Surviving Attempted Assassinations

Happy Sabbath, everyone! So nice to be back at one of our homes. Looking around, I see members of congregations of pastors from South Dakota, Arkansas, and Phoenix. Maybe more, I don't know. But we are all family. As God's family at this time, it's great to cycle back around, circle back around, and see everyone. It's also wonderful to see Mr. and Mrs. Tuck, who've pastored here before I did, Mr. Knudsen, who passed her here after I did. It's great to be back with you here again. Greetings to those of you who are online, including David Lepley. So sorry about the condition you're going through. If you're not here, oh, Mr. Lepley, you are here. Great. Well, hi, Mom. Mrs. McCann, Mary's mother, is 93, and she's a bit homebound these days, but we're here to visit her and appreciating our time with her, and also others who are online as well. Thank you, all of you, for those of you up in Sholo, Mr. Morgan, and so many others. So it's great to be here on the Sabbath.

You began to exercise certain abilities and talents and use the assistance of others, and form a life that is honorable, respectable. And as you come to live God's way of life, it's one that's blessed. Blessed by God, appreciated by God. It is one that is respectable.

And you should feel a praise to God for who you are and what you've been able to come, with all of the components that I've mentioned, including His inspiration and His help. You have gone through certain elements of life, including trial and error. Mistakes, but then you grew from those mistakes. And you achieved a higher level of ethics and quality and serving and appreciation by others. Following Jesus Christ daily has made this life of yours good.

Very good. With a good reputation. You are blessed. You are appreciated. And then, if you'll come with me over to 2 Timothy 3 and verse 1, and then, speaking of the age in which we are in, it says, in the last days dangerous times will come. Dangerous times to you, that same individual that is mired and highly respected by God and by those who appreciate strong ethics according to godliness.

In the last days dangerous times will come to you and what you've become for or because. This danger comes because men will be lovers of themselves. Let's pause and just think where the danger is coming from here. It's because others will have, as the Greek word is, Phila, remember Philadelphia, love, feel of this, feel of that, it'll be Phila, autos, fondness for me, fondness for myself. Sometimes we use the word selfish or as Thayer's defines it, to intent on one's own interest.

It's about me. And this is where the danger in the end time will come because people will have this selfish fondness of self and their life will be all about what he or she wants, desires or feels, including how they feel about you. Overly selfish. This is a definition of narcissism. We'll have an era, an age of narcissism where everybody is suddenly it's all about me and how they feel.

They're wanting self-admiration, not admiring you and what you are, but admiring themselves. But as we go on, these are boasters about themselves. They are proud of themselves. Verse 4, they are headstrong and haughty. This is, I think, a good definition of narcissism. And what these individuals with that mindset are demanding is admiration for corrupt values. Let's call it what it is. They want admiration for corrupt values. And then they look at you. You don't fit the value system that they have. Respecting for corrupt values is shown in verse 2, continuing blasphemers.

They're blaspheming God. They're blaspheming Jesus Christ. They're blaspheming the Word of God. And they're blaspheming the children of God, the kingdom of God, the rulership of God. They are disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. Notice that word, unholy. Their standard of conduct and self-gratification is unholy. It is without God, without godliness. In verse 3, it's unloving. So they revile God in this blasphemy. They revile God.

He's kind of an enemy. They revile Jesus Christ. They'll use those names with the most vile slander at sticking on holy or whatever. They'll just use those names in the most horrible terms and throw that around with euphemisms. And the kingdom of God they want nothing of. The Gospel, the Church of God, and the saints, those who have the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Agape, love, joy, harmony, long-suffering, gentleness. They don't want that. And since your values increasingly disrespect their values as they worsen going on, they are unforgiving. Unforgiving. In other words, they'll sue you. You offend them, they will strike back in some way. If it's not a lawsuit, it might be a bullet. It might be character assassination. But they will be unforgiving. Slanderous. This individual that you have become with God's help will be slandered without self-control and notice brutal despisers of good. Brutal despisers of good. And we begin to see that being Christ-like sets one's self up in this era that we live in, just as the Apostle Paul is forecasting here for the end times, as being targets.

