Sunday, February 20, 2022 AM

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Sunnyside Baptist Church "Covenant Faithfulness" Pt 4 Daniel 9:1-27

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Good morning everyone. Good morning everyone. Welcome to Sunnyside Baptist Church this morning.
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We are glad that you're here to worship with us today. As we get started this morning I'll start with a few announcements.
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Our evening service is tonight at 530 here at the church. Come back for that. Looking ahead to this
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Wednesday the 23rd meal at 545. So come to share in a meal together and then at 630 we'll have prayer for the adults and the tag program for our kids.
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And then looking ahead to next Sunday we'll have the Lord's Supper together next Sunday morning. And then next
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Sunday evening Truth Group is scheduled to meet. So that's for the young adults in our church after the evening service.
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Related to that if you are able to help not just next Sunday but throughout the year with helping to supply a meal for Truth Group it's really not difficult.
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They don't require anything elaborate or fancy. They'll eat about anything but you can do something like fast food or a sandwich tray that's store -bought but it needs to feed about 20 to 25 people and young people.
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So that gives you an idea of how much maybe you need to get. You can even turn in your receipts to the church office and you'll be reimbursed for that.
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But it's just a way for you to minister to those those kids and Josiah and others that are helping out with Truth Group there.
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There's even a if you look in your bulletin a link in there that you can go sign up for those throughout the year.
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Also we're continuing to do Operation Christmas Child gathering those things. There's a box out in the lobby so we're in the winter months you can get some cheap hats and gloves and little things to pack in those shoe boxes.
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All right any other announcements this morning? Okay before we open in our time of prayer and preparation for worship
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I want to go ahead and read our fighter verse for the week and meditate on that as you prepare your heart for worship today.
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Psalm 103 verses 11 through 14. For as high as the heavens are above the earth so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.
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As far as the east is from the west so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
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As a father shows compassion to his children so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
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For he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. You pray with me.
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Father I thank you and praise you for your great love and mercy. As Kyle shared out of your word
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Psalm 103. As high as the heavens are above the earth so great is your steadfast love.
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So great is your steadfast love. What a blessing to know your steadfast love.
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Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me. Bless your holy name.
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Father may the worship of your people this morning be a blessing to you.
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A blessing from our soul to you. May you delight in your people this morning as we worship you.
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As we sing your praises. As we declare your goodness and as we preach your word.
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May we be led by your spirit and may our voices and our hearts be united in a singular voice that just brings you praise and glory and honor this morning.
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In Jesus name. Amen. Would you stand with me for our call to worship.
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We're gonna finish chapter 74 in the book of Psalms this morning. We'll start with verse 19.
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Read with me together. Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beast.
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Do not forget the life of your poor forever. Have regard for the covenant for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
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Let not the hand -trodden turn back in shame. Let the poor and needy praise your name.
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Arise O God defend your cause. Remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day.
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Do not forget the clamor of your foes. The uproar of those who rise against you which goes up continually.
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And we're going to sing this very passage in our Psalms for worship hymnal page 74
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B. Yet God my king brings forth. We'll sing verses 9 10 and 11.
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Our hymnals is page 199.
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Arise my soul arise. This morning's scripture reading comes from the book of Isaiah chapter 16.
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We're continuing in the oracles against the nations. If you're curious the parallel passage to this is
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Jeremiah chapter 48. Isaiah chapter 16 verse 1.
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Send the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sila by way of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Zion.
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Like fleeing birds, like a scattered nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the
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Arnon. Give counsel. Grant justice. Make your shade like night at the height of noon.
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Shelter the outcasts. Do not reveal the fugitive. Let the outcasts of Moab sojourn among you.
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Be a shelter to them from the destroyer. When the oppressor is no more and destruction has ceased and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land.
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Then a throne will be established in steadfast love and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David.
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One who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness. We have heard of the pride of Moab.
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How proud he is of his arrogance. His pride and his insolence.
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In his idle boasting he is not right. Therefore let Moab wail for Moab.
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Let everyone wail. Mourn utterly stricken for the raisin cakes of Kir Hereseth.
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For the fields of Heshbon languish and the vine of Sibma. The lords of the nations have struck down its branches which reached to Jaser and strayed to the desert.
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Its shoots spread abroad and passed over the sea. Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jaser for the vine of Sibma.
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I drench you with my tears O Heshbon and Alila. For over your summer fruit and your harvest the shout has ceased and joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field.
