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Book: Matthew
 Print ( PC Only )
Matthew 16:26 Profit and Loss
Intro. What is your greatest ambition in life? If you could be anything
you wanted to be, or have anything you wanted to have, what
would you choose.
I. True profits are not really known until you gauge them against the
losses.
A. Jesus asked, "What is a man profited if he should gain the
whole world but lose his own soul?"
1. It is interesting that Jesus was offered the whole
world by Satan.
a. Satan took him to a high mountain and showed to
Him the kingdoms of the world and the glory of
them, and offered them to Jesus if He would
just bow down to him.
b. Jesus refused to bow to Satan. What profit
would the whole world have been to Him if it
meant bowing to Satan?
c. Many people today are bowing to Satan in order
to receive short term gains.
d. They are compromising their morals for a few
dollars or a few moments of pleasure.
2. We are told in the book of Hebrews that by faith Moses
when he came of age refused to be known as the son of
Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a season. Esteeming the reproach
of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.
a. He could have been known as the son of
Pharaoh's daughter and thus have the treasures
of Egypt at his disposal.
b. He chose rather to be identified with the
people of God. Why?
c. He viewed the issues from the eternal
perspective. "He had respect for the ultimate
reward.
1. The ultimate reward of a good life is
eternity with God in heaven.
2. The ultimate reward of the life of sin
is eternity in hell forever separated
from God.
3. Moses lived for a hundred and twenty
years. He was forty when he cast his
lot with the people of God.
4. That meant that he could have had
eighty years in the wealth and opulence
of the courts of Egypt.
5. Moses has now been with the Lord for
twenty three hundred years. There in
the glories of the eternal riches of
heaven. He appeared with Christ on the
Mount of transfiguration.
6. If you would ask Moses today if he had
made the right choice, what do you
think he would answer?
d. There are many in history who have given their
souls for power, glory and fame. If you should
for instance ask Hitler if he made the right
choice after just about 50 years in hell, what
do you suppose he would answer you?
e. We are told that Moses esteemed the reproach of
Christ greater riches than the treasures of
Egypt.
f. The worst thing the Lord had to offer him was
the reproach of Christ. The best thing the
world had to offer him was the treasures of
Egypt.
g. He compared the worse the Lord had to offer
with the best the world had to offer and choose
the Lord's offer. The final profit of the
choice must be measured after death.
C. What is a man profited if he gains the world and loses his own
soul?
1. Job asked his friends, "For what is the hope of the
hypocrite though he has gained, when God taketh his
soul from him?
2. We need to measure things by the long term
consequences.
a. Drugs may give you a great temporary high.
b. Forms of perversion may give you
powerful and exotic sensations.
c. Having a million dollars in your bank account
may give you an awesome sense of power.
d. What is the true value of these things if in
the gaining of them you lost your own soul?
D. Jesus told the story of a rich man who was prospering beyond
measure. He came to the place where his barns were not big
enough to hold all his goods. He questioned as to what to do
and he decided on a program of tearing down his barns and
building bigger barns to hold his goods. He said, "I have
enough to take care of my needs for many years. I will
take it easy, I will eat, drink and be merry. That was his
estimate of his situation, but God said, "Thou fool, this night
thy soul will be required of thee, and then who shall have your
goods?" He thought he had great profit, but he lost it all in
one night. He thought himself wise, God thought him a fool.
You may have one estimation of your condition, and God another.
I would be interested in what God thought of my condition.
II. God's estimate of the human soul.
A. As far as God is concerned that is the most valuable commodity
that you possess, because it is eternal.
1. All of the material things you have are temporal,
including your body.
2. Your body may be good for eighty years or so, but what
is that in ratio to eternity?
3. The awesome thought is that in the eighty or so years
you are determining your eternal destiny.
B. Many people are deceived by the delusion of Satan that there is
plenty of time to make things right with God. You should live a
little before putting yourself under the discipline of Jesus
Christ.
1. Number one you never know just how much time you have,
like the rich man in the story of Jesus, God might be
saying fool, this is your last day on earth.
2. Secondly you haven't really started living until you
turn your life over to Jesus Christ.
a. I have never heard one testify that they were
glad waited so long accept Jesus Christ, the
Christian life is such a drag, they are glad
that they had their fun first.
b. I have heard thousands of testimonies of people
who have shared how they wish they had accepted
Jesus earlier in life, they didn't know that
life could be so filled with joy, peace and
contentment. I have seen them lament over the
mess they made of their lives as they were
pursuing a good time, doing their own thing.
C. Long, long after the material things are gone, your soul will
be living on.
1. Peter talks about the dissolution of this whole
physical universe.
2PE 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in
the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and
the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and
the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2PE 3:11 [Seeing] then [that] all these things shall be dissolved, what
manner [of persons] ought ye to be in [all] holy conversation
and godliness,
2PE 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God,
wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the
elements shall melt with fervent heat?
2PE 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
2PE 3:14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be
diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot,
and blameless.
a. In light of the temporal nature of the material
Universe Peter tells us that we should be
living a holy manner of life in godliness. That
we should be diligent in our walk that we might
be found in Him, in peace, without spot, and
blameless.
b. Note that even the end of the material universe
is not the end of existence. We look for a new
heaven and a new earth.
2. Paul speaks of the day that these bodies of ours are
dissolved or our spirits are loosed from this body.
That is not the end, we have a building of God not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens.
3. It is absolutely wrong to think that death is the end
of existence. The Bible tells us that it is appointed
unto man once to die, and after that, the judgment.
D. The constant emphasis of the ministry of Jesus was that of the
superiority of the things of the spirit over the things of the
flesh.
1. This is the emphasis of the New Testament. "The mind of
the flesh is death, the mind of the Spirit is life,
peace, and joy.
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