Sought For A Man

Introduction

In Ezekiel chapter 22 and in verse 30, the scripture says, Where are the men? God speaking. I sought for a man among them that they should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it, but I found none. Of course, spoken at a time when the people of God had involved themselves in idolatry and ungodliness.

But as though to explain why this occurred, God first would say, I sought for a man. But I found none.

And so I called in advance to Vernita Goodall, who was the manager of the bookstore at the time, to tell her that there’s a new book out. She said, What’s the title? I said, I sought for a man. Her response was, Oh, that’ll go real good in the girl’s dorm. They’re all seeking a man. But of course, that is not the reason behind God’s statement, or really the title of this book. Indeed, the Lord does seek for men. Not just male, but even female, in the sense that I’m looking for someone who’ll stand up for the cause of righteousness. And had my people been led away back to at least godliness and righteousness, indeed, God would not have destroyed the land. We know how God looks at man.

He doesn’t just look at the outward appearance. In fact, when the scripture tells about Samuel seeking to anoint one to take the place of the king Saul, who had erred and sinned against God, he went down to the home of Jesse. And when this eldest son Eliab came before him, Samuel thought, Surely this is the Lord’s anointed. And to that, in 1 Samuel 16 and verse 7, the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I’ve refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Seven sons of Jesse passed before Samuel, before David, the great king of Israel, was anointed by Samuel, the prophet of God.

You see what God looks for as men and or women, I should say, who are of moral and spiritual character, who will stand up for righteousness and against ungodliness. Indeed, not only was this statement found in Ezekiel 22, but even Isaiah earlier than Ezekiel before they went into captivity. God through Isaiah and Isaiah 59 and verse 16, as well as in chapter 63 and verse 5. God sought for one. And the scripture says he saw that there was no man. Yet God’s people went into captivity. The fact is that God did not find one who would stand in the gap, who would make up the hedge, who would be there to stand for righteousness. Actually, today, if we were to try to say, well, let’s find a man, we’d have to say there are some characteristics that society would think at least are important, but God would not think important.

I mean, for example, if we were to say, I’m looking for manhood, you know, one of the first characteristics would probably say physical strength. You don’t have to be very old. You can take a six-year-old boy and ask him how strong are you? He loves to show his muscles, right? Oh, that’s that’s a sign of manhood to be strong, isn’t it? Or it might be that we want someone who is popular. Maybe because of their looks, maybe it’s a beautiful girl or a handsome young man, or sometimes being wealthy or rich sets one apart, and we’d like to be in that position, popular among our fellow mankind. Or certainly having an important position also is a sign of strength or of manhood, isn’t it? I mean, if you were the captain of your football team, or maybe the president of your class, or maybe you’re the boss at the job or CEO of your company.

1. Physical Strength: Samson

Maybe you’re mayor of a town. These are all important positions. That’s a sign, really, isn’t it, of real strength and character. Well, these are important to man in the flesh. But when we began to look at how God rates them, we’d have to say there are some of these characteristics that really didn’t always prove to be so good after all. If you were to ask any Bible student, who’s the strongest man in the Bible? Well, we all know the answer to that, don’t we? Samson. Why in Judges chapters 14, 15, and 16, children love to hear and read about the story of Samson. He’s remembered as the strongest man and the mighty works he did, why he killed a lion with his bare hands, and he slew many of the Philistines, defeated them.

But he was a Nazarite from his birth. Judges 13 and verse 5, even to his parents was told, and that meant that he was not to cut his hair. And he was not to drink wine or eat unclean meat. And yet, though this man, as long as he had the hair uncut, he had his strength, didn’t he? But when we say this was a man, judge of Israel, we also have to say there’s a sad story about Samson, isn’t there? Allured by sexual immorality. He sought after a woman, Delilah, a Philistine woman, whom he had no right to be with. And yet, through her, he had his downfall. She learned his secret. She had his hair cut. He lost his strength, for the Lord departed from him.

