Let's turn to 1 Kings chapter
18. 1 Kings chapter 18. I'm going to be reading verse
49. And it came to pass. How many
times do you find that in the scripture? It came to pass. God purposed it and it came to
pass. When midday was passed, and they
prophesied into the time of the offering of an evening sacrifice,
that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that
regarded." This is the false prophets who were praying to
Baal, and he didn't answer, he didn't regard, there was no voice. 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." Now that's what this is about, the repairing of the altar. And Elijah took 12 stones, according
to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom
the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel, shall be thy name. And with the stones he built
an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench about the
altar as great as would contain two measures of seed." Let's
pray together. Lord, we ask in Christ's name.
that you would be in our midst, that you would deliver us from
hearing the words and the thoughts and the opinions of the sinful
man, but that we might hear from thee, the living God, from your
word. Oh Lord, we pray that you would
be our teacher and reveal thy blessed son to us. Lord, we give
thanks. We're so thankful for who you
are. We're so thankful for your glorious attributes. We're so
thankful for your justice and holiness and sovereignty and
grace and love. Lord, we stand amazed that you've
been pleased to make yourself known to us, and we give thanks.
Lord, we pray that your gospel might be preached. We confess
our sins, we pray for forgiveness and cleansing. Lord, how thankful
we are for the salvation that's in your son. May his name be
exalted, would you be with all your people wherever they meet
together. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Now on this particular day, The
fire of God fell. You remember that? It consumed
the sacrifice. On this particular day, the people
fell. They fell down on their faces,
and they worshiped the living God after they saw the fire fall. On this day, the false prophets
fell. 400 were put to death. And then on
this day, the rain fell. It hadn't rained for three and
a half years, and the rain comes down. Now, what a glorious day
this was, but none of this would have happened had not the altar
been repaired. The altar was broken down. It
had fallen into disuse because Baal had been worshipped and
the altar was neglected. It was not even observed. But now Elijah comes and repairs
the altar. Now what is an altar for? Well
it's for sacrifice. What's sacrifice for? Sin. That's the only reason. Sin. The sin must be punished. God is just. God is holy. And
he provides this sacrifice so he can have something to do with
people like me or you. God's so glorious. He provides
the sacrifice so he can have something to do in saving mercy
with somebody like me or you. Now, the sacrifice or the altar
had been not used. Now you remember from verse 21
of this chapter, would you look there, 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. Now the people had been halting
between two opinions, and this is amazing. After all that they
had had God reveal to them, they were still worshiping Baal at
this time. a false god. They were halting
between two opinions. And Elijah says, How long halt
ye between two opinions? Now let's pick back up in verse
30. Now let me remind you something
about Baal. He's first mentioned in Judges chapter 2, Baal was
the false god of Canaan that everybody worshipped before Israel
got there. And Israel was called upon to destroy all Baal worship,
they didn't do it, and it's left here as a snare to them. And we read in verse 30, but let me make one more comment.
Remember this, any God that is not the God of this book exactly
as he is described in this book in every respect, is a false
God, a non-existent God, an idol, nothing more. Now let me repeat
that. If you hear God preached or declared
that is not exactly like the God of this book, and I don't
even like the word likely because there's none like God. He's incomparable. He's in a class by himself. But
any God you hear preached that is not the God of this book,
is non-existent. It's a false God and false worship
is going on. Now, in verse 30, after they
saw that Baal didn't hear, didn't regard, didn't speak, verse 30,
and Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. Now, the message of the gospel,
listen real carefully, The message of the gospel is come right now. You don't wait for
anything. You don't wait till you get your
life straightened up. You don't wait till you get more understanding.
