For What Shall It Profit a Man?

Missionary Richard Yerbe in Japan will now preach on the one and only thing that anyone can do that will profit them for all eternity. The title of this sermon is, For What Shall It Profit a Man? The Lord Jesus Christ is Almighty God the Son, who created us human beings as eternal souls that will exist forever without end. Because Eve and Adam sinned, and thus fell from their perfect state, with the sentence of death now upon them, in their fallen, lost, and undone state, in their Creator's holy sight, God now commands all people on earth to repent unto God of their rebellious, sinful state, and to trust in and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

Now, listen carefully as I read from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, according to Mark, chapter 8, verse 34. And when he, that is Jesus, had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. My friend, when anyone trusts in Christ as their Savior, the Lord Jesus commands that newborn Christian to thereafter follow Him, by that person denying himself or herself, that is, ceasing to do their own will and desires, and from then on to obediently follow the leading of God the Holy Spirit.

That leading will entail bearing his or her own cross that Jesus ordained specifically for that saved person. Each of us should earnestly pray the following, My Creator God in Heaven, from this very moment on, please enable me to deny myself and to always perfectly follow thy leading. Amen.

Listen keenly now to the next verse, verse 35, For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. Thinking deeply upon that clear choice that faces each of us in life right now, you please seriously voice the following plea to your Creator. Abba, Father in Heaven, please thoroughly convince me that if I strive to the limit of all my natural abilities to make a good life for myself, but if I shut my Creator out of my life while doing so, that I will lose my life forever by being cast into the lake of fire after I die.

Please teach me clearly how to lose my life for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ and for his gospel's sake, and that by doing so I will save my life forever. Amen. Listen to my personal testimony regarding this.

As a small lad, I called on Jesus Christ to save me from going to hell, thereafter regarding him as my Savior. But as a maturing teenager, I set goals of striving for a life regarded as great in mankind's eyes. That resulted in five thrilling years of flying small jet attack aircraft as a young adult Marine Corps officer and pilot.

You young guys, please read the details of those five years in my autobiography titled For We Are Journeying. It is in the book section of my website. That URL is christisall.us. Separate the three words with two dashes.

christisall.us. Toward the end of my required military duty time, I was 28 years old then, my Lord clearly led me to lose my life for his sake and for the gospel's sake by spending the rest of my life on earth preaching the saving gospel of Jesus Christ far and wide throughout the heathen nation of Japan. By God's great grace, I have been doing that for more than 50 years now. And ever so blessed those five decades have been, saving my life by losing it in this God-ordained fashion.

And right now, I am standing in the very center of Japan as I preach this audio to you in the latter half of the year 2024. The glorious joy and fulfillment I have in my soul over losing my life for Christ's sake and for his gospel's sake is truly joy unspeakable and full of glory. The next verse is Christ proclaiming the most important pivotal matter regarding the many decisions any of us make throughout our lifetime.

Verse 36, for what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? If you shut the Savior for all mankind out of your life while exhausting all your created energies in the mad rat race of striving to gain all the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life that one can possibly gain during one's short earthly journey to one's eternal abode, your unending fate and doom will be that of losing your own soul by weeping and gnashing your teeth forever without end in hells like a fire. To repent to God your Creator and receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior or to stubbornly, selfishly, rebelliously reject God's Savior is the one vitally important decision that you will make during your brief life on earth. Thus I plead with you right now to think upon this decision more gravely and more seriously than you have ever thought upon anything.

Please pray this, Almighty God, my Creator in Heaven, right now. Please knock some spiritual sense into my head to instill within me a full knowledge of the seriousness of my decision to receive or to reject God's eternal salvation freely offered to me by thy rich mercies and grace. Amen.

I now read verse 37. Verse 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Presently there is a multitude of pitiful souls on earth with no higher goal in life than constantly staying high on some drug-like substance while it destroys their body and soul. That is a most cheap and foolish exchange for their most valuable possession, which is their eternal existence in total comfort and true joyfulness in the glorious presence of their Creator God of great glory.

No greater loss nor greater tragedy has ever been or ever will be played out among God's human race on earth. Eternally regretful is the tragic truth that the vast majority of the fallen human race, multiplied billions of human souls, exchange their eternal safety and comfort for various reasons such as family pressure and peer pressure, various vain goals such as striving to be great, various material possessions and such. I am eternally blessed in that my Creator God gave me better sense than to follow that mass of souls down the broad path to the never-ending flames of hell.

Right now, God will gladly give you this same, sane, heaven-sent wisdom that causes a person to repent to God and to trust in Almighty God's Savior, Jesus Christ, if only in sincerity you asked Him for it. Please pray this in all honesty of heart. My Creator God in heaven, I fully desire to repent right now of my rebellion against Thee.

Please have great mercy upon me to save me to the utmost for all eternity. Amen. Why should we linger and heed not His mercies, mercies for you and for me? Come home, come home, ye who are weary, come earnestly, tenderly.

Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home. Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing, passing from you and from me. Shadows are gathering, death's night is coming, coming for you and for me.

All for the wonderful love He has promised, promised for you and for me. Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon, pardon for you and for me. Come home, come home, ye who are weary, come earnestly, tenderly.

Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home.