Restoration Through Repentance: Prioritizing God's Presence
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God's response to this first issue is clear. He actually causes all of their crops to fail, which is going to be important for us today. He causes a lot of their lakes to fail. He causes a lot of their crops to fail. He causes a lot of their lakes to fail. To be unproductive, which is important for us today. And they end up very quickly running out of a lot of the resources that they needed to continue doing the work. And so what God was doing is using their current circumstances and their struggles as a means of calling them to repentance, as a means of showing them that life with themselves at the center, rather than with God as their priority, it's never going to be fruitful and it's never going to be fulfilling for them. [00:43:27] (38 seconds)
God speaks through Haggai to reveal that while the Israelites were doing a lot of holy things, their hearts were still defiled. They were doing a lot of holy, a lot of good things, but their hearts were still defiled. And no matter what way you slice it, external obedience can't make up for internal corruption. External obedience can't make up for internal corruption. And so what God does is he calls the people to reflect. To consider their lives, to repent, and to trust him for restoration and for blessing. [00:47:01] (34 seconds)
The people, they're working on the temple, right? They're being obedient to God's commands, but their sin has affected everything that they touch, everything that they do, including their offerings, including their good works. Things don't look so bad on the surface, but there's a deep-rooted problem that's going unnoticed in their hearts. And this is actually a recurring problem that happens for God's people throughout Scripture. It happens even in the New Testament, and I think it happens even for us today. [00:54:18] (32 seconds)
Sin causes people to become spiritually dead and defiled. Don't forget about what sin is and what sin does, okay? But also, when we're dead and defiled, nothing that we do can be fruitful or profitable until we've repented of that sin. When we're dead and defiled, nothing we do will be fruitful or profitable until we've repented of that sin. [00:55:01] (26 seconds)
And so God, he disciplines those he loves to move them toward repentance, to redirect them toward what's right. It's like a GPS when you make a wrong turn. That GPS corrects you and recalibrates you so that you might get back on the right path. Haggai says, Now, remember the point of Haggai's second question, does indirect contact transfer defilement? The answer is yes. Defilement spreads like a contagion. And so if you don't do something about it, everything in your life is going to eventually be affected. [01:04:48] (48 seconds)
Holiness doesn't spread incidentally, but it does spread. It does spread. Things are made holy when they come into direct contact with the holy sacrifice, like the robes. coming into contact with the holy offering. And so hidden within Haggai's presentation of the problem is actually the solution. That a heart defiled by sin has one hope to be changed. It has one hope to be cleansed, one hope to be purified, one hope to be transformed. [01:05:58] (33 seconds)
And in verse 14, by that single offering, he perfected for all time those who are being sanctified, those who are being made holy. Chapter 9 verse 14 says, the blood of Christ through the eternal spirit, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purifies our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. You hear that? And so rather than heart defiled by sin, he offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins. [01:06:42] (27 seconds)
Repent of your sin before Jesus and you'll receive what he has promised. Haggai makes this really clear as he starts to close out the passage. If you respond to God's discipline with repentance, then you can confidently expect to experience his promised fruitfulness in your good works. Verse 18. Consider from this day onward, from the 24th day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider. [01:08:15] (26 seconds)
In the midst of difficult circumstances, there are hardships yet to come. But Haggai boldly declares, with repentant hearts, you can be sure and you can be confident that despite the hardships of your past, despite the difficulties of your present circumstances, despite the things that might be tough going forward, from this day on, I will bless you. That's the promise. What a beautiful promise of hope in the midst of uncertainty. [01:09:56] (31 seconds)
The Israelites didn't have any tangible evidence of blessing yet, but God's word is assuring them that restoration is coming. Is coming. Their repentance guarantees it. And for us, our repentance guarantees it because this promise finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. Ephesians 1 .3 tells us that through him, we receive every spiritual blessing and the hope of eternal life. [01:10:27] (33 seconds)
