Why? These people in the Scriptures understood the significance of altars.
For example, after the flood, when Noah came out of the ark, he had a lot of things he had to do, such as:
• Build a house for his family to live in
• Plant a garden so his family could have food to eat
But the Bible describes the very first thing he did. Genesis 8:20 says, “And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.”
God was pleased that he would do such a thing. Look at verse 21, we read, “And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.”
God has always been pleased when men are motivated to place Him at the top of their agenda. We all are motivated by priorities. For example, we wonder sometimes why people do the things they do. We all do the things we do because of the priorities that motivate us in our life.
Illus: A pastor was being driven through the poverty stricken area on the island of Nassau, and said to the local missionaries, “How can these people afford these satellite dishes in their yards?” The missionary said, “It is a matter of priorities, people will do what they consider to be important!”
This is true, it is because of priorities:
• That people spend their money the way they do
• That people spend their time the way they do
Our priorities motivate us to do what we do and say what we say!
Illus: Did you hear about the fellow who was on trial for murder? On the witness stand …
• The prosecutor said: “Did you kill the victim?”
• The defendant said: “No, I did not.”
• The prosecutor said: “Do you know what the penalty is for perjury?”
• The accused said: “Yes, I do. And it’s a lot better than the penalty for murder.”
People’s priorities will make them say all kinds of things and do all kinds of things.
Noah felt that building an altar unto the Lord was the most important thing he could do when he got off the ark. On the ark:
• He had heard the screams of the dying
• He had seen the wrath of almighty God
He was most grateful for the grace of God that saved him and his family, and he wanted to build an altar unto the Lord to show his gratitude.
Again, I want to say, God is always pleased when men will set aside a TIME and a PLACE where they can worship Him. At one time, altars were a big thing in all Bible-preaching churches.
But it was a big day when the devil robbed God’s churches of their altars, and turned their worship services into the meaningless rituals they perform each week.
• In the olden days, you could hear people crying out unto the Lord for forgiveness. When God’s Word was preached under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God would convict SINNERS and SAINTS of sin in their life, and they would flee to the altars to pray and ask for forgiveness.
• In the olden days, you would hear people crying and weeping around the altars, asking God to save their lost loved ones.
Elijah recognized the need for altars, and the Bible makes a point of letting us know that when he saw the altar in need of repair, he wasted no time restoring it.
WHY DID HE REPAIR THE ALTAR? He recognized that God’s people had drifted from God, and were living in sin, and THIS WAS A MAJOR CRISIS! There had not been a king in Israel that did right in the sight of the Lord for almost a hundred years.
This is what the Bible teaches. We read in Prov. 14:34, “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.”
America today is in a SPIRITUAL CRISIS! The hope of this nation is to get people back on their knees before an old-fashioned altar crying to God.
• Putting the emphasis on recreation is not getting people close to God
• Putting the emphasis on spiritual entertainment is not getting people close to God
The only thing that will get them close to God is for them to get back on their knees at an old fashioned altar, and cry out to God in desperation. WE ARE IN A SPIRITUAL CRISIS!
This is why Elijah wanted to rebuild the altar. Look at 1 Kings 18:30, “And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired THE ALTAR OF THE LORD THAT WAS BROKEN DOWN.”
Elijah knew the Lord was THE SOLUTION, and he wasted no time rebuilding the altar of the Lord.
THE PURPOSE OF THE ALTAR is what makes it important.
What is THE PURPOSE OF THE ALTAR? It was -
I. A PLACE OF THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE
We all have so much to be thankful for!
Illus: As the family sat around the table on Thanksgiving, a young boy was asked what he was thankful for. He said, "What am I thankful for on Thanksgiving?" He said, "I am thankful that I'm not a turkey."
Illus: Did you hear about the pro football team that had just finished their daily practice session, when a large turkey came strutting onto the field? While the players gazed in amazement, the turkey walked up to the head coach and demanded a tryout.
Everyone stared in silence as:
• The turkey caught pass after pass
• The turkey ran right through the defensive line
When the turkey returned to the sidelines, the coach shouted, "You're terrific!!! Sign up for the season, and I'll see to it that you get a huge bonus." "Forget the bonus," the turkey said, "All I want to know is, does the season go past Thanksgiving Day?"
Illus: Did you hear about the preacher who preached to a poor congregation and he told them they should all be THANKFUL?
One man raised his hand and said, “Preacher, as poor as we are, we owe everyone in town, we do not have anything to be thankful for”. The pastor said, “Yes, you do, you can be thankful that you are not your creditors!”
Every one of us has so much to be thankful for. And we all need an altar that we can bow before and give God the thanks for the blessings He bestows upon us all! But the altar of the Lord had been broken down.
THAT MEANT THAT THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE HAD CEASED.
One of the things God commands us to do is be thankful and praise Him.
• Look at 1 Thess. 5:18, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
• Look at Psa. 100:4-5, “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
The altar was a place of THANKSGIVING, but also the altar was-
II. A PLACE OF CONFESSION
The altar of the Lord had been broken down. That meant that confession of sin had ceased.
Look at Prov. 28:13, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
Notice, the Bible talks about COVERING OUR SINS instead of CONFESSING OUR SINS! There are so many ways we can go through life covering our sins and fooling people.
You can go to some of these “Gag Shops” and buy all kinds of things today that you can use to fool people.
