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Where Are The Real Men - Part 3 of 3

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• Well, let's open our Bibles today, if you would, to 1 Chronicles chapter 22, verses 11 through 13. 1 Chronicles chapter 22, beginning there with verse 11. This is the third message on "Where Are the Real Men." And let me just encourage you next week to make sure that you're here because there is a message that I want to bring I think will be very applicable to each one of us and maybe help us a great deal in our lives. So look in 1 Chronicles chapter 22 and we'll begin reading with verse 11.

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• This is the counsel that David gave his son Solomon: "Now my son, the Lord be with thee, and prosper thee, and build the house of the Lord thy God, as he said of thee. Only the Lord give thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep the law of the Lord thy God. Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfill the statutes and judgments which the Lord charged Moses with concerning Israel.

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• Be strong and of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed." Well, it should be obvious if you've been listening to the two previous messages that there is a vast difference between the standards of the world and biblical standards as to what designates manhood. If we follow the biblical standards, which we should, then in reality there are very few real men today. Today there are very few men that really understand biblical principles and that really know how to act toward their wives, toward their children, toward society in general. In fact, the sad truth is there are many men today that cannot function outside of their own little tiny sphere.

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• It was John Taylor Gatto who said this, listen carefully, this, talking about America, "This was once a land where every sane person knew how to build a shelter, grow food, and entertain one another. Now we have been rendered permanent children. It's the architects of forced schooling who are responsible for this." And when you stop and think about it, he is right, certainly. There was a time when every sane person in this land knew indeed how to build a shelter, how to garden, how to receive people, how to help people.

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• In fact, I've preached the message many months ago, in fact, a year or two ago, on Southern hospitality and community. And things have just changed, certainly, in the last 75 years, the last 100 years particularly. But, you know, he talks about forced government education. And while I would certainly add that forced government education has simply deteriorated and dumbed down our children to a great degree, because it's tried to put everyone on an equal standing, level everybody out, and bringing everyone down to the absolute lowest level so that no one will feel left out, no one will feel left behind. Well, that's bad enough, certainly, and our children are really being taught what they really need to live, to work, and survive. But on top of that, I would add something else.

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• because the government now has been giving what you and I would call subsidies and welfare, and those things basically end up teaching indolence, laziness, and dependence upon others instead of depending upon yourself. It's impossible to grow men where everyone wishes to be in perpetual childhood. It's impossible to grow men when everyone wishes to play and no one wishes to work. It's impossible to have men when spiritual and biblical truths are not only unknown but neglected, ignored, and refused. It's impossible to have real men where the word of God is not expounded, explained, and applied.

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• I think we need the counsel that David has given Solomon in this passage. Now there's three things I want to share with you today from this simple text. I want to show you what a real man is based upon this text. First of all, I want you to notice that a real man is dependent upon the Lord God. If you look in verse 11, David says to Solomon, "Now my son, the Lord be with thee and prosper thee." So the first thing that should be noted is very simply this: that we need our Lord and His blessings to live, to work, and to have our existence in Him and under Him. David prayed for Solomon, and he asked this simple prayer, "the Lord God be with thee and prosper thee."

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• And certainly if we're going to do anything for God's honor and glory, we need His blessing, we need His power, we need His presence. It was Moses, the man of God, in Psalm 90, verse 17 who said this: "And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it." And note what he said: "the work of our hands establish thou it." So if God does not establish the work of our hands, it is certainly not going to be established; it's not going to stand. So if God does not establish our work, if He does not establish our home, our ministry, our life, all is to no avail. May I point out that anything that man does can be undone by man. But anything that God does cannot be undone.

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• And of course the scripture says it is indeed forever. One of our greatest failings in modern day Christendom is this, that we have done many things—not only in our homes, in our lives, in our churches—we've done many things in the arm of the flesh and depending upon the arm of the flesh. So if you will hold 1 Chronicles 22, but I want you to look, if you would, in Jeremiah chapter 17, Jeremiah 17, and look if you would please beginning there with verse 5. Jeremiah 17 and verse 5.

