Act Like Men, Part 6

We are looking at a phrase in 1 Corinthians 16 13 that says act like men. It's just one simple phrase used one time in the New Testament, many times in the Old Testament, but it deals with the maturity of the people in the church, the spiritual growth of those people. It speaks primarily of those in the church who have grown to be what God wants them to be. And Paul would admonish the church of Corinth to act like men. And we have used that phrase to hone in on the men of our church because they are to lead the way.

And when it comes to spiritual maturity, when it comes to growing up, when it comes to being manly, confident, strong and courageous, we need to lead the way for our wives, for our children in our church, in our community. And so we've spent time looking at that one particular phrase to show you exactly what that means. And we have stopped at point number seven, which is live prophetically, live prophetically. Why have we spent these six weeks and we will spend four more weeks on this topic? Because the psalmist cried with these words, help Lord, for the godly man ceases to be, for the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.

The psalmist cried, Lord, help. Where is the godly man? They cease to be. We want you to be godly people. We want you to live for the glory and honor of God. So we'll spend as much time as it takes to explain to you the truth of God, that it might apply to your life, that you might live for his honor and glory. So the psalmist would not cry out at Christ community church, Lord, where is the godly man? Where is the faithful man? The psalmist would say, if he were alive today, we have found the godly man.

We have found the faithful people. How can we become those kinds of people? We need to act like men, grow up spiritually. And part of that is living prophetically. We talked about living purposefully, living proactively, living prayerfully, living the kind of life that exemplifies power, living powerfully, living productively, living purely. All that's a part of acting like men, growing up to spiritual maturity. And we've camped out at living prophetically because we are to be men who are to speak the truth of God.

We are ambassadors for the kingdom of God. So therefore we live the lives of prophets speaking the truth of God's holy word. And the godly man trembles at that word. That's why we talked to you about last week, Proverbs 23, 23, buy truth and never sell it. Do all you can to obtain the truth. Why? Because it's the most valuable commodity in this life and in the life to come. It is the eternal truth of the eternal God. And you are to do all you can to obtain it. How do you know someone's bought into truth?

How do you know someone's not going to sell truth? You can tell it by the church they attend. Did you know that? By the church you go to, we can tell you whether or not you have bought truth or sold truth. By the way you live your life, we can tell you whether or not you have done all you can to obtain the truth or sell the truth. It's not hard to determine that. So Solomon would say to his son, obtain it. Do all you can to grab hold of the eternal truth of God and never let it go. How do you know you've done that?

You tremble at the truth. Isaiah 66 verse number two. Not only do you tremble at the truth, you taste the truth. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Psalm 34 verse number eight. Talked about that last week. Those who taste the truth, they treasure the truth. It is the most valuable treasure to them. Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I might not sin against the living God. Those who have bought truth tend to the truth. They protect it. They guard it. They watch over it with all their hearts.

They make sure that it's never spoken in error. They make sure that it's spoken correctly and they will do all they can to guard the truth of the living God. They tend to that truth. They teach the truth. They teach it compellingly because they love God with all their heart, soul, and mind. They teach it consistently, constantly, continually, conspicuously because they want others to know the truth of the living God. That's why the Lord said in Matthew chapter five that those who teach the truth and keep that truth are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

So important to teach the truth. Those who teach the truth need to translate the truth. Talked about that last week. And that's where your marriage and family begin to break down. The inability to translate into action the things that you say you teach and believe. So important. You must translate it. You must live it out. Be an example of it. Demonstrate it. Because if not, you lose credibility. Nobody believes what you say because your life is so loud they can't hear what you say because you live contrary to what you say you believe.

Those who live prophetically translate the truth. Those who have bought truth and sell it not are so committed to it that they want to live that truth. They are doers of the word, not just hearers only. They want to demonstrate that Christ rules supreme in their lives. That's where we left off last week. So let me finish it for you today.

Are you living prophetically? Do you live as a prophet of the living God? Do you live in a way that shows you act like a man? You've grown spiritually? It's saying you need to tell the truth. Tell the truth. The book of Ephesians, fourth chapter, 25th verse, Paul says, therefore laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you with his neighbor. For we are members one of another. Tell the truth. Speak the truth. So important. The Bible says in Psalm 15, these words, Oh Lord, who may abide in your tent?

Who may dwell on your holy hill? He who walks with integrity and works righteousness and speaks truth in his heart. Speaks truth in his heart. You see, the heart is a center of all things. That's why Proverbs 4 says, guard your heart for out of the flow all the issues of life. Psalm 51 says, verse number six, that God desires truth in the in most parts, in the inner part of a man. Why? Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, right? So if you speak lies, you are speaking following the father of lies.

If you speak truth, you speak truth, following the God of truth. You don't want to be known as a liar. You want to be known as the truth teller. You speak the truth. Prophets speak and tell the truth. You tell the truth when someone asks you, you tell the truth when someone needs to be confronted on their sin. You tell the truth and you deal with the truth. We've told you all along that the only thing that matters in life is truth. It's all that matters. We're committed to the truth of God's holy word.

