Going to ask that we bow our heads in prayer.
Many of you have come from a long distance to be here.
To many of you, this is your first time in the arena this week.
And you’ve heard and read in the press, all the great and wonderful things that have been happening here.
And a friend asked you to come and you’ve come, or maybe you made your plans months ago to be here at this particular service, Well, god knows all about you.
He knows your heart. He knows your intents and your thoughts and your mind, and he can meet your need, whoever you are, and whatever you need.
You need sin forgiven.
He gave his son to die on the cross for that purpose. Problem solved.
He said, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavily laden, and I’ll give you rest.
You that are tired and weary and sick He’ll meet your need.
Our father, we pray today that the people that have come here with great spiritual and moral needs may find the answer in the person of our lord, Jesus Christ, For we ask it in his name, amen.
To you that are watching by television, we’re in the Saint Louis Serena, as you know, Saint Louis, Missouri.
And, uh, this arena has been filled to capacity every single service.
In many of the services, we’ve started 15 minutes.
And even today, a half an hour early because the arena is already filled that far in advance.
And one of the great problems we have faced here in St.
Louis is that it has not been large enough, and yet this arena is larger than Madison Square Garden.
In New York City. And this has been a tremendous outpouring of people in this period And we have seen god do great and mighty things as hundreds of people every night have come to make a commitment to Jesus Christ.
Now today, I want you to turn with me to the 5th chapter of the book of Daniel, the book of Daniel, the 5th chapter of the book of Daniel, I suppose more than any other book in the Bible, this book predicts the future unless it’s the book of Revelation, And when you read the book of Revelation, always read the book of Daniel.
The book of Daniel in one hand, the book of Revelation in the other And then in front of you, the daily newspaper, they all tie in because Daniel is a book of prophecy.
But the thing that I want to talk about, Daniel, today, is an incident that happened in his life that I think bears on what we see happening today in our world.
Some time ago, if you remember about 2 years ago now, The shaw of Iran gave a great party.
The vice president of the United States went. Barbara Walters went.
Many distinguished Americans went to that great party, celebrating 25 100 years of the history of Iran or Persia.
And it was my privilege just a year ago this month to visit with the shah of Iran and his palace in Tehran.
And I reminded the shaw that the 1st prime minister of ancient Persia was Daniel because Daniel was the 1st prime minister when the Meado Persians came in and took over in this particular chapter the 5th chapter.
Then you move to the 6th chapter, Daniel, and you find Darius making Daniel his first prime minister.
And that is a tremendous tie in with what is happening in the Middle East and in the world today.
And all the concentration of forces that are gathered there.
And in this chapter that we’re turning to, I won’t take time to read it to you.
I’ll tell it to you. It’s the story of Daniel already in Babylon.
He’d been carried to Babylon from Jerusalem.
Jerusalem had come under the judgment of god as Jeremiah had predicted.
All the judgments that Jeremiah predicted All the judgments that the prophets predicted have all come true or they’re yet to come true.
This is god’s word. It is an infallible word.
And in many places in the scripture, the Bible predicts that future day of judgment and that future period of judgment that is to come upon the world.
Well, Jerusalem had been judged as Jeremiah had predicted, he said, unless Jerusalem repents of their sins, they will be judged, and judgment came And among those that were carried captive away by nebuchonezah, Tababulin, fifteen hundred miles away, with young Daniel and his friends, they were just in their teens, and they were carried over to Babylon.
And Daniel had been one of the young men that had been chosen, especially by nebuchadnezzar, to be taken to babylon and trained in his court.
And trained in all the arts and sciences of the Babylonians.
Now when this chapter opens, nebuchanes is dead.
Daniel had been a friend and a prophet and a prime minister for nebuchadnezzar, the great king.
But now he’s in more or less been forgotten because a young man is now on the throne by the name of Belle Shazza who was the grandson of nebuchadnezzar, the great king.
Now Babolin at that time was the greatest temple in the world.
