The words in the hymn book to
that song while they were singing it, and it said source unknown.
I thought that was kind of neat. Source unknown, but what a beautiful
hymn. In the book of Ezra, we read
where the Israel prospered under the prophesying of Haggai. And
what that made me think was, wouldn't it be a blessing if
the Lord causes us to prosper spiritually from this message
from the book of Haggai? Now, God had moved the heart
of Cyrus to send 50,000 Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild
the temple. And that is a reminder to me,
Cyrus didn't know that the Lord was causing him to do this, but
the Lord was causing him to do this. Everybody's heart, mine,
yours, everybody's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the
rivers of water, he turneth it, whithersoever he will. The inclinations
of the heart of man and the answer from the tongue is of the Lord. Cyrus was in God's hand doing
God's will. He didn't know it, but he was. God said, I girded thee though
thou knewest me not to Cyrus. Truly, history is his story,
isn't it? That's a wonderful thought. The 70 years of captivity was
over and the Jews faced a tremendous amount of opposition in the building
up of the wall and the construction of the temple. You can read about
the opposition in Ezra chapters 3 and 4. So they stopped building. They were having such opposition.
They said, let's just stop it. Let's quit and wait for a while.
And Haggai is sent to tell them that it's wrong. for them to
stop, that they should continue to build the building in spite
of the opposition. Now look in the book of Haggai,
verse 1. In the second year of Darius
the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month,
came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel
the son of Shealtiel, 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 that the Lord's house should be built. It's not time to do
that. They were procrastinating. They said it's not time to do
this. And you've all heard that saying,
the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And it is. We'll build it in obedience to
the Lord's command tomorrow. Boast not thyself of tomorrow. For thou knowest not what a day
may bring forth." You see, when we put off until tomorrow what
we should be doing today, it's not doing what we should be doing
and lying to ourselves and telling ourselves that we will do it.
That's all it is. And Haggai is sent to tell these
people, you should not be delaying this. Verse 3. 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, your fine houses, and
this house lies waste? Talking about the temple, you've
stopped the construction, and you're living in these fine houses,
but you're letting my house go to waste. Verse 5, Now therefore,
thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. This is one of four times Haggai
makes this statement. Consider your ways. May God give
me grace to consider my ways. Now, he says, consider your ways. Here's what's happened. Verse
six. Now you've taken care of your own house, but you've neglected
mine. So here's what happens. Verse
six. You've sown much and bring in little. You eat, but you have
not enough. You drink, but you're not filled
with drink. You clothe you, but there is
none warm. And he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it
in a bag with holes. You lose everything. You've made
a lot of effort in the things of the flesh, and look where
it's got you. Nowhere. Nowhere. You're living in your
sealed houses, and you've let my house go to waste. Thus saith
the Lord, consider your ways. Forget your house and build my
house. Go up to the mountain and bring
wood and build the house. And I'll take pleasure in it
and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. Consider your ways. Build my house first. You remember
what Elijah said to the widow woman? She was going out to make
her last meal. And he said, you bring me a meal
first. And then you provide for yourself
and you will be provided for. But you bring me a meal first. As a matter of fact, turn to
1st Kings 17. I want you to see that. 1st Kings 17. Verse 8, And the word of the Lord came
unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth
to Zidon, and dwell there. Behold, I commanded a widow woman
there to sustain thee. Now, she didn't know it yet.
So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate
of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of
sticks. And he called to her and said, Fetch me, I pray thee,
a little water and a vessel that I may drink. And as she was going
to fetch it, he called her and said, Bring me, I pray thee,
a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said, As the Lord thy
God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal, and a
barrel, and a little oil, and a cruise. And behold, I am gathering
two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son,
that we may eat it and die. And Elijah said unto her, Fear
not, go and do as thou hast said, but make me thereof a little
cake first, and bring it to me, and afterward make for thee and
thy son. But thus saith the Lord God of
Israel, the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the
crucible fail, until the day the Lord sendeth raineth upon
the earth. And she went and did according
to the saying of Elijah, and she and he and her house did
eat many days, and the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did
the crucible fail according to the word of the Lord which he
spake by Elijah." Now back to Haggai. Verse 7. Thus saith the Lord
of hosts, Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring
wood, and build the house, and I'll take pleasure in it, and
I'll be glorified, saith the Lord. 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 of hosts,
because of mine house that is waste, and you run every man
to his own house. Therefore, the heaven over you
is staid from dew, and the earth is staid from her fruit. And
I call 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." Now, this is what
I've called on. You're all doing all this, and none of it is going
to be successful. Now, look at their response to
Haggai's message, verse 12. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel,
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 am with you, saith the Lord. And the Lord stirred
up the spirit." 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 did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their
God, in the fourth and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the
second year of Darius the king." I've entitled this message, First
Things First. Now, they've got it backwards.
