over 3000 musicians which performed in the garden!
Belshazzar threw a blasphemous banquet.
Puffed up by pride and power the potentate turns the palace into a pit of perversion!
Vs. 2INTOXICATION VS.3 IMMORALITY VS.4 IDOLATRY
Nothing was sacredto him!
The party wasrolling, the alcohol was flowing, and the wickedness was growing!!!
II.THESTOPPINGOF THEPARTY……………Vs 5-7
God wrote 4 times with His fingers in history…….(most say 3)
SCRIPTED THE PRECEPTS Exodus 31:18 “And He gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”
SHUT THE MOUTH OF THE PHARISEES
John 8:6“This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.” Deut 22:22
STOPPED THE PARTY!!! …..screeching halt!
The music stopped- dancing ceased-laughter choked in throats ---a hush falls as all eyes beheld the hand……
Tuesday Nov 9th A Carnival Cruise ship off the coast of Mexicostopped suddenly at sea - they had to haul in 60,000 pounds of food! Made national news!
*The great composer Beethoven lost virtually all of his hearing and became very eccentric in his final years. He would pace about his rented upstairs apartment chanting and scribbling notes of music on anything that he could find. To the dismay of the housekeeper and hislandlady, he would compose on the walls of the apartment.
‘One day these walls will be famous. You may tell all of the world that the great Beethoven composed his masterpieces upon them.’
A fargreater masterpiece was written on THIS wall! (*History’s 1st first TEXT MESSAGE!)
A night of feasting became a night of fear- A night of triumph became a night of terror!
He sobered up suddenly! The KING was…….“all shook up !!” (uh-huh!) <
“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31)
III.THESENTENCINGOF THEGUILTY……Vs 9-12
Vs. 7-8 As GrandDad before him, Belshazzar ASKED for astrologers, and SOUGHToutsoothsayers.
*“I almost had a Psychic girlfriendonce…….but she left me before we met.”
*Did you hear about the psychic midget who escaped from jail?
The headlines in the newspaper read: “SMALL MEDIUM AT LARGE”
SCRIPTED THE PRECEPTS SHUT THE MOUTH OF THE PHARISEES
STOPPED THE PARTY!!! SILENCED THE PRETENDERS
Exodus 8:19 “Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God:.”
Daniel was different Vs 17
**Notice he wasn’t at the party!!!!** Called a “Party” b/c you are a PART of it……
He knew how to read his Father’s handwriting!!!! Preached GLOOM & DOOM!
Reviewed Nebuchadnezzar’s past (18-22)
That night, Belshazzar learned God held him accountable for truth that was available to him.
Rebuked Belshazzar’s pride (23-24)
What WALL was it written on? ……….The one they depended on!!!!!!
The inscription …vs 25 The message was composed of just 3 little words, 1 of which was repeated!
- all 3 words were common Aramaic words.
It wasn’t the meaning of the words that eluded the king, but the message they conveyed.!
*A 5th grade class spelling drills. The teacher asks Billy if he can spell 'before.' He stands up and says, "Before, B-E-P-H-O-R." The teacher says, "No, that's wrong. Can anyone else spell before?"
Another little boy stands up and says, "Before, B-E-F-O-O-R." Again the teacher says, "No, that's wrong."
The teacher asks, "Anyone spell 'before'?" Little Johnny stands up and says, "Before, B-E-F-O-R-E." "Excellent Johnny, now can you use it in a sentence?"
Little Johnny says, "That's easy. Two plus two be fore!"
The interpretation …….vs 26-30
Mena means to number. ~ God was saying to Belshazzar that "his number was up." DAYS
Tekel means to weigh. ~God had measured Belshazzar and the king came up short. WAYS
The Babylonians belived that after a person died; their heart was removed and placed on scales.
On one side was the heart and on the other was a feather.
They believed that if the heart was light, it was pure. = WORKS!!!!
People judge themselves according to THEIR own scale….
“I think my good will outweigh my bad……”
Romans 3:12 “None that doeth good”
* There’s no mercy with balances!
-That’s why when you see a statue of justice, she is always holding a pair of balances in her hands!
* If you balance the scales, you’ll have to be just as good as God ...... !
“All have sinned and come short”
Titus 3:5 “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost”
(Rom 4:5) “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
Upharsin ~ which means to be divided.
God used a play on words to tell Belshazzar that the Persians would divide his kingdom PAY
HIS DAYS WERE NUMBERED HIS DEEDS WERE WEIGHED HIS DYNASTY WAS FINISHED ……. HIS DEATH WAS SUDDEN vs 30
Have you checked your balance???
Belshazzar was told that he had only on a little while left- and did NOTrespond rightly!
Are you LIVING for God? Are you GIVING to God?
Are you RUNNING from God?
The handwriting is on the wall!
On one side is the Saviour…the other side our sins!
The only way to win….is to come to His side!
INVITATION:
You can be cleansed and leave here feeling light as a feather…or you can leave hereweighted down with guilt andshame!