The book of Daniel with me. As I said, I was just reading
this, and I was blessed by it, and I thought the brethren will
be blessed by it too. It's been ten years. We have
looked at this before, but it's been ten years. And you read with me this prayer
by Daniel, and I'm sure you noticed how different it is from what
goes by the name of prayer today. Daniel does not ask for one thing. Not one material thing. He does
not ask for health. He does not ask for one single
material thing. All he asks for is mercy, pardon,
and that the Lord would shine upon his tabernacle. Because
that's the one thing needful. And I hear this same prayer by
God's people all the time. God's people, mind you. You don't
hear it out in the world, but I hear God's people, when they
pray, they always ask for mercy. Alright, let's look at it. Daniel,
as you may have noticed, was reading the book of Jeremiah. He said he was reading, he understood
by books, reading the book of Jeremiah, and that set him to
pray as it should us. When we begin to read God's Word,
that's how we do things. We read, and then we pray. We
read, then we pray. Sometimes we pray, and then we
read. That's how we do it. In verse 3, he said, And I set
my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplication
with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I set my face unto the
Lord to seek him. David said, When thou saidest,
Seek ye my face, I said, By the grace of God, thy face will I
seek. God's people seek His face and
they pray unto the Lord. That's who Daniel is praying
unto, the Lord, not to be seen or heard by men. Verse 4, I prayed
unto the Lord, my God. I prayed to Him. And he said
then, here's what he did, I made my confession. Down at verse
21, look down there. He said, while I was speaking
and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people. Daniel was a fine man, a righteous
man. We're going to see something
in a minute. But he confessed his sin. He knew he was a sinner. And he confessed his sin. He
didn't number it. Name his sins. We're not to do
that. Here's a lesson in prayer. Men, when we're praying publicly,
or ladies, if you lead someone in prayer at home or whatever,
don't openly name your sins or confess. Don't be talking about
yourself. You're praying for others. But
nevertheless, we confess our sins and plead to the Lord on
behalf of our brethren. He said, I made my confession
And in verse 4, he said, and said, O Lord, O Lord, the great
and dreadful God, it struck me, back down in verse 19, where
he says, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, three times. It struck me how
that this man is crying out from his heart to the Lord for God's
great namesake and for His mercy, and he's saying, O Lord, And
he says, oh my God, doesn't he? And how many times do you hear
that today when it's just in utter blasphemy? And God will
not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Our Lord said
that. And it's proof to me that God is taking his hand off on
this nation. And yet there are still some
who cry out, oh Lord. It's not an oath, but it's their
hearts crying. There are still some who cry
out from the heart pleading to God, praying unto the Lord, Oh,
my God. There are many, but the chosen
few do just that. Forgive me if I call him David.
Daniel said, Oh, my Lord. Oh, Lord. Look at verse 4, his
description, how he refers to the living and true God, the
great and dreadful God. This is the living and true God.
This is the God of the Bible, the great and dreadful God. And
He's the one who keeps the covenant. Aren't you glad? Keeping the
covenant. What covenant? His covenant. His eternal covenant. Well, we're
not going to look at it Sunday. We're not going to look at Galatians
3 Sunday. And Donnie didn't do it, did
he? Well, I'm glad. I get to finish it. It talks
about that covenant. That eternal covenant in Christ,
well, God keeps that covenant. Whatever agreement or covenant
He makes concerning His people, He'll keep it. He keeps it. And
mercy. Once God has mercy, He keeps
having mercy. Aren't you glad? It endures forever. Read on. To them that love Him.
