And Lose His Own Soul

In the 8th chapter of Mark, verse
36, the Lord Jesus said, For what
shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose
his own soul? Now, we're living in a world
that's become almost totally absorbed in earthly, material,
and physical things. We're living in an age of material
progress and spiritual famine. Everything today is geared to
the comfort and the care of the flesh, and little attention is
given to the soul. The words are applicable in our
day spoken by David when he said, no man cared for my soul. My body is being well taken care
of. There are government agencies,
social agencies, and all kind of organizations looking out
after the care of my body and the comfort of my body, but no
man cares for my soul. And the churches today are caught
up in this. Millions and millions of dollars
are spent on spacious, comfortable, magnificent buildings. And no care is given to what's
coming from the pulpit of those buildings. If we spent as much
time and concern about the message that our churches are preaching
As we do with the air-conditioned unit and the heating facilities
and the educational facilities and the comfort of this body,
our churches wouldn't be empty as they are in this day. But
we've got great finances and very little faith. We've got
great high promotion and no spiritual power. We have high-powered programs
empty prayer closets. We have talented entertainment
on television, radio, and from the churches, but we have no
message. We have great knowledge in this
day of the sciences, and we have little or no knowledge of God
Almighty. We are living in a world that
is totally absorbed in material things and have no spiritual
concern. Now this body, Christ said, what
shall it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his
soul? This body is not all. This body
is but the house in which I live for a very brief time. I read a message one time preached
by someone in which he said, actually this life of 60, 70
or 80 years is but one drop of water compared to a flood, when
you think about this life compared to eternity. This life, he said,
is but the vestibule that ushers me into the great spacious hall
of eternity. This life compared to eternity
is like comparing one snowflake to a blizzard. This body, which
takes up so much of my time to dress it, to warm it, to feed
it, to entertain it, to make it comfortable, to provide for
it, is such a small part of my existence, and yet it occupies
the majority of my time. When this body dies, all will
not be over, all will just be beginning. When the doctor comes
to the home or to the hospital room and makes his last visit
to my bedside, when the last breath is drawn and someone turns
and says he's gone, when the undertaker has put me in my new
suit and prepared my body for burial, And the time has been
set for the friends to call between six and nine on a certain evening. And when the friends have come
by and expressed their sorrow to my widow and to my children,
when the time of the funeral has been set and the minister
follows the special music and says his words, and then the
sliding doors are closed and the undertaker comes in and lifts
the flowers off the casket and closes the lid, and takes out
his instrument to close the lid for good. And they roll the casket
out into the hearse and drive it to the cemetery, and the minister
again stands and says some of his words and prays a prayer,
shakes hands all around, and everybody leaves. And then the
men in their work clothes come and lower my body into the vault,
and the lid is put on top of it for good. And then the dirt
is pushed into the hole, and the sod is packed, and the grass
is planted. And a few days pass by, and the
grass takes root, and after a while it doesn't look like a grave
is there at all. Well, it's not all over then.
The soul of man, the Scripture says, lives on and on and on
and on. Then, Christ says, then, what
shall it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his
soul? I want to think about this subject
tonight for a little while under about four headings. The first
one is this. A man, a woman, can lose his
soul. A man can lose his soul. A woman
can lose her soul. I'm one of those old-fashioned
preachers who believes the whole Bible. I believe all that this
Bible contains. I don't know it all, I don't
understand it all by any means, but I believe it. And I have
no use for people who apologize for God's Word. I have no use
for those who explain away parts of God's Word they're dishonest
while they're accepting other parts of it. And I have no sympathy
for preachers who for the praise of men or for the possessions
of this world cry, peace, peace, when there is no peace. I believe
that God created all things according to his will and his wisdom for
his glory. I believe that man is a fallen
creature who sinned against God in the Garden of Eden. and with
suffering the consequences of that fall. I believe that man
cannot save himself. There is no way that he by works
or deeds can save his soul. I believe that judgment follows
death. I believe that hell follows judgment. I believe the redeemed live forever
in glory because Christ loved them and gave himself for them.
