Address—Stan Allan
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I wonder if we could just open our meeting this afternoon by singing #32 in the appendix.
In weakness and trial with God, we may plead No Fear of denial. We're sure to succeed.
For though OFT we grieve him, his promise is clear.
And love will believe him, our father will hear #32.
In week.
Oh my God, I want to make it up your hands. You're going to be promised better standard spreads and rundown. Feel free to reach the ground. I saw Graham Graham again.
And the shine and light my.
Cold spring and praying.
That's all I'm going to play.
I found there in the middle of here.
They're on the sun. Yeah. I'll bring me back to your friends so I'm clear.
Just ask the Lord's blessing. Our God and Father, we just come before thee this afternoon at the beginning of this meeting.
And felt weakness. And yet, Lord, we thank thee for the wonderful resources we have a thyself. We know that, uh, the apostle Paul could say that when I am weak and then am I strong. And so Lord, we would look to thee this afternoon to help us and the subject we have before us that there might be something for each one. And Lord, that we might be encouraged to just to continue on.
And tell others, give the shout, and call us into thy presence. And so we will just commit this little time to Thee now, and the worthy and precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
I have before me this afternoon a subject that I have enjoyed in the past.
And, umm.
I would like to speak about the little remnants of believers that had left Babylon, uh, back in the days of Ezra and had, uh, gone back to Jerusalem to build the House of the Lord. And I would like to look first of all at, umm, the book of Ezra. That's not really where I want to be, but, umm, we'll start there. Uh, we'll just look at the 1St chapter.
And I'm not gonna read right away.
I think we need to have a little bit of history of what had happened up to this time. I suppose most of us realize here that the children of Israel, particularly the, uh, tribe of Judah and Benjamin, uh, they had been living very wicked lives. Uh, things had gone downhill very rapidly in Israel and the Lord had allowed, uh, the two tribes to be taken captive to.
Of the city of Babylon, Uh, Babylon, of course, was the largest city of that time in a huge walls, 80 to 100 feet high and very wide. I understand they were about the width of this, this room here, uh, uh, Chariots could turn around on them. It was, uh, a very, umm, uh, large city. And that's where they were taking the captives. And Jeremiah had prophesied before they had been taken captive that this was going to happen.
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And that, uh, they would be there for 70 years. And, uh, in the beginning of Ezra, we have the event that took place at the end of those seventy years after they had been there for a long time, the Jews had really settled down in that city and, uh, they were sort of living in ease and, uh, prosperity because it was such a, a rich place. But you'll notice that the Lord moved the king of the city. His name was Cyrus.
And notice what he says here, uh, we'll look at the SE 2nd verse of the first chapter. Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his 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. So here the king, no doubt moved by God himself, gives the invitation to any Jew that wants to go back to Jerusalem and build the House of God that they were free to do so. It wasn't a command. It was really a test for them. Were they willing to E uh, to leave the ease of living in Babylon and go back to a city that was in complete ruin?
And face the trials, the difficulties, the reproach, uh, that would be entailed in going back and rebuilding the House of the Lord. You know, this whole subject, and I don't profess to know a great deal about it, but God's purpose has always been to dwell with his people. It's very interesting that the very first time that you hear about the House of the Lord.
Is in Genesis 28, so we might just look for a second there. We won't take much time with it. But you remember that, uh, Jacob, umm, he had had this dream of a ladder going up to heaven and umm, he was rather fearful when he realized that he was in the presence of God. And he says there in the 28th chapter and the 17th verse, it says he was afraid and said, how dreadful is this place?
This is none other but the House of God. So here we are at the very beginning of the Bible and the House of God is mentioned. Now if you go to the Book of Revelation, the very last book in the Bible and the 21St chapter.
Revelation chapter 21.
And uh, verse 3.
I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold the Tabernacle.
Of God is with men, and he will dwell with them.
And they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them.
And be their God. So the very first book in the Bible mentions the House of God. The very last book in the Bible mentions the House of God. And we know that it was God's desire to dwell with his people there in the wilderness. They built a, uh, a tentative you wish or a building with boards and curtains. It was the Tabernacle then that was replaced a little later on with a building of stone. It was the temple and God still.
