it started number 423 way to the world 423 nice and loud this evening joy to
the world in your hymnal for 23 there on the first opportunity to gather together
Lord we just thank you for all the souls that were saved this afternoon and also
just that you'd be with those where maybe it was just a seed planted pray
that you'd continue to be with those that are sick that you would just
strengthen them those that are traveling as well and lastly for us for the
service that everything would be done decently and in order and in honor and
glory to your name and your son's name these things we pray in Jesus name
amen for our next him 424 oh come all ye faithful
hundred twenty four there on the first oh six four on the inside service times
are listed there Sunday morning at 1030 Sunday evening at 430 in our Wednesday
evening Bible study through Romans at seven o'clock do you have our soul
winning times that meet there below like I had mentioned this morning this
upcoming Saturday will be the last Saturday rally that we actually meet
here the church building once we get to the first of the year we're gonna be
meeting on location 10 a.m. for soul winning on Saturday and brother Eric's
just gonna send us a location probably on Friday so we can know where to meet
for that day but like I had mentioned earlier this morning it's gonna actually
be more hours out soul winning than before and so we'll also get done a
little bit earlier so if you've got things going on on Saturday you'll have
a little bit more time for that and I didn't have this this morning but I did
want to share where we're at so far this year and obviously the year is not over
there's more souls to be saved for sure but just for local salvations only in
Oklahoma City for Saturday we have had 269 salvations just on Saturdays alone
Sunday is the runner-up day and that is a hundred and fifty five salvations so
you can see the big difference between that 269 Saturdays 155 on Sundays then
after that it looks like there's a dead even tie between Friday and Tuesday
Tuesday 52 Friday 52 then after that we have Monday 39 Thursday 36 and in last
place is Wednesday at 33 but honestly Wednesday picked up a ton at the second
half of the year it was like zero zero zero one zero but like Wednesday really
really picked up so the change of strategy that was done was a great job
and a lot more souls were saved that way but yeah you could see the numbers
don't lie Saturday is the best day for soul winning for our church so I think
that this will help us get even higher numbers in that area next year so 2026
soul winning on Saturday is no longer a rally it's a regular soul winning time
but it's gonna meet on location so we're excited for that little change we do
have the rest of our year-to-date statistics there 2245 for the year our
upcoming events on December 24th we'll have the kids choir perform for us and
then a cookie bake-off afterwards December 31st New Year's Eve party
there's a sign-up sheet back there for men that would like to preach for that
men's preaching night and then we'll also have food and fellowship
afterwards on the right don't forget about that visitor card that's both in
your bulletins and also on each soul winning invite today I was able to get a
guy saved and afterward have him scan that with his phone signed up for our
email list subscribe to our YouTube so it makes it really easy for you you want
to do some discipleship there you go they have access to all of our sermons
right there at their fingertips so you like that also I'd mentioned this in my
morning sermon there's still a bunch of six-month Bible reading plans and those
are on the back if anyone's interested in these everyone has different
preferences for how they read the Bible some people like to go from Genesis to
Revelation all the way through I personally made this plan and I like it
the way I made it obviously because of the fact that you have three days in the
Old Testament one day in the New Testament three in the old one in the
new especially as a preacher I find that important so that I'm not just going
months and months of the year not reading anything in the New Testament or
going you know like a month and not reading anything in the old so that's how
I like to do it this gets you through the Bible twice a year if you follow
this plan every single day so please feel free to take one of those on the
back then we have our online giving as well as our prayer list if you have any
updates please do email the church it's gonna be it for announcements this
evening we'll go ahead and go to our third song number 422 422 thou didst
leave thy throne 422 422 thou didst leave thy throne there on the first
Psalm 20 25 the Bible reads unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul oh my God I
trust in thee let me not be ashamed let not mine enemies triumph over me yay let
none that wait on thee be ashamed let them be ashamed which transgress without
cause show me thy ways O Lord teach me thy paths lead me in thy truth and
teach me for thou art the God of my salvation on thee do I wait all the day
remember O Lord thy tender mercies and I loving kindness for they have been ever
of old remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions according to thy
mercy remember thou me for thy goodnesses sake O Lord good and upright is
the Lord therefore will he teach sinners in the way the meek will he guide in
judgment and the meek will he teach his way all the paths of the Lord are mercy
and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies for thy name's sake
O Lord pardon my iniquity for it is great what man is he that feareth the
Lord him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose his soul shall dwell at
ease and his seed shall inherit the earth this secret of the Lord is with
them that fear him and he will show them his covenant mine eyes are ever toward
the Lord for he shall pluck my feet out of the net turn thee unto me and have
mercy upon me for I am desolate and afflicted afflicted the troubles of my
heart are enlarged Oh bring now me out of my distresses look upon mine
affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins consider mine enemies for there
are many and they hate me with cruel hatred Oh keep my soul and deliver me
let me not be ashamed for I put my trust in thee let integrity and uprightness
preserve me for I wait on thee redeem Israel Oh God out of all his troubles
let's bow our heads for prayer father in heaven we thank you for our church we
love you man we're in Psalm chapter number 25 I'd like to start in verse
number 21 this evening the Bible says let integrity and uprightness preserve
me for I wait on thee and the time I sermon this evening is have integrity
have integrity what is integrity here's the dictionary definition of integrity
it's adherence to moral and ethical principles soundness of moral character
honesty and when we use this word at least when I hear the word integrity I
really think about doing the right thing when no one knows about it or doing the
right thing even when no one is looking and the Bible says let integrity and
uprightness preserve me I want to show you several verses on integrity and I'll
have three points for you this evening go ahead and look at Psalm 26 verse 1
let's just do a little Bible study real quick looking at integrity Psalm 26 verse
1 the Bible says judge me o Lord for I have walked in mine integrity I've
trusted also in the Lord therefore I shall not slide so we see that having
integrity is connected to trusting in the Lord and it gives you that peace
when you have integrity because you could rest easy in knowing that God
knows the truth in any situation and you can have that confidence with him and
obviously lying or compromising would be the opposite of having integrity look
at verse number two it says examine me oh Lord and prove me try my reigns and
my heart now you'd only want to ask God to do this when you actually have
integrity when you actually are being upright when you actually do have you
know an upstanding character to the Lord you don't want to be you know living a
double life being wicked super backslid and being like examine me oh Lord you
know I've walked up rightly you know you'd be saying be merciful to me oh
Lord right notice verse 3 for thy loving kindness is before mine eyes and I have
walked in thy truth notice of course the psalmist is not
perfect but he has the confidence to say hey I have walked in thy truth I am you
know following your commandments I'm walking in your truth verse 4 I have not
sat with vain persons neither will I go in with dissemblers I have hated the
congregation of evildoers and will not sit with the wicked notice that it's
important to have integrity because having integrity will keep you away from
vain persons and it'll keep you away from dissemblers liars it'll keep you
away from the congregation of evildoers right these are people that we want to
avoid in our life and here's the thing you don't necessarily have to just walk
up to every evil person and say I will not have fellowship with you I am not
your friend like if you just live a life of integrity you will just not be around
those type of people and what you'll notice is that if you catch yourself
being around people that are just dissemblers congregation of evildoers
