Mark 8:36-37 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?… Think what a solemn question these words of our Lord Jesus Christ contain! What a mighty sum they propound to us for calculation! I. EVERY ONE OF US HAS AN UNDYING SOUL. This is not the only life we have to do with — we have every one of us an undying soul. There is a conscience in all mankind that is worth a thousand metaphysical arguments. What though we cannot see it? Are there not millions of things which we cannot see, and of the existence of which we have nevertheless no doubt? I do ask you to realize the dignity and the responsibility of having an immortal soul; to realize that in your soul you have the greatest talent that God has committed to your charge. Know that in your soul you have a pearl above all price, the loss of which nothing can ever make up. II. ANYONE MAY LOSE HIS OWN SOUL. Weak as we are in all things that are good, we have a mighty power to do ourselves harm. You cannot save that soul of yours, remember that. We are all by nature in great peril of losing our souls. But someone may ask, How may a man lose his soul? The answers to that question are many. Just as there are many diseases which assault and hurt the body, so there are many evils which assault and hurt the soul. Numerous, however, as are the ways in which a man may lose his own soul, they may be classed under these three heads. 1. You may murder your own soul by open sin, or serving lusts and pleasures. 2. You may poison your own soul by taking up some false religion. 3. You may starve your own soul to death by trifling and indecision. But, does it take much trouble to ruin a soul? Oh, no! There's nothing you need do! You have only to sit still, etc. But are there many, you ask, who are losing their souls? Yes, indeed, there are t But, who is responsible for the loss of your soul? No one but yourself! But, where does your soul go when it is lost? There is but one place to which it can go. III. THE LOSS OF ANY MAN'S SOUL IS THE HEAVIEST LOSS HE CAN SUFFER. No man living can show the full extent of the loss of the soul, nor paint it in its true colours. Nothing can ever make up for the loss of the soul in the life that now is. The loss of property and character are not always irreparable; once lost the soul is lost for evermore. The loss of his soul is irretrievable! Does any one of you wish to have some clear idea of the value of a soul? Then go and see what men think about the value of a soul when they are dying. Go and read the sixteenth chapter of St. Luke. Measure it by the price that was paid for it eighteen hundred years ago. We shall all understand the value of a soul one day. Seek to know its value now. Do not be like the Egyptian queen, who, in foolish ostentation, took a pearl of great value, dissolved it in some acid, and then drank it off. Do not, like her, east away that precious soul of yours, that pearl above all price, that God has committed to your charge. IV. ANY MAN'S SOUL MAY BE SAVED. I dare say the proclamation is startling to some; it was once startling to me. "How can these things be?" No wonder you ask that question. This is the great knot the heathen philosophers could never untie — this is the problem which sages of Greece and Rome could not solve — this is a question which nothing can answer but the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1. Because Christ has died upon the cross to bear men's sins. 2. Because Christ still lives. 3. Because the promises of Christ's gospel are full, free, and unconditional. Application: 1. Do not neglect your own soul. 2. Come to Christ without delay. 3. To all who have sought to have their souls saved, and have found Jesus a Saviour, "cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart," etc. (Bishop Ryle.) Parallel Verses KJV: For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?WEB: For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? |
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