God sees our sin and rebellion

Well, good morning, Church at the Grove.

Hopefully you're having a fantastic week.

My name is Nathan.

I'm one of the pastors here.

And uh man, we're so glad that you're joining us today online.

Man, today looks so different than what we were originally intending.

We were intending to fill both of our buildings up and be online, but uh COVID had other plans.

And uh now here we are again, sitting in an empty room.

But we're so glad that you're joining us online.

If it is your first time here, we would love for you to fill out our encounter card through our Church at the Grove app and just to let us know you're connecting with us.

And we'd also, if you are watching online, we'd love for you to engage.

So get connected in the chat window and let us know where you're watching from, who you are, that you're here, and uh maybe even throw out an amen every now and then if you want to.

That would be fantastic.

But again, like I said, here we are sitting in an empty room again after being back into physical gatherings since the middle of June.

And just sitting here just makes me think a little bit about movies I watched when I was growing up, movies from the 80s and 90s and even in the early 2000s that all had these kind of similar storylines.

The guy and the girl were going to get together, it was inevitable.

Um, but there was always this scene in some of those movies that there was a party scene.

And it just so happened that the parents were going to be leaving the house, and as the parents left the house, the teenager was going to say, party at my house.

The parents were going out of town on a business trip, whatever it was, and then the kids were going to throw a huge party at their house.

And there's something about that, right?

When you watch 16 Candles, when you watch Mean Girls or Pretty and Pink or Ten Things I Hate About You or Risky Business, whatever it is, when you watch those movies, there's something within us that we can identify with that.

Because deep within our heart and our soul, we have this kind of attitude to rebel against authority.

We don't want to do what we're told to do.

When there's rules and there's regulations that are put in place, oftentimes we rebel against that.

Now, I know there are some of you out there, and that's not you at all.

You try to obey every letter of the law.

You are a rule follower through and through.

But ultimately, deep within the core of who we are, we want to push back against authority rather than accepting authority in our lives.

Now, in these movies, what inevitably happened is the parents would come home early from their vacation, or the nosy neighbor would walk over, or the police would be called, and judgment would be coming down on the kids that were there at the party.

The kids would be in tremendous trouble because the party that they had thrown.

And that's the same thing in our life.

When we rebel against authority, when we rebel against the things that are going on in our lives and the people that have been put into the place of authority in our lives, then there's ultimately consequences for our actions.

I mean, just imagine if you're a parent, you understand this better than anybody.

You have kids in your house, and there's probably house rules that you have.

There's rules of maybe when they can watch TV or when they can't watch TV, or there's maybe a curfew where they have to be home from being out at a certain time.

There's rules in your house, and when your kids disobey the rules that are set in your house, there's ultimately consequences for their action.

You wouldn't be a good parent, you wouldn't be a loving mom or dad if you didn't care enough to discipline your children because they've broken the rules and the regulations that have been set up that they were called to follow.

Well, this morning we're gonna continue in the book of Daniel in this series that we've been in, and we're ultimately gonna see how God operates and how God operates a lot like a parent.

And that ultimately there are rules, there are ways that we are told that we need to live, and ways that we need to model our lives, and when we go against what God's word says, and when we disobey God, there are ultimately consequences for our actions.

What we're gonna see this morning ultimately is that God sees our sin and he sees our rebellion and brings judgment on those who refuse to repent and trust in him.

Now, this isn't an attitude, this isn't a picture of God that oftentimes we like, but it's so important for us to see.

Because just as God is all about love, God is also a God of justice, and God is also a God that has wrath, and we will see that this morning in Daniel chapter 5.

Daniel 5 · chapter mention

So if you have a Bible, you can turn to Daniel chapter 5, or you can follow along on the screen.

Daniel 5 · chapter mention

But we've been going through this series in the book of Daniel, and it's been an incredible series for us so far.

We've kind of learned this incredible history lesson of who Daniel was and how he was a man that was re able to remain faithful in the midst of a faithless culture.

I mean, against all odds, he continued to stand strong in his faith and to paint a picture of what a true follower of God looks like.

