Thank you, Scott. Let's turn
in our Bibles to Numbers chapter 22. Numbers 22. I can think of no better way
for us to begin this new year than by gathering together to
hear a word from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. It's a good way to start. I'm so thankful for what the
Lord's done for us this year and how gracious and good he's
been to us. And he's brought us together
and given us a unity here that's just something very, very special
and very precious to me. It's my prayer that as we go
into the new year that God would give us a heart to want to serve
Him with renewed zeal, with more zeal than ever, to learn to serve
one another better, and learn to find new ways that we can
get the preaching of the gospel out into the world. I was thinking
about our believing college students. I was thinking if you could find
a place where we could hold a service on or near campus, if there was
an interest there, I would be more than happy to go there and
preach the gospel. Some of these faithful men could do it. I've
known of faithful ladies who've gone to a local nursing home
and they'd read scripture to the elderly that can't get out.
And if we had some avenue opened up there, I'd be happy to go
and preach the gospel there. The place such as television
or on radio or a newspaper if they print faithful articles.
If we could find something like that and if you could be looking
for something like that, have your eye out, that would be wonderful.
And, of course, we'll need to be kind of keeping our eye out
for a building and for some land because it's getting close to
that time where we're going to be ready for that. And if we
could find something before we think we're ready, we'll never
know what the Lord will do. He might open up a door for that
already. But as we serve the Lord, this
is certain. No matter what it is we're doing,
we're going to face opposition in this world. in God's providence. We're going to face opposition.
Tonight I want to look at three different occasions, three different
passages of scripture where men were opposed in providence. Now
we know God controls all providence. Everything that happens in providence
is God's doing. So here's the question that we're
going to try to answer in these three examples. How do we know
when opposition in the Lord's providence is showing us that
Christ is for our way or showing us He's against our way? How
do we know? We're going to receive opposition
and God's going to be teaching us one of these two things. Either
that He's for us or that He's against the way that we've chosen.
But we're going to face opposition. So how do we know that? How do
we know which of these things is true? Alright, our first example
is where the Lord is against the way that somebody was going.
Now this is in Numbers 22 and we're dealing with Balaam. And
you know Balaam's a false prophet. He's a false prophet. Now Balaam,
the thing that Christ did to Balaam, He's doing for His people. The Lord's doing this not for
Balaam, He's doing it for His people. And He's doing it for
His glory. Now our purpose in looking at Balaam is to try to
learn something about God's providential dealings with us who are His
true children. We're not really going to get into Balaam too
much. We're just going to look at God's dealings in His providence. Now you recall that God's enemies
had come to offer Balaam a reward to curse God's people. That's
why they came. They were going to give him a
reward to curse God's people. And the second time they came,
God told Balaam he could go on one condition. If they came a
third time and called him. And then he would have to speak
only what God told him in His Word or he would have to do what
God told him to do in his word. Now look at verse 20. Numbers
22, 20. God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him,
If the men come to call thee, and he's saying there they'd
already come twice. He said, If they come to call
thee a third time. If they come to call thee, he
says, rise up and go with them. But yet, and this is important,
the word which I shall say unto thee That shalt thou do. He didn't just say the word I
shall say unto you that shalt thou speak. He's saying in what
he's telling him right now and in everything that's going to
transpire, what I say unto you is what you shall do. That's
what you do. That's very important because
this is the first way we know if the opposition in God's providence
is for us or against us. Are we doing what God has said
to do? Are we walking according to his
word? That's the number one thing. But Balaam went his own way rather
than heeding the word of the Lord. Numbers 21, 22-21, Balaam
rose up in the morning, saddled his ass, and went with the princes
of Moab, and God's anger was kindled because he went. Now
that was the reason God opposed Balaam. Balaam was going in a
way which was not God's way. God told him, wait for a third
call, and he didn't. Therefore Christ stood in the
way, and he stood in the way against Balaam, using something
in his providence." Now notice this, number 22, verse 22, at
the end there it says, "...and the angel of the Lord stood in
the way for an adversary against him." Now, Balaam can't see Christ
standing in his way. This is who the angel of the
Lord is. It's Christ. And Christ did this not for Balaam's
good. I want you to remember that he's
a false prophet. But God's way always involves
these three key principles. You see he said he stood in the
way. He stood in Balaam's way. Because
Balaam's way was not God's way. So what's God's way? Here's four
things always involved in God's way. Number one, God's way is
always according to His Word. This book tells us exactly what
God will have us to do at all times. You don't have to guess
about it. It's in His Word. It may not be spelled out for
you in every example of every situation, but the principle
is here. It's all here. Number two, God's
way brings God's glory. in Christ. God's way always is
going to bring God's glory in Christ. Number three, God's way
is for the good of God's people. God has to elect people that
Christ redeemed, that he's calling out, regenerating. God's way
is always for the good of his people. Always. Even when it
doesn't look like it to us, it's for the good of his people. And
number four, God's way is always drawing his child nearer to Christ
to trust Christ more and more. Every time. Balaam's way was
against God's way in every one of these key elements of obedience. It was against God's way in all
four of these. Now Christ is the Lord of hosts.
