Let's open our Bibles to Haggai
chapter 2. Haggai chapter 2. In the seventh month, in the
one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord
by the prophet Haggai. saying, speak now to Zerubbabel,
the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the
son of Josedek, the high priest, and to the residue of the people,
saying, who is left among you that saw this house in her first
glory, and how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in
comparison of it as nothing? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel,
saith the Lord, and be strong, O Joshua, the son of Josedek,
the high priest, and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith
the Lord, and work. For I'm with you, saith the Lord
of Hosts, according to the word that I covenanted with you when
you came out of Egypt. So my spirit remaineth among
you. Fear ye not. For thus saith the Lord of Hosts,
yet once, it's a little while, and I will shake the heavens
and the earth, and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake
all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come. That's
why I asked Cecil to sing that Song, Hark the Herald Angels
Sing, that fourth verse talked about the desire of all nations. That's who the Lord promises
here. I'll shake all nations and the desire of all nations
shall come. And I will fill this house with
glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine and the gold
is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house
shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts.
And in this place, Will I give peace? Sayeth the Lord of hosts. We'll end our reading there.
Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverent, is your matchless name. Father, we come before
you this morning seeking a spirit of worship. We beg of thee this
morning that you'd speak to us through your word. that you would
enable us to worship thee in spirit and in truth. Truly, you're
worthy of all of our worship, all of our praise, all of our
adoration. And we do pray that you would
reveal yourself this morning in your power and your mercy
and grace and love to sinners. Enable us a time of true heartfelt
worship of our Lord. And Father, we bow before you
and thank you. How thankful we are, chiefly, for our Lord Jesus
Christ. How we thank you for a sacrifice
that puts away sin. How we thank you for a representative
that makes his people righteous through his obedience, not through
any works of our own, but through his obedience. How we thank you
for his precious blood that washes us from all sin and makes us
accepted in your presence. We're thankful for the gospel
that you've given us to preach, the glorious gospel of free,
full salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I pray this morning
for the power of your spirit to be upon me, to able me, Father,
to in clear and simple terms, preach this gospel of Christ
and give us ears to hear and heart that would believe your
word. And Father, we're thankful for this place that you've given
us, this family of believers that you've given to us. Father,
we're thankful and we pray that your continued mercy and blessing
be upon this house, upon this family of believers that you've
called out, that you continue to cause your gospel to go forth
in power and cause us to show our love one to another, to have
our hearts knit together in love and unity, that we might worship
thee together. We do thank you, Father, for
the countless many material blessings that you've given to us. Everything
we have is yours. You gave it to us and we're thankful. Ask for the wisdom and the grace
to use all these many gifts that you've given us wisely, to not
waste them on ourselves, but for your glory and for the good
of your people. Father, we know we're the most
blessed people on the face of this planet. But we also confess
that in this flesh, we're still a poor and needy people. And
we pray that you give us our daily bread, that you'd meet
the daily requirements of this life for as many days as you
give us on this earth. And for those that you brought
in the time of trouble and trial, Father, we pray a special blessing
on them. We pray that you'd give them
a special portion of your presence to comfort their heart, to heal
their bodies. We pray for Sue. as she's going
through these tests and treatments, that you'd be with her, that
you'd heal her according to your mercy and grace. Pray that you'd
be with Ron at this difficult time, that you'd heal his body.
For Dale and for Amy as they face these treatments and tests,
Father, that you'd be with them. And for our new little baby,
Daisy. We're thankful, Father, how we
thank you for these, our children. And as we pray mercy and grace
for her physically, that you heal her physically, how we beg
of thee mercy on her soul. And we're thankful to know thou
art able. We bring these things to thy feet and we leave them
there. Now, Father, bless us in this
hour, we pray. Bless us with a time of true
worship, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be exalted
and magnified. For it is in his precious name
we pray and give thanks and ask these blessings. All right. Zechariah chapter
two. The title of the message this morning is the desire of
all nations. Haggai's name means festival
of the Lord. He must be coming with some good
news for sinners. His name means festival of the
Lord. Haggai was born in captivity in Babylon, and he prophesied
right after Israel was set free after their 70 years of captivity
there. And God sent him to both correct
and to comfort his people. Now, you know the story here.
