Salvation from Separation

Our Church just experienced a shock last week that we are still reeling from. One of our members committed suicide. This individual was a good, Christian man and well-liked by all, but he took his own life in a moment of despair. As his pastor, the task fell to me to try and comfort his family and to preach his funeral. It has been one of the most difficult things that I have ever had to deal with as a pastor. I sought the Lord's guidance to know both what to say and what to do. For a time, I had no clear direction, but then God gave me the words to say from His Word. What He had me say is instructive and encouraging to us all.

First of all, some misconceptions of suicide had to be confronted; the main one being the idea that if someone commits the sin of suicide, they automatically go to Hell. The Bible never says anything of the sort. What Scripture actually says is that people go to Hell because they are separated from God. The Bible explains, saying, "Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear" (Isaiah 59:1-2, NKJV). Therefore, all sinners are separated from God, and we don't have to hear that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) to know that it is a problem that we all face.

Separation is the punishment for sin and is a condition that God calls "death." Physical death illustrates it in that when a person has physically died, they are separated from all those who love them. Well, spiritual death is the separation of a person's spirit from the One who loves them far more than anyone ever could. Without being forgiven of their sins, a person is forced to live apart from God, and when their body dies, their spirit has to remain apart from God. In other words, if you can't be with God in Heaven, there's no other place to be but separated from Him in Hell. If left to our own devices, this would be the position that we would all find ourselves in, but God didn't leave us without a solution!

God loved us enough to do whatever was necessary to end the separation between us and Him! The Bible speaks of both the punishment for sin and the salvation from sin's punishment, saying that "...the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23, NKJV). God freely traded our old life of separation from Him for a new life of salvation with Him through Jesus Christ! That gift cost Jesus dearly, as the Bible reminds us, saying, "...God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8, NKJV). Jesus was separated from God in death, so that we would not have to be separated from God in death. He took our place to end the separation once and for all, but there is a catch.

Because of the sacrifice that Jesus made, our separation from God can be ended, but only on one condition: we must believe to receive His gift. That's why the Bible says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16, NKJV). Belief in Jesus is what provides salvation from that separation. Belief is the key to having a relationship with God that will never end! Thankfully, I know that the man who committed suicide had faith in Jesus Christ and is now in Heaven with Him because of it.

You see, once your separation from God has ended, no sin, not even the sin of taking your own life, can separate you from your Savior again! Think of the words that the Bible uses to describe what you receive when you believe, words like "everlasting life" and "eternal life." If you could suddenly do something to end this new life with God, it could not be called "everlasting" or "eternal." But there is an even stronger argument for believing that we cannot be separated from God again. Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:27-28, NKJV). To say that you could take yourself away from the Lord is to say that you are stronger than Him, and that is just not possible. It was Jesus that ended the separation between you and God, and it is Jesus who will keep you from being separated from Him ever again. That's why the Apostle Paul wrote these words, saying, "...I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow-- not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below-- indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39, NLT).

Even though this man committed suicide, he had faith in Jesus Christ, and that faith remained the key to his salvation. Knowing that made my task a little easier in comforting the family and in coming to grips with what happened. His eternal life was still secure, despite the wrong and tragic way that he died. Many of you will recognize that I'm talking about the eternal security of the believer; the concept that once you're saved, you are always saved; but I like to put it this way... In Jesus we have salvation from separation! Thank-you, Jesus!