Shall we turn now in our Bibles to
the 42nd Psalm.
I'll read the first, the unnumbered verses.
Pastor Brian will lead the congregation as you
read the even numbered verses.
And shall we stand as we read the
word of God.
As the heart panteth after the water brooks,
so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
My soul thirsteth for God, for the living
God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my meat day and
night, while they continually say unto me, Where
is thy God?
When I remember these things, I pour out
my soul in me.
For I had gone with the multitude, I
went with them to the house of God,
with a voice of joy and praise, with
a multitude that kept holy day.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
Why art thou disquieted in me?
Hope thou in God, for I shall yet
praise him for the help of his countenance.
O my God, my soul is cast down
within me.
Therefore will I remember thee from the land
of Jordan and of the Hermonites from the
hill of Mizar.
Deep calleth unto deep, as the noise of
thy water spouts.
All thy waves and thy billows are gone
over me.
Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness
in the daytime, and in the night his
song shall be with me, and my prayer
unto the God of my life.
I will say unto God, my rock, why
hast thou forgotten me?
Why go I mourning because of the oppression
of the enemy?
As with the sword in my bones, my
enemies reproach me while they say daily unto
me, where is thy God?
Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
Why art thou disquieted within me?
Hope thou in God, for I shall yet
praise him who is the health of my
countenance and my God.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you that we can call
upon you and find your help to sustain
us when we're going through those troubled times
in life.
When we find ourselves discouraged, when we can't
seem to figure out, Lord, what's going on,
we can call upon you and find your
help, your guidance, your strength, your wisdom.
Lord, be with us today, we pray, as
we study now the word.
Open our hearts, Lord, to the work of
your Holy Spirit, that you might work in
each of our lives this day.
Speak to us, Lord.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
You may be seated.
We're continuing our journey through the Bible this
week in Mark's Gospel, chapters 7 and 8.
So we encourage you to read them over
and then join with us tonight at seven
o'clock as we gather to worship the
Lord and continue our journey through the Bible
from Genesis to Revelation.
This morning we'd like to draw your attention
to Mark's Gospel, chapter 8, verses 36 and
37, where Jesus asked these questions.
For what shall it profit a man if
he shall gain the whole world and lose
his own soul?
Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul?
Jesus asked these two vital questions and I
want you to seriously consider them today.
What will it profit a man if he
should gain the whole world but lose his
own soul?
Or what will a man give in exchange
for his soul?
Just what is your soul?
In the psalm that we read this morning,
David asked, why are you cast down, oh
my soul?
Why are you disquieted within me?
The Bible mentions our soul more than 400
times.
What is the soul?
The soul is basically you.
It is the essence of you.
It is what you are.
Your body is not you.
The Bible refers to the body as a
tent and a tent is usually considered as
a temporary dwelling place.
And so for a while I am dwelling,
my soul is dwelling in my body.
But the body isn't the real me, just
an instrument that God has created by which
I can express me.
So it is through the medium of the
body that I can relate to you, what
I am, what I feel, how I think.
And you relate to me, what you are,
how you feel, how you think.
We come into relationships with each other as
we come to know each other, respect each
other, admire and love each other.
And that's what God's purpose of really giving
us these bodies, that they might be the
medium by which our souls can express themselves.
One day my soul is going to move
out of this body and my body will
be left here to be disposed of by
others.
But I will not have ceased to exist.
I will go on consciously living, only now
in another body.
Paul said, we know that when this earthly
tent is dissolved we have a building of
God.
It's not made with hands, it's eternal in
the heavens.
So then we who are living in these
tents do often groan, earnestly desiring to be
freed, not that I would be an unembodied
spirit, but I desire to be clothed upon
with that body which is from heaven.
For I know that as long as I'm
living in this body I'm absent from the
Lord, but I would choose rather to be
absent from this body that I might be
present with the Lord.
Jesus said, don't fear those who can kill
your body but are not able to kill
your soul, but fear him who is able
to destroy both soul and body in hell.
So the soul is your consciousness and Jesus
indicates that that does not end when you
die.
Jesus spoke in Luke's gospel about a certain
rich man who had it made.
He fared sumptuously every day.
There was a poor man that was brought
daily and laid at his gates.
He was filled with sores and he survived
off of the crumbs that fell from the
rich man's table.
Came to pass that the poor man died,
was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.
The rich man also died and in hell
he lifted up his eyes being in torment
and seeing Abraham afar off and Lazarus being
comforted, he said, Father Abraham, send Lazarus unto
me that he might dip his finger in
water, touch my tongue.