Targets. And this is a growing reality for the sons of God who are led by God's Holy Spirit. We know that Satan's behind it and he disillusioned people's minds. They can't see and they go further and further into a corrupt state. So we shouldn't be judging them. Jesus didn't come back to condemn them at this point in time. We should be thankful that we can know God his way and live a life that is honorable in God's eyes and in the eyes of those who respect ethics. But we have to understand what the circumstances are involved in our calling, and we have to think through and prepare ourselves to continue being godly. This sets up God's children as targets.

We look in Philippians 2 and verse 15. Here is the description of those who are truly children of God. Blameless doesn't mean not guilty. It means blameless. Can't even blame them for breaking laws. God's laws, society's laws. And harmless. Children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. So there we are. Among whom you shine as lights in the world.

It's not like you're going to be able to hide. You're going to stand out like light in darkness. Brethren, we need to come to grips with this and not just think, oh, everything's going to happen. Maybe tomorrow Jesus will come back. And, you know, I'll just have this wonderful life and I won't suffer any persecution. It won't be like Jesus said, if you follow me, they're going to do this to you and that.

We have to really decide what kind of person we're going to be. Are we going to continue and endure? Or are we going to be pleasers of men? Jesus informed us that this way of living that we're striving sets us up as targets. After all, he would know he lived the most godly life and he became the biggest target of any.

He was the most godly. It says in Matthew chapter 10 and verse 25, it is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher. Isn't that what we're trying to be? Like our teacher? We're disciples. We're becoming Christ-like. And a servant to be like his master. If they have called the master of the house Baalzebub, basically Satan, and written him off in religious circles as being the devil himself, they've called Jesus Christ the Messiah that. How much more will they call those of his household? Verse 28, he concludes this with, Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the life, the sukeh.

Cannot kill the life. So this sets us up for something rather serious to contemplate, and that is a reality of being at opposition with the society that we are in. Let's go to Philippians chapter 3 and verse 2.

Notice what the Apostle Paul says to the church. Beware of dogs. Dogs that aren't yours come up and snarl and growl and they may bite you. My wife was attacked by a big dog when she was a girl, and she has this fear of big dogs that come up vicious, baring their teeth and growling and things. He says, beware of dogs. He's talking about humans here. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the mutilation.

Go back to that individual that you are, highly respected, ethical, grown through life, achieve this. Beware of the mutilation. It's the world in which we live. For we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, but have no confidence in the flesh. And therein really lies the basis of the sermon today, that anything to do with the flesh or pleasing those in the flesh or having confidence in humans or trying to save yourself rather than looking to God for saving, it has no future. And yet those who suffer as Christ did will inherit what Christ has inherited. And that's first fruits in the kingdom of God. What if somebody assassinates you or assassinates your character, terminates your honorable, well-lived life literally, just takes you out. It's happened to a lot of people. You can read that in Hebrews 11. What if somebody destroys your life's reputation, just tries to take it all apart by assassinating your character, makes all your accomplishments suddenly evil. Everything you stand for is horrible and rotten. All that's good is suddenly bad about you. You know, you've seen that happen to people. They thought they were real great people and all of a sudden the word is out and this individual is the lowest scum. And all that remains is now ugliness. All who see you recoil into stain. That is a reality. That's what happened to Jesus Christ. That's what happened to the apostles. That's what happened to the prophets. That's what happened to so many believers down through time. I'm not saying it's going to happen to all of us. We don't know. But we do know that there are challenges and certainly by living this way of life we become targets to some. Today I want to share with you some antidotes and also maybe a prescription for dealing with assassinations. Your assassination. Either literally or threats of it or your livelihood or your own character. To have that repudiated and done away with. It's important to understand what is happening at the time because when that happens to you, your head will spin and your world will just be upended. I'd like to show how to navigate the experience as well. Let's begin with in the sermon titled, Surviving Attempted Assassination. Whether it's fulfilled or not, people probably have already tried this on you and you probably already have felt it. People who have criticized you or slandered you or gossiped about you or said certain things, cut you out of a job, cut you out of a relationship, bad mouthed you to neighbors or people you love, etc. So this isn't a foreign concept to you, but this can get to the point where it's very delusional in a sense of trying to figure out what's up from down. So let's walk into this. Miriam Webster defines the word assassination this way. Murder by sudden or secret attack. It comes out of nowhere. Assassination is murder by a sudden or a secret attack. Your life's cruising along, maybe like it is today and all of a sudden. Wow! Where did that come from? We see potential assassins in the daily news. You don't know that some of these mass shootings, you hear about them, it seems like every day, it seems like there's two or three of them. How do you know you won't be in that location? Serial killers. Sometimes a long list of people. We see in the news lovers killing unsuspected spouses, sometimes even their children. Imagine you're a child going through your day and all of a sudden somebody's taking you out. Human trafficking. Gang-related bullets flying around. You read of those taking people out. Disgundled worker shootouts. You're just at work. Some guy walks in. Fellow school student shooting sprees.