Osiris sent the Jews back to Jerusalem. He sent them back
to rebuild the walls of the city, and he sent them back to rebuild
the temple so that the right worship of the Lord would be
restored. But the work was very sporadic.
It began well, but then for some reason or another, sooner or
later, it stopped. The people faced opposition and
things, and they stopped. And when they came back and went
to work, they quickly laid the foundation of the temple and
they built it up a block or two. But then for 15 years, there
were no more work done on God's house. In chapter one, we looked
at in our lesson this morning, Haggai told the people, now you
consider your ways. Is this right? Of course not. This is not the right way for
us to worship or serve the Lord. And the people heard his message.
Their hearts were corrected in this and they repented of their
ways. They went back to the work, building
the temple. And in chapter two, the workers
had been back to work for about a month now. And the Lord sends
Haggai again with another message. And this message is a message
of encouragement to his people. Verse one of chapter two. In
the seventh month and the one and 20th day of the month came
the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai. saying, Speak now to
Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua,
the son of Josedek, the high priest, and to the residue of
the people, saying, Who is left among you that saw this house
in her first glory? And how do you see it now? Is
it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Now Haggai
is telling the people, don't get discouraged here. Don't just
get discouraged because you think the building is too small. It's
not as big as the temple that Solomon built. And don't get
discouraged when you hear people complaining and saying, you know,
this temple is not as glorious as the one that we saw before
us. It's not as glorious as Solomon's temple. This is just a small
thing. Well, I would remind us to never
despise the day of small things. You just don't know what God
may do with all these small things. Don't despise the day of small
things because I promise you this, God never does anything
small. Ever. Now he works in all the
small things, but he's not doing something small. He's doing something
great. This temple looks small at the
time it was being built, but God had a great purpose in it.
Look down here at verse nine. He said, the glory of this latter
house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of
hosts. And in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord
of hosts. Now he doesn't mean this building
is going to end up being bigger or more glorious than Solomon's
because it won't be. The building won't be as great,
it won't be as big, it won't be as rich as the temple that
Solomon built. And that was clearly God's will.
Cyrus would have gladly given them enough gold and silver and
all the things you know to make that house as big and as rich
as Solomon's. But God didn't tell him to do
it. It wasn't God's will that that temple be as rich or as
big or as glorious in that way. This temple would not be as glorious
as Solomon's temple because by this time, the Ark of the Covenant
had been lost. We never read of the Ark of the
Covenant being in the second temple. And that was God's will
too, wasn't it? If God's will was for the Ark
to have been there, it wouldn't have been lost. And since the
Ark wasn't there, the mercy seat wasn't there. And since the mercy
seat wasn't there, the Shekinah glory of God never dwelt in this
second temple. Well, then can you tell me how
this temple is going to be more glorious than Solomon's? Well,
I can. Because Christ himself is going
to come to this temple. He came there as a baby on the
eighth day to satisfy the law, to be circumcised. And Simeon
saw him. Simeon saw his glory. And he
says, in this place, will I give peace? Simeon had peace. He said, I
can depart in peace now. Mine eyes have seen your salvation.
