The Godly Man, Part 4

Psalm 12/1 states that help, O Lord, for the godly man ceases

to be. That was our text on Father's

Day and continues to be our text even today.

And my plan is to to finish that outline this morning.

We trust that that will happen, but the the verse itself is very

convicting. It's very challenging because

the living and abiding Word of God applies to every generation,

no matter when that generation is.

And it is true that that the godly man ceases to be.

And so we need to understand what God is looking for when he

looks for someone to stand in the gap or someone to intercede

for him as he looks for a man to do that kind of thing.

And so are are we that kind of man?

What does a godly man look like? You see, my greatest concern as

a pastor is, is not that you, you fail.

My greatest concern is that you will succeed at doing the wrong

thing. That's my greatest concern,

because fail you will. But that's not my greatest

concern. It's that you'll succeed at

doing the wrong thing. And there are many people who

are successful at doing that which is wrong or that which is

not the best. What is best is that you, you be

the kind of man that honors and glorifies the name of God so

that the godly man is here in his family, in his church, in

the workplace. When I was growing up as a as a

young man, my father instilled certain principles in me.

Those principles have been with me to this day.

I hold on to them dearly because it is what led is what led me to

where I am even even today at at my age and where I am at Christ

Community Church. They were principles that that

governed his life and he wanted me to understand them in such a

way that I would be able to follow them.

So by way of introduction, I'm going to give you those

principles. There are six of them.

It will lead us into the completion of our outline this

morning. He used to always tell me, Son,

if if you want to be a a man of God, you must number one, find a

glorious church, you must find a glorious church, that is a

church that gives glory to God. Ephesians 321 says, let there be

glory in the church from generation to generation.

But the theme is, let there be glory in the church.

In other words, let there be a display of the magnificence of

Christ. May Christ always be on display.

May may the the majesty and splendor and beauty of God be

seen in the church. Let there be glory in the church

and in Christ Jesus from generation to generation.

The church is to give glory to the Lord.

Some people say, well, well, this is a good church, or this

church over here is a good church.

So a good church can only be a good church if it's a glorious

church. How do we know that?

Well, in Exodus chapter 34, when when Moses said, Lord, show me

Exodus 34 · chapter mention

your glory, and God said, I can't let you see my glory and

live, but I will let all my goodness pass before you, and I

will proclaim the name of the Lord.

In other words, the goodness of God describes the glory of the

Lord. So a good church is a church

that gives glory and honor to God, that puts God on display.

That's a glorious church. That's a good church.

A good church can only be good if it glorifies the name of God.

It's so important. John MacArthur, who said that

the only reason to choose a church is to choose it based on

the preaching of the Word. No other reason.

That's a quote. The only reason to choose a

church is to choose the church that preaches the word of the

living God. There is no other reason to

choose the church. Why?

Because when you proclaim the name of God, you glorify the

person of God. You put him on display.

That is so important. And so you preach the word of

God. And how do you know?

The church preaches the word of God.

It practices the word of God. It lives it out.

First Timothy 315 says that the church is the pillar and the

foundation of the truth. Everything about the church is

about the truth of God, nothing else.

So how would you know a glorious church?

The Bible says in Matthew 4 man should not live by bread alone,

but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

How do you live each and every day by the word of God that

proceeds from the mouth of God? That's it.

Psalm 138, verse #2 says thy word, O Lord, is magnified even

as thy very name, the word of God, is magnified to a level of

the name of God. And one day at the name of

Christ, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that

Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

So how do you know a church is a glorious church if you have to

find a glorious church? And this is my, my dad's biggest

beef throughout his life. It became my biggest beef as

well. How do you know you have found a

glorious church? And there are many facets to

that. We, we wrote a little booklet

called How to Choose a Church and in there are a lot of

descriptions on how do you know a church that glorifies and

honors the Lord. But let me just give you a

couple of things by way of suggestion.

Think of it this way. God is is holy, holy, holy.

God wants his bride to be holy. When he saves us, he sanctifies

us. He sets us apart.

That's what it means to be sanctified.

We're set apart under God for his purposes.

We are, we become holy children of the living God.

