Good morning. If you are new here, I’m Pastor Eugene. I’m the youth pastor here and I’m very lucky to speak to you today. I’m excited. We’ve been talking about Daniel so please turn to Daniel 5. Basically the theme for Daniel has been God’s sovereignty and the ability to humble yourselves before God. This week has been a very trying and stressful week for Becca and I. We have a lot going on. It’s very humbling to have to put your baby through even a minor surgery, and it was a minor procedure, but just watching him go through the pains that come after, it’s very humbling. It’s very hard to have to watch. At the same time, it’s humbling because we sit there and pray and we know that we have a family that love us and friends who pray for us and pray for Bryce’s overall health. So Becca and I want to say thank you to everyone here who has prayed for Bryce, for our peace, and for our family. We’re very thankful that we have a family like this. You guys aren’t just our friends, you’re our family. You’ve been our family for years now and we’ve loved being here. We just want to tell you guys thank you so much for your prayers and continued prayers that you shower upon us that we know we’re not deserving of but we do appreciate them so much. I have to talk really slow because Patrick told me he had to go to the office and come back. If you’re new, the last time I spoke, I think I made 20 minutes, so that was pretty good. The time before that, I made a whole 10 minute speech. I got it together. So I’m going to take my time. I don’t want Patrick to miss anything because he’s going to keep track of my time for me today, which is always appreciated so I’m not embarrassed or anything. Right now, we’re in our Daniel series. It’s our Fall Series, Stranger in a Strange Land. In Daniel, like I said, the topic is God’s sovereignty and our ability to humble ourselves before God and all that He does. As I mentioned, this week, we’ve had the opportunity to humble ourselves and realize that there’s so much more going on than we thought in just our lives. It was an opportunity and I know Becca was freaking out because we can’t do anything for Bryce. We can only give him medicine and hope it works. It’s been really humbling to pray to God and hope we get through this time. It’s a very trying time but we know we’ll get through it. There’s always seasons in life and this is just the kind of thing that happens. In Daniel, there’s a lot going on and there are all these little things and Nebuchadnezzar takes forever to figure out that God is who He says He is. It takes four whole chapters to get to that point where finally Nebuchadnezzar says you are God of gods, you are the man, I humble myself before you. As we start Daniel 5, before we get into it too much, I reached out to Encyclopedia Joel and he gave me some information. Joel is not here today but he’s filled with a ton of information. He normally sits in the second row. Joel Carver is an encyclopedia of the Bible. This guy is a genius. I love it. I’m so glad he’s on our teaching team. I reached out to him and he gave me some words of wisdom. The greatest thing he told me was Daniel 5 is taking place 29 years after Nebuchadnezzar humbles himself before God. We’re looking at 29 years with a new king. Also at this time, there is no word for grandfather, but the king Belshazzar is actually Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson. When they say father, they’re actually referring to him as his grandfather. We have a lot of verses to get to. Patrick are you ready? Yes. It’s going to be a good sermon. It’s going to be a good time. We’re going to learn a lot. You guys ready? Here we go. “King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand. Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.” Right here, we see that Belshazzar is like, hey, let’s have a feast. At this time in the 29 years, the Meads and the Persians are now at the front doors of Babylon and are knocking, saying we want to take over this city. Belshazzar, instead of thinking of something to do about this problem says, let’s gather up a thousand of our closest friends and have a party. If you know me, and you were at a wedding, you know I like to dance and party. There’s always a good time to be at a party, but at this time, what’s going on in their kingdom is not something to celebrate. They are about to be run over by two competing armies trying to get in. Belshazzar is like forget it, worldly things are things I want to worry about, let’s drink and have fun together. To top it off, he takes things that are sacred for God’s purpose only and says let my people drink from these. As a kid growing up, some of you might have had this. There was the good China set and the bad China set in your house. You knew you were only good enough for the bad China set that your parents would allow you to eat from. The good China set was set aside for company, for guests, for those business meetings that they were about to have. Well this is kind of what he has done. He’s taken something that’s set aside for God and for God alone, for His people to use as