Redemption and Its Claims

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MARCH 8, 1874,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"You are bought with a price." 1 Corinthians 6:20. "You are bought with
a price." 1 Corinthians 7:23.

THE same words are found in each place, though a different inference is
drawn from them. "You are bought with a price." This morning's text
was, "Without money and without price," [#1161] and to the best of my
ability I tried to show how freely the blessings of the Gospel are
bestowed upon the sons of men. But though they cost us nothing, they
cost the Savior dearly. They are without price to us, but what a price
He paid! Well did our poet put it in the remarkable verse which we
sang–

"There's never a gift His hand bestows But cost His heart a groan."

Out of that fact grow certain most weighty practical Truths of God and
I have chosen it as the subject of this evening's discourse that I may
urge them upon your minds. May the Holy Spirit work graciously through
the Word which you will hear and cause you to live as those who are
redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.

First, I shall have to say to you that redemption is our chief
blessing–nothing better can be said of you than this, "You are bought
with a price." Then I shall have to remind you that redemption on God's
part becomes His paramount claim upon us. And thirdly, I shall have to
show that this claim is remarkably extensive, and I shall urge you to
admit it.

I. First, then, "YOU ARE BOUGHT WITH A PRICE." To every man of whom
this may be said, it is the best news he ever heard! An angel sent from
Heaven could not bring to any man or woman a more delightful message
than this, "You are bought with a price, even with the precious blood
of Christ." "You are Christ's," says the Apostle in the chapter we read
to you (1 Corinthians 3), and he seemed as if his heart glowed as he
said it. He even made it the climax of a remarkable burst of eloquence.
"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 you are Christ's; and
Christ is God's."

To be bought with a price is the grandest distinction of our manhood
and lifts us above angels themselves! It puts great honor upon the
saints, even as the Lord has said, "Since you are precious in My sight,
you have been honorable and I have loved you." Redemption is a greater
mercy than creation. It is no mean blessing to have been made and to
have been made a man rather than a dog or a toad, or a worm–to have
been blest with intellect, with a mind that can soar into the unseen, a
judgment which can weigh, a memory which can retain, an imagination
which can create and color thoughts of every kind. It is no little
matter to be capable of a mental capacity which widens the sphere of
existence, beliefs which open up the past and make us see the far-gone
ages and hopes which relieve the darkness of the present with lamps
borrowed from the future.

It is a great thing to be a man and not a bird–a man with a soul which
will never fall by the fowler's gun. It is a great thing to be an
immortal man, to be a creature that shall live on forever, into whom
God has dropped a spark of undying flame. It is a grand thing to have a
spirit within us and not to be dumb driven cattle. But for all that,
although man is highly elevated in the scale of being, and stands even
at the very top of being as respects this world, having dominion over
all the fowls of the air and the fish of the sea, and whatever passes
through the paths of the sea–yet if you, O created man, are not
redeemed, everything about you will only be turned into dust, so that
it were better for you that a millstone had been tied about your neck,
that you had been thrown into the depths of the sea, or even better for
you that you had never been born, if you are not redeemed! "Bought with
a price" makes existence life! To be unredeemed would make existence an
endless death.

Providence, also, is a short word, calling before our minds a great
mass of mercies. But Providence is second in its blessedness to
redemption. I would remind you of the inestimable blessings which the
Providence of God has brought to many here present. It is no small
thing to be in good health, no little thing to have your reason
preserved. It is no minor blessing to have bread to eat and raiment to
put on–and not to be distressed as many of the poorest of our Brethren
are as to where they shall lay their heads–and where they shall find
tomorrow's food. Some of us are surrounded with many comforts, and
ought, every time we look at the bed on which we sleep at night, and
the room in which we spend our days, sing unto God who has favored us
so much–

"Not more than others we deserve, But God has given us more."

Look around you! Some of you have not only the necessities, but the
luxuries of life. You are exceedingly favored in these things. But, oh,
if you are not redeemed, what will it matter though you were clothed in
scarlet and fine linen, and fared sumptuously each day, like Dives, and
then should lift up your eyes in the flames of Hell? What would it
matter, though you had the comeliness and majestic appearance of an
Absalom, and yet over you a pious father would have to say, "Would God
I had died for you! O Absalom, my son, my son!" What would it be to you
to have been possessor of the world and to have called the seas your
own, if you had no part or lot in the redemption of the Lord Jesus
Christ and were never saved from wrath through Him? Redemption demands
a louder note of gratitude than creation! Sweet as Providence must ever
be to the Believer, yet redemption, redemption is the best wine kept
unto the last–the last and best work of Heaven–the mirror in which
the brightest attributes of Jehovah are most clearly reflected.