Our Savior is God. And our God is the Lord of hosts. That means everything that He's
created is at His disposal. He can use it any way He gets
ready, all the time, any time. He's the Lord of hosts. All the
hosts in heaven and earth are His. He made them to be at His
disposal. That means we ought to pay attention
in providence because everything that God is that's coming to
pass is God's providence. And he's using everything in
providence. He can't use everything. Look
at verse 22. It says, Now he was riding upon
his ass, and his two servants were with him. What do you think
of these three? His donkey and his two servants. Which one do you think the Lord
would use? They're all at his disposal.
Which one would he use? to show Balaam he's in the wrong
way. His two servants would say, I'm
like the logical choice, wouldn't it? That's not who he's going
to use. He's going to use this ass. You
see, God works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. And so we need to be watching
because God can speak to you in a donkey if he wants to. Now,
Christ is able to hedge up our way. He said, wherever the way
we're going, He's able to hedge up our way and the way of His
enemies so that if He has something to teach us, we will get the
lesson. God never wants to teach you
anything. He's going to teach you. If He wants to teach you, you
will get the lesson. Now that's just so. Look at verse
23. The ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way,
and his sword was drawn in his hand. And the ass turned aside
out of the way and went into the field. And this was the first
time ever that Balaam's donkey had not obeyed him. This was
the first time ever that he had done opposite of what Balaam
told him to do. This would have been a real good time for Balaam
to ask those four questions, wouldn't it? If something happens
in Providence that has never happened before to you, that's
something that ought to get your attention. This would have been
a good time for him to say, is this way that I'm going, is this
according to God's Word? Is this way that I'm going, is
this for God's glory? Is this way I'm going, is it
for the good of God's people? And in this way I'm going, Am
I trusting Christ when I'm going in this way? Those would have
been the questions that Balaam should have asked at this point.
But we see in this false prophet, we see what a hard heart will
do. Watch this, verse 23. And Balaam smote the ass to turn
her into the way, that is, into Balaam's way. But the angel of
the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, and a wall being on
this side and a wall on that side. And when the ass saw the
angel of the Lord, she thrust herself into the wall and crushed
Balaam's foot against the wall, and he smote her again." Now,
this is the second time that his beast has ever disobeyed
him. And this time when she disobeyed him, she goes and she crushes
his foot against the wall. Wouldn't this be a good time
for Balaam to ask, OK, my ass disobeyed me a second time and
this time my foot got crushed. Maybe I'm not walking in the
way of the Lord. Maybe I'm not walking in the
way of the Lord. The Lord gets specific, doesn't
He? He crushed his foot. He crossed
his foot, but he didn't. He smoked the ass again. Well,
next the Lord hedges up the way even more narrow. Look at verse
26. And the angel of the Lord went further and stood in a narrow
place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand
or to the left. And when the ass saw the angel
of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam. Now, if you're Balaam
and your beast just fell down under you, bowed down under you,
This would be a good time to start thinking, I might ought
to bow down and submit to my God. I might ought to bow down
and submit to Him. But not the hard heart of rebellion.
Verse 27 says, And Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the
ass with a staff this time. Now catch this. God said, Balaam,
you wait till the third time they call you, and you can go
with them. All he had to do was wait. Balaam
said, that just takes too much strength to wait. I'm going to
get up, I'm going to saddle my ass and I'm going with them tomorrow.
