Integrity of the Heart
Dr. Dennis Corle
Dr. Corle is the Editor and Publisher of Revival Fires
The Bible talks about integrity of heart, what it is, how desperately we need it, and what it will do if we have the right heart condition.
Notice these statements that are made about a heathen king who doesn’t know God. “And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife. But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.” (Genesis 20:1-7)
Abimelech was the king of Gerar, a lost man. Abraham is identified in Hebrews 11 as the father of many nations, the father of the Jewish nation, of course. This great man of faith began to doubt. He had a beautiful wife and was a stranger in a heathen land. Rather than trusting God, he was fearful that somebody would kill him to take his wife away from him. So he lied to try to protect his life instead of trusting God to take care of the situation.
That means then that somebody who’s as godly and has as much faith as Abraham can do some pretty stupid things if they’re not careful to hold themselves strictly to honesty and integrity. Abraham did something very foolish.
Abimelech was a king, Abraham was a foreigner -- not even a citizen. In those days in most any country, if a king saw a beautiful woman in his land that he desired, he would take her to be his wife. This was not at all uncommon. Abimelech took her with the idea that this was Abraham’s sister, not his wife, because Abraham was not being honest about it. Now the Bible said, once he did, that God prevented Abimelech from touching Sarah. God came to the king in a dream and said, “You’re a dead man, because you’ve taken another man’s wife.”
He said, “Lord, I didn’t know she was another man’s wife. They lied to me and said that she was his sister. She said so. He said so. Are you going to hold me accountable for their lie? I wouldn’t have done it if I had known.” He said, “I did this in the integrity of my heart and in the innocency of my hands.”
God, who knows the thoughts and intents of the heart, said to him, “I know that you did it in the integrity of your heart. I know you did not do this as an evil act. You did the wrong thing, but you didn’t do it willfully, or premeditated. You really didn’t know you were doing wrong. You correct it, and it will be all right, but rest assured, now that you know the truth, if you fail to correct it, then judgment is coming.”
Now you need to be aware that God judges sin. It’s possible for you in innocence to do the wrong thing. What I mean is, when you didn’t realize what you were doing. You didn’t premeditate it and decide to disobey God. You didn’t try to do the wrong thing, but somehow you found yourself in a bad situation. God said, “If you’ll make that thing right, because you didn’t premeditate it -- this was not a willful act; it wasn’t an act of rebellion or willful sin; but you still did the wrong thing and it’s still wrong -- I’m not going to judge the sin if you correct it now that you’re aware of what’s wrong.” Of course, Abimelech did what God told him to do. Even as a lost man, Abimelech was a man of integrity. The tragedy is that there are many lost people that have integrity, and yet there are some saved, born again people that don’t have integrity of heart.
Integrity is not perfection. We found that out because Abimelech did the wrong thing. He wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but he did it in innocence. This was not willful act of transgression. He did it thinking he was not doing wrong, thinking it was acceptable. When he found out it was not all right, then he corrected it. So integrity is not perfection. It is innocence or blamelessness.
Blamelessness doesn’t mean I never do anything wrong. It means I never willfully act against the known will of God. I have a whole Bible study from the Old Testament about presumptuous sins, but brother, I want to tell you something. He talks about forgiveness for things that are not presumptuous sin and he talks about judgment on presumptuous sin. Presumptuous sins are those where I know what the Bible says, but I don’t care. I’m going to do what I want to do, no matter what God says. But it is possible for somebody who’s saved, trying to do the right thing, to err in judgment, to make a mistake, to do what is not right, maybe even sometimes because of a lack of knowing all the facts, as in this story. The sin is no less wrong, but God is not going to be too hard on them if they’re willing to correct it once they have been made aware, because they did it in innocence.
I love what it says about Daniel in chapter six. When his enemies decided to conspire against him and they were going to try to get him in trouble with the king, it said, “Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.” (Daniel 6:4-5)
Daniel’s enemies paid him a pretty high compliment, when they admitted that the only way they could get him in trouble was to pass a law that’s against the Bible, because that’s the only law he would ever disobey. He’s not sinlessly perfect, but he’s conscientious. He’s faithful. He’s trying to do the right thing. He’s trying to honor the leadership he’s under. He’s trying to do what’s right. They said, “We’re just not going to get him in trouble. He doesn’t have a stitch of rebellion in him. He’s not a hypocrite. He’s not living a double life. The only way we’re going to get him in trouble is if we make a law that forbids him to obey his God, and we’re very sure he’ll disobey that one. Then we’ll be able to get him in trouble with the king. We have to make a law that’s against the law that he’s dedicated to.”
So integrity then, is not perfection, but it’s innocence or blamelessness. Daniel was not sinless. As a matter of fact, you’ll find him a few chapters later confessing his sin and the sins of his people. He knew he was not perfect and so did those people. However, he was a man of integrity.
It’s pretty hard to get a man of integrity in trouble because he’s always trying to do the right thing. Some folks would be easy to get in trouble because they’re always slipping around, living a double life, talking out of both sides of their mouth, insincere, and playing both sides of the fence. That’s always going to cause you trouble.
There are folks that don’t like me, but they know what I think. I’m not talking about them behind their back. I’m not playing both sides of the fence. I never have and I’m not going to start now. I say what I think. Sometimes I probably say things I should not say, but I’m not going to hide, and go backbiting behind somebody’s back. I don’t believe in that.
People get themselves in trouble because they don’t have any integrity. They’re trying to please everybody and play both sides of the fence. They’re not honest about what they really think, and it creates all kinds of problems. So they gossip to this person about that person, and they gossip to that person about this person, and if they ever get together, God help us. They say this over here because that person is not present and then they go over here and say this and this person is not present. If these two people ever get together, you’ve got a problem.
Do you know what it is? It’s an integrity problem. Integrity will help you tie a knot in your tongue. A lot of folks need to do that. They create more strife than any four people could calm down, just by working both sides, playing games with people instead of just being honest and straight up.
So integrity is not just a visible action, it is a state or condition of heart that needs to be maintained, especially by a child of God. He said, “In the integrity of my heart,” not just my actions. His actions were wrong, but his heart condition was right. He said, “I didn’t know. I wasn’t trying to do wrong. I’m sorry. I’m willing to correct it.”
That’s the other problem. Too many folks, when they do wrong they’ll defend and justify what they did instead of correcting it. They are so stinking proud. Instead of making any admission of guilt, failure, or wrong doing by saying, “I’m sorry. I was wrong,” and fixing it, they’ll stand by what they did and defend their actions, even when they know in their heart it was wrong. All you’re going to do is bring problems and judgment because God can not bless that.
Here was a heathen man that had integrity of heart. Integrity is not just honesty, though certainly that’s a quality that’s part of integrity. You say, “What is it?” It’s honesty. It’s fidelity. It’s transparency. “What do you mean by transparency?” I’m talking about having nothing to hide and being what you profess to be, having nothing to cover up, no double standard, just being who you are. All of us ought to be better Christians than we are, but I don’t think we ought to pretend to be something we’re not. We ought to be laboring to become better Christians in reality, not pretending and putting on a super-spiritual facade.
