Daniel 9:1-3 (Inspired to Pray - Part 1)
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[READING - Daniel 9:1-3]
1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. 3 So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
[PRAYER]
[ILLUS] In 1996, Pastor Joe Wright was guest chaplain for the day at the Kansas House of Representatives. He was asked to open the new session of the house with prayer. He prayed…
“Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and seek Your direction and guidance. We know your Word says, ‘Woe on those who call evil good,’ but that’s exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.
We confess that:
We ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it pluralism.
We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.
We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
We have abused power and called it political savvy.
We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by you to govern this great state. Grant them the wisdom to rule, and may their decisions direct us to the center of your will. I ask it in the name of your Son, the Living Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.”
Pastor Joe knew the times, knew the Word of God, and knew that it was time to pray.
In Daniel 9, Daniel also knew the time, knew the Word of God, and knew that it was time to pray.
Exposition
Exposition
#1: Daniel knew the times (Dan. 9:1)
#1: Daniel knew the times (Dan. 9:1)
1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans—
[EXP] Daniel had been taken to Babylon as a youth. By this point, he is about 80 years old if I remember correctly, and he has served in this foreign land for many decades.
But v. 1 tells us that something historic has taken place: the Chaldeans (i.e., the Babylonians) were no longer in power. The Kingdom of the Medes and Persians now reigned. The Babylonian King, Belshazzar, no longer sat on the throne, but Darius the son Ahasuerus, of Median descent, he now ruled.
The Babylonian’s were no more.
[TS] Daniel knew the times, but also notice that…
#2: Daniel knew the word (Dan. 9:2)
#2: Daniel knew the word (Dan. 9:2)
2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.
2 During the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, learned from reading the word of the Lord, as revealed to Jeremiah the prophet, that Jerusalem must lie desolate for seventy years.
[EXP] Daniel was reading the writings of the Prophet Jeremiah when he likely came across Jeremiah 25:11-12, which says…
11 ‘This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 ‘Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the Lord, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.
And Daniel likely read Jeremiah 29:10, which promised God’s people…
10 “For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.
Daniel knew that Babylon had come to an end because King Darius of Medo-Persia was on the throne, and he knew that God had promised in His Word that after Babylon was no more, God’s people would be brought back to the Promised Land.
[TS] Daniel knew the times, and Daniel knew the word, and…
#3: Daniel knew the task (Dan. 9:3)
#3: Daniel knew the task (Dan. 9:3)
3 So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
[EXP] Understanding the times in which he lived and understanding the Word of God that he read, lead Daniel to understand what he must do—PRAY!
He turned his attention to the Lord.
He didn’t turn it to King Darius.
He didn’t turn his attention to the people of God.
He didn’t turn his attention to the Promised Land.
He turned his attention to the Lord God because the Lord God is the one who spoke the Word of God that Daniel delivered, and the Lord God would be the one to see that Word fulfilled.
Daniel was a man of prayer. He was in the habit of turning his attention to the Lord God.
17 Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, about the matter, 18 so that they might request compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
10 Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.
Daniel prayed because he knew the times; he prayed because he knew God’s Word, and Daniel prayed because he believed God to be faithful.
Daniel prayed because he believed that God would fulfill His Word.
Illustration
Illustration
Joshua trying to distract from his bad behavior by asking, “What time it is?”
Ex. kicking over the soda in the youth room
“What time it is?”
Ex. spitting on the the basketball goal behind the church
“What time it is?”
Ex. open the Velcro on the TrapperKeeper during the sermon
“What time it is?”
[TS] We may not have a Joshua distracting us with the question, “What time it is?” but if we are not careful we will be distracted by the times in which we live.
Application
Application
#1: Do we understand the times in which we live?
#1: Do we understand the times in which we live?
Our time is the last days, the time between Jesus' ascension and Jesus’ return.
#2: Do we understand God’s Word for our day?
#2: Do we understand God’s Word for our day?
Daniel understood that the Word of his day was found in Jeremiah 25 and Jeremiah 29, but the word for our day is found in passages like Matthew 24:9-13; 1 Timothy 4:1-2; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; and 2 Timothy 4:3-4.
9 “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. 10 “At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. 11 “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. 12 “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. 13 “But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,
1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
#3: Do we understand the task for our day?
#3: Do we understand the task for our day?
Daniel was inspired God’s Word to pray, and we should be inspired by God’s Word to pray also.
We should pray with faith like Daniel did.
He believed God and expected God to accomplish His Word, and we should believe God and expect God to accomplish His Word.
And we should pray with humility like Daniel did.
In Daniel 9:3 we read that Daniel prayed with fastings, sackcloth, and ashes. He was humbling himself before God, not demanding anything of God.
When we pray, we should humble ourselves by confessing sin and ignorance, confessing our smallness before God’s greatness.
And if we need to fast our put on sackcloth and ashes, then we should do it if it would help us humble ourselves before the Lord in prayer.
[ILLUS] Prayer is the necessary response to God's Word, but prayer is also the necessary prerequisite to godly action.
The great evangelist of yesteryear D. L. Moody was crossing the Atlantic when a fire broke out in the hold of the ship. The crewmen and some volunteers began to form a line to pass buckets of water in hopes of dousing the flames. A friend said to Moody, “Mr. Moody, let us go to the other end of the ship and engage in prayer.”
Moody responded, “Not so, sir; we stand right here and pass buckets and pray hard all the time.”
[TS] We should be inspired by God’s Word to pray, and we should be inspired by God’s Word to act.
[APP] If we look at Matthew 24 and 2 Timothy 4, we see not only the inspiration to pray but also the inspiration to act in two very specific ways.
13 “But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. 14 “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
These words in Matthew and 2 Timothy inspire us to endure in faithfulness until the Lord Jesus comes.
These words in Matthew and 2 Timothy inspire us to share the Gospel of Jesus so that other can be called to faith in Jesus until the Lord Jesus comes.
We may preach or evangelize formally or informally, but our job is to share the good news of God’s in Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Conclusion
By the end of Daniel 9, Daniel will be told that it's not yet time for what he asks. And because he was told "not yet," he knew there was still more to do.
There were still more prayers to pray.
There were still more need of endurance.
There were still more people to tell of God’s goodness.