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Now, if you would turn your Bible to Matthew 27, we just finished reading Acts chapter 1. And in Acts chapter 1, there was a short scripture there about how Judas Iscariot had killed himself and what I want to preach about this morning is the subject of suicide. And this is a subject that occurs several times in the Bible. In fact, I counted specifically six people in the Bible that committed suicide. And of course, Judas Iscariot is probably the most famous one. Now, if you would, go to Matthew 27 verse 3 where we get the story of Judas killing himself. It says in verse number 3, Then Judas, which had betrayed him when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? See thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field to bury strangers in, wherefore that field was called, the field of blood unto this day. And so we see something similar to what we just read in Acts chapter 1. Now Judas Iscariot died and went to hell. There's no question about that. He's called the son of perdition. Perdition means he's lost. It means damnation. And if you remember that Jesus Christ, when he prayed unto the Father, he talked about how all of his disciples were saved and none of them is lost except for, he said, the son of perdition that the scripture may be fulfilled. And he said of Judas Iscariot that it would have been better for him if he had never been born. Now a lot of people will look at this, and go if you would to John chapter 6, a lot of people will look at this and misinterpret this and they'll say, Well, you know, Judas is an example of somebody who lost his salvation. I've heard people say that. You know, Judas Iscariot, the fact that he died and went to hell proves that you can lose your salvation. But let me tell you something. Judas was never saved. The Bible is very clear about that. Look at John 6 verse 64. This is Jesus. He just finished preaching and a lot of people were offended at his preaching. And in verse 64 it says, But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray him. In John chapter 70 it says, Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil. He spake of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve. Now look, this is early in Jesus' ministry. So it's not like at the very end of Jesus' ministry somehow Judas was tempted or Judas went into sin and somehow he lost his salvation. Even from the beginning, the Bible says, Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that they believed not, betrayed him, and he said, I've chosen you, but you're a devil. So he was a devil even from the time that he was chosen to be one of his disciples. So many great things in this chapter. You know, those that believe in Calvinism, the doctrine that says that God chooses who goes to heaven and hell, they'll take these scriptures where Jesus talks about choosing the disciples and say, see, God chooses us, but then they never look at this one where he says, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil, proving that Jesus was choosing them, he wasn't choosing them to be saved, he was choosing them to be his disciples. And Jesus specifically purposely chose Judas even though he was a devil, even though he was not saved, in order to fulfill the Father's will because it was God's plan that one of the disciples would betray him and would turn him over unto the chief priests to be crucified. And so Judas was a devil from the beginning, he was not saved at all. Now a lot of people teach a doctrine that says, well, you know, if you commit suicide, you're for sure going to hell just because you committed suicide. Now that's not what the Bible teaches at all, the Bible never teaches that, and the reason that Judas went to hell is simply because he was not saved. Simply because, as it says in John 6, he believed not. You see the one, and go back to Matthew 27 if you would, the one thing that you have to do to be saved according to the Bible is believe. The Bible says what must I do to be saved and they said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. The Bible says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. And so if there's one person on this earth out of seven billion or so people who truly in their heart believes on the Lord Jesus Christ and that person were to go to hell, then that would make the promises of God vain. It would make it a lie because he has promised, the Bible says this is the promise that he has promised us, even eternal life. And God has promised it upon all them that believe, for there is no difference, he says. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. But people will say, well if you commit suicide you're automatically going to hell because here's what they say, if you sin as a Christian they say every time you sin you have to repent or ask forgiveness or you're going to lose your salvation. That's what people teach. Now look at Matthew 27 and tell me if Judas repented of this sin. It says, Then Judas, which betrayed him when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders saying, I have sinned and that I have betrayed the innocent blood. Let me ask you this, was Judas sorry for what he did? Yeah, he betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ, he was sorry for what he did, he had remorse, he felt bad about it, but did that change what he did? No. Did it change the consequences of what he did? I mean imagine if I were to go out and kill someone and then stand before a judge and say, no, no, you don't understand judge, I'm very sorry for what I've done. And in fact I promise I'll never do it again, in fact I'm willing to change. That judge isn't going to say, oh, well in that case, you know, case dismissed. I mean can you imagine that? And if he did, we'd look at that judge and say, that is an unjust judge. We would say, that is not fair, that is not right. Where is justice? And see, justice is symbolized often by, if you remember, the lady that's holding the balances in her hand, right? There's usually an image of a lady and she's holding the balances and she has a blindfold and she has a sword in one hand and the balances in the other. And the balances there represent the fact that when a crime is committed, there has to be an equal punishment that's equal to the crime to balance the scales of justice. And the blindfold is to show that there's no respect of persons. You know, justice is blind. And the sword is to represent the death penalty on those who commit murder and other similar crimes. And so the Bible is clear that the only way to be forgiven of your sins is for the punishment to be meted out. And the Bible clearly says without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. Okay? And the way that we are saved is by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ because His blood was shed. It's His death, burial, and resurrection that makes an atonement for our sin that allows our sins to be forgiven and to be passed over. It's not the fact that we're really sorry. And there are so many people today that preach a gospel of repent of your sins and thou shalt be saved. And that is not what the Bible teaches. You know, there are plenty of 12-step programs that cause people to repent of their sins, you know, and start living a better life. That's not salvation. Salvation is when you believe in what the Lord Jesus Christ has already finished. What He did for us, His death, His burial, His resurrection, that's salvation. Now go, if you would, to Psalm chapter 19, Psalm 19. Because you say, well, but after you're saved, you still have to keep on asking forgiveness for all your sins. And they say, well, if you commit suicide, how can you ask forgiveness because, you know, once you've done it, you're dead. So you don't have time to ask forgiveness. And