I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs chapter
16. Proverbs 16. I suppose No, I know for a fact that if
the message is a blessing I've heard to the pastor, it will
be a blessing to God's people. And as I was going over my notes
this morning, as I began to contemplate what I was to be preaching, I began to become more and more
convicted, slain, hurt. You know, I've heard people say,
if you're going to point at somebody, remember there's at least three
fingers looking back at you. So, I'm going to tell you right
up front, right now. that this is a very, very convicting
message to me. It's one that I need to hear,
and I'm sure you too, when you hear it, you too will admit it.
But in the good providence of our God, as I'm going through
the book of Proverbs, I've come to these last two verses in chapter
16, verses 32-33, and just take it to heart. I need to hear this, I'm sure,
more than you. Proverbs 16, 32-33, He that is
slow to anger is better than the mighty. and he that ruleth
his spirit, than he that taketh the city. The lot is cast into
the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." There is a passion called anger that the believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ is commanded to exercise. Ephesians 4.26, Be ye angry and
sin not. Now I know for a fact that if
that were not so, the Spirit of God would have never put it
in there. I know that. And be ye angry,
and sin not. That is to say, be angry against
sin within and without. Be angry against that which is
disrespectful to God. Disrespectful to His Word. disrespectful to His people,
to His honor, to His glory, to His sovereignty. Be angry and
sin not. But also, in light of the Word
that commands us to love our enemies, and to bless them that
curse you, do good to them that hate you, Pray for them which
despitefully use you and persecute you. Now, my question for myself,
for you, is what is the Scripture teaching about being angry? Being angry. I think great insight is given
Turn with me to Psalm 139. Psalm 139. Psalm 139, verse 21,
22. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? And am not I grieved with those
that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies." Now,
King David penned those words under the inspiration of God's
Spirit, and I can tell you for a fact, The fulfillment of those
words can only be accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. Absolutely. No doubt about it. Lord willing,
I'll try to show you that in a second. Do not I hate them,
O Lord, that hate Thee? And am not I grieved with those
that rise up against them? Now, I know from that Scripture
this truth. Ill done to us does not deserve
our resentment toward someone else. Ill done to us doesn't
deserve hatred. Only that which is done before
God Almighty deserves hatred. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that
hate Thee. But then the Scripture gives
the meaning of that word hatred. Am not I grieved? And I looked
up the word grieve. Do not I detest? Do not I loathe
within myself? Am not I grieved with those that
rise up against thee?" Only the Lord now can say those
words. And let me tell you what I'm
getting at right now. It leaves no place for us. Only
the Lord can say that and it leaves no place for us. I'm going to continue. Psalm
119.58. Psalm 119 verse 158. I beheld
the transgressors and was grieved. Here again, I detested. I loathed. I beheld the transgressors and
was grieved because they kept not thy word." Now, I know this. David again penned those words.
And there is a sense in which I can enter in. to what's being
said. At least with a head knowledge,
Neil, I can sort of enter in. I hate those, I'm grieved with
those that hate you. But I can tell you this, I only
can enter into that in part. I see through a glass darkly.
