Sunday, September 5, 2021 AM

Well, good morning. It is good to see you here this morning. Welcome to Sunnyside Baptist Church.

We're grateful that you are here with us to worship the Lord together. This morning, my name is

Ken Smith and I'm the announcement guy version 1 .0. My son

Kyle is version 2 .0 and he's not here this morning. So we were going back to an older version of all this.

So just want to again welcome you. We're glad that you're here. A couple of announcements just to bring to your attention.

We're continuing to collect items for Operation Christmas Child. Those are listed there in your bulletin and if you can bring any of those items and leave those in the box, the green box is out in the foyer.

We're gathering all those to put together for care packages, for Christmas gifts, for children in other places, other nations, as a testimony for God's great gift, his greatest gift in the person of Jesus Christ.

So again, if you can help with that, that would be a great blessing. The sewing ministry also has a need for some things, some bias tape and elastic.

So again, if you can contribute to that, that will be used to be a blessing to others.

A couple of other things. There will be a meeting for deacons this next Saturday, September 11th at 8 a .m.

here at the church. So deacons, if you would put that on your calendar and hopefully you will be able to come and participate in that meeting this

Saturday at 8 o 'clock here at the church. Also on the back table are some

Bible reading plans. Many of our ladies have participated for a number of years now in what's called the

Bible Reading Challenge, and that always starts in September for a nine -month period of time, runs through the school year, and then they have another interim one that goes through the summer.

So the summer one has just finished up about a week ago. The new one for the next nine months starts,

I think, tomorrow. So if you'd like to participate in that, and it's not only for ladies, although it's primarily been women who have been a part of that, but anyone can participate in that.

So those Bible reading plans called the Bible Reading Challenge are back there on the back table.

I think they're in color. I think there's a ship on the picture to kind of help you find that there.

So again, be sure and pick one of those up if you'd like to participate in that Bible Reading Challenge.

Many of you are aware of what has happened this past week in the

Supreme Court ruling of the Texas abortion law to severely restrict abortions in the state of Texas, with the heartbeat bill that was passed by the

Texas legislature then was upheld by the Supreme Court in at least not deciding to take the case, so to allow it to stand.

So the belief is that there will probably be a lot of women from Texas who will migrate to other states seeking abortions, and one of those states being

Oklahoma, where I think a similar law has passed but won't go into effect in this state until November 1st,

I think. And so the belief is that there will be a number of women who will make the drive up I -35 to come into Oklahoma, particularly to Oklahoma City.

And so John Mishner is asking that anyone who can to be at the abortion mill, the abortion facilities that are just a couple of blocks away, to be there

Tuesday and to be there throughout the day. Probably the biggest influx will be in the morning, but there will be people coming and going all day, morning and afternoon.

If you can come and just be present to stand for life, for the sanctity of life, if you're able to do that.

He's asking for anyone who is able to come and be there on Tuesday.

And certainly if you cannot come, pray. Pray for lives to be spared, for hearts to be changed, for the gospel to be held out clearly, so we can all pray for that.

All right, Friday verse for this week is a good one for us to remember, and certainly it applies in a variety of ways.

2 Corinthians 9 verses 6 and 7. Paul says this, the point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

So let us hide God's word in our heart, meditate on his word, and walk in his ways this week.

Let me pray, and then we'll take a few moments for some personal prayer and preparation for worship, and then

I'll pray, and then we'll enter into our time of corporate worship together.

Almighty God, we thank you for the quietness of these last few moments, that in the stillness, in the quiet, we would be reminded of your rule and your reign, that you are

God, that there is none like you. You are worthy of all praise and glory and honor and blessing.

So we come into your presence, we come before your throne this morning, asking that you would draw near to us and help us to seek your face.

We come not in any righteousness of our own, but being clothed in the righteousness of Christ by faith in him as our

Redeemer, our Savior, our Lord. We gather together as the redeemed of the

Lord to say God is worthy of all praise and glory and honor and blessing.

