In a man’s life, it’s inevitable we lose things. There’re different types of losing. There’re certain losses we don’t mind; we can just laugh over it. But there’re certain losses we are very concerned about; they land us in a state we don’t know how to react. There’re certain losses we can regain, while there’re some we can never regain. Such losses are indeed very sad.

The speaker believes the worst loss a man can incur is God. Because even if you lose all things on earth, you still have all things in heaven. But if you lose God, you would have lost all the things in heaven.

In the Bible, people who have lost God will be used as a warning for us. We can lose all things on earth but we have to tell ourselves that we can never lose God.

1. Samson
   Judges 16:20-21
   Samson didn’t know God had left him. He thought he could break free from his binds like in the past using the strength of the Lord. But this time, he had no strength to break free because God had left him. Samson lost God. His eyes were put out. He became a grinder in a prison. How did a great hero end up in such a state?

Why did Samson lose God?
1) He indulged in his flesh
Judges 13:3-5
Samson was a judge chosen by the Lord to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistine. He was specially chosen to be a Nazarite from his mother’s womb. In other words, he was chosen to be sanctified to the Lord. But in his life and conduct, he wasn’t sanctified. Instead, he went against the rules of being a Nazarite. His life was one where he indulged in his fleshly desires.

Judges 14:1
Samson’s first woman was, of the daughters of the Philistines, the enemy of Israel. His parents objected but Samson was determined to have her as his wife. We know this marriage ended up broken.

Judges 16:1
Samson’s second woman was a prostitute from Gaza. Gaza was one of the five important cities in Philistine. He came to the city of his enemies and went to a harlot. He was a man who indulged in his flesh, devoid of moral values.

Judges 16:4
The third woman he had was Delilah from the Valley of Sorek. Because of her greed for riches, she betrayed Samson multiple times. But Samson didn’t ‘wake up’. It wasn’t that Samson didn’t know she wasn’t good, that’s why he didn’t reveal the true source of his strength. This couple put on a pretence in front of each other. But finally, the woman prevailed.

Judges 16:16-17
Delilah was really brilliant. She did not give up but used all ways and means to press Samson to reveal the secret of the source of his strength. It seemed like an impossible task but Delilah completed it. Did Samson really fall into the hands of this woman? Seemingly so. Because at the end he revealed his secret and was taken captive by his enemies. He had lost God and his strength.

But actually Samson failed under his own hands, because he was unable to control his fleshly desires. He was able to fight against the Philistines and emerge victorious. But he wasn’t able to be victorious over his fleshly desires that corrupted him.

Therefore Paul reminds us that he who is carnally minded will die. If we continue in our flesh and refuse to repent, the ultimate outcome is death.

We see Samson time and again gave in to his flesh and ultimately died because of his fleshly desires.

We have to be like Paul to pommel our fleshly desires. Our greatest enemy is the fleshly desires in our heart. If we don’t control them, we will ultimately be destroyed by them. Of course it’s impossible for us to overcome them on their own. Which is why we have to ask the Holy Spirit to give us strength and help us. If not we’ll also end up in the state Samson came to where God left him.

2) He was proud and conceited
God gave Samson great strength to deliver the Israelites. He was of great strength! With bare hands, he could tear apart a lion. With bare hands, he could pull out the city gates and carry them away. In the movies, a number of soldiers are needed just to close the city gates. We can imagine how powerful Samson was! With a donkey’s jaw bone, he was able to kill a thousand Philistines. With such great strength, how could he not have caused the Philistines fear? No wonder they tried ways and means to find out the source of his strength. The strength of Samson indeed caused his victory. But it also caused him to be self conceited. He held no regard for his enemies. Even though he knew his enemies used Delilah to deceive him, he still thought he would be the victor no matter what.

How was Samson deceived by Delilah time and again? Was it because he loved Delilah so much he was willing to be deceived by her? The speaker believes it’s because he was too self conceited. He looked lightly upon Delilah. Which was why time and again he played the deceptive game with Delilah. He was confident he could play along with her. Never did he expect he would die by her hands.

Today there’re many outstanding preachers who fall not because they don’t know what sin is all about. Rather they are self conceited and reckon they won’t fall into this trap of sin. They’re full of confidence and tell themselves they can control themselves and know when to stop. “I’ll never cross the boundary. Rest assured I know what I’m doing.”

This is likened to the mindset of a gambler. We see many gamblers who had their families broken and commit suicide. Don’t they know the harms gambling causes? Haven’t they seen the tragic end of other gamblers? They know and see all these. Yet they still continue to gamble. That’s because they’re full of themselves. “I’m just playing and know when to stop. I won’t be like those people and be addicted. I’m not stupid. I’m just playing.” But eventually they end up like the rest who fall into that trap.

Like Samson. Wasn’t he full of himself thinking he won’t fall into the hands of Delilah? “Time and again I didn’t reveal my secret.” Yet he died by her hands in the end.

Paul reminds us:
1 Cor 10:11-12
Paul listed saints of old who had fallen and told us to use them as examples of caution. Why were records of this made? Because God instructed them to do so for our warning.

We tend to tell of these characters to children in our RE class. We tell them until we think they’re just but stories. When RE teachers, preachers, etc, tell of these characters, we unknowingly start to view them as just stories and not what really happened. Sometimes after hearing stories we want new ones. Listening to a story is different from listening to warnings. Today many Christians fall because they just deem these as stories and not warnings. They may say to themselves, “I’m not as stupid as them. I will stand, I won’t fall.”

