(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

We're here in First Samuel 28. We're going to go back here later on the sermon. Turn to John 10, John 10. And the name of the sermon is the truth about suicide, the truth about suicide. And the topic of suicide is a very debated topic amongst, you know, basically Christians and non-Christians, basically amongst the Christian movement. It's a very debated topic. And you know, honestly, if you ask most people here in the Philippines whether or not suicide sends you to hell, then almost everybody is going to tell you yes, okay? Almost everybody that we preach the gospel to will tell you suicide automatically sends you to hell because that is what the Catholic Church teaches, okay? And so the Bible is very clear about the subject. And the main thing we're going to talk about and we're going to show is that suicide does not automatically send you to hell, okay? Because salvation comes down to what we believe, not what we do. And we're going to show that from the Bible. And so the first point we have about this is this. If suicide sends you to hell, then eternal life is a lie, okay? John 10, starting at verse number 27, the Bible reads, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. And see, the Bible says the people that are saved, they receive eternal life, okay? How do we receive eternal life? Is it by our works or is it when we put our faith in Jesus Christ? It's by belief, right? And so when do we receive everlasting life? At the end of our life or the moment we believe? The moment we believe because that's how we receive it, so it's going to happen the moment we believe. The Bible says he may know that you have eternal life. And he says I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. It couldn't be more clear. The Bible is very clear you will never perish, okay? We're not talking about physical life. We're talking about spiritual life. And what he says is when you receive eternal life, you will never perish. You will never go to hell. That is what he's saying. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Verse 29, my father which gave them he is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. That includes you. When you are saved and in the father's hand, you can't just fight your way out of that hand. No, you are saved forever. It's just like for example with your kids that you have. Your kids will always be your kids. It does not change and what we believe around here is once saved, always saved. You can never lose your salvation. It is eternal life. It's everlasting life. Turn to Revelation 20. Revelation 20. Now what some people will say is this. They say well it's eternal life in either heaven or hell. Isn't that what they say? They say well you have to go to hell. You're living forever. Well there's a problem with that because the Bible says the second death, it doesn't say it's spiritual death. It's not spiritual life. And so if you have eternal life and what does eternal life mean? It means forever. It means forever. And so if you have eternal life forever and one day you go to Emierno, look that was not eternal life. It's the second death. That's what the Bible teaches. And so if you have eternal life, you can never go to hell because in Revelation 20 verse 14, in death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Going to hell forever is not life. It's death. It's spiritual death. Now because here's the thing. When you die, it's not your body that goes to heaven or hell. When you die, your body is dead. Your soul goes to heaven or hell and eternal life in heaven or the second death in hell forever. And so if you were to go to hell one day, then quite honestly God was lying when he said eternal life. I mean think about John 3 16 for a second. The Bible says in John 3 16, whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. If going to hell was life, then basically what that verse is saying is, hey, if you believe in Jesus, you will either spend forever in heaven or hell. It wouldn't make any sense. What John 3 16 is saying is if you believe you will go to heaven, you will have eternal life, everlasting life, not the second death. That's what the Bible teaches. And if you were to ever lose your salvation for any reason, God was lying when he said it was eternal life. He does not say, hey, it's everlasting life as long as you don't commit a big sin. He does not say that. He does not say everlasting life as long as you don't commit a mortal sin, as the Catholic Church would say. What's a mortal sin? Well, a sin that would cause you to be separated from the grace of God. No, God said it was eternal life. You cannot lose that. Turn to Acts 13, Acts 13. And so the reason number one why you could never go to hell and suicide does not automatically send you to hell is quite simply that hell is not life. And when you got saved, you received eternal life, everlasting life, which means you could never go to the second death. Look, it is literally impossible for me to go to hell. You say, why? Because I have everlasting life. Just like it is impossible for me to be somebody else's parent. Look, my parents, Curtis and Sandy, my parents, they're always going to be my parents. That's not going to change one day. It's impossible to change. And when you get born into the family of God and receive your spiritual life, your spiritual birth, your father is always going to be your father. That doesn't mean your father is always happy with you. Just like we're not always happy with our kids, but at the same time, there's still our kids and that will never change. Just like my dad's always going to be my dad. And so if you have eternal life, you could never go to hell for any reason. It's not a gray area situation. It's very clear in the Bible. This is not a confusing topic in the Bible. You can just take the Bible at face value. God promises you eternal life, everlasting life, the moment you believe, Acts 13. And the second reason why suicide does not automatically send you to hell is this, because when you get saved, your future sins are forgiven. It is not just your past sins, but your future sins as well. Acts 13 verses 38 and 39, be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him, all that believe are justified from some things. Is that what your Bible says? From all things. From which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. It says you're justified from all things. You know what that includes? It includes sins from the past, present, and future. It includes big sins and small sins. No matter what country you're from, no matter when you were born, whether you lived 6,000 years ago or you live a thousand years from now, when you get saved, all your sins are forgiven past, present, and future, including your future sins. Okay? See, the Catholic Church teaches that committing suicide will send you to hell because they believe that you must ask for forgiveness right after you've committed your last sin. And if the last thing you ever do here on earth is to kill yourself, you didn't have time to