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• Here is very plainly stated the curse of the Lord and the blessing of the Lord. And I want you to note particularly, first of all, the curse and how this curse is placed upon us. So in Jeremiah 17 and verse 5, the Word of God says this: "Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord." So here then is a special curse upon anyone who trusts solely in man, and makes flesh his arm. Note what else he says, verse 6: "For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited." Now here's the opposite: "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

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• For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." So here's the blessing of God upon the individual that trusts in Him, and here's the curse of God that trusts in the arm of the flesh. Now here's a very simple truth. It is impossible to do the work of God, whatever it is, or wherever it is. It is impossible to do that work successfully in the arm of the flesh. It is impossible to raise a family correctly, love a wife biblically, teach children truthfully, work a job faithfully, and preach powerfully without the blessing and power of God. It's not almost impossible. It is impossible.

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• Now, you say, but we can do this and we can do that. Yes, we can. And once again, we come back under the curse of God in Jeremiah 17 and verse 5. And that's what has really gotten us in a lot of problems in this day and time. We've depended upon anything and everything except the power of God. When you stop and think about, first of all, Samson, do you realize that Samson was just simply an ordinary man?

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• He was not some muscle-bound bodybuilder. He was not some giant. That is what confused the Philistines so much. They could not figure out where his mighty power came from because he was just a normal man. A normal man is not going to take the gates of a city on his own shoulders and walk off and drag him up a hill somewhere. A normal man's not going to be able to pick up the jawbone of an ass and slay a thousand Philistines. No, no, no.

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• But Samson did all that and a whole lot more. But the secret was the fact the power of God was upon him. In fact, when you read through the Bible, when you look at a lot of the heroes or the mighty men that are mentioned in the Bible, you'll always find a phrase similar to this: "and the spirit of the Lord God came upon him," or "the Lord God moved upon him." And when you read in 2 Samuel chapter 23 of all the mighty men that David had, some of the feats that these men did was just absolutely unbelievable. I mean, when you can lift up a spear and kill 300 men in one battle, that's quite extraordinary. And some of these men did even greater deeds than that. But the interesting thing is, once all of these deeds are described for you in 2 Samuel chapter 23, you'll always find this phrase, "and the Lord wrought a great victory that day."

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• Well, now wait a minute. If it was the men like Shammah and some of these others who were doing the fighting, how is it that the Lord brought a great victory? And the answer is, it was God who was enabling and empowering those men to stand and fight. It was God who turned them into a lean, mean, fighting machine is what it amounted to. And without Him, they could not have done those things. So, a real man is basically dependent upon God.

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• This is why in the book of Zechariah chapter 4 and verse 6, the Bible says this: "Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." So everything is to be done in the power of the Holy Spirit of God. So we have to learn that real men then really and truly depend upon God. They do not depend upon the arm of the flesh. They depend upon Him. His mercy, His grace, His power. That is why the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4 in verse 13, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

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• I read just recently about this one cop. I don't remember where it was, but he came up on a scene with a car turned over and a lady in it screaming. She was pinned. She could not get out. And the man ran up, picked up the car by himself and set it aright and rescued the woman. Now may I ask you how that one man did that?

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• Well, you can say adrenaline. You can use whatever you want. But the truth of the matter is if God had not given him the ability and the power, that car would have not gotten righted, and the woman would have probably died. I'm just simply saying, real men end up depending upon the Lord. Now, I think that you can put this down for an absolute truth, and that is this. Consequently, real men are not proud, arrogant, haughty, high-minded individuals, because they realize without the Lord, they're absolutely helpless and can do absolutely nothing. You remember what our Lord said in John 15 in verse 5? "Without me ye can do" how much? Nothing. "Without me ye can do nothing." Let me just show you the opposite of men who trust in themselves.

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• There was a poet, an English poet, by the name of William Ernest Henley. He lived from 1849 to 1903. He's well remembered only for one poem, which is titled "Invictus," which is Latin for unconquered. When I was reading about Henley, I was kind of dumbfounded when I read one thing. First of all, he wrote this poem when he was 27 years of age. Secondly, I read where he had tuberculosis in the bone. I've never heard of such a thing. I always thought tuberculosis was just simply in the lungs. But it was in the bone, and it caused him great and exceeding pain, so much so that one of his legs had to be amputated. Henley died at the age of 53, and since he was an atheist, the only strength he could find was that which he drew from himself and hence he took the stoic attitude and he thought that his sufferings was nothing more than blind chance. And so he wrote this poem "Invictus."

