It's such a good singing you have a
hard time getting down where you can talk
a little bit, but it's good to see
you tonight and it's good to be here.
And I'd like to read a passage of
Scripture to you out of the book of
Acts, the 20th chapter.
And the last few weeks as the Lord
has been dealing with me in this particular
area, I have been going through this passage
and I hope this is not a prophetic
passage for me.
You'll understand after I read part of it.
But Paul is here headed out to Jerusalem
and he's talking to the church and he
is telling them about his condition.
Test of the 21st verse.
Let's read the 21st.
And how I kept back nothing that was
profitable unto you, but have showed you and
have taught you publicly and from house to
house, testifying both to the Jews and also
to the Greeks, repenting repentance towards God and
faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.
And now behold, I go bound in the
spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that
shall befall me there, save that the Holy
Ghost witness in every city, saying that bonds
and afflictions abide in me.
But none of these things move me, neither
count I myself and my life dear unto
myself, so that I might finish my course
with joy and the ministry which I have
received of the Lord Jesus to testify of
the gospel of the grace of God.
And now behold, I know that ye all
among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom
of God shall see my face no more.
Therefore I take you to record this day
that I am pure from the blood of
all men, for I have not shunned to
declare unto you the whole counsel of God.
And you could see why I would think
this may be the benediction instead of the
introduction.
But this particular passage, Paul is talking about
the fact that he's now headed to Jerusalem
and he, I think, is aware that he's
headed to Rome, you know, the Lord let
him know that he was going to end
up in Rome.
And I believe Paul is here aware of
that and he's telling the people that he'll
see their face no more.
And there must be some moving time when
he faces this life and not going to
see his friends anymore.
And of course he has a lot waiting
for him in the future.
And Paul is telling them, he said, I
stand without the blood of any man on
my hands.
That is some particular, that is some statement
that he is able to say that I
have run the course, I've, you know, I
fought the fight and now I stand thus
far without the blood of any man on
my hands.
In the last few weeks the Lord has
been dealing with me deeply about a matter,
about the matter of a man's soul.
And I have been dealt with it so
deeply that it would be very hypocritical for
me to try to go any kind of
direction tonight other than the direction that's on
my heart.
Because I realize that this particular type of
meeting is not a, I mean, this particular
type of message is not a camp meeting
sermon.
But it's nevertheless the message that God has
put on my heart.
I was telling Brother Jimmy before service, I
said, it looks like that all of my
life I have been prepared for what God
is doing in my life right now.
And one of the things he's doing in
my life is let me evaluate the nature
of what I'm involved in.
He's letting me evaluate what I'm seeing happen.
And he's letting me see my place and
responsibility in the redemption of man like I've
never seen it before.
And I want to share with you tonight
something about a man and his need for
redemption.
I just want to talk to you about
the soul of a man.
Now in Genesis 2-7 we find that
God reached down in the clay and picked
up some clay and made a body.
And there he breathed into that man the
breath of life.
And that man became a living soul.
And when that man became a living soul,
God created something that could never, never, never,
never die.
And man became that living soul and then
God created woman out of man and placed
them into the garden.
And you know as well as I know
how they sinned against God and how that
soul became a fallen soul.
They fell.
They actually, it's known as the fall, but
their soul did not die.
Now I know technically you and I can
break up the man in body, soul, and
spirit.
And it's a little difficult to follow the
soul of man just as the spirit of
man.
We know the spirit of man never dies.
But somehow, someway the spirit of man takes
on a capacity of the soul and that
being, and the being is what we're talking
about tonight, that being never dies.
Now when that being became separated from God,
when became separated from God, every man that
died without Jesus Christ, the Son of the
Living God, was sent to hell.
And it seems like that hell was not
prepared properly because it's even been enlarged by
people who have died without Jesus Christ.
But every person that comes to know Jesus
Christ as their Lord and Savior, that living
soul is saved.
And that living soul, when that body dies,
that living soul goes to be with Jesus.
And that living soul will be with Jesus
forever.
Now what I want to talk to you
about more than anything else tonight, I think,
I'll get into it, and I think this
is what I want to talk to you
about more than anything else in the world,
is the fact that a living soul is
a being.
And that being is a person.
And that person has a name.
And that person, my friend, you and I
are responsible for.
Now you may not believe this tonight, you
can't win every soul that's lost in the
world.