Or a jealous teammate or even a close friend. If we go to Psalm 41 and verse 9, here David is saying something. This is referring as a prophecy to Jesus Christ in the future. Maybe you can feel this as well at some point in your life. Now or in the future. Psalm 41 and verse 9. Because this is prophesied to happen within the church of God before Christ's return. Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me. Like I said, these are not pleasant things to talk about. But rather than think, nothing will ever happen to me and then be caught in the firestorm of all the emotions and everything rolling around, it's good to have maybe planned some things in advance. That's what I'd like to do today. Miriam Webster's definition of character assassination is, It's treacherous destruction of a person's reputation. It's treachery. Treacherous destruction of a person's reputation. All that you are, all that you've been, suddenly is tried to be destroyed through treachery. And that comes, of course, through the mouth. As it says in James, the tongue is an unruly evil full of deadly poison. That's character assassination. Deadly poison. We certainly should clean up our thoughts and actions towards others and not be like that is what James is talking about. But at the same time, sometimes you will probably be a recipient of that deadly poison for your character. I'd like to give six examples of this and some tips along with it. Assassination attempts may pop up when you're doing your best. When you're at your very best. Just think again back to the age of narcissistic self. And you're doing your best, somebody may want to take you down. Let's go to John 5, verse 15. I've fantasized sometimes, oh, if I just had the power of healing, I would go over. I used to have people in mind here in Phoenix. I could tell you one individual, I just wanted to come and first thing, I would fly to Phoenix and heal that minister. Here's a person who had that in John 5, verse 15. Here's a man who was seriously, seriously ill, and Jesus healed him. And the man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who made him well. Can you imagine a better thing for anyone and God to do in this circumstance than to relieve a person from suffering? What a wonderful thing. Verse 16. So at the prime in people's eyes, the best thing you probably could do to, you know, as a human being, and Jesus was at that time, was heal somebody and lift them up. For this reason, the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him because he had done these things on the Sabbath.

But Jesus answered them, My father has been working until now and I have been working, and therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him for doing the work of God and that the Father was working.

You know, 300 years after this event, nominal Christianity, or in name only, was embraced by the Roman Empire, and the sun-worshipping emperor Constantine put out a hit, a death sentence to all who obey the commandments of God. You had to be killed.

Coming in the future is a revival of the Roman Empire. If we go over to Revelation 13 verse 6, we'll see also a reinstitution of that death sentence to those who obey God. Revelation chapter 13, beginning in verse 6. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God. So here's a religious type of ruler, or one who is very full of himself, so full of himself he thinks he is God. He blasphemes God to blaspheme his name, blaspheme his tabernacle, and blaspheme those who dwell in heaven.

It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to conquer them. That's what the word is. The same word that is used with one of the four horsemen. It came conquering and to conquer. It's the exact same Greek word. To conquer them.

Dropping down to verse 13, he performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on earth and the sight of men. And he does things like, in verse 17, no one may buy or sell. You can't even buy food. You can't buy anything unless you have subscribed to him. So, these things will pop up. And they're not something that you can plan for. The second tip here is to distance yourself when you can from danger and dangerous people. Distance yourself from danger and dangerous people. In John 7, verse 1, we saw Jesus did this. You don't have to jump up and start yelling on the internet about how nobody else is like you. And I want to tell you everything that's bad about you and bad about you and bad about you. You just want to rub your nose in it. That's not your calling. That's not my calling. In John 7, verse 1, after these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for he did not want to walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill him. The Jews sought to kill him. He had a work to do here, commissioned by his father, and he did all of his father's work. Our work is to be lights. Lights are quiet. Lights are diligent. Lights show the fruits of God's Holy Spirit and reflect well on the family of God. But we're not told to go around and start condemning other people and assassinating their character.

