Snakes & Doves

And if you have a Bible, let's read a few verses here in John. While you're standing, John chapter 18 is where we're going to be again this morning. I'm going to start reading here in John.

Jesus is heading to Caiaphas now. If you were here with us last week, it was the betrayal by Judas. And now he is heading to Caiaphas to be examined by the high priest.

And then from Caiaphas he'll go to Pilate, the Roman ruler. You know, I think about the question, who crucified Jesus? And you have here Judas, one of the inner circle, one of the twelve, took part in that, in the betrayal. And then you had Caiaphas, who had an opportunity to let him go, but sent him on for crucifixion.

And he, Caiaphas, represented the nation of Israel, the people of God. And then he went to the Romans, and he was rejected there by Pilate. And so it's the inner circle that had a part.

It's the nation of Israel that had a part. It's the Roman government, the world who had a part. And so who killed Jesus? The truth of the matter is we all did, amen? And it's because of our sins that the Lord had to go to the cross.

And so I'm going to read here, and the Lord is going to go to Caiaphas, starting in verse number 12. We'll pick up where we left off. Then the band and the captain and the officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him and led him away to Annas I, where he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year.

That same year. They kept it in the family. Political thing going on there, I think.

Now Caiaphas was he which gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. That disciple was known unto the high priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest.

But Peter stood at the door without. Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter. Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He said, I am not.

And the servants and the officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals, for it was cold. And they warmed themselves, and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself. The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples and of his doctrine.

Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world. I ever taught in the synagogue and in the temple, whether the Jews always resort, and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou me? Ask them which heard me what I have said unto them.

Behold, they know what I said. When he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerst thou the high priest so? And Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil. But if well, why spitest thou me? Now Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas, the high priest.

And then it goes on just for a little bit here and talks about Simon Peter also denying the Lord a third time. And then we go on to Pilate here in chapter 18 and on into chapter number 19. I'd like to just consider something.

I started last week. Some of you were not here, but I shared a little bit about how Jesus taught us how to be blameless as he is delivered up to the army or the group that had come to get him, and how he exemplified blamelessness, and how Peter had taken a sword and tried to knock off the ear of one of those who were after Jesus, and Jesus told him to put up the sword and to lay these things down. So I'd like to go a little further here.

Maybe as you're standing, I'll have you sit here just a minute, but go back to Matthew chapter 10. I quoted this verse last time, and I think we'll just jump in here. In Matthew chapter 10, in verse number 16, Jesus is talking to his disciples.

In verse 16, he says he's about to send them out into all the cities of Israel, and he says, Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves. There's two things he wants his disciples to be.

He wants them to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up. This is what Judas did to Jesus.

To the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. That's before Caiaphas. And you shall be brought before governors and kings.

That's Pilate. For my sake were a testimony against them and the Gentiles. So Jesus here is telling them, in large part, what's going to happen to them and what's going to happen to him.

But I want to focus on two things that he says to them. Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as a dove. Let's pray and let's consider those things.

Heavenly Father, we thank you again for your word. Lord, instruct us and teach us and inspire us and prepare us for things to come. Lord, may you minister grace to our hearts here this morning.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, you can be seated. Well, I don't know how much time we have in the future yet before we're going to have some real difficult times.

But the message is not for the future. It's for now. And this message can be applied in our brotherhood here.

It can be applied in our homes and in many different ways as we relate to people. But one of the things that the Lord mentions here as he sends his disciples out is he mentions two things. And those two things are be as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove.

And last week I shared some on this idea of being harmless as a dove. When you think of a dove, is a dove going to harm anyone? No, a dove is not going to harm anyone. A dove has not been made.

Its nature has not been designed in such a way as to harm anyone. And that's why when you see Jesus coming up out of the waters when he was baptized, there was this dove. It looked like a dove descending upon him, John says, and resting upon him.

