Sermon Tone Analysis

THE BEST IS YET TO COME  I started in Haggai last week and I brought the first part of the message.

I want to continue in the second chapter tonight.

I am moving through the Minor Prophets and I have had the surprise of my life because I have discovered there is a keen interest on the part of the congregation to hear what God has to say in these neglected books of the Bible.

I have been especially interested in the response of our young people—to see how interested and responsive they have been to these messages.

In your Old Testament there are twelve books, which fall into the category of the Minor Prophets.

The first nine of these prophets are what we call pre- captivity prophets because they spoke to God's people before the time of the captivity.

The last three are called the post-captivity prophets because they spoke to God's people after they had returned from the land of captivity.

Haggai is one of these post-captivity prophets--Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

These three men God used to speak His message to the remnant—the people who had returned.

You will find references in the book of Haggai to the remnant.

It is a reference to that faithful few people who were willing to obey the word of the Lord and to go back to the land which God had given to them.

They were good, godly people.

They loved the Lord and were willing to pay the price to be God's remnant.

They were the right people in the right place at the right time for the right purpose.

When I read about that and thought about that I couldn't help but think about God's faithful remnant in the fellowship of the First Baptist Church.

So many of you love the Lord, so many of you pay the price to serve the Lord and give of your time and give of your money and give of your effort.

You are the right people in the right place at the right time for the right purpose.

Even sometimes God's very best people need a special word from the Lord.

So, God gave to Haggai the prophet, a series of messages.

These messages are intended to challenge the people to continue the work.

Its purpose is to arouse the people and to get them going again in rebuilding this temple that God had assigned to them.

I. SELFISHNESS.

In messages, which are carefully dated in the book of Haggai, the Lord gives 4 words to the people of God in that day.

The first message was given on September 1, 520 B.C. That's the substance of the 1st chapter.

It is a message concerning selfishness.

Even though they were the remnant, even though they loved the Lord, their enthusiasm and interest in completing the temple had waned and they had become preoccupied with their own activities.

They were building their own houses.

They had said it was not time to build the house of the Lord.

But Haggai is saying to them that they need to examine their selfishness and rearrange their priorities.

The New Testament commentary on the message he gives in chapter 1 is Matthew 6:33 where the Lord Jesus Christ said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you."

So, the first message was a message concerning selfishness.

The second message and the date is given in chapter 2, verse 4.

This date is October 21, 520 B. C., approximately seven weeks after the first message was given.

The people responded in a marvelous way to the message concerning selfishness.

We read in the closing verses of chapter 1 that they begin to do the work of the Lord with renewed enthusiasm and renewed commitment.

Then the second message comes some seven weeks later.

It is a message concerning greatness.

II.

GREATNESS.

As you read through you will notice that the work of the Lord is going on.

The temple is being built.

As the people began to look at that temple, there were some old timers among them.

There were some folks who remembered Solomon's temple in its glory.

They thought about Solomon's temple and they looked at this building, which was a smaller building in proportion.

So their hearts were filled with discouragement.

Instead of looking forward to the future and claiming God's blessing for the future, they were looking backward and as result their hearts were filled with discouragement.

That's what he means in verse 3 when he says, "Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory?

And how do you see it now?"

He is saying—are you discouraged by the comparison?

"Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing."

He is saying—you are looking in the wrong direction.

You don't understand what greatness is really all about.

He is trying t o point out to them that greatness is not the equivalent of bigness.

Bigness does not necessarily mean greatness.

There is a tendency for God's good people and a special tendency for people of my generation and above to begin to dwell on the past and think about all the things of the past and look back to the past.

They compare and if you are not very careful you will get yourself into a frame of mind, you will get yourself into a spiritual posture where you are always comparing the presence with the past.

The older you get the bigger the past gets.

The more wonderful the past gets.

Sometimes if you are not very careful—old times, instead of being an encouragement, can become a discouragement.

If you don't watch it very carefully the old times can be a hindrance instead of a help.

You begin to throw cold water on what God is trying to do today.

I was thinking about this companion passage in the 3rd chapter, 12th verse of Ezra.

The Bible says that the ancient men (the old guys) when they saw this temple, they began to weep because it was not as big as the previous temple.

They were filled with discouragement.

That's the danger today.

Sometimes you have a great service and the tendency is to say, "Well, that service was alright, but boy, we really had a good one.

You should have been here so and so."

You hear some good music and somebody says, "Isn't that wonderful music!" "Well, that music was good, but boy, we had a concert here a few years ago and this one ain't nothing compared to that."

You hear some Bible teach and you say, "Isn't that great Bible teaching!"

"Well, that's good, but boy, you should have been here when so and so.

We really had some good Bible teaching back then."

If you are not careful you'll get hung up in the past.

If you get hung up in the past, then the tendency is to become critical of the present.

You start criticizing everything that's going on.

You don't like this.

And it's not the way we used to do it here.

And it was better back then.

Before you know it, you become a wart inspector and a collector of barnacles.

You begin to criticize.

I've asked the Lord to help me not to become a critical old man.

I don't want to become a sourpuss in my last years.

I want to be positive.

I want to be forward thinking.

I want to look at what it's really all about.

The past is not to be an anchor, which holds us where we are.

It's to be a rudder that moves us toward the future.

The past is not to be a parking lot.

The past is to be a roadmap to get us going and doing God's will in the days ahead.

Haggai is saying to us tonight—you must understand what greatness is.

Notice what he does in verse 4. Three times he uses this word, be strong.

Three times he says it to governor Zerubbabel.

He says it to Joshua the high priest.

He says it to the remnant of the people—be strong and work.

Then he gives a marvelous three-fold encouragement to keep us moving toward doing the work of the Lord.

Here's the first encouragement.

He says in verse 4, "I am with you."

In the latter part of verse 5, he says, "So my Spirit remaineth among you."

We are to be strong and do the work of the Lord because we have the promise of God's presence.

Dear one, God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

The same God who blessed us in the 90s is the God who will bless us now.