Unquenchable Mercy (Daniel 9)

Intro: How do you believe GOD views your sin and deals with your sin? (write down a few thoughts)

How do YOU view your sin and deal with your sin? (write down a few thoughts)

Is there consistency between the two sets of thoughts that you just wrote down? Would both of those thoughts be consistent with what the Bible says about your sin and how it must be dealt with?

We’ve been in a sermon series in the book of Daniel called, “Indestructible Kingdom,” and it’s been our goal that we would “give our undivided allegiance to the indestructible kingdom of God.”

I pray that’s been your goal too… I know I’ve heard a lot of people who are really being challenged and encouraged in that area...

But if we are going to grow to give our undivided allegiance to God, then we are going to have to come face to face with this question of “what do we do with our sin?”

Because sin is essentially treason against the God who created us.

Sin is turning on God and saying, “I know better than you! You might have created me, but I know what is best for me!”

And if the Lord, in his mercy, reveals that sin to us, then we have to know what to do with it.

Because too often, we run between two fleshly extremes:

One is we hide it or we pretend like it doesn’t exist.

On the other extreme, we just write it off as nothing… We minimize it. We rationalize it.

We say things like, “Well, I’m only human… we all sin… it’s no big deal because we aren’t under the law anymore!”

And both of those extremes: hiding our sin or rationalizing our sin are inconsistent with the way God has dealt with our sin in Jesus Christ.

The thing that brings consistency between God’s view of sin and our view of sin… the thing that brings consistency between God’s way of dealing with sin and our way of dealing with it is this: confession.

Confession is essential to maintaining a heart of allegiance to the indestructible kingdom of God.

If we are going to be grace-transformed, truly free Christians, we have got to learn how to confess sin.

And thankfully today, we have a great tutor in confessing our sin: the Prophet Daniel.

As we dig into chapter 9, we want to learn how to...

Big Idea: Confess your sin truthfully, knowing that God redeems mercifully.

Your Bibles are open to Daniel 9… look at verse 1… [Read Daniel 9:1-2]

So Daniel, as usual, gives us a time marker… the first year of the reign of Darius...

You might remember this king… he was the King that overthrew Babylon’s King Belshazzar at the end of chapter 5 and the king that appointed Daniel to a very high position in chapter 6, only to throw him into a lions den.

And it’s in that same year that Daniel prays this prayer of confession.

You might remember that the whole reason Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den in the first place was because he was told to pray to no one but the king… and instead he prayed 3 times a day with his window wide open to the world, praying toward Jerusalem.

In chapter 6, we get Daniel’s habit of prayer… in chapter 9 we get the content of at least one of Daniel’s prayers.

We find out in verse 2 that Daniel was prompted in prayer by the reading of scripture.

That’s a REALLY common pattern in the scriptures by the way… do you want to pray in a way that is led by the Spirit??? Pray based on the scriptures he inspired. That will help ensure that your prayers are attached to his will and his heart.

John Piper once wrote, “Where the mind isn’t brimming with the Bible, the heart is not generally brimming with prayer.” (John Piper, “How to Pray for a Desolate Church,” 1992, qtd in Akin, D. L., Platt, D., Akin, D. L., & Merida, T. (2017). Exalting jesus in daniel. Nashville, TN: Holman Reference.)

The source of Daniel’s prayer was the scriptures themselves.

Specifically, Daniel was reading the prophet Jeremiah, most likely in chapter 25, because he perceived that the time of the exile from Jerusalem was 70 years.

Now remember… Daniel had been carried off to Babylon as a teenager during the first siege of Jerusalem…

That was 68 or so years ago… he’s an old man now… and he realizes reading Jeremiah, “Wait a minute! Our time is almost up! It’s almost time for us to start going home!”

But I believe he also is prompted by the scriptures to remember something else: that confession precedes God’s restoration of Israel to their land.

