[0:00] It's right there. It's right there. That means we're praying hard. Church, let's open up our Bibles to the book of Daniel once more.
[0:14] The book of Daniel. If you've been in business with us or have been with us over the past several weeks, you know we've been walking through the book of Daniel chapter by chapter. We're almost to the end of the first half. We broke it up into two halves.
[0:28] We have the narrative sections in chapters 1 through 6. Then we're going to pause as we go through some psalms for the summer before we get to some of the scary stuff in verses 7 through 12.
[0:41] Right now we're in chapter 5 of the book of Daniel. When you found that in your Bibles, I ask, would you stand in honor of the reading of God's word, Daniel chapter 5? King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand.
[1:06] 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.
[1:20] 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.
[1:30] They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, opposite the lampstand.
[1:46] 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. The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers.
[2:01] 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.
[2:14] 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.
[2:29] 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.
[2:40] 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.
[2:51] 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 Beltshazzar.
[3:10] Now let Daniel be called and he will show the interpretation. 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.
[3:26] 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.
[3:43] 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.
[4:00] 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.
[4:12] 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.
[4:27] 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 glory was taken from him.
[4:42] 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.
[5:03] And you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all of this. But you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven.
[5:14] 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 and iron and wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know.
[5:28] But the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored. Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed.
[5:41] And this is the writing that was inscribed. Many, many, tekel and parson. This is the interpretation of the matter. Many, many, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end.
[5:56] Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Paris, 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.
[6:18] That very night, Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was killed, and Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about 62 years old.
[6:32] The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our Lord endures forever. Would you pray with me? Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the gift that it is to us, and we pray now as we open it, as we seek you in it, Lord, would you humble us?
[6:53] Would you lead us to praise you and honor you as you deserve? We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Amen. Well, Daniel chapter 5 begins with a little bit of a shock, doesn't it?
[7:12] King Belshazzar is now on the scene, and as you read this, you kind of wonder, well, what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar? Last chapter, we were discussing King Nebuchadnezzar, his restoration.
[7:22] He was doing well. He had been humbled, but brought back to right relationship with the Lord, and you wonder, well, where did King Nebuchadnezzar go? Well, Daniel doesn't tell us. He just goes from one king to another, Nebuchadnezzar, and now to Belshazzar, and it's jarring for us, but I think it's also helpful for us in order to illustrate the point of the book of Daniel.
[7:45] We're five chapters in now, and I hope that you're starting to get the big picture of Daniel's book. Daniel's aim is to teach us about the kingdom of man and the coming kingdom of God.
[7:59] He's teaching us about God's place as the sovereign ruler of all things and our place as God's people, our place as citizens of his kingdom who are exiles here in the kingdom of man.
[8:14] That's the point of the book of Daniel. In fact, if you want to know what the book of Daniel is about, the word king or kingdom appears 150 times in these 12 chapters.
[8:27] That's a good clue to us about what this book is about. The kingdom of man, it comes and goes. It takes many different shapes, many different forms, different rulers come, and different rulers go, but ultimately, in the kingdom of man, nothing really changes.
[8:45] The book of Daniel, it spans seven decades. Daniel, who we first met as a teenager in chapter 1, he's in his 80s now, here in chapter 5. Time has come and gone.
[8:56] There's a new king in place. Everything has changed, but nothing has changed, and that's exactly the point. Here in chapter 5, we meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
[9:08] What we see is that that same ugly sin of pride and disregard for the true king of kings that characterizes the kingdom of man in every place and in every age has cropped up yet again.
[9:24] What we see, especially here in chapter 5, is the truth that, in the end, God will judge all human pride. I'll say that again. The point of chapter 5 is to teach us that, ultimately, God will judge all human pride.
[9:43] So this morning, what I want us to see here in Daniel chapter 5 are four characteristics of human pride. Four characteristics of human pride.
[9:55] First, pride ignores reality. Pride ignores reality. I think it might be helpful here in this first point to provide some historical context for what's happening here in Babylon.
[10:12] So zoom out of these pages just for a moment. Let's look to the pages of history. The pages of history tell us that Babylon fell to Cyrus of Persia in October of 539 B.C.
[10:25] King Nebuchadnezzar, he died in 562 B.C. And so if you're doing the math, we're at least 20 to 30 years removed from the events of chapter 4 by the time we come here to chapter 5.
[10:37] Now, I know that it says that Nebuchadnezzar is Belshazzar's father here in the text. It says that in verse 2, verse 11, verse 18. But the word there that's translated father, it can also be translated, I think it's probably better translated, as predecessor.