You don't wait for anything. The message of the gospel is
come to the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no interim. There's no
in-between. I don't care who you are, what
you are, what your condition is, what my condition is. The
message of the gospel is right now. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Come. The spirit and the bride
say come. If any man thirsts, let him come
to me and drink. Come to me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now that is the
message of the gospel. Come. Don't wait. If you wait,
you're working. The message of the law is go
do. Before you can come, there's these things you need to do in
order to make yourself fit to come. But that's not the message
of the gospel. To all men, right now, as you
are, come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Come and welcome." Isn't that
wonderful? Come and welcome. He said, come near unto me and
all the people came near unto him and he repaired the altar
of the Lord that had been broken down. Now, the altar wasn't even
used. It broke down by disuse. But when the gospel is preached,
the altar is repaired. Now let me remind you what an
altar is for. An altar is for sacrifice. God
is just. God will not accept sin in any
form. He doesn't just up and forgive
sin and sweep it under the carpet. He's just. What would you think
of a human judge who, after somebody committed some kind of crime,
said, well, I'm just going to forgive you? No, we wouldn't accept a
judge like that. That would be wrong. And God
is the judge of the earth and he's utterly righteous. Sin must
be punished. God is gracious. God has provided
a sacrifice, the sacrifice of his son so that he can be just
and punish all sin and yet embrace somebody like me or you. Now, when the gospel is preached,
the altar is repaired. It's preached once again. Now,
turn with me for a minute to Exodus chapter 20. Now, Exodus
chapter 20 is where God gave the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt
have no other god before him. No idolatry, no false images. You can't take his name in vain.
Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Honor your mother and
father. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt
not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not lie. Thou shalt not covet. The Ten
Commandments, God's perfect holy law. And this is interesting.
Right after the giving of the Ten Commandments, look what we
read. Beginning in verse 24, an altar of earth thou shalt
make unto me the altar for sacrifice, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy
burnt offerings, thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen, in
all places where I record my name. I'll come unto thee, and
I'll bless thee. And if thou wilt make me an altar
of stone, thou shalt not build it of ewen stone, that hath had
men's tool upon it, because you polluted it. Neither thou shalt
go up by steps into mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered
thereon. God gives the Ten Commandments,
and right after that, he gives an altar for sacrifice. Why? Because he knew men would break
the Ten Commandments. And the only way he can be approached
is through the sacrifice of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And
I love the way he says, don't put your tool on it. This thing's
one-sided. It's all God. If you put your
tool on it, if you try to form it any way to do anything to
it, you've polluted it. And I love the way he says, they're
not steps to this altar. They're not steps to God. First,
you need to do this and then you need to stop doing that.
Then you need to get this straightened out and then you need to believe
this and then you need to leave that and then you can come. No,
there's not steps to God. Come to Christ right now through
the sacrifice that our Lord accomplished. Now, Whatever is being said,
I don't care what the subject is, whatever the preacher is
preaching on, whatever is being said, whatever is being dealt
with, I don't care what subject it is, if the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ and his sacrifice is not central to that message,
it's wrong. It shouldn't have been preached.
I don't care if you agree with everything that was said. Well, what he
said was right, was Christ preached. was the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ declared. The cross of Christ is central,
is everything in the preaching of the gospel. I love what Paul
said, I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus
Christ and him crucified. Now, the altar is repaired before
the fire falls, before the people fall in worship. Before the false
prophets fall, before the rain falls, what's the first thing
he does? He repairs the altar, the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is being preached. The sacrifice of Christ, the
cross of Christ. I want you to think about this.
Before time began, what was the subject? Christ is called the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. The creation of this world was
for this one purpose, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why I created the world. In eternity, what will be the
theme? Worthy is the lamb that was slain. And that better be our theme
in everything we preach. I don't care what the subject
is. People say, well, what about something practical? Doesn't
the Bible deal with practical things? You know, to be honest,
when people say things like that, it's annoying. The Bible's the truth. Don't
try to, well, this part's practical, and this part's doctrinal, and
this part's theoretical, and this part... whatever we're dealing with,
if the cross is not the subject, it's wrong. It's just wrong. So he repairs the altar. Now every, turn with me to Romans
8 for a moment. Verse 31, what shall we then
say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? You know, if God's for you, nobody
can be against you. You got nothing to fear? Absolutely nothing. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not? What could
possibly prevent him from freely giving us all things? There's
nothing Because of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, there's
nothing that can prevent God from freely giving you all things. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? There's nothing to be laid to
their charge. You can't accuse them of anything
because God's justified them through the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Who is he that condemneth? You can't be condemned.
Why? Because of the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Who shall separate us from the
love of God? Who shall separate? You can't because of the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's why the repairing
of the altar is central to everything. Back to our text. And Elijah said unto 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. And
what did he do? He took 12 stones according to
the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob unto whom the word
of the Lord came saying Israel shall be thy name. Now notice
he took 12 stones according to the number of the 12 tribes of
Jacob. Now what is the key here? Why not 13 stones? Why not an
infinite amount of stones? Because this altar represents
God's people. Christ died for the elect. He said, I came for the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. He didn't come to die for everybody.
