The title of the message this
morning is Consider Your Ways. Consider Your Ways. We'll look at a few things scripture
tells us to consider. Think about these things. Now,
there are 12, what we call minor prophets. Nine of them prophesied
of the coming captivity in Babylon. Three of them prophesied during
the time that Israel was set free. from that captivity, but
they all had prophecies relating to the captivity in Babylon.
Well, that tells me Israel's captivity in Babylon must be
important. There's an important picture,
an important lesson for us here. That captivity is a picture of
our captivity, our captivity to sin, our bondage to the law,
and that captivity and that bondage is our fault. Israel went into
captivity in Babylon because they left God. They worshiped
idols and they went into captivity. Well, you and I are in bondage
to the law. We're captives to sin. And it's our fault. We've sold ourselves into sin.
We've left God and we've chose sin. We love darkness rather
than light. And every son of Adam is born
in that sad state. But God will not leave his people.
He won't leave spiritual Israel. in that dead state, in that bondage. The Jews say Haggai and Zechariah
had the honor of prophesying of Israel's freedom at a time
of freedom. God's people, spiritually Israel,
say Haggai and Zechariah had the honor of prophesying of something
far better. They prophesied of Christ. Now,
seventeen or eighteen years prior to the time of Haggai writing
this book, The Lord had moved King Cyrus to set Israel free
from Babylon, set them free from their bondage, and to send them
back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. And that's just exactly
what Cyrus did. And when Israel returned to Jerusalem,
the first thing they did, they rebuilt the altar. It was in
the open air, but they rebuilt the altar. Then they began to
build the foundations for the temple. But then they stopped. They stopped that work. That's
what they were sent back to do, but they stopped it because They
ran into some opposition, and rather than continue under the
orders of the king, under the power of the king, the orders
that God gave King Cyrus for them, they stopped working on
the temple. They went to building their own
houses. No one would stop them from building their houses. They
only met opposition when they were building the house of worship,
the house of true worship, the house that opposed idolatry and
worship of the flesh. When they built that temple,
that house, they met opposition. If they were working on their
own houses, they met no opposition. So this is when Haggai comes
with his message to Israel from the Lord. In verse 1, we read,
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 Therabal, the son of Shealtiel, governor
of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josedek, the high priest,
saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of Saying, this people say, the
time has not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built.
Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,
is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your sealed houses,
and this house lie waste? Now, you say it's not time to
build the house of the Lord, but God himself said it is. That's
the whole reason Cyrus sent Israel back to Jerusalem, is to rebuild
the temple, because God said it was time to rebuild the temple.
But Israel decided, well, the Lord must be wrong. It's not
a good time. Our losses because of the time
we spent in captivity is just too great. We need to save up
some money to be able to do this work. We need to wait until we've
got more time to devote to this work of rebuilding the temple.
But they had plenty of time to rebuild their houses. They found
the money to rebuild their houses, didn't they? And they built nice
houses. This word sealed, I think that's
how you pronounce it, C-I-E-L-E-D, sealed, means wainscot or paneled. They made themselves nice houses,
luxurious houses, well-decorated houses. And they said, well,
I know we've got some work to do on the house of the Lord,
but I need to put up some more wainscot in my house today. I
know we need to work on the house of the Lord, but my house needs
a fresh coat of paint first, and we'll get to it. really didn't
intend to ever leave the temple in this condition, they just
kept saying, we'll get to it soon. It's still on our to-do
list, we haven't forgot. But you know the old saying,
the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It is, isn't
it? Look over in Acts chapter 24. We see another example of this in
Acts 24. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Acts 24, verse 24. And after certain days, when
Felix came up with his wife, Drusilla, which was a Jewess,
he sent for Paul, and he heard him. He heard Paul preach concerning
the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned, he considered
these things, he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and
judgment to come. Felix trembled, and he answered,
Paul, go thy way for this time. a convenient season, I'll call
for thee. Paul said it's not a good time.
