As you're seated, if you would turn in your copy of the scriptures to Haggai chapter one, if you're using the Bible in the church Bible there, you'll find Haggai chapter one on page 941, 941. And then I'll go ahead and we'll pray after we've read the text. Imagine, however, while we're thinking about this, if we were to live in a world where no mirrors existed, I know that's hard for us to kind of comprehend there, but imagine what that would be like. Of course, we may still be concerned with how we look on the outside, wouldn't we? But there'd really be no way of actually seeing exactly what's going on with your face. Your friend may say to you, Billy, there's this grease smudge on your left cheek, your right cheek that needs to be addressed, or Millie, you really need to get that spot looked at. All right, but you'd have really no way of knowing what that's like. Our Lord's brother, James, and as we'll get into the later exposition in chapter one of James chapter two, reminds us of God's mirror being, God's word being a mirror to us that gives us insight into who we really are. James writes in verse 22 of chapter one, but be doers of the word and not hearers, only deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away, and at once forgets what he is like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. And so keeping this in mind, as we return to Haggai this evening, we'll see the importance of accurate self reflection of accurate self-assessment. So begin looking at Haggai chapter 1 beginning at verse 5 with me. The prophet Haggai says, now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways, verse 6. You have sown much and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough. You drink. but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. You have sown much and harvested little. Oh wait, sorry, verse eight. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house that I may take pleasure in it. and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why, declares the Lord of hosts, because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. And so as we continue in verse 10, therefore, the heavens above you have withheld the dew and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast and on all of their labors. Let's go to our God in prayer, shall we? And our God in heaven, we're glad to be together in your house. We're glad as we prepare our hearts for the Lord's Supper to celebrate the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins. Lord, we pray that you would use this passage before us as there are connections, even looking at the Lord's Supper from these verses. Guide and direct, we think of those that are not with us this evening. We think of our sister Jean. We pray that you would please draw near to her in a sense of your being near, in your grace and your mercy and the comfort As you are the God of all comfort, dear Lord. We think of Karen as well with this knee pain that's been aggravated today. We pray that you please grant comfort and a solution to the troubles that she's experiencing in these days. And now, Spirit of God, we pray that you would come and that you would use your word in each of our hearts. Impress these truths upon each of us, we pray. to the glory of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we ask this, amen. And so just by way of a brief introduction. Very brief. Well, we'll dispense with that for now since it's not coming up. We recently observed that these previously well-intentioned and zealous Jews have returned from Jerusalem to Jerusalem from Babylon. The seven years of exile are fulfilled. And while the majority of God's people have settled down to a very comfortable life in Babylon, these more honorable Jews heeded the voice of God, the call of God to return to their homeland. And sadly, as they've returned, Life has been much harder than they had anticipated. Although the foundation of the temple has been laid, the people encountered opposition from the Samaritans nearby. The work of building the temple had ceased for about 16 years. They refocused by attending to their own interests, their own concerns, and lost sight of the original reason why they had returned home. And so notice that God sometimes uses opposition to test his church. Are these people resolved to do God's work, to build his church? And suddenly the Jews had failed this test. Sometimes we may misinterpret God's providence. We learned of God's providence in the Sunday school hour this morning. And we are not infallible interpreters of the providence of God, are we? Some thought that it was not yet time to rebuild God's temple. And yet a closed door is not necessarily a locked door, is it? Although there are difficulties, they needed to persevere. Challenges and conflicts may discourage us, as it did them. But as a result, God raised up his prophet Haggai to stir the people up. to do this good work again. For they've been putting God last, as we learned in our last meditation. And so in these verses, we find the solution to putting God last. God says, build the house that I may take delight in it. God says to them, they are to put God first. And Haggai uses this repeated phrase that we see in verse 5, and again in verse 7, consider your ways. Well, what does this command mean, if you'll look to your outline soon? There are at least two aspects for them to consider. Your ways are your lifestyle, your walk, your day-to-day habits, and behaviors, but he's not only directing them to examine their actual lifestyles and how they are living there, but also to examine why they are living the way that they are. He's urging the Jews, what every believer really in every age ought to do periodically, honestly and in a