Desires to dwell with His people.
We know that verse in Ephesians chapter 2 again. Maybe we should just refer to it the last verse of Ephesians 2.
The some are good at quoting these verses. I have to turn to them I'm afraid. But umm, in Ephesians 2 it says in the 22nd verse, in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit. So God's desire and His purpose is to dwell with His people. And so we find him here stirring up Cyrus.
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To exercise those who, uh, would go back to Jerusalem and build, Well, we find that, umm, by the way, we should also mention too, that if it's going to be the dwelling place of God, God demands that it be holy. If, uh, again, I'll just re, I'm sorry you have to refer to these verses, but, uh, Psalm 91.
Or 93. I guess it is. Sorry. Psalm 93.
There is a verse there that describes what the character of the House of God should be.
It says there in the last verse of Psalm 93.
Thy testimonies are very sure. Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, forever. So what God demands in his, in his house is holiness. There's something else he demands. Uh, take a look at Isaiah chapter 56.
Isaiah 56.
And, umm, the seventh verse.
It says there at the end of the verse, mine house shall be called a House of prayer. In other words, in God's house, there needs to be dependence holding us, dependence and subjection to God's authority. That's what God desires. And uh, So what you find here that these people, they were exercised and there were those who agreed to go back, they were under the umm, leadership of UMM.
Zerubbabel, If you read here, you'll find that the governor was, uh, Zerubbabel and the high priest was Joshua or Joshua. So they led a group back to umm, Jerusalem, and they didn't start building right away. In fact, two years went by and there was no building at all. There was no opposition. Umm, it was true that the place was in complete ruins, but umm, eventually they did start the building of the, uh, House of God. You'll notice in the third chapter.
It says there, umm, well read the verse 8, verse eight, the third chapter, verse 8. Now in the second year of their coming under the House of God at Jerusalem, in the second months began Zerubbabel the son of Cialtio, and Joshua the son of Jazzedak, and the remnant of their brethren, and the priests, and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem and appoint the Levites, and so on.
And go down to verse 10 and when the builders.
Laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord. So they began to lay the foundation after two years.
And so that's what we find here. And they built, but almost as soon as they began building the House of the Lord, what happens? Take a look at the 4th chapter.
When the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that, the children of the captivity builded the temple.
Unto the Lord God of Israel. Then they came to Zerubbabel and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, let us build with you, for we seek your God as ye do. So here we find the opposition starts. It wasn't exactly opposition is what they really wanted was amalgamation. Well, you can't do this by yourself. We will help you. Now who were these people? They were Samaritans, they had a mixed form of worship. They had introduced a lot of things.
Into the worship of, of God, umm, of their own devices and they wanted to help umm, uh, Zerubbabel here and umm, Joshua now grant you, they recognize right away that this was the work of the enemy. And you'll notice what Zerubbabel says there in the third verse. He says ye have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God, but we ourselves together with will build under the Lord God of Israel.
As the king Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us, so they took a definite stand against umm uh, uh, against uh, these people who wanted to join with them. So what happened? The opposition got stronger and the uh, enemies of the, of the remnant here they wrote a letter to the king of umm, of Persia. Umm Cyrus had been replaced by another king and they write to this king.
And, uh, they say, you know, these people are really out to rebel against you and they're going to cause an insurrection. They did it in the past and they'll do it again. And so the king said, all right, uh, I'll tell him to stop. So he wrote a, a command and told the people, stop what you're doing. You can no longer build the House of the Lord. And that was it. Well, 12 years went by and nothing was done in the construction of the House of the Lord.
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And that's where I want to start, actually speaking, because what I have on my heart is the book of Haggai.
At this time when nothing was being done.
Umm, with the, uh, building of the House of the Lord, the Lord sent two prophets. One was Haggai and one was Zechariah. And it's the book of Haggai that I want to really consider this afternoon. And umm, I want to say what is there for us in this story? Well, we know that for there was a real bright testimony to the Lord.
