Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. 12 today. Go ahead and turn there.
It'll be a little bit before we get there. But um Romans chapter 12. And we want to talk about the most important altar of them all. Thank you again for being faithful and being here. Happy Memorial Weekend.
And um You know, we On Veterans Day, obviously, we honor those who served and/or serving. And Memorial Day, obviously we're honoring those who gave their life for our country and things, but Um many of you, any of you that I have served or are serving in our military. Let me just say thank you again. Memorial Day is for those that gave their lives, but I feel that you're giving your life. and gave part of your life to give us the freedom to do what we're doing right now.
And so I want to thank you so much for that. And I hope that you get to be with family, if at all possible, this week. I encourage you to be here tonight, have some good things tonight, a couple important meetings going on tonight, so we'll keep the service obviously flowing quickly, so we'll get everything done. We're always respectful of your time here, and so we appreciate. uh your faithfulness.
The most important altar Of all. There is something that is not popular to preach on. It's not easy to live. On its um Something that is difficult for every Christian, every believer. And yet I believe it's probably one of the most important aspects.
of the Christian life. It's called dying to self. Yeah. Person lays aside their flesh and the desires of it the priority of it. the control of it.
And we literally crucify, put to death. Lay ourselves on the altar. Every day. to serve Jesus Christ. I'm not saying everybody does it.
I am saying that It is one of the most important aspects of the Christian life. And it is probably the main reason why so many Christians struggle with so many things. is they have not learned to die to self. We have arguments in church because individuals. cannot die to self.
We always have preferences, somebody mad that it this isn't this way, and the other people are mad that it isn't this way, and the other people are mad that it isn't that way, and we have all kinds of things going wide because we always want what we want. But God says to serve him. the way he deserves to be served. That we have to build an altar every day. Put ourselves on it.
and sacrifice the flesh. I could tell already you are very excited. about this today. You know, on a day when we honor those that paid the ultimate sacrifice. This is a good day to talk about.
Sacrifice. Let's pray and we'll dig into it today. Lord, I love you. And Lord, I'm preaching on a subject that I still struggle with. Lord, dying to self is a difficult thing.
But, Lord, you would not have put in your word to do it if we couldn't. God, I know that whatever you ask of us, that your Precious Holy Spirit will. enable us to do it. But we have to allow you to do that work. Lord, as we take a little journey through the Bible and kind of lay some groundwork.
I pray that you would help. the light bulb to come on. I'd pray you'd help every person here. to be able to understand. Lord, that is normally the goal of my preaching: to glorify you and obey you.
to allow the listener to understand, if they can understand. It's probably not going to do them a lot of good.
So, Lord, I pray that you'd help me in the explanation process. As we walk through your word. That Lord I help us to understand that this is probably the most important altar of all of them. This literally will change our life. In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen. Number one today, and we're going to make a little bit of a journey through God's Word so that we kind of understand what's going on. Number one, In salvation. You and I, we were crucified and resurrected. with Jesus Christ.
If you have been saved by the grace of God, and there are very well are probably individuals here who have not yet. truly been saved. Through the grace of God. And may I say that there is no better place than right here for you to get that settled today. We would love to help you in this process.
But when a person gets saved, they are crucified and resurrected with Jesus Christ. You say, what do you mean? Look at Galatians chapter 2, verse 20. These verses will be on the screen for you. Paul says, I am crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless, I live.
Now, was he on the cross with Christ? No. But we were. When you and I get saved, we literally were crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, and resurrected with Jesus Christ. That's why Paul says, hey, because of Christ, I literally was crucified with Christ, but now I live, which means I'm resurrected with Christ.
Notice it says, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
Now listen to me. Just because I had breath doesn't mean I was alive. Just because I had breath before I got saved doesn't mean I was alive. I was physically alive, but spiritually dead. If you understand that, say amen.
Before I got saved, I had breath in my body. But my spirit was dead.
Now, listen to me. If I would have stayed that way, I would have eventually been physically dead and spiritually dead. The Bible says I was dead in trespasses and sin. But my spirit was made alive in Christ at the moment of salvation. The moment I was saved, I was crucified, buried, resurrected with Jesus Christ.