2. Being Popular: Absalom Tempted by Selfish Greed

Physical strength wasn’t really all that made him a man. He wasn’t the kind of man God would seek for. But then even being popular, whether handsome or for that matter, wealthy, we might think of Absalom. Absolutely was the son of David, the great king of Israel. In fact, the scripture says in 2 Samuel 14 and verse 25, in all Israel, there was no one who was praised as much as Absalom for his good looks, from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. There was no blemish in him. That’s quite a statement. How many young men would like to be described in that way? No blemish from the sole of his feet to the crown of his head. And yet, when we look at the story of Absalom, what we’d have to say is it didn’t turn out so good either.

Tempted by selfish greed. Here was a man who sought finally the throne of his own father. In 2 Samuel 15 in verses 1 through 6, the scripture says, It happened that Absalom provided himself with chariots and horses and fifty men to run before him. He would rise early and stand beside the way to the gate. So it was whenever anyone who had a lawsuit came to the king for a decision. That Absalom would call to him and say, What city are you from? And he would say, Your servant is from such and such a tribe of Israel. Then Absalom would say to him, Look, your case is good and right, but there’s no deputy of the king to hear you. Moreover, Absalom would say, Oh, that I were made judge in the land, and everyone who has any suit or cause would come to me.

Then I would give him justice. And so it was. Whenever anyone came near to bow down to him, that he would put out his hand and take him and kiss him. And in this manner, Absalom acted toward all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. Here’s a young man who now is not satisfied to be simply the king’s son. And I would say there’s a selfish greed involved in his action. Gathered an army about him. In fact, after winning the hearts of the people and saying, you know, it’s as though to imply my father David wouldn’t do what I do. If you’ll just let me be king. And then he set an army out to even kill his own father.

At one point, in this effort to follow after David, and the battle ensues, Absalom with his beautiful head of hair, the scripture says, as his mew goes under a low brow of an oak tree, his hair is caught up in the branch. His mule keeps on going, and there Absalom hangs, you might say, from his head of hair under this tree. When the word comes to Joab, David’s commander in chief, Joab, then goes and finding Absalom, he kills him. For he’s the enemy of God’s people. He is enemy of David. You’d think at that point, you know, there would be great rejoicing that this man who’s tried to usurp the throne is now put to death. But can you imagine the heart of David? I think how many fathers might grieve like a David.

In 2 Samuel 18 and verse 33, the scripture says the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said thus, O my son Absalom. My son, my son Absalom. If only I had died in your place. O Absalom, my son, my son. Reading that passage almost makes me want to weep with David. Here’s a son. And yet he turned against his own father. David didn’t want him to be killed, but Joab saw that was what was best. How many fathers or mothers would grieve because their children, maybe because of wrong attitudes, whatever, at least whether it’s greed or selfishness, turn their hearts away from God’s cause and turn simply to a fleshly goal. Oh, my son, my son.

3. An Important Position: Saul Filled With Pride

But not only that, we might think, you know, being in an important position. Oh, that’s the sign of greatness, isn’t it? Oh, that’s everybody wants to have a position of leadership. But how about Saul, the first king of Israel. When Saul was anointed to be king of Israel, they couldn’t find him. He had hidden among the equipment, among the baggage. He was a man humble of heart. Now, he was king of Israel. He’s the first king of Israel. You talk about an important place and position. Saul, this humble man, is given the throne over God’s people. Of course, God had been their king, but they had rejected him as king, and therefore anointed this man Saul to be the king. Later, though he started as a humble man, time passed that we see this man becoming filled with pride.

And in fact, whenever God gave the command for him, recorded in 1 Samuel 15, to go down and destroy the Amalekites. See, God remembered a promise made really 400 years earlier, when the children of Israel were coming out of Egyptian bondage, and Amalek and his army had caught the rear or the fore the back part of the children of Israel and made battle against them. Not only because as Moses held up his hands that God’s people win the battle. But nevertheless, God had declared even back then that there would come a time that he would utterly destroy the Amalekites. And so the time had come, he wanted Saul to fulfill that promise. And yet in 1 Samuel 15 it is recorded that when Saul went to make the battle that God commanded, he spared Agag, the king.