Now, just to kind of catch you up a little bit with the story, if you haven't been tracking along with us, Daniel and his friends, they're from Israel.

And Nebuchadnezzar is the evil king of Babylon, and he comes over and he takes over the nation of Israel, and he deports a lot of the young people, a lot of people of nobility, and he deports them to the nation of Babylon.

Now, even in Babylon, Daniel and his friends remain faithful to the one true God, the God of Israel, and they don't bow down to the Babylonian gods or worship their practices.

So Daniel's remained faithful his entire life.

Now, when he first came to Babylon, he was a young teenager, but now in this story, he's going to be probably in his late 70s, early 80s.

This is 60 or so years later, after he first comes to Babylon.

So a great amount of time has passed by, and about 20 years from the previous chapter that we looked at last week.

Nebuchadnezzar, who has been the kind of antagonist for the whole story so far, is no longer in power.

And his grandson has now taken the throne and is leading the nation of Babylon.

Now, Belshazzar is a young guy, 16 or so years old, and he's been given the keys to the kingdom.

He's been given everything that you could possibly imagine.

Anything he wants is at his disposal.

And here he is now with the keys to the kingdom, able to do whatever he wants.

And like you and like me, what does he do?

He does exactly like the 80s and 90s movies.

He throws a huge party.

Look what it says in Daniel chapter 5, verse 1.

Daniel 5:1

It says, King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand.

So it's not just a little small party with some friends that are coming over, but this is a huge party.

And what we'll find out in a second is this was not like a state dinner.

This wasn't like everybody dressed in their best tuxedos and nightgowns, and they came and sat around the tables, and there was classical music playing, and there was, you know, nice formal dancing that was happening after dinner.

That is not the scene that's unfolding.

But instead, the party that we're talking about in this story is a party of pure wickedness and debauchery.

I mean, here you have Belshazzar, and he's throwing this huge party, and it would have been more like a rager.

I mean, it would have been keg stands and beer pong and people passed out in the corner and clothes coming off.

I mean, this would have been, you know, what you would see in any maybe teen kind of movie in this scene and how it's unpla playing out.

Here he is, this young guy having all the power in the world and throwing this massive, massive party.

Then in verse 2, it says, Belshazzar, when he was tasting the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple of Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines might drink from them.

Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, drank from them.

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

So this is what we're seeing unfold here.

That he's getting this big head.

He wants to impress all of his guests.

Some estimate that there were upwards of 15,000 people at this party, and he wants to impress his guests.

And so what does he do?

Well, he remembers a story of when his grandfather had attacked Israel, that he raided the temple, and he took out the holy vessels of God, these items that were used in the worship of the one true God.

And so he remembers that there's these vessels, these drinking glasses, and so he goes and he gets them out of storage and he brings them and he starts to use them in the feast.

And so they're drinking wine and they're getting drunk with the wine and using these vessels in an unholy manner.

So they're using the holy things that were set apart to worship the one and only God for a secular purpose in their wickedness and in their debauchery.

And God is going to show us in a second that that crosses the line.

Much like you and your family, you probably have a breaking point.

I know that in our family, like after you're at home with our kids for an extended amount of time, it can be a little bit of a heartbreaking situation where your kids can just be at each other's throat.

Like one moment, they're sweet and they're nice and everything's awesome, but let's just be honest, those moments are far and few between.

Normally they're fighting, they're bickering, they're hitting each other, there's things being thrown.

We're having to get on to them over and over and over, going to timeout, getting pops, whatever it is.

Um, and then eventually at six or seven o'clock in the evening, after you've had a day's worth of them going back and forth at each other, eventually you're at your breaking point, right?

And and you maybe yell, you maybe scream, you maybe do something that you don't want to do, or you say something you don't want to say.

Maybe you send kids to room and to their rooms, and that's where they have to be the rest of the night.

But you just kind of hit your breaking point.

There's a line and they've crossed it and you're over it, right?

Well, God is going to see in a second that this is taking everything too far.

God's been patient with the Babylonians so far.

He's been patient, he's used them, he's given them opportunities to repent and to turn towards him.

But now they're using and they're mocking him in their use of the holy vessels, and God's going to put an end to it in just a second.

