TPW #13 | Biblical Manhood - Part 2

The Danger of Heresy and the Call to Spiritual Warfare

Paul warns that evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving one another and being deceived. The reason Paul told Timothy that was because he needed to be ready to spend the balance of his life in uninterrupted warfare for the truth.

The most dangerous people alive today are always, always, always ordained ministers. They're the most dangerous people in the world, especially the ones that people think are Christians, who will sell you theological poison to the damnation of your soul.

Folks, I just want to warn you about something. Every heretic in the entire history of the church, without exception, has taught their heresy in the name of being faithful to Scripture. What happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross?

That was the day of wrath. That was the day of judgment. That is the day of final salvation. Brought back in time and applied to us once for all at the moment of our effectual calling when we repent and believe in our unity to Christ.

Prayer, Scripture Readings, and the Four Texts for the Sermon

Welcome to the Protestant Witness. This is Pastor Patrick Hines of Bridwell Heights Presbyterian Church in Kingsport, Tennessee, and today is part two of the biblical manhood series, and I hope you enjoy it.

Let's pray for the Lord to bless us with the right understanding of his word this morning, please. Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you again now to ask in the name of Christ that the words we read from your Scriptures would sink into our hearts, that we would receive them with faith and love, that we would lay them up in our hearts, and that we would practice them in our lives.

We ask in Christ's name. Amen. If you'll turn in your Bibles to 2 Peter chapter 3,.

There are four.

Short texts of Scripture for this morning's sermon, 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 18, which is the very last verse of 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 18. This is God's word. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to him be the glory both now and forever.

Amen. If you turn over to Hebrews chapter 13, to the left there a little bit there in your Bible, Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17. Hebrews 13 verse 17. Hebrews 13, 17, this is God's word. Obey those who rule over you and be submissive for they watch out for your souls as those who must give account.

Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. And now if you'll turn over to the left to Proverbs chapter 6. Proverbs chapter 6 verses 16 through 19. Proverbs 6, 16 through 19.

Proverbs 6, 16 through 19. This is God's word. These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to him. A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift and running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren.

And then one last passage, 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 6 through 9. 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 6 through 9. 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 6 through 9. This is God's word. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been greed by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love, though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

May God bless the reading of his infallible word. Anytime we look at what human beings, men or women, ought to be, we are looking at the law of God. We're looking at the demands of God upon us. And anytime we do this, we will see sin.

Anytime we look at what Scripture requires us to be and do, we will be seeing our sin. And the portrait of biblical manhood that is given to us in the Word of God is a haunting reminder to all men everywhere of just how desperately they need the Lord Jesus to save them from their sins.

At least it's a reminder of that to me. There is not a man on earth who reflects perfectly what these many passages demand of us, but they are nevertheless the goal of every man. Our aim should be nothing short of these things.

And with the help of God's spirit within us and the gospel of Christ in our sails pushing us forward, we will take the beginning steps of obedience toward God. But even those beginning steps of obedience to all of these things, we will always continue to fall short of God's standard.

Let us always remember that no matter how much progress we make in our Christian lives, no matter how faithful we might be in fulfilling our covenantal duties as men, our need for Jesus is always the same.

Jesus alone met the requirements of God's law. We don't and we never will. Jesus alone paid the debt that sinners owe to God for their many sins and he paid that full punishment for us. We cannot pay it.

In the great Heidelberg Catechism, one of the other great Reformed confessional documents, question 114 asks, after its exposition of the Ten Commandments, ask the question, but can those converted to God obey these commandments perfectly?

Answer, no. In this life, even the holiest have only a small beginning of disobedience. Nevertheless, with all seriousness of purpose, they do begin to live according to all, not only some, of God's commandments.

And then the next question asks, well, since no one in this life can obey the Ten Commandments perfectly, why does God want them preached so pointedly? Answer, first, so that the longer we live, the more we may come to know our sinfulness and the more eagerly look to Christ for forgiveness of sins and righteousness.

Second, so that we may never stop striving and never stop praying to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit to be renewed more and more after God's image, until after this life, we reach our goal, perfection.

