Integrity: Don’t Leave Home Without It | Part 1

What does it mean to be pure in heart?

Listen to Adrian Rogers. of integrity and dare not leave home without it. Now, the definition of the word integrity has to do more with unity or singleness of the heart or mind. In this context, Matthew 5 verse 8 means, blessed are those who have integrity without divided hearts. How can we be sure that we're pure in heart? If you have your Bible, turn now to Matthew chapter 5 verse 8.

As Adrian Rogers begins with integrity, don't leave home without it. Turn in God's Word, would you please, to Matthew chapter 5 as we continue our study on the Sermon on the Mountain under the general heading that we have entitled The Keys of the Kingdom. These are the Beatitudes. These are sayings of the Lord Jesus Christ that start with the word blessed, which means to be congratulated, to have joy, to be happy, to be thankful.

It's really a hard word to translate other than just the word blessed. And the Lord Jesus is teaching us here that character is far more important than anything else. These Beatitudes deal with character, the attitudes that ought to be. It has well been said that a child rejoices in what he has.

A youth rejoices in what he does, but an adult rejoices in what he is. Now whether that's always true or not, I want to say that the more mature you are as a Christian, the more you will rejoice, not in what you have or what you do, but in what you are through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what these Beatitudes talk about.

Let's look at them again. Verse 1, And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain. And when he was set, his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

And then we come to verse 8. What a beautiful Beatitude. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Today I want to talk to you about integrity. And the title of the message is this, integrity, don't leave home without it.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. There is an integrity crisis in America, and it touches every area of America, whether it be Watergate, Iran Gate, or Pearly Gate. Every, all of the institutions in America are being touched by scandal and by problems, and underneath it all is an integrity crisis. Three things I want you to notice as we look at this wonderful Beatitude.

And first of all, what I'm going to call the principle of integrity, the principle of integrity. Blessed are the pure in heart. Now what does this word pure mean? It's the word we get our English word catharsis from, catharsis, which means a purifying, whether it be physical or emotional, a catharsis.

And the word does not have to do so much with cleanliness, although that is inferred. It has to do more with unity or singleness of heart and mind. It literally means, blessed is that which is unmixed.

The word literally means singleness of heart. Now the Lord Jesus Christ amplified that. Look in chapter 6 in this same sermon and verse 24, and you'll pick it up. No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot, you cannot serve God and mammon.

You cannot be double-minded. You cannot have an impure heart and see God. If you want to worship God, you must do it, my dear friend, without duplicity and without hypocrisy.

Now, there are a number of verses I want to give you today, and I think if you just stay parked in Matthew, chapter 5, unless you're very nimble with your fingers, jot the scriptures down. But let me give you some other scriptures where all of the Bible comes down really on this one verse, blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are those who are single-minded. Blessed are those who are not double-minded.

Listen to these. James 4, verse 4. You adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship of the world is enmity, that is, warfare with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. What he is saying is you can't hold the world with one hand and Jesus Christ with the other. And then James goes on to say in James, chapter 4 and verse 8, draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you.

Now listen to this. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Literally, in the Greek, it is you two-souled, double-souled people. You have spiritual schizophrenia.

You double-minded. You've got to have a single mind if you're going to serve the Lord. Do you know what David was called in the Bible, King David? The Bible says in Acts, chapter 13 and verse 22, that David was a man after God's own heart. Now remember, we're talking about the heart and we're talking about integrity.

Blessed are the pure in heart. I want you to see how David illustrates what we're talking about. When God was wanting a king over Israel and God came to measure David, God did not measure him by putting the tape measure from his head to his feet. God didn't measure to see how tall he was, nor did God put the tape measure around David's biceps. God put the measure around David's heart. Remember, all of the sons of Jesse had come in there and Samuel is looking for the next king of Israel and by the Holy Spirit, Samuel is trying to discern which one is the one that God has chosen and Jesse brought his big tall son out there, Eliab, and he looked like a king.

I mean, he looked like some sort of an Adonis there and he came out. The old prophet looked at him. God said to Samuel, look not thou on the height of his stature or on his countenance, for God doesn't see as man sees.

Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. There's a little boy named David, a keeper of the sheep. Samuel said in there, no, it's just little David.

He said, bring him on in here. I want to look into his face. I want to look into his heart and there it was, David, and God said, that's the one I want and I want him because of one thing. I want him because he's a man after my own heart. Now, what is a man after God's own heart? Well, he's a man with integrity. I'm going to give you some verses that David wrote and by giving you these verses that David wrote, you're going to see what made David the man he was.

Jot them down. Psalm 7 and verse 8, David said, the Lord shall judge the people, and then he said, judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to mine integrity. Do you see it? My integrity. I'm not double-minded. Just fast forward to Psalm 25 and look, if you will, in verse 21. Here's the prayer of David.

Here's the man after God's own heart. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait on thee. David knew that when he waited on God, that his great resource was his integrity. Now look in Psalm 26 and verse 1. Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in mine integrity. I have trusted also in the Lord.

