The following message is from a men's conference hosted by Capital Community Church and Finding Purpose Ministries, featuring Dr. Owen Strand. It's based on his recent book, The War on Men, and explores the crucial God-given role men play in society and how to stand firm against the current assault on the biblical teaching of masculinity. In this last session, we are going to talk about David and the greater David. David and the greater David. Our focus in this session is the fifth type of man. And this type of man, as we conclude our conference, at least this portion of it, we'll have a final session, I guess, Sunday night. And I think that's everybody invited. Am I right about that? Yes, Jim says yes. So I was asked that a few times. Your wives are invited to the Sunday night service. We're not barring the women of the church from the Sunday night service, so that's good. You can laugh at that if you want. It's an attempt at humor. So yes, Sunday night is technically the final session of our men's conference, Sunday night service Q&A. Everybody's welcome, women, kids, even men can come. It's true. So that's the last session. But this is the last session of my teaching times. It's been such a delight to be with you brothers. Thank you for all the kind words. Thank you very much. That's kind. You haven't heard this one yet, so I don't know. You might want to reserve that applause. Thank you. You're very kind, and it was a joy to sign some books for you in that time. Man, I love this church. I love the spirit here. I love the Christ-exalting feel of this place. You brothers, I can just tell, are hungry to know the Lord and live for his glory, and that's a beautiful thing. And again, I'll just repeat myself. I sound like a broken record, but if you're not at Capitol and you're in the Raleigh area, What are you even doing with your life, honestly? That's a lighthearted attempt at humor as well, but you should be here. This is a great place to be. The wind is against us as Christians, isn't it? We need strong churches. We've always needed them, but we need strong biblical churches more than ever. Like the sailors of old, the ship captains of old. when the seas got really rough. And some of you know that when we talk about seas getting rough, I'm from coastal Maine. So I understand this a little bit. We don't mean like two foot tall waves. We don't mean eight foot tall waves. We mean 20, 30, 40 foot tall waves. That's what sea captains face and faced. And they would tie themselves to the mast, wouldn't they? They would lash themselves to the center mast of the ship, and they were on the ship for good or ill, and that meant a lot of them went down with the ship. But they tied themselves to the mast because they were all the way in, and that's what we have to do with the word of God. We will not ultimately go down in terms of judgment or destruction when Christ is our savior, but we don't know what our fate is culturally and politically, civilizationally, and so all of you men, tie yourself to the mast, tie yourself to the mast of the word, and tie yourself to the mast of a strong church by the grace of God, and serve that church, and be involved in that church, and join that church. And even if your service, this isn't my material, I'm preaching a different sermon, but that's okay, hang with me for one second. Even if your service is very anonymous and humble, Even if it's not, I don't know, chairman of the elder board or something like that. Just remember, the kingdom of God is different. Every position in the kingdom of God is an exalted position. Do you remember that? You know that? In the kingdom of God, it's not like the kingdom of men, right? Where, oh, these powerful men, they lord it over everybody. Oh, look at them, high and mighty. That's not the kingdom of God, brothers. The Son of God came and washed feet in a context when feet stank, to be honest with you. You wore your sandals all day long. And the Son of God got down on his knees amidst all the smelly feet, right, of his closest disciples, and he washed their feet. And he smelled their stinky feet, but he got down to model discipleship in the kingdom of God. It's not being high and mighty. You might have a position, you might have a lot of influence, you might have a lot of platform. God does that. I pray God's rich blessing upon Unashamed Truth, for example, as an extension of Capital. I love that ministry. Just remember, we're all just servants. We're all just servants in the kingdom of Christ. And so if all you do for capital or a related church, there are other strong churches in the area, of course, but if all you do is serve in some humble way, if you're parking cars or taking care of the building, that service is exalted in the kingdom of Christ. There will be rich rewards for all who serve, because that's all we are, just servants, all of us. We're just a servant. We get a glorious picture of a servant. in 1 Samuel 17. There's lots of ways to serve. There's lots of different ways to serve. And we see one way in the example of the strong man, David. Now, technically, as we dive into this last session, David, I'm just going to say this from the outset, David was not a strong man. You understand the point? David was a weak man. Like all of us is weak. Compare him to God. God is omnipotent. God has no limit of power. God has no limit of control. God has no limit upon his sovereignty. There is truly nothing that checks or limits or nuances the sovereignty of God to be sovereign is to be completely in control and all powerful to the fullest possible extent. There is no sense in which the will of mankind intrudes upon the sovereignty of God or inhibits the sovereignty of God. The sovereignty of God means sovereignty. It means total control. And so David, compared to the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, is nothing. He's weak. He's weak. Strongest man on earth. Samson, from the last session, weak. You and me, weak. But that's not the end of the story. We are weak men, as believers, that God makes strong. And that's what we see here. David didn't look strong, though. You see, the kingdom of God doesn't look like the world, does it? Even back