03.04. The Value of the Soul
THE VALUE OF THE SOUL
Introduction A few years ago in the city of Washington a great Conservation Congress was held to devise means whereby the coal, iron and timber of the United States could be conserved. Experts were there with their statistics, showing the value of the products and the great amounts that were being wasted. When I read that article I thought, Oh, that we could call a meeting in this nation for the conservation of the souls of men!
We are greatly concerned about the timber and minerals of our land and spare no effort to conserve them. We have within our country more than one hundred million people, each possessing a soul, according to the words of Jesus, more valuable than the entire world. The majority of these souls are being wasted and lost, yet we are putting forth such meager efforts to tell men of Jesus and His power to save. As the experts at Washington stirred the Congress with their facts regarding the forests, the iron ore and the coal of our land, so I trust God will help me to stir someone regarding the value of a soul.
Origin Of The Soul
We realize something of the value of the soul when we consider its origin. In Genesis 2:7 we read: "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." The soul is not the product of earth or evolution; it came forth direct from the hand of its Creator.
Redemption Of The Soul
We see its value when we consider the price paid for its redemption. Jesus valued it to the extent that He counted His own life as naught that He might redeem it. Do you wonder that He asked the question "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
Devils Fight For It The soul is so valuable that for six thousand years the devil has marshaled and remarshaled the Legions of hell and waged war against the forces of God and righteousness; and for one purpose only -- that he might gain possession of the soul.
What Is The Soul?
We also see its value when we consider what it is. What is the soul? It is the real man. It is that which we fellowship, that with which we associate and which we love. The most loathsome thing in the world is a body without a soul.
We often speak of beauty of form and face. In what does this have its origin? The soul.
Remove the soul and the eyes will lose their luster, the cheek will lose its glow and the graceful form will be no more attractive than chiseled marble on the cold dead earth from whence it came.
You attend church and enjoy the company of your friends. You linger to converse with them after the service. But if the souls were suddenly snatched from these friends, their presence would become loathsome, and you would want to get away. Of What Does The Soul Consist?
We can see its value when we consider of what it consists. The soul has capacity; it has ability; it has duration; it is progressive.
It is immense in its capacity, powerful in its ability, eternal in its duration and endless in its progression.
Immense In Capacity The soul has capacity both to receive and to contain. Other things mature and can become no larger, are filled and can hold no more. The physical reaches a maturity it cannot exceed. The oak attains a height beyond which it cannot go. The ocean has its bounds. Nations reach their limits. The soul does not. It is so immense in its capacity that it has no fixed bounds. The rich man’s barns became too small and were torn down for greater ones. But no such thing is necessary with the soul. It is immense in its capacity. It can contain either the glory of heaven or the damnation of hell.
Think of its capacity to receive and contain the past. With the recording pen of memory it writes on the tablets of the heart every thought and act of life. It can reach back twenty or thirty years and bring forth something you thought forgotten and make it as plain and visible to the mind as if it had happened only yesterday.
Powerful In Ability The soul is powerful in its ability both to suffer and to enjoy. Joy cannot overcome it; suffering cannot annihilate it. Both joy and suffering often overcome the body. We have heard of people who had such an abundance of unexpected joy that their bodies were overcome and theydied. It is not an uncommon thing for people to suffer such agony that the body cannot endure it and life departs. The soul is powerful in its ability. All of us have seen men step to platforms and sway audiences with eloquence, enliven them with wit, melt them with pathos, hold them with argument and charm them with music. All this indicates the power of the soul. The artist takes his brush and portrays upon the canvas a picture almost as real as life.
That, too, is the power of the soul. Take the soul from the artist and the brush will fall from the dead fingers, the colors will run together and the picture will become meaningless. The great inventions of the day are the result of the power of the soul; for example, the automobile, the airplane, the wireless, the telephone and the radio. When we read the biographies of the inventors, they tell us of struggles, privations, apprenticeships, education and training. But behind the struggles, behind the training, behind the apprenticeship and behind the education, was the power of the soul.
How powerful is the soul in knowledge! To what dizzy heights of human wisdom men have climbed! If it is possible for man to climb in fifty years as high in the tree of knowledge as we know some have ascended, to what heights could man climb if he could but remain upon the earth for one hundred, five hundred or a thousand years?
