WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.900 for the privilege of coming, and I'm glad Matthew was able to get some time off. And John, he did 00:00:05.900 --> 00:00:11.359 ask if I'd continue his series in Daniel, and so I picked up Daniel chapter 9, but I didn't want to 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:14.960 make his job too easy. He only took the first half, and if you look at the second half, you'll 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:20.699 understand why I left that for him. It's maybe one of the most challenging, well, not maybe, 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:24.580 it is one of the most challenging passages in all the Bible. So you're going to want to come back 00:00:24.579 --> 00:00:32.339 next week to see how Matthew deals with that one. In fact, I'm curious myself. So it's quite a 00:00:32.339 --> 00:00:39.399 passage. But we are looking at the theme of prayer this morning. But five-year-old Ashlyn Blocker is a 00:00:39.399 --> 00:00:45.780 fearless little girl. She runs and plays, and when she falls down, she does not cry. She just gets 00:00:45.780 --> 00:00:51.579 right back up. If she's drinking hot soup, she gulps it down without flinching. She's fearless 00:00:51.579 --> 00:00:58.259 because she feels no pain. It's not that she doesn't feel anything. She does feel. She can feel 00:00:58.259 --> 00:01:04.239 the difference between the coins as she sorts them on her bedroom floor. She can feel the softness of 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:11.539 her teddy bear and the hug and embrace of her mom. But because of a genetic disorder, she doesn't feel 00:01:11.539 --> 00:01:18.640 any pain. She can't feel pain. She doesn't feel extreme changes in temperature or hot and cold. And, 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:22.859 you know, you know, you would think that would be a gift. I mean, wouldn't you like to have a pain-free 00:01:22.859 --> 00:01:28.099 life? Jim was just praying about that, right? Wouldn't it be great? No aches and pains. But it's actually 00:01:28.099 --> 00:01:34.620 quite a curse. As her mother observes, pain's there for a reason. It lets your body know something's wrong 00:01:34.620 --> 00:01:42.019 and needs to be fixed. Her mother says, I would give anything, anything for my daughter to be able to feel 00:01:42.019 --> 00:01:48.899 pain. Most of the time, we feel like our life is under control because most of the time, it's not 00:01:48.899 --> 00:01:54.920 all that painful. We can handle it. We can figure it out. In fact, you get up in the morning and you 00:01:54.920 --> 00:01:58.840 start thinking about what you're going to do that day. And you don't think about needing help or crying 00:01:58.840 --> 00:02:02.620 out. You just think about what you're going to do that day. You make your plans for this week, next week, 00:02:02.620 --> 00:02:11.240 and so on. And you assume you can handle it because you always have. But then things happen. 00:02:11.879 --> 00:02:18.980 You lose your job. Your marriage gets a bit rocky. You have a child that seems incorrigible. 00:02:20.040 --> 00:02:27.800 A global pandemic comes. And you suddenly realize you're not in control. The life is far more than you 00:02:27.800 --> 00:02:36.120 can handle. And that pain comes into our life. And it's like the glowing on your dashboard when 00:02:36.120 --> 00:02:41.660 your gas tank is empty saying, you need to pay attention to this. Sometimes it's that fire alarm 00:02:41.660 --> 00:02:45.920 that goes off in the middle of the night and just startles you and brings you wide awake and realize, 00:02:46.180 --> 00:02:52.100 I've got a problem. I need help. And that is what happens to us in pain. The question is, 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:56.920 when you're awakened by your pain, when suffering comes in, what do you do next? 00:02:57.799 --> 00:03:04.159 We see this in Daniel, the chapter we're looking at, Daniel chapter 9. The people of God, the Jews, 00:03:04.299 --> 00:03:08.579 thought that they could handle life on their own, that they really didn't need God. And so they 00:03:08.579 --> 00:03:15.019 basically put God out of their life and followed other gods. But then in 605 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar and 00:03:15.019 --> 00:03:21.599 the Babylonians came rolling into town, conquered the people of Judah, took off people into captivity, 00:03:22.019 --> 00:03:25.500 one of those being Daniel, as well as his friends Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. 00:03:25.500 --> 00:03:31.860 He took them off into captivity. Nineteen years later, they come back and they destroy the city of Jerusalem, 00:03:32.199 --> 00:03:38.740 leveling the temple where essentially nothing is left, completely devastate the place, leave it in ruins. 00:03:38.740 --> 00:03:46.340 And as we turn to Daniel chapter 9, it's been at least 60 years since the Babylonians came in, 00:03:46.379 --> 00:03:54.020 which means then if Daniel was, you know, maybe a teenager or 20, he's an older man by now. He has gotten quite a bit older. 00:03:54.500 --> 00:03:59.939 And the Babylonian empire has been replaced by the Persians. But for the Jews who are living in Babylon, 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:05.439 nothing really has changed. One empire, another empire, it doesn't matter. They're subjected to them. 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:11.359 Their homeland is still in ruins, and they're powerless to do anything about it. The so-called 00:04:11.359 --> 00:04:18.620 people of God seem destined to become a footnote in history. What do you do when your world falls apart, 00:04:19.139 --> 00:04:25.199 when your life is full of pain, and you can't handle it? Well, Daniel shows us here in chapter 9. 