And I believe those who are lost live forever in hell. I don't
understand hell, but I believe that the lost live forever in
hell. I believe a man can lose his
soul. How can a man lose his soul?
Well, there are many ways, but I'll give you a few. First of
all, a man can lose his soul. A woman can lose her soul. The
soul is the most precious possession. My soul is me. This body in which I live will
someday go back to the dust from which it was taken. But my soul
lives on. The body returns to the dust
from which it came, the soul, to God. To God who receives it
through Christ in mercy, or to God who condemns it and sends
it to hell in his wrath because of sin and unbelief. But a man
can lose that precious possession by plunging into a life of sin,
open sin and rebellion against God Almighty. Now the world may
wink at drunkenness and profanity, the world may put its tongue
in its cheek and wink at dishonesty and lying and blasphemy, but
these are all shortcuts to hell. Turn to Ephesians chapter 5.
In the fifth chapter of the book of Ephesians, the scripture says
in verse 3, Ephesians 5, verse 3, now listen to it. But fornication
and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among
you as becometh saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking,
nor jesting, which is not convenient, but rather giving of thanks.
For this you know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous
man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ and of God. God will punish them. The book
shall be opened, the scripture says, and every man shall be
judged out of the book according to that which is written. A man
can lose his soul by plunging into open sin and rebellion against
God Almighty. And then secondly, a man can
lose his soul. Now listen to me. There's more
than one way to lose your soul. You say, well, I don't drink.
I don't commit fornication. I don't steal. I'm an honest
person. That's what the Pharisees said.
Lord, I thank you. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not
unjust. I'm not an extortionist. but
I'll tend church." He said, I thank you, Lord, that I fast and I
give tithes and I give alms. A man can lose his soul by ignoring
the Bible, the church, and the gospel. Now, God is a spirit. I know the Bible says that. And
they that worship him, worship him in spirit and in truth. That's
what God's word says. The heavens declare the glory
of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork." That's what the
Bible says. The heaven of heavens contain
him, not these houses. I know that. In fact, the Scripture
says the heavens cannot contain him. The earth is his footstool.
But much less these houses we've built and these vessels that
we've consecrated cannot contain God. I know that. God dwells
in the heart. And God is worshiped in the heart,
I know that. And the scripture says, God does
not look on the outward countenance, and we are not heard for our
much speaking. And God said, the burning of
incense is an abomination to me, the keeping of holy days.
All this is true, God looks on the heart. This is all true,
but God is a God of means. And God has ordained means and
God has ordained instruments for his glory to reveal himself
and to meet with his people. There were prophets who spoke
to the people. The scripture says, God who at
sundry times and in divers manners spake to our fathers by the prophets. And those who would not hear
the prophets didn't hear God. And those who heard the prophets
heard God. But I don't need a prophet. I
don't need a pastor. I can go out and worship God
by looking at the stars and the moon and the sun, which declares
the glory of God. You're half right, and you're
just wrong enough to be lost for it. The heavens do declare
the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork. But God's
faith by the prophets and those who heard the prophets heard
God. And Christ said, in these days he hath given prophets,
pastors, teachers, evangelists, for the perfecting of the people
of God. There was a tabernacle where
God met his people. And those who came to the tabernacle
met God, and those who didn't, didn't meet God. There was a
high priest who offered a sacrifice. There was a mercy seat in the
Holy of Holies. upon which the atonement was
placed, there were sacrifices to be offered. And the man who
ignored the prophets and the tabernacle and the priesthood
and the sacrifices, branded himself a fool, because God is a God
of means. Now Christ is that prophet. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake to our fathers by the prophets, hath
in these last days spoken to us by his Son. This is my Son. Hear ye him." You say, well, I'll hear Christ.
How are you going to hear him? He's not here now. He's not on
this earth. How are you going to hear him?
You're hearing through his you hear him through his servant.
