So please open your Bibles with me and let us read and let us give ear to God's Word. Haggai 2 verse number 10, In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, And with a skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priest answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priest answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord, and so is every work of their hands, and that which they offer there is unclean. And now I pray you, consider from this day and upward from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord. Since those days were, when one came to an heap of 20 measures, there were but 10. When one came to the press for to draw out 50 vessels out of the press, there were but twenty. I smote you with blasting, and with mildew, and with hail, and all the labors of your hands. Yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord. Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it. Is the seed yet in the barn? Yea, as yet the vine and the fig tree and the pomegranate and the olive tree hath not brought forth, from this day will I bless you." And we end there at that verse, and we know that God will add His blessing to the reading of His own infallible and precious Word. Now we will bow in prayer and take these moments just now to give our minds to the Lord and to seek His face to really call upon Him for the help that we need this Sabbath morning. So let's all bow together and let's lift up our souls in prayer. Our Father and our God, we come now to the Scriptures and to the Word for this occasion, and we approach this moment with that feeling of great need, that awareness of the frailty of man. and the need, therefore, of the help of the Holy Spirit. And so grant such to us. Settle us before Thee. Rid our minds of every earthly thing and every earthly thought. And even those legitimate matters that would crowd in and demand attention, O Lord, remove them from us and meet with us, we pray, and touch our souls as we consider Thy Word on this occasion. Here we pray and answer prayer. We ask in the Savior's name and for His glory and His eternal praise. Amen and amen. Now open your Bibles with me to Haggai chapter 2. And as I have already indicated, the closing words of verse 19 form our motto text for this particular year. And those words are, from this day will I bless you. Some weeks ago, having been asking the Lord for His message for the New Year, these words came to my heart with power and with freshness. From this day will I bless you. These are words that grip the soul because they present the prospect of God's blessing having its commencement on a precise day. The Lord told His people through Haggai in His ministry that from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month in that particular year, that's in view in this chapter, He was going to bless them, that day actually being the very day on which these words were spoken. Now here is the proof, therefore, that beginning on a certain day and proceeding for whatever time the Lord may sovereignly choose, He, at various points in history, has given His church seasons of particular blessing. It is not that He hasn't blessed them before, because His blessing is always with His people. It's not that after a season of special blessing, such as is in view here, His blessing then ceases. That could not be, because if that happened, and I speak hypothetically, Well then the church would weather and die and the cause of God would be no more. God's blessing on His people is covenanted to them and therefore never ceases. It never will pass away. Throughout the entire duration of world history, the Lord has been blessing His people and will continue to do so. But in His mercy, He grants special seasons of blessing to His people. And such seasons have their beginnings on a certain day. And this is the thrilling point that is established in this text. From this day, and we must emphasize those words, this day, from this day, the Lord says, will I bless you. It's very precise. It's very clear. Now that precision that marks these words is in keeping with the whole flavor of the book of Haggai. It's a little book that is marked by precision. It contains, it's comprised of four messages, or four sermons if you will, that Haggai preached to those who had come back from Babylon to Jerusalem. But not only are those messages recorded for us, so also are the dates. when they were actually preached. And so when you read through the book of Haggai, you'll be able to see each date and mark each message and look at it carefully as you find it coming before you. So the actual date of the delivery of the message in which this text lies is revealed to us. And on that date, from that day, the Lord says, or this day, on that date, a season of God's particular blessing commenced and was experienced by the Lord's people in Jerusalem. Because the Holy Spirit gives us the date when this special favor of God began, a brief look at the historical background will be helpful. At the decree of the Persian king Cyrus in 536 BC, Israel having accomplished seventy years in Babylon in captivity were given permission to leave Babylon and go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. About 50,000 people returned to Jerusalem under the leadership of a man called Zerubbabel from the tribe of Judah. They returned in the autumn of that year, 536 B.C., began clearing away the rubble. And by the spring of 535 B.C., they had laid the foundation of the temple, the new temple. But then, you see, their troubles began. Cyrus, who had given the decree for them to go home to Jerusalem, died in battle. His successor, a man called Ahasuerus, was persuaded by the enemies who surrounded Israel, or surrounded Jerusalem and Judah especially, stopped the Jews. That is, Ahasuerus stopped the Jews at the incitement of the enemies of the Jews. He stopped them from rebuilding the temple. And so there they were in Jerusalem with only the foundation laid. And 15 years passed and nothing else happened. And then on August the 30th, as we would date things. On August the 30th, 520 BC, the Word of God came to Haggai the prophet and to other men at that time, like Zechariah, and they began to preach. They called upon the Lord's people. They brought God's Word to the people of Jerusalem and to Judah. in those days. Now that was a very different age, of course, from what had been 15 years before. 