Can You Hear Me Now?

Can You Hear Me Now?

Haggai 2:10-19

Introduction:

Whether you have a cell phone or not, most likely you are familiar with the phrase, “Can you hear me now?” Verizon Wireless has made a hit series of commercials by having one of their employees go across America testing the reception of their wireless phones. The commercial simply shows a man saying, “Can you hear me now? Good!” Those of us who use cell phones now what it is like when you are trying to talk to someone only to find that they can’t hear you or you can’t hear them.

I have come up with another great way to use the phrase, “Can you hear me now!” You may remember back in 1999, a series of billboards came out across the nation. They are known as God’s billboards. An anonymous person hired an advertising company out of Florida do design billboards that will get people thinking about God.

One sign said, “Let’s meet at my house Sunday before the Game.” Another said, “What part of ‘Thou shall not’ did you not understand?” I think we should have another sign designed, if they haven’t already that says, “Can you hear me now? God!” Many times God is trying to get our attention, but we can’t hear him.

In our study of the book of Haggai, we find God trying to get the attention of his people. He sends the prophet Haggai to a people that had returned from captivity on account that they had grown comfortable and apathetic about the things of God.

The first message that Haggai brought to God’s people was a message of rebuke. God had been trying to get their attention through hardships, but they just couldn’t hear him. It wasn’t until he sent Haggai that the reception was clear and they could understand what God wanted from them. He wanted to have first place in their lives. He wanted to be the top priority of their lives. And when they finally heard what God wanted, they obeyed.

The second message was a message of encouragement. The people restarted the work on the temple, and God recognized that that they were growing discouraged in the process. He encouraged them to be strong and do the work.

This morning we come to the third message that the Lord brought to his people. This message is a message to God’s people to learn from their mistakes. It is message to help them learn some practical lessons about living right that would keep them from the misery that they experienced before God sent his prophet. The people needed learn some lessons that would enable them to experience the blessing of God that they deprived themselves of. The first lesson is found in verses ten through fourteen. The first thing that we need to hear from God today and learn from God today is this: when attitudes are wrong, our work and worship are unacceptable before the Lord.

I. When attitudes are wrong, our work and worship are unacceptable before the Lord

In verse ten we once again are given the time that the third message from the Lord came to God’s people, “On the twenty-fourth of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet.” We need to remember that Haggai’s ministry consisted of four messages and lasted for about four months. The first message came on what would be August 29th on our calendar. The second message came about two months later on October 17th. This message arrives on December 18th, 520 BC. It is about three months after the first message came and the people restarted the work of rebuilding the temple. It is a wonderful thing to see the God of the universe revealing his will for his people to his people. It is even more wonderful to know that he still does the same with his people today.

This third message is very similar to the first message in that it begins with an illustration or situation and then the people are confronted or challenged after the Lord applies the illustration to his people.

One thing you will notice in studying Haggai is that many time God introduces his messages by using rhetorical questions. In verse four of chapter one, God used a rhetorical question to point out the misplaced priorities of his people. The second message recorded in the first nine verses of chapter two also begins with a series of questions.

This third message also begins with rhetorical questions. The questions are found in verses twelve and thirteen. The questions are directed towards the priest because they pertain to the Law. The priests were the legal experts when it came to the Law.

The backgrounds for these questions are found in Leviticus and Numbers. These questions are not designed for academic exercise. They are designed to make a point, a point that would then be applied to God’s people. The first question deals with holiness and basically asks is holiness infectious or contagious.

a. Is Holiness Infectious?

We read in verse twelve, “If a man carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and touches bread with this fold, or cooked food, wine, oil or any other food, will it become holy? And the priest answered ‘No.’”

This question deals with meat set aside for sacrifice. The Lord is asking if the garment—which is make holy by directly touching the holy meat—was able to indirectly make the other things mentioned holy as well. As one person put it, can something be made holy by the third degree? The priest answered correctly by saying no.

In Leviticus chapter six, verse twenty-seven, the Law teaches that direct contact with holy meat made one holy. But it doesn’t say that that which came in contact with the holy meat is able to make other objects holy.

The priest answered no because they knew that holiness was an isolated virtue. Holiness is not an infections virtue. It is not contagious. It is not communicable. The second question contrast the first by basically asking if evil is infectious.

b. Is Evil Infectious?

Verse thirteen gives us our second question, “Then Haggai said, ‘If one who is unclean from a corpse touches any of these, will the latter become unclean?’’

The background for this question can be found in Leviticus chapter twenty-two and Numbers chapter nineteen. The answer to the first question revealed that holiness cannot be indirectly transmitted. This second question ask if uncleanness and defilement can be indirectly transmitted. The priest answered correctly again, “It will become unclean.” The point of this question is to show how evil and defilement is infections. It is contagious.

As a pastor I have visited sick people in hospitals and homes. Not one time have I ever made some one healthy on the basis of coming in contact with them. Health is not infectious. My prayers have helped them become healthy, but not my own health.

