with me to the book of Daniel
chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9. Now all scripture is given by
inspiration of God. It's God breathed, verbally inspired
word of God. That's how much esteem and value
and Respect and regard we're to give this whole book from
Genesis to Revelation all Scripture is a testimony to the greatness
and glorious nature of God's Salvation that he provides for
his people freely in and by the Lord Jesus Christ all Scripture
Old Testament and New Testament is intended ultimately to lead
us to Christ for all salvation, all forgiveness, all righteousness,
all eternal life and glory. And therefore the key to understanding
all scripture is to view it through that lens of the glory of the
person and the finished work of Christ. That's what Christ
was teaching in John chapter 5 when he He chided the Pharisees
for their darkness, willful darkness. And he said, you do search the
scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. But they
are they which testify of me. And then when he sat down with
his disciples on the road to Emmaus, and he taught them the
things concerning himself out of the Old Testament. And he
sat down with the other disciples right before he ascended into
glory. is recorded in Luke 24 later
on. And he taught them how the books
of Moses, the law, how the Psalms, that's the wisdom books and the
poetry books, were all concerning him. The prophets, obviously
the prophets. Daniel was a prophet. Daniel was a preacher, just like
Noah, a preacher of Christ, a preacher of righteousness. Daniel knew,
and we're gonna see this just stated plainly, In the Bible,
Daniel knew and understood by the revelation and power of the
Holy Spirit the same way that we know and understand the things
of the grace of God. And so that's all scripture.
But every now and then you come along a passage of scripture,
maybe a chapter or a section of verses that just seem to be
so profound and so clear that they actually become a key to
unlock other scriptures. And that's what Daniel chapter
9 is. Daniel chapter 9 is one of the fullest and clearest passages
of scripture in the Bible. And really it sets forth two
things. I'm only going to deal with one
of them tonight in the first part of this chapter. Tonight's
message I've entitled Daniel's Prayer of Faith. The first part
of this passage is Daniel's prayer. And then the next section beginning
over in verse 20 is Daniel's prophecy of Christ. And it's
it's a prophetic part and not that these now these aren't mutually
exclusive. Now understand that this is not
the first prayer that Daniel pray. Daniel was about 80 some
say 85 years old at this time. Because he was at the end of
his ministry, the closing out of his ministry. So this certainly
wasn't the first prayer and the only prayer that Daniel prayed.
And we have others. And this is not the only prophecy
of Christ that Daniel gave. He was given and gave to us.
But it's together, prayer and prophecy. And so tonight I want
us to look at this and what he said, what he's showing here.
And this is, this is one of the several reasons I had brother
Terry read in Jeremiah 29 there. First of all, this is the, one
of the sections of Jeremiah that Daniel was reading when he saw
this vision in chapter nine and recorded it. He was reading the
book of Jeremiah, but here in Jeremiah 29 and verse 12, uh,
Verse 12 and 13, I think, is a summation of Daniel chapter
9. When he says, then shall you call upon me, that's what Daniel's
doing in his prayer. He's calling upon the Lord. That's
what prayer is, isn't it? Calling upon the name of the
Lord. And you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto
you. Verse 13, and you shall seek
me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart,
and I will be found of you, saith the Lord, and I will turn away
your captivity, and gather you from all nations." And so God
answers his prayer. And the key to prayer is the
prophecy, because this prophecy is concerning Christ. If you
want God to hear your prayer, and God to accept your prayer,
It's going to be through the Lord Jesus Christ. And everything
that Daniel prays for in the first part of this of this chapter
is answered in full and complete without want without lacking.
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. It's answered
complete by the coming and the work of the Messiah. And that's
what he's saying. So there we have it. Now Daniel
prays here for mercy. There's no mercy from God without
Christ. He prays for pardon. He prays that the Lord would
shine upon his tabernacle. Now there's a physical reference
to the earthly temple. I'll show you that in just a
moment. But the ultimate fulfillment of that is the church. The dwelling
place of God. The temple of God. The people
of God. Chosen of God. Redeemed by the
blood of Christ. And called out by the Holy Spirit. Someone asked me one time that
I should preach a series of messages on prayer in light of the disciples
asking our Lord the question, teach us to pray. Well, there's
nothing wrong with that. We need to learn to pray. The
Bible teaches us how to pray. Hebrews chapter 4 verses 14 through
16 in those those few short verses You see a lesson on prayer. We
come unto the father to the throne of grace and We do it in time
of need on This ground alone that we have a great high priest
who has passed literally when you read that it won't read this
way I'm just paraphrasing but I'm giving you the literal translation
of it Who has passed through into the heavens for us? We have a great high priest.
