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

1. What shall it profit a man to get all the money in
the world and lose his soul? Earthly treasures and
earthly money are not worth dying for. You cannot
give up your soul for them.
What shall it profit the miners in town to get all the gold in
the world and lose their soul?
What shall it profit the stockbrokers to get all the money
they can and go to hell?
What shall it profit the bankers to get all the money in the
world and go to hell? What shall it profit the investors to gain
the highest mark-ups on their investments and lose their souls?
You will have to leave all the money behind. Money will
be a disappointing pursuit for you even on earth. The Bible
predicts these realities. There is no need to use your life as an
experiment to discover how true this famous scripture is!
WILT THOU SET THINE EYES UPON THAT WHICH
IS NOT? For riches certainly make themselves wings;
they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
Proverbs 23:5

For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to
every generation?
Proverbs 27:24
Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had
labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who
will come after me.
And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool?
Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for
which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This
too is vanity.
Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my
labor for which I had labored under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 2:18-20 (NASB)
For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we
can carry nothing out.
1 Timothy 6:7

2. What shall it profit a man to gain all the power the
world and lose his soul? Earthly power and position is
not worth dying for. You cannot give up your soul for
it.

The Political Pilot

Years ago I knew of a pilot who had had a dramatic conversion
to Christ. His story was similar to the conversion of Paul because
he had seen a light and heard a voice calling him. He had become
a Bible study leader and an ardent Christian. I remember having
to rent instruments from his fellowship in order to have a crusade.

This well-known Christian, one day decided to join a political
party and became an active politician. I watched, as he gradually
became a popular politician. The more political he became,
the less Christian he was until you could hardly recognize the
Christian in him. It seems he forsook all his Christian principles
in order to gain the world of political power.
He joined himself to wicked, die-hard politicians and hardened
sinners who had no fear of God. Eventually, he left his wife and
family and became just another unbeliever.
Years went by and he was struck with an incurable disease
and was forced to turn to God again. One day, at about midnight,
he felt deathly ill and he decided to make his way to a pastor’s
house. He banged on the gate and with a rasping faint voice,
asked the security man to please let him in.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“I am the Minister of Rivers and Lakes. Let me in. I am
dying.”
The security man instantly recognized the important figure
behind the gate. That night this Christian-turned-politician knelt
and prayed in the pastor’s living room.
He confessed how he had forsaken God and his family and
strayed as far as the occult in his quest for political power.
“But it was not worth it,” he told the pastor as he wept bitterly,
repenting and gasping for every breath.
He died two weeks later, a stark example of someone who
had tried to gain the whole world and almost lost his soul in the
process.
Jesus said clearly, “What shall it profit a man to gain the world
and lose his soul?” There is nothing more valuable than the soul
of a man.

3. What will it profit a beautiful girl if she marries the
prince and loses her soul? Earthly marriage is not
worth dying for. You cannot give up your soul for it.

The King’s Wife
One day, a young beautiful African lady qualified from the
university and began her career as an accountant. A bright future
lay before her and she had planned to achieve many things for
herself. One day, the traditional king of that country spotted her
on one of his outings. He desired to marry her and offered her a
chance to become his official queen.
This lady had a tough choice to make because taking up that
position would mean that she would give up her career. It would
also mean that she would become one of several women who
would be wives to the king. She would also lose her privacy
and her ability to see her friends and family as often as she was
used to. She would not even have her bath on her own anymore
because she would always have maids and guards waiting on her.
To everyone’s amazement she gave up her career, her ambitions,
her friends, her privacy, and the assurance of being the only wife
of her husband. Her only advantage was going to be that she
would be the official queen.
Think of it, that God offers us the chance to become the
royalty of Heaven. And yet many are not prepared to pay the
price for it. Jesus taught that there is nothing more precious and
more important than the soul of a man. And yet men and women
are not prepared to pay anything for the salvation of their souls!
How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously,
so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in
her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see
no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day,
death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly
burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth
her.
Revelation 18:7-8

