going to just preach from one verse today, but I want to read a little bit of context. 2 Samuel chapter 16 and we'll begin reading at verse 20. Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, give advice as to what we should do. And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go into your father's concubines whom he has left to keep the house and all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong." So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the top of the house and Absalom went into his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. Now the advice of Ahithophel which he gave in those days was as if one had inquired at the oracle of God. So was all the advice of Ahithophel, both with David and with Absalom. Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom, now let me choose 12,000 men and I will arise and pursue David tonight. I will come upon him while he is weary and weak. and make him afraid, and all the people who are with him will flee, and I will strike only the king. Then I will bring back all the people to you. When all return, except the man whom you seek, all the people will be at peace. And the saying pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel." Then comes Hushai's advice and verse 23. Now when Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed, He saddled a donkey and arose and went home to his house, to his city. Then he put his household in order and hanged himself and died. And he was buried in his father's tomb." Father God, we pray that as we analyze this verse, try to understand some of the scriptures that lie behind it and interpret it. that you would open our hearts to be receptive to what your word has to say and that we would be ministers and servants who would be equipped to minister to those who are suicidal, even during this season. We love you. We continue to worship as we look at your word in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. Well suicide may seem like a rather morbid topic to be preaching on today. But there are many Christians who are tempted by this and I think it's something that we need to understand. There are even godly Christians like William Cowper, whose name is actually I guess pronounced Cooper. but it's spelled Cowper, who have either attempted suicide or have been successful in committing suicide. I know two Orthodox Presbyterian pastors, godly men, who committed suicide and everybody is just absolutely astonished that this could happen, both Job and Elijah. were men who were tempted to commit suicide and yet they resisted that thought. But I believe it is important for us to guard our hearts by understanding what the Bible says about the subject. And I think it's helpful if you can prepare yourself with answers to minister to those who are tempted with suicide themselves. It may be at some time in the future you're the only person that will stand between them and their death. And it's definitely been a hot legal debate in many states. For example, physician-assisted suicide has been legalized in Oregon, Washington, and Vermont. It's making headway in Montana and in other states. But even in states like Nebraska, where it's still illegal, you will see physician-assisted suicide happening in hospitals and doctors just turning a blind eye to that. And I want to share how it's not just that, it's involuntary euthanasia that is happening in hospitals. I'll share my own roller coaster story with you of something that happened when I was a pastor at a previous church. There was a a lady in our church that we were doing everything we could to save her life and we had to bring together doctors, pastors, lawyers, citizens What had happened is she had broken her hip, she was admitted to the hospital, and one day when I went to visit her, they said that she was in a medically induced coma. And I thought that was a little weird. They said it was to deal with her pain, but one of the nurses in our church noticed that they were not feeding her, they were dehydrating her. And when we were investigating this, it became very apparent that a doctor together with an unbelieving relative were deliberately engaging in an act of supposed mercy killing. They said that with her arthritis, She did not have quality of life and her broken hip legally constituted something that said that she did not need to be resuscitated. We argued, well, it's a lot different resuscitating a person than it is inducing a coma and starving them and thirsting them to death. And besides, I had just talked with her and knew that she did not want to die. The subject had come up and she said she wanted to live until she saw all of her relatives coming to Christ. And so some of our doctors testified to the hospital's board that there was absolutely no reason to necessitate an artificially induced coma. In fact, every time she was coming out of her coma and was trying to talk, they would quickly give her some more medication to put her under so that she could not object to what they were doing. So it very quickly became clear their goal was to kill her. And we fought it tooth and nail. We petitioned the hospital's board with testimonies by doctors and lawyers. We picketed the hospital. We tried to get a court order. We exhausted every legal means that we could think of to try to save her life. But she ended up dying before we could get any court to rule on this subject. And