ask for forgiveness. And so you go to hell. That's what the Catholic Church teaches. But the problem with that is when you get saved, your future sins are wiped away. Not just the past sins. And if your future sins were not wiped away, what's the point of getting saved now? Because you're going to have to get saved again right before you die. So how many salvations do you want? I mean, you get saved a thousand times your life because we sin every single day. Okay? And so what the Bible says is once you're saved, you're always saved. This is what the Catholic Church says about a moral sin. Okay? Because they believe there are some sins that will separate you from salvation and some that won't. Now, quite frankly, when you look at the list of moral sins, a lot of those sins aren't really that big compared to other sins. And so honestly, we would all lose our salvation every single day. Okay? According to their list. But a moral sin is a greatly sinful act which can lead to damnation if a person does not repent of the sin before death. A sin is considered to be mortal when its quality is such that it leads to a separation of that person from God's saving grace. So basically, a mortal sin is when you change the definition of the word everlasting or eternal, and it becomes temporary where it ends. That's what they're basically saying. Basically, you can lose eternal life. You can lose salvation. They do not believe once saved, always saved. So basically, if the last thing you ever do is commit suicide, which is on the list of mortal sins, it's a straight ticket to hell because you did not get a chance to repent of that sin after you committed it. Well, first off, you do not have to repent of your sins to be saved in the first place. The Bible says, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. You soever believe in him, should not perish but have everlasting life. But quite frankly, all your future sins are forgiven the moment you get saved. Now, this teaching is very prevalent because most people believe suicide sends you to hell if you're to ask them right now. If you're to ask them, do you believe suicide would send a person to hell, they're gonna say yes. That's what most people believe. Now, the Catholic Church is obviously a very prominent religion, and I believe growing up that suicide was a straight ticket to hell because I believe exactly what the Catholic Church taught, even though I grew up Protestant. Because Protestants are Catholics. They literally believe that the Catholic Church was the right church in the past, and they try to restore the Catholic Church from earlier. Now, I don't know at what point the Catholic Church was out of the right church based on our sermon series because they were always a pretty wicked institution. But here's what people did during the Middle Ages because this doctrine was very prevalent. And so when people wanted to commit suicide, this was a general technique that people would use. People would drown themselves, and what they would do is they'd attach a heavy object onto their leg and really attach it. And so the purpose for this was as you were in the water drowning and you're gonna die, you changed your mind part way through and you fought really hard to get it off and swim to the surface. Now, when you did it and you jumped in to begin with, you knew you would never be able to get it off. But then once you're in the water, you tried as hard as you could, and that was like your act of repentance. But basically, you're fighting to get that off. I mean, you tied like 5,000 times, and then you try your best for like 40 seconds, and then you pass out and you drown. People literally killed themselves that way. Why? Because they thought, well, here's a way I can commit suicide and have time to actually forgive us afterwards. I'm trying my repentance. I'm trying to climb to the surface. Look, that's ridiculous. For one, it's obvious you're not going to trick God. It's like, obviously, you jumped in there committing suicide, but quite frankly, when you get saved, your future sins are forgiven. Now, quite honestly, though, this teaching is not a very popular teaching if you were to talk to people about it, because plenty of people commit suicide, and people know people that commit suicide, and quite frankly, it's a pretty offensive teaching to people, and it's not a true teaching, because if you're saved, you're saved forever, and we're going to see that later on in the sermon in more detail, but the Catholic Church is backpedaling on this issue. See, they used to be very dogmatic that suicide sends you to hell automatically, but in their more recent teachings, this is what it says. Great psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide. What they're saying is, you know, they're not going to be as guilty if they have a circumstance for why they committed suicide. Now, when it talks about hardships or sufferings, look, people commit suicide because they're depressed, usually, or they're on these drugs that are altering their minds, and so pretty much everybody that commits suicide commits exactly what they're saying here. They're trying to backpedal without just outright saying, hey, we changed their mind, and suicide doesn't automatically send you to hell. They try to do it both ways. They're politicians, right? Basically, they're teaching the opposite now, but they don't want to admit they're teaching the opposite, and the reason why they're doing this is because it's offensive to people when they know people that have committed suicide. Another thing it says this with the Catholic Church, we should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The church prays for persons who have taken their own lives. So what the Catholic Church is saying is, even though we say it's a straight ticket to hell, there's some way that God has a system where he can recover them, and we will pray for those people that have taken their own lives after they've already taken their lives. Look, you know, I've had family who died. I don't pray for my family that's already passed away. You say, why? Because they're either in eternal life or second death. They're either in eternal life or they're in hell right now. It's one or the other. Look, praying for people after they're dead, that's ridiculous. I mean, they've already either gone home to be with the Lord or they are in hell forever, and there's no second chance. Once people die, that is it. You read the story of Luke 16. It says the rich man also died and was buried, and in hell he lived up his eyes being in torments. What that is showing is when you die, the first thing that's going to happen to your body is it's going to be buried, and your soul, though, if you're not saved, immediately goes to hell. In hell, he lived up his eyes. It doesn't say he was in purgatory. It doesn't say that he was kind of in a holding place where basically he had a chance to make it to heaven. No, he's in hell forever, and that rich man is still in hell right now because there's a real story that actually happened from Luke