In this sermon, the preacher discusses the challenges faced by the people of Judah and Benjamin as they built the temple of the Lord. He emphasizes that when God calls us to do His work, there will always be adversaries trying to stop us. The preacher encourages the audience to rely on the word of God, the grace of Christ, and the will of God to overcome these obstacles. He also highlights the importance of considering our ways and aligning them with God's plan. The sermon emphasizes the need for judgment and accountability in our lives and concludes with a call to action to build the house of God.

Tonight, we're in the book of Haggai, and not the first chapter. The book of the prophet Haggai. It's the third one from the end of the Old Testament. You get Malachi, the last one, and Zechariah, the one before that, and Haggai is the one before Zechariah. And we're going to call these studies, as you can see, helps from Haggai, the heralds. And I think you will find out that here, in this little book of the prophet Haggai, we have the most powerful and pointed and paralyzing teaching in the Old Testament. Shall I really talk to the people of God? I think we need to get the setting right before we commence. I think you know that there are a number of books of the prophets, and they're called the minor prophets. Not because they're less inspired or anything like that. Just because they're the short prophetic books of the Old Testament. And the minor prophets begin with the zeal. Zeal, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. These are known as the minor prophets. And then there are prophetic books in the Old Testament that are usually called major prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. Now, these are tremendous books. We've gone through the book of Daniel, and maybe one day, if the Lord will, we shall go through the book of Isaiah. Now, I want you to get the hold of this. You divide the books of the prophets into major prophets, minor prophets. And you have sixteen books. You've got four in the major, you've got twelve in the minor. But then you put them all together again, and you do this little. You divide them into two again. And that a tremendous lot of these prophets were prophets that prophesied for the nation of Israel before they were carried into exile. And they're called pre-exilic prophets, under quite a number of them. Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Of course, Daniel was the prophet of the Gentiles, even in Babylon. And then you have Hosea, and Joel, and Amos, and Obadiah, and Jonah, and Micah, and Nahum, and Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. Now, you get all those. You've got fifteen there. And you're left with three now. And you're left with Haggai, Zechariah, Molotov. Now, these three stand in together in a little bunch, because they're the prophets that prophesied to the people of God after they came out of exile. You see, they're called post-exilic prophets. So that you can see where we are this evening, we're starting with one of the post-exilic prophets. You see, God fit to Israel by the pre-exilic prophets. And you know, he warned them that if they would get away from him, and if they would follow afar off, and if they would become lukewarm in spirit, and if they would turn to idols like the heathen nations, then he would most surely come and deal with them. And he would most surely remove them out of their land. And he would take them to Babylon, and he would shut them up in captivity for seventy years. And all these pre-exilic prophets brought this message. I know that the main part of the ministry of all the prophets was, to him, give all the prophets witness. You can go through all the books of the prophets, and find where each one speaks of Jesus. You know about Isaiah, he was wounded for our transgressions. You know about Micah, thou deathly enemy brother, out of thee shall he come forth who is to be governor of my people. And you can get a praise from each prophet referring to our Lord Jesus. But they not only speak of Christ, they speak to the people of the Lord. And they warned us, and they thoroughly warned us, and they thoroughly warned us, that if they would get away from God, then God would deal with them. And you know, these books are valuable to this day, because the things that are written before time are written for our learning. So the Holy Ghost takes up these warnings of the prophets to the people of the Lord, and the Holy Ghost applies these warnings to our hearts in this day and hour in which we're living. And they warned you, that if we continue in all this wrongness, well, the Lord Jesus is saying the same thing, isn't he? In the church of Laodicea, or to the church of Laodicea. He says, because God made us, called us, but before I wrote to these, other than us. And you know, we'd better pay attention to all the warnings, because if we, the people of God, think that we can fool around with our thoughts, and we can do what we like with His words, and we can turn and be like the nations, and give ourselves back to idols, then God will curse us. Take the warning, because He that hears the sound of the trumpet and taketh not warning, is spoken to the people of God, you know. And the Holy Ghost will apply these warnings to us. Let me take you back to one verse, just for a moment. And it's in 2 Chronicles, and it's the last chapter. The second book of Chronicles, and