Worship service 06/28/26.

Greetings and call to worship.
—Greetings and good morning, saints and fellow parktakers in the cross of Jesus Christ, blessings and peace be multiplied to you by the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. We come before Him once again on the Christian Sabbath to love, honor and serve Him as He is worthy and as He has commanded us so to do in His word. Gal. 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Truly all who are Christian may boldly declare that we walk by faith, and against the natural inclination of the flesh. The Christian warfare is an uphill battle, and we strive against crafty and cruel enemies who watch for our souls, but blessed be the Lord, the mighty one of Israel who protects us from all danger.

 

A Puritan minister writes, “We are to perform these public exercises of God’s worship on the Sabbath-day–

1. With sincerity, having a single respect unto the honour and glory

of God, whose day the Sabbath is. “If thou call the Sabbath the holy

of the Lord, honourable, and shalt honour him.” –Isaiah 58:13.

2. With reverence, and that both of body and mind. “Keep thy foot

when thou goest to the house of God.” –Ecclesiastes 5:1. “To this

man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and

trembleth at my word.” –Isaiah 66:2.

3. With diligence and attention. “And on the Sabbath we went out of

the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made. And

Lydia, which worshipped God, heard us, whose heart the Lord

opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of

Paul.” –Acts 16:13-14.

4. With love and fervour of spirit. “Fervent in spirit, serving the

Lord.” –Romans 12:11.

5. With delight and joy. “If thou call the Sabbath a delight.” –Isaiah

58:13.

 

Prayer unto the public reading of the Holy Scripture:
Our holy and righteous Father,
full of glory, justice, mercy, and truth;
the covenant God who will by no means clear the guilty,
yet showeth mercy unto thousands that love thee and keep thy commandments:

We come before thee solemnly,
as those whom thou hast chosen in Christ,
redeemed by His precious blood,
called out of darkness,
and brought into the fellowship of the gospel
and the kingdom of thy Son.

We bow before thy throne in all reverence,
acknowledging the severity of thy law,
the holy requirements of the gospel,
and our own vileness and unworthiness
to draw near unto thee.

We confess, O Lord,
that apart from the obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ
we lie under thy wrath and curse,
without access to the covenant promises.
For we are guilty and polluted by nature,
unable of ourselves to repent, believe, or return unto thee.

Therefore we rest wholly upon thy free grace:
upon the Father’s electing love,
the Son’s righteousness for our justification,
and the Spirit’s work for our sanctification.
Pardon our iniquities,
cleanse us by the blood of Christ,
sanctify us by thy truth,
strengthen our faith,
subdue the lusts of the flesh,
and enable us to perform this holy service
in the strength which thou dost so freely supply.

And now, as we come to the reading of thy holy word,
grant a special blessing upon this portion of Scripture.
Make it effectual by thy Spirit
to build up thy Church,
and establish thy kingdom.
Open our hearts to receive the word with meekness;
give us eyes to see and ears to hear;
and cause us to live by it,
that we may grow up into Christ in all things—
Our Prophet, Priest, and King.

All this we ask in His most worthy name,

Amen.

 

Devotional and doctrinal exposition on the Psalms:

Psalm 28 [11]: 1 Being in great fear and heaviness of heart to see God dishonored by the wicked, he desireth to be rid of them. 4 And crieth for vengeance against them: and at length assureth himself, that God hath heard his prayer, 9 Unto whose tuition he commendeth all the faithful.

A Psalm of David.

1 Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.

2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.

3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but malice is in their hearts.

4 Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their inventions: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.

5 For they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, therefore destroy them, and build them not up.

6 Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my petitions.

7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

8 The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.

9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and exalt them for ever.

Exposition:
—Previously we saw that the Christian’s confession is not for himself only, but also for others; that his testimony and life, being agreeable to God and His word, have certain and definable qualities, which, being expressed either by the mouth or by the life, may induce encouragement to the saints, as well as rebuke the enemies of the church.

For it is beyond all controversy that the wicked watch us so as to judge the sincerity of religion by our walk; and when we are found good and upright, this rebukes their rash imagination and demonstrates the wisdom of the gospel. And this must be done despite their contestation and railings, yea, despite persecution also. We must be ready to bless God despite the world, yea in conscious defiance of the world, being fully persuaded that to bless God is to be at war with the wicked of the world. When one hand is lifted up in praise, the other is raised in imprecation.

