“Unclean, Unclean”

I invite you to turn tonight to the little book of Haggai. The little book of Haggai. And I don't know how many of you came up this morning and commented that I messed up on a page number. I want you to know, how do you know I wasn't testing you to see if you know your books of the Bible? But if you really want the proper page number, it is 1,006. in your pew bible 1006 and we're going to uh consider together tonight verses 10 through 19 of this little book uh chapter 2 of this little book of haggai and then next time we'll conclude it there's four oracles so i'm having four uh sermons in the two chapters and tonight we come to verse 10 through 19 this is the word of the 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 and Haggai said if someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these does it become clean unclean the priest answered and said it does become unclean then Haggai answered and said so it is 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 and 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 the 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 And there is the reading of the Lord, the word of the Lord. I always like to think, since things go in cycles, and they say that a denomination typically has a hundred years before it falls into some kind of great error and apostasy. That's the going statement and what I've heard so often. If that's true, that things run in cycles, and there are cycles this way, I always like to think about when we formed as United Reformed Churches, and I wasn't here when this church formed, and the convictions that led to be where it is today. Where did it go from that point? And what happens? And how do we ever stop and evaluate where we've come? And how does the Lord view the work? How does the Lord see the work? Who can forget Revelation chapter 2 that the church in Ephesus had begun well and then left its first love? What happened? So there are always good moments to stop and reflect upon what causes the church to go stagnant? What causes the church to run into a cycle where they begin to abandon their old convictions that led them, brought them together in the first place? I think those are right questions that we always should think about and ask this is where the people of Haggai are but it's shocking because this is the people brought back out of Babylon this is the remnant and the history is being repeated all over again so quickly it's really a shocking section of scripture isn't it and the Lord has a strong message in that for us look how quickly the remnant was falling apart look how quickly the remnant that was remember with the whole the nation was brought down into babylon and the nation was judged of judah and of israel israel was wiped out judah was brought to babylon and look at the remnant now what kind of shape were they in so soon after they returned i think the peoples of hagai's day could have written a similar statement of conviction and mission when they formed again and they came in the land and they did their charters and they wrote their convictions and they put down confessions and they said this is where we're going to stand this is what we're going to do this is who we're going to be and yet we find it taking surprising turns tonight god had said to the people go back and build the temple What a mission. They come back into the land and they're looking at all of its former glory down in rubble. I made the comparison to think of, look at the property and imagine if in 70 years, your little children came back and stood on this property and the whole thing was in rubble. Imagine them standing and looking at all that, asking the question, what happened? What happened? Where did it all go? Well, here they are. God had brought them back, and this is where they were. And God had a message for them to, again, He was rebuilding. Build the temple. You can imagine the excitement as the foundation in 538 B.C. of the temple is laid. The altar is resurrected. Ezra talks about that. The center of the sacrifice and offering was again set up. The people seemed somewhat unified in the work. They had one purpose, one great calling that the Lord had given them. You build that temple. Build the kingdom again. Build my temple. I want worship restored. But within just two years, external opposition had frustrated the effort. doubt had set in and in the past few weeks Haggai's we have been studying has been exposing real problems in the hearts of these people last time the problem the first time you'll remember we looked at as where priorities were all wrong they were saying the time was not yet but the problem was internal wasn't it three and a half years into the weeks into the building project and the lord was then exposing contentions among the generations remember the older generation uh remember the uh the the older people now looked back and remembered what it used to be and they're looking at it going up and the younger generation working on it saying this is not right this is not the glory this is not what the lord said the glory of the latter temple will be greater than the glory of the former temple this is not better than solomon's temple and the lord addressed that issue they were half the group was weeping half the group was praising it was a divided by generation they were discouraged and the people had lost a sense of who they were and why they had come together and it seemed as if god was not making good on his promises it seemed as if god was not blessing the work and god addressed that so after almost 15 to 20 years of completely rejecting the call to build the temple god flooded them with promises again this is how god works i want you to know that i'm