15 years before there was excitement, and there was great joy, and there was great anticipation, and now things have changed. Gone was the glory, you see, of the former temple of 70 years before. Gone was the great jubilation that had been felt when they first came back. And therefore, all that they're looking at now is still the rubble lying around. Yes, the foundation has been laid, but there's still a lot of rubble, and there's only a remnant of people, and the task of restoring the whole worship of God is still very, very much incumbent upon these people. And it is to them that God comes and says, from this day I will bless you. I want to speak to you today from this text. as you're aware. I want to speak to you from it and from its surrounding context on the subject of the day God's blessing begins. The day when God's blessing begins. The words of our text form the conclusion to one of those sermons, those messages that Haggai brought. And that sermon is contained from verse 10 down to verse 19. So in preaching today, I must look with you at the text in its context. I must look with you to find the sense of this verse as it is brought before us in the entire message from verse 10 right down to verse 19. This whole message that Haggai delivered. When we think about this statement, from this day I will bless you, we immediately notice the inference of that statement that prior to this day, Israel had not been enjoying the divine blessing that the Lord is then going to give to them according to His words. From this day I will bless you. Yes, they've been blessed to some measure, but not in the way that they're now going to be blessed. Furthermore, for that reason, that they weren't being blessed in the way that they're now going to be blessed, The message that concludes with these words is therefore vital to a real understanding of what the Lord says, from this day will I bless you. They weren't been blessed as they needed to be blessed. I don't know how many of them were looking for the Lord's blessing. Indeed we will find today that perhaps very few were. But they weren't been blessed as they needed to be blessed, as God's work needed to be blessed. Are you being blessed? in your soul as you gather here today. And could it be, indeed may we say may it be, that from this day God will bless you in a special way, a new way. Bless His work and bless His cause. We might well ask a question, what is the nature of the day? when God's blessing begins. Because He does say here, from this day I will bless you. And He's focusing on that day, that particular day. And so we rightfully ask the question, what kind of a day? What is the nature of this day when God's blessing is given and begins in a new way. That's a vital question because the blessing of God given in a new way comes as a result of God working in a certain fashion in those whom He purposes to bless. And so it's a very important question. What kind of a day is this? This day when God's blessing begins. That is specifically what I want to look at. with you in this message today. And so let's give our attention to this. This is a very important text. This is a very important passage. And I want you to really concentrate with me because when we come now to my opening point, you will find that there are details here that we need to understand clearly. And so it will not do to switch off. It will not do to have your attention go somewhere else. You need to listen to what God is saying to you today as a congregation. And so the question is, what kind of a day is this? when God begins to bless. Number one is a day of divine reproof. a day of divine reproof. This sermon that runs from verse 10 down to verse 19 falls into various parts. Preachers have their points in their sermon. And you will find, if you read this sermon carefully, and I hope to show you some of these things, certainly Haggai's sermon that began on a certain date and is delivered here from verse 10 to 19, has points that are of great importance. Now, notice verse 10. That's where it all begins as far as the sermon is concerned. Verse number 10 says, In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying... There's a notification of the time. when this sermon was delivered, the 24th day of the ninth month. Now go back with me please to chapter 1, 14 and 15. Chapter 1, verse 14 says, And the LORD stood up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedach the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people, and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts their God," listen, in the four and twentieth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king. And so for 3 months, because that reference at the end of chapter 1 refers to the 6th month, the same day but the 6th month. And chapter 2 verse 10 refers to 3 months exactly later on. The 9th month, the same