We turn once again to the prophecy of Haggai at chapter 2 looking this morning at verses 10 to 19. The prophecy of Haggai at chapter 2 verses 10 to 19. And as we come before God's Word, we remain seated and look to Him in prayer. Let's pray. Holy Father, we humble ourselves before Thee, and now before this thy holy, living, inspired, and inerrant word. And we beseech thee this day that thy word will be our only text, thy spirit our only teacher, and thy glory our only desire. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Over these days, we are looking together at the prophecy of Haggai and we are doing so for this simple reason. The ancient church at the time of Haggai was engaged in a building project and that is exactly the same kind of work that we are engaged in in the Stornoway Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland. And our desire is to learn both from the successes and the failures of the ancient church. It is now about two months since the word of the Lord came through the mouth of the prophet Haggai in chapter 2 verse 1. The foundation of the temple has been laid and the Jews have gathered together for a holy assembly at the time of the feast. And now the word of the Lord again comes through the mouth of the prophet Haggai and we are told in verse 10 that on the 24th day of the ninth month in the second year of Darius the king the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet saying Thus says the Lord of Hosts." You will notice just in passing there that the word of the Lord seems to keep coming to the people. It comes at the beginning of chapter 2, it comes at the beginning of chapter 1, it comes again at the end of chapter 1. within a space of few weeks, within a space sometimes of a few days, certainly within a space of a few months, the word of the Lord is constantly coming to the people. And the reason for this is quite clear. The book of Ezra as well as the prophecy of Zechariah which give us an account of all that took place at about this time, they tell us that the people who were engaged in this work of rebuilding the house of God in Jerusalem were constantly discouraged. They were easily disappointed. Sometimes they were disillusioned, nearly despairing. and always they were liable to be deceived by their own wicked hearts. And so God constantly has to come to them, and God constantly has to feed them with His word, and God constantly has to send His prophet to them in order to encourage them, in order to replace deception with truth, and in order to show them the vision that God has for His house. And I hope you know that this is why God has given to us the Lord's Day, and in His wisdom and in His sovereign grace, He has ordained for us the means of grace. Because we spend six days of our week in a fallen world, and we are constantly disappointed. We are so often defeated by sin and by Satan. We are deceived by the wickedness of our own hearts, and we are misdirected, and we are so disillusioned, nearly despairing. And yet when we come to the house of God, our footsteps are made stable. Our ways are redirected. We are taught the truth. There is courage that fills our hearts, and we are given the confidence to go on in life. Notice also that in verse 10 we are told that the word of the Lord came, but it came through the mouth of the prophet Haggai. It was the voice of Haggai but it was not the word of Haggai. It was the voice of Haggai, but it was always the word of God. And so it has pleased Almighty God that in the ordinary providence of His cause on earth, this is how He always speaks to His people. He speaks through a human mouth, called by Him commissioned by Him, authorized by Him. The mouth is human, the voice is human, but the Word is divine. The Word is that of the Lord, the voice is that of Haggai, and it is the Word of the Lord that comes to the people by the voice of Haggai. And then in verse 11 we are told that the whole setting is judicial. Thus says the Lord of hosts, now ask the priests concerning the law. The setting is judicial because the priests were law officers and the question was a legal one. And that word that is translated ask is actually a legal term, it is to examine, it is to interrogate, it is even to cross-examine. And so God says to Haggai, and God says to the people, go to your priest and examine them, feel as if that you are in a court of law, a judgment, because this is seriousness, this is the law of Almighty God. And so it is still that God deals with people, with His people, but with all people, and He deals with them through the covenant. The legal arrangement between God and humanity is the covenant, and you and I are bound by the covenant, and this is the covenant document, and the God that we worship is the covenant God, and there are rewards, there are blessings for obedience, and there are curses for disobedience. And sometimes I think that in the evangelical church today We have forgotten who we are dealing with. We are dealing with God. We are dealing with a God who is the judge over all mankind. And He has a law, and He has a judgment seat, and everything that you and I do on earth will one day be brought to account. God is serious, and because life is from him, life is a serious business too. For every word that you and I speak or refuse to speak, for everything that you and I do with our hands, to every place clean or unclean that our feet take us to, you and I will be held accountable, because there is a God in heaven, and one day we shall stand before him. So it is the word of the Lord, it comes through the mouth of the prophet Haggai, and it is constantly coming to them to encourage them and to strengthen them. But it is the word of the covenant God, the God who is clothed in majesty most bright. And it comes in the form of two questions in verses 12 and 13. This is the first question. If one carries holy meat, that is holy meat from the offering on the altar, if he carries it in the fold of his garment, and with the edge of his garment he touches bread or stew, wine or oil or any food, will it become holy? This man who is unholy, this man who is carrying a holy thing, and if his garment touches other things that are unholy, will these other things become holy because of the holy offering that is in his