I don't understand it. and its perfectness. Who but
our Lord could say, I hate them. Now here's the key right here. I hate them with a perfect hatred. When the Lord said, Jacob have
I loved and Esau have I hated, that hatred right there. And I know what people say, they
say, I just don't believe that God can hate anyone. Well, we just don't believe God. but
the key to it right here. And here is where I'm telling
you we're going to get lost. We're going to get absolutely
lost right here. Believe it by faith, but when the Lord says,
I hate them, do I not hate them that hate thee? I have hated
them with a perfect hatred. And here again, Kind of look and find out what
does he mean when he says a perfect hatred. Here it is. Every attribute of God honored. Every attribute of Almighty God
honored. His sovereignty, His love, His
justice, His holiness, His long-suffering, It's every attribute of God honored. That's perfect. Perfect. I've hated them with
every attribute of Almighty God being honored in my hatred. I know this truly, we experience
something. of that grief toward those that
hate our Lord, turn over to Mark 3. Mark 3. Again, it's a grieving thing
to me, grieving in the sense when I behold someone treat our
Lord disrespectfully, or say something to our Lord or concerning
our Lord disrespectfully, or they don't believe the gospel
of God's grace, or they talk about someone that is a preacher
of the gospel of free grace. There's an emotion that wells
up inside of me, and I'm grieved. I'm resentful. But I'm going to be honest with
you. That I would be grieved or hate
them with a perfect hatred? In that I might be able, within
the attitude of my heart, consider that every attribute of Almighty
God has been honored in my resentment toward them? I have no place
in that. I have no right to that. That's the reason that the Spirit
of God said, Be angry and sin not. Look at Mark 3, verses 4
and 5. And he saith unto them, Is it
lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? To save life or to kill? But
they held his peace. And when he looked round about
on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness or the blindness
of their hearts. He saith unto the man, Stretch
forth thy hand. And he stretched it out, and
his hand was restored whole as the other. The Lord looked around,
and He looked on them grieved, and He was angry. And in His anger, every attribute
of Almighty God was honored. That perfect hatred. Perfect hatred. We're warned because by frailty. Ephesians 4, 26 says, Ephesians
4, 26, 27, Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither
give place to the devil. Even in our zeal for our Lord's
honor and truth of the gospel of free grace. I love this message. Oh, Lord, help me love it. I love the gospel of God's grace,
sovereign grace, particular redemption. That's because that's His revelation. That's His truth. That's His
Word. That's His will. That's His desire. And I truthfully can say, though
I do admit the frailty of my heart, I do love it. But the
Scripture says concerning even my zeal for His honor, even in
my zeal, in my love for His honor, be careful. Be careful. We are frail creatures. We don't
possess the ability to control even the most honorable of our
passions. We don't have the ability. Don't
end the day and muse upon your pillow with anger against something
that someone else has said or done to you or even against the
Lord. Grieving. Even with that indignation
against that which is truly wrong. Because I'm going to tell you,
it's going to come to no good. James 1, 19, 20 says, Wherefore,
my beloved brethren, let every man be swifty here, slow to speak,
slow to wrath, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness
of God. You see, every opportunity to
hear the Word of God, meditate upon what you've heard and prayerfully
weigh what you've been taught before you speak. Be slow to become angry when
someone disagrees with you and does not believe the gospel we
love. Vengeance is the Lord's. He said,
I'm going to repay. Proverbs 14.29 says, He that
is slow to wrath is of great understanding, but he that is
hasty of spirit exalteth folly. Silliness. I'm going to tell you something.
I'm guilty. I'm guilty. You remember this,
Marvin, you remember this especially. A passionate, angry spirit does
not adorn the gospel of free grace. Ephesians 4, verse 27, finishing
what I started to say a while ago, neither give place to the
devil, Let not the sun go down on your wrath, neither give place
to the devil." Don't give Satan room or opportunity to entice
offense through an uncontrolled, passionate attitude that does
not do anything but hinder, hinder, hinder the gospel. Proverbs 16. In light of these
Scriptures, in light of what we considered, realizing that
we have no ability to control our emotions. Somebody said,
I'm mad because they were offended at the Lord. God can take care
of Himself. I'm mad because of what they
said about me. I'm mad. I can tell you right
now, whenever we find ourselves angry, write it down. Evil is going
to come out of it because we can't control it. Proverbs 16, 32, He that is slow
to anger is better than the mighty. And he that ruleth his spirit,
than he that taketh a city. He that is slow to anger, patient,
long-suffering, when he's ridiculed, when he's questioned, when his
thought process is kind of questioned, he that is slow to anger, when
he's persecuted for the sake of the gospel, is better than
the mighty, better, he's good. That's what it means, he's good.
That's a good attitude. He that is slow to anger for
Christ's sake, for the good of his people, for the good of his
gospel, is better, is good, robed, exhibits
being robed. in the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's better than the mighty.
That is, the conqueror or the warrior of this world. Those
that think, I can handle this. You want this taken care of?
