So if you would, please take out your Bibles. And because of the observance of the ordinance of the Lord's Table this evening, we will set aside our study in the book of Psalms, specifically the book of, or I'm sorry, Psalm 119. And instead, we will go to the New Testament, and we will be looking at 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter two. And I will make some brief comments on verses 1 and 2. So, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. Here are the words of the Apostle Paul. And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, as we gather together this evening, we pray that You would help us, grant us, we pray, better understanding of this text. Indeed, as we remember the very body and blood of our Lord, O God, help us to be sanctified by this process and to be encouraged by it. Indeed, to rejoice in the forgiveness that is ours in Jesus Christ. Oh, bless us, Lord, that we might leave this evening just filled with Your Spirit, ready to carry on and sanctify in holy life, ready in every respect, we pray, to please and to honor You, even as our blessed We pray we ask it according to your sovereign will amen So the title of the message this evening is what is the value of the human soul? What is the value of the human soul? I have a question another question for you Are you someone who's big in? investing do you like to, as it were, play the stock market? Do you have investments? Do you watch those investments? Do you have, as they say, a large and diversified investment portfolio? Do you watch and monitor your investments, maybe on a day-to-day basis, perhaps even on an hour-to-hour basis? Do you own stocks? And if you do, Do you own any volatile stocks? That is stocks that are right now selling very high, trading very high, but tomorrow, who knows, they could be trading very low. The value goes down, the value goes up, and then it goes back down again. One day, you're telling your wife, honey, we're having steak tonight. The stock value is sky high. The next day, you're saying, honey, get out that can of Beanie Weenies. That's all we can afford. Are you that person? Well, there are a lot of people out there who are. And we realize, of course, if you spend any time looking at the value of things, you realize that that is very, very important. It doesn't have to be, per se, stocks or various investments. That can be the case with land. That can be the case with anything that we own, cars. They have a value, and value is very, very important. And so with that in mind, I return to the title of this message. What is the value of the human soul? How do you place a value on that? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ said this in the book of Mark, chapter eight, verse 36. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his soul. You can gain the whole world and yet lose your soul. So the soul of a person is worth more than the entirety of the world, the entirety of all that the world can offer. What profit would it be if you gained all that this world had and yet you had to forfeit your soul? But the soul is worth even more than that. It's worth even more than what all this world can offer. For my schooling, I've been doing a lot of reading. One of the books I've been asked to read is by Tom Ascol, and one of the contributing authors to that book, Pastor Raymond Perrin, he writes two pastors in this book, and he says this. It has been said that the value of a thing is measured by the price paid for it. The cost of the souls that our Lord committed to your care, that is, committed to the care of pastors, was nothing less than the blood of the eternal God Himself, the eternal Son of God Himself. And so the cost of the human soul is nothing less, he says, than the blood of the eternal Son of God. And so I ask you, how do you put a value on that? How do you value that? It does, in fact, have an infinite value. There is no value, there is no limit to that. And so this evening, we remember that, we humbly price that was paid, that price that was paid for all of us who have put our faith and trust in Christ. And indeed, this is not some casual experience. We don't approach this ordinance casually, flippantly. No, we must simply not go through the motions. We remember the price that was paid for all of us who look to Christ, Christ, the son of God, the second member of the Trinity, God in human flesh. He died. He died for us. And so Paul here is he's writing to the Corinthian church. And as he writes, He brings up the person and work of Christ and this price that was paid. And of course, the church in Corinth, they had certainly their share, their fair share of problems. It was no small list of issues. Drama abounded in that church. But notice how Paul begins this section of his letter. We look at verse one. He says, and I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. And so he addresses them as brothers. And I, when I came to you, brothers. And so despite their problems, despite their struggles, Paul saw them as brothers and sisters in Christ. Believers in Christ, yet still with much much need of learning, much need of growth. Indeed, that's an accurate description of all Christians, a believer in Christ, but always continuously needing to grow further, needing to grow in grace and understanding and knowledge of Christ, needing to grow in sanctification and obedience. As believers in Christ, we are declared righteous. The very righteousness of Christ is imputed to us or accounted to us. But that does not mean that we are perfect. We must grow in our sanctification, that is, we must continue to grow in our obedience to God's commands. We looked at that this morning. And despite the Corinthians struggles, their ongoing sin, their disobedience, They were indeed looking to Christ alone for the forgiveness of those sins. And so Paul addresses them, therefore, as brothers. You are my brothers. And if we go back, let's say, a chapter in this book, you go back to the opening chapter, to Paul's greeting. In verse two of the first chapter, he says, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified, in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. Those