Sunny Thoughts From Sunset 3-15

By Vance Drum

The Sunset pastor on Sunday continued our series, “Drilling Deep, Drawing Near,” with a message, “Conversations with God: Confessing Sin on Behalf of a Rebellious Nation.” 

The text was from Daniel 9:5ff:  “We have sinned and done wrong.  We have been wicked and rebelled….  We have not listened to your servants the prophets….”   The prophet Daniel in Babylonian captivity confessed the past sins of Israel to God. 

The pastor made four points:  (1) Daniel’s Preparation; (2) Daniel’s Praise; (3) Daniel’s Confession; (4) God’s Response to Rebellion.

(1) Daniel’s Preparation. V3: “So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.” 

Jeremiah had prophesied that Israel’s captivity would last 70 years. As the 70 years ended, Daniel set about to pray.  He pleaded earnestly, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes, indicating his great sorrow over Israel’s rebellion against God.  God heard his prayer.

(2) Daniel’s Praise.  Daniel began his great prayer of confession with praise to God.  V4:  “‘O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands.”  And v14:  “The Lord our God is righteous in everything he does.” 

Even though hard times had come to Israel because of their sin, the Lord is great and righteous.  “All his judgments are true and just” (Revelation 16:7; 19:2).  

If America were to finally disintegrate and fall because of our great sins, God is still good.  We should always praise him for his undying love, goodness and faithfulness.

(3) Daniel’s Confession.  After he had humbly prepared himself to approach God, and after he had rightly praised the Lord, Daniel then laid out his confession of sin on behalf of his nation Israel.  Daniel confessed the sins not only of himself but also of Israel’s past fathers and leaders. 

We should similarly confess to God the sins of America.  We and our fathers have been complacent, ignoring God, or rebellious.  We should confess that to God. 

V5ff:  “We have sinned and done wrong.  We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws.  We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers….”  Daniel said “we” have sinned.  God heard his prayers.

What are America’s sins we need to confess?  Here are seven grievous ones:

(a) Placing God on the shelf, exalting human wisdom over God’s wisdom;

(b) Exalting self-will and irresponsibility, in an epidemic of sexual immorality, with 40% of all American babies born to unmarried parents;

(c) Failing to provide children with direction, in fatherless homes, resulting in criminal activity and prison;

(d) Not valuing life, with 60 million abortions since 1973, legally stopping the beating hearts of preborn children;

(e) Not valuing God’s design, with same-sex “marriage” since 2015;

(f) Not valuing God’s creation, thinking we can “transgender” one’s sex from the male or female that God made us, an effort that is scientifically DNA-impossible.

(g) Exalting pleasure over all: America spews massive amounts of pornography all over the world, with 4.2 million American porn websites, and 68 million search engine porn requests daily (25% of all requests), damaging one’s brain, and objectifying women.  The MeToo movement objects to sexual harassment but Hollywood produces all the stuff that encourages it.  Ditto with our rightful horror at societal violence, but we produce millions of the most violent video games, played even by young children.  No wonder we’ve fallen so low.

(d) God’s Response to Rebellion.  V14:  “The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does.”  God was patient, but His patience ran out. What about our country? 

May a righteous Rahab or a Gideon, a Hezekiah or a Josiah, please stand in America, and now may we pray:

Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.”  [Psalm 106:47-48]

May the Lord have mercy and save America our nation for himself—our prayer from your friends at Sunset Christian Church.

 

 

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