Now we turn this evening to Daniel chapter 5, the book of Daniel and the fifth chapter. I'm going to read the whole chapter. It is lengthy, but that should never put us off from reading God's Word. It's a complete story, and I think it is good that we read the whole chapter here. And, of course, the reading of the Word in public worship is most important, as well as the preaching of it. So, let us just read Daniel 5, beginning at verse 1. Belshazzar, the king, had a great face to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, whilst he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father, Nebuchadnezzar, had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, that the king and his princes, his wives, and his concubines might drink therein. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which is at Jerusalem, and the king and his princes, his wives, and his concubines drank in them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood and of stone. In the same hour came four fingers of a man's hand and wrote over against the candlestick upon 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 was changed and his thoughts troubled him. so that the joints of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another. The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans and the soothsayers. And the king spake and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing and show me the interpretation thereof shall be clothed with scarlet and have a chain of gold about his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then came in all the king's wise men, but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation thereof. Then was King Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were astonished. Now the queen, by reason of the words of the king and his lords, came into the banquet house, and the queen spake and said, O king, live forever, Let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed. There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods, and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him, whom the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers, For as much as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel whom the king named Balthasar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show thee, and he will show thee interpretation.' Then was Daniel brought in before the king, and the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that, Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king, my father, brought out of Jure? I have even heard of thee, that the Spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee. And now the wise men, the astrologers, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known unto me the interpretation thereof, but they could not show the interpretation of the thing. And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts. Now, if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another. Yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation. O thy king, the Most High God give Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honor, And for the majesty that he gave him all people, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he slew, and whom he would, he kept alive, and whom he would, he set up, and whom he would, he put down. And when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him, and he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. And thou, son of Elshazar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this. but has lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven. And they have brought the vessels of his house before thee. And thou and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines have drunk wine in them. And thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see that nor hear nor know. And the God in whose hand thy breath is and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified?' Then was the part of the hand sent from him, and this writing was written." And this is the writing that was written, "'Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin.'" This is the interpretation of the thing. "'Mene, God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it, Tekel, thy heart weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. Perez, thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. Then command it, Belshazzar, and beclothe Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. In that night, was Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old. And God will bless the reading of his own infallible and precious truth. And with the Word of God opened, there we will Now before the Lord, we'll seek His face, His blessing is what we need, and let's each one who knows the Lord earnestly pray that the Lord will draw nigh and will touch our hearts and will bless us together here as we wait on His presence tonight. Let's all seek God's face. Our gracious God and our Father, we thank Thee that it is our privilege to Just wait in Thy presence now for these few moments and prepare our hearts to hear Thy Word. We confess our need of Thee. We pray, Lord, that Thou wilt come and Thou wilt give operants in the Spirit. And may the power and the blessing of heaven rest upon this gathering. We pray, Lord, that Thou wilt draw near to us, speak from Thy Word, Bless it to the hearts of believers and unbelievers alike. And, O Father, especially deal with the unconverted. And may they hear Thy voice and be drawn to Christ and be saved by sovereign grace. Lord, do this work, we pray. It is Thy work. And we ask Thee, Lord, that Thou wilt intervene, break through, and speak