We do return to a series that I've entitled Confronting the Culture, and we come specifically today to a third sermon on the nature of biblical manhood. Who does the Bible say that a man is? How is it that we can act like men, as 1 Corinthians 16 exhorts us, according to the infallible word of the God who has created us? And in answering that question, we have been working our way through nine marks of biblical manhood. In our first two sermons, we've gotten through four of those marks, and today we will cover the final five. But before jumping right back in, I'll spend just a few moments in brief review. That first mark of biblical manhood was, number one, that a biblical man is a leader. And we established that from several passages. Ephesians 5 23 says the husband is the head of the wife as Christ also is the head of the church. First Corinthians 11 3 says that Christ is the head of every man and the man is the head of a woman. The man's headship speaks of his leadership and we mentioned that the heart of that leadership is not license. but initiative-taking responsibility. Biblical leadership isn't so much the right to rule as much as it is a stewardship to lead in a way that honors God and benefits those you lead. There is nothing that is less manly than passively abdicating your leadership role and shirking responsibility. The second mark of biblical manhood was that he is not only a leader but a lover. He is one who loves and loves sacrificially. Husbands love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her. Leadership is loving. Headship is humble. Biblical loving leadership means laying down your life every day moment by moment sacrificing the fleshly comforts of idleness ease and recreation for the sake of benefiting those you love and are responsible to lead. Third, a biblical man is a provider. Just as Ephesians 5, 28 and 29 says that Christ does for the church, the biblical man's love for his wife is marked by nourishing and cherishing her, both of which terms speak of providing for the needs of others. And we saw how that applied both to physical and spiritual provision. Man is to work hard. because the primary responsibility for putting food on the table and a roof over the heads of a family falls to the husband. And he is to press hard after God so that he might also put spiritual food on the table, so to speak, so that the family may be sustained by the blessings of the word of God and the means of grace. He is to lead in personal worship, in family worship, in discipleship, and in the discipline of the children. Fourth, the biblical man is a protector. Adam is charged to protect the Garden of Eden from the very beginning of man's existence. And Christ, our example and pattern in Ephesians 5 says, Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, protecting us from the wrath of God that we so richly deserved by bearing it in himself. And in the same way, the biblical man protects those under his charge. And like the previous, he does so both physically and spiritually. If there is a physical threat of any kind, mature masculinity senses a natural, God-given responsibility to step forward and put himself in between that threat and the one he's protecting. And men are also spiritually watchful so that they can spy out spiritual dangers that threaten those that he's charged to lead and issue warnings and even perhaps intervene so that no spiritual harm comes to his loved ones. That is a very brief review, which should come with a reminder that the previous two sermons can be downloaded from our website. If you want more on any of that, feel free to go to thegracelifepulpit.com and find those sermons, both audio and transcription. But with that, we come to a fifth mark of biblical manhood, and that is number five, that a biblical man is strong. He is strong. We've spoken of 1 Corinthians 16, 13 early and often in this series, and rightly so. And that verse also provides ample support for this point. In a series of concluding exhortations to a Corinthian church riddled with problems and persecutions, Paul writes, be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. What does it mean to be a biblical man? What does the Bible say it means to act like men? Well, at the very least, it means to be strong. You say strong in what sense? Well, in several senses. When you look at the words themselves in 1 Corinthians 16, 13, it becomes obvious that Paul is drawing upon a familiar phraseology that was very common in the Old Testament, and particularly the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, which Paul quoted from often. The verb that the NAS translates, act like men, is andrizomai. It's got the word for man, andros, right there at the front. And then the ending is the way to turn a noun into a verb. So it means literally, be men. Or we might say more colloquially, man up. Act like men is a good translation. And then the word be strong is kratia amai. Literally be strengthened or become strong. And these two words show up in the Greek translation of the Old Testament in a couple of places. In 1 Samuel 4, 9, the Philistines had just routed Israel in battle, but they heard the shouts of the people of God rejoicing that the Ark of the Covenant had been returned to Israel, and so they feared the presence of the true God. And so to stir themselves up to battle with courage. They use these same words that Paul uses 1st Samuel 4 9 take courage and be men Oh Philistines or you will become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been slaves to you therefore be men and fight This is a battle cry. This is a call to war And then in 2 Samuel chapter 10, the armies of Israel are flanked by the Ammonites on the one side and the Arameans on the other side. And Joab, the commander of the armies of Israel, stirs them up with this same battle cry, 2 Samuel 10, 12, be strong. which interestingly is Andrizomai there. The word for be a man is translated, be strong. And then let us show ourselves courageous, Kratiaomai, for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God. The familiar refrain throughout