00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:30.980 Let's look at this passage again. We're going to read verses 1 through 19. This is God's Word. 00:04:30.980 --> 00:04:39.480 In the first year of Darius, the son of Hazarias by Desenamede, who was made king over the realm of 00:04:39.480 --> 00:04:45.180 the Chaldeans in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years 00:04:45.180 --> 00:04:51.759 that according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet must pass before the end of the desolation 00:04:51.759 --> 00:05:00.099 of Jerusalem, namely 70 years. Then I turned my face to the Lord, seeking him by prayer and pleas for 00:05:00.099 --> 00:05:07.180 mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, 00:05:07.779 --> 00:05:12.839 O Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love 00:05:12.839 --> 00:05:19.759 him and keeps his commandments. We have sinned and have done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:26.000 turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets, 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:31.379 who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 00:05:31.699 --> 00:05:39.579 To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame. As at this day, to the men of Judah, 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:44.500 to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far off, 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:49.560 and all the lands to which you have driven them because of the treachery that they have committed 00:05:49.560 --> 00:05:54.899 against you. To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:59.500 because we have sinned against you. To the Lord, our God, belongs mercy and forgiveness, 00:05:59.839 --> 00:06:04.579 for we have rebelled against him, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, our God, by walking 00:06:04.579 --> 00:06:10.600 in his laws, which he set before us by his servant, the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your laws, 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:14.980 and turned aside, and refused to obey your voice. And the curse and the oaths that are written in the 00:06:14.980 --> 00:06:19.759 law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against them. 00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:24.920 He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our rulers who ruled 00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:31.620 us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heavens, there's not been done anything 00:06:31.620 --> 00:06:36.920 like what has been done against Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity 00:06:36.920 --> 00:06:43.100 has come upon us, yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord, our God, turning from our iniquities, 00:06:43.100 --> 00:06:49.240 and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore, the Lord has kept ready the calamity he has brought 00:06:49.240 --> 00:06:54.040 upon us. For the Lord, our God, is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not 00:06:54.040 --> 00:06:59.939 obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord, our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with 00:06:59.939 --> 00:07:06.200 a mighty hand, and who have made a name for yourself, as at this day we have sinned, we have done wickedly. 00:07:06.900 --> 00:07:12.900 O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city, 00:07:12.899 --> 00:07:19.459 Jerusalem, your holy hill, because of our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem, 00:07:20.039 --> 00:07:26.699 and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. Now, therefore, O our God, 00:07:26.899 --> 00:07:31.859 listen to the prayers of your servants and his pleas for mercy. And for your sake, O Lord, 00:07:32.179 --> 00:07:38.879 make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear, 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:44.779 open your eyes and see our desolation and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present 00:07:44.779 --> 00:07:51.519 our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear. 00:07:52.319 --> 00:08:00.079 O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not for your own sake, O my God, 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:07.959 because your city and your people are called by your name. This is God's holy word. Let's pray. 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:14.979 O Lord, as we turn our attention to your word and we hear this prayer of confession and this plea, 00:08:16.479 --> 00:08:22.159 O Lord, we pray that it become our prayer as well in the specific situations in which we find 00:08:22.159 --> 00:08:26.139 ourselves today. So I pray, help us to understand your word, that we can apply it to our lives, 00:08:26.139 --> 00:08:34.019 that we can live out the pattern that we see here, that we can seek the mercy and grace from you. So, 00:08:34.139 --> 00:08:39.419 Lord, speak to us. We pray that you would send your spirit, open our ears. Your word is clear. 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:44.819 Our minds at times are foggy. So we pray, O Lord, clear our heads to hear your word, 00:08:44.899 --> 00:08:47.620 that we might receive it today. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:08:47.620 --> 00:08:54.779 One of the things we see in this passage and that we see in our own lives, as we mentioned earlier, 00:08:54.899 --> 00:09:00.240 is that we are motivated to pray when we see our need. That's what drives us to prayer. In fact, 00:09:00.299 --> 00:09:05.200 I think that's characteristic of most of us. When life is going well, you might forget to pray. But 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:09.200 I tell you what, if your kids are struggling, there's not a parent who struggles with prayer. 00:09:10.100 --> 00:09:16.340 If you get a diagnosis that you have cancer, you don't struggle to pray. When we see our need, 00:09:16.340 --> 00:09:21.780 we're aware of our need, that is when we pray. Now, the issue is, though, we're always needy. 