Repairing the Altar of the Lord — Peter Brandon

1 Kings 18 and we shall read from this. Those of us who are not too familiar with the narrative we'll find it interesting to note that a very wicked king came to the throne of Israel whose name is Ahab and Probably he was one of the worst kings that ever reigned over Israel.

When he came to the throne he not only disturbed the people of Israel. But he married a Gentile whose name was Jezebel and through her she seduced the people of Israel to worship Bell. And Something took place in Israel that was obnoxious to God.

The house of Bell was actually raised up in Israel. And the scripture says that Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him and. And then there came a man on the scene whose name was Elijah.

Elijah’s Fearless Stand Before Ahab

He comes from nowhere. He comes on to the scene. And he stands before this king and he says as the Lord God of Israel live it live it before whom I stand. Now that's the man of God. The man of God doesn't stand before people he stands before God.

And a man that fears God will not fear men. The fear of man comes. Because we do not fear God. And here was a man who was fearless because he stood before the Lord and he had a reverential fear for God.

And then he goes off into a seeming oblivion. Of course God knew where he was and then in the 18th chapter From hiding God says to this man of God go and show thyself and He has just now challenged according to one Kings 18 All the prophets of Bell and he mocked them because through their prayers no fire came from heaven.

Repairing the Broken Altar

And now the man of God is going to begin this great work of renewal and repair and it begins at verse. 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.

And Elijah took twelve 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, would you please note the word Israel?

That is very important in these and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. So there are two names Israel and the name of the Lord and He made a trench about the altar as great as would contain two measures of feet.

Now this is the only altar in Scripture where there was a trench that's why you will find that this is a totally unique order and He put what in order and cut the bullet in pieces and laid him on the wood and said Fill four barrels with water.

And pour it upon the on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. And he said do it the second time and they did it the second time and he said do it the third time and they did it the third time and The water ran round about the altar and he filled the trench also with water.

And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. That Elijah the prophet came near and said Lord God of Abraham Isaac and of Israel. Let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant and that I have done all these things at thy word.

Hear me O Lord hear me that this people may know that thou art the Lord God and that thou has turned their hearts back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell. And consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust now notice what follows and Licked up the water that was in the trench.

So there are two words the consuming. And the licking up of the water and those two words really need to be Underlined in your Bible if you are fond of doing that because those two statements are tremendously important.

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. And Elijah said unto them take the prophets of Baal. Let not one of them escape and they took them and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and Lo the bear.

Now, you will notice that there is no compromise at all with this man of God. He immediately slays the enemies of God in one way. This was what Saul should have done with the Amalekites, but he refused to do it and alas It was an Amalekite that slay him.

Isn't that so? That's 41. And Elijah said unto Ahab get thee up. Eat and drink for there is a sound of abundance of rain. Now. This is the strange paradox. There was no sign of rain. The fire had come down.

But there wasn't a cloud in the sky that the man of God knew that there was going to be abundance of rain. Because the water had been licked up and we shall see the significance of that in a few minutes.

So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. Elijah went up to the top of Carmel and he cast himself down upon the earth and noticed his claws and put his face between his knees and And said to his servant go up now and look toward the sea and he went up and looked and said There is nothing and he said go again seven times.

And it came to pass at the seventh time that he said behold there arises a little cloud out of the sea like a man's hand. Now notice not like a man's foot or a man's face. Like a man's hand. Now we are free the significance of that in a few minutes and remember Elijah was a man of prayer and He said go up and say unto Ahab Prepare thy chariot and get thee down.

That the rain stopped enough. And it came to pass in the meanwhile. That the heaven was black with clouds and wind and there was a great rain and Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah and he gutted up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel and he is the only man in his breath that ever beat a running race horse and That man would have broken all records and he did that in the energy of the power of the Holy Spirit.

How wonderful is our God now the Lord will bless to us. The readings of the sacred scriptures in the Old Testament we find a very clear outline for blessing. Whilst in the Old Testament we find God's consequence if those conditions are not met and Those of us who are familiar with the book of Deuteronomy and especially with the second of Chronicles chapter 6 and 7.