really wicked people they're not gonna want to be around you anyways it's not
even like you often have to cut from these types of people it's just they
don't want to be around a person that has integrity people don't like people
who are wicked don't like people that are like that look at verse 11 of Psalm
26 but as for me I will walk in mine integrity redeem me and be merciful unto
me my foot standeth in an even place in the congregations will I bless the Lord
I'm gonna read a verse for you in Titus 2 10 the Bible says not purloining but
showing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in
all things for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all
men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should
live soberly righteously and godly in this present world and living soberly
righteously godly being a person that has integrity what it does is that it
adorns the doctrine of God our Savior it's not enough just to have the right
beliefs it's important to have the integrity to go with those beliefs to
make those beliefs look good obviously the Bible is true and all the doctrines
that we preach are true but we also need to be living a life of moral character
to make those doctrines look good go to Daniel chapter number one we've got three
points for you this evening number one I want to say this God blesses those who
endeavor to do right God blesses those who endeavor to do right look at Daniel
chapter number one and of course the context of this is that the Babylonians
are in charge and Daniel is kind of a prisoner for lack of a better term he's
been kind of inducted into the Babylonian public school system and
Nebuchadnezzar and his you know underlings have changed Daniel's name
and his friend's name and they've kind of just got him serving the government
and obviously if you're serving underneath the Babylonian government
that's gonna be a lot different than the Bible's rules and the Bible's ways of
doing things let's pick up the story in verse 8 notice what it says but Daniel
purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the
king's meat nor with the wine which he drank therefore he requested of the
prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself notice how it says that
he purposed in his heart what does that mean he's endeavoring to do the right
thing see if you're in Daniel's position someone could try to make some sort of
logical argument and say yeah it'd be real easy for him to just go along to
get along I mean how much control and power do you think Daniel really has
here right he's under someone's care he's like a prisoner if you will and he
he's just saying I'm purposing in my heart that I'm not going to defile
myself with the Kings meat and what he does is he requests look at verse 9 it
says now God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of
the eunuchs so you have two aspects to this story one is you have Daniel side
of things where he's endeavoring to do the right thing he didn't just easily
compromise he didn't just throw in the towel and say well I'm a prisoner well
I'm under the Babylonian system you know if they're giving me the meat that's
unlawful they're giving me the drink that's unlawful I just have to do it
because here I am that would have been really easy for him to rationalize in
his own mind and say well it's not my fault for me to sin I'm just in this
situation so I'm just gonna do it no first you had Daniel purposed in his
heart to do the right thing then you have God working on the other side
blessing him because he endeavored to do the right thing I don't think that God
would have brought him into tender love and favor with the prince of the eunuchs
if Daniel was just quick to compromise if Daniel was just like oh yeah whatever
whatever he tells me to do I'll just do it because I'm a prisoner no Daniel
endeavor to do right then God works on the other side bringing him into favor
verse 10 and the prince of the eunuch said unto Daniel I fear my Lord the king
who hath appointed your meat and your drink for why should he see your faces
worse liking than the children which are of your sort then shall you make me
endanger my head to the king so he's telling Daniel look I'm in a bad spot
here I fear my Lord if I'm not gonna give you the food that he's told me to
give you and he sees you know his prized children just like wasting away
here being emaciated you know I could get killed my head could be on the
chopping blocks this guy's kind of in a tough situation but notice verse 11 then
said Daniel to Melsar whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel
Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah proved thy servants I beseech thee ten days and let
them give us pulse to eat and water to drink now when I read the word pulse for
some reason I kind of think of like pulp but that's not what this is okay the
definition of this pulse is the edible seeds of certain leguminous plants such
as peas beans or lentils all right so he's basically just saying hey just give
me the beans just give me the lentils just give me the peas you know please
just let me do this now that does not sound like a very fun diet but this is
what Daniel wants here he's like but here just prove us ten days all right
we're not gonna starve to death in ten days just let me have this diet for ten
days says in verse 12 I'm sorry verse 13 then let our countenances be looked
upon before thee and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of
the king's meat and as thou seest deal with thy servants so he consented to
them in this matter and proved them ten days and at the end of the ten days
their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children
which did eat the portion of the king's meat thus Melsar took away the portion
of their meat in the wine that they should drink and gave them pulse I mean
what a great story of God coming through for someone who's endeavoring to do
right but do you really think that this story would have gone that way if Daniel
was just like oh you know I'm just gonna do whatever the king says no he
endeavored to do right God worked for him on the other side because this was a
miracle right here if some kids are getting fed meat and other people are
being fed beans only and only the people with beans you know come fairer
and fatter in flesh than everyone else like that's obviously a miracle don't
walk away from this thing oh we need to do the Daniel diet and only eat pulse
and then you'll be really strong you'll be fairer and fatter in flesh than
everyone else no the point of this is that this is a miracle and the point
that God's trying to get across to us here is that it's better to keep your
integrity to endeavor to do right even when situations look kind of hopeless
because of the fact that that allows faith to come into play for God to
actually come through on the other side but this idea of just compromising when
things are hard getting rid of your integrity when there's that temptation
to do so or lying when there's temptation to do so just to get yourself
out of a sticky situation well you've just now removed you know God's ability
to come in and rescue you in a mighty way because God's not going to bless
people that don't even endeavor to do right you know people could try to do
right and God sees that and it makes him happy and he blesses you you know you
could be kind of like like this for example let's say you work a job and you
just in your heart you really really want to go to church three times a week
hey you really want this specific day off to go on a missions trip or something
like that you know God can often see someone's heart in that situation and
say hey this person's endeavoring to do right they want to serve me God's gonna
come through and allow people who really want to serve him to do that go to Luke
chapter number 12 Luke chapter number 12 and of course like what what's the
application for us is hey don't compromise your beliefs just because
you're in a sticky situation don't compromise on righteousness don't don't
lose your integrity during situations where it would be easy to just
rationalize why you should do so we're all gonna be in situations where we like
rationally makes sense for me to lie right here but hold on a second hey I
thought we had this thing called faith that God can come through for us look
at Luke chapter number 12 Luke chapter number 12 verse 51 the Bible says suppose
ye that I'm come to give peace on earth I tell you nay but rather division for
from henceforth there shall be five and one house divided three against two and
two against three the father shall be divided against the son and the son
against the father the mother against the daughter and the daughter against
the mother the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law here's another situation that could happen in
your life that can kind of cause people to be tempted to compromise their
beliefs well it's like what happens when your brother asks you to go drink that
beer with him right or what happens when that relative who's divorced and
remarried invites you to go to that wedding right there's gonna be that time
where you're just gonna have to make the decision am I going to retain my
integrity and do what's right or am I just gonna kowtow and just give in to my
