Wise as Serpents, Harmless as Doves

I want to begin today with a true story that happened to me. When I was a young man, traveling basic labs about 21 years old, I had a chance to visit Europe at that time. Didn't have much money, but I had certain relatives living in different parts of Europe, so they said, yes, you can come over and visit. And in Spain, I had an aunt that we knew, and so she had me over the house, and she had a couple of children. They were younger than I, but they were around 17, 18 years old. And then they said, how'd you like to go hear some music tonight? We're going over to this big stadium, and we're going to listen to some music. And I thought, well, I'm traveling here. I might as well find out what it's all about. And so we got in the car, and then they picked up about three more friends. So here we were, like six people, scrunched up in this small car. And I'm just watching what was going on, and all of a sudden, they started the backseat. They started lighting marijuana inside the car. Here I am. I'm not a citizen of this country. If I get caught in a car like this, who knows what was going to happen to me? And they're all going on. And of all things, it was a big rock concert where everybody was going to be stoned, basically. So here I was, and of course, I didn't want to offend. What was I going to do? Let me tell you what happened afterwards. Because it isn't easy to live this way of life. In the midst of a world that they can do what they please.

But as soon as you accept God's way, God's truths, then Satan knows he has to move in very quickly, before the person's able to be converted to God's truths. Notice what happens. Let's go to Mark chapter 4, because I'll tell you how I got out of this problem that I got myself into.

Mark chapter 4 in verse 15. Christ is talking here about the parable of the solar, and he's explaining it. And it says here, because this happens to everybody, when you learn about God's truths, it is something that is in the Bible, much more than it is in a religion as such. You can go to a Christian religion, but it doesn't mean that you have found God's truths. Notice what it says, verse 14. It says, the sower sows the word. So here, God is the one that acts in this way. It says, and these are the ones by the wayside, which is by the road where the ground is very hard, because that's where the carts go through, where the word is sown. So the seed can fall in different states of a person's heart. It says, when they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. And so before it can sink its roots in, Satan distracts the person. He does something, something to have the person not concentrate. And believe me, that happens. It just seems like all kinds of temptations and trials happen as soon as you start learning about God's truths. It happened to me. It's happened to just about every brethren that's here. Let's go to Matthew 13 to continue, because here we have the same parallel account. In Matthew 13, in verse 18, he has a little more detail, because here you have four different types of states of a person's heart and mind when that little seed is sown into of God's word. Verse 18, it says, therefore hear the parable of the sword. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, so now we know that's what the seed is. The seed is about the truth of the kingdom of God and what it consists of. It's not going to heaven. Nobody has gone into heaven except the Son of God. Talk about Jesus Christ, who is in heaven. John 3 13. Read it for yourself. So this idea that you're going to heaven is not biblical. It was an old pagan belief. The Egyptians had it. The Greeks had it. The Romans had it. And they introduced it because of the concept of immortality of the soul, which also is not biblical.

Read Ezekiel 18 4. The soul, the sinneth, it shall die. It doesn't say it's going to have an immortal soul. So anyways, going back to this, the seed is sown in this way. It says the word of the kingdom. And to me, that sums up every day I think about the kingdom of God that's coming, that's going to save this world, that's going to heal this world, that is going to solve all the problems of the world when Christ comes back. So now you have something to look forward to, that you don't mind dying in this life because you know in the next instant when you are awoken from sleeping in Christ, being unconscious, when you're awoken, you're going to see Jesus Christ and you're going to rise up to heaven to meet him as he establishes that kingdom. So we're not talking about a church with a lot of beautiful glass and everybody dressed up and all kinds of costumes that also came from paganism. You know the cardinals, these are the ones that work under the pope, they're all dressed in red, that's what the Roman had as priests, dressed in the same way, black and red. So it goes on to say, and does not understand it. So a person can listen to God's word, he doesn't grasp it well. Then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. Why? Because it's the hardness of the heart. There's no openness, there's no yielding to new truth. A lot of people are scared of the truth because they think, oh I'm going to have to change my whole life because I've been deceived by Satan and his false religion. And so he snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he received deceived by the wayside. These don't last.

Most of these people never even make it to church when they come, either they stumble across the truth or they know someone that knows the truth. I know in my life, as soon as I'm from a high school student that was in the church that I used to play chess with at his house, and he introduced me just like many here, talked to me about it, and I started finding out about it. And within two weeks, basically, I learned the truth and was keeping the Sabbath and keeping the food laws.

I was tithing and, you know, all the trials came upon me. I lost my friends, my family went against me, and also my parents basically said they were going to disinherit me. So, and a girlfriend I had at that time, I realized I couldn't continue with her because she wasn't of the church. I wanted people that shared the truth. So anyways, those were just a few trials I went through in the first month of getting to know God's truth. I'm sure you have all stories. It says, now we go to the second state of heart, but he who receives the seed on stony places.