day. The 24th day of the 9th month. And so, for 3 months exactly, the work of rebuilding has been going on. Remember what I told you, after 15 years, nothing has happened. Fifteen years before, the temple was laid, and then Haggai's first message came, and they got back to work. And so for three months now, they have actually been working. But at that three-month period, the Lord saw fit to reprove His people in a certain way. And that reproof came on this particular day when the Lord said, I'm going to bless you from this day. And so on the day when God's blessing begins, it is often a day that includes and involves divine reproof. reproof for sin, and of course, necessarily so, in order to bring conviction, in order to bring correction among the Lord's people, so that they will then proceed to obtain and enjoy the blessing that God is going to give them. He has got to reprove them. He's got to put His finger on their sin. That's exactly what happens In this sermon that Haggai brings on the 24th day of the ninth month, the reproof that he brought addressed a certain issue. God's work must be done in the right manner, otherwise God's blessing will not be on it. As I've said, these Jews were working. For three months now they have been back at the building of the temple. But there is need for reproof. Now if you go to verse 14, you will begin to see more and more here why this reproof, this divine reproof was needed, why this was a day of divine reproof. Look at verse 14 of chapter 2. And it says, Then Haggai answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord, and so is every work of their hands. And that which they offer there is unclean. This is actually the closing sentence of Haggai's first point. I told you that preachers have got points. Well, they ought to have. And here's the end of Haggai's first point. And at the end of his first point in his sermon, there's a very solemn application from the Lord, from what Haggai has been saying. Listen to the words again. Look at it very carefully in verse 14. So is this people. and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord. And then this, and so is every work of their hands." And here precisely at this moment, you will see the sin that needed to be reproved. That which they offer there is unclean. They were working They were serving the Lord, but they're being told that their service was not pleasing to the Lord. He says, what they offer there is unclean, and so they are reproved. And so the reproof comes. Oh, this is a day of reproof. This day when the Lord says, I'm going to start blessing you, is a day of reproof because of a failure on their part. to recognize certain facts about their service, about their failure, and indeed, especially about the ceremonial law that they were observing. You see, they were going through the motions. They were bringing their sacrifices. They were bringing their offerings. They were doing, in a certain sense, what the Lord told them, but there was something wrong with it. Do you see, my friend, that you can be very busy for the Lord, but you're still doing things the wrong way? That's why there's a need for divine reproof. They're not lazy. They're not sitting back anymore. They're at the work. But the Lord has to come and reprove them. And it has to do with their service and their ministry unto Him, and especially because of their offerings. Now, this is where you need to really look closely and listen on while I explain this to you. Look at verse 12 and verse 13. And there are two things in those two verses that are wrong. that Israel did not recognize. They did not recognize their powerlessness. to communicate ceremonial holiness. Let me show you verse 12. Read it with me. If one bear holy flesh, and I will pause as I go through the verse to explain to you what the terms mean. If one bear holy flesh, holy flesh is a reference to an animal sacrifice offered up to God. That's simply what that means. It's called holy flesh because it was set apart for the Lord to be an offering to Him, an animal offering, an animal sacrifice. So here's a situation where an Israelite has got holy flesh, it says, in the skirt of His garment. And with His skirt He touches bread, pottage, wine or oil or any meat. Those other elements or items are simply other things that were offered up to God. And so here He is. He has got a sacrifice. He brings it to the Lord. And with His garment He touches these other things. And here's the question now. Shall it be holy? Now notice the emphasis. He talks about holy flesh. That means it's set apart, that sacrifice. And he's carrying a sacrifice. And as he does so, he touches maybe meat or wine or oil with his own clothes. And the question is, simply because he touches those other items, does he make them holy? Does he communicate holiness to those other things? That's the question. And here's the answer then to verse 12. And the priest answered and said, no. So that's verse 12. Now go to verse 13. Then said Haggai, if one that is unclean, and this is a different story now. One that is unclean, that means ceremonially unclean. One that is unclean by a dead body. The Jews had a law that if you touched a dead body, in the light of the ceremonial law, you were then unclean. That is, you couldn't go into the house of God, you couldn't worship God, you were actually debarred from worship for maybe a day or a period of time. That's what's in view, verse 13. If one was unclean by a dead body, touch any of these. Shall it be unclean?" So if he comes along and he has touched a dead body, he's touched a corpse, and he goes to worship God, and with his garments he