Weighed And Wanting (Part 2)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth.

Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

Let's turn our Bibles to Daniel chapter 5 and look at this great chapter today.

Verse 10, the queen, now his wife was at the beginning of the banquet, so this is the queen mother, entered the banquet hall because of the words of the king and his nobles.

The queen spoke and said, O king, live forever. Do not let your thoughts alarm you or your face be pale.

Pull yourself together, man. I don't know what mother -in -law says that, but this particular one did.

Don't let your thoughts alarm you. Act like a king. Some say she was the wife of Nebuchadnezzar or the wife of Merodach, doesn't matter.

She knew of Daniel. So she says, verse 11, you know the story.

There's a man in your kingdom of whom there's a spirit of the holy gods and in the days of your father, illumination, divine illumination, insight, wisdom like the wisdom of gods were found in him.

King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father, the king appointed him chief of the magicians, conjurers, Chaldeans and diviners.

It's like this new king came on scene and he didn't want to have anything to do with Daniel or Daniel's gods, so he just relegates him back down to the stay out of my sight mode.

And the way Hebrew language does it and the way Aramaic language does it, the way the storytellers say these things back in the east, they just repeat them and here it is.

This was because an extraordinary spirit, knowledge and insight, interpretation of dreams, explanation of enigmas, solving of all difficult problems were found in this

Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Let Daniel now be summoned and he will declare the interpretation.

And now here comes Belshazzar in front of Belteshazzar, making sure the one knows who's in charge.

Then Daniel is brought in before the king. The king spoke and said, are you that Daniel? You know, that slave

Daniel, that prisoner Daniel, that conquered Daniel. Are you that Daniel who is one of the exiles from Judah, who my father the king brought from Judah?

Me king, you slave. But he didn't know as Nathan was to David, as Samuel was to Saul, Daniel is to Belshazzar.

Now I have heard about you, that spirit of the gods is in you and that illumination inside extraordinary wisdom has been found in you.

Just now the wise men and conjurers were brought in before me, that they might read this inscription and make its interpretation known to me.

But they could not declare the interpretation of the message. But I personally have heard about you, that you were able to give interpretation, solve difficult problems.

Now, if you were able to read the inscription and make its interpretation known to me, you'd be clothed with purple, wear a necklace of gold around your neck and will have authority as a third ruler of the kingdom.

It didn't really matter because everything is over that night. You know what

Daniel said? I don't want your money. Daniel answered and said before the king, keep your gifts for yourselves or give your rewards to someone else, however

I will read the inscription to the king and make the interpretation known to him. I'm not like hire for the other people,

I don't do this for money, I do it for the glory of God. Everything in me wants to now launch on a little sermonette right here about how we try to get people to come and speak at the church and they tell me their honorariums that they must get.

If a church gives an honorarium, that's great. But if you expect an honorarium to go to a place, you don't seem to me to be acting like Daniel buying servants.

You can go online and find out some superstar Christian speakers. They have a little, fill out the form, you have to pay all these things and at the bottom what the honorarium will be.

Not like Daniel. And Daniel doesn't even say, oh king, you're the greatest and he's stern.

Look at 18, oh king, the most high God granted sovereignty, grandeur, glory, by the way you should know all this, and majesty to Nebuchadnezzar your father.

Because of the grandeur which he bestowed on him, all the peoples, nations, and men of every language feared and trembled before him.

You should be doing that too. Whomever he wished he killed, whomever he wished he spared alive, and whomever he wished he elevated, and whomever he wished he humbled, but when his heart was lifted up and his spirit became so proud that he behaved arrogantly, he started to moo like a cow.

That's what happened, but he says here, was disposed from his royal throne and his glory was taken away from him.

The prideful will be punished. He was also driven away from mankind and his heart was made like that of beasts.

His dwelling place was with the wild donkeys. He was given grass to eat like cattle and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he recognized that the

Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind and that he sets over it whomever he wishes.

Yet you, verse 22, this is the right response to being humbled by God.

This is the right response to the God of the universe. Yet you, yet you his son, you should have known this, have not humbled your heart even though you knew all this.

One man said, pride is like plagiarism. It attempts to grasp for ourselves the glory that belongs for another.

Proverbs, excuse me, Romans 2, do you think lightly like Belshazzar of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience?

