The Theology of Altars (2nd service) - Pastor Trent Cargill (March 8, 2026) | Life Bible Church

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enjoy this week's message. Let's turn to Galatians

Galatians 2:20

chapter 2, verse 20. Galatians chapter 2, verse

Galatians 2:20

20. There's a fresh impartation for you. I said

there's a fresh impartation for you. Galatians

Galatians 2:20

chapter 2 verse 20 says this. I have been crucified

with Christ. It is no longer I who live. but

Christ who lives in me. I have been crucified

with Christ. This is essential to the gospel

of Jesus Christ. For the apostle Paul is not

just declaring the death of Jesus, but the death

of himself with Christ. He does not exclude himself.

And only proclaim the death of Jesus, but he

declares, I have been crucified with Christ.

Turn to your neighbor and let them know, I'm

so glad I came for this message this morning.

Turn to your other neighbor, who you neglected,

your second choice, and tell them, this word's

for you. When we talk about the gospel of Jesus

Christ, we often, we try to, and I'm guilty of

this, by the way. I know none of you are, but

I'm guilty of this. I'm guilty of having a conversation

with somebody who doesn't know the Lord, and

I'm trying to deliver the gospel to them, and

I'm telling them about the death of Jesus Christ,

how he died for them. But one of the things that

is so interesting and so mysterious And maybe

this is the foolishness that confounds the wise.

That the death of Jesus Christ is something that

we must partner with and we must live with in

order to even have a life with Jesus. In order

for us to live a life of Jesus, we have to die

from our old life completely. We cannot say that,

well, I can live and do my own thing and also

live for God. It's impossible. You can't do that.

One, by saying yes to one, you have denied the

other. They cannot agree. As Galatians says,

your flesh and your spirit cannot agree. They

are opposed to one another. They are opposites.

So the moment I say yes to my flesh, I have said

no to the spirit. I cannot do both. And so there

has to be a death inside me in order for me to

receive life and the life everlasting that comes

from Jesus Christ himself. The apostle Paul says,

it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives

in me. The only way to resurrection life is through

crucifixion. It is through death. We cannot shortcut

the gospel. We cannot shortcut resurrection life.

There has to be crucifixion. There has to be

death. And of course, I'm not talking about,

well, I mean, I kind of am. No, I really am,

actually. There's such a temptation to try and

water down the seriousness of this because it

makes it easier to swallow. But by doing that,

any preacher who preaches a watered -down gospel

robs the listener of encountering real resurrection

life. Because if they do say yes to a gospel

that's watered down, they have not said yes to

a gospel of God or a gospel of the Bible. They've

said yes to some form of religion that is useless

against the powers of your flesh. For Galatians

also tells us, or is it in Colossians, I can't

remember, but it says this, that you have these

things, these disciplines that claim to have

a form of godliness but have no power against

your flesh. No power against the indulgences

of your flesh. What we have to understand is

that there is our flesh and it's in all of us.

Let's not get to a religious jargon and a religious

place where we think to ourselves that we don't

like sinning. We do. We love it. We love to sin.

We love to sin, and we like to sin just for sin's

sake. Anybody who likes cookies, and mom put

cookies in the cookie jar on the fridge so that

you would not get them, you want that cookie,

yes, but how many of us are honest enough to

say, because she said I couldn't have it, I wanted

it more? My hand's going all the way up. You

don't have to raise your hand, but thank you.

All the fellow cookie lovers in the room. Come

on. Glory to God. There is a, there's a deception

in a Christian that will actually rob them of

living in true freedom. And it's the lack of

awareness that you do want to sin. Get over that

hill. And it'll make things a lot easier. Because

the moment you know your flesh is evil, you then

can see it for what it truly is. But we try to

put makeup on a pig and call it something it's

not. My flesh loves to sin. But that's why Jesus

says, the word of God says that you must delight

in him. James says that out of your heart is

the temptations, is where temptations come. So

I've had so many, this is nothing like, this

is not on my notes at all, but we're gonna get

into it. But I would just, I wanna talk about

this for a little bit because it just, I feel

it's so impressed on my spirit to mention this,

that when we understand that our flesh loves

to sin, that it is not just discipline of denying

myself that crucifies your flesh. Just saying

no is not crucifying your flesh. That is a form

of godliness that is useless. You will not last.

You will give yourself to that sin eventually.

You might last for a day, you might last for

a week, but you will not last. You will say yes.

