And Lose His Own Soul

and lose his own soul. And my friends, we're living
in a world where men have become almost totally absorbed with
earthly and material things. We live in an age of material
progress and spiritual famine. I'm sure most of you recognize
that. Everything is geared today to
the comfort and the ease and the care of the body. and little
or no attention is given to the soul. Our Lord Jesus says three
questions dominate heathen thinking. What shall I eat? And what shall
I drink? And wherewithal shall I be clothed? Aren't those the questions that
are asked most in the minds of people today? What shall I eat?
What shall I drink? And wherewithal shall I be clothed? This is a materialistic age.
It is an age in the world in which men are totally absorbed
in earthly things, material things, and little care is given to the
soul. And I regret to say that the
churches of today are caught up in this materialism. Millions
of dollars are spent every year on spacious, magnificent, and
comfortable buildings. No care is given to what comes
forth from the pulpit. We're taken up with our buildings
and our programs and our choirs and our music and our visitation
programs, but the message which is preached from the pulpit is
of very little importance. We're living in a day, religiously
speaking, of great finance and little faith. We're living in
a day of much promotion and very little power. We're living in
a day of great programs and few prayer meetings. We're living
in a day of talented entertainment and dead sermons. We're living
in a day when men have great knowledge of the sciences and
very little knowledge of the living God. But this body is
not all. This body is not all. When everything
is finished with this body, my soul lives on. When the doctor
makes his last visit to my room, shakes his head and tells the
family there is no hope. When the last breath is drawn
and my eyes are closed in death. When the mortician prepares my
body for burial. When my friends come by the funeral
home to pay their respects and to express their sorrow to my
widow and to my children. When the minister says his last
words over my body, And those doors are closed and he screws
down the coffin lid. And then they take my body out
to the cemetery and put it in the ground. And the sod is packed
over my vault and the grass is planted. And everybody turns
and walks away. Well, all is not over. My body
has returned to the dust from whence it came. But the scripture
says, my soul to God who gave it. My soul lives on. After all
of this is finished, what shall it profit a man if he gained
the whole world and lose his soul? I may lose this body, and
I expect to. God will resurrect it some day
by his grace through Christ's power. But when my body's gone
back to the dust, my soul lives on. That's what we're talking
about. What shall it profit a man if then he has gained the whole
world, a world of possessions and power and popularity fame
and honor and friends and loses his soul. I have three points
in this message today, the first of which is this. A man may lose
his soul. A man may lose his soul. Now, I'm not apologizing for
this, but I'm one of those old-fashioned preachers who believes the Bible.
I believe all that the Bible contains. I have no sympathy
for those who apologize for God. I have no sympathy with those
who explain away God's word. I have no sympathy for those
whom the Lord calls false prophets who cry peace, peace, when there
is no peace. I believe the Bible. It is God's
word. I believe that God created all
things for his glory. I believe that Almighty God made
man in his own image. He created him upright and holy,
and man fell. And as a result of Adam's fall,
man has become a fallen, sinful creature. I believe that man
cannot save himself, not by his religion, not by his works, not
by his own self-righteousness. I believe that God has given
in Christ the only Savior who can redeem a sinner. And I believe
that judgment follows death. And I believe that hell follows
judgment. And I believe that the redeemed
will live forever in glory because Christ died for them, because
they trusted him, because they believed on him, because they
were redeemed by his grace. But I also believe, and I do
not apologize for this, I don't understand it all by any means,
but I believe that those who know not Christ shall hear God
say, Depart from me, I never knew you, and they shall be cast
into hell. Christ described it in this fashion,
where the worm dieth not and the fire shall never be quenched. I believe that a man can lose
his soul forever and forever and forever. I believe the Bible
is true when it declares a man will be eternally damned who
knows not Christ. Now then, how can a man lose
his soul? Well, there are several ways
in which a man can lose his soul. First of all, he can lose his
soul by living a life of open sin and rebellion against God. Drunkenness, profanity, dishonesty,
lying, fornication, blasphemy, these are all shortcuts to hell.