in the Old Testament, before the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Israel doesn't look like the other kingdoms. David was the weak one, Goliath was the strong one. Per 1 Samuel 17, Goliath was probably over nine feet tall. His armor alone weighed about what I weigh, probably 125 to 150 pounds on my best days, on my weeks when I'm rowing or running four or five times. His armor weighed 150 pounds, Goliath. His spear was made of iron, pure iron. His spear itself weighed about 15 pounds. Can you imagine, excuse me, the thud? Can you imagine the sound that spear would make when it went through a man? It would sicken you on the spot. You would give up your will to fight. when you heard that sound. Goliath roared against the Israelites. He made the fight between the peoples, Philistines and Israel, not only a test of skill but a test of manhood. Read with me in 1 Samuel 17, eight through 10. We're gonna walk through this quickly and then we're gonna dive into the greater David in the second part of this message, our final message. 1 Samuel 17, eight, he stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. If he's able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us." And the Philistines said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. Let's pray. Father, help us now as we study David and study Goliath, even as there are many Goliaths in our own age that feel so fearsome, that feel like they're going to destroy the work of God. I pray today that you would encourage us through David's example and ultimately through the greater David's example. In the name of the greater David, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Goliath seems almost offended by the softness of the Israelite army. It's an army of Gideons, if you will. Goliath seems to want a challenger, and he openly dishonors the Israelite men before him. The Israelites, we learn, 1 Samuel 17, 11, were dismayed and greatly afraid when they heard Goliath's challenge. In natural terms, this made perfect sense. Goliath was not artificially terrifying. Goliath was actually terrifying. The mere sight of him made your blood cool to ice. But there was a young man who did not fear him. And he was the most unexpected young man among the people of Israel. The only man who didn't fear Goliath was a shepherd boy. He was not tall. He was not fearsome. He was the opposite. I mean the dead level opposite of Goliath. Probably shorter than me, if that can be imagined. David only went to the battlefield on this fateful day, a real historical day, of course, in order to honor his father's command to give his brothers some supplies. His brothers were part of the Israelite army. David was not even a part of the army. You get a sense for how God is framing this situation? This is the least expected warrior. He's not a warrior. He's a shepherd boy running errands for his dad. He's giving some fruit to his brothers who are warriors. But here's the deal. When David heard Goliath defy Israel, and not just defy Israel, but defy Israel's God, something in David awoke. Something woke up. And history has never been the same. Just one man. When just one man wakes up, watch out. He asked in verse 26 these questions. among the soldiers of Israel. What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?" Two things to note here quickly. David understands that the men of Israel are cowed. Goliath has already defeated them in a sense, right? He has already proven courageous as a pagan where the men of God are trembling in their boots. So there is reproach upon Israel. Brothers, where men who are weak men will not stand up against evil, there is reproach upon them. I do not mean, as talked about during the break, that every man has the same approach, by the way, to a fallen world. I don't mean as the outworking of this humble little conference and my humble little messages and book that all of you on Monday are called to go kamikaze against paganism and resign your jobs, okay? Just so you hear that from me. That's not necessarily what everyone is called to do. We know from the scripture, from examples like Esther and Daniel, to cite just two, that there are It's needed that there be believers, followers of God in pagan contexts. God calls them to those contexts. Joseph. So I don't mean get a head full of steam from this conference or preaching or whatever and go out and resign for Jesus or something like that. I don't know what God's call on your life is. If you are convicted that you can't subscribe to the DEI platform or whatever at your job, and you've got to take a stand, I say go with God, do it. If you are convicted that you're not with that, per the word of God, absolutely you're not, but you need to stay in and fight and try to be a light in that culture, I totally understand that as well. Do you hear me saying this? There is not necessarily an immediate one-size-fits-all, and frequently God calls his people to be in Babylon even when they don't want to be in Babylon. So that's a role some of us have to have, I believe, at least to a degree, at least to a point. There does indeed come a time when you have to say, no more, can't do this, can't sign the statement, can't go to the training session, so on and so forth. But there's not a one-size-fits-all, and we need to note that. We need the wisdom of the Lord. We need the Holy Spirit working in us. We need counsel from godly brothers. We need to balance out taking a stand now versus staying in and being a gospel presence. And that's not an easy question, that's just about the hardest question in the Christian faith, certainly one of them. So don't hear this as condemnation that you haven't taken your stand against Goliath unless you resign, okay? I just want to say that to you. The second thing we see in verse 26 of 1 Samuel 17 is that, again, Goliath is not just defying Israel, Goliath is defying the living God. That is what David cares about the most. I am not citing this because he is the pastor of this church, but about a decade ago, Grant gave a message when we were working at CBMW, the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, and he talked about how David's whole burden here in