The words quit you like men mean
to be strong and brave. In earthly temporal matters,
I've seen men turned into whatever the opposite
of that is. I've seen men turned into weaklings with no backbone. Predominantly by three things
and maybe you could add some to this but I've seen that happen
because of Addiction and that's a broad
term. I know but there's a lot of there's
a lot of that in this world and It'll take a man down I've seen
it happen and I've seen it done by contentious and domineering
women Women, I think in general, don't understand the power that
they have to do that and how destructive, great power for
good too. But I've seen that happen. I've seen
a man broken and become something less than a man. And this is
just temporal things, but we understand what it means to be
a man, I hope. in this world, and this is the
temporal and natural, has to do also with the spiritual. I've
seen it happen because of great trials. A huge loss of some kind of somebody
or just things, and that's something that can break it, man. I've
seen all of that happen, and I suspect all of y'all have too.
What's interesting is all of those things are dealt with in
spiritual terms in the scripture Turn with you to Ephesians 5,
please And while you're turning there,
let me just say this is a particularly an exhortation to men but more
broadly I think it's an exhortation to men and women to be a strong
in the Lord, to be brave in the Lord, and what that means, what
that is, and we're exhorted to that. But in Ephesians 5.15,
see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming
the time because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise,
but understanding what the will of the Lord is, And be not drunk
with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.
And again, I want to stress that this is more than just specific
things. It's general, addiction in general of any kind
is destructive. And you see how it has to do
with walking circumspectly, not as a fool. We've all seen people
that are slaves to some substance or other. It's kind of the opposite of
walking circumspectly not as fools Redeeming the time because the
days are evil you see it how it blends in with the spiritual
in a spiritual sense don't be numbed don't be Hard to define I guess in spiritual
terms but Don't be influenced by this world. Don't be drunk
on the things of this world, the things that make men spiritually
drunk. Gain, mammon, our Lord said.
Popularity. The lusts of the flesh. But be filled with the Spirit.
So you see that. Don't be under the influence
of anything but the Spirit of God. That's a pretty clear way
to say it, I think. All right. 1 Timothy 2.9. This also, we talked about women
and how they, you know, can, and it could be vice versa. A
man can be such a dog that he can break a woman too. And this
being particularly an exhortation to the men, Look at it in 1 Timothy
2.9. And like men are also that women
adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety,
not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly array. And
again, we talked about how that at that time, that would have
stood out in the worship. Nowadays, you braid your hair,
nobody cares. And so it's about calling attention
to self and not worshiping God. It's about impressing people.
It's about the social aspect of church or whatever, what they
call church. And that, of course, changes
with time. With good works, let the woman
learn in silence with all subjection, but I suffer not a woman to teach
nor to usurp authority. over the man, but to be in silence. Now, listen, Paul specifically
says that this is not gonna happen because it's exactly what does
happen in this world. You see that? In God's church,
it's not gonna be like that. God's order is gonna be observed.
And it has a lot, everything to do with spiritual things as
well as physical. It's about God's authority. And
I don't wanna spend a lot of time on this, but we've talked
about this. A submissive role does not indicate inferiority. The Lord Jesus Christ's greatest
glory was when he submitted to the will of the Father. And when
he bore our sins in his own body on the tree. And he said, he
that will be great among you, let him be a servant. That's
not temporary. It says in the book of Revelations,
his servants shall serve him. That's perfection, subservience. So we know how this world is
in that regard. And I understand that there are
very few actual men in this world anymore, but the Lord does have
some. And they're gonna act like men.
That's what this whole verse is about You see what's happening
in this world as far as submitting to God's authority in the broader
subject of God's order People deciding that they're going to
determine that which is God's prerogative only in a lot of
different manners It's not just weirdness and don't mistake it
for that. It's evil. That's what it is. It's evil
It is weird, but it's not just weird. It's anti-Christ, it's
God denying evil. Also the feminization of men
is such a big thing in the last 10 years or so, I guess, or maybe
less than that, I guess less than that. Masculinity is toxic
now. Now, you know, those who say
that are toxic. And they're ignorant. And let
me be clear about something. I always want to hedge. On a
subject like this, you can say one thing that if you don't sort
of qualify, it could be misconstrued. So let me be clear as I go through
this. So-called men who are on some kind of power trip of some
kind, and they love to brag and abuse women and abuse everybody,
really. Treat women like garbage. There's
whole parts of the world where women are treated like garbage.