the book of Joshua, be strong and courageous, is close to the phrase that we have in 1 Corinthians 16, 13. Uses the term in the Greek translation, Andrizomai, for be courageous. but then uses a synonym for kratia'amai, for be strong, it's isk'uo. So a different word, but carries essentially the same meaning. And in fact, the phrase andros isk'uros, the noun adjective forms of those verbs, andrizomai and isk'uo, is often translated valiant warrior in the Old Testament. valiant warrior. Paul is drawing upon a familiar phrase from his Bible to call the Corinthian church to display a kind of manly courage that one would have to display as he roused himself for hand-to-hand combat to the death And I think we can conclude from this that the strength Paul calls us to when he calls us to act like men is marked by both physical strength and courage. If these terms are used to describe valiant warriors, I don't think it's a stretch to say that biblical men are to be physically strong. God has designed men to be the ones employed in physical labor. And if necessary, even physical altercation under righteous circumstances. On average, men have denser bones, larger hearts, greater muscle mass than women do. They can run faster, lift heavier weights, and outperform women in combat situations. God has designed us as men to steward those natural gifts of creation and to keep our bodies healthy and strong so that we might be both the provider and the protector that God calls us to be. Strong enough to work hard to provide for our families and strong enough to protect them should they meet physical danger. Now I'm not saying that every real man has to lift weights and climb mountains and be a mixed martial artist. There are plenty of overgrown boys with chiseled bodies. But I am saying that part of the Bible's prescription for men to be strong is to steward the natural strength that God has given us as men by keeping ourselves physically fit. This means having the discipline to control our appetites, the discipline to eat well and to exercise, and to mortify patterns of indulgence and laziness. It means we keep ourselves strong to provide and protect those God has entrusted us to lead. Just another word about that, though biblical men ought to be physically strong, we ought not to be bullies. The sinful secular world has corrupted the good gift of strength. Physical strength in an unregenerate man is often perverted into an obnoxious, self-aggrandizing boastfulness, a cocky, condescending arrogance that takes advantage of those who are weak. But that is not manly. It's the opposite of manly. It's the loud weakness of little boys who have grown physically but not in character. Masculine strength is to be harnessed, exercised with self-control and proportionately in order to serve others for their benefit, not to subjugate others for our benefit. The truest, noblest strength is meekness, which is best defined as strength under control. And the greatest example of that, of course, is Jesus. As to his strength, he was almighty God incarnate. He healed diseases with a touch. He stilled the seas with a word. He subdued demons by his own command. He could call down legions of angels to destroy his earthly enemies, but he didn't. That strength was under his sovereign control. One writer put it this way, this all-powerful God-man dealt gently with his disciples who were but dust. He bore patiently with the faithless and twisted generation into which he was born. He graciously restored his followers who had abandoned him, not the least of whom were the likes of Peter and Thomas. He allowed himself to be arrested by thugs, farcically tried, mocked, and abused by those strong men around him. and hung on a cross before breathing his last rather than calling upon the legions of angels at his disposal." See the greatest man who ever lived, the man who was the epitome of strength was strong enough to keep his strength under control and to use it not as an abusive chauvinist but as a gentle and humble servant who would rather bear pain than inflict it upon others." And that point leads us to say that this strength we're called to is not just physical strength. The battle that Paul is calling the Corinthians to is, you know, to act like men and be strong for isn't a physical battle like it had been for Israel. It's a spiritual battle. And it calls for moral strength, the kind of courage and fortitude that, as the verse also says, stands firm in the face of danger, that refuses to fold at the threats of persecution, that will not compromise faithfulness because of what it costs. We see a great illustration of this principle of moral strength in 1 Kings 2. You can turn back there if you want. 1 Kings 2 starting in verse 1, David is commissioning or he's charging Solomon as David readies to die and Solomon gets ready to take the throne. 1 Kings 2 says, as David's time to die drew near, he charged Solomon his son saying, I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man." Familiar language to us by now. But what does this manly strength entail in the dying David's mind? Verse 3, keep the charge of Yahweh your God to walk in His ways. To keep his statutes his commandments his ordinances and his testimonies according to what is written in the law of Moses that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn so that Yahweh may carry out his promise which he spoke concerning me. The truest biblical strength is the strength to obey. To walk in accordance with God's commands. It involves the courage to renounce the world. It involves the fortitude to resist the devil and the resolve to mortify the flesh. A man is never weaker than when he rejects the commandment of God and yields to the power of sin. The strongest man in the room is the most Christlike man in the room. and just two quick words of application of this moral strength. The first, one that I've mentioned in both of the previous sermons, is that strong men don't run from conflict. They don't relish conflict, they don't seek it out or instigate conflict, but they don't flee from it. In fact, they run