It used to be reserved for after
a message. the so-called invitation hymn. And as you know, God doesn't
invite people. God commands. The Gospel is the
call. So that's a good hymn to sing
before the Gospels are preached. While on others thou art calling
by the Gospel, do not pass me by. Let me hear it. Let me hear
the message. You read Daniel's prayer with
me and the wonderful answer of the Lord to him. And thus the
title of this message is, The Answer to True Prayer. The answer
to true prayer. True prayer. True prayer is from
the heart of a poor, broken hearted sinner. to God for our greatest
need, mercy, forgiveness of sin. Several wonderful prayers are
recorded in God's Word. David's prayer, Psalm 51, is
perhaps one of your favorites, if not your favorite. Many, if
not most, of the martyrs went to their death quoting that psalm. Have mercy on me, O God. Solomon's prayer at the dedication
of the temple in 1 Kings 8, when he says, If thy people that
are far off, if they've sinned, if they look toward thy holy
temple, and that's Christ, that temple represents the Lord Jesus
Christ, then Lord, hear and Lord, forgive. He says that over and
over again. Hear and forgive. Ezra in chapter
9, his prayer, Nehemiah. Oh, read that if it's been a
while since you have. Read Nehemiah chapter 9. Interestingly,
in God's providence, Ezra, Nehemiah, and now Daniel, all chapter 9,
for ease of remembering. And so, all these prayers are
concerning forgiveness of sin. Because sin is our lifelong problem. And it's our lifelong need to
have forgiveness of sin. We'll be sinners until the day
we die, and we'll need God's mercy until the day we die. And thank God, he said, his mercies
endureth forever. The gospel is the good news of
how God forgives sin, how God puts away sin by the sacrifice
of His Son. That's the gospel in a nutshell,
the good news sin is put away. And that's the answer. In case
something happens between now and the next few minutes, the
answer to true prayer is Christ and Him crucified. That's what
the Lord, that's the answer the Lord gave to Daniel's prayer
for forgiveness. Daniel was pretty low at this
time. Chapter before this, Daniel had
been sick for a certain day. Yes, sick. God's people get sick,
contrary to what modern religionists think. They get sick, according
to the Lord. He said, I wound, I heal. He
was sick and he was in bed for a while, and then the Lord raised
him up and he went back to work and had been there for a while. And then it says in verse 3 of
chapter 9, he says, I set my face unto the Lord God to seek
by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes,
I set my face to seek the Lord." That's what the Lord tells us,
doesn't it? Seek the Lord while he may be
found. Call upon him while he is near. Seek the Lord, young and old. Always seek the Lord. How do
we find the Lord? How do we seek the Lord and how
do we find the Lord? Well, we seek the Lord by calling
upon Him in prayer. Call upon me, he said, in the
day of trouble out here. I'm a very present help. in time
of trouble. Call upon Him. Seek my face. David said, Thy face will I seek. Seek my face. We call upon Him
in prayer. We seek Him in His Word. David
was reading the prophet Jeremiah in verse 2. He had been reading
the prophet Jeremiah. So even the prophets need to
read God's Word. Seek the Lord through His Word.
Seek the Lord in prayer. Seek the Lord in worship as we're
doing now. This is true fellowship. True fellowship is with the Father,
with His Son. And that's where His people are.
Where the carcass is, the eagles will gather. That's where the
Lord has promised to be. Seek His face. His face. When you look into somebody's
face, when you're talking to someone, you want to know what
they're thinking, you look them in the face, don't you? It's
their countenance. Their eyes. See whether they're
smiling or whether they're frowning, don't you? Well, he said, I set
my heart, I set my face unto the Lord God to seek His face. my prayer, to seek his mind,
to seek his will, to seek his pleasure. I want to please the
Lord. I want to see his smile, not
cry. I want to see his smile. I want
to seek the Lord's presence. Well, where is the face of the
Lord's name? What does the Scripture say?