This is the headstone of the corner, crowning the great temple of
Divine Grace. "God so loved the world"–not as to make it fair and
beautiful–that is not enough! "God so loved the world"–not so as to
sustain it and give it day and night, and summer and winter–that is
not enough! But the line that will fathom the depths of Divine Love is
this–He "so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life."
Remember, dear Friends, that redemption is that which gives effect to
all the other great blessings of

God!

I say, "great blessings," for I refer to spiritual blessings–all these
need redemption to complete their design. For instance, election, the
wellhead of Divine Grace, needs the conduit pipe of redemption to bring
its streams down to sinners. We are chosen of God, but unto obedience,
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. The saints are chosen in Him–
without Him of what good would election be? Where, also, would be our
calling? Vain would it be to be called if there were no feast of dying
love for us to be called to and no fountain filled with blood to which
we might come at the call! Redemption is the fullness of all the
blessings of God! They are like Gideon's fleece and redemption bedews
them! It is the key of Heaven, the channel of Grace, the door of Hope.
It constitutes our song in the house of our pilgrimage and will be the
theme of our eternal music above.

I would not fail to remind you, also, that redemption, at this moment,
is the foundation of all the real peace that any man possesses. If you
have any peace of mind worth having, you have found it at the foot of
the Cross. If the tempest of your fears concerning the wrath of God has
been quieted–there is only one voice which could have stilled its
boisterous noise–it is the voice of Jesus. There is no peace apart
from the blood of Jesus, unless it is that delusive peace which, like
the solemn stillness which precedes the hurricane, is only the
forerunner of destruction! All the peace you have is through redemption
and all the security you have comes by the same way. You hope to be
saved at the last. Your trust is that you shall die triumphantly and
rise rejoicingly–but it is all through the blood of Jesus! Where were
all the saints if it were not for redeeming Grace and dying love?
Notwithstanding their professions, they are, without Christ, as a
sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. Piety has no root where
redemption is unknown. Past experience and present enjoyment would melt
away like the coating of morning's frost before the rising sun were it
not that we are sealed by the precious blood of Christ! The Lord knows
them that are His and will keep them securely to the end.

But, oh, Beloved, there is one more Truth of God never to be forgotten!
It is through Redeeming Grace that we expect to enter Heaven! In a few
short weeks, or months, or, perhaps, years, you and I, who believe in
Jesus, will be in Glory! We shall have done with these workdays here
and shall have entered into the endless Sabbath! We shall be–

"Where congregations never break up, And worship has no end."

Our head shall soon wear the immortal crown and our hands shall bear
the harp from which we will draw the richest music of praise! But our
only hope to enter there is through the blood–and our only song shall
be, "We have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb." O you morning stars that sang together when a new-made world
first revolved around the sun! O you wondering spirits who have often
admired the Wisdom and the Justice of God in dealing with the sinful
race of men, lift high your notes and sing yet sweeter songs concerning
redemption! And let your wonder never cease that God should become Man
and, as Man, should suffer, bleed, and die that He might redeem His
people–that of them it might be said they were "bought with a price"!

II. I have thus assured you all that redemption is our best blessing. I
trust you will not rest without it. Now, I want

to dwell upon the next point, namely, that therefore REDEMPTION IS THE
LORD'S PARAMOUNT CLAIM UPON

US. Paul does not say, "You are not your own, for God made you." That
is true of all things that are–cattle, the trees, the dust of the
earth as well as regenerated man. He does not say, "You are not your
own for God created you." That would be true of the devil and his
angels, and of the whole race of rebellious men.

Neither does he say, "You are not your own for God preserves you." That
would be most true, for God, who keeps the breath in our nostrils,
ought to have our praise. But that also would be true of all creatures,
even of the most wicked. But there is a special point here, "You are
not your own–you are bought," not merely made and preserved, but
bought and, "bought with a price." You who are children of God, you
were bought as the devils never were, for Jesus never died to save
them! "He took not up angels, but He took up the seed of Abraham." You
are bought as the ungodly were not, for they remain the slaves of Satan
and are not redeemed from their vain conversation received by tradition
from their fathers. They have rejected the purchase price–they remain
unredeemed from their slavery to sin.

