Haggai: The Best is Yet to Come
Haggai 2:10-19
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
10-22-23
Intro
[ I dressed as a “rock star” and pretended to play “Eruption” by Eddie Van Halen.]
Angel is right. I’m not a rock star. I was just “going through the motions.”
Through TeenServe, I got to know Phil Joel and his wife Heather. Phil was the bass player for the Christian supergroup The Newsboys.
Phil was a member of one of the most popular Christian groups in the world. He got to play in front of thousands of fans.
At one of those concerts, Phil said he looked out over the crowd, singing along to every word. Suddenly, the Holy Spirit whispered a question to his heart, “When’s the last time you and I spent any time together? You seem to be very good at performing for me but your heart is far, far away.”
Phil was deeply convicted and walked off the stage that night and informed the rest of the band that he was leaving. He couldn't take being a spiritual fraud. He was done with just going through the motions.
Review
Three weeks ago, we started our study of Haggai. The book of Haggai consists of four sermons preached over a four-month period in 520 BC.
In the first sermon, Haggai challenged the people to finish what they started. The Temple foundation had been laid but work had stopped for sixteen years while the people worked on their own houses.
In the second sermon, Haggai challenged the people to stop looking back to the “good old days” and look forward to what God will do in this Temple in the future.
This morning, we come to the third sermon, which was preached on December 18, 520 BC, three months after the last one.
If you read ahead to prepare, you might have been confused with what God was saying through Haggai. But as we go through these verses, you will see that Haggai has good news for them and for us!
Turn with me to Haggai 2.
Prayer
Two Word Pictures
On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai:
“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Ask the priests what the law says: If someone carries consecrated meat in the fold of their garment, and that fold touches some bread or stew, some wine, olive oil or other food, does it become consecrated?’”
The priests answered, “No.” (v. 10-11)
To our twenty-first-century ears, these verses seem to make no sense.
God, through the prophet Haggai calls on the priests, the experts in the Levitical law, to render a judgment.
The word picture is of a man who has made a fellowship offering and has leftover meat that he is bringing home with him.
The fold of his garment would be the modern-day equivalent of having the meat in your pocket.
Because the meat had been offered as a sacrifice, it would be considered consecrated or holy.
The question for the priests is, “If that holy meat in your pocket touched something else in your pocket, like a stick of gum, would that stick of gum become holy?”
The priests rightly answered no it would not become holy.
The principle that Haggai is communicating is -
Holiness doesn’t transfer. You can’t catch holiness. You can’t absorb it from simply being near someone.
I could stand next to Beth or Lisa for the next five years straight but it doesn’t mean I could play the piano any better.
I could follow Monette around for the next week, and while I would be encouraged and inspired by her Godliness, it wouldn’t make me any more holy.
Holiness doesn’t get passed on. You don’t inherit holiness from your parents and you don’t absorb it from simply sitting in church on a Sunday morning.
In fact, if you do nothing personally to grow spiritually over the next five years, you won’t grow spiritually. It’s not automatic.
Spiritual growth is between you and God and there is no one who can spiritually commit themselves to holiness for you.
This week, I asked for sermon help on Facebook. I asked, “What has helped you grow spiritually over the course of your journey with Jesus?”
Here are some of their answers:
Serving. I can't think of a better way to grow to look like Jesus than to go out and do what He did among the lost.
The realization that I don’t have to pretend to be something that I’m not.
Understanding who I am in Christ and what we have in Christ is key to following Him wholeheartedly.
Doing deep study of the Word of God. Listening to the Bible each day.
Allowing God to care for me and teach me through the trials of life.
Attending a Bible Study. Digging deep into the Word with others.
Real, honest times of prayer. Not taking my wish list to Him but really listening.
* Seeing others lean on their faith after I lost my son.
Listening to Christian music.
Listening to podcasts
Several men said that their wives have been critical to their spiritual growth
Journaling what I am learning
Dealing with the hurt and unforgiveness I had in my heart through counseling and good Christian friends.
