On the End of Life with Scott Rae

♪ Yes, sing everything I need Good morning, 121. Let's all stand and worship our Savior this morning. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ There's peace that outlasts darkness ♪ Hope that's in the blood ♪ There's future grace that's mine today ♪ That Jesus Christ has won ♪ So I can face tomorrow ♪ For tomorrow's in your hands ♪ All I need you will provide ♪ Just like you always have ♪ Fighting a battle ♪ You've already won ♪ No matter what comes my way ♪ I will overcome ♪ Don't know what you're doing ♪ But I know what you've done ♪ I'm fighting a battle ♪ You've already won ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ You've already won ♪ God is mercy in the way Come on, sing this. ♪ In our full time ♪ And when it's gone

♪ I'll know that you are my hope Let's sing. ♪ When the sea is raging ♪ Your Spirit is my help We sing. ♪ He'll fix my eyes on Jesus Christ ♪ I'll say that it is well ♪ Oh, I know that it is well ♪ I'm fighting a battle ♪ You've already won ♪ And no matter what ♪ No matter what comes my way ♪ I will overcome ♪ Don't know what you're doing ♪ But I know what you've done ♪ I'm fighting a battle ♪ Oh, you've already won Yes, he has, he's already won. I know how the story ends, we sing. ♪ I know how this story ends ♪ He will be with you again ♪ You're my Savior, my defense ♪ No more fear before death ♪ I know how this story ends ♪ He will be with you again ♪ He will be with you again ♪ You're my Savior, my defense ♪ No more fear before death Oh, I know how this story ends. ♪ I know how this story ends

♪ He will be with you again ♪ You're my Savior, my defense ♪ No more fear in life or death We sing. ♪ I know how this story ends ♪ We know how it ends ♪ I'm fighting the battles, yeah ♪ ♪ You've already won, no matter what comes ♪ ♪ I will overcome, I will move on ♪ ♪ We don't know what you've done, but we know what you've done ♪ ♪ But I know what you've done, I'm fighting the battles, yeah ♪ ♪ I'm fighting the battles, you've already won ♪ ♪ I'm fighting the battles, you've already won, yeah ♪ Amen. Amen, give God a hand of praise. All right, well, welcome everybody. It's good to see y'all. I'm gonna read a call of worship for us. Just straight off Psalm 95. I'm just gonna read it. Oh, come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence of thanksgiving. Let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise. For the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth and the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his for he made it and his hands formed the dry land. Oh, come, let us worship and bow down.

Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Let's read this verse together as one voice. Revelation 4.11, it's on the screen. Let's read it. Worthy are you, O Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things and by your will they existed and were created. Amen. Let's sing a song of ages to the Lord. Sing your name. Hands of love and awe, hear the angels cry. Lift it up. Holy, all creation cry. Holy, you are lifted high. Holy, holy forever. If you've been forgiven. If you're buried deep. We'll sing a song forever to the Lord. If you're walking free. If you're buried deep. We'll sing a song forever to the Lord. We'll sing a song forever and amen. And the angels cry, holy, all creation cry. Holy, you are lifted high. Holy, holy forever. That's exalted together in your people. Sing.

♪ Holy to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Holy, you will always be ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Jesus, your name is the highest, your name is the highest ♪ ♪ Is the greatest, your name, it stands above them all ♪ ♪ All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions ♪ ♪ Your name, it stands above them all, your name, your name ♪ ♪ Is the highest, your name, is the greatest, your name ♪ ♪ Stands above them all, above all thrones and dominions ♪ ♪ All powers and positions, your name stands above them all ♪ ♪ And the angels cry holy, all creation cries holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ All your people sing holy, all your people sing it out ♪ ♪ Holy to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Holy, you will always be ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ You will always be holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Yes, you are God, you are holy, Lord ♪ ♪ You are great and magnificent, Jesus, Lord ♪ ♪ We love you, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, we love you, Lord, we exalt you, we sing ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names ♪ You're worthy. ♪ Worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ So my heart will sing, how great is our God ♪ ♪ Is our God ♪ All over the room, let's sing this together. Name above all names. ♪ Name above all names, He is worthy ♪

