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

So we're in Genesis chapter number 34, and Jacob's returned back to where he's traveling to where his father lived, and he's departed from Esau. Esau's gone back, and so he's kind of dwelling in the land, and it kind of just picks up with a character that's only been lightly introduced in the Bible. We have a daughter, Dinah, here that's mentioned 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. So in verse number 1, we learn that Jacob has a daughter, obviously, and that she's specifically the daughter of Leah, and she goes to see other girls. She just goes to hang out and make girlfriends, go to hang out with some friends, and that's the purpose of why she's traveling out. Now, that seems pretty innocent, doesn't it? I mean, is there anything wrong with girls having friends or wanting to go out and see other ladies? You know, on the surface, it doesn't seem very bad. It seems like a pretty normal, reasonable thing. But as we get deeper into this chapter, we see there's a lot of consequences and a lot of evil that happens based on this decision. Look at verse 2. And when she come, the son of Amor, the high-vite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her and defiled her. Now, we have to understand what language the Bible is using here. First of all, when it says he took her, it's not saying that he did something inappropriate like he's forcing her or it's against her will. This is just simply just the language that the Bible is using to describe when a man likes a woman, he takes her and he lies with her, okay? And really, what we call in the Bible this act would be fornication, where two people lie together outside of marriage. That's what Shechem did with Dinah. Now, that escalated quickly. Did you know that it was like step one, she goes to see some girlfriends, step two, she's now laying with this strange guy that she just barely met. But you know what? That's the world that we live in. Welcome to the Bible and welcome to reality that men and women, you know, when they're left to their own devices are going to end up laying with each other and the Bible describes it as defilement. Now, again, you know, some people might twist this or modern versions of the Bible might say something weird here, but what it's insinuating is that she's no longer pure, okay? The word defile, if you just look it up in the dictionary, it says to make unclean, to corrupt or to violate the virginity of someone. So in this passage, what it's describing is the fact that Dinah is no longer a virgin anymore. Her purity, her chastity, her virginity has been taken from her. She's been corrupted in that way. She's been made unclean. There's something dirty now because she's been with a man outside of marriage. And the Bible describes this as being defiled, okay? I'm going to show you this, keep your finger, go to Numbers chapter number 5, Numbers chapter number 5. But the Bible describes a sin of the carnal nature where a man is with a woman and it's outside the boundaries of marriage as being dirty and as being defiled. And there's a lot of ways that we could look at this in the Scriptures, but I want to show you a real clear passage where it talks about a woman being with another man outside of the boundary of marriage and the Bible uses the description of being defiled. It says in Numbers chapter 5, look at verse 12, speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, if any man's wife go aside and commit a trespass against him and a man lie with her carnally and be hid from the eyes of her husband and be kept close and she be defiled and there be no witness against her neither she be taken with the manor and the spirit of jealousy come upon him and he be jealous of his wife and she be defiled or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him and he be jealous of his wife and she be not defiled. So it says if she lay with another man that's not her husband, he's defiled. If she did not lay with a different man, with a man that's not her husband, then she's not defiled. So the defilement is specific to being with a woman outside of the boundaries of marriage or a woman being with a man outside of the boundaries of marriage. That is where the dirtiness, that's where the defilement comes in. Now keep your fingers still in Genesis 34 but go to Hebrews chapter 13, go to Hebrews chapter 13. Something I want to make clear here is that there's two ways that we could look at defilement in the Bible, okay? The first would be a carnal defilement and what's a carnal, just simply something that's just literally dirty, you know, trash, filth, disease, these type of things that the Bible describes them as defilement, unclean, unsanitary and there's an aspect of the Bible that when you sleep with someone outside of the boundaries of marriage that there's a dirtiness associated with that carnally speaking, okay? So defilement can be spiritually speaking, meaning even if there's no disease associated with it, even if there's nothing, you know, gross or there's nothing, you know, wrong from a carnal sense, it's also a spiritual impurity that's also being described and that's because God uses carnal truths to expound spiritual truths. God talks about physical uncleanness to describe spiritual uncleanness because when you lay with someone that's not your spouse, there's often a very physical reality of that being defiled, STDs, okay? All kinds of disease and filth and disgustingness that can be associated with it and in fact the Bible even talks about that act as being somewhat unclean or dirty in a sense that you have to wash yourself, you know, you're supposed to wash yourself after these type of acts because there's an exchange, you know, that's taking place and so it's important that people realize that there's a little carny dirtiness but the Bible says from a spiritual picture, okay, and let's understand the difference here, even though the carnal act may always have some level of dirtiness associated with it, it's only spiritually dirty when it's outside the boundaries of marriage because look what it says in Hebrews, look at chapter 13 and look at verse number 4, the Bible says this, marriage is honorable in all and the bad undefiled but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. So the Bible makes it clear within the boundaries of marriage, it's never sinful, there's nothing dirty spiritually about it that you, you know, within the boundaries of marriage, a man being with his wife or a wife being with her husband is completely natural, normal, God created marriage, God created these desires, God thinks it's wonderful and he wants people to act on those