May Christ be exalted in our hearts and from the fruit of our lips today.

Fill us, Lord, with your Spirit, that we might indeed worship you in spirit and in truth.

So we give you thanks in the name of Christ. Amen. Would you stand with me for our call to worship?

We're in Psalms chapter 71 this morning. I'm going to be reading verses one through three. Read with me together.

In you, O Lord, do I take refuge. Let me never be put to shame.

In your righteousness, deliver me and rescue me. Incline your ear to me and save me.

Be to me a rock of refuge to which I may continually come.

You have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

And this, we're going to sing this very passage of scripture. If you would turn to your Psalms for Worship hymnal, page 71a, and we'll be singing verses one and two.

In you, O Lord, I put my trust. In you, rescue me.

O grace, my constant safe resort.

My salvation, you know. Say it, brother.

Amen. May praise be to God. Our next verse, our next song is on page 148.

Be and this again also comes from the book of Psalms Psalms 148

I won't take time to read the whole Chapter to you, but basically it's a call for all of creation to give praise to the

Lord whether the be The mountains the sky the water the moon the

Sun all of creation is to praise the Lord So praise the Lord together as we sing 148 be

Oh Oh Oh Good morning

Isaiah 1 1 through 20 is our scripture this morning

And this scripture references the rebellion of God's people and that he has had enough

Isaiah 1 1 through 20 the vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz Concerning Judah and Jerusalem which he saw during the reign of Uzziah Jotham a has and Hezekiah kings of Judah Listen all heavens and here or for the

Lord speaks Sons I have reared and brought up but they have revolted against me and Ox knows his owner and a donkey is master's manger

But Israel does not know my people do not understand alas sinful nature nation

People weighed down with iniquity offspring of evildoers sons of who act corruptly

They have abandoned the Lord they have despised the Holy One of Israel they have turned away from him

Where will you be stricken again as you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint from the sole of the foot even to the head

There is nothing sound in it only bruises welts and raw wounds

Not pressed out or bandaged nor softened with oil your land is desolate your cities are burned with fire your fields

Strangers are devouring them in your presence It is desolation as overthrown by strangers

The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard like a watchman's hut in a cucumber field like a besieged city

Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a few survivors We would be like Sodom we would be like Gomorrah Hear the word of the

Lord you rulers of Sodom he give ear to the instruction of our God you people of Gomorrah What are your multiplied sacrifices to me?

Says the Lord I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of red -fed cow

Cattle and I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls lambs or goats When you come to appear before me who requires of you this trampling of my courts?

Bring your worthless offerings no more longer Incense is an abomination to me

New moon and Sabbath the calling of assemblies. I Cannot endure iniquity in the solemn assembly.

I Hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feast They have become a burden to me.

I am weary of beating them So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you

Yes, even though you multiply prayers. I will not listen your hands are covered with blood

Wash yourselves make yourselves clean Remove the evil of your deeds from my sight

Cease to do evil learn to do good seek justice Reprove the ruthless defend the orphan plead for the widow

Now come and let us reason together says the Lord Though your sins are as scarlet.

They will be as white as snow Though they are led like crimson. They will be like wool

If you consent and obey you will eat the best of the land If you refuse and rebel you will be devoured by the sword

Truly the mouth of the Lord has spoken Would you pray with me father?

We have sinned against you. Our nation is in sin. This world is in sin And you've said

You are not obligated to continue with our iniquity but you call us to humble ourselves and repent and turn from our wicked ways and Walk in your ways

That you might bless us and we might have fellowship with you and so Lord we ask

That we might ask for your forgiveness and we might

See your hand blessing upon not just us individually but us as a nation as a world

May the name of the Lord be praised Amen You may be seated

Our next song will be in our little black hymnals hymns modern ancient So if you would turn to page 42

