1 Corinthians 6, we want to begin
by reading just the last verse, the last verse of the chapter. What good news? For you are bought
with the price, therefore In light of that, therefore, glorify
God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. You're bought with a price. In
Isaiah chapter 55, the chapter begins with these words, Ho,
ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he
that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Ye buy wine and
milk without money and without price. And the reason such a
glorious, free grace message can be proclaimed as that, without
money and without price, is because the price, as we just read in
our text, has been already paid. So it's free. Come and dine,
our master said. Everything's ready. Here in 1
Corinthians 6 and 20, that's what we're told. Bought with
a price. That's the title of the message. That's the subject.
Bought with a price. Thank God, as we read in verse
19, this is the reason you're not your own. You're not your
own. Why? Because you've been bought
with the price. the other evening. Robin and
I were going to watch the news and they were broadcasting the
funeral of John Lewis, that congressman that died. And a young man stood
up, an acquaintance of Lewis, stood up and he read what they
said was Lewis' favorite poem. The title of it was Invictus. I looked this up. I didn't know
it until I found out, did a little research. That word means unconquerable
or invincible. It was written by a man who died
in 1903. But listen to this. Out of the
night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole, I
thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul. In the
fell clutch of circumstance I've had not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance
my head is bloodied but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and
tears looms but the horror of the shade. And yet the menace
of the years finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters
not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments the
scroll. I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my
soul." I told Robin, turn it off. I've heard enough of that. That's the song of a deluded
rebel. I mean, you couldn't hardly put
it in any more plainer words. I prefer, much better, a hymn
written by a man who died in 1833 by the name of Daniel Herbert. He was a preacher, a preacher
of the gospel. A part of that hymn says, I want
to go and hear of him who died to put away my sin. I seem to
feel a heavenly frame. I want to praise my Savior's
name. Where shall I go? Where is the
place where I can hear it is all of grace? Salvation finished
and complete for all Jehovah's chosen sheep. Oh Lord, direct
my steps aright where I may catch a blessed sight of him who bled
upon the tree, of him who bled and died for me. No other sight
will do for me but Calvary's mount, but Calvary's tree. Because
I know my mighty son was paid off there by God the Son." Oh,
I like that so much better, don't you? Bought with the price. Because I know my mighty son
was paid off there by God the Son. Who else but the Son of
God? could put away sin. Pay the price,
pay the debt we owe. Pay the price of God's justice. Render satisfaction to God when
He did. Who else could do that but God
the Son? In Matthew chapter 20 verse 28,
this is the Lord Himself speaking. before he went to the garden.
He told his disciples, even as the Son of Man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom
for many. To give his life a ransom for
many. That's exactly what our text
tells us. You are bought with the price,
and that is why God responds to the Son giving his life a
ransom for many with these words. Then he is gracious, that is
God unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit.
I have found a ransom. I found a ransom. Oh, one that
satisfies. One that I accept. From one that
is worthy. As we sing, Jesus paid it all. Everything Billy. I don't know
God's justice anything He's satisfied because Christ bore my sins away
in his own body on the tree. I read in a bulletin From the
church in Newcastle that brother Bruce Crabtree pastors Bruce
Bruce. It's his bullet or rather his
article It's called death, the price of freedom. And Bruce wrote,
some of our young people, it's sad to say, neither know nor
seem to care what the price of freedom can cost. I read a letter
Abraham Lincoln wrote to a mother who had lost five sons in the
Civil War. They were all killed. Abraham
Lincoln wrote this to that grieving mother. Madam, dear madam, I
have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement
by the General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five
sons who have died gloriously in the field of battle. I feel
how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should
attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering
to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the
Republic that died to save. They died to save. I pray that
our Heavenly Father may assuage your anguish and your bereavement,
and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost,
and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly
a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Very sincerely and respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln." Oh, but when I think what was the price for
our freedom from sin when God made His Son to be sin for us.
