Why Prayers Are Heard

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You are listening to Heed the Word with our pastor and teacher Ken Davis. Pastor Ken is the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Southwest Metro in Burleson, Texas. Please join us as we study the Gospel of Luke verse by verse.

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You see, so many people today will say, Well, brother, you know, if you want your prayers to be answered, and if you want God to hear your prayers, you better be living a righteous and holy life, right? Haven't we heard that? We've heard that, haven't we? But you see, that's all wrong. Our prayers are answered on the basis of God's righteousness, not ours. Because we don't have any apart from that which we receive from Him. Amen. The Bible tells us that our righteousness is as filthy rags.

Daniel 9 Sets The Stage

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That's pretty bad.

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The Gospel of Luke is the third account in the Gospels of the life and teachings of our Savior, Jesus Christ. As believers, there are few studies that will benefit us more spiritually than studying the life and teachings of the Master. Many people often begin their prayers with a laundry list of what they want and think they need, and then with a simple Amen. But is this how we're to pray? You see, just like the many other areas in our lives, God has given us a prescribed way to approach Him in prayer. Are you praying according to His Word? Don't forget to stay with us after today's message to hear more information about He the Word, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, please open your Bibles to the book of Daniel, chapter 9, verse 1. So join Pastor Kent.

Adoration Before Requests

Confession And Consequences

Thanksgiving Then Supplication

Mercy Not Merit In Prayer

Gabriel’s Answer And Assurance

Seventy Weeks Explained

Nehemiah’s Decree And Timing

Sir Robert Anderson’s Calculation

Hope, Sovereignty, And Next Steps

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Before you turn to Luke chapter 19, we're actually going to begin somewhere else today, because today's lesson, today's story, if you will, begins many hundreds of years prior to this triumphal entry. Turn, if you will, to Daniel chapter 9. Now, as you know, Daniel was a servant of the kings of Babylon during the captivity. And our story today picks up in chapter 9, verse 1. In the first year of Darius, the son of Assyrus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Now, first of all, I want us to understand certain things about Daniel as we go through here. Now, Daniel is not the primary point of our study today, but as we read through this chapter, it's important that we see the lessons that there are to be had here. First of all, we see that Daniel was a man who studied the Word of God. He didn't simply read the Word of God, but he dug deep into the Word of God and he studied it and he sought to apply what he was reading and what he was learning. And so we see that he understood by the books the number of the years specified by the Word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet. So he had been reading the writings of Jeremiah, and he had seen in those writings that God had specified that there would be 70 years in the Babylonian captivity. And so he does exactly the right thing in this situation, and he's that he takes that understanding, that knowledge that he has learned, and he goes to God with it in prayer and asks God to help him really understand or apply what it is that he's learning there. Verse three Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession and said, O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant and mercy with those who love him and with those who keep his commandments. As we read there in verse four, Daniel begins his prayer with adoration. We're going to see, as we read through Daniel's prayer today, a model that we can follow in our own prayer. When we go to God so often, we're tempted to just bring our laundry list of concerns to him and say, Lord, would you please bless this person and would you please bless that person? And oh, so-and-so needs healing, and we need this over here, and we need that over there. And it's almost as though we treat God as though he were a genie, and once we rub that lamp, we expect him to appear and perform whatever it is we ask of him. And yet we don't see that example here in Daniel's life. But we see Daniel beginning his conversation with God in adoration. Secondly, verse five 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 our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. O 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 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. O Lord, to us belongs shame of face to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against you. You notice he moves from adoration to confession. He moves from giving praise and glory and honor to God to confessing his own shortcomings and the shortcomings of his nation. And so that's the second phase of Daniel's prayer that he moves into. He moves from adoration to confession. Verse 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his laws which he set before us by his servants the prophets. Yes, all 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 word, 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. You see, Jerusalem had been completely destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. The walls were torn down, the temple was gone, there was rubble, there was chaos, there was a remnant still in the land, but it was not the Jerusalem it once had been. Verse 13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind and brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which he does, though we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made yourself a name, as it is this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. Now, in that verse, though he mentions it briefly, what we see is thanksgiving. He is recounting to God the wonderful things that God had done for Israel in delivering them from Egypt. So in Daniel's prayer, before he asks for anything of the Lord, we see adoration, we see confession, and we see thanksgiving. And then and only then does Daniel move into supplication. It forms an acrostic, A-C T S, Acts. If you ever wonder, how should I pray? I want to pray. I want to move deeper in my prayer life. I feel like sometimes when I pray, my prayers don't go any further than the ceiling. And I want to move deeper and understand what it is to truly commune with God. Use that as a model. It's not something you have to do. I'm simply saying it's an example that is given to us in Scripture of how we're to pray. Begin with adoring God, worshiping Him, then move into confessing to Him your sins and the sins of your nation and of your family. And then move from there into thanksgiving, recounting to God the wonderful and the awesome things that He has done for you and giving thanks for those things. And then move into supplication. We are told to bring our requests to the Lord and to make them known to him. And he delights in answering our prayers and in meeting our needs. And Daniel now moves into that phase of his prayer, that supplication and intercession that he's moving into now. Verse 16 O Lord, according to all your righteousness, I pray, let your anger and your fury be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain, because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people are a reproach to all those around us. Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of your servant and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake cause your face to shine on your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear, open your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by your name, for we do not present our supplications before you because of our righteous deeds, but because of your great mercies. Do you realize how important that verse is to you and I today? Do you understand what that really is saying? Do you understand how significant that is? You see, so many people today will say, Well, brother, you know, if you want your prayers to be answered, and if you want God to hear your prayers, you better be living a righteous and a holy life, right? Haven't we heard that? We've heard that, haven't we? But you see, that's all wrong. Our prayers are answered on the basis of God's righteousness, not ours. Because we don't have any apart from that which we receive from Him. Amen. The Bible tells us that our righteousness is as filthy rags. That's pretty bad. Jesus Himself said that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven. By outward appearances, the scribes and the Pharisees had it going on. Those guys were righteous from the outward scheme of things. And so what Jesus was saying was listen, your righteousness has to exceed that of those who appear perfect before men, but who are not perfect in their hearts. The only righteousness that meets that requirement is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And as he imparts his righteousness to us, when we come to him in faith, we receive the righteousness of God in our lives. And so that is the basis for the answer to our prayer. We worship God, not because we're worthy to worship God, but because God is worthy to receive worship from us. We go to God with our requests, not because we're worthy to ask. You feel like you're unworthy to ask? Great, you are unworthy to ask. So are the rest of us. So is Mother Teresa and Billy Graham and any other mega Christian you can think of. They're all unworthy. You know what? Daniel was unworthy. And yet he asked. And God answered. Because he believed. Because he put his faith and his hope and his trust in the Lord. And the Lord is good. Amen. Verse 18. Oh my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolation in the city which is called by your name. For we do not present our supplications before you because of our righteous deeds, but because of your great mercies. O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen and act. Do not delay for your own sake, my God, for your city and your people are called by your name. Now, while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people, Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord, my God, for the holy mountain of my God. Yes, while I was speaking in prayer, Daniel's like, listen, before the prayer had even left my lips, before I had even said amen. Before I was even done, before that. While it was still on my heart and in my mind. Yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. And he informed me and talked with me and said, Oh Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. At the beginning of your supplication, the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore consider the matter and understand the vision. Now listen, guys, you are greatly beloved. When you begin to pray, the moment you begin to pray, the answer is already being sent. Just as it was for Daniel. Now you may not have Gabriel show up in front of you. Frankly, I don't want Gabriel to show up in front of me. It's a little more intensity than I think I can handle all at one time. But God answers. The moment we ask, his answer is being delivered. Now we may not see it exactly when we want it. But we can rest assured that it's on the way. And so here it is, verse 24. Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. First of all, something you need to understand is this when the children of Israel came into the land, they were to give the land a Sabbath's rest. Do you know what that means? It doesn't mean the land wasn't supposed to work on Saturday. What it means is they were to plant and reap for six years. But in the seventh year, they were to allow the land to remain fallow, and they were not to plant. They were to allow the land to have a Sabbath's rest, and they did not do that. And so in the Babylonian captivity, God was taking from them the Sabbath rest that He had demanded for the land. And so God is saying here, seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Now would you agree this goes far beyond Sabbath rest for the land, doesn't it? Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, until the end of the war desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation which is determined is poured out on the desolate. Now the title of today's message is A Prophecy Fulfilled and a Future Foretold. Because in the prophecy that we see written here in Daniel chapter 9, there is that which has already been fulfilled. And we're going to see how and when and by whom it was fulfilled in our study of Luke 19 today. But there is also that in Daniel chapter 9 that we've just read together that has yet to be fulfilled, and that is a future that has been foretold and is certain to come to pass. And we'll examine that however briefly today. Now, the command to rebuild Jerusalem came approximately 100 years later. Turn with me to Nehemiah chapter 2. We're going to be studying a little bit today, you guys. I want you to really think about what we're presenting here and what the Lord has for us today. Now Nehemiah had received word from some relatives that Jerusalem was in ruins, that the city was a reproach, that the wall was rubble. And this moved Nehemiah. He wept over the city that he had never seen. And he sought God's will in prayer and he interceded for the city. And in chapter 2, we pick up the story in verse 1. And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was set before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Nehemiah, of course, was