It was the most powerful nation in the world. It was the richest nation in the world.
And the Bible pictures Bill Chasser the king as young rich, powerful, but at the same time, egotistical, self centered, and the Bible teaches that god hates pride.
He loves humility. All the way through the scriptures, pride is listed as one of the greatest of all sins.
The scripture says in Proverbs 17, and he that exalted his gate, seek it destruction.
Obediah 4, though thou exalt thy self is legal.
And though thou set thy nest among the stars, I will bring you down, saith the law.
Now, Bell Shaffer was young, egotistical, filled with pride, and filled with his own self importance.
And Jesus was to say years later in Matthew 23, and whose whoever shall exalt himself shall be abased.
If you try to tell how great you are and leave God out or if you act as though you can solve your own problems, and arrange your own life without the help of god.
God says I’m going to bring you down.
And I would like to say that to the leaders of our world.
You that are leaders of our world that do not give god the glory, and do not put your trust totally in him and think that you can solve the problems yourself, you’re going to come down according to the scriptures, and the scripture is very clear about it.
Whose whoever shall exalt himself shall be brought down, said Jesus, Matthew 2312, And then he was a man that was very carefree.
He was a playboy. He loved ease, and he loved pleasure.
And the Bible says, woe to them that are at ease.
We in America are at ease in comparison to the rest of the world.
We have an energy crisis.
And you would think the whole roof has caved in. The whole country’s gone.
Because we have to turn our thermostats down to 68.
We’ve gotten so used to ease in luxury and find foods and being rich Americans, that when you go to India and go to Africa and go to other parts of the world and realize that we’re only 6% of the population of the world, but we own so much of the wealth of the world.
We’re wealthy. We’re rich.
And when you read about a rich man in the Bible, in comparison to the people Jesus was talking about, It’s talking about nearly all Americans.
Even the people we call porn America are considered rich in Bangladesh, rich in India.
You talk about poverty in some parts of the world, and you have to you have to really explain what you mean.
Because they don’t understand American poverty, because American poverty is wealth compared to great hordes of the people of the world.
And so Bell Shazza had just won some military victories.
And his father, who was a great general, was out on the frontiers, leading them from victory to victory.
And so he decided that he wanted to celebrate And he decided to have a great feast, and it would be the greatest feast that Bablin had ever seen.
Bablin with all of its glamour, babylon with all of its wealth, babylon with all that it had.
He said we’ll have the greatest feast in the history of the world, So he ordered the finest dances, the finest wines, the best foods, and he sent an invitation to a 1000 of his lords and ladies throughout the empire to come.
And in their jewel chariots, they came.
And that evening, as they were feasting and dancing and whining, in the low hanging gardens that nebuchadnezzar had built for his median wife, one of the 7 wonders of the world, Bel Shasse became intoxicated.
He became guilty of pride, He became guilty of immorality.
He was guilty of desecrating the holy vessels of god because he ordered the holy vessels of god.
That had been captured in Jerusalem and used in Temple worship.
He’d ordered them to be brought into the banquet hall and shocked the guest at his sacrilege He was guilty of drunkenness, and the Bible says a great deal about drunkenness, worl unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink that continue until night, till wine inflames them.
There he was. King of an empire.
Master of a banquet, the center of all attention, dancing the night away.
But the Bible says, be not deceived. God is not mocked.
For whatsoever, a man sewing, that Shelley also reap Belle Chasse. Watch out.
Judgment is coming. You’re going too far.
There’s a point beyond which the patience of god will not go. There’s a lion drawn.
Among nations and among individuals and in families and in communities.
Jobe said, they that plow iniquity and so wickedness, reap the say.
Keep on plowing your iniquity Keep on sewing your wickedness. You’re gonna someday reap it.
Jose said, for they have sown to the wind, and they shall reap a whirlwind, Jeremiah said they’ve sown wheat, but they shall reap thorns.
And so in the middle of this banquet, Belshazz is dancing with a beautiful sexy young girl.
