I want to go through these first few chapters of the book of Job and kind of look at some
things that were happening in his life, but we start in verse one again.
The Bible says, there was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was
perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed evil.
According to the Bible, Job was a perfect man.
What does that mean perfect?
It means he was complete, meaning that, you know, this is, you know, someone who has,
he's obviously saved.
He obviously believes in the Lord, but not only that, he also keeps his commandments
and not only just in some areas of his life and all areas of his life.
So he's complete in that way.
In every single area of his life, he's trying to serve God and he's doing it successfully.
This is not to say that he's with, he's flawless, that he has no sin in his life, that he doesn't
do things, you know, with, you know, he doesn't commit sin because the Bible says there's
not a just man upon the earth that do with good and sin and not.
So even though Job is a sinner, he's really kind of succeeding in the Christian life the
best possible way.
And it says he's fearing God and eschewing evil.
What does it mean to eschew?
It means he's avoiding and refraining himself from evil.
Okay.
Look at verse number two, and they were born in him seven sons and three daughters.
The substance also was seven thousand sheep and three thousand camels and five hundred
yoke of oxen and five hundred sheasses and a very great household so that this man was
the greatest of all the men of the east and his sons went and feasted in their houses
every one his day and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with
them.
And it was so when the days of the feasting were gone about that Job sent and sanctified
them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number
of them all.
For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.
Thus did Job continually.
Not only was Job concerned with his own problems, with his own issues and sins, he even committed
sacrifice unto the Lord.
He even committed himself unto asking pardon of his children just perchance they sinned.
Just even if their children did anything kind of wrong, Job wanted to be a covering of his
own children.
This guy obviously is a steaming other better than himself.
He's laying down his life.
He's very sacrificial.
He's loving his children.
He has great integrity.
He's very upright.
You can see why later in this chapter Satan is going to want to tempt Job.
Satan wants to knock this guy off his block.
He doesn't like that he's upright.
Look at verse 11.
So we skip down, Satan kind of asked God if you know he can tempt Job and it says in verse
11, but put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to
thy face.
And the Lord said unto Satan, behold, all that he hath is in thy power.
Only upon himself put not forth thine hand.
So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.
And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in
their eldest brother's house.
And there came a messenger unto Job and said, the oxen were plowing and the asses feeding
beside them.
And his abeyans fell upon them and took them away.
Yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I only am escaped alone
to tell thee.
While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, the fire of God has fallen
from heaven and had burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them.
And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, the Chaldeans made out three
bands and fell upon the camels and carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with
the edge of the sword, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
So what's happening in the book of Job?
Well, first of all we see that Job had great integrity.
Job was a very upright man.
Job is a perfect man.
Job is one who eschews evil.
And Satan comes and presents himself before the Lord and he says, well, does Job serve
you for naught?
I mean, of course Job serves you.
Look how blessed this guy is.
And when the Bible said he was the greatest man of the east, it's not talking the fact
like he's the best necessarily.
What it's meaning is he's the richest.
It's meaning he literally is the wealthiest guy.
He's the most blessed.
And so Satan's saying, well, of course Job's serving you.
I mean, look at all the blessings you've given unto him.
And Satan tells the Lord, you know what, if you curse Job, he won't have integrity.
He won't actually still do that, which is right.
He's not going to still worship you.
He's not going to still serve you.
He's not going to still love you.
That's what Satan wants to tempt and test Job with.
Do you have integrity?
And integrity is doing that, which is right when the chips are down.
When you actually, no one else is looking.
When you have reason or cause to be upset, but you know what, I'm still going to do the
right thing.
And the question is, how is Job going to respond when literally he has a stock market crash?
He loses his stocks, right?
His camel, his sheep.
He's got money and sheep and oxen and I mean everything, camels, all gone, all of his money
gone like that.
And you know, the reality is there's no new thing under the sun.
You know, you can lose all your money like that.
It can be gone overnight.
Someone can just come out of nowhere and just steal it from you.
Just gone.
He's like, what happened?
Like he was 18.
While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, thy sons and thy daughters
were eating and drinking wine in their elder brother's house.
And behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness and smoke the four corners of the
house and it fell upon the young men and they are dead.
And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
So not only did Job lose all of his money, just instantly, he even loses his children,
which is far, far worse than all your money.
I mean, I'll lose all my money 10 times over.
Losing my children is horrible.
That is very grievous to lose all your children just like that.
Verse 20.
I mean, and this guy, he's doing sacrifice for his children every day, mind you.
That's how much he loves his children.
Verse 20.
Then Job arose and ran his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and
worshiped and said, naked came out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither.
The Lord gave and the Lord had taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.
And all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly.
When all the pressure is upon Job to go against God, to commit sin, to charge him foolishly,
to get disgruntled, Job still blesses the Lord.
And we understand that it's not like God just wants Job to go through these sufferings and
in these bad things, but he's allowing it to test him.
He's allowing the devil to come and attempt and to test his heart to see if Job really
has the integrity that we're reading about, because starting in verse one, it sounds like
he's a great guy, but it sounds like you're a really good guy in the devil's mind if you're
getting blessed.
The devil wants to test that theory and say, well, what happens when the chips are down
with Job?
And we see Job passes, doesn't he?
He loses all of his money.
He loses all of his children and he still is blessing the Lord.
He's still worshiping God.
He still has a good attitude.
So Satan comes back to him.
Look at verse number three in chapter two.
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 moveth me against him to destroy him.
Notice this, without cause.
Now this is a very important verse in understanding the book of Job.
Some people want to think that Job was really prideful or he was really arrogant, or maybe
he shouldn't have had all that money or something.
They try to, they basically try to put kind of some sin onto Job, which is really what
his three friends do.
When you read the whole book of Job, it's just him constantly trying to blame Job and
tell him how wicked a sinner he is and all the things he did wrong.
And that's why he's being tempted and tried.
But according to God, out of the Lord's own mouth, he said, destroy him without cause,
meaning Job did nothing to deserve all this punishment.
So we can't look at someone's life and just because they lose all of their money, we can't
look at them and say, well, you just must be a horrible money manager.
You must just be in wicked sin.
You must just be X, Y, and Z.
Now 99% of the time, that probably is true.
Let me just get, okay, it usually is that's the case, but we see, we can't always be certain.
We don't know exactly why certain things happen and especially to righteous people, sometimes
you're going to live your life and bad things are going to happen.
You're not going to understand why, but according to the book of Job, God was allowing Job to
experience suffering to an extreme and it was nothing that he did to deserve it without cause.
Look at verse number 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 thine hand now and touch his
bone and his flesh and he will curse be to thy face.
And the Lord said unto Satan, behold, he's 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 poacher to scrape himself withal and he sat down among the ashes.
Then said his wife unto him, dost thou still retain thine integrity, curse God and die.
And the title of my sermon this evening is retain thine integrity.
We see the wife of Job asked a very important question.
Dost thou still retain thine integrity?
We see he gets to the bottom of the barrel.
I mean, he's reached it.
He's there.
You say, what about taking his wife?
Well, how about letting his wife just nag him?
That might be worse.
No, I'm just kidding.
Obviously losing my wife would be the worst thing a man could be, okay?
But we see he's lost everything.
His wife's nagging on him.
He's got nothing left.
He's in every kind of pain imaginable, physical pain, emotional pain.
He's got his marriage problems.
