May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his holy word. Let's turn to the Gospel of Matthew
chapter 16 and we'll read verse 26. The Gospel of Matthew chapter
16 and reading verse 26. For what is a man profited? if he shall gain the whole world
and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? These are the recorded words
of the Lord Jesus when he was on the earth and they do really
speak very important questions to all of us. The Lord Jesus had already spoken
and asked them who he was and Peter had answered very positively
and correctly and now we see that in that time forth Jesus
began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go
unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief
priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third
day. And then we see that Peter, not having the understanding
of the truth of those words, came to Jesus and began to rebuke
him saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto
thee. But he turned and said unto Peter,
Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offence unto me. For thou
sayest not the things that be of God, but those that be of
men. And having made that statement,
then the Lord Jesus comes and speaks the words about eternity
and about the great value of souls. And he says, if any man
will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross
and follow me. What that means is we cannot
follow the Lord Jesus Christ without there being some cost
to ourselves. It's not something which is irrelevant,
it's something which is very important and very vital. And
so the Lord tells us, if any man will come unto me, let him
deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. They're
very clear words, aren't they? But they mean exactly what they
say. That if we desire to follow the
Lord Jesus Christ, And it will be a blessing if the Holy Spirit
of God has placed in our heart that desire to truly follow the
Lord Jesus Christ and come after him. Then the Lord says we are
to deny ourselves. We're to take up his cross and
follow him. what that really means is we're
not to be found going around pleasing ourselves we're not
to do those things that we think might be alright we might easily
form plans in our mind about this and that but says the Lord
in these words here if any man will come after me And he gives
a qualification, let him deny himself, take up his cross. We're not told what that means,
what it is, what the cross is. It doesn't mean obviously a physical
cross like the Saviour was crucified upon, but it means perhaps to
take up that which may not be very convenient to us. Not something that we really
want to do. And it may be hard. Well, the path of a Christian
is hard, it's not easy. You young people should not think
that the Christian path is an easy path. No, there's many difficulties,
there's many trials, there's much opposition. But the great
blessing is to know that God is with us. Because, as the Apostle
Paul said, if God be with us, who can be against us? And we can then go forward in
the strength of Almighty God. And so, what a blessing if God
gives us that grace. Then to deny ourselves, take
up his cross, and to follow him. It's a great privilege and it's
a great blessing to follow the Lord, that great and glorious
Saviour. What a mercy to be found amongst
those with a desire to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, only
you know whether that's applicable to you in your life. whether
you've got reservations, whether you've got conditions you're
putting down to God, how you want those conditions to be answered
before you'll follow Him. My friends, it's good to be submissive
to God's will. Well, what a mercy then, if we
are able to take up our cross and to follow Him. And then He
says, for whosoever Wonderful to have these whosoever's in
the Word of God, for whosoever will save his life shall lose
it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Yes, we should not therefore
stop and think, well, if I do this, if I really follow the
Lord it's going to be a very difficult life and I really don't
want that, so I think perhaps I'll back away. Well, the answer
is, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it. If you and
I think we can find an easy way out, you'll find that there is
no easy way out. But it's a blessing to be able
to recognise that if we lose our life, for the Lord's sake,
we shall find that spiritual blessing. And we shall know that
union with the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no better favour. than
to be united to Christ. Why? Because it's an eternal
unity and it brings eternal happiness. What a wonderful truth it is
then to be able to appreciate the greatness of these words. And then the Lord goes on and
comes to this check The verse which we read is a text for what
is a man profited? What are we profited? What benefit
is it if we should gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What benefit would it be? And
yet by nature we often spend much time, don't we, trying to
improve our own situation and yet the great position is that
we should be concerned about our never dying soul well the question is for what
is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose
his own soul or what should a man give in exchange for his soul. We can ask the question, can't
we, how valuable is our soul? How valuable do you think your
soul is? If you were asked to put a value
on it, what value would you put on your soul? Well, the reality
is we can't put a value on our soul and you may ask me why can
I not put a value on my soul very simply that we have an eternity
before us an eternity which you and I cannot really understand
because it isn't a time we can't evaluate it in time terms It
is that situation which never ends. And therefore the Word
of God is very clear that everybody who's born into this world is
born with a never-dying soul. Our bodies will die, our souls
will live forever. And the great question is, where
shall I spend eternity? There's only two options. One
is in heaven with the Saviour. The other is in hell with the
devil and his angels. That's the stark reality and
every one of us will be found in one of those places for eternity. And so how important it is to
realise what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world?
