Last week we looked at, in Ephesians chapter 4, the formula,
or the lack of a formula, of how we are to put off the old
man and put on the new. And we saw and recognized very
clearly that God has already established the new birth. He's
established the new man. He's established the new creation,
which is there because the old man has been put to death. But
then we realize that in the flesh, we forever are struggling with
the Spirit of God within us. So there's a battle. We look at understanding that
battle Knowing that our faith alone rests in Christ, not in
our diligence, not in our ability, not in our perseverance in the
context of us pushing and pressing, though we should be diligent,
though we should persevere, though we should push and press. The
Scripture very clearly says those who don't persevere don't inherit
the kingdom of heaven. And so it's not an issue of that we
should just sit down and let go and let God, and then God
will just sort of save us. No, if we're not fighting, chances
are we're not reborn. But we put no stock in the fight. We put no warrant in the fact
that our battle does something for us, except that it gives
glory to God who has already established us anew in Christ. That's why the gospel is called
the gospel, the good news. Because what God has declared
and commanded us to be and do is impossible for us to be and
do. Therefore, He did it for us. That's good news. It would
be bad news if we continually were held to the standard of
being holy. For at conception, we failed that standard. We looked at the tail end of
last week's message, last 15 minutes, at the text where Paul
is exhorting us then to always speak the truth to our neighbors.
Don't fall into the idea of the deceitfulness of the old man.
Don't listen to him. Don't listen to the lies of the
heart. The heart is, above all things, wicked and deceitful. So, the truth is in Christ. We
looked at this last week. And now, this week, we see in
this text that God is establishing, or Paul is establishing, teaching, if you will, in concerning
anger. I'll be honest with you. It's very easy. It's very easy
to misplace in our minds, in our lives, the vital importance
and the purpose of the church. It's very easy. The church exists,
and this is months of teaching now. Let's go back and pick it
up. The church exists so that God's wisdom is displayed to
His face. So that God's power is seen by
His own eyes. So that God's work is pleasing
to His own face. In Ephesians 3.10, for the purpose
of the church is to display the manifold wisdom of God. And not
just to God's eyes, but to the eyes of God's enemies. And I
mentioned that in Ephesians 3 when we went through there, that the
fact that the church exists proves to the enemies of God that they
have lost. So, if we are the outcome of
the victory of Jesus unto the what? Praise of His glorious
grace. Because that's really the overarching
purpose of the church, isn't it? Why does God want to see
us before Him? That we worship Him. Praise Him
for His grace. So in other words, if God's holiness
is a display of His intrinsic worth, then God's grace is a
display, is a perfect display of what? of His glory. We praise Him to the praise of
His glorious grace. So God's grace perfectly displays
His glory and His holiness perfectly displays His worth. I think it
all boils together. God's glory is His worth, is
His holiness, is His character, but God has established the most
perfect picture of Himself in the mercy of Himself in the person
of Jesus Christ for the benefit of those who believe that he
might be pleased in Christ and thus redeem a people for himself.
This is the body of Christ. So, God's glory revealed through
Christ in the church is of utmost and paramount importance. That
being the case, our relationship with sin is going to be a war. Because when our sin rises its
ugly head, it's bad enough. But when our sin is publicly
displayed, it's even worse. Because what we are saying to
those who see it, is that God's wisdom is not at work here. God's power is not at work here.
Especially when we go, that's alright. It's not that bad. The fact that you were conceived
in Adam is enough to condemn you. What do you think happens
when we live a life of continued rebellion toward God? Scripture
says it heaps judgment. We deserve the fullness of the
wrath of God forever, without ever seeing it cease. But God, in His rich mercy, because
of the great love with which He loved us, He has caused us
to be born again, this is 1 Peter, to a living hope in Christ Jesus. And so as we look at these things,
because it's really... and you may think, well, I get
this. Why are you hitting this so hard?
Because I hear, sometimes with a little voice in my own head,
but a lot of times with the voices of other people's mouths, I hear
so often about how people play down sin They play down sin. Well, I don't tell a lie, well,
good. What about your anger? I don't lose my temper. Did it
say lose your temper? Losing your temper is infantile.
