If you would like to follow along
with me while I preach the message this morning, you take your Bible
and turn please to the book of Mark. Mark the 8th chapter. I'm going to be speaking on this
subject, and lose his soul. And lose his soul. That's the title. And the scriptures
found in Mark chapter 8, verse 35 and 36. Our Lord said, whosoever shall
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 gain the whole world and lose his
soul? Now, unfortunately, and you and
I both know this is true, We're living in a world where men have
become almost totally absorbed with material things. We live
in an age of material progress and spiritual famine. Most people
today have more materially than they've ever had in all their
lives, but we'll have to confess we have less spiritually than
we've had in all our lives. Almost everything with which
we are associated is geared to the comfort and care of the body. You know this is true. And very
little concern is given to the soul. Our Lord said there are
three questions that dominate the thinking of a heathen, a
pagan. What shall I eat? What shall
I drink? And wherewithal shall I be clothed? He said these things are the
things that the heathen seek. These things are the things that
the heathen think about. Three things dominate their thinking.
The care, the concern, the comfort for this body. What am I going
to eat? What am I going to drink? And what am I going to wear?
He tells us to seek first the kingdom of God, to give ourselves
to seeking the kingdom of God. And all these other things will
be added unto us. But we have turned that around,
and we're seeking the material possessions. We're seeking the
comfort of this body, and we've neglected the welfare of our
souls. And unfortunately, the churches
and religion are caught up in this craze for materialism. Today,
millions of dollars are spent every year on spacious, magnificent,
elaborate buildings and religious programs. And so little concern
is given to what is preached from the average pulpit. You
know it so, and I know it so. This is the day of great finances
in religion and very little true faith. This is the day of much
promotion and little Holy Spirit power. This is the day of high-powered
programs and very little personal prayer. This is a day of much
talented entertainment and this is also the day of dead sermons. This is a day of great knowledge
of the sciences and very little knowledge of God Almighty. We
are hearing today what they call the health and wealth gospel
and this has to do with what I eat and what I drink and what
I wear and the health and comfort of my of my body, not my soul. And my friends, this body is
not all. Really, this body is a very small
part of me. When this body dies, I live on. The scripture says the body returns
to the dust and the soul to God who gave it. One of these days
before very long, the doctor will make his last visit to my
room. One of these days before very
long I will draw my last breath and my eyelids will close in
death. And one of these days the mortician
will do what he can for this body to preserve it for a little
while. Long enough for some folks to gather together and express
their sympathy and their sorrow. Long enough for the minister
to say a few words over my body. Long enough for the coffin lid
to be bolted down to await the resurrection. long enough for
the sod to be prepared and the grass to be planted over my flesh. But this is not all. It's not
all over. It's not all over at all. My
soul lives on. The body returns to the dust
from which it came, but the soul to God who gave it. Now, what
shall it profit a man if he have good health? What shall it profit
a man if he has great wealth? What shall it profit a man if
he has everything the world can possibly afford and loses his
soul? I can't think of anything as
horrible as this, to stand at the judgment after having been
a successful man, a famous person, one of great honor and acclaim
on this earth, and hear him who is the judge of all men say,
I don't know you. But Lord, everybody knew me in
my town, but I don't know you. But Lord, I was known far and
near, but I don't know you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity." A man can lose his soul. We're all going to lose
our bodies, that's for sure. It's appointed unto men once
to die. But I don't want to lose my soul.
And the Scripture says I can lose my soul. God says so. Now,
you're listening to a preacher this morning who believes the
Word of God. And I see no reason to explain
it away. I see no reason to explain away
the Word of God to please men. I see no reason to apologize
for what God says in His Word. Let God be true and every man
a liar. And God says a man can lose his
soul. And I believe it. I believe God's
Word. You know, over in Jeremiah chapter 23, verse 28, There's
an interesting scripture. The Lord has been rebuking the
false preachers and false prophets for preaching everything but
the Bible. He says, they don't preach my word, they preach lies. And then in Jeremiah 23, 28,
he says, the preacher that hath a dream, let him tell his dream. But the preacher that hath my
word, let him speak my word faithfully. I have no dreams to tell you.
