If you would turn with me to
1 Corinthians chapter 6. I want you to notice the last six words in verse 19 and then verse 20. Not that the first part of 19
is not important or relevant, but I want you to concentrate
and meditate more on these last words of verse 19 and verse 20. It says, and 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. Very few people this
day and time consider the one thing needful that Christ spoke
of, and that one thing is redemption in Christ alone. It seems that
some live their whole life and never give any consideration
at all to this thing called redemption. Others seem to think that they're
okay because they found comfort in a works religion, and that's
what it is, working their way to heaven. That's a very sad
fact. Most men will acknowledge that
there is a God, but He's a God with a little g. He's trying
and wanting and willing and wishing and can't. free will added or your work
somehow added. They won't bow to a God that
rules and reigns and controls all things. They'd have to give
up too much personally. And very few today believe the
gospel which God gets all the glory. especially in salvation,
but God gets all the glory in all things. Very few acknowledge the sovereign
God of Scripture who works all things after the counsel of His
own will. Is that not what the Bible says?
All things. Not some things, not most things,
not good things. All things. All things. That brings this center great
comfort. I like the idea that I'm not
in control of anything. I like that. I find peace and
comfort there because the one who is does all things well. I remember when I used to go
on vacation with my folks. sit in the back seat, slept most
of the time. I wasn't worried about getting
there. And yet I see license plates on the front of cars that
says, God is my co-pilot. God ain't ever, excuse my language,
my grammar, God ain't ever been a co-pilot. No, sir. God's in control. and I'm sitting in the back seat
enjoying the ride. That's tough in this day and
time because I hear lots of things on television, on the news, from
other people in conversing that I know after the flesh, naturally
speaking, they're worrisome things. But if I truly, truly believe
what I preach, I'm not moved. I'm not moved by any of it. Because
my Lord does all things well. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. He works all things together
for the good of them that love the Lord, who are thee called
according to His purpose. But most men don't see this wonderful
truth. And if you see it this morning,
dear friends, it's by the grace of God Almighty. It's by divine
revelation of Him to you. And I tell you, the proof of
these accusations that I make are seen by men's actions. And
their disrespect for the God of heaven and earth. I have a friend who once asked
me, I don't remember the specifics of the conversation, but he asked
me if I was going to do this or that or something. And it's
just kind of secondhand with me anymore. I said, well, if
the Lord wills. And he looked at me and he said,
well, if you want to give God all the credit, that's your business. Go right ahead. But I'm going
to tell you something, dear friends, all the credit is in God's hands.
It ain't a matter if I give it or not. It's all in His hands. Whether we know it, whether we
don't, whether we bow to it or whether we don't. All things. You see, my friend is a lot like
many others. They're self-made men. They're
those men that pull themselves up by their bootstraps. I do
good putting mine on, much less pulling myself up by them. Men like this think they're movers
and shakers, and if asked, he'd be the first to tell you that
he makes things happen. His destiny's in his own hands.
So he thinks. So he thinks. One day he and
many, many others are going to have a rude awakening. There are many folks like that
in the world and I feel sorry for them. I really do. And you
know why I feel sorry for them? Because I used to be just like
them. God made the difference. Who
made me to differ from another? God did. Ephesians 2 don't turn
there. I'm gonna have you turn to some
other passages, but it says that at that time ye were without
Christ I Was there was a time I was without Christ being aliens
from the Commonwealth of Israel strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope and without God in this world. My
friend doesn't have any hope. I'm telling you, he can tell
himself over and over again that he's got a good hope, but he
doesn't have any hope at all. Men are without hope because
they're without Christ. Men are without hope because
they're without God in this world. Christ is our hope. He's our
only hope of salvation. Men who don't know Christ, they're
aliens from the kingdom of God. Most aliens in other countries
cannot speak the correct language of their country. He can't speak
the language of God. He doesn't understand the language
of God. And for me to say, if the Lord
wills, that was just foreign to him. He didn't know what that
meant. If you want to give God all the
credit, go ahead. They're strangers from the covenants
of promise. Strangers from it. Don't know
anything about God's promises. But it's not so with God's people.
It's not so with those that He's revealed Himself to. No, every
man and woman to whom Christ has revealed Himself to, they
say, like that wonderful song, that wonderful hymn, it is well
with my soul. It's well with my soul. All things
are good. Everything's good. Everything's
all right. But I tell you, these others
who are aliens and strangers, every man born since the beginning
of creation will one day stand before God Almighty. And they're
going to give an account to the Supreme and Almighty Judge of
the universe. Now, you can just count on that. That's going to happen. And the
question of utmost Urgency is, what do you think of the Lord
Jesus Christ? It's not going to be, well, Brother
Tyler, how faithful were you to attend Sunday school? No. Not that you could sing specials,
that you could read Scripture very well. No, what do you think
of God's Son? Whose son is he? Look at Romans 14 with me. Romans
chapter 14. Keep your place where we're at. Look at verse 11. For it is written, as I live,
saith the Lord." As sure as I live, as sure as God is on the throne,
as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow, and every tongue, what? Shall confess to God. that Jesus Christ is Lord. So
in verse 12, every one of us shall give an account of himself
to God. Friends, every knee is going
to bow. Every tongue is going to confess.