What will be the possibilities of the redeemed soul when he enters that sinless clime where he can follow his pursuits forever without the hindrances of sin, sickness, or death? The Soul’s Thirst For Knowledge The soul is endued with an amazing thirst for knowledge. How it cries out for information regarding every new thing it sees!
Make your way to the foot of a mountain. Gaze at the snowcapped peak and something within you will say, "I want to know what is on that mountain." Climb its rugged sides to the top, gaze down into the valley below and something within you will say, "I want to know what is in that valley."
Stand upon the shore of the mighty deep. Watch the ships as they slip from view over the rim of the world and something within you will cry, as it did in the days of Columbus, "I want to know what is there."
Look at the moon more than forty thousand miles away as it casts its beams over the earth.
Scientists tell us that it is a dead planet, a burned cinder having no light of itself, only reflecting the light of the sun. We accept that explanation because we have nothing better to take its place. But something within us says, "I should like to know."We look at the king of day, ninety two million miles from earth. They tell us that the sun, too, is another planet. We think of what oceans, what lakes, what rivers, what mountains, what valleys, what peoples or what nations it might have. We accept the scientist’s statement for we have no alternative. But I admit there is something in me that says, I should like to know; I should like to know."
Eternal In Its Duration The soul is immense in its capacity, powerful in its ability and eternal in its duration. The soul dies but never ceases to exist. In eternity it will have all the ability to suffer or to enjoy and all the capacity to receive or to contain that it has now. If this were not true, the soul never could enjoy heaven. The destiny, the fate, the doom of the soul is settled in this life. When the soul leaves this body it will go into eternity and into heaven to enjoy the blessings, the peace and the glory of God, or it will go into hell to endure forever the agony, the woe and the torments of the lost and damned. A Home
You have a home in which you live. You pass from room to room in that home. You occupy various chairs. But the home that knows you now will soon know you no more. Other hands will clasp the knob on your door, other feet will wend their way through your room. Other people will occupy your chairs. But you will have a home in eternity, as surely as you have one here.
You will walk along the streets of the city of God and through the rooms of those mansions fair, or you will tread the paths of eternal destruction, through valleys of midnight darkness and dungeons of eternal despair.
Father, mother, that child you hold in your arms is the most helpless of all creatures. It has no instinct. It has no knowledge, no power to preserve its life for even one day. It is more dependent than the worm crawling beneath your feet. Yet there is wrapped in that little bundle of flesh a soul that is immense in its capacity, powerful in its ability and eternal in its duration -- a soul destined to exist somewhere forever. What are you doing to conserve it?
If there were only one person destined to live forever, what a difference that would make. The great and mighty of earth would make a beaten path to his door. Men would travel from the uttermost parts of the earth to gaze into the face and hear the voice of one who would never die.
Papers would comment and authors would speculate regarding the things that he would view a million years hence. But immortality is not the privilege of one person or of a chosen few. It is the created condition of every soul. You may speculate concerning the objects along the shores of eternity, but someday speculation will give place to sight.If a million years from now the archfiend of hell contrives a new and more terrible way of punishing the wicked, every unsaved soul will see it.
If a million years hence, God, in His mighty wisdom and power, creates some new beauty, some new glory for His saints, every redeemed soul will see it.
Endless In Its Progression
Consider also the endless progression of the soul. That it progresses in this life there is not a doubt. Whether in righteousness or sin, the soul is continually on the stretch. How it grows! How it expands and reaches out! At times it seems to make its way to the door of this temple of clay and there, like some mighty bird of prey, stretch its wings as if it would tear itself away from its earthly mooring.
It must have been on such an occasion as this that David cried, "Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest." A Glimpse Of Heaven
Because I know that it will someday be our eternal home, the more I think of the city of God, and the more I read about it, the more convinced I am that one look within the lovely portals will more than pay us for all we may have endured here.