it's chapter 36. And this is just before Israel was carried away, captured into Babylon, to be shut up for seventy years in the land of idols. And God's speaking here, and saying in verse 14, 2 Chronicles 36, verse 14, Moreover, all the chief of the beasts and the people transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen, and polluted the house of the Lord, which He had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, and defied His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against His people, till there was no remedy. None at all. There was nothing else, humanly speaking, that God could do but lift them, and put them down to the land of idols, and shut them up in captivity. And they were well warned of what would happen. We need to take warnings. You know, some of us, we may be walking afar off, we haven't given in to this yet. Maybe if we were to set our hearts earnestly before the Lord, friends, maybe we'll just look warm. If we were to set our hearts, you know, we're getting more and more and more like the world every day. Maybe we would want to be like the apostate captives around us. We'll just take heed, just take heed. God will deal with you. And God will deal with you in a severe way. You want to take warnings. And so He warned His people, and He came and lifted them, took them down to Babylon, Babylon shut them up for 70 years. And you know the tragedy of those 70 years is this, that some of them died in Babylon. They never got out of it, you know. And the tragedy is this again, that some of their children were born in Babylon. You know, if you get away from God, and God helps to deal with you, your children will back off. Don't forget this. It's all faith. You just get away from God, you just go on with your new bornness, you just get like the world. And your children will suffer. You just take your time, sit up on the table tonight and listen for a minute or two. This is the sort of ministry we need. Friends, we need to take care, don't we? And let God in His mercy, brought some of them back out of Babylon. Brought them back into the land again, restored them again. And then these prophets arose to see to it. So you can see where we are, don't you? These people have been in captivity down by the waters of Babylon, and God in His mercy has restored them somewhat. And now a prophet arises again after the captivity, to speak to the people of God who have been brought back to the land. And I can tell you he knew how to talk to them. Now that's the foundation of where we are. Let's commence properly now. We're at Hegoi, and we're in the first chapter, and we're at the first verse. And we're thinking just now about the period when the prophet preached, just the period, we want to get that settled. And this little book of the prophet Hegoi begins with this phrase, In the second year of Darius the king. Now it's very difficult to just say exactly what Darius was and is. All the great historians, and they've gone into things, they have trouble with this. But it doesn't matter so much to a class like this. It doesn't worry us that there was Darius there somewhere. You see, why there is trouble is this. Because most of the Persian kings, this was the king of Medo-Persia, most of the Persian kings were called Darius. They have quite a line of them. Just like all the Roman emperors were called Caesar. Caesar Augustus, Julius Caesar, they've got quite a lot. Just like all the pharaohs of Egypt. And when you get a line of pharaohs, and a line of Caesars, and a line of Darius, it's very difficult to just say who's who and what was. So you don't need to worry too much, we'll tidy it up for you. But just the way it's phrased here is giving us the date of when the prophet began to speak, and that's the most important thing to us. You see, he's dating the beginning of his ministry from the second year of Darius the king. You see, when it's put like that, Darius the king, you can see that he's got to take the date on his calendar from the Medo-Persian king. Because if you go into the Old Testament and get the kings, you'll always find that they're named like this. King David, King Solomon, King Saul, that's Hebrew. But when you get the king behind the name, that's Babylonish. This is Darius the king. You'll find that the British nation follows the Hebrew pattern. Our queen, our beloved queen, it's Queen Elizabeth. But this is the Babylonish way, just pointing that out so you'll find it as you go through your book. It's the second year of Darius the king. Now, the moment that he takes the date from the Babylonish calendar, the image becomes to the Hebrew calendar to get the month. In the sixth month, and he's back to the Hebrew calendar. It's very neatly done, and you might miss it if I didn't point it out to you. And so it's fairly securely and surely set the exact date of the period when the prophet preached. Now, we want to find out a few more things about the period. At the pathway just preceding this period. And see some of the problems in the pathway preceding this period. Now, you come over with me, leave that alone for the moment, and come to the book of Ezra. Way over, Ezra, just after 2 Chronicles there, we come to Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Sam. Now, I want to take time here because we're looking at the path and the problems preceding the period when the prophet Haggai began his ministry. Look at the date in the first