Like you, my mind is very much
on our conference that we're planning next week, as we anticipate
it, as we try to prepare for it, work hard, making whatever
sacrifices are necessary, meeting whatever demands are required. Let's not forget the purpose.
We will have a blessed time of fellowship with one another.
That's a time of fellowship with God's servants and God's people
from around the country, some from other countries, I'm sure.
But the purpose is the preaching of the gospel, to promote the
preaching of the gospel, to enjoy the blessed privilege of hearing
the gospel, to encourage others in the work of preaching the
gospel. In anticipation of the conference, it is my heart's
earnest desire and my prayer that God might be pleased to
speak, to speak powerfully to our hearts
by the gospel. Oh, that he would so speak as
to yet once more shake heaven and earth. I wonder if that's too much to
hope for. Should we indeed expect that
he shall? I wish I could say I come here
every time I come to preach the gospel or every time I go to
the house of God and sit like you are tonight hearing the gospel,
expecting to hear him speak. I pray for it, but my prayers
aren't much. If I prayed like I ought, I would
expect Him to answer my prayer. Let us seek grace that we may
hear Him speak tonight. And let us seek grace wisely
to avail ourselves of the opportunity He gives us to hear Him speak. That which we will have here
in a few days That which you have tonight is a tremendous
opportunity. Tremendous opportunity. Opportunities
like few people have. Already I am anxious for some
of our own family who will willfully absent themselves from the hearing
of the gospel. What a tremendous opportunity.
What a tremendous responsibility. In Hebrews 12, 25, The Lord God says, see that you
refuse not him that speaketh. Yes, God still speaks. Him that
speaketh. He speaks to us by his word through
the preaching of the gospel. For if they escape not who refused
him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we
turn away from him that speaketh from heaven. Oh Lord our God,
do yet once more speak from heaven and give us grace to hear your
voice. Our text tonight will be verses
26 and 27. And I've got a message for you.
I've got a message. The Lord God speaks by His Spirit
and says, yet more, yet once more, I shake not the earth only,
but also heaven. And this word yet once more signifieth
the removing of those things that are shaken as of things
that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain."
Now, Paul is here referring us to the prophecy of Haggai. If
you will, turn back to the book of Haggai and go back to Malachi,
then to Zechariah, than the little book of Haggai. The Holy Spirit in Hebrews 12
means for us to understand that there is only one more shaking
after the time of Haggai. He says, yet once more, just
one more shaking. The shaking he speaks of is not
a physical, material thing, though certainly it includes all things
physical, as Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3. But rather, this shaking
is a moral, spiritual shaking. It is a shaking that began with
our Lord's first advent, as I'm going to show you in a moment.
But it is a shaking that continues throughout this gospel age and
is consummated in his glorious second coming. It is a work both
of God's wrath upon those who refuse to hear him speak and
of his great mercy love and grace upon his elect to whom he gives
ears to hear, whom he makes willing to hear and enables to hear. The Lord our God will shake and
will remove everything that is natural. Everything that can be shaken,
he's going to shake it till it crumbles. Everything that's transitory,
everything that's temporal, everything that's perishable, not merely
the old mosaic dispensation in the law, but all human thought,
all earthly power that is opposed to Christ, his gospel, his church,
his kingdom, and his dominion, God will utterly shake to annihilation. This shaking is what he repeats
three times in one verse. Listen to this. Hold your hands
and haggai too. I'll get there in a moment. In
Ezekiel 21, the Lord says, I will overturn, overturn, overturn
three times. I will overturn, overturn, overturn
it. And it shall be no more until
the time, until he come who's right it is. And I will give
it him. We're told in Isaiah 13, verse
13, therefore, will I shake the heavens and the earth shall remove
out of her place. in the wrath of the Lord of hosts
and in the day of his fierce anger. And then Joel speaks of
it like this, the Lord shall also roar out of Zion and utter
his voice from Jerusalem and the heavens and the earth shall
shake. But the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength
of his children is real. So he speaks of this shaking
both as a matter of wrath and as a matter of mercy. When God
speaks by his word, when God speaks from heaven, he speaks
either to the condemnation of men or to the saving of men. He either speaks to a man's utter
destruction or to his utter salvation. Our Lord spoke of the same thing
in Matthew 24. He said, immediately after the
tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the
moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from
heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. But
that which cannot be shaken, the church of God. the kingdom
of God, the faith of God's elect, the blessed good hope of the