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And in the vineyards no songs are sung. No cheers are raised. No treader treads out the wine and the presses.
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I have put an end to the shouting. Therefore my inner parts moan like a liar for Moab and my inmost self for Kir Hereseth.
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And when Moab presents himself when he wearies himself on the high place when he comes to his sanctuary to pray he will not prevail.
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This is the word that the Lord spoke concerning Moab in the past. But now the
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Lord has spoken saying in three years like the years of a hired worker the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt in spite of all his great multitude and those who remain will be few and feeble.
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This morning I want to pray Psalm 2 in response to this passage.
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Would you pray with me Psalm 2. Why did the nation's rage and the people's plot in vain?
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The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.
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He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision.
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Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury saying as for me
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I have set my king in Zion my holy hill. I will tell of the decree the
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Lord said to me you are my son. Today I have begotten you.
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Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.
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You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
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Now therefore O kings be wise. Be warned
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O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.
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Kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled.
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Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Amen. Our next song on our song service this morning is our regular hymnal page 364 my
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Jesus I love thee. We're going to pick up a song sheet in the back for our next song.
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Holy Spirit living breath of God I'm thankful Haley is back with us and she's going to start us off.
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Breathe new life into my willing soul.
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Presence of the Lord to renew.
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Make me holy. Give me faith for what to see.
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Give me passion for your purity.
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Holy Spirit breathe new spirit.
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Spirit come abide. He's seen it all.
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He's sinned in his thought. Ending attack. Jesus to the greatest and the least.
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Turn my striving into works of grace.
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Breath of God I still obey. Bless on the road of sacrifice.
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In unity the face of Christ may be clear to see.
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Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Heavenly Father we come before you today.
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We give you thanks. Thank you for bringing us back together again. We may rejoice in the resurrection of your son from the dead as we share together in worshiping you rejoicing in your truth and encouraging one another in the light of Christ.
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We do pray that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit today that your will in heaven would be the amen in our hearts and as we look at your word today
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I pray that you would speak clearly and directly to us by the power of your word through your spirit that you would have your way in us that as we get a clear view of your son
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Jesus Christ in this word that we would look like him in this world.
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We pray these things for his sake. Amen. I invite you to open your
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Bibles and turn with me to Daniel chapter 9 Daniel chapter 9 where we have been learning a lot about prayer looking at the prophet
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Daniel how he approaches prayer why he comes to the
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Lord in prayer and how he's approaching the whole matter as we have acknowledged amongst us we have none of us as saints outgrown our need to learn about prayer to grow in the grace of prayer and particularly in Daniel chapter 9 we find
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Daniel in a humble posture confessing confession is the backbone of our prayers wherein we say what
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God says that we agree with God about how things are that we lay everything out before him and tell him how it is not according to our word but according to his word and in Daniel chapter 9 we learn that Daniel has been reading the
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Bible he's been searching the scriptures and he has found particular encouragement in the prophecies of Jeremiah where God has promised that after 70 years of Babylon's dominance after 70 years of exile that God would bring his people back to the land restore them and the worship of God would restart with this promise in hand
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Daniel turns his face to the Lord and begins to pray
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I invite you to stand with me as I read Daniel chapter 9 verses 1 through 10 the words of our
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Lord Jesus Christ by his Holy Spirit through his prophet
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Daniel in the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus of the lineage of the
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Medes who is made king over the realm of the Chaldeans in the first year of his reign
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I Daniel understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the
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Lord through Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem then
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I set my face toward the Lord God to make requests by prayer and supplications with fasting sackcloth and ashes and I prayed to the
