Gaining the World and Losing His Soul

Q: What does the Bible say about gaining the world and losing your soul?

The Bible teaches that gaining the world but losing your soul is ultimately futile, as true profit lies in spiritual, not material, wealth. In Mark 8:34-36, Jesus challenges us with a profound question about the value of our souls versus worldly gains. He emphasizes that while one may achieve earthly success and accumulate wealth, it is worthless if one neglects the soul. The pursuit of material possessions often distracts from spiritual truths, ultimately leading to devastating consequences. The Apostle Paul echoes this idea by highlighting the offense of the cross and the necessity of prioritizing our relationship with Christ over worldly desires. Romans 12:2 also implores believers to not conform to the patterns of this world, indicating that true life comes from Christ and not from earthly gains.

Q: How do we know salvation is through Christ alone?

Salvation is through Christ alone, as affirmed in passages that denote Him as the only mediator between God and humanity. The sovereignty of God in salvation emphasizes that there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). The gospel proclaims Christ as the sole source of redemption. Ephesians 2:8-9 further supports this by affirming that we are saved by grace through faith, and this is not of ourselves; it is the gift of God. Therefore, all forms of self-justification or reliance on works are nullified when viewed in light of Christ's perfect sacrifice on the cross. Only through Christ’s atonement and the regeneration by the Holy Spirit do we find true salvation, underscoring that any attempt to earn favor with God through our actions is in vain.

Q: Why is it dangerous to ignore the gospel?

Ignoring the gospel risks eternal loss, as it deprives individuals of the means of salvation and spiritual truth. The consequences of ignoring the gospel are profound and serious, as seen in Romans 10:14-17, which emphasizes the necessity of hearing the Word to believe in Christ. Without preaching, people cannot grasp their need for salvation or the redemptive work of Christ. When individuals rely on their moral standards while disregarding the gospel, they may feel secure but are actually distanced from the truth of God’s righteousness. Ephesians 5:5 warns that no unrepentant sinner will inherit God’s kingdom, which underscores the urgency of preaching the gospel to reveal the need for Christ’s redemptive work. Thus, ignoring the gospel equates to neglecting the only pathway to escape eternal condemnation.

Q: What does it mean to serve God and not the world?

Serving God means prioritizing Him above all worldly pursuits and desires, as these ultimately lead to spiritual emptiness. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus presents a crucial truth: no one can serve two masters, indicating that loyalty to God cannot coexist with a deep love for the world. Serving God involves a commitment to His will, which may often contrast sharply with worldly values. The allure of materialism can create a distraction that pulls believers away from their devotion to God, threatening their spiritual lives. Colossians 3:2 urges Christians to set their minds on things above, not on earthly things. This heavenly focus fosters a life where Christ is paramount, leading to lasting fulfillment rather than temporary pleasures.