I read the story of an orphan boy whose little sister was extremely ill. He dreamed that if he could find a leaf of the tree of life she would get well. His search for the garden in which the tree grew was long and tedious; few knew of its location. At last he found it and begged the gatekeeper to give him one leaf for his dying sister. The keeper replied, "If she gets well are you sure she will never be sick again? Will people always be good to her?" The boy said he did not know. "Then," said the keeper, "look into the garden, to the place to which she will come if she does not get well. Then if you still want a leaf I’ll go myself to the God of the garden and get one for you."
He opened the gate a little and the boy looked in. He caught a glimpse of the glory of the garden of God, and turning away with tears in his eyes, he said, "I guess I’ll not take the leaf. I wish God would bring me here, too." Just one look will be worth a world like this.
Just To Look Upon His Face
If one look will be so wonderful, how wonderful it will be to be on the inside, to be as familiar with angels and archangels, with cherubims and seraphims as we are with our closest friends!
Men speak of an "abundant entrance." How wonderful, how glorious it will be merely to enter, to stand beside the crystal stream, to know that after all our doubts and fears, after all our struggles and trials, we are in heaven at last!Then we will not be dreaming, not hoping, not believing, but realizing and seeing!
What a privilege to look on the face of Jesus, to have Him speak our names and clasp our hands! A story is told of Dives and Lazarus. When they died, each was escorted to his eternal abode by the same angel. The angel said to Lazarus, "Lazarus, I have been told to give you anything you desire; please make your request."
Lazarus replied, "Do you have a stool here somewhere that I could have?"
"Yes," said the angel, "but what do you want with a stool?"
"I want to go over to the throne, sit at the feet and look upon the face of the Man who died for me." The angel said to the rich man, "What is your request?" Dives replied, "I want the finest place to live that you can secure. I want the finest food on my table. I want a paper to come to my room every day, and be sure that you bring me gold. I want plenty of money.
"All right," said the angel, "you may have your desire."
Time passed. One day the rich man saw the angel flying by, and he cried out, "Angel, get me out of here. This is not heaven; this is hell. I have eaten food until I am gorged. I have counted money until it burns my fingers and my soul as if it were fire. This is hell, I tell you. Get me out."
"Yes," said the angel, "that is hell; but I cannot get you out, for between you and heaven is a great gulf, over which you can never pass."
After much time had passed the angel walked over to Lazarus and said, "You have been here a long time. This morning I am taking a group of saints out on the glad hills of God’s glory, and showing them some of the scenery and beauties of heaven. Wouldn’t you like to go?"
Lazarus replied, "No, angel; go and show others the beauty of heaven; this is scenery enough for me. I want to see Jesus."
I want to see Jesus, don’t you? My Saviour so faithful and true. When I reach the strand Of that loved bright land, I want to see Jesus, don’t you?
Progressing In RighteousnessJust to enter those pearly gates will be wonderful; but the soul will continue to progress. The thought is overwhelming. Not only will the redeemed move from this temple of clay into glory, but there they shall continue to grow in grace and the knowledge of God. There they shall move on and climb on and rise on, until the most humble saint today will someday pass the present exalted seat of the greatest Christian in heaven now. In the wake of these growing saints the humble will follow, ever seeing new beauties, beholding greater glories, becoming more and more like the Christ whom they love and serve. As eternity rolls on they will have an ever greater ability to enjoy and an ever increasing capacity to receive and contain the grace, the love and the glory of God.
Progressing In Wickedness
If the soul is lost, what will it mean? Men grow in sin here. Some seem to have an alarming capacity for iniquity. To what depths men have plunged in this life! Our newspapers are filled with such accounts of horror that we can hardly conceive of souls which would sink so low. To be lost will be awful, for it will mean to be shut out from God, shut out from love, shut out from light, shut out from heaven. It will mean to be stripped of everything that is beautiful and lovely. It will mean to be shut in with corruption, wickedness and all that is vile. It will mean having as companions howling fiends and hissing devils. To be lost will mean far more. The soul will progress in hell. The moral man here will no longer be a moral man in eternity. You are sinking now, and if you die in sin you will sink on forever into greater sin, until the time will come when the most moral man will pass the present position of the vilest sinner, ever falling lower and lower into sin, with a greater capacity to receive and contain, and a greater ability to suffer the woes of the lost forever.
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