We're just supposed to live a model life for God. In Acts chapter 14, verse 2, we saw the apostle Paul also wisely avoid assassination.

The unbelieving Jews stirred up Gentiles and poisoned their mind against the brethren. Therefore, when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers to abuse and stone them, they became aware of it and fled. They fled. I find that even the New Testament church fled out of Jerusalem and went somewhere else before Jerusalem was sacked by the Romans and everybody was put to death that they could catch. In Luke chapter 21 and verse 36, probably the most effective way to avoid and to distance yourself from dangerous people and dangerous situations in the future, and really the only way to do this is what Jesus says in Luke 21 verse 36. Watch, therefore, high awareness, be on alert, be diligent, look at yourself, certainly understand what's going on, but you be a person that is overcoming and growing. And pray always. Be a person that is in prayer with God, have that strong relationship with God, that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass. Even God knows it's best for you and me to avoid these situations. So be that individual that, as it says here, can be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.

Third thing I want to mention is watch out for poison pills. They're all over the place and they look like candy. Eve picked up one, took a bite out of it. She thought that was looking good.

Popular Russian method of silencing critics is to poison them. Sometimes we can go along with it like Eve did. We can go along with it like Adam did. We can talk ourselves into it. Poison pill might taste good, but there's a slow death. 2 Peter 2, verse 18, warns you and me that there are some attractive things here that we can bring on ourselves. They're being sold to us, as it were. They're being sold to us, but they will not appeal to a godly mindset. They'll only appeal to a narcissistic mindset, and that shouldn't be ours. 2 Peter 2, verse 18, for those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. They make it about me, me, me, me, me, and they deceive the hearts of the simple. 3 Peter 2, verse 19, while they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption. 4 Peter 2, verse 20, for if after they escape the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. You might even call this self-induced suicide, or coerced suicide. There's some false doctrine, this looks good, this enlightens me, empowers me, this makes me look smarter than everybody else, who I think I'll go in and do this. And the next thing you know, the person's doing things without God's leading them anymore, and they wander off, and eventually the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. Same technique as shown over in Proverbs 7, verse 21, on a sort of a human enticing level. Proverbs 7, verse 21. With her enticing speech, she caused him to yield. He yielded, can't blame her, but she, here comes this thing that looks good to me, to the self, which is opposed to anything of God's law, God's command, but this thing I could get from me, this person, with her flattering lips, she seduced him.

Verse 23, till an arrow struck his liver, as a bird hastens to the snare, he did not know it would cost his life. Once again, there's various things, various temptations, various alluring things. You can go over to the book of Jude and find that same type of false doctrine kind of stuff that's alluring and trying to get people to go off in a hedonistic way, a self-serving way. Dropping down, verse 26, for she has cast down many wounded, and all who were slain by her were the strong, not the weak, the strong. I can't tell you how many strong people in the church, high officials in the church during my lifetime, in the 70 years I've been in the church, have fallen.

Don't think it can't help happen to you and me as well. A fourth point I'd like to bring out is, when you're guilty of something, and somebody's, you know, shooting at you, take the hit.

I mean, honestly, this isn't about me because I'm bad, me because I'm sinful and I'm exonerating myself. No. If we're guilty, take the hit. We all like to support friends and family and stand up for them and everything else. We sometimes can be swayed by lies, give the benefit of the doubt. Sinner will always say, oh, I was treated unfairly, you know, gets all kind of support. People wander off of that individual. The reality is, I messed up. You messed up. Admit it. Admit it. You need to repent. You know, there was an amazing leader once, most successful, most loved, beloved leader. And everyone loved him, supported him. Well, you know what? Fabulously successful leaders have won Achilles' heel. They always think they're entitled to more than they are. And generally that's entitled to money that isn't theirs, lovers that aren't theirs, various things that corrupt them that aren't theirs, but they feel that because I'm so great and I'm so important and I'm so famous and whatever, I'll take things that aren't mine. I'll take opportunities that aren't mine. I'll take other people and gifts that aren't mine, forbidden pleasures that aren't mine. They're committing their own character suicide.