But you can be at the right place
at the right time with the right message,
right with God, so that you can come
to the end of your life and say
with Paul, I stand without the blood of
any man on my hand.
You can do that.
Every one of us can do that.
And we're involved in doing that if we're
saved and if we're right with God.
We're involved in being at the right place
at the right time with the right message,
right with God, so that we can stand
without the blood of any man on our
hand.
Now if that's not the case, you're responsible
for everyone in the world.
That's right.
If that's not the case, you're responsible for
everyone.
And there's no control there.
I mean, it would produce absolute zaspiration in
every one of us.
We couldn't stand to be responsible for every
man in the world.
But we are responsible to be at the
right place at the right time with the
right message, right with God, so that we
stand without the blood of any man on
our hands.
Now, as I look at this matter of
the being of a man as the soul
of man, I think about how priceless a
soul really is.
Now a soul is priceless because God created
it.
Now I don't think you have any trouble
with that.
The soul, the being of a person is
priceless because it's God's creation.
But beloved, there's some other things that makes
it so priceless, like when, for instance, when
you want to know the value of something,
if you want to know the value of
something, the thing you have to do is
ask yourself, how long is it going to
last?
That's one way you can tell the value
of something.
Back years ago in my life, I had
a great preacher, R.T. Strange.
He pastored the Second Baptist Church, Marshall, Texas,
when I was in college.
And he later became an evangelist, and I
had him in our church as an evangelist.
And he said, now son, he was much
older, and he said, now son, he said,
what you want to do is realize that
you attach your life to things that are
worthwhile.
And I said, well, how can you tell
when things are worthwhile?
He said, the first thing you do is
determine how long it lasts.
And he said, you can find the value
of something by how long it lasts.
Now, beloved, a soul, Bill, Joe, Mary, now
you may just see them as a soul
tonight in the abstract, but I think God
wants you to take them down to the
level to where it's a Bill, and a
Joe, and a Mary, and a John.
And my dear friend, you think about that
soul that never, never, never, never, never, never
dies.
Can you believe that?
Here is something, a soul that never dies.
We got this high-powered mic on, and
it's too powerful.
And I'm going to tell you, Brother Paul,
a little story.
You have to put a banner in here
occasionally to keep it going.
This, you know, I get to use every
kind of mic you can think of, and
they've got more than you can think of.
He's trying to just hand me one of
those, and I'll just stand still.
And so, most of the time, when they
start popping like that, it's because they are,
you know, getting low.
And I don't know that that's the case.
But I don't know if you have pondered
this idea or not, that my dear friends,
a soul never, never, never, never dies.
I mean, never dies, but I don't know
if you have pondered this idea or not,
that my dear friends, a soul never, never,
never, never dies.
I mean, never dies, but I don't know
if you have pondered this idea or not,
that my dear friends, a soul never, never,
never, never dies.
I mean, never dies, but I don't know
if you have pondered this idea or not,
that my dear friends, a soul never, never,
never, never dies.
I mean, never dies, but I don't know
if you have pondered this idea or not,
that my dear friends never dies.
You take, for instance, this illustration.
A man said, if you took the world
and it was a steel ball, 25,000
miles around it, and you let an angel,
once a year, come down with that steel
ball, to that steel ball with a feather
in his hand, and he would touch that
steel ball, when that steel ball was completely
worn out, and it was not anymore, by
the touch of an angel with a feather
in his hand, once a year, the first
day in eternity would not even be over.
My dear friends, the worth of something is
how long it lasts.
A soul that is born into this world
never, never, never, never, never, never dies.
It never dies.
When that little baby is born into this
world, my friends, that living soul never, never,
never, never dies.
Can you believe it?
That that soul never dies.
And that soul, right this moment, is either
in hell or in heaven that's died.
And your soul will never die.
It either spend eternity in heaven, or it
will spend eternity in hell, my dear friends.
It is going to live absolutely forever.
And there's no way to get around it.
It's absolutely going to live forever.
Not only can you determine the value of
something by how long it lasts, but there's
another way you can determine the value of
something, and that is by how much it
costs.
You can always tell how valuable something is
by how it costs.
And so, the soul of man, there is
no way tonight to tell us just how
much a soul, our being, how much a
soul, a being, just genuinely costs.
