Daniel 5 - Resolved faith

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Good morning church. Good to see you all here this morning. Welcome if you're joining us online. If you've got your Bibles with you, can I invite you to open up to Daniel chapter 5. This morning we're continuing through our series in the book of Daniel. Looking at this concept, this idea, this reality of resolved faith. If you're joining us maybe for the first time, just as a little bit of a glimpse of what we're talking about when we say this word resolved. We're talking about a faith that is firm in purpose or intent. A faith that is determined and unwavering. A couple of weeks ago, as we explored Daniel chapter 3, we got a great example, a great definition of what resolved faith looks like. King Nebuchadnezzar, speaking of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, said they were servants who trust in God and yield up their bodies rather than serve and worship any God except their own. This is what we're talking about this morning, but before we dive in, would you join me as we pray? Lord God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the way that you have revealed who you are, who we are created by you. Lord, our need for forgiveness, our need for a Savior, thank you for the way in which you've revealed the hope that we can have in Jesus. Lord, as we look to your word this morning, would you prepare each of our hearts to not only hear from you, but to respond obediently? We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. How good was it this morning to be able to sing songs of praise? How amazing. I'm so encouraged as I stood there this morning praising God to hear the voices. Our church sings and that's fantastic. We praise God because he is worthy of praise. Is he not? Yes. This morning we've declared very truly who God is. We've been thankful. We've praised him for the hope that we have in Jesus. I don't know whether you just let the words roll off your tongue or whether you understood what you were singing this morning. This morning some of the lyrics declared that we would surrender entirely to God. We declared glory to God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit. And before we look at scripture this morning, I need to ask each of us. Over the last seven days this week, has this been the case? Has your life, the way that you've lived, reflected this priority? Have you taken your walk with Jesus seriously this week? Each and every day have you praised God? Glory to God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit. I surrender entirely to you. Let your will be done in me and through me. Grow me deeper in my faith with you. Lead me in obedience that I would be used effectively for your kingdom. If so, this is resolved faith. Daniel chapter 5. We're going to read the whole chapter together, so bear with me. King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand. Belshazzar, when he had tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem to 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. 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 the enchanters, the caldines 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. Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation. Then king Balthasar was greatly alarmed and his color changed and his lords were perplexed. The queen, because of 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 the spirit of the holy gods is. In the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him. And king Nebuchadnezzar, your father, your father the king, made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, caldines 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 Balthasar. Now let Daniel be called and he will show the interpretation. Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king answered and said to Daniel, you are the Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah, whom the king my father brought from Judah. I have heard of you, that the spirit of the gods is in you and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. Now, the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me to read this writing and make known to me its interpretation. But they could not show me the interpretation of the mapper. But I have heard that you can give interpretations and solve problems. Now, if you can read this writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then Daniel answered and said before the king, let your gifts be for yourself and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation. O king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. And because of his greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would he killed, whom he would he kept alive, 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 proud, 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 his mind was made like that of a beast and his dwelling was with that that wild donkeys. 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 will. And you, his son, Belchazar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this. But you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven and the vessels of his house have been brought in before 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 God in whose hand is your breath and whose are all your ways you have not honored. Then from his presence the hand was sent and the writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed. Mene, Mene, Tekel and Parson. This is the interpretation of the matter. Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Then Belchazar gave the command and Daniel was clothed with purple. A chain of gold was put around his neck and a proclamation was made about him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. That very night Belchazar, the Calden King, was killed and Darius the Mede received the kingdom being about 62 years old. Daniel chapter 5. I wonder as we read through that what stood out. What did God nudge and reveal to you? Before we look to in depth, I need to make a little bit of a disclaimer that it's actually really important before we start pulling this apart to set ourselves up properly within the context of this chapter. See, as a church we've been moving through the book of Daniel, one chapter per week. And that's a fairly common pace for how we as Christians in today's world read through Scripture. In fact, for some of us it may even be a little bit slow. In our daily devotions we might read a chapter a day, we might read three chapters a day. Who knows? But church, I need to highlight for us this morning that there is a danger for us to read Scripture in the same way that we would a novel. If we do that, we neglect that these events actually occurred at a certain time in a certain place in human history. They're not isolated nice thoughts. There is a time and place when these events occurred. And knowing that, suppose here and now I asked you to give me a recap of your life. What would you include? If I had to guess, I'd say with a fair amount of confidence, you'd highlight the key pivotal life-changing moments in your life. You wouldn't tell me about everything that God's taught you through every morning devotion. You'd tell me about at this point in time, maybe at youth camp, I gave my life to Jesus and my life has changed. You'd tell me about the high highs and the low lows, but not the mundane every day in between. And yet the danger is that we read chapter one of Daniel. We recognise that at between 13 to 20 years of age, he was taken into Babylon as an exile. And then we shoot through, we read chapters two, three, four, and we come to chapter five. Reading it like a novel, we assume that Daniel might be 23, 30 years old. He's in the prime of his life. He's just given a heap of interpretations to King Nebuchadnezzar. Now his son's the king and he's just continuing in the work that he's doing. The church, that's a wrong assumption. And reading scripture in this way without looking at the proper context can actually lead us to unrealistically expect our walk with Jesus to be constantly filled with these miraculously high highs, these significant life changing events. I'm not saying that they won't appear, but my experience, I say with a fair amount of confidence, your experience is that not every day is a life changing, absolutely miraculous God moment. God's still at work, God's still working, but it's nothing necessarily to write home about. If we read scripture like a novel, as we get older, we can become discouraged that our lives seem to be jam packed with mundane moments rather than these absolutely extraordinarily miraculous God led moments. We can be discouraged. Is it something that I'm doing wrong? God, is there a reason that you're just not using me every single day to bring thousands to the Lord? We need to understand the context of scripture when we read it. And so let's set ourselves up properly. Let's give ourselves a little bit of a timeline. First and foremost, as we open chapter five, we read, we're introduced to King Belshazzar. No longer King Nebuchadnezzar, King Belshazzar. And so we need to ask ourselves, how did we end up here? What events occurred between the reign of Nebuchadnezzar and the reign of Belshazzar? I want to read from Gazik's enduring word commentary. He captures it well. He says, the ancient historian Beroas gives us the following order of events. Nebuchadnezzar died after a 43 year reign. His son, Evil Meridac, you'll have to forgive me. I often joke English is my second language. A lot of these names I'm going to get wrong. Forgive me. His son, Evil Meridac, described in 2 Kings 25 in Jeremiah 52, ruled only two years when he was assassinated by his brother-in-law, Narraglasar, because his rule was arbitrary and licentious. Narraglasar, mentioned as Narraglasa zero la la, it's up there. In Jeremiah, ruled for four years until a natural death. His son, Leborasarachod, only a child in a diminished mental capacity, ruled for only nine months when he was beaten to death by a gang of conspirators. The conspirators appointed Nebondius, one of their gang, to be king. And he ruled until Cyrus the Persian conquered Babylon. For a long time, historians and archaeologists knew that Nebondius was said to be the last king of Babylon, not Belchisar, who was his eldest son. The solution to this so-called discrepancy was apparent when evidence was uncovered, indicating not only Belchisar's association on the throne, but also that during the last part of his reign, Nebonius lived in Arabia and left the conduct of the kingdom of Babylon to his eldest son, Belchisar. According to the Babylonian records, Belchisar became co-regent in the third year of his reign, and continued in that capacity to the bookfall of Babylon in 539 BC. It's most likely that in the time of Daniel V, Nebonius had gone out to fight the Medo-Persian army and had already been taken captive. Those armies now surrounded Babylon and were looking for a way into the strongly defended city. Already this starts to make a little bit of sense. It makes sense why the king of Babylon was only able, for his highest reward, the third place in the kingdom, because he was a second place. The true king was off doing other business. He was a joint co-heir, but second place. So he had to give third place as a reward. We start to look at this and realise that actually there's roughly 66 years between the events of chapter 1 in Daniel and the events that we now read in chapter 5. And so if Daniel was roughly 13 to 20 years old when he was brought to Babylon in chapter 1, then when he's called into the events that we just read in chapter 5, he's not this young middle-of-his-life prime age ready to go. He's 79 to 86 years old. It makes sense then why Daniel wasn't called in the first round of wise men. Because remember in Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Daniel was key to Nebuchadnezzar's administration. He was made chief of these wise men. And yet there's an absence here. While he still held an office in the Babylonian government, it seems as though Daniel was semi-retired. He wasn't a key