I. Weighing In
A. 5:1-4; 18-23
B. Common concept
1. Job 31:6, “Let me be weighed on honest scales, That God may know my integrity”
2. Proverbs 16:2, “All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the spirits”
C. The sin of Belshazzar had reached its limit
D. How do you weigh in?
II. Adding Up
A. Mene – God has added everything up
1. Daniel 7:10, “The court was seated, And the books were opened”
2. Revelation 20:12, “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books”
B. Are your sins adding up?
III. Falling Short
A. Tekel – lacking, deficient
1. Lacking in moral worth
2. Romans 3:10-18, “As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known.” There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
3. Belshazzar did not measure op to God’s standard
4. He did not appeal to God for mercy
B. Upharsin – plural of peres (vs. 28); divided
1. The kingdom was to be destroyed
2. Darius the Mede led his army to dam the river running through the city, and then sneak in up and down the riverbed while the city was celebrating on the night of October 12, 539 B.C.
3. Are you adding up judgment before God for sins that have not been dealt with?
