Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I want to invite you to turn
with me this morning to the book of Mark chapter 8. I have something
that is very weighty for us this morning, something that is very
serious. It has eternal consequences.
In Mark chapter 8, let's read verses 34 to 38 together. And when He had called the people
unto Him with His disciples also, He said unto them, Whosoever
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. but whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. 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? Whosoever, therefore, shall be
ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful
generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when
he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." The things that we do and the
decisions that we make are based on whether or not we see any
value in it. The way that we live our life, we live it deciding on what to
do now based on whether or not we see any value in something. If there seems to be profit in
something, if there seems to be gain in something, We do it. And if there's no profit in it,
no value in it, we don't. Is there any value in hard work?
A man getting up, going to work, working hard, providing for his
family, is there any value in that? Absolutely. Absolutely. It will profit a
man to work hard. What about education? Is there
any value in education? Absolutely. How can a man do
anything if he never learns how to do it? Is there any value in being responsible,
budgeting your money? Setting aside for hard times.
Is there any value in that? What about owning a home? Paying
something off, owning property. It actually becoming yours. Is there any value in that? What about rest? Taking some
time off. Taking a vacation with your family.
Can we see any value in doing that? Is it worth anything? We can see the value of everything
that is worth anything in this life. If we look at it, we can
see the value of everything that's worth anything in this life.
But there is one thing, and please listen to me, There is one thing
that man by nature cannot see the value of. And I want to emphasize
the word cannot. There is one thing that man by
nature cannot see the value of. And that's his soul. His own soul. Man does not understand
his soul. He does not understand what his
soul is. Over in Genesis chapter one,
verse 26, says that God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. That's what God said. Let us
make man in our image after our likeness. And in Genesis chapter
two, verse seven says, and the Lord God formed man of the dust
of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. and man became a living soul. What that means is God created
something that will not end. God created something that will
not end ever. Either in eternal bliss or eternal
damnation and eternal torment, it will not end. The soul does
not end. This life ends. This world ends. Everything has an end but the
soul. Everything has an end but the
soul. A man named Robert Hawker, He
is an old preacher and writer, a commentary writer on the scriptures.
He said, a single soul is of more value than the whole world. And for this plain reason, the
time is coming when the whole world and all that is in it will
be destroyed. But the soul of every individual
must live either in happiness or in misery forever. A man's soul will never end. Your soul. God has given each
one of us a soul. You are your soul. I am my soul. The soul is what animates the
body. The soul is what makes this body
live and move and have its being. The body is not you. Your soul is you. You could cut every limb off
of your body. You could cut your fingers off,
your arms off, your legs off, every limb off of your body and
you would still be you. You are your soul. And your soul
has no end. People say things like, well,
I'll tell you now, it's a short life. You better get all you
can get before it's over. It's never going to be over.
