The Godly Man, Part 1

There is an epidemic that has infected every country in the world Not only every country, but every culture Not just every culture, but every community, every class of people An epidemic that has infected even the churches across our country and in the world It's an epidemic that if not handled or dealt with, will continue to spread from generation to generation And it's interesting to note that that epidemic has been going on for centuries All throughout the history of man And yet so many people don't seem to listen to take notice as to how to handle that epidemic

It's summed up very simply in one verse in the Psalms It's our topic for today And by the time before me, it looks like it will be our topic for next week as well But the Psalmist said this in Psalm 12, verse number one Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases to be And for the faithful disappear from among the sons of men This epidemic that has infected not just this generation, but subsequent or previous generations And maybe even subsequent generations from here on out The Psalmist cries, help, Lord, for the godly man ceases to be

Where is the godly man? Where has he gone? Why can't we find him? Why are they so difficult to uncover? Where is the godly man in our countries, our cultures? Where is the godly man in our churches? Where is the godly man in our families? Where are the godly fathers that lead their families? The Psalmist summed it up very well Help, Lord, the godly man he ceases to be He ceases to be So not only, listen carefully, was it difficult for the Psalmist to find a godly man, so too it was difficult for God himself to find a godly man Now think about that

Listen to what the Bible says in the book of 2 Chronicles 16, verse number 9 For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth, that he may strongly support those whose heart is completely his, but you have acted foolishly in this The Lord is looking for hearts that are devoted to him His eyes run to and fro throughout the earth Where is the man whose heart is completely devoted to me because I'm going to strengthen that man? Through the prophet Ezekiel

The 22nd chapter, the 30th verse, the Lord says, I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before me for the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one Here is the Lord saying, I'm looking for just one man to stand in the gap One godly man to be strong One godly man to be steadfast One godly man that would do for me what only he can do But I found no one among the leadership in Israel If you go back to the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 5, Jeremiah says the same thing Chapter 5, verse number 1

Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and look now and take note and seek in her open squares If you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her Just give me one man in Jerusalem Find one godly man Jeremiah, if you can just find one of them, I will pardon Jerusalem All I need is one godly man And although they say as the Lord lives, surely they swear falsely. O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You have smitten them, but they did not weaken You have consumed them, but they refused to take correction

They have made their faces harder than rock They have refused to repent Then I said, they are only the poor They are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord or the ordinance of their God. I will go to the great men and will speak to them And they know the way of the Lord and the ordinance of their God, but they too with one accord have broken the yoke and burst the bonds. I couldn't find one among the poor. I couldn't find one among the lowly, but let me go and find someone among the great men of the city Surely there's a godly man who keeps the ordinances of God

Surely there's a man in leadership someplace that's a godly man that you will pardon Jerusalem But there was none, none to find So the psalmist says, help Lord The godly man ceases to be Isaiah chapter 59 verse 1 Behold, the Lord's hand is not short that it cannot save, nor is his ear so dull that it cannot hear But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity Your lips have spoken falsehood Your tongue mutters wickedness

No one sues righteously and no one pleads honestly They trust in confusion and speak lies They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity The Lord says, listen, I want to save. I want to redeem. I want to protect you My hand is not so short that it cannot save, but your sins have separated you from me Verse 15 Now the Lord saw, and it was displeasing in his sight that there was no justice And he saw that there was no man and was astonished that there was no man to intercede It's no wonder the psalmist said, help, Lord The godly man ceases to be

See, this is an epidemic that has infected every country, every culture, every community, every church Where is the godly man? Not just any man, but the godly man And the unique thing about this is that God for centuries warned his people He warned them over and over and over again, but they did not listen to the words of the Lord Let me show you Go back with me in your Bible to the book of Exodus Exodus chapter 20 You know about the 10 commandments You know about what God says about, there shall be no God than me. I am the one true God You should only worship me

And you should have no other God before me And how you worship me is very, very important because I want you to worship me in spirit and in truth So the Lord says these words in Exodus chapter 20 He says in verse number five, you shall not worship them or serve them for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generation to those who hate me God makes it very clear as he gives the 10 commandments to Moses and he proclaims them to the people of Israel Listen, there's only one God. I am the true God

