Here’s the Want

Psalm 1:5 | February 9, 2020

How are you doing at your New Year’s resolutions?

It’s been 5 weeks.

• Are you saving $5 more dollars a day?
• Are you sleeping 5 more hours a week?
• Are you spending 5 more minutes reading your Bible?
• Are you losing the 5 more pounds you wanted to?

Maybe those pounds are coming off slower because you are spending too much time crunching the numbers.

Ashley Greenblatt is a certified personal trainer and she gives 4 tips for improving your relationship with your bathroom scale.

1. Use the scale once a week

It seems that it might be a negative mental activity to weigh yourself every day or every night after you eat a slice of 7-layer caramel cake.

2. Get in a rhythm

Try to use the same scale at the same time of the week and wear a similar outfit.

If you live in Fairbanks, Alaska, and you are going to see your mom in Sarasota, Florida, for Valentine’s Day, you probably didn’t magically lose 5 pounds on the flight – it’s just on her scale you aren’t wearing your double flannel, Sherpa-lined parka.

3. Be aware of misleading measurements

Not all scales are calibrated the same – that’s why I use four different scales and just take the lowest number.

4. Substitute the scale

Ashley Blake Greenblatt, inquirer.com

Body measurements and clothing also work well in assessing weight goals. Your clothes don’t lie. If your jeans feel snug or difficult to button, it’s safe to assume you’ve gained weight.

Ashley Blake Greenblatt, inquirer.com

If you have put on a few extra pounds, do not discard these items. Rather, use your pants as a motivator to return to a weight at which they fit comfortably.

That’s exactly why I’ve kept my parachute pants from 8^th grade – one day…one day.

Regardless of what we are wearing or what scales we use, the purpose of the scale is to show us where we stand.

Is our weight where we want it or, are we found wanting?

In other words, do the scales show a lack of something?

• A lack of healthy eating?
• A lack of healthy exercise?
• A lack of self-control with 7-layer caramel cake?

Issues with our body weight can be serious to our physical and mental health – but what about our spiritual health?

• What does it mean to stand on spiritual scales?
• What does it mean to lack something spiritually?
• What does it mean to be found spiritually wanting?

And why does it matter – why should you be more concerned about keeping a check on your spiritual weight than your physical weight?

Let’s find out – listen to Psalm 1, verse 5:

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

Who are the wicked?

And why will they not stand?

The wicked are the ungodly – the opposite of godly.

How do we know what the opposite of godly is?

The psalmist told us in his previous sentences:

Psalm 1:1

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

 

Psalm 1:2

But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.

 

Psalm 1:3

He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.

Blessed and happy and fortunate and content and satisfied is the person who delights in God and delights in God’s truth that God has designed for us to see in Creation and discover in the Bible.

Reginald Heber – 1826

Holy, holy, holy!

Lord God Almighty!

All Thy works

shall praise Thy Name,

in earth, and sky, and sea…

A godly person loves to – with creation – praise the Lord.

The wicked do not love to nor long to praise the Lord.

Keith Getty and Stuart Townend

I will stand

on every promise

of Your word.

Words of power,

strong to save,

That will never pass away…

The godly love to believe in and delight in God’s Word – truth that cannot pass away because it is the truth of the only God who was and is and is to come.

The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel is infinite – he has no beginning and no end – that’s why he is the only God that is holy, holy, holy – he is the only God that is other, other, other.

The wicked do not love to nor long to believe in and delight in that God and His Word.

The wicked are the ungodly – the opposite of godly – those who are without God.

That’s important to remember because sometimes when we hear the word “wicked” we think of a terrorist or a sex trafficker and clearly, they are wicked and ungodly, but still we must be careful to not just read the Bible for other people.

It is not outside the scope of reality for there to be wicked, ungodly people in the local church.

Spurgeon said there is a devil in every church – yikes.

In a slightly milder tone, he says:

C.H. Spurgeon

What if you should be a black sheep in the midst of the flock!

So, remember to listen to the Bible and the truth of God for yourself – don’t just always be listening for Bible verses you can use against terrorists and traffickers and politicians.

The Apostle Paul was writing to his friend Titus who was one of the church leaders on the Greek island of Crete.

He wanted Titus to help the people at Crete Baptist Church to remember something.

What did he want them to remember?

Titus 3:3

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

Titus 3:4-5

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy…

If you are a Christian today, you once were not a Christian.

