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We want to turn in our Bibles this morning to the gospel by Mark chapter eight. Seems strange standing here on a Sunday morning. Usually I'm eating honey, sitting by my wife, listening to Brother David, but he's in, uh, Lexington, Kentucky, and I trust enjoying the rich blessing of the Lord. Mark chapter eight, we begin our reading at verse thirty four. and what I want to speak to you about this morning, I'd entitle discernment. Am I able to discern what I read in the Word of God? Spiritual discernment.
Mark chapter eight verse thirty four, where we read, and when he 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. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with holy angels. Now from the epistle to the Ephesians. Ephesians chapter four, And we shall begin reading at verse eleven. Ephesians four verse eleven, Speaking of the ascended Lord and his gracious work from the Father's right hand, he says, concerning what he did, he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slide of men and
cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. Now, may the Lord bless the reading of his word. Let's pray together. Our Father, we have opened the inspired, sacred revelation that you've given to us, and we want to multiply words upon that which was given. And we pray that as words are multiplied and spoken, that they'll be used of thee to speak to hearts.
Grant our God that we may be clear in our thinking and clear in our speaking, that the faith of people may stand not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. For we pray, giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now the Bible declares very emphatically that Jesus Christ is the only Savior of sinners. And the gospel, the good news concerning what our Lord did when he was here on earth, is the only message that brings the Savior to the sinner, whereby the sinner can believe and be saved.
We're living in a day, as the Apostle Paul did, when there is a battle for the souls of men. Our two texts declare, our Lord is a speaker in Mark eight, and he asks the question very emphatically, what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul. Your soul, according to the Lord, is so important, and it's going to spend eternity either in one place or another. If you s- spend eternity in a Christless way, apart from Christ, you're without hope.
But you can spend eternity with Christ, and the gospel message is the message of deliverance through the, that message of what our Lord did on the cross on Calvary's Hill. Now, on the other hand, the passage we read from the epistle to the Ephesians, it speaks of men who, with cunning craftiness, they lie in wait to deceive. There is a battle for your soul. You may not be aware of it, but there is. And therefore, we are urged to remember that God has given gifts to the church in order that through pastors, evangelists, and teachers, the apostles and prophets were in the early century to see that we get a complete revelation of the mind of God.
We have that, and today we have pastors, evangelists, and teachers for the work of the ministry, and that ministry is to bring the gospel, the saving gospel, to the ears and the hearts of men and women. I was very much interested in the February issue of nineteen ninety one, nineteen ninety one issue of Reader's Digest, in a, an article entitled The Best Teacher I Ever Had. And according to the writer of the article, the best teacher was a man by the name of Mr. Winston, and he taught sixth grade science.
On the first day of class, he gave a lecture about a creature called the Catawampus. And uh, and he men- mentioned a number of things about it. He says the Catawampus was an animal that was wiped out during the Ice Age. And then he passed around a skull while he lectured, and everybody in the class took notes concerning this skull that he passed around. And then he added that the Catawampus was a nocturnal animal. But no trace of the animal, uh, has ever been found, but he described this amazing night, nocturnal vision that this animal had, and he even mentioned the color of its fur.
Now, after the quiz that they received, and the papers were all correct, and everyone received their paper back, every answer they had was marked with a big red X. And then he says, I made up all that stuff about the Catawampus. And if therefore your notes are incorrect because they are based on incorrect information. If you have incorrect information, how can you expect to give me any correct answers? He said, the skull I passed around was a cat skull, the skull of a cat.
Then he said, I told him that no trace of the animal remained. How could I tell the color of its fur if no one ever saw it, if it was wiped out during the Ice Age? How could I tell you it had great nocturnal vision if no one ever saw it? You see. Now, when this same teacher told the class that his Volkswagen that he drove to teach every day was a living organism, it took them two full days to put together a refutation that he would accept from the students.
