A few weeks ago, four young people drove a car into a garage. Two girls were 16 and 17 years old. Two boys were 18 and 19 years old. One of the boys owned this car. They drove into this abandoned garage. They closed the door. But they didn't switch off the engine. They opened all the windows of the car. They sat there and talked. And the carbon monoxide level in the garage was rising. One hour later, they were all dead. Suicide. Group suicide. This caught the attention of the people of the United States.
There are four things about this suicide that cause us to think. Suicide is something that we find very hard to handle mentally. Most people are afraid to die. But the remarkable thing about suicide is that it is a deliberate choice to die. And it is thought that most young people, because their whole life is in front of them, are afraid to die. The deliberateness of this act of death on the part of teenagers shocked the United States.
The second thing that struck people was the fact that normally, suicide is committed by one person on himself or herself. But four young people, really of their own choice, agreed as it were in a pledge to die together. Why is this so shocking?
The third thing we think about in this case is that they didn't do it because they were very poor, nothing to live on. You see, some people commit suicide because they're dying of cancer anyway. They don't want to face the end, so they take out a gun, hold it to their head, quickly squeeze the trigger and so on. In other words, they commit suicide really because they're afraid to die. They're afraid to die a painful death, so they might as well make it fast.
But these four young people were healthy young people. They were not sick. They weren't dying of any cancer. They had no financial needs. As I mentioned, one of them even owned the car, and many young people dream of owning a car one day. For him, his dream was already realized. He had these good things of life. Many young people think of having a boyfriend, a girlfriend. I mentioned these are two boys, two girls. They were already boyfriend and girlfriend. They had even this also in life.
So why did they die? It seems that for them, they could only find purpose in life through death. For them, even as teenagers, life was not about having a car or not having a car. Life was not about having money or not having money. He had money to buy the car. There was no problem there. For them, they did not have something worth living for.
The first thing we have to notice is this. If you think that suicide among healthy, normal, young people is rare, you haven't looked at the statistics. I'll tell you what the statistics in the United States, the most prosperous, one of the most prosperous countries in the world — I'll tell you what the statistics are for 1985. I'll give you the statistics for 1985 because the statistics for 1986 haven't become available yet. The round figure for 1985, young people between the ages of 15 and 23 — notice how low the age is, 15 to 23 — is about 26,400 in one year alone.
Can you register that number? We have over 260 some people in this hall, just to help you to understand what figure we are talking about. That means that in 1985 alone, one hundred times the number of people in this hall — young people — committed suicide. Look around how many people there are and multiply that by one hundred, one hundred such halls. Try to imagine that, and that will give you an idea how many young people, many of your age, died by their own hands.
Now, we are not talking about some poor country where people have nothing left to live for materially. And what is more, the figure I gave you refers only to young people. If we add all the people who successfully committed suicide in 1985 in the United States, we are talking about 53,000-some people who died by their own hands. That is a slaughter, a massacre on a scale that is hard to grasp. Even more alarming is that the suicide rate has tripled — that is, it has gone up 300% — in the last 30 years in the United States.
How do you account for this steadily increasing figure of suicide? The figure I have given you applies only to the United States. Remember, only to one country. Three days ago, I was in the library in Sardinia, and one book caught my eye. The title is "Attempted Suicide." I thought it was the title of some novel. You know, writers often use these kind of striking titles to grab your attention. But when I picked up the book, I saw it was published by Oxford University Press, and it was written by the psychiatric staff of the department of psychiatry in Oxford University. It was published in 1982, so quite recent.
The book mentions that in the United Kingdom, in Britain, there are 100,000 — get that figure? 100,000 — people who attempt suicide in the United Kingdom every year. The book mentions that the highest emergency admittance into hospital in the United Kingdom today for women is for attempted suicide. In the case of men, the admittance to hospital is second only to heart attack. Can you grasp the situation? Can you understand the situation?
What is the reason behind all of this? We mentioned only two countries, and we are talking about tens of thousands of cases. It is quite obvious. People deliberately don't want to live anymore. That is as simple as that. They don't want to live. They have lost their will to live. But why? There is nothing to live for. Because the things that interest you don't interest them anymore. You are interested in boyfriend, girlfriend — they are not interested in this. You want money — they are not interested in money.
Truth is what we are talking about. Without truth, there is nothing to live for. But where can we find truth? Obviously all these young people have not heard of anything worth living for. A famous singer once sang a very sad song, and I believe in the end she committed suicide as well. I wonder if you have heard that song. The song was entitled, "Is That All There Is?" That is the question that people are asking. Is that all there is in life? The thing that interests you don't interest a lot of people. Give us truth or we die.
