The Bible makes it clear that as Christians we're not perfect. We are sinners by nature like everyone else.
So what does distinguish us from the rest of the world? We'll hear the answer today on Truth for Life as Alastair Begg picks up our study of the prophet's prayer in chapter 9 of the book of Daniel. Hello. Notice secondly how he addresses God, how he addresses God. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, O Lord, the great and awesome God.
In other words, he addresses God as God. Oh God, you are the great. and awesome God. You keep your covenant love with those who obey your commandments. Immediately, somebody runs their car off the road right there.
Obey the commandments, says, What's this? This is Old Testament stuff. We're in the New Testament now, aren't we? Yes, and the Old Testament. The whole Bible.
What did Jesus say? If you love me. You will. Keep my commandments. It was very straightforward.
You see, that's the nature of covenant love. God has entered into a covenant with his people. He's told them through Moses, I will be your God and you will be my people. This is how it's going to work. You do what I tell you.
I'm going to give you my commands and my rules. You do that, we're going to live together very happily. You disobey that, you're going to be in all kinds of mess.
Well, it's the exact same thing in the covenant of marriage, or it's comparable, isn't it? I mean, the real issue this morning is not whether you wakened up and you had a great surge of emotion in relationship to your spouse. You may have done. I don't know. It's none of my business.
But the fact is that the real issue is that you made vows to that person and you're keeping them, whether you feel like it this morning or whether you don't. And it is your commitment to the vows that are the indication of the nature of your love. You see, because love without obedience It's just sentimentality. We are so influenced by the mindset of a generation that looks to itself as the be-all and end-all of what's taking place, and never actually gets to the place where it says, Oh Lord, you are the great and awesome God. And we might want to think about that for just a moment: that you are holy, that you are righteous, and we are not.
That's his approach. And then thirdly, His admission. It's really his confession, but I wanted to keep it with A's.
So his confession. Where does he go from this? You are the great and awesome God. Verse 5: We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled and turned aside from your commands and rules. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets, and so on.
Now notice that Daniel's relationship here with God is both personal and communal. I prayed to the Lord, my God, verse 4.
Now in verse 5, we have sinned. It's just a simple reminder of the fact that we're brought into God's family, and in that family, we have responsibilities to each other, and we share with one another. He wasn't casual in his approach, neither is he vague in his admission of guilt. This is not some generic statement, is it? There are no exceptions and no excuses.
In verse 5 just gives you the whole framework. And you can go through and see how many times he says, we have sinned. He says it in verse 5, he says it in 8, he says it in 11, he says it in 15. We've sinned. In other words, we've gone the wrong way.
We've done wrong. We've acted wickedly, we're guilty, we've rebelled.
Well, you say this is not a very nice way to begin the day, is it? Being reminded of this.
Well think about it, most of us don't want to be reminded of this. Most of us want to pretend. We want to have just a sort of a brief passing thought about the fight. Yeah, well, yeah, I know I'm a sinner. Yes, let's get on now.
No, but I'm rebellious. I see what God's word says and I want to rebel against it. I see that the path of righteousness is a narrow road that leads down here, and I fancy going on the wide street. I know that God's word is there in order that I might hear it, but I don't want to listen to it. I'm wicked.
Hmm. I'm rebellious. You remember the story, the little boy, before the days of car seats? who's standing up on the front seat next to his mom as she's driving the car. And she tells him, hey.
Sit. He sits for a moment and springs back up. This goes on a little while. She finally pins this little Bottom to the seat. And as they continue to drive, the boy says.
I may be. Sitting down. on the outside. But I am standing up. on the inside.
Loved ones, you know how easy it is to play that game. In the public arena. Apparently. Seated. in the privacy of my heart.
Standing. You see, When we confess our sins to God, both individually and as a church. It helps to be specific. In fact, I think in many ways Daniel's pattern here Is the right pattern? He doesn't just say, Lord, you know, things are not quite going the way you like them.
No, he's very specific. And I think the more honest we can be with God, Not least of all when we tell them we haven't listened to you. We haven't listened to you. If we'd listened to you, we'd be different from what we are. We are, as a people without excuse.
And Daniel, you see here, if your text is open in front of you, is aware of the fact that it is the righteousness of God. That is the very basis. Of God's judgment, and it is that same righteousness which is the basis for their deliverance. All of Israel is involved in this. You see that in verse 11.
All Israel has transgressed your law, turned aside, refused to obey your voice. Nobody can claim that they're not part of the position. And Daniel then Fourth word with A. is aware of the reason for this dreadful predicament. He knows that this calamity, look at verse 12, this calamity that is upon them.
Is as a result of the fact that they have not paid attention to the voice of God, they have transgressed His law, they have turned aside, and they refuse to obey His voice. That's the significance of the second half of verse 11. And the curse and the oath that are written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out upon us, and justifiably so, because we have sinned against it. God said to his people through Moses, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. And they said, you know what?
