Joshua 8, verses 30 through 32. Now Joshua built an altar to the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal. As Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the Law of Moses, an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded an iron tool. And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings. And there, in the presence of the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses which he had written." Deuteronomy 27 verses 1-8 is Moses' commandment to the children of Israel. This is what's preceding our scene in the book of Joshua is Moses' commandment to the children of Israel on what they're to do when they enter into the promised land. Now Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people saying, keep all the commandments which I command you today. And it shall be on the day when you cross over Jordan to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, that you shall set up for yourself large stones and whitewash them with lime You shall write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over, that you may enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord God of your fathers promised you. Therefore it shall be when you have crossed over the Jordan, that on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones which I command you today, you shall whitewash them with lime, and there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones you shall not use an iron tool on them. You shall build with whole stones the altar of the Lord your God and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. You shall offer peace offerings and shall eat there and rejoice before the Lord your God. And you shall write very plainly on the stones all the words of this law." May God add His blessing to this, the reading of His words. The first thing I wanted to touch on was the scene in the book of Joshua. The children of Israel have crossed over Jordan. God has miraculously held back the waters of the Jordan River. The priests enter into the Jordan. And this is at its flood stage, not when the river's at its lowest, but rather when the Jordan was overflowing its banks. And we've seen pictures in the news of the Mississippi when it overflows its banks. when a river is really at its flood stage. And God instructed Joshua that as they enter across the Jordan River that the priests are to enter first and they're to enter with the ark. And God said, I'll hold back the waters and the children of Israel will cross over dry shod. And the children of Israel crossed over And God's people went and they set up this altar of unhewn stones to worship the Lord their God. And they were doing it in obedience to God's commandment. And the commandment is what I just read in Deuteronomy chapter 27 where God says, take these unhewn stones, set them up in the form of an altar, whitewash them with lime, write My words, the commandments on those stones and then offer sacrifices, both burnt offerings and peace offerings, and rejoice in the Lord your God. The altar has always played a central part in the worship, in worship services for God's people. We see the first altar mentioned in the Bible in Genesis chapter 8, where Noah, when the floodwaters receded, And the ark settled down on the top of the mountain. Noah took and he built an altar and he sacrificed of every clean animal to the Lord God. He was sacrificing in thankfulness for God bringing his family through in safety. And then we see the last reference to an altar is in Revelations where in chapter 8 we see the altar of incense. where the angel takes and he puts the incense on the altar and the smoke rises up mingled with the prayers of God's saints. And I think it's significant that in heaven, the scene in heaven which we see in the book of Revelations, the only altar we see is the altar of incense. There's no sacrificial altar, an altar of blood sacrifice, because those sacrifices are no longer needed. The Lamb of God, Christ Jesus, was the last blood sacrifice. And there's no more need for blood sacrifices in order to be pleasing to God. because the culmination of that has taken place in God's own Son being sacrificed on Calvary. More of that when we get into the second part of our study of altars here. But we're going to be looking at three different types of altars this morning. The altar of stone, the altar of wood, and the believer's altar. Returning now to the intro, for God's people, the altar has always been a place of repentance, of surrender, of thanksgiving, of communion with the Father, a place of offering, and a place of self-examination. In many churches today, these steps at the front of the sanctuary are called the altar. I've been in churches before where the pastor would say, come forward to the altar. The altar is dry. It hasn't been wet with the tears of God's people. And the understanding there is it's a place in which God's people can meet with God, a place of self-examination, a place of sacrifice, a place of worship. This morning, hopefully after the message, we'll have a better understanding of what an altar is and why God has us worship at the altar. The first thing we're going to look at is Deuteronomy 27, verses 1-8. Please return with me to Deuteronomy. Now Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you today, and it shall be on the day when you cross over Jordan." This is significant. God's people are not to worship on the other side of the Jordan, but rather after God has delivered them to offer up this sacrifice. after you've crossed over the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, that you shall set up for yourselves large stones and whitewash them with lime. You shall write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over, that you may enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you. Therefore it shall be when you have crossed over the Jordan, that on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones which I command you today, and you shall whitewash them with lime. And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. You shall not use an iron tool on them. You shall build with whole stones the altar of the Lord your God and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. You shall offer peace offerings and shall eat there and rejoice