Sharon Reformed Presbyterian Church · Sermon study sheet

The Value of a Soul

Zach Smith · June 18, 2022

Matthew 16:26

sharonrpc.org/sermons/the-value-of-a-soul

Summary

Within Jesus' teaching on costly discipleship, Matthew 16:26 weighs gaining the whole world against forfeiting one's soul.
A human being is a unity of body and immaterial soul, and the soul continues beyond physical death to face an eternal destiny.
Every person has profound value as God's unique handiwork and image-bearer, and Christ's own appraisal places one soul beyond the price of the world.
A soul can nevertheless be lost through final separation from God's goodness under irreversible judgment.
No possession, achievement, intellect, power, religious deed, or human payment can ransom a sinner's soul.
The cost of redemption is revealed in Jesus, who bore sin, judgment, and death and purchased sinners with his precious blood.
Hearers are urged to care for their own souls through repentance, faith, and God's appointed means rather than living chiefly for bodily comfort and worldly gain.
Recognizing the value and danger of other souls should also compel Christians to speak the gospel urgently and compassionately to family, neighbors, and strangers.

How does Matthew 16:24-28 connect the value of the soul with self-denial and following Jesus?
Why is gaining the whole world still a total loss if a person forfeits the soul?
What biblical truths ground the dignity and value of every human being?
How does Scripture's teaching about death and judgment correct the idea that earthly life is all that matters?
Which temporary pleasures, possessions, or ambitions most tempt me to neglect my soul?
Why can no human work, wealth, or accomplishment pay the ransom required for a soul?
What does the suffering and precious blood of Christ reveal about both sin's seriousness and redeeming love?
How should the value of other people's souls change the urgency, breadth, and compassion of Christian witness?

Soul: The immaterial aspect of a human person that continues consciously beyond bodily death.
Image of God: The unique likeness to God in which every human being is created and from which human dignity follows.
Forfeit: To lose one's soul in exchange for temporary gain, pleasure, power, or self-preservation.
Immortality of the soul: The soul's continuing existence after the death of the body and its entrance into an eternal state.
Hell: The final and irreversible state of punishment and separation from God's favorable presence.
Ransom: The price required to deliver a person from guilt and bondage, which no creature can pay for a soul.
Precious blood of Christ: Jesus' sacrificial death as the sufficient price by which sinners are redeemed.
Means of grace: The Word, sacraments, prayer, worship, and Christian fellowship through which God ordinarily strengthens his people.