this is why people in the Middle Ages would often choose a method of suicide by tying a millstone to themselves and casting themselves into the sea because then what they would do is they said they could repent on the way down. You know what I mean? Because it was like they couldn't get away because they were tied to this rock, but they had time to say they're sorry and chant their Hail Marys or whatever it is that Roman Catholics think is going to get them into heaven. They would do that on the way down. But look, it's ridiculous to say that in order to be saved, we must confess and forsake every sin that we ever commit. Look if you would at Psalms. This is a passage that talks about the Word of God, the law of the Lord. Look at verse 7. It says, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. So we're talking about the Word of God. Look at verse 11. It says, moreover by them, talking about by God's commandments, is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there is great word. So according to verse 11, God's Word is here to warn us so that we don't sin, right? Because there are a lot of times that people sin through ignorance, don't they? They commit a sin and they say, wow, I didn't even know that that was wrong. But God's Word is here to warn us so that we can keep those commandments and be rewarded. But look at verse 12. It says, who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. So here David is saying that, you know what, we can't even really understand our errors. And we have secret faults, meaning that even if we do study the Bible, even if we do hear the commandments of God, there are still always going to be sins that we commit without even knowing it. We're never going to know everything. And even David, a man who knew the Word of God very well, that meditated on it day and night, he said, cleanse thou me from secret faults. You know, who can understand his errors? How can I even know every time that I sin? Look, the Bible says the thought of foolishness is sin, and I guarantee you out of all the thousands of thoughts that we have every day, we have some foolish thoughts in the course of every day, and therefore we sin daily. We cannot even know all our errors, let alone confess all of our errors and forsake them all. You know, if that was the way to get into heaven, none of us would be going. Because none of us could fully cleanse ourselves and fully repent of every sin. But the Bible has made it easy, thank God the Lord did all the work when he died on the cross and shed his blood for us. But here it says, who can understand his errors, cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Now the presumptuous sin is when you do know it's wrong. You do know that this is wrong and you know that you're breaking the law, but you go ahead and do it anyway. You know, this is what the Bible calls sinning willfully. And it says here, keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins, let them not have dominion over me, then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgressions. So the Bible's teaching here that, you know, sinning willfully or presumptuously is a greater transgression than a secret fault. Okay, but guess what? They're both transgressions, they're both sin. And that's why the Bible says in verse 14, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord my strength and my redeemer. So God's standard for perfection is not just to have the right actions, but it's also to have the right words and it's even to have the right thoughts. And in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 I believe, he talks about how we are to bring every thought into captivity. And you bring every thought to the obedience of Jesus Christ. I mean, every single thought should be a righteous thought and no one is that perfect. Now that doesn't mean that we shouldn't strive toward that. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't confess every sin that we're aware of. And David often confessed the sins that he knew he had committed. But then he also just said a blanket prayer of, hey, cleanse thou me from secret faults. How can I even understand all my errors? You know, it's not our righteousness. The Bible says, not by works of righteousness would we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. So Judas Iscariot went to hell not because he committed suicide. If he would have lived to be 100 and died of natural causes, he would have still gone to hell. He went to hell because he did not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And it got to a point where it was too late for him. And you know, and there's no evidence here in Matthew 27 that he started believing that Jesus Christ was the Son of God or that he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior. All we see is that he just felt bad about the fact that he had betrayed an innocent man. He knew that he was betraying an innocent man to his death. And when he saw that Jesus was going to be killed, he changed his mind. Well, it doesn't change what happened. Didn't change his fate whatsoever. So the first person we see in the Bible, we're moving backwards by the way, we're starting at the end and going to the beginning, is Judas Iscariot. He was a wicked person. He knew it was too late for him. He knew he couldn't go back and fix it and undo it, so he just decided to kill himself. He had no hope. Now go back to 1 Kings chapter 16. We're going to look at the next person that committed suicide in the Bible. And that's Zimrai, 1 Kings chapter 16. So so far we've got Judas Iscariot, he was an unsaved man, he was hopeless, it was too late for him, and so he just decided to kill himself. And so the Bible says that he hanged himself. Now some people will try to say that there's a contradiction between Matthew 27 and Acts 1, because Acts 1 talks about him falling headlong and bursting asunder in the midst and all his bowels gushed out. Obviously he must have hanged himself in a place where when he fell he then, basically the rope broke. He wasn't a boy scout apparently, you know, because he ended up hanging himself and falling and breaking. You know, I don't know, maybe he tried to free himself, who knows, but for some reason. So really Acts 1 and Matthew 27 do not contradict one another. It's just two aspects of the same story. But the next guy who killed himself in the Bible is in 1 Kings 16, 16, Zimrai. The Bible says, And the people that were encamped heard say, Zimrai hath conspired and hath also slain the king, wherefore all Israel made Omri the captain of the host king over Israel that day in the camp. And Omri went up from Gibethon and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah. And it came to pass when Zimrai saw that the city was taken, that he went into the palace of the king's house and burnt the king's house over him with fire and died, for his sins which he sinned and doing evil in the sight of the Lord, and walking in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he did to make Israel sin." So this was a time in Israel's history when there wasn't really firmly one dynasty that was in control. If you look at the southern kingdom of Judah, the sons of David remained on that throne. David, Rehoboam, I'm sorry, David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, you go down the list and it was father to son, father to son. Well in Israel it didn't really work out that way. These kings were very wicked and so God kept getting rid of them and other people would come and take their place. Well Zimrai basically conspired against the king. Zimrai killed the king in order, and in those days it was like if you kill the king, a lot of times you'd kill the king and then you'd become the king. So that's what Zimrai does. Well his rebellion is short-lived because he only reigns