And all of a sudden, everyone is quiet. You can hear a pen drop.
His face turns white. The Bible says he begins to tremble.
Because over on the wall, an armless hand starts writing.
And everyone sat there trembling, wondering what this was, what strange thing this was.
And Bill Chasse tried to read it. He couldn’t read the message.
So he said, let’s call the astrologists and the sooths and the chaldeans.
Let’s call the magicians. Let’s call all the people that can read this type of thing, and they came in.
And that’s where we’re turning today. We’re turning to the occult We’re turning to the astrologers.
Oh, please tell us what the future is going to hold.
What do you see in the stars?
What do you see in the palm of my hand? Is it good or bad?
Whereas I born under a good star or bad star? What is my sign?
In our moment of crisis, we are turning to the same people at Bellchester did.
But just as in his day, they couldn’t read it.
Because you see, god is doing a work. In our world that they don’t know anything about.
Habakah said, lord, please tell me what you’re doing, and god said, no.
I’m not gonna tell you Habakah. Because if I told you what I was doing, you wouldn’t believe it.
If god today told us what he’s doing in the world, we wouldn’t believe it.
Don’t you think god’s given up and god’s abdicated and god’s left the throne? He hasn’t.
He’s still on the throne, and those of us that know him put our trust in him and him alone.
I don’t put my trust in Washington, I don’t put my trust in the United Nations.
I don’t put my trust in myself. I don’t put trust in my money.
I put my trust in the lord Jesus Christ when all the rest of it fails and crumbles and shadows, he’ll be there.
And we have an assurance of the future to come. They couldn’t read it.
Belle Cheser was even more afraid. The writing was getting lighter all the time and more brilliant.
People were frightened. And his mother heard about it, and his mother incidentally was not at the party, but she came in.
And she said, son, What is this I hear about a strange writing?
And he pointed over to the wall. She said, I know a man that can read that writing.
His name is Daniel. He’s a great prophet. He helped your grandfather interpret dreams.
He was prime minister under your grandfather. He’s been living in sort of semi retirement.
Perhaps you don’t know him. You noticed Daniel wasn’t at the party either. That wasn’t Daniel’s crowd.
The Bible says Be separate from the world, say it the lord, and touch not the unclean thing.
Friendship with the world is enmity with god.
We had to live a separated life from the evils of the world. Now we’re to live in the world.
We can’t help that. Jesus moved with Republicans and sinners And he was criticized for it.
We can’t withdraw from the world, but we’re not to participate in the evils of the world.
Daniel was not at the party. But they sent for it.
And he came in and Belchester said, Daniel. You see that writing?
If you’ll read that writing, I’ll make you the 3rd rule in the empire.
I’ll put a gold chain of authority and I’ll put royal robes on you, and you’ll be a member of the royal family next to me.
Daniel looked at the writing, and he recognized it immediately. That was his father’s handwriting.
That was god the father’s handwriting and he had studied god and lived with god all these years.
And he knew that that was god’s writing. He said, Welchhesa, I can read the writing.
But keep your gifts. I don’t want them. Give your gifts to somebody else.
You see Belle Chazza Oking?
You have lifted yourself up against the lord of heaven.
And they have brought the vessels of god’s holy house before thee, and you and your lords and your wives and your concubines have drunk wine in them.
And god is offended. And thou hast praise the gods of gold and silver and brass and iron and wood and stone that see not and hear not and know not and the god in whose hand thy breath is and whose are all thy ways, thou has not glorified.
Yes. Bell Chazza. I’ll read it. Notice one thing.
Daniel does not charge Bell Chazza with drunkenness, though he was drunk.
He doesn’t charge him with immorality, though he was immoral. He doesn’t charge him with sacrilege, though he was profane.
He doesn’t charge him with lasciviousness though there was evidence all around.
But he charged him with this.
The god in whose hand thy breath is and whose are all thy ways thou has not glorified.
