Connect with Skip - Skip Heitzig

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Connect with Skip Heitzig, and we're so glad
you've joined us for today's program. Connect with Skip Heitzig
is all about connecting you to the never changing truth
of God's Word through verse by verse teaching. That's why
we make messages like this one today available to you
and others. Before we get started with the program, we
want to invite you to check out connect with Skip

(00:21):
dot com. There you'll find resources like full message series,
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Sign up today at connect with Skip dot com. That's
connect with Skip dot com. Now let's get started with

(00:42):
today's message from Pastor Skip Heiitzig.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Hey, Maur and Chechaem his son came to the gate
of their city. Why the gate, because that's where the
elders of the city hang out. That's where the men
who make all the decisions hang up. And spoke with
the men of the city, saying, now, these two guys
have to sell this to the whole town, so put

(01:06):
yourself in their sandals. Hey, listen, we all got to
get circumcised. Who's going to go for that. Some gals
just ask your husband about that, and it's like, no,
we're not going to happen. So they've got to sell

(01:27):
the idea to the men of the city. So they
begin with the elders. Now watch how they sell it.
These men are at peace with us. Therefore, let them
dwell on the land and trade in it, bring up
the economy. For indeed, the land is large enough for them.
Let's take their daughters to us as wives, and let
us give them as our daughters. Only on this condition

(01:50):
will the men consent to dwell with us to be
one people. If every male among us, every male among us,
is circumcised, as they are circumcised, will not their livestock
their property, and every animal of theirs be ours? Only
let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us. Okay, hey,

(02:15):
more and shack'em. Haven't been totally honest with Jacob, have they?
Go back, just for a moment to verse ten, and
notice what he says to Jacob. So you will dwell
with us, and the land shall be before you dwell
and trade in it, and acquire possessions for yourselves in it.

(02:35):
This would be an economic benefit for you. You will be
blast and prospered materialistically if you do this thing. But
when he has to sell it to his own, he
says in verse twenty three, will not their livestock their property,
and every animal of theirs be ours only. Let us
consent to them, and they will dwell with us. So

(02:56):
he has to sell it as an economic opportunity. I
know this is going to hurt, but it's all about
the economy, and if you do it, you'll get prospered.
And I'm sure the elders looked at him like, I
don't know about this. I don't think the guys are

(03:17):
going to.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
Go for this.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
This isn't a great idea, But they went along with
it because, as suggested, the Hivites saw this as an
opportunity to absorb these people, Jacob and his sons, his family,
his livestock, and he was quite wealthy, into their camp,
and it would prosper them. They would possess their wealth.

(03:39):
And all who went out of the gate of the
city heated Haymore and check him his son. Every male
was circumcised who went out of the gate of the city. Now,
some of the commentators who treat this section I noticed
see this as Jacob's sons promising or hoping that these

(04:03):
unbelievers will be made right with God and covenant relationship
by being circumcised. You go through the ritual of circumcision,
and you'll be made right. That's the thought. They say
in verse sixteen, we will become one people. Well that's
an interesting thought. I guess that's a possibility. There are

(04:24):
people still today who say, well, we got to get
you baptized, boy or girl. We got to get you
to church and get you to sing those songs and
read that book. And if you do those things, you'll
be made right with God. Keep this ritual, do this ceremony.
But if you keep a ritual but you don't live

(04:46):
the reality of what that ritual says, won't make any
headway at all with God, will it. It won't make
you one with God's people or one with God at all.
Any ritual apart from reality won't make you right. Now,
speaking of young men and young women, as the contact shows,

(05:08):
I know some young men who suddenly convert because they
see that pretty young girl. And they go up to
that pretty young girl and she says, oh no, I'm
a Christian. I would never date, let alone marry somebody
who's not a believer. And he thinks, really, well, then
I just became one. Praise the Lord, Hallelujah, Thank you Jesus.

(05:36):
You know it doesn't take long for conniving guys to
get Christianese down, pat to get the lingo down. Just
hang around Christians and figure out what they say. Oh,
I can do that. I can say that, honey. Let's
pray about it. Whatever it takes to win her over.

(05:58):
So Verse twenty four, all went out of the gate
of the city hated, heated Haymore and check him his son.
Every male was circumcised. All who went out of the
city gate. Now here's the reality of what's happening. They
didn't do it in order to supposedly convert them by
a ritual. They did it to deceive them and incapacitate them.