It's immature. And this text here hits home
to me incredibly. We have this old phrase in the
Tippins household called a tip and spit. It's a scary thing. Sounds like a comedy. It's not
even a tragedy. It's a horror flick. Am I lying? It's a horror flick. Tiffin's
fits are horror flicks. I mean, what makes the boogeyman
look saintly? Scary stuff. And if it angers
you real bad, throw it in the yard. If it's beyond repair,
throw it in the pond. See the point? So, I know what
it's like to be angry and sin. Anger is not a display of godliness. Ever. Anger is never a display
of godliness. Ever. Any display of anger is
sinful. And that's what I want you to
see in this text. Anger, I believe, is one of life's most enduring
vices. In other words, it stays. It
stays. Even people who don't lose their
temper. Anger still boils in the soul. And it reads every
emotion and takes every molecule of our being and it boils it
up into this lava and it spews it into the orifices of our mind. And we just can walk around as
pleasant as the day is long, enraged with anger. Some of us have learned to be
that good with our temper, but our anger is still there. Anger
is something that destroys individuals. Anger destroys families, destroys
nations, and destroys worlds. Anger is one of the most wicked
fruits of the natural man in this world. D.A. Carson says
it this way, that anger is divisive, satanic, and corrupting in its
power. In other words, anger is a force
of power that is divisive and satanic and corruptive, and it
destroys. Anger, on the other hand, though,
can be a helpful emotion. It can be healthy to sense it,
to feel it, to recognize it, to see it established in our
hearts and then point it out for the work of sanctification.
After all, the Scripture teaches that God is angry at times, that
there are things that anger God. Christ was angry at the temple. Christ was angry when He saw
the wickedness of the hearts of the Pharisees. But it also
says that He was grieved at their unbelief. Anger. The difference between
God's anger and Christ's anger and man's anger is that God nor
Christ have ever sinned in their anger, nor has any of their anger
come from sin. And I would suggest to you that
most of our anger is either the cause of sin or the fruit of
sin. And the biggest difference is
that man is a slave to sin. Therefore, his anger is a slave
to that sin. And anger in man and humanity
is driven to anger for the wrong reasons. God, however, is righteous
in His anger. He's always righteous. He's always
holy. He's always right when He is
angry. For all the right reasons, He
is angry. And He rightly controls His anger versus how our anger
controls us. The question then, or the questions
are now, when do we get angry? How are we supposed to get angry?
How often are we supposed to be angry? For how long are we
supposed to be angry? And how do we know when our anger is
in sin, and when our anger is not, or our anger is in Christ?
How do we know if our anger is righteous anger? Does my anger
control me, or do I have it under control? We don't know the answers.
And what we want, not only in this issue, but in many issues,
we want God, in His Word, to give us a list in the appendices
and say, here's a list of checks that you can see if your anger
is sinful. I would say that if we have to go check it, it probably
is. I would say also in the context
of walking in the freeness of Christ to be a slave to righteousness,
we don't go to the Scriptures to see just how far to the grave
we can go. Will God allow me to? Can I do
this? Can I do that? Can I? See, Christianity is not
about what we can and can't do. It's about what we desire to
do versus what our flesh wants. Being a believer in Jesus Christ,
being born again is not about desiring something so much, but
we know we shouldn't because we might get in trouble. It's
about this desire coming up that's unnatural into the new man that
Christ has created within us. And we go, I don't want that.
Why do I want that? You see? Spiritual schizophrenia,
that's the thing that we see inside the church, inside the
body, inside the soul. We want to be angry. We want
to be vindicated. We want to prove our point. But
deep inside of us, the Spirit of God says we want to be humble.
We know we need to do this. Why does this boil up inside
of me? For the flesh cannot be put to
death so easily, friends. But Christ has already defeated
it. If anger seals our days, if it
manifests itself in such a way that it is a permanent fixture
of our character and our countenance, then the outcome of our lives
is not going to be peace. It's not going to be unity. It's
not going to be relational affection. It's going to be escape. People
trying to get away from us. People trying to avoid us. People
trying to walk around in a different manner so that they don't do
something that would cause us to be angry. It's going to be
a life of wrath and a life of judgment, a life of war and oppression,
a life of calamity and depression. And here, as Paul's teaching
to the church, he's talking about anger within the body. It's a
direct contrast to the unity of the spirit, the bond of peace.