Oh Lord, give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. God has a face, and it's
Jesus Christ. The face of God. We look into
His face. We look at Christ. And we see,
we look to Christ, we'll see God's mouth. We'll see God's
will. We'll see God's mind. We'll see
God's face. He said, I prayed, verse 4, unto
the Lord my God and made my confession. We don't confess our sins to
one another. We don't confess our sins to
a so-called priest here on earth, do we? There's one mediator between
God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. We confess our sins to
our great high priest because he's the only one that can put
them away. He's the only one that can forgive
them. That's what they said, didn't
they? Who can forgive sins but God? That's right. Jesus Christ
is God, manifest in the flesh. We confess our sins to him. John
said if we confess our sins, he's faithful. Anyone, everyone
who confesses their sin, all manner of sin, shall be forgiven. The chief of sinners confesses,
he's faithful. He's truly the one. And just. Brother Barnard used to say,
God doesn't just forgive sins, He punishes them. And He punishes
the sins of His people in Christ, by Him being made sin for us.
So Daniel said, I prayed and made my confession. Daniel is one of the finest men
in all of the Bible, isn't he? You can't find any fault with
Daniel. The Lord was not pleased to write down any fault in the
man Daniel. And you know he's a sinner like
that, don't you? All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Right? Every man, every man-child
born in this world, born dead in trespasses and sin. So was
Daniel. Daniel knew his own sin, and
Daniel's confessing. He said, I made, over in verse
20, he said, well, I was confessing my sin. My sin. He's confessing his sin and the
sins of his people. And here's what he said in verse
4, O Lord, the great and dreadful God. A living and true God is so different
than the God men are hearing of today. Great and dreadful. We saw that
Sunday, didn't we? In Isaiah 8. Let Him be your
fear. Let Him be your dread. The Lord,
great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant. He's the one that made it. He's
the one that keeps it. He must. You've heard of this group that
was around a while back, Promise Keeper. men getting together,
vowing to keep promises that they can't keep. While that may
be a good intention, our hope is not in us keeping anything.
Our hope is in Him keeping the covenant. Him keeping mercy. Covenant and mercy for His people.
Him remembering His covenant. Because we soon forget them.
Oh, my Lord, he said, my Lord and my God, the great and dreadful
God, keeping the covenant and mercy. Can there be mercy still
reserved for me? Yes, he reserves mercy to them that love him, to them
that keep his commandments. Those that lay hold on his word,
his commandments, they're not grievous. Oh, my, we're safe,
aren't we? It's a good way. It's the right
way, the holy way. We have sinned and have committed
iniquity and have done wickedly. You know, Daniel throughout this prayer
says, O Lord, O Lord, how sad and what a sign of reprobate
society that we live in. that man's greatest, what should
come from his heart, Lord have mercy, has become a slip of the
tongue, Lord have mercy. Isn't that sad? It's a sign of the last days,
isn't it? What men should be crying from
the depth of their heart, oh Lord have mercy. I heard it today.
I heard a woman today, Lord have mercy. See, these people with
their lips say things with their lips. Their hearts are far from
believing that they need mercy and the Lord is the only one
that can give it. My, my. We've sinned. That's how we've
sinned and committed iniquity and done wickedly and rebelled. Daniel is praying for himself. Stay with me. Daniel is praying
for himself. Daniel is praying for his nation. Daniel is praying for his people.
Daniel is praying for the church. Daniel is praying for his family.
It's more urgent now than it was then. These are the last
of the last days. It really is. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord. Have mercy. We've sinned. We
have sinned. All of us. Everyone. Now, is
there anybody in here that can say they have not broken God's
command? Anybody at this point? Old people? Anybody? We've seen them. Verse 6, "...neither
have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets which spake in thy
name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and all the
people of the land." Oh, my. True prayer is confession of
sin and guilt and our need for mercy and forgiveness. But as
I said, it's not just for ourselves, but for others. True prayer.