♪ Worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ So my heart will sing, how great is our God ♪ The splendor of the King. ♪ The splendor of the King ♪ ♪ Clothed in majesty ♪ ♪ Let all the earth rejoice, let all the earth rejoice ♪ ♪ Let all the earth rejoice ♪ ♪ He wraps Himself in light ♪ ♪ And darkness tries to hide ♪ ♪ It trembles at His voice, trembles at His voice ♪ Altogether. ♪ How great is our God ♪ Sing with me. ♪ How great is our God ♪ Let all of us sing. ♪ How great, how great is our God ♪ Yes you are, yes you are again. Sing. ♪ How great is our God ♪ Sing with me. ♪ Oh we'll see how great, how great is our God ♪ ♪ He's the name above every name ♪ ♪ You're the name above all names ♪ ♪ Give Him praise, He is worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ Give Him praise, we tell Him, we'll see how great is our God ♪ ♪ With all you have, lift it up and sing His name ♪ ♪ Oh you're the name above all names ♪ ♪ You're worthy, worthy of all praise ♪ ♪ So my heart will sing how great is our God ♪ One last time, sing.

♪ How great is our God ♪ ♪ Sing with me how great is our God ♪ ♪ Oh we'll see how great, how great is our God ♪ ♪ How great is our God ♪ ♪ We love you Lord, mmmmm ♪ ♪ How great the chasm that laid between us ♪ ♪ How high the mountain I could not climb ♪ ♪ In desperation I turned to heaven ♪ ♪ And spoke your name into the world ♪ ♪ Then through the darkness your love and kindness ♪ ♪ Tore through the shadows of my soul ♪ ♪ The work is finished, the end is written ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ No mercy as could imagine, so great a mercy ♪ ♪ What more could fathom such boundless grace ♪ ♪ The God of ages stepped down from glory ♪ ♪ To wear my sin and bear my shame, we sing ♪ ♪ The cross has spoken, I am forgiven ♪ ♪ The King of kings calls me his own ♪ ♪ Beautiful Savior, I'm yours forever ♪ ♪ Oh Jesus Christ, my living hope, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free, hallelujah ♪ ♪ Death has lost its grip on me, you have broken every chain ♪ ♪ There's salvation in your name, Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ My living hope ♪ ♪ Then came the morning that sealed the promise ♪ ♪ Your buried body began to breathe ♪ ♪ Out of the silence, the roaring lion declared the grief ♪ ♪ He wants no claim on me, amen, that's a good news this morning, we sing ♪ ♪ Then came the morning that sealed the promise ♪

♪ Your buried body began to breathe ♪ ♪ Out of the silence, the roaring lion declared the grief ♪ ♪ He wants no claim on me, amen, that's a good news this morning, we sing ♪ ♪ And we sang the roaring lion ♪ ♪ Declared the grave has no claim on Him ♪ ♪ Jesus, yours is the victory ♪ Sing hallelujah. ♪ Oh, hallelujah, praise the one in me ♪ ♪ Oh, hallelujah, praise the one in me ♪ ♪ You have broken every chain ♪ ♪ The salvation in your name, Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me ♪ ♪ You have broken every chain ♪ ♪ The salvation in your name, Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Yes, you are, you are living hope, you are ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, you are living hope ♪ ♪ It's because of you, Jesus ♪ ♪ What gift of grace is Jesus, my redeemer ♪ ♪ There is no more for heaven now to give ♪ ♪ He is my joy, my righteousness and freedom ♪ ♪ My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace ♪ ♪ Till this I hold, my hope is only Jesus ♪ ♪ For my life is wholly bound to his ♪ ♪ Oh, how strange and divine I can see ♪ ♪ Oh, it's mine and not I, but through Christ in me ♪ ♪ And night is dark, but I am not forsaken ♪ ♪ For by my side, my savior, he will stay ♪ ♪ I labor on in weakness and rejoice ♪