for seven days. Because as soon as he kills the king and takes over, it turned out that the people did not really want him as king. The people did not respect Zimrai. Now the captain of the host was Omri, that was basically the top general in the army. So this was a guy that was really popular with the people and really beloved of the people. He's a very wicked man, but the people loved him, he was popular. And so as soon as people heard that Zimrai was king, they decided no, we want Omri. So they basically lifted up Omri and Omri comes to Tirzah, Tirzah was the capital of Israel at that time, and he comes there to take the kingdom. And when Zimrai sees Omri coming, with the whole force of the army behind him, all the people are on his side, he pretty much knows he's going to be killed. He's going to die. So he has this attitude that says, well, you know, if I'm going to be killed anyway, I'm just, just to burn Omri, just to show him, I'm just going to burn down the palace. You know, because if I can't rule in this palace, no one will. So he basically just lights his own palace on fire, and in the process he kills himself. I mean he dies in the fire. But he basically does that just so that Omri won't get the palace, and then of course Omri ends up and moves the capital, because that place is burned down anyway, he goes and buys the hill from Shemer and founds the city of Samaria, and that's where the capital is from that day forward. First it was in Tirzah, then it was in Samaria. So why did this guy kill himself? Well I think this guy was similar to Judas because he was a traitor. You know, he basically slew his master. Just as Judas turned in Jesus Christ to be slain of the Jews, basically Zimrai killed his master, and he was a traitor. And there's no evidence that he was saved, he was probably an unsaved man, because the Bible talks about the fact that he worshipped the golden calves of Jeroboam. No evidence at all that he was saved. So kind of like a similar guy to Judas, he was wicked, he knew he had no hope, he knew he was going to die anyway, so he killed himself. Go if you would to 2 Samuel chapter 16, 2 Samuel 16, and we'll look at the next example in the Bible. We saw Judas, we saw Zimrai. Let's look at Ahithophel. Ahithophel is another man who killed himself in the Bible, 2 Samuel 16. Now let me tell you a little bit about Ahithophel. Ahithophel was a counselor. Basically today we have the President of the United States and then he has his cabinet, which are supposedly his advisors, people who are experts in certain areas and certain subjects, and they give him counsel, they tell him what's going on. Well Kings in those days had also a board of counselors that would give them advice and give them good wisdom. So when the book of Proverbs talks a lot about how wise it is to surround yourself with people that can give you good advice and good godly counsel. Well Ahithophel was a man that gave counsel unto King David, he was a very good counselor in fact, and he counseled both David and then when Absalom rebelled against David and took over the kingdom, Ahithophel, instead of being loyal to David, was a traitor. And he turncoated and did not stay with David, but instead he joined the rebellion with Absalom. Now look if you would at 2 Samuel 16.23, and the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counseled in those days, was as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God. So does that sound like pretty good advice? Man I'd like to have somebody like that where I knew well if I ask this guy, it's like I'm asking God. I mean I'm going to get the right advice, okay? And it says here that if a man counseled with Ahithophel, it says it was as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God. So was all the counsel of Ahithophel, both with David and with Absalom, okay? And so he was a great counselor. Now what happened is he gives counsel unto Absalom on how he's going to keep the kingdom, on how he's not going to lose the kingdom, okay? But what happens is another guy comes in and basically brings lying counsel, because he's a friend of David and he wants to help David. So he comes in with some really bad advice. And what happens is the men that are with Absalom and Absalom himself, they decide to go with the bad advice. They decide to reject Ahithophel's counsel. Look at verse 23 of chapter 17. And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass and arose and got him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order and hanged himself and died and was buried in the sepulcher of his father. So what's interesting is that the three people we've looked at so far, they all had one thing in common, these three people who committed suicide. They were all traitors. They all betrayed their boss. You know, Zimrai betrayed the king, Judas betrayed Jesus Christ, Ahithophel betrayed King David and went along with Absalom in the rebellion. Now I remember I used to read this when I was a kid in 2 Samuel 17 and I always scratched my head at this and said, you know, are you that thin-skinned to Ahithophel? Just because somebody won't take your advice, you're going to go kill yourself? I never understood that. Because you know, do you ever have people where you ask them for advice and then if you don't take their advice they get really mad and say, I'm never going to give you advice again. It's like, wait a minute. Just because I'm asking for advice, it doesn't mean that I'm just going to do whatever you tell me to do. I'm just trying to get some opinions, you know, trying to get some advice. And I always looked at this and said, why is he reacting so dramatically to the fact that Absalom won't take his advice? But then, you know, as I got older I got a little wiser and understood the Bible a little more and made perfect sense because Ahithophel knows that his advice is the right advice. And he knows that if they follow the bad advice, David's going to take over. Absalom's going to be killed and he knows that he's going to be killed, okay? And so he realizes, I'm done. I mean, Absalom's making a stupid decision here. He's not following my advice and therefore I'm on the losing side here. And so he kills himself. Now, you know what's so foolish about this? Is that there were many people who rebelled against David and went with Absalom upon whom David showed mercy. I mean, did David kill all the people that followed Absalom? No. There were many, many traitors and people who followed with Absalom where David was very forgiving and did not kill him. Look, Ahithophel should not have killed himself. He could have been forgiven. I mean, David probably would have kept him on just because his advice was so good. And given the fact that David pardoned and forgave many other people who rebelled with Absalom, including the whole nation who rebelled with Absalom. And so, you know, what I want to say about suicide, and we're going to go to the next example, if you want to turn there, 1 Samuel chapter 31. You know, what we see here, obviously we know that suicide is sinful. We know that it's wicked. We know that it's not something that God would ever want us to do. And look, so far the people that we've seen committing suicide have been some pretty bad people. Right? Just going to show us, you know, the people who commit suicide, a lot of them were some pretty bad people, some pretty wicked people. Now granted, they were in some hopeless situations, but still, we should never as believers lose hope, okay? God tells us to hope. The Bible talks about how Abraham hoped against hope. And you know, we as believers should always know that as long as we're on this earth and alive and breathing air, God has a purpose for us being here. God has a job for us to do. And the Bible says, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. I