Okay, our sermon text for this afternoon's message is Haggai chapter 1. Would you please turn in your Bibles to Haggai chapter 1? We'll read the entirety of the first chapter. Haggai chapter 1. This is the word of the Lord. 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 Jehozadek, 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 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 look 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, and 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 Jehozaddek, 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 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 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." Thus ends God's holy and inspired word. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, would you be pleased once again to attend to us here as we sit under the preaching and teaching of your word. Send forth your spirit to both save and to sanctify and both exalt the Lord Jesus Christ in our minds and hearts and glorify yourself, our triune God. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. So, Haggai Background a little bit of background to this short wonderful little short book Babylon has been conquered by Persia and the first group of exiled Jews have returned to Jerusalem and as You know or will recall Cyrus king of Persia has issued a decree that the temple is to be rebuilt and If you would like the history, I'd encourage you to read the history of this from Ezra. I believe particularly in our section, it's chapters 5. In our point in history in Haggai, I think it's chapters 5 through 7. But Ezra gives the historical setting to this prophecy. So I encourage you in the next coming several weeks as we work through this book to go and read through that on your own or with your family. So they had begun to rebuild. But shortly after, they ran into opposition, which brought the building to a halt. And it was after about anywhere from 14 to 16 years that the decree was revisited, and the opposition was removed, that the building would continue. It's removed, and all the provisions are given once again for the rebuilding of it. Haggai's prophetic ministry that we have here in this book occurs about a year after that, is what some say. About a year after the opposition had been removed. And it lasts about two months. This prophecy is about two months of time. Haggai's prophecy will be marked, as you'll note, by very plain language, very straightforward language. It's not marked by, as we see in other passages or other portions of scripture, literary brilliance, rhetorical brilliance, beauty. You know, what would come to mind would be like an Isaiah, right? The Spirit is seen fit to work through a variety of literary abilities in varying rhetorical and eloquent abilities in the Scriptures. And though all are equally beautiful, being the Word of God, Yet it is true that even books like Isaiah and Luke are recognized by all to be some of the best literature in all of humanity. And so Haggai doesn't get that. But equally beautiful, equally brilliant being the Word of God and what we'll see most of all here is it's marked by its simplicity and power. as you probably already have heard and noted, and I hope we'll see today and in the weeks ahead. And so, God willing, we will have four sermons, considering the four prophetic utterances of Haggai, and this book divides up very neatly. The four sections and the headings that we'll consider are as follows. In Haggai 1 to 15, the heading is priority. Haggai 2.1-9 is presence, and Haggai 2.10-19 is purity, and Haggai 2.20-23 is promise. And today our consideration is priority, and the problem is that the people had prioritized personal prosperity above the things of God. The people prioritized their personal prosperity above the things of God. And it's a problem that required reformation, both inward and outward, as verse 2 will demonstrate to us. They are settled in their way. They have a fixed disposition that building the Lord's house is to be put off at this moment. Now is not the time, or the time has not come, which is the title of our afternoon sermon here. Verses 1 and 2, 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 Jehozaddek, the 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. And note first that what is central to this book is the proclamation and authority of the Word of the Lord. Eight references in our first chapter to the Word of the Lord in some way, shape, or form. Haggai is not coming on his own thoughts or on his own authority. Simply bringing the word of the Lord to the people. Prophecy does not just predict future events. Perhaps you think that way in your head. It does not just predict future events, though it does that. But it is a proclamation of God's immediate word for His people, always. The Lord's word is confronting this people here and now concerning their current backslidden state, confronting them concerning their hearts. And it does the same for us today. When God's word sounds forth in the power of the Spirit, there are no neutral hearers. There are either softened responses with faith or hardened, indifferent responses. Haggai communicates to us the power of word and spirits to soften the people and to turn their hearts to the Lord. He is simply God's faithful mouthpiece by which God sovereignly works out his purposes in his people. And here the Lord confronts his people by telling them what it is, what their posture is. He penetrates to the heart of the matter as only the Lord's word can do. Hebrews 4.12, for the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the hearts. The people have been freed, having been freed from persecution, now said, we will not continue to do the Lord's work. It's not time. And what's happened is they become apathetic. The opposition had turned to apathy, and apathy had turned into a hardened and stiff-necked way of life. Their zeal had turned away from service toward God and had now settled on establishing themselves in comfort. Verse 3 and 4, 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 lie in ruins? He cuts off all possible excuses here. Circumstances and persecution could not possibly be a hindrance because you yourselves live in luxury is what he's saying. Your houses are sealed up on the inside with fancy wood, sealed up with comfort. That's what paneled houses implies. They were living in luxury. They had plenty of time to get themselves comfortable and cozy while the Lord's house lay in ruin. Owen was to be cleaning the basement this past Wednesday before we hosted company. And as so happens with children, they see the task before them as too great. They sit down in discouragement. We all know the feeling. I certainly know the feeling. We've been there. And so they sit down in the discouragement, but then out of nowhere, this newfound energy rises up in them. but not for the task at hand, but for making a greater mess. And eventually sitting in comfort, they begin playing with other toys. They'll take and dump out a Lego box and begin to build a Lego city. So I say, should Owen be building Legos while the basement lay in ruins? Certainly