And it was a picture of the Holy Spirit of God descending upon the Son of God and bringing him this spirit of a harmless dove. Be you harmless. And you watch the ministry of Jesus, and he was harmless.

He responded to people as a dove. And he had that spirit about him. And that is why when those disciples wanted to call fire down from heaven, the sons of thunder, and destroy that community that didn't receive Jesus, Jesus said to them, you know not what manner of spirit you are of.

You are not of this fighting spirit. You are of the harmless spirit. And so we spent some time on that last time.

And I didn't read, and I know we're getting a little late here this morning, but I didn't read this. I just quoted a little bit of it. But I'd like to go back.

You can listen as I read here in Matthew 26. Peter is stretching out his knife. In verse 51 it says, Behold, one of them which are with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest, and smote off his ear.

Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into this place, for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. That's repeated in the book of Revelation. All they that take the sword.

You want to get the gun out? You want to start shooting? Well, I want to remind you of these words. All those that shoot with a gun are going to be shot with a gun. All those who murder are going to be murdered.

And so you don't want to go down that road. Next verse he said, Thinkest thou not that I can now pray to my Father, and He shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels. You know, fellas, listen.

If the will of God was for us to fight these people off, hey, we've got plenty of resources to do it. And so as we stand in these days, and who knows where this country, this world is going to go, let's just remember that. We have legions of angels.

And God is our security, and God is our safety. And so be harmless. Have that spirit and attitude about your life to be harmless.

Be harmless as does. But today I want to talk about the other half of this, and that is being wise as a serpent. Because when Jesus stood before Caiaphas and Pilate, he was not only harmless, but he was also wise as a serpent.

And I want to encourage all of you to be wise as a serpent. I'd like to look at Jesus before Caiaphas. It's mentioned in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all the Gospels have him before Caiaphas, and all of them are different.

They all talk about different things that were said. You put them all together, and you can get the whole story. But be wise as a serpent.

I know many of you have been taught to be harmless. You grew up in a background where nonresistance was taught, and you're very well schooled in that, and that's a good thing. But what about being wise? Wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove.

You know what a serpent is? A serpent is a wise animal. A serpent is not the type of animal that will confront you face to face, and it can overpower you by its strength like a bear or a tiger or a lion. A serpent is an animal that needs to be cunning.

A serpent is an animal that needs to be sly. It needs to be wise in order not only to defend itself, but also to get its prey. I didn't realize this.

Listen to this verse. And I read this this morning. I never understood this.

But Genesis chapter 3 verse 1 says, Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the field which the Lord God had made. You know, I always thought that the serpent was subtle because of the way the devil entered into him. But it doesn't seem to be the case.

It says that God made this animal a subtle animal, the way it was designed, how it moved about. It was a cunning, subtle animal. And I think when the devil came into the world, he looked for a body.

He looked for an animal to fulfill his purpose. He says, This looks like the kind of animal I'd like to be a part of. And so he takes this serpent, and he uses this serpent very subtly to deceive.

But yet I don't think the serpent was wrong. Obviously everything was good. God made the serpent the way the serpent was.

The serpent was subtle. He was wise. He was cunning.

And so when Jesus says, Be harmless as a dove, a dove is a good animal, and be wise like the serpent. And so I know usually when I think of that serpent there in the garden, I think of something bad. And yes, the serpent, he became bad when the devil came into him.

Well, one thing, this is a whole message, but I don't want to spend any time on it, but you know when the devil looks at you, is there anything that he feels like, Hey, I can take that part of you and use it. You know, you see someone who is maybe drinking with the alcohol. I think I can get into that body and use it.

I have an affinity there. I can use that body. Maybe they see a body with tattoos all over them, or an immodest body, and hey, I can use that body.

That body has an affinity to me. So think about it. When the devil came, he had many animals to choose from.

He said, You know, I like this guy right here. He's subtle. I think I'm going to enter him.

And so he did. And he used the subtlety and the cunningness of that snake. Well, that's not the message.

