Marvelous Benefits of Repentance — Ralph Mahoney

Marvelous Benefits of Repentance

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, Post Office Box 260, Lindale, Texas, 75771, or by calling 903 -963 -8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted, and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends.

Speak through me tonight. Let your words have life. Lord, we come against every principality and power of darkness. We bind every power of hell and darkness and the principalities and powers that would come to rob us of truth.

Lord, we thank you for what we've heard today, and we ask now to cap it tonight. Lord, change us through the word. I want to be changed by what I preach, and I want everybody here to be changed by what they hear.

In Jesus' name, amen. The marvelous benefits of repentance. Now, in my message tonight, I want to accomplish two things. I want to talk to you about what is required in repentance, and then I want to talk to you about the marvelous benefits when you do repent.

Folks, the longer I walk with Jesus, the more I'm convinced that repentance is not just for sinners. It's for saints. It's for God's people, and it's a way of life. It's not one act. It's something that you do over and over.

You die daily. You repent daily. I believe that with all my heart. Now, I hope to prove to you tonight that a Christian who maintains a repentant attitude brings on their life the favor and blessing of God.

Incredible blessings of God. It just opens something that nothing else in your life could open. No other thing you could do could open up this blessing as this life of repentance. A repentant heart is one that's soft.

It's easily pliable. A repentant heart is one that loves reproof and acts on reproof. And this tenderness, this something... He talked this morning about being moldable, how the repentant heart is easily molded by the Holy Spirit, and we want to deal with that somewhat tonight.

Acknowledging Guilt as the Foundation of Repentance

Now, before I show you the marvelous benefits of repentance, let me show you what I believe is absolutely necessary for you and I to obtain a repentant heart. Now, I know most of you listening to me tonight would say, Brother Dave, that's what I want.

I want a repentant heart. I don't want a hard heart. I want a soft, malleable heart. I want something from the Lord in the way of brokenness and contriteness. And let me tell you what I believe is absolutely foundational.

And if you don't have this, there's no way you'll ever obtain or have a repentant heart. The number one characteristic of a repentant heart is a readiness to acknowledge guilt, a readiness to accept blame for every bit of wrongdoing in your life, to accept guilt, to accept wrongdoing and say, I am the one I have sinned.

If there is no admitting to sin, there can be no godly sorrow and no repentance because godly sorrow works or leads to repentance, not to be repented of. If you're not going to acknowledge you're wrong, you don't need repentance.

You have removed yourself from any possibility of being repentant or having a repentant heart because you see yourself as having done no wrong in the sight of God. Pilate, remember, is about to turn Jesus over to the murderous priest and elders.

And he looks at the riot that's about to break out and his heart smites him. And so he calls for a basin of water and he dips his hand in the water and he absolves himself before the crowd. My hands are clean.

Listen to what it says. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but rather than a riot was being made, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude and he said, I am innocent of the blood of this just person.

See to it. See to it. In other words, I want you people to understand, Pilate said, that I washed my hands of this. I am not guilty. I have nothing to do with this man. My hands are clean. Now, of course, his hands were not clean.

He was about to betray the very son of the living God. But he said, I want you from now on, when you think of this man and his death, I have nothing to do with it. I am clean. I have nothing to do. I washed my hands.

If you had sent a prophet to that man, Pilate, the next day and said, repent or perish, he would have looked hurt and astounded. What do you mean? Repent. I have done nothing wrong. I washed my hands of it.

I am clean, absolutely clean. See to it. Now, this kind of thinking removes you and it removes me from any possibility of walking in repentance. John said, if a man say, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and the word is not in us. Now, folks, let me tell you what I have seen in my lifetime. My father is a preacher. My grandfather is a preacher. I was born and raised in Pentecost.

I've seen more church splits and troubles probably than any preacher my age because I've traveled a lot. And I have seen case and occasion. I think of at least two churches in particular, one in Texas and one in Pennsylvania.

They split right down the middle. Pastor got tired of all the foolishness and the pastor quits. And so one group goes over here a mile away and starts another church. And these two factions, these two groups make themselves enemies to one another.