And we'll sing God's Word shall stand forever And then following that song

Haley will start us off on show us Christ God's Word shall stand

Bible For feelings

Oh Oh Oh Oh And stone

Down deep in us Sure was

Sure was I Through the preaching

Confesses Christ For the second verse

Oh Oh Can we go

Where else can we go Oh Let's go to the

Lord together in prayer Father I thank you for gathering us here today what a immense blessing it is

To be gathered together as the house of the Lord Living stones being built and formed forged together

The building of your temple and Lord I ask that you would

Sanctify our hearts you would set us apart and make us holy That you would wash us with the water of your word

That our lives together as this church and our lives wherever we go would be

Holy unto you that you would be present with us by your Holy Spirit Bringing to mind all the things that Christ has taught us

And that we would truly be the light of the world the salt of the earth a city set up on the hill

For all those around us who are In the throes of fear and terror and sadness

And rage well, we ask that you would take your word today as The sword of the

Spirit and as your Precise scalpel

To get into our hearts and do your work and as your healing balm and as your restoring medicine

Exactly what we need To bring us ever more into fellowship with you

As we say things the way you say them see things the way you see them

According to your son Jesus Christ. We pray for these mercies. Amen Invite you to open your

Bibles to Daniel chapter 5 Daniel chapter 5 will be reading verses 1 through 12 here in a moment

Daniel was a book of riddles. It's full of riddles real life riddles in the matters of statecraft where People's lives were on the line

Book of Daniel also has many riddles that are apocalyptic riddles seen in the fabric of dreams and visions that displayed the rise and fall of empires

But Daniel is a book of riddles in which wisdom triumphs over all and every last riddle in the book of Daniel is

Beautifully answered in the manifestation of Jesus Christ Chapter 1 we learn that wisdom is the principal thing

Facing all the problems of paganism. What we need is God's wisdom, which of course begins with the fear of the

Lord Chapter 2 we observe that wisdom is justified by all her children and those who fear the

Lord will triumph with Christ in his kingdom In chapter 3 we are reminded that by wisdom

Kings reign the government rests upon Christ's shoulders and Statism ultimately fails when it meets

Jesus in chapter 4 we meditated on God's resistance to the proud and Rejoiced in God's grace humbling us unto salvation and now we're to chapter 5

Well, we're going to look at the hand writing on the wall I invite you to stand with me if you are able to and I'm going to read verses 1 through 12 of Daniel chapter 5 the

Words of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ by his spirit through his prophet Daniel Belshazzar the king

Made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in the presence of the thousand

While he tasted the wine Belshazzar gave the command to bring the gold and silver vessels Which his father

Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple which had been in Jerusalem that the king and his lords his wives

And his concubines might drink from them Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of God which had been 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 and iron wood and stone in the same hour the fingers of a man's hand appeared and Wrote Opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote

Then the king's countenance changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the joints of his hips were loosened

And his knees knocked against each other The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers the

Galileans the soothsayers The king spoke saying to the wise men of Babylon whoever reads this writing and tells me its

Interpretation shall be clothed with purple and have a gold chain of gold around his neck and he and all the and he shall be the third ruler in the kingdom

Now all the king's wise men came, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king its interpretation

Then King Belshazzar was greatly troubled his countenance was changed and his lords were astonished

The queen because of the words of the king and his lords came to the banquet hall. The queen spoke saying

Oh King live forever Do not let your thoughts trouble you nor let your countenance change

There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the Holy God and 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 astrologers Chaldeans and soothsayers In as much as an excellent spirit knowledge understanding interpreting dreams solving riddles and explaining enigmas were found in this

Daniel Whom the king named Belshazzar and now let Daniel be called and he will give the interpretation

This is the reading of the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God you may be seated the writing on the wall

Here you see a Picture a painting that I thought was excellent the writing on the wall get the vision of the writing on the wall before a

Thousand people in a way that all of them would be confronted with it And it's the grandeur and the glory of of Babylon everything is now fixated on the hand

That wrote the writing on the wall. Everything now is focused on just the handful of words inscribed on the wall the glory of Babylon the grandeur of Babylon all forgotten.