desires, in fact, it's a literal commandment to be with your spouse on a regular basis, to never withhold from them for any reason, the Bible says you're not your own, you know, you're supposed to satisfy the needs of your spouse, that's one of the major aspects of marriage, you say why do you marry someone, this is one of the reasons, okay, in fact it might even be the primary reason, let's just be honest, okay and there's nothing wrong with that, it's healthy, it's natural, it's normal, God created on purpose but everything outside of marriage is wrong, it's sinful, it's dirty, not just physically but even spiritually it's a sin and in fact it can be a very wicked sin if it's adultery, the Bible prescribes the death penalty for adultery, I didn't do it, God did, okay and if we lived in a righteous country that would still be the law, you know, in America that used to be a very serious crime where you would be punished with horrible punishments if you committed adultery, you know, I read about it before but in that law of Connecticut in like 1672 or 3, I can't remember the exact year but approximately in that time, if you committed adultery they would like brand you with an A or like put these like things on you that you had to wear and if you ever were not wearing it, you were whipped and beaten in public and it was just like a huge embarrassment, it's because it's a super wicked sin. Now fornication is not as extreme as adultery but it's still a very wicked sin and while mankind is never supposed to put someone to death for committing fornication, God did many times, God killed 23,000 people in the Bible for committing fornication, just for committing fornication, wasn't adultery and you know, some people say, oh, it's love. Well, you know, that could be true because let's go back to our passage, let me show you, let's read another verse here, verse number 3, and his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob and he loved the damsel and spake kindly unto the damsel. So the Bible literally says that Shechem loved Dinah and they committed fornication but whatever love is being described here is not a true sincere love because a true sincere love would wait until marriage and that's what it would really look like and he wouldn't have this cheap fornicating love and in fact, very rarely do people that commit fornication actually love each other, they're just there to get a quick fix or they're just infatuated with one another or they're lusting after one another, it's not a real genuine sincere love that they have for each other but even if you do, it's still a sin. You could come up to me and say to your blue in the face, I love her, she's the greatest person on the planet, I would die for her but let me tell you something, if you lie with her outside of marriage, it's still wicked. That's what the Bible is saying and you know, I've heard a lot of preaching where it's like, well, they love each other or whatever, like I don't care if you love each other or not, it's still wicked, it's still wrong, it's not biblical and it's defilement. Is that really how you want to describe what you did? It wasn't love, it was defilement. You made them dirty, you made them gross, it was a wicked sin and in fact, according to the Bible, there's a way to make this right, you're supposed to marry that person. If you went to Exodus chapter 22, Exodus chapter 22, because what you've done is you've stolen this young woman's purity. You've defiled her purity, you've taken a special gift away from her and because you've done that, you're supposed to pursue her in marriage, what the Bible clearly teaches. Go to Exodus 22 and look at verse 16. Exodus 22, look at verse number 16. And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. If her friend or father otherly refused to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins. So if you lay with someone that you're not married to, according to the Bible, the right thing to do is to marry that person. The only exception is if the father completely refuses you. Says like, you're a loser, you're a lazy jerk, you're just a piece of scum, like you're not allowed to marry my daughter. And in that case, he still has to pay money. He has to give money, he has to give whatever the dowry would have been unto the father. He has to pay that entire dowry because now he can never offer his daughter to another man as a virgin. And he can never expect any kind of dowry for his daughter because she's already given away her virginity. Meaning that virginity has a price associated with it. It's actually worth something, according to the Bible. It's of great value, it's a great price. Don't just give that away for free. Don't just give that to some sucker. Don't just give that to some man, young ladies. You should keep yourself pure. And look, even if you've already made that mistake, you know, there's no excuse to do it the second time either or the third time. You don't want to get dirtier. You don't want more defilement, you know. Although people have made a lot of mistakes in these areas because we live in America and a lot of people have made mistakes in these areas, it doesn't mean you should continue making that mistake or make it worse or go even further because fortunately some people commit fornication outside of marriage but they don't have any like major consequences. You know, they don't get pregnant, they don't necessarily get an STD the first time or whatever. Maybe they were both with a, you know, they're both virgins when they commit a fornication so they didn't get an STD. It was still a sin though. It's still wicked. But if you decide to just keep pouring around and keep going after other people and more people, then you might really introduce the risk of an STD. You might really introduce the risk of getting a bastard child or having even worse consequences come upon you. That's why you should just abstain completely. The Bible says to flee fornication. The Bible says to abstain from all appearance of evils that the Bible says. And you know what? It's sick how much fornication is rampant in our culture. It's just tolerated. It's accepted. It's even praised today. The celebrities of America praise fornication. The sports athletes of America praise fornication. The vice president of the United States praises fornication. I mean the literal whore glorifies the fact that her being a whore gets her the position that she has. Being willing to just lay with anything and everything just for money and power and fame and wealth. I mean she's not even just a fornicator. She's a whore. She's a harlot because she was selling herself for money, position, and fame. She didn't love