Not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance. Now, if you look at verses 22 and 23, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're.

Fourteen times I believe in the ESV. Yet you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart even though you knew this.

You knew all this, but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. They brought the vessels of his house before you and you and your nobles, your wives, your concubines have been drinking wine from them.

You praised the gods of silver, of bronze, iron, wood, stone, which you do not see, hear, or understand.

By the way, that's pretty amazing. They're worshiping gods that don't talk. And the God of the universe talks and he just did look at the wall.

But the God in whose hand are your life breath and your ways you have not glorified.

This is a lawsuit. He's the prosecuting attorney. Marduk is mute.

Yahweh is speaking. And he's speaking right there on that plaster wall. And what do these dumb idols say?

Nothing. No wonder idols are called Hebel. They're emptiness. They're unsatisfactory.

They're unsatisfying. And remember, hand means what in these days?

Power. Your life is in God's hand. For those who know about Christ Jesus and won't follow, this sounds as bad as the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 10, how much severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the

Son of God? Job 12 says, in whose hand is every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

So it says in verse 24, then the hand was sent from him and this inscription was written out.

Three words, two repeated twice. Here is the tombstone. Here's the gravestone. Here's the epitaph of Belshazzar.

Now, this is the inscription that was written out. Three units of money, by the way. In passive form, it means numbered, numbered, weighed, divided, are here in Aramaic.

Mene, mene, tekel, ufarsin. Mene is a mina, about 50 shekels.

Tekel is a shekel. That's easy to remember, isn't it, kids? What's a tekel? It's a shekel. Makes it easy.

Tekel, shekel. Ufarsin is half a shekel. And now we get the interpretation.

Verse 26. Mene, God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. I've had enough of this from you,

Belshazzar. It's time to push the power button off. I'm unplugging you. The jig is up.

Had enough. All systems shut down. Your number's up. God's called your number.

Tekel, you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient.

Hannah prayed in 1 Samuel 2, with God, actions are weighed. And so it's a weight scale.

And so here is the righteousness and holiness and justice of God and what he requires in his law.

And there's not enough for Belshazzar to weigh that out. He's found wanting.

He didn't meet the standard. He's found deficient. Egyptian books of the dead picture men being weighed in balances after death.

Puts their heart on one side. Is it enough? And then verse 28,

Paris, your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians. It's not even future because it's happening right now.

What Belshazzar didn't know is they dried up the river partially because they rerouted it, the

Euphrates, so it was low enough that the enemy could just walk on the dry banks and up into the city and kill them.

That's exactly what happened. Now, can you imagine Daniel saying this?

We've got people getting invited to the White House and they can't get it out of their mouth. Thank you for letting me come.

I appreciate it. I'm honored to be here, but I'm not a diplomat.

I'm giving you an ultimatum, and this is what the Scriptures teach about sin and righteousness and the judgment to come.

There is a Savior Christ Jesus the Lord, and I want to make sure you believe in him. That's my message to you,

O King. Where are those kind of people? Daniel could have easily said, because this king could have easily killed

Daniel. Okay, how can I do this? If I say some nice things, then I'll garner an audience, and then they won't think

I'm a loon, and then they'll listen. And so, let's see. What's that say? Belshazzar, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

He thinks you're special. He's got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in his heart for you,

Daniel. Oh, good. Now he'll listen to me. Now I have a platform. That's what evangelicals do with our own president.

Where are the prophets? Where are those giving the ultimatums? You have a message from God, and you deliver the message in kindness, in gentleness, humility.

We have a message, and by the way, the world doesn't like the message, so why do we think they should? If the world's hated us, it's because they already hated

Jesus. Oh, let's see. I don't think I quite read that right.

God's got a crazy love for you. How risky is it for Daniel to lose his head if he tells the truth?

Daniel does anyway because it's not Daniel, it's the God of Daniel. The triune

God of Daniel, verse 29. Don't you wish it would have said this? Don't you wish it would have been like Nebuchadnezzar?

Then Belshazzar repented, and he believed.

Then Belshazzar gave orders, closed Daniel with purple, put a necklace of gold around his neck, issued a proclamation concerning him that he now had authority as the third ruler in the kingdom.