Thomas Manton writes,

“If we do not justify religion, we justify the world. It must needs be so, for these two are opposites, the carnal world and wisdom: the carnal world must be condemned, and religion justified, or religion will be condemned and the world justified. Some condemn the world: Heb. xi. 7, ‘By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.’ Some justify the world, as Israel justified Sodom: Ezek. xvi. 51, ‘But thou hast multiplied thy abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done.’ Their sin seemeth more excusable; you either upbraid their security and carelessness, or countenance it by your own practice; your seriousness is a real rebuke to the carnal world; your working out your salvation in fear and trembling upbraideth their security and carelessness; your rejoicing in God condemneth their carnal delight. When you are troubled about a vain thought, and are watchful against a light word, you condemn them for their looseness and wallowing in all filthiness: but if not, you justify the world, and harden the wicked in their prejudices, and cause them to hold up their course with the greater pretence. When you are wrathful, proud, sensual, turbulent, self-seeking, you are an occasion of stumbling unto them.”

Note carefully the words, “your rejoicing in God condemneth their carnal delight.” We must remember that a believer’s rejoicing in God, as David doth here in the Psalm, is such an effectual encouragement to the saints because it is contrary to the natural desires of the flesh.

It is as if David said, “Draw me not away with those who, according to carnal and base appetite, hunger after, long after, and pant after the filth and dung of the world. But blessed be the Lord, because He hath heard me, and I am set apart from them in practice and purpose. I will rejoice in Him, for that He is my strength, and He is the strength of His people also, upholding their spirits by His power against the malicious assaults of the world, the flesh, and the devil; enabling us by His own purity to hold fast sound judgment and walk in the ways of God in truth.”

We see that David’s joy in God is directly antithetical to the love of pleasure and self-seeking which is so common in the world, and which receives glory and praise from men. For the world reserves its loudest applause for the very things upon which God reserves His sorest wrath. As Manton writes,

“Amongst men, the ambitious, who aspire to crowns and kingdoms, and aim at perpetual fame by their heroic virtues and exploits, are judged persons of far greater gallantry than covetous muckworms or brutish epicures; yet they are poor, base-spirited people in their highest thoughts and designs [when compared] to that noble and divine spirit which worketh in the breast of those who sincerely and heartily seek heavenly things.”

The highest thoughts of the world are much lower than the lowest aspirations of the sincere believer. The weakest faith lays hold upon a strong Christ; and Christ, who dearly loveth the least of His people, strengthens them with His own grace against the base desires of the world.

William Secker— “The last singular action of a sanctified Christian, is that he values his heavenly inheritance, above all earthly possessions.

“God has reserved a priceless inheritance for His children. It is kept in Heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.” “Our citizenship is in Heaven!”

Some say, that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush—but surely such a bird in the bush, is worth two in the hand. If others dote upon the streams—let us admire the fountain. Socrates, being asked what his native country was, answered, “I am a citizen of the whole world.” But ask a Christian what his native country is—and he will answer, “I am a citizen of all Heaven!” Believers build their tombs—where worldlings build their habitations. The men of the world—fix their hearts upon the things of the world. This fleeting world, is the cabinet in which they lock up all their jewels! Though God has given the earth to beasts—yet such beasts are men—as to give themselves to the earth!

It was the saying of a cursed cardinal, “I prefer a part in the honors of Paris—to a part in the happiness of paradise.” What is the glimmering of a candle, compared to the shining of the sun? or the value of dirt, compared with gold? Foolish children are taken up more with fleeting pleasures—more than with eternal glory. Thus while the shadow is embraced, the substance is neglected.”

 

Opening Prayer.
—Our holy and righteous Father in heaven,
full of wisdom and knowledge,
who searchest all deep things,
yea, who knowest what is in the thoughts of man:

We worship thee, O Lord for who thou art and what thou hast done for us.

And we ask that thou wouldst purify us by thy grace and truth,
and cause us to walk in the light of thy word.
Prepare us for the last day by sanctifying us,
and cause us to walk in all thy commandments
with sincerity and diligence.

Teach us by thy word how we ought to live,
and enable us to live by thy blessed Spirit.
Help us, O Lord,
for we have no strength of our own,
but rely wholly upon thy grace.

Grant us to walk in truth
and in all holy obedience,
through Jesus Christ, our only Saviour,
in whose glorious and holy name we pray.

