Dinah’s terrible mistake

Introduction Blessing Sincuba

We thank the Lord for another wonderful opportunity to meet this morning. It is a beautiful Sunday where we can commit ourselves to the Lord so that He can speak to us. We welcome all who are here with us, and those listening via livestream and radio. May the Lord give us what we need in this day.

Ntokozo Nhlabathi

We greet you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have just completed a great work at the mission, and we thank the Lord for what was done. If one sees how full the auditorium was during the youth conference, it is clear that a great work was done. It is wonderful to hear what the Lord did for those who were here. There was joy when they saw the Lord working through this place.

One person said that if he had been given the responsibility for the number of people who were here, he would have been unable to manage. We lacked nothing despite the number of people. No person could have done this in their own strength, and for that reason we give all honour and glory to our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has kept His hand over the transport in the last 50 years. Only glory and honour can go to Him.

Last Sunday was a historic day. The auditorium was full, and the audience was attentive for over four hours. Only our Creator can do that. All the multitudes who came received food and even dessert. That is unheard of. When people were transported home, it was clear that they had attended a function because they even took something along. Only our God can do this.

We look forward to December as it is still the 50^th year. We will celebrate until December. Today we celebrate because of one person who was faithful. Where will we be in 50 years’ time? Still in the Lord’s work or will we have deserted Him?

If you thank a person, some people think you are worshipping the person. The founder of these services had these words in mind – ‘Lord, even if my friends and family forsake me, I will remain with you.’ Some have found the road too narrow and have built their own way. May the Lord have mercy on me that I may find it not too narrow but continue on it.

Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. ² And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. Genesis 34:1 – 2

Recently as the children entered the bus to be transported home, a child collapsed. When the child came round, she said she did not want to get onto the bus because the bus would roll before they reached home. The brethren took the child and put her on the bus and said, ‘We will see if the bus will roll and if your power is so great.’ Those in the bus caught wind of what was said and I told them that it would not be a problem if the bus never got home because the children would reach the final destination that they had worked for because they had made their lives right during the services. Someone asked that the bus be stopped, and the child taken home on their own because the children on the bus were not ready to die. I did not tell the driver to stop and they arrived home safely.

Sometimes when your faith is tested and someone causes chaos, is it clear who is ready and who is not. When the child arrived at the place where she had to get off, she was asked, ‘Did you forget that you had to make this bus roll?’ The child answered, ‘It irritates me how you pray and ask those mothers for prayer – I won’t go to your church again.’

But who arrived back at the mission after two days to ask for prayer? That same child. The child was asked, ‘How can we pray for you if you say the prayer is too hot?’ The child said, ‘It is not the fire of the prayer that burns me, it is my sin within.’ When that child was here, she did not use the opportunity given and the Lord said, ‘I will follow you until the time of your death.’ The Lord followed her and after being transported with our vehicles, she returned for help. To those who are saved it is precious, it is life, but to those who reject it, it is destruction.

The daughter in this text lived with her family and had all that she needed. I don’t know what made her dissatisfied with what she had and her upbringing, but she went out to visit the women of the area. We don’t know whether she got permission from her parents, but she left her home. I had a question: she felt she was of an age to see the people of the land, but how had she been living until then? It puzzles me that now she wanted to go and see these women. What drew her? What gave her the desire to see what the women had to offer? She went out to see the women of the land, is what we read. In other translations, she went to go and see the women of that country. When she saw the women of that land, she also saw a man who fell in love with her.

I considered us, children of God who are born into a people as she was. We are born into this home, yet we desire to leave this home and to see what is outside. This daughter left her people, went to see other women and Shechem took her and defiled her. She had not received that which she went out for – she went to meet other women - but instead she was humiliated and defiled.

How often don’t people leave the Lord’s place because they desire to see what is in the world? One will leave the security and safety of their home because they have a cell phone and they are chasing after the devil. They leave the security of their home to see what is outside and when they get there they are disgraced.

A child is raised in the Gospel and all that the child knows is the Gospel, however, when they finish school, they say they are now old enough to choose for themselves, but all they want is the world. They go and look, but they are seen and disgraced. You’re in a home where there is salvation, but you want to leave that. I don’t understand it. You have been living for the Lord, and now suddenly you come with greetings from other homes? Foreign greetings – something unknown. Normally you would say, ‘Good day, how are you?’ and the answer is, ‘I am well.’ But all of a sudden, the answer is ‘The Lord Jesus Christ lives.’ Where does that come from?

They have left their homes - that which they have known – to explore and they return with different teachings. They say that it is because of this and that that you are not a true believer and you are not strong in the faith. What kind of Gospel are you bringing? You bring foreign teachings which have been picked up from other homes and you bring disgrace to us. Dinah was a daughter loved by her home, but she went out and after she was disgraced that came back and affected her family. She left the security of her home and went after the desire of her heart – I don’t know what she saw.

People nowadays love to go and see what other homes can offer and then they take that and bring it back to their original home. You go to the other lands and other nations and see what they are wearing - skinny tight pants. Leave the pants with them! Women, you see the stylish dresses they wear and you want to bring it here – no, please leave it there. Married women nowadays wear their head coverings in a way that is slightly different. They add things to them to attract attention. They bring in their own ways. Leave it where you found it! You see a person aging and their wrinkles, but their dresses are getting shorter. There are things that start in your home, you begin loving it there but it does not mean that the home of our Lord Jesus Christ loves it. If we are born into this home, which we call the home of our Lord Jesus Christ, there are rules and ways in which things are done. There are things which are allowed when you visit the homes of others but not at your home.

This daughter went because she wanted to see. People see what the world has and want to mix it with the Gospel. Maybe your church allows you to explore what the world has to offer. But the church born out of our Lord Jesus Christ does not allow that. Some go out and return with new ways of talking and doing things. Why do we always shave? Hair becomes an issue. Why can’t I have a bit of a style here and there? Are you criticising the way the Lord has created you?

