Standing in the Gap Part 2: Confessing Our Sin

Slide 1 (Title slide)— no animation

Introduction

The world in which we live is either like the world of Pre-Exile Jerusalem and Judah or it is like the world of Babylon. Last week as I began my series, “Standing the gap” we looked at the world in which we live and the parallels we share with both Pre-Exile kingdom of Judah and Babylon. I gave the challenge from the book The Church in Babylon that we have three choices. Assimilate into the secular culture, Isolate from the secular culture, or engage the secular culture. If you believe the Bible and what Jesus Christ has called us to do, there is ONLY one option. We have been called to be agents of change.

Now we move back to Daniel. Judah and Jerusalem had been sent into exile for 70 years due to sin and Jeremiah had sent a letter to the exiles in Babylon with instructions from God. Daniel had read the letter with God’s words in those pages and his heart was changed. The Word of God caused him to get on his knees.

The Word of God can be in the mind without being in the heart; but it cannot be in the heart without first being in the mind. ~ R.C. Sproul

Read and study the Word of God, but also memorize it, meditate on it. Apply it to your life. Live it out. Share it. Let it change you from the inside out. It had for Daniel.

Daniel 1:8 “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” He had set boundaries in his life and in his heart BEFORE he was kidnapped and taken to Babylon. He had been in the Word BEFORE the storm came. BEFORE this trial arose. He had already had a life of prayer as Pastor Chris had read in Daniel 6.

Slide 2 (Daniel 6:10)—no animation

Daniel 6:10 “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.” His custom SINCE EARLY DAYS. How long had he had that routine? Childhood most likely and he carried for all his life. Now here in Daniel 9 we see the prayer.

Daniel 9:3 NKJV

Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

On His Knees in Adoration and Confession

I know of no better thermometer to your spiritual temperature than this, the measure of the intensity of your prayer. I am not speaking about the quantity of it, for there are some who, for a pretence, make long prayers; but I am speaking about the reality of it, the intensity of it. Prayer is best measured by weight rather than by length and breadth ~ Charles Spurgeon

That is the case for Daniel as he begins his prayer.

Daniel 9:4 “And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments,”

After knowing the time of the exile was nearly over, Daniel PRAYED! He made CONFESSION. He started with a prayer of adoration. Sometimes you might hear an acrostic for PRAYER

Slide 3 (ACTS PRAYER) - one animation

with the Word ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication). With Daniel’s prayer in chapter 9 we have least three out of the four, but mostly it is Confession. Yet, at the beginning he starts with Adoration.

O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments”

O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, (ESV)

He starts off by praising the attributes of God.

Hebrews 13:15 “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”

How often do we, do I, start off our prayers with praising God for WHO HE IS? Now granted some prayers are going to be quite short like Peter starting to sink into the Sea of Galilee or if you hit a patch of black ice on the road. Not every prayer needs to start this way, but do you honestly take time in your prayers to praise the name of the LORD. Daniel is praising God’s name and His attributes. Lord You are great and awesome! That word gets overly used, including by me from time to time. Awesome!

Deuteronomy 7:21 “You shall not be terrified of them; for the Lord your God, the great and awesome God, is among you.”

Deuteronomy 10:17 “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.”

Daniel is using this language from the Torah in his adoration of God. Once again going back to the Word of God. When you not only read and study it, but when you memorize and meditate on it, you can pray God’s Word back to Him. Daniel is doing this with his prayer to God. Beginning with Adoration and Praising His name.

He prays that God keeps His promises. You keep Your covenant and has mercy (steadfast love) with those who love Him and keep His commandments.

Deuteronomy 7:9–12 ““Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them. “Then it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers.”

Once again Daniel is praying back these Words of God from Deuteronomy. How often are we praying Scripture back to God?

The Confession / Sins of the Fathers / Sins of the People

Daniel 9:5 NKJV

we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.

This series is called Standing in the gap. Daniel is standing in the gap for his people by labeling himself as one of the sinners. His prayer is not “They have sinned and committed iniquity...” he puts himself in there: “WE have sinned and committed iniquity.”

It is a prayer for national repentance, but he is part of it.

He is being an intercessor before God, just as Jesus Christ is THE intercessor for us before His Father. Romans 8:34 “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”

English Standard Version Chapter 9

we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.

The language of this confession:

SINNED

COMMITTED INIQUITY

DONE (ACTED) WICKEDLY

REBELLED - we have revolted against GOD!

DEPARTED FROM God’s Precepts and Judgments.

In Joshua 22:19 “Nevertheless, if the land of your possession is unclean, then cross over to the land of the possession of the Lord, where the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and take possession among us; but do not rebel against the Lord, nor rebel against us, by building yourselves an altar besides the altar of the Lord our God.”

