Reformed Baptist Church in O'Fallon, Missouri
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Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

A Day of Consecration

Okay, we have a lot happening today. We’re going to look at the Word, and then one family is going to dedicate their baby to the Lord today. We’re going to have some new members inducted into the Hall of Fame, and then we actually have a baptism. You can do that. We’ll run to Walmart and get you extra clothes if you need it, but you can just do it. Just get it done.

Before we do all of that, we are going to look at the Word a little bit. So open your Bibles, if you would, to Romans 12.

Don’t you love the sound of that rain? As long as you’re inside, right? Romans 12, this is a well-known passage.

We’re going to look at the first two verses in Romans 12. Paul says, I beseech you therefore, I’m reading the New King James, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove or discern what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Here in this passage we see Paul exhorting — actually beseeching, which is a very strong word — the church, which means us, to the service of God, and he’s calling us to uncompromising separation from the world, and consecration to His service. So I want to just walk you through these two verses and make a few comments before we actually engage in various forms of dedication which we are doing today. When you think about what we’re doing in a baptism, in a baby dedication, in a new member induction, the theme that runs through them all is this theme of commitment or the theme of consecration. You could even use a stronger word and say there’s an element of a vow or an oath involved, but I don’t want to use that word because some people might misunderstand the meaning. But the point here is that people are publicly expressing a private decision.

They’re sharing with us in public decisions they have made in their heart regarding their service to God, the call of Jesus, and responding to the mercies of God. So I thought this passage was applicable really to all whether we’re talking about someone who’s being baptized, someone who’s dedicating a child, someone who is publicly identifying with a community of believers. The theme is really very similar.

Present Your Bodies a Living Sacrifice

So what does Paul say here? He says in his beseeching, his exhortation, he says present yourselves, or present your bodies. This word present is used earlier in Romans, in chapter 6, in verse 13, if you want to turn there real quickly. In Romans 6 — so we’ll start in 11 — now we’ll start in… where do you start? In Romans 6:10, no, I’m just kidding. Verse 10, it says, the death that He died — 6:10, meaning the death that Jesus died — he died to sin once for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God. Same word present. Present yourselves to God. The King James says yield yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. The reason we can present ourselves to God as those that are alive from the dead is because we are alive from the dead. Those who are born again in the spirit have literally been brought back to life. They were spiritually dead; through the new birth they were now made spiritually alive. The resurrection life of Jesus dwells in the souls of his people. And so we are made alive, quickened, if you will, when we’re united to Christ by faith. His resurrection becomes our resurrection. So we’re exhorted here by Paul to present our bodies. Now, some people think, some commentators think bodies means literally bodies, others think that the word body is used for the entire person. Either way, Paul is calling for a complete and a total yielding of ourselves to God. And I think he uses the word body because he’s comparing our commitment to the Old Testament sacrifices where the animals were brought before the altar and they were slain there. So, he’s thinking of these devoted animals which were used in the Old Testament and he says that we are to present our bodies to God just the way that the Old Testament saints would bring a goat or a lamb to the altar. So bring, not a goat or lamb, bring yourself. Bring yourself to the altar of God and lay it down. present yourself to God. But in contrast to the Old Testament, he doesn’t say present yourself a dead sacrifice, but a living sacrifice. In the Old Testament the animals were actually brought to the temple alive, and they were slain there at the altar. If an animal had already died, it was unfit to be offered to God. You couldn’t bring- if one of your animals died on your farm, if you will, you couldn’t bring it to God; it was already dead. You had to bring a living sacrifice. Then it had to be slain right there at the altar. So that may be why Paul is using living sacrifice. But I think there’s another reason, and that is that we are not to present ourselves to God as a dead sacrifice, as something that just lays there on the altar, because we’ve been resurrected. Yes, we die in Christ, we are buried with Christ, but we are raised with Christ.

So we are alive in Jesus Christ. We are a sacrifice, but we are a living sacrifice. And so this idea of living means a perpetual and a constant sacrifice. And Paul calls us here in Romans 12, and he says, present your bodies a living sacrifice. He’s not saying, present yourselves to God once. Now today we’ll see a baptism. That is a form of presenting oneself, and literally one’s body, which is then immersed in water, to God. But the presenting that is required in the Christian life is not a one-time offering. Now it’s true that God can bring us to a moment of crisis in our faith or in our life where we make a dramatic decision which is life-altering.