chapter of Ezra. Ezra chapter 1, now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia. You see, some of the kings of Persia were called Cyrus, most of them were called Darius. But this is away in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia. Now, watch what God did, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah. He was one of the pre-exilic prophets, and he prophesied that when God would take rich people down to Babylon, he would keep them there for 70 years. And so God, just to fulfill his word through the mouth of Jeremiah, he stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia. Fancy our God coming upon a meager Persian king, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, That Cyrus king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven, hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Fancy God coming and talking to a Persian king about building his house in Jerusalem. Well, he did, whether we like it or not. God's just a God that does exactly as he likes, and who can say what to us now. He just takes up whoever he wants to take up, and he doesn't ask the Baptist Union any questions. Just takes up whoever he likes to take up, that's all. Now, what of this? That God said to Cyrus king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven, he hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Then he challenges the people, who is there among you of all his people? His God be with him. Let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel. Then he is the God which is in Jerusalem. And to whoever remains in any place where he shall join us, let the man of that place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the feeble offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. Now, when this challenge came to them down in Babylon, at the end of the seventy years captivity, here's the response. Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah, and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites. So, in chapter two, just go quickly there, verse one. Now these are the children of the province that went out of the captivity. And you get all the names down this very wonderful chapter. And then you get the whole summary in verse sixty-four of chapter two. It said the whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and three four. Forty two thousand three hundred and sixty left Babylon to go back to the land of the fathers to build the house of the Lord. And so they have gone back. Now, here's the first thing they did, within chapter three, and it says, and they set the altar upon his basis. They built the altar first, and it's a good place to start, isn't it? In verse six it says, from the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the Lord, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. They hadn't started the job, really, that they came to do. And then when we come to the next chapter, or still in chapter three, it says, now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God in Jerusalem, and in the second month began Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jozedek, and the remnant of the brethren, the priests, and the Levites, and all that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem, and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upwards, to take forward the work of the house of the Lord. And so they started the job that they came to do. It took them about two years to get really going. Now, I want to say this, look at chapter four. Now, verse one, now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity built up the temple unto the Lord God of Israel, you know, they seemed to stop the work. You see, if God is going to give us a little bit of sparing tonight, and God is going to call us to a re-dedication of our lives, and God is going to send us back to the work of the Lord, then I assure you that there will be many adversaries. There'll be adversaries on the right hand, on the left hand, at home, and elsewhere, all to stop the work of the Lord. The old devil is determined about that. And mind you, I must say that he succeeded here. Watch how they got about it. It says in verse four of chapter four, I can't read these chapters because I'm a marine, Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, and hired chancellors against them to frustrate their purpose. All the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even unto the reign of Darius, Cyrus king of Persia, even unto his reign. Now, that's not the Darius that we're thinking about in the book of Hagoroth, another fellow altogether. But I'm just showing you that though they went back, and though they made a bit of an effort, and though they wasn't sparing, yet the adversaries came in, and you know, frustrated the very purpose that they were in for, and frustrated them right through the reign of Cyrus, and right into the reign of Darius, this first Darius we'll call him this evening, to differentiate between them. And so the work stopped. And here's how long it was stopped. In chapter four, and verse 24 it says, Then ceased, isn't that dreadful, then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem, so it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. That's the fellow we're after, and that's the exact year too. So we're really getting the details, they're all here alright. And you can see how the adversaries came in, and how they stopped the work of the