Tag: integrity

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Bible Preaching

Walls of Integrity v. Doors of Compromise

<< 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.

Categories
Bible Preaching

The Silver Palace and the Cedar Boards

Apostolic Life Cathedral | Aug. 25, 2024 | 6:30 PM

Text: Song of Solomon 8:6-10, “(6)  Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. (7)  Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned. (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.”

The Silver Palace and the Cedar Boards

Eph. 6:24, “Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.”

In sincerity = Margin, “with incorruption.” With a pure heart; without dissembling; without hypocrisy.[1]

There is a search going on tonight in this service. Like a detective snooping for clues,

A dog sniffing for that hidden morsel of food,

A child shaking that wrapped gift trying to figure out what is on the inside.

The search is on and Jesus is here, right now, in this moment searching:

“…the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24).

The Lord is pursuing men and women, boys and girls, who have decided to totally give their whole spirit, soul and body to Him.

It is a love search.

At the same time, there is in each of us a longing to love and to be loved.

It is part of the divine spark in each of us that we received when “the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7).

The Lord is still looking for this who  will “fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13).

When Jesus finds you will He discover that you “love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity?”

No hint of corruption? With a pure heart? No pretend affection? A love without hypocrisy?

Is your relationship with Jesus a firm wall of live, or is there a door, an entrance open to the enemy of your soul?

Tonight, the enemy want to destroy your relationship with God by placing on you the trap shame.

The “disintegrating power of shame began in the garden of Eden”[2] (Gen. 2:25-4:1).

Here was a beautiful garden of perfection and here was where Eve was beguiled, seduced and tricked because of the cunning craftiness of the whisperer – the serpent – who appealed to her desires:

  • Lust of the flesh – she saw that “the tree was good for food”
  • Lust of the eyes – “that it was pleasant to the eyes”
  • Pride of life – “and a tree to be desired to make one wise”

The moment Adam and Eve ate of that tree of knowledge of good and evil it set into motion a satanic plan that has been the spearhead of the devil’s attack on all those who love God and want to be faithful.

They were previously unashamed, but now shame made them run and hide from the lover of their soul.

And the Lord still went searching for them…

You see, “While human guilt reflects the experience of having done something wrong, shame conveys that there is something inherently wrong with us. Shame is a reality we feel deep within us, telling us, reminding us, we are bad, that somehow we are not enough.”[3] It is the lie that you possess a fundamental evil and have no hope.

I want to tell you tonight, anyone who tries to place that reality on you is a tool of the enemy, unsafe and should be avoided.

“By its very nature, shame likes to hide and is often silent and subtle,”

…but “Perfectly secure and safe in the love of Christ, we can choose not to hide…”

“…the more vulnerable I am with safe people around me, the more emotionally resilient I am and the more joy I experience even in times of difficulty and suffering.”

And the most safe person to be around is the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a beautiful integration, an integral union, an integrity of relationship between you and Jesus that the enemy cannot stand.

It is a wall of love that you and God build together.

It acts as a bulwark against the enemy.

Since God’s love never fails, then satan will test your love, or try to divide through tools of disintegration to weaken and loosen the wall.

There is something to be said of this wall of love that stands firm on integrity.

Psalm 101 is known as the integrity psalm:

  • “I will sing of mercy and judgment: Unto thee, O LORD, will I sing” (Psalm 101:1, KJV).
  • “I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will make music” (Psalm 101:1, ESV).
    • Mercy, Steadfast love, is “sticky love.” “It is the sort of love you can’t shake off. It sticks to you through every high and low, every success and failure, every malfunction and sin,” every victory and defeat.[4]
    • Sticky Love holds that wall together and helps maintain its integrity.

Shame would try to disintegrate that wall of love, but God’s mercy, His steadfast love, attaches you to Him.

The enemy wants to destroy that attachment by disintegrating the wall of relationship, mutual trust and integrity between the betrothed bride and her Groom.

Remember:

The devil works overtime to steal (by stealth), to kill (slay, slaughter), to destroy (put out of the way entirely, abolish, to ruin, render useless)[5]

The Lord has said:

  • Deut 7:8, “…because the LORD loved you…
  • Jer 31:3, “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”
  • Mal 1:2,  “I have loved you, saith the LORD.”
  • Jn 3:16, “For God so loved the world…”
  • Ro 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 
  • Eph 2:4-5, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ…”
  • Eph 5:1-2, “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.”
  • 1 Jn. 4:16, “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”

Nothing can separate, disintegrate, remove, or detach you from God’s love:

Romans 8:35-39, “(35) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  (36)  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the laughter.  (37)  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.  (38)  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  (39)  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

“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? 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.”

  • The little sister is the gentile bride, the church
  • The Silver Palace is the blessing and favor of God: strength, beauty, enlarge, adorn
  • The Cedar Boards God’s attempt to protect you from your own mistakes and shame until you are mature enough to maintain your own integrity:
    • Weak in faith, but not rejected by God. He encloses, strengthens and fortifies until the bride is mature in faith.“Cedar is a soft and deliciously fragrant wood. The resin and oils in the wood make it inedible to termites.”[6] = Sticky Love
    • Cedar boards are strong and beautiful and durable.

The young brides reply, “I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour” (SoS 8:10).

Now mature and ready to be married, she has been faithful and maintained her love for the Groom with Integrity.

[1] Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible. Ephesians 6:24.

[2] Tom Nelson, The Flourishing Pastor

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Jn. 10:10

[6] https://holderpest.com/blog/3-building-materials-that-do-not-require-termite-control

Categories
Bible Teaching

Standing Tall On Your Knees

Apostolic Life Cathedral | 1/21/2024 | 10 am

Daniel 6:1-28
(1)  It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom;
(2)  And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first: that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage.
(3)  Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.
(4)  Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.
(5)  Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.
(6)  Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever.
(7)  All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.
(8)  Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.
(9)  Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree.
(10)  Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.
(11)  Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.
(12)  Then they came near, and spake before the king concerning the king’s decree; Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.
(13)  Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.
(14)  Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him: and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him.
(15)  Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed.
(16)  Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.
(17)  And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.
(18)  Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went from him.
(19)  Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions.
(20)  And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?
(21)  Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever.
(22)  My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.
(23)  Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.
(24)  And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den.
(25)  Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.
(26)  I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.
(27)  He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.
(28)  So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.