This is all meaningless before the hand that wrote these words upon the wall

The writing on the wall is an expression that comes from this text and it is still highly used just a quick search will

Confirm this to you movies and television Episodes and books use it as a title over 30 songs of note in the last 60 years have had this title the writing on the wall

It is it is well known as an expression of doom

Everyone knows what that means the writing on the wall. It's an expression of doom example sentence

Why did he resign? Well, he saw the writing on the wall and knew his time was short.

Anyway, very popular expression The expression is particularly rampant throughout political prognostications

But out of all the pop culture conversational political usage Interesting it is not normally said the handwriting on the wall

The hand part of it just drops out But that's the most important part is the hand

This is what Nebuchadnezzar fixated on was the hand the fingers of a man's hand

This is what stopped everything and then Subsequently they wanted to know what the words meant, but everything was focused upon the hand

Do we really know what the writing on the wall means anymore? And furthermore what of this hand who put the writing there?

We don't know our doom unless God reveals his word to us This is the condition of all mankind

It was the condition of Belshazzar and his thousand Lords. We do not know our doom

Unless God reveals his word to us Now, of course, we live in a culture of fear

Our culture is shaped by what we fear and we fear death and we fear man

This is why our culture is the way that it is We fear death and we fear a man and so oppression and tyranny

Vaccine mandates and Taliban and bad politicians and civil unrest are the topics of our day

Because our country is driven by fear Our community is driven by fear our acquaintances in the workplace are driven by fear

Our families are driven by fear These are the topics of our time and everybody can spy the writing on the wall

Everybody can spy the writing on the wall and then they cry pitifully to their gods

But we must fear the Lord We must fear the Lord Seeing the writing on the wall is no big deal

Belshazzar saw it, his wives saw it, his concubines saw it, his thousand Lords saw it, and nobody knew what it meant

But as they feared man and as they feared death They all were assured that they were doomed somehow but none of them knew what it meant

And so prognostications abounded Many can spy the writing on the wall

But we must fear the Lord. Why? He's the one who's been putting graffiti all over our grandeur

The Word of God exposes this in our lives, exposes the darkness of men

First of all in this chapter in Verses 1 through 12 we see that God's Word interrupts the fool.

God's Word interrupts the fool Jesus Christ in his words through Solomon tells us about the naive, the simple, and the fool

In Proverbs you read about the naive and the simple and the fool The naive need knowledge and need instruction.

The simple need guidance and wisdom The fool needs rebuke and repentance

Why? The fool has received knowledge and instruction. The fool has

Access to guidance and wisdom. The fool knows better. In fact the fool knows to know better But he determines otherwise

Fools engage in fictional world -building Fools speak in echo chambers and goes

LARPing all the day long There are three kinds of dumb, but the fool hopes to discover the fourth

His words and his thoughts are caught up in a solid traffic jam at the interstates of Fearing man and fearing death as those merge and unless someone interrupts him, unless someone cuts him off He's going to doggedly advance along that broad way which leads to destruction

We are to examine the fool as he is presented to us here in Daniel 5 Belshazzar the fool.

He is drunk in the dark. He is blind in the light, and he is far from the truth

And we're not here to take potshots at Belshazzar, an easy thing to do. We're not here to take potshots

We're here to take it to heart We have to take it to heart. Our doom has been foretold

Are we going to be quiet long enough to hear it? Will we be humble enough to focus our attention on the hand

Spelling it all out first of all The fool whom

God interrupts is drunk in the dark verses 1 through 4 Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in the presence of the thousand

While he tasted the wine Belshazzar gave the command to bring the gold and silver vessels, which his father

Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple which had been in Jerusalem That the king and his lords his wives and his concubines

Might drink from them Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of God which had been 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 and iron wood and stone

We are suddenly introduced to a new king we have finished the saga of Nebuchadnezzar And it was rather on a positive note suddenly.

