Introduction
The year is 539 B.C. There is 539 years to the appearance of Christ on earth as a baby in a manager. There are 2022 years from Christ birth to the present day. But the warning given in 539 B.C. applies to this very day. It is a very old warning, but it is one that we must take seriously today as Christians. (Let me tell you that the Bible is not old fashion. What is true back then is still true today.)
Let me share with you how this warning comes about. Nebuchadnezzar has gone the way of his father to the grave. Now on the throne is his grandson, Belshazzar. Belshazzar decided to have a party in the royal ballroom of the palace. He invited his thousand closest friends for food and drink with the emphasis on the drinking.
Sometime during this festive occasion, Belshazzar called the stewards to go fetch the gold and silver vessel that his grandfather had taken from God’s Temple in Jerusalem when he laid siege to the city. The stewards pass the gold and silver vessels around to the guest so that they may drink along with the king from the holy vessels.
Within one hour of drinking from those cups, judgement was issued against Belshazzar as a hand wrote on the wall “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.
Belshazzar didn’t know what that meant; his wise men did not know what it meant. The queen mother tells her grandson, the only that will know the meaning is Daniel. And so, Daniel was summoned to the palace and let’s look at what Daniel tells the King,
Daniel 5:22-23
22 “But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. 23 And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified.
Background Information
Listen closely to what Daniel tells Belshazzar. You have taken something God says is holy and set apart for Him and used it in an unholy way. These were vessels of God’s Temple used in the worship of God, and only to be used in the worship of God. But Belshazzar made them unholy by using them in a drunken feast with his friends.
Despite all the wrongs of Nebuchadnezzar and he did a lot of things wrong, he never was accused of taking what belonged to God and using it in an ungodly way. Belshazzar, he crossed the line, he used God’s holy vessels in an ungodly way. And judgment came to him quickly.
Nobody here would do what Belshazzar did, right? Nobody here would take something that belongs to God and use it such a common way, right. Wrong! Let me show you why an Old Testament warning issued by Daniel is for today’s Christian. It is possible that you and me as Christians are using what is holy in an unholy way. And chastisement from God will come. Let me explain how that can be.
Point #1
In God’s thinking the gold and silver vessels of the Old Testament become you and me in the New Testament. We are now the holy vessels of God.
2 Timothy 2:20-21 “20 Now in a great house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also wooden and earthenware ones, some of which are for honorable use, and some of which are for ordinary use. 21 Therefore, if someone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”
Look what it says: he will be a vessel for honorable use. When I cleanse myself from sin, ask Jesus Christ into my heart, I become born again, right? But we are not taught very much from the pulpit that you are no longer an ordinary vessel but now you have become an honorable vessel to be used by God.
We all know Saul of Tarsus, who become the Apostle Paul of the New Testament. After his salvation experience, God tells Ananias to search out Paul. But Ananias was a little apprehensive because he had heard how this man was killing and imprisoning those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord.
Listen to what the Lord tells Ananias. Acts 9:15 (NKJV)
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.
The Lord’s own words: “He is a chosen vessel of Mine.”
So, understand this: if you are a born again Christian then you are also a holy vessel of God.” Belshazzar took the vessels that were holy and by his actions makes those vessels unholy or ordinary.
So how can we make this chosen vessel (which is every born again Christian) into something that is unholy. Let me share with you three things.
Point #2
Just as Belshazzar took the holy vessels of God and made them ordinary by using them in a worldly way, this world wants to seep into your Christian life and turn you from a holy vessel into an ordinary vessel. It wants to make you look worldly.
1 Thessalonians 4:7 (NKJV)
7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.
Psalm 24:3–4 (NKJV)
3 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
We cannot let the world make us ordinary.
You must be set apart from the world. If the world starts creeping into your life, your Christianity takes a hit. You will not pray or read your Bible as much. Your attendance at church will be hit and miss. What you have done is to take that honorable vessel, which is made to serve God, and just made it ordinary.
You would not go to a restaurant and open up the silverware and use any utensil that is dirty. If your drinking class is brought to the table and you see smudges of lipstick on the rim, you send it back. And so, God calls us not to let the world seep into our life because it will dirty us. God loves to use clean vessels not dirty ones for His service.
If you are here today, and you are a Christian who has allowed the world to seep into your life, you are no different than Belshazzar. You have taken what is holy and used it in an unholy way. The only difference is Belshazzar turned God’s holy cups into unholy; you have turned the honorable vessels He made you to be at your salvation and turned it into unholy vessel.
Point #3
Nebuchadnezzar stored away the vessels of God not to be used. God made honorable vessels not to be stored away but to be used by Him. But sometimes we Christians store ourselves away not to be used.
Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV)
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
We just read Acts 9:15 and God says: Paul is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. God had no intention of saving Paul and then put him on a shelf not to be used.
The holy vessels of God stored in the basement of the palace were not being used to honor God. And so it is with a Christian, if you are sitting on the sidelines not doing any good works, you are just like those vessels in the Babylonian basement. You are not doing what good intended you to do.
Our vessels, God tells us is to do good works. Those good works might be doing something down at the church to make the church work. Those good words might include going where God tells you to go help someone. Those good work might include telling the Good News to those God lays on your heart.
I can tell you what God does not want to do and that is put you on the shelf.
Point #4
God did not overlook Belshazzar’s use of His holy vessels in an ungodly way. The correction of God was swift. Since we are God’s holy vessels of the New Testament, do you really think that God is going to overlook when we use this vessel in an ungodly way.
Hebrews 12:5–6 (NKJV)
5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”
Some of you in the room today may be experiencing the chastisement of the Lord in your Lord. And a question I need to ask myself: Is it possible that I have used Godly holy vessel, me, in some ungodly way?
Have I left the world seep in and render me ineffective for God?
Have I put myself on the shelf and told God I am tired, let someone else do your work?
Conclusion
The warning of 539 BC rings true to this very day. Don’t think what God has told us is irrelevant for today. In 539 BC the instruction we should come away with is: Don’t use what is godly in an ungodly way. And in 2022, I am preaching to you from this pulpit don’t use a holy vessel of God in an ungodly way.
Let us pray!
