The Value of the Soul

We're just going to hand over to her brother and I and he will

finish the service. Well could I thank the brother

for his help tonight, and a burdened shaft, shared as a

burdened haft. And we do thank him for that.

The Bible says two are better than one, for they have a good

reward for their labour. So I do appreciate his work and

his labour of love and the warm words of welcome.

It's good to be with you if. If I remember correctly it was

October time of last year. I was here with you giving a

word of testimony. How quickly those months have

come and gone and it's a joy to be with you here tonight.

Your own minister I think was severely pressed regarding the

preacher for the night. He was having difficulty finding

a preacher and the phone rang 1 morning and I answered it and he

said Brother Tammy, I think he was asking an unbelief.

Are are you free? What's today's date?

This is the July the 9th and I said yes, I am free and would be

happy to preach for you if the Lord enables me to do so.

I think he was getting a little bit desperate, but I was glad I

was able to help him out to some degree of measure as far as the

meeting tonight. Is concerned.

Well, if you have your Bibles there, I'm sure you do, I'd like

you to turn with me to Matthew's Gospel.

Matthew chapter 16, June the 22nd.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

So it was very close to four years ago.

I suffered that stroke. It took me the best part of

three years, the Lord helping me to get to the place where I

could preach again, where I could live again, where I could

laugh again and God has sustained me.

And given me help from day-to-day.

And I'm glad for those experiences.

It's a privilege from time to time to minister the word of God

in the night certainly is no exception.

So we're going to turn to Matthew chapter 16, and perhaps

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

it could be now reading at the verse #21 First 21.

Matthew chapter 16. From that time forth began

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

Jesus. It shows his disciples now from

that time. His that time of beginning it

would seem there was a change in the focus of Christ ministry.

He was nearing the time of His crucifixion, and so there was a

renewed emphasis upon that great work.

From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how

that he must go onto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the

elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be

raised again the third day. Then Peter took him and began to

rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee.

In other words, pity thyself. That's the marginal rendering

there. Pity thyself.

Lord, don't be hard on yourself. Don't worry about the cross.

So this is Peter's thought. Be it far from thee, Lord, this

shall not be unto thee. You're above this.

But he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me.

And in the case of the best of Christians, the devil sometimes

get into our mouth. And causes us to be his

mouthpiece. But he turned and said unto

Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan.

Thou art an offence unto me, for thou savourest not the things

that be of God, but those things that be of men.

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come

after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and

follow me. For whosoever will save his life

shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake

shall find it. For what is a man profited, if

he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his

angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his

works. Verily I say unto you.

There be some standing here which are not taste of death

till they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.

We'll end the reading there, looking to the Lord to bless his

own word to our hearts and add to this wording the essential

blessing that he alone can bring to the word of the Lord.

But let's just pause briefly now for a word of prayer.

Our gracious God, our loving Father, We thank you for the

privilege. Of being in thy house this

evening, and we thank you for the precious promise.

Where two or three have gathered together in thy name, there art

thou in the midst of them. And a gracious Father we thank

that we can lean upon this exceeding great and precious

promise of God. God is always good to His word,

and whereas people gather in His name, there he is in the midst.

And we therefore thank thee for thy presence.

With us, and thine arms around us throat, we pray for continued

cleansing. In the Savior's precious blood

that devine anointing of the spirit of the living God, we

pray for the defeat of Satan, and we pray the Lord.

The purposes of God shall prevail, that thou will be

pleased to encourage and strengthen thy people, save

precious souls, and gracious God, glorify thyself.

Remember those who are here. Remember those who are

listening. Online we pray the Lord in every

case God will speak in his own. Way.

And by his mighty irresistible power.

Lord, hear us now and abide with us.

We pray for we ask it in the dear Savior's name and for his

sake. Amen.

I want to take as my text tonight the verse #26 of Matthew

16. For what is a man profited, if

he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

Or what shall the man give in exchange for his soul?

The value? Of a soul.

That's what we want to meditate upon tonight.