Whether you loved the Son of God or whether you didn't, you're
going to bow and you're going to confess that He's Lord. But
it's going to be too late for many. Turn over to Philippians chapter
2, just real quick. Philippians chapter 2. Look at verse 10. That at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow. Of things in heaven and things
on earth and things under the earth. And that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. Oh, this is going to be done
to the glory of God. Do you know what brings God glory,
dear friends? His Son. His Son. Redemption is by the Son. Redemption is through the Son. Redemption is in the Son. And you're not your own. You're
not your own. Well, I had a fellow one time
say to me, well, it says right there that every knee should
bow. And that every tongue should
confess. In other words, what he's saying,
they ought to. No sirree, it doesn't mean that
at all. It means that every knee shall. And every tongue shall. To the glory of God the Father.
It doesn't mean that every tongue ought to confess. Every tongue
should. But it means every tongue's going
to. In Isaiah 45 verse 23 it said,
I have sworn by myself The Word of God has gone out of my mouth
in righteousness, and it shall not return that unto me every
knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear." What? Your son is the Son of God. Your
son is salvation. But it will be to many's condemnation. Okay, if you'll go back to your
text, I hope you saved your place. It says that you are bought with
a prize, verse 20. Bought with a prize. Oh, I tell
you, I could meditate on that for years and never fully enter
into what the Apostle is saying here. And I'll tell you this much,
though, to every sinner that God saves, every elect sinner
that God chose before the foundation of the world, this is the best
news he's ever heard in his life. An angel sent from heaven couldn't
bring to a man or a woman a more delightful message than this. You're bought with a price. And that price is the precious
blood of Christ. Hold your place, 1 Corinthians.
Just turn back a couple pages. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 21. Therefore let no man glory in
men. for all things are yours. Whether
Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death,
or things present, or things to come, all are yours. And ye are Christ's. And Christ
is God's. Oh, I like those words that say,
and ye are Christ's. I'm not my own. I'm purchased, bought with a
price. I hear people say all the time,
hey, I found Jesus. I didn't know He was lost. No, sir. It seems that Paul's
heart here glowed as he wrote these things. Don't glory in
men, he said. All things are yours. All things
are yours. Paul is yours. He's a servant
of God. Apollos is yours. Peter is yours. The world is yours. Life and
death are yours. Things present, things to come,
all yours. Why? How are they mine? Because you belong to Christ. And Christ belongs to God. And
they own the whole shoot match. They control death. Christ raised
Lazarus from the grave. Death didn't have... All he said was, Lazarus, come
forth! And that stinking man had been
in the tomb for four days and he arose! Just a word from the
Master. Just a word. Come forth. All things belong to them. Now
let me ask you, are we not His bride? I know some of you men talk tough
just like I do, but the truth of the matter is there's just
not much you wouldn't do for your bride. Some of you might say it's just
to hush her up, but I know better. We're the bride of Christ. We're
his sheep. He's our good shepherd. We're
his children. Those of you that are parents,
Brother Ray mentioned this, you don't have to tell a man to love
his children. Especially if he's a saved man,
he's going to love them. You ain't gonna have to tell
him to love his brother. He loves his brother. We're his bride, his sheep, his
children, his portion. God gave us to him. And we're
not our own. We've been bought with a price. Bought with a price. Oh, it's
through the purchase of his own blood and he voluntarily Nobody
took it from Him. He voluntarily surrendered Himself
for you and I, those that know Him. He's God's only begotten and
beloved Son. And when God now looks, now listen,
when God now looks, get this in your heart, quit beating yourself
up. When God looks upon this wretched
sinner, you know who He sees? He sees His beloved Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's right. That's exactly
right. Why? Because I'm not my own.
I belong to Christ. I've been bought with a price.
