I invite you to turn with me to the book of Haggai on the Old Testament. Haggai is one of the minor prophets, one of the shorter books near the end of the Old Testament. If you're using a Pew Bible, you'll find it on page 791. If you're not using a Pew Bible and searching for it, you can go just a couple books back from the New Testament, back from Matthew. And it's wedged between the two Zs, between Zephaniah and Zechariah, the book of Haggai. We'll be in Chapter 2 this morning. As I said a couple of months ago, we should think of Haggai a bit like a motivator or a coach. Haggai is motivating, he's coaching the people of Israel to rebuild the Temple. That's his God-given task. Haggai's first sermon taught the people what they should be doing. Instead of building their fancy panel houses, they should be rebuilding the temple of the Lord. They should have made God's work their priority. Then in his second sermon, Haggai taught them why they should rebuild the temple. Even though they had low expectations for this temple's future, and they despised their work, it was as nothing in their eyes, God promises that he's going to use it for something great, for greater glory. So Haggai's told us already what and why, and now in his third sermon, which comes two months later, according to the time stamp here, two months later, in the ninth month, he teaches us here, he teaches the people how, how they should work. If you're baking, say, a cake, you need to know what you're baking, right? If you're baking a cake, you're not baking a pie. You need directions from a recipe of how to bake your cake. Well, Haggai gives us a recipe. It's not the same kind of details as we find in the book of Exodus, when God gives directions for Moses how to build the tabernacle, or in 1 Kings, when he's teaching Solomon how to build the temple. Nevertheless, God sends Haggai with instructions for the people how they are to build, how they are to work. When God created the heavens and the earth, when he made the animals and the stars, he ended each day by assessing his work, didn't he? We're told again and again, and God saw that it was good. Not only are we going to consider the manner in which the people are working, the how, we also need to consider the quality of their work. Can the work that the people are doing on the temple be called good? Is God pleased with their work? Will God continue to curse them like he's done in the past for their disobedience, for building their houses rather than his house? Is he going to continue to curse them for their disobedience? or will he bless them for their obedience? With that in mind, let's read now Haggai chapter 2, verses 10 through 19. Listen carefully, this is God's word. On the 24th day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, ask the priest about the law. If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy? The priest answered and said no. Then Haggai said, if someone who is unclean by contact with the dead body touches any of these, Does it become unclean? The priest answered and said, it does become unclean. Then Haggai answered and said, so is it with this people and with this nation before me, declares the Lord. And so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean. Now then, consider from this day onward, The fourth stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord. How did you fare? When one came to a heap of 20 measures, there were but 10. When one came to the wine vat to draw 50 measures, there were but 20. I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. Consider from this day onward. From the 24th day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider, is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on, I will bless you. This prophecy comes two months after Haggai preached to the people about the greater glory of this second temple. And in typical Haggai fashion, he begins by asking questions, right? In the first sermon he gives, he asks the questions, is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins? The second sermon, he asked, hey, what do you think about this temple you're building? How does it look in your eyes? And now he's asking more questions. It's Haggai's style. He's asking questions to the priest. The priest, as teachers of the law, were to be experts in distinguishing between things clean and unclean. So if someone in Israel had a question about purity or holiness, they were to take the matter to the priest. They were to ask the priest, can you teach me here? This is exactly what Haggai does. He goes and asks the priest, if someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy? He wants to know, is holiness transferable through physical contact? Can we make something holy or can we become holy by simply touching something that's holy? The experts in the law, what do they say? No, it doesn't work like that, Haggai. Well, he gives them a second hypothetical situation. If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean? This is the opposite scenario, right? Can we make something unclean or can we become unclean by simply touching something that's unclean? The experts in the law say, yes, it works like that. Yes, you will become unclean. It does become unclean. This follows what is taught in Numbers 19, whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. They are unclean and they need to be cleansed, and if they're not cleansed, they will spread their uncleanness to all that they touch. Uncleanness, impurity, it is transferable. You can and you do spread uncleanness through contact according to the law. Somebody says this is a bit like a grease stain. If you take a fresh white shirt, say