But you got to think about how wicked and evil this is.

This would be like you driving by one of our campuses and you're seeing tons and tons of cars that were in the parking lot.

And as you pulled into the parking lot and you came inside, you saw people using the holy things of God in an unholy manner.

You know, where the baptismal pool where we baptize people and we celebrate life change has been turned into a hot tub.

You know, the communion, wine, and bread that we eat and we remember the death of Jesus and how he sacrificed for us is being used in an unholy manner.

The altar where people come and get prayer and get prayed for is being used in an unholy manner with all kinds of wickedness being done on it.

I mean, imagine the holy things of God, the things that were set apart being used in an unholy way, and what a slap in the face that is of God.

And so God shows up in this moment.

God shows up and he shows himself in this moment.

But this ultimately, this scene unfolding here, shows us just how wicked our hearts truly are.

Belshazzar, we kind of can be harsh on him and we can be difficult with him, but think about it.

He's 16 years old, given all the power you could possibly imagine.

And we, if we were put in the same position, would probably act in a very similar way.

Sixteen-year-olds oftentimes don't make the best decisions as it is, but give them all the power, give them all the possessions, and give them all the pleasure at their disposal, and they're going to quickly run from the things and the ways of God.

And that's ultimately one truth that we can see in the scriptures this morning is that power, possession, and pleasure can quickly push our hearts from God.

That power, possessions, and pleasure can quickly push our hearts from God.

First John talks about how there's the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of possessions.

That there's these things in our lives that typically have this way of grabbing a hold of our hearts and leading us astray and leading us away from the one true God.

Power.

Man, we see this all the time in the world and the culture that we live in today.

We're good, decent people who are just good men and women of character.

They begin to rise in the corporate ladder and they become more and more successful.

They get more and more power.

Or they go to Washington, D.C.

and they join Congress and they become lifetime politicians.

And eventually, over time, what typically happens is that power brings corruption.

And power ultimately draws the heart away from God.

But it's not just power, it's also possessions.

Man, possessions have a way of grabbing a hold of our soul and leading us away from the one true God.

When we want more, when we want nicer cars and bigger houses and more money in our bank account and the nice vacations, and there's nothing wrong with those things on the surface, but we have to be very careful at letting those things grab a hold of our lives and our hearts and our souls because they will lead us away from God and the worship of Him and Him alone.

Matthew 19 talks about this.

Matthew 19, 24 says, Jesus is saying, Hey, again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.

Why?

Because wealth and materialistic things have a way of pulling our hearts away from the one true God.

But it's not just power, it's not just possessions, it's also pleasure.

Man, it's when you have everything at your disposal and your life revolves around you living the most comfortable, uh self-fulfilling life that you possibly can, those things will lead you quickly away from the heart of God.

Man, things like alcohol and pornography and drug dependence and uh food and painkillers and a number of different things that temporarily make us feel better in the moment, but ultimately they make our heart walk farther and farther away from the one true God.

And so we can be harsh on Belshazzar and the party that he's throwing and just the immaturity that we see and his rebellion against the one true God.

But in the right place, we would probably fall in line with exactly what he is doing in this story.

We're all guilty of allowing pride to come into our lives and power, possession, and pleasure to lead us away from the heart of God.

And God has enough.

At some point in our lives, because we reap what we sow, there is judgment that is coming because of we walk away from the heart of God.

And this is what it says in verse five.

We see that God confronts sin and we should tremble when he does.

Listen to how God shows up.

Verse five.

Immediately the finger of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, opposite the lampstand, and the king saw the hand as it wrote.

Then the king's color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him.

His limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together.

So what happens?

God shows up, and he shows up in the form of a finger.

Not a hand, not an arm, not a body, just a finger, and the finger is writing on the wall.

If you've ever wondered where we got the saying, the writing's on the wall, this is where that saying comes from.

He sees the finger writing on the wall, and he sobers up really, really quickly.

When you see a finger that's writing with no body attached to it, you sober up very, very quickly in that moment.

And so he's afraid, he's deathly afraid of what this is.

Because here is the finger that etched the Ten Commandments into the stone, now confronting a wicked king in his sin.

