So, what we will do is, I'm going to pray for us, but I don't want it to just be me praying.
Part of actually what we want to do in the life of the church is we need to, as we're
going through this series on prayer, we need to come before God as a congregation and pray
together.
So, I'm going to lead us in prayer, but don't just kind of switch off at this moment.
Really engage with this.
You can feel free to say amen, feel free to just agree in your heart with what God wants
us to pray for.
So, I ask you to just bow your heads and let me pray for us.
Oh, great and awesome God, the one who stretched out the galaxies and the stars, what is man?
What are us human beings that you think about us?
What are we that you actually even care for us?
And yet you do.
And yet you came from heaven to identify yourself with us and more than that, to take the weight
of our sin upon yourself, to take the punishment for us that we could come and we could call
you Abba Father.
Father, thank you so much that you're our great high priest, the one who enables us to
enter into your presence.
Thank you that we have this privilege of being called your children.
Thank you for the privilege of prayer this morning.
Oh, forgive us, Lord, how lightly we take the privilege of prayer.
Forgive us, Lord, because we are a prayerless church in many ways.
We're a church who prays as a last resort, not as a first resort.
Forgive us.
We worry about our bank accounts.
We worry about our careers.
We worry about our convenience.
We have made luxuries our necessities.
And we complain when life doesn't work our way.
And yet we fail to see many who have far less than us have a greater faith, a greater joy,
a greater peace, a greater love.
And we long for that, Lord.
So please change us.
In your mercy, in your great love, would you change us, Lord?
Would you forgive us where we are judgmental and critical, where we see everyone else's
problems but we don't see our own?
Would you show us grace as we remember even this Good Friday of what it costs you to bring
us to yourself?
Father, detach our hearts from the treasures that consume us so we may see the beauty of
your glory.
Show us your glory, Lord.
Show us who you really are.
Make your face to shine upon us, that your presence would fill us, would capture our
hearts so we're more consumed with you than what everyone around us is chasing after.
Give us strength to be faithful because it's hard to stay focused on you when there are
so many other distractions, Lord.
So we ask for you.
We ask for your presence.
Show us yourself.
And Lord, we want to pray, Father, also in this city.
We want to pray for inner city ministries, which is that amazing ministry serving ethnic
minorities in Jordan and Yamate.
Lord, thank you for the work that they're doing.
Thank you that they're a beacon of light in that area.
Lord, we pray that for all those kids and mothers and fathers from the Nepalese and South
station communities that they're reaching out to, Lord, we pray that they would experience
your favor and your blessing.
And many people will come to know you through that ministry.
Please, would you open up the hearts of the dads there who often prevent their families
from coming to church and coming to faith?
Would you show them mercy?
And even as they struggle with funding, would you provide for them with the resources they
need so they can carry on that ministry?
Father, we also want to pray in this city for the different faith groups that there are
here.
We want to pray for the Jewish community that meets up in Robinson Road.
We want to pray for the Muslim community across this city.
We want to pray for the Hindu community and the Buddhist community.
Father, you've shown us that you are the only way, that Jesus is the only way to reach you.
And yet there are many who are desperately seeking you in this city.
Would you show yourself to them?
Would you reveal yourself to them?
Would you make us a people who are willing to go out of our comfort zones and the church
in Hong Kong, a church that is willing to go out beyond the four walls to reach out
to people that they might find you as they seek you, Lord?
Lord, you're a God who saves.
So we ask that you would save many people in this city through your beautiful, glorious
name.
Amen.
Let me invite Echo and Grace to come and read to us.
The scripture reading comes from Daniel chapter 9.
Please follow along in your bulletins or on the screen.
In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, by descent Amid, who was made king over the
realm of the Chaldeans.
In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that,
according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the
desolations of Jerusalem, namely, 70 years.
Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleased for mercy with fasting
and sackcloth and ashes.
I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying,
O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love
him and keep his commandments.
We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments
and rules.
We have not listened to your servants, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings,
our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men
of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those
who are far away in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery
that they have committed against you.
To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because
we have sinned against you.
