(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Genesis 34, and an interesting passage here dealing with Jacob's daughter. So if you remember, we're down the line, Leah has all these sons, and then she has a daughter. It's like all of a sudden, and she also had a daughter, Dinah. So this is that daughter Dinah that Leah had, and this whole passage is really kind of self-explanatory about what happens. And my whole sermon this evening is going to be pretty much based off the first two verses. But we'll get into the story as far as what happens, and just in the ending of the story as well. But really, I just want to focus in on what started this, what caused this. And so in Genesis 34, in verse 1, it says, And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. Now, what happens in the story? Well, she goes out to see the daughters of the land, and then Shechem finds her and lies with her and defiles her. So he commits fornication. They commit fornication, and this upsets, obviously, her father and her brothers. And there's this whole discourse as far as them being angry about it, but then Shechem really likes Dinah and wants to marry her and all this stuff. And then this whole back and forth, well, you can marry her unless you and all the males that you have in your company are circumcised. And they're really just doing that to trick them, because then Simi and Levi end up killing them and all the males. That's how the story ends. I mean, so we're going to talk about what's right about that, what's not right about that, because I do not believe that Simi and Levi killing all them was right. That's not justified in the Bible, and we're going to talk about that. But what led into this? How'd this start? And a lot of times when you look at these stories, really the beginning, you can see the keys to what starts this. If you think about Genesis 6, what started the downfall of man to where God repented that He made man on the earth? The sons of God came down to the daughters of men, and they married the daughters of men. And so you saw saved guys, saved men, marrying unsaved women, and that was the downfall to where God flooded the whole earth. Now, obviously, if you're reading NIV or if you're listening to somebody that goes back to the Hebrew or someone that doesn't care about what the Bible actually says, they'll say that's angels procreating with women. And there was these valiant, half-hybrid angel men people and these giants that came out of them. And then God had to destroy the earth so He could destroy all the giants. Obviously, that's really weird and stupid. But when you see this with Dinah, it's kind of something similar, only it's more so her making a mistake here. What starts this off? She went out to see the daughters of the land. Now, I'm going to definitely spiritualize this because we see the story. She went out there, and she ended up getting defiled. I do not believe this is a rape story, so I do not believe that Shechem raped her. If Shechem did rape her, then yeah, he'd be worthy of death. Not the whole land. He would have been worthy of death, but it doesn't say that he raped her or forced her or anything like that. It just says that he took her and lied with her and defiled her. Now, defiled just means the fact that she's defiled because she was a virgin, and they weren't married. Okay, we're going to get into that later on. So really, the sermon here is going to be more so about how we need to be separate from the world, and we also need to flee fornication. But this story is more so dealing with women. A lot of times I'll deal with this, and trust me, I'll get to it when we get to Joseph and the story of Joseph and all that stuff, and men, this is something we need to watch out for. And this sermon is for men and women, but more so the ladies tonight when you look at the fact of Dinah and what happened to her, and what was the downfall or what could have been prevented so that Dinah wouldn't have been defiled. Well, if she wouldn't have went out to see the daughters of the land. And so we can look at that as far as not going out and see the daughters of the world, or the worldly daughters. And this doesn't just mean unsaved people, because saved women can be just as bad as unsaved women when it comes to being worldly. And so, yes, I think that you should definitely keep your friends as far as in the believer realm, but even inside that you need to keep a close guard as far as who you hang out with and stuff like that, and that goes for men too. I don't hang out with a whole bunch of worldly Christians. If I did, they'd be dragging me down, I guarantee it. But go to 2 Corinthians chapter 6, and I know we've gone through this a lot, but it's something that we need to ingrain into our minds that we need to be not unequally yoked with who we're fellowshoping with. This doesn't just cover marriage, although this is very good to cover marriage, because here's the thing. When she went out to see the daughters of the land, she didn't go out to see the men of the land. And I think about this when I think of the younger girls going out to the mall and hanging out with a bunch of girlfriends and talking about boys. Now, listen, I'm a guy, so I didn't do that. I found my guy friends and we talked about girls. But all I have to say is that this is something to watch out for. Now, I do think that as your children get older, you should give them a little more liberty, but I do believe there's a difference between men and women. If I have, Lord willing, I have sons, along with my daughters, I will give more freedom to my sons when they're in their teenage years than I would my daughters. You say, why? Well, first of all, they're not as strong as men. And the boys can handle themselves and they're not gonna be taken out by a woman. If they are, then they need to get some strength. They deserve to get slapped around or something like that if a woman takes them out. But all I'm saying is that there is a difference between the physical strength of men and women. So am I gonna send my daughter out by herself without any protection or somebody around her that I know is gonna take care of her and all that stuff? Well, of course not. Now, guys, if they get around 16, 17, 18 years old, yeah, they need to learn how to fend for themselves because they gotta protect their family, they better learn how to protect themselves first. And so we need to take heed to our daughters. Men are the weaker vessel, the Bible says. Give on to the wife as unto the weaker vessel. And we need to remember this, that women aren't as strong as men. And even in the spiritual realm, men are supposed to be the spiritual leaders. And we need to really take guard. Remember this. Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. That's at the very beginning before the fall of man. Eve was deceived. Adam wasn't deceived. Now, they both sin, and obviously by Adam's sin, you know, we all sin and we all have sin nature and all that. But there is a difference in the mentality as far as women being enticed compared to men. Okay? And this may not be a popular sermon. I guarantee this won't be a popular sermon in the world. I'll be called misogynistic and, you know, all the other weird words that they're gonna come up with. Right? But I don't hate women. I love women, and I want to protect my daughters. And I want to warn women, too, to be careful in these aspects, okay? And so, just listen up tonight, and in 2 Corinthians, chapter 6 and verse 14, it says, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? And what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, notice this, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. And I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord almighty. Now, this passage is about coming out and being separate. That's something that our church stands on, meaning that we're against worldliness. We're against worldliness, and we're for living a separated, holy, sanctified life. Meaning separate from the world. Now, people take this too far. We're not going to go buy a convent somewhere, and go cut ourselves off from the world. Okay? Because how then are we going to go out into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature? Don't confuse this with being completely out of the world, because Jesus even said, I don't want to take them out of the world, I just want you to keep them from the evil. So we need to be in the world. We need to talk to people in the world. We need to converse with people in the world, but that doesn't mean we need to be friends with the world. We don't need to be connected with the world, okay? And so, don't get that, don't go too far with that, where you're just like, I'm separate from the world, everybody else can go to hell, and I'm just going to go, you know, we're going to go find a convent out in Texas and drink the Kool-Aid. No, okay? That is not what the Bible teaches. But the Bible does teach that we're supposed to be separate from the world, and we're supposed to come out from among them. What's that mean? Get away from their TV programs. Get away from all the stuff they're trying to shove down your throat, as far as their philosophies, as far as, let's say, you know, drugs, alcohol, parties, all this stuff that they're trying to drag you into their world with. We want to have nothing to do with it. I'm not going to a bar to preach the Gospel. I'm not going to go into that atmosphere. Now, I'll go up to someone's house, and I'll knock their door, and I'll give them the Gospel. But I'm not going into these places and saying, well, you know, if I go into the bar, and I hang out with them, and I get to know them, then I'll be able to give them the Gospel. No, they're not going to respect you then. Listen, they're going to respect you when you say, I don't drink, but I love you, and I want to give you the Gospel. And salvation has nothing to do with that anyway. And you give them the Gospel, and they're going to respect you saying, hey, this person actually does what they say. And so what this comes into is this lifestyle evangelism, okay, where they take it way too far when Paul says, I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. But remember, he says, you know, I go unto them that are without law, yet not without law to Christ. Okay? So he puts a caveat in there. He's like, I'm going to them that don't have a law, but that doesn't mean that I don't have a law unto myself. It doesn't mean I'm going to go out and like drink and smoke and fornicate and do all this other stuff, right? And so we need to remember that, yes, we want to go out to them. We want to be like, you know, you want to be, you know, the old saying, do as the Romans do, right, when in Rome, and all that weird, you know, sayings. But basically what it's saying is the fact that, hey, if I'm going out to the Philippines, for example, I'm not going to dress in a three-piece suit when I go out to the Philippines. Okay? Now, does that mean that a three-piece suit is wrong to wear if I was out in the Philippines? No. It's just the thing is that when I go out into that culture, as long as it's not against the Bible, as long as I'm not putting on a dress, okay, I'm not going into India and just putting on a dress or something like that, but I'm going to dress like the people. I'm going to try to eat their food, try to, you know, do what they do, as long as it's not against the Bible. Does that make sense? I'm not sacrificing things on the idols, and I'm not eating things sacrificed on the idols. But if I go there, I'm probably going to, you know, find some Filipino clothes and kind of just blend in if I can. Does that make sense? I'm not trying to stick out like a sore thumb. And so, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to get into their sins and I'm going to go crucify myself on a cross somewhere. Okay? So that's what we need to realize is that, hey, yes, we need to go out into the world, we need to preach the gospel, we need to be made like unto them. And the fact of trying to win them to Christ, but not like that. Not meaning I'm going to go and partake of their sins in order to win them to Christ. That never works. And Romans 3 talks about that and the fact that, shall we do evil that good may come? You ever hear that, you know, like, you know, if I do this one wrong thing, but that'll cause this good thing to happen? That's never right to do. Wrong doesn't make a right, and just as much, and it's just never right to do it. You should always do right, even if so-called in your mind doing evil right here would help you do right over here. So, but go to 1 John chapter 2, 1 John chapter 2. The one thing that I see when I read this is what, what does it say that she went out to the daughter of the land to, to see, to see the daughters of the land? It all starts with what you see, what you see and what you hear. Think of the TV and the radio. You know, it's what you see, and it all starts with what you see. You can't lust after something if you haven't seen it first. And so you've got to control what you're looking at, as much as you can, okay? Don't get me wrong, you know, WVU started back up, and listen, I don't go downtown anyway because the traffic's horrible, but if I went downtown and I drove downtown in the summertime or when it's hot out, yeah, I mean, you've got to put blinders on, but I mean, you've still got to drive, you know, I'm not going to just drive blindly like Ray Charles and just hopefully I don't hit somebody. So you've got to drive, and yes, you're going to see things, right? But there's a difference between seeing it and perceiving it, meaning that, yeah, I mean, when we go, you know, I go to the grocery store and I'm going to get like, you know, some refreshments in like the juice aisle is right next to the, the wine and the alcohol aisle. Yeah, we're not supposed to look on it, but I also still need to walk down the aisle without stumbling into things, okay? But there's a difference between seeing it and perceiving it, meaning