Calvary Road Baptist Church

“CHRIST IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR SUICIDE”

Acts 16.28

The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention reports that in 2009 there were 36,909 suicides in the United States.^[1] Another web site reports that suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers.^[2] Over one million people die by suicide every year. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that it is the 13^th leading cause of death worldwide^[3] and the National Safety Council rates it sixth in the United States.^[4] It is a leading cause of death among teenagers and adults under 35.^[5],[6] The rate of suicide is far higher in men than in women, with males worldwide three to four times more likely to kill themselves than females.^[7],[8] There are an estimated 10 to 20 million nonfatal attempted suicides every year worldwide.^[9]

What is the tragedy known to us as suicide? There are two definitions of suicide that I want to read to you and then briefly comment on. First, suicide is “the act of killing oneself intentionally; in law, the act of self-destruction by a person sound in mind and capable of measuring his moral responsibility; legal suicide.”^[10] The first part of that definition I would not argue with, but I dispute the part about anyone who kills himself being of sound mind and capable of measuring moral responsibility. In fact, suicide is murder, the murder of oneself. To murder someone, even yourself, is not in my mind morally responsible. Does a person with a sound mind, who is capable of measuring moral responsibility, commit murder with the realization that murder is punishable not only in this life but also in the next life? Revelation 21.8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” I do not dispute that someone who murders himself is responsible for what he does, and will suffer the consequences for what he does throughout eternity. However, I do challenge the notion that someone who does that is exhibiting a sound mind and the capacity of measuring moral responsibility.

The second definition of suicide reads, “by extension, destruction of one’s moral, social, political, or business life by one’s own act; ruin of one’s plans or interests because of one’s own neglect or action.”^[11] I have no argument with that definition, because I believe it to be an accurate description of what I have termed intellectual and moral suicide that often precedes physical suicide. It is my opinion that before one actually kills himself he quite typically has already engaged in self-destructive behavior that results in profound intellectual and spiritual damage. Who can argue that boozing, drugs, illicit sexual activity, blowing educational opportunities, and even personal grooming and style choices can reflect a person’s decision to travel down a dead end road in life? The result can be profound guilt and/or a sense of hopelessness that is blind to the ultimate consequences of the choices that have been made. Then, when an unforeseen catastrophe or tragedy suddenly presents itself, a person may become so discouraged or disillusioned that he actually contemplates taking his own life.

Of course, this is an oversimplification. Suicide is the final result of a great many complicating factors. However, there is one surefire antidote for suicide. That antidote is Jesus Christ. Turn to Acts chapter 16, where we find the Apostle Paul and his colleague Silas in the inner dungeon of the Philippian prison, after having been stripped and beaten for preaching the gospel and casting a demon out of girl. Cutting to the chase, in the middle of the night, we read in Acts 16.26, “And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.” Verse 27: “And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.” Then Paul yelled out, “Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.” The Apostle stopped him from committing suicide, just as I would like to stop someone from committing suicide. Perhaps you can someday intervene to show a friend or loved one the Remedy that is better than self-destruction.

Consider this episode in God’s Word in light of four realities:

First, THE PAST SUICIDES IN PHILIPPI

History establishes the city of Philippi to be famous in the annals of suicide. Here Cassius, unable to survive defeat in the civil war against Octavius after the death of Julius Caesar, covered his face in an empty tent, and ordered his servant to strike the blow that killed him. His messenger Titinius held it to be ‘a Roman’s part’ to follow the stern example set for him by his master, so he also killed himself.^[12] It was also in Philippi that Brutus, Cassius’ coconspirator in the murder of Julius Caesar and partner with Cassius in the civil war against Octavius (who became known as Augustus Caesar), told his friends good-bye before killing himself, along with many others in league with him, to avoid the treatment they would receive as prisoners of the victor, Octavius. Thus, not only was suicide seen as an acceptable alternative to other ends by Romans (Philippi was a Roman colony after all), but the recent history of Philippi included the suicides of prominent, powerful, and very successful men.

It is sad that suicide is portrayed in so many cultures as the noble end of personal failure instead of what it really is, the morally reprehensible and cowardly act of someone who is desperate, setting a terrible example for impressionable children to emulate.

Next, THE PLANNED SUICIDE OF THE JAILER

We have no idea how long this man contemplated his suicide. It may very well be that he had long contemplated suicide as a way out of the problems of life he found himself unable to resolve, with the earthquake and the discovery of the prison doors open and the prisoner’s restraints loosed bringing him to his breaking point. However, a bit of knowledge of the Imperial Roman Army suggests two possible motives for his decision to commit suicide:

First, he may have decided upon suicide for shame. A Roman soldier was proud, a cog in a military machine that ruled the known world. They were well trained, brutally efficient in carrying out their orders, and arrogant in their confidence and competence. Thus, facing the failure of losing custody of prisoners he was responsible for, the Philippian jailor may have wanted to take his life because of the anticipated embarrassment he faced. Humiliation can be a powerful motivation in a man’s life.

