Well friends, hopefully if the technology works, I'm going to put some headings up with our passage this morning because it will help. I think it's not an easy passage and I think it'll help you. I hope the headings will just help you when we get there. So we're turning this morning to Haggai chapter two and verses 10 to 19, our first reading. Haggai chapter two, verses 10 to 19. and I read them to you in the version you have in front of you. I'm going to use the New King James as I speak from it this morning. It's not very different and I'm sure you'll be able to follow and I think you'll find it helpful if you do have the Bible open in front of you as we look through this today. This is the third prophecy in Haggai's little book. There are four prophecies in the book. The year was 520 BC. These events of this little book took place in about three to four months. That's all we know about Haggai, what we have here in this little book. Now what he did before this, what he did after this, I don't know, but he is a prophet of God, and no doubt he continued to preach the word of God to the people of God and encourage them. But we just have this little book giving us three to four months of these prophecies that he gave. 520 BC was a year of crisis for Jerusalem, for the people of God, and moral paralysis had affected them and people had assumed that things would never change. I don't know whether we feel like that sometimes as we look out upon the world and we think, how on earth can we ever change things? Whatever will happen, I don't know about you, but I sometimes see what's happening in some of the war places of the world and I think, what can I do? Nothing, I can't do anything. You know, even if I volunteered, I'm probably too old to join the, I don't know that I would want to at my age anyway. But you know, and you think, I don't know whether you feel like that, maybe you're far more glued together than I am, but I just feel sometimes, I just don't know, what am I gonna do about it? Well, of course, we can pray and things, but this was a situation that was quite serious because there had been a downturn in the economy and there were food shortages and poverty and no one seemed to be able to do anything about it and no one had any answers. 300 years earlier Amos had arrived with a similar message from God but the situation was very different then and the people didn't learn and he faced an unresponsive and unrepentant people. But the people of Haggai's day were ready to listen to his word and to follow the word of God. And his book can be divided neatly into three sections of the four messages. August, 520 BC, Chapter 1, the first message, which we looked at a few weeks ago. October, the 520 BC, Chapter 2, 1 to 9, the second message, which we looked at last time I was here. And then in December, 520 BC, Chapter 2, 10 to 23, the third and the fourth messages. And we're going to be looking at the third message today. Here were the people in the providence of God. The exile was God's judgment on his people, but many now had returned. and they who had returned had learned their lessons, and they were much more faithful to God, certainly in the early days. The first group had returned under a man called Zerubbabel and had begun to rebuild the city walls and the temple, but soon they stopped and got discouraged. We'll hear more about Zerubbabel when I come on future occasions, because there's a lot to say about him. But they got used to seeing that the temple of God was in ruins. And it just, well, it was just there and it was in ruins and nothing had happened. Oh, yes, we'll get round to repair it someday, but the economy has failed and trouble seems to be brewing. And so for 18 years, they just sat, well, not just sat around, but they'd not done anything about repairing the temple. And something needs to happen. And God broke into the situation with this prophecy by Haggai. And in chapter 1 verse 2, Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying, This people says the time has not come, but the word of the Lord comes and says, There is time. It is time Basically, if I can put it colloquially, you got off your backsides and did something about it. Am I allowed to use that phrase? Well, there we are. And so God broke into the situation with a word which was very devastating at first. And the first prophecy is a word of challenge. And how did they respond? They obeyed. That was wonderful. That didn't happen in Amos' day 300 years earlier. But it now happened, and they obeyed and responded obediently. And then the second prophecy, only a month or two later, they'd started well, but they were very discouraged. Why? Because the seventh month in the year was the time of the Day of Atonement, and so no work was done during that great celebration. and it was actually a wonderful time there, but they were encouraged to praise God and worship Him, and we considered something of that, and God promised the work of His Spirit as we saw that, and the glory of God would come upon this later temple when it was finished. And now, the third prophecy, given only two months after the second one. And they had started so well, but they had become discouraged. The Day of Atonement, the week of the Feast of the Tabernacles, had seemed to be a good time of Thanks to God, but it almost seemed to be a distraction now and God's house Well, they had been building God's house hadn't they they've been obeying what God said Surely because they are building God's house and because they're obeying God they must be holy people They must be right with God, but my friends Activity even spiritual activity doesn't itself make us holy does it? It's possible to be an ungodly minister. It's possibly possible to be an ungodly church officer. It's possible to be an ungodly church member and go through the motions of worship and think that we are somehow, holiness will rub off on us. It's possible to be a disciple and yet betray the Lord. Even Peter had to learn. But as our Lord said to him in Mark 8.33, Get behind me, Satan. Even Peter could be an agent of the devil, even as a disciple of the Lord. Nearness to the temple did not make them holy. God calls them to holiness of heart. And holiness is of the essence of the heart. It is spiritual. And first of all, they need to learn to walk in the ways of God and learn from him. So the question is, is your heart right with God? That's where we must begin. And God calls them to holiness of heart. And he does it by asking, firstly, two searching questions in verses 11 to 14. Here is the first question in verse 12. 