When we get that which is not ours, as it says in Numbers 32-23, you have sinned against the Lord. And be sure your sin will find you out. So when that happens, we need to take the hit then. We need to actually die in the sense of either baptism or repentance and the death of the old person. So this isn't a message about, oh, I am shining and bright and beautiful and I have no problems and therefore nobody better mess with me. That's the reality. You and I all need to be like the Apostle Paul, realizing that we're not perfect. We haven't made perfection. But at the same time, we are doing very well if we are doing what God tells us to. Let's go to 2 Samuel 12 and verse 9 and read about this wonderful leader, this beloved individual, who was the great king, won all the wars. He was bigger and better than any and everybody and God put him there since he was a youth and he killed off the giant from the enemy.

2 Samuel 12 and verse 9, Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord? Oh, to do evil in his sight. See, just because you're the great King David, the appointed of God, you don't have entitlement to get things that aren't yours, including Bathsheba. You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword. You have taken his wife to be your wife.

Now, this example forms one of the great lessons of life. When guilt is exposed, or the guilty is exposed, and you're it, take the hit. Be a Psalm 51. Let's go to Psalm 51. Psalm 51. Because there's an interesting end of this story. Psalm 51.

And we'll start in verse 1. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness, according to the multitudes of your tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only have I sinned. And against Uriah and Bathsheba. But anyway, and done evil in this sight, that you may be found just.

No, that's pretty strong there. Verse 7. Purge me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Verse 9. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities, and create in me a clean heart, O God. David went about doing that, and the end result was a man after God's own heart in the end. It wasn't a death knell for David. He went on to become the most beloved king that Israel has ever had. And he will have a prominent role in God's kingdom when Jesus Christ returns. So, again, if you're guilty, take the hit. Because repentance results in good for all, for everyone. For the offender, for the victim, for God, for other people. In Luke 17, verse 3, take heed to yourselves if your brother sins against you, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. Oh, there's restoration, in other words. This isn't the end of all things. This is all my character was assassinated. No, your character just had a little suicidal event there, but you can get over it. You can live through this. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you saying, I repent, you shall forgive him. You shall forgive him.

So repentance is a good thing. But rather than being the perpetrator, be the victim of godly behavior. That's what we want to be. We want to be the victim of godly behavior, or a victim of assault because of godly behavior. Not because of my own sins, not like David was in that instance, or like Judas was, etc. We know in 1 Peter 2 and verse 20 that our own shortcomings shouldn't be there to encounter problems or character assassination or whatever. But 1 Peter 2 verse 20, breaking into the second sentence, but when you do good and suffer, that's what you want to be. You want to do good and suffer. You want to be a victim because of godly behavior.

When you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently or you persevere, this is commendable before God. Verse 21, 4, to this you are called. That's part of your calling. That's part of your calling. Don't just think it's something crazy and wild like James says, you know, when trials hit you, don't think it's some odd, bizarre thing in this day and age. It's part of your calling because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in His steps, who committed no sin nor was deceit found in His mouth. So when you think of doing right and being criticized for it, that's what we want, not the other way around. Elijah exemplified God's way of life right in the middle of God's people, the Israelites, God's chosen people. He named Israel. Notice in 1 Kings chapter 19, in verse 10, notice what Elijah went through right in the middle of God's people. Elijah said, Now that's how you want to end up. That's the side you want to end up on. God can perform miracles. God can make that situation blossom and turn into anything that He wants it to. Don't think that the end is known just because somebody is seeking your life, or your reputation, or your character.

The sixth point here is commit your situation to God. That's what's important. Take it to God, put it in His hands. As we continue on in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 23, Jesus, when He was reviled, He didn't revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten, but He committed Himself to God who judges righteously. Left it in God's hand. That's what we need to do. Commit your situation to God.