He would have read just a little later in Jeremiah 29, “For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:10–13, ESV, Emphasis Mine)

I believe he would have also remembered Solomon’s dedication prayer at the temple: “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chron.7:14)

Daniel sees that God’s plan of redemption is unfolding… that the time of restoration was coming… but he also knew he must PARTICIPATE in that restoration by seeking God’s face in confession of sin.

I think we are sometimes afraid to confess sin.

If we say it out loud, we actually have to admit that there is something wrong in our hearts that needs to change.

If we say it out loud, we can’t keep maintaining our sin and enjoying it.

If we say it out loud, we can’t keep deceiving ourselves and others into thinking we are all that!

But Daniel shows us that confession is the gateway to experiencing and applying God’s active mercy.

Confess your sin truthfully, knowing that God redeems mercifully.

Let’s start here:

1) Confess your sin truthfully. (v. 1-19)

Let’s read Daniel’s confession in verses 3-19.

I love how raw… how honest… how truthful Daniel is.

He is not just saying words… he’s broken over this. He’s dressed in uncomfortable clothes to show that he’s mourning… he’s fasting and refusing to eat to show his strong hunger for God…

Daniel has truly seen who God is… and he truly sees Israel’s sin and even his own role in it.

Notice, he doesn’t put himself outside of the sinful group and confess their sin for them… he recognizes that he is a sinner WITH them.

Daniel is a good man… a faithful prophet… but he still needs a merciful God because he is not sinless.

I want you to also notice something about Daniel’s prayer: He also doesn’t confess sin with the word “but...”

Kids, do you ever use the word, “But” when you are confessing something to your parents?

“Sure I hit my brother, BUT he said something mean!”

Sure I stayed out past curfew, BUT I didn’t do anything bad while I was out!”

That’s not a good habit… because too often we take that into our relationship with God.”

Daniel could have been like, “I confess Israel’s sin, BUT you know I’ve been faithful to you all this time in Babylon.”

Or “We’ve sinned against you, BUT what can we say… we’re only human!”

Or “I know we’re sinful, BUT I know you are a God of love… and so you can just overlook our sin, right?”

No, he agrees with God about his sin and the sin of Israel… and he confesses TRUTHFULLY.

We see in Daniel’s Scripture-fed, Spirit-led, worship-based prayer that he intricately weaves together two truths: the truth about God and the truth about his sin.

And I want this to be instructive to us this morning about how we are to confess sin.

It’s of first importance that our confession is rooted in the truth about God.

a) Confess the truth about God.

Notice how Daniel jumps right out of the gate with worship: I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession (which is also the Hebrew word for “praise”)… saying “The great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.”

Daniel’s confession is rooted in worship. He confesses the truth about God.

And he doesn’t just start with worship… it’s woven throughout.

And he doesn’t just focus on one type of attribute, he focuses on many.

I think when we think about confession, we often think about God’s more “fearsome attributes.”

And for certain, we need to confess because God is holy and fearsome and awesome...

But confession is also stirred on by God’s more “relational” attributes… his love and grace and mercy...

Without those, confession makes no sense...

And when confessing our sins before God, we need to confess the truth about ALL of God’s attributes.

So Daniel is sure to confess and worship both God’s “fearsome attributes” and his more “relational” attributes.

God’s “Fearsome” Attributes Mentioned

Great and Awesome (v. 4) - (“you are totally beyond us, God!”)

Righteous (v. 7, 14, 16) - (you never once move off of your perfect standard… you are always right in all your ways…)

Angry and Wrathful (v. 16 - “let your anger and your wrath turn away”) - (in saying that, there’s this sense that Daniel is saying, “you have every right to be angry about sin… our sin is an offense against who you are...”)

Jealous for his Name (v. 19 - “delay not, for your own sake”) - (forget about what WE deserve… you deserve better than us trampling your name and your honor through the mud!)

God’s fearsome attributes make our confession necessary (he is holy and our sin must be dealt with)… but it’s his relational attributes that make our confession possible...

So often I think people confess because they are only afraid of what God might do if they do not confess… they have an unhealthy view of both confession and God.

But they miss that confession is a an invitation into relationship. It’s an invitation out of hiding and into the light.