this passage is, here's his phrase, the honor of God. Some of you may have heard Grant preach on that theme. I'm urging him to write a book about it. I think he's eventually going to write a book about it. So anyway, we'll see what that eventuates. But I think Grant was exactly right, and I've stolen it and used it ever since. David cares about the honor of God. That's what he's voicing. He doesn't actually care the most, you understand, about the rewards that you'll get for going against Goliath. He cares far more about defending God's honor. and taking away, therefore, the reproach from Israel. That's what we do, brothers, when we stand up for God. We need wisdom. We need nuance. We need balance. We have to understand when to stay and when to go. But the point is this. When we speak up, when we take our stand, as we all must, as men of God, we take away the reproach from the church that accrues when men who are called to be strong instead go quiet. And this has happened in evangelical and reform circles for some years. Grant alluded to this last night, but a good number of godly men, trusted men, gifted men, men who have been faithful for many years and many of us have learned much from have in the last three to eight years gone quiet or embrace different forms of things that are not sound, and that has been a tragedy for us. And I'm not advocating a burn everyone down policy who's ever gotten something wrong, because I don't think the scripture enfranchises that. What happens with Peter, John 21, he denies Jesus three times, and what does Jesus do? Kick him out of the kingdom? No, Jesus restores him, doesn't he? So we do want a posture, we really do, of forgiveness. and mercy to those even who stumble as our leaders. Nonetheless, there is reproach, I believe, upon the church today. And I watched, for example, with Wokeness, I watched Tucker Carlson, Jordan Peterson, Joe Rogan, and others speak up about wokeness, critical race theory, all these things years ago. And I, so I'm watching these guys in the public square, several of whom are definitely not born again believers. And then I look over at the church and I just didn't see much of that kind of courage and, and, and just like, no, we're not doing this. And, and, and, and it was a reproach upon the church. David cares most for God's honor. King Saul wasn't persuaded of David's prospects. Verse 33, what does Saul say to David? Does he encourage him? Does he strengthen him? Look at this young guy. Yay, we got a young guy who's gonna fight. No, he says this, you are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth and he has been a man of war or a warrior from his youth. Saul judges by sight. David lives by faith. Therein lies the difference. And that's the difference that is, again, operative in our day. So many Christians even are tempted to live by sight. We all are. But what are we called to live by? Faith. faith. And when you live by sight, you look out at Goliath and you don't go out to battle against him, right? Because in natural terms, he's terrifying and you're going to die. But there's another dimension to life, isn't there? It's not just natural. It's called spiritual. It's called what you see isn't really what is dominant. You've never seen God and yet he's the true ruler. So even though Goliath looks terrifying, God is far greater. Brothers, we don't live by sight. Remember that with the public square today, as I've been alluding to throughout. Remember, we don't judge our prospects by sight. We judge them by faith. Faith in God, and God loves circumstances like this. David tells Saul in no uncertain terms, this is the language of faith, not of sight. Verse 36. "'Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, "'and this uncircumcised Philistine "'shall be like one of them, "'for he has defied the armies of the living God.'" I have chills reading this right now. This young man is so quivering with trust in God, given him by God, it takes your breath away. Verse 37, "'The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion.'" and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Do you hear the confidence in those words? That's not because David's an impressive young man. Yay, hey, David, great job. It's because God has worked in this young man's life, and he is able to stand on the word of God, and he is able to look the Israelite king, who, by the way, is also quite tall and quite impressive, not quite at Goliath's level, but a physically impressive man. That's why Saul was chosen. The Israelites wanted a king like the nations, yes? And Saul looked that way, he was strapped up, he was strong, he was handsome. And here's little David looking up at King Saul, and Saul is fearful and David is full of faith. And that's it. That's a picture for us. We're not David, but we're called to be like David. So it's not right to shout at people, you're not David. Well, we're not David, but we are called to learn from David's example and in the grace of God, arm up against the devil. True strength, we remember, is not found in our flesh. True strength is found in God. Do you feel weak? Do you feel weak? Good. Feel weak. Feel very weak. Now, claim strength in God because God has richly provided everything you need by His grace and mercy. And from that then, don't live in weakness. You're weak, but you're not called to live in weakness. You're called to live in God-given strength, even as God will continually remind you and reveal to you all along the way how weak you are. And yet, what does that do? Does that cause you to mourn and break down and just disappear? No, it causes you to say, God, I'm back here at the well. I need your strength again, just as I have every day I've ever lived. Please give me more of your strength, more of you, more of your spirit, more of your power. Please give it to me. Please supply it to me. And God will do so, brothers. God will do so. Do you think that's a prayer that God wants to hear or a prayer that God doesn't want to hear? He delights to hear that prayer, I believe, from Scripture. David did not tremble before Goliath. Why? Because David trembled before the God of Israel. When you tremble before the living