And to his name in the early days of Christianity. But what happened? It wasn't long before, uh, the Christians were, as it were, taken captive by the world and the Christians settled down to, uh, a life of ease and the testimony, the light of the, of the testimony almost went out completely. Now grant you, God always had a testimony all through those years. You can read about the wall dentities and the Vardo's and others who were faithful.
But the truth of the House of God basically disappeared. But then what happens, uh, back about, umm, well, we know he started, the Lord started off with Martin Luther. Martin Luther discovered the truth of salvation by faith and umm, he preached that. And of course he was put out of the Catholic Church. And then, umm, there were gospel preachers that were raised up, raised up by the Lord. There was, uh, David Brainard and George Whitfield and Charles and, uh.
Wesley and his brother who preached the gospel and thousands of people were saved. Then what got what did? What did God do next? He raised up a testimony. He raised up those who were burdened about the truth of the House of God.
And we know that there were those who recognized that, umm, meeting in the churches of the, of the time was really not God's mind, that God did not desire to see the believers all scattered around in these various denominations. And so they left these denominations, they, uh, left the human traditions and ideas of men to be gathered to the Lord's name alone.
In a scriptural way. And, uh, but as soon as they did this, obviously Satan was going to come in and he was going to raise up opposition just like it did they did in these days. And, uh, so let's take a look at the book of Haggai and see if there are some lessons we can learn from this.
It says here in the first chapter.
And we'll just start reading at the second verse to save time.
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 we find out something different here in Haggai. If we go back to Ezra, why did the building of the House of the Lord stop? It stopped #1 because there was opposition from the Samaritans. Secondly, uh, the king issued an order that they could not continue the construction of the House of the Lord. Perhaps that's, uh, brings out the, the, the king perhaps would speak of Satan and the Samaritans would speak of the world. And we've often heard that the three enemies of the believer are.
The world, the flesh and the devil. But there was one enemy that we've discovered here in the book of Haggai. In the second verse, the people say the time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. In other words, the people took the attitude well, the king says we can't build and umm, so we'll just have to stop. This is not the time to be constructing the House of the Lord.
Uh, we'll just have to wait for that coming day when God is going to set everything right. And we'll just have to wait. We'll have to settle down and forget trying to build the house, the Lord.
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And so this was their low moral condition that was exposed the other, in other words, it was the flesh in them that really didn't want to build. And the result was that, umm, the king issued the order not to build. Now, I, I might be a little bit confusing here, but I want to give you a little illustration. I remember back when we first went to Stellarton, we had a little meeting in our home and there were these two girls that came and, umm, they were Christians.
But you know, they were sort of half hearted about coming to the meetings and umm, we saw them sometimes and sometimes we didn't see them. And one day they came and they said, you know, we really can't come to the meetings because our mother won't let us come. Umm, she, she, she doesn't want us going.
Well, you know, deep down, I really felt the, the reason they didn't, the mother said they couldn't come was because they really didn't have the desire to come. And I think that's what we see here. The reason why the king had issued this order and the Sumerians were so opposed, uh, was because there was a low moral condition among the remnants themselves. They didn't have the energy to continue and umm, So what does the Lord say to them? You'll notice there in the third verse, 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? Houses.
And this house lie, waste, this was the real problem. They were more concerned with their own affairs than the affairs of the Lord. You know, we often read that verse in Philippians, umm, all seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ. And you know, don't you feel that we need to take that to ourselves? Why is it there are so many difficulties among us today?
You know, I'm exercised about this and I'm as guilty as anybody.
I believe a lot of the difficulties we're facing today is because our own interests are coming first. We're more concerned about our houses, our cars, our computers and whatever. And the house the Lord lies waste, the Lord's, uh, things come last rather than first. And that was the problem with these people. And So what does the Lord say to them? He says in the fifth verse, consider your ways.
He says ye have sown much and bring in a little. There was a great deal of activity, but there was hardly any results. It says you eat but you have not enough. There were spiritual starvation.