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• I want you to listen to it. You can hear the despair. You can hear not just the despair but the haughtiness, the arrogance, the defiance. Here's what he wrote: "Out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance, my head is bloody but unbowed."

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• "Beyond this place of wrath and tears, looms but the horrors of the shade, and yet the menace of the years find and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul." Wow. Well, I can assure you he knows better now. But Dorothy Day in the 20th century responded to Henley's manifesto and she took his words and rewrote them and titled her poem, "Conquered."

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• And here's what she wrote: "Out of the light that dazzles me, bright as the sun from pole to pole, I thank the God I know to be, for Christ, the conqueror of my soul. Since His the sway of circumstance, I would not wince or cry aloud. Under the rule which men call chance, my head with joy is humbly bowed. Beyond this place of sin and tears, that life with Him and His the aid that spite the menace of the years keeps and will keep me unafraid."

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• "I have no fear how straight the gate. He cleared from punishment the scroll. Christ is the master of my fate. Christ is the captain of my soul." I don't know about you, but I'd much rather be conquered by Christ than just trust in my flesh. You see, the truth of the matter is this. It does not matter how much strength a man has. It does not matter how much power a man has. It does not matter how much muscle he has. It will all deteriorate and fade away because man is finite and God is infinite. And I'd much rather have God's infinite grace and mercy and God's infinite power than my puny little power and ability. So a real man understands he has to be dependent upon God.

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• That's why David said, "Now my son, the Lord be with thee and prosper thee." Now, I want you to look in verse 12, because here's the second thing. Not only is a real man dependent upon God, but secondly, a real man is dependent upon the word of God. Let's read verse 11 and then verse 12. David says, "Now my son, the Lord be with thee, and prosper thee, and build the house of the Lord thy God, as he said of thee. Only the Lord give thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel." Now watch that. "Only the Lord give thee wisdom and understanding." Now wait a minute. Let's talk about wisdom and understanding. If I were to ask the question, what is wisdom?

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• There are many verses that you could think of, and I'm sure that many of you would think of Proverbs 1 and verse 7. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." Now, I want you to note something in that verse. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." So now, fearing the Lord, we have wisdom, we have knowledge, and we have instruction. I hope you notice there is a connection now between wisdom, knowledge, and instruction with God's law word. Look back at verse 12. "Only the Lord give thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep the law of the Lord thy God." Now, I want you to listen to Psalm 111 and verse 10. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments." Now, wait a minute. The fear of the Lord was what? It was wisdom? It was knowledge. It was instruction.

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• Now the fear of the Lord is wisdom, knowledge, instruction, and obedience. Everything is tied to God and His Word.

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• Now, I want you to turn, if you would, holding 1 Chronicles 22, but I want you to turn to Job 28 and look at verse 28. Because here is another aspect of wisdom and understanding. I want you to see this. Job 28 and verse 28. Right before the book of Psalms you have the book of Job. Job 28 verse 28. "And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." Isn't that amazing? "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." Now, if you went back to Proverbs 1 and verse 7, and Psalm 111 and verse 10, you'll find the fear of the Lord deals with wisdom, knowledge, instruction, and obedience. And now, once you tie those together, along with obedience, there is departing from evil.

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• So when one knows the Lord, he knows His Word, for God and His Word cannot be separated. When one knows what is right, he automatically knows what is wrong. When one knows what is truth, he automatically knows that which is error and untruth. When one fears the Lord, the Lord gives him not only grace and mercy, but sense to be obedient. Because you cannot, you cannot apply instruction and knowledge and wisdom and repentance without obedience.

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• Now, listen to Proverbs 9 in verse 10. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." Now isn't that something? He just said in Job 28:28, "to depart from evil is understanding." Now he says in Proverbs 9 in verse 10, "the knowledge of the holy is understanding." Because when you know what is holy, you know that which is unholy. And when you have been taught and you are wise and you have been instructed and you now have knowledge, you're not going to cross God. You're not going to disobey Him. You're not going to stand and defy Him. Now, I want to show you something. I want you to turn in your Bibles. Go back to 1 Chronicles, just momentarily. I want you to turn to Ezra 7. So if you go to 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, the next book is Ezra. I want you to look in Ezra chapter 7.