[10:55] Predecessor. It doesn't necessarily have to mean biological father. It's a predecessor. And so again, the pages of history, back this up, historical records tell us that after Nebuchadnezzar came, I'm going to brutalize these names, okay, so just be forewarned.
[11:13] After Nebuchadnezzar came Amal Marduk. He was assassinated. And after Amal Marduk came Neraglisar, who died without any real explanation.
[11:24] And then after Neraglisar came Labashi Marduk, who was overthrown. And then the people who overthrew Labashi Marduk set up Nabonidus as king.
[11:35] And Nabonidus had a son, and his name was Belshazzar. And it was during the reign of Nabonidus, with Belshazzar his son, as sort of a second in command, the functional king, that the empire of Babylon fell to Cyrus and to the Persians.
[11:53] Now, that historical lesson might not mean anything to you at all, other than to place what we're reading here in actual human history. This is God's perspective of God's plan, of God's work in human history.
[12:09] Now, apparently, it was almost unthinkable that Babylon would actually ever fall. It was thought to be indestructible. It was well protected. It was strong, and it was secure.
[12:21] So much so that an ancient Greek historian named Xenophon, I don't know why these guys can't have normal American names, but here we are. Xenophon, who recorded Babylon's fall, he said that Babylon was well protected from a siege, and it had plenty of resources of food and drinks stored away, so Belshazzar felt he could take pride in his security.
[12:48] And again, interestingly enough, Xenophon, in his historical writings, tells us that right before the fall of Babylon, they threw a giant, drunken orgy.
[13:00] Okay? Now this is the context that we're dealing with here. So it's in this context that we come to verse 1, and verse 1 tells us that King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand.
[13:18] What kind of king does this? His city is under attack? His people are in danger, but he completely disregards the reality of the situation, and he chooses just instead to throw a giant party and just eat and drink and celebrate as if nothing could ever stop the party.
[13:40] As I read this, and as I studied this this week, I thought of the story of the Titanic. You know the story of the Titanic. The Titanic was billed as the unsinkable ship.
[13:51] It's this giant, supposedly indestructible vessel, and so they filled it with over 2,000 passengers, and they set off onto the ocean to eat and drink and party until all of a sudden what happens?
[14:04] They hit an iceberg, and the ship begins to sink, and this unsinkable ship that took nearly three years to build. It sunk all the way down into the depths of the ocean within less than three hours.
[14:19] And apparently, if you read the eyewitness accounts of the sinking of the Titanic, the musicians on the ship continued to play their music the entire time as the passengers jumped and filled the lifeboats.
[14:33] And you can read testimonies from the survivors who described just how strange it was to hear the music continue to play and the party continue to go on even as the ship sank into the ocean.
[14:47] Yeah, it seems strange to us, doesn't it? You know, almost unimaginable. It's hard to imagine throwing a party and being so unaware of the dangers around us, doesn't it?
[15:00] But the fact is that this is exactly how people who don't know the Lord go about this life, isn't it? The godless worldview thinks that all there is to do is eat and drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.
[15:24] You only live once. Live it up. Life is one big party. I'm going to live my way. I'm going to do what I want. I'm going to satisfy whatever desire I have.
[15:34] I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to wake up and I'm going to do it all again tomorrow. The godless worldview thinks wrongly that life is just one big party and that we are indestructible.
[15:46] But there's a word for that. You know what it is? It's pride. Pride completely ignores the reality of the situation.
[15:59] It's a dangerous and a reckless way to live. But we need to understand why it's so dangerous and that's our second point this morning. Second, it's because pride offends the Lord.
[16:14] Second, pride offends the Lord. This is the danger. This is the iceberg in the water. This is the danger that we face with our pride.
[16:25] Pride is dangerous because our pride is sinful rebellion against a holy God. Look there to verse 2 with me. Belshazzar throws this party.
[16:37] He begins to drink himself drunk with a thousand of his closest friends but then he goes a step further and verse 2 says that when he tasted the wine he 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.
[17:01] So they brought them in and verse 4 says that they drank the wine out of these holy vessels and they began to praise these false gods gods of gold and of silver and of bronze and of iron and of wood and of stone.
[17:16] This is deeply deeply irreverent and offensive to God. Now we don't have holy objects like this anymore right?
[17:29] But it might be a little bit if I can make a parallel it might be a little bit like throwing a party and somebody needs some coasters and you don't have any coasters and so instead of using an actual coaster you say well go grab that Bible over there and rip off a few of the pages and put that down and set your drink on top of that and we'll drink on top of the word of God.