to it, as I've said, in the way that a firefighter runs toward a burning building. The way that a police officer runs toward the sound of gunfire while everyone else is running in the opposite direction. Not because they love getting shot at. Oh good, a firefight. No, because they know that it falls to them to neutralize the threat. While everyone else may flee from unresolved conflict. You know, I really don't like the way he treated me. I think I'll change fellowship groups. While everyone else may flee from unresolved conflict the biblical man is strong enough to run to the conflict in order to resolve it biblically. Hey, I know that there's something between us. I'd love to be able to just let it go, but I think that the Word of God calls us to hash this out. Can we sit and deal with this so that we can walk together as brothers, so that we can overcome the conflict and move forward happily reconciled the way that God intends family members in the household of God to be? That's manly. Second, strong men receive correction well. So moral strength, they don't avoid conflict. Two, they receive correction well. They're strong enough not to let their ego get in the way of their sanctification. They're not discouraged or debilitated by criticism or correction, even if it's not offered in the perfect way. Strong men welcome correction because it's their greatest desire to be pleasing to the Lord in all things. And they know that they don't always see for themselves how they fail at that. And so they rejoice when the Lord uses another brother or sister to expose sin in their lives. Because now they can go to work on that. They can get rid of that. Strong men understand Proverbs 12 one, whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid. In Proverbs 15, 32, he who neglects discipline despises himself, but he who listens to reproof acquires understanding. And so, so far from being offended by criticism so that he either wallows in self-pity or lashes out in anger, the strong man invites correction. He says with David in Psalm 141, 5, let the righteous smite me in kindness. and reprove me. It is oil upon the head. Do not let my head refuse it. The righteous reproof of the saints is like anointing oil that refreshes the head. That's the way a strong man talks. No, don't hit me with the correction. No, hit me with it because it's like oil. It strengthens me. It refreshes me. I need to be better. I need to grow. I need to repent where I don't see where I need to repent. Well, we must move on to a sixth mark of biblical manhood. A biblical man is not only strong physically and morally, he is, number six, sensible. He is sensible. And we see this with special emphasis in Titus chapter two. We'll be there for a good portion of the rest of the sermon, so you can turn to Titus chapter two. Paul's letter to Titus, as you know, gives the apostles directions to the young pastor to set in order what remains in the establishment of the church on the island of Crete. And after setting out the qualifications of an elder in chapter one, Paul exhorts Titus in chapter two, verse one, but as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. So you're concerned about sound doctrine. Okay, what are the implications of sound doctrine? Here it comes. Right after this, we get instructions for the various demographics of the church. Older men, older women, young men or young women first, and then young men, and then even slaves. And in the exhortations to both older men and young men, Paul says they are to be sensible. Verse two, older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible. And then again in verse six, likewise urge the young men to be sensible. The term is sofraneo. It means to be of sound mind. It's translated that way in 2 Corinthians 5, 13. to be of sound mind. Romans 12 three translates it to think so as to have sound judgment. It speaks of a strength of mind that is able to exercise discretion and discernment. And recognizing that there are many applications of that, I think a main implication is that a man is to be a thinking person. He is a reasonable person. He has a sense of himself and a sense of what's going on around him. He's dialed in. He's not aloof. He's not driven along by the wind and the waves of his circumstances. but his discretion allows him to be discerning of what's going on around him and to then make principled decisions that may go against the grain of the circumstances that are blowing this way or that way. And that needs to be said, that a man is a thinking person because of how so totally opposite that is to the image of manhood that's portrayed in our culture. The media often portray men as checked out, helpless and hapless, grunts who go to work to earn a living, if you're lucky, and then come home only to be overwhelmed by the demands of their families. Ray Romano's character in Everybody Loves Raymond is a good example of that, right? He's funny and goofy, but really all he cares about is sports and food and time with the guys and a merely physical relationship with his wife. Years ago, Bill Cosby put his finger on this popular view of men when he said in one of his standup routines, you know, fathers always say the same thing. Where's your mother? Right, because they don't know what's going on. He joked about how the father doesn't know where anything is in the house and how if you ask him to do something, he intentionally messes it up so that no one will realize that he's useless, so that everyone will realize, rather, that he's useless and won't bother him with things to do anymore. So he can just be left alone to do what he feels like. That is the opposite of what it means to be sensible. The sensible man is a thinking man who has a sense of himself and what's going on around him so that he's able to lead well. But another connotation of sofraneo is to be self-controlled, to be self-controlled. The term speaks of self-mastery. This is someone who has learned how to control his instincts and passions. A biblical man is not driven by his emotions. He is not impetuous and reckless, running headlong