Therefore, I shall not slide. Look in Psalm 26 and verse 11. But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity. Redeem me and be merciful unto me. Go to Psalm 41 and verse 12. And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity.

By now, I hope you're catching something. By now, I hope a thought is forming in your mind. When God looked at David, God said of David, there is a man after mine own heart. And what was David's heart? David's heart was a pure heart. The word pure means integrity.

It means single-mindedness. You say, but didn't David sin? Yes, David sinned. David sinned horribly.

He failed God. But I'm going to tell you something about David. David may have had a sinful heart, but he always had a single heart. You see, David was not a hypocrite. And when David sinned, it broke David's heart as well as it broke God's heart. And David never offered an alibi. David offered a confession. And he said in Psalm 51, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and clear when thou judges. David knew what it was to be right. And David knew what it was to be wrong. Yes, he wasn't sinless. My dear friend, he was single.

He was not a hypocrite. Now, I want to ask you a question, my dear friend. Do you have that kind of integrity? Do you have absolute integrity? I'm getting to the age now where young preachers come to me. And they say to me, Pastor Rogers, Brother Rogers, give me some advice. What would you say that I need in the ministry?

You know what I tell them? Integrity. Just have integrity. Blessed are the pure in heart, those who are single-minded, not double-souled, who love God with all of their heart. Now, that's the principle of integrity. Second thing, I want you to think about the place of integrity.

Notice what he says. Blessed are those who have integrity in their heart. Blessed are the pure in heart. Now, what do we mean by that? We talk about giving your heart to Jesus. The skeptic says, what are you going to do, reach in the thoracic cavity and bring out that pulsating muscle and give that to God?

No. When the Bible uses the word heart, it's not talking about the muscle that pumps the blood. It is talking about the core of the individual. It is talking about the seat of our emotions. It's talking about the inner person.

It's talking about what I would call in modern language, master control. Your heart speaks of total commitment. When people fall in love, they're called what? Sweet hearts, not sweet heads, airheads, but sweet hearts.

They fall in love. Now, it's the heart that is the core of the individual. It is that part of the individual that dictates the character, directs the will, and dominates the affections. Here's a verse, Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 23. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. If you're going to be pure, my dear friend, you must be pure in heart before you can be pure any other way.

And that brings us to a real problem. Now, here's a verse I want you to turn to. It's found in the Old Testament, Jeremiah. It's the classic verse on the heart, Jeremiah chapter 17.

And I want you to look at it with me today and turn to it because we're going to get right down to the crux of the matter right here. Jeremiah chapter 17, verses 9 and 10. Now, the Bible says we're to be blessed if we're pure in heart.

But very frankly, by nature, none is. Look, here's what Jeremiah says, and this is the classic passage. Jeremiah 17, verses 9 and 10. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins to give to every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. Now, here's what Jeremiah says about my heart and your heart. First of all, he says it's diseased. Do you see that word that says desperately wicked in verse 9? That word literally means incurably sick. In Jeremiah chapter 15, verse 18, he uses the same word, and he says, my wound is incurable. It refuses to be healed.

It's the same word that is used for desperately wicked. It means that you have a heart problem, my dear friend. You have a heart ailment, and I'm not talking about the physical ailment. You have an ailment that resists all medication.

My wound is incurable. It refuses to be healed. All the spiritual exercise and all of the spiritual diet in the world will not cure the disease of your heart. The heart is sick.

It resists meditation. Now, so many people don't understand that their problem is the heart, and they're trying to medicate the heart when they need a heart transplant. They're trying somehow, some way, to cure the problem of sin. But sin is on the inside. And even if you reform on the outside, you've not dealt with the problem of the heart.

The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart. And I've gone to a sawmill from time to time and been very interested in watching them put logs on that cradle and lop off the edges. They'll take a big old log out of the woods, and it may have bumps and knots on it. It may be a little crooked, but they lay it on that cradle and run it through there and lop off one side of that log, bring it back, and turn it, run it through again, and lop off another side, bring it back, turn it, run it through again, and cut off another side.

And finally, on the outside, it's perfectly square, and if you stand and look down at it, it's perfectly straight. But if you go and look at the end of it, the heart is still crooked. The heart is still crooked.

That's the way it is with some individuals. Some individuals, they have reformed outwardly, but the Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. That's the reason that just reformation is not enough.

You need regeneration. If a man is a drunkard, for example, and he quits drinking without getting saved, all that means is he'll go to hell sober. I mean, he's still got to be saved. The problem is not on the outside primarily.

The problem is on the inside. Listen to what Jesus Christ said in Mark chapter 7 and verses 20 and following. And he said, that which cometh out of the man, and that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, and evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.

All these things come from within and defile the man. And my dear friend, all of these things are in your heart. You say, murder's not in my heart. Fornication is not in my heart. Adultery is not in my heart.

Blasphemy is not in my heart. That just proves that you don't know your heart. Your heart is deceitful above all things, and it is desperately wicked.

