Judges 16 contains the very, very famous story of Samson and Delilah.
Even if you've never been in church, even if you're a non-believer,
most people have heard the story of Samson and Delilah.
And we see that Samson falls in love with this lady.
It's not the first time he's fallen in love with...
If you know the story of Samson, he falls in love with ladies pretty easily, pretty quickly.
And, you know, he has a closeness to her.
He loves Delilah.
And what we see in this story is that Delilah takes the truth of his power,
which of course comes together with the idea that he had this long hair,
and she betrays his trust.
You know, Samson told her, this is why I'm strong.
This is why I have this power from the Lord.
She betrays that trust and betrays him into the hands of the enemies,
which were the Philistines at this point in time of Israel's history.
Okay?
But before we go into Judges 16, keep your finger there, please.
Keep your finger there and turn to Psalm 41.
Please turn to Psalm 41 and keep your finger there in Judges 16.
The title for the sermon this evening is Dealing with Betrayal.
Dealing with Betrayal.
Samson was betrayed by Delilah.
Okay?
If you look at Samson's life, he's been betrayed a few times.
If you look at his story, he gets betrayed a few times.
He's someone that's easily betrayed.
But one thing that you'll come across in life,
if you've lived any decent length period of time, you will be betrayed.
You can't stop it.
You will be betrayed.
And one of the saddest things about being betrayed,
let me just give you a quote.
It's a quote that I've heard before.
It's not from the Bible, but it's so true.
And the quote says,
the saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies.
Betrayal never comes from your enemies.
It comes from those you trust the most.
It comes from those you trust.
You know, you've trusted somebody.
Samson trusted Delilah with his secrets about his hair, about his power.
And the one that you've trusted the most betrays you.
Your enemy cannot betray you.
You know, when your enemy tries to hurt you,
it's all, that's my enemy.
I'm expecting that to happen.
I know my enemy doesn't like me.
I know my enemy is going to backstab me.
I know they're going to try to hurt me.
They're going to try to discredit me.
But when it comes to those people that you trust,
your family, your friends, this is where betrayal comes from.
And again, if you've lived any length period of time,
or maybe not little children, you don't know yet,
but even little children, if you've not yet been betrayed,
you will be betrayed.
This is part of life.
And so the title, as I said, was Dealing with Betrayal.
Please look at Psalm 41, verse number nine.
Psalm 41 and verse number nine.
The Bible reads,
Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted.
Hey, that's what the quote said that I said earlier.
It comes from those you trust the most.
In whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread,
have lifted up his heel against me.
And of course, Psalm 41 is a psalm of David.
It's one that David wrote.
And of course, David, if you look at the story of David,
he also had times when his friends betrayed him.
And many understand this psalm to be,
have a double application speaking of Jesus Christ.
And we know that Jesus Christ was someone that was betrayed.
Listen, if the Son of God is betrayed,
then you're not going to live this life without betrayal.
It's going to happen.
If it happened to Jesus Christ.
You know what I mean?
I can just imagine Jesus just being this great person,
just someone that wants to encourage people,
that wants to give them salvation.
He's come to this life to lay down his life.
He's sacrificial. He's selfless.
Christ was not selfish.
And even Christ was betrayed.
So how do you think you're going to go through life?
You're going to be betrayed as well.
If it hasn't happened yet, it will happen.
It will happen to you.
So as I said to you, dealing with betrayal,
again, who does it come from?
Mine own familiar friend.
The people that you're closest to, okay?
Please go to Job, to the previous book before Psalms.
Go to Job chapter 19.
Job chapter 19, please.
And verse number 13.
Job chapter 19, verse number 13.
Now, again, the story of Job is very famous,
very wealthy man, large family, wife, many kids,
a lot of possessions, a lot of servants.
And the events took place where he lost it all.
He lost his possessions.
Catastrophe fell upon him, upon his children passed away.
They died in a situation.
His health suffered.
You know what I mean?
Job was brought to a point of near death, okay?
And he lost it all.
He lost it all.
And we often think about the story of Job having lost it all, right?
And what he went through, the anguish that he went through.
But I just want you to bring to another point here in Job's life,
in Job 19, verse 13.
After he lost it all, after he was no longer the wealthy, healthy, rich man, okay,
that could provide for other people,
notice how even Job's closest friends and family turned against him.
It says here in Job 19, 13.
Job 19, 13.
He have put my brethren far from me,
and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.
So notice, as Job starts to suffer,
as he loses everything that made who he was,
hey, his acquaintance, even his own brethren,
even his own brothers and sisters,
they want nothing to do with Job.
They turn against Job.
Verse number 14.
My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
Verse number 15.
They that dwell in mine house and my maids, count me for a stranger.
I am an alien in their sight.
I called my servants, and he gave me no answer.
I entreated him with my mouth.
Hey, you know, Job had many servants, you know, many maids as well,
people that would serve him, right?
He's someone of authority, of wealth, of power.
When he calls his servants now, they don't hear him.
They don't want to serve him anymore.
Even his servants have turned their backs against him.
Look at verse number 17.
My breath is strange to my wife,
though I entreated her for the children's sake of mine own body.
Even his wife.
When it says there, my breath is strange to my wife,
the idea is, of course, someone's breath, there's that closeness.
Like if you can feel someone's breath, it means there's intimacy, right?
I mean, you know, the husband and wife, they've been intimate.
They love to be close together.
But even his own breath is disgusting to his wife.
His wife wants nothing to do with Job.
Verse number 18.
Yea, young children despised me.
I arose, and they spake against me.