But you have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, as of a
lamb without blemish and without spot! And therefore Christ lays His
pierced hand upon you and says, "You are Mine." Your King sets the
broad arrow on you and marks you tonight as royal property. There was
one possession which Jacob had which he greatly valued and which he
gave to his darling son, Joseph, "because," he said, "I took it out of
the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow." You, also, are
the possession which Christ values beyond everything, because He has
delivered you out of the hand of sin and Satan by His own sufferings
and death–and because of this He has the highest conceivable right of
property in you. He is not merely your Creator and Preserver, but He is
your Redeemer and, therefore, if all the world should refuse Him
homage, and all men should revolt from Him, and even if the angels
should desert His standard, yet you must not, for you are bought with a
price. Other claims are forcible, but this claim is overwhelming. Other
bands are strong, but these cords of love are invincible. The love of
Christ constrains us.

Now let us look at this claim. Think, Beloved, what you were bought
from. You were a slave and you have been redeemed! You were a slave to
sin. Remember that. Perhaps there was a time when you could rap out an
oath as well as anybody and when the pleasures of this world and the
lusts thereof were sweet morsels under your tongue. How did you come to
be saved from bad habits and filthy passions? You are bought with a
price! You are the Lord's freeman! You have broken those chains, but
not by your power. You have been bought with a price, for "you were not
redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain
conversation, received by tradition from your fathers; but with the
precious blood of Christ." There is a redemption from sin!

Then you have been redeemed from the punishment of sin. You had begun
to feel that. You were full of doubts and fears and dreadful
apprehensions of God's wrath. You felt as if Hell had begun in you. It
is not so now, the blood of redemption has spoken peace and you are no
more afraid. Well do I remember when the flames of Hell burned in my
soul, as far as they could in this human life, yes, they dried up my
spirit and parched up my heart, so that my soul chose strangling rather
than life! It was such a wretched thing to live.

But it is not so now, blessed be God! We are redeemed from remorse and
despair, and set free from the horrible sense of guilt! In a little
time we should have been in Hell–but since we have believed we never
shall come into the place of torment–for sin is forgiven and the sense
of sin is removed. We can say in the words of our text of last Sunday
night, "Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yes, rather,
that has risen again, who sits at the right hand of God, who also makes
intercession for us." We are redeemed from sin, from remorse, and from
Hell itself! And now, at this moment, we are redeemed from the avenging
justice of God. Jesus Christ has borne our sins in His own body on the
tree, and by the merit of His death has forever rendered compensation
to the injured honor of Divine Justice. He has magnified the

Law and made it honorable so that the Law, itself, can ask no more of a
sinner for whom Christ has died, for Christ has paid to the Law all
that Justice could demand.

Oh, think of that! Rejoice, Beloved, that you are redeemed from sin,
and death, and Hell and the claims of unbending Justice–and surely you
will feel that there is a claim upon you that you should be the Lord's.
Reflect most lovingly upon that dear Friend who bought you out of iron
bondage, who it was that redeemed you! You have not been redeemed by an
angel. Dear would the angelic name have been had it been so! But angels
were powerless in this grand affair. Who stooped to pick you up, O
insect of a day? Who stooped to save you? Who but He who bears earth's
huge pillars up and spreads the heavens abroad? The Son of God,
Omnipotent, Eternal and Infinite, has fallen in love with the fallen
sons of man–and for them has donned the garment of human flesh and in
that flesh has suffered to the death–and died a most shameful death
upon the gallows of Calvary!

Oh, tell it everywhere that Jesus Christ, who is God over all, blessed
forever, has redeemed us! And after that, who will say that we do not
belong to Him? Then think of the price He paid. The text does not tell
us about it, and surely the reason for its silence is to be found in
the fact that words cannot express the mighty sum. "You are bought. You
are bought with a price." Sometimes it is best, when you cannot say
what you would, to say nothing at all. The famous painter, when he drew
the picture of Agamemnon at the sacrifice of his daughter, felt that he
could not depict the sorrow of the father's countenance and therefore
he wisely put a veil over it, and represented him as hiding his face
from the fearful sight.

