WEBVTT 00:00:01.360 --> 00:00:12.359 God didn't warn them. He wrote the receipt. Tonight 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:15.519 we step into Babylon's banquet hall. Gold cups 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:18.660 clinking, torches breathing smoke, laughter trying 00:00:18.660 --> 00:00:22.359 to drown out the truth. Belshazzar raises a toast 00:00:22.359 --> 00:00:25.219 like the walls are eternal, like the empire isn't 00:00:25.219 --> 00:00:28.239 surrounded, like... The Holy One can be turned 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:32.799 into decor. Then the room goes cold. A hand writes 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:35.479 on plaster where everybody can see it. Mine, 00:00:35.539 --> 00:00:40.320 mine, numbered, accounted for. God interrupting 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:42.840 a party with a sentence nobody can drink away. 00:00:43.219 --> 00:00:46.399 Now, slide your chair right up here with us. 00:00:46.439 --> 00:00:48.579 We just pushed back from fellowship dinner, paper 00:00:48.579 --> 00:00:51.560 plates, sweet tea, that holy hush after folks 00:00:51.560 --> 00:00:54.719 finished eating the last crumbs of cobbler. Someone 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:56.840 still stacking chairs like a deacon of mercy. 00:00:56.920 --> 00:00:59.659 We're not in Babylon, but we know the borrowed 00:00:59.659 --> 00:01:02.539 confidence. So, open your Bible, loosen your 00:01:02.539 --> 00:01:05.480 grip on I'm fine, and listen for the wall that 00:01:05.480 --> 00:01:08.459 still talks. I'll see you on the other side. 00:01:20.730 --> 00:01:23.010 In India, right? Like you just have to wait for 00:01:23.010 --> 00:01:27.090 this brief moment and just go for it. So I took 00:01:27.090 --> 00:01:30.109 it and there's not a lot of us here, but we are 00:01:30.109 --> 00:01:32.489 certainly glad we've got Wayne here with the 00:01:32.489 --> 00:01:34.390 thumbs up because if I didn't have that, I wouldn't 00:01:34.390 --> 00:01:39.510 know how to start. So as I begin tonight, just 00:01:39.510 --> 00:01:43.069 to kind of, this is going to sound, this is pretty 00:01:43.069 --> 00:01:46.530 deep Bible. So I want to just try to set us in 00:01:46.530 --> 00:01:49.950 the most basic idea of where you. where we are 00:01:49.950 --> 00:01:53.950 in the Bible. So you guys know the story about 00:01:53.950 --> 00:01:58.329 Daniel, the lion's den and Shadrach, Meshach 00:01:58.329 --> 00:02:01.290 and Abednego, those boys that stood up to the 00:02:01.290 --> 00:02:05.189 fire and all of that business. All right. That 00:02:05.189 --> 00:02:07.969 is the time period we're talking about here tonight. 00:02:08.169 --> 00:02:11.310 Okay. And I want to take you tonight to a room 00:02:11.310 --> 00:02:14.710 that smells like spilled wine and borrowed confidence. 00:02:15.610 --> 00:02:18.250 For us to imagine this, we need to picture a 00:02:18.250 --> 00:02:21.870 banquet hall the size of a football field. And 00:02:21.870 --> 00:02:24.310 apparently that's not much of an exaggeration. 00:02:24.789 --> 00:02:27.969 It's archaeology because they did some excavation 00:02:27.969 --> 00:02:32.750 on Nebuchadnezzar's palace and they uncovered 00:02:32.750 --> 00:02:36.310 a throne room that would have been massive. It 00:02:36.310 --> 00:02:39.689 would have swallowed the room of this size many, 00:02:39.770 --> 00:02:43.969 many times over. Its walls were covered in glazed 00:02:43.969 --> 00:02:46.900 brick. They were painted blue, decorated with 00:02:46.900 --> 00:02:50.159 lions and bulls, meant to remind you who was 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:53.840 in charge. Torches flickered against the plaster, 00:02:53.939 --> 00:02:56.780 throwing shadows that danced around the whole 00:02:56.780 --> 00:03:01.020 room as if it was alive and watching. And this 00:03:01.020 --> 00:03:04.439 night, a thousand nobles crowded in shoulder 00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:07.340 to shoulder. Cups lifted, voices ringing out, 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:12.389 loud laughter, enough to drown out. the sound 00:03:12.389 --> 00:03:15.810 of a very real truth that was knocking on their 00:03:15.810 --> 00:03:19.969 door. The air was thick with incense and roasted 00:03:19.969 --> 00:03:24.210 meat and perfume trying to cover up the nervous 00:03:24.210 --> 00:03:28.009 sweat. Servants moved through the crowd like 00:03:28.009 --> 00:03:30.969 ghosts. Babylonian servants, Hebrew servants, 00:03:31.150 --> 00:03:34.409 Egyptian servants, servants from a dozen different 00:03:34.409 --> 00:03:38.009 conquered nations, all of them invisible to the 00:03:38.009 --> 00:03:41.960 men who were holding the cups. And right in the 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:44.979 middle of it all sits a king who thinks the universe 00:03:44.979 --> 00:03:50.360 is his bar tab. And his name is Belshazzar. And 00:03:50.360 --> 00:03:55.840 it's not Nebuchadnezzar. It's his grandson, Belshazzar. 