At this time tonight, we have Brother Cam. He's going to come. He's going to bring the word, and so make him feel welcome as he comes this evening. Thank you. Thank you. So if at first glance you're like, oh, this guy, and then the first couple minutes, it might be a little rough because a little nervous, right?
I speak in the teens a lot, but there's something about being in the big leagues that adds to it just a little bit. So very thankful for the opportunity to be here tonight. If you would, turn your Bibles with me to Mark chapter number five. We're going to launch out of tonight is Mark chapter number five. So tonight's message is going to be slightly different in the fact that I'm not too much of a preacher, is what I would say.
I'm more of a teacher in the way that I approach things. And tonight's message is going to be potentially a little sensitive for some people. So just know that our staff will be available after the certain message tonight to talk. And tonight's message is entitled, Self-harm and Suicide from a Biblical Perspective. Okay, so launching out of Mark chapter number five, we're going to read verses one down to verse 20, and the Bible says, And they came over unto the other side of the sea, and to the country of the Gadarians. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met a man, met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs, and no man could bind him, no, not with chains, but that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces, and neither could any man tame him.
And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus far off, he ran and worshipped him, and cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God? I adjourn thee by God, that thou torment me not. For he said unto them, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name?
And he answered, saying, My name is Legion, for we are many. And he besought him much that he would not send them away of the country. Now there was there nigh unto the mountain a great herd of swine feeding. And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter unto them. And forwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out and entered into the swine, and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea.
There were about two thousand, and were choked in the sea. And they that fed the swine fled and told it in the city and in the country, and they that went out to see what it was that was done. And they came to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil, and the legion sitting and clothed, and in his right mind.
And they were afraid. And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. Verse seventeen, And they began to pray him to depart out of their coast. And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.
And then verse twenty, And he departed, and began to publish into capitalist how great things Jesus had done for him, and all the men that did marvel. Let's pray tonight. Dear Lord, I'm so thankful for tonight. I'm thankful for the opportunity to come into the adult service, Lord, and to preach your word. Lord, I pray that you would soften hearts now. Lord, I pray that you would get me out of the way, and allow me to just preach and proclaim your word, and to communicate it effectively tonight. Lord, we love you. We thank you for all that you do, and it's in Christ's name that I do pray. Amen.
You can be seated tonight. So, you may wonder, like, wow, this is a heavy message. Why this? Why this topic?
Why am I here to address this? And as a youth pastor, I work with a lot of teenagers across all of our ministries, which include Wednesday nights, Sunday school, which is life groups, our 242 small group ministry, two in-school Bible studies. Across that period of time, I meet with over, probably over a hundred teenagers a week, in a given week. And these are some statistics about teenagers in the world that we live in today. According to the World Health Organization, seven to fourteen percent of adolescents, which is ages ten to nineteen, will self-harm at some point in their life. Twenty to forty-five percent of older adolescents report having had suicidal thoughts at some time. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for teens and young adults, and that's the group that I work with. Thirteen point six percent of eighteen to twenty-five year olds have had thoughts of suicide in the past year. That's about one in seven. Twenty-two percent of high school students have seriously considered suicide in the past year. That's over one in five. I believe that suicide and self-harm are not just a result of poor mental health.
I'm not up here to give you a TED talk tonight, but I believe that they are a result of a poor spiritual health and of sin. And tonight as I come into this message, I've actually preached this message to our teens. This was like a two-week series that we did with our teens. And you know, you may ask like, really? You preach this to our teens?
Absolutely I did, and I absolutely had to. Just in the past maybe four to five months, I've had different parents, different students, and different things come to me. Probably close to a half dozen of our teenagers here at Lighthouse alone dealing with self-harm or suicidal thoughts. And so if our teens are dealing with it, it is safe to assume that we may have adults dealing with it as well. And since preaching that message, I've had a lot of adults come to me seeking advice for this. And so I wanted to be able to come in and preach it to the adults tonight.
And because we record this on YouTube, I hope that this can be a resource for you to share with people who you think that might need it after tonight's message. And so understand tonight that even if we are Christians, we will still face storms in life. Matthew 7 24 says, Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, Jesus speaking, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock, and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon the house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.