So therefore we tell the truth over in Proverbs 12, Proverbs chapter 12. The Bible says these words, Proverbs chapter 12, verse number 22.

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are his delight. Why would you be the delight of God? Because he is a, he's the God of truth. That's why over in the book of Matthew, Christ says in verse number 33 of Matthew 12, either make the tree good or it's fruit good, or make the tree bad and it's fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.

You brood of vipers, how can you being evil speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good, and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. Why does Christ say that? He says that because your conversation, your speech is the clearest indicator of the condition of your heart.

What comes out of your mouth tells us what's on the inside of your heart. For out of the heart man speaks. If you tell the truth, it's because truth is in the inmost part of your being. You want to honor the God of truth. You want to live for the truth of the living God. Do you tell the truth? If you're going to translate the truth, if you're going to teach the truth, if you're going to treasure the truth, having tasted the truth, you're going to tell the truth, because that's what prophets do. If you live prophetically, you tell the truth.

Next, you trust the truth. If you live prophetically, you trust the truth. Wow. That's a big thing. Because the psalmist said, and 31 years ago this week, my wife and I were married, and I held her hand right before we left the dinner that night. Remember that? You don't remember that. It's okay. You don't have to remember that. It's all right. Yeah, she remembers. She never forgets anything. But I held her hand, and we thanked everybody for coming to our wedding, did the whole thank you kind of thing.

And then we said these words that there's one verse that will govern our marriage. And it's Psalm 20, verse number seven. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will trust in the name of the Lord, our God. For they shall be brought down and fall, but we shall rise up and stand firm. And then we left on our honeymoon, went to the Bahamas. My wife says we can never go back there, because it will ruin our honeymoon. So we don't go back to the Bahamas. We go other places. But the point is, is that you need to trust what God says in his word.

Listen to Psalm 62. Psalm 62, verse number eight. Trust in him at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. God is a refuge for us. That's why we trust in him. Do you trust in the living God? Do you wrap your hope in him? The psalmist said in Psalm 18, verse number 10, these words. Nope, that's not the verse I want to read. My bad. Psalm 146, Psalm 146, verse number five. This is what I want to read. Psalm 146, verse number five. How blessed is he whose help is in the God of Jacob, whose trust is in the Lord, his God.

I want to know, do you trust in the living God? What do you trust in? Psalm 28 says this. Verse number seven. The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in him and I am helped. Therefore, my heart exults and with my song I shall thank him. The Lord is their strength and he is a saving defense to his anointed. Why wouldn't you want to trust in the living God? He is your defender. He is your protector. He is your shield. He's the one who watches over your life. So clearly we as believers need to learn what it means to trust in the living God.

The Bible says, these things are written that you may know that you have eternal life. Do you know you have eternal life? Do you trust God for that? Let's say it this way. Let's say you have an unsaved family member. Do you trust God for their salvation? Do you trust the word of the Lord to crush the soul of the unsaved? Jeremiah 23, God says, is not my word like a hammer that crushes the heart?

Yeah, it is. We want our unsaved family members, unsaved relatives, unsaved friends to come to Christ. But we have to trust in the living God to crush the soul that's hardened and unresponsive. Do you do that? Do you trust the Lord to accomplish those things in the life of the unbeliever? Do you trust the Lord not just to crush the soul of the unbeliever? Do you trust him to convict the soul of the unbeliever? The Bible says in first Corinthians 14, 24 and 25, that when an unsaved person comes into your assembly and the word of God is spoken, he comes under conviction and he falls down because of the power of the word of God.

That's why faith cometh by hearing and hearing by word about the Christ. We have to trust God to crush the soul. We have to trust God to convict the soul. And then we have to trust God to convert the soul. Right? Psalm 19, verse number seven, right, says that we love the law of God because it converts, restores the soul. Nothing can convert the soul but the word of the Lord. So we trust God's word to do that. I can't bring conviction upon you. I can't crush your soul, but God's word can. So we give you the word of God to crush the soul, to convict the soul, to convert the soul, to cleanse the soul.

Right? John 15, verse number three, you've been made clean through the word that I've spoken unto you.

See only God's word can do that. But do you trust it enough to do that? Oh, how about this? Do you trust the Lord to comfort the soul amidst your anxiety, amidst your worry, amidst your pain, amidst your adversity? Do you allow the word of the Lord to comfort your soul? The psalmist says, this is my comfort in my affliction. Your word has revived me. I have remembered your ordinances from of old, O Lord, and comfort myself. You see, the word of God brings comfort to the soul. Nothing else does. Oh, you can go out and buy a new car and that will maybe ease some of your pain until you got to pay for the car.

That will increase your pain a little bit. Buy a new dress, new suit. But what comforts the soul is the word of the living God. Nothing else can do that. So to live prophetically, you must trust the living God. You must trust the word of the living God. You must trust what it says. Then what it says is true. And therefore, I believe it. I hope in it. I trust in it to crush the soul of the unsaved, to convict that soul that they're a sinner, to convert them from their evil ways, and to cleanse them that they might be pure and right before the living God, to bring comfort to my soul.