I have no visions to tell you, I have no special revelations
to reveal to you, but I have a book written by the Holy Spirit
of God, and in it God says a man can lose his soul. In fact, he
says, whosoever shall save his life shall lose it, and his life
is his soul. Whosoever shall save his life
shall lose it. What does that mean? What's our
Lord saying there? Whosoever shall save his life
shall lose it. Here's what he means. By denying
Christ, by denying the gospel, this man can save himself from
embarrassment. By denying the truth, by denying
the gospel, by denying Christ, he can save himself from some
persecution. He can save himself from some
certain shame and ridicule, and he can save some of his earthly
connections, and he can pacify his family, he can get along
with natural men, he can really save himself from suffering any
of this embarrassment, ridicule, and persecution for the gospel's
sake. He can profit financially. He
can profit materially by compromise, by dishonesty, by worldliness,
by denying Christ. He can save himself some of these
difficulties. But in doing so, he loses his
most prized possession. He loses his only possession,
his soul. And our Lord goes on and says,
whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and for the gospel,
in other words, whatever it costs, this man's determined to walk
with Christ. Whatever it costs, this man's
determined to confess his name. Whatever it costs, this man is
determined to walk with his people and be identified with Christ.
If it costs him business connections, if it cost him money, if it cost
him possessions, if it cost him persecution or whatever. He's
willing, yea, to lay down his life for Christ's sake, if it
cost him his family. And sometimes our Lord said a
man's enemies shall be those of his own household. But he's
not going to save his life, he's going to lose his life for the
gospel's sake and for Christ's sake. And he said in losing his
life, in crucifying himself, he gains his soul, he gains his
life. Whosoever shall gain and save
his life and preserve it from all of these difficulties, he'll
lose his soul. But whosoever shall lose his
life for my sake, now he didn't say whosoever shall lose his
life defending the freedom of his country, which is a good
thing. or whosoever shall lose his life dying for a good cause,
a humanitarian cause, whosoever shall give his life going to
Africa to bind up men's wounds, he says, whosoever shall lose
his life for my sake and for the gospel shall save it, shall
gain it. And what shall it profit a man
if he gains the honor and fame and applause and possessions
of this world and loses his soul? What has he gained? Well, he's
lost everything. What are some of the ways that
men lose their souls? I want us to look at this for
a few moments. Will you think with me? I'm going to give you
four or five common ways whereby men lose their souls. First of
all, a man may lose his soul by living a life of open rebellion
against God, open and profane sin and blasphemy. That's a good
way to lose your soul. In other words, Ephesians chapter
5, verse 5, Paul says, for we know that no whoremonger, no
unclean person, no covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any
inheritance in the kingdom of God. For because of these things
the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience." My
friend, if you choose the way of blasphemy, If you choose the
way of drunkenness and the way of dishonesty, if you choose
the way of profanity and lying and stealing, if you choose the
company of these people, then you'll share their company in
the judgment. And you'll share their company under the wrath
and condemnation of Almighty God. That's true. No man's going
to inherit the kingdom of God who lives in rebellion, open
sin and rebellion against Almighty God. So that's certain, that's
sure. That's the way to lose your soul. Just leave it in sin
and rebellion against the Holy God. Who is the Lord? Pharaoh
said that I should serve Him. Well, He's God. He's God. And you're His creature. And
you're one of His subjects in His kingdom. And you owe Him
submission and worship and praise. But you go on living as a traitor
to God and a rebel against God, and you'll lose your soul. But
here's another way that men lose their souls. A man may lose his
soul by ignoring the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and ignoring
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to the scripture.
Our Lord said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth
my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting
life. Our God is a God of means, and
he is chosen by the foolishness of preaching. Not the preaching
of foolishness. Not the preaching of entertainment,
but the foolishness of preaching. Preaching is not foolishness,
but foolish men call it foolishness. Natural men call it foolishness.
The preaching of the gospel is to them who are perishing, foolishness,
sheer nonsense, idle talk. But our Lord hath chosen by preaching
to save them that believe. He said, He that heareth my word
and believeth on him that sent me. And then again, Paul wrote
in Romans, Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
David said, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into
the house of the Lord. Now our God is a God of means,
and that's shown all the way through the Bible. God has ordained
certain means by which his people come to know him. He has ordained
certain means by which he is revealed to a man's heart. He
has ordained certain means by which men worship Him and serve
Him. Ignore these means, and you'll
miss the knowledge of God. Listen to this. In the Old Testament,
there were prophets sent of God. God, in sundry times and in diverse
manners, spake to our fathers, how? By the prophets. Not by
the angels, and not by the stars, and not by the clouds, and not
by the whistling of the wind through the trees, but He spake
to them by the prophets. These prophets were the means
of God to reveal himself to those who had listened to them. In
the Old Testament, there were prophets, there was a tabernacle
where God met men and men met God. There were sacrifices. In
the Old Testament, there was a mercy seat. And God gave these
means to reveal himself and his redemption and his salvation
and his purpose and grace. And to ignore these means was
to miss God. To ignore these means meant judgment. If a man did not come with a
proper sacrifice at the proper time to the proper temple or
tabernacle, then he brought upon himself the wrath of God. You
couldn't ignore the means. You couldn't do it the way you
wanted to do it. You did it the way God decreed for it to be
done. Our God is a God of means. He's
a God of mercy, but that mercy is revealed by the means of His
grace. Now, in the New Testament, we
have a prophet That prophet is Christ our Lord, God, who at
sundry times and in diverse manners spake to our fathers with the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son. This is my Son, he said, hear
him, hear him. God has spoken to us. We have
a tabernacle. Christ is that tabernacle. We
have sacrifices. His blood is that sacrifice.
