The Altar of Incense — Carter Conlon

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, Post Office Box 260, Lindale, Texas, 75771, or by calling 903 -963 -8626.

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The Altar of Incense and Rebuilding the Altar of Prayer

Exodus chapter 30. In a very few short weeks, Pastor Dave has called the church to a time of prayer, a solid week of prayer where we're going to be seeking the face of God, the direction of God, the blessing of God.

And I want to begin tonight to share one of a few messages that I'm going to be sharing on the topic of prayer over the next few weeks. And this one is called, The Altar of Incense, or you could subtitle it, Rebuilding the Altar of Prayer.

Father, I come before you tonight, and I ask for an anointing of your Holy Spirit. God, that you would touch the people, everyone who's gathered here in this building, that you would move us forward tonight, that when we come to prayer, that we can touch your heart.

And in touching your heart, we can cause your hand to move for the betterment of those that are around us, O God, and that your glory might be revealed and manifested through Christ Jesus throughout this earth.

Lord Jesus, I thank you that you're going to speak to hearts tonight, you're going to speak to lives tonight. I thank you for choosing me because I'm weak, O God, and I need your strength every moment, every hour.

I thank you for the anointing that does give eyesight to those who are spiritually blind, opens every prison door, and heals those that have been wounded in heart. I ask that the poor of spirit may have the treasure of Christ revealed to them tonight, O God.

And Lord, that you would sovereignly speak to every heart and to every life that you have gathered into this sanctuary tonight. Lord, may we be challenged and changed. And God, may we be provoked by the Holy Ghost to go deeper into the things of Christ, and to begin to come to the place where we consider it reasonable to lay our lives down as a living sacrifice for the cause of Christ.

Father, we thank you for this tonight. Thank you that you have a plan and a purpose for this evening and for every one of our lives. Help us now by the power of Jesus Christ to enter into that plan, and to walk in that plan, and to know the joy of walking in that fulfillment.

We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Exodus chapter 30, beginning at verse 1. I'll read through to verse 9. The altar of incense. And thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof.

Upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it, and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal. And thou shalt make the staves of chitum wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.

And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning. When he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps that even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.

You shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering, neither shall you pour drink offering thereon. Now in the Old Testament, there was an altar that God prescribed to be built.

And upon this altar was to be offered up incense, which was a type and shadow of the prayers that you and I offer up to God in this generation. The psalmist David said in Psalm 141 verse 2, He said, Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense.

David was saying, Oh God, when I raise my hands unto you and when I lift up my voice, whether it be in the morning or the afternoon or at evening time, whether it's in a time of absolute abundance or whether it's in a time of personal need, God, when I lift up my hands, let my prayer come up like a sweet savor before your nostrils and your throne.

Lord, may there be nothing in my life, may there be nothing in my prayer that will cause you to have to turn your face away from me. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense. How many of you tonight would like your prayer to be like that before God?

That when we come before the throne of the Lord and we lift up our hands and our voices, we know of a certainty that there is no obstruction between us and God the Father. That our prayers are coming up before the throne of God like a sweet savor, like a sweet incense before the throne of God.

And that it's pleasing to the Lord to answer our prayer as soon as it comes up before His throne. In the book of Revelation, chapter 5 and verse 8, it says,. And when He had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints.

Now in my Bible, the word odors has a little parentheses around it and they have substitute words or words that might further expand that down in the margin. And it says,. And golden vials full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

Isn't that an incredible thing? Today as we pray, our prayers come up before God if our lives are in right relationship as an incense before the throne of God. Now we know that God hears different types of prayer.

God hears the prayer of the sinner seeking salvation. Now here's somebody that's not even saved. And God hears this type of prayer. Somebody that's crying out. I remember I did that years ago. Oh God, are you really there?

Are you really real? Is there really a God? Aren't you thankful tonight that God hears that kind of prayer and answers the prayer of those that are seeking salvation. And many of you here tonight can testify that there was a time in your life when you called out to God.

You didn't even know who He was. But you began to call out to Him. And in His mercy, He heard your prayer and answered that prayer. God hears the prayer of the new Christian who's seeking for direction in their lives.

Those that have just come to Christ and are saying, Oh Lord Jesus, would you help me to understand your word? Would you help me to understand your will for my life? Would you help me to be able to understand the pastor when he preaches?

