Propose Over Party

Thank you for joining us on the CCW Podcast.

Make sure you connect with us on social media to stay up to date on ministries and events happening at CCW.

We hope you're encouraged, inspired, and motivated by today's message.

To find out how to connect with us, keep listening after the message ends.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Daniel chapter 5.

Daniel 5 · chapter mention

Wasn't the worship good this morning?

I was thinking about the way that God has blessed us.

There's nine people up here playing or singing different instruments, and it changes weekly.

There's probably 70 people in this church that do some sort of musical thing.

So praise God.

And they do a great job bringing us to the throne.

And I was thinking about even our uh media team that does things that I would never even understand in my life.

But a lot of times, the first time somebody has an interaction with CCW, they go online or Facebook, and when I meet with people or we go visit, they say, Man, it's so good.

I looked at it, it's so clean.

And so, anyway, thank you, team, for all that you do and everybody that works behind the scenes.

And you might have got a coffee today.

You most definitely got a greeting from the D line on the way in.

I mean, we look forward to serving at CCW.

So I'm thankful for the way that you do that and the love that is shared.

So, Daniel chapter 5, today's message is purpose over party.

Daniel 5 · chapter mention

And uh, we want to jump right in.

My friend John preached the lights down last week, and so uh, man, here we go.

It pumped me up though.

So, chapter five, we're gonna be looking at uh this transition from King Nebuchadnezzar into the next set of kings, and I say that because I gotta I gotta identify something here in a second in Daniel 5.

And look, I just want to read the first line.

It says, Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his lords.

Belshazzar is now the king.

It's like the brakes stopped on the car abruptly.

Nebuchadnezzar, we know, basically kind of has this moment with God where it seems like he came back to God, and the end of chapter four ends that way.

And then Belshazzar is just the king.

But there's about a 20-plus-year gap between chapter 4 and 5.

And so, if you didn't know this or look this up, let me tell you just quickly for people that like the history, Nebuchadnezzar had a son.

Get a load of this name.

His name was Evil Meridash.

I guess he knew.

He knew from a young age.

Evil Meridash was killed by his in-law Nergalysar, who became king.

All right, two more kings.

He was succeeded by his son Labashi Marduk.

Okay?

He was on the throne one full month and entered a man by the name of Nabonidus.

Nabonidus appoints his son Belshazzar as the co-regent.

And so that's where we get to Belshazzar.

A lot happened in 20 years, and basically, king after king, back to the old story, we are serving the God of Marduk.

And that is Belshazzar.

Belshazzar probably was able to get into the position he was because he's very, again, pro-Marduk.

If you weren't here previously, that is the God of Babylon.

And they serve him and they love that.

And there's a great backstory if you go into Genesis on Nimrod and the people's thinking of the Tower of Babel.

But anyhow, Belshazzar also listed through all of this stuff as a grandson to Nebuchadnezzar.

So back in the throne is Belshazzar, and he opens up this chapter throwing a big feast for a thousand of his fellow leaders and people in position all over the area.

So before we pray, I want you to think about the last party you threw that had a thousand people.

How impressive that would be.

Let us pray.

Father, we thank you for the word of God, and we thank you for, Lord, the opportunity we have to meet with you.

God, I thank you for that song of praise that's anointed.

Holy Spirit, you are welcome here.

Lord, we want that and seek that more than anything else, that your presence would fall on this place.

And God, on our hearts, God, we do not need to nor want to leave this place the same.

And it is through the changing power of the Holy Spirit that we look through the Word of God that we can be changed.

So, God, we ask that you'd meet with us through this message in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Point number one this morning is the grief of a mundane life.

Look at verses one and two.

Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and he 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.

We'll pause there, and I want you to see this is a life letter A, under the influence.

The king is under the influence.

He did something Achan said, a commentator, that Belshazzar did something kings didn't normally do.

The king set a tone in his feast of intoxication.

It was a party, and Belshazzar wanted to be able to dance.

If you understand what's going on.