So these aren't his own children.
His own children have passed on.
These are other children of the land.
When they see Job now, they haven't lost everything, they hate Job.
Why would the children hate Job?
Obviously, they've heard from their parents.
Their parents have said, oh, that Job.
That Job, you know, he's lost it all.
You know, what a waste of a man.
Even the children mock him.
You know, they don't honor the elderly here.
You know, Job's just lost his reputation.
Everyone's turning their back against Job.
Everyone's basically betraying Job.
Verse number 19.
All my inward friends abhorred me.
And they whom I loved are turned against me.
So that's what betrayal is.
Betrayal is when those that you're close to turn against you, okay?
They want to see you suffer.
They want to see you fall.
Why does this happen in life?
You know, number one, it happens simply because we have a sinful nature.
That's what man is.
We're wicked.
We're sinners.
There is something strange about, for some reason, sometimes,
wanting someone that is close to you to fail and to fall and to give them up, okay?
Why does that happen?
Why did it happen to Jesus Christ?
Well, we know the story of Jesus.
Why did, you know, what was he betrayed for?
Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
You know, there was something that Judas Iscariot could gain out of betraying Jesus.
And part of that was a bit of finances.
Some, you know, that's one reason why sometimes you get betrayed.
Why was Samson betrayed?
Let's go back to Judges 16.
Let's go to Judges 16.
And just as we started, you know, when I mentioned what I'll be preaching about today,
Brother Callum made a good point.
You know, if you never want to be betrayed, I've got the answer for you.
Brother Callum's got the answer for you.
If you never want to be betrayed, because it hurts.
It hurts, doesn't it, when you're betrayed.
People that you love, they turn against you, they, you know.
Well, if you never want to be betrayed, this is what you need to do.
You form no friendships.
I don't want to be close to anybody.
Like, no friendships.
You keep everyone distant.
Because it's your friends that betray you.
So I don't want anyone close to me, right?
You live like a recluse.
You just shut yourself up in your house.
You know, you don't go out in the outside world, right?
And you view everybody as an enemy.
So when they do hurt me, well, they're my enemy anyway.
Everyone is my enemy.
Alright, the mailman, he's my enemy.
You go to the shops, you know, you go shopping, the checkout girl there, she's my enemy.
No, they're all, everyone's enemy.
You go to church, they're all my enemies.
Yeah, okay.
If you never want to be betrayed, that's what you do.
Honestly, okay.
But do you think that's how God wants us to live our lives?
Do you think God wants us to form friends, friendships?
Does he want us to have close family, close relationships?
Of course, if you want to be influential to somebody,
you've got to develop some level of closeness.
But again, when you develop that level of closeness, you open yourself up to be betrayed.
This is why, you know, it's part of life.
It's going to happen.
If it's not happened yet, it's going to happen to you.
Guaranteed.
Being betrayed.
And of course, Jesus Christ, the Lord God, does not expect us to live a life where just everyone,
we just view everyone as wicked.
We give everyone the evil eye, no friendships.
Then you'll just, you'll just be, you'll be nothing in this world if that's how you want to live.
You have no influence.
You won't be able to even give out the gospel because everyone's an enemy to you.
You won't be able to be effective for the Lord God if you live that way.
Yeah, and you'll never be betrayed, but you lose a lot more.
You'll lose a lot more than just the fact of being betrayed.
Look at Judges 16 verse number four.
We're looking at the story once again of Samson and Delilah here.
So let's just read it from verse number four.
Judges 16 verse four.
And it came to pass afterward that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
And the Lords of the Philistines came up unto her and said unto her, entice him,
and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him,
that we may bind him to afflict him.
Look at this.
And we will give thee, every one of us, 1100 pieces of silver.
1100.
Jesus Christ was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.
Every one of these people, whoever's speaking to her, is offering 1100.
I don't know how many there are.
I mean, that's a lot more than what Jesus Christ was betrayed for, okay?
So why does Delilah betray Samson?
Again, for personal gain, for financial wealth, you know?
I mean, people can betray for several reasons.
Yes, it might be a financial reason.
Sometimes people, and I've seen this in the workplace.
I've seen this in like the corporate world, where sometimes you may betray, you know,
or there might be a push to betray, or try to cause someone to fail in the workplace,
so then someone else can step into that position.
Someone wants that status.
Someone wants that position.
They're not happy this other person has it, so they'll try to cause events to develop,
you know, to hurt that person, so they could see that person fail and be lifted up.
So it could be status.
It could be finance.
You know, there's several reasons why betrayal happens, but again, it's selfish reasons.
It's personal gain.
If I see this person fail, I can elevate myself to a certain position.
Verse number six, and Delilah said to Samson,
tell me I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth,
and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.
So it's crazy.
Delilah's asking, you know, what's your weakness?
You know, how can the enemy have an advantage over you?
That's why, I don't know.
I don't know if Samson's like naive a little bit.
I guess he is a little bit, right?
But look at verse number seven.
Samson said unto her, if they bind me with seven green widths that were never dried,
then shall I be weak and be as another man.
So he says, well, seven green widths.
It must be some type of branches, some type of plants, right?
You know, before it dries out, you know, like it's freshly cut off,
cut off the bush or the tree, whatever.
If you wrap me in that with seven of them, then I'll be tired,
and I'll be able to break out of that.
All right, so what happens?
Verse number eight.
Then the Lord of the Philistines brought up to her seven green widths,
which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber.
And she said unto him, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson.
And he break the widths, as a thread of tow is broken when it is touch of the fire.
So his strength was not known.
So basically, Samson lies to her, right?