Because, If I tell you, if I were to tell you,

okay, I want you to convince yourself to stop

thinking about an Oreo covered in peanut butter,

getting ready to be dipped in whole Umpqua milk

right now. Guess what's going to happen? You

are just going to be thinking about that. So

what has to happen? I don't have to just stop

thinking about the temptation. I have to shift

my desires. Let's just go to that passage. Let's

go to James. Let's go to James, I believe. Here

we go. Thank you, Jesus. Here it is. Chapter

one, verse 12. Blessed is the man who remains

steadfast under trial. Okay, wait a minute. Blessed

is the man who remains steadfast under trial.

Some of us think trials is a absence of blessing.

But actually, you are more blessed because you're

in a trial. Because you're going through something.

And the trial that it's speaking of here is actually

the trial of temptation. Blessed is the man who

is tempted. Blessed is the man who actually goes

through suffering and trial. Because when temptation

comes, we have an opportunity to change our desire.

For when he has stood the test, he will receive

the crown of life. So wait a minute, we see a

complement to what Paul has said, that I have

died. Only through the death, only through going

through the trial of the cross, only going through

something dying, do I actually receive the crown

of life. Only when my flesh is crucified, which

God has promised to those who, to those who love

him. And listen to this. Let no one say when

he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. For

God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself

tempts no one. So God is not tempting you. And

here's what I've seen a lot of Christians do

is that they assume that every weird thought,

every thought that comes into their minds, every

just temptation that shows up, it's always the

devil. The devil's after me, Pastor Trent. I

need you to pray for me. The devil's after me,

Pastor Trent. I just keep getting hit with these

thoughts and I can't escape them. Well, that's

a lie. God says that he always provides a way

of escape. Because what's happening there, it

points back to Genesis. The devil's out to get

me. What did Adam say when Jesus said what happened?

It's this woman you gave me. What did the woman

say? It was the devil, God. The devil made me

do it. No, he didn't. He didn't tell you to do

it. He didn't put a gun to your head. Sin always

involves choice. And love always involves choice.

You remove choice from the matter, love ceases

to exist. True love. Otherwise, our relationship

with God is like robotic and numb and worth nothing.

That's why God gave Adam and Eve the choice to

obey or not to obey. How did he give them the

choice? I don't remember reading in Genesis,

okay, you have a choice. Eat it or don't eat

it. No, he just says don't eat it. Everything

else is yours. It's funny how we will give up

the abundance of God for one thing he says we

can't have. That's sin. The fact you told me

I can't have it, I want it. The definition of

sin is to rebel. It's technically to miss the

mark, but it's the idea of to rebel against God,

to refuse. I do not want to do things your way.

I want it my way. When we come to the altar of

God, when we come to Jesus and we say, Lord,

have my life, have it all. What are we saying?

I am going to say no to me and yes to you forever.

And I'm going to say yes to you more than yes

to myself. Because really this is a battle of

yeses more than a battle of nos. What do you

say yes to is way bigger than what you say no

to. I say yes to Jesus. I say yes. By saying

yes to you, I've denied everyone else. And I've

denied everything else. And it says here in verse

14, but each person is tempted when he is lured

and enticed by his own desire. What has to change?

Your desire. desire, or in the Greek, from what

I understand, it actually translates to be your

inclinations. What you are inclined to. When

you get a free moment, what do you draw yourself

to? What are you inclined to? This is something

that I've... In studying through the altars of

scripture, the Lord has brought me many, many

times to a place of where I feel stuck almost.

But really, God responds to me, revealing to

me that I'm not stuck. There's just something

in me that hasn't died yet. There's something

in my desire that hasn't changed to be about

him. You know, when I'm in a place of like, man,

I feel in line with God. I feel in line with

his presence. I feel in line with him. When you

get to that place, do everything you can to guard

that and protect it. And if you've never felt

that before, give up every worldly pleasure until

you do. Don't let anything be off limits to God.

Because I'm telling you, when you see him, in

your own time with him, he shows himself to you.

Like really? Nothing will compare. The world

will have nothing to offer you. There will be

nothing that they could come to you and say,

but what about this? that would ever come close.