looking on it, lusting after it, okay? But it's better just not to look, right? If you can, and you can get into, don't put anything in front of your eyes that's not forced in front of your eyes, let's put it that way. And so if it's forced there, I mean, you've got to get through it, I mean, you don't want to wreck the car and you want to, you have to get through life, right? But don't put yourselves in those situations if you, if at all possible. But 1 John 2 verse 15, it says, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. The second one mentioned there, as far as loving the world, is dealing with the lust of the eyes. The lust of the eyes, go to Psalm 101, Psalm 101. If you control what you're looking at, that's half the battle. You think about this, the lust of the eyes, well, if you don't see, you can't really lust after it, but it says, Lust when it had conceived bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. Do you see the progression? You first see it, then you lust after it, then you sin. And so you're not going to sin if you can't see it. And I believe the same thing would go with hearing, and I think more of hearing when you're dealing with music. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the flesh and the hearing, right, when it comes to music. And there's certain music, worldly music, that can appeal to the flesh. I'll say this, none of the worldly music that's out right now appeals to the flesh. I hear that stuff, and I'm like, this stuff is garbage. Maybe I'm getting old. You know what they say, once you're past 33, everything sounds like garbage in several ways. But man, it's horrible. So I'll say this, I don't really struggle with the music that's out there today, but there is music that I used to listen to. And I'll go to the gym, for example, and I go to the gym, and they'll play this music, and sometimes it's hit or miss if it's even playing, or what's on there. It could be from rap to rock or whatever. And here's the thing, is it wrong for me to go in? I don't believe it's wrong for me to go in there, but I need to be careful that I'm not, I'm hearing it, but I'm not trying to understand it. Does that make sense? Because you can hear something and block it out, but don't let it in, okay? Because that'll appeal to the lust of the flesh. And so the best thing is not to have it around you anyway, because then you're not worried about it. I'm usually waking up to Baby Shark and Baa Baa Black Sheep and everything else, which is better. It's better than the worldly music. But yeah, anyway, some of those nursery rhymes are hard to get out of your mind. But that's at least better, that I'm acclimated to that, and I've got that in my mind so much that that's in my mind. And same thing with the hymns. Sing the hymns. If you have trouble with worldly music, or you hear a tune here or that, you're pumping gas or whatever and you hear a tune, you know, sing some hymns and try to get a hymn stuck in your head. And so, but anyway, in Psalm 101 and verse 3 it says, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them to turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. So I will not set, or it says I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. And so that's what we need to keep thinking is the lust of the eyes. And you say, well, how do I control that? Well, get rid of the cable, okay? And here's the thing, the TV's not inherently wrong, right? That screen, the stuff pops up on, that's not evil. It's what's being put on there, okay? Because if I put on, you know, like a documentary, like, you know, one of our documentaries that we like, like New World Order Bible versions or After the Tribulation, that's not wrong. And if I were to put up, like, let's say I was just to put up a documentary on the Titanic, is that wrong? No, that's not wrong. But I'll say this, anything that's on cable TV right now is garbage. And if it isn't garbage, let's say it's a good documentary, now you gotta listen to like three minutes of commercials between every 15 minutes of the program, and that's all garbage. Every commercial, if it's not wicked, it's annoying, okay? It's just this, I don't know how to really explain it. Have you ever been over at someone's house and they just got the TV blaring? And it's just, I think, second nature to them to just have it on. And I just feel uneasy, I feel anxious, you know? Because at my home it's like silence, you know, it's either silence or a little baby bum playing nursery rhymes, right? But all I have to say is that I get anxious, it's just like these commercials and I'm just like, and someone's yelling at me, I'm just like, stop yelling at me, you know? And it just makes me anxious. There's something to that about what it does to you emotionally, even if you're not paying attention to it. And it's just something that's getting into your ears or you're seeing it and there's subliminal messages in the Disney movies and all that stuff. Be careful of this type of stuff, the lust of the eyes. And that's a whole other sermon with the subliminal messages. But all I have to say is even if it's not something that's just straight out like wicked, and here's the thing, this applies to the internet too. See, this applies mostly to the internet, okay? Because the internet, there's some of the most foul, wicked stuff that you can find on the internet. Be careful. I'll go to a site and you'll see an article and it's like an article that you want to read or you're like interested in what's going on. And then over here on the side is just a bunch of scantily clad women that are half naked and it's just like, what in the world? I just want to read this article, but then you got all this pop-up garbage that's being just shoved into your face constantly. You got to be careful. Be careful of the sites that you go to, like Daily Mail and all these different ones that you'll be wanting to see a legitimate article about some current events. And then this other garbage is just over here on the one side. So try to guard yourself from that stuff. Go to Matthew chapter six, Matthew chapter six. So the first part of the sermon is more so just about the fact that, hey, we need to be separate from the world, but how do we do that? Well, the first thing that I see here is that Dinah didn't guard her eyes. She didn't guard her eyes. She was, she wanted to see the daughters of men. Now here's the thing. I'm not against children seeing things for what they are, but when you send someone out, you send a daughter, let's say you send your daughter out on her own to see that. That's where you have issues. Okay? Because I'm not going to put my daughters in a cage where they don't see the world. Okay? And I'm not saying that I wouldn't, you know, like let's say we went out to the Carnegie Science Center and we were just out there for a day and there was kids playing around. As long as I'm there watching them and making sure they're not getting hurt, I'm not against them hanging out and playing with kids. Okay? Because