That's not masculinity, that's evil. Masculinity doesn't make
somebody like that, evil does. And to quit you like men, and
again, that means to show oneself a man, to be brave. It is to not let, by God's grace,
any of these things unman you. Don't know if that's a word or
not, but I don't know how else to say it Things can do that
in this world and in the spiritual sense The man And the woman both are vital
in the church in God's World not the world but in God's Church
and in his kingdom To take up your responsibility before God,
for example, to rule your household. If you have a wife and children
or a wife or a family, a household. To conduct yourself in the church
and in the worship in a way that's not selfish. Little children
are selfish. Little children are petty until
we teach them better. Little children compromise. They
don't have any moral. You're to teach them that. To
not be tolerant of any foolishness. To not be weak with regard to
conviction and honor. That's quitting yourself like
a man. We mentioned that great trials
can make a man into a mouse. Look at Acts 20 with me. You
want a definition, as always, you don't just use adjectives
to define these gospel terms. Acts 20, 17. If you want to see
a living example of that particular thing, how that a great trial
can just break a man. He has no will, he has no heart,
he has no backbone anymore. Acts 20, 17. I'd say the apostle
Paul, probably went through a lot more than just about anybody
that has ever gone through in our day. Look at verse 17, Acts
20. And from Miletus, he sent to
Ephesus and called the elders of the church. And when they
were come to him, he said unto them, you know, from the first
day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with
you at all seasons, Serving the Lord with all humility of mind
and we're gonna see in all the scripture that we read tonight
That that's what it's about serving the Lord. It's not about just
You know being a good father and a good husband in this world
That's just a fringe benefit and a really good one a really
good one but this is talking about being strong in the Lord
for the Lord and serving the Lord with all humility
of mind and with many tears and trials, temptations, which befell
me by the lying in wait of the Jews and how I kept back nothing
that was profitable unto you in spite of the opposition and
the afflictions that came because of that. I held back nothing
that was profitable, but have showed you and have taught you
publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and
also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith, faith toward
our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I go bound in
the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall
befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every
city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. The only thing I know
about my trip to Jerusalem is that it's not gonna be fun. It's
gonna be bad. Bonds, I'm gonna be arrested,
I'm gonna be opposed, I'm gonna be defied, I'm gonna be hated.
Bonds and afflictions. But look at verse 24, but none
of these things move me. That's what our text is talking
about. None of these things move me. That's not achievable in
the flesh. That's the strength of the Lord.
When you're serving him, when you're doing it for him by his
grace, when you love him because he first loved you, and your
purpose, your goal in life is to honor and glorify his holy
name, he will give you the strength. I can do all things through Christ,
which strengtheneth me. But none of these things move
me, neither count I my life dear to myself. If they kill me, that's
all right, that's fine. so that I might finish my course
with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus
to testify the gospel of the grace of God. You see what was
on his heart? You see why nothing moved him? And now behold, I know, and we
could read, this is a beautiful, I had planned to go ahead and
readdress that because I just love it so much, but that's pretty
much what pertains to our text. The church of God, one of the
promises that he made to his church is that you will suffer.