[17:53] This is disrespect and disregard for God and his ways. These holy vessels were meant to be set apart for use in the temple in Jerusalem.
[18:05] Only the priests could use these holy vessels and only in the temple and only after consecrating themselves not because there's anything special really about the objects themselves but because these objects were set apart for holy use.
[18:22] These objects were intended for holy use in the worship of the one true God but here they're used like solo cups at a party. Not only this they're used in direct connection with idol worship.
[18:37] It says they drank from these holy vessels and they praised the gods of gold and silver and bronze and iron and wood and stone. This is a direct assault against the Lord.
[18:48] What we need to understand is that that's what pride is. That's what pride does. This is how pride works and it's deeply offensive to the Lord.
[19:01] Now of course you may say I would never disregard a holy object like this. We don't really have these holy objects and I would never ever be so prideful as to profane a holy thing like this.
[19:17] Well listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 17. He says if anyone destroys God's temple God will destroy him for God's temple is holy.
[19:33] You understand that? Let me read that again. If anyone destroys God's temple God will destroy him for God's temple is holy. Now listen to this. He says and you are that temple.
[19:49] Do you hear that? You are that temple. You Christian are the temple of God. By faith in Christ his Holy Spirit dwells in you.
[20:02] You are a holy vessel. You are set apart for holy use. You are intended to be used for the honor and the glory of the Lord. You are much more sacred and profound than any holy object in the Old Testament.
[20:17] God's own spirit by faith in Christ dwells in you. So no we may not ever drink wine from a cup intended for holy use but Paul says you are the temple.
[20:32] Don't profane his temple by being sexually immoral with your body. Don't devote your hands and your feet and your energy to worthless things.
[20:43] Don't commit idolatry by fixing your heart and your mind on created things rather than the creator. All of these are direct assaults against our holy God.
[20:54] And all of these things they flow downstream from pride. This is offensive to our Lord. Belshazzar's behavior is offensive to God and so now what we see is that God does something about it.
[21:11] Look there to verse 5. It says immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace opposite the lampstand.
[21:22] Apparently the walls of Babylon were made out of white gypsum which would have made a perfect blank canvas for this hand to write a message for Belshazzar. And so the king sees this mysterious hand as it wrote in verse 6 it says that I just have in my mind this image of a cartoon character who's just terrified his legs are shaking his limbs are loose and literally the phrase there his limbs gave way literally that's translated the knots of his loins were loosed y'all think about that for a minute the knots of his loins were loosed it means that the king is so afraid probably so full of alcohol he sees this divine hand riding on the wall and he soils himself he's humiliated this is a humiliating moment for the king and at this point the party is officially over now imagine the scene of a college party you're going to have to use your imagination
[22:36] I know none of y'all have ever been to anything like this use your imagination as best as you can but you know that there's plenty going on here that shouldn't be happening everything's good everybody's having a good time the music's on we're we're dancing we're drinking we're having fun and then all of a sudden the lights turn on the music stops you look up towards the door and you see the police have arrived at the party the party is over at this point right why because a higher authority to whom you will have to give an account has shown up at the party and you you begin to count off all the ways that you know that you're guilty and you begin to realize that I have done wrong somebody higher and more powerful and more authoritative than me has come and I am going to have to talk to them about everything I've been doing and they realize here that they're busted the thing is he should have known better right he should have known better but that's the third characteristic of pride here third pride never learns pride never learns
[23:56] I wonder if you notice how similar the stories of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar have been you notice those similarities Belshazzar has done exactly what Nebuchadnezzar did just like Nebuchadnezzar they both saw a divine message just like Nebuchadnezzar they both called in all the wise men of Babylon to come and interpret the message just like Nebuchadnezzar he offered them up all these rewards and honors for anybody who could interpret the message and the interpretation and just like what happened with Nebuchadnezzar the wise men were they successful no they failed in interpreting the message they don't know what to do but it says that the queen remembered something verse 11 she said there's a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods and king Nebuchadnezzar promoted him over all these wise men that you're listening to because he was able to understand dreams and interpret riddles and solve all sorts of problems why don't you go get
[25:03] Daniel so he did verse 13 it says Daniel was brought in before the king and the king says none of my men have been able to help me but I I've heard that you're able and if you can verse 16 says I will honor you clothe you with purple and you'll get a gold chain around your neck and I'll make you the third ruler in the kingdom but look how Daniel responds verse 17 he says 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 this is last week 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 this is the point that the most high