And he spared the best of the sheep and the oxen. The scripture tells us he made justification of it in his own mind. I’m reading first Samuel 15, beginning in verse 17. Where when Samuel went out to meet him, Samuel said, When you were little in your own eyes, see there, the cut the key right off, when you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? Now the Lord sent you on a mission and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed. Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord?

And Samuel and Saul said to Samuel, but I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. And I’ve gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag, king of Amalek, and I’ve utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. Now you notice the thinking, number one, I’ve obeyed the Lord. Saul has become so proud in his own heart that no doubt he thought that whatever he thought was right, God would approve. A lot of people think that way, even religiously today. But pride had led him to go ahead and do his will rather than what God had said.

And for that matter, not only had he allowed it, the people had a good excuse. The people brought back the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to God. Their intentions are to worship God. Isn’t that all that matters? How many in the religious world think that way today? It really doesn’t matter. Some say what we do, so long as we’re worshiping God. But here are the words of Samuel in verse 22. Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord. Behold, who obey is better than sacrifice of the heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he also has rejected you from being king.

What a sad finish to a man who started all humble and now and crowned as the king of God’s people, to now have the throne taken from him, and even certainly to be regarded as an unfaithful and a disobedient man. Indeed, what man may count as characteristics that we think are most important aren’t always what God wants. In fact, when man’s heart can be turned either by the lurement of sexual immorality, or by selfish greed, or even through pride, to lift oneself up, as Saul lifted himself up, then really these characteristics we might think are good, turn out to be to the detriment of mankind. Really, when we look at the story, we probably want to say, what does God really seek? The characteristics that God really seeks are not always those which men may think are important.

4. A Heart That Will Not Sin Against God: Joseph

And we have illustration really of others. That instead, instead of just being physically strong and being allured to sexual immorality, God wants a heart that will not sin against God. And in that we find the great character, the Bible name Joseph. The story in Genesis chapter 39, at a time when Potiphar’s wife sought him day by day to come and commit adultery with her. Yet Joseph’s word was, I cannot sin against God. Now, when you want to think about Joseph, it’s it’s really quite a story. For at age 17, he has his brothers to sell him. Can you imagine having others, your own flesh, who would want you dead? Only because of the eldest son Reuben did they not actually kill him. But they did sell him.

And then Joseph, certainly knowing that this is the attitude of his brothers, he thought, no doubt my father Jacob will come after me. Time passed and Jacob didn’t come searching for Joseph. Joseph down in Egypt would wonder, and he could have said, Well, I wonder if God has forgotten about me, why can a good God let this happen to me? Sometimes there are those of us who reason that way against God whenever things don’t go exactly like we would want. But of course, we know the story that God had not forgotten Joseph. And really Joseph had not forgotten God. And because Joseph continued to serve the Lord God, God blessed him even there as he served in Potiphar’s house. But when the temptation for sexual immorality, and he’s a young man, you might say he had every reason in a fleshly way to have succumbed to the pleas of this woman.

In fact, he’s going to get thrown in jail or prison if he doesn’t. But he still has the attitude. I will not sin against God. What comes first in your life? God. Even when circumstances may not be at your choosing or like your liking. And yet you serve God. And of course, the final end of that story is how God blessed Joseph and used him. As to be the very one through whom, of course, his own people his own family later comes down to Egypt and are blessed for a period of time until they form as the kind of family that God had promised to Abraham and they come up out of Egyptian bondage later on. Indeed, Joseph was a great man because he had a heart that would not sin against God, even though he had every opportunity to do otherwise.

5. A Heart That Looks to the Future: Moses

Or the heart that looks to the future, not the moment’s pleasure. Oh, indeed, man might think that the popular popularity.

Now let me be clear. It isn’t a sin to be strong. And it isn’t a sin to be popular of itself. And it isn’t a sin to have some kind of important role as a leader. But these are not by itself the goal that makes you really the kind of man God seeks. God wants a heart that will not sin against him, a heart that continues to say, I’m simply, I’m simply a servant passing through. I was born, I didn’t make myself born, I didn’t bring anything with me. And I’m just passing through. I’m a pilgrim. And you know, someday I’m going to die. And he looks to the future. He looks beyond the moment’s pleasure. He has a greater goal in mind than just the now.