And if you don't hear his word and don't hear his servant, you
don't hear him. He's not speaking with the wind,
he's not speaking by the voice of angels, he is speaking through
his word. Christ sent his disciples out
and he said, if men don't hear you, they don't hear me. And
if they won't hear you, you shake the dust off your feet as a testimony
against them and go somewhere else. A man can damn his soul
by ignoring the church and the Bible and the gospel and God's
ministry. How does a man damn his soul
and lose his soul? He can do it by plunging into
open sin. But he may live a moral life
and still lose his soul by not hearing God's by not hearing
God's servant, by not hearing the gospel. Christ has ordained
his church. He said, I will build my church. The church is not a human organization. It's Christ's church. He said,
I will build my church. He said, Christ loved the church
and gave him Sepharis. How can I ignore that which my
Lord loves? And how can I abuse that for
which he gave his life? I will build my church and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Christ has given
his word. Man does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth from God's mouth. How does a man lose his soul?
Thirdly, He can lose his soul first by plunging into open sin. He can lose his soul secondly
by ignoring God's words, God's church, and God's preaching.
And thirdly, he can lose his soul by following false prophets
who deceive men with tradition, with custom, with dead fundamentalism,
and with false doctrines. Turn to Matthew 23. Listen to
what the Lord says here. Matthew chapter 23, verse 15. He's speaking to the religious
leaders of his day, and he says in Matthew 23, 15, Woe unto you,
scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites! You compass sea and land to make
one proselyte, and when he is made You make him two-fold more
the child of hell than yourself. Multitudes drug their souls with
tradition, religious tradition, denominational tradition. Multitudes
drug their souls by ceremonies, religious practices, religious
beliefs which never came from God, which never came from God's
Word. Our Lord said, if the blind lead
the blind, they'll both fall into the ditch. He said, beware
of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they're ravening wolves. A man can lose his soul by listening
to a false preacher. And then in the fourth place,
a man can lose his soul by making a false profession of faith. Now the name of Christ on my
lips will mean nothing if Christ does not dwell in my heart. I
can say, Lord, Lord, with the best of them, and hear him say,
I never knew you, depart from me. Your name on a church roll means
nothing if your name is not by God's grace in the book of life. Being baptized in water will
profit you nothing if you've not been baptized by the Spirit
of God into the body of Jesus Christ. There are multitudes who have
made a false profession of religion. They are devout members of denominations. They are devout members of certain
churches. They're devout, religionist,
fundamentalist, orthodox, just like the Pharisees, and they
know not Christ in their hearts. They are deluded and they are
deceived. And they are drugging and damning
their souls with religion. The second thing, the loss of
my soul. would be the heaviest loss that
I could possibly, possibly suffer. Now I thought about this point
here, and I'm unable to set it forth as I would like. But no
living man, no human being can show forth the full extent of
the loss of a man's soul. There's no one who can paint
this terrible, tragic picture in its true colors, the loss
of a soul. We shall never understand what
it means to lose your soul till we pass the valley of death and
wake up in eternity. And then all of us are going
to know the value of our soul. My soul is more important than anything in all this world. An asylum is a pitiful sight.