Or how about this? To cheer the soul. What brings cheer to your soul? The psalmist made it very clear in Psalm 19, these words, the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. That is so good. What cheers your soul? You trust the Lord to do that in those periods of depression, those periods of difficulty, those periods of hardship. When you need cheer, where do you turn? Do you trust in the word of the living God? And I could go on and on to talk to you about how the living God is not just cheers a soul and comforts a soul, but conquers the enemy of your soul.

Only God's word can conquer the enemy of your soul, right? Matthew 4, 1 to 11, Christ quoted scripture to show us how to conquer and combat Satan. So only the word of the Lord can conquer the enemy of your soul. Only the word of God can bring counsel to your soul. Psalm 1, 19, 24, thy words are my counselors. So when you need counsel and you need direction, where do you go? You go to the word of the Lord because it counsels you in terms of your decision making, in terms of what you do and how you live and where you go and how you act, your attitude.

It counsels your soul. It critiques the soul. It compels the soul. It controls the soul. It clarifies the soul. I can go on and on and on and on in terms of the power of the word of God and trusting it to do what it says it's going to do. If you live prophetically, you trust the word of the Lord. Not only do you trust it, but you test the truth. You test the truth. That is 1 Thessalonians 5, 20 and 21. Do not despise prophetic utterances, but examine, test, judge, interrogate everything. Cling to that which is good, abstain from that which is evil.

Like the Bereans in Acts 17 and 11, we are to test to see whether or not the word that is spoken is true. You always test the truth. Why? Because every word of God is pure. It's true. And people come and they speak what they believe is the word of the Lord. That's why over in 1 John 4, very familiar verse to most of us, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits. Test them to see whether they are of God because many false prophets have gone into the world. By this you know the spirit of God.

Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist of which you have heard that is coming and now it is already in the world. The first thing you test is the view of their incarnation.

Do they believe that Jesus has come in the flesh? They believe that Jesus is God in the flesh. He says you are from God, little children, and have overcome them because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. Not only do you test every spirit by looking at their view of the incarnation, you look at their value of transformation.

You are from God and greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world and God has transformed your life. And then he says they are from the world, therefore they speak from the world and the world listens to them. We are from God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. We know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error by three things. Their view of the incarnation, their value of revelation, and their value of transformation.

You test every spirit. You test the truth to live prophetically. You just don't hear someone say something and say oh that must that sounds right. You examine it. You cling to that which is good, abstain from that which is evil. Which leads us to our next one. Tamper not with the truth. Those who live prophetically tamper not with the truth. You know Revelation 22 18 19. Those who add to this book or take away from the words of this book. I will add to them the plagues that are written in this book Christ says.

A similar kind of warning is given twice in the book of Deuteronomy. Once in the book of Proverbs. Once in the book of Jeremiah. So that we would understand the importance of living and not ever tampering with the truth of God's holy word. You know the very first sin involved tampering with the truth.

Did you know that? Because Eve added to the truth and omitted some of the truth. She told the satan these words in Genesis 3. She said God has said you shall not eat from it or touch it. No God never said that. But she added to the truth. God never said you can't touch it. He just said you can't eat it. But she added she tampered with the truth. That's what led to her sin. And then she omitted the truth because it says the woman said to the serpent from the fruit of the tree of the garden we may eat.

She stopped. But there was an omission of the truth. Because God said in verse 16 of chapter 2 from any tree of the garden you may eat freely. She let that part out. What led to sin? Tampering with the truth. Omitting what God said and adding to what God said. You can't do that. That's why those who live prophetically never tamper with the truth. Tamper not with that which God has spoken. You must interpret it accurately. You can't add to what God has said. You can't add extras to what God has said.

God has said enough. He said all you need to hear. Tamper not with the truth. And lastly, lastly, and we can move on to our next point next week. Transfer the truth. Transfer the truth. If you live prophetically you have to transfer the truth to the next generation. You got to pass it on. So Paul tells Timothy second Timothy 2 you therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus the things that you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses and trust these two faithful men who will be able to teach others also that is transferring the truth to faithful men that they in turn will be able to teach others others of a different kind not the same kind that is evangelize others teach others the truth that they might come to saving faith transferring the truth the responsibility is great the responsibility is great because not only do we guard the truth we give the truth and the resource is grace be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus you are strengthened by the grace of God you're saved by the grace of God you're sanctified by the grace of God you serve by the grace of God you are strengthened by the grace of God everything in the Christian life is centered around the grace of the living God so the responsibility that you and I have is a great responsibility because we're to guard the truth we are to give the truth we're to transfer that truth to the next generation the resource we have is great and the result is absolutely glorious because it magnifies the name of the living God that's what we're supposed to do that's what it means to live prophetically you do that that's acting like a man that's spiritual growth that's confidence courage manliness at its best that's the way we need to live our lives and may God give us the grace to do so when you pray with you father we thank you for today you are so good oh you are amazingly good to us who are so not good but you have declared us righteous in your presence clothed us with the righteousness of Christ for that we are grateful we pray father that we would be the prophets of the living God speaking forth the truth so others might know passing it on from generation to generation for the glory of your kingdom in Jesus name amen