The Writing On The Wall | Daniel 5 | May 31st, 2026

A thousand-person party. Stolen holy vessels turned into drinkware. A ruler so sure of himself he celebrates while an enemy army sits outside the gates. Then the music dies when a human hand starts writing on the wall in the brightest part of the room, and everyone sobers up at once.

We open Daniel 5 and follow the story of King Belshazzar’s pride, panic, and sudden downfall. The king calls in every wise man he can find, but no one can help until the queen remembers Daniel, an older, forgotten servant of God who still carries clarity, courage, and spiritual backbone. Daniel refuses the king’s rewards, tells the truth about Nebuchadnezzar’s warning, and names the real issue: “You knew all this,” but you would not humble your heart.

We also slow down on the meaning of the message: numbered, weighed, divided. It’s a sober reminder that our lives are not self-owned, and that judgment isn’t about a lack of information but about ignored light. At the same time, we connect the warning to the hope of the gospel: we don’t stand before God with a list of accomplishments, we stand with the grace of Jesus Christ, the one who carries what we cannot.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel chapter 5, which is on page 742 in the Pew Bibles, and follow along as I read God's word. I'll give you a minute to turn there. King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand. Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in 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

Daniel 5 Read Aloud

SPEAKER_01 1:33

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. Immediately the fingers 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. The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, whoever reads this writing and shows me its interpretation shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. This is the word of the Lord.

Will Hawk 2:26

Amen. Thank you, Tiff. Appreciate it. Well, guys, welcome, welcome. If you are new to Midry, we're super excited you're here. We typically work through books of the Bible. You have uh showed up on a Sunday where we're in the middle of the book of Daniel. Let me just give you a 20-second orientation. We are now putting our eyes on what is going to be the last king of Babylon. Daniel and a bunch of his buddies were kidnapped from their homes. They were dragged to Babylon, and they have made homes in a nation that doesn't love them, that is against them, that is opposed to their way of life and is opposed to their God. And yet they keep becoming the main character of the story, not just in the Bible, but in history as well. And what we read about today is one of the biggest parties you

The Biggest Party In Scripture

Will Hawk 3:15

are going to read about in all of Scripture. If you want to grab the notes for today's uh sermon, they're right there. Feel free to grab those with your phone, scan the QR code, and you can see if I'm on time, off time, running ahead or running behind while I'm preaching. So I was thinking about a party this big. When I was a kid, one of the biggest things you had to figure out for your birthday is who was going to make the list. And usually your parents said, you can have this many people because we're paying for the trampoline part or we're paying for water whiz, if any of you guys remember that. And it's a certain amount per head. So you get 18 friends. That's it. And then you would sit down and you would make your birthday list. And some people were obvious who were gonna make it. Some people were less obvious. Some people you were debating, do they bring good gifts? Do they not bring good gifts? And you know it's true. Like, you know that happens. This king has a party for a thousand people. And these people are referred to in scripture as lords. This is one of the biggest parties in all of scripture. And it stops as abruptly as a frat party happening and the cops pulling up. This is one of the closest things that I've only had this happen in my life one time where a party that big stopped that abruptly, and it was not at a frat house, and I wasn't drinking. So hold. I'll be honest, that would be better than what actually happened. Uh, I was at a party for children, like I don't know, five, six, seven-year-olds, and we were on base. So, military folks, I don't know where we were, but I was on base, and there was a huge play place with like a McDonald's indoor play place times a thousand, and the kids are having a good time and blah, blah, blah. And then all of a sudden, one of the children run out of Tube City, I'll call it, and they go, Somebody pooped in the playplace. And somebody had. They were having too much fun. They didn't want to stop having fun. So they had gone to the bathroom and not come out all the way through Tube City. And children are running out, and grandmas are clutching their pearls, and moms are like wiping Clorox wipes on their kids' faces, trying to get them. That party was roaring, and then game over. Like that was it. That is how this plays out. They're having a blast, and then all of a sudden, the vision of a human hand just starts etching forwards on a wall, and everything stops. Now you may be thinking, Will, this does not seem like something that is going to relate to my life. Good luck. Challenge accepted. This is one of the best parts of the Bible. You read it, you study it, it always applies because that is how God has preserved it for us. So let's just take a look very quickly. This is what was already read. And one of the things that I want you to realize is who is being introduced. Nebuchadnezzar is gone. We've been hanging out with Nebuchadnezzar for about four chapters, and now all of a sudden, there is a new king there. And this king will be the last king in Babylon. Now we should have known that because in Daniel 2, there is this vision of a statue, and the head was represented by what metal? Bonus points at the camp store? Gold. And that was going to be Babylon. Well, Nebuchadnezzar is gone, uh, and this kingdom was only gonna last for another 50 to 65 years or

