The Passionate Testimony of an Innocent Man, Part 1

Guest (Male): When did we stop trusting one another? There was a time when a handshake sealed a deal, when a person's word was enough, when we believed the best about our leaders. Somewhere along the way that confidence eroded and we've grown wary, skeptical, quick to suspect. But there's an old word worth recovering, a quality that holds a life together even when everything else falls apart. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll turns to the story of Job to explore what it means to be a person of true and lasting integrity.
Pastor Chuck Swindoll: I do want to read for you from the section right in the center of Job. We're studying Job. We've come to Chapter 29 and we'll go through Chapter 31, sort of picking and choosing our way in this journey. Chapter 29 looks back to the great days of the past. Chapter 30 looks at the misery of the present, and then Chapter 31 looks ahead and Job stands firm in his integrity as he writes that 31st chapter. But let's go to 29, Verse 1. Let me read some verses here. Job again took up his discourse and said, "Oh, that I were as in months gone by, as in the days when God watched over me. When his lamp shone over my head and his light I walked through and by his light, I walked through darkness. As I was in the prime of my days, when the friendship of God was over my tent, when the Almighty was yet with me and my children were all around me. When my steps were bathed in butter and the rock poured out for me streams of oil. When I went out to the gate of the city, when I took my seat in the square, the young men saw me and hid themselves, and the old men arose and stood." Chapter 30, Verse 1, "But now." Now here's the present. "But now those younger than I mock me." Verse 9. "And now I have become their taunt. I have even become a byword to them. They abhor me and stand aloof from me, and they do not refrain from spitting at my face." 27, "I am seething within and cannot relax. Days of affliction confront me. I go about mourning without comfort. I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help." Chapter 31, Verse 5, "If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened after deceit, let him, that is God, weigh me with accurate scales. Let God know my integrity." 35. "Oh, that I had one to hear me. Behold, here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me."
Guest (Male): You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into Job's story, be sure to purchase a copy of our Searching the Scriptures Bible study workbook by going to insight.org/offer. Chuck titled today's message, "The Passionate Testimony of an Innocent Man."
Pastor Chuck Swindoll: Ours is fast becoming a jaded generation. Perhaps a better way to put it is suspicious. Time once was when a leader was chosen because of character, and those who followed that leader respected that person because of character. The old word was integrity. We just trusted one another. I remember as a little lad hearing my father say things like, "Oh, uh, you can trust him. He gave us his word." My mom and dad had a little work done on our house in East Houston, back when I was a kid. I remember they were talking about it at the table and my mother asked about a contract. My dad smiled and said, "We had a gentleman's agreement. There's no need to have a contract signed." I thought about that this past week and I thought, "Today we would laugh him off the stage." "There's always a contract signed. I mean, why are there lawyers?" We have fun with you lawyers, but we need you. We needle you, but we need you. Back then we didn't seem to need you as much. For after all, uh, his word is his bond. At the risk of being too general and too generic with this answer, I think much of the erosion of the public's trust can be traced back to three houses: the courthouse, the White House and God's house. Time once was that the law was upheld in the courthouse, and attorneys did, in fact, walk in integrity as some still do, thank God. Cases were taken because they were cases worth addressing and the accused was worth defending because he may, in fact, or she may, in fact, be innocent. My heart skipped an extra beat this past week when I heard the defense attorney make a comment on a particular case of child molestation, and having lost the case because the man was found guilty, the attorney waved it off with his hand and said to the reporter, "I knew he was guilty. I knew all along. He had told me he was, but after all, it was a case." And all the while his defense was a sham, knowing the man was guilty. There are problems in the courthouse. You remember as a little child trusting the President? You remember when you, like I, stood with our hands over our heart and pledged allegiance to the flag of the United States of America? I remember standing in third grade doing that, right in the middle of the Second World War. Was barefoot. If I had my way I would have gone barefoot all the way through high school, but I