Christ came and walked in Solomon's porch. There was a part of the
porch that was left over and they built the temple around
it. Christ himself walked and taught the scriptures in that
porch. Christ came to the temple, this temple that they're building
right now, and He cleared out all those money changers. He
got rid of them so the place could be a place of peace. They
saw His glory, the glory of His holy zeal. But I'll tell you
the real reason when He talks about the second building, the
second temple being more glorious than Solomon's, because really
the Scriptures is not referring to a building at all. He's referring
to Christ. The scriptures are referring
to Christ himself, Christ who has all glory. Now you all know
this well. The tabernacle and the temple
were built as pictures of Christ. Every detail of those buildings
were built as pictures of Christ. So the encouraging message that
Haggai brought to the people is, one day soon, God's going
to reveal the real thing. Don't get discouraged at this
physical building, because one day God's going to take away
the picture. One day soon. And he's going
to reveal Christ who came and tabernacled among us. Look at
verse four. This is what he says. He says,
Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord, and be strong,
O Joshua, son of Josedek, the high priest, and be strong, all
ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work. For I am
with you. For I am with you, saith the
Lord of hosts. Now what a comforting and encouraging
message for us to hear. The Lord promises, I'll be with
you. I'll be with you. Everything's
all right, isn't it? If he's with us, what can be
bad? What can be wrong if the Lord's
with us? Read on verse five. He says, according to the word
that I covenanted with you, when you came out of Egypt, so my
spirit remaineth among you. Fear ye not. Don't fear. Now,
if we're gonna preach a message of comfort and encouragement
to God's people, if we're gonna tell them, don't fear, we've
got to preach God as the covenant God. We can't preach him as a
God that'll bless you if you do right. There's no comfort
or encouragement there, is there? If we're going to comfort the
hearts of God's people, we're going to encourage the hearts
of God's people. We've got to declare God in his eternal covenant
of grace for his people. God has a covenant. God chose
a people in eternity past in a covenant of grace. He chose
them and purposed to show his mercy and grace upon them. He
chose to save those people through the sacrifice of his son. And
brother, those people should be saved. This is God's promise. This is God's covenant to save
them. There's no doubt they'll be saved. None of them can be
lost. This is God's covenant. The covenant of God, his promise
is so comforting and assuring to the hearts of God's people.
It's a comfort to know God will keep his promise. He'll keep
his promise of grace. He'll keep his promise of mercy,
he'll keep his promise of salvation, he'll keep his promise of the
forgiveness of sins in the Lord Jesus Christ. Haggai brought
this message as a way to encourage the people to continue working
on the building. What more encouraging words do
you need to hear to go to work preaching the gospel and supporting
the preaching of the gospel than God's covenant? God's gonna save
a people. He's gonna do it through the
preaching of the gospel. Then by God's grace, let's preach
Christ. And I encourage your heart to
preach him. It's no wonder the prophet said, fear not, I'll
be with you. I've promised to save you. I
won't break my word. Now verse six, for thus sayeth
the Lord of hosts, yet once it's a little while and I'll shake
the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and
I'll shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come.
And I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. Now the prophet says it's a little
while. In just a little while, God's coming. Coming to shake
the heaven and the earth. Now what's he talking about here?
What time is he talking about that he'll come? I believe he's
referring to at least three different times that he'll come. John Gill
says this word, the desire of all nations shall come. That
word come, Gill says, is plural. So he's talking about more than
one time that God will come. I'm confident, first of all,
he's talking about this soon. At the time of this prophecy,
soon. God will come to earth in his incarnation. God's coming
to earth as a man. God's gonna be a man on this
earth. He's coming. Second, I believe
this. He means that soon God will come
to all of his people in the new birth. He's coming to his people,
to the hearts of his people and the person of his Holy Spirit,
and he'll give them life. And thirdly, I believe he means
this. Soon God's coming again in his second coming where he'll
come and gather all of his people. He's going to take them to be
with him where he is, that for eternity they may behold his
glory. Now the prophet says, in a little
while, I'll come to shake heaven and earth, in a little while.
Now don't get discouraged when God does not act as quickly as
we'd like. It's been my experience and it's
been what I've read in God's word, he never does. He never
acts as quickly as we'd like. He said here, in a little while,
I'm gonna come. in the incarnation. In a little
while, my son's gonna be born as a man in Bethlehem. But you
know, Christ won't be born in Bethlehem for more than 500 years. And God calls that a little while.