with power And may Christ, of all the preeminence, as a consequence, we pray in His name and for His sake and for His glory. Amen. The kingdom of Babylon was the greatest empire that the world has ever seen. It was an empire that fell and vanished in just one night. It was an ancient nation. You'll find Babylon mentioned early, early on in the Word of God, actually over there in the book of Genesis, chapter 12, where you read of its beginning through the activities of Nimrod. It was a nation of great importance and great power, and it undoubtedly exercised tremendous influence on its neighboring peoples and its countries, and other countries. It reached the height or the zenith of its glory during the days of its great emperor, Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold, of whom we read in Daniel chapter 2 of this book, We find there in that second chapter that that head of gold symbolizing Nebuchadnezzar set forth the fact that Babylon was the greatest of the world empires and Nebuchadnezzar himself was an absolute monarch. He was a king of kings, as it actually says in those scriptures. The glory of his empire and his reign continued on after he had died, first of all in evil Merodach, his son, and then here in Belshazzar, his grandson. I know that we've read tonight in a number of these verses that Belshazzar is referred to as the son of Nebuchadnezzar, but remember that is Eastern terminology and refers not only to a right son, but a grandson as well. And certainly, Belshazzar, not only do we find this in Scripture, but in secular writing, Belshazzar is shown to have been the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. But it was during Belshazzar's reign that Babylon finally fell, never to rise again. Now, the fall of Babylon was, of course, judgment on that particular nation. National sins. demand national punishment. And Babylon certainly had a lot of punishment or retribution to receive under the hand of God, because God does deal with nations. The entire history of God's dealings with this earth proves that while a nation may go on in wickedness and multiply its oppression of other people or abound in bloodshed and in all kinds of vice, yet its hour of judgment inevitably comes. When that nation has reached the very height of its wickedness and its iniquity, then divine judgment most surely is going to fall. You see, there's not an eternal judgment of nations as nations. but instead the guilt of a nation that that nation has incurred will receive a recompense in the course of time or in the course of history. And so it was for this great kingdom of the Chaldeans and so it will be of course for every nation on earth that has earned through its sinning the wrath and the judgment of God. But it is true that with the fall of the kingdom of Babylon that particular night, there also came the personal fall of its last king, this man Belshazzar. Now on that night, which is recorded for us here in this chapter, Belshazzar was hosting what can only be called a drinking orgy. in the palace there in Babylon. During the course of the revelry that night, this man's blasphemy and his wickedness and his impiety rose to a terrible height. He took the vessels that his grandfather had brought from Jerusalem to Babylon And he used those vessels, the sacred vessels of the house of God, to be the containers for the alcohol and the drink and the wine that was consumed that night as this awful scene took place and unfolded as we find the record of it here in this particular chapter. Not only did they use those vessels for the purpose of drinking their wine. But they also, as they lifted up the vessels to their lips to drink their wine, we are told that they praised their own gods. And it was therefore a situation that the God of heaven could not bear with. And we are told that during the whole course of that night, as things came to a terrible height, there suddenly occurred a supernatural thing. There took place a miraculous writing of a message on the very wall of the palace of Belshazzar, a message that signaled his doom as well as the doom of his entire kingdom. You see, that night, in that message, Belshazzar had revealed to him certain truths about the only true and living God in His dealings with men. To put it precisely, on the palace wall in Babylon there was revealed the divine and the infallible sentence concerning a life that had been lived in rebellion and in defiance of Almighty God. What is revealed in these verses that we are going to look at this evening, 26 to 28, is similar to that divine rule or maxim that is summed up in Galatians 6 verse 7, Whatsoever a man soweth, That shall he also reap. That's essentially the sense and the meaning of those words as we think about them, as we will look at them tonight. What was God saying to Belshazzar that night? He was saying, as I've put it in taking Paul's words in Galatians, Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Surely in the case of Belshazzar's demise and death, we have one of the most vivid illustrations of that divine law. Whatsoever a man sows, he will reap, being implemented against a sinner. Here is the handwriting on the wall for Belshazzar. Here is the announcement that signaled the end of an evil ruler. But my friend, by the same token, in these words there is a reminder. Though the sin may not be so extreme, and though the wickedness may not even be of the same kind at all, but in these words we have signalled and set before us the end of every man and every woman and every young person who lives only to satisfy the flesh and gratify carnal desires, who lives only to do one's own thing, as