touches the bread or the meat or the wine or the oil, will he communicate that uncleanness to those other items? And what's the answer? Verse 13, And the priest answered and said, It shall be unclean. Now what does this all mean for us? We're not under the ceremonial law. We're not here today with animal sacrifices. We're not carrying offerings into the house of God of that kind. And so what does this all mean for us? Well, listen carefully, because these are relevant facts for us as the underlying spiritual lessons that we need to recognize. And what are those spiritual lessons? Very obvious, very simple. You and I cannot transmit holiness, but you and I do transmit sin. Everything that we touch, to put it very simply, is political bias. And yet, on the other hand, No child of God is able to communicate holiness or godliness to somebody else or to some other thing. You just cannot do it. You could be the most holy godly. Just take it that way. Think of someone who's holy and godly and walking with the Lord. And that person is truly a holy individual. But try as he will, he cannot communicate or transmit the holiness that God has wrought in his heart to those around him. It doesn't matter who they are, he can't do it. But take a child of God who's not walking with the Lord as he should. And is that not true for many of us? And there's uncleanness, spiritually speaking, There is sin in the life. There's sin in behavior. There's sin in many ways. And wherever He goes, He communicates that sin. He pollutes others. He passes on the corruption that's in Him to others around Him. That's what God is telling us here. And what is He saying? Let me use the word contagious. You all know what contagious is. Let me put it to you this way. Holiness is not contagious. But sin is contagious. Dear believer, get a hold of that today. You can pass on your sin, but you can't pass on holiness. Now that is true for Christian parents. Christian parents transmit sin to their offspring, but they can't transmit holiness. The Bible makes this absolutely clear. You think of Psalm 51.5, David says, "'Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.'" You know, parents like to think, and this is fine, there's nothing wrong with this because it's true, but they like to dwell on this, that they pass on to their children whatever it might be, abilities and good looks. If you have any yourself, you pass them on and so forth. Now to think about that, but how many of us stop and say to ourselves, I've passed on to my child a sinful nature. I have passed on to my offspring a fallen corrupt heart. That's the thing you have really passed on if you have children. Sin is contagious. And now God has saved you, or whenever He has saved you, and you're a child of God, and you long for your children to be children of God, but try as you will, you cannot pass on your holiness to them. It can't be done. 1 Peter chapter 1, you don't have to turn to it because it's a very well-known verse, but it brings this out. 1 Peter 1, 18, where Peter says, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold. Now listen to the next words. from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers." Now what does that mean? Your vain conversation is a reference to a sinful heart and a sinful life. That's what it means. But listen to what he says. Received by tradition from your fathers. The only thing again I tell you that parents can pass on to their children is a fallen nature. And that is why your children need to be born again. That's why Peter says you're not redeemed with anything except the blood of Christ. from that vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers. There are folks sitting in this meeting today, and you have received from your parents, as I did from mine, a fallen nature. And I have passed that on to my children. We should be horrified. We should hang our heads in repentance before God. Because what we have really given our children is this sinful nature. And you sitting here today, think about it this way. When you were born into this world, you inherited a fallen nature. That's what your parents gave you. That's why you need to be born again. That's why you need to be washed in the blood. But then you see the professing Christian who falls into sin, he transmits that corruption to the whole congregation. We're looking at examples here of this need for divine reproof. And here's another of them. And there are examples in the Bible, aren't there? Joshua 7, verse 11. A very, very searching verse. Joshua 7, verse 11. And some of you will know the context and know what was going on here. That man called Achan. who covered it, the gold and the Babylonian garment, and he took them, and God had to come to Israel, and God said something very peculiar, you might say. Joshua 7 verse 11, Israel hath sinned. And they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff." Now the Lord speaks here as if the whole congregation took that garment or those garments and that gold bar and so on. But it was one man and he did it secretly and he hid it in his tent and nobody knew up to this moment. But God charges the whole church because that one man's sin, the contagion of a sin has corrupted the whole congregation, and the whole congregation need to get before God and lament that sin and put it away. Turn to 1 Corinthians 5 verse 6. Listen to what the Lord said. through the Apostle Paul about the very same issue. 