To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him, and have not
obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his
servants, the prophets.
All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice, and the
curse and oath that are written in the law of Moses, the servant of God.
Have been poured out upon us because we have sinned against him.
He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our rulers who ruled
us, by bringing upon us a great calamity.
For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against
Jerusalem.
As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us, yet we have not
entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by his
truth.
Therefore, the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us.
For the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed
his voice.
And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand
and have made a name for yourself, as at this day we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from
your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers.
Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us.
Now, therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy,
and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate.
O my God, incline your ear and hear.
Open your eyes and see our desolations and the city that is called by your name.
For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.
O Lord, hear.
O Lord, forgive.
O Lord, pay attention and act.
Delay not for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.
While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God,
while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight.
At the time of the evening sacrifice, he made me understand, speaking with me and saying,
O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding.
At the beginning of your pleas for mercy, a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you,
for you are greatly loved.
Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision.
This is the word of God.
Amen.
For those of you who don't know me, my name is Chris.
I'm one of the leaders here.
We've been going through this series on prayer.
We've been looking at the Sermon on the Mount, and then we've paused for three or four weeks
just to really go deeper into this issue of prayer and what it means to be a praying church.
Because I don't know if around you, but as you look around at the world,
I mean, this week has just been a very interesting week, even on the news.
We've had Brexit has been postponed.
We've had the leaders of the Occupy Central movement found guilty and facing jail sentences.
We've had calls to boycott Brunei-run hotels because of introducing Sharia law.
Everywhere we look around, there is segregation.
There is division.
It just shows us that we live in a world where we desperately want harmony.
We desperately want peace.
We desperately want to be able to be together.
But there's something that is wrong.
There isn't harmony.
There isn't peace.
And as we look today at this prayer of Daniel, we're going to see, and this is an incredible prayer,
we're going to see that Daniel is going to show us something about what it means to be a people who intercede,
who pray in the midst of a broken situation.
And just by way of background, Daniel is an old man.
This is written a few hundred years before Christ.
He's been in exile in Babylon with many of his Jewish companions for over 50 years.
The last time he saw his homeland in Jerusalem, it was burning and being destroyed by the Babylonians themselves.
And as we looked at last week with Nehemiah, who was also in this foreign land,
this Daniel had been faithful to God throughout the whole of his life.
He'd been so faithful, he'd even been willing to be thrown to the lions rather than disown his God.
Every day he spent time with his God in prayer and reading the Scriptures for the last 40 years, 50 years, maybe longer.
And you know, no one has a strong relationship with God who goes through the trials of life
unless they are a person of God's Word and a person of prayer.
But one day, Daniel is doing his Bible reading plan.
And he gets to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 25.
Do you know people in the Bible read the Bible, right?
Did you know that?
So he reads this bit of Jeremiah, which was written just like 70 odd years before.
And he realizes something.
He realizes that God had been speaking through Jeremiah, saying that the end of this mess that the Jewish people were in is going to come.
The end of this exile in Babylon is going to come.
And it's going to last only 70 years in total.
And so Daniel goes and looks at the calendar and he says, whoa, 70 years is almost up.
So God is going to deliver his people.
God is going to restore.
God's going to do something.
His sovereign plan, he's promised he's going to rescue us.
And so what does Daniel do?
Does he kind of sit back, watch TV and go, hey, let's just wait for God to turn up?
No, he doesn't.
He says, then I turned my face to the Lord.
Literally, I gave my face to the Lord, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
You see, Daniel's not just kind of giving thanks.
God, thank you that you're faithful.
And let's just see what happens.
No, he sees that when God brings his word, that is also a call for action from him.
And he's on his knees in urgent petition and prayer for God to do what God has said that he will do.
He's requesting God to restore.
Do you know when you read a promise in the Bible, it's actually meant to lead you to pray that God would bring that promise to bear.
But I don't know if you've wondered actually how strange that is.
Because if God is sovereignly going to work out his plan, why do you need to pray?
He's going to do it anyway.
Right?
And don't we often feel like that?