So the house represents a man's life, and what it is built on dictates the outcome when it faces storms. The important thing to understand is that both men faced the exact same storms in life, one a believer and one not a believer, one listening and doing the word of God and one not. So understand tonight that just because we come to church or because we profess Christ, does not exempt us from the struggles and the storms of life, because we will certainly face them. And so my first point tonight is that self-harm is not of God. Look at Mark chapter number 5, I'm going to be in this passage a lot tonight, but verse 5, and it says, And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones. And so Jesus comes across this body of water, and he's here, and there's this man, and he's filled with an unclean spirit, or he was demon-possessed, as some versions would say. And as a result of this demon-possession, the man was cutting himself with stones. This verse, and as well as the other Gospel accounts of this story, highlight the fact that the demon supported self-harm in promoting cutting oneself. And understand here that he was filled with a demon, not with the Holy Spirit. And so tonight, I'm going to ask questions a lot, and then I'm going to answer them in kind of an apologetical format tonight as I go through this message, because these are some of the questions that I've been asked, and I'm sure some of you may have had, you know, over the time of your Christian walk, or even not. So the first question, would the Holy Spirit ever lead someone to cut or to harm themselves?
The answer is no. Cutting oneself is sinful, and the Holy Spirit would never lead someone into sin. And so how do we know that? How do we know that it is sinful?
Well, we look at Scripture. 1 Corinthians 6, 19, what? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. And so we see in this passage, this passage kind of has a dual role here, because it is speaking of the church as a whole, and the church has the Holy Spirit in it, but it's also speaking of an individual believer. The individual believer's body itself is also a temple of the Holy Spirit. And so would the Holy Spirit ever lead someone to damage its own temple?
The answer is no. Another passage that we can turn to for this is 1 Corinthians 10, 31. Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Self-cutting or self-harming is not glorifying to God. And so why do people self-harm, right?
For some of us, this is such an out-there thing, it's like I can never imagine. I jammed my finger this week, and I'm like, wow, that hurt, right? We can't imagine doing some of these things, but there are reasons behind it, at least some psychological reasons for this. So self-harm and self-mutilation are defined as any behavior or act one does to injure one's body on purpose.
It could be hitting, burning, scalding, scratching, cutting, piercing, bruising, banging, or hitting body parts, pulling hair, and even swallowing poisonous or dangerous objects. Cutting and self-harm are done to provide a feeling of relief or create an emotional release from the stress, anger, pain, anxiety, or overwhelming pressure felt by the person inflicting the harm. Even though cutting and self-harm often result in a form of relief from emotional pain, the effects are only temporary, and the emotional feelings also always flood back, giving a greater desire to inflict even more physical pain. This is the reason that cutting and self-injurious behaviors can become addictive. Cutting and self-harm can accompany other problems and diagnosis, such as binge eating, binge drinking, depression, anxiety, PTSD, schizophrenia, personality disorders, and substance abuse disorders. Self-harm is typically seen as non-suicidal behavior, although the risk of accidental death is elevated. Teens who cut have not learned how to cope with negative emotions in difficult situations in life, particularly relationship problems. Their coping skills are not adequate to deal with the overwhelming emotions they are experiencing. Then, self-injury becomes a way for the teenager to deal with bitterness, rage, sorrow, rejection, isolation, desperation, longing, or emptiness. At the very least, cutting gives the teenager, or adult, a sense of control over her negative feelings and relief from the emotional pain she or he has been experiencing, which often makes the act of cutting addictive. That's a lot.
That's heavy. But the people that I've come across and the people that I work with in the teens, and maybe some of you adults in here tonight, are dealing with these things. And the reason I'm preaching this is so that you can have hope tonight of what the scriptures say and how to overcome these things. So, another place in scripture that we see people in scripture cutting themselves is in 1 Kings chapter number 18. In this story, the prophets of Baal had been challenged by Elijah to see whose God was the true God. So, they built an altar and they placed a bull on it, and Elijah's like, If your God is real, He will come down and set this bull on fire. And if He's not, He won't. And then I'll call on my God. And if He's real, He will come down and set it on fire. And if He is not real, He will not.
But before we get to that piece of it, that's not the focus of what I'm referring to, that passage, it's actually before that. 1 Kings 18, 27, and it says, And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, Cry aloud, for He is a God, little g-god. Either He is talking or He is pursuing or He is in a journey, or peradventure He sleepeth and must be awakened. And so, at this point, they're calling on their God and Elijah's like, it's not working.
Obviously, it's not working. So, Elijah's like, maybe he's asleep, maybe he's off doing whatever, but he's not here. And look at what it says that they did in response to Elijah saying this in verse 28, And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. These pagan worshipers cut themselves in order to honor their false gods. And so, another question, does the God of the Bible want us to worship Him like pagans worship their gods? The answer is no.
Obviously not. Just look at the first two of the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20, verses 3 through 5. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make into thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. God does not want us to serve false gods, and that includes ourselves.