1 Corinthians 5 and verse number 6, here's a New Testament case. We've looked at an Old Testament case with Achan, troubling Israel, troubling the whole camp. And now 1 Corinthians 5 verse 6 says, your glorying is not good. And they thought there is that the Corinthians, they were going along and they were boasting about their great church. Because they had many things. They were glorying in it. The Lord has to say something to them. Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump. That's all we need to look at here. A New Testament case. a member of the church at Corinth, guilty of terrible sin. with the potential to transmit the contagion to the entire congregation, the corrupting influence of that sin throughout the entire body of God's people. And the only remedy that there was, was Christ and His sacrifice. And that man, he actually did repent. That's what the glorious thing is. Read 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. And the man in view here, guilty of awful sin. guilty of incest with his mother-in-law. He repents. He puts it away, and the church is blessed. My friend, is the Lord not showing us something here very serious? We transmit sin to our children, and when a believer falls into sin, he corrupts the whole church of God. Then there's a third example, the careless believer will be polluted by the wrong company. The careless believer will be polluted by the wrong company. 1 Corinthians 15.33, there's a statement there I want you to note. 1 Corinthians 15.33, these words, evil communications corrupt good manners. At first it may seem a strange kind of a statement, evil communications corrupt good manners. Well, it's not strange, though it may be at first, but let's think about it. The word for communications means companionships. Evil companionships, listen, corrupt good manners. And good manners is a reference to other people who have got the right way of living and the right way of thinking and are doing their best to serve the Lord. And along comes somebody with things that are wrong, things that are sinful. And he begins to influence other believers in the church. Now the context here in 1 Corinthians 15 is actually dealing with doctrinal matters. What's 1 Corinthians 15 all about? It's all about the resurrection. And there were people in Corinth who were denying the resurrection. And the Apostle Paul has to go right down through this matter. And one of the things, among other things that he says is this very issue. Evil communications or companionships are going to corrupt good manners. What are good manners? The truth. The gospel. The things that we believe. My friend, they can be corrupted. They can be polluted. Someone can come along and insidiously begin to sow among the Lord's people doubts about this and about the other thing. Here it was the resurrection. That's a blatant one, isn't it? But it may not always be so blatant. If somebody came to you and said, you know, you shouldn't believe in the resurrection, what would you say? Well, you'd probably say, clear off. Of course, I believe in the resurrection. It's taught in this book, but somebody could come along with some little insidious thought and inject it into your mind about some particular truth or whatever it might be, and you say to yourself, now, you know, that sounds all right. Do you know that's how every cult has ever started? Do you know that's how apostasy in seminaries always started? A seed of doubt injected into the minds of young men, and they began to say, this sounds really good. This is a very learned man. Look at what he knows. That's what Paul's talking about here especially. But we could generalize this. evil communications, evil companionships. Just take it as companionships. Young people, you beware of whom you are in company with in life, because evil companionships will ruin you. They will corrupt good manners. They will destroy your spiritual life. They will lead you astray. They'll bring you into darkness. They will lead you down the wrong road. And so, we're looking here at a statement that has a very wide application. But do you see the point I'm making? I'm giving you some examples of, if you'll turn back to Haggai 2, of what we're seeing here in this very, very striking setting where the Lord says, from this day I will I will bless you." And before they get that blessing, there has to be a day of divine reproof. The Lord reproves them for their sin. And He shows them, here's your sin. You bring your offering, but your offerings are polluted. And you can't communicate holiness. You only can transmit sin. Oh, if every Christian here today could just keep that in mind. You have no power to make anybody holy. You have no power to transmit holiness or godliness in and of yourself, I mean to your children or to other Christians or to God's work. You don't have the power to do that, but you do have the power to corrupt and pollute, and therefore I've given examples to make this clear. A day of divine reproof. May God speak to our hearts. But then it's a day of divine reminder. From this day I will bless you. A day of divine reminder. Now we come to the second point in Haggai's sermon. From verse 15 down to verse 17. That's actually a second point. That's what comprises the second point in his message. And in these verses, 15 to 17, the Lord now takes his people back in mind to the time when the work had actually lapsed. That's why it's a day of divine reminder. He takes them back to the very day when the work had lapsed. Look with me in verse 15 of these words. And now I pray you, consider from this day and upward. What day does he mean here? From before a stone was laid upon a stone. in the temple of the Lord. Now you need to read that very carefully. He says, I want you to think about this particular day. It's not the same day as from this day I