in one direction one day and then reversing course and going 90 miles an hour in the other direction the next day. He doesn't fly by the seat of his pants. He's a planner. He sets biblical goals and he takes the time to plot out how to achieve those goals in a way that brings maximizing efficiency and most glory to God. And then he sticks to that plan. And in a way, and in that way he brings stability into his own life and the lives of those he's responsible to lead. There is nothing worse than trying to follow someone who's moving in 15 different directions. depending on the day. But a sensible man has a steadying influence on those he leads. They know where they're going because he knows where he's going. That self-control also extends to controlling one's anger. A biblical man does not fly off the handle. He's not easily provoked. He heeds James' admonition in James 1.19 that everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, knowing that the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. He lives out the truth of Proverbs 16.32, which says, he who is slow to anger is better than the mighty. and he who rules his spirit better than he who captures a city." See, the sensible man rules his spirit. He's not ruled by his spirit. He mortifies rage and anger and brawling, Ephesians 4.31. He puts to death those outbursts of anger, which Paul includes in the list of the deeds of the flesh in Galatians 5.20. The biblical man controls his temper and so you don't hear him say the words, well she just made me so angry that I just couldn't. No, it's juvenile weakness that surrenders control of one's temper to others in such a way that you're driven to sin by your anger. A man is sensible. He's of sound mind, he rules his spirit and he acts in accordance with sound judgment. That same self-control also extends to a man's purity, to controlling one's lusts. I'm not sure there's a greater ruiner of men than lust. Jesus said in Matthew 622, the eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, the whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness. And if you yield yourself to the lust of the eyes, giving unrestrained free reign to your lusts, to indulging your lusts, Titus 1 15 says, your mind and your conscience are defiled. You become a lecher. You become one who is incapable of seeing women as sisters to be served. And you see them only as objects to be used. The world tells you that it's manly to ogle women, to give full vent to your lusts. certain women without respect for themselves are flattered by such things and they lust after being lusted after and so they make it easy for you to so disgrace yourself. But the world's way is hell's way and it leads only to death and Proverbs 7 says the lustful man follows the adulterous until an arrow pierces through his liver. What vivid choice of words. Until an arrow pierces through his liver as a bird hastens to the snare so he does not know that it will cost him his life. Her feet go down to Sheol. The sensible man doesn't hasten to a snare. He flees youthful lusts and pursues righteousness, faith, and love and peace because he knows that this is the will of God for him. 1 Thessalonians 4.3, for this is the will of God, your sanctification. That is, that you abstain from sexual immorality. That each of you know how to possess his own vessel, that is his own body, in sanctification and honor. Not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God. And that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter. 1st S4 7, for God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but for sanctification. See the world lies to us and says real men sleep with loads of women, real men are admired by many women, real men have the affection of many women. Paul says real men are sensible. They have developed a level of self-mastery and self-control over their passions, that they possess their bodies in sanctification and honor, that they don't defraud one another by taking advantage of their sisters. They think so as to have sound judgment. And so men be reasonable if the thought of lust is, that's a satisfying vision. But the sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom of God, 1 Corinthians 6. And if the pure in heart shall see God, which is the most satisfying vision anybody could ever behold, Matthew 5, 8. The only sensible thing to do is to discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. And so a sensible man controls himself, he controls his anger, controls his passions, controls his lusts. A seventh mark of biblical manhood may also be drawn here from Titus chapter two, and that is number seven, a biblical man is dignified. He is dignified. Once again, we see Paul command Titus to exhort both older men and younger men to cultivate this grace. Titus 2.2, older men are to be temperate, dignified. And Titus 2.7, in all things, show yourself to be an example of good deeds with purity and doctrine, dignified. The word is semnas, or semnates, used only a handful of times in the New Testament, and all but one of them in the pastoral epistles, 1st, 2nd Timothy, and Titus. In 1st Timothy 2.2, Paul instructs us to pray for our leaders, like in the government, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. In the list of elder qualifications in 1 Timothy 3-4, Paul says that an elder must keep his children under control with all dignity. He makes it a qualification for deacons as well. 1 Timothy 3, 8, deacons likewise must be men of dignity. And then in verse 11, women must likewise be dignified. The word literally means seriousness in the sense of being worthy of respect. One commentator says the term denotes a high moral tone and serious manner. And in fact, the King James Version translates this word as gravity, grave. To be dignified is to have an appropriate sense of gravity or weightiness about you. To be a respectable person, one who lives a life that inspires respect. That's important to say what being dignified does not mean, because there are several ways to misunderstand this. We don't hear the word very often, and when we do, it can