chapter 16. Now turn to Matthew chapter 10. Matthew 10. We, as Christians, we don't have to make a justification because they have to make this justification because it's really a bad doctrine that looks really bad. It offends people. We don't have to because, quite honestly, if people committed suicide, if they believed they went to heaven, if they didn't, they went to hell. I talked to someone at the door one time, and she asked me this during the conversation. She told me her dad had committed suicide, and what I told her as I was giving her the gospel was, you know, I don't know what his heart was. I don't know what he believed, but if he had put his faith in Jesus Christ, he is in heaven right now, and I can say that 100 percent honestly without offending her. I didn't have to change or try to backpedal because that's what I believe because when you're saved, you have everlasting life. Okay, now our third reason why suicide is not a straight ticket to hell is this. Suicide kills the body, not the soul. Matthew 10. Matthew 10, verse 28. Matthew 10, verse 28. The Bible reads, And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. And see, the Bible says there are people, them is plural, that can kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul. People could murder you, and they kill your body. They can't take your salvation away from you. Okay, and you also, you can't take your salvation away either. You say, well prove that to me. I will prove it to you in this verse because it says in the second half of that verse, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Him is that plural or singular? Singular. That means there's only one person who can take away that salvation. I mean not take away that salvation. There's only one person who could send you to hell, and that would be God. But see, God in his promise promised you eternal life if you believed on Jesus Christ, so he would never take it away. What it's saying is God is the one who has the ability to throw people into hell, and he throws the people into hell that never believe on him. But one person who says rather fear him. Fear him. It doesn't say rather fear the other two, you and God. It's just God. God is the only one who can send a person to hell, and he already promised that if you're saved, you have eternal life. See, when you commit suicide, you did not kill your soul. You killed your body. That's what it says in verse 28 because there are people that can kill the body and not kill the soul, and that includes you. You could kill your own body. You could not kill your soul, but there's only one who can actually send somebody to hell, and that is God Almighty. He is the only one who can destroy both soul and body. So if you have eternal life, look, you cannot kill your soul. You can kill your body, but you cannot kill your soul. Quite honestly, I believe that's the best way to explain suicide to people that are confused. I will ask them that question. I'll say, well, let me ask you, what has eternal life? Is it the body or is it the soul? And they'll say, well, the soul, because we're talking about spiritual life. And so if I killed myself, did I kill my body or my soul? You killed your body. So if I kill my body, my soul is still going to go to heaven because my soul was made perfect when I believed and it has eternal life. I believe that's a good way to explain it because, honestly, the gospel is meant to be simple. And if your explanation of suicide is really confusing and it takes 10 minutes, you're not doing a very good job explaining it. Because the Bible is meant to be as simple as, hey, here's a gift. You know what a gift is? Being born again. Do you know what it means to be a child in a family? It's meant to be very simple. And when you're explaining the gospel, your method of explaining suicide, it takes like 10 minutes and it's really complicated. You're bouncing around in 1 Samuel 28, 1 Samuel 31. It's a bad way to explain it because you're going to confuse the person. And the gospel is meant to be simple. And the simplest way I found is just explaining that, hey, it's your soul that receives eternal life. So if you kill your body, you will still go to heaven because it's spiritual life. It's eternal life. It's not talking about physical life. It's spiritual life. Turn to John 19. And when people think that suicide sends them to hell, what they're telling you is this. They don't fully grasp what eternal life is yet. They're still trusting in something that they must do to hold on to that salvation. And that's why they need the gospel explained very clearly and simply to them. The gospel is meant to be simple. It is not meant to be very complicated or confuses people. It is meant to be simple. Look, you don't have to get a four-year degree. It passes complicated tests and now you know how to explain. No, it's a gift. The gift of God's eternal life is meant to be very simple. Another reason why suicide is not a straight ticket to hell is quite simply, there are sins that are far worse than suicide. John 19 verses 10 and 11, the Bible reads, Then say a pilot unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee? That power will release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above. Therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. The Bible speaks about there being greater sins and lesser sins. Now it does not speak about mortal sins and non-mortal sins. You know, why don't they just use the words the Bible says? You know, it mentions greater sins. It doesn't mention moral sins that will separate you from eternal life. The Bible doesn't say that, but the Bible does speak about greater sins and so there are sins that are worse than others, but quite frankly, suicide is not the worst sin. Let me just compare a couple sins right now and tell me which one's worse, murder or suicide? If I become tired, I'll become tired. Which sin is worse? Murder is obviously worse. Look, if you were to kill my wife, that is far worse than if you get depressed and kill yourself. Because when you murder somebody that is evil, that's wicked, when you commit suicide, you're depressed. Or you're taking mind over and stuff that you're doing things that you're not thinking clearly, okay? An act of suicide is an act of depression. An act of murder is an act of evil, right? Very clearly, murder is a worse sin than suicide. It's not even close. Murder is, now I agree suicide is wrong. I believe it's a sin, but it's certainly not a top list. Murder is far worse than suicide and people commit suicide and quite honestly, when people commit suicide, what they do is they harm their entire family and people that know them, but when you commit murder, you're harming not only your own family, but also the family of the person you killed. You're harming multiple people, not just your own family. Murder is far worse than suicide. Not only that though, let's compare rape versus suicide. What sin is worse? Rape is worse than suicide. You say, how do you know that? Because it's an act of evil. Suicide is an act of depression. Rape