will bless you, it's a previous day. He's bringing a reminder here. He says, I pray you consider from this day and upward what day from before a stone was laid upon a stone. in the temple of the Lord. Now remember what I said earlier. When they came back from Babylon, immediately the foundation of the temple was laid. It was put in there right away. Read Ezra 3 and you'll see it. They laid the foundation immediately. And then they stopped for those 15 years. So for 15 years, the foundation has been lying there and not one stone had been placed upon another. And so that was in view in verse number 15, from before a stone was laid upon a stone. It doesn't say before a stone was laid upon a foundation. The foundation was there, but no stones had been laid. And you know what you do? You lay the first row. Well, blocks we would use. And then you put more on top of the first blocks. That's what he's talking about. The foundation's there, he said, but no stone had ever been laid. And so, the Lord is reminding His people here of those days when the work itself had actually lapsed. Remember what I said? The foundation was in, and then the lapse came for 15 years. And during those 15 years, not one stone was placed upon another, never mind upon the foundation. And so, he comes now to tell them of the repercussions of that. What are they? He's reminding them of this. It's a day of divine reminder. Look at verse 16. Here's the first repercussion. He depleted their physical resources. Since those days were, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. What's he referring to? A heap? That would be a heap of barley, a heap of wheat. The man goes to the threshing floor. He thinks in his mind, oh, I'm going to go there because I've got twenty measures of corn or barley lying there. But when he gets there, there are only ten. And then he thinks about his oil. Verse 16 again, when one came to the press flat for to draw out fifty vessels, there were but twenty. What has happened? God has chastened them by depleting their resources. That's the principle. Then look at the next form of chastiment. Verse 17, I smote you with blasting, and with mildew, and with hail, and all the labors of your hands. So he's telling them here that he actually had withheld the potential for physical growth. So he depleted what they had, and he withheld his blessing from what they were trying to do. They thought more than they had. And when they tried to grow things, they just wouldn't grow. And the Lord tells them, I did all this. You see, over this time, they haven't recognized this. They have to be reminded by the Lord. And then the Lord shows them clearly why this had not happened. Or why He had chastened them. Look at the end of verse number 17. And you've got the answer there. It says, Yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord. And so go back into chapter 1 now because there's a reference in chapter 1 that will help us here. Look at verse 11 of chapter 1. Indeed, verses 10 and 11. It says, therefore the heaven over you has stayed from Jew, and the earth has stayed from her fruit. It's the same situation. It's the same matters. And he's now, in chapter 2, reminding them what he'd already shown them at an earlier point. I call for drought upon the land and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands. And if you look at this, you will notice here that though he had done all this, they had not turned to begin to build the house of God. The Lord had chastened them and they had not started to build until he had to deal with them in this way. And he's reminding them of this now. He has to remind them again of the reason why things had gone wrong for them in their lives. Not the kind of resources they had, not the kind of physical growth they had. He says, because you've neglected my house. You know, you read these verses that I've just read with you, and I know I've gone over them very quickly for time's sake, but they're all about the weather. They're all about growth in the physical realm or the lack of it. And you know, how many people in Northern Ireland or across the UK today are getting before God to cry mightily to God in repentance over their sin. We've had all these floods and all this wind and all this rain and the ground soaked. I can take no more." How did that happen? Did that happen, as men say, by chance? No, my friend, that's God at work. God is the God of the weather patterns that we experience, and yet people do not listen. Look at verse 17 here again, "'Yet ye turn not to me,' saith the Lord." Here in chapter 2, He's reminding them of what had happened and what he had done to them because of their sin, and yet he says, you haven't turned to me. And so the day when God begins to bless is a day when there's a reminder of sin given. Many today would reject that truth. In their backsliding, perhaps, they don't want to be reminded of the sin that has brought upon them their impoverished spiritual state. But my friend, God must remind us of where we have gone wrong if we are going to enjoy from His hand a day of blessing. I could go into other details here, but my time is really away with it. It's a day of divine reproof. A day of divine reminder. It's therefore a day of divine reversal. And this brings me right to verse 19. And to these words, from this day I will bless you. Verse number 19. Read that verse with me again. Notice what it says. Is the seed yet in the barn? And he's talking there about seed in general. So he goes on to say this, yea, this is the Lord speaking, as yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, the olive tree have not brought forth. So