When our daughter Faith was a
small child, from the earliest of her years, Shelby and I tried
with diligence to teach her to look beyond the end of her nose. We tried to get her to focus
her attention on things that really mattered. That doesn't
mean she wasn't allowed to enjoy life and play games, have fun
and enjoy various stages of childhood, not at all. But we did work at
not allowing her to live for pleasure, to live for fun and games and
frivolity. The reason is this, a child who
grows up without learning responsibility, is likely to live that way to
the day they die. Such a child grows up to be a
miserable, useless, self-centered, whining adult almost always. We didn't want that for our daughter
any more than you wanted it for yours. Why was it necessary to constantly
remind her of the importance of looking at things and getting
a priority straight. The sad fact is unless we are
continually reminded, unless we continually remind our children
and are continually reminded as adults that some things simply
don't matter. Some things are unimportant.
A few things do have some importance. Other things, very few, but a
few other things are of utmost importance. Otherwise, we'll spend our time
pursuing nothing, pursuing just the gratification of our immediate
lust. This generation, the whole generation
which we live, I even hear it among folks from whom you wouldn't
expect to hear it. Live for one thing. The reason
for leaving a husband or leaving a wife, abandoning a family. Well, I'm not happy anymore.
Well, boo hoo. People have the notion that this
world was created for their happiness. I've got news for you. It wasn't. It wasn't. Tonight, I want to
talk to you about the very things I tried to teach our daughter.
The title of my message is Consider Your Ways or First Things First. Turn with me to Haggai Chapter
1. That's Haggai's message in this chapter. Consider your ways. Make certain that first things
are first. Haggai Chapter 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 Sheateel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the
son of Josedek, the high priest, saying, thus speaketh the Lord
of hosts, saying, this people say, the time is not come The
time is 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? Oh, ye to dwell in your sealed
houses and this house lie waste. Now, therefore, thus saith the
Lord, the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. You have so much and
bring in little. You eat, but have not enough. You drink, but you're not filled
with drink. You clothe you, but there is
none warm. And he that earneth wages, earneth
wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of
hosts, consider your ways. Go up to the mountain and bring
wood and build the house. And I will take pleasure in it.
And I will be glorified, saith the Lord. Verse 9. You looked for much, and lo,
it came to little. And when you brought it home,
I did blow upon it. Why, saith the Lord, the Lord
of hosts? Because of mine house that is
waste. And ye run every man unto 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 cattle and upon all the labor of the
hands Verse 12 then The message has been delivered.
The people have heard it. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Sheateel,
and Joshua, the son of Joshadech, the high priest, with all the
remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God
and the words of Haggai, the prophet, as the Lord their God
had sent him. And the people did fear before
the Lord. Then spake Haggai, the Lord's
messenger, in the Lord's message unto the people, saying, I am
with you, saith the Lord. And the Lord stirred up the spirit
of Zerubbabel, the son of Sheateel, 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 did the work
in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, in the four and twentieth
day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king." Try to picture the scene before
God's prophet Haggai. What child of God can think about
the desolate state of the Temple and the house of God, the desolate
state of things among God's people when Haggai saw these things
standing before him. The house of God was in ruins. God said, lie in waste. The worship of God was neglected
as a despised and useless thing, something utterly insignificant. and the people who had just been
delivered from Babylonian bondage. I mean, they were fresh out of
Babylon. Devoted themselves to other things. Devoted themselves to building
sealed houses. Ran every man to his own house. devoted themselves to the world. To the world. James folks who
had just come out of Babylon. They made no effort to build
again the house of God. They made no effort to reestablish
the worship of God in their midst. Every day they would walk by
that temple. They couldn't go anywhere and
not see it. Every day they'd walk by that temple laying in
ruins. And they'd say, one of these
days we'll take care of that. Who can think of those things
and not be astonished? Had they so soon forgotten the
bondage from which God had delivered them? Did they not remember that
the reason God sent them into Babylon to start with was their
idolatrous, covetousness, greed, and serving their own lust? Cared they nothing for the glory
of God? Would they take their sons and
daughters by the hand and lead them to hell, by example, saying,
now, don't worry about the cause of God, and the glory of God,
and the truth of God, and the worship of God, and the house
of God. We've got plenty of time to take care of those things.
After all, God will always be with us. We can worship God anytime. We can devote ourselves to those
things later. For now, love the world. Get all you can, and can all
you can get, and live with joy. Eat, drink, and be merry. You
can serve God another day. And that's exactly what they
did. That's exactly what they did.