worship, and he’s committed blasphemy by drinking from these things. These are things that we’re not supposed to touch. Even as followers of Christ, these are meant for priests to handle, not just a regular person coming to worship God. He takes them and says, let’s drink from them and do whatever we want. I don’t think it’s such a great idea but Belshazzar seems to only care about what he wants to do. We’ve seen that Nebuchadnezzar has done that before and it never worked out for him. As we continue, we have Belshazzar, who has decided to drink from God’s things... “Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. Then the king's color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together.” I want to just go over this real quick. All of a sudden a hand appears in the room. That would freak me out. I would have ran away. I’m gone. So now there’s a hand and it’s writing on the wall. It says Belshazzar’s color changed, his arms went weak, he’s probably doing this, and his knees are knocking, going crazy. For sure, everybody in the room has to be freaked out. Pastor Vinny told me to look up a painting called Rembrandt’s Feast. This depicts the situation. We have King Belshazzar and we have a hand. It’s just a floating hand and it looks kind of like a sleeve with a cloud. This would be my face the whole time. Those two people. It’s actually in the picture that way. See them? Right there? Right in the background. That’s totally me. I would have made that face and said, I’m going to go way over here and hang out. Sure enough, they’re just in awe, I mean, who wouldn’t be. Now we have a hand writing on the wall. “The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, and his color changed, and his lords were perplexed.” If you’ve been here, chapters 1­4, we had Nebuchadnezzar call in these enchanters, these Chaldeans, astrologers, and these guys on several occasions failed to do anything. They are basically useless. They have been asked to interpret dreams and nightmares but continue to fail the king every time. Then Belshazzar is like hey, my grandfather had a bunch of guys that he used, let’s call them in. They seem to know what they’re doing. They had no clue. It’s just one of those things where you can see that Belshazzar hasn’t learned anything from the trials that Nebuchadnezzar went through. He continues to make the same mistakes. He’s already committed blasphemy by taking things set aside for the Lord to use as his own. He’s committed idolatry because he’s worshiping false idols. To top it off, he’s like, you guys come in here and let’s figure this out. Yet again, these guys have no clue. It would be like us going to a financial adviser, giving them a thousand dollars, saying I want to invest this. A couple of days later, they call and say, hey, lost all your money. You’re like, oh okay. You go back to that adviser and you say, you know what, I’m going to give you another chance. Second time. All of a sudden he’s failed you a second time and you’re out two thousand dollars. Are you going to continue to make that same mistake and go to that adviser again? No! [Technical issues.] “The queen, because of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, “O king, live forever! Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change. There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him, and King Nebuchadnezzar, your father—your father the king—made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers, because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.” At this time, the queen comes in. It’s believed that the queen is Belshazzar’s grandmother. She comes in and she’s like hey, there’s a guy in town, he lives here, he’s lived here a while. He can interpret these dreams for you. He’s done it for Nebchadnezzar. You know who he is, but this is the man we need to call. Let’s get him in here and find out what he can do. At this point they’ve called in Daniel and at that time, Nebuchadnezzar had named him Beltashazzar, but we know him as Daniel. “Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king answered and said to Daniel, “You are that Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah, whom the king my father brought from Judah. I have heard of you that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. Now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me to read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, but they could not show the interpretation of the matter. But I have heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems. Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” Finally, Daniel comes in, and at this time, it’s believed that Daniel’s about 80 years old. He has been in Babylon a really long time and he’s had the Holy Spirit living inside of him for a really long time. This is Belshazzar questioning who Daniel is, are you really the Daniel that my father trusted, grandfather technically. Are you this man? Are you the man who can interpret this for me? Are you going to help me get past this? Are you the guy that can tell me what I’m supposed to do with the writings on this wall? Daniel at this point, we know he has excellent wisdom, we know that he is spiritually led by God. He faces so many trials and continues to do what God has him do. “Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation. O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.” For me, this is like getting called into the principal’s office. You’re about to get in trouble. Daniel comes to him and what he does for us here is recap everything that happens in chapter 4. He says your grandfather was made to be like a beast. He was so high on himself that he was like, I don’t need God. God humbles Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 4 and the kicker in this story is that Belshazzar knows about it the whole time. It’s one of those lessons that he should have learned from. He should have been like, if my grandfather is worshiping this God, maybe I should worship this God. The problem is, he doesn’t care. Belshazzar is more worried about the worldly things, the drinking, the having a good time. Even in this verse here, he tells him, he just lays it out. You’ve committed blasphemy by using things that are sacred to God. You are committing idolatry, you’re worshiping false idols, and you’re even denying God because you’re putting yourself on the same level. I know for us, in this day and age, it’s very easy to get caught up in the worldly things that we have. We can be like Belshazzar and worry about everything else and not worry so much about the godly things in our lives. At this point, Daniel has sort of laid it out there for him. Hey, you knew about all of this. These are things you should have known about. You should be practicing following the Lord. But because Belshazzar doesn’t want to humble himself, doesn’t want to take the opportunity to humble himself, Daniel’s going to go ahead and interpret this stuff for him. “Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed.” Before I finish, the hand had been there the whole time. Daniel comes in and he’s like, I’m going to scold you and that hand is still floating there just like… the whole time. I would have been just peeking into the room, is it gone yet? No? Alright. Holler at me when it’s gone. I’ll come back in. The whole time this hand has just floated around. It’s crazy to think that there’s this whole long speech that goes into it and it’s just still sitting there. “And this is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end;​
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Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed and Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty­two years old.” I know that there is a certain way that people say this. It is you who have been weighed, you have been measured, you have been found wanting. I never understood the meaning of that, until I read this. There’s a movie we used to watch called A Knight’s Tale. Great Heath Ledger movie if you haven’t seen it. They use this phrase quite often and I didn’t know it came from the bible. How sad is that? But the truth is, he told them, God’s taking your kingdom. It’s gone. Your day has come. Today is the day and you were found wanting, weighed and found wanting. I did some research, I wanted to understand what it meant. I wanted to understand if Belshazzar was found wanting of something. The truth is that God had weighed him on these scales next to Nebuchadnezzar. It said, he humbled himself before me but you refused to. You are not as good as Nebuchadnezzar was. I have weighed you. I have found that I want something more for my people. I want something better and that’s it. Then, to boot, he’s killed at the end of the night. I’m not saying God did it. Just saying that he gets killed at the end of the night and his kingdom is handed over to a Mede that’s 62 years old. At 62, this gentleman inherits the kingdom. That’s pretty impressive. Now I know it’s a lot and there’s so much there. This week, Becca and I talked a lot about how we could bring this into 2015. How do these things matter to us? How does this story relate to us in 2015. We found three take aways. I found three take aways that I thought were really key things in this story that we should learn. We, as followers of Christ, Christians, what have you, we should be led by the spirit of God. It’s very easy to get caught up in the worldly things. It’s easy to go home, be like, I had a long day, go turn on the TV, and want to relax. There’s nothing wrong with that. But at some point, you still have to pick up your Bible, you still have to want to be able to read, you still have to allow God to work in your lives. If I wouldn’t allow God to work in my life, I would still be sitting at home today, waiting on the 1 o’clock football game. That’s it. That’s what I would be doing. I know that. I’m sure my kids wouldn’t be here because they would stay home with me. But that’s not it. That’s not what I want. I want to be spiritually led. I’m not saying I’m perfect and I’m not saying I do it every day. I know I don’t. I am human. I sin. But I try my hardest. That’s what God is asking from us. Just like Daniel, who was spiritually