Let's open our Bibles to Haggai
chapter 1. Our text will come from these
first seven verses, but let's begin reading in verse 5. Now therefore, thus saith the
Lord of hosts, consider your ways. You've sown much and bring
in little. You eat, but you have not enough. You drink, but you're not filled
with drink. You clothe you, but there is
none warm. He that earneth wages, earneth
wages. to put into a bag with holes.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Let's go
to our Lord. Our God and Father in heaven,
we thank you for this day. We thank you for the opportunity
to again gather together as a people. Lord, we pray You'd bless us
with Your presence this evening. Lord, take these things written
in our Scriptures and Lord, reveal them to us. Make them plain to
us. And Lord, cause us to go from
this place rejoicing in our Savior, rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank You for Your many
mercies. We confess. Lord, forgive us of our ungratefulness.
Lord, forgive us when we murmur and complain. Lord, cause us
to rest in thee, knowing that thou doest all things well. Lord, we pray for our young ones,
Lord, these many little ones you've blessed us with. We pray
your hand of care and protection upon them. Lord, above all things,
we pray you'd be merciful to me. to feel Christ in them. For those of our number in a
time of trouble and difficulty and sickness, Lord, comfort and
strengthen your people. And again, cause us to rest in
thy mercies, in thy grace. Again, we pray that you bless
us with your presence here tonight. Set aside the thoughts and cares
of this world. Let us seek Christ. We pray and
give thee thanks. Wonderful, merciful Savior Precious
Redeemer and Friend Who would have thought that a lamb would
rescue the souls of men? Oh, you rescue the souls of men
Counselor, comforter, keeper, spirit we long to embrace. You gave us hope when our hearts
had hopelessly lost our way. Oh, we hopelessly lost our way. You are the one that we praise. You are the one we adore. You gave us healing and grace
our hearts always hungered for. Oh our hearts always hungered Almighty Infinite Father Faithfully
loving the lost Here in our weakness you find us Falling before your
throne Oh, we're falling before your throne you are the one that
we praise you are the one we adore you gave us healing and
grace our hearts always hunger for oh our hearts always hunger You are the one that we praise
You are the one we adore You gave us healing and grace Our
hearts always hungered for Oh, our hearts always hungered for Thank you, boys. Thank you, Sean. Preaching in Danville a few weeks
ago. And Lindsey, Lindsey Campbell was, we'd followed him over to
the to the church and we got there a little earlier than usual.
And he said, that's a relief to me. He said, I always like
to see the person preaching and get here early. And I said, Lindsey,
I always like to see the first person I want to see is the song
leader when I walk in. So we pulled in the parking lot. Sean was waiting. And that's
a that's a huge relief. Open your Bibles back to Haggai
chapter 1 for my class. This will be a little bit of
a review so you can quiz your parents on the way home this
evening. Haggai chapter 1, and let's start
with verse 1. In the second year of Darius
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 Sheltel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the
son of Josedek, the high priest, saying. Now here in this chapter,
we have a message by the prophet Haggai. And look at verse two,
we see the source. of this message. Look at verse
2. Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts. That's what we declare. When
we stand to declare God's work, we simply declare what God has
already declared. Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts.
The Lord of Hosts of the armies above and the armies below. He
to whom all reverence and praise and honor and obedience is due. And read on in the verse, it
says, the people say, the people say, the time is not come, the
time that the Lord's house should be built. Now this people had
been brought out of the captivity of Babylon. A people that had
been blessed with many benefits. And here we read, that the temple,
it lay in ruins. God's temple lay in ruins. And
the people said, time's not come. Time's not come to rebuild the
Lord's house. It's not time for the Lord's
temple, but they had plenty of time for their own houses. Look at verse 3. Then came the
word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet saying, is it time for
you? Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your sealed houses?
And this house lies in waste." He said, you have time for leisure. You have time to build your own
houses, and not just little houses, not just humble homes. He said,
you build yourselves sealed houses. And that word means wainscoting,
fancy homes, decorated homes. The temple, again, the temple
lay in ruins. Yet you have time for your own
homes, your own things. And that word sealed houses,
it also means to hide by covering, to hide by covering. This covering
is a work of their hands though. He said, you've got time to build
your own house. You're in a sealed house, a house you're hiding
in something made by your own hands. Isn't that what Adam and
Eve did all the way back in the garden? Isn't that what they
tried to do after the fall? We read that their eyes were
open, they knew their nakedness, and they sewed those fig leaf
aprons together. And we read that they heard the
voice of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the
day. And Adam and his wife Eve hid
themselves from the presence of the Lord God. Or they thought
they hid. There's no hiding from Almighty
God. But listen, if left to ourselves,
isn't that what we do? Isn't that what we try to do?