This argument. We've got to get out of the way
of these numbers and chapters and headings. Let's read the
letter. And the fullness of this letter is that we have been saved
in Christ and we have been given all spiritual blessings, including
the mind of Christ as we steal away from Philippians. And so,
therefore, we are now those who are opposed to God. Those who
God had chosen are now one man, one people under Christ. And
so God can do far more than any of us could ever ask or dream
of. And so that God would be glorified in the church and in
Christ forevermore. Amen. The end of chapter three.
So then. Then. Because of these things, because
of the fact that we have a new life, I know, Paul says, that
you are going to deal with certain factions inside the body and
here is the outcome of how those things will take place if you
are indeed in Christ. You will speak the truth and
you will not sin in your anger. That's what he's saying. Paul is not, nor has he ever
taught morality. We talked about that last week.
God does not expect morality. Much of the unchurched world
is moral. Just as much of the church is
immoral. So among the brethren, we are
to be eager to maintain the bond of peace in Christ. We are to
bless our enemies, Scripture teaches us, Christ Himself. Bless
those who curse you. Pray for those who persecute
you. Love your enemies. And so as I look at it, and Paul
is saying to love everyone in the church and strive for peace
and do not be sinful in your anger. then Jesus is telling
me to love those who aren't part of the church and to pray for
them and to allow them to just mull me over for the sake of
the glory of God's grace. Then where in the world is there
room for anger at all in my life? Where should it be? Well, that's
the point. That's the point in that we ought
not see anger very often in our lives. We ought not see anger,
and when we do see it, it needs to be evaluated immediately.
Well, anger starts with a warning. Look at this text. Be angry. I lost my place. And do not sin. There's a warning there. In your
anger, warning, you're probably sinning. That's why he's saying
it. Don't sin. Are you angry? Don't sin. And what does that
typically result in? Not being angry anymore. Because
we realize that the reason we're angry was selfish or sinful.
And then we realize that even if it wasn't, the outcome of
our anger is going to be fleshly and not divine, so therefore
it's sinful, so we cease it. That's why the very next phrase
is, don't let the sun go down in your anger. He says if you are angry,
it better be quick. You'd be slow to anger, as James says
in James 1. But then when you do get angry, according to Ephesians
4, it better be short. Short. Sun goes down about 8
o'clock every day. I mean, tomorrow morning when
you wake up or in the middle of the night when you wake up, you need to have it
dealt with. It's over. You know what this is really
showing you? That anytime there's anger in our hearts, our minds,
that we're at the threshold of sin. I want you to envision that. Man, I'm mad. Take one more step
and see what happens. You'll fall off the cliff. You'll
fall off the wagon of righteousness. You won't lose your salvation.
I'm not saying that. I'm saying that we will fall into sin when
we feel anger. If we do not check it, we will
fall off into sin. We are at the threshold. We're
at that dividing line. We're at that border that when
we step across, then we see the turrets and it will aim in our
direction and it will take fire at anybody in our field of view.
Anger really reveals the nature of our selfishness. Just think
about anger for a minute, doesn't it? Anger reveals the nature
of our selfishness. What makes me angry is what makes
what bothers me is what took from me is what didn't give me
and what you see the point. Anger reveals the nature of our
selfishness. Anger stirs the bitterness of
our entitlement. Thought about this this week
in my own life. Sometimes when I'm angry, it's because I'm entitled
to something and because I didn't get what I'm entitled to, I'm
bitter about it, so I'm angry. Nobody knows the difference.
You don't know that. I could be singing worship songs
in my car and have that feeling in my heart. Have that thought
in my mind, I can't believe people do me like that, man. Golly,
why would they do me like that? And you're not angry. You're
a little disturbed. You're frustrated. You might even be upset. I can't
believe they'd hurt me. That's selfish. It's an entitlement. You're entitled to destruction.
Anything else is glorious. But now, because of Christ, we're
entitled to what? The riches of glory. They're
ours. So when someone takes garbage
that's passing away or imposes something against what we want
in this planet, let it go. Caesar said the done, isn't it?
Anger rests in the heart of deceitfulness. See, that's the biggest thing
is that anger rests in the heart of deceitfulness. The heart is
deceitful. And so the anger will hide down in there. I'm not really
angry. I'm concerned about this person's
spiritual life. I'm concerned about this person's
attitude. I'm concerned about this person, you know, on and
on and on. God bless this soul. We have a prayer meeting. We
tell the whole story. I pray for John. What happened? Well,
it's just personal. Well, help me how to pray. Next
thing you know, you know the whole story. You know everything.