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• There's a reason for this. Because I'm going to show you basically what wisdom really and truly is. Look in the book of Ezra chapter 7 and verse 25. Now you know that Ezra was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, right? Okay? So look at this. Ezra 7 verse 25. Here's what the king says to Ezra as he goes back to Jerusalem to teach the people. Watch. "And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye them that know them not." Isn't that interesting? "And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that is in thine hand." Now wait a minute. Is it the wisdom of God in your heart? Isn't it in your head? How could it be in his hand? What do you think he had in his hand? A scroll. A scroll. The Word of God written. So he called it the wisdom that is in his hand.

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• Now, if you want to see that in the New Testament, I want you to turn to the book of Luke chapter 11. And I want you to look at verse 49. Because our Lord makes a statement as He quotes from the Old Testament. In Luke 11 and verse 49. In fact, let's read verse 47 just so you can see that our Lord is speaking and He's getting on to the scribes and the Pharisees. Verse 47, He says, "Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute." Now wait a minute. Go back to verse 49. "Therefore also said the wisdom of God." What is our Lord doing? He's quoting from the Old Testament. And what does he refer to the Old Testament as? The wisdom of God.

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• You don't know what the wisdom of God is? It is indeed the Word of God. So if you want to be filled with wisdom, you must be filled with the Word of God. You must be filled with the principles that are clearly taught in the Word of God. Here's another reason why. Psalm 138 and verse 2. Here's what David said, "I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." So God is going to honor his word. If his word ever fails, he fails. The word of God is called the wisdom of God because God authored it and God is wisdom personified. So, if you and I are going to have the wisdom of God, we must know His Word. Therefore, His Word should be preeminent in our lives. You must remember in Isaiah 55, God said, "My Word shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

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• The real man not only is dependent upon God, for he realizes that God is omnipotent. The real man is also dependent upon the Word of God because he realizes that is wisdom. Jesus Christ is wisdom incarnate, but the Bible is wisdom written. That is why you have Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. These books are known as wisdom writings. But all of the Bible is the wisdom of God.

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• Now, so I want you to go back to 1 Chronicles 22. You've seen two things so far. Number one, a real man is dependent upon God. Number two, a real man is dependent upon his word, God's word. Look, if you would please, at verse 13. In fact, let's read 11 and 12 and then get to 13. Because you're going to find the third point here, a real man is obedient to the Word of God. So watch it. He said in verse 11, "Now my son, the Lord be with thee, and prosper thou, and build the house of the Lord thy God, as he said of thee. Only the Lord give thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep the law of the Lord thy God. Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfill the statutes and judgments which the Lord charged Moses with concerning Israel: be strong and of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed." Note if you would in verse 13, he said, "Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfill the statutes and judgments which the Lord charged Moses with concerning Israel."

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• This truth should be very simple, it should be very evident. The whole point of being dependent upon God and the whole point of being dependent upon His Word is so that we may be obedient to His Word. He promises then that He is going to bless us.

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• Now, real men obey, because real men are men of character, integrity, and honesty. There's a good illustration of this. In the book of Job, chapter 1 and verse 1, the Bible says, "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil." Now when the Bible says that Job was perfect, that does not mean that Job was not a sinner.

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• It has no reference whatsoever to what some call sinless perfection. The word perfect means that he was a mature individual. He was an individual of moral character. He was moral. He was upright. He was ethically pure. That would be another way to say it. So here's this man by the name of Job who was perfect, upright, and one that eschewed evil. Now the word eschewed is a very important word, and the reason it's very important is because it shows you what a man who fears God really does. If you are mature and upright in the faith, you will be just like Job. When the Bible says that he eschewed evil, it's from the Hebrew word sur, which means to turn away from, to remove from, to avoid, and to spit out. So, here's a man that is moral and upright, and he can't swallow evil. He can't spit it out. I mean, he can't stomach it. He spits it out.