gospel, that which cannot be shaken shall remain when everything
else is shaken to destruction. Now, back here in Haggai chapter
2, the Lord teaches us by this ancient
prophecy, a prophecy that was written at least 500 years before
Christ came into the world. written somewhere around 520
BC, we're told. Haggai, from all accounts that
I have been able to research, was apparently born in Babylon
during the time of the Babylonian captivity, after the temple at
Jerusalem had been laid in ruins, the people taken captive. The
pagans had taken all the treasures out of the house of God. He came
back to Jerusalem, an old man, After the Lord God had visited
Israel with great adversity and judgment for their unbelief and
idolatry and sin for 70 years, he sent them into bondage and
captivity. And then after 70 years, he raised
up Cyrus, a type of our Lord Jesus, who came according to
Isaiah's prophecy exactly as Isaiah said he would come, and
brought Israel out of bondage and brought them back to their
land. Well, Haggai was now an old man. And I can picture him. I'm sure he heard stories as
a boy all his life of how things used to be, of the great glory
of that temple that Solomon had built, of the great glory of
the priesthood and the sacrifices and the worship of God and the
knowledge of the Lord he had given his people. When he came
back to Jerusalem, he walked in the city, and there laid the
temple of God, a heap of ruins. just utterly toppled, utterly
toppled, destroyed. And Haggai's heart, no doubt,
was moved with great sorrow and great concern. The Lord had brought
them out of Babylon, but they were reluctant now to rebuild
the temple. Cyrus, as I said, was a type
of Christ, their deliverer, and he gave them command to build
it. He said, go back and build your temple. Build again the
house of God. But still, they didn't believe
God. They were content just to have
escaped Babylon. They seemed to have lost all
hope of God visiting them again. Oh, they looked for Him to visit
the earth. The believers, at least among
the people, looked for Christ to come. They look for Him to
come and make His glory known again, but not in their day. They look for it in some distant
future time. Sound like anybody sitting here? Guilty. Because they didn't believe
God. Now we see this in verse 2 of
chapter 1. Look at it. Thus speaketh the
Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the
time that the Lord's house should be built. Why should we put our
shoulders to the work? This isn't the right time. Why
should we expect anything? This isn't the right time. So
the Lord sent his prophet Haggai to his people. Haggai's name
is a name that comes from a word which means merry or feasting. It might be translated time of
feasting or the feast of the Lord. God sent Haggai specifically
to his people to encourage them to believe God, to encourage
them to build again the house of God, expecting the glory of
the Lord once again to fill his house. And he promises them that
it shall be so. He rebukes them twice in chapter
1, telling them, consider your ways, consider your ways. Then
in verse 8, look what it says. 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. You go fetch the wood,
build my house, put your shoulder to the work, do as you've been
told to do, and I will take pleasure in it. You will serve the Lord
acceptably with reverence and godly fear as you serve Him,
believing Him, expecting me to come once more into my house
to shake the heaven and the earth. Then in verses 12, 13, and 14,
We read how that God raised up Zerubbabel, another type of Christ,
who inspired the remnant of the people to obey 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. Before, while they were looking
at themselves and looking at the rebels. While they were looking
at the horrid display of God's judgment around them and God's
judgment specifically upon their unbelief. While they were looking
at those things, they feared to believe God. It looks helpless. We can't do
it. The Lord has abandoned us and
has left us here. He's at least brought us now
out of captivity, but build again this house, we can't do it. But
now, the Lord God raises up Zerubbabel and Haggai to inspire their obedience
and the people feared Him. Now, they feared not to believe
Him. And they put their shoulders
to the work. Look at chapter 2 of Haggai. Verse 5, verse 4. The Lord gives this word of encouragement,
this word of promise. 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,
saith the Lord of hosts, according to the word that I covenanted
with you when you came out of Egypt. So my spirit remaineth
with you. Fear ye not." Now, against this
backdrop, the Lord God gave the promise to his ancient people,
which is repeated to us by the Apostle Paul in Hebrews chapter
12. Look first at Haggai chapter
2, verse 6. Listen to what God says. We've read the promise in Hebrews
12. Read it here now. This is what Paul is quoting
from. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, yet once, it is a little
while, and I shall 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, and I will fill this
house with glory." Now, he's not talking about that physical
temple. He's not talking about the rebuilding of the temple
at Jerusalem. He's not talking about the earthquakes that we
see everywhere around us. He's talking about spiritual
things. He's talking about what was represented in that temple.
