God Values His People Over Everything

     Here are six words setting forth Christ's property in those who are saved:
''Them which thou hast given me"—(that is one); ''for they are thine.  And all
mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them."  There are
certain persons so precious to Christ that they are marked all over with special
tokens that they belong to him; as I have known a man write his name in a book
which he has greatly valued, and then he has turned over some pages, and he
has written his name again; and as we have sometimes known persons, when they
have highly valued a thing, to put their mark, their seal, their stamp, here, there,
and almost everywhere upon it.  So, notice in my text how the Lord seems to
have the seal in his hand, and he stamps it all over his peculiar possession: 
"They are thine.  And all mine are thine, and thine are mine."  It is all possessive
pronouns, to show that God looks upon his people as his portion, his possession,
his property.  "They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I
make up my jewels."  Everyman has something or other which he values above
the rest of his estate; and here the Lord, by so often reiterating the words which
signify possession, proves that he values his people above everything.  Let us
show that we appreciate this privilege of being set apart unto God...........
     I call your attention, next, to the fact that, while there are these six
expressions here, they are all applied to the Lord's own people.  "Mine" (that is,
the saints) "are thine" (that is, the saints); "and thine" (that is, the saints)
"are mine" (that is, the saints).  These broad arrows of the King of kings are
all stamped upon his people.  While the marks of possession are numerous,
they are all set upon one object.  What, doth not God care for anything else? 
I answer, No; as compared with his own people, he cares for nothing else.
"The Lord's portion is his people:  Jacob is the lot of his inheritance."  Has not
God other things?  Ah, what is there that he has not?  The silver and the gold
are his, and the cattle on a thousand hills.  All things are of God; of him, and
by him, and through him, and to him are all things; yet he reckons them
not in comparison with his people.  You know how you, dearly beloved, value
your children much more than you do anything else.  If there were a fire in
your house tonight, and you could only carry one thing out of it, mother,
would you hesitate a moment as to what that one thing should be? 
You would carry your babe, and let everything else be consumed in the flames;
and it is so with God.  He cares for his people beyond everything else.  He is
the Lord God of Israel, and in Israel he hath set his name, and there he takes
his delight.  There doth he rest in his love, and over her doth he rejoice
with singing.
                                                       C. H. Spurgeon