This is my body broken for you, he said. This is my blood which
was shed for the remission of your sins. And we have a mercy
seat. And that mercy seat is in the
presence of God. And Christ has entered once into
the holy place, not made with hands, which is a figure, a pattern,
a picture of the true, but into the presence of God. Not with
the blood of animals, but with his own precious blood. Not with
many sacrifices, but with one offering. by which he has perfected
forever them that are sanctified." Now you can't ignore these means
and expect to know God any more than the men and women of the
Old Testament could ignore the types and the shadows and the
ceremonies and the pictures and not incur God's wrath. David
said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell
or be the king in the tents of wickedness. Christ said, I'll
build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. Again, Paul wrote in Ephesians, Christ loved the church and gave
himself for it. So my friends, I say this to
you. You can't ignore God's prophet. You can't ignore God's priest.
You can't ignore God's son. You can't ignore God's word.
You can't ignore God's preacher. You can't ignore God's church.
Because these are means of grace. They're not the end in themselves.
You can't make a God out of the preacher or a God out of the
church. You can't find salvation in the ordinance. But these things
are the means of grace. And you can't ignore them and
walk with Christ. So a man can lose his soul by
saying, I won't have that way. I won't go that way. I'm going
my own way. I'll look at the stars and find
my knowledge of God. Well, you'll look till doomsday
and the stars are not going to say anything to you. The stars
will let you think what you want to think, but God's Word won't
let you think what you want to think. God's Word makes you subject
your thoughts to His thoughts and your ways to His way. This
is my way, God said, and it'll be your way if you walk with
God. Two cannot walk together except they be agreed. And Christ
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to
the Father but by me. Don't lose your soul by ignoring
God's Word. and ignoring God's gospel and
ignoring God's Son. I'll tell you another way that
men lose their souls. A man may lose his soul by following
false preachers and by adopting a false religion. Somebody said
it doesn't matter what you believe just so you're sincere. I've
never found that in God's Word. I found rather it does matter
what you believe. He tells us to beware of false
prophets. They'll come to you, he said,
in sheep's clothing. But inwardly, they're ravening
wolves. He tells us, if the blind lead the blind, they're going
to fall into the ditch. If blind people follow blind
preachers, they're both going to perish in the same pit. And
again, he said, you compass. He was talking to these religious
men of his day. And they were in the ministry
out of covetousness and greed and all of these things. And
he said, you compass sea and land. to make one proselyte for
your religion. And after you've made him, he's
twofold more the child of hell than you are. We're so concerned
with making proselytes. We're so concerned with making
converts. We're so concerned with turning
people to our way of thinking. And our Lord said, when you've
done this, he's twofold more the child of hell than the pattern
itself. My friends, a man can lose his
soul following a false preacher. Try the spirits, whether they
be of God. How shall I try the spirits, preacher? Well, try
them by the word of God. Read the scriptures. Any message
that does not give God all the glory and Christ all the praise
for redemption, I guarantee you it's not of God. Because the
Scripture says, Of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
that as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the
Lord. God forbid, Paul said, that I
should glory in anything except the cross of Jesus Christ. And
I fear that multitudes today are drugging their souls on ceremonies
and customs and traditions and false doctrines which never came
from God, which God did not teach. They're teaching for doctrine
the commandments of men, abstain from this meat, walk a certain
way on this day, do the best you can, keep this law, join
this denomination. The scripture says, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. If thou shalt
confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord and believe in thine
heart God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
All right, a man can lose his soul by following a false prophet
and by adopting a false profession or religion. And then fourthly,
a man can lose his soul by making a false profession of faith.
I see the multitudes flooding the church aisles and the tent
aisles and the auditorium aisles and the stadium aisles going
down to the front to make a profession of religion. My friend, let me
warn you. A confession of Christ on your
lips will mean nothing if Christ does not live in your heart.