He's talking about the house of God. I'm gonna fill it with
glory and I'm gonna do it by shaking heaven the earth the
seas all deep places in all nations I'll fill it with glory and watch
what it says I'll fill this house with glory saith the Lord of
hosts that is God who's in charge of everything the silver is mine
and the gold is mine saith the Lord of hosts and 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. We have a terrible tendency,
a terrible tendency, to focus our attention on ourselves and
on what we see. and what we perceive with our
own abilities. We have a terrible tendency to
look upon the day of small things and say, well, there's no use
hoping for anything. There's no use trying to do anything
to build God's kingdom. There's no use trying to preach
the gospel in this age. This is a day of small things,
and we're just content not any longer to be in captivity ourselves. Oh, let us never despise the
day of small things. The day of small things is the
day when God tries His people and tries our faith and tries
our obedience. His ear is not heavy that He
cannot hear. His arm is not shortened that
He cannot save. God Almighty, the Lord our King,
is still on His throne, sovereign over all things, ruler over all
things. Three times He says here, I'm
the Lord of hosts. I'm in control. I rule. And as long as our King sets
shepherd and king on His throne, He will sustain His work in us
and our work for Him. And He will not only sustain
it, He will make it to prosper. So long as He is King, so long
as He sits on His holy throne, our Lord God says, so shall my
word be. It shall not fail, it shall not
go forth in vain, but it shall prosper in the thing whereto
I send it. It shall not return to me void. In other words, He declares,
now listen to me, my brothers and sisters, my church family,
listen to me. The Lord God declares plainly,
that so long as he's God and we're his. And those two things
ain't going to change. He will make our work for him
effectual to his glory, to the filling of his house, to showing
forth his glory. He will. Not he might, not he
will if, he will make the word that goes forth out of Zion to
roar and gather his people from afar. All right, now let's look
at this passage here in Haggai. First, the Lord speaks of the
shaking of the nations. Verse six, for thus saith the
Lord of hosts, yet once, it is a little while, it is a little
while, about 500 years, Man, that's a long time to wait. Depends
on who you are. Depends on who you are. That's
not but a half a day. It is a little while. One day
with the Lord is a thousand years. A thousand years is one day.
It is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth
and the sea and the dry land. Here, as in Hebrews 12, The Lord
is reminding his people of the time when he shook the world,
when he descended on Mount Sinai and gave the law to Moses and
to Israel by Moses. But the Lord here speaks of a
time when the shaking of the world would be far more violent
and would affect the heavens and the earth. Indeed, all nations
would be affected, even to the islands of the sea by this shaking. This is a prophecy, clearly a
prophecy, of Christ coming into the world. We'll see this plainly
in the scriptures. I'll give you some references.
We won't look at them all, but I encourage you to jot them down.
It is a prophecy of Christ coming into the world, but it reaches
beyond our Lord's first advent. It spans all that period of time,
from the first coming of Christ to his glorious second coming,
when time shall be no more. It spans the whole gospel age.