And so a holy God wants a holy church.

A holy God doesn't want an unholy church.

He wants a holy church. So how do you get there?

You get there by understanding the very first instruction that

Jesus gives about the church. If if Jesus gives us

instructions about the church and he gives them an order of

priority and he gives them as #1, then it should be the number

one element in the church itself to know whether that word, that

church is preaching the Word and living the Word.

And so the very first instruction that Jesus gives

about the church is before the church is ever born.

The church is born in Acts 2. But before the church is ever

born, Jesus says these words. If your brother sins, go and

show him his fault in private. If he listens to you, you have

won your brother. But if he does not listen to

you, take one or two more with you, said by the mouth of two or

three witnesses. Every fact may be confirmed.

If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, the

church. And if he refuses to listen even

to the church, let him be to you as a a Gentile and a tax

collector. And truly I say to you that

whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever

you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

And again I say to you that if 2 of you agree on earth about

anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by my

Father who is in heaven. For where two or three are

gathered together in My name, I am in their midst.

This is the Lord's first instruction to the church.

If her brother sins, you go to him in private.

If he does not repent, you take two or three witnesses, that

they might be witnesses to your confrontation, that it might be

true and honorable before the Lord.

And if he your brother doesn't repent, you tell it to the

church. So the church then goes after

that brother, that they might learn to hear the word of God

and repent, and that person doesn't repent after the church

has gone after them. Christ says you treat him as a

task, gather as a Gentile. You treat him as if they don't

know the Lord because they manifested the fact that they

don't know the Lord. You see here, here is Christ

concerned about the purity of the church.

Let the church be holy. This is his first instruction.

It's got to be the number one. So if a church is not involved

in disciplining its members who live in sin, that's not a

glorious church. That's a bad church.

That's a bad church. Don't go to that church.

Why? Because they're more concerned

about popularity than they are purity.

If they're more concerned about popularity than they are purity,

it's always going to be detriment to the people in the

church. You got to love the people

enough that you want them to honor the Lord and serve the

Lord and glorify His name and live pure and holy lives.

And so you go after them. They might live a righteous and

pure and holy life. The Word of God has preached,

and the word of God is a cleansing agent.

Anyway, you've been made clean through the word I preached to

you, Christ says in John 15. Then then we know that that the

members of the church are concerned about the purity of

the church. Why?

Solomon tells US1 Sinner destroys much good.

Just one, one little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.

So if there's one person living in sin, living in disobedience

to God, not wanting to honor God, you go to that brother.

You plead with that brother to repent and turn from their sins.

If he doesn't, you go and take two or three witnesses with you

that they might hear you as you plead with your brother.

And then if they don't repent, you take you to the church.

Tell the church. Let the church pursue them

relentlessly because you care about the spiritual condition of

their soul. The church must be concerned

more about your spiritual condition than anything else.

So you find a glorious church. That church is seen by its

desire to make sure its members live pure and holy lives.

Therefore, they are engaged in church discipline if need be.

I remember when, when Kate went off to Indiana State play

football, Lori went out with him to help him find a church.

They found a church and and he went to the pastor and he asked

him, do you guys practice church discipline?

And the pastor said no, Kate was out of there, he was gone.

Didn't want to be a part of a church that's not concerned

about the purity of the church. That has to be the number one

concern. It was Christ's first

instruction to the church. It must be our first priority as

a church. That's why Acts 5 is so crucial.

And anasses of fire were killed in church because they lied

about how much they sold their property for.

It wasn't like they committed immorality or idolatry or

involved in fornication with other people in the church.

No, they just lied to the Holy Spirit about how much they they

sold their property for and they died in church.

And what happened? Great fear came upon the church,

and great fear came upon the community in Jerusalem.

I don't go to that church. You might die.

But the church grew immensely because that's the kind of

church God wants and to honor so important.

Here's another one. Here's another one.

Paul says it this way, First Timothy chapter 2.

1 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

He says I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority

over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first

created and then Eve, and it was not Adam who was deceived, but

the woman being deceived fell into transgression.

But women will be preserved through the bearing of children

if they continue in faith, love, sanctity and self restraint.

Women pastors are characteristic of an unglorious church, not a

glorious church. I permit not a woman to teach

nor your super authority over man.

All the qualifications for elder are in the masculine tense.

If you have a woman pastor, you're in a unglorious church,

not a glorious church. Read the Book of Revelation,

Revelation chapter 2, Church of Thyatira.

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

They had a woman pastor and God said that corruption has

permitted the entire church and God was concerned about that.

So you must understand these these are things that are

important. Why?

Because the church that preaches the word practices the word and,

and, and what what Paul does, the first thing to do is if he

crosses all cultural bounds, he says, I permit not a woman to

teach no usurp authority over the man.

Why wait? Because 4000 years ago this was

set in motion. It's not about culture, it's

about creation. And in the very beginning when

God created a male and female, he created Adam first because he

was the leader. And it was a woman who was

tempted and fell into temptation.

And therefore, it's important to realize that the order of

creation determines the order of conduct in the church, no matter

what the culture. People say, well, today's

culture is different. No, it's not.

No, it's not. You don't base your decision

based on culture, you based it on the scriptures and what God's

Word says. So that's why He goes back 4000

years to show you the order of creation, to make sure you

understand that men are to lead in the church and be pastors and

shepherds in the church. That's a glorious find a

glorious church, a church that preaches the Word, that honors

the Word, that practices the Word that does not compromise

the truth of the living God. That's where it all begins.

As a father, you need to realize this as you lead your family and

your own children. Where do your children go to

church? Are they going to a glorious

church? If not, what are you doing about

that? Do you show them what the Word

of God says? Teach them the truth of the word

of God. They might not, they might not

accept it, but you least you're held accountable for that

because you know that's not the best and you want the best for

your children. And so you teach them.

I don't care how old they are, you still have to to teach them

the truth of the Scriptures. That's so important.

Why would you let your family member go to a church that's an

unglorious church when they could go to a glorious church?

Why would you have them go to church that's not good when they

can go to a good church? As parents, we we still are

protectors and providers and prophets and priests of our

homes to lead and guide our children no matter what their

age is. That's our responsibility.

That's a godly man. Man, stand strong.

You know, it's so important to realize that, that when a

psalmist says help Lord, the godly man ceases to be that.

That is just so true. You got to be strong.

You got to stand firm on the truth of the living God without

compromise. Find a glorious church #2 follow

a godly man in that church. Find a glorious church.

You follow a godly man in the church, follow that passionate

person wherever they go. You go if they're there on

Wednesdays, you're there on Wednesdays, they're there on

Sunday for two services, You're there on Sunday for two

services. They're in a Bible study, you're

in a Bible study. You follow them wherever they

go. You follow that godly man and

you can see that the godliness of that man exercised in the

life of his wife and his children.

His children are in submission to his authority.

His wife loves him and clings to him and is around him all the

time. That's that's a godly man.

That's the man you want to follow.

See, that's why that's why Paul said follow me as I follow

Christ. That's why in second

Thessalonians are, excuse me, First Thessalonians chapter 2

1 Thessalonians 2 · chapter mention

that they that those in Thessalonica became mimics and

imitators of Paul and Silas. I'm sorry, that's that's first.

That's one six. They they became imitators of

them because they saw and fallen Silas something they didn't see

anybody else. Godliness, holiness, purity,

steadfastness, perseverance. They say I want that they follow

them. Remember my father used to take

me to prayer meeting on Wednesday nights and I was the

only high school student in prayer meeting.

You know, the high school student was there.

My parents made me go. Parents today don't make their

children do much, if anything. I don't, I don't understand

that. I don't get that.

If you're in that category, I feel sorry for you.

You need to tell your children what they can and cannot do.

They live in your house. They're under your authority.

You're in charge, and God holds you responsible if they live

under your roof. And so my parents said, you're

going to primary and I was the only high school student there.

But my dad said, I want you to follow the men.

Follow these godly men in the church.

When they pray, you pray. When you, when, when they

preach, you listen. So I did, I just followed them

and I heard and I saw and I watched their families and I

watched their impact in the church.

And I realized that they they were setting an example for for

others to follow. And so I gleaned from that

experience that I learned from them when, when, when they went

out witnessing, I went out witnessing.

When they went out in visitation, I went out in

visitation. When they did this or did that

in the church, I went along with them just to observe, to watch,

to follow them. I begin to learn, I begin to

grow simply because I had found a glorious church and began to

follow the godly men in the church #3 foster your growth

spiritually, foster your growth spiritually.

We're to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ our

Lord. Second Peter 3 verse #18 We're

the kind of people God, God has given us His Word, the inspired

word of God. That's profitable, that the man

of God will be thoroughly furnished, thoroughly equipped,

totally put together. You want your life put together.

If your life is like Humpty Dumpty and you falling off the

wall and it's everywhere, the only thing that's going to bring

it back together is the word of God, not some kind of therapist.

It's the word of the living God, that the man of God will be

thoroughly furnished, totally equipped, totally put together

for the glory and honor of God. Only God's Word can do that.

So you must foster your growth spiritually.

You must be in the Word. You must be on your knees.

You must be understanding that God is doing a great work in and

through your life. And so you begin to grow

spiritually by being in the Word of God, on your knees, learning,

growing step by step, moment by moment, day by day, as you walk

with the Lord and you grow in the knowledge of His Word so

incredibly important. When Paul left the church in

Ephesus, he said in Acts chapter 20 verse #32 I commend you to

Acts 20 · chapter mention

God and the word of his grace, which is able to build you up,

make you strong. I commend you to God and the

word of his grace. I'm going to leave you with

this. Just God and His grace, God and

His Word, because that's all you need to be the men God wants you

to be for the glory of His Kingdom.

Find the glorious church. Follow a godly man in that

church. Foster your growth spiritually

#4 fulfill the Great Commission as you go.

Matthew 28. As you're going, make disciples.

The assumption is you're going to be going.

Why not? As the Father has sent me, so

send I you. John 2021.

We are ambassadors for Christ. We're ministers of

reconciliation. We had this great calling where

we're representative of the Kingdom of God.

So as you go, make disciples. As you're going, baptize them in

the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Teach them to observe all that I've commanded you.

And lo, I'm with you always, even to the ends of the earth,

fulfill the Great Commission. So many times we, we forget

about the opportunity that God puts before us.

How many times have I told you over the years that the only

reason God leaves you here after you're saved is for one reason

and one reason only? And it's not to worship him,

because when you get to heaven, your worship's going to be

better is to share Christ, to be a living testimony to the

testimony of, of what Christ has done in your life, to make

disciples that others will hear the gospel and respond and

follow the Lord. That's why God leaves you here.

You're his representative, You're his ambassador.

You're the minister of reconciliation.

And God says I've sent you into the world to be my

representative of my Kingdom. And when you represent me and

you speak about me, you glorify my name.

That great fill, the Great Commission #5 I love this one.

Fear God and keep his commandments enthusiastic 12/13

right? Fear God and keep his

commandments that that's a summation of everything that

that was Solomon's summation of life.

It all comes down to 1 phrase. Fear God and keep his

commandments. You want to be a godly man?

Find a glorious church. Follow a godly man in that

church, foster your growth spiritually, fulfill the Great

Commission. Do that and the next thing you

know you'll be fearing God and and keeping His commandments.

Then lastly #6 fire up the next generation that they may serve

the Lord. Fire up the next generation

because now you can. Now you're well on your way to

fire up the next generation to live for the Lord.

Let me take you back to to the book of Deuteronomy and listen

to what Moses says. It's so good he says, See, I

have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord

might. God commanded me that you should

do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it.

So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your

understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all

these statutes and say surely this great nation is a wise and

understanding people. Wow, just keep the statutes.

Just just obey the statutes and everybody will know that you're

a wise and understanding people. For what great nation is there

that has a God so near to it as the Lord our God whenever we

called on him? Or what great nation is there

that has statutes and judgments is righteous as this whole law

which I am studying before you today?

Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently set.

You do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and

they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life,

but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.