Babylon’s Last King And A Promise

Will Hawk 6:58

so. And so Daniel, check this out, this is just so cool. Daniel is about to watch the words that he had said just a couple of chapters ago come to fruition right in front of him. Now that may not sound like a big deal, but have you ever felt like the Lord told you something and you're just waiting to see it play out in real life? And you don't know if it's gonna happen in a week or in a year or in a decade. You are going to read the story. We are gonna read the story today of God making a promise to a man, and then that man holding faithful until God did exactly what he said he would do. And Daniel gets to watch God's promise unfold right in front of him. And that statue's head is about to roll. So this hand appears, and the king called loudly, bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, the astrologers. And the king declared to the wise men of Babylon, whoever can read this and interpret it, I'm gonna hook them up. They're gonna be clothed in purple. That was a big deal. Let's find a little bit of bling for them. We'll put it around their neck, and they are gonna become number three. I don't know who number two is. I don't. But they will become number three in the whole kingdom. Now, if you haven't been hanging out with us for a few weeks, ignore this question. Make it rhetorical. If you have been reading Daniel with us, I have what I think is a very simple question. Once again, we have a king having a vision, and he starts yelling, bring all the wise men so they can tell me what happens. Does anybody want to guess what happens next? Anyone want to guess? They can't figure it out, so who do they call? Daniel. Yes, thank you, Q. Daniel is going to make an appearance. The king calls loudly, and then verse 8: all the king's wise men came in. They couldn't read the writing, they can't make known to the king the interpretation. These guys stink at their job. Like we have yet to see him pull it off one time in the book of Daniel. Like, even in uh Exodus, when Moses is standing before Pharaoh, uh, Moses throws down a staff and it turns into a snake. I don't know how they did it, okay? But the other magicians in Egypt, they throw their staffs down and they turn into snakes. At least it's like, all right, we've got a spiritual battle here. Like these dudes should constantly be losing their jobs. They should be going under review. They never pull this stuff off. And so they come in, they can't do it. But something's different this time. They don't call for Daniel, not immediately, because nobody knows to. The Queen declared, oh king, live forever. That is not going to happen. Let not your thoughts alarm you, they should, or your color change, it ought. There is a man in your kingdom. Pause. As I read this about Daniel, it is important that you know this. The argument can be made that for those of you who have repented of your sins and trusted in Christ, who have received the Spirit of God, that you have more access to the Spirit of God than what we read Daniel having. We live on the other side of the cross, we live on the other side of the grave, we live on the other side of Pentecost. We know more than Daniel could dare dream to know, even though he does. So when I read this, Christian, just know this is what the Spirit of God would want to be read of you. And I don't mean that in a condemning way, like, come on, Christian, lean it. What I'm telling you is this is what God has for you, calls you to. This is available to you. There is a man, there is a woman in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. Four times in two chapters, Daniel is referred to this way. This is a man whose soul, whose mind, whose hearts, whose affections, they are intoxicated by the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the God of gods, he has been changed spiritually, and this guy is different. In the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him. This is the first time that phrase has been used of Daniel. He's just filled with light. In a world that didn't have electronic lights, in a world where when the sun sets, things get scary because other stuff prowls around making noises. In a world where darkness is the norm, both of the heart, of the mind, and of the environment, Daniel is different. He's filled with light, he's filled with understanding. Wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, watch this, your father, the king, made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, astrologers, because, Christian, I'm still talking about you here, an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding. Now let's get just to Daniel. He's able to interpret dreams, and now his job description has expanded. He can also explain riddles. He can also solve problems. All of that is found in Daniel, whom the king named Beltishes are. Now, Achilles, right? Here we go again. Let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation. I'm moving very quickly, by the way. I don't usually do this. I'm jogging through the text, making just a couple little comments, and at the end, I'm gonna say this is what I think we need to wrestle with. Just keep jogging with me. Daniel is about to be called, but here's my question: Why did the queen have to remind the king about him? Okay, does anybody else find that bizarre? Daniel is the guy who has solved problems, answered riddles, interpreted dreams. Whenever a king is nervous, you call Daniel out. And now we have this new king, Belshazzar. And he is terrified. And he doesn't know what to do. He just starts screaming, hey, smart people, come in, tell me what's going on. And the queen remembers. Now you will note, I underlined it twice, but it happens three times. While the queen is talking to the king, she says, Your father, your father, your father. Nebuchadnezzar actually wasn't his biological