Amen.

Lesson 89. [1.2.63.] The Contents of Holy Scripture: The Prophets. Haggai. The Prophet of the Temple of the Lord. Part 2.

Westminster Confession of Faith 1.2.

Under the name of holy Scripture, or the Word of God written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testaments,
Genesis—Zephaniah, Haggai
All which are given by inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life.

Intro. Haggai.

Thomas Watson, Practical Application on the Day of Judgment.
“Use 1. Of PERSUASION.
Let me persuade all Christians to believe this truth—that there shall be a day of judgment. “Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the sights of your eyes; but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment!” Ecclesiastes 11:9. This is a great article of our faith—that Christ shall come to judge the living and the dead. Yet how many live—as if this article were blotted out of their creed! We have too many epicures and atheists who drown themselves in sensual delights and live as if they did not believe either in God—or the day of judgment! The Lucianists and Platonists deny the immortality of the soul; the Photinians hold there is no hell. I have read of the Duke of Silesia who was so deluded, that he did not believe either God or the devil. I wish there were not too many of this duke’s opinion. Would men dare swear, be unchaste, or live in malice—if they believed in a day of judgment? Oh, mingle this text with faith. “The Lord has appointed a day in which He will judge the world.” There must be such a day. Not only does Scripture assert it—but reason confirms it. There is no kingdom or nation in the world but has its sessions and courts of judicature; and shall not God, who sets up all other courts, be allowed His? That there shall be a day of judgment is engrafted by nature in the consciences of men. Peter Martyr tells us that some of the heathen poets have written that there are certain judges appointed (Minos, Rhadamanthus, and others) to examine and punish offenders after this life.

Use 2. Of INFORMATION.
See here the sad and deplorable estate of wicked men. This text is as the handwriting on the wall which may make their “knees to smite one against another,” Daniel 5:6. The wicked shall come to judgment—but they “shall not stand in the judgment,” Psalm 1:5. In the Hebrew it is “they shall not rise up.” God shall be decked with glory and majesty, His face as the appearance of lightning, His eyes as lamps of fire, and a sword of justice in His hand, and shall call the sinner by name and say, “Stand forth! Answer to the charge that is brought against you! What can you say for your pride, oaths, drunkenness? These sins you have been told of, by My ministers; but you persisted in your wickedness with a neck of iron, a brow of brass, and a heart of stone! All the tools which I wrought with—were broken and worn out upon your rocky heart! What can you say for yourself that the sentence should not be passed?”

Oh, how bewildered and confused will the sinner be! He will be found speechless; he will not be able to look his Judge in the face. Job 31:14, “What then shall I do when God rises up? And when He visits, what shall I answer Him?” Oh, wretch, you who can now outface your minister and your godly parents, when they tell you of sin—you shall not be able to outface your Judge. When God rises up, the sinner’s countenance will be fallen.

All the world is God’s diocese, and shortly He is coming on His visitation and will call men to account. Now, when God shall visit, how shall the impure soul be able to answer Him? 1 Peter 4:18, “Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” You who die in your sin are sure to be cast at the bar. John 3:18, “He who believes not, is condemned already.” That is, he is as sure to be condemned as if he were condemned already. And once the sentence of damnation is passed, miserable man—what will you do? Where will you go? Will you seek help from God? He is a consuming fire to you. Will you seek help from the world? It will be all on fire about you. From the saints? Those you derided on earth. From the good angels? They defy you as God’s enemy. From the bad angels? They are your executioners. From your conscience? There is the worm which gnaws. From mercy? The lease is run out—the day of mercy is forever past. Oh, the horror and hellish despair, which will seize upon sinners at that day! Oh, the sad convulsions! Their heads shall hang down, their cheeks blush, their lips quiver, their hands shake, their conscience roar, and their heart tremble. What stupefying medicine has the devil given to men—that they are insensible of the danger they are in! The cares of the world have so filled their head, and the profits of it have so bewitched their heart, that they mind neither death nor judgment!