Willie. She doesn't love that old dude. He's a gold digger. And he didn't love fame. She loved her. He's just looking for a quick fix. He just is looking for a prostitute. That's what they should call Kamala Harris as a prostitute. That's what she really is. And look, today we should not be prostituting our daughters. We should not allow our boys, our young men to go and to just lay with women. We should keep a tight lip. We should keep our kids in a tight, you know, eye service or whatever. We should be paying attention to them wherever they're going and making sure that our daughters and our sons are not going to commit fornication. And you say, how do you do that? You have to keep eyes on them. Go to Deuteronomy 22. I want to show you another verse here. Deuteronomy chapter 22. I'm just being real frank with you that it's so easy to commit fornication. The only way to truly ensure that your children will be pure is to never let them out of your sight. Now that might sound extreme to some people. But you know what? I think allowing your children to commit fornication is extreme. Because it's such an obviously bad sin and there's so many horrible consequences associated with it that just letting them commit fornication seems extreme to me. You know, in hindsight, I think like why would you ever just let, you know, your daughter just go off with strange men to all hours of the night. I mean, you're just asking for bad things to happen. That's bizarre to me. Rather than thinking like, you know what? Let's make sure that you're okay. Let's make sure that, you know, you're with somebody that's going to protect you and provide for you and make sure that nothing bad happens. And so that's why my philosophy is that pretty much outside of someone that I trust with my life virtually, my daughters will not be out of my sight or my wife's sight. Period. I mean, it would have to be like my mother-in-law or something. I mean, it would have to be like someone that I really trust, someone that I have a lot of confidence in. And even then, I'm not really ready to just hand off the keys, you know, to my daughter's chastity belt, you know. And you say, well, why are you so extreme? Because it's so easy. And let me tell you who this affects. Everyone. It's not like, well, we're saved and everything. No, no, no, no, no. This affects Christians. This affects people that love God, okay. Because it's a natural desire. Look, men are attracted to women. At least at Steadfast Baptist Church, men are attracted to women, okay. And women are attracted to men. It's a normal thing. And the whole purpose of them getting married is because they want to be with each other, okay. We're just trying to keep the magnets apart just long enough, okay. There's a reason why the magnetic connection is normal. You have to keep eyes on them because you know what, whenever I'm in the room, I keep those magnets apart. You know, and I want to keep those magnets apart for my daughters or my sons and make sure that they're pure because you know what, when you're a teenager, when you're a young adult, you don't think right. Your hormones take over. You're foolish. You're stupid. You don't have the maturity to say no to certain things. You don't have the ability to just protect and guard yourself. And in fact, many young people, they don't want to even commit that sin necessarily, but they put themselves in the wrong position. They get around in the wrong situation and they get that pressure and it just happens. That's why you got to just keep them apart or at least have eyes on them. And let me say this at all times. At all times. You know, I don't even want to make any exceptions. I don't care how nice they are. I don't care how sweet they are. I don't care how much Bible they can quote. None of that matters to me at all. Zero. Now, obviously, if they're unsaved, I don't even want you, you can't even talk to my daughter, okay? But even the guys that I would let talk to my daughter who are not worthy, you know, they can see what they want on the wedding night. And here's my philosophy. If you won't touch me that way, you're not allowed to touch my daughter that way. You want to interlock fingers while we hold hands? Come on. Let's show me how much of a man you are. And look, let me tell you something and it's uncomfortable. Let me tell you something. People, what they do in public, what young couples do in public and post on Facebook is 10 times worse in private. I'm just lifting up the veil, okay? Whatever they do in public, whoa, what are they doing in private? You know, that's scary. You know, and some people even have a policy where they won't even let the opposite genders touch before they get married, like literally. Like I'm just saying like not even like ET, like fingers or anything, you know. It's like no touching or whatever. That's for you to decide. I'm not saying that's what the Bible literally teaches. I believe when the Bible says it's good for a man not to touch a woman, it's talking about a way that he wouldn't touch a man, okay? You know, obviously shaking hands or whatever, that's to everybody's own discretion. But I'm not going to say it's a bad policy either. It's real safe. You know, I'm fine with safety. You know, especially when it's my, when it becomes your child, you become more safe. You know, other people's kids, you're just kind of like whatever, y'all do whatever you want. But you know, with your own kids, you're just kind of like, yeah, just stay over there. You're pretty ugly, you know. Keep some distance. But you know, if you do find yourself guilty of this sin, what's the right thing to do? Well, let's look at another passage, Deuteronomy 22, look at verse 28. 