The value of a soul. It will shed considerable light

on our text to consider the the context or the passage in which

this text is given. Of course, that is paramount in

every occasion. Always keep things and

understand them fully in the context in which they are given.

Christ in this chapter has been Speaking of his approaching

sufferings and agonies and death on the cross.

And so we see a change of emphasis as he gives to us there

in the verse #21 read there. From that time forth Jesus began

to show unto his disciples how that he must go on to Jerusalem,

and there he would eventually bleed and die for his own

redeemed people, for those who are the elect of.

God. So he's been Speaking of his

approaching death on the cross, and that of course the great

purpose was, by means of that death, to save sinners from

their sin, and from the eternal agonies and sufferings of hell.

At the same time he reveals to his disciples that they too must

suffer, that there can be no crown apart from the cross.

And there must be this strict obedience to the word of God.

Verse #24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man would

come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross

and follow me. Peter didn't want to hear that.

He didn't want to hear about the Lord going to the cross.

He didn't want to hear this truth that the Christian also

has a cross. It's not the cross of Christ,

but it is our own Christ, cross, cross, and it is very heavy to

bear. At times.

So there must be this ongoing, strict obedience to the word of

God. These are the terms.

These are the conditions that God sits out.

So far as his disciples are concerned.

He makes it clear. And we would say tonight, make

no doubt about it, it costs. It costs to be a Christian.

There is a cross to be born, not worn, but a cross to be born.

The Christian is to crucify. That's a very strong word.

It's a violent word. The Kingdom of heaven suffer

violence and the violent taken by force.

He is to crucify self daily with his last, with his passions,

with his desires. He is to put that old man to

death. That's a great cost.

So he must crucify self daily. He must overcome the world

daily. There's a tremendous power and

pull in the world. He must overcome Satan and

resist Satan daily. One day does not guarantee

victory the next day, and so it must be a day by day experience

of denying Self. The Lord in verse 25 in essence

is saying, when we read For whosoever will save his life

shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake

shall find it. He is saying that he who lives

for Me and denies himself will live eternally, but he who lives

for self and denies Me. Shall die eternally.

You see, lest they would be followers of Christ should

consider the cost of the cyber ship too great, he would have

them consider the cost of not following him.

Verse 26. For what is a man profited if he

should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

Or what shall a man give in exchange?

For his soul, maybe that thought has gone across your mind in

times past, perhaps even recently, you've considered this

thought, and you've perhaps said to yourself that the cost,

surely, of becoming a Christian is too great.

It's not worth it, my friend. Have you ever counted the cost

of not becoming a Christian? Of not being saved?

Have you ever counted the cost? If your soul should be lost, I

want tonight to leave with you three things concerning the

human soul. First of all, it's reality.

This isn't a make, believe, thought, this matter of a man or

woman having a soul. This is the truth of the word of

God. We want to consider it reality.

And then secondly, it's riches, The value of a soul.

And then finally, bless God is redemption.

It can be saved. It can be lost.

But it can be saved, and may the Lord help us all to see the

incomparable loss of a lost soul.

Next time we stand around the open grave and consider which

individuals gone into eternity. Perhaps outside of Christ, we

should always be reminded of the incomparable loss of a lost

soul. May the Lord impress upon all

her heart, saved and unsaved alike.

The great value of a soul. Now first of all, then it's

reality. In this verse #26 we read these

expressions. For what does the man profited

If you'll gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

I was thinking this afternoon about the wonderful beginning of

the soul. I'll read the verse for you.

Genesis 2, verse 7. And the Lord God formed man of

Genesis 2:7

the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the

breath of life. And man became a living soul.

The life of the body is the living, the life giving soul.

It actuates the body. The soul can live without the

body, but the body cannot live without the soul.

And Adam's lifeless body, his body of dust was.

Just that, a body lifeless, until he received from God a

living soul, his own soul, and it was entrusted with the soul.

And God has entrusted you with your soul.

It is entrusted to each and every individual.

At the very moment of conception, you and I were

constituted body and soul, and we're stamped, as it were, with

accountability and responsibility to our Creator.

