Integrity

As you've noticed on your bulletin today, the title of the sermon is Integrity. You may say, well, why am I talking about integrity? Doesn't everyone know we're supposed to have integrity? Why is that taking up time? Why would you take up time on the Sabbath day to cover something we already know? But I wanted to bring it up and cover it because there's another part of this that I'll be touching on in a few weeks.

But there's never a wrong time to do the right thing. Never a wrong time to do the right thing. I'd like to talk about integrity, and I want to start out with two very short and simple stories that are true. One is about a man. His first middle name was Edward Joseph. But everybody knew him as Easy Eddie. Easy Eddie. He was an attorney. He was a very good attorney.

He was such a good attorney, and he lived back almost a hundred years ago. He did live a hundred years ago. That the most powerful man in his city decided that this guy was such a good attorney that he would become his attorney.

And the man who hired him to become his attorney was none other than the gangster Al Capone. And it wasn't like Easy Eddie didn't know what he was getting into. Easy Eddie was one of the richest men in town. He had this large home. It took up almost the entire block in Chicago at the time.

And he was so good at his job that he kept Mr. Al Capone out of prison, out of problems, and that went on for quite a few years. Till Easy Eddie had a son that was growing up, and as he saw this young boy growing up, he thought about what his son would face in the years ahead. What his family name would be. Because he began to realize then that he wanted his son to grow up and he wanted his son to be known different than what he was known by.

He wanted his son, he desired for his son to have integrity. And he made that decision one day. And he went to the police and he went to the Fed's FBI. And he actually testified and went to court, testified against Al Capone, the most feared man in the world at the time, in the United States at the time. Because they really could not get Mr. Capone because of the job, partly because of the job that Fast Eddie had done for him.

So he turned against him and he testified, and within a year after he testified, he was killed, of course, as expected. Did he have integrity? Let that hang out for you to decide. But it was important to him that if he didn't have it, his son could have it. Bring up another story. It's a story from World War II. It's about a lieutenant named Butch.

And Butch was a fighter pilot, a young guy, in his 20s. And as his whole entire squadron was flying out to to cover military operations, it was interesting because as they were flying, Butch, Lieutenant Butch, realized that in this hurry to go off that aircraft carrier, they forgot to top off his fuel. And he was going to run out of fuel before they could ever make their target. So he had to turn around and go back to the carrier. And as he was flying back to the carrier, a little depressed because he was not going to be able to do what he was trained to do, he ran into an entire Japanese squadron flying of many planes.

And as he saw in a distance, he saw that they were headed straight for his carrier. Butch decided then that he had to do something because there were no planes to take off, all had left. They were going to be defenseless except for a few guns on the carrier.

Not knowing what to do, and with such a large squadron to face, he decided he would just fly straight into them, firing every shot that he could out of his gun. The amazing part was it was such a shock to the Japanese squadron that he actually downed five planes in a little less than three or four minutes. And the others were in such shock that they flew off when he was able to fly back to the squadron, fly back to the aircraft carrier.

It was an amazing feat. He became Navy's first ace of World War II and the first naval aviator to win the Congressional Medal of Honor. A year later, he was killed in battle in a plane.

And in honor of him and what he had done, his hometown decided that they would change the name of the airport that they had and put his name upon that airport so that he could be remembered because of not only his heroism, but because of his name and the integrity he brought to that name.

His name was Lieutenant Butch O'Hare. You will understand that is O'Hare Airport, if you have ever flown into Chicago. His father would have been proud because his father was Fast Eddie years before. His father was the lawyer to the gangster and he had instilled in his life, a little life he had in his son, to live a life of integrity. It is possible. Do you have all the integrity that you want? That perhaps you need to have in your life?

Integrity, do you have it? Have you always had it? Do you need more of it? I do. As I look around and study my life and see the things that are done, I want to have more integrity in my life, in my job, in my marriage, and how I conduct myself. I want to be known as a man of integrity. I don't think I'm there yet where I need to be. I'd like you to turn to Proverbs 10, if you will. Proverbs 10, verse 9. Proverbs 10 and verse 9 says, He who walks with integrity walks securely. Walk securely.