God, you don't tremble before living men. When you fear God, it honestly, it takes away your fear of man. The greater your fear of man, the less your fear of God. The greater your fear of God, the less your fear of man. All throughout the scripture, we find men who are weak men, but are strong in God and go before kings, rulers, authorities, and powers, and look them in the eye without blinking and stand them down. It's a recurring theme over and over and over again. It's what God does. It's what God will do in you. not just in Hebrews 3,000 years ago, Jews 3,000 years ago. He did it in them, he'll do it in us. The giant cursed David. David is just dripping in condemnation and doubt. His brother earlier savaged him. What do you think you're doing, you idiot brother, basically saying that? There's all sorts of sibling difficulty throughout the Bible. By the way, we need to work in our homes to help our kids love each other. It's not easy to do, is it? You gotta get involved in that dad. You gotta get involved in your kids so that they're not cursing each other as David's brother does him. Goliath does similarly. Verse 43, he sees David and he says this, am I a dog that you come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. David bites right back, standing in God. Verse 45, you come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, he says to Goliath. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. That's not all David says. Verse 46, he says this, he makes Goliath a promise, a warrior promise. This day, this day the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand. Your soul should ring with encouragement at these words. Because this is a man who is not unlike you. This is a man who is very like you and like me. He feels fallenness keenly. The odds are all against him. But I repeat what I said earlier. God does much of his best work in the darkness. God does much of his most fearsome deliverance in the shadows. God over and over again sets things up so that his people are way outnumbered, and then he brings the most dramatic victory imaginable. David is strong in God. David has gone deep with God to learn God's truth and walk in God's ways and confess his sins as a fellow sinner. And so David does not fear man. And verse 48 tells us he ran quickly. to meet his foe. The rest of the warriors of Israel, hundreds, thousands of warriors, strong men, brave men, skilled fighters, stand. And what does one shepherd boy do? He runs. He doesn't just walk to Goliath. He runs. I'm just going to repeat myself. The point here is not the courage of David, that's real, but the point here is what courses through your blood when you are strong in God. That's the point, when God has worked in you and you are the weak guy, but God is strong. You not only walk to meet Goliath, you run. You run to meet him. And as you know, he takes a single stone, Then he pulled from a brook nearby. He rejected all of Saul's armor, all of this weaponry, the weaponry of the king. It must have been beautiful. I mean, it would shine in the sun. It was thick. It was made of the best metals and best material. And David said, I want none of it. I'm just a shepherd boy. But David trusted his sling, didn't he? He knew what he was doing. David, you see, was actually a fearsome warrior. David caught a lion's mane with his hand and slashed the throat of a lion. David was not a little shy, young man. David did know the ways of war, even as he knew his God. With that one sling of the stone, David struck the Philistine dead center in the forehead, the 60 on the dartboard, if you will, the center of the bullseye, and David killed Goliath instantly. Poor Goliath didn't even get to raise his sword, but David did. Somebody got to use that sword. Can you imagine what the sword of Goliath must have been? It must have stretched from here to there. Have you been to Scotland or England? Have you seen the Scottish broadswords? Have you seen these? They're like seven feet long. Now, most of those were ornamental. William Wallace probably didn't actually swing a seven-foot long sword, just so we're all clear in terms of historical. And now everyone's disappointed by the men's conference. But anyway. I saw one though, and it's longer than a man is tall. Goliath had a sword that long. It was a sword probably taller than David. Goliath didn't swing it. David picked it up and cut the head of Goliath off at the neck. Verse 51. Brothers, there's much more to the story of David, David is going to show his weakness throughout his kingship. David is not going to be the true deliverer of God's people, the ultimate rescuer of Israel. David is going to fail just as you and I battle the flesh. David is going to commit adultery. Though the man after God's own heart, though God's own king, David is going to show his weakness. But don't miss this. In David, we see the fifth type of scripture, the fifth type of man, the strong man. The strong man is a weak man made strong. And we are not supposed to look at David as if we're watching ESPN doing highlights we could never imagine. We're supposed to see David and see one who inspires us to go and do likewise. Except, except we need more than just an example. Yes, we need more than just a model. We need one who can not only inspire us to courage and action, we need one who can be our righteousness. We need one who can face down the greater Goliath and win. And that leads us to the final subject of our time together on Friday and Saturday, the God-man, the warrior-savior, King Jesus. Let's close in our final minutes by looking at three features of Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus, as I repeat, is marked out by Matthew in particular, but throughout the New Testament as the fulfillment of David. He is the greater David. David is Israel's greatest king in the Old Testament, but Jesus is the one who vastly outranks David. Jesus is the one David points to, typologically. Jesus is the fulfillment of David. Jesus, when he comes, is a warrior. He is not often pictured that way in evangelical circles today. He's often pictured as gentle and kind, and we're going to talk about that. But Jesus, make no mistake, as the greater