They were providing for their own houses and had let the house
of the Lord lay waste. First things first. Turn to Matthew chapter six.
I'm going to look at several scriptures that deal with this. May God give us grace to put
first what ought to be put first. He says in verse 25 of Matthew
chapter 6, Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your
life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, or 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, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into
barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are you not much
better than they? Which of you, by taking thought,
by worrying, can add one minute to your life, is what that means,
one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not,
neither do they spin, and yet 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, saying,
What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or withal shall we
be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek.
For your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these
things. But seek ye first." First things first. Seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things shall be
added unto you. Take therefore no thought for
the morrow, don't worry about tomorrow, for the morrow shall
take thought for itself, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Now here's what comes first.
seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Now, how do you go about seeking
his righteousness? I believe I know the answer to
that question. I only want to be found in his
righteousness. When God comes looking for me,
there's one way I want to be. clothed in His righteousness. His righteousness imputed to
me, so that I say with Paul, O that I may win Christ and be
found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faithfulness of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith. I simply want to be
in Him, and that's what I'm seeking after. I'm seeking to only be
found in Him and nowhere else. That is all I want. That is all
I desire, to be found in Him. Now, not only do I want His righteousness
imputed to me, I want His righteousness, that new nature, that holy nature. I like that song we sang. Warning,
Adam's likeness now efface, stamp thine image in its place. I want,
I want to have nothing but the new nature working. I want that. And I can't bring
that about. But I can say, Lord, cause me
to not sin. I tell you, one of the hardest
things about preaching, I've said this several times, is knowing
that you're going to sin. And then get up and preach it.
And Lord, deliver me from that. Seek ye first the Kingdom of
God and His righteousness simply to be found in Him To have this
new nature, this righteous nature. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness. And all this stuff is going to
be added to you. You don't need to worry about it. Isn't it wonderful
to not worry? I love it when the Lord gives
me grace not to worry, because most of the time I do. Matter
of fact, about the only time I don't is when I'm hearing the
gospel. But I hear this and I think this is great. I have nothing
to worry about. Seek that first. Turn to Ephesians
chapter 6. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 16. Above all, this is what's most
important. This is what you're to seek above
anything else. All these other pieces of armor
are certainly important, but here is what is most important. Above all, taking the shield
of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked. Now, here is what I am chiefly
concerned about. I want to believe. I want to believe the gospel.
Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Remember, faith is the salvation
grace. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. And all other graces come from
faith. Faith is the root grace above
all things. Take the shield of faith. The just shall live by faith,
so above all things, take the shield of faith. This is what's
most important. Don't get things confused. Turn
to Colossians 3. Verse 12. Put on, therefore,
as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness
humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one
another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all
these things, as important as they are, above all these things,
put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. Peter said in 1 Peter 4, 8, Above
all things have fervent charity among yourselves, for charity
shall cover the multitude of sins. Real love will overlook,
disregard, and forgive the infirmities, weaknesses, failures, and sin
of others. Now abideth faith, hope, and
charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity.
And Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 1, make charity your
aim. Make it your purpose. Make it
your goal. Make this what you strive for.
This comes before anything else. The best thing that could ever
be said about any of us is that we love. That we love God, we
love His Son, we love His people, we love our family, we love men. Make this first. Above all things, have fervent
charity among yourselves. Make that your aim. Charity comes first. 1 Corinthians
15. Verse 3, For I delivered unto
you first of all. First of all. This is what comes
first. This is what is primary importance. For I delivered unto you first
of all. That which I also received, how
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures."
Now, you make sure at all times this comes first, the preaching
of the Gospel, the Gospel message. And what is the Gospel message?
It's how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
according to the Old Testament Scriptures. He put them away.