The message is this. If you're a child of God, and you took the Lord's Supper here this morning, there's two attitudes that you ought to have in your life, and I believe it's the new nature, when God gives you a new nature, and that is, first of all, you should be harmless as a dove. That's your spirit.

That's your attitude. It ought to be that way. If it's not, you need to correct and get in line with the will of God.

But also, one of the things God desires for you to be is to be wise as a serpent. So as Jesus stands before Caiaphas, we're going to see some examples of this, he is wise as a serpent. Now before I share with you some of the things that I see here from Jesus' example, I want to give you the reason why.

I always like to talk about the why. Why be wise as a serpent? I think some of us know why be harmless as a dove, but why be wise as a serpent? What is the motive for being as wise as a serpent? Well, back here in Matthew 10, we're given a brief reason for that, and I'm going to look at another place here and show you, but Matthew 10, it says this, verse 18, and you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake for a testimony, a testimony against them. It goes back to verse 16.

I want you to be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove because you're going to be brought before all of these people, and I want you to be a testimony. I want you to be a testimony of Jesus Christ, a testimony of Christ to the world. I want you to be a light.

So listen, if someone sues you at the law, takes your goods, what testimony is it if you get angry and go and sue them and try to get your goods back? What testimony of Jesus does that bring? It doesn't bring any. But if you, as the Scripture says, take joyfully the spoiling of your goods, that is a testimony to the world of a different nature, a different spirit. If someone smites you on the left cheek, and you in anger smite them back, how many of you know there's no testimony of Jesus in that? Amen.

But if you turn the other cheek and let them smite you in the other cheek, there's a testimony that comes out of those actions. And that is what the prize is, or that is what the gold is, with regards to being harmless and being wise. And so as you stand before governors and kings, and you might think, well, they're going to hurt me, and I need to save myself, and I need to do this and this and this.

No, you don't need to do those things. You need to be focused on, I need to be a testimony. This is my opportunity to be a testimony.

And it may take you down to the cross, like it took Jesus. It may take you into prison. It may take you into martyrdom.

But first and foremost, it is a desire to be a testimony. Boy, that's something different than most Christians. Most of us just want to save our skin.

We want to save our property. We want to get back at the guy that slugged me. Instead of, first and foremost, Jerry, it's your testimony.

That's the important one. And so when we talk about being wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove, it's because you need to bear testimony for the purpose and cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all about testimony.

It's not about saving your skin. Let me remind you something. Colossians chapter 3 says we are dead.

And your life is hidden from God. We need to remember that. We're supposed to be dead.

And so it's not about me, my testimony, my possessions, my reputation. It's about Him and His testimony and His reputation. And I know many of us are tempted to reason, even like Peter did when he took out that sword.

It's about me. It's about my life. It's about saving us, our lives, about saving our possessions.

No, it's about a testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to read Philippians 2. Very good verse here. Philippians 2.14 Do all things without murmuring and disputing.

That means back and forth. We'll talk about that in a little bit. Do all things without murmuring and disputing that you may be blameless and harmless.

That's that word. Blameless and harmless. Those two.

We're going to see them here again. Wise as serpent, harmless as dove, that you would be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom you shine as lights in the world. This testimony is a testimony of light.

You are blameless and harmless. And I want to encourage all of you to be blameless and harmless. Because that attitude, that spirit, is going to be a testimony.

And that's what God is seeking. A testimony in the world. And so you won't be lights in the world unless you're harmless.

You won't be lights in the world unless you're blameless. And so someone seeks to take away your reputation by lying about you. So you bless them.

You don't retaliate. There is a testimony. Beautiful testimony.

Or you revile them. When you revile, you revile again. When you're lied about, you lie about them.

And when they take your reputation, you take their reputation. How many of you know that's going to be a wonderful testimony of Jesus Christ? And so here's the why, in case you're wondering. The why is you want a testimony.

God is interested in a testimony. So before Caiaphas, the Lord is going to be as wise as a serpent. And I just want to go down and give you a couple of things here that He does that we ought to learn from about how to be wise.