Now, my earthly body will eventually. Die, but my spirit that has been made alive by Christ. We'll live forever with Christ. And I will one day have a glorified body for an eternity with Christ.
So that means this, that when you got saved, if you've been saved, the moment you got saved, you literally were crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, and resurrected. You were given life through Jesus Christ.
Now, number two, through salvation, we were made alive by the Spirit of God.
So I told you what happened first.
Now, second, let me explain how that happened. Romans chapter 8, verse 10. I'm going to walk you on a little journey. Don't lose it here this morning. And if Christ be in you, that's salvation.
The body is dead because of sin. But the spirit is life because of righteousness. Do you get it? Do you see it? That even when I've been saved, this body is still dead because of sin, and it will decay one day, but my spirit now is alive.
Because of righteousness.
Now let me ask you this. Who's righteousness? We didn't have righteousness. The Bible says that none of us were righteous. It's the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
So, because of Him, my body is still going to be dead because of sin. That's why our bodies give out, by the way, because we're sinners. We were born with that. And the Bible says, sin, when it's finished, brings forth death. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, that brought death, and now we have a lifespan.
And now, all of us are going to have a time if the Lord tarries is coming, that we one day, just like I had to do the funeral for Miss Charlotte this week, there's going to come a time that the body will die because of sin, but our spirit is made alive through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Are you with me?
Now notice this. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, who are we talking about here? The Holy Spirit of God. When the Holy Spirit of God dwells in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit. that dwells in you.
The righteousness of Jesus Christ. That means this. When I say that when you got saved, or when I got saved, our spirit was made alive. It was made alive by the Spirit of God. Everybody with me so far, say amen.
Number three. Because of salvation. We are debtors to Christ.
Now, listen to what I'm saying and make sure you hear what I'm saying and not what I'm not saying. Look at the verse. Romans 8.12, therefore, brethren, we are debtors. Not to the flesh. to live after the flesh.
So, you and I are debtors, but we're not debtors to our flesh. Our flesh was leading us straight to hell. Who are we debtors to? We're debtors to Christ. But notice we are not indebted to Christ.
We are debtors to Christ.
Did you hear me? Yeah. We're not indebted to Christ. We're debtors to Christ. You say, what's the difference, preacher?
We do not have a debt that we must now pay back to Jesus because we've been saved. Salvation did not come with a price tag. Everybody with me say amen. It means that we had a debt that we couldn't pay and he paid it for us. Being a debtor to Christ doesn't mean I've got a debt now that I've got to pay back to Him.
It means I had a debt that I couldn't pay, and He paid it for me.
Now, even though Jesus isn't demanding anything back for that. Salvation was a free gift. It doesn't change the fact that he paid my debt for me. And that means I'm a debtor to him. Everybody got it?
I'm a debtor to Christ, even though he's not demanding anything back. It's not like he's going to quit loving me and he's going to take away salvation if I don't do certain things. No, he's not asking anything back, but he still paid my debt, so that means I'm a debtor to Christ. Everybody got it.
Okay. It means there was a debt that he settled for me. It means there was a debt I couldn't pay. But he paid it for me. Number four.
Because we are debtors to Christ. We must live in the spirit by putting the flesh to death. Why do I need to every day die to myself? Because I'm not a debtor to my flesh. My flesh did nothing for me but kill me.
I am a debtor to Christ because Christ gave me life. Everybody got it? So the reason I'm not a debtor to my flesh, because the flesh didn't do nothing for me. It couldn't pay the price that God demanded. I'm a debtor to Christ because Christ paid the debt that I couldn't pay.
And because of that, look at the verse: Romans 8:13. Please get this. For if ye live... After the flesh, Ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit do mortify.
The deeds of the body ye shall live.
Now, that word mortify means to put to death.
So that means now because I'm a debtor to Christ I want to live my life being controlled by the Spirit of God. Everybody with me? And for that to happen. I have to put my flesh to death. Every day.
You say, well, why don't I only have to do that one time? Because when you got saved and the Spirit of God came in, the flesh didn't leave. It just moved over. And so now, as a believer, you now have a battle inside of you between the spirit and the flesh. And if I'm going to live, walk by the spirit, I've got to kill that flesh.
Because if I don't kill that flesh, it's going to take over. Yeah, anybody else? All right, we're going to get somewhere with all this. Listen to me. Although I now still live in the flesh.