mean, no matter what situation we're in, whatever bad, hopeless situation, we need to understand that look, there's always hope. I mean, how many times do we see situations in the Bible that looked hopeless and then God comes through? You know, we look at Hagar. Hagar is at the point of death and her son Ishmael is about to die, and she says, I don't even want to see my son die. And she basically just casts him behind a bush, right? Her young teenage son, she casts him behind a bush and just goes away and just falls on her face crying out to God, okay? And there's no hope. There's no food. There's no water. They're out in the desert. And God at the very last minute answers them, shows her where she can find some water. She's able to give water to her son Ishmael. He grows up to be a mighty hunter. He grows up to be a great man and he grows up to found whole nations, right? Because she was on the point of giving up, but thank God, Ishmael, the Bible says that God heard the voice of the lad. That teenage boy, Ishmael, prayed unto God. His prayer was heard. You know, Mom had kind of given up, but Ishmael hadn't given up. He prayed and was hurt. So you know, how many times, I mean, look at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They're being thrown into a fiery furnace. Wouldn't you say it's over? I mean, the story's over. Daniel being thrown into the lion's den, done. I mean, the children of Israel backed up against the Red Sea. The whole army of Pharaoh's host is advancing and, you know, there's no hope, we're doomed. But yet there was hope. Yet God is a God of miracles. And you know, you say, well yeah, but I've messed up. Look, David committed adultery, David committed murder, but did he give up? No. Now look, did he suffer? Yes. Did he ruin his life in many ways? Yes. But he still did some great things for God after that. And you know what, it's like Paul said when he's writing 2 Timothy chapter 4. He said, I'm about ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand. He said, I've finished my course. And he's saying the time of his departure is at hand. Why? Because he's referring to the fact that he has finished the work that God gave him to do and now he's about ready to depart and to be with the Lord. You know, as long as we're on this earth, there is something left for us to do or we wouldn't be here. I mean if we were done, if God just looked at us and said, you're done, there's nothing more for you to do, I have no purpose for you anymore, then he would just bring us home. He can end our life at any moment. But he chooses to allow us to live because there's a purpose for our life. Now look, if you're not saved this morning, your life has no purpose. You know, you need to get saved. But if you're a child of God, if you're saved, if you're born again, your life has purpose, your life has value, your life is given to you by God and you should never ever even think of giving up hope to the point where you would give your life and sacrifice your life for nothing and kill yourself. Now not only is it just a foolish thing to do, it's a sinful thing to do, it's murder, it's losing hope, it's a lack of faith in God, it's basically, you know, not allowing God to do whatever he's trying to do in your life, you're just quitting. But not only that, but it does great harm to the people that are left behind. You know, I know people whose loved ones have committed suicide and I don't think that there's probably anything more painful than someone who has a loved one commit suicide. I mean, think about it. You know, if your child died in any way, you'd be very upset, you'd be very grieved, you'd be in a lot of pain and heaviness and sorrow. If you lost a child through an accident or whatever. I mean, whatever happened to be horrible, right? But look, I think probably most people would agree that probably the last way that anyone would ever want to lose their child would be that their child committed suicide. I mean that would probably be the most painful, worst possible thing. You know, or if your spouse committed suicide. I mean that's got to be a horrible thing to go through. You know, and so I don't know if people who kill themselves are thinking about that. You know, what they're doing to the people around them and the torment that they're putting the people around them through. But that's, you know, now I've known people who have committed suicide and the people that I've known who committed suicide, you know, I'll give you some reasons why they committed suicide. You know, one of them found out that his wife had been unfaithful to him. You know? And here's the thing, obviously suicide is wrong, suicide is sin. And here's the thing, you know, there's alcohol involved. You know, his wife's been unfaithful, his wife's in love with another man, and what does he do? You know, he goes out, gets drunk, and kills himself, okay? Now I wonder if people think about that when they commit adultery. You know, if people think about that when they even begin to go down that road, of even flirting with that kind of wicked sin, the kind of pain that they're putting somebody through that would actually drive them to the point, you know, of committing suicide. And by the way, the vast majority of suicide, get the statistics, is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. If you look at the statistics. I don't know, I think it's like 80 or 90 percent or something, I'll have to look it up. But I looked at it one time and it was, it was just staggering. You know, and that should show you right there another reason to stay away from drugs and alcohol. You know, people get addicted to drugs and they're not in their right mind. They do crazy things, they do things that they wouldn't normally do. A sober, right-minded person rarely would ever commit suicide, okay? But we do see a few examples of it in the Bible. Let's look at the next example, 1 Samuel 31, this is King Saul. Now so far, everybody we've looked at was probably an unsaved man. Actually Ahithophel was probably saved, you know, chances are. I mean if he had that good of advice and he's given his godly counsel, he was probably saved. Now we don't really have concrete, for sure, proof evidence, but you know, I think we can be pretty certain that Ahithophel was saved. Zimri, probably not. Judas, for sure not. Look at King Saul, 1 Samuel 31 verse 3. It says the battle went sore against Saul and the archers hit him and he was sore wounded of the archers. Then said Saul unto his armor bearer, draw thy sword and thrust me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and abuse me. But his armor bearer would not, for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell upon it. And when his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword and died with them. So Saul died and his three sons and his armor bearer and all his men that same day together. So here we have two men who committed suicide, Saul and his armor bearer both. Now why did Saul commit suicide? Well, he was wounded of the archers and the Philistines are closing in on him. So he sees a hopeless situation. He sees that the battle is hopeless and that he's going to be killed anyway and that he just doesn't want to be abused. He doesn't want to be tortured or disfigured. He'd rather just go as quickly as possible so he kills himself. Now you say, well, you know, what's wrong with this? Well, go if you would to 1 Samuel 28, 1 Samuel chapter 28. And in 1 Samuel chapter 28, it's prophesied that this would happen and that Saul would be killed. It says in verse 18 of 1 Samuel 28, Because thou obeyest not the voice of the Lord, nor execute its fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day. The Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me. The Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hands