I'm going to try to get down
where you live today and speak to you very plainly on the subject,
gaining the world and losing your soul. Now I hope you'll
take a few moments and listen to me. I don't mean to be offensive,
don't want to be offensive, but you know the Apostle Paul said
this about the message of salvation. He said it is offensive, it's
the offense of the cross. And then he said on another occasion,
if I seek to please men, I'm not the servant of Jesus Christ.
Now on the subject, gaining the world and losing your souls,
we're going to turn to Mark the 8th chapter and begin reading
with verse 34. Mark 8, 34. And our Lord is speaking. And when he had called the people
to it, the master gathered the people about it with his disciples. He said unto them, Whosoever
will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and
follow me. Let him deny himself, take up
his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life,
what does that mean? Well it means his earthly peace,
his earthly prosperity, his earthly honor, his earthly relationship,
this life here on this earth. Whosoever will save that and
deliver that and protect that, whosoever is not willing to part
with it or give it up, whosoever will save his life will finally
lose it. But whosoever will lose his life,
that is, be willing to part with the things of the natural material
world for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ will save his life
ultimately, eternally. For what shall it profit a man
if he gain the whole world and lose his soul? Or what shall
a man give in exchange for his soul? What would you take for
your soul? What would you take? What are you taking ought to
be my question. What are you now taking in exchange
for your soul? Now we're living in a world where
men have been totally absorbed in the physical the material
and the things that pertain to this place. That's right, you
know it's true and I know it's true. Everything about us and
most of the things in us are geared to the comfort and care
of this body. Our Lord said we're taken up
with three questions. What shall I drink? What shall
I eat? And wherewithal shall I be clothed? That's what concerns us, the
lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. That's called the world. That's
right. Turn to 1 John 2, verse 16. Listen to Christ. In 1 John
2, verse 15, the Lord says, Love not the world. These are the
things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, if
the world is his object of affection, if the world is his ultimate
primary concern, If he loves the world, if that's his first
love, the love of God's not in him. For all that is in the world,
and this is the things that make up the world, the lust of this
flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, and it's
not of the Father, but it's of the world. And the world passeth
away, and the lust thereof But he that doeth the will of God,
he who's concerned with the will of God, he who is primarily dedicated
to the will of God abideth forever. Now when I say the world is taken
up with the material, and I want you to listen to me now carefully,
when I say that the world is taken up with the physical, and
the flesh, and the material, and the comforts of this body,
I'm saying the church also today. And this is what's tragic. The
people who profess to be the people of God are caught up with
this same materialism. That's right, it's a far cry
today from Abraham who was a pilgrim, who was a sojourner, who never
drove his stakes very deep, who never stayed anywhere very long.
It's a far cry from Abraham who dwelt in tents and who looked
for a city, who didn't own one, he looked for one. who have,
which have foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Now
look around you. I've been in what we call religion
a long time. I've been preaching a long time.
And I'm looking, I'm taking a good hard look at today's religion
and millions and millions and millions of dollars are spent
on spacious, magnificent, gaudy buildings with gymnasiums and
bowling alleys and swimming pools and social centers and elaborate
entertainment and no message. We're more concerned about the
comfort of the cathedral than we are in the message from the
minister. We're more concerned about finances
than we are faith. We're more concerned about our
program than we are power. We're ever learning and never
coming to knowledge of the truth. And ministers are caught up in
this same materialism. Ministers live in mansions. They
draw exorbitant salaries. They wear diamond rings and ask
for more. They have bank accounts, stocks
and bonds. Someone said to me one day, he
said, you know, the only stocks and bonds that Paul ever owned
were those that were around his arms and around his legs. They
were stocks and bonds. But the word of God wasn't back.
And the message from the pulpit today is just no message at all.
And when you do hear a message, listen to me. I'm saying we're
caught up in a materialism, we're caught up in the physical, we're
caught up in the flesh. We're more concerned about this
body than we are in our relationship with God. And the average sermon
you hear today has something to do, now listen to me, has
something to do with either the healing of the body or the filling
of the pocketbook. That's what preachers are emphasizing.
God wants you to be perfectly well and God wants you to prosper. And God wants your business to
prosper, and God wants this, and God wants that, and God wants
the other. If you're tired, God will bless you. If you give your
heart to Jesus, He'll heal you. If you come forward, God will
give you a happy, happy life. It's fun to be saved. We're rich
and increased with goods, and we have need of nothing. And
God comes back and says, you do not know that you're poor,
miserable, blind and naked and have need of all things. One
of these days, one of these days we're going to wake up to the
fact that this body, this flesh, this world is nothing. That that
which matters is my relationship with the living God. It's not
