Decisions Have Consequences
The Sovereignty of God | A Study Through the Book of Daniel • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 9 viewsThe Israelites chose to disobey God and thus it is up to God how He judges them in faithfulness to Himself and His Word.
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Introduction |
Daniel, within his prayer to Yaweh, declared that he, they, the entire nation of Israel was guilty before Him. There was not that was innocent. They were guilty because of their rebellion against the Lord and His Word, His Commands, His Truth.
7 “Righteousness belongs to You, Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. 8 Open shame belongs to us, Lord, to our kings, our leaders, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.
Within the beginning of (v. 7) and beginning in (v. 9), we see the a change temporarily to Daniel’s prayer. He no longer is addressing Israel’s guilt as much as he is addressing God’s sovereignty in His judgment of a rebellious people.
Focus Passage | Daniel 9:7-14
Outline |
God is just in His judgment
God is just in His judgment because of the rebellion of the people - ‘…because we have rebelled against Him...’
The idea before us is willfully rising up in revolt against God. How often do we do this, rise up in willful revolt against God? How is this done? It is done the same way that Israel revolted.
Israel willfully revolted against God by...
Not following the voice of God
Not following the laws of God
Not following the messengers of God - ‘…which He set before us through His servants the prophets...’
God, being just and faithful to Himself and His Word, responded
Daniel prays, so the curse has gushed forth on us, alone with the oat which is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God (v. 11b). Daniel, in his confessional prayer of guilt before God, not only for himself, but for all of Israel, as he prays, because we have sinned against Him. acknowledges their error and explains the truth.
The nation of Israel was reaping what they have sown. As within the original commitment many years ago, Moses in his farewell address and handing the baton to Joshua, Moses calls heaven as a witness for/against the people of Israel in depending on their choice of life through obedience the commands of the Lord or death through disobedience of the commands of the Lord (Deuteronomy 30:15-19).
This same challenge is brought forth from Joshua to the people with heaven and earth as a witness with a warning attached to it. As one reads the words of Joshua in his farewell address (Joshua 24:14-28).
They did just as Joshua told them they would do, rebelled. Joshua told them:
19 Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your wrongdoing or your sins. 20 If you abandon the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and destroy you after He has done good to you.” 21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.”
It was due to God’s faithfulness to Himself and Word that He was bringing judgment to the people of Israel, as He said He would, So He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great disaster (v. 12).
Truly the nation of Israel was reaping what they had sown.
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
God is compassionate and forgiving in His judgment
Daniel prays, To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness (v.9a). He acknowledged God’s just condemnation of the people, but Daniel also acknowledges two truths that are always at the forefront of God’s judgment.
God has great care and love for His people - ‘…belong compassion...’
God does not aimlessly discipline His children. He is intentional and purposeful in His discipline. He disciplines out of love. As the author of Hebrews writes...
4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are punished by Him; 6 For whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He punishes every son whom He accepts.”
God’s discipline is out of love and is to mold us into His image and likeness.
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.
God is patient in His judgment to bring us to repentance
4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and restraint and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
God pardons our sin out of His great love and judgment - ‘…belongs...forgiveness...’
God is a Righteous judge (vv. 13-14)
13 Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our wrongdoing and giving attention to Your truth. 14 So the Lord has kept the disaster in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.
God is righteous in His judgment because man refuses to repent - ‘…yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our wrongdoing...’
God is righteous in His judgment because man refuses to turn to God’s Word - ‘…giving attention to Your truth...’
God is righteous in His judgment because of His faithfulness and man’s faithlessness - ‘…for the LORD our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice...’
As the Psalmist writes of God,
11 God is a righteous judge, And a God who shows indignation every day.
As Paul states,
31 because He has set a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all people by raising Him from the dead.”
Conclusion |
When judgment abounds upon us, it is not God’s fault. It is our fault for our lack of faithfulness. God is faithful, is just, is merciful, and is forgiving. However, we must repent and call upon the Lord for forgiveness. We must let go our pride and call upon Him.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; Put me to the test and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there is any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.
Let do the opposite of what the Israelites did, and let us turn from our wicked ways, repent of our sin, and call upon the name of the Lord.