And she's like, why can't you just curse God and die?
And see, what is he doing?
He's holding on to his integrity.
Job has true integrity in his heart, meaning what?
He's going to do that which is right, period.
The question is, how are you going to do when the trials and temptations of life come upon
you?
And while we read this in Book of Job, I'll be honest with you, you most likely won't
go to the extremities of Job.
You know what?
You're going to have a lot of similar experiences of Job.
And my question is, are you going to retain that integrity?
When bad things happen to you, are you going to retain that integrity?
Are we going to see if you have any integrity, really?
But if you have integrity, my real question is, are you going to retain it?
Say, I've been coming to church.
I've been doing soul winning.
I've gone through some hard things.
Sounds like you got some integrity.
But here's my question.
Are you going to retain that integrity when the chips are down?
When something really hard comes into your life?
What does it mean to retain?
Continue to have something, keep possession of.
So notice when she asked Job if he's going to retain his integrity, he already had it.
You can't retain something that you never had.
So it's not like he didn't already have integrity.
Look, even in prosperity, even when things are going well, you can still have integrity.
The question is, when it goes badly, are you going to keep that integrity though?
Are you going to be able to withstand the pressures of this world?
What is integrity?
The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, moral uprightness.
Go to Psalms 25, Psalms 25, and we'll get a biblical definition of the word upright.
Because the Bible said that Job was upright.
He eschewed evil.
He's one that feareth God.
He's a perfect man.
What does it mean in the Bible?
Let's see the Bible interpret integrity for us.
Psalms 25, look at verse 21.
Let integrity, notice this, and uprightness preserve me, for I wait on thee.
According to the Bible, integrity is the same as uprightness.
What is uprightness?
It's the condition or quality of being honorable or honest or upright.
Being upright, doing that which is right.
What is integrity?
Doing that which is right.
We see the Bible uses these words interchangeably to help us understand that they mean the same
thing.
And notice it's going to preserve you.
It's going to preserve you from bad things.
When you do the right thing, it's going to preserve you from all kinds of ruin.
And in the example that we have of Job, we have three trials that Job had to experience.
What were they?
He had to experience financial problems, didn't he?
He had to experience the loss of family members.
And lastly, he had to experience health problems.
And honestly, if we were to just look at other people's lives, a lot of people experience
problems in these areas.
Financial problems.
Everyone experiences financial problems, okay?
Losses of family members.
Everyone loses family members.
That's reality.
For the wages of sin is death.
And most everybody experiences health problems.
Now we might not all go to the extreme of Job, but let me just wake you up.
These are things you're going to experience if you haven't already experienced lots of
trials already.
Go to 1 Peter chapter 1, 1 Peter chapter number 1.
This is still a way of introduction, but it's important for us to establish what we're going
to talk about.
1 Peter chapter 1.
Look at verse number 3, the Bible says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
and that faith is not a way reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God
through faith and salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein ye greatly rejoice.
Though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.
Notice this, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that
perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen ye love, in whom, though now ye see
him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the
end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
The Bible says, you and I, we cannot see Jesus Christ.
I've never seen him in the flesh.
I've never seen him with these eyes in a fleshly manner.
Now of course I've read the Bible, of course I see him through faith, but there's gonna
be a day when my faith turns to sight and I literally see the Lord Jesus Christ.
But the question is, after you get saved, you know, what's between now and me seeing
him physically?
The trying of my faith.
Notice in verse seven that the trial of your faith, being much more precious, the reality
is the Christian life is gonna be full of trial.
What's a trial?
Being tested, being tempted.
What was happening with Job?
He's being tried.
How is he gonna respond?
And the question is, how are you gonna respond to what the Bible says?
Well, the whole world's doing it this way, but the Bible says it this way.
Well, that's a test.
Who do you really care about?
Do you really care about the world or do you care about this book?
Do you really care about what your friends say or do you care about what this book says?
Do you really fear God or do you fear something else?
Where is your integrity?
Where is your hard at?
What is it that you're gonna do?
Go to Malachi chapter number three.
My question is, whenever you're tested, are you gonna retain thine integrity like Job
did?
And we see the patience of Job.
He's such a great example and he was tempted with great financial loss.
Let's talk about our first point.
What happens when the chips are down literally?
You're out of money.
Maybe you're up to your eyeballs and dead even.
It can get really crazy out there today.
Are you gonna stop worshiping God?
One thing that happens to a lot of people that they wouldn't really expect is when the
financial pressure ramps up to steal, to rob, literally.
Why do a lot of people steal?
They have financial pressure, they have need, so they go and take stuff that's not theirs.
A lot of people rob because they're without, because they don't have the pressure.
They steal from the job.
You know, people will steal all kinds of stuff.
Even petty theft.
I mean, people will come into your house, they'll break in, they'll steal the copper
out of your walls and try to sell it and it's not even that much money.
It's a lot of work though.
I mean, people are hard up.
People will steal to make money.
Not because they want to get rich necessarily, just to provide their goods.
And the question is, whenever your chips are down, whenever you're in that situation of
stress because of financial pressure, are you gonna still retain your integrity though?
Are you gonna say, you know what, that's wrong though.
I shouldn't steal, I shouldn't rob.
And a lot of times people, the first person they're gonna rob is God.
Not just man.
Look at Malachi chapter 3 verse 6.
You're gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them.
Return unto me and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.
But he said, wherein shall we return?
Will a man rob God?
Yet ye have robbed me.
But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee?
And tithes and offerings.
Ye are accursed with the curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
Bring ye all the tithes in the storehouse that there may be meat in mine house and prove
me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts.
If I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall
not be room enough to receive it.
According to the Bible, God asked this question, will a man rob God?
Yet ye have robbed me.
They didn't understand that they were robbing God when they wouldn't give him the tithe.
And according to the Bible, not tithing is technically robbing God.
Because it's his money.
Because that's what he told us to do.
And look, whenever there's financial pressure, every Christian in this room, myself included,
would be tempted, would be tried, to say, you know what, I don't need to write that
tithe check, I'll just rob God.
I'll rob my employer too, and I'll rob, I mean, there's going to be all this kind of
pressure, but what would Job do?
He's going to retain that integrity.
He's going to retain his integrity, and he's going to still do that which is right, and
he's not going to rob God.
Now look, obviously, false prophets love to preach on tithing.
You know what, just because a broken clock is right twice a day doesn't mean it's not
a biblical doctrine.
Look, they're right on some things.
You know, Jesus is the son of God, they'll say that too.
The Catholic church believes in the Trinity, right on two, that too.
And of course, they like this doctrine.
We see even the Pharisees got that doctrine right.
Everybody gets this doctrine right because they want to get paid.
But it doesn't change the fact that it's a true doctrine.
Now some people take it to an extreme, they'll actually go beyond tithing, and they'll say
you got to give like 20% to be right with God.
You know, the Bible makes it clear, a tenth, the tithe is all that's commanded, everything
over and above the tithe would be a freewill offering for the Bible.
And you ought not give money if it's not a freewill offering.
You ought not lie, go to Acts chapter number five, Acts chapter number five.
But the Bible says, better is the poor that walketh in his integrity than he that is perverse
in his lips and is a fool.
The Bible says you'd be better off being dirt poor and having integrity than being the richest
person ever and being a liar, than being a thief, than being someone that does not
have integrity, that does not fear God.