God had given Bell Shasta everything he had. Even the ability to laugh.
His food, his drink, his power, his riches, everything had come from god, but he hadn’t thanked the lord for it.
Daniel said, alright, here’s the writing.
Minnie, Minnie, Teckle, you’ve personally. This is the interpretation.
Meaning, god has numbered your kingdom and finished it. Belchesa, you’re finished.
Your last day has been spent on this earth. Teccal.
You have been weighed in the balances of god and found warning.
Paris, thy kingdom is divided and given to the medes and the Persians.
And while they win, the banquet unknown, unknown to the Babylonians, the great rate Euphrates River was being changed in its course and the meadow Persian arm is slipped under on the dry riverbed.
And that night, Babylon fell to the Meeds and the Persians. Belle Chasser was killed.
Daniel remained and became prime minister in the next empire.
Both empires respected him for his wisdom and his faith and his purpose and his godleties.
Is god writing on the wall of America tonight, meaning, meaning, Tecco, Upharsi?
Have we gone that far?
The word mini also re means remembered. God remembers.
God remembers our sins, God sees our pornography.
He sees our obscene films, and he sees these new films that are coming out, making fun of Jesus Christ.
He sees our lying and our cheating and our corruption.
That goes all the way through our society. He sees it all.
And the scripture says, be sure your sin will find you out.
But he remembers something else too. It’s not too late.
God remembers to forget.
When any group of people, any nation, will repent of their sins and turn to the lord.
He’ll forgive their sins and heal the land. That’s the promise of the lord.
And that happened to Nineveh. Nineveh had the handwriting on the wall.
Jona preached repentance, and the people from the king all the way down pended of their sins, and god spared Nineveh.
If we in America will repent of our sins and turn to the lord, God will spare us.
If we don’t, the judgments will continue.
And I’m saying the judgments will continue because we’re under judgment right now.
The events of this past year and the events of this present hour would indicate to me that we’re already experiencing judgment upon judgment upon judgment that will continue.
Unless we turn to god, we’re dealing with the living god.
And our god is a consuming file. The scripture says.
But that’s true in your life as a person. As an individual.
God knows you ascends you. You can’t hide them from me. There’s no use trying to cover up.
You see, the first big cover up in history was Adam and Eve.
They tried to cover their sins with fig leaves.
Every man that’s ever committed to sin has tried to cover it up.
But we cannot cover from the x-ray eyes of god.
He sees he knows. And he’s going to judge us.
You say, well, Billy, I’m feeling fine. I haven’t been judged yet.
Uh, yes. But that day of judgment is yet to come.
There’s going to be a future day judgment when everything you’ve ever done and everything you’ve ever said and everything you’ve ever thought is going to be brought to light.
And god has his computers, and he has his cameras, and he has it all stacked away, and it’ll all be brought out, even the thought processes of your mind.
Secondly, He says thou art weighed in the balances and found warning.
The scripture says, doubtest weigh the paths of the just. The lord says, by the lord, actions await.
All the ways of a man are clear in his own eyes, but the lord weigh at the spirit.
The nation, the world tonight is being weighed.
You are being weighed in the balances of god. Our sins are great.
In the eyes of the lord. And we’re being weighed in his balances.
And many thinking leaders believe that the handwriting is already on the wall, and the judgment is already beginning to take place.
But god weighs us as individuals. What’s he going to weigh us by?
What’s on the other side of the scales?
You see, here’s the scales, here’s you, and here’s what god weighs you by.
First, he’ll weigh you by the 10 commandments.
How do you stand up with the 10 commandments? Thou shall have no other gods before me?
Thou shall not take the name of the lord thy god in vain?
Thou shall not commit adultery, thou shall not steal, thou shall not lie, thou shall not murder, All of these are taken into 10 commandments.
And the Bible says, if we offend in one point, we are guilty of all.
If you’ve broken one commandment one time in your life, it’s the same as breaking all of them.
Well, you say, well, of course, I’ve broken at least 1 or 2 other.