when he asks the question, is the seed yet in the barn? He's talking about every kind of seed. It could be a vine tree, a fig tree, whatever. It could be barley, it could be corn, it could be wheat. It's all included here. And he's saying to these people, has this yet happened? And of course the answer is no. It's a rhetorical question. The seed is not yet in the barn. They are still impoverished. in that situation where the resources are depleted and things are not growing. And yet the Lord says something wonderful here. From this day will I bless you. What is this day? It's now to be seen as a day of divine blessing. Because the Lord is saying to Israel, though this has not happened, and you're still struggling, and you're still without these resources, He says, from this day I'm going to bless you, which really means this. a day of divine reversal. Now think carefully with me here about the spiritual application of this. When he asks the question, is the seed yet in the barn, he mentions all the different kinds of trees and so forth that haven't produced and there's no seed in the barn. What is the thought there for us? Well, that's the natural realm. Think about it dear friend. Things do not happen in God's work Naturally speaking, but the Lord says, from this day I will bless you. What He means is from this day the seed is going to come in and growth is going to be given. And what do you have there? You've got the supernatural. And what is a day of divine reversal? It's a day when God steps in and what cannot happen naturally to us, because we are bereft of power, we have no might, we have no strength, we have nothing. And what can't happen naturally can take place supernaturally. And I hope you see that's the meaning of verse 19, but that is the meaning. He's saying to Israel, these things haven't happened naturally. I've been chastening you, but now I'm going to bless you and things are going to start happening supernaturally." My dear friend, that is so obvious. If you think otherwise, you're mistaken. If you think that God's work is going to prosper and grow and fruit come in and a harvest gathered through natural means, it's not going to happen. It will never happen that way. It can only happen supernaturally. And you see, whenever the Lord said, from this day I will bless you, He's talking to these people about their crops, and about their fields, and about the very issue that He's brought up. No seed, no growth, no prosperity. But He says, I'm going to give it to you from this very day. And therefore the principle is very clear as we apply it to our own hearts and to the work of God. When there is no harvest apparent, God's promise guarantees it. Do you understand that? We are living in a day, and let's face it, as we start 2016, when there is really no evidence as far as our own land is concerned, as far as our own town of Balamina is concerned, and maybe as far as our own church is concerned. There's very, very little evidence of anything that is of God's. What are we going to do? Well, God has given us divine reproof. Everything we touch, we pollute it. There needs to be repentance. He has given us a divine reminder of what he has done in chastening and in reproving, and it may well be the chastening hand of the Lord is put upon you, and it's time for you to waken up. If it hasn't fallen, it will. If you are a child of God, You remember this, He correcteth every son whom He receiveth. He says in Hebrews 12, where I've just quoted from, if you're without correction, you're a bastard, you're not a son, you don't belong to the Lord at all. And so, when we are reproved for our sin, if there's no repentance, the Lord will come along and He will chasten us and remind us of it. My friend, it's all for the purpose of bringing us to this day when He can turn things around. What can't happen naturally Thank God can happen supernaturally, and there is no other explanation of what the Lord says in verse 19. The seed's not in. The harvest hasn't been gathered. There's no sign of it. But He says, I'm going to turn things around. The natural man cannot do this, but God can do it. And every Christian here today in this congregation needs to take this to heart. from the pulpit down, may I say. If we're content, if you're content with your present status as a Christian, well, that's up to you. But I'll tell you this, I am not. I mean with me. I haven't reached what I would long to have. I get very discouraged, believe it or not, about me, about my ministry. I often think of what the psalmist says, remember how short my time is. What have I ever done for God? My friend, you need to think about this. God's saying, from this day I will bless you, but it does not come without the reproof and the reminder. Then and only then is there the reversal. What man cannot do, God can turn it around. When we face up to our sin, When we humble ourselves beneath the chastening rod, when we begin to cry mightily to heaven, from that day He will bless us. I wish I had more time to say a lot more things I would like to say, but may God the Holy Spirit apply it all. Father in heaven, we earnestly pray this day that Thou wilt take the Word and use it and apply it to all of our hearts. Speak, speak we pray. Deal with all of our souls. If you do, Lord, it will be seen when carelessness is cast aside, when prayerlessness is forsaken, When these fundamental basic matters are put in order, Lord may we see the signs that God is giving the reversal that we need, turning things around, working as only He can work. Lord hear and answer prayer and be with us we pray, for we ask all this for Christ's sake. Amen.