00:09:21.899 --> 00:09:27.120 We just don't know it. We're always needy. We just don't know it. Now, Daniel knows it. He's an old 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:32.680 man. He spent most of his life in exile away from his homeland. Yet, despite all the hardships, 00:09:33.460 --> 00:09:38.460 despite all that he's gone through, he has not become bitter with God. He's not become disenchanted 00:09:38.460 --> 00:09:44.100 with his faith. Instead, he continues to read God's word regularly, and he continues to pray. 00:09:44.100 --> 00:09:49.480 And so, one day, he's reading in the prophet Jeremiah. Now, Jeremiah is called the weeping 00:09:49.480 --> 00:09:54.600 prophet. The reason he's called the weeping prophet is because he weeps over the people of God. They 00:09:54.600 --> 00:10:00.379 have been so rebellious against God that God is now bringing upon them these various curses. 00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:07.500 And so, Daniel is reading through Jeremiah, but he comes to chapter 25. And in chapter 25, 00:10:07.500 --> 00:10:14.320 God says that the exile will last 70 years. And Daniel does the math. He says, I've been here for 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:21.960 at least 60. And so, he realizes the exile must be coming to an end. And so, it's starting to a close. 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:26.519 And so, he prays. But notice the nature of his prayer. He doesn't simply pray and say, 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:31.899 thank God it's almost over, even though he believes the word of God. What he recognizes, 00:10:31.899 --> 00:10:38.539 though, is that God uses the prayers of his people to accomplish his purposes. And that, 00:10:38.759 --> 00:10:44.600 therefore, he prays because without the prayers of God's people, God will not do what he said he 00:10:44.600 --> 00:10:48.500 will do. But God is going to do what he said he's going to do. He's just going to use the prayers of 00:10:48.500 --> 00:10:53.000 his people to accomplish his purposes. That's how God works in this great, great mystery of divine 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:58.879 power. In fact, we see it in verse 20 and following where Daniel's prayer results in the angel Gabriel 00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:03.840 coming. And Matthew's going to explain all of that next week. So, I'll leave that for him. 00:11:04.759 --> 00:11:10.259 And so, prayer accomplishes God's purpose. But notice the prayer. The prayer is not one of celebration, 00:11:10.460 --> 00:11:15.779 but one of repentance, a prayer of confession. The prayer goes from verse 4 to verse 19. And the 00:11:15.779 --> 00:11:21.340 first 15 verses, essentially, are nothing but confession and repentance. He really doesn't get to 00:11:21.340 --> 00:11:28.080 any petitions, any requests, until verse 15. He doesn't ask God for anything. And in these verses, 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:34.360 Daniel doesn't just confess his own sin. He confesses the sin of the people. You're part of 00:11:34.360 --> 00:11:38.940 a body. Now, many of these sins that Daniel confesses, he had no part of. But he sees and 00:11:38.940 --> 00:11:44.580 recognizes he's part of God's covenant people. And so, he is along with them, enduring the curses. He is 00:11:44.580 --> 00:11:51.520 part of them. And so, he prays this prayer of corporate confession for the people of God. And so, 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:57.620 we see that in this prayer that the people of God have done many detestable things. And we find more 00:11:57.620 --> 00:12:05.240 of these in Jeremiah that Daniel is reading. They have ranged from immorality, neglect of the poor. 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:12.259 You know, but fundamental among all these sins, that the root of all of them is that they have 00:12:12.259 --> 00:12:19.259 neglected God. They have broken covenant with God. See, God entered into a covenant with his people. 00:12:19.259 --> 00:12:24.019 And the covenant was this, I will be your God, and you will be my people. And it's like a marriage 00:12:24.019 --> 00:12:28.220 covenant, a husband and a wife. I'll be your husband, you'll be my wife. I'll be your God, 00:12:28.299 --> 00:12:33.259 you'll be my people. Till death do us part, let's be faithful to one another as long as we both shall 00:12:33.259 --> 00:12:41.600 live. And God kept the covenant. The Israelites did not. They committed spiritual adultery. They cheated 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:50.279 on God with other idols. They were adulterous to him. And as a result, since they were rejecting God, 00:12:50.379 --> 00:12:56.600 God removes his protection from them and then sends the Babylonians who take him away. Now, 00:12:56.680 --> 00:13:04.139 God did not send the Jews into exile as a fit of anger. He's not throwing this divine temper tantrum 00:13:04.139 --> 00:13:12.080 because his feelings are hurt. Rather, he gives them what they want. They say, we want life without 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:18.799 you. We don't want you. We want to serve these other gods. And God says, okay, how's that working 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:25.600 for you? How's that working for you? And in Jeremiah 2.13, the book that Daniel is reading here, 00:13:26.699 --> 00:13:29.819 God sums up his charges against his people. He says, 00:13:29.820 --> 00:13:38.000 For my people have committed two great evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, 00:13:38.560 --> 00:13:43.720 and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. 