All right, if you look at this,
it's an account of Judas and the end of his life and how he
took his life, Matthew 27 and 1 through 10. And when the morning
was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took
counsel against Jesus to put Him to death. When they had bound
Him, they led Him away, delivered Him to Pontius Pilate, the governor. Then Judas, which had betrayed
him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself,
brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priest
and elder, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent
blood. And they said, What is that to
us? See thou to it. he cast down
the pieces of silver in the temple, departed and went and hanged
himself. The chief priest 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. Then was fulfilled that which
was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, They took the thirty
pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they
of the children of Israel did value, and gave them for the
potter's field, as the Lord had appointed. And in verse 5 again,
And departed and went and hanged himself." There are several descriptions
in the Bible, and in legal areas as well, of the taking of the
lie. There is fratricide, There's
homicide, there's matricide, there's infanticide, and lately
we've been hearing of spousicide, where one takes the life of another,
and all those means whereby one takes the life of another. A thing often heard in our day
is now, as I said, spousal side. We had one of them occur and
I saw it on the news the other evening. Now all of these violate
one of the great commandments of God. The sixth commandment,
thou shalt not kill. Exodus 20 and verse 13, Deuteronomy
chapter 5 and verse 17. It is equivalent to, Thou shalt
not murder or do no murder. And because of depravity, there
was a murder in the very first family of mankind as Cain rose
up and slew his brother Abel. And then God later established
the death penalty for murder in Genesis 9, verses 5 and 6,
and instituted the penalty of capital punishment for and to
be executed upon the murderer. Now, as noted in the Scripture,
there are many ways that death is carried out. Also, there are
many weapons that are used in this, including the bare hands
of one individual. But one thing is clear. intentional,
deliberate murder, planned and aforethought in the Scripture,
carries with it the penalty of death. The Puritan Thomas Watson
said something kind of interesting in his book on the Ten Commandments. He observed that, quote, a felon,
having been convicted of six murders, the judge is guilty
of five of them because he did not execute the felon the first
time that he committed a murder, the words of Watson. But all
things that being true, we have committed to a study this evening
of suicide or of self-murder, which is an act purposely of
taking one's very own life. from the two words in the Latin,
sui, meaning self, and side, meaning to murder. Our text justifies,
I believe, a study of the subject where we read, Judas went out
and hanged himself, in Matthew 27 and verse 5. In Acts chapter
1 you have another account of this matter, in chapter 18, It
gives us a few more details about the death of Judas, describing
in gross detail the awful event. Quote, falling headlong, he burst
asunder in the midst. All of his bowels gushed out,
unquote. So we can reconcile the two accounts. Both of them are true. Matthew
gives the fact. He left. He went out of the temple. after casting down and returning
the money to the chief priest, and there he killed himself by
hanging. We have more of Matthew's account
later on the subject. But Peter, over in Acts 1, is
leading in this passage in the selection of one an apostle to
replace Judas. You have it in verse 15 through
verse 22. And he cites Scripture there
from the Old Testament concerning a prophecy of Judas, or which
he applied unto Judas. And he uses this as justification
for selecting another apostle in Acts chapter 1 verse 22 and
the last part, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his,
that is, of Christ's resurrection. Now basically, the two accounts
Matthew and Acts differ in this. Matthew gives an account of the
things that led up to Judas going out and taking his life and destroying
himself. while Peter proceeds from the
other side, the impact of his death. Now the points that are
made by Peter, Acts 1 verse 16, Scripture must be fulfilled what
David said in Psalm 41 and verse 9 concerning Judas, quote, which
was guide to them that took Jesus, unquote. Then in Acts 1 and verse
17, he was numbered among us and obtained a portion of this
ministry. He was one of the twelve. He had been chosen by Christ
to be so, John 6 and verse 70. And in Acts 1 and verse 18, we
read that he purchased a field with the reward of iniquity. Now, not Judas personally, for
this was done by the priest in Matthew 27 and verse 7, but by
and through the acts of Judas and the betrayal of money and
the betrayal of our Lord. And then we also noted The awful
manner of his death. We've already said it. Falling
headlong, he burst asunder and all of the bowels or the inward
part of him in some way gushed out. Now Peter said in verse
