Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

9

The Revelation on the L-Train

The contract of Genesis and the bleeding heart of Paul.

The Spirit of God quickened me, instructed me, that these promises were for me and for my people, the Jewish nation.

The minute I thought this I also thought, “that is dangerous, my Christian friends always say God is done with my people.

They even correct me when I say I am Jewish follower of Yeshua and say, ‘you mean Jewish Christian.’”

I learned that I am child in a house with biological siblings and adopted siblings.

And because of the immense love of my Abba in Heaven he has adopted billions of children into my family.

Well intentioned Christians who have my people’s Scriptures and no my people’s Messiah don’t have the heart of Paul for my people.

From time-to-time the adopted children join together and conspire against the biological children and try to convince them that they are no longer important to the heart of the father and that the adopted children have replaced the biological and now we the biological needed to be the adopted.

This is to their detriment because those in a family are integrally bound together.

The whole Big Idea of is that those wild branches that are grafted in to this great Jewish tree are bound together with the natural branches and to its natural root.

One does not prosper if the others do not.

I came to believe that day that my personal, the body of Messiah’s growth, the expansion of the Gospel and seeking the salvation and restoration of Israel are necessarily interwoven.

The implications of this are as beautiful as they are challenging.

If we are bound-up together, it means followers of Yeshua will never be fully mature until they seek the restoration and salvation of Israel; and, Israel will never fully mature until they receive the Messiah Yeshua.

Entering Their Pain

In Jewish space we have a saying, “Culanu K’echad” (כולנו כאחד) which I translate as “All of us together as One.”

I understand that some Ethiopian Jews translate this as “I am because we are.”

How far do we go with this?

How bound up are we with natural Israel?

Should we rejoice with those who rejoice?

Yes.

Weep with those who weep? Yes.

Should we sacrifice for Israel?

That is harder, but we know the answer is yes.

What about this: Should we confess one another’s sin?

Should we in some way share the load of mutual failings in corporate repentance?

Is it possible that we have not repented as we should unless we have repented for our sins and Israel’s sins?

Should we rejoice with those who rejoice?

Yes.

Weep with those who weep? Yes.

Should we sacrifice for one another?

That is harder, but we know the answer is yes.

What about this: Should we confess one another’s sin?

Should we in some way share the load of mutual failings in corporate repentance?

Is it possible that we have not repented as we should unless we have repented corporately?

If that is true, then not only do we need to repent for each other’s sake, we also begin to echo quite remarkable things about the covenant community that are clearly reflected in the prayers, petitions, and vision of the prophet in .

The first of these beautiful and challenging truths of our covenant-union is that confession is not just about the individual.

If that is true, then not only do we need to repent for each other’s sake, we also begin to echo quite remarkable things about the covenant community that are clearly reflected in the prayers, petitions, and vision of the prophet in .

Daniel 9

Grab your copy of the Scriptures.

We learn a lot about how to use Scripture by observing how those in Scripture use the Word that was available to them.

This is an important aspect of the Reformation principle that “Scripture interprets Scripture.”

We learn something of that principle by observing how the prophet Daniel reads the prophets who have preceded him.

Ha-Foke-Bah

Confession is About We

Daniel is reading Jeremiah and learns that the captivity he is experiencing is supposed to last seventy years.

He suddenly realizes that the seventy years are nearly completed and that he and his people had better get ready.

Getting ready is about more than packing bags; it involves preparing hearts.

For this reason Daniel begins to pray, and his prayer results not only in an amazing vision of what will come but also in remarkable insights into how the people of God, then and now, should live.

This is what Daniel says:

Remember we said last week that the vision of was troubling because Daniel learns that the nation of Israel will go through generations of suffering.

Literally, empires worth of suffering.

Perhaps the normal human reaction is to say, “But, Lord, I didn’t do anything wrong.

Please excuse me from this discipline.

It’s not my fault.

This is not about me.

I was one of the good guys.

Or, I was just a child.”

We presume that we are not responsible for sin that we did not commit.

But Daniel makes no such presumption.

Instead, as a spiritual leader, Daniel assumes responsibility for sin that he did not commit.

He read the prophecies of Jeremiah and believing the Word of God to be true he knew that God expected repentance of the nation.

And, he was part of the “we” of the nation.

We need to be very clear about what has happened and what Daniel now does in light of the facts of this chapter.

In the preceding vision (), Daniel learns that the nation of Israel will go through generations of suffering.

Perhaps the normal human reaction is to say, “But, Lord, I didn’t do anything wrong.

Please excuse me from this discipline.

It’s not my fault.

This is not about me.”

We presume that we are not responsible for sin that we did not commit.

But Daniel makes no such presumption.

Instead, as a spiritual leader, Daniel assumes responsibility for sin that he did not commit.

We need to be very clear about what has happened and what Daniel now does in light of the facts of this chapter ().

Who has sinned?

Apparently, a lot of people have sinned and Daniel includes himself in this confession.

He does not say self-righteously like Elijah, “I have been very zealous for Adonai-Tzva’ot,” he said, “but the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and slain Your prophets with the sword...” Daniel the man who it is said of him several times, “The spirit of the holy God lives in him” says everyone is involved.

That if we sin, me sin.

What have all these people done?

Daniel said they were unfaithful, transgressed your Torah, did not obey God’s voice, did not seek the favor of God by turning from our sins.

Later on another Jewish man, Rabbi Paul, would say it this way, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” and “None is righteous, no, not one.”

Everyone is Involved

Everyone Has Rebelled

Everyone is Responsible: Personally & Corporately

Daniel repeatedly says “we” or “us” (see the repeated “we” of vv.

5–15).

But why does Daniel confess?

He may have some problems in his life, but it seems unlikely that this brave spokesman for God needs to confess serious sin.

God repeatedly and miraculously rescues Daniel and grants him heavenly visions.

Surely this Daniel is not guilty like everyone else who “acted wickedly and rebelled” (v. 5) or have “not listened to … the prophets” (v. 6).

After all, the reason he is praying is that he has been reading Jeremiah.

Leaders Confess

Who confesses?

Daniel repeatedly says “we” or “us” (see the repeated “we” of vv.

5–15).

But why does Daniel confess?

He may have some problems in his life, but it seems unlikely that this brave spokesman for God needs to confess serious sin.

God repeatedly and miraculously rescues Daniel and grants him heavenly visions.

Surely this Daniel is not guilty like everyone else who “acted wickedly and rebelled” (v. 5) or have “not listened to … the prophets” (v. 6).

After all, the reason he is praying is that he has been reading Jeremiah.

We have to make a choice.