Last week I told you not to get your gun out, not to get your fists up, not to start reviling back and just going as a lamb to the slaughter, just yielding yourself up for a testimony. But let's look here at this idea of being wise as a serpent. Jesus was wise.

And I have a couple of things here that I considered from the Lord here as He is standing before Caiaphas. The first one is found in Luke 22. Why don't you turn there? Each of the Gospels has a little different aspect of Him standing before Caiaphas.

And we'll work through these here quickly. Luke chapter 22, in verse number 66. Here's something that's very important.

By the way, a lot of this wisdom is going to go back to the book of Proverbs. There's much wisdom in the book of Proverbs, but in Luke 22, verse 66, Scripture says, Think about that for a minute. Jesus says to Caiaphas, listen, if I tell you, you're asking me a question, if I tell you, you won't believe it.

And if I also ask you a question, you're not going to give me an answer. And so one of the first things that the Lord does when He stands before Caiaphas is He understands or tries to discern who it is He's dealing with. Who it is He's dealing with.

Caiaphas, you're a fool. Caiaphas, I could ask you a question, you're not answering. And you know what? I can give you an answer, but you won't believe it.

You know why you won't believe it? Because your heart is full of animosity toward me. And it doesn't matter what I do, you're not going to believe me, you're going to kill me. You're going to deliver me up.

And so the first thing that Jesus recognizes and acknowledges here is that who He's dealing with, what kind of a heart He's dealing with. You know, Jesus knows here that Caiaphas and these individuals are not honestly inquiring. Their motive is to destroy Him.

And if you look down here a little further in verse number 70, then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And He said unto them, You say that I am? And they said, What need we any further witness? For we ourselves have heard of His own mouth. And behold, multitude of them arose and led Him unto Pilate. You see, they were not seeking any answer.

They were there to destroy Him. And so the Lord understood that. And before Caiaphas, He was wise.

This is not an Agrippa. Remember Agrippa? This is not a Felix. Agrippa was there.

I want to know. A king. Tell me, Paul.

Tell me about this thing. And Paul almost persuaded him to be a Christian. This is not an Agrippa.

This is not a Felix. Matthew 7, 6. Some of you are very familiar with this verse. It says this, Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine.

Now that's something that the Lord states in Matthew. This is wisdom. Don't cast your pearls before swine.

What does swine have to do with pearls? You know, you can take the gold and silver, and you can take very valuable pearls and cast them down before swine, and they don't care. They have no appreciation of the value of pearls, gold, and silver. And so the picture is this.

Jesus, don't cast your pearls before those who are clearly swine. Don't cast the holy things before dogs. Dogs have no appreciation of the value of holy things.

And so Jesus was not going to stand there and cast pearls before swine. Swine have no appreciation for pearls. Now, the book of Proverbs, and I'm going to go back and look at all these examples, but Proverbs speaks a lot about this.

How to speak to a fool, and how to speak to a wise man. How to speak to a simple person, and how to speak to a scorner. There is wisdom in speaking in a certain way to different individuals.

How about this? Proverbs 23, 9, Speak not in the ears of a fool, and hear, swine, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words, much like a swine despises the pearl. And so we're commanded, don't speak in the ears of a fool. Jesus said, be wise as serpent.

Now, there's a reason for that. You stand before a king, and you perceive that their heart is going to, it has animosity and envy and hatred towards you, just like they did with me. Speak not in the ears of a fool.

Proverbs 26, 4. I'm going to give you a number of these verses. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him, lest you also end up being a fool. Don't answer him.

They were fools, and they were in their folly, trying to get him to say something that they can convict him of. And so as we go down through here, you'll see he refused to speak to them. When you debate with a fool, you'll soon look like a fool, lest thou be like unto him.

And you'll know what you'll do, you'll destroy your testimony. Right there it is. Well, I'll tell you what, on a college campus, that's a real challenge.