David, is a warrior king. Let's see three features of Jesus, I mean, in boiling down the God-man. It's like trying to capture the ocean in a cup. But let's just talk about three elements of the man Christ Jesus. First, Jesus was tough. Jesus was tough. This is because Jesus was a holy warrior for God. That's why it's so significant to lay the David greater David pipeline. You've got to understand who he is. When he comes, he is God's warrior king, and he's doing battle, not with flesh and blood. He's not coming to unseat Rome, right? The disciples repetitively think that, don't they? They think it all the way past his death and his resurrection. They are asking Jesus about the nation and kingdom of Israel all the way up to his feet, leave earth, and he ascends to the Father's right hand. I cannot tell you how much the disciples failed to understand the true kingship of Jesus. He didn't come to overthrow Rome in the first century. in physical, political terms. He came to form a people for himself by his blood. He does unseat Rome, but in the spiritual realm, you understand? He is the greater king. He forms a people for himself who are from every tribe and tongue. He's doing it then, first century, he's doing it now. So he is overcoming all the kingdoms and all the nations and all the wicked rulers of the earth. Don't misunderstand, he definitely is. But not in the way the disciples expected and not even in the way you and I expect. We want political victory. We want this thing to be sealed up and delivered. One day it will be, it will. But even now, Jesus is building a people for himself. We are, 1 Peter 2, 9 says, a holy nation. This doesn't mean we give up on our nations. This doesn't mean we fail to fight for what is good and true and beautiful in our nations. We absolutely must. But it does mean even as we are citizens of earthly nations, we are citizens of a heavenly kingdom. We are a holy nation. We are Ephesians 2.15. We are one new man. We are Jew and Gentile brought together in Christ and we are the true people. We are the true people of God. All of this frames Jesus' toughness. You get a visceral picture for Jesus' warrior nature in John 2, 13 and following, when he enters the temple. The Passover of the Jews was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple, he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and the money changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, take these things away. Do not make my father's house a house of trade. His disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for your house will consume me. On this day, Jesus showed righteous anger against blasphemy. The temple had been made into a marketplace and Jesus took reverence for God's temple personally. He scourged the temple. He cleansed the temple. He showed his warrior nature. He showed that he was not here just to be nice and make friends, influencing people. He showed that zeal for God's house consumed him. zeal for God characterizes Jesus. And Jesus put that zeal into practice, didn't he? He was very tough in the moment when he was called to be. Nor did Jesus shy away from tough speech. He called the Pharisees dogs and vipers. I don't mean this is all Jesus communicated in his ministry. There's more to say, as I will say in a minute, but don't miss this. Jesus had a tough ministry in terms of standing against evil. In fact, he even rebuked his own disciples with toughness. When Peter told Jesus in Matthew 16 that Jesus didn't need to do all this dying business, know Jesus what Peter was actually working toward. All you got to do is throw Roman power from its seat and unseat these client governors from the Roman nation and just, you know, you're the divine one. You're the Messiah, Jesus. You don't have to die. Why do you keep talking about dying? We don't want you to die. We want you to overthrow Rome. You understand? Jesus, you're good. You don't have to do all this. No, no, no, no, no. Don't do the dying thing. Do the victorious conquering thing. That's what we want from you, Jesus. You don't need to die for sinners. That's maybe later. How did Jesus respond? Get behind me, Satan. Excuse me? That is a rough day at the office, is it not? When the Lord of heaven and earth calls you Satan? That's a rough day. Matthew 16, 23. Why did Jesus speak so strongly? Because he hadn't come, to repeat my theme, to destroy Rome in physical terms. He had come to destroy the power of the devil by dying on the cross for our sins. That's his mission. That's the work he came to do. That's the work of salvation. That's the work of atonement. He came to take the wrath of the Father in our place so that we could know only the love of the Father for all eternity. That was his mission. That's why he came. And so when Peter offered him this idea that he didn't really need to get all bloody and do all this dying business, Jesus rejected it in the strongest possible terms. As we see, Jesus was not scared to speak strongly, act with conviction, and defy evil without blinking. The Son of God set his face like flint, like stone. He resolved to go to Jerusalem, Luke 9, 51, to die for us. Be thankful for the resolve, the masculine resolve, we can call it, of Jesus. When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Luke 9.51, was always on Jesus' mind. This was the king born to die. This was the God-man who would reign, not from an imperial throne, but from a cross and an empty tomb. If you judge Jesus even now by sight, you don't see a whole lot. What, is the world thriving spiritually? Is everything being made right visibly, externally, by sight? How are Christians doing in America? How are Christians doing in the West? How's the gospel doing across the world? Does it look like we're triumphant and unbelievers just falling down at our feet everywhere? In a lot of cases, it doesn't look that way. But that is why we remember, we don't live by sight. We live by faith, including in our political engagement. Jesus got his marching orders from his Father. Jesus was about the Father's business. And Jesus never turned aside from the purpose given him by the Father. We're not the Savior. We're not on the same mission. But