how fares my body, but how fares my soul. It's not how much I'm
worth, It's who is worth the most to me, Christ the Lord or
my physical material blessings. Suppose I gain the whole world
with its glory and its fame and its honor and its comforts and
lose my soul and never know the living God. When the doctor makes
his last trip to my room and tells my wife he's going and
he's going fast and then the undertaker comes and he puts
me on that rolling table and puts a sheet over my face and
my wife leaves the room weeping and my children they take me
down to the hearse and drive me over to the funeral parlor
and there they take the blood out of my body and replace it
with embalming fluid and put me in a fancy satin encased coffin
and then the preacher stands up and says a few words and my
friends pay their last respects and then they let my body down
in a hole and the family all leaves Men down at the cemetery
start shoveling in the dirt, and they put a headstone there,
and it's all over. And then, and then, what shall
it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his
soul? Let me tell you, our Lord said
this, no man can serve two masters. No man can serve God and mammon.
He will either love the one and hate the other. And you cannot
love God and love this world. You cannot serve the living God,
who is a spirit. They that worship God, worship
him in spirit and in truth. What shall it profit a man? If
he gained all that you're living for, and all that you're living,
trying to get, and all that you're panting after, if he gains every
bit of that and gets it in his hands, in his control, all of
the comforts that this world can give, all of the glory this
world can give, all of the pleasure this world can give, all of the
pain this world can give if he gains it all and loses his soul
I cannot think of anything more horrible Solomon said he tried
it all and he found out vanity of vanities all is vanity point
number one a man can lose his soul there's several ways that
a man can lose his soul there's only one way that a man can be
saved and that's through the blood of Christ There's only
one way that a man can be redeemed, and that's by Christ. But there's
several ways a man can lose his soul. First of all, a man can
lose his soul by living in open sin and open rebellion against
God Almighty. You can lose your soul that way.
Ephesians chapter 5 verse 5 says this, We know that no whoremonger
or unclean person or covetous man who is an idolater has any
inheritance in the kingdom of God Because of these things cometh
the wrath of God on the children of disobedience. That's right,
a man can lose his soul by living in open rebellion against God
Almighty, living in open sin. The wages of sin is death, the
soul that sinneth it shall surely die. If you want to lose your
soul, just go on living in open rebellion against God Almighty.
But, a man can lose his soul also by simply ignoring the gospel
of Christ. He can live what the world calls,
now notice I said what the world calls a moral life. God doesn't
call it a moral life. The only moral life that's ever
been lived in this world was lived by God in the flesh. He
said there's none good, no not one. There's none that understands
it. There's none that seeketh after God. God looked down from
heaven to see if any did do good, and he found they all become
unprofitable, they're all gone, all we like sheep have gone astray,
we've turned everyone to his own ways. All has sinned and
come short of the glory of God. If any man says he hasn't sinned,
he's a liar, and the truth's not in him. And he doesn't know
God, and he's made God a liar. But suppose a man lives what
we call a moral life, a good life compared with other men,
and ignores the gospel of Christ, he loses his soul that way. Oh,
but they come back and they say, I can worship God in the fields.
I don't need to go to church. I don't need to hear you preach.
I can worship God in the fields. I can walk in the woods and worship
God. I don't need a preacher. I don't
need a Bible. Now listen to me. Listen real
good. It is true the heavens declare
the glory of God. No question about it. And the
firmament showeth his handiwork. And God is seen in the things
that are made. That's what the book of Romans
says. you'll never know anything about God's righteousness and
God's justice and God's grace and God's mercy and God's salvation
and the gospel and true forgiveness through Jesus Christ unless you
hear the word of God unless you, because God has chosen by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe the gospel
Paul said is the power of God unto salvation and in Romans
10 17 he wrote faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word
of God and John said these things are written that you might believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved and before our Lord
went back to glory he said to his disciples you go preach the
gospel to every creature the stars won't preach the gospel
to you or they'll twinkle and shine and tell you there's a
powerful God and a supreme being but they'll never tell you you're
a sinner And never tell you you're lost, and never tell you you
need a Savior, and never tell you Christ died for sinners,
and never tell you that He welcomes all who are wounded and heavy
laden and weary to come to Him. And He satisfied the law, and
He satisfied justice, and He died that you may live. The stars
will never tell you that. You can walk through the woods
till you're an old gray-haired man with a long beard, and walking
on a cane, and the woods will never tell you Christ died for
sinners. You've got to hear that from the Word of God. How shall
they call on Him? whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?" David said, I was
glad when they said to me, let's go to the house of the Lord.
I know a lot of you go to the house of God and all you hear
is a bunch of foot stomping music, not much there is there. I know
a lot of you go to the house of God and all you hear is a
lot of announcements or begging for money. I know a lot of you
