Matthew 16:25-28 Lose Your Life

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?  For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.   "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." [Matthew 16:25‭-‬28 NASB]

We are given a choice. We can follow the world, or we can follow Jesus. If you follow the world, you may gain the world, but you will lose your soul.

Paul said, "Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience," [Colossians 3:1-6 NASB]

When you choose to follow Jesus, you become dead to your old life. This is true in a spiritual sense as well as figurative. You have to be willing to die to you old way of life if you want to truly live in Christ. Some - I should say most - will choose to hold on the old life, refusing to die, and so lose their soul.

Jesus said that He would return and "repay every man according to his deeds." Please don't misunderstand. Jesus won't be holding a scale and measuring your good deeds against your bad deeds. You won't be able to say to Him "I helped little old ladies across the street, so I deserve to get into Heaven."

The judgement is this: did you follow Jesus or not? In this life, did you seek the kingdom of God, or did you seek material gain or fleshly pleasures?

It's not about church attendance. You can do many good works, be a missionary to third world countries, and lead others to Christ, but if your own heart is not right, you will lose your soul.

Paul said, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." [Ephesians 2:8-9 NASB]

If you are counting on good works to get you into heaven, then you are still living in the world. Surrender to Jesus means giving up on your own efforts to be good, and trusting Him. Trying to gain God's favor by doing good deeds is sin. The good news is that God forgives sin when you come to Him in faith and ask for His forgiveness.

When you follow Jesus, you lose your old life, and are born again into the kingdom of God. 

There have many different speculations about Jesus' words, "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."

Understand that the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom. Paul said, "for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." [Romans 14:17 NASB] One day, Jesus will return, but we don't have to wait for His physical return to live in the kingdom of heaven. We are told, "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household," [Ephesians 2:19 NASB] 

Jesus died and rose again on the third day. He sent His Spirit to indwell each one of us. As believers, we are the kingdom of God, along with all of the faithful who have gone before us.

I urge you to turn from the pleasures of the world. Follow Jesus with all of your heart, soul, mind and body. You will experience great peace and joy in this world, and in the next, eternal life.