In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the concept of being bound by sin and the consequences of not repenting. He uses vivid imagery to describe the stench and bondage of sin, comparing it to a decaying corpse. The preacher warns that murderers should be bound to the corpses they have killed, causing people to think twice before committing such acts. He urges the congregation to examine themselves in the mirror of the Bible and repent, emphasizing the importance of true repentance and the consequences of not doing so.

A text for today we find in Daniel, chapter 5, verse 27. You have been weighed in the scales and found wanting. I want to speak about that. You have been weighed in the scales and found wanting. I want to speak about that. Now the son of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, had called a great feast, not only his wives, but his concubines, and all the important people in the kingdom. He even then requested, then using the special vessels, the gold and silver vessels, he, while it was happening, And while they were all happy because of their wine, a hand wrote on the wall, just a finger saying, you have been weighed in the scales. And you have been found waiting, wanting. His joy, His happiness came to an abrupt end. He went pale, his knees knocked together with fear. What the Bible says that your laughter will be turned into tears. You don't know. Maybe you are very happy and flippant, but you don't know. It might be sooner than later. And then all the wise men and the occult people were called to try and interpret this in Daniel. But Daniel said to them, you have been weighed in the scales. You have been weighed in the scales. You have been weighed in the scales. You have been weighed in the scales. You have been weighed in the scales. You have been weighed in the scales. You have been weighed in the scales. You have been weighed in the scales. You have been weighed in the scales. You have been weighed in the scales. You have been weighed in the scales. You have been weighed in the scales. You have been weighed in the scales. It came at the very peak. At the very height of his success. It changed suddenly when he had all his parliament and all of the leaders of the earth with him. He was the greatest kingdom ever. But all of that changed. For God said, even though the statue might be so powerful, looking so successful, but the feet are of clay and iron, it will become nothing. What are the kingdoms of this world but nothing? And we hear this astonishing meaning. You have been weighed in the scales, but you have been found to be light. You have been weighed in the scales. You have been weighed in the scales. You have been weighed in the scales. You have been weighed in the scales. There are Christians who, if you ask them how you are, they will always say, I'm fine. And they always seem to be happy about their condition. Everything is alright. They feel that they are good and that they are alive. That they are well. Like the churches in Revelations where Jesus in heaven writes a letter to each of the seven churches. Where they said, we are fine, everything is going well, we are a successful church. Jesus said, no, you are blind, naked, to be pitied. Maybe there are some in our midst as well who are in that condition where they think everything is going fine, but they are condemned. They said, we have need of nothing. But they didn't know that they were condemned. Where you are weighed in the very scales of God. God's scales are here in this Bible. Maybe you have your Bible with you. God's word is the measurement. God's word is the scale. Many Christians are in their comfort zone. They are not going forward, but they are going backwards. And then they fall headlong into sin. Even if you start well, if you end badly, woe to you. I was visited these days by some old ladies and old men from Durban. And we sat here. And I closed with the word of the Lord. And I read this to them. I said to them, on Sunday I want to preach about this matter. Now, scales are considered important. And some people weigh themselves once or even twice a day to see whether they are not becoming too fat. And being overweight is bad for you. It affects your BP. Also being underweight, being weightless. Some regularly weigh themselves, especially ladies. However, as slightly helpful as it is to use your scales, there is nothing compared. There is nothing that can be compared to the scales of God that is found in the Scriptures. If you do that daily, you will find it will keep you from sin. It will protect you from hell. If others are so keen to weigh themselves two times a day on their scales, well, you do it three times with the Scriptures. I have spoken about the fathers. You children, are you honoring your father and mother, as the Bible says, that your days may be long, that it may be good to you? Put yourself on the scales. Do you honor your father and mother? Put yourself on that scale. The Bible says that the child that does not honor father and mother, is under a curse. Even if you are sitting here, you fall under God's curse. All your efforts are in vain. Even joining different churches and being there, I feel sorry for them because they have received a rotten potato amendment. They too will