• You may have been 6 when you got saved
• You may have been 16 when you got saved
• You may have been 46 when you got saved

But if you are a Christian now, you once were not a Christian.

In some way, shape, or form you were:

• Foolish
• Disobedient
• Deceived
• Enslaved to lust
• Swirled up with evil thoughts and intentions
• Selfish and hateful toward others

But then the kindness of God appeared in your life and he saved you!

Melissa Kruger is a wife and mom who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Melissa Kruger

What a privilege that my Savior saved me and that I get to spend my life telling people how good he is.

Melissa Kruger

…what propels me is his goodness. He’s so good and he rescued me and I have no idea why…he plucked me out and he saved me and I just want to tell other people they can be saved too and that the Word is true…

Melissa Kruger

I banked on it at 14 but I believe it now and I look back and I say, “Yes, Psalm 1 is true!” Blessed is the man or the woman who delights in the law of the Lord.

Melissa Kruger

God’s ways are better – they are not always easier, but they are always better.

That’s how the godly speak.

That’s how the non-wicked live.

But the wicked and the ungodly do not speak and live that way.

And because they do not speak and live that way, the psalmist says they will not stand at the judgment.

Does that mean they won’t be there?

Does that mean that wicked people get a pass and will not have to stand before the one, true God and be judged?

No, it means they will not be able to stand at the judgment – they will shrink away trembling with fear and shame and horror.

They will not be able to stand – they will be found wanting.

They won’t be able to stand because they won’t have anything to stand on.

When they step on the eternal scales of justice they will be found lacking – they will not have what it takes – they will not have what is necessary for eternity.

Make no mistake, they will enter eternity, but they will not enter eternity with joy.

Can I just graciously press you to ask your heart this question:

If your time were today, could you stand before God?

Do you have what is necessary to enter eternity with joy?

Do you have true, saving faith in Jesus Christ?

We see this “wanting” language at another point in history.

About 2500 years ago there was a King named Belshazzar (Bell-sha-czer) and he was the last king of what we know as the ancient Babylonians.

Belshazzar was having a party and he had invited some wealthy and important people to come and they had all been drinking heavily and were in the process of praising their little “g” gods of gold and silver and bronze and iron and wood and stone – I guess that’s kind of like making HGTV your actual church.

And all of a sudden Belshazzar saw some human fingers appear on the wall – not a whole body – just some fingers – and the fingers started writing something on the wall.

And this is how the Bible records the next moment:

Daniel 5:6

Then the king's face grew pale and his thoughts alarmed him, and his hip joints went slack and his knees began knocking together.

Fair enough – pretty sure we would have all done the same.

But this wasn’t some kind of drunken stupor like he was wearing wine goggles and imagining things on the wall.

Whatever the fingers wrote was still on the wall but the king had no idea what any of it meant.

So, he called the magicians and the fortune tellers and the psychics to come read the wall and interpret was written.

But they couldn’t interpret or understand what was written and that made the king deeply afraid and he started to panic.

The queen came in and told him there was a man in the kingdom named Daniel who was good at stuff like that, so, the king sent for Daniel and when he got there this is what the king said to him:

Daniel 5:16

“Now if you are able to read the inscription and make its interpretation known to me, you will be clothed with purple and wear a necklace of gold around your neck, and you will have authority as the third ruler in the kingdom.”

And being the super bad Cool Hand Luke that Daniel was this is how he responded to the king:

Daniel 5:17

“Keep your gifts for yourself or give your rewards to someone else; however, I will read the inscription to the king and make the interpretation known to him.”

Daniel 5:18

“O king, the Most High God granted sovereignty, grandeur, glory and majesty to Nebuchadnezzar your father.

 

Daniel 5:19

Because of the grandeur which He bestowed on him, all the peoples, nations and men of every language feared and trembled before him;

 

Daniel 5:19

whomever he wished he killed and whomever he wished he spared alive; and whomever he wished he elevated and whomever he wished he humbled.

Daniel 5:20

But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit became so proud that he behaved arrogantly, he was deposed from his royal throne and his glory was taken away from him.

 

Daniel 5:21

He was also driven away from mankind, and his heart was made like that of beasts, and his dwelling place was with the wild donkeys.

 

Daniel 5:21

He was given grass to eat like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he recognized that the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind and that He sets over it whomever He wishes.

Daniel 5:22-23

Yet you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this, but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven;

Let me ask you a question:

Have you ever read anything in the Bible?

Have you ever heard some things from the Bible?

Do you know some things about God from the Bible?