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? Well, the priests knew the answer to that. They didn't even have to stop to think about it. They say, no, no, of course not, of course not. And in fact, this question is an illustration of the very point that God wants them to understand. Can you catch holiness by being with holy people and by doing holy things? And the answer is no. My friend, if you're here this morning and think that just because you come to church and sing hymns and do good, God will be pleased with you, you are mistaken. There is far more involved in this In fact, you could illustrate it like this. If you are full of health, and we hope that our nurses in our hospitals and our doctors are healthy people, we hope they're not carrying disease and germs, but just because they are in health and in peak condition, does their health rub off onto the people who are unwell? Well, of course it doesn't. We know that. It doesn't work that way, does it? Can they catch some of your vigor and energy? So if you are a holy person here, does your holiness rub off on other people? Well, of course it doesn't work like that. And here were these people and they were arguing a little bit like this. If we offer enough sacrifices and if we give enough prayers, will that make us holy? Will that not guard us against condemnation? Can I wrap myself round with holiness like a garment? And the priests knew absolutely that that was impossible. No, they say. It was obvious. But that was how they were arguing. That was how they were thinking. We're building the temple. We're doing holy work. We must be holy. My friends, it doesn't follow. It doesn't follow. Lord, we're doing what you commanded. Surely we must be spiritual. We must be godly. We must be acceptable. Surely he will bless us. No, says God. You see, you cannot bargain with God. Religious activity is not enough to make us holy. Holiness is not contagious. Only God can make us holy. And we must turn to Him, we must trust Him, we must follow Him. It doesn't happen by osmosis. If you were at school and you knew anything about osmosis, what do you do? Well, you get a shriveled grape and you put it into a glass of water, and what happens? Gradually, the grape swells out. Do you know why? Because the water goes through the skin of the grape and fills the grape up. And people think sometimes, that's osmosis. And I can remember doing that in a science experiment in school, and some of you probably did. And you learn what osmosis is. And there are other things you can do. I was going to get sidetracked and sell you some of the naughty things. Well, no, there we are. Perhaps I'll leave that for another time, because osmosis can be used in some incredible ways, actually. But there we are. That's the idea behind it. But holiness doesn't happen that way. It doesn't happen by osmosis. Nor does holiness come by infusion of Christianity from our parents or our friends. God does desire sacrifice, yes, but he also desires holiness of life and heart. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks at our hearts. That's the first question. Here's the second question in verse 13. Haggai said, is one who is unclean because of a dead body, touches any of these, will it be unclean? So the priests answered and said, yes, it will be unclean. You see, if holiness cannot be caught what about evil uncleanness my friends that's the picture isn't it here is another question that is itself an illustration if health and fitness cannot be caught What about sickness and flu? Well of course they can be caught. You cannot catch good health. But you can catch bad health and disease and flu and sickness. Dirty plates make clean plates dirty. That's the illustration here. One bad apple will contaminate a whole box. Is evil like disease? Yes! In fact, it's the worst disease ever, the Bible tells us, and we all have it, and it spreads like wildfire. Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, the Bible tells us. There is none righteous, no, not one. Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? Psalm 24. He who has clean hands and a pure heart. We need to make sure that our hands are clean and our hearts are pure. John Calvin says this, a sacrifice sanctifies not things unclean except by way of expiation. For this we know was the design of sacrifices. Men who were polluted need to be reconciled to God. Those are the two questions. But let's move on, because here we have thirdly, God's response in verse 14. God's response is, all of this is unclean. You need to be cleansed. Now if this is so, and if God says it, How can anyone ever be clean before him? How can we ever be made right with him? The scriptures tell us that even the heavens are unclean in his sight. So when you look at the beauty of the pictures from the James Webb Telescope of the universe, God says the universe is unclean in his sight. Our best righteousness is polluted and contaminated. And if we are not holy, then we profane the worship of God. And God is not placated by our ceremonies and by our hymns and by our works and by our prayers. However splendid our acts may be, they will never come up to the standard of God's requirements. Whatever we touch, whatever we do, we are unworthy of the God of heaven and earth. the Lord of Glory. And yet, though we know this, man continues to rebel against it. He doesn't like God's Word and God's challenge. The illustrations are clear, but man still thinks somehow he can make himself acceptable to God by his own means. The illustrations are clear, and yet the Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. What does that do? My friends, it drives us upon God. It drives us upon God. For only God can cleanse our hearts and make us clean in His sight. He purifies our hearts by faith, and that faith is the gift of God. Now, how does He do it? He does it by putting His Spirit within us. He forgives our sins. He purifies our hearts. He does something for us that we