This is God speaking. Here God the great Creator, the

one who has made the soul, can speak with absolute certainty

and assurance, and so we can be absolutely sure of the existence

of the human soul. In this, of course, we differ

greatly from the animal realm, which has neither soul nor

conscience, but that's not true of man.

It's not true of you. It's not true of me.

Every one of us has this soul made by God and entrusted to us.

You have a soul, and how you treat that soul, what you do

with that soul in this life will determine where you're going to

be in the life to come. The reality is, you and I have

been given a living soul, A soul that can be lost, but a soul

also that can be saved. And should it be lost, our blood

will be upon our own heads. God warrant in the book of

Ezekiel, The soul that sineth, it shall die, die eternally.

So it is the sinner's own sin that brings about the loss of

his own soul. The soul that sineth Isn't that

you? Isn't that me?

The soul that sineth, naturally it shall die.

And die eternally. You see how honest God is here,

how true He's being to your soul and mine.

When Satan seeks to draw away disciples or followers after

him, what does he do? He tells them of the pleasures.

He tells them to all the apparent gains, but not the

peril, not the pain, he said to the sineres.

He said to Eve, on that occasion, the Garden of Eden, he

shall not surely die. Adam and Eve were commanded not

to eat of that fruit, not to touch it, not even to touch that

fruit in the midst of the garden, unless they die.

They can eat all the other trees.

But that one tree in the middle, they were not to touch it.

They were not to partake of it, because God very clearly said,

the moment you do that, you're going to die.

And long come, say, oh, come on now, you'll not surely die.

Go in God's favor is life. He's not going to kill you.

He's giving you life. A loving God wouldn't do that.

Just just think about it. And he said very clearly, ye

shall not. Come on now, Eve, get serious.

God has better things in store. You eat of that fruit you're

going to be entering in a whole new.

There are opportunities. You're going to become like one

of the gods, even an object of worship.

Don't deny yourself that. Eat it, ye shall not surely die.

But he's a liar. And when they disobeyed God and

took of the forbidden fruit, they did die.

They died immediately. Spiritually.

Fellowship with the God was cut off.

What a terrible death that was. They died spiritually.

Eventually they would die physically because the seeds of

death were planted in their mortal bodies, and were it not

for God's mercy, they would have died eternally.

The soul that's in it, it shall die, dear friend, is not your

neighbor's soul, or the soul is limited next to you there in the

Pew. It is your soul.

That you stand to lose. And unthinkable as it is, should

it be lost, literally damned, you will give before God a full

account of your sin and the inexcusable neglect of your

soul. God has given you a soul, and

you're going to be held responsible in terms of how you

deal with that soul. When you were conceived, When I

was conceived, oh, there was a tremendous, A tremendous weight

of responsibility forced upon us, placed upon us that we use

the time God has given to us for the salvation of our own soul.

Men live and die without many cases.

The thought of the soul. What, fools, how strong is the

temptations, as Satan says before that precious.

Precious soul. So if I were to say to you

tonight that out there in the car park your your car is being

broken into or that your bank is being emptied, if you stand to

lose your car and your money, wouldn't you do something about

it if I was there, there in the car?

But look, that man out there, he's, he's trying to get into

your car. Would you just sit here?

I don't think so if you knew someone was out there emptying

your bank account. I'm quite sure that you would do

what you can and could to prevent that particular loss.

Well, how much more careful should we be when it comes to

the eternal soul, that costliest commodity in the whole world?

Now that brings us, secondly, to the thought of its riches or its

value. So have you seen something of

the reality of the soul? That is something, man?

Has a difficulty naturally grappling with.

He doesn't like to think of this fact that he is a soul that

lives on and survives, that the death of the mortal body, that

we're not just creatures of time, we're creatures of

eternity. And this is the fearful thought.

And men ought of course, to live with this fear upon their hearts

and upon. They are souls.

But many deny the very existence of the soul.

The Bible is explicitly clear. Every man born of Adam's rate

has a soul. Well, what does it value?

What do you think of his birth? You think of his beginning.

The human soul begins with the breath of God.