I've visited mental institutions, and it's a sad, pitiful sight
to observe people who've lost their minds. And then a searching party on
a bleak, wintry hill, searching for a child, is a sad thing. When you look at the mother and
father clinging to one another, weeping, they've lost a child. But nothing is so pitiful, nothing
is so tragic as the wails of a lost soul in eternity. Lost. The value of our eternal souls
is shown in a threefold way in the Word of God. First of all,
the rich man who cried from hell, Father Abraham sent Lazarus that
he may dip his finger in water, and touch my tongue, I am tormented
in this flame. And Abraham said, Son, remember,
thou in thy lifetime had the good things, Lazarus the evil
things. Now he is comforted, and thou
art tormented. And besides this, there is between
us and you a great guff fixed, fixed by the sovereign God of
heaven, and also fixed by your sins. And no one can pass from
you to us, and no one can pass from us to you. Salvation never,
damnation forever. Now if it's worth that for you
to cling to a denominational title, if it's worth that for
you to cling to the pride of a false profession, if it's worth
that to you to go on defending a traditional religion, if it's
worth that to you to go on pacifying and coddling this flesh and neglecting
your soul, if it's worth that to you to refuse to hear the
word of God, if it's worth that to you then you're welcome to
walk that path, but it's not worth that to me. Our Savior turned to Luke 19. Here's another scripture that
gives us the value of a human soul. In Luke chapter 19, our
Lord, in verse 41, when he was come near, beheld a city. Luke
19, 41. The Lord Jesus Christ beheld
this great city, Jerusalem. And he cried, he cried, and he
said, If you had known, even thou at least in this thy day,
the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they're hid
from thine eye. The day shall come upon thee
that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, encompass
thee around, and keep thee in. on every side, and shall lay
thee even with the ground, and thy children with thee, if you
only knew." Another way in which the value
of this soul of mine is revealed is the price that Christ Jesus
paid to save my soul when he died on Calvary's cross. What
a price! You are borrowed with a price. the suffering, the agony, the
humiliation, the hell he bore to save my soul. My friends,
the loss of my soul, I cannot describe it to you. I cannot
paint this terrible, tragic picture in its true colors. No man can. The only time that we'll really
realize what it means to lose our souls is when we've awakened
in eternity and have lost them. and cannot retrieve them. And I think one of the things
that are going to plague our memories throughout eternity
is to consider the damnable things for which we've exchanged our
souls. But what shall a man give in exchange for a soul? Our pride. Too proud to be broken in spirit,
too proud to fall into dust at Christ's feet. Too proud to admit
that I am nothing, know nothing, and have nothing. Too proud to
call on God. Too proud to confess the name
of Christ. Too proud. One of these days, the value
of all things is going to change for us. And we're living in this
materialistic society. We've got no time for God. I
expect someday to enlarge this building, provide some space
which we need. But brethren, I tell you this,
I'd rather have a grass shack and preach the gospel from this
pulpit than to have the most beautiful monument to man's foolishness
in this world and have no message from this pulpit. We sit down
and figure out how we can design this and design that and design
something else for the comfort of the body. The deacons and
elders of churches ought to sit down and figure out how they
can find them a preacher who will preach some gospel to the
souls of men. We are so concerned about what
we eat and what we drink and what we wear. These things Christ
said the heathen are concerned about. Seek ye first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, and these other things will fall
in place. The value of all things are going
to change some day. I hope that they'll change for
me before it's too late, don't you? The hour cometh when money
and banknotes and bonds will be worth no more than this napkin
right here, waste paper. We take out our bonds and banknotes
and stocks and all these other things and look at them. You
know what that's worth? That's worth thousands. That
ain't worth nothing. The day will come when your diamonds
on your fingers and the gold in your rings will be worth nothing
but dust in the street. People will be walking on them
then. The day comes when houses and lands will be as worthless
as a child's worn-out toys cast on the garbage heap. The day
cometh when the fame and honor and glory of this world, religious,
social, political and otherwise, will be no more than the faded
flowers from a funeral that we've cast into the garbage can. and
withered grass that you've raked up and put in bags for the garbage
man to collect. The glory of man is as the flower
of the field, and the glory of man as the grass of the field
that's withered and died. The time's coming when men will
trade all they have, have ever had, and all they know for one
gospel sermon. And the time will come when men
will trade all that they know for one hour of prayer, one grain
of faith, one word of scripture. And then we're going to find
out the value of a human soul. Then we're going to find out
the value of a human soul. What shall it profit? a man if
he gained the whole world and lose his soul. And then in the third place,