with you i want you to know that i am with you and you need to understand as we looked at last time they were building something that foreshadowed a temple that would excel in such far glory than what they had ever known, something that we participate in to this day. Now the question before us as we jump into the third oracle is to think a little bit about the direction of the people here, what is happening, and the direction of us. There has to be some kind of application that way. This is why Luther said there are surprising applications in this book if we'll listen to it and read it properly. Luther loved the book of Haggai. We're pushing ourselves here, as we look at it, to think about that cycle that I mentioned toward the very breakdowns. Remember, when we had convictions that led us to form in the first place, what is the cycle that begins to take place that leads us to the breakdown of it all? And this is what history tells us. People have struggled to figure this out. What happened to great institutions? What happened to churches that were once strong and full now that they're empty and dead? Well, I want you to notice here that after two strong oracles in Haggai, the people are still beset and missing the real purpose for the temple. i find this um something that we should take heart and think about they still are struggling with the real purpose of it and the lord now is going to bring the greatest burden to them even though he had determined to pour out his unmerited grace and blessing and i'll come back to that great verse at the end. As we come to this third oracle, the first thing we notice is the time reference. Notice that there in verse 10. On the 24th day of the ninth month, this has all sorts of time markers in this little book. On the 24th day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet. The Lord is sending the prophet a third time because something is still wrong what could be wrong what's wrong with this people what are they not appreciating and now we get to what i believe is the heart of the book the heart of the book the oracle comes two months after the preceding one what is evident here is that even though god had promised to be with them and encourage them to be strong and to build the temple of the lord even though he flat out told them that their building project would excel in far more glory than solomon's there's something they still have not appreciated something is holding them back all of these marvelous promises so far had failed to stir them up to wholehearted response they had not yet responded to the promise they were refusing to do the work of the lord joyfully they're refusing to enter into what he was doing it comes across here very clearly and i love this because you really see the patience of the lord you're speaking of all these future blessings but where is it in the present it's the age-old struggle of what is god doing we're not seeing it what is happening why do we need this all these questions that come out well now the lord sends his strongest indictment in the 24th day of the month in the second year of darius the word of the lord came saying thus says the lord of hosts ask the priests about the law this is a big moment he is really opening up about the purpose of the law ask them i've got questions i want you to ask them and i want them to answer these are these questions if someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with the fold his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food does it become holy priest answered and said no then hag i said if someone who's unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these does it become unclean the priest answered and says it does become unclean um the lord is posing questions through the priests a very interesting moment in the book the priest knew the law and the first thing the lord asked is would holy things think about this for a minute things that we've designated for holy use in the service of the lord would those holy things in the service of the lord impart holiness to the things that it touches that's kind of an important question throughout church history isn't it um this is um i'll come back to that thought in a minute holy flesh let's say of the animal sacrifices that we use that i have appointed if you take that i want you to think about this for a minute and the lord is using an object lesson through the law of sacrifices the priest knew well, that holiness was not transferred through the object. Just because something is set apart as sacred, by coming into contact with another object, that object is not made holy. Holiness is an isolated sort of virtue. It's not something that's transferred or communicable that way. On the contrary, the Lord says, let me ask then another question. Let me put another question to you on the opposite side of this. If a dead body touches one of these things, will it become unclean? And they say, well, it certainly will. They knew the law. Leviticus 19, Numbers 19.22 said, whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and the person who touches it shall be unclean. So holiness is not communicable that way. Defilement is. Defilement is. I hope you see what he's asking here. What's the issue? Well, it's painfully obvious that people thought that by the virtue of the sacrifices themselves, by the temple and its sacrifices, if they followed them to a T and they were put down in the glory of how it was supposed to be in the past, they themselves would be purified before God. Had they heard the law? Jeremiah gave this indictment to Judah. For they were hauled off to Babylon. Remember this? Do not trust in these deceptive words. This is the temple of the Lord. This is the temple of the Lord. This