Daniel Forgotten Then Remembered

Will Hawk 13:29

dad. Speaking of membership and family not being of blood. But the point was, you know the king before you. You've read the histories, you know the stories, you know we can just call this guy. But Daniel had been forgotten about. Why had Daniel been forgotten about? Well, if Daniel was taken in 605 BC, which is what we think, and Babylon falls in 539, and by the way, I don't even have this in my notes. Babylon is going to fall in about 12 hours from what we're reading right now. Maybe less. So the fact that they're having a party when there's an army outside tells you everything you need to know about this king and his foolishness. But if Daniel is kidnapped in 605 and Babylon falls in 539, that means it's been about 66 years. Anyone want to guess how old Daniel is right now? Just throw out a number. He's about 80 years old, all right? So when you call, what are you thinking, Q? He could be on, you know, Methuselah lived in 969. The point is, and Q's on it, Daniel's old. He's really, really like he's double my age, and he's not tired of doing what God has called him to do. Now, look, I know that I tend to preach toward the young, obviously. Do you know how much I love that? Here's this guy in his 80s, and he's like, all right, let's do this. I mean, God still got me here, he's still gifted me, he's given me a unique spirit, he's given me a unique position. Why am I just gonna retire and collect seashells when I could be leaning into the coming kingdom of God? Why would I do that? And so Daniel meanders out. I'm gonna guess he was kidnapped around 15. That makes him 81, could have been in his 20s, might be 86, but out comes Daniel, and it's important for you to know this. In a minute, it's gonna look like Daniel is old and crotchety and angry. Get off my grass, kind of thing. I don't think he is. I think something else is happening there. But the king didn't even know he'd existed because 60 something years have passed. I've heard that you can give interpretations. I've heard that you can solve problems. Daniel, I'll make you a deal. If you read the writing, if you tell me what it means, I'm gonna hook you up with purple again. We're gonna put a chain on you, you're gonna be third ruler in the kingdom. And then Daniel answered and said before the king, pause. I don't remember many of the gifts we gave my grandmother through the years, but I remember one. And the one gift I remember we gave her when I was pro, I'm looking for my mom, but I think she's coming to sing it to her. I think I was probably nine years old. Okay. So I'm going back 30 years or so. They decided what my grandmother needed. My grandfather had passed away a year or two before, was a cat. And so they surprise my grandmother with an animal, and I will never forget that birthday. It went from like triple chocolate cake with pecans on top. She always liked made fried okra. Uh,