Another question. Can a saved person self-harm, or do only pagan worshipers or demon-possessed people self-harm? Although the man in Mark was filled with a demon, just because someone cuts themself does not mean that they are possessed with a demon. That's a common misconception when it comes to this passage. Although Christians may be saved, we can and we will still ultimately sin. Romans 3, 23 says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We do not become perfect, although some people may believe that, we do not become perfect when we come to Christ.
We will still deal with sin struggles, and this can be a sin struggle just as anything else can. Moving back to the story in Mark chapter 5, look at what he says in verse number 7. Mark 5 verse 7 says, And cried with a loud voice and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God? I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not. So understand here that in this account and in the other biblical accounts of this story, Jesus is referred to here by the demon-possessed man as the Son of the Most High God, which ties into another passage that talks about even demons believe and tremble. But he never calls Jesus in any of the biblical accounts Lord. He never does that.
He never acknowledges him as Lord. And we're going to look at that in a little bit, but understand this, that the first step to overcoming any sin issue in your life is to come to Christ. Whether it's in salvation or in sanctification, it's coming to him, and it's making him Lord, not just of your life, but over whatever it is, whether it's your finances, or whether it's your mind or your heart, or if it's self-harm, if it's suicidal thoughts, whatever it is, we must come to Christ and make him Lord over that. Put him in the driver's seat of that issue.
Put him in the driver's seat of all issues. And so, what we see here, moving along here, is I'm going to transition a little bit away from self-harm, and I'll kind of come back to it towards the end here. But the next section I'm going to look at is suicide, and suicide is not of God. It is not of God. Verse 7, kind of the second half, that thou torment me not. For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion, for we are many. So there was many demons in this man.
About 2,000, that's what a legion would have been. A legion was essentially a Roman cohort of soldiers, that was about 2,000 in number, and so that same word is used here for the demon-possessed man. And he besought him, in verse 10 it says, And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. Now there was there nigh, or near, unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding, which were pigs. And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter unto them. And so the demon is talking to Jesus, he's like, Don't just make us disappear, send us into the pigs. And so in verse 13, And forthwith Jesus gave them leave, and the unclean spirits went out and entered under the swine, and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea. There were about 2,000, and were choked in the sea. And so a couple things we notice here.
First, 2,000 pigs running into water would be nuts to see. I just, that's like Disney movie, like kind of pops up in my brain. Maybe that's because I'm a kid and I work with teenagers or whatever, but that's kind of the image there. But anyway, moving on with this is, here we see that the devil-possessed man begins to think. Right, he begins to use his mind a little bit, and all he can think about is how he does not want to be tormented. That is, he does not want to be tormented.
And that's the word that he uses. He just wants to escape that torment, he says that. And understand that this is very similar to what people who commit suicide believe, or people who attempt suicide believe. They believe that if they take their own life, then they can just escape the pain of the world. Oh, if I just do this, it will solve all my problems.
That's why people attempt suicide, it's because of that thought, okay? And so in this story, the demon-possessed man asks Jesus to not torment him. He's like, don't torment me. Rather, send me into the swine. And so Jesus does that, he casts the demons into the swine. And then the swine run down into the sea and drown themselves. But understand here, I've never noticed this until I read this passage, this, prepping for this message.
And it says this, and it's this, it's this thought here. The Bible does not say that Jesus sent the swine into the water. He sent the demon into the swine, and then the swine on their own go down into the water and choke themselves in the water, which means they drowned. Okay, it doesn't say Jesus sent them to die. Scripture doesn't say that.
It says that the demon-possessed pigs at this point went down and did that. And so understand this, that people can, people just like this man in Gedera, that's kind of the term that's referred to as this man, is he wanted to escape torment. But understand this, hell is eternal torment.
How do we know that? The Scriptures tell us that. Luke chapter number 16, I understand this is not the same person.
The first time I preached this, I did not communicate this very well. This is a different story about a man who goes to hell. Luke chapter 16, verse 23. And in hell, he's in hell, he lifted up his eyes, being in torments. Verse 24, and he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou live in a lifetime, receive thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, because Lazarus is comforted, and now are tormented. So the common thought of suicide is that it will put an end to the pain, or that it will put an end to the torment, as this man in Gadara says. But in reality, as we see the man in Luke chapter 16 that's in hell, hell is eternal torment. That's the word that he uses, he calls it torment. And it's eternal, it's not for a short period of time. It's not temporary as our lives on earth are, or the problems that we may have on earth. This was eternal.