But when I have a more convenient season, I'll call for you. I
won't forget. This is on my to-do list to hear
you preach again. As far as we know, we've never
heard Paul preach again. Very sad. Now, let me ask us
this question, you and me. Are we guilty of doing this?
We say, well, I'd like to put some more money in offering,
but I've got to save up for a rainy day. I'd like to go to the worship
service, but I just don't have time. Sunday morning, that's
the only time I've got to sleep in. I need my rest. I work every
other day. Sunday morning, that's the only
time I got to go golfing. I need to get a little exercise.
I just I don't have time. What's the Lord saying in our
text is this. You find time to do everything else you want.
People do exactly what they want to do. I mean, if they just really
set their mind to it, they do what they want to do. The Lord
says, you found the resources to do everything else you want
to do. You found the means to fix up your houses. You found
the time to work on your house. But you can't seem to find the
means and the time to rebuild my house. My house is lying in
waste. And that should never be the
attitude of a believer. Someone who knows God, someone
who's experienced the mercy and grace of God, this should never
be our attitude. The attitude of a believer who's
seen Christ is to seek Christ first, to seek him first. I know
there are things this flesh needs. We have to have these things
of the flesh. I'm not making, not saying that we don't. But
the believer says, I must have Christ, I must. I cannot live
without Him. I can live without a new car.
I cannot live, cannot, without Christ. Now, of course you need
a job. Go get you a job and do a good
job. Work hard at it. Do a good job
at it. You've got to have a house to live in. I recommend you keep
it up. Keep it painted. Keep the grass
cut. Don't let it fall down around
your ears. You've got to have clothes to wear. It's best. You
get in trouble if you go out in public not wearing clothes.
You've got to have clothes to wear. But seek Christ first. Seek those
things second, and seek Christ first. What I need, what you
need, more than anything, is to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5,
9, we labor, I strive, I make this my business to be accepted
of Him, to be found in Him. This wasn't David's attitude.
David couldn't be comfortable. When he lived in a house of cedar
and the ark of the Lord dwelt in tents, he said, I can't abide
by this. I'm going to build a house for the Lord. God ought to have
a nicer house than me. David's descendants here, that's
not their attitude right now, is it? So verse five, the Lord
sent them a message. Now, therefore, let's say if
the Lord posts, consider your ways. Consider your ways and
repent of your ways. Consider this mess you're in. It's a result of your own sin.
This is the result of your sinful way. Now, consider this. He says
in verse six, 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. You've sown much. You've planted a lot of seed.
You haven't harvested very many crops, have you? You've got things
to eat, but it's never enough to satisfy you. It's not enough
to nourish you. You're wasting away. You've got
wine to drink. That doesn't make your heart
happy. You've got clothes to wear, but you're not warm. You're
constantly freezing to death. You earn wages, but you can't
buy anything because you're trying to save what you save up. You're trying to save it in the
bag. It's filled with holes. It keeps falling out. I should have done
the math on this. But just do this sometime. Try
to calculate what's the sum of all paychecks you've ever earned.
I bet it's shocking. It's just shocking. You might
earn a million dollars. Where'd it go? It's gone. Put it in a bag filled with holes.
And the Lord says, now consider your ways. Could be the reason
the Lord's not blessing what you're doing is because you're
trying to provide for yourself first. and give God your leftovers. Could be the Lord's not blessing
you because you're trying to provide for yourself first instead
of depending on the Lord to provide for you. Could be. Why don't
you consider that? He said in verse 7, Thus saith
the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. Isn't that what's going
on here? The Lord's not blessing what they're doing because they're
providing for themselves first. Consider your ways. And I want
us to consider our ways spiritually. Consider your ways. First of
all, consider your works. If so much done a lot in the
name of religion, a lot of religious works. But nothing's growing,
is it? Nothing's growing from all of
your works because everything's dead because it comes from a
dead heart. Second, consider your diet. What
is it you're putting in your heart? What are you putting in
your heart? You have things to eat. You're
preaching. But it's never enough to satisfy
you. It's not nourishing your soul to life because what you're
eating is not sufficient. What you're eating is just husks
and not going to nourish you, not going to fill you, not going
to satisfy you. There's no nourishment, no life in it. Plus, our nature
is the nature of a greedy dog. Dogs never get enough to eat,
never. You just, you always want more.