And she believes it, and she wraps him, ties him up with that, and she betrays him.
But it was a lie.
Samson breaks out of that easily.
Of course, the Philistines aren't going to be able to defeat Samson.
Okay, now you would think, okay, Samson, you love this girl.
You love Delilah.
She's betrayed you already.
You would think, all right, I mean, are you going to trust her a second time?
Would you trust Delilah a second time?
You know, sometimes it's hard to sort of relate to Samson,
I guess, a little bit in this story.
But let's keep going there.
Verse number 10.
And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies.
Now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.
And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes, that never were occupied,
then shall I be weak, and be as another man.
So if you just tie me up with ropes now, that's never been used,
then they're not weakened, they're brand new ropes, then I'll be weak like another man.
Verse number 12, Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith,
and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.
And there were lies in wait abiding in the chamber,
and he break them from off his arms like a thread.
So he lies to her a second time.
He gets betrayed a second time.
Okay, Delilah, she's trying to, I mean, I don't get like Samson, don't you get it?
It's twice now.
I know you love her.
Look, you're thinking with your heart.
You know, you know, I've had it said to me,
don't think of your heart, think of your mind, like think of your brain, think logically.
But the truth is, you've got to think with both.
You know, you do have to consider emotions and the feelings of others,
but you can't neglect your mind either.
You've got to, okay, logic tells me this woman wants to betray me to the hands of my enemies.
And again, he breaks free from this.
So let's keep going there.
Verse number 13, And Delilah said unto Samson,
He that too hast outmocked me and told me lies,
tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound.
And he said unto her, If thou weavers the seven locks of my head with the web.
So we know that Samson had long hair.
So I guess his long hair was divided by seven locks, you know,
yet to tie it up to some level.
And he says, look, if you just put it, if instead of keeping that seven locks,
if you just tie it all together into one, then that will overcome me.
Verse number 14, And she fastened it with a pin and said unto him,
The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.
And he awaked out of his sleep and went away with a pin of the beam and with the web.
So obviously he didn't stop his strength.
Verse number 15, And she said unto him,
How canst thou say I love thee when thine heart is not with me?
Thou hast mocked me these three times and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.
Now look, by now Delilah's, there's a clear pattern in Delilah's behavior,
a clear pattern toward her feelings towards Samson, right?
I mean, we read this and we can see it so clearly.
Samson, don't trust Delilah.
Samson, don't tell her the secrets.
Don't tell her where your power lies.
You'll think Samson surely by now, three times, you'll get it.
What happens next time?
Verse number 16, And it came to pass when she pressed him daily with her words
and urged him so that his soul was vexed unto death.
Like she just bothered every day.
Just Samson, what is it?
What is it?
What's the secret of your strength?
He finally just gives up, all right?
Verse number 17, And he told her all his heart and said unto her,
There have not come a razor upon mine head,
for I have been a Nazarite unto God for my mother's womb.
If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me,
and I shall become weak and be like any other man.
So he tells her the truth this time, right?
He trusts Delilah with this information.
Verse number 18, And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart,
she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying,
Come up this once, for you have showed me all his hearts.
Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her and brought money in their hand.
And she made him sleep upon her knees, and she called for a man,
and he caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head.
And she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.
And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.
And he awoke out of his sleep, and said,
I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself.
And he was not that the Lord had departed from him.
But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes,
and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of bras,
and he did grind in the prison house.
What an end to Samson in this story.
He tells her the truth, all right?
And he thinks, well, you know what, even if you cut my hair,
I'm still going to be able to overcome these Philistines.
He had become prideful, he had forgotten where his power lies.
Now, don't misunderstand, his power did not literally lie in his hair, okay?
The power of his strength came from the Lord.
It came, we saw that, it was from the Spirit of the Lord.
The Holy Spirit was giving Samson his supernatural strength.
But part of that was that he was keeping the Nazarite vow,
and part of keeping the Nazarite vow was that he would not have his hair cut.
So that's where his strength came, by keeping the Nazarite vow,
and the special ability that the Holy Spirit gave him,
and by cutting his hair, he had broken that vow.
That strength had departed from him.
Now he's definitely been betrayed by Delilah,
given it to the hands of his enemies,
and look, it doesn't work out well for him.
He gets taken in, his eyes get plucked out,
put out, he's all burnt out, whatever took place there,
and then he's there grinding in the prison house.
He's there working as a slave.
His power has left him.
Again, you look at this story, you go, how naive is Samson?
We read this story, and we go, how, Samson?
How is it that you got betrayed?
Could you not see the warning signs?
What about your instincts?
You know, what about your instincts, Samson?
You know, how could you trust Delilah with this secret that you had, this power?
You know, was her pattern not obvious?
Could you not see how she's setting you up time and time again?
You know what, Samson?
If you just paid attention, Samson, if you just paid attention,
you would not have been betrayed.
I think when we read this story, because I kind of think that,
so I'm assuming maybe a lot of you guys think that way.
All right, you read that story, how, Samson?
How did you not pick up the signs?
But what about the time that you were betrayed?
What about the time that, you know, your family or your friend betrayed you?
They turned their back against you.
You know, they backstabbed you, whatever it was.
What about those times?
You see, quite often, when you get betrayed, it's not, it seems obvious.
It seems clear.
And maybe even to other people around you.
It's like, couldn't you see the signs?
Couldn't you determine that this person would betray you?
But you know, when it happens to you, you just weren't expecting it.
You know, last week, the previous sermon, last week was expect the unexpected, okay?
Yeah, when you get betrayed, it's unexpected.
