Text: Daniel 5:1-9, Title: The Results of Spiritual Blindness 1, Date/Place: NRBC, 5/24/09, PM
A. Opening illustration: talk about Gordon Dykes, and his ability to see more than we could see…
B. Background to passage: After the death of Neb, several kings succeeded him in ruling at Babylon, but none for very long. The dominance of Babylon was quickly coming to an end. Nabonadius was about the fifth in line, and the last of the Babylonian kings. He was so out of it, that he ruled much of his reign from another city, and left his son, Belshazzar in charge in Babylon. Until recently, there was no extra biblical evidence of a king named Belshazzar, until a certain archeological find confirmed this chronological understanding. And he is set in stark contrast to Neb in our account. Speaking of Neb, go back over the last few verses of chapter four and discuss his potential conversion. Explain that one cannot tell for sure without seeing his life.
C. Main thought: in our text, and next week, we will see six results of spiritual blindness.
A. Escalation of iniquity (v. 2-3)
1. In Neb’s life there was pride and self-worship. And even though it was eventually dealt with, the bulk of his life was spent exalting his own ego. Now in his grandson’s life, pride and self-worship has led to out and out blasphemy. In fact Daniel says that the king knew better in v. 22. He specifically sent for the holy vessels from Jerusalem, so he and all his sexually immoral partners can drink from them. This is a major bag-over-the-head, slap-in-the-face for the God of Israel. It screams that He is superior to that God. It begs for God’s judgment. Spiritual blindness tends to produce an escalation of sin. Sin doesn’t usually get better, but worse. This can happen in the life of a believer, and also within generations of families. Our sensitivity to sin and conviction lessens the more that we are exposed to it.
2. Ex 34:7, Num 14:18, Deut 7:9, Matt 5:29-30, 1 Tim 4:1-2, Rom 1:24, 26, 28,
3. Illustration: Tell the story about the man who sold the house all except for the peg on the front door frame, Miss a few weeks of church in a row, and see if it is not difficult to get up on that next Sunday morning, The Generational curse referred to in the preceding passage (passages) is not God cursing a person, but the negative behavior patterns passed down to succeeding generations…A person’s spirit carries uncounted numbers of scars that exist because of their family’s self-destructive habits. Yet they repeat those exact self-destructive patterns believing they’ll reap a different harvest.
4. We see this plainest in cases of self-destructive addictions. But the same principle applies to our individual lives, and the sin that we see as not so bad. Pet sins will turn into destruction. This is why Jesus is so violent against sin in His instructions to us. We are not to toy with, tolerate, dabble in, or be around sin. Treat it like deadly poison, for it will always take you further than you want to go, and cost you more than you want to pay. Fight diligently against all the little sins in your life. Keep your vigilance high, lest you be deceived, trapped, and taken down by a snare of Satan and self. And the more you are involved in it, the less you can feel its sinfulness. This is why it is such a desperate situation when a brother or sister in Christ begins to slide. Our culture tells us to ignore the Spirit convicting and speaking to us. We must rescue them, fight for them, warn them, and communicate the deadliness of their actions. We must know and be continually reminded of the seriousness of the poison of sin. And in the lives of our children our patterns of sin will typically be magnified in them, possibly for generations. Think of patterns like adultery, divorce, alcoholism, anger, poor spending habits, church attendance (or lack thereof), all of these things have been shown to increase in likelihood for children that have been raised in homes with these things present.
B. Fear of circumstances (v. 6)
1. When people who are spiritually blind have their eyes opened, or experience some judgment, or see clear evidence of The God whom they have been spitting in the face of, they get scared. And rightfully so, I might add. Truly spiritual things scare those that ignore them for the bulk of their lives. But beyond the fear of seeing a disembodied hand write something on the wall, it seems that fear was an easy emotion for him. The text says that his facial expression changed, his thoughts troubled, tormented, or plagued him, he became weak in the legs, and his knees knocked together.
2. Isa 41:10, 43:1, Matt 6:25-34, 2 Tim 1:7, Rom 8:15, 1 John 4:18
3. Illustration: but sometimes our God is small (like in that advertisement for the new TV sitcom about the Dr. who implies that God couldn’t get in to this party), and people and problems are really small, “When I am conscious of the fear of failure holding me back, I go through a kind of personal checklist: 1. Does this fear come basically from pride, a fear that I will not live up to my own expectations or to those of others? 2. Do I remember that God has called me first to faithfulness, then to efficiency? 3. Do I trust that the Holy Spirit is working before me, with me, and through me? 4. Do I remember that I am called to be neither more nor less successful than Jesus Christ was? 5. Do I remember that God does his greatest work when I seem to be weakest?” Leighton Ford, “I am inwardly fashioned for faith, not for fear. Fear is not my native land; faith is. I am so made that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. I live better by faith and confidence than by fear, doubt and anxiety. In anxiety and worry, my being is gasping for breath--these are not my native air. But in faith and confidence, I breathe freely--these are my native air.” "Fear is nothing more than confidence in the devil."
4. As believers, you and I have not been given the spirit of fear, but of power and of sound mind. Jesus has commanded us not to worry and fear, and promised us all that we need not to be afraid. His presence and grace are sufficient for us to be confident in any circumstance. The knowledge about His power and sovereignty and immensity dwarfs earthly fears. This doesn’t mean that we don’t experience fear, but it does mean that when we do it is of Satan and self, and does not originate from God. Therefore, we must fight fear and worry when it comes against us. Know that God is always on our side. Don’t fall back to the old man, and allow fear to get a hold of your life.
C. Seeking of worldly advice (v. 7-8)
1. In his fear and blindness, Belshazzar called for his advisors, just like his grandfather Neb did, and probably like all the kings since had done. Recall, that this was done in and with the knowledge that these counselors had not helped out much with such things. But this is his way of seeking the interpretation.
2. Joshua 9:14, 1 Chron 10:13-14, Isa 30:1,
3. Illustration: A young man had been promoted to an important position in his company. He’d never dreamed he’d be in such a position, much less at such a young age. So he went to see the venerable old timer in the company, and said, "Sir, I was wondering if you could give me some ADVICE." The old timer came back with just two words: "Right decisions!" The young man had hoped for a bit more than this, so he said, "Thank you, that’s really helpful, and I appreciate it, but could you be a little more SPECIFIC? HOW do I make right decisions?" The old man responded: "Experience." The young man said, "Well, that’s just the point of my being here. I don’t have the kind of experience I need. How do I GET it?" The old man replied: "WRONG decisions!" one song said that he wished Christians would stop asking Oprah what to do! Our struggle evaluating advice with a non-believing doc in Maine,
4. How often do we fall into the same sort of trap? As believers we are constantly confronted with decisions that the world would have us to make without consulting godly counsel. And less and less now are cultural decisions in line with biblical truth. And so we really need to go back and examine decisions that we are making regularly, and ask if they are in line with the will of the Lord as revealed in his word. Who is it that you turn to if you need advice? Do you have a set of godly counselors that will bust out the word on you and help you biblically? Do you face many decisions about things, and not even include God in the discerning process? Does your attorney, your financial advisor, your counselor, your doctor have a Christian perspective? This counsel will guard us from self-deception.
A. Closing illustration: get a good quote from the commentary
