It's Time to Enter God's Presence - Haggai 1 (June 16) Myles Holmes

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

Thanks, Mark.

So good to be with you this morning.

I will say, make one minor correction.

Haggai is the third last book of the Old Testament.

So I don't want you to find yourself near Revelation or anything.

Matthew, go three books back, you'll find yourself in Haggai, the minor prophet.

Many of you have heard of the name Augustine, a fourth and fifth century theologian, one of the most influential theologians in church history.

And I think Augustine's life and really how he described his life and sort of his big work called Confessions, which is an autobiography of really what the Lord had done in saving him, really gets at the heart of what we're after this morning.

Augustine had spent his life in his teenage years and young adult years pursuing pleasure outside of God.

And he would define it himself as the pursuit of sensual pleasure, of worldly success.

He believed all the modern philosophies.

He really was, as you looked at him in the fourth and fifth century, he really was a modern-day man.

He had everything that you need.

And yet, having all these things, he found himself incredibly dissatisfied.

He was searching out pleasure, but he couldn't find it.

And so the weight of the world was so heavy.

One day he found himself in a garden and he was weeping.

But he was weeping because of this sense he had that there really was just no meaning to life.

There was no possible pleasure.

And he heard in the garden a child singing a song.

And the words of the song were take up and read.

Take up and read.

And he picked up a Bible and he opened it up and he read for the first time words of life, and he was miraculously converted on that day.

Now in confessions, what Augustine would do is he would look back to his life and he would say some pretty astounding things.

Many of you have heard this before.

I've said it many times, this quote from Augustine in Confessions.

He says, This, You created us for yourself.

This is a prayer to God.

You created us for yourself.

Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.

Augustine would look back on this time in his life where he was really trying to find the soul rest, and he would come to this recognition as he looked back that the rest that he was finding he couldn't find because he had been created a certain way, and until he found the Lord and was in his presence, he would never live and experience the things that he was created to experience.

And so he looks to God, he says, You created us for yourself.

Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.

Well, he says another prayer that I think is really helpful for us this morning.

In reflection of his salvation, he says, You were within me and I was without.

You were with me, but I was not with you.

Augustine looks back on his life and recognizes that through these years God was present with him.

And the issue of why he didn't experience this nearness to God was not because God had departed from Augustine, it was because Augustine was not willing to enter into that presence.

And he looks back and he sees that God in his grace and mercy was there all along.

And the only thing that had to change was a heart attitude in Augustine.

He had to turn and live in the presence of God.

Really gets to the heart of what Haggai wants to speak to us in his book and especially in chapter one.

He wants to answer this question: what is it that brings us near to God and show us this reality that this morning God doesn't change?

God has not left your life.

God is right beside you.

God is with you.

That's why Jesus was called the Emmanuel, God with us.

The thing that changes is you and I.

You and I, instead of entering into the presence of God and living in the presence of God and pursuing the presence of God, we pursue other things.

Now, this is a great problem for the people of Israel in Ezra's age.

You'll notice that we're not in Ezra this morning, that we're in Haggai, and I want to tell you why right now.

In Ezra chapter 5, after years and years of oppression, we read this in Ezra chapter 5, verse 1.

Ezra 5 · chapter mention Ezra 5:1

Now the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the son of Edu, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel who was over them.

Then Zerubbabel, the son of Sheeltiel, and Jeshua the son of Josedak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

And the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

For fifteen years that the work of building the temple that Israel was to do in Jerusalem had ceased, and now Haggai and Zechariah come on the scene, and I think Ezra 5, 1 and 2 is sort of hilarious because so quickly Haggai and Zechariah speak, and the people get right back to work.

There is something powerful about these words.

They have a motivating power to them.

Parents are hearing this verse right now and wishing, I wish when I spoke to my kids, they listened like that.

Haggai and Zechariah prophesy to Israel, and immediately what happens is Israel gets back to the work.

So my mind, as we come to Ezra 5.1, is this what do Haggai and Zechariah say?

That's gotta be a powerful word that pulls these people from totally stopping the work of God to again embracing the work that God has called them to.

And so for the next several weeks, then I want us to spend time in Haggai, two weeks in Haggai and three weeks in Zechariah.

Both of these books, I'm sure, are probably less known to many of us, and hear these words, and I think we'll find exactly what we read in Ezra 5, that these words have a powerful force of motivation, showing us how to get back on track, showing us how to be near God.

And I wonder if in this very moment, some of you like this is what you needed.

It has been a season in your life where maybe wholesale your life has just, you know, you're going the wrong way.

Maybe for you it's just part of your life.

