Will You Forfeit Your Soul?

Christsfreeservant said:

“And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.’” (Mark 8:34-38 NASB1995)​

There are people in this world of ours who profess faith in Jesus Christ with their lips, and they may give an outward appearance of being Christians, but for whom sin is still what they practice, and not righteousness, holiness, godliness, moral purity, uprightness, honesty, faithfulness and obedience to our Lord and to his commands. And many of them are clinging to their sins, and they are living in moral filth, and many are malicious, manipulators, deceivers, fakers, liars, and con artists who are not trustworthy.

They may try to give an outward appearance of being Christians, and of being followers of Jesus Christ, but instead they are mean, cruel, heartless, spiteful, vindictive, merciless and vicious, especially so if they feel as though the image they are attempting to portray is being compromised in some way and that some people are able to see beyond their mirage to what truly lies underneath. They may give off an image that they have cast their sins behind them, but while they are still drifting (wandering) in their sins.

These are those who are still embracing their sins, still living in sinful addiction to particular sins while trying to give off an outward appearance of being Christians and those whose faith and trust is in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives. But they are relying upon lies, and not the truth, which are telling them that a profession of faith in Jesus Christ now assures them of forgiveness of all sins and heaven as their eternal resting place, but while they still cling to their moral filth and not to righteousness.

But many of these people are not ignorant of what the Scriptures teach or of what God requires of us who profess faith in Jesus Christ. Some of them, in fact, used to be or still are Bible teachers and/or pastors of “churches.” They know the right way, and they know what is wrong, and yet they continue to pursue and to do what they know is evil rather than to do what is good and right and what is required of all who profess faith in Jesus Christ. But then they speak lies and try to cover up their sins to make themselves look good.

But what did Jesus teach? He did not teach that mere lip service to Christ will secure us salvation from all sin and heaven as our eternal destiny, but regardless of how we live. He taught that if we want to come after him, if we want to believe in him to be Lord and Savior of our lives, and to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God, that we must deny self, and take up our cross daily (see Luke 9:23-26) and follow (obey) him. We must die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and walk in obedience to his commands.

But if we decide that we can just profess faith in Jesus Christ and now claim for ourselves salvation from all sin and guaranteed eternal life with God, but while we continue in deliberate and habitual sin and in disobedience against God, then we need to know that Jesus said that we will lose our lives for eternity. For if the sinful pleasures of this world are what we cling to, and not surrender to our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands, then we forfeit our own souls (our lives) for eternity, and hell is our destiny, instead.

For biblical salvation from sin and eternal life with God require that we must die with Christ to sin and be raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. And this is to be continuous throughout our Christian lives until Jesus returns for his faithful bride. For if we keep on in our sins, or if we return to our vomit, and that is where we remain, and if we do not turn from our sins to obey God, then we will not inherit eternal life with God.

But sadly so many people today professing faith in Jesus Christ, who are convinced that all their sins are forgiven, and that heaven is guaranteed them when they die, have sold their souls to the devil, instead. For they are still living like the world, still living for the sinful pleasures of their flesh, and they are not living to please God with their lives. And when Jesus returns for his bride they will not be taken to be with the Lord for eternity, but they will spend eternity in the fires of hell because they wanted their sins more.

So, we all need to believe what the Scriptures teach as the gospel of our salvation and what it means to believe in Jesus and to be saved from our sins and to have heaven guaranteed us when we die. But we need to read the Scriptures in their correct biblical context, for lies abound these days via Scriptures taught deliberately out of context and made to say what they do not say if taught within the correct context. For, if we do not follow our Lord in obedience in this life, we will not be with him for eternity.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You

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Will You Forfeit Your Soul?
An Original Work / June 20, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

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GaryMac said:

Yes, if one is not perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect as Jesus was perfected in Him, then one is none of His.

Matt 5:48 is not a request. Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

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Light of the East said:

Fortunately, this is not true. The devil owns NOTHING. He was defeated at the Cross. Death was put to death and we are all revived. Salvation is given to all mankind through Christ Jesus.

Romans 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

What Adam did to all, Christ undid unto all.

God owns all things because the devil has been stripped of any power that he usurped from Adam.

But . . . what does this mean in practicality? What of these disobedient Christians who were baptized into Christ and yet live sinful lives? It means that they will lose any reward that they might have. That they will be the "least in heaven," whereas the saints, the monks and nuns, those who have lived lives wholly given to Christ, will be those who have the highest honor. This is no small thing.

It also means that they will be cast into a raging furnace of fire. In other words, they are going to suffer - BIG TIME!

Matthew 13:42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 13:50 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

The word here translated "furnace" is g2575 κάμινον κάμινος kaminos A "kaminos" is a smelting furnace. It is not hell, as so many falsely teach because they are lazy and don't take the time to study the Greek. A smelting furnace is used to purify precious things and make them pure. Our souls are precious. Precious enough that the Son of God came Incarnated died a violent, painful, and shameful death so that He might rescue all mankind from the clutches of death. We will be purified, even those of us who have attempted to live for Christ.

The same cleansing by fire is taught in 1 Corinthians 3: 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

So you are right to warn lazy Christians of the impending Judgment, but there is no such thing as God losing those for whom He died. The cleansing by fire will indeed created weeping and gnashing of teeth. It will be profoundly painful, the more sin one has, the more pain one will suffer as he/she is purged and made fit for the Kingdom of God. But to say that somehow the devil, who has LOST., will be victorious over billions of souls makes a mockery of the Cross and presents God as powerless against him. No, my friend, death is defeated and Christ went down into Hades and destroyed it.

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