We'll know that God gave them a blueprint for blessing and also a blueprint for baroness and those principles go right the way through the Bible and The principles that mark Israel are really the same principles that mark the church of God.

Old Testament Principles of Blessing and Barrenness

We know that we are no longer under law praise God for that. We're under grace, but the principles of God whether they're in the Old Testament or the New Testament. Always about. And so in the Old Testament, we find that when the children of Israel were disobedient God would make the heavens like brass.

Or he did not make the heavens like brass. There would be pestilence among the people. And if there were not pestilence among the people then he would command the locusts to desire their crops. But if the people of God would humble themselves and pray and take the face of God.

Then God would again put his name among them so that they might become a delights and less. Now my brothers and sisters. I want to share with you tonight some few thoughts about baroness and about truthfulness.

If God is not blessing the witness of any local church. It is a sign of the disapproval of God. And it's a simple and a factual event if God is blessing the witness of a local church so that the church is growing through confession and That the church is being built up in their most holy faith.

It's a sign of the approval of God. God's smile is upon that group of people. You will never find a group of people who are spiritual. Who are being edified who do not multiply? Wherever you find in the book of the act in the Old Testament or the New Testament.

When God's people were edified they always multiply. But when they were not edified there was this ugly thing called suppression. Now I feel sure that most of us tonight are here because we are hungry for reality.

We are longing to see a genuine movement of the faith. We're all tired of gimmicks aren't we? We're all tired of Professionalism and we want to see a genuine movement of the Spirit of God. Now if we want to see something that's genuine we must get back to the book and we must get back to God.

And if we are prepared to do that God will meet us and bless us and it's as simple as that. Now here tucked away in 1 Kings 18 we find some principles about the author of God that will show us a great secret in the realm of revival and First of all, I want you to note that the author here that's mentioned is a broken order.

False Fervor Without the Fire of God

I Want you to look at these prophets of death. As you looked at the prophets of Bell, they looked fanatical and they look feverish with zeal. And I suppose in one way that is why that they were deceived by them.

The Bell worship was not as sensual and as sexual as the worship of Asteros. The Asteros God was a God of nudity and it was a God that they looked at that created within their hearts sensual desires. Although Bell worship was a wicked form of worship and it was totally anti God.

It had some morality attached to it. And I suppose that's why Israel was deceived by this wicked woman who was a Sehuphor Jezebel. But when the test came and what a test it was about fire coming from heaven the prophets of Bell were put right on the spot concerning reality and They made their altar.

They made their prayer. In fact as you look at their prayers, you see first of all, they cried aloud. So they were fervent. Then you find them dancing upon the altar and jumping upon the altar. So they're feverish.

Then you see them being fanatical and they cut themselves with knives they mutilated the flesh and therefore as we watch these prophets of Bell they have something attached to them like the charismatic fervent feverish.

They're fiery, they're fanatical, but there's no fire, there's no fire. Now we must be very careful about the fever and the feverishness of human activity. It can look like a real spiritual movement, but my brothers and sisters there's a very little fire in it.

In fact so much of it explains. So may I say this to all? Do not get taken in by a show of the flesh. Do not get taken in by feverish manifestation. Remember the old saying it's not in the Bible, but it's perfectly true not everything that glitters is gold and We must remember this.

That sometimes all of us get taken in by the exterior and by the manifestation of zeal that can come from the flesh. Now I want you to note now the man of God. First of all, he says to the scattered Israelites come near unto me.

I Think that's it. The man of God who comes among the children of God. Irrespective of their conditions will never scatter. Any movement that scatters and divides the people of God is not of God. And it's a failure.

Every prophet of God that was used of God in revival always United the people of God and never segregated. You remember that nasty movement in Israel's history. That was never healed and you know how it came it came through the legality of Rehoboth.

And it came through the liberalism of Jeroboam and From that moment Israel was divided and it was never united and it came because of the legality of Rehoboam who wanted to put pressure upon the Israelites beyond the law of God and Because they swung in one direction the other side went in the other direction.