And it's amazing thing when you listen to them, it's absolutely incredible because nobody's to blame. This group over here says, well, we are right. And this group over here moves over says, no, we are right.

This group is saying they are enemy. This group, they are our enemy. And amazing thing, they're all in Proverbs. They're all in Psalms and they're all reading the same scripture and all taking comfort out of it.

And then they're saying, well, you just wait. When God starts judging, they start dropping dead left and right. Then they'll know I'm right. And then so somebody over here dies and they say, well, you see, we're right.

But then somebody over here dies. And so it goes on for years. I have been in cities where these two churches, God never does bless any of them because they're all under the wrath of God because they are all full of gossip.

They're full of everything else, but nobody's to blame. And they go for years. Their families are in trouble. They go there, everything in their split because nobody is saying, I'm the one who needs prayer.

I'm the one who needs to be dealt with. Everybody's washing their hands in the basin. Nobody wants to admit they're wrong. The truth is they were all wrong in these cases. Now, the prophet Malachi, he was absolutely shocked and grieved.

I want you to go to, no, I'll tell you, you don't have to go to Malachi. I'll take you. I'm going to take a lot of scriptures, but we won't go to Malachi. But let me talk to you about the shock and the grief of this prophet Malachi.

He's grieved by the absolute spiritual blindness of God's people in his time. He was sent by God to reprove them. He had this strong message to the Lord. And when he came forth, in fact, there are at least four occasions in Malachi where the prophet comes forth before God's people.

And he said, look, you have sinned. And they are absolutely in mock innocence. Well, what are you talking about? Couldn't be. He cried out, you people have profaned the holiness of the Lord. You know how to weep and cover the altar with your tears.

You still sacrifice. You go through all the religious activities. But God is rejecting it all because you have sinned. And the answer was, but why? What are you talking about? What have we done wrong?

They had been divorcing their wives and marrying heathen wives. All they had to do is spit in their wife's face and divorce her. And they were divorcing their wives left and right, going to the altar, covering it with tears, going through all the religious activities.

And yet their hearts were full of sin. They had rebelled against God. And the prophet comes to them with a clear message and they know in their heart they're wrong. And they said, but why? What have we done?

We've done nothing wrong. The prophet comes to them again the second time. And he said, you have wearied the Lord with your words. You're saying things that have absolutely shocked and wearied the Lord.

And in shock and mocked innocence, they said, but how? What have we done? Impossible. And again, the prophet comes to them and they said, well, I don't know what you're talking about. I am, you're innocent.

And here the prophet says, you say everyone that doeth evil is great in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in them. Or where is the God of judgment? In other words, these people had been encouraging the evil people in the congregation.

They'd been encouraged them in their talk, encouraged them in their walk when there was sin in their life. And they were saying, judgment is not going to come upon you. There's no judgment for you. And they were putting people at ease.

They were taking away the very threat of God's wrath and judgment that it came through all the prophets. And they were trying to blunt the message of the prophets. And they were saying, well, what have we done?

What have we done? They were calling the wicked righteous, evil, good and good evil. And they knew it, but they were so blinded. They're absolutely blinded and they're striking their shoulders. What have I done?

What have we done? He comes back to them again. The third time. And the prophet says, you have robbed God. And they said, how? What are you talking about robbing God? He said, in your tithes and offerings.

He said, you just bring the garbage to the Lord. You bring the lame and the blind and the whole, but you don't give the tithe and offerings that belong to God. You are robbing God. And they're going around saying, what are you talking about?

Finally, this prophet gives up because they do not hear the word finally settles down in the last chapter of Malachi to a holy remnant that are hearing the word of God. Just a small remnant that were moved by the spirit of God and God dealt with them and they received the reproof and God moved upon them mightily and gave them great blessing.

David's Confession and Heart Searching

How different David's attitude was. David, he continually searched his heart. And he was so quick to say, it's me, Lord, standing in need of prayer. Psalm 32, 15,. I acknowledge my sin unto Thee. My iniquity have I not hidden.

I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord. And Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Psalm 51, 3,. For I acknowledge my transgression and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee only have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight.

