SPEAKER_00: Well, we've been in Proverbs since the beginning of June.
SPEAKER_00: So I just wanted to give you a quick recap of where it is that we've been to kind of even orient us to where we are this morning.
SPEAKER_00: If you were with us and you can think back to the beginning of June, we started with a sermon in Proverbs 1, the introduction to the book of Proverbs that was really focused on what wisdom is, defining it, and where to find it.
SPEAKER_00: So we wanted to define it to understand what it is that we're seeking after, but also where to go and look for it.
SPEAKER_00: So if you can think back, there was a definition that I gave from one of the professors that I had when I was at Cedarville that I thought was really helpful.
SPEAKER_00: The definition of wisdom that we've been kind of operating under is skilled living in God's created order.
SPEAKER_00: I think about the way that the world is designed, the way that God created the world.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what wisdom is: skilled living in God's created order.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, where do you go to find wisdom?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Proverbs 1:7 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
SPEAKER_00: So the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of where we started.
SPEAKER_00: And then week two was what I affectionately termed Tour de Fool, where we basically went through all the Proverbs and tried to show you, hopefully, very maybe impactfully, maybe aggressively, that a lack of wisdom will ruin your life in a thousand different ways.
SPEAKER_00: Financial ruin, relational strain, all kinds of things that can happen as a result of a lack of wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: But really, from there, I mean, week three was about trusting the Lord from Proverbs chapter three, verses five and six.
SPEAKER_00: Specifically, trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, and all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
SPEAKER_00: But from there, we've been focusing on the heart.
SPEAKER_00: Biblically speaking, what is the heart?
SPEAKER_00: Of course, we used Proverbs 421 as a launch pad for that.
SPEAKER_00: Keep your heart, guard it, for from it flow the springs of life.
SPEAKER_00: We talked about how your heart, biblically speaking, is the control center of who you are.
SPEAKER_00: And there's three main aspects of your heart.
SPEAKER_00: There's a cognitive aspect, thinking, there's uh an affective or affectional aspect, as in your feelings, your emotions, uh, your desires, and then there's a volitional aspect, your will, the decisions that you make.
SPEAKER_00: All that's bound up in biblically, your heart is the control center of who you are.
SPEAKER_00: And that brought us to last week, where we talked about a satisfied heart, where our hearts are like little Pac-Man running around, uh just trying to consume and consume, consume.
SPEAKER_00: If they're not governed, if we don't have the governor or the leash, if you remember the story about my dog, I won't repeat that here.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but the story of my dog that needed to be on a leash in order for everyone to be safe, including us, uh, is a good picture.
SPEAKER_00: It's a good analogy of your heart, putting your heart on a leash and directing your heart in the way.
SPEAKER_00: Now, today I want to talk about um anger.
SPEAKER_00: Anger specifically, as we see it in the Proverbs, but really all over the scripture, because last week we talked about, if you remember, point two uh was watch out for ungoverned appetites, watch out for things that go ungoverned, that are insatiable hungers in your heart, uh, that need to be checked by God's word.
SPEAKER_00: One of them was drunkenness, one of them was gluttony, those types of things that we saw in Proverbs 23.
SPEAKER_00: Now, something else that can govern your heart from a sinful perspective is anger.
SPEAKER_00: Anger can easily take root in your heart, and it can govern the way that you speak, the way that you think, and the way that you treat other people.
SPEAKER_00: And so today I want us to be free, biblically speaking, from a heart that is governed by anger.
SPEAKER_00: I want a heart that's not governed by anger, but rather that is leashed by God's word, prayer, and God's people, as we talked about last week.
SPEAKER_00: So that gets us to where we are today, talking biblically about anger.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll say this on the outset.
SPEAKER_00: Sinful anger, I say sinful, because there is a category of righteous anger, and we always want to go there when we're angry.
SPEAKER_00: We want to define everything that we do in anger as righteousness, oftentimes, but that's rarely the case.
SPEAKER_00: So sinful anger, I'm talking about, has no place in the hearts of godly individuals.
SPEAKER_00: Sinful anger has no place in the heart of godly individuals.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's even we're we're gonna be starting in Proverbs 16, 32, but here's another proverb for us to kind of think about this together.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 25, 28 says, a man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.
SPEAKER_00: And you can, of course, you can think of if you lack self-control.
SPEAKER_00: And then one of the things that's gonna happen is you're gonna be given over to your appetites.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be given over to your impulses, your desires, even your sinful responses, perhaps one of them being anger.
SPEAKER_00: So a man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see the imagery there?
SPEAKER_00: There's destruction, there's ruin.
SPEAKER_00: For whatever reason, perhaps there was no one watching at the wall, there was no battle plan, there was no defense strategy.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever took place, this city is ruined and is in disarray.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what Proverbs 25, 28 says.
SPEAKER_00: That's what a man without self-control is.
SPEAKER_00: That's what they're like.
SPEAKER_00: They're like a city broken into and left without walls.