that happened right here in Omaha, Nebraska. Now, if Obamacare is not overturned, you will likely see involuntary suicide being practiced against the elderly, and you're certainly going to see physician-assisted suicide. They've got a board, a death board, encouraging people in that direction. That's their plans anyway. So it is a very timely and very relevant subject that we need to think through. And in fact, there is a great increase of suicides during this season from lonely people who have. you know, broken families. Worldwide, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death, with males being three to four times more likely to commit suicide than females. In any given year, there are anywhere from 10 to 20 million attempted suicides, many of them unsuccessful. and upwards of a million successful suicides. Yeah, sometimes it's lower, anywhere from 600,000 to a million, but that's astonishing that there is yearly upwards of a million suicides. In 2008, 11.4% of all deaths in America were by suicide. Now, if you focus on the younger generation, the statistics are much, much higher. In the developed world, it's 30% of adolescents as adolescent deaths are by suicide. In America it's recently become the second most common cause of death in adolescence and in young males it's second only to accidental death. Now with such staggering statistics it's important that we have a clear understanding of what the Bible says about the subject. Now here is the problem. It's unfortunate, but there are many Christians out there who argue that there was nothing wrong with physician-assisted suicide. In fact, they will appeal to this verse that we're going to be looking at today, and they'll say, look, the scripture just records this. There's no rebuke of the hithefeld. There's nothing in here that would indicate that this was wrong. Just the way it's placed, this is proof positive that suicide, if it's voluntary, is an okay thing to engage in. And I'll be the first to admit that this verse doesn't give any moral or theological commentary. It's simply a historical record. This is what happened. But it's very important that we allow scripture to interpret scripture. And the first thing that the rest of scripture shows to us is that Ahithophel was a wicked sinner. He was not a role model to be imitated. There are three indications he was not a role model. And the first is that scripture portrays this verse as a type or a prophetic picture or a prophetic foreshadowing of Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus. And there's 10 ways in which it foreshadows Judas. You won't have time to write these all down unless you're an incredibly speed writer. But I'm just going to list them. Just listen to these. First, both betrayed their friend. Second, both had an economic incentive to do so. Third, both showed no conscience issues over other immorality. Fourth, both dishonored their master. Ahithophel horribly dishonored his master by telling Absalom to go into his father's concubines. And Judas horribly dishonored his master Jesus by rebuking the woman, remember, when she anointed him with oil. Now he may not have realized or intended it. But that was a rebuke of Jesus as well because he was saying that this is wasteful stewardship. He was accusing Jesus of being a sinful steward. So anyway, there was dishonor. Fifth, both engaged in theft from their master. Sixth, both turned their masters over to authorities and were willing to accompany soldiers to catch their master. 7. Both had regrets over what they had done. 8. Neither one truly repented. 9. Both committed suicide by hanging. 10. Both were buried on their own property. So on 10 levels Ahithophel foreshadows Judas as a prophetic type. Now here's the point. If he is a type of Judas, there is no way that the scripture intends him to be a model that we should imitate. And even though Christians have used both King Saul and Ahithophel as examples of the legitimacy of suicide, I think this Judas connection strongly speaks against it. Second, the Bible portrays Ahithophel as being lawless. Now we've already had hints of that in the reading that I gave in chapter 16. He encouraged Absalom to engage in incest and adultery with his father's concubine. That is just absolutely horrible. But he nowhere shows any remorse whatsoever for that action. And I've listed in your outlines eight Psalms written during this period of time that shows Ahithophel to be a wicked and a lawless man. In Psalm 9, this wicked man was ensnared in the work of his own hands. Psalm 28 indicates that though he spoke peace, wickedness was in his heart. Psalm 37 characterizes the actions of Ahithophel as the transgression of the wicked. No fear of God before his eyes, hatred, iniquity, devising wickedness, failing to abhor evil, etc. Now I'm not going to go through all of the Psalms that are listed for you in your outlines, but if you turn with me to Psalm 55, We'll look at a third way in which Ahithophel was definitely not seen as a role model. Psalm 55 indicates that this may have seemed like an easy way out for Ahithophel but it was not. He went straight to hell when he died. Psalm 55 beginning at verse 1. Give ear to my prayer, O God, and do not hide Yourself from my supplication. Attend to me and hear me. I am restless in my complaint and moan noisily because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked. For they bring down trouble upon me, and in wrath they hate me. My heart is severely pained within me, and the horrors of death have fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me. So I said, O that I had wings like a dove, I would fly away and be at rest. Indeed I would wander far off and remain in the wilderness. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest." Now if you skip down to verse 12. It says, for it is not an enemy who reproaches me, then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me, who has exalted himself against me, then I could hide from him. But it was you, a man my equal, my companion, and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together and walked to the house of God in the throng. Okay, so he's clearly talking about Ahithophel. I think most people totally agree with that. And in verse 15 it says, let death seize them. Let them go down alive into hell for wickedness is in their dwellings and among them. As for me, I will call upon God and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon I will pray and cry aloud and He shall hear my voice. He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me for there were many against me. God will hear and afflict them. Even he who abides from of old, Selah, because they do not change, therefore they do not fear God. He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him. He has broken his covenant. The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. Cast your burden on the Lord and he shall sustain you. He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. But you, O God, shall bring them down to the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in you. So verses 15 and verse 23, condemned him to hell, and Jewish interpreters say that even that last verse, especially, it has others in mind as well, but especially has Ahithophel in mind, dying a premature death. Now, in any case, Ahithophel, even though he was wise as an angel of God in terms of seeing options and what the future repercussions of things might be, the Bible leaves no mistake about the fact he was not a reliable guide to imitate. So the first pillar of so-called Christian suicide, which is an oxymoron, is removed when you look at how other scriptures interpret this verse. Now point two deals with motives, sinful motives. Look at again 2 Samuel 17 and verse 23. Now this does not identify the motives with precision, but it does give the reason that made him commit, decide to commit suicide. Now when Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed, so there's the reason for his suicide. And I want you to notice it doesn't say when he noticed that he was wrong. No, it's the exact opposite. Now when Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed, He saddled a donkey, and arose, and went home to his house, to his city. Then he put his household in order, hanged himself, and died, and he was buried in his father's tomb." So we're given a reason, but we have to guess at the motives that were tied up in that reason by putting two and two together. We know he did not repent of his rebellion because it was their failure to follow that made him commit suicide, not the fact that they did follow his advice, okay? They didn't follow it. So it was their failure to follow his rebellion that made him, led to the suicide, not any change of heart. Now before we kind of tease apart some of the motives that commentators believe drove him to suicide, let me read to you from the larger catechism's exposition of the sixth commandment. This is an incredibly wonderful summary. In fact, if you look at all 10 commandments of the larger catechism, you will be blown away at how far distant you are from the goal that God has for you. Every time I read through the larger catechism, I think to myself, oh Lord, I need to grow more. Because it's pulling together all of the implications from scripture of this. But anyway, larger catechism 135 says, question, what are the duties required in the sixth commandment? Answer, the duties required in the sixth commandment are, all careful studies and lawful endeavors to preserve the life of ourselves and others by resisting all thoughts and purposes, subduing all passions, and avoiding all occasions, temptations, and practices which tend to the unjust taking away the life of any, by just defense thereof against violence, patient bearing of the hand of God, quietness of mind, cheerfulness of spirit, a sober use of meat, drink, physics, sleep, labor, and recreations by charitable thoughts, love, compassion, meekness, gentleness, kindness, peaceable, mild, and courteous speeches of behavior, forbearance, readiness to be reconciled, patient bearing and forgiving of injuries, and requiting good for evil. comforting and succoring the distressed and protecting and defending the innocent. That is an amazing summary of the positive implications of the Sixth Commandment. And if you were to look in the footnotes and count how many verses were there, you'd see 99 very pointed verses that demonstrate every single word and phrase that is in here. But let me reemphasize the phrases that I think are especially significant to suicide. It says, we must take care to preserve the life of ourselves. We must avoid all occasions, temptations, and practices which tend to the unjust taking away the life of anyone, which would include ourselves. And then the phrase, patient bearing