hands? The priest answered the question, and it is quite clear. It is no. the holy offering is not able to sanctify the offerer, neither is it able to sanctify other things that come into contact with it. The second question is in verse 13. If one who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these things, that is, the holy things, if an unclean person touches a holy thing, Will it be unclean also? The priests who ought to know the law answer and they say, it shall be unclean. And then God speaks through the voice of Agai in verse 14. So is this people, and so is this nation before me, says the Lord, and so is every work of their hands. and what they offered there is unclean. This is what was happening. These were God's people, they were children of Abraham, and they were coming to the altar in Jerusalem, they were keeping the Sabbaths, they were singing the Psalms, they were making the sacrifices, and they were giving the offerings. Everything that he did was according to the book. Everything appeared to be pure. And yet God looks at them and he says, you are unclean, your worship is unclean, and everything about you is unclean. All the totality of your life Every part of your being is unclean because you are unclean and you have made your worship unclean. Even the sacrifices on my altar, they are unclean because they come from your hands, they are unclean. Even the sacrifice on God's altar in Jerusalem. God says it is unclean because it comes from your unclean hands. You have made it unclean even the holiness of the sacrifice cannot make you the offerer clean before me. How terrifying a thought it is that it is so very possible for you and me to come to this place and it is a holy place that you and I come to this place and we think we believe in the purity of worship and we do that we come to this place and we seek to offer worship to God and all the time we are deceiving ourselves even the worship that we offer before God is unclean because our hearts are unclean. My friends, I hope you do not make the mistake of thinking that just because you come here and just because we sing the psalms here simply because we have no musical instruments in this place, that our worship is acceptable before God. All those things are important, but they are not as important as the state of our hearts. Because if our hearts are unclean, everything that we touch is unclean, and every act of worship that we offer is unclean before the thrice holy God. God looks at them and He says, I know you are at my altar, I know you are keeping my Sabbath, I know you are offering sacrifices according to the law of Moses, I know that you are offering it in my name, I know you are offering it to me, but because you are unclean, your offering is unclean, and everything in your life is unclean before me. And you know it is not just the teaching of the Old Testament. This is why we read from Matthew chapter 5 verses 21 to 24. Jesus looks at his disciples and he says to them, if you come to the altar with an offering and there you remember that you have sinned against your brother and you have refused to apologize and you have not obtained forgiveness from your brother. He says, don't offer your sacrifice, leave it on the altar. Go back home and plead for forgiveness from your brother. Make your life right before man and then come and offer your sacrifices on my altar." And this is why for 450 years at least, but certainly from the foundation of the church in Sinai, The emphasis of worship has always been in the preparation of the heart. The Westminster Directory of Public Worship tells us that our preparation for the Lord's Day ought to begin on the Saturday night. It begins at home, but it does not stop at home. When you and I arrive in this place of worship, In this house of God, it is the house of prayer. We ought to maintain silence. This is not the place for chitchat. This is the house of God. This is the very gateway to heaven. And you and I ought to be silent before Him. And you and I need to pray for the cleansing of our sins. because the sin of one person has the potential to ruin the worship of everybody in this place. Archbishop James Usher of Armagh, we are told by his biographer, was in the habit of spending every Saturday afternoon in the wood fallen prostrate before a log, and he spent hours confessing all his sins before God. And the historian tells us that in all of Ireland at that time, there was no man more holy than Archbishop James Usher of Armagh. My brothers and sisters, worship is a serious business because we deal with a serious God who has given to us a serious law in the covenant, and it behooves you and it behooves me to spend time in preparation, to take time in confession before God, so that you and I will not stay in the worship of this congregation. There is a consequence for their sin, and this is what we are told in verse 15. And now carefully consider from this day forward, from before the stone was laid upon stone in the temple of God, Since those days when one came to a heap of twenty heifers, there were but twenty. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty vats from the press, there were but twenty. I, that is God, I struck you with glide and milled you and hailed in all the labours of your hands, yet you did not turn to me, says the Lord. The people's life became a misery. because they were in a state of rebellion against God. And you know, it is good, I think, that whenever you and I are afflicted, that the first thing that we ought to do is to go on our knees and search our hearts before God and say to Him, is there some sin that has brought this upon me Is there some evil that I have done that has brought this misery upon me? In a moving passage in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Kelton urges us just to do this. He does not say that every sickness is a direct consequence of our personal sin, but that ought to be our attitude, to ask God if there is any sin, any sin, any unconfessed sin between Him and us. The people were in a state of misery because they were experiencing the consequences of their rebellion. But there is to be a reversal of fortune. This is what God promises. From the day the foundation of the temple was laid, he says in verse 19, is the seed still in