Turn with me now to Daniel chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9. The heading at the top of my page here says Daniel's Prayer and Confession. That's what this is. In this chapter, Daniel is going to pray a prayer to God on behalf of his nation, the nation of Israel. And I see a picture of Christ in this. I see a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ in this in there. There are 12 chapters in the book of Daniel. And. In all 12 of these chapters, there's not one mention of Daniel doing any wrongdoing. You know, all through the Scripture, the Lord exposes men's errors and. But there's not one mention of any wrongdoing by Daniel. He was always obedient to God. And he was obedient to the authorities that were over him. He was devout. He was honest. He was sincere. He was taken captive in chapter one. When we looked at chapter one, Nebuchadnezzar came into Israel and, and besieged Israel. And at that time it's estimated he was about 15 or 18 years old, something like that. And now in Daniel chapter nine, he's somewhere between 80 and 85 years old. He spent his whole life in Babylon in captivity. But even though there's no wrongdoing on his part mentioned, we're going to see in this prayer that he numbers himself with the transgressors. In this ninth chapter, Daniel is caused to realize something. And that realization is the deep, indescribable sin of his people, his nation, against God. Their sin against God. And he cries out to God over it. He intercedes for his people. And the absolute beauty of this prayer is how he acknowledges himself to be one with them. Now, Daniel was one with them in the sense that he was a sinner just like everybody else. But in the picture that Daniel represents, in the type that Daniel represents, which is Jesus Christ, Daniel is a picture of Jesus Christ. Christ was sinless. In him was no sin. I find no fault in this man. But thank God he numbered himself with the transgressors. So let's read this prayer together from Daniel and I have some things that have really hit me tonight that I want to share with you. Daniel 9 verse 1. In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the meads which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number of years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem." Daniel was, you know, he's an old man now. And he was reading the book of Jeremiah. And Jeremiah, the prophet, lived at the same time that Daniel lived. They were alive at the same time. Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Ezekiel all lived at the same time that Daniel lived. All five of those men lived at the same time. Jeremiah was older than Daniel and he died about 30 years or so before this moment. And Daniel was reading his writings. He was reading the book of Jeremiah. And while Daniel was reading, he realized that just before he was taken into captivity, almost 70 years before this moment, this is at the end of it. He realized Jeremiah prophesied that it would happen. And then Daniel kept on reading Jeremiah's writing and he saw that he prophesied that the captivity would be 70 years, which he is almost at right here at this moment. Turn over to Jeremiah 25 and I'll show you what Daniel was reading. Jeremiah 25. Jeremiah wrote this just before the captivity happened. The heading at the top of my page here says, Jeremiah foretelleth the 70 years captivity. So verse 1, Jeremiah 25 verse 1, the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah. That was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. The witch Jeremiah, the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying from the 13th year of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and 20th year, the word of the Lord hath come unto me. And I have spoken unto you rising early and speaking. And this is the part I want us to pay attention to. But you have not hearkened. And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants, the prophets, rising early and sending them. But you have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear. They said, turn ye again now everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your doings and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you and to your fathers forever and ever and go not after other gods to serve them and to worship them and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands and I will do you no hurt. Yet you have not hearkened unto me, saith the Lord, that you might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, because you have not heard my words, you have not listened, you have not believed, you have rejected my words. Verse 9, behold, I will send and take all the families of the North, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land and against the inhabitants thereof and against all these nations round about and will utterly destroy them and make them an astonishment and a hissing and perpetual desolations. Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment. And these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years. and it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity in the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, Even all that is written in this book which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations, for many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also, and I will recompense them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands." Daniel was reading this and he realized Nebuchadnezzar is the one who did bring us into captivity. And Nebuchadnezzar has died. And Belshazzar has died. And now Darius is king. And it's been right at 70 years since we were taken. And right there in the pages of God's Word, Daniel was told why. Why they were taken into captivity. It's because they did not hearken to God's Word. They did not believe God's word. They did not listen to the truth. They did not bow. They rejected God. They rejected God's sovereignty. They rejected God's right. Not that any man can reject God, but they tried. They went their own way with their own thoughts. And what breaks my heart is That's exactly the same thing that our nation has done. We have sinned. We have sinned. We have forgotten God. We have ignored God. We have mocked his word. And oh, that God would give me a heart to pray for the souls of this nation as God gave Daniel a heart to pray for the souls of his nation. And I'm not talking about a political thing. I'm not talking about an America thing. Oh, that God would give us a heart to pray for any soul in any nation. I cannot begin to describe the impression that was made on me years ago. I was preaching in Madisonville, Kentucky, and it was before I was called to be pastor here, but I was preaching in Madisonville, and a dear older brother was presiding over the service, just a dear, dear man. He's been there a long time. I'll tell you how long he's been there. When he was a young boy, his family sat under Arthur Pink, and he's been under the gospel a long time. And he was presiding over the service, and he was leading in prayer, and he prayed, Lord, give us a greater concern for men's souls. And in that moment, when I heard him say that, I thought, if I'm going to do this, that's what I need. If I'm going to do this, if I'm going to stand here and preach, if I'm going to do this, that's what I need. I need a great concern for men's souls. Does God have an elect people? Yes. Yes, he does. Was their salvation set in stone before this world began and set in stone when Christ died on that cross? Yes, it was. But he has not told us who his elect are. And he has told us to go out and preach to every soul we can preach to as though they may be one of the elect. That's the means he's chosen to use to call his elect to himself. They may be wickedly rebellious. They may be wickedly self-righteous. Just like we were. Just like we were. Just like Saul of Tarsus was. Just like all of God's people were. But in time, God may make it clear that they're one of God's chosen elect. So may God give us a concern for men and women. All men and women. Not only in our nation, but every nation on this earth. All men and women. I want to share something with you that is Not normally the type of thing that I would share with you. I believe this will really help us to more so enter into this message. I get a fair amount of what we would call hate mail. And I usually don't tell you about it because there's no point. There's just no point. But I believe there's a point in telling you this one. I received some correspondence concerning a message that I preached a little while back. And it was mocking that message. It was actually mocking the God of that message specifically. And no name was given. I don't know if it was a man or a woman. But the subject matter title was, three words, God Hates You. All right, that was the subject that was sent. And this person wrote, and just listen to this, this person wrote, and again, realize this is him mocking what he heard, or her mocking what she heard. He hates everyone except his few elect. The rest he predestinated to hell. He is a true sadist, which is a person who takes pleasure in inflicting pain on somebody, a person who just tortures, just is cruel and enjoys it. He's a true sadist. This person said, I hope he is fiction. Otherwise our eternity is horrendous. That's tough, isn't it? When I read that, the first thing that I thought was, oh my goodness, how far man has fallen from God. And then I thought, what is God gonna do to this nation for its rebellion against him? What is God gonna do to this nation? What's the future of this nation? This is one of my countrymen, or women, What is God going to do to this nation for its rebellion against Him? And then I thought, but for the grace of God, there go I. That would be me. This person was angry enough to write it and send it, but that is the universal mind and heart of every soul outside of Christ. That is the common rebellion of every man and woman on this earth. Mankind says that's not fair. Man hears about God being God and choosing who he would save. And man says that is not fair. God is not fair. I don't like this God you preach. A lot of people have said that. A lot of people have said that. I don't like this God you preach. I don't want this God you preach. I won't have his will. All of this is irrelevant. This is still God we're talking about. There's only one God, only one true and living God. I'm not hearing his word. I'm preaching his word. Well, I'm not hearing his word. I don't believe. I won't bow. I'm telling you, but for the grace of God, that would be me and you. That's, that's where I'm coming from with this. but for the grace of God, that would be me and you. And knowing that, and I know that's so, but for the grace of God, that would be me. And I know it's so. And that, knowing that breaks my heart for this person. It breaks