SIN NOW, PAY LATER
Galatians 6: 7-8
I. Sow Disobedience, Reap Destruction (Belshazzar – Daniel 5: 1-31)
Nebuchadnezar – The Great king is long dead.
Belshazzar - his grandson is on the Throne
Daniel – the young “Man of God” found in the first 4 chapters is now an old man of around 90 years old. He is still faithfully serving God.
A. Vs. 1-9 A Night of Excess Vs. 1-9
Vs. 1 “A great feast” – The king made a great feast to over a thousand of His lords. Archeology reveals that the palace had a banquet room that could hold over 10 thousand people’
Everybody that was anybody was there. Wine, Women, and Song.
Vs. 2-4 In his drunkenness Belshazzar ordered all the sacred vessels that were captured by his grandfather in the overthrow of Jerusalem to be brought to the feast.
These vessels were dedicated to the worship of Jehovah GOD.
WHY – So they could drink out of them and Mock the God of Israel by his Gods.
Note vs. 4 The defied the God of Israel and praised the Gods of Babylon.
BIG MISTAKE - Its been said of late "Don’t mess with Texas" Well How about this "DON’T MESS WITH GOD"
Vs. 5,6 God just poured cold water on the King’s party. The king turned “White as a sheet” – He “messed his pants” – He was so afraid that his knees shook together.
Vs. 7-9 The Hand wrote but no one could tell what it wrote. He called for all the wise men of the land but there was none among them that could understand it.
Belshazzar knew one thing - The Party’s Over.
B. Vs. 10-29 A Night Of Revelation
Vs. 10-12 “Now the Queen” – Probably the kings mother “There is a Man” – God has some answers the world doesn’t have.
Vs. 13-17 Everybody who was anybody was at the King’s party - Except Daniel - God’s Man
Note vs. 17 – “Keep your money” Daniel said. –
Today’s impostors of faith healers and televangelists could learn from Daniel.
God Now Begins To Instruct Belshazzar. He has His Attention.
God Takes The King to School
1. A HISTORY LESSON - Vs. 18-21 First Daniel gives Belshazzar a History lesson.
He get’s an “F” He Hadn’t learned from History.
2. A THEOLOGY LESSON – Vs. 22-23 Second Daniel gives the King a Lesson in Theology.
He get’s an “F” in theology. The Other Gods can’t help you.
3. A SPELLING LESSON – Vs. 24,25 Next Daniel gives Belshazzar a lesson in Spelling.
He get’s an “F” again.
Mene – means Numbered
Tekel means Weighed
Phares means Divided
4. A MATH LESSON – Vs. 26-28 Last Daniel gives Belshazzar a lesson in Math.
Belshazzar – God has your number – its up
Belshazzar - You don’t weigh up on God’s scale.
Belshazzar – Your kingdoms divided.
He gets an “F” in Math
Vs. 29 – He still doesn’t get it. – He’s promoting Daniel and he’s a walking Dead man.
C. Vs30,31 A Night Of Judgment.
Vs 30. “In that night” The King thought he was going to live forever. But God had other plans.
Belshazzar thought he was going to live forever. He thought he had an unconquerable city. That very night. Something was going on that Belshazzar didn’t know. All through these two years the Persians had been secretly building a canal that would divert the flow of the Euphrates river so that the waters could be diverted into a marsh.
Belshazzar and the people of Babylon didn’t know that that very day they had completed the job. They had diverted the waters of the Euphrates. The level of the water of the Euphrates that went under that wall had gone down.
Now the armies of Persia are silently marching in the bed of the river. They go under the walls. Conspirators are there at gates now to open up the gates.
In just a moment that Persian army walks right into the banquet hall of Belshazzar
The wages of sin is death.
II. Sow Looseness, Reap Lonelines (Saul 1 Samuel 17-26)
The Prophet Samuel then explained to Saul just how he had betrayed God and God’s people.
It really is hard to say for sure why Saul responded the way he did. Was he trying to justify his actions to Samuel? Or, did he not see the sin he had committed
I would suggest that this is a very real problem for Christians living in the 21st Century. Many believers struggle with the fear of what other people say instead of what of what God has already told them.
In our story, Saul was the most powerful king in all the world. He was in charge of God’s Army. He had no reason for being afraid of anyone.
