Sermon Tone Analysis

We continue our studies in Daniel as we turn to chapter 5 and invite you to follow along as i read just part of this chapter.

These chapters are long and so we will not try to cover too much at one time.

Then the came in and reminded King Belshazzar about Daniel, and HE summoned him, and this is what he said to the king.

Daniel 5:22-31)

Let us pray:

“Father this is Your word and you know the end from the beginning.

We ask You this evening, to teach us what we know not, make us what we are not, and may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight oh God My Lord and my Redeemer, in Jesus Holy name I pray Amen.”

Well as we come to chapter 5 let me say a couple of things by way of introduction.

If you come at these chapters failing to realize the purpose of the author, which is to say again and again and again the same thing, THAT GOD IS IN CHARGE OF THE WHOLE UNIVERSE AND YOU CAN TRUST HIM.

Then you will fail to realize that here in chapter 5 we are dealing with a different King.

The King Daniel has been dealing with was king Nebuchanezzar he was the King who had several dreams and refused to submit to God as the one and only God of Heaven, and God humbled him and caused him to become a mad man, then God restored Nebuchanezzar and his kingdom.

But now in chapter 5 were dealing with his son, Belshazzar and there is probably a gap between chapter 4 and chapter 5 of some 30 years.

It is clear that the author is choosing to take this instance in the life of this king to encourage the readers, in the fact that God is able to do in one moment what men cannot do in ten thousand years on his own.

Here we have King Belshazzar and the judgement of god falls on Belshazzar and that judgment is swift and secure.

In these opening verses what I want you to see is this:

The King does his thing:

So here we have Belshazzar having a great feast and drinking wine in front of the massive crowd which had gathered.

This speaks of lewdness and drunkenness these guys werent just sitting around sipping wine coolers, the word used here is the word for “strong drink” that means they were getting hammered.

Drunkenness is a sin before God Himself, and they are not giving God one second thought as they have their drunken feast.

Even though it is God who gives them permission to keep breathing.

What we find here is while Belshazzar has this great feast he is essentially showing off.

Thiis is why verse 1 says he drank wine “in front of the thousand”

He was making a display.

As he egins to tie one he suggests that the treasury should bring the vessels of gold and silver out of where they have been stored in order for them to use them!

So not only is Belshazzar mocking God with his own life, he takes it up a notch when he sends for these items because, they were stolen from the temple of God Himself, when the Babylonians sieged Jerusalem.

This guy is really pushing it.

God will not be mocked!

People live their lives never thinking of God or what desires from them and then they come in and try to ruin the people of God and mock His house, or take from Him… God help them.

God help king Belshazzar

He goes even further he takes these object and begins to toast false gods that cannot see, speak, or hear.

Daniel 5:4

What we really have the record of is Belshazzar leading his people in proclaiming this is what we think of the god of the Jews.

These little things we stole from his temple mean nothing to us because He means nothing to us!

So we will use the symbols that you use in worship of Him and we will use them to make a toast to our “gods”, the moon god, and the sun god, and all the others we have.

Not alot has changed has it?

People still gather together and host their proud parties to celebrate their achievments, without realizing that the God who made them is the God who holds their breath in His hands.

So the King does his thing… then

The Kings Color Changed

Those who walk in pride God is able to humble, and that is what God is doing now.

Daniel 5:5

One minute he is the great king bring the vessels from the temple lets toast the idols, and the next minute he is a quivering mess in front of his crowd.

Daniel 5:7

Its amazing that after all this time these kings would have learned that these magicians know NOTHING!

These astrologers know NOTHING!

I mean his father did this… 3 times!

Human wisdom cannot understand the things of God! Nebuchanezzar finally learned this, God would do something then these co called wise men didn’t know what to do and guess what happens here?

The same thing

Daniel 5:8

Man is his foolishness turns again and again to the wisdom of fools.

it doesn’t sound very nice because it offends us, but it is exactly what Paul says when he goes into Corinth.

Corinth a proud and noble city with great leadership, and so on.

All kinds of spectacular buildings and things like that and he calls out and he says...

1 Corinthians

Man is confronted by his own frailty when somehow the handwriting is on the wall, whatever that may be, and he reaches out again and again to the same places he went before.

Only to find out that it is completely empty.

Men keep running to things which are not capable to satisfy the needs of their own souls, and then coming up thirsty crying out as their lives seem to be in ruins and yet they run right back.

The only way to free someone from that madness is to confront them with the foolishness of the gospel.

COME FIND FREEDOM IN SURRENDER

COME BE A SLAVE AND BE FREE

COME AND DIE SO THAT YOU MIGHT LIVE

COME SERVE OTHERS THAT YOU MIGHT BE A LEADER

COME and GIVE THAT YE MIGHT RECEIVE

The gospel is completely upside down to the carnal fleshly heart.

This is why people who seek to lead God’s way seem like odd balls to the rest of the lukewarm of our world today.

People cannot receive this because it hurts their feelings.

They say wait a minute, wait a minute this bothers me because your saying that i cannot fix my self… yes that’s right, your saying that I am a fool because i don’t believe in God… yes Your saying that everything I thought to be true is not true and now I must bow my knee and serve this God who I have been denying.... Yes

FORGET IT!

But for those who come

He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Well even big Kings need to listen to their wives.

Daniel 5:10-

I love how Daniel is described here.

He is described in terms of light, understanding, wisdom, knowledge, and the ability to solve problems.

He is desribed like the MEssiah!

If you read the first part of Isaiah when you read the passages about the Messiah that is to come he is described in virtually these same terms.

So when you read that the Spirit of the gods is upon this man.

She means that there was something about this man, the thing that set him apart this way, was that He served and walked closely with his God and Gods attributes flowed through Him totally.

When you refuse to compromise, when you seek Gods purposes and His purposes alone, do you know what happens?

The Spirit is fed, you learn to yield your nature to the New nature of Christ that dwells within you, and the goal of the Christian life is to become so in tune with God that when people see you, they dont see you at all, they see Jesus!

He is wisdom and might and hope, and in this man you can find the satisfcation of your soul, it is not found in a religion, it is not just expression, but it is found in a person!

The king says ok I’ll give it a try.

In other words, so your just a captive slave… do you see the arrogance here..

Here is the person who can answer the kings question and he treats him as a little nothing prisoner.

Look at Daniels response:

Here Daniel is saying you silly little boy don’t you know that I have already danced this dance before?

didn’t you learn what NOT to do from your Dad?

This is when Daniel lays the truth out for this youn ruler

Daniel 5:22-

You are guilty of pride, sacrilege, and you have chosen idolatry over honoring the God who lives.

EVEN THOUGH YOU KNEW ALL THIS Belshazzar

you cannot plead ignorance

Did you know something that should startle us to death church?

James 4:

Sin in god’s eyes is not just the bad things done, but the good things left undone.

Let us think about this in our personal lives.

Do we honor god with our thoughts?

Do we honor Him with our mouths?

Do we honor Him with our actions in private?

Daniel indicts Belshazzar and said you knew all tis and you are without excuse....

Belshazzar's view of reality was messed up before he started drinking.