00:13:44.620 --> 00:13:51.640 Now, a cistern was sort of like a man-made hole in the ground, big cavern in the ground that was used 00:13:51.640 --> 00:13:56.780 to collect water. And you can imagine why this is so important in the Middle East, in the dry land, 00:13:56.779 --> 00:14:02.480 because without water, you're going to die. And so, it was the cisterns were the source of life during 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:08.019 these times of drought. And what God is saying about the Israelites, the Jews, is they have, 00:14:08.179 --> 00:14:14.319 instead of coming to him, the fountain of living water, they have forsaken the life-giving God and 00:14:14.319 --> 00:14:19.679 tried to create life on their own, but they created broken cisterns, which simply are going to lead to 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:26.319 death. They're trying to live independently of him. We oftentimes have a very limited definition 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:32.300 of sin. We think of sin as breaking a rule, not keeping a commandment. And certainly, 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:39.720 those things are true. Daniel confesses those sins here in Daniel chapter 9. But behind all of those 00:14:39.720 --> 00:14:46.060 sins, what leads us to breaking God's commandment is saying, I want to go my own way. I'm going to 00:14:46.060 --> 00:14:52.080 trust myself. I'm going to trust something else to provide for me rather than you. We're hewing out 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:57.759 our own cisterns. Or as Martin Luther said, he said this about the Ten Commandments, he said, 00:14:57.860 --> 00:15:04.379 you never break the last nine without first breaking the first one. The first commandment is, 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:09.379 you shall have no other gods before me. All the other nine actually are results of breaking that 00:15:09.379 --> 00:15:15.680 first commandment, of not trusting in God to be a provider, trusting in him enough to obey. 00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:22.899 So sin is when we forsake God, when we fail to depend on him, and instead dig our own cisterns. 00:15:23.699 --> 00:15:32.199 You know, we are made to live in communion with God. It is how you are built. You are not designed 00:15:32.199 --> 00:15:39.459 to live independently. Our desire for independence is actually going against our nature. The fact that 00:15:39.460 --> 00:15:46.900 you are needful of God is not a bug in your programming, it's a feature. It is how we are 00:15:46.900 --> 00:15:54.700 designed. And so whenever we attempt to live apart from God, we are acting out of accord with our design. 00:15:55.080 --> 00:16:01.400 Just as everything that has life on earth depends on the Son, the way they're designed, the way they're 00:16:01.400 --> 00:16:08.900 created, we were made to live in communion with God. And because God is a loving Father, when he sees us 00:16:08.899 --> 00:16:14.980 going away from the waters of life and moving away from him, he is a loving Father who will bring those 00:16:14.980 --> 00:16:20.439 painful things into our lives when necessary to show us that we are dependent on him. 00:16:21.059 --> 00:16:25.500 Alcides put this quite famously. He said, you know, God whispers to us in our pleasure, 00:16:26.419 --> 00:16:33.240 speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. It's his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. 00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:39.720 God awakens us. We cannot make it on our own. We're like little children, you know, like the, 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:44.879 you'll see the little boy, he wants to cross the busy intersection by himself. And a mom, 00:16:45.060 --> 00:16:49.159 if she loves her child, and assumes she does, she's not going to let the little boy say, 00:16:49.320 --> 00:16:54.580 hope you make it, you know. She's going to grab him by the hand, sometimes forcefully, 00:16:55.379 --> 00:17:00.080 sometimes with discipline, maybe even stern discipline, not because she hates her son, 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:06.880 but because she loves her son. She knows what he needs. You know, David Brooks said something quite 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:15.240 similarly when he observed that suffering produces things in our lives that prosperity cannot. You know, 00:17:15.299 --> 00:17:21.519 if you ask somebody, what were the events that shaped you, that made you the kind of, you know, 00:17:21.559 --> 00:17:28.279 good person that you are, no one says, well, you know, I was really a mean, selfish jerk, 00:17:28.279 --> 00:17:33.299 and then I went on this amazing vacation to Hawaii, and wow, just changed my life. You know, 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:39.339 it's not what they say. They talk about the hardship, the suffering that they've endured, 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:46.980 the difficulties. And it's in our moments of difficulty and struggle when our illusion of control 00:17:46.980 --> 00:17:53.819 is shattered that God shows us that we need him. He directs our attention to himself. 00:17:53.819 --> 00:18:00.519 And again, he doesn't do this because he wants to humiliate us. He's not doing this to bring shame 00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:07.599 on us. He exposes the shame of our independence because he loves us so that we will turn to him. 00:18:08.339 --> 00:18:14.799 In this way, pain is a severe mercy. It's an act of kindness to redirect us off of the path of 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:20.559 destruction. And so, the first thing we see in Daniel's prayer is that the pain and suffering that 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:25.139 they're going through and the pain and suffering we have in our lives is to show us our own neediness. 00:18:25.319 --> 00:18:31.519 Now, if that's all we see, if that's all we see, that's quite depressing. If you see life as being 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:36.819 out of control and you can't handle it, but you don't see any hope, then you're going to be depressed. 00:18:36.819 --> 00:18:43.639 But that's not all we see in this prayer. We also see God's incredible mercy, God's mercy. 