SPEAKER_00: And the same is true for us and for you this morning.
SPEAKER_00: If you're given into anger and there's no self-control, the Bible would say you're like a city broken into and left without walls, because there's no place for sin in the hearts or for sinful anger, I should say, in the hearts of godly individuals.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, that brings us to Proverbs 16, 32, the main text that we're kind of launching from this morning, and it says this whoever is slow to anger, now notice the comparison here, is better than the mighty.
SPEAKER_00: And he who rules his spirit has a leash, you could say, over his spirit and his anger and his heart, directing his heart in the way, is is better than he who takes a city.
SPEAKER_00: And he who rules his spirit is greater than he who takes a city.
SPEAKER_00: So look at the comparison here.
SPEAKER_00: We can think about people who are mighty, people who are strong, even from the context of battle, which is what this proverb, Proverbs 16, is kind of alluding to.
SPEAKER_00: So in a battle, you've got mighty warriors, people who have been training their whole lives, that are very skilled with their weapon of choice.
SPEAKER_00: They're strong, they're victorious, they they can conquer.
SPEAKER_00: And it says that whoever is slow to anger, whoever can put a leash on their heart, and perhaps their response of anger is better than that kind of person.
SPEAKER_00: The mighty, the strong soldier is better.
SPEAKER_00: And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
SPEAKER_00: If you can rule your spirit, if you can temper your anger biblically by the spirit's help, you are greater than the mighty, and you are uh better than those the one who takes a city by a force.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_00: There's a kind of strength that is required to rule over your heart, specifically to rule over perhaps the anger that might be rooted in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And even in Proverbs 19, verse 11, it says, good sense makes one slow to anger.
SPEAKER_00: So it's going to require good sense.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to require wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to require wisdom that's rooted in the fear of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.
SPEAKER_00: So here in these few Proverbs, we've got this very clear picture of the kind of strength that is required to subdue sinful anger in our hearts if it's taken root.
SPEAKER_00: And even the commendation of scripture for that kind of person.
SPEAKER_00: That person has good sense.
SPEAKER_00: That person who is slow to anger, who has self-control, who can rule over his spirit, is greater than the mighty, is one who makes good sense, has wisdom, and it is his glory.
SPEAKER_00: It is his good, his favor, his recognition to overlook an offense.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if we're going to think about anger biblically, I think it's helpful for us to kind of start with a definition, a working definition of what anger is, so that we can kind of tackle it together.
SPEAKER_00: So this is the definition that I have found helpful over the years.
SPEAKER_00: It comes from a book called Uprooting Anger.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's actually recommended as one of the resources on the back of your note sheet.
SPEAKER_00: But uprooting anger was written by a professor of mine from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
SPEAKER_00: His name is Robert Jones.
SPEAKER_00: And in this book, here's how he defines anger.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's helpful.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of parts to this, but let's just think through it.
SPEAKER_00: Anger is a whole person, so not a part.
SPEAKER_00: A whole personed, remember, if we think about the heart being the control center of who you are, that would make sense.
SPEAKER_00: Anger is a whole personed active response of negative moral judgment against perceived evil, most especially perceived evil committed against you.
SPEAKER_00: So that's what anger is.
SPEAKER_00: It's a whole person active response of negative moral judgment against perceived evil.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want to show you this in scripture.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want you to just take Robert Jones' word for this.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to see that this is actually what the scripture says.
SPEAKER_00: But he goes on to say, and I thought this was helpful.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Our anger is an active response.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's so important.
SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of times when we're angry, we talk as if it's something that happens to us.
SPEAKER_00: It's as if something takes over control.
SPEAKER_00: Like there's a little seat, there's a little uh driver's side uh seat and steering wheel that something can hop into in our hearts and take control and drive us somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: Before we know it, we open our eyes and we don't even know what happened.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's sometimes how we think about anger and talk about it.
SPEAKER_00: Our anger, in fact, is not that.
SPEAKER_00: It's an active response, it is an action, an activity.
SPEAKER_00: Anger is something we do, it is not something we have.
SPEAKER_00: It is not a thing, a fluid or a force.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a substance that gets imposed upon you by someone else or something else.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible pictures people who do anger not have anger.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: It's a whole person active response to perceived moral judgment or moral judgment, negative moral judgment to perceived injustice.
SPEAKER_00: That's what anger is.
SPEAKER_00: And it's an active response.
SPEAKER_00: Again, it's not something that takes control, it's not something that we can say, well, and this happened, or that happened, they did this, or they did that.
SPEAKER_00: It's something that we do.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible pictures people who do anger.
SPEAKER_00: Now, for us to have any sort of progress in understanding what's going on in our hearts, perhaps that's leading us to anger.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that we need to start with is identifying the roots of anger in our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: That's point number one.
SPEAKER_00: Thoughtfully identify the roots of anger in your life.
