Needed: Fresh Wood For A Fire

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it. And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place. And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.

Introduction

A God of Sacrifice

Hebrews 10:4 KJV 1900

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

Hebrews 10:

I have some excellent news today: we will not be sacrificing and burning a bull at church today! (Although once we did skin a deer over the concrete slab of our church!)

Here’s why:

Hebrews 10:8–10 KJV 1900

Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Hebrews 10:

The reason you don’t have to worry about making any type of blood sacrifices today is because the sacrifice has ALREADY BEEN MADE!

And whereas in the time of the Old Testament Law, it took regular sacrifices at the altar, and there was simply no end to the blood offerings - for us, there only needed to be ONE sacrifice, ONE TIME!

And while there must have been an enormous, astounding amount of blood offered on altars throughout the Old Testament, when God made Himself into a man, that small amount of blood that was in his body was so powerful that it only had to be offered up ONCE! And that was enough for YOU, for ME, and for EVERYBODY!

And that blood of Jesus still has power today! I wish somebody who’s been covered by His blood would offer up a praise right now!

I thank God for YOU today! I thank God that you are glad to stand and be a Christian today, in the face of persecution and criticism.

SIDE NOTE: And there is criticism today. I heard of a person on television recently calling out prayer and Christians and talking to God, saying people who do that must be mental!

Let me tell you this morning, don’t allow some evil Hollywood personality to discourage you in your relationship with God.

These people in Hollywood don’t know right from wrong in the first place. And I’d rather take a mallet to the head than take instruction from them, anyway!

You know where I get MY instruction from? (Bible)

Their word isn’t forever settled in heaven! But this word IS forever settled in heaven!!!

Body

Absence of Sacrifice Today

But here’s the thing. We have a problem in our world today.

This thing is well known (that Jesus became the one-time sacrifice for us). It’s well preached. Everybody has it on their Facebook profile.

And, while everyone seems to know well of this sacrifice that He made, there comes with that a common misconception that there is now no sacrifice to be made on our part.

In other words, “Jesus has made the sacrifice, so now you won’t have to do anything in your life that’s sacrificial to God at all. Just accept Jesus as a sacrifice and you’re good to go!”

And now I’ll swiftly debunk that, if I may:

Romans 12:1–2 KJV 1900

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. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Romans 12

It sounds to me like there is some significant sacrifice that we have to make in order to please God, does it not?

You see God’s methods have changed over time, but his principles and his essential requirements have not! And if He wanted to see what Abraham was willing to sacrifice, I believe He’s probably interested in what WE are willing to sacrifice!

And let me just say today that it’s absolutely no problem for me to make sacrifices for a God who has paid the ultimate sacrifice.

It’s not a drag and a tough go for me to make some sacrifices for Him, when His one single sacrifice has bought me an eternity at His side!!!

Matter of fact, it goes against my human nature, but I get a little excited sometimes about making a sacrifice for God!

The Law of the Burnt Offering

So, today I want to leave you with a particular sacrifice that we all can make that has been on my mind greatly here lately.

Our text mentions the law of the burnt offering.

After a day of worship, when the carcasses and the ashes had created a sort of pile from the burnt offerings, the priests on duty would dress in linen clothes, and they would remove everything that remained. And they would place it beside the altar, as they were commanded.

And all of these piles of leftover ashes and things were taken outside the camp and left in a valley. And by removing these things from the altar and keeping it clean, the fire could burn well.

You see, God had made it a priority, as we read from Leviticus, He wanted that fire on the altar to burn continually.

What He desired of His people was not merely a strong flame of worship that would soon afterward sizzle out and be forgotten!

And He certainly did not desire a small, measly fire that was always on the verge of burning out!

But what God wanted was a powerful fire of revival, if you please, that was ever-burning, consuming, and symbolic of their desire to be closer to Him!

Can I submit to you today that there is a fire that has been burning hot on the altar of this church!

I said THERE’S A FIRE THAT HAS BEEN BURNING HOT ON THE ALTAR OF THIS CHURCH!!!

And in case you’re wondering or confused about it, God is pleased with the spirit that this congregation has and the desire and passion with which we have been operating!

And all of this is as the Bible says, “a sweet smelling aroma to the Lord!”

But can I tell you today, that the old sacrifices of praise, of worship, and of love that you have brought to the altar (to the church) are not going to keep the fire burning!

If this fire is going to be kept burning, and kept hot, as I know the Lord so desires, we have to bring a fresh sacrifice, every time!

The Sacrifice We Have to Make

Every household had the opportunity to make a gift of firewood, so that the supply of it was on hand at all times. It was a wood offering.

Conclusion

And the fire that consumed the sacrifices was clearly dependent upon the wood offering presented by each household in turn. Without the wood, there could be no fire.

It took every person, bringing wood of their own, to make that fire continually burn.

And they wood bring wood.

Daddy would get up in the morning and hand everyone in the family an armload of wood.

And he’d say, “Honey, kids, we’re going to the Lord’s house. And we’re bringing a wood offering today. We’re going to do our part and make sure that the fire never goes out!”

And they would bring that wood to the priests and say, “We’re bringing wood for the altar today, because our family doesn’t want to see the fire go out!”

I wonder if you feel the same burden that I feel right now to ensure that this fire keeps on and keeps on burning?!

I wonder today, if you’ve got a fresh offering of praise that you’d like to give to God?

I wonder if you feel the same burden that I feel right now to ensure that this fire keeps on and keeps on burning?!

It requires our sacrifice of praise!

We’ve got to bring some fresh wood to the altar!

Conclusion

As you lift your hands right now, let’s offer that praise up to Him now!

Come on, brother push past your regular offering of praise! We want to make a vibrant, powerful fire today!

It can’t live on old praise and old worship! God deserves a new praise today!

Ask yourself, “What can I do to help create a sweet smelling aroma of praise to God today?”

Related Media

Related Sermons