In Matthew 16.26, Jesus said this:
What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
In this stunning statement, Jesus insinuated that there is absolutely nothing in this world more valuable than your soul.
In fact, even if a person were to gain the entire world—but forfeited his soul—he would have lost out.
But as we know, so many today do not value their souls. They will gladly sell their souls for drugs, sexual immorality, greed, materialism, pride, status, fame, fear, and the like.
And many of these people are religious people, even Christian people who’ve convinced themselves that they can beat the odds, that they can control their alcohol or recreational drugs, that they can serve God and money simultaneously, or that they can limit adultery to an isolated incident for which they will be forgiven—and that the Bible’s admonition to “abstain from every appearance of evil” can be ignored occasionally without any permanent consequences.
Three ways people commonly sell out their souls
The apostle John identified three ways whereby men can lose their souls.
For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
(1 John 2.16-17, NKJV)
As you can hopefully see, it is ludicrous and illogical for a person to become obsessed with wealth, because even if one were to gain the whole world, he should understand that the world itself, along with all of it’s lusts, is going to be passing away.
And that day, by the way, may not be far away.
On the other hand, what isn’t passing away are those who do God’s will—or to put it simply, those who “do what God wants.” People who do what God wants, versus those who follow their own desires and goals, will live forever.
And when people “forfeit their souls,” when they fail to exercise proper self control of their bodies, their mental desires, and their pride—they will proceed to a place that Jesus described as follows: “And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Mat 25:30; See also Rev 21:7-8; 1 Cor 6:6-9)
So, let’s quickly examine those three ways people are selling out their souls:
(1) First, men can forfeit their souls by the lust (“desire, craving, longing, for what is forbidden”) of the flesh, and we know that lust will eventually lead to addictions of the flesh: physical addictions to alcohol, recreational drugs, sexual immorality, food, and even materialism. Incidentally, to forfeit basically means to lose what’s rightfully yours as a penalty for wrongdoing.
(2) Next, the lust of the eyes (in other words, mental lusts, such as desires for possessions/materialism, greed/money, wanting far more than you really need, craving things just because you want them, etc).
(3) Thirdly, the pride of life (i.e., the “lust for status, fame, recognition,” desiring importance and preferring to associate with important people because of their status and/or worldly accomplishments. In other words, being proud of one’s achievements, talents, status; desiring fame, recognition, and importance in the eyes of man. This is often associated with boasting or being proud of what a man has and does.
May we never forget that the world and it’s desires are all going to completely pass away. But the person who does what God wants, will live forever. So, if anyone boasts, as Paul said, let him boast in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, we should move our affections away from having excessive desires of the things of the world, and reset our desires on the things that are from above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. We should set our minds on things above, not on the things of the earth (Col 3.1-2).
The three temptation attempts of Satan reflect John’s three categories of lust
The three categories John mentioned were basically mirrored in Satan’s three temptation attempts of Christ (Matthew 4, Luke 4):
First, his attempt to lure Jesus (after a 40 day fast) to turn the stones to bread so he could eat them (“the lust of the flesh”), next, taking Jesus to a high mountain and tempting Him with possession of all the kingdoms of the world, and their splendor (the lust of the eyes and the pride of life), and last, taking Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple and daring Him to cast Himself down, basically an act of showing off to Satan and to whomever might have been watching (“the pride of life”).
In each instance, Jesus countered by using the Word of God: “It is written: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God,” “Do not put the Lord your God to the test,” and, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.”
IMPORTANT: Our own lust is ultimately responsible for our failure
Please notice that even though Satan was attempting to tempt Jesus–and by the way, Satan is certainly on the prowl for your soul–at the end of the day, as John said, it is our own lust that is responsible for our sinning. It is our own lust of the flesh, our own lust of our eyes, and our own lust for status that will cause us to fail. That’s because Satan has limits beyond which he is not allowed access without our invitation.
James made this abundantly clear when in James 1 he said:
When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Don’t be unaware of Satan’s schemes
Satan lures men by their own lusts of their bodies, lusts of their eyes, or lusts for status and fame. But just as he required Jesus to worship him in exchange for the fulfillment of his temptation, so there is ALWAYS a condition for accepting Satan’s offer to fulfill our evil desire.
And that condition is to exchange our souls for our lack of self control.
Therefore, if we don’t get ourselves under control, the end result is the loss of our right to eternal life.
Satan is described as a roaring lion going about seeking people to devour. He is proactive in seeking our souls. So we must not be unaware of his schemes.
And to lure men from their souls, Satan employs a wide variety of “schemes” (2 Cor 2.2). Paul later wrote: “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.(2 Cor 11.14-16). And again: “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6.11).
Finally, one of the most successful schemes of Satan has been to convince people that “just a little’ of something wrong is OK as long as one can pull away from the sin any time he / she chooses. This is often how people become addicted to drugs, to greed, to sexual immorality. Regarding the latter, adultery is spoken of extensively in Proverbs, the book of wisdom. About adultery the Bible says: “Many are the victims she [adultery] has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng.” (Proverbs 7.26)
Winning souls is wise
Given the enormous value of our souls, logically we can see that it is wise for us to give serious consideration to the souls of our children, our families, our friends and our acquaintances.
The Bible says:
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.
(Proverbs 11.30)
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