SPEAKER_00: I say life, because I just think holistically.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, that's rooted in your heart, but holistically, your circumstances, the things that you uh experience, the ways that you think.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, thoughtfully identify the roots of anger in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Now, to help you with this, I want to give you seven different things that could potentially be a root of anger, or at least could be uh not helping the cause of anger being produced in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Seven things.
SPEAKER_00: Now, none of these are on the screen, uh, but I'll give them to you and hopefully uh we can make sense of this.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the first root of anger, harboring bitterness.
SPEAKER_00: As you think about, okay, why am I angry?
SPEAKER_00: Why am I, you could even phrase it this way, why am I an angry person?
SPEAKER_00: Why do I tend to respond in certain situations or with some sort of frequency or regularity with anger?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, one of the things that the Bible's gonna say is that you're harboring potentially bitterness.
SPEAKER_00: And you can see already, hopefully, when you think about that, you could see how bitterness uh would lend its sort itself towards anger.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what is bitterness?
SPEAKER_00: It's a it's a refusal to forgive, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's holding on to a hurt, it's clinging to some sort of injustice, perhaps maybe even a real uh injustice.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's what bitterness is.
SPEAKER_00: It's an unwillingness to let go.
SPEAKER_00: Or I could even put it this way: bitterness is an unwillingness to trust the Lord in the circumstance that you find yourself hurting in.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's what bitterness is.
SPEAKER_00: It's an unwillingness to open your hands and say, Lord, would you take this?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, would you help me?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, would you uh would you provide justice?
SPEAKER_00: Would you vindicate me, or whatever the case may be?
SPEAKER_00: And so, bitterness, of course, is you holding on to that hurt.
SPEAKER_00: And what do we want to do to others when we hold on to hurt perhaps that they've inflicted against us?
SPEAKER_00: We want to hurt them back.
SPEAKER_00: And typically we do that through our words or through our actions, through our relationship or lack thereof.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps we withdraw the relationship from them, but we can be very punitive.
SPEAKER_00: Do you get what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00: Very punitive in the way that we treat other people, in the way that we want them to hurt because they've hurt us.
SPEAKER_00: And that bitterness, that unwillingness to forgive leads to anger, leads to an angry response.
SPEAKER_00: Now, that's of course, we can see that pattern.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe perhaps that's something that you could even trace in your own life.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what should mark the Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 4.32 says, be kind to one another, tender hearted.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, think about that.
SPEAKER_00: Tender-hearted.
SPEAKER_00: What is bitterness if not a hard heart towards someone else?
SPEAKER_00: Towards something else, perhaps even sometimes people can get bitter at just the world or the circumstance or the the interest rates on mortgages.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: We can get bitter about those things, right?
SPEAKER_00: The political climate.
SPEAKER_00: It's a hardness of heart.
SPEAKER_00: But Ephesians 432 says, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
SPEAKER_00: So the expectation in scriptures, in the scriptures, is that if you've been forgiven much in Christ, and of course you have, if you're in Christ, then you must forgive much as well.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, how many times?
SPEAKER_00: 70 times seven.
SPEAKER_00: And the point is, keep going, keep forgiving.
SPEAKER_00: Because when you forgive others, you are modeling the forgiveness that you yourself have received.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, bitterness is an unwillingness to do that.
SPEAKER_00: It's an unwillingness to extend the very same forgiveness that you were offered.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there's a parable about this.
SPEAKER_00: Have you heard this parable before?
SPEAKER_00: The the guy that owed a substantial debt.
SPEAKER_00: You heard this?
SPEAKER_00: Or he goes to the king and the king says, You're forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: And then what does he do?
SPEAKER_00: He turns around and he goes to some other guy that owes him such a small debt in comparison and he holds it against him.
SPEAKER_00: And that's part of the forgiveness teaching.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: You've been forgiven much.
SPEAKER_00: You must forgive.
SPEAKER_00: But when we harbor bitterness, when we reject forgiveness, it inevitably will lead to anger.
SPEAKER_00: I don't feel like I have to paint this picture.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know.
SPEAKER_00: You know, in your family relationships, and perhaps hurt that you've experienced, maybe someone's bitter against you, maybe you're bitter against someone else.
SPEAKER_00: You know that one of the things that so easily accompanies that is anger.
SPEAKER_00: I'm bitter.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to forgive them because I want them to feel what I feel.
SPEAKER_00: I want them to experience what I experience.
SPEAKER_00: And so we lack forgiveness, we harbor bitterness, and as a result, anger is lying in wait.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the next root potentially of bitterness: pride.
SPEAKER_00: Now, of course, pride is sort of like uh, I don't know, it's like water in a sense when it comes to sin.
SPEAKER_00: It's the universal solvent.
SPEAKER_00: It's like it's everywhere, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it's uh we could connect pride to anything that we do, of course.
SPEAKER_00: Pride is such a chief sin.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, next week, uh that's how we're gonna wrap up our proverb series by talking about pride uh at greater length.
SPEAKER_00: But think about this from the perspective of even the definition of anger.