This is forever. That man went to hell and he was tormented forever. So a question, and this is a common question, this is a really popular one, and I'm going to do my best to answer this to the best of my ability with my understanding of the scripture, which is very small. So, do those that commit suicide go to heaven or hell? How many of you guys have ever wondered that? Anybody?
Yeah, quite a few of us, right? So, like I said, I'm going to dig into this a little bit, because I think it's important to understand what the scriptures say on this. Understand this tonight. And I don't mean to be rude or harsh on this, this is Jesus' words. This is what Jesus preached. If a lost person commits suicide, I believe that according to the scriptures, they go to hell. As does anyone that is not saved and whose name is not written in the book of life. And so then the question is asked, as kind of a step further, if a believer commits suicide, can they go to heaven? And so a question that is often kind of asked in response, and sometimes the way out of answering this question is, well, would a true born-again, Holy Spirit-indwelled Christian commit suicide?
The answer, we'll look at this a little further. Some would say, absolutely not. A Christian would never commit suicide, and if they do commit suicide, they would automatically go to hell. Why do they say that? Because scripture, 1 John 3.15, For whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and he knoweth that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Revelation 21.8, But the fearful, and the unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake, which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. One of the few suicides that we see in the New Testament was Judas, who betrayed Jesus, and according to scripture, he was not saved.
But then we can transition this to kind of the other side of this argument. Some people will say, if a Christian commits suicide, do they go to heaven? And some would say yes. And they would say that because believers who commit suicide go to heaven because they are saved, and once saved, always saved. They would go on to say that we go to heaven or hell based off of what we do with Jesus, not based off the sins that we commit, because like I said earlier, we are all sinners. Which I would agree, once saved, always saved. John 10.29, my Father which giveth in me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
And so I'll be completely honest with you tonight. If a Christian commits suicide, will they go to heaven? I'm not sure. Scripture is not entirely clear on this subject, but I do know this. Suicide is permanent. There's a few documentaries on this kind of topic, and there's one that I watched, actually back when I was in high school, and it's called The Ripple Effect, and it's about people who have jumped off of the Golden Gate Bridge, which is one of the most popular areas for suicides to be attempted. There have been about 40 people who have jumped off that bridge and have actually survived, and there was a man who put this documentary together because he's an advocate for this now, and he tries to reach other people, and he said in this documentary, both for himself and for every person that he talked to that jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge and survived, that the millisecond that his hands left the rail, he was in instant regret.
And every person he talked to said the exact same thing. The second their hands left the rail, they were in instant regret. And so understand tonight that suicide is not only permanent, but it is an egregious sin toward God. It is telling God, I know better than you.
I know what is better for me than what you do. Exodus 2013 says, Thou shall not kill, or in other translations, Thou shall not murder, is what that is talking about. And understand that suicide is self-killing or self-murder. It is the unjust and unrighteous killing of oneself. Suicide is permanent, and it leads to destruction, not only for that individual, but for those around them. Did you know that on average one single suicide affects at least 135 people? And the great theologian Ty Cockman once said that suicide is one of, if not the, most selfish acts a person can do. Some of you got that joke there, right?
He doesn't know this was in here, so anyway. And I also know this, that if Christians were supposed to die the moment that they got saved, then we would. But that's not what happens, and why is that? Because Christ has us here, God has us here for a reason, on purpose for a purpose, because we, His church, the body of believers, are His vehicle to reach the lost world. He will call us home on His time, not ours. Amen? So understand today that if you are on earth, it is on purpose for a purpose. And I think there are some people in here that need to hear that tonight. You're here on purpose for a purpose, defined by God and nothing else.
As we've been looking at on Sundays, like I said, Matthew 28, 19, 20, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the world. And so out of this, another question is raised. Are suicidal thoughts, or thoughts of self-harm, sinful? And I understand this tonight, that nearly everyone, at some point or another, has been subject to intrusive thoughts.
Intrusive meaning unwelcomed or unwanted thoughts. These involuntary, unwanted images, phrases, or impulses are extremely common. As Romans 5-12 teaches, they are a result of the fall. Because we live in a broken and sinful world, man is born sinful and our natural tendency is to sin. And so therefore, we naturally have sinful thoughts. Whether we are saved or not, our flesh desires to sin. And so a few things to know about unwanted thoughts, or unwanted thoughts, is number one is that God is not surprised by those.
He's not surprised by intrusive or wicked thoughts, and intentional or otherwise. Psalm 139, how do we know this? Scripture. Psalm 139 2. Thou knowest my down-sitting and my uprising, thou understand my thought afar off. God understands our thoughts. The second point with this is that God knows that our minds are weak and are susceptible to wicked thoughts.