of the Philistines. Then Samuel fell straight away all along on the earth, and he was sore afraid because of the words of Samuel, and there was no strength in him for he had eaten no bread all the day nor all the night. So here we see that it's predicted that Saul and all of his sons the next day will go to be with Samuel. And we know that Samuel is dead, but we know that he was saved. We know that he's with the Lord, he's obviously not in hell, and he's saying you're going to go to be with me. That's another evidence that Saul was saved, besides all the tons of other evidence that he was saved. The fact that, you know, he was turned into another man and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and all these different things. But here we see that it's predicted that him and his sons will all die the next day. Now, the Bible told us in chapter 31 that all of his sons that were on the battlefield died, and he died also, didn't he? Now you can look at this and say, well, Pastor Anderson, you know, when Saul was out there on the battlefield and he was wounded by the archers, the only reason he killed himself was because he knew for a fact that he would die anyway. Because you can say, well, you know, God came through for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, or for Ishmael, or for whoever else. But come on, Pastor Anderson, he'd already been told in chapter 28 that he's for sure going to die anyway that day, so he figured, hey, I don't want to be abused by these Philistines, but wait a minute. First of all, that still doesn't make it right, but number two, there are a lot of times in the Bible where God says, you know, you're going to die to someone and then they don't die. Isn't that true? Because think about what about Nineveh. Jonah said, yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Now, was Nineveh overthrown in forty days? No. No. I mean, there are many times. What about when God told Hezekiah, you're going to die. And then remember when Hezekiah wept and prayed and fasted? What happened? He told Hezekiah, I'm going to give you fifteen more years. So a lot of times we make the mistake of thinking, you know, okay, we've done wrong and God's pronounced some judgment upon us or some curse upon us and we give up hope. When in reality there were many people who received a hopeless message from God, like Nineveh. You don't see any evidence that Jonah is telling them, hey, it's not too late, you can get this right. He just told them, look, yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Look Hezekiah, you're going to die, you're done. But yet when people were sorry and when they did repent, then He did give them grace. He did extend mercy to them, okay? Well here, for example, we could see that Saul could have gotten right with God. I mean when he's there with Samuel at the witch of Endor, he could have repented, he could have said he was sorry, he could have made a change in his life, he could have made some change the next day, and who knows whether or not God would have had mercy. Just like when God told David that his son was going to die, he still prayed and fasted for the seven days because he said, who knows if God will be merciful? Because you know what, it wouldn't have been the first time and it wouldn't have been the last time. And so that's why I'm saying, it never makes any sense to just give up hope. It never makes sense to throw in the towel. It always makes sense to hang on to the hope that we can be rescued out of whatever bad situation that we're in. And the Bible says that God will not suffer us to be tempted above that we're able. He said He'll always provide a way of escape that will be able to withstand the temptation, that we'll be able to get through whatever He has us going through. Now if you would go to 2 Samuel chapter 1, because a lot of people are confused. A lot of people will dispute the fact that Saul killed himself. Because a lot of people just really want to hang on to this doctrine that says, you know, if you kill yourself, you're going to hell. You know, they really want to hang on to that doctrine. So when you prove to them that Saul went to heaven because of the fact that Samuel tells him he's going to come be with him and other evidence, the Bible talks about Saul prophesying and is Saul also among the prophets, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and prophesied and the Bible said that all the prophets would be in the kingdom of heaven in Luke 13.28. So a lot of people will dispute this and try to say, well, Saul didn't commit suicide. Because look at 2 Samuel chapter 1 verse 5, and David said unto the young man that told him, How knowest thou that Saul and Jonathan his son be dead? And the young man that told him said, As I happened by chance upon Mount Gilboa, behold Saul leaned upon his spear. Now let me ask you this, is that really the weapon that he leaned upon? What did the Bible say he leaned on? He fell on the sword. Now is there a difference between a sword and a spear? There's definitely a big difference and in the Bible there's always a difference. And so here we see that this guy's story is a little bit shaky right away. It says, Well, he leaned on his spear, and lo, the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. And when he looked behind him, he saw me and called unto me, and I answered, Here am I. And he said unto me, Who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite. He said unto me again, Stand, I pray thee, upon me and slay me, for anguish has come upon me, because my life is yet whole in me. So after getting shot of the archers and after falling on the sword, this guy's saying he was still alive. So I stood upon him and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after that he was fallen. And I took the crown that was upon his head and the bracelet that was on his arm, and it brought them hither unto my Lord. So a lot of people will look at this and say, Look, man, you know, Saul did not kill himself. This Amalekite is the one who killed him. That's what the Bible says. No, that is not what the Bible says. That is what the Amalekite said. Is the Amalekite God? No. And see, here's an important principle when you're studying the Bible, is to realize that every word of the Bible is true, every word. But wait a minute, doesn't the Bible often record what people say that's not true? For example, the Bible records some of the words of Satan, doesn't it? Like where Satan came and tempted Jesus. But the Bible also says of Satan that there is no truth in him. He's a liar and the father of it. What about when we see people that lie in the Bible? What about when we see Mary in the Bible say to Jesus, Oh, your father and I, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. Was Joseph really Jesus' father? But isn't that what Mary said? And then Jesus rebukes her in the next verse and says, How is it that ye sought me? Know ye not that I must be about my father's business? When he was preaching the word of God in the temple and disputing with the doctors. And so what we see is that people in the Bible often speak falsely if it's not God talking. If it's just man talking, they can often speak falsely. Job, the book of Job is a perfect example where there are whole chapters spoken by Eliphaz, the Temanite, Zophar the Naamathite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and at the end of the book God says they did not speak what was right concerning me. Forget everything that they said, it was wrong. So when we study the Bible we have to understand that the narrator of the Bible said in 1 Samuel 31, So Saul died. Meaning that's how he died, about him killing himself. This Amalekite comes with a conflicting story, wrong weapon, and claiming that he's the one that