SPEAKER_00: It's a whole person active response of negative moral judgment against perceived evil or in injustice.
SPEAKER_00: All right, so our pride oftentimes when when we have this perception of we have been wronged, we've been disrespected, we've been belittled.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes it's so easy for us to make that excuse or to perhaps respond to that situation or circumstance with anger.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what Proverbs 21, 24 says a scoffer is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride.
SPEAKER_00: Pride is one of the roots that fuels anger.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, think about it.
SPEAKER_00: When when things are not going your way, I mean, of course, we're gonna talk about another route, which is selfishness.
SPEAKER_00: We'll get to that.
SPEAKER_00: When things are not going your way, or people are not treating you as you feel like you ought to be treated, or they don't speak of you as you think they should speak of you, or they don't think of you as you think they should think of you.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: Our our pride, uh, we we perceive people to think lowly of us or disrespect us or whatever, whatever, whatever, and we're gonna be angry about it.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because we feel deep.
SPEAKER_00: We feel we feel owed.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: You don't you don't speak that way to me.
SPEAKER_00: You don't talk that way about me, you don't think that about me, you you don't have any right, whatever we want to say, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's our pride that often is accompanied by anger.
SPEAKER_00: Anger uh is propelled and fueled by pride.
SPEAKER_00: Scoffer is the name of the arrogant, a haughty man who acts with arrogant pride.
SPEAKER_00: Here's another root of bitterness: selfishness, right?
SPEAKER_00: Not getting what you want, or in a sense, not being able to control the circumstances of your life, not being able to control your spouse, not being able to control what's going on, not getting things how you want, when you want, where you want.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what James 3:16 says for where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be, do you hear the definitiveness in that?
SPEAKER_00: There will be disorder and every vile practice, where jealousy and selfish ambition exist.
SPEAKER_00: There will be disorder in every vile practice.
SPEAKER_00: And what is anger, if not disorder, in a vile practice?
SPEAKER_00: I mean sinful anger.
SPEAKER_00: What is anger?
SPEAKER_00: If we're not going to define it that way, how would we define it?
SPEAKER_00: That's what anger is.
SPEAKER_00: It's disorder, it's it's a heart gone awry.
SPEAKER_00: And oftentimes our selfishness can lead us towards anger.
SPEAKER_00: Let's think about something even silly.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: A silly example, kind of low barrier to entry that maybe some of you might relate to.
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk, let's think about the thermostat in your house.
SPEAKER_00: Do you have an opinion about that?
SPEAKER_00: Uh count of three.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone shout the perfect temperature on your thermostat.
SPEAKER_00: One, two, three.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, the right answer.
SPEAKER_00: I'm at the right church.
SPEAKER_00: 68 was what I heard.
SPEAKER_00: That is.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: You have you ever we don't you don't need to raise your hands, but have you ever gotten angry because the thermostat was not at 68 degrees?
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that selfishness, right?
SPEAKER_00: Um can I confess, I I I really I don't like being hot for no reason.
SPEAKER_00: So if I'm outside mowing the lawn and I'm hot and I'm sweaty, no big deal.
SPEAKER_00: If I'm playing pickleball, sweating, not not a care in the world.
SPEAKER_00: If I'm in my house sitting on the couch and I'm hot, I am honestly angry.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord's sanctifying me through that.
SPEAKER_00: And so I've had opinions before about the thermostat on the wall, and even selfishly perhaps have imposed it in the past.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's a silly example, one that perhaps you relate to.
SPEAKER_00: But think about it your selfishness, getting what you want, how you want it.
SPEAKER_00: And when you don't, when something gets taken away from you that you feel like you are due, what's the response?
SPEAKER_00: Anger.
SPEAKER_00: We get angry, and our selfishness can certainly be a root of anger.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the here's the next root envy.
SPEAKER_00: Now, envy, let me define it this way: it's when someone else gets what you feel like you rightfully deserve.
SPEAKER_00: Envy is not just wanting what other people have, and a sense that might be jealousy.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just wanting what other people have.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, they've got a nice house, they've got a nice boat, they've got this, they've got that.
SPEAKER_00: Envy takes it a step further.
SPEAKER_00: Envy is thinking that the person who has something shouldn't have it, and that you should.
SPEAKER_00: You deserve it, you are owed it.
SPEAKER_00: It's wanting what someone else has and feel like you rightfully deserve it as your own.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's what envy is.
SPEAKER_00: And envy, of course, could lead towards angriness or anger, angry, anger.
SPEAKER_00: Still thinking about the thermostat.
SPEAKER_00: Anger, envy, right?
SPEAKER_00: First Peter chapter 2, verse 1 says this So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
SPEAKER_00: Put it away because envy, looking at someone else, what they have, not just wanting it, but feeling like you are the one that rightfully deserves it.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I deserve the house.
SPEAKER_00: I deserve it.