Now, this is not as hard because this is outside of the road, but now you have a lot of rocks. And so the seed falls there. It has a little bit of soil. This is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. So here there's an opening of the heart of the mind to these truths. And so this person becomes interested. Many times this is a person that comes to church.

But what happens? It says, and yet it says, he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while, for when tribulation or persecution arises, you can have opposition. Why? Because people are unconverted around you. Don't think they're converted. They're not. And so as soon as you start obeying God and his truths, you're going to have opposition. And it's not because they're bad. No, it's just that they don't understand. They think you're falling into this wrong system of belief or whatever.

So it's understandable, but it says here that there's going to be tribulation and persecution because of the word. And so you have to count the cost. And again, in many cases, I had to change from a medical career to following the biblical career. I didn't have that in mind, but it was part of the thing that I just couldn't continue with that practice that I was hoping for.

And so it says, and because of the word, immediately he stumbles. So it just doesn't last because, again, you have to, just as the first message, you have to begin strengthening your faith, sinking those roots deeply. Because believe me, you're going to need all the strength, all the moisture from the ground to keep that seed growing. And then here's the third category of the heart and mind of a person.

Now, he who receives seed among the thorns, now here you've got, you don't have rocks, you don't have a hard ground. Here you do have plants that are growing. So there's enough soil, and it's fertile for it to grow. For it to grow. Among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. So this wasn't a problem of having the stones and persecution. Maybe you've advanced enough now that you've gotten rid of those stones, and the roots are deeper. But what happens?

Well, you have other things growing along with you. Temptations and all kinds of things, and maybe prosperity, and all kinds of things that the world offers you that look so wonderful. And then the deceitfulness of riches. Notice here, nothing wrong with having riches. Just don't make it into your idol. It deceives you into thinking that's the best thing. They choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. There's not any real spiritual fruit. There's not a spiritual transformation. That's why in the Bible study that we're going to go through, Paul says that conversion starts basically from the inside out, and not so much outside in. A lot of people can do a lot of things.

They can do a lot of right things, but the heart is still. The inner person hasn't really changed that much. And so you have to begin the process, the transformation from the inside out. That's what it's talking about here. It becomes unfruitful.

And then the fourth state of the heart and the mind is, he who receives seed on good ground. Yeah, it's not hard. It's not stony. It doesn't have weeds around. He's clean. He's cleaned the soil. These are all the temptations that you have to get rid of.

The hardness, the pride of life is one. The persecutions. Are you going to tough it out? Are you going to say no to sin? And then it says, it's he who hears the word and understands it. See, he's deepened it. Now it's a devotion that you have. Just like if you want to become a doctor, you have to go through years and years of examining everything. We were kidding about my daughter, Natalia. She's a chiropractor, doctor of chiropractics, and before she was even in dental school. So she had to go through anatomy twice. Once in Chile and one here. And there was one time, because in Chile they don't have all these fancy skeletons and things that you can... No, she had to bring a head to the house. And it was inside a formaldehyde. And, you know, nobody went to the backyard until she got through with that. Because she was there with her friends, you know, they had to dissect. So you go through a lot here about what it takes to understand God's word. It takes a lot to go through medical school and to finally graduate. Well, we become spiritual doctors. We have to... This is our medical... spiritual medical school. You understand it. You love it. You drink it in, because all this is theory. Oh, I can apply this better. I can change my life from the inside out much better. And notice who indeed bears fruit and produces some a hundredful. Talk about spiritual fruit, the fruits of God's Spirit. A hundredful. Some 60, some 30. So this is the state of the heart that we have to work on. So this is a spiritual university you're going to hear. It's not doing some ritual and feeling good or feeling spiritual. This is hard work to learn how God's word works. How to apply it. And so, again, what do we do when we're in a situation where we're very close to being involved in sinful actions? I told at the beginning that here I was in this car in Madrid going to what I thought was kind of a nice musical concert. No, it was one of these rock concerts and already had three people in the back of the car smoking weed. And so you know what I remembered? I remembered a scripture. Let's go to Matthew chapter 10 verse 16. Matthew chapter 10. This principle came to mind. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10 16, Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. So once you're converted, you're a different type of person. You can't act like a wolf anymore. You can't pay evil with evil. It's different. You are the sheep in the midst of wolves, which this society is an unconverted society. And they can do a lot of damage. There are a lot of good actors, a lot of people that act like sheep, and they're actually wolves. He says, here's the formula. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. So people are not going to understand. You can't blame them. We were that way one time. And so there's these two actions that we should remember. What does it mean to be wise as serpents? What a strange comparison, because I don't think anybody really likes snakes too much, do they? But there's something, a lesson that you can learn about snakes. And one thing about snakes is they're not parading themselves around the streets, right? They're not easy to find. They're very careful not to expose themselves out in the public, out in the area. Sometimes when you're going hiking, you might just find a snake somewhere hidden in the grass. That's why they call a person that's tricky. Or he's a snake in the grass. You didn't know what he was until it was too late.