Lord, and this people, it is really stopped working for God. And that's where the prophet appears. The next chapter says, verse one, chapter five, Then, just at that psychological moment, Then the prophets, Hagar the prophet, that's the fellow we're after, and Zechariah the son of Adu, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judea and in Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. Then ruled up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jotahed, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem, and with them were the prophets of God helping. You know the old prophet really said that we lose the turning again. Now that's the pathway, and those are the problems, that preceded the preaching of the prophets. So we've got things tidied up fairly well now, we've got the whole foundation, now let's go back and really get started. I feel that these things must be done if we're to understand the thing properly. Now verse 1, and we're back at the exact date you see, in Ezra, only we know what went before this now. How that this great company had come back from captivity to build the house, how they had been frustrated in their purpose, how the work had ceased, and ceased right until this very date, the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month. Now we begin. In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai, the prophet, unto Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtie, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Joseph, the high priest. So that you not only see the period when the prophet preached, but you notice the princes to whom the prophet preached. He preached to Zerubbabel, the governor, and to Joshua, the high priest. You know, he had a good talk to all the national and spiritual leaders. That's who he began with. The national and the spiritual leaders. And then I think I should just say a word about the word Haggai. Some of the scholars say Haggai. Some of them say Haggai. And not any of them know which is right. So you're just as good as them. It doesn't matter, I'm just saying Haggai. It will do us. Now the word that means, my thesis. It's a rather curious word. Don't use it very many times. And I've looked up a great many commentaries, and a very great many great expositors in the last two weeks, and not one out of all that I have touched can give any idea why this man was named my thesis. I have a feeling, I think that this is what I see. You don't need to swallow this. I believe he was born in Babylon during the captivity. I'm positively sure of that. We find he's a comparatively young man. And I think he was born down in Babylon. But you know, when he was born, it seems to me that his mother had a vision of some kind, and she saw this baby that was born in the land of Babylon, going to be a prophet in the land of promise. And you know, in those dark days of captivity, she preached the promise. And she called him, my thesis. You won't find that anywhere. That's mine. You can take it or leave it. No other choice. But his name certainly means my thesis. You can find that anywhere. I want you to see him talking to these. The point that's probed as the prophet preached. Breast to him, Above us speaketh the Lord a false saying. This, people say, The time has not come. The time that the Lord's house should be built. I want you to notice how he began preaching. There was no man-made, hand-made, polite introduction, was there? They would say, you're ignorant if you began the message like this. This, people say. Well, they can say whatever they like about ignorance, but this is how the prophet and the Lord began. We are too morally cuddled anyway. He really began to talk to the people, you know. He just appeared one day all of a sudden, and there was no introduction, and you can't find the tribe that he came from, and you'll certainly never find the college that he went to. He was just the prophet of God, and we'll find that out before we're finished. And he just walked into the crowd and he said, This, this, people say, as if he's fiddling with his bin. He wasn't fiddling around with them. He says, this, people. He knew the crowd. And he not only knew the crowd, he knew the tribe. This, people say. The time has not come. The time that the Lord's house should be built. And then, he not only knew the cry, and he knew the crowds, but he knew the conduct. Then came the word of the Lord by him, by the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, all ye to dwell in your steel houses, and this house where I rest? You know, he knew the crowd he was talking to, didn't he? He knew the cry, and he knew the conduct. And you know, in many ways, we're very like them. Now, let's do a bit of probing just now with ourselves. You know, the people of God, as I know them, there's a great majority among them, and their experts are making excuses to get out of doing anything for God. They're experts. I know some, you know. And four Sundays out of every five, they've got headaches. They're never able to be out on Sunday. Oh, no, meet them on Monday. You know, pastor, well, they're nearly dead, man, they're full of the nonsense, you know. Oh, yes. Four Sundays out of every five! Letting them in! Oh, no, Papa knows how to do it. Oh, yes. You know, they never have a headache on Monday, nor Tuesday, nor Wednesday, nor Thursday, nor Friday, nor Saturday, not at all. Because what's the rest? Well, they never eat