19, this was common knowledge, and several suppose, that the
rope that Judas used to hang himself might have broken and
he was thrown or fell violently down and killed himself, hid
in his midsection in some way, burst open as to his body. As Gil said, this was the miserable
end of Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of our Lord. We're told in Acts
1 and verse 25, from which Judas fell. That is, from the ministry
or the apostleship that he might go to his own place." Now that's
a strange statement. Does Peter mean hell? How could
he possibly mean heaven? Some commentators, feeling the
pinch of the words that he might go to his own place, apply the
word not to Judas, but then unto Matthias who was chosen. Matthias
chosen to go to his own place in the apostolate. Still another
view hold that the words refer to Judas, but that his own place
was to be, his own house or his own field or something of that
matter. Some even think that Judas had
a special place by God prepared for him that he will be the Antichrist
some days, that he will come forth again and become the Antichrist. But his own place here, by which
Peter, while not being judgmental, could speak very soberly of the
awful, awful end of Judas, and he did so in the light of the
circumstances of his apostasy and his death, but also in light
of the prophecy of the Old Testament Scripture, our oracles of God. for consider the awful deed that
Judas had performed. He betrayed the Lord, and that
for thirty pieces of silver. And he died by his own hand,
not as a martyr, not for the gospel, not at the hands of the
enemy of Christianity who took him and put him to death. He
died not like Stephen or not like James for a defense of the
faith, not the death of the righteous, but he died by his very own hand. And as F. F. Bruce wrote in Acts
chapter 1 and verse 25, the circumstances of his death gave them little
hope, unquote, that is, as to the end and of the spiritual
state of Judith. Now before we go back to Matthew
chapter 27 and verse 5, let's remember that there are at least
three accounts of suicide which are written up for us in the
scripture. What clearly and plainly must
be rated or ranked in the area of suicide, we'll name them so
we might have a better overview of the issue and see the issue
more clearly. Now the three that I have in
mind are as follows. Number one, Old, wicked King
Saul, way back in the Old Testament, the nemesis and the enemy of
King David. It's recorded in 1 Samuel 31,
verse 4, who deliberately, that is King Saul, ended his life
by falling upon a sword rather than fall into the hand of the
Gentiles. Here in the text, therefore,
Saul took a sword and fell upon it. That's how he ended his life.
Secondly, you have one not so well known, Ahithophel in 2 Samuel
chapter 17 and verse 23. of whom this is written, quote,
hanged himself and died and was buried in the sepulcher or the
grave of his father, end quote. More later because this case
is very interesting. And then thirdly, you have Judas
in our text today. Our first text, the betrayer
of the Lord Jesus Christ who planted a kiss and who betrayed
our Lord for thirty pieces of silver. We also have the fact
to factor in this was a one-time apostle and even treasurer of
the group where he had the bag and the money and all that was
therein. Now by considering all of these
together, we can get a clearer picture of one who takes their
own life. Perhaps a picture of the state
of mind, the factors that might be involved in their life that
ended in that and even the characters of those who commit self-murder
or take their life. Needless to say, by viewing them
all together, we find such things to be present in their life as
guilt and fear, an unstable personality, inner turmoil, refusal to face
up to their responsibility, or some secret inward compulsion,
or perhaps in cases a hypocritical or a double life had been lived. Now the Puritan Thomas Watson
wrote again, self-murder, is occasioned usually by discontent
and sullen melancholy." So let's look at the case of Judas first
in moving along. Matthew chapter 27. The author
here gives us some vital information as to the state of mind of Judas
just prior to his taking his life by hanging. By the way,
about two years ago I had the funeral of a man who took his
life by hanging himself in a tree in the backyard. Now, as we know,
Judas had betrayed the Lord for thirty pieces of silver. after spending three years in
the company of our Lord. Hearing the teaching, he had
seen the mighty works that our great Savior had done. He had
seen, or rather been on missions in the name of the Lord, had
been sent out, Matthew chapter 10 and verse 4. And as I mentioned,
was treasurer of the group, as is mentioned in John 12, And
verse 6 and chapter 13 and verse 29. Now the Lord had been arrested
at this time. He had been bound. He had been
taken before Pilate. We have that in the first two
verses of Matthew chapter 27. And we come to verse 3 and the
first part. Then Judas, which betrayed him
when he saw that he was condemned. Now let's stop right there. Concerning the last word, when
he saw that he was condemned. Whose condemnation is in view
here? Who is it that was condemned?