And Job did not become the wealthiest man on the earth at that time by lying, stealing
and cheating.
No, he did it with integrity.
You know what, even when he lost all his money, he still was someone that had integrity.
I don't care how much money somebody has, I would rather have integrity.
At the end of the day, I'd rather do everything that's right.
Acts chapter number five, verse number one, we see pressure to lie in a financial situation.
Verse one, but a certain man named Ananias was to fire his wife, sold a possession and
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.
But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to
keep back part of the price of the lamb?
Whilst it remained, was it not thine own?
And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?
Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart?
Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and gave up the ghost, and great fear came
on all them that heard these words.
And the young men arose, wound them up, and carried them out of burden.
So we see in the New Testament, mind you, New Testament, God killed people for lying.
They're like, oh, the God of the Old Testament is so harsh.
Well, my New Testament God kills people for lying.
And notice, they gave a large sum of money to the church.
I bet Joel Osteen doesn't preach that.
Hey, you better not give large sums of money to our church unless, you know, it's honest
and not to be seen of men.
He's like, come on in, you know, just bring on that time.
Look, according to the Bible, if you're going to do the free will offering, it better be
coming from a heart of a cheerful giver.
They weren't doing it because they were cheerful giver.
They were doing it to be seen of men.
Oh, did you see the check that I sold everything?
You know, something crept into their heart.
And did they really know how much though?
Maybe I'll just keep a little bit back.
So still everybody will think that I gave everything, but then my pockets are still
a little bit.
But then I still got that 20 grand in the back pocket or I got that 10,000.
We don't know the numbers.
It doesn't matter.
But they kept back part of the price.
Why?
Because they were filled with covetousness.
They were filled with sin from the devil.
Notice this Satan filled their heart.
And look, I believe Ananias and Spiro are saved.
I think they're saved.
You know what?
They committed sin and they were killed for their sin.
Go to Luke chapter number eight.
You ought to be weary of the leery of the fact that the devil wants to come into your
heart and he wants to deceive you with sin.
He wants to destroy you.
What is the whole sermon about?
Job being tempted by who?
Satan.
And Satan wants to come and enter in your heart and cause you to stop serving God.
To make mistakes and to destroy yourself.
What does the devil want?
He wanted Job to curse God and die.
And we see what does Ananias and Spiro do?
They blast him in the Lord.
They lie to the Holy Ghost and they die.
Luke chapter number eight warns about Christians being deceived by the devil.
It says in verse number 10 or 11, look at verse 11.
Now the parable is this, the seed is the word of God.
So in this chapter we're reading about the parable of the sower and Jesus Christ actually
gives us the interpretation.
He just tells us exactly what it means.
We don't have to wonder.
We don't have to guess.
Christ just tells us.
It says in verse 12, those by the wayside are they that hear, then cometh the devil
and taketh away the word out of their hearts lest they should believe and be saved.
This verse right here is why accepting Jesus in your heart is not sufficient for salvation.
Notice that they had the word of God in their heart.
Now who's the word?
Jesus Christ.
But did they believe it?
No.
And then the devil took the word out of their heart and they didn't believe and they didn't
get saved.
So accepting Jesus in your heart isn't salvation my friend.
You know what it is?
Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
It doesn't say just accept some truth.
It doesn't say just accept that Jesus exists.
Just accept the word into your heart.
No.
What you have to do is you have to believe it.
You have to put your faith on it.
You have to trust on the Lord Jesus Christ that's salvation.
Not just accepting that verses of the Bible are true.
You know what?
Atheists will get up and say, Oh, the gospel is X, Y, and Z.
They'll accept facts about the Bible.
You know what?
They don't believe it and they're not saved.
Look at verse 13.
They on the rock are they, which when they hear receive the word of joy and these have
no root, which for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away.
So notice there is some people, they get saved, they're real excited.
They come to church.
Look, there's people that come to this church.
Every church I've ever been a part of.
They get saved.
They're so excited.
I'm going to come to every soul at a time and I'm going to come to every service.
Never saw them again.
You know, it's like they're super excited.
And then I don't know what happened.
Some temptation, you know, and then they just fall away.
Verse 13.
This is the people that were really getting into, uh, they on the rock are they, which
when they hear receive the word of joy and these have new, we read that verse 14, I'm
sorry.
And that which fell among thorns are they, which when they have heard go forth and are
choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection.
So you say, Hey, I've made it.
I've been to more than two services.
Great.
You know what?
God still wants to plant evil, wicked things into your heart, the cares and the riches
of this world, money, financial things.
We see what's going to happen when the financial things come in your heart.
It's going to destroy that integrity and you're going to stop serving God.
The devil is no fool.
He wants to use every tool imaginable to get you off the work of the Lord.
And one of the most effective tools is money is financial things.
Just covetousness or just financial pressure or whatever it is.
The devil will use money to stop you from serving God.
But if you actually have integrity, you wouldn't let the cares and the riches of this world
stop you.
And notice that there are thorns that are coming out of your heart.
It says in verse 15, but that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good
heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience.
So the person that has integrity in their heart will not be deceived by the cares and
the riches of this world, but the person who allows that thorn to grow and to fester in
their heart, it's going to come in and choke that word and choke it and stop you from serving
God.
The love of money will stop you from serving God.
It's vain.
It's pointless.
There's no, there's no benefit and having lots of money and having all these things,
if you're not going to serve God, it's vanity.
What does the prophet of the man, you know, gain the whole world yet lose his own soul.
So we ought not get the love of money deep into our heart.
We ought not let the devil fill our heart so we can lie to God.
Go to first Timothy chapter five, first Timothy chapter number five.
And we ought to realize that just because we're saved, that does not mean that the devil
will not come and tempt you and try you and try to get you off the work of the Lord.
We already see Joe.
He's a saved guy.
He's being tried and tested by Satan.
We see in first Corinthians chapter number seven, the Bible warns that Satan wants to
tempt you for your incontinency.
We even have Peter, the Bible says that Satan wanted to sift through Peter whenever he was
there and he's trying to tell the Lord not to die on the cross for our sins.
That wouldn't be a good idea, would it?
That was, you know, he's like, get behind me Satan when he's looking at Peter and we
see the devil.
He still wants to come and to tempt you and to try you and get you off the path of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Just because you get saved doesn't mean the devil's done with you.
The Bible says we have to resist the devil and then he'll flee from us.
It says in first Timothy chapter five verse 15, notice this, for some are already turned
aside after Satan.
Now when you read the book of first Timothy, he's talking to the same and he's specifically
even talking about women, women getting turned aside after Satan, letting Satan come into
their hearts and deceive them with what?
The cares of this world, with the deceitfulness of riches, with the things of this world.
And whenever that financial pressure comes into your heart, the question is, are you
going to serve God?
You know, I have no men.
They say, well, I don't really want to go to that church because I might get fired.
And my wife's nervous about losing our house, so we're not going to serve God.
The financial pressure just comes and it just chokes that word.
And usually they're afraid of their own shadow.
They're afraid of the boogeyman.
That's not going to happen.
Usually actually what you are afraid of, it's more likely to happen to you when you give
into that pressure and fear.
Whenever you stand upright and you let the Lord be your shield and the Lord take care
of you and the Lord provide for you.
I've never seen the righteous forsaken, nor a seed begging bread is what the Bible says.
You know what?