00:03:56.759 --> 00:04:00.800 Or possibly his son by marriage. They're not 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:04.479 sure. But what is clear is that he inherited 00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:10.780 a throne that he did not earn. in an empire, 00:04:11.099 --> 00:04:13.919 the Babylonian empire, that's already cracking 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:19.000 at the seams because Persians, under their king 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:24.259 Cyrus, was camped just outside the city. And 00:04:24.259 --> 00:04:27.019 the Medes, another group that they were fighting 00:04:27.019 --> 00:04:29.879 with, they're circling the city, and Babylon 00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:35.660 is surrounded. And everybody in that room knew 00:04:35.660 --> 00:04:41.180 it. So what does Belshazzar do? He throws a party. 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:44.519 Not a war council, not a prayer meeting, a party. 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:48.399 A thousand guests, open bar, let's pretend everything 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:52.639 is fine kind of party. Because that's what empires 00:04:52.639 --> 00:04:55.959 do when they're scared. They turn up the music 00:04:55.959 --> 00:04:58.920 so loud they can't hear the walls crumbling. 00:05:00.199 --> 00:05:05.360 In Daniel chapter 5, and this is not a children's 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:09.519 story and it's not VBS material. It's a midnight 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:12.680 text. It's the scripture's way of saying you 00:05:12.680 --> 00:05:16.139 can turn the music up, but you can't turn God 00:05:16.139 --> 00:05:22.759 off. Some sins don't look like sins. They look 00:05:22.759 --> 00:05:27.819 like a good time, a toast, a laugh, prank. We 00:05:27.819 --> 00:05:30.980 deserve this. A room full of people saying we're 00:05:30.980 --> 00:05:36.120 fine, but heaven keeps the books. And not for 00:05:36.120 --> 00:05:39.160 money, for meaning. And sometimes, right in the 00:05:39.160 --> 00:05:41.839 middle of the clinking glasses, God writes a 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:45.560 sentence so clear, your bones understand it before 00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:49.860 your brain does. Friends, the prophecy of Daniel 00:05:49.860 --> 00:05:52.959 from Hebrew Scripture, beginning chapter 5 with 00:05:52.959 --> 00:05:57.519 verse 1. King Belshazzar made a great feast for 00:05:57.519 --> 00:05:59.639 a thousand of his lords and drank wine in their 00:05:59.639 --> 00:06:03.160 presence. While he tasted the wine, Belshazzar 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:05.100 commanded that they bring the gold and silver 00:06:05.100 --> 00:06:07.980 vessels, which Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had 00:06:07.980 --> 00:06:10.800 taken out of the temple in Jerusalem, that the 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:14.120 kings and his lords, his wives and his concubines 00:06:14.120 --> 00:06:17.920 might drink from them. They brought the golden 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:20.759 vessels and they drank wine and praised the gods 00:06:20.759 --> 00:06:24.019 of gold and silver, of bronze, of iron, wood 00:06:24.019 --> 00:06:28.959 and stone. In the same hour, The fingers of a 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:32.879 man's hand came out and wrote on the plaster 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:36.740 of the wall of the king's palace. When the king 00:06:36.740 --> 00:06:42.680 saw the part that the hand had wrote, then the 00:06:42.680 --> 00:06:44.699 king's face grew pale and his thoughts troubled 00:06:44.699 --> 00:06:47.699 him. His limbs gave way and his knees knocked 00:06:47.699 --> 00:06:52.339 together. King cried aloud to bring in the enchanters, 00:06:52.439 --> 00:06:58.459 the Chaldeans, and the diviners. The king said 00:06:58.459 --> 00:07:01.720 to the wise men of Babylon, whoever reads this 00:07:01.720 --> 00:07:04.300 writing and shows me its interpretation shall 00:07:04.300 --> 00:07:06.600 be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold 00:07:06.600 --> 00:07:09.399 around his neck, shall be the third ruler of 00:07:09.399 --> 00:07:13.399 the kingdom. They could not read the text or 00:07:13.399 --> 00:07:17.839 make known its interpretation. Then King Belshazzar 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:21.100 was greatly alarmed and his color changed. The 00:07:21.100 --> 00:07:23.959 queen said, O king, live forever. There is a 00:07:23.959 --> 00:07:27.819 man in your kingdom and whom... is the spirit 00:07:27.819 --> 00:07:33.459 of the holy gods. Your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, 00:07:33.480 --> 00:07:38.000 made him chief of the magicians. Let Daniel be 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:39.959 called, and he will show you the interpretation. 