God’s Answers About Suicide – Part 2

John 10:10

I.       Study Introduction – Suicide, Part 2

A.    Suicide is... the act of deliberately killing oneself.

B.     It doesn’t make sense. It never does.

1.      By nature, we all want to live – just try holding your breath – you will WANT to breathe

2.      Anyone who has ever battled with depression and thoughts of suicide, or has ever tried to help someone who was contemplating thoughts of suicide, know that it is not a rational, reasonable conclusion. It is insanity. But it is the only thing going in inside of their heads at the time!

C.     Irish statistics:

1.      507 committed suicide in 2012 

2.      With Cork city having the highest rate!

3.      Men are 5 times more prone to commit suicide than women. 

4.      Especially men under 30

D.    But the problem is not that someone considers suicide – the problem is that most people have no other alternative!

E.     Questions about suicide that need solid answers:

1.      Why do people seek to die?

2.      What is God’s view on suicide?

3.      What is the effects of suicide?

4.      Do only unsaved people kill themselves?

5.      Is suicide the ultimate sin?

6.      How to defeat suicidal thoughts and desires!

II.    Review

A.    Seven Examples of Suicide in the Bible

1.      Abimelech (Judges 9:54) – to avoid the shame of death at the hands of a woman

2.      Samson (Judges 16:28-31) – self-sacrifice to defeat those who imprisoned him

3.      King Saul (1Samuel 31:1-4) – to avoid the abuse he would endure after he was captured

4.      Saul’s armour-bearer (1Samuel 31:5) – because he didn’t want to admit not being able to protect his king

5.      Ahithophel (2Samuel 17:23) – a bitter, angry, and defeated man whose counsel had been rejected, and he was now doomed to be executed anyway for treason against king David

6.      Zimri (1Kings 16:18) – a wicked, murderous man who tried to take over the kingdom of Israel, reigned for 7 days, and then tried to burn down the palace with himself inside, to avoid capture by the army

7.      Judas Iscariot  (Matthew 27:3-5, Acts 1:18-20) – because of guilt

B.     Six Examples of people who just wanted to die

1.      Job's wife wanted to die (Job 2:9)

2.      Job himself wanted to die, and wished he had never been born (Job 6:8-9; 14:13)

3.      Elijah wanted to die (1Kgs 19:1-4)

4.      Moses wanted to die (Numbers 11:15)

5.      Jonah wanted to die (Jonah 4:3,8,9)

6.      So, the urge to end one’s life early comes even to the godliest of us.

C.     I showed you that, in the near future, ALL men will desire to die (Rev 9:6) but won’t be able to!!! What a thought!

D.    I showed you a few Modern Examples like Robin Williams and Kurt Corbain

E.     Talked about WHY do some people seek to die?

1.      A ruined social world (death is the answer to my troublesome social relationships)

2.      Overmuch guilt and sorrow.  Trying to escape the crippling effects of guilt and sadness. 2Co 7:10  For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

3.      Because they believe they are trapped, have no other way out – feel hopeless

4.      Because a voice keeps telling them it is the right thing to do – best for everyone. “Everyone would all be better off without me”

5.      Because they want to hurt those around them who don’t seem to care

6.      Hopelessness (there is no evidence that life is going to get any better).

7.      All of the above “reasons” are based upon lies that Satan has slowly built into their thinking and feeling.

8.      In general, people do not commit suicide because they are in pain, they commit suicide because they don't believe there is a reason to live and the world will be better off without them.

III. Message

A.    Our Culture of Suicide

1.      Many things are making people today strong enough to commit suicide

a.       Anger in the home (Eph 4:26,27)

b.      Playing violent and extreme sports back on the increase

1)      It used to be the Gladiators in the Colosseum

2)      Sports like Brutal sports like Boxing, Rugby, American Football are almost as brutal

3)      Bungee Jumping (highest official place is in Colorado and is 300 metres down)

4)      Hiline Rope Walking

5)      Airplane Wing Walking

6)      Free solo rock-climbing

7)      Wing suit flying

8)      Mixed Martial Arts

9)      Bull running

10)  There are loads of others

a)      Focusing on manliness (which is not all bad)

b)      Convincing them they are invincible

c)      Always pushing the envelope – doing riskier and riskier things

c.       Obsessed with violent video games, and books on violence – numb towards dying and death – making death a game

d.      Death music – Eminem, Metallica, and hyper music like Rave

e.       Getting covered with multiple body piercings and tattoos – enjoying pain

f.        Constantly getting into physical fights – looking for them!