Our Lord told us, when the Lord taught His disciples to pray,
He said, after this matter pray, Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread. Forgive us. Lead us not into
temptation. Deliver us. Us. Prayer. True prayer and prayer
that will be heard is prayer for your brethren. Prayer for
your people. The Lord heard Daniel's prayer.
He was praying for others, not just himself. True prayer is
not selfish. It's on behalf of others. What
might the Lord do for us? if we were more importunate and
earnest in prayer for one another? Huh? The preacher. Number one. When Paul said, brethren, pray
for us. Why? How shall they hear without
a preacher? If our children hear the gospel,
it's going to be through a preacher. Yes, sir. Isn't it? That's what God's Word says.
I did. You did. Didn't we? If they're going to
hear it, it's going to be through a preacher. Lord, bless the preacher every
time. I may not be much, but I'm all
you've got. I'm it. I'm sorry. But this gospel I'm preaching
is wonderful. It's able to save that much. There are better preachers. There's
no better gospel. I'm all you've got right now.
I'm all you've got. I don't like me either. I really
don't. But pray for our children. Pray for our children. I hear
you do this. Times are perilous. I thought
that, you know, I grew up in the 60s and early 70s. Born in
the 50s, grew up in the 60s and 70s. And my parents, I know,
thought this is the worst generation in the history of the world.
Didn't they? I knew they thought that. It
was bad, wasn't it? That opened the floodgate to
a lot of what we're seeing now. But it has gotten worse, hasn't
it? Who would have ever thought we'd see what we're seeing in
here and what we're seeing? Now more than ever, our children
are going to grow up in this. Oh, man. Lord, help us all. Help us. Pray for our community.
Lord, just restrain our leaders. Our President. Pray for the King. Pray for the President. Pray
for our leaders. Pray for our brethren. Pray for
our sister churches everywhere. There are so few and far between,
aren't there? So few. Pray for them. Listen to what
belongs to us and what belongs to the Lord. You notice verses
7 through 9. O Lord, righteousness belongeth
unto thee. The Judge of the earth does right,
and the righteousness we need and charge to us belongs to Him. It's His, together with hope. But unto us, confusion of faces.
Everybody. Verse 8, O Lord, unto us belong
a confusion of faces. We live in a confused society,
don't we? Confused. See, things haven't changed.
Isaiah said the same thing. He said they'll pass through
this place, look to the earth, and behold, all they'll see is
trouble and darkness and dimness and anguish and driven into darkness.
Men are confused, aren't they? Somebody was arguing with Brother
Scott Richardson one time, and he was preaching the whole counsel
of God. And I suppose he was preaching
God's absolute sovereignty and man's accountability. And that
person said, you're confusing me. He said, I'm not confusing
you. You've been confused. You were
born confused. We're not confusing anybody.
A man is born confused. That's what belongs to him. Confusion
of facing. And only the Lord can remove
this confusion. Daniel's not going to be confused.
Daniel's not confused. The Lord revealed the truth to
Daniel and his people. God's people are not confused.
They know the answer. And that's why they call on the
Lord. Verse 9, to the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses. You know, every time we stand
up to preach, we're preaching salvations of the Lord. Salvation
belongeth to the Lord. It's His to give. It's His to
give. He has it. He delights to give
it. He'll give it to anybody that
asks him. But we're constantly saying that, aren't we? Constantly.
We must say that. Man has made it appear, modern
preachers so-called, have made it appear that this is something
that it's up to man to attain this salvation, either by his
works or by accepting Jesus or whatever, you know. Salvation
belongs to the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. We
say that over and over and over again. Why? So people won't look
anywhere else. So people will call upon the
Lord for their salvation. So people will look to the Lord.