The John Gill commentary on this verse, 1 Peter 2, 23, says, Jesus committed His cause to God, His Father, to vindicate Him in what way He should think fit. Just leave it with God. Who Christ knew was the judge of all the earth, the righteous judge, to whom vengeance belongs, and which is an example and an instruction to the saints to do likewise. Not to render railing for railing or seek revenge, but to leave their cause with God, who will, in His own time, avenge the wrongs and injuries done them. So there are six points of looking at how these things will come at you and beginning to sort of assess how one might respond to them. But I'd like to give you four rules for surviving assassination attempts. How to get through, how to live through these things. Either living through them physically, mentally, or living eternally through them. It's one thing to stay alive. That's fine. Mentally surviving, say, a character assassination. Well, that's good, too. But what you really want to do is survive. Even if you die in this life, you want to survive and be counted in the first resurrection of Jesus Christ. Character assassination, in particular, is messy. It's a complex mix of partial truths, lots of opinions formed on other people's opinions, formed on sometimes false inaccuracies. And it's an inaccurate mess that can never be cleaned up. You sort of can't go out and fix it all. It is what it is. It's out there and people form their own opinions, and then those opinions get formed and other opinions change, and so on and so forth.

First point is respond like Jesus Christ. If you get an assassination attempt to your character, to your physical, whatever, respond like Jesus Christ did. Make it a rule. Number one, as we've already read, 1 Peter 2, 23, again, when He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten. Don't even go there. Don't even go there. Respond like Christ. In Matthew 5, verse 44, Jesus gives us some more instruction here about this response. This should be our initial response. Of course, the self is there, and you're going to bristle, and you're going to want to calm down. Remember the Scripture, to this you were called, to this you were called, to do it like Jesus. And Jesus says in Matthew 5, verse 44, But I say to you, Agape your enemies. Agape them. Just continue on, the Spirit of God, love, joy, peace. Continue loving your neighbor as yourself. Agape your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Cursing doesn't feel good. It doesn't sound good. Bless them. Bless them. Do good to those who hate you. Have you ever had a person yelling right in your face and hating you and doing everything they can to destroy your life and your reputation and bring you down? You want to do good to those. You know? Bake them a pie. Don't throw it. Do good. Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. These are strong words. Jesus is saying, this is what's coming. This is the reality of being a Christian in an age that is going into these crazy, crazy times. That you may be sons of your Father in heaven. There's your survival. That's how you survive. Literal assassination, character assassination, and any other thing that's thrown at you. Be children of God. Do it like Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 12, we see an example of this in the church as commended by the Apostle Paul.

1 Corinthians 4 and verse 12. Here's not just Jesus saying it, but here's somebody actually doing it. The Apostle Paul here, Timothy, others, Barnabas, the Apostles. And we labor, working with our own hands, being reviled. We bless. Being persecuted. We endure. In verse 13, being defamed. We entreat. We entreat. And these are things that you have total ability to do right at that time. Just be Teflon-coded, in a sense, to what comes at the self. And realize this isn't about the self and me. This is about the family. It's about God-family. Capital F. We are family. Capital F. The family of God. Children of God. And we continue to be godly. We're not in some sort of contest. We're not trying to fix the world. Not at this time. The second point is, quickly, release the wrongdoers. Release the wrongdoers. I'll show you why I use that term release. It comes right out of the Bible. Release them to God. Just release them, period. Remember Jesus' response to his brutal treatment, his character assassination, and his final assassination? Let's go to Luke 23 and see the ultimate release that he gave to those who were saying and doing all that they did to him as he died. Luke 23, verse 35 through 37.

And the people stood looking on. Even the rulers, I mean, those of you who like the approval of the rulers, right? Even the rulers with them sneered, sneered, saying, he saved others. Let him save himself if he is the Messiah, the chosen of God. He's just doing terrible things about him. Jesus Christ was in a position where he needed to be the one who gave his blood, his life, for the sins of the world.

The soldiers, verse 36, also mocked him. Roman soldiers are now mocking him, coming and offering him sour wine and saying, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. That's pretty bad. Jesus released them. He released them from his mind.

Notice back in verse 24. He says, verse 34, Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. That word, forgiven, the Greek, is an interesting word. It has several meanings. It can mean forgive, literally like God would forgive us our sins.

But the main strong and fair meaning is to send away or to disregard. Just send that away. Disregard that. So he may be saying here, Father, disregard them, for they don't know what they're doing. He's not saying, Father, they're repentants. Forgive their sins. Make sure they're in the resurrection.

It's not that kind of forgiveness. Just disregard what they're saying. And I'll disregard it, too, because they don't know what they're saying. And when these things happen, instead of getting into retaliation mode of, oh, you have hurt me, and therefore I'm thinking about me and I'm getting mad at you, and therefore, I just don't even go there.