• Fake rubber pencils that look like real pencils
• Dirty soap. Instead of cleansing ourselves with this soap, we actually become more dirty. There is some black dye magically concealed within the pigments of the bar of soap
• Fake cigarettes which are filled with powder, that give the illusion of real cigarette smoke when you blow through them
• Fake spilled coffee
• Fake bullet holes
• Fake chewing gum
• Fake blood
But some folks do not use THINGS, they use THEMSELVES to fool people.
Illus: A girl went to school and explained in gestures that she had caught cold and lost her voice; for two hours she couldn't utter a word and everyone felt really sorry for her. At the end of the lesson, she came up to one of the girls and announced in a loud voice: “Good bye, have a nice day!”
People fool people all the time. They are so good at it, that many go through life actually thinking they are fooling God.
When it comes to God, you might as well CONFESS your evil deeds because you can not fool him.
But the altar of God had been broken down and because there was no altar, THERE WAS NO CONFESSION. The reason why there is no confession today, is because there is no brokenness over sin.
Psa. 34:18, “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of A BROKEN HEART; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”
God’s people were proud and rebellious, and would not give an account of their sin to God and seek forgiveness. Also, the altar was-
III. A PLACE OF SACRIFICE
The altar of the Lord had been broken down. That meant that the sacrifices to God had stopped.
It is impossible to serve God without sacrificing. The Bible says in Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
Notice, this is our “REASONABLE SERVICE”.
Illus: The age in which we live is so spoiled, that folks today know very little about SACRIFICE!
• Many marriages are breaking up because couples getting married do not know the first thing about sacrificing for each other
• Many children are messing their lives up because they do not know a thing about sacrificing
• Society is in the shape it is, because citizens do not know how to sacrifice
• Many churches are in the shape they are in, because Christians do not know how to sacrifice
They want everyone to sacrifice for them but they are not willing to sacrifice.
Illus: The brunette’s sacrifice. Eleven people were clinging precariously to a wildly swinging rope, suspended from a crumbling outcropping on Mount Everest.
Ten were blondes, one was a brunette.
As a group, they decided that one of the party should let go. If that didn't happen, the rope would break and everyone would perish.
For an agonizing few moments no one volunteered.
Finally, the brunette gave a truly touching speech, saying she would sacrifice herself to save the lives of the others.
All the blondes applauded!
When it comes to sacrifice, we have to look at the great sacrifice the Lord made for our sins.
Illus: A pastor introduced an older pastor to his congregation. In the introduction, the pastor told the congregation that the minister was one of his dearest childhood friends and that he wanted him to have a few moments to greet the church and share whatever he felt would be appropriate for the service.
With that, an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and began to speak. "A father, his son, and a friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific coast, and a storm came upon them very swiftly. The waves were so high, that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright and the three were swept into the ocean as the boat capsized."
The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with two teenagers who were, for the first time since the service began, looking somewhat interested in his story.
The aged minister continued with his story, "Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life: To which boy would he throw the other end of the life line. He only had seconds to make the decision. The father knew that his son was a Christian and he also knew that his son's friend was not. The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of waves. As the father yelled out, 'I love you, Son!' he threw out the life line to his son's friend. By the time the father had pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beneath the raging swells into the black of night. His body was never recovered."
By this time, the two teenagers were sitting up straight in the pew, anxiously waiting for the next words to come out of the old minister's mouth.
"The father," he continued, "knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus and he could not bear the thought of his son's friend stepping into an eternity without Jesus. Therefore, he sacrificed his son to save the son's friend.”
“How great is the love of God that He should do the same for us. Our Heavenly Father sacrificed His only begotten Son so we could be saved. I urge you to accept His offer to rescue you, and take a hold of the life line He is throwing out to you in this service."
With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room. The pastor again walked slowly to the pulpit and delivered a brief sermon with an invitation at the end. However, no one responded to the appeal.
Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man's side. "That was a nice story," politely stated one of them, "But I don't think it was very realistic for a father to give up his only son's life in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian."
"Well, you've got a point there," the old man replied glancing down at his worn bible. A big smile broadened his narrow face. He once again looked up at the boys and said, "It sure isn't very realistic, is it? But I'm standing here today to tell you that story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give up His son for me. You see...I was that father and your pastor was my son's friend."
We can only know about sacrifice when we really look at the tremendous sacrifice the Lord made for our sins. When you tell some people that God wants them to dedicate their bodies unto the Lord, they seem to think this is UNREASONABLE! But God’s Word says it is REASONABLE!
Illus: Did you ever loan someone something and they kept it so long they began to think it was theirs?
This is what many folks have done. They have lived in these bodies that God has loaned them, and they now think they belong to them. We must keep telling ourselves over and over again, this body that we have belongs to the Lord. We must sacrifice our desires to do His Will.
During Elijah’s time, the altars had been torn down. And because there was no altar there was NO SACRIFICE.
Conclusion:
It is essential that you have an altar that you can go to each day and talk to God.
• Do you have an altar?
• What shape is your altar in today?
Much of the preaching today deals with trying to get professing Christians to:
• Attend church
• Support God’s Church financially
• Witness to the Lost
But when folks get right at an old fashion altar, these things will take care of themselves.
I. A PLACE OF THANKSGIVING
II. A PLACE OF CONFESSION
III. A PLACE OF SACRIFICE