You should expect the unexpected.
It's part of that same sort of thought process.
But this time, when people turn against you, it's almost like you should know better.
You know, sometimes when something happens, you can look back in hindsight and go,
man, I should have picked up on that pattern.
I should have picked up, you know, there were some warning signs, there were some red flags.
You know, I just, but, you know, I just didn't pay attention to those warning signs.
And then I got betrayed.
And that's what happens.
We don't pay attention to the warning signs.
That's why we get betrayed, you know?
So, you know, I'm sure I'm not going to ask for a show of hands.
But I'm sure the majority of you, especially if you've lived, you know, you're an adult,
you've lived a decent life, you know, you can turn around and say, yes, I've been betrayed in life.
It's happened to me, you know, and again, if you told me your story of betrayal,
I could probably pick the story apart and go, you should have known.
Look at all these red flags, okay?
But it's not obvious to you when you're going through it.
It wasn't obvious to Samson, even though it should be so obvious.
We have these stories here, so we can, and that's the thing,
I can't necessarily relate to Samson in this story in that way,
but I can relate to the betrayal, the unexpected.
You know, you said too much, and your so-called friend,
your so-called person that you loved used that information against you.
You know, one phrase that I really like from Pastor Steven Anderson
is trust no one, suspect no one.
Have you heard that one?
Trust no one, but suspect no one.
I like that phrase, I do like it.
But you know, it's not a, that phrase in and of itself,
you need to understand, you know, you can't just apply it,
you know, what's the word I'm looking for, like completely literally, okay?
I mean, if you could trust no one, then, I mean, that's pretty bad.
Like, I trust my wife to, you know, the person I trust the most,
you know, as far as this earth goes, is my wife.
You know, tomorrow I'll be catching a plane to Sydney
to bless it up at the church.
Obviously, I trust Jetstar is going to get me there.
Obviously, I trust the pilot's not going to crash that plane
into the Pacific Ocean or something, right?
I mean, you know, to operate in life, you've got to have some level of trust, okay?
And again, it's a suspect no one, you know, the other saying is suspect no one,
which is good.
Like, you don't want to just live this life and just think,
who's out to get me, you know, Brother Caleb, he's out to get me.
You know, Matisse, you're out to get me.
And like, you know, you can just live this life of fear.
Right?
I mean, if you just suspect everyone, like, oh man, who's going to go,
who's trying to hurt me?
Who's trying to hurt new life after church?
Right?
You know, some, oh man, that person's a bit unusual.
Red flags, get him out of church.
But you know what?
If I spent enough time just looking at your family,
looking at your relationships, looking at what you've done in life,
I'm sure I'm going to pick up some red flags.
I'm sure there are going to be things that'll be like, that's a bit unusual.
It's a bit strange.
Red flag, suspect, suspect.
False prophet, false brethren, you know, we can't live like,
I'm sure, you know, if you looked at my life hard enough,
you'll be like, that's a bit weird, Pastor Kevin.
You know, red flags.
But you know, we don't want to live this life where we just like,
just, you know, you know, just, just, you know,
we don't want to go too extreme on either side.
Where we suspect everybody or you suspect no one.
Because if you suspect no one, then you can get really hurt.
You can really damage yourself.
But the idea of trust no one, suspect no one,
it's a, it's what we call a rule of thumb.
You know, it's, the rule of thumb basically is that it's broadly accurate,
but not exact.
Because every scenario requires you to consider,
you know, how much trust do I give in this scenario?
This person's been doing some unusual things,
should I suspect, how much should I suspect this person?
You know, there's obviously different events,
different situations, different relationships,
cause you to take that as a rule of thumb and then adjust it
according to the scenario you find yourself in.
You know, and a Bible verse, I'll just quickly read to you,
from Psalm 118 verse 8.
And you guys know this one, it says,
it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
Okay, so when we think about the idea of trust in the Lord,
of course the Lord's never going to betray us.
Okay, the Lord, that's not, the Lord is not selfish in that sense.
There's nothing the Lord's going to gain by betraying us.
Okay, unlike human beings that can gain by betrayal.
You know, if we're going to trust, we trust him with our soul, don't we?
You know, we trust the Lord with our life.
You know what, I can't trust a human being with my life.
I can't trust a human being with my soul.
You know, there are certain things that,
you know, when it comes to the Lord God,
we're going to have 100% trust in the Lord God.
This is what's wonderful about being a Christian.
We can always trust the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's never going to let us down.
But the unsaved world, they don't have a single person they can fully trust.
Because, as I said, man is selfish.
Man, for some reason, they like to pull down their fellow man,
even people that they love and they're close to.
So, it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
Now, is it sane, is it ever wrong to have some level of confidence?
Some level of trust?
Of course not.
Okay, I mean, you know, there are times that I do need to trust you.
All right, like brother Caleb, you know, comes up to song leader.
I'm trusting brother Caleb's going to turn up on Sunday and be ready to song lead, right?
If someone's scheduled to preach the sermon for that service,
I'm trusting that person is going to come to church and be ready to preach.
I've got an element of trust in that person.
You know, obviously, going down to Sydney for that year and a half,
I had an element of trust, you know, for the people in this church
to make sure the services continued.
But again, you know, did I just give over all my trust when I was in Sydney?
No, I was still overseeing things to a certain point.
Obviously, I tried to travel as much as I could.
I was still organizing preaching rosters and communicating with people on a regular basis.
So it's not, you know, there are certain things that,
you know, yes, I trusted more by being in Sydney, but I didn't want to let go of it completely
because I know the only one that I can completely trust and have confidence in
is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So this idea, but you know, if I trust, I can lose.