Maybe you look at part of your life and you're and you just realize, like, this isn't, I'm not living the way that I should be living.

And what Haggai is doing here, especially this morning, is showing us how to turn from our ways and get back on track, how to enter into the presence of God.

And so I don't know about you, but I I look at a message like this and I just think, I need this.

I need to hear this in so many different ways.

I need to hear what the prophet Isaiah says to these people.

In light of that, let me pray and then let's read the passage together.

Father, we bow before you.

And God, we thank you for your grace and your mercy and your love towards us.

Lord, what an amazing thing.

Our sin deserved death.

The wages of sin is death.

Lord, you should have immediately cast us away from your presence.

But instead, Lord, our whole lives you have been with us, and it has been us that has been running away from you.

God, you are so gracious, you are so good.

And Lord, this morning you have a word for us, Lord, a word that calls us to return to your presence, to enter into your presence, the very thing that we were created for.

We, Lord, we can we affirm with Augustine, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.

And so, God, we pray for that this morning.

Help us to find our rest in you.

Help us to live in your presence, the very thing that we were created for.

God, we thank you for this time.

Speak to us, Lord.

We're listening.

Praise the name of your son.

Amen.

Let me read Haggai chapter one for us.

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 to the prophet, the prophet to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealteel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehosedak, the high priest.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, these people say that 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 looked 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 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 and the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast and all their labors.

This is Rubbabel, the son of Sheeltiel, and Joshua the son of Jehosadak, 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, as the Lord their God had sent him.

And the people feared the Lord.

Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord's people, 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 Sheeltiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehosedak, 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 twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

Well, Hagai's calling us to enter into the presence of God, and he's really showing us how we are to do that this morning.

And I want you to see this first that if we're going to enter into the presence of God, the first thing we need to recognize is that the time is now.

Realize that the time is now.

There is no greater time for you to pursue and enter into God's presence than right now.

Now in verse 1, we read that it had been 15 years that the people of God had stopped working on the temple.

You'll remember from previous weeks that in Ezra, uh the people of God experienced sort of a second Exodus.

They were delivered from Babylon to Jerusalem, and they were given this mission, really the same mission they were given in Exodus, to worship God, to build the temple.

And now they find themselves 15 years out and the work has halted.

Now, the heart of this should be very concerning for us.

What does it mean that the work on the temple has halted?

Well, when you understand the temple, what you come to understand is that this is the very house of God.

In fact, when you read through the Old Testament, you find that much of the time for Israel, they have something that represents the presence of God, whether it's the Ark of the Covenant, or the Ark of the Covenant within the tabernacle, or the first temple that Solomon built.

And whenever the people of God had the presence of God, success went with them.

It really is as easy as this.

You can read all throughout the whole Old Testament, and you just find when God is present with his people, his people flourish to the glory of God, but the moment they lose sight of his presence, the people crumble.

And you need to know right now that God is speaking to us in a very real and practical way, telling us that the same is true of our lives.

You can have all the things that you could possibly want in the world.

You can have your bucket list, everything possibly scratched off it.

But if you do not have the presence of God, you will never find joy.

God created us for Himself.

Our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Him.

And so here are the people of God, and they've stopped the work on the temple of God, and that's a great issue because whenever the presence of God is not the main priority of God's people, they crumble in failure.

Now I think it's especially relevant here, then that what happens immediately is God sends his servant Haggai to do what?

Verse 2, you read it there, to speak the word of the Lord.

Speak the word of the Lord to the people.

And when we find ourselves pursuing the things that are not God's presence, you know what God does in his grace?

He calls us back to him.

And so many of us this morning need to realize that what God is doing for us this morning is showing us his grace.

He knows all the ways that you failed, he knows how insufficient you are.

And what he's doing this morning is what he's done for his people and all throughout time.

He's calling you back.

There is enough mercy to forgive you for what you've done.

There's enough grace to cover you, even though you haven't lived perfectly for him.

God calls you back into his presence, even though you've stopped doing the very things that you should be doing.

This is the grace of God to deliver a word to us when we need to hear it most.

God does that for us when we abide in Him.

You know, how many times have you opened up God's word and pursued in the morning a time of worship of Him?

And God has for you just exactly what you need to hear that morning.

God speaks to us.

When we are wayward, He speaks to us, and it's His grace.

So many of us, you're you're like me.

When someone wrongs you, what do you want to do?

Well, I'm done with this person.

I'll go through a drive-thru if they get my coffee wrong.

I'm not going back ever again, I'm saying, as I'm driving away.

I'm done with this place.