2.      To the Bible believer though, all of those are door ways for Satan to plant his demonic time bombs for suicide, and better prepare the person to be able to carry out the idea!

a.       These types of painful activities create a sense of fearlessness about self-injury. Some say, “Things that scare most people don’t scare me” and “I can tolerate more pain than most people.”

b.      But more than that, This generation is being constantly “pumped” to be strong enough to follow through and swallow an entire bottle of pills, ingest poison, or push the chair out so that they dangle from a rope tied to the ceiling! A suicidal person often must overcome intense emotional fear to commit such a final act. All of our culture is not protecting people’s views of life, but are only hardening it!

B.     The Example of Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:16-20)

1.      Who was Judas?

a.       Hand-picked by Jesus

b.      Very religious

c.       A follower, disciple of Jesus of Nazareth – watched and learned everything Peter learned

d.      Was given all the powers that the other 11 got

e.       But never got converted (Mt 7:21-23)

f.        Was obsessed with the power and money of the ministry – was a thief (John 12:6)

g.      Was a devil (John 6:70)

h.      Satan entered him (Lk 22:3-6)

i.        Betrayed Jesus to the Pharisees for money

j.        But NONE of that caused him to seek suicide. All of the above are in almost every unsaved person on this planet

k.      Including religious leaders! I know of so-called Christian leaders today who use ministry gifts to buy €39,000 worth of clothes at one store in a year, and send their kids on a €29,000 trip to the Bahamas, and drive a white Lexus and a red Mercedes.

2.      What Caused Judas to Seek Death

a.       Realisation of his overwhelming personal responsibility - condemnation

1)      David was able to deal with this in Ps 51

2)      Judas never did

b.      Overmuch Guilt (2Cor 2:6-8; 7:10)

c.       No forgiveness possible as far as he was concerned – tried the Pharisees and they had none to give (Mt 27:3-5)

d.      No hope – Jesus was dead, and Judas did not believe in His resurrection – no living Son of God

e.       Satan in him – drove him to the noose (John 10:10)

3.      What Judas a Believer?

a.       No

b.      He was who Jesus referred to as the faker (Mt 7:21-23)

c.       He was a devil – not HAD ‘a’ devil, but was a devil

4.      But, what drove him to suicide is at work still today!

a.       The whole world is under condemnation of God

b.      Overmuch guilt and sorrow

c.       No forgiveness anywhere

d.      No hope – no belief in JESUS being alive

e.       Satanic manipulation

C.    The Seven Lies of Suicide

Suicide is Satan's ploy to short circuit everything God desires for you to realize in eternity!  The bottom line regarding suicide:  Every person thinking about committing suicide fails to understand just how much deceptive influence Satan has!

1.      People who talk about suicide won’t really do it – not true. Take it seriously and keep talking with them about LIFE, and HOPE

2.      Life is not worth all the pain being experienced

3.      Suicide is the end of all the problems

4.      Suicide will be easy or painless

5.      Everyone will be better off

6.      No one understands, or cares, or can help you

7.      That death is the end of existence

a.       The main goal of Hindu’s is to no longer exist!

D.    The Biblical and Real Truths About Suicide

1.      There is NO easy way to die

a.       Falling on a sword?

b.      Taking a bunch of pills, and convulsing into eternity?

c.       Gunshot to the head?

d.      Jumping off a cliff?

e.       Seriously!

2.      We were meant to live forever.

a.       Sin brought death into the world

b.      Life expectancy before the fall was eternal

c.       After the fall, it dropped to shorter and shorter

d.      Now back up to 70, maybe 80 – stretch it to 100

3.      One soul is of infinite value to God (Matthew 16:26; Luke 12:6,7)

a.       Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.  (Luke 12:6-7)

b.      Suicide is attention getting and newsworthy for one big reason – life is precious!

4.      What you are going through DOES matter to God!

a.       You might feel completely alone and abandoned by God, but reality can be very different from how we feel. So intense is God’s personal love for you that your anguish actually hurts Him (Heb 4:15). He is so deeply touched by your emotional or physical pain that it becomes His pain.

b.      He is actually protecting you from too much (1Cor 10:13)

5.      It is always SATAN that tries to get us to commit suicide

a.       Satan cannot kill a Christian – doesn’t have that authority! But he can get a Christian to do it for him!

b.      Satan’s desire and efforts are to either KILL you or get you to kill yourself (1Peter 5:8; John 10:10)

c.       Tried to get even JESUS to jump off the Temple!

d.      Nobody naturally hates themselves – it is of the devil

e.       The temptation to commit suicide does not prove your sinfulness and how bad you are - it only proves just how good Satan is at tempting you!

