1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,040 I wrote listening, I wrote listening down. 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:04,040 Someone told me I was asking, 3 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:07,320 sometimes you get good sermon content by asking questions. 4 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:09,000 I asked this question to somebody who's in the office 5 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:12,040 and he said, you know, humor goes a long way. 6 00:00:12,040 --> 00:00:15,800 And it does, not making fun of the person. 7 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:18,920 Laughing with them, not at them, that can be good, right? 8 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:19,920 So that's good. 9 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:28,600 If you have a long-term relationship with somebody, 10 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:32,880 do you have a chance that they're going to offend you 11 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:34,760 or you're going to offend them? 12 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:36,760 Yeah. 13 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:40,680 And whenever that happens, what kind of communication is needed? 14 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:45,040 Forgiveness, does anybody agree with that? 15 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:51,680 What about if you have a situation where you catch somebody 16 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:57,960 saying something about you or doing something wrong 17 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:02,680 to you or whatever, and you catch them doing it, 18 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:06,880 or if that's one scenario, the other scenario is they do it 19 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:09,400 but then they feel bad about it and they come tell you. 20 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:11,560 They say, listen, I did this and it was wrong 21 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:14,880 and I want you to sorry, which one do you trust more? 22 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:17,120 The one you catch or the one that tells you? 23 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:19,400 The one that tells you, right? 24 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:23,320 It still may not be good, but it's definitely better 25 00:01:23,320 --> 00:01:25,240 if they come and they fess up. 26 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,160 You ever have kids that come and tell you they did wrong? 27 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:30,280 Did that make you feel a little bit better about the kid? 28 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:32,280 There's a little bit more trustworthiness that happens 29 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:35,560 when the kid fesses up or owns up to what they did. 30 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:36,800 That was wrong. 31 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:41,800 I think a part of a good relationship long-term 32 00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:47,320 is if there is confession, there is repentance 33 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:51,520 and there is forgiveness in that relationship. 34 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:56,080 Well, if that's true in human relationships, it's also true 35 00:01:57,200 --> 00:01:58,840 in our relationship with God. 36 00:01:59,920 --> 00:02:02,200 God didn't have anything to confess to us 37 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:05,400 because he's perfect, he's sinless, he didn't do anything wrong. 38 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:07,280 But if you're gonna have a good relationship 39 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:10,720 with God long-term, what are the different aspects 40 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:13,560 that we have, for instance, in our prayer life? 41 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:14,840 When we have a good relationship with God, 42 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,600 there should be an honor and a respect and with God, 43 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:21,320 it goes even beyond that to worship, right? 44 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:23,960 To rightly understand who God is, 45 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:26,920 we begin to understand that my role as a worshiper 46 00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:29,840 and his role is to be the one that's worshiped 47 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:32,680 and to honor him and to know him for who he is. 48 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:37,160 So part of our prayer life ought to be worship. 49 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:40,560 Thanksgiving ought to be part of my prayer life 50 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:41,720 and communication with him. 51 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:43,440 Do you agree with that? 52 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:47,080 Because every good gift and every perfect gift 53 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:50,320 comes from above from the Father of Light, 54 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:51,720 and in him is no variableness, 55 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:53,880 neither shadow or turning, James says. 56 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:56,240 So part of my relationship with God 57 00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:58,800 should include part of my communication with God 58 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:01,080 ought to be Thanksgiving. 59 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:04,360 I know that everything that I need, 60 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:07,000 God is the one who supplies it. 61 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:10,880 So one of the verses I've been quoted to a friend 62 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:12,800 lately a lot is, be anxious for nothing, 63 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:15,120 but in everything through prayer and supplication 64 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:19,280 with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. 65 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:20,960 And the peace of God which passes all understanding 66 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:23,200 will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 67 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:27,760 So there's a sense in which that we gotta ask God for things 68 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:30,160 and he supplies those things and he's like a Father 69 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:35,160 who likes to give us things when we ask him, right? 70 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:38,920 But there's also one more kind of communication 71 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:40,160 that we're gonna have with God. 72 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:42,640 If we're gonna have a good relationship with God, 73 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:44,440 the name of this series is staying true 74 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:46,200 in a world far from God. 75 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:51,200 If we're gonna stay true to God in a world far from God, 76 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,400 there's times where we're gonna realize we wander, 77 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:55,480 we do wrong. 78 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:59,800 And to have a good relationship with God, 79 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:01,080 there ought to be confession. 80 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:03,120 Now some may say, well Pastor Ben, 81 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:06,480 when I got saved, Jesus already forgave me of all I sin. 82 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:08,760 And I want you to know he did. 83 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:11,400 How many of your sins had you committed 84 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:15,640 when Jesus died on the cross, right? 85 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:16,840 We all sinned and at him, 86 00:04:16,840 --> 00:04:19,800 that's part of that federal headship, 87 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:23,400 that's part of that imputed sin that we have, original sin. 88 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:26,920 But in terms of actually in time doing wrong, 89 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:29,640 I hadn't done anything wrong because I hadn't been alive yet. 90 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:31,200 And Jesus, when he died on the cross, 91 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:33,240 he died for sins that I would commit. 