You're talking to all these kids, and you learn, there's a fool. There are some that you try to speak to for a while, and you realize all they're doing is here, they're just here to antagonize you. You turn away from them.

You have scorners. You have simple ones. You have simple ones standing there, and you can tell that their heart is wide open, and they're just ignorant.

And you have occasions of the wise ones. So you have many different types of people. Speak not in the ears of a fool.

Listen to this. Book of Proverbs. Rebuke a wise man, and he will what? No, he will love you.

He'll love you. Rebuke a wicked man, and you'll get yourself what? A blot. Now there's two different people.

Wise man, I can rebuke him, and he'll love me. A foolish man, one that you have determined is not going to hearken, not going to listen. Rebuke a foolish man, a wicked man, and you'll get yourself a blot.

And I looked up that word blot. It's simply a stain. It will mar your testimony.

And I think when we get into these debates and arguments back and forth, these things mar the testimony of the Lord. Now someone told me once, that's why I don't go out and preach the gospel in the world because they're all just a bunch of swine. That's just an excuse is all it is.

Actually, there's a lot of people out in the world that are simple. A lot of people out in the world that are scorners. And there are many people out there in the world who are fools, but it's good to go out in the world and preach to find out if they are a fool.

And then when you find out, well, there is a swine, there is a fool, I'm going to not preach to him anymore. I'm going to turn this way. You know, Paul in the book of Acts, he tried to preach to the Jews for a number of years.

Finally, he said, you people, you're finished. I'm going to the Gentiles. I'm not going to cast my pearls anymore before you.

Jesus had three years. Caiaphas knew all these answers. He was sending spies to follow Jesus.

He knew all this. Are you the son of God? Come on. He even said, you heard me preach.

I mean, I've been preaching openly for three years. It is not a good testimony to argue and debate with someone who is foolish. Philippians chapter 2 says, do all things without murmuring and disputing that you may shine as light in the world.

It is not a good testimony for us to be argumentative. And when you get into those arguments, I don't care whether it's in the church or in the family, husband and wife, those arguments are not good. They're not constructive.

Do all things without murmuring and disputing. Here's a good one. Proverbs 29.9 If a wise man contended with a foolish man, if a wise man contends and argues with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest.

It doesn't matter. Jesus could have raged. He could have laughed.

Still, it would have been no rest. And in doing so, he would have lost his testimony. And so, be wise as serpents.

I know there are people who would like to have my ruin throughout the years. People who are angry. Whether I could rage or laugh, it wouldn't matter.

They're your enemies. You know some of those. You have some of those in your own life.

One of the great dangers of debate and arguing with people is one of my favorite verses, and you've heard me read it here a number of times, and that's in James chapter 3. Let me read it to you. You don't have to turn there. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your heart's glory, not in lie, not against the truth, this wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, and devilish.

For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. And so, when you see this strife and debate and arguing going on, you know that that is not a good situation. And that's a good word for our marriages and our homes and our churches.

You know, it says there, it's a wide open door for the devil. Like, once you start into that debate and argument, you might just hand a key to the devil and say, walk right on into the house. Or walk right into our relationship.

Walk right into our home. It's just not good. And it's not wise to enter into that.

And so when Jesus stood before Caiaphas, and Caiaphas had words for him, he could have entered into an all-out debate and a brawl with him and probably could have confounded him with his words, but he chose not to debate him. Now, when Nicodemus came to him, it was a different heart altogether. He said, Nicodemus, I'm going to teach you some things, if you're open.

And he taught him. Honest inquirers are fools. You know, I see this.

If you watch politics, Donald Trump, I think he's made a great mistake, but he's a natural man. You know, he has enemies. And you know, these enemies, they don't care.

I mean, Donald Trump could do the greatest things in the world, but they don't care. They just hate him. They're envious.

Just like Jesus was. They hate him. But do you know what that's like? And it doesn't matter what he says or what he does.