To hide behind our works, to hide behind our self-righteousness,
our deeds. No interest in Christ, no interest
in His sin-atoning blood. And then in Haggai 1, verse 5,
we read this, Now thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your
ways. And then again, look at verse
7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
consider your ways. I can remember when the boys
were younger, there were times Abby and I would say something
to them, and then we'd say it a second time. I'm sure everybody
in the room here has done that. Sometimes we repeat ourselves.
You know, sometimes we do that just in case they didn't hear
what we said the first time. But listen, often, it's to emphasize
the importance of what's being said. Consider your way. And listen to who's speaking
here. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. So two times here in these three
verses, we read that, consider your ways. I pray the Lord would
enable us to do that this evening, to truly consider our ways, to
set our hearts upon our ways. Now, there are several ways referred
to in God's Word, and I want to spend just a little time here
this evening looking at four ways, four ways mentioned in
the scriptures. That's the title of the message,
Consider Your Ways. Four things here. First, consider
the way of evil men. Look with me at Proverbs 4. Proverbs 4 verse 14, enter not
into the path of the wicked and go not into the way of evil men. Now back in Genesis 6, 11, I
won't have you turn there, but we read that the earth was corrupt
before God and filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth
and behold, it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted his way. Man had corrupted his way upon
the earth. The way of evil men. Remember, remember David, remember
what Nathan had said to David. Nathan told David that story. You know, we think about this
way of evil men and we probably have a lot of different people
that come into our mind. But we probably should consider
one person in this matter. I think it was Dale used to say,
when you point at somebody, there's three pointing right back at
you. But think about this. Nathan
told David that story. He said there was a poor man
and a rich man. And he said the rich man had
everything. And the poor man, he had one
little ewe lamb. And he treated it like it was
his child. It ate at his table, it slept in his bed. And he said,
there was a visitor come to town. And that rich man, rather than
take it from his own, he went and took that one man's little
lamb and he slugged. Boy, when David heard that, he
was furious, wasn't he? And he said this, he said, the
man that had done this, shall surely die." Remember what Nathan
said to him? David, listen, David, David who
took another man's wife, David who, when he was going to be
found out about that, had her husband put out in the hottest
part of the battle and told the rest of the troops to back off
and had him slain. David, who we read was a man Despite
all that, we read he was a man after God's own heart. He said
to David, David, thou art a man. Thou art a man. Enter not in
to the path of evil men. The way of evil men. The corrupt
way. It's a way that leads to eternal
death. The way of Adam. The way of sin.
The way of self. I can't remember if it was If
it was Henry or Barnard that used to talk about the bars and
the pool rooms and the movie houses. Listen, not everything
that's evil has a flashing sign out front, does it? The path
of evil men. It's the broad way. It's what
it's referred to in the Scriptures. The easy way. It's the way everyone
else is going. That's what everybody else is
doing, right? How many times have we heard
that or said that as kids? That's what everybody else is
doing. Everybody else has one. Well, if it's the way everyone
else is going, we might want to be alarmed about that a little
bit. Over in Matthew 7 verse 13, we
read, wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. as many there be which go in
thereat. And by nature, it's the way we
all desire. This wicked hearted, the way
of Adam, the way of David, the way of sin and self, the way
of evil men. Do you still have Proverbs 4?
Look what the Scripture says about the way of evil men. There's
a warning here. Verse 15, avoid it. Pass not by it. Turn from it
and pass away. Oh, if the Lord's pleased to
show us that that's the evil way. Look at that. Avoid it,
turn from it, pass away from it. Consider Adam and Eve back
there in the garden. What happened? That fruit, huh? She saw it. She took it and she
ate it. David and Bathsheba. David, he saw that woman out
there bathing and he inquired after her. He didn't just go
back in the house, he inquired after her. He sent a messenger
to bring him back to him and then he lay with her. And then
Achan, back there when Jericho was destroyed, God told the people,
He said, everything in that city is accursed. Leave it. Don't take anything. Only Rahab
the harlot and her family were to come out of that place. And a man named Achan, he said
this, he said, I saw that Babylonish garment. I saw the gold. I saw
all these things. And then what happened? I coveted
it. I desired it. I had to have it.