would be an act of evil. Obviously then rape would be worse than suicide. That's far worse because somebody who were to do that, they're evil. They're doing something truly wicked, okay? What sin is worse? Pedophilia or suicide? I find it interesting that the Catholic church says you can't be forgiven for suicide, but you can be forgiven for being a pedophile. Isn't that kind of interesting? Because you know what? The Catholic church, they basically put an okay on them. The priests basically commit pedophilia and they're not even taken away from their parents. They still are the ones who are leading it. Look, when they do that act to a young child, that can cause psychological damage to that child from when they kill themselves. Isn't it interesting how they teach that suicide, you can't be forgiven, but the priest that caused that child to one day commit suicide, he can be forgiven for what he did, but the person that got depressed and killed themselves because they were psychologically messed up, they can't be forgiven. What kind of a weird teaching is that from the Catholic church? It's like you believe suicide is worse than any other sin and it's the one sin you can't be forgiven for, but here in the Philippines, Catholic priests that commit pedophilia, they aren't even taken out of their churches and they don't even let their members know that. That's a fact. That's the truth. And they teach, but suicide, that's a straight taken to hell because it's far worse than pedophilia. It's far worse than rape. It's far worse than murder. I mean, what kind of a twisted mind would actually come up with that? A normal mind would say, well, obviously, murder is worse than suicide. See, a mind that's not seared in the conscious, not defiled, would say, you know what? Obviously, being a pedophile, that's far worse than committing suicide. Say, well, prove it to me more. Look, the Bible says there's no temptation but such is as common to man. I do understand that there's a small list of things that only someone who's a child of the devil and whose mind has been seared would commit, but you have to understand amongst all the other sins, those are sins that are common to man. Anybody in this room could one day commit suicide. You say, why? Because people commit suicide when they're depressed. Now, look, I don't think it's right to do, but I don't know how I react if somebody killed my wife and it can make me depressed and just not thinking clearly. Or, you know, people, men have their wives cheat on them or vice versa. You know, the husband cheats on the wife and sometimes that spouse ends up taking their own life because they're very depressed as a result. Look, suicide is a sin that is common to man because of the fact any one of us could do it if we became really depressed or if we're on some weird drug that's basically warping our minds. Okay? Being a pedophile, that's not something that anybody could do, though. That's not something a normal person would even consider doing. But, you know, suicide under the right circumstance where you got really depressed in life, that's something that could be done. No temptation taking you, but such as is common to man, as the Bible says. Turn to 1 John 2. 1 John 2. It says, my little children, these things write on you that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is a propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. The sins of the whole world would include, whether it's this country or the United States or wherever in the world, it would include sins that are big sins and small sins. It would include sins from the past, present, and future. The sins of the whole world. Well, here's the thing. If the sin of suicide you cannot be forgiven for, then how can you really say Jesus died and paid for that sin? I mean, if he died and paid for that sin but you have no hope of going to heaven, if you commit it, how did he really die for that sin? The Bible says he died for the sins of the whole world, which means that anybody that believes on Jesus Christ can be justified from all things because he did die for the sins of suicide. But when it comes to people that go to hell, even people that become reprobates to Jesus died for their sins because he died for the sins of the whole world. Now people can turn on God and reject God and have no hope of being saved, but Jesus still died for the sins of the world. He died for all sins. He literally died for every sin you're ever going to commit any sin anybody in this room commits. If suicide he did not die for, then how can he really say... I mean, if suicide you can't be forgiven for, then how can you really say he died for that sin? See, what I believe is he died for the sins of the whole world, and so when you get saved, no matter what sin you commit in the future, you will still be saved and on your way to heaven. The Bible is very, very plain, very simple about that. Turn to Judges 16. And you say, well, brother, you know, that's nice and all, but prove to me that somebody who's saved can actually commit suicide. Well, we've proved everything from the Bible around here, and we will look at people in the Bible that were saved and did commit suicide, okay? Judges 16, let's look at the story of Samson, verse 28. And Samson called unto 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 avenged, I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And so Samson in this story, he basically rebelled against God, he was committing sexual sins, and then all of a sudden he basically loses his eyes as a punishment, and then basically, you know, he's coming to the end of his life and he's asking God to give him strength, he's basically going to commit suicide, okay? And it says in verse number 29, and Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood and on which it was born 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 bowed himself with all his might and the house fell upon the Lord and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew in his death were more than they which he slew in his life. The last thing Samson ever did is he basically took down the pillars and he basically was collapsed as well as every single person in there. He committed suicide, very clearly that's the last thing he ever did. Now some people will say, I don't think that's suicide. They say, I don't think it's suicide because he killed other people in the process. Let me ask you a question. What do you call a Muslim who hops in a plane with a bomb in it and blows it into a building and kills himself? You call them a suicide bomber. That's not a Christian term. That's a term everybody calls it because everybody knows if you intentionally, that's the definition of suicide. You intentionally kill yourself. And in this story, Samson intentionally kills himself. That's the last thing he ever did. You say, well, why is it that God allows him to do this? God allows you to make your own choices in life. And God does allow himself to allow Samson to kill himself. And that's the last thing he ever does. You say, well, how