Alright, you can turn in your Bibles to the book of Haggai. Haggai, we're in the Minor Prophets. Going back to the Minor Prophets, we still haven't finished this series going through them, so in the back of the book, back of the Old Testament, sort of a little past midway in your Bibles, you'll find the Minor Prophets. And Haggai, if you find Malachi, just go back page by page and you'll find Haggai tucked in there. I'm still looking for it too, so don't worry about that. It's right before Zechariah. I am wearing a sweater this morning, and I was told last time I wore a sweater that I was not allowed to wear sweaters when I preached because it was so cold in here, and I was like, You know, that's that that's because you got to stay awake when it's cold. So I am wearing a sweater I did not adjust the thermostat, but if you fall asleep It will get cold. I'm just joking. I'm just joking. All right, so In my house, we call this my Alistair Begg sweater because he normally dresses like this So they're like that's they've wanted me the kids have been on me to do a Scottish accent I'm like, no, I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do that. But Haggai Haggai This is the last time I think we were in the Bound of Prophets. Of course, we took a little break for Christmas. We covered the shortest book in the Old Testament, which is Obadiah. Haggai is right next to it. It's the second shortest book in the Old Testament. Whereas Obadiah only has one chapter, Haggai only has two chapters. And so we are going to cover this book this morning. I think it's a very important message, a very great message. It did its work on me this week as I studied it. So I do want you to know that as we get into this message that this is not someone standing up here preaching to you. This is someone that's also preaching to themselves because this is also a message that convicted me and still it's working on me. Distractions. How familiar are you with that word? If we were to look at a definition for the word distraction, it is a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to someone else or something else. So a distraction is something that prevents someone giving full attention to something else. If I made the statement that we live in a world full of distractions, I think that I would probably get a hearty amen from every single person in here. We only have to go so far as to looking at these little devices to see how we live in a world full of distractions. Another way of saying distraction, distraction is something that takes your attention away from what you're supposed to be doing. Think about that. A distraction is something that takes your attention away from something you're supposed to be doing. We live in a world full of those. Think about it this way. Millions of dollars are spent to distract you. Now here's an even more sort of alarming statement. Billions of dollars are made because people are distracted. You think about that. If we really just sat there and meditated on this for like 30 minutes of how many things and take account in our life in our homes that distract us, not needed, distract us, and then started putting dollar signs to them. How much of our money are we spending on distractions? I'm talking about those who live in a different type of lifestyle than we do. Distractions. from billboards, advertisements, commercials, entertainment, TV, video games, and leisure, temptations abound to distract us from what we should be doing. The most subtle but devastating distraction is that which influences us to go about life without considering God or His Word. I say this is the most subtle and it's the most devastating because think about it. While we're here, we're not thinking about that. We're thinking about church. We're thinking about God. We're thinking about His Word. We're thinking about Him having an impact on our lives. We're thinking about worshiping Him. But then the alarm clock goes off on Monday morning. And how many of us are thinking that such the sweet thoughts that we had sitting in the worship service singing songs to the Lord? No, we automatically get in what's called the rat race of life, right? And the distractions abound. But are we allowing those distractions to keep us from considering God or His Word all week long? So here's another word for us, not just distraction, but here's another word. Consider. Consider. It means to think carefully about something. or to think carefully about how you are living. That's the context we want to use it in this morning. To think carefully about how you are living. And this, considering this topic, this is the message that the prophet Haggai was given to bring the people of Israel during his time. So, before we jump into the text and jump into the message, we need to give a little bit of introduction about this book as we have done with all of these books. Where is this happening? What's going on? What's the message? So, Haggai. The purpose and theme of the book of these short two chapters, I think there's 15 verses in the first chapter and 23 verses in the second chapter. Total that together, our math whiz to calculate it, and we have 38 verses. I did that on the fly. You were about to say it, weren't you? Okay, I beat Ben. All right, 38 verses in just this short book, and here's what the message is about. Haggai is a message to wake the people out of their lack of spiritual commitment, specifically their neglect of the task of rebuilding the temple. When is this taking place? Around 520 B.C. Now we're going to come back to that year in just a minute when we get into verse 1. But around 520 B.C. is your time frame that this is going on. So when we say 520 B.C., we're saying 520 years before what? the birth of Christ. Correct. All right. That's a good way to sort of keep it in mind. I mean, honestly, when we pinpoint Jesus wasn't necessarily born on year zero or year one, it's probably give or take some. But we have an idea of five hundred twenty years before the birth of Christ. So now let's do this. Let's, as our custom is, read from verse number one and read to the end of the book. It's just, like I said, 38 verses, so we can do it, all right? So let's begin reading, and then we're gonna start looking at this and breaking it down. Verse number one of Haggai. In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying, This people says, The time has not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins? Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. You have sown much and bring in little. You eat, but do not have enough. You drink, but you are not filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages, earns wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, but indeed it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? Says the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that is in ruins while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land, and the mountains on the grain, and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadag, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God. and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the presence of the Lord. Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, spoke to the Lord's message to the people, saying, I am with you, says the Lord. So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God. on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius. In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the remnant of the people, saying, Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? How do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing? Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel, says the Lord, and be strong, Joshua, son of Jehoshadak the high priest, and be strong, all you people of the land, says the Lord, and work. For I am with you, says the Lord of hosts, according to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. So my spirit remains among you, do not fear. For thus says the Lord of hosts, once more, it is a little while, I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land. and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the desire of all nations. And I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, says the Lord of hosts. On the 24th day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai. Thus says the Lord of hosts. Now ask the priest concerning the law, saying, If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy? Then the priest answered and said, No. And Haggai said, If one who was unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean? So the priest answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then Haggai answered and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, says the Lord, and so is every work of their hands, and what they offer there is unclean. And now carefully consider from this day forward, from before stone was laid upon stone in the temple of the Lord, since those days when one came to a heap of twenty ephahs, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty baths from the press, there were but twenty. I struck you with a blight and mildew and hail and all the labors of your hands, yet you did not turn to me, says the Lord. Consider now from this day forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month and from the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it." Is the seed still in the barn? As yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But from this day I will bless you. And again the Lord came to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, Speak to Zerubbabel the governor of Judah, saying, I will shake heaven and earth, I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, I will destroy the strength of the Gentile kingdoms, I will overthrow the chariots and those who ride in them. The horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. In that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will take you, Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the Lord, and will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, says the Lord of hosts. Short book, but in this book there are four distinct messages. Four distinct messages. And one of the things that's different about this is where some of the minor prophet books that we've looked at, we can't really determine where they're at in time. We try our best to sort of pinpoint, and this is where we think, and probably the best evidence points that this, we have zero problem with that with this book. We know exactly when it was down to the day because he gives us that kind of detail. But as we get into verse 1, we see the setting. And as we get to this, you see it's the second year of King Darius, the sixth month. On the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai, the prophet, to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. I knew I was going to be saying those words a lot this morning, so I really worked on pronouncing them right. So, and it mentions it a lot because there is a purpose in all of this of understanding some very important historical events. So let's back up a bit and bring us up to where we are. Because as we've been walking through the Minor Prophets, we've also been walking through Jewish history of finding out when these messages are being preached. And sort of where we left off last time was the Babylon coming and attacking Israel in 586 BC. Well, in 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar totally wipes out Israel. Judah, the southern kingdom, is gone no more. You have them all in