Isaiah 52:3

For thus saith the Lord, Ye have mold yourselves for nought

Sold for nought; redeemed without price

“Ye have sold yourselves for nought.

” You got nothing by it, nor did

I. God considers that when they by sin had sold themselves, He Himself, who had the prior, nay, the sole title to them, did not increase His wealth by the price (Psalms 44:12). They did not so much as pay their debts to Him with it. The Babylonians gave Him no thanks for them, but rather reproached and blasphemed His name upon that account; and therefore they, having so long had you for nothing, shall at last restore you for nothing; you shall be redeemed without price, as was promised (chap. 45:13). (M. Henry.)

Selling oneself for nought

It appears to have been no unusual thing amongst the ancient Jews for a man who was sunk in debt and difficulties, and reduced to the extreme of poverty, to sell himself, or to be sold by his creditors, as a bondsman for a certain term of years. There seems to be an allusion to this circumstance in the text before us. In its strict and primary sense it relates peculiarly to the nation of the Jews, who by a long course of wicked and rebellious conduct had sold themselves, as it were, into the hands of their enemies; that is to say, their wickedness had been the immediate cause of their being delivered up by God into the hands of the Babylonians, who had reduced them into abject slavery. And they are said to have sold themselves “for nought,” inasmuch as there was nothing in the fruits and consequences of their sin to compensate for the miserable state into which it had reduced them. (A. Roberts, M. A.)

Redeemed without money

Did the Lord perform His word? Yes; for, after they had remained in their bondage during the time God had appointed it to last, He stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, a heathen king, to set them free. And on what terms? Captive exiles commonly pay dear for their deliverance. But what sum did Cyrus ask when he gave the Jews their liberty? Nothing whatsoever. He literally sent them home without the smallest recompense; without requiring or expecting anything at their hands. “They were redeemed without money.” (A. Roberts, M. A.)

Accusation and promise

A redemption, far more precious than the temporal redemption of Israel from their Babylonish bondage, is to be considered as here hinted at.

I. THE AWFUL ACCUSATION. It is twofold.

1. That we have sold ourselves. The figure here employed is used in other passages,of Scripture, to express the conduct of the sinner in abandoning himself to Satan s service. Thus of Ahab it is said, “he did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord;” and of the people whom he governed, “they sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke Him to anger.” St. Paul adopts a similar expression, in reference to himself, “The law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.” In all these places the idea under which the conduct of sinners is described is that of a man selling himself for a slave. And under this guilt we are every one of us included.

2. That we have sold ourselves “for nought.”

(1) Look at the inducements of our sins--at the motives which led us to commit them. O how lightly and how cheaply have we yielded ourselves up to Satan’s service! He has not needed, as in our Lords case, to promise all “the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them;” he has not needed to tempt us with large offers or golden baits.

(2) Look again to the consequences of our sins. There have been many times, no doubt, when we have committed sin in expectation of some great advantage to be gained by it. But what has been the price? Bitter disappointment, pain, grief, anguish, and in the end, everlasting death. Such have been the only fruits which men have ever gathered from their sins.

II. THE MOST GRACIOUS PROMISE OR PROPOSAL. “Ye shall be redeemed,” etc. “As freely as you have given yourselves up to ruin, so freely am I ready to deliver you from that ruin.” Considered in this light, in what a striking manner does my text present to us the riches of God’s grace towards a ruined world! But to comprehend this matter more distinctly, look at the Cross of Jesus! (A. Roberts, M. A.)

Self-selling

The whole world is an emporium; buying and selling are going on everywhere. The text refers to the sale of self.

I. It is the most COMMON SALE in the emporium of the world. What do I mean by self? Not the body, not the mere bundle of intellectual faculties, but the conscience, the moral ego, the “inner man,” that which works the faculties and which will live when the body is dust. Now, men are selling this manhood for a variety of things.

1. For pleasure. The voluptuary and the debauchee have sold it, and it is gone far into the mud of sensuality.

2. For wealth. The worldling has sold it, and it is gone into the miserly grub.

3. For fame. The aspirant for worldly honours and distinctions has sold it, and it is lost in the rolling current of fashion.

