Key Truth: God will judge those who arrogantly put their trust in empty idols.

Belshazzar’s Arrogant Idolatry

Daniel 5:1-4

Q: Where do you place your trust in times of trouble? What do you boast in when the times are good?

The Hand and Belshazzar’s Response

Daniel 5:5-9

Q: Has God ever shocked you out of your sin? How did you respond?

The Witness of a Humble Servant

Daniel 5:10-16

Q: Are you more concerned with what the world can give you, or with what God, in Christ, is giving the world?

God Judge’s Belshazzar’s Arrogance and Idolatry

Daniel 5:17-30

Q: How have you responded to your knowledge of the Gospel? Has that knowledge brought you to humble worship of our sovereign God?

“So also God will bring down all of the proud. Some he will humble redemptively, opening their eyes to see their true need for God and bringing them to bow their knees before him. Others will merely be brought down to death, shown ultimately in a final moment of terror that their whole life has been an empty sham and that now they are doomed to destruction and eternal separation from God. We cannot presume on God’ mercy. . . . God sovereignly bestows his grace where and when he sees fit.”

-Iain Duguid

Daniel 5 teaches us that:

- Because God is both patient and just, we must not presume upon His mercy.

- Because God loves us in His mercy, He disciplines us in order to help us put off our sins and put on Christ

- Because Jesus is our sovereign King, we should place our trust in him alone—not in the kings of men or in earthly rewards.