Haggai 2:10-23 I Will Bless You!

Haggai 2:10-23 I Will Bless You! Intro: How many people have you encountered in the last several years that you have shared about Jesus and their first response to you is, "My great second uncles girlfriend's dad is a pastor." * As though somehow that makes them special to God. * We hear that often though-my dad is a pastor; my sister's husband's dad is a pastor. * Or my great grandpa was a pastor, or I went to high school with a guy who is a pastor now. * I have some friends who are Christian * And what their saying is because of that-God and I are tight. * Their holiness and closeness to God is somehow rubbed off on them and so now they consider themselves Holy. * Well, this is what this final message is in essence dealing with. 1. Holiness cannot be transferred to others, but defilement can be transferred to others. Vs 10-15 Vs10 * About two months have gone by now and Haggai again speaks the word of the Lord. * And what he is addressing is the issue of sin. Vs 11-12 * To ask the priest concerning the law is obvious-they would be the ones who would know. * God had set up a system of sacrifices to cover for their sins. * Animals would be sacrificed-which represents the shedding of blood for the remission of sins. o If you do these things, I will cover your sins for a certain amount of time. o It didn't take away the sin-it only covered it. * When the animal was sacrificed, the meat was considered holy. o What does Holy mean-set apart. o The meat was set apart for the Lord or it belonged to the Lord. * So, the question is if this meat that was sacrificed to the Lord, set apart for Him or holy, touches one of these items do those items become holy? o No, they don't * The reason why is because you can't transmit holiness between one another. * We can't play the my father was a pastor, my friend's dad is pastor, and so, therefore, somehow you're covered. * That's not how it works. * But even more than that-just because you go to church doesn't make you a Christian. * Keith Green said, Going to McDonald's does not make you a hamburger. * Here Haggai is making reference to the fact that just doing the religious thing isn't going to make you holy. * Going to church making you a Christian is like saying a person going to Dunkin Donuts makes them a police officer. * Listening to Christian music, reading your Bible, going to church, doing ministry-does not make you a Christian. o That is not how it works. * Giving your heart and life and surrendering in faith to Jesus Christ and living in obedience to Him is what makes you a Christian. Vs 13 * Then Haggai asks the next question-if you touch a dead body. * Touching a dead body would make one unclean and then that one that touched a dead body if he were to touch another person-they would also become unclean. * So, the corruption is, therefore, passed on. * You can transmit defilement from one thing or person to another, but you cannot transmit holiness. * We get this-if I am sick-I got Covid o Do I say, you know the Sandborn's or the Harringtons-- they are healthy-so let us go over their house and we will get better. o No, their healthiness is not going to be transmitted to me. * But you can be sure that my sickness will be transmitted to them. * Story of COVID--gramma * This is what Haggai is saying. * The whole point is driven home in the next verses. Vs 14 * Haggai says the people working on the temple could not impart any holiness to it, but they could defile it by their sins. * 1 Corinthians 5:6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? * The Church is a place that is to be set apart-Holy. * It is a place for the gathering of the saints o Not a bunch of perfect, holier than thou people o And the Bible, especially in 1 Corinthians, tells us that we are to look at the church in this manner and we are to do all we can to protect the church from defilement and sin spreading through the church. * However, many churches teach opposite of this. o What they say is that it is ok for that person who is living in sin claiming to be a Christian to be in the church because our influence will influence them to become a Christian or to pursue holiness. o That is completely opposite of what the Bible teaches. o They will have a more negative impact on the church than the church will have on them. * This was the same reason why God wanted the Israelites to be separate from those around them-to not intermarry with the Canaanites. * And what happened? * They intermarried and sure enough they started worshipping false gods. o As a result, the church looks no different than the world and loses all its impact. o Quote from a pastor, "We want the church to look as close to the world so that when an unbeliever comes in, they will not see a difference and feel comfortable." * When we live in sin or in disobedience, and when there is sin present it affects everything. o We all think of sin as doing something bad like lying or stealing and it is. o But when we don't do something the Lord is telling us to do-even when it's meant to bless us-that is sin also. o God wants to bless you! o Sins of commission and sins of omission o Haggis is dealing with the sin of omission-you are doing what I called you to do. * The point is-it is not only important that we do God's work, but it is also important that we do His work with pure hearts that are devoted to God. o For to not is sin and therefore we are defiled, and when are defiled everything we then do is defiled. * People defiled in God's eyes spread the contamination and it affects everything. * Story of Jonah. * For 16 years the people, because they were back in the land, they thought that they were holy-yet the temple laid there in ruins. o Remember that they are living in sin-because they were called back to the land to rebuild. o They started out, but then left it o So therefore, they were in disobedience. o The unfinished temple was a statement, that it was a matter of indifference to them. o It was not that important to them. o Their houses and other things are what were important to them. o Committing themselves to building was a testimony that the Lord mattered. o And the same with us-when we commit ourselves to God and the ministry and to the building of the church-it shows us that the Lord matters. * Because they were living in sin-everything they did was defiled. * One area of disobedience can ruin everything. * Weather it is doing some ministry that God has called you to, it could be reaching out to that neighbor; it could be your tithing, it could be running your business in an ungodly manner, it could be a matter of contentment---whatever it is. * If there is one area that you know that the Lord said do this or stop that-and you are not-then everything can get contaminated. * But thank God it does not have to stay that way! * The story doesn't end here! * Because God wants to bless you! 2. If we want to experience God's full blessing, then we have to do what God has called us to do? Vs 15-19 * Haggai is going to show them something and he is going to prove this point. * He is going to review their history and it's going to draw out a point. * Look at all that has happened. * During the time that they were being selfish, building their paneled houses, they experienced the discipline or correction of the Lord. o What God is doing is corrective-trying to get them back on track. o Not punitive. * Haggai describes the desperate times that they we are living through. * They were not doing their