To them that love Him. All things work together for
good to them that love God. Well, why do they love God? Because
they're the called according to His purpose. Because He first
loved them. And He keeps that covenant and
mercy to them that love Him. And to them that keep His commandments. Now we've looked at that before,
how that mostly is talking about how we lay hold of His Word and
hold fast to it. Nobody can say that we've kept
His commandments perfectly. We endeavor to do so, but we
don't. But we do lay hold of and do not want to let go of
His Word, don't we? That's what that means, to hold
fast His Word. He that is of God heareth God's
Word and lays hold of these blessed promises and said, I will not
let them go until I'm blessed. That's what that means. Verse
5, he says, We have sinned. We have sinned. The Lord will
answer the prayer of all sinners who confess unto Him their sins. Yes, He will. All sinners who
confess their sins and sue for mercy. That's an old Puritan
term, an old term men used to use, meaning they would beg and
plead and use God's Word, like in a courtroom you're suing,
so you use court language, And you sue for mercy, and the way
you do that is you say, Lord, you said you'd have mercy. This
is how Daniel keeps saying it, isn't it? We don't talk about
Daniel much, that's why I'm saying David. But this is why Daniel
keeps pleading God's word. He says, remember what you did,
how you brought us out of Egypt, and so forth. And he sues for
mercy. God will hear the prayer of all
who confess their sin to Him, because He's the only high priest
and sue for mercy, and Daniel is interceding for his people. The Lord will hear the prayers
of those who pray for others. Our Lord told us to pray after
this manner. After this manner, pray, Our
Father, which art in heaven, give us this day our daily bread. Lead us not into temptation,
deliver us from evil, right? So the Lord will answer the prayer
of those who intercede for the brethren. And that's mostly what
Christ prayed on behalf of His people, and God always heard
His prayer, our intercession. Now notice the source of sin
and the root of our problems. He keeps saying that. In verse
5, he says, we have rebelled by departing from thy precepts
and thy judgment. That's the source of our sin
and the root of all our problems. We depart from God's Word. And
we haven't listened, verse 6, neither have we hearkened unto
thy servants the prophets. All our problems stem from this,
Brother Stan. We have forgotten what God has
said, and we haven't listened. We're dull of hearing most of
the time. All of us, me included. Daniel
is confessing this. He says, we, doesn't he? Daniel's
well-versed in scripture. Daniel is a godly man. Yet, Daniel
says, we have not hearkened as we should. We haven't listened. And that's the source of our
problem. In verse 7, he says, Oh, Lord, Righteousness belongeth
unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces." Righteousness. Now turn with me to Ezekiel,
the book of Ezekiel, back just a few, not too far, a couple
of dozen pages. Ezekiel 14. I ran across this
in reading recently. I've never really noticed it. Daniel says, Belongeth to thee,
but unto us confusion of faces." You know, the Lord calls Daniel
a righteous man. And He calls all of His people
righteous. Well, here's how you know a righteous man, or woman,
generally. They will not speak of their
righteousness. Though they are, they won't talk
about it. David, and I've got the right
name this time, David said in Psalm 71, ìI will make mention
of thy righteousness and thine only.î David kept saying, ìDeliver
me in thy righteousness, David.î And yet David was righteous by
faith in Christ. Look at Ezekiel 14, and the Lord
says this four times in this chapter. Ezekiel 14, verse 14,
and through Ezekiel heís pronouncing judgment upon the land, he says
in verse 14, though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were
in that land, though they were there, they should deliver but
their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God. And he says
this four times. We will not read them all. Verse
16, though these three men, verse 18, these three men were in it. And down in verse 20, though
Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the land, as I live, saith the
Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter, they
shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. Have you ever read that? You
probably have, but like me, you just didn't notice it. Four times. Now you know. You know, not for
our righteousness. No man is saved for his righteousness,
not by works of righteousness, which we have done. But according
to thy what? Mercy. He has saved us. But Noah
and Daniel and Job are mentioned four times individually as being
righteous men. And they will be delivered because
of this righteousness they have. How does anybody get this righteousness?
It's imputed to them. It's charged to them. It's reckoned
to them. They're covered with it. And
it's imparted to them in this new birth. And I argued, well,
I didn't argue, I just faced him down, this fellow, one of
these reformed fellows at a conference one time, and he wanted to talk
too much about imparted righteousness, although I believe This is just
the new birth is all it is. But he wanted to talk too much
about it, as if it's something that we produced. And I faced
him down at the end of that service, I said, imputed or imparted,
it still comes from him. And we get no credit, we had
nothing to do with it. And he said, I what? You made it sound
like we did. So, and the Lord is not, confusion
belongs to us, you see. If there's any confusion, it's
in our minds and understanding. God's Word is not contradictory.
But what the Lord is saying here is these men were saved by faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord deals with people
individually. They can't save their sons, their
daughters, or anybody. They're going to be dealt with
by the Lord God in Christ, if they're in Christ. Though these
three men were there, great men, mighty men, righteous men, godly
men, they can't deliver anybody. They've got to face the Lord
Himself and be found in Christ. And so it is with us, individually. God delivers, or God deals with
us individually. Or I go back to Daniel, chapter
9. And he says, so Daniel, It says,
"...righteousness belongs unto Thee, but confusion of face unto
us and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, because of their trespass
against Thee." Oh Lord, verse 8, "...to us belong the confusion
of face to our kings, our princes, our
fathers, because we have sinned against Thee." You know, Daniel
is praying for his nation. And that's a good thing. Paul
the Apostle said, our heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. Over in chapter 11, he
says all Israel will be saved. But they're not all Israel, which
are of Israel. But Paul is actually praying
for his nation. And Daniel is too. That's a good
thing. We have to live here. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the
Lord would pour out a revival on this nation, huh? I've received
a few encouraging letters from this sermon audio thing. My wife read one that I copied. But anyway, somebody is listening.