Next, he may have decided upon suicide for escape. Whatever fate a prisoner faced would have to be met by the guard who let him escape. Thus, if anyone in that prison was facing crucifixion, a most cruel way to die as well being a very common form of Roman execution, then the jailor would face an identical fate for allowing his escape. Sometimes those suffering crucifixion lingered for days on end before finally dying. The Philippian jailor would not want to suffer that fate.

Whatever the precise motivation for deciding to take his own life, we can be sure of one thing: The gods who were worshipped by Roman soldiers, their so-called “military gods” who supposedly helped them in training and in combat, had nothing to offer this man.^[13] Was he in need of courage? His gods had none for him. Was he in need of help? His gods had none for him. Was he in need of forgiveness? His gods had none for him. Was he is need of deliverance? His gods had none for him. Was he in need of hope? His gods had nothing for him. False gods are capable of taking from you, but they are incapable of giving to you. When he needed spiritual help, it was not available from his Roman gods. Therefore, he decided to kill himself. What good is a god who cannot do for you what you cannot do for yourself in a time of need? Such a god is less than worthless.

Perhaps that is something everyone considering suicide should ponder. If I find no help for myself, perhaps the problem is not just the terrible fix I am in but the god I worship.

Third, THE PROTEST OF THE APOSTLE PAUL

Are you not glad Paul and Silas were in that Philippian prison? Was it not wonderful for God to have placed them there to prevent that man from committing suicide? But wait. To be where they could do that man some good, they had to be in prison. To be in the prison, they had to be arrested and beaten, where they would be a good testimony of God’s grace and provision. While in that prison, Paul and Silas showed the other prisoners and the jailor that their God, the real God, the true God, the living God, gave to them in their distress what the gods the Roman soldiers worshipped and gave offerings to could not give. Do you suppose God might place you in distress someday so you can be to someone what Paul and Silas were to the other prisoners and to the jailor, a candle showing forth the light of gospel truth to those in darkness?

Consider Paul’s reaction: “Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.” Why do you suppose Paul reacted the way he did when he saw evidence the jailor was determined to take his own life? After all, Paul was actually in a worse situation than the jailor was in. The jailor had not been beaten half to death. The jailor was not imprisoned for nothing. Yet, Paul cried out to stop the man. What does Paul’s reaction show us? It suggests Paul’s attention was not confined to his own predicament, despite his misery. He was not caught up in a pity party, oblivious to the needs of those around him. That would suggest to me that, despite his physical pain and suffering, Paul’s spiritual needs were fully met and he was opportunistic to be useful to God to meet the spiritual needs of another. Marvelous. You might be inclined at this point to think to yourself, what a Christian. However, you would be quite mistaken. The reality is, what a Savior! Consider a Savior who does such things with men even in those kinds of predicaments. When that Roman had nothing from his many gods, Paul and Silas were prepared, eager, and ready to minister grace to him with encouraging words.

If I may engage in some conjecture, I would like to suggest some reasons why Paul reacted the way he did, almost certainly not knowing precisely what would unfold before him: The first reason I might suggest for stopping the man from killing himself has to do with the sanctity of life, the sacredness of life, the value of human life. My friends, you bear the image of God, as do I, and as does every other person you know. For that reason alone, their lives are valuable and worth preserving. Paul did not have to know the man to want to save his life, because the fact that he was a man meant that he bore the image and likeness of God. That made him worth preserving, just as it makes everyone worth preserving. The second reason I might suggest for stopping the man from killing himself has to do with the love of Christ. Perhaps Paul’s mind rehearsed the events of this night when he later wrote to the Corinthians and told them of Christ’s love working through Christians to bless people. Second Corinthians 5.14 begins, “For the love of Christ constraineth us.” At least a portion of Paul’s motivation for crying out to the man was the love Jesus Christ had for the man that was expressed to him through the life and actions of the Christian who saw his life in danger. The third reason I might suggest for stopping the man from killing himself has to do with the mercy of God. You do realize that suicide is a form of homicide, murder, and that murderers have a terrible fate awaiting them. Yet, God is merciful and He extends His mercy through Christian witness to bring Christ to the lost, even those lost people who in their desperation are contemplating suicide. I am reminded of Ken Connolly’s testimony that his own father was contemplating suicide because of the extreme pain he suffered from his combat wounds in World War 1 while in the British Army, until he heard the gospel and was converted to Jesus Christ. Oh, the things God can do with the most hopeless and despondent sinner who comes to Christ. Paul looked at the Philippian jailor through the lens of God’s mercy. The final of the reasons I speculate about this evening is faith. Paul was a man who knew that a sinner’s position before God could be instantaneously and forever altered by means of faith. Salvation, you see, is not something a sinner works for that takes time to put into effect. Salvation is always immediate, even if it is not always obviously dramatic. Therefore, Paul knew that despite that man’s predicament, he could be instantaneously saved from his sins through faith in Jesus Christ. That, I believe, prompted Paul to react as he did. He had a Savior who can do the impossible.