of the hand of God. Now the next catechism looks at the negative. The first one was duties. Catechism 136 is looking at the negative. Question, what are the sins forbidden in the sixth commandment? Answer, the sins forbidden in the sixth commandment are all taking away the life of ourselves or of others except, and then he gives three exceptions that the scripture allows, except in case of public justice, lawful war, or necessary defense." And goes on to say that the Sixth Commandment forbids the neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and necessary means of preservation of life, sinful anger, hatred, envy, desire of revenge, all excessive passions, distracting cares, immoderate use of meat, drink, labor, and recreations, provoking words, oppression, quarreling, striking, and wounding, and then this key phrase, whatsoever else tends to the destruction of the life of any. And the footnotes give another 39 verses plus two whole chapters, one from Exodus and one from Deuteronomy that spell out some of the implications of the sixth commandment. Now the key phrases here are all taking away the life of ourselves with three exceptions, which we'll look at in just a few seconds here. And the other phrases are the neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and necessary means of preservation of life and whatsoever else tends to the destruction of the life of any. Now that would define a Hithophel suicide as murder, self-murder. It is clearly a sin, it is clearly a violation. of the sixth commandment. Now let me bring up the three exceptions so that you can see that there are some suicides that are actually noble and good. Why? Because the law of God authorizes those examples of suicide. Jesus said, greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends. Jesus willingly laid down his life for us And he said, no man takes it away from me. Now, if he willingly laid down his life and no one took it away from him, that implies it's a kind of suicide. It was voluntary laying down of his life on his part, but it was a suicide in order to save the lives of others. He took our place so that we would not have to die. And in prison camps you will see people who have substituted their life for the life of another person who was going to be executed. You see soldiers who jump on a grenade and save their whole squad from being killed. Now the scripture would say that suicide is lawful, it is good, it is noble, it's a wonderful thing. And so preserving the life of others by laying down our own life, if that is the only way that we can preserve their lives, and I think that's an important qualification as well, that's a legitimate reason for suicide. A second exception is lawful war. There are some battles where it almost guarantees your death. Okay? Scripture honors a soldier who dies in defense of his family and of his nation. And some people might object, well, that's not suicide. Somebody else is taking your life. But just think about that for a bit. If you were during the war between the states, if you were in Pickett's army and you were commanded to make that charge, it would sure seem like a suicidal charge. In fact historians speak of it as a suicidal charge up that hill. And yet you could go with a clean conscience before God that you were doing a noble and a righteous thing. Now you'd hope Robert E. Lee knew what he was doing when he sent you up that hill. But if you have ever been on that hill, it's scary. Just imagining yourself charging up that hill, it's like we're going into certain death. You're just walking straight into death. That's what it looks like. Now, certainly it feels nobler to die in a battle that you know is going to win the day. Most people wouldn't prefer to be in Pickett's army on that charge. But the point is, Scripture portrays such laying down of one's life for a good cause in battle to be lawful. The third exception is stated in the case of public justice. Now how would you ever be laying down your own life in public justice? How would that be a suicide? Well think about the case of Achan in the book of Joshua. He was given the opportunity to plead guilty or to plead not guilty, and they didn't have the goods on him other than the fact that God had revealed he was the one, but they still had to investigate. And yet Joshua says, give glory to God by pleading guilty if indeed you have done it. That's what he does, so he saved them a bunch of time. But by pleading guilty, he was willingly laying down his life. It was somebody else's sword that took it, but he offered himself up. The Apostle Paul said in Acts 25 verse 11, For if I am an offender or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying. But if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them, I appeal to Caesar." He was saying that he would not object to dying if indeed he was guilty. He wouldn't fight it. In fact, he'd plead guilty. That is the lawful. That's the right thing to do is to plead guilty if you are guilty, right? He said that he would fight tooth and nail against dying since he was innocent. He was, by the law of God, he was bound to preserve his own life if he was not guilty of that crime or if there was not one of those three exceptions. To not defend yourself in court and to not object to being executed is laying down your life for justice, but if you pleaded guilty when you're not guilty, you have two sins against