do you know he's in heaven? Turn to Hebrews 11. Let me actually turn to myself because I want to add one more verse to this. Hebrews 11. And Hebrews chapter 11, look at verse number verse number six. If I'm raising Hebrews 11 verse six, this chapter is known as the hall of faith. It's going to go through all these great characters that live throughout the Bible, all these godly characters that did great things. It says in verse six, but without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a reward of them that diligently seek him. And so in verse six, when it says, he that cometh to God must believe that he is. Look, you cannot be saved unless you understand who he is. You must believe on the true God, the living God. You must believe that he is. Now that is referring to salvation, but most of this chapter has nothing to do with salvation. Yes, if you want to please God, you've got to be saved. But what does it say in the rest of the verse? And that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. This is known as the hall of faith because it's not just people that are saved. It's people that did great works of faith throughout their life. They lived their lives based on faith. So everybody in this chapter that they're going to highlight is going to be saved because if they're going to please God as it mentions in this chapter, they must have understood who he was. But honestly, your salvation is a small part of life. You have your whole life to live for God and do something. They notice what it says later on the chapter, verse number 32. And what shall I more say for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak and of Samson. Samson is in heaven and there is no debate about that. And so the last thing Samson ever did in his life is he killed himself and he went to heaven. Why did he get to heaven? Because salvation comes down to do you believe or do you not believe? And if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you are saved and you have eternal life. Now, look, there's plenty of people that commit suicide that do go straight to hell. Why? Because they didn't believe. That's the determining factor. Turn to 1 Samuel 31. As far as I'm aware, there are six people in the Bible that committed suicide. Now, when it comes to people that committed suicide that went to hell, you know, I would agree that Judas Iscariot, the Bible says went to hell. There's no debate in that that he committed suicide and he went to hell. But if you go to the end of John chapter 6, which you don't have to take time to turn to 1 Samuel 31, but at the end of John 6, it said he is a devil before he betrayed Jesus. He was already a devil. When he was chosen, he was a devil. So Judas Iscariot wasn't saved. That's the reason why he went to his own place because he was not saved. That is the reason why he went to hell. There's other characters in the Bible that we're not going to look at for the sake of time. Ahithophel, I believe, was saved. Now, Ahithophel got really mad at David and wanted to kill David because Ahithophel was related to Uriah. And it makes sense that you hate David because you're related to Uriah and what did David do? David committed adultery with Uriah's wife and then murdered Uriah. And the Bible says he murdered her. Even though it wasn't his own hand, he put him on the front of battle and left him. And so Ahithophel is related to Uriah, so guess what? He ends up hating David and wants to kill him, but when he realizes God actually takes David's side later on as David is obviously after him for damage for that sin, he ends up killing himself. He says he sets his house in order and he kills himself. I believe Ahithophel was saved. Now, I can't prove that 2 plus 2 equals 4 because the Bible doesn't necessarily specifically say that, but we did prove that Samson was saved. Suicide does not automatically send you to hell if it determined based on what you believe. First Samuel 31, it says in verses 4 and 5, verse 4, then it says Saul onto 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. So Saul asks his armor bearer to kill him and the armor bearer says, no, I don't want to kill him. I don't want to kill you. And it says he's afraid. I don't know if he was afraid of what God would do to him. I'm not really sure, but basically, you know, he refuses to kill Saul and so Saul took a sword and he fell upon it. So basically he impales himself on a sword. That's how King Saul died. Okay, so King Saul, the last thing he ever did, can we agree, was commit suicide? It's the last thing he ever did. Now in verse 5, we see another person that committed suicide and when his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword and died with him. And so the armor bearer, you know, he was okay with committing suicide. He wasn't okay with murdering someone. He said, why? Because people understand murder is worse than suicide, unless some weird church, you know, lies to them and brainwashes them. He's not willing to murder, but he's willing to commit suicide. He said, why? They don't want to fall into the hands of the Philistines. They are afraid. I mean, Saul said, abuse me. I believe he was literally worried that he would be abused in a very disgusting way. Okay, why? Well, because the heathen practiced a lot of weird disgusting things. Okay, and so that, I believe, is the reason why he ended up killing himself and the armor bearer does the exact same thing as Saul. So they both ended up committing suicide. Now I don't know if the armor bearer was saved. My guess would be yes, but we don't really know because obviously Saul is in a very vacillate state, so I don't really expect him to give me off to his armor bearer. Early in his life he probably would have, but at this time he obviously probably doesn't need to care about that. Okay, he just wants to kill David. Now go back to 1 Samuel 28 where we started, 1 Samuel 28. And in 1 Samuel 28, we know three chapters later that King Saul ends up committing suicide. Okay, but in 1 Samuel 28 he was promised by Samuel that he would be in heaven. Okay, 1 Samuel 28 verse 15, And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am so distressed, for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me. Verse 15, And answerth me no more, neither by prophets nor by dreams, therefore have I called thee that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do. So basically God has departed from Saul. Okay, now realize this that in the Old Testament you were not involved with the Holy Ghost. Remember that comes in the book of John. That's when it's told that would happen that Jesus would depart, and he said, Breathe in them, receive the Holy Ghost. They received the Holy Ghost. Okay, in the Old Testament they were not involved with the Holy Ghost, but they still had eternal life. Okay, the Bible is very clear about that they had eternal life, but they were not involved with the Holy Ghost. And so when the Lord departs from him, that does not mean he lost his salvation. It just means the Spirit of God is not a pawn to do mighty works for God. So