Value your salvation, guide it wittingly!
1. The salvation of your soul is very precious.
2. If you own everything and lose your soul, you are lost.
Introduction
God created heaven and earth and gave authority over the earth to man (Adam), telling him to have dominion over it. However, Adam did not understand the importance of the dominion God gave him, and so could not guide it wittingly.
His wife, Eve cared little about the dominion and so the devil came with deceit unto the woman and deceived her to eat the forbidden fruit. The fall of the woman paved way for the easy fall of the man and the dominion was gone. The devil, that crafty serpent was now in control with the dominion over the world and man became his slave as it were.
God had to send His Son, Jesus Christ to wrestle the 'Dominion mandate' from the devil, so that whosoever believes in Christ are separated from the grip of the devil and can exercise authority over Satan and his agents.
Your Soul - Too Precious
Jesus said that your soul is worth more than the rest of the world put together. He asked, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). It is impossible for us to grasp what is meant by “the whole world.” For this is not only the physical world or the geographical world. It includes the business world, the scientific world, the intellectual world. Jesus said that the soul is worth more than all the world.
Why is your soul so valuable? First, the value of your soul is measured by its eternal quality. It will never die. You are going to live forever. Your body will die, but your soul, the part of you that is made in the image of God, will never die. Your soul—your spirit—will live forever. It is that part of you that has understanding and wisdom.
Many people have knowledge, but they don’t have wisdom. The Bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). Knowledge without God and without wisdom is very dangerous. That’s one of the problems in the world today. We have a lot of knowledge; we have a lot of learning, but the Bible says you can be “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). We lack the wisdom to use our knowledge.
Your soul is that part of you that has judgment. It makes decisions—moral decisions—what is good and what is bad. Your soul also involves your will. Your will chooses or rejects things that are brought before it. Your soul is that part of you that has emotion, like love and fear. It has memory—the mental capacity for storing up knowledge of ideas and events. There is something down inside us that is beyond science to know. The Bible calls it soul or spirit.
The Devil is interested in your soul also
We tend to put all of our emphasis on the body with its pleasures and its physical appetites. But the soul also has appetites. The soul longs for God. Down deep inside every person’s heart is a cry for something, but he doesn’t quite know what it is. Man is a worshiping creature. He instinctively knows that there is something out there somewhere, and he longs to know that something or someone. Your soul longs for vital contact with God. Your soul is valuable because it is eternal—it is forever.
Second, the value of your soul is measured by the devil’s interest in it. Jesus said the devil is the prince of this world. He is the god of this age. The devil is greatly at work in our world, and he is after your soul.
God created a perfect world. He and man were friends. God never meant that there would be suffering and war and death. But Satan came. He was a mighty angel, possibly the greatest of all of God’s created beings, and he rebelled against God.
When God built the earth, He put humans in charge of the earth. God wanted someone in the universe whom He could love and who would return love to Him. So He gave man freedom of choice. God said to man, “I put one tree in this garden—you are not to eat its fruit. If you eat it, you will suffer and die” (Cf. Genesis 3:3). God was testing man. He gave man the freedom of will.
Man fell and suffering began
But the devil told man, “God doesn’t mean what he says. You’re not going to die. If you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will be as great as God” (Cf. Genesis 3:4-6). So Eve ate the fruit first and then Adam, her husband, ate it too. And that was the first rebellion by people against God. God had to keep His word or He would not be a just God. He had said, “If you eat the fruit of that tree you will suffer and die.” Man ate of the tree, and since then he has been suffering and dying.
But God had a plan. God said, “In spite of their rebellion, I am going to save the human race. I am going to send my Son to this earth.” And every step of the way the devil tried to kill God’s Son, even when He was a baby. Finally, when God’s Son was on the cross, it looked as if the devil had won a great victory, but instead the devil lost his greatest battle. When Jesus died, the devil suffered a mighty defeat, because on the third day Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The Bible says Jesus has “the keys of Hades and of Death” (Revelation 1:18). Christ is alive, and He is coming back to this earth again!