Integrity is honesty, fidelity or faithfulness. It’s faithfulness to the house of God, faithfulness to your friends, and faithfulness to your spouse. Fidelity -- keeping things in their proper perspective. Transparency -- having nothing to hide and being good for your word. A word and handshake of the man of integrity is better than a signed contract by somebody that doesn’t have integrity.
I’ve lost all respect for professional athletes. “Why?” Because they’ll sign a contract for three years and have one good year and then won’t honor the contract they signed, and they want to renegotiate because they had one good year. I wonder if they’ll want to renegotiate after a bad year and lower their salary? If it’s going to hurt them, they don’t want to renegotiate, but if they have a good year and some bargaining power, then they want to dishonor the contract that they signed. That’s a lack of integrity. Our whole society is infiltrated by that mentality today.
Psalm 15 gives us a pretty good description of integrity. I’ve heard people preach this as works for salvation, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s not about salvation, but about my ability to have a walk with God after I’m saved. It’s about me being able to fellowship with God and come into His presence. Integrity makes it possible for me to dwell in the presence of God and have a walk with God.
Psalm 15 well describes the qualities of a man or a woman of integrity. “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?” He’s not talking about who’s going to get to Heaven when they die, but the place where I abide today. Then he said, “He that walketh uprightly,...” He just does the right thing. His walk is upright. He’s doing what is right in the eyes of God.
Then he says, “...and worketh righteousness,...” He doesn’t just believe right. He does right. He works at right and he works what is right. “How do you know what’s right?” That’s why I have a Bible. So if I work right then I’m working the Bible. If I work righteousness, I’m working what the Bible says is right to do. I’m actually putting the truth to work, applying and practicing the truth of the Bible in my life.
“...and he speaketh the truth...” He’s not a liar. He’s not deceitful. He’s not living by superlatives and exaggeration constantly. He just tells it like it is. He doesn’t make it better than it is. He doesn’t make it worse than it is. He is truthful in all things.
Do you know what bothers me? I get around people and there’s somebody that’s become their enemy. Now their enemy may have flaws, but they make it bigger than it really is. I guarantee you this. I’m not anybody’s enemy, but there are some folks who have made themselves my enemy by their own choice. I am very aware that my enemies have more good points than they have bad points. I’m not going to make a villain out of a guy, and try to make him worse than he really is. I may not agree with him on a point or two, but I’m not going to try to undercut his whole person and try to make him look like there’s nothing good about him and he’s bad in every way.
The Bible says that I’m supposed to speak the truth. A kid once asked me, “How do you keep from lying?” Just always tell the truth! That will cure the problem. Just make yourself tell the truth. If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember what you said, because the truth won’t change. Too many folks have to really, really remember. Better write it down. Because somebody else asks you, you say, “Wait a minute till I look at my tablet and see what I told the last person.” Just tell the truth and you won’t have to worry about that. The truth is always the same. Just tell the truth.
A bunch of people are more worried about making themselves look like heroes than they are about telling the truth. Sure they intend to tell the truth, but the most important thing is to make every story lift them up in the eyes of others, and that leads them into all kinds of dishonesty and deceit.
Then he said, “...and speaketh the truth in his heart.” He speaks the truth, not only with his mouth, but in his heart. I mean he’s concerned about truth in here and he tells it out here. Be honest with yourself. Make yourself live an honest life. Be ruled in your heart by the truth of God’s word. Then he said, “He that backbiteth not...” He’s not going to go around behind somebody’s back. If he has something to say he’s going to look him in the eye and say it. I’m probably too good at that. I’m not going to sneak around behind somebody’s back and undercut them and say evil things of them. If I have something to say, you’ll know. If I’m upset, you won’t have to wonder. It won’t be somebody else who finds out first.
But “He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour,...” Tries to damage somebody, tries to hurt them. Even if I’m upset with somebody, I don’t hurt them or do them evil. I’m not going to go around trying to hurt somebody’s character and reputation, do them damage with other people.
It says, “...nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.” He’s not going to take up a reproach and spread it. He’s not going to be a carrier of reproach. I don’t care if it’s true or false. My job is not to spread reproach. Too many folks have the idea, “Well, if it’s true, I have the right to spread it.” No, you don’t. What do you think you are -- a manure spreader? Whether it’s true or not doesn’t give me the right to spread it. It’s not what I’m supposed to be doing if I’m a person of integrity.
“In whose eyes a vile person is contemned;...” He doesn’t have any heroes that are wicked people. He says, “I don’t have respect for what they’re doing. I don’t care how successful they are. What they’re doing is wrong. It’s wicked and vile.” He does not give his approval, no matter what he could stand to gain or benefit, no matter how successful they are in their field. They are contemned or in his eyes he has contempt for what they’re doing because it’s against the will of God.
“...but he honoureth them that fear the Lord....” even when it’s not real popular to do so, even when it costs something to honour somebody that’s doing right because the majority is against them.
“...He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.” When he makes a promise, if it doesn’t turn out like he thought it would, he still keeps it. When he makes a promise and he thought he was going to have excess to fulfill it with, when he finds out he’s on the short end, he still does what he promised. We have all kinds of people that pledge money to different projects, and we should. God will supply it, but sometimes God is going to test our faith. We’ll say, “We’re going to support this missionary.” When we say that, we have a little excess. Then we hit a bump in the road and things get tight and we say, “I just can’t do what I said.” Tithing, we don’t have to pledge that. It’s already pledged by God, and if we keep God’s tithe, then we stole it. But when I make a pledge, God expects me to keep the pledge, whether it’s to God or man. He’ll honor my willingness to do what I said I would do, my integrity.
“He that putteth not out his money to usury,...” He’s a giver instead of a user of money. Some folks aren’t willing to give anything, but if they could invest or loan to somebody at an interest rate they would, but they wouldn’t give them anything. I don’t like people to owe me anything. I’d rather give them money than loan them money. Do you know why? Because I don’t want money to come between me and somebody that I love. If they don’t pay, then it makes me mad because they didn’t do right. But if I give them something and they don’t owe me anything and there’s nothing for them to repay, then I’m not jeopardizing our relationship.
“...nor taketh reward against the innocent....” If he can be rewarded for taking a stand against somebody who’s innocent, he won’t do it, absolutely not. He’ll forfeit the reward and stand with the person who’s innocent and do the right thing. The man of integrity always stands for what’s just and right.
“...He that doeth these things shall never be moved.” He’s going to be firmly established. He’s going to be steadfast. He’s going to be in a solid position. These are instructions about walking uprightly and God wants you and I to make sure that we do the right thing. Usually when we’re talking about somebody who has integrity we say they have character. Character and integrity are very closely related, though not necessarily one and the same. A person of integrity is usually a person of character because the condition of their heart will dictate what they do. Their character will be constructed out of the condition of their heart. So if I have a heart of integrity then I will live a life of integrity, transparency, honesty, fidelity, decency.