It’s an invitation for God to draw near you because you are humbling yourself.

And it’s an invitation across the threshold of his transforming grace.

Notice how Daniel appeals to God’s more relational attributes throughout the prayer:

God’s “Relational” Attributes Mentioned

v. 4 - "You keep covenant steadfast love” (v. 4)

v. 9 - "to the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness” (v. 9, 18-19)

v. 13 - “We have not entreated the Lord our God seeking his favor...” (Daniel is implying that if they would have just sought God, he would have been generous with his Favor” (v. 13, 17)

He also remembers that God is Redeeming by remembering the Exodus from Egypt (v. 15) - “And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.” (Daniel 9:15, ESV)

Covenant keeping and loving… merciful and forgiving… generous with his favor… redeeming… Isn’t that picture of God someone you want to confess your sin to?

You have to know God is both holy AND merciful for confession to make sense.

You don’t honor God by only having one or the other in view.

And ONCE you know both of those realities, confession is the ONLY thing that makes sense.

Understand: Daniel is NOT just repeating theological terms here… this is a God he KNOWS… this is a God whom he’s experienced in all of his fearsome attributes and his gracious attributes.

Think about all that Daniel has seen and experienced up until now...

God’s judgement in exile...

God’s power in the visions he’s seen...

But also God’s protection in a foreign land… his rise to authority in Babylon.. God’s protection of him and his friends in a fiery furnace and lion’s den...

Daniel has known God… and it drives him to confession for his sins and the sins of his people.

KNOWING GOD will lead to seeing yourself as a sinner in great need of his merciful redemption.

As we confess the truth about God, our hearts are stirred to confess the truth about our sin.

Confess the truth about your sin.

I want us to notice some things about the way Daniel confesses sin…

Confess because sin is a violation his holy and merciful law

Look at how Daniel describes sin: (v. 5 - "turning aside from your commandments and rules," v. 6 - "we have not listened to your servants the prophets," v. 7 - "treachery committed against you," v. 9-10 - "we have rebelled, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord God (laws and prophets)," v. 11 - "transgressed your law and turned aside," v. 13 - "we have not... [turned] from our iniquities... gaining insight by your truth”)

Any time we violate God’s moral law… any time we fail to love him ad love others the way he created us to do… any time we seek our own way instead of his... it’s a time to confess.

No “if’s, and’s or but’s”…

No trying to reason with God… no trying to minimize the effects of our sin…

If we seek our own way instead of God’s, it’s time to confess.

So many of us are willing to raise our hands and say, “I’m a sinner.” But how many of us are willing to put our finger on a thought or an act and say, “I have sinned.”

That’s hard… but it’s necessary.

And that’s because sin brings open shame.

Confess because sin brings open shame.

(v. 7-8, "to us belongs open shame")

Now this was especially true for Israel because their sin had resulted in their removal from the land God promised them…

It’s as if their dad was spanking them in the middle of the mall.

And that may seem like a harsh thing to do… but it’s the reality of sin.

There’s a reason people sin in secret.

There’s a reason we try to hide or minimize sin. It’s because sin is legitimately shameful.

Remember what Adam and Eve did when they first sinned? They hid because they knew that they were naked and they were ashamed.

And then they sewed pathetic garments of fig leaves for themselves to cover their shame.

but do you remember what God did?

He gave them garments of animal skin.

God has a way of dealing with our shame that is a TON better than our own ways of dealing with it.

And it comes through confession.

1 John 1:8–10 ESV

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Confess because sin is a violation his holy and merciful law… because it brings open shame… third:

Confess because sin is both personal and corporate.

In our Western culture, individualism has overtaken much of our understanding of scripture…

We think so much about our PERSONAL, INDIVIDUAL relationship with God that it’s hard to FATHOM confessing someone else’s sin as my own.

But the biblical writers understood correctly that the sin of one brought judgement on the whole.

And we own our sin together. There’s no finger-pointing… there’s no confessing for someone else while claiming our own innocence… Daniel puts himself right in the boat with the rest of Israel.