Proverbs 11.3. The integrity of the upright will guide them. It will guide them. If I have integrity, it will guide me. It will help me to walk securely, knowing what? I'm not walking this path alone. I might get a turn to Psalms, if you would, because Psalm 41. Psalm 41, verse 12 says, As for me, as David is writing this, as for me, you uphold me in my integrity, and set before me your face forever. Because he walked with God. About us. Are we walking with God? This word integrity is used in the Bible many times, and whatever it is, God admires it. Turn with me back to 1 Kings, if you will. 1 Kings 9. Here we have David again. 1 Kings 9.

God is talking about David, but he's talking to Solomon. It said in 1 Kings 9, verse 4, Now if you walk before me, as your father David walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep my statutes and my judgments and I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying you shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel. So God is instructing Solomon to follow his example that his father had shown him of being a man with integrity. Was David perfect? No. Are you perfect? No. Does God require integrity of us? Yes. Yes. Is integrity something that you see? Absolutely. Is it something that someone dealing with you or experiencing things with you sees? Yes, it is. God stresses integrity in everything we do.

I'd go back to another scripture here, Job. Do you mind going back to Job? And Job too. We know the story. All of you know the story of Job and how God actually allowed Satan to threaten him and attack him but not kill him. But in Job, after he attacked him very first time, we have now the dialogue between God and Satan. And in Job 2 and verse 3, Then the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil. Kind of a pretty good definition for what is integrity, what Job was all about. And still, he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without cause. Job had integrity. You could see it. So what is it?

Integrity is defined in the Hebrew, the Old Testament, as completeness, completeness, uprightness.

Someone who walks uprightly, right? We've heard that saying many times. It's an older saying. You don't hear that much anymore. But it actually is defined as the condition of being without blemish. It's also defined as wholeness, wholeness of honesty, wholeness of honesty. Do we walk uprightly before God and man? Do we? I mean, only you can answer that. Other people could answer it, but I think God expects you to be able to answer that.

Having integrity is almost being above reproach, isn't it? Is your word brethren your bond? Is your word your bond? Is your name synonymous with integrity?

What is in a name? What is in a name? All of you here, I hope, if someone asks you, are you a Christian? You will say absolutely yes. Of course I am. I follow Christ, right? I follow Christ. I strive to be a Christ-like person.

But there's more to it. We see people who are called Christians. They call themselves Christians, but yet they are people that lack integrity.

Christian means you're a godly man or woman.

It's the essence of who we are, isn't it? It's what God expects from us to walk upright, to be honest, to be true, to be complete.

Isn't that what God expects? God wants. He even said, I give you my spirit so that what? You can be more like me. You can become more godly. It's one of the reasons the Holy Spirit is given.

Eli Estrada is from Long Beach, California. A few years ago, Eli is a landscaper, has his own business, works hard, debt, struggles to make payroll, paychecks every week. Well, he's just a hardworking guy, still is. But Eli is known for integrity.

There are many stories. You can find them all over the internet.

Stories of integrity. But Eli Estrada was working one day, and as he was working at this house, and he was about to leave doing part of his landscaping business, there was something in the middle of the road. He stopped. There was no one around. He picked up this bag, and it had fallen out of a brink's truck.

And it was a bag that contained $144,000.

No one to see him. No way to trace. Not anything. But it did have brinks on the side of this bag. It had dropped out of the brinks truck. You always hear about those things happening, but it never happened to me. They don't know anybody. They don't know Eli.

But Eli Estrada picked up that and drove it to the police department and waited until the Brinks guy came.

He wanted no reward.

What a world it would be if that story wasn't news. What a world it would be.

But you see it constantly just the other day in a store outside of New York. Older woman had dropped a brown paper bag while she was eating at this restaurant, this little fast food place. In it was thousands of dollars that her and her husband, they didn't have a lot, but they actually were going to make a down payment on a smaller house since they were going to retire. And it was like 10 or 15 thousand dollars. They don't remember the story. But it had fallen out of her old tattered coat. Someone had picked it up and taken it to the owner and said, I found this bag in one of the seats back there. Contacted the woman she wanted to give the person a thousand dollars. He said no.

You have heard a few examples of integrity.