Nothing about honoring the Lord. Nothing about recognizing the same thing that Nebuchadnezzar did.

That night, verse 30, Belshazzar, long live Marduk, protect the king, is dead.

Slain. It's too late. God is patient. God is long -suffering. Look at the

Ark, 120 years. But now Persian's general, Ugburu, comes up through the trench and kills them all.

Herodotus, the secular historian, confirms it, as so does Xenophon.

James Montgomery's voice said, Belshazzar's final fling is an example of stupidity.

Have a big party going on when judgment is coming. Isn't that our society today?

A huge party when judgment is coming. We know there's judgment because Acts says because of the resurrection of Christ, we know there's judgment.

So, verse 31, Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about age 62.

This honored title most likely of Osiris is Darius and he takes over.

So what's the lesson for today? It's not just a story. What's the lesson?

I have a lesson for the unbelievers here and a lesson for the Christian. Number one, if you're an unbeliever, learn from history.

Learn from history. Hegel said the only thing we learn from history is that we've learned, what?

Nothing from history. Here's a man who thought he was good enough on his own to stand before God.

It's insane to think that way. One day you're going to die if you're an unbeliever and stand before this

God, this triune God and he's going to weigh you and you're going to be found wanting. And you put over on this side of the scale,

I was good, went to church, I got baptized, I got catechized, I got confirmed, I went on mission trips,

I was a church member, I served, I helped people, I was a good citizen and you are weighed and you are found wanting.

I believe intellectually but I'm not going to follow Jesus. I'm not going to trust in him. Give me that Jesus for hell insurance.

You are weighed and found wanting. It's holding too high of an opinion of yourself.

It's insane. Don't be like Belshazzar who thought nothing could touch him so he partied his whole life.

Friend, unbelieving friend, you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. The Bible says you're just like a vapor that appears for a little while and then what?

Vanishes away. Don't be like Belshazzar.

I am so strong in and of my own righteousness and my own strength, I'm impregnable to any kind of enemy including

God. I say with Peter in Acts 2, Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made

Jesus both Lord and Christ. Learn from history that prideful people will be humbled.

Learn that God's judgment comes along even though slow to anger, eventually you're going to get it.

You think you can't be touched. That's foolish. Let me tell you the words of Jesus when they said to him,

Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Here's what Jesus said. These are my words for you. Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?

He said to them, Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness. For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

And then Jesus told a parable. The land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself,

What should I do for I have nowhere to store my crops? And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns.

I'll build larger ones. And there I'll store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years.

Relax. Eat. Drink. Be merry. But God said to him,

And what I say to you through the word of God is, If you will not bow your knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, Or if you haven't,

Fool. You're a fool. You're an absolute fool.

Jesus said, Fool, This night your soul is required of you. And the things you have prepared,

Whose will they be? So is the one who lays up treasure for himself

And is not rich toward God. Oh, I'll follow later.

I'll believe later. I've got my own agenda for now. I've got my own sin now. He found wanted.

Wanting. The Bible says, Through the words of Jesus, Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.

Ye shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven. The good news is for you, the sinner,

Is there's a substitute. There's someone who can bear your sins. When I think of this,

About Christ Jesus, This is the one to whom you're called to look With repentance and faith and trust.

Although Jesus existed in the form of God, Did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. But he emptied himself,

Taking the form of a bondservant, And being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as men,

He humbled himself, Jesus did, By becoming obedient to the point of death, Even death on the cross.

Therefore God highly exalted him And bestowed on him the name which is above every name,

That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow Of those who are in heaven and on the earth,

You, And under the earth, That every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is

Lord, To the glory of Father. Glory of God the Father. If you're an unbeliever, you've been weighed

And you've been found deficient. So Isaiah 55 says to you, Seek the Lord while he may be found,

Call upon him while he is near, Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts.

Let him return to the Lord, And he will have compassion on him, And to our God for he will abundantly pardon.

Don't you want to be abundantly pardoned? Don't you want all your sins to be paid for by Jesus?

Then come to him in faith. Will you be found wanting or will you be found trusting?

The hymn says. And for Christians, what do we do with this if we're Christians? How do we look at this?

In spite of all the superficial appearances That are going on in the world just like back in this day,

Jesus is in control. He's in control of everything. Don't you love the sovereignty of God?