That's a repentant heart. A repentant heart's not trying to make things right with the person they've wronged as much as they're making things right with God. When you get things right with God, you will get right with your brother or your sister.

It's God that's been sinned again. It's not man, it's God. And see, when people come to you and say, I apologize. An apology is what you give to man. Repentance is what you give to God. David said, I acknowledge my sin is ever before me.

I don't try to justify it. I don't try to get away from it. I admit it quickly. I've sinned. It's me. David believed in heart searchings to dig out the sin. He said, Search me, O God. Know my heart. Try me, know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me to life everlasting.

He went to the lamp. He went to the light. He went to the Holy Ghost. Opened up his eyes and said, God, turn the light on. Holy Ghost come and search every corner of my life. If I've said anything, done anything, if I've sinned against you and I don't even know about it, reveal it to me.

That's a repentant heart. God opened me up to the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah. I keep wanting to be a nice quiet preacher and I get louder and louder. Jeremiah 17, 10, I, the Lord, search the heart. I test the emotions even to repay every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.

Isaiah said, For our transgressions are multiplied before thee and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us and as for our iniquities, we know about them. As for our iniquities, we know what they are, the prophet says.

We know when we sin. We know when we say the wrong thing. We know when we gossip. We know when we slander or talk about or hear. We know. God knows and we know it. As for our iniquities, we know them.

What were these known transgressions according to Isaiah 59, 13? Lying against the Lord, departing from the Lord, speaking oppression and speaking rebellion, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

Uttering from the heart. I want to stop right here and talk to you about uttering falsehood from the heart. Because there are people who believe they can utter almost anything as long as they're sincere.

Well, it may not be what others think, but I believe it's true. So I have a right to say it because I believe it to be true. Even though they don't know anything about it, it must be true. So I believe it because I don't mean any harm by it.

You know, there are people who can shoot an arrow and almost kill you and put a knife in your back. I didn't mean it. Because out of the heart, you know, I feel it. It's my heart. My heart. They utter out of the heart.

Out of what is supposed sincerity. Out of a sincere heart. They offer this and the Bible says they are uttering from the heart words of falsehood. It's truth, but it's truth that's fallen to the ground and trampled on in the mud.

It's truth that's fallen. He said, well, brother, I thought you were going to... This is a healing message, is it? Yes. 1 Samuel 2, 3. Talk no more, so exceedingly proud. Let not arrogance come out of your mouth.

For the Lord is a God of knowledge and by Him all actions are weighed. Folks, listen to me. Hear me. Here's what keeps my mouth shut. See, I'm not interested in just making it through until the judgment day.

I'm not interested in just trying to make it through and pleasing man and having man's applause. I'm trying to make it through the judgment seat. I want to make it through the judgment. I want to wake up every day and go to bed at night knowing that I'm going to stand one day before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ and he's going to look his burning eyes into my soul.

Folks, that's what I'm counting on. That's what I'm working on in my heart. Not just to please the congregation. I've got to please Jesus and I've got to stand before the judgment seat and give an account of every word that I've spoken.

That's scary, folks. Hallelujah. You still with me? Now, those whom God uses are very sensitive to their sins. Hear it? I'll say it again. Those whom God really uses, men and women of God who really use and who are pillars in the church are those who are very sensitive when they sin.

They don't cover it. They're very sensitive and they grieve not only over their own sin, but they grieve over the sin in the body. They grieve over the sin in the church. Ezra was a godly man. And I want you to go to Ezra because I want to show you some things in Ezra.

Ezra's Corporate Repentance for God's People

Go to Ezra, if you will, please. If you go to get to Nehemiah, turn left. You've gone too far. And if you're in 2 Chronicles, go right. It's right between 2 Chronicles and Nehemiah. And I want you to go to the 10th chapter.

And as soon as you get it, look back up this way, if you will, please. Ezra, the 10th chapter. Folks, listen to me, please. Ezra is a godly man. And you know that he loved the law of God. He was a scribe.

This man was a prayer warrior. This man was a righteous man. He walked circumspectly before God. And you would say there's no way that this man would need repentance himself. Godly man. He looks at the compromise among God's people.

