In this sermon, the preacher discusses a message that was preached on the first day of the sixth month in the second year of God yesterday. The message resulted in the people obeying the voice of the Lord and fearing Him. The preacher emphasizes the importance of allowing God to speak to us before we can hear Him. He also mentions a second message that was delivered on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, where the Lord questions the people about their actions and reminds them that He is with them. The sermon encourages the listeners to seek inspiration from the Lord and highlights the power of His message.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. The book of the Prophets, Haggai, we've got the second chapter, and we're going through the first nine verses tonight, from verse one to the end of verse nine. And if you count the headings that I've prepared for you on your notes, you'll find that we have ten headings out of nine verses. And ten headings out of nine verses is not missing very much in the nine verses, is it? When you get ten headings out of nine verses, then the exposition must be touching everything. And we have a very wonderful course in the season. Now, we want to look first of all at the proclamations of the Prophets. And by this I simply mean the dates, the day, the hour, the month, the year when the Prophets actually brought the message to this woman who had come out of the captivity in Babylon and back to Jerusalem. Now, I want you to notice this, because this is very important. Let's have a look at the first chapter and the first verse. And notice the year and the month and the day. This book begins, Now, you'll notice when we first started preaching, I want you to notice that. It's in the second year of Darius. And they're measuring the year by Babylonist time, I remember saying that to you. But it's in the sixth month, and they're measuring the month by the Hebrew calendar. And it was on the first day of the sixth month. I want you to get that into your mind. It's the first day, the very first day of the sixth month, when this Prophet says that he is to the remnant returned from Babylon. And he brought his first message. You remember the dreadful things he said. You remember he began by making the people listen to themselves. He said, this people say. And he made them listen to what they had been said. And then he not only made them listen to themselves, but he made them look at themselves. Remember that great word he brought, consider your way. And he made them look at themselves. And then you remember how he made them learn from themselves. He said, you know, you've done a whole lot of things. Ah, but God blew upon it. He's a lot of this. He made them listen to themselves. Made them look at themselves. Made them learn from themselves. Made them lose themselves. He really talked to the people. But we've gone into all that, and we don't need to look at it again. Now that was on the first day of the sixth month. When they came and preached that revival message to this remnant that had come back to Jerusalem from Babylon. And then you remember what happened, verse 12 of the first chapter. Then the national leader and the religious leader and all the remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God. There came an obedience into the remnant. And the last part of verse 12 of the first chapter says, and the people did fear before the Lord. That was the result, you see, of that first message that was preached on the first day of the second year of the reign of David. Now when this result came to pass, verse 13 says, Then spake Haggai, the Lord's messenger, in the Lord's message unto the people, saying, I am with you. That's four words this time. I am with you, saith the Lord. And through this message the Lord spake up the spirit of Jerusalem. And the son of Zealot, and the governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Joseph. And the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and did work in the house of the Lord the host. And that message was preached on the fourth and twentieth day, the sixth month, in the second year of David's regime. I ask you to get the hold of that, because the first message was preached on the first day, and the second message was preached on the twenty-fourth day. Taking that day out and that day out, there are twenty-two days in between. Or is the problem? I don't know, but you listen here, you know. Our community set themselves up with God. Our community waited until it was saturated with the message of God. And remember, he was a longer time only with God than he was before the people. And if you want to be a messenger of God, you'll need to know what it means, getting alone with God. This is the trouble of our country. We've got far too many people who live in the presence of the devilry, when they ought to be living in the presence of God. You people listen, and I talk to you in the language of Jesus. You spend more time with the people than with your God. I wonder how long you're going to keep this place. I wonder how long you're going to shut up. No, I want you to go around drinking tea now. Well, I'm not doing it. As you see, I need to be alone with God. And you young teachers, let's get the hold of this. If you want to make an impact on the people, you'll have to get alone with God. You have to know what being shut in means. Because I can assure you of this, if the people see less and less and less, when you come to church, they'll see more and more and more of your God. Twenty-three days in between, and you're out there waiting for all that time. Hear me brought forward. I am with you, saith the Lord. You're looking at a forward drop from the presence of the Lord, and the power of the Lord to the people of the Lord. My, what a wonderful thing is lost. You know, it's not the lens of time we teach. The Lord's teaching is through us, and he brought them upon us from the Lord, of the presence of the Lord, for the people of the Lord, I am with you. And you'll notice that, that, uh, a twenty-four days in between that we met. And then our chapter begins, this evening, by giving