He came to die for the elect, and he accomplished the redemption
of the elect. Only 12 stones. Now this is critical
to our understanding of the gospel. If you believe that Jesus Christ
died for everybody without exception, you do not believe his death
saves. You believe there has to be something
you do to make his death work for you. That is salvation by
works. That's all it is. In 99% of, quote, Christianity,
it's taught that God loves you. Christ died for you. He paid
for your sins. Now you need to accept him as
your personal savior. And that's what's going to save
you. That's foolishness is all that is. It's foolishness. You're
making salvation by works. Listen, my only hope of being
saved is that Christ died for me. And if he can die for somebody
and they wind up in hell anyway, I know I'll wind up in hell anyway,
and I know that I have no hope of salvation. This is the very
heart and soul of the gospel. Christ's effectual work for his
elect. Now, when the gospel is preached
and when the altar is repaired, that is going to be the message
of successful, glorious atonement. Christ wasn't trying to save
people when he died. He was saving. If he was trying
to save everybody and they weren't saved, that means he's a failure.
That's all that means. He's a failure but thank God
he's successful. When he was repairing the altar
he brought out those 12 stones that represented Israel. Remember
Israel is representative of the elect of God. Everybody that
Christ died for is the Israel of God. Now turn with me for a moment
to Romans chapter 3. Verse 24, being justified. Now, when the
judge says, do you want to be justified or condemned? Has that
ever happened? It's up to you. Take your choice. You want to
be justified or condemned? Why, that's ridiculous. The judge
declares you to be justified or the judge declares you to
be condemned. And that is the living God. And
with regard to justification, being justified, this is true
of every believer, freely, by His grace, through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth or ordained
to be a propitiation. Now that word propitiation, that's
a big word. We don't hear it very often. It means a sin-removing
sacrifice. He's the propitiation for our
sins. He's removed our sins. But notice this next phrase,
through faith in his blood. Do you have faith in his blood?
Do you believe that his blood is all that's needed to make
you perfect before God? Faith in His blood. Now, if I don't believe in a
successful redemption for God's elect, I do not have faith in
His blood. I have faith in something else.
But all we have is faith in His blood, His person, His work,
His blood. Now, the sacrifice causes Jacob
to be Israel. Look in verse 31. Elijah took
12 stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of
Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel
shall be thy name. Jacob, that sinful man, you can't
read of his life and see anything but a weak, sinful man. That's Jacob. But because of
the sacrifice, Jacob's name is changed to Israel. a prince with
God. As a prince you have power and
have prevailed. Verse 32, and with the stones
he built an altar in the name of the Lord. Now remember, the
name of the Lord is who he is. It's not just the pronunciation
of his name. If you think of Todd Naubert,
you think of a certain person who has certain characteristics,
maybe bad, maybe good, but you think of the person. If I think
of your name, I think of the person behind the name. The name
of the Lord is the person behind the name. God's attributes, God's
character, and all that God is, is revealed in the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ, that altar of sacrifice. You find out His
character. You find out His sovereignty.
He purposed the cross. You find out of His holiness,
He cannot accept sin. You find out of His justice,
He's going to punish sin. You find His power to put away
sin. You find of his love, his grace,
his independence, he by himself purged our sins. All of God's
attributes are manifest in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's why it's so glorious. Now, for the rain to fall, for
the fire of God to fall, for the people to fall in worship,
For the false prophets to fall, here's what's going to have to
take place, the repairing of the cross. And remember, that
doesn't mean I'm doing something to make it repaired. No, it's
just the simple preaching of the cross. That's all God blesses. And I love what Charles Spurgeon
said. I've thought about it so many times. He said, if we narrow
our subject to nothing but the cross and never spake of anything
else, it would be a widening rather than a narrowing of our
preaching. May the Lord enable us to be
just like Elijah in this thing of repairing the altar, preaching
the cross. Here's the scripture I thought
of. Hebrews 10.14 says, for by one offering, That's his death
on the cross. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Now why would anybody want to
water that down? May God enable us to preach the
cross in this generation.