"Busy souls have no time to be busybodies."
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"As you walk on the sands of time, take care what your footprints reveal;
So the imprint you leave may be that of a soul, and not that of a heel!"
- Unknown Pulpit Helps, Oct. 1991, p. 8.
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Michaelangelo, the sculptor, who died in 1564, left in his will
the following testimony: "I commit my soul to God, my body to
earth, my possessions to my nearest relatives. I die in the faith
of Jesus Christ, in the firm hope of a better life."
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Ebenezer Erskine, a devoted Scottish preacher, who died in 1754,
was visited on his deathbed by a friend, who asked him,
"What are you doing now with your soul, Mr. Erskine?"
to which the preacher replied,
"I am doing with it what I did forty years ago, resting it on the Word of the Lord."
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David Brainard, a preacher of the past once said:
I care not where I go, or how I live, or what I endure, so that I may lead souls to Christ. When I sleep I dream of them; when I awake they are first in my thoughts.
No amount of scholastic attainment, of able and profound exposition, of brilliant and stirring eloquence can atone for the absence of a deep, impassioned sypathetic love for human souls.
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God requires three things of us in order to use us as soul winners:
1.) A love for God.
2.) A love for the lost.
3.) AND to be available.
- Zig Ziglar
Some theologians tell us
1. With the SPIRIT….We COMMUNICATE with GOD.
2. With the SOUL……We COMMUNICATE with MANKIND.
3. With the BODY……We COMMUNICATE with the EARTH.
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SOME THINGS THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT THE SOUL:
Mt:22:37: Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mt:10:28: "….fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."
Mt:11:29: Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Mt:16:26: For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Lk:12:19: And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
Lk:12:20: But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
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THE QUESTION: "WHAT IS THE WORTH OF A SOUL…….to you?"
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A Soul Asleep:
An anonymous woman we knew,
Was dozing one day in her pew.
When the preacher yelled, "Sin!"
She said, "Count me in, As soon as the service is through."
(NEGLECT OF THE SOUL)
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SOME PRIMARY WORDS TO CONSIDER:
Verse 36: He saw….the multitudes
1. Theie Condition Socially
2. Their Condition Nationally
3. Their Condition Emotionally
4. Their Condition Intellectually
5. Their Condition Physically
6. Their Condition Spiritually
NONE OF THESE CONDITIONS WERE ACCEPTABLE FOR ENTRANCE INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
Many, if not all of them were:
1. Sickly
2. Disease ridden
3. Steeped in Religion
4. Had False Joy
5. Had False Peace
6. Untrustworthy
7. They were unstable….their were double minded
8. False since of security
9. Much Pride
10. Insincere
11. Dishonest
10. THEY WERE PUTTING ON A FRONT
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Verse 36: He saw….the multitudes
He had:
A Message they needed to hear:
1. They were lost
2. They were in need of "THE" SAVIOR (Jesus)
3. They were in need of salvation of the spirit and soul and the body. (The whole man)
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He SAW:
1. Where they had been….their past
2. Where they are……….their present
3. Where they would be…their future
At that time did not include HIM.
They were "AFOREKNOWN" He being Omniscient.
1. Those that were saved (meaning present tense)
2. Those that were lost (meaning present tense)
3. Those that would be saved (meaning future tense)
4. Those that would be eternally lost (meaning future tense)
LET'S UNDERSTAND ALSO THAT HE, BEING GOD, MAY HAVE LIMITED HIMSELF AS TO NOT SEEING THESE THINGS HWILE ON EARTH..
The message this morning asks you:
COLLECTIVELY: "WHAT IS A SOUL WORTH?"
PERSONALLY: "WHAT A SOUL WORTH TO YOU?"
INDIVIDUALLY: "WHAT IS THE SOUL OF OTHERS WORTH?"
1. The soul of your neighbor
2. The soul of your friend
3. The soul of a love one
a. Your husband
b. Your Wife
c. Your son
d. Your daughter
e. Your parents
f. A stranger
Verse 36: "….when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them"
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Theologian tell us that:
1. With the SPIRIT….we COMMUNICATE with GOD.
4. With the SOUL……we COMMUNICATE with MANKIND.
5. With the BODY……we COMMUNICATE with the EARTH.
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IF YOUR SPIRIT IS DEAD…..YOU CAN'T COMMUNICATE WITH GOD:
UNTIL YOU ALLOW THE HOLY SPIRIT TO BRING YOU TO REPENTANCE AND TO FAITH IN CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR.
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Christian, have you seen the multitudes?