But God is so much more merciful, He's so much more gracious.

He continually speaks to us.

What God speaks about here is really getting to the heart of the issue.

It's not a building.

You know, all throughout scripture, there's there's kind of this funny thing going on where God is commanding his people to build the temple, but at the same time, God's kind of like looking at the temple and thinking, like saying to his people, you really think I dwell in a house with walls?

You really think that you have to build a temple so that I can kind of find a comfortable place, you know, to be with you?

And the answer is no.

This isn't about a building.

What this is ultimately about is by building the temple, the people of God are showing what their priority is.

They're showing that their priority is the presence of God with them, that they have this view of success that says that true and honest success is when the presence of the Lord is with you.

Nothing else is success, really, success.

This is a matter of priorities.

And not building the temple revealed that their priorities ultimately were not for God's presence.

Now, this is a big deal.

Listen, this is a big deal for you and I.

When you and I live in a way where our the central priority of our life is not to enter into the presence of God, this is a big deal.

Well, how do you know?

Look at what it says in verse 2.

Look how the Lord speaks to the people of Israel.

He says, Thus says the Lord of hosts, these people.

Say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.

You know, all throughout Ezra, especially in Ezra 3, what you find is that the people of Israel are being called the people of the Lord.

They are become being called the children of the Lord.

And now, because they have chosen to make a priority of something else, God looks at them and he no longer says, My people, he no longer says, my children, he says, these people.

I mean, parents understand this, right?

You ever been in the grocery store with your kids, they're misbehaving, and you just kind of take a step aside, you pretend like they're not really your children.

And yet, what God is is doing here is not stepping aside and not being willing to call these people his children.

What the children of Israel are doing is looking at God and saying, That is not my father.

What the children of Israel have done is instead of living in their identity as true children of God, they have chosen to live as children of the world.

This was their choice.

You know, if they had made the presence of God their priority, then they truly would be living as children of God.

But they made this choice when they stopped building the temple.

I don't really care what God says.

He's not my father, I'll do whatever I want, I'll build my own home.

And when God calls him these people, it's not this sort of condemnation.

He's only calling them what they've truly wanted to be by not pursuing the priorities that God has given to them.

Here's why this is such a big deal.

When you don't when you don't draw near to God's presence, you are not acting as God's child.

You are not living in the identity that has been won for you by Jesus Christ.

Jesus died on the cross so that you could be viewed by God as a child of God, so that your sin could be dealt with and so that your status could be changed.

But when we live in a way where we don't, with all of our effort and life, seek to draw near to God and to draw near to his presence, what we're doing is we're saying this, I don't I just don't care about being a child of God.

I'd rather be someone else's child.

This is what sin does for us.

Sin changes what we really delight in.

You know, it's funny with Adam and Eve in the garden, it says in Genesis 1 and 2 that as they were in the garden, there is this delight in the garden in the presence of God.

They walked in the garden with God and they talked with God, and there is this close personal relationship face to face.

But but you ever recognize what happens as soon as Adam sins?

God comes back into the garden, and it's this sort of it's funny to think about because God's all-knowing, but he says in the garden, Adam, where are you?

Adam, I used to enjoy such good fellowship with you.

Like we would be in the garden, Adam, we'd be walking together, and I would be delighting in you as my child, and you would be delighting in me as your creator and your father.

Adam, where are you?

Where is Adam?

He's hiding.

He's hiding behind the trees.

He's trying to hide from the presence of God.

And this complete reversal has taken place where instead of delighting in the presence of God, now Adam's trying to run away from it as though he can get away from God's presence.

And I wonder this morning if God is doing this work in you where he is calling you by name and he's saying, This, where are you?

The sin that is separating you from me, God says, I hate, and I sent my own son to deal with it so that you can live and enjoy and delight in my presence.

Sin changes the way that we delight in God's presence.

And so the first thing then we need to do is the first point of this message is we need to realize what not pursuing God is costing us.

Sin costs us nearness.

I'm not talking about in a sense of salvation.

I'm not I'm not saying that because you know you've sinned, God is going to depart from you in a salvific sense.

But I am saying this that when you sin, what you are doing is putting a wedge between your relationship with the Lord so that you cannot sense his nearness in your life.

And this is the reason why God feels so far away from some of you, because you you know you're living in disobedience, and what disobedience does is it separates you from the felt presence of God.

Do you remember when David sinned with Bathsheba and it led to the murder of Uriah?

And in Psalm 51, it's this amazing psalm of repentance.

What is it when David finally repents of the wickedness of this sin?

What is it that really fills his heart with fear?

