What Is Your Soul Worth To You?

I wonder how many people are asked this question. It is indeed a most sobering one. This type of question pricks the heart and would no doubt give people pause. To ignore it is in the writer's opinion intellectual and spiritual suicide. This is when the emotional and mental gymnastics take center stage and the person(s) asked a soul searching question such as this changes the subject to avoid a discussion that is too fearful and painful for them to have. We who are fishers of mankind HAVE to make the attempt. Why? Because we have been commanded so by God. Also if you have real love for the lost like the Lord does, we are compelled to lead souls to Christ Jesus that He might save them.

No matter what you do in this world, we all must give an account for our lives when we die (Ecclesiates 12:13-14). Those that are rich and very successful tend to be the most difficult to reach because they have convinced themselves they have all they need; not realizing they cannot take their wealth with them. Paul said that we brought nothing into this world, and we will not take anything out of it (1 Timothy 6:7). Jesus said it is impossible for the rich to enter into the kingdom of God without the Lord (Matthew 19:24-26).

How can people be made aware of their need for soul salvation?

The gospel truth is the only answer. Man must realize his inability to save himself. Nothing we do or say can get us right with God on our own. Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 wisely says, " There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." It does not get any more straight forward than that. What King Solomon is telling us is that man's works that proceed from an evil heart are dead. Why? Because he is dead - spiritually dead (Eph 2:1; Col 2:13). The natural man is disconnected from his Maker due to his sins. The main problem is that man allows his feelings to determine whether something is true or not. Feelings can never be a barometer for truth. Our feelings often deceive and can lead us astray. We must subordinate our feelings based on Biblical truth - alone.

To submit to the Word of God requires humility of one's whole being. Man must agree with God regarding his wretched sin condition, that he is deserving of God's wrath. Once the sinner does this, he is willing to repent of sins and trust in the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ on the cross for his sins. God grants the sinner faith to trust in Jesus to wash away his sins and give him a new heart (be filled with the Holy Spirit); one that is now willing to serve the Lord with joy. That is what scholars call the New Birth. The Bible describes it as being Born again to newness of life. This person's soul now belongs to God because it has been rescued and snatched from the fires of hell.

This person has exercised holy fear of God and thus have received soul salvation. They determinded their soul was worth saving and gave it over to Jesus keep it under lock and key.

The arrogant fool only wants to be put his wickedness on display. They are the ones that do not fear God. As a matter of fact, they mock and blaspheme the Lord! What I know is that they are laughing now but they won't be later when all their fears come against them like a Tsunami.

King Solomon provided this insight regarding what happens when man refuses the Lord's wisdom:

Wisdom calls aloud outside; she rasises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief consourses, at the opening of the gates in the city. She speaks her words:

"How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? 

Turn at my rebuke; surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when your distress and anguish come upon you. 

Then they will call upon Me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find Me. Because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would have none of my counsel, and despised my every rebuke. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies. 

For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them;but whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil."

- Proverbs 1:20-33

These words of wisdom determines life or death for all who hear them. Will you be wise and receive them, or be a fool and reject them? The Lord lets us know the fate of each person.

At the end of the day, to save your soul you must be willing to abandon the world's "goods." The damned alternative is to gain the world and lose your soul. Jesus said it does not profit a man to gain the world and lose your soul. Why? Because your soul is priceless (Matthew 16:26). 

Give to Jesus today.

Here's a great song by the gospel group Commissioned regarding the soul. Released back in 1989:

There's no Excuse

Law vs Grace

Recently I had a discussion with a co-worker regarding the Sabbath. She believed she was required to keep it every Saturday. I asked her is she Seventh Day Adventist? She said no. Then I asked, Why do you believe you're required to keep the Sabbath? She replied, because of what I read in the Old Testament. No doubt she read Exodus 20:8-11 which says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work; you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."

If we are required to keep the Sabbath which was part of the Mosaic law, then we are required to keep the entire law. That is a burden that is too heavy to bear (Acts 15:10). I explained to my co-worker that if we must observe the Sabbath, then we will need to offer animal sacrifices as well which was part of Israel's religious practices. If we offer aninal sacrifices today, we would be arrested for animal cruelty. Others would believe that we were part of a Luciferian cult where we are offering sacrifices to Satan as worship. And lastly, a truth I did not mention to her is that we if we are observing the Sabbath according to the law, that means we would have to work six instead of five days a week - we would have to work every Sunday.

James wisely said, "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10). We are no longer under the law, but under grace. We are free when it comes to what days we observe.

Romans 14 provides this insight, "One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully persuaded in his own mind (emphasis added). He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat to the the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks" (Romans 14:5-7).

It is important that we understand elements of the law that were contemporaneous to the nation of Israel, and what parts of the law have universal application. For example, the Church is not subject to the dietary laws of the Hebrews. We are free to eat whatever we want. In 1 Timothy 4:4-5 we read, "For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer."

Now for many many Jews, they cannot due to conscience eat whatever they want. Because of the law they have practiced their entire lives, eating certain foods they believe would violate their bodies and conscience and put them under condemnation. So for them, to eat foods they consider to be unclean would be a sin because they cannot eat in faith (Romans 14:23).

Some laws that are uninversal are, you shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal, etc (Exodus 20:3,13-15). Moral laws are always in effect; they do not have a shelf life. Some cermonial laws and the sacrificial system of Israel are obsolete. When Jesus died and shed His blood for the sins of the world, the sacrificial system was abolished. 

The writer of Hebrews tell us that, "But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption" (Hebrews 9:11-12).

In the final analysis, the law came through Moses. The law was inflexible but good because it provided a system of checks and balances for the Hebrews. Grace came through Jesus Christ who created a better covenant that abolished the old which gives us freedom. Jesus' yoke is indeed easy and His burden light (Matthew 11:28-30).

But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

- Romans 7:6