So this morning we pick back up with the Book of Haggai and we are in the second chapter and this morning we're going to be studying verses 10 through 19. Our passage today is occurring about three months from when the work began on the temple, which is found in 115. And it's been two months from his previous sermon, Haggai's previous sermon, which we studied last time, that began in Chapter 2 and Verse 1. It was at that time that the Lord asked them to compare the temple they were building with how opulent Solomon's temple was. However, the Lord said that He would adorn that temple with the treasures from the nations, and its beauty would far surpass Solomon's temple. the treasure from the nations, are the Jews and the Gentiles together who would and are now the living stones that make up the temple of God. You and I are what God values and finds beautiful. Metals and rocks that we mine from the ground and then transform them into shiny adornments are nothing in God's eyes compared to how he sees you and I in Christ. Praise the Lord. Let us now turn our attention to our passage this morning. Please rise for the reading and hearing of God's inerrant and infallible word from the book of Haggai chapter two, verses 10 through 19. Here now the word of our Lord. On the 24th day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet. Thus says the Lord of hosts, ask the priests about the law. If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy? The priest answered and said, no. Then Haggai said, if someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any one of these, does it become unclean? The priest answered and said, yes. it does become unclean. Then Haggai answered and said, so is it with this people and with this nation before me, declares the Lord. And so with every work of their hands and what they offer there is unclean. Now then, consider from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, how did you fare? When one came to a heap of 20 measures, there were but 10. When one came to the wine vat to draw 50 measures, there were but 20. I struck you all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. Consider from this day onward, from the 24th day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of Lord's temple was laid, consider, is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on, I will bless you. This is the word of God. Amen, please be seated. And as you are seated, please join me in prayer for the illumination of the Holy Spirit on our time of study. Holy Spirit, please open our spiritual eyes and ears to see and understand the Word of God. Help us to apply the truths of the Word so that we may believe correctly and lead lives of grace and beauty, bringing pleasure to our Heavenly Father. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Now, I've broken up this morning's passage in two major points, and they are, that was then, and the second one is, but this is now. The first point, that was then, will cover verses 10 through 17, and the second point, this is now, covers the remaining verses 18 and 19. So verse 10 dates the oracle as the 24th day of the ninth month in the second year of Darius. By our calendars, this is about the second half of the month of December in 520 BC. It's about 16 years after, which would have been about 536 BC, when the remnant community came from the Babylon captivity and rebuilt the altar and restarted the offerings and the sacrifices. However, if you recall, they stopped rebuilding the temple walls, and over time, their focus was not upon the temple, but rather themselves. So in 520 BC, by way of the prophet Haggai, God expressed his displeasure at his people for misplacing their priorities. They were more interested with their own security and comfort over their concern and love toward God. It is now later in December, and in this part of the world, farmers would have already needed to plant their seeds. It was during the months of May through September that crops were harvested, but primarily May and June. In October and November of the months, the early rains softened the grounds and the grain seeds was planted at this time. Now during the winter months, December, January, and February, the weather was cooler with sometimes intervals of rain. Farmers prayed for much rain in March and April for the crops to grow and give a great yield in the coming months. The point of this is that in December, there wouldn't have been any seeds in the storehouse, as they would have already been planted. That would have been a good harbinger of things is if the rains had started to come for October, November, and December. softening the grounds for planting and giving a preview of how things may turn out during the next harvest. Now, we're going to return to this notion here towards the end of the sermon to help you understand why I took the time to do this. And with that in mind, it was precisely that, that the harvest that had been lacking, which is what they were concerned about. For any agrarian society, so much of their livelihood and prosperity is tied to the land and the yields that the crops produce. For quite some time now, it had been lacking. And the prophet told them that it was God that caused that situation because they misplaced their priorities. God was not where he belonged in their lives. God demands and deserves to be first in theirs as well as our lives. In our right minds, we would agree, right? Why wouldn't we make him first in our life? Right? But in reality, is that what happens day to day in our lives? Is God first in our lives? If it's not, what has to happen? God, the Holy Spirit, stirred the people to repentance when they considered their sin and organized themselves to begin laying stone upon stone to rebuild the temple. And so it's been about two and a half months since they started this project of rebuilding the temple. And so God asks a couple of questions through this prophet Haggai. The questions are laid to the priests of the community to answer these questions. The priests obviously played an important role as they were the ones who preserved knowledge, and it was from them that the people were to seek counsel. Malachi 2.7 states, for the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord, of hosts. They were the keepers and interpreters