It speaks of the shaking of the heavens and the earth, the shaking
of the nations, the shaking of the islands and the sea, by the
preaching of the gospel, by the power of God's Spirit, as he
roars his word out of Zion, and ultimately consummates in Christ's
second coming when literally he shakes the earth, burning
the present heavens and present earth and making all things new.
Isaiah speaks of it plainly in Isaiah chapter 24. We read of
it plainly in Ezekiel chapter 33, where he speaks of his prophet
being watchman, speaking of the time when the Lord would shake
the earth, calling men, warning them of judgment, bidding them
to come to him and find mercy. Look at Joel chapter 3, if you
will. Joel chapter 3. I want you to look at this one. Now remember, Joel 2 is a prophecy
which you look at and talk about him pouring out his Spirit on
all flesh and young men seeing visions and people speaking in
tongues and prophesying. Folks looked at that, and read
it, and looked at that, and read it, and looked at that, and read
it. And the ancient Jewish commentators, they said, well, it's got something
to do with the times of Messiah, but we ain't got any idea what
it's talking about. We don't have any idea what it's talking
about. It's something to do with the Messiah. Nobody understood
what it was talking about until it happened. And on the day of
Pentecost, Peter flipped back here to Joel chapter 2. He said,
boys, this is it. This is what the Lord said he was going to
do. And we understand it now, because it's come to pass. Joel
chapter 3 is in the same prophecy, talking about the same thing.
Joel 3 verse 15. The sun and the moon shall be
darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. That's
exactly what happened at Jerusalem. The light that God gave Israel
was turned to darkness. The Lord also shall roar out
of Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem. Not the physical city,
but His church represented in that city. and the heavens and
the earth shall shake. But the Lord will be the hope
of his people and the strength of the children of Israel. So
shall you know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion,
my holy mountain. Then shall Jerusalem be holy,
and there shall be no strangers pass through her anymore. Those
who are citizens of this Jerusalem, those who are citizens of this
Zion, they are true born citizens. They've been born into this kingdom
by the mighty work of God's grace. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills
shall flow with milk, and the rivers of Judah shall flow with
waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the
Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim." In other words,
God will cause me to be in you, a well of living water, bubbling
up, springing up, overflowing unto life everlasting. Read on.
Verse 19. Egypt shall be a desolation and
Edom shall be a desolate wilderness for the violence against the
children of Judah because they have shed innocent blood in their
land. But Judah shall dwell forever. Now that tells you plainly he's
not talking about the physical Judah. Physical Judah was disrupted,
brought to nothing, and there's been a reestablishing of the
nation of Israel, but that nation established over there ain't
the same as this nation back here in the Old Testament. Try
to find one of them to show you their pedigree. Try to find one
of them who can show you their genealogy. These fellas could.
Judah shall dwell forever. That is, God's elect shall dwell
forever. Jerusalem, the church, the city
of God, from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood
that I have not cleansed. For the Lord dwelleth in Zion. Haggai seems to see, and Joel
did, the whole universe in convulsion. the whole universe in a great
shaking. A shaking that affects all the
nations of the world and brings forth fruit to God. The shaking
of the nations. Certainly again, it shall consummate
in that which is written in 2 Peter 3. But when God shakes the heaven
and the earth, nothing in the universe will ever be the same
again. He breaks the power of the nations. The ultimate fulfillment, I've
repeatedly said to you already, will be at Christ's second coming.