1 Cor 10:12
But Paul says, “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” He wasn’t exhorting those who were weak but those who think they can stand. Because many of those who think they can stand are in a dangerous position.

A saying: the person who falls off a horse is usually a good horse rider. The person who usually drowns is a good swimmer.

Why would he fall from the horse when he’s a good horse rider? Because he’s full of himself and never imagined he would fall. But in a moment of carelessness, he fell.

Who would expect a good swimmer to drown? But in reality many who drown aren’t those who are new swimmers but good swimmers.

Therefore Paul reminds us. When you think you can stand, this is a time of danger. Therefore we have to be watchful and not to be like Samson who was full of himself and fell in the end.

1. Judas
   Acts 1:16-18
   Judas was a apostle chosen by Jesus. But he lost his apostleship and lost the Lord. In English, Judas has the meaning of a traitor. That’s why no one wants to be named Judas. They’d prefer to be called Paul or Moses. Even Gentiles refuse to use this name, because they knew Judas betrayed the Lord with 30 pieces of silver.

How Judas was resolved to follow the Lord wasn’t recorded in the Bible. But the Bible records that the Lord spent the entire night to pray before He chose Judas out of all His disciples. From this we can see Judas was chosen to do important work, not to betray the Lord. Our Lord isn’t one who likes to ‘role play’ and choose Judas just to betray Him. He is truthful and serious. He prayed the entire night for this.

How did apostle Judas become Judas the betrayer?
Luke 22:3-6
Satan entered Judas Iscariot. Doesn’t this show it’s the work of Satan? How can we blame Judas? It was Satan who caused him to betray the Lord. Seems like Judas was so pitiful, made use of by Satan to betray the Lord. Why didn’t Jesus pass a judgement on Satan but Judas who was made use of? Before Satan entered Judas, was Satan ABLE to enter Judas? Before this Satan didn’t have the ability to enter Judas. In fact Satan had to be fearful of Judas because Jesus had given the 12 apostles ability to cast out demons. This authority was real. So Satan ought to have feared Judas and be unable to enter Judas. But why was Satan able to enter Judas then? Did Jesus take away the power of casting demons away from Judas? Then Satan took hold of the opportunity to enter Judas?

It wasn’t the Lord’s spirit that departed Judas. It was Judas who left the Lord’s spirit. We read about how Judas took the initiative to look for the enemies to betray Jesus. He wasn’t forced to betray Jesus. Neither was he threatened and coerced. If this had been the case, Judas would really be pitiful.

But he took the initiative to look for the enemies to discuss how to betray him. Important in the discussion was what he would get in exchange. We can see that Judas betrayed Jesus because he loved money. Why didn’t Satan enter others to cause them to betray the Lord? Why Judas? Because Judas left a foothold for the devil. He loved money. Betraying the Lord allowed him to receive money.

John 12:6
Some people say that Judas’ wrong was just a moment of weakness. If it truly a moment of weakness, the Lord surely would have had mercy on him. But it wasn’t a moment of weakness. John tells us that Judas was a thief and took from the money box. From here we can see he loved money in his daily life. Since there was no more money for him to take, he resorted to betraying Jesus for money.

Some people defend Judas by saying, “If Judas hadn’t betrayed Jesus, how would Jesus have been able to give us salvation? Even though Judas had done evil, it resulted in great good for mankind. He was evil but helped God to complete His salvation plan.” Don’t we all owe Judas?

Wow see how people think. Things that are evil can be seen as good.

Fact is: Judas betrayed Jesus because of his greed for money. He left a foothold for the devil. He took from the money box and when that ran out, he betrayed Jesus.

He betrayed the Lord. He also betrayed his own soul.

When Da Vinci painted the portrait of the last supper, he took 2 years. The first person he painted was Jesus. He used a young, gentle looking man as his model. Then he drew the rest of the disciples. When he came to Judas, he had a hard time looking for a model. Finally he saw a drinker on the road. He was haggard but there was a crafty look in his eyes. When he saw him he thought: this is like Judas!
He started painting. The drinker started to weep. He was the man that was Jesus’ model. 2 years ago he was such an outstanding youth. But because of drinking and crime, he ended up looking like Judas.

From having the look of Jesus he ended up having the look of Judas. If a person doesn’t hold fast to the words of Jesus, he’ll end up like Judas.

Faith is not just overcoming one temptation. Rather faith has to overcome temptations in our entire lives. In our lifetime we have overcome many temptations which is why we’re seated here today. But there’s still a road ahead we have to tread. There’re still many temptations ahead.

Our past success doesn’t guarantee we’d be successful in the future. Wasn’t Judas a victorious apostle? Otherwise why would he resolve to put aside all things to follow the Lord? If he loved money, why did he sacrifice so much to follow Jesus?

Some people become Christians to reap benefits. But in that time, Christians were mocked. Think you can benefit by following Jesus? Going into the world would get you more benefits. Judas was able to be victorious initially. But at the end he failed.

We have to ask God to help us be watchful in our walk of faith. Faith isn’t just a moment or zealousness but a choice we make without refresh’s. We have chosen this path. Rely on the Lord to finish the path. We’ll meet with temptations on this path and we have our weaknesses. But the Lord has given us the Holy Spirit. We’ll be able to complete it if we rely on His help, as long as we follow Jesus’ footprints closely.

Let us ask God to help us to preserve ourselves and not lose God.