So why do we look at the law of God? Why does God want us, even though He knows we can never obey it perfectly, He wants us to be in constant study of it, so we would always know how much we need Christ, but that so we would also strive to be what God wants us to be, so that we would know His will and do the things that are pleasing to Him.

And therefore, while perfection is every Christian's goal in this life, perfection is no Christian's expectation this side of glory. And guys, if you ever think you've gotten there, I'm just going to talk to your wife.

And yet the desire and the longing to be better because of our gratitude and love to Christ will always be pushing us to greater levels of faithfulness. And when we fail, our hearts will break and the Spirit will convict us in order to lead us forward in our pursuit of holiness.

The Apostle Paul understood that so very well. He knew perfection was off the table. It's just not possible for us. And he gave us this extremely encouraging passage. I put it in your thoughts for Sabbath meditation.

Philippians 3, 12 to 14. Just listen to this text. Paul said not that I have already attained or I'm already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things that are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

So friends, brothers and sisters, these sermons on manhood and the ones coming up on womanhood, it's going to leave us all in powder on the floor. I understand that. That's what the law of God is supposed to do.

It's supposed to convict us of our sin and show us, boy, we sure do need a Savior. Nevertheless, be encouraged that with the help of God's grace, we can take steps in the right direction and we can be better than we are.

And I would encourage you as well, let the past be the past. It cannot be changed. Paul says forget those things that are behind you and press forward. Like the Apostle Paul says, forget the things that are behind and reach forward to the prize.

God is worthy of our very best regardless of your past, regardless of your failures. And while our pursuit of holiness with all of its ups and downs will serve as a constant reminder of our absolute dependence upon the cross and righteousness of Christ, that pursuit of holiness will always be in the heart and mind of every true believer.

There's no such thing as a Christian that doesn't want to be holy. Every Christian desires that. And if you don't desire it, you're not a Christian. Every Christian wants to be more like Christ. Every Christian has a hunger for the things of God and to do what is righteous.

And in fact, I would point out as well, it is only the person who understands the free grace of God in Christ who will actually be able to pursue righteousness. Why? Because that person seeks holiness out of love for God, not out of a self-centered desire to save himself.

You think God can't smell that a mile away? He can. People who do their good deeds and pursue holiness for themselves, God knows that. So the Christian knows Christ has saved me. What motivates my desire for holiness is gratitude, not selfishness, gratitude.

A Man of Knowledge and Faith

Last week we saw in part one of this manhood series, we saw that the biblical man will be a man who guards, who watches, who always has his guard up. Secondly, he stands fast in the faith. Thirdly, he acts like a man.

He is courageous. That's what that verb means. He's courageous and he's strong in the way he does all these things. There is a resolve there. Okay, he doesn't see a battle and then melt into a puddle on the floor.

He fights. He's strong. He stands his ground. He watches. He stands fast. He acts like a man. He's courageous. He's strong. The applications of these commandments are innumerable and we looked at many of them last week.

And this week we're going to look at each one of those four passages. The biblical man is first in this morning's message, a man of knowledge and faith. Secondly, he's a churchman. Thirdly, he's a man of integrity.

Fourthly, he is a Christ-prizer. So let's look at that first passage. If you want to turn back in your Bible there to 2 Peter 3 .18. If you'd like to look at that again, I'm gonna read it to you. 2 Peter 3 .18, the very last verse of that great epistle. Says, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to Him be glory both now and forever.

Amen. Just a couple other passages on this idea of knowledge. A biblical man's a man of knowledge. He knows God. He knows the truth. He knows the scripture. He grows in the grace and knowledge of Christ.

Proverbs 14 .18 says, the simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge. Psalm 119 .93, I will never forget your precepts for by them you have given me life. Why does he not forget them?

Because he knows them. He's a man of knowledge. Job 19 .25 said, I know my Redeemer lives and he shall stand at last on the earth. Job knows that. 2 Corinthians 10 .4 and 5, Paul said, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

The biblical man has a knowledge of God. He knows who God is. He knows who Christ is. And the biblical man is growing in that knowledge. What does 2 Corinthians 10 .5 mean when it says anything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God?