had to start wearing shoes by junior high. Anyway, I'm standing there barefoot, in third grade, pledging allegiance and looking at the President's picture as it's framed right next to the flag, thinking, "What a man!" Never, ever thinking there could ever be a lie in the Oval Office. And I've lived long enough to know from those who've witnessed it that there have been many. Something happened when I forced myself to believe that there wasn't integrity even in some presidents' lives. But God's house. It's one thing to have Watergate, but to have Pearlygate. Back not long ago there was a scandal that smeared across the work of God, and all of us in ministry were hurt by it. Though only a few were engaged in it. Time once was when the minister moved into the neighborhood, people were happy to have a preacher living near. No longer. It's heartbreaking. The breakdown of integrity. Stephen Carter has written a fine book called, simply, "Integrity." In it he tells this story. There's an old joke about a fabulously rich man who, as he lies dying, summons to his bedside his three most trusted friends: his doctor, his priest and his lawyer. When the three are assembled, he tells them, "I know they say you can't take it with you, but I'm going to try." He then distributes three identical and very thick packages, each of which turns out to contain $10 million in cash. "I want all of you to come to my funeral," he says. "And when they put me in the ground, throw the envelopes in after me." You jaded audience you. Each friend turned each friend in turn promises that he will do it. In the course, in due course, the rich man dies, his three friends attend the funeral, and at the cemetery, each tosses the thick package into the grave. As they began to walk back to their cars, the doctor says, "My friends, I have a confession to make. Last night I was sitting in my office with the package and I got to thinking about the new wing for sick children that the hospital is trying to build, and I thought, 'Well, this $10 million could do a lot of good instead of ending up covered with dirt.'" "I knew that our dear friend, if he were in his right mind, would have preferred this charitable use, so I took the money out and gave it to the hospital for the new wing. The envelope I put in the grave was stuffed with old newspapers." The lawyer rounds on him in a fury. "The money," he says, "was given in trust. The doctor is a trustee. By converting the money to his own use, or even the use of a charity, he has violated a sacred legal duty and maybe has committed a felony besides." The lawyer is still in full cry when the priest said, "Not so fast, my son." And then proceeds to tell his own story. He, too, has a confession to make. He was sitting in the rectory last night thinking about the church's efforts to raise enough money to endow the soup kitchen and homeless shelter it has been running. And he, too, finally decided that it was better to put the money to good use than bury it in the ground. He quotes the parable of the talents. So he gave the money to the soup kitchen and homeless shelter, and he, too, stuffed the money with a- stuffed the envelope with newspapers. Now the lawyer is nearly apoplectic. He reads both men the Riot Act. As officer of the court, he says, he may well have to report this breach of fiduciary duty. And apart from the law, he says, "There's a friendship to be considered. They disobeyed the dying wish of their closest friend." "You should have done what I did," he concluded. "In order to be absolutely certain that I carried out our friend's request with the most meticulous care, I put the cash in my office safe and it's still there, safe from harm. Then I wrote a check for $10 million." That is what's in the grave. I'm currently reading "Eyewitness to Power" by David Gergen. The name you may not catch, but you'd know the face. He was often seen on the site alongside people like President Nixon and and Ford, and President Reagan, and more recently, President Clinton. He was an advisor and counselor and friend. He writes not a kiss and tell sort of book, but a straight from the shoulder book and often mentions the word integrity. And when he sums up the seven characteristics that mark a president, uh, we're not surprised to see listed first that leadership starts from within. He quotes a former senator, "If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters." Maybe that explains why all of us have such high regard for Job. A man of integrity before the bottom fell out of his life, a man of integrity when it fell out of his life, a man of integrity after it fell out of his life, and a person who dies with integrity. He never compromised his integrity. Suffering we admire, even the endurance of suffering we admire, but the modeling of integrity we stand in awe of that. Nothing is better than that. He says in the 27th chapter of his book, at the end of Verse 5, Chapter 27, he makes it clear, "Till I die, I will not put away my integrity from