you. You've got self-murder and you've got the sin of perjury, okay? So it would be allowing yourself to be unjustly killed. Those are the only exceptions that the larger catechism gives. All other forms are sin. And when Exodus 20 verse 13 forbids murder, the Bible goes on to define murder as any taking of life, whether of yourself or of others, that is not authorized by the law of God. That's the definition of murder. So Deuteronomy 30 verse 19 commands us, choose life in order that you may live. Don't be suicidal. Choose life in order that you may live. That's a moral imperative. We must choose life. In Acts 16, it says of the Philippian jailer, the jailer was about to kill himself, but Paul said, do yourself no harm. 1 Corinthians 6, 19 says, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you. You are not your own. To destroy your body is to destroy something that belongs to God without his authorization. Ephesians 5 29 says we are to treat our wives like we treat our own bodies and nourish her and cherish her and protect her which implies what it implies that we're supposed to Care for and protect our own body Okay, and there's many other scriptures that indicate that God only allows those three exceptions for the prohibition Suicide well with that as a background Do any of those three exceptions fit the case with Ahithophel? I think the answer is clearly no. Now take a look at it again. So simply when Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed, there was no grenade to fall on. There was no immediate danger, no admission of guilt and handing himself over to the civil authorities so that when David got back into power, they could judge him and execute him. In fact, it's avoiding that. It's a failure to do that. He's seeking to escape from that. So it was a selfish act of escape. And though I don't want to guess what Ahithophel's motives were, like most commentators do, what I'm going to do right now is I'm going to go through all of the motives that I have seen in the commentaries that have been imputed to Ahithophel. We're going to show how these are really not lawful motives or adequate. Most of my commentaries assume that he committed suicide out of pride. And the reasoning is that his wisdom had never been questioned before and to have Absalom and all of the elders think that he is dead wrong on his advice was such a blow to his ego that he could not live with it. And so commentators say, that he felt disgraced. Now if this had been the case, and he was a believer, then he should have treated his pride as an enemy and welcomed this crucifying of his pride. It would be a providential crucifying of his pride. But you know what? Rarely do people deal with their pride as an enemy during a time of crisis if they have not already learned to be dealing with their pride as an enemy before that. So a word to the wise, 38. Treat your pride as a mortal enemy. Okay, take preventative medicine against this motive for suicide. In any case, pride would definitely be a sinful motive. Others have said it was shame. Now this could have been shame that his advice was not followed or it could be shame of anticipating what would happen in a public trial Or it could be both. But shame has often led people to commit suicide. You may remember R. Bud Dwyer's suicide. He was caught taking bribes when he was in office and he went on TV, but he ended up blowing his brains out because he was so ashamed of having been caught. Shame of having been caught in adultery has led some people to take the easy way out. But this too flows from pride and it needs to be crucified. Jesus Christ willingly took our shame so that he could identify with us, be treated as a criminal. And why did he do it? He did it because he loved us. He cared for those that he had died for. And too many people do not think of the hurt and grief that a suicide will bring to those that they leave behind. It's not loving. To commit suicide out of shame is really selfish. And a person could grow hugely in grace if they would take their shame to Christ and allow him to crucify their pride. Now, some people commit suicide out of anger, out of a desire to get even, and you'll sometimes see kids thinking this way. I wish I were dead, then she'd feel sorry. And you find adults who commit suicide to make somebody else feel bad, to get even somehow. I don't know why they think it's getting even, but anger can sometimes do this. to people. Now I'm skeptical that this was Ahithophel's motivation and if it had been those feelings should have been an indicator to him hey something's not right with me before God. It's a good reminder that we always need to evaluate our motivations in life by the cross of Christ. If we're not sanctifying our motivations by grace when things are going well Those sinful motivations can lead us to some rather bizarre behavior when things are not going well. Now others have thought that with the Judas connection there may have been some guilt. I doubt that was the case here. I don't see it in the verse anyway. But it's true that guilt has driven many people to commit suicide. But the Christian response is what? It's to take our guilt to the cross of Christ. And it's to be secure in the Father's love for us because of the righteousness of Christ. Guilt should only drive us to the cross. And if it drives us anywhere else, it's a false guilt that can be manipulated by Satan. Beware