let's learn from Jesus setting his face to go to Jerusalem. Brothers, when God has given you a call, when he's given you a marriage, when he's given you children, when he's given you work to do, when he's given you causes to invest in, whatever these look like, single, married, young, middle-aged, old, wherever you are, remember the example of Jesus and pray that you would be resolved. The church doesn't need spiritual all-stars today. The church needs steady and solid men. to set the tone. You don't need to be some sort of wild Clint Eastwood but Christian hero. You need to be by the grace of God in you a steady and solid and trustworthy and dependable man. Young men, you don't need to figure out how you're going to vanquish evil. Like the guys on the podcast say, what you need to do is pray to grow as a steady, solid, dependable, trustworthy man. You need to make commitments and keep your commitments. You want to turn the world upside down. That's all you need to do. That's all you need to do by the grace of God. All you need to do in marriage is keep going one day after another and not walk away. All you need to do as a father is one day after another, keep showing up and not walk away. So much of the work of fatherhood that blesses your children is not fancy. It's not complex. My dad would see as a young man with me when I was getting restive, when we needed to go outside and play catch. There is wonders and miracles that happen when a father plays catch with his son. Simple things like that. Goes fishing with his son. Plays a game with his son. Goes on a walk with his son. Whatever his son enjoys doing. Yes, you push your boy to do things and develop skills. You push him. You put him in things and he sticks with those things, at least for a time. But you also learn your son. You learn what he likes. and you come alongside him, even if it's not your favorite thing, you know, if it's moral and everything, and you do that with him, and you bond with him. Sometimes your interests, excuse me, sink. My son and I both love basketball. It's wonderful. So now we can do basketball together, like I was talking about with you. But you may have to pick up a skill. Your son may honestly enjoy cooking or something like this. Well, learn to cook with him, cook something with him. Wonders happen when dads do simple things one day after another. I look back, I don't remember a lot of exciting birthday parties. I don't remember with my dad growing up in Maine, a lot of amazing trips. Um, I don't remember honestly, like key discipleship moments where we had four hour family worship sessions. You know what I remember? Catch. I remember playing catch with my dad. I remember my dad was a faithful man at church as well, steady and solid. My dad, unlike his son, is a man of few words. I'm a man of many words, in case you were confused. I remember my dad being a deacon at our church, tiny Baptist church, 50 people, less members than are in this room for all my childhood years. And there were two old ladies in the local nursing home, Marshall Manor and Machias, Maine, an hour from Bar Harbor on the Maine coast. And I remember dad taking communion very seriously. I don't know why this stands out. But dad would get the communion trays, carry them in to Marshall Manor, balancing them, you know, almost spilling everything, because those communion things are really rickety. And the two old ladies would be wheeled into the main room, the common room. And dad would be very solemn and serious, gracious to them, kind, but take it very seriously, zeal, as we were talking about. And he would very simply, for two unknown ladies, in a tiny church in Maine have communion with them. Something about that burned into my brain. It's so simple. My dad didn't preach in Veterans Stadium to 20,000 men. My dad didn't go on a worldwide evangelistic trip. My dad didn't figure out how to turn America right side up. My dad was just a steady, solid, dependable, who made commitments and kept commitments by the grace of God. And that's what we need. That's what we need. We need men who stay. And there are hard days, aren't there? There are days to ride out, ride through the storm. Hard days. Not every day comes up aces, right? Some of you know this far better than me. But what godly men do is like the son of God. They ask God to make them strong and they set their face. All around us, men are leaving. Men are disappearing. Men are walking away. Men are killing themselves. They're killing themselves by the bushel. They're doing so for a lot of reasons. We have great compassion for them. But we've got to, by the grace of God, not walk away. We've got to walk on. Sometimes that's all you do. Sometimes all you do is you keep going. And that itself is a massive W. That itself is a massive victory just to keep going. most days Jesus lived, there were no angelic choirs that descended. They didn't descend at like 2.30 p.m. in the afternoon. He ate lunch successfully. Most days, his days were just like your days. He worked a trade. He had calluses on his hand. He wasn't in fancy rooms at fancy politicians' dinners. No one was walking behind him. Yay. Yes. Great job. Great construction on that Jewish building. That is excellent. Most days, his life was a grind. It was anonymous. It was one foot in front of the other. Most days he didn't heal anyone. Most days he didn't rebuke anyone, pharisaical. Most days he didn't raise anyone from the dead. For 30 years of his life, he lived a normal human life. The Son of God enchanted the ordinary, didn't he? The Son of God did what you do. He put his boots on and went to work. But he never left the path. He set his face to go to Jerusalem. We need masculine toughness. We need men who will draw on their strength from God and set their face like Flint. Second, Jesus was tender. He was tender. This is the part that conservative men often feel a little bit weird about talking about. The first part, pretty good to talk about. The second part, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Now you're going to do all this gentleness stuff. I don't know about this. I don't know about this. I don't know. Jesus was a very gracious man. Everything