I hope you desire to have it. And I know many of you do have integrity, because I've gotten to know you in the four years I've been here. But I know there's many of you that need more. You would like more. You would like to be known not only by people in this world that come across you, but also your families. You want to leave that legacy with your children or your children's children.

But, brethren, it's who we are. It's who we need to be. It's because we're Christians, because we're godly people. Now, I'd like you to think of another example as we go to scriptures. I'd like you to turn back to the book of Daniel.

You turn back to the book of Daniel. As I think about people with integrity, I asked this question of quite a few of you. It gave me different names. But with me, the one name that stands out the most for me, personally, just my own, is Daniel. I cannot find anything in the book of Daniel that does not show this individual had such integrity in everything he did. Incredible example for us. Even the young people. Think about it. Even the young people. Because when Daniel was young, when it was believed he was taken somewhere between 15 and 17 years of age, he was taken as a slave from Judah to Babylon. And we see that he had been raised, reared by the nation of Israel, Judah at the time.

He was trained to live a godly life, to strive to do that in all facets of his life. And in Daniel 1 and verse 8, as he was then taken, they believe he was then castrated.

He was then put into a learning process to learn the languages, to be able to serve in the kingdom.

So he did not have a lot of power, pull, or authority, being 16 years of age. I'm sure he was frightened in a little way, because even though he had trust in God, he was drug 500 miles through the desert to Babylon. But it says in chapter 1 verse 8, he said, But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portions of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore, he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he not defile himself. Was willing to make that stand at 16 or 17 years of age.

That he was going to follow God. He was going to do what's right. Isn't that exactly what an upright person does? You have a choice, and you decide to do what's right.

There's no better reference book on doing what's right than your Bible. The Knowing God's truth. Daniel knew that at a very young age. You can also see those individuals, which is a good example to young people today. You saw in the scriptures that he hung out with three other guys. Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, who also were men of integrity.

They followed God, and they were willing to do it, and they were willing to die to uphold their integrity.

Like you turn over when you're in Daniel to Daniel 6. You have to realize Daniel here is older. He's lived through different kings.

And he still upholds his integrity.

And then you see in chapter 6, verse 1, I read from the New King James. Chapter 6 and verse 1, it said, It pleased Darius, the Medo-Persian Empire. They had already conquered Babylon. You know the story that actually in Babylon, Daniel was one of the higher ranked people.

He rose from a slave to become like Joseph, one of the heads over the nation. Why? Integrity.

He never let it slide.

And so when the New King took over, look what happened. It was a whole dynasty. He didn't tell me that the whole Medo-Persian Empire didn't have men who could come in and take those jobs.

But it says, It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, overseers, local rulers, to be over the whole kingdom, and over these three governors, of whom Daniel was one, that the satraps might give account to them so that the king would suffer no loss. Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps because an excellent spirit was in him.

So he excelled even in a government structure.

And the king gave thought to setting him over the entire realm, over the entire kingdom that was once Babylon.

Verse 4, So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel. Oh, wait a minute! Here's a power struggle.

Daniel's in politics here.

He's very high up.

You had other politicians there that they weren't crazy about that.

Why would that be? Why if Daniel was such a competent person, had such integrity that Darius the king wanted to put him over the whole thing, why would they not want this guy?

Why do you have to look today?

How many honest politicians we have in Washington, D.C. today?

And if we get one, what's going to happen?

You think everybody's going to go, Oh, how great it is to have an honest politician. Well, better take a picture. We may never have another one. Right? Daniel had this.

You couldn't buy Daniel. You couldn't bribe Daniel. He was not going to lie to cover for you. He was an honest man. He was a dedicated man.

He was a guy any of us would want working for us.

So the governor of Satrap sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no charge or fault because he was faithful. Nor was there any error or fault found in him. Wow! Daniel, a man of integrity.

Isn't that interesting?

Because you go actually in chapter 5 and verse 31, it actually says that that Darius the Mede received the kingdom being about 62 years of age. I imagine Daniel was so different to Darius, because I'm sure when he conquered the kingdom, he brought all these people forward, and people were just saying whatever they thought Darius wanted to hear. Right? Sound like a politician? Sound like many politicians? Let's see which way the wind's blowing. And Darius saw something different?