figure in this new administration. And yet, even despite the fact that roughly 64 years had passed since the last interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, his resolved faith stood firm through the test of time. It had not been shaken. If we read it like a novel, however wrongly it may be, we can read through and go, oh yeah, this makes sense. The Daniel in chapter 5 seems identical to the Daniel in chapter 4. His faith had not changed. His willingness to do the work that God had called him to do had not wavered. Even though roughly 64 years of potentially mundane had been there, he had continued to grow deep in his faith. He had continued to ensure that he had a resolved faith in the Lord. For that, if and when God called him, he was ready to respond. And we see that. Daniel enters into the room before this new king and he demonstrates that even after 64 years, the spirit of God is still powerfully at work in him and through him. And church, this is the first lesson for us this morning. Resolved faith stands the test of time. Resolved faith is developed over time as we grow deep in our relationship with God, as we surrender ourselves completely to him and experience his faithfulness day by day, even in the mundane, because God is still at work. And I want to encourage you, if you're a young person here this morning, if I say young person and you relate, I'm talking to you, if you're a young person here this morning, can I encourage you take your faith seriously today. Don't wait for tomorrow. Take your faith seriously today. Commit today to growing deep in your relationship with God. Make it the number one priority for the rest of your life because a developed resolved faith will stand the test of time and still be vibrant and evident in your old age. Daniel started his walk as a young boy and yet here we have him, 79 to 86 years of age, continuing to grow deep in his relationship with God, continuing to be used faithfully as God led him. If you don't quite relate with the younger example there, if you're an older Christian in the room this morning, can I encourage you to continue to deepen your faith and exercise a resolved faith in God. Don't tune out from the work that he is doing in you and through you. The reality is there is no retirement from our relationship with God. It's not an option. We don't just retire from family relationships. There's no retirement from our relationship with Jesus. And so the question is, are you still listening? Are you still prepared to do the work that God is calling you to do? Daniel was. His resolved faith had continued to deepen for 64 years and when the call came, he didn't say, I'm too old for this, find someone younger. He didn't say, God and I haven't spoken in a little while. Let me just sort my own relationship out and then I'll get back to you. He didn't say, I wonder if God would still use me. He came willing and obedient. Not to collect the reward, but to demonstrate God's sovereignty and power, to be a vessel that God might clearly speak to the King of that time. And so if you believe in Jesus, we are all called to deepen in our relationship with Him, to be disciples who know and love Him, grow closer day by day, who are willing and ready to be used by Him, however He calls us. Are you continuing to seek God each day? Are you prepared to go when He calls? Maybe you hear this morning and you're not quite sure what to do with this Jesus guy. You're not necessarily committed to say, yeah, He's my Lord and say, but maybe you're still trying to figure out what it means for you. Maybe you've grown up in church, but if you're being honest, your faith has taken a back seat to life. It's just not that important. Maybe you come on a Sunday morning, but Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, the day's in between. It's kind of there when you really need it, but it's not central. It's not something that you continue to work on. If this is you, we need to take seriously the example and the warning of Belshazzar. Let's read again, verse 17 to 28. Then Daniel answered and said before the king, let your gifts be for yourself and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation. So king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father, kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. It was God's doing, not Nebuchadnezzar's. And because of the greatness that he gave him, all people's nations and languages trembled and feared before him, whom he would he killed and whom he would he kept alive, 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. He was driven from among the children of mankind and his mind was made like that of a beast and his dwelling was that with the 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 has set over it whom he will. And you, his son, Belchazar, have not humbled your heart though you knew all this, but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. 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 honoured. Then from his presence the hand was sent and this writing was inscribed and this is the writing that was inscribed Mene, Mene, Tekel and Parson. This is the interpretation of the matter. Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Peres, your kingdom is divided and will be given to the means and purges. Church, that is a warning for all of us. Very truly, if God, which we know he did, if God held Belshazzar accountable for his rebellion because he knew that God had revealed himself as Lord over all mankind through the time and events of King Nebuchadnezzar. Belshazzar knew that and still did not humble his heart before God rather he rebelled and lifted himself against God. In essence, God says you knew better. Because of what you know that I did in and through King Nebuchadnezzar because of the example that I have set in Babylon you knew these things and you chose to rebel. You have not humbled your heart before me. You continued in sin to worship idols and judgment is coming. The reality is church that the glimpse that Belshazzar had of who God is, what he was capable of is only a small slither of the full view that you and I have today revealed through the good news of Jesus, revealed in Scripture and in the Gospel. And so we have no excuse. We have no right to innocence to say, God, we didn't know that we were in rebellion against you. We cannot say to God that we were unaware that if only we knew more. God says to Belshazzar you had ample revelation of who I was, of how you should act in accordance to that knowledge and you chose rebellion. Church, we have the good news of Jesus. At the time of this, maybe Belshazzar had some of the Old Testament, the Torah, not all of it, it was still being written. We have the entire Old Testament, the entire New Testament. We have the good news of Jesus. We have nothing to hide behind. We know better. Very truly, we know that God is our Creator and Sustainer. We've sung about it this morning. No one in this room can say that they do not know. We sang it this morning. God is our Father in heaven, our Creator and Sustainer. We know that we don't live in the way that he's called us to. We sin. We are that this morning, our need for salvation because we can't save ourselves. We've sung this morning of the good news of Jesus that even in our sin, God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to pay the full price of our sin if only we will believe in him, accept him as our Lord and Savior. Humble ourselves, take ourselves off the throne and put God in his rightful place in our lives. We've sung about that full surrender this morning. The truth of the gospel, the truth of who God is, the truth of our shortfall due to sin, our separation from him, the truth of our need for saving and forgiveness, our truth that Jesus is coming back. He's not still in the grave, he is risen. This is the good news of the gospel. But we will be held accountable for what we do with it. If you've accepted this good news, praise God. We're called to continue to grow deeper in our relationship with him day by day to build a resolved faith as we experience his faithfulness in our life, to return regularly to him in repentance, to ask for forgiveness. We're told that when we receive Jesus, we also receive the Holy Spirit, our guide, our comforter, who will help us as we do this. But Church, if we've accepted Jesus, then our relationship with him becomes the biggest priority of our life. Everything else we do here on this earth should be in obedience to him. As we go into the workforce, it's not to work for human labors, it's to worship God as we work, as we contribute to the rest of humanity, as we love our brothers and sisters, as we share the good news of the gospel with those who have not heard it. Don't lose the joy and the fullness of the gospel because we're distracted by the delusions of this world. And if you haven't accepted Jesus yet, maybe you're still wrestling with what this looks like. Can I encourage you, do not delay. If we take the warning that God gave to Belshazzar, we can change it slightly, it still applies to us. Do not delay, do not rebel against God any longer. Don't stay in the sickness of your sin, there is hope, there is life, there is love in Jesus Christ. If we do not humble our hearts towards God, his message is clear, men, God has numbered the days of our sinful kingdom and brought it to an end. This is the truth, Jesus is coming back. The kingdom of sin has an end date. Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. The debt of our sin is death, none of us can pay it ourselves and yet the good news of Jesus is that if we believe in him, if we place him as Lord and Savior rather than ourselves, our debt is forgiven. If we don't, we've been weighed in the balances and we have been found wanting. If we continue to rebel, your kingdom is divided and given to destruction. The gospel is sobering news, but it's also full of hope for those who accept the good news of Jesus. So if you believe in him as your Lord and Savior this morning, can I encourage you to commit to developing your faith so that it is a resolved faith, day by day spend time with God that you would grow deep in relationship, that you would be walking around this world, not caught up in the things in front of you, but sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading, that even here on earth you would be engaged in kingdom work. And if you don't know him, stop rebelling. Sin is a sickness, humble your hearts and accept the life transforming good news of the gospel. Church, we will be held accountable for the decision we make, for the way that we live here on earth. Choose wisely. Let's pray. Lord God, we thank you for your work. We thank you for the faithful example we have of Daniel, who from a young age set his heart to you, surrendered and asked that he would be used for your kingdom, for your glory, who committed daily to fostering his relationship with you. Lord, thank you for the example of faith that we have in Daniel chapter 5 of resolved faith that stands the test of time. Lord, I pray for each and every one of us here in person, here online. Lord, wherever we're at, would you grow us deeper. Lord, if we profess that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Saviour, would you convict us to grow deeper in our relationship with you. Convict us of the ways where we are rebelling against you. Lead us in closeness and obedience that we would be used by you for your kingdom and your glory alone. Lord, let us be able to pray wholeheartedly that we surrender entirely to you, our God. Let your will be done and not ours. And Lord, for those who may still be wrestling, Lord, we pray that they would be able to receive the good news of Jesus. Lord, give them courage to talk to myself, to anyone that they came here with. Lord, we pray that you would help them to genuinely decide who you are in their lives. We pray for the lost in our community, in our world, and we pray that you would lead us who know and profess faith in you to share this good news with all that we interact with. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ.