“A GODLY MAN”
SELECTED SCRIPTURES

I. Introduction
Who is a godly man? A godly man is not a “fan” of Jesus; he is a follower of Jesus. He serves his Lord and Savior willingly and joyfully. Such a man commits himself to God and as a result of that commitment; he lives this temporal earthly life with a view of the eternal heavenly life to come.

Jeff gave us one biblical description of such a man to open the service this morning when he read from Micah 6:6-8. Listen again to v. 8.
Micah 6:8
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

“Justice” means doing what is right in God’s sight. The Hebrew word translated “kind-ness” essentially means that a man who is good in God’s eyes is a man who loves mercy. “Walk” as it is used by Micah does not speak of an occasional or a one-time thing, but of a consistent and ongoing lifestyle. And isn’t humility defined as the absence of pride?

How can you know if you are godly? You are if you know what is right and strive to do it. You are if you love mercy and dispense kindness. You are if you are genuinely hum-ble before God and men. The Lord says those things are good.

The godly man walks upstream against the flow of the world and its systems. He does not do so in his own power because he knows he has none. He knows he is able to walk against the flow because of the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul said, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13).”

So we believe God’s Word when it says that godly men are just or righteous, merciful, and humble. And we believe God’s Word when it tells us that only God can work those things out in our lives. But justice, mercy, and humility are seldom embraced by men today. Those traits are often looked upon as something less than “manly,” aren’t they?

Just a few generations ago manliness was personified by men like General George Pat-ton, Babe Ruth, John Wayne, and heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano. But in these last decades the popular culture’s ideas of manliness have dramatically changed. Today’s idea of manliness is found in the likes of Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tiger Woods, and Bill Clinton. I’ll leave it to you to argue the merits of their manliness. But when was it that Sean Connery morphed into Justin Bieber?

I don’t know but I can tell you one thing: Being righteous, merciful, and humble would not rank high on a list of attributes of any of the men I just named. Those qualities aren’t what they would want to present to the world around them.
If there is (or was) any real godliness in the private lives of the men whose names I’ve mentioned, it certainly hasn’t shown itself in their public lives. Publicly at least, they all project an image of fearlessness, strength, power, influence, and pride. It’s unlikely any of them would see the connection between manliness and mercy, or manliness and humil-ity, or manliness and godliness, or manliness and fearfulness of any kind. These popular heroes tend to see themselves as many others see them – real men afraid of nothing.

But the Bible sees things differently. The Bible presents an unbreakable bond between manliness, godliness, and fear. When those traits are fully united in the believer there are blessings that this world cannot give.
*Psalm 128:1-4
1 How blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in His ways.
2 When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, you will be happy and it will be well with you.
3 Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine, within your house, your children like olive plants around your table.
4 Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed who fears the LORD.

It’s important that we define some terms here.

First, blessed simply means happy, but God’s blessings do more than provide happiness. Happiness is nothing more than an emotion. It’s a feeling that comes and goes as quickly as our circumstances change. But God’s blessings have the power to fill us with a super-natural joy that the world can neither give nor take away. For the Christian our circum-stances may well affect our happiness in this world, but they have no affect on our joy in Christ.

Second, for the Christian, being fearful of God does not equate to being afraid of God. For a Christian, the fear of God is best described as reverence or holy awe. No one whom God has saved needs to be scared or afraid of Him. His promises to all of His children confirm His faithfulness and remove all doubt.
Deuteronomy 31:6 (Moses’ words to Israel before they crossed into the Promised Land)
6 “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”

Psalm 118:6
6 The LORD is for me; I will not fear; what can man do to me?

So the fear of death, punishment, and destruction in hell is not an issue for God’s people. A godly man is not to be afraid of any of those things. But a godly man most certainly reveres God and stands in awe of Him. That’s the only sense in which we are to fear Him. It is that fear which determines how we live our daily lives. It is that fear which causes us to fall on our knees before Him and offer up true and sincere worship.
It is that fear which causes us to surrender ourselves to Him. And it is only in that fear where we find real joy and true godliness.
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II. Text
So my premise this morning can be summarized in just a few words. “A godly man is a fearful man.”