You just have to say, look, that individual, even if they know you, etc., how do you know they're even converted? Or with that mindset, they may be tempted into doing something. They don't know the circumstances. They don't know the real you. Just put her out of your head. Go forward. Jesus had other things to do. So did God the Father. Just disregard. Send away. Release. Just release that. If you release your offenders, you can get on with your life.

Or you can stop and begin to internalize that deed and start thinking of how unfair it is and how much it hurts me and how much it's not fair to me and my reputation and all that I've become and all that I've done. And I just can't sleep anymore and I have to think about me and I have to think about that person. And now I'm going to live the rest of my life not doing anything except in stewing about me.

See? And what's happened is you've become obsessed with yourself. Your feelings, your image, and you will ruin your own life. That's what happens. People will ruin their own life. I've seen it happen on so many levels and been tempted to do it myself. You just think of any situation that's the worst thing you as a human could be put into by somebody else. If you make a certain decision to sort of distance and protect yourself, what you've done is you've cut yourself off.

Whether it's from family, from career, things that were unfair, from church. You know, individuals that get into this mindset, they have to go over here. They can't be there. They have to go over here. And it's smaller over there. And it's more limiting for them over there. And they put themselves in an area that they cut themselves off from a lot of opportunities, a lot of relationships.

And it's justifiable. Even in Scripture, some of those things are justifiable if that's what you want to do. But you will be an individual that to yourself has put yourself in a lesser situation. And if you really let it go into your mind and really let it captivate yourself, you will ruin your own life. Remember, you have no control over others' opinions of yourself. Release. Move on. Believe me, those who made the problem, they've released and moved on.

It wasn't a big event to them. They just stunned you, hurt you, and never gave it a second thought. Philippians chapter 3 and verse 13. I find this so important, and I really always cover this when I'm doing baptism counseling because sometimes we can look at our own lives and some of our own mistakes and we think, Oh, I'll always be limited.

I'll be this David who did this horrible thing, and I never can get beyond that. That's me. That's it. I'll never rise and shine because that's who I am. But notice here, for an individual who had slaughtered church members, that was his goal, and he did it well, killed them, got them killed, turned them in. You talk about character assassination followed up by real assassination and got the Romans to do it. Here's his words. He says here in Philippians 3.13, Brethren, I repented of that.

I came up a long way from what I once was, and I do not count myself to have apprehended perfection, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind. Now, there is an important element. When you get attempted assassination of any type, forget it. Forget those things which are behind. Do everything you can to get it out of your head, because yours is the only head it'll be in, number one. But it's very, very limiting.

Forget those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. The Apostle Paul reached forward and he became the most prodigious writer in the New Testament. David became the most great king, the man after God's own heart. Release, move on. Verse 14, I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God and Jesus Christ.

Therefore, let us, as many as are mature, have this mind. A third point of four is your business is about what God thinks of you. Don't care about what anybody else thinks. Your business is what God thinks of you. First Timothy, chapter 6. First Timothy, chapter 6, verse 1. That's 11. First Timothy, chapter 6, verse 11. But you, O man of God, O you person of God, remember that individual we started out with? That blessed, capable, loving, admirable child of God, God's own name, God's spirit living in you, accomplishing things, ethical.

You, O person of God, flee those things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, agape love, patient endurance, gentleness. This is what makes you admirable. Continue, pursue those. Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life to which you are also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. See that last word, witnesses?

Now what do those witnesses think of you? That shouldn't be of any interest to you. No interest at all. You are the light, remember, in a dark world. And people hate the light. You are right in a world of wrong and people hate the right. But you are doing this in the presence of many witnesses. This leads us to the final point. What others think about you are none of your business. This is a point that's reiterated in many books that I've bumped into. A point is, what others think about you is none of your business.

Don't start chasing your tail by trying to become what others think you ought to be, or changing to where you have a popularity or an approval by others. Because those are just opinions that are ranging and changing and they're not based on anything anyway, quite possibly. You have no control whatsoever over how people view you or what they say about you when you're not around.

You, like everybody else, form your own opinions. I bet you could point to some individual and say, well, I see that person this way. And we tend to, based on what? Maybe some comment they made 10 years ago, something you heard they did 10 years ago, or whatever. And we stick them in a box, and they're always in that box, like David. That David guy, you know, he did that to Bathsheba's husband, so he's in the box. Forget what others' opinions are.