That was the state of things in Judah when God sent his prophet
Haggai with his message that we just read. When we think of
the backwardness of these people to remove the ruins of the temple,
to erect the place of divine worship again, We're astonished
at their indifference. What can be more demonstrative
of base ingratitude, self-serving lust, covetousness, and complete
carnality? than to see the house of God
in ruin. And those people for whom God
has done everything, to whom he has given everything, to whom
he has been indescribably gracious, merciful, and forgiving, to see
them devoting themselves to the world. Has all that been a little bit
biting to you? It has been to me. Do these things
apply to you? Do they apply to me? Let's see. Let's see. If they do, hear the prophet's
word and God give you grace to repent. Number one. Haggai was sent from
God to expose the evil and the sin of his people in neglecting
him. That's never a pleasant duty,
but it's a constantly necessary duty. If I am faithful to your
soul, I must expose and rebuke everything in you and in me that
is contrary to the glory of God and faith in Jesus Christ our
Lord. He was sent to expose the evil
of this people in neglecting God's house and God's worship.
He was sent to rouse them up from their lethargy to rebuild
the things of God in the day God had given them. The Lord
God, remember now, the reason he delivered them. They were
sent out of Babylon. They were sent out of Babylon
back to Jerusalem for one specific reason. For just one reason. They were delivered from Babylon
and sent back to Judah, back to Jerusalem, to rebuild the
house of God. That's what they were sent there
for. I recall years ago, Brother Darwin Pruitt and I were talking
I forgot where we were traveling. We were in the car together and
we were chatting. He made a statement to me. He
said, I can't think of but one reason God's left us in this
world. And that is to proclaim the gospel of his grace. Nothing
left to be done. Nothing. We're fit to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light right now. Why did he
leave us here? Just one reason. Just one reason. To be his witnesses. That's all.
That's all. God had provided everything that
was needful for the work that God had committed to their hands.
They not only were sent back to build the temple, but a pagan
king paid for everything. God provided everything they
needed. But when they got back to Jerusalem
after a little enthusiastic effort to begin with, they quit the
work. Had a little opposition and, ah, who needs this? And
they said, the time has not come that the Lord's house should
be built. So they went about serving their lust. They had
experienced remarkable supernatural deliverance, remarkable Supernatural
deliverance exactly as God had decreed exactly as God had written
in his word He told him in Isaiah chapter 8 exactly what was going
to happen long before they ever went into captivity He's going
to send one to deliver them and bring them back to their place.
They'd experienced supernatural Remarkable deliverance from bondage
among pagan people in darkness and unbelief They'd experienced
it by the hand of God Deliverance from ruin and life brought upon
them by their own sin. They'd experienced that. And
now they devote themselves to things. To things. How sad. How deplorable. I have been reading this prophecy
of Haggai for months now. And I've been doing a lot of
preaching to Don. You see, their behavior is honorable compared to ours. The Lord Jesus has saved us by
his grace that we might be his witnesses unto all men. He's
redeemed us with his blood that we might proclaim redemption
through all the earth. He has sent us forth into this
world for the building of his house, his church, his kingdom,
for the ingathering of his sheep, for the salvation of his elect.
And he's provided us with everything needed for the work. And we take
what he puts in our hands. And purchase the wind. We take what he puts in our hands
and labor with all our might. with all our strength, with all
our energy, to secure every piece of dirt we can secure in this
world. Devoting everything, time, talent,
money, and life to pleasure. Oh God, forgive me. So much alive,
I find myself to everything in this world. Everything. You ever stop and think about
how little it takes to excite you about politics? I guarantee you, if you'd go
out to Shona's night, sit down, and somebody overheard you discussing
some political view, two or three sentences, and you'd have two
fellas standing up one another's face, I mean, just given what
for? Get excited. Get excited. Discuss
moral issues. Get excited. We discuss the economy. Get excited. We discuss football,
basketball, baseball, boxing, fishing, hunting, anything. Oh,
now that's exciting. Let's talk about the glory of
God and worshiping our Redeemer and the mercy and grace of God.