And so you had the liberals coming in for Jeroboam. And that you had. I don't. And so brothers and sisters, we must keep from those two extremes and we must carefully follow the Word of God. But now the man of God he calls to the people of God and he says with all the love that was in his heart Come near Unto me and they came this.

You see these prophets of Bill they were so fanatical they were so feverish. They were so caught up with mutilating the flesh that it frightened the people. They got scared. They wondered what they were going to do.

There was such demonstrations of the flesh that they must have said my they're going to kill themselves. Have you ever been in a meeting like that? I? Was in one meeting month and they're almost think swinging on the chandelier.

I think he was almost swinging on the chandelier. It was terrible. It frightened me and I don't want to be in a meeting like that again. But here was this lovely man of God that says come Unto me and they come here and He repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down now.

We can say this with absolute authority the altar always speaks of the cross. No matter where you find it. Whether you find the altar that's mentioned in the New Testament in the Hebrew or in the Old Testament.

Irrespective where you read of the altar it always speaks of the cross and here is a man That's going to repair the altar that was broken down now. Why? There is one message that the devil hates. One message and that's the cross of Christ.

That is why the Apostle Paul says the God of this world have blinded the minds of them that believe not. Lest the light of the glory of God. Which is the image of God should shine upon? You see there is one message that Satan positively hates and that's the gospel.

And the reason why he hates the gospel because the centrality of the gospel is the cross. And any good gospel preacher will surround the cross in every address. When we get to heaven, what is the theme of eternity the great outpouring of the Spirit?

No way in which the mighty Lamb of God came into this world through the immaculate conception. No way in which the Son of Man will come and he will reign upon this earth as the mighty King. Will it be the way in which the bridegroom will come and take his children from the earth to be with himself.

Before the wrath of God falls upon the earth. No Central point of heaven will be worthy is the Lamb that was slain. That's the point. And any movement that does not emphasize the centrality of the cross my brothers and sisters Cannot really be involved.

It's the cross that's the heart of all God's dealing with it. And so you can see that he repairs the altar that was broken down. But there's something more about that repaired altar that was broken down.

The cross is not only God's dealing with sinful men and women. The cross is God's dealings the center of God's dealings with his people. We Shall never know what? Consecration basically means until we understand the cross.

For instance a man might listen to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ for years and yet the revelation of it will never come to us. But there comes a moment in a believer's life when the cross of the Lord Jesus is preached and two great facts are seen.

First of all the fact that Christ died for my sins and that gives me a shock when I look at the cross and see the agony of the Son of God on that cross and when I hear him saying My God my God why has thou forsaken me and I realized that he was forsaken for my sins.

That gives me the biggest shock I've ever had and I begin to say Lord Jesus did you die for my life? My life. My private sins. Yes, and my sins caused your death. Yes I'm deadly serious. Then you say he doesn't believe you.

One moment the soul receives a shock the next moment the soul receives a surprise. That he loves me unto death. When those two facts have gripped our hearts then within our hearts. There is that dualistic fact of repentance and faith and that's what makes us a child of God.

But then the child of God must come back to the cross. It is going to be truly consecrated and this time he must see at the cross not so much Christ dying for his sins. But Christ dying and he dying in Christ.

Oh. If only we could say that. I suppose everyone in this room tonight sees quite clearly that when the Savior died on that central cross He died for our sins, but how many of us really see that when Christ died we died in him and when he was buried we were buried with him and When he was raised again, we were raised again with him and this is the grounds of our justification.

And therefore in the sight of God we have died in Christ. We have been buried in Christ. We have been raised again in Christ, you know, sometimes I tease people in order to get this through. I said to a dear brother that I knew very well quite recently and he was far from it in a natural way.

I said Matt I heard that you were dead. What me? Dead? Yes, dead. My word knows. Where did you hear that Peter? Oh, I said from good authority. Did I die? Yes. Would the others know? Oh, I said lots of people would know.

He says where's your authority? And so I took him to Colossians. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are of us. Where Christ is it on the right hand of God set your affections on things above and not on things on the earth.

