1. There was a time when he did not belong to God. This is
implied when it is said, "ye are bought with a price"; for a man does
not buy what is already his own. An unconverted soul does not belong to
God. In one sense, indeed, all things belong to God; for "the earth is
the Lord's, and the fulness thereof". He says, "Every beast of the
forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills". And again, "the
Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day
of evil" - Still, it is also true that the wicked do not belong to God.
They are not His portion, His inheritance, His purchased possession.
They are lost. They are sold under sin. When a fisherman draws his nets,
and finds a great many bad fish among the good ones, he does not count
the bad ones as his own. He gathers the good into vessels, and casts the
bad away. So does God look upon lost souls. He says to them, "Ye are not
my people, and I will not be your God".
God does not reign in unconverted souls. It is true He reigns over
them, as He does over the wild beasts of the forest, and over the wild
waves of the sea. He makes their wrath to praise Him. He holds them in
with bit and bridle. But God does not reign in their hearts. The devil
reigns there, and not God. "The heart of an unconverted man is the
devil's house" (Mark 3:27).
O! it is good for me to look unto the rock whence I was hewn, and to
the hole of the pit whence I was digged. Truly I can say, like Hezekiah,
"Thou hast loved my soul from the pit of corruption". Should I not add,
"I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul?".
2. The happy change. "Ye are bought with a price." When a man
has bought anything, and paid for it, more especially if it has cost him
a great price, he says, "This is mine". So it is with God and the
believer. He has laid down a price for him, the pearl of great price.
And now He says of every believing soul, "Fear not, for I have redeemed
thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine". The moment that
Jesus spreads His skirt over a poor dying polluted sinner, the voice of
the Father is heard saying, "Deliver him from going down to the pit: I
have found a ransom". There never was a possession so completely
belonging to any one as a redeemed soul belongs to God. We are His by
creation, "He hath made us, and not we ourselves". We are His by
preservation. "In him we live, and move, and have our being." How many
years He preserved us when we were cutting at the hand that kept us out
of hell. We are His by election. "Ye have not chosen me, but I have
chosen you." Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, and thou Jeshurun whom I
have chosen." We are His by redemption. "I lay down my life for the
sheep." "This is my body broken for you. " We are His by the indwelling
Spirit. "I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God
and they shall be my people." Accordingly, we are peculiarly dear to
God. "Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable,
and I have loved thee." God puts more value upon one believer than upon
all the ungodly in the world. He is very kind to the ungodly; he gives
them food and raiment; houses and riches, health and pleasures, sunshine
and showers; and yet He gives a child of God more in one day than He
gives to all the ungodly during their whole existence. He gives His own
children - forgiveness, peace with God, and the Holy Spirit. Truly we
are not our own, we are bought with a price.
3. The blessed duty flowing from this. "Wherefore glorify
God," etc. This duty is simply the resignation of soul and body into His
hands, for time and for eternity. Take an example in one of the holiest
and most eminent divines that ever lived. "I have been before God, and
have given myself, all that I am, and have, to God; so that I am not, in
any respect, my own. I can challenge no right in this understanding,
this will, these affections which are in me. Neither have I any right to
this body, or any of its members - no right to this tongue, these hands,
these feet; no right to these senses, these eyes, these ears, this
smell, or this taste; I have given myself clean away, and have not
retained anything as my own. I gave myself to God in my baptism, and I
have been this morning to Him, and told Him that I gave myself wholly
to Him" (President Edwards). Or take the example of a dear boy who
died about eight years old, and who was evidently taught by the same
Spirit. One evening, near his death, he said to his watchful mother,
"Mother, I think I belong to Him". She asked, "To whom, my child?". He
replied, "To God, mother; my will, my understanding, my affections; I am
God's boy altogether, mother".
O my soul, dost thou know anything of this? Canst thou say, "I am my
Beloved's, and his desire is toward me?" Is it the chief desire of my
heart to glorify God by fleeing from all sin? When the world comes and
says, Come with us, stolen waters are sweet; my soul replies, Sinful
world, I am not yours, I am the Lord's. When Satan says, Come with me,
thou shalt not surely die; my soul cries out, Get thee behind me, Satan,
I am not yours. I was once yours, but now I am bought with a price; I am
Christ's. When sin within me says, Come and taste a little worldly
pleasure; my heart replies, I am not thine - I am not my own, I am
bought with a price - therefore will I glorify God in my body and my
spirit, which are His.