Daniel Refuses The King’s Gifts

Will Hawk 16:49

roast beef was the norm. Like it's awesome to it's time to exchange gifts, and we finish and we come to the last gift. And you know how it is, like the last gift is always a good gift. So I don't know how it works when you're a grandparent. Does your heart still get excited about a gift? I don't know. Maybe. I hope in the sake of this story, hers did. And she gets excited, and then she opens a box and there's a kitten inside. This is the next thing she said. I don't want that thing. And it was the best birthday party to that cat's dying breath. She did not want that animal. She kept it its entire life and complained about it every time she saw it. I didn't want this dumb cat. Why'd y'all get me a dumb cat? Look, I want you to remember that because that's how Daniel's gonna come across. I don't think that's how what it meant. Daniel answered, a gold chain, purple, number three in the kingdom. Which, by the way, I've been leading for like 50 years, whatever. Daniel answered and said before the king, Let your gifts be for yourself, give your rewards to another. I just love it. I'll tell you why I love it. Daniel is not a young rising prophet anymore. He's been forgotten about. If you think about the Christian life, he may have had some very cool stuff that happened in his 20s, and then his spiritual life from the outside got very quiet, not impressive, didn't make the front page of the paper. Sixty years go by, they forget about him, but he's still uncompromising. He's 80-something years old, but is spiritually as sharp as a tack. And here's what I love he's still nothing like them. Purple, that would have turned the heart of every magician, Chaldean, and enchanter. Gold, everybody in the kingdom would have wanted gold from the king, not just for what it was, but for what it meant. Number three, Daniel looks at him and says, I don't need your gifts. I I don't need any of that. I am not like you. I've been in this, for all we know, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abinigo are dead at this point. I am alone. I am in a world that wants to make me like itself. Are you starting to see yourself in this story now? And I'm nothing like them. Don't they know what I would rather have is the freedom to tell people about the God that I have known and loved my whole life? Don't they know what I would rather have is a king who says, Would you just be an advisor for my soul and for my mind? I don't need your stuff. He is nothing like them. And for the second time in this story, this king sees one of God's gifts as a tool to be used for himself. At first, it was the gold that was stolen that was so supposed to be holy unto the Lord, and they turn it into party favors. They took a blessing that God had given and they use it for themselves. Then he looks at Daniel, and Daniel to him is nothing but a tool. Here, dance, monkey dance. Here's some money, here's some purple, here's some gold, here's some prestige. Now, do for me what I want you to do for me. Daniel can't be bought. He is not like them. Nevertheless, I'll read the writing to the king. I'll make known to him the interpretation. I've been praying for this day for a long time. Y'all forgot about me. I didn't forget about you. I remember what God said. Oh king, the Most High gave Nebuchadnezzar your father, remember him? Kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. Your father, the king, had the greatest kingdom the world had ever seen. He wants to drive home the point of who his father was. Because of the greatness that he gave him, all people and nations and languages they trembled and feared before him. Who he would, he killed. Whom he would, he kept alive. Whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. He had unlimited control. 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. He was driven from among the children of mankind. And now Daniel gives us a miniature version of last week's sermon and chapter. He he turns into an animal, he's pushed into the wilderness, his hair grows long, his nails furrow out. Everybody who looked up to him looked at him and was like, Oh, what is going on with this guy? Until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets it over whom he will. Do you think you don't have to answer out loud? Do you think this story is news to King Belshazzar? It shouldn't be. Four times he's been referred to as his father. This is the king who led right before him. And you, his son, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this. Could you have been given a better example of what to do and not to do? How to be a man, how to be a king, how to be a father, how to be a leader. Could you not have been given a better story? He owned it all, did whatever he wanted, lost everything, and it wasn't until he humbled himself that he was restored. Oh, King Belshazzar, you knew all this, but you didn't learn from it. You lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And then he lists the things that he had done. The vessels that were for God's use and God's use only. He treated as though. They were solo cups at a party. Every now and then, uh in in the dining room at my mom's, uh, at my mom's house, she has really nice china and like crystal, I don't know what to call them except goblets. I don't even know, like we're, I mean, I guess they came from Germany or something like that. Every now and then, our kids will look and say, can we like drink out of the fancy stuff? And my mom being my mom, she's like, Yeah, whatever. But these like beautiful crystal chalice, let's go, chalice, chalices are brought out, and my kids pour ginger ale and cherry coke into it and eat hot dogs and french fries. Can I just tell you whatever company or designer put their heart and soul into these crystal chalices, never thought they would be used to drink cherry coke with a hot dog. This is ten times worse. These things were only for the use of God. He brings them out during a party. And by the way, uh, for the sake of little ears, I'll just say this party is a very tame term for what is probably going on with these thousand people. Okay? They probably left with less thread than they came in with to make it a little bit more clear what's going on. And there is a thousand of them. I I don't give you that to give you a picture of debauchery to like struggle with. I give you a picture to say what has to happen to make a thousand foolish drunk people all become sober in the exact same moment. This is what has to happen. He lays out what had been done, and then from his presence the hand was sent. The writing was inscribed, and this is the writing that was inscribed. Many, many teckle and parson. And Daniel says, Okay, let me give you the interpretation. Many means God has numbered the days of your kingdom. He's mentioned it twice to mean whatever is about to happen is about to happen quickly. Time's gonna move very quickly on this. Tekl, you have been weighed. Now, let me just get your eyes for a moment. What you're reading about is Old Testament, but it is an entire Bible. Your life is going to be weighed by the God who gave you breath. It is going to. Every one of us, it doesn't matter what you believe, you are an eternal being. And we will stand before God at some point. And the question is going to be why

