You Were Bought With a Price

I’ve been thinking about addressing what true repentance is, saving faith, marks of a born-again believer, the cost of discipleship, and much more in light of recent conversations around Ravi Zacharias as well as general confusion about what a believer looks like. As a church, we’ve also been going over the gospel, true conversion, the doctrine of church, and biblical principles for membership in our Sunday sermons. I pray and hope that these sermons have not only convicted you but also brought about a sober assessment to see whether you are in the faith, as we are commanded to test our lives against the truth of Scripture (2 Cor. 13:5; Jam. 1:22-25).

Instead, I’d like to leave us with a short devotion from the work of the 17th century Puritan John Flavel to ponder afresh upon the price of the blood of Christ, as it is the source of our salvation, sanctification and Christian life. He wrote a dialogue between the Father and the Son regarding fallen humanity and great price that would be required to obtain our redemption, and it beautifully illustrates the true agony of the Cross, and the love of the Father and the Son which moved them to embrace it:

Flavel writes: “Here you may suppose the Father to say, when driving His bargain with Christ for you –

Father: My Son, here is a company of poor miserable souls, that have utterly undone themselves, and now lie open to my justice! Justice demands satisfaction for them, or will satisfy itself in the eternal ruin of them: What shall be done for these souls? And thus, Christ returns.

Son: O my Father, such is my love to, and pity for them, that rather than they shall perish eternally, I will be responsible for them as their Surety; bring in all thy bills, that I may see what they owe Thee; Lord, bring them all in, that there may be no after-reckonings with them; at my hand shall thou require it. I will rather choose to suffer their wrath than they should suffer it: upon me, my Father, upon me be all their debt.

Father: But, my Son, if thou undertake for them, thou must reckon to pay the last mite, expect no abatements; if I spare them, I will not spare thee.

Son: Content, Father, let it be so; charge it all upon me, I am able to discharge it: and though it proves a kind of undoing to me, though it impoverishes all my riches, empty all my treasures, yet I am content to undertake it!”

Flavel closes: Blush, ungrateful believers, O let shame cover your faces; judge in yourselves now, has Christ deserved that you should stand with him for trifles, that you should shrink at a few petty difficulties, and complain, this is hard, and that is harsh? O if you knew the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in this his wonderful condescension for you, you could not do it.”

Here, Flavel shows us the price that Christ paid to purchase our redemption, and this great love of Christ is what ought to control us, because One has died for all, therefore all have died, and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised (2 Cor. 5:14-15). So, what is our motivation for counting the cost of discipleship, disciplining ourselves in the means of grace, working out our salvation with fear and trembling and being spent for Christ? It is the love of Christ!

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! (Romans 6:1-2a). Is it a small issue to continue in habitual sins? Can’t I just attend church on special events? Or is this too much that God is asking of me? Can’t I just read the Bible and pray once in a while? By no means! Yes, while we are saved by grace through faith alone, it is costly to follow Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. In fact, it should cost you your life (Luke 14:33). Each believer must determine before the Lord what is meant by the expression “forsake all” when it applies to his own life. The disciples left such things as boats, nets, homes, occupations and families to follow the Lord. Peter said, “Behold, we have left all, and have followed Thee” (Mark 10:28). If you have yet to truly count the cost, forsake it all even your own life, and follow Christ, I pray that you consider the costly price that our Saviour paid to ransom your soul, your life, and your all. We cannot and must not go on chasing futile idols, fooling about with drink, food, ambition and every other earthly pleasure because we have been bought with a price.

So, my friend, you could content in a casual, convenient, comfortable Christian life as you cling to the safety and security that this world offers. You could assent to the spirit of this age and choose to spend your life seeking worldly pleasures, acquiring worldly possessions, and pursuing worldly ambitions—all under the banner of cultural Christianity, and may come to find these words true of you when you appear before God, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). Or you could decide that Christ is altogether lovely, infinitely, eternally and supremely more worthy than what life can offer, or death can take, and then to forsake it all and follow Him to the fountain of Life. I pray that the love of Christ would dwell in your heart through faith so that you would choose the latter, and that you may comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:17-19).

Beloved, can we go on following Christ on our own terms? By no means!