The whole world, that means we own the whole world and everything
that is in it. It wouldn't be of any real value
because we still possess a never dying soul which lives forever. And what we know is this world
one day will be burnt up. Then where will we be? In glory or in hell? It's only the two options. And
how important it is that by God's grace we set our hearts and our
affections upon things above. Now we don't do that naturally
because we are of the earth and we're earthy and we're sinners
in the earth and we need God to come and to touch our hearts
to show us the foolishness of all the things of time and how
they will never bring happiness, true happiness. It may appear
so, but just a real minuscule of time, but then eternity. Oh, how important it is that
you and I understand a little of what it means. We sang in
that second hymn, the third verse, Eternity tremendous sound well,
I wonder tonight if it is a Tremendous sound to you and me
whether it's something which we don't really think about It's
a blessing if you do think about it If you do ask yourselves the
question, where shall I spend? eternity eternity tremendous
sound to guilty souls a dreadful wound we're all sinners we all
deserve eternal punishment we're a guilty soul and it's a dreadful
situation to realize that unless we are saved Unless we have the
evidence that our blessed Saviour has died on our behalf, we shall
spend eternity in that terrible place of hell. Well, the hymn
writer goes on and makes a wonderful statement, but oh, if Christ
and heaven be mine, how sweet the accents, how divine. You see, if heaven is our home. We have nothing to fear. In fact,
we have a glorious future to look forward to. A future that
will be in endless bliss with the Saviour in heaven. And so,
what a wonderful thing if God gives you and me a desire after
heavenly realities. our flesh goes after the things
of time because we're in time but we shall soon be out of time
into eternity and so here we have this statement for whosoever
will save his life shall lose it we're trying to save our life
we're trying to look for happiness on this earth well the Lord's
very gracious he does give us times of happiness but there's
no eternal happiness on this earth we should recognise that
God is very gracious and does give us some happiness on this
earth but it's only for a short time at the very very longest
as we compare it with eternity. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it. Well, my friends, let us not
be amongst those who are concentrating on saving our life for the things
of time. But may we be concentrating on
being blessed with that great and glorious gift of eternal
life because the Word of God goes on to say and whosoever
will lose his life for my sake shall find it and that would
be a time of eternal blessing what a favour it is and so the
Word of God goes on to tell us for what is a man profited If
he shall gain the whole world, what would it profit us? We might
think it would be very nice to have this and very nice to do
that, but as we weigh it up in the balances of eternity, I remember there was that occasion
in the Word of God when there was that wicked king who was
pleasing himself and as he sat feasting and getting drunk with
all his nobles a handwriting, a hand came and wrote upon the
wall words Won't quote them all, but the first word was teakle. Teakle. And what did that mean? It meant this. Thou weighed in
the balances and found wanting. We are weighed in the balances.
God's balances. And are we wanting? We don't
want that word to describe us. We don't want to be amongst those
who are found wanting. We want to be amongst those who
are born again in the Spirit of God and are redeemed with
the precious blood of Christ. And so, for what is a man profited
if he gained the whole world? We have to answer, really, nothing
at all. Because in a hundred years, it'll
all be gone. We won't be here on this earth. And the things that we strove
after will all be gone and burnt up or disappeared. No longer
will they be there. And so for whosoever will save
his life shall lose it. For what is a man profited if
he gain the whole world? It's good to ponder these words,
you know, because they're the words of the Saviour. They're
written for our instruction. They're written for you and me
today to guide and direct us in our pathway, in our journey
of life. And they're very powerful words.