On the other hand, there have been a few occasions where I went to visit someone sick only to find myself sick a few days later. I’ll never forget a couple that I visited in my last church. I went to their home to see how they were doing. While I was there, I sat in the husband’s chair. I asked the wife were the husband was and she said that he was in bed with the flue. Two days later I was in bed with the flue.

Likewise, you can’t put a good apple into a bushel of bad apples and expect that one good apple to make the rest good. It just won’t happen. In the same way, holiness is not infectious, but evil is. That is why the Lord wanted his people to avoid intermarriage with pagan nations, he knew that evil was contagious. That’s why we Christians need to understand the dangers of evil around us as well. Evil is infectious.

These two questions could imply some misconceptions that the people had concerning the rebuilding of the temple. Now that they restarted the temple and the fact that the temple was holy, the people thought that all their problems that they have been having should go away. It could be that they were looking at the temple as a lucky charm. Because the temple was holy, then everything else was indirectly holy, and therefore God would bless them on account of the holiness of the temple.

After asking the two questions, the Lord will now—in verse fourteen—apply these questions to his people concerning their worship and work for the Lord. He will show them how sin makes our worship and work unacceptable before the Lord.

c. The Unacceptable Worship and Work

“Then Haggai said, ‘So is this people. And so is this nation before me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.” Some scholars believe that this verse is looking back to the fifteen or so years the work stayed idle, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

The Lord once again addresses the people as “this people.” Indicating that there is a problem. Therefore, this message is a message of admonition to keep them from making the same mistake they made before. It reveals that though they were working and worshiping again, what they were doing was not pleasing to the Lord. The Lord tells them that both the service that render to him and the worship are unclean and defiled. It is unacceptable.

Verse fourteen teaches—as well as other portions of the Bible—that holy acts can’t make a person holy. The temple may be holy, and it may make the land holy, but it doesn’t make the things grown in the land, nor does it make their works and worship holy. Religious ritualism cannot sanctify us or purify us.

The issue that God is addressing is the purity of heart and hands. Only cleansed people with pure hearts can offer work and worship that God accepts.

This indictment is not limited to the people of God in Haggai’s day. The Lord addressed the same problem with his people through the prophet Isaiah. He does the same thing with the prophet Jeremiah. His people were going through all the motions that religious people do, but they weren’t pleasing the Lord. This same indictment can be brought against the people of God today.

All across this land there are people in churches, perhaps there are some here this morning, who think that because they came to church this morning, read scripture, prayed a prayer, and worshiped God that God is pleased with what they have offered to him, even though they have sin in their lives. Some of you here this morning are backslidden Christians offering up your sacrificed believing that God is pleased with you. Some of you here this morning have never trusted in Christ, and you believe that being here gives you good standing with God. Ritualism cannot make you holy. You see, holiness is not contagious, but sin contaminates everything. Therefore, you may be pleased with your offering this morning, but because of your impure heart, God declares your offering defiled.

The only way that we can be made holy and our work and worship acceptable is by direct contact with the Lord. It is through direct contact with the blood of Jesus Christ. It is the blood of Jesus that cleanses and purifies us from all sin.

These verses really made me think about my own worship and work. I would probably be ashamed if I knew how many times I got up to preach, only to have my work of the Lord unacceptable to the Lord.

When our heart is not pure, our work and our worship are not acceptable to the Lord. God is speaking this morning; can you hear him now? The second lesson the Lord wants us to hear is found in verses fifteen through seventeen. There we learn that when God is trying to get our attention on account of disobedience, we would be wise to hear him.

II. When God is trying to get our attention on account of disobedience, we would be wise to hear him

In verse fifteen, we see Haggai’s favorite phrase, “But now, do consider from this day onward.” This phrase means to “set your heart on your ways.” It is a call for God’s people to examine their hearts and change it what needs to be changed. We saw this phrase used twice in chapter one. Now we will the word used three times, once in verse fifteen, and twice in verse seventeen.

In verse fifteen, the Lord is calling his people to look back to the past, before they restarted building the temple. He calls his people to look back to the fourteen to sixteen years when they lived for their own interest, when they only cared for themselves and really not for the things of God. Not only does he call them to look back to the past now, but he calls them to continue to look back to the past. The Lord wants them to avoid what took place in the past, that is why he is sending this third message.

Notice what the Lord asks them to remember, ““But now, do consider from this day onward: before one stone was placed on another in the temple of the Lord, from that time when one came to a grain heap of twenty measures, there would be only ten; and when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there would be only twenty. 'I smote you and every work of your hands with blasting wind, mildew and hail; yet you did not come back to Me,' declares the Lord.”