Revelation 14, 8 says this about Babylon.

Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made the nations drink of the wrath of her wine.

The Babylonian system has always been a system associated with its drink.

And so what you see here, I want you to understand, is Belshazzar is under the influence.

Why do they call it that?

Why is that the terminology used?

What is the influence?

Well, influence is something that has the capacity to affect your character or behavior.

The Hebrew word is endod.

That word influence, endod, and it means to bind or to be tied into something.

1 Corinthians 15, 33 says, Be not deceived.

Bad company corrupts good character.

And I, here at the church at Chelsea Westover, listen to me.

We believe one of our pillars is clear biblical truth.

We're not going to skate around.

It brings this up in the scripture.

So what pastor does the Bible have to say about this type of drinking, this feasting?

Well, I'm glad that you asked.

John chapter 2 says Jesus made wine at Cana.

John 2 · chapter mention

Doesn't say he drank it, but he was at a party that it was at.

1 Timothy 5, 23 says, Paul said to Timothy, drink this wine medicinally, maybe for the betterment of the heart.

1 Timothy 3.8 says this to deacons.

He told deacons to drink moderately, meaning they probably drank if he's telling them to drink moderately.

Psalms 14, 104, verse 15 says it gladdens the heart.

What are you saying, Pastor?

You tell me to leave here drink?

Hang on.

Okay?

I'm just telling you what the Bible says.

I'm not here to tell you an opinion, but the Bible has some scripture about drink.

Ephesians 5.18 says, Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.

It says, Don't be drunk.

Romans 14, 21 says, it's good not to drink wine or anything that causes someone to stumble.

In 1 Timothy 3, before he spoke to the deacons about it being moderate, he spoke to pastors and said, It shouldn't be given of you.

I've taken that literally in my life as a public example.

And here's why.

He said, Do not cause somebody to stumble.

If I were walking out the ABC, y'all know the spirit store down the road.

If I was walking out that, what would you immediately assume?

You see me walking out.

Oh, that pastor, he's a drunk.

I knew it.

He's crazy.

I already knew he was crazy, but now that doesn't.

Right?

I'm told to be above reproach, not giving a reason for someone to think he's a drunk.

So you will never see me come out to ABC.

On occasion, Heather has cooked some pastas with wine, and I have been in the Walmart with my heart racing.

Somebody's gonna see me.

They're gonna call me out, they're gonna think this is it.

We're leaving the church.

I hide it, I put tissues and stuff over it.

Like, I know, I know, I know they're gonna find me.

Okay.

Proverbs 20, verse 1 says, Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler.

Proverbs 20:1

To be led astray by it is not wise.

So, Pastor, you just teeth, you've never, well, listen, I didn't say that, but I I will say this to you.

Heather and I, upon marriage, went on a cruise to the Bahamas, and we got in the room, and uh, there sitting in the room was a bottle of champagne.

And I'm like, we just got married.

It is obvious we're supposed to celebrate.

Now I gotta be honest with you, I have very little to do with drinking up to the age of 24 in marriage.

Very little.

Heather, not that much either.

And so we pop the bubbly and we'd take us a glass.

I don't know, maybe I had a second glass, I'm not sure.

But we went out after that and we're walking through the cruise ship, and and it's probably eight o'clock at night, and you know, the boat took off, and so you know, we were getting our seat legs, and we decided to walk through.

I'm sorry to say this, I'm confessing everything today, the casino on the boat, and lights are going off.

Bloom, bloom, bells, ding, ding, ding, ding, and we're going through the thing.

And I look at Heather, and she looks at me, and we rush out of the casino and get to this table, this welcome desk, and the guy spins around as if it was right on cue, and he goes, Here's your dramatine.

First night on the cruise, round one knockout.

We was asleep the next 30 minutes till the next morning.

Let me tell you, when it says wine is a mocker, it was laughing at us.

And so, listen, I I I know some effects, but I have some questions for you to think on.

Because what do I do, Pastor?

