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The Pilgrim Path (8-26-2020)

The Pilgrim Path---Mark 8: 36, 37

“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?”

FORFEIT YOUR SOUL?

When I was in seminary, I remember looking through this lengthy article that Sports Illustrated Magazine put together on Mohammad Ali. He was one of the most intriguing and fascinating athletes of the 20th Century. The Associated Press named Jim Thorpe the greatest athlete of the first half of that century---it gave Ali the nod as the greatest athlete of the second half. A considerable amount of “sway” must be figured by Sports Writers to come out on top: sheer ability in your sport; mass appeal; domination of competitors---comebacks, etc., there is much that has to be taken into account. Ali (or Cassius Clay) was amazing to watch as a Boxer. He was a heavyweight. He loved to say, “I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.” He was three-time lineal champion of the heavyweight division (Ring magazine’s Fighter of the Year: Six Times). I remember Ali being left on a set in the closing moments of an episode with a young (and green) Frank Gifford---for ABC Wide World of Sports. Ali put his arm around Gifford’s shoulder and looked into the camera and said, “Frank---I like your show, And I like your style---but Your pay is So cheap---I won’t be back for a while!” Gifford’s eyes big as saucers---just faded into commercial…

That same incredible World Champion Boxer--- That Marvel of a Personality--- who typically travelled the planet with an entourage---maybe a dozen, two dozen people at times---made some extremely poor decisions. He had this to say across the top third--- of TWO pages in Sports Illustrated:

“I had the World---it was Nothing.”

You may try loving the world---it really will not love you back: Not for long (not in the ways that matter)

From Joseph Alleine: Are you a man, and have you reason? Look how you came into being and why you exist. Look at God’s workmanship in your body and consider the noble faculties of your heaven-born soul. To what end? Did God rear this fabric for no other end than to please yourself and gratify your senses? Are you like the swallows, who gather a few sticks and mud, and build their nests, rear their young, and then away? You are fearfully and wonderfully made! Surely you were made for some more noble and exalted end! You must repent and be converted---without this you are to no purpose!

From John Bunyan: We esteem things according to the price paid for them. The soul has been purchased by a price that the Son and wisdom of God thought appropriate to pay for its redemption. What a thing then, must be the soul! You must confess that it is of great value. Suppose a prince should descend from his throne, to pick up and put in his bosom, something that he had seen lying trampled under the feet of men. Do you think that he would do this for an old horseshoe, or a trivial thing as a pin or broken shoelace? Would you not conclude that the thing for which that prince should make such an effort must be a thing of very great worth? Why, this is the case with Christ and the soul! Christ is the Prince, and, as he sat there on the throne of heaven, he looked at the souls of men trampled under the foot of the law and under the penalty of death. What did he do? He came down from his throne, stooped down to earth, and there he laid down his life and blood for them (II Cor. 8: 9). Would he have done this for inconsiderable things? No, nor would he for the souls of sinners either, if he had not valued them higher than he valued heaven and earth besides.

From J. C. Ryle: The whole world cannot make up to a man the loss of his soul. The possession of all the treasures that the world contains, would not compensate for eternal ruin. They would not satisfy us and make us happy while we had them. They could only be enjoyed for a few years, at best, and must be then left forevermore. Of all the unprofitable and foolish bargains that man can make, the worst is that of giving up his soul’s salvation for the sake of this present world…

“And the world is passing away along with it desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” First John 2: 17

From Samuel Rutherford: How soon will some few years pass away, and then when the day is ended, and this life’s lease expired, what have men of the world’s glory, but dreams and thoughts? O happy soul forevermore, who can rightly compare this life with that long-lasting life to come and can balance the weighty glory of the one with the light golden vanity of the other.

Grace and Peace in Jesus Christ Our Risen LORD, Pastor Jason