[26:34] God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will that was the lesson God taught Nebuchadnezzar from last week God is ultimately king not you why is he telling all this to Belshazzar it's because Belshazzar hasn't learned the lesson he knew all of this but history is repeating itself here and he should have known better verse 22 it says you his son Belshazzar have not humbled your heart though you knew all of 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 your concubines have all drunk wine from them you've praised the gods of silver and gold of bronze and iron and wood and stone which don't see or hear or know but the true God the true God in whose hand is your breath the true God in whose hand is all your ways the true God who raised you up to this position and the true God who can bring you down you have not honored him in other words you haven't learned a thing you've heard the quote those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it right
[27:51] Belshazzar hasn't learned a thing from history there's a similar quote the German philosopher George Hegel he says the only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history and Belshazzar sadly proves that to be true as well church what I want us to understand is that the only reason why we don't learn anything from history is because of our pride pride doesn't learn why because pride knows a pride a prideful heart cannot be taught one of the hallmarks one of the trademarks of pride is an unteachable spirit it's an unwillingness to learn from others it's a spirit that puts yourself above everybody else and says I know better than you
[28:52] I can't learn from you I know more than you and it's a spirit that doesn't want to learn from the mistakes or the victories or the experiences of others it says that would never happen to me I wouldn't make that same mistake I would never do what they did I'd never say what they did that never happened to me I'm above what's happened to them pride doesn't learn but humility humility on the other hand understands that we are not above them as we read this passage humility ought to understand that you and I are not above the same prideful sin as Belshazzar here in this passage you and I are not above the same pride that ran through Adam that ran through Israel that ran through Nebuchadnezzar that ran through Belshazzar that same spirit of pride runs through every single one of us we have to understand this we have to humble ourselves to learn from the experiences of others especially those that are recorded from us by the word of
[30:02] God himself this is why Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 he says these things these Old Testament things the experiences of Israel these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did do not be idolaters as some of them were as it is written the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play we must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did and 23 thousand fell in a single day we must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer now these things happened to them as an example but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come do you hear what he's saying all of these things that have happened in human history all of these workings of God throughout throughout the pages of scripture are written down for our instruction that we might humble ourselves and learn and not repeat the mistakes that they've made because if we don't humble ourselves church we'll soon find out that fourth the fourth and final characteristic of human pride fourth pride ends in judgment all pride ends in judgment there to verse 24 with me says then from his presence the hand was sent and this writing was inscribed and this is the writing that was inscribed many many tekel and parson you know there's so much depth of what's written here there's there's meaning on top of meaning on top of meaning on top of meaning there is a quadruple entendre really of what is being written here
[32:08] I don't possibly have the time to unpack all of it for you this morning but Daniel gets right to the heart of it he says many God has numbered the days of your kingdom and he's brought it to an end the party is over and it may look from a human perspective like a like a human takeover here by Cyrus but this message is intended to show you God is showing you that he is bringing judgment upon you why because tekel you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting that's a terrifying thought isn't it you know a lot of religious systems are built on this idea of some sort of cosmic scale of good and bad that if you just do enough good to outweigh the bad then you're okay with God but if you don't if you do more bad than good and the scale tips against you then you're in danger with God you're not in good standing with God and let me just tell you that is not
[33:12] Christianity at all that's not how this works with God at all the Bible tells us that if you even have the slightest little grain of sand of sin against you dripped onto that cosmic scale of justice it is totally weighed against you if you have one tiny sliver of pride in your heart you are not okay with God you are found wanting before a holy God and the same judgment could be read against us that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God all of us have earned judgment for our sin that's what pride is leading us toward our pride which all of us every one of us is guilty of it only leads to judgment and here God writes on the wall to tell Belshazzar his time has come now verse 28 your kingdom is divided and is given to the
[34:15] Medes and the Persians that's the message Daniel's done it again hasn't he verse 29 says that Belshazzar he gave the command against Daniel's wishes and he clothed Daniel with purple he gave him a chain around his neck he made him the third ruler of the kingdom Daniel was promoted but look what happened to Belshazzar verse 30 says that very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed and Darius the Mede receives the kingdom being about 62 years old and we've seen this play out before haven't we but once again we get this picture this foretaste of what's to come as God's people endure God's people are exalted and God's enemies are brought down and God's enemies are judged Belshazzar's pride earned the judgment and the wrath of