A Daily Decision

I remember when I made that decision, I don’t know if you ever had one of those moments, but I remember when, through reading the Scripture, I came to the realization that the claims of Christ were true. I was convinced that the Word of God was really the Word of God. And having understood that as an adult, young adult, I was 20 years old, 21, having understood that, I remember I was at a Bible study and I’ve told this story many times, I’m getting old so I’m just going to repeat myself. I remember after the Bible study I went outside and it was a beautiful autumn evening night, it was clear, beautiful night. And I looked up and I said, okay God, I believe, I believe.

And I knew at that moment that it had to go from here to here.

That I had to not just assent, but I had to embrace in my soul the implication of that assent.

You understand? Are you following me? That if this word is true, if God is who He claims to be, if Jesus is the Savior and the Lord that He claims to be, I understood that my belief meant a total consecration to God. I realized that His Lordship was over all of my life. And I realized that if I was going to say that I believe, I realized that my life would never be the same again. And it was as if I was on an airplane, way up in the sky, and the door opened, and God said, step out. And I said, I don’t have a parachute. And God said, I am the parachute. Step out. Because I knew at that moment that to truly believe meant leaving my old life behind, my old friends behind, my old habits behind. I knew that by stepping out I was beginning an adventure, the end of which I could not envision.

Call it what you will. Consecration, surrender, submission, whatever words you want to use. But it was an act not just of the mind, but it was an act of the will. It was an act of trust. Stepping out of that airplane was trust. But you know what? That decision did alter my life dramatically. But I still, to this very day, 40 years later, I still have to present myself to God daily.

A lot of Christians are living on a past experience. They can remember when they walked the aisle. They can remember when they got baptized. They can remember when they wept at a revival. They can remember the good old days. Listen, we need the good nowadays, the good new days. And whatever God has done for you in the past, as glorious as it may be or may have been, God isn’t done with you yet. And as Paul says in Corinthians, today is the day of salvation. That call to salvation is a daily call. No, it doesn’t mean you lose your salvation when you go to sleep and you wake up and you gotta get it again. No, it doesn’t mean that. But it means that we must, as Jesus said, we must take up our cross daily and follow Him. However committed you may have been yesterday, The claims of God are total on you today. And so today, the question is, what are we going to do today? Will I obey today? Will I follow today? Will I serve today? Will I pray today? Will I witness today? Go down the list of all the duties of the Bible. The question is, now, what will I do today? That’s why I believe— [audio unclear]

Holy: Set Apart for God

This word has two meanings. The Passover lamb, especially, had to be inspected for seven days to make sure there was no disease or it was not maimed in any way in order for that offering to be pleasing to God. It had to be unblemished, without spot, and this speaks of the moral character of the offering. But holy may also mean here set apart for God’s purposes.

And I think this is the main meaning in this context. It can mean either, but in this context I think the idea here is that when you study the word holy in the Bible you see that the root meaning of holy isn’t good, although in some contexts it means good, but the root meaning is separate. Separate. And when you look at what Paul is exhorting them to, to not be conformed to the world, but to be renewed and transformed, he’s talking about separation.

So to be holy means that we are set apart for God’s purposes. Literally it means to be devoted to God. In the Old Testament they had holy animals, holy places, holy utensils, holy water, all kinds of holy things. Well, clearly it doesn’t mean the moral character was holy. It meant that those things had been set apart for God’s use. So the exhortation, the call here, is to present ourselves to be used by God for His purposes. And you know, as I was trying to explain to my Bible class the other day, do you know in the New Testament we are never called sinners? Did you know that? Now that doesn’t mean we never sin, but it means that in God’s eyes when he looks at us, he doesn’t see sinners. What does he see? He sees saints and that very word saint is the same root word for holy. It means those that are separated and set apart for God’s purposes. So we are to present ourselves to him and in so doing it’s, not only a daily presenting, a living sacrifice, but it is a presenting to him and saying to God, Lord here am I, send me, send me. I’m set apart for Your purposes. Excuse me. Paul also says that this presentation is to be acceptable to God and this is a term which means well pleasing to God and you read in the Old Testament where God would smell, of course not literally, but he would smell the aroma, the smoke of the sacrifices would go up and it says that the Lord smelt the burnt offering and he was pleased. He was pleased. I don’t know about you, but I love the smell of barbecue. Now that sounds silly, but when you went to the temple, right? You could smell the temple miles away, man. Sometimes they have thousands of sacrifices. You talk about a massive barbecue. You talk about a tailgating party. Here they were offering all these animals and they’re literally burning them. Right? It smelled glorious. I mean, how do you sit there service like that without wanting to go to lunch? Right? So the pleasure that we get from that aroma, what the scriptures tell us is that when God smelled those sacrifices, the moral implication, the moral meaning of sacrifice, of propitiation, of surrender, is pleasing to Him.