Joshua 22:29 “Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord, and turn from following the Lord this day, to build an altar for burnt offerings, for grain offerings, or for sacrifices, besides the altar of the Lord our God which is before His tabernacle.””

Daniel is saying that we have rebelled against the LORD! We failed the commandments given to them by God through Moses and Joshua.

Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate (Chapter Three: The Malignancy of Sin)

our sin is an assault on the majesty and sovereign rule of God. It is indeed cosmic treason

Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate Chapter Three: The Malignancy of Sin

Someone has described sin as cosmic treason. If that seems like an overstatement, consider that the word transgression in the Bible, as seen for example in Leviticus 16:21, actually means rebellion against authority—in this case, God’s authority. So when I gossip, I am rebelling against God. When I harbor resentful thoughts toward someone instead of forgiving him or her in my heart, I am rebelling against God.

Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate Chapter Three: The Malignancy of Sin

It does not matter whether our sin is scandalous or respectable, all our sin is sinful, only sinful, and altogether sinful. Whether it is large or small in our eyes, it is heinous in the sight of God.

For centuries, Israel had sinned, done wrong, been wicked, rebelled, revolted, and departed from God’s words and now they were in Exile. Daniel is confessing this sin to God!

They had gone down the Wrong Path

In Deuteronomy 28-30, God through Moses lays out two paths for Israel (Blessing and Curses). It is summed up in Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Deuteronomy 30:15–20 NKJV

“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

When we look at the local area, the State, the country, and the world we live in and we see sin (do we like Daniel did, put ourselves as one of them?). Yes, we are children of God, yes we are saints, yes we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Yes, we are Heaven bound, but WE are still in this flesh and have a sin issue.

I have sinned!

I have committed inequity!

I have done wickedly!

I have rebelled!

I have despised God’s commandments and precepts.

Daniel has gone from praising God’s name to right into this confession. The Word of God had illuminated a truth in his heart and his life, and now he was on his knees before the LORD. Now in his eighties. It does not matter how young or how old you are. The Word of God and the truth of God can and should lead you to confession and restoration, as it did for Daniel.

Verse 6

Daniel 9:6 “Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land.”

Who are we listening to? What are we listening to? As I mentioned last week, the people in Judah / Jerusalem were listening to the wrong voices. The false prophets.

Jeremiah 2:8 “The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ And those who handle the law did not know Me; The rulers also transgressed against Me; The prophets prophesied by Baal, And walked after things that do not profit.”

Jeremiah 5:23–24 “But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart; They have revolted and departed. They do not say in their heart, “Let us now fear the Lord our God, Who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.””

Do we listen to the Word of God, and the teaching and life of faithful men and women who preach, teach, and live out their faith as they live the Word of God?

2 Timothy 2:2 “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” James 1:23–24 “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.”

Be a DOER of the Word, not just a hearer.

Just because you are reading the Bible or going to church does not mean you are living it out.

The people of Israel and Judah had heard the Word of the LORD over and over again, but rarely responded. Josiah was one of the few in those days leading up to the exile, but the exile was going to come.

Verse 7

Daniel 9:7 “O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.”

Daniel now moves to showing the attributes of God once again and comparing it to the people in exile, including Himself.

God is righteousness. He is RIGHT! He is JUST! He is Honest!

God is right —> We are Wrong.

Shame of Face. Open Shame. Judah/Jerusalem has been put to shame and humiliation.

This shame and humiliation is a direct result of the unfaithfulness which they had committed against God. God is not being unfair. He said if you do these things, this is the result. God kept His word! Now they are living the consequences of that.

Verse 8

Daniel 9:8 ““O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.”

This humiliation and shame happened to all of them. To the leadership and the forefathers! WE HAVE SINNED AGAINST YOU!!

Daniel is not pulling any punches. It is not some mistake that this happened. He knows why it happened. We sinned, we got booted. Sin has consequences. Daniel has been in a foreign land for 70 years because of sin. Daniel was taken from him home. Saw family and friends murdered, raped. Taken to a foreign land where he did not know the language, culture. Most likely castrated, all because of sin. Yet, he is still remaining faithful and holy and standing in the gap for his people.

If we were in this situation how would we respond? Would you, would I stand in the gap and plead for the mercies of God on the people who had rebelled against Him? Would I be bitter or would I trust God in the midst? Would I stand in the gap?

WE HAVE SINNED AGAINST YOU!

Psalm 119:9–11 “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.”

Psalm 51:3–4 “For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.”