the barn? As yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But from this day I will bless you. Their misery is going to be reversed. And the God who had brought so much pain upon them was now going to shower His abundance upon them. The people who experienced poverty were now going to experience plenty. The people who had experienced famine were now going to enjoy a great harvest. The people who had lived in darkness were now going to see a great light. What was the difference then? Well, we are told that these people were unclean because their hearts were unclean. And here we are told that what made the difference was that now they were not just hearers of the word of God, they were doers of the word of God as well. There was obedience in the place of rebellion. And so God says, you have heard my word, and you have obeyed, and you have laid the foundation of this temple, and I have seen your obedience, and in the place of the curse, I will bring blessing upon you. And when you and I are obedient before God, this is what happens. We do not reap the consequences of sin, but we enjoy the fruit of righteousness. But does that mean that if you and I are obedient, then life is going to be alright always for us? No, obedience is the immediate cause of your good fortune. It is not the ultimate cause. It is the immediate cause, but it is not the ultimate cause. You see, there is very little that you and I can achieve with our obedience alone. Because for all the finest efforts that we put into it, our obedience is never perfect. And even if it should be perfect, what do we do with the disobedience of the past? How do we deal with it? How do we pay for it? How do we remove it from becoming a burden to us? The obedience is very important. It's vital for a Christian. But the solution is not found in the obedience ultimately. Notice closely at verse 19. He says, but from this day I will bless you. I will bless you. In other words, until this time they had experienced the curse of God. And now they were going to experience the blessing of God. What then happened to the curse? Well, this is what happened. Only a few hundred years after Haggai, God sent his only begotten son into the world, and he lived a life of perfect obedience. He kept every Sabbath, he attended every festival, he remembered the law, he memorized it, and when he was tempted, and he kept himself holy. And yet it was this Jesus of Nazareth who was condemned to die. And you notice, it was not just any death. It was not even the death of a common criminal. It was specifically death by crucifixion. and it was death by crucifixion, because in the death of the cross, he was counted as one who is accursed by God. The man who knew no sin, he became the curse of God, because he bore your curse and my curse. He bore the curse of the people at the time of Hagar. the man who deserved the blessing of God experienced the curse of God, so that you and I who deserve the curse of God might through Him experience the blessing of God. And my brothers and sisters, there is absolutely no way that you and I are ever going to be perfectly obedient to God, not according to His high and holy standards. But there is only one way to remove the curse, there is only one way to enjoy the blessing, there is only one way to reverse the fortunes even in our own lives, and it is through the cross of Jesus Christ. He takes our curse upon Himself so that in Him we may enjoy the blessings of Almighty God. And it is only when you and I come to that cross and when we humbly bend our knees before Him and we acknowledge that we are sinners and that He alone is our Saviour, that the righteousness of God is imputed to us, our bodies become the dwelling place of the Most High God, and the Holy Spirit enables us to be obedient to the law of the Holy God. I don't know what your circumstances are this morning, But if you are seeking to rebuild your life, if you are seeking to rebuild your family, if we are seeking to rebuild this church, that's where we start, at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ. Atonement will lead to obedience. and atonement and obedience alone will lead to the blessing of God. May God bless His word to our hearts. We conclude by singing from Psalm 51. Psalm 51 and we are singing here verses 16 to 19. Psalm 51 All that God has said through the Prophet Haggai, the psalmist is able to tell us in Psalm 51, and he says of God, For thou desirest not sacrifice, in verse 16, else would I give it thee, nor wilt thou with burnt offering at all delight it be. What then does God expect of us, in verse 17? A broken spirit is to God a pleasing sacrifice, a broken and a contrite heart, Lord, thou wilt not despise. Show kindness and do good, O Lord, to thy and thine own hill, the walls of thy Jerusalem, build up of thy goodwill. Will you pray these words that God will build our church in this place? as he built the walls of Jerusalem thin. And he says in verse 19, Then righteous offerings shall thee please, and offerings burnt which thee, with whole burnt offerings and with calves, shall on thine altar lay. Once our hearts are clean, then and then alone God is able to accept our worship. Psalm 51 verses 16 to 19 and we stand to sing to God's praise. For though his life was a gift, I still would like him with me. Lord, wilt Thou with her go? Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti Shanti O now we sing sacrifice, a proclamation of Thine art, Lord, Thou wilt not despise. O pious and good, O Lord, who died on thine own hill, the walls of thy Jerusalem, Shakyamuni Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, Let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee that in this church Thou has graciously given to us the heritage of those who fear Thy name. We thank Thee that we can sing Thy word to Thy praise. We bless Thee that we can worship Thee according to Thy will revealed in Holy Scripture. But we fear that so often even these holy things are made unclean by the uncleanness of our own hearts. Search us this day, we pray Thee, and examine every crevice of our hearts, and where there is wickedness, bring it to our attention. and grant us the humility to confess them before Thee. The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. Amen. Okay.