So when we yield to God and present ourselves to him, he is pleased in that sacrifice.

Reasonable Service

Well, Paul then goes on and says, this is a reasonable thing to do. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Now your version might say spiritual worship, and that’s one way to translate it. The word here, service or worship, is a word that literally means, literally worship, but it’s…

There’s two different words for worship. One emphasizes the inward worship and the other emphasizes the outer worship. And this is the word for outer worship. And I think because it is a call to action. It’s a call to presenting, a literal presenting, if you will, and it’s a call to action on our part. Paul says this is reasonable. The root word here for reasonable is the word logikon. And you know what English word we get? Logic. Logic. I love that. Logical worship. Logical service. Reasonable service. That which pertains to the reason, the mind, the understanding of man. And our service and our dedication to God is reasonable, in one sense, in that it is something we must do in the inner person, right, in the mind and in the heart. But I don’t think that’s what he’s saying. I think what he’s really saying is it’s reasonable, meaning in light of what God has done for us. If you truly understand what God has done for us, the only reasonable response is dedication. It’s only logical. As I shared earlier, when I came to my moment of crisis, my crisis of faith, that’s what I realized. If the word of God is true, if the claims of Jesus are true, the only logical thing to do is to surrender. Anything else is not logical. It’s unreasonable. Well, that is why I believe that Paul begins this exhortation with this phrase where he says in 12.1, he says, I beseech you therefore, brethren,

By the Mercies of God

I note this phrase, by the mercies of God. Now, you’ve heard the saying, a text without a context is a pretext? Okay, you haven’t had your coffee yet. Too many big words, sorry. In other words, you have to read any passage in its context to get the full import of the meaning. Paul has just concluded 11 chapters on what the gospel really means. Chapters 1 through 8 is really the most detailed exposition in the Bible of the Gospel.

In chapters 9, 10, and 11, Paul then explains to the Jewish community how the Gospel, the New Covenant, thus relates to the Old Covenant. And chapter 12 to the end are now practical exhortations that flow out of the Gospel.

So when he says, by the mercies of God, he’s saying this, in light of everything I have just said, now present yourselves. Well, what had he just said? Well, it would take us months to unpack everything that’s in Romans 1 through 11.

But let me mention a few highlights. First, he says, we are all by nature, children of wrath. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness, because men suppress the truth. God has revealed truth to them, revealed Himself to them, and yet they have suppressed the truth, the truth of God, for a lie. And as a result of that they were given over to their own desires and thus society degenerated, and we had all not only idolatry but all sorts of immorality as a product of that. Men’s hearts were hard, he says in Romans 2 that although the goodness and kindness of God leads us to repentance, still men’s hearts are impenitent and they’re treasuring up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath. In spite of all of God’s goodness toward them, all of His kindness, all of His blessings, men still do not respond to God, but rather exchange the truth of God for a lie.

And thus, they’re heaping up for themselves wrath upon wrath. But then, Paul says, in spite of all that, because of God’s great love and mercy, God has devised a way for men and women to be saved or justified in God’s eyes completely apart from their works. Paul tells us the law of God was given, and the law was given for the purpose of showing us the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the exceeding gravity of our offenses against God, the depth of our wickedness, the height of our betrayal and our hubris against God that we would resist the Almighty God, that we would offend His holy law. And the law shows us how wicked the human heart is so that we all stand before God not only guilty but Paul says that we stand before him silent because when we look at the law of God we see what God sees and our mouths are shut because we no longer have a refuge for our sin. We are exposed by the light of the law but God deals with us in mercy and grace. And in spite of our rebellion, our impenitence, in spite of our wickedness, God then sends His Son to be our Savior.

He sends His Son that through the blood of His sacrifice on the cross, the wrath of God which is revealed from heaven might be propitiated or satisfied for us. So that we then are justified, which means that we now stand in God’s favor. And then when I look at God, I see not a frown, I see a smile. Because He looks at me and He sees me in His Son Jesus Christ in whom I am acceptable.