principled manner, and that is self-examination. Self-examination is called for and how appropriate this is as we go to the Lord's table this evening. It's not an easy task to consider our ways, is it? It takes time to reflect. to analyze, we all lead busy lives, don't we? And along with that, there's also this perhaps a reluctance to take the time, to make the time, to take stock of our actions as well as our hearts. And so Haggai's message in 520 BC will help us to do that here today in 2025. And so you can see the two headings on your outline. First, consider your ways. And secondly, change your ways. So Roman numeral 1, we'll look again at verses 5 and 6 and 9 through 11. First, under that letter A, what is happening? What is happening in verses 5 and 6? What is happening to their harvest and to their economy? In verse 6, you have sown much and harvested little. And so in spite of their diligently sowing year by year, the land is returning poorer and poorer yields. It was the opposite of what the people expected. Verse 9 again, you looked for much and behold, it came to little. They put all this seed into the ground. They sowed in hope. and repeatedly looked and hoped for an abundance. Certainly they'd expected a large crop at the time of harvest, but that did not happen. Apparently Haggai is putting his finger on a sore spot, on a raw nerve. It's only been a couple months since the harvest has finished off and here Haggai is coming to them. with this message. I recall a time when Mark and I were in Zimbabwe and it was right after the maize harvest. A drought had been lasting several years and that intensified the concern that these sustenance farmers, they were worried whether they would really have enough to get through for the next year in their deep poverty. Some received help from the church to purchase fertilizer and seed. but didn't plan to save some of that for the coming year. And so for them, it was a matter of learning better stewardship of resources. Now here are the Jews, they had other issues. But they were feeling the pinch of that failed crop, much like our friends in Africa. And so this crisis is impacting every aspect of their lives. The three necessary factors of their lives were impacted, food, drink, and also their clothing. It's possible that they were becoming malnourished and even putting on more clothing, but it was not enough to keep them warm. Or a lack of wool being gathered from shearing the sheep was the issue. Or were still wearing old clothes that they had brought from years earlier from Babylon, and they were becoming threadbare. And there is also the financial pinch along with that, verse 6. He who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. Literally, the phrase means to hire oneself out for wages, a thing that would have been very humiliating for a Jew to do. And yet, this was of no help, apparently. Whatever money had come in by this way seemed to disappear from their money bags. Haggai says, consider your ways. Think about what is happening. But not only what is happening, but beyond that, why it is happening. Why is it happening? Don't just think about what is happening, but why. And this is actually quite sad that it hadn't yet dawned on them why these things had been going on. Recall that these people were in covenant with the living God. And in all covenants, whether human or divinely set, there are penalties for breaking a covenant. If you make a covenant with a lender for purchasing a home, for example, and you fail to keep up those payments, there are penalties for not doing so. And you've agreed beforehand to those penalties. So ultimately you may lose your house as it goes into foreclosure. It's the same with God's covenant as well. If you would turn to Deuteronomy chapter 28, again in the Bible, the church Bible, you'll find that on page 202, Deuteronomy chapter eight. We'll look at some of the conditions that were attached to the covenant that they had made with God. beginning in verse 28 of Deuteronomy 28. And we're jumping in in the middle of a chapter of some of the curses that were attached to that covenant. God says, you shall, verse 38, sorry, you shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little. For the locust shall consume it. Verse 39. You shall plant vineyards and dress them. You shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worms shall eat them. Verse 40. You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. And again, a similar context in Leviticus 26, verse 20. I'll just read this one verse. There are penalties listed here for those not keeping God's covenant. Verse 20 says, and your strength shall be spent in vain, and your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit. Now, some of the Jews, perhaps, may have reflected upon this and think, well, well, these curses were written nearly 1,000 years ago. How could they possibly still apply to us and our difficulties now? Certainly, it should have been plain to them since This very same penalties had been pressed upon God's people in times far more recently than back in Moses' day. They ought to have used God's word as a mirror to interpret what was happening for them. If you would turn to Amos chapter 4, again, in the Church Bible, page 911, Amos chapter 4. I'll just jump in to verses 6 through 9. And this would have been a contemporary of Isaiah, would have been somewhere around 740 BC, so about 200 years prior to the events that we're reading about in Haggai's prophecy. Amos chapter four, beginning at verse six. I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and lack of bread in all your places. Yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. Verse seven, I also withheld the rain from you. When