The scripture says in Ephesians 5, verse 5 and 6, for this we
know. that no whoremonger, no unclean
person, no covetous man who is an idolater, hath any inheritance
in the kingdom of God. Because of these things, the
wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. God will punish
sin. And a man can lose his soul by
giving himself to a life of open sin and rebellion against God,
go on living in drunkenness and profanity and blasphemy. living
in fornication and adultery and these sins, and you will feel
some day the wrath of God. For the book shall be opened
and men shall be judged out of those things written in the book
according to their works. But also a man can lose his soul
by ignoring the church and ignoring the gospel. Now someone speaks
up and says, well, Brother Mahan, I can worship God in the fields.
I can worship God out in the woods, I can worship God out
under the starry sky. Well, let's think together a
moment. It is true that the heavens declare the glory of God. It
is true that the firmament showeth forth his handiwork. It is true
that the heaven of heavens cannot contain God Almighty, much less
these houses that we have built and call them God's house. It
is true that God is a spirit. And they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth. It is true that God looks
not on the outward countenance, but God looks on the heart. And
God judges a man not by his outward bowing and scraping and so forth,
but by the attitude of his heart. But my friends, according to
this Bible, and that's how we know God, God is revealed in
Christ, God is revealed in the Word. God is a God of means. Almighty God, throughout his
word, has ordained means and estimates to reveal himself and
to meet with his people. David wrote, I was glad when
they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. And
David said on another occasion, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in
God's house than to dwell in the tents of the wicked. But
throughout this Bible, God had prophets who spoke to the people.
He said, God who in sundry times and different manners spake to
our fathers by the prophets, God ordained prophets to speak
to the people. And even so, the New Testament
tells us in Ephesians 5, when Christ ascended, he left apostles,
prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, that the people
of God might be might grow in maturity and grow in the knowledge
of Christ and grow and develop into a full Christian. Also,
there was a tabernacle. There was a tabernacle in the
wilderness where God met with his people and where the people
met with their God. And our Lord Jesus Christ said,
speaking to Peter and the apostles, whom do men say that I am? Well,
some say you're John the Baptist, some they lie. But whom do you
say that I am? And Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. And our Lord said, Blessed art
thou, Simon. On this rock I'll build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." His church.
And then the book of Ephesians says that Christ loved the church
and gave himself for it. So our Lord ordained prophets.
He ordained the tabernacle in the Old Testament. And he has
ordained pastors and teachers. And he has ordained the church
as means of his grace and instruments of his grace to reveal himself.
There was a priest in the Old Testament. There was a mercy
seat in the Holy of Holies. There were sacrifices to be offered
day by day and year by year. And God gave these means. And
to ignore these means meant certain death in the Old Testament. You
couldn't ignore the priest. You couldn't ignore the tabernacle.
You couldn't ignore the mercy seat. You couldn't ignore the
sacrifices. God gave these means, and God
gave these instruments, and it was fatal to ignore them. And
I say today that Christ is that prophet who reveals unto us the
Heavenly Father. He said, he that hath seen me
hath seen the Father. Now where are you going to learn
about Christ? He's not on this earth now in person. You're going
to learn about him through his word, the report of these apostles,
the report of these disciples. the report of these men who live
with him and walk with him and learn from him. They tell us
about Christ who reveals unto us the Heavenly Father. Even
so, Christ is our tabernacle. It is not in a building where
we meet God. Anyone who claims that is claiming
ignorance and foolishness for himself. God does not just meet
with us in buildings. God is everywhere, omnipresent,
omnipotent, omniscient. But Christ is our tabernacle.
That's where men meet God in Christ, and that's where God
meets men in Christ. We have a high priest, it's not
Aaron, it's not the sons of Levi, it's Christ the Lord. He is our
high priest. And having a high priest over
the house of God, we boldly come into the presence of the Heavenly
Father, praying all of our prayers and bringing all of our petitions
and offering all of our sacrifices of faith and love in Christ's
name, through Christ our high priest. Christ is our atonement,
in whom we have the atonement. Christ is our sacrifice. By one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. This
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin, sat down on
the right hand of God. No man cometh to the Father,
Christ said, but by me. Now, my friends, man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the
mouth of God Almighty. And all scripture is given by
inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, for correction,
instruction and righteousness that you might be mature believers,
Christians in Christ. So a man can lose his soul. He
can lose it by giving himself to an open life of sin and rebellion
against God Almighty. Or he can lose his soul by ignoring
God's means of grace. He can lose his soul by ignoring
the means that God has given whereby we might be saved. Christ,
the gospel, the word of God, the church, those who preach
the gospel. A man can lose his body, his
life on a ship when a ship sinks by ignoring the lifeboat. The
lifeboat is the means to deliver those in danger. And Christ our
Lord is the means by whom God saves the sinner. You can't ignore
the gospel and be saved, you can't ignore Christ and his church.