Things just going to happen regardless of whether I pray or not.
So, I mean, it doesn't really make much difference.
But the thing is, Daniel knows that God is sovereign, which means he will work out his purposes.
And there will some things that he will do regardless of whether I pray about them or not.
He's going to bring the sun up tomorrow, probably regardless of whether I pray about it or not.
I'm going to die regardless of whether I pray about it or not.
There are some things he calls people like Abraham regardless of whether people have prayed about Abraham coming or not.
Because he's sovereign.
He works out his plans and purposes.
But there are also some things that God will only do in response to the prayers of his people.
That's the way he has chosen to work.
And so, Daniel knows that a few hundred years before this time, that Solomon had dedicated the temple in Jerusalem.
And he'd also prayed a prayer where he said, God, he predicted that God's people would be taken into exile.
And he says, if they hear and if they turn from their sin and from their wicked ways,
and if they say we have sinned and we've acted wickedly,
then God will hear from heaven and he will forgive their sin and he will heal and he will restore them.
And Daniel knows that the healing of God's people only comes when God's people get on their knees and they pray.
Do you know, there are things God wants to bless this church with.
There are things that God wants to bless your life with.
There are things that God wants to bless your family with.
There are things that God wants to bless this city with that he will only do when we get on our knees and we pray
and we repent and we turn to him.
Do you know that?
One person knows that.
You see, James 4 says, you do not have because you do not ask.
Meaning that there are some things you won't get until you ask for them.
And so we must pray, which is what we looked at two weeks ago.
But last week, we also saw that we need to have a conviction of who we're praying to.
Do you notice that Daniel doesn't start his little prayer going,
hey mate, I'm just kind of needing a little bit of help down here.
He goes and he says, just like Nehemiah, it's almost word for word what Nehemiah said last week.
He says, I pray to Yahweh, my God, O Lord, the great and awesome God,
who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commands.
You see, Steve, who preached last week, he mentioned the way that God is this great and awesome God,
and that changes the way we pray.
I was so blessed by the sermon last week from Steve.
It just opens our eyes.
But you know, I never use the word awesome for anything other than what I see God doing,
what I see who God is.
Do you know why I don't?
The reason I don't is because the word awesome means it causes awe, it causes trembling and fear.
But we live in a culture which is starved of awe.
You know, we delight in YouTube mediocrity.
And so we have cheapened the word awesome to go things like,
that selfie is awesome.
That burger is awesome.
Now, I don't know the last time you got down trembling in fear before McDonald's, Big Mac.
But you see, we've cheapened the word, right?
But here's what is awesome.
Do you know this last week, astronomers discovered they just took a picture of a black hole
that is 40 billion kilometers across.
It's bigger than the size of our solar system.
And it's 500 million trillion kilometers away.
I can't count that high.
And then it says in scripture that God is the one who stretches out the heavens,
stretches out space like a tent.
He takes tent pegs and knocks them in one side, knocks them in the other side.
And in between is hundreds of hundreds of millions of trillions of kilometers.
I can't get my head around that.
That is who God is.
He is great and he is awesome.
And in prayer, why Daniel wants us to start with this is because we're so consumed with ourselves
that we lose perspective on life and we get wrapped up in the trivial.
You know, John Piper said this,
The healing of the soul begins by restoring the glory of God to its flaming, all-attracting place at the center.
We are all starved for the glory of God, not for self.
No one goes to the Grand Canyon to increase self-esteem.
Because there is greater healing for the soul in beholding splendor than there is in beholding yourself.
Do you see what he's saying?
He's saying when we come in prayer, if you see who God really is,
that is going to bring a totally new perspective to your life.
And we see the glory of God.
We see in the light of who he is and what he's done.
And then we begin to pray like Daniel begins to pray.
And he begins to intercede for his people.
Do you see?
We need to pray.
We need to see who we're praying to.
But now I've got three things that I want us to just flesh out from this prayer.
And the first is Daniel identifies with the sinful.
This is, I find this very challenging, this part.
He says,
We have sinned.
We have done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.
He then says later on,
We've not listened to the prophets.