When I moved to North Carolina at 22, I had only been a Christian for a year. I found myself sitting on my front porch with my Bible and guitar and spending hours reading, praying, and singing to God. Maxine will tell you that this led to a spiritual “growth spurt” and ultimately led us to move to Mississippi and attend seminary.
While not everyone will attend seminary, every one of us has been called to be holy:
Peter wrote:
“Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (I Peter 1:13-16)
And Paul wrote:
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…” (Rom 8:29)
God’s plan is to make you more and more like Jesus and no one else can do that for you.
This doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a long obedience in the same direction over a lifetime.
God, through Haggai, then poses another question to the priests:
Then Haggai said, “If a person defiled by contact with a dead body touches one of these things, does it become defiled?”
“Yes,” the priests replied, “it becomes defiled.” (v. 12-13)
According to Levitical law, if someone has touched a dead body they are “unclean” and anything they touch becomes unclean.
The principle that Haggai is communicating is:
Sin is contagious! Uncleanness is more contagious than holiness.
Let me give you an example. What if I had a cold and Maxine kissed me? Would her healthiness make me better or would I give her my cold?
Hopefully, you get the point.
Defiled
Then Haggai said, “‘So it is with this people and this nation in my sight,’ declares the Lord. ‘Whatever they do and whatever they offer there is defiled. (v. 14)
Haggai gets to the point that God is making. Yes, they have started working on the Temple again. But, they are grumbling and complaining about how useless this Temple is compared to the old temple. Their hands are working but their hearts are far from God.
David wrote in his journal that God is more interested in our hearts:
“You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” (Psalm 51:16-17)
They were just going through the motions.
Jesus confronted the Pharisees for looking good on the outside but having spiritually dead hearts:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. (Matt 23:7)
Let me remind you that just because you come to church week after week doesn’t mean your heart is right with God.
Pastor and author Gordon McDonald, said that in his early years of ministry, he would make fun of his friends who would spend 15-20 on a sermon. He was brilliant and could write a sermon In three hours or less most weeks.
His church started to grow and he wrote several books and started speaking at conferences.
From the outside, he looked holy. But, what no one knew was that he was committing adultery on his wife with a woman in the congregation! He looked the part, but he was just going through the motions.
By the way, one of the contributing factors to his spiritual fall, was the fact that he spent so little time in the Word and relied on his natural gifts to get by.
He said that those friends who spent the necessary time on sermon prep were far more spiritually mature than was.
Discipline
“‘Now give careful thought to this from this day on—consider how things were before one stone was laid on another in the Lord’s temple. When anyone came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When anyone went to a wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were only twenty. I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew and hail, yet you did not return to me,’ declares the Lord.” (v. 15-17)
They felt like they were on a hamster wheel. No matter how hard they worked, it was like putting sand into a bucket with a hole in the bottom of it.
Why was this? Because of their disobedience. Under the covenant given to Moses, God made things very simple. If you obey me, then I will bless you. If you disobey me, then I will discipline you until you come to your senses and obey. Partial obedience is disobedience. (See Deut 28)
Again, this wasn’t punishment as much as it was discipline. It was a wake-up call to the people who were working hard with their hands but grumbling and complaining in their hearts.
They knew the promise of Duet 11:
“So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.” (Deut 11:13-17)
Even though God sent blight, mildew, and hail, they didn’t return to Him.
But now they had completed the Temple and things were about to change!
Blessings
‘From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid. Give careful thought: Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit.
“From this day on I will bless you.’” (v. 18-19)
I love the phrase “from this day on.”
I’m going to age myself. I used to make money keeping scores for bowling tournaments. After someone had a few bad frames, they would ask me to put a bar between the frames. Psychologically, it was a way of forgetting the past and only concentrating on the next frames of the game.
From this day on, things are changing for the people. The seed is not in the barn. It has been planted. The crops of the past few years have been sparse because of their sin but now God promises to bless them from this day on.
To weary people, these words would be incredibly encouraging.
They had been given the “bad news” - their sin and spiritual hardness of heart were the cause of their problems. But God now had good news - He was going to bless their socks off!