If you can't look forward to a gathering without a drink, why?

If you can't look forward to a vacation without a drink, if you can't look forward to the ball game without a drink, why?

Something to think about.

The state says a blood alcohol content level of 0.08 is drunk enough that if you hit someone, it's called manslaughter if they're killed and you go to prison for life.

I don't know with your body size what how many or whatever that means.

But here's what you need to think about.

Can a Christian drink and not sin?

Probably.

Can a Christian get drunk and not sin?

Absolutely not.

So what do I do?

Well, here's what you do: that God has given the Holy Spirit to every person.

And you need to pray and seek God about the conviction that enters your life.

I told you when it comes to Scripture and what it comes to me, I'm not to be given to it.

And you need to understand this verse.

1 Corinthians 6.19 says, What know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit of God?

So the grief of this mundane life for Belshazzar is that he has to go escape reality.

What does your party have to look like?

Belshazzar was living under the influence.

Well, it wasn't just drink.

Look at verses, the second part of verse 2 through 4.

And so 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 these vessels.

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 and his wives and his concubines drank from them.

They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

And so the next thing that we see, letter B, is life's unfortunate idolatry.

Partying always has to grow to get the same effect.

So the man of the hour says, I know, let's pour wine into sacred vessels.

He wants the party to get deeper and better.

Barnes commented this.

I love this.

Sometimes the comp the commentaries sound like they're written in old English.

Barnes writes very plainly here.

Nothing can well be conceived more senseless and stupid than what was done at this feast.

It's blasphemy and it's mockery.

Listen to me.

Verse 4 says that they praised, they drank from these vessels, then they praised gold, silver, and bronze.

Not that they believed gold, silver, and bronze to be a God, but they gave praise to gold, silver, and bronze.

They believed in the power that came from gold, silver, and bronze.

And I want to tell you, church, that 2,000 years later, people are still bowing the knee before gold, silver, and bronze.

And they're worshiping gold, silver, and bronze, and it's idolatry.

Let me tell you, five of the most common idols found today.

Idol number one is the idol of self.

Idol number two is the idol of comfort.

Some could put the word security there, whatever makes me feel good.

I feel like I'm in an okay place, comfort.

Number three is the approval of others.

We seek insatiably after people's opinions.

Number four is relationships.

We can get so caught up in the expectation of somebody else that we idolize that relationship.

Husband, wife, a girlfriend, boyfriend, a spouse, families.

A lot of unhealthy relationships.

And number five is success and money.

Idolatry, it may not be a statue in your living room, but it's certainly near.

John Calvin said this.

The human heart is an idol-making factory.

We're experts at inventing idols.

Probably some of you you're starting to think about your Christmas list.

You're thinking, well, what is the thing that I gotta do?

I gotta come up with something.

And you might go back to that thing.

Well, I say it in jest, but for a long time, anything I asked for for Christmas had to do with the Red Sox.

Red Sox had never been to one thing that involved me.

They never sent me a birthday card, not one letter.

They have not cared for me, but God has.

Temporary things.

Here's some questions to think on.

What if you lost, if there was something that you lost or you had to quit, would make you right now feel like life would not be worth the living?

What in your life, if you lost it, relationship, thing, job, whatever, or had to quit it, would make you feel like life was unlivable.

What would break your heart?

What do you love more than you love God?

You see, Belshazzar was living this life.

There was no purpose, it was only got to get to the next big thing, the next big show, and drive it even further.

He said, Bring the vessels.

Paul said this, church, flee idolatry.

He said, flee from it.

That means put on your shoes and run.

Get away from idolatry.

Because God, listen to me, He is jealous for you and for me, the creator of all things, who is worthy of worship, who is worthy of our bowing of the knee.

He is worthy, and he's at work in our life patiently, lovingly, looking down on you and me from heaven.

Does he see you and me on our knees worshiping the created thing and not the creator of things?

Look at Romans chapter 1 with me.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

What does he see of our lives?

A little bit of a lengthy passage, but I want you to see these words.