Always want more. Never satisfied. We've got them
two little crazy dogs. Jen gives them a treat. Five
minutes later, ask them for another one. Greedy dogs. Wasn't enough? Not to a dog. What I gave you
five minutes ago wasn't enough to a dog. That's our heart. Consider your diet. Third, consider
your drink. What spiritual drink are you
drinking? You got something to drink. You found something. You
found somebody to tell you something. Is it leaving you thirsty or
is it quenching your thirst? We're just like that woman at
the well. We keep coming back to draw, coming back to draw,
coming back to draw because we're drinking the waters of death,
not the waters of life. You drink wine, but it doesn't
make you happy. You hear preaching that gives you no joy. Why is
that? Why is that preaching you're
not getting any joy? Because you're not drinking Christ.
The preaching of Christ gives joy to his people. Boy, consider
your clothes. What's covering your nakedness
before God? Now, we've got must stand before God. What's covering
your nakedness before Him? You think you've got clothes
to wear? You've got your righteousness that you've weaved. Not keeping
you warm, is it? Not hiding your shame? Because
our righteousness is full of holes. Doesn't that cover our
nakedness? It won't keep us warm. Your righteousness
can't give you any inner warmth of the soul. Because it won't
cover you. Fifth, consider your wages. While
you're out there working, you're busting it, trying to earn wages,
but they won't buy anything. Everything you earn keeps falling
out of the holes that's in your soul. The wages you're earning
are wages of death, not the wages of life. So consider your ways. Consider. Who you are by nature
and what you are by nature. But don't stop there. Then consider
Christ. Consider him. First of all, consider
this. Do you know God? Now, consider
that. Do you know God? Look over in
Isaiah chapter one. Do you know God or are you just
a religious pretender? Consider that. Pretty important
question. I'd consider it. Isaiah 1, verse 3. The ox knoweth his owner,
and he hath his master's crib. But Israel doth not know. My
people doth not consider. Is the ox and ass smarter than
you? Do they know their master and you don't? Consider. Do you
know God? Second, look over at Psalm 8.
Consider this. Consider the grace of God. Consider your sin, consider who
you are, and then consider the grace of God. Psalm 8, verse
3. David said, When I consider thy
heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which
thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him,
and the Son of man that thou visitest him? Oh, when I consider
God, who He is, And I consider that he sent his son to be my
substitute. He sent his son to be made of
flesh to be my representative. That's the grace of God. Now
consider that. Third, consider this. Consider
all the blessings God's given you. Consider everything he's
done for you. In 1 Samuel 12, 24, only fear
the Lord and serve him. Serve him in truth. and serve
Him with all your heart." Well, why? For consider how great things
He's done for you. Oh, consider His salvation. Consider He chose you. He sent
His Son to die for you. He sent the Gospel to you. He
sent His servant with the message of the Lord. He gave you a heart
to believe it. He gave you ears to hear it.
He gave you a love for it. He revealed His Son to your heart. He gave you a new heart. Consider
all the blessings of the Lord. Consider what he's done for you
and don't forget. Write these things down so you
don't forget them. Remember those disciples? We looked at this
last Sunday. They're out in the stormy sea, Mark 6, and they
were afraid when they saw the Lord coming to them. The Lord's
walking on the water, coming to them. They were afraid. Why
were they so full of fear? They considered not the miracle
of the loaves and they were afraid. Their heart was hard. Consider
the blessings of the Lord, consider what he's done for you, and don't
forget. Fourth, consider this. Are you seeking Christ first?
Are you seeking him first above all else? Or something else got
your attention? Look at John, chapter six, and
we get back to our study in John. This will be our next text, John,
chapter six. Jesus answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me, not because you
saw the miracles, not because you saw my power, not because
you had a revelation of my person, but because you did eat of the
loaves and were filled. Now labor not, don't strive for
the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto
you. For him hath the Father sealed." Are you seeking Christ
first or are you seeking this other stuff that parishes with
the using first? Look over Matthew chapter 24.