Would you help me to be able to understand so many things? However, there can come a time in our lives when our prayers can become strange incense before God. On this particular altar, as the Lord had told the children of Israel to construct, in verse 9, in Exodus chapter 30, He said, You shall offer no strange incense upon this altar.

If our lives are built on Christ, if we're walking wholeheartedly in right relationship with Him, we can have an assurance that our prayers are not strange incense before God. But there can come a time when the prayers of God's people become strange incense.

It's a time of maturity. It's a time when a person who has been schooled in the things of Christ, who knows the call and claim of Christ upon their lives, who's not a novice in the word of God, who has been to that altar, who has understood the dealings of God upon their life, it's a time when a person who ought to know God, has rejected all or part of His claim upon their lives.

All of a sudden, that person's prayer becomes strange incense before God. It used to be a sweet savor when they prayed in innocency. But God began to speak to them about areas of their lives. God began to reveal through His word that it's not just all fun and games to be a Christian.

There's a war to be fought. There are things to be done in the kingdom of God. And this particular person would have said, Lord, I refuse to go in that direction. No, you can't touch this part of my life.

No, you can't have that. That belongs to me. And all of a sudden, if we find ourselves getting in that particular frame of mind, our prayers are in danger of becoming strange incense upon that altar of God.

We begin to pray and our prayers come before the throne of God. And God says, who is this that's praying to me? What is this unsavory smell? It's the unsavory smell of an unsanctified life. That's what it is.

Somebody who is refusing to allow their whole being to be set apart for the purposes of God. Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are not our own. We are bought with a price. And we are called to glorify God in our body and our spirit, which are God's.

And it's such an erroneous thing to learn and never come to the knowledge of the truth. The Apostle Paul said there's going to be a final generation prior to the return of Christ who are always learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth.

They're never coming to the knowledge that our lives are not our own anymore. We are purchased with a price. And if we ever get to the point where we say no to God, that's the point where we begin to go backwards to the kingdom of God.

And the prayers that we used to pray that were such a sweet savor before the Lord now become a stench before the nostrils of God because they're coming out of those that have refused in maturity the call and claim of Christ upon their lives.

It's a serious thing. Look at the book of the prophet Isaiah, please, Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1. This is the Lord crying out through Isaiah about the condition of a nation called Israel brought about primarily because of the condition of His people, of God's people.

Isaiah’s Warning to a Nation Laden With Iniquity

I want you to see the parallel of the situation we face in North America today because of what's happened to the house of the Lord and because the prayers of God's people, many of them are strange incense before the Lord.

And I believe with all of my heart that when we go to that time of prayer and fasting before God that God wants our prayers to touch His throne. He wants our prayers to touch His heart. He looks continuously throughout the earth for opportunities to show Himself strong on behalf of those who love Him and those who believe Him and those whose lives are in right relationship with Him.

Beginning at verse 4, He says,. A people laden with iniquity. A seed of evildoers. Children that are corruptors. They have forsaken, this is Isaiah chapter 1, They have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger.

They have gone away backwards. These are a people who once knew God. You know the history of Israel. They walked with God. They loved God. But all of a sudden they started to go away backwards. Why should you be stricken anymore?

You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint. The leadership of the nations turned away from the Lord and began to make decisions that were contrary to the Word of God.

That's where He says,. The head is sick and the whole heart of the nation, a nation that once was strong, a nation that was known for its right standing on things, a nation that was known for its courage, had become faint hearted.

From the sole of the foot even into the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. There is an unsound unhealedness among the people all throughout the land.

Things that should have been bound up, had they known me, had they come to me, had they walked with me, they would have known what it was to be healed. They would have known what it was to be in a sound state of mind.

They would have known what it was to have past hurts cleansed and healed. They would have known what it was to have prison doors opened and they would have been bound up. But since they've turned the other way, there's no soundness in the nation anymore.

Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Your land, strangers devour it in your presence. And it is desolate, it is overthrown by strangers. Does that not parallel the situation in North America today?

A desolate country, cities burned with fire. The fire of passion is burning in the cities right now and there's coming a day when literal fire is going to burn in the cities as sinners and sin reigns unchecked among the hearts and lives of men.

Strangers are devouring your land right in your own presence. It's desolate and overthrown. And verse 8 says,. And the daughter of Zion, the choice, the apple of God's eye, is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

Here's the daughter of Zion, those that should have known God, those that should have loved Him, those that should have understood His will, those whose prayers should have been touching the very heart of God and causing Him to move with compassion on behalf of the nation, is left as a besieged city.