Look at it in Haggai chapter 2, verse 21. Here's this Zerubbabel,
who is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, that great builder
of the temple. Speak to Zerubbabel, governor
of Judah. saying, I will shake the heavens
and the earth, and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I
will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen,
and I will overthrow the chariots and those that ride in them,
and the horses and the riders shall come down, every one by
the sword of his brother. In that day, saith the Lord of
hosts, I will take thee, O Zerubbabel, O blessed son of God, my servant,
the son of Shechel, saith the Lord, and will make thee a signet,
for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord. But it is terribly erroneous
to look upon this only as a prophecy of that which comes at the end
of time. In fact, to look upon any word
of scripture as that which applies only to some future age or some
past age is to violate this book. That which is written, here we're
told in Romans 15 verse 4, Bob, was written for our learning,
for our admonition, that we through patience and consolation of scriptures
might have hope. This is a promise not only of
what shall be ultimately, but rather it is a promise and prophecy
of God's work today by the gospel. Haggai chapter 2, verse 7. Our
great God is the absolute sovereign monarch of the universe. He establishes,
he uses, and he overthrows all powers, all of them, all of them. in heaven, earth, and hell, all
powers, everything that is, for the establishing of his kingdom,
for the building of his house, for the salvation of his people.
He is sovereign over nations. This is why I'm telling you,
wars and revolutions are not accidents. They are not accidents. Wars and revolutions, the toppling
of nations, is nothing but God shaking the Gentiles for the
gathering of his people into his house and his kingdom. You
see, our God reigns. And he uses these cosmic events
that disturb the whole world to accomplish his redemptive
purpose. Does he really? Does he really? Absolutely. Haggai 2 verse 7,
I will shake all nations, no exceptions. And the desire of
all nations shall come. And I will fill this house with
glory, saith the Lord of hosts. Spoken of this way in Ezekiel,
there should be one fold and one shepherd. And our Lord Jesus
speaks of it exactly that way in John chapter 10. Of the sheep
I have, them also I must bring, and there shall be one foal and
one shepherd. I laid down my life for those
sheep. This commandment have I received of my Father. I'll
give them eternal life, and they'll never perish. Our Lord Jesus
Christ is that one of whom the prophet here speaks when he says,
the desire of all nations shall come. Not that Christ is naturally
the desire of men. I recall one time when I was
in college, I've forgotten exactly the circumstances I recall. I
don't even remember the missionary's name. It doesn't matter. He was
irrelevant. But he was trying to raise some money and telling
a sad, sad tale about going to Ethiopia. And he read a passage
over in the Psalms, Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands to
the Lord. And he said, Ethiopia is stretching out her hands to
God. Go down there and find out. Oh, no. No man by nature seeks
God. No man by nature is seeking Christ
as the desire of his heart. Oh, but when God shakes that
nation, when God comes to you and shakes your soul to its very
foundations, you'll cry, give me Christ or else I die. This
is what was prophesied. Hold your hands here in Haggai
2 and turn back to Genesis chapter 49. This is what was prophesied. We see it again in Isaiah chapter
10, Isaiah chapter 11, Isaiah chapter 12. But here in Genesis
49 is the first prophecy directly speaking of the dissolving of
the physical nation of Israel and the gathering of God's elect
from among the Gentiles. Genesis 49 verse 10. The scepter. That is the rule of law shall
not depart from Judah, nor the lawgiver from between his feet
until Shiloh come. Now watch this. And unto him
shall the gathering of the people be. Unto him. He is that one
of whom Malachi spoke in Malachi chapter three, verse one, the
messenger of God's covenant, who will come suddenly into his
temple in whom you shall delight. The coming of Christ, or rather
coming to Christ, God's elect, coming to Him from the four corners
of the earth, the whole Israel of God comes together as one. And so, as Paul writes in Romans
chapter 11, all Israel, not the natural born, but all Israel,
those born of Abraham's physical loins and those scattered among
the four corners of the earth, all Israel shall be saved. Calvin
suggested it this way. Thus the nations will come, bringing
with them all their riches that they might offer themselves and
all their possessions as a sacrifice to God. The word desire could
be translated consolation. Christ is our consolation. The Gentile nations will come
to him, Haggai says. the desire of all nations, the
Messiah. He's the object of desire in
every renewed heart. Every renewed heart cries with
Paul, oh, that I may know him. That in which a man finds pleasure,
joy, consolation, and real lasting value, that's Christ. And I want
to tell you something. Try as you may. You won't find
pleasure, consolation, joy, and real value anywhere but in Him. Not in any person, not in any