my heart for this person. My heart is broken over the condition of this person. I don't even know who this person is. But my heart is broken over the condition of this person. And it makes me want to pray for this person. And it makes me want to pray for any other person who has this same attitude toward the true and living God. It makes me want to pray for myself, Lord, keep me and don't let me go. It makes me want to pray for my family. It makes me want to pray for you. It makes me want to pray for your family. It makes me want to pray for these children. Dear God Almighty, don't let them grow up and go off into the way of this world. I am not mad at him or her, this person who sent this. I'm not mad at him or her. I'm not. The fact is, he or she is not mad at me. They're mad at God. And it's heartbreaking. It's truly heartbreaking. In the natural flesh, all of God's people were in this condition. All of God's people come from this condition. And they're there until God conquers each one of them. And that's what has to happen. They're there until God breaks each one of them. God broke me. And God broke you. And that way is there until God puts the fear of this thrice holy God in each one of his people. Fear. That's what we need is fear. That way is there until God gives an understanding that we need to be crying out to this God for mercy. Clearly by what this person said, he or she heard what I was saying, which was amazing to me because a lot of times people don't really hear what you're saying. But when you have a response like this, that person heard what I was saying and he or she was wrong on some of it, but it is true. All of the love of God is in Christ Jesus. That's true. Does God love everybody? No, God loves Christ and every soul he placed in Christ. All of God's love is in Jesus Christ. If we want to be recipients of God's love, we're going to have to be in Jesus Christ. And only God's elect are in Christ. Only God's elect people are in Christ. The only way a sinner can be in Christ is if God, in mercy and grace, puts that sinner in Christ. And that's election. God selecting and placing and doing what he wants to do with his own. This person is wrong on the fact that God did not predestinate men and women to hell. Man secured that on his own. Man did that to himself. Man cannot blame God for man's own sin and the punishment that's owed to man for man's own sin. We can't blame God for that. We can't be mad at God for that. This person is also wrong on the fact that our Lord does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked. He doesn't. But this person is right about the fact that if God does not have mercy, if God does not have mercy, if God does not break, if God does not reveal the truth, if God does not cause us to bow, if God does not cause us to believe, our eternity will be horrendous. It'll be horrendous. The eternity of every soul outside of the blood of Christ is going to be horrendous. We need Jesus Christ. We need the blood of Jesus Christ. We need the mercy and grace that can only be found in Jesus Christ. That's what we need. Lord, have mercy on us. Cause us to realize what we're doing. Cause us to hear you. Cause us to hear your word. Give us the ability to believe on you. Give us the ability to cast our all on you. You're our only hope. Cause us to know that. Cause us to know that. Clearly this person heard what the truth was saying. And that response that the person gave is called kicking against the pricks. That's what it's called. You have the pricks of God's sovereignty and the pricks of God's right and the pricks of God's whatever God has done. It pricks and it pricks and it's called kicking against the pricks. Saul of Tarsus did that. And I would imagine many of us here right now did that. And if the Lord in mercy, if he ever does stop the kicking. If he ever takes out that heart of stone, if he ever puts in a heart of flesh. I want this person to know it'll be open arms right here. If he ever does show mercy. If he ever does reveal the truth, if he ever does show Christ. If he ever does break and calls a person to say, oh my God, what have I done? Lord, I need mercy. If that ever happens, it's open arms right here. We'll cry out to God for mercy together. But God be merciful to us. God be merciful to us. God be merciful to men and women. God be merciful. I don't have time to read them. I don't have time to read. Well, yeah, I'll just go to Daniel. Let me see what I have time to do. Let's just read this, all right? Let's just read this. With that, maybe making this a little closer to home. Let's just read this and hear Daniel's cry. And let's see the gospel in this, okay? Daniel 9 verse 1, in the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the meads which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years where of the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And after seeing why, Daniel read in Jeremiah, after seeing why, all this came upon them, verse 3. Daniel said, I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. And I prayed unto the Lord my God and made my confession and said, oh Lord, the great and dreadful God. keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him and to them that keep his commandments. Verse five, he said, we have sinned. We've sinned. We are sinners. Daniel said, I'm pleading your covenant of mercy for we have sinned. And here's the, here's the part I want to stress. We Verse 5, we have sinned and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments. Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants, the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces. as at this day to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to all Israel that are near and that are far off through all the countries, whither thou hast driven them because of their trespass, that they have trespassed against thee. O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of faith, to our kings, our princes, our fathers, because we have sinned against thee." All of us, that's what he's saying. All of us by nature, we are all in confusion of faith. That means shameful idol worshipers. And that's what we are, if we're not worshiping the true and living God, we're shameful idol worshipers. But he said, your righteousness, we are confusion of face, your righteousness. Verse nine, to the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against thee. Lord, your righteousness, you are mercy, you are forgiveness. All we are is sinners. Confused, rebellious sinners. Verse 10. 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. Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice. Therefore, the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, because we have sinned against Him. And He hath confirmed His words which He spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil. For unto the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come upon us. Yet made we not our prayer before the Lord, our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand that truth. What he's saying is after all this time, we still have not turned to you. We still have not cried out to you now. Daniel did. It's what got him thrown in a lion's den. They told him, stop calling on your God. And he wouldn't do it. But he's identifying with the sins of his people. Verse 14, Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil and brought it upon us. For the Lord our God is righteous in all his works, which he doeth. For we obeyed not His voice. Our Lord punishes sinners, not because He takes pleasure in it, but because His justice demands it. His justice demands it. Holy and just is He. Verse 15, And now, O LORD our God, thou hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renowned, as at this day we have sinned, we have done wickedly. We, we. That's the place that our Lord Jesus Christ took with us. In our sin and in our condemnation, in our captivity, we we I just read for a scripture reading Psalm 40. Those are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that psalm, he calls our iniquities. He said, they're my iniquities praying to the father, he said, mine iniquity. I thought he knew no sin. He did know no sin. But he numbered himself with us. Isaiah 53 says he numbered himself with the transgressors. All we like sheep have gone astray, but the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. He's our high priest. He's our intercessor. And I'm going to read four more verses. And let's listen to that intercession, all right? Hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ in this, all right? Verse 16, listen to Christ. Oh Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thine fury be turned away from thy city, Jerusalem, thy holy mountain. because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplications and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that it is desolate for the Lord's sake. Can you hear him crying that from the cross of Calvary? Father, deal with me and let them go. Deal with all their iniquities in me and let them go for the Lord's sake. Verse 18, Oh my God, incline thine ear and hear my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Incline thine ear and hear, open thine eyes and behold our desolations in the city which is called by thy name, for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies." We're not pleading man's self-righteous works. We're pleading mercy in the blood of the Lamb. Verse 19, O LORD, hear, O LORD, forgive, O LORD, hearken and do. Defer not for thine own sake, O my God, for thy city and thy people are called by thy name. That's a message right there. Hear, forgive, hearken and do. Don't put it off. Defer not for your own sake. Oh my God, for your name's sake, save us. Lord, for your name's sake, save us. Now that's Daniel's prayer. The next time we're in Daniel, we're gonna hear the answer to the prayer. That's his prayer, and we'll hear the answer to the prayer, but I'll go ahead and tell you what it is. The throne of God, I just, I've always loved this. The throne of God, it says, that the moment Daniel started crying this on behalf of his great concern for the souls of men and women, it says, the moment he started crying this, and again, this is a picture of Christ crying on behalf of His elect. But the moment he started crying, the command was given from the throne to an angel named Gabriel. You go tell him, this is what I have to say. And he flew as hard as he can. And he said, salvation is coming. Deliverance is coming. There's mercy and there's hope for rebels against God, Daniel. Oh, Lord, we're all rebels against God. We all hate God. We're all. There's hope for rebels against God. Hear the word of the Lord and your soul shall live. Believe, bow, cry out for mercy. Every soul who does will evidence being one of God's elect who he loves and has a wonderful eternity for him or her.