00:07:40.620 --> 00:07:43.379 Then Daniel was brought in. The king said to 00:07:43.379 --> 00:07:46.379 Daniel, are you, that Daniel, one of the exiles 00:07:46.379 --> 00:07:50.939 of Judah? I've heard of you. The spirit of God 00:07:50.939 --> 00:07:54.149 is in you. Now, if you can read the writing and 00:07:54.149 --> 00:07:56.769 make known to me its interpretations, you shall 00:07:56.769 --> 00:07:59.350 be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold 00:07:59.350 --> 00:08:01.910 around your neck and shall be the third ruler 00:08:01.910 --> 00:08:05.970 of the kingdom. Then Daniel answered the king, 00:08:06.230 --> 00:08:09.129 let your gifts be to yourselves and give your 00:08:09.129 --> 00:08:14.379 rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read 00:08:14.379 --> 00:08:16.500 the writing to the king and make known to him 00:08:16.500 --> 00:08:19.680 the interpretation. O king, the Most High gave 00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:22.139 Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness 00:08:22.139 --> 00:08:25.199 and glory. But when his heart was lifted up, 00:08:25.220 --> 00:08:28.720 he was brought down from his kingly throne. He 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:31.160 was driven from among the children of mankind 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:34.720 until he knew the Most High God rules the kingdom 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:39.399 of mankind. And you, his son, Belshazzar, have 00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:44.519 not humbled your heart. Though you knew all of 00:08:44.519 --> 00:08:48.179 this, you have lifted up yourself against the 00:08:48.179 --> 00:08:52.500 Lord of heaven. You have praised the gods of 00:08:52.500 --> 00:08:55.240 gold and silver, of bronze, iron and wood and 00:08:55.240 --> 00:09:01.059 stone, which do not see nor hear nor know, but 00:09:01.059 --> 00:09:05.659 the God in whose hand is your breath and whose 00:09:05.659 --> 00:09:10.419 are all your ways you have not honored. Then 00:09:10.419 --> 00:09:13.139 from his presence the hand was sent, and this 00:09:13.139 --> 00:09:15.860 writing was inscribed. This was the writing that 00:09:15.860 --> 00:09:21.299 was inscribed. Mene, Mene, Tikal, Uparsin. And 00:09:21.299 --> 00:09:24.080 this is the interpretation. Mene, God has numbered 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:26.740 the days of your kingdom and brought it to an 00:09:26.740 --> 00:09:30.840 end. Tikal, you have been weighed in the balances 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:35.820 and found wanting. Perses, your kingdom is divided 00:09:35.820 --> 00:09:40.779 and given to the Medes. and the Persians. Then 00:09:40.779 --> 00:09:43.799 Belshazzar gave the command and Daniel was clothed 00:09:43.799 --> 00:09:45.659 with purple. A chain of gold was put around his 00:09:45.659 --> 00:09:48.419 neck and a proclamation was made about him that 00:09:48.419 --> 00:09:51.159 he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. 00:09:52.299 --> 00:09:55.559 But that very night, Belshazzar the king was 00:09:55.559 --> 00:09:59.500 killed and Darius the Mede received the kingdom. 00:10:01.100 --> 00:10:04.399 That's the word of the Lord and it's actually 00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:07.580 a hard mercy. Because God does it right on the 00:10:07.580 --> 00:10:09.899 wall to show off. God writes on the wall because 00:10:09.899 --> 00:10:14.220 the party has become a funeral and nobody in 00:10:14.220 --> 00:10:19.879 the room knows it yet. So let me come back from 00:10:19.879 --> 00:10:22.600 all this ancient history and start closer to 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:27.139 home. Most of us don't wake up trying to blaspheme. 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:31.740 We wake up trying to get through the day. We're 00:10:31.740 --> 00:10:35.809 not out there polishing golden idols. Bills, 00:10:35.809 --> 00:10:37.990 we're raising kids, we're scrolling past things 00:10:37.990 --> 00:10:41.169 we shouldn't, trying to keep our tempers in the 00:10:41.169 --> 00:10:45.049 driveway and our hope from leaking out. So Daniel 00:10:45.049 --> 00:10:47.889 5 and all of this history stuff can feel like 00:10:47.889 --> 00:10:50.909 a foreign country. Babylon and banquet halls, 00:10:51.129 --> 00:10:54.309 concubines, empires and golden cups. But here's 00:10:54.309 --> 00:10:58.070 the trap. This chapter isn't about ancient parties. 