Join us on a journey through the book of Haggai as Dr. J. Vernon McGee unpacks the deeper insights of the judgments mentioned in Scripture. This episode reveals the timeless truth that while our heart’s intentions may be deceitfully wicked, God’s grace and Jesus’ work provide the way to true holiness. We delve into the fundamental aspects of the new birth that marks our entrance into God’s family, offering a vibrant look at what it means to be in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word.
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Jeremiah said that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked who can know it. Well, I’ll tell you who can. Only God. You picked a good day to study God’s Word on Through the Bible. Our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, explains the antidote to our wicked hearts, and that’s knowing Jesus. I’m Steve Schwetz, and we’re in the book of Haggai on our five-year journey through the whole Word of God. Now, before we begin, here’s the last of Dr. McGee’s introductions on the judgments in Scripture.
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Before we finish the little book of Haggai, I’d like very much to conclude the series that we’ve been giving now for some time in our introductions on the subject of the judgments that are mentioned in the Bible. We’ve had, for instance, the judgment of the cross. That is where Christ’s boa, your sin and my sin, that is called a plenary substitutionary death of Christ. He died a judgment death. Then the second judgment we saw is self-judgment. If we would judge ourselves, we’d not be judged. A Christian is permitted to judge himself. And if he does not, then God will judge. Then you have the chastening judgments of God. And then the fourth one was the judgment of believers’ works. That is to see whether we receive a reward or not. Then we had the judgment of angels. And then the judgment of the nation Israel. And then the judgment of the nations, the Gentile nations of the world. Now, today we want to see the judgment of the great white throne. And this is the judgment that very candidly is conceived by the average person or the average Christian as being the one judgment that’s out there in the future and that it’s the only one. Well, the interesting thing, the subjects of the judgment of the great white throne are not saved people at all. It’s the unsaved. They’re going to be judged according to their works. You see, they wanted it that way. How many people you meet today that will tell you that they’re working for their salvation? They believe it’s doing good. A man told me, he says, why, I am doing good. God couldn’t judge against me. Well, the very interesting thing is that we find out that those that are not in the Lamb’s Book of Life, they are present for this judgment, but those that are in the Lamb’s Book of Life are not present at this judgment. Now, I’m going to turn to the 20th chapter of the book of Revelation. We’ve yet to come to this, but we will later on. And I read, And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And that’s now Revelation 20, verse 11. And there’s no more solemn seen in the entire Word of God than this right here. And it says, “…and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” Now, the unsaved man says he wants to be judged according to his works. He’s willing to stand before God. The interesting thing is God’s going to be very fair to him. He is going to stand before God and he’ll be judged according to his works. But nobody gets saved there because works can’t save you. God has made that so clear that you can’t be saved by your works. A sinner can’t produce that which is satisfactory to God. You can’t get a clean thing out of an unclean thing. And mankind is unclean. Now we read, “…and the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works.” Repeat it again. Here’s a judgment for works. If you want it, brother, you’re going to get it. If you feel like that you’re good enough to stand before God. And we’re told, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Nobody’s saved here. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. You’re not found written in the book of life. And how do you get in the book of life? Well, just like you got in the book when you were first born, a record is made of your birth at the hospital. And if your family is a Christian family, they generally have a family Bible, and it’s recorded in that family Bible that you were born on this day. And you go from there, and you can get the day of birth certificate by just presenting an old family Bible showing where you were born 40, 50, 60, 70 years ago. And they give you a birth certificate because your name is in the book. And how do you get, therefore, in the family Bible? You were born. You were part of the family. And that’s the way you get into the family of God. is by a birth, the new birth. The Lord Jesus said to a very religious man, Nicodemus, you must be born from above. That is, you’ve got to get your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life. And the judgment here is a judgment of works, which reveals works cannot save lost man. This is a very solemn scene, by the way, and a very solemn judgment, if you ask me.
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Let’s pray as we dive into God’s word together. Lord, thank you for the new birth that puts us in your family. Would you draw those who have yet to respond to your invitation to come to you by faith? Speak to us now through your word, Lord, and fill our hearts with understanding and wisdom so that we glorify your name in our lives. We ask this now in the beautiful name of Jesus.
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Amen.
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Here’s Dr. McGee with our study of Haggai 2 on Through the Bible.