[35:19] God and it came quickly didn't it the night began with a party and it ends with a new king and a new phase of the kingdom of man meet the new boss same as the old boss I want to point this out to you I wonder if you noticed this that the story of Nebuchadnezzar and the story of Belshazzar are so similar so many similarities they shared the same sin of boastful pride did you catch that but did you catch the difference between the two stories Nebuchadnezzar was prideful he boasted sinfully against a holy God and how did God respond to Nebuchadnezzar how did God respond to him God showed him mercy this was last week the Lord showed mercy to a prideful sinner he humbled him and he restored him to his right mind and he gave him a heart to praise the
[36:25] Lord and he used him to proclaim his greatness to every tribe tongue and nation God was merciful to the pride of Nebuchadnezzar but look what happens with Belshazzar the same sinful pride the same offense against a holy God yet immediately God strikes him down in judgment no restoration no mercy no seven periods of time no tomorrow to repent did you catch that why does one get mercy and the other get judgment if this seems harsh to you or unfair to you I think Daniel would remind us that God doesn't owe anyone mercy God is well within his rights to judge our sin God does not owe anyone mercy
[37:30] God does not owe any sinner one more second of breath one more second of life one more experience of joy or pleasure he doesn't owe you one more tomorrow to repent I don't know why God chose to be merciful to Nebuchadnezzar but to judge Belshazzar I don't know the sin was the same I don't know why one gets mercy and one gets judgment that's God's prerogative I don't know but it tells us in Romans chapter 9 doesn't he I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will harden whom I will harden that's his choice not mine what I do know is that all sin deserves judgment no one is owed mercy so we shouldn't be shocked we shouldn't be shocked that God judges
[38:31] Belshazzar's sin even immediately for his sin we should be shocked that God showed mercy to Nebuchadnezzar we should be shocked that God is patient towards us and that he shows sinners like us mercy for our sin we should be amazed by the patience and the loving kindness of God towards sinners but we shouldn't expect his patience to last forever and we shouldn't presume upon the patience and the kindness and the forbearance of God what does Paul say his kindness is meant to lead you to what to repentance church this passage is a warning call to those who are walking in sin it is a warning call to those who are walking in pride we fool ourselves to think that tomorrow I'll get right with God give me one more day give me one more hour give me one more party and then I'll get right with God we are not owed tomorrow we should not presume upon the kindness mercy and the patience of God his kindness is meant to lead us to repentance we need to learn the lesson from
[39:48] Belshazzar church that you can choose to live your life like it's one big party but the party will not last forever the time will come when every one of us will stand before a holy God and we will be called to account before him and if you are still in your sin you will be found lacking but here's the good news for us church God himself has provided a way to escape his judgment this is the gospel this is the good news of the gospel God himself has provided a way for us for sinners like us to escape his wrath against our pride and our sin make no mistake our pride will be judged it must be judged God is just all sin will be judged but we've been given a way of escape the judgment against our sin it can either come against you fall upon you or it can come against
[40:56] Christ Jesus in your place it can fall upon you the wrath of God and the justice of God against your sin can come upon you tomorrow today next week next year I don't know when or Christ Jesus can take your place as a substitute for your sin if you would escape the wrath of God if you would escape the judgment of God against your sin there is only one way turn to Christ Jesus the gospel is the good news that the son of God himself has come to bear the wrath of God against us against our sin that he endured the punishment that we have earned that he humbled himself to bear the penalty for our pride and now he lives and reigns in resurrection to offer eternal life to any sinner who would come to him in faith that's good news for us isn't it friend this story began with a party and it ended in judgment and for many that's the way they treat this life the perfect description of where their life is headed but it doesn't have to be that way for the believer we know with confidence that in the end
[42:25] Babylon the great will be judged and at the end of the story the last chapters of the book of Revelation it shows us that in the end when Christ returns all of God's people those who have repented of their sins and trusted in Christ Jesus whose sins have been paid for at the cross of Christ all of God's people will join in a party called the wedding supper of the lamb and we will eat and we will drink and we will celebrate and we will worship we will rejoice in what Christ has done for us to the glory of God for the rest of eternity that's what's ahead of you Christian you will want to be at that party do not let your pride keep you from coming to him let's pray Lord we long for that day when Christ will come and we rejoice and praise you for the work of
[43:34] Christ on the cross to pay for my sin to pay the wrath of God against my pride Lord we pray if there are any here who don't know you who are still walking in sinful rebellion against you Lord would you humble them now that they might cast themselves completely trusting in Christ alone for their salvation and Lord we pray Father that we would live each day today in light of that day when the Lord will return and make all things right we love you we pray this in Jesus name amen amen