So tonight I want to speak at least on the first chapter of Haggai. We're going to have a break from our normal series. There's quite a few things I need to get straight in my mind about the next commandment. about Sabbath keeping. And I didn't think that was necessarily what we would want to be talking about tonight on Boxing Day. So this is a one-off study, mainly focusing on the first chapter of Haggai. And the sermon title, the study title, is A Call to the Remnant. A Call to the Remnant. Well, we're in here in the Bible, we're in the year 520 BC. Of course, I guess you all realize that before Christ you go backwards, not forward like we did. So we're in the year 520 BC, and I looked up the year 520, and not a lot happened that year in the world. It mentions that a guy called Zhu Adu Wang became king of the Zhu dynasty in China. I didn't know that. Cleomenes I became king of Sparta. And those are really the only two things that are mentioned in most records of 520 BC. But in God's plan, the year 520 BC was an important year. Because in that year, God sent a prophet with a message to his people, Judah. And he had this prophet Haggai record his sermons, and it became part of the holy canon of scripture. So it is an important year. 16 years earlier, Cyrus, the emperor of Persia, which is modern day Iran, had granted permission to the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. And we read of this in Ezra chapter 1 verses 2 to 4. I'll just quickly read it. Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth. And he hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you all? And who is there among you of all this people? His God be with him. And let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel. He is the God which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remained in any place where he sojourns, let the men of his place help him with silver and with gold and with goods and with beasts. beside the free will offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. And we learn from the historical books of Ezra and Nehemiah that around 50,000 people, 50,000 of these Jewish exiles responded to this call to return to Jerusalem under the leadership of the new governor of Judah, Zerubbabel, and under the leadership of Joshua, the high priest. And their mission was to rebuild the temple, which was in ruins. They arrived, they settled in, and they began to clear the site of the rubbish and all the rubble. And they replaced the altar for the burnt offerings and they got those offering sacrifices restarted. They put the altar back on its base. And this was all, and they laid the foundations of the temple. And this was all accomplished by around 536 BC. And so what we have here in Haggai, and the history around it is of people who had responded to the call of God to do God's work. And with great enthusiasm, they had made a great start. And tonight I'm going to be speaking, this may be the last time you invite me to speak, but we've got to be so careful not to think that a good start is enough. The prophecy of Haggai is a warning to us that an enthusiastic beginning and even an initial success in any work of God has to be maintained. It's a warning to us that discouragement and disappointment will always be part of the experience of any local church and any new work of God. It's inevitable. Trouble will always come. troubles within and troubles without, but the message of Haggai is that there is always a way to return to God and there is always ample strength and ample encouragement in God to complete his work. So in this history we see that despite the good start, troubles came in. The people of God began to experience opposition from their neighbours. especially the Samaritans who they'd earlier turned down their offer of help because that would have compromised God's work. That's a lesson that we were very strong in this church about not engaging with the ecumenical movement because that would be like working with the Samaritans. They would compromise. It may be helpful in some ways. We'd probably have a bigger church. We'd have more numbers. But they turned it down and they became the biggest opposition to them, these exiles. Their sponsor Cyrus had died in battle and his successor Ahasuerus was sort of pressurized into stopping the work on the temple. We read of this in Ezra chapter 4 verse 6. And in the reign of Ahasuerus, who succeeded Cyrus, In the beginning of his reign wrote they unto him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem." And what we read of in the scripture is that once the people of God no longer had their complete focus on the work of God, they turned to their own priorities. And after 15 years, this is the message of Hagyo, after 15 years the desire to rebuild the temple, that desire which burned so strong in their hearts when they were in exile and drove them to make that long journey and to volunteer, to respond to the Great Commission, if you like. desire, that flame, had all but died out in their hearts. It seems almost impossible. They carried on the outer forms of worship, but somehow they got used to worshipping God among the ruins of a once great temple. I'm saying this tonight in great sincerity. There's such a danger for God's people in this. And it's a pattern that can be