they're going to have to deal with that eventually anyway. Okay? And parents, I'm not your boss when it comes to what you do with your kids. I'm just telling you what I would do. And I'm just saying that I think that they should be able to converse with unbelievers, converse with other kids, and you know what? Sometimes they may see like how those children act and how they treat their parents and how it is with their parents and all this other stuff, and they may look back and say, oh, I can see why you do this now. By comparison, when you go out soul winning and they see the woman that's scantily clad at the door, or they see the guy that comes out smelling like alcohol with a pot belly and there's trash everywhere. Listen, I've been out there with my kids and with, I was out with the Slagle's kids and I remember we walked to this door and I remember, I think it was Brooklyn, she's like, it stinks. And I'm like, yeah. But you know what that tells you? You know what I think she's going to learn from that is my parents are actually clean. I don't want to be dirty. Okay? And when they say to take out the trash, there's a reason why they say take out the trash or clean this or do that. And they're going to look at that and be like, man, I'm glad I live at a home that's clean and doesn't smell like this. I'm glad I have a dad that doesn't have a pot belly and that smells like beer or that curses or does whatever. Does that make sense? So sometimes they do need to see and hear things, but how are they seeing it? Are they seeing it in the light of the true thing? Or are they going off to the daughters of men and getting lied to and fed a bill of goods? Listen, the same thing happened to Rehoboam when he sought counsel of his friends and forsook the counsel of the old men. Especially teenagers. Okay? I used to be one. Okay? The hormones are raging. I mean, you're not thinking straight, okay? And I'm not doubting the teenagers because teenagers are very smart. Okay? Teenage, you know, young people are very intelligent, but when it comes to rationalizing like what they should do with life or what they need to be focusing on, sometimes that's hard. Listen, I grew up in elementary school, middle school, high school. You know what I thought about? Girls. That's what I thought about. I'm just going to be honest with you. That's what I thought about. Did I think about my career? Did I think about my schooling? Listen, I did my schooling and I hung out with friends, but literally girls were the only thing that was on my mind most of the time. And you know, that's the type of thing that's going on. And ladies, I'm sure the ladies isn't, I'm sure you're never thinking about boys, right? You're never thinking about that. If the guys are thinking about that, the girls are definitely thinking about that. And when you get girls together, you get guys together, it's not a good combination when it comes to that group and the age. Okay? But in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 22, notice what it says. Matthew chapter 6 verse 22, it says, the light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? And notice the exclamation mark at the end of that. And when you see that in the King James Bible, know that it's important. Okay? There's not that many exclamation marks at the end of verses in the Bible. And what is this talking about? It's basically saying your eye is how your body sees, obviously, and it's the light of your body, meaning that that's how you bring in information. Okay? And so it's saying if your eye be single, it's comparing that to being evil. Okay? And so single meaning if you think about this, put in front list between your eyes that you don't look to the right hand or to the left. It means that you're focused. Your eye is single, meaning you're doing what you need to be doing. You're focused on your task, and you're kind of putting blinders on. But if your eye is evil or it wanders, that's where you're going to have trouble, and that's where the darkness is going to come in. Remember, it's not about what you eat. It's about what you bring into the heart and what comes out of the heart. And so we're talking about spiritual matters here. Go to Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3 and verse 51. Lamentations chapter 3, verse 51. So if you're in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, it's that little book in between the big prophets. And it says in verse 51, Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city. And if you know, obviously, what does it mean to lament something? This is the Lamentations of Jeremiah, where he's looking at the city that's been completely decimated and he's crying over it. He's weeping over it. His eye affects your heart, and this can be a good thing, it can be a bad thing. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, that he's weeping, that his eye is affecting his heart. But it can apply in a bad way as well as where your eye affects your heart. The lust of the eyes causes the lust of the heart, which causes the sin. It all starts with what you're seeing. And so we need to remember that, we need to guard what we're looking at. And this goes for men and women alike, but especially for Dinah here, if she wouldn't have went out to see the daughters of men and curiosity, what's the old phrase, curiosity killed the cat kind of thing, try not to dip your feet into the world. Because as soon as you start dipping into it, you're going to start getting desensitized. And anybody that's ever given up TV or given up worldly music and stuff like that, you know what I'm talking about. You give it up for a while. Just give it a week. And I'm not here for a raise of hands of who watches TV or who doesn't. Stop watching TV, stop watching commercials, stop listening to the radio for one week, then go back to it and tell me what you think. Guaranteed you'll be like, what in the world is going on? And then I've seen people, and listen, we're all human and it's all happened to us, where we've gotten back into it. And you're just like, this is horrible, this is horrible, and then you get desensitized and get back into it. And it's amazing how Christians who would be hardcore about what the Bible teaches as far as homosexuality, all these different things that, drinking, smoking, all this stuff, and then they'll be watching the Big Bang Theory. Or some other, I don't know what's out there nowadays. But I've heard people just like, oh, the Big Bang Theory's hilarious. Do you realize the whole premise of the whole show is the Big Bang, which is evolution, which is against Christianity. And then there's almost open sodomites on that played a role. I don't know if there are open sodomites on the show, but they are in real life. And so, I'm not getting into all the different shows, but all I'm saying is that you can be desensitized to that type of stuff because you just get acclimated to it. But cut it out for one week, just one week. And there's times where I'm just over at someone's