The Theology of Altars (1st service) - Pastor Trent Cargill (March 8, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

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hope you find today's sermon impacting as you

listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.

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see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. You would turn with

me to Galatians chapter 2, verse 20. Galatians

Galatians 2:20

chapter two, verse 20. It says here, I have been

crucified with Christ. It's a powerful statement.

I have been crucified with Christ. Jesus was

crucified on a Roman cross. And Paul, the apostle,

says that I have been crucified with him. We

are crucified with Christ, which means that in

order to have relationship with God, not only

did he have to die, but we must die with him.

Turn to somebody and say, I'm glad I came this

Sunday to church. I've been crucified with Christ.

Have you been crucified with Christ? It is no

longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

Which means that the only way to experience the

living power of God is to die to your own life.

Something must die before something can live

again. Something must be crucified for resurrection

life to come. And the life I now live, in the

flesh I live by faith. In who? The one I was

crucified with. My faith is in a Savior who took

the most humiliating way to die. Because in the

times of the ancient church, when Rome... had

the extensive pantheon of gods. To have a God

that came into human flesh alone was already

a blasphemy in their eyes. But then to have a

God that was hung on a cross next to two thieves

is even greater of a blasphemy and an insult

in the eyes of men. But God said this was the

only way. For as we know in Philippians 2, he

was humble and obedient even to the point of

his own death. And because he died, he was lifted

higher than everyone else. You cannot get to

exaltation with Christ if we do not humble ourselves

to the cross of Christ. We will not experience

his glory until we experience his suffering.

The life I now live by faith in the Son of God

who loved me and gave himself for me. Because

this is love. This is love to die for you and

I. This is Christianity. I'm not preaching a

more glorified, intense, ultra -religious form

of Christianity that's only for the select few.

Dying is the bare minimum requirement to live

for Jesus. This is kindergarten Christianity.

This is basic. Let me ask you, would you ever

preach the gospel only speaking of the resurrection

of Christ? No. You have to preach his death.

You have to preach his sufferings. You have to

preach that he died on the cross. He did not

die in a glorified battle. He was condemned in

a courtroom. He was mocked, bruised, and broken

for our transgressions. He was beaten. His beard

was pulled from his face. He was covered in a

mocking manner, humiliated. Do you know the early

church, after getting flogged in Acts, I believe

it's Acts chapter four, that they glorified God.

Because it was considered an honor to be hated

the way Jesus was. They rejoiced at the mocking.

They rejoiced at the beatings. Because then this

is something that is real. That I get to share

in the honor that Christ was given. The honor

to be persecuted and to suffer for his sake.

Let's turn to Matthew chapter 16, verse 24. It

Matthew 16:24

says here, after Peter just got done rebuking

the living God, just think about that. What did

he rebuke Jesus for? He rebuked him because he

didn't want his savior to die. He wanted to be

saved without death. How many of us have rebuked

God because something had to die and we didn't

want it to? Jesus says, If anyone would come

after me, this is, remember, this is Christianity

101. If anyone would come after me, let him deny

himself and take up his cross and follow me.

We don't get to follow Jesus until we first deny

ourselves. The word in the Greek means to refuse

yourself. To disagree with yourself. Because

your flesh has arguments. And it's up to you.

It's your choice to refuse them or not. You can't

even take up your cross until you've denied yourself.

I've done this. I'm speaking from experience.

What I thought was a cross on my back ended up

being something of a burden. It wasn't a cross

at all. I thought it was a cross. But because

I did not deny myself first, I thought the burden

of Christianity was just like this. See, we make

following Jesus heavier than it needs to be.

Because we try to pick up a cross. that can't

be picked up until we deny ourselves. You cannot

say yes to yourself and pick up a cross at the

same time. You cannot say yes to your flesh and

the spirit and think that you are in agreement

with both. By choosing one, you have denied the

other. And so any... Cross or spirit we think

we're following and think we're carrying and

think that is upon us is not the spirit of the

cross of Christ. It is a form of religion that

is useless against the works of the flesh, as

Galatians says. Seeing things that deny yourself,

choose, don't touch this, don't touch that. but

has no power against the indulgences of the flesh.