Salvation is of the Lord. It belongs to Him. To the Lord
belongs mercies. He will have mercy on whom He
will have mercy. He will be gracious, thank God,
to whom He will be gracious. It belongs to Him. Mercies and
forgivenesses. though we have rebelled against
him, neither have we obeyed thy voice." Verse 11, "...all Israel
that transgressed thy law, thy departing." It says, "...they
obey not thy voice," that's the Word of God, "...therefore the
curse is poured upon us, and the oath." It's clearly under the curses
that God promised throughout his Word, especially places like
Deuteronomy 28. Just let me read you a few of
these. What the Lord said would happen
when men began to turn away their ears from the truth, reject God's
Word, what happened? He says it. He says it shall
come to pass. If they will not hearken unto
the voice of the Lord thy God to observe, to do all his commandments
and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these
curses shall come upon them and overtake them. You will be cursed
in the city and cursed in the field. Cursed when you come in,
cursed when you go out. He said, The Lord will make the
pestilence cleave unto thee, till he hath consumed thee from
the lamb. The Lord will smite thee with a consumption, and
a fever, and inflammation, the burning of the sword, and blasting,
mildew, on and on it goeth. And people wonder, don't they,
why is all this happening? Clearly, the hand of God, Romans
1 says, the wrath of God is clearly revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth for wicked purposes. The wrath
of God. I'm reading and he says, the
Lord shall smite thee with madness and blindness and astonishment
of heart. Madness. People have gone crazy
with it. Crazy. And on and on it goes.
On and on it goes. And here in Daniel's prayer,
he says, The Lord, You have confirmed this. Verse 12. He has confirmed
His words which He spake by bringing upon us this great evil. We have to apply this to ourselves,
don't we? Or it won't do us any good. The
Word of God is relevant right now, right now to us. It was
true in Daniel's day and doubly true now, doubly true. And we've said we've made not
our prayer before the Lord our God that we might turn from our
iniquities and understand thy truth. Isaiah said none calleth
for truth. That's chapter 59. None call
it the truth. Truth cannot enter. Cannot enter. People won't have it. My, my. My, my. Oh, Lord, verse 16. Go down there. Oh, Lord, according
to all Thy righteousness, I beseech Thee, let Thine anger and Thy
fury be turned away. from thy city Jerusalem, thy
holy mountain, because for our sins and for the iniquities of
our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach
to all that are about us." Jerusalem, Israel, were professing
believers, weren't they? Israel was supposed to be the
people of God. He said they brought reproach. The Lord said this over and over
again throughout this verse. I'm not doing this for thy sake,
but for my holy name's sake, which you profaned among the
heathen. And Christianity, so-called today, has made a mockery of God Almighty. And I am almost ashamed to be
associated with what is called Christianity today. Aren't you?
The concept of the God they preach and the Jesus they preach
and what all is going on. Aren't you? It's a mockery. It's a reproach. No fear of God. But now, more than ever, this
prayer needs to be prayed, doesn't it? By all of us. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord. Verse 17, Now therefore, O our
God, hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplication. Cause thy
face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's
sake. Oh my, wouldn't you love for
THE gospel, the true gospel, to be proclaimed from more poor
pits today? Huh? It's desolate. The abomination
of desolation is now. We're not going to go into the
weeks and the times and all that. We don't necessarily need to
know those things. But the testimony, the gospel of Jesus Christ is
the spirit of prophecy. That's what this is all about.