Is it the Lord or is it that of Judas himself? I submit that
the text makes it clear that the commendation, or rather that
it is toward our Lord. That when he saw that the Lord
Jesus Christ was condemned. It occurred by Judas' betrayal. The one that he had betrayed
was taken by hand, was brought to court, and was condemned and
was sentenced. And it is this that set in motion,
it would seem, Judas taking his life. We wonder why. What's the
connection here? Well, I wonder, did Judas think
that though he had enriched himself by betraying the Lord, He had
done an awful thing to gain some kind of enrichment. Did Judas
think that perhaps the Lord might save himself or escape by his
own mighty power? He'd done it before. They'd tried
to kill him and could not succeed. But instead, this time, he submitted
to those willing to condemn him and reprobate and apostate that
he was devil that he was, Judas Iscariot, two-faced hypocrite
that he was, sinner that he was, was seized by guilt and by regret
and some remorse, and follow the text. Look at verse 3. He repented himself, that is,
upon seeing the fruit of his betrayal. But it was only regret. It was not real repentance and
it was not godly sorrow that led to repentance as in 2 Corinthians
7 and verse 10. Secondly, we notice also in verse
3, he returned as if to purge himself or lessen his guilt or
wash the blood from his hand. He returned the 30 pieces of
silver gained by his betrayal. because it began to eat at him
like a canker worm, and he threw down his ill-gotten gain there
before the high priest and went out. And then thirdly, we see
that he made a double confession, and this is in verse 4. A. I have sinned. I have done that which is wrong,
and be the nature of his sin, betraying innocent blood. Here is another of a testimony
of the impeccability of our Lord. His betrayer considers him to
be without sin. Then fourthly, we notice in verse
5, he departed the temple after casting down the money, and went
out and hanged himself. And as J.C. Ryle wrote in one
of his books, the subject that occupies the verses that we have
here read is the melancholy end of a false apostle named Judas
Iscariot, unquote. And so we ask ourselves, concerning
these cases of obvious suicide that are revealed in the Scripture. By the way, there are some who
count Samson among this number who gave his life in bringing
down the building. What was their spiritual state?
What was the condition of these men that we read about in the
Scripture that took their life? And can we find a pattern here,
and can we draw any sort of conclusion? Now one thing, and considering
them, seems obvious, such as the act is a result of great
unhappiness, or of deep guilt, the possibility of a very bleak
and uncertain future, an insurmountable obstacle of some kind that lays
in their way, an incurable disease, something they can't face or
they can't handle, something shameful that they can't bear
to have to be exposed before their friends, neighbors, acquaintances,
and such like. And you might add many others
onto that list. Some have taken their life when
facing a criminal indictment. Several have done that. Prison. I'm not going to prison. I'll
take my life. Exposure for some awful, shameful
deed or to escape capture by the police. Nearly every week
we have a case like that when the police show up the man or
the person shoots himself and takes their life. Now, suicide
is not the result of a happy, spiritual, Christian life. It
is not the way of one walking in the fear of God. It is not
one settled in the service of Christ our Lord and Savior. It is not the way of one who
reverences and cherishes and loves the Holy Scripture, has
a close fellowship and tie with their church and with the saints
of God. Now this is not to deny that
at some time a despair may cross the mind of a true child of God. But it must be treated as an
evil thought and say to ourselves, get thee behind me, Satan. It ought to be repented of and
forsaken. And we ask the question, some
do, was Judas ever a Christian man? Some say yes, we say no. Then the question, will a Christian
or would a Christian ever take their own life? And I know there
are those who unequivocally would say no, absolutely, this is something
that a Christian might do. But who can say for sure or until
or unless they've come under some bad influence of one sort
or another. Some sections of Christendom
take such a dim view of this that no Christian will ever take
his own life that they refuse to have a funeral memorial for
that particular person, a new one who did that and belonged
to a church of that kind. It's called the unpardonable
sin. Thomas Manton, a Puritan, wrote
of some reported by Eusebius, that though confessing Christ,
they leap to their death, thrust themselves upon knives and upon
swords to escape the bloody, vile persecution from Diocletian
in their particular day. This goes back to the question
whether they confessing Christ may make way with their very,
very own life. to escape prosecution, or for
some other reason? The answer to some is an equivocal
no. As Matan said, because it is
sinful, it's contrary to the commandment of God, thou shalt
not kill. Now consider, I mean, how many
quote, religious suicide, we have seen in our lifetime and
in the last few years, going all the way back to Jim Jones
and those mindless robots drinking the Kool-Aid in Guyana, to those
who killed themselves to catch the comet home yonder under heaven,
as such as Father Occult Leader, who bids them all come. and lay
down their life, who have turned their minds and their hearts,
their consciences over to some cult, and therefore it has brought
them this way. Now, who would consider that
such suicide is aberrant behavior on the part of those people?