us another date. In the seventh month, you'll notice that the last two messages were each finished. One on the first day, and one on the twenty-fourth day, and now we're into the next month. In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, twenty-first day of the next month, from the twenty-fourth day of the last month. Give him a bit of a fix, you know, about the number of days in the month. It is repeated a prophetic month, three hundred and sixty days in a prophetic month. Three hundred and sixty days to each month. Twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, leaves six. Twenty-one of the next month, makes it twenty-seven. There are somewhere about twenty-five days in between, that is alone with God. Oh, I tell you, we can learn here. There's a lesson to learn here, if you take the time to stand with God. That'll teach you something. And the fun is to teach. Fun to all the young fellows that drive into the open air. Just gather a few heavens together, so that you can get into a place of the most power. You need to hide yourself. You need to let God talk, before he can talk to you. Oh, there's a lesson here, and I can't take any more time. But you can see it for yourself. It's worth looking at, the proclamation. Secondly, this evening, the interrogations, that he put to the people in this new message, in this seventh month, in the twenty-first day of the month. Let's read it, as we come to it. In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, in the word of the Lord, by the prophet Abraham, I say, speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josaphat, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, say, three questions to you. First one, who is left among you, that saw this house, in her first glory, she is asking this question, and because she's addressing those elder brethren, she's addressing some of the priests of the remnant. She's addressing some of the elderly priests, believers, we shall say. You see, we just want them to find out that if there is any remnant at that moment, any who saw the glory of the temple which Solomon built, and there were many, remember, there were many. You know, they have been lifted under the judgment of God, and they've been taken down to Dublin, and they have been there for 70 years. Remember, Daniel lived right through the 70 years. Some of the scholars believe that Daniel was 16 years of age when he was taken to Babel. That means when we come to the end of the book of Daniel, that old Daniel is about 86 years of age. And at 86 years of age, you find him praying on his knees for 21 days. You old folk, you love it, speaking for God. And I've learned a long time ago to speak with care to my elders. But there's a job for you to do, and that is pray, and pray, and pray, and pray, and your last day can be your best day. Every time. You don't need to live in the past all day, you know. Look for God before your last day. You see, there were some of these elderly ones, and if they had been taken down to Dublin at 20 years of age, and they were there for, they're over 90 now, infested at this moment, they're back in the land over 10 years, and so there are some scattered through the ages. Taking them out, you know, the Lord wanted them to be there. This King has the will of the Lord. Speak, said the Lord, speak now in peace to me today, and say, who is lost among you that you have first brought it? And then the second question is, and how do you see it now, not in your eyes, in comparison of it, as nothing? You know, he's not wanting to know the New Testament, and then the Hebrew Testament, but not to get answers, not to get the answers, but it's to make the question from whom the question left out of the question. You know, when God came into the garden of Israel, he didn't believe that God didn't know where he was, because God wanted to move you. So, Francis said, you see, the question was asked under this table figure, saying that I don't know where he is! You're away from your God, you're hiding! And the Lord Jesus cries in this hundredth hour, My God! Don't tell me he doesn't know the answer. It's just to make the world know! Then he was buried by a Christian hermit. You see, the point is this, the elders of the residue, the priests, and some of the revives, the kids among the people, you know, they were criticizing the work. And sometimes that's all that the older saints seem to be able to do in the last days. It's criticizing. That's all. The lesson to learn here, always at the youngest, of course, you know. How do you know that? You just do your own business. We always get this thing, when older saints come to the end of the day and lose something of the grace of God in their lives, they're very hard to put up with. Let me assure you. He is alone with the God, faithful to God. And this is exactly what happened. Significantly, shall I tell you this, if you go over to the book of Ezra, you remember me taking you through this, and showing you something new. And just let's get the hold of one or two things again. You remember that this book did indeed weigh down in terms, weigh down in bubbles, weigh down at the end of the 70 years that Jeremiah had prophesied about. And here's how the first verse is. Now, in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, the word, that the word of the Lord by the prophet Moses of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord spake up the spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all the kingdom and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus, King of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me to build him a house of Jerusalem, which is in Judah. He is there among you of all his people, his God, he with him. Let him go up to Jerusalem. And you know, in the second chapter you'll find just exactly how many went up. At verse 64, it gives the names and then it gives the number. At verse 64 it says, The whole congregation together was 42,360 people left Babylon and went back to Palestine to build the house of the Lord. Now, it's not until you're in the middle of the third chapter that they leave the foundation of the