If so, are you ignoring what you know?

Are you arrogantly or casually making your life and your schedule and your opinions more important than what you know about the one, true God?

Maybe today is the day for you to humble your heart and stop ignoring truth and come to Jesus.

How was Belshazzar exalting himself?

Daniel 5:23

and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them;

Daniel 5:23

and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But the God in whose hand are your life-breath and all your ways, you have not glorified.

Daniel 5:24

Then the hand was sent from Him and this inscription was written out.”

This man was given life and breath and talent and ability and authority by God and he used it all to glorify himself and rather than allow him to be immediately snuffed out by sickness or an invading army, God mercifully reaches out to the king with a message.

Has the God that holds your life-breath in his hand reached out to you with a message?

Maybe this week or last week or when you were a teenager?

Are you ignoring the message he has given you?

Not sure if he has given you a message?

Here’s at least one message he has given you:

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

What have you done with that message?

Has God plucked you up and saved you?

Are you living for him?

There were four words in the inscription on the wall and Daniel proceeded to translate them for Belshazzar.

Here’s the first part of the translation:

Daniel 5:26-27

God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it…you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient.

He could not stand in front of God.

He was found wanting.

He did not have what it takes – he did not have what was necessary to be right with God.

Sometime before Belshazzar – maybe a long sometime before – there was a man named Job who was super wealthy but he never made gold and silver and iron and wood his gods.

Yahweh was his God – his only God.

And outside of a few times of very deep discouragement and confusion, it seems like every time Job was weighed, he was not found wanting.

He lost all of his money and his possessions and all of his children in a matter of hours and yet over and over again he was not found deficient.

Why?

Because he never quit recognizing the Most High God and loving him and delighting in him and worshipping him.

C.H. Spurgeon

Is it this way with you? Can you say, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21)? Can you submit to His will without murmuring? Can you still say, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15)?

C.H. Spurgeon

Remember, if your religion will not stand in adversity, it will not give comfort in the storm. You would be better without it; for with it, adversity deceives you. Without it, you might discover your true condition and seek the Lord as a penitent sinner.

C.H. Spurgeon

If a little adversity breaks you, what will happen when all God’s storms are let loose on your soul?

The wicked, the ungodly, will not be able to stand up in the judgement because they will have nothing to stand up with – they will be found wanting.

The other word picture here the psalmist uses is one of acquittal.

That has been a popular word in our nation this week.

But please don’t miss the sober truth of the gospel – no matter what any of us might be acquitted of in this world, without Christ we will not be acquitted before God.

We will not be able to stand.

We will be found wanting.

The psalmist gives us one more piece of vivid imagery here.

5 Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

In a sense, all roads do lead to heaven – they just don’t lead inside.

All roads lead a person before God, but not all persons will be given access to God’s heaven.

As Jesus taught one day, there will be a separation and some will enter into the joy of their salvation and others will enter into everlasting darkness.

The psalmist is describing this truth:

You can be a decent person and do decent things in this world and even be a member of a decent church, but without Christ you will not be sitting in the congregation of heaven.

So, is there any hope to be had in all of this wicked, ungodly, dark, separating language?

Yes.

One of the other psalmists was known as Asaph.

Asaph wrote Psalm 73.

See if you can make any connections:

Psalm 73:2-3

…my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Psalm 73:4-5

For there are no pains in their death, And their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like mankind.

Why does it seem like the wicked, ungodly people get away with everything?

Why does it seem like the terrorist and the sex trafficker have freedom to do whatever they want?

Why does it seem like so many evil people in the world are always standing and always get acquitted and never have to stand on the scales of justice?

Well, the key word there is “seems”.

Why did Asaph get close to stumbling?

Because he was focused on the wrong thing.

Psalm 73:16-17

When I pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight Until I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end.

Now, coming into the sanctuary doesn’t mean coming into this building on Sunday or some special day and having this magical feeling with God.

The sanctuary Asaph would have walked into would probably have been covered with blood from the animal sacrifices not nice pews and stained-glass windows.

But that blood would have reminded him that God owns the final scales.

As Tony Reinke put it:

Asaph almost lost his footing because he wanted something more than he wanted God.

Listen, when we look at the evil, wicked, sinful things happening in our world – and the evil, wicked, sinful things happening in our own lives – we have to be careful how we respond.

• We can’t love sin
• We can’t love getting angry or arrogant or anxious or apathetic
• We can’t love being afraid or worried
• We can’t love being confused about the wicked or the ungodly

No, we have to love something more and want something more.