00:10:58.649 --> 00:11:03.779 It's about modern carelessness. Because Belshazzar 00:11:03.779 --> 00:11:06.120 doesn't just drink. He doesn't just party. He 00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:09.919 does something specific. Watch this, verses 2 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:13.919 through 4. He commands that the holy vessels 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:18.159 from the Jerusalem temple be brought out. These 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:22.620 aren't just fancy cups. These are the vessels 00:11:22.620 --> 00:11:25.639 that once held the blood of sacrifice and the 00:11:25.639 --> 00:11:32.820 oil of consecration, the wine of offering. His 00:11:32.820 --> 00:11:35.139 cups had been carried by priests who washed their 00:11:35.139 --> 00:11:39.360 hands before even touching them. His cups had 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:42.659 set in the presence of God before Nebuchadnezzar's 00:11:42.659 --> 00:11:45.740 army ripped them out and hauled them away to 00:11:45.740 --> 00:11:52.080 Babylon as trophies. And Belshazzar, drunk, surrounded 00:11:52.080 --> 00:11:55.240 by his wives and his concubines, says, bring 00:11:55.240 --> 00:11:59.200 me the temple vessels, not even the arrogance 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:04.399 by itself, the sin. He handles what is sacred 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:08.980 like it is the cheap. And that is a live wire 00:12:08.980 --> 00:12:13.019 for every generation. And it's a reminder that 00:12:13.019 --> 00:12:15.419 we shouldn't get cute with a text like this. 00:12:15.820 --> 00:12:19.500 We would be wrong to start making a list of other 00:12:19.500 --> 00:12:23.220 people's profanities because this story bites 00:12:23.220 --> 00:12:27.480 closer than that. We profane truth when we use 00:12:27.480 --> 00:12:32.179 it as a club instead of a light. We profane communion 00:12:32.179 --> 00:12:35.659 when we take the bread while refusing reconciliation. 00:12:37.220 --> 00:12:40.559 We profane the name when we use Jesus to decorate 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:44.940 our appetite, to bless our cruelty, to baptize 00:12:44.940 --> 00:12:50.340 whatever we wanted to know. And we profane people, 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:54.259 image bearers. We treat them as obstacles or 00:12:54.259 --> 00:12:57.860 mean to an end. Here is the thing that Belshazzar 00:12:57.860 --> 00:13:05.519 missed. I think it's a thing we miss too. The 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:08.679 holiest vessels in the room aren't made of silver. 00:13:10.259 --> 00:13:12.519 They're the people sitting right next to you. 00:13:13.580 --> 00:13:17.200 Every person at your table, in your pew, in your 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:20.899 house, in your path tomorrow, they carry the 00:13:20.899 --> 00:13:25.960 image of God. Handle them like they're temple 00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:30.289 wear. Be prepared to answer for your carelessness. 00:13:31.809 --> 00:13:34.690 And the terrifying thing about Belshazzar is 00:13:34.690 --> 00:13:39.230 this. He is surrounded by noise and convinced 00:13:39.230 --> 00:13:43.929 he is safe. The party he is throwing is so loud, 00:13:44.110 --> 00:13:49.129 he can't hear his empire falling. Now let me 00:13:49.129 --> 00:13:51.490 show you a few things that the text exposes. 00:13:51.649 --> 00:13:55.710 One, the banquet is a performance of invincibility. 00:13:56.679 --> 00:14:01.039 Verse 1 says, Belshazzar made a great feast for 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:03.379 a thousand of his lords. That's not a dinner 00:14:03.379 --> 00:14:08.100 party. That's a statement. That's a king standing 00:14:08.100 --> 00:14:12.019 on a stage and saying, look at me. Look at my 00:14:12.019 --> 00:14:16.360 kingdom. Look at this power. And the Persian 00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:20.600 army is literally at the gates. And his response 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:25.639 is to throw a gala. This is what fear looks like 00:14:25.639 --> 00:14:30.080 when it puts on a tuxedo. This is what anxiety 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:35.679 looks like with an open bar. Belshazzar is trying 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:40.240 to convince himself and his nobles that the walls 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:44.919 are thicker than they are. And you've seen this 00:14:44.919 --> 00:14:47.960 before. Maybe you've even done this in your life. 00:14:49.059 --> 00:14:51.639 Somebody's marriage has fallen apart, so they... 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:57.019 Decide to have another kid? Somebody's soul is 00:14:57.019 --> 00:14:58.960 cracking, so they decide to renovate the house. 