Verses 19 through 25.

Paul says, Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, everyone is able to see God, for God has shown it to them.

For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

Because although they knew God or knew of God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Professing to be wise, does this sound like America?

They became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image, made like corruptible man, and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

They worshiped all kinds of things.

And verse 24, therefore God also gave them up to their uncleanness in the lust of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.

Listen to this.

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator.

He, church, is worthy.

The word worth ship, worth means to be ascribed worth.

He is worthy.

Let me tell you the song of heaven, holy, holy, holy, worthy is the Lamb who was slain.

24-7.

We're gonna be singing.

There's not time in heaven, but all the time in all of eternity, holy, holy, holy, worship.

He is a worthy God.

And they were worshiping a God, small g, who was not worthy.

For y'all to see them.

A couple people told me my shoes look good.

And here's why.

As a small child, um I worked a whole summer with my mom on a newspaper route to earn the money so that I could get some Jordans.

And once I worked that whole summer and got the money that I had and realized I had enough for two pairs of shoes, I wouldn't do it.

I wouldn't buy, so I didn't have them.

Now Heather bought me a pair when we got married, but I just I knew that if I could get these shoes when I got on the basketball team, that I would jump higher, run faster, and I would be bad.

Let me see.

You know what I'm saying?

Well, imagine if you will, I got these shoes, and Michael Jordan comes to my house.

And Michael Jordan starts talking to me, and I interrupt him.

I said, MJ, you see the shoes?

He's like, Yeah, yeah, I see them, Rick.

And we go on to talk, and I interrupt him.

I guess I said, MJ, MJ, how awesome do I look in these shoes?

And he's like, Yeah, those are great.

Yeah, awesome.

And he goes, he continues talking, and I said, MJ, MJ, you you want to see me shoot with the shoes?

You want to see me shoot?

And MJ's like, what?

What are we talking about here?

And you're like, Pastor Rick, MJ was in your house, and you missed it.

The creator of all things wants to be in your life, and you can miss him.

Look at verse 5 and 6 with me.

Second point this morning is this the grief of a mighty wrath.

In the same hour, the fingers of a man had uh 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.

So the hand of God writes a message.

And listen to this.

Don't miss what's happening here.

King Belshazzar went from full of spirits to losing his spirit.

Y'all with me?

And it says, and the king's countenance changed.

I guess so.

Right?

You see a hand come out of a wall and starts writing.

Don't you think your face would have changed?

The next line, it's funny what scripture says, the next line, and and his thoughts troubled him.

Yeah.

Me too.

In other words, Belshazzar loses it, right?

Dell Davis commented this way.

He said, God brought him into almost instant sobriety.

His lower body began to lose strength.

This is spooky, right?

Like if you were just standing somewhere and a hand comes out, pops out of a wall, he's looking around, probably wiping his eyes.

Said, Woo, this Jack Daniels is strong this time.

Woo! The ESV said this the knots of his loins were loosed.

I'm not gonna tell you the Greek of that.

Then it says his knees were just knocking.

Heather and I, uh, while we were dating, she had a friend named Amber who was staying at her house.

We went out, had some dinner, and we came back, and she had like a half-mile road, long driveway.

I mean, it was in the woods, woods, this place in Wharton, Virginia.

I mean, just away from everything, this old farmland area.

And so we make a plan when we get done dinner.

Let's go scare Amber.

So we park way down the drive and we sneak up, and we can see Amber through the window.

So we sneak around the back of the house, and right next to the couch where she is sitting, there is a glass door.

And so we make our plan and everything, and we go up, and I just kind of make some noise.

I smack the window and we see Amber.

She happens to be sitting there alone in the house with a big butcher knife.

And she picks up the knife.

And so the next thing I make a few more noises, and she's just sitting there.

And you could tell she's getting worked up.

Heather got bird's eye view, can see it all.

And next thing I do, I slam my hand across the glass of this door and just scratch across, and she lets out the biggest blood curdling stream.