What?

Asaph put it this way:

Psalm 73:28

But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.

Tim Keller

Live for beauty – but beauty fades. Live for money – but money fades. Live for success – but success fades.

Tim Keller

If you don’t have God, you really don’t have anything, because everything is just slipping away from you. Therefore, it may be shaky to believe in God. But it’s more slippery not to.

Don’t slip on the scales of eternity but come to Jesus and live – come to Jesus and live.

Message by Dow Welsh |

February 9, 2020 © Holland Avenue Baptist Church

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Above are pre-sermon manuscript notes, not sermon transcript

Sermon scriptures NASB unless otherwise noted

Lots of help from many pastors and theologians

Weekly help from Bruce Hurt at www.preceptaustin.org

 

how you doing on your New Year's resolutions? Let me. Come on, spend five weeks, right? I mean, we're Yeah. You saving that extra $5 every day you're getting getting that five hours Maur a week and sleep. Are you reading your Bible five minutes more a day? Have you lost those £5 that you were hoping to lose? One of the reason that the white weight might be coming off a little slower is because you might be crunching the numbers a little too much. Actually, Greenblatt is a certified personal trainer, and she gives four tips for having a better relationship with your bathroom scale. All right, here's Here's the 1st 1 Use the scale once a week. Unde alley. It seems to be a negative thing for your mental energy toe. Weigh yourself every day. One of you gave me that advice Recently, I've tried to take it. There's a lot of truth to that. Don't wear yourself every day in Dallas. Probably not good for your mind is definitely not good for you to wait every night after you have that obligatory late night piece of seven layer caramel cake. Don't way after the cake that that will never go number. To get in a rhythm, use the same scale at about the same time of the week and try to wear something that's pretty similar every single time. If you live in Fairbanks, Alaska, and you're going to see your mom and Sarasota, Florida, for Valentine's Day and you get to her house and you get on her scales and you have magically lost £5 it is not because you just flew in the air and they just disappeared, all right. It's probably because you're not wearing that double flannel Sherpa line Parker that you wear all the time in Fairbanks because it's a little gold up there. So just get in a rhythm and stick with it. Number three. Be aware of misleading measurements. Not every set of scales has been calibrated the same. That's why in my house I have four sets of scales. I use all of them and I picked the lowest number of the four. That's just a good way to handle it. Good way for me to roll. Number four Substitute the scale. This is what actually Wright's body measurements and clothing also work well, and assessing weight goals. Your clothes don't lie. Bless. That's a true statement, right? If your jeans feel snug or difficult to button, it's safe to assume you've gained weight. Good math there. If you put on a few extra pounds, do not discard these items. Rather, use your pants as a motivator to return to await at which they fit comfortably. That's exactly why I still have my parachute pants from eighth grade because one day they air going to fit. And I'm aware months Sunday morning, regardless of what kind of scales were using or what we're wearing when we get on the scale, the purpose of the scale is to help us know where we stand. When we stand on that scale, we either know that we even need to lose some later or we have done okay. Or we might get on that stick scale. And we might say, You know what I am. I'm being found wanting here. This scale is showing. May I am being found wanting. What does that mean? Well, it means there's a lack of something, and sometimes when we get on the scale, we realize that the lack of something is that there's a lack of healthy eating in our lives, or there's a lack of healthy exercise in our life. Or there's a lack of self control when it comes to the obligatory late night seven layer caramel cake. Maybe that's just my problem, I don't know, but But we have these things where we're founding, film wanting were found lacking. There's there's something that we need and your issues with our physical weight can cause a problem with our health. At times it can cause a problem with our minds sometimes. But But what about our spiritual health? What does it mean to stand on some spiritual scales? What did it mean to be lacking something spiritually? What does it mean to be found wanting spiritually? Who cares? Why does it matter? Why does it matter today that that we should be more concerned with our spiritual late than our physical wait, Why is it important? Well, let's see if we can find out some one burst five and Thomas writes this. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment. Who are the wicked and why will they not be standing well. The wicked are the ungodly meaning they're the opposite of the godly. Well, how do you know what the opposite of godly is? Well, Thomas has already told us back in his other sentences before this. Listen, beginning back with someone one how blessed is the man who does not walk in the Council of the Wicked nor stand in the path of centers or sit in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season. And its leaf does not wither. And in whatever he does, he prospers. So blessed and happy and fortunate and satisfied. And content is the person that delights in God and delights in the truth of God Truth that God by his design has purpose for us to see in creation and discover in the Bible in 18 26 Reginal Hebrew Put it this way in one of our most