Who would you think of in that respect? I’ll tell you what I think of, it’s Moses. You no doubt know the story how Moses was raised as a son of Pharaoh’s daughter. I mean, you talk about privilege. Moses had anything you might say that a man could desire. And yet, in fact, even in Acts chapter 7, the scripture says of Moses that he was educated in the learning of the Chaldeans. He was mighty in word and deed. While Moses was a man of strength and importance, I’d have to say that, you know, he could have whatever wheels he wanted. Sometimes kids today think, you know, having wheels, that’s the sign, isn’t it? Well, he could have, he could add a chariot with gold spokes if he wanted it.

I mean, he could have had the finest garb. He could warn whatever he wanted. He’s a king’s son. He could have had any girl of his choosing. Moses had it. Wasn’t he? Did he? Well, again, the story, and he’s used in Hebrews chapter 11 as a great character of faith. Although he had all these privileges we might think are privileges, Moses gave them all up. In Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 24, the scripture says, by faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. For he looked to the reward.

Get the last point. He looked to the reward. Oh, there were treasures in Egypt, but he gave them up. And when you study the life of Moses from that point forward, it was not a life any of us would, if we had choice, would say, Ah, boy, I’d sure like to wander in the wilderness for 40 years with these people murmuring and complaining against God. Moses. Moses, you mean you’d give up those treasures in Egypt for this kind of a life? But we remember Moses as a great servant of God, wasn’t he? Indeed he was. And what was his goal? What was the underlying factor in his choosing what he chose? He looked to the reward. We must keep in our hearts where our destiny is.

Whenever we’re tempted and we are with the daily things and the moment’s pleasure, and we’re all the devil has a way. He’s a liar and the father of lies. He has that way of making it look like this is what is fun. This is the best thing for now. And there are those who do not think of the future that think about the moment. Indeed, you may be popular doing that. You may be having the world around you, lifting you up and thinking how great you are as man or woman. But if you’ve forsaken God in the process, you’ve only brought sorrow to your heart. Brought sorrow to your life, even as Absalom did, who by greed and things of this world only, indeed lost it all.

6. A Heart That Refuses to Compromise God’s Commands: Daniel

Indeed, be like a Moses. Look to the future. But not only that, when we stop and think about what really makes men great, we know that God looks for a heart that refuses to compromise God’s commands. Indeed, there was Saul who thought himself able to choose whatever he thought was best, and God would surely like it if Saul thought it was right. Pride lifted him up to think he knew more, no doubt, than even Samuel. He knew more than what had been ordered by God. But Saul was brought down. Saul, through his pride, lost it all. But when we look at the kind of man God chooses, we’d have to say there was Daniel. And you know, Daniel had every opportunity. The scriptures tells us in the book of Daniel how that as a young man, though taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonians, and though you might say here’s a Jew with an unusual situation.

Well, he he uh he’s a Jew. And he’s had the opportunity to serve in the most powerful king of the world, Babylonian Empire. And the king selected some young men in whom there was they were smart and they were handsome and good looking, and they were for three years to be taught the language and training of the Chaldeans and eat the king’s meat and drink the king’s wine. Just for three years. Daniel had a choice, if it was a choice to him. Either he could compromise what he knew would defile him, because the king’s meat for whatever reason would defile him. We don’t know if it was meat that had been sacrificed to idols, or maybe it was meat strangled and still had the blood in it.

We’re not sure what made it defiling, but Daniel refused to defile himself. And he had the choice either to go ahead and, you know, compromise. It won’t be long, just three years. Sometimes we do a mental reservation. Sometimes we want to excuse ourselves in ungodly action. And he could have done that. He could have said, Oh, it’ll be all right, just three years. Or he could run the risk of losing his life, even the life of the steward who was in charge of him. If he did not eat the king’s meat and drink the king’s wine, he risked all of that. Because God was first.