John Murray was a Scottish born Presbyterian theologian who said, “The fear of God is the soul of godliness.” Murray argued that everything worthwhile begins with the fear of God. The Scriptures make that abundantly clear, don’t they?
*Proverbs 1:7
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

We don’t educate ourselves and deepen our knowledge of the world in order to come to the point where we learn the fear of the Lord. On the contrary, what Solomon is telling us is that unless and until we learn to fear the Lord we will never learn anything of eternal value. Then he goes on to say that those who do not know the Lord are fools. And only a fool has no fear of God. But those who do know the Lord are wise.
*Proverbs 9:10
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Until we understand and acknowledge who God is, and develop a reverential awe (fear) of Him, we will be neither knowledgeable nor wise. We may know the ways of the world, but the world will pass away, and the knowledge and wisdom of the world will pass away with it. It’s only when we fear God that true knowledge and genuine wisdom can begin.

In the Apostle Paul’s great doctrinal letter to the church at Rome he describes the condi-tion of unregenerate men and women.
*Romans 3:10-18
10 There is none righteous, not even one;
11 there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God;
12 all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.
13 Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips;
14 whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness;
15 their feet are swift to shed blood,
16 destruction and misery are in their paths,
17 and the path of peace they have not known.
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

They do not fear God! That’s the bottom line. In these nine short verses in Romans Paul has identified and defined godlessness. The godless do not fear God. Could it be any clearer than that? But the godly man does fear God.

Do you sometimes question your salvation? Do you sometimes wonder, “Am I truly saved?” Let me answer that question with a question. Do you fear God? Do you revere Him and find yourself in awe of Him even though your faith is sometimes weak? Yes? Then use that answer to affirm your faith. Genuine fear of God is proof that you have begun your journey on the road to knowledge and wisdom. Listen, genuine fear of God tells you that you have nothing to be afraid of!

Consider how the fear of God has blessed His people. What about Job? Job could never have endured all that he did were it not for his fear of God. Satan said that if God brought pain and hardship down on Job he would curse God to His face (Job 1:11). But what did God say?
Job 2:3a
3a And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil…”

Then Satan did his best to destroy Job and prove God wrong. How did the man who feared God emerge on the other side of his trials?
Job 42:2 (at the end of Job’s ordeal)
2 Then Job answered the LORD and said, “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.”

In the end Job recognized that complaining and questioning God was futile. In the pro-cess he learned humility and with that he finally saw God for who He is. Job said…
Job 42:5-6
5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.
6 Therefore, I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes.”

Job’s fear of God, while always there to some degree, had been perfected. His character was solidified, his faith was increased, and his fortunes were restored to him.

It is the fear of the Lord that drives us to obedience. Let me give you two NT examples of the blessings that come from obedience. A godly man will not defraud his employer because he fears (reveres) God more than men. In the first example Paul is speaking directly to slaves but the principle applies to anyone who works for or submits himself to someone else. And are we not all in submission to someone?
Colossians 3:22-24
22 Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men;
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.

What did Micah 6:8 say? “…what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Godly men are just, kind, and humble. Godly men fear the Lord. As a result of that fear they obey Him and He blesses them.

Here is another example of the blessings that come from obedience. A godly man is one who separates himself from the world. In 2 Corinthians 6 Paul warns us against making binding agreements or alliances with unbelievers. He says that there is one primary rea-son that we should not enter into such things.
*2 Corinthians 6:14-16
14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?
15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial (old Hebrew word for Satan), or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?
16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the
temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

Righteousness, light, Christ, and the true church of God have nothing in common with lawlessness, darkness, Satan, and the false church. It is for this reason that we are not to bind ourselves together with unbelievers. We have nothing in common with them.

In v. 14 “bound together” does not refer to casual or peripheral contact. It’s understood that you cannot be in this world without such contact. So Paul isn’t talking about our daily exchanges and contacts with unbelieving friends, neighbors, employers, or extended family members.

What he is talking about is intimate or close personal relationships like marriage, busi-ness partnerships, or spiritual endeavors. The whole point is that since belief has nothing in common with unbelief you and your partner will be trying to go in two different direc-tions. What is God’s remedy for this? Paul quotes the Prophet Isaiah.
*2 Corinthians 6:17-18
17 “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you.
18 “And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” says the Lord Almighty.

While it is clear that we are not to divorce an unbelieving spouse simply because they do not know Christ (1 Corinthians 7:10-16), it is not quite so clear as to what to do about busi-ness partnerships or other close alliances that may already exist.
There are two extreme schools of thought about that. One says you dissolve the partner-ship as soon as possible. The other says that since God has called you where you are, you are free to remain in it. Personally I think both answers are a little too simplistic. Since there is such a wide variety of agreements, and since no two business partners are in the exact same relationship as any other two, much prayer and wisdom is called for.
Proverbs 9:10
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

There is no doubt that the principle taught in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 can be applied to marriage and business partnerships but in context, the primary point Paul is making has to do with spiritual relationships. When people come to saving faith they are to break their former ties with false doctrine and false religion. Again, since they no longer have anything in common with unbelief, why would they stay united to it?