when guilt makes you hide from people. and makes you avoid people. If you're walking in grace, you can admit guilt. You can still feel comfortable talking about your sin with other people. Why? Because your security doesn't come in what they think. Your security comes in what God thinks of you through Jesus Christ. In fact, the cross-centered approach to life makes us so understanding that we are far worse than any person could possibly guess that we are, that it doesn't bother us too much when people know some of our sins, okay? But anyway, we're going through these motivations so you can deal with them before a crisis comes that might possibly make you suicidal. Now some have thought that Ahithophel was motivated by a concern for his family and it is true that he was getting his books in order. He was passing on an inheritance to his family so that maybe some people think David, I don't think David would have taken his property away but it was to protect his property. One of the things I would point out is he could have legally passed on everything, given away everything, and it would have protected his family, and then turned himself over to David and said, you know, I'm guilty of this, and I turn myself over the court. And so to me, it's not a... It's not a major factor. He should have faced the music like a man. But in any case, this is a faulty motive that has led to suicides by those who have disabilities. They think they're doing their family a favor, little realizing the incredible trauma that suicide leaves for their loved ones. It's not a lawful motive. The last reason sometimes given is that Ahithophel was trying to avoid the consequences of having to face David's retribution. And that likely was at least one motivation. But again, maturity in Christ enables us to handle the consequences of our sins without escaping. And this is why it's so important that we be secure in God's grace. Now, from everything we've said so far, I think point three is almost superfluous. If what we've said so far is true, well, obviously the means are unlawful as well, but we'll just very quickly go through it. If instead of hanging himself, he had confessed to being guilty before a court of law, once David got back into power, That would have been a lawful way to end his life. This was not. Second, this was obviously premeditated. Many suicides are impulsively entered into, and when the person can be talked out of it, he later realizes, wow, that was really a stupid decision on my part. And hopefully this sermon will give you an understanding that would help you to never do anything that impulsive. Some commit suicide while they're out of their senses on drugs. Some commit suicide shortly after a horrible event because they're just so emotionally distraught they're not thinking straight. But this was very deliberately planned. It was very methodically premeditated. It almost looks like he's doing this with a cool head. Just think about the issues there. He takes the time to saddle a donkey. and to ride the 12 miles from Jerusalem to Gilo. So that would have taken some time. Then he takes the time to get his books all in order and to pass on his inheritance. And the literal Hebrew indicates that he gave a command to someone. concerning his affairs. And it could have been a command in writing, but many people think he gave a command, maybe to some servant that was there. Here's what's going to happen after I die. I want you to make sure all these things are taken care of. And so there's somebody else that was in on it. But it indicates this was not a rash, hastily made decision. This was premeditated, which makes it doubly sinful. And when it says that he hanged himself, it indicates that this was self-inflicted. It was not asking someone else to hang him. So he used unlawful methods. The atheist David Hume tried to justify suicide as being no different than any other death that you might receive at the hands of providence. And why in the world he talks about providence? He's an atheist. He didn't believe in providence. I don't know. He said it would be no different than if the death had proceeded from a lion, a precipice, or a fever. And he strongly, strongly argued for the right to suicide. And there was a guy by the name of William Plummer who responded with one of the best point-by-point refutations of Hume's arguments for suicide that I have ever read. And I'm going to quote from those arguments just very, very briefly. It's old language, but I think it's great reasoning. After saying Hume's arguments would logically lead to being justified and killing anybody else that we want to kill for the same reasons that we would kill ourselves, he gave the following six additional arguments. The whole argument in favor of suicide goes on the supposition of the truth of principles which are clearly false. First, that man has the right to dispose of his own life, whereas none but the author of our existence can lawfully do so. Second, that we are competent judges of the question whether we have lived long enough or not, whereas a large proportion of mankind have been very useful after they supposed they could do no more good. Third, that we owe no obligations to parents or children or others who may be dependent upon our exertions, whereas we may entail upon them untold miseries by taking our own lives. Fourth, that God is not legislated on the subject, whereas the