As you know, I've been preaching
through Mark on Wednesday night. We're still in that first chapter
of Mark, but I was reading this Monday morning and this verse
of scripture just stood out to me and I felt strongly impressed
to preach on these two verses. I've entitled this message, Man
Up. That's an odd title. Well, it's
spoken to men and to women. When he says, quit ye like men,
he's saying, man up. You can say that to men. You
can say that to women. Be a man. Stop being weak. Take responsibility instead of
shirking it. Do what you're called to do as
a man. Now, the Church of Corinth was
fraught with problems. You read this epistle and there
was so much bad going on in that particular church. You had people
abusing the gifts and being phony with the gifts. You had brothers
and sisters taking each other to court to sue each other at
law. You had sexual sin. You had people
getting drunk at the Lord's table. I could go on and on with all
the problems. You had divisions. You had schisms. He said, I couldn't speak to
you as spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in
Christ. And these people were sitting
on judgment of Paul and questioning him on so many different levels. Yet he calls this church faithful
brethren. I heard recently of someone who
was concerned about being in a church where there was too
much sin. Well, I guarantee you there's too much sin. Ain't no
doubt about that. I guarantee you there is in any
church. And Paul is ending this epistle This
is his conclusion. This is what he leaves this church
with. Watch ye. Stand fast in the faith. Quit ye like men. And that means
literally man up, man up. Play the man. Be strong. And that's actually in the passive
voice. Be strengthened. I say, be strong, how? Be strengthened. I can do all things through Christ,
which strengthens me. Let all your things be done with
charity. Man up, and God created them
male and female. I think it's interesting how There's been an attempt at making
a genderless Bible. And God is not to be spoken of
in gender, and you're not supposed to have he and she. Well, that's
just ridiculous. God made man male and female. And men and women are different.
They're real different. I like what one man said. Women
aren't like other people. I know. I know. But there is masculine, there
is feminine. And masculine does not mean macho
man. You know, a macho man is usually
a very insecure man and he's trying to project an image. That's
where that comes from. It's born of insecurity and trying
to cover all that up. Now in the context, here's what
it is to man up. is to watch. Be on guard. As a matter of fact, every one
of these terms are military terms. Be on the lookout. Be on guard. Be watching. Don't be moved from the faith.
Hold your position. Stand fast in the faith. Don't
be moved. Be a man. Take on what you're
supposed to do. Don't be weak. Let everything
be done with charity. Now, I'm just going to say this.
This isn't really part of the message, but man up, I've heard
messages on how Christian men are supposed to act. And I'll
be honest with you, I don't like those messages. And even the
way reform religion and fundamentalist Baptist religion, the things
they bring about, I don't like any of that stuff. But I do know
this. In false churches, generally
speaking, women have the leadership role. And the reason behind that
is weak men. That's the reason. The women
are filling a vacuum because the men are not being men. That's the only reason. I don't
blame the women for that. I blame the men. that in false religion,
you generally have women in the leadership roles, or that's because
of weak men. And here's another thing that
I don't understand. Do you know in Christ, there's no gender?
There's no male or female. I can't get ahold of this. Neither
can you. But in heaven, everybody's a
woman. Christ is the husband. There
is no male or female. There's no gender. Those roles
will be done away with in heaven. Now, do I understand that? No,
but I know that it is so. In Christ, there's no male nor
female, but in this life, there are women and there are men,
and men are not better than women. Men are not more spiritual than
women, and women are not better than men, and more spiritual
than men. One's not better than the other, but they're certainly different.
And it is a bad thing when men do not act like men and take
leadership in the home and in the church and be responsible.