He says ye drinks, but ye are not filled with drink. There were spiritual, umm, dissatisfaction. There wasn't. There wasn't spiritual satisfaction. It says ye clothe you, but there is none warm. In other words, there was a spiritual coldness among them. And he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. There was no reward. Everything they were doing was coming to nothing. Why? Because the Lord's things were not coming first.
And I believe we need these exhortations today.
We feel the weakness among us. I know I feel right where I am, where I live, and I believe the Lord is saying to all of us, consider your ways.
And So what does he say to them next? He says in the eighth verse, go up to the mountain, bring wood, build the house, and I will take pleasure in it and I will be glorified. So the Lord is encouraging them to put his interest 1St. And you know, it's not just that we put our secular interests first, but you know, we sometimes we're more concerned about the individual blessings of souls.
In other words, their salvation. And that's good. I, I, I wanna make it very plain here. I believe that the gospel is very important. We need to take advantage of opportunities to speak to those that we come into contact with. But what God really desires is the building of his house. He desires to dwell amongst his people and he wants us to understand this wonderful truth. And umm, so he says, I will take pleasure in it. I will be glorified if you build this house.
He says that in the eighth verse He didn't want them to be seeking their own pleasure and their own glory, but His pleasure and His glory. And so he says, why has there been so much difficulty among you? Look what it says there in the 10th verse. Therefore I'm sorry, the ninth verse you look for much and low. It came a little, and when He brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why saith the Lord of hosts? Because of mine host that it lies. That is waste.
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And you run every man onto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from due, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and so on. Well, here was Hagel I making this prophecy, and, uh, Zerubbabel and umm.
And Joshua, they listened to what was being said and what was their response.
Notice the 12Th verse, it says the people will read the whole verse. Then Zerubbabel the son of Chiatio, and uh, Joshua the son of Josadec the high priest, with all the remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God. And the end of the verse the people did fear before the Lord, so there was a desire they listened.
To what umm hagee I said, and there was a desire to start building the House of the Lord again and uh, what was the result? Well, the 13th verse then spake Haggai, the Lord's messenger, in the Lord's message, onto the people saying, I am with you, saith the Lord. In other words, when there was a desire to obey the first thing the Lord says, I am with you.
And you know, we can look around today and we can see a great deal of weakness, we can see a great deal of of failure amongst us. But in any desire we seek to put the Lord's interest 1St and to maintain the truth of the one body. What does the Lord say to us? He says, I am with you.
Was that true back in the early days of Christianity when the TE when the testimony was first set up? Yes, it was. The Lord was with them. Is he any different today? No, he's exactly the same. I am with you. What else is there to say? You know in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 13 it says, let us go forth therefore unto Him, without the camp bearing His reproach. You know sometimes we read the verse like this.
Let us go forth therefore bearing his report or reproach. I I'll say it again. Let us therefore go on to.
I'll have to just read it the way I want to here in Hebrews 13. There's no need to turn to it. But umm, sometimes it's just as if we read it this way.
Let us go forth, therefore, without the camp bearing His reproach. In other words, we see the necessity of separating from what is contrary to God's mind, but we don't separate to Him. To Him we need to have the Lord Jesus before us. He's the one that gives us the strength. He's the one that gives us the courage to continue on. It's not enough just to separate from those things that are contrary, although that's good. We need to separate unto Him.
And so he says, here I am with you, saith the Lord. Well, the result was the people were stirred up and umm, it says they began the how the work of the House of the Lord again and the work began.
Well, in the second chapter.
Uh, let's go on the second chapter now. We'll just read a little bit in the seventh month, in the 21St day of the month.
Came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying, Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Chiati, old governor of Judah.
And to Joshua the son of Josadec 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 as of it as nothing? Well, you know.
If you go back to the very beginning of Christianity, what power there was.
Uh, what a wonderful working of the Spirit of God in those early days. And you know, when the truth was revived in the early part of the 19th century, I would say that Mister Darby and, uh, Mr. Bellets and, uh, Doctor Cronin. And there was one other one, I can't remember who it was, they met there in Fitzwilliam Square in Dublin.