I must say that my heart is touched by these young people. It is my view that these people who committed suicide — far from being the worst sinners in the world — these young people are the finest there is. Why do I say that they are the finest there is among the young people? Because precisely these young people are not impressed by the transient garbage of this world.
I talk to many young people today, and their thinking level is so low. It seems that all that needs to satisfy them is pop songs. That's all they've got to do — they're going to stamp their feet, they're going to hear the music. You see how many cassette shops are open these days? I wonder how they can do any business. If they depended on me, they would all be broke. But obviously there are young people who go in there to stamp their feet and shake their shoulders and move around. It's so easy to satisfy them. All they need is a bit of this.
And what do other young people think about? Oh, this boy, this boy. Oh, this girl is the wonderful star in the sky. And there are others. When all that has passed, they look for another little idol to chase for a little while. Have you noticed when these pop stars come out, the girls are fainting and the boys are screaming? Why are they so crazy about that? They have to find something to live for. You understand? Don't be too hard on the young people. They want to live for something. They can't find something to live for. Even if there's some pop idol, they'll soon be committing suicide if they don't have something more meaningful.
But that is why I say, those who could see through all this garbage and find nothing left to live for — these are the finest, some of the finest young people who took their lives. If the church has failed to proclaim the truth to them, I tell you on judgment day, we will answer for it. And I say to you that are parents — you better find something to live for, otherwise your sons and daughters also won't find anything to live for. And it could well be that the next suicide will be your son or your daughter.
You think it could never happen to you? Those parents of those children also thought so. Can you imagine the shock to discover that the one who committed suicide was my son, my daughter? So if you don't care for the truth for your own sake, you better care for the truth for the sake of your children. I spend all this time to impress on you the fact that when we talk about truth, we are talking about life and death.
I want to ask this question. Where do we find truth? The Lord Jesus said this: "I am the way, the truth, and the life." See how truth and life cannot be separated. That's why I said it's a matter of life and death. Jesus said, "I am the truth." Well, we can all say this. How do we know He is the truth? That's my first question. Is He true? Jesus said He is the truth. But how do we know? Is there some way to establish this? In this world, everybody makes claims. And how do we check out those claims?
I want to tell you there are many ways to establish the truth about Jesus. But I'm going to just have to concentrate on one as our time is going fast. And I challenge you for the next few minutes to try to think clearly for a little while, because your life can well be pinned on those next few minutes. How do we know that Jesus is the truth? Thanks be to God, there is a way. In fact, there are so many ways to do it. But as I said, I will concentrate only on one because it's Easter day today.
In the Old Testament, there was laid down a principle whereby we can know whether a prophet speaks the truth or not. This problem of establishing the truth is nothing new. And so in the Old Testament, some principles were laid down for the people to tell who is speaking the truth and who is not. I read to you from Deuteronomy chapter 18. This passage is very important. In this passage, Moses says that one day there is going to come a prophet like himself. This is the prophet that Israel is looking for, the savior that is to come. There was no prophet greater than Moses in the history of Israel.
But God said to Israel, in the last days, I will raise up a prophet like Moses. We read that in verse 18 of chapter 18 of Deuteronomy. But when that prophet comes, how are we going to know He is the savior, the king of Israel? We read that in verse 21. The Lord gives the answer. He will tell you how. And this is what we read: "If you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?' How can we tell whether it is true or false?" And remember, we are concerned with the question of truth. Verse 22: "When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word which the Lord has not spoken."
Obviously, if a prophet says something is going to happen and it doesn't happen, then he has told a lie. It is not true. Now, let us apply this principle to Jesus. We are talking about the second coming in this camp. The Lord will come again. Is this truth? Or is this some fairy tale that we are talking about? You look at us. What are we talking about? We are talking about something about Jesus coming again from the clouds of heaven. I mean, these Christians are living in the clouds. They look at us and they think, these people must be stupid.
What is the Bible saying? The Lord Jesus says, "You will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven." What is this? He is going to come in an aeroplane? A helicopter? Some kind of spacecraft? What is all this about? How can these people who have some degree of education keep talking about such things? Very interesting. Are we talking about truth, or are we talking about fairy tales?
And are we talking about resurrection? The Sadducees were grinning when Jesus said that after three days He would rise from the dead. The Sadducees were grinning very wisely. "Oh yes, yes. So tell us more about this fairy tale." Have you seen anybody rise from the dead? I mean, you knock a guy on the head, he passes out and five minutes later he scratches his head — this kind of thing we have seen. Dead for three days and he comes out of the grave? He has got to be joking. These Christians are talking about fairy tales all day long. They are gathering here singing songs of worship and praise to some God who is going to come back in the clouds. So at least all this nonsense is quite entertaining and quite amusing anyway.