00:18:44.639 --> 00:18:49.720 You know, there are times when I struggle to pray, frankly, because I don't think I need to. 00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:53.839 You know, I mean, again, all the time, you get up in the morning and think, 00:18:54.259 --> 00:19:00.079 God, I've got this, right? There are other times when I struggle to pray because I think, 00:19:00.759 --> 00:19:05.819 well, why would he listen to me? You ever think that way? You know, you're thinking, well, 00:19:06.700 --> 00:19:14.079 you know, like the Israelites here, they abandoned God. They forsook God. They said they didn't want God. 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:18.019 And all of a sudden now they're having trouble. They're going to cry out to God. I mean, 00:19:18.019 --> 00:19:20.940 what right do they have? Have you ever felt that way? You know, thinking, well, you know, 00:19:20.940 --> 00:19:28.920 I messed things up. It's my fault. And so, how can I call out to God now? Can I really cry out to him 00:19:28.920 --> 00:19:35.359 after ignoring him so long? Well, Daniel shows us that we can, and he does so by first appealing to 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:42.539 God's character. And the specific aspect of his character is his righteousness. Another way to think 00:19:42.539 --> 00:19:48.639 of God's righteousness is God always does what is right. He always does the right thing. And so, 00:19:48.740 --> 00:19:53.039 Daniel appeals to this aspect of God where God always does the right thing. Look at verse 7. 00:19:54.159 --> 00:19:54.500 He says, 00:19:54.599 --> 00:20:01.899 To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame. See, in their marriage relationship, 00:20:02.460 --> 00:20:07.159 which this covenant relationship between God and his people, God has always done the right thing. 00:20:07.160 --> 00:20:12.900 He has been a faithful covenant God. He's always been there. He's done what is right. The Israelites, 00:20:13.120 --> 00:20:18.460 on the other hand, have been adulterous. And now their adultery has been exposed for everyone to see. 00:20:18.980 --> 00:20:27.519 Their exile is like a scarlet letter that tells everyone who they are. And their exile shows their 00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:33.400 shame because of their sin and what they have done. And so, they've been humiliated by this. 00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:40.980 They're exposed. You ever had that feeling? You're human. You have. We all know about shame. 00:20:41.680 --> 00:20:47.120 We all know about shame. Shame from things that have been done to us, but even more shame of things 00:20:47.120 --> 00:20:53.880 that we have done. And we feel exposed. You know, when I was a freshman in college, I rarely went to 00:20:53.880 --> 00:21:01.780 class. That is not an exaggeration. It was so bad that such a delinquent student that at the end of my 00:21:01.779 --> 00:21:08.920 freshman year, I was suspended from Georgia Tech. And so, that meant I couldn't go back. So, I transferred. 00:21:09.480 --> 00:21:16.339 It took me only one semester to get suspended for my next college. And I will never forget 00:21:16.339 --> 00:21:26.859 coming home and having to face my mom and my dad and my sister and my friends and my church 00:21:26.859 --> 00:21:33.479 and everyone else saying, so, what's going on? You don't want to say what's going on when your life is falling 00:21:33.479 --> 00:21:43.079 apart because you messed it up. I mean, I had no one, no one to blame but me. And it's that open shame 00:21:43.079 --> 00:21:48.339 because of my own sin, my own failures. And Daniel says that's how it was for the Jews, 00:21:49.039 --> 00:21:55.219 that their open shame and their shame was for everyone to see. They're completely exposed. 00:21:55.220 --> 00:22:01.900 And because they had acted shamefully, Daniel then says in verse 14 that God was righteous. 00:22:02.120 --> 00:22:09.460 That is, that God did the right thing by sending them into exile. God's anger against Israel was not 00:22:09.460 --> 00:22:15.480 malicious or capricious. It was precisely what righteousness demanded. It was righteous for God 00:22:15.480 --> 00:22:20.839 to send them into exile. And so, then the question is, if it was the right thing for God to do to send 00:22:20.839 --> 00:22:27.399 them into exile, if God's not doing the wrong thing, then what right does Daniel have to ask him to take 00:22:27.399 --> 00:22:32.839 them out of exile? I mean, if it's right that they are punished and they're just getting what they 00:22:32.839 --> 00:22:39.539 deserve, what right does Daniel have to go against that? This is what righteousness demands. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:47.639 Well, notice that Daniel does not appeal to God's mercy instead of his righteousness. He does not pit 00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:51.860 God's mercy. He does not pit. He does not pit. He does not pit. He does not pit. He does not pit. 00:22:51.860 --> 00:22:59.360 As if the two things contradict. Rather, he appeals to God's mercy on the basis of God's righteousness. 00:22:59.640 --> 00:23:00.280 Verse 16, 00:23:02.020 --> 00:23:08.420 O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city, 00:23:08.580 --> 00:23:14.660 Jerusalem, and your holy hill. He's saying, God, the right thing for you to do 00:23:14.660 --> 00:23:19.840 is to turn away your anger from us and your judgment for us. Now, how could that be? He just 00:23:19.840 --> 00:23:24.300 said it was the right thing for him to do to have his anger towards him. But notice what he's doing. 00:23:24.980 --> 00:23:31.620 He's pleading with God on the basis of their covenant relationship. He's pleading with them 00:23:31.620 --> 00:23:37.519 on the basis of the relationship they have. Yes, Israel has acted shamefully. Israel has committed 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:44.220 adultery. Yet, because they're God's people, says, God, you can't abandon us. We're yours. 