Character is what you would do if no one would ever know -- at least that’s a pretty good thermometer to determine the level of your character. What would you say or what would you do if, in this life and in this world, no one would ever find out? Of course God sees everything. God knows, but the level of your character is determined by what you would do if no one would ever know. What can you live with? That tells us the level of your character and your heart condition. That tells us about your integrity or lack of it. Just what can you live with if no one else would ever know? A person of integrity can’t live with themselves when things are not right. It’s not just what somebody else knows. It’s what I know about me that bothers me. Honor gained at the expense of virtue is not honor, but dishonor.
Moses could have hidden his identity and enjoyed the riches and honor of Egypt. He was in line for the throne as the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He was raised in her home and educated in all the culture and customs of Egypt. He could have been the next Pharoah, but the Bible says that he forsook Egypt, not fearing the king, and chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
You’d better not miss what I’m about to say. You can enjoy sin at seed time, but there is more than one season. There is seed time and harvest. People can enjoy sin in seed time, but they never enjoy sin at the harvest. Moses could have hidden his identity and remained anonymous as far as his heritage. He could have refused to do what God put him there to do, and enjoyed some worldly pleasure and honor. He could have had an exalted position, but he forsook all that for the call of God because he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t do the will of God.
How about Joseph? When Potiphar’s wife pressed him daily and finally took hold of his coat and he fled the house, he said, “I can’t do this evil thing and sin against God.” He wasn’t just worried about whether her husband would find out. He said, “I can’t do this against God.”
You know Esther could have hidden her identity, but she risked her life instead by going in to the king and divulging to him that she was a Jew. The decree made by wicked Haman to kill all the Jews was also against her. If the king did not extend the scepter, she was a dead woman just for entering. Nobody came into the presence of the king except at his request without jeopardizing their life. If they didn’t find him in a good mood and have his favor, then it was thumbs down and you were dead. She could have refused to risk her life for all of her people and said, “I’m not going to jeopardize my life. I’m not going in there.”
Too often we let our pride make our decisions. We say, “I’m not going to be a soulwinner. It might cause me some embarrassment.” No, we’re going to let them all die and go to hell -- can we live with that? We are going to let them perish unwarned. We can live with that? We’re afraid somebody might not like us, so we’re going to withdraw from our responsibility and let people perish in hell. That’s a lack of integrity.
Shakespeare said this, “Above all else, to thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day. Now canst thou not then be false to any man.” That’s a tremendous statement. If you’re always totally honest and straight up with yourself, not trying to deceive yourself, not putting on a facade, then you won’t be false to anybody else.
Daniel could have stopped praying for 30 days. They said, “Hey, you can’t pray to anybody but the king for this period of time.” He said, “I can’t stop praying.” Wait a minute. Don’t you think he could have thought this out and said, “You know I’m not going to quit praying forever. I’m going to pray again later. I’m just not going to do it right now because this bad law has been put in. I’ll just quit praying until the time period is up and then I can start again and won’t get in trouble.” He could have rationalized like we rationalize and justify our wrong, but he didn’t do it. He decided to continue to do as he had always done, as he had done afore time, as it was right to do. When right is popular, it’s right. When right is unpopular, it’s still right. When right is legal, it’s right, and when it’s illegal it’s still right.
How about Joseph? We said that he fled Potiphar’s house. The statement that stands out to me is the fact that he was more concerned about what God knew than about what Potiphar knew. He said, “I can’t let myself do something like this. God knows. He’s watching. It doesn’t matter as much what anyone else thinks, but what God knows.”
Integrity is neither flattering nor is it demeaning. It’s just plain old honest. Some folks don’t want somebody to have integrity because they’d rather be told what they want to hear instead of the truth. A man of integrity is going to speak the truth, what he honestly thinks. Now that doesn’t mean he has to be cruel, demeaning, and demoralizing, nor is he going to be flattering and gushy and fall all over you. He’s just going to be straight up and tell you honestly what he thinks. Proverbs 27:5 says, “Open rebuke is better than secret love.” For somebody to openly rebuke somebody in honesty is better for them than to just tell them what they want to hear or for them to love somebody but never tell them what they’re thinking.
Our problem is that we’re not willing to pay any price in our Christianity. We just want to get in on all the free stuff. We want what’s already paid for, not what might cost us something.. We want the salvation and forgiveness that was paid for at Calvary, but we just want to collect all the fringe benefits and all the good things that are free. We really don’t want to do anything that’s going to cost anything. But the man of integrity is willing to pay a price to do right. He’s not just going to do right because it pays off. He’s willing to pay to do right. Did you hear what I said? A man of integrity doesn’t have to be paid to do right. He’s willing to pay to do right.
Jesus was integrity personified in a human body. Everything about Him exemplified integrity. He was the perfect man, the Son of God. He went about doing good. He didn’t do what He should not do, didn’t say what He should not say, had compassion, loved people, was honest, rebuked those that needed rebuke. He was integrity personified. He was everything that God intended for flesh and blood to be. Not only was He our Saviour and our Sacrifice, He also set the perfect Example. The life of Jesus shows us what integrity is.
When Bob Jones, Sr. said, “Do right! Do right! Though the stars fall, do right!” He was talking about integrity. He said, “If the stars fall because you do right, go ahead and do right anyway.” If everything else goes wrong, do right. If there’s chaos instead of order, do right.
I’m from a town called Claysburg that was named after Henry Clay. When Henry Clay was pressing legislation that was unpopular, he was also running for President. His advisors told him, “Mr. Clay, if you press this legislation, you will not be elected; it’s unpopular.”
Henry Clay asked them, “Is the principle right? What I’m pressing for, is it right or wrong?”
They said, “It’s right, but it’s unpopular.”
He said, “Then press it to the enth degree. I would rather be right than be President.”
Where’s that mentality in politics today? Where’s that mentality in Christianity? I’d rather be right than exalted. I’d rather be right than hold office.
Martin Luther said, “If I knew the world would go to pieces tomorrow, I would still plant my little apple tree and pay my debts.” He’s talking about integrity. He said, “I wouldn’t change a thing if I knew the world was going to go to pieces.” If I knew there would not be a bill collector the day after tomorrow, I’d still pay my bills tomorrow. If I knew the apple tree would never bear fruit, I’d still do what I planned to do and plant it. That’s integrity. Just do right regardless of the outcome.
George Washington said, “I cannot tell a lie.” That’s integrity. He said, “I’m not going to be a liar. I’m just not going to do it -- not for my benefit, not for somebody else’s hurt, not for prosperity, not to avoid shame.” There are many reasons why people lie, but no worthy reason.
When Abe Lincoln walked several miles back to the store to return a few cents that the proprietor had given him by mistake, that was integrity.
Adam Clark wrote a set of Bible commentaries, a great man of God. When Adam Clark was a young man, he worked in a store. The proprietor told him that when he sold material to people, he wanted him to stretch it to get more yards off the roll. When Adam Clark refused to stretch the material and cheat the people, he lost his job. That’s integrity.
There was another young man who worked in a dry goods store. Sitting at the supper table one evening, his father saw him chuckle to himself. His dad said, “Son, what are you laughing about?”