the shirt I'm wearing right now, you take that white shirt and you try to use that to clean up a grease stain, what's going to happen? You're going to make a mess, right? The grease stain's not going to get cleaned up. Instead, the white shirt's going to get dirty. You're going to soil the white shirt. The cleanness is not transferable. I can't take a white shirt onto a grease stain and make the grease stain clean. The cleanness is not transferable, but the uncleanness is. That's the principle that Haggai's questions confirm. So what's the point? Like it tells us in verse 14, so is it with this people and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean, what they offer at the temple is unclean. People of Israel are doing the work of the Lord by building the temple, by offering sacrifices to God, but God is not pleased, is he? God is not pleased by their work, by how they are doing it. God does not see their work and call it good. No, he sees their work and he calls it unclean. He won't even call the people his people or his nation. Did you notice that? He calls them this people. This nation. He doesn't want to be associated with them. Haggai applies this principle of purity and impurity to the people and their work. The people are unclean. They're like a grease stain. Therefore, all that they touch, all that they do is unclean. They're making a mess. Just because they're doing the holy work of the Lord does not make them holy. Their contact with the holy things of God does not make them clean. Instead, their impurity, their sin, is making their work stink in the face of God. They're a polluted people, and they pollute all they touch. Children, do you like Snoopy and the Peanuts? Maybe you remember the character Pigpen. This really dirty kid who's got dirty hair and he's got this cloud of dirt that follows him around everywhere he goes. The people of Israel are like Pigpen. They've got this cloud of dirt following them everywhere. Everything they touch gets dirty. When Pigpen goes with his friends to make a snowman, what happens? That snowman is a dirt man. It's not pure and white, it's dirty, it's brown. Just like pig pen, everything Israel touches gets dirty. In verse 15, Haggai resorts again to his favorite command. He says, Consider. In light of this, consider, or literally, set your hearts. Think about it, Israel. Before you started working, how did you fare? You expected 20 measures of produce. You only got 10. You expected 50 gallons of wine. You only got 20. You have not fared well. You face disappointments in your harvest and what you've produced in the work of your hands. It has not produced what you thought it would. And there's a reason for all of this, he says, in verse 17, God says, I, I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail. I have cursed you, he says. I've cursed you because you were disobedient." Did Israel respond to the cursing? God says, your hearts were so hard, they were so dull, you were blind to my cursing, you did not turn to me. They had acted like Pharaoh. All the plagues and curses that they faced only made their hearts harder. That was before Haggai came. But now consider, he says, since you began working on the temple, since you began to obey, consider, is the seed yet in the barn? Have you experienced the material blessing of your obedience, Israel? No. Not yet. It says, indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. You got to remember that the time stamp here, the time stamp is two months after the seventh month. It's the ninth month. Two months earlier, they had just had their harvest season. So this is not the time of harvest in the ninth month. Their past harvest, it had been cursed. They've not yet planted for the next year. They're probably thinking, should we plant for the next year? God didn't bless our work. Should we continue doing it? They have no natural way of knowing. They don't have the Israeli farmer's almanac. It won't give them peace of mind. But God says. From this day on, I will bless you. They have God's promise. that he will bless them. They can't see it yet, but God will bless them. God tells them that the curse is over, that blessing has come. They cannot see the material fruit of this blessing, but they have his word. From this day on, I will bless you. Now, as we think about the work of the kingdom of God, the work that they were doing and the work that we do in the kingdom of God, the work and ministry of the church, and even the work that we do on a daily basis ourselves, there are some very important lessons that Haggai's sermon teaches us. We could summarize his message like this. He's teaching us that God blesses us despite our imperfect works. Do you hear that? God blesses us despite our imperfect works. And to see this further, we need to consider three things. First, we need to consider both our work and our hearts. Our work and our hearts. And I'm using work here in a very broad sense. Work here includes your vocational work, your jobs, your studies if you're a student, your worship, both corporate, what we're doing now, what you do as a family, what you do as an individual, and the work we do as a church, our witness, our evangelism, our prayers, our fellowship, our works of mercy and mutual edification. So we're using work in a very broad sense. God has called all of us to work in a variety of ways. Some of these things we do individually, like our vocations as teachers, nurses, moms, dads, students. Some of these things we do together, like what we're doing now, corporate worship, prayer, evangelism, singing. The question you need to consider this morning is this, is your work good? Is your work good? If