Monday, March 26, 2012

Bought With A Price

"For you were bought with a price" (1 Cor. 6:20). I would like you to take notice of the tense of this statement. It is past tense; a once-for-all-time action. It does not say "you will be bought with a price," it says "you were bought with a price." This is another deathly blow to Arminianist-based faiths such as Dispensationalism. These faiths hold to a form of Universalism, although they would deny it. If you work it out logically, you will see that that is precisely what they believe in.

These individuals claim that Jesus bought each and every individual that ever was or ever will be with His shed blood on Calvary. The verse prior says, "You are not your own" (1 Cor. 6:19). In other words, if you were bought by the precious blood of Christ Jesus, then you belong to Him; you are His. So, if Jesus bought each and every individual with His shed blood, that means that each and every individual belongs to Him and will come to saving faith. His blood blots out their sins and earns them forgiveness. If He bought each and every individual with His shed blood, then each and every individual has had their sins blotted out and has earned forgiveness. In other words, whether they accept Him or not, because they have been bought and paid for, having had their sins blotted out and having earned forgiveness for those sins, on the day of judgment there will be nothing to be held against them. This is problematic.

These same individuals claim that if an individual does not accept Christ Jesus, his sins are put back on him on the day of judgment and he is judged for those sins. This makes Jesus an "Indian giver." He gives each and every individual these gifts and then, when they do not accept Him, He takes them back. This is extremely problematic because the Bible teaches no such thing.

The Bible teaches us from cover to cover that those who belong to Christ Jesus will come to faith in Him. Why? Because He died for His own and bought His own with His precious blood. The Bible clearly tells us that Judas was fulfilling a prophecy. If you ask these individuals if Judas had a choice in the matter, they will argue that, yes, he did. If he had a choice in the matter, then that means that God can be wrong, because this was prophesied long ago. If he had a choice in the matter, then that means we are more powerful than God, because despite what He prophesied we are able to alter it. But the Bible makes the contrary statement; that God will accomplish all that He has purposed and planned. The fact is, Judas did not have a choice in the matter. He was a vessel made for dishonour for the specific purpose of what he accomplished. Paul says the same of Pharaoh in Romans 9.

Being bought with a price stands in history as a one-time event. I was purchased at Calvary, but my coming to faith was not realized until 2000 years later. I was not bought 2000 years later, I was bought at Calvary. Every individual who was purchased by Christ at Calvary by His shed blood will come to faith in their appointed time. Not one of them will be lost. All other individuals, a vast majority, were never bought and will never come to saving faith.

Jesus will accomplish 100% what He came for. Before the foundations of the world were laid, God the Father chose a remnant of individuals to give to Jesus for His own people. God the Son died for those people given to Him by the Father, purchasing them with His blood. God the Holy Spirit sealed those people for the day of redemption and sanctifies them in order to conform them to the image of Christ Jesus. Every other individual is left to themselves, worthy of the condemnation and judgment that will befall them because they are responsible for their sins. Each and every individual rightly deserves that fate, but God in His sovereign mercy chose to save a remnant for His own glory, leaving all others in their well-deserved fate.

God is not a fair God. He is a merciful and gracious God. That He chooses to be so to any of us is a mystery and an undeserved blessing. We have all earned and deserve the same eternal fate in hell, but for His own glory God chose to redeem a remnant of undeserving individuals. Rather than kick against the pricks, you would do well to be thankful to God for His gracious mercy toward you and evangelize others so that other individuals who were purchased by Christ can come to faith. Remember, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. This is the method God chose for individuals to come to saving faith: hearing of the Word.