1997-11

SERMON NOTES

TITLE: GOD'S BLESSINGS CAN BE LOST

15 Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength."

16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death.

17 So he told her everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man."

18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, "Come back once more; he has told me everything." So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands.

19 Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.

20 Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him.

21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison. (NIV)

INTRODUCTION: Our lives today are full of questions. We question about the matter of security. I am secure in Christ, eternally so if I desire that. But the truth is that I can lose my salvation by making a conscious decision to leave the Lord.

Now this is not the only blessing which can be lost. The Bible records many spiritual blessings which men received from God, and then lost. Let us look at some of them today.

I. POWER WITH GOD can be lost. In our Scripture text today, we find a man who lost the power he had with God. He did so because he made some mistakes. Let's examine the life of Samson.

1. He was a man called by God to a deliverance ministry. (Judges 13:24-25).

24 The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the LORD blessed him,

25 and the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol. (NIV)

2. His fall was caused by several factors.

(1). He broke his separation unto the Lord - he fooled around with the enemies of God. In chapter 14 he marries a wife from the Philistines; in chapter 16 he spends the night with a prostitute, and later in the same chapter he marries Delilah

(2). He frustrated the will of God for his life by his failure to live a holy life.

(3). He sinned through presumption. He presumed that because God had called him, and because he had done exploits in the name of the Lord, he would be forgiven, no matter what he did.

(4). He fell because his life was controlled by fleshly desires.

3. He had the power of God restored in his life by repentance, but paid a high cost for it. He died with his enemies after they had put out his eyes.

Have you lost the power of God from your life? Recently I came across this statement. "Far too many Christians live their life on the battery system." He went on to explain that as a boy he had ridden on battery driven street cars. When the battery was charged all was well; but when it went dead, so was the street car. Baxter, the author of the statement, goes on to make this comparison:

There are Christian believers who seem to run their spiritual life and service on that system. They go to a convention on the deeper life and when they return they are altogether different, for three weeks. Or they read some powerful Christian biography and as they close the book they say, "Now my life will never be the same." Nor is it, for three weeks. Some Christians go from crisis to crisis, convention to convention, seminar to seminar, book to book, but have a lot of dead spots in between. They seem to rely on these experiences rather than on Christ.

Often, we do not realize how important little things are; Samson did not. Perhaps he thought that most of his sins were unknown. A famous explorer in South America was once driven back and forced to abandon his journey by an almost invisible foe. He was equipped to meet leopards and serpents and crocodiles. They proved to be no threat, but he had failed to reckon with the little fellows -- the million of "chigoes" better known as "chiggers." They are so tiny that in North America we call them the "no see-ums." Someone has composed the following ditty about these tiny invaders:

Here's to the chigger, the bug that's no bigger

Than the end of a very small pin;

But the itch that he raises simply amazes,

And that's where the rub comes in!

Today, watch the tiny things which may spoil your testimony. Remember, "he that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much." Be on guard against the "little foxes" -- that evil thought, that hasty word, that burst of temper, that snap judgment which may bring defeat. Put on the whole armor of God by prayer, Bible study, and spiritual exercise, and you will be able to ward off enemies both large and small.

II. JOY OF SALVATION can be lost. David is known as a man after God's own heart, and on many occasions in his life, the joy of the Lord was certainly present, and was one of the outstanding characteristics of his life. But, because at a weak moment he gave in to the desires of the flesh, he lost that joy.

1. David was called by God to his place of leadership in Israel. He was a man used of God, and a man who had joy in the Lord. An outstanding example was his joy at the return of the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 16:7-36).

2. David's fall was caused by several factors.

(1). He was in a place where he should not have been. His place was leading the people, not relaxing at home during a time of battle.

(2). He did not control his eyes; rather, they controlled him.

(3). He sinned through allowing temptation to stay in his mind; he stayed to watch Bathsheba when he should at least have gone back inside his house and quit looking.

(4). He fell because he allowed his life to be controlled by unbridled passion.

3. He had the joy of the Lord restored to him through repentance, but at a great personal cost. The child born of this sin died; trouble followed the house of David the rest of his life.

How we need the joy of the Lord today. In one of his booklets, Adrian Rogers tells of some gold prospectors who discovered an exceptionally rich mine. One of them said, "Hey, we've got it made as long as we don't tell anybody else before we stake our claims." So they each vowed to keep the secret.

Because they had to have more tools and provisions, they headed for town. After buying all the supplies they needed, they hurried back to the mine site. But they weren't alone. A crowd of people followed them because their discovery was written all over their faces.

What happens on the inside shows on the outside. Joyful Christians with the light of God on their faces are needed in the darkness of this world. Don't do anything that will cost you the joy of the Lord.