If you stand up and do that with just right and you love the Lord and have integrity in
your heart, it might be a dark night, but joy comes in the morning.
Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning and you might not let the deceit
and the evilness of riches come in and choke you and get you off of serving God.
What's more important than serving God?
Nothing.
Zero.
But people love money.
Even preachers.
Go to Deuteronomy chapter 23, the love of money will destroy you in every way possible.
Some people literally preach lies for money and that's the only reason they preach a lie.
They're so afraid to actually preach the truth, preach what the Bible says.
So they'll just get up and preach a lie.
Even though they know they don't believe it, even though they don't agree with it, they'll
just preach a lie because they're so afraid of some kind of financial pressure.
Well, this person is going to leave the church or people are going to stop coming, we're
going to stop tithing, I'm going to have to get a job.
And look, a lot of these pastors are so lame, they have no skills or tangible aptitude to
be able to apply to the secular workforce.
They're like, what can I do?
I can't dig.
You know, I'm ashamed to beg and I cannot dig.
So what do they do?
They preach lies.
They steal.
They do things that are wicked.
And look, there are so many pastors that steal and do things that are wicked.
You wouldn't even imagine.
Even saved guys.
Why?
Because financial pressure is real.
It's not like the devil's using something as an ineffective tool.
Money is going to rip at the heartstrings of every single person, okay, myself included.
And so it's important that as a man of God, we abstain from those type of things, flee,
you know, from the love of money.
It says in Deuteronomy 23 verse 3, and Ammonite or Amobite shall not enter the congregation
of the Lord, even their 10th generation shall they not enter the congregation of the Lord
forever, because they met you not with bread and water and the way when you came forth
out of Egypt, and because they hired against the Balaam, the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia
to curse thee.
Nevertheless, the Lord thy God would not hearken unto Balaam, but the Lord thy God
turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the Lord thy God loved thee.
Now Balaam is a very interesting character in your Bible.
When you read through numbers, you're going to come across a story of Balaam.
And it's confusing for this reason.
When you read it, everything that Balaam says sounds right.
You're like, what does this guy do?
I mean, everything says he's not going to preach anything that God didn't tell him.
And every time he comes down the mount, it sounds like, you know, he said whatever God
told him to say.
So you kind of think this guy is saved or something.
It's just kind of a weird story.
But when you study it very clearly, he disobeys God.
God tells him not to go with them.
And it just goes anyways.
And then he has to be stopped by an angel.
The angel standing in the way of his donkey and his donkey won't pass.
So he's like smiting his ass.
That's what the Bible says.
And the donkey opens his mouth.
He's like, why are you hitting me?
I mean, it's a pretty cool story.
But it's a little bit confusing because you're like, I don't quite get exactly what's happening.
But every time God talks about Balaam, he's wicked, a false prophet, a false teacher.
And we ought to take God's opinion to people.
Now, this shouldn't be that hard to understand because you know what?
Most false preachers today, most of the things that come out of their mouth sound right.
I mean, they'll get up and say, I love Jesus and I love the Bible and I love people and
I want to do that which is right.
And you're like, it's confusing.
You know what?
If we actually look at their heart like God can, we'd say that guy's full of iniquity.
That guy's a lying false prophet devil.
And we can still see that in other ways, but I'm just saying there's a lot of false prophets
that they'll say a lot of things that just sound right.
I mean, I went to this one church in the past and he'd get up and he'd say, you know, the
only thing God's going to bless in this church is whatever the Bible says.
And if we do anything outside the Bible, then we're wrong.
And we need to always do what the Bible said.
That sounds great.
The problem is they didn't actually do that.
Whenever a push came to shove, they didn't abide by the Bible, but what he was saying
sounded right.
And, you know, they'll get up and they'll say things that are right, that sound good.
And when you listen to Balaam preaching, you're like, man, that just kind of sounds right.
But we see what did God say that Balaam was trying to do?
It's a very important verse.
God turned Balaam's curse into a blessing.
Now that's coming from Balaam's heart.
Balaam wanted to curse the children of Israel.
What for money?
And you know what?
People, they'll get up and they'll preach for money.
They're a hireling.
They'll preach lies.
They'll preach whatever just for money.
People get up and just lie to people.
Look, every single one of these churches, mega churches, these guys know they're getting
up and lying.
They're deceived and they're just preaching lies.
What for money?
And look, these mega preachers make lots of money too.
It's not like they're living this poor lifestyle.
Oh man, poor Joel Osteen living in his mansion.
Kenneth Copeland brags about being like a billionaire.
These guys are filthy rich and they're preaching lies.
Jude chapter one says, woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily
after the error of Balaam for reward and perished in the game saying, of course.
Jude gives a special grouping of false prophets and he throws Balaam in there and he says
Balaam is the false prophet that loves money.
And look, they're a dime a dozen these days and they'll get up and they'll lie about alcohol
because they know if they get up and say that drinking alcohol is a sin, that it's
wicked, that you're an idiot for drinking alcohol, most of their church will get up
and walk out.
You know why?
Because the majority of people today drink alcohol.
It's disgusting.
It's wicked.
It's filthy.
I hate it.
It's destroying people's lives today.
There's no benefit.
It's not godly.
Don't lie.
I hate it when people say, oh, Jesus turned water into alcohol, liar, blasphemer.
That is not what the Bible teaches.
Jesus Christ never sinned.
He's without sin.
He wouldn't even look at it.
Wicked railing.
They're not going to sit there and tell you how fornication is sin.
Well, do you love each other?
It's probably okay.
Why?
Because they don't want all the fornicators to leave too.
They don't want to sit there and actually preach what the gospel says either.
These non-denominational churches, they have Catholics coming to their church.
They have Presbyterians coming to their church.
They have Methodists coming to their church.
They have
If they get up and give a clear presentation of the gospel, they don't just give lip service.
They don't just kind of make it kind of confusing and just say things.
We got to repent and have faith.
All right, let's close and pray.
It's like everybody that wanted to hear what they want to hear heard it.
But if they actually get up and explain exactly what the gospel is, people will leave.
People will go, so they have to get up and lie and, you know, misconstrue their wording
just to keep people in the doors.
They'll lie about sin.
Say, oh, it's not sinful.
They won't preach on sin.
They're literally getting behind the pulpit and constantly lying through their teeth.
What for money?
Here's my question.
Are you going to retain that integrity?
That integrity you had to become a preacher, to become a pastor, do you still have it when
you get up behind the pulpit and now your paycheck's on the line?
Now your church is on the line.
That's why we have 1 Timothy chapter 6 that warns the Timothy, the preacher, hey, you
need to get that lovely money out of your heart.
You need to check yourself.
The devil wants to get in there and he wants to stop you from preaching the truth.
And the devil loves the fact that he can stop people from preaching the truth with money
because he doesn't care.
He'll give you all the money you want.
Look at Kenneth Copeland, all the money you want, Joe Lowstein, all the money you want.
Hey, if you preach lies, I'll load your pockets.
Great.
That's what most of these false prophets like.
Great.
I'll just lie and teach all kinds of wicked things.
Go to Titus chapter 1.
But the guy that has integrity, he's not tempted and tried by the money.
He's not going to say, well, I'd rather take the paycheck.
He says, no, I'd rather preach God's word.
I'd rather be poor and preach God's word than have a mega church preaching lies.
That sounds terrible.
Why would I care about that?
Why would I want to go to some big mega church with all these people?