And that wasn't enough. Then he took it and he hid it
in his tent. The way of wicked men. Avoid
it. Avoid it. Pass not by it. Enter
not into it. Well, second, there's a way that
seemeth right. A way that seems right. Turn
to Proverbs 16, look at verse 25. 16 verse 25, there's a way that
seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death. What's a way that seemeth right? Consider this, attempting to
earn salvation by the keeping of the law. You know, apparently that's a
way that seems right because there are a lot of people that
have put their trust, have put their hope in what they do, in
what they do for God. But we read this, by the deeds
of the law, there shall be no flesh justified in His sight. Turn over to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. Righteousness by the deeds of
the law. That seems right to man, but it's contrary to Scripture. Look beginning with verse 10
of Romans 3. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one, there is none that understandeth, there
is none that seeketh after God, They're all going out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that
do it good. No, not one. Their throat is
an open sepulcher. With their tongues, they've used
deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth
is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood, destruction and misery in their ways. The way of peace
they've not known. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. Now we know that whatsoever things the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law that every mouth may
be stopped and all the world become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by
the law is the knowledge of sin. What do the scriptures say to
those who would be justified by the deeds of the law? They're
all going out of the way. Destruction and misery is in
their path. The way of peace they've not
known. And by the deeds of the law, there shall be no flesh
justified in His sight. A way that seemeth right. The works of man's hands. That seems right, huh? To the
natural man. Woe unto them Over in Jude 1
11, Woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain. We know this about Cain. We know
he killed his brother Abel. Abel who brought a blood sacrifice. His brother Abel's sacrifice
was received to the Lord. It pointed, our Redeemer, it
pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. But Cain's sacrifice, he brought
the fruit of the ground. He brought the works of His hands. You know, no doubt that seemed
right to him. He got out there in the garden
and he worked and he tilled the soil and he planted seed and
he tilled again and he watered. Nothing easy about gardening.
Probably seemed right. Look what I have done. The Lord
was not pleased with his sacrifice. And it's no different in our
day. They may not be planting the
garden, but they're doing the exact same things. They're building
buildings for God. They're feeding the hungry. They're
doing this and they're doing that. And don't get me wrong,
there's nothing wrong with feeding the hungry. But if I think me
feeding the hungry adds one ounce of righteousness to me, it's
wrong. It's wrong. By the deeds of the
law, there shall be no flesh justified in His sight. Turn
over to Psalm chapter 50. Look beginning with verse 7 of
Psalm 50. Here, O my people, and I will
speak, O Israel, and I will testify against thee. I am God, even
thy God. I will not reprove thee. I'll
not justify thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings to have
been continually before me. I'll take no bullocks out of
thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. For every beast of
the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know
all the fowls of the mountains, and the wild beast of the field
are mine. If I were hungry, I'd not tell thee, for the world
is mine and the fullness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving and
pay thy vows unto the Most High and call upon me in the day of
trouble. I'll deliver thee that thou shalt
glorify me. the works of our hands. How utterly
foolish. How utterly foolish. What could
a sinful man have to offer a holy God? A sovereign God who rules
and reigns over all things? We read one thing here that we
can offer unto God and that's to say, thank you. Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving for what He has
done. for the gift. We give thanks
for a gift. If we earned a gift, it wouldn't
be a gift. A gift's a gift. It's offered
for no other reason other than the person giving it determined
to give someone a gift. The gift of salvation. Peter
rebuked Simon over there in Acts 8. He said, thy money perish
with thee. Thou thoughtest the gift of God
could be purchased. We have nothing to offer unto
God but praise and thanksgiving for what He has done for us. There's a way that seems right
unto me. The end thereof is death. Third point, consider your ways. Consider the way which God leads
His people. Psalm 37 verse 23, we read the
steps of a good man. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord, and He delighteth in His way. That word good is
added by the translators, the steps of a man. There's none
good but God. The steps of a man are ordered
by the Lord, and He delighteth in His way. In Psalm 23, we read
of the Lord our shepherd, the shepherd that leads His sheep,
that corrects His sheep, provides for his sheep, protects his sheep,
the shepherd that lays down his life for his sheep. He does all
these things. He leads us in the way. He leads us in his way, the way
he's determined. You know, he brought the children
of Israel out of bondage and out of slavery to the promised
land. And yet in Numbers 21, we read
this, that the children of Israel were much discouraged because
of the way. We should find a little bit of
comfort in that. Don't we do the same in our day?
Don't we quickly become discouraged because of the way? Despite his
provision, he provided manna. They'd just walk out there in
the backyard and pick up their food for the day. He provided
quail. When they grew tired of the manna,
he provided quail. He gave them water out in the
middle of the desert from a rock. He delivered them from captivity.