The problem is, his nature is, when you hit me, I'm going to hit you. When you revile me, I'll revile you. And he's gotten many blocks.

And, you know, I feel like if he would have, the election coming up in a few days, if he would have kept above board and just was silent, let his critics say what they say and just go right along, I think he would have been in the lion's heart. But he was arguing. He was arguing.

He was debating. He was striving. And I don't think that's a wise thing.

Striving with a fool or debating with a fool is like throwing gas on a fire. It's going to burn you. A number of years ago, I went down to my neighbor's across the street there.

Mrs. Snore, she had a nice pile of brush, and she wanted me to burn it for her. And so I went down there, and I thought I had my diesel fuel in a nice container there. And so I poured that diesel fuel all over that nice brush fire.

It was kind of cold and windy. And so I put a little extra on the bottom part where I was going to start it, put a little paper in there. And I got my matches and went real close down to guard the wind from knocking my match out.

And I lit the match, and the next thing I knew, all I saw was fire. Boom. It just blew me off.

Boy, did I make a big fire. A big ball. And I, you know, whoa.

I didn't have a mirror in front of me, but I felt, I was pretty, I lost some hair. And so I said, I better go up to the house and check this thing out. I wasn't really, it was a cold day.

I wasn't feeling a lot of pain, so I walked up. My wife looked at me like, what happened to you? And I looked at the mirror, and my face was red. And I, for probably two or three weeks, for the, were you here then? Two or three weeks, my face just, like I got a bad, I just started peeling a little.

I got myself a blot. Made a big, big fire. But it affected me.

It hurt me. And so when Jesus stands here before Caiaphas, he's wise as a serpent. He doesn't enter into debate.

He doesn't enter into the back and forth. Look, if you would, to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12, verse 14.

I want to read a little bit here. Matthew 12, verse 14. Then the Pharisees went out and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.

That's their attitude. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from them. He avoided the conflict, and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them there.

It's always good to avoid the conflict. Now sometimes you have to stand. You have to stand for the truth.

Jesus stood for the truth, but he knew that they had ought against him, and they were angry at him, and so he didn't provoke them. Verse 13, he charged them that they should not make him known, that it might be fulfilled. Now notice this, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased, I will put my spirit upon him.

That's that same spirit that came down as a dove. I'll put my spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry.

Neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. That doesn't mean he's not a street preacher. It's talking about the striving and the crying.

You know, when I was in Columbia, those little towns that we lived in, Altagracia, in many parts of the world, their houses are oftentimes open. Their windows are open, and you lay down at bed at night, and you can hear way down the road, people talking and fighting, arguing, and in those little towns, word travels a long way, and Jesus was not one who was a brawler. He was not one who argued and debated with people.

His voice was not heard in the streets. He would not strive or cry. He had a different spirit about him, and so when the Lord stood before him, you're going to see this before Pilate, too, that he did not enter into debate.

He did not enter into arguing, and you know, a serpent, I thought of a serpent. A serpent does not go head to head with his animal, his prey, his enemies. He is one who tries to go around the corner and suddenly tries to attack from the back or from the side.

He is not one who, by nature, is confrontational head to head, and so the Lord is showing us how to be wise. Some people, they just love debate. They love arguing.

I hope that's not a part of your life, part of your home, part of our church. Debate. The Bible says, leave all strife, amen, before it be metal to them.

Something else here that I'd like you to look at of how Jesus was wise, Matthew chapter 26. Let's look at that account. Matthew 26, verse 57.

He's before Caiaphas here again in a little different account here in verse 57 of Matthew 26. And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest's palace, and went in and sat with the servants to see the end.

Now the chief priests and the elders and all the council sought false witness against Jesus. Notice they sought people to come and give lies or tell lies to put him to death, but found none. Yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none.

At last came two false witnesses, and said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days. And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answers thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee? And then verse 63 says, But Jesus held his pee. Now something I've just noticed here this week is that when Jesus was accused falsely, he said nothing.