You know the phone call that happened the day before. It was on Facebook. Anger resists forgiveness. And
anger, when it sends sin, places people at its center. And that's
always sinful. Always sinful. Anger blames others. Anger resents others. Anger restricts
and denies fellowship. Now, I don't want to talk to
you. You see that? I'm not going to go to church today because
that person made me mad. I'm not going to be there because...
You know what? When you can say that and your anger is because
of some kind of an infraction toward you, it's a bad situation
that we need to see. And by God's grace, we can see.
We need to see it. Not be deceived, but see it. Anger comes in many forms, but
in the end, Anger for man is always sin if it continues and
then it leads to destruction. So let's talk about that for
a minute. Let's talk about the fact that anger sits in the seat
of destruction. I envision, you know, have you
ever seen a building be demolished? By these large, you know, in
California is a large city when they tear down buildings. They
have these big cranes that are huge, 30 stories high. I don't
know how they'd get them up there. They've got these big balls that
are as big as this room in here, and they just swing it and they
knock stuff over. Or sometimes they'll use explosives
and they'll blow a building up and the building will fall very,
very nicely into one big pile of rubble. I envision anger sitting
at the helm of those things and just tearing it all down. Because anger, first and foremost,
destroys fellowship with God. We can't worship in spirit and
in truth when we're angry in our heart. It destroys not only
fellowship with God, it destroys intimacy with God. It would probably
be a better way. But it hurts the fellowship with God. It also
destroys the heart and the mind. It causes the heart to become
callous and the mind to become cold. It causes us to think differently
and become conniving and paranoid and wondering and frustrated. And every time, you know that
person, right? Probably most men in the room have been that
person. Might have even been today. Ladies, you're not off
the hook, but y'all have a different way in your temperament. We become
jerks and I don't know what y'all's anger looks like. It's changed
from day to day. But we don't like it, just like
y'all don't like ours. And there's nothing worse than when anger
begins to get in the way of affection. and fellowship. Anger destroys
the heart and the mind. It also destroys the testimony
of the church. It destroys your testimony if
you're the one angry. Why? Well, nobody knows I'm angry.
That's my problem. Well, are you really rejoicing,
outwardly sharing, making disciples when you're angry? No! You don't
even want to talk about spiritual things. At best, you're convicted
and you're guilty, and then you're angry because you got angry,
and then you're angry because you're guilty, and then you're
angry. You see the point? It's a constant stream of overflow
of sin and ultimately anger that sits in the city of destruction.
It refutes the power of God. It says that God's gospel, the
power of Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Word is not powerful
enough to overcome my temper or my anger or my selfishness
or my pride or my fear. Fear is the number one Reason,
most people get angry. They don't know how to deal with
it, so they just get mad. They don't know what they're going to do,
so they just get mad. How am I going to pay the bill? How
am I going to fix my marriage? How am I going to fix that truck?
Where am I going to get a job from? I'm mad! About what? I
don't know, I'm just mad, you see? It denies the power of the gospel.
It belittles those who have to endure it. Anger causes People
who would normally stand tall as a brother or sister in the
Lord to become small, and then they begin to blame themselves
for one's anger. It enrages those who hate the
anger. So then ultimately what happens
is those who are belittled then become angry themselves, and
it's a perpetual line of a bunch of angry people. In this context
of Ephesians, chapter four, Paul is very much driving the point
home that the church needs to be unified in all of its endeavors. It needs to be unified in truth,
in doctrine, in worship, in love and affection, all of these things.