But what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world
and lose his own soul? We won't be able to recover it
once we've passed out of time. The situation is determined forever. We won't be able to reclaim it. We won't be able to say, oh,
I wish I'd listened. I wish I'd observed that. You
may remember there was an occasion where a rich man died and lifted
up his eyes in hell. And what a terrible situation
it was. And then there was a man called
Lazarus who didn't have a very happy life in this earth, but
he was carried to Abraham's bosom and he was secure in glory. And the rich man cried out to
send someone to warn his brothers and his brethren. And it was
said, they have the scriptures, they have the word of God. And they won't take any more
notice of anybody if they did in actual fact rise from the
dead than from reading the scriptures. And we should recognize that
because sometimes we might think, we might be thinking, well I'm
not sure if I believe all the things that the Bible says. I'm not sure whether they're
all true. I would believe it if somebody
came from the dead. Well, just remember what that
word says. You wouldn't believe it any more
than you would in reading the word of God. So my friends tonight,
what a blessing it is that we have the word of God to instruct
us. What is a man profited if he
should gain the whole world and lose his own soul? A position which you and I will
not be able to recover. Once in eternity, there's no
coming back. But bless God while we're still
on the earth, we're still on praying ground. We can still come and pray to
almighty God that he will indeed have mercy upon us. And he goes on, or what shall
a man give? in exchange for his soul. We have nothing that we can give
in exchange for our soul. And what a wonderful blessing
it is to have the wonderful evidence that there is a Saviour, none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ, who was so willing to come into
this world and to pay the price, to take away our sin, to redeem
our soul, so that it will be well with our souls through eternity. The things of this world will
fade away of no value, and then to be found forever with the
Lord. Well, it's a wonderful blessing,
it's a wonderful prospect to the Church of God, but how good
it is if you and I receive that grace to understand these great
and important truths. God in his mercy has spelt it
out for us very simply so that you and I can understand the
relevance of it and recognise the importance of it. And so
my friends, may we indeed put first things first. That means
put the things of God first. That means put the condition
of our soul first. That means to have the evidence
from God himself that it is well with our soul. The Lord Jesus
Christ has died to take away our sins because no sin is in
heaven. therefore no sinner is in heaven
and we need to be completely clean of all sin and that's why
the Word of God is so wonderful when it gives us such glorious
statements to be washed in the blood of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, then we are cleansed. Then we are clean. Then we are
ready to go and to be with Christ for eternity. Not just for a
short time. It's for eternity. That's why
the hymn writer says very correctly, eternity, tremendous sound. Well, has it been a tremendous
sound to you and me? Eternity. When we hear the word
eternity, what does it do to us? What does it do to us? Does it make us think, where
shall I spend eternity? Am I right with God? Am I pardoned? Have my sins been washed away? Am I redeemed? Have I been called? Have I been chosen? All these
things are very relevant and so important. And be sure of
this, the devil, who's a very cunning foe, will tell you, you
needn't worry about these things. just put them in the back of
your mind and when you get older perhaps you can consider them
in any way they're not true the devil has always been and he
always will be a liar don't listen to his lies my friends read and
follow the Word of God. We're wonderfully blessed to
have such words as this, which Jesus said, let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me. Oh, my friends, it's a wonderful
blessing. It's a wonderful privilege to
be a follower of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. not to
be following all the advice of the devil, who brings no end
of temptations into our minds and tries to paint a very pretty
picture about the things of time. But my friends, follow the Word
of God. Remember, there is only the alternative
of two places for eternity, either heaven or hell, and each one
of us without exception, will be found in one of those places. What a blessing if you and I
are able to truly follow the Lord. There was a character in
the Word of God called Caleb. You probably remember him. There
was only him and Joshua who were the two spies that went out to
spy the land of Canaan and came back with a good report. All the other 10, They said,
well, it was a nice country, but they wouldn't be able to
conquer it. But anyway, Caleb and Joshua
were steadfast in their position. And we read of Caleb. It's a lovely expression. Caleb
wholly followed the Lord. He didn't do it half-heartedly. He didn't say, well, I'll do
it today and then change tomorrow. No, he wholeheartedly, he wholly
followed the Lord. And what a blessing for every
one of us if we wholly follow the Lord. Well, my friends, it's
a great blessing. It's a great privilege to follow
the Lord. And be sure of this, we have
a kind and gracious Savior. We have a merciful, blessed Redeemer. We have a good Master who is
very kind and very gracious. He doesn't lay on us more than
we're able to bear. You may be tempted to think,
oh, I don't think I could be a Christian. It's just too hard
a life. I can't do all those things.