Consider this. Now, do you believe Christ? Are you seeking him above all
else? Is Christ and knowing him your
primary goal or is it something else? Matthew 24. Or I'm sorry, Matthew 6, verse 24.
Matthew 6, I'm sorry. Matthew 6, verse 24. Something
else is out there appealing to the flesh, trying to get your
attention. Look what our Lord says about that. No man can serve
two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other,
or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot
serve God a man. Therefore, I say unto you, take
no thought, take no anxious thought for your life, what you should
eat or what you should drink. yet for your body what you shall
put on? Is not the life more than meat, and the body than
raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, they sow not, neither
do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father
feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Which of you, taking thought, can add one cubit unto a statue? Which of you, taking thought,
can add one inch to your height, or one day to your life? Which
of you can do that? And why take ye thought for raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not,
neither do they spin. And I say unto you that even
Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which
today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much
more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore, take no thought,
don't take anxious thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall
we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all
these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father
knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye
first the kingdom of God, and seek ye first His righteousness,
and all these things will be added unto you." Now consider
this. Are you seeking Christ first?
Or are you letting these other things take priority? Consider
that. Look over Hebrews chapter 3.
Fifth, consider this. Consider the Lord Jesus Christ. Give your mind and your heart
to considering Christ. And if you consider Christ, you'll
come to Him. If you consider Christ, you'll
trust Him. If you consider the Lord Jesus
Christ, you will find salvation and eternal life. Hebrews 3 verse
1, Wherefore, holy brethren, For takers of the heavenly calling,
consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ
Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses
was faithful in all his house. Consider Christ. Consider his
faithfulness. Consider his righteousness. Consider
his love. Consider his grace. Consider
his mercy. Consider how he humbled himself
to become a man. for you. Consider that. Consider
the sacrifice of Christ. Look over in Hebrews chapter
12. Consider the sacrifice of Christ. Hebrews 12, verse 2, looking
unto Jesus, looking unto him as if there is no other place
to look because there is none other. Looking unto Jesus. the
author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame that was
set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider
him, consider his sacrifice. He endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your
minds." Boy, won't considering the sacrifice of Christ fix our
bad attitude? Every once in a while we get
a bad attitude, don't we? You know what will fix that?
Consider his sacrifice for you. Hold your finger there in Hebrews.
Look back at Lamentations chapter one. Consider this. Consider his sacrifice. Verse 12, Lamentations one. Is
it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? This is our Lord talking.
He's suffering. on Calvary's cross, suffering
under the wrath of God. Is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by? Behold and see if there be any
sorrow like my sorrow. He bore our sins and our sorrows.
Is there any sorrow like my sorrow, which is done unto me wherewith
the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger?
Why is the Father afflicting him? Why is the Father afflicting
the Son in fierce anger? Look at the end of verse 11.
crime become vile. He punished his son. He afflicted
his son in the day of his fierce anger because his son was made
to be sin for his people. He's become vile in the sight
of his father, and the father crushed him for it. He did that for you. Consider
that. Consider his sacrifice. He was
made to be sin for his people. He suffered for our sins. Won't
considering the sacrifice of Christ, how he suffered for my
sin, won't that make me hate sin? Won't considering his sacrifice
for my sin, won't that make me live a life of holiness? I think
it will. Then seventh, consider this.
Consider the gospel that you hear preached. Consider it. Don't just listen to it and go
out to eat. Consider it. Meditate upon these
things, pray, go home and ask the Lord to let you remember
something that you heard preached. Maybe go back and read the text
and meditate upon it. Feed upon it. Find some joy in
the gospel that you hear preached. In Hebrews 13. Verse seven. Remember them to have
the rule over you. Oh, I love it. When somebody
tells me, I remember you this week, I pray for you. Remember
him, hold him up in prayer. Who's sufficient for these things?
