“Worthy art Thou, for Thou wast slain and hast purchased us to God by Thy blood “– Rev_5:9.

BOUGHT: that word is understood by everybody. Trading occupies a great place in our lives. We are all so constantly engaged in buying or selling that the ideas attached to it are understood by everybody.

The right that the buyer obtains over that which previously had not been his; the value which he attaches to it after its price has been paid; the certainty that what he has bought will be given to him; and the use that he will make of his purchase; all these things are obvious, and daily, in a thousand ways, they make out the life of the community.

The words of our text, taken from a heavenly hymn of praise: “Thou hast purchased us to God by Thy blood,” invite us to see in the mirror of earthly trade, what” the blood of the Lamb ” has done for us, and what a clear knowledge of this fact entails. The right that our Lord Jesus,”the Lamb of God,” has obtained to us, and the claim that we now have in regard to Him; what we may expect from Him, what He expects from us, all these things will become plain to us. If the Holy Spirit teaches us to regard the blood in the light of these resemblances, our hearts surely will take up the song of heaven with new joy: “Worthy art Thou for Thou wast slain and hast purchased us to God by Thy blood.”

Following these thoughts let us notice:–

I. The Right to Us which He has Obtained.
II. The Claim He makes upon Us.
III. The Joy with which He will Receive Us.
IV. The Certainty that He will Preserve and Care for Us.
 

“It has often happened among men that one has had to buy back what really belonged to him, but had been taken from him by a hostile power. Many times a people has had to buy back their land and freedom by their blood. After that, land and liberty become of increased value.”
Thus, the Son of God has ransomed us from the power of Satan. God, at creation, had placed man under the government of His Son. By yielding to the temptations of Satan man fell from God, and became entirely subject to the authority of the Tempter; he became his slave. It was the law of God that prohibited sin and threatened punishment. When man sinned, it was this law that bestowed upon Satan his authority. God had said: In the day that thou eatest ” thou fallest into the power of death. God Himself gave man up to be a slave, in the prison-house of Satan; and for man there was no possibility of redemption save by ransom, by the payment of the price which the law must righteously demand as ransom, for the redemption of prisoners.

You know that word “redemption.” In old times when it was the custom that prisoners of war should be made slaves, sometimes a very high price was paid by the friends or rulers of the prisoners as ransom for their deliverance from slavery. Jesus Christ has purchased, with His own blood, our freedom from the prison and slavery of Satan, in which he as our enemy had lodged us, and to which the law of God had condemned us.

To purchase, to ransom, means always that one valuable thing is given for another. Our souls needed redemption: the law demanded the payment of a ransom. We were under its power and condemnation; we were held as prisoners until what we owed was paid, a recompense for the wrongs we had done, a perfect righteousness. Jesus came and gave Himself in our place: His soul for our soul. He bore our punishment of death, our curse of death; He shed His blood as reconciliation for our sin. That blood was the ransom price by which we are redeemed; He gave His life for our life; His blood gave Him an eternal right to us. And now the message comes to us as from heaven, Jesus has bought us by His blood; He and none else has a right to us. Not Satan, not the world, not ourselves, have any right to us; the Son of God has bought us with His blood: He only has a fight to us; we belong to Him.

 

II. The Claim which He makes upon Us.
“Thou hast purchased us to God by Thy blood.” These words remind us of the claim which He makes on us. A person may have a fight to something without exercising that right; he lays no claim to it. But it is not thus with Jesus Christ. He comes to us with the urgent request that we should surrender ourselves to Him. You know how, in every ordinary purchase, the buyer has the right to ask that what he has purchased shall be given to him; it is carefully stated when and where the delivery will take place. Jesus Christ sends His servants with the request that without delay, that at the hour, and in the place where the message is delivered, there the persons, as His purchased possession, should hand themselves over, and become subject to Him. That message comes to you again to-day. He entreats you to say farewell to all foreign authority that has ruled over you, and to become His sole possession.