sixth commandment clearly forbids it. Fifth, that salvation is not an object worth seeking, whereas it is the only thing claiming our supreme attention. Sixth, that it is heroic to sink under distress or play the coward in suffering wrong, whereas a large part of the best moral lessons taught by example has been delivered to mankind in the depths of affliction. So I think it's just a very well-worded rebuttal. So that's it. That's a theology of suicide that shows that this really is a serious sin against God. But what I want to do right now is I want to end by giving you some suggestions, practical suggestions of what you can do to help those who are suicidal. One of the biggest things that you can do is to get them to postpone their decision until they can get help. If you can get them to postpone that decision, it could be really, really useful. But to do that, you have to give people some perspective. And it's sometimes hard to give people perspective. But what I want to do right now is I want to just ask one of you here, take a quick look and tell me, what do you see on that page? A cobra. OK. Is there anything else you see on there? Okay, anything else you see? Okay, what do you see on that page? Is he right or wrong? Okay, just a snake and a dot. Anybody see anything else? Okay. Okay, we got one wise woman here. The white part of the paper, okay. And I think that's an important thing to be thinking about. Most people usually focus right in on what's at the center of their attention. They say there's just a snake on there. Is there anything else? Oh yeah, they see a little dot down there. But they can look and look, and they don't see anything else on that piece of paper, and yet 95% of what's on that paper is white, right? And this is the way Satan wants us to look at the page of our lives. He wants us to be so focused in on that cobra, that snake that's in the center, the ugliness, the hopelessness, the misery of our lives. He wants us to have despair. He doesn't want us to see any of the light or the hope or the good things that are in our lives because Satan is committed to death and to destruction. And part of what we must do is to help give people some perspective, to help them to look at the fact that there is some white on the page of your life. It's not all that little snake that's down there. Sympathy can be good because it shows that we care, but too much sympathy will actually cause harm. Too much sympathy will make people think that we too can only see the snake in the page of their lives. In other words, we're reinforcing their desires for suicide because we're just saying, yeah, I feel bad that your parents have done this and that and the other thing. All we talk about is the snake. All we talk about is the black dot and the other negatives that are on their lives. So our focus is wrong. On the other hand, if we go to the opposite extreme and we refuse to see the snake on the page of our lives, then they're not going to take us seriously because they sure see that snake. They hate it. It just makes them feel miserable. So if we're downplaying the presence of bad things in their lives, it's not going to be helpful. So be sympathetic with them. Agree with them about the presence of the snakes of depression and disaster and hard times. And yes, even the horrible wickedness of their sin. Don't downplay it. Because if you agree with them, this is, this is bad. This is horrible. And in fact, your sin deserves far worse than you think it deserves. It deserves hellfire, but Christ came to deal with that and to remove it. Because you haven't denied the presence of the snake, instead you've given an answer for it, they might take you a little bit more seriously. So let me give you some sample ways to give people perspective. If it is guilt that is driving people to suicide, you might wanna do with them the same thing that David does in Psalm 51 with himself. And that is to try to get them to believe that even so he in us a sin as adultery and as murder can be fully cleansed and forgiven by Jesus Christ. Now you could explain to them because they may be just so ashamed to even admit this. You can explain. It would have been very, very difficult for David to face an entire nation with his shame and with his murder if he had been shame focused. But because his focus was on God and on his security in Christ, and he was able to lay his shame at the feet of the God who loves him and cares for him, He was able to deal with his shame a little bit better. Now that was not the way with Ahithophel. Ahithophel was focused on the pain and the shame rather than looking to the healing and the grace and the forgiveness that can come through Christ. Hebrews 7 verse 25 says that Jesus is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Christ. But you cannot minimize your sin. You have to come to God. You have to expose your sin through Christ. One evangelist said that he can save to the uttermost also means that he can save from the gutter most. And this gives hope to those who are caught in bondage to horrible, horrible sins. Let me list to you the top sins that are out there that have led people to commit suicide. In fact, why don't you turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and we'll We'll give Paul's comments on these sins. But the top sins that have led to suicide are homosexuality, adultery, pedophilia, embezzlement, drunkenness,