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Just a very small company and you know when they look back and saw what was true at the beginning.
They felt pretty small and pretty weak.
But you know, the Lord blessed them, didn't he? And you know, there was a time in London when there were assemblies of 1000 people, 1000 people.
Well, things are certainly not like that today, are they? I can remember when I was a child, we used to go to conferences and umm, I guess I remember when they were about 506 hundred regularly. Then in the late 80s, they, they got to be about 1200 people would go to a conference and, uh, the ministry and the gift there was just wonderful. Uh, you know, there were chapter Brown and there was Harry Hayhoe and it was Gordon Hayeh and Mr. Lundeen and you could just name a whole bunch.
Who were very gifted and we so enjoyed the meetings.
But you know, when you sit down today and you compare it, it almost brings tears to your eyes. And so that's the way they felt here, that there was this great weakness. And uh, I think we all feel our great weakness, but does the Lord want us to be occupied with our weakness? Is he any different today than he was 50 years ago or umm, 2000 years ago? No, What does he say here in the fourth verse? He says, yet now be strong. Oh, survival.
Lord be strong, O Joshua son of Josadec the high priest, and be strong all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts. So the Lord encourages them. Don't be con it's true that that you're weak and you have there's not much to look at Look at that city of Jerusalem there just a bunch of ruins and all they've got is the foundation built there. But.
Take courage, I am with you. The Lord says be strong. And you know, I think, think, think of that verse in Ephesians chapter 6. Just look at it. Nice to know where these verses are. Umm.
It says there umm.
Umm, I'll have to quote it. I just can't seem to put my finger on it. It says be strong in the Lord. Uh, yes, it's the, uh, tenth verse. Fine line, my brethren. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. And isn't that the Lord's, umm, encouraging word to us today? Don't get discouraged by the smallest numbers. You're doing something that the Lord says that I take pleasure in.
You're building the House of the Lord. You're desiring to walk in the truth of the one body.
And he says be strong. Oh, Joshua, he says, be strong, all ye people of the lands, for I am with you. So the Lord wants us to take courage in spite of the weakness today. And so, umm, then he re you know, at first he asked them to look back at the way things used to be. Then he asked them to take a look at the present and.
He says to them, I am with you. So his presence is promised. What else is promised? Notice the fifth verse. According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt. Well, that was a long time previous. They had come out of Egypt, uh, they had the, the, the Red Sea open up before them. There was a pillar of cloud to guide them during the day. There was a pillar of fire to guide them in the at night. Uh, God was with them in a very remarkable way, but the same word.
That the children of Israel had when they left Egypt was the same word that they had at this time of great weakness. He says, according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt. So my spirit remains among you. Fear ye not.
So the very same word that guided those early Christians, the very same word that guided John Nelson Darby and those when the truth was was recovered is the same word that we have today. And the Lord says, take heart, listen to what I have say, do what the word of God says, and he says, my spirit remains among you. It's true that there might not be the parting of the Red Sea or the pillar to guide during the day.
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But you have my spirit, and He will guide you into all truth. He will take the things of Christ and show them unto you. And so we have three things promised here, His presence, His Word, and the Spirit of God to guide us.
And so he tells us to take courage, to keep on. And so that's in the presence. Now he goes to the future. And what does he say? He says in the sixth verse. Thus saith the Lord of hosts.
Yet once it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.
So he says, look, you're concerned about the enemies that are surrounding you and the difficulties that you face. But he says, I'm going to shake the heavens. I'm going to shake the earth. All these things that man put their trust, men put their trust in, they're going to come to nothing. But what you are doing in seeking to follow my will, the Lord says, I will bless you. I will bless you. And we had that verse in our reading meeting, didn't we? Uh, that's, that's similar thought. He said, that's only a little while.