That's what man cannot enter into. That's what man truly cannot
understand. It's never going to be over. Mr. Hawker said, calculate if
possible the value of a single soul. The creation of it called
forth the counsel of the whole persons of the Godhead. Back
in Genesis 1 verse 26, we read that God said, let us, all three of us, make man. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Spirit. They all three came together
in this council to create man's soul. Mr. Hawker said, the redemption
of it, the redemption of that soul. We know that the soul that
God made sinned against him. And when that happened, the soul
was severed from God, separated from God's spirit. Man died spiritually. And Mr. Hawker said the value,
the price of what God had created was so great, the redemption
of it cost Christ His blood. Can we fathom that payment? Can
we fathom that payment? Surely there was something less
expensive that could have made the payment for our ruined soul. Surely. But there wasn't. The value of that soul was so
high it cost the blood of Christ to redeem it. and the regeneration of it, giving
it life again, took the work of God the Holy Ghost. The only one, the only thing,
the only one that could regenerate that soul was God Himself. Now we're starting to see that
maybe we need to redirect our value. Maybe we should shift
the focus of our value. Back in Mark chapter eight, verse
34 says, and when he had called the people unto him with his
disciples also, he said unto them, whosoever will come after
me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me. For whosoever will save his life here on this earth, whosoever
chooses to be of more value the things of this world, whosoever
will save his life here on this earth shall lose it forever. but whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake and the gospels, here on this earth, whosoever
sees no value in the things of this world compared to Christ
and his glorious gospel, whosoever shall lose his life for my sake
and the gospels, the same shall save it forever. Now the Lord Jesus Christ says,
I want you to calculate some values. I want you to weigh this
in the balances and tell me what you come up with. Verse 36, he
said, for what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole
world and lose his own soul? He said in verse 37, or, let
me say it this way, what shall a man give in exchange for his
soul? He's saying you put a value on
your eternal soul. And then you tell me what are
you willing to exchange for it? Turn with me over to Hebrews
chapter 12. In Hebrews 12 verse 16 says,
Lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau. Jacob and Esau. Lest there be
any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of
meat sold his birthright. For you know how that afterward,
when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place of repentance,
though he sought it carefully with tears. Esau was going to
inherit. All of the land, all of the cattle,
all the servants, all the maidens, all the money, all the status,
everything his father had. Everything. And he gave it all
up for one bowl of pottage. One bowl of pottage. Boy Esau,
you must really see a lot of value in that bowl of soup. Oh yeah, yeah I do. Boy Jacob,
he can really sod pottage. Oh Esau, don't you think you need to reevaluate
your value? Don't you think you need to reevaluate
your priority? Nope, this is what I want. And I'll give up all the blessing
to have it. I'll give up eternity with Christ
to have this little bowl of soup right now. Is that not crazy? Is that not crazy? I'll tell
you this, what Esau lost, that doesn't even come close to comparing
to the indescribable loss of a man's eternal soul. Now here's the conclusion of
the whole matter. The Lord God said, if you go
after anything other than me, every road you take that does
not lead you to me will send your soul to eternal loss and
ruin. He said, whoever is ashamed of
me, And of my words, I'll be ashamed of him when the judgment
comes." But he said, whoever comes after
me, whoever considers everything in this world loss compared to
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord, Whoever
acknowledges that everything that this world has to offer
is nothing more than a bowl of sod pottage compared to the blessings
in heavenly places which are in Christ Jesus. Whoever shall
lose his life for my sake and the gospels shall inherit it
all. That soul shall live with Christ
and reign with Christ forever. Now really, where is all the
value? Really and truly, based on the
Word of God Almighty, where is all of the value? I'll tell you
where it is. It's in Christ. It's in Christ. He that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. Somebody will say, no, let me
get this straight. You're saying all I have to do is give up everything,
just give it all up and I'll be saved? No, no. No, I could become a monk. I
could go live on the backside of the Himalayas. I could give
up every material possession I own, and if Christ does not
have mercy on my soul, I'm still going to lose it. I could give
it all up, every material possession, and without the mercy of God,
I'll still lose my soul. There is one way for a soul to
inherit eternal life in the kingdom and family of God. And our Lord
told us that way back in the text. If you'll look with me
back at Mark chapter eight, and as you turn back over there,
I want to quote two scriptures to you. Isaiah 55 verse three
says, incline your ear and come unto me, here and your soul shall
live. That's what our Lord said. Incline
your ear, come unto me, here and your soul shall live. And
then Jeremiah 38 verse 20 says, obey I beseech thee the voice
of the Lord, which I speak unto thee, so it shall be well unto
thee and thy soul shall live. Hear the Lord and obey the Lord
and thy soul shall live. What did he say? What did he
say? Mark chapter eight, verse 34.
And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also,
he said unto them, whosoever will come after me, let him deny
himself. Let him deny himself. in every way, shape, and form. If a sinner wants to find mercy
with God, if a sinner wants to follow Christ and live in eternity
with Christ, the first thing God Almighty said that sinner
needs to do is deny himself. Is salvation in your hands? No, it's not. Does this decision in salvation
rest on you? People say, now you need to make
your decision for Jesus. You need to decide to be saved. Does the decision rest on you?