And you know what?
I know plenty of guys.
They're great preachers, really talented.
They could have tens of thousands of people in their church if they preach lies.
I don't want to follow that model.
If I have 10 people in here, that's great.
As long as I can preach what the whole Bible says.
I don't want to be like, I can't touch that chapter.
Let's skip that verse.
That one's a little fiery.
I target those.
I'm like, where's the really fiery one?
Where can we preach that one?
That's helpful to people.
Titus chapter one, verse 10, for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers,
especially they of the circumcision whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole
houses teaching things which they ought not notice this for filthy, lucreous sake.
It says they know they shouldn't preach it.
There's no way they should preach it, but they still preach it just for money.
Oh, the Jews are God's chosen people.
God has to bless Israel and we have to bless Israel.
And God's not going to bless you unless you bless them and bless him and bless Israel.
Plus, it's lies.
They know that they're lying through their teeth.
Why do they do it?
Filthy, lucreous sake.
They get up and say, Israel has been replaced by the church.
No more friends.
They're going to lose the TV show like that.
You know what controls the TV?
Israel after the flesh.
The Jews.
I just wake you up.
If you get up there and you preach what the Bible says, they're not going to line your
pockets full of money.
They're not going to give you all the airtime you think you want.
Go to First Timothy.
Just flip back a few pages.
First Timothy chapter six.
Look at verse number five.
Look, most people worship money today.
It's just literal.
They worship man.
First Timothy chapter six, verse five, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute
of the truth.
Notice this, supposing that gain is godliness from such withdrawal by self.
Now Job's friends have this, have been bitten with this bug because they noticed when Job
loses his money, it's because he's ungodly, but is that what happened to Job?
No.
And look, how much money you have in the bank account is pretty much has zero effect on
your integrity.
You could be the poorest person in this church and have the most integrity.
You could be the richest person in the church and have integrity.
It pretty much has no impact, but my question is, whenever there's all this financial pressure
put upon you, what are you going to do?
Hey, let's say you get the opposite of Job.
Maybe you're poor and all of a sudden you get a lot of money.
What are you going to do?
Look, I've known some people, they were faithful in church, three times soul winning.
They're loving the Lord and they start their own business and they're poor and then all
of a sudden it takes off.
Now all of a sudden they got clients everywhere.
Well, can you work on Sunday?
How much?
Sure.
Can you work on Thursday?
Yeah, sure.
Now all of a sudden what's happening?
Not in church.
Oh, but they have lots of money.
Oh, but they have this great house now that they get to enjoy.
Look, where's your integrity?
What is the thing that's driving you today?
Is it money?
Is money the most important thing?
Go to Jeremiah chapter 44, Jeremiah chapter 44.
People will suppose that gain is godliness today.
They think that's the ultimate goal of life.
Gain money, get money, get rich.
That's the lie of the devil today.
He wants you to get rich.
All the American dream, get so rich that I can retire.
That's what most people want today.
I just want to get as rich as soon as possible so that I can just retire.
I'm like, what's the point?
I don't even want to be in retirement.
I just want to work till Jesus comes.
I mean retirement seems boring.
I know people that have been in retirement recently and you know what?
They're bored out of their mind.
They're like trying to find stuff to do and I'm thinking I could go soul winning all day
and there's lots of things that I could be doing.
That would be wonderful.
You know what?
These people that were chasing money, once they get there, they realize it wasn't what
they really wanted.
It's never going to give you the happiness that you really decided.
Jeremiah 44 verse 15, the Bible says, then all the men which knew that their wives had
burnt incense under their gods and all the women that stood by a great multitude, even
all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt and Pathros answered Jeremiah saying, as for
the word that thou has spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken
with thee, but we will certainly do whatsoever thing goes forth out of our own mouth to burn
incense into the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her as we have done
we and our fathers, our kings and our princes in the cities of Judah and in the streets
of Jerusalem.
For then had we plenty of business and were well and saw no evil, but since we left off
to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have
wanted all things and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings unto
her, did we make our cakes to worship her and pour out drink offerings in her without
our men?
So what's happening?
Well, let me give you a little bit of context so you can quickly understand this.
But the children of Israel have been taken captive or the children of Judah specifically
have been taken captive by the zadarim.
Jerusalem has been destroyed.
It's gone.
Okay.
So they did leave some poor left over in the land and Jeremiah's with them.
And Jeremiah gives them instruction from the Lord and says, you know what?
God actually wants you to stay this time.
I kept telling you to get out of here or to serve, you know, serve the Babylonians and
go captive with them.
But now God wants you to stay here, be in the land.
And they say, you know what?
We're going to Egypt.
So they go to Egypt and then he's contending with them while they're in Egypt.
And he's trying to tell them, you know what?
You still need to serve God or you're going to be destroyed.
Nothing's changed.
And they say, well, when we were back in the land and we stopped worshipping the queen
of heaven, we stopped worshipping our false gods.
All of a sudden we were poor.
You know, back when we were worshipping our false gods, we had lots of money.
We have plenty of vittles.
Yeah.
That word that looks like victuals.
It's vittles.
Okay.
Vittles is how you pronounce that.
It means food.
Plenty of food.
And food is pretty much can tell how much money you have.
Food and clothing, that's pretty much like the rich people, they eat wherever they want
and they dress however they want.
The people that don't have money, they don't eat where they want and they don't have the
clothes they want.
So in the Bible, food and clothing is a picture of how wealthy you are.
And he's saying, they're saying, look, we were loaded.
We have lots of money.
We have lots of food when we were serving these false gods.
But then when we start doing that, which is right, we were poor.
You know what?
They're supposing that gain is godliness, aren't they?
And supposing that whenever they're rich and prosperous, God's blessing them, they're
doing that which is right.
And then whenever they're poor, somehow they're not doing that which is right.
But is that what the Bible tells us?
No.
And here's the thing, you and your own personal life, which you'll never hear from Dave Ramsey
or Joel Osteen, some people in this room, you might be more godly if you made less money.
Maybe God's desire for you is to actually have less money than you're having now.
That's crazy.
And look, I'm not trying to teach you should be poor, okay?
I'm not teaching that.
Maybe some of you God wants you to have more money, okay?
I'm just saying that it's not always God's will for you to be filthy rich or filthy loaded,
okay?
Sometimes we go through different seasons.
Sometimes we could have nothing.
The Lord Jesus Christ, he didn't have anywhere to lay his head.
Job, he's super wealthy.
Jeremiah, he's not doing so hot, okay?
I mean, it's all over the map.
Some of the prophets are really rich.
Some of the prophets of the Lord, they don't have two nickels wrapped together.
You know, Peter said, silver and gold have I none.
He's not walking around loaded, okay?
So according to the Bible, we can't look at money and determine anything about godliness.
If Job will teach you one thing, money does not equal godliness.
And that's why you ought to get it out of your heart so then you say, you know what?
I can have integrity no matter how much money I have.
With food and clothing, therewith can I be content.
Retain that integrity.
For sake of time, let's go to 2 Samuel chapter 2, 12, 2 Samuel chapter 12.
Mark chapter 4 talks about the deceitfulness of riches, the lust of other things entering
in choking the word and becoming unfruitful.
The Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter 4, for Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this
present world and is departed in the Thessalonica.
Even Christians today can get the love of money in their heart and depart from the Lord.