I'm tormented in this heat.
Abraham said, son, remember in your lifetime you
had the good things, Lazarus the evil.
Now he is comforted while you're tormented and
beside this there is this gulf between us.
It's impossible for those that are here to
come over there and for those that are
there to come over here.
He then said, I pray thee if he
cannot come to me would you send him
back to warn my brothers lest they come
to this fearful place.
So that the rich man was still very
conscious.
He had a memory of his past life.
He was conscious of Lazarus' existence with Abraham.
That should settle once and for all the
question, will we recognize one another in heaven?
Surely he did recognize Lazarus and had a
consciousness and awareness of his family that was
still on earth.
His death did not bring a cessation of
his existence.
So what we call death is not truly
death.
It's just the moving out of this tent,
our body, into another body, a building of
God that is not made with hands.
Your body will die, but your soul lives
on.
Thus the question, what should it profit a
man if he should gain the whole world
but lose his own soul?
No man has yet gained the whole world.
Alexander the Great probably came sort of close,
closer than anyone else.
We read that he had conquered the known
world of his day, then sat down and
wept because there were no more worlds to
conquer.
I suppose that Bill Gates has gained more
of the world than any of us ever
will.
I do not know how many homes he
has, but he can only live in one
at a time.
I do not know how many beds he
has, but he can only sleep in one
at a time.
He must have many palatial dining rooms, but
he can only eat in one at a
time.
And I imagine that he has a lot
of exotic cars, but he can only drive
one at a time.
So in reality, he really does not have
much more than I have.
For I have a home that I live
in, and I have a car that I
drive, and a bed to sleep in, and
a dining room to eat in.
So what can you say?
You know, why do you need so many?
I am content with what I have, but
from what I understand, Donald Trump isn't content
with what he has.
And so I guess that I'm richer than
he is, because the Bible says, godliness with
contentment, that is great riches.
There are so many people who are seeking
to gain more of the world.
They're willing to do almost anything in order
to gain more.
Some are willing to cheat, to lie, to
steal, and some even to kill in order
to get more of this world.
But you know, I'm always amazed, amazed when
I read of a person who is a
billionaire, who has been arrested for fraud, or
for, you know, some wild scheme to raise
money.
And I think, if he's a billionaire, why
would he have to stoop to, you know,
try and rip people off of their money
doing, you know, illegal things?
I can't understand that.
If you have a billion dollars, you wouldn't
be able to spend it.
You could try, but you'd never.
Why would you try and get more?
And imagine this, you're a billionaire, but you've
been arrested, and maybe spend 25 years in
jail.
Well, what's all your money going to do
for you while you're there?
But on the other hand, Jesus is saying,
what would it profit you if you gained
the whole world, but you lost your own
soul?
You went through life, the richest man who
ever lived, but you went through eternity in
hell.
What would it profit a man if he
gained the whole world, but lost his own
soul?
Let's just say that you could gain the
whole world.
Just how long do you think you would
enjoy it?
How long do you expect to live?
100 years?
How old are you now?
Well, if this afternoon you'd win some kind
of a lottery, then you won the world.
How many years would you have to enjoy,
then, your possessions?
But how long do you think you could
enjoy them?
Now, let's say that you've gained the whole
world.
You're 90 years old.
You could probably have the most expensive exotic
surfboard that has ever been created.
You could even create your own surf lake
with the pumps and everything else.
But do you think you could stand up
on the board?
So, if you had the whole world, how
long could you enjoy it?
But what does it mean to lose your
own soul?
It means to be separated from God and
His kindness and His love forever.
It means to be separated from them forever.
The second question Jesus asked was, what will
a man give in exchange for his soul?
Now, we read in the scriptures that Satan
took Jesus up into a high mountain, showed
him all of the kingdoms of the world
and the glory of them.
And he said to Jesus, all of these
I will give to you if you'll just
bow down and worship me.
For they are mine and I can give
them to whomever I will.
Satan is out to purchase your soul.
What would you give in exchange for your
soul?
How much would you require of him?
Offering to Jesus the whole world, all of
the glory of the world.
And Jesus said, it is written, thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God and Him only
shalt thou serve.
But many people are willing to sell their
souls to Satan.
Some for worldly fame.
But how long is that going to last?
Others are willing to sell for a can
of beer.
I was living in Tucson, my second pastorate.
There was a man prominent in Tucson who
took a liking to KNI.
And he said to me, you know, Chuck,
I would like to come to your church
and support your church.
I would like to be a part of
it.
I really long to be.
But the business that I am in is
very hectic.
Lots of pressures every day.