“Oh, nothing, Dad. I was just thinking about work.”
He said, “What’s so funny, son?”
He said, “Well, we have two grades of coffee there. We have a high grade of coffee and we have a lower grade of coffee. People buy the high grade and it’s more expensive, but when they run out of the high grade, he just takes a scoop out of the low grade bin and puts in the high grade bin and sells it for high grade coffee.”
His father said, “Son, tomorrow you go in and quit that job.”
He said, “But Dad, we need the money.”
He said, “I don’t care. You’re not going to work for a crook. You’re not going to do that. There is nothing funny about it. You quit that job.” It was during the depression when there wasn’t much money. That boy did as his father taught him, and never forgot the lesson in honesty he learned when he later opened his own business. His name was J. C. Penney. It looks like you can do okay and be honest. He established his business on his father’s principles and tried to treat people fairly. That’s integrity. I’m talking about when he had the job.
Some things are more important than money, folks. Some things are more important than possessions. Some things are more important than popularity. Your integrity and honesty and character and testimony are worth more than any dollar value you can name.
A few years ago a college sports team won a championship game, but then the coach discovered they had ineligible players. Without anybody forcing them to, the coach stepped forward and relinquished the championship trophy. That’s integrity. He didn’t wait to be found out. When he found out, he did something about it.
Integrity is a multifaceted gem, many sides to the same object. My dad taught me, “Denny, when you go to work, it’s eight hours work for eight hours pay.” Would to God some Christian folks would learn that today. Not eight hours of putting time in, because you’re at the factory or on the job site for eight hours, he said, “Eight hours work for eight hours pay.”
Before I was ever saved, I had a good work ethic that I got from my dad. He said, “You start when it’s time to start, and you finish when it’s time to finish, and work hard the whole time you’re getting paid to work. Produce as much as you can.” We got an idea today that it’s ‘us against them’ -- the workers against the company. That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard of. I know there’s sometimes wrong done by employees and employers alike. But if I own a company and you won’t let me make profit, then I’m going to sell the company and invest my money where I can make some profit and you can go hunt yourself another job. See what you can do on your own instead of milking me and bleeding me dry. Every employee ought to be interested in his company making money and prospering. Every employee ought to do what he can to see to it that they make money.
I’m so weary of going into a store or restaurant and they treat you like you’re imposing on them. “What are you doing here? Do you expect me to wait on you? Get out of my way, I’m busy. It’s time for my break.” Nothing irritates me more than to go into a store and be treated like I’m in somebody’s way because I’m there to spend my money. The only reason that guy has a job is because people come in there and spend money. What does he care if he hurts the company? He doesn’t own it. The reason employees don’t care and don’t give their best is because they don’t have any integrity. Our country is literally collapsing and our marriages are falling apart and our churches are going down to nothing because people, even saved people, do not have integrity.
Now there are some blessings connected with integrity. In Proverbs 11:3 the Bible tells us that integrity will guide us. It will be a guide to you and keep you on track. It will keep you from wavering and getting off on a side path. It says, “The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.” So integrity is a guide and protection for me. Perverseness will destroy me, but integrity will guide and protect me. I don’t know about you, but I kind of like that idea of being protected and safe.
Then it preserves. In Psalm 25:21 he said, “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.” When the Bible talks about the loins being girt about with truth in Ephesians 6, he’s talking about truth, transparency, integrity, fidelity. He said if I had that, it would preserve me. It will keep me from being exploited and destroyed by the enemy. I not only want the leadership and guidance so I don’t get off track on my own. I also want that protection that God gives and that preservation that He promises to those who practice integrity. God said that He would add longevity to my life, longevity to my service for Christ, longevity to my marriage, and longevity to my joy if I have a heart of integrity.
Then it sets us before the Lord’s face, abiding in His presence. Remember we talked about that in the beginning about the quality of integrity in Psalm 15. It sets us before the Lord’s face. It gives us fellowship with God. Psalm 41:12 says, “And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever.” So he said that integrity will undergird me and hold me in place. It will provide me access to fellowship with God. You mark this down. No integrity, no fellowship with God. You can fail a lot of times and make mistakes in the integrity of your heart. You can do wrong and right it a lot of times in the integrity of your heart and still have fellowship with God. But you hear me and hear me well. No integrity, no fellowship. When you abandon your integrity of heart and your purpose and intention of doing what’s right, you abandon your walk with the Lord.
Then it will bring blessing to our children. I want my children to be blessed, don’t you? In Proverbs 20:7 the Bible says, “The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.” Because of his integrity, he preserves something and leaves something as a heritage for them, not just money and houses and lands. He leaves them a heritage. He leaves them some character and he leaves them some things.
Cathy told me the first time she read this verse as a teenager, it reminded her of her dad. There was an elderly lady that wanted him to do a job, and he didn’t want the job. I think maybe a friend of his already wanted the job and was giving her an estimate. But he didn’t want to get the job, and she insisted on getting an estimate from him and wouldn’t take no for an answer, so he bid it high. He was shocked to find out that she was still determined that she wanted him to do the job. She liked him and liked his work and wanted him to do it. Somebody else underbid him, but she insisted on him. He felt so bad about it that he did a bunch of extra work for her that wasn’t in the contract, because he didn’t want to feel that he was treating her dishonestly. By the way, he would have been justified to do exactly what he agreed to do for the price she agreed to pay, but he felt he was overcharging her. My wife said that he and their family went to visit that lady and took her to church and did things for her for many years after that incident. That’s integrity, friend. Being true to yourself causes you to be true to everyone else. Temptation says, “No one will ever know.” Integrity says, “I will know and I can’t live with that.”
A preacher friend of mine gave me one of the kindest compliments that anybody’s ever given me. Many things have been said about me that weren’t flattering, but Brother Terry Anglea said something that I took as a real compliment. He said, “I don’t know a harder working preacher anywhere, anytime than Brother Corle.” Another friend of mind, Brother Jim Brown, said, “Well, I don’t always agree with Brother Denny. He’s not always right, but he always does what he believes is right.”
I didn’t say that. Somebody else said that, and it meant alot to me. I want to do what I believe is right, and I always try to set out to do what I believe is right. I may not always be right, but my desire is to do what is right. If I’m wrong about it, I’ll have to correct it later. I know I’m far from perfect and I don’t claim to be always right. But I’m trying to do and be what’s right to the best of my ability. I may find out I’m wrong, but I want to keep a condition of heart that makes me always want to do what I honestly believe is right and maintain my integrity.
Folks, we’re talking about the heart of Christianity and the basis of revival. If we don’t have any integrity, then we don’t admit there’s anything wrong. When we refuse to admit there’s anything wrong, then we don’t get on the altar and get right with God. We don’t correct anything. We just keep going on, covering it up, sweeping it under the rug, pretending that everything is okay when it’s not.
We have an integrity problem in America, and in our churches. The only thing that’s going to give us the power of God and a walk with Him, the blessing, the protection, the preservation, the longevity, and to cause us to be able to leave something for our children is that we decide to be people of integrity. Cultivate a heart of integrity and purpose in your heart to always do and say and be what is right before others, and before ourselves, and most of all, before God Almighty.