possession, not in any experience, only in Him. Both Isaiah and
Micah speak of all nations flowing to the mountain of God to worship
Him and to hear His word. Christ is the one in whom nations
find their treasure and riches, and he is that one described
in the gospel by himself as the pearl of great price. So the
shaking spoken of in Haggai 2 and in Hebrews 12 is followed by
this result. It produces this effect. God's
elect are gathered to him by his almighty arm from all nations
and tongues and people and tribes. God's elect are gathered from
the four corners of the earth and fill his house and make it
glorious, far more glorious than that old Jewish temple that Solomon
built. Again, hold your hands here in
Haggai 2 and turn to Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40. Micah says, in the last days
it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of the
Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains. You
come to Mount Zion. Remember what he said in the
early part of Hebrews 12? You are come to Mount Zion, established
in the top of the mountains. And it shall be exalted above
the hills, and the people shall flow unto it. And many nations
shall come and say, Come, let us go to the mountain of the
Lord. Look here in Isaiah 40 verse 9. O Zion, thou that bringest
good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem,
that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength. Lift
it up, be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah,
Behold your God. Behold, the Lord God will come
with a strong hand. Oh God, make it so. And his arm
shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him
in his work before him. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm. From where? From the four corners
of the earth. And carry them in his bosom.
And shall gently lead those that are with young. Now here's the
third thing, back here in Haggai chapter 2. The Lord speaks of
the great glory of His house. The result of this shaking of
the universe will be the filling of the temple with the glory
of the Lord. You go out and you want to get
fruit off of a tree. And the easiest way to get it
is just shake the daylights out of that tree. Just shake it. Pick up the fruit. And God Almighty
shakes the universe and gathers in His fruit by the Word of His
grace and the Spirit of His power. Haggai 2, verse 8. The Lord says,
The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, saith the Lord of hosts. And I read that and read that
and read that and wonder, what's this got to do with anything?
What's that got to do with anything? Now, I can hear Benny Hinn talking
about that. And I can hear these fellows
on television who drive their Rolls Royces and wear their diamond
stick pens talking about that. But I wonder what God means by
that. What's he mean by that? You reckon God's really interested
in silver and gold? It's just dust. Hardened a little
bit, but just dust. What's God got to do with that?
Here's the significance. Our God is the possessor of everything. Therefore, it doesn't matter
how things appear. It doesn't matter how poor we
may be. It doesn't matter how impotent
we may be. It doesn't matter how little
we may have. Our God possesses everything,
and his kingdom shall never lack for anything. The reason we don't have fundraisers
and bake sales and do things every other form of pagan religion
in the world does. Don't send our children out begging
door to door, won't you give us some money so we can do this
or do that. The reason you're not going to hear me stand up
here and whine and cry, the Lord just gave me a vision, told me
this is what I ought to do, but I can't do it without you. Give
me some money. Ain't going to happen. How come? Because I belong to God Almighty,
and this is His work. It's His house, and my God's
not a beggar. Neither are His people. No, sir. Well, how does God supply? Any
way He wants to. Any way He wants to. More than
that. When He declares, the silver
and the gold of the entire world belong to Me. The Lord God is
speaking here in the context about the gathering of His people
unto Zion, unto His house, for the glory of His house. For you
see, when God's people are saved by His grace, every one of them,
no exception, Bobby Estes and Don Fortner included, young and
old, sell everything they've got to get the Pearl of Great
Price. Now, all of it. What do you possess? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. I am possessed. And if I am possessed,
all that I happen to have in my hand belongs to my possessor. And it belongs to him because
that's the way I want it. The silver and the gold of the universe
are mine. And when my people are gathered
to me, they bring all that they are to me. They bow to me. Our Lord said to the rich young
woman, go sell what you have. Now, let's see if you want to
follow me. Let's see if you do. Now then, look at the next verse,
verse 9. 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. The glory of God's
house since the coming of Christ far exceeds and forever shall
exceed by infinite measure that glory which was beheld in the
temple when that temple was dedicated. People, I can't understand it. People talk about Christ coming
and say there's coming a time when he's going to come again.