Use 3. Of EXHORTATION.
BRANCH 1. Possess yourselves with the thoughts of the day of judgment. Think of the solemnity and impartiality of this court. Feathers swim upon the water; gold sinks into it. Light, feathery spirits float in vanity—but serious Christians sink deep in the thoughts of judgment. If the ship is not well ballasted, it will soon overturn. The reason why so many are overturned with the vanities of the world is that they are not well ballasted with the thoughts of the day of judgment. Were a man to be tried for his life, he would think to himself of all the arguments he could to plead in his own defense. We are all shortly to be tried for our souls. While others are thinking how they may grow rich, let us think to ourselves how we may abide the day of Christ’s coming. The serious thoughts of judgment would be:

First, a curbing bit to sin. “Am I stealing the forbidden fruit—and the judgment so near!”

Second, a spur to holiness. 2 Peter 3:10-11, “But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and everything in them will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be burned up. Since everything around us is going to melt away, what holy, godly lives you should be living!”

BRANCH 2. Let us solemnly prepare ourselves for this last and great trial. That is, by setting up a judgment seat in our own souls, let us begin a private session before the assizes. It is wisdom to bring our souls first to trial. Lamentations 3:40, “Let us search and try our ways.” Let us judge ourselves according to the rule of the Word and let conscience bring in the verdict. The Word of God gives several characteristics of a man who shall be absolved at the day of judgment and is sure to go to heaven:

Characteristic 1. The first character is HUMILITY. Job 22:29, “The Lord shall save the humble person.” Now, let conscience bring in the verdict. Christian, are you humble? Not only humbled—but humble? Do you esteem others better than yourself? Philippians 2:3. Do you cover your duties with the veil of humility, as Moses put a veil on his face when it shone? If conscience brings in this verdict, you are sure to be acquitted at the last day.

Characteristic 2. LOVE to the saints. 1 John 3:14, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” Love makes us like God; it is the root of all the graces. Does conscience witness this for you? Are you perfumed with this sweet spice of love? Do you delight in those who have the image of God? Do you reverence their graces? Do you bear with their infirmities? Do you love to see Christ’s picture in a saint, though hung in ever so poor a frame? This is a good sign that you shall pass for currency at the day of judgment.

Characteristic 3. A PENITENTIAL frame of heart. Acts 11:18, “Repentance unto life.” Repentance unravels sin and makes it not to be. Jeremiah 50:20, “In those days the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none.” A great ball of snow is melted and washed away with the rain; great sins are washed away by holy tears. Now, can conscience bring in the evidence for you? Do you tune the penitential string? Ambrose asked, “You who have sinned with Peter—do you weep with Peter?” And do your tears drop from the eye of faith? This is a blessed sign that you are judgment-proof, and that when your iniquities shall be sought at the last day they shall not be found.

Characteristic 4. EQUITY in our dealings. “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy place?” Psalm 24:3-4. “He who has clean hands.” Injustice sullies and defiles the hand. What does conscience say? Is your hand clean? It is a vain thing to hold the Bible in one hand, and false weights in the other.

Beloved, if conscience, upon a Scripture trial, gives in the verdict for us, it is a blessed sign that we shall lift up our heads with boldness at the last day. Conscience is God’s echo in the soul. The voice of conscience is the voice of God, and if conscience, upon an impartial trial, acquits us, God will acquit us. 1 John 3:21, “If our heart condemns us not, then have we confidence toward God.” If we are absolved in the lower court of conscience, we are sure to be absolved at the last day in the high court of justice. It would be a sweet thing for a Christian thus to bring himself to a trial. Seneca tells us of a Roman who every day called himself to account, “What soul-infirmity is healed? How have you grown better?” Then he would lie down at night with these words, “Oh, how sweet and refreshing is my sleep to me!”

Use 4. Of CONSOLATION.

Here is a fountain of consolation opened to a believer, and that in three cases, 1. Discouraging fear; 2. Weakness of grace; and 3. Censures of the world.

Case 1. Here is comfort in case of discouraging fear. “Oh,” said a believer, “I fear my grace is not invincible armor. I fear the cause will go against me at the last day.” Indeed, so it would—if you were out of Christ. But, as in our law courts the client has his attorney or advocate to plead for him, so every believer, by virtue of the interest he has in Christ, has Christ to plead his cause for him. 1 John 2:1, “If any man sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” What if Satan is the accuser if Christ is the Advocate? Christ never lost any cause that He pleaded. Nay, His very pleading alters the nature of the cause. Christ will show the debt book crossed out—with His own blood. And it is no matter what is charged—if all is discharged. Here is a believer’s comfort—his Judge will be his Advocate!