I just said applies. Much more we could say about that whole theme. We're just skipping the surface here like a stone. But Jesus was also very kind to a shocking degree, unlike religious leaders, unlike the authorities of his day. Matthew 8, 15. Peter's mother-in-law lay sick. He touched her hand and the fever left her and she rose and began to serve him. who's a healer. Verses 16 and 17, that evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons. He cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah. He took our illnesses and bore our diseases. This was the most compassionate man who has ever lived. If you met him, he would have radiated compassion. You would have walked into a force field of kindness if you entered his presence. There was something different about this man because he's not one thing, he's multiple things, right? So he is the divine warrior. Your skin would have crackled around Jesus in that respect, but also you would have been bewildered by how kind he was. He's not one thing. He's all excellencies, all wonderful things joined together. He's the healer. People flooded him. people were oppressed by demons. Think about how awful that would be just to be one person oppressed by a demon. They're all throughout the gospels. And John tells us there are lots more stories that the four gospel authors haven't included. There's story after story after story of the compassionate Christ. People who have no hope. Do you understand that you can't cure a demon? You can't stop demonic oppression. First century, I mean. You have no hope. You have no hope of curing this. There's nowhere to go. There's no one who can take that away. There's nothing you can drink. There's nothing you can eat. You're in an unrelieved condition of agony. And what did Jesus do as a staple of his ministry? He went to people and he freed them on the spot with divine authority. What a kind action that is. We see his kindness as well in Matthew 19, 13 to 15. Then children were brought to him that he might lay hands on them and pray. The disciples, getting things wrong as usual, the disciples rebuked the people. But Jesus said, let the little children come to me. do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them, pure, innocent hands, showing love, and went away. What a savior this is. He didn't want to be with the high and mighty. He wanted to be with little children who in the society would not have been valued nearly as they should be, much like today. MacArthur just put out a book, The War on Children. Children are the ones who suffer the most today. Children are targeted from seemingly every angle, which is why we need to be in the public square fighting for them, even in a common grace sense. Children were oppressed. This is the Savior who said, no, no, no, no, no. Do not rebuke the people bringing their children to me. The people are right, the disciples are wrong. let them come to me. And then he redefined the kingdom. The kingdom of heaven isn't being a great rabbi with great learning, amazing robes, lots of people to instruct you. The kingdom of heaven, the model disciple isn't that, it's a child. To become a disciple is to become effectively Which means, which signals humility, lowliness, weakness. You're not coming to Jesus going, hey, Jesus, I have some great plans for us. I have some really neat ideas that you and I can do. That's how Peter often thought, wasn't it? Hey, this transfiguration, hey, let's get this going. I mean, do you wanna bring in Moses? Do you wanna like make the world right right now? I mean, we can, this is cool, let's do it. The kingdom, being in the kingdom is like being a child. Your eyes full of wonder, your heart full of love, humble before the Lord of heaven and earth. Jesus shows us the way of love. One more passage on this theme before I give you the third and final element of Jesus and we conclude. Matthew 11, about the Sabbath, Matthew 11, 28 and 29. Jesus invited all who labor and are heavy laden to come to me and I will give you rest. Jesus went on to say, verse 29, Matthew 11, that he was gentle and lowly in heart. Here is the rejection of red pill manhood. Red pill manhood understands strength as we do, but red pill manhood has no category for gentleness, for kindness. This is what you will not get from the internet gurus. This is what you will not get from Andrew Tate. This is what you will not get from choose your manosphere expert. Those men say some true things in some different categories, but Jesus is the man we seek. Jesus is the man we need. Jesus gives you all the strength, all the standing against evil without blinking, but then Jesus gives you a whole nother dimension. He tells us he's gentle and lowly in heart. So we are called by the grace of God to develop our gentleness and our humility. And this is not often our strong suit, at least for a bunch of us men. We are much, I am much more excited about listening to a podcast calling me out to take the hill than I am a podcast calling me to go and be gentle. I can admit that to you brothers straight up. The first one grabs me. The second one, I'm kind of gentle already. You know, you do what men do. I kind of do that already. It's like the sermon, husbands love your wives like Christ loves the church. I kind of do that already. You need to, we need to grow in that a lot more. Maybe we technically do love her, but we probably need to show that a lot more than we already do. You may have some gentleness in you. I may have a little gentleness in me. I need to grow in that a lot more. I need to listen better. I need to listen better. I need to be kinder. I need to be more approachable. I need to be more tender. I need to be a better listener. This isn't theoretical. This isn't the theoretical part of the messages. This is me. I need to grow in these ways. I see Jesus and I see a man I need to be transformed to be more like. I am not meeting the standard. I am covered in the blood of Jesus and God is working in me and growing me. Praise his name. I got growth potential here, bro. This is an investment opportunity being presented to me. It ain't financial. It is spiritual. Many of us will know that our strength is also