the Bible talks about the Spirit of God coming upon you to do mighty things in your life. That is something that can happen in today's world as well. We in the New Testament, we are in dwell with the Holy Ghost, but the Spirit can still come upon you to do things like those soul winning or priest sermons and things such as that. In the Old Testament, the Spirit of the Lord would come upon people to do mighty works. You see that throughout the Bible with Samson and Saul, especially the two characters most, but they were not involved with the Holy Ghost, although they still had eternal life. Okay, and so the first Samuel chapter 28, here in verse number 16, it says, Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from me, and has become thine enemy? And the Lord hath done to him as he spake by me, for the Lord hath lent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbor, even to David. Because thou obeyest not the voice of the Lord, nor execute his fierce wrath upon Amalek. Therefore hath the Lord done this thing onto thee this day. And so he says, you know, the Lord is departed from him. He's not on your side. David is going to become the next king. But notice what it says in verse 19. Moreover, 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 hand of the Philistines. So what does Samuel say to Saul? Tomorrow you're going to be with me. Now where was Samuel? In heaven or hell? He was obviously in heaven. Don't we read 1 Samuel? I mean, we're reading 1 Samuel right now. First and second Samuel. The books of the Bible are named after him. He was obviously in heaven. He's saying, hey, tomorrow you're going to be with me. He's basically saying, God is done with you, and basically you're going to die tomorrow. That's what he's telling you. He tells him you're going to die, basically. But you're going to be with me. Why? Because when you have eternal life, it's eternal life. And so King Saul, the last thing he did was commit suicide, but the Bible is very clear that he went to heaven. Okay? So if you're saved, committing suicide, that will not take away your salvation and send you to hell. Once saved, always saved. That is clearly what the Bible teaches. Now turn to Romans 6. Romans 6. He said, well, why is this such an important topic? Well, first off, the truth is always important. The truth is important. You know, you're here at this church because you like to hear the truth preached, and you know that I'm willing to just preach the truth, whether it's popular or not popular. I'm going to just tell you what the truth is, and you get to decide if you're going to listen to it or what you think about it, right? The truth is always important. And so if it's true that suicide does not automatically send you to hell, that should be preached at every church. But you're probably not going to hear the sermon at a normal Baptist church. You say, why? Because a lot of those pastors think suicide sends you to hell. I mean, it's ridiculous. Me and Brother Raptor were just talking about it. That's why they left their old church on this issue, because that Baptist pastor said, well, you know, we don't think if you commit suicide you still go to heaven. They think suicide sends you to hell, or this is what they think. If you're really saved, you would never commit suicide. Wait a minute, didn't we just disprove that? We just disproved that with Samson and King Saul, that saved people can commit suicide. And if you didn't notice, it says very Baptist church on the sign out there. It doesn't say very Calvinist church, because that's what a Calvinist says. A Calvinist says, if you're really saved, you wouldn't commit those sins. See, a Christian will say, well, there's no temptation taking you but such as a common man. And you know what? You could commit that sin, even as a saved person, because it's common to man. We are very Baptist church, not very Calvinist church. We believe that we have free will in this life. We're not just a bunch of zombies where God forces us to do what's right. And then a God that predestines people to hell and wants to see people burn is the Calvinist God. A false God, it's not the God we believe in. It's very Baptist church. It's not very Presbyterian church. Coming after John Calvin that believe in Calvinism. It's not very Lutheran church. And yes, Martin Luther was a Calvinist. He was a four point Calvinist. He just came before John Calvinist. You have to really read what he said. He wrote a book called On the Bondage of the Will. On the Bondage of the Will was a response to Erasmus' book, The Freedom of the Will. Erasmus, a Catholic, was saying we have free will. And Martin Luther, which is a book that's a preeminent one of the Protestant Reformation, said the bondage of the will, you do not have free will. And I've read a few hundred pages of it and very clearly taught that you know what? You do not have the ability to go into this crisis and get saved. And so I do not understand why Baptist pastors will praise Martin Luther. And the truth is most Baptist pastors say good things about him. The same Martin Luther that said the book of James is not inspired by God, it should be in the Bible. The same one that said, you know, several books in the Bible are not inspired. And the same one that did infant baptism and he said that when he got baptized as an infant, what that did is promised you, you'd have faith later on in life. It's like a Calvinist baptism as a baby. And he got baptized as a baby and that promised one day you would end up having faith and the Lord would get saved because he believed in Calvinism. The same Martin Luther that said the Anabaptists should get the death penalty. Why? It's because they were heretics. And you know what? That is our forefathers from the faith, the Anabaptists. That's what we thought. You guys saw that movie Being Baptist. You heard about the Anabaptists. Our forefathers of the faith and all of those Calvinists, John Calvin, Orrix Wangley, Martin Luther, the biggest Calvinist, all said we should get the death penalty. You say why? Because it's a different gospel. They believe in their works, we're going to get them to heaven. They all would believe, well if you're really saved you've never been in suicide. I mean if you're really saved, of course you're going to get, you know, do these works and do these things. That's not what we believe. It's very Baptist church because we believe we have freedom to believe on Jesus Christ and quite honestly after you get saved you have freedom to do what's right or what's wrong. And quite honestly there's no temptation taking but as such is this common demand and any one of us in this room could one day get depressed and honestly you know what? And you know what? You can still go to heaven. And I would not question your salvation. You say why? Because if you believe on Jesus Christ why would I question whether or not you're in heaven? Isn't that what we believe salvation is? It's believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And so the last point I want to talk about is this. If