I HAVE BEEN BOUGHT WITH A PRICE;  
I BELONG TO GOD
 
“Do you not know that your body is a temple  
of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom  you  
have received from God? You are not your own;  
you were bought  at a price. Therefore honor  
God with your body.”    
               (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
 
 
Our souls – never designed by God to function  
           as master nor can we claim 2 masters  
           at the same time.  
 
“No one can serve two masters. Either he will  
hate the one and love the other, or he will  
be devoted to the one and despise the other.  
You cannot serve both God and Money” (Matt 6:24).
 
 
The humanist claims –
     “I am the master of mine own fate;  
      I am the captain of my soul.’
 
Wanna bet? Oh no you’re not!  
Self-seeking, self-serving, self-justifying,  
self-glorifying, self-centered and self-confident  
living are in actuality serving the world, the  
flesh, and the devil. The world’s definition  
of freedom is to do your own thing, to exercise  
your independence by being a “free agent” morally.
 
God’s definition of true freedom is for us to  
voluntarily do His thing, which requires us to  
be dependent upon Him, the One who bought us  
with a price, the One to whom we belong.
 
WHAT MANY CALL FREEDOM IS ACTUALLY BONDAGE
 
Listen to this illustration from a noted  
Christian pastor & teacher:
 
“Several years ago, I was asked to speak at  
a secular university on the subject of Christian  
morality in the context of marriage and sex.  
The classroom was predominantly filled with  
young ladies. There was one young man, however,  
who pulled his chair off into the corner and  
made a show of being unconcerned about anything  
I had to say. Occasionally he would interrupt  
with a little arrogant statement.  One young  
lady in the back or the room asked me what  
Christians thought about masturbation.  
Before I could say anything he piped up,  
“Well I masturbate every day.”
 
I paused for a second, then I said,  
“Well, congratulations, but can you stop?”
 
I didn’t hear another remark from him again  
until the end of the class when everybody  
had left. He came up and said, “So why  
would I want to stop?”
 
I said, “That’s not what I asked; I asked  
if you could stop. What you think is freedom,  
really isn’t freedom at all – it’s bondage.”
 
 
 
IMPORTANT POINT:
 
Anybody who acts as his own God is in  
bondage to his sinful nature. We were sold  
into the slave market of sin. Jesus purchased  
us from the kingdom of darkness and saved us  
from ourselves. We are not our own; we were  
bought at a very high price, the precious  
blood of Christ. We are no longer slaves  
to sin but servants to Christ.  For the  
apostles, this truth was right at the  
foundation to all that they had to say  
& teach.
 
Notice how the apostles began their letters,
 
“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,  
to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi.” (Phil 1:1)
 
“James, a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus
Christ” (James 1:1)
 
“Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus  
Christ” (2 Peter 1:1)
 
“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ” (Jude 1)[/color]
 
BEING A SERVANT BRINGS FREEDOM
 
The skeptics say, “So what? A servant is still  
a slave.”  But that’s not necessarily true.  
Don’t be confused by the terminology. The  
most practical, present benefit of being  
a child of God is freedom.  
 
 Being a servant of sin is bondage; being  
a servant of God is freedom.  
 
As one who belongs to God, we have freedom  
in three distinct ways.  
 
1) FIRST, WE ARE FREE FROM THE LAW!
 
The law says, “don’t do this” in order to  
be righteous, but Galatians 5:1 says,  
 
[color=#ff0000]“It is for freedom that Christ has set us  
free. Stand firm, then, and do not let  
yourselves be burdened again by the yoke  
of slavery.”  
 
The person who is driven by legalism  of  
the law will feel as though he is being  
cursed and condemned all of his life, but  
living by the Spirit gives life and liberty.
 
 
2) SECOND, WE ARE FREE FROM THE PAST.
 
“Because you are now sons, God sent the Spirit  
of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls  
out, ‘Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer a slave,  
but a son, and  since you are a son, God has made  
you also an heir. Formerly, when you did not  
know God, you were slaves to those who be nature  
are not gods” (Galatians 4:6-8).
 
What a privilege it is to watch as God sets  
people free from their past. As children of  
God, we are no longer products of our past;  
we have a new heritage – we are heirs of God.
 
 
 
3)  THIRD, WE CAN BE FROM SIN.
 
The only means by which we are capable of  
doing this is to realize that we have been  
bought with a price and that the Holy Spirit  
now lives in us, enabling us to live our lives  
for Him, free from sin’s bondage. He sensitizes  
us to Satan’s attacks and gives us the power  
not to sin and to live in obedience to our  
heavenly Father. But the choice is still ours.
 
Pastor Doreen is going to share a super  
illustration with us called  “Freeing The Slaves.”
 
 
 
BEING A SERVANT IS BELONGING
 
 
Here’s something – listen with both ears!
 
Another benefit of being a servant of Christ  
is that we have a sense of belonging. Belonging  
meets one of the most basic needs we all have.  
Hey, if you don’t understand that as a legitimate  
need, we will never understand peer pressure.  
This pressure to conform and avoid rejection  
is so powerful that Christians will also  
compromise in order to gain some sense of  
acceptance.
 
But if I know that I belong to God – my heavenly  
Father who will never leave me nor forsake me –  
then I have the power to stand and not compromise  
to gain acceptance, even if it means standing alone.
 
 
Dear heavenly Father,  
I thank you that You have purchased me from  
the slave market of sin and brought me into  
Your own kingdom of light. I joyfully  
announce the fact that I belong to You.  
I announce the lie that I am unworthy  
to be Your child and that You don’t love  
me. I accept and proclaim the truth that  
You loved me and died for me while I was  
yet a sinner. I am now alive in Christ, I  
have bought with a price, and I belong to  
You for all eternity. I commit myself and  
my body to You as a living sacrifice, that  
I may glorify You. In Jesus’ precious name  
I pray. Amen.
 
 
 
 
 
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