Universities in the Northeast take great delight in staging Elizabethan dramas. This is one of the cultural aspects which universities in the Northeast emphasize. It is a way of giving aspiring young actors and actresses some practical experience on the stage and it is a way of taking classical literature out of the boredom of the classroom and making it come alive in the minds of students as they watch it performed on the stage.

Perhaps, one of the greatest of the Elizabethan dramas is Christopher Marlowe’s, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. Doctor Faustus is a drama about a man who is dissatisfied with the limits of his human knowledge and the power that is available to him. Doctor Faustus is a grand figure that is filled with desire and lust and he is chafing at the boundaries which are set before him. Rebelling against the boundaries, Doctor Faustus signs a blood-bond with Satan. He agrees to sell his soul for 24 years of enough power and knowledge to rule the world.

In the beginning, the deal seems advantageous to Doctor Faustus. He gloats in the fact that he will be “the great emperor of the world.” But, little by little, the years slip by and Faustus realizes that he has sold his soul for all eternity for only 24 years of pleasure. Finally, in the last hours before Satan returns to claim his soul, Doctor Faustus realizes what a bad bargain he has made. The agonized cry as he contemplates the thought of eternal hell is very moving. Doctor Faustus says:

God forbid it but (I) have done it; for vain pleasure of 24 years hath Faustus lost eternal joy… I write them a bill with my own blood: the date is expired; the time will come, and he (Satan) will fetch me. Doctor Faustus sold his soul to get what he wanted in life and this is exactly what Ahab, the king of Israel, did. Immediately next door to the palace was a beautiful vineyard belonging to a man named Naboth. Even though Ahab was the king, even though he owned a great deal of land, even when he possessed a great deal of wealth, Ahab wasn’t satisfied. He wanted Naboth’s property and he went to him and offered a perfectly legitimate deal. He said to Naboth:

I must have your land. Let’s trade properties. I’ll give you a piece of my land for yours or if you prefer, I’ll pay you money for the land.

But Naboth was unwilling to sell. The vineyard was his inheritance from his father and his father’s father. This was family land that he would pass on to his sons and grandsons. So, Naboth was unwilling to sell. He replied to the king: “I don’t care how much you offer me, my family’s land is not for sale.”

How did the king respond to the refusal? The biblical story indicates that he went home and had a temper tantrum. He is angry, he is sullen, he returns to the palace and slams the door, stomps his feet, kicks the dog, crawls into his bed and turns his face to the wall and he refuses to eat.

Temper tantrums usually get people’s attention. Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, asks him what is wrong and Ahab tells her the sad story of not getting what he wants. Together they devise a plan to satisfy his petty greed. Since he is king, the law can be manipulated. So Naboth is arrested on trumped up charges. He and his sons are found guilty and sentenced to death. Even though it meant shedding the blood of innocent people. Ahab is willing to sell his soul to get what he wants. Later, after Ahab had taken possession of the land, he sees the prophet Elijah approaching. The guilty conscience of Ahab asks: “Have you found me, 0 my enemy?” To a guilty conscience, the prophet of God always looks like an enemy. And Elijah replies: “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord.”

Ahab sold his soul for the price of a vineyard. We can shake our heads and say how terrible it is. But, I believe that we can be just as guilty as Ahab or Doctor Faustus. We are capable of selling our souls -- are we not?

We may not put our souls on the auction block like Ahab or Doctor Faustus did, but we can and will sell our souls. Today, I want to suggest some subtle ways that we are willing to sell our souls.

I. We Sell Our Souls When Our Desires Run Uncontrolled.

Normally, our desires are under control. But, sometimes the temptation to allow our desires to run free is so great that we can no longer control them, we can no longer restrain them, we can no longer be master of our desires. This is the whole human problem in a nutshell -- giving in and allowing our desires to run uncontrolled through our lives. The desires which rampage through our lives come in a variety of packages. For some of us it may be sexual lust. For some it may be a craving for power. For some it may be a greed for money. For some it may be an addiction to drugs or alcohol.

I saw a cartoon in a magazine once with two zany characters named Frank and Ernest. In the cartoon, they are walking out of church and Ernest is saying, “I’m willing to flee temptation if I can leave a forwarding address.”

This is the way many of us are when it comes to trying to maintain control of our desires. Once we give in to our desires, they have control of us. We leave a forwarding address because we can’t maintain self-control. Once our desires have free rein and are running uncontrolled through our lives -- we will rapidly reach that point where we are willing to sell our souls to satisfy our wants.

I know of a home where the young husband and wife were happy and enjoying life. When a baby was born, they were ecstatic. As this baby grew into a young toddler, she developed a winsome personality. She was a lovely child. Even though she was small, she learned the art of manipulating her parents and getting what she wanted. She was not spoiled. She simply knew how to wrap her parents around her finger. They were a happy family and seemed to have a bright future ahead of them.

But the young father began flirting with sexual encounters beyond his marriage. One encounter led to another and another and another. Before long, he was willing to sell his soul to fulfill his wants and desires. I doubt that he meant to destroy his family. I doubt that he meant to break up his home. But that is exactly what happened once he gave free rein to his desires and sold his soul at the altar of sexual indulgence.