led his entire life. Sometimes those spiritual leads aren’t going to be comfortable. They’re going to get awkward. They’re going to be hard. Daniel, going to a room filled with non­believers, I don’t he was like, yeah, gonna school you guys real quick. I feel like at 80 years old, you’re a little more frail and a little intimidated going into a room of a thousand people. I’m pretty sure Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, or Shad, Mesh, and Abed, those guys weren’t super excited to be thrown into a fiery furnace but because God’s spirit was upon them, they knew this is not going to be fun, but because God’s spirit worked inside of them, they came out of that fiery furnace, no problem. That’s what we have to do. We have to look at this world and be like, God’s going to lead me through it. It’s going to stink at times. There’s going to be hard times that come with it but after I get through it, it’s so much better on the other side. The next thing that we talked about was to strive to be a learner. This is so simple. As we get older, it’s so much harder. I wish I could say that I go home everyday and the first thing that I do is set all my stuff down and I pick up the bible and I just stroll through a verse or two. That’s not what I do. Like I said, when I get home, I’m like ugh, I’ve been working, I’m going to relax. It’s so easy to do that. The reason I say this is because we see Belshazzar, who knew everything that happened to Nebuchadnezzar, still refused to learn a lesson that God had taught him. The truth is, as people of the faith, we have to take lessons. Whether it’s in our own lives, whether it’s in the bible, from the bible, however you want to phrase it, we have to take those lessons, we have to apply them to our lives. If we’re not going to apply them to our lives, then it’s pointless to sit in a room and say we love Jesus because we’re not doing anything about it. We’re just standing around in a circle saying hey, Jesus is cool, but I’m not going to let the spirit lead me, I’m not going to learn about Him. The point is that we have to strive to learn what God wants us to do. We just can’t be like, I’m going to sit here and wait for God to tell me what to do. We have to be willing to put in the work. The last thing that we thought about, and it’s a little harsh, but it’s the honest truth, is that we’re going all the way back to this year’s theme, when we talked about it matters. Our theme for this year was what we do with our life and our actions in this life matter just as much as when we get to heaven. These things count, correct? Here’s the thing. We have a guy like Daniel, spiritually led. A guy like Nebuchadnezzar, willing to humble himself. Then we have Belshazzar, a guy whose actions led to his own ultimate death. We can either be like Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar. We can sit here and we can say we love God, we’re spiritually led, and we’re going to do the things he’s asked us to do. Or we can be exactly like Belshazzar. We can worry about the worldly things, knowing that God is in existence. We know that God trusts us, but we can be just like Belshazzar. We can face an ultimate judgment that isn’t a pretty judgment because eventually, one day, we know that we’re going to face judgment and want to be so much better when we’re standing there, for Jesus to be like I know this guy. I know this woman. It’s alright. I got them. Let them in. We have to take that opportunity for Jesus to do the work in us so that we don’t end up like Belshazzar with an unfortunate death and the problem is that he was given so many opportunities. That’s the question I have for you guys today. How many opportunities have we missed because we’re not being spiritually led. We know that if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, it says in the Bible, the Holy Spirit comes to reside in us. We’ve all accepted that. We all have the Holy Spirit in us. Have we taken the opportunity to let it do its job? Have we said, okay God, I’m going to allow you to take me from where I am now, let your spirit lead me to where you want me to go. It’s easy to say I have the spirit, I’m going to wait here and hopefully you tell me where to go. It’s more of, I’m going to stand here, I’m going to pick up the book, and I’m going to learn the lessons you told me to learn, and I’m going to walk the walk the whole time. I don’t want to face a judgment because I’m too lazy to do the work. That’s what happened with Belshazzar. He was like, I’m going to put myself up here, even though I know I should be way down here. Our job is to humble ourselves before God and to take the opportunities that He presents to us and use them to do His will. Just like He did with Daniel. Daniel showed God’s sovereignty, doing what he was told to do. It is our job to leave here and do what the Holy Spirit is telling us to do. As we end today and you leave here today, I want you to think about what opportunities you have missed to be led by the Spirit. What opportunities do we have to be led by the Spirit? Where can we go from here if the Spirit leads us?