house of the Lord. But it is very wonderful, it says in verse 10, And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they kept the priests in there appiled with trumpets, and the Levites, the son of Ark, with spindles, to praise the Lord after the ordinance of David, King of Israel. And they stand together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord because he is good for his mercy endures forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid vast, vast, vast. But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers who were ancient men that had seen when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes what the Lord was. Many shouted, many of the younger ones shouted aloud for God so that the people could not possess such a joy from the noise of the shouting of the weeping of the people. So there were a great number of older ones here. And you know there are murmuring in the Levites and they are looking up this new foundation being old. You know as I can see it from the chapter tonight it seems that they looked up and it was as nothing in their eyes. They despised they said. Seemed to criticise and say well God will never put His glory in it. Where will you get the gold and the silver to adorn it? And so discouragement came from the hate of the people of God. And sometimes it does yes. Some of you older brethren never let this be on your head until you die. Now don't you ever discourage the Lamb of God. Don't you ever discourage one of the lambs and you take an arm around him and say God bless this lamb. And if you think there is more of you and there are far too many older brethren and sisters who seem to do nothing at the end of their days but criticise the young ones. May we stop it for the Lord's sake. What is it talking to the older people here? That may be it. After talking in these interrogations to them she said this. Now we'll read these interrogations over again. They say who is left among you that saw this house in a such light and how do you see it with not in your eyes and then he seems to take a breath and stand up, crawl his shoulders and say get now this tongue O Salubhubi said the Lord this tongue O Dr. Osama Dostoevsky the high priest this tongue O I'm looked for I am mystery said the Lord himself. You know this is the excitation of the day. The great word. You know one of the messages of this book is this how the Lord's people get settled. There are many sources you know but really to know you know the Lord's people I always try by faith that the Lord is at my end. It's a great force. It's a favour I came to this platform to give 27 years ago and the Lord is at hand. And I pointed out to the folks that's coming along that I believe the Lord is coming. The phrase the Lord is at hand is nothing to do with the Lord's coming. It just means there's a little quicker translation and it's a beautiful one. The Lord is at my elbow, at my right hand. And the point is you know if you can live in the enchantment of the presence of the Lord you're much stronger. When the storm blows you can see the cause of the wilderness leading you and you're blessed. So my friend you get the presence of the Lord. Then you know we want our people here to admonish the saints of Ossetia. He got down on his knees and prayed that the Lord would grant them to be conquerors in the inner man. You know you get strength through the presence of the Lord and you get strength by the Spirit of the Lord. Don't you agree? And then we went through for all life by the Spirit given strength at different points. Now by the Spirit given calm in the middle of two storms. The Lord and in the other one the lamp for the storm. Now the spirit strengthened him until he was completely and then he was in the prison. You know he had a time in the night and when he was stoned he got up from that dreadful position walked back and started teaching the gospel again. Some of us would say he went to a social camp for about six weeks. No! He had tenants for the battle. This is all produced by the Spirit of God. By the Spirit in the inner man. And then let's get the hold of this a little bit. You know we can help one another. You know Jonathan, remember me, he went away out once into the wilderness, into the woods, into the darkness where the shadows were falling, and he strengthened David's hand in God. You know Ken, I've watched this through life. You're walking down the street and you meet John or James or Andrew or Mary or Agnes or whoever it may be. And you are thrown down. I was ever thrown down and I was almost dead then. Because you never meet them, but let me tell you, I feel like taking the sword off. If it was their tongue, it would be better. You know, they never seem to realize the harm they do to some spiritual teacher. And then on the other hand, you know, they're walking down the street and they think they can do good. But then it comes into their nose, you know, and they say, you know, all of a sudden, don't you want to be a blessing? You know, you're strengthened by this town, you're strengthened by the presence of the Lord, and we're strengthened by the power of the people of the Lord, if they were living in the right place. And do you remember Paul, after going around and one of his missionaries, he started all over again and said, strengthen me as the disciples in the Lord. You know, you can be strengthened by the teaching. It's what I'm trying to do now. So that you can get strength from the presence of the Lord. You can get strength from the power of the Lord. You can get strength from the people of the Lord. You can get strength from the teaching of the Lord. This town. Go in for these forces of strength. God will bless you. And do you know what this other British activist teaches? He says, according to the words of thy covenant with thee when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit remain with thee, fear thee not. You know, he wants them to be strong in spirit, and he wants them to be calm in mind. And you know, sir, if we can only be strong in the sense of the Lord, and have no fear of tomorrow, and no fear of the crippling, and no fear of the enemy, you