Now, I know it didn't seemingly cost God
much when He reached down in the dirt
and picked up some dirt and formed a
body and breathed into that life, the breath
of life, and that soul became a living
being.
It didn't seemingly cost God much at that
time.
But even when God created man, created man
and breathed in him the breath of life,
and He knew it was going to become
a living soul, God Almighty had already committed
His only begotten Son, my dear friends, to
die on the cross and redeem that living
soul.
He's already committed.
He did not commit Jesus after the fall.
Jesus was already committed.
Jesus Christ from the eternities on was the
God of redemption, of salvation and grace, and
Jesus was already committed to die on the
cross of Calvary to save a living soul.
And one day, Jesus Christ, the Son of
the living God, knowing that all Old Testament
people that had died, believing on the Lord
Jesus Christ had been carried to paradise below,
Jesus Christ came into this world and took
upon Him the body of flesh, and my
dear friends, headed straight to Calvary.
And as He got there that time before
Calvary in that garden where He wrestled, my
friends, He took a cup, and that cup
was filled with your sins and my sins
and the sins of the whole world, and
Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, the Son
of the living God, took that cup and
drank that sin, that sin, your sin and
my sin, into His own body, and He
went straight to Calvary, and there, friends, as
He hung on Calvary, His arms came out
of joints, His bones came out of joints,
and there He suffered and bled and died,
and even there, He didn't die from the
spikes in His hands.
He didn't die from the spikes in His
feet.
My dear friends, He didn't die because of
the suffering of the cross.
He died of a broken heart because the
sins of mankind literally just ripped His heart
apart, and He died, my dear friends, because
of the sins of man.
You're talking about the cost.
There is no way to tell you tonight
what Jesus Christ, the Son of the living
God, had to pay for the soul of
man, whereby man could be saved by the
grace of God.
My dear friends, listen, He didn't only suffer
like that, but He suffered because we hear
Him in the Old Testament saying, My God,
My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me, the
Son of the living God?
One of the most crucial moments in His
life was when, my friends, God the Father
had to turn His back on His own
Son, and we hear Him crying, My God,
My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
Because God the Father could not look upon
the Son with sin in His life.
Why are you talking about suffering, friend?
He had to suffer.
He suffered the pains of hell.
He literally went to paradise below and delivered
those that were in prison and brought them
out of prison to paradise on high.
He suffered that soul, the souls of men,
might be saved.
The price of a soul is illustrated somewhat
in the suffering and the price that Jesus
Christ had to pay.
Let me tell you something, folks, that's not
all.
That's not all.
Jesus was not the only one that suffered.
Listen, Jesus Christ lets us see the bag
of a soul in a man's life by
the name of Paul.
And you just look, just one little glimpse,
just one little glimpse I want to show
you.
This man, Paul, in the first five chapters
of the book of Romans, he talks about
how to be saved by the grace of
God.
He talks about how to be saved.
But in Romans 6, 7, and 8, he
talks about how to be filled with the
Spirit and walk in the Spirit.
But in Romans 9, my dear friends, you
hear him saying, I lie not, the Holy
Ghost bearing me witness.
Listen to me carefully now.
My dear friends, you hear him saying, I
am willing to die and go to hell
for my kinsmen.
You can get somewhat of the bag of
a soul when you realize that Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, the power of the
Holy Spirit, is so able to take over
a man like you and me.
And my dear friends, so fill us with
Himself that we are literally willing to go
to hell for lost people.
By the bag of a soul.
Paul naturally did not go to hell, but
I'll guarantee you the Word of God said
he was willing.
Yes sir.
Now that's not a lie, that's the Word
of God, the Holy Ghost bearing him witness.
I'm telling you, the flesh of man, a
man just like you, willing to go to
hell that his kinsmen might be saved by
the grace of God.
I get so disturbed in this hour with
these super spiritual saints.
My dear friends, they're talking about how many
languages they've talked in, how many pews they've
jumped, how many chandeliers they've hung from, and
all of that stuff, and yet my dear
friends, when I look in and see a
man like Paul, and see him full of
God, I hear him saying, My God, I'm
willing to go to hell for my kinsmen.
You can see something of a price of
a soul in that.
God would not make a false provision, folk.
And if God can so provide a compassion
for the lost and dying world, where a
man's willing to change his heavenly home for
a fire grave, brother, it lets you see
something of the value of a soul.
But that's not all.