(v. 5 - "we have sinned," v. 6 - "we have not listened," v. 7 - "to us [belongs] open shame," v. 8 - "we have sinned against you," v. 9-10, "we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws," v. 11 - "all Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice," v. 11 - "we have sinned against him," v. 13 - "yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth”)

We have to recognize that our sin doesn’t only affect us.

Our sin directly affects others… and other people’s sins affect us.

We grow and are stifled in growth together.

Listen: your willingness to confess your sin to God has a direct affect on the rest of our church.

Your willingness to turn from your sin and pursue God’s ways has a direct affect on the rest of the people sitting around you… because we are a body!

We either spiritually grow… or we are stifled in spiritual growth together.

So there are times when we need to confess personal sins…

Ways that we have, as individuals, rebelled against God.

This might be that we as parents misrepresented God the Father to our kids by getting impatient with them...

Ways that we have let bitterness and anger rule our hearts...

Ways that we have loved the things of this world more than God… turned people or things into idols by valuing them more than God...

Really, breaking any of the ten commandments… even if only in our hearts…

Those are times for personal confession... when we confess our own individual sins to God… and even identify them to one another so we can see them and grow...

Even our personal sins affect the whole church body...

But then there are also times when we need to confess corporate sins, specifically as a church.

Ways that we have turned the church into something it was never supposed to be.

How many of us can say that we have never made the church about attending a program… or just showing up on a Sunday morning out of routine rather than to receive the word ad serve others?

How many of us can say we have never judged something going on in the church according to our own preferences or self-righteousness…

And in the process, how many of us have, at times, lost sight of the fact that the church is all about making disciples to the glory of God?

How many of us have valued outward performance in the church… putting on our Sunday best… measuring some standard of excellence in our music or preaching… judging success by external indicators of checking boxes or having certain numbers...

instead of measuring spiritual fruit...

Listen: that’s trading God’s desires for the church with our own…and when we see it, we don’t point the finger at other members or leaders… we confess that we are part of the problem, because we are all part of the same body!

We must confess because sin is a violation his holy and merciful law… because it brings open shame… because it is both personal and corporate… and the last thing we see from Daniel’s prayer is that we:

Confess because sin cannot be dealt with according to our own righteousness.

Look at v. 18 - For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.

That is so important.

When we see the fearsome character of God… his holiness and righteousness and awesomeness… we KNOW that we can’t deal with our sin according to our own righteousness…

We need the mercy of God.

That’s the gospel...

Your sin created a debt that you cannot pay… it earned you everlasting torment in hell...

But God… in his righteousness and mercy… chose to take your punishment and give it to Jesus Christ… his perfect, spotless Son… instead.

And Jesus rose from the grave so that you could be counted righteous before God… cleansed from your sin… and given new life in him.

Confessing my sin is essential to believing the gospel because I have to realize that I’m a sinner who can’t deal with my sin according to my own righteousness… I need the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

And if you have never believed that… if you think you are good enough and that God just has to accept you because he is a loving God… I want to urge you to think again.

God is both fearsome and relational. And he provides a way into his awesome presence through his Son Jesus Christ.

And if you confess that you are a sinner and you cast yourself upon the mercy of God alone for salvation, he will save you… he will forgive your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

And for those of us who have already experienced that forgiveness, confession is essential to our regular, ongoing experience of the gospel because it reminds us that we daily need a redemption that we cannot earn, and I have a redeemer who provides it.

We have a continual need to be cleansed from our sin… for the active, transforming grace of Jesus to wash away our remaining sin.

And we have a redeemer who not only confesses our sin for us like Daniel did for Israel, but who paid for our sin with his own blood, and ever stands in God’s heavenly throne-room applying his blood to cover our sin.

And confession reminds me of the price Jesus paid for the sins I just committed so that I will turn from them and to his righteousness.

Apply: Do you confess regularly and truthfully? In your prayers of confession, do you acknowledge both the fearsome and relational attributes of God? Do you confess your sin truthfully, or do you minimize or rationalize it?