men puts it, ignore God, live as one pleases, and completely and utterly tramp beneath the feet the holy oracles of God, the message of God, the warnings of God, Yea, the very gospel of God, we have words here that remind us so vividly of the end of the sinner. I want you to look tonight here at these words that we have, as I say, in those verses 26 through to 28, where the message is interpreted by Daniel for Belshazzar. And in these we are going to notice three simple thoughts about the end of the sinner. My friend, look carefully at what you have in those three verses. You have a divine appointment, you have a divine appraisal, and you have a divine aftermath. That's how you sum up the message that was brought to Belshazzar by Daniel. I want you to understand tonight that that's, as I've said, the very message that is always against the sinner. There's a divine appointment, there's a divine appraisal, and there will be a divine aftermath if you repent not of your sin. Therefore, sinner, these are solemn words. searching words, words to which you need to give your utmost attention. First of all, that divine appointment. Look at verse 26. This is the interpretation of the thing. Mene, God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Belshazzar was told, of a divine numbering of His kingdom, or concerning His kingdom. And the word numbered means to appoint. So think about it that way. God hath appointed thy kingdom, and of course it goes on to say, and finished it. Now, the reference here directly at this point is to Belshazzar's kingdom. But of course, as I've already pointed out to you, included in this, there is a reference, a very distinct emphasis in fact, toward Belshazzar's own life. What was contained in this first word that was actually doubled? You'll notice in the original message, it was doubled. Mne, mne. Why was it doubled? Because God wants Belshazzar to know there's no doubt about this. that his kingdom had been appointed and now was about to come to a close. And in that, Belshazzar was being told that his life had been divinely appointed and was under the control of God. And now that life is swiftly coming to a close. You see, in this, But you'll notice the declaration that is made, God hath numbered or appointed thy kingdom. Now, if you look at those words, you'll notice here that they really have to do with the length or the duration of the kingdom of Babylon. And therefore, of this man's life, he is the last of the emperors or the kings of that great empire. And Belshazzar, therefore, is being shown that the duration, the length of existence of Babylon as a nation or a kingdom had been appointed by God Himself Oh, how the world leaders today need to recognize that. Just may I say that as an aside. And we who cherish our own identity as those who are part of the United Kingdom need to remember that kingdoms do not last forever. They're appointed by God to run for a certain time, and then God brings them to an end. He finishes with them, and He concludes their affairs. He winds it all up, because there's only a certain space of time given to nations and given to men. For our purposes tonight, dear sinner, God is simply telling you here, as Belshazzar was told, that there's a numbering, there's an appointment concerning your life, concerning your existence. The length of it, the duration of it has been set by God. That's a basic fact in the revelation of God through Scripture. And yet it's one that men seem to ignore all the time. Continually do they turn a deaf ear to such solemn words as you have in so many places in Scripture. But for example, Job chapter 14 verse 1, and the very opening words of that verse are these, Man that is of few days. And the original Hebrew there reads this way, Man is short of days. short of days. Oh, how people love to cherish the thought that they have many days and, of course, even many years. And that the duration of their earthly life and existence, they think, somehow or other, is marked by indefiniteness. And it will go on, and it will continue, and all will be well. And yet, my friend, the Lord comes to you and He tells you, He reminds you tonight, that your little life, your little kingdom, if you will, is marked out and appointed by God with regard to its duration. It is not going to go on forever. And I could take you to a multitude of verses that remind you of that basic, simple fact. But why does God tell men that their lives are numbered, that there's an appointed time and you'll not go past it? He has appointed your bounds that you cannot pass, going back to Job 14. Why does God tell men these things? Well, think of the words of Moses in Psalm 90 and in the verse number 12. where he says, and we all know that verse, many of us very, very well, let us number our days. In other words, let us recognize the brevity, really, of life. Let us take into consideration that there is a limit set by God. There's only a certain number of days or years for us in this world, and let us take cognizance of that. Let us be aware of that. Let us number our days. And then do what? Apply our hearts unto wisdom. And actually, the word wisdom there, in that marvellous, well-known verse, is prefaced by the definite article. And it reads this way, "...let us number our days, and apply our hearts unto thee wisdom." What is that saying? It means, my friend, see how short your time is, and get to the wisdom of God in the person of Jesus Christ. Because He is the wisdom. Why does God tell you that your days are numbered? Why does He remind you this appointment is to get your attention, is to stop you in your frivolity, and in your folly, and