A little tear comes down her eye.

And I'm like, listen, I'm gonna tell you right now, if there wasn't a door between me and Amber, I'd be standing here before you dead today.

She'd have had me.

Right?

This is Belshazzar, just petrified at seeing a hand come out of a wall.

But what about this hand?

Letter A, God's word about fingers.

What about it?

What was the sign?

What was the what was the statement that was made?

What did he need to hear?

Well, look at verses 10 through 12.

God's word about fingers.

It's interesting, he calls all the Chaldeans.

Nobody can obviously interpret.

The Chaldeans are pretty sorry bunch on interpreting dreams and visions so far in the first five chapters of Daniel, if you're with me.

And they never come through, and it's always Daniel.

So listen to what happens.

The queen, because of the words, verse 10, of the king and his lords, came to the banquet hall.

The queen spoke, saying, O king, live forever.

Do not let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your countenance change.

There is a man in your kingdom, and who 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.

Inasmuch as an excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding, interpreting dreams, solving riddles, and explaining enigmas were found in Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar.

Now let Daniel be called, and he will give the interpretation.

So a couple of things about this.

The queen was there.

She comes in and she comes in to comfort.

And she says, There's a man that you need to know about.

We're going to call on this man.

And a few things about Daniel that I want you to see, three things.

He had an excellent spirit is the first thing.

They had to find a man that could interpret the finger painting.

And the queen said, I know a man.

Now most believe, commentators believe, that this was Belteshazzar's mother, that this wasn't his wife.

But it was known from her that Daniel was a man of excellent spirit.

Daniel, now on his fifth or sixth king, has a reputation, hear me, that's been unchanged year after year, king after king.

He has this past.

And here are the words there is a man, Belshazzar, in whom is the spirit of the Holy God.

Church, are you hearing that?

Wouldn't that be the testimony of you and I?

I hope one day, as my wife has a need that she comes across, that she will say, Oh, don't worry.

There's a man I know.

If in him is the spirit of the holy God, oh, I hope that when my kids get in an uproar, that my wife will say to my kids, Don't worry, kids, because your daddy, you see, is a man whom the spirit of the holy God is in.

I hope that my church one day somebody has a problem, and my legacy is that they will say, Oh, there's a man with an excellent spirit, and in him is the spirit of the holy God.

Don't you want that to be your testimony?

Don't worry, my dad knows God.

My pastor knows God.

It's my sincere desire.

If I'm to be known for anything with my legacy in life, that there would be a man in whom's an excellent spirit.

Don't you want to be steadfast like Daniel?

That we could be like Daniel.

Well, look at verse 16 and 17.

I want you to see something.

Daniel had an excellent spirit.

He also was eager to serve.

So they bring Daniel in.

And here's what the king says.

And I have heard of you that you can inter you can give interpretations and explain enigmas.

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 third ruler in the kingdom.

And Daniel says to him, Let your gifts be for you, king, or for someone else, and give your wars to another.

Yet I'll read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation.

Daniel's ready to serve.

Belshazzar, it seems, maybe has not previously met Daniel.

I've heard of your gifting, he says, and he makes him an offer.

Did you see the offer?

He says, I'll give you purple clothes and a gold chain to put around your neck.

Daniel said, Nah, I'm okay.

I don't want to look like Razor Ramon from WWE.

He said, Keep your stuff.

I'm glad to serve no charge, but it goes deeper.

Then he offers him a promotion.

Daniel can't help but be promoted.

Listen to me.

All he continues to do with his time in Babylon, listen, this is all he does.

He serves God, uses his gift, and boy, does promotion find him.

Somebody here needed to hear today.

I said he served God and uses the gift that God gave him.

And he couldn't avoid being promoted wherever he went.

We need to work hard, church.

Colossians 3.23 says, Work heartily as unto God and not unto man.

Are you working hard?

Well, he was eager to serve, and then lastly, he was ready to exclaim sin.

This boldness is awesome.

Look at verse 20 through 23.