92 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,760 They're past, now and present and future to me now. 93 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:38,760 But when he died for all of them. 94 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:41,120 So when we're confessing, you say, 95 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:45,120 well, what do you mean I gotta confess my sin? 96 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:48,720 Well, it's not about staying one of his kids, 97 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:51,800 it's about having a good relationship with them. 98 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:55,000 It's about agreeing, what is repentance? 99 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:58,920 Repentance is agreeing with God about my sin. 100 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:02,480 I see my sin the way God sees it. 101 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:03,880 That's what repentance means. 102 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:06,880 My mind is changed and my heart is changed 103 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:11,880 and my approach and my perspective on my sin 104 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:14,360 is the same as what God has. 105 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:19,360 And if that's the case, I'm not trying to confess my sin 106 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:22,960 so that I can stay a child of God, 107 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:24,200 I'm already a child of God. 108 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:26,600 I'm confessing my sin because I wanna maintain 109 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:28,360 my relationship with God. 110 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:30,480 And if I'm gonna have a good relationship with God, 111 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:32,680 here's the thing I know about you. 112 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:37,680 You sinned today, so did I. 113 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:39,720 If you don't think you you sinned today, 114 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:43,680 you need to read 1st, 2nd and 3rd John, right? 115 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:46,600 Because he says, if you think you have no sin, 116 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:48,160 the truth isn't in you, right? 117 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:52,240 We sin, we're good at it, right? 118 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:54,520 And the closer we get to the Lord the more 119 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:55,880 we'll recognize our sin. 120 00:05:56,920 --> 00:06:01,240 We can sin less, but until we get to see Jesus, 121 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:04,360 we'll never be sinless, right? 122 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:08,360 And so it's right for us to have, 123 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:10,880 if we're gonna have a good relationship with God, 124 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:13,760 it's good for us to confess our sin. 125 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:16,640 It's good for us, this is what's so good about prayer, 126 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:19,880 it's a way of aligning ourselves with God. 127 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:22,000 If you pray every day, it could be like 128 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,440 a little flag, a discipline to say, 129 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:26,760 hey, have I done anything? 130 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:28,040 Oh man, I did do that, didn't I? 131 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:30,480 God, I'm sorry, help me with that. 132 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:31,720 Forgive me for that. 133 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:33,840 That can be a part of what we do. 134 00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:36,760 We're in a series called, Staying True 135 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:38,600 and a World Far From God. 136 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:40,200 And we were talked about different things 137 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:43,200 that'll help us to stay true in a world far from God. 138 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:46,920 And we've talked about prayer, 139 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:48,720 we've talked about a lot of different things. 140 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:51,280 Tonight we're gonna talk about confession. 141 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:55,440 And we're gonna do that by studying Daniel chapter number nine. 142 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:59,120 Daniel chapter number nine is, 143 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:01,360 in Daniel's life, 144 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:07,360 this is during King Darius's reign. 145 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:10,480 You can see that, where's my Bible? 146 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:11,320 Oh, here it is. 147 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:14,640 Bibles are good when you preach, amen. 148 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:18,440 Daniel chapter nine. 149 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:24,080 You guys are fun to preach too. 150 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:25,080 Thanks for being here. 151 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:27,640 Daniel chapter nine, 152 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:30,440 verse one and two says, 153 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:34,040 in the first year of Darius, the son of Jesus, 154 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:36,000 of the seed, it means, 155 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:40,720 can I tell you that the key to pronouncing names in the Bible 156 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:42,320 is to pronounce them however you pronounce them 157 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:43,520 and just keep going? 158 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:45,320 And people think, oh, that's how you say it. 159 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:46,920 I don't know how to. 160 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:50,680 That was for free. 161 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:52,120 Okay. 162 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:54,440 Of the seed of the meeds, which was made king 163 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:57,160 over the realm of the Chaldeans in the first year of his reign, 164 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:01,080 I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years, 165 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:04,800 whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet 166 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:07,920 that he would accomplish 70 years 167 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:11,480 in the desolations of Jerusalem. 168 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:12,320 That gives you right? 169 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:13,760 There's the context of what's going on. 170 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:17,040 Daniel, we know Daniel was a bright guy. 171 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:19,400 He was a man of books. 172 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:21,400 Anybody here like to read? 173 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:22,360 I love to read. 174 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:23,560 Yeah, it's awesome. 175 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:28,560 I love audio books, podcasts, YouTube, Kindle books, audio. 176 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:30,440 I love just all that stuff. 177 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:31,200 It's a good thing too, 178 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:32,680 because it's kind of what I have to do. 179 00:08:32,680 --> 00:08:35,280 And Daniel was that way. 180 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:40,280 And Daniel, he's reading and he comes across, 181 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:43,560 Jeremiah is writing. 182 00:08:43,560 --> 00:08:47,560 And in Jeremiah's writing, Jeremiah prophesied 183 00:08:47,560 --> 00:08:50,200 that Jerusalem was going to get taken over 184 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:52,160 and that they were going to be taken out. 185 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:57,160 And that the time of frame from when he's taken out of Jerusalem 186 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:00,160 to when it's going to be over is how many years? 187 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:01,760 70 years. 188 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:04,760 Now, was Daniel a young man when that happened? 189 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:08,960 He experienced what I mean by this is, 190 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:11,600 and early if you go back to chapter number one, 191 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:14,600 when Jerusalem was sacked and they took him out, 192 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:16,080 Daniel was young. 193 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:18,280 And so he's reading the Bible 194 00:09:18,280 --> 00:09:20,640 and he's getting to a place in the Bible where he goes, 195 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:23,520 oh, this is going to be 70 years? 