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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,
Suicide
Series Life of David
This sermon gives a clear understanding of what the Bible says about suicide. It also gives clear instructions on how to handle suicidal thoughts in yourself or in others.
| Sermon ID | 9953161850200 |
| Duration | 44:20 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | 2 Samuel 17:23 |
| Language | English |
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