family's desires right are you gonna skip church to go to that family
function or whatever stuff like this is gonna happen to you all the time and
like I preached last Sunday you just have to embrace division because Jesus
said he's gonna come to bring division hey what if someone asks you about your
beliefs at the workplace are you gonna hide from that or you just gonna say
well if this brings division so what yeah I'm a Christian yeah I believe in
Jesus Christ or what if someone asks you do you go to anchor Baptist Church
you'd be like are you to be like yeah I go to anchor Baptist Church 6444
Northwest Expressway baby tell them where it's at right you know you don't
want to be that person that just compromises go to Daniel chapter number
three Daniel three you want to retain your integrity retaining your integrity
gives God you know the ability to get glory in coming through for you in a
miraculous way let's look at another great story that proves this Daniel
chapter number three verse four it says then in Herald cried aloud to you it is
commanded O people nations and languages that at what time you hear the sound of
the cornet flute harp sackbutt psaltery dulcimer and all kinds of music you
fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up
and who so falleth not down and worship it shall the same hour be cast into the
midst of a burning fiery furnace now these are some pretty high stakes and we
just read this story like Oh Daniel chapter 3 Daniel chapter 4 folks these
people are literally at a crossroads where it is bow down and worship a false
God kneel before a false God and worship this false God with the people or you're
gonna be thrown into a burning fiery furnace we read this and it's just we're
reading our Bible but you know how much would your heart rate increase when you
could see the flames when you could feel the heat when you could smell the smoke
you know I guarantee you it's gonna become a lot more real to you if you're
actually in a situation like this and how many people would love to just
rationalize and just put human logic on this situation and say well you know we
can't lose our salvation and I'm not actually you know loving this false God
of course I'm not actually worshiping this God I love God I love the Lord
Jesus Christ why don't I just pretend why don't I just bow to avoid the flames
why don't I just lie and say pretend like I am worshiping this when I'm
really not well then we wouldn't have this story in our Bible would we we
wouldn't have this great story of faith now keep your place there let me read
for you Exodus 20 verse 4 says thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the
earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth thou shalt not bow down
thyself unto them nor serve them for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and
fourth generation of those that hate me notice how God says thou shalt not bow
down thyself to them nor serve them so God does not think it's cool for you to
just go along to get along with false religion even if in your heart you're
not really believing in that religion God says no thou shalt not do that you
know it's not okay if you got people today who are married to someone of a
different religion which is a horrible idea by the way you should be married to
someone who's saved don't ever get married to someone who's not saved but
you got people that because of their marital union that they'll have you'll
they'll go to their wife's Catholic Church and they'll bow down before the
statue of Mary or you got guys like JD Vance whose wife's a Hindu you know and
it's like who knows the different things that he's compromised on of course he's
a Catholic who's not even saved anyways but you know what God says thou shalt
not make them thou shalt not bow down to them nor should you worship them so
it's like these people that are in this situation would it be right for them
just to bow down bow down to the idol but don't actually really believe it in
your heart no that would be wicked that would be evil look at verse number 12 it
says there are certain Jews so now now Shadrach Meshach and Abednego are being
accused to the king there are certain Jews whom now has set over the affairs
of the province of Babylon Shadrach Meshach and Abednego these men oh king
have not regarded thee they serve not thy gods nor worship the golden image
which thou has set up I want you to notice how these Jews Shadrach Meshach
and Abednego how they were set over the affairs of Babylon don't ever think that
because you reach a certain position in life that you still won't face
persecution as a Christian or that you won't ever be in a kind of compromising
situation where you've got to pick between your faith or something that the
world wants you to do no matter how high you climb at your job no matter if
there's a Christian in politics you know the rulers of Babylon are always gonna
be at odds with you even if you're over the provinces here hey you know these
people aren't regarding your gods nor worshiping the golden image which now
set up then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach
Meshach and Abednego then they brought these men before the king and again
these are just words that we read but imagine the most powerful king of the
earth at this time that just took over your nation that just completely subdued
your kingdom is ruling over the nations with fury and anger and you're brought
before the physical presence of this king who is furious and angry you know
what you're gonna feel in this situation fear that's what you would feel and you
know what you would feel you would feel this intense pressure to cave this
intense pressure to compromise to go along to get along notice verse 14
Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them is it true oh Shadrach Meshach and
Abednego do not you serve my gods nor worship the golden image which I have
set up now these men had an incredibly high faith but your average person here
would be stuttering would be stammering would be oh no worries King hey I'll do
whatever you want I'll bow I'll do whatever but notice it says now if you
be ready at what time you hear the sound of the cornet flute harp sackbut
psaltery and dulcimer and all kinds of music you fall down and worship the
image which I have made well but if you worship not ye shall be cast the same
hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace and who is that God shall
deliver you out of my hands don't just read this story feel it imagine what
what these men have just been told is that you will bow and worship my false
God that I've set up or you will meet your death within the next 60 minutes
you will be dead in the same hour I'm gonna heat up this burning fiery
furnace and we are gonna cast you into the midst boy oh boy if there's ever a
time you're gonna be tempted to lie tempted to compromise tempted to lose
your integrity wouldn't it be a time like this but notice verse 16 Shadrach
Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king oh Nebuchadnezzar we are not
careful to answer thee in this matter don't skip over how unbelievably high
faith these men have where they said look we're not even stuttering we're not
even stammering we're not even shaking hey we are not even careful to answer
you they've already made up their mind they've already decided to retain their
integrity no matter what if it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us
from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand okay
imagine talking like that to the most powerful man on earth but guess what the
Lord Jesus Christ is more powerful than any man on earth verse 18 but if not
notice that but if not be it known unto the okay that we will not serve thy
gods nor worship the golden image which thou has set up hey we're not careful
they answer you we are not gonna bow to your golden image and God is gonna
deliver us from the burning fiery furnace now does that match up with
human logic does that may it match up with humanistic reasoning it's like
human flesh versus furnace you know who wins the furnace wins every single time
right but yet these men have total faith that if they remain if they retain their
integrity if they don't compromise if they don't lie that God is gonna deliver
them from the burning fiery furnace and guess what they said if not even if
God does not deliver us because guess what God doesn't owe us anything you
know what's owed to us is burning for eternity in hell and he's given us
grace and salvation in Jesus Christ you know he doesn't owe anything to us so
hey even if he doesn't deliver us we are still gonna remain our have our
integrity we are still not going to bow and you know there's this idea out there
it's like well you know if life is at stake it's okay to lie well this story
wouldn't be in the Bible we wouldn't have this great story of faith here of
someone retaining their integrity it was just oh if your life's at stake go ahead
and lie no how about you keep your integrity how about you keep your
integrity and do what's right and give God the opportunity to come through in
a great way now look you could pull 99.99 percent of the population and get
them to understand and agree why someone would want to lie in this situation but