You'll find this, we'll read about in Pilate, before Pilate, he said nothing. Jesus does say something when he is accused something that's true. Like, are you the son of God? He'll respond to that.

Are you the Christ? He'll respond to that. When they tell a lie about him, you know everything in human nature, when someone tells a lie about you, what do we want to do? Defend ourselves. We'll put them in their place, we'll show them the truth.

You know that same spirit when someone smites you on the left cheek, the natural response is to smite back. But the Lord says, No, let him hit you on the other side too. When someone hits you with their word, what happens? They hit you with their word, and they lie about you, a false witness.

Why don't you just turn the other cheek? Amen. He was silent. He said nothing.

And that's wisdom. There is wisdom in silence. Would you agree with that? There's a lot of wisdom.

The book of Proverbs talks about being silent. But when Jesus is falsely accused, so you hear someone say something about you, maybe from a third party, you know, sister so-and-so said this about you, and it's not true. I know everything in your natural being says, I've got to correct this.

I've got to defend myself. I've got to show people it's a lie. It would be much wiser to say, just be silent.

When people lie, you know, it's all going to come out. And so Jesus remained silent when he was accused falsely. And that's so contrary to our nature.

If a man smites you, you want to turn the other cheek. That's so contrary to your nature. And if a man falsely accuses you, you want to let them smite you again with their word.

That's so contrary to nature. They kept bringing false witnesses. He'd say nothing.

I like this verse. As a lamb dumb... That doesn't mean stupid. As a lamb dumb, that means he's not speaking.

As a lamb dumb before his shearers, so opened he not his mouth. I mean, they were shearing him. And he said nothing.

In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. And that's such a beautiful passage there. In his humiliation, his judgment.

No justice. If you and I are standing there, but Lord, we want justice for you. We want these lies to be exposed.

And he's standing there just silent. In his humiliation. You want to be wise as a serpent when people lie about you, just go along and be quiet.

That was from the clock. Quiet, silence. Look a few pages over.

Matthew chapter 27, verse 12. Here is before Pilate, the same thing is happening here. And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.

Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered him to never a word, insomuch that the governor marveled greatly. Now there's a testimony right there. The governor.

You remember when Jesus said, be harmless and blameless before governors and kings for a testimony. Jesus was a testimony. The governor said, wow.

This guy is different. Everybody I've ever known stood up for themselves, defended themselves, tried to prove everyone was wrong. But this guy is saying nothing, never a word.

And that's a great testimony. Emily's not here today, but yesterday, this is just coincidence, but she said, we were sitting at the table and she said, dad, I don't know what we were talking about or something, but she said, dad, be honest with me. When your daughter says that, okay, here comes a really interesting question.

Be honest with me. Okay. Is it bothering you when people lie about you? Be honest with me.

And to be totally honest, it has to bother you. It has to bother you. But I tried to share with her, because I've been meditating on this very thing, I said, listen, what a wonderful testimony we can have when people speak evil and lie about you and you say never a word.

Say never a word. What a testimony. The same spirit that was on the Lord Jesus, and I can't say I've always done that.

But that's my desire, to say never a word. You don't have to turn. Let me just read to you a couple of verses in Proverbs on this subject.

Proverbs 11, verse 12. If you want to write them down and look at them later. He that is void of wisdom despises his neighbor, speaks evil of his neighbor, talks negative of his neighbor, but a man of understanding holds his peace.

Wow. Someone who is foolish speaks evil of other people, but someone who is wise holds his peace. I'm not going to say anything bad about that person.

I'm not going to get it from me. Proverbs 17, verse 27. He that has knowledge spares his words, and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.

I like this one. Even a fool, when he holds his peace, is counted wise, and he that shuts his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. I think it's good for us to be quiet.

I have this picture on the wall above our piano at the house. You probably most of you have read it. Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall be counted.

