Sermon for Sunday, October 6, 2024 at Unionville Presbyterian Church, BPC
Old Testament reading:
[Ecc 9:1-6 ESV] 1 But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. 2 It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. 4 But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.
New Testament reading:
[Rom 6:1-11 ESV] 1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Gospel reading:
[Mat 27:3-10 ESV] 3 Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” 5 And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers. 8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, 10 and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”
Scripture reading:
[1Sa 31:1-13 ESV] 1 Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. 2 And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. 3 The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers. 4 Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and mistreat me.” But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. 5 And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. 6 Thus Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, on the same day together. 7 And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and lived in them. 8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people. 10 They put his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. 11 But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. 13 And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.
Introduction
We come now to the end of the book of 1st Samuel.
Of course, as I’ve noted, this is not really the end because the original scroll continued into 2nd Samuel.
But it does make a good breaking point with the death of Saul.
And this is a good point at which to discuss death in general. The Biblical view of Death. That is the sermon title today. The Biblical view of Death. And, if possible, we could even say this is a positive, encouraging sermon about death. And I know that that sounds like a contradiction or an impossibility. But the Scriptures are encouraging even in the face of death.
It is important to recognize always that “death is not a good thing.” When I say this is an encouraging sermon I’m not saying “death is good” or that you should look forward to your own death or to anyone else’s death. Death is the enemy. It is the result of the Fall of man into sin. No matter how we try to “pretty it up,” death remains the enemy.
Some have indeed tried to glamorize death. I think it is, for them, a diversion from the terribleness and inevitability of it. One rather hippie fella I’ve seen says his goal in life is to return to the earth. And there in a sense a Biblical truth to that. Our bodies return to the earth. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, naked I come from my mother’s womb and naked shall I return. And some other people are even comforted in the idea of death as they embrace it as a relief from their suffering. But this doesn’t make death good. It is the enemy, the consequence of sin, and it comes to all men.
And when we consider the subject of Death we are faced with that reality that death indeed is not only for the wicked but for all men (except Elijah and Enoch who were taken up to heaven without dying).
So this is our first point:
I. Death is not only for the wicked, but for all men.
In our text we see the death of the wicked. And the consequences of evil. We see the death of King Saul, the attacker of God’s anointed David. And so we see God’s judgment and his justice in the death of Saul.
But there are a number of deaths in this chapter.
The “men of Israel” are killed. (v. 1)
The 3 sons of Saul (Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-Shua) are killed. (v. 2)
Saul himself dies. (v. 4)
And Saul’s armor bearer dies. (v. 5)
The death that King Saul deserves is now upon him. And like other evil men in the Scriptures he has a horrendous death. Well, he falls on his sword. That isn’t the most horrendous, but added to that we find that the Philistines cut off his head.
The description of a man’s death in the Scriptures often has a relation to the life that he lived. Judas, died, having hung himself, and his bowels gushed out. The point seems to be “this terrible death is what the traitor Judas deserved.”
But death comes to all men.
As we look at our text, we see that not all of those who died were opposers of God.
Saul’s son Jonathan was a believer, a friend of David, and his advocate. And these “men of Israel” that went out to fight, likely that is a mixed crowd of believers and unbelievers.
We can understand why Saul dies (it is a deserved vengeance of the Lord). But, there’s that million dollar question, why do GOOD people die? Why does Jonathan die, for example?
The first answer to that question always must be, “there are no good people.” We are all sinners. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. We are all under the curse of Adam.
But why did believers die in this instance?
It was at least in part as a consequence of Saul’s opposition to God that they died. God was not with Israel in this battle. God let them fall at the hands of the Philistines.
God rejected Saul. This fulfills the prophecy of Samuel, when he was brought back from the dead in chapter 28, when he said:
[1Sa 28:18-19 ESV] 18 Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day. 19 Moreover, the LORD will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The LORD will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.”
Sin has consequences. And Saul’s sin — especially noted is his failure to fulfill the command to destroy the enemies of God, the Amalekites — leads to his death. And with him the army of Israel, and his three sons.