What Jesus Christ is saying is that all of these things are residual and potential in every human heart, and we little may dare dream the potentiality for evil that lurks in our hearts. It is there down in the heart. And Jesus said, it just comes out of the heart. Everything that you see wrong in the world today has originated in the heart of men.

These things come out of the heart. If you've seen an apple with a wormhole in it, don't be afraid there's a worm in that apple. No, the hole was not there to let the worm in. The hole is there to let the worm out. The worm was already in the apple. The hole says the worm has come out. Well, how did the worm get in there?

The worm was hatched in the blossom, and the worm was inside that apple, and it simply came out. And these things that we see in the world today, they have come out of the heart of man. They are inbred in human nature. That, my dear friend, is the diagnosis of the heart. The heart is diseased.

Your heart is diseased. And not only is it diseased, it's deceitful. It's so deceitful. Look again in Jeremiah. Go back to Jeremiah, chapter 17.

The heart is deceitful above all things. This word, deceitful, is the same as the name Jacob. You know, we said the name Jacob means supplanter.

It means con artist. Now, if your name is Jacob today, let me tell you that Jesus transformed that name to mean prince today. So, be proud of your name.

I'm not putting down the name. Jacob is a wonderful name. Jacob is one of the brightest stars in the Hebrew heaven. But he wasn't until Jesus, through the Old Testament spirit of God, had changed him.

But the name basically meant deceiver. And you remember it was Jacob who deceived his father, old blind Isaac. And Jacob, how Jacob deceived his father, he put some goat hair on the back of his hand and came in and pretended that he was Esau. And old blind Isaac, who just simply went by his feelings, like so many people do, he felt the back of Jacob's hand and he said, well, he said, the voice is Jacob's, but the hand is Esau's, and he gave Jacob the blessing. Now, Isaac made a mistake.

Like so many Christians today, he went by feeling rather than by the word. He made a mistake that way just by feeling how easily people are deceived and how easily the old Jacob in all of us does deceive people. But my dear friend, what God is saying is that your heart is a Jacob that will deceive to get what it wants. It is incurably ill and it is very deceitful.

I'm talking about your heart. My heart, the heart is deceitful above all things. What's the most deceitful thing in the world today? You say the media. Friend, the media is only deceitful because of the hearts of the people in the media. The most deceitful thing is not Hollywood. The most deceitful thing is not the media. The most deceitful thing is not some con artist. The most deceitful thing in all of the world is the human heart. It is deceitful, the Bible says, above all things. I didn't say that. God said it.

Now, we don't want to recognize the problem of the heart. A preacher friend of mine told me, he said, I was out soul winning. He said, I was in a home and said the man in that home was a wife beater and a drunkard and an adulterer. And he said, she wanted me to come and witness to her husband. Said, I was in there talking to him, trying to get him under conviction of sin.

And she's sitting over there hoping he won't get mad. And so she said to me, but preacher, he's got a good heart. Friend, that was his problem.

That was his problem. His heart, deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. And so you need to understand just how foolish it is to follow the, this world that says, let your conscience be your guide. That's like saying, let your heart be your guide.

See, you can be sincere, but if your heart is deceitful, you'll be sincerely wrong. And with that, we'll conclude today's insightful message and we'll hear part two of it tomorrow. In the meantime, maybe you have a prayer request that you'd like to share with us. At Love Worth Finding, one of our greatest honors is to come alongside you and pray with you. Go to our website homepage, lwf.org slash radio, and scroll down to find our prayer wall. You'll find the option to either submit a request or pray for others. This is one of our favorite ways to keep the ministry and the community praying continually for one another's needs.

We can't wait to hear from you. Again, go to lwf.org slash radio and scroll down to our prayer wall. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message, call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD and ask for integrity.

Don't leave home without it. This message is also part of the insightful Sermon on the Mount series, The Keys to the Kingdom. For the complete collection, all eight powerful messages, call that number 1-877-LOVEGOD or go online to order at lwf.org slash radio.

Or you can write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Well, thanks for studying the scriptures with us today. Remember, God's eyes go right past the suit you wear and search your heart.

What will He find? Do you have a single-minded heart devoted to serving God? Think about that today, and be sure to tune in tomorrow for part two of this message right here on Love Worth Finding. I love what a listener said recently on Facebook. Adrian Rogers is trustworthy in his theology and presentation of God's Word.

Even though he is no longer with us, I feel his messages are relevant to today's current issues. Well, as 2020 winds down, Love Worth Finding wants you to know how much we appreciate your prayers and your faithfulness, especially during a year like this, one that's been different in so many ways. One of our ministry friends has given a generous gift with the hope of encouraging you to give above and beyond at the year end. And to thank you for your generosity, we want to send you our brand new Names of God card set, featuring the beautiful artwork and biblical inspiration from our collaborators at Crewe & Company. Call with a gift at 1-877-LOVEGOD or give online at lwf.org-slash-radio.