give the impression of someone who's haughty and condescending, right? Someone who looks down their noses at the undignified, low-class people. You know, when you say it, you almost pronounce the word like Sean Connery, right? Well, the man of God must be dignified. But that's not it. Neither does the connotation of seriousness or gravity mean someone who always has a dour expression on his face, his brow always furled, and his lips always pursed. It's not talking about being joyless or morose, someone who never smiles or laughs at anything. The dignified man is not that famous and inaccurate caricature of the Puritans, which people have said is the Puritans are like someone possessed by the haunting fear that someone somewhere may be happy. That is not it at all. The dignified man is happy. He is joyful in the Lord. He enjoys life as a sweet gift of God. He is marked by a grave gladness. I think that hits the bullseye, a grave gladness. The dignified man is glad because Christ has made him glad, because his sins are forgiven, because his conscience is cleansed, because heaven is certain, because communion with Christ is sweet. But he's grave. He's grave in his gladness. He's not goofy. He's not flippant. He's not frivolous. He's not trivial. What's the opposite of gravity? It's levity. Undignified, immature men are marked by perpetual levity. Everything is always a joke. They can never let things get too heavy without injecting some sort of humor to lighten the mood. Can't get too serious, gotta keep it light. Don't harsh my mellow, bro. I'm telling you, there are some grown men who just refuse to be serious about much of anything. They're just goofy. You couldn't take them seriously if you wanted to because of the way that they carry themselves. But someone who's constantly joking, constantly trying to keep things light, hardly ever willing to have a serious conversation, that's not a mature man who's able to lead and love and provide for and protect others. That's a little boy who refuses to be exercised by things that matter. The dignified man is affected by the realities of heaven and hell. He feels as if he is in the presence of heaven before the face of the omniscient God who searches the heart. And he feels as it were the flames of hell nipping at his feet, reminding him that souls are perishing every day and that as a preacher of the gospel, he traffics in matters of life and death. The dignified man is awed by the glory of God. In fact, the Hebrew word for glory is kavod, which actually means heaviness, weightiness. There is nothing about God that encourages us to levity. Levity is the enemy of all worship because worship is a response to the glory, to the weightiness, to the gravity of God's character. When you meditate on the things of God, the Word of God, when you go before the Lord in prayer and seek to do battle with your own sin, you can't keep it light. Because those are heavy, weighty realities. And the godly man is constantly ruminating on the Word of God. He's praying at all times, the scripture says, without ceasing. He knows his transgressions and his sin is ever before him. Psalm 51 4, you can't live life in the presence of God and be a man of perpetual levity. And again, I'm not saying you can never laugh or have fun or not in the least. But the dignified man doesn't find himself entertained by the sins that drove Christ to the cross. He doesn't make jokes about sin. and he doesn't sin in order to make jokes. He doesn't make light of vulgarity. One pastor writes that the dignified man doesn't laugh at what is tragic and he doesn't laugh at the expense of others. He doesn't laugh at the expense of others, that is spot on. Boys do that, middle schoolers do that, men don't. The dignified man also doesn't seek to draw attention to himself. but does everything he can to point attention to Christ. There is a real sense in which the dignified man aims to be unremarkable. He doesn't stand out because of his boorishness or his unfaithfulness to his commitments or his thirst for attention. And that extends even to his physical appearance. He doesn't present himself as odd or exceptional. He dresses appropriately for the occasion. He doesn't want his hair or his beard or his clothing or whatever it is to be what leaves an impression on people. He wants his godliness, his patience, his graciousness, his edifying speech to be what leaves an impression. He's the kind of person that when you're with him, you leave thinking less about him and more about the Christ into whose image he is being transformed. To sum it up, our friend Pastor Chris Mueller defines this dignity as a blend of humility, courtesy, seriousness, and respectfulness. Humility, courtesy, seriousness, and respectfulness. And again, so much more could be said about that, but we need to move on to an eighth mark of biblical manhood, number eight. A biblical man is sound in doctrine. Sound in doctrine. And here again we have the same exhortation for both older men and younger men in Titus 2. Verse 2, older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, which is to say to be sound in the faith in that body of doctrine that was once for all delivered to the saints. And then to the young men in Titus 2.7, show yourself to be an example of good deeds with purity in doctrine. And again, at the beginning of chapter two, Paul introduces all of this instruction with a command to Titus, but as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. And we mentioned this when we spoke of man's duty to be a spiritual protector. There is no mistaking this, men must know theology. In a real sense, we can say that theology is life. Because theology is the study of what? Theos, God. And as Jesus said in John 17 3, eternal life is what? To know God and to know Jesus Christ whom he has sent. So men, there is nothing more important in the world than the truth. And we who have turned from our sins and put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, we who claim to be disciples of the one who said, I am the truth, ought to be eager to devote all our energy to searching