Today, it's been more than 2,500 years since Haggai said, the
Lord said he's coming again in a little while. He's coming in
the new birth to give his people life in the new birth. It's been
2,500 years And God still hasn't come to
all of his people in the new birth. There's still some to
be born. There's still some to be saved.
There's still some to be brought to faith. And after 2,500 years,
God said, just a little while, and I'm coming again in the second
coming. But Christ still hasn't returned,
has he? I'm telling you this, he's coming. Oh, he's coming
in his appointed time. Now that seems like eons to us. But God says that just a little
while because to him, it's nothing. God dwells outside of time. So
just don't get discouraged when God doesn't act as quickly as
we like. He's acting and he's going to accomplish his will
and his time. He's coming again. And you know, every time God
appears, things happen. There's a shaking every time
God appears. Every time God appears, everything
changes drastically when he comes on the scene. I don't know how
long Mount Sinai stood before the children of Israel finally
came there and they left Egypt. But everything changed when God
appeared on that mountain. There were thunderings and lightnings
and earthquakes. That mount shook because God
appeared on that mountain. And then one day at God's appointed
time, Christ was born in Bethlehem and the whole earth was shaken.
A host of angels appeared and they sang. A host of angels singing. I mean, you know, we sound pretty
good here in this little room. You think of a host of angels. Glory
to God in the highest, on earth peace, goodwill toward men. And
the earth was shaken, wasn't it? At that time when Christ
was born, you just think of that host, seeing the whole air and
earth just reverberate at them singing the glory of God. Christ
the King was revealed at that time, and everything was shaken. Herod shook with fear in his
boots at this one, this baby born King of the Jews. And when
Christ came, the religious world was shaken to its core, wasn't
it? The scribes and the Pharisees were shaken. Boy, they sent men
out to take him, to arrest him so they could kill him, and they
came back empty-handed and said, what did you bring him? They
said, oh, no man spake like this man. Nobody's ever spoke like
him. They were shaken. The false religion
and the self-righteousness of the Pharisees was exposed when
the glory of Christ our righteousness was revealed. They were so shaken,
they sought every way they could to take him and put him to death.
They had to get rid of him. His appearance shook everything
they stood on. And then at the cross, The Son
of God appeared as the sacrifice for sin. And the whole earth
was shaken. There was a great earthquake.
Rocks were rent in two. The sun refused to shine. And
that ceremonial religion was shaken. Shaken so much it was
destroyed. When Christ gave up the ghost,
what happened down there in the temple? The veil between the
holy of holies and the holy place was rent from top to bottom.
Torn, cleared in two. The old ceremony was shaken so
that it was destroyed. You know why God destroyed it?
There wasn't need for it anymore. This prophecy was fulfilled.
The real thing was revealed. The true sacrifice was revealed. The true Passover was revealed.
The glory of Christ was revealed. And even the centurion feared
greatly. He was shaken, wasn't he? He
said, truly, This man was the son of God. He was shaken. And
then when Christ comes to his people in the new birth, there's
a shaking in there. Oh, when he comes, there's a
great shaking. Because along with life in the
new birth, everything we believed before, everything we thought
before is shaken. If it can be shaken, it will
be shaken. All the junk that we believed
and we thought before, all the junk that we thought about the
flesh is shaken so that it's destroyed. And you know why it's
destroyed? Because Christ has been revealed
to us. The Savior has been revealed to us. Righteousness has been
revealed. Life has been revealed to us and in us. So we can't
trust in those things anymore. Can't believe those things anymore
because now we've seen the Savior. Everything's shaken. And when Christ returns again,
scripture says there's going to be a great shaking. The last
trump will sound and that trump is going to shake all of creation.
That trump is going to be so loud. It will cause such a shaking.
