“BOUGHT WITH A PRICE” – Charles Spurgeon
BOUGHT WITH A PRICE
“You are not your own. For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” – 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20
Introduction: A Legacy of Consecration
Our beloved Brother, Thomas Cook, who has long served this Church as an honored deacon, has fallen asleep in Christ. We have laid his earthly remains in the tomb, and his spirit rejoices before the Throne of God. This day, we thank God for his useful life and ask for Divine Grace to imitate it. Before he closed his eyes in death, he left a text of Scripture for the pastors: “Christ is All, and in all”; and another for his fellow Church members. This legacy, which now I present to you as a spiritual executor, is this: “You are not your own: for you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” I have no doubt that our departed Brother intended to promote God’s Glory through his message to us, even after he was gone. His words stir us to greater consecration to the Lord our Savior.
The Context of the Text
In this chapter, the Apostle Paul addresses sins of the flesh, specifically fornication and adultery. Speaking on such a sensitive subject requires great care. The preacher must be cautious not to inadvertently promote sin while condemning it. Paul handles this with remarkable skill. He does not hide the nature of the sin but exposes it openly, doing so in a manner that is both faithful and prudent. He leaves no room for misunderstanding, as he hates sin with a deep intensity. Like a mighty hunter, he pursues this evil without rest, dragging it into the light so that all may see its hideousness.
Paul makes it clear that bodily sin, particularly unchastity, is a sacrilegious desecration of the body, the temple of the Holy Spirit. He brings this sin to the foot of the Cross, where it is nailed to death by the price Christ paid for our redemption. He emphasizes that our bodies and spirits are not our own because we were bought with the precious blood of Jesus. This is the most powerful weapon against sin, the recognition of the immense cost of our redemption on Calvary.
The Importance of Holiness in the Life of the Redeemed
Brothers and Sisters, holiness is no small matter. We cannot claim to have faith and then live like an unbeliever. Our outer life is the true reflection of our inner life, and if our outer life is not purified, our hearts remain unchanged. The faith that does not produce holiness is not the faith of God’s elect. The devils believe and tremble, but our faith must purify our souls, casting down the power of evil and setting up the throne of Jesus Christ in our hearts.
The Blessed Fact: “You Are Bought with a Price”
Let us begin by considering the blessed fact, “You are bought with a price.” Paul could have argued from creation, saying, “You did not make yourselves.” He could have reminded us that we do not preserve ourselves, that it is God who keeps us in life, and that His Providence provides for our every need. These arguments would certainly be sufficient to call us to holiness. However, Paul chooses to emphasize the theme of redemption. The plea of redemption is more tender, more moving, and more powerful.
The Apostle argues that the greatest reason for holiness is the redemption we have received. If we look back to the moment we were bought, we remember the great price paid for our souls. We were once slaves to sin, deserving the wrath of God. But Jesus became our Substitute, bearing the punishment that should have been ours. He endured the lash that should have fallen upon us, and He laid His soul beneath the sword of God’s wrath, so we could be redeemed from death and hell.
Notice that the text says, “You were bought with a price.” The phrase emphasizes that the price was not trivial. It was a costly redemption. Peter reminds us that we were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. These words should not pass over us lightly. The price of our redemption was unimaginable, and it should stir us to love and devotion for our Savior.
The Depth of the Price Paid
When we think of the price paid for our redemption, we must remember that it involved immense pain. Have you ever experienced deep suffering? Then you can begin to comprehend, even if just a little, the pain Christ endured. His bodily sufferings were intense—nails piercing His hands and feet, the iron tearing through tender nerves. But His soul’s suffering was even greater. His heart was broken under the weight of reproach, and He was abandoned by God, left in the darkness of Divine wrath. He felt the agony of being forsaken by His Father. It was pain that purchased our souls, and this pain was not just physical; it was spiritual, as Christ took upon Himself the penalty that was rightfully ours.
It was not just pain that bought us; it was death. Christ’s death on the Cross was the ransom for our souls. His death was a substitute for our death, a curse borne in our place. As the Ever-Living One, He died so that we might live. The only Son of God, who has no beginning or end, laid down His life so that we could be saved.
A Call to Live in the Light of Redemption
You were bought with a price—a price incalculable and infinite. This truth is central to the Christian life, and it must shape our actions and attitudes. Redemption is the most important fact of our lives. It overshadows everything else. Every other event in our lives, whether joyous or sorrowful, will fade in comparison to this great truth.