So you're dead you're dead and Your life is hit with Christ in God. Oh, he said that gives me a sigh of relief when I said dear brother Matt it shouldn't you should say praise the Lord I am dead. If only we would live out that great truth, wouldn't it dear brother?

The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ not only deals with our sins it not only deals with our old man. The cross of Christ deals with the world. God forbid that I should glory save him. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified.

Unto me and I unto the world the same cross That links us with the father is the same cross that separates us from the world and the Lord Jesus Christ died. That we might be delivered from this present evil world and you know what that word deliver means.

Just as the angel of the Lord went down to the city of Sodom and Delivered Lot and his family out of it. So the cross wants to deliver us from this system of this evil world. Now brothers and sisters, I'm going back soon to the old country, but I Say this to you in love.

I've been almost Thunderstruck with amazement. That Christian people in Australia are frequent in cinema. Watching films. That are censure and sexual and they're more concerned with the football man than with the assembly of God.

The altar has been broken down. And instead of the cross of Christ bringing them to God. And the cross of Christ separating the flesh in their lives and taking them out of this present evil world. It's all been broken down and we've got the church in the world together now my brothers and sisters.

Could I say this plainly and bluntly if you want to be just a social movement and lose all your power. There in with the world. But if you want the power of God. You see that the altar has been broken down and rebuilt.

For that's the sacred of it. Have a look now at this repaired altar. It's a beautiful altar and I want to share it with you now and Elijah took 12 stones according to the tribes of the sons of Jacob and So he begins his revival with the altar and quite frankly if you haven't got any sanctified imagination.

You will never see the beauty of this revival and there's the old prophet the man That walked with God the man who lived perhaps in a camel skin very similar to John the Baptist the hairy prophet. And there he is.

He looks at the altar and all he could see was absolute confusion. There would be the blood of the fanatical prophets staining the stones of the altar. And there were they were totally exhausted and my dear friends, that's the flesh.

After all the energy of the flesh has been Extended that's what you say. Nothing but confusion and I can imagine the prophets smiling before there's a tinge of humor with this prophet. You remember the way in which he mocked them.

There's something real about this man of God and he says right now we must repair the altar of God and he starts. Now, how are we going to do? Well in our building the Apostle Paul tells us that we've got to make sure that we build upon a firm foundation.

Building the Church on Christ and Scripture

Now, what is that foundation? The foundation is Christ. Well, you say that's quite simple, isn't it brother Peter? Oh, no. You see there in Corinth. They were building on other foundations. They were building on Peter.

They were building on Paul. They were building on Cephas. Who was Peter? Cephas. He was a man who was subject to legality. He could sometimes submit to circumstances and Paul would put him to the test.

Paul. He was the man who saw the truth of the one body. He was a polytheist. He was an intellectual. A man that knew the scriptures and was mighty in the scriptures. But had a very refined approach to things and probably had a smothering of the Greek philosophy in his mind.

And so we have a man that's associated with legality. You have another man that's associated with the liberal truth and another man that's associated with Intellectualism and they were building on this.

No wonder the Apostle Paul said Paul is nothing. Who's a polytheist? Nothing. One is just a sower and the other is just a waterer. It's God that gives the increase. And if we're going to build we must not build on men we must build on Christ.

Now brethren and sisters, you may feel that this is very elementary. But it's not. You know, we are living in a day when even Christians are getting taken up with a personality cult. When I meet with them, I hear them saying have you heard this man that man now that shouldn't be said.

Thank God for the gift in the chest. But the center of all our thinking and the center of all our talking should be the Lord Jesus. We should build on and if we build on Christ we're safe. But then how shall we build?

What kind of structure shall we build? Well, the assembly is the house of God. Now another thing that's really frightening. Now, I do not know what kind of truth you hold here, but I just want to be God's simple servant.

If we do not now build on the Word of God. We're going to be sin today. Now we must be a group of people that stand Four where on the book and we must be book men and women. Now, this is what I find it.

Truth that have governed the church for four hundred years and never have been questioned. They're all being thrown in the mezzanine. Some people are saying something like that. Oh, well, of course, we don't need that now.

