Sermon on the Mount Pt. 3

Integrity

We continue our study of the Sermon on the mount and today’s readings deserve the attention of all readers of the Bible.

A right understanding of the doctrines they contain lies at the very root of Christianity. The Lord Jesus here explains more fully the meaning of His words, “I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil.”

He teaches us that His Gospel magnifies the law and exalts its authority. He shows us that the law, as expounded by Him, was a far more spiritual and heart-searching rule than most of the Jews supposed.

And He proves this by selecting three commandments out of the ten as examples of what He means.

He expounds the sixth commandment. Many think they keep this part of God’s law, so long as they did not commit actual murder. The Lord Jesus shows, that its requirements go much further than this.

It condemns all angry and passionate language, and especially when used without a cause. We may be perfectly innocent of taking life away, and yet be guilty of breaking the sixth commandment because of our anger.

He expounds the seventh commandment. Many supposed that they kept this part of God’s law, if they did not actually commit adultery. The Lord Jesus teaches, that we may break it in our thoughts, hearts, and imaginations, even when our outward conduct is moral and correct. God looks far beyond actions. With him even a glance of the eye may be a sin.

He expounds the third commandment. Many fancied that they kept this part of God’s law, so long as they did not swear falsely, and performed their oaths. The Lord Jesus forbids all vain and light swearing altogether.

All swearing by created things, even when God’s name is not brought forward; —all calling upon God to witness, excepting on the most solemn occasions, is a great sin.

This passage teaches us the exceeding holiness of God. He is a most pure and perfect Being, who sees faults and imperfections, where man’s eyes often see none.

He reads our inward motives. He notes our words and thoughts, as well as our actions. “He requireth truth in the inward parts.”

It teaches us the exceeding ignorance of man in spiritual things. There are innumerable professing Christians, who do not know the requirements of God’s law. They know the letter of the ten commandments well enough. They never dream that it is possible to break the sixth and seventh commandments, if they do not break them by outward act or deed.

And so they live on satisfied with themselves, and quite content with their little bit of religion. Happy indeed are they who really understand God’s law![1]

Today we are going to explore a subject that touches each and every one of us. We are going to see what Jesus has to say about integrity.

In our Gospel lesson Jesus Says: Let your Yes be Yes, and your No, be No; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Satan, is the evil one. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

A person of integrity is validated by their words and their deeds.

If we are pure in heart, we can be pure in action. Integrity is making my daily actions line up with my heart's values.

Integrity provides us with Security with greater confidence. informs us .....

The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.

When people can choose what is right and wrong without having a standard, how do you decide which way to go?

Throughout the Scriptures you will find the words: honesty, purity, truth, upright and complete all translated from the same words meaning integrity they are all synonymous. If we are going to live lives of integrity, we must know what integrity looks like. That comes from spending time in the Scriptures with God.

Hear Paul's words to Timothy : Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.

If we take the time to read and study the Bible and apply the truths that we read to our lives, then we can live lives of integrity. The Bible is the only standard for living that is true and unchanging.

Walking in integrity means integrating all of what God's Word says into our daily activities. It means that I become a doer of the word.

The fact is that God's Word has pretty clear instructions for each of us. If we do what God says and apply what we learn to our lives, then we will be people of integrity. We will have hope, guidance, security and protection.

If we do not apply the Scriptures to our lives, then we become shallow and empty. We are called to have our Yes mean Yes and our No mean No!

If we call ourselves Christians, we must live as Christ did in accordance to the Word of God.

Many have proclaimed: that they have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. But if we are honest, we like the Savior part, but at times struggle with allowing Jesus to be Lord over every aspect of our lives.

Have you ever heard the phrase, everybody else is doing it? This is one of those poor rationalizations that we use to justify our actions.

To be a person of integrity means that you are willing to go against the crowd if the crowd is wrong. It means being willing to stand alone, if necessary, for what is right. It means peer-pressure is no pressure for you.

What could God do with a believer with that had that type of a commitment; that had that type of integrity?

Jesus makes it clear in that whenever we make a promise we do so in the presence of God. When we break a promise, we are not just lying to others or ourselves. We are also lying to God.

In first century Israel, the Pharisees had developed elaborate rules governing when a man was bound by his word and when he was not.

If I swear by Jerusalem, I am bound by my words. If I swear towards Jerusalem I'm not bound.

Any promise I make using God's name binds me, but if I can avoid using God's name when I make a promise, then I don't have to keep my word; or so they thought.

They began to swear by anything that sounded like it might mean something.

In fact, a whole Jewish book of their law-code dealt with making vows and promises; which ones you had to keep, and which ones you didn't.

We have heard similar oaths when people are trying to convince others that they are telling the truth; that we have integrity:

· Cross my heart and hope to die.

· I swear on a stack of Bibles

· If I'm lying, I'm dying!

· May lightning strike me if I'm not telling the truth

· As God is my witness

·

We can do terrible damage to our witness and even the cause of Christ when we are not people of our word. The World is looking for authenticity wherever they can find it.

Our own integrity and the integrity of the church demand nothing less. Today more than ever, we have to let our Yes be yes and our No be no.

Jesus faced the gut-wrenching choice of keeping a costly promise. God had been promising for thousands of years to send a Messiah, His Son to save the world through His death and resurrection.

But when the moment of truth came in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus felt the weight keeping this promise. In fact, He asked His Father, please let this cup pass from me. Jesus knows what it is like to face the weight of a promise.

But in that moment of truth, when He realized there was no other way, Jesus became the ultimate promise-keeper.

This passage teaches us our need of the Lord Jesus Christ’s atoning blood to save us. What man or woman upon earth can ever stand before such a God as this, and plead “not guilty?”

Who is there that has ever grown to years of discretion, and not broken the commandments thousands of times? “There is none righteous, no! not one.”

Without a mighty Mediator we should everyone be condemned in the judgment. Ignorance of the real meaning of the law is one plain reason why so many do not value the Gospel, and content themselves with a little formal Christianity.

They do not see the strictness and holiness of God’s Ten commandments. If they did, they would never rest till they were safe in Christ. Thank you, Jesus, for keeping God’s promise.

Be men and women of integrity. Let Jesus be the Lord of every aspect of your life.

Yield to the Holy Spirit, Let the Holy Spirit transform you into the image of Jesus.

The image of the ultimate promise keeper. The image of Christian Integrity.

May we all be able to say: I meant what I said, I said what I meant.

Amen!

[1] J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1860), 41–42.