“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall man give in return for his soul?” – Matthew 16:26 (ESV)
What if you achieve all of your life’s goals tomorrow? You would have the rest of your life to enjoy your success. What if all of the world’s problems were solved in the next hour? I’m sure that would be a load off your mind and improve the life of many, too…Maybe even your own. What if you achieved fame and fortune within the next minute to the point where nothing was beyond the grasp of your imagination or your wallet? Your goals would be achieved, and the world’s problems would be solved besides all the prestige you would enjoy. While those thoughts are not realistic, we too often live our lives without giving a single thought about meeting God after we die and what will be required of us in that meeting. Such things as fortune, fame, and the world’s struggles will seem as insignificant on that day.
Dear reader, I am asking you to take a moment to consider what Jesus Christ is asking you in Matthew 16:26. It is the most important question you will ever consider. What good is it for a person to gain the entire world…its wealth, its power, its praise…if you give up your soul in the end to God’s righteous demands? Jesus asks the question another way…What can a person possibly give to buy back his/her soul from God?
There are a number of very important points underlying these questions. Jesus makes it clear that you do, in fact, have a soul. In other words, human beings are comprised of a soul intertwined with a body of flesh. When you die, your soul goes into eternity where someday you will stand before Jesus Christ in judgment.
“…it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” – Hebrews 9:27 (ESV)
Jesus also makes it clear that your soul can either be lost or saved after you die. Meaning, you can be eternally condemned for your sins, or you can be eternally spared by God’s mercy and grace. There is no such thing as “eternal annihilation” where human beings become unconscious, unaware of their eternal state and surroundings, or cease to exist at all. There are two things that are eternal…God’s Word and the souls of men and women.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'” – Matthew 25:34 (ESV)
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'” – Matthew 25:41 (ESV)
You see, God has two claims on your life. First, God has a claim on you as His creature. He created you as His image bearer, and that by right gives Him claim on your life. However, that’s not the specific claim Jesus is talking about in Matthew 16:26. Second, as God’s creature who has sinned (i.e., broken God’s law) against Him, you owe Him a debt that only eternal condemnation can repay. To sin against the eternal God is to deserve eternal punishment for such rebellion, and this is the claim upon sinners like you and me that Jesus refers to Matthew 16:26.
Dear reader, pay close attention to God’s rightful claims on your life now and for eternity. At its heart, Jesus’ question from Matthew 16:26 is asking us the following: “What will you possibly be able to offer Almighty God in exchange for your soul when you stand in judgment? What can you possibly offer in exchange for that which is God’s highest creation and God’s eternal property? What can be of equal value with the very life that God created in His own image but has rebelled against Him time and again?” All of those questions pertain to you and facing God in judgment someday for your sins.
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” – Romans 3:23 (ESV)
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 6:23 (ESV)
Ah, dear reader, in Romans 6:23 is found both our great problem and our great remedy! If we do not run to the merciful forgiveness found in Jesus Christ, your sins and my sins are mounded up, piling higher and higher as our life becomes longer and longer. In Him is our glorious remedy for sin found. In Christ Jesus we find our rescue from God’s righteous judgment for our sins.
What is the correct answer to Christ’s questions of, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall man give in return for his soul?” There is no profit if you are able to gain all the entire world yet lose your soul for eternity because of your sins. You may enjoy temporary pleasures here, but where is the profit in such fleeting delights compared to the prospect of eternity under God’s wrath? There is nothing that you have that is worth your soul’s value since you owe God such a sin debt, and His claims on you are eternal and right.
Here is the most wonderful news of all time, though. The answer to God’s righteous demands upon sinners like you and me is answered in Christ Jesus’ work of dying in the sinner’s place and rising again from the dead for the sinner’s justification before God. You can never answer God’s righteous demands with anything that God will accept as a ransom for your soul except that which God has appointed for such a cure and rescue…The precious blood of His own Son, Jesus Christ. In merciful love, God sent His Son to die as an answer for God’s demands upon sinners like you and me. What blessed news! Christ Jesus died as a substitute for sinners. In loving mercy, He died in the place of sinners like you and me.
I ask you again, dear reader, what will be your answer to God’s righteous demands upon you for your sins? Will you plead your good works? They cannot remove your sins. Will you plead some type of religious answer? Your answer cannot provide your soul’s worth, not even close. No, there is nothing you can plead to God except the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, for a sinner such as you. Why delay any longer? Do not forfeit your soul to sin’s penalty for all eternity! Turn in trust and love to Jesus Christ as the answer to God’s righteous demands upon your soul. Dear reader, the merits of Jesus Christ and Him alone is the only answer God will accept in exchange for your soul. Turn to Him today, He awaits in love and compassion for sinners like you and me.
May Your Eyes Be Opened To Your Need of Christ,
Eric Conner
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