Mark 8:36-37 (NKJV) But do we truly understand what the soul is and do we truly understand the value of our soul?

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1 Message for THE LORD'S DAY MORNING July 21, 2013 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister The Worth of The Human Soul Mark 8:36-37 (NKJV) When you grow up in the Church as many of us have, we have a tendency to take some things for granted. A word that we have always heard used in the Church is the word soul. We know the world is full of lost souls and that we as Christians have a responsibility to save souls. And we say things like, She's a good 'ol soul or May God have mercy on His soul. But do we truly understand what the soul is and do we truly understand the value of our soul? These are some matters we are going to consider in today's message. Please turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark, chapter eight. Mark 8:36-37 (NKJV) 36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? PRAYER I L L U S T R A T I O N I N T R O D U C T I O N He died on JANUARY 28 th in the year 814. Many years later, archeologists discovered the tomb of CHARLEMAGNE, THE GREAT KING AND EMPEROR OF FRANCE. When they opened his tomb after it had been sealed for many centuries, they discovered something amazing. Along with certain material treasures Charlemagne had accumulated during his lifetime.

2 But in the center of the large entombment was a marble throne, and seated on the throne was the skeleton of Charlemagne, with an open Bible on his lap, and a bony finger pointing to Matthew 18:26, For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul. There are three simple questions I would like to answer from the scriptures this morning. First, What Is The Soul? Second, What Is The Worth of The Soul? And third, What Does It Mean For One To Lose His Soul? First, let's consider... I. WHAT IS THE SOUL? 1. Notice Jesus uses the term soul two times in our text. Mark 8:36-37 (NKJV) For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 37 Or what will a man give in exchange for 2. We see the term soul many times in the scriptures. In Matthew 10:28 Jesus said, And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Ezekiel 18:4 says, Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die.

3 Matthew 22:37 (NKJV) Jesus said to him, You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. Revelation 6:9 (NKJV) When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. 3. But just what is the soul? Are the soul and the spirit the same thing? Are they different? If so, what is the difference? (A) First let me say the soul and the spirit are NOT the same thing. This is made crystal clear in Hebrews 4:12 (NKJV) For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, (now listen closely) piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Notice a distinction was made between the soul and the spirit. Another scripture that makes this clear distinction is I Thessalonains 5:23... Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; (listen carefully) and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. That scripture tells us that we have three parts: We have a body... we have a spirit...and we have a soul. And all three of those parts make us one being, just like God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. (B) Well we know what our physical body is. But what is the distinction between our soul and our spirit? Perhaps the two Greek words that are used in the New Testament for soul and spirit might provide us with a clue. The Greek word for soul is psuche from which we get our English words psyche and psychology. The Greek word for spirit is pneuma.

4 The soul is the seat of our human WILL.. Your character, your intellect, your thoughts, your emotions are all found in our soul. The soul is where we reason, where we decide, where we choose. The soul is what makes us conscious of ourselves. In short, your soul is the very essence of your LIFE as a human being here on earth. Your soul is what distinguishes you and makes you uniquely different from anyone else. The spirit on the other hand is that part of us that makes us conscious of GOD. Everyone born into this world is dead spiritually. EPHESIANS 2:1 (NKJV) says, And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins... You see, until the Holy Spirit quickens or awakens our spirit we remain dead spiritually. Our spirit is that part of us that yearns for God and desires to be near to God and to worship God. 4. Now I realize this is rather complex, and to be honest, I don't fully comprehend it. But let me summarize it this way: THE SOUL is the very essence of my whole being. My soul encompasses my whole life here on earth. MY SPIRIT on the other hand is that very specific part of my being that connects me to GOD. John 4:24 (NKJV) says God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. 5. Though our soul and spirit are distinct, they are inseparably connected. They are they part of us that lives on after our physical body dies. Well let's move on to our second question...

5 II. WHAT IS THE WORTH OF THE SOUL? ILLUSTRATION I thought you might find this interesting. I came across this article the other day where someone had calculated THE WORTH OF THE HUMAN BODY. The human body is comprised of 65% oxygen...18% carbon...10% hydrogen... 3% nitrogen and about sixteen other elements. The going rate for one body's worth of all those elements together is about $1.00. Well let's bump that up a little bit. Your skin would be worth about $3.50 if were sold at the same price as cowhide. So if you take the $1.00's worth of elements in your body and add $3.50 for your skin, our physical bodies are worth about $4.50. In other words, our physical bodies are worth less than A $5.00 FOOTLONG at SUBWAY or FIVE BILL'S HOT DOGS. 1. While our physical bodies may not have much monitary worth the worth of our soul is PRICELESS.. Remember what Jesus said in our text? Mark 8:36-37 (NKJV) 36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 2. That word exchange is a term used to describe a business transaction. There is NOTHING in this world we could use to buy or trade for our soul. NOT all the money in the world! NOT all the gold and silver. NOT all the material things of this world! NOTHING!