And then Mr. Winston, the r- uh, the teacher, this man wrote about him. He said he was the best teacher he ever had. He said this teacher gave the class the fortitude to stand up for truth, to stand up for truth. He said this teacher gave the class the courage to look people in the eye and tell them they're wrong and they don't believe what they're telling them. He taught the pupils to think for themselves. Now, at the close of the twentieth century, here in nineteen ninety seven, we must face the same question that our Lord put to the disciples.
What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Do we have a standard whereby we can put answers to questions down? Do we have a standard? I was sitting with a man who had been a millionaire a couple times over. We often spoke together. We were sitting having a cup of coffee together, and I turned the message to the gospel. I told him about the person of Christ, and of course he said to me, we can't know. Look at all the different denominations there are. How can we know what's really true? I turned to him, and I said to him, how long is this room that we're in?
And he gave me a figure, what he thought it was. He had made a number of inventions in his life. He had invented a number of things. He was manufacturing his own invention, and he was doing well in business. I said, how long is this room? He gave me a number, and I immediately disagreed with him. I said, no, I think it's such and such. I said, now we have two opinions already, even on the length of this room. How are we going to find out who's right? I said, we got to take a definite standard of measurement, what we call a foot rule, twelve inches to the foot, and we have to measure this room, and then we'll know exactly how long it is.
Now, my next question to him is this, has God given us a standard? God has given us a standard. He has given us the word of God. Now, can I really believe what the word of God says in Romans chapter five verse twelve? I'm going to quote it. For as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon every man, in that all have sinned. Can I test that verse? Yes, I can. I can test that verse because history testifies to the facts of Romans chapter five verse twelve in at least five ways.
There are five ways in which history attests to Romans five verse twelve. And Romans five verse twelve basically answers part of the question our Lord asked his disciples, what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and he lose his own soul? For in Romans five verse twelve it says, for as by one man, Adam, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon every man, in that all have sinned. How does history attest to the truthfulness of Romans chapter five verse twelve? Number one, the testing or the teaching of human experience.
Why has man, the king of creation, who is fitted to be its leader and its lord, sunk lower than the animals? You answer that. The only answer you can come up with that stands the test of time is Romans five verse twelve, The fall of man, which looks back to the Garden of Eden when sin entered into the world, and death entered into the world as well, and death passed upon every man. Number two, we have discords in human nature, even in the unregenerate, those who have never been born of God, the non-Christian, there's a great conflict even in them between good and evil.
You know why? Because in Genesis chapter three and verse fifteen, God declared war. God declared war. He said to Satan, I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed, the seed of the devil, and her seed. And there's a continual conflict, even in the unregenerate. There is a continual conflict because man doesn't do what Satan wants him to do every time. Don't give, uh, Satan the credit for everything that goes wrong. Remember, man has a sinful heart. And when Satan tempted man to sin, he thought, I'm not on God's side, and I'm going to get now this creation of God on my side.
But the problem is, when man sinned, man in his independence said, I'm not on God's side, and I'm not on Satan's side, I'm on my side. And all we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And that's the essence of sin. There's a third way, and that's the universality of sin. Whether the person is a Christian man, or if a person is on the low category in society, sin is present, for all are sin. I had to learn everything I ever was able to do.
Someone had to teach me, except one thing. No one ever taught me how to sin. That came naturally. And it's true of you too. It's true of you as well. But the fourth reason whereby history teaches us the truthfulness of Romans five verse twelve is the existence of death. As we, we read in Ecclesiastes two verse fourteen, there is one thing that happeneth to all. Hebrews nine twenty seven, it is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment. It is an appointment we cannot escape.
Henry Ford, his mansion is called Fairlane Mansion, and he had taken every precaution possible when he built his mansion, he had a generating system if a current went off that would generate electricity. But the night he died, there was a tremendous thunderstorm. The river rose, and his electrical system was drowned out because the building that housed the generator was underwater. No one can escape death.
We can build and build and build till we think we have all the protection possible, but it is appointed unto man once to die. And while we're continuously reminded of that, every time we see a hearse go down the street, we're reminded it's appointed unto man once to die. One day it's going to carry us unless the Lord comes. Every time an insurance man comes to sell you life insurance, he's telling you, son, you're going to die. You're going to die. Now, there are lots of ways in the world that we can, we're reminded that we're going to die, but there's only one place in the world that we learn what takes place after death.