Well, you know, with God a little while, you know, it says one day is 1000 years and 1000 years is one day. And so that time still hasn't come, but we know we're very close. And the Lord says it's just going to be a little while. And verse seven and I will shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come. Who is that? What's that referring to? The desire of all nations. You know, I believe it's referring to the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you go to the book of Daniel, it talks about the desire of women. What was the desire of godly women in Israel? The desire was that they would give birth to the Messiah. And I believe the desire of all nations here is really the Lord. You know, this world is filled with all kinds of troubles and difficulties, and you just wonder how long the system is going to continue. But the day is coming when the Lord is going to come and put everything right.
Everything and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord. He might not be the desire of nations right now, but really he's what everybody wants. They want stability, they want peace, they they want all these things, but they can't have it until the Lord comes and takes his rightful place. And so it talks here about the desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with the 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. I understand that should read the latter glory of this house, umm uh, shall be greater than that of the former. So I know you can look back and you think of the wonderful times that we're in the early days of Christianity and with the revival of the truth of being gathered to the Lord's name.
But you know, there's a day coming when that latter glory is gonna be greater than the former glory, when the Lord is going to have his rightful place.
And uh, so that's what he brings before them, the future.
Well.
We go on then and umm, the 10th verse brings in something that's very important, I think, for all of us. We'll just read a little further. In the 24th day of the ninth month and the second year of Darius came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, if one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garments.
And with his skirt to touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priest answered and said no. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priest answered and said, It shall be unclean.
What? What is this all about? Why is?
Why are these questions being asked?
Well, I think there's a very important point. We said earlier that the House of God, God desires that his house be holy. He desires that it be filled with a dependent people who are in subjection to his authority. And you know, sometimes we, you know, we profess to be gathered to the Lord's name and what a wonderful thing it is to be gathered to the Lord's name. But you know, the Lord wants to remind us that holiness becometh his house forever. Holiness. And so he says if a high priest garment.
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That is holy touch, touch something. Is it holy? And they had to say no. In other words, what is holy cannot cleanse, Uh, what? Uh, what? It, uh, touches an association.
But if something is defiling and touches something, it defiles the thing that it touches. We, we have the, the very simple idea, don't we? And the idea of the rotten apple. You can't put a rotten apple down with five good apples and make the, uh, rotten apple a good one. But the, the rotten apple can very easily make the other five apples rotten. So things can be defiled by association, but that which is wholly does not make what it touches wholly.
And so God is pointing out to these, uh, ones here how important this principle is. And you know, there are, there are Christians today that say, well, you know, I understand what it is to be, uh, the principles you're trying to, umm, maintain, but you know, where I am, I think if we're there, we can be a testimony to those who are unsaved and we can be a help and make things different. Will it make things different? No.
What does God ask us to do? Well, take a look at umm, Second Timothy chapter 2. We know these verses, I just remind ourselves.
Uh, second Timothy, chapter 2.
It says there in the 20th verse.
In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use. So you know, in the great system of Christendom around us, there are those that are saved, those who are unsaved, those who are walking, uh, according to evil doctrine, and those who are.
Not, and they're all mixed together, but what does the Lord say? He says, he says, if any man purge himself from these, the Lord wants us to separate from that which is defiling and to be identified with him alone. And so, uh, this is the principle that he's bringing before them. And you'll notice there that he goes on and he says in the 14th verse then answered Haggai and said, so is this people?
And so is this nation before me, saith the Lord. And so is every work of their hands, and that which they offer, uh, there is unclean. And now I pray you consider from this day and upward from before, a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord. Uh, since those days, uh, were when one came to a heap of UH-20 measures, they were about 10 when one came to the press flats for the draw out 50 vessels out of the press.
There were about 20. I smote you with blasting and mildew and with hail in all the laborers of your hands. Uh, yet you turn not to me, saith the Lord. In other words, the remnant here had not kept the principle of holiness. They hadn't separated from that which was defiling. And the result was that the Lord had to bring difficulties, trials in their lives. There was blasting and mildew.
And hail. And you know, I think sometimes we forget that the house, the Lord is to be holy. How easy it is to bring in defilement into the assembly. But the Lord wants us to be faithful to him and remember that he is holy.