And here this pastor is talking about truth. The truth, you know, is stranger than fiction, as the well-known saying goes. Jesus said, "I am the truth. I am the resurrection and the life." Those are big words, my friend. Big words. And now I will try to prove it. I wonder, when you read this Bible, whether you understand what you are reading. He certainly doesn't expect us to believe the truth without evidence. You can't ask anybody reasonably to believe in such things without some kind of solid evidence. And how can you talk about truth without evidence? So Jesus said, I am going to give you the evidence. Where is the evidence? Let's read Matthew chapter 12, verse 38. This is what He says to His enemies. Please notice, to His enemies.
There were some of His enemies. The scribes — these are those Jewish theologians. And the Pharisees — these were very strong believers of Judaism. That is, they were very religious people. And they asked Jesus, "Well, you said You are the truth, You are the life, You are the resurrection — that's fine. Can You give us some evidence? Teacher, we wish to see a sign from You." Give us some evidence. A sign is simply evidence.
# The Sign of Jonah: Evidence for the Resurrection and the Call to Remain True (Part 2)
Now the Lord Jesus' reply is very significant for our message today. "An evil and adulterous generation looks for evidence." Nothing wrong with looking for evidence. But what the Lord Jesus is saying is, you have to have the right attitude to evaluate the evidence. That's why this is the second part of my question. The first question was to remember: is He true? The second question is, am I true? What's the relationship of these questions? If I am not true, I would not even be able to see the truth when it's put in front of me. Falsehood blinds your eyes.
So the Lord Jesus is saying, it's not that nothing is wrong for you to ask for evidence. But with what attitude are you looking for the evidence? If you come to the Lord with the wrong attitude, He can put the evidence in front of you, and you would be as blind as a bat. You couldn't see it. And then He gives the evidence to His enemies. "Now, if you ask for a sign, I will give you a sign." I have often said, God is much more willing to accept the challenge of truth than we are willing to accept the challenge of truth.
Here, I'm going to tell you what the sign is. I'm going to give you a sign in front of your eyes to look at. Verse 40: "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." You know what this means? Jesus is saying the sign of Jonah. You remember what happened to Jonah? Jonah was swallowed up by the great fish and three days later, he emerged again alive. Jesus said, "I am going to be in the grave, in the earth, for three days and three nights, and after that, I will rise again."
In case they didn't understand what He is saying, He repeats it one more time, just a little while later. He is going to give them a sign that would be easy for them to establish. As we shall see, it was very easy for them to establish whether what He is saying is true or not. So in chapter 16, verse 4, He repeats this thing one more time, and note: to His enemies, not to His disciples.
Verse 1 says, "And the Pharisees and Sadducees came." You see the same people again. But this time it includes the Sadducees, who don't believe in the resurrection. To the very people who don't believe in the resurrection, He says, "I'm going to give you the sign of the resurrection." In verse 4, He repeats again the sign of the prophet Jonah, which every Jew understood perfectly well what that means. In three days, He says, I will rise again.
Supposing He said, "I'm going to rise again one of these days, you never know when. But one of these days, I will rise again." What are you going to say? You would have to wait day and night by the grave to see if He would come out. And one day goes by, and two days go by. And then one month, and then one year. And you're still looking at the grave: is He coming out yet? You open the tomb, take a look — He's still there — and close it again. He said, "One of these days, He will rise." A hundred years goes by, and the grave is still there, and He's still there. Maybe after a thousand years. Or by that time, He might have disappeared anyway for natural causes. You get what I'm saying?
But He told them, you don't have to wait for five years. You don't even have to wait for three years. Not even three months. Not even three weeks. Three days. You watch My tomb. And that is exactly what they did. You know, the Pharisees were not stupid. They remembered what was written in Deuteronomy. They studied the Bible very carefully.
You know, if the Lord Jesus had told this only to His disciples — "I will rise after three days. Don't tell anyone. It's a secret between you and Me." — the world would have no way to check whether this is true or not. But in these instances, He told His enemies. You remember what Moses said? A prophet is established by the truth of what he says. And so He said to His enemies: "Remember, you have only three days to wait. After I die, in three days, you will see whether I speak the truth or not." That's a fair test, isn't it?
