“THOU ART MINE”
J. Marshall
1 Corinthians 6: 19, 20; 1 Peter 3: 4
I am impressed by the thought of the purchase price. We sang in our hymn, ‘Thy precious blood the purchase price’ (Hymn 375). Now, dear friends, we cannot compare that purchase price with any other; that is why one feels the tremendousness of it. Peter says, “Ye have been redeemed, not by corruptible things, as silver or gold … but by precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish”, 1 Peter 1: l8, 19. And the result of the paying of that price is, as Paul says, “Ye are not your own for ye have been bought with a price”. Our sister knew that. She knew the One who says, “I have redeemed thee ... thou art mine”, Isaiah 43: 1. She knew what it was to come under the sway of Christ, to come under the claims of redemption. The believer is for ever Christ’s. Have you ever thought of the claims that Christ has on you? Our sister gave way to the claims of the One who paid the purchase price. If it came to anything that involved a choice as to which way to go, she gave way to His claims. How challenging that is! And what else can we do, beloved brethren, as we think of all that was involved in the purchase price, and the One who paid it.
One was struck also with the price spoken of in 1 Peter 3 where Peter speaks of “the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price”. That is something our sister had. She was characterised by a meek and quiet spirit. Have you and I such a spirit? We can learn from one another. Such a spirit “in the sight of God is of great price”. We went into our sister’s house one day and the verse she was reading was this—“When he giveth quietness, who then will disturb?”, Job 34: 29.
Well, beloved friends, this is our sorrow; our sister has been taken from us, a sister we loved and appreciated. Her quiet, steadfast walk impressed us, and now she has been taken to be with the One she loved. As has been said earlier, she is “absent from the body and present with the Lord”. May these matters weigh heavily with us, because the ransom has been paid for all. Are we going to give way to the claims of the One who paid it? May this time of sorrow bring in some blessing that there may be others who come under His sway and into the blessedness of knowing the One who says, “I have redeemed thee ... thou art mine”. May the Lord bless these few words. Amen.
Words at the burial of Miss Hazel Gardiner, aged 39, at Cullen
10 September 1984