Bought with a Price

[0:00] 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 19 it says, What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

[0:14] Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. He has paid the price. He's paid the price for us.

[0:26] His price. It says, ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price. Think of that price that he paid. That infinite price that Christ paid for you.

[0:38] His price. It's done. The great transaction is done. The great purchase is completed. The price is paid. Christ paid with his very life's blood.

[0:49] What was the value of this payment? At what cost was this price paid? It was very costly. It was very costly. We can't really conceive of it, can we? The very price of his very blood.

[1:01] That you were purchased at great expense. A price beyond our reckoning. God put a price tag on your salvation that was the very price of Christ's blood.

[1:14] His precious blood. Think of what he paid. What it cost him. In 1 Peter 1, Peter talks about this precious blood of Christ.

[1:24] That redeems us. That rescues us. That saves us. That sets us free. 1 Peter 1 and verse 18 it says, For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

[1:52] A precious blood. A precious blood. His precious blood as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. That's how precious you are. That's how valuable you are this morning.

[2:05] How high a price tag God has put on you and on your salvation. The price that Christ paid for you is his very precious blood and his redeeming love.

[2:16] Think of it as you look back. Now some of these quotes I'm actually quoting in part from Charles Spurgeon. Some of these little sayings that I've got written down so I can't take the credit for this.

[2:30] But a preacher of old put it like this. Behold the man. Behold the man. Watch him there. Watch him there as he bared his back to the cruel lash that should have fallen upon you.

[2:45] As he shed his blood freely and willingly as he underwent the punishment that was due for our sin. For you. For your sin.

[2:56] It was his pain that bought you. As his hands and feet were nailed, his soul pains were greater still than the physical pain. And even as the dark clouds of God's divine wrath.

[3:12] Those thunder clouds gathered. As the sun was blotted out. As the father turned his back on his son. And of the son it says his soul was exceeding sorrowful.

[3:24] Even unto death. Redeeming love. Redeeming love. It's the theme of heaven. That's what Christ paid for you. Spurgeon describes it like this.

[3:35] He says. There in the midnight hour. Amidst the olives of Gethsemane. Kneels Emmanuel. The son of God.

[3:46] He groans. He pleads in prayer. He wrestles. See the beady drops of blood. On his brow. Drops of sweat.

[3:57] As he procures life itself for us. It's his blood. Crimson blood. Falling to the ground. O soul. Thy saviour speaks to thee.

[4:08] From Gethsemane. And he says. Here and thus. I bought thee with a price. Come stand. And view him in the agony. Of the olive garden.

[4:20] And understand at what cost. He obtained thy deliverance. Track him. In all his path. Of shame and sorrow. Till you see him.

[4:31] On the pavement. Mark how they bind him. And fasten him. To the whipping post. See. They bring the scourges. They tear his flesh.

[4:43] The plowers make deep. Furrows. On his blessed body. And the blood gushes forth in streams. While rivulets from his temples. Where the crown of thorns has pierced them.

[4:56] Joins to swell. The purple stream. From beneath the scourges. He speaks to you. With accents. Soft and low. And he says. My child.

[5:06] It is here. And thus. I bought thee. With a price. See him on the cross. Itself. As his hands and feet.

[5:17] Are fountains of blood. His soul is full of anguish. Even to heartbreak. And there. Ere the soldier. Pierces his side with a spear.

[5:30] Bowing down. He whispers to thee. And to me. It was here. And thus. I bought thee. With a price. His price was paid for you.

[5:43] An awesome. Infinite. Incredible. Valuable price. The value that you have. Before God. Shouldn't it make you wake up. And realize. How precious your life is to him.

[5:56] And how valuable. It should be. How you live it. How you spend it. This life that you have. Think of his price. And secondly. See.

[6:07] In our text of 1 Corinthians 6. His property. His property. You are his property. It says. 1 Corinthians 6.

[6:17] 19. What? Know ye not? That your body. Is the temple. Of the Holy Ghost. Which is in you. Which you have of God. And you are not your own.

[6:30] You are his property. He is paying his price. And you are his property. Now I think sometimes you should put. Trespassers prosecuted.

[6:42] No trespassing. You know. God's property. We don't want anybody trespassing. On God's property. Do we? No. We want to be wholly. And completely. At his disposal.

[6:53] Under his control. For his use. For his pleasure. For his will. And friends. If you are a Christian this morning. You have ceased to be. Your own property. You belong now to him.

[7:05] And. He belongs to you. You belong to the one. Who has bought you. With that price. And our whole being belongs to God. It's his property. He has bought you.

[7:17] And me. With a price. So shouldn't we live like it? Shouldn't we care? Shouldn't we value that price that he paid? And live like. We matter to God. And live right.