We have a representative before God. Who is he? He's the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's our high priest. What does
a high priest do? He represents the people of God
before the throne of glory. What does he offer for the acceptance
of sinners such as we are? He offers the sacrifice of himself,
his own blood. And that's what we do. We come
to the throne of grace to find mercy and help in time of need.
And that's a good lesson in prayer. When the Lord, he taught the
disciples to pray as recorded in Matthew chapter 6 in what
is sometimes called the Lord's Prayer, but I rather refer to
John 17 as the Lord's Prayer, his high priestly prayer for
his people, and Matthew chapter 6 there as the model prayer.
Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. All prayer
hallows God. sanctifies God, sets God apart. That's what prayer is all about.
But you know, I found that one of the best ways for us to learn
to pray is to read the prayers of God's people in the Scripture.
Because you understand one thing about that prayer that you're
reading in Scripture. This prayer of Daniel is a great
example of it. This is a verbally inspired,
inerrant prayer. That's what it is. Inspired by
the Holy Spirit. Often think of Hannah's prayer
go back and read Hannah's prayer in 1st Samuel chapter 2 what
a great lesson in prayer That's what that's one in think about
the song of Moses Moses his prayer the song of Solomon not not just
the book the song of Solomon certainly that's included But
I'm talking about his prayer Thanksgiving when that when they
finish the temple Those are great lessons there. Well, here's another
one right here Daniel's prayer of faith now, it's a prayer of
faith because he prays unto the Father through the Son on the
ground and basis of the blood and righteousness of Christ Well,
we that's the basis of prayer the ground and then he it's a
prayer of faith because he prays in expectation of God doing what
he's promised to do Now there are things we desire and things
that we want that we don't have any specific promise from God
to do And in those areas, we bow to his will. That's why we
say, thy will be done. I don't know, you know, I pray
for physical healing for a person. I don't know if it's God's will
that that person be healed physically or not. But that's my desire.
But I have to pray in this way. God, thy will be done. Whatever
you desire, whatever your will is, you know what's best. You
know what's best for that person. Who's physically sick or going
through that? That trial God knows what's best. So we pray that I will be done.
But Daniel in this prayer what he's praying for are things that
God specifically promised to do. So let's look at it. He says
in verse 1. He says in the first year of
the rise the son of a has you eras of the seed of the me which
was made king over the realm of the cow. Then this tells us
when the prayer was granted or given. And as I said, Daniel
was about 80, some commentators say even 85 years old. You remember
when he was about 15 years old is when he was brought into Babylon
from Jerusalem. And he was set up in the king's
court to be one of the wise men, one of the counselors. And God
gave him favor with the king. Well, he'd been there about 66
years now. And so what we see is it's cut.
This is coming to the close of that 70 year period that's mentioned
in Jeremiah, but hold that thought we'll get to that in just a moment.
So this is when this is and so it says in verse 2, it says in
the first year of his reign. I Daniel understood by books
and what books the books of the prophets. That's what he's talking
about. I'm sure he had Isaiah and Jeremiah and all the prophets
the number of the years where of the word of the Lord came
to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years
in the desolations of Jerusalem well turn back to Jeremiah chapter
25 let's let me show in a minute doesn't it kind of thrill you
to know that you're standing sitting here tonight reading
the same thing that Daniel read I had of course now granted he
was reading in Hebrew We're reading it in English, or an old form
of English, rather, in the King James Version. But still, it's
the same truth, isn't it? Doesn't that kind of thrill you?