You shall have trials and tribulations, but be of good cheer. I've overcome
the world. Be of good cheer. This church
has suffered some trials. In the very beginning, there
was a split, half the church quit. There've been financial
challenges over the years to say the least at times. There've been trials born by
the members of this church that I don't know anybody else has
ever faced trials like some of us have. There've been crushing losses. There've been conflicting personalities
and hard words spoken over the years, the likes of which have
caused better men than us to part ways forever. But the Lord,
here's what I want to be able to say by God's grace. This is
my prayer, not my boasting. This is my prayer. God, give
us grace to say with Paul, none of these things move me. And
for the same reason, the gospel. Christ, his glory. I believe
that's what's happened here. I believe that's what's happening
here. And I rejoice together with you for that. None of these
things move me, neither count out my life dear unto myself
so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which
I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the
grace of God. Not the gospel of what you need
to do to be saved. The gospel of God's free, electing,
sovereign, distinguishing grace. That's the key to all of this
now. Why are we exhorted to be men? What difference does it
make? Is there not a cause? Is there
not a cause? That him for which we live? Now, Why is it important for
us to be brave, to be bold, to be strong in the Lord? Because
everything that we stand for and believe and that matters
to us is utterly contrary to the whole world. The easy way to be, for example,
in your family, we talked about as the head of your household,
the easy way to be is to just go along and get along. How many
do that? To let your children just kind
of do whatever they want, leading and being an example, which is
the primary way to lead, takes guts. It takes effort. It takes stamina. It takes resilience. It takes self-discipline. It
takes determination. It takes restraint. Because it's not all just flash
in the pan and and emotions and hastiness. It takes relentless
love, is what it takes, relentless love. And to what end? To what end? In the family we're
talking about now. Here it is, Proverbs 22, six,
train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old,
he will not depart from it. What's the way that a child should
go? Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth. Listen
to Ephesians 6-4, and you fathers, provoke not your children to
wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the
Lord. This is a big part of that, but
it's got to go home with you, doesn't it? Can't just be here,
it can't be two dads. Colossians 3.21, fathers, provoke
not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Do you know
how easy it is just to fly off the handle? That's not hard to
do. What's hard is not to do that. As I say these things, like images
are just going through, that's a weird thing to say, but you
know what I'm saying, memories. I can think of examples, good
and bad, on both sides of this. And I suspect you can too. As
husbands, as husbands, the easy thing to do is to be disrespectful
of your wife. We see that all the time in this
world. That's easy to do that, to neglect her, to speak ill
of her, That just comes naturally, doesn't it? That comes naturally. When you live with someone for
a decade or three, you learn all of their faults. If they
have any, you're gonna learn them. And you combine that with
the fact that our favorite thing to do as sinners is to find fault
with others. God and everybody else. Because
it's all about us. You also learn a lot of wonderful
things when you live with somebody that long. But what is it that
we always gravitate towards in our mind and heart? Finding fault,
quit yourselves like men. It's easy to do those things. Husbands, love your wives and
be not bitter against them. Colossians 3.19. Why would he
warn us against that? Because that's what happens.
That's what this world is like. What passes for love in this
world is just years and years of bickering and arguing and
fussing and fighting and trying to see who's more of a God than
the other one. That's why the scriptures address
these things. That's why we have this exhortation,
quit yourselves like men. Why? Is it just a domestic issue?
No, husband loves your wife, even as Christ also loved the
church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present
it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but that it should be Holy and without blemish,
so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that
loveth his wife loveth himself, for no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord
the church. For we're members of his body,
of his flesh, of his bones. This has a lot more to do with
Christ than it does to do with you. But the exhortation is to
you and me. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. You could say for this cause
refers back to loving her. You could also say that for this
cause refers back to glorifying Christ in it. That's why there's
such a thing as marriage. God's the one that ordained marriage. When he said what what God hath
joined together let not man put asunder There's a lot of ways
to put that asunder and it's all an abomination This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ in the church Nevertheless let every
one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself and
the wife see that she reverence and her husband. There's not
a word in there about being domineering or giving orders or being proud, flexing your muscles. In the world, that's the home
now. In the world, the easy thing
to do is to become just another dog in the dog-eat-dog circus
of horror that this world is. It's easy in the arena of gain
and prosperity and greed to be selfish and forget God. That's
easy. That just comes naturally to
us. We get immersed in it. It's all, you know, it's dog
eat dog. It's how much, you know, I can't
get all I can and can't all I get. What's not easy, what requires
strength and bravery is this, Colossians 3.22, servants, Obey
in all things your masters according to the flesh. Not with eye service,
not when they're looking, not when it gets noticed as men pleasers,
but in singleness of heart, fearing God. I mean, you can divide things
into secular and religious all you want to, but it's all the
same thing in God's kingdom. To be who you're supposed to
be in this world has to do with fearing God, not man, not wanting
to be prosperous in this world. It has to do with the fear of
God. And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and
not unto men. There is no secular in God's
kingdom. There just isn't. Knowing that of the Lord you
shall receive the reward of the inheritance. Don't do what you
do to make money in this world. Do what you do to receive what
you get from the Lord. The reward is from him. If your
reward in this world is gain and prosperity, you're not even
in the kingdom of God. It's just not that way in his
kingdom. What we seek is His favor, His blessing. And monetary
has little to do with that. It can have a part in it. It
doesn't have to. And to be equated with that is
foolishness. Heartily as to the Lord, knowing
that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance
for you serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall
receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there's no respect
to persons. And wrong is doing it very clearly outlined there,
is to do what you do unto men, to please men, to gain favor
with men, and not God. All right, so we've talked about
the family, we've talked about the world, as men in the church
of our Lord. We see what comes naturally too
often, don't we? We see what comes easy. To be
strong and brave is not what we normally see. What comes easy,
it doesn't take any guts at all or any heart, is criticizing
and second guessing and arguing and division. Displays of pride
rather than submission to God's authority and choosing the Lord's
glory over our personal vendettas, our personal feelings, our sense
of what's fair and right for us, the defending of our own
petty interests. We would do damage to the church
of God in order for our feelings not to be hurt or our own personal
interests not to be violated. That's what comes easy for us.