there were yet three months to the harvest, I sent rain on one city and sent no rain on another. One field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither. Verse eight, so two or three cities would wander to another city and drink water. and would not be satisfied. And yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. Verse nine, I struck you with blight and mildew. Your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees, the locusts devoured. Yet you did not return to me. declares the Lord. Now, there's not a one-to-one comparison. The Jews in Amos' day had given themselves over to idol worship. And so they might somehow rationalize, well, we're not like our fathers living in those days. We're not blatantly worshiping idols. And yet God comes again in Micah chapter 6, page 928. Micah chapter 6, even more recently, 686 BC. Micah 6, beginning at verse 13. Therefore, I strike you with a grievous blow, making you desolate because of your sins. Almost a similar language here that we find in Haggai, verse 14. You shall eat, but not be satisfied. There shall be hunger within you. You shall put away, but not preserve. And what you preserve, I will give to the sword. Verse 15, you shall sow but not reap. You shall tread olives but not anoint yourselves with oil. You shall tread grapes but not drink wine. And so these are similar to the consequences in Haggai's day, aren't they? And so we see the warnings, the curses written into God's law and repeatedly occurred in Israel's history. And so as soon as these Jews began to see these things, they ought to have immediately understood what God was doing. Again, in the Sunday school hour, we learned about the providence of God, that he controls all the events of our lives. God's word is a mirror, isn't it? To help us to understand what he is doing. And so we need to repent. We need to consider our ways. We need to change our ways. And yet, surprisingly, the people are blind to this. They ceased thinking along covenantal lines, not as spiritual men, as Paul would say, but as natural ungodly men. And so back on page 941, back in Haggai, he must spell it out for them in verse 9. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why, declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruin. While each of you busies himself with his own house. And so why are these things happening? It is directly related to the failure to build the house of God. Now in the Hebrew, There is a pun here that we don't see in our English translation. The word for ruin here sounds like the word for drought. It's a way of relating the ruin of the temple and the drought upon the land. One commentator puts it this way. You've deserted my house, so I've made your land a desert. Now in the NAS, verse 10 comes over a little bit better. for verse 10, therefore because of you, because of you the sky has withheld its dew. and the earth has withheld its produce. Verse 11, and I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all of your labors. And so you can imagine how the experts in our day would interpret such things. They'd look back to that drought of 1520 BC And they would say, well that must be climate change. And so they would refer to their meteorological computer models. Others would probably propose some genetically modified crops that would endure a drought a little bit better. And perhaps there were those in Haggai's day that were thinking more along naturalistic lines as we considered this morning. Their approach to the problem. And then Haggai would come and tap them on the shoulder. And he would say to them, oh no, God is doing this. God has brought this upon you. And you've been in covenant with God. And he is enforcing his covenant by these chastisements. God says, I have called for a drought. And so in the meantime, these Jews have become content with the form of worship really that was substandard. They were able to go into that temple precinct where the foundation had already been laid, and yet they weren't worshiping Jehovah in the manner in which he had prescribed in his word. They were worshiping in a substandard, a sub-biblical way. And so it's not a matter of your preferences or my preferences, how we are to approach God in prayer. God has already revealed how he is to be worshiped. And this involves a completed temple, as it was in that time of redemptive history. Things have changed since then. And yet God still asserts his right to worship in the manner in which he has prescribed, not according to our own personal preferences. Let's keep that in mind. And so these people labored long and hard to solve these problems with no result. Their farming methods, their extra hours of toil failed to bring in a more robust harvest. And so as long as God is against them, Haggai said, it will not succeed. And so as long as the temple remains a ruin, the land will also remain a desert. And the way to improve the conditions, the weather, and your harvest is to build the temple. It's quite simple, isn't it? Build the temple, God says. And so this is the lesson that Jews needed to learn as they considered their ways. You've forgotten that the world belongs to God. You've long forgotten that God warned what he warned in Deuteronomy 28, and the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be as iron. Haggai says, consider your ways. Consider all of this is the sovereign God's doing. All of this is in, all of the world is under his control. And remember as well, we read in our Sunday school class of what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. So if you would turn to Daniel chapter four, page 881 in your church Bible. Consider your ways. King Nebuchadnezzar also had to learn this the hard way, didn't