And he says that not speaking the truth is a way of disunifying
the church. And now he's saying anger is
a way of disunifying the church. Anger causes disunity and disunity
And any kind of sin is really an act of unbelief. Sin is an
act of unbelief. Well, I'd like to take that home,
I need this and I can't afford it, so I'm going to steal this
for myself and put it in my pocket and take it home. Nobody will
ever know the difference, it was 35 cents. I haven't heard anybody. Well,
that's unbelief. If you needed that, you didn't
trust God to provide your need, so you took it upon yourself
to steal it from someone else that he'd already provided for. So it's
unbelief. Your spouse comes in and says
something snarky, smirky, whatever, and you get frustrated and you
get offended and you get mad. It's unbelief. You believe that
her sin or his sin against you is greater than your sin against
God. And so instead of repenting,
because you probably were a causal agent in that person getting
angry to start with, something you did or didn't do. And they're
not off the hook of their sin, but that's their problem. And
instead of saying, well, I'm just going to have joy, we allow
the unbelief to set in and say, well, Christ isn't enough when
my spouse comes in and causes me to have a bad attitude. Do not sin. Look what it says
there. Be angry and do not sin. Friends, let me show you what
this is not saying. It's not a command to be angry. Paul's not saying out there,
you go be angry. But it's a way of connecting
the rest of those words and dealing with the idea that when you are
angry, do not sin in your anger. He didn't say we must be angry.
Nowhere is that commanded. As a matter of fact, everywhere
else in the Scripture is commanded to not be angry. Nowhere does
it say, be angry. He's not saying, go be angry,
but don't sin when you do it. No, in your anger, do not sin. Do not express anger in sin and
do not become angry from sin. That's what Paul is saying here.
In this, anger must not be selfish anger. It must not be an outward
anger or a subjective anger. I'm mad at you, or I hate you,
or I can't stand you. In other words, we are to love
each other, and we're to die to ourselves, and we cannot be
angry with each other while we're doing that. We can't die to ourselves. Do you think Jesus was infuriated? Was He infuriated at the cross?
Was he going, give me all of it, I'll kill you all! I mean,
was he doing that? No, he didn't do anything like that. More people
would follow him if he did that. Yeah, get him down there, we'll
take over the world! I mean, you know, that's what
the Jews thought he was going to do anyway, was to fly off that cross
and machete everybody and round them up in a net and put them
in prison. He's going to get Rome, he's going to get our enemies,
yay! And when they realized he was a pacifist, if you will,
oh, I shouldn't have said that, they realized he was a sacrificial
lamb, Give us the murder of Barabbas! At least he'll get the job done.
Crucify! But he's innocent. Crucify him
anyway. And see, what Pilate knew is that if he didn't do
what they wanted illegally, then he'd lose his seat. They'd overthrow
the government of Rome. Or at least they'd give a real
good fight trying. So if Jesus wasn't angry, what
does He say? Forgive them. Forgive them. That's not anger. That's dying. That's forgiveness. And the one
person who deserved to have anger and wrath was Jesus on the cross.
It was unjust. He did not nor has He ever deserved
the cross. We deserve the cross. And He
took our sin on Himself so that we could become the righteousness
of God. That ought to make us angry. That Christ took our spot. You
see how it is, I hope I'm going to paint a picture for you here,
it's hard to teach this because it's hard to understand for me. But in painting some pictures,
maybe it'll just be like a light bulb to go out. You see that,
though? If we're angry at the injustice
toward Christ, then it's a good anger. It should be a short anger. Then we worship Him. We want
to go back and get Rome? We want to go get the Jews? No.
That's not what Jesus did. That's not what He called us
to do. Rejoice in your suffering. Rejoice when your lives are lost.
Rejoice when the plundering of your property, for you knew you
had a greater reward in abiding one. So if we're angry and these
things are true, then we must repent and be done, for this
anger is from the old man. Anger must not hold hostage another
who has wronged us. Can't hold hostage someone who's
wronged us. When it does, we have forgotten
the great and mighty way in which we've offended God. So when our
anger prohibits forgiveness, then we've forgotten just the
fact that we have offended God and he's forgiven us. Anger forgets
the gospel is forgiveness in Christ. And thus, there is no
room for dealing with people's offense toward us except in grace.