It takes a man. It takes guts. It takes heart. It takes determination. All the
things that we've said, it takes the grace of God on the inside to overcome that. Turn with me
to Colossians 3.12. This is talking about in the
church. And we'll be through. I just
have one or two more thoughts here. Colossians 3.12. I say
that because it's encouraging. When somebody tells me I'm almost
done, I'm like, oh, okay, I can listen for a little while longer.
Especially when I'm tired, it makes it easier. Colossians 3.12,
let's look at it together. Put on therefore as the elect
of God. As the elect of God. Now think
about that right there. On what footing does that put
us? It's a footing of everything
we are, have, are able to do, is all according to the free
grace of God. As somebody that God picked out,
even though you were one of the slimmiest worms in the gutter. On that footing. Put on holy
and beloved, because God has made us so. Bowels of mercies,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness. You see how that's
stressed over and over? You know why? Because we're proud
idiots, that's why. We tend to read the scriptures and
just say, I agree with that, I agree with that, I agree with
that. Be ye doers of the word. That's what I'm preaching to
myself tonight. And to you too, let's be doers
of this kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering. How quick we are to strike out,
forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have
a quarrel against any, forgive, forbear, long-suffering. Even
as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Do you remember the definition
of the word follow? I think we were in, One of the
letters of John, we saw that word follow, following the Lord,
following the Lord. What is it to follow the Lord?
That word follow means to be an imitator. The way Christ forgave you, imitate
that. Elect of God, chosen freely,
even though you're depraved as the worst horrible wretch in
this world and worse. And above all these things, put
on love, which is the bond of perfectness.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also
you're called in one body. And you see where we are, we're
in the church, when he's talking about the church here, in one
body. And be you thankful. Instead
of critical and complaining, be thankful. Let the Word of
Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. The Word. It's got to dwell in you. That's
what the Lord does for His people. He said, I'll put my law in their
hearts. That's part of the covenant.
Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom,
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace, in your hearts to the
Lord, and listen to the echo of what we read a while ago.
Whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the
Lord Jesus. Giving thanks to God and the
Father by Him. You see what this is? This is
not just telling men to suck it up, as far as worldly things. It is saying that, but there's
a different reason for it. than most people will ever know. One final thought about what
it is to act like a man, and this kind of has to do with all
of what we've said, so this is important. From Proverbs 16, 32, listen
to it. He that is slow to anger is better
than the mighty. What does it look like to be
strong? Well, you could see somebody
that leads an army and conquers cities and say, well, that's
a real man there. There's bigger men than that. It's the man who's going to honor
the Lord. No matter what. By God's grace. He's going to he's going to control
his own His own temper, his own emotions. By the grace of God,
he's gonna overcome. He's not gonna do that, which
is easy. It comes naturally to us. And he that ruleth his spirit is better than he that taketh
the city. Doesn't that define everything
we've said? It's not flexing your muscles and saying boastful
things and putting on a display of the flesh.
It happens in here. I want to read that again to
get it in my mind. He that is slow to anger is better
than the mighty. We're trying to find out what
it means to be strong in the Lord, to be a man by God's definition. And we admire heroes in this
world that are able to accomplish great things like conquering
a city and put on displays of might. But the Lord's definition is
something beyond that. It's an internal grace that he
gives. It's not manifested in outward
displays of bravado and domineering pride. Strength and bravery are
a gift of the heart given by the Lord God. And he gives that. This is key. Gives that as we've
seen in all these scriptures for his glory not ours Let's
pray