They were going though economical hardships. This wasn’t bad luck. God let’s them know that they were facing these hardships because he was trying to get their attention. Notice what the Lord says in verse seventeen again, “I smote you and every work of your hands with blasting wind, mildew and hail; yet you did not come back to Me,’ declares the Lord.” God told his people in Deuteronomy that he would curse them if they turned their back on him, and this is what he did. God was trying to get their attention though providential hardships, but they weren’t listening. The Lord was trying to get his people to return to him, but they continued in their disobedience.

The Bible teaches in both Old and New Testaments that God disciplines his children. In Hebrews chapter twelve we are told that without holiness we can’t see the Lord. Then we are told in that same context not to despise the discipline of the Lord because God disciplines those who are his children. God will use hardships to get the attention of his disobedient children for the purpose of getting them to return to him.

King David was afflicted physically on account that he harbored the unconfessed sin of adultery and murder for over a year. I know a Christian man who had an affair and God afflicted his body as well. Not all physical hardships are the result of sin in one’s life, but some is.

What kind of hardships are you going through? It might be that God has allowed you to face some hardships simply because he wants to sanctify you. But it could be that you are facing hardships because God is trying to get your attention. Are you living the Christian life like you should? Are you living in obedience to the Lord? Does God have first place in your life? Are you committed to the Lord like your suppose to be? Maybe God is using his rod of correction upon you.

The Scottish preacher of old Robert Murray McCheyne would pray “If nothing else will sever me from my sins, Lord send me such sore and trying calamities as shall awake me from earthly slumber.”

We must remember that in all the afflictions and hardships that we face, God is wanting to draw us nearer and closer to himself, especially if we have turned our back on him and are living in disobedience. When God is trying to get our attention on account of disobedience, we would be wise to hear him. God is speaking can you hear him now. The last lesson that the Lord wants us to hear is found in verses eighteen and nineteen. There we learn that when God gets our attention, and we respond to him in brokenness and repentance, he promises to renew and restore us.

III. When God gets our attention, and we respond in brokenness and repentance, he promises to renew and restore us

“'Do consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month; from the day when the temple of the Lord was founded, consider: 'Is the seed still in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree, it has not borne fruit. Yet from this day on I will bless you.’”

The Lord tells his people to consider what the future is going to be like. In the past, when they lived in disobedience, God withheld his blessings. He caused them to go through all kinds of hardships. But now, since they responded to the Lord in brokenness and repentance God was going to bless them. The response that they gave to the Lord was back in chapter one. It was in verses twelve through fifteen of chapter one that the Lord got the attention of his people and not only were they wise to listen to him, but they were even wiser to respond to him in brokenness and repentance. And now, because of their response, God says, “Yet from this day forward, I will bless you.” God promises to renew and restore his people and their blessings.

King David put this truth well in Psalm 51 when he said to the Lord, “For you do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; you are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” God will despise our tainted work and worship, but he will never despise us when we come to him broken and repentant. He promises to bless us and to restore and renew us. When we recognize our sin, turn from it and turn to God with all our heart, God will bless us. He will restore to us all the blessings he kept from us in disobedience on account of our obedience.

About ten years ago, something awesome happened at Jersey Village Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. The church had their Sunday evening service as usual. Everyone was expecting worship as usual. During the invitation a young teenage girl got up and went to the pastor and confessed her sin and asked for the Lord’s forgiveness and encouragement from the church. After her response to God, several other members of the church walked the aisle and confessing their sin. This went on for several hours. Around 9:00 p.m., some members went to the nursery to relieve a couple working so that they could be a part of this awesome service. That couple went to the altar and asked for prayer. Their son had run way four months earlier because he wanted to live his life his own way. While the church was praying, the young man was down at Mardi Gras in Galveston, Texas. The son began to since God telling him to go hom. He made a ninety-minute drive home, only to find that his parents were not there. He couldn’t imagine that they would still be at church, but he drove there anyway. A deacon recognized him when he walked through the door and pointed him to his parents who were kneeling at the altar. He walked down to the altar and tapped his parents on the shoulder. As they tearfully embraced the boy declared his desire to come hom and recommit his life to Christ. All this renewal and restoration began because one young girl realized that God is not pleased with religious ritual. He is not pleased with disobedient children. He is pleased when we come to him in brokenness and repentance, and when this pleases him; he shows his pleasure by blessing those who come to him in such a way.

Someone is here this morning and your thinking that I am reading your mail. You are thinking that I know all about how your living your life. I really don’t, but God does. He knows your heart. He knows what is in your life and how you are living your life. And he is using this sermon this morning to get your attention.

The Holy Spirit is speaking, if you hear him, don’t harden your heart. The Holy Spirit is speaking, calling you to repent and return to your God. The Holy Spirit is speaking, calling you to realize that you are lost and trust Christ as your Lord and Savior. God is speaking; can you hear him now? If you hear him, then come to him broken and repentant, and he will cleanse you and purify you.

The Holy Spirit is speaking, calling you to follow the Lord in baptism, to become a member of this church by letter or statement.