And so when I get home from work,
I'm tense.
And he said, I like to go to
the refrigerator and get a can of beer
and just sit down and drink the can
of beer and relax.
But I would really like to be, you
know, in your church and be a part
of the whole thing.
But, you know, I just can't give up
my can of beer.
Well, I thought, I'll shock him.
And I said to him, well, who said
you have to give up your can of
beer?
I drink all the beer I want.
I didn't tell him that I don't want
to drink beer, but I do drink all
I want.
But I thought, you know, isn't that sad?
I would like to serve the Lord.
I'd like to be in the church.
I'd like to participate.
But the can of beer.
What will a man give in exchange for
his soul?
Others a night on the town.
But just what holds you back from surrendering
your life fully to Jesus Christ?
Whatever that is, that is what you are
willing to give in exchange for your soul.
But I think of the value that God
puts on your soul.
He values your soul so highly that he
was willing to give his only begotten son
to die an ignominious death upon the cross
to redeem your soul from Satan's power.
And that's just how much he values your
soul.
Satan has little value for you.
He will use you for his own purposes.
And then when he is through, he'll discard
you like garbage.
That's just how much he values you.
But with Jesus, he spoke about a treasure.
He spoke about a pearl of great price.
He spoke about how highly he treasures you
and your soul.
Peter wrote in his first epistle, for as
much as you know that you are not
redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold
from your empty worthless life.
But with the precious blood of Christ as
a lamb without spot or blemish, the redemption
of a man's soul.
I do not know how much Satan or
what Satan may be offering you for your
soul.
But I know that the Lord is offering
you eternal life in his kingdom.
Where Satan might be offering you the whole
world, that's for a limited time.
We know that.
But what God is offering to us is
for eternity.
There's another way of looking at this, what
will a man give in exchange for his
soul?
And that is looking at it as, what
are you willing to give to redeem yourself
before God?
Now, I read a few years back that
Ted Turner promised a billion dollars to the
United Nations.
I suppose as his desire to do something
worthwhile before he or after he dies.
I read just recently where Bill Gates and
his wife have left several billion dollars for
different philanthropic kind of works.
But all of the money in the world
could not purchase your soul.
There are people who are trying to redeem
their souls by their good works.
You may spend every waking hour working for
some noble cause, but that could never redeem
your soul.
Jesus paid the price to redeem your soul
and nothing less than the blood of Jesus
Christ can avail.
We sang this morning, Jesus paid it all.
All to him I owe.
I love that last verse that says, and
when before the throne I stand in him
complete.
And in my mind I picture myself standing
one day before God, before the throne of
God, complete in Christ.
And as I stand there before God, I
know that I'm not worthy, I don't deserve
this.
But that verse, Jesus died my soul to
save, my lips shall still repeat.
When I'm standing there before the throne of
God, if you're there and you see me
stand, just know that in my mind I'm
thinking, ah yeah, Jesus paid it all.
All to him I owe.
Sin had left its crimson stain, but he
washed it white as snow.
What will a man give in exchange for
his soul?
But what would it profit you if you
did gain the whole world and lost your
own soul?
Realize how valuable your soul is, the value
that God places upon it.
And what would you give in exchange for
that?
Father, we thank you that you did love
us and do love us.
And that you sent your son to redeem
us, to redeem our souls from the power
of darkness and from death.
That we might know the joy of eternal
life with you in your kingdom.
And Lord, we pray for those today who
have been selling out so cheap for just
a moment of pleasure.
The baubles of this world, the excitement or
the thrills, or the fame or the glory.
Help them, Lord, to realize they're selling too
cheap.
Help them to realize, Lord, there's nothing that
can equal the value of being saved, of
being a part of your kingdom, of being
redeemed through Jesus Christ.
And Lord, we pray that you'll help them
this day to receive that gift of eternal
life, because Jesus paid the price.
We ask it, Lord, in his name.
Amen.
Shall we stand?
The pastors are down here at the front
to pray for you today, who would like
to accept God's offer, the gift of eternal
life through Jesus Christ.
It's free to you.
Cost God plenty, but Jesus paid it all.
And it's the only, only thing that can
redeem your soul.
All of the money in the world, all
of the good works in the world, could
never, ever redeem you.
Only the blood of Jesus Christ.
So we would encourage you to accept God's
love and God's offer to you today, and
to receive the gift of God offered to
us through our Lord.
And may you go this day from here,
washed, cleansed from the past sins, a child
of God, looking forward to that glorious eternity
with him in his kingdom.
Lord, lift up His countenance upon thee, and
give thee peace.