So before he gives the full interpretation, Daniel sees his opportunity upon him to preach.

And this is what he does.

Verse 20.

But when his heart was lifted up, he's talking about Nebuchadnezzar, and his spirit was hardened in prime, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him.

Then he was driven from the sons of men.

His heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was like wild donkeys that fed him with grass and oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till he knew the most high God rules the kingdom of men.

And he appoints over it whom he chooses.

I want you to hear that line again.

And appoints over it whomever he chooses.

God has not lost control of the country that we live in today.

He appoints over it whom he chooses.

But you, his son Belthazzar, have not humbled your heart.

Although you knew all this about Nebuchadnezzar.

You've lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven.

They have brought the vessels of his house before you.

You, your lords, your wives, your concubines, they've drunk wine from them, and you've praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see, hear, or know you.

And the God who holds your very breath in his hands and owns all your ways, him you don't glorify.

So Daniel gets pretty preachy here.

Hadn't interpreted anything yet, by the way.

He just tells him like he sees it.

And I love this about Daniel.

Tells him, listen, the pride has gone a long way.

And this worshiping of money and idols and gold, this is not something to be worshipped.

These things don't know you.

None of these things that people idolize know or love you like God.

There's a God in heaven who is a part of your creation.

Psalm says, Before you were in your mother's womb, he had a purpose and a plan for you and a book.

And he knows and he loves you.

He cares about the thoughts in your head.

And yet we bow our knees.

Spending all kind of life over the party instead of purpose.

No response.

This is what we see from Belshazzar.

There's no response at this time.

Look at verse 24 through 26.

Then the fingers of the hand were sent from him, and this writing was written.

And this is the inscription that was written.

This is what was on the wall.

Mini, meanie, tekel, you parson.

This is the interpretation of each word Daniel gives to him.

God has numbered your kingdom and finished it.

Tekle, you have been weighed in the balances, you have been found wanting, Paris.

Your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

And so he talks to him about the interpretation.

Of course, the Chaldeans couldn't translate, and here's what he says the grand jury of heaven has come together with a four-point indictment against Belshazzar.

He says, You've been numbered, you've been numbered, you've been divided, and you've been weighed, and you have been found wanting judgment.

Belshazzar has arrived.

Now hear me, church.

God is slow to wrath.

And we know nothing, nothing of the patience of his mercy.

The Bible says his mercies are new every morning.

Great is his faithfulness.

But hear me.

Don't leave saying, well, it doesn't really matter what I can do because of the grace of God.

His wrath must be satisfied.

And his wrath is white hot against our sin.

He hates that sin separates us.

He can't look on sin.

And so we are separated and it must be satisfied.

And let me tell you, he's made every way for his wrath to be satisfied.

He sent Jesus Christ, his son, the sacrificial lamb, for satisfaction against his wrath.

He's made every way.

And if you continually reject Jesus Christ, there is a day of judgment.

He made a way.

But if you are, as they say, hell-bent, he made a way.

You might have to climb over his nail-scarred feet and hands.

But if you manage to do so, he'll release you to your choice.

2 Corinthians 6 2 says, This now is the day of salvation.

But there's going to come a day and a time where mercy and grace will have been exhausted.

Belshazzar chose party over purpose, and it was a wasted life.

Daniel gave him quite a sermon.

He was preaching his heart out to what exactly just happened.

It just happened.

He just seen this hand.

He had every sign and he told him, This is your sin.

And the altar call came, and Belshazzar said, Nothing.

No response.

Zero.

He was not repentant.

Nothing changed.

And then I'm gonna tell you, there's scripture where God lays out his plan of wrath.

I was sharing about the book of Joel to serve team this morning.

God shares his plan of wrath.

And then people fasted and then they prayed, and God changed his route.

Hezekiah asked for 15 more years of living, and God changed his route because of prayer.

Now his wrath is hot.

But he's so patient and wants a man to change.

He said, Daniel said this, hear this line again.