And I guarantee you, you've met people with integrity and you see something different.

But here are all these other people, these governors and satraps, all these rulers, everybody involved in politics, they had to find something. Okay, the guy's got to have some skeleton in his closet. He's got to find something. Let's watch him. Sound familiar?

Better because that's all you're going to hear for the next year.

Verse 5, Then these men said, We shall not find any charge against Daniel, unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.

Well, today, honest politicians and oxymorons.

But you see, this country, this world needs more people with integrity. We need integrity in this world.

Look back. You ever thought about it? What some people will be remembered by? When growing up, I was a teenager, a kid, and I remember one politician.

His name was Richard Nixon. He was president of the United States. I remember him saying, I am not a crook. Right? I am not a crook. Yes, he was. He was a crook. He lied.

He had to resign before he was impeached.

Because of his lack of integrity, he resigned in disgrace.

Quite a different kind of politician than Daniel, right? Yes, he did. I have a young individual who was in the news this past week.

He was actually paid, as they found on the records, almost a million dollars a year to appear in TV commercials.

And he only had to work about four to five months a year. Six at the most for this million dollars. All he had to do was go and film some commercials. But he had this likable face. He had this credible story. So he became, wow, the face of a franchise.

And you've all seen him. If you've watched TV.

This year, this week, that face was sentenced to 15 years in prison. His name is Gerald Fogel. Fogel. Jared Fogel. That's right. Jared Fogel. He was on Subway. He pushed Subway for years. 15 years. I forget how many years. Made millions. They sent him away this week because he's not who he said he was. He was not who he came across.

He was playing with corn, children, porn, kiddie porn, exchanging photos of naked young kids.

Found him actual sexual acts with little 14 and 15 year old girls he had paid for.

He's a disgrace. Everyone knows it. Everyone knows it.

Another example of a man that everybody assumed he had integrity.

He won the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, given to some of the greatest people who helped people in the world. He was the guest of honor at the Kennedy Center of Honors one year.

He was also known as TV Father of the Year, as his TV show was one of the was the top show back in the 1980s.

And he seemed to be a man of integrity.

But now we know.

He wasn't. He was a creep. He's a rapist, sexual predator. No, he's not been convicted.

Because the limitations of when you can prosecute for that is a run out.

His name is Bill Cosby.

And the sad part was, they don't think they can touch him, but he admits to drugging the women.

Multiple times this has gone on and had multiple affairs even when he was married.

At one time, his wealth was thought to be somewhere around 300 million dollars.

He had it all. And he had such a good reputation that anyone, as a matter of fact, people actually sent him their young people so that he could mentor some of those.

Actually, some of these women were in their early 20s and they were trying to get advice from him on how to make it through this maze that is Hollywood.

And he took advantage of them. And a lot of them destroyed their lives.

Integrity is something most people know.

They know it when you see it.

These three men will be remembered for no integrity.

Will you be remembered as a person of integrity?

As we look at that definition in the Old Testament of wholeness or oneness, in Hebrew, the actual word for integrity is tom, but it's pronounced tome. Tome. And it means completeness, means sound. Soundness. It's just solid.

In the New Testament, in the Septuagint, it's actually referred to as honesty. As honesty, adherence to a pattern of good works.

Some people do not even think about that today, do they? Don't even think about it.

Integrity, as I like to think of it, is being honest to yourself and to God. But it's being honest no matter the condition.

Because it's easy to do the right thing at the right time. But it's very hard sometimes to do the right thing at the wrong time.

Where you have to stand and make a stand for what's right, no matter. You know, our word, English word, integrity, comes from the Latin, integre, E-N-T-E-G-E-R. And in the Latin, it actually means wholeness with qualities of honesty and a consistency of character. Isn't that what God wants us to develop? Godly character? That's what we're all trying to do. And you know, we all know it. Every one of you knows it. Just like I know it, when I fall and don't have the character that I know I should have.

When I go, oh, I wish I had that one back.

When you repent, as we heard today from the sermonette, thank Chris for that. Thou repentance, and you realize, God, I can do better than that. Help me. Help me to do better. Because that was me today. That wasn't you. So tomorrow, let it be you in me. That's what integrity is about.