cannot do ourselves. And he does it by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the all-sufficient sacrifice of his Son. He imputes his righteousness to us. Do you understand what imputing is? He puts it to our account. He takes away our sin and puts his holiness within us. He justifies us by his grace. Don't deceive yourself. God is not mocked. You cast yourself upon God's mercy. You fly to Christ for salvation. You call upon his name. You admit your sin and unrighteousness and helplessness and come to him. John Calvin again, it is therefore a most disgraceful mockery when men deal thus with God, offering him only external ceremonies and disregarding his nature, for they make no account of spiritual worship and yet think that they please him. We must then, in a word, make this remark, that the Prophet teaches us here that it is not enough for men to show obedience to God, to offer sacrifices, to spend labour in building the Temple, except these things were rightly done, and how rightly? By a sincere heart, so that there should be no dissimulation, no duplicity. So there are two searching questions with God's response. Second main heading, two significant considerations in verses 15 to 19. Now I hope you can follow this because I have headings and subheadings, which is why I hope this is helpful. First consideration, verses 15 to 19. 15 to 17, and we need to say two things about it. Firstly, the facts described in verses 15 to 17a. God judged their labours. 15 to the first part of 17a. 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 tore out fifty vats from the press, there were but twenty. I struck you with blight and milled you in all the labours of your hands. That's the facts. That's what had happened. God had judged their labours. and he had deprived them of blessings and success because their worship was an offence to him. My friends, the Bible makes it quite clear that sin is insidious and God hates sin. One of the Old Testament illustrations of that, of course, which may be known to many of you, is in the book of Joshua and chapter 6 and 7. After the great victory of the defeat of Jericho, God had said that the plunder from the city was to be devoted to God. But Achen had stolen a wedge of gold and some goodly clothes and hidden them in his tent and he thought he'd got away with it. And so they go off to take a battle against a little small place called Ai. very small, very insignificant, far easier to conquer than the city of Jericho. And what happens? They are roundly defeated. And Joshua cries out to the Lord and says, why has that happened? And God says, I will not go with you because there is sin in the camp. And because of Achan's sin, God's favor left the whole nation. and they had to learn the hard way that they must obey the Word of God. And they had so seriously misjudged God's actions against them. Now in the same sense, this is what is happening here in Haggai. The people of Haggai's day had done exactly the same thing. Not as serious in one sense as the sin of Achan, but they had misjudged actions against them. And the word consider that is given there in those words there, and it's in your version consider from this day forward. Consider. from this day onward in verses 15 and verse 18. Literally means, lay it to heart. Call to mind these things. Thomas More in his very helpful little commentary says this, the meaning is, call to mind your adverse condition before you began to obey the word of God. And look at the result of your neglect you regarded them as blind misfortunes, oh, just things that happen, or as proofs that God was indifferent to his people, that he didn't care about you. And his promise whereas they proved the very contrary. God was simply punishing you for your sins. It wasn't that God had ignored them, which is what they thought. It wasn't that they made a silly mistake, which is what they thought. It was because God cared for them, and longed for them, and loved them, and wanted to draw them back to himself. Learn from his dealings. Whom the Lord loves, he chastens. learn from his dealings toward you, learn to repent and turn back to him. Now of course that is an ongoing matter throughout the Scriptures as God deals with his people and we have an example of it of course in Revelation chapter 2, the angel of the church of Ephesus. Here were people who had followed God and served God and of course you know in the Acts of the Apostles that Paul had commissioned the elders of Ephesus to beware, lest wolves might arrive even from among yourselves and lead you astray. And by the time of John's writing here, that had happened. And what does God say to the church at Ephesus? Nevertheless, I have this against you that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do again the first works or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. And then later to the church at Pergamos in the same way God calls them to repent. Repent or else I will come to you quickly and fight against you with the sword of my mouth. He calls them to repent. That was God's word to them. The facts described. And so here is a serious rebuke Verse 17b, yet you did not turn to me, says the Lord. Remember the past. Your labour went to waste. Why? Because your hearts were not right before me, says God. You did not turn to me, you did not repent. God looks for true repentance, true sorrow for sin, a true desire to destroy sin. God is not content simply to cleanse us from our sin, to forgive us, He is that. But He comes to deliver us from its guilt and its power and its dominion completely. This is no small salvation, this Gospel salvation. It is great and grand. This is no half-hearted act of God. It is a work that is full and free and radical and wonderful and glorious. And that's why if you do not turn from your sins, you are doubly guilty. Here is salvation offered. Here is salvation proffered. Here is salvation provided in all its comprehensive glory. Only a fool would turn his back upon such a God and such a salvation. that's the first consideration I hope this fits because we've lost the things gone out of alignment somewhere but anyway verses 18 to 19 again two things to say firstly careful reflection I think we're going to lose the bottom one but there we are never mind careful