Anger cannot be pointed to one of God's children. We cannot
be angry at one another. It is sin. Anger tries to suggest
that another person has a larger speck in their eye than the beam
or beams or forest that is in ours. And so therefore, we become
very indignant and righteous and try to deal with our brother
by hating him. Why did Cain hate Abel? John
says in his first epistle, because Abel was righteous. He hated him. Scripture says in 1 Corinthians
chapter 13, it's known as the love chapter, that love is patient
and kind and endures. It endures evil. It does not
rejoice in wrongdoing. And here's one big one that always
gets me. Love does not insist on its own way. Anger does. Selfishness and sin,
when it doesn't get its own way, is angry. These are not the attributes
of the Spirit of God. The Scripture says in 1 Corinthians
13, but love bears all things and believes all things, hopes
all things and endures to the end in all things. So if love
does that, then anger is the opposite of love. Anger offends God. As I've already
said, it denies Him worship. Anger in sin rejoices not in
Christ and His willing sacrifice for even our anger and wrath
that we're exhibiting and dealing with. When we are complaining
and when we're angry, we are worshiping our own self instead
of rejoicing in all things and in all circumstances for the
sake of Christ. Anger forgets the amen of God's nature, the
so be it, it is so, the true, true, truly, truly of who God
is and that all He has promised, all things work out for our good.
So therefore, as we see anger and we see sin, we make it short
and we repent of that and we realize that our opportunity
to sin and anger is a greater opportunity for us to repent
and trust in the great and mighty work of God who saved us. God
will make all things right. And in the unity of the body
of Christ, we all get the same gift of grace and not the wage
we deserve. Often anger is a way of making
people pay for what we think they are due. And those who are
in Christ are due the glorious riches of Christ. And when we
give them our wrath, we are taking the vengeance that is God's away
from him, saying that we are better. And in essence, we are
saying we are God. And when we say that, we blaspheme. So as we've looked at a few thoughts
on anger, we can see the nature of that, of what sinful anger
looks like. I think there's enough examples
here. So in this, now we can measure
our anger against the flesh and hold it up and compare it and
then measure our anger against the Spirit of God and His Word.
When we find we are angry and in sin, we must turn from that
anger immediately. We must stop and repent. When we find that we are angry
and are righteous in our anger, then we must turn from that anger
soon and very soon. See, look what it says. When
you are angry, it best not be sin and it best be short-lived. That's my paraphrase of this
text. When you're angry, it better
not be in sin and it better be quick. It better be short. Don't
let the sun go down on your anger. So even good anger, because if
it's bad anger, Paul would not have said, let it be short. He
would have said, don't sin in it, because if it's bad anger,
it's sinful to begin with. So we're sinning just by having
it. If it's good anger that we're not in sin, it needs to be quick
before the sun goes down. We're done with it. That's what
that means. It's not a specific time. Well,
you know. I've had somebody tell me this, literally. He stays
angry all day. I do not! I'm always made up
before we go to bed because the Bible says make up before you
go to bed. No, it doesn't. The point there is not a time
to when you can let your anger go and you can hold on to it
with tooth and nail until that moment when the sun goes down.
Alright, all is forgiven. No, it means to get over it.
Get through it. And that's only in righteous
anger, not sinful anger. Sinful anger should be put away
immediately. Why? Well, James teaches us in chapter
one, verse 19 and 20. He says, let us be slow to speak
and slow to anger. Quick to... Let me just read
the whole three verses, 19 through 21 of James chapter one. Know
this, my beloved brothers. Let every person be quick to
hear, slow to speak. Slow to anger. For, because,
verse 20, the anger of man does not produce the righteousness
of God. Therefore, because of that, Put
away all filthiness and rampant wickedness, and receive with
meekness the implanted Word which is able to save your souls."
Now, did you hear what James just said? He said that anger does never
produce the righteousness of God, and that anger is filthy,
rampant wickedness. So the anger of men never produces
the righteousness of God. This anger is characterized,
according to James, as fast anger. Here's the point. When do we
normally get angry? When something arises and we
feel it and it comes, I'm angry. That's it. That's sin. It's sin. Slow anger is an anger that I
believe, through truth, our minds and hearts, in tune with the
Spirit of God, begins to see the reality. And then we choose
to become angry. But what does that anger look
like? Well, anger that's produced for
many a reason apart from righteousness is sin. That's fast anger. So
let's put it this way. Our hearts are quick to anger,
but the Spirit of God in us will be slow to anger. Our hearts are quick to anger,
but the Spirit of God within us will be slow to anger. Thus,
the only right anger in the life of the believer is the anger
of the Spirit of God. If our righteousness is not our
own, but is Christ, then our anger which produces righteousness
And James says, the anger of man cannot produce righteousness.
So therefore, the anger of the flesh can never produce righteousness.