captivity. And so where we get a lot of detail about what that time period was like, we have in the books of prophecy of Jeremiah. He records some of those things of what it was like in there, and in the book of Daniel. And so in this time period, you have Babylon in control. And from Daniel chapters 1 through 5, everything in that has taken place. All right? And Daniel 5, Nebuchadnezzar had already gone. Daniel 5, if you remember the story, There is the party being thrown. It's sort of like Nebuchadnezzar's grandson that is sort of running things because the king in Babylon just sort of like checked out, didn't want to do anything. The kingdom is falling apart under his watch and he's just like, I'm gonna go do my own thing. So he let the capital of the kingdom be ran by a son who just wanted to party. And so Belshazzar is the guy in Daniel 5. He is the king's son, and he's sort of throwing this massive party. Now, all of a sudden, you remember this story? They see a big hand writing something on the wall. You remember that story in Daniel 5? And then they call. They're, like, freaked out. They've never seen anything like this. Is this some kind of bad trip or something? And they call for somebody who remembers Daniel. So they bring Daniel out, and Daniel interprets it for them. And right there, as he's actually giving them the message of the handwriting on the wall, they're being attacked by the Persian Empire. Because the Persian Empire is now under the control and rule of a guy named Cyrus, who is known in history as Cyrus the Great. Why is he Cyrus the Great? Because he's the first guy that found the kingdom of the Medes and the kingdom of the Persians and was able to bring them together and become the next superpower of the world. And the one thing holding them back from being actually that of their day was Babylon. And so they sacked Babylon that night. And so that was around 539 B.C. Now, we're about 19 years from whenever this happened, so let's keep on going. 538 B.C., Cyrus decrees that the Jews could go back home. So a year after he is now the world empire, he gives a ruling that a lot of the conquered peoples of Babylon can go back to their homelands, but they're just under the rule of the Persians and they need to understand that. So he gives that kind of leeway to the Jews and they go back home. Now, one interesting thing to know about this time as well is that you see Darius in this sort of period of time, but he's not king yet, in Daniel chapter 6. All of you who grew up in Sunday school, what happens in Daniel chapter 6? It is classically known as Daniel and the lion's den, right? And who's the guy who the men trick to sign a little order according to the law of the Medes and Persians that nobody can pray three times a day to their God, but they must pray to the king? It's Darius. But in that situation, Darius is not king yet. Darius' station is governor over the Babylonian territory. And so Daniel, that situation has already happened as we come to this prophecy. So 538, Cyrus does that, so the Jews go home. Now what happens when they go home is they now can start building their temple back. What do you mean building their temple back? See, the massive, amazing temple that Solomon built was destroyed by the Babylonians, by Nebuchadnezzar. So they knew that they needed to get the temple back up and going. So they started construction on the temple. But as Ezra records, the book of Ezra records, as they started doing that, they got discouraged. Why did they get discouraged? Because as they started building it, they quickly realized this thing ain't nothing like what it used to be. and they just stopped. It's really sad. They just stopped, and they went home, and as we see, if you remember as we read it, they started building their own homes, and they just stopped. And so, for 16 years, nothing was done on the temple foundation. And so, as it goes with the Persians, Cyrus continues to reign for about eight more years, and then he dies. And he leaves the kingdom to his son, who's known as Cambyses II. Cambyses II doesn't reign very long because there is a coup that is led by a guy named Gwamata. Gwamata decides he wants to take over the empire. He has no respect for Cambyses. He is no Cyrus the Great. And so while they're out on a campaign, Gwamata actually takes the capital of the Persian kingdom. totally freaked out by this and thinks that he's going to lose, Cambyses, as you can see, probably not a very backbone type of guy, commits suicide. He's like, this is all bad, it's not going my way, so he goes and commits suicide because he thinks he's done lost the kingdom. Well, he had a loyal servant, and this guy did have a backbone. His name was Darius. And Darius was not just a governor of the Babylonian territory, he was a general, a military guy. And he led an attempt, a secret attempt, to assassinate Gomata and overtake the kingdom. And it happens within less than a year. And Gomata is assassinated, and Darius comes to the throne. And that was in 522 BC. Two years later, we now have this prophecy coming to the prophet Haggai. So is Daniel still alive whenever this happens in 520 B.C.? Maybe, maybe not. My man's probably really old if he makes it to 520 B.C. He's lived through a lot, so maybe not. One other prophet that is in the book, and we're not going to cover Zechariah, and I've mentioned the reasons why, but Zechariah is right there with Haggai. In fact, as we get halfway through one of these messages, In between message 3 and message 4, Zechariah gets his prophecies and he starts prophesying the same guys, Zerubbabel and Joshua. And so these things are given together to get the Jewish people back to rebuilding the temple. And so this now is the message we see in verses 2 through 11. Now these four messages, the first three are characterized really by three themes. The first theme is complacency. The second theme is comparison, and the third theme is contamination. So in the first theme, in the first message, we see the idea of complacency. So first we see the consideration of verses 2 through 6. Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying to this people, the time has not come He says, this is what the people are saying. When asked the question, why isn't the Lord's house built? Why is the temple not finished? It's been 16 years. You started it. Why is it not built? And here's the question. That's the question. Here's what the people say. The time has not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. It's just not the right time. Why isn't the house of God being built? It's just not the right time. That's their excuse. Well, we see God just explode that excuse into smithereens as we continue on. This is the problem. They stopped living for God and they were living for themselves. See, this is not the same type of people that the message of the prophets was going to before. The wickedness was not abounding. This was the remnant. This was the people that God preserved because they were the ones that did not leave their covenant God, that stayed worshiping Him. But there had been problems that had set in. And that's what this message is there to address, the problems. They weren't living massively wicked lives where all of this nasty, degrading sin was going on in their lives. They were just simply distracted. living for themselves. James Montgomery Boyce says they were living for themselves rather than for God's glory. They were still the right people, living in the right place, wanting to do the right work for the right reasons. So he asked the question in verse 3, he says, Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai out of the prophets, saying, Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins? What a question coming from God Almighty. But it's very interesting that we need to point out some of the language that's used here. And De Guid sort of explains that for us. He says, if now was really such a bad time to build God's house, why was it time for the people to dwell in paneled houses? You see that in your translation. That's not just a simple expression. It's very specific. The word translated panel doesn't simply mean that their houses were ornately decorated. It is an unusual Hebrew word specifically used to describe Solomon's temple. Four out of the other five times it is employed in the Old Testament in 1 Kings 6 and 7, Haggai's point is that the people had been quite happy to put precisely the kind of time and resources into building their own houses they claimed were not there to restore God's house. In other words, it's not time. It's not the right time. The economy's not great. We just don't have the resources. However, you've used all of the resources to build massive, awesome, great-looking houses for yourselves. So then comes the accounting in verses 5 and 6. He says, let me just point out to the situation that you actually live in. And here's sort of the title of the message this morning that you see in the text. And if there's a key word that you outline or highlight or underline, words that just keep popping up in the book of Haggai, it's this word, consider. Consider your ways. That's what he asked them. That's what he tells them to do. Now therefore, says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Consider your ways. And then watch this little explanation he gives in verse 6. You've sown much and bring in little. You eat but do not have enough. You drink but you are not filled with drink. You clothe yourselves but no one is warm. And he who earns wages earns wages to put into a bag with holes. Ever feel like that? You ever feel like as you're working and working and working and then you look at the bills at the end of the month and you're just like, it's just not enough. That's the life they were living. He says, you think things are so great. This is what you're living for. This is what you're living for. What they got out of life was not what they were putting into it. They were not experiencing the fullness of God's blessing, but rather an inadequate, unfulfilling life in which every pleasure proved disappointingly incomplete and elusive. And this happened because God did it on purpose to them. He actually tells them that later on. God sent emptiness so that His people might awake from their idolatry and turn back to Him. It reminds me of a passage in Psalms 106 15. And I like the way the King James actually translates this. It says, And he gave them their requests, but sent leanness into their soul. You make all you work so hard and you make all this money and it's as if you're just putting it into a bag that just it just has holes in it. It's like you look down. I thought I had that much. It's not there. This great life you think you have is not really doing anything for you. So, the solution, verses 7 through 11. The solution. Thus says the Lord of hosts, again, here's the thing again. Consider your place. Maybe that's the thing we need to stop here and do that right now. What about you? Where you're at today? As we come to the close of 2023, consider your life. Consider your ways. He says this to them. Here's the solution. Verse 8. Go up to the mountains, bring wood, and build the temple. Three things. Go up, bring down, build. Pretty simple. All right, guys, I'm not going to make it complicated. All right, real easy, simple plan. Go up, bring down, build. Get it done. What are they getting done? Now, we have it in those three things, but what is he actually saying? Obey my word. This is what I've told you to do. Obey. Obey the word. We could sort of apply that to ourselves today as in, open up, read, do. And this is what they do. This is where I just love the book of Haggai. Look at the response, verse 12 through 15. Verse 12 through 15. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, and the high priest with all the remnant of the people, did what? They obeyed the voice of the Lord. Can I tell you something? After going through the minor prophets as we have done and preaching time after time again about how the people just didn't listen and did their own thing, it is such a joy to preach about people that actually obeyed. I like doing that. They obeyed. They did it. They obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet as the Lord their God had sent him and the people feared the presence of the Lord Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, spoke the Lord's message to the people, saying, I am with you, says the Lord. So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God." I don't want to skip over that line at the last line of verse 13. Because when you obey God, what promise do you have? Right there, I am with you, says the Lord. You say, but it's not turning out like I thought it would. I'm obeying, but I'm not seeing the blessings abound according to my definition of blessings. You know, I'm obeying, but I'm not getting the pay raise. I'm obeying, but the new business isn't coming in. I'm obeying, but I still am driving the same raggedy car. This is not health, wealth, prosperity gospel. What is the blessing you get? I am with you. But think about that. Again, consider that. Is not that the greatest blessing? That we have God? That God is with us and that we are with Him? Oh, how sad our state when we have established material blessings as greater comfort than God with us. Obedience is their response. Geoffrey Studdart Kennedy was an English soldier of World War I. He was a poet and an Anglican priest, and he said this, faith is not believing in spite of evidence. Think about this. Faith is not believing in spite of evidence. Faith is obeying in spite of consequence. That right there is, you know, that's putting it right where it is. It's obeying in spite of whatever else happens. It's doing what you're supposed to do. We call that in the South, grit. Grit. It takes grit to do things when it seems like all the world is against doing the right thing. So we see one last dating in chapter 1 at the end of this first message, verse 15. He says, on the 24th day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius. Now I did sort of skip over, sorry, I got so excited about jumping into this, but I forgot to give you a sort of mention about these datings. This is based off the Jewish calendar. But if we take the Jewish calendar and we transfer those over to our calendar to understand a little bit better, then what we find out is that the first message was actually delivered on August 29th of 520 B.C. So when we come to the end of the first message, he gives another date and that date is September 21st, 520 B.C. Meaning, they heard the message, they obeyed, and three weeks later, they're back to work. You say, well, why three weeks, not right on the next day? Well, I mean, you're talking about a pretty hefty project. I would dare say they actually got back to work on day one But they were planning, they were counting the costs, they were seeing the materials that they needed. It took them three weeks to plan, and then three weeks later, they're working, they're building. So right away. What a great conclusion to that first message. But it's not over. And if you understand that, that simply obeying doesn't mean that God's done working on you. We see the same thing in this, because he has a couple more messages for them to continue to grow them. So the first one was complacency. Complacency. Why is my house in ruins, but you live in these types of houses? The second message, starting in chapter 2, this goes from verse 1 to verse 9 of chapter 2. It's comparison. And it starts off in the 7th month on the 21st day of the month, the word of the Lord came to Agii, the prophet sang. Now what is this dating? This is just a few weeks later. This is October 17th, 520 BC. He gives them the second message. And he has to deal with another issue because it comes up and brings about the same problem that reared its ugly head when they started construction on the temple 16 years before. What was that problem? Some of the senior saints of the Temple Building Committee started seeing what was the construction going on and started saying, it doesn't look like it used to. It's not the same as Solomon's Temple. And what ended up happening? Discouragement started setting in. Discouragement started setting in. And so we see this. It says... Now, here's one other thing to remember, too. Again, I told you, when the Bible's specific, it's for a reason. Because this dating of October 7th, 520 BC would have marked the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, why is that important? Because the Feast of Tabernacles was established in the Jewish people's history for the dedication of the first temple. So exactly 440 years earlier was when Solomon had completed and dedicated the original temple. And so God brings them a message on the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles when they're discouraged about the previous temple. It's hard for them to celebrate about the temple of God being there and God being able to be worshipped Whenever they're looking at it and they're saying it, it's just... Tell me if you've ever heard this in church. It's just not the same. It's just not the same. So what is the message that God brings to them? First, a question. First, a question in verse 1 through 3. All right, so we read the dating. Verse 2. Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying... Here it is. Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now?" And he even uses the word here, in comparison with it. Is this not in your eyes as nothing? He's dealing with it head on. I know how you feel. I know how you feel. See, Stephen Miller writes about this. Solomon's Temple was truly a wonder of the ancient world. Available to King Solomon was an immeasurable cache of gold, silver, fine stone, marble, and other valuable materials for its construction. It took almost 200,000 workmen approximately seven years to build, according to 1 Kings 5 and 6. It was amazing. And here, this ragtag group of people that are just recently released Prisoners from a foreign kingdom trying their best to just get logs from Cedar, from Lebanon, and come down and do their best to rebuild it. God is a word for anyone who thinks like this. Number one, He knows how we feel and that it is true that the work maybe sometimes we are doing doesn't compare with what was done previously or somewhere else. This comparison game is a dangerous thing for us, and we're all prone to it. We can look down the road and see the parking lots full on Sunday mornings, much more than ours. We can look at different buildings. We can go to conferences at other ministries and see, man, if only we had. And what are we doing? We're falling prey to the comparison game. We may even be tempted to compare. Well, you know, I've been around for a long time. It's just not like it was. Whenever I was younger and I missed that. Can I tell you something? It's OK to miss something. It's OK to miss things. But one thing that we have to remember is sometimes. God moves things along. And change happens. And that's not bad. Actually, it's probably, depending on the situation, exactly what God had ordered. We also tend to do this whenever we start doing comparison. We tend to think things as they used to be a whole lot better than what they really were. Did we not? Did we not read that in Numbers 11? Was that not what the children of Israel were doing? I wish I was back in Egypt. We had fish there and we had meats and we had all this stuff and it was free. Are you kidding me? You were slaves and they whooped your back all day long to build brick. It wasn't great because they were sick of eating the manna. The stuff that God provided them out of nowhere from heaven. And what were they doing? They were thinking Things were better back then. No, they weren't. And we do that when we fall prey to this comparison game of thinking that things, the way they used to be, were much better. Weren't they really? Ask yourself that. Really, were they that much better? Now, I get it. We enjoy memories, right? We enjoy how things sometimes, we have memories of things gone by. but to live in the past with a constant comparison of wishing how things used to be can be death to your soul. You don't think that my wife and I have happy memories of different ministries we were at? Oh yeah, we have good memories. You can look back and say, hell, that was cool. We have memories even of this place. about seven, eight years ago, and sweet times that we had, where we had much more free time to ourselves. But don't think for a second that we want to go backwards, because we are ready to live in the present of what God is doing now. So, the danger of comparison. But, God gives them comfort in verses 4 and 5. He gives them comfort. Yet now, then this is the comfort. Be strong, Zerubbabel. Be strong, Joshua. Be strong, all you people of the land, says the Lord. Again, here's the promise. What? I am with you. Be strong. This was number two that God has a message for you if you struggle with this idea of comparison. Be strong in precisely this dismal situation. Be strong as an encouraging challenge that God gives people throughout the Bible. And Deuteronomy 31, 6, he gives it to Moses, be strong. And Joshua 1, 6-9, he gives the be strong challenge to Joshua. Joshua then gives it from God to the people in Joshua 10.25. He gives this charge to David in 1 Chronicles 28.20. And he gives it to all of us in Ephesians 6.10 when he says, Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Be strong. And then the third one. This is important. especially as it connects with this message of Haggai and the idea of the temple. It is the presence of God that makes God's people strong. We get so dazzled by all of the different things, and it would be nice if this thing worked, if the bathrooms were different, if the fence was not always just... It would be nice if all of these things worked. It would be nice if nothing ever messed up and our building was pristine. And we should take a good stewardship of taking care of these things. But that's not the main thing. It is the presence of God that makes God's people strong. Eugene Merrill said, success and glory are not to be measured in size and splendor. I heard this statement said in college, not all that glitters is pure gold. Not all that glitters is pure gold. So be careful about being dazzled and being sort of wanting of all of those things because many people have those things but the presence of God is nowhere near. and then the promise in verses 6 through 9. He gives a promise. He says, let's say as the Lord hosts once more, I will shake heaven and earth and the sea and dry land. I will shake all the nations and they shall come to the desire of all nations. That phrase, maybe in your translation, desire of all nations is capitalized. I did find some sort of disagreement and interpretation when I studied this But the most common interpretation where, if you're asking where I land on this, I would agree with this common interpretation that the reference to the desire of all nations is a messianic reference and it is pointing to Christ. I did read