<< THROWBACK SERMON: December 21, 2003 (Vevay, IN) >>
Job 27:5-10
5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me. 6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live. 7 Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous. 8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? 9 Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him? 10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?
Job 31:1-10
1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? 2 For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? 3 Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? 4 Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps? 5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit; 6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity. 7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands; 8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out. 9 If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door; 10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
Presumption: ***See notes on obedience*** (Ex: Moses struck the rock twice, king Saul’s disobedience and presumptuous offering, Uzziah)
Ps. 7:8, “The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.”
Ps. 26:1, “Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.”
Ps. 26:11, “But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me.”
Proverbs 11:3, “The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.”
Proverbs 20:7, “The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.”
Genesis 39:1-14
vs. 11, “And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within.”
Joseph was innocent, but his character was still called into question because he unwittingly placed himself in a compromising position.
Isaiah 26:1-4
1 In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. 2 Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. 3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. 4 Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:
The Rock of Ages has appointed walls and bulwarks of salvation as a habitation for those who keep the truth in their integrity.
1 Peter 2:11-12
11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Romans 12:1-2
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Song of Solomon 8:8-10
8 We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? 9 If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar. 10 I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.
You will either stand as a wall of integrity or you will allow compromise to breach the door of your heart.
Job proved his integrity!
Job 2:3, 9-10
3 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause…. 9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. 10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
Job is one of the first examples of a man who prayed with his heart. His only way of access to God before the trial was through the sacrifice of animals, but then his animals were destroyed.
Job’s living sacrifice to God was his testimony of integrity before the Lord.
The devil desires to attack and destroy your point of contact (line of communication) between you and God.
God wants the hidden places of your heart. Submit them all too Him. You have places where even God cannot enter. Give those places to Him and witness the work that He will do in your life.
The Pillar and Ground of Truth 