That was God's way. He didn't want to wait and go
God's way and he exerted no strength to go in God's way. But when
it came to Balaam's way, he just worked harder and harder and
harder. He smoked the ass, he smoked
it harder, finally he smoked it with a staff. Now listen to
Balaam condemn himself in verse 28. And the Lord opened the mouth
of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto
thee that thou hast smitten me these three times? What have
I done unto thee that thou hast smitten me these three times? And Balaam said unto the ass,
Because you have mocked me. You know that's what disobedience
does. Disobedience mocks the master. Whoever our master is
that's given the commands, disobedience mocks him. That's what it does.
That's what the ass had done to him, mocked him. And he said,
I would there were a sword in my hand for now I'd kill thee.
You know what disobedience to God does? It mocks him. Now Balaam
had mocked the Lord three times. He had mocked the Lord three
times. He had disobeyed the Lord three times. And he, that's what
he, he condemned him on his own self, because the Lord had the
ass ask him, why have you smitten me? And he said, because you've
mocked me three times. You haven't walked in my way
these three times. That's what Balaam was doing.
He wasn't walking in God's way three times. And Balaam said,
if I had a sword, I'd kill you right now. And there stood Christ
with a sword. The pre-incarnate Christ stood
there with a sword in his hand. Now listen to Christ use this
dumb ass to rebuke Balaam for his madness. Numbers 22, 30. And the ass said unto Balaam,
Am not I thine ass upon which thou hast ridden ever since I
was thine unto this day? Was I ever wont to do so unto
thee? And he said, No. You know who
had brought Balaam as far as he was right then and who had
never done anything contrary to him? The Lord. The Lord. He's using this ass to condemn
Balaam for what Balaam had done to the Lord. That's what he's
doing. This was an uncommon occasion. Balaam's ass had never disobeyed
him. And uncommon occasions ought to especially grab our attention
in Providence. But the false prophet was mad
because his heart was set on disobeying God. That's what madness
is. Now, when we disobey, the only way that we're going to
see that we're not walking in the Lord's way is when the Lord
opens our eyes. Now look at this. Verse 31, Then
the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord
standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand. And
he bowed down his head and fell flat on his face. That's where
he ended up. You know where his donkey ended
up? Bowed down, flat on his face. And now that's where the Lord
has brought the ass Balaam. He's brought him down flat on
his face. Now here's another question in our series where
the Lord asks a sinner a question. Now listen to what he asks him,
verse 32. And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Wherefore
hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? First the ass asked
him this, now the Lord asked him this. Why have you smitten
your ass these three times? Our title is Wherefore hast thou
smitten? What the Lord is teaching Balaam
is, is why the Lord is smitten Balaam. And this is the question
that in these four questions, we're trying to get to this.
Lord, why have you smitten me? If we're walking in the wrong
way, and the Lord doesn't smite his children, Christ has put
away our sin, but he chastens us. And we're out trying to find,
why have you chastened me, Lord? Because we want to walk in his
way. And so he's asking Balaam here now, why did you smite this
ass? You know what Balaam would have
to answer? Because it wasn't walking in my way. It wasn't
walking in the way I said for him to go. That's why I'm smiting
him. And the Lord's teaching Balaam, that's exactly why I'm
smiting you. And whenever the Lord chastens
us, brethren, it's because we're not walking in the way the Lord
told us to go. It's always that, that's the
reason. Now look, look here with me. Verse 32, Behold, the Lord says,
I went out to withstand thee because thy way is perverse before
me. Exactly what he told him. That's
why I went out to stand in the... You stood in the way of your
ass by smiting him these three times because his way was perverse
to you, Balaam. Now the reason I'm standing here
in your way is because your way is perverse to me. That's what
he's telling me. And the ass saw me, and he turned
from me these three times. And unless she had turned from
me, surely now also I had slain thee and saved her alive. And
Balaam said unto the angel of the Lord... Now listen to this.