beloved hymns. Holy holy, Holy Lord, God Almighty! All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and see a godly person loves to and longs to praise with creation. Praise the Lord. They long for the wicked and the ungodly. They do not long for nor love to praise. The Lord 2005 and one of our newer hymns, Keith, get Ian Stewart Town and put it this way. I will stand on every promise of your word words of power strong to save that will never pass away godly love to believe in and delight in the truth of God's word truth that will not pass away Because God is tthe e Onley God who was and is and is to come the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. Yahweh is infinite. He has no beginning and no end. He is the only God who is Holy, Holy, holy! He is the only God who is other, other other. There is none like him, but the wicked they do not love to, nor long too delight in God and delight in God's word. The wicked, the ungodly are with out God. That's an important distinction to remember because sometimes when we hear the word wicked, we immediately start thinking of of terrorists and sex traffickers and folks like that and Clearly, those folks are wicked and ungodly, but we have to be careful not to always be listening to the Bible for other people. For someone else, it is not outside this go for reality that there are wicked, ungodly people, even in the church. Charles Spurgeon said this, he said, There's a devil in every church blast. All right, look, don't let that be on your resume here. Really? Okay. There's run away from that one. Okay, More mild way. He said this. What if you should be a black sheep in the midst of the flock? The idea is simply this. Be sure that when you are listening to the Bible, wherever you're listening to the Bible, when you're reading the Bible, whatever interaction you have with the Bible be interacting with the Bible for you first. And most don't primarily be listening for some verse that you can use against the terrorists or trafficker or politician or someone else in your life. Be listening for God's word for your own heart. Let God's truth capture you pasta. Paul was writing to his friend Titus. Titus was one of the church leaders Greek island of Crete, and he he wanted tied us to remind the other folks in the church of something really important. And what was that one thing? This is what he wrote for. We also once were foolish ourselves disobedient, deceived and slaved to various lust and pleasures, spending our life and malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness of God, our savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy. If you are a Christian today, you once were not a Christian. Maybe you were six when you got, say, maybe you were 16 when you got, say, maybe you were 46 when you got saved. But if you're a Christian now, there was a time that you were not a Christian. So in some way, some shape some form According to how the Bible reads, there was a time that you were foolish and disobedient and deceived and enslaved toe lust and swirled up with evil intentions and selfish and hateful toward other people. Again, some of us go and five years old. I wouldn't like that. Have you met some five year olds. All right, this is not outside the realm of that. Okay? Sometimes I think we're We're tempted to say we're always innocent. We're not, We're not. So before Christ, these things are in some way part of who we are, even if it's just our heart and our mind. But been the kindness of God showed up and God saved you and that changed the whole story. Melissa Kruger is a wife and mom. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. She said this what a privilege that my savior saved me and that I get to spend my life telling people how good he is. What propels me is his goodness. He's so good. And he rescued me. And I have no idea why he plucked me out and he saved me. And I just want to tell other people they can be saved too. And that the word is true. She says this. I banked on that at 14 but I believe it now. And I looked back and I say, Yes, someone is true. Blessed is the man or the woman who delights in the law of the Lord. And she says this God's ways are better. They're not always easier, but they are always better. They're always better. That's how the godly speak. That's how the non wicked live but the ungodly, the wicked. They don't live that way. No, they do not speak that way. Their life is not marked with that. And because they do not speak that way because their life is not like that, Osama says they will not stand in judgment. Now let me. They will miss the thing. I mean all the wicked people. They get a pass and they don't have to stand in front of God and be judged. No, that's not what it means at all. What it means is, when they stand in judgment, they will not be able to stand. They will be shrinking back, shrinking away, shrinking down in fear and horror and shame. They will be trembling at how much they have dishonored the holy God and how much they blew off the message of salvation they will not be able to stand. They will be found wanting. They won't be able to stand because they don't have anything to stand all when they climb on the eternal scales. of justice. They will discover that they lack what is needed. They don't have what it takes to be right with God to enter into eternity. Make no mistake, everybody will enter into eternity. But not everybody will enter in with joy. So let me just graciously press you to ask your heart a question. If today were your day to stand before God could just stand, could you stand? Do you have what it takes to be right with God? Do you have true saving faith in Jesus or are you found wanted? We see this wanting language At another point in history. About 2500 years ago, there was a king named