What price had to be paid to free us from the curse of God's
broken law? Nothing short but the death of
God's only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. What a price! What a price! All humanity, dying
at once as a sacrifice, could not obtain such freedom, could
not put away sin. That's why we sing, looking up
on the cross of Christ, we sing, free from the law, O happy condition! Jesus has bled. There's the price. There's the price paid and accepted. Jesus has bled. And now, now
there's remission. There must be. There must be. Those who can live without a
hunger, a heart hunger, or an interest in this freedom, don't
know God. Are satisfied to live without
it? They don't know God. Stand fast. Therefore, in the
liberty wherefore Christ has made us free, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. And the Lord Jesus Christ himself
said, if the Son of man, if the Son therefore shall make you
free, ye shall be free indeed. Free indeed. Jesus Christ alone
is the great liberator of his people. No one ever comes to
enjoy the true liberty before God, true liberty of heart, of
mind, of conscience, until they're set free by Jesus Christ himself,
by the merit of his blood, and the power of his grace. It's
this liberty of grace that I want. Don't you? I'm thankful. I'm thankful for the liberty
we have to do what we're doing this morning. I'm thankful. that
we live in this country. I wouldn't want to live anywhere
else. Oh, but I'm thankful more for
this freedom that I have in the Lord Jesus Christ, that I've
been set free, that I'm no longer under the bondage, the slavery
of sin, not by his grace, because I've been bought with a price. Got several thoughts. And here's
the first one, looking at the text or those words, you're bought
with a price, you're paid for. You're paid for. Who, who are
they? When we read you're bought with
a price, who does it speak of? Well, look across the page there
in verse 11 here of the same chapter here in first Corinthians,
who are those that have been paid for? Such were some of you,
but, but, but you're washed. Verse 11, you're washed. You're sanctified. You're justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of his grace. Who are those that have been
bought? Christ said they're his sheep. I laid down my life for
the sheep. He told the Pharisee, you don't
believe me because you're not my sheep. You're goats. I laid down my
life for the sheep. Christ loved the church and gave
himself for it. His people, His elect, His bride,
every called sinner, every believer. John Owen made this statement.
If Christ died for all the sins of all men, then all men will
be saved. That's exactly right. That's
exactly right. If Christ died for some of the
sins of all men, then nobody's going to be saved. However, if
Christ died as the scripture teaches for all the sins of his
elect then his elect will be saved Nobody no doubt about it. No question about it. I read
an article brother Don wrote I think it was the bulletin from
the church last Sunday a solid foundation Some men preach the
cross as though it was an effort on the part of God to save sinners.
We're told that God has done all he could, and now it's up
to the sinner. It's in the sinner's hands to
make his work effectual. Such preaching is not good news. That's not good news. This is
no atonement, but only an attempt to atone. This is no ransom,
but only a feeble effort to ransom. This is no redemption, but only
a stab at redemption. The foundation of our faith is
Christ who obtained eternal redemption for us. If the Son of God died
for me, Don wrote, if the Son of God died for me, I'm as certain
for heaven as if I'm already there. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. If Christ
died for me, If He put away my sins, God must, in justice, in
faithfulness to His Son, forgive and receive every sinner whose
sins He bore. Oh, He paid the ransom. The Son
of God paid the justly demanded price of our soul's ransom from
the lost curse. He paid both a perfect righteousness
and a complete atonement. He paid it all. Acts chapter
20, Paul talking to the Ephesian elders, Take heed therefore unto
yourselves and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath
made you overseers, that feed the church of God, which he hath
purchased with his own blood. First Peter chapter 1, you know
these verses very well. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things, Corruptible things as
silver and gold or anything else we bring cannot put away sin.