know, you'll be really blessed. And so the expectation brings the consolation. Now, I want you to watch this 6th verse, because it's very important. To me, it's the tribulation just in the picture. For God sent the Lord of hosts, and the 4th verse, remember, connects it with the message that we've just had, and we'll connect it in a moment. For God sent the Lord of hosts, yet one verse, it is a little while. Once, just in a little while, it means, I will keep the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land, and I will keep all nations. And what a word, you see. The shaking is going to go on. You know, sir, some people try to say that this took place just a few years after this. I don't think so. I don't think God took all the nations at that time, and I'm positively sure he didn't take the heavens at that time, and I'm positively sure he didn't take the earth, and I'm positively sure he didn't take the dry land. What's the difference between the earth and the dry land? Well, the earth just means we inhabited with earth, and the dry land just means the desert. But you know, there's a time coming when God wants this remnant to see him. You know, I'm big enough. Can you not trust me? There's a day coming when I'll keep the heavens, when I'll keep the earth, when I'll keep the sea, when I'll keep all the desert, when I'll keep all the nations. Come on, you know. Hasn't come yet. This is the pit of the great tribulation. And the day that will be. So at the moment we're back. Let's go to the book of Revelation just for the moment. Almost frightening to launch out in this, because you might be here to the morning. However, in any case, it's a good night anyway, isn't it? You're not in a hurry, you're on straight for half a year. Now, this book of the Revelation in this sixth chapter, it's the Lamb opening the seals that he received out of the hand of God. And you know, as he opens each seal, something takes place. And it's very important to watch them all. We haven't time for them all. But I want you to watch the sixth seal being opened, verse 12. We're at Revelation chapter 6 and verse 12. And I beheld, says John, when he, the Lord Jesus, had opened the sixth seal, and lo there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as a step-cloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell onto the earth. Now you younger students of the word, you want to mark the word sun there. And you want to mark the word moon there. And you want to mark the word stars there. Sun, moon, and stars. Because this is the sign of the tribulation. And whenever you get the tribulation mentioned in its totality in Scripture, you'll all take it out. It's always the same sign. Now, watch. It says, verse 14, And the heavens departed as a scroll when it was rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. You know, many years ago, when they were frightened about the literality of this, they didn't think they could move mountains. Trouble about thinking like this. They could move mountains to Mount Sinai, and they could move islands too. And I preached at Queens once. One of the professors who was given lectures in atomic energy told me this. He said, we can send a plane over Ireland, drop a bomb on it, and they'll never see the island again. They can put it off the map. A few things have changed. They go arguing about the tiny little things. But man can blot it out tonight. Every day it will be when these things begin to take shape. You have changed. That's the thing. Watch it. I'm the kings of the earth. There's a mass of kings. It's the kings of the earth. The kings of the earth. I'm the great men. There are a lot of great men, so we'll think there are anyway. I'm the rich men. Yes, there'll be there too. I'm the chief captain. All the field masters with all the medals. I'm the mighty men. And every man said themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, and hideth from the face of him that sittheth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come. See that word, it's there. As soon as I'm looking at it and reading it, every thing will be fulfilled to the last day. There's a day in this world's history, not very far distance, when the kings of the earth. John McNeely said this. He said man, John McNeely, who was a Chestershire minister, he said when the king was there and all the judges were there and all the ladies were there, he took from the chest men of the rocks. And they said kings and just judged them. I wish we had a lot of Chester kings like this man. These were men. These were real men. Do you hear this? The day coming sir, in this world which shifts from term to term, you know they have enough atomic energy on the shelves in Russia, and on the shelves in the United States, and on the shelves in the Polaris submarines, that could shake the very heavens tonight, and all the sea and all the earth, and all the deserts, and all the nations. And he's just given them a little picture that day which says, I'm with you. The purple boy that holds my hand. Lord is blessed. Lord is blessed. And you can take a new dress, can't you? The school is back on. Lord is blessed. The one little stick of the earth. The one little stick of sea, of the heavens. The one little stick of all the nations. Until every knee bends. And I'm big enough for this idea. And let's get back to it, because the most important bit is here. And that's just the stimulation in the feet of these young people, who are starting to do the work of the Lord. And we're having certain churches, and he's trying to encourage them now. He says, be strong on this year. Don't be afraid. I'm big enough. And then he says this in the middle of verse 7. And at the end of this tribulation period, the desire of all nations shall come. You know, that's a wonderful title of our wonderful Lord. I had the great joy of examining the manuscript not so very long ago, and it's been titled The Wonderful Titles of Our Wonderful Lord. And do you know, friends, there were titles given to our Lord Jesus when he came the first time. He was born king of the Jews. King of the Jews. Just on the Baptist said, behold, the Lamb of