Text: Psalms 101

A big City-slicker moved to the country and bought a piece of land. He went to the local Feed and Livestock store and talked to the proprietor about how he was going to take up chicken farming. He then asked to buy 100 chicks. "That’s a lot of chicks," commented the proprietor. "I mean business," the man replied. A week later the new farmer was back again. "I need another 100 chicks," he said. "Boy, you are serious about this chicken farming," the man told him. "Yeah," the man replied. "If I can iron out a few problems." "Problems?" asked the proprietor. "Yeah," replied the man, "I think I planted that last batch too close together."

* Many Christians are confused just like that ‘city slicker’.  They have no idea how to live with integrity. Integrity is defined as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change.

Title: “Walking with integrity.”

Theme: “Psalms 101is a manifesto of ethical standards of king David and his Administration. David is saying this is what my house and my Country will be like. What is the most important part of a house? First you might say the foundation, the heating system or the plumbing. But the most important part of a house is the home. You see, a house by itself is not a home.  It takes people to make it a home. And the most important part of that home is the hearts of the people who live there. One of the biggest problems in the church today is that many never make up their minds to follow Christ.”

* This morning, I would like to share with you the following lessons.

1. The importance of right choices.

Psalms 101:1-4; “I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will make music. ² I will ponder the way that is blameless. Oh when will you come to me?
I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; ³ I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. ⁴ A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil.”

* Beloved, in these four verses David makes seven “I” statements. Seven things that he will do daily in his life. He begins by singing and making music.  Now, it is important for me to point out to you that all music and songs are not the same.  Note that David is singing about two things. God’s love and God’s justice.  We must remember these things.  They are to take preference in our lives.

* If you are familiar with the life of David you know that he began serving King Saul because of his musical skills (verses 14-19). Notice the connection with verse 1 of Psalms 101. David knew the importance and the power of music and wants it to be a healthy part of his life. 1 Samuel 16:23; “And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.”

* In verse 2, the NJK version says, “2. I will behave wisely in a perfect way…” I have to say behaving wisely in a perfect way is very hard.  Maybe it means I will behave wisely all the time, but I don’t think so. I think he is saying that whenever he has a decision on how to behave, he will choose to behave wisely.

* David knew that integrity is needed in a home, but it is very interesting that David failed to follow his own advice. 2 Samuel 11:2; “It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.”

* I am sure most of you know that this is the beginning of the story of David and Bathsheba. Evil can enter a home at any time.  We must be vigilant. Jesus taught us how to pray and in Matthew 6:13; “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

* In verses three through four, David says that he will not put anything that is worthless before his eyes, and he will hate the work of those who used to be righteous but now live for evil. I love that phrase in verse 4, “I will know nothing of evil”. My friend Bruce was teasing me about not knowing anything about alcohol.  You see we just didn’t have any in my home when we grew up.  I mentioned I did not know how to order a drink. He said he would be glad to teach me.  I declined the offer.

* Beloved, your TV is bring into your house evil and worthless programs.  You must master this, don’t let your TV master you and your family.  “The TV Is My Shepherd” The Twenty-Third Channel—The TV is my shepherd; my spiritual growth shall want. It maketh me to sit down and do nothing for His name’s sake, because it requireth all my leisure time. It keepeth me from doing my duty as a Christian because it presenteth so many good shows I must see. It leadeth me in the paths of failing to attend church and being useless in the kingdom of God. Yes, though I live to be a hundred, I shall keep viewing my TV because it is my closest companion. I will place my table before it, I shall not be satisfied. It fills my head with ideas which differ from those in the Word of God. And I will dwell in TV land forever and ever.

2. The importance of hanging out with the right people.

Psalms 101:5-6; “Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure. ⁶ I will look with favor on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me.”

* David stated that he would not associate with slanders or prideful individuals. God also desires that you separate yourself from evil. This includes keeping company with people who may pull you off your walk.