our weakness. So if you're the type who likes standing for truth and like, yeah, let's go, probably that also to a degree will be your weakness too. You don't, you're not pulled by the siren song of the world. Praise God, don't be. But also your wife says, we need to work on this. And you go, nah, we're good. No bro, you need to listen to her. You don't do what she says automatically. You know, you're the head of the home, but she comes to you, She rings the bell. She says, I'm struggling here. Our communication needs work. I had this happen in my life a few years ago. She said, I think we need to, I think we need to talk some things out. And I said, we're good. I mean, we're, I know we're not perfect. I wasn't under a delusion. I knew we needed some growth in our marriage, but, but you know, we were roughly in the right patterns. You know what I mean? TMZ wasn't getting called on a weekly basis, you know, fireworks at the Strand Home again. It wasn't that. It wasn't that. Not about to get divorced or something. But I, brothers, I wasn't listening like I should. I wasn't gentle and lowly in heart like I should be. And I, 2024 update, I'm still not. But God rang my bell. And God called me. to own sin and grow. This is not the fun part of the conference messaging for me, by the way. But Jesus challenges all of us. We've got to compare ourselves to Jesus, right, on a regular basis. If we're struggling to admit maybe we're not gentle or kind or a great listener like we should be, whatever it is, just take yourself back to Jesus and go, oh, wait a minute. I'm not Jesus. I don't measure up. I am the weak one. I do need help. My marriage isn't perfect. My fatherhood isn't perfect. I probably should talk to an older, wiser man about this. We as a couple maybe should meet with an older couple to talk through some things. That might actually help my wife get some things out She might be stuffing this in. She's coming to me and saying this, but she might be holding this in largely. There might be an explosion on the horizon. I need to get some help while there's time. Men don't get help until things explode. That's our pattern. It's not always the case, but that's our pattern. When the house is on fire, maybe we should talk to somebody, sweetheart. That tends to be our pattern. May God help us. Not get to that point. May God help you not get to that point, even if TMZ isn't about to be called. May God help you to go home, and maybe you're charged up to take the hill, but maybe what comes out of a conference like this, not from me, but from the word of God is just, maybe you need to take her to Starbucks and listen to her a little better. Maybe that bell ringing, maybe you need to actually hear that, and you need to do some work. And if that's true of you, I'm right in the same boat as you." Jesus was tender. And Jesus frees us then to admit that we're not tender, many of us, and we need to grow. Third and finally, and I'll make this very short because the church bells are literally ringing to say, Strand, quiet. Jesus fought for his people. Third and finally, Jesus fought for his people. Hebrews 12, excuse me, Hebrews 2, read it wrong. Hebrews 2, 14 to 18 tells us this. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." So as we conclude here this, Jesus is the greater David. Jesus is the one who came to earth to face down the greater Goliath and die for us. Jesus will give you all the help you need to honor and glorify God. You are not sufficient for this fight. You are not the strong one. I am not the strong one. But Jesus is strong. And Jesus showed us his strength, ironically, not and taking up a great sword and cutting off the head of Herod or whoever you want to mention. Narrow. Jesus showed his strength by stretching out his arms and dying on a Roman cross for us. And it is in that act, and in the resurrection that followed, that we find all the power we need for godliness. Because remember, brothers, we are the weak partner in the equation, but Jesus is the strong one. But Jesus does not leave us in sinful weakness. Jesus makes his strength powerful in our weakness, as the apostle Paul said. So where are you weak? Where do you need the grace and mercy of God? Where do you need to grow? Here is encouragement for you as we conclude. Wherever that weak place is, God's grace is stronger. God will change you. God will change me. God will turn the world upside down. God, we remember, loves to use, not an army to do so, In the Old Testament, God used one man to put an entire fearsome army to flight. The Philistines fled for their lives because of a shepherd boy. But that's just a tiny little picture of the one man who put the devil in a place of defeat. Jesus Christ has won the victory for us on the cross, and Jesus Christ, all the way to glory, will fight for us. Even now, brothers, even now, Jesus is praying for you, that your faith will not fail. And if you are in Christ, your faith will not fail. God is strong. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for the work of Christ. Thank you for David, and thank you for the greater David, and thank you that you are working in us men who stumble in many ways, James 3, 2, even as our wives and women stumble in many ways. And thank you, Father, that we are freed by your gospel to be not pretenders, but to be honest about our weakness and our failing. We can look at our hearts. I can look at my own heart and see It is hard for me to admit my weakness and my dependence and my sin, but I praise you that your Spirit is working in me and in us and all who are in Christ to help us confess that, but not to stop there, to instead lift up our eyes and see the Alpha, the Omega, the Warrior King, the Savior, the Messiah, the one who will soon and very soon put all things to rights, Jesus Christ. In his name we pray, amen. Thank you for listening to this message from the War on Men Conference held at Capitol Community Church in April, 2024. To learn more about Capitol Community Church, please visit capitolcommunitychurch.com. For information about Finding Purpose Ministries, please visit findingpurpose.net. Owen Strand's book, The War on Men, was published in 2023 by Salem Books.