♪ For in my need, his power is displayed ♪ ♪ Through this I hold, my shepherd will defend me ♪ ♪ Through the deepest valley he will lead ♪ ♪ Oh, the night has been won and I shall overcome ♪ ♪ Yet not I, but through Christ in me ♪ ♪ Oh, it's mine and not I, but through Christ in me ♪ ♪ No fate I dread, I know I am forgiven ♪ ♪ The future's sure, the price it has been paid ♪ ♪ For Jesus bled and suffered for my part ♪ ♪ And he was raised to overthrow the grave ♪ ♪ To this I hold, my sin has been defeated ♪ ♪ Jesus now and ever is my king ♪ ♪ Oh, the chains are released, I can sing ♪ ♪ I am free and not I, but through Christ in me ♪ ♪ Christ in me ♪ ♪ With every breath I live ♪ ♪ I long to follow Jesus ♪ ♪ For He has said that He will bring me home ♪ ♪ And day by day I know He will build me ♪ ♪ Until I stand with joy before the Lord ♪ ♪ Each to this I hold, my hope is only Jesus ♪ ♪ All the glory evermore to Him ♪ ♪ When the waste is complete, still my lips shall repeat ♪ ♪ And I'll walk through Christ in Him ♪ ♪ Each to this I hold, my hope is only Jesus ♪ ♪ All the glory evermore to Him ♪ ♪ When the waste is complete, still my lips shall repeat ♪ ♪ And I'll walk through Christ in Him ♪ ♪ When the waste is complete, still my lips shall repeat ♪ ♪ And I'll walk through Christ in Him ♪

♪ Each to this I hold, my hope is only Jesus ♪ ♪ All the glory evermore to Him ♪ ♪ When the waste is complete, still my lips shall repeat ♪ ♪ And I'll walk through Christ in Him ♪ ♪ Each to this I hold, my hope is only Jesus ♪ ♪ All the glory evermore to Him ♪ ♪ Each to this I hold, my hope is only Jesus ♪ ♪ All the glory evermore to Him ♪ ♪ Each to this I hold, my hope is only Jesus ♪ ♪ All the glory evermore to Him ♪ ♪ Each to this I hold, my hope is only Jesus ♪ ♪ All the glory evermore to Him ♪ ♪ Each to this I hold, my hope is only Jesus ♪ ♪ All the glory evermore to Him ♪ ♪ Each to this I hold, my hope is only Jesus ♪ Well, I told the eight o'clock service that I'm on West Coast time, so I'm finally awake for this one. And it is great to be with you. I so appreciate the church addressing the issue at the end of life. I've been studying and working on this for about 25 years and spent 15 years consulting at the bedside for various hospitals in Southern California. And this is only the third time I've ever been invited to do this in a church. So I commend you for addressing this and the things we will deal with have to do with the termination of life support

and physician-assisted suicide and active euthanasia. And as Ross mentioned, what we've seen from Europe and from Canada and on the East and West Coast of the United States, all this will be coming to a theater near you at some point. Now, let me ask you a question first to start with. How many of you have walked, let me see a show of hands, how many of you have walked through the end of life with a loved one or somebody you care deeply about? Okay, vast majority of you. Hopefully, this has been with somebody older than you, either a parent or a grandparent. I hope it has not been a spouse and God forbid if it's been a child. The last time I spoke to a church on this, a couple approached me at the end and said, we just finished this journey with our two-and-a-half-year-old child. My heart broke for them. Okay, so second question is, how many of you have been involved in making decisions about treatments for someone at the end of life? A good number of you. All right, and here's the little tougher question. How many of you felt well-prepared for that journey that you were gonna walk with your loved one? I don't see too many hands on that one. This is what we wanna try and fix a little bit this morning so that you are better equipped to deal with.

