“Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price” (1 Cor. 6:19,20).

Many hesitate to make a start to serve the Lord because they fear that He will not accept them. I reply by a question: If you go to a store and make a purchase, will you receive the goods? The fact that you bought them is sufficient proof, not only that you are willing but that you are anxious to receive them.

Let us apply this to the sinner coming to Christ. “He purchased [us] with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). “He gave Himself for us” (Tit. 2: 14).

He bought the whole world of sinners, “for God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son” (Jn. 3:16). Jesus said, “ The bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world” (Jn. 6: 51). “When we were still without strength…Christ died for the ungodly…God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5: 6,8).

“But I am not worthy.” That means you are not worth the price paid, and you fear to come lest Christ will repudiate the purchase. You might have some fear on that score if the bargain were not sealed and the price not already paid. But you have nothing to do with the question of worth. Christ made the purchase with His eyes wide open. He is not at all disappointed when you come to Him and He finds that you are worthless. If He was satisfied to make the bargain, you should be the last one to complain.

Most wonderful of all, He bought you for the very reason that you were not worthy. His eye saw in you great possibilities, and He bought you not for what you were then or are now worth, but for what He could make of you.

We have no righteousness, therefore He bought us, “that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Waggoner, Christ and His Righteousness, pp. 69-72