What Has Become of Sin?
Sin is not a popular word today. We would rather talk about our “mistakes” or make excuses than call something sin. We want to blame others, just like Adam and Eve did in the garden.
In Psalm 51, David uses four words for sin:
* Transgressions. The first word he uses is “transgressions.”Picture a “no trespassing sign.” Humans see God’s no trespassing sign but don’t think twice about climbing the fence. It is the picture of rebellion; revolt, of rejecting God’s authority. It is willful disobedience that produces a gulf between God and man.
David wrote:
“Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression.” (Psalm 19:13)
Sins. The second word David uses is the common word “sins.” Picture a “bulls-eye.” In the sport of archery, the sin is the distance between the bulls-eye and the arrow is called “the sin.”
It means “offense.” It is the failure to live up to God’s perfect standards.
Paul wrote:
“…for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
?There is no wiggle room or grey area.
God says, “Be holy, just as I am holy.” (Lev 19:2; I Peter 1:16)
God’s standard is perfection and we cannot hop high enough for God’s holiness.
?* Iniquity. The third term David uses is “iniquity.” We all have a track record of “crooked behavior.” It is the picture of our impurity versus the absolute holiness of God.
It is easy to compare ourselves to others. We can say, “Hey I look pretty good in relation to that serial killer.” But when we compare ourselves to an utterly holy God, we start to understand just how crooked and depraved we are.
?* Deceit. The fourth term David uses is “deceit.” This is the picture of a deliberate cover-up to try to make the situation look better than it is.
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Every false belief system tries to play down the fact we are desperate sinners. They will tell you that we are all basically good and even that we are getting better and better. All you have to do is turn on the evening news and watch for ten minutes and you will get the suspicion that these people are completely off base.
You are a sinner….and so am I. I know that’s not a popular thing to say but it’s certainly a Biblically thing to say.
* The Bible says we are born sinners. You never have to teach a baby to be selfish.
David wrote:
“Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5)
We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners.
* The Bible says we are sinners by nature. That means that we do not have any inclination toward God. We never fear Him the way we should, never love Him as much as we ought to, and never obey Him with a totally pure heart. We inherited this trait and it can be traced back directly to Adam and Eve.
David writes in Psalm 14, which is quoted by Paul in Romans 8:
“The LORD looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 14:2-3)
?There is no part of us that is left untouched by sin, including our minds, our wills, and our bodies. Sin is at the very core of who we are and permeates our hearts.
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.” (Jer 17:9)
* The Bible proclaims that we are “dead in our sins” and “objects of wrath.”
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.” (Eph 2:1-3)
* The Bible speaks of us being alienated from God. Sin separates us from God.
“Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.” (Col 1:21)
* Another common picture is being “enslaved to sin.”
“When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!” (Romans 6:20-21)
* Sin produces guilt, shame, and, most of all, death:
“For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23)
* Because of sin, we were hopeless and helpless to save ourselves.
It’s as if we are treading water in the middle of the ocean and all you see is blue. There are no ships to rescue you. You cannot swim back to shore. You know you can’t tread water forever. It’s only a matter of time.
You would be quick to recognize you don’t have what it takes to save yourself. If you will be saved, it will miraculously come from an outside source.
This is really bad news! We are hopeless, helpless, and hell-bound!
But do you want to hear the good news?
Forgiveness
In verse one of Psalm 51, David uses three words for forgiveness!
* Forgiven. This word means to pardon or take away. It can mean to lift a heavy burden and take it away. Picture a goat.
In Exodus 34, the sins of the community were placed on a goat that was then taken away into the wilderness. This animal was called the “scapegoat.” It carried the sins away so the community could be forgiven.
* Covered. The word “covered” means just that – not exposed. We all fear exposure.
Noel Coward, a noted author and humorist, once played a practical joke on some of the well-known people in London. He wrote ten men this note, “We know what you did. If you do not wish to be exposed, you need to leave town.” Within six months, all ten of these men had moved out of London!
[I wonder what would happen if we did the same thing in Washington D.C. or Hollywood?]
