Dedication to God Argued from Redeeming Mercy

Next Part Dedication to God Argued from Redeeming Mercy 2

"What! Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

My first and last business with you today, is to assert a claim which perhaps you have but little thought of, or acknowledged. In the name of God I enter a claim to you, to the whole of you, soul and body, and whatever you possess; to every one of you, high and low, old and young, freemen as well as slaves; I enter a claim to you all as God's right—and not your own. I would endeavour to bring you voluntarily to acknowledge his right, and by your own free act to surrender and devote yourselves to him, whose you are, and whom therefore you are bound to serve.

It is high time for me to assert, and for you to acknowledge, God's right to you; for have not many of you behaved as if you thought that you were your own, and had no master or proprietor? Have you not practically said, with those insolent sinners the psalmist mentions, "Our lips are our own, who is lord over us!" Psalm 12:4; for have you not refused to employ your tongues for the honour of God, and spoke what you pleased, without any control from his law!

Have you not said by your practice, what Pharaoh was bold and plain enough to speak out in words, "Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice?" Exod. 5:2. Have you not aimed at pleasing yourselves, as if you were not bound to please the supreme Lord of heaven and earth, whose authority confines the stubborn powers of hell in chains of everlasting darkness, and sets all the armies of heaven in motion to execute his sovereign orders? Have you not followed your own inclinations, as if you were at liberty to do what you pleased ? Or if you have in some instances restrained yourselves, have not the restraints proceeded, not from a regard to his authority, but from a regard to your own pleasure or interest? Have you not used your bodies, your souls, your estates, and all your possessions, as if they were your own absolutely and independently, and there were no God on high, who has an original and superior claim to you, and all that you are and have? Do not your own consciences convict you of these things? Is it not, then, high time for you to be made sensible whose you are—that you are not your own, but God's!

This reason would render this subject very seasonable at any time. But there is another reason which peculiarly determines me to make choice of it today; and that is, the greatest business of this day is to surrender and devote ourselves to God as his servants for ever. In so solemn a posture as at the Lord's table, in so affecting an act as the commemoration of that death to which we owe all our hopes of life and happiness, and with such solemn emblems as those of bread and wine in our hands, which represent the broken body and flowing blood of Jesus—we are to yield ourselves to God, and seal our indenture to be his. This is the solemn business we are now entering upon. And that we may perform it the more heartily—it is fit we should be sensible that we are doing no more than what we are obliged to do; no more than what God has a right to require us to do, seeing we are not our own, but his!

The apostle speaks of it with an air of surprise and horror, that any under the profession of Christianity should be so stupid as not to know and acknowledge that they are not their own, but God's. "What!" says he, "Do you not know that you are not your own?" As if he had said, can you be ignorant in so plain a point as this. Or can you be so hardy, as knowing the truth, to practice contrary to knowing it? Knowing you are not your own—dare you act as if you were your own? Acknowledging that you are God's—dare you withhold from him his property? Will a man rob God? Should not his professed servants serve him? Since your bodies and your souls are his—dare you use them as if they were absolutely your own, and refuse to glorify him with them?

The same claim, my brethren, is valid with regard to you, which the apostle here asserts with regard to the Corinthians. You are no more your own than they were; you are as much God's property as they were.

And his property in you depends upon such firm foundations as cannot be shaken—without the loss of your being, and your relapse into nothing. If you created yourselves—you may call yourselves your own. But you know the curious frames of your bodies were not formed by your own hands, nor was it your feeble breath that inspired them with those immortal sparks of reason, your souls. A greater absurdity cannot be mentioned, than that a creature should be its own creator; for then it must act before it had a being.

You owe your being to a divine Original, the Fountain of all existence. It was Jehovah, the uncreated, all-creating Jehovah, who so wonderfully and fearfully formed your bodies, and who is likewise the Father of your spirits. And what right can be more valid than that founded upon creation? It is a right founded upon your very being, and which nothing but the entire loss of being can destroy. He who makes servants out of nothing—has he not a right to their service? Did he form your souls and bodies—and may he not require you to glorify him with them? Can you call them your own, or dare to dispose of them as you please, without any regard to God, when you would have had neither soul nor body, nor been any thing at all—if it had not been for him?