So the Apostle seems to have felt, "I cannot tell you all that Jesus
suffered so I will leave it. You are bought with a price." Now, turn
that over lovingly. Muse on it devoutly till your hearts burn like
coals ofjuniper! "A price!" The price was God born at Bethlehem as a
man and then living 30 years and more in poverty and contumely,
suffering in Gethsemane till sweat of blood fell on the ground–falsely
accused, ridiculed, spit upon, buffeted, mocked, scourged, nailed to
the Cross, left there to die–while, in His soul, the great millstone
of Jehovah's Wrath crushed His spirit as in an olive-press till His
heart was broken and His spirit melted within Him like wax.

Only God knows the sufferings of the Son of God–well does the Greek
liturgy pour forth that mysterious plea, "By Your unknown sufferings,
good Lord, deliver us," for unknown they were. O you saints were,
indeed, bought with a price, and I charge you, by the agony and bloody
sweat, by the Cross and passion, acknowledge the fact that you belong
to Jesus! Confess that He bought you with an incalculable price! You
are His and would not wish to question that Divine purchase which is
the groundwork of your hope. You must not, cannot dispute the sacred
claims which Jesus has upon you–rather should you cry, "O Son of
David, we are Yours and all that we have."

There is yet this further consideration, that the purchase price of
every child of God has been fully paid. I have seen lands which have
belonged to men who were reputed to be rich, but there was a heavy
mortgage upon them so that, though they called them theirs, they were
scarcely so. But there is no mortgage on the saints! There is no debt
to be demanded in future ages either of us or of our Redeemer. "It is
finished," said the Savior, and finished it is. He has bought you and
He has paid for you. Are you not His? There is not one single good work
of yours needed to complete the merit, or a single pang of suffering
required from you to perfect the Atonement. You are perfect in Christ
Jesus.

Well, then, if the price is paid so fully, are we not completely and
fully the Lord's? I will say this one thing very solemnly to you, and
then leave the point. Beloved, if you are ready to confess that you
were bought with a price, you must be equally ready to acknowledge that
you cannot be your own, but belong to Him who bought you. Mark you, if
the first is not true, then the second does not press. But if the first
is true, namely, that Christ redeemed you, then the second is just as
true, namely, that you are His and must live as His, or otherwise you
are defrauding Him. If you are prepared to give up your redemption, you
may also throw away your allegiance to Christ. But if you are not
willing to give up redemption by the blood–and I trust you are not,
for that is to give up everything–then you must also agree to this,
that you are not your own, or any other man's, but belong wholly to
Christ.

And for that cause you are bound to render Him your whole self, spirit,
soul and body. It is only your reasonable service, for every reasonable
man expects to have what he has paid for. If Jesus has paid dearly for
your soul and if it is confessed that it is His, then let Him have it
and be not so base as to rob Christ of the reward of His heart's blood!
"Will a man rob God?" Will you rob your Redeemer? Will you steal from
Him the purchase of His agonies and deprive Him of

that which it cost Him His life to buy? The claim is strong, but only
gracious hearts will feel it. O blessed Spirit, cause us to feel it
deeply, now, and evermore to act under its constraining power!

III. This brings me to the third point, which is, as I have proved the
Redeemer's claim–to show THE EXTENT OF IT–the claim of redemption is
comprehensive. If you will kindly read the context of my first text you
will see that it includes the body and the soul, "Glorify God in your
body and your spirit, which are God's." There the Apostle speaks,
first, of the body. Young man, read that passage when you get home,
will you? I cannot read it now, but if you profess to be a Christian,
remember that this body of yours is holy and it will rise again from
the dead. I charge you, by the blood of Christ, never defile this body
either by drunkenness or by lust.

If it were the body of a common man, I would say to you, for your own
sake, avoid these evils. But if you are a Christian I have a stronger
argument, for your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Mark how
strongly the Apostle puts it and try to feel the force of his words.
You young men who come to London amidst its vices, read this passage
and shun everything that is akin to lewdness, or leads to
unchastity–for your bodies were bought with your Lord's lifeblood–
and they are not yours to trifle with. Shun the strange woman, her
company, her wine, her glances, her house, her songs and her resorts.
Your bodies are not yours to injure by self-indulgence of any sort.
Keep them pure and chaste for that heavenly Bridegroom who has bought
them with His blood.