Because you've seen it. You've seen him. And

for those who love Jesus, the love of the world

cannot be in them. As you cannot say yes to your

spirit and to your flesh at the same time, you

also cannot love God and the world at the same

time. You have to choose one. And we have an

opportunity to make that choice every day. Every

moment of every day. Let's go to Matthew chapter

Matthew 16:24

16, verse 24. If you want to be saved, if you

want to truly follow Jesus and you have a desire

to follow God, this is Discipleship 101. Discipleship

101. You cannot follow Jesus unless you do this.

And these are Jesus' words, not mine. So if you

have a problem with it, you can take it up with

him. It says here, Jesus told his disciples,

if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself

and take up his cross and follow me. If you want

to go after Jesus, you have to deny yourself.

To deny yourself is to, in the Greek, to refuse

yourself. To refuse. To disagree with. And we

all have arguments in our minds and in our life.

We have to refuse them by saying yes to Jesus.

And when you say yes to Jesus, Not only are you

denying yourself, but you're picking up a cross.

Because why? Because of the apostle Paul. It

further illuminates on this idea that if you're

going to follow God, you have to die with him.

You cannot just choose to live. You have to choose

to die first. Then his life will come. If anyone

would come after me, let him deny himself and

take up his cross. Which is, if you're looking

at the title of my message, The Theology of Altars,

you're going, well, where's the passage about

the altar? I just told you one. The greatest

altar in all of Scripture is the altar of the

cross. Because Jesus is the Lamb of God, the

all -sufficient sacrifice. Only he, is sufficient

to be the atonement for our sins. And he was

crucified, judged and consumed by the holy wrath

of fire of God upon what? The altar of the cross.

An altar is also known as an elevated position.

Guess where his cross was placed? On a hill.

Made by God himself. It's the most beautiful

thing to understand that when we look at the

altar, that Jesus is saying, listen, I died on

this altar and now I'm gonna give you one. And

the early church viewed dying for God as the

greatest honor and privilege. actually dying,

not just spiritually, like actually being killed

for their faith in Jesus Christ. Peter, the apostle,

Peter the rock apostle, himself viewed it too

great of an honor to be killed in the way that

his savior was. He said, kill me upside down.

Crucify me upside down. I am not worthy to even

die like he did. This is an honor. And I'm not

preaching ultra mega level holiness Christianity

here. I'm preaching basics. If anyone would come

after me, anyone. This is not a verse for just

pastors. This is not just a verse for the televangelists.

This is not just a verse for those people that

talk about theology on TikTok and usually they're

way off. This is not just for your worship leaders.

This is not just for mega churches. This is for

anyone who would say, I want to follow you. Jesus

says, okay, here you go. I give you the altar

of the cross. But I thought your death was sufficient.

It is. But I'm giving you the honor to die with

me. Jesus' death is sufficient for the atonement

of our sins, but we also have to understand,

you're not dying for your sins. You're dying

to be with him. Jesus died to, he died for access.

We die for proximity. He tore the veil. When

he died on the cross, On Calvary, the veil was

torn. He made a way where there was no way. His

blood is sufficient as the atonement and the

propitiation of our sins that we no longer have

to fear the wrath and judgment of God, but that

we receive his love and that we now get to live

a life and a life crucified. Jesus made a way,

but we die for proximity. When Hebrews says to

boldly approach the throne of grace, it does

not remove the truth that you're gonna have to

die to get there. Boldly die to approach. Anybody

who's ever been close to God has died. But they

also got to experience the fullness of his resurrection

life. This might be hard for some people. But

Jesus knew that. There were many who said, I

will follow you. And he gave them a chance. But

when it came down to dying, They couldn't do

it. I don't want to be a rich young ruler who

knew the commandments of God, who knew the word.

And I approach Jesus and I say, what do I do?

And he says, give the thing you love most. And

I can't do it. I can't die to it. The only way

you're not willing to die for something is because

you don't love it. I'm not here to rebuke. I

think this is why Jesus wanted me to spend time

on love because those who really are willing

to die are those who really love him. And those

who really love him are willing to die. A thousand

times. As many times as it takes. Because how

often is the cross given? It's right here. Daily.

It is a daily. Pursuit of death. Because you

love Jesus. I died to myself. Because the one

who would save his life will lose it. But whoever

loses his life for my sake will find it. For

what will it profit a man if he gains the whole

world and forfeits his own soul? I can feel it.

There's people in the room that are wrestling

with God right now. Wrestling like Jacob. Wrestling

with God and saying, God, I don't know if I can

give that to you. I don't know if I can give

it all. I don't know if I can give everything.