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Lord my God and made confession and said Oh Lord great and awesome God who keeps his covenant and mercy with those who love him and with those who keep his commandments we have sinned and committed iniquity we have done wickedly and rebelled even by departing from your precepts and your judgments neither have we heeded your servants the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings and to our princes to our fathers and to all the people of the land
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Oh 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
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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
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Oh Lord to us belong shame of face to our kings our princes and our fathers because we have sinned against you to the
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Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness though we have rebelled against him we have not obeyed the voice of the
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Lord our God to walk in his laws which he has set before us by his servants the prophets yes all
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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 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 this is the word of the
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Lord praise be to God you may be seated some of us and you probably know who you are
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I really bad at making apologies there's a multitude of ways to sabotage your attempt at making an apology and sometimes you begin like this well
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I'm sorry you got upset bad start you could try well
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I don't know why you got so upset but I forgive you for your overreaction it's even worse you might try a famous quote to err is human to forgive is divine but such an approach is not likely to heal the breach and the reason is quite simply a refusal to acknowledge what actually happened and that of course is what confession means you know you do more than teach your children to say sorry say no tell them what you did confess what you did to injure your sibling how you wronged somebody else and then don't just say sorry confess what you did and then ask for their forgiveness after you've confessed you have to confess your sin confess its impact on the one harmed if you have no acknowledgement of the estrangement how can there be a reconciliation
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Daniel's praying here in verses 5 through 10 and he confesses the sin and the shame of his people he's he's laying it out before the
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Lord he's using God's own terms to describe what happened the nature of Israel's rebellion and their current low shame under God's retribution he's about to plead for God's mercies he's about to plead for that second opportunity to go back to the land and and and rebuild the temple and to reestablish the worship of God there upon Mount Moriah before he does before he does he confesses the sins of the people that is absolutely vital for the restoration and the deliverance of God's people because it's going to be according to God's Word what is he what is he even asking for except the promises of God that are in God's Word he's asking for God to keep his word so what's the best way to begin by using
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God's own words to describe what it was that happened if our hope is that God would perform what he has promised that he will love us as he has said let us use his own words to describe how it is that we have gone astray we have been saying repeatedly that the theme of chapter 9 and Daniel is this that God's covenant faithfulness that he loves his people based upon who he is and not who they are
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God's covenant faithfulness that he keeps all of his promises for the glory of his name his covenant faithfulness manifests it shows up it appears it is demonstrated in Christ for all the
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Saints no matter if they lived in the Old Covenant or they live in the New Covenant we've been talking about Daniel's prayer it is an old covenant prayer as he has set his face to the
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West looking to where God had promised to set his name in the temple in Jerusalem of course the temple is destroyed and Jerusalem is laid waste but Daniel still knows what direction to point his face as he by faith takes hold of the shadows of Christ for there was one mediator between God and man the man
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Christ Jesus but it is an old covenant prayer he's praying about Israel's unfaithfulness and Israel's covenant breaking and he is confessing and he is putting himself in a humble posture before the
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Lord fasting and covering himself in sackcloth and ashes and he begins not with his own misery but he begins by praising the character and the nature of God he begins with God and then moves to his own situation situation of his people and it becomes very specific in his prayers in verses 5 through 10 we've established the priority of confession in our prayers we need to confess let us begin by confessing the glory of God but what else how else do we pray what comes next honesty honesty with God about who we are and what we've done honesty with God is essential for confession and it may seem kind of odd for us to encourage each other today in light of Daniel chapter 9 to be honest with God good luck not being honest with God I mean doesn't he already know everything doesn't he know us better than we know ourselves by the same token we may consider why it's kind of odd to pray at all
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I mean doesn't God already know how great he is why do we have to tell him doesn't God already know how needy we are doesn't
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God already know the terms of our relationship but prayer is not informing
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God about those details of which he is already fully aware that's not the need for honesty it's not about us making sure that God is fully up to speed on the issues of our lives as if he is distracted or detained truthfulness in our prayers honesty in our confession is about our worship of God about our reverence unto
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God will we say what he says will we value what he values will we seek that which he desires do we make his glory as clear as we make our own shame after all we're the prodigal who left we're the sheep that strayed coming home to the father and coming back to the shepherd does not we're not we're not bringing anything that he doesn't already know we're not gonna tell him anything he doesn't already know what are we saying then in our confession we are expressing through our confession our desire to remain home to remain in agreement with God abiding with him so I confession is so important but what are we gonna say well
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Daniel's confession is structured in a very particular way very often we find the structure in the