Like if I give something in the hand of someone else, they can betray me.
They can fail me. They can let me down.
How much do we trust?
And so I want to give you some pointers on this.
And maybe I've touched upon this a little bit further back in the Perfect Man series,
but the way I look at life, the way I look at, you know,
what level of trust do I have with certain people is based on what I'm able to lose.
All right.
There are things that I'm willing to lose.
All right.
You guys know I've got two vehicles.
I've got the van, the 14 seater, which I need to get my whole family around.
But then I've got my little crawler.
Okay.
Which in a time of need, if someone needs a vehicle,
I'm more than happy to hand that little crawler over.
You know why I'm willing to hand that little crawler over?
Because I'm willing to lose it.
Like if someone takes it and has a car crash and it's a ride off,
you're not going to end my life.
You're not going to make my life that difficult because I've got the van.
But if I let the van out and you rode it off, you make my life a little bit hard.
I make it quite difficult to be able to get around.
And so obviously, you know, I'm willing to trust people with my crawler,
but I'm also willing to lose it.
And look, I mean, obviously, if someone needs my van for an urgent scenario,
I'll probably let you borrow it.
Okay.
But I'm not likely to just hand it over every time someone has a car issue
because I'm really dependent upon that van.
Okay.
What are you willing to lose?
That's the question.
You know, what are you willing to lose?
You see, things that I'm willing to lose are things that I'm willing to trust people with.
Okay.
That's basically how I look at it.
You know, if it's something that I'm willing to just, you know what,
it doesn't matter if it fails.
It doesn't matter if it breaks down.
It doesn't matter, you know, yeah, you can have that.
I trust that you can have that.
And even if you backstab me, even if you betray me, you know,
or you destroy that thing, well, you're not destroying my life.
You're not destroying my life.
What are you willing to lose?
And I've said before, what are important things to me?
You know, the most important thing to me that I do not want to lose
is my fellowship or my testimony with the Lord.
You know, I don't want to destroy my reputation.
You know, not just because I'm a pastor, but because I'm a believer.
You know, I want the Lord to use me on this earth while I'm living here.
You know, I want to be in close fellowship with the Lord, right?
I want the Lord to use me.
I want him to do something in me.
I want him to help me grow and develop.
I want to be close to the Lord.
I want to be a good example of being someone that is walking with the Lord.
I don't want to lose that fellowship.
I don't want to lose that testimony.
That's number one.
Number two, I don't want to lose my marriage, right?
You know, I want to make sure, you know, I don't put myself in my marriage
or Christina in a situation that can cause damage to our relationship.
That's the second most important thing to me in this life.
After the Lord God, it's my wife.
She is, as far as a human being goes, the most important person in my life.
I do not want that marriage to fall apart.
The next thing is the children.
And yes, my wife comes before the children, okay?
My children, it's the next thing that I do not want to lose, all right?
You know, I'm not willing for my little, especially my youngest children,
to just go off and sleep over, even to people in church.
I don't know, you know?
I don't know what may develop.
Things have happened within church, you know?
There are other churches, you know, pedophiles, you know,
or bad influences that have damaged the minds of children.
These things happen.
These things really happen in churches.
Yes, they even happen in independent fundamental Baptist churches.
You know, I've put my boys into soccer.
And both for the older boys and the younger boys,
they train on a Wednesday before, well, it hasn't been trained
because of the rain, but they both train on Wednesdays.
And I told one of the coaches for the younger boys,
for Sebastian and Jonathan,
look, we're unlikely to come to training
because, you know, we've got church and I've got to go home.
And it's like, oh, well, you can just leave your kids with us.
I'm sure there's someone, I'm sure there's a family
that's willing to drive them after training.
This is like day number one of meeting the team.
I'm sure there's someone willing to drive you.
No, that's not going to happen.
I don't know who you are.
You know, I'm not willing to lose my children,
you know, to sacrifice their innocence,
just to make it more convenient to play some soccer.
You know, I mean, we've got to obviously look at these things.
What do you win?
I'm not willing to lose my kids, you know?
The next thing after my fellowship with the Lord,
my marriage, my children,
next thing that's most important to me is my ministry.
New Life Baptist Church, serving as a pastor.
You know what, I do not want to give this church
the hands of another man that potentially may cause damage.
I want to pass this church.
I want to lead this church.
You know, I want there to always be a church here
that's preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ,
that's preaching the truth of God's word.
You know, we need a church like this on the Sunshine Coast.
There are good churches in places like Sydney,
you know, good churches like places in Brisbane,
but on the Sunshine Coast,
I mean, right now, this is the only church that I know of.
This is the only church that I would want to be part of.
Like, if we lost this church,
we lose a significant light, you know, to this community.
I don't want to lose this ministry.
I don't want to lose this church,
or even Blessed Hope Baptist Church.
I don't want to lose my ministry.
I want to make sure that I walk.
And so I want to be careful with who I put in place,
maybe to serve as pastor, or maybe serve as a deacon,
or put people in positions like this of authority.
I want to be careful, you know,
and these are things that I'm just not willing to lose.
And if I'm not willing to lose these things,
I'm not just going to hand them over
and trust anybody with these things, you know?
But again, there are things that I'm willing to lose.
Like, basically, those four things
are the most important things in my life, and that's it.
The rest of it can go.
The rest of it, you know, if I, you know,
I had a time when we bought the house, you know,
and I said, hey, does anyone want to move into the house?
Right, because, you know, there was no one there.
We need someone to cut the grass.