196 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:24,360 Right? 197 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:26,520 This is going to be, we're not going, 198 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:28,560 and he's probably adding up how old he was 199 00:09:28,560 --> 00:09:30,400 and how many 70 years, like, man, 200 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:32,440 if I'm even alive to be able to go back, 201 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:33,880 then I'm going to be an old man. 202 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:38,360 And you can just tell it's pretty difficult. 203 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:43,360 And so he's reading and he's figuring out 204 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:46,280 that the length of the desolation of Jerusalem 205 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:48,960 and the Jewry exile would be 70 years. 206 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:50,760 And you can read, if you want to write, 207 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:52,760 if you're writing on your paper, you want to write to the side, 208 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:55,040 you want to go back and read about that, 209 00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:58,040 he would have been reading probably 70 years ago. 210 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:01,880 He's reading probably in Jeremiah 25, 11 and 12 211 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:06,640 or maybe in Jeremiah 29, 10 to 14. 212 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:11,160 And so since Babylon fell in 539 BC 213 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:14,240 and since Daniel had been taken captive in 605 BC, 214 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:16,920 and remember when you're talking about BC, 215 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:21,920 it's counting down to zero, right? 216 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:25,960 That's not how they told time, that's how we tell time. 217 00:10:25,960 --> 00:10:29,560 Talking about what happened at year zero 218 00:10:29,560 --> 00:10:32,960 and Odomini in the year of our Lord, right? 219 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:37,960 So this is, and there's some changes in dating and all that. 220 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:42,240 But the point is, it fell in 539, 221 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:45,120 he was taken captive in 605, 222 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:48,440 and so he calculated that 70 years was almost over. 223 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:50,800 So thus Daniel sought the Lord for the restoration 224 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:54,360 of Jerusalem and the return of God's people 225 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:56,480 to their land. 226 00:10:56,480 --> 00:10:59,120 Daniel's responding to the sin of the nation 227 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:02,520 and he's doing it here with confession. 228 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:07,320 He's doing it with fasting and with prayer. 229 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:10,320 And so Daniel's prayer teaches us something 230 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:11,880 about what true repentance looks like. 231 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:14,960 Here's my big idea, here's my objective statement. 232 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:17,840 The objective I want to give to you tonight is this. 233 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:22,840 Since confession and repentance keep us close to the Lord, 234 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:26,840 we should do these actions modeled in the prayer of Daniel, 235 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:30,320 found here in Daniel chapter nine, verses three, 236 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:32,960 and we're gonna go all the way to 19. 237 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:37,960 Here's the first action that we need to take 238 00:11:38,560 --> 00:11:42,440 and it says here, it's to practice confession to the Lord, 239 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:44,800 practice confession to the Lord. 240 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:45,760 Here's what it says. 241 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:47,880 And by the way, our internet went out today 242 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:52,080 and Jeff Wagner has been here since like three working on it. 243 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:54,200 And he's worked all the way up to about now. 244 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:58,280 And so my wife prepared this really nice PowerPoint for me. 245 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:01,600 She's so nice, but the internet wouldn't let us get it. 246 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:06,600 So we've had one made, which I'm really excited about. 247 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:09,000 So that's pretty cool. 248 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:11,920 So let's thank the sound people back here 249 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:14,000 for making our good job, everybody. 250 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:14,880 Okay, so that's cool. 251 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:16,720 So I'm really thankful for that. 252 00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:20,240 Verse three, and I set my face, it says, 253 00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:25,240 under the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications 254 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:29,840 with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. 255 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:32,240 And I prayed unto the Lord my God 256 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:34,520 and made my confession and said, 257 00:12:34,520 --> 00:12:37,280 oh Lord, the great and dreadful God, 258 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:42,280 keeping thy covenant and mercy to them that love him 259 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:46,320 and to them that keep his commandments. 260 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:51,320 Now, before I keep moving, before I read the next few words, 261 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:54,080 somebody sum up what he just said. 262 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:02,680 What does he call his prayer in verse four? 263 00:13:05,560 --> 00:13:07,360 A confession, you see that? 264 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:11,080 He's, I'm praying and I made my confession. 265 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:16,080 Confession, in a prayer you can have, 266 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:19,400 we talked about worship, we talked about confession, 267 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:22,720 we talked about thanksgiving, we talked about requests. 268 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:24,960 Can you have a prayer that's just requests? 269 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:28,840 Can you make a prayer that's just asking for things? 270 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:30,880 That's kind of like my flera prayer today, right? 271 00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:32,320 God, could you just help me out? 272 00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:35,040 Could you have a prayer that's just thanksgiving? 273 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,520 You have a prayer that's just worship, right? 274 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:41,320 This is a prayer, he's saying this is just a confessional prayer. 275 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:42,480 I'm just confessing. 276 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:45,840 That's why the theme of this sermon is about confession. 277 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:48,640 He says, I made my confession and said, 278 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:50,080 oh Lord, the great and dreadful God, 279 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:52,120 keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him 280 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:54,120 and to them that keep his commandments. 281 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:56,760 What does he sum up what he just said? 282 00:13:56,760 --> 00:13:57,760 What does that mean? 283 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:00,280 I'll call you out. 284 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:03,280 What do you think, Jimmy? 285 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:04,120 This is verse four. 286 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:06,800 Oh Lord, the great and dreadful God, 287 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:08,920 keeping the covenant and mercy to them 288 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:12,720 and to them that keep his commandments. 