seen in many movements of God in the past. A pattern we can see in many churches and a pattern we've seen in many individual Christian lives. A great start, a fiery zeal, but somehow the fire either lessens or extinguishes altogether. The greatest challenge for all true biblical churches is to maintain the zeal, to maintain the priority of the work of God, even during times of great disappointment, opposition, and even despair. It's not so hard to be a Christian when it's all going well, when our family, when our wife is healthy, or our husband is healthy, or when all the children are behaving themselves, or whatever it might be. when the church is flourishing. It's not so hard then, but when, what happens when the whole world is against you, when it becomes really hard? What happens then? Well, in the year 520 BC, God sent the prophet Haggai to challenge the people to get on with God's work. He records how they listened to his message and started to rebuild the temple. And in a way the story of Haggai is not so much about the restoration or the rebuild of the temple, I mean that was important, but it's really about the restoration of the people of God. We know from the rest of scripture that the true temple of God is not the building, it's the people. And God, in a way, rebuilt them. He rebuilt their hearts, revived their hearts. That's more important than any building. We could have a wonderful, flashy building, but it would be a waste of time if the fire wasn't burning in our hearts. We'd better off in a dirty old barn and be zealous for the Lord. And the great news within these restoration prophecies, which are Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, well Malachi was a hundred years later than Haggai and Zechariah, but they're known as the restoration prophets. And you know, God knows how to restore his people and he can restore his people even when they're a small, tiny remnant. in a land where the outward forms of God's work lies in ruins. Lies in ruins because of the neglect of God's church, of God's people. In our society today, a once great Christian or at least Christianized nation has all but abandoned its heritage. All but abandoned the faith. The church can live in that. That's the atmosphere in which it was born, a pagan society. That would be okay. But what's worse is that the vast majority of the Christian church has abandoned the truth. Abandoned the true work of God and almost become one with the heathen culture around him. And only a remnant remain. a small remnant who have responded to the call of God to build and to rebuild, not for their own sakes, but for the glory of God. And this is what these people were there to do, these 50 odd thousand people. We can build and rebuild the work of God Even when there isn't fiery revival or a great evangelical success, even when the vast majority of the work of God seems to lie in ruins, God can restore his work and he can burn in us and work through us as he did here. Even in the midst of rubble, the rubble of a nation that has abandoned the Bible and abandoned the Christian heritage, God can restore his work and his remnant. Well, dear friends, as we face another year together in God's work, the task before us, few as we are, not as few as we once were, but the task before us is one of restoration, one of building God's work. This little book together with Zechariah and Malachi are particularly useful to us because they were not addressed, these particular restoration prophets did not address those Jews who had almost abandoned God. They weren't the same kind of audience as Isaiah and Jeremiah and the major prophets had to preach to. These people were not overtly wicked and sinful and full of self-righteous hypocrisy. This prophet and these prophets were addressing the true remnant of God. Those who had put their hand up to rebuild the temple. Men and women who had shown devotion and zeal for God. When Cyrus gave his decree, a small select group out of Judah responded to the call. The vast majority of the Jews remained in Babylon. It was by far a more comfortable choice, because by now they had settled down. They had put roots down in Babylon, and they even prospered in exile. And it was only this remnant, 42,360 plus 7,337 servants and 200 singers who upped sticks from Babylon, from Persia, and they travelled all the way to Jerusalem. back to Judah with Zerubbabel and they were driven by a devotion and a passion for God's work and for his honour that caused them to abandon comfort, to abandon security and to fulfil the purposes of God. There was much to commend them. They'd made a great start in God's work. They had been obedient, had begun work in the place that God had sent them to. It wasn't as if they'd just said, you know, I'm just going to make something up. God had said, go to Jerusalem, and they went to the place God had directed. They settled down to a local work of God, and they had made a good beginning. Of course, it was different in the Old Testament. Jerusalem was the place where God had centered his worship. He were to sacrifice in the temple, the tabernacle before that. Sacrifices had to be made there and nowhere else. Things are different in the New Testament. God doesn't restrict his work now to a particular place. Jesus said that to the Samaritan