Psalm 94 11. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, and they are vanity, or they are emptiness, worthless. Intrusive or bad thoughts are not necessarily sin. Our minds are weak and easily influenced by the world around us. But understand this, intentionally exposing ourselves to violence and other evils may be sinful. And when these intrusive thoughts turn into desires and these desires turn into actions, that is sinful, according to Scripture.
Understand that the more we surround ourselves with worldly things, the more the world will invade our thoughts and the more likely we are to be led into sin. And that's why it's so important we control what we're taking in. Whether it be social media, any type of media, TV, television, movies, other people and what they say, right? We have to be careful of what we let get to our hearts and to our minds. Because they have an effect on us whether we want them to or not. And so what is our response to these things?
I've laid out a lot of heavy and a lot of hard things. But one of my favorite pieces of Scripture, and it's all over the Bible, is but God. So what is our response to these things, to self-harm and to suicide? What hope do we have? And we can have hope because victory is in Jesus. And that sounds really good, but it's also really true.
And I'm going to walk through that a little bit tonight. So victories of Jesus, look at Mark chapter 5, we're going to jump down to verse 15. And they came to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion sitting and clothed and in his right mind.
And they were afraid. The man had been delivered, the man had been clean, and the man had been saved. The man was victorious through Jesus Christ. Notice, it says that they came to Jesus, they didn't just come to church, they came to Jesus.
And that's where the victory was. Look at 1 Corinthians 15, 57. But thanks be to God, which giveth us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, which, just noticing this now, look at that, giveth, that e-t-h is continual. He continues to give us victory over sin. Any sin, not just these sins, but any sin. 1 Corinthians 3, 17, now the Lord is that spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, or freedom. So as you just said, there's liberty in Jesus, right? And so how can we partake in this victory over sin?
Any sin, and not just the self-harm or suicidal thoughts. The first step is by relying on Christ, and using the things that he has given us in his word to be successful in this area. And the first one is the armor of God. If you have your Bible, turn with me to Ephesians chapter 6. Turn to Ephesians chapter 6, because I want you to be able to see this, and I want you to be able to refer to this passage when you need to.
And it gives me a natural break to get water. So Ephesians chapter number 6, finally my brethren, verse 10. Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places.
So understand the wiles of the devil, that word really means schemes, the schemes of Satan, and this includes his lies, it includes the doubt that he creates, the fear that he generates, and the thoughts that he can sometimes dominate. And we look at verse 13, and it says, Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. An important piece of this scripture is we have to put on the whole armor of God.
Not just bits and pieces, not the ones that are easy, not the ones that sound good, not the ones we want, but the whole armor, all of it. Verse 14 goes on to say, Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. And so, what does this word loins mean?
It's like a belt. And they were the centerpiece of a Roman soldier's armor. Truth is the center of everything that we do, and everything we believe as believers. We cannot just believe what we want to believe, or what sounds good, or what sounds right. We have to believe in what is true, and what is true is God's word. Psalm 119 160 says, Thy word is true from the beginning, and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever.
His word is true, and it is always true, and it will always be true. The breastplate. This could also be read the breastplate which is righteousness, and the breastplate is what guards your heart.
It includes holy character and moral conduct. And like I said before, we have to be careful of what worldly things we value, because they can get through our armor and destroy us. And that's why Proverbs 4 23 says, Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. And Colossians 3 2 says, Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. You know, Braden on Sunday, he talked about, you know, when we have a favorite sports team, we can celebrate that, and everybody kind of knows that.
And I wish he would have went here and he didn't, so I'm going to go here, because it is what it is. But we do the same thing with politicians, don't we? A lot of the time with the politician, we want to win wins. People around us know about it, and if they lose, you know about that too. We have to be careful of the things that we value.
Sports as much as anything, and for those of you that know me, I'm a sports guy through and through, grew up in it, played sports my entire life, love sports, went to college for sports to study exercise science and all those things. But sports, politics, whatever it may be, we have to guard our heart from those things. Continuing on here, verse 15 says, And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Gospel of peace, that's really what it is, isn't it? So the feet here, this also means the eagerness that comes from the gospel of peace. This is kind of the idea, is that there's an eagerness with this.