II. It is the most FOOLISH SALE in the emporium of the world. “Sold yourselves for nought.” The man who has sold it far pleasure, what has he got? “Nought.” What is sensual pleasure but the pleasure of animals at best? and this wears out as animal life decays. “Desire faileth.” The man who has sold it for wealth, what has he got? That which will soon “take wings and fly away.” “What shall it profit a man?” etc. The man who has sold it for fame, what has he got? That which, if aromatic to-day, may be a stench to-morrow, and never at any time self-satisfying. Charles Lamb had fame, and what did he say? “I walk up and down, thinking I am happy, but knowing I am not.”

III. It is the most UNRIGHTEOUS SALE in the emporium of the world. No man has a right to sell his soul. “All souls are Mine,” saith God. Reason says you have no right to sell your soul; you are not self-produced nor self-sustained. Conscience says you have no right to sell your soul; as you barter it away, it groans damnation at you. God made the soul to investigate His works, adore His character and serve His will. (Homilist.)

Man unregenerate and regenerate

I. WHAT IS THE CONDITION OF MANKIND WHEN UNREGENERATE? In a state of sin, the text hath represented us as selling ourselves for nought; where each word is emphatical, and carries a peculiar sting in it.

1. We take upon us to drive a bargain where we have no propriety in what we expose to sale. What the prophet here charges us with exposing to sale is ourselves; and this, in other words, implies our souls, with all the interest which they have elsewhere depending upon our behaviour. Now in these our propriety is strictly and truly derivative and borrowed; it was God who made us, and not we ourselves; and every faculty and every power wherewith He hath entrusted us are employed injuriously whenever they run counter to His will and pleasure.

2. Let us consider what we are doing when we are selling ourselves. Our souls which were made to be immortal are the things we are bartering in this foolish bargain. And when once we have parted with them, what would we not give in exchange for them, to have them again, and save them?

3. The folly is yet farther aggravated by the consideration whhereupon we are induced to this wretched bargain. For the text hath charged us with “selling ourselves for nought.”

II. WHAT WHEN REGENERATE? What Christ hath done for us in the affair of our redemption, by cancelling the handwriting which lay against us, was on His part free grace and bounty. Our redemption being conditional, proceed we to consider the terms whereunto it is limited.

1. Repentance from dead works.

2. Faith.

3. A sincere obedience will naturally follow. (N. Marshall, D.D.)

The sinner’s ruin and recovery

I. THE SOLEMN STATEMENT.

II. A JOYFUL PROMISE. “And ye shall be redeemed without money.”

1. This redemption could not be effected by human means.

2. Nor is this redemption provided by the law which the sinner has transgressed.

3. It must be effected in a way that will secure the honour of the Divine law, as well as the salvation of the sinner. There is redemption by price, and redemption by power, and each is suited to our state.

4. The redemption of man was effected by Christ at a great price. “Ye shall be redeemed without money.” As the misery to which the sinner was exposed was infinite, so his deliverance required infinite means.

5. The effect of these sufferings is our redemption from captivity, and deliverance from the curse of the law. By faith, therefore, in the sacrifice of the Saviour deliverance is to be obtained. (Helps for the Pulpit.)

Ye shall be redeemed without money

The cheapness of moral redemption

Redemptions, social, commercial, and political, are generally very costly things. Millions of lives have been sacrificed, and untold treasures of gold expended in order to redeem from temporal bondage. But true moral redemption--the redemption of the soul from error to truth, from selfishness to benevolence, from the devil to God--is cheap. “Without money.”

I. THE MEANS OF MORAL REDEMPTION COST NOTHING.

1. You have Christ for nothing, He has given Himself.

2. You have the Bible for nothing.

3. You have the Spirit for nothing. No man can excuse himself for his moral bondage on the ground that he is too poor to obtain the means of redemption.

II. THE LABOUR INVOLVES NO SACRIFICE. Every moral bondsman must labour if he would be free, there is no moral emancipation irrespective of individual effort. Each captive must strike some hearty strokes ere his chains can be broken. But in this work there is no effort involving secular sacrifice. It need not prevent a man pursuing his ordinary avocations. He can be working out his freedom as well, if not better, when cultivating his farm, plying his handicraft, pursuing his merchandise, as alone in his chamber on his knees.

III. THE STRUGGLES CONDUCE TO TEMPORAL PROSPERITY (Mt 1 Timothy 4:8). (Homilist.)