that journey through the end of life with loved ones. I told the early service that unless you are completely alienated from all your family members, you will walk through this with a loved one at some point. Uh, and I think we need to be aware that there are cultural issues to with assisted suicide and euthanasia. I know that's illegal in Texas. Uh, but I was illegal in my state of California for a long time. I didn't think that was gonna change, but about 10 years ago it did. And so what and what's happened in Canada is actually really quite alarming because it took it took European countries probably 30 years to get to the incidents. The number of cases of active euthanasia that it took Canada a little over five years to get to. And so this is this. This is coming to south of the border here. Uh, so what I want to do is put this in biblical perspective so that we understand all three of these areas from the perspective of scripture. So just to start sort of the basic biblical principles that govern this is for one human life is God's sacred gift. I take it. That's not breaking news to anybody in this room because we are made in the image of God and therefore innocent human life is not to be taken. Right. We are not to be the active cause of death of an innocent person. Okay. And as as a result of that, we have an obligation to protect those that are the most vulnerable among us. Now, in the ancient world, when the Bible was written, widows and orphans constituted the classes of folks who were the most vulnerable because there was no such there was no life insurance, there were no foster homes, nothing like that as a safety net for them. And I think today that time has changed a bit. I say widows, maybe less so than orphans. But they're still, I think, part of the vulnerable class that I would add to that the unborn and the elderly today because we have in the United States and throughout Europe, throughout most of the Western world, we have a higher incidence, higher percentage of people over the age of 65 in our society than we've ever had before and taking up an increasing share of the resources devoted to health care. In fact, the

average person will consume roughly half of their health care expenses in the last 12 months of their life. When you can make a case for some folks, at least it will do them the least amount of good. So we have an obligation, I think, to protect the elderly and to make sure that justice is done. All right, now to be a little more specific, let's look specifically at how death and dying are viewed in theological and biblical perspective. Death was not God's original design for human beings when we were created. It came as a result of the general entrance of sin into the world, Romans 5 and 1st Corinthians 15 tells us, and Romans 5 puts it this way, just as sin entered the world through one man, through Adam, and death through sin in this way, death came to all people because all sin, and echoed in 1st Corinthians 15. The death was not a part of God's original design. However, death is a normal, natural part of a person's life under the sun, which by under the sun we mean this side of eternity. The reason for that is because of the pervasiveness and universality of sin. None of us are exempt from the process of death and dying. Ecclesiastes puts it that we all go to the same place, all come from dust, and to dust all return. Now when the culture says that death is a normal, natural part of life, what they mean by that is that it's just something that's natural and therefore morally neutral. And the Bible doesn't treat it like that. The Bible treats it as both an enemy and a normal, natural part of life, both true at the same time. Now thankfully, that's not the end of the story. The really good news here, and I know you talk about this at least one time a year in our churches, hopefully, I'm assuming more than that, that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, death is a conquered enemy. I love the words from the song that we sung, that the grave no longer has a claim. It didn't have a claim on Jesus and does not have a claim on us. And 1 Corinthians 15 points this out and says, when the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that has been written will come true, that death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, oh death, is your victory? Where, oh death,

is your sting? But thanks be to God. who gives us a victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? Amen. Now, the question I wanna raise for the rest of our time is, so what? What difference does this make in how we view the end of life, not only for ourselves, but for our loved ones who we will walk this journey with, right? And let me suggest a handful of things here that I want us to think about, and then we'll deal with the areas of assisted suicide and euthanasia toward the end, right? Now, here's, I think, the big idea on this that I want you to take away from this is since death is a conquered enemy, conquered by virtue of the death and resurrection of Jesus, it need not always be resisted, okay? It's okay, at times, under the right conditions to say stop to medicine, to say enough. And doctors and nurses, I talked to an ICU nurse just in between services, and she was so encouraged to hear, I think, this frame theologically, but doctors and nurses need not always do everything at all times and at all costs to keep people alive. I'll never forget when I was walking my father-in-law out of the hospital for the last time. He had had a bladder tumor that, he was 88 years old, complications predictably ensued,