out the divine mind as he has revealed truth to us in the scriptures. It used to be said that theology is the queen of the sciences, And by that it was meant that there is no higher, nobler, more worthwhile inquiry for the human mind to be occupied with than the contemplation of God and the glory of His attributes and His works. disciplining our minds and hearts to patiently and faithfully dig through the Word of God in order to accurately and adequately understand who God is and what he's done for us through Christ. That's what it means to have a relationship with our God. So many people talking about, I have a personal relationship with Christ, doesn't know him from the back of his hand. A relationship with our God means knowing who He is and what He's done. It's the substance of our Christian life. And those same people, I have a relationship, I have a relationship, don't care to be in the Word where this God that they say they love has revealed Himself in all of His glory. And absolutely everything else in your life flows out of that. Everything in your life is downstream of your theology. because everything you do is shaped by what you believe, which means that if you are amiss in your doctrine, you will be amiss in your devotion. If you are wrong in precept, you will be wrong in practice. Now, it's possible to be right in precept and wrong in practice, but it's impossible to be right in practice and wrong in precept. And you're responsible, men, not only for your own spiritual health, but for the spiritual health of your wife and children, gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her, washing her with the water of the word, so that he might present to himself a holy and pure bride, spotless, without wrinkle or any such thing. So it means, brothers, as I said last time, that you must be the resident theologian in your household. You must be able to divide truth from error. You must be able, Titus 1-9, both to exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict. Because even if you never occupy the office of elder, you do occupy the office of spiritual protector. whether for your wife and children or just for your brothers and sisters in Christ. We are our brother's keeper and we need to meet together day by day as long as it's called a day to stimulate one another to love and good deeds to take care that there be in none of you a sinful unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. The word of God commands men to maintain purity in our doctrine. To not let our understanding of the teachings of the Christian faith become polluted with error. And that means we must devote ourselves to be ever examining our doctrine ever subjecting it to the searching light of the scripture constantly conforming our thoughts to what we see in the text to repent of our faith in falsehoods and to eagerly embrace the truth. First Timothy 4 6 Paul says to Timothy. In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished, there's our word again, on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following. So if we're a spiritual provider, and that's drawn from the term nourishes and cherishes his bride, Paul says to Timothy, you know what you'll be nourished on? You'll be nourished on sound doctrine. Sound doctrine is the nourishment of the child of God. It's the food for your soul and the souls of those God has given you to lead. And men, if you've got time for the garage and for the lake and for the shooting range and for the driving range, for the TV, for the theater, for the cell phone, whatever, but you don't have time for the holiness of God by R.C. Sproul, or strange fire by Pastor MacArthur, or the glory of Christ or the mortification of sin by John Owen, or a body of divinity by Thomas Watson, or the religious affections by Jonathan Edwards, or for Augustine and Athanasius and the Gregories and Anselm, you're missing the point of your calling as men. Men know their God and they make their God known to those within their sphere of influence. And I don't know of a more fearful thing than to take God's own infallible and inerrant word about himself, his testimony, to say, this is who I am and who I am not, and to teach error from it. To so twist God's own words to say something that's not true about him. That is a fearful thing. And so a biblical man must be sound in doctrine. And we come finally to the ninth mark of biblical manhood, the ninth one, the last one we'll consider in this series. Once again from Titus 2, that is number nine. The biblical man is sound in speech. Sound in speech. Look again at verses six through eight. Likewise, urge the young men to be sensible. In all things, show yourself to be an example of good deeds with purity and doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. No wild beast upon the earth is more difficult to tame than the unglorified human tongue. James 3, 7, and 8 says, every species of beasts and birds of reptiles and creatures of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by the human race, but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. One verse earlier, James says, and the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity. Proverbs 18, 21 says, death and life are in the power of the tongue. Jesus himself makes a most startling statement in Matthew 12 36 and 37 when he says, but I tell you that every careless word that people speak they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned. Men and especially young men can be careless in our speech. But the biblical man must not be. If we're going to give an account for every careless word we speak, it's no wonder that Paul instructs Titus to urge the men to be sound in speech. Sound is the term huggies, it's where we get the word hygiene, and it speaks of healthiness, of wholesomeness. There is one who speaks rashly like thrusts of a sword. Proverbs 12 18. But the tongue of the wise brings healing. The speech of a biblical man is to be life giving. It's to be the kind of speech that restores spiritual health. This is just a way of saying that our words are to be edifying. They