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• I probably told you this before, I had all of my daughters. I would take them out to the persimmon tree, and I'd pick a green persimmon, and I'd say, "I want you to take a bite of this." "Why, Daddy? Is it good?" "No, sweetheart, it is not good." "Well, Daddy, why should I take a bite of it?" "Because, sweetheart, everyone should understand and know what a green persimmon tastes like." And if you've never bitten into a green persimmon, I challenge you to do so.

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• Your mouth will pucker up. You can't stand it. You're going to spit it out.

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• Now, that is exactly what the Bible says that an upright man does to evil. He can't stomach it. He can't swallow it. He spits it out. He cannot stand it. He gets away from it. And that's why the Bible said that Job was mature and upright. He just simply spit out evil. You see, it is impossible to obey God and remain in sin. It is impossible to be obedient and be disobedient at the same time. We are either obedient or we are disobedient.

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• Now, what did David tell Solomon? He said, "Then," that is once you rely upon the Lord, once you rely upon His Word, then if you're obedient, "then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfill the statutes and the judgments which the Lord charged Moses with concerning Israel."

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• Now, I want you to turn back to the book of Joshua chapter 1, because I want you to see that this is the same truth that God gave to Joshua. Look at it, Joshua chapter 1. And let's begin reading there with verse 7. Joshua 1 and verse 7. God says to Joshua, "Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." So the true believer is dependent upon God and His Word.

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• The true believer is one who obeys. The real man is the one who obeys. The truth of the matter is this. We are not perfect, but we want to be. I want to be. We're not sinless, but I want to be. In other words, I want to be as holy and as godly and as obedient as I can by the grace of God so that I might honor the Lord Jesus Christ.

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• Now, your goal should be obedience. Your goal should be holiness. Your goal should be growth in grace.

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• Now, let me show you something. We're talking about a real man. I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 2. I'm going to read this verse, and I'm going to remind you of something that I covered last week. I just want you to see this. Look, if you would, please, in 1 Timothy 2 and verse 8.

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• We're going to come back to this. Paul writes Timothy and he says, "I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting." Now, if you'll remember, I told you last week that the theme of 1 Timothy is how to behave yourself in the house of God. You found that in verse 15 of chapter 3. Look at it again. 1 Timothy 3 verse 15, Paul says, "But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." Now when you come back to 1 Timothy chapter 2, he tells you about men in the house of God, he tells you about women in the house of God. Interestingly, he said that men ought to pray everywhere. Now it is true that men ought to pray everywhere. They ought to pray all seasons, all times, under all circumstances. But let me point something out according to the theme of 1 Timothy.

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• It should be men and men only that lead in prayer in church. Because remember, this is how we ought to behave ourselves in the church, the house of the living God. So he tells you, now I'm not going to read all this, we covered this last week. How can a woman lead in prayer if she is to be silenced in the church? How can a woman lead in prayer without usurping authority over the men? She can't.

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• So, go back to verse 8. He said, "I will therefore that men pray every where." Now the interesting thing is, when you get to the word "men" in verse 8, it is a special Greek word. The general word that is used is anthropos or anthropoi would be plural. But anthropos is where we get the word for anthropology, which is just simply the study of mankind. Anthropoi would refer to men and women. It's just people. But when you look in 1 Timothy 2 and verse 8, the word is not anthropoi. It is aner.

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• We would spell it A-N-E-R. And it means a man, a husband, a sir, a fella. This is a word that distinguishes a man from a boy and a man from a woman. So he is saying in the church it is to be the men who are to lead in prayer. So where are the men leading in prayer in our churches? And why are some churches asking women to lead in prayer? I remember I was in one little country church years ago, and I even at that time I'd already pastored for 30, 40 years. I was just there visiting and not a lot of other men there that I knew. And the pastor got up and he said, "I'm gonna call on sister so-and-so to lead us in prayer." I thought, what? There I sat. There sat other men. And I thought, why in the world would he do that? Are there no men in that church?

