"Prerequisite for Grace is Grace" (2)

Intro: Rex and the mailbox

For the past few weeks we have been looking at this unique book of Haggai. It is unique in how short it is, and how Israel has responded to God's calling them out through Haggai.

So quick recap, Israel is once again in captivity and for 50 years they are under harsh situations.

Then after 50 years God allows them to be rescued again through the Persian army, who also allowed them to go back to Jerusalem and have freedom to rebuild the temple and worship God.

They have been commissioned by God to rebuild the city, rebuild the people and mainly rebuild the temple.

They were to take the temple that was in ruins and build it back up so that the glory of God would once again dwell in the heart of the nation that would be a blessing to the nation.

So, they start the work, the foundation starts going up quickly, they meet a little bit of opposition and stop working on building their place of worship.

They did not stop, however, building themselves up or their lively hoods. They essentially abandoned their worship of God, and this right after he set them free again.

16 years go by and this is foundation just kind of sits there. Haggai comes in and speaks to the people and says, “God is not pleased with you people.

The fact that you’ve chosen to neglect what He redeemed and saved you from, then to go and spend the next 16 years focused on your own self to the neglect of His kingdom and His name.”

This stirs the heart of the people, they repent and turn back to the rebuilding of the temple. But as we saw last week, just three weeks after the people began rebuilding, discouragement sets in.

Because the older generation begins to see this foundation taking shape and all these images of Solomon’s temple 70 years earlier, they compare and are dissatisfied with what sits before them.

For them it was just not the same. Meanwhile, there is a bunch of young folks who had never seen Solomon’s temple. They don’t know any difference.

All they know is God is in this thing and God wants them to build something again for His namesake.

They’re excited, but discouragement bleeds into the younger generation to the point they stop working again. Haggai is sent back to them and speaks words of encouragement to them.

He reminds both camps of people it is God Who is behind this, and they have no idea what He has in store for them. This is going to be big, He is with you, now get back to it.

So today we come to this place where they are back to working hard on this temple and a bit of bad theology starts to creep in and they start misunderstanding the nature of God and the nature of themselves.

What it came down too was this, as they continued to do this temple work, they began to see themselves as holy because of the work they were doing.

The were living in this thought that God was pleased simply because they were doing religious stuff and even acting religious again.

This is why God was blessing them they thought. Let's look at our passage today and but before we do let's ask God to show us what it is we need to see and hear today as well. Read Passage: Haggai 2:10-23

Haggai 2:10–23 ESV

10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, 11 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests about the law: 12 ‘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 priests answered and said, “No.” 13 Then Haggai said, “If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered and said, “It does become unclean.” 14 Then Haggai answered and said, “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean. 15 Now then, consider from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, 16 how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. 17 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. 18 Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider: 19 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.” 20 The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, 21 “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, 22 and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders. And the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his brother. 23 On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the Lord, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts.”

It is not our religious activities that save us and sustain us. It’s not our religious activity that makes us holy before God.

It’s not our obedience to His work that obligates Him to do any sort of blessing in our life. God has made it clear throughout His word that His grace is abundant and His grace is available.

For Israel this truth would be made very clear through Haggai in three ways, and still some 2600 years later, it holds the same for us today. The first truth we see is ...

1. God clarifies the depth of our sin

God speaks through the prophet Haggai to the priests to define the extent of the nation’s sin. He is very clear with them, holiness and this being filled with grace, this does not transfer from you to others.

You are Holy because God is Holy. But unholiness...oh unholiness is a real problem and it goes from person to person, and it is not of God at all.

He asks the priests about consecrated meat, already knowing the answer Himself, but asks them to help them get to the depth of their sin. Prerequisite for Grace is Grace.

This illustrated two key truths for them to hear. Sin causes you to be defiled and dead spiritually, and there is no amount of religious activity that can benefit you until you come to a place of repentance.

An appearance of godliness is pointless without repentance. If you are out of control in your life and you are called out on it and, yeah, it makes you feel bad, you need to know this.

You can't just change your surroundings and friends or just quit doing things and, BAM, you’re good to go.

You can change the influences all you want and for a season it may correct some of your behavior, but if the issue is within the heart, you have a whole other issue.

I don’t care what setting you put yourself in, that influence will not make you behave better. Only repentance can lead to a changed heart.

So as a believer in Jesus Christ, if you’ve gotten to the point where you feel like you must perform in this religious activity in order for God to love you and be acceptable, you’ve missed it. You’re back in law again and that will not save you in the least. The second truth we see is ...

2. God calls for remembrance

This is a key essential truth with your faith walk folks. To stay in pursuit of and continue on the path of God, it is essential you remember where you came from.

