1.     Last week I preached on the first question in the Bible, found in Genesis 3:9, “Where art thou?”

2.     This morning I want to speak on the most solemn question (Mark 8:36).

3.     Our Lord is asking two hypothetical questions in verses 36 & 37. Of course, no one can gain the whole world.  King Nebuchadnezzar couldn’t.  Alexander the Great couldn’t.  Julius Caesar couldn’t.  Napoleon couldn’t.   The antichrist will try but he will not be successful.

4.     Our Lord is saying, “Even if a man could gain the whole world, would it be worth it if he loses his own soul?”   Our Lord’s question emphasizes the incomputable and immeasurable value of the human soul.

5.     Referring to this most solemn question, the great evangelist R.A. Torrey said, “This question has led thousands of men and women to pause in their mad folly that was hurrying them on toward eternal perdition, to reflect and to change their course.”

6.     I pray the Holy Spirit may speak to our hearts this Lord’s Day.

I. DEFINITION OF TERMS

1.     Oftentimes people come to church and hear different terms, but really do not understand what these terms mean.  One word that many have a difficult time understanding is “world” or “worldly” or “worldliness,” etc.

2.     The word “world” is used various ways in the Bible.   Sometimes the word “world” simply means, “the inhabited earth.”   Our Lord said in Matthew 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world…”

3.     Sometimes the word “world” means “age.”  In Matthew 13:22, our Lord said, “He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.”

4.     Here we see that the cares of this world (age) choke the Word.  Let me stress that worldliness is choking our churches.

5.     That is why the apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 1:4 that Jesus “gave Himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world.”

6.     There is another Greek word that is translated as “world” in our King James Bible, and that is the word kosmos.  It is where we get our English words “cosmopolitan, cosmetic, cosmic, cosmology, etc.”

7.     Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines the Greek word kosmos, translated as “world” in the KJV: “the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ; the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments, riches, advantages, pleasures, etc., which although hollow and frail and fleeting, stir desire, seduce from God and are obstacles to the cause of Christ.”

8.     This is why I John 2:15 says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

9.     This is why James 4:4 says, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

10. The Bible says that Satan is the god of this world (cf. II Cor. 4:4).  Satan uses this world-system to hinder the cause of Christ. 

11. Whether it is through gross immorality or just thoughtless self-gratification, Satan misleads worldly people.  Satan is able to use pop culture, entertainment, music, sports, society, government, politics, and especially religion to keep sinners from turning to Christ.

12. Satan is a master deceiver.  He deceives some through mysticism, others through rationalism.  He deceives some through emotionalism, and others through intellectualism.

13. For nearly 2,000 years, preachers preached hard against worldliness.  But now most preachers themselves are very worldly!

14. Listen to these definitions from Webster’s 1828 Dictionary:

·        WORLDLINESS: “a predominant passion for obtaining the good things of this life; covetousness; addictedness to gain and temporal enjoyments.”

·        WORLDLING: “a person whose soul is set upon gaining temporal possessions; one devoted to this world and its enjoyments.”

·        WORLDLY: “secular; temporal; pertaining to this world or life, in contradistinction to the life to come; as worldly pleasures; worldly lusts; devoted to this life and its enjoyments.”

·        WORLDLY-MINDED: “devoted to the acquisition of property and to temporal enjoyments.”

·        WORLDLY-MINDEDNESS: “a predominating love and pursuit of this world’s goods, to the exclusion of piety and attention to spiritual concerns.”

15. None of these definitions are in my 1996 Webster’s Dictionary.  In fact, in modern dictionaries, “worldly” is usually defined as a positive quality (meaning “urbane, sophisticated,” etc.).

16. Therefore, when our Lord said, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world,” He was referring to this world and all it contains – wealth, honor, power, worldly pleasures, and everything that appeals to the flesh.

17. First John 2:15-17 says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

18. “The world passeth away,” but the soul of man will live forever – either in heaven or in hell. 

19. The “soul” refers to the inner man, that part of man which will go on forever. With these definitions in mind, let us consider further our Lord’s most solemn question (Mark 8:36).

II. YOU CANNOT HAVE BOTH THE WORLD AND JESUS

1.     Remember, Noah Webster defined a “worldly” man as a man “devoted to this world and its enjoyments.”  Yet Jesus said in Mark 8:34, “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

2.     In Matthew 6:24, Jesus said, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

3.     But there are multitudes of people who are trying to do just that – they are attempting to serve both God and mammon (money).

