The Contrition of Daniel
Daniel 9:1-19
July 3, 2016
As you are well aware we are studying through the book of Daniel.
You are also aware that the book of Daniel makes a very vivid distinction regarding who Daniel is writing too at any given time.
The majority of the first parts of this book are written in Aramaic
And thus intended for Gentile readers as Daniel lays out to the world that
Despite the difficulties of the Jewish people,
God is absolutely sovereign and in total control of all things.
The only reason nations like Babylon and Persia and Greece and Rome are allowed to persecute God’s people is because God Himself has allowed it and ordained it.
And the proof of God’s sovereign control was seen in the way in which God humbled the rulers alive in Daniel’s time.
• We saw God teach numerous lessons to Nebuchadnezzar before finally
causing him to lose his sanity for 7 years which ultimately led to the worship
of Nebuchadnezzar.
• We saw God answer the arrogant idolatry of Belshazzar as God wrote with His
finger on the wall and ultimately removed Belshazzar that very night.
• And we saw God get the attention of Darius the Mede by preserving Daniel’s
life while in the midst of the den of lions.
All of those stories pointed to the sovereignty of God
Even over the Gentile world.
And Daniel wrote all of those stories in Aramaic
So the world would read them and know who is really in charge.
But as I told you last week in chapter 8 Daniel made a shift.
No longer writing in Aramaic; Daniel began to write in Hebrew.
Now it wasn’t that Daniel just made a shift in the way he wrote,
For chapter 8 was written long before chapters 5 or 6.
Daniel was just choosing his audience.
Well now we are in a section that reveals
The truth God has for His people, the Jews,
And it is written in Hebrew.
Chapter 8 made clear to us that God has a divine purpose in store for Israel.
He made it clear that He was first bringing Babylon, then Media/Persia, and then Greece to afflict His people.
In particular there would be a general arise from Greece
Who would do especial harm to Israel
Even desecrating their temple and seeking to remove their Law.
God would even allow this for 6 years and 4 months.
And the REASON was made clear to Daniel
Daniel 8:12 “And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper.”
Daniel said that all of this affliction was coming
“on account of transgression”
That is to say that all of this tribulation would be as a result of Israel’s sin.
And that should have resonated loudly with Israel.
After all we had Isaiah and Micah and Habakkuk and then Jeremiah and Ezekiel all five calling for the same thing in their ministry which was repentance from sin.
But their warnings were overlooked and ignored
So God raised up the blood thirsty Chaldeans who came in and raised Jerusalem to the ground and carried of God’s people into exile.
In fact, even after Israel returned from exile and rebuilt the temple under the leadership of Zechariah and Haggai, Israel would fall again into sin (this time apathy as Malachi would point out)
And so God would raise up Greece and this horrible general known as Antiochus Epiphanes to punish Israel.
And so chapter 8 was a sober warning to Israel
About the dangers of sin and the extreme steps
God is willing to take to purify His people from it.
That being the case it stands to reason what should have occurred all throughout the nation of Israel following such a revelation.
THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN NATIONAL REPENTANCE.
After all, we are all familiar with Jonah in Nineveh talking about their destruction and we remember the national repentance of that nation and how God spared them.
You would expect that repentance would be the call of the day.
So it is not at all strange what we find taking place in chapter 9.
We find Daniel’s prayer of repentance before God.
And I am so thankful that this prayer has been preserved for us and that we get an opportunity to see what a true prayer of repentance looks like.
Hopefully you understand how important repentance is
To the expectation God has for your life.
The very first word of the gospel message has always been (and will always be) REPENT.
When the forerunner came:
Matthew 3:1-2 “Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
When the Messiah came:
Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
When the apostles began:
Acts 2:37-38 “Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Peter again:
Acts 3:19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;”
Paul:
Acts 17:30-31 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
It becomes clear to us that repentance
Has always been the beginning of the gospel message
And always been a clear expectation of God for the sinner.
Now certainly we understand that man is justified by faith alone.
• That is to say that no amount of contrition or repentance is enough to
save a person from judgment.
• God grants righteousness on the basis of faith as we have learned
throughout Romans 3 and 4.
But we also quickly come to grips with the fact that
Any faith which does not have repentance is not saving faith.
As Jesus laid out for us the attitudes of salvation
In His Sermon on the Mount
He made it extremely clear that the attitude of repentance was essential.
Matthew 5:3-6 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
The word repentance is not used there,
But it literally drips out of the passage.