00:14:59.620 --> 00:15:03.620 We throw feasts to distract ourselves from funerals. 00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:08.200 Another thing, the holy vessels end up being 00:15:08.200 --> 00:15:13.679 used as props for a pagan toast. Verses 2 through 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:19.399 4 shows us. The problem here isn't careless drinking. 00:15:19.500 --> 00:15:24.039 It is intentional desecration. Belshazzar calls 00:15:24.039 --> 00:15:27.799 for the Jerusalem vessels specifically so that 00:15:27.799 --> 00:15:30.639 he can drink from them while praising the gods 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:33.539 of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood, and 00:15:33.539 --> 00:15:38.500 stone. Please understand what he is doing. He's 00:15:38.500 --> 00:15:43.159 saying, your God? The one your people prayed 00:15:43.159 --> 00:15:48.659 to in that temple? He's a trophy now. I drink 00:15:48.659 --> 00:15:53.139 from his furniture. This, friends, is what empires 00:15:53.139 --> 00:15:57.240 do. They don't just conquer land, they conquer 00:15:57.240 --> 00:16:02.299 meaning. They take your sacred things and they 00:16:02.299 --> 00:16:07.519 turn them into souvenirs. And again, don't think 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:09.539 that this is just ancient history. The empire 00:16:09.539 --> 00:16:12.580 changes its clothes, but the game stays the same. 00:16:13.580 --> 00:16:17.419 In 2026, the empire doesn't ride in on horses. 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:20.919 It scrolls in through your phone. The algorithm 00:16:20.919 --> 00:16:23.860 doesn't conquer land. It conquers your attention. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:31.080 Your grief becomes engagement. It turns everything 00:16:31.080 --> 00:16:35.259 in your life into content. Your testimony becomes 00:16:35.259 --> 00:16:38.620 a brand. Your holy moments become posts. And 00:16:38.620 --> 00:16:43.429 the moment you post them, something shifts. It 00:16:43.429 --> 00:16:47.610 gets flattened into product. Belshazzar turned 00:16:47.610 --> 00:16:52.629 temple vessels into barware. We turn holy things 00:16:52.629 --> 00:16:56.070 into content and wonder why they stopped feeling 00:16:56.070 --> 00:17:01.129 holy. Every generation has its Babylon. Every 00:17:01.129 --> 00:17:06.109 generation has somebody saying, you're a god? 00:17:06.490 --> 00:17:12.799 I'll make him a meme. Judgment also arrives while 00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:15.279 the music is still playing. Verse 5, in the same 00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:18.059 hour, the fingers of a man's hand appeared and 00:17:18.059 --> 00:17:20.220 wrote on the plaster of the wall. Feel that. 00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:25.160 God doesn't wait until the party's over. God 00:17:25.160 --> 00:17:28.839 doesn't wait until Belshazzar sobers up, maybe 00:17:28.839 --> 00:17:33.140 feels bad about it in the morning. God interrupts 00:17:33.140 --> 00:17:37.279 the illusion mid -toast. And verse 6 is brutal, 00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:41.740 embodied honesty. The king's face changed. His 00:17:41.740 --> 00:17:45.559 thoughts troubled him. The joints of his thighs 00:17:45.559 --> 00:17:48.599 were loosened and his knees knocked together. 00:17:48.819 --> 00:17:53.059 The text is saying your body sometimes knows 00:17:53.059 --> 00:17:57.980 the truth before your pride can process it. Belshazzar's 00:17:57.980 --> 00:18:00.700 nervous system read the wall before his brain 00:18:00.700 --> 00:18:04.380 could catch up. His knees were preaching a sermon. 00:18:04.420 --> 00:18:07.839 His mouth couldn't quite form yet. And let's 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:10.359 stay right there for just a second because this 00:18:10.359 --> 00:18:15.619 isn't about a king. Some of you have been living 00:18:15.619 --> 00:18:17.960 with a tight chest for months and you don't know 00:18:17.960 --> 00:18:22.680 why. You wake up at 3 a .m. with your heart pounding 00:18:22.680 --> 00:18:25.319 and you blame drinking too much coffee. Your 00:18:25.319 --> 00:18:27.599 shoulders climb towards your ears every time 00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:29.680 you pull into a certain driveway and you tell 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:32.690 yourself it's just stress. But what if that's 00:18:32.690 --> 00:18:35.109 not pathology? What if that's just testimony? 