The wants and desires in each of us are different because we are different individuals. But, once we give these desires free rein, once we allow our desires to rampage uncontrolled through life, once we lose the tremendous battle with temptation within, our defenses become so weak that we are capable of selling our souls just to satisfy the desires within our hearts and lives.

II. We Will Sell Our Souls When We Believe We Are Above The Law.

Ahab was the king of Israel and his queen, Jezebel, reminded him of this fact. If he wanted a piece of land, there was a way to acquire it.

There was a way for him to take possession of that which belonged to another. After all, he was the king and he could manipulate the law to his advantage. He could arrange for an innocent man to be falsely charged. He could arrange for an innocent man to be found guilty. He could arrange for an innocent man to be executed. He could arrange to become the owner of the vineyard that he wanted and desired. All that is required was to ignore the laws of the land and sell his soul in order to gain what he wanted.

One of the most dangerous things that can happen to us is to believe we are above the law. When we begin adopting his philosophy, the ideas of right and wrong lose their sense of importance. In their place, we substitute the idea that the end justifies the means and we become willing to sell our souls just to get what we want.

For me, one of the most frightening things about the Iran Contra scandal was not the possibility of the President trading arms for American hostages. We expect the President to make foreign policy decisions which may lead to the return of American hostages. The dangerous thing to me was that there were a few aids who believed that their proximity to the Oval office made them above the law. They created policy without the President’s knowledge, they violated the laws of our constitution, and they lied to Congress just so they could carry out objectives they deemed to be important. In other words, they were just like Ahab, King of Israel, who believed he was above the law and was willing to sell his soul to get what he wanted.

We need to be honest with ourselves and openly acknowledge that we like to get what we want. Let’s face it, we like to win whether it is us as individuals, or our family, or our country, or our football team. There is not anything wrong with that as long as we don’t believe we are above the law. However, once we believe we are above the law, we become insensitive to the needs of others, our wants and desires become more important than the wants and desires of others, and we become willing to sell our souls just to get what we want. This is certainly not the example of Jesus.

III. We Will Sell Our Souls To Satisfy Our Desires When We Believe No One Will Know.

Ahab’s greed for Naboth’s land was overwhelming. He wanted to own that land next door to his palace, but Naboth would not sell. When his queen, Jezebel, suggested a diabolical plan that was sure to work, a diabolical plan which would get rid of Naboth and his family, a diabolical plan that was so clever that no one would know that he had unscrupulously consented to the execution of an innocent man just to satisfy his desire and get the land. Ahab gave his permission for the plan to be put into action. He was willing to sell his soul to get what he wanted because he thought no one would know.

But, Ahab knew and the guilt was eating away at his insides. Every time he walked in that vineyard, the bloodstains of Naboth flashed through his mind. The guilt was overwhelming. One day, Ahab saw the prophet Elijah approaching, and the guilt bubbled to the surface. Even before Elijah said a single word, Ahab asked: “Have you found me out, 0 my enemy?” No one knew, but a guilty conscience convicted Ahab of selling his soul for the price of his neighbor’s vineyard.

We may sell our souls and believe that no one will know. But, we know. We can’t hide anything from our conscious minds and when we violate our standards of right and wrong, the result is a sense of guilt. No one else may know about our secret actions, our secret sins, the skeleton in our closet, but we know. The guilt will eat away at us, the guilt will act as a built-in prosecuting attorney, the guilt will accumulate in our lives until it is forgiven.

Once a young man came to see me. It was obvious that he was nervous and something was tearing him apart on the inside. I asked him if there was something he wanted to tell me.

Struggling to speak and fight back the tears, he told me of a situation that was explosive and could destroy his home and his marriage and wreak havoc in his office. As he told his story, he told of a young married woman in his office with whom he had become involved. No one knew of his relationship with the woman. It was a secret they shared. But, he felt like a sneak, he felt dirty, he felt guilty. He loved his wife and she loved her husband. They didn’t want to hurt each other’s family. But, they loved each other. He looked up at me and said, “I just don’t know what to do.”

I looked at him and said, “Jim, you know what to do. You feel guilty about what’s happening and you told me the story because you knew I would tell you that what you are doing is wrong.”

“Yes,” he said, “I know it’s wrong, but I still don’t know what to do.”

“Okay, Jim,” I said. “Here’s what you need to do. Go to the woman and tell her exactly what you’ve told me. Tell her you don’t want either family to be hurt and you are going to break off the relationship this very moment.”

“Is that all I have to do?” he asked.

“No,” I said. “There’s one more thing you have to do. You have to seek God’s forgiveness. I want you to bow your head right now and ask God to forgive you.”

“Do you mean pray out loud?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. “I want you to ask God for forgiveness and strength to break off this relationship.” He bowed his head and he was silent for several moments, but I didn’t say a word. Finally, he began to pray. “Dear God, I feel so guilty about what’s happened. I didn’t mean for anything to go this far. Please forgive me. Give me the strength to break it off. Help me to save my marriage. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

That was a simple prayer, but it assured him he could be forgiven. And you can have the same forgiveness. You may have sold your soul to fulfill your desires. You may believe that no one knows. Your sins may be hidden away and no one knows, but you know, deep in your own heart -- you know that you have sinned. God’s forgiveness is available to you today.