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Old Testament is called a chiasm where you have a series of concentric parallels you have the bookends which rhyme by theme they have the same ideas sometimes the very same words and then another parallel moves in and they echo each other then another and then right at the heart of the chiasm is the big idea the main thought and we have that here today so I want to follow through that structure
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Daniel begins by identifying the sinners begins by identifying the one who is done the wrong verse 5 he starts off this way we have sinned and committed iniquity we have done wickedly and rebelled that bookend in verse 10 we have not obeyed the voice of the
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Lord our God to walk in his laws which he set before us by his servants the prophets he says we we we he says us you see in the
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Old Covenant there were two partners there was there was God and then there was Israel the nation of Israel and in the
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Old Covenant the consideration was who was in Israel and who wasn't but Israel was simply a shadow of the one who is to come and now of course the question is different isn't it's not about who is in ethnic
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Israel political Israel cultural Israel the question is and who is in the one who fulfills
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Israel who was in Christ are you in Christ or do you remain outside of him in the
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Old Covenant there was God and there was Israel the shadow of Christ pointing to the hope of Christ but on the day that God chose
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Israel and raised his hand in an oath to the children of Jacob in Egypt he said to them
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I am the Lord your God and God made them promises he promised them bring them up out of bondage out of Egypt to bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey and he was faithful and he kept his word all his promises but Israel was not faithful God was loyal to this stubborn and rebellious people but they were not loyal did any other nation ever hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire on Sinai like Israel did and still live did
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God ever go and take for himself a different nation by signs and wonders for himself wasn't it see wasn't it to Israel that God revealed himself and yes despite all of this despite all of this the current covenant estrangement that Daniel feels at this moment is due to Israel not to God God had not failed
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God had not sinned God had not done wrong Israel had God could not be blamed for anything he had been far more than generous other nations like Egypt and Assyria and Babylon could be blamed and had been blamed by various Israelites but these had not broken covenant with God Israel had
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Israel was guilty Israel had to come clean Israel must confess her guilt and so Daniel speaks up and says for the whole group we we we us the finger is pointed back the collective first person were at fault honest confession of the sinner is essential honest confession of the sinner is essential those who are in all actuality to blame must be identified and you recall the horrible job that Adam and Eve did that so God made everything and made it very good perfect abundant generous amazing and Adam and Eve sinned and began to blame
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God and others when
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God confronted Adam what did he say about what he had done he said the woman that you gave me
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Wow that was fast he blames his wife and God at the same time can't be my fault when
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God confronts Eve she's like oh the serpent you made right this is a really bad attempt at confessing what happened they having strayed from God's word they're no longer using
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God's words to describe what it is that happened the actual culprit must be confessed now in the
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Old Covenant Daniel's doing the right thing he's confessing Israel Israel has done wrong thus
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Israel is suffering the the judgment that we deserve in the
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New Covenant era we are promised that our dealing with God is not through Israel but through Christ who is the fulfillment of Israel and that's our dealing with God is based on our personal responsibility rather than a corporate covenant keeping because Christ has come a big change has occurred
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Jeremiah 31 verses 29 through 34 tells us that a big change has occurred no longer will the fathers eat sour grapes and the teeth of the children be put on edge that's the image of course that happened in the
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Old Covenant wherein Manasseh filled Jerusalem with blood his 52 years of tyranny and and bloodshed and the and the murder of all those infants given to the false
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God Molech and the destruction of the righteous the punishment upon Israel for Manasseh's sins for the wickedness that Manasseh brought into the life of Israel did not fall during Manasseh's time or his his son's time or even his grandson's time but later on it fell you see you see that the fathers ate sour grapes and then the teeth of the children were put on edge as God dealt with Israel as his shadow mediator of the
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Covenant but now it's different now it's different in the New Covenant we don't have that anymore we deal with God not through covenant blessings and cursings brought about through Israel and whether Israel's being faithful or not we deal with God through Christ Jesus Christ who doesn't have ups and downs and good days and bad days but he is perfectly faithful in all of his ministry
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Hebrews tells us a lot about that but look at Daniel he kneels here in the disaster that is brought about by the sins of his forefathers aren't you glad that the
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New Covenant is blessedly different from the old that in the New Covenant every member will have
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God's law written upon their hearts that each one of us will follow
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Jesus Christ as the standard but still the principle is the same the sinners must identify themselves who is at fault
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Jesus gave us an example of that in his parable about the Pharisee and the publican perhaps you remember that the