are Christians. That's what it means to be a Christian. Paul refers to them as those sanctified, that is, set apart. Those who are set apart in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, that is, called to be holy. God sets us apart, and he calls us to holy living. And how is that done? Well, Paul says, by calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's who a Christian is. the one who calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so these Corinthian believers, just as all true believers do, they were trusting Jesus Christ alone for their salvation. Yes, there was serious sin there. It needed to be purged out of the church. It needed to be addressed. And Paul is addressing that. But as with all believers, these saints looked to the cross of Christ as sufficient payment for their sins. That's what makes someone a Christian. Salvation by God's grace alone, in Jesus Christ alone, by faith alone, for the glory of God alone. And so these Christian believers They were brothers, they were sisters in a common faith with the Apostle Paul. And therefore, likewise, they are our brothers and sisters in a common faith. And so Paul, here in our text, back to the second chapter, he calls them brothers. And Paul reminds them that when he came to them, he did not come as the philosophers did. No, he didn't come with lofty speech or wisdom. See, that was the norm. If you wanted to gather a crowd, you wanted to impress people. That's what you did. You came with lofty speech. You came with wisdom. For instance, Paul, when he reached the great city of Athens on his second missionary journey, he was called a babbler. He was preaching the gospel and they referred to him as being a babbler. You can just picture preaching the gospel, people listening, and they just start laughing. What's this guy babbling about? Nothing has changed. And we see in the book of Acts, chapter 17, verse 21, it says, now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. That's what they wanted. Always wanting to hear something new. Something fun, something exciting, something I've never heard before. See, that was the hook. That's what would get people. Give me something new. Doesn't matter whether it was true or not. No, that was irrelevant. I just want to hear something new. And of course, that immediately reminds me of, to a large degree, the internet today. Social media today. You want to gather a following, you've got to come up with something new. You want to get a lot of people to follow you. You don't just get online and preach the Gospel. You don't just share the Gospel. You don't just teach the Gospel. No, you've got to have some kind of fun, new way to do it. Some kind of way to hook people. But of course, Solomon says there is nothing new under the sun. Nothing new under the sun. And so many in our day, they try to amass a following by posting something really intriguing or new on social media. Even though if you do some probing and you look at it, you realize, no, it's nothing new. It's the same old heresy, just with maybe a little sprinkle of something new here, a little sprinkle of something new there. A little tweak here, a little tweak there. And yet, these people, they amass a huge following. They get lots of likes, lots of thumbs up, lots of reposting. It'll race all over the world on the internet. But Paul, he did not come to the Corinthians with anything like that. Nothing new, nothing intriguing. He was not trying to be clever. No, he just brought the Gospel. The Gospel in all of its beautiful simplicity. A plain, straightforward message that of course was foreshadowed all through the Old Testament. Nothing new, nothing inventive. And it certainly, for us, is nothing new or inventive. Again, if you want to amass a lot of followers on YouTube, just preaching the gospel, that's not going to do it. You have to come up with some kind of fun tweak. And likewise, if you are having a great conversation with someone, maybe you're at a party, you're really hitting it off with someone, you've got a lot of commonalities, Maybe you're on an airplane, and you're sitting next to someone, and they're a talker, and so you're going back and forth, you're enjoying the conversation. You want to pour cold water on that conversation? A lot of times, the best way to do that is just bring up the gospel. Share the gospel with them. Press them on the gospel. Who do you think Jesus Christ was? Do you know Christ as your Lord and Savior? All of a sudden, oh, you know, the person has to go home and floss their cat. Oh, you know what? Oh, I forgot to clean the fish tank. I've got to go. No, people don't want to hear that in our day and age. They want to hear something new. Well, same thing with Paul. And so Paul says that he did not come to the Corinthians with lofty speech or wisdom. He says instead that he came with the testimony of God. That's what he came with, the testimony of God. A simple message that is completely dependent upon God's power. I quoted him this morning, so I guess it's okay to quote him again tonight. Matthew Henry, in his commentary, wrote this. When nothing but Christ crucified is plainly preached, the success must be entirely from divine power. accompanying the word, and thus men are brought to believe to the salvation of their souls. Salvation is not dependent upon man and his abilities. Rather, it is all a work of God, entirely from divine power. And so compare that with what so many churches are doing today. Oh, these churches, these huge churches, they have these amazing, emotionally stirring programs, really expensive stage performances, all in an effort to try and get you emotionally worked up, trying to motivate you, trying to manipulate you into making some kind of profession for Christ. But what was Paul's message? Well, if we look at verse 2 of our text, He says, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's it. That's all Paul knew. Nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Oh, the simplicity of the gospel. Paul speaks of Jesus Christ. That's what he knew, Jesus