R .C. Sproul said, Sovereignty of God is my favorite doctrine. He said it's God's favorite doctrine too.

And he said if you were God, it'd be your favorite doctrine as God too. Now I can't find that in the

Bible. And certainly the cherubim are saying, Holy, holy, holy. But there's something about the sovereignty of God Because God in a providential way is orchestrating everything.

And even though we can't see it, by faith we realize, You know what? This is for God's glory.

This is for my good. When you look backwards in time, Oh, you get to see the sovereign hand of God many times.

We have a sovereign God. Every particle of dust, Spurgeon said, That dances in the sunbeam,

Does not move an atom more or less than God wishes. So you say God's sovereign over who's in the

White House, Who's not in the White House, What job you have, all your issues.

God's sovereign over those. I love that doctrine. It's like the second blessing. Don't ever come up to me and grab my arm and say,

Mike, I want the best for you. You need a second blessing. Speak in tongues. Because then I'll grab your arm and I'll say, No, you need the second blessing to embrace the sovereignty of God.

Then you grab my other arm. No, just kidding. That's why I have ushers. Here's my point.

Think. We look at the world. Doesn't seem like God's in charge many times, does it?

So why do we read Daniel 5, Our Joseph's account in Genesis 37 to 50, And it just shouts out,

God's in control. God's in charge. God's got it all taken care of. Doesn't matter who you are.

God's in charge. Why is it obvious there and not obvious here? So you'll go here and say,

The same God here is the same God here. That's why. Because it's not obvious in our lives,

But it's obvious here. Gracie and I are learning about God's attributes, And so I'll say, listen, here's what you do.

If you don't know a word, Think about the root word. So righteous.

God's righteous. What's that mean? He's right. He always does the right thing. Got it.

God's sovereign. Sovereign, that doesn't seem to make any sense.

So reign. Yes, reign. He reigns. Immutability.

Mute. Guess God doesn't talk. Doesn't say much. No, no, this is a different kind of word.

It means change. Mutant. God never changes.

He never mutates. The same God of the Scripture is our God, too.

Christian, take heart. I've got some news for you. If you don't fill your mind with Scripture, And you fill your mind with Fox News and all kinds of other things,

I know something about you. You're going to be anxious. You're going to be uncomfortable. You're going to feel frustrated.

And you're going to think the world is going to hell in the handbasket. And, in fact, God is judging America, and it's probably true.

But you're not looking through the right lens. I'm not after any particular news organization.

I'm after you to look more often at the Scripture so you see the news rightly. I'm not against news.

In spite of appearances, in spite of situations, in spite of Bill O 'Reilly, God is in control. I knew

I could get you guys on that. If I was in Manhattan, I'd say something about Slate or something like that.

No wonder Revelation 19 says, Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, what? Reigns.

That's why we have to walk by faith and not by sight, Because if you look, and you're looking down here, It's like you've got these blinders on like some kind of a horse or something,

When here we have the Scriptures to see the world rightly. That's why Daniel 5 and the narrative of the Old Testament are so important.

The Old Testament. I just go for the New Testament. The Old Testament should be read for lots of reasons.

It speaks of Christ Jesus, of course, But it gives you history from God's perspective. Don't we need that? Then we can be with the psalmist in Psalm 56.

In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me? Psalm 27.

The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life. Whom shall

I dread? The world might be in crisis, but God's not. Do you think

God really is biting his proverbial fingernails? Wiping the sweat on his bra.

Oh, you know, I sure hope that works out. You know, I gave all the free will to all these people, And now it doesn't seem like it's coming back to bite me a little bit.

Joseph, instead of looking at everything, I can't believe, can you imagine being in prison and going, My brothers, they did that to me.

My brothers, they did that to me. My brothers did that to me. Genesis 45. It is not you who sold me into Egypt, But I was sent before you by God's will,

That I might save your life. What else can make life bearable,

If it isn't for the sovereignty of God? What else can comfort us in our sorrow? Spurgeon said there's no attribute more comforting to his children

Than God's sovereignty. And of all the

Lord's lording, And of all the king's kinging, Jesus Christ is Lord and King. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org

Or by phone at 508 -835 -3400 The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio Do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.