That was all for Paul's time. Well, my dear friends if it's all for Paul's time. We certainly don't need the New Testament very much apart from the poor gospel. Now could I say this to brethren who have the responsibility of ruling the church?

Make sure that your respected local church follows the Word of God. And if you follow the Word of the Lord, the Lord will bless you. We must, oh brothers. Let me say this, we must build that with your scriptures.

Otherwise we're going to see an assembly pattern just dip into that. And I can see it now with young and old. And once God has given us light and thank God he has given us light if we turn our backs upon it we become transgressed and All may it be if I may say this to you in love that God will raise up a new generation of even young men and young women that will reveal the scriptures and speak to us and.

Then I want you to note not only the foundation not only the structure. But the material. You could build says the Apostle of wood, hail, stubble. Or you can build on gold, silver and precious stones.

Now if I had some gold in my hand I could put it in my small pocket and you wouldn't notice it. But if I had the same measure of hay you would need two carts full to be brought into the hall. You see one looks a massive amount of material.

The other is insignificant but look at the difference in wealth and what the Apostle is simply saying. Don't build upon that which looks a lot. Build upon that which is going to stand the test of the past.

And one day we're all going to stand before the Beamer the judgment seat of Christ. And we're not going to be judged according to our sins praise God they've already been judged. We've passed from death unto life, but God's going to judge our service.

And every young man will have his service judged. Every young woman will have her service judged. Every sister will have her service judged. Every brother will have his service judged. And we're going to be judged according to the material that we put into our bed.

Now my dear friends I cannot speak to you tonight because I'm doing the speaking you're doing the listening. But I want to say this before God if what I am saying now is in the power of the flesh. It will all be burned up.

If what I am saying now is before God and it's honoring God and it's according to the book. It will come out of the fire like gold silver. Precious stone. Shall we build of a good material? Let's build on Christ.

Let's conform to the book. And yet lose that material that spiritual are not carnal. And then we shall become good builders. He did build The altar and he repaired the altar that was broken down. Now I want you to know it's a complete altar now.

Unity in Christ and Separation from the World

I love this thought here now. First of all, would you please note the unity of the altar and Elijah took twelve stones? According to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob and to whom the word of the Lord came saying Israel shall be thy name now.

He didn't take nine and a half stone. Well, there were nine and a half tribes in Israel. He didn't take two and a half stone. Elijah was a man that stood on his toes. He saw beyond all the apostasy of Israel and he could see the original intentions of God and he could see the twelve tribes and he could see the unity of the people of God.

Now I know what I'm a beginning to say after I have quoted Rigidly from one Corinthians 3 our brother background and his earring on the legal side. Oh, no I'm not that. Every time we build an altar. Every time we establish a structure for God.

It must be wide enough to embrace all the children of God. And if it's not wide enough to embrace all the children of God it's but we must never build a sectarian. Now I can't embrace all that the children of God do.

But I can embrace all the children of God and love them and this is the reason why I am a disciple and you are a disciple because we love all the best and Immediately we only love a certain class of the Lord's people in principle.

We become sectarianism sectarian and that grieves the Spirit of God. But the fellowship of God's people must be wide enough to embrace all the children of God like the twelve stone. But it must be narrow enough to exclude the world.

And it's the simplest. I embrace all those that have been brought with the precious blood. I embrace all those that have been filled with the Holy Spirit. I embrace all those that have been baptized into one body.

But I completely exclude the world brothers. I want to ask the question Do you embrace all those that love the Lord and have you excluded the world? Could I say something from a bleeding heart now? One of the reasons why we have lost the power of God is because we have embraced the world and We are no longer separate and if we want the joy of the Lord and the love of the Father.

We've got to embrace the children of God. But we want a fellowship that will exclude the world. We see God notice. He built it with twelve stones. But then I want you to note with this altar of completion.

It's not only an altar of unity. It's an altar of Transformative notice. He uses the two names first of all. He uses the name Jacob the tribes of the sons of Jacob and to whom the word of the Lord came saying Israel shall be thy name.

