Repairing The Altar Of The Lord

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.”