SPEAKER_00: The the lifestyle, I deserve the the comfort, I deserve the recognition, I deserve whatever.
SPEAKER_00: And to be honest, a lot of times our envy, it may not be stuff, materially speaking.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it is.
SPEAKER_00: I find more often, it's not necessarily stuff things, material things.
SPEAKER_00: I find most frequently envy is about achievements, what other people can do or what other people have been recognized for.
SPEAKER_00: I think about even in your work environment, other people get the promotion before you do, and you feel like you deserved it.
SPEAKER_00: And then you start cataloging in your head who the other person is that got it, who you are, and why you are better in every way, right?
SPEAKER_00: How you deserved it and they didn't.
SPEAKER_00: That that you were more qualified, you were more experienced, you've been on the job longer.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, whatever the case may be.
SPEAKER_00: You're envious that they got something that you feel like you deserve.
SPEAKER_00: Ever happened to you before in that kind of environment?
SPEAKER_00: That's that's when I find envy coming out.
SPEAKER_00: Why do people speak so well of this person?
SPEAKER_00: They don't say those things about me.
SPEAKER_00: Or why do people think so highly of that person and not think so highly of me?
SPEAKER_00: Well, what about what I do?
SPEAKER_00: What about my strengths?
SPEAKER_00: What about my accomplishments?
SPEAKER_00: What about me?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, which is of course is selfishness welded to envy.
SPEAKER_00: We want what other people have.
SPEAKER_00: And oftentimes, again, it's not necessarily material possessions, though it can be that.
SPEAKER_00: I find it's often achievement-based, it's recognition, it's people feeling like they are due the honor that someone else has.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what envy does.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, uh, when you think about, you know, that that example of the the coworker who got the promotion that you were passed up for, what are you feeling in your heart towards that person?
SPEAKER_00: If you're in a sinful place, you're not going, man, I'm so happy for them.
SPEAKER_00: You're often feeling angry.
SPEAKER_00: And you're you're often even angry at the person that that didn't make the decision.
SPEAKER_00: It's not like he promoted himself or she promoted herself, right?
SPEAKER_00: Someone else promoted them, and you're often angry at the person who got the thing that you feel like you deserve.
SPEAKER_00: That's what envy is, and that can certainly lead towards anger.
SPEAKER_00: We need to put put it away.
SPEAKER_00: Put away all malice, all deceit, all hypocrisy, and envy and all slander.
SPEAKER_00: Put it away because it's going to lead to anger.
SPEAKER_00: You know that.
SPEAKER_00: You felt that perhaps.
SPEAKER_00: Can we be honest?
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been in an environment, maybe a small group where someone commends someone else's, let's just say spirituality, their maturity, their wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Someone else says, I really admire this person for their walk with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And instead of just immediately rejoicing, that's such a great thing, you you in your heart you go, well, wait a minute, what about me?
SPEAKER_00: That's envy.
SPEAKER_00: That's envy that can find itself and root itself in so many different ways in our relationships that can lead us towards anger.
SPEAKER_00: And you can see how envy, of course, is fueled by pride, fueled by selfishness, but also envy crystallized.
SPEAKER_00: You know what it is?
SPEAKER_00: It can be bitterness towards someone, which of course is another route of anger.
SPEAKER_00: Here's another one entitlements.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, these are overlapping, uh, but I mean entitlement in a very specific sense.
SPEAKER_00: An entitlement that often you feel uh for justice that you think you deserve.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe, can I just qualify, maybe you do deserve the justice.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have legitimately been wronged.
SPEAKER_00: But entitlement, as in you're gonna get it at your timetable in your way.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and if it doesn't happen on your timetable, in your way, then you're gonna dole it out, usually with your words, with your actions, or again, a withdrawing of the relationship.
SPEAKER_00: So we we can feel entitled.
SPEAKER_00: I've been hurt, I've been wronged, I need justice now.
SPEAKER_00: This needs to be right.
SPEAKER_00: This this wrong needs to be righted now.
SPEAKER_00: And that sense of urgent entitlement can lead towards anger.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what Paul says in Romans 12, 19: Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God.
SPEAKER_00: For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: When we feel this unchecked sense of entitlement, it can lead us towards anger.
SPEAKER_00: Here's another route: foolishness and immaturity.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, this is kind of what we're talking about in Proverbs as a whole, that when you act like a fool, foolish things happen, foolish results follow.
SPEAKER_00: So Proverbs 14, 29 says, Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, has great wisdom, has a great ability to skillfully navigate even hurt that they might feel, or uh situations that might tend towards anger, or leading them that way, provoking them in that direction.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
SPEAKER_00: Can we just let the Proverbs speak today?
SPEAKER_00: If you have a hasty temper, if you're easily given over to anger, the the Proverbs tell you the Bible says you exalt folly.
SPEAKER_00: That you're a fool, that you act in foolish ways, you're exalting, you're making much of foolishness.