Now here the language is master. And what he is basically saying is this. He looks upon the children of Israel not in their Jacob character. Now you say what do you mean by that the word Jacob means a supplanter it means a thief.

And Jacob was the type of man before the Lord dealt with him that had fleshly Manifestations and he had these fleshly manifestations in his life for about 25 years before the Lord gave them. When the Lord dealt with him at Penuel and changed his name from Jacob to Israel.

Then he became a prince with God and therefore the word Israel according to Genesis 32 Simply means as a prince has that power with God and with men. So one moment it's a unit or an altar of unity and embraces the twelve sides the next moment.

It's an altar of transformative. Here is a man that was once Jacob now He's an Israel and he has power with God and that's the kind of altar that we want to be beloved. We shall never have power with men.

Until we have power with God. Could I let you into a secret that I'm sure would thrill your heart in London. Because the assemblies let the world in and We approach this new attitude of worldliness. Saying to God's people that worldliness wasn't just abstaining from the worldly pleasures of the worldlings.

It was a state of mind. And we had what you are beginning to have God's people enjoying the best of a world that was under the touch of God. And what happened was this the power went and the meeting dwindled until in London 21 assemblies were closed have been closed 43 are in the process, but listen to this.

In the midst of all that confusion God's people are coming together for prayer. And I had a phone call from one of my boys who is in the Lord's work, and he said that Cries are coming. To an all-night prayer.

Praying to God for revival. Now that's not the movement of the flesh. People do not leave their bed and spend the whole night and early morning in prayer just for a fleshly exercise. That's a moving of the flesh.

And in the midst of all the apostasy in the midst of all the decline in the midst of removal and death. Now there's a group of people who are becoming Israel. They have power with God and with me. Wouldn't it be lovely to say something like that?

In British here in Maryborough. In Iowa God's people being drawn together with this burden to cry to the Lord for a movement of the spirit. And whenever God's people become Israel. Be sure that then God will bless his way.

The Sovereign Lordship of Christ

But then I want you to note. It's an altar of sovereignty. It's not only Referring back to the Converted name of Jacob which was Israel, but you will notice and with the stones He built an altar in the name of the Lord.

Now I love that when we go through the scriptures. And this is a verse that we're always quoting where two or three are gathered together. There am I in the midst of them and we use what I have omitted being gathered together in the name.

And what is the name? The name is the Lord Jesus Christ. And what does that basically mean? Now if you turn to two scriptures you will see the secret of it so that we get the importance of it. Look at Acts 4 first of all that's 24 and.

Then let's look at 1 Corinthians 12 and when they heard that they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said Lord Thou art God. Now if you look at 1 Corinthians 12 3 You will see the contemporary verse.

Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God Call it Jesus a curse and that no man can say that Jesus is Lord. But by the Holy Ghost. Now whenever you read of the term Lord especially in the New Testament Where it's prefaced by the word Lord God it always refers that the person who is praying is a slave.

For instance in a Roman household There were two kinds of servants that there was the servant that was paid a wage. And he always addressed his master by our word foreman or overseer. Then there was a servant who was bought from eight to thirty pieces of silver and he always addressed his master by this word sovereign Lord and Therefore the word Lord Sovereign Lord always incurs slavery and it always incurs that the person who is using the word is Addressing someone who is an absolute Sovereign Lord.

Now can you see what he means he built his altar in the name of the Sovereign Lord. Beloved if only we would get that if only we would honestly call Jesus Christ Sovereign Lord so that the whole assembly came under the Lordship under sovereignty of Christ.

We would see a holy movement of the Spirit of God. Now I've often said this and I must say it again, you know, dear friends if you are an assembly of bread breakers. Then we shall never see the blessing of God.

If you have an assembly where there are thirty, forty, fifty or sixty intellectuals. And you have just fifteen or twenty at the premises. It doesn't matter how we shall preach we shall see a very few people because we have lost sovereignty.

You remember when the Apostle was speaking to the Romans about the functioning of the body. He made sure all the believers bodies were laid on the altar. So I beseech you therefore men and brethren by the message of God that he presents your body a living sacrifice.