This is kind of boring. There are a lot of other gods around here, and we find them a lot more exciting. Why do we just have to do it this way? He said, I want you to make sure that you live in absolute holiness with one another. They said, We don't like that so much.
We think that maybe if we can just spread it a little on the fringes, we'll be a whole lot better off. And God had said through his servant, if you violate these things, there are. results to your disobedience. And so Daniel now says, Lord, we know that we're in this predicament because we never paid attention to the very things that you told us. I mean, as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
That's why the challenge of parenting is so hard. Look, I'm telling you this for your good. And the child looks at you and goes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then somewhere along the line, they come back and they say, Father. It was for my good.
I didn't need to go through that. If I'd only paid attention to what you said. And the people have not paid attention to what God has said. And so here they are in exile. And Daniel now confesses the sins of the people.
The m the mystery in it is in verse 13. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us. Here we go. Yet Yet We have not entreated the favor Of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. All the calamity has come upon us yet.
It's remarkable, isn't it?
Well, it isn't, it isn't. You see, The aversion. to repentance. And the aversion to acknowledging a sense of sin. It's not something locked in the exile.
600 BC. What we see in the people of God in this calamity is actually representative of the nature of humanity itself. People on a routine basis are not acknowledging That they have acted wickedly. That they have rebelled against God. That they are this and they're that and the next thing.
They may say, I'm not sure that my life is going the way I would like it. I'm not as a spiritual a person as I would like to be, and all those kinds of things. That's fine, that's okay. We can talk about that. But you don't usually find somebody sitting down in front of you in Starbucks and saying, you know, I've rebelled against Almighty God, I'm a sinner.
I'm in a dreadful predicament. And in fact, you don't find many churches that would make any emphasis on that because people don't like that. They don't want to be told. I don't want to be told that I'm a mess and that I need to repent. I want to be told that I'm a masterpiece.
I want to be told that I am the epitome of the dream. I want to be told what I get told on the back page of a book that is just out by a religious professional whose name shall be. Vanished from the record. It reads as follows. I just saw it the other day in the airport.
Turned it over to have a look. Here's the message. Rather than being down on ourselves. and discrediting who we are. and focusing on all our flaws.
You may like Daniel in chapter nine? I wonder what would happen if all through the day We were as bold to say, I am amazing. I am wonderful. I am valuable. When you talk like that, amazing comes chasing you down.
Awesome starts heading in your direction. You won't have that weak defeated I'm just average mentality. You carry yourself like a king. Or a queen. With a quiet confidence, with the knowledge.
that you've been handpicked by the Creator of the universe. Remember when I was playing golf in California, I told you I was golfing and at the one of the holes a guy suddenly said, realizing that no one had asked me anything about myself. He said, and what do you do? Why say, well, I'm a pastor. Stunned silence.
And then one of the other guys says, well, so how does that go? I said, because pretty good. I said, uh There is no shortage of business.
Okay. I said, what do you mean? I said, well, you know, sinners everywhere. And on the next hole, one of those little guys came to me. If you remember, I told you this story before.
He came up to me and vociferously said, I don't like what you said back there. This guy had been telling some some jokes that you wouldn't want. your grandmother to hear and he And he said, I don't like what you said, Batner. I said, What was that? He says, about.
about being a sinner. He says, because I'm not a sinner. I says, wow. He says, I'm only describing. you know, what a sinner is like when I do these jokes and things like that.
I said, well, I'm delighted to meet you. I said, because there's only one other person I've heard of that wasn't a sinner. And he, who wasn't paying attention, led with his chin and he said, and who is that? And I said, well, that was Jesus of Nazareth. And he says, Well, if you're going to put it like that, I said, Well, how else do you want me to put it?
That's the clause of the facts. Listen to this wonderful quote from a Dutchman that gets to the heart of it, and we need to stop soon, but we always have this evening to come back. What distinguishes us, namely the people of God? What distinguishes us from the world? is not that we are less wicked.
Think about that. It's not that we're less wicked. But that by the grace of God we have learned to see our wickedness for what it is. and to confess our sins. The church is the only body on earth.
that confesses sin. Think about it. You go to the Rotary Club, they don't start with prayers of confession. And where the confession of sin dies out. the church is no longer Church.
That is a striking statement. When the confession of sin dies out, Take the average evangelical church as... preoccupations. And we are not immune to this observation. And say, where, in the framework of the thinking of this body.
is a genuine, deep-seated acknowledgment Of the fact that by nature I am, we are in the wrong. And that In Christ. We are placed in a position of acceptance with the Father. Sin no longer reigns. But it remains.
And so Luther was right. To make sure that we understand that the confession of sin is not something that happens once in your life when you're trying to get into a position with God, but that it is a life of daily repentance. Because daily I am aware of these things. That's why we sang again, come down, O Love, Divine.
So that we would have the line. when God is really at work in this kind of heart. The mature Christian Or his own shortcomings weeps with loathing. I don't know about you, but the longer I go in my Christian life, the more I'm aware of what a sinner I am. This isn't getting less.