When the scriptures tell us to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, when it says that the prudent man is crowned with knowledge, what does it mean? I will never forget your precepts.

It is speaking of a knowledge of the doctrines of scripture. The biblical man knows what the Bible says and teaches, especially the doctrines of salvation, how sinners are justified, how they are sanctified and made right with God, who God is, who Christ is.

The biblical man takes that imperative, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and he practices that. A year from now, he will know far more about the Bible and its teachings than he did a year ago.

A month from now, he will know more about Christ than he did a month ago. He doesn't stagnate. He is a man who grows in knowledge. And the biblical man, please hear me, this is very important in the sentimentalistic, anti-intellectual age that you live in, the biblical man does not make a separation between head knowledge and heart knowledge.

In the anti-intellectual age in which we live, you will often hear people make this distinction. You'll hear people say things like, I don't need to know all this doctrine. I just want to love Jesus.

I just want to love Jesus and be a moral person. But the biblical man knows that it is the doctrines of scripture which underlie his love for Jesus and his desire to do what is right. You cannot separate the heart and the mind.

The biblical man knows that his heart can only rejoice in the truths that his mind knows. Your heart can't rejoice in what you don't know. It's what we know about God that makes us rejoice in who he is.

And that's why the biblical man is devoted to the study and memorization of the Bible. The heart cannot rejoice in something the mind does not know. That's an illustration of this. When a man of God who is single finds the godly woman that he wants to marry, he becomes a student of that woman.

He studies her and he figures her out and he behaves in such a way as to win that woman's trust and affections. In other words, it is the doctrines that are true of her. The truths about who she is that he takes to heart and rejoices in.

And only insofar as he really knows her will he really love her. It is exactly the same with Christ. We only love Jesus insofar as we know him, as we know about him, and we know what he did and who he is.

We only love our dearest friends insofar as we know who they are. It's the attributes of our friends, the things that we know to be true of their character that cause us to have that affection for them.

To love Jesus is to know all about him. The next sub point under a man of knowledge and faith. The biblical man is a man whose hatred for God has been melted away by the effectual call of God's spirit and whose heart of stone has been replaced by a teachable heart of flesh.

And this new heart is characterized by a hunger and a desire to know God, to know Christ, and to know what pleases him. And therefore the biblical man is a man of knowledge. Part of the way that God changes the heart of stone is he gives the man a desire to know him.

He gives that man a desire to know Christ. He loves the things of God. He loves to study theology, the scripture. He wants to know more about who this is that redeemed him and changed him. And he humbly accepts whatever God has revealed in his word to be true.

And there is an insatiable desire to know that word, to know God's law, and to see it obeyed in his life and in the lives of others. And to know Christ as his only hope of salvation and as his only Lord and master.

The biblical man also has a great zeal to do as 2 Corinthians 10, 4, and 5 says, to cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to obedience to Christ.

At the heart of the biblical man will burn. His heart will burn when he hears the name of Christ blasphemed or misrepresented. When he hears sin exalted in the name of Christ, there will be indignation in his heart.

When he hears falsehood preached in the name of Christ, his heart will burn. He will want to cast down arguments and to destroy everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And he doesn't care if the surrounding culture calls him a bigot because he speaks up and speaks out about such things.

He doesn't care about things like that because he wants to do what pleases God, his creator, his savior, his redeemer. He expects to be persecuted. Of course, those whose first love is the world, those whose first love is their sin and themselves, they're not going to like what the man of God has to say.

And of course, they're going to call him judgmental just as the men of Sodom called Lot judgmental 3 ,500 years ago. You remember that? When the men of Lot came out lusting after the men that were being housed in Lot's house there and Lot comes outside and says, please don't do so wickedly.

And the men of Sodom said in response, this one came in here to stay and he keeps acting like a judge. Men of God have always been told, you're judgmental. When you try to cast down arguments that are exalted against the knowledge of God, you're going to be called judgmental.

