Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs 15. Proverbs 15. One verse of Scripture, verse
18. Proverbs 15, 18. The scripture says, A wrathful
man stirreth up strife, but he that is slow to anger appeaseth
strife. In that verse of scripture right
there, let me just come right to the heart of what that scripture
is saying. Who is it talking about? It is talking about two men.
Two men. He's talking about the first
Adam and talking about the second Adam. Strife. A wrathful man stirs
up strife. He that is slow to anger appeaseth
strife. Now, strife. What is that? You know basically what it is. Let me give you the definition
of it from the Hebrew, what it means. Here it is, strife. It's a contest. Strife. It's a quarrel. It's brawling. Mr. Webster defines it like this,
it's a state or condition of distrust or enmity, exertion
or contention for superiority. Now let me ask you this, does
that not sum up what happened in the garden? Whose will is going to be done? Can we not see the two men? Now here's what happened in the
garden. Satan, who the scripture says
the Lord Jesus Christ revealed, I saw him fall from heaven. Lightning. Satan had this desire. I will. I will be like the Most
High. I will exalt myself. I will. And that's where it started,
right there. Came to Eve and said, have God said? Did God say that you were not
to eat of the fruit? Yeah, she said, yeah, he did.
He said, the day that we do it, even touched it, she said, kind
of improved a little bit on it. We're going to die. He said,
you're not going to die. God knows that when you eat,
you're going to be like God. You're going to know good and
evil. And he did. One writer said,
As soon as he ate, he knew good and didn't know how to do it,
how to accomplish it. And he knew evil too, didn't
know how to avoid it. Wrathful man. One that is in
contest with God. Now that's man by nature. That's
what happened in the garden. Wrath against Almighty God. Contest. Man listening to what
Satan has to say. That verse of scripture that
I quoted this morning in first service, Genesis 6-5, this is
what happened when Adam fell. God saw. that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And all that man comes forth
from his mother's womb, think him, is disrespectful thoughts
of God. Disrespectful. Every day, man's
purpose and desire was for evil. No good. No good intent. Man exalted man. Wrathful man. So strife, this contest, this
quarrel is a product of man. Proverbs 10, 12 says this, Hatred stirreth up strife. Man by nature His mind is enmity. Hates God. He hates God's right. He hates God's authority. He
hates God. He just looks for reason to resent
God. Proverbs 16.28, A froward man
soweth strife. Froward. What does that mean? Disobedient and one of opposition. That's what it means. Every man,
every woman has got one or two attitudes. Either they believe
God, bow to God, or they don't. One of the two. And if they don't,
it's only by the grace of God. So strife, that great dividing
evil, That's a horrible thing. It's dishonoring to the Lord
and grieving to the people of God. When they see it in themselves,
they see it in others. Disrespect. Spawn from Satan, the father
of lies, and manifest itself by pride. James says in James 4.1, From
whence come wars and fighting among you? Come they not hence?
of your lust, that war in your members. I want to be the boss. That's what man says. I want
to be in control. I want to call the shots. I want
some glory. I want some praise. I want some
honor. We're all like that. And I'm telling you, when somebody
compliments us, you know, and I like to hear that myself, you
know. And you know what I do? I run with it, Neil. I just think,
man, you know. Yeah, I guess I am. Boy, how that old man, he just
wants to get high. I'm going to climb out of here. I'm going to show you who I am. That old man loves the praise. Loves the praise. And I read
those Scriptures. It's all honor, all glory, all
praise unto Him. I just strife. Strife. Wrathful man stirreth up strife. It's in me. It's right there. But though we know that every
man finds the root of strife within, the believer wars against
it. He does. He does. He wars against
it. He doesn't want it to be stirred
up. He doesn't want it to be fueled.
He doesn't want it to be fueled. I read this Proverbs 26.20 where
no wood is, There the fire goeth out. So
where there's no tailbearer, the strife ceases. And I'm telling
you, I wonder how many times I've caught myself, I'll be talking
to somebody, and all of a sudden, I can see the way this conversation
is going. It's going to be, you know, it's
going to be kind of degrading to somebody, you know. And the next thing you know,
and I'm telling you, I know I'm thinking to myself, I'm going
to regret this. Shut up. And then I just, I think,
why did I say that? Why? Oh, wretched man. I see in me that old man. A wrathful man stirreth up strife. I see that old nature. I know,
I recognize it. But he that is slow to anger
appeaseth strife." Oh, there's only one that I can look to that
that right there fits. He that is slow to anger appeaseth
strife. This is only the merit of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Only in Him. Where there's a
quiet, peaceable disposition, an attitude of grace and charity,
where long suffering endures, never wavers, only in Him. That's where the storm is quieted. Boy, that's what that old man
fights against right there. That old man hates that new nature. You think, well, wouldn't it
be nice just to always praise the Lord and give Him thanks
and consider others greater than ourselves? You think, boy, that's
scriptural. That's what the Scripture says.