Case 2. Here is comfort with regard to weakness of grace. A Christian, seeing his grace is so defective, is ready to be discouraged. But at the day of judgment, if Christ finds but a small coin of sincerity, it shall be accepted. If yours is true gold, though it may be light, Christ will put His merits into the scales and make it sufficient. He who has no sin of allowance shall have grains of allowance. I may allude to that verse in Amos 9:9, “Yet shall not the least grain fall to the earth.” He who has but a grain of grace—not the least grain shall fall to hell.

Case 3. It is comfort in case of censures and slanders. The saints go here through hurtful reports, “through evil report and a good report,” 2 Corinthians 6:8. John the Baptist’s head on a platter is a common dish nowadays. It is ordinary to bring in a saint beheaded of his good name. But at the day of judgment Christ will unload His people, of all their injuries. He will vindicate them from all their calumnies. Christ will be the saint’s character witness. He, at that day, will present His Church “without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault!” Ephesians 5:27.”

Francis Turretin—** “Proof that the church is often obscured: (1) from the condition of the Old Testament church.

VII. Our opinion is confirmed by various reasons. The first is drawn from the condition of the church under the Old Testament, under which it is evident that she was not rarely obscured and destitute of all splendor (which can easily be demonstrated by her various intervals).

Who can deny that she was without splendor before the flood, when all flesh had corrupted its way (Gen. 6:12), and in the flood when reduced to eight souls, she was included in the ark?

In the time of Abraham before his call from Ur of the Chaldees, she lay concealed in a paternal family given to idolatry (Jos. 24:1, 2).

What was the splendor of the church in Egypt, where she was so long a captive without any form either of a state or of a sacred ministry?

What was her splendor under the judges, when after the death of Joshua the Israelites, having left the God of their fathers, went after other gods (Jdg. 2:7; 3:8, 12), concerning which times Azariah says, “Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law” (2 Ch. 15:3)?

What appearance and splendor did the church have in the time of Elijah, when he thought that he was left alone to worship God (1 K. 19:10); God in the meantime consoling him with this—that he had preserved seven thousand believers known to himself alone who had not bowed the knee to Baal?

What splendor had the Jewish church under Ahaz, Manasseh, Ammon and other wicked kings, under whom the sacrifice was interrupted by law, the gates of the temple closed, an altar built after the form of those of Damascus by Uriah the high priest, and idolatry introduced everywhere (as we read in 2 K. 16:11, 12, 14; 2 Ch. 28:3, 4, 24, 25)?

And if we come down to the Babylonian captivity, where was the splendor of the church after the city had been razed, the temple polluted, the sacred vessels taken away, sacrifice abolished, the worship of God interrupted (which could not be performed except at Jerusalem), and the people brought into the most direful servitude? Hence the pious most mournfully lamented that the prophets and all the signs had been taken away (Ps. 74:9).

In fine, what appearance and prominence could the church have had under the most dreadful persecutions of Antiochus and his successors, mentioned in the book of Maccabees and by Josephus (JW 1.30–40 [Loeb, 2:16–23])? In that time, Paul says believers “were stoned … were slain with the sword … being destitute … tormented, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; in deserts, and in mountains and in caves of the earth” (Heb. 11:37, 38).

 

VIII. The objections of our opponents are fruitless:

(1) “That the synagogue and the church differ: the synagogue was to fail, but the church has the promise of firmness and stability, which the synagogue had not. That the synagogue was not the catholic church, as the Christian church is, and that outside of it were various believers as Melchizedek, Job, the centurion, Cornelius, etc.”

For although there is a multiple disparity between the church of the Old and New Testaments as to mode of dispensation, still there is none as to the thing itself. In both was the true church of God, having the same faith, the same hope, and which ought to agree in essentials. Therefore, if splendor is an essential property of the church, belonging to her always and everywhere, it ought to be found in the Old Testament no less than in the New.

Hence elsewhere by the Holy Spirit the old church is brought forward as a type of the Christian church (Rom. 11; 1 Cor. 10:1–11).

(2) The synagogue was indeed to cease after Christ, but it must continue according to the sacred oracles until his advent and so retain its splendor, if that is the lot of the true church (which it did not do, the preceding examples demonstrate clearer than the meridian light).