However, we're talking about Belshazzar his son Belshazzar his ascension to the throne followed anything but a straight line

You can read all about the history of Babylon if you wish in various sources But Nebuchadnezzar's death left a power vacuum in which several heirs

To the throne were rapidly removed by various stress tests involving

Coups and assassinations and exiles Belshazzar came to the throne and immediately owned

Nebuchadnezzar as his father and kept on saying that Nebuchadnezzar was his father and the state -run media kept on saying that Belshazzar was the heir and the son of Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadnezzar was the father of Belshazzar and they said it over and over and over and over again

In fact, they say it over and over and over again in the text Because this was the most important thing for everybody to realize that Belshazzar really was the son of Nebuchadnezzar and everybody needs to believe that and There was no other arguments now

Belshazzar Wasn't actually the son of Nebuchadnezzar but he owned

Nebuchadnezzar for political purposes because Nebuchadnezzar was such a great and well renowned

King and He clearly hoped to evoke the power and stability of the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar in his own session as king and How do you get these thousand

Lords that had just been recently involved in so many backstabbings and political intrigues? How do you get a thousand

Lords to get all on your good side? Well, it's easy you make them fat and drunk and So he hosts this massive banquet for his thousand

Lords and they all come together to honor the son of Nebuchadnezzar To further his connection to Nebuchadnezzar that greatest of all

Babylonian Kings Belshazzar brings out the gold and silver silver vessels captured from Jerusalem By his father and he brings them out on display.

Remember this conquest of my father It's a very important political scenery You may remember this these gold and silver vessels from chapter 1 in verse 2 and the

Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar and with some of the articles of the house of God which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his

God and He brought the articles into the treasure house of his God in that what was Nebuchadnezzar trying to say?

He had thought himself the victor. He had thought himself the conqueror of Israel's God But by the end that was chapter 1 of the beginning by the end of chapter 4, what do we discover?

God had conquered Nebuchadnezzar That God had conquered Nebuchadnezzar. He is the one who had changed

Nebuchadnezzar's heart So what Belshazzar now does in the name of his father is actually in full dismissal of his father's royal testimony concerning his conversion and God's worthiness

This is great absurdity profanity and immorality on display

Daniel rebukes This drunk in the dark in verse 23 of our chapter and he says and you have lifted yourself up against the

Lord of heaven They have brought the vessels of his house before you and you and your Lord your wives and your concubines

Have drunk wine from them and you have praised the gods of silver and gold bronze and iron wood and stone

Which do not see or hear or know and the God who holds your breath in his hand

And owns all your ways you have not glorified This was no neutral act.

This was no mere political scenery This was shaking his fist in the face of the

God who held his very breath in his hands No fear of God. And so he is a massive fool

Look at those here with Belshazzar. They thought themselves sophisticated. They thought themselves clever

But notice that their defiance of God the rejection of the truth has brought them to this level they worship chunks of mineral and chunks of wood this is the zenith of sophistication which denies

God you get to bow down before rocks and Firewood That's as high as you can go in your rejection of God These idols had non -functional eyes non -functional ears a non -functional mouth non -functional throats non -functional hands non -functional feet which is why pagan society devolves into being

Non -functional they do not have sight hearing or understanding and so also the pagans who worship them and make them so in The will of God time to shake things up They drunk in the dark.

It's now blind in the light The light is shine is shown upon him and as you read what happens in verses 5 through 9

I think of some scene where there's a big crowd of drunken revelers in a city park

And they're just doing their own thing their own way for their own reasons And their drunkenness is as much a statement as their of their rejection of standards and authority as anything else

The music is loud the women are loose the men are lewd and the corporate value there is lawlessness

But it's all a fiction It's all a fiction. They're just LARPing what happens when 30 spotlights flare all around them while blue and red pulsates the sky

Sirens yelp and howl and a gruff amplified voice cuts through the air.