If someone moved in there and burnt the house down,
it wouldn't be the end of my world.
It's not that important to me.
The material things aren't that important to me.
Things that I'm willing to lose, all right?
But when it comes to these four things that I said to you,
my fellowship with the Lord, my marriage, my children,
my ministry, I don't want to lose these things.
And so I don't trust anybody, any man with these things,
you know, unless it's something urgent,
emergency situation, maybe I will.
But you know what, if the Bible tells me
it is better to trust in the Lord than put confidence in man,
then I trust the Lord with these areas of my life, you know?
I don't want to put my wife in a position or, you know,
or have a relationship that's being damaged, you know?
Or, you know, even my ministry,
my ministry is important to me,
but I don't want my ministry to get to a point
where I'm so busy and I can't spend time with my wife.
You know, my wife actually comes above my ministry.
So what are you able to lose?
What are you willing to lose?
You know, what about secrets?
Have you ever shared a secret with somebody
and they've betrayed your trust
and they've let that secret out?
Now, I'll tell you the truth.
If, you know, maybe this is just me,
maybe this is not popular,
but if you've told someone a secret and they've let it out,
I don't feel sorry for you.
Honestly, I don't feel sorry for you, all right?
Again, are you willing,
like if you're going to open your mouth
and tell someone a secret, okay,
then how can you expect the person you're telling
to keep their mouth shut?
If you couldn't keep your mouth shut.
I'm sure we all have private matters.
I'm sure we have all little things
that we just don't want the whole world to know about it, okay?
Maybe mistakes that we've done in the past
and we're just like ashamed of it
and, you know, we just want to move on with life
and we don't want things to be found out necessarily,
you know, whatever.
And you say, well, pastor, I just need to tell someone
and I went and told my best friend
and then my best friend opened their mouth
and man, now I'm angry at them.
Well, why did you open your mouth, all right?
If you wanted your friend to keep their mouth closed,
why didn't you keep your mouth closed?
But I have to tell someone.
Yeah, you know who you could tell?
You tell the Lord.
Say, Lord, I've made these mistakes.
I've got these issues that I'm ashamed of.
I've got these secrets.
Lord, and I've got to get off my chest,
so who do I go to?
Do I put confidence in man?
You know who could betray?
No, I'm going to go to you, Lord.
I'll tell you my secrets.
I'll tell you my concerns.
Lord, I'll tell you the mistakes that I've made
that still bother me.
You know, go to the Lord.
I don't like hearing secrets.
You know, sometimes they're like,
I've got to tell you something, pastor,
but, you know, I don't mind you telling me things,
but keep it a little bit general.
I don't need to know every little issue,
every little thing, you know,
because I don't want to betray you.
You know, if you tell me a secret,
it could just come out by accident.
Not that I'm trying to hurt you,
not that I'm trying to, man,
I've got to reveal this to everybody.
It's just, you told me,
it's in my brain now,
and then in conversation,
I shouldn't have said,
I wasn't meant to say that.
Okay, everyone just forget what I just said,
but hey, if you've got secrets,
you don't want it to come out.
You don't want to be trained with secrets.
You keep your mouth shut,
and if you can't keep your mouth shut,
then how do you expect
the person you told the secret to,
to keep the mouth shut?
Go to the Lord.
He'll keep his mouth shut about it.
Okay, you can go to the Lord.
He won't betray your trust,
and the Lord will help you
with that struggle,
with that secret that you have.
Can you please turn to Matthew 26?
Please turn to Matthew 26,
and verse number one.
Matthew 26 and verse number one.
You will be betrayed, okay?
You will be.
If you please just understand,
this is life.
It's going to happen,
and you will be hurt.
You will be,
it's, you know,
being betrayed,
it's like, you know,
it's like being stabbed.
Like, it just,
the hurt is there.
When it's someone close to you,
all right,
and they betrayed your trust,
it hurts,
and the next point that I have here is,
I want to show you the story.
We saw Samson,
but we'll go back to Samson soon,
but the next thing that you need to do,
when you understand that you can be betrayed,
when you've worked out,
okay, what is it that I'm willing to lose,
and what is it that I'm not willing to lose,
okay,
and you've worked that out,
and you say,
well, these things I'm not willing to lose.
Well, then don't trust man with those things,
okay,
and you've made those steps,
all right?
The next thing you want to do in life
is to turn a betrayal into an advantage,
okay?
This is like expert level betrayal,
okay,
and you probably need to go through a few betrayals
to develop this skill,
okay?
Turning betrayal into an advantage,
because when you are betrayed,
you feel like that's it,
it's all over,
you know,
and you feel low,
and you feel cast down,
but I'm telling you,
there's an advantage to take,
if you just apply it in the right way.
If you look at some biblical stories here,
please turn to Matthew 26,
and verse number one,
Matthew 26 verse number one,
again,
Jesus Christ was betrayed,
the Lord Jesus Christ,
betrayed by one of his friends,
he called Judas Iscariot his friend,
it says there in verse number one,
Matthew 26 verse one,
and it came to pass,
when Jesus had finished all these sayings,
he said unto his disciples,
you know that after two days,
is the feast of the Passover,
and the Son of Man is betrayed,
to be crucified,
you see Jesus Christ knew ahead of time,
that he would be betrayed,
hey,
he even knew before the betrayal took place,
because look at the next verse,
verse number three,
then assembled together the chief priests,
and the scribes and the elders of people,
unto the palace of the high priest,
who was called Caiaphas,
and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety,
and kill him,
so before the plan to betray Jesus took place,
you know the planning and the conspiring,
Jesus Christ already knew,
hey I'm going to be betrayed,
and of course he was betrayed by his friend,
betrayed by Judas Iscariot,
but I want to show you,
that Christ knew it was going to happen,
does he then cause it to not happen,
you know sometimes we think,
we know a betrayal is coming,
so we try to prevent it from happening,
because we don't want to get hurt,
but see Jesus knew this betrayal was going to happen,
but he did not stop it,
why?