me. I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go." Job's problem back then, however, was like the leaders' problem today. He had a jaded audience. He had a group of men who were suspicious. "Words are words, and nothing more. No one could be going through the kind of hell you're going through physically, emotionally, domestically. Nobody would lose business, home, family, health and not be guilty of something, something really secret and really bad." And they never believed otherwise. In fact, they intensified their blame as time passed until finally, finally they decide to be quiet. And Job is left with their words ringing in his ears, and for a little brief interlude, Chapters 27 through 31 of the book, Job has time to think about what they've said and to think through his life. The benefit of it is that he kept a journal. And it appears today in the Bible, by his name. And when you get to Chapter 29 of this book, you find Job looking back with a a bit of sighing as he remembers when. And he recounts the blessings of God. That's all through Chapter 29. With the turning of the verse at Chapter 30, Verse 1, he says, "But now," and he he now rehearses his current misery. 29 is the blessings of the past. 30 is the misery of the present. And then 31, he again underscores his integrity lest any of them think the change from the way it was to the way it is was not because he had failed in his integrity. By the way, be very careful about judging anyone going through suffering. Be especially careful not to cast blame. You and I do not know why another suffers. We do not know. Job's friends should have known that lesson and learned it early in life, but they didn't know it even later in life. So they only added to his misery. But before the misery, let's look at Chapter 29 and see the glory of the past. It'll make you sigh with Job as he remembers how things once were. His words are eloquent. Job again took up his discourse and said, "Oh, that I I were as in months gone by." See, he's looking back. He's remembering when. "As in the days when God watched over me." Oh, I would love to know days like that when he and I talked together and he and I walked together. Adam must have had similar feelings after the fall. How great it was when we walked in the cool of the evening and there was nothing between my God and me. Job continues, "When God's lamp shown over my head and by his light I walked through darkness as I was in the prime of my days. When the friendship of God was over my tent." Isn't that a beautiful way to put it? "When the friendship of God was over my tent. When the Almighty was yet with me and my children were around me." This is not a doting parent or a languishing grandparent. This is a grown man remembering when he had the ten children still alive and could visit with them and even enjoy meals and celebrations with all of them around the table. "I remember when," says Job. "How great it was." I love Verse 6. "When my steps were bathed in butter." Got to swallow when I read that. Makes my jaws kind of push the saliva out there. "When my steps were bathed in butter and the rock poured out for me streams of oil." It was so good. Life was so great. All of us have days we can remember when there were such great moments. Maybe in more innocent days for you. Maybe before trials really reared their heads and grew horns. As you look back, you recall maybe your early walk with the Lord and your steps were ordered by him. And each new dawn seemed to bring a fresh new touch with with him and his word. Look at how he describes it. "The young men," well, let's take Verse 7. "When I went out to the gate of the city, when I took my seat in the square." And this is where the aging would would hold forth. This is where a counsel was given. This is where lectures were delivered. "The young men saw me and and hid themselves." It's a picture of slipping back in the shadows so as not to detract from his presence. And the older men arose and stood. "Princes stopped talking and put their hands on their mouths." Isn't that vivid? When we are in the presence of someone we greatly admire, as has been my experience on a few occasions, I inadvertently catch myself putting my hand on my mouth. Maybe part of the reason is to help me keep my mouth closed. What I have to say means nothing. I remember sitting as a student during my years in seminary, and not only was I studying under an enviable faculty and a privileged position that I never took for granted. But on occasion, the school would invite to our campus one of those Christian statesmen. I remember the first time I I ever looked at Richard Sumi, who was at that time a board member and had not yet come as the chaplain, and had had done such a fine work at Richmond, Virginia, uh, at Immanuel Baptist, and then going on to Wheaton and was pastor at the Wheaton Bible Church. And I remember his coming on the campus was a benediction to the campus. And I could name a half dozen others. And I I would occasionally just want to be near him. Just to hear