house, or I'm somewhere where it's just being played. If you're like, I mean, it'd be something as simple as going to get your car fixed and they have the TV playing in the waiting room. And then this commercial coming out, man, that's obnoxious. That's just annoying. And you're just like, can someone just shut that thing off? And you don't want to be that guy that's trying to control everything in some public area, you know what I mean? But at the same time, you're just like, this is really just out of your comfort. And that's the way it should be. But in 2 Timothy, go to 2 Timothy chapter 2, 2 Timothy chapter 2. And like I said, we need to stay away from, we need to go out and win the world, but don't be friends with the world. The friendship of the world is enmity with God, whosoever therefore will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God. We need to remember that. Not to be a friend of the world, but to have the love of the Father in us. So we need to love the world, right? For God's to love the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. We need to love the world, give Him the gospel, but we don't need to be of the world. And so in 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 19 here, it says, nevertheless, the foundation of God stands sure, having the seal of the Lord knoweth them that are His, and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold, and of silver, but also of wood, and of earth, and some to honor, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore perch himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepare unto every good word, flee also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. So right here we see that, you know, I believe this is likening this unto the church that in a church, let's say in a church, in the house of God, there's vessels unto honor and dishonor. Now this isn't talking about unsaved and saved, this is just talking about worldly Christians and godly Christians, okay? And I'm not saying that these ones that are unto dishonor need to be kicked out of the church necessarily, but when it comes to this, you know, even in a great house, and if you think of Christianity in the whole, obviously you can definitely see that there's vessels unto honor and vessels unto dishonor. But even inside the church sometimes you have to deal with this, or you have this happen. And so we need to be careful, even among brethren, and listen, obviously there's church discipline which we'll see here in a second. Church discipline as far as like, there are certain sins that someone can commit to where they need to be kicked out of the church until they get it right. Why? Because there's a fellowship with brethren that are in some deep, really bad sin, okay? And we need to think about this with who we hang out outside of the church, because I'm not saying you've got to hang out, if they're not from Mountain Baptist, you can't hang out with them, right? Obviously that's not true. I hang out with people that don't come here, and so it's not like you're locked in, like you've got to have friends that's only friends of Mountain Baptist. But they should be like-minded. They should be people that love the Lord and trying to do right and that they're on the right path, or they're going on the right path. Does that make sense? I'd rather have somebody that just gets saved. They're not dressed like us, they're not doing what we should be doing. They may still be smoking, they may still have a lot of problems, a lot of things that they should clean up and all that stuff. But I'd rather have that person that's just like, hey, I'm wanting to get it. I'm wanting to get these things right, I'm moving in the right direction. I'd rather be hanging out with that guy that's completely over here on the worldly side, but they're like, hey, I want to go this way, I want to go towards God. Then the person over here that is pristine, they've been going to church all their life, but they're knocking on soul winning. They're constantly knocking at what's being preached, and they're going the other direction. I don't want to hang out with that guy, even though he's technically more spiritual in the fact of where he's at in his Christian life. Does that make sense? So it's not a matter of who's worldly or not, it's which direction are they going. That's who I want to hang out with. Because the person that's going in the right direction, hey, I can try to lead them on the way, and I can help them out where they're stumbling or whatever. But the other guy, if I'm with him, he's going that way, and what he's going to do is drag me back. And so don't get the holier now attitude either, where you're just like, hey, they're not where we're at, I'm not hanging out with them. No, I can hang out with someone that just got saved that's completely worldly, but they're on the right track. They're trying to do right, they're wanting to do right. But in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, 1 Corinthians chapter 5 is the church discipline when it comes to people that are in grievous sins. And so there's a list here of sins that where someone would be kicked out of a church for. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 9, it says, I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators, yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous or extortioners or with idolaters, for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you, not to company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner, with such in one know not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within, but them that are without, God judge it, therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Now we know the story that this man that they're talking about is the man that committed fornication with his father's wife. So obviously a very grievous sin, right, that's going on, they didn't kick him out, and he's stating here, he's saying, listen, I'm not saying that you can't talk to somebody that's a fornicator that's out in the world that's not saved, because you need to give them the gospel. But you should not be hanging around and chumming around with someone that's a brother that's in fornication or that's covetous, an idolater or a railer or drunkard or extortioner, you know, we're not supposed to be eating and fellowshipping with them, okay? So if I find out, for example, you know, and I don't think anybody here is guilty of any of this stuff, obviously, I would already talk to somebody about it, but if I found out someone was a fornicator, they were living with their girlfriend or boyfriend or something like that, or if they were a railer, meaning that they're making these railing accusations against people in the church, they're trying to cause discord, stuff like that, then I'm going to have to deal with that. And you know what I would do? I wouldn't just automatically just kick him out. I'd just go up to him and say, hey, you know, I just want to see, hey, let's use the big example