[7:29] You are God's. Because the price has been paid. For you. Let this fact dominate. Your thinking. Let it govern. Your body. And the choices. And attitudes.

[7:42] You have. Let it go in your soul. Your spirit. Are you one filled with love for him. Who loved you. And gave that price for you. Who bought you.

[7:53] Are you one who lives for Christ. And knows no other passion. There's an old time preacher called A.J. Gordon. And he illustrates redemption. What does redemption mean?

[8:03] It's a word we use. And often it's. Not understood. Redemption. He describes it like this. And he tells a story of when. He was a pastor in a church in Boston.

[8:15] And there was a young boy. Outside the church doors. And this boy. He was carrying a rusty old cage in his hand. And in this rusty old cage. There were some.

[8:26] Birds. Several birds were there. Fluttering. Nervously in the cage. And Gordon inquired. Of the lad. He said. Son. Where did you get those birds?

[8:37] And the boy replied. That he'd been out in the fields. And he trapped them. Out in the wild fields. What are you going to do with them? He asked the boy.

[8:50] I'm going to potty with them. And then I guess I'll just feed them to an old cat. That we have at home. And then. Gordon offered to buy the birds.

[9:02] To buy them. And the lad explained. Mister. You don't want them. They're just. Old birds. Old wild birds. They can't sing very well. Gordon replied.

[9:12] I'll give you two dollars for the cage and the birds. Okay. It's a deal. But you're making a bad bargain. And the exchange was made. And the boy. Went away whistling happy.

[9:24] With his shiny coins. And Gordon. Walked around to the back of the church. And he opened the door of the small wire cage. And let the struggling creatures soar into the blue.

[9:38] And the next Sunday. He used this cage as a graphic picture. This empty cage. As he sat it there. On the pulpit. And he used it to illustrate. In his sermon.

[9:49] The fact of redemption. Of redemption. Of Christ coming. To see and to save the lost. Paying for them. With his own precious blood.

[10:01] The boy told me the birds were not songsters. Said Gordon. But when I released them. And they winged their way heavenward. It seemed to me they were singing. Redeemed.

[10:12] Redeemed. Redeemed. And that's how you can be. We can look back. How Christ has bought us. As we were just mangy wild old birds.

[10:26] That couldn't sing. But Christ came and bought the cage. And paid the price. And he released us from that prison cage. Of sin. From that prison.

[10:38] Of sin. From the slave master of sin. And he's redeemed us. He set us free. From that slavery. From that enslavement. And Christ has bought us. To set us free.

[10:49] To set you free. And to give his life. His love. His liberty. To us. He has bought you. Friends today. Christian. Brother.

[10:59] Sister today. He has bought you. He's paid. His wonderful price. He's bought you. From the top of your head. To the tips of your toes. Every power. Every passion.

[11:11] Every faculty. He's paid for you. In full. And we should be. All together. God's property. All of our time. Our goods.

[11:21] All that we call our own. Is his. I know there's some folk that. There's one dear brother that I know. And he's got a car.

[11:32] And he's happy to use it for the Lord. He says it's the Lord's car. And he lets people. He helps people with his car. You know who he is Don. And he helps people with getting fridges.

[11:44] And washing machines. And he's got this attitude that. Everything that I have is the Lord's. So I'm just going to use it for him. And bless people with what I've got. With who I am.

[11:55] And that's the kind of attitude that. God wants for us. Isn't it? You are not your own. You are his now. We are his sheep. He is our shepherd. We are ships guided by the heavenly pilot.

[12:07] Through our lives. And we are his very dwelling places on the earth. Think of how the word tells us. That God does not dwell in temples made by hands. He dwells in human beings.

[12:20] Isn't that wonderful to think of? You know you might have the most glorious cathedral. That could be dead and empty. There's no God there. But you can have a saint with a radiant smile.

[12:34] With a glowing face. With a heart renewed. That is where God lives. Not in some building, structure of man. No matter how beautiful. But God lives in human vessels.

[12:46] In human beings. In vessels of clay. In you and me. That's where he's chosen to make his dwelling place. And so you are not your own. So think of that.

[12:57] Think of if you are not your own. Then your life should be at his disposal. For his glory. For his usage. For his sake. So let's not waste or injure God's property.

[13:11] Look after that property. It's God's property. Your body is God's property. Look after it. Some make some unwise choices about what they do with their body. And it dies prematurely because of wrong choices they make.

[13:25] And unhelpful habits. Unhealthy things. Look after God's property. We want to make it last the distance, don't we?

[13:35] We want this piece of flesh and these skin and bones to go the distance that God wants them to do. And not to die prematurely. So his Holy Spirit takes up dwelling place within you.