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot, precious, rare, unique, Because it does
what nothing else can. It does what the animal sacrifices
never did, only typify. Jesus Christ, when he shed his
blood on the cross, actually bore our sins away. Blessed is that man, the psalmist
said. Happy is that man. Happy is that man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Why? Because he imputed their
sins To his son, you're bought with a price. They sung a new
song, Revelation 5 and 9. They sung a new song saying thou
art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for
thou will slay and has redeemed us. Now preachers talk about
a hypothetical redemption. The redemption, as Don said,
depends upon the Center to make it effectual Nowhere nowhere
in God's Word It's such a thing even hinted at it speaks of it
at redemption as something accomplished It speaks of redemption as something
finished when Jesus Christ died then and there he obtained eternal
Redemption for us and they sing about it in glory. Oh What a
glorious thing In heaven, they still can't get over that. that
the Son of God loved them and gave himself for them. They still
stand in wonder and they don't see through a glass darkly like
we do. Oh, they see perfectly, but they
still can't get over the wonder, the glory, the beauty that Jesus
Christ laid down his life for them. They sing a new song and
they say, thou art worthy to take the book and to open the
seals. Why? Because you were slain. and redeemed
us, past tense, redeemed us to God. Didn't offer to redeem,
or try to redeem, or have redeemed. You redeemed us to God by your
own blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. During the days when our Lord
was upon earth, there was a custom among the Romans and the Greeks
that when a man died, if he owned slaves, if he had slaves, they
became the property of his eldest son. But if his son said, I proclaim
these slaves free, if he said, I set these slaves free, left
to me by my father, they're free men. After that, those freed
slaves could never be enslaved again. They were set free under
Roman law. They were set at liberty. If
the son said they're free, the slave was freed. And that is
what our great and glorious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, did for
his people. He purchased liberty for us. Christ, Galatians 3 and 13, Christ
had redeemed, past tense, had redeemed us from the curse of
the law, being made a curse for us in our place. For it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. He proclaims liberty
to his captive ones in the gospel. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. Isaiah 61. He read this, remember,
in the synagogue. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto
the meek. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the presence to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort
all that mourn. to appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that He might be glorified." The Son of God proclaims
liberty, but He performs liberty as well. He sets them free. He doesn't offer to free them,
He sets them free by the power in the Spirit of his mighty grace,
Romans 8 and 15. For ye have not received the
spirit again to fear, but you've received the spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father. If he, the Son of God, makes
you free, you'll be free forever. You'll never be in bondage to
the dominion of sin. Not to say that sin's not in
the believer. Of course it is. But sin shall not have dominion
over you. Why? Because you're not under
the law. It's been satisfied. You're under
grace because we belong to Christ. We really, we really, I know
that we do. I do, you do. But because we
belong to Christ, we really have nothing to fear. and everything
to give us comfort. You're a child of God. The scripture
says being a child of God, you're an heir of God. You're a joint
heir with Jesus Christ. Imagine that. A joint heir with
Jesus Christ. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called sons
of God. Oh, what a wonder. Sons of God. And we're not our own providers,
are we? That's the Father's responsibility,
to provide for His children. And your Heavenly Father does
provide for all of His own. That's what Christ said. Therefore
take no thought saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we
drink? Or wherewithal shall we be clothed?
For after these things do the Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly
Father knoweth. Oh, what a comforting thought.
My Father knows. My Father knows. God my Father
knows. Your Heavenly Father knows that
ye have need of these things. But seek ye first the Kingdom
of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you. Take therefore no thought for
tomorrow, for tomorrow shall take thought for the things of
itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Not only
are we not our own provider, we're not our own guide. You're
not your own. It's the responsibility of the
shepherd to guide his sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them, and they follow me. The Lord, who is your shepherd,
guides his sheep through the world. Psalm 37 and 23, the steps
of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in
his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down For
the Lord upholdeth him with his hand." And we're not our own
protector. We think we are. We want to be. Oh, but thank God we're not.
Those words are so sweet, aren't they? You're not your own. Oh,
that's good. That's good. You're not your
own protector. It's the king's responsibility
to protect his people. the husband's responsibility
to protect his wife. And Christ is our husband, and
he's our king, and he protects all of his own by his sovereign
power. Listen, listen, listen to what
he says. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, fear not. Why? Because I have redeemed
thee. I redeemed thee. Fear not. You're
mine. I've paid for you. You're bought
with the price. You're not your own. So don't
be afraid. I've called thee by thy name.
Thou art mine. And when you pass through the
waters, not if you pass through the waters, but when you pass
through the waters, you're going to. You have and you will. But
he says, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When you walk through the fire,
you won't be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee."