woman. The hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. Of course, in the time of Haggai, that wasn't the case. Jerusalem was where God's blessings were to be found, the city of Zion, the hill of Zion. And these few, this remnant, returned to Jerusalem not for a sightseeing tour, not for a holiday from Babylon, but to be in the place of God's blessing, to be in the place of God's calling. And the parallel is not exact, I know, but for the New Testament believer, the call to Christian service is not some kind of general, aimless call. not some kind of rootless general call. It's always a call, or it should be a call, to a particular place and to a particular local church. It's a call to build and rebuild God's work in a place. And this is where We struggle so often with some of our friends that they're on their church's YouTube, or their church is flitting around from one place to another, or one conference to another, trying to generate some experience from one place to another. But we're called, we're only ever going to get anywhere if we settle down in a place. And it's not going to be perfect. And we won't agree with everything. because we all have different church traditions. I've got a different church tradition, some of you, and all the rest of it. But in the end, you make a decision to settle down and work in a place, in a local church. Well, these people to whom Haggai preaches had responded to God's call. It would have been so easy to hide in exile. Yet they could have carried on their religion, but they would never have really claimed the promises of God. As I say, it's so easy to live a semi-detached Christian life. But we are called to the body of Christ. Well, Isn't this what we have done, you and I, in our different ways, in different providential dealings and circumstances in all of our various experiences? We've ended up here, haven't we? Very different people. But we've come together as part of God's true remnant. And we've been placed in a specific place to live for Christ and to share the gospel. That's good. That's what they did. They made a brilliant start. They'd settled down to a place of God's calling, God's choosing. They'd made rapid progress. They had zeal in their hearts. And this is the warning I want to give, is that zeal has to be maintained. You see, they were zealous for God at the beginning. The first thing they did when they arrived in Jerusalem was to take up a freewill offering for the rebuilding of the temple, Ezra 2, 69. They gave after their ability, under the treasure of the work, three score and 1,000 drams of gold and 5,000 pounds of silver and 100 priest's garments. This was used to pay for the masons and for the cedar logs, and for the carpenters, and for the transport from Lebanon. And by the second month of the second year, after they had built their homes and brought in the first harvest and so on, they began work on the temple. And they had laid the foundation for the temple, a remarkable achievement. which testifies to their zeal and devotion. Zeal, as I say, which motivated them because by this stage Jerusalem was a complete dump compared to Babylon. It's not a place you'd want to return to. Great hardships faced them on the long journey and all they would see at the end was a ruined city. But they knew this was God's holy city, in God's holy land. And this was where he had chosen to put his name. God's name and God's reputation was being put through the mud because of the exile. Ezekiel talks about that. And God's name was being put through the mud by the fact the temple was in ruins. And these people, they weren't like the builders of the Tower of Babel, that ziggurat. They weren't trying to make a name for themselves. They were trying to restore the honor of God's name by rebuilding God's work and his temple. Well, the parallel to us, to today's church is obvious, isn't it, dear friends? Whose name is dishonored by the weak and ruinous condition of the Christian church in Tiverton, in our town, in our land even. It's God's name. It's not our name. Some people will know us, but it's God's name that's dishonored at the end of the day. Because he has placed his name on us and in us. We're the sermon that most people will hear. Well, we are motivated, aren't we? And I believe it true that we are motivated to restore the honor of God's name, to bring him more glory, to build God's work under his good hand. And we've made a good start. I believe we have. But the warning I see in these restoration prophets, and if you forgive me for saying this, what I've seen, Probably just because I'm old. I've seen maybe more than most of you. I've seen that even true, zealous, obedient remnants of God's people can backslide. They can lose their zeal. They can lose their focus. They can get accustomed to worshipping among the ruins of God's work and they get used to it. it's possible to become satisfied with far less than that which they set out to achieve at the beginning and to experience. And it's so possible to lose the sense of that initial call to rebuild the temple of God when discouragement sets in, when opposition comes, when impatience to see visible results sets in, And it just becomes easy to live in the ruins rather than have the energy to undertake all the work that remains to be done. Now