You shall have no other gods before me You should only worship me And when you worship me, you need to worship me the right way because if you worship me the wrong way, it's going to affect your children It will affect the next generation of children and the following generation of children So make sure you worship me the right way Why? Because God is saying, listen, to worship God the wrong way or to have another God before the one true God, to be an idolater is going to affect this generation

And the corruption of the father is going to be an epidemic that affects the next generation and the following generation Why? Because he demonstrated that he doesn't love me but that he hates me Go over to the book of Exodus, same book, the 34th chapter And Moses, he wants to see the glory of the Lord and you know this chapter because we've covered it many times over the years And the Lord says, I'm not going to show you my full glory because you'd be incinerated You'd die You just can't see me and live, Moses

So I'm going to hide you in the cleft of the rock. I'll let my glory pass by you and let you see the afterglow of my glory It says in verse number six, or verse number five, the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as the Lord called upon the name of the Lord Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, compassionate, gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth, who keeps loving kindness to thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin

Yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations That two verses, verses six and seven of Exodus 34, is quoted 27 times in the Old Testament. 27 times Because God says, look, you need to realize that as fathers, your corruption is going to have a supreme effect on the succeeding generations

If you don't live according to my word and follow my word and understand what I have said, it is going to affect your children and your children's children on down the line because you've shown that you will not listen to me, that you will end up hating me So turn with me, if you would, to the book of Zechariah Zechariah Zechariah Zechariah comes out of captivity with some 43,000 Jews from Babylon And Zechariah's name means God remembers And the book of Zechariah is a unique and special book of prophecy But the first six verses help us understand Israel's problem

And verse number one gives us the theme of the book When it says, In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, and the son of Iddu Berechiah was his father Iddu was his grandfather Berechiah's name means God will bless Bless, Iddu means at the appointed time And Zechariah's whole theme is that God remembers to bless Israel at the appointed time And he will That's the theme of the book of Zechariah It's wrapped up in the names of the young man, Zechariah, his father and his grandfather Verse two

The Lord was very angry with your fathers Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Return to me, declares the Lord of hosts, that I may return to you, says the Lord of hosts Do not be like your fathers to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Return now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds But they did not listen or give heed to me God says, I do not want you to be like your fathers You can change the course of a generation

You can change the way things have been by understanding that if you just return to me, if you just repent of your sins, I will return to you and everything will be different Do not be like your fathers because their iniquity has brought you or did bring you into captivity You were there for 70 years And so what you have before you is a historical illustration of the sins of the father being part of the corruption of the next generation that led them through the effects of their father's sin into Babylonian captivity He says, Don't be like them You can be different You can return to me

You can repent of your sins You can follow me But he says, Your fathers didn't listen. I said the exact same thing to them The same message was given to them that I've given to you, but they did not listen They would not listen That's why I love Psalm 81 so much because in Psalm 81, the Lord says in verse number eight, Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you. O Israel, if you would just listen to me, he says, let there be no strange God among you, nor shall you worship any foreign God He goes right all the way back to Exodus chapter 20 There's only one God There ought to be no foreign gods

You're to only worship me You're not to be an idolater You're not to involve yourself in iniquity. I, the Lord, am your God who brought you up from the land of Egypt Open your mouth wide and I will fill it But my people did not listen to my voice and Israel did not obey me So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their own heart to walk in their own devices Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways. I would quickly subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their adversaries

Those who hate the Lord would pretend obedience to him and their punishment or their time of punishment would be forever But I would feed you with the finest of wheat and with honey from the rock. I would satisfy you But they did not listen They would not listen So God says through the prophet Zechariah, tell my people to return to me Tell my people not to be like their fathers They can turn the course of a generation by following me, by being godly people, by obeying my word That's all they need to do Return to me and I will return to you

Just listen to my voice because your fathers did not listen They did not heed They did not obey That's why we're spending time with your children on stage Why? Because what you're doing right now is the highest participation of your worship ever You're listening

And are you listening well to what God says? Are you listening quickly? Are you listening expectantly? Are you listening for God to speak to you today because his word speaks profoundly to every single one of us in the auditorium? And God is saying, if you just listen to me, if you just return to me, if you just repent of your sins, that's all I'm asking you to do That's all he ever asked Israel to do for centuries