part, so God could not bless them. o We cannot and should not think that God will bless us especially when we're not doing what he asked us to do. * When I owned my company in California, one of my employees calls me and ask for a raise, but he had two complaints about his work, and he was late three times-he is not getting a raise. * The crops only yielded half of what they we are supposed to. o And the crops did not yield, the trees didn't yield--everything suffered. * And that is what it means when earlier it says in verse 14 that everything is unclean. * Nothing was going right, and every area of their life was suffering. * At least God did not let them starve! o God's grace was still evident. o He could have destroyed and had everything fail and left them in starvation. * This happened on several occasions throughout the history of Israel. * Deuteronomy 28 1-2 Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God: * Notice the operative word their-obey! * But notice the second part in verse 15 15"But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: * I tell my kids the same thing * Melody's pocketbook * When we are doing what God wants us to do and living to do His will, I believe that things will prosper. * But when we do not-then we can expect the discipline or correction of God. * You see the heart of the problem with the people at this time is that they acted that life could be run without God and as if grace would be theirs even though they neglected the means of Grace * That is what verse 17 basically says--You did not turn to me or did not want me. * They were so concerned to build their own houses, yet they ignored the house of God-yet the rebuilding of the temple was the task that had brought them back. * At this point the coldness of the human heart and the hurt of the divine heart meet. * I want to share a story with you. o God called a pastor to plant a church in a certain city o He went in obedience-but then something happened. o He said, let me get settled down. o Let me get my house in order-I'll buy some furniture, I'll do some painting and I'll get the pool build, and yard done. o I will get started with the church plant when all this is finished. o And then He bought an off-road vehicle. o He was having a good ol time. * What should he have been doing, what should have been his focus and priority-building the temple, planting the church? * And what happened-an off-road Accident with his employee * He had to go back to his home town to take care of some business * From there the business suffered. o All his trucks broke down-everything was falling apart. * From there He went through some of the most difficult times of his life. * He went to church and God spoke to him and said what are doing-I called you to plant a church. * And he went back and started the church. * And God then started to bless * God has called each of us to something-are we doing that? * Does not the Christian life go like that-when we are in obedience everything just seems to prosper and when we're not in obedience-everything seems to fall apart. o Does not mean that you will not go through difficult times o But there is a joy there simply because you know your living in obedience. * Does it pay to be obedient to the Lord? * I have to pose the question-because what God is doing here is a call to repentance. * When God says consider-it means really think about it and when you do, you will realize that some things need to change. * Do you feel like every area of your life is falling apart? o You are struggling financially, your job or business is struggling, your relationships are struggling, your body is struggling and so on, your ministry is struggling o Then you must ask-is there some things that you need to consider? o Do I need to get back to what God wants me to do? * Had the workers been devoted to the lord when the foundation was laid, God's blessing would have followed immediately, but the people were sinful at heart-because they wanted to take care of themselves and do what they wanted to do and build their houses * And this grieves the Lord and defiled all their work. * God had no choice but to put things in place to get them to continue on with what God had called them to do. Vs 18 * Consider-look within, check this out * Now that you got back to doing what God wants you to do-got back to building the temple * Got back to living a life of obedience. * Got back to having God first in your life * From this day forward * As soon as you start doing what I am telling you to. Vs 19 * I am gonna bless you! * Your crops get seeds and there gonna bring the fruit. * Now its wintertime-so what this is saying is that they're going to have to trust God. * You might not see the blessing right away-but it is going to be there. * Now I need to bring something up here. * When it talks about the harvest-it means that their struggling financially. * Harvest = money in those days. * The managing of the material blessing, money, demands as much sanctity as the managing of the spiritual ministries of the church. * There are a lot of people into ministry, but not into giving. * And what Haggai shows us-is that is a problem. Vs 20-23 * God gives a personal word of encouragement to Zerubie. * He's the leader. * And it's unfortunate that many in the church suffer when the leaders are not right. * But God wants to encourage the leader-I love that because I believe that the leaders need encouragement. * God tells Zurub-everything is going to be alright-I'm gonna take care of you. * This is in reference to the first and second coming of Christ. * God's in control and He will bring everything to bear. * God will come to judge the nations. * But Zurubie-you the man. * Because you repented and headed the word of the Lord through Haggai-I got something in store for you. * I'll make you like a signet ring-a contract, a promise of authority. * I have chosen you-to be a great place of authority. * And you know what you open up the book of Matthew o And there's Zubbie's name. o In the genealogy of the Messiah. * One final point-16 years of silence from God o Then God speaks-they listen-and bang-God just keeps talking. In closing: Holiness is not something transferred-it is between you and God. * But when there is sin, it corrupts everything. * When we are not doing what God wants us to do-living in obedience-especially with our money-then we can expect corrective measures. * But with that in mind-as soon as we get back to doing what God has told us to do-from that day forward God's word says I will bless you. * Who does not want that-we all do? * What are you waiting for? What are some of the practical lessons we have learned from Haggai 1. The work of God is begun, sustained, and encouraged by the word of the Lord. * Llyod Jones said this-that the decadent periods and eras in the history of the church have always been those periods when preaching had declined. What is it that always heralds the dawn of a reformation of a revival? It is renewed preaching." * God's word was spoken and headed in Haggai 2. God's servants must work together to build God's temple * Haggai, Zubbie, Joshua the older and younger men all had to work together to get things right and to carry on the work of God. * So must we 3. When the outlook does not look good-look forward and up * There is a great temple coming. * God promises to bless. 4. Putting God first is the guarantee of God's best blessing. 5. Apart from the power of the Holy Spirit, our labors are in vain. 2 6