4. What shall it profit a woman to have a lot of children
and lose her soul? Having a child is not worth dying
for. You cannot give up your soul for it.
The Snake in the Woman
One day, I watched a documentary that showed a lady who
was desperate to have a child. She had sought treatment in many
places and had finally resorted to a herbalist who claimed to have
a solution to her problem. In this real life documentary, she was
being shown receiving treatment for infertility.
Can you guess what the treatment was? It involved the
insertion of a snake (a serpent) into the birth canal of the woman.
I watched in horror as the herbalist inserted a living writhing
snake into the lady. This woman lay calmly in the lithotomy
position whilst the herbalist inserted the entire snake into her
body. This was the supposed treatment that would give this
woman a child.

I realised the great extent to which people are prepared to go
to have a child. But would they be prepared to do anything in
order to go to Heaven and be saved? People are prepared to give
up so much for other causes and yet when they are presented with
Jesus they come up with a thousand excuses.
I also knew of a lady who was fifty-five years old and
very determined to have a child. She underwent several risky
procedures and took lots of dangerous medicines. She emphasized
to the doctor that she would rather die than be without a child.
Miraculously, at the age of fifty-five she conceived and gave
birth to twins. She died immediately after delivery. She had
truly given up the whole world for her twins. But would this
woman be prepared to do the same in order to be saved and go
to Heaven? Would she be prepared to give up everything to save
her soul? Most people are not prepared to do anything to have
salvation.

5. What shall it profit a man if he becomes a European
citizen and loses his soul? Becoming a European
citizen is not worth dying for. You cannot give up
your soul for it.

The Stowaway
One day, a Ghanaian brother who lived in a port city of his
country was watching television when it struck him about how
beautiful the cities of Europe looked. He said within himself,
“I must go to Europe. I don’t mind whether it is Germany,
England, Holland, Italy, …I am ready to go anywhere once it is
in Europe.” He had no means of flying to Europe and he did not
qualify for a visa either. So he decided that he would become a
stowaway and hide on one of the ships that sailed from his port
to the glamorous cities of Europe. He was a determined young
man and he eventually got himself onto a ship that was sailing for
Europe. He hid deep in the hold, among the containers. Shortly
after the ship took off he was discovered and brought back to the
harbour.
He was not in the least perturbed and he decided to do it again.
Unfortunately for this determined stowaway he was discovered
again shortly after the ship left the harbour and was returned to
his country.
He told his friends about his exploits and felt even more
confident that he was going to make it on his third attempt.
Indeed, he was more successful on his third attempt at being a
stowaway and was only discovered when the ship was on the
high seas.
Unfortunately for him the captain of this ship was a cruel,
no-nonsense man and had him thrown overboard into the sharkinfested ocean. I held my breath as this young man told me about
how he spotted the shoreline from afar and decided to swim to
land.

Miraculously he made it to the shore. He then asked some
locals which country he was in, and they told him that he was in
Liberia. He made his way back to Ghana and arrived safely in his
port city. Yet again, for the fourth time he became a stowaway.
This time he hid in the engine without eating for two weeks and
was not discovered until the ship arrived in Amsterdam where he
slipped out unnoticed.
I could not believe the determination, tenacity and selfsacrifice of this young man just to become a Dutch citizen.

As we sat talking in Holland he pulled out his European
passport proudly and showed me pictures of his Dutch wife.
Then I offered him an invitation to come to church. This was
an invitation to Heaven. It was an invitation to become a proud
citizen of the kingdom of God. Yet he refused, giving one lame
excuse after another about how his work would not allow him to
go to church.

I marvelled about how this man was prepared to give up the
whole world to become a European citizen but was not prepared
to give up anything to become a citizen of Heaven.

6. What shall it profit a man if he becomes an American
citizen and loses his soul? Becoming an American
citizen is not worth dying for. You cannot give up
your soul for it.

7. It is only your soul that is worth giving up everything
for. Your soul is eternal and precious. Your soul will
live forever. It is worth giving up everything for your
soul to be saved.
… it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather
than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
Matthew 18:9

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count
them but dung, THAT I MAY WIN CHRIST, and be found
in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith:
Philippians 3:8-9