Chief among those foreign powers is sin. By our descent from fallen Adam, sin has a terrible, irresistible authority over us. It has soaked to the deepest roots of our nature; it is thoroughly at home in us; it has become our nature. However strongly we may be inclined either by the voice of God, or of conscience, or by the sense of the misery which sin has wrought out in us, or by some desire after good, which may be awakened in us, to forsake the service of sin, sin refuses to release us. As slaves of sin, we have no power to break the bonds which bind us. But Jesus, who has bought us by His blood, now calls upon us to give ourselves to Him. However deeply we experience that we have been sold under sin, and that the law of sin always holds us prisoners, He promises to deliver us from its tyranny, and that He will Himself bestow upon us the power to serve and follow Him as Lord. He asks only for the choice of our hearts, the honest declaration of our will; that we recognise His right and yield ourselves to Him. He will see to it that the authority of sin shall be destroyed.

Another of the foreign powers which has exercised authority over us is the world. The needs and business of the world are so manifold and so urgent; they lay claim to our lives and all our powers. The promises, the enjoyments, the temptations which the world presents to us are so flattering, and exercise such an unconscious influence upon us, that it is impossible for us of ourselves to offer resistance to them. The favour and assistance of the people we associate with, their displeasure and contempt if we separate ourselves from them to live only for God, work out in many an enslavement to the world. It rules over them, and demands their obedience. Satan is the ruler of this world, and through it exercises his power over them. Jesus Christ comes as conqueror of Satan and the world, and asks us to choose which we wish to serve, Him, or this enemy of His. He asks this of us, as those who belong to Him. He points us to His blood, to the right to us which He has obtained, and asks that we should recognise this right and surrender ourselves as His possession.

There is another power, a still stronger one, foreign and hostile to Christ. It is the power of ” self.” It is here that sin has wrought its most terrible ruin. The doing of our own will, seeking our own pleasure and our own honour, are so deeply rooted in us, that apart from an entire revolution it can never be otherwise. Body and soul, understanding and imagination, inclination and love, all are subject to the terrible power of self-pleasing, to the tyranny of “self.” Jesus Christ asks that “self” should be pulled down from the throne, and condemned to death. He asks that in all things His will and not ours should be supreme. He beseeches us to make an end of slavery to other lords, and to give ourselves up to Him as His purchased possession.

Each of us must deal with this claim, this request of “the Lamb of God.” How you deal with it will decide what your life will be in time and in eternity. A voice comes to us from heaven, saying: “He is worthy, He has been slain, He has purchased us to God by His blood.” Oh, that out hearts might no longer hesitate, but by faith in that divine blood respond to His call and reply: “Thou art worthy, O Lord! Here I am, take what Thou hast purchased. I yield myself to Thee as Thy possession.”

III. The Joy with which He will Receive Us.
“Thou hast purchased us to God by Thy blood ” that gives us the pledge of the joy with which He will receive us. When a sinner has been urged to give himself to the Lord, and he declares his willingness to do so, he is, alas, often hindered by the fear that he is unworthy to be received. He feels himself so sinful, so dead; he feels he is greatly lacking in humility and real earnestness, and in that heartfelt love, which befits one who desires to give himself to such a Lord, that he cannot believe the Lord will receive him so instantly, so fully and so eternally. He cannot understand it, still less does he feel in his heart that it is true.

What a glorious answer to all these questionings is in this word, ” Thou hast purchased us to God by Thy blood.” Do you not know that if a person buys anything he will surely take possession of it, if it is brought to him? You have, I suppose, sometime bought something? As you have paid your money for it and it was given or brought to you, were you not willing to receive it and take possession of it? The higher the price you paid for it, the less was there any doubt that you would take possession of what you had paid for.

“But”, you will perhaps answer, if I buy something, I know what it is, and that it is worth the price I paid. But I, with my sinful heart, with everything so dead and miserable, there is reason for me to fear that He who purchased me will not receive me. I am not what I ought to be. When I buy an article and another of less worth is sent to me, I refuse to receive it; I send it back with the message: “This is not what I bought and for which I have paid.”