The dead are going to hear it. They're going to rise again. This great shaking. It also doesn't
have to just be something fearful or awful. You know what this
shaking also refers to? It refers to the harvest of souls.
Now, at this time when they'd harvest the olives or certain
fruit trees and different ones, they wouldn't just go and pick
all the fruit one at a time. You know what they'd do? They'd
grab that tree and just shake the life out of it. And all the
fruit would fall on the ground and they'd just scoop it up.
Well, that's what this is talking about. When Christ returns, There's
going to be a great shake. And he's going to gather together
all his fruit, all his people, and he's going to take them to
be with him forever. And at that time, glory is going to fill
this place. Christ's glory is going to be
seen by every eye. Every knee will bow. Every tongue
will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord for the glory of God
the Father. Now, Here's what I really wanted
us to focus on for just a few minutes this morning. The prophet
calls the Lord Jesus Christ the desire of all nations. That's
what he says here, the desire of all nations shall come. That's
referring to Christ, no one else. That sounds like a strange title,
the desire of all nations, because all people of all nations don't
desire the Lord. They don't desire Christ. By
nature, the opposite is true. They don't desire him, they despise
him. He's a man who's despised of men, rejected of men. But
this is also true. Because of God's covenant of
grace, God has a people from all nations, all nations. And those people will desire
Christ, will desire him above all else. And he's called the
desire of all nations. You know, all men, without exception,
ought to desire Christ. Because Christ is the answer
to every desire of our hearts. He really is. All men, I don't
care where you find them, what nation they live in, what time
that they lived in upon earth, all men have several common desires
of their heart. And Christ is the answer to every
one of them. And this is what I pray the Spirit
will impress upon all of our hearts this morning. No matter
what it is that you desire. I don't care what it is you desire.
Think of it. Christ is the answer. So now
you look to Christ. Now there's several things, like
I said, all men desire. The first one is this. All men
desire a physical God. That's why men make so many idols
to look at. They've done it since the dawn
of time. Men have made idols to look at
because they desire a God they can see and touch. They can know
where He is, right? They put their God on a shelf
and they say, okay, there's our God. That's why they ask David,
David, where's your God? We can't see Him. We know where
our God is on the shelf. We put, where's your God? David
says, I know where He is. He's in the heavens. And I can
tell you what he's doing too. We know what our God's doing.
He's right there on the shelf. He's doing what we... I can tell
you where my God is. He's in the heavens. I can tell
you what he's doing. He's doing whatever he's pleased
to do. That's what he's doing. But men desire a physical God. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
to satisfy that desire. He appeared as the physical God. God was manifest in the flesh. Now that's a great mystery. What
a miracle. Paul told Timothy without controversy. This is not even debatable. Great
is the mystery of God. God was manifest in the flesh,
but he was. Look at John chapter one. People say God can't become a
man. Scripture says he did. That's
a great mystery, but scripture says he did. God appeared as
a man. John 1 verse 14, And the Word
was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw Him. We beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. John said men saw the physical
God. And when men saw the man, Jesus
of Nazareth, they saw the eternal, almighty God. manifested them
in the flesh. Look at 1st John chapter 1. John says this again in 1st John. 1st John 1 verse 1. That which was from the beginning,
which we've heard, which we've seen with our eyes, which we've
looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life. For this life was manifested,
and we've seen it, and we bear witness and show unto you that
eternal life, which was with the Father and manifested unto
us. John says men handled the physical
God. He said, I did. I touched him.
John leaned on his breast, didn't he? He leaned upon his body. Jesus Christ is the desire of
every heart. He's the physical manifestation
of God. And everyone who desires to see
Him sees Him. Now, not physically. You who
believe, you've never seen the physical body of the Lord Jesus.