of God's revealed will, and not only the keepers, but obviously the ones who helped give counsel to when it was needed. The people of God would go to them for instruction. There have been times in Israel's history where they have needed to be reprimanded by the prophets for being slack in their zeal or simply leading people astray. Hosea 4.6 states, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because you have rejected knowledge. I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. If we continue to read in Malachi Chapter 2 verses 8 and 9 we see, For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from the Lord. For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts. And so I make you despised and abased before all the people. And as much as you do not keep my ways, but show partiality in your instruction." Perhaps the priests being asked these questions is more than rendering an answer from the Torah. It may well be a rebuke for them. The question really is in some sense a rhetorical question, but it's possible that the priests themselves are being put to the task of considering what they have allowed to go on without challenging the returning remnant about their behaviors and the priorities of their lives. Nonetheless, the first question, the Lord asks of the priest, if holy meat wrapped in a garment touches anything that is not holy, will the unholy item become holy like the meat in its fold? The promptly and accurately answer, no. The question regards a second degree contact of sacred meat with other food via the fold of a garment in which meat is carried. Now, if you look up Leviticus 6.27, it declares that the meat of the sin offering has the power to sanctify what it touches. However, we have to note that God is not asking if the garment is unholy, but what it touches. Although the offering has the power to make something holy, what it makes holy does not have the ability to make something else clean. And that is the reason why they answer, no, it does not. So the first question points is that holiness is not infectious. Holiness is not infectious. The second question is similar, but it comes at it with the opposite in mind. If an unclean person who has become unclean by touching a corpse touches any of the items listed, like bread, cooked food, wine, oil, and so forth, do they become unclean? The answer is yes. The items mentioned will become unclean. The essence of this question is, is defilement infectious? Not is holiness infectious? When you combine the two questions together, you'll end up realizing that we're coming at it from two different directions. And we are to see that the point here is that when it comes to mankind, the entropy is towards defilement, evil and sin. We don't have to teach sin to one another, do we? That seems to come naturally for us. The upward struggle for humanity is to achieve righteousness. That's what we need help with. In fact, in order to have a modicum of peace within society, we actually have to legislate to not murder or steal. And lying can end you up in jail depending upon who you do it to and when you do it. And sin does have an infectious aspect to it, doesn't it? The scripture speaks about staying away from sinful people. They can rub off in very malicious ways. The book of Proverbs teaches us to stay away from evil people for they can affect us negatively and lead us unto death. Verse 14 tells us the consequences of the teaching on defilement for the remnant in Jerusalem. Then Haggai answered and said, in verse 14, so is this people. And so is this nation before me, declares the Lord. And so is every work of their hands and what they offer there is unclean. God is telling his people that unholiness is highly contagious. Probably, at the beginning, very few people placed God's interest before theirs. This is the rebuilding of the temple in this case. But as time progressed, their selfishness infected the remnant community in Jerusalem. Before they knew it, everyone was looking after their own interest, building and beautifying their own houses and wealth while God's house sat without walls or a ceiling. Ritual purity cannot be passed on by a physical act. The people were unclean. The offerings were unacceptable to God because they were unclean. And thus because whatever offerings were made, they were considered defiled and unacceptable to God. This in turn resulted in bad harvests. The Lord is less interested in what you give and more on how you give. The motivation of the heart is the central issue. throughout these last 16 years of inactivity, the sacrifices that had restarted shortly after the refugees returned were probably ongoing. But God tells us in this verse what they offer there at the altar is unclean, unacceptable to God. It's what's on the inside, not on the outside, that the Lord is concerned about. We can clean up pretty good and we can fool people around us, but God sees what's on the inside and cannot be fooled. He cannot be deceived. Defiled people defile whatever they touch. This includes the agricultural products and whatever the land produces and supports, the grains, the animals, everything. If this is so, then the offerings that come from the land are also defiled because they are touched by a defiled people. Hence, whatever was being offered at the temple was absolutely unacceptable to him. Now in verse 15, the Lord asks his people to consider from now on. Specifically, he calls them to direct their thoughts to before a single stone was placed on one another in the rebuilding project. Consider literally means to put your heart on it. This means that we must consider the relationship between our behavior and our experiences. Verse 15, ask for the people to take a backwards look. to see how their defilement has affected their lives. As Lord speaks to them of their selfishness and spiritual laziness and disobedience, he asks them to consider the past. He reminds them of how they went into a silo, thinking they would get 20 measures, but only got 10. When it came to wine, it was the same. A person went to draw 50 measures, but only would get 20. He wants them to consider how their sin has impacted the condition of their lives. The troubles they faced, the frustrated and failed attempts at affluence, security, and comfort was directly related