" . . . why shouldest thou destroy thyself? . . . why shouldest thou die before thy time?" Ecclesiastes 7:16-17.

The subject of suicide has once again been thrown into the spotlight.

For some time, a series of suicides amongst young people in an area in Wales featured in the headlines. Those suicides have now dropped out of the headlines but the subject has re-emerged with the news that one of the top policemen in the UK has been found dead and that he likely took his own life.

It does serve to show that suicide is not just something involving the young and the vulnerable. Irrespective of the circumstances of suicide, it is the outcome of the workings of the master killer, the devil. "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it," John 8:44.

Furthermore, it is a delusion for it offers no escape from trouble but for most is the gateway to unimaginable and unending misery.

I say for most because suicide does not result in the damnation of the Christian who yields to that temptation. I wish to observe the teaching that is found in the two questions that comprise our text this evening.

May our deliberations prove helpful to any who come in contact with this message and who may be tempted to end their life.