And there a man can lose his soul by adopting a false religion,
by adopting a false religion and following false prophets.
Our Lord told us in the book of Matthew, beware of false prophets. They come to you not as false
prophets, they come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly
they are wolves. They don't dress like false prophets
and talk like false prophets and profess to be false prophets.
They'll come to you so that even if it were possible, they would
deceive the very elect of God. John warned us to try the Spirit. Try the Spirit, whether it be
the Spirit of God. For our Lord said, if the blind
lead the blind, they'll both fall into the ditch. Our Lord
spoke to the religious leaders of his day, and he said, you're
hypocrites. He said, you come from sea and
land, you make every effort to make proselytes to your religion,
to your denomination, and after you've made them, they're two-fold
more the children of hell than you are. Yes, we must beware
of false prophets and false religion. A man can lose his soul by adopting
a false religion. Multitudes today have drugged
their souls with custom. They have drugged their souls
with tradition. They have drugged their souls
with ceremonies and religious practices and beliefs which never
came from God. If we want to know what God says,
we'll have to go to God's word. Isaiah said, if they speak not
according to the word, according to the law, the law is talking
about the word, and the prophets, it's because there's no light
in them. We must go to this book and see
what God says. A man can lose his soul by adopting
a false religion. I don't want you to become a
Baptist. I'm not asking you to become a follower of me. I'm
not asking you to adopt any name but the name of Christ. And I
beg of you to search the scriptures. Let God speak to your heart from
his word. All I am is just a messenger
boy. I'm just a servant of God bringing
to you his word, trying to encourage you to seek ye first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness. I want you to turn your eyes
to Christ. and look to him and believe on him. And then a man
may lose his soul by making a false profession of faith. And my friend,
the name of Christ on your lips will avail nothing if Christ
doesn't dwell in your heart. You can walk down an aisle and
shake the preacher's hand and say you believe certain doctrines
and you adopt certain doctrines and you accept certain doctrines
and you give mental assent to certain propositions that he's
made, but if Christ is not formed in your heart, in your life,
if you do not know him in your heart, it'll be to no avail.
Your name on a church roll means nothing if your name's not in
the book of life. Being baptized in water will
profit you nothing. if you're not baptized by the
Holy Spirit into the body of Jesus Christ? This is the thing
I fear as much as anything, and that's talking people into false
professions, inviting people to make false public professions,
whereby they cry, Lord, Lord, with their lips, but their hearts
are far from Christ. I had much rather a man hear
me preach the gospel and hear me read the word of God. and
hear me tell him how God in grace and mercy saves sinners through
Christ, and then tell that person, go off alone and cry out to God,
Lord, I'm a sinner, I need mercy, I cannot save myself, I cannot
help myself. Lord God, you gave your Son to
die on Calvary's cross as a substitute for sinners. Lord, through the
blood of thy Son, wash me whiter than snow, cleanse my guilt Lord,
give me a new nature, give me a new heart by thy Holy Spirit's
power. Lord, speak peace to my heart,
bring rest to my soul for Jesus' sake. I commit myself to thee."