Notice these statements that are made about a heathen king who doesn’t know God. “And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife. But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.” (Genesis 20:1-7)
Abimelech was the king of Gerar, a lost man. Abraham is identified in Hebrews 11 as the father of many nations, the father of the Jewish nation, of course. This great man of faith began to doubt. He had a beautiful wife and was a stranger in a heathen land. Rather than trusting God, he was fearful that somebody would kill him to take his wife away from him. So he lied to try to protect his life instead of trusting God to take care of the situation.
That means then that somebody who’s as godly and has as much faith as Abraham can do some pretty stupid things if they’re not careful to hold themselves strictly to honesty and integrity. Abraham did something very foolish.
Abimelech was a king, Abraham was a foreigner -- not even a citizen. In those days in most any country, if a king saw a beautiful woman in his land that he desired, he would take her to be his wife. This was not at all uncommon. Abimelech took her with the idea that this was Abraham’s sister, not his wife, because Abraham was not being honest about it. Now the Bible said, once he did, that God prevented Abimelech from touching Sarah. God came to the king in a dream and said, “You’re a dead man, because you’ve taken another man’s wife.”
He said, “Lord, I didn’t know she was another man’s wife. They lied to me and said that she was his sister. She said so. He said so. Are you going to hold me accountable for their lie? I wouldn’t have done it if I had known.” He said, “I did this in the integrity of my heart and in the innocency of my hands.”
God, who knows the thoughts and intents of the heart, said to him, “I know that you did it in the integrity of your heart. I know you did not do this as an evil act. You did the wrong thing, but you didn’t do it willfully, or premeditated. You really didn’t know you were doing wrong. You correct it, and it will be all right, but rest assured, now that you know the truth, if you fail to correct it, then judgment is coming.”
Now you need to be aware that God judges sin. It’s possible for you in innocence to do the wrong thing. What I mean is, when you didn’t realize what you were doing. You didn’t premeditate it and decide to disobey God. You didn’t try to do the wrong thing, but somehow you found yourself in a bad situation. God said, “If you’ll make that thing right, because you didn’t premeditate it -- this was not a willful act; it wasn’t an act of rebellion or willful sin; but you still did the wrong thing and it’s still wrong -- I’m not going to judge the sin if you correct it now that you’re aware of what’s wrong.” Of course, Abimelech did what God told him to do. Even as a lost man, Abimelech was a man of integrity. The tragedy is that there are many lost people that have integrity, and yet there are some saved, born again people that don’t have integrity of heart.
Integrity is not perfection. We found that out because Abimelech did the wrong thing. He wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but he did it in innocence. This was not willful act of transgression. He did it thinking he was not doing wrong, thinking it was acceptable. When he found out it was not all right, then he corrected it. So integrity is not perfection. It is innocence or blamelessness.
Blamelessness doesn’t mean I never do anything wrong. It means I never willfully act against the known will of God. I have a whole Bible study from the Old Testament about presumptuous sins, but brother, I want to tell you something. He talks about forgiveness for things that are not presumptuous sin and he talks about judgment on presumptuous sin. Presumptuous sins are those where I know what the Bible says, but I don’t care. I’m going to do what I want to do, no matter what God says. But it is possible for somebody who’s saved, trying to do the right thing, to err in judgment, to make a mistake, to do what is not right, maybe even sometimes because of a lack of knowing all the facts, as in this story. The sin is no less wrong, but God is not going to be too hard on them if they’re willing to correct it once they have been made aware, because they did it in innocence.
I love what it says about Daniel in chapter six. When his enemies decided to conspire against him and they were going to try to get him in trouble with the king, it said, “Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.” (Daniel 6:4-5)
Daniel’s enemies paid him a pretty high compliment, when they admitted that the only way they could get him in trouble was to pass a law that’s against the Bible, because that’s the only law he would ever disobey. He’s not sinlessly perfect, but he’s conscientious. He’s faithful. He’s trying to do the right thing. He’s trying to honor the leadership he’s under. He’s trying to do what’s right. They said, “We’re just not going to get him in trouble. He doesn’t have a stitch of rebellion in him. He’s not a hypocrite. He’s not living a double life. The only way we’re going to get him in trouble is if we make a law that forbids him to obey his God, and we’re very sure he’ll disobey that one. Then we’ll be able to get him in trouble with the king. We have to make a law that’s against the law that he’s dedicated to.”
So integrity then, is not perfection, but it’s innocence or blamelessness. Daniel was not sinless. As a matter of fact, you’ll find him a few chapters later confessing his sin and the sins of his people. He knew he was not perfect and so did those people. However, he was a man of integrity.
It’s pretty hard to get a man of integrity in trouble because he’s always trying to do the right thing. Some folks would be easy to get in trouble because they’re always slipping around, living a double life, talking out of both sides of their mouth, insincere, and playing both sides of the fence. That’s always going to cause you trouble.
There are folks that don’t like me, but they know what I think. I’m not talking about them behind their back. I’m not playing both sides of the fence. I never have and I’m not going to start now. I say what I think. Sometimes I probably say things I should not say, but I’m not going to hide, and go backbiting behind somebody’s back. I don’t believe in that.
People get themselves in trouble because they don’t have any integrity. They’re trying to please everybody and play both sides of the fence. They’re not honest about what they really think, and it creates all kinds of problems. So they gossip to this person about that person, and they gossip to that person about this person, and if they ever get together, God help us. They say this over here because that person is not present and then they go over here and say this and this person is not present. If these two people ever get together, you’ve got a problem.
Do you know what it is? It’s an integrity problem. Integrity will help you tie a knot in your tongue. A lot of folks need to do that. They create more strife than any four people could calm down, just by working both sides, playing games with people instead of just being honest and straight up.
So integrity is not just a visible action, it is a state or condition of heart that needs to be maintained, especially by a child of God. He said, “In the integrity of my heart,” not just my actions. His actions were wrong, but his heart condition was right. He said, “I didn’t know. I wasn’t trying to do wrong. I’m sorry. I’m willing to correct it.”
That’s the other problem. Too many folks, when they do wrong they’ll defend and justify what they did instead of correcting it. They are so stinking proud. Instead of making any admission of guilt, failure, or wrong doing by saying, “I’m sorry. I was wrong,” and fixing it, they’ll stand by what they did and defend their actions, even when they know in their heart it was wrong. All you’re going to do is bring problems and judgment because God can not bless that.
Here was a heathen man that had integrity of heart. Integrity is not just honesty, though certainly that’s a quality that’s part of integrity. You say, “What is it?” It’s honesty. It’s fidelity. It’s transparency. “What do you mean by transparency?” I’m talking about having nothing to hide and being what you profess to be, having nothing to cover up, no double standard, just being who you are. All of us ought to be better Christians than we are, but I don’t think we ought to pretend to be something we’re not. We ought to be laboring to become better Christians in reality, not pretending and putting on a super-spiritual facade.