I know we're not like that now. But let us never be. Let us always maintain the zeal and not make the mistake which so many have made in the past of letting that zeal diminish and disappear. It's so possible for faith in God to decrease and unbelief to increase. Unbelief is a killer in a church when we think things are too difficult for God. And it's so possible, and I've seen it so often, for there to be a comfortable settling down into the known and comfortable routine of a local church culture. That's why it's, in a way, much easier to lead new churches than older ones, because you haven't got established patterns of negative church culture. But we have to resist it all the time. Haggai is a warning, dear friends, not so much to the dead and to the apostate church. It's a warning to the remnant, the true remnant of God's people, those who are truly born again. You see, these people, who had begun so well, had ceased to work on the temple. And they began to make excuses. The time isn't right. The conditions aren't right. We see this in the second verse of chapter one. 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. Now this people who almost laughed at risk, who a few years earlier had laughed almost at difficulty, who were prepared to leave all and follow God's call through Cyrus, Now they were looking at the obstacles, they were looking at the difficulties. Unbelief had set in. And the daunting size of the task ahead caused them to lose heart and they began to make excuses. They blamed the external conditions and circumstances. The time isn't right. That's a sign of spiritual declension. amongst a true people of God, a true work of God. We won't do this, we can't do this, and we won't do that because we don't have the resources, we don't have the wherewithal to do it now. We'll leave it to another time. The truth is that if we think like that, there never will be a good time, because we can't do anything anyway. And it's so easy to use Christian jargon, isn't it, to avoid doing God's work. Oh yeah, when it's the Lord's will, when the Lord's wills it, in God's good time, it's the classic way of parking something that we know we should do for God or for someone else is to say, yes, brother, yes, sister, I'll pray about that, or even I'll pray for you. I'm not disparaging prayer by any means. But when we say, brother, I'll pray for you, to use the authorized version, which being translated means I'm fobbing you off. I'm fobbing God off. I have no intention of doing anything about it at all. I'm just going to say, I'm going to pray for you. And really what you're doing is avoiding the whole thing. I know I should witness to this work, colleague. I know I should invite this non-Christian friend to my home. But I don't think it's really the right time just now. I know I should devote myself to this area of Christian work, but just at the moment my family commitments are so heavy upon me. It's not the right time. I'll use my gifts, but I'm under such work pressure at the moment. I'll do it later. And this is what's happening here in Haggai. These people say, the time has not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. They're saying, well, the conditions, the timing's not right. I'll give more when I can, but with the cost of living crisis, I'm going to have to wait until inflation's sorted or whatever it might be. You see, there's always a reason to delay doing God's work if we're not careful. And in the first chapter of Haggai, he takes this excuse head on. Read verse 4, it says, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your fields, houses, and this house lie waste? You see, God's response to his people saying that it's not the right time or that there's not enough time or not enough resources is that they always seem to have plenty of time and plenty of resources for the things that are important to them. They seemed to have time to spend on their own pleasures and their own comforts. They were prospering and yet they were unable to get on with the work that God had given them to do. Time for you, verse four, are you to dwell in your sealed houses. And this house, my house, this temple, is still in ruins. You see, there's always time for God's work, and there's always resources for God's work. Really, there is. But we need to learn, and I need to learn, sometimes to say no to other things. so that there is time. Because there is the time. And if we say yes to this and yes to that, and God's time is squeezed out, time for God's work is squeezed out, and then we say there's no time. But there is time. Or if we spend all of our resources on our pleasures, all our energy in building up our own interests, then all the resources will be gone. But it's a matter of choice, isn't it? Where are we going to spend our time? Where are we going to pour in our energy, and our intellect, and our health, and our youth, and our future? It's a choice. And this is a great warning to us, dear friends, and I believe we are a zealous people for God. We're in the right place at the time of his choosing. We're here for a purpose. We've made a good start. We could even perhaps say the foundations have been laid. Maybe we could say that. We're here for the glory of God. But many hundreds and hundreds of churches have started well. But the key