And here we see God showing up and him being humbled.

Belshazzar being humbled in this moment.

He becomes pale.

It says his limbs gave way.

Some commentators mean that he lost control of his bodily functions.

So the guy that wanted to look cool, the one that wanted to impress all the different people that were there in his kingdom that day, is now looking foolish when God shows up.

Because no one looks cool when God shows up, because God is the one that gets all the glory and all the power and all the honor.

We are weak, he is strong, and when he shows up, everything changes.

And so here we see him show up.

So he gets so scared, he doesn't understand the writing that's been put on the wall.

And so what does he do?

He calls all the wise men together.

The things that he's continually, him and his fathers have continually gone back to are these wise men to try to get sage advice and wisdom from, and they always come up short, but yet they continue to go back to these same men, these same individuals, to try to get an interpretation for their dreams and for the writing that is now on the wall.

And so as he tells them, hey, I need to know what's written here, I need to know what the gods are saying to me, they're unable to come up with an answer.

He even throws in a prize.

He says, Listen, we'll give you the gold chain to put around your neck and the royal robe to put on your shoulders, and we'll give you the third highest command in the nation if you're able to interpret this.

And they continue to come up empty time and time again.

And God sometimes will allow us to be in the same spot where we'll go to our crutches, we'll go to try to find answers to life's problems in all the other places, and we'll ultimately come up empty because he wants us to ultimately search for him and allow him to answer the questions that we have in life.

We can try to look for answers in all the other places, but God will allow us to come up empty so that we will look to him and trust him and him alone.

So when the wise men are unable to come up with an answer in this moment, the queen mother comes in.

Now, this isn't the queen like his wife, um, but yet this is his grandmother.

This would have been Nebuchadnezzar's wife.

And so she comes walking in the door.

Now imagine if you're throwing a party like this and your great-grandmother walks in.

Like that would be pretty embarrassing, right?

Your great-grandmother walks in and sees all the debauchery and all the wickedness occurring.

Like that would be a shocking scene to say the least.

But she comes in and she's going to tell Belshazzar about a man that she remembered from years and years ago, and that man happens to be Daniel.

Look what it says in verse 10.

It says, The queen, because uh the queen, because the words of the king and his lords came into the banqueting hall, and the queen declared, O king, live forever.

Let not your thoughts alarm you or your color change.

There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods.

In the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him.

And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father's the king, made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers, because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belchazar.

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

Now I love this, because like we said, Daniel is an old man at this point.

He's lived eighty or so years on earth, and he's continued to remain faithful over the course of his eighty years here on earth.

Sixty-five of them or so are in the nation of Babylon in a faithless culture.

He's remained faithful.

And this is what it shows me.

It shows me that ultimately character counts and how you live your life matters.

Character counts and how you live your life matters.

I mean, Daniel hasn't been on the scene for 20 or so years.

I mean, he's probably in retirement somewhere.

He's out by a lake fishing, or he's got a little drink with an umbrella in it.

He's enjoying life, but yet his reputation precedes him.

He's still remembered as a man that was seen as not only righteous and holy and set apart, but he's also seen as a man that was mightily used by God.

He had incredible character and integrity, and as a result, he had an incredible impact on the nation of Babylon to where the queen remembered him decades later.

And this just is such an important thing for the world and the culture that we live in today.

We live in a culture that we're in the middle of a leadership vacuum where we don't have godly leaders, we don't have men and women of character integrity.

Those things are very, very difficult to be seen.

You look at Washington, D.C., you look at people running for office, and it's hard to find men and women of integrity and character.

And this isn't a partisan statement.

This is on both sides of the aisle: Republican, Democrat, independent, whatever party you want to name yourself, we have a leadership vacuum where there aren't men and women of character that are coming to the forefront.

And Daniel is a great example of what happens when men and women of character live their lives in such a way where their faith is not just private, but it's public.

See, when we live our five faith in a public manner, man, people begin to take notice.

Now the world wants to get us to wear our faith just in the closet, right?

Your faith is a private thing.

It's between you and God and God alone.