Finally, THE PROVISION OF JESUS CHRIST

What good are you to a man with a problem if you care, but have no solutions? What benefit could the Apostle Paul have been to the man by preventing him from killing himself, just so he could be crucified the next morning? Some people are real do-gooders, expecting that things are made better by showing compassion. However, a problem is nowhere closer to a solution just because you are in a better mood. This jailor did not need a better mood. He needed a remedy. Anyone who is contemplating suicide needs far more than good feelings and compassion to bring him back from the brink of destruction, unless you are willing for him to go through with his suicide when you are occupied doing something else and not there to stop him. Thankfully, Paul had more than compassion and deep concern. He had the Answer, Jesus Christ.

Consider the three items most troublesome to someone contemplating suicide, his past, his present, and his future. He has a history that deeply troubles him. He has present issues that he needs a great deal of help addressing. He sees no future worth living for because he has no hope. For each of these phases of life, Jesus Christ is the answer:

First, concerning your past history. Though we do not know what it was, that Philippian jailor had a history. The reason he was about to kill himself was because he knew that the next time he stood before his superior he would have a recent history he could not satisfactorily explain. Prisoners had escaped. At least he thought that would his history. However, more important than what he anticipated his history would soon be was the actual history he had recorded in God’s books. His history was a lifetime of sinning. The same is true of you, or of anyone whose thoughts drift to suicide. In great measure, people in trouble think about their problems and the terrible issues that lie in their past threatening to ruin their chances for a future. However, more of a problem than they could ever realize is their history of sins against God, that He does hold against them. If you have sins in your history (and you do), you will suffer eternal punishment for it, because the Bible teaches that the wages of sin is death. In what way does Jesus Christ promise to be a solution to such problems? The sinner who comes to Jesus for the forgiveness and cleansing through the blood of Christ no longer has a history of sin with God. Hebrews 8.12 reads, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” Hebrews 10.17 reads, “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” How is this possible? First John 1.7 and 9 clearly shows that salvation through faith in Christ results in the believer’s sins being cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Thus, though the sinner is frequently plagued by his past (the memories, the guilt, and the regrets), the child of God has no such past with God, Who has promised to remember them no more.

Next, concerning your present help. I usually avoid using the word help in connection with salvation; because so many people want Jesus to help them, meaning that they want to somehow cooperate in their own salvation. The Bible does not teach that. However, the Bible does teach that our all-sufficient Savior does engage in helping the Christian in living his life. Jesus said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me,” Hebrews 13.5-6. As well, prayer is the Christian’s ongoing resource. Because Jesus is the Christian’s Savior, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need,” Hebrews 4.16. May I also point out the indwelling Holy Spirit, Who seals believers, and bears fruit in our lives, and who produces Christ likeness in our personalities? Thus, though the despondent person contemplating suicide may feel overwhelmed with what he is faced with (a job lost, a mortgage due), the child of God is more than a conqueror through Christ, Romans 8.37. Add to that First John 5.4: “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”

Finally, concerning your promised hope. People contemplating suicide are not the only ones who have no hope, they are just the ones in the most immediate danger because they have no hope. However, when you offer any sinner Jesus Christ you offer him hope. Let me explain. Hope is the confident expectation of future blessing based on the promises of God. However, because God has promised the sinner nothing but judgment, he has no hope, Ephesians 2.12. The sinner, and especially the potential suicide, has nothing in his future awaiting him but Hellfire. Things change forever when the sinner comes to Christ. You see, Christ is our hope, First Timothy 1.1, and our anticipation of Him coming for us from heaven is our blessed hope, Titus 2.13. Because of this sure promise, Christians have hope concerning the future, knowing that no matter how bad things may sometimes seem in the here and now, all will end well in the sweet by and by.

Suicide is a terrible problem, especially among the youth of today. They are lured and enticed by the world into a wrong set of values, a wrong set of goals, the worship of such false idols as money, fame, beauty, and pleasure, and they become despondent when they find that either they cannot compete in the world’s rat race or they destroy their lives in the process of competing. Whatever the cause, the contamination of sins produces guilt and disappointment. Then there is shame and humiliation accompanied by the feeling of being overwhelmed and discovering that you are without any kind of future. There are obvious differences with different people, but the conclusion ends up being the same . . . suicide.

Suicide is the admission of failure. You cannot undo the past, you cannot make it through the present, and you have no expectation of it turning out any better in the future. So, you do yourself in. Some people do themselves in physically and actually take their own lives. Other people do themselves in intellectually by refusing to go to do homework, refusing to learn, refusing to put forth the effort to succeed in school, or refusing to learn what is required to land a decent job. Still others do themselves in morally by fornicating, by drinking, by doing drugs, and so forth. Each of these forms of suicide is essentially the same in that each is an admission of failure that leads to giving completely up and eventually going to Hell. History, help and hope. The three spheres of life that make life not worth living, or at least not worth trying to live well.

However, for each person Jesus Christ is the answer. He erases the sins of the past and provides the believer with a new personal history, a new start. He enables every believer to cope with the present issues of life, one step of faith at a time. And He guarantees the future, which He will assuredly make happen the way He plans because He holds the future in His hands. So, you see now for yourself. Christ is the antidote for suicide, the only real antidote for suicide. He is Who we offer to those who are in trouble.

 

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