It is this he says, Cast me not away from your presence.

What drives him to repentance is this desire to enter into the presence of God.

And so he looks at God and he says, Cast me not away from your presence.

I know what my sin deserves, but I want to be near you.

What was the hardest part of the cross for Jesus Christ?

When Jesus was bearing the weight of my sin, all my sin.

He was bearing the weight of all your sin.

And not only that, on the cross, as he was bearing the weight of every person who would believe in him, the sin of that, the separation that that sin would cause, he was experiencing from God.

What would he cry out?

The real pain of the cross, not the nails in his hands and his feet, not the crown of thorns, not even the betrayal of his closest friends who were nowhere near to be found.

The deepest pain he would feel is this when he would look to God and say this, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The greatest pain of his life is to not feel the presence of God.

But instead to feel the condemnation of God as God's wrath is poured out because of our sin.

Here's the issue.

These people say that the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.

Now, if you and I were to you know interview an Israelite up here and ask him, hey, listen, why aren't you building the house of the Lord?

You know what they would have said?

Hey, someday I'm gonna get to it.

And isn't it true that that's relevant for so many of us in our walk with the Lord?

We know what we need to do.

And if we were pressed on it, yeah, okay, listen, someday I'm really gonna start reading the word like I should.

Someday I'm really gonna get into a community of small uh believers in a small group and start, you know, serving the Lord the way I should.

Someday I'm gonna really start to reach the lost by the it's just today's not the day.

You know what the issue was for Israel?

It's not that they didn't have this priority, the issue is that they were putting it off as a someday priority when it should have been a today priority.

We all have someday priorities, don't we?

We know the things.

We said this spring, this is gonna be the spring, this is gonna be the spring I clean out the garage.

Like this spring, my garage, I'm gonna park in it this winter.

And how many winters have we parked on the driveway because that's a someday priority?

This January?

Many, many, many of us said, okay, I this is the year I'm gonna start eating healthy, gonna get back to the gym.

But I'm gonna do it January 2nd because you know, January 1st, New Year's Day, there's all sorts of food, and it's a someday priority for us, and that's why it doesn't happen.

That's the reality about many of our someday priorities, they they often never happen, but that's not just that's not the issue.

The issue is that they have taken what should be the pursuit of their life to live in the presence of God.

That is life.

And they have said, I'll do it tomorrow.

And you need to understand this that being a disciple of Jesus Christ, it is a right now priority.

It like to be a disciple, it is a pursuit that you need to do right now.

There is no reason why you should put on the back burners the things that God has called you to as a disciple of Christ.

And so, what do we how do we define a disciple of Christ here at redemption?

Well, we say this that a disciple of Christ abides in Christ, connects in the church, and reaches the loss.

Some of you are like, okay, this is step two all over again.

And yes, because that's exactly what discipleship is about.

So let me ask you this: are you doing those things?

This is not a someday priority.

This needs to happen today.

Are you abiding in Christ?

Is your life characterized by this pursuit of the worship, the personal worship of Jesus Christ?

Do you regularly read his word so that God can speak to you and your heart can be lifted up in worship?

Do you regularly pray so that you can see the kingdom of heaven be established on earth?

You regularly worship God, both personally in your life, but with other believers.

Are you abiding in Christ?

Not a Sunday priority.

This is always a priority.

Here's a second call of discipleship to connect in the church.

This is not something that we can participate in once life just becomes a little less busy.

This is what Jesus has called us to as a disciple.

To speak the truth in love, and thereby, Paul says in Ephesians 4, build up the church.

There's a calling that you and I have to connect with other believers, to pour ourselves into them, to speak the truth in love into their lives, to serve the church in various ministries, but also in informal ways.

Are you connecting in the church?

And lastly, are you reaching the lost?

Are you reaching the lost?

Do you have a network of people right now that you are seeking to reach for Christ?

Do you have people that you are praying regularly for, that you are looking for opportunity for?

This is not a someday priority when life gets less busy.

Life will always be busy.

There will always be priorities that fight for your the attention of the most important things.

The question is this: do you have the strength?

Do you have the courage to look at those priorities and say, not today, I'm going to pursue the Lord?

Realize the time is now.

Well, the second thing we need to do then is consider what needs to be changed.

Consider what needs to be changed.

As we get into verses 3 to 11, we really get this sense that the Lord is leading them through this process, sort of this counseling process, where they come to realize what they have been doing wrong.

They really come to understand that the things that they have been prioritizing over God.

And I want you to understand really how practical this is.

You see, our problem is not just that we don't draw near.

