For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity is laid upon me.
Yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.
Now, I don't know about the weight of the human soul.
I'm not sure that it weighs twenty-one grams, as the Swedish doctor declares, but I think
I know something of the value of the human soul, and that's what I want to talk with
you about tonight.
If I could get you again tonight to get a new grasp on the truth of the value of the
human soul, I think it would revolutionize your life.
I believe that it would.
You see, we find time to do the things we think are important, and if you really thought
souls were important, you'd find time to win souls.
I heard Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. say, to do less than your best is a sin, and that stuck with
me.
And I said, then I ought to do my best.
If I can win more souls, I ought to win more souls.
If I can build a larger church, I ought to build a larger church.
If I can raise more money for missions, I ought to raise more money for missions.
If I can preach a better sermon, I ought to preach a better sermon.
To do less than your best is a sin, God expects my best.
And in my own life, there has been this constant thrust to be, and I still am not satisfied
with what the Lord has allowed me to say.
Just honest in saying.
Suppose I could be from the time I was born up into this moment.
Suppose I could be everything that I always wanted to be.
I left the movie on Saturday.
I wanted to be Gene Autry.
Suppose I had been Gene Autry.
Suppose I had been number one in my weight class when I lifted weights.
Suppose I had always accomplished all that I wanted to accomplish, and I had attained
the pinnacle that I'm shooting at.
Suppose that I had fulfilled the pride of life, that constant thrust to be.
And I would have gained the third, third of the world.
Now you see a soul, Jesus said, if a man gains the whole world and loses his soul, what shall
it profit the man, or what should he give in exchange for his soul?
If you could do all that I have discussed with you in the last ten minutes and lose
your soul, Jesus said you would have made an idiotic bargain.
Jesus said the soul of one little bus child from the backside of the railroad tracks,
the soul of one little boy and one little girl is of immensely more value than fulfilling
all the desires of the flesh and owning all the material universe and fulfilling every
ambition of life.
One soul is worth more than all that put together.
Can't we see the value of a soul?
May God Almighty in heaven shake us to see that one little fellow, bushy-headed and snaggle-toothed
and dirt-caked behind his ears, slept in his clothes last night so he'd be dressed to ride
the bus on Sunday morning.
Can't we see that Jesus said that one soul is worth all this put together?
The little fellow in our Sunday school class was sitting there listening and one girl said,
I missed last Sunday because my mother didn't wake me up in time.
And the little fellow said, do like I do.
He said, dress before you go to bed Saturday night and when you wake up you want to get
ready on Sunday morning.
Listen, you can call it what you want to, but when souls get saved, don't make so difference
to God whether they're five years old or ten years old or eight years old or ninety years
old.
When souls get saved up in heaven, they rejoice.
When souls get saved, oh, the value of one soul, the value of one little fellow, just
one little fellow walking down the aisle and saying, where's he getting saved, please?
Chugging back at him and calling a soul and robe and have that fellow saved, Jesus said
that's worth all your ambitions fulfilled, that's worth all the lust fulfilled, that's
worth all the material universe, that one soul.
If we believe that, if we believe that with all of our heart, you wouldn't have any problem
getting missionaries, you wouldn't have any problem raising money, you wouldn't have any
problem getting folks out for soul-winning visitation if we could see the value of one
soul.
.