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Now we are in the next to the last, which is the fourth message that Haggai delivered, and it was on December the 24th, 520. And he went in to the priests to ask concerning a law, not the law, but a law. As we’ve suggested, the Mosaic law did not cover all the details of life in Israel. And when a matter arose that was not covered, they would appeal to the priests. And that was as we have seen in Deuteronomy 17, verses 8 through 11. And there, God says, when a matter is too hard for you, you take it to the priests. And so he went up and asked the priest two questions. And the two questions were just simply this. When holiness contacts unholiness, does the unholiness become holy? And the answer is no. Holiness is not communicated then. But suppose the holy touches or the clean touches the unclean. Will the clean become unclean? And of course, the answer is yes, that is what will happen. So that you can say that the major deduction is holiness is not communicated. Unholiness is communicated. And therefore, when the holy and the unholy come into contact, both are unholy. And we saw that that worked out in every realm of life. It worked out in the physical realm. in the material. You can take two beakers. I’ve done that from the pulpit many times. Fill one with water, clear, clean water, and the other with water, but put in it some black ink, and it’ll make it very black. And then you can take that clean water and attempt to pour it in the beaker that’s half filled, and the clean water will never make the unclean water clean. A holy can never make the unholy holy by contact. That’s true in the physical realm. But you put one drop of that black ink in the clean water and it’ll change all of it because that is what happens. And that works out not only in the material realm but in the medical world. When little Willie has measles, you don’t bring a well boy in there and let him contact your little Willie. If he does, Why, little Willie won’t be healed, but I tell you, that neighbor boy will sure get the measles. And that’s true in the moral realm. You can’t attempt to deal with that which is dirty and filthy and expect to come out clean. You’re going to play in mud. You’re going to get dirty because this law works. Now, we got down to the religious realm, and it works in the religious realm also. And this is a great principle that we need to recognize because a great many people think religion is a ritual. If you go through it, why, somehow or another, that actually is the thing that makes you acceptable to God because you’ve been through a ceremony. I have here something that an Episcopal bishop and a Roman Catholic bishop over in Colorado, and that was back in 1964. They met together and they made this statement, Christian baptism is the basis of a union already existing which must be developed to its natural conclusion. And the work of reuniting Christians is the work of God, and it will be accomplished through the grace of God, no matter how difficult it may seem from a human standpoint. But baptism is the basis of a brotherhood which is truly Christian. And may I say to you, as anyone knows, their mode of baptism is by sprinkling. Just think, you’d leave out the greatest number of Christians today, the Baptists and others who practice immersion. You would exclude most of the fundamentalists on that kind of a basis. Well, even the Baptists and the fundamentalists agree that baptism does not save you because they recognize this great principle that the condition of man is such that going through a ceremony or anything that he attempts to do externally will not meet the conditions that God has put down for man. And after all, man’s condition is a sad condition. We read in Jeremiah 17, 9, “…the heart is deceitful above all things.” And who can know it? What a picture this is of the human heart. No one can know how bad that it is. If you and I could see ourselves as God sees us, we couldn’t stand ourselves. We don’t realize how bad we really are. And the Lord Jesus made this abundantly clear over in the 15th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in verse 18. He said this, But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man. Just because you wash your hands or been through a ceremony or performed a ritual, that can never make you right with God, you see. I think I’ve told you about the man that I played golf with several years ago over in Tulsa. And he told me, he says, I was a church hypocrite for years. I was a member of a big downtown liberal church. I’d been through the ceremonies. I’d been on every committee. And he says, to tell the truth, why I was not saved. I was not a Christian. And during the week, I was practicing things that no Christian should. He says, I was a typical hypocrite. crib. And he said, one day I found out I was a sinner and I needed a savior. And he said, that’s what transformed my life. You see, the heart must be changed. The Lord Jesus again, listen to him as he talks along this line. Now in Matthew 7, verse 16, ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. You see, this is the principle at work. He goes on in verse 18, a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. You see, out of the heart proceed the issues of life. The heart must be changed. You remember the story, and Shakespeare had it right, by the way, in Macbeth. Yes, Lady Macbeth, you remember that night walking in her sleep. As she looks at her little hand, she says, out, damned spot. All the perfumes of Arabia cannot make this little hand white. And how true. And all the perfumes of Arabia cannot make the heart right with God either, my friend. To try to go through these ceremonies and that is like taking a gallon of Chanel No. 5 perfume and putting it on a fertilizer pile out in the barnyard. My friend, you can’t make it right and sweet by doing that sort of a thing. You remember Simon the apostle told Simon the sorcerer, thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Now, God demands a clean heart. In Ephesians 6, 6, he says, “…doing the will of God from the heart.” And in Hebrews 10, 22, “…let us draw near with a true heart.” Now, how can a man’s heart be made clean that is by nature a heart that is unclean? By doing something now. Sort of like the sign that dry cleaners had up in a certain city back east I saw. It says, we clean everything but your reputation. Well, believe me, you can’t get that cleaned up down here. Now, Proverbs asks the question, Proverbs 20, verse 9. Who can say, I’ve made my heart clean, I’m pure from my sin? Well, God has a formula. God has a prescription. He says in Isaiah 118, Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they be red like crimson. They shall be as wool. And Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19, “‘For as much as ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish or spot, what can wash away my sin?’ Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, my friend, here is stated one of the greatest principles. Now, God says the reason that you haven’t been blessed is because of the fact that you have been coming to me with unclean hands and hearts. And you thought that if you began to do something, that that would make what you did acceptable to me. Verse 14, I’m reading now. 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. Why? They thought that with an unclean heart they could do something for God, and that would make everything right. No, it did not. It really meant that what they did was unclean. That’s the reason that an unsaved person can do nothing. That is acceptable to God. Now, verse 15. And he says, 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. In other words, he says, now from this day on, I’m going to bless you. But up to this time, I haven’t been able to. He says, since those days were when one came to a heap of 20 measures, there were but 10. When one came to the wine vat to draw out 50 vessels out of the press, there was but 20. I smote you, God said, with blight and with mildew and with hail in all the labors of your hands. Yet ye turn not to me, saith the Lord. You see, their heart hadn’t turned to God. Now they’ve turned to God. And God says, 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 have not brought forth. But from this day will I bless you. God said, now that your heart is right before me, I’ll bless you. But the reason you haven’t been blessed, though you’ve been doing things, you see they’ve rebuilt the temple. And they are now going through all the services of the temple. My God says, that doesn’t change you at all. In fact, when I sent you into captivity, you were going through all the services of the temple, but your heart was not right. Friends, may I say to you that one of the ways that you can make your church a good church, that is, if you have a Bible-teaching preacher, You can make it a good church if you, when you go there on Sunday morning, are prayed up and confessed up and repented up and cleaned up. Then you won’t block any blessing that might come in the church that day. Because remember, when the unclean touches the clean, the thing that happens is the clean becomes unclean. So your heart has to be right before God. This is tremendous. I know of nothing that is greater than this. Now, will you note as we come to verse 20, here is the expectation for the future. And again, the word of the Lord came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month. This is the same day, December the 24th. Now, I said this at the beginning. that the reason probably that we had two messages on December the 24th was because Haggai wanted to go home for Christmas, and he just gave two messages. Now, you know, some people took me seriously on that. I had somebody that spent a little time writing me about a 10-page letter explaining that they weren’t celebrating Christmas at that time. And somebody said they ought never to celebrate Christmas. My, how I’ve been straightened out on it. My friend, when I don’t have an answer for anything, I generally become a little facetious. And very frankly, I recognize all of that. The reason that he gave two messages on December 24th. Now, if you’ll not let anybody else in on this, don’t want this word to get out. I don’t know why that we have two messages given on this particular day. But here we have them. Now we are told, and again, the word of the Lord came unto Haggai in the 4 and 20th day of the month. Verse 21, “‘Speak to Zerubbabel.'” Now, this is a message to the civil ruler, the man in the line of David. And this is a promise made to him. Note, this is important. 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 nations, and I will overthrow the chariots, and those who ride in them, and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. God will shake all nations. In other words, he’s going to overthrow them, all nations. The thing they trusted in, they did in that day, was in chariots. Today it’s the atom bomb. God says, I’m going to remove all of that. Now, verse 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 I will make thee as a signet. Now, the signet is a mark, an identification of royal blood and royal reign. And Zerubbabel is in the line of David. For I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts. Now, the Messiah will not only come through David, he’s going to come through Zerubbabel. And the interesting thing is, if you’ll read the genealogy of the Lord Jesus, In both the gospel of Matthew chapter 1, gospel of Luke chapter 3, you will find that both David and Zerubbabel are in both genealogies. That’s interesting. By the way, God made this promise good. And in that day, now that looks forward to the day when the Lord Jesus will come at the end of the great tribulation period. And he intends to put this line of Zerubbabel, the line of David, and to be specific, the Lord Jesus Christ will put him on the throne of this universe, for he is king of kings, and he’s lord of lords, and he’s coming to this earth to rule. This little book puts Christ in his place. as the moral ruler, the civil ruler, the king to rule over this earth someday. May I say to you, this is a very important little book, as you can see. And so that little shotgun-built temple, not very impressive in that day. It’s very important. Because it is in the line that’s leading to the coming of the Messiah when he’ll come into that temple someday. Who’s going to tell who’s doing the great work and who’s doing the small work? That Sunday school class you have may be far more important than this broadcast or any other work that’s being done today for God, my friend. Only God can tell the importance of it. Let’s be found faithful. Then let’s work. That’s what this little book says. Next time we go to a little prophecy, a little bigger than this, of Zechariah. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
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Let’s be found faithful and then let’s work. That’s wise counsel from Dr. McKee, isn’t it? Well, with that in mind, why don’t you check out Dr. McGee’s digital booklets and Bible companions, all of which were designed to help you grow in your knowledge of the Word as you walk with God. And they’re all available for free download either in our app or over at ttb.org. Or if we can help you locate a particular resource, give us a call at 1-800-65-BIBLE or write to us at Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. or in Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. And when you’re in touch, tell us how you catch the Bible bus, however or wherever you listen. We certainly want to know that bit of information because it helps us so that we can be good stewards of the resources that God provides through faithful friends like you. I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’ll save you a seat as the Bible bus rolls along.
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Jesus made it all
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Through the Bible exists to take God’s whole word to the whole world. And we invite you to stand with us with your faithful prayer and financial support. Where will God’s word go today?