is the temple of the Lord. That that, having that, is going to box in God and secure His blessing. What is the answer? No. Holy things devoted to the service of the Lord and set apart for the worship of God never have the ability to impart holiness to the partaker. Outward sacrifices themselves themselves never purified the people hebrews makes that clear the blood of bulls and goats doesn't do it um it's a very important um point to make here just because things are set apart in the service of this way the holy ordinances the holy things did not cleanse now this is um this has been a problem uh in the history of the church this has been a problem um for many people who think this there's uh the movement back to rome that teaches that holiness is imparted through things we struggle with this with certain movements in the reform world that thought that baptism itself in the federal vision is is what is imparting the forgiveness the justification um the sacrament itself we held bread and wine in our hands this morning was that the bread and wine that made you holy and set you apart. This is what people, I think, sometimes unfairly hear with the baptism and when we read the forms and they think, well, you're saying that baptism itself saves you. And that would be a right concern if we really said that. That's not what we're saying. There's something vitally, there's something else vitally needed isn't there you see we're very prone and we're very content to have this we're very prone and content to have as one pastor said ritualism is the natural religion of an unsanctified heart now here's the point god was having them think about what got them into this mess to begin with. What got them into this mess to be hauled off to Babylon? Their approach to God was empty and unbelieving. God had come to them with promises, but the mere fact in Haggai, here we're seeing something here. If we just simply get it back as it was, and we bring back properly the Mosaic law with all of its sacrifice and offering, and we get back the law in all of its operation, and we do that right before God. God will bless us. They're back in the land. Ezra 3 is clear. The altar had been rebuilt. Sacrifice and offering was established again. But the problem here is that the Lord is looking down and seeing the same problem as before. Revisited. Deja vu. There was the danger of thinking. By having the temple and by doing this, by simply doing the work and following the law of sacrifice, God would be pleased. You just sung out from that song. It's not the formal sacrifice that pleases God, right? You just sung that out. The problem is, they have a God who looks at the heart. See, the 10th commandment tonight was so important. The 10th commandment goes right to the heart, and any thought or desire contrary to the law of God is a breaking of that commandment. What is God's response? You see it in the second set of questions, don't you? The priests agree that if a dead body touches something clean, it will become unclean. And here comes the indictment. Here it comes. Verse 14. Then Haggai answered and said, so it is with this people and with this nation before me declares the lord and so with every listen this is not this is everything and so it is with every work of their hands whoa that is a sweeping indictment in the old testament and this is to the remnant how that must have startled them he just said those who were unclean according to the law we know would have to stand up and yell out unclean unclean outside the camp they would be put the lord says this whole nation is like a corpse defiling everything it touches. Wow. Wow. Your holy things aren't going to make you holy. On the contrary, you have polluted everything. You've wrecked the whole thing. You. You've contaminated the worship of God. because you are unclean. And now you see, they were hard at it. The altar was raised, and the Lord is seeing the same problem all over again. The Lord is saying here, every stone that you're laying, every sacrifice you're bringing is exposing. You don't understand the problem. You don't understand what you need. You don't understand the reason for the law. You don't understand what it was teaching about defilement. You never listen to the heart of what the law was saying to you. this is what jesus was said in john 7 to the jews none of you keeps it you have the mosaic law none of you keeps it the law was teaching you about defilement you're a nation uncircumcised before me that's just for the gentiles isn't it you're saying that about us what is your work exposed this is this is what the whole thing we said what leads to half-hearted service to well here you go uh you're more into your own houses chapter one than my work look at your beautiful houses and my my temple lies in ruins in other words the lord's kingdom as opposed to your kingdom you're building for yourselves always gets second you still haven't learned the lesson and you think that by building the temple itself it will cleanse you this is the problem you imagine hearing those words these are the words what god would say to the pagans now before we we think about everything that we learned this morning God has a great purpose in this to put on display His love. You'll see it here in a minute. They have to understand it, don't they? We really, in coming before the Lord, have this challenge of doing everything right outwardly, we think, and completely forget the contamination of the human heart. I think it's important because might I say that this is what certain generations have struggled with with the older generation sometimes. That was there a heart in what we did? If we never talked about our faith or we just went through the routines and had all