Mene Tekel Parsin Explained

Will Hawk 25:15

ought you be allowed into my kingdom? And if you start listing stuff, when I cut the grass, I didn't mulch it, I bagged it. Okay? So I, you know, I'm serious about hard work. When you start making your little list, you need one thing on it. Don't put anything in front of it, don't put anything behind it. This is just a Sunday morning, but I'm not lying to you. You're gonna stand before Jesus one day, and he's not gonna look the way he looked in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Okay? He's gonna look different. And when he looks different, I want to help you when you talk to him, for you not to say, I prayed before my meals, okay? Great, please do it. What I want you to be able to say is, I don't deserve to be here. He deserved to be here, and he invited me. So I'm here. Like, I'm looking at a party I should not be a part of, and it's the best one that eternity is ever going to see. I don't have an invitation except for the fact that I have the one with his name on it. He told me he would forgive me of my sins. He told me he would give me a new spirit and wisdom and the ability to live life for him. I really did try. I failed in a lot of ways, but even in those failures, he told me that I was forgiven. That is why I am standing here saying, I think I ought to be able to come in. Not because of what I did, but because of what he did. And he has been weighed. He's been weighed on the cross. And what God says was, Well done, my good and faithful servant. What he said was, it is finished. There's no more weighing that needs to be done. And then Paris, it's a little bit of a play on a word pointing to the Medo-Persian Empire. Your kingdom is cut in half and given away, and it's gonna go to the Medes and the Persians, which is exactly what Daniel had said 66 years ago in Daniel chapter 2. How long did it take for this to happen? Eyes on the screen, top left. Sorry, middle. That's how long it took. As soon as Daniel says it, immediately the fingers of the human. Oh, oh guys, I'm so sorry. I'm going backwards to go forward. I wanted you to see this. The fingers of the human hand appear on the plaster. This is what I wanted you to say. Sorry, I'm two steps ahead of myself. God makes the hand appear in the brightest part of the room. How do you get a thousand drunk people to wake up? You put one spotlight in the room in one place, and then all of a sudden a hand appears and starts riding in that one place. They look and they realize something is going on. This would be a biblical jump scare. You're watching a movie, you're having a good time, and then out of nowhere, ha ha! Like that's what happened. Everybody like sobers up in a moment. And the response, notice this because this is fabulous to me. Nobody's like curious, they're scared. Nobody's confused, they're scared. And in a world where they have magicians like we have deer, like they're coming out of their ears. In every story, there's some magician running around. Nobody says, hey guys, look, Carl's doing the crazy hand trick on the wall. Nobody thinks that. With all of these magicians and enchanters and Chaldeans, nobody thinks that somebody's doing this incredible magic trick. Why? Because exposed on the brightest wall in the party, something has begun to happen. And when it happened, everybody is terrified. How terrified are they? Well, the king saw it. His color changes. He's alarmed. When it says his limbs, it's literally referring to his knees and his hip. If you go, he like just kind of falls out. His knees not together. And he immediately begins screaming. Somebody get in here. Somebody tell me what's going on. He is absolutely terrified in this moment. And he decides, you know what? Maybe I can do something to make this better. Belshazzar gave the command. You told me what it meant. Here's some purple. Here's some gold. You're now number three in the kingdom. How fast did this happen? Now I'm where I thought I was. Sorry. That very night. The sun doesn't even have time to come up on this party. And that very night, Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. And Darius, I'm sorry. I just saw somebody's mouth drop. I forget, I've read this story before. I thought I'd prepped you for this. The king's gone. Dead. Literally, the gold head on the statue rolls. And Darius the Mead received the kingdom being about 62 years old. Game over. In the moment ahead, there are a couple of things that I would like for you to consider. I've given you the whole story. I told you I was jogging through it pretty quickly. A couple of things that I want you and I to wrestle with. This king was not condemned due to a lack of evidence. He wasn't condemned because he didn't pay. It's not like all of these charges spiritually were held against him and he had no idea. I wasn't supposed to touch the gold of the Lord most high. Like, he's not ignorant to this. The king is not condemned to a lack of evidence. He's condemned because he ignores it. He knows you don't take those cups out. He knows you don't put cherry coke in them. He knows you don't have the kind of party