I said there are many ways to know the truth, but here the Lord Jesus gives His enemies a clear evidence of how to establish whether He speaks the truth. Now, He also told His disciples again and again that He would rise on the third day. But it's important to notice that before He told His disciples, He first told His enemies that He would rise. It is truly remarkable.
And so you know what happened after the Lord Jesus was crucified. The Lord Jesus didn't commit suicide. If He had committed suicide and taken some special poison that will last for three days and after three days is over He'd get up again — maybe He has some trick about this. No. It was His enemies who killed Him. He told His disciples, "They are going to kill Me." And they made very sure that He was dead. Remember, they put a spear right into His heart. Make sure that He's dead. No nonsense about this.
Look at Matthew, chapter 27. Read this for yourself. His enemies are there again at work. Who are the people who are taking precautions? The chief priests — who are the Sadducees — and the Pharisees. In verse 62, we see these people working with the Roman governor Pilate. We see this in verse 63: these Pharisees and the enemies of Jesus came to the Roman governor and said, "Sir, we remember how that imposter, that deceiver Jesus..." Notice — they have already decided that He is a liar before they have even seen the evidence. They don't even want to look at the evidence. Now you see why the Lord Jesus said to them: the question is not whether I am true; the question is whether you are true.
They say, "This deceiver, this liar, said that in three days He's going to rise again. Therefore, put a guard around the tomb. Seal the tomb so nobody creeps in and out." Clever people. Maybe some of you think you're also very clever. We are the fools and you are the wise. Have you looked at the evidence? They sealed the tomb, put the guard around the tomb. They had to wait only three days. If you understand the words in Deuteronomy, even if Jesus rose on the fourth day, He would be a liar. Not to mention the fifth and sixth day — it would be too late. He was so specific. He said, "In three days I will rise again."
Was Jesus true? Can you find — I challenge you — can you find a better way to prove that Jesus is true? I give you this challenge. You want God to give the evidence? You tell me, can you find a better way? If the disciples guarded the tomb, there may be something fishy about this. It was the Romans and the Jews, the enemies of Jesus, who guarded the tomb. And they only had to wait three days. Talk about evidence. You want to hear the truth or you don't. I find that very impressive.
Now, you know where the disciples preached that Jesus had risen from the dead? Do you know when they started to preach that? Was it fifty years later when everybody forgot the incident? Or maybe even ten years? People's memory is very short. It was only a few days later. They were proclaiming that Jesus had risen. Do you know where they preached it? Did they go to Australia to preach it? Or maybe they went to Britain to preach it? No. They preached at the very place where Jesus had been crucified, in a very short time after that. They were saying to the very people who watched Jesus crucified: "Jesus has risen." The same Roman governor was still in charge right there. The same high priest was still there. It was only forty or fifty days later. They were speaking to the same people: "You crucified Him, you put Him to death, He is risen."
Remember the first message of Peter? "You crucified Him, you put Him to death, He is risen." To deal with this situation would have been very, very easy. All they had to do was produce the body of Jesus. "Here, look at Him, He is dead, there He is." You say He is risen, He is alive? He was talking not about rising as a ghost, you know. He was talking about physical resurrection. If He had just said, "I will rise in three days as a ghost," it doesn't matter if the body is there or not. But He is talking about the body of Jesus.
I have produced only one evidence out of a lot of evidence. That is not even the most important evidence. The most important evidence of why I believe in Jesus is because I have experienced Him and keep on experiencing Him all the time, which I have shared in many messages in the past. But I don't want to put my experience as the evidence for you. Because I have experienced Him, you have not experienced Him, so my experience doesn't necessarily mean anything for you. I have been talking about facts. But have you got the eyes to see the facts?
The question depends on whether you are true. The problem is not whether God is true. If you want to know the truth, you have to become true. This is what the Bible means by repentance. Repentance is to turn away from falsehood to the truth. When you turn on the radio, there are lots of messages coming through. But you cannot hear a particular station unless you are tuned to it. You cannot hear the truth unless your heart is tuned to God. And how can a sinner become tuned to God? By turning away from falsehood. Falsehood in the moral sphere is sin. If you don't like to hear about sin, you don't want to hear about the truth either. If you really want to know the truth, you must tune in to the truth by turning away from sin. That's the first step to becoming true. But it's only the first step. Still a long way to go.
It takes me quickly to my last question. Even if you have made a start to become true through repentance of sin, can you keep on this way, on this path? Many people make a start, but they cannot continue. That's why I want to speak to those who are being baptized today. Today, you are turning to the truth. Today, you are tuning in to the truth. It's only a beginning, and it's a long way to go. I told you yesterday that the truth will be challenged by falsehood in this world every step of the way. Every step you are going to take after this baptism is going to be challenged by the world.
The moment you go home, you are going to face the challenge from your family and your relatives. Maybe you are carried away by some emotion. You go to your job, and in the place of work, you will be challenged again. Everybody steals something. I mean, you don't call it stealing. It's part of the way of life. Everybody tells lies, so it's a way of life. And so you want to turn away from falsehood, but falsehood is pushing you back. That's why yesterday I said it would be a battle until death. Becoming a Christian is no easy thing. As the Lord Jesus says, "He that endures to the end shall be saved."
It's going to become harder and harder to stand for the truth. I ask you again, are you true? You cannot be true as long as you live in sin. But even if you are true, don't congratulate yourself yet. Can you remain true? It's going to get harder and harder, my dear ones. That's why we said there will be, before the coming of the Lord Jesus, a time of terrible tribulation.
I was listening to the BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the other day. It's a great radio station, very impartial generally in their coverage. In that report, the very same morning of this camp, the 16th of April, at 2 o'clock in the morning, I was listening to the BBC News. One news item said this: the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was appealing for funds. As a Christian, keep your ear open to the news. And I wonder if you can understand what's behind the news. If we are not in tune with the truth, if we are not true, we can listen and we don't hear. And I'm sure some of you sitting here are listening, but you don't hear. You're looking, but you don't see.
What was this news item? It said that in the United Kingdom, every week, three to four children die by the hand of their parents. These children are killed by their own parents. Can you grasp that? The UK is a civilized country. And we are not talking about three or four a year. The news is talking about three to four a week. And this is not talking about children who got beaten up, got bruised, and so on. It's talking about children who are killed by their parents. Can you grasp what is happening? Evil in this world, as you watch the statistics, is getting worse and worse.
There has always been evil in this world. There's nothing new about that. The thing we have to watch is the statistical curve that is going up. What is happening here? We were reading of a case of a child who was kicked to death in Hong Kong by the mother. The mother kicked the child in the stomach, ruptured the internal organs. The child died. The mother killed her own child. These are not rare cases. We wish it were rare, but unfortunately not.
What's happening in this world? Homosexuality was once regarded with disgust. Today it is legalized in many parts of the world. If somebody comes to your company and applies for a job and tells you that he or she is a homosexual, you know that under today's law, in many countries, you cannot reject that person because that person is a homosexual. Something even more astonishing: that applies even to many churches. If a pastor in the United States applies to a church as pastor and tells the church, "I am a homosexual," the church cannot reject that person by law. Sin becomes legalized. I read in Time magazine the other day, in one of the states in the United States, it is no longer a legal offense to commit adultery. You cannot bring a charge of adultery against that person in court. We are not so far from Sodom and Gomorrah.
Let's talk about more killing. Let's talk about abortion. Do you have an idea what the statistic of abortion in the world today is like? We are talking not about five or ten thousand. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of infants being slaughtered. And that is legal. You don't believe that wickedness is rising? You don't believe that the conflict between good and evil is a battle to the death? One of these days when you try to be righteous, you are going to be punished by the law for being righteous. Mark my words. You will be punished by the law for being righteous.
Brother Daniel stood up in Hungary for a fellow pastor. He stood for the truth. He was kicked out. And I'll tell you who kicked him out. The church kicked him out. Rottenness has crept into the church. Can you see that the words of the Lord Jesus — are they true? Yes. Matthew 24, verse 12. The Lord Jesus said wickedness will multiply, will increase more and more. The result is that the love of many who once loved the truth will grow cold. They will give up.
That was my third question. Can I remain true? Beloved brothers and sisters, especially for those who are being baptized today: in this church, nobody has tried to persuade you to get baptized through any falsehood or any pretence. I have already told you yesterday and I'll tell you again. It is the most difficult thing in the world in this generation to be true and to remain true to the end. I'll tell you very frankly, it will cost many of us our life. That's what we read in Revelation, the last book of the Bible, chapter 2, verse 10: "Be faithful unto death, and you will have the crown of life." But not before you are faithful unto death. To make a good start is good. Not enough.
And I say to those of you who are being baptized today, it's not too late to withdraw. Just tell the leaders of the church, "I'm not ready to be baptized. I've listened to the message. I'm not ready to be faithful unto death. I withdraw." By all means. Nobody will give you any hard time for withdrawing. Nobody will scold you. Nobody will say, "What are you fooling around with us? We have spent all this time counseling you, and at the last minute you withdraw." I promise you, nobody will scold you. Because it's not enough to be true. You must be true to the end.