The forgiveness of sin. Our need for forgiveness of sin. The need for the gospel to be
preached. Because that's man's greatest
need. Oh my God, verse 18. Oh my God. Once again. what should be coming from the
hearts of every man, woman, and child on earth. Oh, my God, is
now. Folks, it's all over, but shout
it. Abbreviate that. They abbreviate
that. Don't tell Elizabeth. It's horrible. It's horrible. It's horrible. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. God have mercy on us. Our children,
incline thine ear and hear. Open thine eyes. Behold our desolation. He sees. He does. The city which
is called by thy name. The church. We do not present
our supplication before thee for our righteousnesses, but
for thy great mercy. Not for works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to thy mercy save us. Titus said, O Lord, hear! O Lord,
forgive! O Lord, hearken and do! Defer
not! For thine own sake, for thy name's
sake, for the Lord's sake, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake,
hear, hearken, do! O my God, thy city and thy people
are called by thy name. Now that's a true prayer. You reckon that will be heard? Anybody pray that from the heart,
it's going to be heard. Yes, sir. Well, what's the answer? What's the answer to a person
like Daniel there praying from the heart for God's mercy, for
forgiveness of sin? What's the answer? Well, look
at that. It says, while I was speaking, while I was speaking, while I
was praying, confessing my sin, the sin of my people Israel,
and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the
holy mountain of God. Yea, while I was speaking." One
of the most wonderful passages in all the Word of God to me
in Nehemiah chapter 9, where he said, he's a God ready to
pardon. Ready to pardon. Gracious. That means he's full
of grace, merciful, full of mercy, slow to anger, and of great kindness. A God ready to pardon. That has
pardon prepared before we ask for it. Mercy reserved for those that
don't even know they need it yet. There's a similar verse
in Psalm 86.5, Good and ready to forgive. Plenteous in mercy. I have a
lot of it unto all that call upon me. That's good news, isn't
it? Ready to pardon. Do you remember
when this happened when Isabella was just a little bit younger,
about two years old? And I don't think this is the
Bible, but I had it open on the chair on the footstool in front
of my chair. She was staying with us. I don't
think this is the one. But I had a pen lying there,
and she decided that she was going to write her epistle in
my Bible. And she did. Just start doing that. And Mindy
saw her first, I think. Isabella. And I caught her out
of the corner of my eye. You know, so her countenance
dropped. She knew, she knew right away what she'd done. Well, I
knew what I was going to do before I even confronted her. I knew
my thoughts toward her. Thoughts of peace. I love her
more than I love myself. I knew exactly what I was going
to do. But I had to deal with her. She has to know, doesn't
she? She has to repent of some kind of repentance. She has to
realize what she's done. Alright? And I went to her. Do you remember this? And she
stood before me there with pen in hand. Caught blue-handed. With pen in hand. The evidence
right before her. I said, what have you done? You
know you're not supposed to do that, don't you? And her countenance,
and before, and her lips started to curl up, and before she could
cry or say anything, I said, but it's alright. I forgive you. Our God was ready
to pardon. Ready to pardon. Plenteous in
mercy. Ready to pardon. Christ, that's
why Christ was called the Lamb slain before the foundation of
the world. Adam, what have you done? But he had a lamb ready and waiting,
didn't he? David? David said, I've sent. Yes, and Nathan said, the Lord
put away your sin. Just as fast, while I was speaking.
Like the prodigal. The prodigal came running home,
didn't he? He said, Father, bring the fatted cat. Put the robe
on him. Don't ask him if he wants it.
Put it on him. Put the ring on his finger. Call
everybody together. We're going to rejoice. While I was praying, he says
he sent a man named Gabriel. He got the best name in here
tonight. Said a man named Gabriel, when
the Lord sends His message of mercy and pardon, it's going
to be through a man. How shall they hear without a
preacher? That's why I say pray for the preacher every time.
If you want to bless Him on any particular Lord's Day or Wednesday
night or whatever, you're going to have to pray for the preacher.
That's right. The Lord sent a man. Look at
it, verse 21. He sent Gabriel, and he was caused
to fly swiftly. In other words, hurry. Hurry. This man needs an answer fast. Here's a sinner asking for mercy.
He needs it now. Hurry. This is an urgent message. Quite often we don't get to this
quick enough. Get to the message fast. Get
to forgiveness of sin fast. It's an urgent message. Get to
it fast. Cause him to fly swiftly, verse
21, and he touched me. Oh, if the gospel is going to
bless us, it's got to touch us. It's got to touch us. If all
we hear is a man's voice, If all we hear are words, if all
we hear is a dissertation, whatever the word might be, an
exposition of words, we're not going to be blessed. But if the
Lord, through his word, will touch us, lay his hands on us, then we'll be blessed. And he
informed me and talked to me and said, Oh, Daniel, I now come
forth to give thee skill and understanding. See, the gospel
is a revelation. The gospel is given to whom he
will. The gospel is not by education or perspiration. It's a revelation. We receive it as a gift. He reveals
it to his people. He gives it to whom he will.