There is an obvious brokenness and contrition that must occur
In order for our faith to be deemed genuine.
And we see this quite a lot today
IN FACT WE HAVE SEEN IT FOR CENTURIES.
You saw this morning that the church is making rightnow media available to you. One of the first studies I watched was called “Luther and the Reformation” by R.C. Sproul
And would you know that this issue of faulty repentance was one of the key issues that started the reformation?
I’ll give you a quick summary because it is fascinating to me.
Of course one of the MAIN PROBLEMS OF HUMANITY
Has always been an inability to measure up to God’s righteousness,
And one of the chief questions of religion
Has been how to address that problem.
One of the ways in which the Catholic church addresses this issue is through what they call “THE TREASURY OF MERIT”
(not a treasury of gold, but one of merit, or “goodness”)
• In that treasury was all the merit of Christ and of the apostles.
• In that treasury was any extra merit that was earned by martyrs and saints, etc.
(more to it, but that’s the gist)
Catholicism says that when a person dies without enough righteousness to go before God they have to go to purgatory which is a place of purging.
(and the length of stay depended upon how long it took to purge the body of sin)
The TREASURY OF MERIT then holds units of merit
Which can be applied to a person’s account
Which makes them more worthy
And thus shorten their time in purgatory.
Well in Luther’s day was that the church became strapped for money.
Pope Leo the 10th bankrupted the church. (building of St. Peters)
At the same time
• You had a man named Prince Albert who wanted to become Arch Bishop and it was common in that day to buy church offices which he did for 10,000 gold duckets (one for each of the 10 commandments)
The problem was that he didn’t have 10,000 gold duckets
• So in order to help him finance the deal and pay off his creditors the Pope gave Prince Albert the authority to oversee the distribution of indulgences throughout Germany.
Prince Albert gained the services of man named Yohon Tetzel.
• Tetzel would go into a town with great pomp and pageantry and use very
similar tactics to the evangelists today in which he would ask the crowd if
they could hear the screams of their family members in purgatory and
would they be willing to purchase indulgences to get them out.
“Every time a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs”
Now Prince Albert had said that indulgences could be awarded in response to the giving of alms, but that only if given with a true spirit of contrition.
Obviously that wasn’t happening.
This infuriated Martin Luther who wrote his 95 thesis
Regarding this horrific sight and nailed them to the door of the church in Wittenburg, Germany.
(he wasn’t seeking to be rebellious, he wrote them in Latin in order to have a discussion with the faculty, but his students translated and dispersed them)
And this started the firestorm of the reformation.
Which of course led to many other theological issues.
But the main argument Luther had with Tetzel
(and one that caused Luther to beg repeatedly for theological discussion)
Was that Tetzel’s communication bypasses the call for CONTRITION and replaces it with ATTRITION.
And obviously Luther’s story and fight went much further than that,
But it all began with an issue regarding repentance.
AND THIS IS AN IMPORTANT DISTINCTION EVEN TODAY.
Attrition is repentance motivated by the fear of punishment. It is a decision made simply because a person doesn’t want to go to hell, etc.
Contrition is repentance motivated by sorrow over sin and over having offended God.
The gospel call has never been for simply attrition,
Where if you can scare people enough about hell
Then in order to skip the consequences they will say they are sorry.
The gospel call has been for contrition,
That because you have offended God, you must turn from your sin.
If you want an example in the Bible:
Hebrews 12:15-17 “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.”
Esau was a man was very sorrow for what he had done
Only because of the consequences he had received.
But he was never sorry for the way that his sin had offended God.
Thus the writer of Hebrews said “he found no place for repentance”
You might see it as the difference between remorse and repentance.
And we still struggle with it in our day and time.
• Evangelists have done us a massive disservice over the years in
their Tetzel like approaches to scare people into a decision.
I can certainly tell you that this was the main difference in the decision
I made at 8 years old and the one I made at 19.
At 8 I ran to Jesus simply because I didn’t want to go to hell.
At 19 I ran to Jesus because He was the only one who could fix my offense to God.
There is a massive difference there.
We are seeking true repentance (contrition not attrition).
And TONIGHT I want to show you an example of
What a true prayer of contrition looks like.
Daniel knew that their captivity was a result of transgression,
Tonight we look at Daniel’s prayer of repentance.