Judgment Comes From Ignored Light

Will Hawk 30:50

he had and bring out the things of the God most high and mingle them. King Belshazzar was surrounded by revelation and warnings and mercy and history and truth. Which is why the key verse in this entire chapter is you were his kid. You knew the story. You didn't humble your heart, even though you knew all this. You knew it. And you did nothing about it. A lot of churches don't preach on the wrath of God anymore. I do not know why. It is difficult to preach on how much grace you are given if you don't know what the punishment was. I'll put it this way if somebody says, Well, every speeding ticket for the next 10 years is 20 bucks, what am I gonna do? You better believe it. Because if you're gonna give me a slap on the wrist, 20 bucks, that's like a tax. That's a fast tax. I'll do that's basically buying a fast pass and driving in the left-hand lane anyway. If you tell me that there's barely a punishment for anything, great, I'll do it. No big deal. You knew all of this. Where does judgment come from? Here's where it comes from a great explanation. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. It doesn't matter if your ungodliness seems small in your eyes or great. It doesn't matter if it's uh letting uh a foul word come out of your mouth, watching something inappropriately, or just being a little bit selfish at the table, right? Like all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who, by their unrighteousness, that is what Belshazzar did. He knew that's the point, right? You knew all of this, and he just suppressed it. I just want to have a big party, I just want to enjoy life. Can't I get all the joy, bad word, happiness and pleasure out of this world? Like, why not? Why shouldn't I be able to do what I want, where I want, with whomever I want? He suppressed the truth. What can be known about God is plain. God has shown it. His invisible, even the things that are impossible to fully know about him, his eternal power, his divine nature. It is clearly perceived since the creation of the world and the things that have been made. Look out the window. There is an incredible God who has done an incredible work. The birds will fly up to the window. Trees and flowers grow. We're in like the middle of the best growing season I have ever seen in my entire life. The fact that we planted flowers two weeks ago, I just feel like the Lord was like, I'm just gonna love on you a little bit extra. Because it's like all the rain, all the sun, all the rain, all the sun. You are surrounded by a world. You can look in a telescope and be amazed, and you can look in a microscope and be amazed. There is no direction you can look in and not see evidence of a creator who cares about his creation. Ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made, we're without excuse. We know all this, and you don't have to go to church for 30 years to figure it out. Although they knew God, this is the same word. Whew, I handle it. This is the same word from Daniel 5. They knew it and they didn't honor him as God. They didn't thank him, they became futile in their thinking, and their hearts became dark. This is where wrath comes from. Wrath comes from a holy God who loved you so much that he has given you so many advantages. And the question being, do you honor him with your life? Do you thank him for his gifts? Or has sin, which all of us have, taken such a root in your heart that all you can see is your perceived slights and injustices? Life's just not fair. Is the cry of the person who has closed their eyes to all of the things that God has given, just to see the things that they don't necessarily like. In other words, we are responsible for the lessons that God has taught us. You knew all this. Please pay close attention because it's actually a lot bigger than this. You are responsible for the things that God has taught you and the lessons you've seen him teach others. Belshazzar is held accountable for what was seen in his father's life. Do you know how many excuses I have for alcoholism? Zero. Because I've watched it in my own family. Do you know how many excuses I get to make for poor financial management? Zero. Because I watched it in my family. Now that is not your story, but you have one. I guarantee you you have one. You can look at your dad and you can look at your mom. You can look at your granddad, you can look at your grandma, you can look at your neighbor, you can look at your friend. My question this morning is not, are you being responsible for what God has taught you? I think that's important. But if I really want to tell you what I think Daniel 5 is saying, is do you realize you're responsible for the lessons you have seen God teach others in your life? You're responsible. You should have known. Hell is not filled with people who lack revelation. It's filled with people who ignore it. It's filled with people who realize there is a brokenness in me that needs repair. There is darkness in me that needs to be made light. There are things that I am ashamed of. And I didn't go to the human store and buy a guilt or a shame module. It is pre-installed software. Why? Why, when I do wrong, do I feel some kind of way about it? I know it's icky, but the point is to drive you to something that is bigger than yourself. Here's the judgment. The light came into the world. But guys, we loved darkness instead. That's why I circled that Daniel was light. That's why I invite you to be a person who is light. Because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and doesn't come to the light, lest his work should be exposed. Please let your works be exposed. Do you know what every testimony is here? It is works being exposed. I gave myself over to alcohol and this is what it did. I gave myself over to sex and this is what it did. I gave myself over to money and this is what it did. I gave myself over. If you are scared to say that, I get it, but it doesn't matter. This is the story of the gospel. It is you inviting a family you can trust into your own brokenness so that you can say, This is who I was, this is what he did, and this is who I am aspiring to become. Number two, sin enjoys what God gives while rejecting what God intends. Sin enjoys what God gives, but it rejects what God intended. Do you remember Jesus' first miracle? It happens at a party. In fact, I want you to consider what was similar and what was different about Jesus' first miracle and what we just read about. Is there a party? Check yes. Are there a ton of people there? Check yes. Is wine flowing? Check yes. Deal with that if you need to. Are they having a great time? Check yes. Is it a memorable time? Check yes. It looks similar, but everything is different. Because while Belshazzar is