The God who holds your breath in his hands and owns you, you've not glorified.

Are you hearing that, church?

He holds your breath and he owns you.

Have you glorified him?

Crickets was the response from Belshazzar.

As a result, third point this morning is this the grief of a miserable death.

Verse 29 through 31.

Then Belshazzar, this is his response.

I don't know what we get from him, if he's just dried up, if he's angry or what, but it the response, Daniel didn't even want the stuff, but then Belshazzar gave the command, and they clothed Daniel with the purple and the chain anyway.

And he made a proclamation concerning him that he should be third ruler in the kingdom.

He received Daniel's knowledge.

He received the interpretation, he gives him the rewards.

There's a gap in my Bible.

There's a gap.

And I wish that gap said something else right there.

And then Belshazzar fell on his knees like Nebuchadnezzar.

Nothing.

It's just blank.

That very night, Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain.

And Darius to Mead received the kingdom, being about 62 years old.

The grief of a miserable death.

Letter A is this death in a sudden haste.

That very night, Belshazzar's faith in man-made systems, his faith in the towers of Babylon, his faith in the armies of Babylon, his faith in the guards of Babylon, his faith in the beauty, the soldiers, the force that was Babylon was lost in haste.

There's people that you might know today, but their faith is misplaced in so many things.

Hear me, Belshazzar was a man of faith.

It was greatly misplaced.

There's many today that have placed their faith and trust in government, in country.

And hear me, I love America.

I think America is the most free country that we can worship freely.

And I'm so thankful for being able to say that I grew up in this place.

But we don't place our faith and trust in nation.

Blessed is the nation, Scripture said, Whose God is the Lord.

Whose God is the Lord.

That's where there is blessing.

It's purpose over party.

There's a second subtle thing you need to hear here.

You know, it's November and next year, about this time, purpose over party.

God is not concerned so much with party.

He's concerned with his blessing or not his blessing.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.

God was not interested in making a fuss of Babylon.

He didn't care about Babylon and making a big deal about that place.

This is the four, fifth, sixth king in the story.

God says, I'll use that one, I'll move this one, and just the chess pieces on the board.

Proverbs 21, 1 says, The heart of the king is in the hand of God who moves it whithersoever he wants.

Romans 13, church, you need to hear this.

One, two says, No authority is in place except that which God has established.

There's a lot of negativity in the land when it comes to politics.

Let me tell you the Christian's job.

It's your job, my job to pray.

Have you prayed for your president?

Have you prayed for your Congress?

I know.

There's a lot of negative comments.

Have you prayed for the salvation of people?

There's enough.

Hear me, please, Christians.

There's enough negativity without Christians jumping in.

And can we be the ones that say, let me just let's just pray for them?

Let's just stop and pray for the president right now.

Let's stop and pray for those people right now.

There's enough negativity.

Can't they walk away from a Christian saying, wow, nobody's ever said that to me?

Huh?

It's purpose over party.

Christians, our job is to stand in the gap, be faithful, and be positive and prayerful, knowing in a breath, God can turn it in a breath.

That's what Daniel's message was.

He owns your breath, and in a breath, in a haste, it can be changed.

Oh, Belshazzar was feasting it up 24 hours ago, partying with thousands.

And God said, His reign is over.

In a haste.

God is working his plan and purpose throughout the ages, church.

Belshazzar was an example.

And he was the fulfillment of the prophecy in Daniel chapter 2.

Daniel 2 · chapter mention

I don't know if you realize that.

The dream that the king had about Babylon being up here in its golden head, and then silver was coming.

The Persian Medes were coming, and here it happens in Daniel's time.

The interpretation of the dream happens before his eyes.

Darius the Mead becomes king.

I bet Daniel said, Whew! I knew it.

God said it, he did it.

Babylon's power was taken in a haste by Darius and the Persian in a haste.

Belshazzar was taken in a haste.

Church, Hebrews 9.27 says this, it is appointed unto man once to die.