not be blessed or revived because here is this curse in their midst. If your father is a drunkard, show honor to him. Of course, it does mean that you must be part of his sin, but do good to him. I remember once when I was young and I'd newly given my life to the Lord and my father lost his temper with me and I thought, how unfair. I haven't done anything wrong. It was as if though he didn't want to see me. I went out of the room and I asked the Lord, I asked the Lord, I remember how I walked out to our orchards. It was full of fruit trees at the time, oranges, plums, peaches, and then I spotted one beautiful looking fruit. I picked it carefully and I brought that fruit to my father and he said, and he was so blessed by it. And for the rest of the day, we could be cheerful together. I conquered evil with good. Your wife, can you be a blessing to your husband? Are you one who's able to be a help to him or are you one who just preaches at him? No, you're not going to help your husband through preaching. Now that's one scale you can measure yourself in. Do you pay evil or repay evil with evil or do you conquer evil with good? Measure yourself now in that scale. As an employer, how do you treat your employees? Are you underpaying them? You're not giving a fair wage? Remember that the unpaid wage cries out to God in heaven. Take yourself in the scales every day. Ask yourself in the scale, am I the right weight according to heaven, according to the word? Your school child, do you know what it is to respect your teacher or is it that you mock? Perhaps in a roundabout way where even with your eyes you are showing disrespect. Many are the scales in the Bible and I'm only touching upon a few here and there. In the whole world, David is infamous for his sin with Bathsheba. If people just mention David, they immediately start thinking of his immorality. Or if immorality is mentioned, they say, well David was like that as well, promiscuous. Well take the Bible, read about David. When he realized his sin, he saw how great a sinner he was. How deep was his remorse when he cried out, oh God, I've sinned against you. He locked himself in the room. He just pleaded with God for forgiveness. He had no peace. No rest. Read Psalm 51 for yourself and see the deepest pain and remorse that he experienced because of his sin and his repentance. One day he said, well, he felt like he was dying. He went out the room, spoke to the prophet of God and confessed his sin. Nathan, servant of the Lord, I've sinned before God and you. Nathan said, the Lord has forgiven you. How could Nathan say that? Do you know that Jesus gave his disciples the authority for forgiveness of sins? He said, those who you forgive are forgiven. Those who you do not forgive are not forgiven. No wonder Nathan could say, the Lord has forgiven you. His remorse is deep repentance. It wouldn't have helped for Nathan to say, the Lord has forgiven you. If the Lord hadn't forgiven David, you need to speak what God has said. If the Lord hadn't forgiven David, you need to speak what God has said. Is there anybody in our midst who is like that? In that you boast about David's sin, but you have not identified with his repentance. You've never felt his remorse, even if you didn't sleep with somebody else's wife. But you've never felt the anguish of sin. If you read what the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 5, 6 and 7. What he said about adultery, even if you look at a woman lustfully, you have already committed adultery, like David. You might say he killed. You might say, others are guilty of murder. I've never done that. Well, Jesus says, if you're angry with your brother, calling him bad names, you are already guilty of murder. If you're angry with your brother, calling him bad names, you are already guilty of murder. Jesus also said, if you come to the altar, bringing a gift at the altar, and you remember that your brother has got something against you, has a grudge against you, leave that gift, that sacrifice. It's not acceptable to me, the Lord said, go and be reconciled with your brother first. Otherwise, God has got no interest in you and your gifts. And if you don't repent and go and make peace, you can go to hell. He won't accept you. If you don't repent and go to hell, he won't accept you. Take that psalm, read it verse by verse, after one verse, ponder upon it, meditate upon it, as we say, so that you are measured in God's scales according to his word, then repent. Romans 7, trouble by sin, trying to leave it, couldn't. Till he cried out, woe unto me, I am undone, who will release me from this body of sin? The old English says, I am a wretched man. Have you ever prayed that prayer? If not, have you ever been there? If not, I doubt your Christianity. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee and hypocrite. You are a modern Pharisee would be taken and the corpse and the murderer would be stripped naked, then the corpse would be tied. Would be bound to the murderer, feet to feet, hands to hands, mouth to mouth, he was bound to that death. The dead hand would work with the dead corpse. If you try and move, the dead hand would move with them. The terrible smell of death was ever present. I remember what it was like once when a grave had to be opened and that person had been a while in the grave, how terrible, pungent the odour was. His flesh was like porridge, having been three, four, five days in the grave. The dead hand would work with the dead corpse. If you try and move, the dead hand would move with them. The dead hand would work with the dead corpse. If you try and move, the dead hand would move with them. That murderer was bound to that corpse. The person he had killed, the maggots that would come out of that person, he was bound to it. It would go into him and he could do nothing about it. And he would walk around crying, who will release me from this body of death? In his home, in the yard, in the street. Because under the law at the time, it was said, if you kill somebody, then you must die too. Just imagine what would happen in South Africa if murderers would be bound to the corpses. What would happen? They would probably, it would cause people to think first before they killed. And Romans 7, it says there, I am bound by this body of death. I believe that this sin is ever present with me. Bound to sin. Take the Bible, it is your mirror. Take it for it is your scale and see whether you identify with that. The Bible says, let the greatest be the smallest, the first be the last. Is that true of you? Some people cannot repent because of their pride. They can't humble themselves. They will rather defend themselves and excuse themselves and justify themselves. They can't bow and say, God forgive me. I have sinned. I wasn't a blessing to my brother. You treat others with anger. Now it says in the Bible, there was no one as meek as Moses was. Jesus says he will come and be the judge of even our thoughts. I'd be glad if you'd all be like the English. You are not what you think you are. You are what you think. That's your true picture. If that doesn't humble you, you must be a child of the devil. Read the Bible. Test yourself. Test yourself. Test yourself in the scales of God. And don't exclude yourself and say I'm from another church. Whoever you are, whatever church you're from, are you found wanting in the scales of God? Then you won't go astray. Whether you're in the city, whether you live in Sodom and Gomorrah itself, you will be found being way... I remember when I was 13, 14, 15 years of age, I didn't know what I know today. I had little understanding. But if I felt that I wasn't burning for the Lord as I should be, you know what I did? I got to... I got to the point where I didn't know what to do. I got to the point where I didn't know what to do. I would go to a graveyard at the Lutheran church and on each of those graves was a tombstone, date of birth, date of death. I was just 13 or so, 15. I found some who had died before my age, children who had died. I tell myself, Erlo, if you go into the grave, meet with God, how will it be? And you stand before the judge of judges. I would preach to myself and say to myself, Erlo, you don't know when you're going to die. You don't know when you're going to die. I would go two or three kilometers. I would look at those graves. I would kneel, cry to the Lord, saying, Lord, help me. I am a sinner before you. In Moses' prayer he said, Lord, teach me to number my days that I may gain a heart of wisdom. Count your days. In German it says, remind yourself that you are dying. Remember the day of death so that you'll become wise. I grew up like that, crying to the Lord. I remember boys of our age group coming from school, boasting about their girlfriends having slept with ghosts. I said, look, I don't want anything to do with that. I said, look, I don't want anything to do with that. Even to a good friend I said, that's the end of our friendship, though I like you, but I cannot go this way. I cannot go this way of filth. That helped me. Some of them are dead. Some are still wallowing in sin. Some are seriously ill. But I'm thankful that God has kept me and that I've been able to preach the gospel till today. Now as I draw towards the close, I've spoken enough. I'm just scratching the surface, point by point. You'll find that that first church in Jerusalem were of one heart. They burned for the Lord and were burning love for each other too. The Bible says if your brother has sinned, go to him and help him. If you haven't done that, but instead you go and you gossip about him to somebody else, well that person might be destroyed but you too with him. But if you want the truth to bring forth fruit of repentance, you must humble yourself about your sin. And call upon the Lord to forgive you, that you say, Lord, I thought others were the sinners, but I am the greatest of sinners. You have been weighed and found wanting. If you can stand, you can stand. We're going to close in prayer. Lord, your seed of the word has been sown. Lord, your seed of the word has been sown. Grant that hearts would soften, bow to you, be receptive to you, that your word would come in and bear much fruit and not be eaten by the birds and the rats. But today, there would be those who can say, Lord, you have set me free from this body of death. Grant, Lord, that your word wouldn't be in vain to us, that your love wouldn't be in vain to us, and that we wouldn't trample underfoot the speaking of your Holy Spirit, but that we'd rather obey and do. Amen.