in your misspending of time? It is to disarm you of the vain notion that all is well and life is grand and health is intact and there is nothing over which to be concerned or to be worried. It is to get your attention, man and woman and young person, and to remind you that the duration of your life is set by God and beyond that you will not go. Not for one second. the significance of this numbering, this appointment, but look at the sovereignty of it. God hath numbered thy kingdom. This is very interesting, isn't it, because Belshazzar was a worshipper of other gods. There he is in the palace, in the great banquet hall, as we read tonight and as we've already commented in my early remarks. He is engaged in this drunken orgy, lifting up his cup of wine along with all his other lords and his wives and his concubines. And he is engaged in vicious, impious worship. in his idolatry, and none of that. He's blaspheming the true God, and he's praising the gods of wood and gold and silver and iron. And Daniel comes along, and Daniel says to Belshazzar, listen Belshazzar, God, the sovereign God of heaven, whom you have ignored, Indeed, whom you have blasphemed, who is the appointer of your life, has determined the extent of it and the duration of it, because He is sovereign. Now, my friend, the Lord said that that night to a heathen man, a man who did not know the true God. I think that is very important, because it tells us, clearly does it not, that all men, irrespective of who they are, are under the sovereign control of Almighty God, and therefore all men, irrespective of their national identity, or irrespective of the fact whether they know the gospel or not, are accountable to this God. See it that way. A heathen man, he's sensibly been told, God is over you. God has control of your life. You're going to live one day beyond the appointed time, because God is sovereign. You're accountable to Him. My dear friend, when that was true for a heathen emperor, how much more is it true for you? Because you know of the true God. Not like Belshazzar. It cannot be said of you that you have never heard of him, or you've never been made aware of him, or his truth, or his message, or salvation. All these things you know. And yet, if the heathen are accountable to God, and they are, then, my friend, you are accountable to God. But your accountability is greater than theirs. And I tell you more than that, your hell will be deeper than theirs. Over there in Psalm 79, in the verse number 6, the psalmist prays this, their solemn searching words, "'Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.' Listen to those words, dear sinner. Here are the heathen of the earth, the nations that have never heard the gospel, and yet the psalmist prays, Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen. We live in a day when so-called evangelicals are telling us that the heathen are not lost. And the heathen, with the little light or knowledge they supposedly have of a God or some kind of religion, are going to be okay in the final analysis. But by the Spirit of God, David prayed, pour out thy wrath upon the heathen. And the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans chapter 2 verse 12, as many as have sinned without law that is, without having the written law, without having the written knowledge of God, shall perish without law. My dear friends, see it tonight. There is a universal sovereign God. There is a universal controller of all men. And since the heathen are accountable to Him, then how much more are you? Here, therefore, is this declaration, God has appointed your kingdom, the duration of it, because He is sovereign. Notice how definitive this appointment is. It says, God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. And I've marked that with you already in my comments, and here thou shalt be told, that there was only a certain time for him or his kingdom, but that time has now expired. He has been essentially told that time had run out, had gone for him as well as for his kingdom. And now he has been shown that it has come to the very point where things are going to be wound up in his kingdom and in his life. But do you notice something? Belshazzar did not believe what he was told. He did not believe it. We know that for a number of reasons. Before I get you into the text itself, let me tell you a little history here concerning Belshazzar that is fully documented in secular history books for some time. Belshazzar had been given warnings that the time was drawing to a close. Two years before this night, a great battle had occurred, a major battle fought between Belshazzar, the Chaldean army, and the armies of the Medes and the Persians. Belshazzar lost that battle, but he was able to retreat right into the city of Babylon itself. Now, if you've ever read anything of ancient Babylon, you will know it was a veritable fortress. It was fronted, of course, by the River Euphrates. In a sense, made it impregnable, or so it seemed. Belshazzar retreated in there. We're actually told that he had enough. Now listen to it carefully. He had enough provisions in there for 20 years. That's how vast the city was. That is how self-sufficient it actually was. And there he is. He has lost a major battle, but he retreats back into the city. He closes the gates. The river is flowing. He feels himself still to be invulnerable. He has provisions laid up for 20 years. But the point is, already a warning has been sounded in the defeat that he suffered. And furthermore, Common sense would have told him that he could not hold out forever, even with regard to military things. Therefore, here is a man who ignores every warning that has come his way. And yet, when you look here at this story tonight, even when he receives this announcement that God has appointed the length of your kingdom and Belshazzar your life, and it's all coming to a close and it's winding up, even then he still did not believe. And how do we know that? Well, look at verse 29. Notice what it says. Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him." Now listen, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. What kingdom? Well, as far as Belshazzar was concerned, the kingdom of Babylon. And as far as Belshazzar was concerned, though the hand that appeared in the wall, and the writing had been delivered, and the first part of the message had been made known to him, he still does not believe that there is a divine appointment over his life. And that is what I mean when I say he is a reflection of so many sinners. It is not, of course, in this form that you have been warned. or that you have been alerted to the fact that life at best is very brief. It's not in this kind of a way that you have been brought face to face with your own vulnerability. The fact that you are one day going to have to give way to death and eternity and judgment, and yet my friend, God has warned you over and over and over again And I wonder, as I warn you once more, that it is appointed unto men once to die, that there is a numbering of your life, your days, your years, and God alone knows what that is in its extent or in its amount. Though all of this has been made known to you, you're sitting there right now once again and you are saying within yourself, well, not tonight or not tomorrow, I intend to live for quite a while yet. Why should you be so presumptuous as to comfort yourself with that vain thought and ignore the warnings of God? I ask you another way. What right do you have to conclude in your mind that there's no need to be alarmed or concerned concerning this great issue of this divine appointment that Almighty God, to whom you're answerable and accountable, has laid out and mapped out your earthly existence from the very from before you were even born, before eternity, before time began, as we put it. Oh, my dear friend, God saw you. God appointed your days. It was in His eternal purpose. And therefore, you must face the fact tonight that you are not going to go on forever. Did you need to face the fact that your days may be very short? Every one of us needs to keep that before us continually. Oh yes, in an actual course of life, we want to comfort ourselves into thinking we will see our children grow up, we will see them all married, we will see them settled, we will see our grandchildren. That's the way we think. And there's nothing wrong with thinking that way. But the point is, my friend, we must always say, if the Lord will. And my friend, when you're not sheathed, it's all the more urgent that you take into consideration that there is a sovereign, divine will over your life. And there's a day appointed for your passing and your life has been numbered by God and soon is going to come to a close, do not ignore the message or even the very warnings of its reality and its truth, the warnings that you have received. There's also a divine appraisal, verse 27, to Kael, thou art weighed in the balances, and art found one thing." Now, we notice here that the object, as it were, that is in view is the pair of balances used, of course, to determine weight or value. Well-known practice throughout mankind, used here as a reminder of God's appraisal of sinners. Notice how personal it becomes now. It's a personal appraisal. Belshazzar, thou art weighed in the balances. It's not the kingdom anymore that's in view. It was just vaguely in view. You see, my good friend, a man's life, listen carefully, a man's life, a man's soul is of more value than the greatest kingdom. Oh yes, Babylon was mighty. I've already told you, there never has been a kingdom like it. God says it's the head of gold. God said its rulers were absolute monarchs. This very chapter conveys that to us. But here is God now revealing that even the greatest kingdom, the greatest empire is of less value than one man's soul. Isn't it very like what the Lord says, what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? The Lord comes very personally here to Belshazzar and He tells him that he has been appraised. They are outweighing the balances. And my friends, so are you. Notice that it's past tense. Belshazzar had no idea of what already had taken place in the sovereign scrutiny of God concerning him, because he's now told Belshazzar, thou art weighed. It's already done, and I have searched your life, Belshazzar, and I have looked at every detail, and I know it all. My dear friend, that's the way God deals with men. Do you understand, do you realize tonight as you sit in this meeting, that the appraisal of your life is not something that God finds difficult to do? Indeed, the appraisal of your life is a constant fact of knowledge in the mind of the Almighty. Thou personally sinner, thou art weighed in the balances of God. It was a perfect appraisal. Thou art weighed in the balances. You see, these are the balances of God's on-airing justice. And therefore, the standard that's used by God is exact. These are not man's balances. This is not God's appraisal that we're dealing with here. Belshazzar, this is divine, the balances of God, marked by integrity and honesty and justness, not a flawed standard, but rather the infinite, exact, perfect standard of Almighty God. Wave in the balances! That's where you are right now. Only if you could see it, feel it, understand