God were to assess your work, would he see it and say, it is good? Or would he see it and say, it's unclean, it's polluted? The questions about ritual purity that Haggai asked the priest, it was designed not to look merely on the outside, merely on the surface. It was to get below the surface, deeper, to the heart of the people. The heart is the fountain out of which either impurity or purity flows. A polluted heart will spew forth filth. You turn the tap of a polluted heart, you're going to get filth. Purity will only flow from a pure heart. The external visible works of people could be judged not on appearance alone. Two people, they could be producing the same visible work. One could be judged holy, the other unholy. One could be praised, the other condemned. It depends upon the heart from which the work proceeds. Now, this doesn't mean the external work is unimportant. We've already seen in the book of Haggai itself that the people were to be doing the work of God. They weren't to be doing their own work, to be building their own fancy houses while neglecting God's house. The account of Cain and Abel is another example. Cain offers vegetation, Abel offers animal sacrifice. Cain's offering was man-made worship. He's doing worship according to his own thoughts and imaginations of his heart, while Abel is following God's example. The external work matters. But the quality of that work goes deeper than what's visible. These people were doing the work of the Lord, they were building the temple, yet God assesses it and says, it's unclean. One summer during a study of Calvin's Institutes with a friend, he gave this memorable illustration. He says, there could be a grandmother baking cookies. Just think of that, grandmother baking cookies. We all love that, don't we? The smell of chocolate chips or oatmeal raisin. We love when grandma bakes us cookies. Now assuming the cookies are delicious, the baking of cookies by a grandmother is ultimately not judged good or bad merely by the kind of work it is. Rather, it's judged ultimately good or bad by the kind of heart that the grandmother possesses. We need to go deeper than the surface. She's either baking cookies from an unregenerate, unbelieving heart, polluted with sin, or from a heart that has been sprinkled clean with the blood of Jesus Christ. As long as you live and work and worship out of an unregenerate, sin-stained heart, everything you do and touch is polluted. Even if you're a grandmother baking cookies. The source is a dead heart, and what proceeds from a dead heart is corrupt. This is what Paul says in Romans 8.8, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Cannot please God. The work of an unbeliever is not able to please God. Good intention does not help here. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. It's impossible. When we worship God from a dead heart that has not been made new by the gospel of Jesus Christ, we're no better than the Pharisees. whom Jesus scolded, saying, You hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. He's saying it doesn't matter what they're saying with their mouths. It's about what's in their heart. It does matter what they're saying with their mouths. But it also matters what's in their heart. Elsewhere, he says, how can you speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. It's not just our actions, it's also our words. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasures brings forth evil. So a work may be externally good or bad, a word may be externally good or bad. We can say that murder is bad and taking care of orphans is good. But are works judged merely by the externals, merely by what they are in and of themselves? This passage seems to teach otherwise. A work that we judge externally to be good, something that God commands, like loving our neighbor as ourselves, it can be internally righteous or evil. The way we judge a work externally is whether or not it's done in obedience to God's revealed will. Are we obeying God or are we disobeying God by this action or by this word? Children, that's a good thing to think about. Is what I'm saying or what I'm doing, is it being obedient to God? But second, the way God judges a thought or a word or a deed, It goes further than the external appearance. It goes to the heart. Does it proceed from a pure heart? So we don't only need to consider our work, but also our hearts. Is our work in obedience to God's revealed will? And does that work proceed from a purified heart? The people of Israel were obeying God. Their work was externally obedient to God's revealed will. In that sense, it was good. But God judges it. The God who sees deeper than what we see judges it. And what does he see? He sees it unclean. It's unacceptable in his sight because it's done out of polluted hearts. He says, so is it with this people and with this nation before me, declares the Lord. And so with every work of their hands and what they offer there is unclean. Now this passage is not asking you to judge your neighbor. It's challenging you to judge yourself. You don't have to try to get the speck out of your eye or your brother's eye when you have a log in your own eye. Consider your works, consider your heart. We need to be aware of performing works that are merely externally good. Calvin says works, however splendid they may appear before our eyes, are of no value before God's tribunal, before God's throne. They're of no value except it proceeds from a pure heart. In our pride, we'd like to think that our defiled works and worship still deserve some sort of praise, that our efforts should be applauded, that our works, though tainted with sin, should merit