and sending someone down to New Guinea to take over when Brother
Heller is gone. Sending someone down to Mexico
to help with the work down there. Oh, yeah, that'd be nice if we
could do that. Boy, that was a good ball game yesterday, wasn't
it? Consider your ways. What do we get? for our love
of this world. What do we get for our devotion
to this world? Let's look at verse 6. This is
what we get. I'm talking now to Don Fortner
and everybody sitting here in this building in Danville, Kentucky,
January 13, 2008. We eat like kings. We do, don't we? We eat like
kings. And we never have enough. Never have enough. We drink and
gorge ourselves, and we're still hungry and thirsty. We buy the
finest clothes money can buy, bring them home, hang them up,
wear them one time, and open up paper. Man, I sure like to
have that coat, too. Would you want more? We save our money,
and we can never save enough, because what we do with our money
is we put it into a bag with holes in it. I wouldn't do that. You do it
every day. He that soweth to the flesh shall
what? What does it say? Take your money.
Spend it on your fishing boat, your rods and reels, your cars
and trucks, your houses, your lands, your property, everything! Spend it on it! Sow it to the
flesh! And watch it rot. He shall of
the flesh reap corruption. Look at verse 7. What do we get
for our devotion to the world? We run every man after his own
things, looking for much. Oh, we're so full of expectation. And it comes to little. How come? Because this is what God does
with all flesh. With everything connected with
flesh. He blows on it and it's gone.
He blows on it and it's gone. Why? Because God's house, God's
cause, God's worship is despised and neglected. We crave satisfaction,
verses 10 and 11. We seek it everywhere. Why are
you doing that? Oh, I just, if I could just get
that, that's what I want. That's what I want. I've been
wanting that all my life. Crave satisfaction. Oh, I just, oh,
this is the goal I've set. This is what I want. And you
get it. And find nothing but drought. Drought deep down inside that nothing
in this world can satisfy. God withholds any refreshment
from it. God withholds any pleasure in
it, any satisfaction with it. Consider your ways. The Lord
God, our Heavenly Father, thank you, dampens every carnal enjoyment. He puts a tinge of evil and sorrow
and pain with everything we can possibly seek or get or enjoy
in this world. Often he does it with deliberate
and manifest display of the fact that we've behaved in a way displeasing
to him and dishonoring to him. His word is love, not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. If you did be risen
with Christ. Set your affection, seek those
things which are above where Christ said it on the right hand
of God, set your affection on things above, not affections,
your affection. Give me grace. to set my heart
on my redeemer. Be thou my vision. Oh, son of God, fill my heart. Fill my mind. Fill my thoughts. Set your affection on things
above. Not on things on the earth. Well, Brother Don, I want both. I know. But you can't have both. You can't have both. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth, for you're dead and your life
is hid with Christ in God. We ought to learn to behave with
some wisdom and use worldly things like wise pilgrims. Man, olden
days takes off on a journey. Even now, you go visit mountains,
you'll see fellows walking and most of the fellows who do much
hiking in the mountains take them a walking stick. Take them with staff.
And it's a good idea. It'll help you up the hill. It'll
stabilize you in the way. It'll give you a little support.
If you get tired, you can stop and just rest right there on
that staff and get a little refreshment. But if the staff gets in your
way, if it gets too cumbersome, if it gets too heavy, If it starts
to entangle you with the things in the path, you're a fool to
hold the staff. Throw it away. Throw it away. Because the only purpose of the
staff is to help you make your journey. God teaches to use the
things of this world just that way. Samuel Rutherford warned, do
not build your nest In any of the trees of this forest, they're
all marked to be burned. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. All right, here's the second
thing. Turn to Luke chapter 12. And we will have that upon which
we set our hearts. But there's something better
than this world. There's something more important than what you
eat and what you drink and where you live and what you can get
in this world. There's something more important
than all the things that we crave as natural men in this world.
And that more important thing is Christ. And the folly of forsaking
him to get something else, the folly of neglecting him to gain
something else is utterly senseless. It's just senseless. Had Haggai
had possession of Matthew chapter six and Luke chapter 12, I'm
sure he would have chosen these for the text of his sermon. In
Matthew 6, our Lord said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and
his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Let's read what it says in Luke. Luke's giving us his account
of the same thing. Look at verse 21. Oh, God graciously enable us,
sweetly force us by your grace to learn these things. to put
first things first. Luke chapter 12, verse 22. He
said to his disciples, and then he's talking to you and me. We're
his disciples. He's not talking to unbelievers.
He's not talking to the reprobate. He's talking to you and me. Therefore,
I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall
eat, Neither for the body what you shall put on. No need for
you to worry about that. The life is more than meat, the
body more than raiment. So that's not very profound.