There's filthiness in the camp. There's idolatry. There's uncleanness. There are mixed marriages. And it breaks his heart. It's not his own sin. He comes to Jerusalem and he sees how they've broken the laws of God.

And there's filthiness and degradation all around. And he doesn't walk around saying, I'm clean. He doesn't walk around saying, well, I know my heart. I've done nothing wrong. And I mean, everybody may be backsliding around me, but not me.

I am going on with God. He didn't say that. I want you to look at the first verse, chapter 10. Now, when Ezra had prayed and when he had confessed, confessed what? This man's a righteous man, but he's repenting.

When he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel very great congregation of men and women and children, for the people wept very sore.

I want you to look now at verse 6. Then Ezra rose from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Johanan. And when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water, for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.

Now, verse 1, chapter 10, he's confessing. He is confessing not only his weakness. He's confessing the sins of the whole body. He said, oh God, we have sinned. I don't ever like to hear a preacher stand up and say, you people, you people.

I don't like to hear that. I like to hear a preacher say, we, we. God help me, that's the way I want to preach, we. And identify with the sins that are in the house or in the camp of God. And that's exactly what we see this man doing.

Go back to chapter 9. Begin with verse 3. And when I heard this thing, in verse 2, they'd taken daughters for themselves and sons and the holy seat had been mingled and they had trespassed grievances against the Lord.

And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle and I plucked off the hair of my head and my beard. Boy, that sounds very hurtful. He plucked off his hair and his beard and he said, confounded or astounded.

Then were assembled unto me everyone that trembled at the words of the God of Israel because of the transgression of those that had been carried away. And I said, astonished until the evening sacrifice.

And at the evening sacrifice, I rose up from my heaviness and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God and said, oh my God, I'm ashamed and blushed to lift up my face to thee, my God, for our iniquities.

See, here's a godly man and he's saying, Lord, we have sinned and for our iniquities. Our iniquities are increased over our head and our trespass is grown up into the heavens. Look at me. That's repentance.

We have sinned. We have fallen short of the glory of God. Folks, when you quit pointing your finger at somebody else and you can look inside and you really repent before the Lord, then when you see sin around you, you don't point your finger.

Now, pastors have to correct. There is a place for correction and reproof. And God says that very clearly. They that sin rebuke before all that others may fear. There's a place for godly rebuke. But friends, in the sheepfold, among the sheep, listen to me closely.

When you see a brother or sister caught in sin, the Bible said when one member of the body hurts, we all hurt. We all hurt. And it should be that you would grieve over it and go to that person if you could and try to heal and restore.

But here's this prophet of God who had divorced his wife. He was not living in idolatry. This man was broken before God because sin had broken out in the house of God. This man is mourning. He's weeping.

He's feeling the compassion of it, feeling the hurt of it. Folks, do you take it that serious? Do you take it that serious? I talked to the youth choir here before the service this afternoon and I heard one young lady talk about she said, I'm so grieved over my own sin that I have no time for anybody else.

And I'm not concerned about the sins of others right now as I am about my own sin. And that's good. That's where we begin. That's where repentance starts. I want you to go to Daniel. You see it more clearly.

Daniel's Confession and the Benefits of Repentance

And here's how in Daniel, we're going to find the benefits, the glorious benefits of repentance. We'll get into that in just a moment. Once you go to Daniel, the ninth chapter, how many know that Daniel was the righteous man who prayed and prayed and prayed?

This man was willing to give his life. This man was so righteous that the lions wouldn't eat him. But Daniel's heart was so sensitive to sin that grieved God. He identified with the horrible sins of Israel.

Never once do you hear Daniel pray, God, they've sinned. Your people have sinned. Now, let's know what you're going to hear. Ninth chapter, beginning verse three. And I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

And I prayed unto the Lord my God and made my confession. Whose confession? My confession. Folks, I have a feeling if I had been there and I knelt by Daniel and I leaned over and I said, I hear you confess and you said, what did you do?

He wouldn't talk about adultery. He wouldn't talk about idolatry. He wouldn't talk about these things. But this man is so sensitive. He's so open that even the sins around him, he takes it. He takes it in his own heart.