00:18:35.190 --> 00:18:38.269 What if your body has been reading the wall the 00:18:38.269 --> 00:18:41.269 whole time, preaching a sermon your mouth hasn't 00:18:41.269 --> 00:18:45.630 found words for? The flesh often knows what the 00:18:45.630 --> 00:18:48.890 pride won't admit. The knees buckle before the 00:18:48.890 --> 00:18:51.750 confession often forms. That's not weakness, 00:18:51.890 --> 00:18:56.769 that's incarnational honesty. Your nervous system 00:18:56.769 --> 00:19:00.009 is often more theologically accurate than your 00:19:00.009 --> 00:19:05.210 excuses. Then Belshazzar calls in the wise men, 00:19:05.309 --> 00:19:08.230 the astrologers, the enchanters, the whole religious 00:19:08.230 --> 00:19:11.349 industrial complex of Babylon, and none of them 00:19:11.349 --> 00:19:14.549 can read it. You can build an entire system, 00:19:14.769 --> 00:19:20.250 spiritual sounding nonsense, and still be utterly 00:19:20.250 --> 00:19:25.589 useless when God speaks plainly. And now Daniel 00:19:25.589 --> 00:19:29.609 enters. And you need to see who's walking into 00:19:29.609 --> 00:19:33.150 the room, okay? By this point, Daniel is old. 00:19:34.069 --> 00:19:38.430 He was taken captive as a teenager when Nebuchadnezzar 00:19:38.430 --> 00:19:43.450 first sacked Jerusalem around 605 BC. This banquet 00:19:43.450 --> 00:19:47.789 here is happening around 539 BC. And I'll go 00:19:47.789 --> 00:19:50.490 ahead and do the math for you. That means Daniel 00:19:50.490 --> 00:19:55.930 is somewhere in his 80s. He has served and survived 00:19:55.930 --> 00:20:01.329 multiple kings. Somewhere along the way, he got 00:20:01.329 --> 00:20:05.789 forgotten. The new regime doesn't know it. The 00:20:05.789 --> 00:20:09.390 queen mother has to remind Belshazzar that Daniel 00:20:09.390 --> 00:20:13.250 even exists. So this old prophet, pulled from 00:20:13.250 --> 00:20:17.349 obscurity, walks into the drunken glow of a thousand 00:20:17.349 --> 00:20:20.650 torches and a thousand fools. And the first thing 00:20:20.650 --> 00:20:25.720 he does... is refuse the paycheck. Verse 17, 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:28.319 let your gifts be to yourself and give your rewards 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:32.440 to another. That's not rudeness. That's freedom. 00:20:33.460 --> 00:20:37.400 Daniel is saying, I am not on your payroll, so 00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:41.099 I can tell the truth. And this is the difference. 00:20:42.119 --> 00:20:44.680 This is the difference between a bought consultant 00:20:44.680 --> 00:20:49.039 and a sent witness. And then Daniel does something. 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:54.599 that is pure pastoral genius. He tells Belshazzar 00:20:54.599 --> 00:21:00.539 a story he already knows. He recounts Nebuchadnezzar's 00:21:00.539 --> 00:21:05.059 pride, Nebuchadnezzar's madness, Nebuchadnezzar's 00:21:05.059 --> 00:21:09.420 humiliation, and eventually Nebuchadnezzar's 00:21:09.420 --> 00:21:14.880 confession that the Most High God does rule the 00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:20.160 kingdom of men. Belshazzar has heard all of this 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:24.519 before. It's his family history. Then Daniel 00:21:24.519 --> 00:21:27.940 drops the hinge verse of the whole chapter, verse 00:21:27.940 --> 00:21:32.099 22. You, his son Belshazzar, have not humbled 00:21:32.099 --> 00:21:38.940 your heart, though you knew all of this. That 00:21:38.940 --> 00:21:42.900 is an indictment. Belshazzar isn't ignorant. 00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:47.390 He's careless. He knows the testimony. He watched 00:21:47.390 --> 00:21:54.650 it happen. He just doesn't honor it. And I need 00:21:54.650 --> 00:21:57.829 to remind myself to be careful here because I'm 00:21:57.829 --> 00:22:03.589 preaching this like this is about him. But though 00:22:03.589 --> 00:22:07.069 you knew all this is a mirror, not a window, 00:22:07.170 --> 00:22:13.190 I know what grace has done. In my life. I know 00:22:13.190 --> 00:22:18.329 what pride costs. I know what cruelty does to 00:22:18.329 --> 00:22:23.410 the soul. I have seen the testimony. I have received 00:22:23.410 --> 00:22:28.950 the mercy. And still, still, I can get careless 00:22:28.950 --> 00:22:35.220 with holy things. So can you. Then Daniel names 00:22:35.220 --> 00:22:38.240 the real blasphemy in verse 23. You've lifted 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:40.859 up yourself against the Lord of heaven and the 00:22:40.859 --> 00:22:45.339 God in whose hand your breath is and whose all 00:22:45.339 --> 00:22:50.599 your ways you have not glorified. This is a thunderclap 00:22:50.599 --> 00:22:54.859 wearing plain clothes, the God whose hand your 00:22:54.859 --> 00:23:01.579 very breath is in. Not your empire. Not your 00:23:01.579 --> 00:23:04.039 bank account. Not your title. Not your reputation. 