the outward form correct. Were we, the younger generations, I'm sure struggled because I used to struggle with it. Were we just content with empty ritual? Did we think that that's what would make Christians? we have convictions. And they're good convictions. They're right convictions. We believe in catechizing. We believe in training our young people. We believe in preaching. We believe in all this. But why? Why? Why? Can we do it to make the same air of what Jesus said? These people draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far. You can have a confidence that what you do is outwardly right. And what does that produce? It can produce what that pastor said, a ritualism with an unsanctified heart. And that heartless approach to the Lord, He's confronting. He says you need to consider what you've experienced in the Old Covenant. the Lord leveled judgments, didn't he? Consider from this day, before stone was laid upon stone, how did it go for you as you approached me this way? How was the building project? It wasn't good, was it? You'll notice there the curses that he rained down when he said, when one came to a heap of 20 measures, there were but 10. When one came to a wine vat to draw 50 measures, there were but 20. I struck you with all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. See? Consider from this day forward. From the 24th day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider, is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, the olive tree had yielded nothing. What does that tell you? Where's the fruit of your labors? so this cycle the lord was confronting that was being repeated all over again it didn't take a hundred years it didn't take a hundred years for the nation to go corrupt or denomination to go corrupt it happened right away because this is the problem of the heart so i want you to notice how this ends then in this third oracle despite all their wrong priorities despite all their internal strife despite all their contentions all their lack of heart for the kingdom of God lack of involvement did you catch that last line? the one line of gospel there that shines like no other in this book but from this day on I will bless you now that is um sheerly the unmerited love and favor of god put on display he's teaching us something about law and gospel he doesn't need man to build him a house he doesn't even need our worship he needs nothing from us nothing satisfied in himself but the fact is he had determined to bless the remnant because they needed him. They needed him. They were guilty. They needed him and they didn't even know how much they needed him. That's the issue of this passage. That's the issue here. The fundamental issue of the text is the greatest concern before God is that they're unclean. They didn't even see it and he's going to deal with the problem for them. He's going to answer them. They had completely lost sight of the fact of what the temple was always pointing to and was telling them about. The holy place spoke of forgiveness when that blood was sprinkled on the altar. The temple spoke to Jesus' body and their laziness, their indifference to their unclean, sinful natures before God that so drastically needed a remedy, Jesus is going to answer. Now think of the Lord's question again for a minute. If someone who's unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean? The priest answered and said, it does become unclean. Now listen to this. And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling, said to him, If you will, you can make me clean. Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, I will be clean. And immediately the leprosy left him. And he was made clean. And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once and said to him, See that you say nothing to anyone but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded for a proof to them. All these moments in the Gospels. But did you see what just happened? Moved with compassion. He would have been rendered unclean. But He's the temple. He is. He has the power, being clean, to cleanse all those who come to Him with a believing heart and takes their uncleanness upon Him. Everyone's unclean. Every last one of you by nature are unclean. None of your works will ever get there. You never have a good, right, moral, upstanding life doing it all perfectly enough. You're unclean, says the Lord. You defile everything. But I'll answer you in my son. And the Lord wants us to learn from this, from the past of what Jesus always taught in the Gospels. This is what this is all about, the little book of Haggai. Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. This is what Haggai is about. This is how the kingdom of God will be built upon this message of these people who come to this temple and are washed and cleansed from all of their sins. That is the gospel. And that's how we see the love of God shown to us as was described this morning. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word tonight again. In the Old Testament, we see the same story told over and over and over and over. And we are grateful for Your kindness to us and we openly confess we are unclean. And come to the Lord Jesus Christ for all cleansing and washing. knowing that by the power of His indestructible life, He has the power to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and affect real forgiveness. Thank You for the joy that we've been given today in Your house. Amidst all the hardships of life, You've renewed us in Your promises, You've answered us, and You've given us grace and more grace, deciding in Your good counsels and purpose that You would bless us. Thank you for such blessing. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.