So whose anger produces righteousness? Whose? God's. So if the righteousness
in us is not ours, but Christ, then the anger that is righteous
in us is also Christ. So in other words, if we are
affecting anger in our own minds, it must be because the Spirit
of God within us is angry, not our flesh. Our flesh can't be
angry or we're in sin. But when God's angry within us,
we have a righteous anger that's still short-lived. It's good
stuff, y'all. It's different. Well, If we're slow to anger, then
it's God's anger. He is slow to anger. Thus, the only right
anger is God's anger produced in us. So why is God angry? Well,
God's angry at times. at certain things, at certain
people. God is angered when His name
is dishonored. God is angered when His glory
is belittled. God is angered when what He commands
is ignored. God is angered when His people
rebel against Him. God is angered in the face of
idolatry and false teaching and false worship. God is angered
with people who abuse other people and who take advantage of the
weak and the lowly. God is angered with sin and pride
and foolishness. God is angered with sexual misconduct
and sexual morality and pornography. God is angered with dishonor
and shameful acts. God is angered when people mock
and laugh at calamity. God is angered when His Son is
refused. God is angered when His name
is used in vain. God is angered when people consider
Him apart from who He says He is in His Word. God is angered
when His holiness and His glory is not worshipped and not adored
and not admired by the world and by His church. And God is
angered when He is sinned against by any man. So, if our anger is to be the
righteous anger of God, It is always focused on the fact that
God has been sinned against. So we just took a big list of
what ticks us off and threw it away. Never should we be angry
at someone sinning against us. But we should be angry when we
realize that we're angry about someone sinning against us, because
that anger is a sin against God. You see the point? We recognize
that we, too, are indeed guilty. So what happens? Grace upon grace,
upon grace, upon grace. From Moses, we receive the law.
From Jesus Christ, we receive grace upon grace. Godly anger never puts grace
away. Hear that, church. Godly anger
never... What does that mean? That means
godly anger is never in our flesh pointed toward any particular
subject, person. I cannot be angry with you if
God's righteous anger is in me. I can be angry at the truth that
what you said offends God, and then immediately I realize that
I've offended Him too. So grace upon grace is a result
of that anger. That's why it's so quick-lived.
That's why it's so short-lived. The gospel is the power of us to
be overcoming anger. And anger doesn't drive us. Anger
doesn't drive God. Mercy drives God. You see that?
Mercy is God's action toward His people, not anger. Now, there
will be anger. There will be wrath and there
will be judgment for all the reprobate, for eternity. But
we aren't God. As a matter of fact, Paul in
1 Corinthians teaches that we ought not to even pass judgment
on the world, but that we ought to be making judgment against
each other, checking up on each other, making calls and saying,
where's the fruit of your life? Not there. We don't get angry.
We give grace. Godly anger never rejects repentance.
I'm sorry, I don't believe you. That's bad. You know what? Parents, we do that to our children
a lot. I have a real good habit when
my children say, I'm sorry. I say, I don't want to hear it,
I want to see it. I think that's a good lesson, but I find myself
lately using that too often. There needs to be forgiveness
and embracing and grace given to our children, to our brothers
and sisters in Christ, to our families. Godly anger never denies
forgiveness. You're forgiven. That means as
we consider the great offense toward God so clearly, we are
stricken with anger. And then we let that person go. Godly anger always is coupled
with grief, not rage. were angry. God is anger and
He is grief. Jesus was angry at the wickedness
of the Pharisees and grieved at their unbelief that they were
just so blind. We should then have a burden
for the lost, not hate them. We should have a burden for those
who are slaves to sin, not belittle them. and beat them up. We should be burdened for our
brothers who are falling away. We should be burdened and weep
over those who reject the truth. We should be angry with sin that
is against God and weep with burden over those who commit
it. We should clearly see in our
anger God's hatred for sin. And then we should clearly see
in our anger our own sin. We should clearly see in our
anger the glory of God's judgment. And we should clearly see in
our anger that God is gracious towards sinners. See, if we fail
to recognize God's anger in us and be graciously humbled and
burdened, then we are most likely in sin in our anger. And if our
anger is lasting, even if we think it's righteous, it then
has become sin. If our anger denies reconciliation.
We are in sin and our anger. If our anger rejects repentance
and forgiveness, we're in sin and our anger. If our anger continually
holds another in debt to us, we are sin and our anger. When
we are in sin and our anger, what does the last portion of
this text show? We give a foothold to Satan. The father of lies, the great
deceiver, the enemy of God. There's a whole sermon on this.