Quite a few people are listening. But wouldn't it be wonderful
if the Lord would shut down some of these idle houses and start,
shut the mouths of some of these false prophets and teach some
of them the truth and so forth. Wouldn't it be wonderful? Because,
see, I couldn't help but think of the United States of America,
this confusion of face. There's nothing but confusion.
Our princes, our fathers, all of them, we've sinned against
the Lord. You know what this nation would actually, literally
turn to the Lord? If people would confess, you
don't hear people confessing their sin and suing for mercy,
do you? Isaiah chapter 59 said, none
call it for truth, none plead it for justice. Judgment is turned
way backward. Truth is falling astray. Equity
cannot enter, didn't it? And that was a hundred years
before this. But if people would turn to the
Lord, there's only one thing that's going to turn, this gospel.
The Lord would have mercy upon them. Wouldn't it be wonderful? And today, I couldn't help but
think of our country and our nation. If God doesn't have mercy,
if God doesn't restrain this nation, folks, it's going to
be hard on our children and our children's children. It's going
to get worse and worse. So we need to pray for it. Verse
9, O Lord, our God, To our Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness. Mercy is sovereign mercy. It belongs to God. It belongs
to God. Every sinner who cries for mercy
and receives mercy knows it was God's to give or withhold. Mercy by definition is sovereign,
isn't it? Mercy means not getting what
you deserve. If you don't get what you deserve, somebody has
mercy on you, that means they decided. You can't decide for
someone to have mercy on you. Mercy, by definition, is sovereign. And so he says mercies and forgiveness
belong to God, though we have rebelled against Him. Verse 10,
neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in
His law. That's the whole problem. Isn't that the problem in our
nation? Turn way backward to turn their ears from the truth?
Isn't that the problem? That's the whole problem. You
hear me say all the time, I blame all the problems in this country
on the pulpit. When men began to withhold the
Word of God, and it started way back, Jeremiah lamented, over
the false prophets of his day. He said, I weep. They've stolen
thy word from the people. They're telling their dreams
and not the word of God. And that's the problem. In verse
11, he says, Yea, all Israel has transgressed thy law. All
America has just corrupted and twisted and perverted God's word. even by departing that they might
not obey thy voice. And so, the curse is upon us. What curse? Well, if you read
the books of Moses, all those curses pronounced, God pronounces
blessings upon them that hear His Word. But curses upon them
that won't. And all those curses, remember
He said, I'll bring on you the plagues of Egypt. Remember that? Though you claim to be my people,
I'll bring upon you the plagues of Egypt." And that's exactly
what God has done upon this so-called Christian nation. And plague after plague, Brother
John, happens upon our country, and like the Egyptians, they
don't perceive it as the pen and the hand of God. God's people
do. True Jews do, don't they? They
see these plagues of and fire and so forth, as being from the
hand of God. And you're blessed if you do.
All men don't. Even so-called Christians today,
they won't acknowledge God's hand in any of these catastrophes,
will they? Because it doesn't gel with their
concept of God being love, does it? But you know He's the great
and dreadful God. The living and true God. Well,
verses, where are we? Verse 12, and he had confirmed
his words which he spake against us. Brother Stan, there's probably
more, well, equally as many verses of scripture against people as
there are promises for. You've heard my pastor say, of
this statement by my pastor. Scriptures are full of warnings
lest we presume, but also full of promises lest we despair.
But they're about equal, I'd say. You read the prophets and
you hear mostly dire judgments, don't you? That's why people
don't use the Old Testament anymore. It's the same God in him, Brother
Henry. We do, don't we? And we see our
need, and Daniel is going to tell us our great need and what
he prays for. This is why we need mercy. Verse 13, as it is written in
the law of Moses, all this evil is upon us, yet we have not made
our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from
our iniquities and understand thy truth. These don't need much comment,
do they? Verse 14, "...therefore hath the Lord watched upon the
evil and brought it upon it." The Lord brought the evil? The Lord brought evil? That's
what His book says, doesn't it, Brother Kelley? I create peace, I create evil. Didn't He say that? Isaiah 45,
7. Job said, shall we receive good
at the hand of the Lord and not evil? Yes. That's God. That's the great
and dreadful God. Read on. And the Lord our God
is righteous. Now, He's too good to do wrong. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Yes, He will. Every time. The word just, God
is just, means He's fair. He does exactly what's right. He's righteous in all his works
which he doeth. We have not obeyed his book.