are not to tear down but to build up. Ephesians 429 is absolutely paramount here. Paul says, let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification, according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Ah, what a pregnant verse of scripture. So few words in just one sentence, and yet a lifetime is necessary to apply them. Just several quick comments. First, there is to be no unwholesome speech. No unwholesome speech. For some strange reason, people seem to think that cutting, profane, vulgar speech is manly, and it's not. When movies are rated based on how much foul language is in them, we're told that such and such a movie is rated R for adult language. strong language." That's euphemistic nonsense. Foul language, cursing, swear words, right, are neither adult nor strong. They are juvenile and weak. When I hear a man who lacks so much self-control so as to be unable to speak without cursing, he immediately looks like a boy to me. He looks like a middle schooler, someone so deprived of intelligence and self-discipline that he can't even learn to express himself like a sensible, respectable adult. Paul says the biblical man is sound in speech and lets no unwholesome word come out of his mouth. And he'll go on to say in Ephesians five and verse four, that there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. You see, if it's not outright foul language, men seem especially prone to the temptation to speak crassly in sexual innuendo. And then they try to cloak it under the excuse, wow, I was only joking. Paul says there's to be none of that. He says it's not fitting. It doesn't fit. It doesn't match who a Christian is. That doesn't characterize a biblical man. Your speech is to be wholesome, healthy, sound, hygienic. Second, not only is your speech not to be filthy, it's also to be devoid of complaining. I've often said that complaining is the mother tongue of the unregenerate human heart. The native language of sinners is grumbling and grousing. And yet Paul commands us in Philippians 2.14, do all things without grumbling or disputing. Eliminate complaining from your lives. Why? Because complaining is nothing other than the verbalized dissatisfaction with the providence of God. I see no reason for this, God. I deserve better than this, God. Why would you order my circumstances this way? That ought to make every last one of us tremble. Who are we, mere creatures of the dust, to tell God how to be God? How to providentially order his universe, which he does down to the molecule. There are few things that are more juvenile and less manly than a guy who sits around and complains about everything. We are to be sound in speech. And so our speech is to be free of complaining. Third, our speaking is to be devoid of gossip. And for the sake of time, I'm gonna refer you to a sermon I preached called How to Kill Your Neighbor. It's on gossip. But I want you to notice, maybe take some time later today or this week to take a read through the pastoral epistles, maybe use your Bible software if you don't feel like spending the time, but I do commend the reading of the word of God to you. Notice how many times the phrase malicious gossips shows up in the pastoral epistles. And note that that phrase translates the Greek word diabolos, which is the word for devil. Malicious gossips, devils. The bottom line is that men don't spend time like idle, busy bodies, whispering about other people's business, especially if it has the potential to destroy other people's reputations. If it's not true, necessary to be said, kind, and your business, don't speak or listen to it. If it's not true or you can't certify it to be true, necessary to be said, kind, In your business, don't speak it, don't listen to it. Finally, our speech is to be devoid of lies, devoid of lies, Ephesians 4, 25. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Colossians 3 9 do not lie to one another since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices Lying is just utterly unacceptable for the man of God It ought to taste terrible in your mouth as you utter words that you know are not true Why because you claim to have been saved by a Savior who calls himself the truth? We've been saved by the word of truth, Colossians 1.5. We owe our lives to the truth, our entire existence. We ought to be walking expositions of the truth. What can you think of that is more incongruent than a Christian whose word cannot be depended on to reflect truth? A biblical man's word is trustworthy. What he says is dependable. It's not carefully crafted to deceive. Well, I didn't technically lie, I just didn't say the whole truth. No, a man's speech is not full of exaggeration or hyperbole so that it could mislead those who take his words at face value. It is, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4-2, the open statement of the truth. A man gives his word and it stands inviolable. You could have a prosecuting attorney go through the transcript of your speech and trying to find holes in everything that you've said to say, no, he lied there, he deceived there, he misled there, and it's above reproach. There's nothing in it because you spoke as it was. You didn't exaggerate, you didn't embellish, you didn't deceive, you spoke truth. A man's yes, Matthew 5, 37, is his yes. 2 Corinthians 1, 17 to 20, he doesn't go back on his word. You say you're going to do something, you do it. Even Psalm 15, 4, if you swear to your own hurt, you do not change. Your yes is yes, you're dependable. What you say can be depended on, that's manliness. To be sound in speech is to speak a faithful witness to the truth. In everything, the biblical man asks, will this build up? Will this give grace? Are these words necessary right now? I'm gonna tell you, as somebody who still struggles with talking too much, I can say that few things have been more transforming in my own life than meditating on this standard of Ephesians 429. For all my speech, not just what I'm teaching, for everything that I say, I should only speak if my speech will edify, if it will give grace, and if the moment calls for