Now, I promise you that. You can say what you want to
with your lips, but if Christ does not reign in your hearts,
if the reality of regeneration and the reality of conversion
and the reality of the living God is not yours by experience
in your heart, you can walk down an aisle 10,000 times and still
be lost. And I'll tell you this, being
baptized in water will profit you nothing if you've not been
baptized into Christ by the Holy Spirit. And your name on a church
roll book will do you no good. It'll mean nothing unless your
name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life by a sovereign God. So you can make your professions
a fade. But oh, I cry out against the
danger of pulling professions out of people who do not really
know God. Pressure, pressure, pressure.
It's like high-pressure salesmen selling books, or insurance,
or something else, coming into your home and convincing you
that you ought to do this, and convincing you you ought to do
that. And then when they leave, you've done it. And you've got
no experience, and no joy, and no peace, and no understanding,
and no rest. I tell you, if we'll just preach
the gospel, and lead the Holy Spirit to do the work of regeneration
and the work of conviction and the work of conversion and let
men come to us and tell us what God has done for them. It's not
our responsibility to go to them and tell them what God has done. If God's done something for them,
they'll tell us. They'll let somebody know about
it. My friends, I say this, what shall it profit a man if he gained
10,000 worlds and lose his soul? The value of things will vastly
change one day for every one of you. The day cometh when money
and bank notes and bonds will be worth no more than waste paper
blowing down a city street. The day will come when diamonds
and gold and silver will be like dust in the street. The day cometh
when houses and lands and farms will be as worthless as a child's
worn out toys. The day will come when the fame
and honor and acclaim and prestige and influence of this world will
be no more than faded flowers and withered grass. The day will
come when men will trade all they have and all they are and
all they know for one grain of faith, for one gospel sermon,
for one hour of prayer. But that day they will find out
the value of a human soul. Now I close with this comment.
A man may lose his soul, but I'll tell you this, if I had
to end this sermon on that tragic note, I'd be very despondent. But I say this to you, a man's
soul can be saved. That's good news, isn't it? A
man's soul can be saved. A man told me this afternoon,
he said, when I heard that for the first time, that there was
a possibility that all my sins could be forgiven, that all my
guilt and shame and sin and iniquity could be pardoned and put away,
that God would be reconciled to me and I could become a child
of God and a son of God. He said it was too good to be
true. I was thrilled in my soul and I began to seek that way.
I began to look for that justification and that pardon. And by God's
grace, one day it was revealed to me by the Holy Spirit. But
a man's soul can be saved. And you know why I say that?
I say that, first of all, because Christ died. That's how I know
that a man can be saved. Christ Jesus died. It says in
1 Peter 3, 18, Christ has suffered for sins. Somebody's sins. Somebody's
going to be saved. God Almighty's going to save
somebody. Christ is going to have a people.
God's already purposed it. God's already decreed it. God
Almighty's already ordained that Christ is going to have a people.
Heaven's going to be populated. There's going to be some folks
up there singing His praises unto Him who loved us and washed
us from our sin in His own precious blood. He suffered for sins.
the just for the unjust, that he might bring somebody to God.
So I know that a man's soul can be saved, first of all, because
Christ died. And I know for whom he died.
He died for sinners, of whom I'm chief. He died for the ungodly.
He died not for the righteous, but for the unrighteous. He died
not for those who are strong, but those who are weak, those
who are without strength, without God, without hope at their wit's
end. He died for them. But secondly, I know that souls
can be saved not only because Christ died, but because Christ
lives. He didn't stay dead. Every Messiah
and religious leader and prophet of old who claimed to be what
he wasn't is dead and in his grave. But nobody's in the grave
where Christ slept for three days and three nights because
that grave's empty. The stone was rolled away and
he arose. And the angel said to the women
who came to the tomb on that Sunday morning, why seek ye the
living among the dead? He's not here. He's risen. Christ
is risen. Well, where is he, preacher?
This one who died for sinners, this man, Christ Jesus, has ascended
to heaven. And he's seated in the most respected,
prominent, honored place there is, on God's right hand. What's he doing? He's interceding
for all who believe. I know that sinners can be saved
and souls can be saved because God promised it in his word.
He said, come unto me, I'll give you rest. He said, ho, everyone
that's thirsty, come to me and drink. He said, ho, everyone
that's laboring and heavy laden, come to me. And I'll give you
rest. And God cannot lie. He has given
us the promise of his blessed word that he will give eternal
life to all who believe.