They also use others' opinions to influence their opinions. There's one popular news channel, especially in the church, that's just an opinion channel. And it's just all about opinions, and they not only have opinions, but they get panels of opinions. And they give everybody their opinions. And at the end of the day, everybody's got these opinions. Where do they come from? Just a bunch of opinions. It's ridiculous. Just turn that around. Everybody has an opinion about you, too. Is it based on something? Well, it's based on somebody's opinion. Don't think that they have the opinion you want. It's God's opinion you care about. You know, there are some who will despise God's way. God's laws, His church, His rules. God's children will thus get slandered. Even Jesus Christ was. Remember the opinion of Jesus Christ? I'll read it to you from Luke 7. Look, a glutton and a wine-bibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. There's an opinion. That was on the airwaves.

Was it a good opinion? Was it a right opinion?

If we go to 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 15, we'll see opinions of His followers. 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 15.

These who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and have persecuted us, and they do not please God and are contrary to all men. They're just contrary people. They're self-focused and they're slicing and icing everybody. In 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 13, the Apostle Paul says, We have been made as the filth of the world, the off-scouring of all things. The off-scouring of all things. Jesus said, regarding the future, maybe our future, literal, or whatever, in Matthew chapter 24, the Olivet prophecy, end-time prophecy. Let's just be reminded of a few things. We'll begin in verse 9 of Matthew 24. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you. They can assassinate some in the church. And you will be hated by all nations. Why? For my namesake. Because we are the betrothed bride of Christ. We are part of the body of Christ. We are the church of God. We are children of God. Christ is our husband. Christ is our brother. And because of that, we'll be hated by all nations.

We find in verse 10, and here's why we need to think about some of this. When it comes along, it's not going to be pleasant, and some are going to want to be liked by a society. They're going to like their like button checked, you know? They're going to want some approval, maybe in order to keep eating or whatever. Who knows? Verse 10, and then many will be offended. This is talking about church. Many will be offended and will betray one another. Remember that friend that sticks closer than a brother? That one who ate bread with me? They'll betray one another and will hate one another. That's coming, too. It's not just outside. In verse 12, because lawlessness or sin, according to God's law, because sin will abound, the agape of many will grow cold. You know the word many in the Greek? It tends to mean most. The many, many most is not just several. If you look it up, it can indicate that the love or the agape of many or most will grow cold.

But note the contrast of the faithful, who remain godly. Verse 13, but he who endures, the Greek word there, hupameo, meaning remains, he who remains to the end, a child of God, a godly individual, shall be saved. You see, the whole point here is surviving assassination attempts. Even if it takes you out character-wise, even if it takes your reputation down, or even if it takes your own life. We want to remain, remain to the end, a child of God. Society's critique or opinion of you is their business. Leave it with them. Leave it with them. Forgive or disregard it. They don't know what they're doing.

If we remain being liked by God and Jesus Christ, we will serve God and Christ forever. That's our goal. We want his rule to come in our lives now. We want his rule to come in time, Jesus to return and rule, replace the ruler of this world and rule all the nations. We want to be part of that rulership in the millennial phase, hopefully part of that leadership in the second resurrection phase, and hopefully be there in New Jerusalem with Jesus Christ as his bride for all eternity, reigning and ruling or assisting God and Christ in whatever way they want. So in conclusion, sometimes we make mistakes and we need to repent. And that's fine. That is just fine. That's what we're all here for. Christ didn't come to save the perfect. He came to save sinners. And God's desire is that none should die or suffer loss eternally, but that all should come to repentance. However, God's children always become targets in a narcissistic society. They have all the way down through time, and it's only going to get worse before Christ returns. So when people attempt to assassinate you or assassinate your character because you love God, remember Jesus' words in Matthew 5, verse 10. Keep these fully focused in your mind. Don't worry about these things coming up, but keep this. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Again, that word, blessed, in the Greek, is an energy word. It's supremely blessed. Are those who are persecuted for doing right in God's eyes? For theirs is the kingdom of heaven, the spiritual dimension. Don't worry about what's going to happen in this physical life. Verse 11, blessed are you, supremely blessed are you, when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my name's sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Have a good Sabbath.