to placing themselves before God. Isn't this true in our lives? When we place God second, third, fourth, last, we begin to indulge ourselves, don't we, in sin. And before you know it, we're not indulging, we're living in sin. And sin always brings about discord, tension in our lives, conflict, broken relationships, and I can go on. It never brings about peace that the Lord Jesus offers in a relationship with him. Sin really only offers immediate solutions and pleasure. But the solution only leads to bigger problems down the road, doesn't it? Can you look back at your life and see how spiritual laziness has led to sin, perhaps even a pattern of sin? Oftentimes we consider how sin has a way of unleashing pain in our lives sort of on its own. But we don't consider how our heavenly father thwarts us in our path of destruction by frustrating our plans, do we? God reminds his people in verse 17 that they experienced disastrous harvests and crops along with that with strifling economic conditions, not because of some freak or random drought, but because God struck them with it. He loved them enough to stop them in their tracks of self-destruction and call them to repentance. Is God calling you to repentance today? Is there something that you need to repent of? Has he been calling you out for some time now? How will you respond? Well, we know from the book of Haggai that the people responded positively to the stirring of God's Holy Spirit. You see, that was a backwards look. That was then. But as we turn to verses in 18, 19, we can see that this is now. Verses 18 and 19, God now wants his people who received his loving chastisement to again consider from the time that the temple project was restarted. That is the time when the community repented and began the project of building the temple walls and ceiling itself. He asks two questions here as well. As I pointed out earlier, it being December, the seeds wouldn't have been in the barns or storehouses as they would have been planted in the months of October and November. So the answer to the question would have been no. The first question being, is the seed still in the barn? It has to be no because they're in the ground. Haggai's argument is a positive one here. In effect, it would be thus, you know that the harvest in the past has been poor, verses 16 and 17. But now, look, since you guys restarted the building project of the temple, the Lord has given you sufficient rain, a lot of rain to soften the grounds and to plow and to plant. And even now in December, we're getting a great deal of rain to provide a promising and prosperous crop. And to the question of the fruit vines, a similar answer would be given. The point being that because of the rain, you can see that they're in a much better condition already, and you can look forward to being and getting a better harvest. Why is this? It's due to the people's positive response, repentance. God encourages his people by telling them that he will bless them. They will have their needs met because they repented and placed God first in their lives. From the beginning, God has made it clear that he expects worship from us, but he does not want mechanical worship. it must come from a sincere heart. He has let us know that he wants obedience before sacrifice. The order of things has not changed even in our generation. In 1 Samuel 15.22, he says, has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. He also wants us to consider today that unrighteousness tends to spread much quicker than righteousness. And he wants, and he warns us against it. In Hebrews 12.15 we are told. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness spring up and cause trouble, and by it, many become defiled. God uses Haggai to remind us that it's easier to fall into sin than it is to fall into righteousness. Haggai's generation decided to put themselves first. They wanted to play with sin. But when you play with sin, there's a price to pay, is there not? You see, in a figurative way, the people of God had become unclean because they had come into contact with a dead corpse. A ruined, neglected, dead-ish temple. They had become unclean because they touched that corpse. As the people of God spent 16 years undergoing the judgment of God, what was their response? Try harder. What would be your response? What did it take to get them to place God first? The Word of God. God called them to reconsider and see where the priorities are in their lives. You and I always must reconsider and see where we are placing God in our lives. We also must look inwardly and consider by what motivations we do things. Are we putting God first? Are we doing things because it's something that we have to tick off? Is my time with the Lord, whether it be in the morning or at night, a delight that I look forward to? Or is it a chore, like cutting the grass, pulling out weeds, the exciting joy of paying the bills? I do these things so I just have a clear conscience. The fact, I think this is really something, the fact that God cares says something, doesn't it? It says something about God, doesn't it? I mean, he's not interested in just a rote relationship with him. He loves you, and he takes pleasure in your love for him and fellowship with you. Let us enjoy God with great delight, knowing that he cares about you and your relationship with him. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, indeed, that you are a God who is not far off. You are a God who cares about us. We thank you, Father, that you are not a CEO, just wanting production and numbers and profit, but you want us and that you care about us. You don't want us to go through the motions, but you want us to love you, just as you have loved us and you prove that to us. We only need to go to the cross to be reminded of this great love that you have for us, that you sacrificed your own son so that you may have, you may have a relationship with us. We thank you, Father, for that. And we pray, Father, that your word indeed this day would affect us as your word affected your people back then, that by the power of the Holy Spirit that we would be stirred and to put you first in our lives, and that all things flow from there. And we ask that you would do this for our good, and more importantly, for your great glory. And we ask this.