The Roman soldiers wore special shoes that allowed them to not only withstand the enemy, but to actually advance against the enemy. And so the eagerness and confidence that we have to combat Satan comes from the gospel of peace. This same gospel is what frees us from anxiety and from worry and from fear, as 2 Timothy 1 says, God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Verse 16, Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Again, not some of them, but all of the darts. The shield which is faith, we must take God at His word. We must have faith that He knows better than us and that He has a better plan for us than we may ever have even known for ourselves. Taking God at His word keeps us from the fiery darts of doubt that Satan will throw at us. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 says, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not until thine own understanding. And in all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Not we, He shall direct our paths. Continuing on in verse 17, And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
The helmet of salvation here, it could also mean like the assurance of salvation. And then the sword of the Spirit is the word. The word of God is our weapon to fight back against Satan.
Everything else in the armor of God is to protect ourselves, but the sword is what we have to fight back with, to defeat the enemy with. And we see Jesus do this. Jesus in Matthew chapter number 4, I encourage you on your own if you can for the sake of time, I don't have time to go there, but Matthew chapter 4 verses 1 through 11, you see Jesus get tempted three times, and some people will say, Well, Jesus couldn't sin, so it doesn't matter.
Those temptations are still very real. We are tempted sometimes, and we do not sin. It does not make that temptation any less real, and it was the same for Jesus. Regardless, what Jesus says in that three times, but I'll read just one of them in Matthew 4, He says, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And the other two times that He's confronted here, He says, For it is written, and then He quotes Old Testament scriptures to combat the enemy. The Word of God is our tool, it is our weapon, it is what protects us, it is what guides us, it is what leads us in everything that we do. And finally, of the armor of God, Ephesians 6 18, Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Without prayer, God's armor is inadequate.
You could attempt to do all of these things and attempt to put on the full armor of God, but if you don't pray and have a developed prayer life, the whole thing is going to fall apart and be inadequate. And so secondly, we're instructed to control our thoughts. 2 Corinthians 10 3 through 5 says, For that we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Verse 5, and I love this. Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. So scripture here is telling us that we're not in a physical battle, and we're not in a mental battle.
We're in a spiritual battle. And hear me on this. There are psychological issues in the world. There are physical issues. There are biological issues that people certainly have. There are certainly those things.
They definitely exist. But most, maybe not all, most of the time that people cut themselves or struggle with suicidal thoughts, it is not because of their mental health. It is because of their spiritual health. Look at 2 Corinthians 10 5.
It says that we must bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. The negative or intrusive thoughts that we may have are not because we have a mental illness, but is because we have a spiritual illness, and it's called sin. Now, I'm not saying that mental illness does not exist, but I'm saying that it is definitely over... Lost the word. It's over, it's over claimed, is what I'll say. That's the word.
I can't think. Over diagnosed. There it is.
Over diagnosed. And it's in this place, and it's here that we must understand that Jesus is the Lord of everything, including our thoughts. We must make Jesus Lord over these things. And understand, we don't just take our thoughts and just control them. It doesn't say that. It says bring them to the obedience of Christ.
That's like the most important piece of this. We have to bring them to the obedience of Christ. Now, just control them, but why? We have to bring them to Christ because the more we control our thoughts, the closer we'll be to Christ. The more we obey Him, He says, if you love Me, you will obey Me. You will obey My commandments. The more that we obey Him, the closer we'll be to Him. And the last piece of dealing with these things is how do we take these thoughts captive and how do we bring them to the obedience of Christ? Philippians 4.8. I love this passage.
If you are going through anything in life, I encourage you. Philippians 4, verse 6, really through 13, but 4.8 is really where it's at. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, and whatsoever things are of a good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.
And so ask yourselves, what is true? God and His Word. What is honest? God and His Word. What is just? God and His Word. What is pure, lovely, of good report? God and His Word. What is virtue or what is good? God and His Word. And what can we praise? God and His Word. Yeah, you guys did better than the teens.
They just kind of stared at me when I did that to them, right? So I appreciate their response there, right? And so God and His Word are what we should think on, they're what we should dwell on, and it is our key to overcoming and to taking captive our thoughts to the obedience of Christ. It's the Word of God. And there's really two disciplines, two spiritual disciplines that help us in this area, and it's meditation and memorization. Psalm 1 says, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the squirmful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit, and his season, and his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. And so what does it mean to meditate? It does not mean to sit criss-cross applesauce and hum, okay? That's not what it means.
That's not what the Bible's talking about like other world religions. That's not what it's talking about, okay? But it means to dwell on anything in thought.
It's kind of a definition for it. Dwell on anything in thought. And so ask yourself this question. Do you spend time thinking about God's Word? Not just reading it, not just studying it, not just listening to it, but thinking about it. Does it control your thoughts? Do you think about the Word of God, right? When my brother makes me mad and I want to smack him, I think about the Word of God so that I don't do that, right? And so we need to meditate, we need to think on it.