and the three-day hospital stay turned into three weeks. I remember I'm wheeling him out as he's been discharged, and he tells me to come close because he only had a strong enough voice to whisper. And I'll never forget what he said. He said, don't ever bring me here again. And I think what he meant by that was that I'm done with doctors and hospitals and tubes and treatments and technologies that have only made my life worse. And it was a hard one for my wife and I to realize that he, in effect, I think he was saying he couldn't articulate it quite like this, but I think he was saying that I will take from God's hand whatever days he has left for me, but without medical interventions. And my wife and I essentially had to entrust him back to God to give him as many days as the Lord saw fit. And so the conditions under which this takes place is really important because I trust that if all of a sudden I collapse to the floor and clutch my chest, somebody in this room would call 911, amen? I appreciate the level of alacrity with that. However, when the prognosis is poor and further treatment is futile, death, I think, can be welcomed as the doorstep to eternity. And my friends, that's a sacred moment when you get to be at the bedside with someone and usher them right up to the doorstep of eternity. Now, I would also suggest that increasing the net level of suffering, increasing the burden

where it far outweighs the benefit for a dying person is almost always wrong. Now, let me spell out the conditions a little more clearly here. I think to say stop to medicine is theologically permitted when a competent patient says so. Now, this is more a legal thing than a moral one, but in almost every state, if patients who have their wits about them say stop, doctors are obligated to do so. Right, because if they don't, they can be charged with battery. However, most competent adults will say stop when one of these next two conditions is met. When treatment is futile, when what I mean by that is that treatment won't stop this imminent, irreversible downward spiral toward death. We're just delaying an inevitable dying process. And then the most common one, I think, is when the burdens outweigh the benefits. Now, most treatments are at least moderately beneficial, but in some cases, the burden that it puts on the patient physically is so significant that the burden far outweighs the benefit. I've had nurses come to me, to our ethics committee at the hospitals I've consulted with, and say with their hearts, breaking, why are we torturing this poor patient? I had a gentleman, we had a gentleman

that came to our ethics committee. He was 95 years old. I don't think he weighed more than his age. And he was so thin, he was at end stage stomach and colorectal cancer. And the family wanted to try one more round of chemotherapy to see if they could delay it. And I think we, and so they were asking for a colonoscopy to be performed. And I think we probably could've actually, he was so thin and amazed, we could've held him up to a bright light and probably gotten the same information. But the nurses came and said, why are we doing this? What is the point of this? But the family just was unwilling to let go of their loved one. And I think that was a good example, I think, of a case where the burden outweighed the benefit. Now again, if we're not sure about that, if the treatment's really beneficial, it may be difficult, but it may be hugely beneficial. Of course, the default position is to treat the person, obviously. But in those cases where the burden far outweighs the benefit or treatment is gonna do, really do nothing to improve the condition of the patient, improve the prognosis, I think we are permitted to say stop to medicine. Now, I suspect, I know what some of you are thinking, so let me try and anticipate some of this.

Removing these things, stop to medicine, is not playing God. In fact, I think if those things were actually killing the person, then it would be, because that prerogative belongs to God alone. So I think that's one of the things that puts assisted suicide and euthanasia off the table from a theological perspective. You are not killing your loved one when you say stop to medicine, necessarily. What you are doing, in my view, is you are allowing the underlying disease or condition to take its natural course, unimpeded by any medical further interventions. Now, again, if I collapse of a heart attack, I hope you won't care much about that distinction between killing and allowing to die, because I think you'd be equally culpable if you allowed me to die. And last time I checked, my wife agreed with that. Um, nor is removing a feeding tube necessarily starving someone to death, because air to breathe is just as basic in food and water, and we've already said that medically provided air to breathe is a treatment that can be removed in removing a feeding tube, under the right conditions, of course. If it's more burdensome than beneficial,

if it's futile, if it's not gonna stop that downward spiral toward death, then I think it's acceptable to do that. And I think the really important part that I want you to see here is that saying stop to medicine under the right conditions is not a violation of the sanctity of life. Because if the sanctity of life means that we're obligated to do everything at all costs and at all times to keep people alive, then I think we're making a theological statement that I don't think we wanna make. And that theological statement is that earthly life is the highest good for human beings. Which theologically, that's not true, right? Saint Augustine was correct when he said our highest good is our eternal fellowship with God. Now don't get me wrong, earthly life is pretty high up there on the list. It's what we call a penultimate good, but it's not the highest. And I wanna make sure that we don't make an idol out of earthly life, which I think is possible. I've seen this on several occasions where I've wanted to say to a family, I didn't say it, I only did it once because the family was really close friends. But I probably would've thrown it out of the hospital if I'd have said that to our patients. But I've been so tempted to say to believing families,

