QUESTION #27 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

  QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED BIBLE STUDY










   Read Matthew 16:21-28 KJV: 

 

* 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? (Matthew 16:26)

 

TO GAIN THE WORLD AND LOSE YOUR SOUL

Reference: Matthew 16:21-28; Mark:36-37;

 

To gain the whole world is to receive all the world has to offer -- money, fame, pleasure, power, prestige, etc. To lose one’s soul is to die without a right relationship with Christ and spend an eternity in hell.

 

Jesus is explaining to His disciples the nature of what He came to do. That he must suffer, die and be raised to life on the third day. Peter doesn’t understand this, he rebukes Jesus and says there is no way this shall happen to Him. In saying this, Peter is echoing the temptation that Jesus received from Satan in Matthew 4. Here, Satan tempts Jesus to avoid suffering and use His power for His own gain, and he says that if Jesus will only worship him, then the crown to all the kingdoms of the world will be His. In Matthew 4, Satan literally tempts Jesus with ‘the whole world in exchange for His soul’. 

 

Jesus turns to Peter and basically calls him satan, “Get thee behind me, satan”. He tells Peter you are hindering Me for you do not have the concerns of God in mind but only those of men. Jesus is saying that it is God’s plan that He would lose His life in order that we may gain eternal life when we put our trust in him. If Jesus does not go through the cross, then He will have allowed Satan to win and we would be without hope. That’s why He is so harsh with Peter. 

 

Jesus says that, in order to truly follow Him, people must be willing to “deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me”. To take up one’s cross is a reference to being condemned to die. Jesus’ statement is symbolic of a total, final commitment. But there is another point Jesus is making too. He is saying that if someone would choose to follow Him it must be whole-hearted, and they must be prepared for hardship and suffering - perhaps even for death! They must “deny themselves and take up their cross”. A disciple of Jesus must resist the temptation of Satan to go for the easy life. We must avoid the attitude which says: “I will follow you Jesus and do what you say, but only if life isn’t too hard”. Jesus reassures us if we must loose our life here on earth for His sake we shall find it.

 

In other words, one needs to be willing to give up everything in order to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Worldly suffering shouldn’t be a deterrent. This is the context of Jesus’ question “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” If a person rejects Jesus and becomes the richest, most powerful person on earth, he has still made a poor decision. Sooner or later, earthly things will fade away. And that person will have lost the only part of himself that lasts forever. The day of reckoning is coming: “For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will reward each person according to what they have done” (vs 27).

 

There is nothing more valuable than a person’s soul. To trade that away is the perfect example of foolishness. When a person chooses to embrace this world instead of heaven, he is forfeiting his soul. If a person rejects Christ for the sake of anything in this life, he will lose his soul.

 

“Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom”. Taste of death - That is, die. Before they die they shall see this. See what? The Son of man coming in his kingdom. Who shall see this? His disciples.

 

Mark and Luke have explained this: Mark 9:1, "Until they have seen the kingdom of God come with power" Luke 9:27, "Till they see the kingdom of God." The meaning evidently is, "till they shall see my kingdom," i.e., my church, now small, feeble, and despised, greatly enlarged, established, and spreading with great rapidity and extent. All this was accomplished. All these apostles, except Judas, lived to see the wonders of the day of Pentecost; some of them, John particularly, saw the Jewish nation scattered, the temple destroyed, the gospel established in Asia, Rome, Greece, and in a large part of the known world.

 

“Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38).

 

See insert – The Kingdom of God

 

Notes:

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Please feel free to comment or leave a message. I will respond as soon as possible. God bless!

Popular posts from this blog

DEDICATION PAGE

Image
QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED   Bible Study       First and foremost, I dedicate this Bible Study to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He has the answer to everlasting life. When some disciples left Jesus because of some hard teachings, He turned to his disciples and asked if they too would go away. The Apostle Peter said, “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words to eternal life.   I also dedicate this Bible Study to Sister Becky Sears and her son, Brother Parker Sears. Sister Becky loves my studies and me. I love her dearly and she is a great child of God, much loved. I’m always telling them they ask more questions than anybody I know! But in all seriousness, we ask questions when we want to learn. I’ve always been told “no question” (asked in earnest) is a dumb question. I don’t know if that is true or not, but it makes sense to me.  If one is afraid of asking questions they may never find an answer.   I, too, have always had an inquisitive mind. As a m...
Read more

QUESTION #1 Where art thou?

Image
QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED BIBLE STUDY   Read Genesis 3:  Where art thou?   (Genesis 3:9)   THE FALL OF MANKIND Reference: Genesis 3   God’s first question, ironically, is in the first book of the Bible, in the Garden of Eden. I will begin this Bible study here so that we will understand God’s Full Plan of Salvation for Man.   Adam and Eve had sinned. They went against what God had commanded them not to do. Isn’t that just like mankind today? God says don’t do this, don’t do that, and we do it anyway. We partake of the fruit of sin.    The fall of man occurred sometime after God created the world and after Satan’s rebellion in heaven. We find the biblical account of creation and the fall of man in  Genesis 1–3 . In the book of Genesis, God spoke everything into existence: sky, planets, seas, vegetation, animals, and everything else. He pronounced it all “good” ( Genesis 1:25 ). But when God made man, He took the dust of the earth and formed the fi...
Read more

INTRODUCTION PAGE

Image
QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED Bible Study      My Pastor once asked, “ have you ever thought about the questions Jesus asked ?” I had to stop and think... no, I have never given it much thought.    But it did make me think if Jesus asked a question, it must have been an important one, and we might ought to find the answers to those questions. In fact, depending on our response, they could be life-changing questions.    I realize that in the culture which Jesus lived, asking questions was a method of learning, but Jesus always knew the answers. He didn’t need to ask them. He IS the answer. What does He need to know?  His questions were to cause His listeners to think. And, they do.   Maybe the plan was not having all the right answers, but to develop the curiosity to ask the right questions.    WHAT DO YOU THINK?  (By the way, Jesus asked that question 7 times)   I encourage readers to read the suggested verses from the KJV Bible. ...
Read more