He's hidden these things from the wise and prudent. He goes
on to say that. Seal it up. Seal these things. Hidden these things from the
wise and prudent. But everyone that calls, he sends the gospel
to them. He sends the revelation of his mercy to that person.
Read it, verse 23. Daniel, I've come at the beginning
of the supplication the commandment came for. He gave commandment
to save me. But I have come to show thee,
for thou art greatly beloved." You want to know if you're loved
of God? You want to know where in the
love of God is seen most? Who does God love? People that
are healthy and wealthy? That He didn't love Job? That He didn't love His own son? He didn't have any of that. Oh,
that's not worth it. Satan has much of that, doesn't
he? Herein is the love of God. Here
is how you know of God's greatly loved. Understand the matter.
I'm going to give you understanding of the matter and the vision.
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy
holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins. Anybody
interested in this? Daniel was. That's what he's
praying about. To make reconciliation for iniquity. To bring in everlasting
righteousness. To seal up, to bind it up. The
certainty of it. It cannot be changed. The unchangeable
truth. And to anoint, to crown the Most
Holy. Daniel, I love you. Here's how
I'll show you. I'm going to reveal the gospel
to you. Messiah the Prince, verse 25. Messiah, know it, that he's
coming. Messiah the Prince. That's the
one who's going to finish the transgression. Oh, Daniel, thou
art greatly loved. Every sinner that calls upon
the name of the Lord for mercy and pardon and forgiveness comes
to urgent answer. Messiah has come. Jesus Christ
has come. Son, he said to that man who
was sick of the palsy, had lain on a bed all his life, what's
his greatest need? To walk? No, he's going to die
of something. He's going to be back in that
bed eventually. He's going to be bedridden again when it's
all over. Then what does he need? Son, good news, thy sins be forgiven
thee. When the Lord through David said,
bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless
His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all
His benefits, His blessings, the greatest of which is, the
first thing named was, He said, who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Everything after that is just
great. Daniel, you're greatly loved.
John, you're greatly loved. You're smiling at this. You must
be a sinner and need to forgive. John had greatly loved. Messiah
has come to put away thy sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Thy sins are gone. Did you hear that? We used to
sing that song. Did you hear what the Lord Jesus
said to me? They're all taken away. Your
sins are pardoned and you are free. They're all taken away. They're all taken away. My sin, they're all taken away. He put away sin. He finished
the work. He told Daniel he's coming. The whole Old Testament
says somebody's coming. The Gospels say he's here. The
epistles and the revelations say he's coming again. He came, He made an end of sins,
He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, He made reconciliation
for iniquity. Yes, our God is reconciled. He's brought in an everlasting
righteousness. That's the righteousness you
need. Not one that you can sew together. You need the one that
He made. The one that He puts on. That seamless robe of His
righteousness. And it's all been sealed up. Pardon the seals. Can't be changed. Can't be changed. For those that
look for them. And on it goes to say that Christ
will come as Messiah and be cut off. Christ crucified. Not for
Himself. Not for His own sin, but the
sins of His people. Cut off. And the end of all sacrifices
were when Christ made that one sacrifice by Himself. So he took
away the first to establish the second, the second Adam. And
he confirmed that. Two ways to look at that last
part, and I prefer this one, is that Christ, Messiah, confirms
the covenant with his people here in these last days. For
a short time, comparatively, he confirms it with men. He's
confirmed his covenant with his people. And he tells us as preachers
to keep confirming it. Paul and Barnabas went around
confirming the soul. What did he do? Preaching the
covenant, covenant of grace, the gospel, confirming it among
his people. This is confirmed. It's sure. It's been sealed. Sins have been
put away. Messiah has come. Good news.
Your greatest need has been answered.