Pastor Chris went through 1 John. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

Daniel acknowledge his sin and the sin of his people over and over.

Verses 9-11

Daniel 9:9–11 “To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him.”

Daniel continues to use this dichotomy.

God’s action / Israel’s response

Faithful / Shameful

Mercy / Rebellion

God has mercy and forgiveness, yet the people did not obey His voice.

We have not obeyed the voice of YWHW (LORD) the Great I AM.

When we stop listening to God’s voice, we go our own way. We do what is right in our own eyes as the people at the time of Judges also did.

We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD. We have not walked in His law, His commandments! His teaching! His instruction. They were given to them and not obeyed or listened to.

How much more are we who have multiple copies of the Word of God in our heart language guilty? Judah could use the excuse (though Daniel does not make excuse for them) that they did not have their own copy of the Torah. They were still guilty. They didn’t listen to what Isaiah and Jeremiah were proclaiming to them or the other prophets sent by God who warned of the exile. What excuse do we have?

All Israel from the Northern and Southern Kingdoms had not obeyed God or His voice or His laws.

He is once again referring back to Deuteronomy 28-30!

God had the blessings and the curses spelled out in quite detail in the Law of Moses and Daniel acknowledges this.

The New King James Version Chapter 9

the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him.

The same Hebrew word for poured out is used by Josiah when he heard the very words of Deuteronomy read to him.

2 Chronicles 34:21 ““Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for those who are left in Israel and Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book.””

That wrath was spared of King Josiah, but not for his children. That wrath was poured out according to the Law of Moses, because of sin!

This imagery of being poured out and linked to God’s wrath is something flows through both the Old and New Testament.

When Jesus is praying in the Garden before His arrest He prayed

Luke 22:42 “saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.””

Matthew 26:38–39 “Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.””

Let this cup pass from Me. Why? Because it is full of God’s wrath.

In the book of Revelation there are 3 sets of seven judgments that strike the earth (Seals, Trumpets, and finally bowls)

Revelation 15:1 “Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete.”

Revelation 15:5–16:1 “After these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. And out of the temple came the seven angels having the seven plagues, clothed in pure bright linen, and having their chests girded with golden bands. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever. The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no one was able to enter the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed. Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.””

So the imagery of the pouring of God’s wrath is well documented throughout Scripture.

Daniel is confirming that God keeps His Word! The oath Israel had said they would keep they failed to keep. God kept His promise! God always keeps His promises!

Verse 12

Daniel 9:12 NKJV

And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.

Daniel continues his statement in this prayer! God keeps His promises! God keeps His words. He kept His promise! He confirmed His words!

It is the same Hebrew word used in Ruth 4:7 “Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging, to confirm anything: one man took off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was a confirmation in Israel.” When Boaz met with the closer kinsman.

God does not make idle threats or warnings.

When God says He will do something, He will.

Isaiah 55:6–11 NKJV

Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

God spoke against the kings, princes, priest, and judges.

Great disaster / calamity has been brought upon Jerusalem and its people.

This had never been done in Jerusalem before!

Jerusalem, the City of Peace was now a ruin and a disaster!

God kept His Word! God kept His promises!

Conclusion/Application/Challenge

We will conclude Daniel’s prayer next week.

As we come to the end of this week message, I want us to reflect on this first part of Daniel’s prayer.

Last week we had looked at the world we live in and the world that Daniel lived in and the generation before him. The Word of God had challenged him to get on his knees and pray for forgiveness of his sins and the sins of his ancestors. That prayer that we began today shows the heart of Daniel. He is a man who loves His LORD! He made a beautiful proclamation of who God is and that He is a God who keeps His Word! From the first line he says that God keeps His covenant! Yet, he contracts that with the sin of himself and that of his ancestors. He put himself in the gap to intercede for mercy from God for the sins of the past and the sin of NOT confessing now! Daniel is standing in the gap with his prayer! The question this week that I challenge myself and you is: Are you and am I standing in the gap for our brothers and sisters in Christ? For the church. And by extension our community and nation? Do we merely complain about the world or do we actively try to change it by praying for forgiveness and mercy? Daniel actively prayed for forgiveness and mercy for Israel and Jerusalem. That God would forgive. Daniel acknowledged the sin and rebellion that had caused the exile. WE HAVE SINNED! WE HAVE TRANSGRESSED! WE HAVE REBELLED! You, Lord God, have kept Your Word which You gave through Moses and the Prophets that continually said, repent. Have we repented of our treason, our sins, even our respectable sins or are we acting like the people before the exile? We are Christians God is not going to judge us?

Take time to examine yourself. Get alone with God. Confess, Repent, and Intercede.