Instead of exposing our sins, God “covers” our sins. We’ll see how in just a minute.
* “does not count against them.” This is the picture of a check. We owed a debt we could never, ever pay. Imagine you owe a million dollars on your credit card but you only had about one hundred dollars to your name. The bill had to be paid and you had no way of paying it. But instead of insisting on payment from you, God accepted payment from another – His Son, Jesus.
Isaiah wrote:
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him [Jesus] the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)
Listen to how David describes God in another one of his journal entries:
“The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12)
The prophet Micah wrote:
“You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:19)
Isaiah promised:
“Though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be a white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)
Forgiveness is only through trusting Jesus’ death on the cross. He died in our place, to pay the full payment for our sins.
How do we Get it?
We’ve established that we are all sinners and that we have no way of saving ourselves. Our sin separates us from God and leads to death. We also have seen that God, in an act of incomparable love, provided a way for our forgiveness.
But how does it work? How do we get it?
Look at verses 5-6.
“Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgression to the Lord.’ And you forgave me the guilt of my sin.” (Psalm 52:5-6)
First, David acknowledged the existence of his sins. David simply “came clean.” He “confessed” his sins. This word means to “throw down” or “cast down.” It can also mean “agreement.” To confess means to throw your sin down and say the same thing as God says about it.
Augustine said, “The beginning of knowledge is to know oneself to be a sinner.” In fact, he had this Psalm inscribed on his wall before he died so he could meditate on it every day.
We are only as sick as our secrets.
He didn’t make excuses. He didn’t minimize. He didn’t blame anyone else. He owned it completely.
Second, David repented. This involved recognizing you are going the wrong way and turning around.
True repentance involves sorrow for our sins, a desire to make things right, full disclosure to God, and a resolve not to go back there again.
Freedom comes from confession. It restores our broken relationship with God.
Let me tell you some good news today. If you are one thousand miles away from God right now, it’s only one step
back. It’s never too late to make a fresh start with God. He is waiting for you with open arms.
John, Jesus’ best friend, wrote these amazing words:
“If you confess your sin, God is faithful and just, to forgive you of all your sin and cleanse you of all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9)
God is faithful. You can trust His promises of forgiveness.
And He’s just.
God can’t just let sin go. It must be punished. Jesus took our punishment on the cross, where He died, in our place, as our substitute, to pay the penalty for our sins.
“In Him [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” (Eph 1:7)
Putting it all Together
Let’s put it all together.
It’s been said that forgiveness of sin is the greatest need of the human heart. And God made a way where there was no way!
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly… But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” (Romans 5:6-9)
Do you know this joy? Do you know that your sins are forgiven and that you will spend eternity in heaven with Jesus? Do you know that you have peace with God?
We don’t truly understand how amazing God’s forgiveness is until we fully understand the burden of our sins.
You don’t have to walk an aisle, raise a hand, or sign a card to become a Christian. In fact, you don’t have to do anything. You just have to trust in what Jesus has DONE on the cross.
In Ephesians, Paul lays out some of the blessings we have in Christ
adoption
Redemption
Forgiveness
Knowing His will
Chosen
Predestined
Included
Seal with the Holy Spirit
The Rest of the Story
Let me tell you the rest of the story of Phil Joel.
When he informed the rest of the band that he was quitting, they couldn’t believe it.
They went back to Nashville and decided to volunteer in their church’s children’s ministry. In fact, Phil wrote an entire album of children’s songs for them to sing.
When he decided to release the album, his record label said that he would destroy his career. But, little by little, as God healed his heart and drew Him back, Phil said he didn’t care about his career anymore.
He went on to release two children’s albums. Then he took his family on the road with TeenServe where he would lead worship and hang out with teenagers and youth workers like me.
It was very far away from the bright lights of headlining festivals but his heart was happy.
He eventually rejoined the Newsboys but as a very different person with very different priorities.
I want to end today with the prayer that Phil wrote during that time.
Ending Video: “Make Me The Man You Want Me to Be” by Phil Joel