I want to enjoy myself. in this world. Well, just remember
the things in this world will finish. The things in this world
will perish. The things of eternity will remain
forever. And therefore, what are we to
do? Well, we have some wonderful
words in the scriptures to help us in our little life on this
earth. When the Apostle Paul wrote to
the Hebrews, he wrote these words with regards to the Saviour himself. And what a blessing it is that
we have these examples to follow us and to recognize the wonderful
truth of it. And so in the 12th chapter, we're
told, wherefore, seeing we also, you and me, are compassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses. It's a great evidence of many
people who are witnesses to the truth of God. Let us, you and
me, lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily
beset us some people make excuses of sin they say well of course
that's my besetting sin well there's no excuse about besetting
sins so we're told here very clearly let us lay aside every
weight and the sin which does so easily beset us and let us
run with patience The race that is set before us. Yes, it is. It's a race and it's not an easy
race. And we need patience. And what are we to do? Well,
we're not left in a vacuum. Looking unto Jesus. That's where
you and I are to look. For direction, for guidance,
for help in everything. We are to take it to the Lord
in prayer. Don't try and work things out
yourself. Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Ask him that he will make the way. Looking unto Jesus, the
author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. It's good sometimes
to just think upon these great words of the Saviour, the life
He endured on this earth in order that your soul and my soul might
be saved. Yes, and he would read this,
who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the
throne of God. And then he comes to these words,
this is what I really wanted to say, for consider him. Consider him. Sometimes it'll
be good just to sit down, sit down, take your Bible and pray
to God and consider him. Consider what he's done. consider
his birth, consider his life, consider his death, consider
his resurrection, consider his ascension. And now today, consider
his intercession at the Father's right hand. There's much room,
there's much favor to be found to consider him. And the apostle
says, for consider him that endured Such contradiction of sinners
against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. You see it's good to have words
like that because we may worry and we may become faint. Don't
give up. Press on. The journey to heaven
is not an easy one. It's fraught with many difficulties. The devil's there trying to stop
us. He tells us ye have not yet resisted
unto blood, striving against sin, and ye have forgotten the
exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son,
despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou
art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. This is the kind and gracious
God that we have, who deals with us in love to our souls. And so we have these words then,
for what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world? We need to just allow these words
to sink into our mind and to just think about them. What am
I doing that is spiritually profitable. What am I doing? Is it profiting
my soul? I may be striving after the things
of time. I may be making tremendous efforts
after the things of time. And yet, the Word of God tells
us even if we gain the whole world, well that's a complete
position, isn't it? If you and I struggled and worked
and worked in order to try and gain the whole world, if we did
that and then lost our soul, what benefit would it be in eternity? Nothing at all, would it? Nothing
at all. It would be much better to lose
all the world and to have a blessing of God in our soul. And so the Holy Spirit tells
us, for what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? We
can't give anything, can we? Nothing that you and I can give.
But what we can do is to plead the precious blood of Christ.
Why? Because that takes away all sin. That cleanses us from all sin. And perhaps you don't really
understand what that means. Well, we can pray to God that
he will give us a right understanding so that we really will rejoice
in the great truth of the Gospel. And to recognise that without
shedding of blood there's no forgiveness. We could not be
cleansed without the Lord Jesus Christ dying and taking away
our sin. But what a wonderful privilege
it is. to have the evidence that we have a saviour who has loved
us with everlasting love and with loving kindness has drawn
us to himself. So at one time in our life there
would have been no attraction to Christ. What a mercy if now
today you can say, well, I can see an attraction in Christ because
there is all my hope. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. That's a good position. Because
if you and I are truly there, we can be sure it'll be well
with our soul. We can be sure that when you
and I come to leave this earth, we should better leave everything,
all our possessions, because they were of no real eternal
value. but to be then found in glory. And that not for just a night,
not just for a short time, but for eternity. That's a great
blessing, isn't it? That's a wonderful, wonderful
privilege to realize that we are amongst those who God has
loved with an everlasting love. What a blessing it is and what
a favour it is. And so to realise here we have
these great words towards the end of the 16th chapter. They're
so relevant really to us today and to us tomorrow and while
we're in time. They're relevant to us. And it's
good if you and I are able to look to them and to read them
and to recognise the importance of them. But what is a man profited
if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What value
therefore tonight do we put on our soul? What value do you put
on your soul? Well, we get some idea of what
value you put on it with regard to your reaction. Whether you
put the things of God first. Indeed, as we read, then said
Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let
him deny himself. We don't like denying ourselves.
But this is the gracious words of the Saviour. Let him deny
himself. and take up his cross, whenever
that may be, different for all of us, and follow him, follow
his pattern, his pattern. And what was his pattern? We're
told Jesus pleased not himself. So who did he please? He pleased
his father. He did his will of his father.
And what a blessing it is for you and me today if God gives
us that grace not to please ourselves. Crucifying our flesh. You know, to crucify our flesh
is to put it to death. And the crucifixion is the most
painful death. So to crucify our flesh is the
most painful thing to do. but it's only to our natural
flesh. What a blessing to receive grace
to do just that and be able to come and join with the Apostle
Paul who did that in his life. He was able to conclude and say,
for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. That's the evidence of a true Christian. And what
a blessing, therefore, if it's the evidence for you and me in
our little life. Well, these last few verses in
this 16th chapter of John are worth pondering. They're worth
reading. They're worth considering. Because
each one of us has a never-dying soul. And each one of us must
spend an eternity either in heaven or in hell. And what a wonderful
blessing, therefore, if we have the evidence that we are saved
through the grace of God, his free and merited favour, and
to have that blessed confirmation, yea, I have loved thee. with
everlasting love and therefore with loving kindness the Lord
has drawn us. What a blessing. May we each
know it for his honour and for his glory. Amen.