Holy Things Treated As Casual

Will Hawk 38:54

pouring out what God had intended to be holy, while he's spending it on himself, Jesus is filling up other people. He's going places and filling them up with his goodness and righteousness. When you treat holy things casually, judgment is rarely far behind. Communion, marriage, sexuality. When you treat a holy thing like sex, a covenant, uh a unity, a fruitfulness, when you treat it as though it is casual, the judgment of lust and self-gratification come. When we treat marriage like a casual thing, even though God has made it holy, when we treat it casually, and I can talk culturally, marriage by God is intended to be one man and one woman for one lifetime. There's your quick definition of marriage. When we treat it casually, we say, whatever, you do what's best for you, everybody just be happy. You should expect the judgment of brokenness that follows. When God gives us the gift of authority, dads, people who own businesses, who run things, when God has given you this holy gift to steward justice well, but instead we turn and use it for ourselves. Judgment is rarely far behind. What's really fascinating about this is when those words appeared on the wall, for the first time everybody in the room could read them. All of these dreams, nobody knows exactly what's happening. This one, they could read that. They just didn't know what to do with it. What am I supposed to do with these words? Numbered, numbered, weighed, and divided. They failed to understand the significance of holy things. By the way, Ezra figure uh uh the next king figures it out. All of those like nice chalices, as soon as he takes over, he's like, send those things back to Jerusalem, they're dangerous, you don't mess with the things of God. You can read that on your own. But sin, enjoying what God gives and rejecting what he intends isn't the last thing I would have you think about. It's this. Because I want to end on a positive. I want to end on a positive because I think this is really a very positive chapter for people who are trusting in God. Christian, you really can live faithfully in a corrupt kingdom. Daniel's been doing it for 81 years. How does Daniel survive in this environment? And when I say kingdom, just eyes on the screen real quick because I I want you to define this for you. You can live faithfully in a corrupt nation, you can live faithfully in a corrupt workplace, you can live faithfully in a corrupt home, you can live faithfully in a corrupt school. I don't know which one hits home for you most, but you can live faithfully in a corrupt system. And you can because Jesus did.

Living Faithfully In A Corrupt Kingdom

Will Hawk 41:59

We read about it here. Christ, Jesus, top right, humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. He humbled himself, whereas Belshazzar on the other side did not humble himself. In fact, how is it that Jesus navigates life? I lay down my life that I may take it up again. Nobody takes my life from me. I am laying my life down for them. Belshazzar, you knew all this and you still lifted yourself up, whereas when it comes to Christ, he knew all this, he knew what that was gonna look like. Cried, tears, blood the night it happened, and he still goes and lays himself down. Why? Because that's the model we get to follow. Daniel has watched this dream come through over 66 years. So maybe what you really need to wrestle with is this. Have you given up on a promise that God made that you used to believe when you were younger? Is there something that you believed about who God was calling you to be, how he was calling you to live? Daniel has been rewarded in earthly ways five different times with all the purple and all the gold and all the positions. But all he cares about is this. I don't care that you forgot about me for half a century. Will you remember who my God is? That is the beauty and the humility of being a believer. What truth has God already made clear that you need to stop ignoring and start obeying? In the negative, it might be you need to repent of that sin and actually ask God for forgiveness and begin walking in newness of life. On the positive, it may be that you know that God has called you to create things that you gave up on long before he gave up on them. I want to be 81 years old, spiritually sharp as attack, happy to be forgotten, so long as no one can forget the God I love. And I think that's where most of us want to be. So let's draw near to him this morning in that kind of way.