him. Just to be in his shadow. They did that with Job. Job would come to the city square, not in pride, but perhaps carrying on his his duties, his responsibilities. And how the young men would gather to hear his wisdom. Here is a man who could be trusted with riches and he was significantly wealthy, but never conducted himself as above anyone. How beautiful to be around people like that: humbly wealthy. A man of great compassion and and great generosity and benevolence, and his life was like the flowing of oil over the rocks, flowing into others' lives. And princes would even stop. The voice of nobles was hushed and their tongue stuck to their palate. For when the ear heard, it called me blessed. And when the eye saw, it gave witness of me, because I delivered the poor who cried for help and the orphan who had no helper. I defended the defenseless and I stood in behalf of those taken advantage of. And I did not forget those in great need. Verse 17, "I stood for truth. I broke the jaws of the wicked." I love the way that reads. "And snatched the prey from his teeth." I thought it would last forever. The sports world of lost a a figure that has made the headlines, not only on the sports page, but in sports magazines and even some headlines. And I'm sure the Baltimore paper. The Baltimore Colts had a quarterback named Johnny Unitas, who was the quarterback of my young manhood. And I remember as a young man who was just beginning to follow professional football, watching what was then called the Field General, which was a name given to quarterbacks. He was quite a character. And on one occasion, I read in Sports Illustrated, coaches and players often stood alike in awe of him. On one occasion he told his coach, "Just sit back and enjoy. I I won't need any help this game." And the coach said, "Matter of fact, we smeared him. And I just stayed out of the way." Every once in a while there comes across this earth's scene certain people who capture our attention and have a command of life. And we long to be near them. He says in Verse 25, "I chose a way for them and sat as chief and dwelt as a king among the troops, as one who comforted the mourners." One man writes, "This verse encompasses every aspect of his role in the community, from leading the council in peaceful times to guiding the people through crisis and caring for the unfortunate. He inspired the whole community." But now. Look at the opening of Chapter 30. "But now. But now." And maybe Job stands, pulls back the sleeve of his robe and exposes the boils running with pus. His lips are cracked and bleeding. His tongue is parched. His body is gaunt. The lines are on his face, and he says, "But now those younger than I mock me."
Guest (Male): "But now." Two small words that mark the moment everything changed for Job. When the blessings of yesterday gave way to the heartache of today. Perhaps you know that turn all too well. Here on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll is reminding us that integrity isn't something we abandon when life falls apart. It's what holds us steady when it does. He titled his message, "The Passionate Testimony of an Innocent Man." If you're walking through a season of loss yourself, or living under the weight of words that have wounded you, we hope this study has brought you genuine comfort and renewed confidence in the one who never forgets your name. Job is a model for exercising grace under pressure. We saw it again today. His friends came to comfort him and crushed him instead. And then God seemed silent. And yet, from the ash heap came these words, "But now." You may be sitting there today in your own ash heap. Words have wounded you, circumstances have overwhelmed you, and God feels very, very far away. Chuck's book, "Finding God When the World's on Fire" was written exactly for that moment. We'd love to send you a copy today. It's yours when your request includes a contribution toward the ministry of Insight for Living. We're grateful for you, and we believe this book will be a gift to your soul. Again, it's called "Finding God When the World's on Fire." Call us at 800-772-8888 or go to insight.org/donate. Thanks so much for your voluntary gift. No matter the size, it'll be used to provide hope to those who feel hopeless. Plus, your generosity allows us to provide Chuck's teaching on your station and on the Insight mobile app and all the other platforms where Insight for Living is freely heard. To send a contribution in the mail, address your envelope to Insight for Living, Post Office Box 5000, Frisco, Texas 75034, or call 800-772-8888. Online just go to insight.org/donate.
Guest (Male): How does a person hold steady when the applause turns to mockery? I'm Bill Meyer. Chuck Swindoll provides a biblical answer Thursday on Insight for Living.
Guest (Male): The preceding message, "The Passionate Testimony of an Innocent Man," was copyrighted in 2002, 2004, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R. Swindoll Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.