This is the “end of an era.” Saul is killed, and his three sons. Abinadab and Malchi-shua may have sought the throne of the Kingdom, but now they are dead. And while Jonathan wasn’t likely to seek the throne, since he favored David’s anointed status, perhaps someone else would have tried to promote him. So there will be no continuation of the line of kings through the sons of Saul. God is clearing the way for David to be king.
So “death is for the wicked” like Saul, but also “death is for all men.” Jonathan is killed. Men of Israel are killed. And death HAS COME to every man on the earth and death WILL COME to every man who lives on the earth.
Death is a great reality, an overwhelming cloud on the horizon. An inevitable end to our lives on this earth. And it is due to our own sin. This is a sobering reality. Even if you are not opposed to God like Saul, you too shall one day die.
There are people who fight it. They are called “transhumanists.” They desire to live forever. But they will never succeed. Even if they cure cancer and all other diseases, they’ll never be able to cure “getting run over by a train.” The end will come. Death comes to all men.
I probably think too often about death. It has been on my mind since a child. And it will probably be on my mind my whole life. It is not something I like to think about, but it comes up as the inevitable end.
Many people seem to think of death not at all, never. They live their lives as if they will never die, or in a YOLO manner they live as if this is “it.” You might as well get everything out of this world, they think, if this is all that there is.
But we live with hope because of the promise of life that is to come. Jesus Christ, who has brought us new life through his Holy Spirit promises us life eternal in the resurrection; WE will be resurrected as HE was resurrected. And so while death is not only for the wicked, but comes to all, LIFE — eternal life — is a gift from God for those who are His people, called to faith in him.
II. The Death of Saul
Now I want to look at the death of Saul, and the others deaths, in this chapter.
Saul’s death is a suicide. He attempted at first to make it an assisted suicide, but failing that (with his armor bearer unwilling to do the deed), Saul killed himself, falling on his sword.
He desired, it seems, to go out NOT being killed by his enemy; not giving them that privilege of killing him. He said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and mistreat me.”
But the armor bearer wouldn’t kill Saul because he “feared greatly.” Whom did the armor bearer fear? Three options: Saul? The Philistines? Or God?
Possibly it is some of each. The enemy is attacking. So he fears the Philistines. But that doesn’t explain why his fear is mentioned at this moment. He could fear Saul, but Saul isn’t exactly going to fight back after he is killed.
So I think it is God whom the armor bearer feared.
The commentator Robert Bergen says “the assistant was terrified and would not do it, perhaps because he feared the consequence of harming the Lord’s anointed.” David refused to “harms God’s anointed.” Perhaps the armor bearer was on the same page.
Now, if he feared God, perhaps he was a believer in the Lord.
There is said to be seven suicides in the Bible.
Abimelech by the hands of his armor bearer, as requested. (Judges 9:54)
Samson with a houses falling upon him. (Judges 16:30)
Saul (1 Samuel 31:4)
Saul’s armor bearer. (1 Samuel 31:5)
Ahithophel by hanging himself. (2 Samuel 17:23)
Zimri by burning the king’s house over him. (1 Kings 16:18)
And Judas by hanging himself. (Matthew 27:5)
Suicide is not a noble ending. It breaks the commandment “thou shall not kill” just as much as murder does. It is not the way a believer should go.
But suicide is not the “unforgivable sin.” The unforgivable sin is the unbelieving hardened heart that refuses to repent and bow down to the Lord in faith.
We don’t know if Saul’s armor bearer was a believer. But Samson was. He was one of the great judges. And yet died by suicide.
Perhaps you know a family who has lost someone by suicide. Are you to conclude that that person was damned to hell? No. That is not a necessary conclusion. Samson was a believer. And all who trust in the promised messiah, Jesus Christ, will be saved.
Before moving on to our final point — The LIFE of Jesus Christ — we should say something of the end of the passage. There the bodies are taken away as trophies by the Philistines. And put in their temples, saying “Our gods are greater than your god.” By hanging Saul in the Philistines temples they are claiming that their gods are greater than Yahweh. But his cannot stand. Like the statues of dagon that fell face down, this cannot stand. So the men of Jabesh-Gilead who have a walled city (and therefore less fear of Philistine attack) arise and capture/collect the bodies of Saul and his sons. In a sort of honoring him they bury him under the tamarisk tree, the same type of tree that Saul would meet under with his leaders. And before burial they burned the bodies. Not down to ash it is thought, but just so that bones remained. And they did this for honor — not that burning bodies or cremation is the standard or good practice in the Scriptures — but because the bodies were so defiled by the Philistines that there was no other option.