Get used to it. It's been going on forever. But the biblical man doesn't care about such things because what he wants more than anything is not the approval of men, but the approval of God. And he wants God's name to be vindicated and he can't handle, he can't stand to hear Jesus's name drug through the gutter.

The biblical man is not swayed by the fear of man, nor does he care about pleasing men. His desire is to please his creator and his redeemer. So my final application to you of point number one, a man of knowledge and faith is this.

The biblical man is a man of knowledge and faith. He has the knowledge of God. He has the knowledge of sin, grace, justification, sanctification, and how those two things differ from one another. He understands that.

He can explain it to someone. He is happy to get a great little book like Lewis Berkoff's Manual of Christian Doctrine and rummage through that book and look up every single passage that Berkoff cites in order to straighten out his thoughts about God and his ways with men.

It's amazing. We'll spend thousands of dollars to straighten out our crooked teeth and not lift a finger to straighten out our crooked thoughts about God. But the biblical man doesn't skip his daily Bible reading.

The biblical man will know more about God one month from now than and one day from now. The biblical man knows exactly what Jonathan Edwards was talking about when he wrote in his 70 resolutions. Resolution 28, Edwards wrote, quote, resolved to study the scriptures so steadily, constantly, and frequently as that I may find and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of them.

That's a great resolution. To study the Bible so ferociously, so tenaciously, so fiercely that I will see, I will perceive in myself that I am growing in my knowledge of them every day of my life. Second point this morning, the biblical man is a churchman.

The Biblical Man as a Churchman

He is a churchman. Look at Hebrews 10 24 and 25, please. They're in your Bible. If you want to turn to the left there from 2nd Peter, Hebrews 10 24 and 25. Let's look at this again. Hebrews 10 24 and 25.

The biblical man is a churchman. Listen closely to the Word of God here. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching.

Okay, stop there. Biblically speaking, there is no such thing as a Christian that doesn't go to church. There's no such thing as a Christian that doesn't go to church. And this is becoming more and more challenging as the church in our country is becoming more and more corrupt.

Marketing, entertainment, personality cults have replaced faithfulness to the gospel and to the text of scripture, biblical worship, and biblical church governments with sessions of elders who oversee the church and diaconates that oversee the church's physical needs.

That's becoming more of an exception than the rule in our nation today. And sometimes we'll hear people say if only we could go back to the time of the Apostles and be a part of one of.

Those churches.

But the simple fact is there's never been a golden age. There's never been a golden age in the church. There were divisions in those early churches. Remember the opening chapter of 1st Corinthians? Paul says to the church at Corinth in 1st Corinthians 1, It has been declared to me concerning you my brethren by those of Chloe's household that there are divisions among you.

There's contentions among you. Now I say this that each of you says I am of Paul or I am of Apollos or I am of Cephas or I am of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

It seems that being a part of a church has always been hard. Even the churches the Apostles founded, it was difficult. There were divisions in them. Some said I follow this guy. Some said I follow that guy.

Church life has always been difficult. It's all it's never been for the faint of heart. Remember Paul's opening words to the churches of Galatia to an entire confederation of churches? He says I'm astonished that you're turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel.

There's doctrinal defections. There's divisions among people. There's infighting. There's immorality going on and sessions not disciplining it. That's always been part of church life. It's it's hard. It's difficult.

That's why that great hymn, my favorite hymn ever of all time, the church's one foundation has that stanza, Though with a scornful wonder men see her sore oppressed, by schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed.

Yet saints their watch are keeping, their cry goes up how long, and soon the night of weeping shall be the morn of song. You hear that? The church has always had a hard time. By schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed.

But that doesn't deter the biblical man from being part of one. He's not the guy that gets offended and then disappears for six months and you wonder where he went. He is a churchman. He loves that church.

He loves his local church. Those people are his people. They are his brothers and sisters, his family. The biblical man has a heart that breaks for the church of his Lord Jesus. He loves his local church.

He loves not the building, but the people there, the called out ones, the ecclesia, the church. It simply is not is not part of his thinking and forms no part of his life to ever consider abandoning other Christian people.