God is building His Kingdom, but the devil is also building his. Even though Satan is a defeated foe, he is still working. In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus said, “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart” (Matthew 13:19). Jesus pictured Satan as an enemy battling and bidding for the souls of people.
Your soul cost God His Son
Third, the value of your soul is measured by God’s concern for saving your soul. God is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). God sees your soul as the most valuable thing in the world, so valuable that He sent His only Son to the cross to suffer and die so that your soul may be saved. And if you were the only person in the whole universe, Christ would have died for you.
Fourth, the value of your soul is measured by the severity of its loss. It is terrible when a person loses his health, or his money, or his friends, or, worse still, his character. But what about the loss of a soul?
Suppose you had all the gold in the world and all the clothes you could ever dream of owning, and you lived in a magnificent home, and owned all the oil in the Middle East. Suppose it was all yours, but you lost your soul. Jesus said it would be a poor bargain. Even if you could get everything you wanted, it wouldn’t give you peace. You would still be searching. Great riches cannot make you happy. Much pleasure cannot make you happy. Only the peace of God coming into your heart through Jesus Christ can bring peace and joy and happiness.
Hope through Christ
Fifth, the value of your soul is measured by the price paid for its redemption. The Bible says, “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19). What are you doing with your soul? Are you gambling with your soul, taking a chance with it?
I am asking you to make sure of your relationship with Christ. Christ demands more than just churchgoing, more than just baptism, more than just being good. He demands your total surrender—the surrender of your mind, your heart, your body, every part of you—to the Lordship of Christ. If you have a doubt in your heart that you have totally surrendered to Christ, do it now. Make sure of your salvation. Make certain that you know Christ.
Are you prepared for eternity? Are you sure that you have been born from above? The Bible says that you can be sure. The Bible says that there is a Heaven, that there is a hell. You choose where you spend eternity, and many of you are choosing right now.
What the bible say
about Running Eternal Race
Your Soul - Too Precious
Jesus said that your soul is worth more than the rest of the world put together. He asked, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). It is impossible for us to grasp what is meant by “the whole world.” For this is not only the physical world or the geographical world. It includes the business world, the scientific world, the intellectual world. Jesus said that the soul is worth more than all the world.
Why is your soul so valuable? First, the value of your soul is measured by its eternal quality. It will never die. You are going to live forever. Your body will die, but your soul, the part of you that is made in the image of God, will never die. Your soul—your spirit—will live forever. It is that part of you that has understanding and wisdom.
Many people have knowledge, but they don’t have wisdom. The Bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). Knowledge without God and without wisdom is very dangerous. That’s one of the problems in the world today. We have a lot of knowledge; we have a lot of learning, but the Bible says you can be “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). We lack the wisdom to use our knowledge.
Your soul is that part of you that has judgment. It makes decisions—moral decisions—what is good and what is bad. Your soul also involves your will. Your will chooses or rejects things that are brought before it. Your soul is that part of you that has emotion, like love and fear. It has memory—the mental capacity for storing up knowledge of ideas and events. There is something down inside us that is beyond science to know. The Bible calls it soul or spirit.
The Devil is interested in your soul also
We tend to put all of our emphasis on the body with its pleasures and its physical appetites. But the soul also has appetites. The soul longs for God. Down deep inside every person’s heart is a cry for something, but he doesn’t quite know what it is. Man is a worshiping creature. He instinctively knows that there is something out there somewhere, and he longs to know that something or someone. Your soul longs for vital contact with God. Your soul is valuable because it is eternal—it is forever.
Second, the value of your soul is measured by the devil’s interest in it. Jesus said the devil is the prince of this world. He is the god of this age. The devil is greatly at work in our world, and he is after your soul.