before the Lord your God. And you shall write very plainly on the stones all the words of this law." The first thing that we're going to look at regarding this altar of stone is that this altar, because it was prescribed by God, was that which was pleasing in God's sight. God says, take uncut stones, stones that have not been touched with an iron tool, and build this altar for me. Now there's a lesson in that. I know an old kid that does stonemason work and does some really beautiful work and it's neat the craftsmanship that can be done in working with stone. Some of the greatest statues that you'll ever see have been carved by great sculptors and they're works of art. Wasn't it Michelangelo that said, I see the picture inside of the stone and all I do is just move the chips away from it and let that statue come out. What a neat thought. Then there's a place in God's creation for craftsmanship. We see it when the temple is built. We see it when the tabernacle is built. Where God's people are called upon to exercise the craftsmanship that God has given to them to make beautiful things. There's an entire chapter in, I believe it's in Numbers, where God calls out the craftsmen by name. and says, I have put in them the spirit of wisdom in how to work in stone, and in cloth, and in metal, and in wood, and all these manner of things. And so there's a place in God's creation for craftsmanship. But he says in this, in this altar, I don't want you changing any of the stones that I made. As I said, there's a lesson here. God is saying, these stones are perfect just the way I created them. I don't want you knocking off any perceived imperfections because those are the imperfections that I wanted on there. And I don't want you making them any prettier because they're beautiful just the way I designed them. You see the application in our lives? Often times we try to Second, guess God. We say, well, if I was doing things, it would be different. Well, God in His design has put things together exactly the way He wants them put together. And sometimes we look up with a tearful eye and we say, Lord, why do these things happen the way that they do? We're not capable at the moment of seeing the big picture. It isn't until later when God opens the eyes of our understanding and we realize That was for a purpose. Whether it was to bless me, whether it was to bless a brother or sister in the Lord, whether it was to be a witness to somebody else in the world, or whether it was simply for the Father's glory, it doesn't matter. The stones are beautiful just the way God designed them. And God's saying this altar of sacrifice is to be built with these uncut stones. Don't lift a tool to them. And you'll notice that God says they're to be washed with lime. You see these Malapai rocks out here, you know, big old lava rocks. They're rough looking on the outside and they're basically the same color as the earth. They're dark. And God says take these uncut stones and whitewashed them with lime. Make them a brilliant white. Down in Mexico, we were going through a road construction site and they had folks doing the road construction. They'd just taken boulders off the side of the road, whitewashed them with lime and put them down the center of the road. That was your no-passing zone. You run over those boulders, they'll tear you up. But they were whitewashed with lime so they'd really pick up in the headlights. They were a brilliant white. Why would God have these stones whitewashed with lime? Because that white, that brilliant white is a symbol of purity, a symbol of holiness. It's a symbol that makes them separate from the rest of the earth. He says that altar is to be made of untouched stones, beautiful the way I made them. Then they're to be whitewashed with this lime so that they stand out. So when folks come across the Jordan River or when they're traveling through this way, they see those brilliant white stones. And what are they going to do? They're going to come aside and they're going to look at those stones. They're going to say, wow, what is that? What's that strange thing that catches my eye? The brilliant white being symbolic of God's holiness. And when folks see that white, we do it ourselves. You're driving down the road and you'll see something that catches your eye, and oftentimes you want to get over there and get a closer look at it. And when folks, sojourners, would come and they'd step closer, what would they see? They'd see God's law written upon those stones. God's law. that is written on those stones for all the world to see. This isn't any pagan altar. This isn't just your run-of-the-mill pile of rocks. This is an altar built by God's people, set aside, separate, whitewashed with lime for all the world to see. And there we see God's law written there. God's law was written on those stones to show God's holiness and man's imperfection. It's one of the neat things about God's law. When we are unaware of the law, then we're a law to ourselves. But when God's law is presented to us, now we have a standard. I brought this up in John's Bible study class a couple of Sundays back. We live in a world where people do not want standards. They want whatever the norm is. We're like herd animals with our eyes on the side of our head going, well, what's everybody else doing? God says, no. I didn't make you like herd animals. I made you with eyes in the front of your head to look ahead. To look at God's law. To look at God's holiness. To look at what God has commanded you to. God has given us eyes that look forward to Him. We're not to look and say, well, my buddies are all doing it, or all the kids at school are doing it. Well, the rest of the world says it's okay. God says, no. I have called you out of darkness and into light. Look unto Me. And we see in this law, we see God's holiness. And in writing it on those stones, it's to remind Israel of who God is. In Deuteronomy 4, verses 8 and 9, God knows the heart of man. He created us. He knows our hearts. He says, I have given you this law. Obey this law. And He says, now when you come into the land which I have given you, the land flowing with milk and honey, take heed. that you always keep my law before your eyes. Because if you don't, if you forget the blessings that I've given you, and you forget