(06:18):
Verse thirteen says the sons of Jacob answered and spoke deceitfully.
In other words, if these guys get or get circumcised,
they will be incapacitated. They will not be able to
be fast on their feet, they'll be in pain, they
won't be able to move. It will give us the
military advantage over them, and we can kill them all.

(06:40):
That's the whole idea of it. You can imagine immediately
after being circumcised the first few days, how painful that
would be, that would incapacitate them. Okay, here's what is mystifying.
Jacob is totally passive in this. He didn't step up
at all. He never said in and say, first of all, haymore,

(07:01):
this is reprehensible. Shuck him, young man. I have a
few words for you. He doesn't do that at all.
He's passive. He didn't say anything a wish. So the
boys come home. The boys are plotting this and getting
this ready and talking to the men of the city,
and Jacob's just sort of sitting back and watching it
all happen, completely passive. It's a mistake to be a

(07:24):
passive parent and not be an active parent. Now there's
no such thing, first of all, as a perfect parent,
so just take that off the shelf. No such thing
as a perfect parent. But a passive parent will ruin
a child. A parent has to stand up for what's
right and what's wrong and live with conviction and pass

(07:45):
on those values and pass on those convictions so that
a child, whether he or she agrees with it or
not at the time, has some moorings something to relate
back to and give them a standard of belief. Anybody
who's passive toward their child and not actively engaged will

(08:06):
ruin them, and I believe that has been part of
the case here. Now. It came to pass on the
third day, when they were in pain, that is, after
their circumcision, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon
and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword and came
boldly upon the city and killed all the males, all

(08:29):
the males, not one, all the males, and they killed
Haymoor and Scheckham his son with the edge of the sword,
and took Dinah from Shechem's house and went out. You
should know that Dinah and these two boys, Simeon and Levi,
were sons of Jacob through the same mother, Leah, the

(08:49):
unloved woman, the unloved wife. Rachel was the one who
was loved. Leah was the older, but less pretty and
most unloved one. So these two boys were full brother
and felt more of a connection obviously than the rest
of the brothers who were half brothers to her. They
were full brothers. However, Reuben, Judah, Isakar, and Zebulin were

(09:16):
also full brothers, having Jacob and Leah as mom and dad,
but they didn't act or react the same way. So
why did these two, Simeon and Levi react so violently,
so aggressively. Well, I don't exactly know why, but perhaps
in their own rationale, and it's not right, but perhaps

(09:38):
irrationale is, well, Dad's not going to do anything. He's
not going to step in and stand up for his daughter.
Somebody has to defend her honor. So perhaps that was
their thinking, and these two acted violently. Now fast forward
and i'll take you ahead at a sneak peek. When
Jacob is on his deathbed and the twelve tribes, the

(10:02):
twelve sons are gathered around him. In Genesis forty nine,
he gives a prediction, and he goes to each of
the boys and calls them by name and says some
things about them for them, and it's prophetic these things
will happen to them and it'll be a fascinating study.
But in Genesis chapter forty nine, you can turn to it,

(10:23):
or I'll just read it to you. There's just four
verses that I'll read to you. In verse five, he
gets to these two boys. This is Genesis forty nine,
Verse five to eight. He says, Simeon and Levi are brothers.
Instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place. Let not
my soul enter their council. Let not my honor be

(10:47):
united to their assembly. For in their anger they slew
a man. They're referring to this incident that we are
now reading. And in their self will they hamstrung an ox.
Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath,
for it is cruel. I will divide them in Jacob
and scatter them in Israel. Judah, you are he whom

(11:11):
your brother shall praise. So it's like the blessing is
taken off of them and given right to Judah, through
whom the Messiah will come, the lion of the tribe
of Judah. Your hands shall be on the neck of
your enemies. Your father's children shall bow down before you.
The prediction is these two would be scattered. Now what's
interesting is Levi, for example, was scattered throughout Israel. He

(11:35):
had no land of his own, his tribe had no land.
But here's why they were scattered. You ready, they became
what the priests. They didn't have their own land, allotment,
physical inheritance because God said, I the Lord, your God,
am your inheritance. So they were scattered. But they were

(11:55):
scattered because God, in his grace and mercy, turned the
world first tribe into the priesthood.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
You're listening to connect with Skip Heitzig before we get
back to Skip's teaching. The nineteen sixties promised us an
explosion of love and brotherhood, but instead they delivered a
nation in turmoil, confusion, and moral decline. Fortunately, God has
the solution for our damaged families and in Beyond the
Summer of Love relationships in the real world. Pastor Skip

(12:25):
Heitzig gives a Biblical guide for marriage and families that
can help restore relationships which have been damaged by sin.
Beyond the Summer of Love is our Thanks for your
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connect with Skip Heitzig, go to connect with Skip dot
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(12:47):
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connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with
pastor Skip.