Demas, a guy with the apostle Paul forsaken.
Why?
Because he loves the world.
He loves the things of this world.
They're just too great, too wonderful.
He doesn't want to sit in a hot room and hear the Bible preach, all right?
But here's my question.
What's happening to you financially?
Are you going to still go to church?
Are you going to still go soul winning?
Are you going to still pray and read your Bible?
Look, there's some people, because of financial stresses, they're going to quit church.
They're going to quit this church.
Something's going on in their life financially, whether it's losing a job, trying to buy something,
trying to sell something, trying to do whatever, something financially, they'll stop coming
to church.
And my question is, why can't you just retain that integrity, Job?
Why can't you decide, you know what, I'm just going to do that, which is right, no
matter what's happening to me financially.
Hey, I lost all my stock.
Well, I'm going to church, because you know what, it's free.
I don't charge you to come to this church.
Hey, you have less time now.
You don't have to write that big painful time check now, all right?
You can just write that penny or whatever it is that Job has.
You can just show up.
Hey, we're going to go soul winning this afternoon.
I don't have anything to do now.
We're soul winning.
Guess what?
It's free.
We'll get you a drink.
We'll put a Bible in your hand.
We'll load you up.
I mean, it doesn't take a lot of money to serve God.
In fact, it takes none.
You can just serve God where you're at.
We'll put a King James Bible in your hand.
And even if you don't have this church, you can get one for a dollar at the Dollar Tree,
all right?
I mean, it doesn't take a lot of money to serve God.
My question is, do you have integrity, though?
How much does that cost?
How much is that worth?
Priceless.
Look at 2 Samuel chapter 12.
Let's go to the second point quickly.
It says in verse 19, but when David saw that his servants whispered, David received that
the child was dead.
Therefore, David said unto his servants, Is the child dead?
And they said, He is dead.
Then David rose from the earth and washed and went himself and changed his apparel and
came to the house of the Lord in worship.
Then he came to his own house, and when he required, they set bread before him and he
did eat.
Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done?
Thou didst fast as wheat for the child while it was alive.
But when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.
And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, Who can tell
whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live?
But now he is dead.
Wherefore should I fast?
Can I bring him back again?
I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.
And David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and went in unto her and lay with her.
And she bare a son and called his name Solomon, and the Lord loved him.
Notice that David, after the death of a child, what is his immediate response?
He washes himself, he gets up, and he worships the Lord.
He still retains his integrity.
You know, he's weeping and he's fasting while the child was sick in case God would spare
the child.
And this is the child from adultery.
This was the child of Bathsheba who he committed outside of marriage, he committed adultery
against another man, killed the man through proxy of his enemies.
And then he takes the wife unto him, God punishes him by killing the child.
But you know what?
The loss of a child is something that a lot of people experience, and it's hard.
You know, people have miscarriages, especially people that are trying to be fruitful.
People can lose children.
I mean, I went to an independent Baptist church, and they lost their six month old or nine
month old.
Terrible, terrible tragedy.
But my question is, are you going to still go to church the next week?
Are you going to still serve God?
And you know what the reality is, every one of us is going to experience loss.
Parents, family members, friends, cousins, uncles, what are you going to do when you
lose a family member?
Are you going to still serve God?
And Job lost all 10 of his children like that.
Talk about devastation.
Something that I guarantee most of us will probably never have to do.
First of all, most everybody here doesn't have 10 children already, okay?
But losing all 10, that's a parent's worst nightmare.
And we see Job still serving right away because he retains integrity.
Even Ruth, okay, Ruth is another one who after she loses her husband, she still says unto
her mother-in-law, thy people shall be my people and thy God, my God.
She followed her mother-in-law back to the children of Israel, back to the land of Israel,
and she served God with her life even after losing her own husband.
And I think losing a spouse is worse than children.
I would rather lose my children than my spouse.
I don't want to lose any, but I'm just saying, if push comes to shove, and even after losing
a spouse, she serves God.
You know, and I like it that it's Ruth.
How many women, they only go to the church they do because of their husband?
They only serve God because of their husband.
Do you really have integrity?
If you would only serve God because your husband's taking you to church, your husband's doing
that much right, we see that Ruth had so much integrity in her heart.
She loved the Lord that no matter what happened in her marital relationship, she was going
to serve God.
What a great woman.
And you know what?
God blesses her in the end because she does that, because she's faithful.
There's someone that doesn't do that, Joash.
Now, for sake of time, I'm not going to go there to have you turn, but go to 2 Corinthians
chapter 12.
When you lose somebody in your life, are you going to still retain your integrity?
Joash, according to the Bible, he only did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord
as long as Jehoiada the priest was instructing him.
Now, Jehoiada was like a father under Jehoash because Jehoash became king at age seven.
That's intense, okay?
So obviously, Jehoiada was a pretty influential person in his life.
And we could argue that Naomi, probably a pretty influential person in Ruth's life.
So they're pretty much the same in that regard.
They both had godly role models, godly parents instructing them, a mother-in-law or this
priest.
But we see whenever Ruth loses people in her life, loses her husband, she still serves
God.
And you know what Jehoash does?
As soon as Jehoiada is off the picture, now he just serves false gods.
In fact, he kills Jehoiada's son.
Now, that's a pretty interesting story.
But the reality is Jehoash only does that which is right in the eyes of the person instructing
him.
But that's not real integrity.
He didn't have the integrity in his heart.
And my question is, are you only doing that which is right because someone's watching
you?
There are so many children that get raised in an independent fundamental Baptist church
and as soon as they turn 18, they're gone.
As soon as they don't have to be there because their parents are forcing them, they're gone.
And you know what?
As parents, we need to make sure that we're instilling integrity into our children's hearts
so that they want to serve God.
So that they want to do the right thing.
Now sometimes, you just got to force your kid to go to church because they're kids and
their foolishness is bound on the heart of a child.
We got to try and raise our children to have integrity in their heart that they want to
do the right thing, even when they're not forced to, even when they're not someone looking
over their shoulder, when they're dragged to church.
You know, some people get so wrapped up in relationships that the relationship is more
important than God.
You know, the world, the one thing that's the most important to them is just marriage.
You know, all the love songs, you're my everything.
You complete me.
You're the one.
And look, you lose your spouse and it's like, oh, everything's gone.
But is that what happened for Ruth?
No, God is that void.
And you know, you ought not put your spouse in place of God.
You ought not lift up your spouse and say, you know what, my spouse is the only thing
that matters in my life.
No, God's the only thing.
God and everything else is just a distant second.
Now, of course, my wife, from an earthly perspective, is the most prized possession I have and I
love Ruth, you know, as much as I possibly can.
But you know what?
It's in pale comparison to the love I should have towards God and the integrity I should
have for the Lord.
I should not put an earthly relationship in place of the Lord.
The last one I have that people will lose their integrity over is their health.
And the devil's right.
I mean, the devil has been, you know, using these same methods for years.
He's seen people fall after fall after fall.
He got surprised with Job.
He lost in the Job battle.
He thought he got him.
But 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 verse 6, for though I would desire to glory, I shall not
be a fool.
For I will say the truth, but now I've rebare, lest any man should think of me above that
which he seemeth me to be, or that he heareth of me, and lest I should be exalted above
measure through the abundance of the revelations.
It was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan above me, lest I should
be exalted above measure.
For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect
in weakness.
Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ
may rest upon me.
Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions
and distresses for Christ's sake.
When I am weak, then am I strong.
We see that the Apostle Paul has a thorn in the flesh.
Now, it's highly debated what the thorn in the flesh is, but first of all, I would like
to note that it's in the flesh.
It's something carnal.
It's not something, you know, spiritual in a sense.
Some people would like to say here that it's something that has nothing to do with a physical
illness.
Why?
Because they have a doctrine that says it's just never God's will for anybody to be sick
ever.
Well, have you, and we read Job, we're reading Job, the Lord's allowing the devil to literally
get him sickness to the point of death.
We even see the Apostle Paul leaving people sick.
You know, he leaves people sick in myelitis or whatever.
So, Trophimus, have I left him myelitim sick is what he says.
Now, why would Paul leave someone sick if he can, you know, everybody's just going to
get healed?
I don't believe that and I actually believe that this was some kind of physical ailment
and the reason why is in verse 9, he says, most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory
notice this in my infirmities.
Now, I think why a lot of people struggle with this doctrine, they don't even know what
infirmities mean.
It's not a word that we use a lot.
Sometimes it's used in military terms.
People have talked about the infirmity, but it just means sickness, illness.
So when the Apostle Paul is talking here, he's saying, look, I'll glory in my sickness
that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
So why would he be talking about a physical, you know, sickness, illness or problem that
he's having, if that's not what he's having, a thorn in the flesh, and then, hey, he's
got some kind of infirmity.
It kind of just fits together and makes a lot of sense that he's just talking about
some kind of physical ailment, whether that's a bad knee, whether that's whatever, we don't
know.
I don't know what's going on here, but he's been stoned multiple times.
He's been beaten with rods.
He's been shipwrecked.
I mean, he had a doggy paddle in the ocean for like 24 hours straight.
He's like saying, I thought I was going to die.
I mean, I think it's pretty reasonable to believe he could have some kind of physical
problem.
I mean, when you were beaten to death that many times and stoned that many times, you
probably look a little different.
I'm just going to wake you up.
OK.
He probably wasn't Mr. GQ.
All right.
And in fact, most of them say he was contemptible in the flesh.
Yeah.
Whenever they're accusing him and talking badly about the Apostle Paul, they say, oh,
he's contemptible in the flesh.
Yeah.
He probably looks like he's been beaten like a pope.
But you know what?
He was a spiritual warrior, wasn't he?
Now go to Daniel chapter one, Daniel chapter one.
The question is, what are you going to do whenever you have some kind of physical illness?
We see the Apostle Paul, when I'm weak, then am I strong?
He says, you know what?
Even though I might have this physical impairment, I can still praise the Lord.
And you know what?
The Lord gets even more glory that he can use someone that has problems like I do.
Don't let your problems define you.
Let them just give more glory to God.
Say you know what?
Well, when I'm weak, then am I strong because the Lord is going to be the one that's going
to help me.
The Lord is going to be the one to strengthen me.
The Lord is the one to get me through it.
And look, we're all going to have physical problems.
Virtually everybody dies from some kind of health thing, heart attack, cancer or something.
I mean, people die because of health issues, just getting old even.
I mean, so we notice that, hey, we're all going to have that problem.
Are you going to stop serving God when you have health problems?
Well, now I'm not going to go to church.
Now I'm not going to read the Bible.
Now I'm not going to soul wing.
Now I'm not going to do X, Y, and Z because it's hard work.
Look, we see the apostle Paul, even though he's got a thorn in the flesh, he's nothing
stopping him.
Nothing stopping him from going out and serving the Lord.
The Bible says the integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the perverseness of
transgressors shall destroy them.
Now, I want to give you a little idea because we've been talking about retaining that integrity.
How do I get to the point where I couldn't retain my integrity?
We get a sneak peek into Daniel and Daniel's one who has a great integrity and retains
it even under the threat of death.
His friends had great integrity under the threat of death.
And we notice in Daniel chapter one, verse number six says, now among these were of the
children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Myshael, and Azariah, unto whom the prince of the eunuchs
gave names, for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar, and to Hananiah of Shadrach,
and to Myshael of Meshach, and to Azariah of Abednego.
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.
Now, God had brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs.
You say, how do I retain my integrity, Pastor Shull?
You've been talking about doing it.
And look, first of all, I just want to warn you.
It's going to happen.
You are going to be tempted.
You're going to be tried.
You're going to be tested.
The reality is, how do I keep it?
You have to purpose it in your heart now.
You have to say, you know what?
I'm going to church on Sunday morning, period.
I'm going to keep preaching the gospel, period.
I'm going to keep reading the Bible, period.
I'm going to do that which is right, period.
I've already purposed in my heart.
I don't care what happens to me financially.
I lose it all.
I'm going to church on Sunday.
I'm going to still go soul winning every week.
I'm going to still read my Bible.
And then, it's not up for negotiation.
Who cares?
You're going to have times where you're financially blessed, and
then it's like, whoa, and then you're going up, and it's like, who cares?
But you know what?
Sunday's coming, and I'm going to be in church.
It doesn't matter if I win the lottery.
It doesn't matter if I go bankrupt.
I'm going to be in church on Sunday morning.
That's how you know, because you purpose in your heart.
Daniel says, you know what?
I've already decided I'm not going to eat this.
Now let's see where the chips fall.
You say, hey, I'm going to serve God no matter what.
Then you just go out and you just do whatever.
And it doesn't affect you as much.
Whenever you're deciding, well, I don't know what I'm going to do next Sunday.
I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow.
Then, whenever the swing of money comes in, and emotion, and timing, and
temptation, and whatever, you're just carried about with wins and all these things.
And the trials will come in, they'll choke the word, and you'll decide not to do it.
You have to purpose in your heart now that you're going to do that which is right.
Then, whenever the temptation and the trials come, you can retain buying integrity.
What if Daniel had not retained his integrity here?
We would not be reading about him.
You know what, Daniel, by retaining his integrity,
he got great visions from the Lord that he was able to interpret.
Amazing visions.
He's one of the most famous characters in the Bible,
because he retained his integrity.
He said, you know what, I've already purposed in my heart,
I'm not going to eat the king's meat.
I'm not going to do that which is wicked.
I'm going to do that which is right.
And we get to read all kinds of stories about him.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, upon pending death, they say, hey,
we're not careful to answer the in this matter, Nebuchadnezzar.
But we're not going to serve your false gods.
They had already decided that.
Before they came up, they didn't know if they were going to die,
what was going to happen to them.
They're just like, well, we're just not going to serve your god.
It doesn't really matter what happens.
And he's like, well, we're going to throw you in the fiery furnace.
That kind of sucked.
I mean, that wasn't, they probably weren't hoping for that one.
But they had already decided they weren't going to serve him no matter what.
Because they weren't waiting and saying, well, what if he says this?
I don't know yet, okay.
He's like, oh, he's going to turn up the furnace seven times.
Let's just bow this time.
Okay.
That's what happens.
If you're not purposed in your heart,
when the really strong temptation comes, you're going to cave.
And look, even some people that think they're purposed in their heart,
when the temptation comes, they can still cave.
It's a struggle.
But I'm saying if you don't purpose in your heart,
when that temptation comes in like a whirlwind, you're going to cave.
But we see with Job, he had to repurpose in his heart.
So he's going to retain his integrity.