Warning them over and over again that if you continue in sin, you show that you hate me and that corruption will be passed to the next generation because they will feel the effects of your sin against me and they will bear the consequences of your sin against me And not just that generation but succeeding generations And so the Lord says these words, verse five of Zechariah one Your fathers, where are they? Great question God doesn't need an answer He knows the answer He's asking Israel, do you know where your fathers are? They're dead

They're all dead. I mean, if they didn't die when Nebuchadnezzar came in and sacked Jerusalem and slaughtered them then, they probably died in Babylonian captivity And therefore, understand this Ask yourself what happened to your fathers If they didn't die, they went into captivity Why? I warned them over and over again. I warned them if I could find one godly man in Jerusalem, I'll pardon your iniquity. I'll protect you from the invasion if I just find one But I found none Found none None Where are your fathers? This is this And the prophets, do they live forever? No Nobody lives forever

But God is talking about the impartiality of his judgment Think of Moses, the great leader of Israel, Israel's quintessential leader They looked to Moses as the leader of Israel, the man, right? But God said to Moses, listen, you speak to the rock, do not strike it, you speak to the rock And Moses, out of anger, struck the rock And water still gushed out God still took care of his people But God said to Moses, you didn't listen to me. I told you to speak to the rock, not strike the rock, but you decided not to speak, but to strike No promised land for you

You're done. I said, wow, that's just so harsh It was like he committed immorality, adultery, some kind of fornication, some kind of idolatry Come on, Lord, give Moses a break You see, Moses is the leader And leadership requires godliness Leadership requires listening and obeying the Lord And leadership requires a higher accountability than anything else And if you fail in your leadership, you lead the people the wrong way Moses, if you don't listen to me, then why should the people listen to me? And because you didn't listen to my word, no promised land for you That's the way it goes

And Moses felt the consequences of his own sin So God, through the pen of Zacharias, says, where are your fathers? Where are the prophets? You know they're all going to die because everybody dies But how will you die? So he says, verse six, but did not my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants, the prophets, overtake your fathers? That's just such a great phrase Overtake your fathers It's a phrase that describes being suddenly overtaken by that which is pursuing you But you weren't aware of it

You see, a lot like us today, we think that the consequences of our sin are way behind us They're not going to catch up to us That we can sin and get away with it That we can sin and everything will be okay That way behind us are the consequences They're not going to catch us And then all of a sudden, they overtake us and we experience the consequences of our sin Israel, Israel's leaders, the nation itself, the fathers, he says, I told them I was coming. I warned them over and over again. I warned them about their iniquity. I warned them about the consequences of sin

But you know what? They didn't believe me They didn't think I was serious They didn't think that I would do what I said I was going to do And in his mercy, in his patience, in his loving kindness, he allowed them to continue in their sin He gave them over to their stubborn heart He allowed them to continue going down the wrong path by his grace and by his mercy But he warned them, judgment's coming You need to follow, need to repent And they didn't And it overtook them And it gobbled them up Because they didn't think that God was going to do what God said he was going to do

And so it says these words Then they, Israel, repented Repented and said, As the Lord of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so he has dealt with us They said the Lord is sovereign This is how the Lord's chosen to deal with us This is how he has dealt with us They're claiming the sovereignty of God, the providence of God, and orchestrating all the events that have taken place in their lives And I know your Bible says repent, but the word really should be returned It should be, then they returned and said Why? It's a play on words

If you go back to verse number three and verse number four, God says return to me and I will return to you Return to me So it's a play on words Return to me, he says Why? I want you to return to me physically from Babylon, which they had done Now I want you to return to me spiritually and repent of your sins and follow me and serve me It's a play on words And he says, I need you to return back to me And they said, we return We repent Because what you did was true What you did was right God, you are sovereign You warned us and we did not obey We did not listen And we need to follow you

And the book of Zechariah is all about how God remembers Remembers to bless his people Israel at the appointed time The unfortunate thing is this Is that what they said did not hold true over time And they continue to depart from the true and living God Oh yeah, they went back to Jerusalem and they rebuilt the walls around the city and they rebuilt the temple and they were back there But when the Messiah came, they completely missed him and they just did not want that king to rule over them So they crucified him And so they continued in their non-repentant state

But God had warned them over and over again Today I ask you this question On this Father's Day 2025 Are you a godly man? If God was to search our church, would he find a godly man? If he was to search your family, would you as a father be a godly father? Would you be a godly man in your workplace? Would you be a godly man in your school, in your classroom? Would you be that godly man that if God searched for, he'd say, that's the one whose heart I want to strengthen That's the one who will stand in the gap for me

