Belshazzar's Ball

BELSHAZZAR’S BALL

TEXT - Daniel 5: 1-6, 22-31

INTRO. - There are many people in the Bible who are good

examples to follow and teach us about faith, love, sacrifice,

and practice Christianity. There are others who are red light

warnings that teach us to beware lest we follow in their

ways. Belshazzar is one of those people who teach us not to

be like they were.

Belshazzar the king threw a feast. I am sure it had the best

of everything and no expense was spared. Pleasure was the

order of the hour. History teaches us that some of these

feasts prepared by ancient kings would last for weeks.

Serious decisions and the important matters of life and the

kingdom were put away and forgotten. These feasts were wild

and unrestrained. Passions were allowed to run free. I am

sure the feast was filled with wine, women, and song.

The sin at this feast was bad enough. I am sure that the

feast itself was enough to stir the wrath of God.

But Belshazzar couldn’t stop there - See vs. 2

Some people cannot just be unsaved. Some people cannot just

reject God. Some people have to go a little further.

The suggestion probably came with a roar of laughter.

What made Belshazzar do it? What made him take the holy

vessels of the Temple of God and bring them into the feast?

1. Maybe his friends were in his thoughts. People will

do alot of things against God to please their friends.

Christians will even miss church because friends came over at

the last minute.

2. Maybe he thought that he was big enough and powerful

enough to insult God. He may have thought that he was the

exception to the rule. Many people today feel this way. Many

know what the Bible says about repentance, confession, and

faith in Christ as the way of salvation but feel that they

are the exception to the rule. They feel that they can get to

heaven by another way other than the way of the cross. They

feel that they are a special case with God and somehow god is

going to let them in the back door somehow.

3. Maybe it was for the thrill that might have

accompanied it. There is a thrill to danger. Here was the

danger of slapping God in the face. I believe that this may

be a reason some people take God’s name in vain.

4. Maybe his conscience began to bother him because of

the sins of the feast. Maybe he figured that what he needed

to do was bring a little religion into the feast. There are

many today who live their lives like they are living at

Belshazzar’s feast. They begin to have their conscience

bother them. They think that what they need is to bring a

little religion into the feast so they attend church

occasionally. They become "Sunday morning glories". They go

to church very once in awhile to appease their conscience and

then on Monday they return to the feast.

All is going fine. The feast is at its pinnacle. The feast is

filled with its fun, its sin, its godless wicked pleasures.

UNTIL SOMETHING IS SEEN ON THE WALL - vs. 6

I can hear it now. People begin to cry, "It’s a spirit".

Others cry "It’s a phantom". Someone cries "IT MUST BE GOD".

The music stops. You could hear a pin drop.

THAT NIGHT DEATH BURST UPON THE SCENE.

I WANT US TO LOOK BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST AND REMEMBER THREE

THINGS.

I. WHEN GOD WRITES ANYTHING ON THE WALL, YOU HAD BETTER READ

IT AS IT IS.

There may be someone here today living at Belshazzar’s feast.

You have forgotten God and what God wants for your life. You

can eat, drink and be merry but remember we all must one day

face God. God is still on the throne. Abraham Lincoln said

"You can fool all the people some of the time. And you can

fool some of the people all of the time. But you cannot fool

all the people all the time". Let me add to that, you cannot

fool God any of the time! When God is speaking to you, you

had better listen.

ILL. - I once saw a bird sitting on a high voltage wire that

had danger signs posted on every pole that carried it. I

asked an electrician working nearby why the bird could

live on the dangerous wire. The man explained that if I

reached up with a stick or pole and touched the wire, I

would die instantly but the bird could live because it

was "totally given over to the wire". As long as the

bird touched only the wire, it was safe. If it touched