4.     I have always been interested in the last words of dying men.  Alexander the Great conquered the whole world but died a drunkard at the age of 33.  His last words were, “There are no more other worlds to conquer!”

5.     Alexander thought he had gained the whole world, but apparently he had lost his own soul.

6.     Compare this with John Hooper, the Church of England bishop burned at the stake in 1555 by Bloody Mary, the RC queen of England.  The night before he suffered martyrdom, someone urged him to recant and Hooper said, “True it is that life is sweet, and death is bitter, but eternal death is more bitter, and eternal life is more sweet.”

7.     The great evangelist RA Torrey said, “It has been my lot to be thrown in with a great many of this world’s multi-millionaires, some of the very richest of them on both sides of the Atlantic, and never yet have I met one single man who was satisfied with his money.  I was once invited to dinner by the heir to one of the largest fortunes in the world, and after dinner he opened his heart to me and told me how utterly unsatisfied he was.”

8.     Torrey told the story of Barney Barnato, an Englishman who made a fortune in diamonds in South Africa.  Barnato became one of the richest men in the world, but it did not make him happy.  He took to heavy drinking and he became suicidal.  His friends employed a man to watch him at all times because they were concerned that he would kill himself.

9.     One day on a steamer heading back to England, when his bodyguard was not paying attention, Barney Barnato ran to the rail of the ship and jumped out into the Atlantic Ocean and drowned.

10. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).  

III. OUR LORD IS SHOWING US A CONTRAST

1.     There is a contrast between the world and the soul.  A few minutes ago I quoted I John 2:17, “And the world passeth away (fleeting), and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever (eternal).”

2.     “And the world passeth away, and the lusts thereof…” Worldly pleasures do not last.  They soon pass away. Worldly riches do not last. They soon pass away. Worldly honors do not last.   They soon pass away.  Worldly prominence does not last.  It soon passes away.

3.     James Brown, the big R & B singer died on Christmas Day.  President Gerald Ford died on December 26^th, the next day.  It appeared to me that the singer’s death received more attention than the president’s.  But 100 years from now, who will remember either one of them?  

4.     I think back to my childhood.  I remember the famous ballplayers, the famous politicians, the famous movie stars – where are they now?

5.     Most of them are probably in hell right now.  “But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”

6.     A book in the Bible that is often overlooked is the book of Ecclesiastes, written by King Solomon. The key word in that book is “vanity.”  It is used 33 times in the book of Ecclesiastes (cf. Eccl. 1:1-3).

7.     The idea behind “vanity” here is “emptiness.”  King Solomon knew from first hand experience that everything this world has to offer – position, power, prestige, wealth, women – can truly satisfy.

8.     None of these things made King Solomon happy.  He wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:14, “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.”

CONCLUSION:

1.     Rowland Hill was a great preacher, but he was known to be rather eccentric.  He preached in London back in the 18^th and early 19^th centuries.

2.     One day her was preaching outdoors to a great crowd of people, and Lady Ann Erskine was passing by in her carriage. She asked her servant, “Who is that man?”  He replied, “That is Rowland Hill, my lady.”

3.     She had heard a good deal about Rowland Hill and thought she would like to see him, so she asked her coachman to drive near the platform. When the carriage came near, and Rowland Hill was informed that it was Lady Ann, he said, “Stop, my friends, I have something to sell.”

4.     This unusual statement made the people wonder; but in the midst of a dead silence he said: I have more than a title to sell; I have more than the crown of Europe to sell – it is the soul of Lady Ann Erskine. Is there anyone here who bids for it?

5.     Yes, I hear a bid. Satan, Satan, what will you give? “I will give pleasure, honor, riches – yea, I will give the whole world for her soul.”

6.     Do you hear another bid? Is there any other one? Do I hear another bid? Ah, I thought so; I hear another bid. The Lord Jesus Christ, what will You give for this soul?

7.     “I will give peace, joy, comfort that the world knows not of – yea, I will give eternal life.”   Lady Ann Erskine, you have heard the two bidders for your soul. Which will you accept?

8.     It is recorded that Lady Ann ordered the door of her carriage to be opened. Then she fell on her knees and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ.

9.     She made the right choice.