Most cling to life as long as they can. at great cost and at
great suffering. Suffering through one treatment
after another. One operation after another.
trying this new medicine, trying that new procedure in order that
their life might be spared. That's usually the attitude of
a lot of people. Satan used the argument before
the Lord against Job when he said in chapter 2 and verse 4,
skin for skin, all that a man hath will he gill for his life. that in normal circumstances
a man's life is of more value than anything else that he owns. And his own life is dearer to
him than anything else that he might have acquired or possessed. Paul even allows a man to love
his own body in Ephesians 5 and verse 28. But consider the argument. It's my life and I can do with
it what I want and what I will. This sounds much like the argument
for abortion. It's my body. I'll kill any baby
that invades my body if I want to. We must remember, life is
the gift of God. that God claims sovereignty over
our life. But we don't deny that life is
sometimes very, very miserable, even to a child of God, whether
it be the ghost of childhood abuse, unloved by parents who
had us, constant unhappiness, the demon of a hell of war, and
the guilt of some sin lying hidden within. Constant depression,
or whatever it might be, might come as well upon a child of
God. But suicide we must classify
as murder. How be it self-murder, but murder
nonetheless. It kills self, and if it's wrong,
and if it's sinful to abuse the body, then how wrong to kill
that same body. Consider what would happen to
the person if they did the same to another. If they shot another,
or hanged another, or poisoned another, or gassed them, or pushed
them off a bridge, or off a cliff, or off of a building, it would
be called murder. and they would be brought to
account for it. We know a family. We know them
well. In fact, my dad was a preacher
for years and for years. A young man who parked his car
on the railroad track and killed himself because of some trouble
in his life or breakup with his girlfriend or something had upset
him. There's a moment that at times
appears to be gaining strength in the life of one or another. This business of suicide and
assisted suicide. Remember Dr. Death? that it is
legal now in some nations of the world. Suicide is now legal. Doctor-assisted suicide already
legal in such country. And one has pushed it in America
and went to prison for that for a while. And no doubt it is true. The more godless a society become,
the more The more the individual becomes godless and away from
God, the more frequent and acceptable will we see this act coming to
pass in our society. For there is no regard for the
word or for the law of God in so many. in our day and time. Of the three suicides in the
Scripture that we mentioned, Judas hanged himself for the
guilt of his deed. Saul fell on his sword, 1 Samuel
31, after being wounded by the shooters of the Philistine, and
to avoid being put to more suffering and more disgrace at the hand
of the enemy. And wrote Saul, as he lived,
so died, proud, jealous, a terror to himself and all about him,
having neither the fear of God nor the hope of God in this man
Saul. Then I mentioned the man Ahithophel. It's a more complex, complex
case. of self-destruction in 2 Samuel
chapter 17. I won't turn there, but read
it sometime. It's interesting. This man had
once been a very respected strategist. He was gifted with political
savvy. He had a great insight into the
workings of government in the kingdom and the country and such
like. And he was much sought after
for that counsel. And in 2 Samuel 16 and 23, His
counsel was as if one had inquired of the oracles of God. Imagine
that. But when Absalom received the
counsel of Hushai over that given by Ahithophel, it was according
to the secret providence of God. You can see that In 2 Samuel
17, verse 14, the last part. It involves lies and deception
and all of that, but it was working out the providence of God. Yet you read in 2 Samuel 17,
verse 23, When he saw that his counsel,
his advice, his judgment, his strategy, he went to his city,
which was Gila, chapter 15 and verse 12, he put all of his affairs
in order, took care of all things, gave charge concerning his house
as it is in the margin, made out his will, consigned his property
and his estate, told what was to be done, with all that had
been his, and then we read, and hanged himself." This is not
in a fervor. It's not suddenly done. He deliberately
and planned every act and detail. And why? Why did he do this? Why did he come to such despair? Because his counsel was not taken,
his advice was not followed. This no doubt involved two things.
One, his pride was greatly wounded. His counsel was set aside. He had been a political insider
greatly depended on, but no more. Secondly, another factor to consider,
he knew that the council of Shushi would fail and that David would
prevail in the matter, and his life would be in danger. He would
be executed as a traitor unto the king and the governor, and
so he hanged himself to escape the wrath and the fury of the
king. Now a few final thoughts very
quickly. Number one, what about the argument true real life is
in heaven. Therefore, what we can do to
get there the quickest certainly is a good thing. To get out of
this earthly life and move on to the heavenly. We remember
that it is sinful to desire death, as did Jonah and as did Elisha,
not to see God. That's not why they wanted to
die. But to escape the wrath of men,
they desired that they might die. Thirdly, some will say to
me, what about Paul saying, I have a desire to depart and be with
Christ, which is far better. Philippians 1 and verse 23, and
yet he did not mean by suicide, for suicide is self-murder and
ends the only life that one will ever have. Let's always say that
in ordinary circumstances Death ought to be natural. It ought
to be the work and the providence of God. It ought to be left to
the Lord's sovereign will, design, plan, and purpose. Let us treasure
our life. God has given it unto us. And let us remember there is
a better life to come at God's own perfect and precious time.