Now, this is what must come first. As a matter of fact, go ahead
as you get an opportunity. If you want to know what the
gospel is, what the Bible says the gospel is, read 1 Corinthians
15, verses 1 through 25 very carefully. Now, there's a conjunction,
there's an and, a for, before every verse connecting them all
together and the thought is not over until verse 25. Now, above
all things, this is what comes first. Preaching God's message. Preaching the gospel. God forbid
that I ever preach when I don't preach the gospel. I don't care
what I'm dealing with. This must come first. The preaching of
the gospel and any message that doesn't have the gospel in it
is not a good message. This must come first. I turn to James 5. Verse 12. But above all things, here's
what's most important. But above all things, my brethren.
Swear not. Neither by heaven, neither by
the earth, neither by any other oath, but let your yea be yea
and your nay, nay, lest you fall into condemnation. Now, why would
John or James say above all things, don't swear at all, don't make
any any promise that you know you're going to come through
with. Because when I swear I'll do
a thing, it's done in the strength and energy of the flesh. Every
time. Let my yes be yes. Let my no
be no. And whatever we do, it's done
in the strength and energy of the flesh. We'll come to nothing
if the Lord will. We'll do this, or we'll do that. But don't make any promises in
the strength and energy of the flesh. You know, the very fact
that we make promises, I promise I'll do this. We say I usually
lie. That's what we say about that. Let your yay be yay. And
let your nay be nay. Above all things, don't do something
in the strength and energy of the flesh. Turn to 2 Corinthians
chapter 8. I looked everywhere I could find
in the Bible where it said, do this first. Above all, this is
what's most important. And that's where I'm getting
these points for this message. Let's begin in verse one. Moreover,
brethren, we do ye the wit of the grace of God bestowed on
the churches of Macedonia. in a great trial of affliction,
the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto
the riches of their liberality or their generosity. For to their
power, I bear them record, and yea, beyond their power, they
were willing of themselves, praying us with much entreaty that we
would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the
ministering of the saints. And this they did, not as we
hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord." would to God that that's what
you and I would do even right now. You give yourself to the
Lord. The issue is ownership. Who's
your owner? Who's your master? First they
gave their own selves to the Lord. and unto us by the will
of God, insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun,
so he would also finish in you the same grace also. Therefore,
as you abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and
knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that
you abound in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but
by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity
of your love. For you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich. And
herein I give my advice, for this is expedient for you to
have begun before, not only to do, but also to before in a year
ago. Now therefore perform the doing of it, that as there was
a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out
of that which you have. For if there be first, a willing
mind. It's accepted, according to the
man, what a man has and not what he doesn't have. Now, giving
comes first. Never wait to see how much you
have left over and then give. Giving comes first. That giving
of the firstfruits, that means you gave the firstfruits to him. The first fruits. What do I mean
by that? Well, giving comes first and
you just everything around that. And this is how important it
is. Paul says it proves the sincerity of your love. What we give is
to be what we think of first, to simply give what's left over.
It's not giving. To wait until all the bills are
paid and then give to see how much I got left. That's not giving. Somebody said, don't I need to
pay my bills first? No, you give first. You give
first. And I have no doubt that you'll
be able to pay your bills. You can't out give the God of
heaven. Giving comes first. Give the first fruits. May God
enable us to be cheerful givers in that sense. I turn to Matthew
5. Matthew chapter 5. Verse 23, Therefore, if thou bring thy
gift to the altar, you're bringing a gift to the Lord. And there
you remember that your brother hath ought against thee. You've
done him wrong somehow. Leave there thy gift before the
altar and go thy way first. Be reconciled to thy brother.
And then come and offer thy gift. Don't leave this undone. If he
has a reason to be offended, if she has a reason to be offended,
you reconcile to them. Then offer your gift. There's
something very hypocritical about giving a gift to the Lord when
your brother has something against you. First, get that straightened
out. That comes first. Look at Matthew chapter 7. Verse 1. Judge not. That you be not judged. I want to remind you something.
The Bible never tells your brother what to do. It only tells you
what to do. Somebody was walking out the
door not that long ago, and they told me about the inconsistency
of certain professing Christians. And they said, what should I
do about that? I said, the Bible never tells
anybody else what to do. It only tells you what to do.
And if you're always worried about what somebody else is doing,
you're looking in the wrong area. And let's go on reading. Judge
not that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge,
you shall be judged. And with what measure you meet,
it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote,
the splinter that is in thy brother's eye, but considereth not the
beam, the log that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say
to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, And
behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Hypocrite, first cast out
the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly
to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Now, no doubt
your brother has a splinter, maybe many. But something you
need to deal with first is the beam, the log in your own eye. You can't really see those splinters.
