The message is taken this morning
from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16. Matthew, chapter 16. And I want to read one verse
of Scripture to you that will serve as a text and the subject
of this message. Matthew 16, verse 26. The Lord Jesus Christ asked this
question. 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? Now, the Lord was just talking
to His disciples about His upcoming death. He said in verse 21, He
was telling them, how he must suffer many things of the elders,
chief priests, and scribes, and be killed and be raised again
the third day. Well, Peter didn't want to think
about the Lord dying and suffering. He did not want to think about
the Lord's death. And Peter took him to the side
and rebuked him, saying, verse 22, Be it far from thee, Lord,
This shall not be unto thee." In other words, Peter is saying,
Lord, let's not talk about that. Let's not talk about dying. Like
most people think and feel when they hear the subject of death,
they say, let's not talk about that. Let's avoid that. Let's
talk about living, they will say. I recently heard on television
an 84-year-old so-called preacher, an old man who was preaching. And that old man, 84 years old,
14 years past his allotted time of three score and ten, he said
this. He said, I am not ready to die. I don't want to die. I want to
start living. What an old fool that fellow
is. He certainly doesn't speak as
the Apostle Paul did, who said, I'm ready to depart. The time
of my departure is at hand. Paul, who said, I have a desire
to depart and be with the Lord, which is far better. Well, Peter,
like the natural man, like the average person, didn't want to
talk about dying, but the Lord said to him, the Lord in turn
rebuked Peter and said in verse 23, Get thee behind me, Satan,
thou art an offense unto me, for thou savourest not the things
that be of God, but those that be of men." Satan was the one
who was influencing Peter at this time, and our Lord said,
you savour not the things of God, but rather the things of
men. Now, the things of men spoken
of in first John chapter 2, are the lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life. All these things that are
of the world and in the world. 1 John 2. In other words, our
Lord said in Matthew 6 that people of the world, all they want to
think about is what shall we eat and drink and what shall
we wear. Satan is called the God of this
world. and his influence, his temptations,
involve the things of this world. Paul one time spoke of some people,
sadly, he said, their God is their belly. In other words,
the average human being, all he or she thinks about is eating,
drinking, and sex, which is no more than the animals think about.
Man who is supposed to be a higher life form than the mere beast,
yet he, by nature, wants nothing more than an animal does. Well,
the Lord said in Matthew 6, again, the Lord said, is not the life
more than meat, and the body more than raiment? But things
of men, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the
pride of this life. is all that most people think
about. We're inundated with these things
on television, radio, billboards, magazines, all around us. All
you see is things, things of this world. But the things of
God. The Lord said he cared not for the things of God. Well,
the things of God. Unknowingly, most folks want
the things that only God can and must give them. Unknowingly,
most people want the things that only God can give, and yet they
seek these things in other places. Most people want peace. They
want inward peace. They want peace of mind, peace
of heart, peace of life, peace in the home. They want joy. They want happiness. People seek
peace, joy, and happiness in things and in other people. Yet these things will not be
found in things. Peace, joy, happiness cannot
be found in things or even relationships here upon this earth. Why is
that? Why is that? Why is lasting peace, joy, and
happiness not to be found in the things or even people of
this earth? Why? I'll tell you why. Because
everything and everyone dies. Everything and everyone dies. All things are eventually lost. And then the sadness that comes
with that loss is greater than the joy one had when they had
these things. And look at verse 26, our Lord
again, our Lord says in verse 26, what is a man profited if
he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul. The soul
now is the real you. This body is merely a tabernacle,
a house, a dwelling place for the real you, the soul. Proof
of that is that your mind, your inner being, continues to be
active and go on while you are asleep. Although the body is
inactive, your mind quite often stays active in dreams and so
forth. Proof that there is an inner
man within us. soul. Adam, when God Almighty
created Adam, He created him out of the dust, a vessel of
clay. And Adam was not a living person
until the Lord breathed in him and he became a living soul. The soul is the real you. And
our Lord asked the question, what shall it profit a man? What
is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose
his own soul. He has but one soul. What profit
is it if you gain all the world's riches, all the world's friendship
and approbation, but lose the soul, your real self? What profit? What profit? Let me ask you something.