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Pharisee goes to the middle of the temple and and I think there's a good snicker here and prays to himself says he prays to himself about how awesome he is and how well he does and how he's not like horrible sinners like that tax collector that traitor that publican over there in the corner the publican for him for his point for his part he is off in the corner unwilling to lift up his head he's beating his breasts and he's praying
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Oh God be merciful the Greek word means propitious to me a sinner he said
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I'm the sinner so he's saying and Jesus says that one of those men namely the publican went home justified right with God at peace with God so sinners be honest with the
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Lord in confession we must throw off the snares of this culture of victimhood you are not the victim we are the villains and we must have a
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Savior Christ is our Savior it's me it's me it's me
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Oh Lord standing in the need of prayer not my father not my mother not my sister not my brother it's me it's me it's me
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Oh Lord standing in the need of prayer standing in the need of the forgiveness of my sins and the sins are confessed
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Daniel says we have sinned and committed iniquity we have done wickedly and rebelled verse 10 he says we have not obeyed verse 10 he says we have not obeyed the voice of the
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Lord our God to walk in his laws which he set before us by his servants the prophets you ever wonder why the
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Bible has more than one word for sin why so many because God is precise it matters to him why did
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God make more than one animal why do you make more than one terrain why do you make more than one star why do you make more than one planet
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God is precise we have more than one word for sin the word sin the word iniquity the word wickedness the word rebellion the word string the word disobedience
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Daniel is confessing the sins of the people and he's in sackcloth and ashes he has set his face to the
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Lord but he's not interested in just glazing over the problem skimming over the issues he's not interested in using man -made euphemisms like oh
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God you know we had some problems and issues we've made some mistakes he's not going to use man -made words that cover over the realities of sin he lays one stroke along another to paint an accurate picture of Israel's sin and this is not a pretty picture they have missed the mark they have perverted the path they have troubled their souls they have raged against God they have withdrawn from hope and they have refused to hear they have failed to keep the
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Sabbaths and the feasts and they have worshipped the false gods they believe the false prophets they insisted upon breaking
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God's law they settled for the appearance of peace and persecuted the prophets of God especially those prophets that told the nation exactly how they were breaking the covenant through their idolatry and their immorality and their injustice you get to the
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New Testament the Apostles will sometimes go on a little list of sins why not just say sin but they list the sins one after another this kind of sin that kind of sin this kind of sin
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Jesus stated specifically his woes against the false teachers what are we taught in the scriptures that sin is to be confessed specifically in light of God's holy concerns it is true that God made
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Christ sin on our behalf and it is also true that he bore our transgressions and the sins that God had passed over previously were laid upon Christ and blessed is the man in Christ whose sins are covered by the blood of the
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Lamb so to honor Christ let us confess our sins is this not what we are directly told to do the
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Apostle John says in 1st John 1 verses 8 through 10 he says you say that you have no sin you deceive our so you deceive yourselves if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us but listen if we confess our sins if we confess our sins
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God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we say that we have not sinned we make
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God a liar and his word is not in us so we see the need to confess our sins if we want the forgiveness of God not only the forgiveness but the cleansing of God to make us right with him and right with one another to bring us out of the despair of sin into holiness but we must confess our sins name them what
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God names them the Bible is full of the description of what sin is use
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God's words to describe what goes on in your heart and in your life and of course
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I've just pointed to the next part of our confession there's a standard in verses
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Daniel 5 and Daniel chapter 9 last part of verse 5 in the verse 6 says even by departing from your precepts and your judgments neither have we heeded your servants the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings and our princes and to our fathers and to all the people of the land and you pair that with the last part of verse 10 we have not obeyed the voice of the
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Lord our God to walk in his laws which he set before us by his servants the prophets so every biblical description of sin assumes the standard of God's Word what is the mark that was missed from what does the divergent path leave there is a peace that has been despised there has been a king that has been defied there's a hope that has been abandoned there's a message that has been ignored when we confess that we are the sinner and here are my sins we do so according to God's standard it's his light that shows us who we are and what we have done
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Israel did not hold Isaiah's oracles nor heed
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Jeremiah's warnings Israel despised Amos and they ignored
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Micah Israel stopped caring about Moses the Word of God had come by the prophets of God but it was ignored abandoned rejected and so the
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Kings ruled wickedly and the priests served profanely and the people groaned under the covenant curses that God said he would bring what standard did had they decided to live by the standard proclaimed to them by the false prophets whom