guess what that story wouldn't be in the Bible then what's the rest of the story
look at verse 19 then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury in the form of his visage
that's his face was changed against Shadrach Meshach and Abednego therefore
he spake and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more
than it was want to be heated oh you think God's gonna get you out of this
well I'm just gonna heat it seven times hotter then and see what's gonna happen
then he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach
Meshach and Abednego and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace you got
the most powerful king you got the furnace seven times hotter and you've
got the most mighty men in his army and they're tying those knots real tight
they're making sure you're bound real good then it says then these men were
bound in their coats their hosen and their hats and their other garments and
were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace and you know it's like
these men had great faith but I kind of wonder were they thinking this is the
but-if-not situation or were they still like fully convinced that God was just
gonna bring them through but hey they actually got cast into the furnace they
did not bow when it would have been easy for them to do so easy to compromise
they actually get cast into that furnace and it says in these three men Shadrach
Meshach and Abednego fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery
furnace then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished and rose up in haste and
spake and said unto his counselors did not we cast three men bound into the
midst of the fire they answered and said unto the king true okay you know he gets
up with a start and he's just astonished his eyes are probably huge he's like
what just happened you guys threw three in right he answered and said lo I see
four men loose notice loose walking in the midst of the fire and they have no
hurt and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God what is that that is a
pre New Testament appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ see if they would have
lied if they would have caved if they would have lost their integrity then
they wouldn't have had the Lord Jesus Christ bail them out of this great
situation here and notice how it says that they see them walking loose they
were just tied by the strongest men in the army and then Jesus shows up and
just unties them and they're just walking loose in the fire feeling no
hurt why because whatever impossible situation or difficult situation you
feel like you're in in your life if you remain your integrity if you retain your
integrity you're giving God a great opportunity to deliver you and to come
through in a miraculous way makes me think about evangelist for who had a
situation with his job how he had persecution for his preaching and you
know what he didn't back down he did not apologize he didn't say oh I'm sorry
let me whatever idol you want me to worship down at I'll do it I'll do it no
no he just took it he got fired and he got a greater job and he made more money
and he got blessed by God and people they just think the worst of you're like
this situation is impossible I have to lie here to save my own skin I have to
lose my integrity no no no keep your integrity because that's what gives God
the great opportunity to deliver you some of my favorite verses in the Bible
Proverbs 3 5 says trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thy
known understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy
paths be not wise in thine own eyes fear the Lord and depart from evil see if
you're leaning on your own understanding then you would say if I don't bow I will
die therefore I should bow right if I don't give into the king then I'll be
thrown into this fire furnace so I'll just do whatever the king says that's
leaning on your own understanding right but what are we supposed to do trust in
the Lord with all thine heart if God gives us a command then we should just
obey that command no matter what type of reasoning you have or what type of pain
or consequences you think you're gonna receive by obeying God's command it's
just you should always obey God's commandments period let's go to another
story that illustrates this Daniel chapter number six can you tell I read
Daniel this weekend that's where this sermon came from right
Daniel chapter number six there's another great example of just keeping
your integrity Daniel chapter six verse four says then the presidents and
princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom but they
could not find they could find none occasion nor fault for as much as he was
faithful neither was there any error or fault found in him so notice this is a
man of integrity he's a man of upstanding moral character and these
people notice what it says in verse 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 and that's always good when the reason the world's mad at you
is because of your faith in God right these men say hey Daniel's a man of
integrity we're not gonna get anything against this guy he's not cheating on
his taxes he's not clocking in at different times he shouldn't be or
anything like that we have to get something against him according to his
religion or we're not going to get anything against him at all verse 6
then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king and said
thus unto him King Darius live forever all the presidents of the kingdom the
governors and the princes the counselors and the captains have consulted
together to establish a royal statute to make a firm decree that whosoever
shall ask a petition of any god or man for 30 days save of the o King he shall
be cast into the den of lions what do you have here you have a law against
prayer and again don't just read these words you have you cannot pray you
cannot ask a petition of any man or God except for the king for 30 days otherwise
what you're cast into the den of lions and just like you would see the flames
feel the heat smell the smoke and it would give you that sense of doom and
dread how in the same way if you saw a bunch of lions in a cage snarling and
growling and you see their strength and prowess and the thought of you just
being cast in with them would just give you that dread boy oh boy would this be
a time where a normal human being would be tempted to compromise you'd be tempted
to say hey no one's gonna know if I don't pray no one's gonna know you know
I could just I could just go along to get along for 30 days no big deal I can
just compromise in this situation but notice and by the way you say this would
never happen really because a few years ago a woman in England was arrested for
praying silently outside of an abortion clinic look it up she's just standing
there and the police asked her what are you doing and she says she's praying
silently in her head and the police lock her up and take her to jail so there's
some crazy you know times that we're living in here but that was the case
here in the book of Daniel and notice verse 10 it says now notice these three
words I love this when Daniel knew that the writing was signed see Daniel was
not ignorant of this law he's not saying like oh you know ignorance is
bliss I didn't hear about this law oh he knew that it got passed oh he knows the
government said no praying to God 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 a four-time hey the Lord does not change
his commandments do not change and God wants us to pray to him you know we're
supposed to pray without ceasing God would that we pray always and so Daniel
knew the law changed and even though he knew the law change he still went up he
still opened the windows and it's not that he's you know trying to bring
attention to himself the Bible says that he did this a four-time so what is this
this is retaining his integrity right hey he prayed before it was illegal he's
gonna continue to pray after it's illegal the Bible teaches that we ought
to obey God rather than men right we should obey human government but when
human government is putting us in a situation where we have to either obey
human government or lose our integrity of keeping God's commandments well then
at that point you should disobey the government you should keep your
integrity of obeying God's commandments notice verse number 11 then these men
assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God so
notice then all the tattletales they get all angry they tell the they tell
the king about everything verse number 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 serviced continually he will deliver thee so
notice how weak this leader is like this leader you can tell he doesn't even want
to put Daniel into the den of lions because he is a man of integrity and he's
just saying well Daniel you know hate to do this to you but don't worry God God
will get you out of this of course Daniel believes that he's cast into the den of
lions verse 17 and the 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 man imagine how that
would feel you're in that den of lions you hear that big heavy stone roll back
it's just like there you are you and those lions right it'd be a scary
situation then the king went to his palace and past the night fasting neither