What are you made known to your sons and grandsons?

They says this in chapter 5 of Deuteronomy verse 29.

Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me

and keep all my commandments always, that it may be well with

them and with their sons forever.

What a testimony that it may be well with them and their sons if

they just hear the Word of God and keep the Word of God.

And then he says over in Deuteronomy 6 verse #1 Now this

is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord

your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do

them in the land where you go or where you are going over to

possess it. Excuse me, so that you and your

son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God and keep all

His statutes and His commandments which I command you

all the days of your life and that your days may be prolonged.

O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may

be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as

the Lord the God of your Father's has promised you in the

land flowing with milk and honey.

He says God, God wants to make you well in the land.

He wants it to be well with you in the land.

That's why he goes on to say in verse 24, he says the Lord has

commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord

our God for our good always and for our survival as it is today.

This is the key to surviving in this generation.

It's the key to surviving in any generation, in any community, in

any culture. It's learning and listening to

the laws of God and keeping the statutes that it may be well

with you. No matter how bad the culture is

around you, no matter how bad the city is around you, no

matter how bad everybody is at your school or at your work,

keep the commandments. Love the Lord, honor the Lord,

worship him, serve him. It will be well with you.

This is for your survival. Wow, such great words.

Having said that, let me go back to my outline and say this.

The godly man goes to God incessantly in prayer #2 obeys

God instantly without reservation and hesitation.

The godly man disciplines himself implicitly.

The godly man is the one who loathes his sin intensely, and

the godly man is the one who yields to the Holy Spirit

intently, and the godly man is the one who manages his own home

impressively. That's how far we have come in

the last three weeks. That's what we have covered.

Let me give you the last two this morning.

The godly man aspires to imitate the Lord intimately.

He aspires to imitate the Lord intimately.

The Bible says that if we say that we have come to know him

first. John 26 that we are to walk as

He himself has walked first. John 2 verse #6 In Ephesians

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 verses one and two, it says that we are to be follows

the Christ, we are to be imitators of Christ, and we are

to walk in love. We, we are to mimic the Christ,

and the godly man wants to imitate the Christ.

Listen, every one of us imitates somebody or someone in some way

throughout our lives, but we should be focused on imitating

the Christ and walking with him. That requires that you walk very

closely with the Lord. Remember Peter in Mark's gospel,

it was they, they had left the, the upper room and they, they

ascended the Mount of Olives, having crossed the kids run,

kids run Brooke and they ascended the Mount of Olives

and, and, and Christ takes his men there.

He takes Peter, James and John a little further into the garden

and says, stay with me, stay with me and, and, and pray with

me for one hour. And Christ then goes a little

further into the garden, begins to pray, and comes back to his

men, and they're asleep. And he says to them, Could you

not pray with me for one hour? I'm about to die for your soul.

I'm about to give my life for the sins of man, but you

couldn't pray with me for one hour.

Pray, he says, lest you enter into temptation.

So he says, you know what? I'm going to go away again and

just just pray, lest you enter into temptation.

So he goes away. He comes back again and guess

what? They're still snoozing.

It's like, really, fellas, you've got to be kidding me.

But they couldn't stay awake. So listen to the words of Mark's

Gospel in the 14th chapter when it says in verse 53, they led

Jesus away to the high priest and all the chief priests and

the elders and the scribes gathered together.

Peter had followed him at a distance.

That phrase right there was a killer for Peter, and Peter

followed him from a distance. It says earlier that all the

disciples had already forsook him and fled.

They'd already left the scene even though they had seen the

power of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Peter followed at a distance. If you aspire to imitate the

Lord intimately, you cannot follow the Lord from a distance,

from afar. You must follow Him up close and

personal. You must be with him, communing

with him, praying with him, reading His word, being close to

him every day. Christ had told Peter, Peter,

Satan, his ass has sift you like wheat.

But I prayed for you that after you fall you will come back and

strengthen your brethren. Christ had prayed for him.

In spite of all that, Peter couldn't stay awake to maintain

intimate communion with the Father of the Universe in spite

of great turmoil. And so you end up following from

a distance. You can't do that.