Paul says to this church at Corinth that was so beset with problems,
man up, man up. And that said to every woman,
that said to every man, man up. I always admire men that are
men. That's the men I admire. And
I have five points to this message. Watch. Stand fast in the faith. Quit you like men. Man up. Be strengthened and let everything
you do be done with charity. And I pray that the Lord would
bless this to us. Now, the first thing he says
is, watch ye. Be on your guard. Be aware. Don't fall asleep. This is a
military term and quite often in the scripture, the believers
compared to a soldier, be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And
we're told about the battle we're fighting, the battle with the
flesh and spirit, the battle against principalities and powers
and spiritual wickedness in high places. There are several chapters
where we're given the weapons of our warfare, like Ephesians
chapter six, where he tells us what to put on, and 2 Corinthians
chapter 10, he talks about the weapons of our warfare. Now,
this is a military term, Be on your guard. Watch. Be prepared. Now, in the New
Testament, I read of five specific things we're called upon to be
watchful in. First, when the Lord was talking
about his second coming, he talked about watching for his second
coming. You know what's beneficial about
that? Just watching, waiting, praying for, asking Him to hasten
His second return when He returns. You know what's beneficial about
that? It puts life in a proper perspective, doesn't it? How important are all these things
that we stress out about in light of Him coming back? He says, you be watching for
His second return. The Lord said to the disciples,
watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. Now, how
well do you handle temptation? I imagine you'd say not too well.
Did not the Lord teach us to pray every day, lead us not into
temptation? I don't wanna be tempted. I know
what happens if I am, so I don't want to be tempted. Let that
be removed from me. Be on your guard. Watch that
you're continually asking the Lord to deliver you from even
being tempted. Build a hedge about me. Build
a hedge about me. Put me in a position where I'm
not tempted. And then Paul warned the church
the elders at Ephesus in Acts chapter 20 of the grievous wolves
that would enter in and even men of among themselves would
enter in, sparing not the flock, drawing away disciples after
them. You watch out for that. You watch
out for that because there's going to be men that are going
to come in here. There's going to be women that are going to
come in here. They're going to seek to muddy the waters. and
you be on your guard about that. Endeavor to keep the unity of
the spirit in the bond of peace. And then Peter said, be sober,
be vigilant, which is the same word, be watchful for your adversary,
the devil goeth about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. whom resist steadfast in the
faith. Be watchful. Paul says, we're
not ignorant of his wiles and his devices. Be watchful. And then in Revelation chapter
16, verse five, listen to this. Behold, I come as a thief in
the night. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments. lest he walk naked and they see
his shame. Now here's something you and
I better be watchful about. Make sure the only garment we
have on is Christ. Don't look anywhere else. You
remember that parable of the marriage feast? That fellow that
came in and he didn't have a wedding garment on and the king spotted
it. He spotted it, and that man was
thrown out. I think of that passage of Scripture, and this is part
of the Christian warfare. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
10. He says in verse 3, for though
we walk in the flesh, we don't war after the flesh. For the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, Fleshly, what men would
use, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,
casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts
itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity,
every thought to the obedience of Christ. Now, most folks, when
they read that, they say that bring every thought into captivity
to obedience to Christ. Well, you ought to do that. Who's
going to object to that? But that's not what he says. Every
thought is to be brought into captivity to the obedience of
Christ. Christ as my righteousness, my
wedding garment, my only way of approaching the Father. Be
watchful. It's so easy to start looking
within for some kind of assurance, looking, how am I doing? How
am I living? How am I praying? How am I reading
the scripture? How am I witnessing? How am I
battling sin? How am I doing? Anything that's
contrary to the obedience of Jesus Christ being my clothing,
my covering, my righteousness is wrong. And then he says, secondly, in
our text in 1 Corinthians 16, if you'll pass, go back there. Watch ye. And then he says, stand
fast in the faith. Now to stand fast means do not
be moved. Hold your ground. Once again,
this is a military term. Hold your ground. Don't be moved. We read we're to stand fast in
the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Now, I wish I could say this
the way it ought to be said, but if you're a believer, you
are free. You do not have any sin. You don't owe anything. There's nothing you can do to
make things better for yourself between you and God. You have
liberty. You have freedom. Stand fast. Don't be moved from that for
anything. And your own conscience will try to move you from it.