Speaker 2 (13:01):
Now that's what God does. He takes a bunch of vile,
filthy sinners and turns us into a kingdom of priests,
Peter said, a kingdom of priests, a royal generation. And
in this royal priesthood are some ex drug addicts, ex alcoholics,

(13:22):
ex prostitutes, save for the glory of God and made
a kingdom of priests. What style, what flair, what grace
God has? So back to verse twenty six of our chapter,
and we'll finish it out. And they killed Haymour and
Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, took

(13:42):
Dinah from Checham's house and went out. The sons of
Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city. So
the two boys did the killing, but I guess the
rest of the boys were complicit. They plundered the town
because their sister had been defiled. They took their sheep,
their ox, and their donkeys. What was in the city
and what was in the field Now This is going

(14:02):
to help you understand a law that has mystified some
of you for a long time. As time marches on
and the Law of Moses gets inaugurated, there will be
a law put into place known as the Lex Talianus,
the Lex Talianus, and the Lex Talianus goes like this,
it's the law of retribution. An eye for an eye,

(14:25):
a tooth for a tooth. Now some people read that
and they suppose, what a vengeful god he is. Eye
for an eye, tooth for a tooth. You don't understand it.
The Lex Talianus was put in place to limit vengeance,
not to enable or procure vengeance, to limit it. An
eye for an eye, because you see, it's human nature
as we read here that if you take out one

(14:47):
of my eyes, I'll put out both of your eyes.
You just hit me in the face and took out
a tooth. I'm gonna take uppers and lowers. You'll need dentures,
your whole lot, all of them are going. It's not
to match the crime, it's to be vengeful and go
above the crime. That's what we want. That's human nature.

(15:09):
So the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth
was to limit vengeance, so that the punishment would be
fitting to the crime. Because this tendency, as seen here
in human nature. They took the sheep, the ox and
killed all the guys, took and plunder the city Verse
twenty nine, and all their wealth, and all their little

(15:30):
ones and their wives they took captive. They plundered even
all that was in the houses. Jacob said to Simeon
and Levi, you have troubled me by making me obnoxious
among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and
the Perizites. Since I am few in number, and they

(15:51):
will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I
shall be destroyed my household and I You get the picture.
This guy has eye trouble. And it's not because he
needs new glasses. It's all about me. What about me?

(16:12):
What about I? You're gonna do this to me? But
they said, should he treat our sister like a harlot?
Jacob is an enigma to me. He never gets angry
for the rape of his daughter. Now he does not

(16:34):
rebuke Schechem, does not rebuke Haymor, but does rebuke his sons.
But notice he doesn't rebuke them for the massacre. He
doesn't rebuke them for abusing the right of circumcision. He
doesn't abuse them for the breach of contract. He rebukes

(16:54):
them because what they did gave him a bad name.
My reputation is soiled. Dude, you have no reputation, You
have no testimony. You conniving creep. But that's what he's
worried about, not his daughter. Says nothing about His daughter
says nothing about the murder, the massacre, the abuse of

(17:16):
that spiritual rite of circumcision. It's you just you made
me obnoxious. They're not going to like me. My reputation
has been soiled and the name of God is not
mentioned once. Now I want to close with this. I
want to be tender, but I want to be upfront. Parents,

(17:37):
you think this through. If you're letting your dinahs run
around the pagan neighborhoods with all the Shuckems running around
through town scoping out the chicks, don't be surprised if
those girls, those young children of you, start adopting their

(18:01):
values and becoming like them, like these sons are even
worse than the Pagans. If you put your children in
pagan environments, don't be surprised if they start, I can't
believe it. I can't believe you said that or thought that. Really,
that's what they're around all the time, and it was

(18:24):
this environment that he let them come in that was
a problem. Because what will happen is you'll reach a
point and you'll say to that child, you're troubling me.
You're making me obnoxious by what you say, or what
you do, or how you dress, or what friends you have.
But if you've allowed those Dinahs, those Daniels, those Davids

(18:46):
in the wrong places, doing the wrong things at the
wrong times that you know in your heart they shouldn't
be involved in. I should step in and do something
or say something, or counteractive.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
Them.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
Because the environments are blatantly overtly sexual. In this world,
there's lots of peer pressure, and if there's no pressure
to counteract the pressure they have in the world, they'll collapse.
The pressure has to be compensated with other pressure. Peer
pressure must be compensated by parental pressure, the good kind,

(19:27):
the active kind, the involved kind. Interesting, I was reading
about the Thresher, a nuclear submarine in nineteen sixty three
that was making an attempt to go under the polar
ice cap toward the north Pole. It went down too deep,
there was too much water pressure, and the submarine imploded.