Go to Daniel chapter six, just flip over a little bit.
Daniel chapter number six.
This is why we see in Daniel chapter six verse nine,
wherefore King Darius signed the writing decree.
What's the writing decree?
That no one should make any petition to anybody outside the king.
So that means that Daniel was not allowed to pray to God.
But you know what Daniel had decided?
I'm praying to God.
He already had that plan.
It didn't matter what was happening.
It didn't matter that the law said you can't.
Oh, you can't soul win here.
I don't care.
You can't preach that.
I don't care.
I'm going to preach the Bible.
I've already purposed in my heart.
All right.
Daniel chapter six verse nine,
wherefore King Darius signed the writing decree.
Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed.
So Daniel was ignorant.
He knew that what he was going to do was not legal.
Okay.
He went into his house and his windows being open
and his chamber toward Jerusalem.
He kneeled upon his knees three times a day.
Maybe he kicked up his prayer.
I don't know.
And prayed and gave thanks before his God
as he did a fourth time.
Nope.
We noticed he retained his integrity.
You know what I was doing yesterday?
Doing a day.
And you know what I'm doing tomorrow?
Same thing.
Why?
Because I'm going to retain my integrity
because I purposed it in my heart.
I'm going to do that, which is right.
And the people that fall away,
let me help you out.
They didn't already have that decided.
They didn't already know they were coming
to church on Sunday.
They didn't already know
that they were going to go out so long.
They didn't already know
that they were going to keep serving God.
They didn't already know in purpose in their heart,
they're going to serve God.
So then when the temptations come,
like a whirlwind, they're just carried about.
They're gone.
Never to be seen again.
It's sad.
I don't like it.
Go over to Proverbs 24, where we're about to finish.
The Bible says in Proverbs 20,
the just man walketh his integrity,
his children are blessed after him.
If you want your children to be blessed, have integrity.
You know what?
Retain thine integrity.
When the financial pressures come, retain thine integrity.
When you lose people in your life, retain thine integrity.
Don't build your trust in man.
Build your trust in God
because he'll never let you down.
He'll never leave thee nor forsake thee.
This King James Bible is not changing tomorrow.
Not changing in a year.
It's never changing.
We can always put our faith in this.
We can rest and trust and hope in this.
It's not shifting sands.
Whenever you have health issues,
keep the retain thine integrity.
You know, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 16,
for a great door and effectual is opened unto me
and there are many adversaries.
Look, there's a great door and effectual open
in Houston, Texas right now.
Pure words Baptist church,
the fields are wide unto harvest.
And there's no one else going out and reaping.
I didn't see anybody else reaping, have you?
I haven't been going out and seen anybody reaping
this plentiful harvest out here.
There's a great door and effectual open here
for us to do a great work for the Lord.
But you know what?
It's not gonna come without adversaries.
They're gonna come.
All kinds of adversaries.
Manifold temptation.
What's manifold?
Many, various, all kinds.
The devil's not a fool.
If he can't get you one way, let's try another.
Didn't we see that in Job?
Well, if we can't get him with the finances,
let's kill his kids.
If we can't get him with those, we'll take his health.
The devil is a place dirty.
He's gonna get you where it hurts.
And you know what?
The devil knows where it hurts.
The devil knows what you struggle with.
The devil knows what your temptations are.
And he's gonna come in there
and he's gonna cause marriage problems.
He's gonna cause financial problems.
He's gonna bring up past sins.
He's gonna bring anything and everything he can
and constantly attack you
and get you off the work of the Lord.
There's gonna be heretics that come in
and creep into the church and try to destroy the church.
And you're gonna say,
oh man, I thought this guy was good.
And he's a bad person.
I'm already ready for it.
I don't care who it is.
And look, I don't think,
I'm not like sitting here thinking
cause if someone I thought was a heretic,
I'd throw them out, okay?
I'm just saying.
It happens and you didn't expect it.
You're like, I thought that guy was a good guy.
I liked him.
What happened?
You know, they're gonna be trolls.
The trolls are everywhere.
Come on.
If you can't get past the trolls,
you're weak, okay?
The trolls are trying to get you off on purpose.
The sodomites, if they don't get,
I mean, the sodomites are trying to get us down.
You know, failures will try to get you down.
Somebody in church quits and you're like,
they quit, why don't I quit?
Whatever happens.
There's gonna be trials and temptations.
There's many adversaries.
And we see in Proverbs 24,
what does the Bible say?
Verse 16, for a just man falls seven times
and riseth up again,
but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
The thing that will destroy the righteous,
the one thing, the last thing is quitting.
The one thing that will destroy is quitting.
Not falling.
Look, it says the just man falls seven times.
You know what that tells me?
That even the good guys do bad stuff.
They still sin.
They still have problems.
They're not perfect.
They still fall.
And notice seven times, okay?
Not even just once.
I'm not standing up here before you
as this perfect, flawless sinner.
I sin too, okay?
And we ought not look at anybody that's real and think,
well, you know, I bet that guy doesn't sin
or I don't sin.
Stupid.
Don't be Job's three friends.
Oh, you know.
Joe, you must have sinned.
You know, looking at people.
Look, there's not a just man upon the earth
that doeth good and sineth not.
Have you read any of the Bible stories?
Oh yeah, Abraham.
That guy that lies with Hagar.
That goes and lies and almost lets his wife
commit adultery on him.
I mean, twice.
Abraham, the father of our faith.
Oh yeah, David.
The guy who literally kills a guy and commits adultery
and destroys his whole family.
Oh, Solomon.
The wisest man ever.
Literally is offering children to sacrifice the devils
to false gods.
Oh, Peter.
He just happened to deny Christ multiple times.
I mean, none of these guys are just like,
whoa, they're so great.
That's a handful of people.
The Bible doesn't talk really bad about,
like Daniel's a pretty good guy.
We don't really see a lot of his faults,
but I'm just saying, Daniel had sinned.
And the thing that the devil wants to get you to do
is to quit because we're all gonna sin.
We're all gonna fall.
We're all gonna have problems.
We're all gonna have temptation.
And the one thing the devil wants you to do is to quit,
to stop serving God, to get a righteous person
to quit doing that which is right.
Stop coming to church, stop going soul winning,
stop reading your Bible.
But when you purpose in your heart
and you retain that integrity, you know what?
Joy is gonna come in the morning.
Job, read the end.
It's a really rough book, but then you read the end,
he gets his 10 children back and he has more money
and he's more blessed and he sees his grandchildren's,
I mean, it just keeps going.
I mean, everything works out for Job.
And look, even if it didn't, it doesn't matter.
Even if Job didn't get it all back, you know what?
Still doing the right thing
is always doing the right thing.
And my charge unto you, pure words of Baptist church,
my charge unto you as an individual
is get some integrity, purpose in your heart,
but most importantly, when you're tried and tempted,
retain that integrity.
Let's go to the prayer.
Thank you, Father, so much for your word.
Thank you for such a great example in the book of Job.
Thank you for giving us men in the Bible
that we can look to and stories that we can study.
Thank you for your son keeping his integrity
and dying on the cross when facing all kinds of pressure
and temptation and struggle.
Thank you for the sacrifice and example
that you've given us.
I pray that when we have trials and temptations
and struggles in our life,
that we would be strengthened by your word,
that we could gain integrity from that word.
And that we could go through the fire
and we could have the precious fruit.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Amen.