do you really believe this stuff about resurrection and eternity that you say you believe? Because it sure doesn't look like it the way you are holding so tenaciously onto the earthly life of your loved one. Now I get it. You know, families, you know, we say our loved one's in a better place. when they go to be with the Lord. But the ones who are left behind are not. We're in a worse place, because we have to deal with the loss of someone very important to us. But I think to appreciate the sanctity of life is to put it in its proper place. It is not the highest good for us as human beings. Now, I've also had people who have said, you know, you're a Christian. How come your faith is so lame? Why don't you trust God? God, don't you believe in a miracle-working God? And I say, well, yes, I do, actually. And I've seen medical miracles take place. They're not the norm. They're very rare. But there are things that happen that confound doctors. But my response to that, and again, I've never said this. I've been so tempted. I've been tempted to say, look, if you want to hope for a miracle,

then let's go for broke, and let's turn off everything. Because last time I checked, God didn't need medicine to work miracles. And he does not need it today to do that. But most families are not interested in that. They have no interest in an unmedically-assisted miracle. But I think if we recognize that what we're really doing here is when we say stop to medicine, we are essentially entrusting that patient back to God. We are putting that person back in God's hands to give him or her the number of days that in his sovereignty he has remaining for them. All right, so let's get even a little bit more practical. How should we approach the end of life from a theological, biblical perspective? Okay, one, I think, is to really be clear about what your wishes are at the end of life. Be clear about what you want and don't want. Be clear about sort of when you want people to say stop to medicine should you lose the ability to do that yourself. I would encourage you to put that in, somewhere put it in writing. I tell my seminary students, if it were in my power to do so, I would require as a condition of passing my class that each of you have an advanced directive for yourself done by the end of the semester. Our in-house counsel told me

that would be profoundly illegal to require that, so we have backed off of that. And I would say talk with your loved ones about your wishes or about their wishes if you will end up making decisions for them. Again, my seminary students, they have the hardest time getting to have this conversation with their parents. And parents sometimes have a difficult time talking with their parents about it. But the reason that's important is because most people who are walking through the end of life with their loved ones are guessing about what the patient wants and doesn't want. And don't, I mean, for my sake, I don't want my wife to be guessing about what I'd want and don't want. I want her to know as precisely as I can what I want and under what conditions. And every hospital in America is required by law to provide these forms and to provide counseling for them. And you will be asked about them by law in some very interesting times. My wife was asked about an advanced directive when she went into labor with the birth of our third child, which I would say was not exactly front of mind at that point. Now here, I think for patients and families both, I would encourage us to face the end of life with the recognition that earthly life is not the end.

And to actually be an object lesson to the people around us that we really do believe this stuff about resurrection and eternity. And the miracle in our end of life process is not what will happen this, on this side of eternity. But it's the big miracle is what's gonna take place on the other side of eternity. When not only this disease, but all of our other diseases will be healed. Our character will be healed, and we will be like Christ. That's the miracle. And I've wanted to say to families, why are you delaying this person's homecoming? You know, I understand my families don't wanna let go of their loved one. I understand that. And that's a fair sentiment. But I've encouraged families to put themselves in the place of their loved ones. And to say, if your loved one could speak, if they could talk to you about what they want and don't want, would they want this? And lots of families will say, I don't think so. And that ought to give you a good indication that maybe it's time to think about saying stop to medicine. All right, enough on that happy subject. Okay, let's say a little bit

about assisted suicide and euthanasia. Because I am persuaded, oops, that's not what I wanted. I am persuaded that every state in America will have this on their ballot at some point for voters to either approve or disapprove. And I think the Bible is really clear about this, okay? Exodus 20, 13, you shall not murder. The reason for that is that the timing and manner of a person's death belong to God. And it's echoed in Hebrews 9, 27. That just as people are destined, destined by whom, by God, to die once and then face judgment. And even Solomon in Ecclesiastes puts it, there's a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die. And the point of this is not that those times exist. The point of this is that God is the one who has appointed those times. And that all of life under the sovereignty of God is a beautiful symphony of which God is the composer. So that when there's a time for everything, a season for every activity, it's because God is the one who has appointed the times and the seasons. And there is a time. That's why assisted suicide and euthanasia, in my view, is playing God.