people think that suicide automatically sends them to hell, quite honestly they don't fully grasp each other. And this is why it's such an important topic. This is why it's important when we preach the gospel. Look people must understand that it's eternal life. What is the gift that God's giving us? Well notice Romans 6 verse 23. For the waste of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so to be saved we have to understand God is giving us a gift and that it's eternal life and it's only through Jesus. You cannot be saved if you believe that Buddha will get you to heaven for Jesus Christ. No you must understand it's only Jesus Christ. You must understand it's only through Jesus Christ our Lord. You cannot get saved if you don't believe God's giving you a free gift. If you think your works are going to get you to heaven and your baptism and holding out faith and doing good things, quite honestly you're not understanding that God's offering you a gift. That still works. You must understand it's a free gift. God doesn't require us to change anything. He doesn't require you to quit drinking or quit smoking or repent of your sins or change your lifestyle. No what he requires is you to believe because he did the work for us. Look when a baby is born, does the baby do any work? Who has seen a baby born before in their lives? Raise your hand. I'm sure some people. I was there when my son was born. Guess what? My son didn't do any work. A baby does no work to be born and to be born into the family of God. Guess how much work you do? None. Just believe because Jesus did all the work. That's an analogy of born again. That's why God says born again. One of the reasons and so you have to understand that eternal life is something that's completely a free gift but you have to understand in Romans 6 23 the gift that's being offered is eternal life. It's not conditional life. It's not temporary life and people must understand it's a gift only in Jesus and it's eternal and I'll prove it to you through. Return to first John 5. First John 5 and so first John 5 we're actually going to see a parable passage to Romans 6 verse 23. Romans 6 23 is probably the best place to turn for soul winning because it's really simple. The gospel is meant to be simple. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord but from time to time when you're preaching the gospel people can be a little bit confused and you might have to go a little bit more in depth to make sure they get it and for me I do not turn to first John 5 in those conversations but I do turn there if it's necessary for them to understand eternal life. It's kind of like my big one towards the end where I've given them a few extra chances and then if they don't get it then I go to first John 5 and it's kind of like hey if you're not going to get this one that goes super in depth about this idea then you're probably not going to get it. Okay first John 5 look at what it says in verse number 10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath to witness himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave his son and so if we don't believe the record that God has given him a son if we don't believe what's written about his son Jesus Christ not Buddha not Muhammad Jesus Christ if we don't believe then we're making him a liar and we either believe or we don't believe and if we don't believe what the Bible says we're saying it's a lie. Okay verse 11 and this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his son. If we don't believe this record we're calling God a liar. Now I have a friend of mine who was at the church and he ended up leaving the church and it's a church I used to go to before I had moved and it was an independent fundamental Baptist church and what that pastor said is this he's like I think in verse 10 the people that are calling God a liar I think those people are saved because I think these people are saved that you know don't believe it's a gift and don't believe it's in Jesus it's like what in the world like how do you even respond to that there's two types of people and you say well how do you know it's two types of people because in verse 12 he that hath the son hath life and he that hath not the son God hath not life okay it's comparing two people the person who has the son and has life the person that does not believe the son and does not have life so this whole context in verses 10 and 11 is talking about people that believe the record and they have the son they have life and people that don't believe the record are calling God a liar look the people that are calling God a liar are not saved if you say well I think God's lying about me and only in Jesus I think Muhammad gets you to heaven as well I think Buddha gets you to heaven you're calling God a liar and you're not saved to say that those people are saved is ridiculous from the search but people don't want to believe that you must understand these things to get to heaven and so in verse number 11 it mentions three things we must believe and this is what's parallel to Romans 6 23 the second half God hath given to us the gift of God God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his son Romans 6 23 through Jesus Christ our Lord mentions those exact same things we must believe all of these things to be saved you must believe that salvation is only in Jesus Christ you're not saved look if you think there are multiple ways to happen here today you are not saved say well how can you say that because that's what the bible says the bible is very clear about that you must understand Jesus is the only way to happen but you also must understand that God hath given you eternal life which means the gift of God's eternal life and if you think that getting baptized is going to wash away your sins if you think that repenting of all your sins and quitting drinking and quitting smoking is going to wash away all your sins if you think by living a good life and holding out faithful then you're going to get to heaven look you don't understand a gift right right i mean what's the definition of a gift right i tell you here's a gift but i don't even call them 15 pesos long i don't think so it's not a gift and look you know if people think that you have to to do something live a good life they don't understand it's a gift and when we go soul winning you must explain that you say why because they're not saved before the conversation if they say they don't know they're going to heaven they must change their mind about what they believe and if they walk away from that conversation and say i must keep the seven sacraments to be saved oh they didn't get saved right it doesn't matter how much they prayed that prayer they must understand that is a gift say why do you say that that is what the bible says that i've given to us but what has god given us what is this gift eternal life you must believe that the gift you're being given is eternal life and if you think it's conditional life you're not understanding what Jesus did for you and look what i just preached to you would never be