Because my sins have been forgiven. And I have been clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And being in Him and found in Him, God then accepts me, listen, accepts me as He accepts His Son Jesus. You say that cannot be. Well, it is. That’s the gospel. This is so abundant that in spite of all of our offenses, the Father is willing to give to us the very righteousness and standing of His own Son whom He loves and has always loved from eternity past. He will impute that to us by simple faith. And when we receive Christ, we receive that love. We receive that standing and we are forgiven. But we’re not only forgiven, Paul goes on and says, we’re given the spirit and through the spirit, then we are sanctified. We’re given not only, we are redeemed, not only from the guilt of our sin, the penalty, but now he says we’re being redeemed from the very power of sin. And that if we yield ourselves to God as those alive from the dead, we can walk in power over sin. We can live the victorious Christian life because the righteousness of the law is being fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Because the spirit is the spirit of righteousness. And it works the very righteousness of the law in us and through us. So therefore, we have redemption, not just from the past, we have redemption in the very present.

We’re redeemed from the curse of the law. We are redeemed from the power of sin. We are redeemed from the bondage of Satan. We have been set free in Jesus Christ.

No Condemnation

So Paul says, therefore there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Do you hear what the word says? Not partial condemnation, not some condemnation, not a little bit.

There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. None. That’s why we can come to the Father. That’s why we can even call Him Father. That’s why we can approach the throne of grace. I mean, the idea of worshipping God in [audio unclear] It’s not God. Now, maybe God’s convicting you, but that’s not God condemning you. Maybe your friends are condemning you. Maybe your coworkers are condemning you. Maybe your own conscience condemns you, but God doesn’t condemn you. Because there’s no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. None whatsoever. And let me assure you, my friends, Satan will labor to keep you in bondage to guilt. He will labor to keep you under condemnation because condemnation will keep you out of the throne room. And being kept from the throne room, you are kept from power. Because the power and the transformation that ought to be happening in the Christian life is the result of communion with God through Jesus Christ. And if you feel condemned, you will not draw near. That’s why in Hebrews it says, let us draw near in full assurance of faith. Full assurance of faith. This doesn’t mean you never sin, but the Word of God has a remedy for your sin. You know what it is? The blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus avails every day. Every day. And so for the believer, when they are conscious that they’ve sinned, the scripture calls them to confession. It says that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And being cleansed, you now can have fellowship with the holy God. You don’t need to walk in guilt and condemnation.

The mercies of God have provided you everything you need for life and godliness. The mercies of God have given you justification and forgiveness and reconciliation with God.

You are at peace with Him. It’s given you redemption. You have been set free. And you have the promise of being glorified in heaven someday when you meet the Lord. The gospel, the provisions of the gospel are full and complete. And as I said recently, maybe it was last week, when I talked about the Promised Land, the Promised Land was full, but they had to go in and possess it. And the fullness of the gospel is available to every believer, but they must appropriate it by faith. It is there for you. The land flowing with milk and honey, The land flowing with goodness and the Holy Spirit is there for you. But you have to possess it by faith. You have to take it. Well, now I’m definitely rambling. Let me just conclude because we have other things we need to do. Meditate on the mercies of God and the goodness of God toward you. And the more you do, the more you will find that you will yield to Him. Because it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. Do not respond to this call as if it were a command, because Paul does not say, I command you. He says, I beseech you. I plead with you. How profoundly humble, not just Paul, but our Lord speaking through him.

Our Lord who has every right to command our obedience. He has every right to command the sacrifice. Yet says, I plead. It’s because it must be a voluntary sacrifice. It cannot be coerced. You must choose this day whom you will serve. Amen.

Lord, we thank you that you have given us every motive, every motive to present ourselves to you. You have given us such an abundant salvation, a full, rich salvation, a complete salvation in every regard. Lord, it’s only reasonable that we respond by yielding, by presenting. I pray, Lord, for each of us, not just those today who are making a public declaration, but Lord, I pray for every one of us that we would daily present ourselves to you a living sacrifice. That daily we would yield to you. That daily we would appropriate by faith the richness of the salvation you have given us.

Lord, how the world needs to see in us what you can do with a yielded soul.

How they need to see your glorious salvation displayed in our lives. I pray, Lord, that you would make us a living sacrifice, a living witness.

Thank you, Lord, for your abundant goodness toward your people. We pray in your name. Amen.

A Child Dedication

Pastor Mike’s going to come up. The Maloneys — they heard me. Did you hear that? See? All right, I saw Lauren run down the hall. All right, they’re going the other way. I guess they decided not to present themselves. There they are. Give it up for the Maloneys. You guys are having a change of heart running away there.