5 things Daniel had
#1 AWARENESS OF THE PROBLEM
Daniel 9:1-3
We all know where Daniel was. Daniel was taken to Babylon as a teenager.
And we all know why these Jews were living in Babylon.
But I want you to understand, many of the Jews didn’t.
Most of the Jews who were living in Babylon
Continually expected deliverance from Babylon at any minute.
They expected that any day now God was going to bust into Babylon,
Break the yoke of the oppressor, and deliver His people.
BECAUSE OF THE FALSE PROPHETS
Ezekiel and Jeremiah were the only two saying anything different.
But remember, their messages were widely rejected.
Most of the prophets were preaching a message
That any day now God will deliver us.
Jeremiah 14:15 “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying, ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’—by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end!”
Jeremiah 27:14 “So do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a lie to you;”
Jeremiah was right on target, but Jeremiah was rejected.
So what we have is the nation of Israel exiled into Babylon,
And most of them didn’t know why.
And here is one of the major hindrances to prayers of repentance.
PEOPLE DON’T REALIZE THEY HAVE A SIN PROBLEM.
Have you ever heard the expression,
“You’ve got to get a person lost before you can get them saved.”?
We live in a world that doesn’t realize they are lost.
Most people really in their mind think they are ok.
Most people really believe they are going to heaven when they die.
Daniel and his people were living the life of a curse,
And the reason was because God was judging their sin.
But most of them didn’t think that was the case.
Most of them thought God was on their side.
But that is what Daniel is about to figure it out.
(1-3) “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans – in the first year of his reign…”
Now stop there for a second, because this is also interesting.
Let’s talk a little history.
The deportation to Babylon happened in three phases.
Daniel and his friends went first – 605 BC
Ezekiel and 10,000 captives went second – 597 BC
Jerusalem fell and the rest went last – 586 BC
Darius became king in 539 BC
So how long has Daniel been in Babylon at the time of this prayer? – 67years.
The Jews would return home in 536 BC.
Daniel is three years from the end of captivity.
I think that is interesting, because finally now people are starting to listen to God.
(2b-3) “I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.”
Finally God has someone’s attention, and
Finally someone cares about what Jeremiah had to say.
Jeremiah 29:10-14 “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.”
When Daniel learned that
All of this affliction was the result of transgression
Daniel went to the word in search of what it was.
Here we find that Daniel finally found the issue.
• Men hadn’t been calling upon God.
• Men hadn’t been praying to God.
• Men hadn’t been seeking God with all their heart.
Men had fallen into sin.
Daniel has become aware of the problem.
Awareness of the problem.
#2 ADMISSION OF GUILT
Daniel 9:4-8
Not only did Daniel realize that God had sent them to Babylon,
Daniel also realized why.
Men had not sought God.
So now Daniel determines it is time to get right with God.
So Daniel begins to lay it all on the table.
And we can see two aspects to his repentance.
1) HE LISTS THE SIN COMMITTED Verses 5-6
Daniel pretty much gets right to the point.
• If there was a law in place we broke it,
• If someone called us on it, we ignored them.
He admits to every sin he can think of.
2) HE LISTS THE SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM Verses 7-8
Here Daniel tells God who all was involved in the sin.
EVERYBODY.
We all sinned huge.
And I don’t mind telling you that Daniel’s attitude here is so refreshing.
Don’t you just love it when people come up to you and say,
“I’m sorry I did that, but you really shouldn’t have…”
Or
“If I have done anything to make you angry, I’m sorry…”
Look Daniel was not here faking his remorse.
• His sin wasn’t God’s fault
• His sin wasn’t the community’s fault
• His sin wasn’t the prophet’s fault
• His sin was Moses’ fault
• His sin wasn’t Babylon’s fault
OUR SIN IS OUR FAULT
And what is even more astounding…
AND GOD YOU WERE RIGHT TO PUNISH US.
(7) “Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame”
That is not someone who wishes to debate
Whether or not they really need to repent,
That is someone who knows they need to repent.
Do you see what repentance looks like?
I blew it, it was all me, and I’m sorry.
Awareness of the Problem, Admission of Guilt
#3 AGREEMENT WITH THE CONSEQUENCES
Daniel 9:9-14
This is almost foreign to us today.
But not only does Daniel admit that the guilt here is all his.
But look at what he says about God.
“To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; nor have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets.”
Are you kidding me?
Did Daniel really just call God compassionate?
WHY?
Because after what Israel did, they are lucky they are still alive.