We read there and Genesis chapter 2 and verse 7.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

How noble a beginning, the very breath of God was breathed into

the nostrils of our first. Of Adam.

And that of course tells us that he became a a living soul.

That's that's the beginning, that's the birth.

But about his breath, that's range of capabilities.

The soul of course is made in the image of God, but just think

about that. If it is made in the image of

God and the Bible says it is, then it must possess abilities,

qualities, capacities. That set men apart from all

other created beings and underlines the fact that the

soul is infinitely precious. It is that part of the

individual that thinks that reasons.

It's a seed of thought. You remember Lazarus and the

rich man, and the rich man in hell lifting up his eyes, being

in torments he he had. This recollection of Lazarus and

Lazarus to to give me some water, like, and just dip my

tongue in that water. So he remembered Lazarus, no

doubt how he treated them woefully.

He remembered that he had five brethren and he wanted them to

be worn. Let's take him into that fearful

place. So he had memory.

He didn't lose it when he went to hell.

That soul has the ability to think, to reason, to have.

Will and to conscience. It possesses morality.

It can show love. It can show pity.

It can show justice. It can show mercy.

And don't miss this now. That soul is immortal, just like

God, made in the image of God. And it can never be annihilated.

It can never go to sleep. It exists forever.

There is some proportion or comparison between a single drop

of water. In the ocean, but there is no

comparison. There is no proportion between

time and eternity. And after the death of the body,

the soul continues to exist eternally, either in heaven or

in hell. Now are we beginning to see

something of its infinite worth? What are 70 years compared to

eternity? It just goes on living and

existing. For all of God's eternity.

What about his battle? We have something that's birth,

something of its breath and range of capabilities.

What about his battle battling for its possession?

Well, Satan wants the soul to damn it.

He's seeking for your soul. Tonight, he promises the world

sun, moon, and stars. He can't deliver on that.

But this is the promise he sets before it.

You do this. You serve me, you serve yourself

and it'll be well with you. You get everything.

Well. He wants the soul to to to damn

the soul. Christ, on the other hand, he

wants a soul that he may save the soul.

And he promises, Yes, promises are good for this life, but

especially for the life that is to come, Christ is saying.

This is a man where they gain the entire world.

Now, there's no pain with that gain that's going to cause

something. If he were to gain the entire

world, it's never happened yet, never will happen.

But this is the hypothetical case.

All its wealth, honor, pleasure, possessions, lands, houses, and

then there's it all. Of course we're going to lose it

all anyway. When death comes, we brought

nothing into this world, and it's certain we can carry

nothing out. But that soul, having

accumulated all that this world could offer and then suddenly

lost it, his loss would be far less than that of a Sinner

losing his soul. One soul is worth far, far more

than the whole world put together.

And that's how Christ sees it. And he would have you see it in

the same way, begin to think the same thoughts as Christ.

This is how he sees it. This is the way it is.

And, dear friend, you had better just begin to see it in the same

way before you lose your soul. How often, too, have men and

women found that the things of this world are empty and

unsatisfying? They promised far more than they

ever deliver. The daughter of one of our

ministers, who shall remain nameless, was a brilliant

lawyer. And for her, the sky was the

limit. She had the prospect of being

wined and dined open doors far and near.

She had the world at her feet. But she parked it all in and her

coworkers, solicitors, lawyers, said, you're mad, you're mad,

you could have it all. And she said to her mother, I've

seen what money does to people. And I don't want end of like

that. I want to give my life to the

Lord Jesus Christ who loved me and gave himself for me.

The world is highly overrated. After some 64 years.

I just turned 64. There are things in this world

that I enjoy, but I can tell you it's highly, highly overrated.

And yet many, many have bought into the devil's lie.

Get what you can go over the gusto.

Live this life. That's all you have. 70 years.

If you haven't, do that. But that's just the beginning.

And so this world brings far less than it ever promises.

It's highly overrelated. It's not worth losing your soul

over. Certainly not worth it.

Yet how many multitudes even now are casting, throwing away their

soul for a few of the life they the bubbles?

