COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH
SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2025 pm - MR JASON CRUISE
DANIEL 5 VERSES 1 TO 12, 17 TO 31
The passage we have read takes place in 539 BC Daniel the prophet is over 80 years of age, Many years have passed since Daniel was brought from Jerusalem to Babylon as a teenager. Jerusalem was overruled in 605 by the Babylonians. Nebuchadnezzar was king but many days have passed since then. Nebuchadnezzar is now dead and his grandson is on the throne. He is co regent with his father. Verse 1 "Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand." Down through the centuries of time there have been those who have lived a life of indulgence. Their motto is "eat, drink and be merry". They go through life with no thought of their soul, no care for eternal destiny. Belshazzar was such a man. His moral standards are far below common decency. His life was one of debauchery, carnality and riotous living. He fell far short of God's standards. He fell short of the standards of heaven. Before we think we are somewhat better than Belshazzar we too fall far short of God's standards. Romans 3 verse 23 tells us "for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." In fact Romans 3 verse 10 tells us "there is none righteous, no not one." Not one of us meet the standards God requires of us. The life you misses the standard. It falls short of the bar. Maybe you are shouting back "I live a life trying to do the best I can, morally I am right, I attend church, I am an upstanding person int eh community." Somehow they do not meet God's standards. We are born with the awful problem of sin. Romans 5 verse 12 "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Through the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden when he willfully rebelled against God, sin has come into this world. You miss the standards heaven requires. That is why you must be saved, you must come to put your faith and trust in the risen Christ. Each of us has appointment with death. Romans 6 verse 23 "for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life." You can have eternal life if you would only trust in the one who paid the price of sin. You must come in repentance and accept what he has done. You must acknowledge the life you have lived has been an offence to God. You can be saved, redeemed in the very seat in which you sit. Belshazzar lived a life in rebellion towards God.
Verses 3 and 4 he now calls for the golden and silver vessels to be brought. Nebuchadnezzar had brought these from Jerusalem. Now the king, the princes, wives and concubines drank from them. They praised the gods of gold and silver, the gods and idols of their own imagination. Here in chapter 5 we are brought to the great banquet of blasphemy against the God of heaven. As he drank from the vessels they now praised and honoured the gods of their own imagination. Babylon is often called the birthplace of idolatry. They loved their idols and they had many. Marduk, the king of the gods, Shamash the sun god and Negal, the god of the underworld. They had taken the place of the true God, the living God of heaven. Exodus 20 verse 3, the first commandments says "thou shalt have no other gods before me." Is there one here and you are not saved? You have an idol in your life, not of gold or silver, wood or stone. Perhaps it is sport, money, self, career. Your idol stands between you and God. In the light of eternity the idols you have cannot do anything to save your soul. There is only one who can save your soul. He is the one who died on the centre cross. One day we will meet God. Perhaps it will be as our Saviour because we have put our trust in him but for others they will meet him as judge. If you are not saved you too will go out to meet the Lord as judge. Amos 4 verse 12 "prepare to meet your God." Will you not come and make preparation for your departure, for one day when you leave this scene of time and go out into eternity without God. If you die without the Lord you will die without hope. You will end up in hell itself until one day when you stand before the great white throne, then to be cast into the lake of fire. Won't it be awful to attend a gospel meeting, to hear the word of God and then leave this scene of time never prepared for eternity. There are only 2 destinations - heaven with the Lord or hell separated from God and the love of God. Our meeting is convened to tell of a God who loves you, of a Son who came to bleed and die for Adam's race. You can freely come and avail of this salvation purchased for you at Calvary where Jesus laid down his life for you and I so we can have eternal life.
Verse 5 "In the same hour came forth 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." Belshazzar would have encountered the one true living God. Picture in your mind this banquet of sin. A thousand of the king's princes, wives and concubines are present. Belshazzar is taken with the wine. He thinks all is well. Little does he realise there is one in heaven looking down on all that is going on. He sees the heart of Belshazzar and now the hand of God writes on the plaster of the wall. Very quickly and suddenly a deathly silence descends upon this party of sin. The silence would have been broken by screams of fear and gasps of unbelief. The 1000 invited guests would have counted it a great privilege to be invited to this banquet. They had achieved something in life having been invited to this great feast. Now there was a rush for the exit door. In the space of an hour how much things have changed for Belshazzar. He had been enjoying a night of worldly entertainment and the next moment it is all over. He sat on a temporal earthly throne and failed to recognise there was one who sat on the sovereign throne in heaven. Picture Belshazzar in your mind. Fear grips him. His countenance changes. Now he is troubled by his thoughts. Although he has achieved much in his life none of that is important now. God has stepped in. You may have achieved great things in life but if you leave this scene of time without the Saviour, without knowing the LOrd all you have done in this life will be futile.
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