It does me. I can just picture Daniel the
prophet sitting there reading the book of Jeremiah. Remember,
Jeremiah, he was the last prophet before the captivity, before
they went into captivity, some almost 70 years before this. He wrote of these things and
look at Jeremiah chapter 25 look at verse 9 He says this is the
prophet Jeremiah Speaking as as the prophet of God and says
in verse 9 it says behold I will sin and take all the families
of the north sayeth the Lord and Nebuchadnezzar the king of
Babylon my servant God calls Nebuchadnezzar his servant and
He will bring them against this land and against the inhabitants
thereof and against all these nations round about and will
utterly destroy them and make them an astonishment and in hissing
that is that what that means is is that he's going to make
make them a joke to people basically something you would hiss at and
he says and a perpetual desolation Moreover I will take from them
the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness the voice of the
bridegroom and the voice of the bride the sound of millstones
and the light of the candle in other words that all the joy
and all the work and he says in verse 11 and this whole land
shall be a desolation and an astonishment and these nations
shall serve the king of Babylon how many years 70 years And it shall come to pass, when
seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of
Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity,
and the land of the Chaldeans, and I will make perpetual desolation
so Babylon was going to have its way for 70 years and then
at the end of the 70 years now I'm not going to get into this
too much tonight just to tell you this yeah why 70 years well
you know people was that just some kind of arbitrary number
you know that God threw out did he just throw the dice you know
and hit 70 or what no no there's a specific reason for that has
a direct correlation to Israel's failure in under the Old Covenant
keeping and and sanctifying the Sabbath and that's why the 70
years and we'll see that that's going to come in to play later
with the time allotted for the Messiah to come 490 years which
is 770 and we'll get to that later but that's what it is you
know God told them that they were to they were to keep the
Sabbath holy not just the Sabbath day each week but the Sabbath
years they were to let the land rest every seven years they didn't
do that And that's why they went into captivity 70 years. All
that was a picture of Christ. Everything that was every, every,
every Sabbath day, every Sabbath week, every Sabbath year was
a picture of Christ. And they're keeping those days,
even though they may have had some agricultural wisdom there
to let that land rest for seven years. And incidentally, Russell,
I think we're going to have to let my land rest for seven years.
We haven't been able to grow tomatoes on that land for a couple
years now, have we? So maybe we've got to let it
rest for seven. I don't know. But that was the truth back then
for Israel in that land. They tilled the land, worked
the land six years and let it rest. They didn't do it. And
so God sent him into captivity for seven years. Well, they had
that agricultural wisdom there and knowledge, but ultimately
it was to show their respect and their worship and their trust
in the Lord of glory who would send the Messiah, the Lord our
Savior. And that's why he did that. But
I'm going to talk about that in more detail next time. Look over
at Jeremiah 29 that Brother Terry read. In verse 9 there. He says, well, verse 10, he's
talking about, now don't listen to the false prophets. Of course,
Jeremiah stood against many false prophets. But he said in verse
10, he said, but thus saith the Lord, that after 70 years be
accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good
word toward you. I'm going to keep my promise,
God says, to you. I'm going to be faithful to my
promises. And he says, in causing you to
return to this place, that is, to return to Jerusalem. So Daniel,
over here in Daniel 9, now that's what he's talking about. In verse
2. He said, I was reading the books.
I was reading what Jeremiah the prophet said. That God would
accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem. What's he doing
in his prayer? As he's leading up to prayer. In verse 3, I set my faith to
seek the Lord. He's praying on the basis of
God's Word. My friend, that's a good lesson
in prayer. That doesn't mean that we can't pray for things
that God hasn't specifically promised, unless they're against
God's revealed will, by way of commandment. But this is where
we begin, right here. God's Word. God's going to be
faithful to His Word. Thy will be done. Plead with
God. He'll keep His Word. It's not
because we doubt God's Word. It's our recognition of God,
who is faithful, you see. It's our acknowledgement of God,
who is faithful. It's just like God's going to
save His people from their sins, and we pray that way because
we acknowledge Him to be the God of salvation. He's saved
by grace. Now, if I were to pray, Lord,
save so-and-so because they're such a good person. Now, I can
tell you right now that's a prayer that's against God's revealed
will by way of commandment. Because He doesn't save anybody
based upon the fact that they're a good person. In fact, the Bible
says there are no good persons in His sight. There's none good,
no not one. But if we pray, God save your
people for your namesake, for your glory, by your grace in
Christ. We're not, it's not that we doubt
God, it's that we're just acknowledging him for who he is. And that's
what Daniel's doing here. You know whatever God does, I
want you to think about this. Whatever God does, rest assured
he's already purposed it from the beginning. Can you get a
hold of that? You don't pray to change his
mind or you don't pray to a reluctant God in order to persuade him
as if he, by your much speaking, is going to give in to your demands
like we do to our children sometimes. No, that's not the way God does.
