Sunday
Morning Bible Study
June
9, 2013
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision Is the church loved?
This Thursday is Movie Night. We’ll
be showing a movie about Intelligent Design.
The intricacies of bird flight points to a designer,
God. Play Flight movie trailer.
Calvary Chapel Logos – We are launching our Spanish Ministry as an
independent church starting this week. At
the end of 2nd service (around noon), we will be having a special
ordination service for Pastor Franklin and join with Calvary Chapel Logos for communion.
We are in the prophetic section of the book of Daniel.
9:1-19 Daniel’s Confession
:1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king
over the realm of the Chaldeans—
:2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel,
understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of
the Lord through Jeremiah the
prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of
Jerusalem.
:1 In the first year of Darius
The year is 538 BC,
Babylon has just fallen and is now being ruled by the Medes and Persians.
It was at the beginning of the reign of Darius that Daniel was arrested and
thrown into the den of lions. (Dan. 6)
Play “The Bible – Daniel in the Lion’s Den” clip
Why was he arrested?
He was arrested for praying. He felt that prayer was so important that he
would rather face the lions than stop praying.
This morning we’re going to look at one of the prayers that Daniel prayed
that very same year, perhaps one of the prayers that he was arrested for.
:2 understood … the number of the years
Daniel had access to Jeremiah’s prophecies.
The very year that Daniel had been
taken into captivity 67 years earlier, Jeremiah had written that the captivity
would last for 70 years (Jer. 25:11).
(Je 25:11 NKJV) And this whole land shall be a desolation and an
astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
One of the prophecies came after Daniel had been in Babylon for seven years
and had been sent to the folks in Babylon, like Daniel. There had been false
prophets in Babylon telling the people that they were about to go home, which
they weren’t. Jeremiah told them they
ought to unpack their bags and settle down – they were going to be in Babylon
for a while.
(Je 29:10–14 NKJV) —10 For thus says the Lord:
After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this
place. 11 For I know
the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future
and a hope. 12
Then you will call upon Me and go and pray
to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me,
when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from
your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places
where I have driven you, says the Lord,
and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away
captive.
Daniel has been examining these prophecies and has come to the conclusion
that they are getting close to the end of the Babylonian captivity.
Daniel has also seen a hint at what he’s supposed to be doing – seeking God
with all his heart (Jer. 29:13). That’s
just what he’s going to do.
:3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make
request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
:3 set – nathan – to give, utter, stretch out, extend; to
put, set, put on, put upon, set, appoint, assign, designate
:3 to make request – baqash – (Piel) to seek to find; to seek to secure; to seek
the face; to desire, demand; to ask, request
:3 prayer – tephillah – prayer, intercessory prayer
:3 supplications – tachanuwn –
supplication, supplication for favor
from – chanan – to be
gracious, show favor, pity
Supplications are coming to God
because you have a need, and He has grace to meet your need.
:3 fasting, sackcloth, and ashes
This is not a happy, joyful prayer.
This is a prayer grounded in
sadness, in mourning, in grief over sin.
:4 And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said,
:4 prayed – palal – to intervene; (Hithpael) to intercede; to pray
:4 made confession – yadah – to throw,
shoot, cast; (Hithpael – “reflexive”) to confess (sin); to give thanks
:4 I prayed to the Lord my God
Lesson
The language of prayer
Sometimes we get confused with just what prayer is all about.
If you look at the last two verses, you will notice that Daniel has quite a
vocabulary to describe prayer.
(Da 9:3 NKJV)
I set my face toward the Lord God
Daniel wasn’t just praying towards Jerusalem, He was
praying toward God.
to make
request
baqash – to
seek to find; to desire; request
by prayer
tephillah –
intercessory prayer
Daniel is going to be interceding for his nation.
and
supplications,
tachanuwn –
supplication for favor – I’m needy and God has grace
As Daniel is confessing sins, he is hoping for God’s mercy
to forgive.
with fasting,
sackcloth, and ashes.
This speaks of mourning and grieving over sin
(Da 9:4 NKJV)
made
confession
yadah – to
throw, shoot; in the “reflexive” form meaning to shoot at yourself
Most of us don’t like to “shoot ourselves”. We’d rather point fingers at others.
There is much to learn about prayer.
Be careful of thinking that you have it all mastered. I know I’ve only scratched the surface.
:4 “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His
covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His
commandments,
:4 mercy – checed – goodness, kindness, faithfulness
:4 love – ‘ahab
– to love
:4 keeps … keep – shamar – to keep,
guard, observe, give heed
God “keeps” His covenant and mercy
with those who “keep” His commandments.