What takes place after death? It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this, the judgment. We must meet with a holy God. Furthermore, there's a fifth reason that history teaches us, and that is the present paralysis in the human family. Are we ri- rising or are we falling? Is man really progressing? Is he progressing in literature? Is he progressing in art? Is he progressing in philosophy or anywhere else? No, the fall of man is a historic fact, and like Humpty Dumpty, he had a great fall in Adam, and all the king's horses and all the king's men can't put Adam together.
It's impossible, but our God can. And that's the gospel, beloved. We do have an answer. We do have an answer. When you look at the natural realm, the world, we see five kingdoms. There are five kingdoms. We'll start at the bottom. There's a mineral kingdom. Above the mineral kingdom, there's a vegetable kingdom. Above the vegetable kingdom, there's the animal kingdom. Above the animal kingdom is the kingdom of man. Now think with me. The vegetable kingdom reaches into the mineral kingdom. The kingdom and brings the mineral kingdom up. Where does spinach get all that iron and potassium and other good things?
It gets them out of the earth, out of the mineral kingdom. It brings the mineral kingdom up. And then here's the animal kingdom. A black cow eats green grass and drinks white milk. Wha- and uh, not drinks white milk, but uh, they do that when they're small, but it gives white milk. The vegetable kingdom comes up into the, or the mineral kingdom comes up into the vegetable kingdom, and the vegetable kingdom comes up to the animal kingdom, and man, the kingdom of man, which is up here, he feeds on all of those below.
And above man is another kingdom, the kingdom of God. Now watch. No one in the mineral kingdom can rise of itself. The one, the kingdom above it, has to reach down and bring it up. And man who's in the kingdom of man cannot rise above himself. God has to reach down and bring him up. He has to reach down and bring him up. And you know what that's called in scripture? The new. I don't like the term born again.
It has come to mean so many different things in our age. I like the expression born from above. We must be born from above. And our Lord says, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He cannot see. How does this work? How does being born from above work? Well, I'd like to just mention five things very quickly. Number one, birth determines nature. For those of us who are born of God, second Peter chapter one and verse four says, we have a divine nature.
We are partakers of the divine nature. Why is a dog a dog? A dog is a dog because he has been born a dog. He may wish he were a cat. He may try to meow like a cat. He may even try to climb a tree like a cat, but he'll never be a cat because he's been born a dog. He can't change it. Birth determines nature. And since I'm a partaker of the divine nature, how did I get it? By being born from above. It's the only way possible. There isn't any other way.
You must be born from above. Number two, nature determines appetite. Nature determines appetite. I, in the natural, I don't sit on a lily pad and snag a fly with my tongue. Why not? I'm not a frog. I'm a human being. I don't eat like a cow. I don't eat like a frog. I eat like a human being. Why? That's my nature. Birth determined nature. Nature determines appetite. I would take it a step further.
Appetite determines character. In the natural, you tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you what you are. Do you have a new nature? What do you eat? Do you have a desire for the things of God? When somebody tells me that they're saved, I look for the appetite. The s- the scripture says, just as newborn babes, second Peter chapter two verse one, first Peter chapter two verse one, as newborn babes desire. Those of us who are parents, we remember when that radio came on at two or three or four in the morning, and you just couldn't turn it off.
That baby just kept letting us know, I want to be fed. They had a human nature, and the human nature produces an appetite, and that appetite determines a character, and that baby wanted milk. Newborn babes desire the sincere milk. And newborn babes in Christ, who have been born from above, desire the sincere milk of the Word of God. Do you have an appetite for spiritual things? Do you have an appetite? Do you have an appetite to read the Word.
Oh, the psalmist said, oh, harabaydaro. It's my meditation night and day. Brother McNeil told the story of the policeman whom God saved, and he was so hungry for the word of God, he carried a New Testament in his pocket, and he was standing under a street light, and he was reading John chapter five, and he was reading John verse twenty four, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but he's passed from death unto life. And he was rejoicing, and he, I have everlasting life. There's no condemnation for me.