I urge you, Beloved, to prove the truth of this in your life. If you have been bought with a price, let it be evident in how you live. Let this truth dominate every part of your life—your thoughts, your actions, your relationships. As Christians, we belong to God, and we are called to glorify Him in all that we do. Let us not live as if we belong to ourselves, but let us dedicate our lives to the one who purchased us with His blood.
The Consequence: You Are Not Your Own
Now, we move on to the second point. The blessed fact that we were “bought with a price” brings a clear consequence: “You are not your own.” This is both a negative and a positive truth. The negative aspect is clear: if you have been bought, you are not your own. You do not belong to yourself anymore.
This is a great privilege. It is a comfort to know that we are not left to ourselves, to wander aimlessly in life. We are not abandoned, but we belong to Christ, who will guide us with His wisdom and love. As His property, we are cared for and protected. Just as a ship belongs to its owner, and a sheep belongs to its shepherd, we are Christ’s possession, and He will ensure that we are safe and secure.
The Right to Holiness
If we belong to Christ, then we have no right to injure ourselves. Our bodies and spirits are not our own, and therefore we should not defile them with sin. We must not engage in immorality, for our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. We must not indulge in drunkenness, gluttony, or other excesses that harm the body. Every part of us—our body, soul, and spirit—belongs to God. It is our duty to honor Him by living in holiness.
The Call to Glorify God
If we are not our own, and if our bodies and spirits belong to God, then the natural conclusion is that we must glorify God in all that we do. Our lives should reflect the fact that we have been bought with a price. We are not called to live for ourselves but to live for the one who redeemed us. Everything we do—whether in our work, in our relationships, or in our private lives—should be done with the goal of bringing glory to God.
Conclusion: Living as Christ’s Possession
As Christians, we are called to live as though we belong to Christ. This is the reality of our redemption, and it should impact every aspect of our lives. We are not our own; we were bought with a price. Let this truth penetrate your heart, guide your actions, and transform your life. Live for Christ, for He is the one who has redeemed you and called you to a life of holiness and service. May this truth of being “bought with a price” govern your life now and throughout eternity. Let it be the ruling principle of your existence, and let it lead you to glorify God in your body and spirit. Amen.
Close to the workers stood a fellow with a pipe in his mouth, who did not join in the work, but stood in a free-and-easy posture. It made no difference to him whether it was one o’clock or six. Why not? Because he was his own; the other men were the master’s for the time being, but he, as an independent gentleman, might do as he liked. The other men, however, who were not their own, fell to labor. If any of you idle professors can truly prove that you belong to yourselves, I have nothing more to say to you. But if you profess to have a share in the redeeming sacrifice of Christ, I am ashamed of you if you do not go to work the very moment the signal is given! You have no right to waste what Jesus Christ has bought “with a price.”
The Call to Submission and Obedience
Further than that, if we are not our own, but “are bought with a price,” we have no right to exercise any capricious government of ourselves. A man who Is his own may say, “I shall go where I will, and do what I will.” But if I am not my own, if I belong to God who has bought me, then I must submit to His government. His will must be my will.
I desire to enter a certain garden and ask the gardener if I may come in. “You would be very welcome, Sir,” says he, “if it were mine, but my master has told me not to admit strangers here, and therefore I must refuse you.” Sometimes, the devil comes into the garden of our souls; we tell him that our flesh might consent, but the garden is not ours, and we cannot give him space. Worldly ambition, covetousness, and other desires might claim to walk through our soul, but we say, “No, it is not our own; we cannot, therefore, do what our old will would do, but we desire to be obedient to the Will of our Father who is in Heaven.” Your will be done, my God, in me, for so should it be done where all is Your own by purchase.
The Consequences of Not Being Our Own
If we are not our own, then we have no right to serve ourselves. The man who is living entirely for himself, whose object is his own ease, comfort, honor, or wealth—what does he know about redemption by Christ? If our aims rise no higher than our personal advantages, we are false to the fact that we “are bought with a price”; we are traitors to Him in whose redemption we pretend to share. But time would fail me if I dwelt upon this, or indeed at any length upon the positive side of this blessed fact. I will therefore only say a word or two concerning it.
Our Body and Spirit Belong to God
Our body and our spirit are God’s. Christian, this is certainly a very high honor to you. Your body will rise again from the dead at the Second Resurrection because it is not an ordinary body—it belongs to God. Your spirit is distinguished from the souls of other men; it is God’s spirit, and He has set His mark upon it, and honored you in so doing. You are God’s because a price has been paid for you. According to some, the allusion to price here is to the dowry that was paid by a husband for his wife in ancient days. According to the rabbis, there were three ways by which a woman became the wife of a man, and one of these was by the payment of a dowry. This was always upheld in Jewish law; the woman was not her own from the moment the husband had paid the stipulated price for her.