Integrity is honesty, fidelity or faithfulness. It’s faithfulness to the house of God, faithfulness to your friends, and faithfulness to your spouse. Fidelity -- keeping things in their proper perspective. Transparency -- having nothing to hide and being good for your word. A word and handshake of the man of integrity is better than a signed contract by somebody that doesn’t have integrity.
I’ve lost all respect for professional athletes. “Why?” Because they’ll sign a contract for three years and have one good year and then won’t honor the contract they signed, and they want to renegotiate because they had one good year. I wonder if they’ll want to renegotiate after a bad year and lower their salary? If it’s going to hurt them, they don’t want to renegotiate, but if they have a good year and some bargaining power, then they want to dishonor the contract that they signed. That’s a lack of integrity. Our whole society is infiltrated by that mentality today.
Psalm 15 gives us a pretty good description of integrity. I’ve heard people preach this as works for salvation, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s not about salvation, but about my ability to have a walk with God after I’m saved. It’s about me being able to fellowship with God and come into His presence. Integrity makes it possible for me to dwell in the presence of God and have a walk with God.
Psalm 15 well describes the qualities of a man or a woman of integrity. “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?” He’s not talking about who’s going to get to Heaven when they die, but the place where I abide today. Then he said, “He that walketh uprightly,...” He just does the right thing. His walk is upright. He’s doing what is right in the eyes of God.
Then he says, “...and worketh righteousness,...” He doesn’t just believe right. He does right. He works at right and he works what is right. “How do you know what’s right?” That’s why I have a Bible. So if I work right then I’m working the Bible. If I work righteousness, I’m working what the Bible says is right to do. I’m actually putting the truth to work, applying and practicing the truth of the Bible in my life.
“...and he speaketh the truth...” He’s not a liar. He’s not deceitful. He’s not living by superlatives and exaggeration constantly. He just tells it like it is. He doesn’t make it better than it is. He doesn’t make it worse than it is. He is truthful in all things.
Do you know what bothers me? I get around people and there’s somebody that’s become their enemy. Now their enemy may have flaws, but they make it bigger than it really is. I guarantee you this. I’m not anybody’s enemy, but there are some folks who have made themselves my enemy by their own choice. I am very aware that my enemies have more good points than they have bad points. I’m not going to make a villain out of a guy, and try to make him worse than he really is. I may not agree with him on a point or two, but I’m not going to try to undercut his whole person and try to make him look like there’s nothing good about him and he’s bad in every way.
The Bible says that I’m supposed to speak the truth. A kid once asked me, “How do you keep from lying?” Just always tell the truth! That will cure the problem. Just make yourself tell the truth. If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember what you said, because the truth won’t change. Too many folks have to really, really remember. Better write it down. Because somebody else asks you, you say, “Wait a minute till I look at my tablet and see what I told the last person.” Just tell the truth and you won’t have to worry about that. The truth is always the same. Just tell the truth.
A bunch of people are more worried about making themselves look like heroes than they are about telling the truth. Sure they intend to tell the truth, but the most important thing is to make every story lift them up in the eyes of others, and that leads them into all kinds of dishonesty and deceit.
Then he said, “...and speaketh the truth in his heart.” He speaks the truth, not only with his mouth, but in his heart. I mean he’s concerned about truth in here and he tells it out here. Be honest with yourself. Make yourself live an honest life. Be ruled in your heart by the truth of God’s word. Then he said, “He that backbiteth not...” He’s not going to go around behind somebody’s back. If he has something to say he’s going to look him in the eye and say it. I’m probably too good at that. I’m not going to sneak around behind somebody’s back and undercut them and say evil things of them. If I have something to say, you’ll know. If I’m upset, you won’t have to wonder. It won’t be somebody else who finds out first.
But “He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour,...” Tries to damage somebody, tries to hurt them. Even if I’m upset with somebody, I don’t hurt them or do them evil. I’m not going to go around trying to hurt somebody’s character and reputation, do them damage with other people.
It says, “...nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.” He’s not going to take up a reproach and spread it. He’s not going to be a carrier of reproach. I don’t care if it’s true or false. My job is not to spread reproach. Too many folks have the idea, “Well, if it’s true, I have the right to spread it.” No, you don’t. What do you think you are -- a manure spreader? Whether it’s true or not doesn’t give me the right to spread it. It’s not what I’m supposed to be doing if I’m a person of integrity.
“In whose eyes a vile person is contemned;...” He doesn’t have any heroes that are wicked people. He says, “I don’t have respect for what they’re doing. I don’t care how successful they are. What they’re doing is wrong. It’s wicked and vile.” He does not give his approval, no matter what he could stand to gain or benefit, no matter how successful they are in their field. They are contemned or in his eyes he has contempt for what they’re doing because it’s against the will of God.
“...but he honoureth them that fear the Lord....” even when it’s not real popular to do so, even when it costs something to honour somebody that’s doing right because the majority is against them.
“...He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.” When he makes a promise, if it doesn’t turn out like he thought it would, he still keeps it. When he makes a promise and he thought he was going to have excess to fulfill it with, when he finds out he’s on the short end, he still does what he promised. We have all kinds of people that pledge money to different projects, and we should. God will supply it, but sometimes God is going to test our faith. We’ll say, “We’re going to support this missionary.” When we say that, we have a little excess. Then we hit a bump in the road and things get tight and we say, “I just can’t do what I said.” Tithing, we don’t have to pledge that. It’s already pledged by God, and if we keep God’s tithe, then we stole it. But when I make a pledge, God expects me to keep the pledge, whether it’s to God or man. He’ll honor my willingness to do what I said I would do, my integrity.
“He that putteth not out his money to usury,...” He’s a giver instead of a user of money. Some folks aren’t willing to give anything, but if they could invest or loan to somebody at an interest rate they would, but they wouldn’t give them anything. I don’t like people to owe me anything. I’d rather give them money than loan them money. Do you know why? Because I don’t want money to come between me and somebody that I love. If they don’t pay, then it makes me mad because they didn’t do right. But if I give them something and they don’t owe me anything and there’s nothing for them to repay, then I’m not jeopardizing our relationship.
“...nor taketh reward against the innocent....” If he can be rewarded for taking a stand against somebody who’s innocent, he won’t do it, absolutely not. He’ll forfeit the reward and stand with the person who’s innocent and do the right thing. The man of integrity always stands for what’s just and right.
“...He that doeth these things shall never be moved.” He’s going to be firmly established. He’s going to be steadfast. He’s going to be in a solid position. These are instructions about walking uprightly and God wants you and I to make sure that we do the right thing. Usually when we’re talking about somebody who has integrity we say they have character. Character and integrity are very closely related, though not necessarily one and the same. A person of integrity is usually a person of character because the condition of their heart will dictate what they do. Their character will be constructed out of the condition of their heart. So if I have a heart of integrity then I will live a life of integrity, transparency, honesty, fidelity, decency.