SPEAKER_00: He who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
SPEAKER_00: So, of course, our our our our lack of understanding, our lack of wisdom, our lack of fear of the Lord is going to lead to anger.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, if you're quick to anger, you don't have great understanding.
SPEAKER_00: But he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
SPEAKER_00: So your foolishness can be directly connected to your anger.
SPEAKER_00: Even I thought of Ecclesiastes 7 9, where it says, Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools.
SPEAKER_00: Anger lodges in the heart of fools.
SPEAKER_00: Now let that just sit in your heart for a second, that if you're prone to anger, the Bible says that anger lodges in a specific kind of person.
SPEAKER_00: What is that person?
SPEAKER_00: A fool.
SPEAKER_00: Anger lodges in the heart of fools.
SPEAKER_00: Because we're exalting folly in our foolishness and in our immaturity.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the last root potentially of anger idolatry.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, you can see idolatry in our pride, idolatry in our selfishness, idolatry even in our bitterness.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, all of these things kind of can be can be summarized in some form or fashion in idolatry, but it's worth putting.
SPEAKER_00: When we have a wrong love, a wrong affection, when we worship the wrong things, the wrong God, a God of our own making, the God of our own desires, that leads to anger.
SPEAKER_00: First John 2, 15 through 17 says, Do not love the world or things in the world.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
SPEAKER_00: For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, and the desires of the eyes, and pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
SPEAKER_00: And the world is passing away along with its desires.
SPEAKER_00: But whoever does the will of God abides forever.
SPEAKER_00: Our love of the things of this world, our love of our own selfish desires, is idolatry that can lead to anger.
SPEAKER_00: And idolatry is something, of course, that we need to confess, turn from, and trust in God, seek forgiveness and walk forward in grace.
SPEAKER_00: So the summary of all this, where does anger come from?
SPEAKER_00: Anger comes from a heart that lacks trust in God and desires to be God.
SPEAKER_00: That's where anger comes from.
SPEAKER_00: It comes from a heart that desires to be God and lacks trust in God.
SPEAKER_00: We want what we want when we want it, and we think we are due.
SPEAKER_00: And so we take it into our own hands, often in our anger, to try to get it.
SPEAKER_00: We don't trust God.
SPEAKER_00: We don't trust that vengeance belongs to him, he will repay.
SPEAKER_00: We don't trust him, and we want to be him, if we want to be able to control the outcome in the circumstance.
SPEAKER_00: That's where anger comes from.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if anger is something that you struggle with, or if anger is something that you give yourself over to, you need to recognize how destructive anger is in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Point number two, open your eyes to the destructive wildfire anger ignites.
SPEAKER_00: And it is a destructive wildfire.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, think about it.
SPEAKER_00: Who likes being around angry people?
SPEAKER_00: No one.
SPEAKER_00: It's highly unpleasant.
SPEAKER_00: It's a destructive wildfire.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Well, first I would say because anger is almost always a work of the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: Galatians 5, 19 and 20.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what Paul says.
SPEAKER_00: Now the works of the flesh are evident.
SPEAKER_00: Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions.
SPEAKER_00: Anger is almost always a work of the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: Now the works of the flesh are evident, and one of them is fits of anger.
SPEAKER_00: So that brings us to the part of the sermon where we we want to talk briefly about righteous anger.
SPEAKER_00: Because I know that's what you're all thinking.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what about righteous anger?
SPEAKER_00: Can I what can I be angry about, Pastor?
SPEAKER_00: That's what we want to know.
SPEAKER_00: Where's the line?
SPEAKER_00: I want to get as close to it as I possibly can before actually sinning.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's let's think about it.
SPEAKER_00: What is righteous anger?
SPEAKER_00: If you're going to claim that you have righteous anger, you need to recognize that righteous anger reacts against actual sin.
SPEAKER_00: Sin as God sees it, not selfish desires, not prideful ways that you've been hurt.
SPEAKER_00: Actual sin.
SPEAKER_00: Righteous anger reacts against actual sin.
SPEAKER_00: No, it's not, you got to take this collectively, right?
SPEAKER_00: So you're like, great, great, great, great.
SPEAKER_00: I'm reacting against sin, so I can be angry.
unknown: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Well, hold on.
SPEAKER_00: Righteous anger reacts against actual sin.
SPEAKER_00: But also, righteous anger focuses on God and his kingdom rights and concerns, not on me, my kingdom rights and my concerns.
SPEAKER_00: So you got to take these together.
SPEAKER_00: It reacts against actual sin.
SPEAKER_00: But righteous anger also focuses on God and what he says in his word and what violates his word and what is not pleasing to him.
SPEAKER_00: And finally, righteous anger is accompanied by other godly qualities and expresses itself in godly ways.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're angry, perhaps legitimately about sin, but you start cutting someone down with your words, that is not righteous anger.
SPEAKER_00: If you sin in some other way, in the midst of your response of anger, suddenly your anger is not righteous.
SPEAKER_00: Righteous anger is accompanied by other godly qualities and expresses itself in godly ways.