1Corinthians 15:33; “Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”  When I was in the eighth grade my grades were all D’s and F’s.  My parents decided they would interview my friends, and I could only have friends that made good grades and behaved wisely.  That’s how I got Jimmy as my friend.  That name might be familiar.  We pray for him each Sunday because he has cancer.

Proverbs 13:20; “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”

* By the way if you choose this life, you will receive a blessing from God. Psalms 119:1-2; “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! ² Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,” I don’t know about you, but I have decided I could use this blessing.

3. The importance of pushing back against things that are wicked.

Psalms 101:7-8; “No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house;
no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes. ⁸ Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land, cutting off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord.”

* It is common knowledge that the Government is responsible for the safety and protection of its citizens. Romans 13:1;4; “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. ⁴ for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.”

* However, it is the job of every Christian to be a source of God’s justice in the world.  Isaiah 1:16-17; “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, ¹⁷ learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.”

* While I was on vacation I was watching the news and saw that Worcester Massachusetts voted to be a transgender sanctuary city.  I watched as a woman who claimed to be a pastor said that if Jesus could be here, he would come in full drag. Deuteronomy 22:5; “A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.” CF 1 Cor. 11:14-15 the difference in men’s hair and women’s (just be the person God made you to be).

* I would lovingly push back and disagree. Jesus came to raise the standards for sexual purity.  Jesus did not come to repeal the laws against sexual immorality.  Instead, He raised the bar on the type of conduct that He expects from believers.  He stated that merely lusting after a woman is an act of adultery: “but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”  (Matt. 5:28).

* He did the same thing with murder and marriage.  Jesus said that if you hate your brother, you are guilty of murder.  Jesus said that marriage is between a man and a woman and God intended them not to divorce. Matthew 5:31-32; “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ ³² But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

* Beloved, if Jesus was at the town meeting, He would make a whip and drive those people out. Turn with me to John 2:13-16; “The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. ¹⁵ And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” Jesus did the same in Matthew 21:12-13.

ILL. Centuries ago, in a small Italian town, there was a business owner who was in a great amount of debt. His banker, who was an old, unattractive man, strongly desired the business owner’s younger beautiful daughter. The banker decided to offer the businessman a deal to forgive the debt that he owed the bank completely. However, there was a bit of a catch. For the businessman to become debt-free, he was to have his daughter marry the banker. The businessman didn’t want to concede to this agreement, but he had no other choice, as his debt was so extreme. The banker said he would put two small stones into a bag–one of which was white, and the other black. The daughter would then need to reach into the bag and blindly choose a stone. If she chose the black stone, the businessman’s debt would be cleared, and the daughter would have to marry the banker. However, if she chose the white stone, the debt would be cleared, and the daughter would not have to marry him. While standing in the stone-filled path in the businessman’s yard, the banker reached down and chose two small stones, not realizing that the businessman’s daughter was watching him. She noticed that he picked up two black stones and put them in the bag. When it came time for the daughter to pick a stone out of the bag, she felt she had three choices: 1. Refuse to do it. 2.Take out both stones and expose the banker’s cheating. 3. Pick a stone, knowing it would be black, and sacrifice herself to get her father out of debt. What do you think she did? Well, she picked a stone from the bag, and immediately ‘accidentally’ dropped it into the abundance of stones where they were all standing. She said to the banker, “I’m sorry, I’m so clumsy! Oh well. Just look in the bag to see what color stone is in there now so you will know what color stone I picked.” Of course, the remaining stone was black. Because the banker didn’t want his deceit to be exposed, he played along, acting as if the stone that the businessman’s daughter dropped had to have been white. He cleared the businessman’s debt, and the daughter remained free from having to spend the rest of her life with the banker. The Moral of the story: Real integrity is not based on what others might find out about us.  Real integrity is based on doing what is right all the time.

* Do you want to know what the Bible says about going to Heaven?