Now then, when that is done and when God gives you peace and
joy and rest, then tell people about it. Follow the Lord in
baptism. Make a public profession. Unite
with his church. Fellowship with his people. Identify
with those who know the Lord. But doing these outward things
is not going to save you. God has to save you. And this
public confession by baptism is a public confession of what
God has done. A man can lose his soul, though,
by taking up a false religion and making a false profession
of faith and hanging on to it until only death do you part. And then the loss of my soul,
secondly, is the heaviest loss that I can suffer. Now I'm unable
to set forth this point as I should. No living man can show the full
extent of the loss of a man's soul. No man on earth can paint
this picture of a lost soul in its true terrible colors. We shall never understand what
it means to lose one's soul until we pass the valley of death,
until we wake up in eternity. And then we shall know the value
of a human soul. Our Lord illustrated it, first
of all, by telling us about the rich man in hell who cried, Father
Abraham, send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and touch
my tongue. I am tormented in this place.
Our Lord illustrated the value of a human soul when he stood
over the city of Jerusalem and wept over it and cried, O Jerusalem,
how oft would I have gathered you to myself as a hen doth gather
her brood, but you would not. Our Lord Jesus Christ wept over
lost souls. And then our Lord illustrated
the worth, the value of a human soul by the price that he paid
to redeem them. He gave not silver and gold,
he gave his own life. he died to save souls. That's how valuable they are.
Now the value of everything is going to change drastically one
of these days. My friends, the hour is coming
when money and banknotes and bonds will be worth no more than
waste paper. The day is coming when diamonds
and gold will be like dust in the streets. The day is coming
when houses and land will be as worthless as a discarded child's
toy. The day is coming when fame and
honor and glory of this world will be worth no more than faded
flowers and withered grass, when men will trade all they know
and all they've ever known and all they've had for one gospel
sermon. The day is coming when a man
will trade all that he's ever known and all that he's ever
had for one hour of prayer. The day is coming when men will
train all that they've ever known for one grain of faith. Then,
when God says time shall be no more, then, when we wake up at
the judgment, then, when God sends men to hell who believe
not in the gospel, then we're going to find out the worth of
a single soul. What shall it profit a man if
he gained the whole world and in that day loses his soul? Well,
my third point is this, a man's soul may be saved. I thank God
that I don't have to end my message on that last note. I thank God
that I don't have to stop on such a tragic note. Men have
souls, that's true. And a man may lose his soul,
that's true. And the loss of his soul is an
indescribable loss, that's true. But I can also say this in closing,
a man's soul can be saved. It can be saved now, it can be
saved in death, it can be saved in the judgment. It can be saved
from condemnation, because Jesus Christ has died. That's the reason
a man's soul can be saved. Not because of what I've done
or you've done or can do or will do, but because of what Christ
has done. 1 Peter 3.18 says, Christ has
once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God. His death made satisfaction to
the holy law of God. He's fulfilled what I could never
fulfill. He's performed what I could never
perform. He has satisfied God's justice.
Every jot and every tittle is totally fulfilled. His death
paid all my debt and reconciled me and you who believe to God.
His death enables God to be holy and yet to be merciful, enables
God to be just and yet to be justifier. His death opens heaven's
doors and his death forever shuts the gates of hell for every believer. A man can be saved, his soul
can be redeemed because Christ died. And a man can be saved,
his soul can be delivered because Christ not only died but he was
resurrected and he still lives. That same Jesus who died on the
cross now lives, exalted and seated at the right hand of God.
There on the right hand of God he carries out the work of redemption
which he began on this earth. in which he purchased by his
blood. There, at the right hand of God, he receives all who come
to him by faith. There, on the right hand of God,
he intercedes daily for those who believe. There, on the right
hand of God, he is our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification,
our redemption. A man's soul may be saved. And
a man's soul may be saved not only because Christ died and
because Christ lived, but because the promises of the gospel are
full and free and open to all who will believe. Our Lord said,
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give
you rest. Our Lord said, Ho, every one
that's thirsty, come to the water and drink. Come and buy wine
and milk without price, without money. The spirit and the bride
say, Come, and let him that heareth say, Come, and whosoever will,
let him come. Take of the water of life freely.
If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink, Christ said,
and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And then he can say, My sins,
O the bliss of that glorious thought! My sins, not in part,
but the whole, are nailed to the cross, and I bear them no
more. Praise the Lord, it is well with
my soul. I hope you'll join us next week
at the same time for our telecast, Remember Us in Prayer, And God
bless you, everyone.

And Lose His Own Soul

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And Lose His Own Soul

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