I invite you to turn in your Bibles tonight to the book of Haggai, and I'd be curious to know if any of you have ever heard this little book preached. It's a wonderful little two-chapter book, so if you're looking for that, you will go to Matthew and then go just a few books back. So Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, and then you would be at Matthew. So, Haggai, beginning at verse, chapter 1, beginning at verse 1, I haven't really done any minor prophets here, and then exile prophets, and this one I felt was important. So let's consider what the Lord has to say to us through this little book of Haggai. This is the word of the Lord. In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, The word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai, the prophet, to Zerubbabel, the son of Sheol, Teal, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Thus says the Lord of hosts, these people say, the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord. Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai, the prophet. Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins? Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. You've sown much and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough. You drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house that i may take pleasure in it and that i may be glorified says the lord you look for much and behold it came to little and when you brought it home i blew it away why declares the lord of hosts because of my house that lies in ruins while each of you busies himself with his own house therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew and the earth has withheld its produce and i have called for a drought on the land and the hills on the grain the new wine the oil on what the ground brings forth on man and beast and on all their labors then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel then Joshua the son of Jehozadak the high priest with all the remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet and the Lord as the Lord their God had sent them and the people feared the Lord. Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message. I am with you, declares the Lord. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehoshadah, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts their god on the 24th day of the month in the sixth month in the second year of darius the king and there ends the reading of god's word i should say um i remember a wise professor in seminary uh said a pastor always has to be careful in preaching haggai if you're trying to push the church to do a building project right you want to be careful no one can accuse me of that because the project's already started. So I just wanted to say that. The book of Haggai comes to us in this fascinating setting and background, and that's important to understand tonight. You could really sum up the theme of the entire book with the little statement, now is the time. Now is the time. Time for what? Well, that's what we're going to explore. But that little phrase, now is the time of what's driving this book, that single theme will prevail that's pushing the people of the Lord to be active and engaged and invested in His work. In His work. But what does that mean for us? This is the kind of moment I love to read somebody like Luther who understood and saw the tearing down and the building up and the special time that he was and how the Lord used him as Calvin even viewed Luther as a prophet. How he looked at Haggai. I was really curious how he would look at Haggai. And Luther had a big place for the little book of Haggai, interestingly. Luther said of Haggai, it's the easiest of all the prophets. And for us, it seems trivial. This is about the building of the temple. What does that have to do with us? He asked the question. He says we need to look not so much at the building of the temple, but at the word of God. The divine majesty bends so low to speak at length about the building of the temple to show us something of great significance. Yeah, that's exactly right. Something of great significance. The book itself is divided into four oracles given by Haggai the prophet. As we begin tonight, this first oracle looking at the crisis that had become, that had come upon the people of the Lord. It's always important when you begin a new study through a book of the Bible to understand its background, its context, and the way that it comes to us in the context that it comes and the reason that it came and there's some important information that was given right in verse one you'll notice that background wise in the second year of darius the king in the sixth month on the first day of the month the lord the word of the lord came by the hand of haggai the prophet very important haggai who we know little about was one of the prophets of the exile. Zechariah, Malachi, which here follow. Remember that the southern kingdom had been put under judgment and was hauled off itself, Judah, to Babylon. It had been there for a series, for many years, 70 years it would be there. And at the end of 2 Chronicles, we have that terrible event described for us when Nebuchadnezzar came in and he into Jerusalem and he ransacked the temple and he completely destroyed it. The whole thing was left in utter ruins. All of that occurred in about the year 586 BC. Dates are important here. All of this fell upon Judah. A complete ruin of Jerusalem. the complete ruin of jerusalem the temple the temple within thy temple lord we sing out tonight the temple the temple the temple jeremiah would always jump on the people about the temple was the place of meeting with god and his people well everything was toppled down they were all carried off to babylon for 70 years until as the scripture used the language the wrath of god was accomplished but here we are the spirit of cyrus um the stirring up of cyrus is also described in conjunction with this in the book of ezra in that occurred in the year 538 bc he gave the command for the people to return from the land of course you'll remember of babylon now the book of ezra gives us some interesting insights of how many people returned it was not the entire nation it was the remnant of the people there sitting in Babylon, a certain number of people. We read in Ezra that 