And so the principle here is that we have to be careful as a serpent, as careful. That is not going to just open themselves up. This is not my time in that little kind of a Volkswagen, or six people in it. That was to say, let me start teaching you about God's way of life. You know, with people, with marijuana, we're about five minutes into the park. If I get arrested, who knows what's going to happen to me and everything else? And I was just getting deeper and deeper, because I didn't want to be in a stadium full of people with marijuana. And so, you know what I did? I was prudent as a serpent. I said, could you just pull up here for a moment? And they all looked. You know, they pulled up. I said, thank you! Open the door! Fled as fast as I could out of there. I never visited my aunt anymore. I never saw anybody there. But I thought, this is the only thing I can do, is escape in time. And so, you learn to be prudent. Notice here in the message, Bible, it says, stay alert. What Christ is saying, this is hazardous work. I'm assigning you. You're going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack. So don't call attention to yourself. Be as cunning as a snake. Inoffensive as a dove. Don't be naive. Some people will accuse you of wrong motives. Others will smear your reputation just because you believe in me. Now, in contrast, God says to be innocent as doves, which is a small kind of a pigeon. Now, how many have seen a bunch of pigeons walking around the park with people just basically almost stepping on them? Right? You see it all the time. So that's why it doesn't say be as cunning as a dove because they're not. They're absolutely foolish. And they could very easily end up in somebody's plate because you could basically grab them. They were that careless.

So the term here for harmless as doves, the term harmless means unmixed, unadulterated, used of wine without water and of metal without alloy or mixture.

Therefore, guileless person doesn't have any type of wrong attitudes or wrong moods without falsity, which means not being fake. And that's what we can learn from the doves, they're harmless. You can feed them. They'll come to you. It's about the only animal like that that will do it except maybe some domestic dogs and cats. So Christ told us to be careful around people. Notice in John 7 verse 24. John 7 verse 24.

It says, do not judge according to appearance. Don't fall for what you see outside, but judge with righteous judgment. Judge according to what you see on the inside, according to the attitudes of people.

And that happens all the time. Special young people, they can be very naive.

Girl can think, oh, he loves me so I can trust him and give myself to him. And the guy's saying, well, I'm telling her I love her because I want to take advantage of her. That just, again, this idea of being a dove, the other one being kind of like more cunning. So girls have to be very careful with the words. You have to see the actions. You see how they treat you with respect, kindness, and true love. So John 7.24 in the God's Word version says, stop judging by outward appearance. Instead, judge correctly. Another message Bible says, don't be nitpickers. Use your head and heart to discern what is right, to test what is authentic, what is true.

So we have to discern motives because we can't deal with the world the way they do us. People get mad at you, then you can get mad at them. This is the problem with the world we see. How many people are getting killed because, you know, you did it to me, I'm going to do it to you. And ten times over, if possible. Well, that's the world's way. We understand that only Christ is going to solve the true problems in this world. But in the meantime, we have to use God's Word to guide us, to show us the way.

Notice in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 22.

1 Thessalonians 5. Do I have this right? Wait a second.

I always say it's a good thing we don't have these scrolls that we have to open up and try to find things. It's hard enough in a book. 1 Thessalonians 5.22. It says, Abstain from every form of evil.

Check out everything and keep only what's good. 2 Throw out anything tainted with evil or the appearance of evil.

So you have to discern the wolf behind the appearance, at work, at school, in your community, when you go out on dates. Sometimes even at church.

So we have to be prudence as serpents.

But by the fruits you will know them. People don't generally change much. In background, genetics.

Notice another scripture in 1 Corinthians 14 verse 20.

Again, Paul giving such good advice. It says, Brethren, do not be children in understanding. Don't be immature in your knowledge of things. Don't be naive. However, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature. So yes, don't be experts on evil. Try to stay away from that. That's never going to produce anything good. But he says, be experts in what is good and understanding.

Here's a couple of other translations. Good news, Bible says, don't be like children in your thinking. My friends, be children so far as evil is concerned, but be grown up in your thinking. Be mature. So sometimes through experience, you know, well, the first time you fool me, you know, shame on me. Second time you fool me, you know, no, the first time it's shame on you. Second time you fool me, shame on me. In other words, we have to learn. We can't continue to repeat the same mistakes over and over.