ONLY THROUGH THE EYES OF JESUS ARE WE ABLE TO SEE THE HUNGER AND THIRST OF SIN SICK SOULS…….
DESPERATE FOR THE ETERNAL BREAD AND WATER THAT IS ABLE TO SAVE THEM FROM ETERNAL SEPARATION FROM GOD.
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EXPOSITION OF THE WORD:
Notes from The International Standard Bible Encylopaedia on "SOUL"
THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT DEFINITION OF THE WORD SOUL:
(1) OLD TESTAMENT DISTINCTIONS OF THE SOUL:
a. Soul, like spirit, has various shades of meaning in the Old Testament, which may be
summarized as follows:
1. “living being,”
2. “life,”
3. “self,”
4. “person,”
5. “desire,”
6. “appetite,”
7. “emotion”
8. and “passion”
a. In the first instance it meant that which breathes, and as such is distinguished from basar, or the “flesh” (Isa 10:18; Dt 12:23); From the word she’er, “the inner flesh,”
b. Next the bones (Prov 11:17, “his own flesh”); from the word "beTen, “belly” (Ps 31:10, “My soul and my belly are consumed with grief”),
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(2) As the life-breath, it departs at death (Gen 35:18; Jer 15:2)
a. Hence, the desire among Old Testament saints to be delivered from Sheol (Ps 16:10)
“Thou wilt not leave my soul to Sheol”)
b. And from sha-chath, “the pit” (Job 33:18)
c. “He keepeth back his soul from the pit”; (Isa. 38:17)
“Thou hast ....delivered it (my soul) from the pit of corruption.”
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(3) By an easy transition the word comes to stand for:
1. The individual,
2. Personal life,
3. The person,
a. With two distinct shades of meaning which might best be indicated by the Latin:
"ani-ma" and "ani-mus." As ani-ma, “soul,”
1. The life inherent in the body,
a. The animating principle in the blood is denoted
(compare Deut. 12:23-24)
`Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the soul; and thou shalt not eat the soul with the flesh’.
2. As animus, or “mind,”
a. The center of our mental activities and willingness is indicated.
1. The `hungry soul’ (Psalm 107:9)
2. The 'weary soul’ (Jer. 31:25)
3. The 'loathing soul’ (Lev 26:11)
4. The 'thirsty soul’ (Ps 42:2)
5. The 'grieved soul’ (Job 30:25)
6. The `loving soul’ (Song 1:7),
Cremer has characterized this use of the word in a sentence: “Ne-phesh (soul) in man is the subject of personal life, whereof pneuma or ruach (spirit) is the principle”
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(4) This individuality of man, however, may be denoted by pneuma as well,
a. But with a distinction.
1. Nephesh or “soul” can only denote the individual life with a material organization or body.
2. Pneuma or “spirit” is not so restricted.
a. Scripture speaks of:
1. “spirits of just men made perfect” (Heb.12:23)
a. Where there can be no thought of a material or physical or corporeal organization.
b. Keil and Delitzsch's Commentary says:
"They are 'spiritual beings freed from the assaults and defilements of the flesh'”
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2. NEW TESTAMENT DISTINCTIONS OF THE SOUL:
(1) In the New Testament:
a. psuche appears under more or less similar conditions as in the Old Testament.
1. The contrast here is as carefully maintained as there.
2. It is used where pneuma would be out of place; and yet it seems at times to be employed where pneuma might have been substituted.
3. Thus in John 19:30 we read:
“Jesus gave up his pneuma” to the Father,
4. And, in the same Gospel (John 10:15),
a. Jesus gave up His “psuche for the sheep,”
5. And in Matthew 20:28
a. He gave His psuche (not His pneuma) as a ransom —
1. A difference which is characteristic.
2. For the pneuma stands in quite a different relation to God from the psuche.
3. The “spirit” (pneuma) is:
1. "The out breathing of God" into the creature,
2. "the life-principle" derived from God.
3. The “soul” (psuche) is man’s individual possession,
a. That which distinguishes one man from another
b. And from inanimate nature.
4. The pneuma of Christ was surrendered to the Father in death;
a. His psuche was surrendered, His individual life was given “a ransom for many.”
b. His life “was given for the sheep”
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(2) This explains those expressions in the New Testament, which bear on the salvation of the soul and its preservation in the regions of the dead.
“Thou wilt not leave my soul (psuche) unto Hades” (the world of shades) (Acts 2:27);
“Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul (psuche) of man that worketh evil” (Rom 2:9);
“We are .... of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul (psuche)” (Heb 10:39);
“Receive ..... the implanted word, which is able to save your souls (psuche)” (Jas 1:21).