And then your soul is bought, too. I was obliged to mention the body
because it is mentioned here and it is so necessary it should be kept
pure. But keep the soul pure, too. Christ has not bought these eyes
that they should read novels, such as are published nowadays,
calculated to lead me into vanity and vice. Christ has not bought this
brain of mine that I may revel in the perusal of works of blasphemy and
filthiness. He has not given me a mind that I may drag it through the
mire with the hope of washing it clean, again, as some seem to do who
imagine it to be the right thing to be always defiling themselves with
skepticism and heresy that they may afterwards come to some minister to
help them out of the dirt, or some wise friend to scrub the filth off.
There will be enough of dust in going along the best roads–there is no
need to go and roll in every dirt heap which foolish atheists and proud
skeptics choose to put in the way. Do not defile your mind–it belongs
to God–it is bought with the blood of Jesus.

Your whole manhood belongs to God if you are a Christian. Every
faculty, every natural power, every talent, every possibility of your
being, every capacity of your spirit–all were bought. It would be an
awful thing for you if there were any part of you left out of the
inventory. That would be a cursed part of the fabric of your being! But
it is all bought with blood, if you are, indeed, a redeemed man or
woman. Therefore keep the whole for Jesus, for it belongs to Him. The
Apostle draws from the fact that we are bought with a price in my first
text, the inference, "You are not your own." It is clear as the sun at
noon that if you are bought you are not your own.

Now, if I am not my own, what does that negative declaration imply? It
means, first, that I may not claim the right to do as I like. I am not
my own. If I were my own I might do what I pleased. But I am not my
own. I am not to do what I please, but what Christ pleases. I am to
please my Lord and Master in everything. My question in life is not how
shall I get the most happiness to myself, but how can I bring the most
honor to Him? I am not my own–then I am not to follow my own passions.
If I were my own I might fling the bridle on my neck and go where I
want and no longer restrain my passions. But since I am not my own, I
must not. I cannot live after the flesh. Unless I am false to Him that
bought me, I dare not obey the bidding of my corruptions.

Neither, if I am not my own, may I follow my own tastes if in any way I
should so bring grief to the people of God or dishonor to the name of
Christ. I think, dear Brothers and Sisters, that one of the best tests
of a Christian is that he will not only do no wrong, but he will not do
that which might lead others to do wrong. Many things are lawful to us
which are not expedient. And often the Christian will say to himself,
"Such a thing I think I might do if I were Alexander Selkirk on a
desert island and nobody saw me. But insomuch as there are others who
will take occasion to go beyond this act of mine–and weak ones who
will be scandalized by what I do–God forbid I should make my Brother
or Sister to offend, for I am not my own. If I were my own master and
had not my Lord and His cause to consider, I might do a thousand
things. But I will deny myself many lawful things for His sake and the
sake of His Church, for I am not my own. I will deny myself even
allowable things that I may manifest that I do not belong to myself,
but to Him."

I am not my own. Then I must not trust my own reasonings. If I were my
own teacher, then, of course, I should learn my lessons from my own
book. But I have a Rabbi, even Jesus, and I am resolved with meekness
to learn of Him. I

thought I was wise, once, but now I have become a little child, and I
love to sit at Jesus' feet to learn of Him, for I have surrendered my
reason to Him. I believe what He teaches me because He says so. His
ipse dixit stands to me instead of argument, for what He says must be
true. I am not my own and so I must not seek my own ends. I must not
live in this world that I may get rich, or that I may be famous. I may
trade and get riches, but it must be that I may use them for Him. I
have a family to be kept. Yes, I must give my family to Christ, and
then work to keep Christ's family–and so shall I be working for
Christ.

It is not my business to support myself, for the Lord is my Shepherd,
but the Lord supports me through my own exertions and therefore do I,
even in common labor, serve Him. "Having food and raiment," I shall be
content. And I shall live to do good to the poor, and to the Church of
God, and to my fellow men. When He sends me riches I shall take my
alabaster box and break it, and pour it on His head, and never count my
treasures so well used as when I give them up to Him. If, like Joseph
of Arimathea, the Believer possessed a new tomb, where man never lay,
prepared for himself–he would count it best used if his Lord deigned
to use it for His burial. Gladly would he lend his chamber for Jesus to
keep the Passover, or his animal that his Lord might ride into
Jerusalem–for the saint holds all things ready at his Master's beck
and call. His life is consecration. He has vowed unto the Lord, "I will
work for Him. I will suffer for Him. I will write for Him, I will live
for Him–I will even die for Him–by some means or other I will show
that I am not my own, or anything that I have."

