today I want to address a prevalent perception that many people hold about life the notion that it is just one big party that will never end in a world obsessed with pleasure wealth and material possessions it is crucial for us as Believers to recognize and understand the temporary nature of Earthly life and possessions let us delve into this topic and explore how it impacts our perspective choices and ultimately our Eternal Destiny our culture often promotes the idea that life is an uninterrupted series of parties where Indulgence and self-gratification reign supreme we are bombarded with messages
suggesting that happiness and fulfillment can only be found in material wealth Fame and fleeting Pleasures however as followers of Christ we must remember that this perspective is a deceptive illusion the Bible reminds us time and again that our Earthly existence is temporary when an individual reads the Bible they are confronted by this reality life is like a passing Shadow or a Fading Flower our lives are here today and gone tomorrow James 4:14 says whereas ye know not what shall be on the tomorrow for what is your life it is even a vapor thatth for a
little time and then vanisheth away similarly Psalm 1444 reminds us man is like a breath his days are like a passing Shadow our time on this Earth is limited and basing our happiness solely on temporal Pleasures is both foolish and shortsighted take a moment to reflect on how quickly the years have flown by it seems like just yesterday we were young and carefree yet now we find ourselves facing the reality of aging and the inevitability of our mortality this reflection should serve as a wakeup call reminding us that life is but a fleeting moment and
our Focus must extend beyond the temporal material possessions no matter how abundant or luxurious cannot provide lasting satisfaction Jesus warned against storing up Treasures on Earth Matthew 6:19 where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal the reality is that all our possessions will one day fade away or be left behind we enter this world empty-handed and we will leave it the same way as Christians we are called to adopt an eternal perspective recognizing that our true home is not of this world the Apostle Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 4:18 so
we fix our eyes not on what is seen But on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal our focus should be on building Treasures in Heaven where they are imperishable and beyond the reach of Decay and loss the expression the writing is on the wall is used whenever an inevitable result or imminent danger has become apparent but where does it originate it actually has its roots in the story of belshazzar's feast from The Book of Daniel in the Old Testament one of the most infamous characters in the
Old Testament is King Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon King Nebuchadnezzar's line eventually fell to belshazzar Bel shazar threw a great feast for a thousand of his Lords Bel shazar through this great feast whilst there was a Siege surrounding the city the fact that there was an Army at his doorstep did not concern him at all belshazzar was a proud proud man and he was confident in babylon's defenses and its vast supplies now back to the feast while he tasted the wine Bel shazar gave the command to bring the gold and silver vessels which his father
Nebuchadnezzar had taken from them the temple which had been in Jerusalem that the king and his Lords his wives and his concubines might drink from them this was an extremely irreverent act by Bazar by taking these vessels he openly mocked God and he committed the sin of sacrilege something few people are concerned with today what is sacrilege it is committing Act that violate disrespect or misuse things considered sacred that is called sacrilegious the participants of belshazzar's feast drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver bronze and iron wood and stone as the Thousand
Lords raised their goblets to celebrate belshazzar's greatness and their false gods hand appeared and wrote some Hebrew letters on the wall Bazar cried aloud to bring the astrologers the calans and the soothsayers to interpret the letters but they could not it was belshazzar's wife who suggested that Daniel be summoned when Daniel arrived Bazar offered to make him third in rank in the Kingdom if he could translate the Hebrew letters Daniel refus the gifts stating let your gifts be for yourself and give your rewards to another yet I will read the writing to the king and
make known to him the interpretation Daniel proceeded to translate in doing so he reminded Bazar of how God threw his father down until he learned subservience to God Daniel pointed out that Bazar had been drinking from the temple vessels but had not given honor to God he then went on to translate the four words that would change the very trajectory of belshazzar's Life Daniel 5: 25-30 and this is the inscription that was written this is the interpretation of each word men God has numbered your kingdom and finished it Teel you have been weighed in the
balances and found wanting peris your kingdom has been divided and given to the medes and Persians then Bazar gave the command and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a chain of gold around his neck and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the Kingdom that very night that very night that very night that very night El shazar King of the cardians was slain I preached this sermon to you because we can learn a lot from Bel shazar hours before his very own death Bel shazar was seeking pleasure he