He said, these are my people. This is my body. I'm guilty, just as guilty. And he's confessing. Look at it again. Verse four, and I prayed unto the Lord my God and made my confession and said, oh Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant mercy to them that love him, to them that keep his covenant.

Who has sinned? Who sinned? We have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled even by departing from the precepts and from the judgment. Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants, the prophets, which spoke in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

Verse eight, oh Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face. He's saying there's confusion. He said, we're all under this. Every one of us is being affected. Oh Lord, to us belongs confusion of face to our kings, our princes, our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.

To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we've rebelled against him. Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants, the prophets.

Do you see it, folks? I said, do you see it? Verse 9 -20. Look at verse 20. And whilst I was speaking and praying and confessing, who sinned? And the sin of my people, Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God.

There's the key. He goes to God and he said, oh God, deal with me while you're dealing with the people. God, if there's any iniquity in my heart, bring it out, show it to me. Confessing my sins, our sins, our transgressions, because we obeyed not.

Slander, Gossip, and Restitution

Folks, look at me. Please. The Lord really brought this home to me last few weeks. A few weeks ago, word had come to me of a very slanderous thing had been said about me. Terrible. Just cut my heart. I cried for a week.

It was awful. And about a week or so later, I was sitting with a Christian friend of mine, a brother, and I was telling him. I said, and I named the person. I said, I have been slandered, absolutely slandered, and it's a life in the pit of hell and it hurts.

It cuts to the gut. And I named everything that individual had said about me. And I went home and the Spirit of God came on me. I mean, literally came upon me and said, David, what's the difference? Because what you did and what that person did to you, you slandered.

You're talking to someone about how you were slandered and talking about it, you slandered that individual. And boy, I replayed it in my mind and I said, that's right, because I've told that other person that this person is a slanderer and everything that was said to me in private, I repeated it and I planted in that person that same thing.

I got a call in my office, I think it was Thursday, from a pastor in the Midwest. And he said, I know you know evangelist so-and-so. This evangelist is also a friend of mine, just had this evangelist in my church.

And I have to tell you, Brother Dave, I'm concerned and I'm calling you to enlist you in prayer. He said, this evangelist has lost the anointing, totally lost the anointing. Losing weight, lost 10, 15 pounds.

He said, and I think I know why this evangelist has lost this weight. Because there's a lady in our town, a couple in our town, and I think she's a witch. And I think this evangelist is under a spell of this witch, a Jezebel spirit, a witch spirit.

And it had already been planted in my mind and the spirit of God came on me while I was on the phone with that pastor. And suddenly I realized, I am listening to outright slander. I am listening to gossip.

I have no right to know. And I stopped the man right there. I said, I'm sorry, Brother, stop it. Don't say another word. I don't know because if I were to probably talk to that evangelist, that evangelist would say, well, I know these people and these people, she is not a witch, she's a godly person.

And that's something that's been slandered and said. And folks, I'm going to tell you, that was planted in my spirit. And though I stopped the man, I went home and it was played and replayed in my heart.

That evil thing was planted in my spirit.

This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two.

Fighting against it in the name of the Lord. Been praying for that evangelist. But an evil seed had been planted in my heart. So that when I picture that evangelist, all I see is a witch whispering in the ear.

Now, folks, let me tell you something. The danger, the absolute danger of being a person who plants that kind of stuff. Because I know the hurt I feel right now of having that evil thing planted in my spirit.

And I hate it. And I'm asking God to get it out. And the way it comes out is to pray for that evangelist. Just to pray. And to love. But God really been dealing with my heart saying, Oh, God, if I'm going to preach against slander.

Now, folks, I don't know. It's an incredible thing. Denny Deron comes here and he preaches against gossip. Brother Zulus. Brother Zulus. The men from Zululand come and preach against gossip and slander.

Folks, evidently, before you can have revival, you have to get rid of all the slander and the gossip. Do you have something of poison in your system? It's got to come out, folks. God has to pluck it by the Holy Spirit.

And the way you do it, you pray for the one that has been slandered. Do you pray for that individual till you're so full of love for them that that will wash all of that garbage out. Hallelujah. He's been teaching me.