The devil will try to move you from it. Other people unknowingly
will try to move you from it. You stand fast in that liberty,
that freedom wherewith Christ hath made us free. Paul called upon the church at
Philippi to stand fast with one mind, striving together for the
faith of the gospel. It's something we're called upon
to do together. And then, stand fast in the Lord. That's the
same thing as abide in Christ. At all times, all may this be
made just our way of thinking. All I want is to be found in
Christ. All I want is for God to see me in Christ. I don't
want him to see anything else but me in the Lord Jesus Christ. You stand fast in that. Stand fast, he said to the Thessalonians
in the traditions which you've been taught, whether by word
or our epistle. Stand fast in the gospel you've
heard preached from the scriptures. And he said, stand fast in the
faith. What's he mean by that? Stand fast in the faith. Well, that's another way of saying
stand fast in the gospel. The faith is a gospel. The faith. There's one Lord, one faith,
one baptism. He's talking about the gospel.
Now you stand fast in the faith, the faith of the gospel. And
you've heard these five things before, but they're worth repeating,
thinking about, meditating on. Here's standing fast in faith,
the scripture alone. I'm not afraid to submit anything
I say unto you to the scriptures. Don't believe anything because
I say it. Believe it because it's what God's word actually
teaches. Stand fast in the scriptures
alone. Now listen to me. The scriptures
are our only rule of faith and practice. What about your creed? I don't have a creed. The Bible's
our creed. Christ is our creed. Well, you need a creed and a
confession? No, you don't. You don't need anything like
that. We got the Bible. Why would we want some man-made
document? The scriptures alone. Christ alone. Not Christ and. Christ alone
is the only message of this book, and he is the only reason for
salvation. I am not saved because of anything
I do or intend to do, anything in my past, present, or future. I'm saved for this one singular
reason, Christ alone. I look to the doing and the dying
of Jesus Christ alone. Alone now. Alone now. I don't
look to me. I don't look to my growth. I
don't look to my whatever. I look to Christ alone. Now,
I love to think about this. The Lord Jesus Christ, He stood
before time began as my surety and took complete responsibility
for my salvation before the world began. Now that greater what? And somebody says, well, what's
great about that? Everything's great about that. Everything's
great about that. That means he did it all. I wasn't
even around to do anything and he did it all. That's how much
it's all of him. He stood as my surety before
time began. All that the father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. I look to Christ alone. If my
salvation is dependent upon my faith or my repentance or my
holy living or my anything, I have no hope. My hope is Christ alone. He came in time and became flesh. and perfectly kept God's holy
law for me. He said to John the Baptist,
thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. He wasn't
only talking about John the Baptist, he was talking about old Todd
Tabard. He was talking about Rick Weave. He was talking about
every one of his people. Thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. Christ alone on the cross Put
away my sin. He did it by Himself with no
help from me. And now because of that, I stand
before God without sin. Now, understand me, it's not
just as if I'm without sin. I'm without sin. I am without
sin. That's what the records of heaven
say. Holy and unblameable and unreprovable in God's sight. He was raised from my justification. He ascended back into glory and
right now He's interceding for me and all my salvations in Him. It really is Christ alone. It
really is. That's what it is to stand fast
and not be moved in faith. Don't be moved from that. I mean,
if you have any temptation to start looking within, it's wrong.
It's satanic. Or it's your own wicked nature,
whatever it might be. Christ alone. And I love to think
of grace alone. Ephesians 2.8 says, by grace
are you saved. By grace are you saved. Through faith, that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Now, every aspect of my salvation
was given to me by grace and was given to me by grace before
the world began. And the fact that it was given
to me before the world began is what emphasizes that it doesn't
have anything to do with my works. I wasn't around to have any works.
Everything I have was given me by Christ Jesus before the world
began. Think of this. It says, He saved
us and He called us. The saving
came before the calling. He saved us. And He calls us
with a holy calling. And you think of every aspect
of salvation. My election is of grace. My justification
is of grace. My redemption, my sin payment
is of grace. My regeneration is wholly a work
of His grace. The fact that I'm preserved is
of grace. I'm kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation. Now unto Him that's able. to
keep you from falling, to present you faultless before His presence
with exceeding joy. Oh, salvation, grace alone, grace
alone, faith alone. Now what's faith alone mean? It means the only reason that
I can believe that God has done something for me is because I
look to Christ only. I can't look within and look
into my heart and pull the dipstick out to examine what's been going
on in there. If I come up with some kind of
assurance of salvation, surely I'm saved because I fill in the
blank. That's not faith in Christ, that's
faith in yourself. There's only one reason I can
believe that God has done anything for me. Now, faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. How do I know I'm justified?