Bearing one another's burdens, lifting them up, praying for
them, exalting them, praying God have mercy. And that old
man hates that nature. I hate that thought. You thought,
but that's a good thought. I know it's good. Brother Henry
said this, all of us know that strife shouldn't be. We're exhorted
by Scripture to love one another, forgive one another, be kind,
to exercise patience, and look not on our own welfare, but on
the welfare of others. We ought to strive to preserve
the unity of the spirit of peace. And you know what? I know that's
so. I know that's so. But oh, how
we war within against that. Thanks be unto Him. One day,
there will be no more striving, no more dishonoring God, no more
disrespect to God's people. No more disrespect to the Lord.
How do we deal with strife? What are we exhorted to do? Well, here's what the Scripture
says, a wrathful man stirreth up strife. Stirreth up strife. You know,
if you've got a pile of mess, and you take a stick and stir
it up, man, I didn't know it stunk that
badly. A wrathful man stirreth up strife,
but he that is slow to anger appeaseth." What was to be done
with strife? Appease it. Now let me ask you
this. When man fell in the garden,
what happened between man and God? They were separated. Your sins
are separated between you and your God. Now let me ask you
this. How is there going to be reconciliation? How is there going to be peace? How is that strife, how is that
wrath going to be appeased? And I'm talking about appeased
before God. Neil, you asked a question a while ago. You asked everybody,
you want to go to heaven? Well, let me ask you this. What's
it going to take for a man to find himself accepted by Almighty
God? Strife is going to have to be
appeased. And it's going to be more than just Almighty God just
saying, I'll just forget about sin. Strife is that man has sinned
against God, and God's just. He's a just God. How is that
strife going to be appeased? How is it going to be reconciled? How is man going to be justified? How is Almighty God going to
look and say, no charge, no guilt, no record, no record? That old man, was crucified with Christ. The
old man and his guilt. That's what Paul said. I was
crucified with Christ. What man is that? It was the
man that deserved death. That old man. I was crucified
with Christ. My old man. Almighty God. Now you talk about a miracle
of God's grace. Here is Almighty God and before
all of His elect were even born. They were in Christ. Always been
in Christ. You mean to tell me that there
may be some of God's elect that's still yet to be born, and they
were in Christ at the cross? Exactly right. They were in Him. How did they get there? God put
them there. Brother Scott said, where God put a man, He kept
him. Now when the Lord Jesus Christ
went to the cross, He went to the cross as the obedient servant
of God, the federal head. Now here's the miracle of God's
grace. All of God's elect were right
there with Him. And when He died, He died as
the federal head. He was dying for His people. He knew no sin. But He was made
what they are. And there, all the guilt of all
of God's elect was found at Calvary. And the Scripture sets forth
that truth to be this. He was made sin. He who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. His obedience, his righteousness
that he earned as a man, imputed to God's little act. Now, in
time, I'm telling you, Almighty God saw the Lamb slain from before
the foundation of the world. God Almighty the Father first
trusted in Christ. God saw their debt paid. God
saw the wrath appeased. And God accepted them in the
Beloved. And He died. He put away their
guilt. Now, in time, God makes a brand
new man. Created in righteousness. Born
from above. New man. New life. That which is born of God. Sin
is not. That brand new man has never
known sin. And Christ, He's alive. Christ is His light. Christ is
His salvation. Christ is His strength. It's
the life of Christ. It's God Almighty that worketh
in you to will and to do of His good purpose. There's a brand
new man there. And that man does not sin. Almighty God has done something
that man could never do. Almighty God appeased the strife. How did He do it? He did it justly. He did it in absolute justice. He dealt with sin in absolute
justice and wrath and put it away. For who? For all that He
had given unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ said, I laid them
alive for the sheep. I'm paying their debt. I'm putting
away their guilt. And the blood of Christ cleanseth
us of all sin. Now, I know that we're still
in the same body that we were born in. And that old man is
still there. And that old man still stirs
up strife. But God doesn't charge him with
it anymore. Not to his elect. Doesn't charge
him with it. Lest as the man whom the Lord
will not impute sin didn't charge him with it. Christ paid his
debt. Put away the guilt of it. And
God Almighty, who has appeased wrath, Reconciled man, his people,
his elect, his church, his pride. Reconciled them back to Christ.
Coming back to God, how? By his blood. His blood cleanseth
us. No condemnation to them for being
Christ Jesus. Man, wrathful man, stirs up strife. He that is slow to anger, just. appease his strife. Now that's
the truth. That's our hope. For Christ's
sake.