WHAT SHALL A MAN GIVE IN EXCHANGE FOR HIS SOUL?

TEXT:
(Mat 16:24-27)  "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. {25} For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. {26} 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? {27} For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works."

1. Deny self to save soul.
2. Want to keep life for self, lose it.
3. The worth of a soul in comparison to the whole world.
   World is temporal, soul eternal!
4. Salvation of the soul in view of the judgment.
(John 5:28-29)  "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, {29} And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."

(Mark 8:36-37)  "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? {37} Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

(Job 27:8)  "For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?"

(Luke 12:15-21)  "And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. {16} And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: {17} And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? {18} And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. {19} And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. {20} But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? {21} So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

TRUTHS THAT BEAR UPON THE SITUATION:
	1. We will die

	(Heb 9:27)  "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."

	2. Our soul will live on

(Eccl 12:7)  "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."

	3. The SOUL is the REAL part of man.

(2 Pet 1:12-15)  "Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. {13} Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; {14} Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. {15} Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance."

	4. Eternity is forever

(Mat 25:41)  "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."

(Mat 25:46)  "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."

	5. Long time to regret
ETERNITY IS A LONG TIME TO REGRET THE CHOICES YOU MADE IN LIFE!

Lk 16:19--31, Rich man & Lazarus.

	6. Esau.

(Heb 12:15-17)  "Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; {16} Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. {17} For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears."

From the Contemporary English Version:

 Esau Sells His Rights as the First-Born Son
Gen. 25:27 As Jacob and Esau grew older, Esau liked the outdoors and became a good hunter, while Jacob settled down and became a shepherd. 28 Esau would take the meat of wild animals to his father Isaac, and so Isaac loved him more, but Jacob was his mother’s favorite son.
29 One day, Jacob was cooking some stew, when Esau came home hungry 30 and said, “I’m starving to death! Give me some of that red stew right now!” That’s how Esau got the name “Edom.” 
31 Jacob replied, “Sell me your rights as the first-born son.” 
32 “I’m about to die,” Esau answered. “What good will those rights do me?”
33 But Jacob said, “Promise me your birthrights, here and now!” And that’s what Esau did. 34 Jacob then gave Esau some bread and some of the bean stew, and when Esau had finished eating and drinking, he just got up and left, showing how little he thought of his rights as the first-born.
The Contemporary English [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1995 by the American Bible Society.

 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? 

If we could trade our soul for the whole world, it would be a bad deal.  Much less, the trivial things men trade their souls for:

A little good time with sin.
Womanizing and loose living.
Dishonest gain.
Liquor.
Getting to do what they want to do.

God only gives us one soul. Will you squander your soul, or will you cherish it?

Jesus died for you that your soul might be saved.  

To squander your soul is not only cheating yourself,  but it is treating Him contemptiously.