:5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have
done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your
judgments.
:5 we have sinned – chata’ – to sin,
miss, miss the way, go wrong, incur guilt, forfeit, purify from uncleanness
:5 committed iniquity – ‘avah – to bend, twist, distort; (Qal) to do wrong,
commit iniquity
:5 we have done wickedly – rasha– to be wicked, act wickedly
The word is used twice in the
passage (vs. 5,15)
:5 rebelled – marad – to rebel, revolt, be rebellious
:5 departing – cuwr – to turn aside, depart
: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.
:6 heeded – shama–
to hear, listen to, obey
: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.
:7 righteousness – tsedaqah –
justice, righteousness
:7 shame – bosheth – shame
:7 unfaithfulness – ma’al – unfaithful
or treacherous act, trespass
:7 they have committed – ma’al – to act
unfaithfully, act treacherously, transgress, commit a trespass
They’ve “trespassed a trespass”
:8 “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to
our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.
:8 shame – bosheth – shame
:8 we have sinned – chata’ – to sin,
miss, miss the way, go wrong, incur guilt, forfeit, purify from uncleanness
:8 we have sinned against You
Lesson
Recognizing Sin
Or, How many ways can you spell
“sin”?
I think that sometimes we struggle with sin because we don’t want to deal
with our problems.
This is not a guy/girl thing. We all would prefer to talk about how
miserable we are than talk about what our real problems are.
Daniel takes sin pretty seriously. Just look at the vocabulary that Daniel
uses to describe sin.
(Da 9:5 NKJV)
we have
sinned
and committed
iniquity,
we have done
wickedly
and rebelled,
departing from Your
precepts
(Da 9:6 NKJV)
Neither have we heeded Your servants the
prophets
(Da 9:7 NKJV)
shame of face
the
unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.
(Da 9:10 NKJV)
We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God
(Da 9:11 NKJV)
Israel has transgressed Your law
has departed so as not to obey Your voice
we have sinned against Him.
You might think that as you grow in your walk with the Lord, that you can become
less and less concerned about sin.
Here is Daniel in his seventies, and he’s confessing the sins of his nation
as if he’s guilty too.
Toward the end of Paul’s life, after walking with Jesus for thirty years,
Paul writes,
(1
Ti 1:15 NKJV) This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners, of whom I am chief.
I’m not suggesting that we work at beating ourselves up or develop some
sort of poor self-image.
It’s about understanding that I have much more to grow in.
When I was younger, I thought that all I needed to fix was
that big outward action in my life, the obvious thing I struggled with, like
looking at porn.
But once I found victory, I found that I had layers of inner
attitudes that still need to be dealt with.
Things like pride, lust, laziness, or misjudging others
:9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and
forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.
:9 mercy – racham – womb; compassion
:9 forgiveness – celiychah –
forgiveness
:9 rebelled – marad – to rebel, revolt, be rebellious
:10 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.
:10 obeyed – shama–
to hear, listen to, obey
This Hebrew word is found seven
times in our passage today.
The first four times it is talking
about us “hearing” or “obeying” God. (vs. 6,10,11,14)
The last three times it is used by
Daniel asking God to “hear” his prayers. (vs. 17,18,19)
:11 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.
:11 transgressed – ‘abar – to pass over or by or through, alienate, bring,
carry, do away, take, take away, transgress
:11 departed – cuwr – to turn aside, depart
:11 not to obey – shama– to hear, listen to, obey
:11 the curse and the oath
In both the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, God gave warnings to Israel
about what would happen if they continually disobeyed Him.
(Le 26:33 NKJV) I will
scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall
be desolate and your cities waste.
And now this exact thing had happened.
God also gave Solomon a warning about the judgment Israel would face if
they wandered too far from God. But God
also gave Solomon the solution to the problem.
(2 Ch 7:14 NKJV) if My
people who are called by My name will 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.
Daniel knows he needs to express repentance, a turning away from sin.
:11 we have sinned – chata’
– to sin, miss, miss the way, go wrong, incur guilt, forfeit, purify from
uncleanness
This word is used four times in the
passage (vs. 5,8,11,15)
:12 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.
:13 “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has
come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from
our iniquities and understand Your truth.
:13 iniquities –
‘avon – perversity, depravity, iniquity, guilt or punishment of iniquity
Found three times in the chapter
(vs. 13, 16, 24)
:13 we have not made our prayer
before the Lord our God
As a nation, to this point they
have not acknowledged their sin before God.