Because it's usurping a prerogative that belongs to God alone. Now I admit, one of the other churches I spoke at this at, I had a woman come up to me afterwards and she said, are you telling me that I can't off myself when the time is right? And I said, if your concern is to be faithful to scripture, then I think the answer to that is no. The good news is that we have done a lot in the palliative care movement, the hospice movement, to make the end of life much more dignified and much more pain-free or pain-controlled than we've ever had before. In fact, I remember going to see my dad for the last time. He had a nasty, nasty case of skin cancer that started in his lower extremity and had moved all the way up and eventually went into his brain. And it was nasty. And I wish I could have talked him out of the experimental round of chemotherapy, which I'm totally convinced did far more to kill him faster than anything it did to the cancer. And it ruined the last four months of his life, in my judgment. But when I went to see him, and I remember before I saw him for the last time, I told my wife, I said, I sure hope I don't have to give up my principled opposition to assisted suicide based on what I see

when I go see my dad. And he was in hospice care, and the hospice nurses and personnel were, in my view, the closest things to guardian angels, this side of eternity that I've ever seen. And he passed knowing exactly where he was going. In fact, he crossed his arms, looked up, and took his last breath. And it was such a sacred moment. And in my view, euthanasia and assisted suicide rob us of those. Sacred moments. Now here's what our culture says about this is that this is necessary because of an argument for mercy. That we, am I okay? Oh, I'm not okay. Ah, thanks to the man who's working the magic here. I would have just kept on going without eyes in the back of my head. But the culture says we do this for animals routinely. Why not, why don't we do this for human beings because they are much more valuable. Okay, and the reason for that is that that argument actually is not being used very much anymore. And the reason for that is because the palliative care industry and the hospice movement has essentially removed the mercy argument from consideration. Because all it takes is a hospice physician to get on the radio to tell you that we are able to control most patients' pain at the end of life more than adequately. And we can do it without killing them. Now to be fair, there are some patients' pain at the end of life is a little more challenging than others. But we have the ability and we have the accessibility to control most people's pain at the end of life. A second, really the main reason that's underlying it is because it's my body and my choice. And I want to do with my body what I see fit. And I want to do that without government interfering with me. But theologically speaking, autonomy is a myth, right? We are not our own.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, Paul says you've been bought with a price. You are not your own. Therefore glorify God with your body. And if it's true that it's based on personal autonomy and it makes it a right, then as a culture we're not really willing to go all the way with that. Because if it were autonomy based and a fundamental right, then it should be available to everybody over the age of 18. But nobody believes that, right? Because for almost anybody other than the terminally ill who makes noises about suicide, our suicide prevention goes into full gear, right? Because we assume somebody's depressed, somebody has mental health issues that need to be treated, and suicide's not the answer. But why don't we treat those same mental health conditions in the people who have terminal illnesses? Wouldn't we expect that they would be clinically depressed? That's not abnormal to think about that. Why is it that we have suicide prevention for almost everybody, but suicide assistance for those that have a terminal illness? Now, the other argument that the culture makes is that we're really not violating the Hippocratic Oath because Hippocrates didn't have stuff like chronic illnesses. When people had congestive heart failure, their heart failed. And they either got better on their own, or they died. Medicine really wasn't a lot of help in Hippocrates' time. Because most people either got better on their own as the body kicked in and did what it was designed to do, or they passed. And so living for long extended periods with chronic illness was unknown to Hippocrates. As was the degree of pain management that we have available to us today. And so, yeah, maybe technically, maybe you could say that Hippocratic Oath is not something that's taken all that seriously in medical schools today. But I think there's something, there's a sacred covenant between physicians and their patients that I think is violated when physicians are licensed to perform euthanasia. Now, the culture also takes issue with a point I made a little bit earlier. That there's a difference between killing and allowing to die. The culture says, no, those are basically the same thing because the end is the same. Well, the intent is not. The intent is really different. The intent, when we allow someone to die, to die is to allow a disease to take its natural course. The disease is actually what kills the person, not the intervention of the physician.