(3) The Jewish church was not catholic in that sense in which the Christian (diffused through the whole world) is; but yet it can be rightly so called because it contained within its embrace the complete number of called believers and outside of it there was no other visible assembly of believers (Ps. 147:20). Nowhere else was there a temple, a priesthood and the public exercise of divine worship. And if any were converted to God from the Gentiles, they were members of that church, if not in place and external fellowship (as was the case with proselytes), still in the desire of the heart and internal communion.

As to Job and Melchizedek, as it is evident that they lived before the establishment of the Israelite church, they do not belong here.

1. The reply to the example of Elijah, “that he does not speak of the Jewish church, in which Kings Asa and Jehoshaphat reigned in his time, but of the Israelite church, which was subject to the king of Samaria.”

But (1) whatever may be true of the Jewish church, it is certain that from this example it appears that in Israel (i.e., among those Jews who lived under the rule of Ahab and Jezebel), there were seven thousand men who constituted the true church, but so invisible and latent that not even Elijah knew her.

Thus the true church is not always illustrious and conspicuous, but can lie concealed and be preserved there where we least suppose, so that not only few recognize her, but not even the pious themselves.

On this account, Elijah complains that he alone is left, not indeed as a prophet (as some hold), but as a true worshipper of God, as is clear from the answer of God: “There are left to me seven thousand men” (not prophets, but believers) “who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

(2) Paul extends this passage to the whole of Israel in general (Rom. 11:3) when he calls himself (who was of the tribe of Benjamin and thus of the Jewish church) an Israelite (v. 1) and from these words paints the condition of the whole church to prove that as in the time of Elijah there seemed to be no church left among the Jews (when he complained that he alone was left), but still there were then many thousands of true believers whom God had preserved for himself, so not even now had the whole Jewish church failed. Although the greatest part had fallen away, there always remained a remnant according to the election of grace.

(3) Reasons are not wanting from which to gather that he treats of the whole Jewish church because he speaks of overthrown altars, which were lawful nowhere except in Jerusalem; because he betakes himself to the desert, not to Judea, whither he might otherwise have gone and found the pious worshippers of God; because he is affected with so great sadness as to long for death instead of his sorrows (which sufficiently prove the corruption of the whole church).

Hence in a description of the state of the church in those times, “The Kingdom of Judah,” it is said, “kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel” (2 K. 17:19).

1. It is evident from other passages that this happened not once only, but frequently, where the most corrupt state of the Jewish church is described:

As under Rehoboam, the first king of Judah after the division of the kingdom, “Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree” (1 K. 14:22, 23).

The same thing is said to have been done under various other succeeding kings and especially in the time of Manasseh, of whom the historian thus speaks:

“He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. For he built up again the high places which … his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.… And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the courts of the house of the Lord. And he made his son pass through the fire … and he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger” (2 K. 21:2–6).

And that no one might suppose this to be confined to the one king, while the people were free from his crimes, it is added, “Manasseh seduced the Israelites to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel” (2 K. 21:9).

Here belong the various complaints of the prophets, who speak of the most corrupt state of the church in their times: Is. 1:2–5, 21, 22, 29; 5:4; Jer. 2:8, 11, 13, 26, 27; 6:13; 7:28; Ezk. 7:26; 22:26, 28, 30; Hos. 4:1, 6, 9, 12; Mic. 7:1.

For although afterwards it cannot be gathered that there were no pious worshippers of God anymore, still it is well inferred that there were very few, who lay hidden in obscurity and did not constitute any visible and noticeable assembly, the public ministry and the whole body of the visible church being foully corrupted.”

Lessons from Haggai.

• I. Though the Church be greatly reduced and despised in the eyes of the world, yet the duty of the saints remains the same: repent and rebuild.
  Haggai 2:3—“Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory and how do ye see it now is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing.”
  Zechariah 4:10—“For who hath despised the day of small things?”
  Francis Turretin— **

• Christians are commanded and exhorted by the LORD Himself to be strong in the work which He has prepared for them. Hag. 2:4, Eph. 2:10
  a. The matter of the command. “Be strong.”
  b. The subjects of the command, governor, priest and people.
  c. The author of the command. “Saith the LORD”
  d. The encouragement annexed. “For I am with you.”
  e. The further enforcement. “The LORD of Hosts.”

• All of God’s dealings with man are by way of covenant.
  Hag. 2:5—“According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you fear ye not.”
  Gen. 2:17— “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
  Ex. 19:4-6— “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.”
  