I like what Solomon said. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. And God doeth it that men should
fear before him. of this you can be sure. If salvation
is the work of God and the work of God alone as it most surely
is, then it's an everlasting eternal salvation. His sheep
are not going to perish. He's responsible for them. This
eternal salvation can never be lost. It can never be destroyed. Knowing that the precious blood
of Christ is a price sufficient to satisfy the justice of God,
for all he left, we rejoice to sing with confidence and joy
the lines of old Cooper's great hymn. Oh, dear dying lamb, thy
precious blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed
church of God are saved to sin no more and stand before the
throne Shouting worthy is the lamb. Here's the second thought
from our text. Christ owns us. If we've been
bought, if we've been bought with the price, then Christ owns
us again, again. Matthew 20 and 28. The Son of
Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to
give his life a ransom for many. The Lord tells us in the plainest
terms possible, That he, what he did when he died, it wasn't
for everyone, but it was for many. For many. He tells us that
his sin-atoning death was an effectual atonement for a specific
people. Those people, those many that
God gave him before the foundation of the world. A so-called universal
redemption, which is most, what most churches preach, A universal
redemption makes the Son of God a failure. It just makes Him
a failure. And God said concerning His Son,
Behold Him, behold My righteous servant, in whom My soul delights. Let me tell you about Him. He
shall not fail. He shall not fail. And as we
read a moment ago in that statement by old John Owen, if Jesus Christ
bore the sins of every man in the world, then every man will
be saved. But He didn't. He didn't. For
the many, the doctrine of universal redemption is ineffectual. It's
ineffectual. All but the redemption of Jesus
Christ, it's effectual. It worked. It got the job done. The Son of God very especially
tells those He gave His life for, He calls it a ransom for
many. For many. It's nowhere suggested
or implied in the Word of God that Christ made atonement for,
redeemed, or ransomed the entire human race, many of them at the
time of his death who were already in hell. It's just ridiculous. Christ died as described for
the many, not all, but the many. The many who are ordained to
eternal life, Acts 13. The many the Father has given
Him, John 6. The many whose sins He bore on
the cross, 1 Peter 2. The many for whom His blood was
shed. The many who are made righteous
by His obedience. The many sons, He the captain
of their salvation, will bring the glory. The many. The Lord
of glory did not merely make redemption possible, He redeemed
us with His own blood. Ah, so there's a world of difference. A world of difference. If I were
to say to you, when service is over, I want you to step outside
with me. I'm going to fly away. Watch me fly away. Well, you'd
probably get on your cell phone and call somebody to come and
get me. But it would be an attempt. It
would be an attempt. But what if I actually went sailing
a world of difference? Christ didn't attempt to redeem. He didn't make a stab at redeeming.
He redeemed all of his people from all of their sins. That's
why he cried after doing so. It is finished. It's done. He paid the price
of our redemption. With His own blood, the Son of
God actually, really, literally obtained eternal redemption for
His people. That's the heart of the Gospel.
The glorious doctrine of substitution. Jesus died for me. He took my
place. If Christ died to redeem everybody,
and some of you would end up in hell, What difference does
His blood make? What difference does it make?
Nothing, nothing. I can no more trust it than Judas
in hell. No, it makes no difference at
all. Oh, thank God if Christ died for those in hell as well
as those in glory, His blood is of no value. Oh, but that's
not so. It can never be shed in vain.
God says all for whom Christ's blood was shed shall be eternally
saved by it. He declares that every sinner
for whom his son died at Calvary shall be forgiven. We read it
there in verse 11. Shall be justified forever free
from all possibility of condemnation. It's just not possible. Impossible. Impossible that one for whom
Jesus Christ shed his blood, it's impossible that they not
be before the Father's throne in glory. It's just not possible. Isaiah chapter 53, verse 10 and
11. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief, when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. What will be the outcome
of that? What's the purpose of that? He
shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. That sounds better
than a baby, doesn't it? He shall see a travail of his
soul, and he shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities."
The many. I gave my life, Christ said,
a ransom for many. And Paul says, who is he that
condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather
it is risen again who is even at the right hand of God and
maketh intercession for us. You're bought with a price. You're
not your own. And here's another sweet thought.
That means I'm his responsibility. I'm his responsibility. Jesus
Christ got the answer for me. God put all his chosen into the
hands and care of his son. You're not your own. You're not
responsible to save yourself. You're not responsible to keep
yourself saved or to bring yourself to heaven. Aren't you glad that's
true? Aren't you glad that's true?
Aren't you glad that it's not true, Lazarus, that you'll take
the first step? Oh, thank God that's not true. He takes all the steps. I'll
carry you. Or from the cradle to the grave,
I'll carry you. I'll keep you. And Christ says,
I'll bring you to glory. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this
is the Father's will which it sent me. Of all which he hath
given me, I should lose nothing, nothing, Not even one, nothing,
but should raise it up again at the last day. Does that sound
uncertain? John 17, his high priestly prayer. He said, I have manifested thy
name unto the men which you gave me. out of the world, thine they
were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept thy word.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name.