Whatever God does, you can rest assured he's already purposed
to do it from the beginning. And that's a comfort, I'll tell
you. Now, what's Daniel speaking of that he would accomplish 70
years in the desolations of Jerusalem? Well, look over at verse 16 of
Daniel 9. Here's what he's talking about.
He explains it out right here. And it's the same thing that
Jeremiah prophesied. 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. So he's talking
about the city of Jerusalem. which at this time was totally
destroyed, and thy holy mountain, and I believe that's speaking
of the temple, and then 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. Now therefore, O our God, hear
the prayer of thy servant and his supplications and cause thy
face to shine upon the sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's
sake. That's the temple. It was desolate
at this time. So that's what he's talking about.
Now look back at verse three now. Now here comes his prayer. And he says in verse three, now
based upon what he read in the word of God, reading the word
of God, this is what inspired his prayer. And this is a prayer
of faith. This is a prayer of worship.
He says, and I set my face unto the Lord God to seek my prayer
and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. See,
that's what prayer... He set his face. It wasn't just
a haphazard... I mean, I heard a man say, well,
if you can't pray off the cuff, then don't pray at all. No, Daniel
said, I set my face to do it. I determined to do it. It was
a thought-out process for me. That's what he's saying. It was
a preparation for me. That's what prayer is. Yes, we
can pray at an instant at times. But sometimes we like to be prepared.
And there's the word of God that prepared Daniel to seek by prayer. And how? He said with supplications,
I'm going to pray for my desires. And with fasting, that means
he deprived himself because that fasting was an emblem of worship.
What fasting? You know what fasting really
was? I know there's health issues
and all that we can talk about. Let's get away from that. Fasting
was an indication that when it comes to spiritual matters and
spiritual things and salvation, all I need is Christ. I don't need anything else. That's
really what fasting's all about. And that's what he's saying.
Daniel's saying in his prayer, I'm totally dependent upon God and
he's all I need. And then he says, with sackcloth
and ashes. You know what that's an emblem
of. That was an emblem of sorrow, mourning. What's Daniel's sorrow
for over a morning? Well, he's going to tell you
that it's his sin. What do we do when we come to God in prayer?
We come as sinners seeking mercy. Not trying to get what we deserve
or not even trying just to get what we want. Yes, we can tell
the Lord what we want. He already knows what we want.
He already knows what he's going to give us. That's his business.
But it's sorrow over sin, like that publican, God be merciful
to me, the sinner. That's a good prayer right there,
isn't it? God be merciful to me, the sinner. The sackcloth and ashes are not
just religious show. In fact, Daniel didn't even pray
this prayer publicly. Now, we do know that Daniel did
pray publicly one time. You remember when the king decreed
that nobody could pray to their gods except they have permission,
and Daniel opened his window and he prayed three times? That's
when the glory of God was challenged publicly, and he had to answer
back publicly. He wasn't doing that just to
make a religious show, and he's not doing this here just to make
a religious show, you see. You know what this is? This is
a broken and a contrite heart. God says he will not despise
a broken, broken over sin, broken over, over the, the unbelief
that's in us and in our, our people, broken in a contract. That's the work of God. Look
at verse four. He says, and I prayed unto the Lord, my God, not a
God, not be God, but my God, Jehovah, the covenant God, he
says. And he said, I made my confession.