I can give a lot. I can give a lot. I can give

up to 99%, but I can't give it all. This is not

an altar. The altar of the cross is not for 99%.

Jesus didn't just give 99%. When we look at the

idea of the cross, we have to understand that

the resurrection life that we want to experience,

the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ

Even the life, we can come to God and to church

a thousand times. We can get healed even. We

can be even raised from the dead. We can see

signs and wonders. We can do all of these things

and still not know him. I don't come to church

to just have an experience. Because an experience

is not knowing him. And experience is not dying

to self. God is asking you in this room, will

you give it to me? Will you let it die? Nothing

is off limits. You guys understand that the holiness

of God is in this room. The fire of God is here.

And there is moments in time that God gives all

of us that we can respond or choose not to. And

they can sometimes make or break your life. The

prophet says, now is the time for salvation.

Respond to God while he is here. I just can't

shake this. I can't shake this. I can't shake

that God loves you so much that he would give

you this opportunity. Because I could go through

my notes and just preach this as normal and do

exactly what I did for first service, copy and

paste, walk away and go, well done, I did my

job. I am not here to just do a job. I am here

because I care about the eternal state of people's

souls, and I know that people need to have an

encounter with God that actually leads to transformation,

not just a title, not just a name, not just to

say, I went to church today, and so I can check

it off my book. I've done it, and it's never

worked. If you're in this place and God is speaking

to you, the Holy Spirit is speaking to you now.

He's highlighting something in you. This is the

thing about how God works, is the thing that

heightens in us in his presence that we're like,

oh, I'm feeling anxiety. I'm feeling this anxiousness.

I'm feeling this, whatever it is, I'm feeling

this fear of what people are gonna think about

me. Listen, that very thing is the very thing

that has to die. The thing that's rising up in

you right now, even if it's like, I don't like

what is being said and I don't like this. It's

not according to plan. Okay, control needs to

die. I need to get home. I need to make sure

that things go as a schedule. Okay, control needs

to die. Are you here? Do we come to this place

to just hear the word and not be changed? Or

do we come to say, God, let the word be the sword

and actually pierce my heart. Pierce me. Undo

me. Undress me as the surgeon. And remove that

which needs to be removed. Because I don't want

this to be a Trenton Cargill show. Where I say

all the right things. I make all the right moves.

And I pray all the right prayers. And I get to

God. And it is all consumed by the fire. And

there's nothing that actually is enduring. There's

nothing that actually brought him glory. And

it's just a pile of ash. I want to go to God.

And say, Lord, have your way. Let even my idea

of how church is supposed to go die. Because

it's not me who builds this place. It's him.

He builds his church. He builds his church, not

me. You're not responding to me. Please don't.

Please don't respond to my words. Respond to

the Spirit of God who leads people into all truth.

The truth that Pilate asked. What is truth? He

asked truth who he is. What are you? What is

truth? Jesus said nothing because he didn't need

to say anything. His very presence was the answer

to Pilate's question. He is truth. Holy Spirit

testifies of the Son. And the Son lifted up on

the cross, that's when he draws all men to himself.

In John 2, it says that when the Son of Man is

lifted up is when he will draw all men to himself.

When he is seen as the crucified Lamb of God.

We have to understand. Even in his glorified

state, our Savior still bears wounds. When John

looks in Revelation, he sees a lamb as though

it had been slain. We can't get around this.

We can't maneuver through the scriptures and

get to a place where it's not going to cost us

something. No, it does. It's fundamental. It's

the basic, it's the simple truth. If you're in

this place and you say, I need to respond to

the Holy Spirit, would you come to the altar

and get before God? No one's gonna pray for you.

This is between you and him. Get into whatever

position you need before him. This is not a salvation

altar call. This is a... This is a call to the

altar. what the Holy Spirit is highlighting in

you, what needs to be crucified, what needs to

die, your flesh, your desires, desire in you

that you know, I've loved the world. I've been

loving myself more than loving him. Today, that's

gonna change. Today, that's going to change.

All across this room, would you just close your

eyes and begin to lift your hands? Jesus. He's

here. Those who have responded, begin to tell

him now. Give him what needs to be given. Give

it to him. Say, Lord, I give this to you. I nail

it to the cross. I nail it to the cross you've

given me my whole life. For I don't want to be

the one who lives, but you would live in me.

Come on, just release it to Him now. If you are

in need of prayer send us a text message at 541

-625 -1365. We would love to pray with you.