In other words, they're in little groups, in little clumps and fortresses while all of the enemies are all around them, supposedly in a position of virtually almost overthrowing them. Verse 9 he says,.

Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we would have been as Sodom and we would have been like unto Gomorrah. Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of he goats.

When you come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts? Verse 13 says, Bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination unto me. In other words he is saying, There has come a time when your incense has become an abomination.

The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with it. It is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hates. They are a trouble unto me.

I am weary to bear them. Now these are a very religious people. They are coming before the Lord. They are offering incense upon their altars. They have feast days set apart for God. They have all kinds of things.

They have not ceased in their religious activity. But listen to the response of God to these people whose hearts have turned back and left their nation in a state of absolute disaster. Verse 15 he says, When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.

Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. In other words, you have hated your brother and you are a murderer. That is what it says in the New Testament. Your hands are full of blood.

Don't come near me. Wash you. Make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek judgment. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow.

Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be like wool. Bring no more vain oblations.

You know folks, you can't call an unholy and unsurrendered nation or church age to prayer. It just doesn't work. We have had throughout in the past, we've had calls to prayer throughout the nation. Somebody gets a bright idea.

I don't know if it's been the same here in the United States. It certainly has been in Canada. Let's call the nation to prayer. And so they go to the printer and they print a whole bunch of pamphlets and spread them out throughout all the nation talking about all the troubles in the country and they call an unholy and an unsurrendered and an unsanctified people to prayer.

And God says even though you spread your hands before me, I will hide my eyes from you. You make many prayers, I will not hear because your hands are full of blood. You can't call a backslidden and lukewarm church age to prayer because God won't hear that prayer either.

Bring no more vain oblations to me. Your incense has become an abomination to me. You should have known better, O house of God, but you have chosen to walk in your own ways and you've set all my counsel to nothing.

And therefore when your calamity comes upon you, I will not hear you. Isaiah chapter 66, he says the prayers of the self-willed are as if they blessed an idol. Turn there with me. Let's look at this.

Because when we come to prayer as a church body, we want to make sure that our prayers are going to touch the throne of God and the heart of God. I don't think there's anybody here tonight that you want to come and begin to pray for a week and waste your time before God.

I know I certainly don't. I want to know that my prayers are touching the heart of my Heavenly Father. I want to know that my life's in right relationship with Him. I want to come before Him with such an assurance that I cannot be denied.

I have been reading in the past about revivals of old when God moved upon nations and touched the hearts of many people. And I read one account of a young man that was in a prayer meeting before the outpouring of God's Spirit began in that generation.

And he said they prayed in that prayer meeting as if they would not be denied. As if they knew that they were before the throne of God. They were touching the heart of God. And God could not say no to their prayers.

Hallelujah! Oh, hallelujah! That's my heart's desire. That's my heart's cry. That when I come before the throne of God, I know my Heavenly Father can't turn me down because I'm walking in right relationship.

I know that when my children, when they're walking in right relationship with God and with their Father, I know that when they come before me and ask for something that's not to consume upon their lust but something that they need, I can't turn them down.

If my son came into the house one day and said, Dad, my friend is drowning in the river, I would do everything within my power to go into that river and get his friend out and save him from drowning. If my daughter came home and said, Dad, our neighbor's house is on fire, I would do everything that I could to go next door and to get those people out of that house and bring them to safety.

How much more when we come in in right relationship before God? How much more will God the Father not desire to move His hand? It's not His will that any should perish, but all should come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

I believe with all my heart He waits for a church that's in right relationship with Him through Jesus Christ to come before His throne and say, Lord God, our friends are drowning in the rivers of life and sin.

Their houses are on fire. They don't even know it. My covenant, God, come. Give us strength. Do something, Lord God. And save them. Save them. Save them. It's the heart of our Heavenly Father to move in compassion and save those that are lost.

When He finds somebody, John Knox standing on a hill over Scotland crying out to God, Give me Scotland or I die. And God moves heaven and earth. It's Evan Roberts in the Welsh Revival before it began, standing up, just an average layman, not even a preacher of the gospel, standing up having asked his pastor permission to share in his service.

And he stands up and shares the things he believes that God's been speaking to his heart. And at the end of his little simple message, he just looks towards heaven and cries out, Bend us, O God. Bend us, O God.

Bend us, O God. And a move of God's Spirit, a wave of His Spirit came on that assembly and bent the whole assembly before God. And within two and a half years, over 225 ,000 people had come to Jesus Christ.