I confess my sin. I confess my inability. I confess
the lack of righteousness within myself. He's saying I'm agreeing
with God over who he is and who I am, taking sides with God against
myself. That's what it is to make my
confession. It's to say, Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquity, who would stand? And he says, Oh, Lord, the great
and dreadful God. The Lord is great. He's great
greatly to be praised. He's dreadful in judgment. His
judgments are a terror to those who have no mediator. Who have
no high priest. That's why we can't. We cannot
come to God without a high priest, without a mediator, without a
lamb for sacrifice, without the blood of Christ. You see what
I'm saying? Because God is a terror to all
who stand before him without Christ. And look here, he says,
keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him. That's
how we know all things work together. For good to them that love God,
who are the called according to his purpose. He keeps his
covenant. God's going to do what he promises
to do. He's not trying to save anybody. He's in the business
of saving his people from their sins, and they love him for it. Listen, God doesn't love us because
we love him. We love him because he loved
us. And to them that keep his commandments. What is it to keep
his commandments? Listen, there's two things here
you need to understand about Daniel's prayer. Number one,
he's not asking God to change his mind. He's just simply saying,
God, do what you've already promised to do. Secondly, he's not asking
for anything based upon his work. This keeping his commandments,
listen, let me tell you something about God's commandments. God
has never commanded any sinner to seek salvation, blessedness,
forgiveness, or benefits by their work. He's never commanded that. If that's what you're doing,
you're not keeping his commandments, because he never commanded that.
In fact, he forbids it. That's what he taught Cain. A
hard lesson. It dishonors for him, for any
sinner to try that. It's a denial of Christ. It's
a denial of his glory. What is it to keep his commandments?
It's to look to, believe in, and rest in, and follow the Lord
Jesus Christ for all salvation. That's what it is. Yes, we seek
to obey God's word, but not to be saved. It's by grace, and
gratitude, and love. Look at verse 5. He says, we
have sinned. Now, did you notice what he said?
He didn't say they have sinned. He said, we have sinned. Not
just himself, but all Israel. Remember Isaiah said, woe is
me. I'm a man of unclean lips, but
I dwell amidst a people of unclean. We're all in the same boat together.
We all have the same need. I don't care who you are, where
you've come from. We're all sinners in need of
God's grace in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can't say
that you need it more than I, and I can't say I need it more
than you. Listen, it's nothing like... We're all equal, and
there is no difference. Of all sinning comes sure the
glory of God. And if we have Christ, we have
Him equally. You don't have Him more than
I do, and I don't have Him more than you do. I'm forgiven freely,
fully, in Christ, like nothing. I just want nothing, like. I'm
righteous in Christ you are too if you're in here equally equally
and he says he says we've sinned Daniel and in essence here you
know I want you to see something he says we've sinned and we've
committed iniquity you know in that sentence there Daniel sees
himself just the same as old Belshazzar who was found weighed
in the balance and found wanting We've committed iniquity. We
don't equal out. We don't measure up. He said,
we've done wickedly. Not only this is what we are,
but this is what we do. Not only am I a sinner by nature,
but my works, my best efforts are sinful. And we've rebelled. We're rebels against God. That's
an unbeliever. Even by departing from thy precepts
and from thy judgment. What does God say in his precepts?
What does he say in his judgment? He tells us, we could talk about
a lot of different particulars, but basically you can roll it
all down to this one thing, that we're sinners and we need Christ. Verse 6, neither have we hearkened
unto thy servants the prophets. They didn't listen to Jeremiah
back in Jeremiah's day. They didn't listen to Isaiah. He said, which spake in thy name
to our kings and our princes and our fathers and to all the
people of the land. Now, one of the things you can
notice here, too, is Daniel sort of interceding for his brethren.
In that sense, he might you could call him a type of Christ, because
that's what Christ does for his people. We have an advocate with
the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he intercedes. And he says we sin by departing,
you know, The source and cause of all our problems is when we
refuse to heed God's word. Unbelievers will not heed his
word of grace in the gospel. But you know, even his children
get into trouble because of this. When we don't heed and submit
to God's word. Notice the prophets spoke in
God's name, according to God's glory. Look at verse 7. Now listen
to this, he says, O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee. Doesn't
belong to me, it belongs to him. What righteousness I have, it's
mine because of him and it's his working. It's his obedience
unto death. Unto us, confusion of faces.
That's what we have. Confusion of faces because of
sin. He says, as at this day, it's
the same today as it was, you know, we say, oh, it's so much
worse today. Well, basically it's all the same. That's it. He says to the men of Judah and
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and in all Israel that are near
and that are far off, those that are here and those that are there,
through all the countries, whether thou hast driven them because
of their trespass, that they have trespassed against thee. One of the things I want you
to notice, you know, Daniel is recognizing that he's a sinner
here, but you know what? Turn to Ezekiel chapter 14. I
want to show you something here. Just back one book, Ezekiel 14.