The blood of Christ covers my sin. And now my God sees His
beloved Son. And what a price He pays. Isaiah
43, 4 says, Since thou wast precious in my sight. Do you know that
you're precious in His sight? Those of you that know Him, believe
Him, trust Him, you're precious in His sight. Thou hast been
honorable. One who is incapable of being
anything but dishonorable is now made honorable in the eyes
of God through Christ. And I have loved thee, therefore
will I give men for thee, and people for thy life." We don't
see the overall scope of things that God does. God will give people's life for
you. He will. The great price is just this,
dear friends, Christ gave Himself, bought with a price. If a man
lives in this world without Christ, I'm going to tell you something,
and I'm not exaggerating, it would have been better for him
to have never been born. If a man doesn't come to know
redemption that's in Christ alone, it would be better off to have
never been born. You've been better off if you've
been born a worm, a dog, or an old toad frog. You know why it's
better if you've never been born? Because man is born an eternal
spirit. This is just flesh that we live
in. We're going to lay it down someday,
but the man lives on. Man is born and created in the
eternal spirit. His spirit will spend eternity
in one or two places now. Heaven or hell. To be in Christ is heaven. To be without Christ, without
him, is hell. You know, Judas, he walked with
the Lord. He was one of the Twelve. He
was the treasure. Mark 14, verse 21, we're told,
"...the Son of Man indeed goeth, and it is written of Him, but
woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. Good were
it for that man if he had never been born!" It would be good for fallen man
to consider the life of Judas. He betrayed the Son of God. But before we too hard on him,
let's consider ourselves. The Hebrew word for betrayed.
means to give into the hands of another. And that makes sense. He betrayed him. He gave him
to the hands of the Jews and the high priest and they did
mock trials and they made up false, brought in false witnesses
and they crucified him as a common criminal. Well, let me tell you
something. If you put your trust in religion,
If you put your trust in any works that you've done, you may
lean on a free will decision. I have known people that are
just so hard headed. They'll tell you, I was baptized
such and such a day. And that's their hope. That's
what they put their trust in. Making a decision. I've decided
to follow Jesus. Write the date down. Put it in
the front of the Bible that sits on the on the coffee table, because
that's my salvation. That's nobody's salvation. They put trust in a decision,
being baptized, walking it out. But putting your trust in anything
or anyone other than Christ means that you've betrayed Him. Well, how so, preacher? Judas
betrayed Christ because he didn't believe Him. He didn't believe
who he said he was. He didn't believe that he was
going to do what he said he was going to do. Judas and many others
at that time thought that the Lord Jesus was going to set up
a kingdom on earth. That he was going to somehow
deliver the Jewish people from the rule of the Romans. But Christ
was talking about a spiritual kingdom. He's talking about a
kingdom that is forevermore. That's eternal. He said, I'm
the way, the only way. I'm the truth, the only truth.
I'm the life, the only life. Only one life now. Eternal life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Me. So I ask you, do you believe
on Him? Do you believe on Him? Do you trust in Him? Is He your
all and in all? If not, then you've betrayed
him. And it'd been better that you'd never been born. You see, Judas followed him in
a self-serving way. But all his people are going
to come. And they're going to bow, and they're going to trust,
and they're going to see that they've been what? Bought with
a price. Bought with a price. What a price
it was. Mr. Spurgeon once said, bought
with a price changes just existing into eternal life. I tell you, existing is a whole
lot easier when you know it don't end here, isn't it? There are many who exist. But
he also said, to be unredeemed, that just makes your existence
an endless death. Oh, the price that the believer
has been bought with is none other than the gift of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye and buy, and eat, and ye come, buy wine and milk without money,
and without price." God's people have been bought with a price,
a price they cannot pay. Just keep your money. It's without
price. It doesn't cost you anything,
but it costs God His Son. It costs God His Son. Christ
is the one that paid the price. The price he paid was himself
as a substitute for his people. You see, you were bought. Bought
with a price that requires much, much, much, much, much more than
you could ever give. I'm sure you men also have said
many times, we can't afford that. You can't afford this. You can't
afford it. It's not for sale. You've been
bought with a price, and it was a costly price. Oh, I think about
the wonderful doctrine of providence. Every child of God rejoices in
the providence of God. It's a short word, but it describes
a multitude of mercies. But I'm going to tell you something,
providence is second in its blessedness when it comes to redemption.
That's right. Providence has brought many here
today to have good health. Who makes you to differ from
a nun, not only in salvation, but in everyday life? God does.
I talked to a man this week, probably in his thirties, Said
that his wife got just a little bitty dot above her eye. They
weren't too concerned about it. She had a routine doctor's appointment. They looked at it and he said,
well, let me take a biopsy. Turned out it was melanoma. They
said if she hadn't been, hadn't come to the doctor when she did,
she'd been dead in seven months. Just a little old dot. Couldn't
hardly anybody see. Oh, if you have good health,
it's by the providence of God. Providence has brought to many
of you comfort and luxuries, enough bread to eat, a nice place
to live. But let me ask you a question
that our Lord once asked. He said, what is a man profited
if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What good
has it done him? What shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? Oh, you know what? I'd like to
ask that old rich man that passed Lazarus at the gate every day.