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 fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her. He may not put her away all his days. To humble someone means to lower them. Meaning, when you take a woman's virginity, you've lowered her. She's of lesser value. You've defiled her. And because you've done this act unto her, you're supposed to end up marrying this woman. That's the right thing to do. And this is really out of fashion. I mean, today, I mean, people won't even marry the woman that's born their child. I mean, they'll literally, not only will they commit fornication, they'll literally have children with a woman and not even propose to them. Not even to marry them. Look, that's wicked. You know, if you're willing to do that, you should be willing to marry the young woman. Now, again, if you found yourself in a situation where you commit a fornication and the person's like a reprobate or something bizarre, yeah, I would say not pursue them. But as long as it's not something extreme like that, I believe you should pursue with all your might getting married to that person. That's the right thing to do. That's what God literally commanded. And he didn't put an exception here. The only exception would be that you just can't because the father's saying no. The father's just like absolutely not. You're a horrible, wicked person. Get away from us and our family. Just give me money and get out of here. And I believe that's what you should still do. I believe that should still be the policy. You know, modern versions, you know, the NIV, it says in 2028 here in Deuteronomy that if a man rapes a woman, then you have to marry him. And I was like, what happens when a guy, a guy's like basically asking a girl on a date and she says no and doesn't want to date him or marry him? All he has to do is rape her according to the NIV and then she's forced to marry him. What kind of a wicked false Bible is that? I mean, what kind of Bible do you want that justifies rape? That acts like rape is cool or something like that. That you just pay money and you can just marry your rape victim or whatever. That's a wicked Bible, okay. The Bible's saying here that he lays hold on her because let me tell you a little secret. When people commit fornication, they touch. I don't know if that's a shock or whatever. In fact, they have to touch. That's the whole point of fornication, okay. And he lay hold on her, lie with her and it says they be found. Why is it they? Because both parties are consenting adults here, okay. Both parties were involved in the action and they should both make it right by getting married. Go back to Genesis 34 for a moment. Go back to Genesis 34. Now he loves her and so, you know, in his heart because the law of God's written on her hearts, he wants to do the honorable thing and marry this chick. Look at verse 4. And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor saying, get me this damsel of the wife. And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah's daughter. Now his sons were with his cattle in the field and Jacob held his peace until they were come. So, according to the Bible, Shechem has the right mentality. Now, obviously he sinned, okay. Obviously committed fornication, wicked. But he has the right intention now. Let's get married, you know. That's the right thing to do. Which also proves that he's not like doing, he's not like being way inappropriate with this girl. He just loved her. They committed fornication. They screwed up. They made a mistake. But they want to make it right now and they're going to make up for it. And look, you know, with God, God has a lot of mercy. God gives us a lot of grace. A lot of people screwed up. A lot of people made mistakes. And you can get it right and move on and move on with your past. And look, if it's two virgins that commit fornication, then they get married. I mean, after that, it's pretty easy to move on, repair that relationship and just go forward. Now Jacob, he hears about this. Says in verse number 6, and Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. So they're trying to see if they can make this marriage. Verse 7, and the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it and the men were grieved and they were very wroth because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter, which thing ought not to be done. And Hamor communed with them, saying, the soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter. I pray you give her him wife, making marriages with us and give your daughters unto us and take our daughters unto you. And he shall dwell with us and the land shall be before you. Dwell and trade ye therein and get you possessions therein. And Shechem said unto her father and under brethren, let me find grace in your eyes and what ye shall say unto me I will give. Ask me never so much dowry and gift and I will give according as ye shall say unto me, but give me the damsel the wife. So a couple things here. The father asked for grace. Now why would you ask for grace? Because he did something wrong. Obviously they screwed up. They did wrong. The sons of Jacob were upset, which is normal. They should be upset that their daughter has been taken advantage of, has been defiled, fornication has been committed. So all these things are normal. And in fact, the father-in-law or future father-in-law prospectively is asking, saying, whatever dowry you want, we'll pay it. You name the price, we'll pay it. We just really, he really loves this woman. That's a lot of love. I mean to say name your price, I'll pay it. I want her. I want to make her my wife. I really love this woman. I would say at this point Shechem's doing everything he possibly can to make the situation right, okay. And it sounds pretty good, but look what it says in verse 13. And the sons of Jacob answered, this is what I thought, I don't remember you being asked. And the sons of Jacob answered, and Hamor his father deceitfully and said, because he had defiled Dinah, their sister, and they said unto them, we cannot do this thing to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised, for that were approached unto us. But in this will we consent unto you. If ye will be as we be, that every man of you be circumcised, then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us. And we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. But if you will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised, then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone. I don't think that the sons of Jacob, I don't think it's your daughter, sons of Jacob. It's interesting that they pipe up, and Jacob doesn't say anything. Now, this is really interesting. Why did Jacob just not even answer? Jacob shows a lot of weakness in this chapter, a lot of bad parenting in this chapter. First of all, we're in this mess because he wouldn't even watch his own daughter. He's just letting his daughter go out and whore around, unbeknownst to him. Then he finds out, says nothing. Then when confronted with the issue, he doesn't even say anything. He just lets his sons pipe up again. So, Jacob's just showing a lot of weakness, a lot of cowardice, and you know what I noticed today? There's a lot of coward fathers in America today. There's a lot of fathers today that won't tell their daughters to stay home. They won't tell their daughters to put some real clothes on instead of the whore outfits that a lot of these girls have. They won't confront the men that are dating their daughters that used to be that you'd meet the date with a shotgun at the front door, and you'd threaten the date a little bit. Now, it's just nothing. Nothing's