Our problem is really the things that we have put before drawing near.

This is how life works.

You know, if there is a sort of wedge in your relationship with the Lord and you feel like you're not following him, it's not just because you haven't prioritized that, it's because you've put other priorities in place.

And this is what's so insulting about it to God.

This is the sense we get as we read verses 3 to 11.

That what's really insulting about this is here are these people in verse 4 building paneled, cedar-paneled houses for themselves, while this house lies in ruins.

Where are your priorities?

What this really reveals is that the people of Israel at this time they really just don't do not love the Lord because of what they're willing to do instead of pursuing God.

You can imagine the sort of disgust and the offense that this would be to God.

You know, imagine that one day you had planned for your wife a really special dinner, and you had really, you know, this is my problem, I always over-promise, under deliver, and you had really over-promised.

You had really spoken a lot about how great this dinner is.

But the night comes for the dinner and and you don't come home.

And you had spoken up this really big day, oh, I'm gonna do this for you, honey.

It's gonna be amazing.

What is gonna be so disappointing to her?

What's gonna be so disappointing to her is that you chose in that moment when you had said you would do something for her, you chose to pursue something else.

And clearly that thing that you chose to do, you think is more important than her.

And that is incredibly painful.

And you begin to see why this is such a big deal for Israel.

Because it's not just this is what we always tell ourselves, oh, you know, someday I'm gonna do it, and and God really, He's okay because I have that desire.

Doesn't matter if you come home to your wife and you've promised that sort of thing and you say, Hey, I really wanted to do it, but man, the hockey game went into overtime, and I just I'm sorry.

Problem is that you've placed these other things in sequential order, you've put them first before God.

And so then what God does is graciously, he comes to Israel.

Look at this in verse 5 and 7.

Circle this with a pen in your Bible.

This is so important.

He says in verse 5, consider your ways.

Again, in verse 7, he says, consider your ways.

What God is asking us to do this morning is to look at our lives, and all of us need to do this this morning.

Look at our lives and ask ourselves, what is hindering ourselves from drawing nearer to God?

And as we look at these things, what we're gonna find is that, like, for very few of us, we're gonna come up with this answer of, like, well, I'm a murderer, and if I could just stop murdering people, I would really be, you know, a lot closer to God.

That's very unlikely that that's gonna be your answer.

If it is your answer, people around you are probably just gonna give you a bit more space next Sunday.

Very likely, you know what your answer is gonna be?

It's gonna be all these things that if God was on the throne of your heart, they could actually be good things.

It's gonna be things like money, it's gonna be things like food, it's gonna be things that in and of themselves they are not outright sin, like entertainment.

Like you can you can enjoy these things and it can be in a good way, but you know what the problem is, is that these things are gonna become the priority in your life.

This is what we're gonna find as we take up the work that God's calling us to this morning.

Consider your ways, he says in verse 5 and 7.

Well, what are the things in life that are hindering you from living in God's presence?

Let me suggest a few that is the Israelites show us.

Is it possible that you are prioritizing and pursuing comfort before calling?

Is it possible that you're pursuing comfort before calling?

Look again with me at verse 4, where God says to Israel, Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins?

This is quite ironic.

The to panel homes in cedar was one of the most luxurious things that had been seen in Israel since the days of Solomon.

And here are the people of God saying, Well, listen, just it's the time's not right.

We just don't have the resources to build a temple, but they do have the resources to panel their homes with the nicest materials that have been in Israel since the greatest golden era of Israel, the days of Solomon.

The issue with these people is that they had pursued comfort over the calling that God had given to them to build the temple.

And we need to be very careful here.

We need to be very careful that we are not putting the priorities that God has given us as disciples to abide in Christ, to connect in the church, to reach the lost.

We need to be very careful that we have not put off the priorities God has given us while also putting on other things that are of way less importance.

This is very condemning for many of us.

If you were to open up your phone and go onto screen time and you were to see how much of your day you spend on your phone, and yet all of us have at times uttered these words to the Lord, Lord, I just don't have time to serve you right now.

Well, my phone reveals that I do have time, you know, to finish this whole season on Netflix in one weekend, but I don't have time to serve you, Lord.

Very condemning for many of us as we think about this.

Have we pursued our comfort over calling?

You know, one of the ways that this is most relevant in my own life is as I as I think about giving.

One of the greatest temptations to us will be to pursue this sort of financial comfort.

And in order to sort of live in this financial comfort, often what we will do is the first thing we'll do is take from God.

Okay, I just I won't give this month.

And we make it a someday priority.

Of course, of course I'm gonna give.