that's the elephant in the room in this passage is fornication, which we're dealing with with Dinah and all that stuff. If I went up to a couple, and let's say they just started coming, right, they just got saved, all this stuff, right, they don't know. And I just go up to them and say, hey, you know, I just want to talk to you, you know, I heard you guys are living together, let me just show you this passage, the Bible says that you're not supposed to be a fornicator and come to church, and so you have a few options here. Either stop living together, okay, stop fornicating, and here's the thing, I'm not going to be a police officer, I'm not going to be like over at their house figuring out and bugging their phones and all this stuff, okay. But if they're living in the same house, they're living in the same place, okay, I'm going to assume it. I'm going to assume that they're committing fornication because I just don't believe that that's not happening. But anyway, they either can move out from each other, or they can get married, or they have to leave the church. Those are your three options. Now each pastor has to give a bit of grace as far as how long they'd wait. Some pastors are like, you got a week. Some would say you have a month, or whatever. You know, when it talks about in Revelation with Jezebel, who is committing fornication and adultery with people in the church and causing others to do so, Jesus said, I gave her space to repent, and she didn't. So you know what that tells me is that he gave her time. He didn't just bring down the hammer as soon as it happened, okay. So I think it doesn't say how long. It didn't say a week, it didn't say a month, it didn't say whatever, but I think that's up to the pastor to determine, hey, is this affecting the church and how long should I wait before, you know, because it all comes down to it affects the church. It affects the young people and what they see as being right and condoned. And that's more so what I care about than anything is the fact that, hey, we want to make sure that, hey, we don't condone this. We're not supporting this. And by allowing it, you're supporting it. And so that's what we get into church discipline. But when you look at Genesis 34, again, like I said, so you say, man, we're never getting through this chapter. I was focusing on these first two verses, okay, because, you know, the rest of the chapter is just explaining how Simeon and Levi tricked them into getting circumcised so that they wouldn't really be ready to go to battle, okay. That's pretty much what the story comes down to is that they were sore and they went in and just took them out when they weren't really capable of fighting, okay. But verse 2, it says, and when Shechem the son of Hamor, the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her and defiled her. And so this is where it comes down to. We need to flee fornication. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 18, and again, you can turn there if you want. I know, I just don't want to take up too much time turning it down, but you can write it down. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 18, it says, flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body. But he that commit a fornication sinneth against his own body. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. This is where it comes out. Come out from among them and be ye separate, says the Lord, and I will be, you shall be my sons and daughters. Remember we talked about the difference between the old man and the new man? Well if you want your old man to be a child of God, so to speak, you got to put on the new man. And so, but the body, you want to be able to glorify God in the body as well. And how do you do that? By being sanctified and holy and not committing fornication, not being defiled. And so when it says that she was defiled, that's all that means is that she was a virgin and she was defiled by this guy because they were not married. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, it says in verse 3, For this is the will of God, even your sanctification that ye should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor, not in the lusts of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God. So what is this talking about? The will of God is that you abstain from fornication. And what's fornication? Fornication is the act that men and women do before you're married. Simple, okay? I'm not going to give you a graphic or anything like that, that's just, you know, Adam knew his wife and she conceived to bear her son, right? And that's what men and women do when they're married. But when you do that before you're married, it's a sin. So it's a natural thing that you have that desire, okay? So I'm not saying to suppress that, but you need to suppress it before you get married. And you need to wait until you're married before you give in to those desires, okay? And obviously this is why, you know, this whole idea of like waiting until you're a lot older to marry is not a good idea because it's just, you're just opening yourself up to a lot more temptations and it's harder and harder and harder to deal with. But what you need to realize with fornication, with Dinah, listen, I believe that she was enticed by Shechem and she of her own free will gave in. She's human. I'm not saying, I'm not looking down on Dinah like, you know, man, you know, that's just crazy that you give in to that. No, listen, ladies give in to that all the time, men give in to that all the time, but let's not make it right. Let's not say that it's right or okay. You know, we need to look at fornication for what it is and we need to fear God when the Bible talks about the fact that there's going to be judgment upon those that commit fornication. Go to Hebrews chapter 11. The thing to remember about fornication and sin in general, okay, but fornication is one of those things where you need to get this in your mind, young people, that it's just pleasurable for a season. It's pleasurable for a season, but after that comes the judgment and so you need to get into this mind of against, and this is why, you know, with children and with teenagers, it's all about instant gratification. That's what your life consists of and it's not until you're older that you really get into the mode of like, hey, you know, I, you have that more of a long term kind of look out on life and you think you're going to, you know, you think like you're never, you're never going to, you're never going to get married, it's never going to happen to you. It's like, listen, it'll happen way before, like sooner than you think, and the years start rolling by a lot quicker when you get older, too. So when you're younger, it just seems like, you know, I remember when I was in college, I'm like, man, I'm never going to get through college, get out of college, it's like 12, where did those 12 years go, you know, that since I graduated college, and time just starts flying. So you just need to get in your mind about what the future holds and not just instant gratification, what happens right now. And that's what I'm, what you're thinking about. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 25, it says, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, for a season. And throughout the Bible, men have given their strength to women for pleasure for a season. You know, throughout the Bible, you see like the harlots, you'll see like all this other stuff, where men give in, David gave in for pleasure for a season, to commit adultery with Bathsheba, and look at all the heartache that he had after that. Just for pleasure for a season. And he's one that should have known better. And so, that's something that we need to, and listen, married couples, we need to think about this, too. Okay? Obviously, we need to guard ourselves and listen to my sermon about why marriages fail, because this topic would be relevant, that this needs to be going on within the marriage, so that it doesn't happen without the marriage. But we need to, if that was ever like some kind of enticement, or there's some reason why you and your spouse can't come together, remember that it's only for a season, but the consequences are for life. And it talks about those that commit adultery, they put a wound on their soul. And it talks about committing fornication and how you sin against your own body. You commit adultery, you sin against, you're putting a wound on your soul, for the rest of your life, you're not going to be able to get rid of that. Obviously, when you die and go to heaven, I believe that there's, you're not going to be for all eternity dealing with that, but it's something to think about. We need to remember that with sin in general. Listen, donuts are delicious. Okay? I'm going to put you on the bottom shelf here. Donuts, sweets, cookies, cake, all that stuff, listen, I got a sweet tooth, and it's all just pleasurable for a season. I'll do a diet, and I'll do like this low carb diet, and I'm just like googling cookies. I'm like, man, those look good. I like those look delicious, and I like torturing myself for some reason. And the lust of the eyes, I'm telling you, the lust of the eyes, if I didn't look at those cookies, I probably wouldn't give in a lot of times, right? You're trying to live vicariously through your wife, right? She's eating a cookie. You're like, how does that taste? Describe to me the taste of that cookie. Every bite, you know? But here's the thing. It's the lust of the flesh, right? Because is a cookie necessary? Do I need a cookie to live? Now, sometimes I feel that way, but that's not the case. But here's the thing. It's only, you know when I eat that cookie, though? You know when I cheat? I'm instantly disappointed. I'm instantly like, what did I do? And you have that reaction of like, man, I just ruined the whole week of dieting because I ate this cookie, okay? And it just sinks in. It was pleasurable for a season. And I'm not saying eating a cookie after it died is a sin, okay? But I'm giving you kind of an aspect. Gluttony is a sin, okay? And if it was something like you were just really deep into gluttony and all this other stuff, then yeah, I mean, that's a sin, and that's comparable. And I remember here in Pastor Andrew, I think Pastor Andrew should preach a whole sermon against gluttony, and he paralleled it with fornication because it's very, very similar. And so, but I wanted to get into the fact, you know, and I'm going to try to be real quick with this, the fact that fornication was not punished by the death penalty. So what Simeon and Levi did here was not right even by God's standards, even if, you know, it wasn't condoned, okay? Go to Exodus chapter 22. But remember this, you know, as you're turning there, marriage is honorable in all, in the bed undefiled, and whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. So until you're married, you know, you just need to hold in those desires, they're natural desires, but you need to hold them in until marriage, and then once you're married, you know, then you can enjoy all that, and you won't feel bad about it, you know? You don't have all the consequences that come with that. So I wish that were the case with cookies, but there's really no, like, you don't marry, you know, marry sweets, and like, so it doesn't work out with that. But anyway, in Exodus chapter 22 and verse 16, notice what it says, if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, now this is what I believe happened with Dinah, is that she can entice her, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. Now this is where people say, well, they're forced to marry him, or, you know, they're stoned if you commit for an occasion, does it say that either one of these are stoned? But also, notice what it says in verse 17, if her father utterly refused to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins. So her father can say, no, you know, let's say it's a derelict, and he's just like, no, you're not marrying my daughter. I don't care that you did defile her, you're not doing it. And so it's not forcing the marriage, because obviously he has veto power, but in their law basically, if you commit for an occasion, you're basically saying, now we're going to get married. And so that was the law, but rape was punishable by death. But in Deuteronomy chapter 22, I just want to give you a little bit of the law here. Now adultery was punishable by death. Both the adulterer and adulteress were to be put to death. And anybody that was to be put to death had to be, it had to be the eyewitness of two or three, it had to be two or three eyewitnesses. So anybody that was put to death or anybody that got the death penalty, there had to be eyewitnesses. But Deuteronomy 22 verse 28 says, if a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed and lay hold on her and lie with her and they be found, then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father 50 shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife because he hath humbled her. He may not put her away all his days. A man shall not take his father's wife, or I'm sorry, yeah, it goes on. So anyway, basically though, same story, but notice how it says took hold on her, and that's the same thing that we see with Dinah, and the same language that's used in Exodus, so we know, what does that mean? He enticed her, okay? And so, but back up a few verses, go to verse 25, and we'll see that there is a case that if a man forced a woman, that that man needs to be put to death. It says in verse 25, but if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her and lie with her, then the man only that lay with her shall die. So rape, obviously death penalty, and I believe every rapist should be put to death. I mean, here's the thing, if a woman gets raped, you know, you think about this whole thing with abortion, and you know, like what if a woman got raped? Kill the rapist, not the baby. Kill the rapist, you know, I think that would, first of all, do a lot of help to