how good I've been to you, then I'll bring all these curses upon you. And God reminds Israel in Deuteronomy 4 verses 8 and 9, He says, when you get into that land flowing with milk and honey, you'll start to get fat, your wallets will get thick, you'll go, boy, ain't I a good mechanic, or ain't I a good carpenter, or ain't I smart. And you'll forget that it was the Lord God who gave you these things. He says, take heed that you don't forget these things. We see the stones uncut, washed with lime. We see the law written on those stones symbolizing God's holiness. And then we come to look at the sacrifice which will take place upon the stone altar. First of all, it was performed by the Levitical priesthood. God's priests set apart to perform those sacrifices. And there was two types of offering. I don't know if you folks noticed that in the Scripture passage. There was two types of offering that God had called Israel to do. The first one, the first type of offering is a burnt offering. In the burnt offering, that's an offering for sin. where our trespasses and our sins are ever before our eyes. And the children of Israel were to offer burnt offerings to God. Now a burnt offering, simply as the name implies, is one that's completely consumed by the fire. You were to take the best of your flock, the best lamb, or the best goat, or if you didn't have any flocks, you were to offer these young turtledoves or whatever for your sin offerings. Those offerings were completely consumed by fire. And the symbolism here is one of total surrender, of giving to God that which is your best. The second offering which God called them to perform was a peace offering. The difference is in the peace offering, part of that animal sacrifice, part of that animal went to the Levitical priest and part was consumed. And then there was part of that animal that came back to the one who gave it. for the feast. They would have a feast when they'd have their peace offering. Sort of like what we do when we have a feed at church after the services are over. And we gather together and we fellowship and we share the bounty that God has given to us. And that's what peace offerings were about. They were a time of communion and a time of fellowship. So there's two kinds of symbolism here. The first symbolism is that of total surrender of saying, God, I am not worthy. of what you've done for me. And giving up to Him the best that you have. And the second is a fellowship or a communion with God where you make that peace offering. And in that offering of the sacrifice, God says in Deuteronomy, He's speaking through Moses, He says after you're done with these offerings, after you're done eating, you're to have a time of rejoicing. This is something that we as believers all too often, we're either too busy rejoicing to sacrifice, or we're too busy sacrificing to rejoice. God calls us to do the both. He says, give to me. Offer up that sacrifice. And then rejoice. Have that time of fellowship. That time of communion. when they're done offering them up, they're to eat the peace offering, they're to enjoy their communion with God, and they're to express thankfulness for His blessings. That God would take them and make them a people, give them a land, and make them a nation unto His own. That's the altar of stone which we see described in Deuteronomy 27 verses 1-8. Now we come to Galatians chapter 3 verses 1-13. And I'm sure there's some of you that are saying, now wait a second, I don't remember reading about an altar in Galatians. But please stay with me if you would. Galatians chapter 3, verse 13. Galatians 3.13 says, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. And the word for tree here is there's two different words used. One of them means a log or a hewn piece of wood. And one, I think, is dendron, which means an actual living plant. And the words that's used here is cursed is him that's hanged upon this hewn piece of wood. The second altar that we're going to look at, we've looked at the altar of stone. The second altar that we're going to look at is an altar of wood. This altar, rather than being beautiful stones that God created and pleasing in God's sight according to His directions, this altar of wood is accursed in God's sight. Instead of being stones which God had created, God's Word shows us these are man-made timbers. And instead of being whitewashed with lime to show the holiness, they're stained with the sweat and the blood of the innocent one. This altar of wood not only is accursed in God's sight, but instead of the law being written on the stones to remind Israel of God's holiness, we see the law in its most terrifying aspect, that of His judgment upon sin. We don't see the law as a comfort here. We see the law in all of its terrible outpouring of God's wrath upon sin. Thirdly, on this altar of wood, the sacrifice wasn't God's people bringing their best lamb or their best goat, and it wasn't performed by the Levitical priesthood, but rather it was performed by godless Roman soldiers. Soldiers who did not revere the Lord God of Israel. And like a burnt offering, Christ, the sacrifice, was totally surrendered and totally consumed. In the altar of stone after they were done giving their sacrifice, God's Word says that they were to enjoy that peace offering. They were to enjoy the communion with God. They were to express thankfulness for His blessings. And yet, on the altar of wood, instead of rejoicing, Instead of enjoying blessed communion with the Father, we hear Christ Jesus calling out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He did not have that blessed communion which we see at the altar of stone. Because when Christ Jesus was at the altar of wood, He was the sacrifice itself. The third altar, we want to look at this morning is the believer's altar. Turn with me in Hebrews chapter 13, verses 10-16. And in Hebrews chapter 13, beginning in verse 10, it says, We have an altar. And this is speaking of we as believers. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned outside the camp. So what we're seeing in Hebrews is the believer has a separate altar from what the Jew does. The children of Israel were sacrificing their animals and the body was burnt outside of the camp. And it says in verse 12, Therefore, Jesus, also that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to Him outside the camp bearing His reproach. We're called as God's people to go outside of the camp because that's where Christ Jesus was. He was outside of the camp. He was a reproach. And He suffered away from the temple. It says in verse 14, for we have no continuing city, but we seek the One to come. Therefore, by Him, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name." So the believer's altar is not an altar made of stone. The believer's altar is not an altar made of bronze as we see in Solomon's temple. But rather, the believer's altar is Christ Jesus Himself. Look with me in verse 15. Therefore, by Him, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise. By Him, by means of Christ Jesus, we're to offer this sacrifice of praise. The believer's altar is well-pleasing to God. Remember, we look back at the altar of stone and it's done according to God's direction, and it was pleasing to Him. We see the altar of wood and we see it's a curse in God's sight. And we come into our lives as believers And we see this altar of Christ Jesus being well-pleasing to God. And we offer up our sacrifice by means of Him. We couldn't offer a sacrifice of praise that would mean anything without Christ Jesus. Without Christ Jesus, we would still be dead in our sins. But because Christ separated Himself, because Christ suffered for us, we can lift up praise to God through Him. The law, instead of being written on the stones, on the whitewashed stones, the law is written in our hearts. I love it in Jeremiah 31-33. God says, I made a covenant with you and you broke that covenant. But there's going to come a day when I won't write my words on tablets of stone. I'm going to write my words on your heart. It won't be slabs of stone that convict us and condemn us, but it'll be written on our heart and it'll guide us. I don't know about you, but I really didn't have that much of a conscience before I came to know the Lord. Usually it was in the form of colored flashing lights that reminded me that what I was doing was wrong. But until then, I didn't have much of a conscience. But when God wrote His law on the table of my heart, things began to happen. Things began to happen and God's Word began to indwell me. He says, I will write my words upon your heart in Jeremiah 31-33. And then in Ezekiel 36, he says, not only will I write my words on your heart, but I'll cause you to walk in my paths. Isn't that neat? What a blessing that God would love us enough not only to write His Word in our heart, but to cause us to walk in paths that will bring glory to Him. So we don't see the law written on whitewashed stones but rather we see the law written in our hearts at the believer's altar. And the third part of the believer's altar is the sacrifice itself. In Hebrews 13.15, it says we're to offer to Him continually the sacrifice of praise. We're not to offer up burnt animals to Him. God says in burnt animals, I have no pleasure. He says I want you to offer up the sacrifice of praise to Me. And then over in verse 16, it says, Do not forget to do good and to share for which with such sacrifices God is well pleased. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we're to hold one another up. We're to support one another. We're to share. the blessings that God has given to us. I oftentimes laugh about it. God sends me to school. I know Salt River Project thinks they send me to school, but God makes a way where I get sent to an electronics school and it isn't but two weeks later that somebody's electronics equipment breaks down and God uses the training that He's put me through to bless somebody with. God has given each of us talents and gifts He's opened the windows of heaven and given us material goods. We're not to hoard those things. We're to share those things with one another. We're to do good to one another. And those sacrifices, God's Word says, He is well pleased with. In Philippians 4.18, the Apostle Paul says, I thank you for your sacrifice and the money that you... or the goods that you sent for the support of my ministry. He says that's a well-pleasing aroma to God. And so the supporting of the work of the Gospel is a blessing. It's a sacrifice. And then Romans 12.1, a quote that John used in our adult Bible study this morning, our bodies are to be a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice to Him. God's not talking about human sacrifice where we kill one another in order to be pleasing to Him. He says take your body and make it a living sacrifice. Place it upon the altar of Christ and use your hands which once did evil to do that which is pleasing to me. Use your mouth which once spoke evil to your wife or your husband or your children or your brother or sister. Use that mouth to bring forth things that bring glory to me. Use your eyes instead of looking at things that they shouldn't be looking at. To look at God's Word. To plant that Word in your heart. That you might be a blessing to others. That you might help others not to stray aside. But they look at you and they say, hey, if He can do it, God is working a miracle in Him. God can work a miracle in me. And then finally, the believer's altar. We not only see that it's well pleasing to God, and that the law instead of written on stones is written in our hearts. That the sacrifices are sacrifices that are well within our reach as believers. Finally, we come to the part where we have rejoicing. Folks, we have joy in Christ. Our joy is in Him. I was talking to a young fellow the other day and it just blessed me. He and I had both finished talking to the same individual and the individual was telling my buddy, is that your pastor? He seemed really happy. He seemed really blessed. And you seem really blessed. And I thought that's neat. That's neat that God shows forth that blessedness. We shouldn't walk around with a scowl on our face. We're of all people most blessed. We have communion with God. We have joy in Christ. And our inheritance is in Him. where moth and rust doesn't corrupt and where it doesn't fade away. In conclusion, because of Christ, we have an altar. Because of Christ, we have the law. Because of Christ, we're able to offer up an acceptable sacrifice. And because of Christ, we have fellowship and rejoicing.