supper. No headaches, then. But when it comes to getting up to the house of God, when it comes to doing work for God, when it comes to family school time, when it comes to planning out another excuse, this people, this people, you won't. What do you do for God? Tell me what you do for yourself first. You're not for yourself. What do you do for God? What do you work out for God? Are you working for God? Talk to them, didn't he? My, they had had a little bit of opposition, you know. Advocates had come along, and they'd laid down the trowel, weren't building any more, but they built their own houses. Enemy didn't keep them from building their own. You know, the enemy doesn't keep us from doing a whole lot of things for ourselves. Because you couldn't get me to do anything for God. And the trouble with these people with all these excuses, they're a group of tripping me out. Because all they ever do is just talk. They're a good job of God superdosing them away to heaven. We'd get on with the job. Good job. And they may have to take them out. He knew the people, you know. He knew the people. And he was talking out loud to them. Yes. They'd builded their own houses. It looked well after themselves. The house of God's delight. The house of God's delight. See, some of the folks that I know these days, they can't come to the meeting. They've got to put in seats. And they've got to put in scrubs. You know, they lost their souls. This is what the work's for. This is what God wants. Souls of men. And I'm telling you this. Put first things first. Take ye first the kingdom of God and there'll be ten years' worth. It ain't over till it's over. It's three thousand. It ain't over till it's over. It ain't over till it's over. Some of you wouldn't know the way in. I told you the prophet would talk to you. And the day has gone. And there'll be no pulling punches in these meetings. None whatsoever. Should we be torn limbs from limbs, through it we must go. It ain't over. There's no flowery introduction to that bit, was there? My, he was a real man of God. We often learned how to preach here. Now, you can see the points he called, don't you? And then I want you to see the plea the prophet made in verse five. Now, therefore, thus the paper law deposits, Consider your ways. You know what a wonderful phrase that is. The word consider just means to sit down and ponder it over. Think it through. Really give a bit of thought to it. Consider your ways. I could preach a message here. I'm not supposed to preach messages in these expositions, but I'm tempted to at times. They will start coming up. You can make it on your own then. Supposing we did it like this. Consider your ways on the Lord's Day. Consider your ways on the Lord's Day. Wonder what way the Lord's Day begins for you. You get the hold of a blanket just like that. Look into his face and say, This is the day that the Lord has made. I will be glad. Rejoice. Will you? I need to cuddle in deeper and try to conjure up that headache. For do you hear the ringing, battering on the windowpane, and getting onto the blankets? You're not getting out this morning. Too late for you. And do you know what he is? He'll keep us too long. And he shouts too loud. God pity me. I should be rolled up in cotton wool and put in a museum. Oh, look at that face. Look at that face, you know. It's a real picture. Let me say this to you. Let me say this. That all the time that you're fooling yourself back there to get out of going to God's house on Sunday morning, the Lord is rushing you. Isn't it my old pastor? You're leaving for the Lurch, you know. It doesn't matter about me. If nobody came, I wouldn't be insulted. The Lord watches you. The Lord says, that's the woman I revealed. All the way to Calvary. She had my blood. She is not happy for me. I'm telling you. Come along, Jamie. Not only consider your ways on the Lord's day, but consider your ways at the Lord's table. Is the table that's spread here on Sunday morning, is it the Lord's table? Is this the desire of the master? Is this the great desire he has for himself? Does he long and long and long to see his people sit down and take their bread and drink their wine and remember to them when you turn your back and you don't have your dinner? Morning meeting is too long for you. You miss your spouse. A pity. God pity. You say you're going to heaven. Just sit down right now and consider your ways at the Lord's table. Man, you can get up and in an insulting way turn your back and get out. The Lord watches you. Sometimes I think, you know, he stands in the midst and watches them go down the aisle. There's no time for him. It's his word already. Oh, they know that. They'd argue with the Roman Catholics about it. Oh, they know it's his desire. They know that he instituted the table. They know they should remember him. Oh, they know. Just consider your way. And not only consider your ways on the Lord's day and at the Lord's table. Consider your ways with the Lord's word first. Let's put each other on the shelf for a moment or two. Which of this book did you read today? Which is it? Which of the telegraph did you read? You know all about the big fight. You know where Bob Brown decided not to try coffee, don't you? Tell me all you know about it. Tell me what you read in this book. Is this good faith? Is this before everything else? Did he push this aside to get the telegraph? Doesn't the Lord watch? Sometimes, you know, he