go to the house of God and all you hear is quarreling and bickering
and backbiting and gossiping and fault finding I know somewhere
find you somebody preaching the gospel and be able to say with
David how glad I was when they said let's go to the house of
the Lord for there I heard my God speak and there his word
was a convicting sword and there his word was a comforting balm
and there his word was a blessed gospel that revealed Christ to
my heart You can lose your soul by ignoring the gospel. Now keep
on, keep on walking your way in your so-called morality, in
your so-called righteousness, going about to establish your
own righteousness, and someday, while you've gained the approval
of the world and gained the reputation of being a fine man and gained
the recognition of your friends and gained the acclaim of your
comrades, you've lost your soul. And then a man can lose his soul
by adopting a false religion. That's right, and following a
false prophet. Our Lord warned us, he said,
beware of false prophets. They'll come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they're ravening wolves. Our Lord told
us, he said, if the blind lead the blind, they'll both fall
into the ditch. Our Lord warned us, he said these
people come from sea and land to make proselytes for their
religion and after they've made them, they're two-fold more the
child of hell than those who made them. Multitudes of people
are drugging their souls with custom and tradition. They're
drugging their souls with ceremonies. They go on Sunday morning and
go through a little ceremony and it drugs their soul, it gives
them some comfort and some ease till next Sunday when they run
down there and go through that little ceremony again. They're
drugging their souls with religious practices and religious beliefs
that do not come from the word of God. It's no more than the
man taking some kind of drug to escape the problems of this
world. It's no more than a young person
taking drugs to get out of the reality of it all. You people
are trying to do the same thing. You're going down there while
some preacher cries, peace, peace, peace, and there is no peace.
And you go through that little ceremony and that little tradition,
that little custom and call it knowing God, call it worshiping
God. You can lose your soul that way.
And then a man can lose his soul by making a false profession
of faith while not being brought into a living union with Christ.
Now listen, the name of Christ on your lips will mean nothing
if he doesn't live in your heart. You can stand and sing the empty
words, Oh, how I love Jesus. But if you do not love Christ
in your heart, he said, let him be a curse. He said, you call
me Lord with your lips. That's what he said to the religious
people of his day. I'm not preaching any new message.
I'm preaching what Christ preached when he was here talking to this
religious crowd. He said, you call me Lord with
your lips, but your hearts are far from me. You come and you
sit as my people and you sing as my people, but your hearts,
they're somewhere else. You love this world. And my friend,
I tell you this, being baptized in water will profit you nothing
unless you're baptized into Christ. And I'm telling you this, being
a member of the church body will mean nothing to you if you're
not a member of the body of Christ. He said, I am the head, you're
the body. I am the vine, you're the branches.
The life comes from me, and if you're severed from me, you're
fit for nothing but those withered, seared, dried branches that are
cast into the fire. Having a body that's healthy
and a pocketbook that's wealthy is not an evidence that you have
riches toward God. I know I'm saved, God healed
me. It might not have been God who healed you. Try the spirits,
whether they be of God. I prevail, Paul said. He wrote
to that early church, and he said, I prevail till Christ be
formed in you. Christ in you. That's the hope
of glory. When Christ is formed in the
heart by the Holy Spirit, and an individual is vitally united
to Christ by faith, when we behold his glory, when we behold his
inheritance, when we behold his presence, the things of this
world They lose their importance. They lose their attraction. They
lose their significance. I'm not saying that the people
of God ought not love comfort, and ought not love good food,
and ought not love the nice things of this world. I'm not saying
that at all. I'm simply saying, my friend, that which is first
in your life is your Lord. That which is most important
in your life is your God. That which means the most to
you, that which takes your time and your effort and your strength
and your motivation, that for which you live, that's your God. And it better be Christ, because
you can gain this whole world and lose your soul. And the terrible
thing is that as we keep on in this rut, as we keep on in this
rut of materialism and flesh, we grow dull and we grow hardened. And we grow blinded. And we come
to the place we can't even recognize the truth when we hear it. We've
justified ourselves so long. And we've appeased ourselves
so long. And we've hardened our hearts
so long against God's warning that we don't hear it anymore.
It's like a man living by a railroad track. And the first night, when
that old 2.30 a.m. special comes through, it wakes
him up. And he lies there awake for a while. And the second night,
he wakes him up. And the third night, but on the 30th night,
He sleeps like a baby. Train's still there, the noise
is still there, the warning's still there, but he's used to
it. And he's justified himself so long. My friends, the values
of these material things are going to change greatly someday.
I picked up something the other day that hit me with such an
impact, I want you to listen to it. The hour is coming when
money, banknotes, and bonds will be worth no more than waste paper
blowing down the street. The day cometh when diamonds
and gold will be worth nothing but dust in the street. The day
cometh when houses and lands will be as worthless as a child's
worn out discarded toys. The day cometh when the fame