That's the one who will intercede on behalf of his family, on behalf of his people to me That's the man The hope, the hope is that a generation can be turned by one godly man following Christ and honoring him. I've told the story numerous times of my father who was raised by an alcoholic father and mother And so he very easily followed in his father's footsteps and became an alcoholic and became a trained smoker like his father was In fact, he drank so much that on the eve of his wedding to my mom, he was so drunk that my mother had to take him home and almost decided not to marry him

Glad she didn't make that decision. I wouldn't be here But they got married the next day anyway And soon after they were married, my father realized that in order to change the course of a generation, something had to change in his life He was called overseas during the Vietnam War and he gave his life to Christ in a charismatic camp in Thailand led by two women pastors, believe it or not, who took him aside and said, you need to know the Lord He gave his life to Christ, came back from the Vietnam War, changed man

At the same time, my mom was in Washington, Kansas, small town about two hours from Topeka, Kansas, if you wanted to know If you don't care, that's okay too And she was given her life to the Lord by a Baptist preacher You can imagine the conflict that arised when my father came back with all these charismatic ideas and my mom was saved by a Baptist preacher Nonetheless, it all worked itself out and God was good So in case you want to know, my roots are in the charismatic church All that being said is that my father knew that he had to change the course of a generation

To do so, he gave his life to Christ And you know, I think of my dad and I think of, wow, what a godly man he was He was such a godly guy He wasn't a great man He wasn't a popular man He wasn't a prominent man He was a faithful, godly man who wanted his family to know the Lord That's it He had two kids, one daughter, one son That's it And his greatest joy was to know that his children walked in truth That was everything to him That's what he wanted And he changed the course of a generation He would go back and witness to his father

And before his father died, that man who was an alcoholic, that man who was a trained smoker for 60-plus years, 70-plus years, gave his life to Christ before he died His mother, she never did, but his stepmother did She gave her life to Christ But he was so bound and determined to change the course of a generation that he wanted to do whatever he could possibly do to make sure his children knew the Lord and followed the Lord and honored the Lord And I praise the Lord for a father who was a godly father. I didn't know him very well when he was ungodly because I was too young

The only memory I have of my father is sitting with him in church and him singing at the top of his lungs And my dad had a good voice And I was asking, why do you sing so loud, dad? Why do you sing so loud? He would just lean over and say, because I love the Lord Start singing, son And he would sing loud But he changed the course of a generation. I say that because so can you There's always hope And the hope to cure that which infects churches, countries, cultures, and communities is a godly man Just one Just one

And I wonder if you're that kind of man. I have an outline. I'm not going to get through it today. I'll do it next week But let me give you the point number one because I do have a couple of minutes left Ask yourself, am I a godly man? I'm going to give you the characteristics of a godly man Number one, he goes to God incessantly in prayer He goes to God incessantly in prayer Listen to what the psalmist said in Psalm 4, verse 3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly man for himself Isn't that great? God has set apart the godly man for himself

And the Lord hears when the godly man calls to him Isn't that great? The Lord hears when the godly man calls to him How about Psalm 32, verse number 6 Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him You are my hiding place You preserve me from trouble You surround me with songs of deliverance Let everyone who is godly come to you in a time of need See, the godly man knows that in order to maintain his godliness there is a communion with God that needs to be present

That he wants to commune with his God on a daily basis He wants to pray without ceasing First Thessalonians 5, verse 16 James chapter 5 The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much There's a fervency there There's a tenacity that's there There's a commitment to prayer Oh, prayer is such a taxing work It's not easy Satan wants to keep you off of your knees Because if he keeps you off of your knees he can tempt you in ways that will cause you to fall greatly And our Lord wanted his men to pray so he taught them how to pray He always was praying

And a godly man is one who goes to God incessantly in prayer Job was a godly man Job was a unique man He was unlike others Job was the kind of guy that understood godliness It says in Job 1, there was a man in the land of Uz The man was not an ordinary man The man was an extraordinary man There was a man in the land of Uz And the whole book of Job was about this man, Job And how God is sovereign over his life Whose name was Job And that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil That's a godly man Seven sons and three daughters were born to him