This is a blind man. Listen to what he said. I've
sinned. Alright, let's hear what he says. What's his sin? Because
I didn't know that you stood in the way against me. Is that
what his sin was? No. Now therefore, if it displeased
thee, I'll get thee back again. Balaam said he sinned because
he didn't know the Lord stood in the way against him. But the
Lord stood in the way against him because he sinned. Way back
there when the Lord said, wait till they call you a third time
and then you only do what I tell you to do. And he didn't obey
the word of the Lord. That's why the Lord stood in
his way. Now, how can I know if the Lord's
standing in the way, in my way, that I'm going? If we're going
to try to serve God in some of these ways, and we face opposition
in providence, how do I know if it's the Lord standing in
the way? It's not going to be by providence
alone. It's not by providence alone. Look now, we're going
to have to ask these four questions. Is my way according to the Lord's
Word? Was Balaam's? Nope. It wasn't. If he'd asked that question,
Right away he'd have known, this is not the right way. Number
two, is my way for God's glory? No, it wasn't for God's glory.
He was going to curse God's people. And so number three, is it for
the good of God's people? No, he was going to curse God's
people. Number four, is it drawing me nearer to trust Christ? It
wasn't drawing him nearer to trust Christ, but it was drawing
him nearer to be smitten by Christ. So you see we need to ask the...
That meant Balaam's way was perverse before the Lord because he answered
no. He could answer no to all those questions. Now here's the
second example. This time what we're going to
see in the providence of the Lord is he opposed his people. And this time it wasn't to stop
his people at all. And yet his people stopped. It
wasn't to stop them, but they stopped. Go with me to Ezra 1. To your right, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st Kings, 2nd Kings, 1st Samuel, 2nd Samuel,
1st Kings, 2nd Kings, 1st Chronicles, 2nd Chronicles, Ezra. I might have left something out
there. I can't remember. All right. Ezra. You found it. Ezra 1. God delivered the children of
Israel out of captivity with a king. He sent a redeemer, a
king, to deliver them out. Brought them out and said, now
go to Jerusalem and build my house. And they went to Jerusalem
and started building his house with great zeal. Look at Ezra
1.1. Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, he's king
of Persia, but he's a picture of Christ. He's a heathen king,
but he's a picture of Christ. There they were down there in
bondage in Babylon. Couldn't free themselves, couldn't
save themselves. God said in Isaiah, I'm raising
up my deliverer. And it was Cyrus he's talking
about. And he sent him down there and he busted through the gates
because the gates of hell can't prevail against our Lord. And he busted the gates and he
went in and he called out, saved the Lord's people out of Babylon.
That's a picture of what Christ did for his people. And now they've
come back to Jerusalem. Now watch this. He says that
the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled.
And that's what Christ is doing. He's fulfilling all the prophets. It says, The Lord stirred up
the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation
throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing. And that's
important. He put it in writing. He put
it in writing. saying, Thus saith Cyrus, king
of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms
of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem,
which is in Judah. God our Father, being pleased
with what Christ did for His people in justifying His elect
from all our sins, He raised Him from the dead, He gave Him
all power in heaven and earth as King of kings and Lord of
lords, and Christ has sent forth the proclamation in the Gospel
declaring God has charged him to build him a house, a spiritual
house with a spiritual priesthood. That's a kingly priesthood. And
that house is God's Jerusalem, that heavenly Jerusalem, his
true church, his true people. And that's what Christ is doing
through us, using us right now. That's the house we're building.
It's his house, the Lord's house. Now look what he said here. Who
is there, verse 3, among you of all his people? That's our
gospel. Who is there among you of all
God's people? Where are you? He said, His God
be with him. And let him go up to Jerusalem,
which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of
Israel. He is the God which is in Jerusalem. Our God is the
God. which is everywhere. He's seated
in the heavens. He's in heavenly Jerusalem. And
He's charged us. 1 Peter 2 tells us that we're
to show forth His praises. He's called us out of darkness
into His marvelous light. And what He's doing is He's taking
His people and making us lively stones. And He's building up
His spiritual house. Living stone by living stone.
Not by might nor by power, but by His Spirit. through this gospel. He's going to bring the headstone
crying grace, grace unto it. This is what Christ our King
is doing. Now look, verse 4. And whosoever
remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, that is, those
that don't go up to do the building and actually do get out involved
in the work, he said, let the men of his place help him with
silver and with gold and with goods and with beasts besides
the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.
Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin,
and the priests and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God
had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is
in Jerusalem." We can't do anything unless the Spirit of the Lord
moves us. And when He moves us, we'll rise up and we will go
forth to serve Him in the building of His house. Are you with me?