You think that you have such a right to a thousand things as entitles you to the use of them; but show me one thing, if you can, to which you have such a right as God has to you! Did you produce out of nothing—any of those things you call yours? No, you only bought them with money, or you formed them into what they are, out of materials already created to your hand. But it is Jehovah's right alone, which is founded upon creation. And will you not acknowledge this right? Will not your hearts declare, even now, "My Maker, God, this soul and this body are yours; and to you I cheerfully surrender them! The work of your own hands shall be yours by my free and full consent! I renounce all claim to myself that is not dependent upon and subordinate to you!"

Again, the providence of God towards you has made you his absolute property; and on this footing he claims your service. You could no more support yourselves in being, than you could give being to yourselves at first. Who but God—has preserved you alive for so many months and years; preserved you were so frail and precarious, surrounded with so many dangers, and exposed to so many needs? Whose earth have you trod upon? Whose air have you breathed in? Whose creatures have you fed upon? The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof Psalm 24:1. And consequently all the supports and enjoyments, all the necessaries and comforts of life—are his.

Show me the mercy, if you can—which you created. Mention the moment, if you can, in which you supported your own life, independently of the Almighty. Show me that property of yours, if you can, which is so dependent upon you as you are upon him. This moment, if God should withdraw his supporting hand, you would instantaneously become as entirely nothing as you were ten thousand years ago! If he should now strip you of all that is his, and only leave you what is originally your own—he would leave you nothing at all. The earth, and all its productions, the air, the light, and your very being would be entirely vanished, and your place would be no more known in the creation. Oh! that you knew, oh! that you felt, oh! that you practically acknowledged, how entirely dependent you are upon God!

And dare you call yourselves your own, when you cannot support yourselves in being or in happiness one moment? Oh! renounce so haughty a claim, and this day give up yourselves to God as his. "A son honours his father" and since God is your Father, where is his honour? "Even the animals—the donkey and the ox—know their owner and appreciate his care;" and will not you know and acknowledge your divine Benefactor and Preserver? He has nourished and brought you up as his children, and dare you rebel against him?

Thus you see the divine right to you may be made good upon the footing of creation and providence. But this is not the foundation of right which the apostle here has in view, or which I would chiefly insist upon. The ground of claim that he has here in view, is that of redemption by Jesus Christ; "You are not your own," says he, "for you are bought with a price." This is a ground of claim still more endearing. You are God's, not only because he made you, because he preserved you, but because he has redeemed you; bought you, says Peter, "not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot!" 1 Peter 1:18, 19.

What an expensive purchase is this! a purchase by blood! not by the blood of bulls and of goats, not by the blood of man, but by the blood of Jesus, which Paul does not scruple to call the blood of God himself; "the Church of God, says he, which he has purchased with his own blood!" Acts 20:28. This was the immense ransom price; this is what the apostle calls 'a price', by way of eminence, in my text. "You are bought with a price;" a price so vast and distinguishable, that it may easily be known without being particularly described!

The words buying, purchase, ransom, redemption, and the like, occur so often in the account of our salvation by Christ, that they deserve a particular explication.

They are sometimes taken in a proper sense, and sometimes in an general sense, in the sacred Scriptures. I shall particularly consider the word REDEEM, which most frequently occurs, as a specimen of the rest.

To redeem, signifies in general, to deliver from oppression and misery, in whatever way the deliverance is effected, and not necessarily implying that it is effected by a proper payment of a price. So you very often read of the Israelites being redeemed from slavery in Egypt; and on this account God assumed the title of their Redeemer. In this general sense of the word, we have been redeemed by Jesus Christ: redeemed, that is, delivered from slavery to sin and Satan. Our freedom from sin is called redemption by Christ, in the sacred language. So in Titus 2:14, the apostle says, "Our Saviour Jesus Christ gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."