were instruments of music brought before him and his sleep went from him so he's
very troubled by this then the king arose very early in the morning and went
in haste unto the den of lions when he came to the den he cried with a
lamentable voice unto Daniel and the king spake and said to Daniel oh Daniel
servant of the living God is thy God whom thou serviced continually able to
deliver thee from the lions then Daniel then said Daniel unto the king okay live
forever what a great response doesn't he doesn't say yes okay live forever my God
have sent his angel and have shut the lion's mouths and they have not hurt me
for as much as before him innocency was found in me and also before the o king
have I done no hurts and those God sent his angels into that lions den and who
knows what that looks like does that look like the angels just saying like
down kitty right and just like it obeys or those angels just like keeping those
lions mouths shut I don't know what it is but it's a cool story and it's a
story you wouldn't have in your Bible if Daniel compromised if Daniel just let
his integrity go if Daniel thought I'll just lie to say that I'm not praying
anyways well then we wouldn't have this great story of faith and why is it that
God even gives us these stories because guess what we're gonna go through
situations in life where we are tempted to compromise as well where we are
tempted to lose our integrity where we are tempted to lie where we are tempted
to obfuscate the truth or cover things up or lie for someone else don't do it
retain your integrity and see God come through for you in a great way go to
Job chapter 2 Job chapter number 2 Proverbs 28 verse 13 says he that covereth
his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsake of them shall
have mercy here's the thing it doesn't mean that people like Daniel doesn't
mean like Shadrach Meshach and Abednego are just these sinless people that never
make mistakes that never have sin in their entire life but you know what a
person with integrity when they mess up they're gonna confess that sin and
they're gonna forsake that sin so I don't want you to get the idea of
reading these type of stories and just thinking like you know Daniel is a
Superman who doesn't sin and Shadrach Meshach and Abednego are Superman that
don't sin no the Bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God so you shouldn't even look at these stories saying like that's unattainable
faith that's something I can never have no no these are sinful people but they're
men of integrity if they have messed up they confess and forsake those things
and they receive mercy. Job 2 verse 3 the Bible says 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 fear of God and escheweth evil and
still he holdeth fast his integrity although thou movest me against him to
destroy him without cause." So notice even though you know Satan had moved the
Lord to allow Job's children to die in that tragic accident and Job has just
lost all of his children God's bragging on him say look at this man's integrity
look at how he has not foolishly charged me how he has not cursed me how he has
kept his integrity throughout this process. "First four and Satan answered the
Lord and said skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he give for his life but
put forth now put forth thine hand now and touch his bone in his flesh and he
will curse thee to thy face and the Lord said unto Satan behold he is in thine
hand but save his life so went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord and
smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown and he took
him a posture to scrape himself with all and he sat down among the ashes again a
situation that if many people were going through would be a situation that they
would very quickly lose their integrity where they would very quickly foolishly
charge God and say why God why are you doing this evil to me how could you do
this to me God right you could see how people would have that reaction when you
lose all your children when you lose your health when you're sitting in
sackcloth and ashes and scraping yourself scraping boils on your body
with a potsherd sounds horrific sounds terrible and then this is the cherry on
top verse 9 then said his wife unto him dust thou still retain nine integrity
curse God and die Wow what a what a really supportive spouse here she's
angry that he's retained his integrity are you still retaining your integrity
let's just die let's just curse God and die verse 10 but he sent unto her thou
speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh by the way that's what a real
husband does when your wife is being a loudmouth you tell her she's wrong thou
speaketh speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh what shall we receive
good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil and all this did not Job
sin with his lips no no matter how hard of a situation no matter the immense
pain an intense tragedy that Job just went through he was just the kind of guy
that is never going to lose his integrity he says though he slay me yet
will I trust him I mean that's them pretty much the max someone could do to
you right hey the fur the fiery furnace that's death the lion's den that's death
hey though he slay me that's death but these were just men that said hey be
thou faithful into death I'll do it I'm willing to die I'm willing to keep my
integrity all the way to the end and look these type of people where they're
willing to keep their integrity even at the threat of death they'll definitely
keep their integrity at the threat of their job they'll definitely keep their
integrity at the threat of what their congregation thinks about them they'll
definitely keep their keep their integrity based on what other people
feel about them whether or not other people like them I mean these people are
just men with integrity and why show you all that to get you to realize that God
will bless those that endeavor to do right purpose in your heart to do right
do not give yourself this get out of jail free card well if I'm in a really
bad spot if it's really tough if it makes sense for me to lie in this
situation then I'll do it then I'll compromise then I'll bow no no just say
never bow never compromise never do these things allow God to come through
for you in a mighty way go to Proverbs 10 number two this evening I want to say
this God will punish those who conspire to do evil number one God will bless
those who are endeavoring to do right number two God will punish those who
conspire to do evil Proverbs 10 verse 9 he that walketh up rightly walketh
surely that's a man with integrity but he that perverteth his ways shall be
known right so here's the thing a man with integrity he walks surely he's
confident about where he's going in life because God has his back but someone
that perverts his ways notice it will be known it will be manifest it will become
obvious to someone when someone's not a person of integrity when someone is one
of these people that conspire to do evil look at Proverbs 28 look at a few more
verses on this Proverbs chapter number 28 Proverbs 28 verse 10 who so caused it
the righteous to go astray in an evil way he shall fall himself into his own
pit but the upright shall have good things in possession notice there are
those that would conspire to cause the righteous to go astray into an evil way
that's a person that is conspiring to do evil and what happens to that person
they have God working against them instead of God working on the other side
causing miracles to happen causing things to happen that just surpass human
understanding doing great and wonderful things no one said he's gonna make sure
that you fall into your own pit it does not pay it does not pay off to be wicked
there's no reward to the evil man don't do it don't be one of these people that
conspire to do evil thinking that you will get away with it you will not God
will make sure that as you're digging a pit for someone else that you will fall
right into your own pit go to Acts chapter number five Acts chapter number
five and look of course this would apply to the unsaved of course this would
apply to reprobates there's definitely reprobates that are just every day
constantly dreaming up evil inventing evil things thinking about how they
could conspire against the Lord and his anointed but even sometimes there's
saved people that conspire to do wickedly and those people also will be
punished you know the story I automatically think of is Acts chapter
number five verse one the Bible says but a certain man named Ananias with
Sapphira his wife sold a possession so they're selling their house they're
selling land something like that and noticing kept back part of the price his
wife also being privy to it and brought a certain part and laid it at the
Apostles feet so what's going on here is they sell land and the husband wife make
a deal with each other hey we're gonna keep back a part of this price we're
we're knowingly gonna kind of lie and deceive in this situation together and
hold back a part of the price then it says in verse number three but Peter
said Ananias why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to