Because he was going to turn the betrayal into an advantage,
the whole reason Christ came to this earth,
was to be betrayed and to die,
by being betrayed he fulfilled the scriptures,
by dying he'd save us from our sins,
he'd open the doors of salvation,
hey this is a great advantage,
right,
but he took betrayal,
Jesus Christ says all right,
I'm going to turn this betrayal into an advantage,
this is the process in which I'm going to be given up,
crucified and pay for the sins of the world,
and of course we see that in Christ,
he knows how to do these things,
Christ is a very wise man,
okay very wise,
please go back to Judges 16,
turn to Judges 16 please,
and verse number 28,
Judges 16 and verse number 28,
I mean we would not call the sacrifice of Christ a failure,
we'd say this is the greatest victory the world's ever seen,
dying for our sins and rising from the dead,
but notice it was betrayal that got him to that place of victory,
Judges 16 please verse number 28,
Judges 16 verse number 28,
so we're back to the story of Samson being betrayed by Delilah,
you know maybe naive,
maybe he should have seen it coming all right,
and it says here in verse number 28,
and Samson called unto the Lord and said,
oh Lord God remember me,
I pray thee and strengthen me,
I pray thee only this once oh God,
that I may be once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes,
and Samson took hold of the two middle pillars
upon which the house stood,
and on which it was borne up,
and on one with his right hand on the and of the other with his left,
and Samson said let me die with the Philistines,
and he bowed himself with all his might,
and the house fell upon the Lords,
and upon all the people that were therein,
so the dead which he slew at his death
were more than they which he slew in his life,
brethren Samson takes this betrayal and turns it into an advantage,
you see the the big task,
the main task that the Lord God had for Samson
is that he would be a judge over Israel,
and that he would deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines,
and guess what he accomplishes it,
look he took the betrayal,
he says you know what we're going to use this,
I've been betrayed,
I'm in the place of the Philistines,
I'm before all this great number of the enemies,
and he calls upon the Lord,
the Lord gives him the strength,
and he's able to destroy the wicked Philistines,
he's able to deliver Israel from the hand of the enemies,
yes he lost two eyes,
yes he lost his life in the process,
but he turned the betrayal into an advantage,
he turned it for the advantage of the nation of Israel,
verse number 31,
then his brethren and all the house of his father came down and took him,
and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtael,
in the barren place of Manoah his father,
and he judged Israel 20 years,
all right,
so does did Samson accomplish what God set him out to do,
he did, he did,
but you know what Samson took betrayal,
he took that that event and turned it into a victory,
say he lost his life he did lose his life,
but he accomplished the work that God had for him,
okay,
I mean I'd rather be Samson,
going to heaven accomplishing what God set out for me to do,
than being Samson that was betrayed,
and just served as a slave for the rest of his life,
hey he did what the Lord wanted him to do,
okay,
he turned the betrayal into an advantage,
and brethren you can do the same,
again weigh up what are you willing to lose,
okay,
and one way that I've learned in life,
okay,
to take advantage of betrayal is,
because when your friends,
when those that are close to you betray you,
then they reveal themselves for what they really are,
they reveal themselves to not be the friend you thought them to be,
they reveal themselves to have alternative,
you know selfish reasons,
and you know maybe that friendship is not built on,
anything substantial,
you know it's built upon them taking advantage of you,
and so sometimes,
and I've done this,
I've done this many times,
well not many times,
but I've done that a few times,
where I've handed something over that I am willing to lose,
and said to my friends,
hey it's yours,
you can do with it what you want,
I trust you,
I trust you with this item,
I trust you with this thing,
I trust you with this situation,
and then see what happens,
you know what,
those that are going to be your closest friends,
those that love you,
they're going to take with what you've trusted them with,
and they're going to look after it,
they're going to do well by you,
you know they're going to return that issue or that item,
they're going to take care,
and they're going to look after it,
because they love you,
you know what,
when you give those that want to betray you something,
you say look,
I trust you with this,
okay,
I'm trusting you with it,
and then you're kind of like,
I'm suspecting this person is going to betray me,
all right,
and they do,
and they do betray you,
and they think they're going to tear you down,
because they've turned this against you,
yeah but I was willing to lose that,
you don't understand,
I've turned this to an advantage,
I now know you are that wicked person,
I now know you are not a friend,
I now know you're not someone that I can trust,
and not only have you revealed that to me,
you've revealed that to everybody else,
that has been made aware of that situation,
you can turn betrayal into an advantage,
you know,
so that's what I'm saying,
you've got to work out,
what are you willing to lose,
what are you not willing to lose,
but I love the fact that we have these two stories,
the story of Samson,
there are some parallels with Christ,
again that betrayal,
and the fact that they were both victorious,
even though they were betrayed,
and I just want to encourage you with those words,
because I don't know where you're at in life right now,
maybe you are recently betrayed,
maybe you're still hurting,
you know,
maybe you can't believe this has happened to you,
but it's happened to Jesus,
it's happened to Samson,
and they were able to turn it around,
well I'm asking you,
hey turn it around,
change it,
hey what can I learn from this,
what's the advantage to be gained,
maybe the advantage is,
hey I'm not going to trust man the way I used to,
hey maybe I shouldn't go to the ex,
you know,
sister so-and-so or brothers,
hey maybe I shouldn't even go to pass with my secret,
I need to go to my Lord God about my secrets,
I've got to go to the Lord God about these things,
that I don't want to lose,
he can strengthen me,
I want to have confidence in my Lord,
and confidence in man,
please go to one more passage,
Psalm 41,
Psalm 41 verse 9,
Psalm 41 verse number 9,
there's another advantage of betrayal,
Psalm 41 verse 9,
we read this verse already,
it says,
yea mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted,
which did eat of my bread,
hath lifted up his heel against me.