to a great restoration project is not to stop at the foundations. That's the key. It's more than just clearing up the mess and bringing about some foundational shape to the work of God. And this is true for the individual Christian life too. It's year after year, decade after decade, putting God first before our prosperity and comfort. That's how a lasting work of God in your individual life. It took me a long time to learn this, by the way. That's the only route to success. These people failed to proceed with the building of the temple because their priorities over time had changed. And we need to guard our hearts, dear friends. Jesus said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these other things will be added unto you. And if you're willing to take any advice from me tonight, then what I've learned through much failure is that we need to avoid incipient backsliding before obvious and overt backsliding appears. Because backsliding is never noticed by anybody else at the beginning. It's just something you're aware of deep in your heart. you're leaving off prayer, you're leaving off the word, you're beginning to spend your time on things which aren't necessarily terrible, but you weren't spending your time on that before, and suddenly you're attracted by it. In and of itself it's nothing, but it grows, and you can be enticed away from obedience, and then you become a backslider. It may take many months. But you know, the time to stop that slide is right at the beginning. It's true individually, it's true as a church. It's so easy to let the work of God slide in our hearts. And how do we know when we're letting the work of God slide in our hearts? Well, it's when we notice that we're no longer concerned about the condition of the Lord's work in ourselves, in our church, in our community, in our country, in our world. When we no longer feel the pain of seeing the ruins of God's work. When our priorities gradually change to work, to family, to our interests, and we have to, do those things, of course. But if all our energy is spent on our own well-being, in the context of Hagiayon, building homes and cultivating crops, then the Great Commission, the Great Commission through Cyrus, the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ in our context is neglected. Well, coming to the end, the wonderful thing about God's dealings with his true remnant people and I believe that these people were the true elect of God. The wonderful thing is that God never lets his true people backslide for long because he won't give us a moment's peace until we return to him and to his work. Haggai preaches to the people this message in verse 5 of chapter 1. Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. And he says the same thing in the 7th verse. And as evidence of the need for the people to consider their ways before God, Haggai points to God's providential dealings with them. They had neglected their God and God was disciplining them. God was disciplining them in verse 6. Chapter 1. Ye have so much, and bring in little. Ye eat, but ye have not enough. Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink. Ye clothe you, but there is none warm. And he that hath wages to put into a bag with holes. And a little later in verse 9 he says, Ye 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 stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for 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." Well, there's a lot I could say about that, but this isn't the time. But notice the lack of God's blessing on their work. God was disciplining them because their priorities had changed. It wasn't that they were inactive. You couldn't fault them for their work, for their activity. They sowed much, it says. They were always working, always farming. They were always on a treadmill of activity. They had a busy routine. They were in the rat race, seeking to prosper, to get ahead, to create satisfaction and achieve security. But God would not let them prosper because God is dealing with his backsliding children. And that's how he always deals with these people, when they take their eyes off him and off his work. You see, if you don't have your eyes and heart upon the glory of God as the central focus of your life, your work, And if your work is really geared just for your own gain and your own reputation and ambition, then God will blow upon it. God will, in a way, send a drought upon you, because he will never allow you to be happy unless you're walking with him, because he loves you. because he's a responsible father. And a responsible father doesn't let his child go off the rails. Draws them in. Gets them back to a place of obedience. These people were dissatisfied. They were wretchedly dissatisfied with what they had. I don't think they were starving. It's rather that It says you eat but never have enough, you drink but you never have your fill, you put on clothes but you never feel warm. God did send a drought in verse 11, but they were obviously eating and drinking and bringing in harvests, but they weren't satisfied with any of these things. God in a sense said, sent emptiness into their hearts, into their souls, a bit like that verse in Psalm 106, verse 15, which you can only really understand in the King James actually. It says, and he gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul. You see, that's what God will do if we ever wander away from Him, or if we have wandered away from Him. It's true of a church, and it's true of an individual, leanness will come in. He won't allow you to take satisfaction in a backslidden life. If you put yourself first and the Lord second, He will send an overwhelming dissatisfaction into your life. So say it's the same in churches. Have you ever been to a church where, I have too often, you've been to a church which has all the right doctrine, all the right creeds, all the right forms, ticks all the boxes of a church which should suit me, whether it's just on holiday or even to join, you think, well that ticks all the boxes. And you go there and you come out and you think, I've just been to a funeral service. There's no life, there's no joy, there's no Holy Spirit. There's no satisfaction in God. And you know, many Christians I've met over the years, they seem to be very disappointed with God. And they seem to be very disappointed with their Christian experience. They're disillusioned and they're unsatisfied. They looked for much, and lo, little has come. To use the words of Haggai. It feels to them that the heaven over them is stayed from dew and the earth is stayed from her fruit. Little or no fruit is ever produced. There's never any new wine or oil, as it were. And why is this? Well, I think Haggai provides the answer. Why? Is so much feverish church activity today and so much Christian experience empty and fruitless? Well, it's because of what Haggai identifies in this, what I believe is the true people of God, is this, disobedience and failure to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and strength. Verse nine. 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 into his own house. That's why. As we begin this year, we have to, I believe, and as I ask myself, and I preach this to myself before I'm preaching it to you, so don't worry. We have to ask ourselves, are we really prepared to count the cost? Are we really prepared to deny ourselves, take up the cross and follow him, follow Jesus? It's because at the root of all Christian dissatisfaction with God, and with Christian experience at the root of all of it is disobedience. See one of the reasons I believe the people here that Haggai and Zechariah were preaching to were truly born again believers is that they responded to the word of God through Haggai. It's in great contrast to most of the other prophets where the people couldn't care less what the prophet was saying on the whole. But this remnant people who had backslidden, who had neglected the work of God, who had made up excuses, who had been disciplined by the Lord, they recognised in Haggai's preaching the true word of God and they responded in obedience to it. Verse 12. So Reb Abel, 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. And the chapter concludes in verse 14 with active and practical obedience. 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 this is it, and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God. And if we compare the first verse of this chapter with the 15th verse of this chapter, we see that Haggai preached his first sermon on August the 30th, 520, and the work restarted on the temple on the 21st of September. 23 days later, this people who had neglected the word of God, the work of God, had got back onto it. They had been revived and restored. In just 23 days, they turned themselves around and got on with God's business because they responded to the word of God. And I think that's a sign of a true born-again soul. So even when that born-again soul has neglected God and neglected prayer, neglected the word of God, when the word of God hits them, they respond. There are many books written about how to have a successful church and how to have a successful Christian life. But there is no great secret to Christian living. It comes down to one thing, in the end, obedience. There are no shortcuts, no programs, no prayer techniques that can paper over the leanness that comes into a Christian life or a Christian church through disobedience. trust and obey, the hymn says, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. That is it. So the message of Haggai is let us consider our ways. Let us work in the house of the Lord, of hosts our God, no excuses. Let us seek first the kingdom of God and we will find that all these other things will be added unto us. And with obedience to God comes satisfaction in God. That's what I've learned and what I want you to know in your life. That true fruitfulness, most importantly the felt presence of God, because God says in verse 13, I am with you after these people have repented. All these things come to you through obedience to the Lord, day after day, hour after hour, week after week, month after month, year after year. And God builds his work in you, and he will in us. But we need to maintain the zeal, maintain the obedience, and let us never be satisfied with anything less than that which God has set us upon. Amen. Feel free to contact us at Sovereign Grace Church in Tiverton. Email us at grace2seekers at gmail.com. That's grace2seekers at gmail.com. Alternatively, you can visit our website at www.sovereigngracereformedchurch.co.uk.