Oh, Brothers and Sisters, I would not like to have an unconsecrated
hair on my head, or an unconsecrated hour of the day, or an
unconsecrated faculty! Every mental power which God has given to a man
ought to be used for God's cause. No faculty which is essentially
natural to us may be excused from bowing its neck to the yoke of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes when I have said a humorous thing in
preaching I have not asked you to excuse me, for if God has given me
humor I mean to use it in His cause. Many a man has been caught, his
ear arrested and his attention won by a quaint remark. If anyone can
prove it is a wickedness, and not a natural faculty, I will abandon it.
But it is a faculty of nature and it ought to be consecrated and used
for the cause of Christ! Whatever you can do, if it is a right thing to
do, and God has made it a characteristic of your being, do it for
Jesus! If you cannot speak like Mr. Moody, sing like Mr. Sankey–but
somehow or other help to promote the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ,
for you are not your own, "You are bought with a price."

In my second text the Apostle brings forth another inference. Read the
seventh chapter at the 23rd verse–"You are bought with a price; be not
you the servants of men." By which he means this–As you are not to
live for yourself, so you are not to make yourself the slave of other
men and give your powers up to any but to the Lord Jesus Christ. Do not
even follow good men slavishly. Do not say, "I am of Paul. I am of
Apollos. I am of Calvin. I am of Wesley." Did Calvin redeem you? Did
Wesley die for you? Who is Calvin and who is Wesley but ministers by
whom you believed as the Lord gave unto you? Do not so surrender
yourself to any leadership that you rather follow the man than his
Master. I will follow anybody if he goes Christ's way, but I will
follow nobody, by the Grace of God, if he does not go in that
direction.

Do not pin your faith to anybody's sleeve. Keep close to the Lord Jesus
Christ. You are bought with a price–do not be the servants of men. Do
not give yourselves up to party spirit. It is a pity when a man cares
only for politics–when the one grand thing he lives for is to return a
Liberal to Parliament, or to get in a Radical, or to lift a Tory to the
top of the poll. To live for a political party is unworthy of a man who
professes to be a Christian! The most advanced politics beneath the sun
are nothing compared with living for the bleeding Savior and spending
one's self for the promotion of the immortal principles of the Cross.
We are not to give ourselves up to any scientific speculation,
educational effort, or to any philanthropic enterprise so as to divert
our minds from the grand old cause of Jesus and our God!

A story is told of one of the early saints–I think it was Jerome–that
he dreamed that he died and went to the gates of Heaven, and they said
to him, "Who are you?" And he said, "I am Jerome, a student of
Scripture." And they said to him, "No, you are not. You are one Jerome,
a student of Cicero," for he had been much more accustomed to the study
of Cicero and the great Latin writers than to the reading of the
Scriptures. He dreamed, therefore, he was not permitted to enter
Heaven. And upon waking from his dream he put aside his classic books
to make the Word of God the main study of his life. Alas, there are a
great many people in the world who do not live for Christ! They are
living for something else. The main thing with them is often a trifle
light as air–a pursuit of the most infinite value.

I heard once a great Divine saying to another great Divine that he had
spent a most important day on Snowdon–he considered it one of the most
successful days of his life. Being in their line, myself, I wondered
what great revival services had been held on Snowdon, among the
Welshmen. The eminent ecclesiastic said he had been many years on the
watch, but had never, till that day, been able to satisfy himself! I
wondered if he had been in prayer, watching for the conversion of the
Welsh people. He said he found three different kinds of them and was
now sure they were quite distinct. Did he mean three kinds of religious
inquirers whose cases he had, at last, been able to understand?

Not he! He had been speaking of three species of beetles which he had
met with after a day's searching. The minister of Christ had much joy
over three beetles, but probably cared little for repenting sinners.
And I am afraid there are many who spend their time in trifles as small
as that and, perhaps, far less innocent. Everything is a trifle to a
man who is a Christian except the glorifying of Christ. "Felix has
driveled into an ambassador," said good old William Carey, when they
told him that his son Felix had been made ambassador from the British
court to the court of Burmah. He had been a poor missionary, before,
and now they had made him a great ambassador. But his father said, "He
has driveled into an ambassador."