Well, then you’re guilty of all. And that’s the reason the Bible says we’re all guilty.
That’s the reason Jesus said, you, but without sin, pick up the first stone and throw it at this woman, taken an adultery.
None of these religious leaders could do it. Because we all have sinned.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of god.
And all under the judgment of god.
Then not only are we going to be weighed by the 10 commandments, but we’re going to be weighed by the law of love.
Matthew 22, Jesus said thou shalt love the lord by god with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind, This is the 1st and great commandment, and the second is like unto it.
Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.
On these two commandments, said Jesus hang all the law and all the teaching of the prophets.
It’s all summed up in love.
Do you love the lord your god, with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul?
And do you love your neighbor? Now your neighbor means anybody that’s in need.
Jesus taught that in the parable of the good Samaritan.
Anyone who’s in need, you love that neighbor as much as you love yourself.
That’s what Jesus said. We are going to be weighed by that law.
Thirdly, we are going to be weighed by the person of Jesus Christ.
The Bible says in Psalm 89, for who in the heaven can be compared unto the lord, who among the sons of the mighty can be likened under the lord?
Isaiah said to whom she will be likened to me and make me evil or equal and compare me that they should be like me.
God says be ye holy for so I am holy.
If you don’t know, Jesus Christ was the only righteous and the only holy man that ever lived.
We call some people in India, holy men, but Jesus was the only truly holy man of history.
And if we don’t live like Jesus and live as good as Jesus is, then we come short of god’s requirement And god’s expectation, will you say Billy?
Who in the world can live like Jesus? Nobody?
That’s the reason you all have to say I’m a sinner.
God is going to weigh us by Christ. He’s going to weigh us by the 10 commandments.
He’s going to weigh us by the law of love. But he’s also going to weigh you by your works.
Those sins are those mission that you weren’t even conscious of.
In Matthew 25, Jesus reminds us. 5 was a hung good, and you gave me no meat.
I was thirsty. You didn’t give me anything to drink.
I was a stranger and you didn’t take me in. I was naked and you didn’t clothe me.
I was sick and in prison, and you never came and visited me.
But the people will say, lord, where we where did we see you naked and sick and in prison in thirsty, then he answered them this way.
Inasmuch, as you did it, not to one of the least of these, you did it, not to me.
Now that strikes every person in this arena.
And we come short. And then Jesus pronounced judgment.
He said, those that are guilty of the sin of omission and these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous under life eternal.
You say, well, Billy, I’m sort of devastated.
How can any of us weigh up? We can’t.
Jesus said in Revelation 3, I know your works that you’re neither hot nor cold.
I would that you were hot or cold.
So then because you’re a lukewarm, I’m going to spew you out of my mouth, he said.
Listen, there are going to be a lot of people that are going to miss heaven that you think are going to be there.
And then fifthly, he’s going to weigh us by our opportunities by our opportunities to whom much is given, much shall be required, he said.
Think of living in America, with all of its advantages, A church on almost every corner, a Bible in almost every hotel room, millions of bibles available.
The gospel by radio and television. Think of living here.
He’s going to judge us for the opportunities we had think of the Christian literature that’s available at bookstores.
And we don’t take advantage of it.
To whom much is given, much is required.
You say, well, Billy, even on that score, I I can’t make it. No.
But the glory of this whole thing is that there is a gospel and the gospel is good news to people like you who are sitting there saying, well, I’m guilty.
The good news is that god said he son Jesus Christ to the cross to die for you.
And god took those sins of yours and those failures of yours and laid them on Christ.
He became sin for us.
Now he said, the just and the righteous are going to get to heaven, how am I going to get a justness and a righteousness of my own when I don’t have any?
I’m a sinner. I don’t weigh enough to get to heaven.
But on the cross, Christ provided a justness for me.
He provided a righteousness for me that I didn’t have.