God's message to the Israelites is a very powerful reminder that sin defiles. But repentance restores and that God's grace blesses. And so like the Israelites, I think as we read this passage, we're all called to examine our own hearts. And we're called to turn away from our sin. And we're called to trust in God's promises despite the difficulty of our present circumstances. [01:11:00] (28 seconds)
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God speaks through Haggai to reveal that while the Israelites were doing a lot of holy things, their hearts were still defiled. They were doing a lot of holy, a lot of good things, but their hearts were still defiled. And no matter what way you slice it, external obedience can't make up for internal corruption. External obedience can't make up for internal corruption. And so what God does is he calls the people to reflect. To consider their lives, to repent, and to trust him for restoration and for blessing. [00:47:01] (34 seconds)
The people, they're working on the temple, right? They're being obedient to God's commands, but their sin has affected everything that they touch, everything that they do, including their offerings, including their good works. Things don't look so bad on the surface, but there's a deep-rooted problem that's going unnoticed in their hearts. And this is actually a recurring problem that happens for God's people throughout Scripture. It happens even in the New Testament, and I think it happens even for us today. [00:54:18] (32 seconds)
Sin causes people to become spiritually dead and defiled. Don't forget about what sin is and what sin does, okay? But also, when we're dead and defiled, nothing that we do can be fruitful or profitable until we've repented of that sin. When we're dead and defiled, nothing we do will be fruitful or profitable until we've repented of that sin. [00:55:01] (26 seconds)
And so God, he disciplines those he loves to move them toward repentance, to redirect them toward what's right. It's like a GPS when you make a wrong turn. That GPS corrects you and recalibrates you so that you might get back on the right path. Haggai says, Now, remember the point of Haggai's second question, does indirect contact transfer defilement? The answer is yes. Defilement spreads like a contagion. And so if you don't do something about it, everything in your life is going to eventually be affected. [01:04:48] (48 seconds)
Holiness doesn't spread incidentally, but it does spread. It does spread. Things are made holy when they come into direct contact with the holy sacrifice, like the robes. coming into contact with the holy offering. And so hidden within Haggai's presentation of the problem is actually the solution. That a heart defiled by sin has one hope to be changed. It has one hope to be cleansed, one hope to be purified, one hope to be transformed. [01:05:58] (33 seconds)
And in verse 14, by that single offering, he perfected for all time those who are being sanctified, those who are being made holy. Chapter 9 verse 14 says, the blood of Christ through the eternal spirit, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purifies our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. You hear that? And so rather than heart defiled by sin, he offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins. [01:06:42] (27 seconds)
Repent of your sin before Jesus and you'll receive what he has promised. Haggai makes this really clear as he starts to close out the passage. If you respond to God's discipline with repentance, then you can confidently expect to experience his promised fruitfulness in your good works. Verse 18. Consider from this day onward, from the 24th day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider. [01:08:15] (26 seconds)
In the midst of difficult circumstances, there are hardships yet to come. But Haggai boldly declares, with repentant hearts, you can be sure and you can be confident that despite the hardships of your past, despite the difficulties of your present circumstances, despite the things that might be tough going forward, from this day on, I will bless you. That's the promise. What a beautiful promise of hope in the midst of uncertainty. [01:09:56] (31 seconds)
The Israelites didn't have any tangible evidence of blessing yet, but God's word is assuring them that restoration is coming. Is coming. Their repentance guarantees it. And for us, our repentance guarantees it because this promise finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. Ephesians 1 .3 tells us that through him, we receive every spiritual blessing and the hope of eternal life. [01:10:27] (33 seconds)
God's message to the Israelites is a very powerful reminder that sin defiles. But repentance restores and that God's grace blesses. And so like the Israelites, I think as we read this passage, we're all called to examine our own hearts. And we're called to turn away from our sin. And we're called to trust in God's promises despite the difficulty of our present circumstances. [01:11:00] (28 seconds)
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