Now, at this day, we rejoice that Jesus Christ has espoused us unto Himself in righteousness before ever the earth was; we rejoice in that language which He uses through the Prophet Hosea, “I will betroth you unto Me forever.” But here is our comfort—the dowry money has been paid. Christ has redeemed us unto Himself, and Christ’s we are, Christ’s forever and ever!
The Fullness of Christ’s Redemption
Remember that our Lord has paid the entire price for us. There is no mortgage or lien upon us. We have therefore no right to give a portion of ourselves to Satan. Jesus has bought us entirely—head to foot; every power, every passion, and every faculty; all our time, all our goods; all that we call our own, all that makes up ourselves in the largest sense of that term. We are altogether God’s! Ah, it is very easy for people to say this, but how very difficult it is to feel it true, and to act as such!
The Challenge of True Consecration
I have no doubt there are many persons here who profess to be willing to give God all they have, but who would not actually give Him five shillings. We can sing, “Here, Lord, I give myself away,” and yet if it comes to yielding only a part of ourselves, if it requires self-denial or self-sacrifice, straightaway there is a drawing back!
Now, was the Cross a fiction? Was the death of Christ a fable? Were you only fancifully “bought with a price,” and not in deed and truth? If redemption is a fable, then return a fabled consecration; if your purchase is a fiction, then live the fictitious lives that some of you lead with regard to consecration to Christ. But a real redemption demands real holiness; a true price, most certainly paid, demands from us a practical surrendering of ourselves to the service of God.
Living as the Lord’s Possession
From this day forth, even forever, “you are not your own”; you are the Lord’s!
The Natural Conclusion: Glorifying God in Our Bodies and Spirits
Now, I must close, and oh, may God give power to His Word while I beg to speak upon the last point, namely, the natural conclusion: “Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit.” I am not clear that the last few words are in the original; a large number of the old manuscripts and versions, and some of the more important of them, finish the verse at the word “body.” “Therefore glorify God in your body.” It was the body the Apostle was speaking about, and not the spirit. There is no necessity for the last words, but we will not further raise the question, but take them as being the Inspired Word of God.
The Importance of the Body in Glorifying God
According to the context, the force of the Apostle’s language falls upon the word “body.” Perhaps it is so because we are so apt to forget the truth of God that the body is redeemed and is the Lord’s, and should be made to glorify God. The Christian’s body should glorify God by its chastity; pure as the lily, we should be from every taint of uncleanness. The body should glorify God by temperance as well—in all things, in eating, drinking, sleeping, and everything that has to do with the flesh. “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God,” or as the Apostle puts it elsewhere, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.”
The Body as a Tool for Service
The Christian can make every meal a sacrament, and his ordinary avocations the exercise of his spiritual priesthood. The body ought to glorify God by its industry. A lazy servant is a bad Christian. A working man who is always looking for Saturday night; a man who never spends a drop of sweat except when the master is looking, does not glorify God in his body! The best Christian is not afraid of hard work when it is due; who works not as an eye-servant or man-pleaser, but in singleness of heart seeks to glorify God. Our bodies used to work hard enough for the devil; now that they belong to God, we will make them work for Him!
Using Our Bodies to Glorify God
Your legs used to carry you to the theater; be not too lazy to come out on a Thursday night to the House of God! Your eyes have often been open upon iniquity; keep them open during the sermon; do not fall asleep! Your ears have been sharp enough to catch the word of a lascivious song; let them be quick to observe the Word of God! Those hands have often squandered your earnings in sinfulness; let them give freely to the cause of Christ! Your body was a willing horse when it was in the service of the devil; let it not be a sluggish hack now that it draws the chariot of Christ! Make the tongue speak His praises! Make the mouth sing of His glory! Make the whole man bow in willing subservience to the will of Him who bought it!
Glorifying God with Our Spirit
As for your spirit, let that glorify God too; let your private meditations magnify God. Let your songs be to Him when no one hears you but Him, and let your public zeal, let the purity of your conversation, let the earnestness of your life, let the universal holiness of your character glorify God with your body and with your spirit.
The Christian’s Public Witness
Beloved Christian friends, I want to say these few things, and have done. Because you are God’s, you will be looked at more than others, therefore glorify Him. You know it is not always the thing itself, but the ownership that causes curiosity. If you were to go to a cattle show, and it was said, “such-and-such a bullock belongs to Her Majesty,” it may be that it is no better than another, but it would be of interest to thousands as belonging to royalty! See here, then, such-and-such a man belongs to God! What manner of person ought he to be?