Conclusion

And when we think about great men in God’s service, we think of a Daniel. We think of a Moses. We think of a Joseph. But I want to make a point to you that I think so very important in all of this. They were young when they made these choices. They were not aged men who had gone through life already and done their fault. These were all men who in their youth made the kind of choice to serve God and to put him first. These characteristics are not just for male only, therefore, women as well as men. Indeed, the devil today seeks to test us all, whether male or female. I hear parents sometimes say, in fact, I’ve heard in more recent years say, Well, what can we do to insulate our children so they don’t fall into these kind of sins?

What can we do? I want to suggest to you what we need to do is as parents to bring them up. Starting as parents, teaching the Word of God. It isn’t just enough, just, oh, I brought them to church on Sunday, and I brought them on Wednesday night too. Have you sat down with them and studied at home beforehand? Your own character. What do they look at when they see you? Do they see the person who really is committed to the service of God in your own life? Who would humbly read his word, who would humbly pray regularly? Or do they see someone who just, well, you just come on Sunday, that’s enough. Is that all there is? Indeed, parents insulate your children by faith in God.

You create in them faith, and faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Not just a simple message from the pulpit like I’m delivering today, or Joshua delivered on other days. Not just going through a Bible study that they haven’t studied for to start with. It starts in your home and spending some time with them. Oh, I know the devil has tempted us. Sometimes people say, Oh, yeah, you know, our children are tempted in their ways. We were not tempted. I say, back off of that. The fact is we’re all tempted to the same avenues of sin. In 1 John chapter 2, 15 through 17. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Those are the avenues to which the devil strikes at the heart of any individual. Whether you lived in 1800 or 1900 or 2013. Those are the avenues of sin. And yes, it’s true. Maybe, maybe our children, well, they have things that maybe we didn’t have. I acknowledge that I grew up in a time where I didn’t have to worry about internet pornography. We didn’t know what a computer was. Many of you as young people have to say, old people now have to say, well, that’s right too. And I didn’t know anything about drugs, even in the school place. Oh, yeah, we had some kids who thought it was smart when they got their license and could go down to the county line and buy beer. But it was nothing like coke that’s being sold in our marijuana.

And it is true that really when I grew up, and many of you in the audience, we didn’t have TV shows that portrayed homosexuality as normal lifestyle. Yeah, there are some things. The devil has ways of letting the light shine bright. And yes, he’s come with different kinds of glowing and glittering that maybe it’s different from what you and I had as youth. But I don’t tell you what, you and I as youth were tempted through the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life. And a Joseph and a Moses and a Daniel were tempted through those three ways as well. And so if we’re really going to learn the lesson, I sought for a man, God would say. And if you want your child to grow up to be a kind of individual that God chooses, you teach them then the kind of heart that will not sin against God.

Teach them who God is and the destiny for those who live this life and then will face judgment in the world to come. You teach them a heart that looks to the future and not simply seeks the moment’s pleasure. You teach them to have a heart that refuses to compromise God’s commands even for three years or whatever. Stand up for God, and God will bless you. It may be death. Yeah, there are many Christians who’ve died for their faith. But they didn’t lose the battle. Only those who, like a Samson, who like an Absalom or like a Saul have lost the battle. Keep your values straight, know who you’re serving and where you’re going, and keep serving God faithfully, even till death depart. Maybe you’re one this morning who recognizes in your life that you haven’t been faithful to the Lord.

And why not this morning turn your heart unto Him in obedience? We’re going to sing this song of invitation, we call it, and perhaps you might be one who needs to be immersed for remission of sins. You’ve never been baptized. Jesus said, He that believes and is baptized shall be saved. He who believes not shall be condemned. Maybe as a Christian you’ve not been living like a Christian should, and you brought reproach upon the Lord. If so, if we can pray with you and pray for you if you’re penitent, willing to confess your faults, then we also invite you to come. If you’re subject in any way, we can help you go to heaven. We bid you come now while we stand and while we sing.