Bought With A Price, 1 Cor 6:19-20

1 Cor 6:20 says that people Jesus saves are bought with a price.  The price is the blood of Jesus shed on Calvary.

No matter what we were before we were saved, 1 Cor 6:9-10, Jesus washes us in his blood and cleanses us from our sins.  He sanctifies us to be clean for his use.  And he justifies us so that we get to start over with a completely clean record.  We are new creatures in Christ with a new life and a new start.

A fellow I led to the Lord once asked, after I had preached the gospel to him, “What’s the catch”?  The catch is that, when Jesus saves you, he wants to take over possession of your body.  He wants to call the shots and direct your life from now on.

When Jesus saves you:

You are God’s possession – 1 Cor 6:20.  You are “bought with a price”.  You don’t own you any longer.  You just live in the body he now owns.  And just like fixer uppers on HGTV, he begins his new ownership with demolition days.  There are some things in your life that have to go.  He’s not trying to make you your best self, or improve your marital romance, or make you a better you, like all this modern “preaching”.  He’s fixing up his new possession.  Of course, in time, you will like the result.

You are God’s habitation – 1 Cor 6:19.  “The Holy Ghost which is in you”.  He has come to live in you and he wants to have access into every room in your house.  There are going to be some places that you are reluctant to let him in.  However, since you are his, he’s going to ask you for the keys so he can occupy every nook and cranny of your being.

If you decide to trash the place, like many Christians have, he’ll likely let you.  But you ought to remember to fear the Lord.  You see what he did to Ananias and Sapphira when they lied to the Holy Ghost.  In the end, you are going to be completely glorified, because that is your predestination.  He’s conforming you to his image, Rom 8:29, and you will ultimately be conformed.  So, you might as well start yielding now.

You are God’s temple – 1 Cor 6:19.  “Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost”.  Can you remember what happened in the tabernacle, when it was finally completed and it was sanctified and consecrated?  The glory fo the Lord filled the place and they could not enter to minister because of the cloud of smoke and the glory of the Lord that was in there.  The same thing happened with the completion of Solomons’ temple.  The glory of the Lord filled the place.

This is what the Lord wants to do in your body.  We are to glorify God in our body and in our spirit which are God’s.  I am reminded of the hymn, Sweet Hour of Prayer.  The last verse says, “and shout while passing through the air, Farewell, Farewell, sweet hour of prayer”. The writer realizes that he will miss his fellowship with God in his glory during the times of prayer they enjoyed together on this earth.

Conclusion: Remember this, then, you are not your own.  You are bought with a price.  You belong to someone else now.  And he lives inside of you.  You are his temple and, with him in you, you should glorify God.