No, it does not. Do you have any say in the matter? You know, this word is so clear
that God has chosen His people. Christ has redeemed all of the
souls that God His Father gave to Him. And God gave those souls
to Christ before the foundation of the world. Can that be undone? Can God change His mind? Do you
and I, do we have any say in the matter? You know what the
answer is? No. Let me ask you this, are you
worthy to stand in the presence of God? No. Have you ever done one good and
acceptable deed in his sight? I mean one. No. You mean not one? No, not one. Can you think of one reason why
God should choose to show mercy to you? Can you think of one
reason why God should choose to show mercy to you? No. Our Lord said, if a man wants
to come after me, first, let him deny himself. Then, He said, let him take up
his cross. Now I'll tell you this, if a
man takes up his own cross, he'll die on it. If a man takes up
his own cross, he'll die on it. Our Lord did not say his own
cross. People say, well, now we all
have a cross we need to bear. That is not true. The gospel
says Christ bore our cross. If there is still a cross with
my name on it, I'm a dead man. Do you know what cross a child
of God takes up? Do you know what cross a child
of God holds to and clings to for dear life? Do you know what
cross a child of God owns for his own? The cross of Christ. Paul said, I am crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Ruth said,
where you go, I will go. Where you lodge, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people
and thy God, my God. Where you die, that's where I'll
die. And there, right there, will
I be buried. If a soul wants to live forever,
let him deny himself. Let him cling to the cross of
Christ. Let him acknowledge that the
death of Christ is my death. It's appointed unto man once
to die and that's where I died. I died in Christ. His burial is my burial. His
resurrection is my resurrection. Let him deny himself Let Him
take up His cross. And then our Lord said, let Him
follow me. Let Him follow the risen Lord,
the risen Savior. What He's saying is, let go of
everything and cling to Christ. There's value there. Please listen
to me. There's value there. Lay hold
of Christ in the heart. Lay hold of His blood. There
is infinite, eternal value there. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Is that not what our Lord said?
We're going through this world trying to live right, trying
to do right, trying to make God happy, trying to make ourselves
happy, and it will not happen without the blood of Jesus Christ. God will never be satisfied with
us. If we try to go meet Him on any
other grounds than the death of the Son of God, We will be
eternally damned. This eternal soul will lose life. It won't end, but it will lose
life. I love the story of Pilgrim's
Progress. Some of you might have read the
book Pilgrim's Progress. The character's name is Christian
and he's reading in this book. He has a book in his hand. He
has a burden on his back and it's bringing such sorrow to
him because he sees that he's living in the city of destruction.
Destruction is all around us. Is that not right? It's all around
us. Everything is dying. Everything
is decaying, everything is rotting, it's so full of sin. We are in the city of destruction
and Pilgrim was sorrowing and sorrowing and this man named
Evangelist came to him and he pointed Pilgrim to Yonwicket
Gate. He said, you go there and you
knock on that gate, it will be opened to you. And he said, you
enter into that gate and you run down that straight and narrow
way and it will lead you to a cross. And at the foot of that cross,
your burden will fall off of you. And Pilgrim started heading
in that direction and his family didn't want him to go and his
neighbors didn't want him to go and they were all tugging
at him. And they were all mocking him, they were all persecuting
him, and he stuck his fingers in his ears and he started running
as fast as he could, crying, life, life, eternal life. Do you crave eternal life? Do you crave God's mercy and
grace? Do you crave redemption from
sin, freedom from destruction? Run to Jesus Christ. Run to the
foot of that cross. You plead the blood of Christ
alone, not one good deed, nothing but the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You do that and your soul shall live. Your
soul shall live. If any man desires Christ, let
him deny himself, take up the cross of Christ, and follow Him. Until next Sunday morning, may
the Lord bless His Word to our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.