And that's more than just when it's sitting in front of us. It's in everything that we do do we meditate and think on the Word of God. And the second habit or second spiritual discipline is memorization. Psalm 119 11 says, Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee. Memorization is strictly remembering and quoting the Word of God.
And you hide it in your heart, why? Not just to have it, but so that we don't sin against thee, sin against God. It's to prevent us from sin, like smacking our brothers and being hateful. So, it again, it is about bringing those things into obedience to Christ. The more obedient we are, the closer we are to Him. When we put on the armor of God, control our thoughts, obey Christ to the best of our ability, then we are able to have a proclamation of God's work in our lives. And that's what we see here in the passage of Mark 5. This is my fourth and final point tonight, final being a loose term.
We got a little bit of ways to go here. But can you tell that Pastor Josh trained me? Anyway, I had to give him a jab because he's not here. Okay, so the proclamation is of God, verse 16. Mark 5, 16, and those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed and about the swine. And they began to pray him to depart out of their coast. What that really means is they wanted Jesus to leave. And when he got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged him that he might be with him. The demon-possessed man wanted to still be with Jesus. And so, the people around the miracle are freaked out. They want Jesus to go and the demon-possessed man wants to go with him, right?
Isn't that kind of how the world is today? Those that don't want him, don't want him, and those that do want him, right? Mark 5, 19 says, However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, Go home to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he has had compassion on you. Jesus didn't just take the man with him. He's like, go and tell people what happened here, what has happened. Go tell them your testimony. And it says, And he departed, he obeyed, and he began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him, and all marveled.
The man was told to go and to tell people what the Lord had done for him, and he was to go and to proclaim God's goodness to the people. And so, as I shift gears here a little bit, I want to address something else, and this is another question tonight. What if I have? What if I have cut myself? What if I have hurt myself? What if I had unwanted desires or performed bad actions? What if I've contemplated suicide? What if I've even attempted suicide?
How do we deal with these things? What you have to understand is that there is forgiveness. And sometimes people will say things like this, and I get this with teenagers sometimes, and it's, But how can God forgive me for something like this? Or they say, No, God can't forgive me. Or, I just feel so guilty.
How do I do? I feel so guilty, God can't forgive me. Understand tonight that those are lies of Satan. Those are lies of Satan to tell yourself those things.
All of those ideas and thoughts are lies. Jesus did not come and take the cross so that we would still have to carry around the weight of our sin. He took the cross so that we can give those to him and that we can have eternal life in him. John 10-10, The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. Jesus says, I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Satan wants to destroy your life, Jesus wants to save it. 1 John 1-9, If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Not just some, not just certain things, it says all unrighteousness. Acts 3-19 says, Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out.
When the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. When I see that word blotted I think of like the big fat sharpies and it crosses it out completely. You can't see what's under that, you take a thin sharpie, you cross it through, you can still see what that was. But to blot it out means to get rid of it completely and forever and utterly. And then he goes on, and then scripture also says in Isaiah 53-5, But when he was wounded for our transgressions, when he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. Completely, not made better, not made okay, not made alright, not made good enough, but healed. So when you see, when you think about these passages, again 1 John 1-9, Acts 3-19, Isaiah 53-5. It says that he gets rid of all of our sin, he blots it out and we are healed.
Those are three really good promises from God and they are three true promises from God. And so understand tonight that no matter what sin you've committed, whether it's the ones I've talked about tonight or any other sin, that there is forgiveness and that Jesus offers us that. And so what if I know someone that is going through some hard things or has had some thoughts of hurting themselves? Understand that if they're saved, this is an opportunity to walk alongside someone and help carry that burden with them. Galatians 6-2 says, We often want help from others to solve our sin issues, but are we ever willing to walk alongside someone else for theirs? And understand this tonight too, and this is a really important piece of this message tonight.
Suicidal thoughts may be something that, or self-harm may be something that you do not struggle with, but do not dismiss that. Don't blow it off and just say, oh that message was, it was okay, but that doesn't apply to me, I'm good. We have to, as Christians, if you guys don't get anything out of this, anything else, this is a key piece here, we have to be very careful when we say, oh I would never do that, or I would never struggle with that sin, I would never fall into that sin, I would never do that. Because the Bible says that pride comes before a fall. And I believe that when we do that, we actually become more susceptible to that very sin that we swear we would never fall into. And I encourage you tonight, rather than saying, oh I would never do that, turn that thought and that prideful statement into a prayer. Instead of saying, oh I would never do that, turn that into a prayer of protection, say, oh Lord keep me from this. Lord keep me protected, keep me from those thoughts, keep me from those actions, keep me in your word. Let me be holy, let me obey you, let me love you, let me pursue after you. And if a person comes to you and they're lost, this is an opportunity to share the gospel with them. And understand that it's not like, oh you're just a sinner and you just need to get right, you just need to get saved. That's not exactly how that conversation looks, it doesn't land well.