He says,
We've not obeyed the voice of our God.
He says,
We've not entreated the favor of the Lord our God.
Now it's very interesting he uses the word we.
Because we've already said that Daniel is a pretty righteous guy.
In fact, in the whole of scripture, other than Jesus,
Daniel is pretty much the only guy who doesn't have much on him.
And so, why does he say,
Daniel, the best of the best,
why does he say,
We have sinned?
Because he's actually talking about the rest of the generation before
who didn't listen to what God wanted to say through Jeremiah and other people.
It wasn't him.
It was everybody else.
So why does he say,
We?
Because he sees this broken down city of Jerusalem out there in front of him.
And he knows that he is part of this people,
this generation that is under God's judgment because of sin.
And this is his people.
He belongs to them.
He's not just an individual by himself.
Now I think we struggle with this
because we're actually a pretty individual kind of lot.
I'm from a western country.
We breathe individualism.
You know, but actually I think we understand the idea of being collective.
You know, if you work for a well-known successful company,
for example, like Apple or Google or Morgan Stanley,
you're very happy to introduce yourself and say,
Hi, I work for Apple.
You see, you're very happy that their success
helps you to feel like you can live in their success, right?
You want to be associated.
You want to be identified with them
because that kind of gives you a little bit of glory, right?
Even if you actually haven't really contributed anything to the company, right?
But when something goes wrong,
don't we all normally then start pointing the finger
and start saying,
Well, it wasn't me.
It was them.
It was the bosses.
It was the corporate culture.
It's everybody else.
It's not me, right?
We're collective and corporate when it suits us,
and then we're individual when it suits us, right?
And the reason we often fail to pray
is for many things that God calls us to
is because actually we think,
this isn't my problem.
This is their problem.
Daniel is not going.
It wasn't me,
as he looks at all the mess around him.
Neither.
He's not actually here.
He's not repenting instead of the people.
It's not like,
God will forgive me
because my wife prayed that I would be forgiven
so I don't really need to repent.
It's not that.
But he's saying,
this mess that we're in is us.
It's not just them.
Now, what does this mean for us?
Because this is challenging.
C.S. Lewis wrote a really great little book called
The Trouble with X Is.
You can get a hold of it.
It's quite fun.
He says,
don't we all in our lives have someone
that we can all see their flaws?
Everyone can see that that person has an issue.
Okay?
And we say things like,
the problem with X is they just talk too much.
Or the problem with X is he's just insensitive.
Or he's just defensive.
Or don't we?
Or he's just a gossip.
We say it all the time.
And the thing is,
you may even try and talk to that person
about their thing,
and they just don't see it.
They're just blind to it.
You can say it a hundred times,
they don't get it.
And so what we do
is the only person in the room
who doesn't understand that X has a problem
is themselves.
Right?
Anyone know what I'm talking about?
You do this with your spouse,
you do this with your colleagues,
you do this with everybody else.
But then he says,
as we look at this,
what we do is we complain about those people
and we segregate ourselves from other people.
Because we don't actually want to be around those people
that we see all these big problems with.
And so we divide ourselves off.
I read on internet forums about Western expats
who say things like,
the problem with Hong Kongers
is they just have no social awareness
when they're walking.
And then I read Hong Kong forums
and they say the problem with mainlanders
is they're just rude.
And then I read mainland forums
and they say the problem with Westerners
is they're just arrogant
and think they can tell everyone else what to do.
Everyone else is the problem is.
Right?
And then what we do
is we bring that down into the church.
And I look at another church
and I say,
well the problem is
they just don't teach the Bible properly.
And then the problem is,
someone else will say,
the problem is they just are not filled with the spirit enough.
And then someone else will say,
the problem is they just don't reach out enough.
And then if you don't want to,
if you want to go even a bit lower into our CGs,
you go then,
the problem with that person in my CG
is they're just not committed enough.
And then you go to the problem with that person
is they're just a gossip.
And then if you put all of this ingredients in together,
every person in every CG,
in every workplace,
in every family,
in every city,
in every part of the world,
thinks that everybody else is the problem.