I'm not I hope I sin less. I don't know. But the nature of sin confronts me far more today. than what he did before. driving me again and again to the gospel.
That's why Daniel is so magnificent. He says, it is your righteousness, God, which demands our punishment. Your wrath is a right response. And it is your righteousness which will prove the basis of our deliverance. Which of course takes us all the way.
to the end. And to the end, we must come. My final A is Daniel's appeal. Which begins in verse 16, doesn't it? O Lord, he says, according to your righteous acts, and here he goes.
It's only at this point that he moves from confession to petition. Isn't that amazing? Again, when you think about it in the nature of things, in terms of the structure of public prayer. Confession in the average church, including our own, is a bit like somebody walking up to the front door of your house and cleaning their feet just momentarily and then walking in. and getting on with things.
And so the average notion of confession within the church is just like that. Lord, we need you to know that we're aware of the fact that we're sinful, but listen, we want to ask you about this and tell you about that, and could you please help us with this? And we're not doing so well on that, and so on.
So it's petition, petition, petition, supplication. Daniel He goes forever before he even gets to something he says Lord and by the way I'd like to ask you. And when he makes the appeal. It's not about Daniel and the people. It's not about Daniel, the people, and their need.
It's about God and His glory. And I'll leave you to read the text yourself because it is once again his knowledge of God that underpins all that he does. He says, You are the God who brought us out in the Exodus. Therefore, you'll bring us out of the exile. Your name is like no other name.
There's no God like Jehovah. Your wrath is justifiable. It's your city. We are your people. It's your glory.
And he, Daniel, knows. that God has exalted above all things his name. And his word. And when you read the text for yourself again, you will notice this great juxtaposition: you, O Lord, are righteous. and we are justifiably covered In shame.
We are justifiably covered in shame.
So he says, this is what I want you to do, Lord, please. Will you shine? Will you shine into the desolation of our Lives. Basically, it harks really, doesn't it, to the ironic blessing? Yeah, sure.
May the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you his peace. You remember that's how Jesus left his disciples before the ascension. He lifted up his arms in blessing.
I would guess the ironic blessing. We are covered in shame. How then? Can our faces no longer be covered in shame?
Well, the psalmist tells us those who look to him are radiant and their faces are never covered in shame. And the story that unfolds through Daniel, even through this hard section. which to which we will come. You say, is it harder than this one? Yes.
And And what it's doing is it's pointing us forward to the ultimate way in which God deals with our shame. that on account of his mercies we are not consumed. Because his compassions fail not.
so that we could sing of one. who bearing Shame. and scoffing rude. in my place Condemned he stood. And he paid my pardon.
in his blood Why that changes everything. He ends with just a staccato burst of stuff. O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, heed.
O Lord, act. And before he's even really finished his prayer, as you'll see in verse 20. He has a flying visit from an angel.
Well, we ain't gonna get no flying visit from an angel. But I tell you what we can do. We can acknowledge both individually and as a church. That we are. in need.
of God's grace, His mercy, and His forgiveness. The real question. you see about the ongoing work of the gospel in this place. has little to do with numbers. It has little to do with multiple ministries.
It has everything to do. with God and His glory. the majesty of his name. the acknowledgement on our part. that we are in need of his grace.
Because we are by nature sinful. were not any less wicked. We are simply those who have understood our wickedness. and have cast it. upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yeah. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. Alastair returns in just a minute. At Truth for Life, we're always looking for new ways we can tell others about Jesus, and God continues to amaze us by opening doors around the world in areas that are hostile to the gospel, even behind prison walls. In fact, we regularly receive letters from men and women who have come to saving faith while serving out a sentence in a prison, and then they share that faith with other inmates, even with prison guards.
In fact, we heard from Nathan, who wrote to us after hearing our study of God's providence in the life of Joseph, and he said, I think that Joseph serves as a great example of Christian patience and faithfulness. I also feel very convicted concerning the evangelism of the lost. Pray for me that I may have greater boldness for the gospel.
So I hope you'll join us in praying for Nathan, but also pray that God will continue to reach more people with the hope of the gospel through this daily programme. God is changing lives through the teaching of His Word on Truth for Life. and we are grateful for the faithful prayers and consistent support that comes from monthly donors who help sustain this Bible teaching ministry. If you'd like to join this vital team of truth partners, you can join us today. Visit truthforlife.org/slash truthpartner.
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Now here is Alastair to close with prayer. Lord, we commend ourselves into your care. We thank you that in Christ We are more loved and accepted than we could ever imagine. outside of him were in such a mess. And we try and fix it for ourselves, and it's just a futile endeavor telling ourselves we're great.
deciding that if we have more stuff Trying to create our own identity. Lord, set us free from all of that. that Jesus Christ might be all in all. May grace, mercy, and peace. from Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Be the abiding portion of each one who believes. today and forevermore. Amen. I'm Bob Lapine as we are studying through a difficult passage of scripture in Daniel. These passages often have many different interpretations.
How can we determine which interpretation is correct? We'll wrestle with that dilemma tomorrow. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