It doesn't start that way. It may start with, thank you for sharing that. I know that was hard for you to share, thank you for sharing that. But you know what has helped me a lot with things like that is my faith and my relationship with Jesus Christ. Do you know that Jesus says in John 14 6, Jesus saith unto them, I am the way, the truth and the life and no man cometh unto the Father but by me. Do you know that Jesus loves you and he offers you peace and hope? John 3 16 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And then John 16 33 says, these things have I spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world. As you continue on with this, this is like an example of how to share the gospel with someone.
As you continue on and you move on, you know the best thing about this is you don't have to earn it. You don't have to earn a relationship with God, with Jesus. He's the only God who says that. He's the only God that says I am the way, the truth and life.
He's the only God in the world because he is the only God in the world. Ephesians 2 8 9 says, for by grace are ye saved through faith, not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Do you know Romans 10 9 says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth for Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved? Understand that you can repent and call on Jesus today to be saved. Repent means just turn away from your sin. It means rather than walking your own way, doing your own thing, it means to turn and walk towards Jesus and walk with him. And let him be in charge of your life.
Is that something you want to do today? Why don't you come to church with me this week? That's what that gospel presentation kind of looks like.
And what if I know someone that has self-harm or attempted suicide and they feel guilty about it? Do you know that you can share with them like this? Do you know that guilt and shame are of the devil, but Jesus promises us life in him? John 10 10, the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy, speaking of Satan. But I am, Jesus speaking, come that they might have life and they might have it more abundantly. Do you know that Jesus offers forgiveness for our mess ups and for our sins? First John 1 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Those same things I shared with you, you can share with other people. And then again, you can go, again, and you know the best thing about forgiveness, the forgiveness of God? Is that we have, all we do is ask for it. We don't go and earn it.
We don't work a wage for it. It is a gift given to us, Ephesians 2 8 9 says. And then Romans 10 9 again, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Is that something you want to do today? Do you want to be saved? Do you want to hear more about this?
Why don't you come to church with me this week? That's what those conversations can look like. Sharing the gospel with someone doesn't have to be the same track every single time. It can look different depending on the situation and the circumstances.
It may not be the same. Just make sure, we have to make sure we respond to people well and graciously. We should not, as Christians, as believers, we should not belittle them.
Why would you do that? That's so sinful, that's so dumb, right? That's not the response. And you may say, oh, but that's truth. Like that is sinful and that is wrong.
Why would they do that? But it's not gracious and it's not loving. Truth and grace, not just one or the other. We have to begin by sympathizing with them.
Again, I think the best line, and this is something that I've been trying to do, thank you for sharing that. If someone comes to you and they say, you know, I've attempted suicide, that's a hard thing to tell somebody else. So we need to be able to receive, as Christians, we should be prepared to receive that, right, and receive that well.
Romans 12, 15 says, rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that do weep. It means to have compassion for them. Seek to understand their situation. Don't just try to solve it.
If they tell you these things, don't be like, oh, I know how to solve it. No, listen. Listen to them.
They need an ear. So as I conclude tonight and as our musicians come, understand tonight that in conclusion we live in a broken and sinful world and a lot of people are hurting. And some of you may say, wow, you preached that to our teenagers?
Yeah, I did. I had no choice. Because they needed to hear the truths of the Word of God and they needed to be taught how to handle these things. And they needed to be taught that Jesus offers us peace in this life. John 14, 27, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. And then John 16, 33, and I'll be done. These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace, and in the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I, Jesus, have overcome the world.
So as I wind down tonight and as I close, I know I hit on a lot of things. And some emotions may be stirred and I want you to understand that our staff is available tonight to sit and to talk and to listen and to hear you, if that's what you need. And we do have some resources through the church to people that we can direct you to as far as professional help.
I'll be honest from my point of view, I can't, I don't know how to solve everything. I can listen, but I can't solve everything, but we can direct you to people who can help you. So I encourage you tonight that if you know someone who is saved or maybe not saved that is going through something along the lines of what we talked about, I encourage you to come down to the altar tonight and to lift them up in prayer this evening. And I encourage you to reach out to them this week. If you believe in this message, I do, I believe in this message. It's something we can share with other people. I wanted to preach this as a resource for you to reach other people with.