Somebody had touched the heart of God. He that kills an ox, Isaiah says, is as if he slew a man. Isaiah 66, chapter 66, verse 3. He that kills an ox is as if he slew a man. He that sacrifices a lamb is as if he cut off a dog's neck.

He that offered an oblation is as if he offered swine's blood. He that burns incense is as if he blessed an idol. Why? It says, yea, because they have chosen their own ways and their soul delights in their abominations.

But yet, there's a certain people that God will hear. In verse 2 he says, For all those things have mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord. But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word.

I will look to this man or this woman who is humble in heart, who acknowledges my lordship and my kingship, and who trembles when they read my word. They take every word of this to be the truth. They don't have a nonsensical or flippant attitude towards my word.

They understand that what I say is what I mean. And if this person will approach my throne, I will bow down, I will listen to them. Their prayer will touch my heart and I'll move heaven and earth to respond to them.

The Cross as the Foundation of Prayer

Now back in Exodus chapter 30, the Lord gives us some designs of this altar. I believe the designs of this Old Testament altar is a type and shadow of the altar of prayer that God wants us to design around our lives in this generation.

Verse 1, I want to just pick out 4 characteristics of this altar. He said now it's on this altar that you're going to offer incense and this incense is going to bless me, it's going to please me. In chapter 30 verse 1, he says, Thou shalt make an altar to burn incense thereupon.

Of chitin wood shalt thou make it. This altar, number 1, is to be made of wood. And in the New Testament Christian's life, the altar of prayer is to have the cross as its focal point. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2 says, Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Those who approach God at this place of prayer, they recognize that their righteousness is of Him and Him alone. They are deeply grateful in their approach to Christ. Are you grateful when you approach Christ?

Do you acknowledge tonight when you come to God the Father that you can only come there through Jesus Christ? It's not because of any good works that we have done. It's not because of any righteousness we possess within ourselves apart from Christ.

It's because of the cross of Calvary. It's because of what He did for you and me that I am able to approach the throne of God and there's no other reason. These people are not self-made. They're not self-willed.

They are absolutely surrendered. They're surrendered to the cross. As Christ surrendered His will and His life for them, they too faced the cross and all it represents with a determination to surrender their rights and their lives so that the purposes of God might be accomplished through them.

They come to God and they say, Lord, I realize, Father, that I can only come before Your throne because of what Jesus did for me. He surrendered His life for me. And because of this, I can know this day that my name is written down in the Lamb's book of life.

I can know this day that I'm going to spend an eternity in heaven. I can know this day that I'm standing right this moment before Your throne and my prayer is not bouncing off some wall somewhere but it's coming absolutely directly before You as a sweet incense before You.

And as Christ has surrendered His life for me, Father, I consider it reasonable to surrender my life for Your purposes and Your plans for me and for my life. That Your plans might be accomplished and Your purposes might be accomplished through me.

That's the altar of sweet incense that God wants our prayers to be founded upon. It's the altar where Isaiah cried after seeing the holiness of God. He didn't say, Lord, send somebody. He said, Lord, hear my, send me, send me, send me.

It's not an easy thing, folks. Sometimes it's hard. God will send you places you never dreamt you were going to go. He will use you in ways you never believed that He was going to use you. But ultimately, that's the cry that God begins to answer.

That's the prayer that He can move with power towards. Lord, I lay my life down as a living sacrifice for Your purposes. And I consider it reasonable, O God, that You should use my life. Touch my life.

Touch my heart. Touch my home. Everything I have, everything I am belongs to You, Lord God. Let Christ be magnified through my life. That others around me may come to freedom and may escape the snare of sin in this generation.

The altar of prayer is designed of wood. It's designed around the cross. And you're never going to get around the cross if you're going to get to God. There are people in this generation who try to get to God and try to avoid the cross.

There are whole churches and whole movements in this generation that have a crossless gospel and somehow think that their prayers are touching the heart of God. That's absolute foolishness. Absolute foolishness.

You can't get around the cross when you're coming to God. You can't get around Christ, the sacrifice of Christ. Nor can you get around the claim that God has made on our lives through Jesus Christ. We have been bought.

We are bond slaves to Jesus Christ, as the Apostle Paul said. It's no longer I who live. It's Christ who lives in me. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. But the life now that I live, I live through the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Hallelujah. It would be to God in this generation that He could find a people who are willing to abandon themselves for His purposes. Who are willing to abandon themselves that the kingdom of God may go forward in this darkened age.