reflection verses 18 to 19 Consider now, another consider, from this day forward. From the 24th day of the ninth month, from the day the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it. Is the seed still in the barn? Well, we'll see in a minute. Consider, says God. Learn from the situation. The anger of God can be turned away. Verse 18. Consider it. The day you put away your sin, the day you put right what is wrong, is the day for God to work. Deal with that which is wrong and put it right. Deal with your sin. Turn from it. What does Paul tell us in Colossians chapter 3 and verse 5 and following? He tells us to mortify our sin, to put it to death. Colossians chapter 3 verse 5, Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath is coming upon the sons of disobedience in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now You yourselves are to put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. And Paul goes on to describe the benefits and blessings of that. Consider, learn from the situation. God's anger can be turned away. Take drastic action against your sin, decisively, conclusively. For the smallest offence can separate us from God. And don't forget Coradathan and Abiram in the Old Testament. Their sin affected their whole family. And Achan sinned likewise. Here they had all suffered from bad harvests that were God's punishments. But God is building his greater temple today. God is building his temple as he was doing then, and today he is building his temple in the hearts and lives of his people. What do we read in Corinthians? Well, 1 Corinthians 6 and verses 19, 20, 20. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price. You are bought at great cost. God has saved you in order that you might be holy. He has designed you that you might be holy. That is his purpose, that you might be holy and righteous and pure. that you may know his grace and goodness and those words that we read in our reading in 2 Corinthians 6, verses 14-18. Don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore, come out and be separate and do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you and I will be a father to you and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord God Almighty. What a wonderful, what a glorious picture of the true nature of salvation. And then, I don't know whether it'll come on, but two, surprising comfort. Surprising comfort. Verse 19, but 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 you see, I don't know whether you recognize the significance of that. I'm gonna tell you in a minute. But here is God's promise that he would bless them. You must forsake your sin. Prepare to meet him. For when we uncover our sin, then God will deal with it and cleanse it and take it away. What does the proverb say? The one who covers his sin will not prosper, but he that confesses it We refuse to hide our sin and try to hide our sin from Him, then God will expose it, be sure your sin will find you out. But here is comfort, here is forgiveness, here is a way back to God from the dark paths of sin. Remember that wonderful miracle our Lord performed when He was here on earth of the woman who had the issue of blood. And here is a reversal of the principle that he had laid out in the earlier illustrations that he had given in this chapter. Here is a woman who was unclean and sick. Here was a woman who had an issue of blood. The Old Testament law required her to be kept separate. Why? Because she was unclean, she was contaminated. and anything she touched would be defiled. That's what the Lord has just made clear through Haggai now. But she creeps through the crowd to the Lord of glory. If only she can touch the hem of his garment. What saved her? What caused her to be healed? What caused God to listen to her? Was it her touch? No. It was her faith. And what cannot normally happen, happened because God, the living God, was involved. And she comes with all her impurity and she touches the Lord's, the hem of his garment and she is cleansed. My friend, that doesn't normally happen. Agiash has made that clear, and the scriptures make that clear, and everywhere in the Bible we read that, that that is not possible, but here is one who can do something which men cannot do, for this is God, and the Lord Jesus Christ specifically refers to her faith. He says, Woman, your faith has saved you, for faith is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. And that's the wonder of the gospel of the grace of God. And in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 11 and 13, we read these words. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, literally to holy fire. I know there's no such word, but I like making words up too. to make it work. Holify the people with his own blood suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp bearing his reproach for he can do what no one else can do. The reproach of Christ saves us. Wonderful. His finished work does what no other can do. He alone builds his eternal temple in our hearts. You see, these people had to learn to trust God. And they had to learn to trust God in this very verse. Is the seed in the barn? As yet, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. Why was that so significant? The seed was not yet in the barn. The harvest had not come. The promised blessing seems Impossible! Incredible! Why? Because it is December 520, and in the Middle East, in Palestine, the harvest had not yet come. There were some months before the harvest comes. But here is God's Word that there will be seed in the barn and there will be fruit on the tree and it will happen for from this day I will bless you. And so what did they have to do? They had to trust His Word before it came to pass. God is true to His Word. Take God as His Word. Believe Him. Call upon Him. For no one, no one who ever comes to him by faith in Christ will ever, ever be turned away. And those words will ring in your ears, my friend, from this day. I will bless you. Well, may the Lord write these things upon our hearts. We're gonna sing a hymn which takes up some of these matters as we think of these things in our books. Number 8-1-12. Oh, for a heart to praise my God, a heart from sin set free, a heart that's sprinkled with the blood so freely shed for me. 8-1-2.