Well, another thing that you'll notice in this little book, and I know that I'm, uh, going through here fairly quickly, but over and over again, what word do you get? You get the word consider.
What were you going to say?
Pardon me.
No, Lord, yes, we get that word too. But I was thinking it says consider at the beginning it said consider your ways. We had that twice in the first chapter. Now in the 18th verse of the second chapter, it says consider now from this day and upward, and again at the end of the verse, consider it. So the Lord wants us to consider these things. They're so important.
00:45:22
Well, I just want to round off, umm, this is not gonna be a long meeting, but you'll notice in the 20th verse there's another message. This time Haggai is speaking directly, I believe to Zerubbabel. He was the governor. And umm, you'll notice here that he says there on the 21St verse speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying I will shake the heavens.
And the earth and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms.
I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen, and I will overthrow the Chariots.
And those that ride in them and the horses and their riders shall come down everyone by the sword of his brother. In other words, you know Zerubbabel would look around and he would see the king of Persia who had interfered with the building of the of the House of the Lord.
And these governments could just on a whim, umm, sort of stop everything. But the Lord said, don't worry about that.
I'm going to deal with this world. I'm going to overthrow the throne of kingdoms and I will destroy their strength. You know, Christians seem to think when they look around and they see what governments are doing and they're passing legislation that is so much against the word of God that they have to get into politics and try and change everything. So they run and they get elected and they become perhaps a senator or in Canada they become Prime Minister or whatever.
And they think that perhaps they can change the system, but the Lord says, no, you don't have to change that. I will look after all these things that men are going to come to nothing.
What's our responsibility? I believe we have it in Jude. Just look for a moment in the book of Jude.
It's not our place to try and right the wrongs of this world.
But this is what the Lord would have us do.
The third verse of Jude.
Umm.
I write to you and exhort you, I'm not reading in the middle of the verse that ye should earnestly contend.
For the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints, that's what the Lord wants us to do. He wants us to earnestly content for the truth, stand for those things that that have been handed down to us. What a rich treasury of truth has been given to us over the years. And the question is, do we value it? Well, the Lord tells us to earnestly contend for the truth. That's our responsibility, and he encourages.
Umm, Zerubbabel, you'll notice there in that last verse he says to Zaravol in that day, saith the Lord of hosts. I will take you, O Zarabavo, my servant, the son of Cialtio, saith the Lord, and I will make thee as a signet, for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of Hosts. In other words, he says, there's a rubble, keep on.
There's a day coming when you're going to have a reward for your faithfulness. I will make you as a segment. And So what I just wanted to say this this afternoon is the Lord would encourage us all to continue for him, desiring to maintain the truth of the one body and being gathered to his name alone outside the systems of men. It might be a very weak testimony. It might be a very feeble testimony and Satan would seek to have us give up.
You know, there's so many that would just say, well, what's the use?
Uh, we might just go to a church and enjoy some nice fellowship.
But God says, keep on, I am with you. Well, may the Lord preserve us and keep us going on for Him, uh, till he comes.
I think we'll just, uh, close with prayer.
Our God and Father, we just come before thee this afternoon and we have to acknowledge how much like this little remnant we are, how easy it is to settle down and take our ease in this world and forget, Lord, that thou has left us here to uh, maintain uh, a testimony, umm, to the umm, truth of the one body and desire, Lord Jesus to go on and separation from that which is evil.
00:50:20
And Lord, to be gathered to Thy name alone, oh, we just pray that we might, uh, Lord Jesus, umm, come out from among those who desire, umm, who do not desire Thy glory, and walk to please Thee until let us come. Oh, we just pray that Thou would preserve us. We know we're a feeble company, but we thank the Lord that Thou hast said in Thy word, I am with you. And uh, we thank the Lord for Thy precious word that Thou hast given us and the instructions on how to gather.
And, uh, we just pray that we might be preserved until let us come. And, uh, so you will just commit ourselves to the thanking me for this privilege of being here in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen, Amen.