Now isn't it wise to be careful how we speak? If every idle word, we're going to get an account the day of judgment. The Bible says, he that spares his words. You know, a lot of people are just... Have you ever thought that all those words are going to be brought into judgment? And if you did think that, maybe you would live more like, I better be careful what I say, and make my words sparing.

And so Jesus did not just... He was very careful in speaking, and oftentimes he stayed silent. And so Jesus does not say a word when he is falsely accused, but here's the thing. When someone speaks truth about him, he speaks just a few words.

And here's what he says. Look over to Matthew 26. I think you're still there in Matthew.

Matthew chapter 26. And he does this oftentimes too in verse 63. Matthew 26 verse 63.

But Jesus held his peace. This is after being falsely accused. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.

Now is he the Christ, the Son of God? He's being asked. Tell us. Are you the Christ, the Son of God? He is not silent here.

Look what it says. Jesus said unto him, Thou hast my life. You said it.

Thou said it. And then he goes on and talks about his coming. Thou hast said.

I affirm. I affirm. What you just said is true.

And so when you say lies about me, I say nothing. When you speak truth about me, I will affirm what you say is true. You said it.

That's sparing your words, isn't it? So Jesus used words very sparingly. He that hath knowledge spareth his words. He that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.

And by the way, that's a good testimony. Would you agree with me on that? That's a good testimony. Do you think Jesus had a good testimony? Do you think he shone, he shined his light in the world? Yes he did.

And for us to have a testimony of this brother or this sister spares their words. When they speak, they speak what they want to say. They do it in a brief way and they are succinct in their words.

They're not just running the old saying their mouth. And that's a good testimony. Not the running of the mouth.

I'm saying the sparing of the word. Look at Matthew 27 before Pilate. And I'm almost done here.

Matthew 27 verse 12. And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. That's the false accusation.

Then said Pilate unto him, hearest thou not how many things they witnessed against thee? And he answered him to never a word in so much that the governor marveled greatly. So when Jesus was accused falsely, he does not defend himself. But now look back at verse number 11.

And Jesus stood before the governor and the governor asked him saying, art thou the king of the Jews? Is he? Oh, there's a true statement. There's a question. It's true.

I'm the king of the Jews. And Jesus said unto him, thou say. Not so long.

I asked for him. Two words. Thou say.

So when he was falsely accused, he said nothing. I think it'd be great for us as a church. When people accuse you falsely or you hear something false, just answer no word.

Most of that stuff, if you've experienced it, it goes away after a short time anyway. And, of course, this is before foolish men that have antagonism toward him. You spare this word.

Are you the Christ? You said it. Every idle word that men shall speak, they should give account thereof in the day of judgment. I think we're going to be judged on not only what we do, but also what we say.

Would you agree with that? And so if we're going to be judged with the words that we say in the day of judgment and the Lord says, okay, here's a couple of books of all that you've spoken, you're going to in that day say, oh, I wish I'd have said a lot less. And especially I wish I'd have said a lot less on the negative side. And so be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

I don't know someday you're going to stand before kings and governors. You're going to stand before religious leaders and they're going to say, you said this. Are they going to lie about you? There's your chance to be a testimony.

Say no. And go as a lamb done before his shears. If they say something, it's truthful affirmance.

Yes, you're right. And be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. And I would encourage you in your homes, in your marriages, to be wise as serpents.

Harmless as doves. Are you harmless in your home? A spirit? Are you wise as a serpent? Or do you stir up debate? Stir up strife? That's not being wise. And so we'll see more of this here as we go down and we watch Jesus before our pilot.

But next week I'd like to talk about Peter's denial. It's mentioned here in 18 and we'll pick up that next time. So let's go forth here and be harmless as doves and wise as serpents.

Let's keep those things in our mind, especially as we have an election coming up here in two days and the Lord knows what he's doing and he will give us the president we deserve. And how he wants to either bless the church or find the church, put the church through trials and temptations. All of these things are good.

So let's learn to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Let's pray.