Saul may have been the King over Israel, but he must have been very insecure with his relationship with the Lord.
He denied that he had done anything wrong. Saul could not see the cracks and holes within his own heart.
Left to his own way of thinking, Saul was destroying himself and jeopardizing the spiritual well being and safety of the children of Israel.
Saul needed to repent and find forgiveness of his sins. He did just that, but the consequence of his sin would now cost him being the King of Israel. Saul’s heart was not holy and obedient enough to continue being the King of Israel and leading God’s children.
My friend this is what can happen when we leave sin unchecked and uncorrected. What do I mean?
It is time we make sure our holy temple is in good repair. We need to look for the cracks and holes in the plaster of our own hearts
The condition of the inside of your temple and your heart is also important. We need God to show us our faults and failures. We may be like Saul and we don’t see them. Or maybe we don’t realize how important the condition of our heart is to the Lord and to His people.
III. Sow Sin Reap Suffering (Samson - Judges 16 –18)
Story of Samson
IV. Sow Disrespect, Reap Death (Lot’s Wife – Genesis 13: 12-13
Lot didn’t realize that with one decision he was going to seal the fate of his entire family.
You just go over a few chapters and read the outcome of Lot’s choice.
He had to leave daughters and sons in-law behind in Sodom and Gomora.
He lost a wife because she had grown so attached to sin that she had to turn around and have one more look.
The two daughters that he did escape with, had become so perverted by the society in which they had lived
But see Lot began to look around. And when he looked, he liked what he saw. Lot fell in love with the world. It looked good to the eyes. It felt good to the flesh. Pride began to take over when he began to think about how good it would be to be on his own.
V. Sow Jealousy, Reap Judgment (Cain - Genesis 4)
we see Cain murders his brother. When God rejects his offering, Cain becomes very upset. 4:5b So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
In Verses 6 and 7, God tells Cain that he has a choice. He can do what is right, or he can continue to disobey God. Cain makes his decision in 4:8
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let’s go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Murder #1, in the first degree. A lesson we learn from the murder of Abel is that anger and jealousy can be very destructive.
It is certainly not Abel’s fault that Cain’s sacrifice is not pleasing to God.
But when God accepts Abel’s offering and rejects Cain’s, Cain directs his anger, jealousy, and hatred toward his brother..
Friends, how do we deal with jealousy? My guess is that there is probably no one in this room who has actually murdered someone like Cain did.
But I do believe that uncontrolled jealousy can be very destructive.
Next, we look at Cain’s life after his crime. What we see is that sin has serious consequences. Now, it obviously did for Abel.
His life was cut off short, though there is a second part to his story. In Verse 25 we read that Adam and Eve have another son, Seth, who is to take Abel’s place.
Seth becomes the ancestor of the godly line and the ancestor of the Messiah.
But we need to realize that Cain’s sin devastated his life too. After he kills his brother, the crime is quickly discovered. 4:9a Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" But Cain refused to admit his guilt. 4:9b "I don’t know," he replied.
"Am I my brother’s keeper?" God cannot be fooled, however, 4:10 The Lord said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground." The Lord then tells Cain the punishment for his crime. 4:11,12
"Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth." Cain’s response to this punishment has been the subject of some discussion. 4:13 Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is more than I can bear."
Some believe at this point Cain repented, while others see it as simply an expression of despair. Whatever the case, God chooses to show mercy to Cain. He promises to protect him and not allow anyone to kill Cain. 4:15b
Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.
Then Cain, a man who is guilty of first degree murder, is allowed to go to the land of Nod and build a city where he and his family dwell. Where did Cain’s family come from? It seems clear that Cain’s wife was one of the many daughters of Adam and Eve mentioned in Genesis 5:4. Though being married to one’s sister is certainly a sinful relationship today, incest, God permitted it at that time because there was no one else around. But, Cain and his family don’t live happily ever after in the city of Nod. Violence apparently becomes a tradition within his family. In Verse 23 we see Lamech, who is Cain’s great-great-great-grandson, bragging because he has killed a man. Cain’s descendants grow up never experiencing God’s blessing because, as
Verse 16 said, when Cain left for Nod, he "went out from the Lord’s presence."
VI. Sow hardness, Reap Heartache (Pharaoh – Exodus 1 –14)
Story of Pharaoh and Moses
CLOSING