00:23:44.660 --> 00:23:49.860 You pledged yourself to us. We're still your people. We're the people that you made a name 00:23:49.860 --> 00:23:54.740 for yourself by rescuing us out of Egypt. The whole world knows we belong to you. They know 00:23:54.740 --> 00:24:00.700 who we're married to. They know who is you. And so, he appeals to them. He appeals to God on this basis. 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:09.880 Look at verse 16. He says, he refers to Jerusalem as your city, your hill. Then he says that your people 00:24:09.880 --> 00:24:16.560 are an object of scorn. Verse 17, he asks God to restore the sanctuary for your sake. Verse 18, 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:22.760 he reminds God that Jerusalem, which is now lying in ruins, is called by your name. And then in verse 19, 00:24:23.120 --> 00:24:30.340 he sums it all up with these words. Delay not for your own sake. Oh, my God, because of your city and 00:24:30.340 --> 00:24:36.180 your people are called by your name. Notice the word that's repeated over and over again. Your, 00:24:36.180 --> 00:24:42.180 your, your God. This is about you. This is about who you are. Daniel says, 00:24:42.980 --> 00:24:48.700 even though we've broken covenant with you, you cannot break covenant with us. It would not be 00:24:48.700 --> 00:24:55.279 right. Because God is righteous, he must remain faithful to his covenant, even when his people are 00:24:55.279 --> 00:25:01.200 unfaithful to him. Notice then that the covenant that God has with his people is a one-way covenant. 00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:09.319 It's a gracious covenant. It's not conditioned on us. It's conditioned on him. Paul says the same thing 00:25:09.319 --> 00:25:16.940 in his second letter to Timothy. He says, if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny 00:25:16.940 --> 00:25:27.340 himself. If we are faithless, he remains faithful because he cannot deny himself. God is a covenant-keeping 00:25:27.339 --> 00:25:34.659 God. We do not appeal to him based on our character, but based on his. We do not appeal to him because we have 00:25:34.659 --> 00:25:39.459 kept the covenant, but because of his faithfulness to the covenant. We do not appeal to him on the basis of our 00:25:39.459 --> 00:25:45.079 righteousness, but on the basis of his righteousness. Now, think of how different that is sometimes how we pray. 00:25:45.259 --> 00:25:50.799 We come before God and say, Lord, I've made a mess of things. I've broken things, and it's all in ruins. And, Lord, 00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:57.639 if you'll only bail me out this one time, I promise I will do better. I'll make a bargain with you. And so, 00:25:57.700 --> 00:26:03.500 what are you asking? You're praying not in Jesus' name. You're not asking God to bless you because of 00:26:03.500 --> 00:26:09.700 what Jesus has done for you. You're actually praying in your own name. You're saying, Lord, look at what I 00:26:09.700 --> 00:26:16.240 have done in one case or in another case. Lord, look at what I'll do. I'll pay you back. I'll earn it. 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:23.880 I'll be a good son. Thomas Boston, I forgot what century, Scottish preacher, famous Scottish preacher 00:26:23.880 --> 00:26:29.200 said this, when a man begins to pray like this, even if he reforms his character, even if he changes how 00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:34.240 he lives completely, if he gets to the end of his life and he's been thinking that he's going to stand 00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:43.160 before God because he has done the right thing, he will be completely and utterly lost. The only thing, 00:26:43.160 --> 00:26:50.019 the only thing that we have that gives us any standing before God is the righteousness of God, 00:26:50.560 --> 00:26:57.259 not our righteousness. It is not our faithfulness. It is his faithfulness. If we are faithless, 00:26:57.759 --> 00:27:04.620 he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself. So, we don't cry to God because we're asking him for 00:27:04.620 --> 00:27:11.120 what we deserve. That would be a horrible prayer. We cry out to him based on who he is. And as Daniel 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:17.559 says in verse 18, for we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, 00:27:18.459 --> 00:27:29.039 but because of your great mercy. Our prayers to God from first to last are never, ever based on us 00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:34.799 or our works, but solely based on him. That still leads us with the question. 00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:42.980 If God's righteousness demands that sin is punished, that we receive judgment, and it does. 00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:48.639 Remember, the Bible says, for the soul that sins shall surely die, the wages of sin is death. So, 00:27:48.779 --> 00:27:54.299 the right punishment for our sin is death, is judgment. And yet, on the other hand, 00:27:54.659 --> 00:27:59.259 the righteous thing for God to do, because he's the one who made the covenant, and it's a unilateral 00:27:59.259 --> 00:28:04.740 covenant, a one-way covenant, is for God to remain faithful to his people, it seems like we have a 00:28:04.740 --> 00:28:10.339 contradiction in the righteousness of God. God, to be right, has to punish us. God, to be right, 00:28:10.500 --> 00:28:16.420 has to be faithful to us. How do we reconcile these two things? Well, we see that reconciliation 00:28:16.420 --> 00:28:22.579 coming out in the covenant that he's made with his son. We see it on the cross. On the cross, 00:28:22.579 --> 00:28:29.579 Jesus suffered the demands of the righteous judgment. He took on the full justice of God 00:28:29.579 --> 00:28:36.480 for his people. He made full payment for the sins of his people. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians, 00:28:37.220 --> 00:28:45.919 for our sake, he made him, that is Jesus, to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become 00:28:45.919 --> 00:28:49.980 the righteousness of God. See, when a person becomes a Christian, 00:28:49.980 --> 00:28:57.700 then, let's go back to this covenant relationship. You become married to Jesus. The two become one. 00:28:58.700 --> 00:29:04.160 And when you get married, you know, I've got a daughter getting married next weekend. You get 00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:10.180 married. If one person has debt and the other person has money, guess what? The person who has 00:29:10.180 --> 00:29:14.680 money now has debt, and the person who had debt now has money. That's just how it works, right? And we're 00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:20.660 coming into this covenant relationship, and we've got a lot of debt. We've got the debt for our sins, 00:29:21.220 --> 00:29:28.240 all of it. Jesus has his full righteousness. And so, when we come and are united to Christ, 00:29:28.340 --> 00:29:34.640 in the number one way the New Testament describes Christians as in Christ, in him, in Jesus. That 00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:40.460 means you are united to him, which means everything that is his is now yours, and everything that is 00:29:40.460 --> 00:29:48.819 yours is now his. So, when Jesus died on the cross for our sins, he paid full penalty, not in just some 00:29:48.819 --> 00:29:54.539 sort of legal, fictitious sort of way, but in reality, because we are now one. And so, that we 00:29:54.539 --> 00:30:01.059 can say that God's judgment against our sin has been fully satisfied because we are so united to Christ 00:30:01.059 --> 00:30:08.079 that we have died with him, and we live with him, and we even now are seated with him, as Paul says, 00:30:08.079 --> 00:30:15.799 in the heavenly realm. And so, because we are united to Christ, our sin has been paid for. Our judgment 00:30:15.799 --> 00:30:23.599 is gone, and we have the righteous work of Christ that has now been credited to us so that now, when 00:30:23.599 --> 00:30:30.079 the Father looks at you, he's not looking at you based on your performance. He's looking at you based 00:30:30.079 --> 00:30:36.659 on the work of Jesus Christ, which is now yours by faith and by faith alone. And again, to use the bride 00:30:36.660 --> 00:30:44.940 analogy. You ever been to, I've been to a few weddings, and I get to stand right there, we know, 00:30:45.019 --> 00:30:50.580 with the groom, and I get to see the bride at the back of the church. There's no such thing as an ugly 00:30:50.580 --> 00:30:58.779 bride. It just doesn't happen. And when God looks at us, the bride of Christ, the church, he stands there 00:30:58.779 --> 00:31:09.519 seeing us robed in the righteousness of Christ, he says, wow, wow, stunning. That's how the Father 00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:15.859 looks at you, not based on your works, based on the righteousness of Christ, the blood of Christ 00:31:15.859 --> 00:31:21.500 that's been shed for us, the life of Christ that's been given to us. And it tells us something more. 00:31:21.500 --> 00:31:31.380 That means that Jesus loved us enough to take the judgment of God for us in order to keep his covenant 00:31:31.380 --> 00:31:40.519 with us. And if Jesus died to keep his covenant with us, then we know he loves us dearly. If God 00:31:40.519 --> 00:31:45.819 would not, as Paul says, along with him, he gave his son up for us all, how will he not along with him 00:31:45.819 --> 00:31:51.139 graciously give us all things? So now when you go to pray, and you're praying, and you go, I can't 00:31:51.139 --> 00:31:56.019 believe God wants to listen to me, and you think, wait a second, he gave his son for me. Jesus died 00:31:56.019 --> 00:32:01.019 for me. He kept his covenant for me. If he's done all those things for me, then I know that he loves 00:32:01.019 --> 00:32:06.480 me, and I know now I can pour out my heart to God. Now, here's the amazing thing. The more you believe 00:32:06.480 --> 00:32:13.240 that God loves you, the more you're going to want to live a life that pleases him. You know, you'll always 00:32:13.240 --> 00:32:19.519 do more for the one who loves you than anyone else. And so, when we understand that, it actually 00:32:19.519 --> 00:32:25.339 changes how we live, but we still come to God always on the basis of Christ. And we say, if he loves me 00:32:25.339 --> 00:32:32.000 enough to die for me, then I can trust him enough to obey, and I can trust him enough to cry out to him 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:38.700 in my pain. A 12-year-old boy from Florida was vacationing with his family in the North Carolina 00:32:38.700 --> 00:32:42.539 mountains. They're sliding down the rocks, and they have these waterfalls. They're just beautiful. 00:32:43.240 --> 00:32:48.859 But as he's sliding down the rocks, his foot got stuck in a boulder. And the water's now coming 00:32:48.859 --> 00:32:53.240 down, and the boy's going underwater. The father sees his son in distress, and he goes over, and he 00:32:53.240 --> 00:32:58.640 tries to lift the boy up, but the foot won't come loose. And so, all the father can do is hold his 00:32:58.640 --> 00:33:03.220 son up above the water that's rushing and pounding against him, pounding against him, pounding against 00:33:03.220 --> 00:33:09.160 him. And so, he's holding his son so the rescue can come, and it takes 30 minutes, which in some ways 00:33:09.160 --> 00:33:15.220 is remarkably fast, right? But 30 minutes, he's holding his son up, trying to keep his son alive. 00:33:15.420 --> 00:33:20.120 And you can imagine him saying, I got you, son. I've got you, son. I'm not going to let you go. 00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:26.480 And so, finally, the rescue team comes, and they get the son free. And as they get the son free, 00:33:26.480 --> 00:33:35.140 the father's foot gets stuck, and he can't get free. And even as they're removing the son away, 00:33:35.759 --> 00:33:41.880 the father goes under the waves, is beaten down, hypothermia exhausted, and he never comes back up. 00:33:42.759 --> 00:33:50.839 He loses his life rescuing his son. In the same way, we see Jesus has done that for us. 00:33:50.839 --> 00:33:58.179 He jumped into the stream when we were overwhelmed by our sin. He lifted us to safety at the price of 00:33:58.179 --> 00:34:04.799 his own life. And with his dying breath, he proved his love for us. That's why we pray. 00:34:06.019 --> 00:34:11.599 Christian, he loves you. If you're in Christ, he loves you. And we pray because we know that he cares. 