“Weighed in the Balance”
February 5, 2017
Daniel 5:1-31
Have you ever been at a party and someone did or said something that changed the entire thing for everyone? Way back when – I might have been the one to say something crude or inappropriate and spoiled it for everyone. I never did anything like this king, tho. King Belshazzar was living it up. His Father had died who had been a great king and so he has taken over and is enjoying his popularity, position and power. Of course he is drinking. That always contributes to unwise decisions and choices. I don’t know what he was thinking – I suspect the enemy of our souls whispered in his ear to do something really ungodly. He does that, you know. That is one reason I am so opposed to alcohol and drugs. It lowers our resistance and makes us susceptible to doing things we normally wouldn’t do. That’s one reason I won’t take even one drink. It opens the door to things I certainly don’t want opened.
Anyway, for whatever reason, King Belshazzar ordered the servants to bring out the holy temple artifacts they had stolen from Israel. I don’t know why. Perhaps because they were made of gold. Maybe it was because they were beautiful. It may have even been to mock God by using His sacred things to worship other gods. Whatever the reason – it was a deadly mistake. It ended up costing him his life. Can you imagine his shock when a human hand appeared out of thin air and began to write on the wall? The Bible says, “His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.”
He was pretty scared – and he didn’t even know what the writing said yet. So he called in all his wise and educated men to read the writing on the wall. No one could understand it. Spiritual things need spiritual insight to understand them. So Daniel come into the picture and solves the puzzle. Belshazzar was killed that very night but not until he made Daniel the third highest ruler in his kingdom.
This story has so much we can learn from it – and as you study it God will give you much insight into it. This morning, though, I want to take one thought from this story and expound on it a little. It is that little phrase on the all. The middle word - Tekel. It means “You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.”
I hope none of us ever hear those words said about us. But one thing it reminds us of is that there is going to be an accounting for each one of us. The words we say; the things we do; the things we don’t do – it will all be weighed on the scales of God’s Justice. God reminds us of that over and over. Listen.
“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves.” Malachi 4:1-2
“But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:36-37
“You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will acknowledge God.’”
So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.” Romans 14:10-12
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:10
“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.”
Revelation 20:11-12
A Day of Judgment is coming and every one of us will stand before Jesus and give an accounting of our actions. We often think it will be an angry old father figure that will be sitting on that throne – delighting in casting people into hell – but it will be Jesus. It will be loving, kind, sacrificial Jesus on the throne. The Bible says,
“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead…” 2 Timothy 4:1
“This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ…” Romans 2:16
That encourages me – but it also is a little scary. It is encouraging that Jesus will be the judge because he is kind and merciful. But He is the one who knows us best. We can’t hide anything from Him. He knows everything we ever did; but He also knows why we did it. He knows our motives and the thoughts and intent of our heart.
In our world a lot of people do good things with the wrong motives. They may build a great cathedral – but their intent is not to glorify or help people – but to bring glory on themselves. They may do wonderful works – but with the wrong motive. On that Great Day of Judgment Jesus said,
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”
Matthew 7:21
We are not going to be able to fool Jesus with our excuses and our self-justification. He knows the real us. There are a lot of people who claim – even think- they are a great man and women of faith. Jesus has a way of cutting right to the chase. I can imagine on that Judgment Day someone trying to explain to Jesus that they were really good Christians and did all this wonderful stuff. Jesus will look at them kindly and say, “Don’t tell me you have faith in God if you never tithed.”
Do you see, faith is believing God; trusting Him; and acting on what He has revealed to you. Tithing has very little to do with money and everything to do with faith. God said “Do this.” He even said, “Test me in this.” (Malachi 3:10) It is all about our believing Him and doing what He asks us to do. It is all about faith. And how important is faith? The Bible says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). God doesn’t care about money – other than we love it so much that it becomes our god that competes with Him. Jesus said that we can’t serve God AND money. We have to choose who we love most. Don’t tell me you love God most if you don’t tithe. Don’t tell me you are a person of faith if you don’t tithe. Don’t be weighed in the balance and be found lacking.
Judgment Day is that day when we will be weighed in the balances. On that day, Jesus said that there will be two kinds of people. Listen to Jesus talking about Judgment Day.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”
Matthew 25:31-33
“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew 13:47-50
Did you notice that Jesus said there would be two groups? Those groups aren’t catholic and protestant; they aren’t Nazarene and Baptist or Pentecostal and Presbyterian. Those two groups aren’t even believers and non-believers. The Bible says even demons believe Jesus is the Son of God. The two groups are the wicked and the righteous. Wickedness is anything apart from God. Righteous is “right acts”. It is doing the right thing. Righteousness is an expression of faith. God tells you to do something or not do something and you do it.
There are millions of people who claim to be Christians who knowingly live in rebellion with Him. On Judgment Day I imagine Jesus will look at them sadly and say, “Don’t tell me you are saved when you are living in rebellion with the Savior.” You can’t be friends and enemies at the same time. Jesus can’t be your Lord when you are rebelling against Him. The Bible says, “Eternal Salvation is for those who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:9). It is wicked to knowingly disobey God. Popular theology says you can be saved and sin. It says that you can live in rebellion and still go to heaven. Obedience has become optional today. That is not so. Jesus quoting Isaiah said,
“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’”
Matthew 18:8-9
Don’t tell me you are saved if you are living in rebellion.
I think the bottom line is that on Judgment Day those two groups of the wicked and righteous that Jesus talked about can be also described as “those that love Jesus and those who don’t”. Jesus said,
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” John 15:13-14
Doing what Jesus commands us to do is an expression of love. But true love is sacrificial. In other words, if you love Jesus you will sacrifice your will to do His. And I think His greatest desire is that we would get to know Him. Jesus said we are to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness…” (Matthew 6:33)
The true Christian is defined by his seeking. That which we love we seek – whether it be gold or God. I think on that Great Day of Judgment Jesus is going to sadly say too many people, “Don’t tell me you love me when you don’t seek me”.
Do you seek Him? Some of you are here today because you ARE seeking Him. But this isn’t enough. We need to search the Pages of the Bible and seek Jesus. We need to seek His will and promises and revelations in it – daily. We need to seek Him in prayer; we need to seek Him in worship; we need to spend quiet time seeking Him. That which we love we seek.
For the one who loves Jesus there will be no fear in Judgment. Perfect love casts out fear, the Word of God says. Judgment Day will be a day of honor and praise and reward for the one who lives in that loving relationship with Jesus. But I am afraid many will hear Jesus say,
1. Don’t tell me you have faith if you don’t even tithe. Some will hear, `
2. Don’t tell me you are saved when you are living in rebellion. Others will hear, 3. Don’t tell me you love me when you didn’t seek Me.
Let’s love Jesus more. Let’s be quick to do His will. It will be worth it.
If you were to be weighed in the balances – would you be found lacking? You can begin the path to restoration by praying a prayer like this.
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for the great love you have for me. Thank you for the wonderful plans you have for me. Forgive me for not living up to your standard and will. Help me to grow in faith. Help me to walk in obedience. And help me to seek you more. Give me the grace to do this. Help me every day to truly walk in a loving relationship with you.
In Jesus Name,
