Repairing Our Altar

We will be in a familiar passage of scripture this evening, friends. If you turn in your Bibles to the first book of Kings in chapter 18, we'll be in verses 21 through 38, and it is in verse 21 where we find the prophet Elijah confront the people of God with a question. And Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long, halt ye, between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him.

But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. They just stood there, guilty before God's prophet, as they bit their lips under trouble and conviction.

They knew he was right, for they had been attempting to serve God with a divided heart. They had gone over to serving their idols and Baal worship for the benefit of their crops, as Baal was the sun god. They still followed Jehovah in the tradition of their fathers, but their hearts weren't in it.

They had no devotional life to God. It had become mere formality to them, more duty than devotion. The prophet Elijah has his work cut out for him.

As he begins to prove to the people of God that the living God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Israel is still the one true God and you cannot serve him with a divided heart. In verse 30, we see a remarkable thing take place. The prophet Elijah gets down on his hands and knees and he begins to repair the broken down altar.

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.

The first thing I want us to see here, friends, is a repaired altar. Let me ask you, friend, perhaps this is your case. If you're honest with yourself, can you say your altar is broken down? Is it in need of repair? Brother pastor, has the altar of your daily quiet time with God and prayer become broken down? Has the fire gone out on the altar of your heart? Is your altar in the ruins and rubble of disrepair? You need a repaired altar.

You must get to work immediately to repair what has broken down. And in verse 32, we see the prophet as he builds the altar. And with the stones, he built an altar in the name of the Lord.

Well, next, friends, I want us to see a prepared sacrifice. For in verse 33, we read, and he put the wood in order and cut the bollock in pieces and laid them on the wood and said, fill four barrels with water and poured on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. First, there had to be a repaired altar, then a prepared sacrifice.

I think it's fitting here to read us part of the last poem written by Evan Roberts of the Welsh Revival. Listen to his stirring words. Here I have built my altar.

The wood I've placed in order. The sacrifice is ready now. Send thou, oh Lord, the fire.

Do you want the fire back, friend, in your own walk with God? Perhaps the coals on the altar of your heart have gone low. Where's the sacrifice? What counts costs and what cost counts? Is there a sacrifice attending your devotional life with God? God delights in sacrifice. For he sacrificed his own beloved son to suffer and die on a cross for sinful man.

And Christ gave his all on that bloody cross to reconcile us back to God. He held nothing back. How can we try to serve our God with a divided heart? It can't be done.

The altar must be repaired. The sacrifice must be prepared to be acceptable unto God. See how God accepts Elijah's sacrifice as he sent down the fire and consumed it, even licking up the water that was in the trench.

And look at the result of all of this in verse 39. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, The Lord, he is the God. The Lord, he is the God.

God cannot be served with a divided heart. He demands our full allegiance. Perhaps it's time, if your altar has been broken down, to confess our lack and fall on our faces before our God and ask him for the grace to repair that altar so the fire can fall once again.

I'll confess to you, friends, there was a time in my ministry in the recent past where my devotional life was pretty dry and my flame was burning low and I needed to repair my altar before the Lord. Through that experience, I wrote a little poem and I'll share it with you as I close. Give me a fire, O Lord.

Give me a fire for thee. Give me your fire, O Lord. Let it burn brightly in me.

Give me a fire, O Lord. The wood of my life I give to thee. Consume my ashes, O Lord, and let a revival begin with me.

Give me a fire, O Lord. Give me a glimpse of hell and eternity. Make me a fire, O Lord, so my life may be burned out for thee.

Give me a fire, O Lord. Increase my desire for thee. Make me a flame, O Lord, that draws others to you through me.

Amen.