Well, can I look and see it? No, but I believe the gospel.
Faith alone, and this is These are the watchwords
of the Reformation, and I even hesitate to talk about the watchwords
of the Reformation because it's just been the truth forever.
We don't want to tie this. This is what they believed in
the Reformation. This is what every believer has ever believed. The glory
of God alone. God gets all the glory in everything. If man gets any glory, it's not
true. And we love God getting all the
glory because that means He did it all. If He doesn't get all
the glory, that means some glory goes to some man. That means
something's expected of me or you. That's no good. Stand fast
in the faith. Scriptures alone. Christ alone. Grace alone. Faith alone. The glory of God alone. You know, that's really the only
good motive. And then he says, man up. Man up. Start acting like a man. And this is not just to men.
This is talking to every single believer. Now, several translations
translate it like this. Be courageous. Be courageous. Don't be fearful. Be courageous. And that's certainly part of
it. Let me ask you a question. Scripture
says if God be for us, who can be against us? Now, if God's
for you, don't you have every reason to be courageous? He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justified
them. Who is He that can condemn? It's
Christ that died, yea, rather than to be risen again, who's
even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. Now, you have a reason to be
courageous, don't you? There's nothing to fear. But this means more than that. Be a man. It's not just talking
about don't be effeminate. A man ought not be effeminate,
but that's not what it's talking about. It's saying to be a man,
be watchful. Be on your guard. That's the
responsibility you have. Be watchful. Be on your guard. You're being a man when you're
standing fast in the faith. not being moved from the hope
of the gospel. Be a man. You're a man when you're strengthened
by His grace. Thou, O man of God, be strong
in the grace that's in Christ Jesus. And you're being a man
when you let all things be done in charity. Now let's look at
this fourth one. Be strong. Be strong. This is a command. Be strengthened. I'm glad it's
that way. I'm glad it doesn't just say
be strong, it says be strengthened. Now, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
12. Here's the key to strength. Paul had been talking about how
God had brought him into the third heavens revealed the gospel
to him. And he says, for though in verse
six, for though I would desire to glory, I'll not be a fool. Now, if God brought you up into
the third heaven. And not somebody else is you.
Is you. He left me down here. And he
brought you up. Would you have a tendency to
glory in that? Sure you would. Sure you would. But look what
Paul says. For though I would desire to
glory, I shall not be a fool. Only a fool would do that. For I'll say the truth, but now
I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which
he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. Lest somebody
put me up on a pedestal and think I'm more special to God than
somebody else. I've got more grace than somebody
else. Unless I should be exalted above
measure through the abundance of the revelations that was given
to me. Who gave it to him? God did. Wasn't Satan that gave
it to him. this to him, God did. Satan was
used, but Satan's always used by God. He doesn't realize it.
He thinks he's going to defeat God, and all he's doing is doing
God's will, serving God's purposes, everything he does. Isn't that
glorious to think about? You know, the Lord, he's sovereign
over everything. He's sovereign over the devil.