His possessions were also 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants And that man was the greatest of all the men of the east. A great man Sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day And they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them And when the days of feasting had completed their cycle, so Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all For Job said, perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts

Thus Job did continually He would offer up burnt offerings on behalf of his children He would pray for his children Burnt offerings symbolized a total surrender In other words, he was surrendering all of his children to the Lord These are your children, God You gave them to me. I'm going to offer these burnt offerings because the offerings are going to be totally consumed because I have totally given my children to you Little did he know that God would take and snatch his children from him in a horrific storm He didn't know that in advance We know because we read the story But Job didn't know

He said, God, these children are yours. I'm offering them up to you because they have sinned, Lord. I want to plead with them. I want to intercede on their behalf as was told in the prophet Isaiah Is there anyone to intercede on behalf of those who commit iniquity? Job says, I'll intercede Is there a man who will stand in the gap whose heart I will strengthen? Job says, I'll be that guy. I'll do that. I'll live an upright life, a God-fearing life, a blameless life And I'm going to turn away from evil

And I'm going to pray for my family. I'm going to pray that God raises them up and strengthens them And little did he know that God would take them all away But in all this, Job did not sin, nor did he turn his back on the Lord Jesus because he was a godly man, a man of prayer Interesting that nobody who came to minister to Job ever prayed with Job or for Job They came to give him counsel, but they were miserable counselors But none of them sat and held his hand, mainly because it was too full of sores and pus and nasty stuff

They didn't want to hold his hand for fear that they might get what he had They didn't want to get too close to Job But none of them offered a prayer for Job But at the very end of the book of Job, it says, and Job prayed for his friends And when Job prayed for his friends, God turned the captivity of Job God turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his miserable comforters When Job got his eyes off of himself, because that's what godly men do They get their eyes off of themselves They get their eyes on everybody else around them

They forget about their needs, their pain, their problems, and they pray for others And that's what Job did And God turned everything in Job's life around when he prayed for his friends That's just a great testimony It's to speak volumes to us, not to be so consumed about our problems and our pain And believe me, none of you had the pain that Job had None of you had the isolation that Job had None of you had the problems that Job had None of you have lost everything like Job did None of you have And yet Job got his eyes off his own self and said, I need to pray for my friends

And boy, God turned all that around and said, Job, you're the man, because he prayed incessantly What a godly man How about you? Do you go to God incessantly in prayer on behalf of your wife, your children, your family? We gather together on Sunday mornings and we bow together on our knees and you have your children bowing together with you You have your wives bowing together with you in the pew as you go and beseech the Lord of mercy

What a great opportunity when it comes to worship to have your family together in church, bowing down before the throne of God and praying to God, asking God to do a great and mighty work But that's just the beginning That's just the impetus That's the trampoline that leads you into more prayer with your family and for your family That's what the godly man does He prays incessantly because he knows that prayer is everything He can't change his children He can't change his marriage He can't change his work environment He can't change anything He can influence some things, but he can't change

Only God can change God doesn't So the godly man recognizes that So he goes to God He says, Lord, you know how to do this You can do it, so I'm going to let you do it But I need you to do what only you can do He prays to God That's a godly man He goes to God incessantly in prayer Number two, got to come back next week So if you brought your father on Father's Day, bring him back again next week If he was with your other brother or sister today, you can bring him back next week But let me pray with you Can I do that? Father, I pray for the men of our church

They be godly men. I pray, Lord, that they would recognize that their ungodliness only infects their children negatively, but their godliness will affect them positively So I pray for every man that's here today Men who are fathers, men who are grandfathers, men who want to be fathers. I pray, Father, that you would raise up godly men Job was a godly man He attended no church He attended no men's ministries He read no books on ministry for your family All he had was you He listened and obeyed and followed through His accountability was you

It wasn't another person or another group of people or church His accountability was you And he was blameless, upright, God-fearing and turning away from evil He prayed for his children Lord, I pray for the men of our church You'd raise them up to be strong men of God Men who don't back down from those who would come against their god Men who would stand strong amidst adversity and conflict Men who would be pure and holy before you Lord, you're a great God And you warned Israel over and over again about the sins of the fathers They just did not listen

Lord, we have an illustration all throughout the Old Testament that tells us, beware Listen to the words of the Lord Return to Him Follow Him Obey Him And see what God will do That's my prayer for every man today.