Integrity: Don't Leave Home Without It

Known for his unique ability to simplify profound truth so that it can be applied to everyday life, Adrian Rogers was one of the most effective preachers, respected Bible teachers, and Christian leaders of our time. Thanks for joining us for this message.

Here's Adrian Rogers. 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. So, you cannot, you cannot serve God and mammon.

You cannot be double-minded. You cannot have an impure heart and see God. 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. 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. 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, air heads, 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, 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 the 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. 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. Everything that you see wrong in the world today has originated in the heart of men. These things come out of the heart, 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 surplanter.

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, not 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 who is deceived 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's 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. You need to understand just how foolish it is to follow 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. Here's one of the most incredible verses in the Bible, Proverbs chapter 28 in verse 6. Listen to it. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.

That's it. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Sometimes somebody will ask you a question, you say, well, if I know my heart.

Well, the problem is you don't know your heart when you answer that question. I've talked about the disease of the heart. I've talked about the deceitfulness of the heart.

Let me talk to you about the diagnosis of the heart. Go back to Jeremiah 16 and look again. He says in verse 10, I, the Lord, search the heart.

I try the reins. Now, you can't search your own heart. How can Jacob investigate Jacob? How can a deceitful heart investigate a deceitful heart? Who's going to diagnose the heart? Let's say whether your heart is good or bad. My dear friend, it must be God himself. For you to try to diagnose your heart would be like looking at a sundial with a flashlight.

I mean, you'll never get the correct time. And for a deceitful heart to try to diagnose a deceitful heart, it is impossible. You see, your heart is diseased, it is deceptive, and therefore God says, I try the heart. Now, how does God do this? Well, first of all, God reviews the heart. God reviews the heart. God just looks into your heart and the word, look at it here, it says, I, the Lord, search the heart.

Do you see that? I search the heart. That word means we're in Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 10. I, the Lord, search the heart.

That means an intensive review. Friend, God's eyes go right past that suit you're wearing, and God searches the heart. But not only does God review the heart, God reveals the heart. Look again, if you will, here. I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins. Now, what are the reins?

That's the control center. Remember I said that your heart is master control? Now, God looks into your heart and God searches your heart. And then after God reviews the heart, God reveals the heart. How does he do it?

Look at the reins. God allows circumstances to come into your life. And God sees how you react to those circumstances. Your actions don't prove what you are. Your reactions prove what you are. Have you ever been rude to a person?

Don't answer. You say, well, that person made me mad. Well, they just reveal the anger that's in you. They didn't put that rudeness in you.

The rudeness was already there. All they did was push the hot button. God's just trying the reins. God's just trying the reins. One thing after another, God allows circumstances to come into your life. And you say, well, I'm surprised at myself.

I never thought I could do that. Yeah, because you didn't know your heart was deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. And you did not know that down in that pit called the human heart were all of those things. Because we can mask it so well, can't we?

But there's come a time when it'll come out and you'll be surprised. God searches the heart. And my dear friend, not only does God search the heart, review the heart, God reveals the heart, and God rewards the heart. Listen, when God comes to judge, you know what he's going to look at?

Not primarily what you did, but primarily what you are. The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 5, therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come and will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts. Then shall every man have praise of God. You see, God doesn't see as man sees. Now, you see me preaching a sermon.

You hear my words. God sees my heart. God reviews the heart. God reveals the heart. And God, my dear friend, rewards the heart. Blessed are the pure in heart. It is the heart. It is the heart that is the place of integrity.

I want to talk to you, dear friend, not only about the diagnosis of the heart and the disease and deception of the heart, but oh, thank God for the doctor of the heart. Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 14, look at it. Heal me, O Lord.

And that's the only one who can. Friend, heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. How does he heal you? By saving you. Save me. I shall be saved. You need a new heart.

You need to be born again. How does God change you? He gives you a new heart. Look in Jeremiah chapter 24 and verse 7.

Oh, what a wonderful verse this is. He says, and I will give them a heart to know me. There's a heart transplant.

That's how God does it. God just gives you a new heart. He saves you. He gives you a new heart.

And friend, you cannot be pure in heart without a new heart. First of all, you see yourself as a bankrupt sinner. Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Secondly, you're broken over that. Blessed are they that mourn. Thirdly, my dear friend, you yield yourself to him. Blessed are the meek. You say, here, God, I want your will. God puts a hunger in you. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. That's Jesus.

You've got a hunger and a thirst for the Lord Jesus Christ. And by mercy, he gives you mercy. Blessed are the merciful.

That's what you need today, that you might have mercy. Then, my dear friend, there's a pure heart. It's the work of God.

It is the work of God. Oh, Dr. Jesus will give you a brand new heart. What I've talked to you about is the principle of integrity. The principle of integrity is single-mindedness. I've talked to you about the place of integrity. Blessed are the pure in heart.

That's where it begins. If your heart is rotten, doesn't matter what else you do. You've got to be pure of heart. And only Jesus can give you a new heart.

Now let me talk to you just briefly about the promise of integrity. Look at it. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. That's it.

That's it. You will see God. You see, there's something about sin that blinds you. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 4, the God of this age hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus should shine unto them. They're blind to their sin, blind to their danger, but they're blind to God. They don't see God. People want to see God.

I mean, they've done everything trying to see God. They've swung from ropes. They've pierced their bodies through with knives. They've fasted. They've prayed. They've lived in caves and holes of the earth.

They've given their money. They've gone on pilgrimage. They've done everything trying to see God, trying to know God. My friend, let me tell you how to know God, how to see God. Just get your heart pure, and you'll see God. You say, with my eye?

Oh, no. With the eye of faith, with the eye of faith. You see, he's not talking about your physical heart.

He's not talking about your physical eye. You get your spiritual heart right, and your spiritual eye will see. I was reading that scripture where Moses, over there in Hebrews chapter 11, the Bible says, Moses endured as seeing him who is invisible.

You get your heart right, and friend, you'll see the invisible. You'll see God. So, how will you see him? Well, you'll see him in circumstances. You'll see him in nature. You'll see him in the face of your grandchild. You'll see him in the scriptures, and God will become a bright, living reality to you.

The Bible will burst the flame in your hands. God will be real to you, and I'll tell you why. Because you'll see him. You'll perceive him.

You will know him because your heart is pure. In this same Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus Christ said, when your eye is single, your body will be full of light. There are times, very frankly, when my heart gets cold, and I get away from God, and I get so busy doing things, good things, I steal away that time that just that pure devotion I need for Jesus, and I have to get alone in my study, just close the door, say, God, it's time.

I've got to see you, and I start dealing with things in my life. And, friend, I'll tell you, I can tell the moment when my eye gets single, because my body gets full of light, you'll see God. That's what we need, for God to be real. My dear friend, what God wants in you and what God wants in me more than anything else is a simple little word, integrity.

Don't leave home without it. Only Jesus can give you a new heart. He's the doctor, and he wants to do it today. If you're not saved, you need to be saved, you ought to be saved. Would you pray and ask Jesus Christ today to be real to you? Father, I pray today that many will say an everlasting yes to Jesus and be saved. In his wonderful name, amen. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus or deepen your relationship with him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website, lwf.org. For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you.