289 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:14,280 To them that love him and keep his man. 290 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:20,280 I mean, Jimmy doesn't have to do it, I put pressure on him. 291 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:27,720 Yeah, who agrees, this is talking about promise keeping God? 292 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:29,280 I don't know, I don't know. 293 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:30,720 I don't know, I don't know. 294 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:33,800 Who agrees, this is talking about promise keeping God? 295 00:14:33,800 --> 00:14:35,200 Covenant, what's a covenant? 296 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:38,440 It's a promise that he's made. 297 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:39,520 What are some of the promises 298 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:42,080 that Daniel would have known that God made? 299 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:49,160 What does the Abrahamic covenant include? 300 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:53,200 Land? 301 00:14:55,080 --> 00:14:56,520 Well, they had had it. 302 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:58,720 They were in a land that they just got exiled out of 303 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:00,720 and that's kind of my point. 304 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:01,640 They haven't had all of it yet. 305 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:02,600 Yeah, that's right. 306 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:12,160 So in the Abrahamic covenant, he promised a land. 307 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:14,200 What else did he promise? 308 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:15,160 A lineage. 309 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:18,800 And he promised that he would be their Lord. 310 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:21,760 So there's your three, right? 311 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:25,320 So that in him, I'm gonna bless them that bless you 312 00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:27,000 and curse them that curse you. 313 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:29,120 I'll make your name great and in thee shall the nations 314 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:30,680 of the earth be blessed. 315 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:32,440 So that's one of those, 316 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:34,280 that's one of those covenants that have been made. 317 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:35,960 Anybody think of any other covenants 318 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:38,400 that Daniel would have known about? 319 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:42,920 The Davidic covenant, what was the Davidic covenant? 320 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:48,840 The David would always have a king, 321 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:51,240 there would be a king on David's throne. 322 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:53,320 Does, what is he trying to, 323 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:55,920 what was he reading in Jeremiah? 324 00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:58,000 What was Daniel reading about in Jeremiah? 325 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:01,240 The Dejah Shruginah Jerusalem 326 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:03,160 and then being taken out of Jerusalem. 327 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:07,840 So when he starts praying to God, a confession back to God, 328 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:11,400 what's one of the first thing he brings up? 329 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:15,720 Oh, Lord, the great and dreadful God keeping the covenant. 330 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:18,720 You think he's bringing this up? 331 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:20,600 And mercy to them that love him 332 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:23,800 and to them that keep his commandments. 333 00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:26,800 So he, is he, he's bringing up covenant for a reason. 334 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:28,160 That's all I'm trying to say. 335 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:29,680 Okay, then what does he say? 336 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:34,680 Verse five, we have sinned. 337 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:39,640 And I've committed iniquity and I've done wickedly 338 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:43,920 and I've rebelled even by departing from thy precepts 339 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:45,520 and from thy judgments. 340 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:49,120 Neither have we harkened and devised servants the prophets 341 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:52,640 which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, 342 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:57,640 our fathers and to all the people of the land. 343 00:16:59,880 --> 00:17:04,880 What's the nature of Daniel's confession? 344 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:12,560 In this particular passage, it's a national confession. 345 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:20,320 Daniel had actually been a pretty upright guy. 346 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:24,320 We learned last week that how, 347 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:25,720 the only way they could convict him, 348 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:28,280 but the gentry taught us was that they convicted him 349 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:31,120 for being someone who prayed, right? 350 00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:35,280 We learned a few weeks ago that Daniel purposed in his heart 351 00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:39,760 not to be defiled by the king's meat. 352 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:41,280 You guys remember that. 353 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:42,960 So Daniel's a pretty upright guy, 354 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:47,960 but he's reading Jeremiah and he's realizing we've messed up. 355 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:49,360 We've messed up. 356 00:17:50,280 --> 00:17:52,400 We went against God's revelation. 357 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:54,040 We've gone against God's commandments. 358 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:56,760 We've gone against God's judgments. 359 00:17:56,760 --> 00:18:01,560 And part of that is that we didn't believe in follow 360 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:05,080 and obey the people God sent, right? 361 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:07,800 That's what verse six, 362 00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:11,240 neither have we harkened unto thy servants the prophets 363 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:13,760 which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, 364 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:16,480 our fathers to all the people of the land. 365 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:18,640 Do you have a thought? 366 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:19,480 Go for it. 367 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:24,720 Jerusalem? 368 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:25,560 Yeah. 369 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:32,880 Culturally, probably that's true. 370 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:42,240 Right. 371 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:46,840 And I think it's pretty fresh. 372 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:53,480 Right. 373 00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:55,320 Right. 374 00:18:56,760 --> 00:18:58,640 I'm not saying, and I agree with you 375 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:00,760 in what you're trying to kind of push back a little bit. 376 00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:02,000 And I agree. 377 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:03,720 I don't think Daniel's perfect. 378 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:09,880 And I'm sure he found in this where he's been a part of that. 379 00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:14,880 And if there's anybody that understands I think this kind 380 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:18,880 of idea, it probably is us as Americans. 381 00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:22,160 That when I look at our nation and some of the things 382 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:24,560 that are going on, and I certainly don't agree 383 00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:26,320 with everything that's happening in our nation. 384 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:29,760 Does anybody, I think that's one thing we can all agree on 385 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:31,720 is that we don't agree on everything. 386 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:32,960 And I don't agree with everything. 387 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:37,960 But I also am a product of this culture, right? 388 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:42,960 I also probably, if there were people outside of this culture 389 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:47,400 to come examine my life or your life being Americans, 390 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:50,520 they might think, man, those are some pretty spoiled people. 