If a man who lives for Jesus and preaches the Gospel could suddenly be
transformed into the Emperor of Germany, it would be a frightful
come-down for him! To live for Jesus is the highest style of man! God
grant we may realize that–for we are bought with a price. If we do not
belong to man, it follows that we ought not to follow the fashions of
the world. Some people must be in fashion, cost what it may–out of the
fashion they feel they might as well be out of the world. It is almost
death to them if they cannot dress and act after the manner of society.
Therefore they run into extravagance, pride, show and folly. The pride
of life eats them up. When fashions go wrong it should be the
Christian's fashion to go against the fashion. Let no man be your
master! If you have masters according to the flesh, serve them with all
faithfulness, as becomes you, giving unto them diligent service–but as
to any master over your spirit, allow no one to be so–consciences were
made for God alone! Bow not down your heart and conscience before man,
but be free, for, "you are bought with a price."

To close. We are, then, it seems, wholly Christ's. Christ, then, my
Brothers and Sisters, if we are as we should be, is Lord of our time.
We may not say, "I have an hour of my own to waste." It is Christ's
time. He is Lord of our household. We do not claim to be paramount
there, but we say, "Lord, these are Your children. Help us to bring
them up for You. Our household is Yours, Lord, grant that by family
prayer and by holy example we may make our family to be 'Holiness to
the Lord.'" You will go out to business and say, "This business is not
mine. It is my Master's." You will not trade in any dishonest way if
you do that. It will be holy trading. The farmer goes to the field and
says, "This is the Redeemer's field, and what profit I shall make from
it is His profit." If he feels in that way his actions will be kind,
generous, right and God-fearing.

I would that every young man felt, "If I have talents they are God's
talents, to be used for Him." Young men will join clubs and societies,
and become most energetic members. But when they join Churches, very
often we get the distinguished honor of having their names on the book
to encumber the Church roll, and not much more. That is not right if
they belong to Jesus. Christian people ought, in all they do, to be
looking out for opportunities of serving Christ. I have heard of a Jew,
who, going forth to trade and having a choice between two towns, asked,
"Where is the synagogue?" and when he had found there was a synagogue
in one town and not in the other, he gave the preference to that in
which he could worship with his brethren. It ought to be so with the
Christian! But often Christian men forget even to inquire about such
matters.

They make money and go and live out of London, and where do they select
their residence? They say, "Here is a beautiful view, and a respectable
neighborhood." But there is no place of worship where they can take
their children and where they can go, themselves–does that always
influence them? I fear not. They look to other matters first. I have
known them go to places where they could not possibly get any good–and
they have not even tried to do any. I like to hear a Christian man say,
"There is a destitute village. Now, if I live there I may build a
little place of worship and so I may do good." This is an object worth
aiming at–and if the wealthy Christians of England, when they remove
from large centers of population–would always set to work to try and
spread the Gospel round about where they live, they would be like seed
sown in the ground or like salt scattered among society to preserve the
land.

Our first aim in life should be to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. I am
afraid I am rapping some of you a little hard, or perhaps you will call
it treading on your corns. You should not have corns, you know, and
then I could not tread upon them. If you are not doing right and
anything I say comes close to stepping on your corns, it should! Dear
Brother, try to mend. Find not fault with the preacher because he finds
out your faults. Go and amend. There came into this house some years
ago a dear Brother, an earnest Christian young man. I was preaching
some such sermon as this and he felt that he had not been living for
Christ. He went back to the city where he lived and he began to preach
in the streets. He continued to preach and God blessed him, and he
developed into an earnest and talented servant of our Lord Jesus
Christ, whose name is very dear to you all. One of the best days' work
I ever did was to be the means of calling him out to such a service! Is
there not some young man of that kind here, tonight?

May there not be here present a Christian woman, with ability, and
talent, and education who ought to be teaching young women, and doing
good, and bringing them to the Savior? My dear Sister, you are not your
own–you are not your own. If you were, I think you would be quite
right in taking your ease on Sunday and making yourself comfortable in
the week. But you are not your own. You are not your own. The blood of
Jesus has bought every particle of you. Will you not devote yourself to
Him? Will you not pray to make your consecration more practical than it
has been up to now, from this time forth? The sacred blood mark is on
every part of your spirit and your body–do not try to hide it. Give up
all to Jesus that while you live, and when you die, you may fight a
good fight and finish your course, and have it said to you, "Well done,
good and faithful servant."

O you who know nothing about being bought with a price, you will be
lost unless you do know it! If Christ has not bought you, Hell will
receive you, and despair will be your portion! May God grant you to
know the power of redemption through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord!
Amen. Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–1 Corinthians 3. HYMNS FROM
"OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"–658, 663, 660.
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