It is a form of denying yourself without actually

denying yourself. Because you're denying what's

easy. God tells us what we should deny, and we

have to respond to what he says we have to deny,

not what we... argue with him about and say,

well, I can give this up for you. Like I said,

I've done this. I've argued with God. I've argued

with God. I will give you this and I hope that's

enough. I will give you blank. I'll give you

this relationship. I'll give you this thing.

God says, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, you have

to deny yourself. Don't deny what is easy for

you. The cross, we're talking about, if you haven't

noticed, the theology of altars. The theology

of altars, which by the way, I know theology

can be an intimidating word, but essentially,

theology is the study of God. That's what it

means. And I want you to understand that for

a lot of people that might have this stipulation

that theology leads to a dry wilderness, dead

relationship with God, what you experience is

not true theology. Human wisdom is probably what

you experience, but theology leads to the refreshing

springs of revelation of Jesus Christ. Theology

is worship, not study. Theology is worship. Do

you know what the angels and the seraphim and

the cherubim get to do all the time? Theology.

Because they are constantly observing the living

God. And God has made himself plain to us through

the word of God. Let my eyes be open to the word.

As Psalms 119 says, let my eyes be open that

I may observe your splendors. That's worship

language. Theology is worship. And theology leads

to an experience, not theories. We often get

into this mode of thinking that theology leads

you to a place of just intellectual contemplation

and meditation. No. Theology leads to experience

and encounter. It should. Real theology does.

The Lord put it on my heart. Excuse me. The Lord

put it on my heart a couple of years ago to study

the altars of the scripture. I don't know why

I just decided to do it. And the Lord in the

midst, throughout this study, and I'm still in

the midst of it, I haven't finished Exodus yet.

But one of the things that I have realized as

studying this is how much we have watered down

the altar. And how much we have made this space.

The altar. For all you church kids, you know,

the altar call is the place where you respond

and get saved. It's the place where you go to

in worship and you get your feelings and you

get to just, ah, and just trauma dump on the

Holy Spirit. A lot of churches have actually

stopped doing altar calls because they saw a

lot of pastors abusing it and using it as a form

of emotional manipulation for the sake of having

a spiritual experience. But the Lord cares about

this deeply because there's an altar at the center

of the gospel. The altar of the cross. The cross

is an altar. He is the lamb that was perfect

and the all -sufficient sacrifice who was slain.

Where were the lambs offered in the Old Testament?

The altar. Jesus is the fulfillment of the lamb

crucified on the altar of wood. Which we know,

if you think hard enough about it, guess what

kind of altar Isaac was placed on? But Isaac

was removed and God spared him and said, let

a ram take his place. The altar is full of blood,

sacrifice, water, and oil. And Jesus is the fulfillment

of all of them. Jesus Christ died on the altar

of the cross. And not only did he die on the

altar of the cross, which by the way, in the

early forms of the altars, before even the tabernacle,

the altars were made of unhewn stones and dirt

mounds. Untouched by human hands. Guess what

hill, elevated position Christ was crucified

on? A hill made by the hand of God. An altar

made by the hand of God. And not only that, this

is why we read Matthew 16, 24 through 25. Because

as we know in the tabernacle of Moses, the altar

was not stationary. It was mobile. They would

do set up and tear down church all the time.

They didn't get a building for many, many years,

hundreds and hundreds of years. So we are very

grateful, Lord, that we have a building. In only

20 years, we didn't have to wait a couple hundred.