Bill Shazzer. You may pronounce his name differently. I'll probably pronounce his name 20 different ways. I tell this story. Poppy should just calling King Bee not to be confused with Jay Z, who's married to Queen Bee like I did all that math right there. I've stuck my head. So Bill Shazzer was having a party and he invited a bunch of rich people to come to the party and they were heavily drinking and and things moved in a weird direction where they started worshipping some of their little G gods. They were worshipping their gods of gold, gods of silver, gods of bronze and iron and wood and stone. So there were worshipping these gods and as they were worshipping as they were drinking one suddenly well, she has her soul. Some human fingers appear out of nowhere on the other side of the room on the wall, not like a human body, but just some human fingers. And he saw this fingers begin to write something on the wall, and this is how the Bible describes the next moment, Daniel five or six. Then the king's face grew pale and his thoughts alarmed him and his hip joints went slack and his knees began knocking together. Fair enough. Pretty sure that's what we did it into. We just awesome fingers writing on the wall across the room. But this wasn't some kind of drunken stupor. He wasn't wearing wine goggles, and and all of this is just his imagination. No, because when they sobered up a little bit, the words were still in the wall. So he knew something was up and he was afraid. So he called his magicians and his fortune tellers and his psychics, and they all came in and he said, Look, I need you to translate whatever this stuff is that's on the wall. There's this inscription, Help me figure it out But they couldn't. The trial is that king. We we don't know what any of this means, and that made him panic. That frightened him. The queen came in and saw everything that was going on, She said. You know, there's this guy in the kingdom. His name is Daniel. I think he's kind of good at that stuff. You ought to call him over. So the king did. Daniel come over and this is what the king said after Daniel got there. Now, if you're able to read the inscription and make its interpretation known to me, you will be clothed with purple and wear a necklace of gold around your neck, and you will have authority as the third ruler in the kingdom. Big deal. But being the super bad, cool dude that Daniel was, this is how he responded. Keep your gifts for yourself or give your rewards to someone else. However, I will read the inscription to the King and make the interpretation known to him. Keep your stuff. I don't want it. Don't need it, but I'll let you know what the Wall says. And so Daniel proceeds to tell the king what's owned the wall, but but he's got a little bit of a prelude to it. And this is what he says. Listen to his announcement to the king. Oh, King, the most high Godgranted sovereignty, grander glory and majesty to Nebuchadnezzar, your father. Because of the grander which he bestowed on him, all the peoples, nations and men of every language feared and trembled before him. Listen to this. Whomever he wished, he killed whomever he wished he spared alive and whomever he wished he elevated and whomever he wished he humbled. That's the power. But when this heart was lifted up and his spirit became so proud that he behaved arrogantly, he was deposed from his royal throne and his glory was taken away from him. He was also driven away from mankind, and his heart was made like that of beast, and his dwelling place was with wild donkeys. He was given grass tea like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he recognized that the most high God is ruler over the realm of mankind and that he sets over it whomever he wishes. Yet you his son Belle Shazzer, have not humbled your heart even though you knew all this. But you have exalted yourself against the Lord of Heaven. Me ask you a question. Have you ever read anything out of the Bible? Have you ever heard something red are taught from the Bible? Do you know anything about the God of the Bible? If so, are you ignoring what you have read or seeing or hurt? Are you on purpose with arrogance or or maybe casually putting your schedule in your life and your opinions set? Setting them up is Maur important than the truth that you know about God. If so, perhaps today is the day for you toe humble your heart to quit ignoring God's truth and to come to Jesus. Perhaps today is your day. So how was Bill Shazzer exalting and praising himself? Listen, Daniel 5 23 and they have brought the vessels of his house before you and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking one from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold of bronze, iron, wood and stone gods which do not see, hear or understand. But the God and whose hands are your life, breath and all your ways you have not glorified. And then Daniel said this. Then the hand was sent from him, and this inscription was written out. So here's a man that was given life and breath, talent, ability, skills, authority. And he was using all of it to glorify himself. And rather than allow him to be snuffed out by sickness or an invading army, God reached out to the king and mercy and sent him a message has got. Ever sent you a message? Never got a message from God. Maybe you got one this week, maybe one last week. Maybe you got it when you were a child or teenager. Maybe you're thinking that I don't know. I got a message from God. I've never seen any fingers right on the wall anywhere, So I guess not. Here's just one message that God has given that I'm fairly certain. Almost everyone listening to me nose. But But in case you don't. You're getting ready to hear it. And so now, after you hear this message, you will need to do something with this message