after one guy that I highly respect that took a different point of view and I, after listening to his reasoning, it just didn't make sense to me. But as we see this, what is he comforting them with? The promise of the coming Messiah. And we have that promise fulfilled. So our comfort in those times and situations we find ourselves identifying with the people of Israel is the gospel of Jesus Christ. This brings us to message number three. So we've looked at complacency. We've looked at comparison. And then message number three is contamination. This is verses 10 through 19. In between these two prophecies, I mentioned to you already that Zachariah's ministry started up. It was about a month earlier. But we see in verse 10, it says, Zachariah's prophecy starts off the same time period in the 8th month, not the 9th month. But this time period is actually December 18th, 520 BC. And we see first in verses 10 through 14 a question of defilement. A question of defilement. He says this, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Now ask the priest concerning the law, saying, If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, with the edge he touches bread or stew or wine or oil or any food, will it become holy? And the priest answered and said, No. Haggai said, If one who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these things, will it become unclean? So the priest answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then Haggai answered and said, So it is with this people, and so this is this nation before me, says the Lord, so is every work of their hands that they offer there is unclean. So here's the idea. He gives them this weird, this interesting scenario. It's not weird. It's an interesting scenario. What is the scenario? He asks them a question. Such a great teaching tool here, right? Here's the question. He says, according to the law, if a priest is carrying around a piece of meat, all right, and the fold of his garment touches the meat, all right, does that then make it holy? And they're like, no. He's like, right, but What if he touches something dead and then touches the meat? Does it make it unclean? And he says, well, yeah. That's not hard for us to understand, right? Just taking a priestly garment and touching it to something does not make it all of a sudden amazing, wholly separate. But if you touch a dead carcass and you touch something that you're gonna eat, not the greatest idea, right? We get that. I'm going to get to the point in just a second, but let me help you understand it just a little bit better. Let's say Travis is sicky-sick and got the germy germs, okay? And Travis is coming up to me and I'm like, you know what, Travis, you're sicky-sick and you have germy germs, but I am totally feeling good. So I have no germs. So I'm going to come and touch you and you're going to be healed. Will that work? No! Right? But if Travis is sicky sick and you get the germy germs and he comes to me and he touches me, is there a good chance that I may end up being sicky sick and get the germy germs? Yes, we get that. Here's the point. Contamination is spread much easier than holiness. Let me read it to you this way. The point is, it is far easier to spread evil than virtue. Holiness is not communicable, but defilement is. Boy said this, God explains that it has been like that with Israel. They have been living in a contaminated state due to their inverted priorities. And as a result, everything they have touched has been contaminated. I used to see this all the time when I was a youth pastor. And you'd have people coming in, teenagers coming in, and they're dating somebody. And we used to try to tell them, listen, don't be dating unbeliever. They'll be dating an unbeliever, and then they find themselves this unbeliever, and they're like, oh no, he's great, he's great. I'll get him in the church. And why did all the adults, their parents included in me, and try to counsel them, don't do that? You know why. Because it's a whole lot more likely that they're going to drag them over to worldly living, to forsaking God, than it is for them to get them over here. See, evil is much more communicated by touching or transferring over than holiness is. Not only was it important, Weersbe said, that they do God's work, but it was also important that they do His work from hearts that were pure and devoted to God. So, in the last part of this message, we have the assurance of His blessing. Verse 15, consider, here we go again, we see the word, consider this from this day forward, "...from before stone was laid upon stone in the temple of the Lord. Since those days when one came to heap twenty ephahs, there were but ten." And he's saying this situation that they were in, it was like a famine in the land. You needed this much, but half was actually there. And he breaks that down in verses 15 through 18. Verse 18, he says, Consider now from this day forward, from the 24th day of the ninth month, from the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it. He asks them a question again in verse 19. Is the seed still in the barn? As yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But here it is, here's the promise. From this day I will bless you. It is the promise of His blessing. We have the promise of that blessing in His Son. The Messiah has come. We have Christ. We have His gospel. He is with us. This brings us to the fourth message, and I see it as consolation. It's a message of encouragement. Because we haven't really talked much about Zerubbabel, but Zerubbabel was actually the guy who was set up as the governor when they went back after Cyrus let him go. So you got Joshua as the high priest, right? Zerubbabel's the governor. He's the political leader. Zerubbabel is not set up as the king, although he was the grandson of King Jehoiachin. He was in the royal line, but he was set up as the governor. We see all these...also there's messages to him in the book of Zechariah. But we see this, and I love this, that God decided to close the book of Haggai and have His prophet get one last message of encouragement. It says, So this is actually on the same day. So this is sort of the second message he received on December 18th. Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, verse 22, I will shake heaven and earth. I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of the Gentile kingdoms. I will overthrow the chariots and those who ride in them. The horses and the riders shall come down, everyone by the sword of his brother. I will keep my promise. You have been in captivity in Babylon and Persia. You have been under the thumb of pagan nations, and one day I'm telling you it's coming that you don't have to worry about that because I'm going to wipe out the other nations and you are my people. And then he gives this in verse 23. In that day. says the Lord of hosts. I will take you, Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the Lord, and I will make you a signet ring, like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, says the Lord of hosts. He gives encouragement to the leader here, and he says this about a signet ring. The signet ring, Boyce says, was a stone carved with the symbol of the person in power. It was used by pressing it into clay tablets to authenticate what was written on them. They normally wore it around like their neck, like a necklace, or, of course, on their finger. So it always stayed with them. It's kept close to them. What is he telling him? I will keep you close. and you will carry out my authority." There's many that believe that this reference to this encouragement of Zerubbabel was actually a reference to Zerubbabel being in the royal line, and therefore the line of the Messiah, and that it's a reference to Christ's reign and future reign. But it's encouragement. It's encouragement to a leader. Why? Because they're building the temple, they're dealing with all of these things that they've dealt with, and God knows that sometimes being in leadership is a lonely position. Many times leaders only hear the negative. And I'm reminded of the scene in Saving Private Ryan. There's like a sort of a funny little dialogue there, but I always thought there was some wisdom to it. It was the guys, they're sent on this mission to go find, and I believe it's a true story, but to go find the fourth son of this widow, or this mother who lost three sons already in World War II. And so once they get these orders, all of the guys and their troop are like, this is the dumbest mission. Why are we doing this? They don't get it. Why can't we just go home? You know, why don't we get this treatment? And so they're sort of complaining about this as they're walking through a field, and they're all sitting there complaining, and then one of them looks over at the captain, who's played by Tom Hanks, and they're like, Captain, how come you never complain? He said, because I don't complain downward, I complain upwards. He said, that's the order of rank. He said, you complain to me, I don't complain to you. I complain to my authorities. And I thought there was just sort of a humorous wisdom in that because anyways, that's the way leadership is. You work, you think, you plan, you take the concerns of all of those that are in your care or under your leadership into account. You want to help them, you want to serve them, and so you make decisions. And you don't really hear a whole lot of feedback a lot of times about how great the decision is. What do you hear? The complaints. So many times, leadership can be a very discouraging place. And so I like the fact that he gives this encouragement to the governor in this situation. A reminder, again, in this book, I am with you. Let me close that section out with just saying this. I do not feel that way here. I truly, seriously, I do not feel that way here. You are so very encouraging, and so I'm very thankful for all of you as being one of the leaders here at this church. You notice in my practice in the message whenever we come to the end to have a short few points about application, but honestly, as I've come to this and thought through it, it was such an applicable and practical message that was given to Haggai to give to the people. We've been applying it all message long. So I really don't have application for you this morning in that kind of sense, except for this one last question or statement, if you will. Consider your ways. carefully consider your ways, how you are living. We're going to have a word of prayer, and then we will be going into our time of communion. Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for the time that we have gathered with you. Thank you for your servant and prophet Haggai. Thank you for His service to you during this time period in Israel's history that He was available, willing, committed, dedicated to you. He received the message and gave it faithfully. I don't know if the situation that he was in may have bore some trepidation for him to say these words out loud. Did he think that the people might not want to hear it? Most likely. But he still had the courage. He was flesh and blood just like we are. And he had the courage and gave that message. I'm thankful for a people that responded in obedience. And Father, I'm thankful today for that message surviving all of these times through your divine hand that we can take it today and glean from it. It can encourage us. It can convict us. And it can instruct us in the way to go. Thank you. As we come now to the table, the Lord's Table, we come to, as you have instructed your church to do...