What then? The sudden appearance of authority violently

Decompresses their party plane and immediately they nosedive and terrified chaos

That's what happens here in Daniel 5 verses 9 5 through 9 Authority shows up and the party comes to an end those there this is the king of Babylon these are the thousand lords of the great empire of Babylon these drunken revelers thought that they were the authority in the empire in the city in their palace

But when the hand of Christ appears Everyone there knows immediately

That the someone else who was in charge Is personally confronting all of them the light is shining in their faces and that's all they know

They don't know what the words mean. They don't know who it is that has shown up, but they know it's the one in charge

And they're in a lot of trouble Verses 5 through 9 in the same hour the fingers of a man's hand appeared and Opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote

Then the king's countenance changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other

The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers the Chaldeans and the soothsayers the king spoke saying to the wise men of Babylon whoever reads this writing and tells 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

Now all the king's wise men came But they could not read the writing or make known to the king his interpretation then

King Belshazzar was greatly troubled His countenance was changed and his lords were astonished

Don't you just love God? Look how marvelous his mercy is look how good his grace is

He writes his words in the best lit Most obvious place in a way sure to garner attention

That's amazing It is the favorite pastime of God denying pagans and God belittling churchmen

To accuse and to insinuate that God is a bad communicator that he's inept really

That One cannot know and one can never be sure it's all very confusing and it's just too bad that God wasn't more clear

How unfortunate that God could not overcome all of our cultural differences to say something that transcends our issues

It's just sad that his thoughts and his ways and words aren't higher than ours and aren't revealed supernaturally to us

Actually It's too bad that God denying pagans and God belittling churchmen cooperate in such an alliance of unbelief and One reason they do so is that if you can claim that God's words are unclear or unknowable

Then you may escape a sense of accountability avoid submission to God's authority

But we see in this text that it is actually impossible Impossible even if God's Word is unclear to you

Even if you're being blinded by the very light of God's Word, you still know that God is still in charge

His authority is still maintained Now there are the experts in this text that are there along with the king and they all know that something bad has been declared

They don't know what it is But the hand showed up and there's writing on the wall and we're all doomed but they don't know what it means or what it contains

So you may imagine that they're trying to figure it out and one says one thing and another says another thing But nobody is clear on the specifics

But they all agree. We're doomed. I don't know what it means, but we're definitely doomed Despair Despair is the religion of paganism and you see it all around you in the world today

The PTSD from Eden exile Combines with God's general revelation both in creation and its subjection to the curse

All this combines to level an accusing finger at sinful

God denying truth suppressing man And man then says oh, it's climate change

It's systemic racism It's aliens. It's asteroids. It's viruses.

It's overpopulation It's whatever it's manna who knows The pagans all know that they're doomed, but they can't agree.

What kind of doom it is The writings on the wall, it's been put there by the hand

But unless God reveals what it is, we will not know our doom and We will not know our actual need for salvation unless God reveals it to us

Unless God sends along the mediator to interpret the text for us and show us what it means

We will not know that we are sinners in the hands of an angry God but we do need to know that and As believers when we live in this despairing world have compassion on those who are in despair and fearful and running for their lives and scared of every snapping twig and drifting breeze and Do not be tossed to and fro

By every wind of doomspeak. That's all there is out.

There is doomspeak Do not be tossed to and fro Trust in the

Lord fear God Now shatter does not have the foggiest notion of what the words mean and blazing upon his own palace wall

But he does know that authority has rolled up upon his party scene and that he has been caught He doesn't know exactly what he was doing wrong, but he knows he's caught

He knows he's in trouble He doesn't know what the words mean, but he is aware to the very core of his being that he's in trouble

Just look at his physical reaction The joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other

Literal rendering of the Aramaic here is the knots of his loins were loosed

Let's just say that Belshazzar lost command and control of his personal critical mission objectives

His timbers began to shiver and he was immediately aware that his soul was not the only thing soiled about him

He sits in this hall and he manipulates a thousand lords But he cannot manage his own bowels the all -powerful

King is confronted with his creaturely limitations and his weaknesses and And the point is driven home again in this

Texas it has been all the way through Daniel that all the Kings Magi and all the Kings men cannot put the piece of the kingdom back together again and Despite his most lucrative offering.