keep back part of the price of the land so I don't know if what's happening here
is that they're trying to like just donate it all to the work of God and
saying like oh yeah this is the full price of the house and they're trying to
be seen as being very godly in people's eyes or something like that and
obviously it seems like God is just working some sort of miracle here to
give Peter this information so that Peter can know that they're lying and he
says that Satan has filled this man's heart to lie to the Holy Ghost to keep
back a part of the price of the land verse 4 it says while it remained was it
not thine own and after it was sold was it not in thine own power why has thou
conceived this thing in thine heart thou has not lied unto men but unto God
he's saying look this was your property this was your possession no one ever
said you had to you know give this as some offering to the church that you
have to give a hundred percent of your gross revenue of the sale of your house
to the church or something like that no one asked that of you you know this
isn't like what was that I saw some video of this black preacher I think it
was in Texas where he's like shut the door shut the doors we're not we're not
leaving this place till we get this amount of money like that's not how Peter
is that's not how God is they they never asked them to do this right so if they
are saying though if they're gonna say hey we are gonna give this out of our
own heart of our own goodwill we're gonna sell this house and give a hundred
percent of the proceeds to church but they're lying that's extremely wicked
lying about spiritual things is just like a next-level type of lying where
you're saying oh yeah I'm giving it all to God I'm giving all my money to God
but really you kept back part of the price for you and your wife it was yours
you didn't need to lie you didn't need to lose your integrity in this situation
verse number five in Ananias hearing these words fell down and gave up the
ghost in great fear came on all them that heard these things and the young
man arose wound him up and carried him out and buried him see a lot of times
people think like oh lying isn't that big of a deal to God it's just little
white lies and even sometimes out soul-witting will show people look
murderers the abominable I mean liars I mean we've all done that right but look
at how angry God is at this lie that they're lying about keeping back part of
the price to where God literally kills this person in the New Testament God
kills someone for lying that's I mean that should be a wake-up call for people
and these people just lost their integrity thinking that it would be
worth it thinking that they would get the praise and adulation of men but what
happens they they dug that pit of lies and they fell right into it they fell
into the pit literally I mean they're going down into the grave verse 7 and it
was about the space of three hours after when his wife not knowing what was done
came in so she doesn't know her husband's dead verse 8 and Peter
answered unto her tell me whether you sold the land for so much and she said
yay for so much he's saying hey I want to get the facts straight is this what
happened did you did you sell the land for so much and notice she lies just
like her husband she lies together with her husband notice verse number 9 then
Peter said under how is it that you have agreed together to tempt the spirit of
the Lord behold the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door
and shall carry thee out so she just learned in one sentence that her
husband is dead and that she's about to die was it really worth it to lose your
integrity did it really pay off did you get what you were looking for the praise
of men no you got death is what you got then fell she down straightway at his
feet and yielded up the ghost and young men came in and found her dead and
carrying her forth buried her by her husband and great fear came upon all the
church and upon as many as heard these things notice how these people conspired
together to lie it's I mean it's not bad enough that one person is willing to lie
to the Holy Ghost which the Bible says is God by the way in this chapter it's
how we can know that God the Holy Ghost is God but not only was it enough just
for that one person to lie husband and wife got together and conspired to lie
to the Holy Ghost and you know one lesson we should draw from this is that
you should have no human relationship in your life that you're so comfortable
with that you're willing to sin together that you're willing to lie
together you know what a good marriage is one where if your spouse lied you
would correct that say honey that's not right let's not do that that's not gonna
be pleasing to God hey that's only gonna hurt us if we lie you know one person
Needs to be the one with integrity to help pull that other person out of the wrong path that they're starting to go down
And you know what husbands and wives?
Getting together and conspiring to lie is so evil so wicked and God literally killed people for it
You know, you should be afraid of doing something like that. You shouldn't be so comfortable even with your own wife where it's like
Hey, honey, you know, no one's looking let's drink together. Let's have a beer together. Let's go sin together
Let's go do this together. Let's lie together and to the Holy Ghost. No, no
you should not be that comfortable even with your spouse and let me say this there's other situations like this that happen to you should have no
Friendships where you're so comfortable with your friends that it's so cool for you guys to gossip back and forth with each other
That's evil. That's wicked. And that's not a good friend. These were not good spouses to each other
Because when one spouse brings the idea, hey, I've got a good idea. Let's lie to church
Let's lie to the Holy Ghost. Let's lie to the man of God
Then the other spouse should have said no no no now speak is like one of the foolish women speak right or vice versa
Hey, honey, you know, let's not sin. Let's not do that. That's a bad idea. Let's not go down that route
Okay, same with friendships. It's not like oh, you're my friend. I'm your friend. Let's just gossip with each other
That's totally cool cuz we're friends bad idea bad friend. That person will burn you you're going down a wrong path
Oh, no, it's totally cool. We're friends. So we're gonna agree to lie together boy. Oh boy
I'm sure that's gonna be a great friendship that you're gonna reap in that situation
Friendships built on toxicity and lies and gossip. I'm sure that's really not gonna bite you down the road foolishness folks
Do not go down that route keep your integrity
You will regret losing your integrity don't do it and like we read at the beginning in Psalm 25
When you lose when you keep your integrity you keep yourself away from the dissemblers from the evil workers from the congregation of the wicked
It's worth it to keep your integrity go to Proverbs 13. We read this this morning Galatians chapter 6 verse 7 says be not deceived
God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soeth that shall he also reap
Hey, if you sow a marriage built on sinning together, you're gonna reap a terrible toxic marriage
If you have friendships based on sin based on gossip based on lies based on slandering of other people
You're gonna reap terrible things from that. You will reap what you sow God will reveal these things
God will make these things known
Proverbs 13 verse 20 the Bible says he that walketh with wise men shall be wise but a companion of fools
Shall be destroyed you will eventually become the type of person you are friends with which is why I preached last week
You should try to be friends with people that are better than you
Hey be friends with people that are more on fire for God than you that love soul winning more than you that loved the Bible
More than you that hates sin more than you because when you try to gossip to them when you try to slander other people
They're gonna shut it down and you know what's gonna happen
You're gonna walk with a wise man and you're gonna wake up one day and you're gonna be wise
Because you've walked with wise men, but the Bible says but a companion of fools shall be destroyed
You listen to stupid people you're around stupid people
You're around gossipers and liars and tattlers and busybodies and slanderers
That's what you're gonna become and you're gonna reap that and I don't want that for people go to first Kings chapter number 21 first
Kings chapter number 21
First Kings chapter number 21 think about the story of Jezebel right and think about the end that she faced
Let's read about this first Kings chapter number 21 verse 4 the Bible says in Ahab came into his house heavy and
Displeased because of the word which Naboth the jezreelite had spoken to him for he said
I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers
And he laid him down upon his bed and turned away his face and would eat no bread
I mean he have he wants this field is so funny. It would have beta male this guy is right
He wants this field he asked his neighbor for the field the guy says no and he's like well fine
He gets in bed and he turns against the wall and he crosses his arm and he's starting. He's fasting
I'm gonna kill myself. I need anymore, right?