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Jeremiah said here's their message summed up peace peace but there is no peace falsely proclaiming that all is well all is well when it wasn't well it's not whether we're going to live by a standard but which standard it's not whether but which which standard are we going to apply to our lives by what standard are we going to pray to God and make our confession
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God's Word is the standard for God's image what happened
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God made man in his own image and what was the very first thing he did he gave his image his word we must confess sin so what is sin what is the standard of God's Word verse
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John 3 4 says whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness and sin is lawlessness the law of God is the expression of his holy character given to those made in his image to live in reflection of who he is and so sin is that which is against the character of God sin is that which is against the character of God expressed in the law sin is lawlessness and Jesus Christ is the end of the law the talos of the law the goal of the law unto righteousness for all who believe he is the standard as we live today everything now hinges on whether or not we submit to his reign whether or not we submit to Christ that's what it all comes down to as Kyle prayed for us from Psalm 2 will we do homage to the
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Sun will we bow the knee kiss the Sun and be blessed by finding refuge in him there are many standards out there today and most of those standards are changing by the minute if not by the month if we confess to a different standard then we're not going to be in agreement with God our sin will likely be seen as far less sinful or people perhaps confess sins that God never called sin if we will not have
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Christ as Lord we will have the tyranny of a thousand Lords if we will not have
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God's Ten Commandments we will have the tyranny of 10 ,000
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Commandments the standard of God is a blessing and then not only does
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Daniel confess the sinner in the sin and the standard but he also confesses his salvation in verse 7 it begins this way
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Oh Lord righteousness belongs to you and then in Daniel 9 9 to the
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Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness though we have rebelled against him so although Israel is corporately a sinner and his sin greatly breaking
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God's standard Daniel yet hopes that even the one who is offended God himself will save them because God is right and does right and makes the wrong into the right and God is merciful and that he is forgiving so God not only defines what is right he does what is right not only does he expose what is wrong but he makes the wrong to be right and he possesses all mercy and to all compassion and he shows tender love to the undeserving and he pardons sin and he releases his hold upon the transgressions of sinners and he removes them far from himself as far as the
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East is from the West and had not God shown those qualities to Israel in every generation and had not the
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God of Israel always done right how often had he shown his mercy to an undeserving nation demonstrating his forgiveness of their sins passing over the sins committed so Daniel confesses the sins of Israel made clear by God's standard but then he also confesses the goodness of God made evident by the very same standard and in the contrast in the very contrast of the holy and good
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God with sinful and wicked man we find the hope that such a perfect God is a wonderful Savior that man's rebellion has not changed
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God that man's rebellion has not overwhelmed him has not overcome him has not exhausted his mercy and forgiveness at the same time you may see the problem clearly if God is just if he is righteous if he is too holy to look upon sin if he upholds justice and does what is right how is it that he can be merciful to such sinful rebels who profane his name and despise his standard but there is only one place where the righteousness and the mercies of God meet for the forgiveness of sinners and that is the cross of Jesus Christ he is our salvation which is why we turn to the son we turn to our mediator we turn to the one through whom
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God is just and mercifully the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ Daniel also confesses shame for seven again he says but to us shame of face as it is this day to the men of Judah to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all
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Israel and verse 8 he says Oh Lord to us belongs shame of face to our kings our princes and our fathers because we have sinned against you we're losing touch with shame we don't quite know where it is anymore it's a sign of an increasingly pagan society shame becomes more and more rare it is almost anathema even in the churches the word shame speaks to a fainting paleness an overwhelming type of confusion a thoroughgoing and devastating disappointment when you read the book of Proverbs and you watch those cartoons that Solomon crafted about the fool where the fool always ends up is shame shame the term was often used in the
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Old Testament to speak of idols every scrap of trust in these false gods not only failed to cover a man's nakedness before his maker but ever kept him enslaved to the futility of sin living in poverty every next door to the blessings of covenant obedience the evidence of Israel's shame is that the land their land lay fallow and their city was laid low and the temple had been laid waste and the people lived in exile it was clear their shame look at their shame look at the shame look at all of the judgments that had come upon them because they had rejected the goodness of God when a man is found to be where he is not supposed to be with someone he is not supposed to be with not wearing what he should doing what he should not in that moment of exposure and in the coming days afterwards what prevails except for shame his name is counted as shameful his family and his friends recoil from him and it seems that he cannot even bear to wear his own face such as every man and woman who are made in God's image made to glorify
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God and enjoy him forever but living ever in betrayal of their own uniform dead in their trespasses and sins and if you want to see the reality of shame though it's long suppressed though you what do you want to see the reality of shame to flare hotly all you have to do is shine the light upon sin and watch the eruption even though folks sear their consciences and forget how to blush the