It's completely different. And the Supreme Court ruled on this and made this distinction and set it in concrete in the law almost 30 years ago. And so I don't think you can say that killing someone and allowing them to die is the same. It's not the same thing. Now, there are times, like if you allow me to die up here on stage, then you are equally morally culpable for that if you had killed me. But those are not the same thing, philosophically speaking. Now, one other thing the culture is really clear about is that all this concern about a slippery slope leading to euthanasia without consent is a myth and nothing to be afraid of. And that, I just gotta tell you, that is categorically false because we have seen slippery slopes every place euthanasia has been legalized. In Canada, for example, it took Europe and the Netherlands more than 30 years to get to the instance of euthanasia that Canada got to in a little more than five years. And to say that euthanasia without consent will never happen just flies in the face of all the facts that what we know from Europe and from Canada. And just to be, again, to be clear, we have more pressure on our healthcare system now than we've ever had before with the percentage of people over the age of 65 in our culture. And to say that euthanasia will not be on the table

as a way to help solve that, as a colleague of mine in this field said, there's nothing cheaper than dead. And to think it's hopelessly naive to think that this will never be on the table as a way to deal with some of the issues that we have with healthcare resources. Already in Europe, they are saying it's a crime that we are allowing people over certain ages to have certain treatments, regardless of whether they need them or not. In fact, one of the main authorities in the UK on medical ethics has said, if you are in severe dementia, you are wasting the resources of the national health system. And in my view, this is a huge slippery slope. And the reason for that is because there are a couple things that are characteristic of the mentality that I would not say that we're necessarily, well, we'll put it this way. There is the distinction between a human being and a human person. That you can be a human being and not have full rights to life, okay? We've also made the same distinction that was been made through the eugenics movement, both in the United States and in Nazi Germany, that there is such a thing as a life that's not worth living. And the way we think about people at the end of life,

I think, greases the skids for a slide into euthanasia without consent. And in my view, the euthanasia without consent is a fundamental violation of the right to life. And in my view, should not be allowed in the law. So I would encourage you to, as you think, as this discussion, I'm sure this discussion will come up in the state at some point. And as you have people, I know the temptation maybe to travel out of state to do this or to another country to do this. It's legal in New Mexico and you can go there. It's legal in California. It's legal basically on the coast, in the west and east coast, and it will eventually come toward the middle. All right, the good news, death is a conquered enemy. Jesus is resurrected and we will be too. And therefore, death is not something to be feared, but something to be approached courageously and with full trust in God to help us deal with the losses and the changes, but knowing that we will ultimately be with him in glory. Amen? Amen. All right, let me pray for us. Lord Jesus, we are grateful for the fact that death has been conquered through the coming, the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Lord, enable us to face what's coming for all of us at some point with courage and with prudence and overall with a trust in a sovereign God who we will see face to face. In the name of Jesus, we pray, amen. Thank you so much. You're welcome, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I think Scott, Eric will usher you out into the hallway. If you'd like to visit with him, you can find him in the hall. And again, tons of resources that he has as well. Invite this afternoon. If there's not things he didn't talk about, it raised questions for you. Great time to come at three o'clock for that Q&A. And then we just look forward to what God has in store as we move ahead and continue to tackle hard things. And this also gives great impetus to why we think about being sent. So that when we come to these end of life kind of issues, we're doing them from a faith perspective and with people who know Christ so that death is a conquered enemy for them. And that gives us that confidence.

This also encouraged me, I was seeing about 60, 70 and 80 year olds have been talking about, and what if God just did something amazing and we started hearing movements of people coming to Christ in that age range. And then that just gives us so much more confidence when we come to these kinds of things that we spoke of this morning. So thank you for being here. You can leave tithes and offerings as you go, or you might do that online. Grateful for the ongoing generosity at 121. Our prayer team will be here at the front. If you'd like to come speak to them and pray, we'd love for you to be able to do that as well, or you can find us in the hallway. All right, have a great day.