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Mark 8:36
"What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?"
Let me begin with that word soul. When you see the word - soul - in the Bible, it does not mean there is a dichotomy between the body and the soul and the mind and the spirit. The word soul refers really - to life - the whole life - entity - of that personality.
So remember, it is not the idea that the body dies - Easter Sunday morning - and the soul goes to Heaven - it is the idea that this tabernacle, this house dies - and then the resurrected body - with our total personalities - our spiritual personalities go in some sort of physical evidence to live in another dimension, forever with the Lord, until we come back or caught up and we finally set up His Kingdom right here on this earth.
What does it profit a man? This is an old text, but it has a brand new word that we like to hear. I have never seen anybody who didn't perk up when you said, "that'll make a profit." But what we have here is two different kinds of profit. One, is the kind of profit we are most familiar with. The other is the kind of profit that speaks of eternity - a kind of security - a kind of blessing that will last forever and forever.
Now I think we need to begin by observing that Jesus Christ did not ever take into His Kingdom's ministry - cheap, economical disciples. A young man came to Him and said, "Where-ever you lead - whevever you want to go - I'll go with you." And Jesus said, "I'll tell you something - foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man doesn't even have a place to lay his head."
And you know the story - He counted the cost. He did not come after the Lord. So Jesus never likes to fool us or coerce us or emotionalize us - into His Kingdom. He normally set the plan (?) out clear and plain so that we wouldn't miss it. Here, he is saying a very exacting thing. He said what do you have after all--if you gain the whole world.
Now nobody's ever really gained the whole world - there have been some world conquerors; there have been some worldly, wealthy men; there have been all sorts of people who have achieved in various endeavors - but I don't think anybody has ever really gained the whole shooting match - I don't know of it!
So what does it profit a man if he happens to gain even everything and loses - loses - eternity. And this is a very terrifying analogy - between spiritual profit and between worldly profit. Worldly profit - because a lot of people - in trying to gain this world they lose some very vital aspects,
SERMON: What Shall It Profit A Man? by Dr. Ed Young (Transcribed from actual tape of sermon May 13, 1979 PM)
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