(19:53):
The thick metal skin hull of the submarine imploded because
the pressure was just too great. Went down too deep
and the pressure was too great, and even though it
was thick steel, just imploded. And yet here's the ironic thing.
There's little tiny fish that live at that same depth

(20:13):
that don't implode. And the secret is the pressure that
is at that depth in the fish is counteracted by
equal pressure from the inside going out. They're pressurized fish,
so one pressure counteracts the other pressure. If our children,

(20:34):
our precious ones, don't have a good, solid environmental pressure
monitored by parents, then the peer pressure on the outside
will cause them to fold. I want to close by
saying something about Jacob. Jacob is flawed. Do you know what.

(20:58):
Isaac was flawed? But you know what, come to think
of it, Abraham was flawed, and you don't come to
think of it. Who isn't flawed? All of us are flawed,
except God. Everyone's flawed. Everyone as flawed as Jacob was.

(21:18):
Please give him at least this. There was deep within
his heart underneath all of the conniving and all of
the double crossing. There was this deep seed of a
desire for spiritual things. He wanted his brother's spiritual blessing.
His brother could care less about it. At least he
had a desire for spiritual things. And he went about
it the wrong way, and he lied and he cheated,

(21:39):
and he connived and et cetera, et cetera. But he
had that deep desire to serve the Lord. And you're
going to see things pick up because this story didn't
just end with a sordid tale of murder and deceit
and rape. In chapter thirty five, it is what I

(22:00):
will call the first revival in the Bible. Jacob gets
revived and he wants his sons, his family to get revived.
He goes back to that place at Bethel, He goes
back to calling on the name of the Lord. He
goes back to building an ultar and worshiping and tries
to influence his family with that same spiritual value system

(22:21):
as he takes leadership of the home. So, yeah, he's flawed,
But I'm glad the Bible tells us the truth about
these heroes because I look at him and go, man,
there's hope now tonight, you're in one of two camps.

(22:43):
And again I love the simplicity of Scripture, not one
of eighteen, just one of two. You are either dominated
by the spirit or you're not. You're dominated by the spirit,
or you're dominated by the flesh. Now, if you're dominated
by the flesh and not the spirit, it's for one
of two reasons. Either you're an unbeliever or you're a

(23:08):
carnal believer. If you're an unbeliever, and you might be
a make believer, you might think, well, I'm a believer,
but you're not. You're a mate believer. There's nothing true
that has been a conversion of repentance toward God in
your life, and you need to make your life right
with God by trusting in the one that did it

(23:30):
all for you, Jesus on the cross. Or you're a
carnal believer and you've just lived according to the value
systems that you grew up with. And though you gave
your life to Jesus, and there's been the struggle between
flesh and spirit, the flesh has been winning a lot.
In fact, it's dominated you. And the reason you have
no peace, no contentment, no consistency, is because the flesh

(23:53):
is consistently dominating over the spirit. Wouldn't you love to
see that change? It can happen. God is all about change.
God isn't all about just having church services. Let's just
have another church service and yet another Bible study. It's
to lead somewhere. It's to lead to change. For some

(24:14):
of us, it's incremental change. For some of us it's radical, drastic,
dramatic change. But you've got to do something and cooperate
with the Lord and allow him to change you to
receive the gift of forgiveness and everlasting life and come
into relationship with him.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope
you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program.
Before we let you go, we want to remind you
about this month's resources that will help you understand and
follow God's plan for your relationships beyond the Summer of Love.
Relationships in the real world by pastor Skip Heitzig is
our Thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today.

(24:57):
Request your copy when you give twenty five dollars are
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(25:20):
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Speaker 2 (25:28):
It Connect, make a connects. The cross chat song song
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Speaker 1 (25:49):
Connect with skif Heidezig is a presentation of connection communications
connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.