Character is what you would do if no one would ever know -- at least that’s a pretty good thermometer to determine the level of your character. What would you say or what would you do if, in this life and in this world, no one would ever find out? Of course God sees everything. God knows, but the level of your character is determined by what you would do if no one would ever know. What can you live with? That tells us the level of your character and your heart condition. That tells us about your integrity or lack of it. Just what can you live with if no one else would ever know? A person of integrity can’t live with themselves when things are not right. It’s not just what somebody else knows. It’s what I know about me that bothers me. Honor gained at the expense of virtue is not honor, but dishonor.
Moses could have hidden his identity and enjoyed the riches and honor of Egypt. He was in line for the throne as the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He was raised in her home and educated in all the culture and customs of Egypt. He could have been the next Pharoah, but the Bible says that he forsook Egypt, not fearing the king, and chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
You’d better not miss what I’m about to say. You can enjoy sin at seed time, but there is more than one season. There is seed time and harvest. People can enjoy sin in seed time, but they never enjoy sin at the harvest. Moses could have hidden his identity and remained anonymous as far as his heritage. He could have refused to do what God put him there to do, and enjoyed some worldly pleasure and honor. He could have had an exalted position, but he forsook all that for the call of God because he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t do the will of God.
How about Joseph? When Potiphar’s wife pressed him daily and finally took hold of his coat and he fled the house, he said, “I can’t do this evil thing and sin against God.” He wasn’t just worried about whether her husband would find out. He said, “I can’t do this against God.”
You know Esther could have hidden her identity, but she risked her life instead by going in to the king and divulging to him that she was a Jew. The decree made by wicked Haman to kill all the Jews was also against her. If the king did not extend the scepter, she was a dead woman just for entering. Nobody came into the presence of the king except at his request without jeopardizing their life. If they didn’t find him in a good mood and have his favor, then it was thumbs down and you were dead. She could have refused to risk her life for all of her people and said, “I’m not going to jeopardize my life. I’m not going in there.”
Too often we let our pride make our decisions. We say, “I’m not going to be a soulwinner. It might cause me some embarrassment.” No, we’re going to let them all die and go to hell -- can we live with that? We are going to let them perish unwarned. We can live with that? We’re afraid somebody might not like us, so we’re going to withdraw from our responsibility and let people perish in hell. That’s a lack of integrity.
Shakespeare said this, “Above all else, to thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day. Now canst thou not then be false to any man.” That’s a tremendous statement. If you’re always totally honest and straight up with yourself, not trying to deceive yourself, not putting on a facade, then you won’t be false to anybody else.
Daniel could have stopped praying for 30 days. They said, “Hey, you can’t pray to anybody but the king for this period of time.” He said, “I can’t stop praying.” Wait a minute. Don’t you think he could have thought this out and said, “You know I’m not going to quit praying forever. I’m going to pray again later. I’m just not going to do it right now because this bad law has been put in. I’ll just quit praying until the time period is up and then I can start again and won’t get in trouble.” He could have rationalized like we rationalize and justify our wrong, but he didn’t do it. He decided to continue to do as he had always done, as he had done afore time, as it was right to do. When right is popular, it’s right. When right is unpopular, it’s still right. When right is legal, it’s right, and when it’s illegal it’s still right.
How about Joseph? We said that he fled Potiphar’s house. The statement that stands out to me is the fact that he was more concerned about what God knew than about what Potiphar knew. He said, “I can’t let myself do something like this. God knows. He’s watching. It doesn’t matter as much what anyone else thinks, but what God knows.”
Integrity is neither flattering nor is it demeaning. It’s just plain old honest. Some folks don’t want somebody to have integrity because they’d rather be told what they want to hear instead of the truth. A man of integrity is going to speak the truth, what he honestly thinks. Now that doesn’t mean he has to be cruel, demeaning, and demoralizing, nor is he going to be flattering and gushy and fall all over you. He’s just going to be straight up and tell you honestly what he thinks. Proverbs 27:5 says, “Open rebuke is better than secret love.” For somebody to openly rebuke somebody in honesty is better for them than to just tell them what they want to hear or for them to love somebody but never tell them what they’re thinking.
Our problem is that we’re not willing to pay any price in our Christianity. We just want to get in on all the free stuff. We want what’s already paid for, not what might cost us something.. We want the salvation and forgiveness that was paid for at Calvary, but we just want to collect all the fringe benefits and all the good things that are free. We really don’t want to do anything that’s going to cost anything. But the man of integrity is willing to pay a price to do right. He’s not just going to do right because it pays off. He’s willing to pay to do right. Did you hear what I said? A man of integrity doesn’t have to be paid to do right. He’s willing to pay to do right.
Jesus was integrity personified in a human body. Everything about Him exemplified integrity. He was the perfect man, the Son of God. He went about doing good. He didn’t do what He should not do, didn’t say what He should not say, had compassion, loved people, was honest, rebuked those that needed rebuke. He was integrity personified. He was everything that God intended for flesh and blood to be. Not only was He our Saviour and our Sacrifice, He also set the perfect Example. The life of Jesus shows us what integrity is.
When Bob Jones, Sr. said, “Do right! Do right! Though the stars fall, do right!” He was talking about integrity. He said, “If the stars fall because you do right, go ahead and do right anyway.” If everything else goes wrong, do right. If there’s chaos instead of order, do right.
I’m from a town called Claysburg that was named after Henry Clay. When Henry Clay was pressing legislation that was unpopular, he was also running for President. His advisors told him, “Mr. Clay, if you press this legislation, you will not be elected; it’s unpopular.”
Henry Clay asked them, “Is the principle right? What I’m pressing for, is it right or wrong?”
They said, “It’s right, but it’s unpopular.”
He said, “Then press it to the enth degree. I would rather be right than be President.”
Where’s that mentality in politics today? Where’s that mentality in Christianity? I’d rather be right than exalted. I’d rather be right than hold office.
Martin Luther said, “If I knew the world would go to pieces tomorrow, I would still plant my little apple tree and pay my debts.” He’s talking about integrity. He said, “I wouldn’t change a thing if I knew the world was going to go to pieces.” If I knew there would not be a bill collector the day after tomorrow, I’d still pay my bills tomorrow. If I knew the apple tree would never bear fruit, I’d still do what I planned to do and plant it. That’s integrity. Just do right regardless of the outcome.
George Washington said, “I cannot tell a lie.” That’s integrity. He said, “I’m not going to be a liar. I’m just not going to do it -- not for my benefit, not for somebody else’s hurt, not for prosperity, not to avoid shame.” There are many reasons why people lie, but no worthy reason.
When Abe Lincoln walked several miles back to the store to return a few cents that the proprietor had given him by mistake, that was integrity.
Adam Clark wrote a set of Bible commentaries, a great man of God. When Adam Clark was a young man, he worked in a store. The proprietor told him that when he sold material to people, he wanted him to stretch it to get more yards off the roll. When Adam Clark refused to stretch the material and cheat the people, he lost his job. That’s integrity.
There was another young man who worked in a dry goods store. Sitting at the supper table one evening, his father saw him chuckle to himself. His dad said, “Son, what are you laughing about?”
“Oh, nothing, Dad. I was just thinking about work.”
He said, “What’s so funny, son?”