it. When I'm meditating on that, I'm much quieter. And so here we are again humbled to the dust before the standard of God's word. The biblical man is a leader a lover a provider and a protector. He is strong sensible dignified sound in doctrine and sound in speech. This is what we must be. This is what Almighty God has created us to be in fulfillment of His very good design for us as His creatures. And I'll say this, all your protestations against the wickedness of the homosexualist and transgender movements amount to very little if you're unwilling to put your hand to the plow of living out your calling as biblical men. It does little good to shout from the rooftops that men are not women if you don't go to work on being the kind of man that the Scriptures call you to be. Some of you need that kind of wake-up call. And I pray these last three messages will be a benefit to you in awakening your conscience from its slumber and rousing you to action. But for all of us, we do grieve at how far short we fall in one or another of these areas. But men, that grief is good. Godly sorrow works repentance. But it does not work despair. Those of you who feel defeated by how short you fall from this standard, remember the man, Christ Jesus. He is not only your perfect example, though He is that, how gracious of God to show us the perfect man, the perfect image of God, holiness in our own nature. Jesus is the great head of the church who takes responsibility for the bride that he leads. He is love incarnate who lays down his life in sacrifice for our good. He is the great provider who nourishes us and cherishes us with the spiritual food that saves and sustains the soul. He is the foremost protector who steps in between us and our judge and bears the awful, wrath-filled punishment in our place. And once in his hand, no one can be snatched out because he protects us. He is the strongest man to ever live, living his entire life as strength under control, wielded only for the benefit of others. He's not just sensible, he is the wisdom of God incarnate, always self-controlled. He is dignified, the most grave man to ever walk the earth, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief as if he were made up of only sorrows because he saw how people so carelessly forfeit the joys of heaven and cling to the miseries of sin and hell. He is the great prophet, the teacher of only sound doctrine, and He is the Word of God Himself, always sound in speech, to the point that the people wondered at the gracious words, the words of grace that were falling from His lips. He is everything we must be. And because of that, He is not merely our example. He is our substitute. Christ doesn't just come to show us how to live. He comes to show us how we've failed to live, and He comes to live for us. He obeys in our place, and then dies in our place so that not only does His death pay our penalty, but His life accomplishes our righteousness. And so for all of you men who are humbled to the ground by this standard, who are tempted to despair because of how faithless you know yourself to be, Raise your eyes to the cross of Calvary and see Him there who made an end of all your sin. Behold Him there, the risen Lamb, my perfect, spotless righteousness. And looking away from yourself and trusting entirely in Him, fall on His grace to be for you what you could not be in and of yourselves. and receive the perfect robe of his righteousness that makes you stand in the presence of holy God. And then, having feasted on the gospel, walk in the strength of that gospel. Apply the grace that purchases your pardon unto the power of holy living. Taste how gracious Jesus is with you in the gospel, how gracious he is with you in his day-to-day dealings with you as you walk with him, and then bend that grace out to others to lead and to love and provide and protect, to be strong and be sensible, to be dignified and sound. You can be this man, brothers. You can. Christ has purchased grace for you to do it. God has prepared these good works for you that you would walk in them. Give yourselves, men, to your wives. Give yourselves to your children. Give yourselves to the brothers and sisters in the family of God so that Christ would get what he is worthy of in you. Let's pray. Father, attend your word with power. Attend it with grace. Give grace unto the mortification of sin and the vivification of righteousness. with the standard and yet the power of your grace ringing in the ears of the soul, united with hearts of faith to give grace unto change, unto repentance, unto righteousness practically. We rejoice and we rest in the righteousness forensically that we have been given, that has been imputed to our account. Let that issue in practical righteousness. May the men be men. Give grace church men of God who are marked by these nine characteristics thoroughly and maturely. Give grace to identify for each one to identify where he falls short. and give grace for change. Help the women, Lord. Help them to be helpers and encouragers and prayers so that where they're tempted to feel discouraged at their husband's shortcomings or to complain and to be discouraging, that they would recognize that that does no help and that they would, in holy faith and hope and love, Think the best of their husbands. Think the best of their brothers in Christ. And think the best of the Spirit of God who is at work in them to be hopeful that they can change, that they would pray hopefully for them to change, that they would make it easy for them to change. God, give peace in the home. Give peace for our families. Make our families the building block, the strength of our church, so that we would be in this place a light the salt that we must be that Christ has called us to be so that when the assaults come when the persecutions come the strength will be in the marrow of our being biblical men and biblical women. God give grace we pray in Jesus name. Amen. For more information about the ministry of the Grace Life Pulpit, visit at www.thegracelifepulpit.com. Copyright by The Grace Life Pulpit. All rights reserved.