We can see the value of a soul
in the fact that our God, who runs
this thing, who's the Lord of the living
and the Lord of the dead.
And my dear friends, down through the centuries,
not only does the Bible but history show
us that God has in essence folded his
hands and let people he loves so dearly
suffer and bleed and die.
You know why?
It was necessary to show the world the
adequacy, the sufficiency, the love of Jesus from
one generation to another.
You say, What are you talking about?
I'm talking about a man like Polycarp that
would refuse to deny the Son of the
living God and who was taken to a
stake and burned to death.
And my friends, you and I are not
even, I mean tonight we're not even worthy
to sit at that man's table.
And yet God folded his hands and let
that man burn to death.
You know why that the gospel might go
forth.
We have, out of the book, the Fox's
Book of Martyrs, we have the stories of
how saints, how saints of God, women and
men, would be turned out into the arena
at Rome and how they'd be turned out
there in that arena and women holding little
boys and girls by the hand, just like
some of these little boys and girls here
tonight.
Some of those women even pregnant, expecting.
And dads would all walk into that arena.
And my friends, they would turn the wild
beast on those people.
And they would come into that arena and
literally tear those people apart.
Bite by bite and limb for limb they
would tear those people apart.
And while they were tearing those people apart,
they were singing the praises to God.
And people would jump out of their seats
in those arenas and say, My God, I
can't stand this.
I too must become a Christian.
And they would pile over the sides to
become saved by the grace of God.
And God Almighty folded His hand, my dear
friend, and let that happen to people that
He loved.
You know why?
Because He loved souls.
And it gives us somewhat of an idea
of just how much a soul is genuinely
worth when God would let that happen.
Amen.
That soul, my friend, it shall never die.
And it's worth so much.
If God had ever wanted to back out
on man, you know where it would have
been?
It would have been at Calvary.
And you can be assured, folk, if He
didn't back out on that time, He will
never back out on you in any way,
in anything He wants to do.
The amazing thing about a soul is this.
Not only its worth, not only the fact
of its being, but the fact that you
and I are responsible and we're going to
have to face our responsibility.
Now, I personally don't think you're going to
face your responsibility in relationship to souls at
the judgment seat of Christ.
I think you'll face your works at the
judgment seat of Christ.
But my dear friends, I want to take
you to another judgment.
There's a judgment mentioned in the Bible.
It says, "...Death and hell shall deliver up
the dead, which are in them."
The Bible tells us that we're going to
be at a judgment.
And I want to read you that judgment
tonight.
The 20th chapter, the 11th verse, "...And I
saw a great white throne in Him that
sat on it, from whose face the earth
and the heavens fled away, and there was
found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great,
stand before God, and the books were opened.
And another book was opened, which is the
book of life.
And the dead were judged out of those
things which were written in the books according
to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which
were in it, and death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them.
And they were judged every man according to
their works.
And death and hell were cast into the
lake of fire.
This is a second death, and whosoever was
not found written in the book of life
was cast into the lake of fire."
Would you let me take you through a
trip of a soul tonight, just for a
few moments?
I want to take you through the trip
of a soul.
I want you to look in the book
of Luke, and we won't turn there, I
just want to remind you.
There's a rich young man who comes to
Jesus and has all his wealth, and Jesus
puts his hand on that man's problem and
said, Go sell all that you have and
come follow me.
And that man went away sorrowful.
And we see a man reacting to Jesus,
a man that could have been saved.
Also in Luke, and it could have been
the same man, some theologians said it was
the same man, some say it wasn't.
But it could have been the same man.
He looked out on his fields and he
said, Boy, I've got so much I have
to tear down my old barns.
And he tore down his old barns, he
built new barns, and he got all of
his harvest in, and he said, I'll sit
down now, eat, drink, and be merry.
And when he said that, there was a
knock on the door.
And it was a knock, he had forgotten
he had an appointment with death.
And my friend, every person in this building
tonight has an appointment with death.
And one day, all the people you know
and all the friends you know, one day
they've got an appointment with death.
Every one of them.
Now, when this, obviously this man died.
Now in Luke, another passage in Luke, there
was a rich man and a poor man.
And the rich man died, and the poor
man died.
The poor man was taken to Abraham's bosom.
The rich man went to hell.
And when he went to hell, my friends,
he is still in hell right tonight.
That man is still in hell right tonight.