III. TESTIMONY FOR THE LORD can be lost. Peter knew what it was to have a personal testimony. Had he not been among the first to be called, and the first to respond to the call of the Lord? Had he not walked with the Lord for over 3 years, seeing Christ perform many signs and wonders, hearing Him preach and teach? Had he not seen the ear of the high priest's servant, which he himself had severed from that man's head, restored? Yes, Peter knew what it was to have a testimony for the Lord. Yet in a time of duress, Peter lost what testimony he had (Luke 22:54-62).

We never know who is watching us. Leslie Flynn in Dare to Care Like Jesus tells the following story: "A Christian baroness, living in the highlands of Nairobi, Kenya, told of a young national who was employed as her houseboy. After three months he asked the baroness to give him a letter of reference to a friendly sheik some miles away. The baroness, not wishing the houseboy to leave just when he had learned the routine of the household, offered to increase his pay. The lad replied that he was not leaving for higher pay. Rather, he had decided he would become either a Christian or a Mohammedan. This was why he had come to work for the baroness for three months. He had wished to see how Christians acted. Now he wanted to work for three months for the sheik to observe the ways of the Mohammedans. Then he would decide which way of life he would follow. The baroness was stunned as she recalled her many blemishes in her dealings with the houseboy. She could only exclaim, 'Why didn't you tell me at the beginning!'" Hopefully, unlike the baroness and Peter, we will not damage our testimony through a thoughtless word or action.

54 Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance.

55 But when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them.

56 A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, "This man was with him."

57 But he denied it. "Woman, I don't know him," he said.

58 A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." "Man, I am not!" Peter replied.

59 About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean."

60 Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed.

61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times."

62 And he went outside and wept bitterly. (NIV)

1. Peter was called by the Lord; he was a spokesman for the 12 on several occasions; he was a man destined to leadership, as shown later on the Day of Pentecost. He was a man loved by Christ, who had asked him a series of searching questions about Peter's love, and ended with a commandment for him.

2. Peter's fall was caused by several factors.

(1). Peter was too boastful; too self-confident. "All might desert you, but not me." How often we have to eat words spoken in haste.

(2). Peter followed the Lord that day, but afar off. He did not stay close to the source of his power.

(3). Peter was in the company of the wrong people that night. He was in the company of unbelievers, warming around the fire.

(4). Peter lacked the courage he thought he possessed. A little serving girl and her questioning was enough to make him deny the Lord.

3. Peter was restored, but only after a time of extreme soul-searching and grief; only after a personal invitation was again extended by the Lord.

Our witness is so important. One winter's day in 1850 a teenager who was deeply troubled about spiritual things found it impossible to go to the church where it was his custom to attend. Let him tell the story.

"It snowed so much, I could not go to the place where I had determined to go, and I was obliged to stop on the road, and it was a blessed stop to me -- I found rather an obscure street, and turned down a court, and there was a little chapel. I wanted to go somewhere, but I did not know this place. It was the Primitive Methodists' chapel. I had heard of these people from many, and how they sang so loudly that they make people's heads ache; but that did not matter. I wanted to know how I might be saved, and if they made my head ache ever so much I did not care. So sitting down, the service went on, but no minister came. At last a very thin looking man came into the pulpit and opened his Bible and read these words: "Look unto Me, and be ye saved all the ends of the earth." Just setting his eyes upon me, as if he knew me all by heart, he said: "Young man, you are in trouble." Well, I was, sure enough. Says he, "You will never get out of it unless you look to Christ." And then, lifting up his hands, he cried out, as only I think, a Primitive Methodist could do, "Look, look, look. It's only look!" said he. I saw at once the way of salvation. Oh, how I did leap for joy at that moment! I know not what else he said: I did not take much notice of it -- I was so possessed with that one thought. Like as when the brazen serpent was lifted up, they only looked and were healed. I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard this word, "Look!" what a charming word it seemed to me. Oh, I looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away."

The teenager? Charles Spurgeon! What if the thin looking man, whose name we do not know, had said to himself: "Well, it is too cold to go out today. It's snowing. No one will expect me to go to church today"? Supposing that he had said something like that -- what would have happened to young Spurgeon? Would he have found the solution to his problem, the answer to his quest? See in God's providential ordering of things what led to Spurgeon's salvation: the snowstorm, the change in Spurgeon's plans, the absence of the usual minister, the presence of the thin looking man, his choice of text and his bold confrontation of the teenager. All of that contributed to Spurgeon's conversion.

IV. FIRST LOVE FOR THE LORD can be lost. There was a church, to whom a message was sent in Revelation chapter 2:1-7. This was the church at Ephesus. Christ told that church that "they had left their first love for Him."

1 "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands:

2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.

3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.