He's like look. I'll clothe you in purple. Look at all this honor You'll get I'll give you a bunch of money. I'll make you a third in the kingdom despite his lucrative offering no one can properly read or interpret the meaning of God's handwritten text and And now that the total inability of the king and the kingdom is made clear

Belshazzar and his lords are very disheartened Belshazzar is so desperate

To know what the writing on the wall is He is so desperate to know what this revelation means that has come down from the outside That he intends to greatly honor and reward the man who can serve as a mediator

Third highest in the kingdom increased wealth great honor but no such mediator was immediately found

Which gives us pause to recall? That God who at various times and in various ways spoken time past Even by the writing on a wall has in these last days of the old covenant spoken to us by his son

Through whom he has brought about the new covenant God appointed

Christ the heir of all things and through him he made the worlds so Consider that Belshazzar it was willing to honor and reward a mediator third highest in the kingdom increased wealth more honor

But the mediator which God offers to man Even the one whose hand was seen writing the word of God upon the wall of the palace that this mediator

Jesus Christ Deserves far more than what Belshazzar was willing to offer not third place

But highest king of kings not an increase of wealth But all wealth and all glory is for Christ not more honor

But all honor and all praise in heaven and on earth Consider how many today are willing to honor and give

Give so much of their lives and their bank accounts to so -called Mediators who can tell them what to think about the world and about themselves and about God That there are many who pose themselves as priests and priestesses prophets and prophetesses

Who claim to clarify all this muddle of fear and doom, but there was one mediator

There is one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus And he has sent his

Holy Spirit to lead us into all of the truth written here And the truth is that Christ must have the preeminence in our lives not third place this fool

Belshazzar was interrupted. He was a drunk in the dark. He was blind in the light. He was far from the truth

He was far from the truth, even though The truth was stuck on the stones right in front of his face

Daniel 5 verses 10 to 12 The Queen because of the word of the king and his Lords came to the banquet hall.

The Queen spoke saying Oh King live forever Do not let your thoughts trouble you nor let your countenance change

There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the Holy God and 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 astrologers Chaldeans and soothsayers in as much as an excellent spirit knowledge understanding interpreting dreams

Solving riddles and explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel whom the king named Belshazzar Now let

Daniel be called and he will give the interpretation She reminds me of Vashti and Esther of the

Persians, you know, it's Queen. She's absent from the drunken party of the king She's not there mixing it up And so she still is sober praise the

Lord and Like Esther and even like the wife of Pilate this leading lady has something to say

To the man in charge and what she has to say is something that he should have already known

Her formal statement to introduce the things Oh King live forever is Darkly humorous

As we're about to find out here in this chapter that this is Belshazzar's last night on earth

Even now as this is all playing out the Persian army has rerouted the flow of the

Euphrates River Lowering its depth to about wading height that flowed through the gates of this great city

Even now as the chief Babylonians tremble in their drunkenness Their enemies are conducting their operations to take the most powerful city on the face of the earth and all of this is unknown

To keep to Queen and King all of it unknown to the thousand lords and these so -called wise men of Babylon the

Queen Reminds Belshazzar of of Daniel. He's really good at untying all those knots.

Why don't you why don't you call Daniel in? He cites all this history with Nebuchadnezzar your father remember your father the king here he is your father she's giving the party line and She lists his resume very impressive and it's notable then isn't it that this

Daniel is absent This Daniel is not is not there He's been totally forgotten sequestered canceled put away the vessels of God's temple are there being desecrated

But the leading Jew The leading God fearer in the kingdom is not there

Belshazzar is far from the truth Even though the truth is not far from the king The king has been suppressing the truth in unrighteousness and so he has removed

Daniel far from him He is locked Daniel out of his mind

So that he does not have to consider calling him at all this man of God Daniel filled with the

Spirit of God ready with the Word of God is right there nearby What that's the grace of God Yet the king was far