So, I have repented before the Lord. And God's been showing me how careful we have to be. We're out to any more. Every telephone call, I've got my guard up. I mean, I've got it up everywhere. I had a man come to me the other night after service.

He heard Brother Carter's message on Tuesday night. He's been very sensitive to the Holy Spirit. And he told me he'd come to this church from another church. And while he was in this church, he badmouthed his old church.

Here in this congregation. I don't know who, but he said he badmouthed it. And God convicted him and he confessed and repented. Because he'd been living in misery, he said. You can't live in anything but misery if you're a gossiper.

If you badmouth, you're going to live in misery. Because you're a part of the congregation of the dead, the Bible says. Spiritual dead. And he got it out and the Lord was healing him. But he just had received a call from a brother who was from that church.

And still, though he's going to church, he's still badmouthing the church. And he said, I know if he comes to my house for supper, he's going to talk. And I don't want to hear it. I said, no, you know what to do.

You call the man and say, I'm sorry. You don't come to my house again until you're over this. I don't ever again want to hear any badmouthing about that church. I don't go there, but that's not my business anymore.

I'm going to leave it alone. Folks, if you came here from another church, God help you if you badmouth that church. That's just as bad if you badmouth the pastors here. In this church where you attend right now.

God won't allow it against anybody. He won't allow me to do it. He won't allow you to do it. He doesn't allow any of us to do it. I'm not going until you smile at me. So I'm sure you're not mad at me.

Let's get to the good part. If you acknowledge your sin, you become sensitive. So God examine me and you make your wrongs right. You make restitution. It's not enough to go to somebody and say, well, now, if I've hurt you.

If I've hurt you, I don't anyone, everyone, anybody come to me and say, if I hurt your brother, Dave, why would they come even think about it? Unless there was something there. Spill it out. Spill it out.

Tell me exactly what you did, what you said, when you said it, do you said it and make it right and make restitution. I've been doing that left and right. I've been making telephone calls all over the United States.

My secretary knows. Are you and Daniel? If you're not, go back to Daniel. All right. I'm going to give you four wonderful benefits. That are given in favor of the given to those who truly repent. Folks, you acknowledge your sin.

You confess it. You make restitution and God suddenly begins to do the miraculous. How many want to know what these four things are? Only a third of you. I said, how many want to know what these four benefits are?

These are all of the favor of almighty God. And folks, these things that happened to Daniel as a result of his confession and his heartfelt repentance, God did something for Daniel. And he said, these things are examples given to us upon whom the ends of the world have come.

Everything that happened to Daniel is an example of how God will work with us if we repent. Do you understand that? All right. Let's go to Daniel, the 10th chapter. And I want to show you the first benefit you get when you truly acknowledge your sin and repent and make things right.

A Clear Vision of Jesus Christ

Number one benefit, a clear and new vision of Jesus, a new and clear vision of Jesus Christ. Look at verse five. Then I, this is after repentance. Then I lifted up my eyes and looked and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with the gold of Euphrates, his body.

Oh, who do you think this is? It's Jesus. His body also is like the burl and his face is the appearance of lightning in his eyes, his lamps of fire in his arms and his feet, like in color to polish brass and the voice of his words, like the voice of a multitude.

And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision for the men that were with me saw not the vision, but a great quaking fell upon them so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore, I was left alone. Now look at me, please.

What a wonderful picture. What a wonderful benefit. The Holy Ghost opens to you and me when we have confessed our sins, made restitution. This is what happens. A clear and clouded vision of Jesus Christ and all of his glory.

He's standing there. And while every now, Daniel, you know that Daniel walked with good men. Now, I'm not saying this is not Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, but there were other good men that Daniel, Daniel would not walk with any unrighteous person, I'm sure.

But you see, Daniel had that special repentant heart. I don't know if these that walk with him had that kind of repentance or not, but we know what Daniel's heart was like. And knowing his heart, Daniel alone gets the vision.

Daniel alone. All those around him saw nothing of the vision. There's Jesus standing right before them. They don't see anything. Daniel's eyes are open. And they're right in front of him. He's not praying for that vision.