391 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:53,480 We get a lot of, you know, maybe they haven't, 392 00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:55,600 they're not praying like they should. 393 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:56,720 They're not doing what they should. 394 00:19:56,720 --> 00:20:01,720 And that's where I think that's where Daniel is right here. 395 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:04,800 And that's what I want to talk about, okay? 396 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:11,800 How do I know, have you ever been stabbed in the back? 397 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:15,280 That ever happened to you? 398 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:21,280 Where somebody hurts you, they were disloyal? 399 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:24,720 What's happened to me? 400 00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:26,720 There's probably been a time where I've done it 401 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:28,720 to somebody that's been a part of me. 402 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:32,720 There's probably been a time where I've done it to somebody else. 403 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:37,720 How do you know that they're really, truly repentant? 404 00:20:39,120 --> 00:20:40,920 How do you know that they're a confession? 405 00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:43,440 Because you ever have this with your kids? 406 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:45,440 Are you crying because you got caught? 407 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:51,440 Are you crying because you're repentant? 408 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:55,200 Because you realize that your sin was wrong in your, 409 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:56,040 are you with me? 410 00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:57,880 Are you with me? 411 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:02,680 How do you know that someone is truly repentant? 412 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:04,920 Well, the truth of it is, 413 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:07,240 in the moment you don't know totally, 414 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:11,800 one of the ways you can tell that repentant is true, 415 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:15,320 is a long obedience in the right direction afterwards. 416 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:17,760 I was going this way, I was thinking this way, 417 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:20,800 and now I'm going this way, and I'm thinking this way. 418 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:23,520 But one of the things you know, 419 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:25,920 this is probably the best way to say this. 420 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:28,080 One way you know they're not repentant, 421 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:31,640 not truly repentant, or not as repentant as they ought to be, 422 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:33,920 is if they make a whole bunch of excuses 423 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:36,560 as to why they did what they did. 424 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:39,080 Yeah, I did wrong, but you, 425 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:42,720 yeah, I shouldn't have done this thing, 426 00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:46,200 but I wouldn't have done it if you hadn't of, 427 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:47,720 are you with me? 428 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:51,800 I don't see any of that in Daniel's confession. 429 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:55,880 He's just saying, we messed up. 430 00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:57,600 We're wrong. 431 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:02,600 He doesn't say, my people, the people, yeah, God, these Jews. 432 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,800 Right, he says we, right? 433 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:10,960 And so there's an extoling of God, 434 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:13,880 there's an understanding of who God is, 435 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:16,880 and then there's an enumeration, 436 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:21,040 a discussion of the sins. 437 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,840 We must own our sins and the sins of the people 438 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:27,720 that we lead even at times. 439 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:31,320 The Bible teaches us that when we conceal our sins, 440 00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:35,760 we will not prosper, but when we confess and renounce our sins, 441 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:37,680 we find mercy from the Lord. 442 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:40,320 Proverbs 28, 13 says this, 443 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:44,160 he that covers his sins shall not prosper. 444 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:46,320 Think about that. 445 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:49,920 He that covers his sins shall not prosper. 446 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:53,760 Proverbs are probabilities, not promises. 447 00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:58,120 What he's saying is, if you have a habit and a lifestyle 448 00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:01,560 that you're always constantly covering your sin, 449 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:03,720 that's not a road to prosperity. 450 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:05,280 Why? 451 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:06,480 Because you gotta have a good memory 452 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:08,200 if you keep concealing everything. 453 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:10,800 You gotta remember who you told what when. 454 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:13,840 If you just remember what happened and say that, 455 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:15,120 that's a good thing. 456 00:23:15,120 --> 00:23:18,960 Whoso confesseth and forsakeeth his sins, them, 457 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:21,640 shall have mercy. 458 00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:23,000 Who are you more likely to forgive, 459 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:26,360 the person you catch or the person who confesses? 460 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:29,240 That's what it's trying to say. 461 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:32,840 So if we wanna have a close relationship with the Lord 462 00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:34,360 and if we wanna do the right thing, 463 00:23:34,360 --> 00:23:36,080 and here's the thing about God, 464 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:37,520 does God know what we've done? 465 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:40,040 He knows everything we did. 466 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,800 He knows why we did it, right? 467 00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:46,080 He knows the wins, the where's, the how's. 468 00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:47,440 He understands it all. 469 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:50,320 It doesn't do you any good to cover it up. 470 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:53,280 Pastor Ben, it doesn't do me good to cover it up. 471 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:57,600 It's time for us to practice confession to God. 472 00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:00,880 Since confession, repentance keep us close to the Lord, 473 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:02,520 we should do these three actions, 474 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:04,160 model in the prayer of David. 475 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:07,480 Number one, practice confession. 476 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:10,880 And it's probably not something that you just do once. 477 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:12,080 How often do you sin? 478 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:15,640 That's how often you ought to confess. 479 00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:18,760 And the good news is God forgives us for things 480 00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:20,960 that we don't even remember what we did. 481 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:23,000 Praise the Lord for that. 482 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,440 Here's the number two, and these are all kinda related. 483 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,520 I'm just trying to put labels on what he's trying to say 484 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:30,760 to kinda give us a summary. 485 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:34,040 Number two, pursue closeness with the Lord. 486 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:35,200 Pursue closeness with the Lord. 487 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:36,160 Look at verse seven. 