Do you see the picture here? Do you see this picture? We're
building God's house. Not like they were doing of sticks
and stones. They were building the literal
house. They were building that house in literal Jerusalem. We're
building the spiritual house in spiritual Jerusalem. And it's
by Christ our King, by His Spirit, by Him doing it. And He stirs
us up to do the work. Look at verse 6. And all they
that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver,
with gold, with goods, with peace, with precious things, beside
all that was willingly offered. They did all this besides their
normal free will offering. They were doing above and beyond
to do whatever they could to support the building of this
house. That's what we're doing. God's freed us from the law. He's freed us from being under
the law. He's freed us from being under attacks so that you and
I can now, by His power, by His Spirit making us willing, we
can serve God willingly. Above and beyond. He's the one
doing the provision. That's what King Cyrus said.
Whatever you need, I'm providing it, he said. Now go forth and
build. And they went forth, stirred
up by the Spirit of the Lord to build. But when the children
of Ezra wouldn't allow the enemy to join them... Turn over to
Ezra 4.4. People came up wanting to join them, and they wouldn't
let them join them. And when they wouldn't let the
enemy join with them to build, then the enemy opposed them.
It's all transpiring in the providence of God. This is just like if,
you know, we decided we're going to put something on the radio.
And all of a sudden we started getting all this opposition.
What does that mean? God telling us He don't want
us to put something on the radio? We can't judge it by providence.
Now watch this. Watch this. Ezra 4.4. Now let's
start with verse 1. Now when the adversaries of Judah
and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the
temple unto the Lord God of Israel. These were adversaries. But they
heard it. Then they came to Zerubbabel,
to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build
with you, for we seek your God as you do. And we do sacrifice
unto him since the days of Esherhaddon, king of Asher, which brought
us up thither. And there's no doubt they probably
thought they were worshiping the same God. And they probably
thought they were sacrificing to the same God. It may have
caught him by the same name. There's no difference in folks
in this world that think they're worshiping the same God we do.
But look at what they said. And Joshua and the rest of the
chief of the fathers of Israel said unto them, You have nothing
to do with us to build a house unto our God. But we ourselves
together will build unto the Lord God of Israel as King Cyrus,
the king of Persia, has commanded us. We're telling men we're going
to build as our king Jesus has commanded us to build. That's
what we're doing. It says here, verse 4, Then the
people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah,
and troubled them in building. And they hired counselors against
them. They hired counselors against
them. And Melinda always thinks I'm being... What's the word? Anyway, she thinks I'm being...
I keep telling her, I said, folks will hire folks to spread rumors
against us. And she goes, oh, they wouldn't
do that. They did it in the Scriptures. They hired people to spread rumors
about them. Look at this. They hired counselors
against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus,
king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, king of Persia. Now, verse 23, go to the end
of verse 4. They went, they spread, you know,
they told the king, they're going to cause you lots of trouble.
So the king stopped them from building, the king of Persia.
Now watch this, verse 23. And when the copy of King Artaxerxes'
letter was read before Rahom and Shimei, the scribe, and their
companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem and to the Jews
and made them to cease by force and by power. Now surely that's
the will of the Lord. These men who were... This was
the king of the land who gave the order and his governors and
his scribes, they went up there and stopped them by force and
by power. Look at this. Then ceased the
work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased
until the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia. Then the prophets Haggai the
prophet and Zechariah the son of Edo prophesied unto the Jews
that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel
even unto them. Now look over at Haggai with
me. Let's go over to Haggai. The easiest thing to do is go
to the end of the New Testament and go back two books. Go to
the Malachi and then go back to Zechariah and go back to Haggai. Haggai chapter 1. Now we pick
up here in verses 1 and 2. This is where, here comes Haggai
with the word of the Lord. Do you know how many years it's
been since they stopped building? 18 years. They sat there and
didn't build the Lord's house for 18 years. 18 years. And the Lord sent him his prophet
with his word. Now listen to what the Lord said
through his prophet. The second year after the rise of the king,
in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word
of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Sheateb,
governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadek the high
priest, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This
people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house
should be built. Now, since... Why were they saying that? Well,
I mean, wouldn't you think it... In God's providence, the king
gave an order and his governors and his people came to them and
by force stopped them from building. They stopped them from building.