Until Solomon came around to actually build a

stationary place. But before all of that, it

was mobile. You know the throne of heaven is

mobile? Why do we think his altar is not the

same? Hebrews tells us that the tabernacle was

made. He says, build these things according to

what you have seen on the mountain. What did

Moses see? He saw the tabernacle of heaven. He

saw the altars in heaven. So altars, it's not

something that's just done away with with the

Old Testament. Because we come to an altar of

the Spirit. An altar that was provided to us

through Christ. The thing is, Jesus died for

access. We must die for proximity. Let me say

that again because it's messing with some of

your theology. Jesus died for access. He made

a way where there was no way. He opened the door

of the veil and now we get to behold him with

unveiled face. According to 2 Corinthians chapter

two, we get to approach the throne of God, which

we understand the mercy seat of the tabernacle

is representative. The Ark of the Covenant is

representative of his throne. We understand that

yes, Christ made a way. Through his death, but

we have to die for proximity. We are severely

mistaken if we think that his death means that

we don't have to die. And unfortunately, a lot

of Christian theology leans that way. All right.

Now we can get into the meat and potatoes. Father,

open your word to us. Reveal yourself to us that

we may better reveal who you are to the world

around us. In Jesus' name, amen. I want you to

imagine a pig. I know, some whiplash from that

turn there. Imagine a pig who's getting ready

to go to a spa. He says to himself, self -care

is very important. And he comes to a building

with a sign out front that says, Deluxe Farming

Spa, we cure what ails you. He didn't realize

that what he was walking into was a butcher shop.

The pig walks in, takes a seat, and the butcher

there at the counter is staring at him with shock.

The pig says, I want the full treatment. My friends

have been saying that I have too much anxiety.

I need to get rid of that. I also could really

use a full body massage, really tenderize me.

And maybe you could help me lose a few pounds

even while you're at it. Just kind of, just help

me slim down a bit. The butcher responds, a little

confused, but he says, yeah, we offer full treatment

here. A few moments later, the butcher guides

the pig to a spot, lets him lay down, puts some

cucumbers over his eyes. He goes to turn the

grill on, and the pig, his ears perk up at the

sound of butter sizzling on the pan on the barbecue.

And he says, ah, I hear the sauna warming up.

When we come to the altar, we're not coming to

a spiritual sauna to be massaged and pampered.

The pig says, I want the full treatment. When

we come to the altar, we often think, I come

for the full treatment, God. Give me something

that's just gonna take away my anxiety, something

that's just gonna polish me up a little bit,

and I'm gonna leave this place with just a glow

because I just got a great facial from the presence

of God, and I just got a full body massage, and

I feel so much lighter now. He's worked out some

of those knots in my back. Thank you, Jesus.

But nothing died. altar is the place. This place

is where Christians are transformed from something

unclean and motivated only by appetites into

a life that releases a pleasing aroma to God.

Come on, who loves barbecue? That is a pleasing

aroma, I'll tell you what. We have to understand

that the altar that every Christian must come

to is the altar of the cross. And the altar that

was initially a place of death has now become

the place where resurrection life is imparted.

Now you get to experience resurrection life because

you came to the altar saying, I'm ready to die.

And God says, good, I'm ready to give you life.

I remember when I was a young kid and I'm a seventh

generation pastor. And so I've grown up in church.

I've been to more services than you've probably

had Big Macs. I have heard more sermons than

you could possibly count. I have been to hundreds

of altar calls. And I remember as a young kid,

when I was at a conference in Seattle, there

was this incredible speaker. Presence of God

was moving. He has this altar call. And for years,

I was kind of the guy that actually stayed back

in my own row simply because I was so scared

of what people would think about me. I had so

much fear of man that I would just, let me just

hang back. I was the pastor's kid. I'm the senior

pastor's son. And I'm chilling in my row while

all my friends have gone forward to the altar.

And I just remember, just like, oh, you know,

okay, fine. I'm going to go up to the front.

Because at least I'll look like I'm serving God.