42,360 plus 7,337 servants and 200 singers returned to the land to rebuild the temple upon Cyrus's decree. Again, this was 538. Here they are. This is the remnant of the people heading back to the land there to rebuild the temple the place and god's mysterious providence now having set up with rulers and decrees for this to occur again that the temple would go up you imagine the scene imagine the remnant walking back they look in the land they enter into the area of what was once jerusalem they look around this is not glory days they are looking at the land and the temple and everything else in utter shambles the former kingdom and all of its former glory the kingdom of Solomon and all of its splendor down there's a very moving verse in ezra 3 upon coming back into the land we read but many of the priests and the levites and the heads of the father's houses old men who had seen the first temple listen to this old men now who had seen the first temple wept with a loud voice when the foundation of the temple was laid before their eyes i'm trying to i'm trying to imagine that they're looking at everything generations ago their fathers had built years of history they are looking at the house of the lord the temple of the lord in shambles and this was from god's judgment upon them imagine this scenario 70 years from now right here this place people come and stand on this property imagine this Christian school is over it emptied out the church, this beautiful building that we're putting up over here tagged and empty. Whole thing. Empty. It's done. Many of your grandchildren who you run around with and hold hands are now old. They're standing on this property and they're looking at it and they're weeping. What happened? That's a good question, isn't it? That's a good question. What happened? It's not hard to figure out. All along the way for years, you could just imagine, if you're putting it in this scenario of Jerusalem, they had been on a downgrade of conviction. They had lost who they were. They had stopped preaching. They had filled their land with false teachers. They had been preaching a false message. And no one cared. There was a total disregard for the Word of God that had overcome the people, God's people. No more gospel happened in Israel. No one cared anymore about the truth. And God tore it all down. God tore it all down. um this happened are you thinking could that ever happen it could happen no one took seriously the calls to repent and believe a generation dumped it all god said he would pull the lamp stand as he did to some of the churches in the new testament and he pulled it they wept that's that's that's a scenario if you can if you can get your heads into that a little bit and feel a little bit of that that's exactly what you're you're having it's exactly what's happened and we have to think a little bit about that because the very same sort of thing can happen when christian institutions and churches abandon their purpose the lord already said he can pull the lampstand look at those who've done it look at those who once flourish now with no conviction and ask yourselves really where they are you have be honest about that so so here we are they've come to the land they've come to the land they lay the foundation for the new temple well we've come to Haggai and we read that in the second year of Darius we're immediately struck with the fact that something has happened what happened something's not right for the first thing we read is that in the sixth month on the first day of the month that's the Jewish calendar the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet and it went directly to the heads of the people um notice notice what it says here uh it's um fascinating absolutely fascinating section of scripture thus says the lord of hosts verse 2 these people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the lord the second year of darius was about 520 BC. That means that from 538 BC to 520 BC, the building stopped. It'd be like laying the foundation out here and the whole thing stops for 20 years. Why? Why? Well, we know putting this all together, they had faced all kinds of external opposition. In Ezra 4, Rahum commander in samaria and shimshai wrote a letter to artaxerxes calling him you cease the building threatening and so upon acceptance they went up to jerusalem and made them stop the construction of the temple by force ezra 424 reads thus the work of the house of god which is at jerusalem ceased and it was discontinued until the second year of the reign of darius king of persia opposition opposition opposition now why all this background well the lord is is sending a lawsuit and this is the old testament we're operating under the old covenant and the lord is sending a lawsuit through his prophet because 520 by 520 the second year of darius has arrived and because of the opposition they are now refusing the word of the lord that has told them to bill bill bill not yet not yet it's not the time yet what's the remnant doing you know this is the remnant making excuses why well i'm sure they they felt we'll never be able to achieve the glory of the former kingdom, the former temple in all of its glory. And no temple project physically ever did, again, meet the glory of Solomon's temple. But the real issue here, and Luther picks this up, had to do with the opposition. Listen to what he said. The Word of God has this character that it is made known and comes when man is most desperate over everything. When the things that nothing is less likely to happen than what the Word of God says most certainly will happen. It comes to the weak and the oppressed and to those in need. It's the Word of God which commands and we must listen to it when the whole world resists it. The word of God comes and says, do this. They say, there's no way we can. In the greatest moment of opposition, aren't the two sermons from today coming together now at this very moment of the building in Acts and the frustration and the opposition and the persecution? Now's not the time. Oh, really? Oh, really? And the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet. Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruin? Ouch. Ouch. That's striking. What if we went around surveying your houses tonight? How would they look? You put a lot of effort in your houses. Your own paneled houses. Wayne's cut. It's the meaning there. It's the Hebrew word there, which means that he is looking at beautiful, inlaid, costly wood inside their houses. They cared a lot about their houses. They built themselves some beautiful houses. Is it time for that? And my house gets this treatment? Is it? you feel the indictment of this? Your situation can't be that oppressive, right? You can't be that busy in life because you sure got a lot of time to build yourself your castles. That's the effect of this. You can't be that poor. Look at how much time you've given to all your wants and desires. How can you stand there and say it's not the time to build when I'm telling you to build? How? Yet you have plenty of time and resource to do what you want to do. It's indicting in the Old Covenant, isn't it? It's indicting. Well, it's not so far off, is it? One of the things we often constantly say is when circumstances change then, when circumstances change then, And circumstances changed then. Thus says the Lord. Is it time for you to give all of your time and energy to everything else other than what I'm doing? Is it? You think of Gehazi. When Naaman, the Syrian, remember, and Elisha, and then Gehazi took the gift from Naaman, ran back and took the gift, And he said the same thing. Is it time, Gehazi? While my temple lies in shambles. I can't help but to think here in the midst of the old covenant is utter compassion. How do you say, how? The Lord doesn't need that temple. He didn't need no man to build him a temple. He had chosen that temple to be a place in the Old Testament where people would gather for what reason? Jesus told us. It was to be a house of prayer for all the nations. It was to be a place of gospel. It was to be a place where blood and the high priest would go in once a year and sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat. Atonement was made there. But they were too busy to set that up. They were too busy to be with that. This is where the law of God strikes us, doesn't it? And the things that God commands, He really doesn't need anything from us. He really doesn't. What does God need from you? Anything? But it's a remarkable thing when He is telling them, build my temple. It's a remarkable thing because He doesn't need the temple for Himself. He commands you to make worship a priority of your life. Why? Why? Because he needs your worship? He commands you to take the supper. Why? Because he needs you to come and do this. He commands you to use your gifts. Why? Because he needs them? Or your neighbor? You see, it really does expose how selfish we are when we start answering these questions and thinking about why the Lord always gets second. He does get second. All the way to the church library. We have more fear to take back our books to the city library because we'll get fined. Right? Not the church library. In the old covenant, there were serious curses that fell on this. This is what the Lord did. Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways, verse 5. you've so much and bring in little you eat but you don't have enough you drink but you're not filled with drink you clothe yourselves but no one's warm he earns wages earns wages to put them in a bag with holes what happens when you put your money in a bag with holes where does it go everywhere and you never have it what is what is he describing god sent leanness into their souls what does that mean it's psalm 106 Listen to what it says. He gave them their request. He sent leanness into their souls. This is what God was saying. Consider your ways. If it were a psalm, Selah would sit right here. Meditate on your situation. Have you thought about, oh Judah, why you are not fulfilled? You have everything and you live in constant frustration. You have everything and you're never satisfied. It all goes into a bag with holes. never satisfied, was part of an old covenant curse. The Lord says, Consider your ways. Go up to the mountains. Bring wood and build the temple that I may take pleasure in it. That I may be glorified. You look for much. Notice it says that. Verse 9, And behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? Because of my house that lies in ruins while each of you busies himself with his own house. It's not that these sins don't occur in the New Covenant, by the way. These people are a mirror to show us us. That's what Israel is. It's a mirror to show us us. Now, in the midst of this, it's almost as if we have a surprising twist. It's so shocking and so mesmerizing when you're looking at it and studying it because you know what happened? If the temple, this went all the way to almost 520, the temple was completed by 516. Three years this thing got built. Three years. It's amazing what happens for it says they listened and before you they they listened to the word of the lord and and and guess what what happened there's a crucial verse there they feared him again this is what we've been seeing in acts over and over it's not the dread as a sense of this is an angry father ready to strike me they bowed to him as king what motivated this what happened to all of a sudden they go up and they start building when they heard the indictment of haggai bringing the lawsuit which is what this was they were cut to the heart and they were terrified in the in a sense and in verse 12 says they feared the presence of the lord and then god shows us something very powerful what got them up who got them up verse 12 this figure shows up who is absolutely astonishing and shocking his presence then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Joshua the son of Jehozadak the high priest with the remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God their god and the words of Haggai the prophet it's amazing moment here Zerubbabel everyone knew was a direct descendant of the royal line of David the Davidic line from Jeconiah had been cursed remember in Jeremiah saying no no descendant will ever come and sit on Coniah's sit on that throne again but all of a sudden we have a shocking inner inner interjection of this man Zerubbabel who was of the main Davidic line through Solomon and and people were looking and they thought it was all over and all of a sudden this man gets up who's out of the line and he gets up and there was