He said, “Well, we have two grades of coffee there. We have a high grade of coffee and we have a lower grade of coffee. People buy the high grade and it’s more expensive, but when they run out of the high grade, he just takes a scoop out of the low grade bin and puts in the high grade bin and sells it for high grade coffee.”
His father said, “Son, tomorrow you go in and quit that job.”
He said, “But Dad, we need the money.”
He said, “I don’t care. You’re not going to work for a crook. You’re not going to do that. There is nothing funny about it. You quit that job.” It was during the depression when there wasn’t much money. That boy did as his father taught him, and never forgot the lesson in honesty he learned when he later opened his own business. His name was J. C. Penney. It looks like you can do okay and be honest. He established his business on his father’s principles and tried to treat people fairly. That’s integrity. I’m talking about when he had the job.
Some things are more important than money, folks. Some things are more important than possessions. Some things are more important than popularity. Your integrity and honesty and character and testimony are worth more than any dollar value you can name.
A few years ago a college sports team won a championship game, but then the coach discovered they had ineligible players. Without anybody forcing them to, the coach stepped forward and relinquished the championship trophy. That’s integrity. He didn’t wait to be found out. When he found out, he did something about it.
Integrity is a multifaceted gem, many sides to the same object. My dad taught me, “Denny, when you go to work, it’s eight hours work for eight hours pay.” Would to God some Christian folks would learn that today. Not eight hours of putting time in, because you’re at the factory or on the job site for eight hours, he said, “Eight hours work for eight hours pay.”
Before I was ever saved, I had a good work ethic that I got from my dad. He said, “You start when it’s time to start, and you finish when it’s time to finish, and work hard the whole time you’re getting paid to work. Produce as much as you can.” We got an idea today that it’s ‘us against them’ -- the workers against the company. That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard of. I know there’s sometimes wrong done by employees and employers alike. But if I own a company and you won’t let me make profit, then I’m going to sell the company and invest my money where I can make some profit and you can go hunt yourself another job. See what you can do on your own instead of milking me and bleeding me dry. Every employee ought to be interested in his company making money and prospering. Every employee ought to do what he can to see to it that they make money.
I’m so weary of going into a store or restaurant and they treat you like you’re imposing on them. “What are you doing here? Do you expect me to wait on you? Get out of my way, I’m busy. It’s time for my break.” Nothing irritates me more than to go into a store and be treated like I’m in somebody’s way because I’m there to spend my money. The only reason that guy has a job is because people come in there and spend money. What does he care if he hurts the company? He doesn’t own it. The reason employees don’t care and don’t give their best is because they don’t have any integrity. Our country is literally collapsing and our marriages are falling apart and our churches are going down to nothing because people, even saved people, do not have integrity.
Now there are some blessings connected with integrity. In Proverbs 11:3 the Bible tells us that integrity will guide us. It will be a guide to you and keep you on track. It will keep you from wavering and getting off on a side path. It says, “The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.” So integrity is a guide and protection for me. Perverseness will destroy me, but integrity will guide and protect me. I don’t know about you, but I kind of like that idea of being protected and safe.
Then it preserves. In Psalm 25:21 he said, “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.” When the Bible talks about the loins being girt about with truth in Ephesians 6, he’s talking about truth, transparency, integrity, fidelity. He said if I had that, it would preserve me. It will keep me from being exploited and destroyed by the enemy. I not only want the leadership and guidance so I don’t get off track on my own. I also want that protection that God gives and that preservation that He promises to those who practice integrity. God said that He would add longevity to my life, longevity to my service for Christ, longevity to my marriage, and longevity to my joy if I have a heart of integrity.
Then it sets us before the Lord’s face, abiding in His presence. Remember we talked about that in the beginning about the quality of integrity in Psalm 15. It sets us before the Lord’s face. It gives us fellowship with God. Psalm 41:12 says, “And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever.” So he said that integrity will undergird me and hold me in place. It will provide me access to fellowship with God. You mark this down. No integrity, no fellowship with God. You can fail a lot of times and make mistakes in the integrity of your heart. You can do wrong and right it a lot of times in the integrity of your heart and still have fellowship with God. But you hear me and hear me well. No integrity, no fellowship. When you abandon your integrity of heart and your purpose and intention of doing what’s right, you abandon your walk with the Lord.
Then it will bring blessing to our children. I want my children to be blessed, don’t you? In Proverbs 20:7 the Bible says, “The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.” Because of his integrity, he preserves something and leaves something as a heritage for them, not just money and houses and lands. He leaves them a heritage. He leaves them some character and he leaves them some things.
Cathy told me the first time she read this verse as a teenager, it reminded her of her dad. There was an elderly lady that wanted him to do a job, and he didn’t want the job. I think maybe a friend of his already wanted the job and was giving her an estimate. But he didn’t want to get the job, and she insisted on getting an estimate from him and wouldn’t take no for an answer, so he bid it high. He was shocked to find out that she was still determined that she wanted him to do the job. She liked him and liked his work and wanted him to do it. Somebody else underbid him, but she insisted on him. He felt so bad about it that he did a bunch of extra work for her that wasn’t in the contract, because he didn’t want to feel that he was treating her dishonestly. By the way, he would have been justified to do exactly what he agreed to do for the price she agreed to pay, but he felt he was overcharging her. My wife said that he and their family went to visit that lady and took her to church and did things for her for many years after that incident. That’s integrity, friend. Being true to yourself causes you to be true to everyone else. Temptation says, “No one will ever know.” Integrity says, “I will know and I can’t live with that.”
A preacher friend of mine gave me one of the kindest compliments that anybody’s ever given me. Many things have been said about me that weren’t flattering, but Brother Terry Anglea said something that I took as a real compliment. He said, “I don’t know a harder working preacher anywhere, anytime than Brother Corle.” Another friend of mind, Brother Jim Brown, said, “Well, I don’t always agree with Brother Denny. He’s not always right, but he always does what he believes is right.”
I didn’t say that. Somebody else said that, and it meant alot to me. I want to do what I believe is right, and I always try to set out to do what I believe is right. I may not always be right, but my desire is to do what is right. If I’m wrong about it, I’ll have to correct it later. I know I’m far from perfect and I don’t claim to be always right. But I’m trying to do and be what’s right to the best of my ability. I may find out I’m wrong, but I want to keep a condition of heart that makes me always want to do what I honestly believe is right and maintain my integrity.
Folks, we’re talking about the heart of Christianity and the basis of revival. If we don’t have any integrity, then we don’t admit there’s anything wrong. When we refuse to admit there’s anything wrong, then we don’t get on the altar and get right with God. We don’t correct anything. We just keep going on, covering it up, sweeping it under the rug, pretending that everything is okay when it’s not.
We have an integrity problem in America, and in our churches. The only thing that’s going to give us the power of God and a walk with Him, the blessing, the protection, the preservation, the longevity, and to cause us to be able to leave something for our children is that we decide to be people of integrity. Cultivate a heart of integrity and purpose in your heart to always do and say and be what is right before others, and before ourselves, and most of all, before God Almighty.
