NO. Not ALL were winners! There were losers too...One thing we can be sure of in the Bible (when we read the stories of God's chosen men and women) is, it gives a fair and truthful account of their lives - including failure stories; so we see some people here who made a mess of their lives.
Over the past few weeks, I've been sharing with you the successful men in the bible, who accomplished the purposes of God in their lives...Noah, Moses, David, Joseph, Jacob, Joshua...but, today let me share with you some men who missed the mark...who were found wanting in some aspect of their lives...who failed.
As we speak about these people, we have a choice...either to do the same mistakes and have a bitter learning...or to avoid those mistakes and reap the consequences; for 'whatever a man sows, that he will also reap' (Gal.5:7).
Let me start with the first human sin...being deceived. Paul warns the Corinthian church in 2 Cor. 12:3 "But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ". Here we see that Eve was deceived...'. When the serpent came and put a question 'Did God...' to Eve, and carried on with his deception, "You will surely not die!", then sin entered this world. We have to guard ourselves from being deceived by what we see and hear. How can one remain unaffected by bad company? Or be unaffected by what we choose to hear... Even today, the evil one carries on with the same deception...we see young people - vulnerable minds, being swayed by the deception in the media - that they are free to do anything they want...that they can live however they desire and 'enjoy' life to the full - by giving in to their imaginations! The bible warns us "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked...for whatever a man sows, the same he will also reap" (Gal. 6:7). Do not let Satan's deception 'blind' you into falling away from God's will.
The first man Adam's sin was disobedience...In Romans 5:19 we read "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous." This was Adam's sin, He was not deceived like Eve was! He knew the commandment of God about the fruit; he knew exactly what he was getting into when he held the fruit to his mouth...but he wilfully disobeyed the commandment of God...Then came the rift between God and man! It says in the bible that through disobedience of one man came death to all men... Even today, men and women wilfully disobey God's word; being fully aware of the warnings yet choosing to disobey and thereby reaping the consequences!
Let me go on to their next generation...Cain and Abel - two brothers! It is written about Cain (1 John 3:12) that '... his ways were evil and his brother's (way) righteous'... Both came with an offering to God. God accepted Abel's offering and rejected Cain's...and Cain became jealous of his own brother. We see this even in today's world... brothers fighting over inheritance, property, wealth and being jealous of one another...siblings taking each other to the court for justice... and it didn't end there for Cain; he would raise his hand to murder his own brother in cold blood! Jealousy is a poison that would destroy people's lives...and peace. I've seen it in the corporate world - I've seen it in the kingdom of God too! But, in 1 Cor. 13 we read about love...that 'Love does not envy'. Love is the remedy for jealousy. In love, we are glad in the other's well-being... yes, when others are blessed within the family, within the church - we rejoice with them.
In Heb. 12:16 we find another man rejected by God...Esau. It says here ...'a profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright'. Remember, Esau was the firstborn; the birthright belonged to him. If he'd made a good choice, it would probably have gone down in history as 'Abraham, Isaac and Esau' - and not 'Abraham, Isaac and Jacob' as it is now. But when Esau was hungry for food, he found his birthright worthless ... and exchanged it for a single meal! He missed God's will and messed up his own life. This is the Godless Esau.
Let us turn to Jude 1:11 "Woe to them! for they have gone in the way of Cain,..." It is a whole way of life that Cain choose. Jealousy, strife and finally murder! "...have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah." Here we find two other people.
And then Jude 1:11 talks of Korah's rebellion; We read about him in Numbers 16; He was of the house of Levi - one of the God-ordained priests. He did enjoy special privileges regarding sacrifices and offering...but, he wanted more... even the priesthood and position of Aaron! Therefore, he formed a company of men and rebelled against Moses and Aaron. You see, the first sin in the universe is rebellion... when Lucifer - one of the angels, formed a group and eyed the power and position of God, he was cast down from heaven to become Satan, the evil one. We know the story of what happened to Korah after that... he was swallowed up into the pit when the ground under him gave way... he and all his men and belongings. The anti-dote to rebellion is submission! Even children sometimes find it difficult to submit to authority - their parents! The bible exhorts us to submit ourselves to God - to humble ourselves under his mighty hand...
Let me now talk of Saul - a man chosen by God, anointed by Samuel the prophet! In fact, he started off so well in favour with the prophet; he made it a law that no one should practice witchcraft but for every matter consult the Levite priest...Yet, in his latter days, he consulted a witch and dabbled in the occult...Saul's sin was trespassing. God has kept a boundary for us to function... and God expects us to stay within those boundaries. Saul was a king... but he trespassed and performed the functions of a priest. In 1 Samuel 13 we read about how Saul and his army were up against the Philistines. They were to perform sacrifices and offering to God. He waited for seven days, according to the time set by Samuel the prophet... But when Samuel delayed in coming, Saul went ahead and performed the offering. And he was rejected.
Solomon - Now God loved Solomon (2 Sam 12:24); he too started off so well - in a vision made a good choice of asking for wisdom, and received the gift of wisdom and understanding that nobody ever had before... Solomon wrote and compiled the best sayings of wisdom which we use even today; 'he set right many proverbs' (1 Kings 4:32)...But, later in his life he turned away from the Lord (1 Kings 11); because he relied on his wisdom and made the wrong choices for his own life...and married foreign women... unbelievers.. who turned his heart away from God. If you ask me, I consider Solomon such a foolish man when it came to matters regarding marriage. He could not bring himself to obey a simple commandment of God - not to intermarry. Even today people come and ask me, 'I've seen such and such person, who are nice and good-looking, of respectable status, but is not a believer. Can we proceed?'. Then I've to use all my biblical resources to convince them otherwise, because I see their heart in inclined towards it and 'Love' as they say 'is blind'. Let's not to be foolish to disobey a simple commandment.
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