quickly, a man's soul can be saved. It can be saved, it can be lost,
but it can be saved. I'm thankful I don't have to
end my message On this very sad and tragic note, man has a soul. A man can lose his soul, and
the loss of his soul is an indescribable loss. But I can add in closing,
my soul can be saved. It can be saved first because
Christ has died. Peter wrote, Christ has once
suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring
us to God. His death made satisfaction to
God's law. His death enabled God to be both
just and justifier. His death paid my debt and reconciled
me to the living God. His death opened heaven's doors
to the repentant believer. His death. Apart from his death, I'm damned. But because of his death, my
soul can be saved. My soul can be saved not only
because Christ died, but because he still lives. Jesus Christ,
who died on the cross, now lives, exalted and seated at the Father's
right hand, to carry on the work of redemption which he purchased,
to receive all who will come to God by him, to intercede daily
for all who believe, to be our wisdom, our righteousness, our
sanctification and our My soul can be saved because
the promises of the gospel are full and free and open to all
who will come. Our Lord said, Come to me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Our Lord
said, O every one that thirsteth, let him come to me and drink,
and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Our Lord
said, The Spirit and the bride say, Come, and let him that heareth
say, Come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will,
let him take the water of life freely. My soul can be saved. The promises of the gospel are
full and they're free and they're open to all who believe. But
in order for my soul to be saved, my values are going to have to
be adjusted by the Spirit of God. I'm going to have to be
brought to see what I am by nature. I'm going to have to be brought
by the Spirit of God to see my inability, my powerlessness to
please God. In the flesh no man can please
God. In the flesh dwelleth no good
thing. No man cometh to me except my
Father which sent me to draw him. Lord, if it be thy will,
thou canst make me clean. I've got to see my emptiness
and inability and guilt and sin. There's got to be some values
changed. I've got to be willing, made
willing by the Spirit of God. take up my cross and follow Christ. I think when I read that letter
from Betty Groover and I closed my eyes and pictured Walter and
Betty, she's as delicate as you women
are, she's as needful of soft chairs and fine furniture and
plush rugs as you are, she's as worthy of beautiful clothes
as you are, and Walter Groovers is worthy of these things as
I or you are. But I wish sometimes I could
change places with them out there in the little stick hut, walking
on the gravels and the ground, and drinking the atole nuevo
that tastes so bad, for the glory of God, don't you? Because I would believe that
I would feel that I had lost some of this satanic brainwashed
ideas of what the values of this world, the material world are. When peace like a river attendeth
my soul, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot
Thou hast taught me to say, it is well. Is it well with my soul? Though Satan should buff it,
though trials should come, let this blessed assurance control
that Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, and he shed
his blood for my soul. My sins, O the bliss of this
glorious thought, my sin, not the part but the whole, is nailed
to the cross, is it? And I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
O my soul. If it's not everything to us,
it's not anything. I may not preach another sermon
I may not address this congregation again, but I'm saying this. If we are being saved, we are
being weaned from this world. If we are being saved, our values
are being changed. If we are being saved, we are
being whittled down, our false fleshly foundations are being
swept away. If we are being saved, we are
being conformed to the image of God's Son. If we are being
If we're being saved, we're growing in the grace and knowledge of
Jesus Christ the Lord. If we're being saved, I don't
know. But I do know if we don't wake
up and find out the value of the human soul before we find
it out in hell, it's going to be some weeping and gnashing
of teeth. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. and there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth." Our Father in Heaven, we pray that Thou would break
our proud spirits, humble our proud hearts, all we have in
which to rejoice is that Christ died for our sins. Everything
else is flesh, everything else is grass, everything else like
the flower the field fadeth away, nothing permanent. There's nothing
here that shall be left standing one stone on another. All that
is eternal is that which we have in Christ our Lord. All of these things in which
we're so interested and so concerned about and so taken up with shall pass away. But that living, vital relationship
which we have with our Lord, His glory, His grace, His goodness,
abideth forever. We pray that thou would make
us concerned individuals. Open our eyes that we might see
and our ears that we might hear. Speak to us in this day of confused
voices. And the quietness of that hour
of meditation and communion with the Father speak to us and send
us out into this world changed, new creatures in Christ. We pray
in his name for his glory. Amen.

And Lose His Own Soul

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

And Lose His Own Soul

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book