But Jezebel his wife his knight in shining armor came to him and said unto him
why is thy spirit so sad that thou eatest no bread and he said unto her because I
Spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite and said unto him give me thy vineyard for money or else if it please thee
I will give thee another vineyard for it and he answered
I will not give thee my vineyard and Jezebel's wife said unto him
Does thou now govern the kingdom of Israel arise and eat bread and let thine heart be merry and I will give thee
The vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. Cheer up, honey. I'll take care of this situation for you
Don't you worry you get out of bed, honey. You get some food right now mama's taking care of this
All right, I'll get you that vineyard. All right verse 8
So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal and sent the letters unto the elders and the nobles that were
In a city dwelling with Naboth and she wrote in the letter saying proclaim a fast and set Naboth on high among the people
Notice this here's the conspiracy and set two men sons of Belial before him to bear witness against him saying
Thou didst blaspheme God and the king and then carry him out and stone him that he may die
And you know what if you read the full story they carried this out this evil wicked woman decided to conspire to bring false witnesses
Against this person to say that you blasphemed God you blaspheme the king go ahead and just convict him on these two false
Witnesses and then kill him and let him die
I mean what an evil woman over a piece of land over a piece of ground
You know people that just have no integrity people that are respecters of persons
I mean for a piece of bread will that person transgress the Bible says and so it's a major red flag
When someone has no integrity because it's kind of scary like what will you do? What won't you do?
I mean, are you are you willing to lie to the Holy Ghost?
I mean, are you willing to lie to the man of God? I mean, are you willing to lie to church?
I mean, are you willing to lie if it gets someone literally killed to get what you want?
That's a scary scary person. And of course, what did Jezebel reap? Did she get what she want?
Did she live a happy prosperous life? No, she ended up getting chucked out of a window and her blood splat splattering upon a wall and
Horses trotting over her dead body and dogs eating her corpse and licking up her blood. It's not worth it to lose your integrity
It's not worth it to go down this dark path
Look, you dig that pit God will make sure that you fall back into it
Whether you're unsaved wicked evil woman like Jezebel or whether you're saved like Ananias and Sapphira
You will you will reap what you sow and so you should fear God and realize that those that conspire to do evil
God will punish those people God will come down on those people and you may think you're getting away with it
You may think people aren't finding out but God knows God knows the truth go to Proverbs 28 Proverbs chapter number 28
Number three this evening. I want to say this it's better to have little with integrity than a lot with wickedness
Hey, it's you know what if you don't get that
Vineyard that you wanted to increase your property size and your property value, but you still have your integrity
That's better than losing your integrity and getting that vineyard at someone's innocent blood expense
Proverbs 28 verse 6 the Bible says better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness
Than he that is perverse in his ways though. He be rich see it's not worth it to succeed financially by sinning
It's not worth it to succeed financially to become rich by ripping people off by preying on the foolish
By preying on you know the people in the ghetto or something like this with these loan shark type loans
Oh, we'll give you an early cash out on your paycheck
And you just have to repay with 50% interest or something like that
You know these insane schemes that are out there
No, it's better to be poor and have your uprightness to walk in your uprightness go to Psalm 81
Hey, so when it comes to money, it's better to have a little money with integrity than a lot of money without your integrity
I'll say this it's better to have a little bit of power or influence than it is to have a lot or sorry
It's a better to have a little bit of power influence with your integrity than a lot by being wicked, right?
Because what are things that people crave money and they're willing to lose their integrity to gain money
What's something else people want power authority a position and oftentimes people will do things that are wrong cut corners to get to that position
Notice what the Bible says in Psalm 81 verse 10 for a day in my courts is better than a thousand
I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my god than to dwell in the tents of wickedness
hey when it comes to power or authority or
Position, you know what?
I'd rather be a doorkeeper in my local New Testament church than to be in the tents of wickedness
Then to get exalted to some high position to be the governor to be the president of the United States
because you know how a lot of people get there by being super wicked and evil and ripping people off and
Being just very wicked individuals. You'd rather be the doorkeeper. You'd rather have less power
You were either would not have that high position
But actually have your integrity then compromise and lose it and get that power that you're seeking
How about friends go to Psalm 104 Psalm 104?
It's better to have a few friends with integrity than it is to be mrs
Popular or mr. Popular and just have all these vain friends, right?
You know the football captain of the high school. Do you really think he has a lot of friends to this day?
You know the the most famous girl that everyone liked in high school
Does everyone still like her today or did she surround herself with a bunch of vain bad friends, right?
Or people often who have money. Hey, everyone's a friend to him that is rich, right?
But what would you rather have a few friends who have integrity or just I have a million Facebook friends
But they're all just vain and shallow and they'll talk crap about you and they'll turn about turn on you on a dime
You know, you don't want friends like that. So I'm 104 verse 4
The Bible says incline not my heart to any evil thing to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity
And let me not eat of their dainties. Notice this let the righteous smite me
It shall be a kindness and let him reprove me. It shall be an excellent oil which shall not break my head
All right, it's not gonna break your bones. It's not gonna crush your skull when someone cracks you, right?
Yet forget my prayer also shall be in their calamities
Hey, you'd rather be friends with a righteous person who will smite you who will reprove you
Then to be friends with someone that'll gossip and lie about you, right?
But a lot of times people don't really want they don't want that person that's gonna be their real friend and say you've done wrong
You did this wrong. You lied. You shouldn't have said that you shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't have gone there
You shouldn't have drank that you shouldn't have done these things, right?
Hey, but you know what if you actually want to be around good people
He that walketh with wise men shall be right wise you say hey, let the righteous smite me
Hey, you know good friends
Let the people that are wise people that know the Bible let them smite me. It shall be a kindness, right?
So when righteous people correct you when righteous people give you counsel, that's love. That's kindness
Let him reprove me. It shall be an excellent oil, you know
I'd be I'd rather be friends with people that reprove me that tell me what when I'm doing wrong that I'm doing wrong
Rather than be friends with the person that says yeah, I'll go live to the Holy Ghost with you
Yeah, I'll go slander with you. Oh, you want to start drinking now? Cool. I'll start drinking with you. No problem
Oh, you want to start smoking that now? Yeah, let's do it. I'll smoke with you
Oh, you don't want to go so many anymore. No problem
Oh, you want to gather together and be false witnesses to take some someone down or something like that?
Yeah, I'll do that with you. No problem. You don't want to be around people like that
You'd rather be have a few friends with integrity then just be friends with everyone
You know who really needs to hear this is teenagers
Teenagers really need to hear this because teens just want to be cool. They just want to be accepted
They just want to be liked but I'm telling you you just don't want to be friends with everyone
You really don't person who's friends with everyone is friends with no one and you'll wake up just completely miserable and lonely
Good mark chapter number six. I'll say this
It's better to lose while retaining your integrity than it is to win quote unquote by being wicked
What do I mean by that? Well, how about the story of John the Baptist?
Look what it says in mark chapter number six verse 27 and immediately the king
Sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought and he went and beheaded him in the prison
And he brought his head in a charger and gave it to the damsel and the damsel gave it to her mother
Now most people would look at the end of John the Baptist life and said this this guy lost
I mean this guy lost his head literally and no one wants to meet this type of an end
But you know what?