stands all day on the next day and the next one and the next one. And you fill your mind with so much and you're off in a hurry to know so much about the world and sports and the precious world of God. Have you? You hypocrite? You Baptist hypocrite? Have you? Have you? You know where you are now, don't you? You're getting away with remission. You're far off. You're a lukewarm. God will come and take you one of these days. God will come and judge you. Or you could go on with that. Consider your ways on the Lord's day. Consider your ways at the Lord's table. Consider your ways with the Lord's words. Consider your ways with the Lord's money. What have you done with the Lord's money? Have you robbed God? You've robbed Him for years. And the shoes on your feet He's given you. Robbed God. Consider your ways at the top of the stock. What's this? This is not only the plea presented as the prophet preached, but what the father's picture brought before them as the prophet preached. He says in verse 6, Ye have so much and bring Him little. Ye eat, but ye have not enough. Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink. Ye clothe you, but there is none warm. And ye that earnest wages earnest wages is to put it into a bag with holes. And that's verse 7 and go on to verse 9 because the past picture is linked with the plague. Proclaim Ye looked for much though it came for little and when you brought it home I did blow upon it. Fancy God doing that. Why? said the Lord at first. Because of mine house that is waste. And ye ran every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you stayed from dew and the earth stayed from a fruit. And 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 upon men and upon cattle and upon all the labor of the hands. Friends, you know we want to pay great attention to this. You know this plague is a dreadful thing. You know when men just turn their backs on God and belittle God and belittle God's work and belittle God's will and think they will do as they like and don't get off with it but they will not for God will not bless you. God will blow upon anything or us. God will call for a drought. Don't be the blowing and don't be the burning but there will never be the blessing. You'll miss it Jesus. You'll miss it. You know I think we ought to begin with denomination don't we? And their great councils and their committees. You know they've got to a place now in our land where they think they can share up the word of God fix it into the corner and human reasoning picks the day up. They reason it up very neatly and they can feed by logic primal logic but the plain unadulterated word of God doesn't count now. All right. Go on and follow God in denomination and follow God in drought and their assembly. Go on. You can't get the blessing of God sharing up the word of God can you? Bring it in bring it in. Bring it into the local assembly. And on this we honor this word. This word is honored here every Tuesday. I know all foolish nonsense here and never will be while I'm here. God's word we've got to have. On a Tuesday evening pray this name. Friends you'll never have the blessing of God in your assembly when you think that you can walk like this with God. It won't happen. Let me say this to you fathers and mothers. You'll never have the blessing of God in your home if you take God away from you. Don't you think that you can walk with God like this because you can't? I'm telling you God will blow on you. God will call for a drought. You'll wonder what's wrong. It's up to all you big business men. I'll tell you this if you don't know you'll know it after the night. You're more dependent on God for your success than you are for any business challenging you. And you are. And I can tell you this God can blow in your business. I know some men sitting around me who are successful in business. Bless them. And I can tell you this some people come along to me and say my he's a great business man. He's helping you carry cash. He knows how to go about it. Maybe he doesn't. But I know men who know how to go about it as well as he does. And they're on their heels now. I know them. And if I'm right it's this way. The men around me that have been a good staff in business they've given God his place. They've given God his place. They'll figure out to prosper their way. They'll never be absent from the praise of this responsibility never once. God will prosper them. I tell you you put the word of God in its place. Put the Christ of God in his place. Put the will of God where it should be. And you can't fail. Man, a man that meditates in his day and night doesn't it say he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth its fruit and its seed its leaf also shall not wither and here's the best bit of it whatsoever he doeth. Go on. Do your own way. Have your own way. Go your own way. Work your own logic. God will do it. God will do it. Amen. You can't live for God and lose. And you can't sin and win. Work it out. You can't sin and win. And you can't live for God and lose. Never. God blew on them didn't he? When they did a lot of sowing and did a lot of work did a lot of labor God smashed it up. See friends we've got to bring the judgment of God into this. Whether we like it or whether we don't God won't put up with your hypocritical ways forever. God will judge you. Now we have seen these things we have seen the period when the prophet preached and the princess