These men who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith
follow, considering the end of their conversation. What's the
end, the goal of our conversation, of our preaching? Jesus Christ. The same yesterday, today and
forever. Consider the gospel that you
have preached. If we consider Christ. We consider his gospel,
it won't be long till we consider the same thing. Consider one
another. When you go back home and you're
going about your responsibilities this week. Remember one another,
consider one another, look at Hebrews 13, I'm sorry, Hebrews
10, verse 23, consider one another. Don't forget one another. Hebrews
10, verse 23. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful that promised.
And let us consider one another, to provoke unto love and to good
works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the
manner of some is, but exhorting one another, encouraging one
another, and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.
Consider your ways. And then consider Christ. Consider
Him. Now, verse 8, back in our text. Consider your ways, consider
the Lord Jesus Christ, and then go up to the mountain, bring
wood, and build the house. And I'll take pleasure in it,
and I'll be glorified, saith the Lord." Now, he could be saying,
I think he's meaning two different mounts here. Go to Mount Lebanon,
cut down some cedar trees, and bring them back to Mount Moriah,
where the temple is to be built. You go get that wood, and you
go to Mount Moriah, and you build the temple. And I'll take pleasure. In the house that you build in
my name, God said, I'll take pleasure in your work. Now, why
is he going to take pleasure in that work? Well, the temple
is a picture of Christ. This is where the sacrifices
are offered. Well, that's a picture of Christ. He's come to offer
the sacrifice for sin. The temple is where God would
meet with men. That's Christ. God meets with
men in the person of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the
father takes pleasure in his son, always takes such pleasure. He took pleasure in the obedience
of Christ. He took pleasure in the death
of Christ. He said that the sacrifice of his son was a sweet savor
to him. How could the death of the son be a sweet savor to the
father? Because it answered his every Every hatred is holy hatred and
justice against sin and answered it and put it away. It's a sweet
Savior. He's pleased with this son. This
could be translated, you build that house, I'll be propitiated
in it. And that house sinners are propitiated
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The father is propitiated
in the blood of his son. The father said, I'll be pleased
with that house that you build. And I'll be glorified in it.
Now how is the Father going to be glorified in this work? Well,
it's a picture of Christ. He said, you build that house,
I'll show myself glorious in it. I'll reveal my glory in that
house. The Shekinah glory of God will
shine in that Holy of Holies. God the Father is glorified in
His Son. In the work of His Son. Christ
came to this earth as a man to honor and to glorify His Father.
And right before He went to the cross, what was His prayer? Father,
let me glorify Thee. The Father is glorified in the
Son. And how do you and I see the glory of God? In the face
of Jesus Christ. He glorified the Father. Only
in Christ can we see the redemptive glory of God in saving His elect
through the doing and the dying of His Son. God told him, you
go to Mount Lebanon. You go to Mount Moriah. I tell us this morning, go to
the mountain. Go to Mount Calvary. And consider. Consider what you see. See Christ
being offered as a sacrifice for sin. At Mount Calvary, that's
where we'll consider sin. We consider what we see at Mount
Calvary. God's Son making His soul an
offering for sin. Then we'll see how awful sin
must be. When you see this sacrifice,
this bloody sacrifice, a torment of his soul, that's the only
way sin can be put away? Gary, sin must be awful. Must
be. That's what it takes to put sin
away. When we consider what we seek, Calvary, then we'll see,
oh, God's holy. He must be holy. God will do
this even to his son when sin is imputed to him. When we consider
Mount Calvary, we'll see how sinful man must be. Sin is our
problem. I don't need a nicer house. I
don't need to put some lance caught up. Don't need to put
a nicer, fresher coat of paint on it. That's why we need a Savior. I mean, we need a Savior from
sin who will put our sin away. We need a Savior. to die the
death we deserve. We need a Savior who shed his
blood to cover our sin. That's what we need. And we'll
know that when we consider the sin in Mt. Calvary. And once
we see Christ at Calvary, then we'll understand sin. I've seen
somebody else. No, I won't consider the splinters
in your eye. I'll consider the moats in mine.