You can confess your sin truthfully, knowing that God redeems mercifully.

2) Know that God redeems mercifully. (v. 20-27)

So Daniel dumps his heart out to God… and I wonder if he questioned what kind of answer he would receive?

Have you ever questioned that? You pour out your heart for mercy, but wonder if God actually wants to give it?

Well, Daniel wouldn’t have to question long… look at verse 20 [read Daniel 9:20-23]

We see here that...

a) God is eager to redeem. (v. 20-23)

Daniel just STARTS confessing and God’s like, “‘Go Gabriel… give him an answer...”

And it’s like Gabriel is almost apologizing for only getting there by the end of Daniel’s prayer.

I can just picture him kind of out of breath… “Whew… sorry… I came as fast as I could.”

And he gives this message: “I want you to know your pleas for mercy have been heard, and you are greatly loved.”

Isn’t that awesome when Daniel has just poured out his soul in confession? To hear, “You are greatly loved!”

“Here’s how terrible my sin is… have mercy!” Response… “You are greatly loved.”

It reminds me of the parable of the prodigal son… son SEVERELY sins against his father… but upon his return, the Father is RUNNING to greet him at the end of the road and to bring him in and to throw him a party and show him ABUNDANT grace.

That’s how we should view confession too, by the way.

God is not reluctant to forgive. He is eager to redeem. How merciful is our God???

And so then Gabriel tells Daniel HOW God is going to do that… this is such an incredible prophecy that comes next…

Read v. 24.

What we are going to read in the next verses are a detailed, specific prophecy to Israel’s future redemption…

But before we get to the breakdown of the times that God is going to use to redeem his people, we see the purpose… the outcomes… that he is going to accomplish in his redemption.

You see, God is not only eager to redeem, he is also ...

b) God is purposeful to redeem. (v. 24)

6 Purposes for God's Plan of Redemption

a) Finish the transgression. (allow the full time of Israel’s transgression to come)

b) Put and end to sin. (there is going to be a decisive victory over sin)

c) Atone for iniquity. (he is going shed blood as the price to be paid for them to come into relationship with him)

In other words, he’s going to have complete mercy upon their sin. But he’s not only going to deal with their sin in the past… he’s going to make a way for them in the future.

--------------------

d) Bring in Everlasting Righteousness (there is going to be a new Kingdom brought to earth where Jesus is going to reign in total righteousness)

e) Seal both Vision and Prophet (there is going to be an end to visions and prophecies, because there will be no more need for them… Jesus will be present with us!)

f) Anoint a Most Holy Place (there is going to be direct access to God, sprinkled by the blood of the spotless Lamb, Jesus Christ).

These are the purposes for God’s plan of redemption… he knew them before Daniel ever prayed his prayer of confession.

But because of Daniel’s prayer, he was ready to hear and understand them.

God redeems mercifully… he is eager to do it… he is purposeful to do it… and finally…

c) God is resolved to redeem. (v. 25-27)

Once he lays out the purpose for the seventy weeks, he now breaks them down.

The term for “week” is literally, “seven.” So when we are talking about seventy weeks, it is literally, “70 sevens”… you get the period of time it refers to by the context...

And here, almost all biblical scholars believe it refers to a “week of years” or “a period of 7 years”…

so we are dealing with 70 periods of 7 years, or 490 years in total.

And it’s also important to understand that we are not talking about Roman calendar years… we are talking about Jewish years, which were 12 months of 30 days each… or 360 days.

So really, when thinking about this today, we are thinking about 70 periods of 2520 days… or 176,400 days...

And in these 3 verses, God is going to use this amount of 176,400 days to outline the rest of redemption history as it relates to Israel…

Verse 25 - “Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince… there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.” (Daniel 9:25, ESV)

So we start with 69 of the seventy weeks… 483 JEWISH years… and the event that STARTS the first of the 69 weeks is the decree… by a king… to restore and build Jerusalem… specifically the streets, which is what the word “squares” refers to… and “moat” (or the exterior of a wall of a city)…

And the event that ENDS the 69 weeks is the coming of an anointed one…

There are a few decrees by Persian rulers to go rebuild things in Jerusalem, but the streets and the wall was specifically decreed by King Artexerxes in 445BC.