to whom the prophet preached and the points and the cross probes of the prophet preached and the plea presented and the cross pictured and the plague portrayed. Now here's the program proposed. Going back to the verse we missed. Verse 8. He says go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the house of God. You know he's really talking to them now isn't he? Go up to the mountain. He doesn't name the mountain surely doesn't but it's on that mountain that they were to begin their service to God. I wonder what service God holds for you on the mountain. You know I had a mission about 20 years ago if I'm right 1922 in the little town of Bondage and there were quite a number of souls saved then and I remember that there was one big sapping fellow saved he was an instructor of a gymnasium class and God spoke to him and he was broken down and he got gloriously saved and at the end of the mission he met me in the little enquiry room there and he said to me Mr Muller I've got a problem he says you know I'm an instructor in these boys and I've helped them and I keep them off the sticks and I do lots of things for them and I've been a blessing to them but this class that I'm teaching it's on Wednesday night and the prayer meeting in the church is on Wednesday night what should I do? I said no I wouldn't tell you what to do I'm not your lawyer I'll tell you what I would do if I was a new priest I'll tell you how I'd work it out you come on before you sing and you get your feeling and then you get your society down and when you're about to leave the house there are two ways that run from your door one that runs to the gymnasium and the other runs to the prayer meeting and I would simply get down in my maze at the beginning of these ways and I would say Lord what willst thou have me to do tonight shall I go and plead for souls or shall I go and get her bodies and I can always remember how this big fellow looked into my face he said you know you don't need to pray that sure you don't he said I know what God wants me to do I said then you have your answer haven't you and that fellow began there to work for God in the prayer meeting he gave himself for prayer and he's been amazed of saving quite a number of souls that's better than putting muscles on bodies you ever got up the mountain yet do you know exactly what the Lord wants you to do do you and there came a day when I pushed it up you know I have the best job in this world I worked to a famous surgeon who had a big motor yacht that would go to America and I drove it for him and I used to lie on the deck in the burning sunshine and read my bible while he fished and he paid me well for doing it and my dear friends day after day I was in this place and blessed in this place and yet there came a day when God said you're getting up and you're getting up and you must get up and friends I had to go and I had to get up and get up really just had begun to work for God you found out where you were to go yet my dear friends you working for God I'll tell you this if you go and get the job you know what it will do to you it will bring burdens on your shoulders you know But if you get up the mount, dear friends, you'll have to carry burdens, yes, you'll have to cut wood and carry burdens. Ah, yes, when you get to the place that God is for you, and you begin to fill the niche, and you begin to give yourself to God, you get burdens on your shoulders. Remember Paul, he said, I have continual happiness and great sorrow in my heart. This was the burden he carried. But you know, friends, if you go to the place where God starts working, and you get the burden, you know, you'll begin to build. You'll begin to build. Oh, I never regret leaving the old yacht, you know. Now, it was easier there. Ah, but I lent souls to the Lord where the heart is. Friends, has God been fond of you? Are you finding out as we sit here, you know, we're not as much in the work of the Lord as we think. We're not working for God at all. We're not in the job. My dear friends, we may be outcasts. We may be reformed. Where are us from? This is where you start to look. We're off to the mountains. For us, God made us heroes. The grace of God given yourself by working for God. Put burdens on your shoulders. Ah, but you'll build the house of God. Oh, how many stones I've laid in that house. Will you come? Is this the night? Is this the time? It's not. Let's just take a moment as we sit before God. A moment before the Lord sits with us. If you were looking into his face, nobody else here. Lord Jesus, bring us before thee tonight. Help us to look into thine eyes. Lord, you've brought us. We're not our own. But oh, Lord, somehow the old enemy has made the work of God to speak in our lives. Lord, art thou calling us afresh tonight? Is this a new call? God made us consider our ways, and so many of us are guilty. Lord, help us to get up into the mountain with thee. And find out tonight what thou wilt have me to do. Lord, we know it will mean a burden and a fight with the adversaries. But only this way can the house of God be built. Speak to us all, Lord. Warn us again. If we go on the way we're doing, you'll have to purchase. Make us realize that if we're to be a success, God must perfect. Lord, you can blow upon anything. Lord, bless our sister who's taken ill. Keep thy hand upon her. Touch her afresh just once. Father, end thy fear. And with thy blessing, for thy name's sake. Amen.