[13:49] Within your body. Within your life. And so think of that. Think of his price. The price that he paid was what? His precious blood. Think of his price. Think of his property.

[14:01] That's you. You are his property. You and I who love the Lord, his very dwelling place. Look after the body that God chooses to make his temple. And thirdly, think of his praise.

[14:13] Think of his praise. We see that we have a body. We are not our own. We are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God. Praise him.

[14:26] We think of his praise. We think of his glorifying. We think of the purpose behind all of this. We think of the purpose for the price. We think of the reason for his property being you is the therefore glorify God.

[14:42] We think of his praise. That's the reason why you're purchased, why you're his property, so that you can praise him. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

[14:55] Your body and your spirit are God's. They belong to him. So how can you glorify God? That's the question every one of us has to ask and answer. How are you going to glorify God with your life, with your body, with your spirit?

[15:09] Look at it. In your body. How can you glorify God in your body? Glorify God in your body. By your purity. By your perseverance. By dedicating your life.

[15:21] By dedicating your body. That will be used for his glory. That will be used in self-denial. Where there's temptation. That you will glorify God in the choices you make with your body.

[15:34] By your industry. You've got muscles. You've got brains. You've got energy. You've got abilities. You've got talents. Use them.

[15:45] Use them for God's glory. Use that body that God has given you. And many of you have got different talents. Different skills and differing abilities.

[15:57] God has given you those things for his glory. For his use. For you to employ them. For his praise. And let your tongue voice his praises. Let your mouth speak his praises.

[16:09] Confess Christ before man. Use that voice piece. While you can speak. Speak his praises. Speak of his wonders. Of Calvary.

[16:20] To others. Glorify God. In your body. And in your spirit too. Glorify God in your spirit. That doing the Lord's will will be a delight for you. It will be something you can't wait.

[16:32] To serve. You can't wait. To do his will. You can't wait. To use that zeal. That fervor. That energy. That attitude. That mindset. That devotion.

[16:44] That love. That adoration. That zeal. That heavenliness. That cheerfulness. That humility. That spirit deep within you. It's within your very core.

[16:55] Of your being. Your spirit. You want to glorify God with your spirit. You want to be in tune with God. In tune with heaven. And walking in step. With the saviour. And let Christ have the preeminence in your life.

[17:08] That you want to magnify him. That you want to glorify God. With your spirit. With your spirit. Your very innermost man. And friends. The choice. Is really.

[17:18] To serve the self. Or the flesh. And to serve the saviour. It's one or the other. Serve the self. Or serve the saviour. Who are you going to glorify? Think of.

[17:29] That old self. That old Andrew Craig. He's a real stinker. He's a real rotter. He's a vile man. You don't know him like I do. He's bad news this man.

[17:42] Andrew Craig. I'm glad he's dead and buried. Sometimes he gets resurrected every so often. I've got to kill him again. You've got to crucify the flesh. Don't you? Amen. Brothers and sisters.

[17:53] That old Andrew Craig. He's a dastardly character. He's a vile. Stinking. Filthy. Rotten sinner. And we've got to kill him. Amen.

[18:03] Amen. We've got to kill the old nature. Kill the old flesh. The old man. And Spurgeon says, if you're still governed by self, he says this, he that is his own master has a fool and a tyrant to be his lord.

[18:21] In the old state, I'm a fool and a tyrant. And I'm going to cause damage and do the wrong thing. And that's why it's got to be Christ in you.

[18:32] It's got to be Christ in you. The hope of glory. To no longer be governed by the self, by the flesh, by the carnal man, by the old nature, but to be governed by the master, by the one who knows best, by the one who knows the future, the one who knows the best choices for you to make and the best way to live.

[18:57] He is a good governor. A good governor. The very best governor. The very best king. And caring lord. Will you glorify God in your body and in your spirit?

[19:09] Let me tell you a story of another man of God of old time. Adeniram Judson. He was born in Massachusetts. And he became a Christian.

[19:23] And in 1813, he set sail with his new bride for India to become a missionary. India was closed to foreigners, but Burma was open to his ministry.

[19:38] Soon after arriving, Judson made the commitment that I will not leave Burma until the cross is planted here forever. It was six years before one person came to Christ under Judson's ministry.

[19:54] Six years. It took him ten years to completely translate the New Testament into Burmese. Commitment, brothers and sisters.

[20:04] In 1825, he was falsely imprisoned as a spy for six months. And upon his release, his wife's health broke and he put her on a homebound vessel.

[20:16] He confided to his diary, if we could find some quiet resting place on earth where we could spend the rest of our days in peace. But he steadied himself with this remarkable postscript.

