Omaha daily bee., 1911-03-04
Found wantinE.

Sermon delivered at the Swedish Mission
church. omaha
Dan. 5-27. Tekel. thou art WEIGHED in
the balance and art found wanting
The text is taken from the well known
feast Of Belshazzar, the last Of the Baby
lonian kings Like his father this king
was very wicked man and despite the
warnings Of God, he continued in his evil
way
On this occasion he makes use in q most
sacriligiouH way OF the holy vessels which
his father. Nebuchadnezer. had stolen from
the temple at Jerusalem. Think Of the ter
nble sin Of using these holy. sanctified
vessels a. the carousals Of a heather mon
arch's feast, feast fun Of sensuality and
Godlessness.
But God Is not Knocked. over yonder the
warning finger Of God proclaims the sol
emn truth OF the text The king was in
the balances OF God. weighed and found
wanting. II is time that God considers
kings and weighs them. but il IL equally
true the Judge Of the quick and the dead.
weighs you and me. whoever and whatever
We are. We cannot escape Gods searching
and probing questions, and we must all one
day appear at His judgment bar You may
think you can escape God and hence live
heaven and earth will cause you one day
70 render a full account Of yourself
God weighs our righteousness TO ascertain
II Il be Of the genuine kind. or in other
words, the kind that is approved and sane
TONED by the Holy Scriptures The Lord
says that unless our righteousness exceed
that Of the scribes and Pharisees we will
never gain entrance into the kingdom of
God. II is, therefore, OF the greatest i'm
portanes that we search ourselves along
this line. bad person is able temper
arily to do a good act or say kind word
but that good act and that kind word do
not Of necessity flow from the fountain Of
truth within. To illustrate. The little, mean,
contemplate hypocrite lie able to say sugar
coated and honeyed words and. from bad
motives. do an occasional good act. but the
inner life, the heart itself. is like one OF
those tombs in the orient good looking
without, but within just fun OF dead bones
and all filthiness. God help US that our
righteousness may not be Of that type and
character.
Hence the Bible SAYS that Christ lie our
Righteousness. Let US all with humbled
hearts before God ask for this gift.
Without a clean heart one cannot please
God Blessed are the pure in heart for
they shall see God" One cannot be Of
any real blessing in the world without
first Of all getting q new heart
Solomon prayed for q wise and under
standing heart. Let us pray for a new
heart, the heart that loves God and loves
humanity. God not only reforms folks, as
certain institutions try to do, but very
often fail, but He grants an entirely new
heart, new desires. new affections. yes,
and ones life. That Is the only way TO
live. How refreshing IL is to look around
and see what God. in His great mercy,
Is able to do with q poor spoiled heart,
which has previously been full Of sin, vile
lust and the Devil himself Here is a man
who used to be a fright in the community
and a curse In his home. The Holy Ghost
touches his poor. degraded life and today
he il an entirely changed person by the
wondrous grace Of God. How account for
it? We only say with a triumphant tone
the Lord has graciously given the man a
new heart.
God also weighs our seeking. What a
blessed thought that God seeks US sinners.
desiring TO reclaim US. he sought poor
fallen Adam back yonder IN the garden Of
Eden His dear pleading voice is still
heard in the world as pathetic and tender
now as ever. Adam, where art thoug'
IL the question. You can hear the Fathers
heart throb In that short question. True
when we think OF Gods seeking the sinner
II makes US happy and fills us with deep
gratitude and appreciation. but another
thing is, have We sought God? Moody
say % effectively that Adam should have
gone Up and down Eden. crying with a
breaking heart. God. where art thouY"