Yet over the years I have known many professing Christians who stay in churches that do not preach the gospel, do not teach the Word of God, and in some cases, do not even acknowledge the deity of Christ. They have many reasons for staying – family, friends, traditions, personal comfort, etc. – but none of them are valid in God’s sight.
2 Corinthians 6:16-17
16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the
temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
17 “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you.

The hard fact is that if godliness is dependent upon obedience and the fear of the Lord, then this is an area where countless professing Christians are in open rebellion against God’s revealed truth. Just as Christians are called to lay aside sinful habits and all forms of idolatry, so too are they called to separate themselves from unbelieving churches.

This is of critical importance today because of the proliferation of false teachers and churches that have softened or even shunned the truth in order to be more attractive to the lost world.

There is no doubt that leaving a church that a person may have been in all of their lives can be difficult and painful. But God promises that those who submit to Him in this way will be rewarded.
*2 Corinthians 7:1
1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

So we have seen that a godly man is one who fears the Lord and humbles himself before Him. When he does so, God blesses him.
We have seen that a godly man is one who fears the Lord and submits himself to all law-ful authority. When he does so, God blesses him. And we have seen that a godly man is one who obeys the Lord in regard to his personal relationships and alliances with others. When he does so, God blesses him.

I think you can readily see how these blessings are tied to the fear of God. Let me repeat what theologian John Murray said, “The fear of God is the soul of godliness.” Listen, if there is no fear there can be no godliness.

The problem today is that so much preaching and teaching focuses solely on God’s love. He loves us and we love Him. And so there are those out there who say there’s really no need to fear God at all. God is love, to be sure. But the question must be asked, what about His holiness? What about His omnipotence, His omniscience, and His omnipre-sence? What about His sovereignty in the affairs of men? And what about the wrath to come? In other words, what about the sum and substance of who and what God is?

Unless all of God’s attributes are held up for us to be awed by and to marvel at, we begin to see Him as little more than a bigger version of ourselves. God likes what we like. God is pleased when we’re pleased. God is happy when we’re happy. Eventually we make for ourselves a god we don’t need to fear at all. We create a god who barely resem-bles the God of the Bible. But such a god is easy to love, isn’t he? After all, he’s us.

How can we love the God of the Bible when we are admonished to fear Him? The point is that you can’t love the God of the Bible unless you fear Him. Real and true fear of God is what causes us to love Him. Listen to what He told His chosen nation Israel.
Deuteronomy 10:12-13
12 “And now, Israel, what does your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all you soul,
13 and to keep the LORD’S commandments and His statutes which I am com-manding you today for your good?”

The last three words are the key here. “…for your good.” God’s call to the Israelites to commit themselves to Him, to humble themselves before Him, to obey Him, to serve Him, to love Him, and yes, to fear Him, is for their good. But how can you love a God who demands all this of you?

The answer comes into view when you understand that you were hopelessly and helpless-ly lost in your sin and under the penalty of eternal condemnation. The answer becomes crystal clear when you understand that this same God has provided for your sal-vation. You can love a God who calls you to fear Him because He has had mercy on you and sent His Son to take your sin upon Himself and die for you. So the question isn’t how can you love such a God? The question is how can you not love such a God?
But He is holy and He hates sin. Whether they are consciously aware of it or not the fact is that unregenerate sinners have no hope. They are still under condemnation and unless they repent, the day will come when their fear will become terror. But the Christian’s fear, godly fear, is free from the terror of condemnation.

The Book of Romans has been called the pinnacle of the NT. Romans 8 has been called the pinnacle of Romans. For believers it begins with the promise of no condemnation.
*Romans 8:1
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Then it goes on to tell us that we are foreknown by God, predestined, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified. Finally, Romans 8 ends with the promise of no separation.
*Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am convinced that neither life nor death, nor angels, nor principali-ties, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separ-ate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

All of this comes from godly fear.
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III. Conclusion
The fear of God and the love of God are but two aspects of our response to Him. When both are working in our hearts as God intends, true godliness is the inevitable result.
*Psalm 19:7:11
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether.
10 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

So gentlemen, be in awe of the Lord, revere the Lord, honor the Lord, love the Lord, and fear the Lord. If you do these things you will be a godly husband, a godly father, a godly employee, a godly friend, and a godly man, and your reward will be great.

~ Pray ~