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• He may have been totally ignorant of this, but the problem is this. Most men have abdicated their role and their position of leadership. They've abdicated so much so that many are now even afraid to pray publicly. Let me give you an illustration. One of the men that I have always admired after having studied his life is Stonewall Jackson. If you'd really like to be blessed, you read Robert L. Dabney's book, "The Life and Times and Campaigns of General Stonewall Jackson." He was indeed an amazing man and Stonewall Jackson is not only noted for his Christianity but he also is noted for his eminent prayer life. Stonewall had a pastor, Dr. White, and Dr. White encouraged his men to lead in devotions and in prayer in church. Well, Stonewall had never prayed publicly and so he—what did Pastor White say? And here's what he said, "You are my pastor and the spiritual guide of the church. And if you think it is my duty, then I shall waive my reluctance and make the effort to lead in prayer, however painful it may be."

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• Well, after a while, Pastor White did indeed call on Stonewall Jackson to lead in prayer publicly in church. And he obeyed. But with such difficulty and such embarrassment, not only to himself, he could not get his words out, he was fumbling, he was making mistakes. He not only embarrassed himself, he embarrassed the church. And so after a while, Stonewall realized that Pastor White had not called on him in a while to lead in prayer. And so he confronted his pastor. And the pastor admitted to him that the reason he had not called on him any longer was he wanted to spare him the embarrassment and the humiliation. And here is what Stonewall said.

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• "Yes, but my comfort or discomfort is not the question. If it is my duty to lead my brethren in prayer, then I must persevere in it until I learn to do it aright. And I wish you, sir, to discard all consideration for my feelings in this matter." And Dr. White did, and he called on Jackson over and over until Jackson became eminent in praying. He is known for his prayers, both privately and publicly.

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• Of course, when you understand 1 Timothy 2 and verse 8, it's not that women cannot pray. They should pray. They should pray personally. They should pray privately. They should pray in their homes. They should pray with their children. They should pray under many circumstances. The only thing 1 Timothy 2 and verse 8 is forbidding is for women to pray publicly in church. But I want you to note something about verse 8. He said, "I will therefore that men pray every where." A real man is not embarrassed to pray. He's not embarrassed to pray publicly, privately, in church, in the grocery store, on the street, or in the bank. It doesn't matter.

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• I have a message, I haven't preached it yet. I'll give you one illustration out of it. The message actually deals with the conversion of General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest was not a Christian during the war. He became one after the war. But even during the war, he had more moral standards than a lot of professing Christians of that day and our day as well. But General Forrest began attending the Court Avenue Presbyterian Church, where the Reverend George Stainback was pastor. And Stainback was a real expositor of the Word of God and a preacher of the Gospel. And General Forrest got under conviction. But he was walking on the street one day and he met one of the men who had formerly been under his command, Raleigh White. And when he saw Raleigh, he said, "Raleigh, it's you." "Yes, General Forrest," he said, "it's me." "Well," he said, "Raleigh, I thought you'd gone to South America, some other place." "No," Raleigh said, "I've never went there." He said, "After the war," he said, "I was converted to Jesus Christ."

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• He said, "I was led to Christ by my wife." He said, "I was in business. But," he said, "the call of God came upon me and he said, I just could not stand it." And he said, "I left my business and I began pastoring." He was pastoring a Baptist church in Texas at that time. And so, General Forrest was impressed with Raleigh White's testimony. And he asked Raleigh White if he would pray for him. And Raleigh White said, "Well, of course." He took General Forrest by the hand, walked into the bank lobby, and both knelt on their knees while Raleigh prayed for General Forrest.

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• Can you imagine that happening today? People coming in and out, hear two men on their knees in the lobby of the bank praying. You say, "Well, I would never do that." Well, maybe God in his providence will put you in a bank somewhere, sometime, when there's an armed robbery going on and you might learn to pray in a bank, and you might even learn to pray out loud. I'm just simply saying, men, real men, are not ashamed to pray because they know who the Lord is and they know the power of prayer. Now, I want you to go back to 1 Timothy, look in chapter 2 at verse 8. Here's what he said: "I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting." Our prayers must be with holy hands. The Greek word is hosios and refers to one that is free from wickedness and one that is pure and holy. You remember that passage in Psalm 66 and verse 18 where David said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me."

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• So obviously if we pray, we're going to have to be praying with holy hands because we are holding iniquity and sin in our heart. God's not going to hear us, but that's not all. Look what he said: "I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting."