Hallelujah. It is through the prayers of such a church that heaven will move its hand. It's through the prayers of such a church that conviction will fall upon the sinner. The Holy Ghost will be magnified.

He will lift up Christ and bring the knowledge of sin. Bring the knowledge of the coming judgment. And bring the knowledge of the righteousness God offers through His Son, Jesus Christ. Verse 4, in Exodus 30, it says,.

This altar was designed to be carried. On each of the corners was a ring that was designed to be attached to the altar. And there were long poles put through that rings. And that altar could be picked up and carried and moved from place to place.

Jesus said in Matthew chapter 16, You'll hear that word tonight. I will look at the person, the Lord says, who hears my word and trembles at it. Whoever will save his life shall lose it. And the context of that verse is, Whoever lives his life for himself.

Lives his life for his own comfort. Lives his life for his own gain. Lives his life for his own glory. Tries to get through this whole life in as much ease as is absolutely possible. Will ultimately lose it.

He will lose out with God in every way. But whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. This altar of prayer is designed to be carried. It's a determination to find and fulfill his will in our lives.

Even though it may carry with it personal costs and hardship. Hallelujah. That's the altar of prayer that God is looking for from his people. It's to find that place. Oh God, what would you have me to do?

Where would you have me to go? It begins with simple obedience. Sometimes people get confused because they think that the moment I pray that I'm going to wind up in Africa on a wagon somewhere preaching the gospel.

You might end up there. But that's about 15 years down the road after you start praying that prayer. It starts with, he's going to ask you to be a servant where you are. He's going to ask you to stand up and be an honest, not a nuisance, but an honest witness for Christ where you work.

He's going to ask you to be an honest neighbor and to have good and honest dealings with those that are around you. He's going to ask simple things of you. You don't give a baby a chainsaw. You don't.

My little son came up to me when he was five and said, Daddy, I feel big enough to use a chainsaw out in the bush now. I wouldn't give it to him because he's not ready. He's not a man yet. He's not skilled enough.

And as you begin to ask God for His will for your life, He'll begin to reveal it in the little things. And all He requires of you is that you walk in obedience to the things that He reveals to you. And then you can have that assurance that your prayers are coming up before God.

And then He begins to ask a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more. And it will produce in you a determination to find and absolutely fulfill His will in your life, even though it may carry with it personal cost or hardship.

Hallelujah. Verse 3 in Exodus 30, Thou shalt overlay it. This is that altar of incense. Thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof. And thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.

This altar was made of wood. It was designed to be carried.

This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two.

Gold, Truth, and the Word of God

The whole top of it was covered with gold. There was a church in Revelation that Jesus spoke to that was rich and increased with goods and thought they had need of nothing. And He said to this church,.

But you're wretched and pitiful and poor and blind and naked. And in chapter 3, verse 18, He says, I counsel you to buy of Me gold tried in the fire. I counsel you to buy of Me something that's enduring, eternal and everlasting.

And I believe that what He was speaking to that church is I counsel you to buy of Me the pure word of God. I counsel you to get back into the Bible again. I counsel you to let the word of God examine and prove your life.

And then, because in the next sentence He says,. And white raiment and white clothing to put on that your nakedness would not appear. You can't get that white clothing apart from coming to the word of God in truth.

You can't get it apart from having an absolute revelation of Christ as it applies to each one of us in our individual lives. They have embraced the truth and the truth has set them free, those that pray upon this altar.

They have embraced the word of God, not just on the outside but on the inside. And the truth has begun at least the process of bringing them to liberty in Christ Jesus. This is in opposition to what God cried out through Isaiah.

In Isaiah chapter 1, He said, There's no soundness, there are wounds and putrefying sores unhealed by the healing ointment of Jesus Christ. But as opposed to this, there is a generation, there are people who really do come to God and they really do embrace God.

And the truth moves in their life and brings them to a place of freedom. Is that where you want to go as a church body? Do you want to come to a place of freedom? Do you want to come to a place where Christ is all and everything in your life?

And you can stand and know wholeness, not because of who you are, but because of who Christ is within you and I. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Truth is a forever quest of those at this altar. It's not something you just seek for one time and one time alone.

They're not content just to know truth, but they desire that the truth would know them. I found that to be a transitional point in my walk with God. There was a season where I came to church and I would memorize scripture and I would dig into books of the Bible as a young man.