:13 turn … and understand
Repentance involves turning from
something and turning toward something else.
Turning from our iniquities.
Turning towards, understanding
God’s truth.
:14 Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us;
for the Lord our God is
righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice.
:14 righteous in all the works
God has done the right thing in
bringing judgment on the nation and having them taken to Babylon.
:15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of
Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we
have sinned, we have done wickedly!
:15 out of the land of Egypt
A God who can do anything
:15 we have sinned – chata’ – to sin,
miss, miss the way, go wrong, incur guilt, forfeit, purify from uncleanness
:15 we have done wickedly – rasha– to be wicked, act wickedly
:16 “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger
and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain;
because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your
people are a reproach to all those around us.
:16 let Your anger and Your fury be turned away
Why should God ever consider doing
that?
We are guilty and deserve judgment.
Yet God is merciful.
:16 sins – chet’ – sin; guilt for sin; punishment for
sin
:16 iniquities – ‘avon – perversity, depravity, iniquity, guilt or
punishment of iniquity
:16 Your people are a reproach
People mock God because of us.
David brought reproach on God
because of his sin with Bathsheba.
(2 Sa 12:13–14 NKJV) —13 So
David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14
However, because by this deed you have
given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord
to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.”
:17 Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of
Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to
shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate.
:17 cause Your face to shine
This was part of Aaron’s blessing
that the priests were to speak over the people:
(Nu 6:24–26 NKJV) “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25
The Lord
make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 26
The Lord
lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’
God’s face “shines” on us when we
have been forgiven.
:17 on Your sanctuary, which is
desolate
The Temple in Jerusalem, which is
in ruins.
:18 O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your
eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we
do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but
because of Your great mercies.
:18 our righteous deeds…Your great
mercies
Forgiveness isn’t based on what we do, but on God’s mercy.
There is a payment required for our sin.
There must be a sacrifice for God to forgive us in a correct, righteous,
just manner.
Jesus paid our debt. He was our
sacrifice.
(1 Jn 1:9 NKJV) If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
God is “just” when He forgives us because He has paid the price for our
sins by sending His Son to die in our place.
:19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen
and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for
Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”
:19 O Lord, forgive!
:19 Do no delay
Daniel’s
confession and the return to the land.
:15 we have sinned
Lesson
Confession
There are folks who think it’s not necessary for us to “confess” or admit
to our sins.
They say, “Jesus has already paid for my sins, so I am already forgiven and
I don’t need to confess anything.”
There is a problem if we don’t think we need to admit to God our current
failures.
Necessary
Confession isn’t just the responsibility of the fellow sitting in the back
of the police car in handcuffs.
Confession is something that all of us need to practice. It is necessary for all of us.
Daniel is not exactly a wild and
reckless sinner.
He’s even known as
one of the most “righteous” men on the planet.
Yet here he is,
confessing the sins of the nation, and using phrases like “we have sinned” and
“we have done wickedly”
Jesus told a story about two men who went to the Temple to pray.
(Lk 18:9–14 NKJV) —9 Also He
spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous,
and despised others: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the
other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice
a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ 13 And the tax collector, standing
afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his
breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I tell
you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other;
for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself
will be exalted.”
When I read this story, I don’t want to be like the
Pharisee and pretend that I’m better than everyone else. I want to learn humility and ask God for His
mercy.
We all need to
learn what confession is all about.
Confess to God
David knew what it was like to be pretending that he didn’t have a problem.
(Ps 32:3–5 NKJV) 3 When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the
day long. 4 For day
and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was
turned into the drought of summer. Selah 5 I acknowledged my sin to You, And
my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the
Lord,” And You
forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
It was when David confessed his sin to God that he found
forgiveness. There is a “blessing” that comes when we admit to God what we’ve
done.
God promises to forgive our sins if we will learn to
confess them to Him.
(1 Jn 1:9 NKJV) If we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Confess to others
Some make the mistake of thinking that if they confess their sins secretly to
God; they never have to mention it to others.
Yet sometimes the act of admitting our failure to others is the thing that
breaks the hold that sin can have on us.
(Jas 5:16 NKJV) Confess your
trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.
The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
If your sin involves something you did against another
person, you need to ask their forgiveness as well as God’s.
If your sin is something that you keep repeating and you
can’t break free from, asking for help from others can be the thing that breaks
sin’s grasp on you.