Satan has a foothold. If one fails to heed this instruction
and he becomes angry with sin, the devil has a grasp. It's like somebody opening your
door and you realize that somebody's come to do you harm and they
stick their foot in the jam of the door. You can't shut them
out anymore. Somebody rock climbing and they've
got a real good set and they've got their foot stuck in there
and they can stand there all day and rest. They're not going
anywhere, they're staying there. When Satan has hold in our anger,
We fail to forgive. We fail to reconcile. We fail
to repent. We fail to see our own sin, but
we feel justified in the offense against us. And then we become
indignant and depressed and overbearing. The body of Christ and the church
become shattered. Marriages fall and fail. Children
run away from their parents and disown them. Lives are lost and
wars break out. When we fail to see our sin and
anger, we become blind to our own destruction and we make Christ
to be a joke and a sham. That the cross had no power and
no bearing in our lives. Anger does not rejoice in truth,
but it believes the lies of the enemy. And anger takes vengeance
as one's personal agenda. Friends, this is not God's way
and it is not in the hearts of God's people. Anger does not have to be outward
to be sinful. It doesn't have to be known to
be wicked. And I'll be cautioning us all,
anger doesn't even have to feel like anger to be anger. The reality is, the remedy for
sinful anger is forgiveness and repentance in Christ. That which
God has given us as a free gift And God's anger toward us is
just, but instead of His anger, we receive His mercy and His
love. And then His wrath is put on
Christ that His affection be put on us. God loved the world
in this way. That's what the word so means
in 316. God loved the world in this way
that he gave the only son he has. That the believing ones
would not perish, but will have eternal life. Can we at least give the forgiveness
of Christ? And I know as a as a as a young
planting starting fellowship, we're like, well, we don't really
have these problems. Oh, we most certainly do. We have them, they just haven't
made it here yet. It's within each one of us. And
some of us may be thinking, well, this is going to be a new start
for us. Yeah, it'll be a new start with the same old habits,
the same old flesh, the same old devil. And if we aren't cautious, then we'll be deceived too. The
difference is that we want to hold fast every day to repentance
and forgiveness, not just when things get tight, things get
tough or things get hairy. And we need to pray for those
brothers and sisters of other churches, pray for those even
in our own families. Most of us can probably have
a list of people who are at odds right now, estranged family members,
not with us, but with others. Parents that don't want to talk
to kids, children that don't want their parents to see their
kids. Husbands don't want to sleep in the same room with their
wives. Bitterness here, bitterness there. I hate the person at Dairy
Queen because they messed up my ice cream. Little, little
things. See, you got one wild extreme
and then a small little funny thing, but they're equally important. How dare we get angry because
our ice cream is wrong? Eat it! It's all just sugar. First world problems. I had to wait ten minutes to
get a Coke. You know, John tells us in 1
John that his litmus test for those who are in the faith is
love for the brethren. And love for the brethren the
antithesis, the opposite of anger. Love isn't just putting up with
and avoiding and not saying anything. We speak the truth. Love is dying
for one's own desires so that another may be built up. Because
that's what Christ did. Christ died to what He rightfully
was due His glory so that we can become righteous. And only by faith in Christ alone
can you become the righteousness of God. Let's pray. God. There's not enough hours
in the year. To pray. Teach us to pray without ceasing.
Help us. Father, we need your grace ever
so. In these good times when things
are so easy in some aspects of life, and Father, in the bad
times when things are very, very dark. We need your grace in both. So Father, we thank you for the
full measure of your graces given through Christ Jesus. that You've
empowered us to put away wrath, put away anger, put away selfishness,
put away malice, as we'll see. And we can do that because You
have given us a new heart and a new mind. We must want to put it away. Help us, Lord, to grow deep Deepen
our understanding of your grace, deepen our intimacy with your
word, deepen our worship. In the name of Jesus Christ.
Help us to grow deep in our love and affection for each other,
intricately woven into a people that cannot be divided. By anger,
lying. Or cruel joking. Help us to be the church that
reflects fully your power by repenting of our sin and forgiving
those who sin against us. Thank you, God, for saving our
souls in Christ Jesus and in his name, we pray these things
to your ears. Amen.