Yet they became discouraged because of the way. They murmured and
they complained. Yet we read this, we know that
all things work together for them that love God, to them who
are called according to His purpose. The way that God chooses for
His people, despite our murmuring and complaining, it doesn't change
the fact that that's the way He's chosen for us. And He delivers us. He delivers
His people. Through trials and tribulation
and hardship, He delivers His people. Turn to Nahum 3. Nam chapter 1 verse 3. I didn't intentionally choose
scriptures that were hard to find this season. Nam 1 beginning with verse 3. The Lord is slow to anger and
great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord
hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds
or the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea and maketh
it dry and dryeth up all the rivers. Basin languisheth, Carmel
and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him. and
the hills melt, and the earth is burned up at his presence,
yea, the world and all they that dwell therein. Who can stand
before his indignation? Who can abide in the fierceness
of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are thrown down by him. Yet we read, the Lord
is good. Stronghold in the day of trouble.
He knoweth them that trust in Him. Whatsoever way, He sends
His people. Whatsoever way, He's pleased
to lead us. It's just, it's right, and it's
for our good, and it's for His glory. In Romans 11, 33, we read,
O the depths of the riches both of the wisdom of God and the
knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways
past finding out. Moses prayed there in Exodus
33. He said, show me, show me now
thy way. Make my path, make my path plain. Show me now thy way. Well, forth. This final point, Consider Christ,
who is the way. That's what the Scriptures declare,
that Christ is the way. Turn with me to John chapter
14. John chapter 14, beginning with verse 1. Let not
your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to
prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place
for you, I'll come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am, there you may be also. And whither I go, you know,
and the way you know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord,
we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? How can we? That's a good question,
isn't it? How can we know the way? Look at verse six. Our Lord says, I am the way.
I am the way and the truth and the life and no man cometh to
the Father but by me." The way. The Lord Jesus Christ. He is the way. He's the way to God. Turn over
to Isaiah. Turn back to Isaiah real quick. Isaiah 35. Look beginning at verse 8. Isaiah knew about this way. He
knew the way. He said this in verse 8, and
highway shall be there. That's just one way, isn't it?
One way, a highway. And the way shall be called the
way of holiness. It's a way that requires holiness. The unclean shall not pass over
it, but it shall be for those." That's a particular people, isn't
it? That's a peculiar people. His people. The wayfaring men,
though fools, shall not err therein, and no lion shall be there, nor
any ravenous beast shall go thereon. It's a safe way. It shall not
be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. and the ransomed
of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting
joy upon their heads, and they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sighing and sorrow shall flee away." It's a joyous way. That's what the Scriptures declare. And listen, He doesn't just show
us the way by example. He's not just a prophet to teach
us in the way, doesn't just guide us in the way, but He Himself, the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself is the way, the way from God to men. All blessings
come from the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
way from man to God, our righteousness, our high priest, our sin offering. by His holy life. He honored
the law of God. By His death, He enabled God
to be both just and justify those who believe. Consider your way. Consider the
Lord Jesus Christ who is the way. Turn to Hebrews 3. Come with me to one more passage of
Scripture. Hebrews 3. Verse 1 of Hebrews 3. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, consider, consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. The apostle and high priest. Sin of God to preach the gospel
to his people. the gospel of redemption, sent
to secure salvation for his people. And listen, by his obedience
and death, as our high priest, he entered into the holy place, bearing our sins, standing in
the presence of God and intercedes on the behalf of his people. Consider, consider him, consider
the Lord Jesus Christ. And may He be pleased to cause
us to forsake our ways. That's the way we probably most
often desire. We want it our way. Isaiah 55-7
says this, Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous
man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and you'll
have mercy upon him. And to our God, for He will abundantly Oh, that He might teach us the
way. That He might teach us His way. The way of salvation. We read there earlier, to open
the service, that was David's prayer. That's what David said. He said, teach me thy way, O
Lord, and lead me in a plain path. That's what we have to
have. He has to teach us the way and
He has to lead us in a plain, plain path. Haggai 1.5, thus
saith the Lord, consider, consider your way. All right, let's go
to our Lord in prayer. Our God and Father in heaven,
we thank you for your word. Lord, we pray you would bless
it to our understanding. Lord, truly cause us to to consider
our way. Lord, keep us from the way of
evil men. Lord, keep us from the way that
seems right to this natural mind, to this flesh. Lord, cause us
to rejoice in the way that You've led us in. And Lord, above all,
Lord, reveal Thy way to us. Reveal unto us the Lord Jesus
Christ who is the way. revealed in thy word. Bless us this night, Lord, pray
give us safe travel, and Lord, that you would return us here. Thanks, Lord, today to again
hear thy word preached. And we thank you for your many
blessings, but above all, we thank you for our Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray and give
thee thanks, amen. Dismissed.