Of this particular life there can be no greater loss than the

loss of the soul, for it brings the loss of holiness, the loss

of happiness, the loss of hope, and the loss of heaven.

And should your soul be lost, it has lost forever.

It cannot be retrieved from the eternal regions of pain and woe

and excruciating pain. That can never be listened,

lessened, or mitigated. Remember the rich man?

He pleaded for just a single drop of water, replaced on the

tip of his tongue, but didn't get it.

Just more of the same, more fire.

And the lost soul cannot make an exchange or a payment that will

bring his soul back from the regions of the dime.

And even if it were possible to come up with something as

waiting as valuable as a soul. The Lord will not permit it.

The soul has had its opportunities.

How many years? How many opportunities for

salvation? But they threw it all away, and

justice, and is now final and irreversible.

You had better then begin to make your sums now.

Do your arithmetic now. Consider that nothing can be

greater. And the loss of a soul can't up

the cost of your soul if it should be lost.

But it doesn't have to be lost. It can be saved.

It can be redeemed by the Savior's precious blood.

That's the most wonderful thing. That's the greatest message of

the gospel. God alone can redeem that

precious soul of yours and of mine.

So we come thirdly, to the redemption.

Of the soul. And here we see the full worth

of the soul. In Psalm 49 and verse #8 we read

there of the redemption of the soul being precious and how

precious it is. There is only one payment that

will save the soul. There is only one payment that

will keep a Sinner out of hell. And that is the precious

attaining sin covering blood of Jesus Christ, which He shed on

Calvary's cross for repentant sinners.

There you get the full idea of the cost of the soul.

It cost our Savior, His precious blood to redeem it.

And that that alone is what can redeem your precious soul.

The price has been paid. It has been.

Already counted in so far as God's people are concerned, it

is for you to receive this great gift that the Lord Jesus offers.

Jesus paid it all. See how much He cares and loves

your soul. Perhaps a soul that you have no

love for yourself. He was prepared to give up his

own life's blood that you might have a soul that was redeemed by

that precious blood of his. You care for your body this very

day. You've washed it.

You've fed it. You've clothed it.

What about your soul, That poor soul of yours, Unwashed, starved

and unclothed, not ready to meet the regions of God's great

eternally. But I want to ask you tonight,

will you not insure your soul? You have car insurance.

You have insurance for this. Insurance for that.

What about your soul? Is your soul insured?

Is your soul prepared to meet God?

I took out. And you'll understand what I

mean by this, an insurance policy on my soul.

At the age of 12 and over 50 years, over half a century now,

the policy of God has held good and three difficult

circumstances. I nearly lost my body.

But I did not lose my soul and never will.

Christ has never lost a soul that he is insured that he is

saved. It is 100% safe and 100% sure.

And I would ask you tonight, won't you simply entrust Christ

with your soul? He gave his own life's blood to

redeem it. Could you not trust him with

your soul? With the hand of faces of where,

put your soul into the nail, pierced the hands of Christ, and

be washed in this precious blood, and be saved.

Heaven will more than compensate for any loss that we may hear

down here. For Jesus Christ, I would ask

your friend and I to consider the value of your soul, and make

preparation for that day when you will be ushered into God's

eternity. Where will you be?

In heaven or in hell, make sure that your soul is insured.

Make sure the saved make sure it is washed.

In the Saviors atoning blood. Let's pray our gracious God, our

loving Father, we thank you tonight for Thy precious word.

We thank you for the clear warning here of the Lord Jesus.

We thank that He is so true to our hearts and to our souls and

while Satan seeks to damn the soul by telling all kinds of

lies. We think that the Christ is so

clear. Christ gives a clear warning,

and we pray the Lord we will take Thy words seriously.

And tonight, oh God, should there be a soul here or

listening online out of Christ, soul that does not prepare to

meet God at this very night, they might take stock that they

might do their sons now and realize there's no more

consulate in all this world than their own soul.

May they prepare to meet their God and be redeemed by Precious

Blood, for we ask it in the dear Savior's name and for his sake.

Amen.