and honor and glory of this world will be as faded and withered
as last month's flowers. The day cometh when the strength
and the wisdom of this body will be as obsolete as a witch doctor's
medicine. The day cometh when men will
trade all they ever had, all they ever earned, all they ever
knew, all they ever accomplished for just one sermon, for just
one hour of prayer, for just one grain of faith. Then we'll
find out the value of our souls as opposed to all that this world
can give. What shall it profit if I gain
the whole world? Your friendship, your fame, your
glory, your recognition, your praise, my comfort, and be damned
by God Almighty. It's a terrible thing, isn't
it? I can picture in my own mind what it's going to be like in
that day when people hear him say, and I trust I shall not,
depart from me, I never knew you. I never knew you. Depart from me, I never knew
you. Now listen, I want to close.
I've got four and a half minutes, and I want to deal with this
subject right here. A man's soul can be saved. It can be saved. I can't do it. I can't save anybody. And you can't do it. You can't
save anybody. The disciples said, well, Lord,
who then can be saved? He said, with me and it's impossible.
But with God, all things are possible. The church can't save
your soul. The law can't do it. But God
can. Who then can be saved? With me
and it's impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. I can lose my soul, but only God can save it. I can
bring down upon myself the wrath of God, but only Christ can bring
to me the love of God. I can bring down upon myself
the judgment of God, but only through Christ and His grace
and His power can I hear God say, enter thou blessed into
the kingdom prepared for thee before the world was. God's mercy
to sinners is in Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ paid the
price for our And the Holy Spirit of God performs that work of
regeneration that makes us new creatures. Only God can do it.
Listen to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 36, verse 25. God says,
Then will I sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean.
From all your filthiness and all your idols, I will cleanse
you. A new heart I'll give you. That's
what needs to take place. Now, my friends, no one can perform
this work but God. No one can perform. This is called
the new birth. This is called regeneration.
And anything, anything can be given up if we have something
better in its place. Now think about that. You know
why people join the church and they stay in church a little
while and profess to be saved, and then they're gone in a little
while? Well, they give up the world, and they give up their
pleasures, and they give up their habits, and they give up their
sins, and they give up their friends, and they don't have
anything to take its place. don't have anything to take to
their place. So they're empty. They're like the man that Christ
talked about when the unclean spirit went out. And he came
back and he found the house empty. He found it empty. So he went
out and got seven other demons, more wicked than himself, and
they all moved in, and the last state of the man was seven times
worse than the first state. And this is what happens. People,
preachers, stand up and preach a sermon about heaven and hell
and damnation and salivation and Christ and the blood and
say, you want to go to heaven, come down the aisle and shake
my hand, join the church. People do that and they try for
a while and they make an effort for a while but after a while
it gets to be a burden, after a while it gets to be tiresome,
after a while they miss their friends and they miss their habits
and they miss their pleasures and they miss their comfort and
they miss the things that they lived for so many years and then
they quit and go back to those things. What happened? They didn't
have anything take its place. Now Christ said, here's real
conversion. If a strong man armed keeps his
palace, that is Satan. But when a stronger than he comes
upon him and drives him out, he divides his spalls and drives
him out and Christ takes up his abode and Christ lives within
us. And then when these things come back and look us in the
face, we say, we don't need you, we have Christ. We don't need
you, we've got something better. We don't need you, we've got
Him, Him. We've seen his beauty. Who needs the world's beauty?
We've seen his glory. Who needs the world's glory?
We have his inheritance. Who needs these paltry, pitiful
air castles and sand castles that the tide of life will soon
take away? We don't need it. It's got somebody in its place. You see what I'm saying? And
that's what he says here. I'll take away all your idols
and your filthiness and give you a new heart. and I'll put
my spirit within you and I'll take that old stony heart out
and give you a heart of flesh and you'll walk in my statutes
and in my judgments. That's what happens when God
dwells, when Christ dwells in a man. When these things are
laid aside, he has someone else. He has the peace and joy and
happiness of Christ and he doesn't need to look anywhere else for
it. What should a prophet of man? Begin the whole world, lose
his soul. This message is on cassette tape,
along with last week's message. If you'd like to have it, write
to me. And look in next Lord's Day at the same time. Until then,
God bless you, everyone.

Gaining the World and Losing His Soul

What does the Bible say about gaining the world and losing your soul?

How do we know salvation is through Christ alone?

Why is it dangerous to ignore the gospel?

What does it mean to serve God and not the world?

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Gaining the World and Losing His Soul

What does the Bible say about gaining the world and losing your soul?

How do we know salvation is through Christ alone?

Why is it dangerous to ignore the gospel?

What does it mean to serve God and not the world?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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