killed him. Why did he say that he was the one that killed him? Because he hoped to be rewarded, the Bible says. He thought David hated Saul, but David loved his enemies, and David did not hate Saul. And so he ends up killing this man who comes and tells him. And so this man was a liar. Now you say, well but wait a minute, he had proof. Well the only proof he had was a crown and a bracelet. Guess what? If Saul was already dead, he still could have showed up and just taken the crown and the bracelet off his dead body. Now go to 1 Chronicles chapter number 10. Just to further prove this to you, in 1 Chronicles chapter 10 we get a parallel account. Because the book of 1 Chronicles is parallel with the events of the end of 1 Samuel and the whole book of 2 Samuel. And so we get the same story from another perspective. And in 1 Chronicles chapter 10 verse 3 the Bible says, The battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hid him, and he was wounded of the archers. Then said Saul to his armor-bearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised have come and abused me. But his armor-bearer would not, for he was sorefraid. So Saul took a sword and fell upon it. Again the Bible is consistent about the weapon, that it was a sword. And then it says, And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise on the sword and died. So Saul died, and his three sons and all his house died together. And wait a minute, there's no mention of the Amalekite in the book of 1 Chronicles. In 1 Chronicles the Amalekite never comes into play. So therefore, if the Amalekite really killed him, that would mean that 1 Chronicles is wrong. Because 1 Chronicles said that's how Saul died. By killing himself, by falling upon his sword. And so it's pretty clear. Let's look at a few other people that killed themselves in the Bible. Go to Judges chapter 16. Judges chapter number 16. You know, as I was preparing this sermon, I was racking my brain trying to think, is there anybody I'm leaving out that killed themselves? Is there anybody that I'm not thinking of? You know how it is, you're racking your brain trying to think, is there anybody that I'm not thinking of? And while I was just preaching right now, something else popped into my mind of a guy that didn't quite kill himself. And this just literally popped into my mind in the last 30 seconds. You know, I don't know why this didn't pop into my mind while I was studying for the sermon. But if you remember Abimelek, now I don't believe he killed himself. I believe that he told someone. This was an assisted suicide. Go to Judges chapter number 9. This is one that literally, not in my notes, just popped into my mind. I just don't want to leave any stone unturned this morning. So go to Judges chapter 9 and it says, verse 52, Abimelek came unto the tower and fought against it and went hard unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire. And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelek's head and all two break his skull. So he gets too close to the wall and this woman just throws a piece of a millstone out and it lands on his head and cracks his skull. And it says in verse 54, then he called hastily unto the young man his armor-bearer and said unto him, Draw thy sword and slay me, that men say not of me, a woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through and he died. So right there we can see, you know, not necessarily suicide per se because he didn't actually physically do it himself, but this was, I mean I would consider this suicide because it was an assisted. You know, he tells somebody else to do it for him. Now here's what we can learn from this one. And you know, even though it's not in my notes, I got the lesson ready for you. Hey, you know what we can learn from this one? He says, the reason I want you to kill me is so that it's not said of me, a woman slew him. And here's what's funny, hundreds and hundreds of years later, do you remember when David tells this story unto the messenger that tells him about Joab's defeat and David says to the messenger, don't you know what happened to Abimelech, how a woman killed him? So here's what's funny. You know, we have this rationale that says, oh, well, you know, I know what I'm going to do here. I'm going to commit suicide so that people don't say X, Y, and Z. And you know what? That's what they're going to say anyway. So therefore just, you know, don't kill yourself, all right? But anyway, go to Judges chapter 16. You know, the thing that we can learn from that one is just that, you know, we try to take things into our own hands sometimes and take control of our own destiny and our own fate. You know what, if God wants a woman to, you know, get the glory for, you know, cracking your skull, then that's just, you know, that's tough. I mean, you know, you shouldn't have lived the life the way that you did, Abimelech. But anyway, so that was kind of an assisted, so I'm glad I thought of that at the last second. Am I missing any? Does anybody have anybody I'm missing? I think that's everybody, right? Judges chapter 16. This is Samson. This is the final person that could be said to have committed suicide. Samson, you know, he'd been a great man of God and he'd been filled with the Spirit of God and he had judged the people and he'd also delivered the people many times from the hands of the Philistines. He had killed a lot of the enemies of Israel, but he had a weakness and his weakness was committing fornication. And so basically he was enticed by strange women. It all started out when he was going to marry a strange woman. He was going to marry a Philistine woman. His parents told him he shouldn't do it. He did it anyway and of course it all went bad and so forth. But then after that, he's committing fornication with a prostitute at one point and he's almost captured by the Philistines. And then later after that, he's committing fornication with Delilah and that is his downfall. He ends up having his hair cut. And basically his great strength lay in the fact that he was a Nazarite unto God from his mother's womb. And so he had these certain restrictions that he was supposed to live by. He wasn't supposed to get anywhere near any dead carcass ever and he was also not supposed to drink any wine or eat any grapes and he was also supposed to not cut his hair, okay? He was not supposed to let any razor come upon his head. Well in the course of his life, he had already violated the other two. I mean he'd already come to the carcass of the dead lion and pulled honey out of the carcass. And he'd already drunk wine. But the one thing that he had not done was he had not had a razor come upon his head. And so God would allow Samson to have great strength at times. And it wasn't all the time. It wasn't that Samson was just always really strong. The Bible's clear that at certain times the Spirit of the Lord would come upon him and all of a sudden he would be infused with superhuman strength and be able to do battle and he slew, for example, one thousand Philistines in one battle with the jawbone of an ass as his only weapon. And the Bible talks about him being in a narrow place where he was basically facing them one on one and he's just killing them one after the other and they cannot defeat him, okay? He was just so strong. He lifted the whole gate off of a city and walked away with it and carried it away. Now what's funny, I was just thinking about this the other day, is that when we think of Samson, we probably think of this huge bodybuilder looking guy. You know, and if you ever look at, you know, the Sunday School materials or whatever, it's always just this huge bodybuilder. You know, this is Samson. Or you know, if Hollywood portrays it, it's always just a huge muscular guy. But if you think about it, he probably