Are you still with me?
He is still in hell right tonight.
He is still crying out.
His thirst never was quenched.
His memory never was silenced.
His desires were never met.
That's right.
He's still crying out of hell tonight.
He's still crying tonight.
But let me tell you something.
That man with every other person that's died
without Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living
God, is going to be delivered up.
Death and hell shall be delivered up.
And they shall be delivered up at the
great white throne judgment.
The Bible says in Corinthians that we that
are saints shall judge the world and judge
angels.
And as far as I can tell, this
is the place where it's going to take
place.
These people will be brought up out of
hell.
A living soul.
A being.
That being's name may be John, Joe, Mary,
Jill.
My friends, it's not just going to be
some abstract something.
It's going to be a person.
And they're going to be brought up out
of hell.
And we that are saints, as far as
I'm concerned, are going to be here.
I'm glad he put in the next chapter,
God shall wipe away all tears.
And as far as I can tell, the
tears are not wiped away until that 21st
chapter of the book of Revelation.
That's right.
They're crying out from under the altar in
heaven.
During the tribulation period, they're crying out to
God.
And my dear friends, as far as I
know, at this judgment, after this judgment, the
tears shall be wiped away.
But look at this.
Death and hell are going to be delivered
up.
These souls haven't died, folk.
These souls have not died.
They're going to be delivered up.
And they're going to be here at this
judgment.
I believe you're going to be there.
I believe I'm going to be there.
I believe God the Father is going to
be there.
I believe God the Son is going to
be there.
I believe God the Holy Ghost is going
to be there.
And I do not know whether they'll be
there in one or separate.
I somehow believe they'll be separate.
And the reason I believe that is that
God is so just with man, and He
has worked with man on the basis of
God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Holy Ghost, that I believe that they
will very definitely be present there.
And here comes that lost man that you
know.
Here comes that lost woman that you know.
Here comes that little boy or little girl
that you know.
Do you know one of the most sobering
thoughts about the soul of man I've ever
had in my life in all these years?
I realized one day that a seven-year
-old child could be saved by the grace
of God.
And when I realized that, I realized that
a seven-year-old child could die and
go to hell without Jesus forever.
That's the most sobering thing I have ever
run across in all my days.
My friends, they'll be brought up out of
hell.
Now we're going to hear some of the
Old Testament says, Summer's ended, and harvest is
past, and we are not saved.
No man careth for my soul.
They'll fall down then, every knee shall bow,
and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord.
And either we do that here, or my
dear friends, that lost person will do it
at the great white throne of judgment.
And they'll fall down and say, Jesus, Father,
I do believe that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God.
And that lost man may cry, no man
careth for my soul.
Damascus, what could God say to this man?
What could God say to that little blonde
-headed, blue-eyed girl?
What can God say to this woman when
she cries, I do believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God?
What can He say?
God can say, I loved you.
I gave you my son.
The Son can say, I loved you.
I gave you my life.
What can the Holy Spirit say?
He can say, I loved you.
I loved you so much.
I loved you as much as Jesus loved
you.
I loved you as much as God loved
you.
But you see, the person I lived in
down at Milldale, or Dallas, or wherever, the
person I lived in, I couldn't pray for
you.
I couldn't reach out for you.
Because that person would not let me have
my way in your life.
Then, friend, what can you say?
They're crying now, Jesus, I do believe that
you're the Christ, the Son of the living
God.
The old black preacher that wrote God's trombones
put it like this.
He said the angels of the Lord will
take these screaming, crying, howling people and have
to literally, by force, cast them in to
the lake of fire.
And he said like howling, howling, howling dogs,
they'll be screaming as they fall headlong into
the bottomless pit of hell.
Jesus, I do believe, I do believe that
thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God.
But they'll go to hell.
And they will go to hell forever.
And ever, and ever, and ever.
God has adequately provided, the Son has adequately
provided, the Holy Spirit is quite capable if
He can find someone that can stand and
sing what the songwriter said in the song
that we sing tonight.
The songwriter said, but drops of grief I
can never repay.
The debt of love I owe.
Lord, dear Lord, I give myself away.
Tis all that I can do.
Beloved, tonight, if you can come to that
place that you give yourself away, you can
sing the song of another songwriter that said,
Others, others, others let this my motto be.
Help me to live for others, that I
may live like thee.