  WCF Ch. 7— “CHAPTER 7 Of God’s Covenant with Man.
  1. The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of him as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension on God’s part, which he hath been pleased to express by way of covenant.
  2. The first covenant made with man was a covenant of works, wherein life was promised to Adam; and in him to his posterity, upon condition of perfect and personal obedience.
  3. Man, by his fall, having made himself incapable of life by that covenant, the Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the covenant of grace; wherein he freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ; requiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved, and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life his Holy Spirit, to make them willing, and able to believe.
  4. This covenant of grace is frequently set forth in Scripture by the name of a testament, in reference to the death of Jesus Christ the Testator, and to the everlasting inheritance, with all things belonging to it, therein bequeathed.
  5. This covenant was differently administered in the time of the law, and in the time of the gospel: under the law, it was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews, all foresignifying Christ to come; which were, for that time, sufficient and efficacious, through the operation of the Spirit, to instruct and build up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah, by whom they had full remission of sins, and eternal salvation; and is called the old testament.
  6. Under the gospel, when Christ, the substance, was exhibited, the ordinances in which this covenant is dispensed are the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper: which, though fewer in number, and administered with more simplicity, and less outward glory, yet, in them, it is held forth in more fullness, evidence and spiritual efficacy, to all nations, both Jews and Gentiles; and is called the new testament. There are not therefore two covenants of grace, differing in substance, but one and the same, under various dispensations.

• Man by his sin is defiled and defiles all he touches, but cannot make clean.
  Hag. 2:10-14— “In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in 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 garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy And the priests 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 priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. 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 there is unclean.”
  Jer. 13:27— “I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be?”
  Prov. 20:9— “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin”
  1 John 1:7,9— “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin…If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
  Rev. 19:8-9— “And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”
  Westminster Assembly— “The ground needs no other midwifery in bringing forth weeds than only the neglect of the husbandman’s hand to pluck them up; the air needs no other cause of darkness than the absence of the sun; nor water of coldness than its distance from the fire; because these are the genuine products of nature. Were it so with the soul, (as some of the philosophers have vainly imagined,) to come into the world as an abrasa tabula, a mere blank or piece of white paper, on which neither any thing is written, nor any blots, it would then be equally receptive of good and evil, and no more averse to the one than to the other: but how much worse its condition indeed is, were scripture silent, every man’s experience does evidently manifest. For who is there that knows any thing of his own heart, and knows not thus much, that the suggestions of Satan have so easy and free admittance into our hearts, that our utmost watchfulness is too little to guard us from them? whereas the motions of God’s Spirit are so unacceptable to us, that our utmost diligence is too little to get our hearts open to entertain them. Let therefore the excellency, necessity, difficulty of true wisdom stir up endeavours in you somewhat proportionable to such an accomplishment; Above all getting, get under. standing, Prov. iv. 7; and search for wisdom as for hidden treasures, Prov. ii. 4.”

• The Lord curses the labour of the people when His worship is neglected; but having restored them to obedience, He promises renewed blessing.  Hag. 2:15-19— “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 Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty. I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands yet ye turned not to me, saith the LORD. Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD’S temple was laid, consider it. Is the seed yet in the barn yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth from this day will I bless you.”
  Mal. 2:2— “If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you and I will curse your blessings yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.”

• The Lord will shake the heavens and the earth on the great and terrible Day of the Lord; therefore it is time to awake, repent, seek God, hunger after holiness, and build the temple of God. 
  Hag. 2:6-7, 20-22— “For 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 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts…And again the word of the LORD came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying, Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and 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, every one by the sword of his brother.”
  2 Pet. 3:10-14— “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot, and blameless.”
  Amos 5—

• In that great Day of judgment, when the Lord shakes heaven and earth and overthrows the kingdoms of men, He will not leave His elect to wrath, but will own, shield, and save them in His chosen Servant, the Lord Jesus Christ. As Zerubbabel was made a signet because chosen of God, so Christ, the true Son of David, is the seal, righteousness, and refuge of His people; and all who are found in Him shall be hidden from wrath and saved by the righteousness of God.
  Hag. 2:23— “In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts.”
  Mal 3:17-18— “And they shall be to me, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day that I shall do this, for a special possession, and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.”
  Rom. 5:9— “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”

 

Conclusion.

Closing Prayer. 

Youtube Audio: https://youtu.be/q6sXMvlKCQk