You know, God deserves this, is his money.

Of course I'm gonna give, but we make it a someday priority.

We replace the call that God has given us to be generous and joyful and cheerful givers.

And instead we seek comfort first.

In every area of our life, God calls us seek first the kingdom of God.

Seek first the kingdom of God.

All these things will be added to you, God says.

We're to seek our calling before comfort.

But the second thing that the Israelites seek here is gain before God.

They prioritize their own personal gain before their pursuit of God.

You see, the problem really wasn't heart-hardship.

Isn't it interesting that in Ezra 4 you face all this opposition, but when you come to Haggai, what does Haggai reveal to the Israelites?

He reveals that it's really not about hardship.

You notice that not once does Haggai have to talk about the enemies of Israel.

Haggai never has to say, hey, listen, you just gotta be really courageous.

I know those enemies are really strong, but if you just be really courageous, you can stand against these strong enemies.

Haggai doesn't even mention that.

Because even though the opposition halted the Israelites from building the temple, it wasn't the opposition that kept them from building the temple.

It was this desire for personal gain.

And so you see that here in verse 6.

They're so concerned with personal gain.

You have sown much but 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.

They are just trying to consume.

And the problem is that they have this endless appetite.

And I want you to understand that one of the blessings that God gives us is that if we're unwilling to pursue him, he will never allow us to find satisfaction in that thing, so as to be content in something that is not him.

That's what God does because he loves us.

He just won't let it happen.

And so you see that, like this hilarious picture here where they're eating, they're eating, they're eating, and they never have enough.

They're drinking, they're drinking, they're drinking, but they're always thirsty.

They make money, they put it into their pockets, and I think Haggai is hilarious here.

There's holes in their pockets, it's falling under their pants.

They, as much as they want to find satisfaction outside of God, they cannot listen.

Is this preaching to anybody's heart right now that you just will not find it outside of God?

When are we gonna believe God?

That he is right about the path of joy, that the only way that we can find satisfaction is in walking in the path of obedience, and that every time we we think we know a better way, he will always foil our plans because he loves us too much.

This is the issue with worldly pursuits.

This is the issue with pursuing sensual pleasure.

It will never be enough for you.

Every time you pursue something of this world, it will just cause you to hunger more and more.

I mean, I think about ways to illustrate this.

I just cannot find any other way other than Chinese food.

You've have you eaten Chinese food recently?

Isn't it funny?

All my illustrations are mostly about food.

That's all I think about.

That's really relevant to me.

You eat and you never have enough.

Well, you know, the funny thing about Chinese food is you is you pay like 50 bucks and you get so much Chinese food that you like.

Sometimes I get home and I'm like, do they think we're feeding an army here?

And so you stuff your face full of food and you're so full.

Like you can't even, I mean, you don't really want to because the fortune cookie is gross anyways, but you can't even fit that fortune cookie into your stomach.

You're just so full.

But then 10 minutes later, I don't know what it is about this food, don't you find you're just like incredibly hungry again?

You can eat as much as you want, and you'll never have your fill.

It's like it's just like I don't know what it's some sort of, I don't know if it's a miracle or a curse with Chinese food.

But that's that's exactly illustrative of what happens when we pursue the things that are not God.

They never actually satisfy.

And it's funny that when Jesus comes, he remember when he meets the woman at the well?

Hey, I can give you water, and if you drink of it, you will never thirst again.

And we say, What kind of water is this?

Because nothing else is like that.

You know, money, it's like I get money and I just need more of it.

It just like I feel the holes in my pocket.

And you know, pleasure, like pursuing pleasure in in my diet or in my body, like you know, you you get a little bit, but then you just want more and more and more, and it never actually satisfies you.

It's like running on a treadmill, you just never get anywhere.

And God is in his grace, he's stopping us this morning and saying, I there's a reason why, because I love you too much for you to be content in something that is not me.

So so we pursue then gain, we pursue God before gain.

Now listen, fathers, can I speak to you for a moment?

Can I speak to you for the moment that the greatest harm that you can do for your kids is by pursuing something as though it will be more beneficial for your kids than God Himself.

Listen, I understand as a father, we want to provide our kids the best upbringing we possibly can.

And so we work incredibly hard so that they can live in nice homes and do the sports that they want to do and eat the food that they want to eat.

We work incredibly hard for that.

We want to raise them up a certain way, and so we do all the important things as fathers because we love our kids.

But do you know that if you put anything before God, it will be more destructive for your kids than it will be healing?

Your kids are like little sponges, and they are constantly watching you to see what your priorities are, and they're constantly making these judgments.