So I go to the front. And I could feel the presence

of God increase the closer I got. But the closer

I got, the fear of man increased as well. My

anxiety began to heighten. And what ended up

happening is I get in with the people and I'm

there and I'm trying not to raise my hands too

high because I know I'm sweating. And as a 14

-year -old, never put on enough deodorant. Keeping

the pleasing aroma to the Lord. Pleasing. Trying

to just engage with God and just, I was so distracted

and I was so out of it that even though I was

experiencing the presence of God, the fear of

man kept increasing, increasing, increasing.

Usually the thing that is heightened when you

come to the altar is what God is pointing out

to you that needs to die. Many of us avoid coming

to the altar. Because of the heightened sense

of anxiety or fear. What will people think of

me? What are people going to say? How is this

going to go? We get to this place in our walk

with God where we are safer outside of the tent

letting somebody else offer a sacrifice and get

to bask in the aroma of someone else's sacrifice

rather than coming to God ourselves. And to say,

Lord, I don't know if I can give this. I have

so much. Social anxiety. Social anxiety is a

demon, folks. I'm telling you right now, I don't

care what COVID did. I don't care how long you

were locked up in your house. That is a stronghold

not from God. And you need to bring it to the

altar and let it die. If we don't teach this

and live this, the altar will just be a sauna

where the flesh just sweats, but it doesn't actually

burn and die. And many of us have had some good

sweats at the altar, myself included. But as

I began to study the altar, you don't come to

an altar unless you're ready, something is going

to die. The altar is a serious thing. This is

not a place for emotion. Emotions can happen,

but it is not the primary motive and it is not

the primary manifestation. I come to the altar

because I say, Lord Jesus, you are worthy of

whatever you ask of me. And I am, any part of

me you say, give me that. I say, yes, Lord, have

your way. Not my will, let your will be done.

I am ready to die to it. I am ready to deny myself.

I am picking up my cross and I come to the altar

and I carry the altar on my back. And God, I

have hope that you will not leave me in a state

of death. but you will give me resurrection life,

that you impart into me the life of Christ. It

is not I who live, but now I leave the place

of the altar with the life of Christ. And there

are many people, remember, I've been in church

a long time. You know those people that they

come, they always respond to getting saved every

time? They come to the altar like every week.

You do a salvation altar call, they come. Everybody,

oh, Jacob is coming. He's going to the altar

again. I can't believe this. It's so embarrassing.

Doesn't he understand the salvation? Doesn't

he understand gospel? What I've learned is that

I don't want to ever squander the conviction

and the draw to come to the altar. He may have

something off about why he's coming to the altar.

He's confessed Jesus as Lord, but there's something

probably in Jacob that hasn't fully died yet.

That's why he feels the pull. That's why he feels

drawn to it. It's not necessarily the sake of

salvation that Christ must die again, but he

now has to die again. And he says, I need to

come. Something happened this week and something's

got to die in me. And I got to give it to God.

and give it wholly to him, that it would not

come back, but only the resurrection life of

Christ would be within me. If I could have the

band come up. You okay if I teach for just a

second? I only needed one yes. It's the yes of

the Holy Spirit. The word altar is in Hebrew,

mizbeah, and it means the place of slaughter.

It means the place of slaughter. And it's a place

of giving gifts to God. The altar is a place

of sacrifice. So the question that comes up then

is, if the altar is a place of sacrifice, then

whenever an altar is brought up, I have to ask

this question, what is being sacrificed? Because

not every altar takes the same sacrifice. You

don't go to the altar of incense in the holy

place bringing a bull to slaughter it right then

and there. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You skipped this

step here. You gotta go back. Go to the brazen

altar. That's where the bulls go. That's where

the rams go. There's a different offering. There's

a different sacrifice for this altar. Not altars

are the same. They require different sacrifices.

A specific altar means a specific sacrifice.