Have you noticed that?
Which is why we're so divided
in so many ways.
But C.S. Lewis says,
you know,
the real challenge of this
is do you know
that you are somebody's ex?
The problem with Chris is
that he's just thoughtless at times.
The problem with Chris is
he just doesn't say what he thinks at times.
The problem,
do you see?
This is what Daniel is going.
Daniel,
a person more than anyone else
in the whole of God's people
who could pray like the Pharisee,
I thank God that I'm not like other men,
especially like that tax collector over there.
He doesn't say that.
He says,
we have sinned.
We have rebelled.
We.
He identifies himself
as a fellow sinner
with everybody else.
He's not minimizing
the real sins and flaws
of everyone else,
but he's just being honest.
He's saying this is us,
not just this is them.
Does that make sense?
This is actually
really profoundly affected
the way I pray.
I was on the MTR.
Everyone was rushing off the MTR
like we do in Hong Kong.
And one lady decided
halfway along
that she wanted to turn left
when everyone else
was going straight ahead.
And so a guy in front
just bumped into her
and as he was trying
to get his way,
the lady turned around
and said,
are you crazy?
The guy kind of started
walking off going,
don't you know the exit's that way?
And so everyone
was feeling kind of like
angry.
And normally I'd be judging them
for being so impatient.
But as I'd been thinking about this,
I stopped and I thought,
God, forgive us
that we live in a city
where we are so impatient
that actually
we only care
for getting our own way.
And I know that
even though I might not
react exactly the same,
I know that same root
of impatience
is in my heart too.
It just comes out
in different ways.
And but for the grace of God,
but for a different
education system,
but for my parents,
that would be me.
So let me ask you,
when you see,
when you see issues
in the church,
when you see issues
in the church,
often I find people
come up to me
and they'll say things like,
the church isn't doing this.
Or the church isn't doing
this properly.
And it's great to hear
people spotting issues.
issues.
But I wonder,
before you ever complain,
do you ever go,
Father,
not the church
is like this,
but we are like this.
This is us.
We are maybe
too living for our comfort.
We need to change.
We need you
to work in our lives.
Forgive us.
us.
Because that
is what God says.
We are his people.
And Daniel
is saying
that when he sees
Jerusalem broken down,
and when you see
the brokenness
around you,
when you see
sin around you,
when you see
the things which
make you just want to go,
ah,
I can't stand that.
That is a window
for you to stop
and reflect
and to go,
instead of going,
I can't believe
people are like that,
to actually go,
I'm part of this culture.
I'm part of this church.
I'm part of this family.
My heart is capable
of the same things.
Forgive me.
Forgive us.
And when you do that,
do you know what happens?
In your heart,
your heart begins to melt.
And you begin to break down
those segregating walls
between us
because we see
that we are all
broken sinners
in need of a savior
to show us mercy
and grace,
to restore the broken
areas of our lives
just like the walls
of Jerusalem.
The problem with X
is sin,
which is also
a problem with me.
And that is devastating
for your pride.
It's devastating
for your self-righteousness,
which is all at the root
of all the division,
all the animosity
in our society,
in our world.
So we pray,
we identify ourselves
with others
and their sin.
That's a hard thing
to get for us,
I think,
because we're so individual.
But then I want to move on.
We identify with the sin
in our world,
but then we move on
to talk about
the righteous God.
Because if we left it
just there,
we'd feel kind of like
on a big downer.
But there's two things
we need to see here.
What Daniel admits
is that there is
this massive gap
between a holy,
awesome God
and a people
who are wicked
and rebellious
in everything that we do.
Which is why
throughout this passage,
do you notice,
what's the repeated
character trait
that God talks about here?
Does anyone know?
He repeats again
and again
about God's righteousness.
You see that?
He says,
to you, O Lord,
belong righteousness,
but to us,
open shame.
He says,
the Lord our God
is righteous
in the works he's done.
He says,
O Lord,
according to your
righteous acts.
Do you know what?
The word righteous
doesn't mean
just a kind of
morally good person.