You got to follow close Christ up close and personal.

You must be with Him all the time.

You must walk in the Spirit so you don't fulfill the lust of

the flesh. You must live in communion with

the true and living God. For every godly man aspires to

imitate the Lord intimately, to walk with God.

Remember Noah, Genesis 6? He walked with God, He did.

And the culture he lived in was more corrupt in our culture.

How do we know that God destroyed that culture?

It was so bad, But the flood, so it can be done.

It can't. You can't walk with God in

intimacy. You can walk with God closely

like Noah did because he did it in a culture that rejected God.

The Bible says in Genesis 6 that the Lord looked upon upon man

and saw that his heart was only evil continually and every

thought of a man was only evil continually, and sin had run

rampant throughout the world. But Noah, he walked with God.

He aspired to live close to his God.

He was a righteous man. That culture was so bad that God

destroyed everyone and everything except that which was

on the ark. Enoch was another who walked

with God. He also aspired to live first.

God. How about you?

Do you aspire to imitate the Lord intimately, To walk in

love, to walk in light as He is in the light, to walk in wisdom,

to walk in humility? Lastly, to finish our outline,

the godly man narrates the gospel instinctively as well as

insightfully. Narrates the gospel

instinctively and insightfully. He's like Jeremiah when Jeremiah

said in Jeremiah 20 verse #9 but if I say I would not remember

him or speak anymore in his name, then in my heart it

becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary

of holding it in, and I cannot endure it.

That that's the godly man. If I try to hold in what God has

said, if I had to hold back the word of God, it's just like,

it's like burning in my bones. I got to let it out.

Jeremiah says even though he ain't letting it out, nobody

paid attention and nobody listened.

Jeremiah was still going to preach it and teach it because

it was instinctive to his lifestyle, because he was a

prophet of the living God. Amos.

Amos said this way. Amos chapter 3 verse #8 The Lord

Amos 3 · chapter mention

God has spoken. Who can but prophecy?

If God has spoken, how can you keep quiet?

And the godly man just can't keep quiet about the truth about

the holiness of God, about his his God and His Kingdom.

He just can't keep quiet about it.

So he narrates the gospel instinctively and insightfully

because his whole life centers around the gospel of Christ.

That's the godly man. That's the man that God's

looking for, the stand in the gap, gap to, to, to stand as an

intercessor on his behalf. The kind of man that God uses

for the glory of His Kingdom. In my prayer, that God will use

us in that capacity. As fathers, we have a huge

responsibility. We have a huge responsibility.

There is nothing greater than being a father.

Again, my concern is not that you you will fail as a father,

but that you succeeded doing the wrong thing.

Outside of being a father, outside of being a husband.

That's where you need to be great.

I, you know, I don't care if you're, you're a great preacher.

I don't care if you're, you're, you're a great coach.

I don't care if you're, you're a great teacher.

I don't care if you're a great doctor or great nurse.

Those are a dime a dozen. But be a great father, be a

great husband, be a godly husband, a godly father.

Those are few and far between. That's what psalmist said.

Help Lord, the godly man ceases to be.

Where is he? That's what you need to pursue.

You pursue that. Wow.

Your life, your family, your legacy will live on for

generations to come simply because you said I want to be

that godly man. Let me pray with you.

Father, thank you for today. Lord, You are a great God and we

as your people want to represent you and honor you.

And Lord, we do fail many times. We fail our families, we fail

our church, we fail our workplace.

Most importantly, we fail you so many times.

But yet, yeah, you pick us right back up again that we might move

on to maturity in Christ to live for the glory of your Kingdom.

My prayer, Father, is that each and every one of us would

realize the great responsibility we have before you are God.

Sometimes we forget about that. We we think of our

responsibility at home or our responsibility at work or at

school. And those are those are all good

things, but our responsibilities to you, primarily our God, our

King, our Master, our Lord, and we want to represent you.

That's the key aspect that we represent you and our

communication. We represent you and our

conduct. We represent you and our

conversation. We represent you everywhere

because you Lord are everything. Pray this in Jesus name, Amen.