See, integrity is no flash in the pan. Oh, here we go. Yeah, I was good, you know. Four or five days this week. The other two or three, yeah, I can't really say.

No, integrity is about the wholeness of you. It's who you are. It's what you do. Right? You've met people that... They just can't help but lie. That's not integrity.

And that really shows through today, doesn't it?

It's your character to your core. Your character, God's character to your core.

Do you pray for that?

I have to, because it's not natural. It doesn't come natural. I gotta have that character. I gotta have his character, because any of you that have a driver's license and drive in this place, you need integrity.

Right?

And slip up on you.

Have you ever given your word to someone and then broken it? Have you ever given your word saying, I'm going to do this?

And then you didn't do it.

It's lack of integrity, isn't it?

Have you always tried to keep your word to the best of your ability? Because that's all we can do. No matter how much it costs you, or how much it hurt, have you? That's something we must answer. That's one of the big questions about integrity. It's no matter what it costs me, I will keep my word.

Wouldn't it be great if you were an employer and you knew none of your people were going to lie to you? And no matter, even if it was going to be against them because they did something wrong, they would come to you. How about your children? Don't you tell them, just tell me the truth. See, we develop integrity in these children. How can you expect children to have integrity if the parents do not? Can I read that again? Have you always tried to keep your word to the best of your ability, no matter how much it costs you or how much it hurt?

See, that's something that I'm going to do. I'm going to give you a little bit of a quick example. I'm going to give you a quick example. I'm going to give you a quick example. I'm going to give you a quick example. See, that's integrity.

I'll meet you at seven o'clock.

You're there at seven o'clock.

Oh, well, I'm just a little bit late. No, that's integrity.

It's a big thing. Maybe a little thing to some people, but it's a big thing to God. Integrity! That's why I'm bringing it out.

Found that out in Jamaica last weekend when I was there. Met an individual at the Feast of Tabernacles. His name is Newton. I won't give you his last name, but it works in the travel business.

And Newton met me at the Feast because I had him do something for the first time. And he said he would meet me at the certain time at the Feast.

He was there on time. Amazing!

So this time when I had to meet him, he said, Can you meet me at this resort at ten o'clock Sunday morning? Sure. I got there at about ten-two. When I got there, there was a person there saying, I'm sorry, but Newton got tied up at this other place he wanted me to tell you. So you Chuck Smitty goes, yes. I said, yes. He goes, he may be a few minutes late. Okay, no problem. He's hanging around. I look and I make sure I walk out to see a little bit of the water. It's not even. It's about one till ten.

It's a few minutes or. And I walk back in and there he is standing there waiting for me. And I said, I thought you were going to be late. He said, I was afraid I would.

I just wanted to make sure that I did not make you feel like your time was being wasted with me.

My time was more valuable than his. That's integrity. And you think he actually had the car to pick me up to take me back to the airport, the one and a half hour drive.

He was supposed to meet me at eight. It was there. The guy said, no, I got here 20 minutes before. Just wanted to make sure that I was not late. Integrity. You see why I'm not going to have any trouble using this man and his people at the feast? It makes me want. I'm looking forward to it now because that's rare in today's world, whether it's Jamaica or whether it's America. Still rare. People don't think anything about time. Ah, they're late.

Incredible. This is why Christ said, he who is faithful and little will be faithful and much because that integrity. You want to impress somebody in this world? Be a person of integrity because they are so few today, aren't they? I knew an individual back in Tennessee way back. He's probably been about 35 years now. A friend of mine got a job in a grocery store. It was a supermarket, but it wasn't as big as similar to publics, like six lanes or something. And I remember he talked to him about it because he'd been working there for a year or so. And he worked himself up from bag boy to finally cashier and a little pay raise. And so he was actually a cashier. And I was asking him how I said, wow, that store is very busy. He said, yes.

He said, I like it. I like our manager. He's really on the ball. You know, he expects a lot. But boy, you know, I think I can really do well in this business. Well, you know, it was probably seven years later that I ran across him again. So we happened to be working out the same gym. I said, hey, how are you doing? You know this. He's with the company. He was a mid manager by this time in seven years.