It is by Christ's freely giving himself a sacrifice for us, that the influences of the Holy Spirit are procured to mortify our corrupt dispositions, and subdue the power of sin, and thus to free us from our sordid slavery to his usurped jurisdiction. Sin has still retained its power over fallen angels: through the space of at least near six thousand years, notwithstanding all the punishment they have already suffered for it, and notwithstanding all that they have seen of the wonders of divine Providence, and the amiable and tremendous displays of the divine perfections; they sin on still impenitent and unreformed, and will do so forever!

But many a sinner of the race of man has been recovered to a state of holiness and happiness, and been freed from the tyrannical dominion of sin. And the reason is, Jesus did not give himself for the fallen angels—but for the fallen sons of Adam. For these—but not for the former, he purchased sanctifying grace; and this makes the difference. While the former are hardened more and more in wickedness in the furnace of hell—the fallen offspring of Adam are purified by his Spirit, and made a peculiar people, distinguishable from all others by their purity and zeal for good works, and peculiarly his above all others.

Peter also uses the word redeem, in the same sense, to signify deliverance from sin. "You know," says he, "that you were redeemed from your empty way of life—by the precious blood of Christ!" 1 Pet 1:18, 19. This is a very glorious redemption indeed, much more illustrious than the deliverance of the Israelites from the Babylonish captivity and Egyptian bondage; which is so often called redemption.

Again, Jesus Christ has redeemed, that is, delivered his people from the guilt of sin; and consequently from the wrath of God, and the punishments of hell. "He obtained eternal redemption for his people." Hebrews 9:12. "Jesus delivered us from the wrath to come!" 1 Thess. 1:10. All the saints that are now in heaven, and all that shall be added to their happy number in all the future ages of the world—are indebted to him for their great, their everlasting deliverance! To Jesus they owe it—that they have the actual enjoyment of complete happiness, and the sure prospect of its everlasting continuance; instead of feeling the vengeance of eternal fire! To Jesus they owe it—that they rejoice forever in the smiles of divine love, instead of sinking under the frowns of divine indignation! To Jesus they owe it—that they enjoy the pleasures of an approving conscience, instead of agonizing under the pangs of guilt, and the horrors of everlasting despair! To Jesus they owe it—that their voice is employed in songs of praise and triumph, instead of infernal groans and howling!

To Jesus they are indebted for all this! And they are very sensible of their obligations; and their everlasting anthems acknowledge it. John once heard them, and I hope we shall hear them before long, singing with a loud voice, "You are worthy; for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." Revelation 5:9. "These are those who were redeemed from the earth, and from among men, as first-fruits unto God and the Lamb." Revelation 14:3, 4.

Thus you see that taking the word Redemption in a general sense, as signifying deliverance, though without a price, that we may be said to be bought or redeemed by Jesus Christ.

But if we take the word in a strict and proper sense, it signifies a particular kind of deliverance; namely, by the payment of a price. And it is in this way that Jesus redeemed his people. He gave himself, says Paul, a ransom for all. 1 Timothy 2:6. And himself has told us, "the Son of man came to give his life a ransom for many!" Matthew 20:28.

Now a ransom is a price paid to redeem a thing that was forfeited, or a person who was held in captivity and slavery. So to redeem an estate, is to pay a price equivalent to it, and so to recover it. To redeem a prisoner or a captive, is to lay down a price as an equivalent for his liberty. In this sense, Christ bought his people with a price, or redeemed them with his blood as the ransom. This will lead us to conceive of his work in our salvation in various views.

He is said to "redeem us to God by his blood." Revelation 5:9. This implies that we were lost to God, because justice required we should be given up to punishment, and God could take no pleasure in us. We were lost to God—precisely as a criminal delivered up to justice is lost to his family and his country. But Jesus pays the ransom to divine justice with his own blood; that is, he bears the punishment in his own person, which justice demanded of the sinner; and hereupon, the poor, helpless, lost sinner is recovered to God, becomes his property again upon the footing of free mercy, and recovers the divine favour which he had lost. The blessed God, as it were, recovers his lost creature, receives him with delight from the arrest of justice, safe and unhurt; and rejoices over him as redeemed from eternal death.