And someone has done the work to measure this out… 49 years Jewish later (7 sevens of years)… 396BC... they finished the wall and the temple and additionally the last Old Testament prophet finished his prophecy.

God is resolved to work out his redemption. But that’s not all.

If we move forward 62 more weeks… or 434 JEWISH years… after doing all the math, you get down to the month, and likely even down to the day of a very important event: the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday as it is sometimes called today)...

What was happening on that day? The moment when Jesus was presented before the people of Israel… the citizens of Jerusalem as the anointed one, “the Messiah, the prince.”

God is resolved to work out his redemption. But that’s not all.

In v. 26, we read, “And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing.”

What happened just one week after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem?

He was cut off: He was falsely accused… his clothes stripped off… he was taken outside the city… and he was crucified. And from his own perspective, he was cut off from God too… “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me!” was Jesus’ cry… and because he was forsaken, we can be forgiven.

This was God’s ultimate work of redemption.

And it was how God was answering Daniel’s prayer.

The way God would maintain both his righteousness and mercy when his people cried out in confession was by cutting off Jesus, his anointed Son, from his presence and giving him the punishment we all deserve for our sin.

Our prayers of confession are heard through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

But sadly, Israel would continually reject their Messiah… and God would punish them by removing their temple and their worship.

Vese 26 - And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.” (Daniel 9:26, ESV)

So now we have a different prince… a prince who is to come… this is type of Antichrist like we talked about earlier… because we see he brings destruction.

In 70 AD, the city of Jerusalem and the temple was destroyed and made desolate.

And ever since that time, people have bee asking, “Is there any mercy for Israel? Is there any hope for them in the future? Or did they just finally sin too much that God was done with them and started over with the church?”

That’s where verse 27 and Daniel’s next vision in chapter 10 come in.

So far we’ve talked about 69 of 70 weeks… but the 70th week for Israel is delayed significantly until the full number of the Gentiles come into the church… it’s still in our future...

This current age wasn’t in this prophecy because the vision was about Israel… in direct concern to Daniel’s prayer.

Look at v. 27 - “And he [the prince who is to come… the Antichrist] shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”” (Daniel 9:27, ESV)

There is coming a time in the future… a period of 7 years... it could be very soon for us today… when Israel is again occupying their land… when they start worshipping God again through the true sacrifice, Jesus Christ… and where the Antichrist makes a strong covenant with many to overthrow the true worship of God.

But we know from Daniel’s other visions… and from Revelation… that this is the moment of their ultimate and final redemption.

This is the time where they see Jesus as their true Messiah… and the time immediately preceding Christ’s return.

God has it all planned out. He always has. He is eager to redeem… purposeful to redeem… resolved to redeem…

Apply: Do you understand and trust God’s plan of redemption through Jesus Christ?

Israel’s Anointed Prince can be your prince too… if you would confess your sin and trust in him for salvation.

Confess your sin truthfully, knowing that God redeems mercifully.

We are going to respond a little bit differently to God’s word today…

We are going to sing an old hymn written in 1772 by William Cowper called, “There is a Fountain Filled with Blood.”

It’s a reminder that it is only the blood of Jesus can wash us clean from the vile nature of our sin.

And it is a reminder that he is eager to do so.

And so we are going to sing two stanzas, one of which David wrote specifically reflecting on the place of confession in the life of the believer…

And then we are going to read a corporate confession together, followed by time for you to reflect and confess personally in your heart before God.

Then we will sing another verse and have another opportunity for confession.

Let’s confess truthfully… I’m not asking you to confess something just because I tell you to.... let the Holy Spirit work on your heart...

And confess what he reveals to you.

And then let the words of his mercy pour over you as we sing.