I see my sin. I'm the problem. My sin is the
problem. My sin is what caused all my
troubles. So, verse 9, the Lord tells him,
You looked for much, and lo, it came to little. You brought
it home, and I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. I'm going to tell you why I did
this. It's because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every
man to his own house. Therefore, the heaven over you
is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And
I called for a drought upon the land. and upon the mountains,
and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and
upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon
the cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands." You know,
God only did this to Israel. This drought is only in Israel. The other countries, their economy
was good. The economy is only bad in Israel.
God left the heathen alone. The heathen weren't building
His house. The heathen weren't worshiping him. The heathen weren't
pleading the sacrifice of Christ. But God left them alone. God
only brought his people into this sorrow. He only brought
his people into the sorrow of sin. He causes people to sorrow
over their sin for this reason. They look to Christ. He left
the heathen alone. But God did this to his people.
He said, you saved a little goodness. Lord, didn't you do good? You
saved up a little goodness. God blew it away like chaff in
the wind. It's gone. Where's your goodness now? God
blew it away. God withheld the rain from your crops so they
wouldn't grow. God killed your crops. He killed your cattle.
Everything you tried to do, wind blew it over, fell down. God
did all that to you, his people, for this reason. So you see,
you can't produce life. You can't produce anything that
gives life. You can't produce anything that sustains life.
You're utterly dependent upon God. God only taught his people
this lesson. He sent sorrow to them to teach
his people this lesson. Quit thinking about building
your house. And consider Christ, consider God's temple, God's
tabernacle, and look to him. God sent all this sorrow to his
people, so they quit. They quit laboring for the things
of this world. Everything I try to go get, it falls apart, it
decays, it comes to nothing. Then quit. Quit laboring for
it. And make your primary effort
to find Christ and to lay hold upon Him. God sent this drought,
this sorrow, this dearth to their land so they'd quit running after
the things of the flesh and they'd start running after Christ to
have eternal life. God sent all this sorrow to them
so they'd know their constant need of God in everything we
do. If we don't have Him, everything's
coming to naught. Verse 12, Then Zerubbabel the
son of Shealtiel, Joshua the son of Josedek the high priest,
with all the remnant of the people, they obeyed the voice of the
Lord their God, in the words of Haggai the prophet, as the
Lord their God had sent him. And the people did fear before
the Lord. As soon as the people feared,
they considered their ways, and they feared as soon as they were
full of fear. They said, Men and brethren,
what are we going to do? Then God sent his messenger with
God's message for God's people. Verse 13, Inspect Haggai, the
Lord's messenger and the Lord's message unto the people saying,
I'm with you, saith the Lord. God sent his people with his
message for his people. And what was God's message? I'm
with you, I'm with you, just like he told his disciples, is
I. Be not afraid. This is Christ speaking to his
people. I'm with you. I'm made flesh to dwell among
you so I can redeem sinners from their sin. You're under the judgment
of sin, but I'm with you to remove God's judgment from you. My suffering
is your sacrifice for sin. I'm with you. And at the same
moment, I'm before the Father interceding for you. I'm with
you to protect you. from yourselves. Consider your
ways. Oh, it's awful. Everything I
see about myself, I'm full of fear. I'm with you to protect
you from yourself. And I'll be here to protect you
from your enemies, too. But our worst enemies are self.
So I'm with you to protect you from yourself. I'm with you to
give you life and to make your work in my name to prosper. I'm
with you to strengthen you and to bless you, to bless your work,
because except the Lord build the house, a labor in vain that
buildeth. Your labor won't be in vain.