Alright, you guys can face me after I read a little paragraph, then with the different promises we’re asking you to commit to, you can say, we do. It is the privilege of the church to encourage and assist parents in the proper training and development of their children. Therefore, it is appropriate for home and church to unite in this act of dedication. In presenting your child to the Lord, do you promise to perform the following duties? Do you promise to live as an example of godly personal obedience? To pray for your child regularly so that he might be conformed to the image of Christ?

To provide for your child a Christian education, instructing him in the fear of the Lord? To discipline your child in grace according to God’s Word? To labor by faith, trusting God’s promises to obedient parents? All right, then we, the officers and members of this church, promise the following. And then the church, after each statement I read, can say amen.

In the name of the Lord Jesus we promise, to support, aid, and encourage you in the fulfillment of your parental duties. Amen.

To continually pray for the grace of God to rest upon your home. Amen.

To reprove you in love if disobedient as a Christian parent. Amen.

To provide both you and your child a safe, supportive, and loving community and witness.

Amen. Lord, I pray for the Maloneys as I pray for little Steven, God, that his heart would be quickened by Your Spirit at an early age. You’d be gracious to save him, and he would be quickened by Your Spirit at an early age and turn to You. I pray for Christian and Lauren, for the days, the months, the years that lie ahead, God, that they would strive to instill in their son a love for you, that they would shepherd his heart, God continually before the throne, that they would have wisdom beyond their years, knowledge beyond their years, Lord, give them perseverance for those days that are tough to have the long view in mind. God, I pray that they would run hard after you and that their child would see that and run as well. God, we pray this in Your name. We pray that they would present not only themselves to You anew this very day. We pray that you would hear from heaven and that you would supply the necessary grace to fulfill this commitment and act of dedication today. We pray that you would enable them to present themselves as a living sacrifice daily. We pray that daily they would walk before their children in an honorable way, that daily they would pray for their children, that daily they would encourage, exhort and lead them to Christ. We thank you Lord that you have given us all that pertains to life and godliness. We thank you for the many precious promises in your word that you’ve given to parents Lord, that if we raise our children, Lord, in your ways that when they are old, they will not depart from them. We ask that this word would be fulfilled in the Maloneys’ life. And we ask it in Jesus’ name and for His glory alone. Amen.

I love you guys. Amen.

You gotta, I love you, man.

Receiving New Members

Also, we have some who are going to be new members.

I’d like them to come forward, please. Those of you who are…

If you would stand up here. Okay. Now that you’re all facing the church, turn around. We didn’t do a rehearsal. I hope you turn back in a moment. Do you agree with the vision, doctrine, and practice of Liberty as stated in the membership handbook? Yes? One person does. The rest of you can sit down. A simple yes will do. Will you accept the duties of membership as outlined in that handbook? Do you agree to minister to the body of Christ by serving in ministry here at Liberty? Yes. Turn around please. And to the church, will you as a body pray for and edify our new members and fulfill the duties of membership toward them? Yes. Very good. Let’s pray. Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for these that are today really embracing a commitment to your church. I pray Lord that you would help them to appreciate and understand, as they walk this out, the beauty of Your church, how much You love Your church. I pray that they would be filled with that love for your body. I pray that they would pray, serve, give, and do all that is necessary to see that your church is healthy and whole and productive and brings you glory on the earth. We pray this in your name. Amen.

All right, you want to give these guys… don’t leave. What, you’re the first to talk and the first to leave? What is it? All right, first we have Austin McCartney. Whoo! Going to give me a mic? I’ll take it. Just wanted to say thank you to the pastors and to the church and then I look forward to new opportunities to serve and to experience the Holy Spirit here. Amen.

Next is Jordan Arnov. I’m proud to be a part of you. [audio unclear] I’m super excited and I love you all so much. And Kate Young. Oh goodness, this is a little nerve-wracking. I just want to say thank you to everyone here. Some of you know me, some of you don’t, but I have been loved and supported by this entire community, and I’m so grateful. Thank you again. All right, Ben Inman. Hey guys, I made it. I’m a member. I’m happy to be a part of the family. And Ben Brown. I just want to say, after I’ve been here with my family for roughly 14 years, I’m excited to become my own member. I’m looking forward to what God has planned for me here. And then, that’s it. What’s that? You want me to pray? I’ll pray for them. Lord, we do thank You, God, for everything that you are doing and have done and will do today. And we do ask your hand of blessing upon our new members. We thank you for their desire to be a part of this body. And we pray that their ministry here would be fruitful, that they would receive ministry and do ministry, God, that your hand of blessing will be upon and that you would lead and guide them as they seek to love and serve you. Amen.

Let’s stand. We’re going to worship as we get prepared to do a baptism.