from God. Jesus said what for? God so loved the world that he gave his one and only begotten son that whoever would believe in him and trust in him and rely on him and clean to him would not perish or come to destruction, but have eternal, everlasting life. What have you done with that message? That that that message has come your way? That that message has just now at least come into your ears. And my guess is Ah, lot more messages have come from God to us. What are you doing with the messages of God? As God plucked you up has got saved you. Are you living for him? Are the messages of God just going in one year and out the other? There were four sets of letters inscribed on the wall by the mysterious fingers. And Daniel begin to translate what they meant. And here's the first part. God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. You have been weighed on the scales and found deficient. He could not stand before God. He did not have what it takes to be right with God. He was found wanting many years before King be There was very wealthy, wealthy man named Joe and job for all of his wealth. He never began to worship his wealth. He never began to worship the gods of gold and silver and wood and iron and bronze and stone. No, he only had one god. You away was this guy and his only God. And in a matter of hours, host job lost all he had all his wealth, all of his possessions, even all of his Children. And outside of a few times in life where he was discouraged and down every time that job got Wade, he was not found wanting. The guy never steered to the left or the right. His praise, his delight. His worship never changed. He never quit recognizing the most high god. When he lost everything, he never quit recognizing the most high Godwhen everything fell apart. He never quit recognizing the most high Godwind tragedy, ultimate and hard and difficult was thrust upon his family through the death of his own Children. He never quit recognizing the most high god. When he stepped on the scales, he was not found. I want to. Why? Because Job had discovered that the best of the best of the best for his soul was to delight in the Lord. The best for his soul was to love and enjoy the most high guy. Charles Spurgeon said this is it this way with you? Can you say the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away? Blessed be the name of the Lord. Can you submit to his will without murdering? Can you still say though he slay me yet I will trust him. Remember, if your religion will not stand in adversity, it will not give comfort in the storm. You would be better without it. For with it, adversity deceives you Without it, you might discover your true condition and seek the Lord as a penitent center. If a little adversity breaks you, what will happen when all God's storms or let loose on your soul? The picture of being found wantonness is a person who who stands before God and the judgment of eternity falls down upon them and they can't handle it because they could never handle any adversity because they never recognized the most high god, the wicked, the ungodly. They will not be able to stand up in that day. They will have nothing to stand on. They will be found. Walter, A bit of this Old Testament language here would describe something like this. They will not be acquitted. We know that word from this week, right? Been pretty popular in our nation and around the world. Really? But please listen to the sober truth of the gospel that if you're the president or you're a pastor or your parent, your spouse or your whoever else you are in life no matter when and how and who you get acquitted here on this earth without Christ, God will not acquit you. That is the harsh, gracious, mercyful, loving truth of the gospel that we do not have to stay dead in our since we do not have to keep being found guilty, we can come to Christ and lift. There's one more thought here. Islamist gives from verse five, he says north centers and the assembly of the righteous. In a sense, all roads do lead to heaven. It's just they don't lead inside. All roads do lead to a person standing before God, but all people are not ushered in to God's kingdom. Jesus taught it this way one day, he said. There's going to be a separation, and I'll just be two groups. Separation will be those who will go away and enter into the joy of their salvation. And then those who will enter into eternal, everlasting darkness. There are no other groups. Those are the only ways that Jesus says the world will be separated. This promise is describing this truth. You could be a decent person and do decent things in this life and even be a member of a decent church. But without Christ, you will not be in the congregation of heaven thes air, strong words from the psalmist. But But is there any good news? Is there any any hope in the middle of any of this, any any hope? In the middle of all this wicked, ungodly, dark separating language we gather, ISS comes in a different, different route. One of the other Somis is known as a staff, and he wrote some 73. Let me read just the beginning of that. See if you can make any connection in your personal life or what you thought about this week or what you've posted on social media with what Asef says. So I'm 73. My feet came close to stumbling. My steps had almost slipped, for I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked, for there are no pains in their death and their body is fat like fat fat. But like they got everything, they won't. They're not in trouble as other men. Nor are they played like mankind begs the question. Why does it seem like the wicked, ungodly people have all the fun? Why is it that those terrorists and those sex traffickers, they seem like they always get to do whatever they want to do with no repercussions? Why does