Here's another in the message Bible of the same verse. It says, to be perfectly frank, I'm getting exasperated with your infantile thinking. How long before you grow up and use your head, your adult head? It's all right to have childlike unfamiliarity with evil. A simple no is all that is needed there, but there's far more saying yes to something. Only mature and self-exercise intelligence can save you from falling into being gullible, being naive. You know, most of the problems a person has is because of that. They just didn't judge properly, and they got themselves into a mess. Just like I could have easily got myself into a mess. It could have changed my life if I was still there, and the police would have come and arrested, and everybody else was a Spanish citizen. Here I am, a U.S. citizen, embassy calls, being in jail, whatever. Get your reputation because you just foolishly went along with a crowd. So you can have dozens of examples, I'm sure, of the same type of thing, where it tells, you know, flee fornication. It doesn't say, get as close as you can to it. You have to flee from a lot of things. Just turn around. You got into the wrong crowd, or the wrong situation. Get out of it as soon as you can.

In Romans chapter 12, these are all kind of principles that we see in the Bible, just like in the book of Proverbs that Paul is using. Romans chapter 12.

In verse 17, again, this is the attitude of a true Christian. Does repay no one evil for evil? Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. In the good news Bible, it says, do everything possible on your part. Let's see here. It's a little bit. 12, 18. It says, if it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. That's another key thing. As far as you can do things, live at peace with the rest. Maybe the other person isn't living at peace. Well, you can't live their lives, but at least you have to keep your own little space with that peace around yourself. And notice it says, if it is possible, because sometimes you can't live at peace. With that person, regardless of the story, if it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

That is.

And in Romans 12, 17, I said, if this isn't good news Bible, it says, someone has done you wrong. Do not repay him with a wrong. Try to do what everyone considers to be good.

Romans 12, 19, beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. So instead of trying to seek revenge on your own, present it to God. Let him take care of it. Don't get that thorn in your side with something just as constantly corrupting your mind, constantly affecting it.

God will listen. He knows when to repay. That is such an important. Romans 12, 19, again, another version. Good news. Bible says, never take revenge, my friends, but instead let God's anger do it. For the scripture says, I will take revenge. I will pay back, says the Lord. He knows when to do it, how to do it, much better than us. We usually make a mess of it. Sometimes something that could have been very small, that could have been handled. We try to get in and we make it all the worse. God always knows when to do things and in the right way. Romans 12, 20, it says, therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink, for in so doing you will heap coals of food. Coals of fire on his head. In other words, if you treat that person not as they deserve, but still kindly, that person is going to feel so embarrassed. Look what I did to them, and they're willing to give me something positive. That's what Christ did when he was being crucified. He said to God, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing. Can you imagine that type of mentality? Instead of God, I want thunder and lightning to fall down on all these people. No? He's thinking about them. Please forgive them. They don't realize who they're killing here. God in the flesh.

So it says here in the contemporary English, version, don't mistreat someone who has mistreated you. But try to earn the respect of others, and do your best to live at peace with everyone.

That's being gentle and innocent as a dove.

So we come to the winning formula. Combining all these elements, discernment, caution, prudence, with purity of motives and actions. Winning combination without having to resort to cheating, lying, or deceit. So let's finish with Romans 16, verse 19. And there's one more scripture after that I want to read. Romans 16, verse 19. Still have time. Paul says, For your obedience has become known to all, therefore I am glad on your behalf, but I want you to be wise in what is good and simple concerning evil. Simple or innocent. Just like the dove. He was recalling what Christ had said. In the Message Bible, it says, One final word of counsel, friends. Keep a sharp out for those who take bits and pieces of the teaching that you learned, and then use them to make trouble. Give these people a wide berth, and aren't above using pious sweet talk to dupe unsuspecting innocence. And so, while there has never been any question about your honesty in these matters, I couldn't be more proud of you. I want you also to be smart, making sure every good thing is the real thing. Don't be gullible in regard to smooth-talking evil. Stay alert like this, and before you know it, the God of peace will come down on Satan with both feet, stomping him into the dirt. As he says there in verse 20, And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet, shortly when Christ comes back, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. So it's not easy to live a genuine Christian life in the midst of the wolves of this world, but if we become wisest serpents and harmless as doves, we can overcome this deceitful world as Christ did.

Let's go to Philippians chapter 4 verse 8 to finalize.

Philippians 4 verse 8 tells us how to think. This is so important when we're being tempted, whatever is going on. This is what we have to change our mindset to think. Verse 8, Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, and if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. That's the way to clean our minds and stay out of trouble.