kind of a resurrection of the promise at that moment that they saw. The promise is back, and he's up. And his presence told them God had not forgotten. God had not forgotten that there would be one who would come from the line of David who would sit on the throne forever, and the virgin birth would solve this curse and problem, wouldn't it? We've looked at that before. But here was a moment where this figure rises up and begins to build the spirit falls on him they saw in him everything that spoke to the promise they saw in him everything that pointed to the builder notice um here three three kinds of people are mentioned you have a prophet you have a priest you got a king all three all of a sudden show up in this project finally by the mouth of Haggai the prophet you'll notice here there was one who had come and the emphasis all falls on this figure Zerubbabel forgiveness of sins is performed again you'll notice Joshua the high priest making atonement and then this man Zerubbabel stands up and and the Lord was again reviving the people in the promise he was resurrecting the promise and resurrecting the people through it. Look at verse 13. Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message. I'm with you, declares the Lord. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehoshadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the 24th day of the month, in the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king. I can't help but to think of the shambles of the kingdom of God when Jesus stepped on the scene and how everything was in shambles. And one day he looks at the whole establishment and says, destroy this temple and I'll raise it in three days. And here everything is coming into view, all of it. it was jesus who was being shown to them and jesus who would come and build and jesus is the builder of the house it was jesus who was handed the scroll and talked about how the kingdom would be built when he said the spirit of the lord is upon me because he's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he sent me to heal the brokenhearted became liberty to the captives recovery of sight to the blind set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the acceptable year of the lord then he closed the book gave it back to the attendant and sat down and all of the eyes of uh of those who were in the synagogue were fixed on him and he began to say today right now now's the time the scripture's fulfilled in your hearing i've come the temple is going back up. The temple is going back up. Jesus Christ is who this is about. I want you to think tonight then of the whole scenario, both sermons today, and what they've challenged us to realize. It was the Spirit speaking this morning through the apostles to advance God's kingdom through the message of the Gospel. of a message of Jesus, who's lived and died and rose again. And that name is being proclaimed to the ends of the earth. The people of Haggai's day were discouraged by outside problems. They were discouraged by all the conflict. They were discouraged thinking things wouldn't work. They were heavily assaulted. and the Lord raised up a builder right in front of him who built the house of the Lord. And guess what happened? All those people saw that. They saw God's builder and they joined the project. They got up. And this is the whole message for us, I believe, in this first part tonight. It's not to say now is not the time. He doesn't need to look at our houses, right, and tell us if our priorities are right, does he? You know that. You know where your priorities are. You know what you put your time in. You know what your houses look like. But he's raised a temple. He's raised a temple. He's constructed something beautiful. And guess what? It's a temple made without hands. It's the temple of his body. And guess what you are? his building project. It's not this. This aids us in that building project. You're the building project. God has set up a kingdom in his son. He is the builder. You have become builders with him in this mighty kingdom that he's established. And guess what? Does he need your work? He's included you by grace. He's given you a place Marvel of it is he uses us weak sinners to accomplish so great a salvation through the message and through your love in this place of your neighbor. Think about it. How are you involved in his kingdom? How are you involved in his project? The temple is up. You see it? It's all over the world today. It's a people. It's a people made of living stones, a holy temple unto the Lord, says the New Testament. I hope that gives us an introduction and encouragement tonight. The Lord has included us in this building project. He saved us. We're His people. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, may our souls be stirred because of His great salvation and love for us to participate and value and buy into and be involved with and put first place what He's building. That's a challenge to us. That's a challenge as all of this has come to us by grace, as He has loved us in His Son. You are a people, a holy temple unto the Lord. What place does that have? Thank you, Lord, that your son built this temple and gave his life for it. A people that would be saved and brought into that place, a church without spot or without wrinkle. And that's who you are. I hope that encourages us tonight and gives us a good start in the book of Haggai. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we're grateful for your wonderful word, your gospel, your truth to us. This holy temple that's being built up that we're a part of and we all confess that we have been guilty of putting everything else, our homes, our things, our own houses, our families, everything else before you. And yet you've set this up to be a great benefit to us. You gave your son who died and raised in his body the very temple of all of this is what it foreshadowed. May we be involved as your people, thankful to be members of your kingdom, grateful for what we're a part of and remembering that you are still building people, bringing real people into this kingdom, a kingdom that can never be shaken. Thank you for giving us a place in it. May we love our neighbor in the same way as we have received so much grace from you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.