Is Your Altar Broken — E.A. Johnston

I want to read us a quote from Alan Redpath, the former pastor of Moody Church in Chicago, and listen to his words, friends, before they set the stage for my message today. Redpath wrote these words over 60 years ago, but they're very applicable to our situation today.

The Church's Loss of Spiritual Power

Today, the Christian church is helpless, behind the scenes, and away from the public arena. We are facing powers of darkness, too strong for us, because somewhere in our personal lives we have forfeited our right to the Spirit's anointing, His authority, and His power.

In His absence, all we can do is to substitute planning and organization, schemes and techniques. I agree with Redpath, and I believe that's where we are today, friends. I believe the weekly prayer meeting used to be the power engine of the church, but I fear today many have run out of gas.

Prayer as the Church's Powerhouse

One day, a visitor came to Charles Spurgeon's church, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, and Spurgeon gave the young man a tour of the church. He asked the young visitor as they descended a flight of stairs leading to the basement if he'd like to see the powerhouse of the church.

The young man thought Spurgeon would lead him to the boiler room, but instead he opened a door where 300 deacons were on their knees in prayer, and he commented, That's the powerhouse of this church, and those 300 deacons would stay in that basement on their faces in prayer before God the whole time Spurgeon was upstairs preaching.

It's no wonder his messages carried such power. And I want to dig into God's word with you today, friends, for I believe there's some buried treasure here, if we'll take the time to seek it in earnest.

Elijah's Contest and the Broken Altar

Our text today can be found in 1 Kings chapter 18. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We will be looking at the familiar passage of scripture, dealing with the prophet Elijah's contest with the prophets of Baal.

The title of my message today, friends, is Is Your Altar Broken? And I want to introduce my message by reading two verses, beginning with verses 27 and 28. Listen to the word of God. And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, Cry aloud, for he is a god.

Either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked. And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their manor with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out upon them.

Honest Diagnosis of Broken Devotional Altars

In our churches today, friends, our modus operandi's been to get by as best as we can without God, and we've been doing it so long that I fear we haven't even missed him. But we have to be honest with ourselves and admit it's been a while since the fire has fallen amongst us.

We have to be honest enough to admit we've been getting by for too long now, operating with broken altars. We've been doing all sorts of activities in the flesh and cutting ourselves and making noise to no avail, for all we get for our efforts is silence.

It's been a while since we've seen the power of God in a meeting. Perhaps it's time we follow in the footsteps of old Elijah and do what he did and admit that the altar of our heart in our devotional time is broken down and in need of repair, that our prayer lines aren't as they should.

Repairing and Rebuilding the Altar

I want to draw out several aspects from our passage today, friends, and I believe if we go and do likewise, we'll be better off from our efforts. Look in your Bibles at 1 Kings 18 and verses 30 -33, 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. Let me pause here, friends. We must be honest with ourselves and ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts to see if our devotional altar has become broken down.

Do you spend time with God as often as you used to, friend? Is your heart broken over the things that break the heart of God? Do we weep over the lost like we used to? Do we pray for revival with a burden like we regularly once did?

Is our altar broken down through misuse and neglect? So notice the first aspect here is that Elijah repairs the altar, and this is the very thing we need to do. We must be honest enough with ourselves before God and admit our walk with God is less than it once was.

It's broken down and in need of repair. Now let's look at verse 32. And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. This is the next step, friends. We must build back up what has become broken down through a daily regular quiet time with our Lord.

Stephen Oford was the one who taught me the emphasis of a daily devotional time. What devotional time I have today I owe to Stephen Oford. He wrote a little booklet called Manna in the Morning, and I highly recommend it to you.

Daily Sacrifice and a Living Surrender

Well, let's take a look at verse 33. And he put the wood in order and cut the bollock in pieces and laid them on the wood. I believe, friends, this is the most necessary aspect of our daily walk with God.

Is the wood of our lives in order? Are we living sacrifices before our God? Do we present ourselves as living sacrifices like the Apostle Paul admonishes us to do 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. Are we really living our lives in an attitude of surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ?

Is there a sacrifice involved? I remember, years ago, I read a story about David Wilkerson, the author of The Cross and The Switchblade, and I was impressed by a facet in Wilkerson's life. Early in his ministry, he was a country pastor who spent hours of midnight to 2 a .m. watching television to unwind and relax.

Well, one evening, God challenged Wilkerson to give that time to him. Wilkerson sold his TV and never replaced it, and from that point forward, he gave God midnight to 2 a .m. in prayer. It was a regular facet in his life until he died, and it was during this time that God called Wilkerson to New York City to minister among teen gang members, eventually starting a teen challenge.

I realized that God did not reveal this wider ministry opportunity to Wilkerson until he chose to go deeper with God in a sacrificial, daily, quiet time with Him. Well, I had maintained a regular, daily, quiet time for years, but lately, my time with the Lord was missing something.

The Fire of God and the Return of Revival

My altar was broken down in an area, and I realized there was no sacrifice attending my devotional time, and the God of the Bible delights in sacrifice, for He sacrificed His only begotten Son for a sinful man.

Listen, friends, God desires us to have a vital intimacy with Him in our daily walk with Him, and it's imperative that we examine ourselves right now to see first, is our altar broken down? If so, we must do what is necessary to repair it, and then exercise the daily discipline to build it up again to where it once was.

Then there must be the attendant sacrifice of our fleshly desires, placing the wood in order to be burnt up, so to speak. Then when we do all this, what happens next, friends? Well, look at verse 38. Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice.

I like the last poem that Evan Roberts wrote as an old man right before he died. Evan Roberts of the Welsh Revival. He wrote,. Here I have built my altar,. The wood I've placed in order,. The sacrifice is ready now,.

Send, O Lord, the fire,. And that's what we need, friends,. A sacrificial quiet time that is attended with fire, why, this very thing would bring the weekly prayer meeting back into our churches. On Wednesday nights, instead of prayer, it's become a teaching time.

But years ago, you could enter a sanctuary in the middle of the week and find the broken-hearted people of God on their faces, weeping over the lost and the sins of the land. How can we call ourselves church if the carpet in our sanctuary isn't stained with the tears of the saints?

Restoring the Broken Altars

It all comes down to repairing our broken altars. Let me ask you, friend, is your altar broken? God knows if it is. Let us pray.