And for 18 years, they couldn't build. And they thought that
when the enemy stopped them from building, that was God in His
providence telling them, it's not time that the Lord's house
should be built. That's what they thought. But listen carefully
now. This is so important. We cannot
judge if God is for us in our way or against us in our way
by providence only. You can't do it. You cannot do
that. You cannot do that. That's one
lesson I want us to get from this, is you just can't look
at providence alone and say, well the Lord's against this.
You can't do that. We don't read anywhere in the
scriptures where the Lord told them to stop building. Now the
Lord was ruling those kings, ruling that king and ruling those
men that came there and told them to stop. He rules everything
in providence. But the Lord never told them
to stop building. He never did. In fact, what you're
going to see here is what the Lord did when He sent Haggai,
what they did after He sent Haggai and stirred up their spirit.
If they'd have done it the day those men had came and forced
them to stop, they'd have kept on building and they'd have never
stopped. They'd have kept on building. Let me show you what
happened. But now this is so, but then we just saw that the
Lord Turned that Balaam's ass and he was against Balaam. So
how do we know if the opposition we receive in God's providence
is God being for us or God being against us? Gotta ask those key
questions. What I'm doing according to God's
Word? Well, was it? Yeah, the Lord said, build his
house. He told him, build my house. That's what he's told
us, build his house. Is my way for God's glory? Yeah, building the Lord's house
is going to bring glory to God. Number three, is my way for the
good of God's people? Yes, building the Lord's house
is going to be for the good of God's people. Number four, if
I continue in my way, am I trusting Christ? Yes, that would be the
only way they'd continue because they had so much opposition.
And brethren, the very purpose of the opposition in God's providence
is to draw you and me to trust Christ more. and depend upon
Him to provide. That is the purpose of it, of
the opposition. So after answering these questions,
we'd conclude, yes, God's teaching me in this providence it's time
to build, it's time to keep building, but He's teaching me now to trust
Him, to trust Christ, to look to Him alone. Now look at Haggai
1.8. That was the case all along.
This is what Haggai was sent to declare. Look at this. Go
up to the mountain, bring wood, build a house, I'll take pleasure
in it and I'll be glorified, saith the Lord. Now that was
the case from the day they stopped right up until this day when
he sent his prophet to tell them this. That was the case. Alright,
now let's look at the third example of opposition in God's providence.
This was meant to stop his children from what they were doing. Now
the first example was meant to stop a man from what he was doing.
The second example of God's opposition and providence was not to stop
them. But they stopped. This third example is to stop
them from what they were doing. But they didn't want to stop.
But they didn't want to stop. It's right here in Haggai. Look
at verse 3. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet,
saying, verse 4, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your sealed
houses, that's paneled houses, and this house lie waste? Now
therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. You've sown much, and you bring
in little. You eat, but you have not enough.
You drink, but you're not filled with drink. You clothe you, but
there's none warm. And he that earneth wages, earneth
wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of
hosts, Consider your ways. When the enemy opposed them,
they really, in their heart, thought, The Lord's teaching
me here in this providence that it's not time to build. And so
they turned their attention from the Lord's house, and they started
focusing on their own houses. Now this is what happened during
that whole 18 years that they did that. They would sow in their
field and they would reap little. And then they would provide food
and drink for themselves but they didn't have enough and they
weren't filled. And they clothed themselves but
they were never worn by their own clothing. And they earned
themselves wages, but their losses and their expenses increased
in such a rate, along with their wages, that to earn wages was
just like to put it into a bag with holes. Their money went
out as fast as it came in. Fast as it came in. Now, this
is not a health and a wealth gospel. That's not what I'm saying
to you. I'm saying just the opposite
to you. Christ will not let His people who are turning from His
way and turning from Him, He will stand in that way just like
He stood in that false prophet's way. He'll stand in that way
when their way is to try to provide for their own house and feed
themselves and clothe themselves and find satisfaction in this
world. Christ won't let you find satisfaction in this world. He
won't let His people do it. He won't let them do it. And
He's controlling everything. He has all the hosts there at
His disposal. You see that? He's able to give
us contentment. And He's able to be that contentment.