Oh man, you know, dad, he's really willing to miss church for hockey.

He's really willing to, you know, step away from God's people for a season so that we can enjoy extended vacation.

And they are like little mathematicians, they're constantly looking at your life and assessing what is a priority for you.

And listen, I have seen so many families, I did youth for eight years, and I saw so many kids who shipwrecked their faith, and so many kids who, by the grace of God, they live for the Lord.

And you know what?

The only discernible difference is in so many ways, these kids were different, some of them homeschooled, some of them public schooled, some of them played all sorts of sports, some of them didn't.

They were different in so many little ways, rich, poor, all the different ways.

But the one thing that made a difference was this do their parents love the Lord?

There is nothing so valuable that you can give to your kids than to love Jesus Christ and to seek him.

And fathers, some of us need to hear this because we get keep getting caught up in the what the world says that to be a good father, you need to provide your kids a certain thing.

And God is looking at us right now and say, You put those other things before me, and it will actually destroy your children.

Put God first.

One more thing that we might be prioritizing, and that's exertion before expectation.

Verse 8.

It says, if you had gone to the hills, they would have found wood to build the house.

He had already given them everything they needed to be to enter into the presence of God.

It says in verse 8 that I may take pleasure in it and then I may be glorified.

Instead, verse 9 to 11, they looked for much, but it became to little.

When they brought it home, he blew it away.

You know, if they had been dependent on the Lord, the Lord would have provided them everything that they needed.

They were working hard to pursue a blessing that would never come.

And this is so relevant for us.

You and I, we need to make sure that we're not working hard to secure for ourselves something that only God can give.

Many of us, we we try to arrange our lives so that we can have a certain sense of peace.

We try to control every single detail, but the reality is that in a moment our life can come to shambling crumbles and we no longer have peace because the reality is we just don't have control.

So many of us look for security in life and things that are not God.

We look for it in our home, we look for it in our finances, we look for it in our family.

We're trying to sort of secure ourselves.

And God is showing us this morning that we just there that you won't have security unless you find refuge in him.

What you are seeking, whatever it is you are seeking from the world right now, God speaks to you and says the only way to actually have it is in him.

We're working hard for things that we cannot attain, but God's love is that he will not give it to you when you're seeking it in places that are not him.

I come back, I came to this a few weeks ago, but my mind has just been on Psalm 121 so much.

The psalmist says, I lift my eyes up to the hills.

The hills are where the robbers come in, the hills are where that there's threats of enemies attacking you.

I look to the hills, where does my help come from?

The psalmist's help could have come from so many places.

My help come from my sword, my help comes from my horse, my help comes from this army that is behind me.

There are so many things he could have looked to that were were in many ways so practical, and yet what does he say?

This, my help comes from the Lord who created the heavens and the earth.

The thing you are looking for in this world you cannot find, but God offers it in the gospel.

And so the question is this are you expectant?

Are you expectant?

How do you know if you're expectant or not?

Well, well, here's how you know.

You ask this question, how's your prayer life?

You know, the things that you're trying to get out of your work, the things that you're trying to get out of your family, the things that you're trying to get out of the all of these idols that we create as human beings, do you pray about them?

You know, prayer, we say this often, is the language of dependence.

The things you pray about are the things that you say, God, I can't I can't do this, you've got to do it.

You know, until we depend on the Lord like that, we just will not be a praying people.

And that's what's so condemning for many of us about our prayer life is that when we don't pray, you know what the problem is?

The problem is that we're saying this, God, I just don't need you today.

Like in our hearts of hearts, we just don't believe that if we go a day without prayer, we just don't believe, God, I don't need you for anything today, I'm good.

And you get the sense, you know, when Jesus teaches on prayer, he says that the first thing give us this day our daily bread.

That's kind of funny, isn't it?

You know, there's two ways you can get that daily bread.

Why don't you just go up for us?

You just go up to the pantry and you pull out the bread.

You can just work for it.

And so many of us don't pray because we just think, you know, I need my kid to be saved, so I'm just gonna work.

I'm not gonna pray, I'm just gonna work for it.

If you want daily bread, you gotta go to the field and start threshing some wheat and baking some bread, and yet God asks you to turn to him and say, Give us this day our daily bread.

Why?

Because he wants you to be expectant.

You're to pray as a little child.

It's God who gives everything.

Prayer is a language of dependence, not exertion.

It's expectation.

So we pray.

Consider what needs to be changed comfort before calling, gain before God, exertion before expectation.

Well, here's the last thing that I want you to see here.

These people, they embrace a renewed obedience.