Christ, the person of Christ. And so we have to know who Christ is. Who is he? Well, he is the God man. And that's undoubtedly what Paul preached Christ, very God, a very God and yes, very man of very man, truly God, truly man. Those familiar words by the apostle John in John chapter one, verse one. in the beginning was the Word, that is, Jesus Christ, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And so Christ, as to His very nature, is God. And yet, as the Son of God, He is eternally distinct from God the Father. And likewise, the Apostle John, in those same opening words in his Gospel, Chapter 1 verse 14 says, and the Word, again a reference to Christ, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory. Glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. And so the very Son of God entered this world and took on human flesh. And so as God in the flesh, He was perfectly righteous and live a perfectly sinless life. This morning, we considered Christ as our perfect example of obedience to God's commands. The ultimate example, the one we look to, and so Paul likewise says in verse two again, he says, for I know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Jesus Christ and him crucified. Christ not only lived a perfect, sinless life, but he died an all sufficient death on the cross. He offered himself up willingly upon the cross as an atonement for sin on our behalf. The righteous for the unrighteous. All of those old covenant sacrifices Countless animals were slaughtered. Every single one of them pointed to Christ. Every single one. Not a single one could take away a single sin. They all looked forward to Christ. What He would accomplish. David wrote these well-known words in Psalm 32. The first two verses of Psalm 32. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity and whose spirit there is no deceit. And so I ask you, how can that be accomplished? How is that possible? Through the offering of an animal? Can that be accomplished through the offering of an animal? And the answer is, of course, no. Certainly not. No, but only through the offering of the very son of God himself, Christ and Christ alone was sufficient sacrifice for our sins. All the priestly work and all the sacrifices in the Old Testament could never take away a single sin. Hebrews chapter nine, verse 12, says this of Christ, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. It was through His own blood. Redemption is a work of Christ. We contribute nothing. It's all of Christ. And so we remember that this evening. And so that is the apostle's message. That is the apostle Paul's message, not just to the Corinthian believers, but to all people. And to that point, we see the very same message from the pen of the apostle when he wrote to the Church of Colossae. Colossians chapter one, verses 19 and 20 says this. for in Him, that is, in Jesus, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross. And so how can a sinner be at peace with God? Only by the blood of Jesus. of its glory and all of its simplicity. A simple message that is based solely in God's grace and power. I came across this marvelous quote from Charles Spurgeon and I had to share it with you. He writes, On Christ and what He has done, my soul hangs for time and eternity. And if your soul also hangs there, it will be saved as surely as mine shall be. And if you are lost trusting in Christ, I will be lost with you and will go to hell with you. I must do so, for I have nothing else to rely upon but the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived, died, was buried, rose again, went to heaven, and still lives and pleads for sinners at the right hand of God." Marvelous quote. Spurgeon looked to Christ alone, and so must we. Christ lived a perfect life and then willingly humbled himself, even to the point of death on the cross, where he bore the sins of all those who would ever believe. And he endured an eternity's wrath from the Father in our place. Have you ever stopped to think all of the sins that were placed upon Christ? Think of all of your sins, your personal sins. Every single, solitary one of them. Every one. We do not know all of our sins. We are not cognizant. We are not aware of all of our sins. Christ bore them all. every one of our sins. That him that we love to sing before the Lord's table, we sing it most often before the Lord's table. We will sing it again this evening before the Lord's table, stricken, smitten and afflicted. The second stanza. I have to read it to you. It's marvelous. Tell me ye who hear him groaning Was there ever grief like his? Friends through fear, his cause disowning, foes insulting his distress. Many hands were raised to wound him. None would interpose to save. Yet, yet, the deepest stroke that pierced him was the stroke that justice gave. Oh, our blessed Savior willingly received the justice of God for us. Oh, we remember that tonight. And so, what is the value of the human soul? What value can you place on a human soul? Well, it costs none other than the very life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And so that is what we remember this evening as we partake of this ordinance. We remember the terrifyingly awesome price that was paid on our behalf by our blessed Savior. And likewise, we remember the glorious salvation He obtained for us. Amen? Amen. Let us pray. O our Lord, where do we begin? How do we begin to adequately thank You for the gift that is ours in Jesus Christ? So great a salvation that is ours in Jesus Christ. Every single sin forgiven. And a righteousness that is not ours, imputed to us. The very righteousness of Christ. Oh, the glory of it. And yet it is brought to us in such a simple message. Lord, guard us, watch over us, protect us, lest we ever do anything to twist or pervert that beautiful, simple message. And Lord, tonight, help us to remember that one who came, who bore our sins on the cross, who took our shame, who endured the wrath of the Father in our place, Oh, we praise you, God. Thank you. Thank you for the salvation that is ours by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. Oh, thank.