even said. Nothing's even threatened. Nothing's even... I mean, they're just silent. We need dads to start speaking again. We need dads to start threatening young men today, and putting the fear of God into their soul today, and caring about their daughters. I mean, it just feels like he doesn't even care about Dinah, doesn't it? How could you say that your dad cares about you when he's not fighting for your virginity, when he's not fighting for your hand in marriage, when he just doesn't even care about anything? He's just la-da-da, because he's being a coward, that's why. And you know what? We need men today to rise up, and you know, these sons, they answer deceitfully, according to the Bible, but they're not even interested in this bargain, and it's really clear, because let me tell you something. When someone asks you for a dowry, and it's foreskins, no, it's a trick. Always a trick. No guy wants a foreskin. You should be like, y'all are weird. We're out of here. You know, what? And look, this happens in another place in Scripture, doesn't it? Saul. Saul asked for foreskins to marry his daughter, but he wasn't asking it sincerely. He didn't really want foreskins. He was trying to kill David. Isn't it interesting that here in the same chapter, they want the foreskins, why? To kill them. Not because they're sincere, not because they're genuine, and you know, there's a lot of symbolism that we can actually pick up in this passage, because what is the foreskin really a picture of? It's a picture of circumcision, okay? Now, I'll submit to you that circumcision is a picture of turning over a new leaf, okay? Serving God. Basically having the works. I believe that baptism and circumcision are a similar parallel, okay? Basically, circumcision is the Old Testament version of baptism, and baptism is the New Testament version of circumcision, because they both picture the same elements of walking in newness of life, okay? And that the inward man is what really matters, because circumcision is putting away the old flesh, and it's the inward part of the flesh that matters, right? We're putting away the old man. When you baptize, you're dying to the old man, and you're raising to walk in newness of life, and it's a picture of the faith you have inside. Circumcision is an outward sign, an outward showing of the faith on the inside. Baptism is an outward picture, is an outward sign of the faith you have in inside. But here's the thing, neither of them have any meaning in and of themselves. It's a spiritual picture that matters. You know, if someone came to me that's unsaved, a whole bunch of people that came to me that were unsaved, and they said, we want to be with you and your family, we want to make marriages with your daughters, and blah, blah, blah, and some guy wants to marry my daughter, and I say, okay, here's your requirement, get baptized. What good is that going to do to him if he's not saved? I could baptize all of them, and that wouldn't benefit. Did they say, hey, in order to be part of our tribe, in order for us to intermingle with y'all, y'all have to actually worship the Lord. You have to get saved. You have to have faith in our God. You have to choose our God. They didn't mention any of that. They just said circumcision. Now let me tell you how good circumcision is going to do for you when you're not even saved and you don't have the right God? Nothing. Absolutely nada. Go to Romans chapter 2 for a moment. Go to Romans chapter number 2. We're going to come back here. But circumcision, while it was a commandment of the Bible, while it was very important, while you had to have it to be part of the children of Israel, and it's a covenant that's given unto Abraham and his sons after him, by itself is meaningless. It must be matched with the faith of God to have any benefit. Okay? Otherwise it's pointless. Look at Romans chapter 2 verse 25. For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law, but if thou be a breaker the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Notice he's saying, look, if you don't keep all the commandments perfectly, your circumcision is pointless, meaningless. It says in verse 26, therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, should not as uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision, which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee who by the letter in circumcision dost transgress the law? For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart and the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God. So in the New Testament, Paul is making it manifest that physical circumcision is pointless without faith. He also brings up a hypothetical saying, it's also pointless if you don't keep the law perfectly. Meaning that if you are going to be circumcised to be right with God, then you also have to follow every other commandment. But there is a problem for all of sin to come short of the glory of God. Therefore your circumcision is pointless. And someone that's not physically circumcised, but has fulfilled the law in some way, they would be considered righteous. Now, how do you fulfill the law? By believing in Christ. He's the fulfillment of the law. So someone that's completely uncircumcised but trust in Christ, you know what, he's circumcised in his heart and in the spirit, not in the letter, which has no benefit, it's just a praise of men, is what the Bible is closing. Meaning in the New Testament, circumcision is nothing. It's meaningless because it was just a physical picture to illustrate a spiritual truth. Okay, go to Galatians chapter number five, go to Galatians chapter number five. And in fact, in America, men were not circumcised for the longest time. Not until about World War II, when a bunch of Jewish doctors came into America and started Judaizing America, where men circumcised in America. It's a modern, recent thing. Therefore, I don't believe that it's something that we should even do. Now, if you've been circumcised, who cares? It doesn't really matter. But if you think you have to be circumcised to go to heaven, you're not saved, according to the Bible, okay? And you're weird that you just want to do that, okay? Galatians chapter five, look at verse two. Behold, I Paul saying to you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, he is a debtor to do the whole law. Now, you have to get the context here. He's not saying circumcised people can't get to heaven. What he is saying, though, is if you're trusting in your circumcision for salvation, you're not saved. You have to keep the entire law and no one will ever do that. Because there is a group of people coming to the early church saying, you don't have to just believe, you also have to get circumcised if you want to go to heaven. And then in Acts chapter 15, they also then throw in just the whole law, too, on top of that. And it's like, oh, okay, I just have to follow all the commandments then. Well, there's a problem because no one can keep every single commandment. Look at verse six. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Skip down to verse 11. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do we yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased? I would, they were even cut off, which trouble you. So he's making a big deal about this and, look, it's not about circumcision, it's about faith that saves you. And secondly, he goes on to say even further that if he preaches circumcision, he wouldn't be persecuted by the Jews. Because then there's no point in even believing in Jesus, we'll just keep keeping the law as we were. But there's a problem. No one could ever keep that law. That was the whole point of Christ's coming. Look at chapter six, verse number 12. And as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. So as Paul makes clear, physical circumcision matters none. If you're uncircumcised, doesn't matter. If you are circumcised, doesn't matter. But he does make it clear if you're circumcised or if you're uncircumcised, don't seek circumcision. He also says if you're circumcised don't seek uncircumcision, I have no idea what that is, nor do I want to. Okay? Stay away from that person. I would. I'm afraid of you, that's what I would say. But he makes it clear in verse 13, they can't keep the law. Okay, so in the New Testament we have a group of Jews going around, Judaizers, trying to get people to get circumcised to go to heaven. Circumcision for salvation. But he makes it clear, look, that's stupid, because then you'd have to keep the whole law and you never will. No one has ever done this, it makes no sense, but why do they do it to glory in their flesh? But you know what another thing that they're doing when they do this, is they're damning these people. They're teaching a damnable heresy. By telling them to get circumcised, they're actually damning their soul to hell because they're teaching a false gospel. It's actually they're messengers of death. They're ministers of death going around preaching death by preaching circumcision. Circumcision doctrine is a doctrine of death in this context. Now God gave circumcision, you know, as a good doctrine. You know what, they're compelling salvation through the law, yet they're bringing death because that's the only thing the law brings is death. Now go back to our passage and we're gonna see that that's exactly the picture that's foreshadowed here in Genesis chapter number 34. Look at verse number 18. And their words pleased Hamor. And Shechem, Hamor's son, and the young men deferred not to do the thing because he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he was more honorable than all the house of his father. And Hamor and Shechem, his son, came under the gate of their city and communed with the men of their city saying, these men are peaceable with us, therefore let them dwell in the land and trade therein, for the land behold is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters to us for wives and let us give them our daughters. Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us to be one people if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. Then not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours, only let us consent unto them and they will dwell with us. And then Hamor and Shechem, his son, hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city. That must have been one heck of a speech because if you're gonna compel me to do that, man. But notice why they did it. Money. The love of money is the root of all evil and it'll destroy you. And yeah, money's not worth it for that. I don't know. This is bizarre. Okay. But they convinced, I mean, the fact that he can convince every single guy, he must have been a really honorable guy, a really charismatic leader. He's able to convince them of this doctrine of this idea. But look what happens in the verse 25. And it came to pass on the third day when they were sore that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren took each man as sword and came upon the city boldly and slew all the males. And they slew Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went out. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and spoiled the city because they had defiled their sister. They took their sheep and their oxen, their asses, and that which was in the city and that which was in the field. And all their wealth and all their little ones and their wives took the captive and spoiled even all that was in the house. So they take everything. And it's funny, they want all this money and goods and they lose everything from this doctrine of circumcision. And I will submit to you today that it's no different than what the false teachers of today are doing by teaching that you have to keep the law, keep circumcision in order to be saved. They're damning their entire house. They're destroying them and killing them. Look, Shechem comes to them asking for grace and what do they give them? The law. They give them circumcision. And look, that's what the Jews do, is they give people the law and circumcision and ultimately death. It's a foreshadowing of the Jews and the Pharisees and the Sadducees prescribing death unto people through the law. And is it any shock that of the two sons, one of them's Levi. Isn't that interesting? The one that's going to be the priest, the law giver, Levi, is going to be the one that gives the law unto Shechem and he completely gets destroyed. They didn't get salvation. They got destruction and that's the only thing that the law gives you. Go to Genesis chapter 49. Skip forward for a second. Go to Genesis 49. We're going to read a little bit more about them. And you say, well, I think what they did was good. But wait a minute. We already read in the Old Testament law, which obviously is in the future, but God's law is timeless, okay? That if a man lay with a maid, you're not supposed to kill them. That was not a civil government rule. In fact, Shechem's doing that which is right. He's following the law, trying to actually marry this woman. They should have, you know, gotten him saved. And then if he got saved, then allowed him to marry their daughter. That would have been the right thing to do. But you know what? Instead of giving him the gospel, instead of giving him salvation, they gave him the gospel of death, of circumcision, of false gospel. They destroyed him with