You think you can, but you need to worry about yourself, not
about your brother. Let me repeat. The Bible does
not tell your brother how to treat you. The Bible tells you. how to treat your brother. So
cast out that beam first. This is what comes first. Don't
worry about your brother. Well, he's living this way. Don't
worry about it. You worry about yourself. First,
cast the beam out of your own eye, and then you'll be able
to help your brother out. And until you deal with all your
logs, You really have no need to straighten out your brother
on any level. Judge not. You know, you and
I are not able to make a judgment about anything. You don't know
what that person's going through. You don't know what they've experienced.
You don't know that you don't know by. Judge not. That you be not judged. Turn to first Timothy chapter
five. Rebuke not an elder, but entreat
him as a father, and the younger men as brethren, and the elder
women as mothers, the younger as sisters, with all purity.
Honor widows that are widows indeed, but if any widow have
children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety, devotion
at home. and to reply and take care of
their parents, for that is good and acceptable before God. Now, it's good to show piety
and devotion everywhere, isn't it? Everywhere. Everywhere we
go, we're ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ, and how we
conduct ourselves is always important. Everywhere. But I like what he
says. You know where you really need to show piety? First, at
home. How you love your wife. How you
love your husband. How you love your children. How
you love your parents. Let them first show piety at
home. You see, what you're at at home
is what you really are. So let him first show piety at
home. Who is a wise man, and endued
with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation
his works with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying
and strife in your hearts, glory not, lie not against the truth. This wisdom descended not from
above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and
strife is, there's confusion and every evil work. But the
wisdom that is from above, That's what I'm interested in. How about
you? I want this wisdom that is from
above. The wisdom that is from above
is first pure. True. Unmixed. The Word of God. First pure. And what next? Then peaceable. Gentle. That's the word moderate. Not insisting on the letter of
the law is what the word means. Easy to be entreated. Easy to
be approached. Full of mercy and good fruits. Without partiality and without
hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness
is shown peace of them that make peace. The wisdom that's from
above, that's what I want, is first pure. Now turn to Mark
9. Mark 9. Beginning in verse 33. And he came to Capernaum. And
being in the house, he asked them, what was it that you disputed
among yourselves, by the way? But they held their peace, for
by the way, they disputed among themselves who should be the
greatest. And he sat down, and called the
twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all,
and servant of all." Do you want to be first? Then be last. Take the lowest seat and be zealous
about being on bottom. If that's what you want, if you
want to be first, be last. Verse 36, And he took a child
and set him in the midst of him, and when he had taken him in
his arms, he saith unto them, I imagine it was an infant or
a toddler at the most, Whosoever shall receive one of such children
in my name receiveth me. And whosoever shall receive me
receiveth not me, but him that sent me. Now be zealous about
this. Be zealous about being last.
Make this your primary aim, to be last, to take the lowest seat
in the house, to be the servant of everybody. Oh, may God give
us grace to not seek to be first, but to seek to be last and the
servant of all. If you want to be zealous about
something, seek to be a servant to all. Now, this is the first
thing. First things first. Now, let's
go back to Haggai. And that's what Haggai is saying
to the children of Israel. The reason things are going so
bad for you is because you don't put first things first. You live
in your sealed houses and you've just let my house go to waste. Now, look what happened as a
result of him doing what Haggai said to do. Chapter two. In the seventh month. In the
one and 20th day of the month. Came the word of the Lord by
the prophet Haggai. This is after they had continued
building. Speak now to Zerubbabel, the
son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son
of Josedek, the high priest, and to the residue of the people,
saying, Who is left among you that saw this house in her first
glory? And how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in
comparison of it as nothing? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel. Saith the Lord, and be strong,
O Joshua, the son of Josedek, the high priest, and be strong
all the 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 among you, fear ye not. For thus saith the Lord
of hosts, Yet once, it's a little while, I will shake the heavens
and the earth and the sea and the dry land, and I'll shake
all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come. And I
will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The
silver is mine, the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts, the
glory of this latter house. shall be greater than of the
former, saith the Lord of hosts, and in this place will I give
peace, saith the Lord of hosts." May God give us grace to truly
put first things first. I can surely see how Israel prospered
under the prophesying of Haggai, can't you? And may God give us
grace to prosper by first things first. Let's pray.