preached at any Baptist church around town you say why because most churches think that the prayer is really magical but you don't have to believe anything in your heart i mean you can't believe anything gets you to heaven as long as you say these words that's why we did that demonstration i don't know because last week or the week before with brother marlin because you know all you have to do is just say these magic words it doesn't matter if you leave as long as you say these words look salvation comes down to what you believe and if people think that they have to live a good life and honestly they're not safe and here's the thing when i preach the gospel i often get to the end of my conversation and i kind of do follow-up questions and i'll ask them about questions i'll ask them about murder i'll say well if you're saved and you would one day commit a really bad sin like murder would you still be saved and you know oftentimes you know usually they'll say yeah i would still be saved usually is what they say during the conversation but then when i ask them well what if you commit suicide one day and they say i don't know i think i'd go to hell if i did that say why because they've been trained their whole lives that suicide is the worst thing you can commit that's what the Catholic church has told them and so sometimes you're going through the gospel and they're thinking man that makes a lot of sense it's eternal life of course as long as i don't commit suicide it's eternal life as long as i don't do that one really bad sin that's a mortal sin that God cannot forgive me for that makes sense it's eternal life thank you for clearing that up for me yeah i'll pray right now they didn't get saved though if they still think they can lose their salvation they must change their mind about what they believe this is a topic that's personally very important to me because honestly this topic is actually what sparked the person who led me to the Lord actually bringing the gospel to me i don't i don't remember why the topic came up but i really thought that if you commit suicide it was a straight ticket to hell say why i wasn't saved i felt like most people here like 80 percent of Catholics plus 19 out of the other 20 percent of people here in the Philippines probably the same thing why because even if they're not Catholic Catholicism is rubbed off on people even people are not Catholic in this country idolatry is still probably rubbed off on them a little bit because you're around it all the time and you hear that over and over again and they just automatically believe it now if you're to ask them show me the verse where suicide sends you to hell they're gonna be like uh what's in there it's in there somewhere i know it's in there my priest told me that they don't they don't know when you burst it's just what they believe that's what they've been taught but look unless they change their mind about what they believe they're not going to get saved well notice what it says in verse 13 these things that are written on you that believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe in the name of God this is the verse that many of us use to show people hey you can know 100 percent for sure you're going to heaven no matter what now in this verse i don't see the word repent i see the word believe because believing on Jesus Christ what gets you saved i don't see baptism i say believe but i want you to understand that if people do not understand what's mentioned in verses 10 through 12 they can't know they're going to heaven see if you think that you could lose your salvation one day if you were to commit suicide you don't know you're going to heaven because you don't know what you're going to do with the end you can't know that for sure if you think you can lose your salvation for any reason you can't say you know you're going to heaven because of the fact what if one day you commit some terrible sin but see you know what all of us that are saved we can know we're going to heaven you say why because i've done been saved that's what we say in west Virginia i've done been saved a long time ago and you know what you don't lose that salvation once you're saved it's forever but you know when you preach the gospel we need to explain this to you and look you get a lot of people and let me say this that as i've mentioned during the conversation during the sermon look when i explained first segment 28 with king Saul beyond the shadow of doubt king Saul is in heaven i don't think the bible is very clear that about that but let me say that that's not the simplest way to explain suicide it's not simple at all it takes a lot of time and i spend like 10 minutes on that one point to just prove that because it's not the simplest thing the simplest way is just to explain well do you believe jesus died for every sin they're gonna say yeah you died for all sins well then if you die for all sins and you can't be forgiven for suicide how can you really say die for all sins they're gonna be like that makes sense where you explain hey it's your soul that is eternal life so if you killed your yourself you killed your body and still go to heaven you know what they usually say that makes sense and you know it's important for us to explain this because people need to understand that it is eternal life now let me say this that when you're explaining internal security you want to make it realistic and so when i preach the gospel i explain that you know with my son i always point to the picture and i say if he breaks my rules and does something really bad he's going to get a punishment from his father and i'm not going to be happy i'm going to be upset but he's still my son right that helps people understand internal security because i remember when i first preached the gospel someone a long time ago and i was i realized i was saved it was eternal life and i preached the gospel i said hey no matter what you're saying no matter what you do whether you kill someone or commit suicide or do whatever sin you'll still have now that's true but it sounds a little bit crazy to people the context helps people understand well you know what if you're saved you can do whatever you want but think about what would your dad do to you you'd still be a son you'd still still be a son forever nothing's going to change that but you know if you just break all the windows in your house and throw something you know at your mom obviously he's going to punish you and see we want to make maternal security realistic because you know honestly it does make sense that in this life you will be punished based on what you do you live a good life or bad life but it doesn't change the fact that the bible teaches he that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the sun shall not see like the wrath of god and the reason why some people go to hell after committing suicide is because they did not believe in the sun those that did believe in the sun they are still saved because it's spiritual life it's eternal life the moment you believe let's go to the word of prayer