And there's a second meaning for the word altar

here. It means, so it's a place of slaughter

and it is a place. For something to be lifted

up. Which if you know the teachings of Jesus,

you know in John 12, verse 32, it says here,

John 12:32

and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will

draw all people to myself. Do you know what's

the most attractive thing to people? To the world?

Christ crucified. This is not my opinion. I'm

just reading the Bible to you. When I am lifted

up. Lifted up on the cross. On the altar of the

cross. The place where I am seen as crucified.

When John looks at the book of Revelation. When

he sees Jesus. What does he see? A lamb. as though

it had been slain. In that place, in that time,

in that moment, he will draw all people to himself.

This is so counter to what we think. We think

we have to win people and convince them. like

a bait and a switch almost. It's like, hey, do

you want, you know, we preach the gospel like,

yeah, you're gonna have to, you know, deny yourself,

take up the cross. But then you get to follow

Jesus and Jesus does miracles and Jesus will

touch you and he'll reach and he'll provide for

you. You won't ever have to worry about your

finances again and he's gonna heal that broken

knee or that crazy disease you have. Look, God

is gonna meet you and we skip the very thing

that is actually gonna draw them. Because we

think life, the resurrection, life is what draws

them to Christ. No, it's the fact that the very

God of the ages, the majesty, the splendor, the

one who created all things, and all things were

created through him. He came down as flesh, perfectly

God and perfectly man, and he came to what? Die.

If we preach anything less, We are not preaching

the gospel. We do not preach Christ. And here's

the thing, people, I want to encourage you in

this. If people are not willing to follow Jesus

because it would cost them, do not maneuver around

the gospel to get them to say yes to something

that is not the gospel, but it is something to

just make us feel better. Because I want to hear

the yes. I want to be able to tell people that

I led someone to God. That is chaff before God.

Because the thing is, why do we have such an

epidemic of young people as soon as they graduate

high school leaving the church? Why? Because

we have preached a gospel. I have. I've done

this. I've preached it because of my own insecurity.

I've preached a gospel that was easier for them

to swallow and required nothing of them except

to just say yes. That is not... Christianity.

And this is not why we come to church. This is

if I want somebody to get saved out there and

they come in here, they have already experienced

the altar out there. The altar, remember, is

mobile. It does not just stay here in these few

little square foot of land here in front of this

stage. This is a place of an altar, yes, but

the altar is mobile. The Christian must take

the altar to the world so that the world would

come to the altar. So here's what we're gonna

do. We are going to respond to the altar. We

need to come to the altar not as people who just

want to be massaged, pampered. We come to the

altar to die. Because in death, we get to experience

his resurrection life. And that's when we're

transformed. That's when transformation takes

place. Time and time again, I've gone, God, I

feel stuck. And every time I've said that to

God, God says, no, you're not stuck. You're just

still alive. There's a part of you still living.

Okay, God, then show me. You told Abraham the

specific sacrifice. You told him to give of his

son. You told David what to sacrifice. You told

him to sacrifice with praise and the lifting

of hands and through prayers. You told Jesus

what to sacrifice his very life. And you tell

us what to sacrifice. This right now, this altar

is for the sacrifice of life. Your life. Pour

it out before him. This is not a salvation altar

call. This is the altar that we as Romans 12

says, living sacrifices. Because Christ is eternally

the land that was slain. He lives. But he's seen

as crucified. We live. But when people look at

us, are we dead? Not dead as in just zombies.

Being so mopey and all this stuff. Not having

joy in life. No, no, no. The fear of the Lord

and the joy of the Lord are complementary. They

don't cancel one another out. The fear of the

Lord and the joy of the Lord go together. When

I come to the altar and experience death, I rejoice.

because now I get to join him in his crucifixion

in his sufferings because he died for me because

he loved me and I will die for him because I

love him if you wish to respond no one's going

to pray for you no one's going to lay hands on

you the altar is open this is between you and

him Responding to the altar. Lastly, if you are

in need of prayer send us a text message at 541

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