488 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:42,640 Oh, Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, 489 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:47,640 but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day, 490 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:49,840 to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 491 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:54,280 and to all Israel that are near and that are far off. 492 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:00,200 Though all the countries, whether that has driven them 493 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:01,760 because of their trespass, 494 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:03,200 that they have trespassed against thee. 495 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:06,040 Oh, Lord, to us belongeth confusion of faith, 496 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:09,800 to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, 497 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:13,240 because we have sinned against thee. 498 00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:14,640 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, 499 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:16,760 though we have rebelled against him. 500 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:19,560 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God 501 00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:23,120 to walk in his laws, which he set before us 502 00:25:23,120 --> 00:25:26,200 by his servants, the prophets. 503 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:28,640 This is a lot of the same kinda thing, 504 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:32,640 but there's this definite kind of allusion to the fact that 505 00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:37,320 they're not close to the Lord because of their decisions, 506 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:38,600 they're not right with the Lord. 507 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:41,720 They're even from a... 508 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:45,720 He's using the language of how far they are from the land 509 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:49,160 as also how far they are from God. 510 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,080 You see that kind of in the narration there. 511 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,640 He says, we're not close to the Lord, 512 00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:01,360 even the ones in Jerusalem and the ones that are far off, 513 00:26:01,360 --> 00:26:03,040 we're just not close to the Lord. 514 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:06,440 Oh, Lord, to us belongeth confusion of faith, 515 00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:09,200 to you belong mercies and forgiveness. 516 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:12,800 When Daniel says to the Lord that righteousness 517 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:17,520 belongeth unto thee, or compassion and forgiveness, 518 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:18,400 we want to the Lord our God, 519 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:20,400 he was seeking the righteous compassion 520 00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:22,240 and forgiveness of the Lord. 521 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:24,400 These are the means to close us with him. 522 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:27,240 Granted, we can never lose our relationship with the Lord, 523 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:30,520 but sin destroys our fellowship with the Lord. 524 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:33,480 Our recognition of our infractions towards God 525 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:37,440 is the first step to be restored to intimacy with God. 526 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:40,360 The classic verse on that is 1 John 1-9. 527 00:26:40,360 --> 00:26:44,280 If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just 528 00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:49,280 to forgive us our sins and to lead us to all, 529 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:50,800 and to cleanse us from all righteousness. 530 00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:53,200 Increase and guard your closest with the Lord 531 00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:56,800 by confessing your sin and asking for his righteousness, 532 00:26:56,800 --> 00:26:58,600 compassion and forgiveness. 533 00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:01,400 This is a preview for a couple of weeks from now, 534 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:04,600 but this is what I was journaling in my devotional time 535 00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:05,440 this morning. 536 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:07,880 Go to Hebrews chapter 12 real quick. 537 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:09,360 Hebrews chapter 12. 538 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:22,280 And look at verse 7. 539 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:25,640 If he endure chastening it says, 540 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:30,240 God deal with you as sons for what son is he whom 541 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:32,360 the Father chastened it not. 542 00:27:32,360 --> 00:27:33,200 You know what I'm saying? 543 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:36,440 Good fathers discipline their kids. 544 00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:38,840 Good dads discipline their kids. 545 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:41,840 If you don't ever discipline your kids, you're not a good dad. 546 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:45,640 That's what good dads do. 547 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:48,000 That's what bad dads do. 548 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:49,560 More on that here in a second. 549 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:51,280 But if you be without chastisement, 550 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:53,680 where of all of partakers, then are you bastards and not sons? 551 00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:55,920 He's saying you're illegitimate. 552 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:58,440 If you don't experience chastisement. 553 00:27:58,440 --> 00:27:59,480 Verse 9, here it is. 554 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:00,800 Here's what I want to point to. 555 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:05,040 Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh 556 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:06,920 which corrected us. 557 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:09,480 Who are the fathers of our flesh? 558 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:11,120 Our dads. 559 00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:14,000 And our dads have corrected us. 560 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:16,840 Anybody have a dad that ever corrected you? 561 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:17,760 Yeah. 562 00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:21,840 Told us good things to do, bad things that corrected us. 563 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:23,560 And when they did that, what does it say? 564 00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:28,560 Verse 9, we and we gave them reverence. 565 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:29,680 So what are you saying? 566 00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:32,760 This is a basic thing to understand. 567 00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:35,920 If you ever feel like there's something in my hair? 568 00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:37,600 Do I have like a spider on my hair? 569 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:41,920 Is it the cord? 570 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:44,680 I think I'm going crazy. 571 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:45,520 Okay. 572 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:50,000 A common response. 573 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:52,080 It'll come one day guys, if you have young kids, 574 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:54,280 it's gonna be eventually. 575 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:55,920 Lord help us. 576 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:59,560 When you correct your kids and you correct your kids 577 00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:01,360 and you do it in love, eventually your kids 578 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:03,960 are gonna realize, oh, that was good. 579 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:06,320 I'm glad that helped me, right? 580 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:09,800 And you're gonna get reverence or respect from your kids. 581 00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:12,120 I'll even say this, the dad who corrects his kids, 582 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:14,120 at least gets reverence by like, 583 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:16,680 eventually they go stop and the kid will stop 584 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:18,920 because he's been disciplined enough to know 585 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:20,480 that when dad says stop, I better stop 586 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:21,760 because discipline's coming. 