00:23:04.839 --> 00:23:09.960 Not your, I'm fine. Your breath. Every inhale 00:23:09.960 --> 00:23:16.079 is borrowed mercy. Every exhale is grace staying 00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:21.559 patient. One more second. You don't own your 00:23:21.559 --> 00:23:26.880 next breath. You receive it. And now the writing 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:34.210 on the wall. These are Aramaic words, probably 00:23:34.210 --> 00:23:37.529 familiar to anybody in that room, which makes 00:23:37.529 --> 00:23:40.269 it even stranger that the wise men couldn't interpret 00:23:40.269 --> 00:23:44.890 them. The words are common, numbered, weighted, 00:23:45.049 --> 00:23:47.450 and divided, but the meaning is devastating. 00:23:47.890 --> 00:23:50.170 God has numbered your kingdom and brought it 00:23:50.170 --> 00:23:53.180 to an end. You are weighed in the balances and 00:23:53.180 --> 00:23:56.799 found warning. And a parson, your kingdom is 00:23:56.799 --> 00:23:59.019 divided and given to the Medes and Persians. 00:23:59.660 --> 00:24:04.660 This isn't fortune telling. This is a moral reality 00:24:04.660 --> 00:24:10.980 spoken out loud. The scales of heaven don't grade 00:24:10.980 --> 00:24:17.940 on a curve. But hear me. Tinkle isn't God nitpicking 00:24:17.940 --> 00:24:21.519 your performance. It's God naming the truth you've 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:25.440 been hiding so that mercy can finally get in 00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:29.619 there. You can't repent of what you won't admit. 00:24:31.660 --> 00:24:36.440 And friends, the scales aren't there to shame 00:24:36.440 --> 00:24:41.140 you or to scare you. They're there to stop the 00:24:41.140 --> 00:24:45.059 lie. And then the chapter ends with one of the 00:24:45.059 --> 00:24:47.980 coldest sentences in all of scripture. Verse 00:24:47.980 --> 00:24:50.900 30, in that night, Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, 00:24:51.220 --> 00:24:55.400 was slain. Ancient accounts say that the Persians 00:24:55.400 --> 00:24:58.319 came in through the river gates and the city 00:24:58.319 --> 00:25:03.220 fell while that party raged. Not next year, not 00:25:03.220 --> 00:25:06.240 someday, not after he got around to repenting. 00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:11.809 That night. So what do we do with that without 00:25:11.809 --> 00:25:15.910 turning it into a scare tactic? Well, we don't 00:25:15.910 --> 00:25:19.349 leave here afraid of walls. We leave here reverent 00:25:19.349 --> 00:25:23.410 about sacred things. Because the gospel is not 00:25:23.410 --> 00:25:29.430 God can't wait to get at you. The gospel is he 00:25:29.430 --> 00:25:32.529 loves you enough to interrupt your delusion before 00:25:32.529 --> 00:25:37.289 it kills you. And here's where Daniel 5 has to 00:25:37.289 --> 00:25:40.369 meet Jesus, or this is just an ancient horror 00:25:40.369 --> 00:25:45.329 story. Belshazzar desecrated temple vessels. 00:25:46.930 --> 00:25:49.369 But in the New Testament, Jesus doesn't just 00:25:49.369 --> 00:25:54.430 respect sacred things. He becomes the sacred 00:25:54.430 --> 00:25:58.809 thing. The temple that Babylon looted, Jesus 00:25:58.809 --> 00:26:00.750 says, destroy this temple, and in three days 00:26:00.750 --> 00:26:03.269 I will raise this up. And he was talking about 00:26:03.269 --> 00:26:07.569 his body. When the holy gets treated like the 00:26:07.569 --> 00:26:10.109 common, Jesus doesn't write a judgment on the 00:26:10.109 --> 00:26:14.230 wall. He walks into the room. He flips tables 00:26:14.230 --> 00:26:18.029 in a defiled temple. He eats with the profaned 00:26:18.029 --> 00:26:20.750 and the profane, sinners, lepers, tax collectors, 00:26:20.890 --> 00:26:24.710 because his mission isn't to guard the sacred 00:26:24.710 --> 00:26:29.390 from contamination. His mission is to make the 00:26:29.390 --> 00:26:33.619 contaminated sacred again. Belshazzar treated 00:26:33.619 --> 00:26:37.259 the holy like a joke. Jesus treated the profane 00:26:37.259 --> 00:26:41.220 like it was his mission. God wrote on a wall 00:26:41.220 --> 00:26:44.460 in Babylon, but in Christ, God writes on the 00:26:44.460 --> 00:26:48.259 hearts of people. Not judgment inscribed on plaster, 00:26:48.579 --> 00:26:52.579 covenant inscribed on hearts. And the vessels, 00:26:52.700 --> 00:26:56.359 they're not silver anymore, they're us. And if 00:26:56.359 --> 00:26:59.740 you want a New Testament, Mirror for Daniel 5. 00:26:59.740 --> 00:27:03.839 Read 1 Corinthians 11. Same energy church potluck 00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:09.160 setting. Paul watches the Corinthians turn the 00:27:09.160 --> 00:27:12.079 Lord's table into a social club. Rich folks eating 00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:15.059 well, poor folks going hungry. Everybody taking 00:27:15.059 --> 00:27:17.680 the bread without discerning what it actually 00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:19.900 means. And Paul basically is saying you are drinking 00:27:19.900 --> 00:27:23.319 judgment on yourselves because you stop recognizing 00:27:23.319 --> 00:27:26.619 what is holy. That's the writing on the wall. 00:27:27.049 --> 00:27:31.769 Showing up at a communion table. So, in our remaining 00:27:31.769 --> 00:27:34.609 moments together, quickly, let me give you four 00:27:34.609 --> 00:27:38.269 front porch plank truths you can stand on this 00:27:38.269 --> 00:27:42.430 week. Stop using holy things for unholy purposes. 