So even though Saul was an evil king, the people did the honorable thing in giving him a decent burial.
III. The Life of Jesus Christ
The biblical view of death is that it is inevitable, and destined for all men, not just the wicked.
But the Biblical view of death is also that death is not the end.
The resurrection will come, and those who have done good (and are seen as righteous for the sake of Jesus Christ) will have eternal life and those who have done evil will have eternal death.
We have the Life of Christ.
This is not “the life of Christ” in the sense of a biography. I’m talking of the LIFE that He gives.
Sin brings death.
But Christ brings LIFE.
In Christ, death is defeated. A famous book of the Puritan John Owen was thus titled, “The death of death in the death of Christ.”
This is not that physical death is ended, for all still will die.
Rather, that eternal separation from God is no longer. And though we die, we shall continue to live.
There is no reincarnation, but there is resurrection.
As Christ was raised, so shall we be raised; all who believe in him.
Now eternal life for the Christian doesn’t pause at death waiting for centuries for the resurrection.
Rather, this is what our confession says. And I read it because it is a summary better than I could write, and it explains so much of the Biblical material in a brief statement.
Chapter 32, Part 1
The bodies of men, after death, return to dust, and see corruption: but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them: the souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God, in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies. And the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day. Besides these two places, for souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none.
APPLICATION: Pointing ALL to Christ
Generally, the Biblical accounts of suicide are not of believers. And it is not looked at as a good thing by any means. (The story of Samson is debated, but certainly does not encourage suicide).
And I had a man reach out to me this week. He said he was planning to commit suicide. He wanted to know if I wanted, basically, the honor of interviewing him before he went forward and he told me of a particularly theologian that saved him. My response was “Absolutely not.” I will not interview someone as such would indicate my approval of their decision. And I said, “I don’t know a lot about suicide, but I know a lot about Christ. And HE alone saves.” Not any theologian. Not any man, but Jesus Christ, the God-man. He broke communication at that point, and I pray the Lord strengthens him against sin.
And that’s what I told him. I oppose sin in general. Suicide is sin. Therefore I oppose suicide.
But people often want to know if suicide is the unforgivable sin. And I’ve already stated that it is not. This is not to advocate for suicide by any means, but to say that God is greater. His grace covers a multitude of sins.
I remember well when a neighbors son, growing up back in the early 90s, committed suicide. I remember the parents over at my house at a bonfire in the backyard. And they were asking about whether their son was in heaven.
And I’m always struck by that scene in the Luther movie some years ago, where the body of person who committed is not allowed to be buried in the cemetery, but Martin Luther breaks the rules and has them buried there anyways. And he says, in effect, “sin overcome them and they committed suicide. But they had faith in Christ.” “And HE SAVES.”
IT IS NOT OUR ABILITY TO NOT KILL OURSELVES THAT SAVES US. IT IS CHRIST ALONE WHO SAVES AND THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVES FAITH TO THE SAME PERSONS.
[Rom 8:30 ESV] 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Christ alone saves.
So we point ALL to Christ. Those who have lost loved ones. And those who are struggling with depression and suicidal tendencies. We point ALL to Christ.
Perhaps Christ was speaking of those who struggle with depression, and doubts, and difficulties in life when he said “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.”
Be encouraged therefore, Christian, that if you are “poor in spirit” on earth, you shall be rich in Christ in the world to come.
Conclusion:
And that is I want to conclude with: it is something R. C. Sproul wrote that struck me. He said rightly, “death does not have the last word.”
Death is NOT the end of our existence. Death does not have the final word. God does.
So though we die, we shall not perish but have eternal life.
I’ve said before that we are “saved from” the wrath of God.
Another has said we are “saved from” perishing.
Both are true.
Because of Christ’s final word, we are saved from the wrath of God, and saved from perishing, and saved FOR eternal life in the arms of our Father in heaven.
Let us pray.