And now, O Lord our God, thou hast brought thy people forth
out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and you did this
to get thee renowned. You did it for your name's sake.
As at this day we have sinned, we have done wickedly." That's
all Daniel seems to be able to say. How about you? When you go to pray,
Are you like me most of the time? About the only thing you can
seem to say is, Lord have mercy on me. Because like Paul, and
apparently like Daniel, we say, what the evil I would not, that's
what I do. And the good that I would, I
know not. How to do good, I find not. I find the law in me. I delight
in the law of the inward man, but how to perform it? Who shall
deliver me? I was pointing, Brother Kelly
and I went fishing yesterday. Sorry, Dylan, you weren't supposed
to know that. Kelly snuck off and went fishing. He knows now. Anyway, we went fishing and we
were talking about Romans 7. That's just the cry of our heart.
And how the Lord in mercy wrote Romans 8. The very first line
in Romans 8 is, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. And so our great need, sinners
that we are, is mercy. And God has mercy in Christ. In verse 14, Now, O Lord, You've done this
for Your renown, for Your namesake. That's why God did it. Verse
16, O 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 sin and for the
iniquities of our father, Jerusalem and Thy people are become a reproach
to all that are about us. Doesn't it sicken your heart
how that, as I said, this nation calls itself a Christian nation,
and all that it does, Nancy, is in the name of the God of
the Bible, the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
all that they do. But we're a laughingstock to
the world. A laughingstock. And all that
they do in the name of Jesus, and they all call themselves
Christian, but there's far from it. Oh, my. It's a reproach. It's a reproach. Lord, for Your name's sake, do
something. Verse 17, Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of
Thy servant and his supplication, and cause Thy face to shine upon
Thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's sake. The Lord
told us to take heed what you're reading, didn't He? Talks about
the abomination of desolation down in verse 27. The Lord told
us that in Matthew 24. Now you know what that means.
We've looked at it before. And it's been going on for a
long time. Meaning that the so-called temple is desolate. Desolate. Ichabod is written over the door. The glory has departed. The so-called
church. in America, in the name of, is
desolate of the gospel, of the truth, of the glory of God, isn't
it? It's an abomination of desolation, isn't it? But God hath shined on this sanctuary,
this little tabernacle. Bless God. He hath indeed. As
God who caused the light to shine out of darkness, He hath shined
in our hearts, hasn't it, to give the light Of the knowledge,
what is it? Of the glory of God, where is
it? In the face of Jesus Christ.
God has answered Daniel's prayer. And we're that answer. You're
that answer. Oh my, thank the Lord. Verse
17, now therefore, verse 18, oh my God, incline thine ear
and hear. Open thine eye. If God hears
us, He'll have to incline His ear. He's high, but remember
His ways. Remember His high ways? Thus
saith the High and Lofty One in the Habit of Eternity, I dwell
in a high and a holy place, and with Him is of a contrite heart. Though the Lord be high, yet
He hath respect. That's His highway. If you weren't
here last Wednesday, you'd get to see that. We looked at God's
highways and high thoughts. They're not like we thought. God's highways and high thoughts
are His infinite mercy, His infinite condescension to us. He's inclined His ear. Behold
our desolation and the city which is called by Thy name. We do
not present our supplication. You see, we're not pleading.
No man, no child of God comes unto the Lord for our righteousness,
but for Thy great mercy. We plead someone else's righteousness,
don't we? That's how we come. Jesus, Thy
blood, Thy righteousness, my beauty, my glorious dress. We
sing that all the time, don't we? And Thy mercies, God's mercy,
are in Him. Verse 19, look at this. What
a simple prayer and what a profound one. Oh, Lord, hear. Oh, Lord, forgive. Oh, Lord,
hearken and do. Oh, defer not for Thine own sake. Oh, my God, for Thy city and
Thy people are called by Thy name. If you want to memorize
a prayer, this would be a good one. Oh, Lord, hear. Oh, Lord,
forgive. Oh, Lord, hearken and do for
Thy name's sake, for Christ's sake. Oh, my God, Thy city, Thy
church, Thy people are called by Thy name. We're called Christians. Lord, hear. Lord, forgive. And Lord, do this, that is, show
mercy. And now look at it. Here's the
blessed answer. Did I save enough time? Do you
want to hear it? While I was speaking, while I
was speaking, kind of like the prodigal, he was rehearsing his
prayer. He came to the father, remember,
and he started blurting out, while he was speaking, the father
said, while I was speaking, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen
in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly,
hurry, God said, hurry, he needs mercy quick, hurry. The man Gabriel touched me about
the time of the evening oblation. It says, while I was speaking,
the man Gabriel... Now, this was an angel, but God calls
him a man, doesn't He? We talked about that, didn't
we? This was an angel, but God called him a man. Well, preachers
are just men. But God calls them angels. Which
is it? Both. Both. But I couldn't help
but think of the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, being the angel, the
man, yep, the angel of God's covenant, the mercy, the messenger
of the covenant, the angel of God's mercy who came swiftly.
