There’s nothing you can do on your own that would save you from your sin, and that’s why Jesus had to die. Hear how He paved the way for you to have eternal life in this 1973 Billy Graham sermon from St. Louis, Missouri. Watch more #MondayNightClassics every Monday at 8 p.m. ET. CONNECT with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association: on Facebook: / billygrahamevangelisticassociation
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from our archives the Billy Graham
classics now today I want you to turn
with me to the fifth chapter of the Book
of Daniel The Book of Daniel the fifth
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 and 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 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’
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 are there
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
Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon 1500 miles
away was Young Daniel and his friends
they were just in their teenss 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 Nebuchadnezzar 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 Bel Shazer who
was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar the
great
king now Babylon at that time was the
greatest Empire in the world it was the
most powerful nation in the world it was
the richest nation in the
world and the Bible pictures Bel shazar
the king as
Young Rich powerful but at the same time
egotistical
self-centered and the Bible teaches that
God hates
pride and Jesus was to say years later
in Matthew 23 and whosoever 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 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 it is we in America
are it is in comparison to the rest of
the world and so
belazza 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 Babylon
had ever seen Babylon 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 thousand of his Lords and Ladies
throughout the Empire to come and in
their Jew chariots they came
and that evening as they were feasting
and dancing and
whining in the lwh Hanging Gardens that
Nebuchadnezzar had built for his Midian
wife one of the seven wonders of the
world belshazzar became
intoxicated 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 sewe it that shall he
also reap Bel shaza 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
line
drawn among nations and among
individuals and in families and in
communities
job said they that plow iniquity and sow
wickedness reap the same keep on plowing
your iniquity keep on sowing your
wickedness you’re going to someday reap
it Hosea said for they have swn to the
wind and they shall reap a whirlwind
Jeremiah said they’ve swn wheat but they
shall reap
thorns and so in the middle of this
banquet Bel Chaz is dancing with a
beautiful sexy young
girl and all of a sudden everyone is
quiet you can hear a pin 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 Bel chaza tried to read it he
couldn’t read the
message so he said let’s call the
astrologers and the sers and the calans
let’s call The Magicians let’s call all
the people that can read this type of
thing and they came
in they couldn’t read it Bel shaza 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 Daniel was not at the party but they
sent for him and he came in and Bel
chaza said
Daniel you see that
writing if you’ll read that writing I’ll
make you the third ruler in the
Empire I’ll put a gold chain of
authority around your neck 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 Bel chaza I can read the
writing but keep your gifts I don’t want
them give your gifts to somebody
else you see Bel chazar O King 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 praised 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 Hast not
glorified yes Bel chaza I’ll read
it God had given Bel shaza 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 all right here’s the
writing
meanie meanie tle you
faren this is the
interpretation
meaning God has numbered your kingdom
and finished
it Bel chaza you’re
finished your last day has been spent on
this
Earth tle You have been weighed in the
balances of God and found
wanting Paris thy kingdom is divided and
given to the mes and the Persians and
while they were in the banquet
unknown unknown to the
Babylonians the great ra Euphrates River
was being changed in its course and the
MEO Persian army slipped
under on the dry River bed and that
night Babylon fell to the Ms and the
Persians belshazzar 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
godliness is God
writing on the wall of
America tonight the word many 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
secondly he says Thou Art weighed in the
balances and found warning
the scripture says Thou D weigh the
paths of the just the Lord says by the
Lord actions a away all the ways of a
man are clear in his own eyes but the
Lord weth 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 are being
weighed in his balances and many
thinking leaders believe that the hand
writing 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 Ten
Commandments how do you stand up with
the Ten Commandments Thou shalt have no
other gods before me Thou shalt not take
the name of the Lord thy God in vain
Thou shalt not commit adultery Thou
shalt not steal Thou shalt not lie Thou
shalt not
murder all of these are taken in the Ten
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 one or
two of
them 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
that are without sin pick up the first
stone and throw it at this woman taken
in adultery none of these religious
leaders could do it because we all have
sin all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God and all are under the
Judgment of
God then not only are we going to be
weighed by The Ten Commandments but
we’re going to be weighed by the law of
Love Matthew 22 Jesus said Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart
and with all thy soul and with all thy
mind this is the first and great
commandment and the second is like unto
it Thou shalt 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’re going to be weighed by that
law thirdly we’re 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
unto the Lord Isaiah said to whom will
be likened me and make me evil are equal
and compare me that they should be like
me God says be ye holy hly for so I am
Holy if you don’t now 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 Ten
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 of omission that you
weren’t even conscious
of in Matthew 25 Jesus reminds us for I
was a hungered 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
imprison and
thirsty then he answered them this
way in as
much 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
pronounce judgment he said those that
are guilty of the sin of omission and
these shall go away into Everlasting
punishment but the righteous un life
eternal you say well Billy I’m sort of
div
at 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 lukewarm I’m
going to spew you out of my mouth he
said listen there 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 by 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 sent
his 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 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 weighing enough to have
your sins forgiven weighing enough to
live a new life Thou Art weighed in the
balances of God and found warning are
you found
warning the last word here is eup Farson
divided thy kingdom is divided God said
Belz I’m taking your kingdom away from
you you’re
finished judgment is come it’s too late
late is God going to say that to you
judgment has come 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 hair 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
it 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 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 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 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
quickly from everywhere hundreds of you
God is speaking to you you may be in the
choir you may be an usher whoever you
are you get up and come we’re going to
wait as hundreds are responding to Mr
Graham’s invitation to make a public
commitment to Jesus Christ you can make
that same commitment right where you are
just pick up the phone and call the
number you see on your screen special
friends are waiting to talk with you and
pray with you about this most important
[Music]
decision
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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 no 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 him but
that can also happen in your life as an
individual and it can happen in your
home and it h 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 if you just prayed that prayer with
my father or if you have any questions
about a relationship with Jesus Christ I
just call that number that is on the
screen there’ll be someone there to talk
with you pray with you and answer those
questions and
remember God loves
you if you would like to commit your
life to Jesus Christ please call us
right now toll-free at 1 18
77772
4559 that’s
877772
4559 or you can write to us at Billy
Graham 1 Billy Graham Parkway Department
C Charlotte North Carolina
28201 or you can contact us on the web
247 at peacei good.tv we’ll get the same
helps to you that we give to everyone
who responds at the invitation on behalf
of Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association thank you for
watching and thank you for your
[Music]
prayers you’re invited on a journey of
Discovery at the Billy Graham
Library retrace Billy Graham’s path from
Humble Farm Boy to International
ambassador of God’s love through
multimedia photos and memorabilia but
the pr the spirit is love that is a
supernatural tour the restored Grand
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bookstore and have a meal at the Grand
Brothers Dairy Bar enjoy special
exhibits events and seasonal activities
for the whole
family admission is free so come walk
this journey of Discovery at the Billy
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