There's a drastic change after verse 12.

And I can tell you exactly why there's a drastic change.

It's because of this.

In verse 12, it says this then Zerubbabel, the son of Sheelteel, and Joshua the son of Jehosedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God.

What changed here?

Remember in verse 2 when God spoke to the people?

He said, These people.

These people aren't living like I'm their priority.

And then in verse 12, Zerubbabel and Joshua and all the remnant of the exiles who are in Jerusalem, they obey the voice of the Lord.

And what happens immediately?

Now they identify as children of God.

And what happens, listen, listen, this is so important.

When you return to God, God returns to you.

This is how gracious he is.

What needs to happen for the presence of God, for you to enter back into the presence of God, you need to draw near to him.

That's all.

What's the promise we find in James?

Draw near to God, and you know it, and he will draw near to you.

This is exactly what needs to happen.

And so the people of God, they obey the voice of the Lord, their God.

And look what happens in verse 12.

They feared the Lord, not in the sense of like, I'm scared of what's gonna happen, but but there is this awe that caused them to prioritize the Lord in his proper place.

It's obedience.

In light of that, the presence of the Lord is immediately restored to them in verse 13.

It says, Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message, I am with you, declares the Lord.

You know what's amazing here?

God says that he is with them, and they haven't even done anything.

All they did was turn their heart to God, and God turns to them and says, I'm so with you now.

What was building the temple all about?

They were building it so that the presence of God would be with them.

But God looks at them and says, if you just turn to me in obedience, I will be with you.

I will be with you every step of the way, every step of obedience, I will walk right beside you immediately.

This is so important because so many of us have like this tendency of legalism that says, okay, God's gonna walk with me once I have my life right, once I like build the temple of my life up, then God's gonna be with me.

So once I'm good enough, then God, then God's presence will be restored.

And God is looking at us and saying this, you will never be good enough.

But if you just turn your heart to me by faith, I will be with you.

I will delight to give my presence to you.

Legalism says a temple must first be built.

The gospel says you draw near to him, and he draws near to you.

Presence of God is with the people, but in verse 14 we see something even more significant.

The power of God is with the people.

So that it says in verse 14, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, and he stirred up the spirit of Joshua, and he stirred up the spirit of all the remnant of the people.

How do we enter into the presence of God?

What God is showing us here is that none of it can happen unless God works.

The only reason we can enter into his presence is because God allows us to.

And if you turn to him, God will do that work in you.

You know how I know?

Because about 400 years later, Jesus would stand in the very temple that they built, the second temple, and he would look around the temple and he would say something that astounded his followers.

He would say, I'm gonna destroy this thing and in three days raise it up again.

And I said, I mean, how could you practically do that?

How could you destroy this marvelous temple that has been built and raise it up in three days?

And John points out that Jesus was not talking about raising up this building, he was actually talking about raising himself as a temple through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And what does that tell you?

Exactly what John tells us that if we want to access the presence of God, God needs to be the one who acts.

And when we look at Jesus Christ, we see that he did.

So that John can say it was the Word of God, Jesus Himself, who tabernacled, temples among us.

And when Jesus dies on the cross, you remember what happens in the temple?

This massive curtain that separated the people of God from the very presence of God.

It tears in two from top to bottom to say this: that heaven has met earth, and now the presence of God through Jesus Christ is available to those who believe in him.

And so, how do we enter into the presence of God?

It can only be by faith, because Jesus is made away.

He has become the temple himself.

So that 1 Peter says, 1 Peter 2 9 says that we are being built up now in Jesus Christ to be a temple of God.

God has done this work.

He's called us into his presence.

And if we want to enter into the presence, we can only do it through Jesus Christ.

By realizing that the time is now, by considering what needs to be changed, and by embracing a renewed obedience.

Let's turn to the Lord in prayer.

Father, I thank you.

Lord, thank you for what you have done in Jesus.

Thank you for providing us a way to access your presence.

And Lord, we confess it in a sign that we don't deserve it.

And yet, Lord, we rejoice that you have given it through your Son Jesus Christ.

Said he would destroy the second temple and raise it again in three days, and he did by being resurrected and defeating death finally and forever.

So that now by faith we can have access to him.

So God, we give you all the praise.

And I and as we sing this song, Lord, we're making this declaration that we want to enter into your presence and we desire nothing more.

I pray that this would be a time of repentance, Lord, for myself, for all of us.

Lord, to repent of the things that have kept us from your presence and to draw near through the way that you have made by your Son Jesus Christ.

God, we thank you.

I pray this in the name of your son.

Amen.