I'm with you. I'm with you, working in you,
both the will and the due of my good pleasure. That's what
we see in verse 14. And the Lord stirred up the spirit
of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit
of Joshua, the son of Josedek, the high priest, and the spirit
of all the remnant of the people. And they came and they did work
in the house of the Lord of hosts their God. This is the Holy Spirit. working in God's people, causing
them to work. Now, they're not working, trying
to gather up a little bit of goodness. They're not working,
trying to obtain a righteousness or salvation. They've considered
their ways, they've considered Christ and they're working out
of love and thanksgiving. They're working for Christ, by
the power of Christ in them. I said to many times, love acts. Well, God's grace acts too. The
love of God and the grace of God that's in the heart of a
believer acts. It moves us to action to serve
the Lord and to seek the Lord first. I'm going to build his
house. Then if there's anything left over, I'll put some Wayne
Scott up at my house. I don't know what that is. Ask
Jan this one. What's Wayne Scott? I still don't know for sure.
But you see the picture here? God gives life. He gives life
to his people. And that life is His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And it's God that's in you. He
worketh in you both the will and the do of His good pleasure.
Did you get up this morning and desired to worship the Lord? Were you glad? Say, this is the
day I can go worship the Lord. I meet with my brothers and sisters.
I sing His praises. I'm ashamed to sing by myself,
but everybody else sings His praises. I can hear the gospel
preached. I'm anxious to hear the message
of the Lord. Where'd that come from? That's God in you, working
in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. And when God
does that work in you, what's your plan to grow? Because God
will give the increase. When God does that work in you,
you're going to have something to eat and it'll satisfy you
because your meal is Christ the bread of life. You have a feast
in him. When God does this work in you,
you'll drink. And you'll be satisfied. You'll
never thirst again because you've got a well of water in you spraying
up into everlasting life. When God does this work in you,
you'll be clothed in the righteousness of Christ himself. You'll have
the warmth of life and you'll never be ashamed standing before
the judgment seat of Christ because you're clothed in his righteousness.
And like Brother Scott says, not pasting on, not just covering
the black and dark, ugly sin that's in you. It's through and
through. The righteousness of Christ.
When God does this work in you, you'll have wages. The wages
of life. And those wages aren't going
to be what you earn through your service of the Lord. It's the
wages that Christ earned for you. And you'll follow Him and
you'll seek Him first out of thanksgiving. When God does this
work in you, you'll have an inheritance. And it's not what you saved up
God blew away the breath of his nostrils. This inheritance that's
saved up for you will never be lost because its inheritance
is incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you who are kept, how? By the power of God through
faith. That's how. Last, look at Psalm
50. We'll close with this. Consider
your ways and then consider Christ. Consider him in his Word. The first 20 verses of Psalm 50 are
filled with all the wickedness that's in our heart, all the
wicked things that we do. In verse 21, Psalm 50, These
things hast thou done, and I kept silence. Thou thoughtest I was
altogether such a one as thyself. But I'll reprove thee. I'm not
going to leave you alone if you're my people. I'll reprove thee.
I'm going to set them in order before thine eyes. I'm going
to teach you. I'm going to show you what's what. Now consider
this. Consider this, that you forget
God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me. And to him that ordereth
his conversation aright will I show. the salvation of God. Consider this. Consider your
ways, and then consider Christ. If you consider Him in truth,
you consider Him as who He is from God's Word, you'll offer
praise. You'll offer things that glorify
God. You'll order your conversation right, and God will show you
His salvation. He'll show you His Son. He'll
reveal that salvation both to you and in you. Consider your
ways. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, we bow in your awesome presence. We bow with hearts that are full
of thanksgiving. How thankful we are you have
not left your people alone. You didn't leave us to our way,
but you caused us by your mercy, by your grace, by your power.
to consider our ways and be pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Father,
we're thankful. We pray that you'd accept our
thanksgiving in Him, in Christ. And Father, we pray your keeping
power, that you'd preserve us, that you'd keep us, that you'd
give this thy people this attitude that we seek first. the Lord
Jesus Christ, that we give no anxious thought to the cares
of this life, but we consider Him. We seek
Christ first. Give us Him. Give us Christ or
we die. Give us Him. In your mercy, Father,
you've been so gracious to this people. Would you not leave us alone?
Continue being merciful to this people, to this town. Continue
to enable us to worship Thee. And we'll give you the thanks
and the praise and the glory for it, for we know it's all
of Thee. In the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we
give thanks. Amen.