the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes. I had never been sad in his presence before. Therefore the king said to me, Why is your face sad since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart. So I became dreadfully afraid. You see, to be sad in the king's presence could be punishable by death. And so this is a very serious issue that Nehemiah is finding himself in the middle of in this moment. So I became dreadfully afraid and said to the king, May the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my father's tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire? Then the king said to me, What do you request? So I prayed to the God of heaven, and I said to the king, If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's tombs, that I may rebuild it. Now, how many of you think that right at that moment Nehemiah said, Well, King Artaxerxes, I'd really love to answer your question, but I just need a little time to pray about that. So if you'll excuse me, Lord, what should I do? What should I do? What should I do? Okay, I'm back, King. Do you think that's how that went down? No. No. King Artaxerxes is like, hey man, what's going on? And Nehemiah's like, okay, God, here we go. I mean, that's it. Silently in his heart before the Lord. That momentary, spontaneous prayer that says, Lord, help! Just like Peter. But why was Nehemiah prepared to be able to offer that kind of prayer? Because if we read back in chapter one, he's already been praying about this. He's already been seeking God. He's already got the heart of God on this matter. And so when the king says, What's going on, Nehemiah? Nehemiah, Nehemiah is ready. He's just like, Hey God, here we go, and there he goes. And so he tells the king, he tells King Artaxerxes, what's going on? And I said to the king, verse five, If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's tombs, that I may rebuild it. Then the king said to me, the queen also sitting beside him, You know, I wonder if that's Esther. It very well could be. We don't know that it is or that it isn't, but I wonder if it is. How long will your journey be, and when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time. Furthermore, I said to the king, If it please the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the river, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that must be given, that must give me timber to make beams for the gate of the citadel which pertains to the temple for the city wall and for the house that I will occupy. And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me. Now, the Bible gives us the date that this command is given. And because in Daniel 9 we're given a formula of sorts, at least, for the calculation of the coming of Messiah the Prince, starting from that date which is given in Nehemiah, then it's reasonable to suppose that the leaders of Israel should have known that the day was approaching that Messiah would come, if not the day itself upon which he would come. In fact, the calculations have been made, and they present a fantastic testimony to the wonderful accuracy of the scriptures. I'm gonna read something to you here that is longer than I normally like to read, but I think it's pertinent. This is from the teacher's commentary relating to the works of Sir Robert Anderson from his book The Coming Prince. In the years before the beginning of the twentieth century, Sir Robert Anderson, a lay theologian and Bible teacher in Great Britain, could not agree with Germany's higher critics who attacked the accuracy and dating of many Old Testament documents. How many of you know we've got plenty of higher critics around today who would like to attack the accuracy and authenticity of the scriptures? And they have no standard of measure but their own ideas. Let's see what Anderson had to say about it. Anderson determined to study the subject, working from the language of Scripture itself and from archaeological discoveries. Thus he used the three hundred and sixty-day sacred Jewish calendar rather than the Julian calendar in computing time. Working carefully, Anderson was able to pinpoint the exact date from which, according to Daniel 9, a specific period of time was to be counted. Seventy-sevens are decreed for your people. I'm reading now again from Daniel chapter 9, verses 24 through 27. Seventy-sevens are decreed for your people, and your holy city, to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Know and understand this. From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, now we just saw that in Nehemiah, didn't we? Okay? From that time until the anointed one, the ruler, comes, there will be seven sevens and sixty-two sevens. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench or wall, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two sevens, the anointed one will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Now remember, at the time of Daniel's writing, there was no sanctuary to be destroyed. So not only is there the prophecy that there's going to be a sanctuary, but that that sanctuary, which would later be built also, will eventually be destroyed. The end will come like a flood, not as a flood, but like a flood. War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.

Free Resources And Invitation

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Do you ever feel like the circumstances you're going through are more than you can bear? That God is in some way punishing you? Well, consider the words of Paul, and we know that all things work together for the good. To those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. So we learn from this verse that all things, not some, but all things work together if we love God and are called according to his purpose. Just something to think about from your friends here at Heed the Word. Heed the Word is the daily Bible teaching ministry of Ken Davis, Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel in Burleson, Texas. There's a great deal more that Pastor Ken has to share with us from the Gospel of Luke, so please join us again. Now, maybe you'd like to add today's message to your study library. Our online media is always available and free of charge. CD copies are also available upon request for free, but supplies are limited, so order today. To order a CD, simply log on to heedtheword.org and select the order a message option. There you'll find a convenient order form to fill out. The only information you need to remember is today's date. This ensures we get you the right teaching. So log on to heedtheword.org and place your order today. Or better yet, join us this Sunday for worship at 10 30 a.m. Directions are available on our website. That's heedtheword.org. Well, we've run out of time today, but tune in next time as Pastor Ken will continue teaching verse by verse through the Gospel of Luke. That's next time on Heed the Word.