wasn't a guy who looked like a huge bodybuilder because, you know, where would be the miracle then? I mean, if you saw a huge bodybuilder and you see him slaying everybody, you'd just say, oh well yeah, that's just a mighty warrior. But that's not what the Philistines said. The Philistines were constantly saying, you know, what is the secret of his strength? Where is he getting this strength? Meaning that he probably was not a huge guy. And plus, if you think about it, God said that his strength is made perfect in weakness. And God likes to use the weak to defeat the strong. And if you remember that when the Spirit of the Lord departs from Samson, he's very weak. Showing that it wasn't just muscle mass. Because after the Spirit of the Lord departs, he becomes weak and just like any other man and he does not have any extra strength at all. And so here, Samson in chapter 16 has already been captured. They've shaved his head, he lost his strength, he's lost his ability to fight, they tie him up and they punch out his eyes. They actually poke out his eyes so that he cannot see. And look, by the way, that's never going to come back. You know, and so we see a man in a hopeless condition. He's bound by his enemies, he's bound by the Philistines, he's lost the battle, all due to the lust of his own flesh. So he can't really blame anybody but himself because it was his lust for Delilah that was his downfall. His eyes are poked out, he's in bondage, he's basically going to be imprisoned as far as he knows for the rest of his life. And it says in verse 22 of 16, howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their God and to rejoice. And they said, Our God hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. And when the people saw him they praised their God, for they said, Our God hath delivered us into our hands our enemy and the destroyer of our country which slew many of us. So you see how when we commit sin it causes the enemies of the Lord to rejoice? You know, Samson sinned, Samson gave in to the lust of the flesh and it gave the devil's crowd just a great opportunity to have joy and rejoice and to praise Satan. You know, and Dagon is just one of the devils that they worshipped. And it says here, And it came to pass, verse 25, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson that he may make us sport. Basically they want him to be their clown now. And you know, that's what you're going to be by the way. If you give in to the lust of the flesh and you live a life of drunkenness and fornication and sin, you know, in the end you're going to look like a clown to everyone around you. You're going to look like a fool, you're going to be an imbecile to everyone who sees you. And it says they're going to make sport of him. And it says in verse 25 there, They called for Samson out of the prison house and he made them sport. And they set him between the pillars. And Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars upon that whereupon the house standeth that I may lean upon them. Now what's funny here, it doesn't even sound like he's bound. Think about this. He's being led around by this lad. And he just tells him, Oh bring me over to this place. He doesn't have any strength. He's blind. He's a laughing stock, okay? So he's brought over to the pillars whereupon the house standeth and he says that I may lean upon them. Now the house was full of men and women and all the lords of the Philistines were there and there were upon the roof about 3,000 men and women that beheld while Samson made sport. So besides all the people that are on the lower level, just up in the balcony level or the roof level, there are 3,000, about 3,000 men and women that beheld while Samson made sport. And Samson called on the lord and said, O Lord God, remember me I pray thee and strengthen me. I pray thee only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bound himself with all his might and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaal in the burying place of Manoah his father and he judged Israel twenty years. Now here's a guy who was definitely a saved man. The Bible lists him in Hebrews 11 in the Hall of Faith as being a man of great faith and we know that we're saved by faith, we're justified by faith. Spirit of the Lord had come upon him many times. He was a great man of God but he sinned, he failed, he ended his life in shame. Now a lot of people will again try to dispute this and say, well this isn't suicide. Well I would say it's definitely suicide because you say, well he's killing his enemies though. You know that's why he did it. Yeah but he specifically said, Let me die with the Philistines. He knew what he was doing. He knew that he was sacrificing his own life. And you know today we hear about people who do this. You know these Muslim terrorists that basically blow themselves up. What do they call them? Suicide bombers. So if that's a suicide bomber, I mean, you know what's interesting is that the original suicide bomber was an Israeli, you know. I mean Samson was the original suicide bomber if you think about it. Because I mean he took them and all of them with him. But he was a saved man. Now you know this is kind of a story where you look at it and you say, hey what's going on here? Because you say, he's committing suicide, you know, he's taking vengeance, which is something that he kind of did his whole life. He took a lot of vengeance. But he did a lot of other things that weren't right. And you look at it and you say, but wait a minute, why would God answer his prayer though? You know if he's doing something wrong here, if God did not want him to do this, then why did God answer his prayer and give him something if it wasn't right, what he did? But I'll tell you right now, there's no question in my mind that what Samson did here was not right. Because I don't believe that committing suicide is ever right. Now there could be a situation where someone gives their life to save someone else, but I think it would be wrong to call that suicide. For example, Jesus Christ gave his life for us, but to say that Jesus Christ committed suicide would be blasphemous. And you know, for example, if someone jumped in front of someone else and took a bullet for them, we wouldn't say that that person committed suicide, would we? No, because they're sacrificing their life. You know, let's say there was a grenade that was going to go off and somebody jumped and blocked the grenade in order to save someone else, that's not suicide. That's saving their life. But is that what Samson's really doing here? He's not saving anybody's life. He's killing himself to kill his enemies. He's a suicide bomber. There's no question in my mind that what Samson did here was wrong. That it was sin. And you say, well yeah, but God gave him the strength to do it. But here's the thing, many times people prayed for things in the Bible that were wrong and their prayer was still answered. Be careful what you ask for. Because remember, what about the children of Israel? They prayed for quail meat to satisfy their own lust, and the Bible says he sent them their requests, but he sent leanness to their soul. Then he sent them a plague and punished them for what they had asked for. He answered their prayer, but then he punished them for their sinful requests. So I don't think you can look at this and say, well just because God answered his prayer, that means that what he did was right. No, that doesn't hold up, because there are a lot of examples in the Bible of people who prayed wrongfully and still they were answered, they were heard. Okay, not only that, but look at verse 22. I think verse 22 is a key verse. It says in verse 22, howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. You know, that's part of the reason why his strength came back, or else