The way folks act it is. The life, life, life is not this
outward body and the things we put on it. This body is just
the tabernacle in which our life resides temporarily. And the
things we put on it are just the shingles and the paint. Take
no thought for these things. What matters is what's inside.
What matters is Christ in you. Read on. Brother Don, I just, I recognize
that things of God are important and we ought to We ought to make
that most important thing in our lives, but we just got to
live in this world. I can't tell you how many times
I've had folks tell me, you're being unreasonable. You've got
to live in this world. And this is my response. No,
I don't. Merle, the one thing I don't
have to do is live in this world. I've just got to leave it. That's
the one thing I don't have to do. Consider the ravens, a raven. That dirty, black, unclean bird,
a raven. Consider the ravens. If I get
a chance to around here, I'd shoot them. Don't have any use
for them. Consider the ravens. What does
God do with them? They neither sow nor reap, which
neither have storehouse nor barn. They don't plow a field. They
don't plant corn. They don't store up corn from
one day to the next. And they never starve. How come? God feeds them. God feeds them. Every day, God
feeds them. Now, this is an astounding an
astounding deduction from that. This is astounding. Hang on to
it now. How much more are you better than the fowls? If God feeds that raven by bites,
he's ready to feed you. Rita, the Lord says, consider
your ways. Verse 25 and Which of you, by
taking thought, can add to a stature one cubic? Which of you can increase
your height just by one cubic? That's a pretty good distance.
Quite literally, which of you can measure your lives or increase
your days by one? Which of you? Oh, I'm going to
start. Eat nothing but salads and drink
nothing but water. And I'll get the purified kind at the drugstore.
I'll live longer. You're going to die exactly when
God Almighty ordained you die by the means by which God ordained
before ever this earth was made. You're not going to increase
it, not by a second. If you'd be not able to do that
which is least, why take thought for the rest? What? Is my life
in this world the least of things to consider? Indeed it is, compared
with eternity. We don't. Consider the lilies. Not the kind that you go to the
store and buy and plant. the ones that God raises in the
wild, how they grow, they toil not, they spin not, they do absolutely
nothing, absolutely nothing. Yet I say unto you that Solomon
in all his glory didn't compare to one of these. If then, Now, we're talking about
weeds. Remember, we're talking about
weeds. If God so clothed the grass, which is today in the
field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will
he clothe you? Oh, ye of little faith. My mother, she got older. Just
every little bit, she'd, bless her heart, she was, she
couldn't be satisfied with anything. She just couldn't. She wanted
everything she ever saw in her life and would get it if she
could. She'd say, well, when Paul and
I die, there won't be enough money to bury us. I said, mother,
spend it, whatever you got. I promise you, three or four
days after you're dead, we're going to get you in the ground.
You won't have to worry about it. I promise you. It won't take
long. We'll put you in the ground. We won't want to be around you
or have you around us. Oh, but what are we going to
eat? What are we going to drink? Oh, I've got to have something
to wear. Oh, ye of little faith. Seek not that what you shall
eat or what you shall drink Neither be of a doubtful mind. Now watch
this. For all these things do the nations
of the world seek after. Larry, Chris, that's what your
neighbors all live for. They get them to go to work every
day. So they buy more food, buy more clothes, buy more to drink,
buy more cars, buy more boats, buy more, more, more, more, more,
buy more. Buy more, stick it in the bank.
Get more, stick it in the bank. That's what they live for all
the time. They live for this world. Let them have it. That's all they've got. Our soul, let them have it. That's all they've got. Now, this is what the heathen
look for. Your heavenly father knoweth
that you have need of these things. Our father Rex knows we have
to eat every day. He knows we've got to have something
to wear. He knows we've got to have somewhere to sleep. And even such fathers as we are,
in our most violent tempers, wouldn't refuse to feed our children.
Not one of us. We wouldn't see him walking the
streets naked. If it wasn't for compassion, for pride, we wouldn't
allow that. And we wouldn't see him sleeping
under a bridge. We wouldn't allow that. Your father knows what
you need. You don't have to worry about
that. You don't have to worry about that. But rather, back
in Matthew, Matthew records it by inspiration. Seek ye first
the kingdom of God. This is what he means by that.