And when he hears people speak badly about true churches of Christ, his heart burns with indignation. The church is what Jesus has been building for 4 ,000 years on the earth. The church, the called out, the redeemed people of God with their children.

That's what Jesus came to bring into visible manifestation in the world. The church is the body of Christ on earth and to hate the church is to hate Jesus. The biblical man knows that. And when he sees the church fail, he doesn't unleash his venom.

No, he unleashes tears instead. His mindset is rather another scandal. It's not gonna happen on my watch. And then so far as it depends on me, church is gonna be better because I'm part of it. I'm not going to attach scandal to the precious name of my Savior.

And I hope God would kill me before he'd let me do it. I hope that's your mindset, men. This is why the membership vows of our church people promise, as you just heard, to live as becomes the followers of Christ.

To be a churchman, to be part of a local church is a glorious privilege that God gives us. And the biblical man knows there's no greater privilege than to be a member of a true church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And far be it from him to allow the precious and glorious name of Christ to be drug through the mud on his account. Listen to the love that Jesus had for his church, expressed in this passage in Ephesians 5.

Normally this is a great marriage text, and it is, but listen to the parallel that's made between Christ and the church. Ephesians 5, 23. For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body.

Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wife be to their own husbands and everything. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her. That he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.

That he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. I want to caution anyone here that ever wants to unleash venom at churches.

I'd be real careful what you say about Jesus' bride. Has it always been wracked with problems? Of course. But the solution is never abandonment. It's, if you think you know what a Christian is supposed to be, why don't you become part of a church and show everyone there what it's supposed to be like then.

Notice what the model is for the husband to follow. He is to love his wife how? As Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. Far be it from a man of God to spew venom at the bride of Christ. Far be it from a man of God to walk away from Jesus' church.

Far be it from a man of God to loathe the church of Christ. Jesus bled and died for the church. He has been building his church. He is sanctifying his church. Because Jesus' church is composed of redeemed sinners.

Of course it has warts. And it has been said by a wise person, if you do find a perfect church, please don't join it. Because as soon as you join it, you will ruin it. No one ought to expect the church to be perfect.

Just that it tries to be faithful to Christ and his word. That's all we can expect from it. And that it tries to uphold biblical righteousness among its membership. That other passage, Hebrews 13, 17.

Obey those who rule over you and be submissive. For they watch out for your souls as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief. For that would be unprofitable for you. And I would tell you, it's pretty hard to obey those who rule over you if no one rules over you.

If you're not part of a church, then you don't have anybody that rules over you. The biblical man obeys those who rule over him. They're not combative, smug, or arrogant towards them. But submissive and teachable.

And they know that if they are combative, smug, or arrogant, that's unprofitable. That would be unprofitable for you and for us. And so the biblical man doesn't do that. So my conclusion to the second point, the biblical man being a churchman, is that he regards membership in his local church to be one of the greatest blessings that Christ has given him in his life.

And his love for that local church and his support for all that it does, his prayers during family worship for the success and faithfulness of his local church, demonstrate that the people for whom Jesus shed his blood mean as much to him as they meant to his Savior when he was hanging on the cross.

You know that? We're supposed to value each other in the same way that Jesus valued us. Point number three this morning, the biblical man is a man of integrity. He's a man of integrity. In Leviticus 19, the Word of God teaches us, You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.

And you shall not swear by my name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. In Psalm 34 13, the scripture tells us, Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

And as we read there in Proverbs chapter 6, These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to him. Notice that lying comes up twice in that list. Did you notice that? In verse 16, I'm sorry, verse 17, a lying tongue.

And then verse 19, a false witness who speaks lies. It seems that's especially problematic to the Lord. Another passage, Psalm 58 3, the wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they are born speaking lies.

And then one more, Proverbs 19 5, A false witness will not go unpunished and he who speaks lies will not escape. What do we gather from this? God hates lying. God hates lying. God hates a lying tongue.

It is, the Hebrew term is toevah. It is an abomination to him. Do you know that's the very same word used to describe homosexuality? And many other really sins that we would put on a higher level. Lying is an abomination.