God created a perfect world. He and man were friends. God never meant that there would be suffering and war and death. But Satan came. He was a mighty angel, possibly the greatest of all of God’s created beings, and he rebelled against God.
When God built the earth, He put humans in charge of the earth. God wanted someone in the universe whom He could love and who would return love to Him. So He gave man freedom of choice. God said to man, “I put one tree in this garden—you are not to eat its fruit. If you eat it, you will suffer and die” (Cf. Genesis 3:3). God was testing man. He gave man the freedom of will.
Man fell and suffering began
But the devil told man, “God doesn’t mean what he says. You’re not going to die. If you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will be as great as God” (Cf. Genesis 3:4-6). So Eve ate the fruit first and then Adam, her husband, ate it too. And that was the first rebellion by people against God. God had to keep His word or He would not be a just God. He had said, “If you eat the fruit of that tree you will suffer and die.” Man ate of the tree, and since then he has been suffering and dying.
But God had a plan. God said, “In spite of their rebellion, I am going to save the human race. I am going to send my Son to this earth.” And every step of the way the devil tried to kill God’s Son, even when He was a baby. Finally, when God’s Son was on the cross, it looked as if the devil had won a great victory, but instead the devil lost his greatest battle. When Jesus died, the devil suffered a mighty defeat, because on the third day Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The Bible says Jesus has “the keys of Hades and of Death” (Revelation 1:18). Christ is alive, and He is coming back to this earth again!
God is building His Kingdom, but the devil is also building his. Even though Satan is a defeated foe, he is still working. In the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus said, “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart” (Matthew 13:19). Jesus pictured Satan as an enemy battling and bidding for the souls of people.
Your soul cost God His Son
Third, the value of your soul is measured by God’s concern for saving your soul. God is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). God sees your soul as the most valuable thing in the world, so valuable that He sent His only Son to the cross to suffer and die so that your soul may be saved. And if you were the only person in the whole universe, Christ would have died for you.
Fourth, the value of your soul is measured by the severity of its loss. It is terrible when a person loses his health, or his money, or his friends, or, worse still, his character. But what about the loss of a soul?
Suppose you had all the gold in the world and all the clothes you could ever dream of owning, and you lived in a magnificent home, and owned all the oil in the Middle East. Suppose it was all yours, but you lost your soul. Jesus said it would be a poor bargain. Even if you could get everything you wanted, it wouldn’t give you peace. You would still be searching. Great riches cannot make you happy. Much pleasure cannot make you happy. Only the peace of God coming into your heart through Jesus Christ can bring peace and joy and happiness.
Hope through Christ
Fifth, the value of your soul is measured by the price paid for its redemption. The Bible says, “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19). What are you doing with your soul? Are you gambling with your soul, taking a chance with it?
Satan rules a person till he repents and accept Christ
The reality of life is that, the devil rules a person until he or she repents and accepts Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour and continues in the Lord, subjecting himself or herself to the word and teachings of Christ. Such a person must also reject the devil and his agents and all the things they offer people today as alternative to what God promised us.
The reality of life is that, the devil rules a person until he or she repents and accepts Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour and continues in the Lord, subjecting himself or herself to the word and teachings of Christ. Such a person must also reject the devil and his agents and all the things they offer people today as alternative to what God promised us.
When a person reject Satan in spirit and truth, then Jesus becomes the master of his life. This can be done effectively when you can identify the agents of Satan offering people alternative teachings, doctrines and products and services that is meant to be an alternative to what God offers. For instance, in Nigeria and probably Africa, we have:
- Herbalists - Offering traditional medicine with roots and herbs garbed with incantations.
- Native Doctors - Offering cure to different demonic attacks without Christ being involved
- Goddess Priests - Mostly women providing solution to spiritual attacks without Christ
- Witchcraft agents, Sorcerers, Occultists, Fake Pastors and Prophets.
- Fortune Tellers, Psalmists etc.