he? At one point in Daniel 4, he praised himself as the creator of this great city, Babylon. And failing to heed Daniel's warnings, God gave him the mind of a beast and made him eat grass for a period of time. But later, in mercy, God restored his reason to him. And as you know, he praised God and acknowledged the God of heaven. So we'll pick up the reading there at verse 34. At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven and my reason returned to me. And I blessed the Most High and praised and honored him who lives forever. For his dominion is an everlasting dominion. and his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing. And he does according to his will, according to the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say to him, what have you done? He continues in verse 36. At the same time, my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me. My counselors and my lords sought me, and I was established in my kingdom. And still more greatness was added to me. And here's his conclusion. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, for all his works are right, and his ways are just. And those who walk in pride, he is able to humble. You can see the lesson. And so the Jews, think about this, the Jews before Haggai, they knew this story very well. It had recently happened while they were yet in Babylon. And yet they failed to apply it to themselves. They failed to consider their ways. They perhaps assumed that they were somehow exempt from a loving father's discipline. The Lord would have spared them from this trial, sadly. And this, of course, is why it is so important for you and for me to consider our ways as we prepare for the Lord's Supper. If we want to prosper living in God's world, then we must live God's way. You and I will never enjoy, as Pastor Mitch emphasized this morning in the message from James 1, You and I will never enjoy the fullest benefit of living in God's world unless we continually place God at the center of our lives. And so it's a rather tragic picture, isn't it? A sad situation these Jews find themselves in. And your heart goes out to them in pity. They were on the treadmill of their own making, their own solutions, as Boyce says, by getting nowhere. They failed to consider their ways, says God. They were cheating God, but cheating themselves of his blessing at the same time. And so the prophet says to us as well in our day, consider your ways. And so this is the message each of us in our day comes to us, to consider your ways. Consider your lifestyle, your private life, your life at home, your work life, your church life, your online life, if you have one. And that is the appropriate response for us this evening. God is speaking to each one of us through Haggai to consider your ways. We're all very busy, aren't we? Like these Jews. When was the last time, perhaps even on a Lord's Day afternoon, that you really considered your ways? And God has set this day aside for us, hasn't he? Part of this day affords you time to reflect, to consider what is happening, your life? And of course I can't answer that for you personally. And now this may sound like I'm applying the Old Testament, something applies to the Old Testament believers, but it also has an application for us today in the day of God's gospel of grace. You may be thinking, well God doesn't really deal with us in these starkly wooden material ways, you say. But does God discipline New Testament believers? Does Christ the shepherd just allow his sheep to wander off into danger? My attention was drawn to Ezekiel 34, beginning at verse 20, which really speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great shepherd that's predicted of through the prophet Ezekiel, beginning at verse 20. Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them, behold, I myself would judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. because you push with side and shoulder and thrust at all the weak with your horns till you've scattered them abroad. I will rescue my flock. They shall no longer be a prey, and I will judge between sheep and sheep. I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them. and he shall feed them and be their shepherd. I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant shall be prince among them. I am the Lord, I have spoken. And so our Lord Jesus fulfilled this very text. Our great shepherd will judge even his sheep. He will stop the mistreatment of one sheep to another, God says. In the book of Acts, recall, wasn't there some business about a couple lying to the Holy Spirit, do you remember that? Over a donation that came from selling some property, do you remember that? Of lying to the Holy Spirit. Later, God ended their lives prematurely for lying to the Apostle Peter. Or Paul in 1 Corinthians 11, the very passage that we'll be looking at during the Lord's Supper, he rebukes those who had come to celebrate the Lord's Supper with these words, not adequately preparing prior to the Lord's Supper. Verse 20 of 1 Corinthians 11, when you come together it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat, for in eating each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, Each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry and another gets drunk. What? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? I will not. You can imagine the wealthier members of the church came in with their robust basket of a meal that they're going to have while their sermons may show up an hour late having work to do back at the house. And they've brought nothing with them. One eats and the other is completely neglected. It could be something like that. So there were consequences for them, too, as well. If you look down further in the text, verse 27, whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself, Paul says. But if we judge ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. See, a means of grace, self-examination is, isn't it? It's a means of grace that we would not be condemned along with the world. And so as a church, have we taken stock and reflected upon God's blessings upon us? Certainly God has blessed us in a great many ways, hasn't he? But are there areas of shortcoming where we've missed more of God's blessing? We've been seeking the Lord's blessing in prayer meetings, in our outreaches, in missions, in our stewardship, in our worship, in Sunday school classes, and in our corporate lives together. Are we seeing his blessing upon our children or are they being pulled away? And so as we consider our plans for this year, are there needs which must be addressed? I'm reading now through the book of Revelation, and as you know, those first chapters two and three are taken up with our Lord visiting the seven churches there that are in Asia Minor. And the majority of them, he can commend them, but he also has words of reproof, doesn't he? And so may we be sensitive to what the Spirit is saying to our church. And so as members of Christ, is our love for one another, our love for our Lord, our compassion on those outside, lost in sin, is that compassion growing within us? Personally, are you seeking growth in your love for your Savior in recent days? Are there victories over this sin, over that idol, whatever it is? And so like these Jews, you are in covenant with your Savior. Are you thinking along those covenantal lines of God's sovereign care over you? in giving yourself to the apostles' teaching, to the breaking of bread, to fellowship, to private and corporate prayer. I was delighted the other week when we were not able to gather together, but we had our Zoom prayer meeting. And here I'm looking at 35 screens of different families that were joining in. What a blessing that is. Were you there? What a blessing that can be for you. And so how are you doing as a parent, as a husband, as a son or daughter? How are you doing as being a friend to take stock? How are you doing as an employee or as an employer? Think about what is happening and why it is happening. Is God withholding a blessing from you? Or is he chastising in this or that sphere of your life? And so like these Jews, do we have our priorities reversed? Is God and his kingdom way down the list of priorities of your use of time and resources? Are you consciously seeking Christ's kingdom first? As Pastor Bart had reminded us last week in Sunday school, are you thrilled to spend time with Christ's bride as he is? And so you can see that we all also need to consider our ways. And then moving on to Roman numeral two, change your ways. Change your ways, God says. Back in Haggai chapter one and verses seven and eight, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house that I may take pleasure in it. and that I may be glorified, says the Lord." Structurally, these verses are really in the very center of verses 5 through 11. And so this is the heart of what Haggai is saying. This is the most important place of this section. The solution to their skewed priorities, as well as their present crisis, is in these two verses. Consider your ways. At this moment, you're not building the temple. Change your ways right now. God is not first in your lives, so right now He's not important to you. Change. Put Him first. And so finally under that heading, a call for immediate change. A call for immediate change. Haggai is stressing the need for immediate change in verse 8. He's saying use whatever materials are at hand. Build the house. Originally, Solomon brought the best craftsmen that money could buy to build that original temple, to buy all those materials from Tyre to work on the temple. The stones were dressed in the quarry before they were brought onto the temple site. No expense was spared. That's not the priority here right now. Haggai is saying here, don't wait until the materials are first class. Don't wait for ideal circumstances. Don't wait a minute longer, do it now, immediately. It is never too soon to start. Use the stone that's already here. Get the wood from these hills right here. And don't wait for the best of Lebanon that can come. Get the house built. Show that you're going to change your ways. Why is it so vital to change their ways? Why is this so urgent? Well, Haggai's reason is very plain here. It's not so the farming crisis will end. In fact, it's not for the people's good at all, although that's one of the outcomes of rebuilding the temple. We find the real reason, it is at the end of verse 8 there. And God says that I may take pleasure in it, and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. What a word of grace this is. And so that's why you must build the house right now and put it off no longer. God is your king, and you have a duty to obey your sovereign. And yet notice in verse 8, isn't it wonderful that God takes pleasure in dwelling among his people? God desires to take pleasure in it. that we can make God happy in our obedience. We can put a smile upon his face. And that is what God is saying to these Jews. Change your ways. And certainly by extension, that is what God is saying to you and to me as well this evening. As we consider our ways and identify areas of deficiency, then we need to change. We need to say, yeah, we need to agree with God. Yes, this must be addressed right away. If you would turn just one application in Ephesians chapter 5. We desire God's presence among us, don't we? We desire God to draw near to us in our times of private worship and Bible