It's not something that you bring into the workplace, it's not something you bring into the public center or the public square.

But Daniel was someone that didn't live his life that way.

Yes, he had a private faith, a real private faith, but even more so, he lived that same faith out in a public way.

And when he did, people took notice.

Man, how would our world be different if there were men and women of character and integrity?

People that not only were living their faith in private, but showed their faith in public as well.

Man, how would our world be different?

How would people take notice?

I believe our world is hungry for men and women of character and integrity that allow their faith to be made public in the world around them.

And Daniel was definitely one of those guys.

The world is desperate for men like Daniel to stand up and to lead in the way that Daniel does.

Are you one of those leaders?

Are you someone that has your faith seen in a public way?

Are you a man of character and wisdom and honor, or are you someone that is uh is just kind of going through the motion, cutting corners, and going around the things that need to be done?

We are called to be people of character.

That's what we're being called to do.

And so Daniel's brought before the king, and as he's brought before the king, he promises, the king promises to give Daniel the same thing he's given everybody else.

He'll give him the gold chain, the purple robe, he'll put him as the third highest in the kingdom.

And I love Daniel's response.

Daniel's response to the king in verse 17 says, Daniel said to the before the king, let your gifts be for yourself and give your reward to another.

Nevertheless, I will read the written writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation.

So what Daniel says is to the king as he's standing before him, 80 years old, and says, Listen, I don't need the stuff that you have to give me.

I don't need your chains, I don't need the royal robe, I don't need to be put in a place of honor.

In other words, I have everything I need.

I'm content in life.

And I can't necessarily prove this 100%, but I think that ultimately character and contentment go hand in hand.

When we're content with where we are in life, doesn't mean that we don't want to accomplish things, doesn't mean we won't want to be ambitious, doesn't mean that we don't want to be successful in life and try hard and work hard.

But when we're content with who God is and what he has done for us and what he has given us, man, character seems to tend to follow those people that have contentment in their lives.

Because if you think about it, if you're content, then you don't need to be searching after more and more power and prestige because you're happy and you're content right where you're at, right where God's blessed you.

If you can live in such a way where you say, hey, I'm going to be faithful, and if God chooses to advance me, if God chooses to give me the promotion or to put me in a place of prominence, great.

But my job is just to remain faithful to Him.

Man, when we're content with where we're at, then we don't have to cut corners and try to climb up the corporate ladder or to get more power.

When it comes to our possessions, man, if we're content with what we have, if we're not constantly searching after more and more stuff, trying to get more and more things to thinking that they're gonna make us happy, if we're just content with what we currently have, man, then that changes our priorities.

And we're not chasing after the things of the world thinking they're gonna bring us joy because we already have joy because we're content in Christ.

Daniel was content.

He didn't need the things of this world to bring him happiness and fulfillment.

Daniel was someone that was content in who God was, and as a result, that showed in his character.

So he says, Keep your stuff, King, but I'll still give you the interpretation.

And here's the interpretation.

Daniel is the old man, the 80-year-old, coming to speak to the young teenager.

This would be a conversation much like you would expect an 80-year-old and a 16-year-old to have.

The old man is giving him a history lesson, and then we're going to hear him taking him out to the woodshed a little bit, kind of criticizing him for what he has done.

So here's what the story goes in verse 18.

O king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar, your father, kingship and greatness and glory and majesty.

And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him, whom he would he killed, and whom he kept alive, he whom he would he raised up, and whom he would he humbled.

But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened, so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him.

Verse twenty-one.

He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mankind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was like that of a wild donkey.

He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he wills.

So he kind of gives us a breakdown of what happened in chapter four.

God humbles Nebuchadnezzar, makes him roam like the beast, so that he would know who the one true God was, that he would knew that the one true God rules over mankind and places the people of power who he wants to place in power on their thrones.

It's not because of their own doing, it's because God has placed them there.

So then he turns to Belshazzar and he says, This, and you, his son Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, you haven't learned from your father's mistakes, though you knew all of this, but you have lifted up yourself again to the uh to the Lord of heaven, and the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines have drunk wine from them, and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know.

But the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways you have not honored.