The word righteous
means you act
rightly in relationship.
So,
all relationships
are not the same,
though.
So,
for example,
if you are a parent
and you act righteously
towards your children,
you might snuggle up
to them at night
and read them
bedtime stories.
That's being righteous
with your children,
acting rightly.
If you are an employer
or a boss
and you snuggle up
and start reading
bedtime stories
to your employees,
that probably isn't
being righteous.
being righteous
is there
treating your
colleagues fairly,
giving them
good job descriptions,
clear guidelines,
creating a culture
where people can
flourish and grow.
That is a righteous
boss.
If you are
a righteous judge
and a triad
goes and steals
somebody's car,
the righteous judge
doesn't say,
well,
it doesn't matter,
it's fine,
it's only a car.
No,
no,
a righteous judge
will punish
fairly and rightly
because that is
what is righteous.
It's the right thing
to do.
When it says
that God is righteous,
it means
that he has always
done what is right
according to his character,
according to his promises.
It says,
God is a righteous judge
and you and I
deserve to be in a mess
because of what we're like.
That's why he says
God should punish us.
He's righteous.
He punishes us
for our wickedness.
All of us.
He should leave us
like the city of Jerusalem
in a broken mess.
You know,
some people say,
why can God
not just forgive people?
You know,
like a good father
will forgive
like their children
when they're a bit wayward.
But they don't realize
that God
is a righteous father
who longs
to bring justice
and love
and forgiveness
and mercy
and restoring
his children.
But he's also
a righteous judge
who must punish
wickedness
and injustice.
And how do you
get those two together?
The end of the passage,
which we actually
didn't read,
tells that actually
an angel comes to Daniel
and says,
I've heard your prayer.
I've heard what you're saying.
And I will show mercy.
I will listen
to your prayer.
But there's only
going to be
full restoration
for this sinful people
when a Messiah comes.
When someone
who is more righteous
even than you,
Daniel,
is going to come.
We need a greater
Daniel for us.
You know,
in the book of Ezekiel
it says,
I looked for a man
to stand in the gap
before me
in the land
that I shouldn't
destroy it.
God is looking
for someone
who is totally righteous.
So that he can
represent the rest
of us.
But he found none.
And so then,
500 years later,
John the Baptist
comes.
And he's preaching.
And he's calling
people to repent
and he's baptizing them.
And so somebody
comes along,
they confess their sin
and he baptizes them.
Next person
comes along
and they confess
all the stuff,
all the wickedness
they've done
and he baptizes them.
And he looks around
and the next person
who comes there
and he sees it's Jesus.
And he goes,
you're not supposed
to be getting baptized
because you are not a sinner.
Like,
I should be baptizing you.
And Jesus says,
I've come,
I need to be baptized
to fulfill
all righteousness.
To fulfill the fact
that God
is a righteous father
who wants to restore us
into relationship
with himself
but he's also
a righteous judge
and I'm going to be
that person
who's going to make it
so that my mercy
can come upon you.
You know,
this is a little tricky
for us to understand
sometimes
but I heard a story
about a medical student.
I know we've got
a lot of medical students here.
A medical student
who was researching
into sexually transmitted diseases,
STDs.
And so he went down
to the hospital
to try and find
a particular doctor
and as he goes down there
to this doctor,
to find the doctor,
he sees the long line
of all the patients there
who were suffering
from the STDs.
It was kind of like
the line of shame.
And as he looked over there
he saw the nurse
and he said to the nurse,
hey, I'm wanting
to find the doctor.
And she just said to him,
yeah, yeah,
just get in the line.
And he said,
no, no, no,
you don't understand.
I'm a student.
I'm a student here.
And she said,
that's fine.
Just get in the line.
And he said,
no, no, no,
you don't understand.
I'm a student.
I'm researching
kind of STDs.
I'd love you to just
kind of help me
to get to see the doctor.
And she says,
like, everyone's got
their story.
Just get in the line.
And as he's standing
there in the line,
then his classmate
walks past,
looks at him,
and is kind of shocked
and kind of walks on
very quickly.