I'll take care of it. I'll show you how to take care of that. I'll show you how I'm going to
get to the bottom of this. And he that ruleth has control
of his spirit. and he that taketh a city." One that doesn't suffer himself
or his passions to exceed their due bounds for the sake of Christ
is superior in strength. That's what the Scripture says.
To one that can storm a castle or take a city. I want you to
turn to 2 Samuel 16. 2 Samuel 16. 2 Samuel 16. I'm going to just
read three or four verses out of this chapter right here. You
know this story. I think to myself, only by the grace of God. Here's
King David riding through town. 2 Samuel 16 verse 5, And when King
David came to Bahuram, behold, thence came out a man of the
family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son
of Gerah, came forth and cursed still as he came. He was watching
David ride up and he just started cussing, cussing the king. He
called him everything but a milk cow. Just cussed his name, cussed
his family, cussed everything about him. Verse 6, And he cast
stones at David, and all the servants of King David, and all
the people, all the mighty men were on his right hand on his
left. Verse 9, Then said Abishai, the
son of Zeruiah unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse
my Lord the King? Let me go over, I pray Thee,
and take off his head. Verse 11, And David said to Abishai,
And to all his servants, Behold my Son, which came forth of my
bowels, seeketh my life. How much more now may this Benjamite
do it? Let him alone. Let him curse. For the Lord hath bidden him,
it may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction, and
that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day." His men come out and start cussing
the king. Throwing rocks at him. Cussed his family. Cussed everything.
Picking up rocks just as fast as he could throw them. And one
of David's mighty men said, I'll take his head off. David said,
you leave him alone. The Lord sent him. God sent him. It may be that the Lord will
look on my affliction and have mercy on me. Leave him to himself. One that is slow to anger, he
that ruleth his spirit does so by the grace of God. and knows
that He has nothing to glory in but Christ and Him crucified. Be honest with you, because I
cannot control my anger, even with the most honorable of intentions. Somebody said something about
me, something about my family, something about my kids, my mama. Somebody said something about
my God. Hold it. You're not going to
control it. It's going to get out of hand.
You don't know where to stop. You don't know where the lines
are. You don't know. He knows. That believer knows
that he is what he is by the grace of God, and he perceives
something. of God's sovereignty and mercy
and kindness and compassion to Him, being chosen in Christ,
redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, regenerated by the Spirit
of God, and knows that all things work together for good to them
that love God, To them who are called according
to His purpose, if all things work together for good to them
that love God, then what do I have to be mad
about? That's what David did. I'll take his head off, you stupid... You'll never see the light of
day again. Leave him alone. The Lord sent him. The Lord sent
him. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. And what do I have to be mad
about? He that is slow to anger and
bruleth his spirit. Why? Look at verse 33. The lot is cast into the lap.
But the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." The lot, the
destiny, the working of God's providence is cast into the lap,
the bosom of men. But the whole disposing of, the
whole carrying out of it, the whole exhibition of God's mercy
and grace and compassion to His people, that's of the Lord. Anger, usually if not always,
is going to expose our selfishness and lack of trust in God. I'm telling you, you think, I
need this. I need this. The Lord's people ought to be, ought to be, slow
to anger and to rule their spirit. Because I know that He doeth
according to His will in the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay His hand. Nobody
is going to stop Him. The Lord is but teaching us what
we are. I'm just a frail creature. I
don't have enough sense to know when it's right to be angry and
when it's not. There's no such thing as chance. There's no event or happening
that is insignificant. All things, everything that comes
our way Everything that comes our way was directed. Every word that somebody said
about you, God directed that. The Lord sent them. The Lord
sent them. You say, well, they were hateful.
The Lord sent them. And God's going to deal with
them. The Lord sent them. He that is slow to anger and
ruleth his spirit is greater. Greater. Why? Because the lot
is cast into the lap. But the whole disposing thereof
is of the Lord. In the time of trials and closing,
tribulations, testings, remember this. In Him, in the Lord, we
have obtained an inheritance being predestinated. This is
how we're going to get there. We're going this way. Predestinated. He moves, He orders, He changes,
He sends, He directs. He predestinated according to
the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. The Lord help us, for Christ's
sake. Thank you.