And I said, well, whatever happened to that to the boss? Because I knew his name. I don't want to say his name here in case somebody can see that. Hear that. And he said, well, he got fired. And he said, I didn't realize, but he was doing really well in the company. And one of the things that he did, and he said, I didn't think anything about it till I got to be a cashier. And you knew he had the power to hire and fire you like that.

And he wanted dedication.

But he just said, he told me how this guy, this manager had, and of course, that's been 30 something years ago, had a can of peaches and they were 59 cents. I so remember that. 59 cents for a can of peaches. And that can of peaches was sitting up at every counter. And everybody that came by, they added that can of peaches there to their bill, unless there was just a few items. But when somebody came through with a major item, a whole bunch of cartloads, your job was to just press 59 cents for that can that had been sitting there.

And he then told me how the guy made all kinds of money for the company and how he made it for himself. Because he was able to keep up and know, just like you had 300 customers go through, and there were 250 of those that had 59 cents added to each one of them. He kept 50% of that and he sent the other to the company.

He made money, so did the company.

Until he was found out and he was fired.

But he expected integrity from all of his people to be dedicated to him, but he saw he didn't have it and he forced his people not to have it.

Interesting. Interesting as I think about that.

You know, we all know someone who will always be honest and truthful. And you know you can count on them, right? Everybody here know, I know a few people that I know. They are so honest and so truthful, I could count on them for anything, right? Why don't you think about that person right now?

Think of their name, see their face.

I want you to think who it is.

When God thinks like that, is it us? When God thinks like that, is it us? Brethren, it should be. It should be us. If not, it's something we need to work on. It's something he can help us with. It's something that we can all grow in and have the integrity.

I want to finish today with a short biblical example for all of us. It's a story that's about integrity on display for the leading prophet of God at a time when there were very few prophets of God.

And it's crazy because it was also an example to an entire nation 2,500 years ago. And it is today an example for an entire world if they read the Scriptures, but it's especially for us. Especially for us.

And it's the story of the Recobites. Story of the Recobites. Anybody here know who the Recobites were? Most people do not. As a matter of fact, I even talked to a minister this week and I told him I was given a sermon about the Recobites. He said, I don't know. You know who the Recobites were. Yep.

Yes. Very good. I'll tell the minister that you knew.

It's the story of the Recobites and the verses from a God that was so impressed by the integrity of these people, of this one family, that he put it down and wanted to show before his great prophet, before the entire nation, and he brings it to us today.

Because these people were not from Israel. They joined, kind of jumped in with Israel in the desert.

They were from the Midianites, as we knew from a faith Bible study this week. Where the Midians came from.

But I'd like you to turn there as we wrap this up.

Like you turn to the book of Jeremiah.

As we saw the whole nation of Judah just turning, and they didn't obey God, they had forgotten their God, they were doing their thing, he was almost at the end of his rope. He had tried for so long, and they just didn't care about him anymore. And Jeremiah 35. Jeremiah 35 and verse 1.

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, and this is God speaking, He said, Go to the house of the Recobites. Speak to them and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers and give them wine to drink. Sounds good. I would have said, Hey, okay, I'm pure going to be good wine. Let's party. Right?

Not so. Verse 4. So Jeremiah said, I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igidalia, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, above the chamber of Messiah, the son of Shalom, the keeper of the door. Why did... Well, verse 4, why would he say that? He was bringing these people in who were not the royalty. They were not the in-group. They were not the people everybody looked to. Recabytes weren't that way. He was bringing them in to show them where the elite lived. He was bringing them into the holy temple, which I'm sure the Recabytes didn't really go into. 2. Verse 5. Then I sat before the sons of the house of the Recabytes, bowls full of wine and cups, and I said to them, drink wine. But they said, we will drink no wine for YHWH. 3. The son of Rekab, our father, commanded us, saying, You shall drink no wine, nor you, nor your sons, forever. You shall not build a house, sow a seed, plant a vineyard, nor have any of these. But all your days you shall dwell in tents, that you may live many days in the land where you are sojourners. Thus we have obeyed the voice of YHWH. The son of Rekab, our father. In all that He charged us to drink no wine, all the days, we, our wives, our sons, our daughters, nor to build houses to dwell in, nor do we have vineyards, field, or seed. Wow, He's saying it again!