Don't seek these things, rather seek ye the kingdom of God and
all these things shall be added unto you. Now, lest someone suspect
as I'm sure to hear that I'm suggesting you not be industrious
and labor and work, you all know better than that. I'm not suggesting
or excusing indolence, laziness, slothfulness, and neglect of
earthly responsibilities. I am saying use the responsibilities
you have and what comes of them not to serve your pleasure but
to serve your Redeemer. Sow to the spirit and watch God
bring forth life everlasting. or so to the flesh, and of the
flesh reap corruption. Let nothing, let nothing, let
nothing keep you from obedience to Christ. Let nothing keep you
from devoting yourself to Him. Let nothing intrude, nothing. I've told you this before, I'll
tell it again. Now, I want to use another illustration. Judy
Estes didn't know that I knew this until right before she died. You correct me if I'm wrong,
Bobby. The new owner took over the bank, and they changed their
meeting for the officers on Tuesday night, didn't they? And at the
meeting, Judy said, remember now, she was vice president over
there. Judy said, I can't be there. The new owner said, you
have to be. Judy said, I'll be there. That's
not we worship. We worship on Tuesday nights. He said, you'll
have to be at these meetings or you'll lose your job. She
said, you can have the job we worship on Tuesday nights. Is
that pretty close? She kept the job and kept worshiping. That's what I'm talking about.
Let nothing interfere with what you know God have you to do.
Nothing. Oh, but it'll cost. Oh, it'll
cost. I'll get that just a minute. Go back to Haggai. Once Haggai had delivered God's
message, God's people heard him, and the Lord graciously wrought
repentance. Beginning was irreparable. And Joshua, verse 12. Then Zerubbabel,
the son of Sheateel, and Joshua, the son of Josedek, the high
priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice
of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai, the prophet,
as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people did fear
before the Lord. Then spake Haggai, the Lord's
messenger, in the Lord's message unto the people, saying, I'm
with you. I'm with you, saith the Lord.
And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Sheateel,
governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Joshua,
the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people.
And they came and did the work in the house of the Lord of hosts,
their God. What happened? What happened? I suspect when Haggai started
preaching, delivering his message, some of the folks who heard him
were a little indignant. How dare you talk to us like
this? How dare you presume to stick your nose in our business?
How dare you tell us what we ought to do with our time and
our talent and our properties? Probably just like some of you. But then something happened.
God applied the word. The Lord stirred up the spirit
of Zerubbabel and Joshua and the remnant of the people. And if our hearts are stirred to live for our God, In this
world, it'll be his work. Him working in us to will and
do of his good pleasure. Oh, God, so stir my heart. So stir my heart. Let me show
you something else. We often pray, Lord, give me
grace to honor your name to glorify you. Give me grace while I live
in this world to serve your glory. Is that your desire, David? I
believe it is. I believe it is. Let me show
you how. Look at verse 8. Go up to the mountain and bring
wood and build the house. Go do what I put you here to
do. Go do what I brought you out
of Babylon to do. Build my house. Establish my
worship. Now watch this. And I will take
pleasure in it. I'll take pleasure in it. I'll
look at that and smile. I'll take pleasure in it. And
I will be glorified, saith the Lord. But brother Don, if we
don't look after these earthly things, if we don't watch out
for those things, who's going to take care of them? Come back
to Exodus 34. Exodus 34. Verse 23, God's giving His law. Thrice
in the year shall all the men children appear before the Lord
God, the God of Israel. Three times every year, every
man in Israel is required to leave his house, his property,
his business, his family, his wife, his sons, his daughters,
and go up to Jerusalem for a week. Three times every year. Oh, what'll
happen? Man, that heathen over there
who's been trying to steal my property, all year long, he'll
find out I'm gone, he'll come in and take it. That fellow who's
been watching my wife all year long, he'll find out I'm gone,
he'll come in and rape her. That fellow who's been watching
my children all year long, he'll come in and take them and set
them into slavery. Oh, no, he won't. Oh, no, he
won't. I often gently reprove my wife. She is, after all, a
woman, and she, well, people do this. You hear about these
things happening every day. This goes on every day. I say,
that's other people. Those things don't happen to
us. Well, you're a fool. One of two
things, either I'm a fool or I believe God. Take your pick. You really think something's
going to happen to me when I leave this place, leave my wife sitting
out here, something's going to happen to her and I fly out in
the country and preach the gospel somewhere? You really think something's
going to happen to her? How do you know? Read verse 24. God says, I will cast out the
nations before thee and enlarge thy borders. Neither shall any
man desire anything you've got. When thou shalt go up to appear
before the Lord thy God three times every year. Amen.