But you see Him, don't you? By faith, you see Him. You see
Him as everything that you need. You see Him as all of your hope,
all of your righteousness, all of your salvation. By faith,
you see Christ as your all and in all more clearly than you
see me standing right here. You might, if you'd have glasses,
and you're sitting on the back row, you took them off, you can't
see me. But by faith you still see Christ, don't you? You see
him. He's the manifestation of the physical God. Secondly, every
man's conscience desires an atonement for sin. Everybody desires a
way to pay for their sin. Everybody knows their sin's got
to be paid for. And that's why people do every crazy thing a
false prophet tells them to do, because they have an insatiable
desire to pay for their sin. But the word of God tells us
that there's nothing you can do to pay for your sin. But the
desire of all nations, he's already come and atoned for, paid for
the sin of his people. Christ atoned for the sin of
his people by being made sin for them. 2 Corinthians 5.21,
for he hath made him sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Christ atoned for
the sin of his people. Christ atoned for the curse of
sin that his people were under by being made a curse for them.
Galatians 3.13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us. For it's written, cursed is everyone
that hangeth upon a tree. Christ has redeemed his people
from death by giving them his life and dying the death they
deserve. He made his people righteous by giving them his righteousness.
He saved his people from spiritual death. He gave them his spiritual
health and suffered all their spiritual sicknesses. Look at
1 Peter 2. This is what Peter says. Verse 24, who his own self bear our sins
in his body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live
under righteousness by whose stripes we're healed. Now look
at Hebrews chapter 10. I want you to listen to me. I'm
here to tell you that Christ is enough. He's enough to satisfy
God, and He's enough to satisfy your conscience. Hebrews 10 verse
14, for by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. Why didn't He offer many offerings,
like the high priest offered many animal sacrifices? Because
He's enough. His one sacrifice was enough
to satisfy the Father. For of the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. For after that He had said before,
This is the covenant I'll make with them after those days, saith
the Lord. I'll put my laws into their hearts and in their minds
while I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. Now where remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin. There's no more offering
for sin because Christ is enough. He's enough to satisfy God. He's
enough to pay your sin debt. Look back at page Hebrews 9 verse
14. and he's enough to satisfy your conscience. He's all you
need. Hebrews 9 verse 14. How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God? I'll tell you what he's saying
here. Once you see Christ, once you see him as your sacrifice,
Once you see Christ as your righteousness, once you see that His obedience
to the law is your obedience to the law, your conscience will be quiet.
Your conscience won't bother you anymore. Your conscience
will quit telling you, you better do these good deeds to make God
happy with you. Your conscience will quit telling
you that because you've seen Christ. He's enough. He's enough. Your conscience
will be quiet as long as you look to Christ. because he's
enough. Thirdly, every man desires a
substitute to do for me what I can't do for myself. That's
why people are willing, I suppose they still would be, it's not
common in our day, but for years it was. People were willing to
sacrifice their very own children. You know why they did that? They
were looking for a substitute. I try to imagine that. I try
to imagine how horrible, just, I mean, it's just, I can't even
imagine it. But people did it. Willingly
they did it because the blood of their child and the life of
their child is the most precious life, the most precious blood
they know. and they think surely God will
accept me if I kill my child as a substitute for me. Now that
shows you the perversion that we think about the character
of God. That God would be pleased if I sacrifice one of my children?
What kind of person would that be? And scripture tells us now
God's not pleased with anything we do. even if we kill our own
child for it. God's not satisfied with that.
Oh, but God's pleased. I can tell you where God is pleased.