Verse twenty-four.

Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this is the writing that was inscribed, and this is the writing that was put there.

Many, many Tekal Parsons.

This is the interpretation of that matter.

Many God has numbered the days of your kingdom and has brought it to an end.

Tecl, you have been weighed, and the balances are found wanting.

Peres your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

So what do we see here?

We see a repeat of what happened in chapter four.

Pride comes before destruction.

This young guy thought he had everything, thought he needed no one, thought that God was a joke, and as a result, his pride leads to his destruction.

The writing was on the wall, his kingdom was coming to an end.

God's judgment was sure.

Pride is looking down upon others.

Humility is when we look up to God in honor and gr and glory because of all that he is due.

Verse 29.

Then Belshazzar gave the command to give Daniel clothes in purple and the chains of gold to put around his neck, and a procla proclamation was made about him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom, which didn't mean much because the kingdom's about to be destroyed.

And then we see in verse 30 that that very night Belshazzar, uh, the Chaldean king was killed, and Darius uh the Medes received the kingdom about sixty-two years old.

So what happens?

There's judgment.

God says, Listen, I'm not going to be mocked.

You reap what you sow, and I see the sins of the people, and you cannot hide from me.

I see the sin in your rebellion, and I bring judgment on those who do not repent and trust in me.

This is who God is.

This is how God operates.

Now I know that this story is not the most happy story, right?

This isn't something that we like to think of God as being, as this God of just judgment, and to bring out his wrath, and to bring judgment on a nation, and to turn kingdoms over to others.

That's not the God that we like to think of.

We like to think of God as being a God of love and of grace and of compassion that's slow to anger, that's full of mercy.

And God very much is that, but at the same time, God is a God of judgment, and God is a God of wrath.

It's kind of like this.

This is the best illustration I could think of this week.

It's kind of like parents and grandparents.

We've got two kids, uh two little boys, uh Sam, who's uh five, and Ben, who is three.

And uh, you know, like I said, we've got rules in our house, and so there's certain things in our house that we don't do, and there's things that we do do.

Um, but then they go to my parents' house, Gaga and granddaddy, and they go see Gaga, and there's no rules at Gaga's house.

That's one of the great things about being a grandparent.

If you're a grandparent, you know exactly what I'm talking about, right?

You don't have to worry about the rules because you get to send them back home and have the parents deal with that.

But when they go to Gaga and granddaddy's house, uh man, they have the best time.

Why?

Because they get to eat pretty much whatever they want to, they get to watch TV as much as they want to, they get to play on iPads, they get to, you know, do whatever, she'll take them to, you know, McDonald's, they'll play on the playground, they'll go to the park.

Like they do whatever they want to when they're with Gaga and Granddaddy because they're the fun kind of grandparents, and they just want their kids, their grandkids to have fun.

And see, I think sometimes we can think of God like a grandparent and less like a father.

Because then when my kids come home from Gaga and granddaddy's house, um, it's like a holy terror.

We've got to like retrain them in the rules of our house and how we operate, and they're normally not don't have tons of sleep, and so they're irritable and angry and stuff, and so it's just a nightmare when they come home from Gaga and granddaddy's.

But we have to retrain them.

Now, we have rules in our house because we love them.

And we're trying to raise godly kids, and so we have rules and we do certain things and we don't do other things, we don't let them eat certain things, you know, all that kind of stuff as parents.

And we do that not because we hate them, but because we love them.

There's rules in our house, and when rules are broken, there's judgment, there's consequences, there's punishment for those actions.

And we do that not because we hate our kids, not because we're just mean and hard-hearted, but we do that ultimately because we love our kids.

And we want them to have a heart that's chasing after God.

We want them to have a respect for the things of God.

We want them to be people that don't make horrible decisions in their life, but instead that they would walk humbly with their God.

That's what we want for our kids.

And so we have rules and we have consequences for those rules.

And there's punishment for their actions when they disobey.

We do that because we love them.

And that's the same thing that God does.

Yes, God is a God of wrath.

Yes, God is a God that brings judgment for our sin.

But it's not because he's hateful or vengeful or just mean.