something as being praiseworthy. But nothing can flow from an impure and polluted fountain but that which is impure and polluted. This is the fruit of the fall. We read about it last week or a week or two ago in Genesis 6, the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. This is total depravity. We cannot please God and those who are depraved. There's no possibility of us pleasing God. The unclean need to be made clean. How can this happen? How can we be cleansed if everything we touch is contaminated with sin? We're like pigpen going around and touching things and it gets dirty. How could we possibly think that we could cleanse our own hearts? What can wash away my sin? What can make me whole again? As the song or the hymn writer asked. No amount of good works or worship can cleanse the filth of our hearts. No amount of good works, whatever we touch, you know, think about coming to worship and thinking, oh, holiness is going to rub off on me. We still remain dead. We still remain polluted in our sins and trespasses. Holiness does not come by physically touching holy things. It's not a surface problem. It's a heart problem. It goes deep to the heart. Our hearts need to be made new. They need to be rewired, reborn, restored. They need to be cleansed. So consider your work. Consider your heart. The final thing this passage has us consider is God's blessing. The people of Israel had not turned to God in repentance despite his covenant curses. It took Haggai's preaching to get them to come around to actually do the work they were supposed to do. The people of Israel were contaminating all that they touched. They deserve nothing but more curses. More bad harvest. Yet what does God tell them here? Despite your polluted works, Israel, despite your failure to turn to me, from this day on, I will bless you. Oh, this is grace. This is grace, demerited favor. It's exactly the opposite of what they deserved. Now, you might think here that God is rewarding them for doing the work that he called them to do. He's rewarding them for instead of building their own houses, they turn and begin to build his house. You might think it's merely God saying, OK, you're doing the work that I called you to do. I'm going to start rewarding you. I'm going to start blessing you. They're building God's temple, and so God blesses them, right? How can God reward them for work that he calls unclean? How can God bless sinners and their polluted works? Does God reward sin? Does God not care about the quality of our work and worship? God is not blessing them for their unclean work. God is blessing them because they believed God's promises about the greater glory, about Christ. These Israelites were blessed in Christ, not because of their unclean work. This is what we as Christians need to consider today. Consider how God has blessed you, despite your sins, despite your imperfect heart, despite the filthy rags that are your so-called good works. It's what Isaiah calls good works of the redeemed. They're filthy rags. They don't merit anything. Before the foundation of the world, God shows you that you might not continue to spew forth filth and pollution out of a polluted heart, but instead that you might be made holy and blameless before Him. In Christ, He blessed you with a new heart. He blessed you with forgiveness of sins, with adoption into his heavenly family. He has given you the guarantee even of his Holy Spirit who dwells in you while you wait for the full possession of your heavenly inheritance. In Christ, God has given you all things. And it's all of grace. You didn't merit it. You didn't earn it. You earned the opposite. And it's all of grace so that no one can boast. God gets all the glory. It's God's blessing in Christ that enables our work to be good as well. Paul says, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for what? For good works. which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Here's the solution to our problem, folks. God first works in us so that we can work for him. Without God's initial work of regeneration in our hearts, our work will remain impure, polluted, good for nothing but the wrath and curse of God. As you think about how God has saved you from your sin, and your unclean works. Think also about what God is calling you to do and be. God brought Israel back from exile, back from Babylon to Israel, and they had a task before them. God prepared the good work of building a temple for his people. And they were to be a holy nation. As Christians, we've been redeemed out of spiritual exile. We've been called to work in the building of God's spiritual temple, his church. This involves obedience, it involves worship, and it also involves good works. As our Westminster Confession states, these good works done in obedience to God's commandments, there it is, it's God's revealed will, what are they? They are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith And by them, believers manifest their thankfulness, strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the profession of the gospel, stop the mouths of adversaries and glorify God whose workmanship they are created in Christ Jesus there unto. Good works are important. They adorn our profession of the gospel. These works done from Pure hearts highlight the beauty and majesty of the one who has made our hearts clean. They highlight the beauty and majesty of Christ. Martin Lloyd-Jones once said that the church needs to begin herself to live the Christian life. What do we need to do as a church? We need to begin to live the Christian life. If she did, he says, men and women would be crowding into our buildings. They would say, what's the