In the first chapter of Isaiah,
Isaiah tries to get this reality through the thick heads of Israel.
Isaiah 1:7-9 “Your land is desolate, Your cities are burned with fire, Your fields — strangers are devouring them in your presence; It is desolation, as overthrown by strangers. The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, Like a watchman’s hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. Unless the LORD of hosts Had left us a few survivors, We would be like Sodom, We would be like Gomorrah.”
Daniel is seeing it through Isaiah’s eyes.
We’ve suffered badly, but really a 70 year exile was gracious.
1) HE AGREES THAT THEY DESERVE THE CONSEQUENCES. Verse 11
Daniel has done far more studying than just the one passage in Jeremiah.
He has also read the book of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 28 begins the section on blessings and curses.
Deuteronomy 28:1-14 = blessings for obedience.
Deuteronomy 28:15-69 = curses for disobedience.
All that is happening to Israel is directly because of their disobedience,
And what is happening is exactly what God said would happen.
Deuteronomy 28:36-37 “The LORD will bring you and your king, whom you set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone. “You shall become a horror, a proverb, and a taunt among all the people where the LORD drives you.
Daniel said, we sinned, and so we received the curse,
Just as God said we would.
We deserve the consequences.
2) HE AGREES WITH THE DEGREE OF THE CONSEQUENCES Verse 12
Here he has been reading another book.
Ezekiel 5:7-9 “Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Because you have more turmoil than the nations which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround you,’ therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations. ‘And because of all your abominations, I will do among you what I have not done, and the like of which I will never do again.
• Everything You have done, You said You would do.
• We deserve everything You have given us.
• We deserve the punishment, and we deserve the degree to which we have
been punished.
Not only that, but WE STILL DESERVE IT!
3) HE AGREES WITH THE DURATION OF THE CONSEQUENCES Verse 13-14
Why would Daniel say they still deserve it?
Because they still haven’t turned from their sin and started seeking God!
2 Chronicles 7:12-14 “Then the LORD appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
And Daniel says, WE STILL HAVEN’T DONE THAT,
SO WE STILL DESERVE TO BE HERE.
Can you hear Daniel’s humility and remorse?
• He isn’t arguing with God
• He isn’t trying to negotiate a reduced sentence
• He is sorry for what they have done to God.
Awareness of the problem, Admission of Guilt, Agreement with the Consequences
#4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE SAVIOR
Daniel 9:15-16
Daniel not only realizes that he has offended God,
But he also realizes that the God he has offended
IS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN HELP
(Does no good to keep offending Him)
God alone has the power of forgiveness.
After the paralytic was brought to Jesus:
Luke 5:20-21 “Seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”
Only God could give Daniel forgiveness.
And only God could deliver Israel from their consequences.
It is important in our repentance
That we understand WHO we have offended and WHERE we must turn.
All sin is an offense primarily to God.
Even after the Bathsheba incident David said:
Psalms 51:3-4 “For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.”
All sin is offense to God.
But you should also know that
God is the only one who can deliver from it.
• Don’t turn to religion (putting money in Tetzel’s cup won’t help)
• You have got to run to God.
#5 APPEAL FOR FORGIVENESS
Daniel 9:17-19
Why did Daniel want forgiveness?
• Was it so they could get back to life as normal?
• Was it so they could get out of Babylon?
• Was it so all the pain would go away?
NO, “for Your sake, O Lord”
And again in verse 19 “For Your own sake”
Daniel realized that his sin
Had not only brought about the consequences he now suffered,
But his sin had also done damage to the reputation of God.
I read a blog about a year ago from a man who had been homosexual most of his life.
• He was raised in church, so he knew it was wrong, and he couldn’t understand
why God never seemed to answer his prayer to help him become straight.
• Until he realized that the only reason he wanted to quit being gay was because
he didn’t like the scrutiny and treatment that came with it. It wasn’t until he hated being gay because it was an offense to God that he found the freedom from that sin.
Daniel says, I’m no just repenting because I want relief.
I’m repenting because I have offended You.
Do you see the difference between CONTRITION and ATTRITION?
It is a necessary part of saving faith.
Without repentance there can be no forgiveness,
But make sure it is the repentance that God expects and deserves.
• You don’t ask for forgiveness because you don’t like your consequences.
• You ask for forgiveness because you offended God.
This is the beginning of the gospel
And Daniel gives us a beautiful picture of it here.