Ask yourself this question. What profit is there in anything
that does not last? Anything that does not last,
what profit is there in it? Why do we seek after things which
do not last? Solomon said repeatedly, vanity
of vanities, all is vanity. The whole book of Ecclesiastes
is written on the subject of the things of this world. Solomon,
whom the Lord gave more wisdom than any man who lived before
or after, with the exception of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
Solomon, who had great wisdom, said in Ecclesiastes, I set my
heart to seek after the things of this world, to see this work,
all of this in the world that people try to find happiness
in, and I tried it all, Solomon said, to paraphrase. I tried
it all, he said, and he did. He had everything there was to
have, and yet his conclusion upon trying everything was vanity
of vanity. All is vanity, all flesh. Vanity
means of no lasting value, of no real value or worth, no fulfillment,
no real satisfaction there. But the things of God now. Take peace, for instance. True
peace. There is none, the scripture
says. There is no peace to the wicked. Now, who are the wicked? Well,
don't just think of the murderers and the rapists and people like
that as being wicked, but it's anyone who does not acknowledge
God. Romans 1 is a clear description
of the natural man, the average person, who is not thankful,
who does not acknowledge God, the Scripture says, did not like
to retain God in their knowledge, professing themselves to be wise,
yet are fools, became fools, not acknowledging the God who
made them, the God who gives them the breath they breathe,
the water they drink, the food they eat, the clothes they wear,
all that they have. Every good and perfect gift comes
down from above, the Scripture says. John said a man can receive
nothing except it be given him from above. The Scripture says,
let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, the strong man in
his strength. All is given by God, yet man
does not acknowledge God by nature. So there is no peace from this
God. There is no peace of mind, heart,
no lasting peace for those who do not acknowledge God. God won't
allow it. He won't allow a man to have
peace who has nothing to do with him. True love. God is love,
the scripture says. There is no true love, lasting
love, fulfilling love outside of God and God's people, God's
son. There really, you will really
never find a true marriage outside of someone who knows God. And only person who will love
you as Christ loves is that man or that woman who knows Christ,
who has that love of God shed abroad in his or her heart. The
word divorce is not in their vocabulary. Oh, I know people
get divorced and break up who claim to be believers, but it's
not so with them. People, it's not so. Two people
claim to be believers and cannot dwell together in love. Something's
wrong with one of them or both of them. First Corinthians 13
says true love never faileth. True love. God is love. Outside
of him, there is no lasting true love and no true family outside
of the family of Christ. No friend, no true happiness.
There's no happiness to be found in this world of sin, none, and
evil, because at any time the sin and the evil in this world
can spoil that so-called happiness you seek. But the things of God
now, holiness, love, joy, peace, goodness, His presence is all
of that. The things of God, He's going
to create a new heaven and a new earth where He indwelleth righteousness. Well, that certainly doesn't
appeal to those who love this world and love the sin and sinful
world. But a new heaven or new earth
appeals to those who know this and feel this to be a world of
sorrow and sadness and sin and no lasting value. Well, let me
tell you this. Let me say this. The things of
this world are not sinful. The things in themselves. Paul
said in Romans 14, I believe it's verse 14, I know and am
persuaded of the Lord that there's no thing of itself evil, common. Our Lord said that's not what
enters the mouth of a man that defiles, but what comes out of
the heart. These things are not sinful in
and of themselves, but Paul wrote in 1 Timothy chapter 9, they
that will be rich. Those that seek after nothing
but the things of this world fall into temptation, a snare,
and many hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction." Drown
them. He says, the love of money is
the root of all evil. The pursuit of, the insatiable
desire for the things of this world. Well, our Lord said, what
shall it profit if you gain the whole world? Spend your life
pursuing dead things. If you do, you'll die. Your joy,
your happiness and everything will die when they do. Spend
your life on your career, moving up the ladder, trying to be somebody.
When that career is over, you'll be a nobody. Let me give you
an illustration. Years ago, there was a President
of the United States, served two terms. President, the most
prestigious position on earth, the highest attainment a mortal
man can attain to, aspire to. Most powerful man on earth. Now
he does not know anyone. He has Alzheimer's. He does not
know anyone or anything, nor does anyone now hardly ever think
about the man. Ronald Reagan was his name. A
great president, but now he's a nobody. What shall it profit
a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Well,
I hope the Lord will impress upon you the seriousness of this
question. Until next Sunday, good day. Thank you.