They had secure and safe homes where the rules were clear but now they want to fetch something else from outside. Leave it there, not here! Then you have questions: Why am I helped like this and not like that? Be frank, you have fallen. Then you do something on purpose, to see how you will be helped. You call those people ‘holy, holy’. You have your own agenda.

Ladies call themselves saved but they speak about men. Before, no green fly found a place on you, but you have been out.

You are heading to destruction with your cell phone and all the filth that goes with it. You send pictures to each other – broken hearts and smiley hearts? Women who have recently been married, gossip about their husbands to one another. You would be ashamed if your WhatsApps had to be publicly displayed. You say the Lord has helped you with your pride but as soon as you have something new it is on your WhatsApp status for all to see. When you are on a trip you post pictures of every stop. Why? So that everyone can see where you are going, but you say that pride has been dealt with in your life? You are lying. You would be ashamed of the things you chat about if everyone could see them. Why? You have gone to visit outside.

Shechem was like the poison in a serpent. Dinah did not understand that this poison would cause her disgrace.

There was a man who loved climbing mountains. While he was studying, he climbed mountains that were not too high and he aimed to reach the top. When he had finished school there was a certain mountain that nobody in the area had summited. He made it his goal. He prepared himself. He took a white cloth and a marking pen so that he could leave a note on the summit that he was the first to reach it. He made it public that he was going to summit the mountain.

He climbed. When he was tired, he sat down, ate and drank. Slowly but surely, he worked his way to the top. The world was beautiful. The air was fresh. God’s creation was wonderful. His fatigue was forgotten. He ate his treats, took photos, wrote the day and time he had reached the summit, with his name and signature on the white cloth. He had broken the record. He was elated.

Then he heard a voice, ‘Excuse me sir.’ He was amazed. He had been alone all along. Who was there now? Again he heard, ‘Excuse me sir.’ He saw a snake. The snake said, ‘It is so cold up here, I can’t handle it anymore. Can you just take me along and put me down on the low ground?’

The man said, ‘You are snake. You will bite me and I will die.’

The snake said, ‘I am dying of cold, just help me and take me down.’

What did he do? He opened his backpack and the snake slithered in. The owner closed the bag and picked it up. The descent started. Descending was much easier than ascending. At the bottom people came to meet him to hear how he had done it. His family was also there. He forgot what was in his bag. The snake began to wriggle and speak, ‘Sir, you have forgotten about me.’ But the man was celebrating and taking pictures. ‘Excuse me, sir,’ said the snake, ‘you have forgotten about me.’ After some time, he remembered, took off his backpack and opened it. The snake slithered out and when the man took a step, the snake struck. The man cried out, ‘But you told me you would not bite me!’

The snake said, ‘When you saw me, I was snake. When you put me in your bag, I was snake. When you descended, I was snake. That is why I bite you; I am snake.’

If you leave your home with the right teachings and go out and meet the snake – the snake will teach you his teachings and, in the end, it will bite you. Oh, child of God, if you allow the snake to whisper something to you and it infects your relationship with someone else because of the gossip, be careful, it will bring death to you.

The man who made history couldn’t celebrate for long because once he got to the bottom the snake bit him and soon, he was dead. He allowed the snake in.

Dinah was safe at home, but she wanted to explore what the other women did. The lust of her eyes drew her, and she did not understand that when she found the snake it would bite her.

There are those who forsake the gospel because they think it is better out there, but in the end, they are bitten by a snake.

There is a man I cannot forget. He began to give his eyes, ears and heart to the devil and he saw things in a different manner. One day we were with the man at Maqhogo. He had noticed someone else who knew how to make money. He saw there was no money in preaching the Gospel. When he started giving his eyes, ears and heart to the devil he said, ‘I have not been called to the Gospel. I have not been called to stay at KSB. My calling is where I come from.’ He had forgotten what God had told him. It didn’t take long and he went back home. Did he ever make money? Did he even preach the Gospel he was called to preach back at home? No, he ended up being a slave to alcohol and women. I don’t know if he has been set free yet.

Woe to you if you leave the security of your home - that which the Lord has taught you and then you say that you are going out because you have been called elsewhere. That snake will bite you.

Young person if lust is calling you, know that the snake is waiting to strike you – the devil. That narrow way which you have been shown by the Lord Jesus Christ is the way to go. On the broad way that the devil is showing you, he will strike you.

Conclusion Dietmar Joosten

We are thankful for the Lord’s word. It is clear to all. Young people, older people, don’t take it lightly when you go outside.

The Bible in English says, “She left unattended”. For how long have we been taught not go alone? Whether you are a man (like a hero) or a woman, do not go out alone. Don’t call yourself a hero when you meet up with a girl who looks at you. Satan knows you. You get into a vehicle and drive off. You go out by yourself without informing anyone. There are things in your heart that you must bring to the light. You are going against that which you have been taught. Bring out the truth of all that is in your heart. If you go out, Satan is waiting for you.

Search your heart. How many times have you been helped? Do you accept it? Then you go out alone and return crying that you have fallen.

On the other hand, some of us were converted here at KSB and grew in grace. We were thrown into the deep end as young men, but Christ, because He worked in our lives, changed us totally. We could go through it unscathed. There are some people who have started this way but they reach a point when their lives change. They know who they are. Have you ever repented from that? Maybe that is why you are struggling spiritually. Get that snake out before it kills you.

The Bible says, she went out unattended. Don’t say, ‘I know.’ It can be your very friend who pulls you back into that life. When I was at school, I did not have a friend, not one, but even though I was despised and mocked, God can keep a person by His grace.