00:34:11.719 --> 00:34:17.659 There's never a question. Never let your sin and your failure keep you from God. Let it be the thing 00:34:17.659 --> 00:34:23.839 that drives you to God. Never let your sense of you have things over control keep you from God, 00:34:23.920 --> 00:34:30.139 because that's an illusion. You're not in control. Let it drive you to God. See your need. And the 00:34:30.139 --> 00:34:35.099 more you believe that he is faithful to you, the more you will long to be faithful to him. 00:34:36.099 --> 00:34:40.839 And just as you cry out to God for your own need, cry out to God for the sake of others as well. 00:34:40.840 --> 00:34:48.760 Notice that Daniel is not praying only for himself. He's praying. He's praying for the people, 00:34:49.260 --> 00:34:54.700 for all of God's people. He's praying for others. He's praying even in areas where he has not sinned 00:34:54.700 --> 00:35:00.340 himself. He's praying for God's restoration. Daniel will never experience the restoration that he's 00:35:00.340 --> 00:35:06.160 praying about. He'll never go back to Jerusalem. And so, he's passionately praying for others because 00:35:06.159 --> 00:35:12.359 he's experienced God's grace in his own life that he longs for other people to experience God's grace 00:35:12.359 --> 00:35:19.119 in their lives. God has called us to do the same thing. A couple of weeks ago, I was on a call with 00:35:19.119 --> 00:35:25.639 a missionary in Cambodia. I don't know much about Cambodia. I was learning from him. And Cambodia is a 00:35:25.639 --> 00:35:34.139 spiritually dark place, spiritually dark place. It is known primarily for its drug and sex trafficking, 00:35:34.139 --> 00:35:41.699 human trafficking, children trafficking, exploiting them. Cambodia is less than 2% evangelical Christians. 00:35:42.960 --> 00:35:47.940 You know, don't the people of Cambodia deserve to hear God's grace as much as we do? Well, let me put 00:35:47.940 --> 00:35:54.039 it another way. Do we actually deserve God's grace more than they do? Of course not. Otherwise, it wouldn't 00:35:54.039 --> 00:36:01.759 be grace. You know, later that same week, I was talking to a group of people in India, a hundred of us on a 00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:06.640 Zoom call, and we're hearing from various pastors about around the continent there, the subcontinent, 00:36:06.700 --> 00:36:13.140 about what's going on. You've seen it. People are dying so quickly from the pandemic, they're just 00:36:13.140 --> 00:36:18.880 floating them down the river. They're burning them in open fields. It is overwhelming. The government 00:36:18.880 --> 00:36:25.240 is cracked down on their churches, and yet still missionaries are able to get in, but it's still, 00:36:25.239 --> 00:36:31.479 it's a very difficult thing. And so, the people are facing death. Everybody on that call from India has lost 00:36:31.479 --> 00:36:37.019 friends during this pandemic to death. But every day, every day, millions of people die without Christ, 00:36:37.119 --> 00:36:42.579 facing an even greater judgment. And so, they're dying without hope, without ever hearing the good news, 00:36:43.179 --> 00:36:48.359 without hearing about God's love and mercy. Do we deserve God's grace more than the people of India? 00:36:48.360 --> 00:36:54.860 The grace that God has given us is not for ourselves, but it's for the world. And those who get grace deeply 00:36:54.860 --> 00:37:00.940 share grace generously. And those who understand grace will never be merely concerned about themselves. 00:37:01.539 --> 00:37:07.780 It is not just for us. It is for the sake of the world. And so, may we be like Daniel, not just praying 00:37:07.780 --> 00:37:13.559 about our own needs, our own brokenness, but praying for the world as well. Let me lead us in prayer. 00:37:13.559 --> 00:37:23.719 Father, we do thank you that you're a God who is rich in mercy, gracious, kind, that you're a God who 00:37:23.719 --> 00:37:29.320 is always faithful to your covenant. But Lord, we confess, even as we did earlier this morning during 00:37:29.320 --> 00:37:35.619 our time of confession, we confess, O Lord, that we are a faithless people. Lord, forgive us. Forgive us 00:37:35.619 --> 00:37:41.239 not because we're going to do better or try harder. Lord, we do plan to try harder, but we don't ask you 00:37:41.239 --> 00:37:46.359 to forgive us based on that. We ask you to forgive us based on what Jesus has done for us in that 00:37:46.359 --> 00:37:53.339 alone. And so, Lord, we pray that the grace that you show us would so grip our hearts that it would 00:37:53.339 --> 00:37:58.579 change the way that we live. We pray that your grace would so grip our hearts that we would cry 00:37:58.579 --> 00:38:03.219 out to you, not only in those times of pain, but even in those times when things don't seem painful, 00:38:03.739 --> 00:38:08.319 that we would live in constant communion with you. We pray that prayer would just be our natural way 00:38:08.320 --> 00:38:14.420 of living as we breathe. And Lord, we pray not only for ourselves, but we pray for our world. 00:38:15.300 --> 00:38:21.620 We pray for a world that is broken, a world that is needy. We pray for the people, you know, just so 00:38:21.620 --> 00:38:28.240 many around our world right now have no knowledge of your grace, of your mercy, of your kindness. 00:38:29.200 --> 00:38:35.539 O Lord, we pray. We pray, O Lord, may they come to know. May we be willing to go and to share. 00:38:35.539 --> 00:38:42.360 O Lord, we lift them up before you. For your name's sake, O Lord, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.