What would you have done? You went into the house of God.

God's chief man at the time said, I want you to do this here.

Verse 10, But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed and done according to all the Anadab, our Father commanded us. But it came to pass when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up to the land that we said, Come, let us go up to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, or for the fear of the army of the Syrians. So we dwell in Jerusalem. So this was outside of the norm. The reason they were in that city was there was war going on.

And they didn't want to see themselves destroyed. Everybody killed. It's casualties of war. Because basically, you went to war. Half the reason was to make slaves, to make you money. Then I dug into verse 12. Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah. So Jeremiah is hearing this going, Wow! These people, they're a little different. Man, I mean, you don't want a house. You don't want, I mean, you're wandering in tents all this time.

Think of the word, better ones. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Go and tell the men of Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you not receive instructions to obey my word? says the Lord.

He's saying, Go out and tell all those people, hundreds of thousands of people, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will you not receive instructions to obey my word? hundreds of thousands of people in Jerusalem at the time. Will you not obey me? The words of John of Dab, John of Dab, the son of Rekab, which he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed to this day. They drink none and they obey. You get the jest?

He said, Wait a minute! For 300 years, these people have been following what their father asked them to do. And they do it! No matter what. And I have sent time and time again, and offered to bless you beyond compare, just obey me. And they would not do it. They would not do it. Verse 12, Said, Nor to this day, they drink none and obey their father's commandment. But although I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, and you did not obey me, I have also sent to you all my servants and prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Turn now everyone from his way, evil way, amend your doings, and do not go after God's to serve them.

Then you will dwell in the land, then you will dwell in the land which I have given you. But you have not inclined your ear. What is he saying? You're not listening. This country, this country in America, we need to repent. That needs to be the message. We have to turn. That is the message of the United Church of God. Turn back to God! Because what we saw, what we saw last week in France, is going to be nothing compared.

It won't be 129,000 people. God is serious. We must repent as a nation. And they need examples. They need people who will have the integrity to follow God and not man. Verse 16, Surely the son of Yona Dab, the son of Rekab, have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them, but this people has not obeyed me. And he says in verse 17, I am going to bring doom, doom on you. And that's what he's promised us. You profess to be a godly nation. You built a godly nation. This was built on the Bible.

This was built. And now what have they turned it into? And Jeremiah, in verse 18, said to the house of the Rekabites, Thus says the Lord, Host, the God of Israel, Because you have obeyed the commandment of Yona Dab, your father, and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he commanded you. Therefore, thus says the Lord of Host, the God of Israel, Yona Dab, the son of Rekab, you shall not lack a man to stand before me forever.

There are Rekabites even today. You can actually go back and see a study of a man that went in the 1860s or 1880s, in the Arabian Peninsula. And you'll see that he came across these Bedouin-like people. And he wondered, and he interviewed them. They kept the Sabbath, and they had all the stuff, and they were followers, but they weren't like Arabs. And he found it very strange. And so he asked them, where are you from?

Because everybody knew, and they said, we are the Rekabites. So, God cannot lie. So they are there even today. Because they had more integrity than even the people God had called and had blessed. The Rekabites had integrity. Remember the Scripture as I close now. Remember that, where he says, oh, that they would obey me. Remember that guy said, oh, that they would just obey me. They would fear me, revere me, love me. Do you keep your vows? Most of you here were baptized. You keep your vows.

You made a vow to God at your baptism. That Jesus Christ would be your Lord and Master, your high priest, your soon coming King. If you could help me. Peter, you mind, too, so we can do this quickly. I'd like to give you, I'd like everybody to have a copy and take it home with you. Because, brethren, whether it's been six months or 60 years, this is your vow you made when you were baptized. This is what the minister said before you, that you promised you made a vow that he would be your Lord and your Master.

When Christ is your Master, you're going to obey Him. It's your baptismal covenant, your baptismal agreement. Will you keep your word? Not just because it's on a piece of paper, but because it's in your heart. That piece of paper brings back to what you said, what was asked of you. It's not about the paper. It's not about the words that are written on it. It's about your heart. And do you really want to follow God? Because, brethren, when it comes down to it, it is all about integrity.