It's toevah to God. He hates it. It is loathsome to him. The biblical man is a man of his word. And I'm going to set the bar as high as the scripture does. He always tells the truth. Even if telling the truth gets him in trouble, he tells the truth.

There are a few kinds of people in the world who are more despised than a liar.

What good is a liar?

You can't trust them when you talk to them. You cannot have them do work for you because they'll do deceptive work. No matter what they say, it's not believed. Do you remember the great Joseph? What was it that made Joseph so special?

Such a great man of God? Was that no matter what was entrusted to him, he could be trusted perfectly. And everyone that knew him knew that was true. Potiphar and Pharaoh trusted him with everything they had.

All their possessions, they willingly put him in charge of them. So great was their trust in him. Why could they do that? He was a man of impeccable integrity. He had never lied to them. He had never let them down.

He told the truth all the time. Remember Job? When his wife tells him, why do you still hold fast to your integrity? Why do you hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die. And Job will not let go of it.

He will not let go of his integrity. He will not let go of his God. The Bohemian reformer John Hus, when he was on trial at the Council of Constance in 1415, did you know that he was actually accused falsely of several heresies that he had never preached and that the council fathers there had bribed witnesses to falsely testify against him.

And all they wanted him to do was to recant of those heresies. But Hus knew he had never taught them. He knew that they could not prove that he had ever actually believed or taught any of those things.

And so he refused to recant of heresies he wasn't guilty of. And he was tied to a stake and burned for that. His integrity was more important to him than even his life. He died singing. Why does the biblical man never lie?

Why does he always tell the truth? Because his master Jesus is the very embodiment of truth. Jesus said, I am the truth. God is the God of truth. Let God be true though every man a liar. The biblical man also, please listen, the biblical man doesn't exaggerate either.

Because that's lying too. He doesn't embellish stories to make himself look like more of a hero either. Because that's lying too. What would be the point of having people believe falsehoods about us anyway?

Except to glorify ourselves? But you see the biblical man doesn't care about such things. He's not interested in glory. He's only interested in the glorification of his God. The biblical man is transparent.

He does not live a double life. He lives a truthful life. What you see is what you get with the biblical man. He isn't one thing at church and quite another at home. He is the same person wherever he is.

Why?

Because the only eyes that matter, God's. He's the same everywhere. And because that's what he cares about, he knows there's no point in being something here and something over there that are different, that are contrary to one another.

Because the only eyes that matter, God, see me no matter where I am. Whether I'm at church or at home. Whether I'm in public or in private. God is the same everywhere. Even though the people around us change.

Even when the biblical man sins. If he is caught and he's frightened, he doesn't panic and tell lies. He tells the truth. One of the first lessons children have to be taught is to tell the truth. And sadly, many are not taught that lesson.

And they stay liars into their adult years. And they lie all the way through life. And they're hated by everyone who knows them. Who wants to be friends with a liar? Who wants to open their heart to a liar?

Who even wants to be around a liar? Trust is the foundation of any relationship. And if we want our relationships to be godly, we have to be people of integrity. People have to know that our word is reliable.

They have to know that for the whole world, we would not tell a lie. Even to protect ourselves. God hates a lying tongue. One last reminder. Remember I quoted to you last week from Revelation 21 about the cowardly?

In Revelation 21 .8. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, sexually immoral sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire which burns the fire and brimstone.

The Biblical Man as a Christ-Prizer

Fourthly, and finally this morning, the biblical man is a Christ-prizer. Turn to 1 Peter 1 .6. 1 Peter 1 .6 -9. Here the word of God tells us,. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Okay, here's the key part. Whom, having not seen, you love. Though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Okay, stop there. The biblical man is a man who is brutally honest with himself and others. He is not one to justify or minimize his own sin. He calls a spade a spade in his life. He is honest about his besetting sins because he sees them and hates them with a holy passion.

He wants to be rid of them. And the fact is, he will never be rid of them until he owns them as they truly are. He doesn't use euphemisms to describe sin in his life. He just owns it and asserts it directly because he loves Christ.