Far from the truth. The truth was near to him But he had suppressed it

Silenced it turned his back and ran from it. And in fact Daniel Confronts him about that in verse 22 saying although you knew this he says you knew this and Belshazzar Suppressed it as we've noted the despair of paganism and paganized churchmen is that there's no man

There's no man who can lead us out of doom into salvation out of darkness into light out of confusion to confidence

But there is a man there is a man the God man Jesus Christ and he is not hidden himself

He is not hidden himself Our salvation through him was made public in an open place in a public place

It was not done in a corner and he has come near Jesus Christ has come

So near in his incarnation and by his sending of the

Holy Spirit He has given us His word in our language in our hands

He has sent his disciples to make more disciples The gospel of Jesus Christ is not a word that is distant from us

The word the truth is near Romans 10 verse 6

But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way. Do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven?

That is to bring Christ down from above or who will descend into the abyss that is to bring

Christ up from the dead We don't have to climb to the heights to a guru to find out the truth

That we have to have special perspective and special experience before we can have anything worth saying to the world today and we don't have to go down to the depths of hell itself and Go through all sorts of torment and suffering before we have the proper

Experiences and the proper journey to share these things with others. No Christ is the man

Christ is the mediator. He is the one who has come down from heaven and has gone back to the right hand

He is the one who has suffered and gone even into death for us and has been risen from the dead

Verse 8, but what does it say? The word is near you

In your mouth and in your heart that is the word of faith which we preach that if you confess with your mouth the

Lord Jesus and Believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead.

You will be saved For with the heart one believes into righteousness and with the mouth

Confession is made unto salvation for the scripture says whoever believes on him

Will not be put to shame Will not be put to shame

Why share in the shame of fools? Why share in the shame of fools like Belshazzar?

Why count yourself among the sophisticated class of despairing pagans and doubting churchmen?

Why remain hopeless Why would you keep trolling on in the filth of your sin

Christ is at hand He's at the right hand of God and he is here and now in the day of salvation

And his resume puts all others to shame Christ has written the gospel of God in his own blood on the cross and by the folding of his own grave clothes and He has written it across the wall of history in his own nail -pierced hand

So turn to him Honor him and trust him God is gracious to interrupt the fool with his wisdom to expose the darkness of man by the light of his word

All God's light and wisdom is toward us through Christ and does he not cry out and lift up his voice?

He takes his stand atop of Calvary Beside the straight and narrow way

Crying out at the gate of the New Jerusalem those ancient doors. He cries out.

Whoever is simple Let him turn in here As for him who lacks understanding.

He says to him come eat of my bread a Drink of the wine that I have mixed forsake foolishness and live

Go in the way of understanding he's got the wisdom of God entirely on display as Jesus and John 737 stood and cried saying if any man thirst

Let him come unto me and drink Don't be a drunk in the dark blind in the light far from the truth crisis come and He informs the naive and he instructs the simple and he interrupts the fools

Thanks be to God. Let's pray Father we come before you this morning and we praise you that you mock the fools and scorn the scornful and show us our need of your word hand delivered by Your chosen mediator.

Thank you for not leaving us without clear word without a sure word

Show us who we are in our sinfulness in our righteous damnation before you in your glorious name and perfect character

But you have given us your son You have given us your son Who's offered himself in our place and for our sake

So we give you praise and we cling to Christ. I asked for those who are here today.

I Asked that she would turn The naive and the simple and the fool towards yourself here today

They would know the salvation of Jesus Christ Lord we thank you for your long -suffering and your compassion toward us

And that all day long you have held out your hands to a stubborn and stiff -necked people That your long -suffering is far greater than our ability to resist

So Lord, we thank you and we give you the praise in Jesus name. Amen Would you stand with me for our song of benediction?

Mercy grace and salvation is through our Lord Jesus Christ Our song is going to be in our psalm for worship hymnal page 119

L. We'll sing evermore Oh Lord Love of the