And the old devil whispered in his ear and said, Ha ha, you're not saved, you're lost. And he held it up under the light like this. He said, yes, I am. He said, if you don't believe it, read it for yourself. Do you have an appetite for those precious promises that are found in the word of God? Birth determines nature. Nature determines appetite. Don't tell me you're born of God if you never have an appetite to open the scriptures. Just as sure as you have a birthday, beloved, you cried for milk in the natural, and just as sure as you have a spiritual birthday, you're gonna cry for food.
A doctor called me not too long ago and asked me if I'd come to their church and preach. He said, we've been having so many speakers, and he said, I'm so hungry. I'm so hungry, I need to, my soul needs to be fed. No, I was so happy that he called me, because he recognized that I have something to give that feeds the soul. Birth determines nature. Nature determines appetite. Appetite determines character. Character determines vision.
Ooh. Where do you get that? I get that in the book of Job, chapter twenty eight, verse seven. uh I'll quote it to you. It says, there is a path that no fowl knoweth, no bird knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath never seen. The eye of the vulture is the greatest telescope that there is for size. It's only about that big, and yet it can see, flying out of sight of a human being, a rabbit that's dying on the hillside. Yes, but there's something that, that that vulture's eye had never seen. You see, in Job chapter twenty eight, that eye of the vulture is contrasted to the eye of the miner.
The miner who digs into the bowels of the earth and brings forth the precious things. Gold, silver, diamonds, rubies, sapphires. The miner, when he's going to work, he doesn't even see the dead rabbit. Why not? He has no appetite for it. But the vulture does. Where did the vulture get that appetite for dead things? He was born that way. The miner has an appetite for precious things. Where did he get it? He was born that way. Birth determines nature.
Nature determines appetite. Appetite determines character. You are what you eat. Character determines vision. Vision determines destiny. Vision determines destiny. For I read in Proverbs twenty nine verse eighteen, where there is no vision, the people what? Perish. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Now let's apply this truth very quickly. How's your vision? Application number one. How's your vision? Abraham was a man who had vision, for the scripture says, he looked for a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker was God. How's your vision? Your vision depends on your birth. And your vision is going to determine destiny. What are you looking for in life? What do you want life to give you? The vegetable kingdom cannot rise up of itself.
The mineral kingdom can't rise up of itself. The kingdom of man can't rise up. The one above was to always come down, and in condescending grace, the savior of sinners came. Why? To put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, that we might have entrance into the kingdom of God. How's your vision? How's your vision? What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? I'm not talking about a catawampus here. We come back where we began.
Oh no, I'm speaking of the truth, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death has passed upon every man. In that all have sinned. And if all have sinned, all need a savior. And the gospel is the message that saves. Have you turned to the savior in repentance and faith, and ask him to save you? And thank him for what he did on the cross on Calvary's Hill. One more question. The writer of that article in Reader's Digest said, Mr.
Winston, Whitson was the best teacher he ever had because he learned him or he taught him to think for himself. Are you thinking this morning? Are you able to think for yourself? Have I been born of God? Do I have a new nature? Do I have that divine nature? Do I have an appetite for spiritual things? What is my character like? Do I have a vision of a coming Savior, of a dying Savior's love, of a risen Savior's power, and of a coming Savior's glory.
It's mine. Is it yours? Is it yours? How's your vision? Let's pray together. Our Father, in the precious name of the Lord Jesus, we bow before you. We ask you that these words may sink into the hearts and minds of everyone here. Help us to give ourselves a test. Do I really have spiritual vision? Do I have a spiritual appetite? Have I been born from above?
Oh God our Father, it's so easy to gain the world, but we can lose our soul. The Lord Jesus said, whosoever would save his life. We can't do it, shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel of the same shall save him. Lord, give us a vision of things as they really are. Dismiss us with thy blessing, and we'll thank you in