587 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:22,760 You guys with me? 588 00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:26,280 So when we receive discipline from our earthly fathers, 589 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:28,520 we gave them reverence, he says this. 590 00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:31,760 Shall we not much rather be in subjection 591 00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:35,400 under the father of spirits and live? 592 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:38,760 If you were obedient to your earthly father 593 00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:41,600 and that brought about reverence and helped you, 594 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:44,560 don't you think you ought to listen to your heavenly father? 595 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:47,920 And that you'll live when you do that? 596 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:49,120 He goes on. 597 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:52,920 Verse 10, for they verily for a few days chastened us 598 00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:55,120 after their own pleasure, what does that mean? 599 00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:00,120 I'm looking around the room and I'm guessing 600 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:02,040 that not everybody here was chastened 601 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:03,920 by their earthly father today. 602 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:09,160 Anybody in here got a spanking lately from their dad? 603 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:12,760 Right, no, because it was for a few days. 604 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:19,080 I was in my parents' home from zero to 18, right? 605 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:23,800 And my dad's no longer disciplining me, right? 606 00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:27,480 So he's saying, for they verily for a few days chastened us 607 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,280 and it says after their own pleasure, you know what that means? 608 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:33,600 That means they did it according to their own discernment 609 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:36,040 for their own reasons, their own purposes. 610 00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:40,840 Not every dad was always exactly right in their discipline. 611 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:42,960 Sometimes they tell you to stop doing something 612 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:45,240 because it's wrong and they need to help their character. 613 00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:47,040 Sometimes they're telling you to stop doing it 614 00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:51,320 because it's annoying and I want you to stop, right? 615 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:52,880 Do you get it? 616 00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:53,720 Right? 617 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:58,200 Be quiet, I'm trying to hear the game, right? 618 00:30:58,200 --> 00:30:59,400 That's what he's saying. 619 00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:03,160 They did it for just a short time for their own pleasure, 620 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:04,240 but he, who's he? 621 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:07,120 The father of spirits, heavenly father, 622 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:13,600 for our prophet that we might be partakers of his holiness. 623 00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:16,280 His holiness, do you get it? 624 00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:19,520 When God chastens us as our heavenly father, 625 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:21,880 he's doing it because he wants to make us into, 626 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:23,640 he's not doing it for his own pleasure, 627 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:26,320 I mean, it is for his own pleasure and that's what he, 628 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:29,520 it's all in a righteous way, but he wants to make us 629 00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:32,680 into something that we ought to be and do things for holiness. 630 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:36,680 So what he's saying is, don't hate chastening. 631 00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:40,000 That's what he says in verse 11. 632 00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:41,800 Now no chastening for the present, 633 00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:43,680 it seemed it to be joyous but grievous. 634 00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:46,120 Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth 635 00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:48,720 the peaceable fruit of righteousness 636 00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:52,320 unto them which are exercised thereby. 637 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:54,440 Now I'm getting into my sermon a couple of weeks from now, 638 00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:58,720 but what he's saying is that when you, 639 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:03,600 here's what kids don't understand. 640 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:07,440 When I'm telling you to get a bed on time 641 00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:11,400 and not to eat only sugar for your meal every day 642 00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:14,080 and to do your homework, 643 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:17,160 it's not because I'm trying to make you suffer. 644 00:32:18,280 --> 00:32:20,520 I'm trying to teach you how to be disciplined 645 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:22,480 because all of those disciplines, 646 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:26,280 if you get them into your life, when I'm not around 647 00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:27,600 and you're going to bed on time 648 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:29,200 and you're eating a well-balanced meal 649 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:31,840 and you're not stupid because you've done your studies 650 00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:34,640 and you can actually have a job that produce, 651 00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:37,040 it's good for you. 652 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:41,640 It produces the peaceable fruit of righteousness, right? 653 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:44,120 It's good, it's a good thing. 654 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:48,640 You guys aren't, it's good, right? 655 00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:50,560 You're like, I feel bad because I stay up late 656 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:51,960 and I'm eating a little dubby too much, right? 657 00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:53,760 Like that's what you're thinking. 658 00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:55,320 And if you're doing that confess, right? 659 00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:59,480 Okay, anyway, so there's this idea that like, 660 00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:05,040 what happens when you realize 661 00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:08,360 that God's trying to help chasing me 662 00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:09,440 because he loves me 663 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:12,320 and he's trying to produce a peaceable fruit of righteousness, 664 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:14,040 then there can be an intimacy with God 665 00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:15,560 because I'm realizing he's doing this 666 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:19,200 because he loves me and he cares for me. 667 00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:22,640 And so I saw this meme the other day. 668 00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:26,640 There's like two kinds of kids' relationships with dads. 669 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:31,040 One is I messed up, I gotta avoid dad. 670 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:33,960 I messed up, I can't let dad know, 671 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:35,920 I hope my dad doesn't find out. 672 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:37,200 Then there's the kid, I messed up, 673 00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:39,920 I gotta go talk to dad, right? 674 00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:43,080 Two different ways of thinking. 675 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,080 We have a heavenly father who already knows. 676 00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:50,560 And confession is not something that's, 677 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:53,800 it's not fun, but what confession does is it gets, 678 00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:57,040 it cuts the time that I'm not right with God down 679 00:33:57,040 --> 00:33:59,520 and now I can pursue my relationship with God, 680 00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:01,000 pursue closeness with God again. 