Now Ezekiel was somewhat of a contemporary
of Daniel. He was in captivity too. Daniel
went first. You remember Nebuchadnezzar took
the people of Jerusalem and Israel and Judah in three ways to Babylon. Daniel went in the first way
because he was one of the noblemen. He was of noble blood. And he
was a prophet too. Ezekiel went in the second way.
He was a priest and a prophet. And they prophesied in Babylon
about the same time. But my point I want you to see
here is that it seems like Ezekiel knew Daniel. Or at least he'd
heard of him. Even though he himself was younger.
But Daniel refers to himself as a sinner. But you know how
God refers to Daniel, how God describes Daniel? Look at Ezekiel
chapter 14 and look at verse 14. Here he's talking about the sin
of Israel. And he said, Though these three
men, Noah, Daniel and Job, were in it, they should deliver but
their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God. God calls
him righteous. Daniel says when he says O Lord
righteousness belongeth to thee what he's actually saying is
I have known and yet God says he's righteous and He was delivered
just like Noah and Job because of their righteousness What did
Job say about himself at the end of the book of Job? He said
I'm a sinner I'm a wretch I repent sackcloth and ashes Was God called
God called him a just man righteous man what about Noah Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord look over at verse 16 same thing
here verse 16 of Ezekiel 14 though these three men were in it they
were in that mess of sin and depravity as I live sayeth the
Lord God they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters they only
shall be delivered but the land shall be desolate look down at
verse 18 though these three men that's Noah Daniel and Job were
in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither
sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves,
and then verse 20, though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as
I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor
daughter, they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. Daniel says here in verse 7 Oh
Lord righteousness belongeth unto thee but not unto us under
us confusion of faces Then belong that What do you suppose Daniel's
righteousness was? Same as your righteousness same
as mine the imputed righteousness of Christ. It's exactly what
it is Daniel stood before God Justified in the name and under
the obedience and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had none
of his own and Look at verse 8, he goes on, he says, O Lord,
to us belongeth confusion of face to our kings, to our princes,
and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. How
can such a person who describes himself in such a way be called
righteous by a holy God and still God be true to himself and to
his word? It's that righteousness that
was accounted and imputed and charged to him. Look on verse
9 He says neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God
to walk in his laws Which he set before us by his servants
the prophets You know what he's saying here He's saying God everything
that we get we're getting in this captivity in this trial
and this punishment we deserve it's our fault I'm the problem. That's what Daniel's saying.
We're held accountable. I In verse 10, he says, neither
have we obeyed the voice of the Lord, which our God to walk in
his laws, which he sent before us by his servants, the prophets.
Why was the law given to expose their sinfulness? What did the
prophets preach? They preach Christ and him crucified
and risen again. Verse 11. Yea, all Israel have
transgressed thy law even by departing that they might not
obey thy voice Therefore the curse is poured upon us and the
oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God because
we've sinned against him That's the curses of God upon the nation
that he gave through Moses That curse Ultimately is eternal
damnation for all who stand before him without Christ That oath
is the oath of his judgment against sin. I'll tell you, I want to
be part of God's oath, but not this oath. I want to be part
of that oath that he swore in the covenant of grace to his
son. That promise of salvation that he talks about in Hebrews
chapter 6 that he gave to Abraham, whereby he swear by himself because
he can swear by no greater. That's the oath we want to be
part of. Look at verse 12. He says, and he hath confirmed
his words which he spake against us and against our judges that
judged us by bringing upon us a great evil. That's their captivity.
And he says, for under the whole heaven hath not been done as
hath been done upon Jerusalem. God did not lie. He was faithful
to his threats. He told them they'd go into punishment. But let me tell you something.
He's just as faithful to his promise of salvation. But understand
this, his promise of salvation is sure and certain because of
Christ. All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him, amen. Verse 13. Isn't this an instructive
prayer? Look at verse 13. He says, as
it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come upon us.