He's going to leave the throne of glory and sit on a little
peanut throne over in a little peanut country called Israel.
And he's going to leave that glorious house, his temple which
is above, and be worshipped again at some material altar, at some
material temple over yonder in Palestine. What idiocy. What
idiocy. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. That
house wasn't even glorious. No, no, he's talking about the
glory of his house. What did Paul say is his house?
The church of the living God. He's talking about the glory
of his temple. What temple? He said, you are
the temple of the living God. He's talking about the glory
of His church, both this local assembly and His church as a
whole, and particularly the ultimate glory when He gathers His church
in the perfection and fullness of everlasting glory. And He
says here, look at the last sentence of verse 9, in this place will
I give peace. When at last He has gathered
us into his glory, where the temple of God is, where God forever
dwells with his people, where Christ is the light of the city. He says, I will wipe away all
tears from their eyes. It began back yonder when Mary
and Joseph brought that eight-day-old boy into the temple to be circumcised.
And Simeon picked him up and he said, I've seen your salvation
now, haven't I? He said, his name shall be great. And Anna prophesied of the gathering
of multitudes to him. It began when our Lord Jesus
came into his temple and said, my house shall be a house of
prayer, and began to purge his temple. And our Lord On that
day of Pentecost, when He ascended up into heaven, had taken His
seat as King in heaven, as the inaugural act by which He displayed
His ascension and His seat on the throne of grace, the throne
of glory, He poured out His Spirit on all flesh and 3,000 souls
were added to the church. Like that. He shook heaven and earth. and gathered people from the
four corners of the earth, people who had never heard the Jewish
tongue, heard every man, the gospel priest in his own language.
And people were gathered to the Savior and gathered in the peace
of pardon and reconciliation, gathered to Him and here found
peace in Him. And He still does it. Let me see if I can speak personally
for a moment and speak for you as well. When the Lord God visited
me in His grace, when He came to me in His goodness and made
the glory of Christ to appear in me, when He revealed His Son
in me, Ron, He shook heaven and earth. And nothing has been the
same since. Nothing. Nothing. There was a time when God visited
this land, time of the Great Awakening. Time when God visited Europe
called the Great Reformation. God sent His gospel, set His
people free, and sent His gospel through the four corners of the
earth. And like those back here in Haggai,
if you look up in the early part of chapter 2, there were some
of the old folks around. There were always some naysayers,
good, long-faced, old sourpusses. And they said, you fellas, Y'all
do the best you can, but it ain't never gonna be what it used to
be. The glory of this house, it ain't
like it was in the days of the Puritans. The glory of this house,
it ain't like it was back in the great awakening. The glory
of this house, it'll never be what it was back in the days
of Spurgeon and Gill and Edwards and those fellas. Huh? This is
God's work. And God said it'll be greater.
It'll be greater. And greater it shall be. Or preacher, what are we to do
then? Put your shoulder to the work. Put your shoulder to it. I was moving Shelby's freezer
this afternoon, and I got hold of that thing. I tugged, and I pulled, and I
tugged, and I pulled, and it wouldn't budge. So what I did, I got down on
my knees and gave it all the force I could give with every
fiber of strength in my body, I put my shoulder to it and shoved
the thing. I didn't have anything else to
give. The difference is I was able to shove the freezer. Now
we put our shoulders to God's work knowing we can't move one
stone. But he can't. And you know what he uses to
move them, Bobby? You know what he uses to put his stones in
his temple? Your shoulder. And the glory, oh, when God gets
done, the glory of this house will
be seen of all nations, and all people shall know that He is
the Lord. And He's done it. And when the
Lord Jesus lays the headstone in the corner, He'll say, grace,
grace, grace, He'll have all the praise. Amen. All right,
Lindsay.