681 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:02,340 Does that make sense? 682 00:34:02,340 --> 00:34:03,200 That's what God wants. 683 00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:04,160 Here's the last three. 684 00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:05,200 So how does that happen? 685 00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:08,800 Here's number three, pray confidently in the Lord. 686 00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:09,760 Pray confidently in the Lord. 687 00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:12,320 Verse 17, here's what he does. 688 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:14,680 Verse 17, now therefore, oh God, 689 00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:17,960 hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplications 690 00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:20,960 and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary 691 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,480 that is desolate for the Lord's sake. 692 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,120 Oh my God, incline thine ear and hear open thine eyes 693 00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:28,400 and behold our desolations in the city 694 00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:29,640 which is called by thy name, 695 00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:31,440 for we do not present our supplications 696 00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:33,520 before thee for our righteousness, 697 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:35,440 before thy great mercies. 698 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:36,480 What are you saying? 699 00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:40,420 I'm asking you to restore us not because we're so good, 700 00:34:40,420 --> 00:34:41,960 but because you're so merciful. 701 00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:43,160 That's what he's saying. 702 00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:48,680 Oh Lord, hear, oh Lord forgive, 703 00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:53,400 hearken and do, defer not for thy own sake. 704 00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:58,400 Oh my God, for thy city and thy people are called by thy name. 705 00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:03,840 Jimmy just told me just a few minutes ago, 706 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:05,480 he said, get my dad, he used to tell me all the time, 707 00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:06,800 remember your last name. 708 00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:12,440 Your last name is tied to my last name, right? 709 00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:15,920 And what Daniel's saying is, I'm a Jew. 710 00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:19,800 The covenants you've made, the things you've said you would do, 711 00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:22,320 God do those, I'm confessing, 712 00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:25,040 I want to be restored to you, I want to be right with you, 713 00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:28,400 and I'm praying according to your name. 714 00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:30,960 Daniel sought the Lord based on his character, 715 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:37,680 God's character, God's compassion and God's covenant, 716 00:35:38,340 --> 00:35:39,720 all three of those you'll find. 717 00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:41,560 You can go through those last few verses 718 00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:44,240 and find where he's appealing to God's character, 719 00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:47,960 God's compassion and God's covenant. 720 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:52,000 When we pray, we ought to have confidence in God's character. 721 00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:56,880 God, you are a merciful God, you are a righteous God. 722 00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:59,760 When we pray, we ought to come to him 723 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:02,320 on the basis of his compassion. 724 00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:03,960 God, you said you would be merciful, 725 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:06,520 you're a merciful God, you're a forgiving God, 726 00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:09,520 and I am appealing to your mercy and your forgiveness. 727 00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:10,880 And we got to go on this covenant. 728 00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:12,840 God, you made these promises 729 00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:14,680 and I'm going to trust in your promises. 730 00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:16,720 If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just 731 00:36:16,720 --> 00:36:19,120 to forgive us our sins, right? 732 00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:22,000 For whose service shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be 733 00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:24,440 saved, this is what God's promised. 734 00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:26,600 So when we pray, we ought to come on the basis of that 735 00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:27,440 covenant. 736 00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:29,240 Daniel took refuge in the covenant the Lord made 737 00:36:29,240 --> 00:36:32,400 with Abraham, he took refuge, we take refuge now 738 00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:35,160 in the new covenant that God made in Jesus. 739 00:36:36,340 --> 00:36:41,340 God loved us so much that he made a promise to us. 740 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:46,240 He sent his son who died on the cross for our sins. 741 00:36:46,240 --> 00:36:48,560 And when we put our faith and trust in him, 742 00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:51,240 he saves us. 743 00:36:51,240 --> 00:36:53,560 It's the only shot we have at heaven. 744 00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:56,400 It's the only way we're going to get to eternity. 745 00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:02,160 And so if God already gave his son for you to die for you 746 00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:04,640 so that you become a part of his family, 747 00:37:04,640 --> 00:37:06,960 and he already sent his son to die for you 748 00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:11,960 and rise from the dead to get you to heaven. 749 00:37:12,500 --> 00:37:14,640 And if Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us 750 00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:16,680 to come again and receive us to himself, 751 00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:20,120 that where he is, we would be also, if that's all true, 752 00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:23,580 stop hiding when you did something wrong. 753 00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:29,240 When, stop having distance between you and the Lord 754 00:37:29,240 --> 00:37:31,880 when you've done something wrong. 755 00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:33,800 He's already forgiven it. 756 00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:36,560 Just agree with him about what it is 757 00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:40,120 and pursue him in prayer and say, God, I've messed up, 758 00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:41,920 but I know you're a forgiving God. 759 00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:42,760 You're a loving God. 760 00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:45,680 Help me to learn how to obey you, 761 00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:49,320 to learn how to trust you, to pursue God in prayer 762 00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:53,800 through confession. 763 00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:55,920 You engage in authentic Christian living 764 00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:58,160 when you practice confession to the Lord, 765 00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:00,600 when you pursue closeness with the Lord, 766 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:04,520 and when you pray confidently in the Lord. 767 00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:05,360 Isn't that good? 768 00:38:06,720 --> 00:38:09,080 I love this prayer from Daniel, 769 00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:14,080 and we can only say true in a world far from God 770 00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:19,080 where by realizing that when we are distant 771 00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:22,080 from God in our relationship, we pause and stop, 772 00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:25,640 and we ask God to forgive us based on the fact 773 00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:29,360 that we confess what we've done to him. 774 00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:31,680 Here's all that you do. 775 00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:43,680 It's 749 till 751, 752.