Not many are looking for it today, and it's not fun to talk about, but I want to tell you it's the job of this pulpit to ready hearts for eternity.

Death is probably going to come in a haste.

You probably won't be ready for death.

Belshazzar wasn't ready.

He went from a drunken feast to a funeral.

Just came like that.

Now I say you might not be ready for the moment.

You might not be ready, but you can be prepared.

I'm gonna talk about that in a moment.

You can be prepared.

But what happened to Belshazzar, death in a sudden haste, letter be death in a sinner's hell.

That gap between verse 29 and 30 haunts me because Belshazzar died that day.

And what was said to him, the message that was given to him before his funeral, thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting, you're found lacking.

You need Jesus.

He said, You're found in lack.

Did he regret giving Daniel a necklace instead of bowing his knee to the Lord?

Belshazzar died and he went to hell and he's still there today.

Hell is real and it's eternal.

Why didn't Belshazzar repent?

He heard the truth.

He saw a sign and he did not act.

Why didn't he repent?

He went to hell church and hell is awful.

It's horrifying.

I don't want anyone here today to go to hell.

Why didn't he repent?

Today we may leave, and the next step might be do this, do that, get ready for the week.

Why wouldn't you repent?

Why would you leave here without repenting?

He had heard of the Hebrew God.

He had seen with his own eyes, heard the story of family members and the hand of God.

He was warned and he did nothing.

He wasted life.

He died and he went to hell.

John 11.

I said you might not be ready, but you can be prepared.

Jesus said this.

I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live.

And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.

Do you believe?

You can be prepared.

No person in this room has to die without Jesus Christ.

You may have Jesus Christ, you don't have to live another day.

Without him.

He wants to be just as close to you as a brother.

You can know him, Christian, and you can know him more.

You don't have to go to hell without him.

John 3.16 said, For God so loved the world that he gave, he gave the answer.

His only begotten Son, that whosoever believed in him would not perish but have eternal life.

You're here today.

And I want to tell you, this is a salvation plea.

If you've never acknowledged him as Lord and Savior and received him into your heart, you need to be saved today.

Today.

Don't be like Belshazzar and hear the message.

Know what you have to do and do nothing.

Don't waste another day.

Don't waste your life.

John Piper famously shared this illustration that I'm going to share in closing.

There's a lady named Ruby Eliason and a lady named Laura Edwards who were tragically, or maybe not so tragically, you make a distinction, killed in Cameroon.

Ruby was over 80.

She was single all her life and poured her life out, nursing and finding places where she could make Jesus known in the most remote places on planet Earth, unreached places.

Laura Edwards, her friend, who was pushing 80 herself, decided to join in on this mission late in life.

A medical doctor in her retirement.

Village to village, all through Cameroon.

They're driving one day, and the brakes gave way in the car, and they went off a cliff into eternity.

Was that a wasted life?

Was that a tragedy?

He shared this.

Bob and Penny took early retirement from their jobs in Northeast five years ago.

When Bob was 59 and Penny was 51.

They now live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball, and collect seashells.

Day after day, they graze along the shores looking to add to their marvelous collection of shells.

At the last chapter before you are at the feet of the Lord, the creator of the universe, to give an account what you did.

Here it is, Lord.

Look at my seashell collection.

I started it at 51.

Isn't it grand?

Church, which one is a tragedy?

That an 80-year-old flew off a cliff and their wings took them straight to heaven before their king as they've been doing all they could for him.

Or 30, maybe 40 years of living.

Spent for what?

God has a purpose for your life.

The world needs your gift.

All Daniel did.

He was steadfast and he gave his gift.

And he couldn't help it.

He kept getting promoted through life.

It's purpose over party.

We're excited you joined us for today's message.

Our heart is to connect with others in our community, to grow with one another, and build a bigger kingdom.

If you accepted Jesus today, we want to hear about it.

Take a moment and text CCW Connect to 94,000.

Thank you again for joining us on the CCW podcast.

We hope you'll make plans to join us in person on Sundays.