Genesis) Genesis 34:10-17

Well, you notice now what happened. "...and ye shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you. Dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein." And all of this reveals that Jacob is going to have to move on, that this is no place for him, mixing with these people in the land.

And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, "'Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I'll give. Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I'll give according as ye shall say unto me. But give me the damsel to wife.' And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem, and Hamor his father, deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister." Now, I feel like that Jacob here should have had certainly a little bit more to say to restrain these boys of what they're going to do, because they're deceiving the man.

And they said unto them, we cannot do this thing to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised, for that were a reproach unto us. And the thing that disturbs me about the incident is that the sin that's been committed isn't a reproach, but the fact that he was a foreigner made it difficult or impossible to give her as a wife. "'But in this will we consent unto you, if ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised.

Then will we give our daughter unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.' Now this is the thing that they are to do. Go through the ritual of circumcision. And this ought to be a warning today to a great many.

I know a fellow that he married a girl. He told her that he would accept the Lord. In fact, the matter is why they came in for counseling and asked me to perform the ceremony.

And I, of course, would not with him not being a Christian. And she claimed she would not marry him unless he became a Christian. Well, when he came in, I talked with him.

He said he would accept Christ. And then we had prayer, and then I asked him, I said, "'Now what have you really done?' And I never heard such humming and hawing, beating around the bush, as this boy did. And I very frankly said right before him, I said, "'Young lady, I'll not perform the ceremony.

I don't think the young man is converted.' Well, they felt like I was being very harsh, and they went down the street and got another preacher. He performed the ceremony. She told me later that he had come to her and told her she tried to get him to go to church.

And of course, he had a good reason for not coming to hear me preach, because I'd been so cruel to him. Then she agreed to go to another church, and they went two or three times. And then finally, he just said to her point-blank out, he said, "'Really, I'm not a Christian.' Well, just to go through the ceremony, even of saying you trust Christ, doesn't mean you have, and joining the church.

I find a great many people today, they think if they just nod the head, faith doesn't seem to mean very much to them. It's a tremendous experience, friends, to trust Christ as your Savior. There's nothing quite like it, nothing to compare to it in this world.

When you trust Christ as Savior, He does something for you. Didn't do anything for that boy. You know, Mark Twain had the same experience.

He was not a Christian, and he was in love with a very beautiful, wonderful Christian girl, and she would not marry him until he became a Christian. And he professed that he accepted Christ as his Savior, and they started out that way. Well, Mark Twain became very famous, as you know, and he was entertained by all of the famous people of the world, and he moved in that society.

And one day when he came back to his home in Missouri, he said to her when she wanted to go to church, he said, look, and calling her by the pet name that he had for her, he said, look, I can't keep up the front any longer. You go on to church. I know now I'm not a Christian.

May I say that that made a very unhappy home, and it absolutely spoiled the life of this lovely Christian girl. Now, here are these men saying, if you'll go through the rite of circumcision, it'll make everything all right. And a great many people think, well, if you join the church and nod your head and be able to use the right vocabulary and quote the right verse, that means you're Christian.

My friend, that doesn't mean you're Christian. If you've entrusted Christ, something's happened. And things are different now if you've trusted him.