Consult not with the devil, or his Agents
A believer in Christ have no business consulting these people and other secret societies for help whatsoever, because when you accept their solution and what they offer, you have also accepted Satan and remain under his dominion and the salvation prayer and confession becomes of no effect to you. The person that subjects himself wholly to Jesus authority is free from Satan's dominion.
People who live outside of Christ think they are living their own life and doing their own thing, but this is not true because without Christ, you belong to the sinful side and under the automatic and subtle control of the devil. This is why some people say they just feel like dressing this way or that way, not knowing the voice advising them is of the devil.
Reject short cuts
If we remain in Christ, we have power to exercise discretion and to reject to wrong voice and sensual promptings the devil will throw at us. We can boldly say no to drinking alcohol, clubbing or smoking. You can say no to strange voice and dictates of the devil because of the victory of Jesus Christ, thus we have victory over sin and over Satan.
If we remain in Christ, we have power to exercise discretion and to reject to wrong voice and sensual promptings the devil will throw at us. We can boldly say no to drinking alcohol, clubbing or smoking. You can say no to strange voice and dictates of the devil because of the victory of Jesus Christ, thus we have victory over sin and over Satan.
If we abandon Jesus Christ directly or indirectly, we return to the control of Satan and if a person dies in that state, he or she goes to hell. Some rich and comfortable don't even bother to go to church. Some of them ask "what are they going to teach them?. I am comfortable here, what do I want again that will take me to church and which is going to preach anyway - This is wrong. Everyone living need God and must praise and worship Him.
Be active in the things of God
Some people are unable to attend church meetings and participate actively in the house of God because of their good jobs. With time, such believers find alternative and 'productive or healthy' activity to don on Sunday morning. Such believers are toying with their precious salvation and taking their freedom from Satan for granted and with time, they begin to experience prayerlessness and lack of power to resist temptations.
Some people are unable to attend church meetings and participate actively in the house of God because of their good jobs. With time, such believers find alternative and 'productive or healthy' activity to don on Sunday morning. Such believers are toying with their precious salvation and taking their freedom from Satan for granted and with time, they begin to experience prayerlessness and lack of power to resist temptations.
Without fear of God, resistance to sin becomes zero and the enemy enters back into that life and his or condition becomes complex. This is the reality of many who are still going to church once a month and engaging in many sinful acts and choices without the ability to stop themselves. The secret rot sets in gradually and soon the emptiness they will experience may have to be filled with sinful options and their salvation is gone.
Make your own choice
Make your own choice
I am asking you to make sure of your relationship with Christ. Christ demands more than just churchgoing, more than just baptism, more than just being good. He demands your total surrender—the surrender of your mind, your heart, your body, every part of you—to the Lordship of Christ. If you have a doubt in your heart that you have totally surrendered to Christ, do it now. Make sure of your salvation. Make certain that you know Christ.
Are you prepared for eternity? Are you sure that you have been born from above? The Bible says that you can be sure. The Bible says that there is a Heaven, that there is a hell. You choose where you spend eternity, and many of you are choosing right now.
The Lord wants us to know that the race to eternity is real, and there are many people watching and monitoring the race. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Paul was asking the Corinthian Christians whether they do not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.
He added that he had to keep his body under check, so that after he have preached to others, he would not be disqualified from entering heaven. This means that we should be focused on the goal, and not be distracted along the line. Those who remain focused and in good standing would end up saying what Apostle Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:7, he said - I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
He added that he had to keep his body under check, so that after he have preached to others, he would not be disqualified from entering heaven. This means that we should be focused on the goal, and not be distracted along the line. Those who remain focused and in good standing would end up saying what Apostle Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:7, he said - I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
In Hebrews 12:1, the scriptures says, we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, so, let us
throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let
us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. In the battles of life, whoever hopes in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint according to Isaiah 40:31.
The Scriptures says in James 1:12, that blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test,
that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those
who love him. Believers should even, glory in their sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
FIRE...
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