This is one of the reasons I like to share my testimony with people. When I think of the depth of what God rescued me from, I become deeply moved by His grace.

Verses 15-19 of Haggai 2 are God’s means of calling the nation of Israel to repentance. It is a call to remember where they had come from. Read: Haggai 2:15-19

Haggai 2:15–19 ESV

15 Now then, consider from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, 16 how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. 17 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. 18 Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider: 19 Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you.”

This helped them see they could celebrate what God, in His grace, would do for them now because of their true repentance.

This was a group of people who were disobedient, always running from God, and it seemed like nothing would ever change in them.

But God constantly saw them through. Did He correct them, oh yes, but it was done for them to see what they had been missing out on in the past, His blessing.

In verse 17 he reminds them of what He had done in the past to get their attention as they continued to disobey and ignore Him. Read: Haggai 2:17

Haggai 2:17 ESV

17 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.

All those were curses under the Mosaic Law in Deuteronomy 28. When they turned to idols, God would withhold and afflict their crops.

Now God is saying, prior to now, I poured out My love to you, and you didn’t repent to Me. Then I disciplined you and tried to bring you back into relationship with Me, and you didn’t repent.

All this effort God poured into His people to restore them, and they would flee. All their efforts they poured into themselves produced nothing, and they still wouldn’t turn to Him.

But now God has their hearts and things are getting ready to change. Read: Haggai 2:18-19

Haggai 2:18–19 ESV

18 Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider: 19 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.”

The answer to this question is a resounding no. They had a barren land for 16 years. It had been producing nothing for them.

Since they threw in the towel after laying the foundation they were failing to get in good crops. Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing.

And even though they had been back to work for a few months, they still were not getting a return. God was saying, just because you are doing religious stuff does not mean you will see my blessing. I call for a broken and contrite heart.

God has always been in the business of blessing His people and what He is after is a heart that has been cleansed by His grace. That is what He loves to pour His blessings into.

The beauty of our repentance blesses God. So, look what He says to Israel here ... Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you.” The last truth we see is ...

3. God brings blessing and restoration

Because they had chosen to repent and obey, they would receive God’s berakah, His blessing. Once again, as has been mentioned throughout the book, this is evidence of God’s grace.

So, this is the closing of this book, and what a sweet ending it is. He Makes this massive promise to Israel, particularly their King Zerubbable.

He will restore them to political power, return peace to them once again, and His presence will once again be felt among them.

These were some impressive promises. They were weak and vulnerable at this point in their journey.

They had little in resources, and for sure had no political or military strength, but this is God and He said He would restore this and He did.

He would transfer that power to the Israelites. Instead of a weak, resource-challenged kingdom, Zerubbabel would preside over a strong, resource-rich, and influential kingdom.

In verse 22 He tells them he will overthrow the chariots and all those coming against them. This is clearly illustrating the end to warfare against them that constantly led them to captivity.

Peace was coming to them now and would later come even greater in the coming of Jesus. And finally, He tells Zerubbable He will make him as a signet ring.

This is a powerful reminder that God deeply loved Zerubbabel and Israel, and that God was also entrusting him with His authority, which is symbolized by the ring.

This is an offer that moves on past forgiveness. This is an offer declaring that God is in a trusting relationship with Israel once again.

God not only forgives, He not only redeems, He not only blesses, but He also restores. What a message!

And I think 2,600 years later, as we’re looking at the church that Christ has built, in the same way we have been ransomed from our captivity, ransomed from our sin.

He has delivered us. He has freed us. He has broken the chains so that we’re reconciled once again to our heavenly Father through faith in Jesus Christ.

But as we move out of that salvation experience into the life that He now has for us, there’s an understanding that we need to make sure we have a clear understanding of.

There is a world around us that would love to deceive us into thinking that the reason we got saved is so that we can pour into our own kingdom.

This is not what God has done. He has liberated us so that we would be free to serve Him, so our hearts and affections would go to the true object, which is Jesus Christ Himself.

So yes, while God has given us this time on earth to enjoy, the end for us as believers is not simply that we would get married, have a few kids, land that great job and build up that 401k.

As good as those things can be, that’s not the end. The end is His kingdom. We’re waiting for Him to come.

And until then, He has given us work to do, to go serve Him, to go out into the communities around us and to the ends of the earth proclaiming the gospel of salvation to all who would hear.

That’s why a believer is on this earth. The miserable are to be made majestic. The lost are to be found. The broken are to be made strong and valiant. We are not left for dead friends.

We all have a chance for an incredible eternity! This is the power of God’s redemptive activity and story.