it seem like so many evil people in the world? They always get to stand around and do whatever they want to do it, and they're always acquitted of everything they do, and they never seem to be held accountable. And when they get on the scales of justice, it seems like it has nothing to do with him with keyword, there's seems it does seem that way. Why is it that a self almost stumbled? Why did he almost lose his footing? It's because he had the wrong focus. Listen, we go zonal, writes some 73 beginning for 16. When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God. Then I perceived there, and now I think most of us here that we go, Yeah, we have a beautiful sanctuary. That's what a staff did you know, he just went down before church started on Sunday morning. He sat in the pew and just stained glass. Light just warmed him with God's presence. Or he came on some special day and the same thing happen. That's that's really not the scene here. See, if a staff had walked into the sanctuary, what would he have probably seen? He probably would have seen a lot of blood and a lot of dead animals and a lot of sacrifice, so it wouldn't have been nice stained glass and pretty pews. Or you can just sit and be all loving with God. Now it would have been a violent scene. But that scene would have also immediately stirred him to remember something. And that's this. When he walked in and looked around and he saw how serious God was about sin, how serious God still is about sin, he would say, You know what? I know who has the last scales. I know who has the last scales. I think sometimes we forget the power of the cross because we're convinced that whatever power, even if it's just the update of the news, has more power. Thank God Tony Rocky put it this way. A staff almost lost his footing because he wanted something Maur. Then he wanted God. He he wanted some sense of justice or he wanted his life to be different. He wanted everything to look different and sound different and feel different. And because of that, he started not warning God enough. He started wanting other things. When we look at the evil of the wicked and the simple things happening in our world, in our community, when we look at the the evil in the sinful, in the wicked things happening even in our own lives and our own families, their own homes. Our own workplace is our own schools. We have to be careful about how we respond So we can't love sin. We generally speaking we know that we can't love sin But we also can't love to be angry We can't love to be arrogant. We can't love to be anxious. We can't love to be apathetic. We can't love being afraid. We can't love being worried. We can't love being stressed. We can't love being confused of how it seems like the ungodly and the wicked seem to get away with everything. We can't love those things. Those things may happen But we can't love those things. They can't be who we are. As a friend of mine told me, walking across campus in seminary, he said, You know, whatever kind of mood or attitude you're in, you're going to have to decide if that's going to become an idol. Are you going to start worshipping your stress? We're going to start worshipping your anger. I'll tell you this. You scroll through some people social media posts. They are worshipping their anger, worshipping it idolize you. I want to be angry or God, but I don't want to be holier. I don't want to be more loving towards you, and we're all tempted to move in that direction. So it's half almost lost his footing because he was loving the wrong thing. But But then he stepped into the sanctuary. He saw how serious God is about sin, and he went, 00 yeah, that's right. God's got the last scales. I can trust him, my faith. Israel. So what is this? Something we need Longmore for this what? Except said. But as for me, the nearness of God, it's Mark. I have made the Lord God my refuge. That's that's who I rented. That's why he seems, You know, I have discovered that being near God is this for my good. When I get sick, being near God is my good. When I get angry, being near God is my good. When I get stressed, being near God is my good. When I get depressed, being near God is my good to be near. God is where I need to be. I need to run to him. He needs to be my hope and my salvation. But can I just confess to us most of us? We run to other things. We're just do we run to other things, Tim Keller said. This live for beauty, but beauty faints live from money, but money fades. Live for success. But success, fates. If you don't have God, you really don't have anything because everything is just slipping away from you. Therefore, it may be shaky to believe in God, but it's more slippery, not listen. Here's the beauty of the gospel. Here's the beauty of the cross. Here's the beauty of of Jesus saying Father, forgive them. Here's the beauty of saying peace. Be still. Here's the beauty of Jesus rising from the dead. Here's the beauty of Jesus ascending into heaven. Here's the beauty that everything that Jesus has ever done gives us every reason to believe that he is coming again. Here's the beauty of all of that. So you don't have to slip on the scales of eternity. You don't have to be found wanting No, because of who Jesus is because of what Jesus has done because of how he is calling you. Today, you can come to Jesus and lift. You have to be found wanting. You can come to Jesus and lift. See, that's the goodness. The real news is you could be found wanting. But you can also stand on that day and from the bottom of your soul remember and realize that you were wanted and that you were chosen, not forsaken, that you were rescued and redeemed. Did. In that moment, God prevailed and he did not fail. And Jesus will say, Enter into the joy of your salvation. That's where we want to stand.