it, that the scrutiny of God of you is perfect, exact. God knows every detail. You know, one of the most interesting ways of seeing the onerring nature of the appraisal of God with regard to men is in the matter of His requirements concerning the salvation of the soul. In other words, what does God require for the saving of a sinner? Just think about it that way. He requires a precise, a perfect, an exact payment. And that illustrates the point. That God's dealings with men, my dear friend, are not random, haphazard. God doesn't make do with some old shoddy deal. God deals with sinners with exactitude, with preciseness. And I'm going to turn you to the passage now that illustrates this, as I say, with regard to the saving of the soul. But just listen carefully, over in Exodus 38 you have the record given of what is called the ransom of the soul. And Israel were told that each Israelite who was to be numbered among the people had to bring what was called a half shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, a half shekel of silver, And that was what God required of an Israelite in order to have a place within this numbering of the nation. God told Moses, through Moses He told Israel, it had to be a half shekel for every individual. The price was the same for each person. It was according, as I say, to the shackle of the sanctuary. In other words, in the sanctuary there was a shackle, a special shackle that was an exact weight. And whenever a man brought his half shackle, it was put on the balances. It was measured. The value of it was determined by the shackle of the sanctuary. And there God spells out the great gospel truth that He will accept nothing less and indeed nothing more than what He has set for the saving of the soul. And what is that? What is the exact amount that God demands of the sinner? Now, you listen carefully to me. It is perfection. It is perfect obedience. Now, go back to Belshazzar. Belshazzar, you're weighed in the balances. Now listen carefully, dear men and women, even you who are believers, listen carefully to what I want to tell you right now. Isn't it true that within much religion the very thought of the balances will be used? Only it's all flawed, it's all marked with error. And the sinner is told, here are the balances, and on one side all your bad deeds are placed. And the balances tip, the scales tip against you, sinner. You're told, although you're not even called a sinner in such places, but if you do enough good deeds, you can tip the scales back in your favor. And that's very often how people are told the way to heaven. The scales are set. Your bad deeds this side, but your good deeds on the other side. And if you do enough good deeds, you tip things in your favor. My dear friend, that may be man's way of measuring things, but it's not God's. Because God demands perfection. And you may say to yourself, I will add to the scales all that I can conjure up in my mind. You say to yourself, oh yes, I remember my sins, I know them all, every last one of them perhaps you might say. And you start to enumerate all your bad deeds and you say, there they are, and I know they're all against me, but listen preacher. And you're even saying, listen God, listen to all that I have done. and you start to count it all up and place it in the other side of the scales. But let me tell you, sinner, God is not even in the least little way impressed. What does God require of you? He requires perfection. And you see, here is not only this personal, perfect appraisal, but it's precise. Listen, thou art found wanting. You're found wanting, sinner. You cannot come up to God's standard. You cannot reach the level that He requires. Never can you do it. You understand your plight tonight. You're weighed on the balances of God and you're found wanting. Every man is every time. The appraisal is precise. There's no mistake. If you take Belshazzar here, Daniel already had made it absolutely clear to him that there was no mistake in how God saw him or how God viewed him. Really what you have at the end of this chapter is a summary of what you have in what was already conveyed to Belshazzar. If you look with me at verse 22 and then the first part of verse 23. In verse 22 it says, And thou who saw no Belshazzar hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this. And it's only saying in verse 23, But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven. I already commented on the matter of Belshazzar ignoring certain warnings that already had been given to him. And here's reference to it again. In verse 22, the reference is to what God did with Nebuchadnezzar, his grandfather. Belshazzar is told, listen Belshazzar, you knew all about this, but you didn't humble your heart. You persisted in your rebellion. Now get this clear. Belshazzar knew how God dealt with his grandfather, but he ignored it. Go back to verse 6 here. I never noticed this before until just this week when I was looking at this passage again. And notice what happens, it says in verse 6, Then the king's countenance was changed, his thoughts troubled him, the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against the other. There is a description of sheer terror. That's what it is. Sheer terror. My friend, there's a very important question to ask. Why? Was Belshazzar so afraid? Have you ever thought about that? And I ask the question, I pose the question for this reason. Oh yes, he saw the fingers of a man's hand appear and start to write on the wall. But for all Belshazzar knew, that could have been a message telling him that he was going to survive. He was going to live on. Because at that point, he didn't know what the writing meant. So why was he so afraid? I'll tell you why. His conscience was at work. And how do I know that? In that little phrase in verse 6, his thoughts troubled him. What thoughts? the very thoughts, the very knowledge of which Daniel now tells him, Belshazzar, you knew how God dealt with your grandfather, but you haven't humbled yourself. And you see, along with that, not only had he not humbled himself, before the God who dealt with Nebuchadnezzar, but now He's engaged in the most wicked and pious behaviors we've already seen. And therefore when a hand appeared, though He didn't know what the writing meant at that point, He knew, He knew in His conscience that it wasn't a message of hope. He knew, while He couldn't understand the writing, that it wasn't the message telling Him of a deliverance. He knew in his conscience that the God before whom he had not humbled himself, but rather had deliberately blasphemed, was now coming to speak to him again a message of doom. Now, was he not weighed in the balances and found wanting? No faith in God. Sorry, no fear of God. And no faith in God. Verse 23, the end of the verse. Read it with me here. It is important. Listen to what it says, my friend. Then to verse 23, way down in that long verse toward the very end, the last clause, "...and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified?" Do you see it? God is telling this man that though he be a heathen, He is accountable to him, and he should have glorified the true God. But you see, he neither had fear in God or for God, nor had he faith in God. He's told here of his dependence on God because he is told in those words, the God in whose hand thy breath is. Sinner, listen to that. Your breath is in the hand of God. There is only a breath between you and your damnation. Your breath's in God's hand, and were He to snuff out that breath, were it to be the last you'll ever draw, my friend, your soul would sink down into hell. You're dependent on God for the very breath you draw. You see, there is duty to God. He should have glorified God, because He's told, this God hast thou not glorified. He should have. He's told, therefore, of His defiance of God. You haven't glorified Him. You haven't submitted to Him. My friend, the appraisal is right. Weighed in the balances, found wanting." What about the divine aftermath? In that night, Belshazzar died. But look at the last word before we get to that matter of his own death. Verse 28, perez. And that word perez means divided. It's really another form of the third part of the original message. You farsen back there in verse 26. And here it's put this way, piras, and it simply means divided. And that night, you see, his kingdom was divided and was given to the Medes and the Persians, as verse 28 says. My friend, the point is this. That was divine judgment, and it brought an awful division into Belshazzar's life in the sense that that night, not only did his kingdom collapse, And it happened that night, while Belshazzar's drinking to his gods, the Medes and the Persians have found a way into Babylon. And in a moment, they burst into the palace, and Belshazzar dies. Here is the divine aftermath. A man cut off. A man divided eternally from hope and from the knowledge of God and from everything that he even knew as a heathen man. It's all gone now. Cut off and destroyed. And he's handed over to hell and handed over to outer darkness. That's the divine aftermath. And I tell you, sinner, there's always an aftermath of a life of sin and a life of living for yourself. There's always an aftermath. There is judgment. You face that judgment, and you will come under that judgment, and you will perish in that judgment. If you flee not to the only place and the only person where refuge is found, to Calvary, to our blessed Savior, oh, flee to Him at once. And dear sinner, flee tonight. flee at once to Christ. Let's bow together before the Lord as we come to the close of our meeting and just bow on in God's presence here for another moment or two before we close with prayer and the meeting is dismissed. Oh, my friend, has not God shown you much of yourself tonight? much of your sin and your danger and what you face and where you're headed. Surely He has, as He has done before. And is it not time for you to seek out the Savior, and the help that you need to get to the Savior. Oh, this book of God tells us that the Lord appoints, helps for sinners, one of them being counsel. Philip counseled the eunuch. The eunuch had read the Scriptures, had gone a certain length and could get no farther. He needed a man to help him to get the rest of the way. Philip didn't save him, but Philip helped him to the Savior. Andrew led Peter to Christ. You find this many, many places in the Bible. It's scriptural. For the sinner who's anxious, concerned, and troubled to seek out help, and get someone to lead you to the Savior. Oh, my friend, you need that help. And I'm simply saying to you, I'm here, whatever your age is, young person or boy or girl or older man or woman, I'm here tonight as your friend and your minister to help you to Christ. And I would urge you to come, to come at once. And as you leave this meeting, you make known that you wish to have that help. You know I'll be at the door, God willing. And you know I'll be glad to help you. Why not make this the night of your salvation? May the Lord help you. Father, answer prayer. Speak Thy Word. Bear at home To needy souls, bring glory to your own great name. Save the lost and exalt Christ. Empower us now with thy blessing and in thy fear and favor, in Jesus' name and for Jesus' sake.