Classic Sermon Outlines
SERMON EIGHT
DESPISING THE SOUL
He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul.
—-PROVERBSi5:32
IN THIS text Solomon in a few words gives such account of those whom he found he could do no good as they made their folly manifest before all men. They refuse instruction and thereby they despise their own souls.
I. THE MANNER OF DESPISING THE SOUL.
A. Some Despise the Soul in Opinion.
They advance notions that subtract from the honor of the soul.
1. Denial of the reality of the soul. Such believe that there is no substance but matter and shut out all incorporeal nature. To them sense and perception is the product of matter and motion.
2. Denial of the intelligence of the soul. Many, in order that they may not be charged with neglecting salvation or incurring condemnation of their own souls, choose to despise them as not capable of salvation or condemnation; and that they may not come under the imputation of acting unreasonably, ridicule reason.
3. Denial of the immortality of the soul. Those despise their own souls that deny the immortality of them; who, that they may justify themselves in