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Word of God by the Holy Spirit will bring back those cold embers to life in a flash just bring the
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Word of God to bear as light upon the current sense of of excuses and euphemisms of what sin is today say what
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God says about it and you'll watch shame evidence in a moment usually in the form of anger but it is there and we need to confess it according to the
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Word of God Christ removes our shame not by ignoring it not by trying to tell us everything's okay or by casting some sort of spell upon it he removes our shame by delivering us both from the exposure and the poverty of exile that's how he delivers us from our shame he delivers us from the exposure and the poverty of exile and we are no longer slop craving runaways no longer are we destitute fools fatherless and friendless but in Christ we are sons and daughters of God trophies of grace beloved it is good to confess our shame shame is
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God's grace in so many situations we should be shamed of sin the falsity futility the bondage of sin we should be ashamed of sin but in Christ we don't have to be in shame anymore the heart of Daniel's structure here of confession at the heart of it
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God he has something to say about what God has done and what he has done is right the sentencing upon Israel what they deserved they got
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Daniel 7 last part after talking about all the people of Israel he says those near and those far off those you know who live there in Babylon near where he's at and those far off in all the countries to which you have driven them they didn't wander off God drove them off because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against you see
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Daniel saying it the way God would say it he's not saying in the way somebody else would say he's saying what happened according to God's own word he confesses the sins of Israel by God's own standard seeking salvation from their shame by a particular request because he's been reading
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Jeremiah he's got this promise of 70 years after 70 years God's going to return his people back to his place to be blessed under his rule but they had been scattered and they deserved it and God had promised that this sentence of judgment would come upon them if they persisted in covenant -breaking he promised it in Leviticus he promised it in Deuteronomy he said it more than once and they have been split up and they have been exiled away in many directions and it had been many many decades since the first exile and the
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Jews are all over the place now they're all over the place except that one place where God had promised to give them and to display his name they were far off away from God and Israel deserved that she was an unfaithful wife she was a harlot who didn't care to be paid and God had cast her out of the house and she wandered about in the wilderness but Hosea says
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God had also promised to hedge up her way with thorns and there in the wilderness to speak to her tenderly and bring her back
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Daniel knows Israel deserves the sentence of exile God's righteous standard demands it
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Israel's sin earned it and Israel's shame is bound up with it and so he prays and the shame of mankind is bound up in a well -earned sentence for Adam and Eve sinned against God's standard and were driven away exiled from the
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Garden of Eden and exile has always been the mark of sinners we are strangers far from home in darkness away from the light fools apart from wisdom the dead lost to life without God in the world this these are the descriptions in the scriptures about sinners what we need is more than a pilgrimage to a brick and mortar temple topographical mountain geographical city
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God does say to Daniel he's gonna keep his promise Daniel 9 God confirms he's gonna keep his promise 70 years yeah we'll bring it back from exile but that's not the big promise the big promise is also in Daniel 9 that not only after 70 years but after 70 weeks of years after 490 years there's going to be an end to the actual problematic exile that lies behind Israel's exile
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Matthew tells us that in the first chapter of his gospel you know those funny names
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Matthew tells us that after 14 generations there are 14 generations from Abraham to David and there are 14 generations from David to the exile then he says there are 14 generations from the exile to Messiah who saves his people from their sins he saves his people from their sins in fact he is
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God incarnate his name is Emmanuel which means what God with us that's the end of exile we have been apart from God but in Christ God is with us that's the end of exile and and how does
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Christ achieve this by taking upon himself the fullness of our exile what we deserve what did he say upon the cross
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Eloy Eloy Lamas of Bachtani my God my God why have you forsaken me that's what we deserve that's what we deserve but he screamed the scream of the damned that we would sing the song of the redeemed he will never leave us nor forsake us it is clear what we deserve the sentence of exile and that's what we must confess wholeheartedly so that we may rejoice in the salvation that we have in Christ and relish the blessings of this salvation then we as we abide in the one who has sent his spirit to abide in us so do not think
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Oh sinner that you must wander forever far far from home the spirit and the bride say come and Jesus calls and says come and to the church
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Oh saints let us therefore abide in him that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming let's pray father
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I thank you for the time you've given us in your word I thank you for the rich model of confession that you give to us in the life of Daniel we are reminded of what we really need in Christ is to be in agreement with you and that you bring us into agreement with you by your grace so help us to confess help us to say things as you say it and rejoice in our communion by the spirit with you and your son we pray these things for his sake amen that there's washing of our sins and blood of Christ stand with me for our song of benediction the song is a testimony of each one of us this morning that Jesus Christ can wash our sins whiter than snow by his blood page 436 our hymnal
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I shall be may the love of the