A few minutes later,
one of his professors
walks past,
sees him there
in the line,
and carries on.
You see,
when Jesus,
at the heart
of the gospel message,
is a great
and awesome God
who came down
to identify with us
and to stand
in the line,
though he was righteous
and he had no sin,
he got in the line
for you and for me,
though we are rebelled,
though we are wicked,
though we are sinful.
He was at his baptism,
he got in the line
for you and for me.
At Calvary,
when he went to the cross,
he identified,
not just with your success
to kind of get the glory,
but he identified
with our shame
and our sin
for you and for me.
He had every right
to say,
it wasn't me,
it was them.
But he didn't.
And he didn't just
identify with us,
he took
the righteous judgment
of God
upon himself,
so he took
your place in the line,
so you didn't have
to be in the line,
so that you could
actually experience
the righteous
Father's mercy,
love,
and grace
to restore you
to himself.
No matter what
you've done,
he bridged
the gap
between us
and God.
He was the one
who was shamed
so that you never
have to be
in his eyes.
No matter what
you've done,
his grace
is there
and it's the only
way for God
to be truly righteous.
You know,
Romans says,
who is to
condemn us?
Jesus Christ
is the one
who died,
more than that
who was raised,
who is at the
right hand of God
interceding for us.
Do you know
what that means?
That means
when you see
all the stuff
that I have done,
when you see
all the stuff
that everyone else
has done,
it means
that we have
somebody
who has done
what it takes
for us to be
restored so that
we don't have
to face
God's judgment.
Doesn't have to
face our judgment
of others either.
And because
Jesus stood
in the line
and identified
with us,
it means you
are not beyond
God's redemptive
restoring power.
Because he
stood in the line,
your family
is not beyond
the redemptive
restoring power
of God.
Because he
stood in the line
and identified
with us,
it means that
your workplace
is not beyond
the redemptive
restoring power
of God.
This city
is not beyond
his redemptive
power,
because Jesus
stood in the line
so that we
don't have to
live in that
mess.
He's able
to save
to the uttermost
those who
draw near to
God through
him,
since he
always lives
to make
intercession
for them.
He is always
pleading with
our Father
for mercy
for us
because he
has died.
Now how
does that
change the
way you
pray?
It changes
the way
we pray.
It transforms
our prayer
when we
realize that
though we
should be
under God's
judgment,
we are no
longer,
because it
humbles us
to own the
sin of our
church as
ours,
to own
the sins
of our city
as ours,
because we
live in this
culture,
we're part of
this culture.
Culture is not
formed by just
general people,
it's formed
by individuals
like you
and me.
But it
also changes
us to
plead for
God's mercy,
but also to
pray for
God's favor
upon those
that we
would never
normally pray
for,
upon those
who all
you can see
in their
life is
their
brokenness.
Here's what
verse 17
says.
It says,
Do you
know what?
The sanctuary
is the
temple of
God,
the place
where the
presence of
God was
to dwell.
And Daniel
is asking
that God,
like in the
language of
the book
of Numbers,
that God's
face would
shine upon
this place
and restore.
How does
your face
shine?
Unless you
put lotion
on, you
know.
You know,
your face
shines when
you smile.
Your face
shines when
you smile.
And so what
Daniel is
asking for
is for God
to replace
the brokenness
around us
with a
God's own
smiling
presence,
the beaming
radiance of
an awesome,
glorious,
sovereign God
who wants
to restore
sinful,
broken people
like you
and like me
and like
people around
us.
No matter
what you've
done,
no matter
how far
away,
he wants
to call
you back
because when
God smiles,
restoration
comes.
Do you know,
you can have
a terrible
day and
then someone
you love,
you meet
them and
they just
smile at you
and your
day is
fine.
It just
brings healing.
When God
smiles,
he restores
us.
And when
because of
Christ we
turn back
to him,
no matter
where we've
been,
you will
experience
his smile
upon you,
radiating,
showing his
favor and
his love
upon you.
I don't
know if you
really realize
how much
God smiles
upon you
as his
child.