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• Now, the word wrath refers to anger, vengeance, and indignation. It is impossible to pray aright if one has an unforgiving, hateful, vindictive attitude. Absolutely impossible. In fact, did you know in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 15, our Lord said it like this, "But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." And bitterness and anger and vindictiveness and hatefulness is sin. All of those things are sin. And how in the world can you pray aright if you have wrath in your life?

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• Oh, he also talks about doubting. You know what doubting is? Doubting is hesitation. It's doubting. It's disputing with oneself, either concerning your petitions or disputing with God or about the promises of His Word. Do you realize one of the very first requirements for prayer is found in Hebrews 11 and verse 6? Well, the Bible says, "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must first believe that he is, and secondly that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." How in the world can you pray in faith if you're doubting your petition or doubting the Word of God or doubting God? It's impossible. So he said, "I will that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and without doubting." Let me show you one other, if you will turn right on over to the book of James and look in chapter 1. And let's begin reading there with verse 5. Here's another passage that is similar to 1 Timothy 2 and verse 8.

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• James 1, look in verse 5. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith," here it is, "nothing wavering," that is no doubting, no vacillating, "but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

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• For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." So when he says that we're to lift up holy hands without wrath and without doubting, it means very clearly then we have to have pure lives, with no known sin harboring in our minds and our hearts, and without doubting the veracity of God or His Word. You see, a real man is not only dependent upon God, he's not only dependent upon the Word of God, he is obedient, and he wants to be obedient. You cannot have dependence upon God and dependence upon His Word without obedience in your life.

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• Matthew Henry said on 1 Timothy 2 and verse 8 this: "Under the gospel, prayer is not to be confined to any one particular house of prayer, but men must pray everywhere. We must pray in our churches, in our closets, in our families, at our meals, pray while we're on our journeys, pray in the solemn assemblies, whether more public or private. We must pray in love without wrath or malice or anger towards any person. We must pray in faith without doubting and without disputing." That's true.

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• But a real man wants to do that because he wants to be obedient in every area of his life. We don't get to pick and choose. Whatever God says is true, is true.

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• Now let me try to tie this together with a couple of applications. If you remember the two previous messages that I've preached. Real men work, fight, prepare, and pray. Real men fulfill their duties and obligations and responsibilities as unto the Lord for His honor and His glory. What does the Bible say? "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all to the glory of God."

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• Then it doesn't matter if you're digging a ditch, it doesn't matter if you're preaching, doesn't matter if you're building on a house. Whatever you do, do all to the honor and glory of God. So that brings me back to the title of these messages. Here's the question. Where are the real men? Where are the men that can build a marriage? Where are the men that can build a home? Where are the men that can build a family? Where are the men that can build children and bring their children up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord? Where are the men that can lead in churches? Where are the men that can lead in our communities? Where are the men that can lead a nation in honesty, integrity, and character? Where indeed are the men who are willing to stand up against wickedness and ungodliness and challenge the darkness and say, "Thus saith the Lord God"? Where are the men who are willing to sacrifice their reputation, their sacred honor, and their goods in order to honor God and to stand for what is right?

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• You say, "Man, you're asking too much." I think I remember correctly there was 56 men at one time that signed a document that said that they included even their sacred honor in the Declaration of Independence. Where are the men today? We have put our stamp of approval on everything but real biblical manhood. We've put our stamp of approval upon everything but truth and righteousness. We've put our stamp of approval on everything except character and integrity and honesty. Where are the real men?

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• May I tell you something? If God does not intervene, before this year is over, I would just imagine there's going to be some real separation. I know that he's going to separate the wheat from the chaff, I understand that. But I think he's going to separate the men from the snowflakes too. I really believe that. And it's time that we man up and do that which is right and holy and confront evil and wickedness and ungodliness and take our stand in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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• Depending upon Him and His power and His words and for Him to make that Word effective in every area of our lives. Where are the real men? Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to You this day. We thank You for Your Word. And Lord, we do pray that You would indeed be pleased to give us men. Give us stalwart men, men of character, courage, integrity, honesty, men of principle, men of character, men of integrity. Give us men who are unashamed to stand, to fight, and unashamed to pray, to acknowledge Thee. Give us, Lord, men that will serve Thee effectively with reverence and godly fear. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T16:12:17Z