He's not pleased with the death of our son. He's pleased with
the death of his son. And he's pleased with everyone
for whom Christ died. God said, deliver him from going
down to the pit. I found, I've provided a ransom. And that ransom is God's own
son. The Lord Jesus Christ paid the
ransom for his people by dying as the sinner's substitute. When
John the Baptist cried, behold, look, the Lamb of God, there
he is, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. What
was he pointing us to? What was a lamb all through the
Old Testament? What's a lamb for? Substitute. The Passover lamb was a substitute
for the firstborn, right? John was pointing us to the substitute
that your heart desires. Now you look to him. Fourthly,
every man, every man, woman, and child, I don't care where
you find them, they desire a sure salvation. I want a sure thing. Nobody wants to go through life
always unsure of the salvation of their soul. There's no peace
there. Nobody wants to come to their
deathbed unsure about the salvation of their soul. What an awful,
horrible time to be laying on your deathbed unsure. Are my
sins paid for? Will God accept me? I understand, but I don't understand
how somebody can go through this Armenian religion that's constantly
telling you, you got to work, you got to work, you got to work,
you got to work, you got to work. With all the time, the false
prophets in this year are telling you you've got to work, but all
the time in your conscience is telling you, yeah, you've got
to work, but you haven't done enough. And you're laying in
your deathbed with that in your ear? Nobody wants that. And if
we're trusting in something we've done, salvation will always be
in doubt, will always be miserable, because salvation cannot be found
in anything that we do. Oh, but Christ, he's the desire
of our heart. In him, salvation is sure and
certain. Romans 8, 26 says, so all Israel,
all spiritual Israel shall be saved. Why? Because it's written
out of Zion's coming to deliver. Out of Zion is one who's the
desire of your heart coming to deliver his people from sin.
The angel said, you call his name Jesus, for he shall, this
is a certainty, he shall save his people from their sin. Look
at Romans chapter four. Now this ought to sum this up
once and for all. Christ is the desire of our heart
because sure salvation is in him. Romans four verse 25. who was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. Someone might ask, how can we
be sure that Christ forever put away the sin of his people and
justified them? I tell you this all the time,
justified is not just as if I'd never sinned. Justified is being
made without sin. How can I be sure that the death
of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ made me without sin? How can I be sure? Because God
raised him from the dead. The only reason the father would
put his son to death is what? Sin. Sin was charged to him. But that sin's gone under the
blood of Christ. You know how I know that? The
father raised him again. The Father raised him again as
evidence he justified his people. Our salvation is sure and certain
in him. He satisfied the Father because
he raised him from the tomb. He wouldn't have raised him if
he wasn't satisfied with him. He's satisfied. So salvation
in Christ is the desire of your heart. It's sure and certain.
Fifthly, every person, Every man, woman, and child desires
a God that we can come to and be accepted. We don't want a
God we'll come to but won't hear us. We don't want a God we can
come to and cast us out. We desire a God we can come to
and be accepted at his throne. Ever since God thrust Adam out
of the garden, that's what every man has desired, to come back
into the presence of God, and not be killed by the flaming
sword of God's justice that turns every way. We desire to come
back to God in peace and fellowship. But no matter how hard we try,
we cannot come back to God through the law, through our own obedience
to the law. Because we try to keep the law.
We look at the law. But all the law does is hold
up a mirror that shows us how unable to keep it we are. Unable
to please God we are. God can never accept us in our
own works of the law. Because all our works of the
law are more sin. And we can't come back to God
through the ceremonies of religion. Because God's not pleased with
any of them. Scripture says he was never pleased with any of
those animal sacrifices, right? I can tell you this, I know where
God is pleased. He's pleased with his son. Look
back at Hebrews chapter 10. We read part of this a minute
ago, but let's read on, see what it says after that. We read there
in verse 18 where remission of these is, there's no more offering
for sin. But look how we come to God.
Verse 19. Having therefore, because there's
no more sacrifice for sin, because the father is pleased with his
son, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus, by new and living way, which he hath
consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh,
and having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw
near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. How can your
heart have full assurance of faith? having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let's hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering, for he's faithful that promised. We can come before the throne
of almighty God with boldness, confidence, because Christ satisfied
him. How thrilling is it to hear the
Lord Jesus say, come unto me. Are you weary? Come unto me and
rest. Are you thirsty? Come unto me
and drink. Are you insignificant? Suffer
the little children, come unto me. Oh, what good news. We can come before the throne
of grace and be accepted and find grace to help in time of
need. He's the desire of our heart. Sixthly, every man, desires
a mediator to go to God and speak for us and then come back and
speak to God or to us for God. The children of Israel learn
now. They saw just a little bit of God's glory when he came to
Mount Sinai to give the law. And they told Moses, we're afraid. Moses, you speak to us and we'll
hear, but don't let God speak to us or we're going to die.