Everything the devil does, I don't even like to think about the
devil, and I don't think about him much. I try not to. I don't want to, but
I do know this. He is God's devil. doing God's will for God's glory
and for God's purposes. And lest I should be exalted
above measure through the abundance of the revelations that was given
to me, a thorn in the flesh. It's fruitless to try to figure
out what that thorn was, but it had something to do with his
flesh, didn't it? A thorn in the flesh. And I know this, a
thorn in the flesh is painful. When's the last time you were
pricked by a thorn real hard? It hurts, doesn't it? The messenger of Satan to buffet
me, to beat me black and blue, lest I should be exalted above
measure. For this thing, I besought the
Lord three times, and that doesn't necessarily mean three times,
maybe it's a lot of times, that it might depart from me. And
he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee. Now listen
to me. You take all your past and all
of your contradictory complex present and his grace is sufficient
for thee. For my strength is made perfect
in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my weakness, my infirmities, my weakness,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take
pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and necessities, in persecutions
and distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I
strong. Now, if you want to know the
secret to spiritual strength, it's weakness. Bible says this,
I'm submitting this up to, this is the word of God, this is not
my philosophy or my thinking. This is what God's word says,
be strengthened. Well, that's for the weak. Abraham staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith. giving
glory to God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he
was able also to perform. And since it's God who's doing
the strengthening, there's no reason for us to not be strong. And the Lord said, without me,
you can do nothing. You know that, don't you? But
Paul also said, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens
me. And the last thing he says in our text, in verse 14, is
let all your things be done with charity. What beautiful advice. Turn with
me for a moment to 1 Corinthians 13. And he had this on his mind
when he was writing this letter. When he makes this conclusion,
to this church. He's remembering that he just
wrote this chapter. Now, look in chapter 12, verse
31. But covet earnestly the best
gifts and yet show I unto you a more excellent way. This is better than any gift. I repeat, this is better than
any gift. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not charity, I'm become as a
sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the
gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and though I have all faith, so that I can remove mountains,
miracle working faith, and have not charity, I'm nothing. Now, that means you can have
all those things and have not charity. Verse three, though I bestow
all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to
be burned as a martyr for the cause of God and truth and have
not charity, it profits me nothing. Now that's a scary thought. There
are people who died as martyrs. willing to die for what they
believed. They didn't have a drop of charity
in their heart, and it didn't profit them anything. Charity, verse four, suffers long and is kind. Charity envieth not, Charity
vaunteth not itself. It doesn't push itself. It's
not puffed up with pride. It doesn't behave itself unseemly
or rudely. It seeketh not her own. It's
not easily provoked. It's not irritable and touchy. It thinketh no evil, and that
means it keeps no records of wrongs. It rejoices not in iniquity,
in somebody else's fall, but it rejoices in the truth. It
bears all things, it believes all things, it hopes all things,
it endures all things. Charity never faileth. Now, I have before and I've heard
people before put Christ in the word charity and it all works.
But that's still not the word Paul uses. He uses the word charity. Charity never faileth. But whether
they be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether they be tongues,
they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it
shall vanish away, for we know in part, we prophesy in part,
but when that which is perfect is come, and I feel quite sure
he's talking about the full canon of the scriptures. They didn't
have them at this time. That which is in part, these
tongues, these prophecies and so on, shall be done away with.
Now when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a
child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put
away childish things. This is part of that exhortation
to manna. For now we see through glass
darkly. Boy, we do, don't we? We do. We see in an enigma is what the
word means. You know what an enigma is? It's
something that you can't get any explanation for. We see through
a glass darkly. We see, but how much of Christ's
glory and beauty do you really see? How much of your own sinfulness
do you really see? How much self-vindicating and
self-justifying and self-excusing do you have going on in your
heart and mind every single day? We see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. That's that song, face to face
with Christ my Savior, face to face what will it be? When in
rapture I behold him, Jesus Christ, who died for me, face to face,
I'll behold thy face in righteousness. Then shall I know, even as also
I am known, and now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three. But the greatest of these is
what God's word says. The greatest of these is charity. Charity is not found in natural
man. Not there. It's the fruit of the spirit.
Given to God's people, and this is the greatest thing. Of all,
as far as our experience goes, charity. So Paul says to this
church. And this is what it is to man
up and I let me repeat. It's not just said to me, it's
said to women as well. Be on your guard. You ought to
watch out. I ought to watch out. We ought
to be suspicious of ourselves. Who's the biggest problem you
have? You are. You are. Watch out. Stand fast in the
faith. Don't be moved from the gospel
of Christ. Christ alone, the scriptures
alone, grace alone. Faith alone, God's glory alone,
don't be moved from that. And you'll always, every day
of your life, you'll be tempted to. You'll be tempted to look
within. Don't do it. Be strengthened. Let all your things be done with charity. Make charity, I
like what chapter 14 verse one says. Follow after charity, pursue
after charity, make charity your aim. May the Lord cause this
to root into our hearts. Let's pray together. Lord, give us the grace to be
watchful, to stand fast in the faith, to man up. Oh, Lord, strengthen us by your grace. Lord, we have
no strength at all, and we ask for your strength to us. And
Lord, cause all of our things, everything to be done in charity. We thank you for the Lord Jesus
Christ and the salvation that's in him. In his name we pray.
Amen.