I do not want to live being led by the flesh. Look at me. We're all still flesh. And this body is still going to die. But even though I still live in the flesh, I do not want to live my life being controlled.
By my flesh.
So even though I'm living in the flesh, I want to be controlled by the Spirit of God. And if I'm going to do that, I've got to put to death. I've got to mortify the deeds of the body.
Now, we're getting somewhere. Number five. Because of salvation, I should no longer live controlled by my flesh. but controlled By faith.
Now, Galatians 2.20 look at this verse. And the life which I now live in the flesh, here he says. He says, I can't help it. I'm in the flesh. We're all flesh.
We're humans. But the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith. Of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.
So I can't put to death my flesh without faith. That's why the Bible says without faith, it's impossible to please God. Because you can't please God if you're being controlled by the flesh, and you can't mortify the flesh without faith.
So now Paul says, I'm in the flesh, but I don't want to be controlled by the flesh. I want to be controlled by my faith. We're taking stair steps here, it's all going to make sense in a minute. Number six. For me to walk in the Spirit by faith.
I must crucify. My flesh. Galatians 5.24, look at this. And they that are Christ's Have crucified the flesh. with the affections and lusts.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk. in the spirit. Live in the Spirit means if I've been changed by Jesus Christ through salvation, then I should walk in that same spirit. I have life now because of the Spirit of God.
So if I live in the Spirit, I need to walk. In the spirit. Look at me. the tension that you often feel in your life if you've been saved. is that your spirit has been made alive.
but you're still being controlled by a dead flesh. And that makes a Christian very unhappy. Very confused. Very up and down. It's just constant.
That's a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Why? Because my spirit's been made alive, but instead of now walking in the spirit, I'm made alive by the spirit, but I'm walking in the flesh. And that creates a problem.
So in order to fix that, We have to, as this verse says, crucify the flesh. Oh, and it's so... Hard. To do. Look at this verse, Colossians 3.4.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify, therefore, put to death, therefore, your members which are upon the earth. Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil confusion, covetousness, which is idolatry. Here we go. For me to walk in the spirit by faith, I must crucify my flesh.
This must happen. That means every day. I've got to somehow. Die. To self.
You want your marriage to work?
Well, I got four or five books I'm going to read. Good for you. Read all the books you want to read. But if you don't die to self, you're going to always have problems. Yes, sir.
Well, but I've been doing better, and I continue to do better. That's great. But if you don't die to yourself during the day, then that old flesh is going to take over. and we're going to have problems. If you can't die to yourself, you're going to have problems and struggles and tension and contention in every area of your life eventually.
Some of you can't have friends very long until there's a problem.
Some of you can't have relationships very long. It just always goes south. It always goes sour. Why? I know young people, they'll date and date and date and date and date, but always just, you know why?
Because even the dating started because you're trying to satisfy the flesh. And you picked a person that is satisfying your flesh. And not once were you led by the Spirit in the process. And that's why it always goes south. It always goes sour.
Even as adults, relationships end. There's always a problem. Always this. There's always contention. You watch it all the time.
People hook up with somebody, they become friends, and you know before long that's going to go south. Sure enough, it does. Why? Because we haven't learned. To die.
To self. It's an open altar every morning. And we just refuse. to put ourselves on it. We would rather sacrifice anything else.
But us. Hey, we would rather, I'm going to be faithful to church. I'm going to do that sacrifice. And you should. But that's not going to fix things.
Wait, I need to get involved in a ministry. I'm going to do that sacrifice for God. That'll make things better. I'm going to get more involved and I'm going to do more. And you ought to do more and you want to be involved.
But if you can't die to self, I don't care what sacrifice you throw on the altar. There will always be problems until you and I can put ourself on that altar. It's just the way it goes. There's no easy way around this. That's why Paul said, I've learned whatsoever state I'm in.
to be content. Paul says, I know how to abound and I know how to suffer loss. Because I have to die to myself. Every day. Number seven.
I crucify my flesh. By sacrificing my body. on the altar.
Now we are here to where we We'll spend a few moments before we go. Romans 12, verse 1. 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? Look at me. I am not sacrificing my body every day for the purpose of salvation. Salvation was accomplished when Jesus died on the cross for me.