God. It's his title. He was known as Jesus of Nazareth. He was known as the Carpenter's Son. You know, there are so many titles, you want to watch them. They belong to his title. And then there are quite a number of titles that belong to him today. Today, in the glory, in the defeat. He's the head of the church. He's the advocate with the father of the family business. He is an advocate of the church. You see, sometimes little chips can easily merge, and sometimes we disobey our heavenly Father. He's the head of the church. He's the advocate of the family. He's the high principle of every believer. And there'll be titles that belong to him when he'll come again to the earth. To Mexico. He's coming as the righteous judge. Henceforth he'll live up to me a kind of righteousness which the righteous judge shall give to me at that day and not to me only, but to all them that love is appearing there. Oh, isn't he a righteous judge here? These things happen among saints down here. Yes. You know, he's coming as the Lord's judge. Henceforth a better life for the Lord himself. Then there are titles that are his at his first coming. There are titles that are his today. There are titles that are his when he comes to the earth. And, of course, there are titles that were always his. He was always the Word. He was always the Son. Capital S. It can be more than for you to count. Ah, but there'll be titles that belong to him when he'll come away on down to the earth to take the kingdom over. And in that day he'll take the throne. And he'll take the throne of his father, David, sir. Now, this is one of them. He'll be called then the King. You know, you can't have the application. There is no application. You know, but he is the King. But, you know, in this old world, we've gone through the tribulations when God is setting it from storm to storm. When God has come down in Christ to divide the nations. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... No, they just looked down their nose at you, and they made your cinders so small, and you had to sit alone in a seat, and they wouldn't look at you. Ah, but God was laying foundations, was he? Was he ever despised? Was the foolish pride of the lords and princes? Was he ever despised? No, sir. But God just looked around at these old fellows and said, I'll build a house with my glory. They weren't talking about that. I'll do it. No, this is God's enemies. This is God's purpose. Then he shouts out loud in verse 8, The silver is mine, and the gold is mine. I've seen these pictures, you know, they say, you know, this house is so small, it's so miserable, where will we get the gold, where will we get the silver? We've got to go. I always believed, I always believed it. If God's going to do a work, and he's going to do a work for the glory of his name, don't let the country, God will supply it. God will supply it. God has all the gold, and all the silver, and all the work, it's the right for him. I am the copper on a thousand holes into a box. You know, we don't know how big a God we have. You see, God's purpose, you see, long will to live on. And God's power, you see, the silver is mine, the gold is mine. He's just implementing his power. And then God's God's promise, you see, the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former. That's God's promise. And in this place will I just keep it. You think the plantation will just keep it? Don't let's miss this, sir. If God has begun to fill your heart, if there's a filling in your soul, if you feel God's taking me out, if he's giving you something to do, if he's beginning to work with your life, if he's getting you out into the harvest field, no matter who criticizes, no matter who looks sideways, no matter who despises, look at your God. He's big enough. He can keep the heavens. And he can use you for his glory and fill your heart and life with peace. You know, I can remember the days standing as a wee fellow at the back of the rain. I wasn't, and I just had to stand there. If I had to stand there, I should have done that to old James McKendrick and I should have sent him to you. He's arm around me, you know. Glory is an old man with a beard. He wasn't a kitten. He pleased me nicely. He said, tell me this, Willie. Could God use you? He said, that's all I want to say. He said, tell me the answer to this, sir. Would God use you? I was beginning to see my God. It was a God. I'm only beginning to know him now. And the people got to know their God. How did it start? Do you understand what God's talking to you? Could God use you? Could God use you? Give him a chance. Let him take your hand. Let him take your feet. Let him take your ears. Let him take your lips. Give him everything you need. And you'll see the glory of your God. Let's just disperse for a moment. Our gracious, loving Heavenly Father, we feel that in these last few few days thou hast spoken to our hearts. Thou hast made us listen to our own language. And thou hast made us look at our way. And thou hast made us learn, how often we have left the earth and all that we've gone in for. Thou hast blown upon us because we were not working enough. Lord, thou hast cleared our hearts and thou hast drawn come upon us into a closer walk with thee and we're beginning to realize thy presence and we know something now of thy power and we know something of thy purpose. Lord, you can take any one of us and there are no limitations after that. All God speaks to some of these young lives here and Lord, though they feel weak and miserable and foolish in themselves and all God in comparison to some of the older warriors in the faith, they feel as nothing. Lord, take them and take their eyes on God. Thou art big enough O God, as you take them, you can fill them with the fullness until the very glory of God and all God all the time will give them to turn their eyes upon thee to gaze into thy lovely face and to get alone with thee and shut ourselves in with thee and talk to thee and be filled with thee and be out and out for thee and O God, in these last dark frozen days glory to thy name we ask thee make us safe for the master will rise to you and wish our blessings.