Text: Genesis 3:14-17

 14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field;  upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:  15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed;  it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.  16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception;  in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;  and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it:  cursed is the ground for thy sake;  in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 

Wednesday, 2^nd October 2024

THE HEAD OF THE SERPENT

Text: Genesis 3:14-17

Memory verse: Matthew 10: Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

Genesis 3: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. The serpent is aware of the target of the man once they encounter one and the other, the serpent would be after the heel while the man would be after the head. The serpent has learned to defend his head, a strike on the head is deadly. Be as wise as the serpent to defend your head. Defend your head from error. The plague in the head is worst. Loose principles breed loose practices. If the head is corrupted with erroneous opinions, that believers are free from the moral law, that there is no resurrection, that we may do evil that good may come of it, what sin will this not lead to?

Oh, keep your head! Error is a spiritual infection, which spreads, and if not cured, is fatal. Heresies destroy the doctrine of faith; they rend the mantle of the church's peace and eat out the heart of religion. 2 Timothy 2:17.  

As the Epiphanius observes, not only were the minds of their proselytes perverted, but brought them at last to immorality. Error damns as well as vice. Vice is like killing with a pistol; and error killing with poison. Oh, be wise as serpents; defend your head from errors. "Be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." Our Savior Christ here commends to us the wisdom of the serpent and the innocence of the dove. The elects are called wise virgins, Matthew 25:4. Virgins, there is the dove; wise, there is the serpent. We must have innocence with our wisdom, or else our wisdom is but craftiness; and we must have wisdom with our innocence, or else our innocence is but weakness. We must have the innocence of the dove that we may not harm others and we must have the wisdom of the serpent that others may not harm us.

This union of the dove and serpent is hard to find, but it is possible. The most famous instance of wisdom and innocence was in our Savior. When the Jews came to Him with an ensnaring question, Mark 12:14, "Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?" Christ answered wisely, verse 17, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." Do not deny Caesar his civil right, nor God His religious worship. Let your loyalty be mixed with faithfulness and devotion. Here He showed the wisdom of the serpent.

And would you see Christ's innocence? 1 Peter 2:22, "There was no deceit found in His mouth, who, when He was hated he did not reply to hatred with hates." He opened His mouth and prayed for His enemies, but not hating them. This is the innocence of the dove.

CGDS HYMN 52: SS & S 597:

I ONCE WAS A STRANGER TO GRACE AND TO GOD

1. I once was a stranger to grace and to God ;

I knew not my danger, and felt not my load ;  

Though friends spoke in rapture of

Christ on the tree,  

" Jehovah Tsidkenu " was nothing to me.

2. Like tears from the daughters of Zion

that roll,  

I wept when the waters went over His soul,

Yet thought not that my sins had

nailed to the tree

" Jehovah Tsidkenu " — 'twas nothing to me.

3. When free grace awoke me, by light from on high,

Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die ;

No refuge, no safety, in self could I see;

" Jehovah Tsidkenu " my Saviour must be.

4. My terrors all vanished before the sweet name ;  

My guilty fears banished, with boldness I came

To drink at the fountain, life-giving and free :

" Jehovah Tsidkenu " was all things to me.

5. E'en treading the valley, the shadow of death,  

This watchword shall rally my faltering breath ;

For, when from life's fever my God sets me free,

" Jehovah Tsidkenu " my death-song shall be.

 Prayers 

1.  Lord Jesus, keep my head safe from every danger that is associated and connected to my work for you.

2.  LORD God Almighty, help me not to be quiet in the midst of evil and injustice capable of leading others out of faith in Jesus’ name. Amen.    

3.  Pray for others in this regard.