Those whom thou gavest me, I have kept, and none, none of them
is lost. Oh, glory to his name. The captain
of our salvation can always say that. It's always true. Those that you gave me, I've
kept, and none of them is lost. That's always so. Jude, verse
1, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, the dame
that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus
Christ and called. Remember when Daniel, because
he wouldn't obey the law of the king, about kneeling to another
god, to an idol, was thrown into the lion's den? Darius loved
Daniel, but he had to keep his own law. So into the lion's den,
Daniel was strung. The king tossed all night upon
his bed. Then he comes the next morning
to the mouth of the den. A big rock was laying across
it. And he said, Daniel, Daniel, servant, servant of the living
God, is thy God whom you serve able to deliver you? Is he able
to deliver you? And Daniel said, take it easy.
Old king just lived forever. I'm fine. I'm fine. Listen to
what Paul wrote, his last words. Notwithstanding the Lord stood
with me and strengthened me that by me the preaching might be
fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear and I was
delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall
deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me into his
heavenly kingdom to whom be glory forever and ever. Now unto Him
that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, O to Him,
the only wise God and Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion
and power, both now and forever. I like this brief article Brother
Donnie Bell wrote. The Lord will keep thee from
Numbers chapter 6 verse 24. The Lord will keep thee. Keep
me in his providence. Keep me in his grace. Keep me
by planting his fear deep into my heart. Keep me working. Keep
me sleeping. Keep me by day. Keep me by night. Keep me at home. Keep me in public. Keep me with my family. Keep
me with my friends. Keep me in the world. Keep me
in the church. Keep me by his spirit and grace. The Lord keeps according to his
promise every moment. This is the blessing from the
priest. Do you have it? Do you need it? The Lord will
keep thee. Last of all, if we're bought
with the price, as we said throughout the message, we'll close with
this thought. Christ won't lose his own. He's
not going to lose what he bought and paid for. We believe that
every child of God is eternally secure. Not every professor,
not everybody that makes a decision, but Christ's sheep are eternally
secure. Because if not, the Word of God
will be broken. And God's Word must be fulfilled. The Son of God said, I give my
sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish. We know that
of all God's elect, they must be kept secure in Christ because
that's the purpose of God. And God's purpose can't be frustrating. God's purpose is to save a people,
to save them by the Lord Jesus Christ, and that can't be broken. All God's elect are secure because
Christ has effectually accomplished redemption for us. And he shall see a travail of
his soul, and he'll be satisfied. Every true believer is secure
because the work of God can never be defeated. could never be defeated. Who's going to defeat it? He, God, that's begun a good
work in you will complete it. Who's going to stop it? Until
the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is God's work. It can't
be defeated or destroyed by anything. And last, all true believers
are secure because the intercessory work of Christ must prevail. Peter, that night, before our
Lord went to the garden, when he said, you all forsake me.
You're all going to leave me. I'll be alone. Peter said, oh,
they all might, but not me. There's no way. I'm willing to
die with you. And Christ said, Peter, you're
going to deny even of me. You'll deny that you're even
acquainted with me, that you've ever known me. But it didn't
stop there, did it? but I've prayed for you." Oh,
can you just imagine the insinuations Satan whispered into the ear
of Peter after he denied the Lord and went out into the darkness
weeping bitterly, full of confusion, full of doubt. He thought, that's
it. That's it. I might as well go
back to fishing. I denied him. Oh, can you imagine? But before that fall, Jesus Christ
told Peter, but I've prayed for you. Peter, I've prayed for you. Peter fell, but just about the
same time the enemy began to rejoice over him, he rose up
again, forgiven and restored. Why, Simon, Simon, Satan hath
desired to have you that he might sift you as wheat, but I have
prayed for you that your faith fail not." I'm sure Peter was
thankful that he was not his own, but he was bought with the
price. Let me close by sharing another
article with you by Joseph Hart. heart that wrote so many hymns.
But he said this, his free, distinguishing grace is the bottom on which
is fixed the rest of my poor, weary, tempted soul. On this I ground my hope, oftentimes
when unsupported by any other evidence, only by the spirit
of adoption received from him. He hath chosen me out from everlasting. in whom to make known the inexhaustible
riches of his free grace and long-suffering. Though I am a
stranger to others and a wonder to myself, yet I know him, or
rather am known of him. Though poor to myself, I am rich
enough in him. When my dry, empty, barren soul
is parched with thirst, he kindly bids me come to him. Yes, he does. And drink my fill
at the fountainhead. In a word, he empowers me to
say with experimental evidence, where sin abounded, grace much
more abound. And from the dust of death I
rise to take my dwelling in the skies. Even then shall this be
all my plea, that Jesus lived and died for me. He bought me
with a price. Bobby, I am his and he is mine. Amen. Amen. God bless.