But He's also able to make it so that when you're striving
to be satisfied by this world, you won't be satisfied by it.
That's what He does for His people. And notice this too. When they
were faced with the opposition, gathering in little, and all
of that. When they were faced with that opposition, brethren,
they never did say, well, it's not time for us to build our
own houses. That never came to their mind. When faced with opposition
on the Lord's house, they quickly said, well, it's not time to
build the Lord's house. But, when faced with opposition while
building their own houses, they just planted more, and made more
clothes, and ate more and drank more, and made more wages, and
couldn't be satisfied with any of it. But they tried. They tried
hard. Same with Balaam. God told him
to wait till the men came calling him. He said, that's just too
hard. He got up, said, I got to go with them and went with
them. But then when it came to that ass turning out of the way,
man, he wrestled that thing trying to get it back in the way and
beat it and did everything else he could. You see what I'm saying? He's exerted all this strength.
When we're opposed in God's way, we're quick to say, it's not
the Lord's will for me to do this. It might be though. We shouldn't judge it by providence
at all. Ask those questions. And we're
going to be opposed in serving God. It's harder to serve God
than it is to serve the world. I guarantee it. And you're going
to be opposed serving God. But the thing to know is God's
in control of this opposition. Now, I have to find out, is God
telling me to stop it or is He telling me to go forward and
trust Christ as I go forward? We need God to open our eyes
to understand this opposition of His providence. Now let's
ask these questions one more time. Here they are building
their own houses. They could say, is this according
to God's Word for me to turn from God's house and spend all
my focus on my house? No. In Ezra, in Nehemiah and
in Haggai, God said, go up to the mountain, bring the wood
and build the house. Clear, God was saying, build the house,
build the house, build the house. God chose us in Christ and Christ
redeemed us by His blood. And the Holy Spirit has quickened
us and brought us together and He's done it for the purpose
of us sending forth the gospel through which He's going to build
His house. That's our purpose. So, number one, if what we're
doing is for His house, for His house, according to His Word,
what He's called us for, God's for you. Number two, number two,
Is this for God's glory that I build my house rather than
his house? Well, he said in verse 8, Haggai 1.8, build the house
and I'll take pleasure in it and I'll be glorified, saith
the Lord. Our all-powerful head promises to provide us with everything
we need as we preach this gospel. That's how he'll be glorified.
He's going to do the providing. He promises to make the word
effectual in the hearts of his elect who hear us preach this
gospel. That's how he's going to be glorified. So if what I'm
doing is for His glory and it's according to His Word, then He's
not against me because of that. This opposition is not against
me because of that. Thirdly, is this for the good of God's
people that I build my house rather than His house? No, it's
not for God's, the good of His people that I build my house.
God said, please me to say by the foolishness of preaching,
not by me pampering myself and my family by building up my house.
That's not how He's going to do it. He promises to call out
His sheep by the gospel, not by turning to ourselves and pampering
ourselves. Well, is it causing me to trust
Christ more to build my house? Am I trusting Christ for building
my house rather than giving my time and my focus and my attention,
being with the Lord's people, being under the sound of the
gospel, sacrificially giving to give the gospel into this
world? Is that teaching me to trust Christ, what I'm doing?
That would if I was doing that, but if I'm over here at my own
house, tending to my own house, then I'm not doing that. I'm
not trusting Christ at all. I'm doing what these people were
doing. He promised to provide me everything while I'm serving
Him. I have to trust Him to do that. He promised He's going
to keep me while I'm serving. I've got to trust Him to do that.
So, this is the number one purpose in opposition, brethren, is to
bring me to understand I have to trust God. He showed me in
His Word what to do. He showed me what glorifies Him,
what's good for His people. And now He tells me to trust
Christ. That's what I've got to do. That's what I've got to
do. So after answering these questions, we judge that God's
providence is teaching us we'd have to build His house rather
than our own house. If we were in their shoes, let's
see if that's true. Do we get it right? Look at Haggai
1.9. This is the Lord speaking. You
look for much, lo it came to little. And when you brought
it home, I did blow up on it. Why, saith the Lord of hosts,
because of my house that's waste, and you run every man to his
own house. Therefore the heaven over you stayed with dew, the
earth stayed from her fruit. I called for a drought upon the
land, upon the mountains, upon the corn, upon the new wine,
upon the oil, upon that which the ground brings forth, upon
men, upon cattle, upon all the labor of the hand." What a blessing!