SPEAKER_00: That's what righteous anger is.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why I said anger is almost always a work of the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: Almost always.
SPEAKER_00: Because our hearts are so uh twisted with other desires and other sins and other things like that, that it almost feels not impossible, but often unlikely that your anger is righteous.
SPEAKER_00: And if it is, it must be accompanied by other godly qualities and express itself in other godly ways.
SPEAKER_00: You can't be acting godly in the midst of sinning.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's a contradiction of terms, right?
SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna act godly, you're gonna please God in the way that you're acting.
SPEAKER_00: Even if there's anger involved, perhaps it is righteous anger.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the aside about righteous anger.
SPEAKER_00: It reacts against actual sin, not inconveniences, not your pride or ego being hurt, uh, not your selfish desires not being tended to, actual sin.
SPEAKER_00: And it focuses on God and what he has said in his word, his cares and his concerns, and righteous anger is accompanied by other godly qualities and expresses itself in godly ways.
SPEAKER_00: But we're thinking about okay, anger is a destructive wildfire.
SPEAKER_00: It's almost always a work of the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: How do we know that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, anger produces conflict.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need to convince you of this.
SPEAKER_00: You know this.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 29, 22, a man of wrath, what does he do?
SPEAKER_00: He stirs up strife.
SPEAKER_00: A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes much transgression.
SPEAKER_00: Anger produces conflict in your relationships.
SPEAKER_00: Conflict, even in your own heart.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe the conflict doesn't even make its way out of you, but it's inside of you.
SPEAKER_00: Anger produces conflict.
SPEAKER_00: Even Proverbs 30, 33, for pressing milk produces curds, pressing the nose produces blood, and pressing anger, you know what it produces?
SPEAKER_00: Strife.
SPEAKER_00: I love the Proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: Who talks like that?
SPEAKER_00: Pressing milk produces curds, pressing the nose produces blood, and pressing anger produces strife.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's what anger does.
SPEAKER_00: It produces strife, it produces conflict.
SPEAKER_00: It's a destructive wildfire.
SPEAKER_00: Anger can also lead to harsh words, it can even produce harsh words.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 15:1, a soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
SPEAKER_00: A harsh word stirs up anger.
SPEAKER_00: Anger can can lead to uh harsh words, it can produce harsh words, it can be even stimulated by harsh words.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, we know that James talks about this, that the tongue is the smallest member, yet it it boasts of great things, how great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire.
SPEAKER_00: Anger produces harsh words.
SPEAKER_00: You you recognize that.
SPEAKER_00: Anger also marks you.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know this as someone to avoid biblically?
SPEAKER_00: Anger places a mark on you that says, watch out for them.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 22, 24 says, Make no friendship with the man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's a destructive wildfire.
SPEAKER_00: How great a force can be set ablaze by your anger, by your angry words, by your angry tongue.
SPEAKER_00: And anger, if that's something you're given over to, marks you as someone to avoid.
SPEAKER_00: Make no friendship with the man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man.
SPEAKER_00: Anger is a stumbling block for others.
SPEAKER_00: The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
SPEAKER_00: Anger, all of this to say anger is the antithesis to walking in the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Think about this with me.
SPEAKER_00: What are the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5?
SPEAKER_00: Instead of love in your heart, there's hatred when you're angry.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of joy in your heart, there can be sorrow that you cause.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of peace, there's conflict.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of patience, there's a short-temperedness.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of kindness, there's cruelty.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of goodness, there's evil.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of gentleness, there's harshness.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of self-control, there's erraticness.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is the antithesis of walking in the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Anger is all of those things.
SPEAKER_00: It is a great wildfire if left unchecked.
SPEAKER_00: So, how do we have victory over this?
SPEAKER_00: How do we have victory over anger?
SPEAKER_00: Well, there's much still you could say, but point number three, find victory over anger by pursuing humility.
SPEAKER_00: Find victory over anger by pursuing humility.
SPEAKER_00: You could if you could trace all the roots bitterness, envy, selfishness, pride.
SPEAKER_00: But one of the through lines that'll help in each of those instances is humility.
SPEAKER_00: Now we grow in humility, not by just trying to be more humble.
SPEAKER_00: We grow in humility actually by first having a proper view of God.
SPEAKER_00: Humility grows when you have an Isaiah 6 experience.
SPEAKER_00: Humility grows when you recognize that God is holy, holy, holy.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a response that even Isaiah has of I am a man of unclean lips.
SPEAKER_00: Woe was me, I am undone.
SPEAKER_00: A right understanding of who God is.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, a right understanding.
SPEAKER_00: There should be no other response than humility.
SPEAKER_00: Because of how great, how high and lifted up, how majestic, how righteous, how holy, how powerful, how good God is.
SPEAKER_00: The only response to the God of the Bible is humility, recognizing that He has all authority and all power, and you and I do not.
SPEAKER_00: What other response should we have to that than humility?