1. The same or similar expressions may be met with in the Old Testament in reference to the soul.
a. Thus in Ps 49:8, the King James Version:
“The redemption of their soul is precious”
b. And again: “God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol” (Ps 49:15).
c. Perhaps this may explain — at least this is Wendt’s explanation — why even a corpse is called nephesh or soul in the Old Testament, because, in the region of the dead, the individuality is retained and, in a measure, separated from God (compare Hag. 2:13; Lev. 21:11).
3. OEHLER ON SOUL AND SPIRIT:
The distinction between psuche and pneuma, or nephesh and ruach, to which reference has been made, may best be described in the words of Oehler
(Old Testament Theology, Vol. I, Page 217):
“Man is not spirit, but has it: he is soul. .... In the soul, which sprang from the spirit, and exists continually through it, lies the individuality — in the case of man, his personality, his self, his ego.”
He draws attention to the words of Elihu in Job 33:4:
`God’s spirit made me,’ the soul called into being; `and the breath of the Almighty animates me,’
The soul kept in energy and strength, in continued existence, by the Almighty, into whose hands the inbreathed spirit is surrendered, when the soul departs or is taken from us (1 Ki 19:4).
Hence, according to Oehler the phrases naphshi (“my soul”), naphshekha (“thy soul”) may be rendered in Latin egomet, tu ipse; but not ruchi (“my spirit”), ruchakha (“thy spirit”) — soul standing for the whole person, as in Gen. 12:5; 17:14; Ezek 18:4, etc.
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NOW, Let's look at some definitions of some the words in our text:
Matthew 9:35-38
35: And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
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Teaching:
1. To hold discourse with others in order to instruct them.
2. To teach someone is to impart instruction
3. To instill doctrine
4. To explain or expound principles
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Preaching:
1. To publish
2. To proclaim
3. Bringing good tiding
The gospel of the kingdom: The good news;
1. The birth, life, work, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
2. Glad tidings of salvation through Christ
3. The proclamation of the grace of God manifest and pledged in Christ
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And healing every sickness and disease among the people:
Healing:
1) to serve, do service
2) to heal, cure, restore to health
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Verse 36: But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
He SAW the multitudes:
1. To perceive with the eyes
2. To perceive by any of the senses
3. Perception by noticing, discerning, discovering
4. To perceive by turning your attention toward
5. To have observation
6. To inspect, examine
7. To look at, behold
8. To experience any state or condition
9. To understand when having an interview with
10. To visit
11. To have regard for one, cherish,
1. (Verse 36) "He was MOVED WITH COMPASSION on them"
a. To be moved as to one's bowels was to have compassion from the seat of love and pity
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1. WHY? Because THEY FAINTED: or
2. WHY? Because they were SCATTERED ABROAD:
3. WHY? They were as SHEEP HAVING NO SHEPHERD:
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Verse 37: Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, BUT the labourers are few;
1. Then saith He unto His DISCIPLES: Learners, followers, workmen.
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2. The HARVEST truly is plenteous: The act of reaping; the gathering of men into the kingdom of God
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3. BUT:
a. Nevertheless; conjunction which is conditional; shows the condition of the laborer's
b. Not the condition of those to be harvested.
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4. The LABOURERS: The workmen
5. Are FEW: as compared to the multitudes…..very few, not many, not enough.
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Verse 38: Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
1. PRAY ye therefore the LORD of the HARVEST
Pray:
1. To pray is to have want, to desire
2. To pray is because of the lack of something to desire,
3. To pray is to long for something
4. To pray is to beg for something
5. To pray is to ask for something
6. To pray is to adore in praise
7. To pray is to make supplications
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Verse 38: Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
1. Lord: Master
2. Send forth: Bring forth
3. Into: For….His harvest……that is to take place.
a. Referring to time of reaping, the final judgment, when the righteous are gathered into the kingdom of God and the wicked are cast into hell for ever.
PLEASE NOTICE:
1. Out of the Spirit of God to the spirit of man comes:
"….the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: (Galatians 5:22-23)
2. Out of the nature of man comes
"…the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
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QUESTIONS: HOW DO YOU PERCEIVE THE MULTITUDES?
1. Have you seen the multitudes?
2. Do you have compassion on them as Jesus did?
3. Are you one of the laborer?
4. Are you willing to work?
5. Are you willing to go?
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PRAYER
INVITATION