5 Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. (NIV)

1. This was a church called to serve the Lord. It had been a great church, with the blessings of God. Paul had written to this church, telling them in Ephesians 1:3-14 that they were blessed, chosen, predestined to adoption as sons; they were accepted, had received redemption, revelation, an inheritance, and were sealed with the Holy Spirit. Christ knew this church; it had worked hard, had deeds in abundance, perseverance, a lack of tolerance for evil people. It had cleansed itself from false leaders, had persevered and endured hardship, yet it fell.

2. This church fell for several reasons.

(1). They had not stayed in a proper relationship with Christ.

(2). They had grown proud of their accomplishments and works.

(3). They had trusted in their own strength rather than the strength of God. Knowing the Word, obeying part of it, worshipping in the church is not enough. We must have a heartfelt love for Jesus and His Word, which results in single-hearted devotion to him, purity of life, and a love for the truth.

3. The church was revived, at least for a time. About 15 years after John's letter, Ignatius wrote this church, commending them on refusing to give a "home" to any heresy, so they had at least won a victory over false teachers. However, a reference to Ephesus in Adam Clarke's commentary states that in his day, there were about 50 families living in the city, and not one of them were Christian.

The world needs to know the love of Christ; we owe it to them to show the love of Christ to them, especially in the way we live. We must maintain our first love for Him.

On one of the arches in a magnificent cathedral in Europe is sculptured a face of wondrous beauty. It can be seen only once a year when the sun is in a certain position, for then its rays streaming through a small window illuminate the exquisite carving. According to legend, when the structure was being built, an old man came and begged permission to work on some portion of the great church. He had been a well-known artist, but now his trembling hands and failing sight caused the architect to fear that he would mar the beautiful edifice. Out of respect for his age and reputation, however, he allowed the artisan to chisel a design under the shadows of the vaulted roof, thinking no one would ever see it there. After months of painstaking labor, the elderly gentleman could hardly work his way up to the platform high above the floor, yet he insisted on one more climb to make a few finishing touches. When he failed to come down by nightfall, a workman went up and discovered his lifeless body. His tools lay beside him, and his sightless eyes were fixed on the marvelous face he had wrought in the marble. Although he thought it would never be seen, he had given his all to produce a masterpiece. An authority on sculpture recently declared, "This is the most magnificent work of all, for love wrought it!"

Oswald Chambers, from Been There, Done That..., Ed Young (Broadman, 1994), p. 225 The surest sign that God has done a work of grace in my heart is that I love Jesus Christ best: not weakly and faintly, not intellectually, but passionately, personally and devotedly, overwhelming every other love of my life.

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V. SOULS CAN BE LOST in eternal darkness. The loss of his soul is the most serious loss a person can suffer. Yet we know that there are many who are going to do so. Matthew 25:41, 46 says,

41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." (NIV)

1. The soul is a real thing (Heb 4:12).

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (NIV)

2. The soul can be destroyed (Mt 10:28).

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (NIV)

3. The soul can be saved (Heb 10:39).

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

(NIV)

CONCLUSION: Where are you today? Are you conscious of God's power and presence in your life, or are you unsure if it is there or not? If you do not know, you must repent, bring your life back into a right relationship with God, and then the presence of God, and His power will return to your life.

Is your life filled with the joy of the Lord today? Are you daily delighting in the Lord, and His Word? If you are not, you need to repent, allow the Lord to cleanse you, and restore the joy of His salvation to your life. He desires to do that today.

How about your love life with the Lord? Do you still have that first love you felt when you had given your heart to Him, or has your passion dimmed? If you do not have a warm, vital, and loving relationship with the Lord, you must also repent and return to Him, doing again the things you did when you were first saved. Do you still have a love for the lost? You need that in your life.

Are you saved today? Is your testimony clear and certain on this score; do you know you are beyond a doubt? This is the most important question I have asked, for unless you are sure, you will not have the presence and power of the Lord evident in your life; you will certainly not have the joy of the Lord, nor the proper love for Him. We must be sure.

We must make sure all these things are still present in our lives. They, we can come into His presence, and worship Him in spirit and truth. Only then will we really begin to see the glory and power of God displayed in our own lives, and in our church. Then we can share our faith.

Dr. James Stewart, professor of New Testament at the University of Edinburgh, described what he thought is the greatest threat to the church. He said, "It is not communism, atheism, or materialism; the greatest threat is Christians trying to sneak into heaven incognito without ever sharing their faith."

Sheldon Van Auken in his excellent book Severe Mercy has a piece that says, "The best argument for Christianity is Christians -- their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians -- when they're self-righteous and smug in complacent consecration. When they're narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths."

Make sure right now that you have not lost these blessings of the Lord.

Osage Gospel Lighthouse, Linn, MO 3-9-97 am