not. Should the people of God set aside the work of the Lord for personal comfort while his work lay in ruins? No. And this hits home for us immediately in terms of application. It is, after all, written for our instruction. Listen to Charles Simeon. He says, Have you have you time for yourselves and not for God, for your bodies and not for your souls, for the affairs of this short transitory life and not for those of eternity? Is it thus that ye have been taught of God to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness last and to mind your own things only and not the things of Jesus Christ? Was this a just return from those who had been delivered from their captivity in Babylon? And if not from them, is it from you who have been redeemed by the blood of God's only dear son from a bondage infinitely more tremendous, a bondage to sin and Satan, death and hell? Judge ye whether it becomes you to be seeking your own carnal ease, interests and pleasure, and to be neglecting the work of God and the welfare of your immortal souls. Only let conscious deliver an unbiased testimony, and we consent that you shall be judges in your own cause." End quote. Perhaps an objection arises. Say, aren't we just to be hesitant? When the threat of opposition and persecution still lingers, isn't that just of us to sort of pause and hold back? There are so many hostile enemies to this work. Do we have In the midst of that, any comfort, any assurance to go forward with the work of the Lord? We have to understand that they probably had fear of the possibility of further opposition. I think this is probably at least part of the reason why they were reluctant to start again. What if we start and then persecution starts again? We should just wait until we know that we're in the clear. But the Lord here does give comfort, does give assurance. He gives a double assurance and a double motivation to them in that regard. He's already told them that this is Yahweh. This is the Lord, the covenant, faithful covenant keeping Lord who calls you to this. And it is the Lord of armies, the Lord of hosts, verse five. Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. He says, Lord of armies, 14 times in two short chapters in this book, 14 times, Lord of hosts, What's He communicating? The One who has command over the entire earth, over all of the earth, all of its inhabitants, all of the kings, all of the rulers, all principalities and powers are under His power and authority and disposal. What are you to fear? What could deter you from working in light of this reality? They did have every reason to fear in one sense from a human perspective. Because they had no king, they had no army, and they had a temple that was a heap of ruins. But they also ought to know. They ought to know, on the other hand, that this is the kind of battles the Lord chooses to fight, and has chose to fight. in order to bring to naught the powerful and the wise. It's a pattern in redemptive history that we see. They knew this divine name, both Yahweh, the covenant name, and Lord of hosts. They knew the history. When was any great feat in Israel's history ever accomplished in man's strength, in other words? In the strength of a horse, strength of man, never. First Samuel 1747 says, then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands. They ought to know that salvation belongs to the Lord. Go forward in this work. I will make tens of thousands fall at a hundred. The Lord says. I will bring armies into confusion for the sake of delivering and keeping my people for my own glory. They ought to have called this to mind and girded up their loins, but they didn't. And so the Lord of hosts says, consider your ways, give thought to what is driving the course of your life. Something is disoriented. You have just been delivered by God from captivity. The kind of people that you ought to be is a thankful people, a believing people, a people eager and glad and confident to serve the Lord your God without fear. You see the application this has for us again. We have been bought and redeemed. 1 Peter 1 18-19, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct, received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish. And without spots in chapter 2, verses 9 and 10, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people, but now are the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. But how often, rather than proclaim the excellencies of Christ to others, do we say, not now. We say not now for fear of upsetting someone. We cower in fear of upsetting someone rather than fearing God. Or we think this is, now is not the time for sharing the gospel. Now is not the time for kingdom work. I'll show them I care first. But this is the fine line that long-term evangelism efforts must learn to draw. People must know that you love and care about them. But one of the ways that that is demonstrated is by telling them of the danger they are in. By telling them of the danger they're in, that the torments of hell for all eternity might fall on them in a moment lest they repent. Now is the time. Verse six, you have sown much and bring in little. You eat, but do not have enough. You drink, but 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. He says, look what's come upon you while you've set yourselves in comfort and ease. What was said about the people turning away in the Decalogue? Covenant curses would come upon them. That's what was said. And this is a description of that. That's what's fallen upon them. Consider your ways and repent in the dust. See how worthless these pursuits have been. But now again, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Consider them and humble yourselves to the dust and now consider them for amending them in the days ahead. Make like David in Psalm 132, three to five. Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house or go up to the comfort of my bed. I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the mighty one of Jacob. David vows no rest till he built a temple for the Lord to dwell in, a permanent dwelling for the Lord. And is this our posture with relation to amending our hearts and our ways before the Lord? When you have sinned and the sense of His presence is not there, do you pursue the amending of 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. Amend your ways. Put the glory of God first in your lives. What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy him forever. He's not trying to steal joys and pleasures from His people. He's not trying to do that. But He's trying to put them in a place where we would be able to experience them in abundance. Verse 9 and 10, he says, you look 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 withheld the dew and the earth withholds its fruit. So this is not the way of my people. He's saying you're acting not like my people. And the heavens have dried up again. He's calling up the covenant curses, but notice verse 11. 