meditation. Ephesians chapter 5. And I'm sure you know the text, verse 18. And do not get drunk with wine. For that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms, in hymns, in spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord in your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 21, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. And of course, he'll elaborate on that, what that looks like in the family and in the workplace. Verse 18, however, is very striking to me. We long for the spirit to be filled. We want to have God drawn near to us. What's the first thing we must address, according to Paul? It's dealing with excesses of adult beverages, we'd say, isn't it? Deal with that first, and then pray that God the Spirit will delight to draw near to you. Is that your approach? Then give yourself to the means that Paul directs in the following verses 19 through 21. Those means of grace, of worship. God deeply desires your worship, and he would desire to draw near to you as you worship him. But if you find that you're not a Christian this evening, or if you're here perhaps in a backslidden condition, then God certainly is saying to you, change your ways. Take care to do it tonight. Do it before you leave the church building this evening. Don't put it off. Don't tell yourself, well, yes, I need to change. But I need to give this more thought, perhaps later this week or next weekend. You need to turn away from your sins and trust in Christ this very day. Tonight even, why? So that God who made you may take pleasure in you and take pleasure in your life, in your obedience, in your trusting in Christ, in your salvation. As John Bunyan would say, that I've fallen in love with my own salvation. Could that be said of you this evening? Change your ways. As Paul reminds us, and I think Pastor read this this morning, Acts 17 verse 30. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man, the Lord Jesus, whom he has appointed. And of this, he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. And so you may be saying, well, I've been living like this for a long time, maybe in the spring. I just can't change everything all at once. I'll need to start thinking about this or that. No, my friend, God through Haggai is saying, change your ways now. Don't put it off. Perhaps as individuals or as a church, we need to change our ways. Perhaps sitting here this evening, turning things over in your mind, the spirit of God has turned this stone over in your life, pointing something out to you. Consider this, my child. Change this. Take care of this today. You know that you've been letting God and his people slip from your list of priorities. Change that. Don't wait for circumstances to change. You change. You likely cannot change the circumstances that you're in and now, but by grace, you can change yourself. Do it now, Haggai says. Don't wait for a more convenient time, like these Jews wanted to. Something you know you ought to have done already. sin that you've been indulging or some relationship that needs to be repaired, change now. You may not be able to do it all. You may not be able to do it as completely or as well as you would like to do it. Your circumstances may set some limits or constraints on what you would like to do. And like these Jews there, it may be less than ideal, but it doesn't matter. Change now. Make those first steps. Don't put it off any longer. Surely there's a lot that can be done right now. Consider your ways, Haggai says. And so this is the challenge for us this evening. So I hope you've been challenged by God's word through Haggai because of his words are God's word to you and to me. He's constantly reminded us through this prophecy again and again, consider your ways. And so now while there is pressure upon your conscience, perhaps, as we gather at the Lord's table, God's spirit has pressed upon you, perhaps here or there, resolve to take some time this week, to set aside some time this week and give a greater time for some intensive self-assessment. Carve out some time. It may mean getting up a little early. It may mean turning off that smart TV that you have. Or Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13, examine yourselves. See whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize about this yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless you indeed fail to meet the test. And I want you to understand something. God doesn't want you kind of walking through life in some kind of a haze. In a mystery whether or not you really belong to Christ or not, God would have you to dwell safely with him, without wavering, but with a firm and steadfast assurance, as Calvin says, to make your calling and your election sure. If anything else, do you know how much is in your bank account right now? Well, you may not, but the greater issue is, where are you in your relationship with God? To obey that call to come to Christ, and to do it now if you haven't yet done that, to obey him in his call. Amen. Well, let's pray, shall we? And our Father, we confess that we need your grace. We need your grace. particularly so that we could be honest with ourselves as we look into the mirror of your word to consider our ways. And we need your help. And even as we heard this morning from Psalm 139, to say to you, search me and know me, to try me and see if there is anything Displeasing to you and to lead me in that everlasting way help us Oh God as we were before the Lord's table Lord Give us grace each of us as we enter in to remembering our Lord's death and why he hung upon That that rugged cross on our behalf. Oh Lord And may you use this as a true means of grace in each of our hearts this evening We pray and our Savior Jesus needs