00:27:43.549 --> 00:27:46.710 Belteshar used temple vessels to praise dead 00:27:46.710 --> 00:27:51.009 gods. We do the same thing anytime we use Jesus 00:27:51.009 --> 00:27:55.680 as an accessory instead of the Lord. Remember 00:27:55.680 --> 00:28:00.200 what you already know. Daniel's indictment wasn't 00:28:00.200 --> 00:28:03.880 you didn't know. It was though you already know 00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:06.859 this. Some of our deepest trouble doesn't come 00:28:06.859 --> 00:28:09.220 from ignorance. It comes from what we've stopped 00:28:09.220 --> 00:28:13.480 honoring. You know grace. You know mercy. You 00:28:13.480 --> 00:28:17.819 know the way pride hollows you out. Tonight is 00:28:17.819 --> 00:28:21.039 not learn a new fact. Tonight is come back to 00:28:21.039 --> 00:28:25.369 a truth you already carry with you. And let God's 00:28:25.369 --> 00:28:27.849 interruptions in your life be mercy, not humiliation. 00:28:27.849 --> 00:28:32.049 That hand on the wall, hear me, was mercy. Because 00:28:32.049 --> 00:28:34.450 God could have stayed silent. God could have 00:28:34.450 --> 00:28:36.730 let the party roll on until the building collapsed 00:28:36.730 --> 00:28:39.450 with everybody inside. But God speaks. God writes. 00:28:40.089 --> 00:28:45.730 God makes the invisible visible. Treat your breath 00:28:45.730 --> 00:28:49.289 like a sacrament. The God in whose hand your 00:28:49.289 --> 00:28:52.910 breath is. That means you're not trash. You're 00:28:52.910 --> 00:28:56.210 not an accident. You are not too far gone. If 00:28:56.210 --> 00:28:58.630 God is holding your breath, God is near. And 00:28:58.630 --> 00:29:03.609 if God is near, grace is available. And he's 00:29:03.609 --> 00:29:07.490 not waiting for you to clean up. So here's the 00:29:07.490 --> 00:29:09.829 invitation, not tonight, not to perform, not 00:29:09.829 --> 00:29:13.509 to pretend. Simply glorify the God who holds 00:29:13.509 --> 00:29:15.990 your next breath with honesty, with repentance, 00:29:16.210 --> 00:29:22.599 and with reverence. May the God who holds your 00:29:22.599 --> 00:29:25.859 breath teach your hands what is holy. May you 00:29:25.859 --> 00:29:29.039 handle people with tenderness, truth with reverence, 00:29:29.039 --> 00:29:32.460 worship with awe and mercy, mercy like it's oxygen. 00:29:33.019 --> 00:29:36.119 May every borrowed inhale become a thanksgiving, 00:29:36.220 --> 00:29:40.539 every exhale become a surrender. And when the 00:29:40.539 --> 00:29:42.980 wall starts talking, may you listen not in terror, 00:29:43.079 --> 00:29:48.160 but in trust. Amen? Amen. Thanks, guys. Thank 00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:57.329 you. Friend, the mercy in Daniel 5 is that God 00:29:57.329 --> 00:29:59.630 doesn't wait until the rubble falls to tell the 00:29:59.630 --> 00:30:02.690 truth. He writes while the music is still playing. 00:30:03.410 --> 00:30:06.450 And that should be comforting because it means 00:30:06.450 --> 00:30:09.950 you're not forgotten in the noise. And it's convicting 00:30:09.950 --> 00:30:11.930 because it means the Holy One is not impressed 00:30:11.930 --> 00:30:15.170 by borrowed confidence. If the God in whose hand 00:30:15.170 --> 00:30:18.990 your breath is holds you that close, then your 00:30:18.990 --> 00:30:22.650 life isn't random and your carelessness isn't 00:30:22.650 --> 00:30:26.809 harmless. Don't leave tonight ashamed. Don't 00:30:26.809 --> 00:30:29.130 leave unchanged either. Let the wall's words 00:30:29.130 --> 00:30:33.049 become a doorway. Let though you knew this turn 00:30:33.049 --> 00:30:37.490 into remembering again. So tell me, did you hear 00:30:37.490 --> 00:30:39.069 something tonight you hadn't thought of? Did 00:30:39.069 --> 00:30:41.009 you hear something you'd never heard before maybe? 00:30:41.250 --> 00:30:44.269 Not a new truth, but an old truth said plainly 00:30:44.269 --> 00:30:46.630 enough that you finally have it land. If you 00:30:46.630 --> 00:30:48.970 did, throw that old like in the offering plate. 00:30:49.029 --> 00:30:51.250 Not for money, not for guilt, just for witness. 00:30:52.009 --> 00:30:54.269 And if you want to keep meeting with us into 00:30:54.269 --> 00:30:56.910 the new year, tie to your subscribe so you'll 00:30:56.910 --> 00:30:59.289 know when the fellowship hall lights come back 00:30:59.289 --> 00:31:02.829 on. And until that time, friend, be blessed.