6 3. One thing that gives our soul its infinite worth is that we are a being that has been CREATED in the IMAGE of God. Genesis 1:26 (NKJV) 26 Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. GOD created every living thing! And yet MAN is the only living thing GOD created in HIS OWN IMAGE. Well we know GOD doesn't have a physical body like we do, so what is about us that is created in the image of GOD? It is our inward man, our soul and spirit. 4. Another thing that gives our soul its infinite worth is that it is the part of us that is ETERNAL. Ecclesiastes 12:7 (NKJV) Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. Americans spent $10 BILLION last year on cosmetic surgeries... $18 BILLION on make-up...$38 BILLION on hair-care products and $15 BILLION on perfume. Think about it! We spent all these billions of dollars to make these $4.50 bodies look good. One day these physical bodies will die. But our SOUL will live on! Our soul has ETERNAL worth! 5. The fact that Jesus Christ was willing to leave the splendor of heaven and come here to earth and lay down His own life as a sacrifice on the cross of Calvary to save our souls tells you the infinite worth of our soul.

7 6. Think about that! You and I have something inside of us that is so priceless, so valuable that the very Son of God Himself was willing to give up His own life to save it, and that is OUR SOUL. 7. Other than our soul what is there about us that is worth saving? We are miserable, wretched sinners. Who among us can boast about his own goodness? Who among us can boast about his own righteousness? Compared to the righteousness of GOD our righteousness is as filthy rags. We are people of unclean lips and unclean minds and unclean hearts and the only thing that cleanse us and make us whole is precious blood of JESUS CHRIST! Aside from our souls, you and I have NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING to offer in exchange for our salvation! That brings us to our third and final question... III. WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR ONE TO LOSE HIS SOUL? 1. To understand what it means for one to lose his soul we must consider WHAT GOD IS OFFERING. GOD offers us the GIFT of ETERNAL LIFE through His Son Jesus Christ. GOD offers us the FORGIVENESS of our SINS. GOD offers us an ETERNAL HOME in heaven. GOD offers us the ASSURANCE of living in His Holy presence forever! GOD offers us an eternity of JOY and PEACE and HAPPINESS! An eternal life with NO more PAIN...SICKNESS...DEATH...or SORROW.

8 2. So when one loses his soul, he forfeits everything God is offering. MATTHEW 25:41 (NKJV) says, Then He will also say to those on his left hand (the lost souls) Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. MATTHEW 25:45 (NKJV) Jesus says, And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Paul tells us in II THESSALONIANS 1 that when Christ comes with His mighty angels in a flaming fire, He will take vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, and these (referring to LOST SOULS)... these shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the LORD and from the glory of His power. (verses 7-9 NKJV) 3. Have you ever had a nightmare that was so real, so scarey it woke you up? If you're like me, you didn't want to go back to sleep because you wanted the nightmare to be over! 4. When one loses his soul he will exist in an eternal nightmare that will never end! Imagine existing for all eternity in the same place as Satan and all his demons and every criminal, thug, and pervert who ever lived. Imagine existing forever and ever in a place of eternal fire...eternal darkness...eternal torment... eternal fear...and eternal sorrow! Imagine existing every day for the rest of eternity in a place where people never stop wailing and gnashing their teeth in agony.

9 Imagine being haunted day and night forever and ever with the regretful memory of every opportunity one had to accept Christ but didn't. Imagine being haunted by the memory of every word a loved one or friend said to you to save your soul, but you refused to listen. One minute after God slams the door of hell shut forever, every soul there would gladly exchange everything they gained in this world for their salvation. But it will be too late! It will be too late! 5. What does one have to do to lose his soul? The simple answer is NOTHING. HEBREWS 2:3 says, How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? When one is lost, all they have to do is keep doing what they have been doing their whole life: KEEP IGNORING THE PRODDING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. KEEP REJECTING THE INVITATION OF THE LORD. KEEP IGNORING THE WARNINGS! 6. John Hannah once said, No one who ever goes to hell will be able to say to God, "You put me here," and no one who goes to heaven will ever be able to say to God, "I put myself here."

10 C O N C L U S I O N Last year (July 6, 2012) a story appeared in the Associated Press about a woman from Albuquerque, New Mexico who placed her soul for sale on ebay, requesting a starting bid of $2,000. A local TV station identified the woman as Lori N. She told the news reporter she put her soul up for sale after a series of unfortunate incidents, including a terrible car accident which left her in a coma for three weeks and resulted in a stroke, a broken hip, a broken pelvis, and other injuries. Clearly Lori N was depressed. She believed she had no hope! Would you be willing to sell your soul for $2,000? Would you believe people sell their souls every day for far less? For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

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