secret of this? Does your work and worship adorn your profession of the gospel? Or does it muddy the waters of your gospel testimony? As a church, we must see our work and worship connected with our lives. Impure living will defile our work and worship. It will mar our gospel witness. It will bring shame to Christ. Consider God's blessing. If we would be pleasing to God, we must be found in His Son, in the one who is well-pleasing to Him. God blesses our work when it's done from a pure heart. He blesses us when we're in Christ. Our hearts are only made pure in union and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from Christ, you can do nothing. Apart from Christ, you cannot please God. We must repent of our polluted works. We must look with eyes of faith to the one who is well-pleasing in the Father's sight. It is only in Christ that we will experience the blessing and favor of God. And so the question you need to ask yourselves all this morning is this, what kind of heart do I have? And there are only two possible answers. Either your heart is dead and full of sin, or your heart has been purified and belongs to Christ. When you think of your work and your heart, you should automatically be drawn in your thinking to God's blessing, to our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. What can wash away my sin? What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. It's only by the blood of Christ shed on Calvary that we are purified and made new. There was nothing that we could do. And so Jesus paid it all. Jesus washes us white as snow. He gives us clean hearts. He gives us pure motives. And even though we as Christians continue to have impure motives and our best works are still tainted, they're still filthy rags. They're accepted. If you're a Christian, if you are in Christ, your works are accepted, not because they're worthy. Not because you're worthy, but because Christ is worthy. Christ's perfect obedience as the last Adam and his sacrifice as the lamb that was slain not only makes our persons acceptable in the sight of God, but it also extends to our works. That they too are accepted in God's sight as works done by the Spirit, works done for and in Christ. And this is all of grace. We couldn't do this on our own. It's the blessing of God. When God sends his spirit and applies the gospel of grace to an undeserving sinner, they are no longer under his wrath and curse, no longer unable to please God. But from that day on. God says, I will bless you. And through God's blessing. We're able to perform works for God. If you're a Christian, then God has blessed you in Christ so that you can perform good works. And even though there's so much defilement and a mixture of weakness and imperfection, and even the best that we do, so that they still deserve God's judgment, still we can be assured that they are accepted. Because we ourselves are accepted in Christ, well pleasing in God's sight. And you are called to live not in the flesh, but in the spirit. adorning the profession of the gospel, highlighting the beauty and the majesty of our Savior and Lord. But if you're here today and you're not a Christian, if you've considered your heart and it's still polluted, still full of sin, if it has not been purified and pardoned by the blood of Christ and his perfect obedience, if you're not clothed in his righteousness, If you don't know this blessing that God's talking about, then I warn you to seriously consider both your work and your heart. Our confession states works done by unregenerate men, that is works done by unbelievers, those who are apart from Christ, those who are outside of Christ. Although for the matter of them, they may be things which God commands. You might be obeying God externally. and of good use both to themselves and others. They might be good things like baking cookies for your grandchildren. Yet, our confession says, because they proceed not from a heart purified by faith, nor are done in a right manner according to the word, nor to a right end, the glory of God. They are therefore sinful and cannot please God or make a man meet to receive grace from God. I warn you to consider your heart. If it has not been purified by faith and it is spewing forth corruption, marking you off just like Pigpen was marked off, marking you off as one who is fit for nothing but the wrath and curse of God. Don't be blind. Don't be deaf to the warnings and threats of God like the Israelites were. He says, I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail. I warned you, Israel, he says. Yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. Friends, don't ignore this warning. Turn to God. Cry out for pardon. Cry out for mercy. Look to Jesus. The only one who's able to cleanse your filthy heart and find in Him your all in all. Jesus was obedient for sinners. Sinners like you. Sinners like me. He lived the life we could not live. He died the death we could not die. Sin had left a crimson stain. What did He do? He washed it white as snow. Cry out to Jesus. Say to him, for nothing good have I were by your grace to claim. I'll wash my garments white in the blood of Calvary's Lamb. Go to the Lamb slain for sinners. How can God bless sinners like us? God blesses us despite our imperfect works only for the perfect work of Jesus Christ. Dear sinner, look to Christ. and to his finished work on the cross. And when you and your works are washed clean by Christ, you will experience the joyful assurance that God gave to the Israelites that day, that 24th day of the ninth month, when despite their polluted works, despite their hard hearts, he said, but from this day on, I will bless you. Let's pray.