This is not for salvation. This is for sanctification. Sanctification is the process of God making us more like Christ.
So I am not putting my body on the altar every day so that I can stay saved. I'm putting my body on the altar every day.
So that I Can be more like Christ. I want you to notice first, this offer is only available because of the mercy of God. Paul says, I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God. Listen, if You and I only have this decision itself because of the mercy of God. We would be in hell without the mercy of God.
The fact that I have a decision every day whether to put my body on the altar or not. That's God's mercy. That I even have breath, that I'm even still here, that I have salvation, that there's even a choice for me to make, shows the mercy of God. Are you with me?
Say amen. The fact that I have this choice means God have mercy on me. Notice number two, it must be a willing sacrifice. He didn't say every day God's going to grab you, throw you on the altar. No, he says Mm.
that ye ye present. Your body. You present your body. You see, it's not a sacrifice if it's not willing. Look, Emmy.
Remember the difference between the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the lambs in the Old Testament? Remember what we dealt with? Those lambs didn't have a choice. What made the sacrifice of Christ so wonderful is that He's the one that offered it. It was his decision.
He did it willingly. Are you with me?
Say amen. So that means now Christ does not want us to sacrifice because we feel like we have to. As if we're a lamb without a choice. He wants us to present our bodies on the sacrifice willingly. because he willingly did for us.
He does not want you to do this out of obligation. He wants you to do this because you love him. And only you will only do it willingly if you love him. A willing verse, a willing sacrifice. Notice thirdly.
It must be a living sacrifice. Not just a willing one. Ye present your, it must be a living sacrifice. This means what you sacrifice should be lived out by your life, not wrapped up in your words. For me to lay my body on the altar every day doesn't mean I just walk around and tell people, hey, you know what?
I sacrificed my body today. That doesn't mean that you sacrifice anything just because you said you did. A living sacrifice means what good does it do if I lay my body on the altar and I'm dead? Christ was our sacrifice because he overcame death. He defeated death.
And he's the one that gave us life.
So now there must be a living sacrifice. Notice fourthly it must be a holy sacrifice. That simply means set apart. Set apart. Just for Christ.
Just for him. No strings attached. Not because, well, I'm going to do this so that God will do this for me. Hey, I'm going to throw my body on the sacrifice today.
So maybe if I do that, He will do such and such for me.
Well, that's not holy. This is motives, this is actions, this is everything should be holy. It ought to be set apart. Notice here, and and trust me. I could make a sermon on each one of these.
So I don't have time. It must be acceptable unto God. It must be acceptable. Unto God, not unto you. This isn't about you thinking, well, I think that does it.
I think I've done everything I need to do. I think that ought to seal it up. It's not about what's acceptable to you.
So that one's acceptable to God. Notice last. This is often missed. It must be a serving sacrifice. He says, which is your reasonable Service.
Listen to me. The right kind of sacrifice that is acceptable unto God always results in service. It always leads us to do something, not just say something, but to do, to serve. What good does it do for me to say I'm going to put my body on the altar today, but that I don't use my body to The greatest news that anyone can receive is the news of the free gift of salvation found in Jesus Christ. It is our desire for you to know him personally.
Would you take a moment to hear this to-day? Every man is born with a sin nature. Romans 3:23 says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. No matter how hard we try, We're not good enough to obtain God's glory. or to get to heaven.
Because of that sin carries the penalty of death. Romans 6.23 says, For the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life for the through Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of our sin, or the payment of our sin, only equals death and separation from God. But it's only through God's gift salvation through Jesus Christ that we can accept Him as our Savior.
Jesus Christ paid for your sin debt. The Bible says in Romans 5:8, But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. All you have to do is receive Christ. by faith as your Saviour. Romans 10.9 says That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Verse 13 continues, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's as simple as admitting that you're a sinner believing that Jesus is the only way. and calling upon his name. Bible says whosoever that's anyone can call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. Have you accepted Christ as your personal Savior?
There is no greater day than today to take care of this. Would you accept Christ as your Saviour? If you have any questions, please give us a call at 336-993-5192 or visit our website at Crowin Baptist Church. Dot com. or visits that person at one of our three service times.
We hope you have a great rest of your day. God bless you. Mm-hmm.