[20:29] Life is short. Millions of Burmese are perishing. I am almost the only person on earth who has attained their language to communicate salvation. Judson remained in Burma for 25 more years and fulfilled his earlier commitment to the Lord.

[20:48] Glorify God in your body and in your spirit. Have that. Adoration, that sense of wonder that God is deserving of your glorifying of him.

[20:59] That God deserves all the glory. That whatsoever you do, you will glorify God. Whatsoever you do. What does the Lord want you to do? What does he want you to do?

[21:11] He wants you, he wants me to glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's. Seek him and his will. Find his will for you.

[21:21] Find his way for you. Commit to his will. Commit your plans to his choosing, to his guiding and stay the course. Today in prayer, commit your way to Christ to follow him in all that you do.

[21:35] To glorify God with all of your life. John Wesley said, Give me 100 men who hate nothing but sin and love God with all their hearts and I will shape the world for Christ.

[21:49] We need to have the attitude that we hate nothing but sin and we love our Saviour. We love him with that love, with that whole heart, that whole mind, that whole will.

[22:03] Christ says, We are not our own. We no longer belong to this old world. We belong to the one to come and we belong to him who's purchased us with his very precious blood, our body and our spirit, our gods.

[22:19] Your body belongs to God. Your spirit is God's dwelling place for his spirit. Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.

[22:31] You know, if you've got a day job, do it to the glory of God. If you go shopping, go shopping for the glory of God. You know, go and talk to people as you share, as you witness, as you live, the life that you live, as you mix and touch other lives about you, family and friends.

[22:53] Be a God glorifier. A God glorifier. Whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

[23:08] Whatever you do in word or deed, let your whole life be lived in his pleasing for his pleasure. Your bodies and your spirits are God's.

[23:19] Think about those legs of yours. Those legs that maybe in times past those legs transported you to places of sinful pleasure.

[23:29] maybe those legs took you to a pub to drink. Maybe those legs took you to mix with vile companions to go to places that God would have been displeased with.

[23:44] Use those legs now to take the message to others. Use those legs to take you to church, to take you to fellowship, to take you to witness. your eyes.

[23:56] Those eyes maybe once they looked at things that would be displeasing to God. Use those eyes now to read his word. Use those eyes while you have sight, while you can still see.

[24:09] Use those eyes for his glory, to study his word, to look at the wonder of God's creation. Those ears, those ears maybe they once listened to music that was doubtful, things that maybe they listened to gossip and hateful criticism, maybe dirty jokes.

[24:33] Let those ears now be ears open to hear God's word. Ears that want to receive the message and to learn that the saviour, to communicate his truth.

[24:46] Your hands, let those hands be used that you can reach out and touch people for Jesus. That you can reach out and do his will, do his work. Live to God and glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.

[25:03] And glorify God in the power of his Holy Spirit. It's our choice. It's our, well it's not our body anymore, or our spirit. It's all that we can do but to resign it to his control and to live as would be pleasing to him.

[25:19] For his good pleasure, we are and were created. Now friends, we know in life there's many dangers and temptations, there's many pressures that would try to deviate you and draw you away from the Saviour's love.

[25:35] And yet we all need to be drawn back, don't we? to renew that love. As David cried out, restore unto me the joy of my salvation. To renew a right spirit within me, to cleanse me, wash me thoroughly, thoroughly from my sin.

[25:51] And he is here to do that by his grace and let us just commit our hearts to him. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for every heart and home, every life here.

[26:02] Lord, that by your grace and mercy, you've extended your love in Christ at the crossing, paying that wonderful, infinite, immense price of your very precious blood.

[26:15] Lord, that you would give that for us, unworthy ones. Lord, that wonderful price that we can become your property, that we can come into your ownership, that you can become our owner, our master, the one that we belong to, that we love to serve, that we love to live for.

[26:31] And dear Lord, that we might send your praise and extend your praise and glorify you in every way, in every measure, while you give us time and opportunity to, Lord, to make choices that are pleasing and praiseworthy to you.

[26:45] Lord, that you would be glorified, we pray, in our body and in our spirit, as we must do, as we should do. And Lord, kill that old man, that old selfish, sinful, that devilish, carnal, evil, old nature that rears its ugly hair.

[27:01] Help us, Lord, to die daily, to crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts, those things that are not pleasing to you. Help us, Lord, to instead to live and walk in that freedom, that liberty of Christ that you've set us free.

[27:16] As a bird from a cage has flown, Lord, you've set us free that we can sing your praise and we can live in that wonderful liberty of the sons of God. We thank you in Jesus' name.

[27:29] Amen. Amen. Amen.