SPEAKER_00: So we find victory over anger by having a proper view of God.
SPEAKER_00: I've always liked to say that there are really two problems that come down, that it comes down to with really any sin struggle in our life.
SPEAKER_00: Just to make it very simple: a low view of God and a high view of self.
SPEAKER_00: Almost every problem that you have, almost every sin struggle that you wrestle with, you fall into that category.
SPEAKER_00: A low view of God and a high view of self.
SPEAKER_00: You're prideful?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, high view of self, low view of God.
SPEAKER_00: You're selfish, high view of self.
SPEAKER_00: You're envious, you want, you feel like you deserve what other people have, high view of self, low view of God.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's what we're saying.
SPEAKER_00: So we fight against that by the power of the Spirit by having a proper view of God that's then followed by a proper view of self.
SPEAKER_00: People who have been rescued, who have been ransomed and redeemed by the blood of Christ, we should have no other response than one of humility.
SPEAKER_00: Because you did not do a thing to deserve the grace that you have been given.
SPEAKER_00: You did not add anything, it's been said, to your salvation, but the sin necessary to purchase it.
SPEAKER_00: You have no reason to boast.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, you've read that.
SPEAKER_00: For by grace you're saved through faith and not of yourselves.
SPEAKER_00: It is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast.
SPEAKER_00: You can't boast.
SPEAKER_00: You and I, it's been said, we're equals at the cross.
SPEAKER_00: We all come open-handed, palms up, saying, God, I have nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Would you please give me your grace?
SPEAKER_00: Would you give me mercy?
SPEAKER_00: So we have humility by having a proper view of God and a proper view of self.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: We bring nothing to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a barter, it's not an exchange, it's not a tit for tat.
SPEAKER_00: What we get is every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
SPEAKER_00: You know what Christ gets?
SPEAKER_00: God made him who knew no sin to become sin, so that you might become the righteousness of God in him.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he gets on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And you get mercy and grace.
SPEAKER_00: And even in Hebrews chapter 4, it talks about the throne of grace being opened.
SPEAKER_00: Come so that you might find help in times of need.
SPEAKER_00: You don't deserve that.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing intrinsically valuable about you individually that deserves grace more than the next person.
SPEAKER_00: You are given grace because God is gracious.
SPEAKER_00: That's why.
SPEAKER_00: So we have a proper view of God.
SPEAKER_00: We have a proper view of self.
SPEAKER_00: And we pursue growing humility by regularly pursuing holiness rooted in the fear of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: That's all that's that's the Proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, the fear of the Lord requires a right view of Him and a right view of yourself, and responding appropriately with trust, with reverence, with worship and obedience.
SPEAKER_00: If we're going to have victory over our anger, we need to have a high view of God and a biblically low view of self.
SPEAKER_00: I don't mean spiritual eeyores walking around.
SPEAKER_00: I mean that we have a low view of self as in we recognize that we are the poor in spirit, that we are not deserving of grace, and yet God freely gives it.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I mean.
SPEAKER_00: A low view of self.
SPEAKER_00: And in that we can rejoice by having a proper view of God, having a proper view of self, and regularly pursuing holiness that's rooted in the fear of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And you'll if you could graph this, you would see the the higher your humility goes, I can guarantee you, the lower your anger will go.
SPEAKER_00: The higher your view of God goes, the lower your anger will go.
SPEAKER_00: The right view of yourself that you have, positioned appropriately based off the fear of the Lord, you can graph it.
SPEAKER_00: The higher that goes, the lower any of your sinful tendencies are going to go.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's that's the reality of it, that we can put off the things of the flesh and put on the things of Christ, empowered by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we need to do.
SPEAKER_00: Find victory over anger by pursuing humility, recognizing that you are not deserving of the grace that you've been offered, the forgiveness that you have received, but it's been a free gift.
SPEAKER_00: And the response to that is one of humility.
SPEAKER_00: And humility, of course, is the thing that'll knock down, it's the bowling ball that knocks down all the pens of the roots of anger.
SPEAKER_00: We need that in our life, we need that in our hearts, we need God's help to accomplish that together.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: God, thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you that it is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of jointed marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: God, would you help us when we respond inappropriately with sinful anger?
SPEAKER_00: God, would we be quick to confess?
SPEAKER_00: Would we be quick to seek forgiveness?
SPEAKER_00: God, would you uh make us a people, make us a church that is growing in humility such that our our anger is far from us, it's few and far between.
SPEAKER_00: God, would you help us by your spirit through your word?
SPEAKER_00: Would you give us the grace that we need to see victory conquered in our life?
SPEAKER_00: We recognize that you've given us all things pertaining to life and godliness, and that your word is sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: So would you help us with this?
SPEAKER_00: Would you help us to uproot anger?
SPEAKER_00: And would you be glorified in that pursuit?
SPEAKER_00: I pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Well, thanks for for joining us today in worship.
SPEAKER_00: May the grace of our Lord Jesus.