It's just like you said it would be, Lord. That's what Daniel's
saying. Yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God that
we might turn from our iniquities and understand thy truth." You
see, these punishments didn't bring them to repentance. The
nation... The Bible says it's the goodness of God that leads
sinners to repentance, not the wrath of God. Why is that? Have
you ever thought about that? I believe I have an answer. I'll
tell you why. Because in wrath alone, All that
men, we by nature, can see is to justify ourselves. Because
by nature, none of us think really, ultimately, we deserve to get
what we get. And as long as we think that
we don't deserve what we get by way of punishment, we'll never
turn to Christ for salvation and for pardon. You see, that's
why it's in goodness, the goodness of God, that men by the power
of God see Christ and run to Him. Verse 14, Therefore hath
the Lord watched upon the evil and brought it upon us, for the
Lord our God is righteous, he's just, he did no wrong, he's just
in all his works which he doeth, for we obeyed not his voice.
This is the Lord's doing. It's his judgment against sin.
Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Verse 15, And
now, O LORD our God, thou hast brought thy people forth out
of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renowned. It's for his glory. As at this
day we have sinned and we've done wickedly. The reason God
delivered them, it wasn't for their goodness. It was for his
glory. It was for his namesake. If God
gave them and us what we deserve to earn, that would be eternal
death, because we've sinned, we've done wickedly. That is
why Paul cried in his prayer, O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank my God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Look at verse 16, here is the
closing of Daniel's prayer, O Lord, according to all thy righteousness,
I beseech thee. You see, Daniel cries for mercy,
but not without justice, not without righteousness. You don't
approach God that way. See, that's where people miss
it today, and have missed it all along. And if somebody says,
well, you're such a pitiful creature, if God just sees you begging
Him for help, He'll help. Listen, God will never show mercy
without justice, without righteousness. According to all thy righteousness.
Now see, what are we learning there? We're learning how to
pray. He says, let thine anger, I beseech thee, let thine anger
and thy fury be turned away from thy city of Jerusalem. Turn it
away. Thy holy mountain, that city of Jerusalem, that's the
city of peace. That's a picture of Christ, our
peace. That's the city, the heavenly
Jerusalem is our dwelling place, not an earthly Jerusalem. How
does God turn away his anger from his elect people? Through
the blood of Christ. That's the reconciling. He was
made sin. Christ who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. The Holy Mountain,
Zion, that's the place of sacrifice. You see, God be merciful to me,
the sinner. God propitiate. Come with Christ. And He said,
for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and
thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. profaned
his name now Judah was to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild
the temple and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem the first task would
be to rebuild the temple establish the worship of God that's that's
first before you build your homes before you build that city first
thing you would build that temple because that's the only reason
for your existence What a great type of the church, salvation
by the grace of God in Christ. Look at 17, verse 17. Now therefore,
O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplications.
Cause thy face, thy glory, that's what that is, thy glory, your
attributes. And of course that shines forth
in Christ. To shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate for
the Lord's sake. That's the temple. That's the
place of sacrifice. That's the type of the glory
of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. Verse 18, Oh my
God, incline thine ear and hear, open thine eyes, and behold our
desolations and the city which is called by thy name. For we
do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses,
but for thy great mercies. What a prayer. I'm not asking
you to do this, Lord, for my goodness and my righteousnesses,
but for your mercy. That's how we come to God today,
for Christ's sake, in the name of Christ. Not for our righteousnesses,
not for our good works, but for Christ. And verse 19, O Lord,
hear. Listen, he has four things here. Lord, hear. Who's God going to
hear? Those that come to him begging
for mercy in Christ. O Lord, forgive. Now, who's God
going to forgive? Only those who come pleading
the blood of Christ. Oh Lord hearken That's the same
as here. And then he says and do Lord
hearken and do You know what he's saying here if it's if sinners
are going to be saved If God's people are going to be blessed
God has to do something You see, people by nature, sinners by
nature, we think in order to get God to save us, in order
to get God to bless us, we have to do something. Daniel recognizes
that if that's going to happen, if I'm going to be saved, if
I'm going to be blessed, if I'm going to be preserved, if I'm
going to be forgiven, if I'm going to be heard, God's got
to do something. He says, defer not for thine
own sake, O my God, for thy city and thy people are called by
thy name. Well, that's the glory of God. That's the substance
of all true prayer. And then in verse 20, he starts
picking up on the meaning of the prayer and then the answer
that God gives of salvation through Christ. All right. Saved by grace. Hymn number 512. That's our closing
hymn. 512.