6.      Suicide is the ultimate thief

a.       Robbing you of the future God has planned for you

b.      Robbing your family of you

c.       Robbing society of all you could do

d.      Robbing your church of all the ways that you could minister like no one else will ever be able to!

e.       No matter how unbearable life may currently seem, the God of the impossible, who loves showering people with exquisite surprises, has good things planned for you (Jer 29:11). Even if you were to die naturally soon, there can be astounding eternal rewards for not supplanting God and wrecking his loving plans by taking things into your own hands.

7.      Suicide is Eternal Regret

a.       Eighty-five percent of people resuscitated after suicide attempts report being glad to be back alive.

b.      Suicide is NOT an end. Every death plunges us NOT into nothingness but into the endless consequences of how we have treated the precious gift of earthly life that God has entrusted to us. Death is a one way trip to eon after endless eon in which to regret or rejoice in our earthly actions.

c.       Fear not them that kill the body (Mt 10:28)

8.      The most successful and even happy of people can find themselves thinking of suicide

a.       Suicide is not only a sickness of bad people with guilty consciences

b.      But of people who just experience life, with all its twists and turns, and disasters

c.       Including believers.

1)      Actual words of a post I found online. Very common words… “I have reach the end I cannot take any more. I know that Christ died on the cross and he rose in 3 days. I love the Lord with all my heart. I cant handle this life anymore. I have told people about My Jesus.I pray my kids and grandkids are saved and go to heaven. I cant take this life anymore. Life is not worth what I have to go through the way anymore . When you love God so much and he seems to never help you. God knows my heart and my love for him.I will always love him but I dont want to live !!”

2)      Don’t for a moment think no believer would ever wrongly take a life – Moses did. David did

3)      Don’t think the devil won’t work you over sometime so much that he would convince you to take your own life - As he did king Saul

9.      Some addictions are actually slow forms of suicide

E.     The ONLY answers to Suicide is found in living another life – the LIFE of Jesus, and only if He is IN you! (John 1:1-4; John 10:10)

1.      So, GET the Son (1John 5:11,12) – get born again!

a.       Every man, woman and child needs a new birth! The opposite of suicide!

b.      We all need a life that is BIGGER, better, cleaner, stronger, able to carry your when you fall and are overwhelmed!

c.       And that new life is Christ in you, the HOPE of glory (Col 1:27)

d.      HE gives you life, abundant

e.       HE gives you a reason if not many reasons to live, and suffer, and struggle on

f.        Jesus Changes Our View on Life, Struggles, and DEATH

1)      Salvation’s effect on life AND death (Philp 1:20-25)

2)      Your life is not your own anymore (1Cor 6:19,20)!

3)      Suffering is part of everyone’s life – especially Christians (Philp 1:29; Rom 8:16-18)

4)      Often, the hard times in our lives, when things may seem hopeless, are really opportunities to learn valuable lessons such as humility, dependence on God, the value of prayer, or to learn how to help others who are suffering. In times when things seem the worst, we can be sure that God loves us more than ever:

2.      Walk in that newness of life – live a life in the Spirit (Romans 6:4)

3.      Walk circumspectly, vigilant, sober, on guard against the devil’s wiles and schemes and lies!

4.      Rest in Christ’s care

a.       God promises to never allow ANYTHING in your life that will be more than you can handle (1Cor 10:13)

b.      Believe God – “I believe God’s promise of life and purpose as long as I am breating” like Paul in the sinking ship!

c.       Resting in God’s perfect work! (Psalm 18:30; Psa 42:5)

5.      Look forward to dying, to be with Christ, but be ready to stay as long as God wills, to serve Christ

6.      Just obey God! Do things HIS way. Daily submit to HIS will. And when the liar, the devil comes around, resist him, believing he will FLEE from you! And he will!

IV. Conclusion

A.    We have looked at several hard questions

1.      Why do people seek to die? At least 8 big reasons

2.      What is God’s view on suicide? It is murder

3.      What is the effects of suicide?

a.       Affects the person

b.      Affects the family

c.       AND, it affects God (Ezek 33:11)

4.      Do only unsaved people kill themselves?

a.       No. King Saul did it – and he was going to where Jonathan and Samuel were

b.      1Peter 5:8 warns that Satan can get you to destroy yourself

5.      Is suicide the ultimate sin?

a.       No.

b.      Unbelief is!

6.      How to defeat suicidal thoughts and desires!

a.       New birth – new life – the opposite of suicide

b.      Walk with Jesus – how powerful that is

c.       And how serious our flippancy of it is!

B.     If you have ever thought about suicide, or, are struggling with it right now – the best thing to do is talk to someone. Talk with me or my wife! The devils love darkness and keeping things secret. Jesus says come to Him! He will not only give you hope, but he WILL give you rest!