I come quickly, he said. And those who are swift to hear
and those who are swift to cry will be swiftly heard and swiftly
answered. Says he came quick. It came quick. I don't buy this, people say,
I've been seeking the Lord for years. No, you haven't. Our Lord says, you seek Me and
search for Me with all your heart, I'll be found. You'll find Him.
I'll answer you swiftly. That person who truly confesses
and comes to God by Christ and cries out for mercy, God is ready
to hear and ready to pardon. And He sends the gospel swiftly.
Swiftly. Hurry. Tell him the good news
before he despairs. And here's what Gabriel said.
He informed me and he talked with me. Verse 22. And he said,
O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. O Daniel, I am come to give thee
understanding. Does that sound familiar? 1 John
5.20 says, And we know that the Son of God is come. and hath
given us an understanding, that we might know Him that is true. I and come, verse 23, at the
beginning of thy supplication, the commandment came forth. When
you started to pray, the commandment was given. Before you got a word
out of your mouth, you know, David said, there's not a word
in my tongue, you don't know it altogether. You know, my thoughts
are far off." And Daniel started to say, and God said, Go, Gabriel. Behold, he prayeth. I love that
psalm. John and I love Psalm 71. Is
it verse 3? Thou hast given commandment to
save me. The commandment came. Go, almighty
love, arrest that man. Commandment came. And it says,
look at this. Oh, you're going to like this.
I am come to show thee, for thou art greatly beloved." You're
greatly loved, Daniel, so I'm going to show you something.
What was it that Manoah's wife said to him? Remember, Manoah said, We're
going to die. We've seen God. She said, No, we're not. She
said, He wouldn't have showed us these things. Why does He show us this thing?
We're greatly loved. Barbara, if you see these things,
who God is, a great and dreadful God, your need of mercy, Christ,
your salvation in Christ, you're going to see this in a minute
more clearly, you're greatly loved. Be loved. For whom He
did foreknow, love before, He did predestinate. To do what? To call. by this
gospel, verse 23, you are greatly loved, therefore understand the
matter. Those who are greatly loved by
God will greatly understand. And they will see something,
a vision. What is it? What is it? What did Daniel say? Now, I am a teacher of sorts,
okay? I'm supposed to be apt to teach,
pastor-teacher. And whenever I ask you a question,
See, my exams are very easy. Very easy. They generally require
a one-word answer. Okay? Alright? What was the vision
that Daniel saw Christ? Daniel saw Christ. Chapter 10
is a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you've never read
it, well, we've preached on it. But read it again. But look at
this. In verse 20, 4, he says, 70 weeks are determined
upon thy people, upon the holy city, to finish the transgression. He's talking about somebody coming
to finish the transgression. That's what he's talking about.
Somebody's coming, Daniel, to finish the transgression. Who
might that be? Well, he said it on the cross. It's finished. And look at this,
and to make an end of sins. He put them away by the sacrifice
of Himself. And to make reconciliation for
iniquity. Yes, God was in Christ doing
what? Reconciling the world unto Himself. And to bring in everlasting righteousness. The first Adam, we fell in his
temporary righteousness. But the second Adam, he has an
eternal one that we wear. everlasting. And to seal up the
vision and the prophecy, Christ fulfilled the law. He was that
prophet of whom Moses speaks, and now there's no more needs
to be written. Right? He's the completion of the prophecy. And to anoint, to set up, to
exalt the most holy. Who's that? Christ. So know therefore,
and he tells the time of it, and he goes on to say that He
will be cut off in verse 26, and not for himself, but for
the people. And down in verse 27, he says
that then there will come the abomination of desolation. So know that, he said in verse
25, he said, know therefore and understand that Messiah the Prince
is coming, and we know And we understand that He came. And
He's given us an understanding. And so, I ask you, how about
you? Do you seek Him? Set your face? Seek the Lord's face and sue
for mercy? Need mercy? If you call upon
Him in spirit and truth in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
you must be greatly beloved. And if you see Christ clearly
as the fulfillment of that covenant and all the blessings of God,
forgiveness, mercy, forgiveness, pardon, peace, reconciliation,
righteousness, eternal glory is in Christ, you're like Daniel. You're like Daniel. Okay, stand
with me.