God would not have put that verse in the Bible. You know, verse 22 must have some significance, and that shows that that is part of the reason why his strength came back, is because the hair of his head. You know, these Philistines, if they would have been a little smarter, they would have taken him to the barber before this big feast, you know, and then realized, okay, I mean think about how stupid they are. Shaving his hair is what took away his strength, right? And then they just let it grow back? I mean how hard is it to give the guy a haircut? I mean, it's very foolish on the Philistines part, because you know, I mean, they should have been shaving that thing twice a day if they were smart, you know, but they weren't, they didn't. Now look, there's a lot of depth to this story, and you know, there are a lot of things in Samson's life that are a symbol of the life of Jesus Christ, because pretty much everything in the Old Testament is pointing us toward Jesus Christ. And you know, you could find a lot of examples, and I've preached a whole sermon where I tied in the life of Samson with, you know, comparing him with Jesus Christ and so forth. I'm not going to re-preach that sermon. But what he did here was wrong. God could have brought deliverance to the children of Israel another way. Did he use this? Yes. But he could have done it another way. He also used Jacob's deception in order to give the blessing to Jacob that was already prophesied, but he could have done it another way. It's like Mordecai said to Esther, look, if you don't do this, God will bring deliverance some other way. God is not limited by us having to sin in order for His will to be done. God could have delivered them another way and not this way. So let me just close by saying this, we've looked at all the examples of people that commit a suicide in the Bible, so I came up with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and then the late entry of Abimelech as an assistant, that made 7, well that rounds out to a nice even number, 7 people in the Bible who committed suicide. But you know what? Let me just say this in closing. If you would turn to 1 Kings 19, the last place we'll turn. There were many people in the Bible who went through some really hard times. I talked about a little earlier, people who were in hopeless situations. But there have been people in the Bible who were very depressed. They were very sad. They were very distraught. They had given up hope. They felt like all was lost. But you know what? They pushed on. They kept going. They didn't throw in the towel. They didn't quit like these men that we looked at this morning that all quit. Look at 1 Kings 19, 4. This is Elijah, one of the greatest men who ever lived. And he says in verse 4, But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree, and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers. What's he saying? He wants to die. Now look, this is right after Elijah's finest hour. I mean, if we were to ask people, what's the most famous story about Elijah? What was the greatest thing that Elijah ever did? Probably everybody would agree it was when he was on Mount Carmel, facing off with the prophets of Baal, and he called down fire from God out of heaven, and defeated all the prophets of Baal, and slew all the prophets of the Baal, and all the prophets of the grove. 850 people, wicked false prophets, slain with the sword. The fire came down from heaven. Elijah's most triumphant, most glorious hour. And then right after that, Jezebel's chasing him and trying to kill him, and he's running for his life, and he's so depressed that he literally wishes he were dead. And he's praying to God that he would die. So look, doesn't that show you that a great man could be depressed or sad or distraught? Doesn't that show us that if somebody like David went through times like this, and Elijah went through times like this, and Moses went through times like this, doesn't that show us that, you know, there are going to be times when we go through sadness? And the Bible talks about how at the time being, we're going to go through heaviness. We're going to go through sorrow. Even Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We're going to go through pain and suffering and sorrow in our lives, but here's what we need to remember. The Bible says in Proverbs 24 16, for a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again. It doesn't say a just man never falls. It says a just man falleth seven times and rises up again, but the wicked shall fall into mischief. And then he said in Psalm 30 verse 5, this is another good one about maybe when we feel that God is not pleased with us and God's angry with us. It says in Psalm 30 verse 5, for his anger endureth but a moment. In his favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Look, don't ever give up hope. God's anger can be appeased. God's anger is but for a moment. In his favor is life. He said, look, weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. The just man falleth seven times, rises up again. Someday you may commit some grievous sin. I hope not. I hope you never commit a horrible sin. But if you go out and commit some awful grievous sin, don't give up. Get back up. Rise up again. You know, confess and forsake it and find mercy. And you know, you might come through a period of time where it seems hopeless or you think we're going to die anyway, we're starving to death. You know, that could happen, right? I mean, there are people in the Bible. Remember the lady who told Elijah, you know, we're about to die. We have no more food. And then God multiplied food, okay? So look, you're going to go through times that seem hopeless. You're going to go through times where you're depressed and sad and sorrowing and maybe you feel God's angry with you. Maybe you feel that God has forsaken you, even though he promised I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee. You might feel that he has. And you could go through all manner of situations where you might think, you know, I'm just going to end it all. But you know what? There's always hope. There's always a reason to live. There's always a reason to keep on going. And look, God will strengthen you. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. And when you get to the end of your rope, you know, and you get to the point where you just can't take it anymore, that's where God's going to come through. When you really can't take it anymore. But sometimes you can take a little more than you think. And you just have to keep putting one more foot in front of another and just keep on going, just keep pressing forward, hang in there, and I'm telling you, you know, your child may die someday. God forbid. That'd be a horrible pain. But you know what? Don't throw in the towel. We don't, look, we don't mourn like those who have no hope. And we should never ever give up hope like these men. Look, these seven men, they ended their lives in a terrible way. And don't ever even contemplate it. Don't ever even think about it or consider it. It's never the right answer. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word and we thank you for what you've taught us. Not necessarily a pleasant subject when we're talking about suicide, but Father, thank you for what we can learn from it. We can learn about salvation. We can learn that you don't lose your salvation because we saw saved people who went to heaven who had committed suicide. King Saul, Samson, for example, most likely Ahithophel. We can learn that there were other people who went through sad things and they just kept on going. Help us to never give up hope, help us to keep on going, and thank you for the free salvation that's through faith alone and the shed blood of Jesus Christ and it's in His name that we pray. Amen.