It's better to be the preacher that dies for Christ with his integrity preaching hard against sin
Calling out the wickedness of Herod having his brother's wife and even losing your own head than it is to bow down
To cower to compromise to give in and say okay. No worries. It's all good. Go ahead and have your brother's wife
I just want to keep my head because here's the thing John the Baptist is in heaven today
John the Baptist is alive today in the presence of God
John the Baptist has great rewards in heaven and John the Baptist does not regret
Keeping his integrity John the Baptist does not regret dying young John the Baptist does not regret
Preaching hard against sin and losing his head for it
And look if you want to be a preacher you better retain your integrity
You better be willing to preach anything no matter who it offends
You better be willing to preach hard against sin and you know what that could even lead someday to some people losing their life
We've seen a man shot this year. That was just killed for his political opinions in Charlie Kirk
You don't think that couldn't happen to a religious figure
You don't think that could happen to a man of God preaching way harder things than Charlie Kirk ever preached
But you know what? I would rather die at 31 years old like Charlie Kirk then die an old coward
I would rather die young
Pastoring a church full of just die-hard Christians of integrity that want zero compromise on the Word of God
Then die an old pastor filled with a church full of a bunch of people that don't even agree on doctrine
You know, they're super carnal that are super backslidden
No, no, I would rather lose if that means dying early if that means going out like John the Baptist
I'd rather lose with my integrity then win whatever that means by losing my integrity
What is winning to a lot of people today becoming rich getting a huge building getting hundreds and hundreds of members, right?
Well, guess what if you do that and you don't compromise on the preaching and you still rip face
And you still fill out the map of your state and goes full winning super hard and you don't cut anything back
Praise God for that
but you know what you cut back in the Bible and you stop preaching hard sermons and you
Compromise and you become a politician and you win
You know what?
You're the one that's lost and I'd rather stay in the small itty-bitty building with 30 people that love God
I'd rather stay there keeping my integrity then quote winning and becoming an old, you know loser becoming someone
That's just a compromise. It's like what is the point?
I don't get people want to be preachers and be pastors and not just preach what the Bible says
Why do you know not just compromise like that? I'd rather lose remaining my integrity go to Luke chapter number
22 Luke chapter number 22. Let me say this I'd rather keep my dignity with my integrity then lose my dignity by sinning
What am I thinking of? I'm thinking about the story of Peter, right? Peter denying Christ
He didn't lose his salvation, but I do believe that when he denied Christ
He lost his dignity as a man of God Luke 22 verse 55 says
When they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall and were set down together
Peter sat down among them
But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire and earnestly looked upon him and said this man was also with him
What is this? This is that moment where you're pressured to compromise, right?
We saw that with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. We see that with Daniel
We see that with different men of God throughout the Bible where they reach that moment that crossroads
Where are you gonna compromise? Are you going to lie?
Are you gonna deny Christ or are you gonna retain your integrity and allow God to come through for you in a mighty way?
Unfortunately, Peter made the wrong decision here verse 57 and he denied him saying woman. I know him
Not I'm sure Peter does not like that. Those words are in the Bible, right?
I would not like for that to be my story. It's like pastor Oz
He had that moment where he was tempted to compromise and he denied him and he said
I know him not now on one hand this verse can be comforting in the sense of if you've made a mistake in this area before
And if you mess up in this area, of course
God can use you again and you should never just give up even when you did
Compromise because of course the Lord Jesus Christ ends up telling Peter a Peter
Loves down me more than these feed my sheep feed my sheep feed my lambs
And you know what Peter went to be a great man of God
So I'm not saying like oh you've ever compromised one time in your life. God's just done with you
It's over. No, no, no, but you should just confess and forsake it. You should just say hey, I was wrong
I compromised I got weak
I need to go forward doing right but obviously you just want to skip this phase altogether
Ideally verse 58 and after a little while another saw him and said thou art also of them and Peter said man
I am not and about the space of one hour
After another confidently affirmed saying of a truth this fellow also was with him for he is a Galilean and Peter said man
I know not what thou sayest and immediately while he yet spake the cock crew verse 61
imagine this scene and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter and Peter remembered the word of the Lord how he had said unto
Him before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice and Peter went out and wept bitterly so imagine that moment
Oh, I don't know him
I don't know him that cock crows and then the the gaze of the Lord Jesus Christ countenance just looks at you
I'm sure that was a terrifying look
I'm sure that was that was just such a gut punch to him where Jesus he didn't have to say anything
He was he just communicated with his face and Peter in this moment. He lost his dignity
He lost he traded in his integrity of standing up and Lord Jesus Christ. You know what? He lost his dignity
He went out and he just wept bitterly. That's not a cry. That's not a snivel. He's weeping
Bitterly that is a very intense cry that he's going with you know
What so it's just it's better to keep your dignity by keeping your integrity then sacrificing your dignity by sacrificing your integrity
Go to psalm 26 psalm chapter 26 will end here. What do we learn this evening number one?
God's going to bless those who endeavor to do right do not give yourself an out
Don't sit here and do human logic exercises with yourself of why your situation is the exception to why you think you should lie
Why you should think you think you should conspire?
Why you think think you should compromise no no just keep your integrity because God blesses those that endeavor to do right number two
God will punish those who conspire to do evil. You should fear the Lord God will chasten his children
And if he sees God's people conspiring to do evil he will punish that he will make that known and number three
It's better to have little with integrity than a lot with wickedness
So I'm 26 verse 9 the Bible says gather not my soul with sinners nor my life with bloody men and
Whose hands is mischief and their right hand is full of bribes who wants to be around people like that who wants to be?
Around sinners bloody men men who are mischievous and men who have bribes in their right hand
Who wants to go hang out at Epstein Island and be among that scum? No, you don't but as for me
I will walk in mine integrity redeem me be merciful unto me my foot standeth in even a place in the
Congregations will I bless the Lord, you know the psalmist he just made a decision for himself
He just he pondered the path of his feet. He decided the direction that he's going in life
He says hey, I will walk in mine integrity
And you know what being a person of integrity is a choice that you get to make
It's not a choice that your spouse can make for you
It's not a choice your parents can make for you or your pastor can make for you
You just have to get to the place that the psalmist got to and say you know what?
I don't want to be around the bloody men. I don't want to be around these vain men
I don't want to be around sinners. I will walk in mine integrity. Let's pray Lord. Thank you for your word
I pray that every single person in here would realize that it does not pay to sin. They're not going to get away with it
It's not worth going down that road
So help us all just to make the decision to be people that walk in integrity
Help us to seek out other friends to fellowship with who also want to walk in their integrity help us to find
people that are better than us to follow them to follow their example to let them edify us Lord and
Let us be willing to have friends that would even correct us even spite us with their words and correct us
Realizing that that would be a kindness unto us help us to be a church of integrity
Jesus name we pray. Amen song this evening number
425
425 no room in the end
425 425 no room in the end first