the law. And you know what? By Shechem striving for marriage and salvation through the law, he got death. He was an honorable guy. He sought to follow the law. He was given the law. He followed the law perfectly. And you know what? There's a lot of sincere people. They go to a church, and you know what they're fed? Work salvation. And a lot of people are very sincere in following that work salvation. But those sincere people are sincerely burning in hell. A lot of sincere Catholics burning in hell today. A lot of sincere Methodists and Presbyterians and Church of Christ. And a lot of sincere people in a false religion and a works-based religion that are burning in hell today. Because they're like Shechem, and someone gave them the false gospel and not the right gospel. You know, where was Jacob to pipe up and say, you know what guy, sons, he wasn't talking to you. Let me give you the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let me give you the gospel of faith. Let me tell you about the God of my fathers. You know, what do God's father-in-laws today would give their sons-in-law the gospel or make sure that they're saved? Where's Jacob at? Here's Jacob, Genesis 49. Look at verse 5. He's going to talk about his two sons. Simeon and Levi, our brethren, instruments of cruelty, are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret, under their assembly. Mine honor, be not thou united. For in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will dig down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. Well, now Jacob's talking. He could have preserved his sons from committing murder, from being so destructive. And notice that their anger was cursed. It was not justified. God was not pleased with the destruction of Shechem, of Hamor, of these men. You know, God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come under repentance. You know, we should love the Catholic and love the Methodist and love the Presbyterian enough to open up our mouths boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel unto them. Because they're being fed a bunch of circumcision from their church. From the Levi's out there today, from the false teachers today, and we need to get them saved. Go back to Genesis chapter 34. Go back to Genesis chapter number 34. And look at verse number 30. The Bible says, And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have troubled me to make me distinct among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. And I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me and slay me, and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. And they said, Should he deal with our sisters with a harlot? Now, here's the thing. Here's the first time Jacob speaking in this chapter. Did he take any self-blame? Where's Jacob saying like, Hey, Jacob, don't let your daughter go out and be a whore. Hey, Jacob, when they pitch this stupid idea of foreskins, why did you pipe up? Didn't you have seen through that one? There, Jacob, where were you at? What were you doing? He doesn't even take any responsibility for his actions. He just blames his sons. Now, again, it's not that his sons don't have faults here. They, of course, do. And you know what's interesting is that everyone hates them because everyone hates the God-hating Jew. He's not pleasant. He doesn't benefit anybody anything. All he does is preaches a false gospel and takes everybody's money. Welcome to the Bible. What does the Jew do? He preaches a false gospel. He dares people's souls to hell, and he takes all their money. And you know what he changed? Never. The same Jew. It's the same false religion and false doctrine, and everyone hates them for it. Everyone despises them because they see all the destruction and the taking of the money. You know, that's why Jews have been literally cast out of literally every country throughout history. And then we bring them in to circumcise American soldiers and American babies in our country. We allow them to establish Hollywood. We allow them to establish all kinds of banking institutions in our country. I wonder why they're interested in banking. I wonder when they're getting, you know, and I really despise this phrase that constantly brought up, Judeo-Christian values. I don't have Judeo-Christian values. I have Jesus Christ values. That's who I have. The name that they won't speak. The name that they blaspheme. Hey, I'm the real Jew, according to the Bible, because I'm an inward Jew. They're the synagogue of Satan. And they're preaching death in the world today. They're destroying people today. And you know what? We have a bunch of Baptists. We have a bunch of Christians today that are getting up and saying, let's send money to Israel. They'll literally start out in their announcements an advertisement to give money to Israel, to give money to Simeon and Levi, to give money to destroy more of the Sheikims, and more of the Hamors, and more of the Gentiles today, because they're an enemy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And you know what? We need Baptists to get some hair on their legs today. We need Jacob to open his mouth boldly today and just preach the right thing and say, no, it's the gospel of Jesus Christ. Quit preaching a false gospel. Quit stealing everybody's money. Quit making everyone hate us so much and despise us so much. Go over to 2 Corinthians chapter number 6. And you say, why did they kill them? Well, notice what they said. They should have freed our daughter as a harlot. They think that they're more morally superior than Sheikim. But let me ask this question. Is mass genocide and theft better than fornication? Think about it, right? I mean, they literally committed mass genocide. What did Hamor do that was so wicked? What did all the other men of the city do that was so wicked? They're killing all of the men in an entire city, including Sheikim. They stole all their positions, stole all their wives, and they still think they're more moral than Sheikim. Well, he committed fornication. And you know what? That's like the Jew religion. They are the most wicked, evil, satanic people on the planet, yet they find themselves morally superior to everybody else. It's crazy. It's insane. Now, let's get a quick overview lesson that we can get from the chapter. Notice all the horrible stuff that happened in this chapter. And it could have all been avoided if you just didn't let your daughter go out to see the daughters of the land. I mean, wasn't that pretty simple? All right. Oh, you're going to the mall? No, you're not. That'll save your credit card anyways. I mean, that was definitely destruction there. I mean, there was a lot of destruction that was going to happen with the credit card. At least now, you don't have this whole horrible chapter of all these consequences. And look, the Bible says that one sinner destroyeth much good. Just one sinner, one little Dinah going out. And look, an entire city was destroyed. An entire group of men were destroyed from the one sin, from the one fornication. And look, that's what sin does. It's just one little sin, and then it just compounds into just multitudes of worse destruction and all kinds of sin. Here's another thing. You know, if Shechem had not gotten saved, you know, Jacob had preached the gospel, he wasn't interested, you know, don't let an unsaved person marry your daughter either, though. Second Corinthians chapter 6, verse 14. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concordeth Christ with Belial? What part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For you 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, come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. So the Bible has clear commandments of separation. So the fact that they would have gotten circumcised wouldn't have been, oh okay, let's be together now. No, you need to have the same to God. That's the thing that unites us. You know, not some kind of a turning over a new leaf, not some kind of a works-based ideology, but it's rather having the same God, okay, having the same faith, and we don't want to allow our children to enter into some kind of relationship, into some kind of an agreement with someone that's not saved. That's why in the onset it was wicked to let your daughter go out and just be with some dude, because you don't know if he has the same God, and you don't know if he will end up worshiping the same God or getting saved or any of those things. So that's why, look, if someone's not saved, they're not allowed to date my children. My children aren't going to be dating them, because I don't even want them to make that mistake and then be in a worse situation. Now what do you do? What do you do when your child's in love with someone that's not saved? What do you do when they've already made worse mistakes? What do you do when there's a child in this? And, you know, I'm preaching this because I have to deal with it regularly. What do you mean deal with it Pastor Shelley? I have people come to me and tell me all of their stories all the time. I lost count. I don't have enough fingers and toes of all the various scenarios and people that have come to me telling me about all these crazy, weird, psycho situations that they're in. I preached a sermon on some of it. It was no good option. People are coming to me and they're like, I had kids with this one lady, then we got divorce, now I'm living with another chick, and I have kids with her. What do I do? Read your Bible. Like, wow, there's no good option there. It's like you're screwed, dude. Like, I don't know what else to say. I mean, what do you tell, what if Locke came up to you and he's like, okay, so she's pregnant, daughter. She's pregnant, also daughter. What do I do? I don't know, but you can't come here. You know, it's like, I mean, maybe there's a church in Kentucky that you can find. I don't know. It's New Jersey really, but look, you're laughing, but I'm talking about something real serious though. People find themselves in horrible, horrible situations because parents won't take responsibility for the children that they have. Men and women need to take responsibility for their children, need to help them to make the right decisions, need to protect and guard them from making a bad choice. And let me tell you what, it's never worth it to go outside the boundaries of marriage. It never is and never will be. It's always a lie. You'll only regret it. There's nothing positive that ever comes from it. And it's interesting because the people that do it, they weren't satisfied with it. They only want more of it. It's not like they were like, I'm so glad I did it and now I'm satisfied for life. They want more of it. Those that commit fornication, more fornication. Those that commit adultery, want more adultery. You'll never be satisfied in that area of sin. It's never going to bring any joy. It's only going to bring consequence and woe and sorrow and pain and regret. And in fact, many times they didn't even enjoy it on top of that. Yeah, fornication can be fun for a season but a lot of times they don't even enjoy it and then they get to reap all those consequences on top of it. It's a horrible, horrible downward spiral. You don't want to go down that road. Just wait for marriage and then enjoy it. And you know, statistics have even shown people that are happily married have way better fulfillment in that area than the people that are not married. It's way better. It's just so much more fulfilling and if you've made mistakes in these areas, you know, tell God you're sorry and move on. If your spouse made a mistake in this area and they've already told you about it and you already forgave them, never bring it up. You should act like it never even happened and that can be hard but that's how God treats us. God has that type of level of forgiveness and you know there's going to be consequences to these actions and sometimes things do change but you know what? God can still bless your marriage and God can still bless you even if you've made mistakes. No one's perfect but at the same time, I want my children to have the best possible marriage they can. I want them to start off on the right foot and you know what? Wouldn't God we raise a lot of these little children to just be an exception to the rule and be a bunch of virgins on their wedding night. What a shame and a folly when churches they don't have any virgins that they're giving away in marriage. That it's all just just a freak show and weird Jerry Springer episodes and you know getting up and they're marrying them off or whatever. We want to have some purity in the word of in the house of God, okay? Let's close in prayer. Thank you Heavenly Father for this great chapter and thank you for the gift of marriage. I pray that you would help young people to stay pure on their wedding nights and we know that they can't do it alone. They need the guidance of their parents. They need some sober-minded loving fathers and mothers to protect and to guard their children not allow them to just go out and make stupid foolish life-altering decisions and I pray that anybody that has made the mistake that they wouldn't continue to make that mistake but they realize that the consequences that can lie around the corner and that everybody would take their life very seriously. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.