You are right, but consider what the difference is between Him who has bought us by His blood, and human purchasers. He bought what He knew was bad, because it was bad; and which He will accept as bad, that His love may have the joy and glory of making it good. How wonderful this is! it is nevertheless true; the worse you are, and the deeper you have sunk in the helplessness of your sin, the more fit you are for Him. The Scripture says: ” Christ died for the ungodly; while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” It says, further, that the price of Christ’s blood was paid for those who denied the Lord, for those who sold Him, even for His rejectors. Understand, I pray you, that Jesus has paid an eternal price for you, as one who is an enemy, as one who is a lawful slave of Satan, as one entirely dead in sin. He comes to you who are in this condition with the request that you will surrender yourself to Him, and with a promise that He will receive you just as you are.

I pray you, do not any longer allow yourself to be kept by Satan from your Lord and Saviour. It is Satan who whispers to you that you are too unworthy, that mercy is not for you because you are so sinful. It is a lie, a lie born in hell. You are utterly unworthy, but not too unworthy; for mercy is only for unworthy persons. If you have no desire to serve this Lord, if His love and His blood have no value in your eyes, say so openly, and refuse to give yourself to Him, as His purchased property; but if your heart acknowledges that you by fight belong to Him, oh, come, I pray you, and believe that He will receive you instantly. And let every doubt depart under the power of that one word: “Thou hast purchased me by Thy blood.”

It is impossible for the Lord Jesus to refuse to receive you. Between Him and the Father there is an eternal covenant concerning you. The Father has, righteously, given Him fight and authority over you; He has paid your ransom at the great price that has freed you from the tyranny of Satan. He has been constantly calling you to come to Him. He now entreats you again to give yourself up to Him. How can you be so foolish as to think that He will not receive you? Then doubt no longer. Although you are devoid of feeling, and everything appears cold and dead, come and cast yourself down before Him, and say to Him that as He has bought you, you rely upon Him to receive you. He will certainly do so.

IV. The Certainty that He will Protect us and Care for Us.
“Thou hast purchased us to God by Thy blood.” This assures us that He will preserve us and care for us. The man who has purchased something of value, for instance a good horse, not only receives it when it is brought to him, but he appreciates it, he takes care of it, and provides for it. He exercises it and he uses it. He does all this that he may have the utmost service and pleasure out of it. When Jesus Christ receives us, however glorious that is, it is only the beginning. We can rely on Him who bought us by His blood to complete His work in us.

It is just the want of insight into this truth that holds many troubled persons back from surrender, and causes many of weak faith to live always in trouble and worry. They do not apply to spiritual things what they understand so well in earthly affairs. When a man has paid a high price for something, even if only a horse or a sheep, he takes it for granted that he must care for it, in order that he may have pleasure and service from it. And the Lord Jesus, how is it that you do not understand it? takes upon Himself to care for you, and so to order things that He may attain His purpose in you. You cannot guard yourself against temptation or going astray. You cannot manage yourself or make yourself fit for His service. You cannot direct yourself so that you may know how to act in everything according to His will and that of the Father. You cannot do it. But He can; He will, as the One who has bought you with His blood.

iii. That we should cultivate trust in Him, and let it completely control our whole soul and every thought as to how we are to spend our life and do our work. A possession is preserved and cared for by the owner. Jesus, my heavenly and almighty Owner, who has bought me for Himself by His blood, and prizes me as ” the dear purchase” of that blood, He will surely protect me, He will surely fit me for all things in which He intends to make use of me.

“Thou art worthy, for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood.” Oh, my readers, listen, I pray you, to the song of heaven, and let it begin to sound in your heart. Let it be the heart confession of your relationship to the slain Lamb. Remember, I pray you, that the blood is the power of salvation, and the subject of heavenly praise. Remember that the blood is the power that binds us to Jesus in bonds that cannot be loosened.

Let him who has not yet acknowledged the claim of Christ do so to-day, and let him now say: ” Thou art worthy; for the sake of Thy blood Thou shalt have me.”

Let him who has already acknowledged the Lord’s claim abandon himself to the heavenly influences of the Holy Spirit for the destruction of all doubt and slowness of heart, and for the enduement of power to live wholly for “the Lamb of God.”