Now, like the father of the prodigal in the parable, he gives orders for public rejoicings, through all the heavenly court, saying, "It is fit we should make merry and be glad, for this my son was dead—and is alive again; he was lost—and is found." Luke 15:32. And again, "I will save him from going down into the pit, for I have found a ransom." Job 33:24. Again, Jesus is said to redeem us from the curse of the law: "God sent forth his Son, made under the law, to redeem those who were under the law." Galatians 4:4, 5. "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Galatians 3:13. Here you see what he redeemed us from, namely, the curse of the law, the penalty threatened in the law to disobedience.

We also see the manner in which he redeemed us, namely, by becoming a curse for us, or suffering the penalty in his own person which was due to us for disobedience. This representation supposes that the law of God has demands upon us, demands of punishment, and that it detains us as prisoners under arrest until these demands are answered by some adequate satisfaction.

Now the Lord Jesus entered into our law-place, and by his sufferings made a satisfaction equivalent to the demands of the law: and it is this satisfaction that is called the ransom by which he redeemed us. By his obedience and sufferings, all the demands of the law are completely answered, so that now the prisoner is dismissed, the captive set free; set free upon the footing of aransom, or for and in consideration of full payment made. By this a way is opened for the salvation of sinners upon the plan of the gospel; that is, by the righteousness of Jesus imputed to them, upon their believing in him; imputed to such as have no personal merit—but must sink into everlasting condemnation, if dealt with according to the rigour of the law! Thus Jesus is made to believers righteousness and redemption, 1 Corinthians 1:30; righteousness to answer the precept of the law, and redemption from its penalty.

In short, our salvation is accomplished so much in the way of redemption, that this word, or one of the same sense, is very often used in the affair. Heaven is called a purchased possession, Eph 1:14, because, when we had forfeited our right to it, it was purchased for us by the blood of Christ. Believers are called a peculiar, 1 Peter 2:9, or, as the word is sometimes rendered, apurchased people. The resurrection is called the redemption of our body, Romans 8:23; because, after having been made a helpless captive under the power of death, and shut up in the prison of the grave—it is dismissed and set at liberty by Jesus Christ. And our salvation is called eternal redemption, because all the blessings contained therein are redeemed for us—after they had been forfeited and lost.

Thus you see the death of Christ may be called the great price with which we are bought, and by which all spiritual and everlasting blessings were bought for us. As for believers, it is beyond all dispute that they have been thus dearly bought; and on this account they are not their own—but God's. They are his—on the footing of redemption; and therefore he has the strongest claim to their service. O! shall not those favoured creatures whom he has redeemed from hell, redeemed from sin and Satan, redeemed with the precious blood of his Son—devote themselves to their Deliverer as his servants forever! Can you bear the thought of withholding his own from him, when he redeemed you when lost, and purchased a right to you by the blood of his Son! one drop of which is of more value than a thousand worlds!

A thousand worlds so bought—were bought too dear!

Must not the love of Christ constrain you, as it did Paul, to judge thus: That if this illustrious personage "died for you, then you who live should no longer live to yourselves—but to him that died for you and rose again!" 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15.

Thus, you see, the argument concludes with full force as to believers, who are indisputably purchased by the blood of Christ. But will it conclude also as to those who are now unbelievers. Were they so redeemed, or bought by Jesus Christ, that they are no longer their own but God's, and upon that footing obliged to devote themselves to him? There is hardly any subject in divinity more intricate than the extent of Christ's redemption; and it would by no means suit the present occasion to perplex a practicaldiscourse with this controversy. I shall, therefore, only lay down a few principles which are indisputable, and will fully answer my present design:

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