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. The Lord called for a drought on men. What does this mean? It means the men, their vigor, their zeal, their strength had been dried up, their labors. As a result, it produced no fruit. Why? Again, because they spent it on the wrong things. They spent it on the wrong things. But listen, in the midst of this chastisement, note the mercy of the Lord. Note that it is a mercy and a kindness of the Lord to cause your vain and misdirected efforts to be dried up and bear no fruit. That is the Lord's mercy to them. It's interesting to think that this drought was just peculiar for that area. I think we have every reason to believe that all the surrounding nations at that point in time were not experiencing this. This was peculiar to them. And this is the Lord's mercy. Have you experienced that? Where you labor and labor over something and to have nothing come of it or have it taken away. If you were able to read those providences correctly through the grace of repentance, you begin to see it was the Lord's goodness towards you. It was his fatherly chastisement that kept you from further running toward those vain endeavors that may have run you to ruin yourself. Note also, it may even be things good in themselves that are brought to naught. Not because they weren't good, but because they were pursued in the wrong order, perhaps. Seek first all these other things and then the kingdom. No, no, no. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. I believe this is the gist of this first chapter in Hosea. God does not, again, God does not want to withhold good things from you. He wants to show you, in fact, that the best things for you are to build towards things that will not perish, things that will last, enduring things, things that cannot and will not be shaken. Seeking the glory of God first turns out to be the enjoyment of Himself. It is the enjoyment itself. He is the goal. He is not trying to rob you by calling you to serve Him first and foremost. He is preparing you for an eternity of praising and adoring and in communion with him. My food is to do the will of him who sent me, says Jesus. Jesus is the most fulfilled and joyful man ever to live. Was God robbing Jesus of true enjoyment and pleasure by putting him to the task of kingdom work? No way. The fullness of joy was had by Jesus Even him who said, man lives not by bread alone. My food is to do the will of him who sent me. Jesus experienced the fullness of joy. And oh, how we need the Lord's grace and mercy in this. None of us is immune from needing to repent of giving too much time, energy, and affection towards things that are destined to perish. The one who does not believe they need to, who remains apathetic in this way, is one who is in grave danger. If that's you, you become calloused, giving over to those desires, given over to those desires. It is a warning to those who fail in this way to examine their own hearts. 2 Peter 3, 11-12 says, Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of person sought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? What kind of person, not one who pursues things that will be burned up, but marked by holy conduct? the pursuit of holy conduct and godliness. Brothers and sisters, I preach here to myself more than any of you. Oh, how I need the mercy of God with regard to this. Yes, I am to be a model to you of holy conduct, but also of weakness, repentance, humility, of faith and of hope. Verse 12, then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadek, 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. May it be the case with us that we would so quickly respond to the voice of the Lord and the voice of His prophets, to be struck with godly fear at the blast of God's just anger towards our sins. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. Consider how you hear, brethren. Consider how you hear." 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 Jehozadek, 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 24th day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius. No sooner do they repent than God immediately sends his word of comfort to them. The Lord's face will shine on us once again. His fatherly displeasure is removed. The sense of God's favor is restored. This is God assuring his people the same voice that just thundered now comforts and heals and repairs. This is classic law gospel distinction. Consider your ways. You have strayed. And now upon their return, the message of comfort, gospel balm for the people. In this declaration, I am with you. The Lord of armies is with you. And for the Christian, this declaration is raised to greater heights in our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who has been exalted above the heavens, whom all authority on heaven and earth has been given to, the one who, quoting Ephesians 121, is far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. This is the one who says, I am with you. Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. But even more than that, Even more than with us is that he is beside us in us by his spirits. That's actually the way he's present with us is in us and by our side with his spirits. The one who comes alongside the comforter. He comes alongside and comforts, not only comforts, but He confirms. He confirms it to us over and over again and says, He has already conquered. He has already won. Fear not. He has overcome your enemies. He is the Lord's champion, undefeated and undefeatable. Look to Him, the author and finisher of your faith. He has sat down on high already. I am with you, says the Lord of hosts. And the same spirit stirs us up, makes us willing soldiers, as we quote so often. Psalm 110.3. If what's being communicated is other than this, I don't know what is in verse 14. Your people shall be volunteers in the day of your power. In the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning, you have the due of your youth. God will be with us to comfort us and to work in us. Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. To conclude, this is, in short, the Christian life. Consider your ways. First, consider the evil of your ways and be humble to the dust. Lord, I have sinned and done what is evil in your sights. That's the Christian confession. I have tended towards worldliness. I have chased after wanton pleasures. My loves are disordered and displeasing to you. Consider your ways in amending your ways. Put the kingdom first. Put Christ first, which is to put his church first. Reorder your loves and go forth in light of that and the consoling and mighty presence of your triune Lord to walk with renewed strength and vigor and zeal that he will supply and even stir up in you as he has promised. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we give you thanks for this word that you've given to us this afternoon. Would you, in fact, work in us all of these good things that we've discussed in terms of seeking first your kingdom and your righteousness, knowing that you are pleased to bestow all good and needful things to us as well in addition to that. Increase our faith, increase our hope, Grow us in unity and love together as we go about our Christian pilgrimage together in this town. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.