the woman that got raped, because a lot of times, these women that get raped, the men just get off scot-free, they don't get any punishment, listen, you know, if my daughter got raped by a man, execute him and let her spit on his grave until the day she dies. That would be more cure for what was done to her than anything else, and listen, anybody who rapes my daughter, they won't have to worry about whether it's legal or not as far as the death penalty is concerned, and here's the thing, you know, the mother baby room, we have the mother baby room, we don't have a nursery, I don't think it'll ever be a case where I'd ever like find a man that would ever, you know, force themselves on a woman, or if there was a pedophile or something like that trying to do something, if I ever caught anybody in the act, they will die. No questions asked, because that, and it's legal, by the way, if you were to catch like a pedophile, like hurting a child, and so, because the Bible says they should be put to death, it's a just judgment, because I mean, I want that to happen, no, of course not, I don't want a child to get hurt, I don't want a woman to get hurt, but listen, that's what the Bible teaches about that, they're worthy of death, and if they were to get killed in the act of me breaking them up, then, you know, I had the Bible to back me up, and I had the law to back me up too, the law of the land even says that that's okay, but all that to say is that that would do a lot to the damage of the person that got hurt if the person was put to death, and so, but Levi and Simeon, they killed these men, they not only killed Shechem, they killed his father, and killed all the males that were with him, now is that anywhere even remotely close to what the Bible teaches, even if you were to say like he forced her and raped her, well it'd only be Shechem, like why does this whole family get wiped out, and everybody that's there, right, and so it talks about the fact should he deal with our sister as with an harlot, and the last thing I want to talk about, the hit here, is the fact that in Ezekiel chapter 16, and listen, you want to get some rough crass language, read Ezekiel, read Ezekiel because there's some really crass language when it comes to what the Bible states about whoredoms and all this other stuff, but the Bible says in Ezekiel 16 verse 33, it says they give gifts to all whores, but thou giveth thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hires them that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom, you know, if people get upset about that word whore, if I were to call someone a whore, or a whoremonger, a whoremonger is like the male version of that, and listen, it's not just the women, because the men are just as sinful and wicked for doing it, but the Bible, what is it saying here, they give gifts to all whores, meaning like a harlot, at least they get paid, now this is, he's liking this unto Israel and Judah, right, and the fact that, hey, they basically hoard themselves, they went a whoring after other gods, and they didn't even get anything out of it, they were paying them, it'd be like a harlot paying the person that she's giving the service to, right, and that's what it's saying is basically if you commit fornication, it's almost like the Bible is pretty much saying you're worse than a whore, because at least the whores get paid, so I'm gonna think about it, and here's the thing, if a guy is not willing to put a ring on your finger, then he doesn't care about you enough to commit that act, and so, and you say, well I've already done that, or whatever, listen, I'm not against you, I'm not against anybody that's already committed that, or already done that, I'm preaching to, first of all, I'm preaching to the people that haven't done it, and I want to put the fear of God in you, that God hates that sin, and God wants you to be pure, but here's the thing, if you've already done it, or if it's something that you've committed or something like that, listen, just move on, you know, you've already, you know, asked for forgiveness and forsaken that sin, listen, from here on out, be pure, don't just, don't be like me when I eat a donut and be like, well, I've already messed up my diet, time to order Papa John's and make some cinnamon rolls and just go into a sugar coma and almost die, don't do that, okay, just stop with the one cookie and just go on with the rest of your life, okay, but to end with this, the Bible says this in Proverbs 13, verse 15, it says, good understanding giveth favor, but the way of transgressors is hard. Have you ever run into somebody that you can just see on their face that they've gone through a lot, and you see this with reprobates a lot, but think about harlots and people that you know, you know, you think of like Las Vegas with all the harlots and all that stuff that are out there, look at them, they look like they've went to hell and back pretty much, you can see it in their face, why, because the way of transgressors is hard, and there is a recompense, fornication, just as much as homosexuality, it says they're receiving in themselves that recompense of their error, which is meat, STDs is another form of recompense for fornication, and there's this whole thing, I think there's this article out in Europe about some flesh eating disease, you know, for like people that commit fornication and all this stuff, and they're saying, you know, oh don't worry about it, you can use protection and all this stuff, it's like how about you don't commit fornication, and you won't have to worry about it, okay, and that stuff is going to be a recompense, but the number one thing should be the fear of God, the fear of God as far as what he thinks, and especially his children, okay, because we're held to a higher standard, you know, we, you know, won't unto us if we were to commit these sins because we know what's wrong, and we know what the Bible teaches about it, and so we need to be even more on guard about this type of stuff, because the Lord loveth him, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth, and, you know, he's not scourging the unsafe world, now they may accept the consequences either way, but they're not, they're not the children of God doing it, and so Dinah went out to see the daughters of the land, beware, I'm not saying to cut yourself off from the world, but what I'm saying is beware of the enticement of the world, and what that can do, and let's end with the word of prayer, dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening, and thank you for this church, and thank you for your word, Lord, I pray that we would all take heed to the lust of the eyes, and Lord, that we don't set our eyes on any wicked thing, and Lord, that we would make a covenant with our eyes that we would not think upon a maid, and Lord, we just pray that you would be with us throughout the rest of this week, help us to bring glory to your name, and Lord, we love you, and we pray all this in your holy and precious name, amen.