We need a mediator. And men just know that we need
a mediator to go speak to God for us and come back and speak
to us for God. And we don't need a man with
a funny little collar. We don't need a man with a robe
and a funny hat and all these things. I tell you what we need.
We need Christ. Christ is the answer to the desire
of our heart. Paul told Timothy, for there's
one God and there's one mediator between God and men, the man,
Christ Jesus. You desire a mediator, then you
come to Christ. He's the mediator. Seventh, every
man desires eternal life. We want to live forever. We desire
eternal life. You know, everybody talks about
the rich young ruler, but he spoke for every last one of us.
We desire the same thing he desired. Good master, what should I do
to obtain eternal life? I want to have it. But eternal
life's not in something that we do. Eternal life is in Christ. You know why? Because Christ
is our life. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall we be like him. And that life is ours
through faith in Christ. Our Lord said, John 3, 15, whosoever
believeth in him, has faith in him, should not perish, but have
what? Eternal life. Later on in that chapter, verse
36, he said, he that believeth on the son hath, right now hath
eternal life, everlasting life. One more scripture, Romans chapter
six. Romans chapter six, verse 23. Here's why this eternal life
cannot come through the law. For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our
Lord. And we have him by faith. You see how Christ is the desire
of every man's heart. Man desires a way to come back
to God. Christ is the way, the way, the
truth, and the life. We all desire peace in the heart.
People will do anything to have peace in the heart. Christ is
the desire of our heart. He made peace for his people
through the blood of his cross. We desire to be clean, clean
from sin. That's what Job said. How can
he be clean? He was born of a woman. How can you bring a clean thing
out of an unclean? One way, by being washed in the blood of
Christ. He's the desire of our heart. We desire safety. Christ is the sure hiding place.
Hide in Him. We desire rest. Do you desire
rest? Rest before God from all of your
works? Christ is our Savior. He's fulfilled in all. Now you
rest in Him. We desire riches. People buy
lottery tickets left and right because they desire riches. But
I'll tell you what's greater than that. All the treasures
of God's rich mercy and grace to sinners is found in one place,
and you don't need a lottery ticket. All you need to do is
look in the Lord Jesus Christ. See how Haggai came? God gave
him a message to encourage the people, didn't he? How did he
encourage the hearts of his people? By pointing them to Christ. Whatever
your heart desires, I don't care what it is, Christ is the answer. Oh, may God give us the grace
to look to Him, to look to Christ and have in Him everything we
need. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father words, human words,
cannot express the heart thanksgiving for the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is the desire of our heart and how we beg of thee that by your
mercy and your grace, by your goodness to sinners, that you
would give us the Lord Jesus Christ. We say with the disciples
of old, we would see Jesus. Father, let us see with the eye
of faith the Lord Jesus Christ and find in him everything we
need. He satisfied you. He satisfied
the law. He satisfied justice. There's
free, full salvation in Him. Father, give us faith in Christ
that He'd satisfy our conscience, that we'll quit looking around
for something to make us feel good, something to relieve our
fear and doubt and cause us to look to Christ, to be found in
Him, not having our own righteousness, which is of the law. that which
is through the faith of God, through his faithfulness. Father,
we thank you. We ask you to bless your word.
Father, bless your word to the glory of your son. Bless your
word that it cause all hope in the flesh to be taken away from
us so that the only place we are left to look is to Christ. Let him be exalted and magnified
so he's all in all to our hearts. Father, we pray this for your
glory and for the good of your people. Amen.