It's because our God ultimately loves us and ultimately he wants all people to leave their sin, to repent, and to trust in him and him alone.

Belshazzar maybe didn't have the story where he repented and followed the one true God.

But you and I, we have that opportunity.

The great news of the gospel, the great news about this story, and ultimately the story that we get to be a part of, is that Jesus, the Son of God, he humbled himself, became obedient to death on a cross, and then he died on that cross, taking the scorn and the wrath of God on his shoulders, taking the sin and the punishment that we ultimately deserved on his back.

And as a result, he died.

He paid the punishment that we deserve to die, and then he rose again on the third day.

And now he says that we can turn and we can trust in him for our salvation.

And when we do, we will be forgiven.

We will be made new, we will be put into new bodies and into new creation while the spirit living with inside of us will be made into a new place.

Yes, God's wrath had to be pulled, poured out because he's a holy God, and sin had to be dealt with, but Jesus has accomplished that.

So that we can walk and have a relationship with the one true God.

And so my question for you today are you someone that has trusted in Jesus to be your Lord and Savior?

Have you trusted in Him as someone that has taken away your sins and that through Him you've been able to have and become the righteousness of God?

Or is the judgment of our God going to be poured out upon you because you've yet to turn and put your faith and your trust in Jesus?

We spend eternity in one of two places.

We spend it with God or separated from the presence of God.

And separated from the presence of God is not a pretty sight.

We want all men and women to know God so that they can spend eternity with him and understand the beauty of who he is.

And so do you know him?

Have you trusted in him for your salvation?

And then finally, as we look at this story, there's the story of two men.

There's one man whose heart was led away by pride, by his power, by possessions, and by his pleasures.

And there's another man that was a man of character and integrity that was someone that was content in the situations that he found himself in.

Even though they weren't pleasant, even though they weren't perfect, he was content because he knew his God was with him.

Which category do you fall in?

What is it maybe in your life today that you need to repent of?

What is it something in your life right now that's been grabbing a hold of your heart?

Maybe it's power, maybe it's a possession, maybe it's uh maybe it's uh your pleasure, something that's gotten an addiction, just something that's wrapped around your soul that you need to repent of today.

Because I'm telling you, when we humble ourselves and when we repent, God listens, God forgives, and God brings healing.

But when we are people of pride and we don't let God step into our lives, then man, destruction is inevitable.

And so as we look at this, we are thankful for who God is, and we ask that God would make us into people like Daniel, men and women like Daniel, men of character and integrity, people that live our faith in such a public way.

And when we're wrong, we come running to God rather than having pride build up in our lives.

Will you pray with me?

Lord Jesus, I thank you so much for who you are and for all that you've done in our midst.

Lord, we thank you so much for your word and for your truth, and we thank you for incredible men like Daniel from history, Lord, that show us how to walk in such a way, Lord, where we can remain faithful even in a faithless society and a faithless world.

And Lord, I know that just for myself, Lord, that I am so easily led away by the things of this world.

It's so easy for the things of this world to grab a hold of my heart and my soul and lead me away from you.

And I can allow pride and possessions and power and pleasure, Lord, to just eat away at my soul.

And Lord, I'm sure that's true with people watching this morning, but Lord, we know that there is life in following you.

That the only way that we truly have satisfaction for our souls and contentment for our souls is when we put our faith and our trust in you and in you alone.

And so, Lord, let us do that today.

If there's someone that maybe hasn't put their faith and trust on you that's watching today, Lord, I pray that they would turn and do that now.

That they would admit that they're a sinner, that they would believe that you died on a cross for their sins and rose again on the third day, and then finally that they would confess you as their Lord and Savior.

And Lord, we know that from your word it tells us that they would be made into a new creation.

And Lord, I pray for the rest of people that are watching, that are believers, that have been walking with you.

Lord, I pray that you would reveal sins that may be lack are that are uh building up in our heart and our soul.

And Lord, that you would allow us to not let those things fester, but instead, Lord, that we would live lives of purity and we'd be willing to repent of sin and turn to you.

Lord, we love you.

We thank you again for this morning, for your word and for your truth.

And it's in your name we pray.