I'd like to ask him what he'd give now. Why, he begged for just a little
touch, a tip of a man's finger in water. I wonder what he'd
give for salvation. It don't much matter, because
he wasn't bought. You're not your own. You are
not your own. But men don't act that way, do
they? Men act like they're not their own, but they're in control
of everything. Paul says, you're not your own.
God made us. That's true of all that exist,
whether it's cattle, trees, dust. He created all things, did He
not? He doesn't say you're your own
because God created you. Surely we are His because He
did, but that's not what He's saying. Well, that'd be true
of the devil. That'd be true of His angels.
It'd be the truth of the whole religious and non-religious race
of rebellious men, for He created all. Paul doesn't write that
you're not your own because God preserves you. The very next
breath that goes in my nostril, in my lungs, and back out is
given of Him. God preserves me the day that
I die is when He ceases to give me breath. When He says, no more
breath goes into Him. That's when I die. And that's
true. And it's true of all of us. There's not a sparrow that
falls to the earth that God ain't aware of and knows of. And we're
not God's because of His preservation, but He preserves all His creatures. Why? That would be true even
of the most wicked, wouldn't it? The man that spits in God's
face, God preserves. I've often wondered, Lord, why
do you put up with that? It's his will to do so. He preserves
until the time he preserves no more. But I'm going to tell you
something. I'm going to tell you why you're
not your own. And I'm going to try to be brief and wrap this
up. There's a special reason that you're not your own. A special
reason. It's because you're bought. It's because you're bought. That's right. Everyone in the world belongs
to God in one sense, but Christ didn't die for the whole world,
did he? He said, I pray not for the world, but for those that
thou hast given me. He's delivered you, dear friends,
out of the hand of sin and Satan by his own sufferings and death,
those of you that know him, the elect of God. Do you know why He has the greatest
right of ownership in you? He bought you. He bought you. He's not merely
your Creator, your Preserver. He's your Redeemer. So if all the world should refuse
Him, If all men should reject Him.
And even if the angels could desert His rule, His sovereignty,
we can't. Because we're bought with a price. For ye are not redeemed with
corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation
received by tradition from your fathers, but you are bought with
the precious blood of Christ." Now there's redemption. There's
redemption from sin. We have pardoned from the punishment
of sin. We were once full of doubts and
fears and had dreadful thoughts of God's wrath. I did. Listen,
there was a time when I denied outwardly that there was a God.
And yet inwardly, I prayed that that God wouldn't kill me. I knew all along there was, though
I professed outwardly that there wasn't. Something deep within
my heart knew there was a God. I should have gone to hell. Yet, Paul in the book of Romans
chapter 5 verse 8 assures me that God commended His love toward
me while I was yet a sinner, Bill. While I was yet a sinner,
He died for me. I should have hung on the cross.
I should have been forsaken of God. But God caused me to believe. God calls you to believe. I'd
have never believed if He hadn't. God calls me to believe and He
showed me my sin was forgiven. Now I can stand and shout, Who
is He that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Brethren, that is risen again,
who sitteth at the right hand of God, and does what? Maketh
intercession for us." Oh, friends, we're bought with the price.
We're redeemed from sin, from remorse, from hell itself. At
this very moment, we are redeemed from the avenging justice and
wrath of God. God's angry with the wicked every
day. Well, you're not wicked anymore? Oh, listen. I'm ashamed
to say, but not in the eyes of God. You see, I'm not my own
anymore. I belong to Christ. I've been
bought with a price. I've been bought. By the merit
of His death, dear friends, He has forever, ever, ever made
atonement for me. Even when I hated His divine
justice, I was the one who had offended God's law. I was the
one who had dishonored God's divine justice. I'm the one that
deserved death and condemnation, and so do you. But you're not
your own. You now belong to Christ. You've
been bought with a price. Surely, after hearing these things,
we can feel that there is a claim of ownership on us. We belong
to Him. Those that bow to the gospel
of His grace. I've seen large tracts of land
which had belonged to men, and whenever I'd see these big farms,
these big fancy rolling hills in the state of Kentucky, I'd
say, now there's a rich man. But you know what? He may have
had a big healthy mortgage on that. It may have really belonged
to the bank. I assumed he was rich because
he had that ground. But there's no mortgage on God's
saints. Nope. There's no debt to be demanded
now or in the future, either from us or our Redeemer, because
we've been bought with a price and it's been fully paid. Paid
in full. We're perfect in Christ Jesus. We must readily acknowledge that
if we've been bought with a price, that we're not and cannot be
our own. We belong to Him. We belong to
Him who bought us. Yet God's got to cause you to
bow to that wonderful truth. But if He has, We're not going to sing a song.
We're not going to entice you to walk down here. But professing,
professing publicly in baptism, and you know what? You can eat
and drink from Him freely all the days of your life. You're
not your own. You've been bought with a price.