The World Will Watch Us
If there is anyone in this world who will NOT be criticized, depend upon it, Christian, it is not you! Sharp eyes will be upon you, and worldly men will find faults in you which they would not see if you were not a professor! For my part, I am very glad of the lynx eyes of the worldlings; let them watch if they will!
I have heard of one who was a great caviler at Christian people, and after having annoyed a Church for a long time, he was about to leave. As a parting jest with the minister, he said, “I have no doubt you will be very glad to know that I am going a hundred miles away.” “No,” said the pastor, “I shall be sorry to lose you.” “Why? I never did you any good.” “I don’t know that, for I am sure that never one of my flock put half a foot through the hedge but what you began to yelp at him, and so you have been a famous sheepdog for me.”
Our Role as Witnesses to the World
I am glad the world observes us; it has a right to do so. If a man says, “I am God’s,” he sets himself up for public observation! You are lights in the world, and what are lights intended for but to be looked at? A city set on a hill cannot be hid! Moreover, the world has a right to expect more from a Christian than from anybody else. He says he is “bought with a price.” He says he is God’s; he therefore claims more than others, and he ought to render more.
The Call to Brave Christian Living
Imagine you are standing in one of the fights of the old civil war. The Royalists are fighting desperately, and are winning, but I hear a cry from the other side that Cromwell’s Ironsides are coming. Now we shall see some fighting! Oliver and his men are lions, but, lo! I see the fellows who come up hanging back and being afraid to rush into the thick of the fight! Surely these are not Cromwell’s Ironsides, and yonder captain is not old Noll? I do not believe it—it cannot be! Why, if they were what they profess to be, they would have broken the ranks of those perfumed cavaliers long ago!
Conclusion: Glorify God and Live for Him
And so, when I hear men say, “Here is a body of Christians.” What? Those are Christians? Those cowardly people who hardly dare speak a word for Jesus? Those covetous people who give a few cheese-parings to His cause? Those inconsistent people whom you would not know to be Christian professors if they did not label themselves? What, such beings followers of a crucified Savior?
The world sneers at such pretensions! And well it may! With such a Leader, let us follow bravely! Bought with such a price, and being owned by such a Master, let us glorify Him who condescends to call such poor creatures as we are His portion whom He has set apart for Himself. And let us remember that by men who profess to be “bought with a price,” the name of Christ is compromised if their behavior is unseemly.
Living for Christ’s Glory
If we are not holy and gracious, ungodly men are sure to say, “That is one of your Believers in God; that is one of your Christians!” Do not let it be so! Every soldier in a regiment ought to feel that the renown of the whole army depends upon him, and he must fight as if the winning of the battle rested upon him! This will cause every man to be a hero.
Oh, that every Christian felt as if the honor of God and the Church rested upon him, for in a measure it certainly does! May we so seek God that when we come to die, we may feel that we have lived for something; that although our hope has rested alone in what Jesus did, yet we have not made that an excuse for doing nothing ourselves. Though we shall have no good works in which to glory, yet may we bring forth fruit that shall be for the glory of our Lord.
Living for Eternity
I feel I so desire to glorify God—body, soul, and spirit while I breathe—that I would even do so on earth after I am dead! I would still urge my Brothers and Sisters on in our Lord’s cause! Old Zizka, the Hussite leader, when about to die, said to his soldiers: “Our enemies have always been afraid of my name in the time of battle. When I am dead, take my skin and make a drum-head of it, and beat it whenever you go to battle; when the enemy hears the sound, they will tremble, and you will remember that Zizka calls on his brothers to fight valiantly.”
Let us so live that when we die, we live on, like Abel, who being dead yet speaks! The only way to do this is to live in the power of the immortal God, and under the influence of His Holy Spirit—then out of our graves, we shall speak to future generations. When Doctor Payson died, he desired that his body should be placed in a coffin, and that his hearers should be invited to come and see it. Across his breast was placed a paper bearing these words, “Remember the words which I spoke to you, being yet present with you.”
May our lives be such that even if we are not public speakers, others may remember our example, and so may hear what our lives spoke while we were yet on earth. Your bodies and your spirits are God’s—oh, live to God and glorify Him in the power of His Spirit as long as you have any breath below, that so when the breath is gone, your very bones, like those of Joseph, shall be a testimony! Even in the ashes of the saints, their fires live on; in their hallowed memories, they rise like a phoenix from their ashes.
Conclusion: Glorifying God Forever
The Lord make us more and more practically His own, and may His name be glorious forever and ever. Amen, and amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON—1 PETER 1.