And I am acceptable tonight by god not because I’ve been good or because I’ve read the Bible or because I’ve preached to crowds of people, I’m acceptable because of Christ.
I am accepted into the beloved because of him, and that’s your privilege at this moment.
You can appropriate what Christ did on the cross to you right now, and you can leave here, weighing enough to get to heaven.
Waying enough to have your sins forgiven, weighing enough to live a new life.
Bower weighed in the balances of god. And found warning. Are you found warning?
The last word here is you Farson divided thy kingdom is divided.
God said, Belchez, I’m taking your kingdom away from you. You’re finished. Judgment is come. It’s too late.
Is god going to say that to you? Judgment is common.
It’s too late. I know people that know that and accept that and believe that and just go on merrily dancing their way to hell.
They’re like the mouse that’s been caught in the trap that’s still nibbling at the cheese after being caught.
You’re still nibbling at the devil’s bait.
And you’re already dead as far as eternity is concerned.
I believe this crusade has been held at the right time.
And in the providence of god at the right moment, in the history of many of your lives, people have prayed for you.
People have worked, people have given to make this possible.
And now, this is your moment with god to receive him into your heart.
To make sure that you weigh enough. No. I won’t be at the judgment.
There is therefore now no judgment to them that are in Christ Jesus.
I won’t see you there.
The judgment that I deserved was taken by Jesus Christ at the cross, and I accepted what he did Even though it looked foolish and looked a little bit ridiculous, for me to come forward that night and say yes to Jesus Christ in front of all those people, I did it.
And I’m going to ask you in just a moment to get up out of your seat and come forward and stand in front of this platform and say by coming, I want Christ in my heart.
I want to ask you tonight. You’re not sure.
You may be one of the finest members of one of the great churches of Missouri, Illinois, but you are not sure that you’re ready to meet god, and you want to be sure.
You want to be certain. I’m going to ask you in just a moment to get up out of your seat and come and make sure and make certain of your relationship with Christ.
If you’re with friends or relatives, they’ll wait, or if you’ve come in a bus, they’ll wait.
But you come. You say, well, why do I have to come? That’s the thing I don’t understand.
Every person that Jesus called in the new testament he called publicly.
He said, if you’re not willing to acknowledge me before men, I’ll not acknowledge you my father, which is in heaven.
There’s something about coming forward and standing here that settles it and seals it in your heart.
It has a spiritual impact. It has a biblical foundation. It has a psychological impact.
And after you’ve come, I’m going to say a word to you and have a prayer with you and give you some literature, and you can go back and join your friends.
But don’t you let this afternoon pass until you’ve said yes to Jesus Christ.
Because you see, you may never have another moment like this.
This may be the last moment that you’ll ever have.
And now is the moment you get up and come.
With hundreds of people that have come this past week, even thousands, you come and join them.
And say today, I want Christ to forgive my sins. I want to know I’m going to heaven.
I want to weigh enough when I am have to be weighed in the great scales of god at the great judgment.
If you come from that top gallery up there, it’ll take you a couple minutes to come.
So come right now. Play from everywhere, hundreds of you. God is speaking to you.
You may be in the choir. You may be in a Whoever you are, you get up and come.
We’re going to wait. As you can see on television, hundreds of people are coming here in St.
Louis to make their commitment to Jesus Christ They want to be sure that their sins are forgiven.
They want to know that they weigh enough in the scales of god.
Now I don’t believe it’s too late for America to turn to god.
I believe we could have healing in our country.
I believe we could turn to god and find a whole new atmosphere if we did turn to it, but that can so happen in your life as an individual and it can happen in your home and it can happen in your block and in your community, in your apartment, in wherever you are.
But it must start with somebody. It could start with you.
If you will say yes to Jesus Christ right now, I hope you make that commitment.
God help you to make it, and be sure and go to a church next Sunday.
Good evening, and god bless you.
Until we have this opportunity again, this is Cliff Barrow speaking for Mr.
Graham and every member of the team saying good by, and may god richly bless you.