was busy enjoying sinfulness and let's not pretend that there is no pleasure in sin there is so much so much pleasure in sin sin is very pleasurable it is if sin was not pleasurable people would not be doing it but the pleasure of sin does not last forever the pleasure of sin is deceitful because the pleasure of sin does not reveal to an individual the wages of sin Bazar was seeking pleasure not knowing that he was hours away from standing before the Lord God Almighty that he was openly mocking Bazar was feasting and enjoying whilst
the enemy was at his Gates there are people who just like Bel shazar who are pleasure seeking living for this life and this life alone whilst the enemy is at their Gates go across the streets of this city and further into the corners across the world you will find people who are just like Bel shazar and are seeking sinful pleasure and sinful enjoyment in Daniel chapter 5 one verse stands out to me because it reveals to me the reality of the human conscience Daniel 5:6 then the king's countenance changed and his thoughts troubled him so
that the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other look at Daniel's Vivid description that shows us that Bazar was truly terrified his face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak his Carefree partying was so shallow that it turned from merry to terrified in a moment I believe that his conscience knew that something was going to happen I do believe that Bel shazar had a seared conscience but even with his seared conscience that conscience still had enough life in it to disturb him he did not
understand the writing after all but yet the second the writing was on the wall he was terrified his conscience knew that something was going to happen even now as I am preaching someone's conscience is knocking at their hearts telling them to listen telling them to get right with their lord their God just like Bel shazar human human beings have a false sense of security we don't truly appreciate that we are fragile beings you are a fragile soft being do you understand how fragile and frail you truly are yes you may have muscles and a sixpack
and look like a Greek statue but that really and truly changes nothing you are a fragile being you can be here one minute minute and gone literally the next minute Bel shazar with an army at his gate he had a false sense of security King Bazar should have been perfectly safe in that City its walls were said to be impenetrable and his City famously kept 10 years of food provision at hand so it could Outlast any Siege he was so confident in his City's food provision rather than rationing their food supply whilst on The Siege
he held a feast the Brazen arrogance of Bel shazar the complete disregard for the Army at his doorstep he had a false sense of security and after all he had Euphrates River passing directly through his City giving it an endless water supply which again could sustain it through any Siege all the water he needed there again he had a false sense of security and that is the mindset of us human beings we live with a false sense of security not knowing how truly fragile we are and how we can be here one second and literally
the next second we can be standing before the Lord thy God this false sense of security is what the devil wants people to live in to think they have time and forget how life can change we all need to shake ourselves out of this false sense of security that Bel shazar has there was no safer place for Bel shazar to be than shut up in this city of Babylon and yet history tells us this formidable Fortress fell in one night in one night this Fortress that no one could break into fell in one night he
thought it would last years under siege but it didn't even last a single night a false sense of security a young man can live with a false sense of security and think I can live in sin and I will get right with the Lord later in life are you sure I have time are you sure are you absolutely certain or are you falling under the Trap of a false sense of security young people die old people die rich people die poor people die healthy people die and unhealthy people die too we don't know what tomorrow
holds I sometimes think of B shazar and what he must have been thinking 10 minutes before he stepped from this side of Eternity to the other side I wonder what he thought about during those last 10 minutes just Ponder for a moment the thoughts that this king would have had during those last 10 minutes maybe I should have prayed more maybe I should have honored God more what exactly is on the other side of this life I would not trust myself living another second without Jesus in my life Jesus is who I [Music] need Jesus
is all I can hold on to Jesus is my salvation Jesus is my Lord Jesus loves you yes he does he loves you hold on to Jesus and he will hold on to you do you understand the love Jesus has for you do you understand that Jesus wants you in heaven more than you want yourself in heaven God loves you yes he does you don't deserve it but he loves you come to him it is quite unfortunate that many believers do not even look Beyond this world anymore they are caught up with the events of
this world to the extent that they have lost sight of heaven so I encourage you today to not lose sight of Heaven