Most of
us think
he's just
the righteous
judge.
We don't
see that
because of
Christ he's
the righteous
father who
wants to
smile upon
you.
He wants
to call
you back
to himself.
But here's
what this
does and I'm
going to
close with
this.
When you
see that
God smiles
upon you
in spite of
the fact that
you belong to
a whole group
of people who
are messed
up and
broken and
you can see
it every day
because you
see it in
everybody else
and then you
can see that
in yourself
but you see
that he is
gracious to
you.
What that
means is you
will then begin
to pray and
intercede for
the people that
annoy you and
you dislike the
most.
For the people
around you that
all you can see
is the problem
is with them.
I've shared
this before
but I had
a boss
who I
hated
like really
hated.
She would
hire and
fire people
without any
concern for
them at all.
She was the
kind of person
she would lie
to us.
She didn't
pay us for
a couple of
months.
She tried to
cheat us out
of wages.
She embezzled
a whole year's
funds so none
of us could get
a pay increase.
All the
prophets went.
I loved her
greatly.
No I
didn't.
And if you
would ask me
the problem
with her
is I would
have given
you a list
about as long
from this
ceiling down
to here.
And it was
justified
totally.
my heart
was so hard
though towards
her
because it
didn't even
cross my
mind to
pray for
her.
Why would
I pray for
someone like
that?
And then
one day
God convicted
me.
He said
you know
when you
pray
you pray
that even
though you
know that
you're a
sinner
you pray
that God
would shine
his smile
upon you
that you
would experience
his grace
and his mercy
in your own
life.
That you
would know
his presence
in your own
life.
And you
know what
you do
experience
that.
But you
don't want
that for
anybody else.
Because
actually
you are
more like
her than
you realize.
Because you're
actually totally
self-centered.
It's all
about you.
And at
that point
I actually
got on my
knees and
started
repenting.
I asked
God to
change my
heart.
And what
happened was
I then
began to
pray for
her.
I began
to pray
that God's
smile would
shine upon
her and
restore the
brokenness
in her
life.
I asked
that God's
presence would
come to
her.
I repented
of my
own
self-centeredness
that I saw
reflected in
her.
And you
know what
happens?
what happens
is that my
heart begins
to change.
You know
someone said
there's a
difference between
someone who
intercedes for
someone and
someone who
prays for
someone.
Someone who
prays for
someone they
just pray.
Someone who
intercedes is
willing to be
part of the
answer to
their prayer.
And so what
God did in
me he actually
showed me I
need to go and
bless her.
I need to
actually go and
be a
demonstration of
God's smile in
her life.
And so I'd
go and it was
Easter I went
and bought her
Easter X.
Before I would
avoid her.
But actually from
that I would be
asking how are
you doing?
I'd be trying to
reach out to
her.
I couldn't do
that in my
strength.
That is only
what the grace
of God can do
in your heart.
I began to be
more gracious,
more patient.
patient.
Some of us, we
make the excuse
I'm not good at
praying.
Some of us say I
don't have time to
pray.
But all of us have
the time to
complain.
All of us have
the time to say
the problem with
X is, in fact, we
spend a lot of time
doing that, mentally
and verbally.
And so God
wants every time
you start doing
that, you start
seeing yourself, that
is God wanting to
tap you on the
shoulder to say,
first of all, do
you see actually the
problem with X is a
problem that's
reflected in me?
Father, would you
forgive me?
Would you forgive us
that we're people who
are actually selfish
and self-centered?
It's then God
tapping you on the
shoulder.
To say, would you
now, being someone
who has received
grace, be someone
who can be an
instrument to pray
that God's smiling
presence would come
upon this church,
upon this city,
upon your workplace,
upon whoever it is?
Because that, in a
world which is broken
and divided and
segregated, is power
to change this
culture, to bring
revival in your
heart and to be a
different kind of
people, all because
Christ got in the
line for us.
We can know him as
our righteous,
gracious father.
God bless you who
would call him the
song in company or
God.
We can know him
as if we
have until
people
have
competed
over the
plans when
husband comes to
oblivion.