What a blessing if God socks our economy and brings a drought
upon us to turn us back into His way. Isn't that a blessing?
Isn't that a blessing? All right, fourthly, let's wrap
this up. I want to review what we saw here. Number one, we serve
the Lord. Now, this year, as we go forward,
let's serve the Lord. Remember that we're serving the
Lord, our King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's who we're serving.
And we're going to face opposition. That's going to be so. It's been
not a year yet that I haven't been here, not a month yet I
haven't been here, not hardly a week yet I've been here that
I haven't faced opposition in some way. We're going to face
opposition. Number one, our Savior is the
Lord of hosts. He's controlling even the opposition. Don't forget that. He's controlling
it all. Number two, we can't judge by
the opposition alone whether or not we're walking in the way
He'd have us to go or not. Don't do that. Christ was stopping
Balaam. But Christ was telling His people,
it's still time to build the house. And then he was telling
his people, it's time to stop building your house. He did all
that with providence, but they wouldn't have figured that out
by just looking at the providence. Number three, you have to understand
in all the opposition, asking those questions. Is it according
to his word, for his glory, for the good of his people, and is
it bringing me to trust Christ alone? You've got to ask that
question. And in the face of opposition and providence, when
the answer to these questions is no, No, I'm not doing what
God's Word said. No, I'm not bringing glory to
God. No, I'm not. It's not good for His people
and I'm not trusting Christ. If you answer no, I can tell
you this, Christ is opposing us. He's opposing us. He sent
the opposition to stop us. I can prove it. Look at Haggai
2.15. Now I pray you consider from this day upward from before
a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord. Since
those days were, when one came to a heap of twenty measures,
you only found ten. And when you came to the press,
fat, for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, you didn't
find but twenty. I smote you with blasting, with
mildew, with hail, and all the labors of your hands, yet you
turned not to me, saith the Lord." He's saying that was the purpose
of it, was to turn you to me. because they weren't turned to
him when they sat there for those 18 years. He said, now that's
why I did it, for you to turn to me. But if you can answer
yes to those questions, yes, what I'm doing is according to
the Word of the Lord, it's for God's glory, it's for the good
of His people, and it's making me trust Christ because this
is sacrificial. I can't provide this. He's going
to have to do it. He's going to have to keep providing
for me. This is above and beyond my means. It's above and beyond
my power, my strength, my wisdom, my understanding. I've got to
trust Him to do it. If you answer yes to these questions, Christ
is providing for you. Christ is providing for you.
He will provide. He's not going to use the opposition
against you. He's going to use it to teach you to trust Him
more and He'll provide for you. Look here. I've got 218. Consider
now from this day up. That is, after he stirred up
their spirit and they actually went to trust in God and working
in his house. He said, now consider this day
upward. From the fourth and twentieth
day of the ninth month, even from that day that the foundation
of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it. Is the seed yet
in the barn? Yea, as yet the vine and the
fig tree and the pomegranate and the olive tree have not brought
forth. What he's saying to them is this. If you go to your barns
right now, they're empty. Because they had sown every bit
of seed they had. It was all in the ground. And
they had no idea if any of it was going to come up. They had
no idea. This year, as far as they knew,
would be just like it had been for the past 18 years. They wouldn't
have a thing come up, any produce from it. But now, they're doing
what the Lord told them to do. Now, they're trusting the Lord.
Now, they're walking according to His Word, wanting to see Him
glorified and His people taken care of. And this is what the
Lord said, from this day, I'll bless you. From this day, I'll
bless you. You see what I'm saying? This is how you determine the
opposition in Providence, whether it's against us or for us. I
pray you'll bless it. Amen. Lord, thank you for this word.
Help us to understand that your providence for your people is
always good, it's always leading us to Christ, to trust Him more.
But Lord, you will stand in our way if we're not walking in your
way. Make us to always be walking in your way. Make us to serve
you honorably, glorifying you, trusting you, doing that which
is good for your people. We ask it in Christ's name. As
we go forth this year, Lord, please honor Honor your word,
honor your preaching, honor your people, honor your son. Do it all for Christ's sake.
We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.