The message is taken this morning
from the Gospel of 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 he That old man, 84 years old, 14 years past his allotted
time of 3 score and 10, 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 savorest 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 savor
not the things of God, but rather the things of men. Now, the things
of men spoken of in 1 John 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 the 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 are
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 isn't 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, a 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. But the things of God now. Take peace, for instance, true
peace. There is none. 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 one 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 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. And there is no, 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 the only person who
will love you as 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. 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 wherein dwelleth righteousness. Well, that certainly doesn't
appeal to those who love this world and love the sin and sinful
world. But a new heaven and a 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. 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 first 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.