So I say man,
you've been betrayed,
alright,
it's all downhill from here,
you know,
you're never going to recover from here,
but then look at the next verses,
verse number 10,
but thou O Lord,
be merciful unto me,
and raise me up,
that I may requite them.
So what do we see there?
Man I've been betrayed by my closest friend,
so what do you do?
Lord be merciful to me,
raise me up,
Lord you lift me up,
and the best thing is,
when the Lord does lift you up,
you're strengthened by his hand,
it's not your own flesh,
that's lifting you up,
it's the strength of the Lord,
that I may requite them,
that I can give an answer,
that I can respond to this situation.
Verse number 11,
by this I know that thou favor'st me,
because mine enemy doth not triumph over me,
notice that,
you can be betrayed,
but not have your enemy triumph over you,
if the Lord is the one that lifts you up,
you see there's an advantage,
there is a situation,
you just need to develop,
and find out what that is,
I've been betrayed,
how can I win in this situation?
How can I cause my enemy not to triumph over me?
I'll tell you how to allow your enemy
to triumph over you if you've been betrayed,
you know,
live a depressed life,
cast down,
never getting yourself back up,
you know,
letting your enemy just,
you know,
rejoice the fact that you're just cast down,
and you'll never lift them,
listen,
the moment you lift yourself up,
especially the strength of the Lord,
your enemy that betrayed you be like,
hold on,
that wasn't the reaction I thought,
you know,
I betrayed them to bring them down,
so they would never get up once again,
hey you get up with the power of the Lord,
don't let your enemies triumph over you,
verse number 12,
but as for me,
thou uphold'st me in mine integrity,
so you stay,
you keep your integrity,
hey these people that betrayed you,
they've lost their integrity,
okay,
you know,
people that go out to hurt you,
and backstab you,
and whatever it is,
betray you,
they show themselves for their wickedness,
they show they cannot be trusted,
they show their people of no integrity,
hey,
but you say,
Lord,
you uphold me in mine integrity,
and set us me before thy face forever,
blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting,
amen and amen.
So you notice how the psalmist
responds to betrayal,
betrayed by his perspective,
the Lord you lift me up,
Lord you strengthen me,
Lord you help me respond,
Lord you keep me in my integrity,
I don't want to lose my integrity,
I'm not going to lower myself to the same things
that this person has done against me,
you see there's another advantage,
being strengthened by the Lord,
have you had experiences
where you've been strengthened by the Lord,
I'm telling you,
it's beautiful,
when you see God's mercy in your life,
you know when things are falling apart,
but you just know the Lord is sustaining you,
the Lord is keeping you going,
that's wonderful,
but you see you're not going to experience that,
unless things fall apart,
and sometimes things fall apart,
you know through the process of betrayal,
but you're betrayed,
you say okay I'm betrayed,
how do I take advantage of the situation,
what's the victory here,
I don't want my enemies to rejoice,
I don't want them to think they've been victorious,
first thing you do is lift yourself back up
in the power and the strength of the Lord,
so brethren,
dealing with betrayal,
hope I've given you some things to think about,
you know I don't want to turn you into someone
that's just this recluse,
hates the whole world,
I never want to be close to anybody
because I could be betrayed,
no you know what,
you will be betrayed,
you will be okay,
understand that,
accept that all right,
measure out hey what am I willing to lose,
what I'm not willing to lose,
and when it happens when I'm betrayed,
hey that reveals the weakness
or the heart of that person all right,
how do I take advantage,
how do I draw close to the Lord,
how can I be strengthened by him,
you go to the Lord brethren,
you go to the Lord,
you know please don't come to me with your secrets,
I could betray you even by accident,
I said that before right,
you know what you can tell me things,
like obviously if you're strung with something
and you want some biblical guidance
or you want some prayer,
you just tell me like you know
if you're having some issues with your marriage,
I don't need to know every little detail,
I don't need to know little secrets,
say pastor can you pray for me in my marriage,
can you pray the Lord strengthens
you know that part of our life,
you know whatever it is,
the pastor can you pray for my children,
they would honor me, respect me,
whatever it is you know,
yeah that's general,
I'll pray for that,
and I'll pray for that every single day,
that I get the opportunity to you know,
don't share every little issue,
you know please when someone starts telling me secrets,
I don't want to hear it,
because I show you I think I could accidentally say it
to someone else and then I've lost your trust,
you know I don't want that,
and I don't want you know,
if I've got things that are personal,
private matter,
you know to me my wife knows we're one flesh,
that's fine you know what,
and any other issues,
I just go to the Lord,
Lord you know I've got these issues,
I've got this concerning me,
can you please take care of it,
I trust you Lord,
but I really want you to think about you know,
what is important in your life,
and I hope it's something similar to the list that I have,
you know your family,
your walk with the Lord,
you know please don't let man destroy these things,
keep it safe,
all right let's go to a word of prayer.